There are plenty of enemies in the Final Fantasy series that are iconic and have appeared in multiple games. Fans know to expect some familiar faces to pop up with each new installment. The main heroes and villains might be iconic, but fans do enjoy seeing these familiar monsters pop up to keep the tradition.
However, just because they’re familiar doesn’t mean they aren’t a nuisance. Though Final Fantasy fans have an idea of what to expect when they encounter them, it doesn’t make them any less annoying to deal with. Even when properly prepared, these frustrating foes can cause a lot of problems.
10 Bomb
Most of the time, the Bomb enemies aren’t too strong, but it's their Self-Destruct ability that makes them annoying for players. Sometimes after, taking a few hits, they’ll use this ability to deal some heavy damage to one character. If the character doesn’t have a lot of HP, it could potentially knock them out.
It’s not that this enemy is tough, but it can be encountered often, and having to recover from Self-Destruct between battles can be a real nuisance. The only time this enemy could prove to be real deadly is if there’s more than one of them.
9 Malboro
Just about every Final Fantasy fan knows that when this monster appears, it can spell doom for the party. The Malboro usually has pretty high HP and its regular attacks aren’t too bad either. However, its Bad Breath ability is what players have to worry about. This attack will inflict every, if not almost every negative status ailment in the game.
It’s very easy to lose control of the party if players aren’t properly equipped to prevent it. If they can prevent their characters from getting berserked or confused, it’s not so bad. It’s still frustrating though, particularly if other characters in the party become confused and start attacking their companions.
8 Coeurl
The Coeurl is an enemy that might not be the strongest, but it has a few attacks that are a real nuisance for players. Most notably, they have the Blaster attack, which can either paralyze, reduce a character’s HP to 1, or instantly kill them. If a Coeurl is alone, this won’t be too much of a problem to recover from. However, the Coeurl usually appears in duos, and also have some mid to high-level magic at their disposal.
It’s really just a hassle to deal with them and in areas where they appear, they tend to appear often. When fighting Coeurls, players should keep one character on standby with healing magic or potions in case anyone in the party gets hit or KO’d.
7 Cactuar
This monster is small and mighty and makes players hope it runs away from the battle. The Cactuar is notorious for having a high evasion stat, so it’s nearly impossible to hit it physically. Then, there’s the iconic 1,000 Needles attack. If going up against a single Cactuar, this attack isn’t so bad to recover from. However, if going up against a group of Cactuars, it quickly becomes a headache.
To add insult to injury, Final Fantasy VIII had the Jumbo Cactuar boss, which had 10,000 Needles. Players can max out the party members to 9,999 HP, so it was frustrating to watch a party member die from this attack. In Final Fantasy X, a party member's HP could actually go higher than 9,999, though the Cactuar King enemy was able to counter this with its 99,999 Needles attack.
6 Tonberry
Though it looks kind of cute, this monster is actually quite terrifying and deadly. The Tonberry usually walks very slowly towards one party member in an ominous kind of way. If it's able to reach them, which tends to be quite often due to its high HP, it’ll one-shot them with its Chef’s Knife attack.
If that didn’t sound annoying, it usually counterattacks with either Everyone’s Grudge or Karma. It almost doesn’t feel fair that it has very high HP and moves so slowly, as this can make it feel like it’s mocking players as they struggle to kill it as quickly as possible.
5 Epitaph
This enemy has only appeared in a few games. In Final Fantasy X-2, it wasn’t too tough to beat. However, the Final Fantasy IX version of this monster was something else. It starts off the battle by summoning a Doppelganger of one of the party members. However, if the party member is in the group, the Epitaph’s Mirror attack will instantly kill that character.
Even if the player kills the Epitaph before the Doppelganger, the Doppelganger doesn’t actually die. Overall, it’s not really that tough to beat, but it’s still annoying to try and keep the character being mirrored alive for the duration of the battle.
4 Chimera
The Chimera has shown up in various Final Fantasy games, and it’s one of the most annoying monsters because of how tough it is. Thanks to being a combination of monsters, it has various elemental attacks that are pretty powerful and can lower a character’s HP pretty quickly.
Blaze and Aqua Breath are usually the most common abilities that it uses, along with Thunder-based magic. Plus, it usually has pretty HP when it appears, so it’ll take at least a few rounds to kill it. Players usually have one character healing the party because it attacks pretty quickly and Blaze and Aqua Breath target the entire party.
3 Iron Giant
Not only is the Iron Giant tall and intimidating, but it’s also really strong. They’re always carrying a large sword that does a lot of damage and usually have pretty high defense stats too. If that weren't bad enough, they occasionally have access to high-level spells and can cast protective magic on themselves as well.
It’s really annoying to have to heal characters that get hit by its attack that reduces their HP to 1. This is because it usually attacks characters rather quickly, so by the time one character has been healed, another one might’ve already gotten hit.
2 Gimme Cat
Fans of Final Fantasy IX probably remember seeing this cat outside of Daguerreo. It’s one of two monsters that appear there and every time this cat appears, it demands a Diamond. Players shouldn’t be fooled into thinking this is a friendly monster and should kill this cat as soon as possible. If it’s not finished in one hit, it will use Comet on the character that attacked it. Sometimes it’ll miss or do little damage, but there’s a good risk of it leading to a KO.
To make matters more annoying, the Gimme Cat absorbs all elements, so only physical and non-elemental magic will hurt it. It only gives 4 EXP after defeating it, which is very frustrating since this cat is utterly annoying. It does give 3 AP and 5,000 gil though, so it’s not a total waste of time.
1 Imp
These little winged menaces might not have much HP, but they have access to high-level magic. Sometimes, they have a high evasion stat too and so it can be challenging to physically attack them. They also get their turns pretty quick and, thanks to the wide array of spells at their disposal, they can hit party members in a short amount of time.
What makes the Imp really annoying is that they usually show up in groups. It’s best to have access to Shell magic or have a character ready to heal just in case. These little monsters might go down in one hit if the player is able to land a blow, but they’re very annoying to deal with nonetheless.