Atomos

Battle Formation ID:	469
Enemies:	Atomos
Escape%:	Can't Escape
ABP gained:	12
Music Control:	Track: The Fierce Battle
Visual Control:	Intro: Normal
Parameters:	Boss Battle Denies Mute (Time spell) Alt. Death Animation
Terrain:	#09 - Barrier Tower (Exterior)
Once you're affected with Wormhole, you're out

the yawning portal to oblivion, Atomos

Summary

Looking like something that crawled out of Lovecraft's nightmares, Atomos's multiple mouths hunger for the bodies of Bartz and company. It's a very slow eater though, and you will have time to answer it with damage before it devours whoever it slays. Or you could just interrupt its feast entirely with the right spells...

Stats

Name	Atomos
Level	41
Speed	36
HP	19997
MP	10000
Strength	10
Defense	14
Evasion	0
Magic	80
Magic Defense	20
Magic Evasion	20
Gil	0
Exp	0
Steal	Common: Ether Rare: Flail
Drops	Always: Dark Matter Rare: Nothing

Status

Enemy Status

NAME	Atomos
Elemental Immunity:	None
Elemental Absorb:	None
Elemental Weakness:	None
Status Vulnerability:	Sleep
Initial Status:	Haste
Cannot Evade:	None
Creature Type:	Heavy
Command Vulnerability:	HP Scan
Special Properties:	Critical Attack

Attack Script

Condition: If Status of Character 1 is Death:
    Change Target: Character 1
    Wormhole
    }

Condition: If Status of Character 2 is Death :
    Change Target: Character 2
    Wormhole
    }

Condition: If Status of Character 3 is Death :
    Change Target: Character 3
    Wormhole
    }

Condition: If Status of Character 4 is Death :
    Change Target: Character 4
    Wormhole
    }

Condition: If Status of Single Ally (available) is Death:
    {Pull, Pull, Pull}
    Pull
    Pull
    {Pull, Pull, Slowga}
    Pull
    {Pull, Pull, Gravity}
    Pull
    {Pull, Pull, Graviga}
    Pull
    {Pull, Pull, Old}
    Pull
    {Pull, Pull, Pull}
    Pull
    {Pull, Pull, Gravity}
    Pull
    {Pull, Pull, Graviga}
    Pull
    }

{Comet, Comet, Nothing} + {Comet, Comet, Nothing}

Strategies

Essentially a Time Mage from another space, Atomos alternates between two different scripts during its fight, an "attack" script and an "eating" script.

If all four members of your party are alive and present, Atomos will go on the offensive. It will take two actions per turn, with each action being a 2/3 chance to throw Comet at one of the party. Each Comet cast is highly likely to down a party member. The real danger is if Atomos dualcasts Comet, likely making half your party eat dirt. This attack pattern continues until at least one of your party is felled. It may be worth it to enter the fight with one party member already down, just to skip this pattern.

If one or more of the party members are dead, Atomos will try to consume their bodies. It will slowly, over several turns, pull all dead bodies towards it. This is irreversible - reviving any dead party members who have been partially pulled to Atomos's maw will have them remain in the middle of the battlefield. (Front rank or back rank has no effect on this process.) Once a dead body reaches Atomos, the creature will chuck it into its Wormhole, removing that character from the fight. If said character is the only dead character, Atomos will start casting Comet again.

Also while trying to eat, Atomos will occasionally toss out additional debilitating Time spells. Gravity, Graviga, Slowga, and Old all have a chance of showing up. The former two aren't that big a deal, but getting hit with Slowga or Old will definitely put a damper on your ability to cause damage. This is bad because the whole fight is a damage race to kill Atomos before he eats his fill. Unless, of course, you resort to...

Sleep

Turns out, gluttons who eat a lot get sleepy very easily. Atomos is no exception, and putting him to sleep will stop both his spellcasting and his eating.

Black Mages and Red Mages thrive here, as they can just tag Atomos with the Sleep spell and then get to work blasting him down with other magic or rod breaking. A party with Mystic Knight can also employ Sleep Spellblade to do the same, whittling down Atomos's considerable hit points. Knights and Bards can also gamble with the Sleep Blade and Dream Harp respectively, although this is much less reliable.

In the Defunct and Pixel Remaster versions, a Blue Mage's Time Slip spell also will break through and send Atomos to slumberland. The first opportunity to acquire Time Slip is off the Traveller enemies lower in the Barrier Tower, so it's a great reward for grabbing it. On other versions, Blue Mage is limited to the Sleep Blade. (Not that Blue Mage is put off by this, as you'll see below.)

Other

Time Slip or no Time Slip, Blue Mage can throw a Dark Spark at Atomos (which may take a few tries to land). Once Dark Spark has stuck, a followup Level 5 Death will finish the fight instantly.

Beastmasters can collect Lightning Dragons from the trapped treasure chests in the Barrier Tower. On pre-Defunct versions, these are guaranteed to knock off 25% of Atomos's health, greatly simplifying the fight. If you're able to get a full set of four (and subsequently juggle your dead party member so you can use them all), this will win you the fight.

Barring these approaches, all you can do is inflict as much damage as possible while trying to rotate which party member is dead, so that you can maintain three living characters all inflicting damage as long as possible. Keep up the pressure and hopefully Atomos will be defeated.