Espers
Note: In the spell table, “SNES Name” is the original North American translation of the spell and “New Name” is the more accurate translation used in newer releases of the game.
Ramuh
A valuable starting Esper who makes it easy to learn Bolt spells.
Location: You find Ramuh in Zozo in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Inflicts Lightning damage to all enemies.
Level Up Bonus: Stamina goes up by 1!
Spells:
Stray (Cait Sith)
A starting Esper who's not very useful.
Location: You find Stray in Zozo in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Inflicts Confuse on all enemies. Same effect as Edgar's Noiseblaster.
Level Up Bonus: Magic Power goes up by 1!
Spells:
Siren
An okay starting Esper. At least she's more useful than Stray.
Location: You find Siren in Zozo in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Inflicts Mute on all enemies.
Level Up Bonus: Max HP goes up by 10%!
Spells:
Kirin
A valuable starting Esper who makes it easy to learn restorative spells. Regen is useful for tough battles when you can't be regularly healing your party members.
Location: You find Kirin in Zozo in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Casts Regen on the entire party.
Spells:
Shiva
A valuable Esper who makes it easy to learn Ice and Ice 2 - plus gives you Cure and Osmose. Using Osmose regularly gives you virtually unlimited MP, so make sure everyone learns it!
Location: Shiva is found in the Magitek Factory in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Inflicts Ice damage to all enemies.
Spells:
Ifrit
A valuable Esper who makes it easy to learn Fire and Fire 2. Ifrit is also the only Esper whose summon has multiple animation frames (he spins around).
Location: You find Ifrit in the Magitek Factory in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Inflicts Fire damage to all enemies.
Level Up Bonus: Strength goes up by 1!
Spells:
Carbunkl
This Esper teaches you a generous selection of useful spells that give you an edge in battle.
Location: You find Carbunkl in the Magitek Factory in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Casts Reflect (or Rflect) on the entire party.
Spells:
Shoat (Catoblepas)
A good Esper who teaches you Bio, the strongest poison spell.
Location: You find Shoat in the Magitek Factory in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Casts Break on all enemies.
Level Up Bonus: Max HP goes up by 10%!
Spells:
Phantom
An okay Esper. Vanish is fun to use sometimes. Demi can be useful against bosses who use lots of attack magic.
Location: You find Phantom in the Magitek Factory in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Casts Vanish on the entire party.
Level Up Bonus: Max MP goes up by 10%!
Spells:
Unicorn
A valuable Esper who makes it easy to learn Cure 2 and Remedy.
Location: You find Unicorn in the Magitek Factory in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Casts Remedy on the entire party.
Spells:
Madiun
A good Esper who makes it relatively easy to learn level 2 of Fire, Ice, and Bolt. This is useful for members of your party who still need to learn these spells.
Location: You find Madiun in the Magitek Factory in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Inflicts non-elemental damage to all enemies.
Level Up Bonus: Magic Power goes up by 1!
Spells:
Bismark
Not a useful Esper. Life is the only spell with some value, but you learn it much faster with Sraphim (below). Bismark is useful if you want to be a completionist and have everyone learn Fire, Bolt, and Ice quickly.
Location: You find Bismark in the Magitek Factory in the World of Balance.
Summon Ability: Inflicts water (ice water?) damage to all enemies.
Spells:
Sraphim (Seraph)
A valuable Esper who makes it easy to learn all the best healing spells for this point of the game. She's not necessarily a secret, but you'll easier miss her if you don't talk to the townsperson in Tzen.
Location: You can buy Sraphim/Seraph in Tzen from a man in the trees (in World of Balance or World of Ruin). This man is somewhat hidden. You need to walk all the way to the upper-right of the town - as shown here.
Summon Ability: Restores HP to all party members.
Spells:
Golem
An extremely valuable Esper! Golem's summon ability is the only one that can't be replicated through spells. It's useful for tough boss battles. Golem also makes it easy to learn Cure 2.
Location: Golem can be bought at the Auction House in either the World of Balance or World of Ruin.
Summon Ability: Blocks physical attacks for a short amount of time.
Level Up Bonus: Stamina goes up by 2!
Spells:
Zoneseek (Zona Seeker)
This Esper is useful if you still need party members to learn Rasp and Osmose. Using Osmose regularly gives you virtually unlimited MP.
Location: Zoneseek/Zona Seeker can be bought at the Auction House in either the World of Balance or World of Ruin.
Summon Ability: Casts Shell on the entire party.
Level Up Bonus: Magic Power goes up by 2!
Spells:
Odin
An okay Esper. Meteor is an awesome spell, but you can learn it much faster with Crusader. Don't be scared to sacrifice Odin for Raiden.
Location: Odin can be found in the Ancient Castle in the World of Ruin. It's hard to miss - just walk straight into the castle to the throneroom and examine Odin's statue.
Summon Ability: Cleaves all enemies in two. He often misses; this is similar to casting Death.
Level Up Bonus: Speed goes up by 1!
Spells:
Raiden
A better Esper than Odin. Quick is useful if you have the patience to learn it at its 1% rate.
Location: In the basement in the Ancient Castle (World of Ruin), stand five steps down from the Queen's Throne and press the action button to open the way. Her tear will transform Odin into Raiden. This is a one-time offer, so think it through. Odin will be lost forever when you obtain Raiden. Although losing Odin isn't terrible because you can learn Meteor from Crusader (and faster, too).
Summon Ability: Cleaves all enemies in two. He often misses; this is similar to casting Death.
Level Up Bonus: Strength goes up by 2!
Spells:
Fenrir
What makes Fenrir useful is that it teaches you X-Zone. Casting X-Zone is like casting Death on all enemies.
Location: In the World of Ruin, you find Fenrir when you defeat Phunbaba.
Summon Ability: Casts sleep on all enemies.
Level Up Bonus: Max MP goes up by 10%!
Spells:
Palidor (Quetzalli)
This Esper has a fun summon ability and it teaches you Haste 2. Haste 2 is a great spell that helps with tough battles.
Location: In the World of Ruin, you find Palidor on the beach of the Solitary Island.
Summon Ability: Picks everyone up and launches them down as if the Jump command was executed.
Level Up Bonus: Max MP goes up by 10%!
Spells:
Terrato (Midgardsormr)
What makes Terrato useful is that it teaches you Quake. It's a visually awesome spell! It's fun to use until you learn stronger attack magic. Graviga and W Wind are not so useful since random battles are already finished quickly.
Location: In the World of Ruin, you find Terrato in Narshe at the end of Umaro's cave when you search the skull.
Summon Ability: Casts Quake with slightly less MP than if you were to cast Quake yourself.
Level Up Bonus: Max HP goes up by 30%!
Spells:
Starlet (Lakshmi)
This Esper is similar to Sraphim. She teaches the same spells but faster, and teaches Cure 3 instead of Life.
Location: In the World of Ruin, you find Starlet hidden in a bookshelf within Owzer's house. Owzer tells you which bookshelf she's in because he wants to get rid of her, believing she's bad luck.
Summon Ability: Restores HP to all party members.
Level Up Bonus: Stamina goes up by 2!
Spells:
Tritoch (Valigarmanda)
This Esper is useful if you're mindful to grab it as soon as possible. Otherwise, Tritoch is not too useful later in the game when your party is learning better/stronger attack magic. It doesn't help that Tritoch gives you a small 1% learning rate.
Location: In the World of Ruin, you find Tritoch in the hills of Narshe.
Summon Ability: Inflicts tri-elemental fire/ice/bolt damage on all enemies.
Level Up Bonus: Magic Power goes up by 2!
Spells:
Phoenix
This Esper is probably the most valuable one in the game! It teaches you the strongest resurrection spells, the strongest healing spell, and the strongest Fire spell.
Location: In the World of Ruin, you obtain Phoenix after completing the Phoenix Cave event.
Summon Ability: Casts Life on all party members; restores slightly more HP than casting Life yourself.
Spells:
Alexandr (Alexander)
This Esper is good. He makes it easy to learn defensive spells. He's the only Esper who teaches Pearl/Holy. His summon attack is pretty awesome!
Location: In the World of Ruin, you find Alexandr in Doma Castle's throne room when you complete the event in Cyan's soul.
Summon Ability: Inflicts Holy-type damage on all enemies.
Spells:
Ragnarok
The most important Esper in the game! Ragnorak teaches Ultima, the strongest attack magic spell!
Location: First, in the World of Ruin, you need to find Locke. Then go to the Weapon Shop in Narshe and have Locke open the door. Inside you'll find an old man who asks you if you want the sword or the rock. Choose the rock (which is Ragnarok).
Summon Ability: Metamorphose - turns one enemy into an item.
Spells:
Bahamut
A popular Esper who was even given its own game, Bahamut Lagoon. At this point in the game, other Espers offer better attack spells than Flare, but Bahamut has the coolest summon animation!
Location: You're awarded Bahamut after defeating Doom Gaze.
Summon Ability: Hits all enemies with a nuclear blast.
Level Up Bonus: Max HP goes up by 50%!
Spells:
Crusader
A valuable Esper who makes it easy to learn Meteor. And it's the only Esper who teaches Merton, the strongest fire spell. But be cautious summoning Crusader.
Location: Upon defeating the 8 dragons, you are automatically given Crusader.
Summon Ability: Inflicts heavy damage to all enemies plus your entire party.
Level Up Bonus: Max MP goes up by 50%!
Spells:
Leviathan GBA Exclusive
A good Esper who is the only one who teaches Flood.
Location: Leviathan is found on the ferry between Nikeah and South Figaro.
Summon Ability: Deluges enemies with a giant wave.
Level Up Bonus: Stamina goes up by 2!
Spells:
Gilgamesh GBA Exclusive
An awesome Esper who teaches spells that can be powerful when paired with strong attacks. For example, you could pair it with the Master's Scroll which allows you to attack four consecutive times.
Location: The Excalipoor item is required. You can obtain it at the Auction House in Jidoor. You need to speak to the guy outside of the Auction House to make Excalipoor available. Then you’ll need 500,000 Gil to win it. Next, go to the Coliseum and bet the Excalipoor at the front desk. After the resulting battle, you’ll fight Gilgamesh.
Summon Ability: Summons the legendary swordsman.
Level Up Bonus: Strength goes up by 2!
Spells:
Cactuar GBA Exclusive
A useful Esper who has a strong summon attack and makes it easy for you to learn Hastega.
Location: The Gigantuar must be defeated as a boss in the desert south of Maranda to receive the cactuar magicite. The party must first kill ten normal cactuar, after which they can encounter the Gigantuar as a random encounter.
Summon Ability: Summons a cactuar that uses 1000 Needles on all enemies to deal a fixed 1,000 damage, or summons the Gigantuar that uses “10,000 Needles?” on all enemies to deal a fixed 9,999 damage.
Level Up Bonus: Speed goes up by 2!
Spells:
Diablos GBA Exclusive
A valuable Esper who makes it easy to learn the strongest gravity spells.
Location: You find Diablos after defeating Kaiser Dragon in the Dragon's Den.
Summon Ability: Critically wounds all enemies.
Level Up Bonus: HP goes up by 100%1
Spells:
