Template:Sideicon Template:FFV Enemy Template:See Also Shinryu, also known as Dragon Lord, is one of the two original superbosses in Final Fantasy V. Shinryu attacks the party when they inspect the monster-in-a-box containing the Ragnarok in the Interdimensional Rift's Inner Sanctum.
It can be argued whether Shinryu or Omega is the game's hardest boss, excluding the GBA and mobile exclusive bosses. While Shinryu has stronger attacks, its strongest attacks can be protected against, and it is weak against certain weapons due to being a dragon-type enemy.
In the iOS version defeating Shinryu earns the player the Demon Dragon achievement.
Battle
Shinryu's attacks define the battle's difficulty. It uses strong elemental attacks, the most dangerous being the Tsunami it uses on the first turn. Unguarded, it will inflict over 8,000 damage wiping out all but the strongest party members. Shinryu has an arsenal of Blue Magic, as well as status inflicting attacks.
- Atomic Ray - Fire-elemental damage to all targets.
- Ice Storm - Ice-elemental damage to all targets.
- Tidal Wave - Water-elemental damage to all targets.
- Lightning - Lightning-elemental damage to all targets.
- Maelstrom - Reduces all targets' HP to single digits.
- Evil Eye - Petrifies a target.
- Poison Breath - damage to all targets and sometimes inflicts Poison.
- Zombie Breath - damage to all targets, and sometimes inflicts Zombie.
- Level 2 Old - those with levels divisible by 2 are inflicted with Old.
- Level 3 Flare - those with levels divisible by 3 get Flared.
- Roulette - randomly kills a party member.
- Mighty Guard - casts Protect, Shell, and Float to itself.
Strategy
A good strategy is to equip everybody with Coral Rings and Ice Shields to absorb Shinryu's Tsunami and Ice attack, and to nullify its Atomic Ray. It would be a good idea to set up and keep re-establishing Golem. Before the battle, the player should ensure to have the Steal or Mug ability to get the Dragon's Whisker.
An easy way of beating Shinryu is by making a character a Time Mage with the Mix ability and to cast Quick, then mix Eye Drops and a Dragon Fang to cast Dark Sigh which will inflict Blind on Shinryu. Then mix a Turtle Shell and a Revivify to cast Bacchus's Cider to inflict Berserk. This makes Shinryu easy to defeat, as all he can do is attack but have his attack absorbed by Golem. The character with the Mix command can further mix a Turtle Shell and an Antidote to lower Shinryu's defense, and this can be used repeatedly. Gil Toss and Meteo are good ways to deal damage.
One of the easiest ways to beat Shinryu takes lots of training beforehand. All characters must have Ninja and Dragoon mastered so that Freelancers will have a default Dual Wield and Jump. The player should equip everybody with Coral Rings and two Dragon Lances each and have every character equip Jump. After the Coral Rings absorb Tidal Wave the player should use Jump with everybody. With a party at around level 50, Shinryu should be defeated after three party members attack.
Those looking to farm Dragon's Whisker on Shinryu can place the cursor to memory in config and have someone as a Samurai or Freelancer with the Steal ability, and with the Masamune equipped, possibly while equipped with Thief's Gloves, though not entirely necessary. A Time Mage with Hermes Sandals should Teleport immediately after the person with the Masamune, but before Shinryu makes a move. The player can rubber-band the action button and leave the game to keep on accumulating Dragon's Whiskers. This works for mobile versions too.
Other appearances
Pictlogica Final Fantasy
Template:Sideicon
Shinryu from Final Fantasy V appears as an enemy in Pictlogica Final Fantasy.
Gallery
Etymology
Shinryu is the Japanese on'yomi name for Shénlóng, literally "god/divine dragon", an important ancient dragon in Chinese mythology. It is said to preside over storms and rain, and can bring disastrous drought, thunderstorms and general bad weather if it feels neglected and/or angered.
Though Shinryu's name is taken from the East Asian dragon which normally is depicted with four claws and no wings, it does not greatly resemble the mythological Shénlóng, as it originally had five claws on each hand as opposed to four as a way to show higher-rank (as well as sharing the same azure color as another mythological dragon, the Qīnglóng/Seiryu).
The Final Fantasy depiction of Shinryu's most iconic recurring design more closely resembles the European wyvern, a dragon-like serpent with two claws and two wings.
Trivia
- The thousand-year-old book in the library on the Interdimensional Rift states, "The dragon Shinryu came upon Omega's heels." In the Anthology version, the book refers to Shinryu as "Lord Dragon," despite the enemy still being called "Shinryu".