Many of the bosses you’ll face in Suikoden aren’t too difficult, since you have the benefit of so many different party members to choose from, but the Zombie Dragon might just be a pain. You don’t have too many Runes just yet. You’re forced to use certain people, one of whom might be substantially weaker than your other allies, so it can be a bit of a challenge.
How do I beat the Zombie Dragon in Suikoden?
The Zombie Dragon is the boss at Toran Lake Castle and the one thing standing between you, a hub, and the ability to recruit 108 allies. First, head to Kaku. Talk to Camille in the pub to “recruit” her. Then, if you want, go ahead and talk to Tai Ho in the basement and beat him at his dice game to convince him to take you to the dungeon. (Honestly, I “lost” against him the first time, then “won” the second. So it might have a failsafe of sorts.)
Don’t go to the dungeon yet.
What you want to do is invest in the allies you have. Cleo? She should have the Fire Rune Tir acquired during his initial Scarlet Moon Empire missions and meeting with Leknaat. Camille? Since she’ll be in the back row with Cleo, but her a Water Rune and attach it. Wander around the area and get Tir, Gremio, Viktor, Cleo, and Camille up to about level 15 to 16. Go to the nearest town with a blacksmith and, at the very least, get Tir, Gremio, and Viktor’s weapons maxed out for the moment. Doing so for Camille isn’t a bad idea either. Cleo will be acting as your mage and healer, so you don’t need to worry about her. Also, stock up on Medicines and make sure each person has one in their personal inventories so they can heal in a pinch. Have a second one purchased for your eventual sixth ally.
Return to Kaku, then head to Toran Lake Castle on Tai Ho’s boat. Once you land, he’ll join your party. He’ll be about 3-4 levels lower than everyone else, but he will already have a Medicine. I recommend giving him that extra Medicine I mentioned earlier and ensuring he’s in the rear row.
Go through the dungeon. It’s honestly not too difficult. The enemies can be beaten on auto-battle, even. The good news is, you’ll probably get everyone (minus Tai Ho) up to level 18. There’ll be a save point near the end of the underground caverns area, and the Suikoden HD Remaster version will autosave at that point.
The Zombie Dragon is really only an intimidating Suikoden boss because you can’t choose your allies and we really only have the Fire Rune and Water Runes to cope. Its single-target attacks aren’t a big deal, and healing from that is easy enough. The issue here is that it will use an AOE attack that will hit everyone in the party. This usually won’t happen twice in a row, so you will have a chance to heal everyone up on the turn after that type of strike.
Your goal is to have Tir, Gremio, Viktor, Camille, and Tai Ho attacking whenever feasible. The Zombie Dragon is weak against the Fire Rune’s spells in Suikoden, so Cleo should use those attacks until they run out. Once they do, she and Tai Ho should be the primary healers, with Camille chiming in whenever the AOE attack happens.
Keep everyone’s health up and you’ll be fine. Make sure you brainstorm a castle name while you fight, as you’ll get to name your new home when it is done.
Suikoden 1 and 2 HD Remaster: Gate Rune and Dunan Unification Wars will come to the PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam on March 6, 2025. The original games appeared on the PlayStation worldwide. They also appeared together in a collection on the PSP in Japan.
Published: Mar 6, 2025 08:30 am