Is Celes Magic or Strength in Final Fantasy VI? An In-Depth Character Guide

As an ardent Final Fantasy fan and content creator, one of my favorite characters to analyze for battle strategy is Celes Chere from FFVI. Specifically, when building Celes one key question arises – should you focus on her as a magical damage dealer or physical fighter?

Celes is Both Magic AND Strength

The simple answer is that Celes is an incredibly versatile Rune Knight that can excel at BOTH magical and physical combat. Her balanced stats, badass Runic blade ability, and wide variety of equip-able weapons/armor make her a dual-threat on the battlefield.

Unlike pure mages like Terra or physical fighters like Sabin, Celes straddles the line as a powerful jack-of-all-trades character. In the right hands, she can absorb enemy spells while dishing out fiery magical pain OR suit up in heavy armor and crush foes with steel. Her flexibility is a major advantage if leveraged correctly.

So in summary:

• Celes can equip magical rods/staves AND physical swords/armor
• She naturally learns offensive magic AND has strong physical stats
• Her unique skills complement both playstyles
• Players can customize her build to optimize magic OR strength damage dealing

Now let‘s analyze Celes‘ magic and strength capabilities in more detail…

Celes‘ Magic – A Potent Black Mage with Unique Support Skills

Celes inherent magical abilities make her an extremely capable offensive black mage. She naturally learns the following spells as she levels up:

• Tier 1: Fire, Blizzard, Thunder
• Tier 2: Fira, Blizzara, Thundara
• Tier 3: Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga
• Bonus: Drain, Osmose, Holy, Flare

This wide variety of black magic covers all the elemental bases while also providing extras like HP/MP draining attacks and the ultra-damaging Holy and Flare spells.

When equipped with magical rods/staves that boost her magic power, few mages can match Celes blow-for-blow in raw magical destruction. She may not have the sheer spell variety of Terra, but her offensive magic is still formidable.

However, what makes Celes truly special is her Runic ability…

Runic – The Magic Sponge

While absorbing enemy spells to refill HP/MP is not uncommon in Final Fantasy games, Celes does it better than anyone in FFVI.

Runic allows her to completely negate AND absorb enemy magic of ALL kinds – both offensive and healing. This allows her to:

• Soak up endless enemy spells without taking damage
• Rapidly restore her HP and MP
• Prevent mages and magical enemies from attacking the party

Proper Runic timing can make Celes virtually indestructible while also fueling her own devastating magical counters. It‘s an incredible utility that perfectly complements her black mage abilities.

When it comes to magic, Celes is absolutely TOP TIER. Let‘s see how she stacks up physically…

Celes‘ Strength – A Heavy Metal Mage Slayer

Despite her mastery of magic, Celes is far from a glass-cannon squishy mage. She has the raw physical power to equip heavy armor and weapons making her an absolute mage-slaying tank.

Her balanced strength, speed, stamina, and HP growth gives her impressive survivability even when built for physical combat. When equipped with the game‘s best swords, shields, and armor she becomes nearly unstoppable.

Here are just a few of the intimidating arms & protection Celes can utilize:

Weapons

Armor

And these are just a few examples. Suffice to say, Celes can equip gear that makes her nearly impervious while hitting like a goddamn truck in melee combat.

Complement this with her save-or-suck Runic ability that disables enemy mages, and Celes is a VERITABLE NIGHTMARE for magic-oriented foes. She can shrug off the nastiest spells and magic combos while chopping casters down without breaking a sweat.

So in short – Celes brings heavy arms and hellish magic to bear as one of the most versatile threats imaginable whether specced for swords or sorcery. Now let‘s discuss how to OPTIMIZE her…

Optimizing Celes – Magical Maelstrom vs. Runic Tank

Hopefully by this point I‘ve made it clear that Celes excels at both magic and physical combat in FFVI. She‘s got the stat spread, gear options, and abilities to adapt her build for maximum damage dealing either way.

So how should YOU optimize Celes for your party? Here are two powerful build options:

Pure Mage – Magical Maelstrom

The first way to build Celes is as a pure magical damage dealer. This involves:

• Equipping magical rods/staves to maximize magic damage
• Prioritizing offensive spells like Firaga, Thundaga, Flare etc.
• Using MP restoring items/Espers to allow endless magical barrage
• Learning damage boosting Lore like Mana Power

Built this way, Celes becomes a walking supernatural disaster – able to unleash devastating elemental spells one after another (while using Runic to negate enemy magic in return).

If your party is lacking in magical damage, or you just want to watch Celes rain down meteors on the battlefield, this is by far the best build. She‘ll erase whole enemy squads in seconds flat under the right conditions.

Runic Tank – Nigh Unstoppable

However, you can also transform Celes into an unbreakable physical JUGGERNAUT to lead your party on the frontline. This involves:

• Equipping heavy swords, shields, helms and armor
• Using HP restoring items/Espers to become extremely durable
• Timing Runic properly to disable enemy magic users
• Learning support abilities like Cover and Revive

Constructed this way, Celes laughs off the nastiest enemy attacks while counter-attacking with brutal physical strikes AND ability-negating Runic magic. She also protects the rest of the squad and can even raise KO‘d allies!

If you‘ve already got strong offensive magic in your lineup, making Celes an impenetrable magic-absorbing tank is 100% viable. Enemies without physical attacks will barely scratch her.

So in closing, Celes can unleash hell with magic or steel equally well. She‘s without question one of the most flexible and powerful characters in the game. That rare combination makes her a joy to build and take into battle in so many amazing ways!

Let me know your own Celes tips, tricks and favorite builds in the comments fellow FF fans! Until next time – KEEP STRATEGIZING!