Grand Dragon is a Post-Game Boss in Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake (DQ3). Check out their information and moveset, as well as the best strategies and party to beat them!

Notice!	At the request of Square Enix, no post-game images are allowed to be shown until December 13, 2024.

Grand Dragon Basic Information

Grand Dragon Stats and Information

You don't need to be Lv. 99 for this fight, but it is highly recommended to have nearly maxed-out stats at least.

Grand Dragon Weaknesses

Grand Dragon Moveset

Grand Dragon Spells and Abilities

How to Beat Grand Dragon

• Wear Spell and Breath Resistant Gear
• Attack With Wild Side Monster Pile-Ons
• Have the Hero as Your Main Healer
• Put the Grand Dragon to Sleep
• Have Counters to Status Ailments
• Bring a Ton of Dieamends
• Dispel Any Offensive Buffs

Wear Spell and Breath Resistant Gear

Similar to Xenlon, the Grand Dragon has a ton of Spell and Breath attacks. To counter this, you'll want to make sure that your entire party is using Spell and Breath-resistant equipment.

Again, you'll still want to have a balanced defense stat since this boss has some Physical attacks that can hit pretty hard.

List of Spell and Breath Resistant Equipment

The Hero's Shield and Auroral Armour are Hero-exclusive equipment.

List of Equipment

Attack With Wild Side Monster Pile-Ons

Grand Dragon has a pretty high defense stat, and they won't take any significant damage unless you have a high Strength stat. To bypass this, you can use Monter Pile-On instead since its damage is based on your amount of friendly monsters.

Before taking on this boss, you'll want to make sure that you've recruited every friendly monster to maximize the damage potential of this ability.

Monster Pile-On Effects and Level Learned

Have the Hero as Your Main Healer

Since your main form of damage will be coming from Monster Pile-On, the Hero will take on a more supportive role rather than an attacking one. They're also the only one who learns Omniheal, which is great if everyone's low HP.

Hero Job Class and Best Personality

Put the Grand Dragon to Sleep

One way to make this boss easier is by putting the Grand Dragon to sleep. To help guarantee this, you'll want to use the combination of Wild Side and a Duplic Hat to cast Snooze 4 times.

Snooze Effects and Level Learned

Have Counters to Status Ailments

This fight can get pretty annoying since the Grand Dragon can apply sleep, confusion, and paralysis depending on the move it uses. Make sure to wear equipment and accessories that prevent these ailments, or at least have spells and abilities that cure them if you don't.

All Status Effects and How to Cure

Bring a Ton of Dieamends

Another thing to watch out for is the Grand Dragon casting Thwack, potentially instakilling party members. Because most of your equipment is dedicated to countering its attacks and status ailments, you'll want to bring Dieamends instead to absorb the hit for you.

How to Get Dieamend and Effects

Dispel Any Offensive Buffs

At some point, Grand Dragon will apply buffs on itself, making the fight much harder. As soon as it uses Oomph or Channel Anger, dispel those immediately with the Aurora Staff or a Ripple of Disruption.

As for it casting Buff, you can completely ignore it since Monster Pile-On bypasses the boss' defense stat anyways.

Grand Dragon Alternate Strategy

• Strategy Notes for This Fight
• Train Two Thieves with 600+ STR
• Equip Two Sages With Duplic Hats
• Use Cheer on Highest Attack Thief
• Can't Refight Boss if Killed Too Quickly

Strategy Notes for This Fight

Train Two Thieves with 600+ STR

If you want to defeat this boss quickly, then you'll need Thieves with over 600 Strength to deal tons of damage with Persecutter, especially when combined with a Wild Side buff.

The reason why Thieves are chosen over other Vocations is because they can use Falcon Blades, allowing them to attack with Persecutter twice. When combined with Wild Side, this lets them use the ability four times per turn!

EXP Farming Guide: How to Level Up Fast

Can Also Use Merchants Instead of Thieves

As a note, you can use Merchants instead of Thieves for better defenses, but they would be noticeably slower and they could die before they're able to act.

Equip Two Sages With Duplic Hats

Before entering this fight, make sure that you have two Sages with Duplic Hats equipped. This is important so that you can cast spells up to four times, when combined with Wild Side, ensuring that you're maximizing your Snooze casts.

As a note, you can ignore using Wild Side on your second Sage since their priority is to buff and debuff. Also, defense drops on the boss are already maximized when Sap is casted twice.

Egg On Your Highest Attack Thief

Once your second Sage is done using the War Drum and casting Sap, they'll want to Egg On your Thief with the highest attack stat to further increase their damage. Make sure to do this every turn to quickly beat this boss fight.

However, you should always prioritize recasting any buff and debuffs since this will help both Thieves instead of just the one.

Egg On Effects and Level Learned

Can't Refight Boss if Killed Too Quickly

It should be noted that if you defeat the boss extremely quickly, like in and around 10 turns, they will go to sleep permanently and you won't be able to challenge them again.

If you want to refight this boss after using this strategy, then it is recommended to make a separate save just in case.

Best Parties to Beat Grand Dragon

Monster Pile-On Party Composition

Vocation	Role and
Hero	・Cast Omniheal to restore the party to full HP. ・Use the Sage's Stone when allies are above 50% HP. ・Use the Sunstone and Aurora Staff when applicable.
Warrior	Merchant - Monster Wrangler - Warrior ・Spam Wild Side + Moster Pile-On.
Martial Artist	Thief - Monster Wrangler - Martial Artist ・Spam Wild Side + Moster Pile-On. ・Help heal with Wild Side + Sage's Stone if needed. ・Remove any buffs with Ripple of Disruption.
Sage	Mage - Sage - Monster Wrangler - Gadabout - Sage ・Utilize Wild Side + Duplic Hat to cast Snooze 4 times. ・Cast defensive buffs on the party if the boss is asleep. ・Can use Monster Pile-On if there are free turns. ・Cure allies of any status ailments.

This team composition is the standard setup that's been used in previous boss fights, like for Xenlon. Just make sure that everyone is at a high enough level for this boss and that you've recruited all 121 friendly monsters to maximize the damage of Monster Pile-On.

DQ3 All Friendly Monster Locations

Persecutter Party Composition

Vocation	Role and Explanations
Thief	Thief - Monster Wrangler - Warrior - Martial Artist - Thief ・Deal massive damage with Wild Side + Falcon Blade + Persecutter. ・Level up with the Paragon personality for 600+ strength. ・Bring a Sage' Stone in case of emergency heals.
Thief	Merchant - Monster Wrangler - Martial Artist - Warrior - Thief ・Deal massive damage with Wild Side + Falcon Blade + Persecutter. ・Level up with the Paragon personality for 600+ strength. ・Bring a Sage' Stone in case of emergency heals.
Sage	Mage - Monster Wrangler - Gadabout - Sage ・Utilize Wild Side + Duplic Hat to cast Snooze 4 times. ・Cast Sap if they're still asleep next turn.
Sage	Monster Wrangler - Thief - Gadabout - Sage ・Use a Battle Drum to cast Oomph on the party. ・Cast Sap if the other Sage can't. ・Egg On the Thief with the highest attack stat. ・Heal with Wild Side + Duplic Hat + Multiheal if needed.

This is a more optimized strategy that can easily beat the Grand Dragon well under the turn requirement. However, this requires you to remove the Hero from the party and train up a new party member from scratch.

DQ3 Best Party Setup

Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake (DQ3) Related Guides

List of Bosses

Story Bosses

Post-Game Bosses