Who did you defeat Lavos with the 1st Time?

[dan]

I used Crono, Frog, and Marle to beat Lavos because their my three favorite characters.

As other people have said, they make a pretty good party. Crono and Frog have some pretty good double-techs and Marle is an excellent healer.

[Weggy]

My "standard" CT party has always been Crono, Marle, and Ayla.  That's always worked well for me.

For CC it was Serge, Kid, and Glenn, like many others.  If I had a 4th slot I wouldve used Zoah.  He cracks me up, I like to assume hes yelling every one of his lines.

[Azarath]

Crono, Magus and Ayla. It was a little hard, but it was fun.

[saridon]

Crono, Magus and Ayla easy so very easy one triple kick and the left bit (your left) of lavos is pwned

[Kazuki]

Crono, Magus and Ayla easy so very easy one triple kick and the left bit (your left) of lavos is pwned

Agreed. That's the combo I used to beat Lavos the fastest with, and it was a breeze.

[Radical_Dreamer]

The last time I used the girls, and the Red Star caved. Of course, they were all around level 64, so that helps.

[Enker Of The Frost]

I think quite possibly, the worst team to use is Crono, Magus, and Frog. The three of them really have no connection to one another in terms of triple techs, so automatically, you're at a disadvantage, and each one of them is really an attacking character, especially Magus and Crono.

Granted, Frog can Cure a bit, and Crono has Life on his side, but you'll mostly be sticking to items with Magus.

On the Pro, you'll be throwing a lot of attacks Lavos's way...

They were my first team to beat Lavos, merely because I wanted to hear their dialogue.

[Kazuki]

The first time I beat Lavos I never even used triple and practically no double techs, and I still do (unless I'm experimenting). I just find them unnescessary when powerful single techs work just as well (though I do never defeat Lavos very fast >_>)

[Weggy]

I think the game is set up to the point where you can have pretty much any group and do ok.  The only one I could conceive some problems with is Crono, Lucca, and Magus.  That no healing could get you in trouble, but if you steal a few Megalixers from Ruminators, it shouldn't be an issue.

I usually don't like to use Magus though.  Having no double techs and having to give up an valuable accessory slot to do a Triple Tech, with only a few specific characters, really turns me off.

[Zenning]

I think the game is set up to the point where you can have pretty much any group and do ok.  The only one I could conceive some problems with is Crono, Lucca, and Magus.  That no healing could get you in trouble, but if you steal a few Megalixers from Ruminators, it shouldn't be an issue.

I usually don't like to use Magus though.  Having no double techs and having to give up an valuable accessory slot to do a Triple Tech, with only a few specific characters, really turns me off.

Total agreement with everything you said!

My dream team for killing Lavos is Crono, Robo, and Ayla.

Crono doing Confuse on the Bit, and Luminaire on the Humanoid and Core, Ayla can use Triple Kick on all three, and Robo uses Uzzi Punch on the Bit, and Shock on the Humanoid and Core. (The Bit is the one that heals the Humanoid by 2000HP and absorbs elemental attacks).

As for healing, like you said, Megaelixirs acquired by stealing from the Ruminators in the Black Omen. They're the double-headed snake creatures, for those who don't know).

Like you said, Magus is pretty hard to use in the fight against Lavos.

I've only tried alternate teams when playing New Game +, when I could only use the characters I'd gotten up to that point in the story.

Crono, Ayla, and Robo is the easiest team to defeat Lavos with, provided you have Megaelixirs.

[Eriol]

I sum up Marle's contribution with one word: Haste.  If she only threw wet towels at him the rest of the fight, she'd STILL be worth it ONLY for that.  WAY easier with all your characters hasted than w/o IMO.  That she's a great healer is just icing on the cake.

And I'm with everyone else on the value of powerful single-techs over double/triples.  Some doubles are more dmg than their component parts (Antipode 3 > Flare + Ice2), but mostly the powerful singles (Luminaire, Dark Matter) are way better than any combination, especially if it's a triple-tech.  For example, Omega Flare is worse dmg than Dark Matter + Flare + Shock.  More mana-efficient perhaps, but if you're looking for max-dmg in minimum-time, they're just not as good at the end-game.  Earlier on they are (Delta Force and Delta Storm rock mid-game), but by the end of the game their power just doesn't scale.

Hence why I've never been that fond of Ayla in the final battle (she rocks in most other situations though).  She just doesn't have multiple-damage techs.  Doubled up yes, but in the final Lavos battles I've always considered doing lots of damage to EVERYTHING on the screen as more efficient than single-target at-a-time.

But that's just me.

[Kazuki]

I just never found double/triple techs nescessary, and I never really planned my party around them.

[V_Translanka]

For example, Omega Flare is worse dmg than Dark Matter + Flare + Shock.

Omega Flare should probably be compared to it's component Techs though: Flare, Laser Spin, & Dark Bomb, but your point still holds anyways because they probably have the more advanced Techs when they get the Black Rock (& Magus).

The only Double Tech I ever plan around is DoubleBomb w/Lucca & Robo because it kicks the Lavos Core's ass (as does regular Area Bomb).

[Leviticus]

Crono, Ayla, Robo. People hate me for using Ayla, because they feel she isn't worth it. However, I do. Robo is a healer/attacker. He can Uzzi Punch (It does more damage than Area Bomb, and can hit anyone) or Heal Beam when necessary. He has a Haste Helm, so that he can get another turn quickly if he attacks. Ayla is good because of Volt Bite with Crono, but she has Triple Kick too, which helps. Finally, who wouldn't use Crono?(my retarted friend, actually, but that's besides the point) He has Luminaire, which is an amazing attack magic, and he has Confuse, which hits around 2000 total on Lavos, any form. He has Life, so he can revive, and is the most well-rounded character. It just works, I dunno. I suppose I could change Ayla (she's only REALLY good at Lv99, which I don't have the patience for.), but I don't know who I would change it to. Magus, I guess, or maybe Marle. I actually posted my Crono Ayla Robo team on GameFAQs. It's in the general board, not social.

[Eriol]

For example, Omega Flare is worse dmg than Dark Matter + Flare + Shock.

Omega Flare should probably be compared to it's component Techs though: Flare, Laser Spin, & Dark Bomb, but your point still holds anyways because they probably have the more advanced Techs when they get the Black Rock (& Magus).

My philosophy is usually to NOT consider the mana cost, and merely consider "what is the maximum damage I can get through ANY techs with these specific people", and thus I compare omega with the max techs of the people there, not just the techs used to create the triple.  Hence why once I'm fully hasted, if Lucca and Marle are in the grp I ALWAYS do antipode3, since it IS better than ice2 and flare.  It just happens that's also the combination for casting the double-tech, but that's purely coincidence.

Same idea when I took magus, Lucca, and Marle into Lavos.  I wanted to see what Dark Eternal would do, but it just wasn't as good as Darkmatter and Flare alone, not even counting Marle's mediocre ice2 contribution.  So I switched partway through the fight.  =D

Still, interesting contributions from everybody here on what they used.