Floating "family"

From Dragon Quest Wiki

The Floating "family" is a loosely connected assortment of monsters that in older titles shared a vulnerability to Flying Knee and Wing-Clipper, and in recent games are immune to any one-turn stun moves that attempt to knock the target down. Unlike actual families, there is no single unifying theme to the group aside from the aforementioned weakness and resistant, and even that is tenuous.

"Floating" is something of a misnomer, as several monsters are shown with their feet planted firmly on the ground and yet are classified as such, where as some monsters that hover in place (such as the Wraithwand) are exempt.

Appearances

Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation

Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

Having the flaying status means that an enemy is immune to Trip of a Deathtime.

Dragon Quest X

Floating monsters are fully immune to the Rubblerouser spell line, and take 20% more damage from the Harvest Moon skill.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age

Erik's series of soil spells are resisted by all floating enemies, with the degree of resistance varying between species, and Harvest Moon's damage multiplier has been raised to 250%. Additionally, certain co-op techniques cannot reach flying monsters at all nor can any knock down abilities.