Marilith (Final Fantasy XII)

The Marilith is a Rank V Mark in Final Fantasy XII. It is the ninth mark mentioned in the Clan Primer and becomes available after vanquishing the Wyvern Lord.

Marilith is found in the Invitation to Heresy area of the Zertinan Caverns, in the sunlit room (bottom right portion of map, where the shape of the room looks like the letter "C"), but the party must remain in the area for five minutes before it will show up. Its name is a reference to Marilith, the Fire Fiend from the original Final Fantasy. It is also fought in the International Zodiac Job System Trial Mode at stage 34 along with three Bogeys.

Hunt 09: A Tingling Toast

 * Petitioner: Tavernmaster
 * Petitioner's Location: Rabanastre (The Sandsea)


 * ''Saw bill posted for the hunting of the Marilith (Rank V). The petitioner is the tavernmaster at the Sandsea tavern in Rabanastre.
 * ''Hunt accepted. The tavernmaster wants you to collect an important ingredient for making wine from the mark. The Marilith is to be found in Zertinan Caverns, somewhere near the Dalmasca Westersand. You'll just have to perform a thorough search to find out where.
 * ''Marilith defeated! Report to the tavernmaster at the Sandsea tavern in Rabanastre.
 * Hunt reported. You can practically taste the sweet serpentwyne already.

Bestiary Entry

 * Genus: Rank V Mark
 * Classification: Crimson Serpent

How to Find
When the player enters the Zertinan Caverns via the south part of Dalmasca Westersand they will be right by the area where Marilith resides in Invitation to Heresy. Marilith will jump out from the grass at the sunny spot to the west of the area. The player must have cleared the area of monsters. After five minutes, go to the bottom of the upside down, F-shape place in the map and Marilith will appear. It is not necessary to walk during the five minutes.

Battle
Marilith starts out with Protect, Shell and Haste. Marilith attacks fast, but just with normal attacks and Tail Spear, which can inflict Slow and Sap. Marilith is immune to Thunder damage and weak against Water damage. Even though the mark has Null Evade, it can be inflicted with Blind or Silence, and blocking or parrying (with Jade Collar) its attacks is possible. Marilith will usually always attack the closest character, but if a ranged attacker uses say, a Water Mote on it, the Marilith may change target and immediately use Tail Spear on them. Using Water magick however, doesn't make it change target unlike items. Marilith ignores the Lure effect and has an increased likelihood of combos towards the end. After having lost half of its HP, Marilith will enter a new battle phase and will no longer ignore shields.

Strategy
The party should start out by casting Dispel on Marilith. Getting Haste back up after being afflicted with Slow is useful as not to lose time in an already fast fight. Because Marilith uses physical attacks, Protect is helpful.

The most effective debuffs to cast are Blind and Slow. The easiest way to inflict Marilith with statuses is with the Nihopalaoa + Remedy trick.

As Marilith will usually attack the closest character, the player can set one melee character as bait and equip the others with ranged weapons and magick, however, if the ranged attacking character is targeted they may die almost instantly if not fully prepared.

After Marilith is below half of its health any close-range attackers should equip a shield to protect against Marilith's combo rate; with shield block and Blind the party can block many of its attacks. To quickly reduce its HP down below half, Quickenings work well. To retaliate after performing Quickenings, a melee character should keep Marilith attacking him/her while the other two resort in attacking from a distance and use Charge to restore their MP.

The melee character is greatly recommended with the best Evasion granting shield available, and the Main Gauche, as it provides 34 Evade. Once the Marilith is blinded, its attacks are almost useless to a melee character with 50 Evade and with the Gauntlets accessory. Shield Block augments are recommended, and if the character has 50 Evade, equipped with the Gauntlets and all of the Shield Block augments, Marilith's attacks while blinded have a mere 2/15 chance to hit, but the two can still be blocked with the Main Gauche's Evade. If feared that the melee character may not be able to tank properly, the character should equip the Shielded Armor for constant Protect buff, and Regen helps as well.

The ranged attackers should equip Crossbows as it is fast and damage is consistent. Magick casting characters should use the best staff available and only the Water spell. Since Marilith may speed up again after recovering from Slow, the magick-oriented character should have either the Magick Gloves or the Serenity augment with full HP so that they may inflict Slow with greater accuracy. If for say, the character uses Water magick, and wields one-handed weapon and the best shield available, the Jade Collar will be their best friend. The character which uses the Crossbow should also equip the Jade Collar in case Marilith will change targets, but the Jade Collar (even with high Evade) may be useless against the Marilith unless the Marilith is blinded.

Rewards

 * 2,200 gil
 * Serpent Eye
 * Teleport Stone x3

The player will also receive a Serpentwyne Musk after the battle, which is given to the Tavernmaster when the hunt is reported. If the player talks to Migelo after this hunt, they will find out he is the one who ordered the serpentwyne.

Related Enemies

 * Wildsnake
 * Viper
 * Python
 * Serpent
 * Basilisk
 * Nidhogg (Mark)
 * Grey Molter (Rare)
 * Midgardsormr (Rare)

Marilith (FFXII) Marilith (Final Fantasy XII)