Dragon's Crest (ability)



Dragon's Crest (竜の紋章) is an ability in Final Fantasy IX. It is part of the Dragon skillset utilized by Freya, and increases in power as the party defeats dragon-type enemies. Freya doesn't have to be in the party for Dragon's Crest's power to increase; dragons that were defeated before Freya learned it count as well. The formula is as follows:

$$Damage = (Number\ of\ dragons\ defeated)^2$$

For example, if the party has defeated 50 dragon-type enemies, Dragon's Crest will deal 2500 damage, while defeating 75 dragons will mean that Dragon's Crest deals 5625 damage. As such, killing only 100 dragons throughout the game will power it up to its maximum 9999 damage.

Dragon's Crest can only be learned from the Holy Lance and Kain's Lance and costs 16 MP to use. It is potentially one of the strongest attacks in the game, tied with Zidane's Thievery, Beatrix and Steiner's Shock and Quina's Frog Drop, as it completely ignores the target's defense as well as the Protect status.