Wristlet made from bones.
Description
The Bone Wrist is an arm guard in Final Fantasy IX that everyone but Steiner and Freya can wear. It teaches Add Status, which the wielder make use of their weapon's innate status effect in all cases but Zidane's thief swords. The Bone Wrist is used in synthesis and strengthens the wearer's Earth damage. It provides a bonus to the wearer's Strength when they level up with it equipped.
Obtain[]
The Bone Wrist can be bought for 330 gil in Treno (when visited with Garnet and Steiner), Cleyra, Lindblum (second storyline visit), Black Mage Village (before going through the Shimmering Island portal), Alexandria, and Daguerreo (before going through the Shimmering Island portal). It is also stolen from Ralvurahva, the boss in Gargan Roo when Marcus is the party's thief.
Mechanics[]
The Bone Wrist provides 13 physical Evasion and 9 Magic Evasion, improving the wearer's chance to avoid damage. The armlet strengthens the wearer's Earth damage by +50%, compatible with Quina's Earth Shake and Fenrir's Terrestrial Rage. Equipping other Earth Elem-Atk gear concurrently does not stack the effect.
The wrist gives a +1 bonus to the wearer's Strength when they level up with it equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Strength is a generally good stat to raise for physical attackers, which is used in damage calculations and to determine the character's HP growth.
Use[]
The Bone Wrist is the best arm guard for Dagger when she is the party leader in Treno and Gargan Roo boss battle, as well as for Zidane, Vivi, and Quina for Cleyra's Trunk until the superior Mythril Armlet can be purchased from Cleyra.
The ability Add Status from the wrist is good to master for everyone to make use of their weapons' innate status effects, though it does not work with Zidane's thief swords.
The Bone Wrist strengthens the wearer's Earth damage, but Quina cannot learn Earth Shake yet when the Bone Wrist is the party's strongest arm guard and Eiko has yet to join. Earth Elem-Atk is most useful for Eiko's Fenrir, but she can also get the effect from a Twist Headband or a Gaia Gear.
The Strength boost from the wrist is useful even for characters who do not physically attack as it matters for HP growth. However, level grinding is unadvised unless the player is stuck in a boss or a dungeon. The best stat-boosting gear will be available late into the game, and so for the best stats one would need to limit their level ups until the endgame. Level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary in a normal playthrough even when preparing for superbosses, and so the player can treat the extra Strength or HP as simply a nice bonus.
The Bone Wrist is used in synthesis to make Magician Shoes (earliest when Dagger visits Treno) and Madain's Ring (earliest when the party reaches Black Mage Village).
The guest characters from Tantalus can also wear the Bone Wrist, though the player is no obligation to outfit them. Cinna and Blank are in the party too early for the player to be able to equip them with the Bone Wrist in a normal playthrough, but they could equip it onto Marcus during the time he is traveling with Dagger and Steiner.