Makes all Near Death party members 'Attack'.
Description
Charge! is a Swd Art in Final Fantasy IX used by Steiner to make all Near Death allies, including himself, use Attack for a cost of 10 MP. Charge! is one of the only multi-hit attacks the player can do in Final Fantasy IX, besides Vivi's Dbl Blk and Eiko's Dbl Wht.
Obtained[]
Charge! is learned for 25 AP from Coral Sword and Aegis Gloves. Coral Sword is stolen from Lani, and bought from Treno and Lindblum after the party returns from the Outer Continent, but before going through Shimmering Island. Aegis Gloves are bought from Daguerreo in the endgame.
Mechanics[]
Charge! compels all allies in Near Death (1/6 of maximum health, yellow HP digits) to use their Attack command. The allies cannot be affected by a disabling status effect, like Berserk, Confuse, or Stop.
Use[]
Charge! lets the player get in numerous hits while only using up Steiner's turn. The ability is only useful if the other attackers in the formation are strong physical fighters and in low health: Zidane, Freya, Amarant, and tentatively Quina. As they will all use their Attack command, their attacks can be enhanced with Killer abilities and MP Attack, as well as potentially Elem-Atk gear. As this could do near 40,000 damage if everyone deals a strong blow, Charge! can be the strongest attack in the game.
The ability could be useful after an enemy uses an attack that leaves the party in critical health, such as against Ark or the final boss. It could be useful against Yans, though fighting them in low health can be doubly dangerous as they attack fast and retaliate.
The ability becomes cumbersome with Auto-Regen and inconvenient with Restore HP. Bestowing the party with Auto-Life, meanwhile, helps, easiest achieved via the support ability. This way, the party can be fairly safely kept in low health, and if they die, they spring back in low health ready to charge anew.
There is a hazardous glitch involving Charge!. When there are two or more enemies and the four party members are in Near Death, using Charge! will softlock the game if the Charge! did not kill the enemies.