Climhazzard (Final Fantasy IX)

Climhazzard
(クライムハザード, Kuraimu Hazādo?, lit. Climb Hazard)
Availability
Obtained	Excalibur, Excalibur II
Character(s)	Steiner, Beatrix
AP	70
Classification
Skillset	Swd Art, Seiken
Effect	Magic damage to all enemies
Specifications
MP cost	32
Power	2x normal damage
Related pages
Recurring appearance	Climhazzard

Causes Non-elemental damage to all enemies.

Description

Climhazzard is a Swd Art and a Seiken in Final Fantasy IX used by Steiner and Beatrix to inflict magic damage onto all enemies for the cost of 32 MP. Beatrix also uses it when she is faced as a boss with a different effect.

Obtained

Steiner learns Climhazzard for 35 AP from Excalibur and Excalibur II. Excalibur is obtained in Daguerreo by giving the Magical Fingertip to the old man in the library, won from the Treno Auction House. To make the Magical Fingertip appear in the auction, the player needs to have bought Une's Mirror, Doga's Artifact, Griffin's Heart and the Rat Tail and sold them in the town to the nobleman and adventurer that walk around the Bishop's House and to the scholar in the synthesis shop. The Magical Fingertip will then be sold in the auction, but only once, and only once the party has assumed control of the Invincible.

Excalibur II is a trophy item for a successful speed run of the game, where the player reaches the weapon's residing place in the final dungeon in under 12 hours playtime.

Beatrix knows the ability natively and uses it when faced as a boss, and when she is briefly playable as a guest during the Battle of Alexandria.

Mechanics

When used via Swd Art or Seiken, Climhazzard deals non-elemental damage to all enemies. Unusually, it is considered a magical ability and checks against the target's Magic Defense, but still has its power determined by the user's Strength stat.

$Base = Attack * 2 - Target's Magic Defense$

$Bonus = Strength + RndMOD ([(Level + Strength) / 8] + 1)$

$Damage = Base * Bonus$

Where Rnd means a random number, while MOD means modulus operation. "Rnd MOD x" can be read as a random number between 0 and x-1.

Damage is halved by the enemy being under Shell and the user being under Mini. It does not wake sleeping enemies.

Beatrix uses Climhazzard as a boss.

When Beatrix uses Climhazzard as a boss, it works differently: she uses it as her final attack to reduce the player party's HP to 1 in Alexandria Castle to end the battle.

Use

Climhazzard is Steiner's best move against groups of enemies. Its major downside is that it is obtained so late that the player is likely no longer encountering groups of enemies, besides possibly Yans; a good strategy is to use Quina's Night, followed by Steiner's Climhazzard against a group of Yans, and then Freya's Dragon Breath to finish them off (Steiner may need a cast of Might to reach 9999 with Climhazzard, depending on his level).

Against single targets, which all encounters in the endgame dungeons and bosses are, Shock is the best ability to use, and could be available before Climhazzard if the player has been prioritizing Chocobo Hot and Cold. However, it costs more MP to use, and so if Climhazzard already kills a single enemy, it is still worth using. For even less MP, Steiner could be using -ga tier spells with Swd Mag, able to exploit an enemy's weakness, as long as Vivi is in the party.

Origin

Climhazzard is Cloud Strife's Limit Break from Final Fantasy VII. Steiner's version seems based on the version Cloud uses in Final Fantasy Tactics, being magic-based. The name "climb hazard" does not make sense in the context of Final Fantasy IX, but in the original, Cloud leaped high into the air to deliver his blow.