Dark Yojimbo is an optional boss in the International, PAL and HD Remaster versions of Final Fantasy X. He becomes available after leaving and reentering to Cavern of the Stolen Fayth after completing its events.
Encountering[]
Dark Yojimbo is encountered in the back of the cavern, and must be defeated five times consecutively. Even if he has already been summoned, the party can opt not to fight him and leave using the teleporter. The player can use the save sphere between battles to heal up, but getting a Game Over or triggering a soft reset will require starting again from the first battle.
The player can exit and reenter the Cavern of the Stolen Fayth (or simply enter the blitzball menu in a save sphere) and fight Dark Yojimbo as many times as they wish, as long as they do not defeat him for the fifth time in a consecutive order, to farm Dark Matters and Master Spheres (Master Spheres are a rare drop), as well as weapons with Break Damage Limit, or armor with Ribbon and/or Break HP Limit. Dark Yojimbo is arguably the best way for farming late game gear, and can be done as early as after obtaining Yojimbo.
The third encounter can be skipped. Doing this will alter the cutscenes; defeating Dark Yojimbo five times in a row has the summoner bow and leave the cave peacefully, while four victories will have the summoner look scared and run out of the cave in panic. If the player skips the third fight, Dark Yojimbo won't be considered defeated, thus not unlocking Penance. The player can re-enter the cave and fight him again five times to defeat him properly.
Upon encountering Dark Yojimbo, random encounters will be disabled. They return when one of the following occurs:
- The player wins the fifth Dark Yojimbo encounter.
- The player uses the teleporter near the end to return to the entrance (this resets Dark Yojimbo kill count).
- The player uses the teleporter near the end to travel to either of the adjacent rooms and teleports back.
- The player exits the area (this resets the Dark Yojimbo kill count).
Stats[]
Battle[]
Dark Yojimbo always ambushes the party in the first battle, even with Initiative. The player can still act before him by using First Strike weapons.
Kozuka and Daigoro target a single character, but Wakizashi targets the whole party. Dark Yojimbo's Overdrive—Zanmato—deals 99,999 damage to the whole party and removes Auto-Life. Dark Yojimbo's Overdrive gauge increases by 2% when targeted and by varying amounts when performing an action: 6% in the first battle, 10% in the second, 16% in the third, 20% in the fourth, and 26% in the fifth. These also represent how full the gauge will be after using Zanmato. Unlike many of the other Dark Aeons' Overdrives in the game, Dark Yojimbo's Zanmato is based on his Strength stat and, as such, inflicts physical damage rather than special magic damage that can only be reduced with another aeon's Shield.
Kozuka inflicts Full Break and Slow. If Daigoro KOs a party member not protected against petrification, that character will shatter and will be unavailable and unreplacable for the remainder of the battle. This attack also inflicts Poison.
Strategy[]
The battle is easier if all characters have maxed out Strength, Defense, and at least 170 Agility and 114 Luck. Luck can be lower if the player uses Aim up to five times (or Ultra NulAll, which includes this effect) to improve their accuracy. Stoneproof/Ribbon, Auto-Haste, Auto-Protect, and Auto-Phoenix are also useful, if not necessary. Rikku's Ultra NulAll grants maximum stat boosts to the party. With 255 Defense, armor with Auto-Haste, Auto-Protect, Defense +20%, and Auto-Potion is more than enough and can bring Wakizashi's damage below 9999 damage, making Break HP Limit unnecessary. It is best to have X-Potions to optimize Auto-Potion. Otherwise, Rikku's Trio of 9999 can make the use of Potions and Hi-Potions viable. Trio of 9999 can even allow Al Bhed Potions to be used to counter Daigoro. The character attacked by Daigoro is thus fully recovered in one turn versus two.
A high Defense stat can mitigate damage from Daigoro, Kozuka, and Wakizashi, as can measures such as Protect or Cheer. One character could use Sentinel just before Dark Yojimbo's turn comes up, so if the boss uses Daigoro or Kozuka, only this character gets hit (for reduced damage); in this case, only the Sentinel character needs Stoneproof/Ribbon on their armor.
The only way to survive Zanmato is to call an aeon to take the blow. Since Zanmato inflicts extreme physical damage instead of special magic damage, an aeon using Shield with max Defense (255) will take around 50,000 damage from Zanmato; this can be reduced to around 34,000 with Cheer. Using Shield may allow an aeon to survive Zanmato without having to call in a second aeon. It is also possible to defeat Dark Yojimbo by using an aeon; the Magus Sisters and Anima are recommended.
The player can simply power through the battle using Quick Hit every turn while hasted, and call an aeon when Yojimbo's turn comes up.
Dark Yojimbo has a relatively low Magic Defense. If one has trouble hitting him, doublecasting Ultima deals decent damage, and if the party members have Copycat, they can easily repeat it.
Dark Yojimbo can be killed by Yuna's Yojimbo's Zanmato attack, but this would need to be done five times in a row to defeat Dark Yojimbo for good. Alternatively, the player could fight Dark Yojimbo conventionally for the first few battles and use Zanmato for later battles. Players may turn to Zanmato as an early method to farm late game gear before returning later to defeat Dark Yojimbo properly.
Related enemies[]
- Yojimbo
- Dark Anima
- Dark Bahamut
- Dark Cindy
- Dark Ifrit
- Dark Ixion
- Dark Mindy
- Dark Sandy
- Dark Shiva
- Dark Valefor