The Yan is the name of two enemies in Final Fantasy IX. The normal Yan is a strong and hard-to-defeat foe that often appears in groups. The friendly Yan, meanwhile, will flee unless the party has given an offering to all the other friendly monsters. The friendly Yan is the only friendly monster that will stay and fight instead of fleeing when attacked. The friendly Yan is a superboss and has the highest stats with the most powerful physical attack in the game. Both Yans are found on Vile Island, southwest of Iifa Tree.
Stats[]
Normal
Friendly
Formations[]
| |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0783 |
| ||||||||||||
| 0784 |
| ||||||||||||
| 0785 |
| ||||||||||||
| 0786 |
| ||||||||||||
| 0920 |
| ||||||||||||
| 0921 |
| ||||||||||||
Normal Yan[]
Yans are sheep that appear all around Vile Island. They have small bodies and large heads and can appear alone or in groups of up to three at a time. They are strong and hard to defeat, especially in groups, and are considered the hardest normal enemies aside from the friendly Yan.
Battle[]
Yans have five attacks: Comet, Virus Powder, Float, Aera, and Snort. Their ATB bar fills fast due their high Speed stat, meaning they will often attack before the party.
Comet is often lethal, dealing random damage to one target, between 99 and 9603. Vivi and Amarant can counter this spell with Return Magic, but it cannot be reflected.
Virus Powder is a nuisance, because Virus prevents the afflicted from earning EXP and AP from the battle. If a party member cannot receive EXP due to Virus, their EXP share is given to the surviving Virus-free party members. Eiko becomes immune to the effects of Virus if she equips Guardian Mog.
Snort.
Float is often used as a counterattack. It does not render characters weak against Yan's Wind spell, Aera, although this may have been an intended functionality, as the Yan will use Aera instead of Float if the target is already floating. The party can be immune to Wind by wearing Coronets, but Aera deals minor damage compared to Comet.
Yan's Snort attack ejects a party member from battle and will cause a Game Over if all party members are expelled. Yans use Snort as a counterattack with a probability of 1/4.
Yan are weak to Sleep.
Strategy[]
Quina's Blue Magic spell Night will put the Yans to sleep, but the party must equip Insomniac to prevent from falling asleep as well. Sleep only lasts one turn, but the Yans will not wake up to magical attacks, and Quina can keep using Night during their turn. This strategy can be combined with the Instant Death strategy, as sleeping Yans will not counterattack if the Instant Death misses.
Because Yans are so tough and counterattack a lot, strategies that manage to one-shot them tend to work out the best.
Defeating a Yan with Zidane's Masamune and Soul Blade
- Zidane: Can inflict a Yan with Doom by equipping the Masamune and using the skill Soul Blade to inflict Doom every time. The downside is that the Yan has time to counterattack if it is not sleeping.
- Amarant: Countdown will kill off a Yan in 10 seconds. It has 50% accuracy. Equipping the Avenger and the support ability Add Status also will produce Instant Death.
- Dagger: Odin's Instant Death has 50% chance of working if the party has 99 Ores in the inventory. It also hits multiple targets.
- Vivi: Has Death that has 35% accuracy.
- Quina: Mustard Bomb will instantly kill a Yan before it can counterattack. Frost can also be used in the same manner, allowing the player to kill a Yan instantly with a physical attack. Both spells have a 30% base accuracy. Quina can also cast Doom to kill off a Yan in 10 seconds. It has a 25% base accuracy. Quina's Night ability can put the Yan to sleep. If Quina is the last one standing, even Roulette might be worth the gamble.
- Steiner: Iai Strike can inflict instant death with a 30% base accuracy.
Freya will not have one-shot abilities, but she can heal the party. Eiko has Phoenix in case of total annihilation and her Guardian Mog can ensure that any EXP earned from the battles will not be wasted due to everyone getting Virus, as she at least will receive it.
If the results from Instant Death strategies prove too random (Yans will counterattack if those attacks miss), one can also try the traditional damage dealing tactics. Yan—with their 19,465 HP—die with two 9999 hits. Steiner's Shock or Darkside abilities are good for that, and Climhazzard hits all targets for around 8000 HP damage, but is best used only against low health Yan. It is best to concentrate on one Yan at a time, because if multiple are hit by the same attack, they will all counterattack, unless they are sleeping. If Vivi is also in the party and knows Doomsday, Doomsday Sword is another good option to hit a Yan's weakness. Neither Climhazzard nor Doomsday Sword awakens sleeping targets. The player could have Steiner use Climhazzard for 9999 damage to all enemies (if he is strong enough), then follow that up with Freya's Dragon Breath, which does damage based on Target's Max HP - Target's Current HP, so using it will take the remaining 9999 HP from the Yan(s) for a two-turn victory. Instead of Steiner, the player could also use Dagger's Atomos with a large stock (at least 46) Amethysts, and then use Dragon Breath.
Another strategy is to use Annoy (or Soul Blade with Exploda) on one Yan when fighting them in groups, and then attack that Yan with physical attacks boosted by MP Attack. The Yan will die in 2–3 hits, and the others will lose half of their health without countering, allowing them to be killed in one shot with a strong attack without fear of counterattack.
Zidane's powered up Thievery (deals fixed damage depending on the number of successful steals and his speed stat), Freya's powered up Dragon's Crest (party must kill 100 dragons to power up Dragon's Crest to 9999 damage) and Quina's Frog Drop (deals fixed damage depending on the number of frogs caught and their level) can be of great help.
Dagger can deal the full 9999 damage against all targets with Atomos if she's on a decent level and has enough Amethysts in the party's inventory. Summoning Atomos as first move will leave all the Yan open for the next 9999 hit, but Dagger will probably be killed or snorted in the counterattacks.
Vivi can use a similar strategy with Doomsday to inflict full 9999 damage against all targets (since Yans are weak against Shadow), but he will also hit the party. The player should equip Shadow-nullifying/absorbing equipment (such as Pumice Piece, Ninja Gear, or Demon's Mail).
Friendly Yan[]
The friendly version of the Yan can also be found on Vile Island. Unless the player has already given an offering to the other friendly monsters, the Friendly Yan will flee, saying "Have you met the others yet?". Giving the friendly Yan a Diamond rewards the party with 50 AP, completes the "friendly monsters" sidequest, and renders Ozma vulnerable to physical attacks and weak to Shadow-elemental attacks.
If Ozma is beaten before meeting with the friendly Yan, it will commend the feat. Appeasing the friendly Yan earns the Mister Nice Guy achievement/trophy in the newest versions of Final Fantasy IX.
Battle[]
The Yan asks for a Diamond and giving it will complete the friendly monsters quest. Alternatively, the player can fight the Yan, as it is the only friendly enemy that does not run when attacked. Defeating it earns 50 AP and a Rosetta Ring. This can be done repeatedly, for the Yan will reappear until it is given the Diamond it asks for. This leaves the possibility of farming the friendly Yan for the AP drop to master abilities. The friendly Yan is one of the few enemies that drops a piece of equipment if defeated rather than appeased. Another enemy that drops an equipment piece is Tantarian.
The friendly Yan will attack if the Diamond is not given in a specific time frame. After asking for the Diamond multiple times, it will say "You're not giving me any?" followed by its special BAAAHHH!!! move. If attacked first, the friendly Yan will counter any attack that hits it with its signature BAAAHHH!!! move, the strongest physical attack in Final Fantasy IX in terms of base Attack power—158—that also inflicts the Silence status on the party.
The friendly Yan is immune to most status ailments, but it can be slowed. It can also be blinded, but since "BAAAHHH!!!" is a special attack, it will be unaffected by the ailment.
Strategy[]
The player should keep the party alive with full HP because the friendly Yan will retaliate. Due to its extremely high HP and defensive stats, one should use attacks that ignore the enemy's defense, such as Zidane's Thievery, Freya's Dragon's Crest, and Quina's Frog Drop or Limit Glove. Because of the Yan's high evasion, most normal attacks miss, and even when they do hit, they deal little damage. If these attacks are powered up to the cap of 9,999 damage, it will take seven of them to deplete the Yan's 65,535 HP.
The silencing effect of the friendly Yan's attack can be protected against with Loudmouth. Equipping Auto-Regen, Auto-Haste and HP+ abilities makes the battle easier. Auto-Regen can safeguard the party if they accumulate HP faster than the Yan can dish out damage. Even if the friendly Yan's attack is physical, Vanish will not help, because "BAAAHHH!!!" is a special attack.
The friendly Yan will counter every time it receives damage, meaning the player should pace their attacks and never attack when they are on low health, using their turn to heal instead (or wait for Auto-Regen to heal the party).
The friendly Yan is the only enemy considered impossible to defeat on a LV1 challenge playthrough because "BAAAHHH!!!" hits every party member for enough damage to KO them many times over, and there is no way to mitigate, absorb, nullify, or evade that damage. There is no way to win the fight without the attack being used multiple times, since it is the friendly Yan's only attack, and is used both as a counter and on the friendly Yan's own turns.
AI script[]
Function Yan_Init
set attacklist = [ Comet ; Comet ; Virus Powder ]
Function Yan_Loop
set playerteamcount = #SV_PlayerTeam
if ( !battlestate )
set battlestate++
set lastplayerteamcount = #SV_PlayerTeam
if ( lastplayerteamcount != playerteamcount )
set situationchanged = TRUE
else
set situationchanged = FALSE
set lastplayerteamcount = playerteamcount
set validplayerteamcount = #NotMatching(SV_PlayerTeam[STATUS_CURRENT], PETRIFY | VENOM | DEATH | STOP)
if ( !validplayerteamcount && situationchanged && ( battlestate != 255 ) )
set battlestate = 255
while ( IsAttacking != 0 )
Wait( 1 )
RunBattleCode( Disable ATB )
while ( GetBattleState != 1 )
Wait( 1 )
BattleDialog( "Annihilated..." )
RunBattleCode( Game Over )
Wait( 1 )
loop
Function Yan_ATB
set selectedattack = RandomAttack( attacklist )
if ( selectedattack == Comet )
set SV_Target = RandomInTeam(SV_PlayerTeam)
elseif ( selectedattack == Comet )
set SV_Target = RandomInTeam(SV_PlayerTeam)
elseif ( selectedattack == Virus Powder )
set SV_Target = RandomInTeam(SV_PlayerTeam)
Attack( selectedattack )
Function Yan_Counter
if ( ( GetAttackCommandId == Skill ) && ( GetAttackId == What's That?! ) )
return
if ( !( GetRandom & 3 ) )
if ( #NotMatching(SV_PlayerTeam[STATUS_CURRENT], PETRIFY | VENOM | DEATH | STOP) <= 1 )
return
set SV_Target = Matching(SV_PlayerTeam[STATUS_CURRENT], DOOM | GRADUAL_PETRIFY | POISON | VENOM)
set SV_Target |= ( Matching(SV_PlayerTeam[STATUS_CURRENT], REGEN) | Matching(SV_PlayerTeam[STATUS_AUTO], REGEN) ) & Matching(SV_PlayerTeam[STATUS_CURRENT], ZOMBIE)
if ( #SV_Target )
return
set SV_Target = GetAttacker
Attack( Snort )
set SV_Target = GetAttacker
if ( #SV_Target )
if ( #Matching(SV_Target[STATUS_CURRENT], FLOAT) )
Attack( Aera )
else
Attack( Float )
Other appearances[]
Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]
This section about an enemy in Pictlogica Final Fantasy is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.
Gallery[]
_FFIX_Art.jpg "Yan (Friendly) FFIX Art.jpg (63 KB)")
Etymology[]
Yan, along with ane and yen, is a Northumbrian form of one from the Old English ān. An example is "yan, twee, tree" for "one, two, three". Yan Tan Tethera is a sheep-counting rhyme/system traditionally used by shepherds in Northern England and earlier in some other parts of England and the British Isles.
"Yan" ヤン (yan?) would be a phonetic transliteration of the Chinese word "羊" (yáng), which can mean sheep, goats, or any member of the caprinae subfamily in both Chinese and Japanese.
The enemy's Japanese name is also the standard transliteration for the English word "yarn", a twisted strand of fiber used for knitting or weaving often made with animal fiber, typically sheep wool.