Very famous brand of helmet.
Description
The Genji Helmet is a the penultimate helmet in Final Fantasy IX for Steiner and Freya. It teaches HP+20% and provides a bonus to the wearer's Magic when they level up with it equipped.
Obtaining the whole Genji equipment set—Genji Helmet, Genji Armor, and Genji Gloves–earns the Path of the Samurai achievement/trophy in the latest versions.
Obtain[]
Mountain crack location.
The Genji Helmet is found in a mountain crack in the northeast of Forgotten Continent when feeding Choco a Dead Pepper. The earliest the player can get it is to advance the Chocobo Hot and Cold quest to the point Dead Peppers are available when the party has the Blue Narciss before heading to Desert Palace. After being taken to the Forgotten Continent, the party can call for Choco with a Gysahl Green from the local chocobo foot prints, and then ride him to the mountain crack.
It is also stolen from Kraken in the final dungeon.
Mechanics[]
The Genji Helmet provides 29 Magic Defense, 2 Defense, and 2 Magic, mainly mitigating damage from magic attacks. The helm gives a +2 bonus to the wearer's Magic 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. Steiner and Freya only use Magic for MP growth.
Use[]
The Genji Helmet is the best helmet when obtained at the earliest and remains so for the events in Oeilvert, Desert Palace, Esto Gaza, Mount Gulug, world map exploration on a flying transport, Ipsen's Castle, Terra, and Pandemonium, until the ultimate helm can be synthesized in Black Mage Village.
HP+20% is useful to equip whenever the character has Magic Stones to spare.
The level up bonus to Magic is good for MP growth, though level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary in a normal playthrough even when preparing for superbosses. If the player wanted to level up Strength, they could wear the Cross Helm instead.
Beatrix can also equip the Genji Helmet though the player cannot see this in a normal playthrough.
Etymology and origin[]
Genji equipment is a recurring strong equipment set in the Final Fantasy series commonly associated with Gilgamesh.
The surname of Genji refers to the onyomi reading of the Minamoto Clan. Minamoto was a surname commonly bestowed on the children of the Emperor who were not eligible for the throne. According to history and legend, they were most active in the days of the late Heian era, and were samurai who became known as the fighters of evil and keepers of peace. The time was said to have been fraught with disorder and anarchy. Many future samurai claim lineage from the clan, including Miyamoto Musashi and Tokugawa Ieyasu who were subject of literary discourse from The Tale of Genji, which follows royal figures, to The Tale of the Heike, focusing on the major figures and the events of the Genpei War.
Genji is also a short period in Japanese history, lasting only a single year from 1864–1865.