Staff that holds powerful magic.
Description
The High Mage Staff is Vivi's penultimate staff in Final Fantasy IX, obtainable when the player has the Blue Narciss. It teaches him Meteor, which deals random damage to all enemies with a chance of missing, and Osmose, which lets him steal MP from non-undead enemies. The High Mage Staff has innate Silence status used through Add Status.
Obtain[]
Forbidden Forest chocograph.
The High Mage Staff is found in the Forbidden Forest chocograph. After the player has the Blue Narciss, they can sail to Chocobo's Lagoon and train Choco until he becomes red (mountain-crossing), then return to the Chocobo's Forest where they started the chocobo quest, and dig more there until they find the Forbidden Forest chocograph. The treasure is found in the middle of the Aerbs Mountains, in the center of the Mist Continent.
The High Mage Staff can also be bought for 6000 gil from Black Mage Village in the endgame.
Mechanics[]
The High Mage Staff's damage dealt with a normal Attack is determined as follows everywhere but within Ipsen's Castle:
- Base = 32 - Enemy's Defense
- Bonus = Strength + A random value 0 ... [(Level + Strength) / 8]
- Damage = Base * Bonus
The damage is then modified by variables like Vivi's row position and the enemy's Protect. Under Mini, his Bonus would be 1. If Vivi equips Healer, damage is converted to healing.
When in Ipsen's Castle, the stronger weapons do less damage than weaker weapons, and the Base part of the damage formula is altered to:
- Base = 28 - Enemy's Defense
The High Mage Staff has innate Silence; Vivi will silence the susceptible target of his Attack 15% of the time when he has Add Status equipped.
Use[]
If acquired at the earliest, Vivi can get the High Mage Staff before the Octagon Rod, meaning Vivi could learn Meteor before his third tier elemental spells. It remains his strongest weapon until near the end of the final dungeon, where his ultimate weapon is found: all through exploration with the Blue Narciss, Oeilvert/Desert Palace, Esto Gaza, Mount Gulug, exploration on the Hilda Garde III, Terra, Pandemonium, endgame exploration of the Mist Continent, and most of the final dungeon.
The Silence status from the weapon is a minor bonus, but Add Status only costs three Magic Stones. Vivi may have already mastered Osmose earlier, but it is a useful spell for replenishing his MP when needed. Meteor damages all enemies without regard to Vivi's stats, but may "fizzle" out and not hit at all. It can be a worthwhile gamble.
Merchandise[]
Bring Arts.
Vivi has the High Mage's Staff as a weapon for his Bring Arts figure.
Gallery[]
Etymology[]
This weapon's Japanese name is pronounced the same as the recurring Wizard's Staff, localized as Mage Staff for Final Fantasy IX. 魔導師 (madōshi?) is a Japanese word that refers to a user of magic, however, in the Final Fantasy series the mages are usually referred to as 魔道士 (madōshi?), which is intentionally pronounced the same but uses different kanji. The two weapons technically mean the same thing, so the inclusion of "High" in this weapon's name product of the localization to distinguish it and reflect that it is stronger than the other similarly named staff.