Ishteen is a trophy Rare Game enemy found in the Barheim Passage in Final Fantasy XII as part of the Hunt Club sidequest. If the player wants the Tournesol, or is trying to make High Arcana for any other reason, they could use Ishteen for farming. The only other way to obtain Soul of Thamasa is from a rare drop (6%) from an Oversoul.
Bestiary entry[]
- Derivation: Reaper
- Reaper transformed by a powerful infusion of Mist. Hunted in the Barheim Passage.
Stats[]
How to find[]
The player must have spoken to the "Huntmaster" in Phon Coast and defeated Thalassinon to start of the Hunt Club quest. Ishteen then spawns within the Barheim Passage in the Zeviah Span and East-West Bypass areas. While it has been said to have increasing odds to appear at a rate of 2% every ten seconds the party spends in these areas (the odds hit 100% after roughly eight and a half minutes), there is a way to immediately spawn Ishteen to make farming Soul of Thamasa a breeze. When approaching the Bombs in East/West Bypass area, the player can simply trigger the trap nearby (causing Disease to all party members unless they are immune) and it will appear right next to the party. If farming the Soul of Thamasa, the player can simply run back to the Gate Crystal, head back to the trap, and repeat.
Like all trophy game, Ishteen will never respawn once killed. It is possible to zone back and forth between the two areas it may spawn in and make it appear in both, stealing one Soul of Thamasa from each, though the trap trigger method above is more reliable and faster.
Battle[]
Ishteen is not particularly a tough enemy to defeat. It knows many high level spells and can use Death to instantly kill a party member. It can also use Doom.
Like the Rare Game Negalmuur, Ishteen knows Necromancy, summoning the undead (in this case, Dead Bones). Unlike Negalmuur, Ishteen does not use Necromancy frequently, so the auto-leveling trick is not good to use on this enemy.
Strategy[]
As an undead, Ishteen is weak to the holy element and healing effects. Good ways to damage it are attacking with Holy Lance or Excalibur (equipping White Robes makes this even more effective), or casting Curaga/Curaja (the latter could be reflected off the party for multiple hits).
Alternatively, the player could inflict Oil on Ishteen and then attack with Gungnir or cast Firaga.
Ishteen can be made less dangerous by inflicting Blind, Silence, and/or Slow on it. These can be inflicted all at once using the Nihopalaoa + Remedy trick. Confuse also works, but it wears off as soon as Ishteen receives a physical attack, so it is only useful if the player blinds Ishteen (making it less likely to hit itself) and attacks exclusively with magick.
Other appearances[]
Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]
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Etymology[]
Ishteen is "one" in Ancient Assyro-Babylonian language. This makes sense since Ishteen, being a trophy Rare Game enemy, only spawns once. The name can be a reference to Inanna, an ancient Mesopotamian goddess associated with love, beauty, sex, war, justice and political power, also known and worshiped as Ishtar by the Akkadians, Babylonians, and Assyrians.
Related enemies[]
- Gazer
- Gespenst
- Etém
- Nightwalker
- Reaper Mage
- Reaper Claw
- Reaper
- Oversoul
- Ixtab (Mark)
- Deathscythe (Mark)
- Dustia (Rare)
- Vorres (Rare)
- Negalmuur (Rare)