Recover from KO.
Description
Life is a Wht Mag spell in Final Fantasy IX for Dagger, Eiko, and Beatrix, used to restore a KO'd ally back to life with critical HP both mid-battle and in the menu, or for instantly defeating the undead. Life responds to Reflect and the spell would work with Return Magic were enemies to use it on the player party, but no enemy does.
Life has the same animation in battle as Phoenix Down, but calculates the HP the revived gains differently (the revived comes back to life with 5%+ of their maximum HP); for revival purposes however, the two are nigh interchangeable.
Obtained[]
Life can be learned for 30 AP from Mythril Rod, Healing Rod, Whale Whisker, Golem's Flute, Rebirth Ring, and Cachusha.
The earliest the player can get it is from the Mythril Rod for Dagger, bought from the Aerbs Mountains summit station. Cachusha is an exceedingly rare Chocobo Hot and Cold treasure, but the earliest the player can partake in the minigame is when Dagger is not in the party, and when the player resumes control of her, she is at the Aerbs Mountains, anyway. Eiko starts with the Golem Flute, so she can have Life as soon as she joins the party on the Conde Petie Mountain Path. Beatrix knows the spell natively.
Mechanics[]
The formula for how much HP Life revives with is as follows:
On an undead unit, the effect is reversed and they are killed outright, though it has a small chance of missing. Chance of hitting/missing the target is calculated as follows:
- If Rnd MOD ( [ 99 ] + 1 ) >= ( Accuracy + Magic ) / 4 ] + ( Level - Target's Level ), spell misses
- If Rnd MOD ( [ 99 ] + 1 ) < Target's Magic Evasion, target dodges
The first check will almost always, if not always, be false, as Life's accuracy is 255. Rnd means a random number, while MOD means modulus operation. "Rnd MOD x" can be read as a random number between 0 and x-1.
The support abilities that affect Life are Reflect-Null, which allows Life to pierce a KO'd ally's Auto-Reflect or enemy's Reflect, and Concentrate that doubles the health Life revives an ally with. When using with Concentrate the formula is updated to:
In Eiko's Trance, Wht Mag turns into Dbl Wht where Eiko can cast two spells on her turn. The spells cost MP and expend the Trance gauge independently.
Use[]
Life revives one ally at critical health, likely slightly better than the effect of using a Phoenix Down. Life can be empowered by equipping Concentrate, while Phoenix Down cannot be empowered by equipping a Chemist. Phoenix Downs can be fairly plentiful, especially if the player is stealing from every encounter to power up Zidane's Thievery for the endgame, but Life also only costs 8 MP to use.
In Eiko's Trance, she can use two spells on her turn, and could revive two allies or first revive and then heal with Cure, Cura, or Curaga.
Life can be used offensively to dispatch undead enemies in a single cast for a fairly low MP cost. This is useful during the time the party is heading to the Iifa Tree with two healers in the formation. Though they may not look it, the Mistodons as part of this segment are also undead, as is the boss Soulcage. Later on, the party can also face Whale Zombies when exploring the world, which are easiest dispatched with Life.
Once Eiko learns Phoenix and Full-Life, they become her superior revival methods unless MP is an issue; Phoenix when there are numerous KO'd allies, and Full-Life when there is just one. Life is Dagger's sole revival spell, which remains useful until the end of the game.