The Mud Shot is ammunition for guns in Final Fantasy XII. Guns cannot be equipped without owning some kind of shot. Owning the Mud Shot means the player can use an unlimited amount, and shots do not need a license to be equipped alongside a gun.
Mud Shot makes the gun-wielder's physical damage earth-elemental, able to exploit enemy weaknesses and certain weather and terrain conditions. Earth is a rare element for the player to be able to use otherwise. Mud Shot also has a chance of blinding a susceptible target, making their physical attacks miss more often.
Obtain[]
Original[]
The Mud Shot is not bought from shops, but sells for 700 gil. It is found in Cerobi Steppe's South Liavell Hills 
. The player can come to the steppe early from the Tchita Uplands via a chocobo.
The shot is also made in the bazaar set "Mudslinger" alongside the Aldebaran gun. The set costs 9,080 gil and is made by selling four Ichthon Scales, as well as three Silver Liquids and Earth Crystals.
Ichthon Scales are obtained from Focalors (Sochen Cave Palace and the Nabreus Deadlands) and Piranhas (Phon Coast). Silver Liquids are obtained from certain amorphs: Foobar (Garamsythe Waterway and Nabreus Deadlands), Hecteyes (Henne Mines and Draklor Laboratory), poached from the Oiling, and stolen from the Rare Game Cubus. Earth Crystals are obtained from various enemies, such as from the following in the Lhusu Mines: Headless, Killer Mantis, and Malboro.
Zodiac[]
The Mud Shot is not sold in shops but sells for 2,500 gil.
The shot is found as a treasure in Henne Mines' Special Charter Shaft (75% chance to appear, 50% chance for an item, 50% chance the item treasure is the Mud Shot without the Diamond Armlet equipped) and in Trial Mode Stage 55 with the Diamond Armlet equipped. Special Charter Shaft is an area with numerous excellent treasures, but the area is only accessible after obtaining ten Espers, felling the Mindflayer hunt, and talking to the geomancer in Jahara.
The shot is still made in the "Mudslinger" bazaar set, which is now much harder to procure and much more expensive because the set also includes the ultimate gun Mithuna. The set now costs 120,000 gil and requires two Emperor Scales rather than Ichthon Scales and eight Earth Crystals rather than three as before. The requirement of three Silver Liquids remains unchanged.
Final Fantasy XII Zodiac Age - Deathgaze Emperor Scale farming
Stealing tutorial.
Emperor Scales are tough to procure, as they mainly drop from the Archaeoaevis in the Zertinan Caverns with a monograph, and the Archaeoaevis was made into the game's toughest foe in the Zodiac versions. The only other foes that have the Emperor Scales are as a rare steal from the Elder Wyrm and Deathgaze. They can be farmed from the latter by first stealing and then returning to the cabins. The player may then reenter the ship, then exit to repeat this process for more Steal attempts. However, if Deathgaze has time to erect a Paling, it becomes immune to Steal.
Archaeoaevis is the earliest source of Emperor Scales. Because Archaeoaevises' levels are random, the player can zone in and out until they find them at the lower end of their level potential. They can be blinded and confused; Karkata inflicts Confuse on-hit. The player should aim to stay in front of them to avoid their tail attacks that kill characters in one blow. They can be berserked to stop them from casting their spells, but this makes them physically stronger and faster. However, they mostly miss if blinded. Wither works to cripple their strength, but is only available in the endgame.
One way to fight them is to lure them to an entrance to the area and zone out as soon as a party member dies. The player can then recover, zone back in, and fight until the Archaeoaevises fall. When one dies, the player can collect its loot. With the auto-save in The Zodiac Age version, the player can try repeatedly at the same loot until they get Emperor Scales. If the loot drop was not the desired item, the player can reload the auto-save and kill it again, for a chance of a different loot drop.
Use[]
The Mud Shot adds 2 points to the gun's power, less than the preceding elemental shots Aqua Shot and Wyrmfire Shot, but the Mud Shot is the only shot that is both elemental and inflicts an enemy with a status ailment: Blind in this case, which makes the enemy's physical attacks commonly miss, useful against tough physical foes. Mud Shot has 25% flat chance of blinding a susceptible target; inflicting statuses via shots is usually better than via bolts or arrows, which can miss more often, especially if it is windy. However, crossbows fire faster than guns, and the Black Bolts have an equal chance of inflicting Blind as the Mud Shot.
As equipment can be swapped on-the-fly, the player could use the Mud Shot until the ailment sticks, and then swap to a more powerful shot. Blind is useful against strong physical enemies, like behemoth types, or onto any enemy the player can berserk, forcing them to only use their physical attacks.
The Mud Shot holds the earth element, meaning it will do double damage against earth-weak targets. The shot is powerful against wind-elemental enemies and in sandstorm weather and against enemies standing on sandy terrain. This means that the Mud Shot is especially good in Dalmasca Estersand, Dalmasca Westersand, Giza Plains during the dry, the sandseas, and the Zertinan Caverns. However, many of these areas are early game areas the player is not pressured to revisit after they have managed to procure the Mud Shot. The effects of sand terrain and sandstorm weather do not stack (both inflate earth damage to 120%). As a downside, the Mud Shot will do half damage in water terrain. Earth damage is unaffected by rainy weather, however. To use the Mud Shot in a water terrain, such as the Garamsythe Waterway, it is best to equip the Agate Ring.
Though sand terrain is common in Final Fantasy XII, the player has few means of taking advantage of its strengthening effect on earth damage, as there are no earth-elemental spells for the player to use and the earth Esper, Hashmal, is only obtained in what is effectively the final dungeon: Pharos. Therefore, the ability to use the Mud Shot is a good boon for a gun-user.
Mud Shot is good against wind enemies, but guns do not work well against elementals and entites or against flan, or any enemies with the "Resist Guns and Measures" passive ability, reducing its overall usefulness. Some enemies also resist earth damage, meaning the player could be better off with preceding shots against these foes. However, against earth-weak enemies, the Mud Shot remains a good choice of ammunition for a gun-user. Mud Shot would be good against the Deathgaze whenever it does not have a Paling, but Deathgaze is also the enemy whose spoils are needed for making it in the bazaar in the Zodiac versions.
The shot is only useful to procure in the Zodiac versions if the player is using a Machinist or a Shikari with the Shemhazai license.