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Helm made of mythril.

Description

The Mythril Helm is a mid game helmet in Final Fantasy IX for Steiner and Freya. It teaches Antibody and Insomniac, which inoculate against Poison and Sleep, respectively. The Mythril Helm gives a minor bonus to the wearer's Spirit when they level up with it equipped and strengthens the wearer's Holy-elemental damage.

Obtain[]

The Mythril Helm is bought for 1000 gil from Cleyra, Lindblum (second storyline visit), Dragon's Gate, Fossil Roo, Alexandria, Treno (after the party returns from the Outer Continent), and Esto Gaza (before Desert Palace).

Mechanics[]

The Mythril Helm provides 11 Magic Defense, mitigating damage from magic attacks. The helm gives a bonus +1 to the wearer's Spirit 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. Spirit is a generally useful stat to raise, affecting various gameplay mechanics: the HP gained when revived, the duration of expirable statuses, how often Regen and Poison tick, how fast Trance builds or runs out when active, etc.

The Mythril Helm boosts the wearer's Holy damage by +50%, being compatible with Beatrix's Holy, Steiner's normal attack with the Excalibur or the Excalibur II, and Freya's normal attack with the Holy Lance. Equipping numerous Elem-Atk gear pieces with the same elemental enhancement does not stack the effect.

Use[]

The Mythril Helm is never the best helmet available as the player can steal the superior Gold Helm from the Antlion boss. After the events in Alexandria Castle, Freya and Steiner will be absent from the party for a long while, and when the party rejoins, the superior Gold Helm will be available from shops.

The immunity abilities from the helm can come to use and it is worth mastering them, as the toughest bosses in the game use status attacks.

The Mythril Helm's +1 bonus to Spirit is useful, but the preceding Barbut has +2 Spirit. Spirit is a generally good stat to raise, but level grinding or min-maxing are unnecessary for a normal playthrough even when preparing for superboss encounters.

It is worth keeping the helm even after better ones become available for its Holy-boosting effect with Excalibur or Holy Lance, though some add-ons also have Holy as Elem-Atk property.

Beatrix can also equip the helm for the brief time she is a guest during the Battle of Alexandria, but there is little point in equipping it to her even if it would boost her Holy.

Etymology[]

The word "mythril" or "mithril" is a metal found in many fantasy worlds. It was originally introduced by the fantasy writings of J. R. R. Tolkien, being present in his Middle-earth. It resembles silver but is stronger than steel, and much lighter in weight than either. The author first wrote of it in The Lord of the Rings, and it is retrospectively mentioned in the third, revised edition of The Hobbit in 1966. In the first 1937 edition, the mail shirt given to Bilbo is described as being made of "silvered steel". The name mithril comes from two words in Sindarin—mith, meaning "grey" or "mist", and ril meaning "glitter".

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