Mysterious fork that causes the opposite effect of "Soft".
Description
The Needle Fork is Quina's second weapon in Final Fantasy IX, though the player can get it even before Quina is recruited to the party.
Like all their forks, the Needle Fork deals random damage with Attack as instead of using Quina's Strength stat as-is in damage calculation, it uses a random value up to Quina's Strength instead. Like all forks, it teaches the support ability High Tide, which lets Quina build their Trance gauge faster. As all of their weapons have High Tide, and it is impossible to de-equip a character of a weapon altogether, the high AP cost of mastering it is inconsequential. The Needle Fork rarely petrifies the target of Quina's Attack when Add Status is active, and is used for synthesis.
Obtain[]
Zidane can steal the Needle Fork from Zaghnol during the Festival of the Hunt, though this can be tricky due to the time limit. It is also found in Cleyra's Trunk, in the area with the moogle 
, and sold for 3100 gil in Burmecia Mogshop, Treno (during Garnet and Steiner's visit), Cleyra, and Ipsen's Castle Mogshop.
Mechanics[]
The Needle Fork's damage dealt with a normal Attack is determined as follows everywhere but within Ipsen's Castle:
- Base = 34 - Enemy's Defense
- Bonus = (A random value 1 ... Strength) + (A random value 0 ... [(Level + Strength) / 8])
- Damage = Base * Bonus
The damage is then modified by variables like Quina's row position and the enemy's Protect. Under Mini, Quina's Bonus would be 1. If Quina 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 = 26 - Enemy's Defense
Quina petrifies an enemy with the Needle Fork.
The Needle Fork petrifies an enemy 1 our of 10 uses of Attack (or Charge! or Counter) when Quina has Add Status active. Petrification defeats the enemy but forgoes its EXP yield.
Because damage with Quina's Attack is so volatile, using a randomized Strength to calculate damage, forks tend to have moderately high Attack values. Quina will still do more damage from front row than from the back row, but is not classed as physical attacker and so lacks means of enhancing their attack power via support abilities, though they do learn Counter. Quina will still do more damage overall when they have a higher Strength stat as the random value can roll higher results, and so leveling them up is not pointless. Instead of attacking, Quina can also defeat low health enemies with Eat, which is often the better ability to use whenever the enemy is within the HP threshold.
Use[]
The player may already have the Needle Fork from the Zaghnol in the festival when they first meet Quina, in which case, they can swap out their initial weapon right away. If acquired the earliest, the Needle Fork is Quina's best weapon for Qu's Marsh, world map exploration, Gizamaluke's Grotto, and Burmecia. When the point of view switches to Dagger's party, the player may steal the Mythril Sword as Marcus from Ralvurahva.
Quina is best using the Needle Fork with the Add Status active, as it randomly defeats enemies via petrification. Petrifying enemies forgoes their EXP, but this does not usually matter. This makes using Quina's Attack more worthwhile even if it deals volatile damage.
The player should keep the Needle Fork even after they swap it out, as it can be used in synthesis to make the Barette.
Gallery[]
