Poach (Final Fantasy XII)

Poach
(密猟, Mitsuryou?)
Availability
Obtained	Zodiac: After Ondore's Estate: Rabanastre, Nalbina Fortress, Bhujerba, Dalmasca Westersand; Other: Dyce, Jahara, Eruyt Village, Mt Bur-Omisace, Mosphoran Highwaste (after defeating Judge Bergan), Phon Coast, Archades, Balfonheim (after visiting Draklor Laboratory), Trial Mode Stage 16 treasure (with Diamond Armlet) Original: Nalbina Fortress, Rabanastre (after Barheim Passage), Bhujerba
Required	Zodiac: Poach (30 LP) Original: Poach (30 LP)
Character(s)	Zodiac: Uhlan, Machinist, Time Battlemage, Archer, Black Mage (Requires Zalera aside from Vaan, Balthier, Fran) Original: All permanent party members
Classification
Type	Physical
Skillset	Technicks
Effect	Defeats a HP Critical foe to obtain unique loot, forfeiting EXP, LP, CP, gil, and drops. Enemies have two slots for Poach items, a common item (95% chance) and an uncommon item (5%). Some enemies have the same item in both slots. Poach items are unaffected by battle chain. Enemies with the Safety augment cannot be poached.
Specifications
Cast time	50 CT
Range	Weapon's range
Hit rate	80%
Related pages
Recurring appearance	Poach

Capture HP Critical foes to obtain loot.

Description

Poach is a technick in Final Fantasy XII that lets the player transform most low health normal enemies into loot and sometimes equipment pieces while forfeiting all other spoils. Poach items are unaffected by battle chain, but sometimes the player may get a rare poach.

Poach is purchased from Technicks shops. In the original PlayStation 2 version, all player characters who have the License Board can activate it. In the Zodiac versions, it is used by certain jobs.

The ability is based on the poach ability from Final Fantasy Tactics.

Obtain

The license for the Poach costs 30 License Points. In the original PlayStation 2 version, Poach is sold in Technicks shops in Nalbina Fortress, Rabanastre (after Barheim Passage), and Bhujerba for 7,000 gil. In the Zodiac versions, it is sold for 5,000 gil in shops after the storyline events in Ondore's Estate in Bhujerba. In the Zodiac versions, it is also available in a treasure in Trial Mode Stage 16 with the Diamond Armlet.

In the Zodiac versions, the Poach license can be used by the job classes Uhlan, Machinist, Time Battlemage, Archer, and Black Mage (Requires Zalera aside from Vaan, Balthier, Fran, whose native Steal license acts as a bridge to Poach; any job with access to Steal can also bypass Zalera for Black Mage in the same way.).

Mechanics

Poach has 80% base accuracy, and uses the equipped weapon to determine range. This means that flying enemies can be poached with weapons that can reach flying targets.

$Success~Chance\%=80+(User's~Level-Target's~Level)$

If the user's level exceeds the target's, the chance becomes:

$Success~Chance \% = 3 \times (User's~Level - Target's~Level)$ $+80$

Poached enemies give no EXP, LP, gil, CP, or loot. Enemies have two slots for Poach items, a common item (95% chance) and an uncommon item (5%). Some enemies have the same item in both slots. Poach often gives same items as the enemy's monograph drop. Poach items are unaffected by battle chain. Although enemies with the Safety augment cannot usually be poached, the Lv.99 Red Chocobo is poachable into a Pebble (a pointless placeholder item).

Poach does not awake sleeping enemies, and like all Technicks, is unaffected by Reverse.

Use

An easy way to get enemies to HP Critical to poach them is to use Sight Unseeing. The player can set a Foe HP Critical: Poach gambit to automate the process, but they will keep doing it to enemies that are immune. Poach can be used to stay on low level for a challenge playthrough in versions that lack New Game Minus mode.

Poach is not crucial, as the enemies' good spoils can also be obtained via stealing (especially with Thief's Cuffs) and by building a long chain for better drops. However, the Trial Mode has some enemies with rare items as poach spoils.