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Scion that is both horse and woman, wielding utter control over the souls that wander the underworld, in opposition to the Martyr Igeyorhm, scion of light. Though she once served the gods as a guardian, when Ultima announced her rebellion, Shemhazai went to her, whispering of the gods' hidden weaknesses. She then descended upon the land without leave of the gods, and taught men of destruction and evil. For this was she stricken down and bound.

Shemhazai, the Whisperer is a level two Esper in Final Fantasy XII. She is fought during the main storyline in the lowest reaches of Giruvegan.

Shemhazai's license costs 50 LP, and she requires two Mist Charges to summon.

Profile[]

The Esper of Soul, Shemhazai represents the zodiac sign of Sagittarius, the Archer. Shemhazai's hands resemble crossbows, she has equine qualities, and from her power of soul, her color sign is pink. She is also referred to as the Dhanus Ascendant, which is the Sanskrit name of its zodiac sign as used in Jyotish (Hindu) astrology.

Shemhazai returns in Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings as a Rank III Lightning Melee summon, although she is referred to as being male. She returns again in Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift as a Scion.

Story[]

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow. (Skip section)

Shemhazai is found in the lowest reaches of Giruvegan, just before the warp point leading to the Occuria, in the Gate of Fire. It can be assumed they sealed her here to protect them. Shemhazai is the third of the five Espers obtained during the main story.

Spoilers end here.

Obtained[]

After being fought as a boss during the main storyline, her license can be purchased on the License Board for 50 LP.

Unlocked abilities in Zodiac versions[]

Esper licenses sometimes unlock licenses that could not otherwise be reached. Shemhazai's license will appear on all boards, but once chosen by a character, will disappear from all other boards. In The Zodiac Age version, the player can choose two license boards for each playable character, and activated licenses are activated on both boards if present.

Shemhazai allows access to the following licenses on these boards:

Battle[]

Shemhazai requires two Mist Charges to summon.

Unlike other Espers, Shemhazai uses a crossbow for her basic attacks, allowing her to attack from a distance but also giving her a chance to miss. She also has a small chance of inflicting Disease.

Abilities[]

Devour Soul

A non-elemental attack. Its damage is calculated just like the item Knot of Rust:

Shemhazai's Max HP / (Random number 1–10)

Damage is capped at 9999 in the original version. To improve damage, the player can cast the Bubble spell on her.

Soul Purge

A non-elemental attack, and Shemhazai's ultimate attack. Shemhazai walks to the top of a cliff under the moonlight. She charges her guns, jumps off the cliff, shooting the enemies in range with pure soul energy. She lands near the enemies, and the soul energy that struck the enemies charges up into multiple explosions. Damage is calculated just like the item Dark Matter:

(Sum of all Knot of Rust damage + Sum of all Devour Soul damage) / 3

Its damage cap is 60,000, only bested in potential power by Zeromus's Big Bang, and is one of the only attacks that breaks the damage limit at all in the original version. Once used, the damage is set back down to 0, and has to be built up again. Unlike most other Esper attacks, Soul Purge is unaffected by Reverse.

Gambit information[]

Zodiac
Priority Condition Action
1 Remaining time < 10 seconds Soul Purge[note 1]
2 Foe: nearest visible Devour Soul
3 Ally: HP < 100% Curaja
Original
Priority Condition Action
1 Remaining time < 10 seconds Soul Purge[note 1]
2 Foe: character HP < 30% Soul Purge[note 1]
3 Foe: nearest visible Devour Soul
  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Targets enemy with highest HP


Stats[]

Stat FFXII Zodiac
Attack 73 76
Defense 47 50
Magick Defense 31 51

Shemhazai is weak against Fire and takes normal damage from every other element.

Zodiac

In The Zodiac Age, the HP values are tripled.

Level Max HP Max MP Strength Magic Vitality Speed
1 3,645-3,646 234-238 36 47 26 26
10 3,847-3,882 288-328 41 52 28 28
20 4,215-4,314 368-468 47 58 31 30
30 4,687-4,872 450-612 53 64 34 33
40 5,134-5,400 550-792 59 70 36 35
50 5,848-6,247 636-944 65 76 39 37
60 6,478-6,994 716-999 71 82 42 40
70 6,835-7,414 776-999 77 88 45 42
80 7,248-7,900 836-999 82 93 47 44
90 7,810-8,566 876-999 88 99 50 47
99 8,445-9,319 894-999 94 99 53 49
Original
Level Max HP Max MP Strength Magic Vitality Speed
1 2,430-2,431 23-25 51 46 26 26
10 2,565-2,588 50-70 56 51 28 28
20 2,810-2,876 90-140 62 57 30 30
30 3,125-3,248 131-212 68 63 33 33
40 3,423-3,600 181-302 74 69 35 35
50 3,899-4,165 224-378 80 75 37 37
60 4,319-4,663 264-448 86 81 40 40
70 4,557-4,943 294-498 92 87 42 42
80 4,832-5,267 324-548 97 92 44 44
90 5,207-5,711 344-578 99 98 47 47
99 5,603-6,213 353-587 99 99 49 49


Actions[]

Zodiac
Name Range Target CT(Charge Time) Type Element Power
Attack[note 1] 10 Single 25 Physical None 73
Curaja 10 Circle 10 23 Magick None 120
Shock 10 Single 23 Magick None 133
Devour Soul 12 Single 15 Magick None
Soul Purge 12 Circle 10 0 Magick None
  1. 5% chance of inflicting Disease
Original
Name Range Target CT(Charge Time) Type Element Power
Devour Soul 12 Single 16 Magick None
Soul Purge 12 Circle 8 35 Magick None


Status effects[]

Augments[]

Boss[]

Shemhazai is a boss fought in Giruvegan. Shemhazai has a random elemental weakness. Her attacks consist of magick and standard attacks, but her standard attacks have a high chance of inflicting Disease and Silence. She also likes to use Shock and Flare. When her health depletes about 40%, Shemhazai will ready Chain-Magick, which cancels her magick charge time. During this time, she likes to blast high-level Black Magick spells.

Gallery[]

Etymology[]

Shemhazai is derived from the name of the fallen angel, Samyaza. Samyaza is a fallen angel of apocryphal Jewish and Christian tradition that ranked in the heavenly hierarchy as one of the Watchers.

She is also referred to as the Dhanus Ascendant, which is the Sanskrit name of its zodiac sign as used in Jyotish (Hindu) astrology.

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