Draws out the hidden power in thief swords.
Description
Soul Blade is a Skill in Final Fantasy IX used by Zidane to inflict one enemy with his currently equipped thief sword's status effect at the cost of 6 MP. It does not work with daggers. Soul Blade is one of Zidane's most useful skills.
Obtained[]
Soul Blade can be learned for 35 AP from The Ogre. It can be synthesized from two Mage Mashers and 700 gil at Lindblum, Treno, Black Mage Village, and Alexandria, and found in the Pinnacle Rocks. The earliest Zidane can get it is before the Festival of the Hunt when the party first visits Lindblum.
Mechanics[]
Soul Blade is nigh guaranteed to inflict the targeted enemy with the ailment from Zidane's currently equipped thief sword (viewed with 
while in the menu), unless they are outright immune. Soul Blade does not work with daggers equipped (whose status is applied via Add Status instead). When Zidane equips a thief sword, Add Status does nothing and can be unequipped to free up Magic Stones.
When Zidane has Soul Blade available, he can also use Shift Break while in Trance.
Every thief sword has a different innate status:
- Butterfly Sword: Silence
- The Ogre: Darkness
- Exploda: Trouble
- Rune Tooth: Poison
- Angel Bless: Confuse
- Sargatanas: Petrify
- Masamune: Doom
- The Tower: Mini
- Ultima Weapon: Sleep
Use[]
Defeating a Yan with Zidane's Masamune and Soul Blade
Soul Blade is the way for Zidane to make use of his thief swords' innate status effects, as they never activate via Add Status like with his daggers. Soul Blade works unless the enemy is immune, and is thus the best way to inflict statuses, as most status spells have a great chance of missing. Depending on the enemy's vulnerabilities, the skill's usefulness depends on which of his thief swords Zidane is currently equipped with.
As it is not possible to change equipment mid-battle, the player is stuck with whatever effect their thief sword has until they can re-equip. The downside is that the thief sword with the best attack power, may not be the one with the status the player wants to use, meaning they will have to sacrifice attack power for status-infliction. However, once Thievery does the equalavent or more damage as Zidane's normal attack, the player could use that for damage on his turn instead.
Soul Blade is the best method of status-infliction; Butterfly Sword + Soul Blade trumps Silence spell and so forth, though many status spells can be group-cast whereas Soul Blade only targets one enemy at a time. However, most of the time the player is fighting against one enemy, and all bosses are singular.
A great combination against Yans is Masamune + Soul Blade, dooming the Yan in 10 seconds. Sargatanas + Soul Blade defeats most regular enemies and is much more reliable than Vivi's Break; as petrified enemies forgo experience, this can also be used during a low level challenge run of the game. Soul Blade with Exploda is much better at inflicting Trouble than Zidane's next skill, Annoy, however, due to most battles having only one enemy, it is not considered worthwhile to spend Zidane's turn on giving an enemy Trouble.
One downside is that status-infliction consumes a turn from Zidane's other strengths, stealing and damage-dealing. Zidane is an all-around strong character and nearly always in the player's party, so he can take on various roles, but there are times when he is the only physical attacker in a party of mages.
Etymology[]
The ability's name refers to Japanese swords and warriors being associated with Shinto, a religious belief system where all elements of the world are embedded with spirits. It was said that swords were a source of wisdom and emanated energy to inspire the wielder, and that a part of the swordsmith's spirit was transferred into the blades they crafted.