Considered the most powerful weapon in the world.
Description
The Ultima Weapon is Zidane's ultimate weapon in Final Fantasy IX, being his strongest thief sword. It has innate Sleep status, used with Zidane's Soul Blade skill. Ultima Weapon is obtained in the endgame by using a Dead Pepper at the secret diving spot at where Shimmering Island used to be. However, the spot is not indicated by surfacing bubbles like with the other underwater treasures.
Ultima Weapon is a recurring name for the main character's best weapon in the Final Fantasy series. Zidane's version is uniquely a thief sword, rather than a broadsword. Ultima Weapons are commonly fantastical-looking and ornamental, and Zidane's likewise has blue blades joined with a golden handle in a Glaive-like fashion.
Obtaining it yields the The Ultimate Dual Blade achievement/trophy in the versions that support an achievements system.
Obtain[]
Shimmering Island's remains.
The treasure spot lacks any indication as to where it lies in the sea. It is found in the former location of the Shimmering Island after it has disappeared in the endgame. The player can check the larger version of the world map where the island is still marked to position themself.
Mechanics[]
The base damage dealt with normal attack is determined as follows everywhere but within Ipsen's Castle:
- Base = 100 - Enemy's Defense
- Bonus = [(Strength + Spirit) / 2] + Rnd MOD ([(Level + Strength) / 8] +1)
- Damage = Base * Bonus
Where Rnd means a random number, while MOD means modulus operation. "Rnd MOD x" can be read as a random number between 0 and x-1.
The damage is then modified by variables like Zidane's equipped killer abilities or MP Attack, his row position, and the enemy's Protect. The Bonus is 1 if Zidane is under Mini.
When in Ipsen's Castle, the stronger weapons do less damage than weaker weapons, and the Base part of the damage formula with the Ultima Weapon is altered to the minimum possible value.
The Ultima Weapon has innate Sleep trait. When Zidane uses Soul Blade with it equipped, the enemy is inflicted unless they are immune. Thief swords' status abnormalities do not work with Add Status, and so it is pointless to equip the latter when Zidane wields a thief sword.
Use[]
Ultima Weapon has the strongest Attack stat of any of Zidane's weapons, and also has innate Sleep for use with Soul Blade. The only times the player may want a different weapon is to learn an ability that Zidane has not mastered yet, to employ a different status with Soul Blade (such as to equip a Masamune to make use of its Doom for killing Yans), and for level grinding with a stat-boosting weapon.
Ultima Weapon teaches Flee, but Zidane likely already has learned it as it is his first skill to learn.
Though the flavor text names it the strongest weapon in the world, the Excalibur II is stronger, however, it is also not a weapon one is intended to be able to acquire in a normal playthrough.
Tetra Master[]
| Tetra Master |
|---|
 #072 Location: Black Mage Village (Black mage no.44) Treno (Card Stadium) Memoria (Strong Phantom in Lost Memory) |
Ultima Weapon has a Tetra Master card, winnable from "Straight Shooter Shak" and "Weapon Master" in the Treno card stadium, and from Black mage no.44 (rarely), in the endgame. The Strong Phantom in Memoria's Lost Memory plays it rarely.
Merchandise[]
Zidane's Bring Arts figure comes with the Ultima Weapon.
Etymology[]
Ultima means "the last" in Latin and many Latin-based languages. The word is an inflection of ultimus which is the superlative of ulter, which means "that is beyond". In the Spanish versions of many Final Fantasy games, the spell Ultima's name is written as "Artema", a close transliteration of the Japanese katakana.