Makes a party member disappear.
Description
Vanish is a Blu Mag spell for Quina in Final Fantasy IX that makes an ally temporarily invisible for a cost of 8 MP. It cannot be reflected and would work with Return Magic were an enemy to use it on the player party, but no enemy does; Drakan, Gnoll, Goblin Mage, and Iron Man use it upon themselves.
Obtain[]
Quina learns Vanish by eating a Vice, Hornet, Gnoll, Troll, or Drakan.
The earliest it can be learned is from Vice in the Mist Continent overworld areas around the Dragon's Gate to Lindblum, and near to Chocobo's Forest and Cleyra. It can be learned as soon as the party recruits Quina. Vices like to steal from the party and then flee, and there is no way to get the item back that they stole. It is best if the player can hit them once with Vivi's magic or other such strong move to deplete their health, and then eat them with Quina as the next move.
The next opportunity to learn Vanish is from the next area where the player is meant to go, Gizamaluke's Grotto, from the Hornets within, which can be less annoying though they do use berserking attacks.
Mechanics[]
Vanish makes one ally temporarily invisible, meaning all physical attacks against them miss and their own physical attacks cannot be evaded. They can still be hit by magic, which removes the status. Vanish is one of the briefer status enhancements, though it can be prolonged with higher Spirit stat on the affected.
The duration is affected by the target's speed status (Slow, Normal, Haste) and the Battle Speed set in the Config.
Use[]
Vanish makes one target temporarily invisible, meaning enemies' physical attacks against them are guaranteed to miss. It is useful against tough enemies that use physical attacks often, however, most tough foes also employ magic attacks. The status also lasts but a brief moment, especially if procured at the earliest when the party has low Spirit stats. Strong enemies whose attacks Vanish helps avoid are Gizamaluke, Beatrix in Burmecia and Cleyra, Antlion, Lani, and the Iron Man.
The superior way to bestow Vanish is with Eiko's Carbuncle when she has a Diamond equipped as an Add-on. Diamond is a rare item, but the player could have picked one up at Conde Petie before Eiko even joins and have the ability to cast Vanish on everyone as soon as she masters Carbuncle.
Vanish is best when combined with Zidane's Protect Girls and Steiner/Freya/Amarant's Cover; the vanished protector steps in to take physical blows meant for critical allies, but sustains no damage doing so as the attacker will miss. Having Vanish and Reflect on the same target is also ideal; Reflect stops spells from hitting, and Vanish prevents physical attacks. Quina could also drain the enemy of their MP with Magic Hammer so it cannot use spells and then use Vanish, or the party can inflict the enemy with Silence.
Though the status also makes the afflicted's physical attacks unable to be evaded, a better way to achieve this is with Accuracy+.