Yiazmat (Final Fantasy XII)

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Template:Enemy Yiazmat is the ultimate Elite Mark in Final Fantasy XII. He is not only the ultimate mark, but also the ultimate boss. Defeating Yiazmat takes at least an hour at high levels and player skill, but usually takes longer.

Yiazmat has well over 50 million hit points. This astronomically high number is the main reason he takes so long to kill, since regular attacks break the damage limit only in the Zodiac versions.

The player can accept the hunt for Yiazmat after vanquishing the Hell Wyrm and all Rank VII Marks except Shadowseer.

In the Zodiac versions, Yiazmat is fought at Trial Mode on stage 98. The party will face Yiazmat with less HP.

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Clan Primer

Hunt 45: Farewell to a Legend

Petitioner: Montblanc

Petitioner's Location: Rabanastre/The Clan Hall

A petition has been submitted for the hunting of Yiazmat (Rank VIII). The petitioner is Montblanc in the clan hall in Rabanastre.
Montblanc tells you that he formed Clan Centurio to raise warriors strong enough to defeat the most terrible of all creatures that walk this land: Yiazmat. The realization of the Clan's very purpose has fallen to you. Hunt accepted.
Yiazmat defeated after a battle to end all battles! Report to Montblanc in the clan hall.
Hunt reported. Montblanc praises you as the greatest hunter Ivalice has ever known.

The petitioner for the bill is none other than Montblanc. He explains that the dragon killed his mentor who taught him and his siblings everything they know. After finding Ivalice's best hunter in the player party, he tells them to go out and exterminate the legendary dragon.

Bestiary entry

One Deity among Dragons, One great Wyrm to rule all Wyrms of the World, by the Creator Himself created. Legend says it is an Anima, Guardian to a Sacred Blade. Though most sacred among its Kind, its great Power drove it to Madness, and in the End, it became a Threat to its own Creator. His Master was killed by Yiazmat, robbing Montblanc of all Joy in Life, and he would have Revenge.

Stats

Template:FFXII Enemy Stats

Battle

Yiazmat is found at the Colosseum at the Ridorana Cataract where the arena is covered in traps. It is possible to defeat it at around level 50 or even lower with the right strategy, but levels 70 and above are preferable. His total health is made up of fifty individual bars consisting of one million HP each. Yiazmat's battle tactics change as his HP is depleted, but most of his attacks either involve attacking the whole team at once or using Instant Death attacks should the party get out of his reach. Yiazmat can KO the party's best character with a couple of hits, regardless of the kind of equipment they are wearing, as all of his physical attacks have a 5% chance of inflicting Instant Death.

When his HP drops below 50% all attacks against Yiazmat are capped at 6,999 damage, so the battle becomes about using combo weapons rather than damage dealers. If the party wanders too far from his reach, Yiazmat will start casting buffs on himself, starting with Protect, then Bravery, Faith and Regen. It's possible to leave the area to use the Save Crystal and to buy more items and return and continue the battle, but the player must make their exit fast; if Yiazmat has time to cast Regen before the party has left the area, it will keep on gaining HP even while the party is away. If the player walks too far away from Yiazmat while still in his area, Yiazmat will regain health like other enemies.

When Yiazmat's HP is about at 9-10 bars left, he will use Growing Threat to boost his damage output even further. When he has about 4-5 bars of health left, he will start using Reflectga, but it is a once per stage cast. If the player is not careful, a Renew spell could be reflected off the party, fully healing Yiazmat.

Yiazmat is susceptible to the Expose Technick, which allows even weak characters to deal maximum damage. Yiazmat combos more often as his life goes down.

In the Zodiac versions, Yiazmat is susceptible to all stat-lowering attacks (Expose, Wither, Shear, and Addle), which allows the player to defeat the beast even with a low level party.

The battle will easily take over an hour, with completion in two hours being considered fast for the average player. The player can leave the area at any time and upon return Yiazmat's HP will be the same (assuming he was unable to cast Regen). There is a round indicator in the upper right part of the screen, showing how often the party fled the battle. It has no bearing on the reward the player receives for winning the battle.

Yiazmat uses physical attacks with each having 5% chance of inflicting Instant Death. The lower Yiazmat is on HP, the more combos he will get, up to 12-hit-combos. Rake is the wyrms' special move that Yiazmat also uses. It deals 1.5x normal damage has a 5% chance of inflicting Instant Death. It can deal combos up to 12 consecutive hits.

Cyclone is Yiazmat's special move and hits all characters. It is Wind-elemental and has a chance of inflicting the party with Sap. Yiazmat uses Cyclone once every 40 actions. The damage can be halved if equipped with Windbreaker armor.

Death Strike casts Instant Death on a party member. It has a 50% chance of missing if the character is under Shell. Yiazmat starts to use Death Strike at 60% HP. Yiazmat uses it always when its target is out of the range of its physical attack, and less commonly to a target that is close.

Stone Breath deals damage and has 30% chance to inflict the characters in-range with Petrify. White Breath deals ice damage and has 30% chance to inflict the characters in-range with Stop.

Yiazmat's attacks ignore vitality. Yiazmat will stop using his breath attacks during the battle's last stage.

Other moves Yiazmat has includes, Growing Threat, that ups Yiazmat's level to 140 and boosts his stats and is used when Yiazmat has only 20% HP left; and Reflectga, which Yiazmat uses only once when he has only 10% of his HP remaining.

When the party is out of its reach Yiazmat will start casting protective buffs on itself. They should be dispelled whenever the party reenters the battlefield. Yiazmat absorbs Holy and is weak against Dark. Yiazmat's attacks have no charge time. Yiazmat has Ignore Evade making most shields pointless.

Strategy

Ninja swords are good weapons, as they are Dark-elemental and have high chance of comboing. The Yagyu Darkblade is of extreme usefulness here, although it can be tedious to obtain three. If the ninja sword user wears the Black Robes (which boosts Dark damage) and the Genji Gloves, they will get an additional 50% damage bonus against Yiazmat (weakness to Dark), dealing 300% damage, and with the Genji Gloves the player will combo more often. Since damage is capped, weapons with high combo rate often make better weapons than ones with sheer attack power.

With maximum stacks of Expose used on Yiazmat, a level 70 party can already hit 9999 in the non-capped phase on Yiazmat constantly with only a Koga Blade or Iga Blade, if they equip a Black Robe. If they also equip a Black Mask, it is possible to set a gambit for the characters to attack themselves if they are below 100% HP, and they should be able to heal themselves fully in four hits from critical HP with Bubble status on, even outhealing Yiazmat's damage to them.

The only shield one might want to use is the Shell Shield for the mage (they can then equip no two-handed weapon, but it might not matter if they only cast magick). It's a good idea to purchase six Bubble Belts and wear them at all times, even for the back-up party. The party can buy Windbreakers from Rabanastre to switch to when Yiazmat is readying Cyclone to take half-damage, but by the end of the battle Cyclone is cast so fast there may be no time to do the switch anymore.

Battle Speed should be kept at the fastest, as Yiazmat's attacks have no charge time, thus using slow battle speed only slows down the player's party.

Yiazmat is too big to fit down the narrow stairwells. Even a low-level party can defeat him by using ranged weapons and standing far enough down the stairs forcing Yiazmat to use Death Strike only. With Shell, it has a chance of missing. However, as this tactic is boring, the player might opt to using one character as the mage, and placing him/her at the stairs with a Shell Shield granting them Auto-Shell, keeping them away from harm's way (Cyclone will still hit). The mage can then heal and buff the other party members who hack away on Yiazmat's massive HP.

Alternatively, the bottom-of-the-stairs character can wield a ranged weapon, such as Fomalhaut with Dark Shot, and chip away at Yiazmat's HP while he concentrates his attacks on the characters closer to him. This tactic might be useful near the end of the battle when Yiazmat is stronger and faster.

The player can set one character as the tank and have the other two characters cast Decoy, Berserk and Reverse on him/her. This won't help against the Instant Death chance, but the chance is still only 5%, allowing the character to endure most attacks. Yiazmat will mainly concentrate on the decoyed character with his Rake and physical attacks, while the berserked character attacks Yiazmat. If using the above method of using ninja swords and Dark-absorbing for healing by hitting oneself, the "tank" character can heal off the Reverse instead.

The player characters can have more than 9999 HP, despite the number being capped at 9999 on the screen. As Yiazmat's attacks are capped at 9999 damage, it is possible for the party to survive the Cyclone even after taking the full 9999 HP damage. The player can wear equipment, such as Light Armor hats (such as Renewing Morion that also has Auto Regen, or Dueling Mask) that increase the party's HP over the capped 9999 figure displayed on-screen.

The player can use the Technick Infuse to set a character's HP critically low. In low health the character can perform long hit combos, especially when equipped with the Genji Gloves and a ninja sword or a katana. The augment Low-HP ATK+ doubles attack power while in critical health. As Yiazmat is weak against Dark, ninja swords are a good option.

Yiazmat defeated in 50 minutes

Final Fantasy XII Ultimania Omega guide has a strategy that shows how Yiazmat can be defeated in 50 minutes and 54 seconds. It includes having two damage dealers (the guide suggests using Basch and Balthier due to having low MP and Magick) who are always in critical health to continually deal double damage with long combos.

The two should always be under Berserk and use a high-combo weapon while also being equipped with the Brave Suit. The third character should be the leader who casts Reverse and Decoy on him/herself and controls the fight with Yiazmat. If the leader dies, the player should switch a new leader from a reserve party member. All characters should be level 99 and have all licenses purchased. This strategy can defeat Yiazmat at lower levels, but it will be nigh impossible to do so within 50 minutes.

The leader should have the statuses Reverse, Lure, Regen, Bubble, Protect, Libra and Haste, be equipped with the Staff of the Magi, Crown of Laurels (Vaan and Fran) or Dueling Mask (Ashe and Penelo), Lordly Robes and a Power Armlet or Ribbon to grant immunity to Stop.

The leader's gambits should be as follows:

Foe: HP < 100000 → Dark Matter
Ally: Any → Chronos Tear
Ally: Status = Reflect → Dispel
Self: → Reverse
Ally: Any → Arise
Self: → Decoy
Self: → Bubble
Self: MP < 50% → Hi-Ether
Ally: MP < 10% → Berserk
Ally: MP < 10% → Haste
Ally: Any → Gold Needle
Foe: Any → Dispel

The damage dealers should always have the statuses HP Critical, Berserk, Float and Haste (Basch) and be equipped with Masamune, Celebrant's Miter (gives Magick and Speed), Brave Suit (increased damage) and Genji Gloves for Basch and Hermes Sandals for Balthier.

Their gambits should be as follows:

Ally: Any → Chronos Tear
Self: HP < 10% → Berserk
Foe: Character HP < 10% → Attack
Self: HP < 10% → Bacchus's Wine
Self: → Infuse (Changes MP to HP and is used to put the damage dealers into critical HP after two casts)

The items needed are:

x1 Dark Matter (charged to full with Knot of Rust to deal 60k damage)
Masamune/Yagyu Darkblade (though Yagyu Darkblade does more damage initially, Masamune has a higher combo chance and will do more damage in the long run)
Staff of the Magi (for each leader)
Shell Shield
Bubble Belts
Plenty of Hi-Ether, Remedy, Gold Needle, Chronos Tear, and Bacchus's Wine

The battle config should be in active mode with the fastest battle speed and cursor set to memorized.

It's recommended to start the battle by using two leaders; the "trap walker" leader, whose only purpose is to get rid of the traps in the arena, and the "main leader" who will initially heal the "trap walker" when necessary, use the Expose Technick on Yiazmat five times successfully to halve its Defense, and try to hold Yiazmat for the remainder of the battle. Once the traps are gone the player should switch out the "trap walker" and bring in both damage-dealers. When the damage dealers begin to use Infuse the player must manually attack with both damage dealers in-between their Infuses, or they will kill themselves with the second. The player must be wary of this any time a damage dealer is revived, otherwise everything else the damage dealers do is automatic.

The player will use the leader character(s) to control the fight by running around Yiazmat by chasing Yiazmat's tail from its side, so that Yiazmat is following the leader at all times, and yet not actually hitting, while using to enter flee mode in-between casts to help with keeping distance. While running from Yiazmat the player must keep in mind the distance between the leader and damage dealers, as when Yiazmat readies Cyclone, the leader must be as far away from them as possible or it will kill them. When Yiazmat readies Death Strike, the player should equip a Shell Shield on the leader and then switch back to Staff of Magi afterward, to help mitigate the chances of instant KO.

Whenever a leader does get knocked out, the player must open the menu and switch out Balthier (or whoever is weaker of the two damage dealers) for a second leader. The priority in reviving/rebuffing is Arise → Reverse → Lure → Bubble (if not using Bubble Belt already). Only after the buffs are ready should the player switch back in the damage dealer. After Yiazmat uses Growing Threat the team leaders should consider using Bubble Belts, as it is critical at this point that any leaders who get KO'd are revived with double HP. It is even recommended to hold a fresh character specifically for Yiazmat's last HP bar.

Report and reward

Youdefeated — Six moogle siblings gather to celebrate the victory.

30,000 gil
The Godslayer's Badge

The Godslayer's Badge, along with the Omega Badge (earned by defeating Omega Mark XII) and Lu Shang's Badge (earned from the fishing minigame), is needed to acquire the Wyrmhero Blade, one of the strongest weapons.

Defeating Yiazmat unlocks his sprite in the Sky Pirate's Den, earning the player the title of Hunter Extraordinaire.

Gallery

Etymology

Yiazmat's name alludes to director Yasumi Matsuno's nickname (Yazumi Matsuno). The additional "i" in Yiazmat's name is not present in the Japanese version, likely being a localization decision to associate it closer to "Tiamat."

The title of the hunt is "Farewell to a Legend," a reference to how Matsuno left the company before the game was completed, and the story Montblanc tells refers to how the development team felt about him, albeit with a different end.

Another guess is that Yiazmat is the game's depiction of Matsuno with the moogles being the development team, and their master being Square Enix. Matsuno prolonging the game killed Square Enix "financially" and the development team felt Matsuno had to be slain as retribution for his actions. The hunt title bids "farewell" to a legendary monster—Yiazmat—both being an homage and an insult to the director.

Trivia

In Hard Mode of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Aeronite fought in a Chaos infusion can have nearly 58,000,000 HP, surpassing Yiazmat, though it does not take as long to defeat.
Yiazmat bears many similarities to the recurring boss Shinryu. Like Shinryu, Yiazmat is a holy dragon spoken of like a deity, is said in its bestiary entry to be the guardian of a powerful sword, and accepting the hunt for Yiazmat allows the party to fight Omega Mark XII; Shinryu and Omega are often depicted together as hunting one another. As Shinryu does not appear in any games set in Ivalice, Yiazmat may serve as Shinryu's substitute among the enemy roster.

Related enemies

Ash Wyrm
Shield Wyrm
Lindwyrm (Mark)
Ring Wyrm (Mark)
Fafnir (Mark)
Tiamat (Boss)
Elder Wyrm (Optional Boss)
Hell Wyrm (Optional Boss)