Final Fantasy IX Character Ranking

TrueSephiros

TrueSephiros

Blue Mage
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Considering I didn't play Final Fantasy IX a whole lot, however I did max everysingle character out, and did play it completely through, however definetly didn't study it as much as the other FF games though, however this is my tier listing for this game as well.

You will be quite surprised by FFIX's Tierlisting, because unlike other FF games like VII, VIII, or X where Damage in succession is the biggest reasons for tiering, in here, it's more about having everything and versatility that makes you who you are+ at the end, not everyone will be dishing out 9999 damage.

FINAL FANTASY IX TIER LIST

God Tier
Armament
​

Top Tier
Freya
Eiko
Zidane

Middle Tier
Vivi
Steiner
Garnet

Bottom Tier

Quina


Armament - There is nothing that this character cannot do. Simply put, he is the single best character wtihin the entire roster. He can does incredible damage only output more by Zidane w/ Ultima Weapon. He can counter Pyshical Attacks, but most importantly, he can counter magic attacks. He can throw things for big damage, he can cast Auto-Life, he can revive dead characters. Not only that, but he's one of the select few who can heal both HP and MP, and his Trance is one of the best in the game since he can cast all of his abilities either on party members or all the enemies.

Freya - Jump is just simply insane, because it's so powerful, however it can be a life-saver at certain times. Reis Wind has to be one of the best healing abilities within the game. I should mention White Draw since it can restore the entire party's mp, but it's expensive. Dragon Crest deals out 9999 damage, and it shouldn't take that long since you will be killing tons of dragons in order to lvl up. Her Trance is solid since it allows her to build up damage over a period of time safely.

Eiko - She is superior to Garnet in every way, because she has a far better selection of defensive spells, while Holy and Madeen does incredible damage to boot. Fenrir is an extremely versatile summon, making it one of the few that's worth summoning. She can also cast Phoenix which gives you a random chance of returning back to life if your completely wiped out. Her Trance is okay, since you "could" cast duel white magics if your in trouble.

Zidane - He is easily the strongest character in the game due to Ultima Weapon allowing him to deal out the most damage out of any character. He can steal, his thievery ability can be powerful because it's damage is decided upon how many times you where successful at stealing with him, which by the end...should be Alot. Not to mention Thievery cannot be blocked, and pratically all of his Trances do phenomenal damage. On some smaller notes, he can help parties run a away easily and he "could" sacrifice himself to heal the entire party.

Vivi - He has incredibly powerful magic attacks, and he gets a few thumbs up for being able to counter magic and being capable of ripping right through reflect. Outside of that, he's not very versatile, which is needed in a game like IX, however his Trance is worthy of a mention since you can Duel Cast Dark Magic, so casting 2-Flare's a nice anty up.

Steiner - Outside of Physical attacks...what does he have? He's got great damage potential, but Zidane, Armament and Freya can do the same, but with far better versatility. However, one thing is for sure, he has arguably the best Trance in the game due to the mere reason that he can do double the damage on everything, and Shock is extremely powerful.

Garnet - She's a Healer, and although her summons can be powerful, it takes a vast amount of time to achieve this. Ark her Summon does huge damage, however it's not worth the 10,000 hrs it takes to cast, when you have other characters who can achieve the same damage potential in less then 5 seconds. Her Defensive Spells are also nowhere near as good as Eiko's which is what really drops her versatility. Everything she can do, Eiko can basically do much better with more profecient effeciency.

Quina - She isn't ranked here because of looks either. She really is the absolute worst character in the game. Blue Magic in FF IX is just completely worthless, even the former powerful spells like Big Guard are completely nerfed in FF IX. Frog Drop can deal out 9999 damage if you power it up enough, and Limit Gloves does allow her to do 9999 damage if your constantly at 1-Hp...but who wants to constantly be at 1-HP?

Everything else that she has ranges from being either just mediocre or just completey not worth while. Her Trance is the absolute worst in the game...all it does is allow her to eat enemies easier...you must be joking?


So there you have it, in the a game like FF IX where their is no successive numerous attacks in the game, Offensive+Defensive game's is what really sets a character apart in the end. So rankings are based upon this statement.

Hope you guys enjoy, since I have more Character Rankings for other FF games to come.




 
Well, that might annoy some Quina fans. I do agree about Big Guard. It was nerfed compared to the last few games in the series. Big Guard lasts about a couple of minutes, not to mention it uses a large amount of MP.

No surprise there on ranking Garnet the second worst. Eiko is better in every way. Eiko just has less HP and Garnet.

I don't see very many people using Freya. I'm a fan of Freya myself. I do agree though that her Jump can be a live saver.

As for Amarant I never used him....I would have never though that Amarant could be that strong.
 
Actually i would put steiner at the top. He has the second best trance in the game. He has the highest hp, he has sword magic, he has the best weapon AND armour in the game. He has the strongest moves (shock and climhazzard)

Vivi would come second because of his trance allowing him to do 2 flares in a row dealing 16k+ in one turn.

Amarant would come 3rd. His damage input isn't all that great and his attacks were not as good as you make them out. But he is still a solid character.

Freya would come 4th due to jump and dragon crest attacks which allows her to deal 9999 (And is alot easier to do than frog drop and thievery)

the rest go below
 
In IX "if" I would've just tired damage potential, then Zidane, Steiner, Vivi and Freya would be up there. However in IX, huge damage in succession doesn't succeed all the time, or doesn't work as well like in other FF games like VII, VIII or X in my other tier rankings. Versatility is what really stands out within IX which is nice for a change, instead of who can overkill your opponent the fastest and the quickest.

Those where my reasons why I pushed Armament above all else, simply because, he has almost no weaknesses, and he's good at pratically everything since he can provide the team with high powered attacking+support.
 
You said Vivi wasn't versatile enough, but I beg to differ. People always blither on about his crappy Flare spell, but what about Doomsday? Not only does that do 9999 each turn but it will HEAL your party if they're equipped with stuff that absorbs dark. So that essentially gives Vivi the roles of powerhouse, black mage and white mage.

Amarant's Chakra skills are good and his Throw ability is awesome, but his normal physical attacks are crap. I'm glad you put Quina at the bottom, I hate Quina fanboys who try to say he's good. No. Quina is complete, epic fail. His frog drop is more of a pain to power up than Freya's Dragon Quest and his blue magic is utter shit. Big Guard is pathetic, it lasts for three full turns IF you're lucky, and it costs 64 MP so it's not even worth it.
 
His flare spell isn't that bad. It can deal 7K damage.
I suppose throwing wing edges is a decent ability.
 
I disagree with that tier listing on both Vivi AND Garnet. *gasps are heard from the other forumers* ESPECIALLY about Garnet. *louder gasps*

As already mentioned, with the right equipment, Vivi can both deal extreme amounts of damage and heal the entire party with Domsday, BUT, the latter has a major flaw, which is, of course, the Dark elemental. That makes the spell useless against a few enemies, and of course, unless you bothered to do the stupid friendly monster sidequest, Ozma. Though it is the Dark Elemental that also makes it a healing move... But, anyway, in my opinion, Vivi hides a lot of potential in Meteor. Yes, I do know that it can miss and that the damage is inconsistent, but, in my experience, it hits nearly always, and deals damage in the high thousands most of the time. BUT, it gets past Reflect, AND is non-elemental.The spell is nearly broken, though to no amount as much as Doomsday CAN be.

Now, as far as Garnet is concerned... Eiko can do a lot of things better, but Garnet beats her easily in the surviving field. How can she beat Pheonix you ask? Ark. Yes, Ark. That 2 minute time waster. But these 2 minutes are blessed, and by that I mean that it's the best thing you could use with Auto-Regen. 2 minutes of non-stop, uninterupted Regen. The only way you could be hurt at that point is via Venom, Poison, or Zombie. If none of these are in effect then all your characters should be at full health by the end of the animation. Again, problem is the Dark elemental, but in the battles where it matters, you will probably be occupied with healing anyway, and healing Ozma isn't much of a problem if you get to get that much healing (as long as you don't get Zombie'd). Eiko simply cannot do that. She cannot hurt her opponents and help with healing that much at the same time. And, to put the icing on the cake, Garnet's trance loves Auto-Regen. That shouldn't require any explaining now. Only support Eiko can deliver better than Garnet is via Pheonix, but if things go according to whatever the player's plan is (and they shouldn't, unless he's fighting Ozma), there shouldn't be any KOs in the first place.
 
... Wrong (to me)

Nah, I would definately put Freya at the God position. Quina and Vivi and Zidane and Eiko would go in the Top, Eiko mostly because of Final Attack Phoenix. Steiner I think would go at the bottom, as to me he is utterly useless-though his breaks can be lifesaving. Amarant and Garnet in the Low Tier, I never got used to them... not my favourite characters.
 
I totally agree with the ranking! Amarant was by far the best, and my fav, character. He was really versatile. His physical attacks are really strong, and i found this useful during the Ark battle in Oilvert as I equipped him with Healer. This made healing easy and effective as magic is useless in this battle.

I also definitely agree that Quina was the worst character. His physical attacks weren't very good, and a lot of his Blue Magics were mediocre.
 
I agree with YF-23. I also really personally disliked Amarant, even though he might be "the best", I never used him - ever. I also never used Eiko all that much, I prefered Garnet.

I guess its just personal opinion. ;)
 
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