Final Fantasy IX: How to Beat Ozma

There are many challenges and side quests you can participate in during your playthrough of Final Fantasy IX, and one of the toughest ones is taking on Ozma. It is the superboss of this game, and it can easily wipe your party out if you don’t come prepared. On top of this, it can be very easy to go through the entire game without ever even seeing it. In this guide, I will go over how to find Ozma, what you can do to prepare for the fight, and how to ultimately defeat it.

1. How to Find Ozma

Before you can even find Ozma, you will need to start and do the majority of the Chocobo Hot & Cold side quest. 

• This quest involves meeting a chocobo named Choco, and digging through various gardens for treasure and Chocographs
• You need to get to the point where Choco becomes a Gold Chocobo, and you have access to the Chocobo’s Air Garden
• Interact with the stone in the upper left corner of the Air Garden to find Ozma — Meme will give you a few warnings about the battle
• The earliest that you can find Ozma is once you gain access to the Hilde Garde 3 in the story

This is where you’ll find Ozma in the Air Garden

2. Preparing for Ozma

While you can take on Ozma as soon as you gain access to the Chocobo’s Air Garden, the fight will be much harder if you don’t prepare ahead of time. There are a few things you can do, however, to give you a much better chance at fighting it.

2.1 How to Complete the Friendly Monsters Side Quest

1. Begin the Friendly Monsters side quest by exploring the world and encountering specific monsters that ask for a particular item.
2. Each time you find a Friendly Monster, give them the correct item they request to progress the quest.
3. Continue the side quest until you encounter Yan, the final monster in the sequence.
4. Once Yan is satisfied, he will say: “Now you can reach the round guy!” — this line confirms that Ozma is now within melee range and no longer absorbs Shadow damage.

Completing this quest gives your entire party a strategic advantage by enabling physical damage against Ozma and removing its Shadow absorption.

2.2 Party Setup

You will want to level up your party to level 60+ before taking on Ozma. You will also want to make sure that at least one person’s level is a multiple of 5, and another person’s is a multiple of 4 (more on this later). As far as who to bring, you have free rein on who to bring outside of Zidane. Each party member is a viable pick that brings something to the table.

• • Amarant – can give party members Auto-Life through Aura, and has access to Return Magic to deal additional damage to Ozma. Additionally, he can deal high damage by Throwing Wing Edges.
  • Dagger – she can be your primary source of healing, and deal high damage with her summons. Giving her the Boost Ability will make her summons even more powerful.
  • Eiko – another choice for your main source of healing. She also brings a lot of utility, being able to give the party Reflect, Haste, and Might, for example. Additionally, there is a chance she can revive the party as a last resort through Phoenix. However, you cannot guarantee this, so you shouldn’t rely on it happening.
  • Freya – her Jump can keep her safe from Ozma’s attacks, and while in Trance, she’ll stay up longer while doing great damage. Additionally, if you’ve defeated a lot of dragon enemies, her Dragon Crest can deal max damage even if she’s afflicted with Mini. If she is the last party member standing and she uses Jump while in Trance, there is even a chance Ozma will kill itself with its own Doomsday.
  • Steiner – can deal high damage with moves like Shock and Darkside. If you make a party of primarily physical attackers, he can help them get extra attacks in with his Charge!
  • Vivi – if you give your party gear that absorbs Shadow damage, Vivi can use Doomsday to deal massive damage to Ozma and heal your party at the same time. He also has access to Return Magic, allowing him to deal even more damage.
  • Quina – s/he can be an excellent support if you’ve been keeping up with Blue Magic, being able to cast Auto-Life and Mighty Guard. Quina can also use Angel’s Snack to cleanse the party of debuffs when needed. If you’ve caught a good number of frogs in the marshes, Frog Drop will deal max damage, even if Quina is afflicted by Mini.
  • While everyone is viable, it is recommended that you bring at least one dedicated healer and either Amarant or Quina for Auto-Life.

2.3 Abilities

There are several Abilities that you can equip to prevent Ozma’s deadliest effects and deal more damage to it:

• Clear Headed
• Antibody
• Auto-Regen
• Bright Eyes (for physical attackers)
• Bird Killer (for physical attackers)
• MP Attack (for physical attackers)
• Auto-Life – only take it if you have enough free AP, as it will only work once. It would be easier to have Amarant or Quina apply it with their moves and use the extra AP on other Abilities.

2.4 Equipment

The main pieces of equipment you will want for this fight are pieces that will allow you to absorb or nullify Shadow Damage. This will cause Ozma’s Doomsday to only deal damage to itself while healing your party.

• Demon’s Mail, Egoist’s Armlets, Ninja Gear, and Pumice Piece will all help accomplish this
• Absorbing or nullifying Holy damage will also help against its Holy attacks — Pumice Piece and Chimera Armlet are best for this
• For characters that don’t know the Auto-Reflect Ability, a Reflect Ring will help prevent Berserk from hitting them

The Demon’s Mail will let Freya absorb Shadow damage

3. How to Defeat Ozma

Now that you’ve made all of your preparations, it’s time to fight Ozma. To help your chances at winning, you will want to understand its attacks and how it takes its turns.

3.1 Attacks

Ozma has access to several attacks:

• • Berserk – used as a counterattack
  • Curaga – can use it during its turns and is another possible counterattack. It has a higher chance of using this when its health is low
  • Curse – deals damage to the entire party, and inflicts them with Confuse, Darkness, Mini, Poison, and Slow
  • Death and LV5 Death
  • Doomsday – damages the entire party and Ozma with Shadow damage
  • Esuna – used if Ozma is inflicted with a status effect
  • Flare
  • Flare Star – damages the entire party based on their level
  • Holy and LV4 Holy
  • Meteor – deals random damage to the entire party, up to 9999
  • Mini – used on the entire party
  • MP Absorb – will only use this if its MP is low

3.1.1 Why Meteor is the Biggest Threat

Meteor is the deadliest attack that Ozma can use. The random nature of the attack means that it could wipe out your entire party before you even get a turn if you’re unlucky. Therefore, you want to lower the chances of this being cast as much as possible.

3.1.2 Ozma’s Attack Pattern

• Ozma will mostly choose a random attack to use every turn
• However, it will not use an attack if the move will not work at all
• For example, if everyone absorbs Holy damage, it will never use Holy or Holy LV4
• If you are simply immune to the element, though, these spells can still be cast
• Giving Ozma fewer moves to use isn’t recommended, as this gives it a higher chance to cast Meteor

3.1.3 Strategy for Ozma’s Moveset

• Keep as many attacks in Ozma’s attack pool as possible, lowering the chances of Meteor
• Have one character’s level be a multiple of 5 (for LV5 Death)
• Keep another character’s level a multiple of 4 (for LV4 Holy)
• Make your party immune to only Confuse and Poison for Curse. Melee fighters will also want Darkness immunity
• Have the majority of the party absorb Shadow and Holy damage for the Holy spells and Doomsday — make at least one person immune to each element instead, though, or they won’t be cast
  •  

The fight with Ozma begins

3.2 Ozma’s ATB

Ozma’s ATB works differently compared to every other enemy. Instead of filling up normally, it will instantly fill up when it is not in the middle of an attack animation. This gives it a few unique properties in battle:

• If you don’t coordinate your party members’ attacks, Ozma will be able to attack immediately after any action you use
• On top of this, he can counter attacks
• Because its bar doesn’t fill normally, effects like Slow and Regen will do nothing to it
• It will also not be affected by ATB Speed in the options — you can take advantage of this and set the speed to the highest speed

3.3 Strategy to Beat Ozma

At 55,535 HP, Ozma doesn’t have a great deal of health for a superboss. If you have prepared properly, the fight could go quickly with a little luck.

Before the Battle

• You can set the ATB Speed to the fastest speed to get more turns
• Give your party gear to absorb or nullify Shadow and Holy damage — this will give you a chance of Ozma wasting its turn or hurting itself
• If you have enough AP to spare, you can give party members Auto-Life

Battle Strategy

• At the start of the fight, buff your party with whatever’s available to you, prioritizing Auto-Life
• Have your damage dealers use their most powerful attacks
• Your healer should focus on keeping the party healthy from Flares and Meteors
• To get more turns, have the entire party queue up their attacks during an attack animation — This prevents Ozma from attacking in between your turns (minus counters)
• Curse can be deadly with the multiple statuses it inflicts. Use Remedies and healing spells after it’s used to cleanse them quickly
• If Meteor is used, immediately heal your party and revive characters as needed

4. Rewards

During the fight, Zidane could Steal the Robe of Lords, Dark Matter, and Pumice Piece. While these are all great things to have, they can all be gotten by other means, so you don’t need to stress over them.

Once defeated, Ozma will drop a full Pumice and a Dark Matter. The Pumice will allow Dagger to learn Ark, the most powerful summon in the game. You will earn the achievement To Ozma and Back.