Final Fantasy Zz Four Black Belts Guide

Final Fantasy Zz Four Black Belts Guide

WARNING - THERE ARE SPOILERS BELOW

Important Equipment
ProRing x4 for Resistances (2 in Gurgu Volcano, various locations, sold in Onrac)
Ribbon x2 for Resistances (in Waterfall, Temple of Fiends)
White Shirt x1 for INVS cast (in Sky Palace)
Atlas Gauntlets x2 or x3 for TMPR cast (in Earth Cave, Gurgu Volcano, Sea Shrine)
Ninja Armor x1 for QUIK cast and Resistances and Absorb (in Temple of Fiends)
Heal Helmet x2 for HEAL cast (in Mirage Tower, Sky Palace)
Opal Bracelet for Absorb and Fire Resistance (in Sea Shrine, Temple of Fiends)
Shadow Armor for Absorb and Unknown Resistance (in various locations, sold in Onrac)
Masmune x1 for HEL2 cast and damage (in Temple of Fiends)
Rain Staff x1 for FOG2 cast (in Gurgu Volcano)
Defense Sword x2 for MEND cast (in Waterfall, Sky Palace)
Cure Staff x2 for CUR2 cast (in Castle of Ordeal, Sea Shrine, Temple of Fiends)
Sage Staff x1 for ESNA cast (in Sky Palace)
Free Staff x3 for MOVE cast (in Titan's Tunnel, Gurgu Volcano, Cardia, Sea Shrine)
Chaos Staff x1 for STUN cast (in Temple of Fiends)
Bane Sword x1 for BANE cast (in Sky Palace)
Xcalber Sword x1 for HRM3 cast (in Sky Palace / Dwarf Cave)
Coward Staff x1 for RUN! cast (in Ice Cave)

General Information
For Black Belts in FFZz, wearing armor for Resistances is better than naked Absorb because enemies cast so many spells
When Black Belts become Masters (class change) they do twice as much damage
Bare hands are better than Iron Nunchucks at about Level 30, and better than Raijin Nunchucks at about Level 40
  The Masmune is better than bare hands at Level 50
The White Shirt's INVS cast is very effective for Masters because of their high Evade rate (multiple casts stack)
  The Rain Staff's FOG2 cast increases Absorb which also can be very helpful (multiple casts stack)
The Atlas Gauntlets' TMPR cast is necessary for some boss fights (multiple casts stack)
The Ninja Armor's QUIK cast is very effective for damage
Power leveling is best in the Overworld where you can use Tents/Cabins/Houses between fights
  You can reset when you lose or get bad encounters
  Two good power leveling locations can be walked from Provoka
    The first is by a dock about 50 steps southwest of Provoka
    The second is the Peninsula of Power about 60 steps northeast of Provoka
When approaching stages, 99 Heal Potions should be reserved by using Tents/Cabins/Houses instead
  Have many Pure and Soft Potions also available
  Have Heal Potions reserved for the trip back through Titan's Tunnel
Battles containing at least one weak enemy or one enemy not casting spells can be used to boost party HP
  First kill all the enemies excluding the weak and/or physical one
  While and/or after killing enemies spam White Shirt's INVS and/or Rain Staff's FOG2
  Then spam Masmune's HEL2, Heal Helmet's HEAL, Defense Sword's MEND, and/or Cure Staff's CUR2
Some tougher battles can be helped by spamming buffs and heals at the beginning before fighting
  Some enemies have regeneration and/or CUR4 which make this more important
  The buffs and heals include QUIK, TMPR, INVS, FOG2, HEL2, HEAL, MEND, and CUR2
Some stages may take multiple visits
  First visits may center on obtaining certain items
  Many stages have multiple exits for doing this
It is better for all classes to do the Volcano before the Ice Cave because of the two ProRings that resist instant death spells
  The Gurgu Volcano is also much easier than the Ice Cave
  Going straight for the FLOATER, then straight for the exit should be done on the first trip to the Ice Cave
The Chaos Staff's STUN cast is effective against some enemies like GHOST, MUTANT, and MAGE
The Bane Sword's BANE cast is somewhat effective against some enemies like ??GHOST, KYZOKU, EvilEYE, and MUTANT.
Two enemy spells that are always trouble are GLARE (limited resistance instant death) and VOID (removes death and other resistances)
  SLOW can also be trouble for Black Belts / Masters
There are secrets in the Temple of Fiends
The Turban is less important than vendor and casting armor because it has low Absorb and no Resistances; discard after early game
  Ribbon is the only other helmet that can be equipped, and should be equipped for Resistances
Following early Scale Armor and Gloves, the best Bracelets or Shadow or Ninja Armor should be equipped along with ProRings
  Not sure if Opal Bracelet (37 Absorb, -1 Evade, Fire Resistance) or Shadow Armor (25 Absorb, -5 Evade, Unknown Resistance) is better
Shields and ProCapes cannot be equipped

Aegis Shield for XBAR?
Hyper Knife for LOCK?