Blu Mag (Final Fantasy IX)

Use learned enemy skill.

Description

Blu Mag is Quina's unique skillset in Final Fantasy IX. Blue Magic is a recurring type of magic in the Final Fantasy series where one uses magic learned from enemies.

Using Blue Magic 100 times in the mobile and Steam versions earns the I'm So Blue achievement.

Mechanics[]

Quina learns new skills by eating regular enemies when they have a quarter or less of their maximum HP remaining (or half during Quina's Trance). Eat command is sealed inside Oeilvert.

Different skills work by different mechanics, but damage-dealing abilities generally depend on Quina's Level and Magic stats to calculate the outcome.

List of Blue Magic[]

Name	MP	Enemies	Description
Goblin Punch	4	Goblin, Goblin Mage	Causes a small amount of non-elemental magic damage to a single target. Should the target's level be the same as Quina's, the amount of damage inflicted is increased.
Goblin Punch	Causes Non-elemental damage to the enemy.
LV5 Death	20	Stroper, Dracozombie, Whale Zombie, Lich (Crystal)	Causes Instant Death to all targets whose level is a multiple of 5.
LV5 Death	KOs all enemies whose LEVELs are multiples of 5.
LV4 Holy	22	Feather Circle, Torama, Amdusias	Causes moderate Holy damage to all targets whose level is a multiple of 4.
LV4 Holy	Causes Holy damage to enemies whose LEVELs are multiples of 4.
LV3 Def-less	12	Carve Spider, Lamia, Lizard Man, Sand Scorpion, Ochu, Grand Dragon	Reduces Defense and Magic Defense of all enemies whose level is a multiple of 3 by a random amount.
LV3 Def-less	Reduces Defense of enemies whose LEVELs are multiples of 3.
Doom	12	Veteran, Ash	Inflicts a 10-step countdown for Instant Death to a single target.
Doom	Casts Doom on the target.
Roulette	18	Ghost, Zombie, Hecteyes	Inflicts Instant KO on a random target, be it enemy or ally.
Roulette	Randomly KOs a target.
Aqua Breath	14	Clipper, Axolotl, Sahagin, Green Vepal	Inflicts Water-elemental damage to all targets equal to 1/4 of their Max HP (has a 50% success rate) and doesn't work on bosses.
Aqua Breath	Causes Water damage to all enemies.
Mighty Guard	64	Serpion, Myconid, Gigan Octopus, Antlion, Gargoyle	Casts Protect and Shell on the entire party.
Mighty Guard	Casts Shell and Protect on all party members.
Matra Magic	8	Trick Sparrow, Dragonfly, Zaghnol, Ogre, Land Worm, Armstrong	Reduces one target's HP to 1 (has a 20% success rate) and doesn't work on bosses.
Matra Magic	Reduces the target's HP to 1.
Bad Breath	16	Anemone, Worm Hydra, Malboro	Causes Confuse, Poison, Darkness, Slow, and Mini to a single target (has a 40% base success rate).
Bad Breath	Causes Confuse, Darkness, Poison, Slow, and Mini to the enemy.
Limit Glove	10	Mu, Axe Beak, Mandragora, Blazer Beetle, Jabberwock, Catoblepas	Inflicts 9999 damage to a single target if Quina's HP is 1.
Limit Glove	Causes Non-elemental damage to the target when your HP is 1.
1,000 Needles	8	Cactuar	Deals a fixed 1000 damage to a single target.
1,000 Needles	Reduces the enemy's HP by 1,000.
Pumpkin Head	12	Python, Hedgehog Pie, Ladybug, Skeleton, Yeti, Basilisk, Bandersnatch	Inflicts damage to a single target equal to the difference in Quina's Max HP and current HP.
Pumpkin Head	Damages with the difference between your max HP and current HP.
Night	14	Nymph, Abomination, Seeker Bat, Grimlock	Casts sleep on everyone, enemies and allies alike.
Night	Causes Sleep to all targets.
Twister	22	Red Dragon, Abadon, Tiamat	Inflicts random wind-elemental damage to all enemies based on the following formula: 55 * A random number between 1 and (Quina's Level + Quina's Magic stat)
Twister	Causes Wind damage to all enemies.
Earth Shake	20	Adamantoise, Earth Guardian, Shell Dragon	Inflicts Earth-elemental damage on all targets (unless flying or floating).
Earth Shake	Causes Earth damage to all enemies.
Angel's Snack	4	Ironite, Mistodon, Epitaph, Behemoth	Consumes 4 Remedies to be used on all party members at once. If there are no Remedies in stock, then no MP or Remedies are used, but the turn is lost.
Angel's Snack	Uses Remedy on all party members.
Frog Drop	10	Gigan Toad	Inflicts Non-elemental fixed damage equal to: Quina's Level * Number of frogs caught If no frogs caught, deals 1 HP damage
Frog Drop	Amount of damage depends on the number of frogs you have caught.
White Wind	14	Zuu, Griffin, Zemzelett, Garuda	Recovers HP to all allies equal to ⅓ of Quina's Max HP.
White Wind	Restores HP of all party members.
Vanish	8	Vice, Hornet, Gnoll, Troll, Drakan	Makes a target temporarily disappear. A vanished target's physical attacks always hit, but physical attacks towards it always miss. The effect is nullified when the target is hit with a spell or simply by expiring over time. The duration of the effect lasts longer the higher the target's Spirit.
Vanish	Makes a party member disappear.
Frost^{[note 1]}	8	Wraith (Blue Flame), Chimera, Kraken	Causes the Freeze status on a single target (has a 30% base success rate).
Frost^{[note 1]}	Causes Freeze to the enemy.
Mustard Bomb	10	Wraith (Red Flame), Bomb, Red Vepal, Grenade, Maliris	Causes the Heat status on an enemy (has a 30% base success rate).
Mustard Bomb	Causes Heat to the enemy.
Magic Hammer	2	Magic Vice, Ring Leader	Reduces one target's MP by a random amount between 0 and the target's current MP.
Magic Hammer	Reduces the enemy's MP.
Auto-Life	14	Carrion Worm, Gimme Cat, Cerberus, Yan, Stilva	Target is automatically revived one time when KO'd.
Auto-Life	Casts Life when KO'd.

↑ Known was "Freeze" in the European English version.

The earliest each Blue Magic spell can be learned[]

Aqua Breath from the Axolotls and Frog Drop from the Gigan Toads in the Qu's Marsh where Quina is recruited after first leaving Lindblum on foot.
Mighty Guard from the Serpions and Pumpkin Head from the Hedgehog Pies in the grasslands outside Lindblum's Dragon's Gate.
Mustard Bomb from the Bombs, Limit Glove from Axe Beaks, and LV3 Def-less from Carve Spiders on the Lindblum Plateau. Quina can be brought to the Lindblum Plateau before visiting Gizamaluke's Grotto by backtracking to Lindblum immediately after recruiting Quina.
Angel's Snack from the Ironites and Vanish from the Vices around around the Chocobo's Forest.
White Wind from the Garuda on the Popos Heights forest, however, they are likely much too tough for the player to take on yet, so they may want to wait until Cleyra's Trunk to learn it.
Night from the Nymphs on the grassland north of Cleyra.
Magic Hammer from the Magic Vices in Burmecia.
White Wind from the Zuus, Matra Magic from the Dragonflies, and Auto-Life from the Carrion Worms on Cleyra's Trunk.

(After Cleyra's Trunk, Quina is away from the party until the party is supposed to find the Fossil Roo.)

LV4 Holy from the Feather Circles in Fossil Roo.
Goblin Punch from the Goblin Mages and 1000 Needles from the Cactuars in the grassland and desert terrains around Conde Petie.

(At the start of Conde Petie Mountain Path, Quina is not available until after the Blue Narciss.)

LV5 Death from the Dracozombies or Stropers in the Iifa Tree, or from the Whale Zombies on the beaches of the Lost Continent or on the Outer Continent near the Desert Palace.
Roulette from the Zombies in the Iifa Tree.
Earth Shake from the Adamantoises and Bad Breath from the Anemones around the Qu's Marsh on the southwest island.
Twister from the Red Dragons and Frost from the Wraith (blue) in Mount Gulug.
Doom from the Veterans in Ipsen's Castle.

Strategies[]

Many of Quina's Blu Mag spells have poor accuracy, or have a randomized effect, making using them something of a gamble as Blu Mag spells also take a lot of MP from them. The Half MP ability is thus useful when using Quina in battle. Quina's level-based abilities are situationally useful: powerful against the right enemy, but useless against enemies on a wrong level.

Limit Glove is a supremely powerful move that deals 9999 HP fixed damage if Quina is on 1 HP when using it. This is easiest achieved if Quina is revived by Auto-Life, but Phoenix Downs also randomly revive at 1 health, and Quina could use Matra Magic on themself for the same effect. As Limit Glove is available early, the player can take on the tough monsters above Gizamaluke's Grotto the first time through if they use this skill, and Limit Glove will one-hit-kill every boss and regular enemy that Quina can fight (besides the Grand Dragon) in the first two discs of the game. Freya, Steiner, and Amarant can use Cover to help protect the 1 HP Quina from damage long enough for them to use the skill. In the endgame the player has various means of dealing the full 9999 damage with various characters, however, making Limit Glove more useful early game.

Frog Drop is Quina's "signature spell" and outclasses Limit Glove as their most damaging move by the endgame if the player has been trying to get Quina's ultimate weapon, as it deals fixed damage based on the number of frogs caught in the marshes' minigame (up to the cap of 9999). It does not have an overly high MP cost and is great against bosses, Ozma, and Yans.

LV3 Def-less works on various enemies, but the drop in enemy defenses is random, limiting its usefulness.

Though many enemies are vulnerable to LV4 Holy, only few are also weak to the Holy element, making it worth using the ability against them, as the ability on its own is not powerful. Veteran in Ipsen's Castle is on a vulnerable level and is also weak to the Holy element.

Every random encounter inside Desert Palace is vulnerable to LV5 Death, making Quina a great character for this segment. LV5 Death is also useful for grinding with Grand Dragons. It can clear out pairs of Garudas in Esto Gaza or Vepals in Mount Gulug.

As it is exceptionally rare for an enemy formation to include 4+ enemies, the odds are stacked against the player's four-member party when using Roulette, and it is not possible to become immune to Instant Death in Final Fantasy IX. The odds change if the player has fewer than four party members, being most favorable if they have only one party member against multiple enemies, but having few party members is itself a disadvantage.

Bad Breath can cripple some otherwise tough opponents (such as Meltigemini or Red Dragon), but its poor accuracy limits its usefulness.

Night is superior to Vivi's Sleep spell, but also puts the party to sleep unless they equip Insomniac. It has a perfect base accuracy (can still miss if the enemy has high Magic Evasion), ignores Reflect, and hits every target in the battle. It can be useful against several tough enemies and bosses, especially in the battles against Yans, and if Deathguise is put to sleep before its first turn, it will not use Meteor.

White Wind is not as good as Dagger and Eiko's White Magic, but there are portions of the game where the player has no white mages available where it may be of use: Cleyra and Mount Gulug when Dagger is still mourning and her skills are hampered.

Angel's Snack uses up Remedies to heal the entire party. Enemies that use statuses on multiple targets at once are faced at the end of the game, and thus this spell can be useful against Quale, Ozma, Hades, and the final boss. However, using it repeatedly quickly uses up the player's stock of Remedies unless they have specifically stocked up.

Mighty Guard starts out very MP-expensive and its buff duration is poor due to it being based on the party's Spirit stats; however, late into the game Quina has more MP (and Half MP support ability) and the party's Spirit is better, and Mighty Guard can be useful in boss fights.

Quina's Vanish spell is the only means of inflicting the Vanish status on a single target the player has available. It can be especially useful when used on characters that have Cover/Protect Girls, as the enemy's physical attack will miss even on covering characters.

1000 Needles is good if acquired as soon as it is first available, but Quina leaves the party soon after, and later on, it is no longer as useful.

The game has a lot of flying/floating enemies so Twister can be good at exploiting their weakness to Wind, but as it does random damage, the results will vary. Its "counterpart" ability, Earth Shake, does consistent damage, but misses flying/floating enemies, making it likewise situational.