Madain's Ring (Final Fantasy IX)

The Madain's Ring is a mid-game add-on in Final Fantasy IX that everyone can equip. It teaches Body Temp, which inoculates against Heat and Freeze; Chemist, which doubles the potency of medicines used in battle; and Guardian Mog that removes Eiko's status abnormalities before EXP is tallied, but does not actually do anything until the story scene at the bottom of Mount Gulug fairly late into the game. The Madain's Ring gives a bonus to the wearer's Spirit when they level up with it equipped. The Madain's Ring absorbs Ice damage to the wearer. The ring is made via synthesis and is itself used to make other rings.
==Obtain==
The Madain's Ring is earliest bought from Treno Auction House for around 8,700 gil when Princess Garnet and Captain Steiner visit Treno with Marcus. The player may not have the funds to get everything in Treno then, but the "Cotton Robe gil farming trick" is also available at this time.
The next chance to get the ring is from the mining minigame in Fossil Roo. Finding Madain's Ring via mining yields an achievement/trophy in the latest versions, and Fossil Roo is an unrevisitable location. The player can excavate all possible points, and if they do not find the ring, go back a screen and return to excavating.
One ring is also found by using a Dead Pepper at the mountain crack on northeastern part of Forgotten Continent while on Choco. The earliest the player can get it is to progress Chocobo Hot and Cold to the point Dead Peppers are available before entering Desert Palace, and then calling for Choco from the foot prints when on the Forgotten Continent.
The ring is synthesized in Black Mage Village (before the wares change when the player enters the Shimmering Island portal), and after returning from the Outer Continent in Treno and Lindblum, Alexandria (after acquiring the Blue Narciss), and Daguerreo. To make it, the player will need to use 3,000 gil, a Bone Wrist, and a Stardust Rod, which are also sold in these locations.
==Mechanics==
The Madain's Ring gives +2 to Magic Defense. It gives a +2 bonus to the wearer's Spirit when they level with it equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Spirit is a generally good stat that affects aspects such as the HP a character is revived at, the duration of expirable statuses, how often Regen and Poison tick, how frequently the character enters Trance and how many turns they get while in Trance, among other things.
The ring absorbs Ice to the one who wears it. If the character also wears something that halves Ice (Platinum Helm, Silver Gloves, Defense Gloves, Leather Plate, or Shield Armor), they will absorb half damage.
==Use==
The Madain's Ring has some good abilities and an alright level up bonus for the time it can be obtained. Body Temp is good to master to everyone and Chemist is good, especially for Ethers. Eiko can master and equip Guardian Mog early but the ability will not function until the storyline scene at the end of Mount Gulg later on.
The Ice-absorbing effect can be good against Feather Circles, Lani, the enemies on Conde Petie Mountain Path, and Myconids.
The Madain's Ring is used in synthesis to make the Reflect and Rosetta Rings, both powerful add-ons.
The ring's level up bonus is good but level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary for a normal playthrough even when preparing for superboss encounters; the player can view any extra stats as simply a nice bonus.
==Etymology==
 In the context of Final Fantasy IX, the ring is named after the town of Madain Sari.
Category:Add-ons in Final Fantasy IX