Desert Boots (Final Fantasy IX)

The Desert Boots is an add-on in Final Fantasy IX that everyone can equip. It teaches Flee-Gil, which lets the player earn some gil from manually escaped battles; Protect, which halves physical damage to a target for a time; and Scan, which lets Dagger check an enemy or ally's attributes and weaknesses during battle. When equipped, the Desert Boots give a bonus to the wearer's Magic and Spirit when they level up with the boots equipped. It halves Earth damage to the wearer but makes them weak to Water damage. The boots are made via synthesis and are themselves also used in synthesis to make a different pair of boots.
==Obtain==
The Desert Boots is earliest obtained from Lindblum's synthesis shop, though they can also be made in Black Mage Village and in Alexandria after the player has the Blue Narciss boat. To make the boots, the player will need 300 gil, a Leather Hat, and a Leather Shirt; both are sold in Dali.
The Desert Boots are also found in Cleyra's Trunk behind a trunk.
==Mechanics==
The Desert Boots gives Evasion +2, and a +1 bonus to the wearer's Magic and Spirit stats when they level up with it equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Magic is used for calculating spells' outcomes and for MP growth, whereas 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.
Using the Desert Boots halves Earth damage to the wearer, but makes them sustain 150% damage from Water attacks. If the character also wears a Gaia Gear, they will absorb half damage from Earth. If the character also wears Water-halving gear, Gauntlets, Mythril Vest or Armor, Headgear, Black Hood, Glass Armlet, or Bronze Helm, they will take ~75% damage from Water attacks.
==Use==
The Desert Boots are good in that everyone can equip them and they are some of the earliest add-ons the player can craft; by the time the player gets to Lindblum, they should have the ingredients needed for making the Desert Boots. The abilities from the boots are nothing special, but as Dagger can learn two spells from them, the player may want to prioritize her for the boots.
The Earth-protection can be useful against Ralvuimago. The Water weakness can be a detriment against the enemies in Qu's Marsh and Gizamaluke, but many equipment pieces also halve Water damage that mitigate the weakness.
The Magic and Spirit +1 level up bonuses are useful, 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.
The boots are used in synthesis to make the Germinas Boots, earliest done when Dagger and Steiner visit Treno with Marcus.
Category:Add-ons in Final Fantasy IX