Black Belt (Final Fantasy IX)

The Black Belt is a mid game add-on in Final Fantasy IX that everyone can equip. It teaches Beast Killer, which improves damage against beast type enemies; Demi, which allows Vivi to deal fractional damage; and HP+20%. The Black Belt gives a bonus to the wearer's Strength and Spirit when they level up with it equipped and strengthens the wearer's Wind damage.
==Obtain==
The Black Belt is found in Black Mage Village. Upon first arriving in the village, the player will be subjected to numerous ATEs. Before talking to the shopkeeper further north, the player must wait until the ATE "Everyday Life" first appears and watch it before any others on the list. The black mage ponders his life as a shopkeeper.
The player can then visit the shop and speak with him, choosing "I'll have the usual". He will abandon his position behind the counter to rummage through his inventory, which gives the player the space to climb the ladder behind his counter and retrieve the Black Belt from the chest above. If the player does not follow these steps, they can go to the roof of the shop via the ladder in the synthesis shop to hear the shopkeeper talking about "the usual". After hearing this, the player can go back down into the shop and get the shopkeeper to move. The player can no longer do this after they enter the Shimmering Island portal.
The Black Belt is also rewarded for giving 8 Stellazzio coins to Queen Stella in Treno. After the party returns from the Outer Continent, the Black Belt is synthesized in Alexandria, Treno, Lindblum, and Daguerreo for 4,000 gil, Twist Headband, and a Survival Vest. The Survival Vest is bought from shops from the Outer Continent onwards, and the Twist Headband is bought from shops after the party returns from the Outer Continent.
The Black Belt is also stolen from Deathguise.
==Mechanics==
The Black Belt provides 1 to Defense. The belt gives a +2 bonus to the wearer's Strength and Spirit when they level up with them equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Strength is used for damage calculations and for HP growth. Spirit is a generally good stat that that determines the HP a character is revived at, the duration of expirable status effects, how often Regen and Poison tick, how frequently the character enters Trance and how many turns they get while in Trance, among other things.
Wearing the belt enhances the user's Wind damage by +50%, compatible with Quina's Twister, Dagger and Eiko's normal attack with rackets, and Amarant's normal attack with the Kaiser Knuckles.
==Use==
The Black Belt are good for learning Demi and HP+20%. Beast Killer is not so useful as the party likely already mastered it, and there are few beast type enemies and no beast bosses.
The Wind Elem-Atk is best for Amarant's Kaiser Knuckles, but can also be good for Quina's Twister. The game's superbosses and final bosses are all weak to Wind.
The level up bonuses to Strength and Spirit are good, but level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary even when preparing for superbosses. As the best stat-boosting equipment become available at the end of the game, the best result would be to restrict EXP intake until then.
==Etymology==
Category:Add-ons in Final Fantasy IX