Stardust Rod (Final Fantasy IX)

The Stardust Rod is a weapon for Dagger in Final Fantasy IX, being her third rod. It teaches her the Ability Up support ability and Reflect and Float spells; they allow her to master abilities faster, as well as to protect the party. The weapon's notable trait is that when Dagger levels up with the Stardust Rod equipped, she gains a permanent raise to her Spirit stat, making it a great level grinding weapon. It also halves Shadow-elemental damage to Dagger when equipped.
==Obtain==
The Stardust Rod is first stolen from Zorn in Alexandria Castle, and is afterward bought for 760 gil from Lindblum (second storyline visit), Dragon's Gate, Fossil Roo, Conde Petie, Black Mage Village (before going through the Shimmering Island portal), Alexandria, and Treno (after returning from the Outer Continent).
==Mechanics==
The Stardust Rod's damage dealt with a normal Attack is determined as follows everywhere but within Ipsen's Castle:
:Base = 16 - Enemy's Defense
:Bonus = Strength + Rnd MOD ([(Level + Strength) / 8] + 1)
:Damage = Base * Bonus
Where Rnd means a random number, while MOD means modulus operation. "Rnd MOD x" can be read as a random number between 0 and x-1. 
The damage is then modified by variables like Dagger's row position and the enemy's Protect. If Dagger were under Mini, her Bonus would be 1. If Dagger equips Healer, damage is converted to healing.
When in Ipsen's Castle, the stronger weapons do less damage than weaker weapons, and the Base part of the damage formula is altered to:
:Base = 44 - Enemy's Defense
The Stardust Rod halves Shadow-elemental damage to Dagger when it is equipped.
==Use==
Stardust Rod is Dagger's third rod, and is used for the portion of the game where the party heads to the Outer Continent. It is slightly weaker than the Multina Racket that is also available at this time, and rackets are generally better weapons if the player ever uses Dagger's Attack command, as they deal full damage from the back row. However, as Dagger is not a physical attacker, unable to augment her Attack with any support abilities unlike characters like Zidane and Steiner, the Attack stats of her weapons do not matter as much as the abilities they can teach, and in case of the Stardust Rod, the stat boosts they can confer.
The Stardust Rod provides Dagger with one good white magic spell, one less useful white magic spell, and Ability Up, which lets her master any abilities she is currently learning faster, including the Ability Up itself. Reflect is good though pales in comparison to Eiko's Carbuncle or the Auto-Reflect support ability; however, Reflect from the Stardust Rod is the earliest access to this status that the player can use. Float is useful for the boss battle of Conde Petie Mountain Path, but never really again after that.
The Stardust Rod's standout feature is how it permanently boosts Dagger's Spirit on level up by two. Spirit can be seen as the best stat to boost, as it determines the duration of expirable status effects (shorter for ailments, longer for buffs), how quickly the Trance gauge fills and for how long the character can stay in Trance, and how often Regen and Poison tick (more frequently for Regen and less frequently for Poison), and how much HP Life, Phoenix, and Revive restore, as well critical hit rate, though this is less relevant for Dagger.
Dagger's other stat-boosting weapon is the Magic Racket, available after the party returns from the Outer Continent. Magic Racket boosts her Magic by two per level up, useful for calculating curative spells' effects, and for her eidolons. The player could keep either of them equipped whenever not learning an ability from another weapon, or even keep an eye on Dagger's EXP intake and switch when she is about to level up. However, min-maxing is unnecessary for a casual playthrough, and the bonus stats from either weapon can be viewed as simply a nice extra.
The weapon's Shadow-halving property is not very useful, as there are few Shadow-elemental enemy attacks, the main one being the Doomsday used by the superbosses Ozma and Hades, and by this time, the player can absorb the element with other equipment pieces. 
The Stardust Rod can be used in synthesis to make a Madain's Ring later, though there are also other ways to get it.
==Gallery==
Stardust Rod FFIX Art.jpg|Artwork.
Stardust Rod FFIX.png|Strategy guide scan.
==Etymology and origin==
Dagger's Stardust Rod is based on the high tier rods of the same name from Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy IV.
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy IX