Cypress Pile (Final Fantasy IX)

The Cypress Pile is Vivi's sixth staff in Final Fantasy IX, obtained after the party returns from the Outer Continent. It teaches Vivi the Demi spell, which attempts to wipe quarter of the enemy or enemies' HP; Break, which disables an enemy to the extent it is effectively another Instant Death spell; and Comet, that damages a target, often severely, but has a good chance of missing. The Cypress Pile has innate Confuse status used through Add Status.
==Obtain==
The Cypress Pile is bought for 3200 gil from the following shops after the party returns from the Outer Continent: Lindblum weapon shop, Oeilvert Mogshop, Desert Palace Mogshop, and Esto Gaza (after Desert Palace). All of these shops besides Lindblum become inaccessible in the endgame.
==Mechanics==
The Cypress Pile's damage dealt with a normal Attack is determined as follows everywhere but within Ipsen's Castle:
:Base = 27 - Enemy's Defense
:Bonus = Strength + A random value 0 ... [(Level + Strength) / 8]
:Damage = Base * Bonus 
The damage is then modified by variables like Vivi's row position and the enemy's Protect. Under Mini, his Bonus would be 1. If Vivi 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 = 33 - Enemy's Defense
The Cypress Pile has innate Confuse; Vivi will confuse the susceptible target of his Attack 1/5th of the time when he has Add Status equipped.
==Use==
If acquired at the earliest, the Cypress Pile is Vivi's strongest weapon for use in world map exploration with the Blue Narciss until the player advances in the Chocobo Hot and Cold quest far enough to get a mountain-crossing Choco and finds the High Mage Staff from a chocograph. If the player is not prioritizing the chocobo quest to get all treasures the earliest, the Cypress Pile is Vivi's strongest weapon for Oeilvert or Desert Palace until the superior Octagon Rod becomes available to buy in Esto Gaza. However, as staves only offer Attack power and have no effect on Vivi's spellcasting ability, his weapon stats are less relevant to him than what abilities they teach, though the Cypress Pile also has one boon for physical attacking: Confuse.
The spells learned from the Cypress Pile are fairly good, though Break is similar the the Stop spell Vivi likely has already mastered. Demi can be useful for whittling down enemies' health without killing them, such as when waiting for Zidane to steal, or to get the enemy to a suitable threshold for Quina to eat it, though it tends to miss. Comet is a strong spell, but also often misses.
==Gallery==
CypressPile.png|Artwork.
Cypress Pile FFIX.png|Strategy guide scan.
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy IX