Mace of Zeus (Final Fantasy IX)

The Mace of Zeus is Vivi's ultimate staff in Final Fantasy IX, obtainable from the final dungeon. It teaches him the ultimate Black Magic spell, Doomsday, which deals severe Shadow damage to all enemies and all allies. The Mace of Zeus has innate Mini status used through Add Status.
Obtaining the mace yields The Ultimate Mace achievement/trophy in the versions that support an achievements system.
==Obtain==
The Mace of Zeus is found in Memoria's "Stairs" area, in the top-left corner.
==Mechanics==
The Mace of Zeus's damage dealt with a normal Attack is determined as follows everywhere but within Ipsen's Castle:
:Base = 35 - 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 = 25 - Enemy's Defense
The Mace of Zeus has innate Mini; Vivi will shrink the susceptible target of his Attack 15% of the time when he has Add Status equipped.
==Use==
The Mace of Zeus is the latest ultimate weapon the player obtains in Final Fantasy IX, hidden deep within the final dungeon. If the player does not plan on back-tracking, Vivi only has few uses of his ultimate spell, learned from the mace. However, it is a good spell to use against Ozma, and so the player may want to wait defeating the superboss until this late point and return to the world map. Doomsday is especially good if the player equips their party to absorb Shadow damage, allowing Vivi to heal the party while damaging the enemy.
The Mini status from the weapon is a minor bonus, but Add Status only costs three Magic Stones. Mini works against many enemies in the final dungeon that are not bosses or the crystal versions of the Guardians of Terra, however, Zidane's Soul Blade with his thief swords is far superior than the other characters' Add Status in inflicting the weapons' innate statuses.
==Gallery==
Mace of Zeus FFIX Art.jpg|Artwork.
Mace of Zeus FFIX.png|Strategy guide scan.
==Etymology and origin==
 Final Fantasy IX is the first appearance of the weapon in the series, later being added to re-releases of Final Fantasy V and Final Fantasy Tactics and other games as a powerful magician's weapon.
Category:Weapons in Final Fantasy IX