Silk Robe (Final Fantasy IX)

The Silk Robe is an early game robe in Final Fantasy IX for mages. It teaches Ability Up, which helps the character master abilities faster, and Loudmouth, which inoculates against Silence. Wearing the Silk Robe weakens the character to Fire and gives a bonus to the wearer's Strength and Magic stats when they level up with it equipped.
==Obtain==
The Silk Robe is obtained the earliest from the frog catching minigame by catching nine frogs. Eight is the maximum number of frogs that can spawn at one time.
It is also found in Cleyra's Trunk; after recruiting Quina and reaching the settlement and watching the ATEs "No Yummy-Yummies!" and "There A Mushroom!", the player needs to head to the pit right of the town entrance, and Zidane will jump in after Quina, landing by the two chests further down the trunk (Silk Robe and Magician Shoes). The two must then climb the normal route back to the town.
The Silk Robe is synthesized in Lindblum (second storyline visit onwards), Black Mage Village (before entering the Shimmering Island portal), Alexandria, Treno (after the party returns from the Outer Continent), and Daguerreo. To make it, the player will need 2,000 gil, a Silk Shirt, and a Bandana. The Silk Shirt is bought from Dali, and the Bandana is bought from various shops but the Dragon's Gate Merchant in Lindblum Castle always has it.
==Mechanics==
The Silk Robe provides 16 Defense and 2 Magic Defense, minorly mitigating damage. It weakens the wearer to Fire, making them sustain 150% damage from Fire attacks. If the character also wears a Black Hood or Ribbon or Protect Ring, halving Fire damage, the character will take ~75% damage from Fire. The Fire weakness is not mentioned in the flavor text; the only way the player can see it written out is when using Scan on the wearer while in battle.
The robe gives a +1 bonus to the wearer's Strength and Magic 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. Strength determines the character's physical damage and their Magic stat determines their spell damage and MP growth.
==Use==
The Silk Robe is an early robe for all the mages, teaching two useful skills, superseding the Cotton Robe. It is a good robe to wear for world map exploration after Lindblum, Gizamaluke's Grotto, Burmecia, Dagger's travels with Steiner and Marcus, Alexandria Castle, Fossil Roo, and the events in the Outer Continent. While on the Outer Continent, the mages can also gain access to the Magician Cloak.
Ability Up from the robe helps master abilities faster and thus is good to master early on, and Loudmouth is helpful in battles against Mandragoras, Nymphs, the enemies in Desert Palace, Gimme Cats, Abominations, Gizamaluke, Quale, the Friendly Yan and the final boss.
The Fire weakness can be a detriment against the Black Waltzes and mages, Carve Spiders, Trick Sparrows, Ironites, Vices, Dragonflies, Bombs, Zuus, Ladybugs, Thorn, and Lani. The fire weakness is especially hazardous if the player uses fire attacks against Soulcage; this will likely kill the party member.
The Silk Robe's level up bonus to Magic and Strength are good but level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary in a normal playthrough even for superboss encounters. The best stat boost equipment pieces are available in the end of the game, and so it would be worthwhile to limit EXP intake until they are available.
Category:Armor in Final Fantasy IX