Ninja Gear (Final Fantasy IX)

The Ninja Gear is an endgame light armor piece in Final Fantasy IX for Zidane and Amarant. It teaches Alert, which avoids back attacks in random encounters; Eye 4 Eye, which improves Counter; and Locomotion, which inoculates against Stop. The garment gives a bonus to the wearer's Speed when they level up with it equipped and absorbs Shadow damage to the wearer, making it a good gear piece to wear for Ozma.
==Obtain==
The Ninja Gear is stolen from the boss fought upon catching 99 frogs. Though the player could accomplish this feat whenever they have Quina in the party, the player is likely to do it near the end of the game.
The Ninja Gear is also stolen from Garland, and bought for 14,000 gil from Daguerreo after the events in Pandemonium.
==Mechanics==
The Ninja Gear provides 35 Defense, mitigating damage from physical attacks. The vest gives a +1 bonus to the wearer's Speed 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. Speed is an unimportant stat to raise as it barely has an effect in ATB refill speed and even less on turn order.
The gear absorbs Shadow damage to the wearer. If the character also equips the Dragon Wrist or Protect Ring, they absorb half damage.
==Use==
The Ninja Gear is a good light body armor for the superboss battles against Ozma and Hades, and whenever Vivi is using Doomsday, for its Shadow-absorption. Of the abilities it sports, Eye 4 Eye is the main one worth learning, as the player likely already has Locomotion mastered from previous equipment, and Alert is fairly unimportant.
The Ninja Gear's level up bonus is pointless. Ninja Gear is obtained late into the game, about the time it becomes worthwhile to start level grinding and min-maxing if the player wants to grind their stats, though doing these is unnecessary in a normal playthrough even when preparing for superbosses. For level grinding, Zidane and Amarant should instead wear Power Vest (Strength +2) or Dark Gear (Spirit +3).
The guests from Tantalus can also wear the Ninja Gear though the player cannot equip them with it in a normal playthrough.
==Etymology and origin==
Category:Armor in Final Fantasy IX