Twister (Final Fantasy IX)

Twister is a Blu Mag spell for Quina in Final Fantasy IX that deals random Wind damage to all enemies at a cost of 22 MP.
Twister cannot be reflected but works with Return Magic. The enemies to use it are both versions of Tiamat, Silver Dragon, Nova Dragon, and Deathguise.
==Obtain==
Quina learns Twister by eating a Red Dragon, Abadon, or Crystal Tiamat. The earliest it can be learned is from the Red Dragons in Mount Gulug. The player should include Quina in their party formation when they first head there, and Red Dragons do not respawn after being defeated, being set encounters or "mini bosses".
If the player misses this chance to learn Twister, they will have to wait until Pandemonium for the Abadons that are randomly encountered, as the one part of the "Not Alone" sequence cannot be eaten. If the player misses this as well, then the last chance is right before the final boss gauntlet in the Crystal World from the crystal Tiamat, and by this point, there is not much use for the spell other than completion's sake.
==Mechanics==
Twister inflicts random Wind-elemental damage to all enemies based on the following formula:
:55 * A random number between 1 and (Quina's Level + Quina's Magic stat)
The variable part of the formula is empowered by +50% by Quina wearing a Feather Hat, Bracer, Black Belt, or Fairy Earrings. Equipping multiples does not stack the bonus.
Twister can be especially powerful since it disregards the enemies' Magic Defense in damage calculation. However, like most of Quina's offensive abilities, it has a random element, in Twister's case, the damage itself.
Twister does more damage to enemies weak to Wind, but not to enemies who are simply flying or have Float.
==Use==
Twister is more damaging for enemies to use against the player party than it is for Quina to use it on enemies. For one, the player party has four members whenever Quina is part of it (apart from the time Quina and Zidane team up to battle the Earth Guardian), but enemies rarely appear in such numerous groups. The player party also has lower maximum HP per member than enemies are likely to have, meaning a random outcome can be more devastating against the player. E.g. Couple thousand damage could be severe on the player's side, but not very impressive to use against a boss encounter.
Eiko can deal more consistent Wind damage to all enemies with Fenrir when she has Maiden Prayer equipped. Amarant also has No Mercy with Kaiser Knuckles, though the latter's damage cannot be boosted with Wind-affinity equipment.
Out of Quina's Blu Mag spells, only Aqua Breath, LV4 Holy, Earth Shake, and Twister are abilities that damage all enemies, and Aqua Breath has poor accuracy (and does not work on bosses), LV4 Holy only works on targets whose levels are compatible, and Earth Shake misses flying targets; the player could use Earth Shake against grounded opponents and Twister when there are fliers in the formation. Against single targets, Frog Drop is good if the player has been participating in the frog catching minigame.
The bosses weak to Wind Quina can use Twister against are the Red Dragon, Taharka, Earth Guardian, Silver Dragon, Ozma, Nova Dragon, Lich, Deathguise, and the final boss.
Category:Blue Magic in Final Fantasy IX