Protect Ring (Final Fantasy IX)

The Protect Ring is an endgame add-on in Final Fantasy IX that everyone can equip. It is a reward for many end of game sidequests. The ring teaches Half MP, which halves MP costs; Long Reach, which makes the character deal full damage from back row; and Mag Elem Null that makes Vivi's spells non-elemental. The Protect Ring gives a bonus to the wearer's Spirit when they level up with it equipped and halves damage from all elements.
==Obtain==
The Protect Ring can earliest be exchanged from Mene at the Chocobo Hot and Cold minigame for 8,500 points, however, to get that many points before Chocobo's Air Garden, the player would need to grind the minigame excessively. A more common earliest point to get it is from using a Dead Pepper at a mountain crack on the eastern part of the Lost Continent when riding Choco. The player can get it if they progress Chocobo Hot and Cold to the point Dead Peppers become available after the party gains Blue Narciss, and sails to Lost Continent.
The ring is also synthesized for 40,000 gil, a Rebirth Ring, and a Dark Matter at the Legendary Synthesis Shop in the final dungeon. The Rebirth Ring and the Dark Matter are both rare add-ons available in limited quantities; as the Protect Ring is available from sidequests and from a chocograph, the player likely does not need to synthesize one.
The Protect Ring is rewarded for completing the Mognet sidequest by fixing Mognet Central, for completing the lost Nero family quest in Lindblum, and for answering all of Ragtime Mouse's questions correctly. The latter two are missable.
==Mechanics==
The Protect Ring gives +4 to physical Evasion, +6 to Magic Evasion, +2 to Defense, and +3 to Magic Defense. It gives a +1 bonus to the wearer's Spirit when they level with it equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Spirit is a generally good stat that affects aspects such as the HP a character is revived at, the duration of expirable statuses, how often Regen and Poison tick, how frequently the character enters Trance and how many turns they get while in Trance, among other things.
The ring halves damage from all elements. If the character also wears an equipment piece that weakens them to an element, they will take +75% damage from that element when also wearing the Protect Ring. If the character also wears an equipment piece that absorbs an element, they will absorb half damage.
==Use==
Protect Ring is mainly good for its elemental defense. It would be good to wear for the final battle.
Half MP is great for all magic users, but Long Reach and Mag Elem Null are not all that useful. Long Reach takes too many Magic Stones to be worth equipping, and there is only one enemy that absorbs every element (Gimme Cat) for which Mag Elem Null would be needed to make best use of Vivi's spells. However, Mag Elem Null can be useful with Return Magic against enemies that use elemental spells they would otherwise absorb.
The ring's level up bonus does not match up to other endgame add-ons, but level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary for a normal playthrough even when preparing for superboss encounters; the player can view any extra stats as simply a nice bonus.
Category:Add-ons in Final Fantasy IX