White Wind (Final Fantasy IX)

White Wind is a Blu Mag spell for Quina in Final Fantasy IX that heals HP to all available allies based on Quina's own current health at a cost of 14 MP. It cannot be reflected and would not work with Return Magic were an enemy to use it on the player party, but no enemy does; Griffin, Zemzelett, and Zuu use it upon themselves.
==Obtain==
Quina learns White Wind by eating a Zuu, Griffin, Zemzelett, or Garuda. The earliest it can be learned is mid-way through Gizamaluke's Grotto from the Garuda fought in the forest on Popos Heights, however, it will be much too hard for the player to take on at this early point in the game, and the player would find an extreme challenge to reduce its health to 1/4 or even 1/2 for Quina to consume it with Eat or Cook. The first viable way to learn White Wind in a normal playthrough is from the Zuus in Cleyra's Trunk. If missing this chance, the next change is from the Griffins and Zemzeletts on the Outer Continent.
==Mechanics==
White Wind heals one third of Quina's current HP (rounded down) to all of the party, including Quina themself. If the party has Zombified members, it deals damage to them instead.
==Use==
White Wind is the only curative Blu Mag, but falls far short of what Dagger and Eiko's White Magic can do. If recruited at the earliest, Quina will be in a party formation without any White Mages, but getting the spell from Garuda would be a veritable grind and getting White Wind from Cleyra's Trunk means it is not long until Quina is to exit the party for a time. By the time Quina joins for the trek to the Outer Continent, the party will have Dagger as a White Mage again. Another part of the game where Quina could step into a healer role is during Mount Gulug as Eiko is missing and Dagger is still going through a period of turmoil where her commands frequently fail. Later on, Quina will join Zidane in tackling the Earth Shrine, but this only involves one fairly easy boss battle.
As White Wind heals one third of Quina's current HP to all of the party, it is more potent the more HP Quina has. However, Quina has one of the lower maximum HP pools out the party, even when leveled up, so the best healing they can do will likely stay in the couple thousand HP range. However, seeing as the spell targets everyone in the party, this may be sufficient. The big downside of White Wind is that it cannot be used to rescue the party from critical health, as Quina themself needs to have high HP for it to help the others. One strategy could be to protect Quina specifically with Cover, Reflect and Vanish and Auto-Potion/Auto-Regen, as well as possibly placing them in the back row, and Quina can then use their high health to rescue others with White Wind.
As White Wind ignores Reflect, it could be used to heal after summoning Carbuncle. In the endgame however, Auto-Regen supersedes all other healing methods.
Unlike Dagger and Eiko's White Magic, White Wind cannot be used to attack undead enemies.
Category:Blue Magic in Final Fantasy IX