Dragon's Crest (Final Fantasy IX)

Dragon's Crest is a Dragon ability in Final Fantasy IX used by Freya that inflicts fixed damage (rather than physical damage as the flavor text claims) to one enemy based on the number of dragon-type enemies that have been felled for a cost of 16 MP. It can become Freya's best ability.
==Obtained==
Dragon's Crest is learned for 45 AP from Holy Lance and Kain's Lance. Holy Lance is first stolen from Ark (though as the rarest steal, this can be cumbersome), and later bought from Bran Bal Mogshop and from Daguerreo in the endgame. Kain's Lance is found in Memoria.
==Mechanics== 
Dragon's Crest deals fixed damage to a single enemy equal to the square of the number of dragon-type enemies killed. Killing 100 dragons, maxes the damage out to 9999. Any kills of dragon-type enemies count besides petrifying them; Freya does not need to deal the finishing blow (or even be present in the party) and dragons killed before getting Dragon's Crest also count.
The dragon-type enemies in the game are (in the order of first appearance):
*Serpion
*Ironite
*Grand Dragon
*Dracozombie
*Red Dragon
*Shell Dragon
*Worm Hydra
*Silver Dragon (boss)
*Nova Dragon (boss)
*Tiamat (boss and enemy)
Dragon's Crest does 0 damage when the party has yet to kill any dragons, though this is unlikely to happen for how late Dragon's Crest becomes available. The first mandatory dragon battle is against the Red Dragon in Mount Gulug, by which time Freya could have Holy Lance from Ark.
==Use==
Dragon's Crest is an excellent ability for its competitive MP cost and ease of powering up to 9999 damage per use in comparison to Zidane's Thievery and Quina's Frog Drop. Though one might be stealing and catching frogs as part of the story, the player likely needs to go a bit out of their way to slay 100 dragons to deliberately power up Freya's Dragon's Crest. However, this is fairly quickly done before the endgame at the Mist Continent bottom near Lindblum and Chocobo's Forest against the easy Serpions and Ironites; the Serpions can even appear in pairs. Another good place is against Grand Dragons; this way, the player can level-grind and power up Dragon's Crest simultaneously. However, high levels are not needed to get through the game even against the superbosses (apart form maybe the Friendly Yan, which is not a battle the player is necessarily intended to fight), as available gear and abilities matter much more.
Once Dragon's Crest surpasses Freya's normal attack, she can use it for every one of her turns while staying in the back row for protection, and it does not matter what weapon she equips.
A powered up Dragon's Crest is excellent against tough opponents like Yans, Ozma, Hades, and the final bosses. Freya can use it for full damage even when afflicted with Mini, relevant for the Ozma battle. She can use it in Ipsen's Castle where normal weapon attacks are hindered unless using the character's weakest weapon.
Category:Dragon abilities in Final Fantasy IX