Chemist (Final Fantasy IX)

Chemist is a support ability in Final Fantasy IX for Dagger, Steiner, and Freya that doubles the effectiveness of Potion, Hi-Potion, and Ether when used by the character mid battle. Chemist costs 4 Magic Stones to activate. The ability is bugged in the Xbox and Steam versions of Final Fantasy IX Remastered.
==Obtained==
Chemist is learned from Cotton Robe, Grand Armor, Barette, and Madain's Ring for variable amounts of AP; Dagger learns it the fastest at 15 AP, whereas Freya requires the most at 35 AP. Equipping two equipment pieces that both teach Chemist at once masters the ability at double the pace.
Cotton Robe for Dagger is first synthesized in Lindblum. It is also found in the "Between Mountains" chocograph available to find as soon as the player first visits Chocobo's Forest.
Barette for everyone is synthesized in Lindblum and other towns after the Battle of Lindblum, and also found in Ipsen's Castle. It is also an exceedingly rare (1/1024) treasure in Chocobo Hot and Cold.
Madain's Ring, also for everyone, is found for free in the Fossil Roo mining minigame. The player could also buy it before that from the Treno Auction House when Princess Garnet and Captain Steiner visit the town with Marcus, though the player may lack the funds to purchase everything there then. It will also be available for synthesis later.
Grand Armor Steiner and Freya is first synthesized in the Black Mage Village in the endgame, and also stolen from the Nova Dragon.
==Mechanics==
When Chemist is active, the character's Potion heals for 300 HP, Hi-Potion heals for 900 HP, and Ether heals for 300 MP. All uses of the items count, Auto-Potion included.
Chemist may be bugged when Dagger couples it with the Auto-Potion in the PC and Xbox versions of Final Fantasy IX Remastered, the items at first healing for excess amounts (the amount shown on screen capped to 9999), eventually overflowing to negative values. This will also affect Ethers the same character uses, even if uninvolved in Auto-Potion. If a character's HP or MP become negative due to the glitch, negative HP has no real impact as the character will not die, but the negative MP prevents the character from doing anything. Worse, the negative MP persists after battle and using an Ether or Tent on them only heals 1 MP at a time. The negative MP can be fixed by using an Elixir on the character, or simply toggling the Chemist ability on and off in the Ability screen.
==Use==
Chemist is good for improving the amount healed with potions, though its effect unfortunately does not extend to Ores, which become a good healing item toward the latter parts of the game. Chemist greatly improves Auto-Potion as well. As Ethers restore 300 MP with Chemist, it is also excellent for topping up mages. It also helps Steiner become more self-sufficient as he has no other means of healing himself than Blood Sword. However, most of the time Steiner is better off attacking while others heal him should he need any help.
On the PC and Xbox versions of Final Fantasy IX Remastered, the player should be careful using Auto-Potion with Chemist as it may be bugged.
Category:Support abilities in Final Fantasy IX