Cachusha (Final Fantasy IX)

The Cachusha is a mid game add-on in Final Fantasy IX for female party members. It teaches Ability Up, which allows the character to master abilities faster; Bright Eyes, which immunizes against Darkness status; and Life, which revives allies from KO and instantly kills undead enemies. The Cachusha gives a bonus to the wearer's Speed, Magic, and Spirit when they level up with it equipped and strengthens the wearer's Fire damage. It is made via synthesis and is also itself used in synthesis to make a racket.
Like many equipment pieces in Final Fantasy IX, the Cachusha is based on an equipment piece of the same name from Final Fantasy Tactics.
==Obtain==
The Cachusha is a rare find in Chocobo Hot and Cold; it is so rare, the player may complete the minigame numerous times over different playthroughs and never come it across.
The Cachusha is found in Dali's upper windmill. The earliest the player can loot it is before the Treno card tournament concludes; the player needs to leave Treno and head to Dali through the mountains when in control of Zidane. The treasures in the upper windmill become inaccessible again when the player enters the Shimmering Island portal.
The Cachusha is synthesized in Treno, Lindblum (second storyline visit onwards), Black Mage Village (before entering the Shimmering Island portal), Alexandria, and Daguerreo for 1,000 gil, a Magus Hat, and a Rubber Helm. Magus Hat is bought from the moogle in Burmecia and the Rubber Helm is bought from Dali.
==Mechanics==
The Cachusha provides 1 to Magic Defense. The headband gives a +1 bonus to the wearer's Speed and Spirit and a +2 bonus to the wearer's Magic when they level up with it equipped. When enough "bonuses" upon level up from gear have been accrued, the character gains a permanent stat increase. Speed is a fairly irrelevant stat as it barely affects ATB fill speed and much less turn order in battle, but Spirit is a generally good stat that that determines the HP a character is revived at, the duration of expirable status effects, how often Regen and Poison tick, how frequently the character enters Trance and how many turns they get while in Trance, among other things. Magic determines spells' outcomes and MP growth.
Wearing the headband enhances the user's Fire damage by +50%, compatible with Dagger's Ifrit and Eiko's Phoenix.
==Use==
The Cachusha is good for learning Ability Up and Life. Bright Eyes is not so useful, as only Freya learns it and Darkness is not a common status abnormality for enemies to inflict; if Freya gets blinded, she can still use Jump and Dragon skills without penalty.
The Fire Elem-Atk is good for both Dagger and Eiko, for their fire-elemental eidolons. Phoenix may be auto-summoned to revive the party, but during this time will not do damage to enemies.
The level up bonuses to Magic and Spirit are good, but level grinding and min-maxing are unnecessary even when preparing for superbosses. As the best stat-boosting equipment become available at the end of the game, the best result would be to restrict EXP intake until then.
The Cachusha is used in synthesis to make the Priest's Racket.
Beatrix can also equip the headband, but the player should not equip the Cachusha to her as she is a guest character.
==Etymology==
 is a loanword from katyusha in Russian, and refers to an Alice band or headband.
Category:Add-ons in Final Fantasy IX