Right... so, I'm right after getting the airship and before Ipsen's Castle, which is the earliest point in the game Ozma can be unlocked.

I've never challenged this guy before (unlocked him in a previous game), and after a few tries I realized killing him is probably not the issue since I can deal a lot of damage: But here's the catch, I'm trying to steal all four items.

See, if I went all out on him, I'd probably be able to kill it maybe with a few people dead, but if I buy time to steal, he tends to eventually rape my party.

I have every learnable A and S Ability mastered for all 8 characters before going to Ipsen (so some have one or two missing), and every obtainable piece of equipment up to that point including those available in Daguerreo and including those stealable from Quale.

My average level is in... the 50s, but I've seen him be defeated at level 1. But then again, THOSE battles go all out on him and don't involve buying time to steal and having many backup plans for hazardous situations.

So... yeah, I'm looking for a strategy to beat him at that level, but rather than offensive tricks which I'm all set with, I need a good way to endure his tactics until everything is stolen. So... any suggestions (other than "Level Up". The only case scenario in which I'll do more leveling would be to gain more ability equipping points and make room for more abilities to equip). I also really want to do it BEFORE progressing with the story.

I've got some pieces of Equipment I can absorb Doomsday with, but that's it for now.

Also I probably don't have to say this but all the friendly monsters have already been encountered and taken care of.

So.. help anyone?

If you're gonna drag the battle out you'll probably want to use Quina and Amarant. Aura/Auto-Life and Angel's Snack are gonna get you through.

Sometimes this battle comes down to luck though, one time he decided to use Curse three times in a row followed by Meteor, and there's not a lot you can really do about that. I never really bothered with stealing from him, I bet it'll take you forever to get the last item. :p

I know you don't want to level up, but avoid levels that are multiples of 5 or 4 if you can, he likes Lv5 Death and Lv4 Holy, and you're already set up to absorb Doomsday so you've negated some of his attacks there. It might still take you more than one try to steal everything though, sometimes the luck is just against you.

If you use Thief's Gloves, Master Thief, aand.... shit I forgot the ability, I think it allows you to successfully steal items like 95% of the time or something...

I might be getting confused...

If you're gonna drag the battle out you'll probably want to use Quina and Amarant. Aura/Auto-Life and Angel's Snack are gonna get you through.

I thought Steiner was more useful than Amarant, but that's because my Amarant was crap... I also had Freya and had her continually jump so that I'd always have at least one character alive.


If you use Thief's Gloves, Master Thief, aand.... shit I forgot the ability, I think it allows you to successfully steal items like 95% of the time or something...

I might be getting confused...

I'm pretty sure you're right about that. I'd also have Eiko in your party near Trance so that you have double the healing. : )

Well, that's what I did when I went against him. Also, quite a bit of the battle is shear luck. I only managed to get three items from him. I couldn't get the last unfortunately.

If you use Thief's Gloves, Master Thief, aand.... shit I forgot the ability, I think it allows you to successfully steal items like 95% of the time or something...

I might be getting confused...

Bandit?

Bandit?

Probably... I haven't played IX in a while so can't say for sure.

To survive against Ozma you will need every precaution taken. If you want to prolong the battle to steal all items from him you may need:

All stealing support abillities equiped cept maybe steal gil.
All immunity to bad status support abillities equiped on all four characters.
Auto-Haste must be equipped!
Zidane, Eiko, Vivi or Amarant, Freya or Quina.
Any of these characters with distract, gamble defence, accuracy+, alert and HP/MP%+ should be equipped. If you don't have enough crystals for these, you may like to drop accuracy+ and alert. Also Freya should have Initiative equipped and high jump is optional.
Have 99 phoenix downs and pinions or at least have a number of them.
Eiko must have guardian mog and concentration equipped.
Equip all four characters with gear that may nullify or absorb shadow damage.
Auto Regen and Auto Life must be equipped!
Vivi or Amarant should have return magic equipped.

If you don't have enough crystals for some, you may like to switch and change around some to suit you =) just make sure most of the bad status immune abillities are equipped. Eiko for instance might not be able to equip everything. If she can't just make sure guardian mog is equipped.

You also may like to have completed the friendly monster spirits side quest (the one where you give ores, lapiz, emerald, diamond to friendly monsters).

So just keep stealing with zidane untill everything has been stolen, then concentrate with using thievery. Eiko should only be healing and reviving always with phoenix and sometimes full-life. Amarant may use chakra, revive in case eiko epic fails you, and or aura and may attack with no mercy. Freya should be using white draw to restore mp and dragon's crest to deal damage. Quina may use auto-life, angel's snack, white wind, frog drop, mighty guard and limit glove as well as magic hammer. Vivi may also use doomsday for healing the party as well as dealing damage to ozma. The reason why you use eiko in this battle is because of the chance you may get revived after your party has died with phoenix. plus eiko has better white magic such as full-life. if you dont have doomsday for vivi which you probably don't XD use amarant rather than vivi since vivi's hp isn't that great and most of his skills are only oriented for dealing damage.

You may want to risk Eiko's abillity to absorb shadow damage to decrease damage done by ozma. if so, equip a moonstone and use carbuncle. you might like to equip boost abillity to enhance summons, but its too costly =)

you also might want to prepare yourself every time after a character has made an action as ozma's meteor is very unpredictable and usually fatal hehe =).

so theres some tips =) hope it may help you or anyone else hehe.

I thought Steiner was more useful than Amarant, but that's because my Amarant was crap... I also had Freya and had her continually jump so that I'd always have at least one character alive.
I'd agree with you if you're trying to get the battle over with quickly, but if you were trying to prolong it to steal all the items, Amarant is much more beneficial for the support he provides.

I didn't really use Eiko, but based on the above post I'd definitely now have her as the final character if you were gonna go for the steal. ;-)

I'd agree with you if you're trying to get the battle over with quickly, but if you were trying to prolong it to steal all the items, Amarant is much more beneficial for the support he provides.

I didn't really use Eiko, but based on the above post I'd definitely now have her as the final character if you were gonna go for the steal. ;-)


I can see it both ways. The reason I had Steiner was so that after I had stolen the items from Ozma, I could quickly get rid of him so that I wouldn't have to worry about him killing me with Meteor or some other crappy move.

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that is a good point, but Aura and Chakra were just so freakin useful!

The battle is won now, with all items stolen... thanks for your advice guys, though I ended up with a different strategy, haha.

I ended up using Freya and Steiner as my tanks, and Eiko would summon Phoenix to prolong the battle... screw Auto-Life. Even with Auto-Haste, casting that on everyone takes up turns and time. Powered up Dragon Crest + Shock + Phoenix + everyone wearing equipment that can absorb Doomsday (there is some exclusive to Steiner/Freya) is all that is needed. And Master Thief of course.

I just had no idea Dragon Crest powers up so fast. Each dragon is worth like 500... lol. I also had no idea about the "Rebirth Flame" working as it does in VIII.

I used a completely different strategy.

I had Zidane, Vivi, Quina, and Amarant.

Vivi and Amarant both had Return Magic which fucking RAPED!
Everytime Ozma used Doomsday, it would completely heal my party, and heal Ozma for around 9000hp, but then both Amarant and Vivi would return the spell, only when returned it DIDN'T heal Ozma!
That equalled about 14000 damage each time, minus the 9000 that Ozma heals from the initial Doomsday.

Then on each turn, Vivi would cast Meteor for about 5000 damage, and Amarant would be throwing Rising Sun's for about another 4500.

Quina basically used 'White Wind' and 'Angel Snack' whenever needed, but just remained in cognito for about 80% of the battle.

Zidane was stealing, and luckily for me I got the Pumice Piece on my 3rd try, and just kept stealing each turn, attacking after I'd stolen everything.

In the end, I beat Ozma in about 7 - 8 rounds without ever having to really panic.

Make sure tro have auto life and auto regen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Make sure you have hte ultima weapon. Also make sure that the excalibur is in your hands!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you will use quina get the gastro fork from quale! ( 4 those who don't remember, he is quina's master ) have items with the return magic! have the thievery skill! use it after stealing.

On the contrary, alot of the time and most likely when you're fighting Ozma, the most powerful weapon isn't always the best choice. Other weapons as well as armour may have stat alterations, elemental power boosters-resistances-absorbtions and status effects. For example Quina's Needle Fork can petrify enemies with a chance on hit, Eiko's and Dagger's Magic Racket gives +2 Magic and so on.

To point out, rather than just going all out attack power, resistances and effects are just as important as attack and magic power especially when fighting Ozma, Hades and even Necron. I mean, it's kind of stupid giving Eiko attack power over magic stats lol.