Reduces the enemy's HP and MP.
Description
Lancer is a Dragon ability in Final Fantasy IX used by Freya that damages an enemy's HP and MP for a cost of 10 MP.
Obtained[]
Lancer is learned for 20 AP from Partisan (earliest obtain: buy from Cleyra), Dragon Wrist (earliest obtain: find in Terra), and Coral Ring (earliest obtain: let Freya win the Festival of the Hunt).
Mechanics[]
Lancer attacks one enemy with physical damage that is 120% of Freya's normal Attack and drains MP 1/16th of the damage done.
Damage is mitigated by target's Protect and greatly reduced if Freya has Mini.
Use[]
Lancer is a great ability for Freya to use instead of her normal Attack command when she has no specific augments applied to Attack. She is in the back row by default, and keeping her there makes her good for using Jump and Lancer to physically damage the enemies, as they suffer no damage penalty from being placed in the back row. Lancer is 20% stronger than Freya's normal attack, making it nearly always preferable unless Freya has not enough MP. Letting Freya win the Festival of the Hunt in Lindblum nets the Coral Ring, which the player can equip to her as soon as she joins the party after the festival, and she can start using Lancer right away.
The downside of using Lancer instead of Attack is that Lancer cannot apply her weapon's innate effects to the enemy, unlike with Attack + Add Status. Attack command with a Killer ability also does more damage than Lancer, and Attack can be augmented with MP Attack.
For damage, Freya's Dragon's Crest will eclipse all of her other damage-dealing methods if the player has been fighting dragon-type enemies.