The Most Special of Equipment

There's some crazy equipment in Final Fantasy V, either with strange properties or with a strange way of collecting them. These things aren't obvious if you're not looking for them. So, you're looking for them - but you're looking for them here. Good start!

The Mirage Vest

You have to be in the final world to get this vest. Why? Because the ground has to be all built up so that you can take Boko on a path all the way around the world map. In order to have a crack at the Mirage Vest, you need to visit Mirage, where an NPC downstairs from the back entrance to the pub will give you a task: circumnavigate the world on your Chocobo. The easiest way to do this is to take Boko to Mirage, then ride him in a circle around the world until you get back. You don't have to start from Mirage, but it might make it easier to track if you do - since you'll be on Boko, there will be no random encounters, so don't worry about making a wrong turn. Once you finish, go back to the same NPC, and you'll get your treat.

The Magic Lamp

The Magic Lamp is a clever item that can be used only in battle. Each time you use it, it casts a summon in the order defined from strongest to weakest. That order is as follows, and is inexorable: Bahamut, Leviathan, Odin, Syldra, Carbuncle, Shoat, Golem, Titan, Ifrit, Ramuh, Shiva, Remora, Sylph, and Chocobo. Once you hit Chocobo, you will then hit it again nineteen more times before the lamp loses all effectiveness. When that happens, or any time before, you can "recharge" the lamp in the falls where it was found, or in the lake in the Dwarven Village.

The Wonder Wand

A bit like the Magic Lamp, the Wonder Wand is used with standard attacks and will cast a spell each time it does so (if you use it as an item, it will cast Return. It does a lot of spells from both black and white; again, the order is fixed but unlike the Lamp will simply loop when one hits the end rather than require an external force for a recharge. Even better, it can't be muted. Which is better if you know what spell you need and what one you want, at least. Even more interesting is that you can get more than one, and either have two users step through the spells or even dual-wield (both wands will use the same counter, so using both each turn would step you through the spells at double-time).

This is the list of spells: Cure, Antdot, Mute, Protes, Size, Cure2, Raise, Muddle, Blink, Shell, Esna, Cure3, Rflect, Bersrk, Arise, Holy, Dispel, Fire, Ice, Bolt,Poison, Sleep, Toad, Fire2, Ice2, Bolt2, Drain, Break, Bio, Fire3, Ice3, Bolt3, Flare, Doom, Asper.

The Courage Weapons: Brave Blade and Chicken Knife

These two weapons get lumped together in every walkthrough ever made, and there's a reason for that. Two, in fact: first, you must choose between them when offered the option, and a standard playthrough can not have both; also, their special properties are mirror images of one another, and as such the one you choose should be based upon the way you've played the game up to that point.

The Brave Blade begins with an attack power of 150, which is reduced by one every time your party escapes a battle before victory. This counter tracks every enemy encounter in the game, even before obtaining the sword. Of course, that means that you can use it as the most powerful sword in the game if you are judicious in your battle-fleeing or never run at all. The flip side is naturally that if you run regularly or even occasionally but without thinking, you could end up with a weapon that isn't actually all that useful, particularly compared to some late-game weapons.

The Chicken Knife, conversely, actually grows in power by one point each time you run from battle. This counter, too, starts at the beginning of the game and includes all battles throughout, both before and after you have the option to get the knife. However, unlike the Brave Blade, its attack power caps at 127. If you intend to use a character that wields knives in the late-game, though, or are willing to invest the time to run as much as possible early in the game, the Chicken Knife can result in a pretty intense weapon, maxing at 41 points higher attack power than the Maneater.

It's important to keep your strategy in mind during the entire game if you plan to use either weapon, because you don't actually have an opportunity to get your choice until you reach Moore in the second world. Once you do, you'll want to walk behind the Pub and to the left, and then downward through the shed in the lower-left of the map and down into the trees. This leads to a secret path which can't be seen even by Thieves, and you will need to follow it until you reach an NPC. He'll guide you to which crate to open, and then he'll be all creepy.

Monster Types and Special Attacks

In our bestiary, you might note a variety of monster types listed, such as "Undead" or "Humanoid." The amount of attention you pay to these types is up to you for the most part, but various weapons prove to be extra-effective against certain types.

• Humanoid
  • Maneater: 2x damage
• Dragon
  • Dragon Lance: 2x damage
  • Dragon Beard: 2x damage
  • Apolon Harp: 8x damage
• Desert
  • AquaRake: 8x damage
• Aevis
  • Ab Splitter: 2x damage
• Magic Beast
  • Artemis' Bow: 2x damage
  • Beast Killer: 2x damage
• Undead: The effects of most healing and death-based attacks and items have the opposite effect. Healing items and spells will damage the Undead (except WhitWind), and death spells will fully heal them. Draining attacks will drain the attacker, not the target. The Undead are also the only valid target for Requiem. Reviving the undead will kill them. Again.