how to fight Ozma???

[anima]

how wherer i find him and how to get to this place

[Jolts]

First, you need to go through and collect enough Chocographs to get the Gold Chocobo. Then, you need to find all ten "friendlies" and give them the items they ask for (you know when you're fighting a friendly when the music is different than normal battle music, Yan will only run away until you satify the other nine, and the Ragtime Mouse has nothing to do with Ozma, even though his battle music is the same as the friendlies'). After doing all that, find the Chocobo Heaven, you'll need a Dead Pepper to get there. Now search for Ozma somewhere in there. He'll ask you if you want to battle, so you can say "no" if you're not ready. I'm sure someone here can be more specific, but I've never actually fought Ozma, only read about it.

[Kuja]

if you are gonna fight ozma , make sure your characters levels aren't the multiple of 5. ozma is a very hard boss, you just need to be lucky to beat him. you need to have auto-life, and all the abilities that stops curse. you don't need the 9 friendly's ( i have beaten him without it ) just let zidane and dagger heal ( depends on your party ) . i had vivi used flair on himself ( autoreflect, reflect x2 ) and let steiner use shock. equip armor that absorbs shadow attacks, like pumice piec and demon mail. now you just have to be lucky. hope for his doomsday attack, and pray not to get meteor on your head... he has 55000 hp, not much, but you'll see....

[Jolts]

According to Square themselves, you must satify all ten friendlies to even fight Ozma. They provided pictures in their Guide Book, too.

Also, don't forget to steal the other Pumice Piece from him, although I think he drops it too (when you beat him).

[Kuja]

you need the 9 friendly's to attack him, but you can use magic and skills against him, even without the friendly's.

[Jolts]

Are there only nine? Eh, either way, our points were made.

[Lord Chainsaw]

I hate Ozma. He's the only enemy in the game that can actually interrupt the ATB system and take a turn whenever he wants.

He also has 65535 HP, which is the max possible in the game. If he starts off with Curse or Meteor, then you're already in trouble. I recommend taking both Quina and Freya into the fight because both can do 9999 damage every single time with Frog Drop and that Dragon move. Some people will recommend you use Thievery on him to do 9999 damage, but to be honest I think you're better off having Zidane heal and revive. I stole for the entire game and at the end of it all my thievery was only doing 3000 damage. But hey, if you can get thievery to do 9999 more power to you.

You do not need to find all the friendly enemies to beat him. I beat him without finding the 9 or 10 friendlies. You won't be physically attacking him anyways, so it's rather useless to find them.

[Sir Bahamut]

1) He drops the Pumice, not Pumice Piece. This is what you can get:

Win: Pumice (and in some cases, Dark Matter)

Steal: Elixir, Dark Matter, Pumice Piece, Robe of Lords.

2) He has 55535 HP, not 65000 whatever someone else said.

Here, this is all you'll need to know of him. ti was written by a Gamefaqs user called "Theoden" who got all his info from the official Square Online Guide:

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GENERAL INFO
Ozma is level 99 and has 55535 HP and 9999 MP. He is healed by Shadow unless you gave friendly Yan a diamond, in which case he will be weak against it. He cannot be reached with the Attack command without Yan's favours, even with long range weapons. He is weak against Holy, Wind and Bird Killer.

The only negative status effects you can inflict on Ozma are Darkness and Slow. It is impossible to give him the Reflect status, so you can't make him reflect Curaga on you. Slow has little effect (see below). For some reason, Ozma is invulnerable to Haste and Regen, but not Protect and Shell.

Ozma can act even when his ATB bar is not full. If you enter a command in between Ozma's attacks, then his ATB fills immediately and his next attack will happen before the command you just entered happens. This makes Auto-Life especially important, since if a character is KOed and you enter a command to revive them, Ozma will get another attack first, possibly KOing the character due to carry out the revival. Note that this doesn't mean Ozma will get one turn to every character turn, since there is time to enter commands for everyone before Ozma's next turn happens, but it will still happen before any of the characters' turns happen. This ability to preempt your commands also means Ozma always gets the first move in the battle. Pray it isn't Meteor. The only way you can enter a command and be sure it will happen before Ozma's next move, is to enter it during the animation of Ozma's move. So if, for example, he casts Flare on someone (who doesn't have Auto-Life or enough HP to survive it), then try to enter your revive command before the move finishes (before the character is even KOed). This preemptive ability also means Ozma is hardly affected by the Slow status, even though he is vulnerable to it.

What makes success so difficult to guarantee against Ozma is the possibility that he may use Meteor wiping out all your team at once, followed by Curse. There is no way to guarantee Meteor won't KO everyone, although it will be less likely if everyone has high HP and/or Shell. If Curse follows it will almost certainly KO everyone who came back with Auto-Life, since it's difficult to regen from 1 HP to enough to survive the damage Curse inflicts in just one turn. It may be possible if a character is in the back row, has Auto-Haste and Auto-Regen and is very high in all these areas: Max HP, Speed, Defence, Spirit. Zidane with Spirit and Defence around 50 and Max HP 6000+ might just about
be able to do it.

The best way to reduce the risk of Meteor->Curse is to fulfill the conditions for Ozma's other attacks. The best way to reduce the frequency of Meteor is to ensure as few characters as possible have the Reflect status, since he won't use Flare, Death or Holy if all possible targets can reflect. The only things you can reflect are
Mini and Berserk anyway. Reducing his MP will also lessen the frequency of Meteor since he will use Absorb MP, but I don't really recommend this (see below).

To reduce the frequency of Curse fulfill any or all of these conditions:
- Reduce Ozma's HP below 50% of max.
- Make sure no-one is in Mini status.
- Inflict Darkness on Ozma.
- Have at least on non-KOed character whose level is a multiple of 4.
- Have at least on non-KOed character whose level is a multiple of 5.

You can try to reduce Ozma's MP to 0 by using Magic Hammer (and Lancer and Osmose). On the plus side, Ozma will no longer be able to use Meteor or Curaga. On the negative side, he will steal your characters' MP when his gets low and will alternate Flare Star and Curse repeatedly once it's 0. Even with Auto-Regen, you'll almost certainly need to use additional healing to cope with this. Also Magic Hammer is very random and may do tiny MP damage. I don't prefer this strategy, but it is still a valid one, since once Ozma's MP is 0, you're safe as long as you can survive the damage from Flare Star/Curse.


On an odd numbered turn Ozma can use these attacks. If his MP is 0, he can only use Flare Star.

- ABSORB MP
Ozma only uses this if at least one character has more MP than him. It transfers all of a character's MP to Ozma. He is only likely to use it if you use Magic Hammer to reduce his MP, since initally he has 9999 MP.

- DEATH
Ozma won't use this on anyone who can reflect it. It KOs one character, but may miss.

- DOOMSDAY
Attacks all participants in battle with Shadow damage. If you gave friendly Yan a diamond, it will damage Ozma, otherwise it will heal him. Won't hurt anyone who has any of the following equipped : Egoist's Armlet, Ninja Gear, Demon's Mail, Pumice Piece. Can be returned on him for good damage. It's a real breather when he does this.

- FLARE
Ozma won't use this on anyone who can reflect it. Non-elemental damage on one character. Shell or HP 5000+ will be useful here. Can be returned on Ozma.

- FLARE STAR
Does non-elemental damage on all characters. Damage = character's level x 50. May miss. I don't think the damage can be reduced. Pretty nasty, but not a problem is everyone has Max HP. If a character's Max HP isn't high enough, equip items that raise Strength and level them up until it is.

- HOLY
Ozma won't use this on anyone who can reflect or absorb it (Pumice Piece). He will use it on characters who can nullify it though (Chimera Armlet). Does Holy damage on one character. Can be returned. If Vivi or Amarant is in your team with Return Magic, you might want to give them a Chimera Armlet (even if they have a Pumice Piece).

- METEOR
Ozma's worst attack. Does random damage between 110 and 9999 (usually the upper end of the scale). The only way to be sure of surviving it is to have Auto-Life equipped. If everyone has Shell status it will improve your chances of survival (but won't guarantee it). Note that Ozma's Meteor cannot miss, unlike Vivi's (at least I've never
seen it miss in hundreds of times I've seen him use it). Similarly if you return it on him, the returned Meteor will never miss either.


On even numbered turns Ozma can use these attacks. If his MP is 0, he can only use Curse.

- CURSE
Inflicts physical damage on all the party (cannot miss). It also inflicts status effects Slow, Poison, Confuse, Mini and Darkness. Lethal if used straight after wiping everyone out with Meteor, since everyone will have low HP and no Auto-Life. Keep everyone in the back row to minimise damage, and have a good Defence stat. Equip Auto-Haste,
Antibody and Clear Headed to avoid the worst effects. Use Angel's Snack or cast Mini on the whole team to remove the Mini status. Darkness isn't too severe a status effect, only equip Bright Eyes if you have spare ability stones. For a character who is at the back row of the party and who has a physical defence of 40, the attack Curse will cause
1344-2688 damage on him/her (the damage will be halved when Protect is cast, and increased by 50% when s/he is in Mini status). So it is best to have characters who have HP higher than those numbers in the party.

- CURAGA
Ozma will only use this if his HP is below 50% of max. Recovers around 6800-9800 HP.

- ESUNA
Ozma will only use this if he has the Darkness status. Casting it removes Darkness. Soul Blade + The Ogre is the best way of inflicting Darkness on Ozma. Darkness doesn't hinder Ozma in any way, but it can really save your life if he uses Esuna instead of Curse at a critical time (eg. just after Meteor).

- LV4 HOLY
Ozma will only use this if there are characters whose levels are a multiple of 4 (who aren't KOed). Inflicts Holy damage on those characters. It's a good idea to level up the characters who have Pumice Pieces so that this attack will heal them. Again, it's a breather when he does this.

- LV5 DEATH
Ozma will only use this if there is a character whose level is a multiple of 5. Make sure precisely one character fulfills this requirement. That way it will do minimal damage. LV5 Death KOing one character is better than Curse (especially after Meteor).

- MINI
Ozma will use this only if no-one is already in Mini status. Inflicts Mini on everyone. Counter with Angel's Snack or cast Mini on the whole team. Even if not everyone is in Mini status casting Mini on the team won't inflict it (except when a character loses Mini by Trancing between entering the Mini command and actually casting it).

l
Ozma can counter with the following moves (provided he has MP)

- BERSERK
Ozma will do this twice during the battle, once when he's targeted with any command (other than Attack or Item) when his HP is below 40000, and again when it's below 30000. Inflicts Berserk on the attacker. May miss. Cure with Gysahl Greens (or just let the character attack with increased power).

- CURAGA
13-50% chance of use (depending on Ozma's HP) against any action that targets Ozma, even if his HP is full and the attack caused no damage. Recovers around 6800-9800 HP. Beause of this, the battle will be considerably more challenging if you try to steal his items, since even an unsuccessful Steal attempt can trigger a Curaga counter.
It also means even if you hit Ozma for 6 attacks causing 9999 damage in one turn (e.g. Thievery, Dragon's Crest, Double Holy, Double Doomsday) you are not guaranteed to kill him before he has a chance to use Curaga, since he could cast it after any and all hits.


CHARACTER STRATEGY
Keep everyone in the back row. Try and get everyone close to Trance before battle (except Zidane, since he can do big damage more cheaply with Thievery than Dyne, and can't use Soul Blade while tranced).
Four support abilities are almost essential :-
1) Auto-Haste
Aside from the obvious advantages, it also protects against the Slow effect of Curse.
2) Auto-Regen
Saves having to use use turns casting Curaga, and ensures a character revived by Auto-Life won't remain at 1 HP long.
3) Clear Headed
Otherwise Curse will cause Confuse.
4) Antibody
Otherwise Curse will cause Poison, which will negate Auto-Regen somewhat.

Some other very useful abilities
Bird Killer
Increases Attack damage by 50%.
Half MP
Expensive to equip, but useful. Combined with Absorb MP, Quina should never need his MP restored.
Auto-Life
Only equip if you have enough spare stones, since you can use Quina and Amarant to give this in battle.
Return Magic
Can hurt Ozma with Flare, Holy, Meteor and Doomsday.
Bright Eyes
Only if you plan to use the Attack command a lot.
HP+x%
Very useful for obvious reasons

When forming a party consider the following:-
- At least 2 characters should be good at revival (Quina/Amarant/Dagger/especially Eiko)
- At least 2 should be able to fight at full strength while in Mini status (Zidane/Quina/Freya)
- At least 2 should be able to cure Mini from everyone at once (Quina/Dagger/Eiko)
- Everyone should be capable of inflicting big damage (8000+)
My recommended party is Zidane, Eiko, Amarant and Quina.


ZIDANE
Equip the best available armour (at least Dark Gear) and an Egoist's Armlet.
Equip the Ogre and use Soul Blade to inflict Darkness. I know it's tempting to equip the most powerful weapon, but Thievery can do better damage than Ultima Weapon anyway.
Steal if you wish (I recommend it, since it makes the battle more fun and challenging IMO, and the items are worth it).
If Ozma uses Esuna, use Soul Blade again. It can save your life if Ozma uses Esuna instead of Curse at a critical time.
Once you've stolen everything, use Thievery.

EIKO
Equip the Magic Racket to raise Holy and her Magic stat. Even the Tiger Racket won't do much damage on Ozma.
Collect as many Phoenix Pinions as you can. You can synth them at the legendary Synthesist's shop, but if you want them much earlier, steal them from Vepals on the Lost Continent.
Use Might (possibly multiple times) on anyone who is going to be using physical attacks (esp. Amarant to strengthen No Mercy).
Use Phoenix if more than one character is KOed. Use Life/Full Life/Curaga as needed.
If anyone is in Mini status, cast Mini to cure them.
Attack Ozma with Holy. It should do 9999 after a few LV3 Def Less from Quina.
If Ozma does defeat you, Eiko is your only hope, due to Phoenix.

AMARANT
Equip the Kaiser Knuckles, Bird Killer and an item that raises Wind (Fairy Earrings, Black Belt or Bracer).
If anyone needs it, use Aura or Revive. Use Chakra at your descretion. Amarant's Trance is very useful.
If berserked, you might want to leave him to it. With the aforementioned setup + Might from Eiko he can do 9999 from the back row while berserked.
Return Magic is useful.
Attack Ozma with No Mercy, or the Attack command.

QUINA
Use LV3 Def Less to soften Ozma up.
If anyone needs it, use Auto-Life.
Use Mighty Guard every other turn if you can, preferably entering the command before or during Ozma's even turns. That way it'll come out just before Meteor.
Use Angel's Snack to cure the party of Mini/Darkness if necessary.
Attack Ozma with Frog Drop.

STEINER
Equip Excalibur (either one) if you have it, and item that raises Holy (Mythril Helm or Rebirth Ring) and Bird Killer. Excalibur will be better than Ragnarok when using the Attack command with this setup. Shock will do 9999 either way.
The above setup should give good damage with regular attacks, even from the back row. If not, use Stock Break, Climhazzard or Shock.
You could try use the ...Break abilities (especially Magic Break). They will be useful if they hit, but rarely do against Ozma.
I don't recommend Steiner since he can't use Auto-Regen until disc 4, and if he gets Mini status his usual attacks become useless, although Darkside still does full damage. Also
he runs out of MP quickly using Shock. His trance will be very useful though (9999 damage for free).

FREYA
Freya has a couple of nice advantages.
Dragon's Crest can do 9999 easily even if Freya is in Mini status. Also, she can avoid attacks (esp. Meteor) by jumping.
White Draw might also be handy. The only reason I don't recommend her is that there is no room for her after picking the characters with Auto-Life and Phoenix.

DAGGER
Use Mini to cure Mini status. Use Life, Curaga as appropriate.
Attack Ozma with best summon (probably Bahamut, unless you're near the end of the game).
I don't recommend her since Boost is so expensive to equip, and summons are expensive to cast. The 4 essential support abilities + Boost + Half MP will only be possible at super high levels. I guess she might be OK if you have a ton of Garnets.

VIVI
Return Magic will be useful.
Flare or Doomsday are his strongest attacks.
I don't recommend Vivi since Flare will only do really good damage if the Reflectx2 trick is used or a ton of Focuses. Auto-Reflect is not a good idea against Ozma, and Reflectx2 costs a whopping 17 stones. Doomsday is pretty good, but you have to wait until
near the end of the game to get it.

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That should help.

[Jolts]

No, you get the Pumice Piece. You have to synthesize the Pumice with the one from Ozma and the one from Ark. You can only synthesize it at the legendary systhesis place.

[Sir Bahamut]

No, he drops the Pumice, but you can steal a Pumice Piece.

You see, there are 2 ways to get a Pumice. Either Synthesize 2 Pumice Pieces(3 are available in the game, 2 found, 1 stolen from Ozma) or simply defeat Ozma. He always drops a Pumice.

If you think I am wrong, you obviously haven't beaten Ozma, or simply forgot.

[Jolts]

I've never actually fought Ozma, and the guide book says he drops a Pumice Piece. Now I know better, thanks :D.

[Sir Bahamut]

Would that be the Brady Games Guide Book? If it is, take care, 'cause it's filled with inaccuracies.

[Jolts]

Probably, I can't remember. I haven't played FFIX in a whle. They're also filled with "check Playstation Online" crap. Not a very good guide book at all. I'd get a better one, but none of the stores I go to sell them anymore, and I wouldn't have the money for it anyway.