Making Kimahri useful, the thread

So I've recently began playing through this game again and to my surprise Kimahri turns out to be one of my most used characters in the party. Sure, I had to give him a bit of special treatment with special spheres, but a recent discovery left me so surprised it felt like confirmation that my method is a very rewarding way to go.

First of all, I started taking Kimahri down Wakka's path. Kimahri's higher MP makes him a 'longer lasting' green mage. From Wakka's grid he picks up some decent accuracy, speed, HP and strength, making him a well-rounded character. Kimahri's piercing weapons also make the green mage abilities more useful on heavily armored enemies. Let's just say no damage gets wasted, which is the case with Wakka.

Next up, two vital abilities: Hastega and Mug. I tought Kimahri both around the events at Bevelle with the use of a White Magic Sphere and a Skill Sphere.

I think Hastega fits Kimahri perfectly with his already "status" based fighting style, and he makes for a much more durable time mage due to his high HP. It's very useful to have a second Hastega caster of the slower, more tank-type characters.

Mug essentially makes Rikku redundant, save her overdrive. Kimahri does good damage and with his high MP/Lancet he can effectively Mug entire areas. Collecting items for customization has never been so effective this early in the game.

The Stone Breath overdrive works wonders in the Calm Lands and Mount Gagazet. The fights get longer, the amount of enemies increase, and Stone Breath can save you a lot of time. If you're on a second playthrough and have already compiled the full Al Bhed dictionary and therefor obtained the items to customize Double Overdrive, it might be a good idea to put that on a Lance.

But my biggest surprise was the following: Kimahri can mug multiple Lvl 3 key spheres from Biran and Yenke at mount Gagazet, making them available way earlier than normal. I'm sure guides have covered this, but I never knew and I've never spoken anyone who actually did this. I got 5 from the battle just now. Pretty neat, no?

So there you have it, my methods into making Kimahri a standard member of my party, and even being my "least switched out" character.

Nice. Stone Breath really is awesome.

Yeah that Lv 3 Key Sphere is relatively well known. In fact, in one of my playthroughs, I sent Kimahri down Rikku's path, got a Master Thief armor from the chocobo race at Remium and equipped it to Kimahri. With it, he always stole 2 Key Spheres. I got 20 Level 3 Key Spheres from that battle and they turned out to be pretty useful.

Pretty good setup overall. I like how you can build Kimahri however you want.

I've tried to use kimahri but it's sooo hard and time consuming. I end up going for the big damage dealers when I try to take him down say wakka's path. And if I want him as a damage dealer it feels redundant to have like two tidus on the feild or auron or whatever.