Template:Sideicon Template:FFIX Enemy
So? Which one of you will perish first?
Tiamat
Template:See Also Tiamat is a boss from Final Fantasy IX. It was created by Kuja from the crystal's memory of the Wind Guardian, seen when Vivi and Steiner visited the Wind Shrine. The Wind Guardian was defeated by the two off-screen.
Tiamat is a boss in Memoria. This is the second guardians of Terra to be fought, and appears in the room with a representation of the Invincible where the player can pick up the Rune Claws, a powerful weapon for Amarant. In the Crystal World, a crystal version of Tiamat exists.
Battle
Tiamat is slightly stronger than Maliris. Its Twister attack deals Wind-elemental damage. It will drain MP and lower the party's magic and strength stats, so an extended fight puts the party at a disadvantage. Tiamat's Jet Fire attack will put everyone in Heat status. If a character with the Float status attacks Tiamat physically, it will be countered with Snort, which will remove the character from the battlefield. Tiamat is vulnerable to Sleep and Silence.
Strategy
Equipping items with protection from Aero is useful as well as Body Temp and MP Attack. Oddly enough, Tiamat's MP Absorb ability is Wind-elemental and thus can also be protected against with proper equipment. Protection against the Heat status via Body Temp is ideal, but waiting for the status to lift will work.
Quina can cast Night every turn to put Tiamat to sleep and the other party members can attack (while equipped with the Insomniac ability). It is also possible to throw a Tent at Tiamat which has a 50% chance of inflicting Silence.
Crystal World incarnation
This crystalline dragon is weaker than its flesh-and-bone cousin. Perhaps the greatest boon to the party is the absence of the Float and Snort spells, which ensures all four members will remain in the battle. This Tiamat is vulnerable to a myriad status ailments. The player should equip the Dragon Killer|Dragon Killer]] ability on the melee attackers and cast Ice magic. Quina can learn Twister by eating the crystal Tiamat.
Gallery
Etymology
Tiamat is a primordial goddess of the ocean in Mesopotamian religion. The game Dungeons & Dragons has Tiamat as a chromatic dragon, the Queen of the Evil Dragons, and as such the opposing deity to Bahamut, who is a platinum dragon and the King of Benevolent Dragons.
Trivia
- Tiamat alludes to the boss of the same name from the original Final Fantasy, one of the Four Fiends the Guardians of Terra of Final Fantasy IX are based on.
- Data hacking shows that there are many gaps in the numerical sequence of battle formations and monster IDs, showing that many battle formations and monsters were deleted prior to the final version. In addition to many more, three missing monster IDs appear around the "Earth Guardian", making one suspect that in the original version the player was to fight all four of the guardians instead of only one (in the final game, the other three are defeated via cut-scenes, including Wind Guardian/Tiamat). Design artwork for these other three guardians is known, as well as for deleted locations, which would probably have been where they were fought.