Well, more specifically they get access to Ninja Swords and daggers which are the job’s default weapon. But they both scale off of the speed stat, so it’s a fast and flashy job by design. By the time you get to the end game, your Shikari (if geared correctly) can easily tear up the most powerful enemies with ease. And to make sure you’re able to do just that, here are the best Shikari weapons in FF12, and details on where to find them.
10. Arcturus
The Arcturus is usually a weapon I like to rate higher than average, because it’s a decent gun. And you can acquire it super early on, which makes a lot of the fights around that time very easy (gun damage is independent of its user & enemy stats). However, this isn’t the case for Shikari, since you have to defeat the esper Shemhazai before even being able to access the license. With that said, it’s still a decent gun. And it can fill in the gap if your Shikari is only being used as a secondary job before it gets access to its more deadly weapons. How to Get: From either the early Wyvern Lord hunt, or the Rare Game enemy Aeros, get yourself 2 Wyvern Wings. Then when you’re able to, steal a Salamand Halcyon from a Salamand Entite and poach 2 Yensa Fins from the Yensas that appear randomly. When all sold at the bazaar together, they’ll yield the Late-model Rifle. You can also farm this gun from chests in the Lhusu Mines – Site 5, or in the Cerobi Steppe – North Liavell Hills.
9. Shikari Nagasa
This may just be me, but when I saw the name “Shikari” on the weapon, I immediately thought this dagger would be an exceptional choice for the job. One that would make the class worth picking by itself. But nope, it’s just a standard dagger (with admittedly high stats) that gets outshined by nearly every other weapon on this list. Good for its time, but there’s gonna be better weapons as you play through the game. How to Get: You’ll be farming it out of a chest at the Cerobi Steppe – The Northsward with a Diamond Armlet equipped.
8. Zwill Crossblade
Being only a paltry 3 attack power behind our previous entry, you’ll be able to get this dagger a bit sooner than the Shikari Nagasa – and it’s imbued with the Wind element, which helps it stay relevant against some enemies longer than the Nagasa as well. All in all, the Zwill is a solid investment of your time – if you haven’t made the switch to Ninja Swords yet. How to Get: Farm it from Vampyrs in various parts of the Lhusu Mines after you’ve unlocked the deeper areas.
7. Orochi
As the best of the “worst” Ninja Swords, the Orochi is pretty powerful. And it can inflict the status Disable on hit at a rate of 10%. The issue is that a Shikari will only ever be able to unlock 3 of the 4 Ninja Sword licenses, and the other 3 are arguably better. How to Get: You can get it from a chest, guaranteed, from the Lhusu Mines – Site 11, or farm it from a chest at the Cerobi Steppe – The Northsward with a Diamond Armlet equipped.
6. Main Gauche
While it’s offensively a fine dagger when you can first buy it, the Main Gauche’s real strength lies in its defensive capabilities. With a ridiculously high evasion of 50, pairing the Main Gauche with a shield and the Decoy ability allows for a Shikari to act as an absolute tank of a character by avoiding damage like crazy. Be careful though, because later on, many high-level marks and bosses are able to bypass evasion. How to Get: Available for purchase at Jahara or Mt. Bur-Omisace.
5. Fomalhaut
The 2nd strongest gun in the game is also available to Shikari, and is worth using over the Arcturus based on stats alone. While it’s not as outright useful as some of these other options, it’s still worth using if you feel your Shikari’s damage is lacking against certain enemies. It’s also worth mentioning that if you’re planning on using the Yagyu Darkblade and Black Robes strategy, the same kind of combination can be found with the Fomalhaut paired with Dark Shot and Black Robes. How to Get: Either the Henne Mines – Phase 2 Dig, or the Cerobi Steppe – Feddik River will have chests that can yield the Fomalhaut.
4. Iga/Koga Blade
Normally I wouldn’t rank two entries side by side… But these Ninja Swords are identical in stats – that is to say, very high combo potential paired with decent evasion and good attack power. The only difference is that the Iga Blade is Water imbued, whereas the Koga Blade is Earth imbued. The argument for which one is better comes down to whether you value the rarer Earth element, or the more applicable Water element. How to Get: Pick up the Iga Blade from chests at the Lhusu Mines – Site 9 (guaranteed) or the Cerobi Steppe – The Terraced Bank with a Diamond Armlet equipped. Alternatively, kill Bogeys at the Zertinan Caverns. For the Koga Blade, you’ll be at the same relative locations: Lhusu Mines – Site 3 or Cerobi Steppe – Feddik River. You can also grind the Ash Wyrm at the Mosphoran Highwaste after defeating Exodus.
3. Mesa
The ultimate Ninja Sword falls behind on this list, but not because it’s weak. Rather because the final top weapons in this ranking are just that much more powerful. The Mesa is definitely a weapon to be respected, with its insane 32% base combo rate. Even without gimmicks, it is without a doubt the highest damage throughput weapon the Shikari has access to. How to Get: You’ll be looking to the bazaar to make the Serpent Blade by collecting 2 Coeurl Whiskers, 2 Sickle-Blades, and 3 Cancer Gems.
2. Mina
The Mina’s gimmick is pure death to anything it touches. With a 70% chance of an insta-kill, the Mina can easily work through swaths of enemies – making it an awesome weapon to use. That’s to say nothing of its other stats, all of which are top of their class, except evasion because of the Main Gauche. How to Get: Prepare for a grind and head to the Great Crystal where you’ll be killing a ton of enemies to spawn the Larva Eater Rare Game for a 5% chance to get the Mina as a drop.
1. Yagyu Darkblade
The Yagyu Darkblade on its own isn’t the best weapon, and is outperformed by both the Mina and the Mesa. However, when paired with a job with access to Black Robes, the Yagyu Darkblade is one of the most potent weapons in FFXII. With its superb combo rate and Dark element being boosted by the robes, you’ll be dishing out tens of thousands of damage easily. By all means, if you’re interested in playing through The Zodiac Age with a Shikari, you owe it to yourself to use this combo. At least give it a try and see what you think. You might be surprised how strong it really is. How to Get: It’s relatively easy to acquire in the Great Crystal – Sirhru Jilaam Pratii’vaa by reentering the zone until its chest spawns. It’s also available somewhat easily by killing the Rare Game Bombshell in the Lhusu Mines – Lasche Span by chaining it, since it can be force spawned by leaving and re-entering at a 20% chance. And this weapon is also available from a chest at the Cerobi Steppe – Crossfield with a Diamond Armlet, like so many others.
