Requirements to beat Necron?

Question

When I was around 10-11, I remember playing FFIX shortly after it came out and reaching Necron. However, this was way before I learned what Abilities were and how they were learned. Basically, the few abilities I had learned with my characters are the ones I "accidentally" learned by using some weapons I deemed looked nice.

Of course, Necron always one-shot killed me, so there was no way for me to beat him. This is where I got the phobia from playing FFIX, knowing I will never beat Necron.

After many years of not playing FFIX, I started again, much older than the kid I used to be. And this time grasping Abilities was a piece of cake. I know how they are obtained and what needs to be done.

My question now is, how much do I have to grind (in terms of levels and abilities) and what Abilities do I need to beat him?

What do you think would be the lower limit (the least I would need) for beating him? And what would be the optimal point to reach? My friend played until the characters in the party were around level 50-70.

Answer 1

In Final Fantasy IX all enemies can be defeated by a level 1 party, provided you have the right abilities (and a bit of luck).

With that said, I'm going to answer based on what Necron's damage output is, and what you can do to counter it:

• Firaga / Blizzaga / Thundaga
  • Deals Fire / Ice / Thunder damage
• Holy
  • Deals Holy damage
• Blue Shockwave
  • Puts a single party member at 1 HP
• Grand Cross
  • Inflicts Beserk, Doom, Petrify, Stop, Freeze, Heat, Confuse, Poison, Trouble, Silence, Zombie, Darkness, Instant Death, Mini, Sleep and also reduces HP to 1-10
• Meteor / Flare / Neutron Ring
  • Deals random / heavy / ludicrous non-elemental damage
• Curaga / Shell / Protect
  • Heals / Resistance to Magic / Resistance to Physical

Pre-Battle Strategy

If possible, equip resistances against the most dangerous preventable status effects (Stop, Freeze/Heat, Confuse, Petrify)

• Clear Headed, Body Temp, Antibody, Locomotion & Jelly

This will prevent Grand Cross from completely handicapping your party. It's also not a bad idea to equip items that absorb/resist Holy and resist Elemental Damage:

• Resists Holy (Chimera Armlet, Ribbon, Pearl Rouge)
• Absorbs Holy (Pumice Piece)
• Resists Elemental Damage ( Ribbon, Protect Ring)

It's not a bad idea to equip Bird Killer, MP Attack and Auto-Regen

Battle:

If you brought Freya, make sure to use the Jump Command and Rei's Wind, in order to regen your party, and at the same time avoid Necron's attacks. If you maxed out Dragon Crest, then use it instead for that cheeky 9999. If your party is low on MP, she can also use White Draw.

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Amarant should be used as a supportive character. Everyone should have Auto-Life / Regen. Especially if he trances, his Monk Auto-Life is especially useful (so maybe you could put him near trance before the battle). Chakra is also useful if you brought an heavy MP consumer (Steiner, Dagger, Vivi)

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Quina is lovely. White Wind helps you keep your party healthy, Angel Snack can be used to save your party if Grand Cross was used and if you maxed up Frog Drop, once again, that cheeky 9999.

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Eiko is... situational. During Trance she has the double White Magic, which means you can use Curaga Twice. That's good, but since Necron can one shot sometimes, it won't be too helpful. Phoenix however, is great since you can ressurect all of your party. Bonus points if you equip a Phoenix Pinion on her, which has a small chance of ressurecting your whole party if all of you are KO'ed. You can also use Holy since Necron is weak vs Holy damage.

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Dagger packs some good damage. Heal if needed, otherwise use your Summons to inflict damage. Ark is really good, especially if in Trance.

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Zidane. Useless, unless you use one of two cheeses. Either have him be a super HP tank, and use sacrifice to heal others (and auto-life/heal Zidane) or use maxed out Thievery for that cheeky 9999 damage.

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Steiner. Shock deals Physical damage. It's also his most reliable way to do 9999 damage. Although if you've leveled him enough his basic Attack (with MP-Power) can do 9999, especially with Excalibur II. He's also fairly tanky.

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Vivi. Doomsday. Why would you use a spell that does Shadow Damage to not only your enemies but also your team? Well, first of all, it's his most damaging ability. Secondly, if you equip both pumice pieces and have the others use Elemental Resistances such as Protect Ring (50% elemental) + Dragon Wrist/Demon Vest (50% Shadow) or just an egoist's armlet (100% Shadow). If you equip all of your team with Absorb/Resist, Doomsday not only deals ludicrous damage, but also heals two of your party members.

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Pick four and just use them to the best you can. Although be sure to pick something balanced. Essentially make sure you have at least someone that does (at least near) 9999 damage, someone who can revive/auto-life your teammates (Eiko,Dagger, Amarant, Quina) and someone who can reliably keep your team healthy (Vivi, Eiko, Dagger, Quina, Amarant - to an extent)

Answer 2

Necron is a tough fight, no doubt about it, but it isn't THAT much of a spike in difficulty. To give you an actual level indication , he (it?) is level 69 and a party around that level should have a reasonable chance of taking him(/it) down and completing the game. However, depending on what party you went with your actual difficulty facing him will vary wildly.

What I would recommend as a better way to test your readiness is to see how you fare against the random encounters in Memoria and the minor boss battles leading up to Necron. If you don't feel comfortable taking those down, spend some more time getting stronger (not necessarily by grinding, the game has quite a few optional areas to explore as well).
Make sure to go in with a lot of status resisting abilities or equipment, because Grand Cross, one of its signature attacks, applies basically all of them.