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One of my favorite parts of Final Fantasy is the summons.
And Final Fantasy X is no different.
Every aeon feels fun and unique, and has a great design to go along with the fantastical setting of Spira. I have my own personal favorites (*cough* Shiva) but this article is going to rank all FFX aeons in a more objective way, looking at their stats and move sets.
Some of the aeons listed here are optional and you’ll have to go out of your way for them. But hopefully this list can help you decide if you want to go through that trouble in the first place!
8. Yojimbo
I love Yojimbo, don’t get me wrong!
He was the first optional aeon I truly wanted. And I tried so hard to save all my gil for him.
He has a great design, he has a faithful doggo, and he has the ability to kill any enemy in the game in 1 hit, no questions asked.
Unfortunately, he costs gil… lots of gil.
To obtain him at all, you must first pay him hundreds of thousands of gil (if you’re really good you can haggle him down to just 200,000).
After paying him, and fighting him, and winning, you still need to pay him when you summon him in hopes that he uses his 1 hit KO move.
The more you pay, the more likely this becomes.
So unless you have millions of gil at your disposal, or just love gambling, Yojimbo just doesn’t do enough damage to say he’s worth it.
He is a fun novelty though!
7. Ifrit
There’s really nothing too special about Ifrit, either bad or good.
He deals fire-based damage and can be healed with fire-based damage.
You get him as your second aeon typically, and he just kinda does his thing.
Worth playing with if you like him, but either way you’ll be getting him as part of the story.
6. Ixion
Ixion also tends to fall into the same rut.
He deals lightning-based damage and heals with lightning-based damage.
And he’s also a required aeon as part of the FFX storyline.
Ixion does have Aerospark, though, which makes him slightly more useful than Ifrit.
Aerospark can be used to negate Haste, NulAll, Protect, Reflect, Regen and Shell. Now you don’t see this very often in regular battles, but it is nice to have.
5. Valefor
The very first aeon that Yuna gets has a few things that set her apart.
First off, she has Sonic Wings which will delay the enemies turn.
This can be very useful in basically locking the enemy out of a turn, as long as Valefor has enough in her speed stat.
Second, only Valefor gets a second Overdrive.
Valefor’s second Overdrive, Energy Blast, is actually one of the most powerful attacks in the game – as long as you can ignore the damage limit (you’ll need break damage limit for this).
4. Shiva
A lot of people tend to disregard Shiva as not as strong, simply because her HP is the lowest in the group.
But what she lacks in HP, she makes up for in evasion and speed.
Because of her speed, she can typically get in the most amount of hits pretty fast. And she can reach her Overdrive (Diamond Dust) way easier than the other aeons can.
It is a lot of fun to watch Shiva ignore damage as enemies miss time and time again, and be able to pop off an Overdrive twice in one summon.
Maybe even more often if you teach her Haste!
And much like Ifrit and Ixion, she’s an elemental aeon.
More specifically, she deals ice-based damage and also heals from ice-based damage.
3. Bahamut
Bahamut is the strongest non-optional aeon you’ll get in the game.
So really if you get none of the other optional aeons, I would say Bahamut deserves the number one spot (but we have 2 more aeons to go, so stick around!)
Bahamut is special because he can exceed the 9,999 damage limit from the start.
So even when nobody in your party has the Break Damage Limit ability, Bahamut can be putting out some big hits.
He also has a move that attacks every enemy on the field.
His Overdrive Megaflare can easily outdo the damage limit (pretty much from the start). And because he’s your last aeon, his stats start off better than the other aeons.
All in all, he’s just an all-around powerhouse.
2. Anima
The minute you can get Anima, you should. Because this girl (yes, girl) will absolutely destroy anything you put against her for most of the game.
Let me set the stage for you:
Anima is fighting a battle and you use her Overdrive. She now does a grand total of 1,599,984 damage to every enemy!
Just… wow.
She also has her special attack, Pain, which also attacks the entire field and inflicts Instant Death if you’re lucky.
Along with her pure power, she also boasts all of the most powerful magic in the game, and she has better stats than Bahamut by default.
1. Magus Sisters
I really had to sit and think about this one.
On one hand, the Magus Sisters (at least Sandy) have better stats than Anima.
On the other hand, the Magus Sisters don’t take orders.
That is, Yuna can choose from 3 “directions” and see what the sisters will do.
Working off RNG is not a safe bet. And like Yojimbo, there’s always the risk that nothing happens.
However, unlike Yojimbo who works off gil and only has a few attacks to choose from, the Magus Sisters can do a lot more.
They’ll heal each other, attack, use magic, and sometimes they’ll “take a break” which means slouching off.
They’re also able to break the 9,999 damage limit right from the get-go, and each sister has their own special attack that deals massive damage. So you basically have 3 aeons on the field at the same time.
As long as everything goes well, they’ll typically cast Delta Force once every sister has a full Overdrive gauge.
This does huge damage to every enemy, and it works by doing damage in either one lump sum with 375% of the power of the attack stat (if you’re playing the original PS2 version), or as six successive hits with 62.5% of the power (this is how it works in the newer HD versions).
The maximum damage possible per target is 599,994. Pretty solid.
