FFX Pendulum Farming (Methods + Common Uses)

This post may contain affiliate links. If you buy something we may get a small commission at no extra cost to you. (Learn more).

There are two reliable ways to farm Pendulums in FFX:

  • Defeating Neslug at the Monster Arena for x1 Pendulum per fight
  • Bribing Master Tonberry with one million gil for x3 Pendulums

These are the two real continuous sources of Pendulums in the game.

Neslug is unlocked after you capture one of every fiend in Spira, so this can take a while.

Or if you want to go the bribe route, Master Tonberry can be found in the Omega Ruins.

Plus there are two one-time rewards that give you a pack of Pendulums, and these are probably easier & more worthwhile:

First: you can get 30 Pendulums for completing the Remiem Temple Chocobo Race with four chests collected. Again, this is a one-time reward

Second: you can bribe the Ultima Weapon boss in the Omega Ruins with two million gil for x99 Pendulums. This too is a one-time thing because doing so will “defeat” Ultima Weapon, and you cannot fight it again.

 
Neslug battle screenshot in FFX HD
 

What Are Pendulums Used For?

Pendulums are just used to customize the illustrious Master Thief ability onto a weapon (this requires 30 Pendulums to customize one time).

Master Thief makes it so that whenever you successfully steal from an enemy, you’ll always get their rare item.

Keep in mind it doesn’t change your steal success rate, just what item you get.

Having Master Thief drastically helps when hunting for certain items, such as Frag Grenades or Lunar Curtains.

Also, Rikku can mix up Pendulums to get some kind of results (I wouldn’t recommend doing this though because Pendulums are pretty rare). But with that said, here’s a few noteworthy mixes:

Super Mighty G (Chocobo Feather + Pendulum): Casts Shell, Protect, Haste, and Regen on the entire party.

Trio of 9999 (Lv. 4 Key Sphere + Pendulum): The party’s attacks and abilities deal 9999 damage.

Chaos Grenade (Candle of Life + Pendulum): Deals exceptionally large damage to all enemies, as well as inflicting Full Break, Slow, Poison, Darkness, Silence, and Sleep.

 
Ultima Weapon boss close-up in FFX HD
 

Are Pendulums Worth Farming?

Oh goodness, no. Not at all.

Master Thief is super amazing and all, but you’ll only ever need it on one weapon. And you get enough Pendulums for that just by winning the Remiem Chocobo Race (with four chests).

And you can get another x99 if you want via Ultima Weapon, so there’s no real reason to continue farming them.

Even the mixes can be made elsewhere with easier-to-obtain items.

Just like a real IRL pendulum, swing the other way.

Browse: Video Games

Brian Conley

Brian knows more about RPGs than he does world history. Combine with his love of writing and you get somebody who can, and will, go on forever about every nuance of every game he's played.