Final Fantasy IV PS1 Character Guide

Yang: Abilities and Level Progression

Yang joins on Mt. Hobs as a Level 10 Monk. Put him in the front row and check his HP before the next battle. Joining the party doesn’t necessarily mean he has recovered from the fight you just watched.

He is ambidextrous, so claws can go in either hand. He has no magic to budget, but there is more to him than holding down Fight.

Commands Worth Knowing

Command	What to expect	When I’d use it
Fight	A physical attack using his current claws.	Routine enemies or a single important target.
Power	Applies the displayed “Attack Power x2” effect to Yang.	When you can afford a setup turn before attacking.
Kick	Hits the enemy group.	Several weaker enemies, rather than wasting separate turns on each.
Bear	Applies “Defense up” to Yang.	A defensive turn when you want him to weather incoming hits.
Item	Uses your supplies.	A timely Potion or LifeItemRevives a KO'd ally. Can appear as loot from a FloatEye and Eagle formation southwest of Baron. can matter more than another punch.

Power isn’t an immediate attack. Don’t count the damage from his following Fight as if Power itself struck the target. Don’t build a survival plan around an assumed permanent Power or Bear buff.

Claws: The Attack Number Is Not the Whole Story

Removing FireClawEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Fire. at joining did NOT lower displayed Attack power. That does not make the claw useless. A later controlled comparison gave the same 52 Attack power bare-handed and with two claws, but Accuracy rose from 55% to 85%.

Choose claws for the enemies you’re fighting, not just the equipment screen’s Attack number. Keep different elements available, and don’t use an elemental claw against something that absorbs it. For the Baron Waterway, IceClawEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Ice. and BoltClawEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Lightning. Effective against Mech enemies. are a useful starting pair.

Base Stats by Level

These are base primary stats, with equipment bonuses removed. HP and MP are the recorded maxima from this run, not guaranteed rolls. A dash means the base value is not established; missing levels are not interpolated. Attack, Defense and their multipliers are separate derived combat values.

Level	Max HP	Max MP	Str	Agil	Vit	Wis	Will
10	300	0	12	8	15	2	3
11	343	0	13	9	16	2	3
12	386	0	14	9	17	2	3
13	437	0	15	10	18	2	3
14	488	0	16	10	19	2	3
15	548	0	17	11	20	2	3
22	1047	0	25	14	27	2	3
23	1134	0	26	15	28	2	3
24	1220	0	28	15	30	2	3
25	1310	0	29	16	30	2	3
26	1398	0	30	16	31	2	3

Gains between adjacent recorded levels

Reaching level	HP gain	MP gain	Primary-stat change
11	+43	0	Str +1, Agil +1, Vit +1
12	+43	0	Str +1, Vit +1
13	+51	0	Str +1, Agil +1, Vit +1
14	+51	0	Str +1, Vit +1
15	+60	0	Str +1, Agil +1, Vit +1
23	+87	0	Str +1, Agil +1, Vit +1
24	+86	0	Str +2, Vit +2
25	+90	0	Str +1, Agil +1
26	+88	0	Str +1, Vit +1

Equipment Modifiers

Equipment bonuses are fixed; they do not increase with your level. Add these primary-stat modifiers to the base values above. Defense and evasion belong to the equipment/combat calculation, not the five primary stats. This is the relevant equipment selection, not an exhaustive catalog.

Equipment	Primary-stat modifier	Notes
FireClawEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Fire. / IceClawEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Ice. / BoltClawEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Lightning. Effective against Mech enemies.; Leather and Silver	None to the five primary stats	Claw properties and protection are separate.
Headband	+5 Str	Stacks with the body-armor bonus.
KenpoEquipmentEquippable by Everyone except Cecil (Dark Knight). Def 5; Eva +10%; Mag Def 2; Mag Eva 1%; Strength +3.	+3 Str	Headband + KenpoEquipmentEquippable by Everyone except Cecil (Dark Knight). Def 5; Eva +10%; Mag Def 2; Mag Eva 1%; Strength +3. gives +8 Str.
BlkBeltEquipment: Body armorEquippable by Everyone except Cecil (Dark Knight). Def 10; Eva +20%; Mag Def 3; Mag Eva 2%; Strength +5, Vitality +5.	+5 Str, +5 Vit	Replacing KenpoEquipmentEquippable by Everyone except Cecil (Dark Knight). Def 5; Eva +10%; Mag Def 2; Mag Eva 1%; Strength +3. adds 2 more Str, not 5.
Strength arms	+5 Str	Protection tradeoff compared with Silver.

Joining equipment and full combat profile

Right hand FireClawEquipmentEquippable by Edge, Yang. Power 0; Acc 80%. Attack element: Fire., left hand empty, head empty, body Leather, arms empty. Handedness is Ambi. Starting maximum HP is 300, MP 0; EXP 2,544 and Next 323 put Level 11 at 2,867 total EXP. The checked joining Vit is 15.

With this outfit: Attack 2 × 25, Accuracy 82%, Defense 1 × 9, Evasion 30%, Mag Def 0 × 1, Mag Eva 1%. His joining capture had only 123/300 HP, which is why checking health matters.

Baron return, later levels and armor upgrades (story spoilers)

Re-equipping Yang

Yang returns wearing only Leather body armor. Check both hands, head and arms before taking him into the Waterway. Use claws already in inventory rather than automatically buying duplicates.

Baron’s useful armor is Headband (450 Gil), KenpoEquipmentEquippable by Everyone except Cecil (Dark Knight). Def 5; Eva +10%; Mag Def 2; Mag Eva 1%; Strength +3. (4,000), and Silver arms (650). Keep the Silver already equipped if you have it.

Headband and KenpoEquipmentEquippable by Everyone except Cecil (Dark Knight). Def 5; Eva +10%; Mag Def 2; Mag Eva 1%; Strength +3. add 8 Str in total. At Level 24, Yang’s base Str 28 becomes 36 with those two pieces. The single level table above already removes those bonuses, so later levels can be compared directly.

Dwarven Castle Upgrades

BlkBeltEquipment: Body armorEquippable by Everyone except Cecil (Dark Knight). Def 10; Eva +20%; Mag Def 3; Mag Eva 2%; Strength +5, Vitality +5. is worth equipping even if Attack appears unchanged. Replacing KenpoEquipmentEquippable by Everyone except Cecil (Dark Knight). Def 5; Eva +10%; Mag Def 2; Mag Eva 1%; Strength +3. in the checked Level 32 outfit increased Str by 2, Vit by 5, Defense by 8 and Evasion by ten percentage points. Strength arms then added another 5 Str and raised Attack, but gave up 2 Defense and 2 Mag Def compared with Silver. Pick the tradeoff you want rather than treating every new piece as an unconditional upgrade.