Zodiac Spear!!!

[Mirsa]

If you guys are talking about how early you can break the game then its right after you kill the Tomato and lose your hunting virginity. All you have to do is train regularly and you can reach Lv99 before you meet Penelo. Literally. It only takes 50-60 or so hours...and by the time you Lv up that high you have mastered every lincense. :3

[Vamper62]

Zodiac Spear isn't that great guys. First off, Fomalhaults in early game are so much more reliable due to static damage numbers (and being easier to get multiples of), and with Fire Shots and an Oil gambit, you can net very high damage while being ranged (downside being the slower attack rate, but DPS will still usually be higher at lower levels).

By late game, when Fomalhaults stop being effective, Zodiac Spear still pales in efficiency to Masamune and Excalibur. Masamune with Genji Glove is essentially going to net you the highest reliable DPS in the game due to how easy it is to double, triple, and quadruple attack with it. Lastly in late game most enemies are weak to Light, making Excalibur one of the highest DPS weapon in the game (ensuring 9999 damage on all hits w/ Brave, 6666 without). The only time late game where Excalibur isn't "the best weapon" (imo and many others) is against Yaizmat (with Holy Absorb). Even without the elemental weakness modifier, the Greatsword hauls ass with consistently high damage being one of the strongest ATK weapon in the game (with only 2 or 3 stronger). Since Zodiac Spear has no elemental damage and no real benefits beyond +5 Evasion, it almost always pales in damage compared to Masamune and Excalibur.

If you also have a Mage oriented character, you can abuse Ardor, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Aeroga, and Darkga to their respective weaknesses (always netting 9999 damage with Faith). For enemies weak to Light, Holy is shit due to its very very long casting time. Instead use Scourge for everything else, which has very short casting time, does nonelemental damage, and provides Sap damage. Of all spells in the game, Scourge has the highest DPS on enemies that can't be abused by elemental weaknesses (and enemies weak to Holy). Due to its short casting time, it is very easy to cast many of these in quick succession without draining your MP pool. Scourge, on a DPS basis, is usually as good as Zodiac Spear due to its casting speed and Sap bonus. Couple this with elemental-weakness abuse spells and gambits, and Zodiac Spear becomes hardly worth your time.

In short, Zodiac Spear really isn't a game breaking weapon.

[Balguna]

I should also point out that Ultima also absorbs Holy, and Excalibur becomes near useless on Zodiark on the the last quarter of its health.

The Zodiark Spear's main draw is its early availibility. Even then, you have to devote a signifcaint amount of LP to it. Late game, I think even poles and greatswords outclass it, because of the higher combo rate and evasion.

Also, Holy is a terrible late-game spell because of its maximum effect capacity- you can't cast any spells during its duration and you can't cast it if any spell is being cast. Same reason why Darkga is worse than the other elemental spells.

[Zak]

Excalibur is the most useless weapon in FFXII, because it's useless againist:
Ultima (absorbs Holy)
Zodiark (absorbs Holy from when you attack him with holy attacks the first time, not in the last quarter)
Yiazmat (absorbs Holy)
Omega Mark XII (same as Yiazmat)

For Yiazmat I used Save the Queen, Ragnarok and Fomalhaut (dark bullets)

Talking about Holy, it is really useful againist the enemies that attack with magic, because you can cast Holy and, while the enemy is waiting to cast, you can attack him. You avoid Zodiark's barriers with Holy: with 2 characters in Berserk status, when the esper's reaching the 10% Hp point, you cast Holy and Zodiark will have to wait!

[Kraid]

Excalibur isn't THAT useless. It's good against any other enemy that just doesn't absorb Holy. Ultima isn't even difficult (and infact Excalibur is useful due to Reverse if I'm not mistaken) and the others you might as well just exploit elemental weaknesses anyways.

[Zak]

For Ultima I used Claymore and it worked well. Didn't need 128 atk to beat such a weak boss.

[RavenCarver]

If you are doing a FF12 speedrun, sprinting through the Necrohol of Nabudis as soon as the spear is available can cause your team to seriously stomp ass for the remainder of the game. (IIRC, using a chocobo in Nalbina, you can get to the Mosphoran Highwaste, and from there on to Nabudis, as early as you can actually go to the Ozmone plane, well before you can get into the Stilshrine of Miriam.)

Well, just sprinting through there as soon as you can anyway still makes getting (and using) the spear fun. But definitely consult Vamper's excellent post for late late late endamge stuff overall.

[Zak]

If you are doing a FF12 speedrun, sprinting through the Necrohol of Nabudis as soon as the spear is available can cause your team to seriously stomp ass for the remainder of the game. (IIRC, using a chocobo in Nalbina, you can get to the Mosphoran Highwaste, and from there on to Nabudis, as early as you can actually go to the Ozmone plane, well before you can get into the Stilshrine of Miriam.)

Well, just sprinting through there as soon as you can anyway still makes getting (and using) the spear fun. But definitely consult Vamper's excellent post for late late late endamge stuff overall.

Yeah, in a 122333 game that can be useful, but in normal game...