Auto-Abilities

Shows the HP, elemental strengths, and current status of targets. If any member of the active party has a Sensor weapon equipped, a little window reveals key information on opponents (HP, status, help text) when selecting a target.

Breaks through the target's armour, if they have any, dealing full damage. Some fiends have thick shells or other natural armour. A non-Piercing weapon will do only a fraction of the normal damage to such protected creatures.

Allows the owner of this weapon to attack first, even if ambushed. The character will always be given the chance to act before anyone else on the battlefield.

Greatly increases the chances of the party gaining a pre-emptive strike against the enemy, if the owner of this weapon is among them. In a pre-emptive encounter, the party gets a free round of turns before the CTB activates the enemy's timers.

Elemental attributes are key to survival in Spira. Many fiends are weak against one of the four primary elements - Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Water - and using appropriate equipment can result in extra damage to your physical attacks and skills. If more than one element is present on a weapon, the enemy will take damage from its weakest attribute; A fire-absorbing, ice-weak Bomb will treat a Firestrike+Icestrike weapon as an ice attack. In addition to providing extra damage, elemental attributes also affect the appearance of your weapon, causing it to crackle with electricity for example.

Causes physical attacks from this weapon to hit with Fire.

Causes physical attacks from this weapon to hit with Lightning.

Causes physical attacks from this weapon to hit with Water.

Causes physical attacks from this weapon to hit with Ice.

Moreso than usual, status ailments play a vital part in combat. Normal fiends are generally vulnerable to most, and careful use of status attacks can unleash havoc on the battlefield and effectively disable them. Customising statuses onto weapons causes them to be inflicted with each attack, making it much easier to take advantage of their effects. For example, a Darkstrike weapon will almost always blind whatever it hits, even if the attack doesn't do much damage. "Touch" weapons have a lower chance of succeeding, but are easier to find or customise.

Has a chance of inflicting Darkness on enemies struck with this weapon.

Inflicts Darkness on enemies struck with this weapon.

Has a chance of inflicting Silence on enemies struck with this weapon.

Inflicts Silence on enemies struck with this weapon.

Has a chance of inflicting Sleep on enemies struck with this weapon. Don't worry, the attack itself won't wake them back up again.

Inflicts Sleep on enemies struck with this weapon.

Has a chance of inflicting Poison on enemies struck with this weapon.

Inflicts Poison on enemies struck with this weapon.

Has a chance of inflicting Petrification on enemies struck with this weapon. A Petrified enemy will shatter instantly, killing it outright.

Inflicts Petrification on enemies struck with this weapon.

May inflict Death on enemies, killing them instantly. Very few fiends are immune to this effect.

Inflicts Death on enemies struck with this weapon, killing them instantly.

Has a chance of inflicting Zombie on enemies struck with this weapon.

Inflicts Zombie on enemies struck with this weapon.

Has a chance of inflicting Slow on enemies struck with this weapon.

Inflicts Slow on enemies, halving their speed.

Inflicts "Distil Power," causing enemies to drop Power Spheres when killed instead of the item they would usually drop. The Distil auto-abilities are not present in the US version.

Causes enemies to drop Mana Spheres when killed.

Causes enemies to drop Speed Spheres when killed.

Causes enemies to drop Ability Spheres when killed.

Classic Final Fantasy equipment works primarily by boosting its user's stats. The Sphere Grid means permanent stat boosts are within your direct control, but it may still come in useful to add a little extra power to your attacks and spells via these auto-abilities.

Raises the wearer's strength by 3%, up to 255. May be combined with other strength+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's strength by 5%, up to 255. May be combined with other strength+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's strength by 10%, up to 255. May be combined with other strength+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's strength by 20%, up to 255. May be combined with other strength+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's magic by 3%, up to 255. May be combined with other magic+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's magic by 5%, up to 255. May be combined with other magic+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's magic by 10%, up to 255. May be combined with other magic+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's magic by 20%, up to 255. May be combined with other magic+ abilities.

The following auto-abilities enable the weapon bearer to automatically respond to attacks with a counter of their own. Counters are standard physical attacks executed immediately after the enemy's hit, and do not affect the character's position in the CTB.

Counterattacks after being hit by a physical attack.

Greatly increases the chance of dodging a physical attack, and counters with one of their own.

The wearer physically counterattacks when hit by a spell.

Bring out the beast within by boosting the power of your skills or otherwise amplifying battle power with the following auto-abilities.

Increases the effectiveness of the wearer's magic by 50%, but causes their skills to cost twice as much MP. Best combined with Half MP Cost, for obvious reasons.

Causes the user's potions and other restorative items to become twice as effective. A standard Potion thus heals 400HP, and so on.

All spells, skills, and abilities are available for half of their normal MP costs.

All spells, skills, and abilities cost the wearer just 1MP to execute. A must for the serious magic user, or to take advantage of high-level skills such as Full Break or Auto-Life. If combined with Magic Booster, the cost is 2MP instead.

The wearer receives no AP after battle. Only available on underpowered Celestial Weapons. To remove this ability from the Celestials, find and use the Crests and Sigils.

Doubles the AP received by the wearer.

Triples the AP received by the wearer.

Freezes the Overdrive gauge of the wearer. Instead, all Overdrive "points" which would have been earned are given as AP at the end of the battle.

Doubles the Overdrive charge rate when the wearer is in critical condition, with their HP in the yellow.

Doubles the Overdrive charge rate at all times.

Triples the Overdrive charge rate at all times.

Doubles the amount of gil dropped by enemies. As long as the bearer of this weapon took part in and survived the battle, the party receives double gil even if the enemy weren't hit with this weapon.

Allows the wearer's skills and attacks to break the 9,999 limit, up to a potential 99,999. This auto-ability itself doesn't directly increase attack power; It simply increases the maximum values.

Captures fiends killed with this weapon, sending them to the Monster Arena. It cannot be customised onto existing weaponry, and is only available on new equipment from the Arena owner. Not all fiends can be caught.

Protection from the elements can mean the difference between life and death when facing the fiends of Spira. The following auto-abilities provide permanent defence against the four major elements, either by halving damage (Ward), nullifying it completely (-Proof) or absorbing it and converting it to HP (Eater). Certain areas have a higher concentration of a particular element, for example Fire is common around Mushroom Rock.

Halves Fire damage against the wearer.

Nullifies Fire damage.

Absorbs all Fire damage, adding it to the wearer's HP.

Halves Lightning damage against the wearer.

Nullifies Lightning damage.

Absorbs all Lightning damage, adding it to the wearer's HP.

Halves Water damage against the wearer.

Nullifies Water damage.

Absorbs all Water damage, adding it to the wearer's HP.

Halves Ice damage against the wearer.

Nullifies Ice damage.

Absorbs all Ice damage, adding it to the wearer's HP.

Many fiends may inflict status ailments on the party, either deliberately or as a side-effect of a regular attack. Ward equipment reduces the chances of a particular status being inflicted, while Proof effectively guarantees complete resistance.

Has a chance of preventing the Darkness ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Darkness ailment.

Has a chance of preventing the Silence ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Silence ailment.

Has a chance of preventing the Sleep ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Sleep ailment.

Has a chance of preventing the Poison ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Poison ailment.

Has a chance of preventing the Petrification ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Petrification ailment.

Has a chance of preventing Death being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from instant-death attacks.

Has a chance of preventing the Zombie ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Zombie ailment.

Has a chance of preventing the Slow ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Slow ailment.

Has a chance of preventing the Confusion ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Confusion ailment.

Has a chance of preventing the Berserk ailment being inflicted on the wearer.

Protects the wearer from the Berserk ailment.

Protects the wearer from the Curse ailment, which prevents them from using Overdrives.

The following auto-abilities provide positive status effects on the wearer, and as such should be in high demand. In all cases, the effects granted cannot be removed by Dispel or death. SOS skills will be removed if your HP recovers, but Auto-skills are totally permanent.

Makes the wearer immune to Fire while critical (HP in the yellow). If their health recovers, the effect is removed.

Makes the wearer immune to Lightning while critical.

Makes the wearer immune to Water while critical.

Makes the wearer immune to Ice while critical.

If the wearer becomes critically wounded, they will receive Shell status until they recover.

If the wearer becomes critically wounded, they will receive Protect status until they recover.

If the wearer becomes critically wounded, they will receive Reflect status until they recover.

If the wearer becomes critically wounded, they will receive Haste status until they recover.

If the wearer becomes critically wounded, they will receive Regen status until they recover.

Automatically puts the Shell status on the wearer at the start of battle, and restores it should it be lost.

Automatically puts the Protect status on the wearer at the start of battle, and restores it should it be lost.

Automatically puts the Reflect status on the wearer at the start of battle, and restores it should it be lost.

Automatically puts the Haste status on the wearer at the start of battle, and restores it should it be lost.

Automatically puts the Regen status on the wearer at the start of battle, and restores it should it be lost.

Classic Final Fantasy equipment works primarily by boosting its user's stats. The Sphere Grid means permanent stat boosts are within your direct control, but it may still come in useful to have a little extra help surviving with these auto-abilities.

Raises the wearer's defence by 3%, up to 255. May be combined with other defence+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's defence by 5%, up to 255. May be combined with other defence+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's defence by 10%, up to 255. May be combined with other defence+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's defence by 20%, up to 255. May be combined with other defence+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's magic defence by 3%, up to 255. May be combined with other defence+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's magic defence by 5%, up to 255. May be combined with other defence+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's magic defence by 10%, up to 255. May be combined with other defence+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's magic defence by 20%, up to 255. May be combined with other defence+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's HP by 5%, up to 9,999. May be combined with other HP+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's HP by 10%, up to 9,999. May be combined with other HP+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's HP by 20%, up to 9,999. May be combined with other HP+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's HP by 30%, up to 9,999. May be combined with other HP+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's MP by 5%, up to 999. May be combined with other MP+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's MP by 10%, up to 999. May be combined with other MP+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's MP by 20%, up to 999. May be combined with other MP+ abilities.

Raises the wearer's MP by 30%, up to 999. May be combined with other MP+ abilities.

These interesting abilities are essentially counterattacks without the attack, using an item in response to an enemy's moves. The action takes no time to accomplish, not affecting the character's CTB in any way, but it does rely on your inventory being sufficiently stocked.

If the wearer takes damage and survives, they will use the weakest available potion to recover.

If the wearer comes under the effect of a status ailment which they are capable of healing, they will immediately use the appropriate item (if they have any) to remove it. Remedies will be used if no specific item is at hand.

If the wearer is alive when a party member dies, they will immediately use a Phoenix Down (if they have any) to resurrect them. Attacks which wipe out the entire party at once cannot be responded to.

The final set of auto-abilities are difficult to classify, but are nonetheless worth investigating.

Increases the wearer's chances of stealing rare items.

Allows the wearer to steal only rare items.

Regenerates a little HP with each step on the field.

Regenerates a little MP with each step.

Prevents random battles while exploring. Scripted battles will not be stopped by this ability.

Allows the wearer to have up to 9,999MP. Note that this ability doesn't actually increase their MP count; it just raises the maximum. If you need thousands of MP, of course.

Allows the wearer to have up to 99,999HP. Note that this ability doesn't actually increase their HP count; it just raises the maximum.

Makes the wearer permanently immune to all status ailments, with the exception of Curse, Doom, and Death. This wonderful auto-ability is not available in the US version.