Deals ice damage.
Description
Blizzara, also known as Ice2, is a Black Magic spell in Final Fantasy V. It is the medium-level ice-elemental spell that can be acquired fairly early in the game, and can be used to hit one target or an entire party. Blizzara is usable by the Black Magic and Red Magic skillsets (and can be used twice with Dualcast), and can also be used as a Spellblade. Blizzara is also one of the spells that can be cast for free from the Wonder Wand.
Blizzara is also an enemy ability cast by Carbuncle, Flaremancer, Ra Mage, Omniscient, Shiva, and Reflect Mage.
Obtained[]
Blizzara can be purchased for 600 gil at Karnak or Crescent. Karnak is the earliest place Blizzara can be obtained. Once it is purchased, it can be used by any of the skillsets with the spell.
Mechanics[]
As a spell, Blizzara's damage is calculated as follows:
If the target absorbs ice, it is healed instead of damaged; if it is immune to ice, the attack misses. If the target resists ice, the Attack modifier in the formula is halved, but if it is weak to ice, the modifier is doubled and the attack ignores the target's Magic Defense. Blizzara is affected by reflect.
Several pieces of equipment increase the power of elemental attacks by 50%. The bonus is applied before subtracting the opponent's Magic Defense. The weapons that boost ice are the Black Mage's Frost Rod and the Ranger's Frost Bow. The Mix Elemental Power strengthens all elements and Magus Rod strengthens all elements bar water and holy.
Use[]
Blizzara is acquired some time after the basic ice spell, Blizzard. It can be used by Black Mages and Red Mages as a basic spell. Though it is just over twice the MP cost, its cost is not too prohibitive to Black Mages (though Red Mages may struggle), who may use it more frequently. As the party members' levels improve, and their MP pools increase, Blizzara can quickly replace Blizzard as a common offensive spell.
Mystic Knights can also use Blizzara as a Spellblade, as Mystic Knight becomes available around the same time as Blizzara. It should only be used against enemies weak to ice, as against enemies with no affinity to the element, the slight damage increase is not worth the MP or turn consumed. With Blizzara available, because MP is only consumed once to imbue a weapon with Blizzara, there is no reason to use Blizzard as a Spellblade unless equipping the Spellblade skillset level below 3.
With Shiva available, the symmon deals slightly less damage than Blizzara to all enemies, but cannot be reflected. As such, Blizzara should be used in most other cases. Blizzaga, on the other hand, outclasses Blizzara, but has a much higher MP cost. Since Blizzaga is obtained much later on, when Black Mages will have a higher MP pool, Blizzaga can be used commonly; Red Mages, however, lack access to Blizzaga. For Spellblade, Blizzaga also entirely outclasses Blizzara.