Final Fantasy VI statuses

The following is a list of statuses from Final Fantasy VI.

List of statuses[]

Regular statuses[]

There are 32 status effects in the game while not counting the specialized ailments. The following statuses are place in the order found within the game's data when fighting during battle. Note that some of these statuses are left intentionally blank within the data because they are specific statuses and they cannot be cured except for Frozen. These statuses are Magitek, Dance, Interceptor Guard, Hidden, Chanting, Trance, Frozen, and Normal. Notice that while initially fighting Ymir, the character(s) will never be listed as being under the effect of Slow because Magitek takes precedence.

KO[]

The KO'd character cannot do anything, and it counts as dead for game over purposes, and s/he is a valid target only for items, abilities, and spells that remove this status. If enough damage is done to a character and his/her HP drops to 0, they will be KO'd. Certain monsters are also incapacitated if their MP reaches 0. It can be removed with Phoenix Down, Tent, Raise spell, Arise spell, and the Phoenix's Flames of Rebirth. KO can be prevented by the Reraise status. KO'd enemies simply disappear.

Indication: character is lying on the ground in battle, tagged as Wounded in the menu.

The Crypt Dust enemy ability turns a KO'd party member into a zombie.

Petrify[]

The petrified character cannot act, his/her ATB bar stops, cannot dodge, and counts as dead for game over purposes. The Ultima Weapon still deals 1 damage thanks to its unusual damage modifiers. Monsters inflicted by petrify will die immediately.

Indication: character is gray in battle, tagged with a green crystal in the menu.

Imp[]

All abilities except Attack, Magic, Dualcast, Item, and Shock are disabled. All magic except for Imp are also disabled. All weapons except for the Impartisan provide only 1 attack power, and all armor except the Tortoise Shield, Saucer, and Reed Cloak provide only 1 defense power. However, those four items give their listed power instead of their usual 1. Most monsters use 1 as their attack power under Imp status, but some instead retain full attack power and always get critical hits.

Indication: character sprite is replaced with an Imp in battle, a crowned, green Imp head in the menu.

Invisible[]

A character with the Invisible status will always evade all physical attacks, even those that are unblockable, but they will never evade magic spells. Due to a bug, this status negates Death protection, leading to the infamous Vanish/Doom exploit. This status also prevents the user from activating his/her Desperation Attack.

Indication: character is just an outline in battle, a question mark with a green hat in the menu.

Magitek[]

The first command slot is replaced with the Magitek command. All other commands except Magic, Dualcast, and Item are disabled. Terra gets more Magitek abilities than the others characters. It is impossible to have only part of the party with this status without cheating, but if it happens, everyone is shown on a Magitek Armor, even those who do not actually have the status. Those without it set retain their usual battle commands. This status cannot be inflicted or removed by the player, but events do inflict and remove it for the player.

Indication: obvious in battle, no difference in menu.

Poison[]

A character will periodically be hit with poison-elemental damage.

Indication: purple skin, emitting green bubbles in battle, a flask containing green liquid in the menu.

Zombie[]

A character inflicted by zombie will become uncontrollable, and counts as dead for Game Over purposes. The character will keep attacking even if HP is displayed as 0.

Indication: green skin in battle, skull and crossbones in the menu.

Darkness[]

A character inflicted by Darkness will be halving the affected's hit rate and giving attacks vs. the affected a 25% bonus to hit. This status also prevents Strago from learning Lore spells. In the SNES release, the evade bug meant that the changes to hit rate had no effect.

Indication: wearing shades in battle, some green swirl in the menu.

Sleep[]

The affected character(s) cannot take any action or evade attacks, the character's ATB bar stops. It can be removed with any physical damage that hits the afflicted. Additionally, if Sleep lasts long enough, a tapir will automatically appear and remove the status. The status is also removed at the end of battle.

Indication: crouched over, snoring in battle.

Sap[]

A character will periodically take damage. This status inflicts damage more often than the poison status, but the damage is non-elemental and does not increase over a period of time. The amount has some random variation. The higher stamina will increase damage taken, as will higher max HP, to a point (damage before variation is capped at 255). Attackers have a 25% penalty to hit rate against those affected.

Indication: periodic small HP loss in battle.

Confuse[]

The affected acts at random with inverted targeting where he/she will attack allies and heal enemies.

Indication: spinning, with green swirl above her/his head in battle.

Berserk[]

A character affected with berserk will attack enemies uncontrollably with a physical damage bonus of +50%. Affected enemies will always use normal physical attacks. The affected character(s) can use Attack or any of the following commands if available: Attack, Mug, Jump, Rage, or Magitek.

Indication: red skin, fuming in battle.

Silence[]

A character inflicted by Silence cannot use Magic, Dualcast, or Lore.

Indication: speech bubble with '...' in battle.

Image[]

A character with Image status will automatically evade physical attacks, but each evade has a 25% chance of removing the status. However, a character will not evade while also under the Sleep, Petrify, Frozen, or Stop statuses, when attacked from the back, or when the attack is unblockable. Hits taken in these cases also won't remove the status. This status also prevents the user from activating his/her Desperation Attack.

Indication: multiple blinking figures in battle.

Critical[]

The Critical status can triggers some equipment special effects and gives a small chance of using the character's Desperation Attack instead of attacking with his/her equipped weapon when using the Attack command. Attackers will have a 25% penalty to hit rate against those affected.

Indication: crouched in battle, no difference in menu (apart from low HP).

Doom[]

The Doom status will inflict KO when the timer runs out, so the status is harmless until then. The statuses Haste and Slow affect the countdown timer, Haste doubling the speed of the countdown (effectively halving the amount of time before the KO status is inflicted) while Slow halves the speed of the countdown timer (effectively doubling the amount of time before the KO status is inflicted). The status is also removed at the end of battle.

Indication: countdown timer above her/his head in battle.

Reflect[]

Reflect will reflect most magic spells aimed at the target so that the spell instead affects an enemy of the target. This reflection affects not only most Attack spells, but also most Effect and all Healing spells. The strength of a reflected spell is halved. Once reflected, a spell cannot be reflected back again. Only targets with the Reflect status are affected by Strago's Reflect???. This status also eventually wears off on its own, and it is also removed at the end of battle.

Indication: blue outline in battle.

Protect[]

A character with the Protect status will have physical damage reduced by approximately 1/3, except for defense-ignoring attacks.

Indication: yellow outline in battle.

Shell[]

A character with the Shell status will have magical damage reduced by approximately 1/3, except for defense-ignoring attacks. This status can be removed with Dispel spell, and it is also removed at the end of battle.

Indication: green outline in battle.

Stop[]

A unit affected by stop will have its ATB bar halted, unable to act or evade attacks. Stop pauses the timer on most effects that wear off over time, such as the reflect status. If Terra's Trance gauge expires while she is stopped, she remains in Trance until KO'd or until the end of battle.

Indication: pink outline in battle.

Haste[]

The ATB bar fills up more quickly which is nearly 1/3 faster than usual, so turns come more often. It also speeds time for the effects like the Poison status and causes effects that wear off on their own to do so more quickly. It has no effect on Terra's Trance gauge, however. Attackers will have a 25% penalty to hit rate against those affected. Note that Haste and Slow are mutually exclusive status effects. Anything that sets Haste automatically cancels Slow in the process, and vice versa. Haste will affect the Doom status, expediting the countdown timer on the afflicted.

Indication: red outline in battle.

Slow[]

The ATB bar fills up at half the normal speed, so turns come less often. It also slows time for effects like the Poison status and causes effects that wear off on their own to do so more slowly. It has no effect on Terra's Trance gauge, however. Attackers will have a 25% bonus to hit rate against those affected. Note that Slow and Haste are mutually exclusive status effects. Anything that sets Slow automatically cancels Haste in the process, and vice versa. Slow will affect the Doom status, Slow will decrease the countdown timer on the afflicted.

Indication: white outline in battle.

Regen[]

A character with the Regen status will periodically recover a small amount of HP. The effect is the opposite of the Sap status. The amount has some random variation. The higher the stamina stat is, the more HP the character will be healed, as will higher max HP, to a point (healing before variation is capped at 255).

It can be removed with Dispel spell, and the status is removed at the end of battle.

Indication: periodic small HP gain in battle.

Dance[]

The status is not named in-game except as a battle command. This is the state entered by using the Dance command successfully. A character will automatically use a random ability from the current dance set every turn.

It can be removed with Petrify status, KO status, and the Imp status will replace the dances with normal attacks, but it won't remove the status.

Indication: behavior in battle.

Float[]

Characters with the Float status will be protected from earth-elemental attacks, which will miss automatically, but their vulnerability to Locke's Hawkeye and Sniper weapons will be increased. Flying enemies normally have this status permanently set. The Angel Wings relic is associated with a bug where removing Angel Wings also permanently removes Interceptor status from the character.

Indication: hovering in battle, a single wing in the menu.

Interceptor Guard[]

This status is not named in-game. This is an internal flag normally found on Shadow, except on the Floating Continent. Interceptor will randomly block physical attacks, even attacks from behind which are normally unblockable, for the character, and occasionally counterattack with Takedown or Wild Fang. There is a 50% chance of each being picked.

Shadow starts with this status, and normally keeps it for the entire game except for the brief interruption on the Floating Continent. However, Rippler can swap it, even though it is not supposed to (see: Rippler bug), so Shadow can lose Interceptor's assistance permanently. It is best to keep Shadow away from enemies that can use Rippler. Due to another bug (see: Equipment bugs), Shadow can also lose Interceptor status via equipping and then unequipping the Angel Wings relic.

Indication: none.

Hidden[]

This status is not named in-game. There are several actions that give the Hidden status, which makes the target un-selectable and renders the target un-hittable by neither physical attacks nor magical attacks. The target becomes hidden from sight and cannot be manually targeted. This status occurs when a character is taken out of the action, such as the Jump command, the esper Quetzalli's Sonic Dive, running away, Sabin's Spiral Soul, Strago's Transfusion, Humbaba's Humbaba Breath, and the ejection ability Snort used by certain monsters.

When all the party members are ejected (or some ejected and the others KO'd), the battle is considered a draw. Neither EXP is awarded nor there is a Game Over. If this happens in the Dragon's Neck Coliseum, the player retains the wager.

This status is removed at the end of battle.

Indication: character not shown in battle.

Chanting[]

This status is not named in-game. This is the state Relm or Gogo enters when controlling an enemy with the Control command. If a character enters this status by any other means like Rippler, the game is likely to freeze when it tries to show the battle menu for that character.

It can be removed when the controlled monster is killed or any successful physical attack is made on the controlled monster. This status is removed at the end of battle.

Indication: chanting in battle.

Trance[]

This status is not named in-game except as a battle command. This is the state Terra enters when using her Trance command, and her normal sprite will change into that of her Esper form. This status adds a +100% bonus to physical and magical damage except for defense-ignoring attacks, and halves magic damage taken except defense-ignoring attacks.

The status can be removed with when the duration expires, Terra's chooses the Revert command, or at the end of battle.

Indication: Terra needs a haircut.

Reraise[]

If the character with the Reraise status enters KO status, either through a Death attack or when his/her HP reaches 0, this status automatically casts the Raise spell on the affected and removes the Reraise status afterwards. However, Sabin's Soul Spiral and Strago's Transfusion removes the user from battle and this status will not work on them. Attackers will have a 25% bonus to hit rate versus those affected.

Indication: none.

Frozen[]

The status is not named in-game, although the word Frozen is used in the flavored text of the inflicting abilities. Those afflicted by this status will have their ATB bar halted. The affected cannot act or evade attacks.

Indication: character turns blue in battle.

Rage[]

This status is not named in-game except as a battle command. This is the state entered by using the Rage command. A character will automatically either attack or use the ability associated with the current Rage. The inflicted will gain that monster's trait which includes elemental properties, status protections, and other traits such as human, undead, and 0 MP equals death.

This status can be removed with the Petrify status and KO statuses. The Imp status will force normal attacks, but it will not remove the status. If Strago is inflicted with the Rage status, it will prevent him from learning Lore spells. This status has no known effects on monsters.

Indication: fuming in battle.

Normal[]

The status is not named in-game. Characters that are not afflicted by any statuses listed above will have this status by default. This status is removed when a character is afflicted by any of the above statuses.

Specialized statuses[]

These statuses are not handled like the others and are problematic to cure, if not outright impossible without simply ending the battle. There is no immunity for most of these statuses either. These statuses are not named within the game, and their names usually comes from the ability or command that grants the status or from similar status effects found in other Final Fantasy games. The exception to the previous statement is the Death status.

Death[]

This status was named in the GBA release. It appears inside the Bestiary as Death found under the Status Immunity section of the enemy entry. This status instantly kills the target regardless of the current amount of HP they have remaining. Party members can prevent instant death by being immune to Death with the Safety Bit or Memento Ring.

Charm[]

This status is not named in-game. This is a special status effect caused only by the Entice ability. This works similar to the Confuse status, but it is more complicated in how it is applied, and more insidious in that it cannot be cured or prevented unless the characters evades the attack.

A single caster may have only one charmed victim at a time and the ability fails automatically if a current victim still exists. A successful use of Entice by a different caster on the same target will leave the target charmed, but it now counts as the second caster's victim, allowing the first caster to successfully use Entice on a different target or the same one, which again resets the victim's link and frees the second caster to use Entice on someone else.

The Charm status can also exist alongside the Confuse status. In this case, actions are randomized as usual, but targeting is inverted twice, so the affected will attack enemies and heal allies.

The status will be removed at the end of battle, it can also be removed when the caster dies, or the afflicted character becomes KO'd. Other than blocking or dodging the Entice ability, it cannot be prevented. Not even the bosses are immune to it.

HP Leak[]

This status is not named in-game. It is similar to poison and sap statuses. HP Leak cannot be cured, and it overrides any current regen status set on the character(s) including those from inherent sources like the Angel Ring relic. It can only be caused by the attack called Poltergeist, an attack used by both Chadarnook (Goddess) and Death Rider.

Heat[]

This status is not named in-game. It acts the same way as the status called Heat which appears in Final Fantasy IX. The Heat status can only be caused by Edgar's Air Anchor. Air Anchor's special effect is that once the enemy is hit, it can take one more turn and then it automatically dies. However, if the target also has HP Leak, Poison, Regen, or Sap, that may not happen, as Heat treats these as a turn and kills the victim if any of these statuses triggers the healing or damage. This status can be prevented by being immune to Death.

Runic[]

This status is not named in-game except as a battle command. This is the status granted by using the Runic command. Celes and Gogo are the only characters who can gain this status.

Once the status is granted, it will absorb the first spell no matter who cast it as long as it is not a spell that ignores Runic. The spell will be absorbed by the user instead of doing what it was supposed to do, and gives the user its MP cost. Runic isn't permanent. Once a spell has been absorbed, the player will have to choose the Runic command again to apply the status. Once the user enters another command, the Runic status is lost. However, a KO'd user will not lose the Runic status. So if the user does Runic, gets KO'd, is then revived, and then a spell is cast they will still absorb it.

The enemy Bit and the Gold Dragon from the Dragon's Den have a permanent Runic status on them at all times.

Grab[]

This status is not named in-game except as a enemy ability. Grab is an ability used by the Tentacles boss found in Figaro's Basement.

The affected character goes into the clutches of the enemy, who slowly drains a small amount of HP from the victim at regular intervals. Those that are captured can be selected with the cursor to make a character attack or cast a spell, but said attack or spell will be aborted when their turn comes up, the animation will play such as physically attacking said character or the casting of the spell, but no effect will occur on the captured target. So healing cannot be preform on captured targets. The caster can release the character on its own via the Release ability, can be forced to release when the character dies from the HP drain, or can be forced to by being KO'd.

Invincible[]

This status is not named in-game and is an enemy-exclusive status. This status is granted on the Guardian and on Humbaba when Terra faces him alone. This status reduces all damage to 0, making the afflicted immune to all physical and magical attacks. There are three instances where the Guardian will have the Invincible status.

Cover[]

This status is not named in-game. Overture is an ability used by Goddess, Glutturn (Yellow), Vilia, and Coco.

The affected will cover for the caster, much like they would for a Critical character when wearing the Knight's Code relic. This can be broken by taking out either the original caster or the affected character with KO, Zombie, Petrify, or making that character run away. It is also broken if Overture is used by the original caster again on another target and successfully inflicts the status on the new target. The Master's Scroll bypasses Overture's Cover status effect, but it only affects the Attack command and not the X Fight command.

The Knight's Code relic grants the status, and the wearer intercept physical attacks against allies in Critical status. If multiple characters are equipped with Knight's Code, multiple characters will cover the ally and a random covering character will take the damage.

Enemies can start out with the Cover status, but the developers never made use of it. If some of the enemies in the game would have had this status, Gau would have inherited this status when using the specific Rage.

Golem[]

This status is not named in-game. The summon Golem places this status on every party members in the party during battle. After he has been summoned, his hand will protect the party and block any physical attack the enemy makes against the party. This status will last until Golem's HP has been depleted, his HP is equal to the caster's HP when summoned.

Gallery[]

SNES/PS/GBA

iOS/Android