Opens a rift in the earth that swallows up and damages all enemies and allies.
Description
Quake is an Attack spell in Final Fantasy VI. It is an 
Earth-elemental spell that deals strong damage to all enemies and allies alike. With the use of Float, the damage can be avoided on allies, and with armor to absorb earth-elemental damage, it can actually heal allies. Quake ignores reflect, and can be learned by other party members through magicite.
Quake is also an enemy ability that can be used by Litwor Chicken, Medusa Chicken, Earth Dragon, Level 60 Magic, Master Tonberry, Ultima Buster, Ultima Weapon, Abyss Worm, Gargantua, Kaiser Dragon, Omega Weapon, Great Dragon, and Visage.
Obtained[]
Quake is learned by the Midgardsormr magicite at a x3 rate. Because this magicite is not obtained until the World of Ruin, the spell is not available in the World of Balance.
Mechanics[]
As a spell with a power of 111, it deals damage with the following formula:
where "Level" refers to the user's level, and Magic refers to the user's Magic stat. Quake ignores the target's Magic Defense and shell plays no role in mitigating damage, but the spell can still be blocked by Magic Evasion. Quake is affected by split damage.
Several relics augment Quake and other spells. If the caster is equipped with an Earring or a Hero Ring, the damage is multiplied by 5/4 (or a 25% increase). If the caster is equipped with two Earrings, two Hero Rings, or one of each, the damage is multiplied by 3/2 (a 50% increase). If the caster equips Gold Hairpin or Celestriad, its MP cost is cut by half or reduced to 1, respectively.
Because the spell deals earth-elemental damage, the enemy's elemental affinity affects its damage output. If earth is nullified, or the target is immune to earth, the spell will deal 0 damage. If the target absorbs the element, it will heal HP instead of dealing damage. If the target resists the element, it will deal half damage; conversely, if the target is weak to the element, its damage will be doubled.
Quake ignores Runic.
Use[]
Quake should be used in combination with casting Float, or with earth-absorbing armor (such as Gaia Gear). With absorbing armor, the spell becomes extremely turn-efficient as it will damage the enemy while healing (members of) the party. If the party does not have such equipment or is not in Float, the spell should not be used as it is too risky in comparison to other spells that also deal great damage to enemies.
Quake deals strong damage, comparable to that of other high-tier elemental spells (Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, and Holy) as well as high-tier non-elemental spells (Flare and Meteor). Though its damage is below that of Ultima and the very similar Meltdown, Quake is much more MP-efficient and can still deal very strong damage to enemies.
Quake functions identically to Meltdown, which uses different elements and is more powerful, but also costlier. However, as well as being cheaper in terms of MP cost, Quake is also easier to avoid.
The player should prioritize teaching Quake to party members with a high natural Magic stat and access to mage equipment. This includes Terra (who can double its damage with Trance), Celes, Relm, and Strago; Mog and Shadow have high Magic stats, while Gogo has access to mage equipment. Though Sabin will be built toward magic damage, his access to Phantom Rush means he can already strong magic damage for no MP cost. Quake should be prioritized to spellcasters, and is a luxury for all other party members.
Quake remains a very MP-efficient means of damaging and potentially healing the enemy at once. If the caster has a sufficient Magic stat to reliably achieve 9999 damage per-hit, it may be better to use Quake than Meltdown or Ultima. If Celestriad is equipped and MP is no object, it may be better to use Ultima or Meltdown instead.
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