Final Fantasy X auto-abilities

Unlike command abilities, auto-abilities in Final Fantasy X automatically take effect and can be assigned to weapons and armor, similar to support abilities in previous games.

Mechanics[]

Ability slots[]

Pieces of equipment can have a maximum of one to four auto-abilities. Most equipment have auto-abilities already assigned to them when acquired, but once the player reaches Guadosalam, they can customize auto-abilities onto equipment as long as they have the required number of items, and as long as the equipment has at least one empty slot. Once an ability is added to a piece of equipment, it cannot be removed. Brotherhood, Celestial Weapons, and non-empty-slotted equipment cannot be customized.

On occasion, customizing equipment may change the name and appearance of that equipment. Adding the Firestrike ability to the Variable Steel, for instance, will change its name to Flametongue.

Sell value[]

One can determine the value of a piece of equipment using the formula

(50 + the sum of the ability values) * slots factor * empty slots factor

Where the slots factor is 1, 1.5, 3, or 5, depending on the number of total slots. The empty slots factor uses the same progression, except the last value is 400. So an empty, 4 slot equipment is (50 + 0) * 5 * 400 = 100000.

The purchase price is some multiple of this total price (post-airship, that is usually 1). The sale price is 1/4th of the calculated value, rounded down to the nearest whole integer.

Ability mechanics[]

In the event multiple auto-abilities with percentages are equipped, the percentages are added together before applying the effect; equipping HP+30% and HP+20% would result in a 50% boost to HP, not 56%. Additionally, apart from HP and MP, these abilities directly affect damage rather than the stat itself. For example, Strength+20% does not increase a unit's Strength stat by 20%, but rather boosts any physical damage dealt by 20%. Thus, Fenrir's physical Fangs of Chaos attack, which is not affected by Strength or Defense, would still be mitigated by Defense+20%. Overdrives are also considered special damage rather than physical or magical, and as such, Strength+20% has no impact on their damage.

Status abilities work in a similar way. Status-touch abilities increase the chance of infliction by 50%, while Status-strike abilities increase it by 100%. If both are together, which can be achieved by customizing the -touch first and then the -strike, the weapon will have a 150% chance of inflicting the status. This can make a difference against enemies with partial resistance to the status. This further combines with the chance that an attack carries; if one has Darktouch and Darkstrike equipped and uses Dark Attack, the result is a 250% chance of inflicting Darkness. There are also attacks that always inflict a status unless the target is immune. Aside from some enemy attacks, the status Buster skills and all status-inflicting items except Farplane Wind carry this property.

Status resist abilities provide a 50% resistance, which is subtracted (not multiplied) from the chance. This means an attack with a 80% chance of inflicting Silence, used on a character with Silence Ward, would have a 30% chance of working (not 40%). Status proof abilities do not give a 100% resistance, but rather "perfect" resistance—no matter how high the infliction chance is, status proofs (and Ribbon) will always protect the unit, unless the attack is one of the few that bypass protection. For the most part, immunity-bypassing statuses cannot be prevented, but there is one exception: protection-bypassing Slow will still be prevented by Auto-Haste (or an active SOS Haste).

Multiple elemental-strike abilities can be customized on the same weapon. When attacking an enemy with such weapon, the game considers each elemental affinity separately, and uses only the one that's the most favorable to the player: weak > neutral > resists > immune > absorbs. If an enemy is weak to multiple elements of the attacker's weapon, the damage is multiplied by 1.5 for each weak element, which results in 1.5, 2.25, 3.375, or 5.06 times damage respectively, which is most useful on Geosgaeno. Other than enemies' weaknesses, the weapon's elements won't have any cumulative effect. An enemy that absorbs multiple elements won't absorb any more HP than it normally would, while resisting multiple elements won't decrease damage below 50%.

Abilities that modify AP or gil gain only work if the user is on the frontline when an enemy is defeated.

Abnormal equipment[]

There are two instances of auto-abilities appearing on equipment they normally do not. When first arriving in the Calm Lands, it is possible to purchase an armor for Tidus that has Magic Counter, an auto-ability otherwise only found on weapons, while the optional boss Geosgaeno outside Baaj Temple may drop a weapon with No Encounters, normally only found on armor. In both cases, these abilities function exactly as they normally would. Auto-abilities always work regardless of being found on weapon or armor, including aeons' equipment.

Weapon auto-abilities[]

Armor auto-abilities[]

Aeon auto-abilities[]

Aeons also have equipment, though it is not visible in-game. Their weapons contain Piercing, followed by —, and then two empty slots. Valefor lacks Piercing (having — on the first slot), while Bahamut, Anima, and the Magus Sisters have Break Damage Limit in the third slot. Once an aeon's respective Celestial Weapon is upgraded with at least the crest, the first empty slot changes to Break Damage Limit. Their armors do not change; they always contain Sensor, Break HP Limit, Break MP Limit, and a blank slot. The elemental aeons have their respective element Eater between Sensor and Break HP Limit, and Valefor has its second slot empty despite lacking an elemental affinity.

Dummied auto-ability[]

An ability unobtainable without a cheat device or save editor exists in the game's code.