Limit Breaks

S Q U A L L ' S   R E N Z O K U K E N

While it may seem complicated, Squall's limit break is actually incredibly easy to execute perfectly. Make sure that in his Status screen Gunblade Auto is off and the Renzokuken Indicator is on. Now, when Squall's limit break begins, he'll start to run towards the enemy as a bar appears on the bottom of the screen. This is the Renzokuken Indicator.

When the moving line goes between the two immobile white lines, press R1, like you would when Squall attacks normally, to pull the trigger on the gunblade. He will attack between four to seven times before returning to his normal battle position.

Now, every now and then, Squall will do a finishing move; that is, a move added onto the end of his Renzokuken. You learn new finishing moves by remodelling his gunblade, and the one he executes depends on several factors, including the percentile difference between his maximum and current health. The larger the percentile difference, the better the chance of him pulling off his strongest finishing move.

Here's a quick list of his finishing moves:

NAME	DESCRIPTION	LEARN WITH
Rough Divide	Squall runs towards his opponent and, dragging the gunblade across the ground first, launches himself up into the air, the earth exploding underneath his target	Revolver
Fated Circle	Launching himself into the air, Squall pirouettes with the gunblade extended, a surge of energy hitting the ground. The earth then explodes in a field of flame, damaging all enemies	Shear Trigger, Cutting Trigger
Blasting Zone	Holding his gunblade up vertically, a beam of light erupts from it and soars into the outer atmosphere. Squall then brings the blade down in front of him, the pillar of light following, which strikes all enemies	Flame Saber, Twin Lance, Punishment
Lionheart	Running towards his opponent, Squall unleashes a torrent of sixteen blows, each doing 9,999 damage!	Lionheart

A N G E L O ' S   L I M I T   B R E A K S

Whatwhatwhat?! Angelo has limit breaks? Well, technically these are Rinoa's limit breaks, but since you cannot control them, I class them as Angelo's. They happen in specific situations, and are taught by reading new volumes of Pet Pals.

NAME	DESCRIPTION	WHEN	TARGETS	LEARN WITH
Angelo Recover	Angelo uses an item to restore HP	If an ally is in a critical condition	Single (Ally)	Pet Pals Vol. 5
Angelo Reverse	Angelo uses a Phoenix Down without depleting the inventory	If an ally is KO'd	Single (Ally)	Pet Pals Vol. 4
Angelo Rush	Counter attack	If Rinoa is being repeatedly attacked	Single	N/A
Angelo Search	Angelo sniffs the battlefield and then digs up an item	Random	N/A	Pet Pals Vol. 2

R I N O A ' S   C O M B I N E

In this set of limit breaks, Rinoa "combines" with Angelo to perform their techniques. These limit breaks work in a far more traditional way, in that you choose to use it, instead of it happening randomly. As with Angelo's limit breaks, learn new ones by reading new volumes of Pet Pals.

NAME	DESCRIPTION	TARGETS	LEARN WITH
Angelo Cannon	Angelo jumps onto Rinoa's Blaster Edge and is fired at the enemy	All	N/A
Angelo Strike	Angelo sniffs and then bites an enemy, before jumping into the air and smashing them down into the ground	Single	Pet Pals Vol. 1
Invincible Moon	Rinoa throws a biscuit into the air and Angelo leaps after it, catching it in her mouth. As she comes down, a white light surrounds the party, making them invincible	All (Allies)	Pet Pals Vol. 3
Wishing Star	The background becomes filled with stars as Rinoa and Angelo run around like the caffeine crazed fools they are. Shooting stars fall down upon the enemy, hitting between ten and twenty times	All	Pet Pals Vol. 6

A N G E L   W I N G

Rinoa learns this, her last limit break, when floating out in space after the Lunar Base incident. Many people believe Angel Wing to be absolutely crap, but that's just because they aren't willing to take a small risk! Infact, I'd go as far as to say that Angel Wing is way superior to Squall's Lionheart!

When Rinoa performs this limit break, her Magic stat is automatically raised to 255, while no others are changed. You also lose control over her, but this can actually be manipulated, which is the key to making the most out of Angel Wing. See, when in Angel Wing status, Rinoa will randomly cast spells that are in her inventory without actually decreasing it. Anyone who's used Angel Wing will tell you just how damn annoying it is when she casts Scan for the fiftieth time in a fight. So, we need to think of a way to get around her casting useless spells...

Before I get onto that, let's take a quick look a exactly what Angel Wing does:

1) She will casts spells in her inventory without decreasing it. This means she only needs ONE of a spell to be able to cast it a hundred times.

2) She will not cast every spell that is in her inventory; some are exempt from being cast during Angel Wing status.

3) If Rinoa has no spells she can cast while in Angel Wing status, she will attack physically, thus rendering Angel Wing useless.

4) Angel Wing will only end when Rinoa is either KO'd or petrified.

5) While in Angel Wing status, Rinoa is immune to Berserk, Confuse and Silence.

6) If stopped or put to sleep, Rinoa will continue to be in Angel Wing status after those other statuses have been removed.

7) Despite it being a status, Dispel will not remove Angel Wing.

8) Rinoa will cast less Forbidden magic than normal attack magic when in Angel Wing status.

I think that's all of the basics; now for a quick list of all magic she can stock without casting:

CURATIVE: Cure, Cura, Curaga, Esuna, Life, Full-life, Regen.
SUPPORT: Aura, Double, Float, Haste, Protect, Reflect, Shell, Triple.

That is a total of fifteen spells; this means you can junction all ten of her primary slots (HP-J, etc) and five of her Elem-Atk/Def-J and ST-Atk/Def-J slots. Now, we can count out Hit-J and Luck-J since she won't be using those, meaning another two slots can be attributed to the Elem-Atk/Def-J and ST-Atk/Def-J slots.

So, at the moment, yer Rinoa should have NO offensive magic in her inventory whatsoever. As previously stated, she will currently only use physical attacks while in Angel Wing status at this juncture in time. So, we need to decide on which attacking spells we want to put into the mix!

1) CURATIVE: There are no attacking curative spells... well, not unless yer fighting the undead. However, Rinoa cannot cast any curative spells while in Angel Wing status, thus rendering these useless except for stat-boosting.

2) ELEMENTAL: No. No. NO! Don't even bother with this stuff unless you don't have any Forbidden magic (which you really should have managed to get from the Island Closest to Heaven and the Island Closest to Hell. However, if you insist on using elemental magic, stock only the highest level ones, e.g. Firaga, Blizzaga, Tornado, etc.

3) STATUS: No. You don't want any of these anywhere near Rinoa's stock, not even to junction to ST-Def-J. Chances are they'll just miss and besides, they're incredibly unlikely to do anything that the other two characters in the party can't do themselves.

4) SUPPORT: As well as the ones I've listed, you may want to include Meltdown. Not only does this do damage, but it is the second-most beneficial support spell in the entire game, the only one beating it being Aura.

5) FORBIDDEN: Ditch Demi, but you must definitely keep Meteor. If you want, add in Ultima and Flare, though I'll explain a bit later why you shouldn't.

So, now you've turned Rinoa into a lean, mean, killing machine! Is there any way to make her even better? Well, yes:

1) Make sure her speed is WAY up.

2) Get her evade % above 20; getting speed high enough will do that on its own.

3) Remove all offensive spells apart from Meteor.

Point three is the important one there. See, magic damage has a limit; you can only do 9,999 points of damage per hit! However, since Meteor hits about ten times... well, ten times 9,999 is 99,990 damage per casting! Now, I'll admit, I'll be amazed if you manage to do THAT much damage, but 60k+ damage is far from beyond her limits! So, if the only spell Rinoa can cast each turn is Meteor, she WILL cast it every turn. So, every turn, she'll do 60k+ damage! There are only TWO limit breaks that can do more damage than this, and one of those is incredibly unreliable.

Just to avoid the questions of WHY Angel Wing is better than Lionheart, here's why. Simply enough, you cannot count on Squall to do Lionheart every time he does a limit break.

Z E L L ' S   D U E L

Zell's Duel is somewhat similar to the way in which Tifa from FF7's limit breaks worked in that he learns new moves to add onto his attack. To learn these new moves, simply read new volumes of Combat King.

Now, like Squall, there is a status screen where you tell the game to automatically do Zell's limit breaks for him, or be smart, and set it to be doen by you.

When you use the limit break command in battle, and clock will pop up in the corner, telling you how long you have until the Duel ends. At the bottom of the screen, a window will also open, showing which moves Zell can do from here, and what button combinations are needed to execute them.

Here's a quick list of Zell's Duel attacks:

NAME	BUTTONS	LEARN WITH
Punch Rush	Circle, X	N/A
Booya	Right, Left	N/A
Heel Drop	Up, Down	N/A
Mach Kick	Left, Left. Circle	N/A
Dolphin Blow	L1, R1, L1, R1	Combat King 001
Meteor Strike	Down, Circle, Up, Circle	Combat King 002
Burning Rave	Down, Down, Down, Down, Circle	N/A
Meteor Barret	Up, X, Down, Triangle, Circle	Combat King 003
Different Beat	Triangle, Square, X, Circle, Up	Combat King 004
Final Heaven	Up, Right, Down, Left, Triangle	Combat King 005

The last four attacks in that list are what's called "finishing moves." In other words, you can only do them to finish off a Duel after executing certain combinations. Now, you are meant to try and discover them for yerself, but that's exactly what sites like this are for, so here goes:

End with Burning Rave:
1. Punch Rush, Mach Kick, Punch Rush, Heel Drop/Meteor Strike, BURNING RAVE
2. Booya, Heel Drop, Meteor Strike, Booya, BURNING RAVE

End with Meteor Barret:
1. Punch Rush, Dolphin Blow, METEOR BARRET
2. Booya, Meteor Strike, Dolphin Blow, Mach Kick, METEOR BARRET
3. Booya, Heel Drop, Mach Kick, Heel Drop, Booya, Punch Rush, Mach Kick, METEOR BARRET

End with Different Beat:
1. Booya, Meteor Strike, Booya, DIFFERENT BEAT
2. Booya, Heel Drop, Mach Kick, Heel Drop, Booya, DIFFERENT BEAT

End with My Final Heaven:
1. Booya, Heel Drop, Meteor Strike, MY FINAL HEAVEN
2. Booya, Heel Drop, Mach Kick, Punch Rush, MY FINAL HEAVEN

While the finishing blows are fun to watch, Zell's best combination doesn't actually have one! Named by the fans as the Armageddon Fist, this combination is incredibly simple and easy to do, but it does far more damage than any other combination! Wanna know how it works? Simply enough, start off with either Punch Rush or Booya (whichever is the one of those that's in the window at the bottom) and then follow it up with the other. Repeat this pattern until the time runs and Duel ends.

So, let's make that even simpler to understand:

CHOICE 1	CHOICE 2
Punch Rush	Booya
Booya	Punch Rush
Punch Rush	Booya
Booya	Punch Rush
Punch Rush	Booya
Booya	Punch Rush
Punch Rush	Booya
Booya	Punch Rush

Simple enough, isn't it? Simply alternate between Punch Rush and Booya until the time runs out, and you'll do an awesome amount of damage to the enemy! The reason this works so well is that the commands take next to no time to input, and with practice, you should be able to rattle off at least eight a second. Now, I average about five seconds per duel, so that's a total of forty hits. With Zell's Strength stat maxed, you can pull off 50k damage easily, and with enough time, you can go over 100k! This is why Zell's Duel is THE best limit break in the game, even overshadowing the awesomeness of Angel Wing.

Q U I S T I S '   B L U E   M A G I C

Like Strago's Lores from FF6, Enemy Skill materia from FF7, and Quina from FF9, Quistis can use Blue Magic, or in other words, she can use attacks that monsters use as well! To learn these spells, she must use certain Junk items, which can often be won or stolen from the enemy whose spell she'll learn from it.

Here's a list of all SIXTEEN Blue Magics Quistis can learn:

NAME	DESCRIPTION	TARGET	LEARN WITH
Laser Eye	Non-elemental damage	Single	N/A
Ultra Waves	Non-elemental damage; casts Slow or Stop	All	Spider Web
Electrocute	Thunder Damage	All	Coral Fragment
LV? Death	Casts Death and Doom	All	Curse Spike
Degenerator	Instant Kill	All	Black Hole
Aqua Breath	Water damage	All	Water Crystal
Micro Missile	Reduce enemies HP by 1/4	All	Missile
Acid	Non-elemental damage; reduces Vit to 0	Single	Mystery Fluid
Gatling Gun	Non-elemental damage	Single	Running Fire
Fire Breath	Fire damage	All	Inferno Fang
Bad Breath	Casts Berserk, Confuse, Curse, Darkness, Doom, Poison, Silence, Sleep, Slow; sometimes reduces Vit to 0	All	Malboro Tentacle
White Wind	Heals allies up to Quistis' Max HP	All (Allies)	Whisper
Homing Laserh	Non-elemental damage	Single	Laser Cannon
Mighty Guard	Casts Haste, Protect and Shell; casts Aura and Regen occasionally	All (Allies)	Barrier
Shockwave Pulsar	9999 Non-elemental damage	All	Dark Matter
Ray Bomb	Non-elemental damage	All	Power Generator

S E L P H I E ' S   S L O T

Unlike her predecessors Setzer and Cait Sith, Selphie's Slot works very differently to either of theirs. Instead of having a spinning slot machine, Selphie's Slot just comes up with different spells she can cast. You are given the option to "Do over" which means she randomly picks another spell, or "Use", which is fairly self-evident. Each spell is shown at the top of the window, followed by the number of castings of it that will happen.

Selphie can cast virtually every spell in the game, including Apocalypse, but she also has four spells that no one else in the game does! To learn them, she must first use them in her Slot attack, though the chances of them appearing are far lower than when learned. These four spells are:

NAME	DESCRIPTION	TARGET	ODDS
Full-Cure	Heals all HP and removes status ailments	All (Allies)	70%
Wall	Casts Protect and Shell	All (Allies)	50%
Rapture	Instant kill except for earth elementals and bosses	All	45%
The End	Instant kill except for undead and Ultimecia	All	15%

It's important to note that while selecting the spell to use in Selphie's Slot, the battle continues, thus meaning if you spend too long searching for one of the spells, she may actually get killed! Now, there is actually a cunning trick to avoid this happening, though I personally refuse to use it. Anyway, here it is:

1) Get Selphie into critical status, or place the Aura status upon her.

2) Press circle to select another character and then have that character cast a spell.

3) Return to Selphie and get into the Slot window.

4) Open the Playstation lid BEFORE the other character casts their spell. This should freeze them.

5) Select the spell you want in Selphie's Slot and choose to "Use" it.

6) Close the Playstation lid. The frozen character will then cast their spell, followed by Selphie using her limit break!

I R V I N E ' S   S H O T

Irvine's limit break is easily the strangest of the lot, in that you don't learn new attacks with it. However, you do need to upgrade his rifle to be able to use certain types of ammo.

When you execute his limit break, you get to choose which ammo you want to use. When that's been selected, a bar will appear at the bottom of the screen showing how much time you have left and how much ammo is still remaining. The limit break will end when you either use all of the ammo you selected, press triangle, or the timer runs out. As with Squall's Renzokuken, you need to press R1 to fire off the shots, but you don't have to time it. However, some ammos take longer to fire than others, so it's important to try them all out, and see which ones you prefer.

Here's a list of all the types of ammo you can get:

NAME	DESCRIPTION	TARGET	NEED
Normal Ammo	Basic Ammo	Single	Valiant
Shotgun Ammo	Scatter Shot	All	Valiant
Dark Ammo	Casts Darkness, Poison and Silence	Single	Ulysses
Fire Ammo	Fire damage	All	Ulysses
Demolition Ammo	3x as powerful as Normal Ammo	Single	Bismarck
Fast Ammo	Rapid Fire	Single	Bismarck
AP Ammo	Armour Piercing	Single	Exeter
Pulse Ammo	Always does 9,999 damage	Single	Exeter

O T H E R   L I M I T   B R E A K S

Over the course of the game, five other characters join yer party temporarily, and they all have limit breaks of their own, so this little section is for them:

WHO	NAME	DESCRIPTION	TARGET
Seifer Almasy	No Mercy	Fires a ball of energy at the enemy	All
Laguna Loire	Desperado	Throws a grenade at the enemy and then fires at them	All
Ward Zabac	Massive Anchor	Throws his harpoon and then himself at the enemy	All
Kiros Seagull	Blood Pain	Attacks an enemy with a flurry of blows	Single
Edea Kramer	Ice Strike	Throws shards of ice at the enemy	Single