Crisis Level

Crisis Level is a condition in Final Fantasy VIII that is used to determine how often a character's Limit Break will appear, as well as different damage outputs, additional statuses, and more options for the Limit Breaks. Crisis Level is achieved by having a character in Critical status (having a character's HP lower than 32% of their max HP, though for Seifer, he must be lower than 84% of his max HP). There are 4 different levels of Crisis Level, and aside from current HP, various statuses also factor into what a character's Crisis Level will be. The following is a list of statuses and the amount of percentage they add to the Crisis Level:


 * Zombie and Vit 0 - 0%
 * Slow - 6%
 * Poison, Gradual Petrify, Blind, and Silence - 12%
 * Doom - 18%

In addition, the number of KO'ed allies factor into the Crisis Level of a character: 0 Ko'ed allies gives 0%, while 1 gives 8%, and 2 gives 16%. To easily get a character at Crisis Level 4 without having any statuses inflicted on them, simply have them cast Aura while being at 10% or less of their Max HP. While this is effective, in the end it is a very risky decision as the character can easily be KO'ed.

Each Limit Break a character uses depends on their Crisis Level. The following lists the differences in each character's Limit Break:

Squall Leonhart
Number of hits done during Renzokuken varies from 4 to 8 hits depending on Crisis Level.

Rinoa Heartilly
The Limit Break used with Combine varies depending on Rinoa's Crisis Level. If Rinoa has not yet learned an ability on the list, it will automatically go to the next highest ability on the list. To effectively used Invincible Moon 100% of the time, do not have Rinoa learn the first 3 abilities at all.


 * Crisis Level 1: Angelo Cannon
 * Crisis Level 2: Angelo Strike
 * Crisis Level 3: Invincible Moon
 * Crisis Level 4: Wishing Star

Zell Dincht
The amount of time Zell has in his Limit Break "Duel" varies on his Crisis Level:


 * Crisis Level 1: 4.66 seconds (Always starts with Punch Rush)
 * Crisis Level 2: 6.66 seconds (Always starts with Punch Rush)
 * Crisis Level 3: 9.33 seconds (Always starts with Booya)
 * Crisis Level 4: 12 seconds (Always starts with Booya)

Selphie Tilmitt
The higher the Crisis Level that Selphie is in, the more rare spells that can be used and the amount of spell castings will become 3 castings more often.

Irvine Kinneas
The higher the Crisis Level that Irvine is in, the more time Irvine has to fire off shots.

Quistis Trepe
Crisis Level is the biggest factor for Quistis' Limit Breaks, as several of the more powerful spells she has will only be potent if she is at Crisis Level 4. Below is the list of Blue Magic and their corresponding effects with Crisis Level:

It is also possible for Shockwave Pulsar to deal as much damage as Eden, if the conditions are set right.