Critical Hit

A Critical Hit, also known as a Critical Strike, or simply a Critical, is the term given to a physical attack that is somewhat stronger than the normal version of the attack. Critical hits have a chance of occurring when the Attack command is used. They commonly take off double the normal damage the attack would, but can't break the damage limit. Depending on the game, Critical Hits either play a different sound effect, the screen flashes, or the word "Critical" appears when it does occur. The chance of a critical is usually related to the Luck stat.

Some equipment or support abilities may increase the hit rate. Some command abilities also always hit with a critical hit, albeit sacrificing the accuracy of the strike.

Final Fantasy VI
Standard attacks have a 1 in 32 chance of being a critical hit. If the attack is a critical hit damage is doubled.

Final Fantasy VII
Nearly all physical attacks have a chance of being a critical hit, which means they take off double the normal damage. The chance of a critical hit is determined by the user's Luck and Level, and the enemy's level. The math to work out the chance of scoring a critical can be worked out in three steps. The first step involves the user's luck added onto the user's level, with the target's level being subtracted from the total, and having the new total divided by four. The result is then truncated to reach a whole number.
 * $$Critical = [(User's Luck + User's Level - Target's Level) / 4]$$

When determining a playable character's chance of landing a critical hit, the weapon's own critical percentage is added to the result to reach the total. In most instances, the weapon's critical percentage is zero, and no weapons make any considerable difference to the percentage.

The second step is to find a random outcome. The math for this is as follows:
 * $$Random = [Rnd(0..65535) * 99 / 65535] + 1$$

The third step decides whether it is a critical or not. If the result for Random is less than or equal to the result for Critical%, then the user will score a critical hit.

So as an example, if a user has a luck of 46, a level of 50, against an enemy with a level of 32, with a weapon critical% of 0. And a random number of 23432.


 * $$Critical = [(46 + 50 - 32)/4)] = 16$$
 * $$Random = [23432 * 99 / 65535] + 1 = 36$$
 * $$36 > 16$$

The result would not be a critical hit as 36 is more than 16.

There are 26 weapons that effect the Critical%. Tifa's Kaiser Knuckle is the only weapon to add just one. A number of Tifa's weapons, in fact her first weight, being the Leather Glove, the Metal Knuckle, the Mythril Claw, the Grand Glove, the Tiger Fang, the Diamond Knuckle, the Dragon Claw, and the Crystal Glove all add two. Her second best weapon, the God's Hand also does the same, as does Aeris's Striking Staff, Yuffie's Spiral Shuriken and Magic Shuriken, and Cait Sith's Battle Trumpet. Barret's Drill Arm and Pile Banger are the only two to add three. Cloud's Nail Bat, Barret's Rocket Punch, Tifa's Work Glove, Yuffie's Superball, Cait Sith's Trumpet Shell, and Vincent's Silver Rifle add four. Aeris's Umbrella, Red XIII's Hairpin, and Cid's Mop all add five.

Sephiroth's blade, the Masamune, always scores critical hits for the short amount of time he appears in battle. When using a hack, the same result will occur when the player uses Sephiroth with his Masamune.

There are other ways to score critical hits. Through the D.blow command, a player can score a definite critical Attack, only if it hits, which is three times less likely than a normal attack. Another method of definitely scoring a critical is through the Lucky Girl status, only inflicted by one of Cait Sith's Slots limit. The Lucky Girl status means every time the player strikes they will get a critical hit regardless of math.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
There is a one-in-sixty-four chance of a critical hit occurring under normal circumstances, however this rate can be increased - attacking a staggering opponent and attacking whilst in EX Mode increases the occurrence rate to fifty percent, and whilst recovering bravery after an HP attack and during an EX Burst, attacks will always score a critical hit. Activating certain Extra Support abilities will also increase the critical hit occurrence rate when certain conditions are met. Some Battle Pieces allow the player to earn Destiny Points by scoring a critical hit within a time limit.