Final Fantasy VII statuses

The following is a list of status effects found in Final Fantasy VII.

Certain enemies absorb status attacks, similar to how elemental attacks can be absorbed. For example, Dragon Zombie, Ghost, Ghost Ship and Zenene will absorb the Death status, gaining full recovery from being hit by it. Some enemies are weak to certain statuses and take double damage from any attack that attempts to inflict that status.

Death
The player can add the instant death element to a character's physical attacks by linking Destruct Materia or Odin Materia with status effect Materia in the character's weapon. Equipping the pair in the character's armor will make him/her immune to instant death, instead.

Enemies can also be killed by a single hit if the player performs the Overflow glitch with Vincent's or Barret's ultimate weapons.

It is possible to have a party of three Dead characters if the party is assembled as such outside of battle by killing the party leader's allies during a battle, using the PHS to swap them with two alive characters, starting another battle to kill off the party leader, and using PHS to get the two KO'd characters back into the party. If the player enters any battle with three KO'd party members they get an instant Game Over.

If Sneak Attack is used to revive fallen party members their ATB bars will never fill up.

If the player triggers a damage overflow glitch and the attacker has HP Absorb linked to an ability that does the overflow, the attacker instant dies when the HP Absorb Materia tries to restore the HP to the user from the overflown attack.

Near-death
Near-death is listed in the manual as both ANEMIC and CRITICAL. The party members' HP digits in the battle menu turn yellow when they hit critical health at below 25% max health, and the characters appear exhausted on the screen.

The sword Ultima Weapon and the megaphone HP Shout are weaker when their wielders are in Near-death, the Ultimate Weapon turning blue.

Tifa's Master Fist and Powersoul weapons double in attack power when she is in critical health.

The final bosses use several attacks that reduce the party's health to critical.

Sleep
Sleep is caused by the spell Sleepel and by certain enemy attacks. Sleeping units cannot act until awoken. They are vulnerable to magic damage as magic damage doesn't wake them, but being hit by a physical attack removes the status.

Poison
Poison periodically inflicts Poison-elemental physical damage upon the afflicted unit and does not remain after battle. It can be cured using an Antidote and Remedy items, Poisona and Esuna spells and White Wind and Angel Whisper Enemy Skills, as well as Aeris's status healing Limit Breaks.

Poison can be avoided by using the Resist spell which is the third spell of the Heal Materia, as well as the accessories Ribbon, Poison Ring, Star Pendant and Fairy Ring, and linking Poison+Added Effect or Hades+Added Effect in a character's armor.

Afflicted target takes 1/32 of Max HP of physical Poison-elemental damage every 2.5 units of time ignoring Defense and Barrier statuses. The status last till the end of battle or until cured. The damage from the Poison status functions as if it is the player doing damage to themselves. Therefore, when in both the Poison status and the All Lucky 7s status the Poison will deal 7777 damage. As the requirement of being in the All Lucky 7s status is to have 7777 health, the player will have both these statuses removed, and be inflicted with the Death status. If the poisoned character is trying to Defend the defensive stance is canceled out whenever the character takes damage.

Because the Poison status deals Poison-elemental damage, the player can absorb it if they make the character absorbent to Poison, such as with the Poison Materia linked with a mastered Elemental Materia. If the character is immune to the Poison element (take no damage from it), they are also immune to the Poison status.

Sadness
Sadness makes the affected character take 30% less damage from physical and magical attacks, but also halves the rate the Limit gauge fills. The effect can be positive or negative, depending on the party's situation. Sadness is the opposite of Fury. When a character is under Sadness status, their Limit bar is displayed in blue, rather than the normal pink.

This status is healed by Hyper, Remedy, Esuna, White Wind, and Aeris's Breath of the Earth Limit Break. It can be created by using a Tranquilizer, or through an enemy attack. Hypers and Tranquilizers can be bought in shops.

Fury
Fury reduces the character's hit rate for both physical and magical attacks by 3/10, but also doubles the rate at which the Limit gauge fills; so it can be a positive or negative status effect, depending upon the situation.

There is an opposing status effect, called Sadness, which decreases physical damage taken, but also decreases the rate at which the Limit gauge fills. The effect is nullified by the item Tranquilizer, and can be created with the opposite item, Hyper. Both can be bought in shops.

Fury affects Hit% in the following formula:
 * $$New Hit\% = \frac{7}{10}Old Hit\%$$

Fury status can also affect enemies, but this is difficult since Hypers cannot normally be given to enemies, and there are no attacks in the player's possession that can inflict the status. If a character chooses to use a Hyper, but is then immediately Confused, they will use the Hyper on the enemy party instead. If enemies are afflicted by Fury their Hit% is negatively affected, making the Fury status the only way to do this as the Darkness status is broken in that it doesn't actually hamper enemies' hit chance, only the player party's.

Confusion
The afflicted player character loses control and will randomly attack allies, but will always carry out the last command the player input; however, if possible, it will always be against the player party. Confused enemies will continue to use their AI script, but with the definition of allies and enemies reversed.

Silence
Silence disables Magic, W-Magic, Summon and W-Summon commands.

Haste
Haste increases the target's speed making their ATB gauge fill out twice as fast as normal. As a downside all timed effects like Barrier and Slow-numb run out double the pace. If a target is immune to Haste, the target will also be immune to Slow.

As well as the spell, Red XIII's Limit Break, Lunatic High, grants Haste. The Enemy Skill Big Guard also grants Haste to the party, with the added benefits of Barrier and MBarrier. The item Speed Drink casts Haste and the accessory Sprint Shoes also grants Auto Haste. The effect can be removed by DeSpell.

Slow
Slow makes a target's ATB gauge fill out half the normal speed, but the pace of all timed effects, such as Barrier and Slow-numb is halved as well. Linking Added Effect with Time in a character's armor makes the character immune to Slow (but, curiously, also immune to Haste). The effect can be removed with DeSpell, White Wind and Angel Whisper.

Stop
Stop halts the time counter for the afflicted target, preventing their ATB gauge from filling, but also halting time based effects such as Barrier or Regen. Linking Added Effect Materia with Contain, Time or Choco/Mog makes the character immune to the effect. It can be cured by DeSpell, White Wind, Angel Whisper or Aeris's status healing Limit Breaks.

Frog
In addition to the spell found on the Transform Materia, an enemy skill called Frog Song causes the status along with Sleep. The Frog status prevents all commands except Attack, Item (including W-Item), and the spell Frog if the player has it equipped. Frogs can't use Limit Breaks.

It also decreases the unit's attack power by 1/4th of their base damage and, unlike most other status effects in the game, does not disappear when a character is KO'd. Linking Added Effect with either Transform or Hades makes the character immune to Frog.

Small
A unit afflicted with the Small status will have their Attack Power reduced to 1, therefore never doing more than 1 damage with physical attacks. Unlike most other statuses, Small is not removed of a character is KO'd. The enemy Hungry can eat a character in Small status.

Slow-numb
Called Slow-numb, characters with this condition are petrified after 60 seconds.

Petrify
The Petrify status flags the target as defeated and is thus similar to the Death status. When petrified, targets can't change in any way at all, not gain or lose HP or MP, and not be applied with any other status effect. The Contain Materia has the effect, and the player can either add the effect to physical attacks or prevent against it by pairing it with the Added Effect Materia.

Regen
A unit under Regen will gain HP continually while they glow orange until the status wears off. Unlike most games with Regen status, which restore 1/32 of a character's max HP every 4 seconds, Regen in Final Fantasy VII causes HP to continuously rise until the effect wears off. This negates weaker enemy attacks, as the unit will regenerate too fast for the damage to register. If a target has Regen and not enough HP to survive an attack the time an enemy's attack is cast, but gains some HP from Regen during the cast animation, they will still die when the animation is finished, resulting in a KO with HP still remaining.

Regen runs during a spell's "charge up" animation, as well as throughout Limit Break animations. Regen running even when the rest of the action is halted can be exploited through opening the game console's disc tray during battle.

The player can only cast Regen through the Regen ability.

The effect of Regen, like Poison, is not attached to any element. The Regen status is unrelated to the Restorative element and will still heal undead enemies.

Barrier
Barrier halves physical damage taken and can be gained by using the Barrier Materia or using the Wall spell or the Protect Ring accessory. The item Light Curtain can be used to grant protect to all allies. The Enemy Skill Big Guard casts Barrier along with MBarrier and Haste.

Barrier's duration is indicated by a depleting gauge in the player's battle menu. The effect runs faster under Haste, and is slowed down by Slow and halted by Stop. When an affected unit is attacked with a physical attack a transparent shield appears to block it, getting smaller as the effect runs out.

MBarrier
The spells MBarrier, Big Guard, and Wall grant MBarrier status to a party member, while the Protect Ring grants MBarrier at the start of the battle. MBarrier halves magical damage taken and its duration is indicated by a depleting gauge in the player's battle menu. MBarrier depletes faster with Haste and slower with Slow and is halted entirely by Stop.

Reflect
The accessory Reflect Ring, the spell Reflect, the item Mirror, and the enemy ability Materia-jammer all cast Reflect to either one unit or the whole party. Reflect bounces magic back to the caster for up to four times.

Reflect is different in Final Fantasy VII as opposed to other games in the series, as a spell bounced off Reflect will continuously bounce back and forth between the targets if they both have Reflect up, until a target's Reflect status runs out after four hits. With Auto-Reflect (Reflect Ring and the enemy Mirage) the spell is bounced only once. The spell is reflected either back to the caster, or to a random member of the opposing party if an ally reflects a spell off an ally. The effect can be removed by DeBarrier or DeSpell.

There are many spells that cannot be reflected; summons and spells cast from items cannot be reflected.

The following spells cannot be reflected:
 * Demi
 * Demi2
 * Demi3
 * Reflect
 * DeBarrier
 * DeSpell
 * Escape
 * Remove
 * Comet
 * Comet 2
 * Ultima
 * Shield
 * Renew
 * White Wind
 * Big Guard
 * Angel Whisper
 * Dragon Force
 * Death Force
 * Bad Breath
 * Death Sentence
 * L5 Death
 * ????
 * Chocobuckle
 * Magic Breath
 * Goblin Punch
 * Trine
 * Beta

Dual
Dual is a dummied status effect that does nothing. It does not visually change the player model and lasts until the end of battle. As with most other statuses, the only things that protect a player from it are Peerless, Petrify, and Resist.

There is nothing that may suggest what the status was originally meant for left in the data.

Shield
Shield is a positive status effect given by the spell of the same name. When under its effect, the target voids all normal attacks and absorbs all elemental damage, though they can still be damaged by items (not when used in W-Item) and non-elemental special attacks. Shield status can be removed by DeBarrier and DeSpell.

Death-sentence
Death-sentence is applied through the Enemy Skill Death Sentence, which sets the timer to 60 seconds (30 if the target is in Haste). The accessory Curse Ring also applies Death-sentence to the character equipped with it, and will not reset if they are KO'd and then revived.

Manipulate
The Manipulate status is induced through the Manip command. It cannot be applied on allies and one character can control only one enemy at a time. Units under this status turn cyan and face the opposite way, the same way the players are facing. The status lasts for the duration of the battle unless removed by being attacked with a physical attack or via White Wind. Units in the Petrify, Resist, Sleep, Stop, or Paralyzed statuses cannot be manipulated. Petrify, Sleep, Stop, and Paralyzed also cancel out the Manipulate status.

Manipulate is the lowest status on the color priority chart meaning that if an enemy has another color-affecting status, it will not be cyan but the other color. If they have more than one other color-affecting status, the one with the higher priority will show on top. It has the lowest priority due to it being more obvious to the player besides the color due to other visual differences. Also, in this status, it is more useful to know what other statuses the unit has contracted.

Some enemies need to be manipulated to learn the Enemy Skills Big Guard, White Wind, Death Force, Angel Whisper, and Dragon Force.

The SOLDIER:2nd enemy is susceptible to the status. If there is more than one left in battle, and the manipulated unit is requested to attack another unit of the same kind, the second unit will retaliate, relinquishing the status, but triggering the first unit to attack the second. This will continue until either one dies, or the player attacks them.

The Manipulate status can be used to have full control during a battle situation. It is commonly used so players can damage themselves so their last two digits of a character's HP are 77. Doing this, they can restore themselves with a number of Potions to initiate the All Lucky 7s status.

Berserk
Berserk increases the unit's physical attack damage by x1.5 at the cost of losing control, only physically attacking a random enemy at every chance they get.

An amusing glitch results with some enemies that are not immune to Berserk but do not have a specified attack to use when Berserked. When this happens, the game falls back on having them use a spell that costs more MP than they will ever have, and thus continually will give the message "[Enemy]'s skill power is used up". Pairing the Mystify Materia with Added Effect lets the player add the status to a character's physical attacks, or defend against the status, depending whether the combination is set in a character's weapon or armor.

Peerless
Peerless makes characters immune to all physical and magical attacks for a short time, and effectively works as a Resist status regarding status attributes, locking any previous statuses in and preventing the application of new ones. The status also gives immunity against MP remove attacks.

The target glows in a yellow hue. The effect can only be used from Aeris's Limit Breaks, Planet Protector or Great Gospel.

Paralyzed
When a unit is paralyzed they freeze on the spot and can't act. Paralysis lasts a shorter while than Stop and, unlike in Stop, the characters' Limit Break gauges don't fill when they are attacked while paralyzed.

Darkness
Darkness is mainly usable by enemies. The player only has access to the status through the Ink item. Darkness is of little tactical use to players, as most enemies do not suffer from the status. Darkness halves the physical accuracy of weapon-based attacks, but due to poor programming the status only affects the commands Attack, Morph, Deathblow, Mug, Slash-All, Flash, 2x Cut, and 4x Cut. Because enemies do not use the above commands they are unaffected by it, making inflicting opponents with the status pointless.

Seizure
Seizure can only be inflicted by Bottomswell's Waterball attack, which places Seizure and Imprisoned statuses on a character (despite the status screen saying it places Death and Imprisoned). The victim can be cured by defeating the Waterball by casting magic on it.

Death Force
Death Force can be cast using the Enemy Skill Materia, and although the Adamantaimai possess the skill, it never uses it in battle, meaning only the player can ever use it.

Death Force protects against all forms of Instant Death with the exception of Cait Sith's Death Joker. If Death-sentence is cast upon a character with Death Force up, although the timer will continue to count down, once it is finished, the character will not die.

Death Force is removable with DeSpell or White Wind.

Resist
Resist is granted by the spell Resist from the Heal Materia and by the Vaccine item. It locks in status effects for the target, both making them immune to all status effects including Instant Death, and locking any current status effects the character has on them, positive or negative. It does not protect against statuses granted as handicaps on the Battle Square, meaning that when applied it is more detrimental than it is helpful as the player cannot then remove the negative status effects applied.

Lucky Girl
Cait Sith's Limit Break Lucky Girl allows all party members to deal critical hits every time they attack, whether it be a regular physical attack, a command attack such as Slash-All, or a Limit Break. The Lucky Girl is a possible combination in Cait Sith's Level 2 Limit Break, Slots, and is executed by lining up three heart symbols.

Imprisoned
There are only three instances of this status being inflicted, each being boss battles. The player's party lacks access to means of inflicting enemies with this status (aside from possibly hacking the game).

Imprisoned immobilizes the afflicted target and flags it as defeated (although they retain their current HP). Thus a Game Over is triggered if all party members become Imprisoned. When inflicted, an entrapment (which is technically an enemy) is spawned in place of the affected party member. To remove this state, one must attack said entrapment until it is defeated.

When Turks:Reno adds this effect, Pyramid is spawned as the entrapment. Characters imprisoned by the Pyramid are flagged as non-targets, meaning attacks and curative magic or items have no effect on them until they are freed.

When Bottomswell adds this effect, Waterpolo is spawned as the entrapment and constantly drains the HP of those affected. (See Seizure.)

When fighting Carry Armor, its Right Arm or Left Arm attachment may imprison one or two party members. When the boss performs its spinning arms attack, imprisoned characters take damage.

Back Row
Back Row halves the damage taken by party members but also halves the damage dealt. It affects all normal attack commands; the Attack, Morph, Deathblow, Mug, Slash-All, Flash, 2x Cut, and 4x Cut. This damage reduction can be bypassed using the Long Range Materia, as well as several long ranged weapons (which can be wielded by Barret, Red XIII, Yuffie and Vincent). While enemies have defined rows, they do not have a set back row like characters do.

Defend
Defend halves all damage taken until their next turn begins, and is usable by any character via the Defend command.

All Lucky 7s
A status effect that appears most as an Easter Egg, All Lucky 7s triggers when a unit's HP falls on 7,777. Once the status effect is achieved, an "All Lucky 7s!" battle message will display, and every move the unit performs results in either 7,777 damage or 7,777 heal. Player characters become uncontrollable and attack enemies repeatedly for a total of 489,951 damage and following this, the their damage/heal will always be 7,777. Enemies will continue by their normal AI but every attack deals 7,777 damage.

All Lucky 7s lasts for the duration of the battle, as once ended, the characters' HP becomes 1.