Full ATB skill



Full ATB Skills, also known as Unparalleled Attacks, are attacks exclusive to Final Fantasy XIII and its sequel Final Fantasy XIII-2. Each member of the main party has a unique attack which requires the use of the whole ATB bar. These attacks all deal extreme damage or multiple strikes. In order to perform these moves, the player must manually select them during the battle, meaning the A.I.-controlled battle members will never use them and auto-battle will not select them.

All Full ATB Skills (besides Vanille's Death) also have a special effect against staggered enemies. Full ATB Skills ignore target's type-based defense, meaning even enemies that are immune to physical/magical damage can still be damaged by Full ATB Skills. This also means status effects like Deprotect and Deshell have no effect on the sustained damage.

If used against a staggered target, the target's stagger status can't end before the Full ATB Skill's animation has finished. Even if the enemy's stagger gauge completely depletes during the Full ATB Skill execution, its stagger status will not end until after the skill has been completed and during this time allies will also be able to continue dealing damage to the enemy. Even if the enemy has all of his HP depleted by the Full ATB Skill exection, it will still hang on with 1 HP, no matter how much damage it takes until the animation for the move is complete.

Full ATB Skills are disabled if the character is afflicted with Pain or Fog.

In Final Fantasy XIII, full ATB attacks are unlocked at Crystarium Stage 9, after the final boss of Chapter 11. When executed, a stream of golden watery effect will run along the top and bottom rims of the screen. A Full ATB Skill is technically not a "Limit Break" in the traditional sense of the term, but like a Limit Break, it deals massive damage and is a character-specific skill.

In Final Fantasy XIII-2, the two playable characters can learn their respective full ATB skills once they reach Stage 11 of their Crystaria, but they can be used only once per battle; unless the player will use an Elixir which restores characters' ability to use a full ATB skill again. The recruitable human monsters available through the downloadable content also have their full ATB skills in the form of Feral Links.

Army of One


Army of One is Lightning's Full ATB Skill. It is part of her Ravager Crystarium tree, and deals eleven hits of physical damage against a single opponent. The game calculates every hit separately, meaning if Lightning is equipping the Random: Instant Chain passive ability, it has eleven chances to trigger. This also means that if Lightning has the Attack: ATB Charge ability, her ATB gauge will get charged eleven times, giving an extra 1.1 ATB segments with the basic ability, or 2.2 segments with Attack: ATB Charge II. Army of One has a special effect when used against a staggered foe, in which the ability gains a boost in its ability to accumulate chain bonus and it can very quickly fill the enemy's gauge to 999.9%.

The attack manifests as several fast strikes from Lightning's gunblade, as well as heavy kicks. Interestingly, if this move is performed midair, it has the same appearance as a ground attack, meaning Lightning lands midair during the attack, and also pushes off the air for her back-flip kick.

Army of One is a physical attack that uses Lightning's strength stat to calculate damage. Army of One ignores physical resistance, but also ignores physical weaknesses; it will deal 100% damage whether it is resistant, normal, or weakness. Army of One can be affected by Commando bonus, Bravery/Bravera, and Debrave, but it is not affected by Deprotect, Protect on enemy, or enhanced element spells like Enfire.

A player is able to use a Paradigm Shift during the cutscene that Lightning uses her Full ATB Skill. If the player shifts to Commando role during the attack animation, Lightning will deal more damage but will still increase the chain bonus.

Army Of One reappears as the Feral Link ability for Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Sovereign Fist


Sovereign Fist is Snow's Full ATB Skill. It is part of his Commando tree, and deals one strong hit of physical damage and is an area attack, meaning it will hit nearby enemies as well. It is shown as Snow leaping into the air, and heaving his fist down into the enemy.

Sovereign Fist is a physical attack that uses the strength stat to calculate damage. Sovereign Fist ignores physical resistance, but also ignores physical weaknesses; it will deal 100% damage whether it is resistant, normal, or weakness. Sovereign Fist can be affected by Commando bonus, Adrenaline bonus, Bravery/Bravera, and Debrave, but it is not affected by Deprotect, Protect on enemy, or enhanced element spells like Enfire.

Sovereign Fist gains a special effect when used against a staggered opponent, when it will gain a massive boost in its damage multiplier. When executed, Sovereign Fist will reset the target's chain gauge to 100%. This means it also ends an opponent's stagger status instantly, meaning it is best used once the enemy is about to recover from stagger. This property can be used for strategic advantage in the battle against the Proudclad which Retaliatory Strike can be completely avoided if the player uses Sovereign Fist as soon as it staggers.

Cold Blood


Cold Blood is Sazh's Full ATB Skill. It is part of his Ravager Crystarium tree and deals seventeen hits to one enemy. Cold Blood is similar to Army of One in that it serves to raise the enemy's chain gauge, and each hit is calculated separately, meaning, if Sazh is equipped with it, Random: Instant Chain has seventeen chances to trigger. When used against a staggered opponent the skill's ability to amass chain bonus is boosted, making it a fast way to raise a staggered foe's chain to 999.9%.

Cold Blood is a physical attack that uses the Physical stat to calculate damage. Cold Blood ignores physical resistance, but also ignores physical weaknesses; it will deal 100% damage whether it is resistant, normal, or weakness. Cold Blood can be affected by Commando bonus, Adrenaline bonus, Bravery/Bravera, and Debrave, but it is not affected by Deprotect, Protect on enemy, or enhanced element spells like Enfire. The player is able to shift Paradigm during Cold Blood's attack animation to make Sazh a Commando to use the aforementioned bonuses.

Cold Blood reappears as the Feral Link ability for Sazh in Final Fantasy XIII-2.

Last Resort


Last Resort is Hope's Full ATB Skill. It is part of his Ravager tree and deals eight hits of magic damage to shuffled targets; Last Resort shuffles through the list of enemies dealing a single hit to each until all hits have been distributed. Appearance-wise, Last Resort is similar to Holy spell from previous Final Fantasy games, as it is shown as a ring of white beads flying into the air. However, since there is no Holy element in the game, Last Resort is considered non-elemental.

Last Resort is a magical attack that uses the Magic stat to calculate damage. Last Resort ignores magical resistance, but also ignores weaknesses; it will deal 100% damage whether the target is resistant, normal, or weak to the element in question. Last Resort can be affected by Commando bonus, Faith/Faithra, and Defaith, but is not affected by Deshell, Shell on enemy, or enhanced element spells like Enfire.

Last Resort gains a special effect when used against a staggered foe, when its ability to amass chain bonuses increases significantly, meaning it can be used to quickly bring an opponent's chain gauge to 999.9%. However, because Last Resort shuffles between targets, it is impossible to land all 8 attacks on the staggered foe unless there is only one opponent.

Death


Death is a classic Final Fantasy skill available to Vanille. It is part of her Saboteur skill tree, making it the only Full ATB Skill not to be found in the Commando or Ravager tree. It deals strong magic damage to one target and in addition attempts to instantly knock out the enemy, with a base success rate of 1%, but the base success rate increases by 1% for every negative status the target is afflicted with. Death does not gain extra benefits on staggered opponents.

Death can, however, gain benefits from enhanced element spells, unlike the other Full ATB Skills. As it does not clear the chain gauge, this makes it the special attack with the highest repeatable multiplier. Death is a magical attack and uses the Magic stat to calculate damage. Death ignores magical resistances and weaknesses. It can be affected by Commando bonus, Adrenaline bonus, Faith/Faithra, Defaith, and enhanced elemental spells like Enfire. It is unaffected by Deshell or Shell.

Despite widespread word-of-mouth to the contrary, Death is not classified as a debuffing spell and thus its chance to hit can't be boosted with the Belladonna or Malboro Wand. Unlike all other Saboteur skills, Death ignores chain bonus as a factor when calculating success rate. Buffs like Faith boost the damage the spell deals, but not the instant death chance. The only way to boost the success rate of Death is to have Vanille as level 5 Saboteur and have other high-level Saboteurs in the current Paradigm, and by inflicting the target with as many status effects as possible.

Because the damage is affected by Commando and Adrenaline bonuses, Death will deal more damage if the player is quick enough to shift to a Commando role before the damage numbers appear on screen.

Highwind


Highwind is Fang's Full ATB Skill. It is named after the recurring surname of the many Dragoon characters in the series. It is part of her Commando tree, and manifests as Fang leaping into the air and bringing her spear down into the enemy – similar to the Dragoon ability Jump – with an explosion damaging nearby enemies as she reaches the ground.

Highwind is a physical attack that uses the strength stat to calculate damage. Highwind ignores physical resistance, but also ignores physical weaknesses; it will deal 100% damage whether it is resistant, normal, or weakness. Highwind can be affected by Commando bonus, Adrenaline bonus, Bravery/Bravera, and Debrave, but it is not affected by Deprotect, Protect on enemy, or enhanced element spells like Enfire.

Highwind gains a bonus when used against a staggered opponent, where it will gain a massive increase in its damage multiplier. When executed, Highwind will reset the target's chain gauge to 100%, meaning it will also end a foe's stagger status immediately. The attack is therefore best used against an opponent that is about to recover from stagger. This property can be used for strategic advantage in the battle against the Proudclad whose Retaliatory Strike can be completely avoided if the player uses Highwind as soon as it staggers.

Strategies

 * Army of One, Cold Blood, and Last Resort are best used on a recently staggered foe, as they are the best moves in the game for boosting chain bonuses.
 * Death is best used against a strong enemy that is not immune to the spell. It is commonly used against Adamantoise, as they are a tough enemy, but killed relatively easily through the Death spell. The attack is also commonly used when battling against a Long Gui for a quick win, where Death can do up to 999,999 points of damage each hit, provided Vanille is buffed with the right enhancements, enemy is debuffed, the stagger bar is near 999.9%, Genji Glove is equipped (for the Break Damage Limit ability), and that the player switches to the Cerberus paradigm (COM/COM/COM) before Death hits.
 * Highwind and Sovereign Fist are best used against a foe about to recover from stagger, as it instantly clears the chain gauge. Using them against a staggered foe usually results in two hits of 99,999 (with Genji Glove accessory it can easily do up to three hits of over 200,000).
 * When an enemy is about to exit stagger, using a Full ATB Skill prevents the stagger gauge from emptying, allowing other allies to attack a little longer while the enemy is still staggered; the stagger will last until the attack animation's end.
 * In turn, if the player executes a lengthy Full ATB Skill, just as the enemy is about to exit stagger, and then switches to a paradigm like Cerberus at the start of the animation, the other two player can potentially hit 5-6 "Scourge" and "Smite" attacks each, dealing massive damage.

Final Fantasy XIII-2
In Final Fantasy XIII-2, Full ATB Skill usage has been changed to only allow one use per battle; the only exception is with the use of an Elixir, which restores the player's ability to use Full ATB Skills when consumed. When using Serah's and Noel's Full ATB Skills, neither the target or the caster can be knocked out during the animation. This can lead to a scenario where the player unleashes a Full ATB Skill on a near-death enemy that is just about to launch a strong attack on the player: if both parties kill each other during Full ATB Skill animation, the player will win the battle even if it was technically a double KO situation.

During the game's prologue Lightning uses skills that consume the entire ATB bar, but can be used repeatedly, namely, Ullr's Shield while Lightning is riding Odin, and War's Benediction when Lightning and Noel are fighting Caius on Bahamut. Both are curative abilities. Lightning can also be seen unleashing Army of One on Caius during a Cinematic Action sequence before she buries him in debris.

A number of Full ATB Skills appear as Feral Link abilities for recruitable monsters in downloadable battles and scenarios. For example, Lightning's Army of One is her Feral Link ability, Snow uses his Sovereign Fist during the battle and as his Feral Link ability and Sazh uses Cold Blood as his Feral Link once recruited upon completion of the "Heads or Tails" scenario. Other human Paradigm Pack Monsters also have access to attacks that seem to be their Full ATB Skills as Feral Links, e.g.: Jihl Nabaat and Amodar using Sadistic Surge and Iron Bear Claw against the party and as Feral Link attacks respectively.

An upgraded and more powerful version of Lightning's Army of One is used by Lightning during "Requiem of the Goddess" DLC scenario and as a Feral Link. Entitled Legion of One, the attack is almost identical to Army of One but heals the player when used during the scenario battles, and ends with an explosive stream of light rather than just a slash.

Ultima Arrow


Ultima Arrow is Serah's Full ATB Skill, and part of her Ravager Crystarium tree. It is obtained as a Crystarium Expansion ability later on in the game. It manifests as Serah firing an arrow into the air and it exploding into light as it returns to earth, consuming the area directly in front of its shooter.

Ultima Arrow is best used either just after the opponent has been staggered or soon after. As soon as Serah starts to execute the attack, the player should switch to a paradigm in which Serah is a Commando, such as Aggression or Cerberus. This can yield a mass amount of physical damage to the target, as well as greatly raising the Chain Gauge.

Meteor Javelin


Meteor Javelin is Noel's Full ATB Skill, and is part of his Commando Crystarium tree. Just like Ultima Arrow, it is obtained as a Crystarium Expansion late on in the game. It manifests as Noel leaping into the air and throwing four spears into the enemy. Similar to Highwind or Sovereign Fist from Final Fantasy XIII, the Chain Gauge is reset to 100% upon its usage.

Meteor Javelin is best used just before the enemy is exiting their stagger period, due to the fact the Chain Gauge is reset after using it. It is also the best time as the Chain Gauge will be at the highest amount it could be, delivering the greatest amount of damage to the enemy. It is also extends the period of time that other allies can use attacks such as Smite or Scourge which deal a lot of damage to enemies exiting Stagger, for the use of a Full ATB Skill freezes the depletion of the Chain Gauge.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Lightning's Full ATB Skill, Army of One, returns in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy as one of Lightning's abilities for her Ravager skillset. She would spin towards the opponent slashing, then perform a combo of sword attacks and gunshots that knocks the opponent away.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade
Serah uses her exclusive Ravager skill, Ultima Arrow, in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade. Lightning also uses Army of One and Noel uses Meteor Javelin.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
One of Lightning's cards can use Army of One. For the discard cost of another Lightning card and a Thunder CP, Lightning gains the abilities Haste and Pre-Emptive Strike for the rest of the turn.

One of Serah's cards can use Ultima Arrow. For the discard of a Serah card, Dulling Serah and paying 2 Ice CP, Ultima Arrow deals 8000 damage to all the opponent's Dulled Forwards.

Trivia

 * In Final Fantasy XIII, all of the male characters' Full ATB Skills are two-worded attacks; Snow's attack is "Sovereign Fist", Sazh's attack is "Cold Blood" and Hope's is "Last Resort". The female characters have either 1 word or 3 word attacks.
 * Furthermore, the two Pulsian characters of the game (Vanille and Fang) are the only ones who have 1 word Full ATB Skills ("Death" and "Highwind" respectively).
 * Fang is actually "seen" using a jump attack in a cutscene on the Palamecia at Chapter 9, bringing down a Garuda Interceptor. She also does use Highwind at the end of Chapter 13 when she attacks the party after deciding to turn into Ragnarok.
 * "Legion of One" can be considered an upgraded version of "Army of One". A "legion" is normally one of many military units that together constitute an army, meaning there are less people in a legion, than in an army. However, the word "legion" relates to Lightning's more mythical appearance in Final Fantasy XIII-2 as opposed to sci-fi setting of Final Fantasy XIII.
 * In Final Fantasy XIII-2, the distortion seems to have changed from being a stream across the top and bottom to only covering the top left and bottom right corners.
 * The distortion seen across the top and bottom of the screen when a Full ATB Skill is used, in Final Fantasy XIII, is also present in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy, when Lightning uses Army of One.
 * The Brain Blast quiz terminals at Academia 4XX AF refer to full ATB skills as "unparalleled attacks".