Duel

Duel (デュエル) is Zell Dincht's Limit Break moveset in Final Fantasy VIII. To use the limit successfully, groups of button sequences appear on the screen and as many as possible must be input in the allotted time. The time given depends on the crisis level and varies between 4 and 12 seconds.

Zell has four finishing moves which can be input after a set combination of normal moves are used. Extra moves and finishers are learned by reading the Combat King magazines found in various places. Several of the moves are reminiscent of Tifa's Limit moves in Final Fantasy VII, such as Dolphin Blow, Punch Rush, Meteor Strike and her ultimate limit, Final Heaven. Executing a finishing move, however, will end the Duel prematurely, and are thus best saved as the final input command before the time expires.

Each attack, particularly the finishing moves, can deal heavy damage and are not stunted by elemental resistance as they are normal physical attacks. All moves register as one hit, and none can exceed the damage limit of 9,999, including finishers. Every hit has a chance to critical, but the target's Protect status halves the damage.

Time Limit
The amount of time Zell has in his Duel depends 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)

Finishing Move Prerequisites
In order for a finishing move to appear in the list of button sequences, one must first complete a series of normal moves. Below is a list of prerequisite moves needed for the finishing moves (shown in bold) to appear.


 * Punch Rush → Mach Kick → Punch Rush → Heel Drop → Burning Rave
 * Punch Rush → Mach Kick → Punch Rush → Meteor Strike → Burning Rave
 * Booya → Heel Drop → Meteor Strike → Booya → Burning Rave
 * Punch Rush → Dolphin Blow → Meteor Barret
 * Booya → Meteor Strike → Dolphin Blow → Mach Kick → Meteor Barret
 * Booya → Heel Drop → Mach Kick → Heel Drop → Booya → Punch Rush → Mach Kick → Meteor Barret
 * Punch Rush → Booya → Meteor Strike → Booya → Different Beat
 * Punch Rush → Booya → Heel Drop → Mach Kick → Heel Drop → Booya → Different Beat
 * Punch Rush → Booya → Heel Drop → Meteor Strike → My Final Heaven
 * Punch Rush → Booya → Heel Drop → Mach Kick → Punch Rush → My Final Heaven

Strategy
The most effective way to use Zell's Duel is to a technique dubbed by fans as Armageddon Fist. To perform this technique, the player must constantly input Zell's two weakest moves in rapid succession (Punch Rush <--> Booya or Booya <--> Heel Drop). It only takes fractions of seconds to input each command, and with the proper stats each move does around 5000 HP damage, critical hits reaching the 9,999 damage cap. With great concentration, the player should be able to input these commands at or around 0.10 seconds (on the game timer). With Duel lasting a minimum of four seconds and at maximum twelve seconds, the damage potential surpasses any other attack or combo in the game. If during a twelve-second round the player were to input every command at or around 0.10 seconds and Zell were to average a critical hit once every 5 attacks, under ideal conditions (Zell's Strength at 255 and the enemy's Defense at 0 from Vit 0) this strategy could yield roughly 719,976 points of damage, enough to instantly kill any enemy save for Omega Weapon in one round. With enough luck to land critical hits more frequently, even Omega Weapon can be killed instantly by this strategy.

Note that not only is this extremely hard to pull off, it is really dependent on Vit 0, making it less effective on normal encounters and early game. Punch Rush, Booya, and Heel Drop are weak and do less than half the damage of a Renzokuken hit and roughly 1/10 the damage of Renzokuken's Lion Heart finisher if damage cap isn't an issue. With most players and under most conditions, even with Vit 0 this will usually be weaker than Lion Heart but stronger than Renzokuken due to Lion Heart's randomness.