Elemental Affinity

Elemental Bonus is a trait present in some pieces of equipment in Final Fantasy XII. When a character equips a weapon or armor that has an element bonus, all damage, both physical and magickal, associated with the element, is boosted by 50%. Elemental bonus is independent of the weapon's own element, in that the bonus usually exists on its own and elemental weapons usually don't have an elemental bonus. For example, none of the staves that have the elemental bonus trait have an element in the weapon -- the user benefits from the bonus by casting magick of the element the weapon gives a bonus for, but there is no bonus for physically attacking with said weapon as the damage with physical attacks is non-elemental. All ninja swords have the element of Dark, but none have an elemental bonus on the Dark element. In order to apply the elemental bonus to ninja swords, the character must wear the Black Robe armor, which gives a +50% boost to Dark elemental damage, making all attacks dealt with ninja swords +50% the normal damage.

Holy Rod is the only weapon that is both elemental and has an elemental bonus; its Holy element is strengthened by its Holy bonus, so all physical attacks will be 50% more powerful, compensating for the weapon's fairly low attack power. The effect is even greater against enemies that are weak against Holy, as they will take double damage from Holy, plus the +50% bonus. Potentially the greatest damage increase is dealt with the Flame Staff or Burning Bow against an oiled opponent, as oiled targets take triple the normal damage from Fire-elemental attacks. Elemental bonuses do not stack, so there is no benefit in equipping two pieces of equipment that give a bonus to the same element simultaneously.