Cover (ability)

is a recurring ability in the Final Fantasy series. It allows a character to take physical damage in the place of an ally. It is usually associated with the Paladin or Knight classes.

Final Fantasy III
The Cover ability is available for the Knight class. The Knight will automatically take physical attacks for any allies in critical status.

Final Fantasy IV
Cover is used by Cecil Harvey as a command ability once he becomes a Paladin. He can use it to take damage in the place of an ally of his choice. He automatically covers any characters who are low on HP.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-
Cover returns in the sequel of Final Fantasy IV as Cecil's exclusive ability. It functions the same way as it did in the prequel.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Cover is an ability used only by Cecil in Final Fantasy IV: The After Years. Cecil will block physical attacks on allies. He will also automatically cover attacks on allies in critical status and he will not use Cover when he himself is in critical health.

Yang has a variation on the move called Cover-Counter. He will use Cover on one ally, and after taking a hit he will counter-attack the enemy.

Final Fantasy V
Cover is the Level 1 ability for the Knight class, learned for 10 ABP. It only covers characters who are low on HP. Cover can be useful when used together with the Guard command, which makes the Knight immune to physical damage.

Final Fantasy VI
Cover is enabled by equipping the Knight's Code relic, which allows characters to cover allies who are in Critical condition. The relic can first be found in the Returner Hideout. If multiple characters are equipped with a Knight's Code, all of them will attempt to block for an attacked ally, and one of them will be selected at random to take the damage.

There is also an enemy attack called Overture that forces an opponent to Cover for the caster when attacked physically.

Final Fantasy VII
The Cover Materia makes a character shield other allies from single-target physical attacks. For each level, Cover gets a boost of +20%, to a maximum of 100%, and will cover all physical attacks, including several items such as Elixir and Grenade. The character covers allies regardless of anyone's HP, unlike in previous installments. The Cover Materia stacks additively with no coded maximum. Overflow occurs at every 256%, reducing percentage back to 0.

The frog type enemies' physical attacks are not covered for if they are inflicting or toggling the Toad status. The character with the Cover Materia can't cover under status ailments that lose the control of the character such as Stop or Sleep or Berserk. Characters with Mini or Darkness also cannot cover. Enemy attacks that use visible projectile animations (attacks that merely cause hit graphics do not count) are also impossible to cover, such as flying sickle attacks. If more than one character has a Cover Materia, the covering character is chosen at random. Hits that trigger Cover will never miss.

Cover is found in the garden outside Aeris's house in Midgar. Cover can also be bought for 1,000 gil in Wall Market after the fall of Sector 7.

Final Fantasy VIII
Cover is taught by the Guardian Force Brothers for 100 AP. Damage is reduced by half when covering. The ability is unique in that the character equipped with Cover must be one space away from another character in order to use it. Cover also does not work for multi-target attacks. If a party member is attacked by a physical attack that would otherwise kill him/her, the character with Cover will take the damage instead.

Final Fantasy IX
Cover can be learned by Adelbert Steiner, Amarant Coral, and Freya Crescent. Zidane Tribal can learn the ability Protect Girls, which allows him to cover a female party member. Steiner and Freya can learn Cover through the Linen Cuirass, Gauntlets, and Mythril Armor (Steiner can learn it for 20 AP, while Freya learns it for 30 AP), while Amarant can learn it for 90 AP through the Red Hat. Zidane can learn Protect Girls for 35 AP through the Butterfly Sword and Leather Shirt.

Protect Girls is a weaker version of Cover, which activates when a female character is at 50% or less HP, while Cover activates when a character is at 80% or less HP.

Final Fantasy X
Guard is a special ability appearing in Auron's section of the standard Sphere Grid. When a character uses Guard s/he will intercept all physical attacks on the party, regardless of the health status of their allies. The ability remains in effect until the character's next turn.

The improved version, Sentinel, has a similar effect except the character will also take a defensive stance and damage from all attacks will be halved.

If Tidus uses Guard or Sentinel to shield another party member, the player earns affection points toward the person whom they guarded.

Final Fantasy XI
Cover is a Job ability available to Paladins upon reaching level 35. Cover in this game actually relies upon the character wishing to be covered to physically position themselves behind the Paladin for it to be effective. Cover does not negate damage, but allows the Paladin to take damage in place of the intended target for 15 seconds.

This is usually used when a particular party member has gained a great deal of unwanted enmity, though the use of this ability does not actually shift enmity. The effect of Cover can be increased if the Paladin is wearing certain pieces of equipment (IE: Gallant Coronet or Valor Surcoat) and Cover also enhances the effect of some equipment, such as the sword Save the Queen. Cover may be used once every three minutes.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Cover is used by Basch and allows him to take damage for his allies. He learns the ability at Level 45. If he has the Hero's Monograph support, damage will be greatly reduced when covering.

Final Fantasy XIV
Cover is an ability available to the Gladiator Discipline, which positions the Gladiator between the target and the enemy and redirects damage to the Gladiator.

As of Patch 1.21 it has been reworked into a Paladin ability with the same effect.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance
Cover is a Job ability available to Paladins. The Paladin chooses a unit within range to Cover. If that unit is attacked, the Paladin temporarily switches places with him or her. Any reaction abilities the Paladin has will trigger. The ability can be learned from the Save the Queen for 200 AP.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
Cover is a Job ability available to Paladins, learned for 300 AP from the Save the Queen. The Paladin chooses a unit within the range of four spaces to Cover. If that unit is attacked, the Paladin temporarily appears in front of him or her to take the attack (an improvement over the previous game that means even if the Paladin and the unit being covered are both targeted by the same attack, only the Paladin will be harmed).

Cover now works on any counter attacks that the covered unit may trigger, and negates any knockback that would be done by Critical Hits/skills. Neither character can activate their reaction abilities when the Paladin covers an attack.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
Cover is a level 10 research ability for the Warrior Job, which caps at level 100 for the ability. The higher the level of Cover, the more effective the ability is. The ability Defend is the initial ability for the Warrior Job, and has a chance of reducing physical damage by half. The ability's level caps at level 100, and the higher the level, the more effective it is.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
Cover is an ability learned by the Paladin and allows the Paladin to receive damage in place of a chosen ally.

Final Fantasy Legend III
Guard acts like Cover, it will guard a particular character for a turn and if that character is attacked. The character will take the attack or special attack and receive the damage.