Souleater

Souleater, also known as Soul Eater, Darkness, Shadow Blade, Dark, Dark Wave, or Darkside , is an ability where a character sacrifices a small amount of HP to deliver a strong Dark-elemental attack, usually on all enemies. It is usually associated with the Dark Knight job.

Final Fantasy III
Souleater is a job command exclusive to the 3D version of the Dark Knight. It damages all enemies at the cost of 20% of the user's max HP. This is part of the reason (the other being their weaponry) that Dark Knights are good against enemies that multiply.

The damage formula for Souleater is as follows:
 * $$Damage Inflicted = Weapon Attack * 5 + JobLv * 10 + CurrentHP * 0.9$$

Final Fantasy IV
Darkness, also known as Dark or Dark Wave, is used by Dark Knight Cecil. Darkness has a Charge Time of 2. It deals non-elemental damage to all enemies by consuming his HP, but flan-type monsters are immune to it. If Cecil uses it too much he can KO himself when low on HP. This command was removed from the North American SNES version but during Cecil's encounter with his Dark Knight copy during his Paladin trial, the copy still uses this move. Unlike every other commands, Darkness is still present and usable in the Easy Type version.

In the 3D remake of Final Fantasy IV, Darkness is a completely different ability that empowers physical attacks at the cost of the user's HP.

The damage formula for Darkness in non-DS versions is as follows:
 * $$Damage = Attack Multiplier * Attack Power * 1/2$$
 * $$Damage = Damage + ((Damage * random(100,150)/100) % 256)$$
 * $$HP Loss = Current HP * 1/8$$

If the target is undead:
 * $$Damage = Damage * 1/4$$

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
Known as Darkness, it is an enemy ability used by the Dark Knight in the Final Tale, located in the Depths.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-
Zack can use Darkness by equipping the Darkness Materia. By sacrificing 12.5% of his HP, the player may damage all enemies within a radius around Zack, ignoring vitality. The ability costs no AP to use. The Darkness Materia is obtained as a reward for missions 4-4-2 and 8-4-6, and is dropped by Demon and Horned Devil, and stolen from Land Malboro.

Final Fantasy VIII
The Guardian Forces Diablos, Doomtrain, and Eden learn the Darkside command ability for 100 AP. It deals three times the damage of a normal attack, but the user will take damage equal to 1/10th of their max HP.

Final Fantasy IX
Steiner has Darkside as a Sword Art. It deals Shadow-elemental damage 1.4 times as strong as a normal attack in exchange for 12.5% of Steiner's max HP. Darkside will ignore Mini status if Steiner is afflicted, and also ignores the target's Protect status. It will inflict higher damage if Steiner is equipped with any equipment that increases Shadow damage.

Darkside requires no MP to use and is the only Sword Art at zero MP cost, making it a viable option should Steiner use up his MP with Sword Magic and Sword Art attacks. It is learned with the Blood Sword, which absorbs HP from the enemy making the combination of said sword and Darkside viable early in the game and in Ipsen's Castle.

The formula for Darkside is as follows:
 * $$Base = [(Atk Pwr * 14) / 10] - Target's Defence$$
 * $$Bonus = Str ... [(Lv + Str) / 8] + Str$$
 * $$Damage = Base * Bonus$$

Final Fantasy X-2
Available to Dark Knights as a job command called Darkness, the command takes at least 300 HP from the user to damage all enemies. Darkness is a non-elemental attack.

A glitch exists that if the user equips the Ragnarok accessory, or makes it so that spells cost 0 MP, Darkness will take no HP to use.

Final Fantasy XI
The Dark Knight job class can use Soul Eater. It adds 10% of the player's HP to their next physical attack, making multi-hit weapon skills and certain weapons very formidable when used with Souleater.

Final Fantasy XII
The Souleater Technick is purchasable for 35 LP on the License Board. It deals damage to opponents by damaging the user.


 * $$DMG = (1.4 * ATK * Random(1..1.125)-DEF) * (1 + STR * (Lv+STR)/256)$$

Souleater is 1.4 times more powerful than a regular physical attack. Because Souleater doesn't use the weapon's innate damage formula, but only considers the weapon's ATK stat, it is best to equip the highest-ATK weapon. Souleater heals the undead.

Souleater can be bought in Rabanastre and Nalbina Fortress for 6,400 gil. In the Zodiac job system version, the Technick is available for the White Mage, Red Mage, Knight, Monk, Mononofu, and Uhlan job classes, although the White Mage and Mononofu must obtain the Esper Adrammelech, and Monk must obtain the Esper Exodus license first.

In Final Fantasy XII International Zodiac Job System, Souleater is 1.7 times more powerful than a regular physical attack and heals undead enemies by 2.0 times.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings
Souleater is learned by Ba'Gamnan at level 24 and consumes 25% of his HP.

Final Fantasy XIV
Souleater is a level 38 Dark Knight weaponskill with a range of 3 yalms. It delivers an attack with a 100 potency normally, but combos with Syphon Strike to instead deal 260 potency damage. It can also combo with Dark Arts to deal 240 potency damage with a combo potency of 400, and under Grit, absorbs 50% of damage dealt as HP (increased to 100% with the Soul Devourer trait unlocked at 48). Dark Arts will fade upon use.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift
The Lanista class, exclusive to seeq, have Souleater as an ability. It consumes 10% of the user's max HP to inflict Dark-elemental damage. However, unless the target is weak to the Dark element, it is usually deals the same amount of damage as a normal attack.

Final Fantasy Type-0
Darkside is an attack usable by Machina Kunagiri. It deals damage to multiple targets, stunning them and draining HP.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles
Shadow Blade is the Focus attack of the sword Ragnarok. The user rushes towards the enemy delivering a powerful slash that releases a dark crimson burst of energy on impact, delivering heavy damage at the cost of half of one of the users Hearts.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King
Shadow Blade is a level 20 Sword Skill, which caps at level 100. It allows the user to deal additional damage at the cost of sacrificing HP, and can only be used once per day.

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light
Darkside is an ability in the Dark Fencer crown. The crown also learns enhanced variations of this skill. Dark Fencer's abilities can attack one or multiple enemies, but sacrifice HP in the process.

Bravely Default
Dark Bane is a Dark Arts ability learned by Dark Knights at job level 1. The character sacrifices 20% of their maximum HP to unleash a dark physical attack on one target that deal 125% the damage of a normal attack.

Final Fantasy Dimensions
Darkness is the default ability of the Dark Knight class. At the cost of 1 MP and 1/4 of the user's Max HP, the user will inflict heavy non-elemental damage to one target.

Dissidia Final Fantasy
Soul Eater is an HP attack available to Cecil and Bartz. When performed, Cecil or Bartz stabs forward with their sword, then slam an orb of dark energy into the opponent. Cecil's version of Soul Eater costs 40 CP to equip and 360 AP to master, while Bartz's Soul Eater costs 45 CP to equip and 180 AP to master.

Cecil's Bravery attack Dark Cannon resembles the Dark Wave attack from Final Fantasy IV, and has Cecil charge and fire a swarm of dark energy orbs forward that swirl back towards him, dragging opponents closer. The attack costs 20 CP to equip and 180 AP to master. If the player fails to input Cecil's EX Burst perfectly, he ends the burst with Darkness, which has a similar appearance to Dark Wave.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Soul Eater and Dark Cannon return as attacks for Cecil. However, Bartz can no longer use Soul Eater, instead gaining the Dark Flame ability from Cecil.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Dark comes in three levels of power, granting boosts to Strength but increasing the damage the party takes. Dark Lv1 increases Strength by 25 but increases taken damage by 10%, Dark Lv2 increase these figures to +45 Strength and 20% damage, and Dark Lv3 grants +75 Strength at a cost of 30% more damage. Cecil learns the three levels of Dark at Levels 25, 50 and 80, and Sephiroth begins knowing Dark Lv1 at Level 1, and learns Lv2 and then Lv3 at Level 25 and Level 55.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest
Souleater is the ability that is used by Dark Knight Cecil during battle.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game
Various Dark Knight cards have effects based on Souleater, increasing their power depending on the player's damage, or enabling them to damage all enemies while also damaging themselves.

A card featuring the female Dark Knight of Final Fantasy Tactics gains +1000 Power for each damage the player has taken, while a card featuring the male Dark Knight allows the player to choose one of their Forward when it is played, and it receives +1000 Power for each damage the player has taken, until the end of the turn.

A card featuring Cecil's Dissidia artwork inflicts 1000 damage to Cecil and to all the opponent's Forwards when he attacks. A card depicting Refia's Dark Knight artwork allows the player to deal 1000 damage to all the opponent's Forwards and 2000 damage to the Dark Knight for a cost of one Lightning CP.

Ingus's Dark Knight card allows the player to inflict 1000 damage to all the opponent's Forwards for a cost of two Ice CP.

Kingdom Hearts
The is  signature weapon. It is a black and red sword shaped like a demonic wing with a bright blue eye near the base of the blade. Similar to Cecil, Riku is consumed in darkness in the first game of the series, but comes to gain control over the darkness and wields it to his advantage to fight for the forces of light in subsequent games.

The Soul Eater can also shift form into Riku's Keyblade, the, which retains the base appearance of the Soul Eater with the addition of an angelic white wing at the tip for the Keyblade's teeth and two other wings wrapped around the handle as a guard, symbolizing his dual nature.

A version of the technique itself also appears in ' and ', where it is called "".