Saboteur (Final Fantasy XIII)

Saboteur is a paradigm role in Final Fantasy XIII whose main function is to enfeeble enemies while slowing down their chain gauges. The role is similar to a Green Mage. The role is symbolized with the initials SAB and the color gray.

Profile
Being in Saboteur role boosts the character's chances of inflicting the target with status ailments, and the boost is greater depending on the role level and how many Saboteurs are in the current formation. Role level also affects duration of debuffs on targets. The duration is variable, but is longer for higher role levels. Saboteur is a primary role for Vanille and Fang, and a secondary role for Lightning, Snow, Sazh and Hope.

The achievement Saboteur's Seal is earned after learning all the abilities and reaching level 5 for the Saboteur role of a single character. This can only be achieved after defeating the final boss to unlock Stage 10 of the Crystarium.

Role Level
The Saboteur's role bonus is to increase the success rate of all status afflictions that target enemies. This bonus applies to the status effect's base rate by multiplying the bonus factor by the base rate. If there is more than one Saboteur in the paradigm, the bonus factor is the sum of all applicable Saboteur role bonuses. The role bonus is not contributed if the party member is incapacitated, and during summoning an Eidolon, only the party leader's role bonuses count.

Status Effect Infliction and Duration
The chance to inflict a target with a status effect is:
 * (Base chance %) * (alteration due to target's resistance) * Chain Bonus

The alteration due to resistance is equal to [(100 - Enemy Res) / 100]; if the enemy has 10 resistance against the status effect the alteration is equal to 0.90. The chain bonus is taken as a percent value, so 100% gives a multiplier of 1 while 255% gives a multiplier of 2.55. Vanille's Full ATB Skill Death ignores the chain bonus factor.

Status effect duration is calculated by the following formula:
 * Base Length * Chain Bonus + (MA of the caster / 100)

Damage calculation
Damage is calculated with:
 * MA * Mod * * Chain Bonus *  *  *  *  *  *

In the case of Full ATB Skill Death, if the user is under the effect of an En-spell, a multiplier based on the following table will be added:

If the target is afflicted by Deshell, its magical resistance is lowered by 89%.

AI Mechanics

 * When choosing a target, Saboteurs choose targets that have the least number of status ailments inflicted upon them.
 * Saboteurs only attack when their ATB gauge is completely charged.
 * When inflicting a certain status ailment, Saboteurs cast the area-of-effect spells if there are at least three enemies not inflicted by the desired status effect, and single-target spells if there are two enemies or fewer.
 * If an enemy's notes section in the bestiary flag up a status ailment it is susceptible to, the Saboteur will cast the same spell multiple times in the queue.
 * When all status ailments flagged on the enemy's notes are inflicted (if any at all), the Saboteur will attempt to remove status enhancements from foes with Dispel. The step is ignored if the enemies do not have any status enhancements, the enemies are known to be immune to the effects of Dispel, or the Saboteur has not learned Dispel.
 * Finally, the Saboteur will mix up various spells in the same queue on opponents. Saboteurs will not choose status spells they know the target is immune to.
 * In general, Saboteurs use debilitating spells (such as Deprotect, Poison and Imperil) if there are only a few enemies to fight, and hampering spells (such as Pain, Daze and Slow) if faced by many opponents.
 * Once all possible status ailments the Saboteur can inflict and the opponents are not immune to are inflicted on the opponents, the Saboteur will take no further action until the status effects expire.
 * If Vanille is controlled by the computer as a Saboteur, she will never cast Death.

Other Languages

 * Japanese: Jammer
 * Spanish: Obstructor - Obstructor
 * Italian: Sabotatore - Saboteur
 * French: Saboteur - Saboteur
 * German: Manipulator - Manipulator
 * Chinese: 阻礙者, Zuaizhe - Obstructor

The paradigm role "Jammer" is probably derived from the pilot class "Jammer" of Front Mission 5. Both share the similar role in the battle.

is the Japanese term for obstacle and interference.

Trivia

 * Originally there were only five roles in Final Fantasy XIII, but Saboteur was later added as the designers felt its abilities were missing from the game and did not fit with the other roles.
 * Saboteur's abilities fill stagger gauge faster than Commando and slower than Ravager. A Saboteur can add to the chain gauge twice: whenever a spell hits the enemy it builds chain, but if the spell inflicts a status on the target as well, additional chain is gained.
 * In an early trailer for the English version of the game, characters were seen with the initials "TAC" in gray as their paradigm role. It can be assumed that the Saboteur role was originally referred to as "Tactician".
 * Excluding Death, Sazh and Hope can learn all the Saboteur spells. However, Sazh only learns the single-target versions and Hope only learns the multiple-target versions.