Carbuncle (Final Fantasy VIII)

Carbuncle is a support Guardian Force in Final Fantasy VIII that bestows the party with Reflect. It is the first supportive Guardian Force the player can obtain, and the second GF obtained by drawing from a boss.

Its ability pool reflects its supportive role in battle. It learns HP, Vitality and Magic junctions, as well as status attack and defense junctions. It learns HP and Vitality boosting support abilities and Ability x3 that lets the junctioner equip three support abilities at once. Carbuncle is the first GF to learn Counter, which has the junctioner immediately use the Attack command on the enemy that hits them physically, and Auto-Reflect, that bestows a permanent Reflect status. Its unique ability is Recov Med-RF that lets the player refine recovery items from other items.

Profile
Carbuncle is a small pale green creature with a large red gem on its forehead from which its name derives from. It has tall blue-tipped ears, a small face, big bushy tail, rabbit-like hind legs and and tiny paws. It stands upright and has a large tuft of fur on the top of its head.

Obtained
Carbuncle is drawn from the Iguions when Squall and Irvine fight them during the Deling City parade. If missed, it can still be drawn from Krysta in the final dungeon. If missed on both occasions, it cannot be obtained in that playthrough. Obtaining Carbuncle in the Steam version earns the player the achievement Carbuncle.

Battle
In its summoning animation, Carbuncle appears from a hole in the ground, jumps up and casts Ruby Light on the party, granting them the Reflect status before returning into the hole. Because Carbuncle is not a damage-dealing GF it cannot be boosted, and while it can learn SumMag+% abilities from items, they will have no effect.

Compatibility
The charge time for summoning depends on the compatibility between the character and the GF and the Battle Speed. The greater the compatibility, the less time it takes to summon. Compatibility can be boosted with compatibility boosting items, by casting magic that is the same element as the Guardian Force (or status buffs and curative magic and Holy in Carbuncle's case) and by summoning the GF during battle. Compatibility is reduced by using "opposing" magic to the GF's element and other summons.

The below values are the base compatibility values with all playable characters at the start of the game. Although Seifer cannot junction Carbuncle in a normal playthrough, a default value still exists for his compatibility.

Stats
The following table represents the base stats:

Abilities
Abilities learned naturally by Carbuncle are listed below:

Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008) and Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Carbuncle is a summon that casts Ruby Light to equal the opponent's Bravery with the summoner's. When summoned manually, the artwork of its Final Fantasy VIII appearance appears. Carbuncle's manual version is obtained in the Destiny Odyssey IV's second stage.

Carbuncle returns as a summon in Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy with the same function. Its manual version can be purchased from certain Moogle Shops for 50 KP.

Trivia

 * Carbuncle is immediately useful, as in the next boss battle after obtaining it casting Reflect on the party makes the boss waste turns by using Dispel.