Acid (Final Fantasy VIII)

Acid
(溶解液, Yōkaieki?, lit. Solvent)
Availability
Obtained	Mystery Fluid
Character(s)	Quistis
Classification
Type	Limit Break
Skillset	Blue Magic
Effect	Magic damage and a status effect/status effects to one target
Status	Poison, Darkness, Silence, Vit 0, Petrify, depending on Crisis Level
Specifications
Power	30–52 depending on Crisis Level
Related pages
Recurring appearance	Acid

Acid is a Limit Break for Quistis in Final Fantasy VIII that deals magic damage to an enemy depending on her Magic stat and the current Crisis Level, a hidden stat in the game. It also inflicts the susceptible target with ailments, and higher the Crisis Level, the more ailments it can inflict. It is a potentially early Limit Break learned from a Mystery Fluid. Limit Breaks are randomly available when Quistis is on low health or under Aura. The main use of the Limit Break is to inflict enemies with Vit 0, a status that makes them weak to all forms of damage.

The enemy version of this ability is the Malboro's Dissolving Acid, which instead always only inflicts Vit 0 and deals fractional damage.

Obtained

Quistis learns Acid when Mystery Fluid is used in the inventory. Mystery Fluids are obtained from Gaylas, stingray-like enemies that are encountered on the snowy areas of the world map reachable from the midgame onwards.

Mystery Fluids are also made from Gayla cards with Quezacotl's Card Mod, available since the beginning of the game. The Gayla card is the earlier and preferable method of getting a Mystery Fluid, as Gayla is a common Level 1 card and one is even included in the starter deck the player can get for free from an NPC.

Mechanics

Acid deals non-elemental magic damage to an opponent as per the following formula:

$Damage = Magic + Power$

$Damage = Damage \times (265 - Target's~Spirit) / 4$

$Damage = Damage \times Power / 256$

Where "Magic" is Quistis's Magic stat, "Spirit" is the target's Spirit stat, and "Power" is one of the following values depending on the current Crisis Level:

Crisis Lv 1: 30

Crisis Lv 2: 38

Crisis Lv 3: 44

Crisis Lv 4: 52

All damage is randomized slightly:

$Damage = Damage \times ([0..32] + 240) / 256$

This makes Acid weaker than Quistis's starting Limit Break, Laser Eye, and about as strong as Bio at the lowest, and only slightly above Flare at the highest.

The boon of the Limit Break is the ailment(s) it can inflict, rather than the damage.

Crisis Lv 1: Poison

Crisis Lv 2: Poison, Darkness

Crisis Lv 3: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Vit 0

Crisis Lv 4: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Vit 0, Petrify

Crisis Level is a hidden stat calculated based on how low the party's current HP is compared to their maximum, the number of dead allies, and the number of ailments the party members are afflicted with. The worse off the party is, the better Limit Break outcomes the player can expect. Crisis Level is also raised with the Aura status.

If the target has Shell, damage is halved. If the enemy is immune to the status Acid is attempting to inflict, the status will not take effect. No enemy resists Vit 0.

Limit Breaks never miss and are unaffected by Elem-Atk junctions.

Use

Acid is one of three ailment-inflicting Blue Magic spells, the others being LV?Death and Bad Breath. The boon of Acid is that it can be used to inflict an enemy with Vit 0 at a lower Crisis Level than with Bad Breath, though the latter is better overall, inflicting many more statuses and targeting all enemies. A Mystery Fluid is also an easier item to procure compared to the Malboro Tentacle needed to learn Bad Breath, both from the cards or as an enemy spoil.

If the player gets the Limit Break early from the card game, they can use it against some of the early bosses to inflict Vit 0: Quistis is in the party against Ifrit and Granaldo with Raldos. Against most random encounters, Quistis is better off using Degenerator instead. Vit 0 is an excellent status to inflict on enemies that cannot be defeated with Degenerator, making them weak to both physical and magic damage, and no enemy is immune to it. However, Quistis needs to be at least on Crisis Level 3 for Acid to have Vit 0, and there is no easy way to check what the current Crisis Level is as it is a hidden stat.

For damage, Quistis's Laser Eye is better. Vit 0 can also be inflicted via the Meltdown spell, also made from Mystery Fluids, but as it is a useful junctioning spell, the player may prefer to keep it stocked rather than use it. The boon of a Limit Break is that it jumps the action queue and does not expend any Magic stocks. However, after Meltdown is easily available, the player likely prefers to cast it as a first move against enemies that are not susceptible to Degenerator.

On Crisis Level 4, Bad Breath also gives Vit 0 and is better overall. Once the party has Doomtrain, it is also better than Acid, though takes some Charge Time to use. However, Acid remains good against Adel where the player should not use offensive GFs.

Because almost all of Quistis's Limit Breaks are magical, it is worth prioritizing her Magic stat with junctions by giving her a Guardian Force with Mag-J and any GFs that have Mag+% abilities.