Aqua Breath (Final Fantasy VIII)

Aqua Breath
(アクアブレス, Akua Buresu?)
Availability
Obtained	Water Crystal
Character(s)	Quistis
Classification
Type	Limit Break
Skillset	Blue Magic
Effect	Magic damage to all targets
Element	Water
Specifications
Power	50–100 depending on Crisis Level
Related pages
Recurring appearance	Aqua Breath

Aqua Breath is a Limit Break for Quistis in Final Fantasy VIII that deals Water-elemental magic damage to all enemies depending on her Magic stat and the current Crisis Level, a hidden stat in the game. It is a potentially early Blue Magic Limit Break, learned from a Water Crystal. Blue Magic is available randomly when Quistis is on low health or under Aura.

Aqua Breath is also an enemy ability used by Chimeras, which can be strong if used on the Island Closest to Heaven.

Obtained

The player teaches Aqua Breath to Quistis by using a Water Crystal in the inventory. Water Crystals can be mugged from Fastitocalons, the large fish that appear on beaches outside Balamb. One Water Crystal can be refined from one Fastitocalon card, or from five Fastitocalon-F cards, using Quezacotl's Card Mod ability, available since the beginning of the game.

Mechanics

Aqua Breath deals Water-elemental magic damage to all enemies 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 enemy's Spirit stat, and "Power" is one of the following values depending on the current Crisis Level:

Crisis Lv 1: 50

Crisis Lv 2: 70

Crisis Lv 3: 80

Crisis Lv 4: 100

This makes Aqua Breath slightly stronger than Flare at the lowest, and stronger than Ultima at the highest, but unlike these spells, will deal elemental damage, meaning it can do more damage if the enemy is weak to Water.

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.

All damage is randomized slightly:

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

If the target has Shell, damage is halved. If the enemy is weak to Water, Aqua Breath will do increased damage. If the enemy resists Water, Aqua Breath will do less damage. If the enemy nullifies Water damage, Aqua Breath will not damage the enemy, and if the enemy absorbs Water, Aqua Breath will heal them.

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

Use

Aqua Breath is a Limit Break for Quistis that she can acquire early from the card game, or during "Disc 1" as an enemy spoil if the player learns Mug on Diablos at the soonest and then fights Fastitocalons on the deserts and beaches of Galbadia after Quistis joins the party at the end of Timber. Against enemy groups that do not resist Water, it is better than most of her Blue Magic spells, superseded by Fire Breath, Ray-Bomb, and Shockwave Pulsar. Against enemies weak to Water, it is the most damaging Blue Magic spell, unless Shockwave Pulsar can break the damage limit against them.

Aqua Breath is a good damaging Blue Magic spell for most of the game, though the player may be able to do more damage with Guardian Forces, such as Leviathan, which also deals Water damage. If the player grinds Quezacotl early on and partakes in the card game, they may be able to use Aqua Breath against Ifrit, but doing this is unnecessary.

Cactuars and Jumbo Cactuar are weak to Water, and also immune to Degenerator, the best Blue Magic to use against most normal enemies. However, Quistis may be able to deal more damage by Triple-casting Water spells. Aqua Breath can be good against Blobra in Tomb of the Unknown King if they happen to be weak to Water, but the player would need to check with Scan as their weakness is random. The boon of a Limit Break over Magic or GF is that it jumps the action queue and does not expend any spell stocks or incur any Charge Time.

Because almost all of Quistis's Limit Breaks are magical, it is worth prioritizing her Magic stat with junctions and give her a GF that has Mag-J and Mag+% abilities.

If the player is investing in the card game since the start, they may get numerous Blue Magic items early, such as a Black Hole that teaches Degenerator, one of the most useful Blue Magic spells. Aqua Breath is still better than Degenerator against groups it can defeat in one go, and against enemies immune to Degenerator, like Cactuar, Jumbo Cactuar, and BGH251F2.