Berserk (Final Fantasy VII status)

Berserk is a status in Final Fantasy VII that increases the unit's physical attack damage by x1.5 at the cost of losing control, only physically attacking a random enemy at every chance they get, never dealing critical hits. The status can yet be considered a boon, and the player can inflict it onto their own party deliberately; when used this way, the items and spells used to inflict it will never miss, unlike when used on enemies.

An amusing glitch results with some enemies that are not immune to Berserk but do not have a specified attack to use when Berserked: the game has them use a spell that costs more MP than they will ever have, and thus gives the message "[Enemy]'s skill power is used up".

Abilities[]

Item	War Gong
Limit Break	Howling Moon
Materia	Added Effect + Mystify in a linked slot in a weapon
Spell	Berserk

In addition, the accessory Fury Ring puts the wearer under permanent Berserk.

Enemy abilities[]

Ability	Description	Enemy
Berserk Needle	Inflicts non-elemental magic damage and Berserk to one enemy.	Slaps
Crazy Claw	Inflicts non-elemental physical damage and Berserk to one enemy.	Shred

Protection[]

The following allows the player to protect against Berserk:

Accessory	Peace Ring, Ribbon
Materia	Added Effect + Mystify in a linked slot in an armor
Spell	Resist
Item	Vaccine
Limit Break	Great Gospel

Healing[]

Item	Remedy
Spell	Esuna, White Wind, Angel Whisper
Limit Break	Breath of the Earth, Pulse of Life, Great Gospel

If the player character has Berserk due to equipping a Fury Ring, Berserk cannot be removed from them even by KO'ing and reviving them. Berserk from Red XIII's Howling Moon can be prevented/healed, however; Berserk is not the only damage boost that Howling Moon provides, so protecting him from Berserk may be preferable.

Enemies[]

The following enemies are immune to Berserk. All bosses except Dark Nation and Sample:H0512-opt are immune.

Use[]

Berserk can be made useful for increasing a party member's Attack potential, especially if that character is geared towards Strength. If the player wishes to make full use of Berserk without using the Fury Ring to free an accessory slot, they can attempt to setup the character as follows:

With no Magic or Summon Materia (to prevent losing any Strength).
Materia: Long Range to attack from the back row, HP Plus for survivability, Speed Plus for higher Dexterity.
Statuses: Sadness to reduce the amount of damage they take.
Accessories: Power Wrist, Champion Belt, or Curse Ring for more Strength, Sprint Shoes for Auto-Haste, or Ribbon for status immunity.
Armor: Gigas Armlet, Warrior Bangle, or Ziedrich for Strength.

If the player is finding certain enemies too dangerous when they use special attacks and magic, they can attempt to inflict Berserk on them to prevent them from using their abilities. However, battles tend to end quickly enough that this is not needed.

Very few enemies try to inflict Berserk onto player characters. The main time the player may find themselves wanting to protect against it is against Slaps in the Battle Square.