Magick that rains down pillars of ice, dealing ice damage to distant units.
The Ivalice Chronicles' description
Blizzard, also known as Ice, is a Black Magicks ability in Final Fantasy Tactics, learned by the black mage job. It charges a spell that deals minor ice-elemental damage to units within the effect radius. The action ability must be learned by expending JP earned for the black mage job.
Other abilities that deal ice damage include the summoner's Shiva and the geomancer's Snowstorm, among others.
Certain weapons deal ice-element damage and also boost ice damage, such as the ice rod. The glacial gun casts a random Blizzard magick upon shooting, being either Blizzard, Blizzara, or Blizzaga.
Obtained[]
Blizzard costs 50 JP to be spent on the black mage job. Once the unit has learned it, it is available for other jobs as long as they have the Black Magicks or Arithmeticks skillset equipped.
If a unit that knows Blizzard becomes a crystal, a human unit picking up the crystal may learn Blizzard without spending JP, as long as said unit has unlocked the black mage job.
Mechanics[]
Scatter your chilly sharp blades! Ice!
Upon casting
Blizzard costs 6 MP with a charge time of 25 speed, with a cross-shaped effect range that can damage up to five units. The spell deals damage following formula:
Magick has a chance to hit based on the caster's faith and the target's faith, based on the following formula:
This means that the higher both the caster and the target's faith stats, the higher the chances of the Blizzard spell to take effect, as well increased damage.
The unit can still attempt to cast magick even without the required MP, but it will fail upon activating.
Any enemy weak to the ice element will take 50% increased damage from the spell; further multipliers include equipment such as the ice rod and the japa mala, as well the snowstorm weather condition, all which increase the damage of ice-elemental attacks by 25%.
Blizzard can be reflected and magick-countered, and will be nullified against a unit with zero faith or under the Atheist status. The magick can be cast instantly by the arithmetician job command, Arithmeticks.
Human units lack innate elemental strengths or weaknesses, as opposed to most monsters. The monsters that have ice-elemental affinity are:
- Goblin-family (weak)
- Ahriman-family (weak)
- Malboro-family (weak)
- Red Dragon (weak)
- Hydra-family (weak)
- Blue Dragon (absorbs)
- Automaton (immune)
- Elidibus (immune)
Use[]
Blizzard is the most basic ice-elemental magick, with a cheap cost and fast cast time; ideally, it should be the first magick to unlock as a black mage alongside its counterparts Fire and Thunder, to give an array of spells to exploit different elemental weaknesses.
Blizzard is mostly useful against enemies from the goblin, ahriman, and malboro monster families, which are weak to the element. It is recommended to wield the ice rod or the japa mala when casting Blizzard magick to increase the potency of the spell. The snowstorm weather condition, which further boosts ice damage, is a rare occurrence: there are no random battles in snowy areas. Snowstorms can only occur in a few story battles, during Beowulf Cadmus's recruitment sidequest, and in the multiplayer modes from The War of the Lions version.
Blizzard gets progressively outclassed by its more powerful graduations, Blizzara, Blizzaga, and Blizzaja. However, the spell can still be useful to finish off fleeing enemies at low HP, since it has a fast charge rate.
Behind the scenes[]
In the PlayStation version, a black mage casting Blizzard may chant: "Scatter your chilly sharp blades! Ice!" Spellcasting chants are not used in The War of the Lions version, but return in The Ivalice Chronicles with new localization.