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Cause Death

Description

Death is an indirect magic spell in Final Fantasy VIII. The spell attempts to inflict Instant Death on one enemy when cast. It can also be junctioned to inflict or resist against Instant Death or boost other stats, and is one of the best spells to junction to the Luck stat. Death spell can also be used via the Death Stone consumable item.

When Magic Booster is used in the 2013 PC re-release, the player's inventory gains 100 Death spells, among other basic spells.

The following enemies use the spell against the party: Blue Dragon, Buel, Edea (2nd), Elnoyle, Esthar Soldier (Terminator), Forbidden, and Torama. Against Blue Dragons, the player can draw-cast Death from the enemy's own stock.

Obtained[]

Death can only be drawn from a select few enemies and bosses, though it is easier to be refined from many refinery items using the Guardian Force Siren's ability L Mag-RF.

A good source of Death is Tonberries at the Centra Ruins. While it is often not feasible to draw from them, Chef's Knives can easily be obtained from them and their cards.

Stats[]

Use[]

Concept art of the Grim Reaper by Tetsuya Nomura.

Death when cast will attempt to inflict Instant Death on an enemy. Though chance-based, when Death works, this can instantly kill enemies irrespective of their HP.

Status ailment spells' effectiveness is calculated by the following formula:

If (Status Defense >= 200) Target does not get the status
else: Infliction% = Magic Stat/4 - Target's Spirit/4
Infliction% = Infliction% - Status Defense + 200
Status Defense starts at 100 (0%) and the cap is 200 (100%).

It can be reflected.

Death can be cast using the Magic command, Selphie's Slot Limit Break, or Rinoa's Angel Wing if she has it in her inventory. Casting Death in battle increases compatibility with Doomtrain by 1, but lowers compatibility with Carbuncle by 0.2.

Death can be junctioned to ST-Atk-J, allowing any physical attack to potentially cause Instant Death and kill an enemy immediately. While it is chance-based, being junctioned to ST-Atk-J means it can be attempted an infinite number of times. The main drawback to this is that the player may not want to kill most enemies, as they may prefer to card them instead and avoid leveling. Additionally, it is not guaranteed to work, whereas statuses like Sleep and Stop will work on any enemies not immune and allow the player to defeat the enemies easily.

Esthar Soldier Terminator uses Death from FFVIII Remastered

Esthar Soldier uses Death.

Death is also useful when junctioned to ST-Def-J, as junctioning 100 Deaths can make a character immune to Instant Death, which is particularly useful against certain enemies. This is needed if the player fights Omega Weapon with a Lv100 party.

Aside from junctioning to status effects, Death is one of the best spells to junction to Luck. This is useful for all characters with the exception of Squall, whose critical hit is manually triggered, meaning he will benefit little from the stat boost.

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