Death is a negative status effect in Final Fantasy XIII that is the basic defeat condition of both enemies and allies, typically resulting from HP being depleted to 0 during battle. However, a number of instant death attacks also exist for both enemies and party members, which defeats the target regardless of how much HP they had.
When all enemies are killed, the player wins. If the player's controlled character succumbs, the game will be over. The player can partially protect themselves against enemies' instant death attacks, though only few enemies use it. The player using instant death against enemies can work even against the final boss or some of the superbosses, if the player is lucky, though the chance is low.
Instant Death was removed as a status from the sequels.
Abilities[]
| Game Element | Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Death | Saboteur ability for Vanille as her full ATB skill | Instantly kills an opponent; inflicts heavy magic damage (3.64–4.00 Attack Power) if unsuccessful. Base chance 1% but raised with ailments on enemy. |
| Zantetsuken | Gestalt Mode finisher for Odin | Inflicts Death to the weak targets |
The player's main means of inflicting instant death—and against which certain enemies are programmed to have immunity—is with Vanille's full ATB skill, Death, which deals base magic damage equal to 364–400% (randomly determined) of Vanille's Magic parameter and has a 1% chance to instantly kill the enemy, increasing by an additional 1% per negative status the target is currently afflicted with. Death does not benefit from a staggered target nor Faith/Faithra other than the normal damage increase, nor does the instant kill chance benefit from the Belladonna or Malboro Wand. Death ignores chain bonus as a factor when calculating success rate. The only way to boost the instant kill success rate of Death is via the Saboteur role bonus (have a party of SAB/SAB/SAB for best chance) and by inflicting as many status effects as possible on the target.
Zantetsuken, meanwhile, is a pseudo-instant death ability, and more akin to ejection as it is not technically a status; therefore no enemy is immune to it. Whether Zantetsuken kills the enemy is determined by Odin's physical attack power and the current chain bonus.
Zantetsuken raises the stagger gauge by a various amount based on level prior to dealing damage:
![{\displaystyle [3\times Odin's~PA\times (Chain~Bonus)^{2}]}](https://services.fandom.com/mathoid-facade/v1/media/math/render/svg/263637d1c1a1f3c586a0d2cdeff4e7693064c43b)
If the enemy has less HP than the solution, it dies. If the instant kill fails, it deals fairly low damage instead.
Enemy abilities[]
| Game Element | Effect | Enemy |
|---|---|---|
| Death | Deals damage and has a 1% base chance of inflicting Instant KO. | Sacrifice |
| Progenitorial Wrath | Damages one party member with a 50% chance to inflict instant Death. | Orphan (First Encounter) |
Doom status also spells instant death when it expires and is exclusively inflicted by enemies onto the party leader.
Resistance[]
The player can resist Death with Veil status, as well as the Cherub's Crown and Seraph's Crown accessories for Death specifically, and Ribbon and Super Ribbon for all status ailments. However, only two enemies in the game use instant death, and so status-protection against Death is only potentially useful in the 13th chapter. Death-protection is best prioritized on the party leader, as the party leader succumbing will lead to a game over.
Doom or instant death from Doom cannot be resisted.
Removal[]
Death is healed with Phoenix Down, Raise, and Arise. If the party leader succumbs, only their Eidolon can save them by using Arise, otherwise the game is over. Also, when an Eidolon is dismissed, regardless of whether it entered Gestalt Mode, all party members will be fully healed, both status and HP.
Enemies[]
The higher the number, the more susceptible the enemy is to instant death from Vanille's Death spell.
Enemies fought when the player lacks access to the Death spell still programmed resistances to the status even if the player cannot use the status against them in a normal playthrough.
The final boss is vulnerable to instant death when staggered[note 1], although the chances of Vanille's full ATB skill Death connecting remain low.
Notes[]
Annotations[]
- ↑ According to the Final Fantasy XIII Scenario Ultimania, Square Enix battle planner Nobuyuki Matsuoka paid homage to the final boss of The Final Fantasy Legend by deliberately giving Orphan an Instant Death vulnerability (see Saw bug).