Brings one enemy to the point of death. Causes paralysis.
Description
Death Claw, also known as Doom Claw, is a Blue Magic spell in Final Fantasy V. It reduces a target's HP to single digits and paralyzes them. It can be used on any enemy without the Heavy type, meaning that most bosses and more powerful later enemies are immune.
Death Claw can also be used by catching and releasing a Strapparer.
Obtained[]
Death Claw can first be obtained from the Iron Claw boss fought outside Karnak Castle.
Later, it can be obtained from Death Claw, Treant, Gilgamesh (#274), Soul Eater, Azulmagia, Objet d'Art, or Strapparer. Objet d'Art and Strapparer will not use the ability normally, meaning Control is needed.
Mechanics[]
If the target has shell, the Spell Hit% is halved. If the target is a toad, its Evade % is reduced to 0.
The game generates two random numbers between 0 and 99.
- If N1 >= Hit%, the spell misses
- If N2 < Evade%, the spell misses
The effect's duration on non-Heavy targets is calculated as follows:
The maximum duration value is 255, and so Death Claw's effect maxes out when the caster is on Level 60 and does not improve further.
The effect's duration on Heavy targets is calculated as follows:
The final duration is then decided as follows:
The minimum duration value is 1.
Use[]
Death Claw paralyzes a target and puts them in critical condition. When paralyzed, a target cannot act or avoid physical attacks. Paralyze wears off automatically, but as the enemy will be in critical condition, they can likely be killed in one hit. This means that, against enemies not immune, Death Claw is extremely effective. Death Claw is also useful if there is a specific monster the player wants to Catch, as it will instantly put the monster at an HP level that allows the use of Catch, and paralyzes so even slow characters can get a chance to use it.
The main disadvantage of Death Claw is its prohibitive MP cost, and it being ineffective on most bosses and larger enemies. As such, Death Claw should be used as a last resort in battles as a way to quickly eliminate an enemy, but should not be relied on as a common attack.
Useful enemies to use Death Claw against include Tyrannosaur, Chimera Brain, Crystal, and Ramuh.
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