Drain is a battle mechanic in Final Fantasy VIII, resisted against with status defense; enemies' resistance is innate while the player can use ST-Def-J with Drain-effect spells. When the drain effect is added to ST-Atk-J, the attacker gains health whenever they damage a target with their normal attack, even when they use Darkside. Both sides will take damage if one is undead or afflicted with Zombie, though it will function normally if both meet the criteria. If the ability that does the draining is magic-based, the amount of HP stolen can be halved with Shell.
The effect has no visual. When casting the spell, three red orbs are drawn from the target towards the caster, representing the health stolen. Draining HP will usually always work unless the target is undead or a boss or a machine, and can be an alternative or supplement to healing.
Abilities[]
| Command ability | Absorb (Pandemona & Doomtrain) |
|---|---|
| Spell | Drain (Magic, Slot, Angel Wing) |
ST-Atk-J[]
| Spell | Rating | Status Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Drain | 100% | Drain |
Enemy abilities[]
| Ability | Description | Enemy |
|---|---|---|
| Drain | Drains HP from target and restores own HP. Spell power of 25. Can be used by the player via Magic. | Blue Dragon, Lefty, Trauma |
| Drain | Drains HP from target and restores own HP. Spell power of 50. Cannot be reduced with Shell. | Trauma |
| Drain (unnamed in-game) | Drains HP from Rinoa and restores own HP. Spell power of 33. | Adel |
| Vampire | Steals HP to restore own HP. Only used when HP is below 25% in Glacial Eye's case. In Red Bat's case, only used if HP is below 50%. | Glacial Eye, Grat, Red Bat |
Protection[]
The player can protect against drain effects with Drain spells in ST-Def-J, but only few enemies attempt to drain health from the player, and in the Adel battle, Rinoa cannot be protected from it other than with Shell. Ribbon will protect the wearer from status ailments, drain effects included. Invincible protects against all damage inflicted by enemy attacks.
ST-Def-J[]
| Spell | Rating | Status Effects |
|---|---|---|
| Drain | 100% | Drain |
| Holy | 40% | Sudden Death, Poison, Berserk, Zombie, Sleep, Curse, Confuse, Drain |
Enemies[]
The following bosses are susceptible to Drain: Biggs (D-District Prison), Diablos, Droma, Edea (2nd), Elvoret, Fujin, Iguion, Left Orb, Minotaur, NORG, Propagator, Raijin, Right Orb, Rinoa, Sacred, Seifer, Sorceress (A & B), Trauma, and Wedge (D-District Prison).
The following enemies have the following resistance to Drain:
| 30% | Fujin (2nd), Raijin (3rd) |
|---|---|
| 50% | Chimera, Diablos |
| 60% | Anacondaur, Fujin (1st), Raijin (1st/2nd) |
| 65% | Elite Soldier, Paratrooper |
| Immune | Blue Dragon, Creeps, Esthar Soldier (Terminator), Elastoid, Elnoyle, Forbidden, GIM47N, Grat, PuPu, SAM08G, Tonberry, UFO?, all bosses besides the ones mentioned above |