This is a list of all statuses in Final Fantasy V. When the party is under the effect of a status change, they often change color; in the defunct Steam and mobile versions, monsters can also change appearance due to status changes to make the statuses being present more apparent.
List of statuses[]
Critical[]
Near Death is the status given to characters whose current HP is less than 1/8 of their Max HP.
- The Knight's Cover ability protects critical party members from physical attacks, as long as it is from the enemy and not from a party member.
- The Mystic Knight's Magic Shell creates a magic barrier that absorbs magical attacks when in a critical state.
- The Geomancer's Gaia can summon a twister (it has the same effect as Maelstrom) on the second world at normal terrain (this ability is useful against the Kuza Beast).
| Game Element | Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Death Claw | Blue Magic | Inflicts paralyze and critical. |
| Bone | Enemy Attack | Inflicts critical. |
| Maelstrom | Enemy Attack | Inflicts critical. |
| Tail Screw | Enemy Attack | Inflicts critical. |
Darkness[]
A character under darkness has their Hit Rate reduced to a quarter and cannot use the Aim ability. A playable character under darkness wears black glasses in their pixel sprites. Darkness is removed with Eye Drops among other methods. The player can make use of darkness by casting Flash, attacking enemies with a Dark Bow, or via some other methods, such as mix skills.
Zombie[]
The player loses control of zombified party members who automatically attack any random target. The game ends if all party members are zombies. Zombified character's will still gain EXP and AP at the end of battle. In the discontinued 2013 version, party members afflicted with zombie can have their equipment modified outside of battle.
Characters afflicted with the zombie status have green skin, solid white eyes, and zero HP. They are immune to most damage, and equipping a zombified character with the Healing Staff will make them randomly heal party members.
Zombie is not to be mistaken for the "undead" status, which can be obtained by using certain equipment or using the Necromancer job. Zombie characters are immune to the darkness, poison, float, mini, toad, petrify, and sudden death statuses.
Poison[]
A character inflicted with poison will lose HP equal to their Max HP/16. Outside of battle, every step taken will result in the poisoned party member losing HP equal to Max HP/64. A character under stop will not take damage from poison and those with zombie are immune. The player can inflict the status with the Poison spell and Poison Sword, and the Poison Axe weapon, among various other methods. Poison is healed with Antidote item and Poisona spell, among various methods.
Float[]
Float protects the party from hazards on the map and earth damage. It is bestowed with the Time Mage's Float spell. The Mix item Levisalve (Levitate in the PS version) casts float on the entire party, and can be mixed from a Phoenix Down and Holy Water. The Blue Magic spell Mighty Guard also casts Float. Zombified party members cannot float.
Mini[]
The Blue Magic spell Lilliputian Lyric and the White Magic spell Mini are the only sure means of inflicting mini status on a character, while Grand Cross and Curse can sometimes cause it at random.
The Ribbon accessory does not prevent mini. Mini status makes one very vulnerable to physical damage, but also more difficult to hit. Mini makes the target's physical attacks weak.
Toad[]
Toad-afflicted party members cannot cast most spells (only Toad and Pond's Chorus) and their attack is pitiful—but may also inflict toad status on their target. Toad-afflicted characters have different sprites for the battle screen and the field map. Toad is cured with the Toad spell and with Maiden's Kiss item, among other methods.
Petrify[]
Targets with petrify are considered defeated. Petrified party members keep their HP score, but can no longer act, nor can they cover for allies. Petrified targets cannot be attacked by most means; only those that are specifically designed to be able to hit characters with petrify can be directed at them. Petrified monsters are outright defeated. Petrify persists outside of battle until healed, such as with Gold Needle or Esuna, or staying at an inn. The player can petrify enemies with Break Black Magic spell and Spellblade and Catoblepas summon.
KO[]
KO'd units will have all statuses removed excluding darkness, mini, and toad. KO'd units are considered defeated for Game Over purposes, along with zombied and petrified units.
Death[]
Heavy status on an enemy nullifies a number of instant death effects; this is a separate factor from standard status immunity: some abilities will be blocked by either immunity or Heavy, while some abilities are only blocked by one or the other. The Angel Ring makes the player character equipping it immune to Instant Death.
Image (2)[]
Image (2) sets up a duplicate target that causes the next two physical attacks that would otherwise hit, miss. When image helps avoid a physical attack, it will remove one image and become Image (1). The command Image, Kiss of Blessing mix, and the Blink spell set up two images. The image status wears off after battle.
Image (1)[]
After losing one "image" from Image (2), it will become Image (1). Image (1) sets up one duplicate target that causes one physical attack that would otherwise hit, miss. When Image is successful in helping avoid a physical attack, it will be removed. The Mirage Vest only gives a single Image. The image status wears off after battle.
Silence[]
Silence disables the use of Black Magic, White Magic, Red Magic, Time Magic, Summon, Spellblade, Sing, and Dark Arts. Blue Magic is unaffected as well as magic used through weapons. Enemy spells are considered Blue Magic and thus are unaffected by silence. Enemies' "Dark Arts" are also unaffected by silence status.
The player can inflict silence status with Mute and Silence spells and the Silence Blade, among other methods. Silence is removed with some mixes and the spell Esuna. Silence does not persist outside of battle.
Berserk[]
The Berserker job is in a constant Berserk state and cannot be controlled. The Berserker also learns the state of Auto-Berserk as a passive trait that can be equipped to other classes. The Blue Magic spell Moon Flute inflicts berserk on the entire party. Via the Kiss of Blessing bug in the SNES version, the player can inflict berserk on targets that are meant to be immune to it. The Combines Power Shot, Power Burst, and Power Cannon also inflict berserk.
Berserk characters deal increased damage via the following formula:
The status can be removed with Dispel or the Mix Smelling Salts. Berserked characters are immune to confuse, the Flirt command, and the effects of the Lilith Rod. Enemies under the influence cannot be controlled or execute counterattacks. Berserked party members may still use Counter. In the 2013 version, berserk does not reset a character's ATB bar, but it will in any other version.
Confuse[]
Confuse causes an ally to face the party and attack them randomly. Various attacks may inflict the status, also known as Charm in the SNES fan translation and Muddle in the PS version. The player can inflict it with the Level 3 White Magic Confuse, the Bard's Alluring Air, the Cannoneer's Chaos Shot, the Chemist's Lamia's Kiss, and the Dancer's Tempting Tango. Enemy attacks that inflict confuse include Confuse Powder, Entice, Knock Silly, Rocket Punch, and Crush.
The Samurai's Mineuchi command can be used to substitute for the regular Fight command, but it does not remove the confusion status from the target, like a normal attack would.
Confuse does not resets a character's ATB bar in the discontinued 2013 version.
Paralyze[]
Paralyzed units cannot act nor evade, nor will they cover for other allies. The duration of paralyze depends on the attack setting it.
Paralyze is caused by the Dark Arts ability Chaos Drive and the Blue Magic spells Death Claw and Mind Blast. The Beastmaster's non-elemental whips can randomly paralyze enemies. Prior to the now defunct 2013 iOS version, the Samurai's Mineuchi ability does not paralyze opponents, due to a bug in game coding. This is fixed in the defunct mobile/Steam versions and Final Fantasy V Pixel Remaster.
The player can immunize their party against paralyze with Hermes Sandals, Genji Gloves, and Genji Shield.
Sleep[]
Sleeping targets cannot act nor evade nor cover for allies. The duration of sleep depends on the attack setting it. Sleepers awaken when taking physical damage, but not from magical damage. The Samurai's Mineuchi ability can be used to substitute for the regular Fight command, but it does not remove an opponent's sleep status, like a regular attack would. The player can inflict it with the Sleep spell and Spellblade, the Time Slip Blue Magic, as well as certain weapons.
Old[]
Old rapidly ages the afflicted. On party members it is represented by their hair turning white. Aging party members' stats, except their level, will gradually decrease to 1. When used on an enemy, that enemy's level and speed are gradually decreased to 1, which in turn affects that enemy's Magic Attack multiplier. Old can be inflicted by the Time Magic spell of the same name, the Ancient Sword, Blue Magic spells Level 2 Old and Time Slip, the Dark Arts skill Dark Haze, and the Cannoneer's Silver Shot/Burst/Cannon.
Old can be cured by various means, such as a White Mage's Esuna, but the stat changes remain till the end of battle; removal just stops further decay.
Regen[]
Regen is bestowed through the spell of the same name, the song Mighty March, the accessory Protect Ring, and through the Mix abilities Water of Life (through combining a Potion and Hi-Potion) and Dragon Defense (Phoenix Down+Dragon Fang). There is no visible indication of the status in effect, except for the occasional healing. Regen is one of the few spells that may heal undead, and can bypass immunity to the status with the help of the Dragon Armor mix.
The formula for regen's healing is as follows:
The Mighty March from the Bard's Sing skillset applies a regen effect on the party for as long as the Bard is singing.
Invincible[]
Invincible only occurs on monsters. They can be targeted, but will not receive damage or status changes, even beneficial changes. The conditions for removing invincibility differ between each fight.
The following monsters possess invincible at some stage of their fight:
- Necrophobe - While at least one of his four Barriers are alive
- Guardian - While at least one of its two Launchers are alive
- Neo Shinryu - Has a formless and unselectable invulnerable form that is responsible for its attacks. Destroying the vulnerable form causes the invulnerable form to be destroyed.
- Enuo - His two arms are invincible. Destroying the main body's first form removes the hands from the battle.
The following enemies are immune to invincible despite it being impossible to grant it to them in a normal playthrough:
Slow[]
Slow causes the ATB bar from both characters and monsters to take twice as long to fill. Slow is mutually exclusive with haste; slow is removed when haste is set and vice versa. Slow doubles countdown timers caused by the Doom spell and Condemn. The player can inflict slow status with Slow spells from Time Magic, among other methods. Slowed party members have a white outline on their battle sprite.
Haste[]
Haste causes the affected's ATB bar take half as long to fill (monsters' ATB bars are hidden), letting them get their turn in battle faster. Haste is mutually exclusive from slow; haste is removed when slow is set and vice versa. Haste halves countdown timers caused by the Doom spell and Condemn. Hasted party members have a red outline on their battle sprite.
Stop[]
Stopped characters cannot act or evade and halts all statuses that have a timer on them, with the exception of sap, which will continue to tick. The player can inflict it with Stop Time Magic spell, Romeo's Ballad song and Calm from Beastmaster. The Kagenui weapon also sometimes inflicts stop status when attacking with it physically.
Shell[]
Shell is obtainable through the White Magic spell Shell, the Blue Magic spell Mighty Guard, the Mixes Protect Potion and Dragon Defense, and the ability Magic Shell. Shell halves most magical damage and the hit rate of blockable magic attacks.
Protect[]
Protect halves physical damage and may be gained by casting the Protect spell, the Blue Magic spell Mighty Guard, using the item Iron Draft via the Drink ability, and using the Mix command to combine a Dragon Fang with a Phoenix Down and create the item Dragon Defense, or two Turtle Shells into a Protect Potion.
Reflect[]
The reflect status allows certain spells to bounce off the target onto the opposing party. Reflect may be achieved through the spell Reflect, the accessory Reflect Ring, the summon Carbuncle, and the mix Dragon Defense.
Hidden[]
The Level 1 ability for the Bard class, Hide, gives the hidden status that makes the user unable to be targeted. If all party members are in the status, they run from the battle unless it is impossible to do so. By having all party members hiding and never coming out of hiding, it is possible to completely avoid taking damage and force the enemy to miss every attack that they perform, eventually wasting all of its MP. This status can also give rise to the hidden zombies bug.
Singing[]
When the Bard class is using a Sing command, they may enter the singing status. While the effects of some songs are instantaneous, other songs are ongoing, meaning the Bard will continue to sing until they are hit by an attack, killed, or silenced, though in most cases the song's effect will remain even after the Bard stops singing.
Sap[]
Sap decreases HP continuously, and can be inflicted by Mind Blast and the Dark Art Meltdown. The Thornlet also inflicts this status to the wearer, as does the mix Failure. Unlike most other statuses that have timers, sap will continue to act on a character even if they are stopped or if a party member casts Quick.
Doom[]
The Doom status is applied through the Blue Magic spell and Oracle ability Doom, the enemy ability Grand Cross, and through the accessory Cursed Ring. It cannot be removed and starts the counter at 30 seconds (15 seconds for characters with Haste), upon whose expiration the target dies.
Controlled[]
Users who have a target under the controlled status, only possible through the Control command, are given a list of abilities. Usually the first one is Attack, and beneath it are between one and three other commands. A unit with the status has its sprite flipped horizontally, so they face the other direction. When in this status, the controller cannot attack; instead when it is their turn the enemy under control moves instead. If the target is under berserk or confuse, or is already being controlled, the status will miss.
False Image[]
The target cannot be affected by any action, except to toggle the status. This status is used by the false images of Wendigo and Pantera. Neo Shinryu's vulnerable form toggles False Image status on itself on every turn.
Erased[]
Erased status is caused only by Encircle, that removes the target from battle, thus cannot be healed or attacked, and only will be back to action via Return spell. It is removed after battle. The player can make themselves immune to Erased through the Mix ability, Dragon Kiss.
The following enemies are immune to Erased:
- Kuza Beast (Phoenix Tower)
- Magic Pot
- Magnetite
- Metamorph
- Mindflayer
- Mover
- Mykale
- Prototype
- Red Dragon
- Rukh
- Sandcrawler
- Shield Dragon
- Stingray
- Stone Golem
- Tot Aevis
- Vilia
- Zephyrus
- Zombie Dragon (Golem fight only)
Most bosses are immune to being erased, the exceptions being Adamantoise, Archeoaevis (2nd/4th form), Byblos, Carbuncle (Healing), Chimera Brain, Dragon Flower, Dragon Pod, Enkidu, Flame Thrower, Golem, Guardian, Iron Claw, Liquid Flame (2nd form), Magissa, Nereid, Phobos, Purobolos, Ramuh, Sekhmet, and Wave Cannon.
Jumping[]
This status is caused when using the Jump and the dummied Hishou command. A jumping character can't be targeted by anything except for the enemy ability Interceptor, used by Mecha Head. The effect is dispelled when jump is finished.
Charm[]
Charm status is inflicted by the Dancer ability Flirt and the Lilith Rod. It causes the target to waste its next turn displaying the "Entranced!" message, after which the status wears off.
Undead[]
Undead characters are immune to some status ailments, but take damage from many healing methods and are healed by drain/death spells.
Undead is applied by the Necromancer job, the job's Undead support ability, and the Bone Mail. Bone Mail wearers cannot be revived in battle, but Necromancers/characters with the Undead ability can.
Gallery[]
GBA[]
iOS[]
