Deals fire damage.
Description
Fire is a Black Magic spell in Final Fantasy V. It is the basic fire-elemental spell that can be acquired early in the game, and can be used to hit one target or an entire party. Fire is usable by the Black Magic and Red Magic skillsets (and can be used twice with Dualcast), and can also be used as a Spellblade. Fire is also one of the spells that can be cast for free from the Wonder Wand.
Fire is also an enemy ability that can be used by Magissa, Mani Wizard, and Reflect Mage.
Obtained[]
Fire can be purchased for 150 gil at Tule, Carwen, Karnak, or Crescent. Tule is the earliest place Fire can be obtained. Once it is purchased, it can be used by any of the skillsets with the spell.
Mechanics[]
As a spell, Fire's damage is calculated as follows:
If the target absorbs fire, it is healed instead of damaged; if it is immune to fire, the attack misses. If the target resists fire, the Attack modifier in the formula is halved, but if it is weak to fire, the modifier is doubled and the attack ignores the target's Magic Defense. Fire is affected by reflect. Group-casting it halves effectiveness.
Several pieces of equipment increase the power of elemental attacks by 50%. The bonus is applied before subtracting the opponent's Magic Defense. The weapons that boost fire are the Black Mage's Flame Rod and Magus Rod, and the Geomancer's Rune Chime. The Mix Elemental Power strengthens all elements.
Use[]
Black Mages can use Fire early on as a basic offensive spell. It is especially useful against enemies weak to fire, wherein early on when it is acquired, it will likely defeat them in one hit. Because the spell costs little MP to cast, there is little harm in using it often, though it is normally most MP- and turn-efficient to hit a group of enemies rather than a single target.
Using Fire against Big Horn sends it fleeing.
Fire is outclassed by Fira in terms of pure damage, and when the player has access to Red Mage and Mystic Knight, Fira is quickly available. Fire can still be cast by Black and Red Mages if the player wishes to conserve MP, but for the most part, Fira will serve them better. Mystic Knights can forego Fire entirely in favor of Fira, because Spellblade only needs to use MP once to charge the weapon and then not again.
By the time Ifrit, and later Firaga, are obtained, Fire is effectively obsolete.
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