Haste is a status in Final Fantasy IX that expedites the rate the affected's ATB gauge fills by 50%. Haste makes statuses that expire also lapse 50% faster, and statuses that "tick" work faster as well: Regen heals faster and Poison damages faster. Hasted party members have yellow ATB gauges in the battle menu.
Mechanics[]
Haste expedites the rate the target's ATB gauge fills by 50%. This also means that all other statuses that also depend on ATB speed lapse faster and "tick" faster. When cast on a target who has Slow, Haste removes Slow, as the two cannot coexist on the same target.
- Status duration = Spirit * 320
The status duration takes into account Battle Speed as set in the Config. The duration is calculated from the target's Spirit, not the caster's.
Abilities[]
| Support ability | Auto-Haste |
|---|---|
| Spell | Haste |
| Summon | Carbuncle (Emerald Light) |
Enemy abilities[]
| Ability | Description | Enemy |
|---|---|---|
| Haste | Grants Haste to one ally. | Cactuar |
Removal[]
Haste cannot be removed if it is from Auto-Haste. Otherwise, it can be removed with Slow and Dispel.
Enemies[]
The following enemies are immune to Haste:
- Abadon (boss)
- Bomb (boss)
- Core
- Ragtime Mouse & True & False
- Mover
- Tonberry
- Amdusias (boss)
- Left & Right tentacle
- Prison Cage
Use[]
Haste's best use is perhaps in conjunction with Auto-Regen to replenish health during battle even faster. The ATB charge speed bonus may only marginally increase their turn rate due to how the battle system works in Final Fantasy IX, where animation time also consumes status durability unless the status is bestowed via a support ability. As such, once available, the player may opt to use Auto-Haste; before this, casting Haste should only be done in longer battles.
Whether Haste is applied via the skill or auto-ability, player may still find that—depending on the length of the battle, and the animation time of the actions taken—instead of getting more turns, the turns simply queue up faster. This is because ATB runs during animations, but since no one else can act during an animation, the commands simply sit in a queue. Haste can thus be detrimental, as it makes other statuses expire faster; while this is beneficial in case of status ailments, it hurts anyone with Protect or Shell (or Doom or Gradual Petrify) especially.