Ice Strike (Final Fantasy VIII)

Ice Strike
(冷徹なる一撃, Reitetsunaru Ichigeki?, lit. Cold-Blooded Strike)
Availability
Character(s)	Edea
Classification
Type	Limit Break
Skillset	Sorcery
Effect	Magic damage to one target
Specifications
Power	120
Related pages
Recurring appearance	Ice Strike

Ice Strike is a Limit Break for Edea in Final Fantasy VIII that deals magic damage to an enemy depending on her Magic stat. Limit Breaks are randomly available when Edea is on low health or under Aura.

When using Ice Strike, Edea conjures magical ice javelins and hurls them at her target. She also uses Ice Strike in a cutscene at the end of the Deling City segment.

Mechanics

Ice Strike deals non-elemental magic damage to an opponent as per the following formula:

$Damage = Magic + 120$

$Damage = Damage \times (265 - Target's~Spirit) / 4$

$Damage = Damage \times 120 / 256$

Where "Magic" is Edea's Magic stat and "Spirit" is the target's Spirit stat. This makes Ice Strike about as strong as using Apocalypse, the most powerful Magic spell only available to draw in the final battle.

All damage is randomized slightly:

$Damage = Damage \times ([0..32] + 240) / 256$

If the target has Shell, damage is halved.

Limit Breaks never miss and are unaffected by Elem-Atk junctions.

Use

Edea "Ice Strike" Limit Break from FINAL FANTASY VIII Remastered

Though Ice Strike looks ice-elemental, for gameplay purposes it is non-elemental. Ice Strike is Edea's Limit Break, and simply deals damage to one target. Because Edea's Limit Breaks is magical, it is worth prioritizing her Magic stat with junctions and give her a Guardian Force with Mag-J and any Mag+% abilities.

Edea is a temporary playable character, controllable during the party's trek across the Great Salt Lake and during the time Lunatic Pandora attacks Esthar City and Zell is the party leader. The only boss during this time is Abadon, which is easily defeated with resurrection abilities due to being an undead opponent. The player thus does not have too many opportunities to use Ice Strike, and it likely pales in comparison to the permanent party members' Limit Breaks.

Edea uses Ice Strike in a cutscene.

Edea uses Ice Strike against Squall Leonhart in the "end of disc 1" cutscene at Deling City. The cutscene initiates at the conclusion of the boss battle; if the player loses, they will not get battle spoils.