Imperil is a negative status effect in Final Fantasy XIII that lowers the target's elemental resistances by one stage: Absorbed → Immune → Resistant → Halved → Normal → Weakness. Party members afflicted with Imperil will take double damage from elemental attacks. Imperil is a very useful ailment to inflict onto on enemies, especially combined with any En-effects on the player party. Elemental weakness makes the target take double damage from applicable elemental attacks, but does not make the chain gauge rise faster.
Vanille is the Saboteur who learns the Imperil spell the earliest. A great late game combination is an En-effect and Faithra on Vanille, and Imperil on enemy, and then using Death, as it is the one full ATB skill that can benefit from an En-effect.
Imperil returns in the sequels to Final Fantasy XIII though they have fewer elements.
Abilities[]
| Game Element | Type | Effect |
|---|---|---|
| Imperil | Saboteur ability for Lightning, Sazh, Vanille, and Fang | Inflicts Imperil to the target for 60 seconds (base duration). Base chance 30%. |
| Imperilga | Saboteur ability for Lightning, Vanille, and Hope | Inflicts Imperil to the targets in range for 60 seconds (base duration). Base chance 24%. |
Ailment duration for effects inflicted from spells cast in battle can be somewhat lengthened with high chain gauge when the spell hits the target, and the Jinx ability. In addition, Imperil lasts for one more second for every 100 points of Magic the caster has; anything that directly affects the Magic stat will help, such as Faith status and the Power Surge passive abilities, with Stifled Magic and Fettered Magic being exceptions.
Enemy abilities[]
| Game Element | Effect | Enemy |
|---|---|---|
| Anathema | Inflicts Poison, Slow, Imperil, Deshell, and Defaith onto one target. | Sacrifice |
| Bone-Chilling Breaker | Deals major Ice and Water damage to all opponents, with chance of inflicting Imperil. Modifies elemental resistances to absorb Ice and Water attacks. | Dahaka |
| Fulminous Firestorm | Deals major Fire and Lightning damage to all opponents with chance of inflicting Imperil. Modifies elemental resistances to absorb Fire and Lightning attacks. | Dahaka |
| Imperilga | Attempts to inflict Imperil to targets in range. | Gelatitan |
| Miasma | Deals damage and may inflict Poison, Imperil, Slow, Deprotect, Deshell, and Daze on all targets within a wide radius, depending on the Cie'th. | Bituitus, Edimmu, Mithridates, Pijavica, Varcolaci |
| Pollen | Heals nearby Microchus or Picochus and removes status ailments, while damaging the party, removing status enhancements, and inflicting Imperil and Slow, as well as Debrave, Defaith, Deprotect, Deshell, Poison, and Curse when used by Neochu. | Ochu, Neochu |
| Tail Hammer | Deals moderate damage and Imperil to party members in range and launches them into the air. | Tiamat Eliminator |
| Virulent Breath | Deals moderate damage and may inflict Curse or Imperil, depending on the user. | Gorgonopsid, Megistotherian, Silver Lobo, Ugallu, Uridimmu |
Resistance[]
The player can resist Imperil with Veil status, as well as the Pearl Necklace and Gemstone Necklace accessories for Imperil specifically, and Ribbon and Super Ribbon for all status ailments. The Debuff Resistance passive ability can additionally used to shorten the duration of Imperil.
Removal[]
Imperil can be removed with Esuna, Dispelga, and Wax. Also, when an Eidolon is dismissed, regardless of whether it entered Gestalt Mode or not, all party members will be fully healed, both status and HP.
Enemies[]
The higher the number, the more susceptible the enemy is to the status. Some enemies are immune in their normal state but susceptible during stagger, or simply more susceptible to statuses when in stagger.
Enemies fought when the player lacks access to the Imperil spell still have resistances to the status even if the player cannot use the status against them in a normal playthrough.