Refine Life/Recovery Magic from an item
Description
L Mag-RF (life magic refiner) is a menu ability in Final Fantasy VIII that allows the player to make curative, resurrection, instant death, zombie, and holy magic spells from certain items. Making spells from items is generally much more convenient than drawing from enemies, and can net high tier spells earlier than enemies would offer them, such as Holy and Full-life for L Mag-RF.
Obtained[]
The Guardian Force Siren learns L Mag-RF for 30 AP. Siren is drawn from Elvoret atop the Dollet Communications Tower, or from Tri-Point in the final dungeon. If the player removes L Mag-RF with Amnesia Greens, there is no way to get it back.
Mechanics[]
Using L Mag-RF in the Ability menu enables the player to make spells from items currently in their possession and allocate the resultant spells to a party member who has space in their Magic inventory. Each party member has 32 slots for Magic, and can hold 100 spells of each type.
| Item | Refine Into |
|---|---|
| Chef's Knife | 1 = 30 Death |
| Cottage | 1 = 20 Curaga |
| Dead Spirit | 1 = 20 Death |
| Death Stone | 1 = 1 Death |
| Healing Ring | 1 = 100 Curaga |
| Healing Water | 1 = 20 Cura |
| Holy Stone | 1 = 1 Holy |
| Life Ring | 1 = 20 Life |
| Magic Stone | 1 = 5 Cura |
| M-Stone Piece | 1 = 5 Cure |
| Mesmerize Blade | 1 = 20 Regen |
| Moon Stone | 1 = 20 Holy |
| Phoenix Spirit | 1 = 100 Full-life |
| Regen Ring | 1 = 20 Full-life |
| Saw Blade | 1 = 10 Death |
| Tent | 1 = 10 Curaga |
| Whisper | 1 = 50 Curaga |
| Wizard Stone | 1 = 5 Curaga |
| Holy Water | 1 = 2 Zombie |
| Zombie Powder | 1 = 20 Zombie |
Use[]
L Mag-RF is a great refiner ability to have, as on top of making restorative and resurrection spells, it makes Zombie, Death, and Holy. An easy way to get Curaga early both for junctioning as well as for healing is to buy Tents and turn them into Curagas with L Mag-RF. When junctioned to HP, the character can immediately have several thousand HP, a great early game boon. Another high tier restorative spell is Regen, easiest obtained by playing Triple Triad for Mesmerize cards and modifying them into Mesmerize Blades, and the blades again into Regen spells.
The other spells from L Mag-RF are also great. Death works especially well with ST-Atk-J, dispatching many regular enemies in one hit. Death is easily made from Chef's Knives, obtained from Tonberries and their cards. Full-life and Holy are the highest tier offerings from L Mag-RF, Full-life easiest made from Regen Rings, modified from 10 Chimera cards. As the ten-card requirement is steep and Chimera is a rare enemy to appear in random encounters for carding purposes, the best way to get Full-life from Regen Rings is likely from Toramas, though they are a late game enemy.
The player can even make Holy with L Mag-RF from Moon Stones, easiest obtained by mugging Elnoyles, however, by the time Elnoyles can be fought, the player may simply be able to draw the spell.