Limit Break (Final Fantasy XIV)

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FINAL FANTASY XIV - Break the Limit!

Official Shadowbringers LB3 exhibition.

Limit Break (リミットブレイク, Rimittobureiku?) is a party action in Final Fantasy XIV. When in a party of four or more, players will have access to the limit gauge, which gradually fills during the course of battle. When a limit gauge is full, the stored energy can be used to activate limit breaks. The limit break executed is determined by the role of the party member who initiates it. Limit breaks are available only to non-limited combat disciplines.

See also: Adrenaline Rush (Final Fantasy XIV)

Mechanics

Limit breaks have three levels, commonly referred to as LB1, LB2, and LB3; the more limit gauges are filled, the stronger the limit break. Light parties have access to one limit gauge, meaning they are only able to use Level 1 limit breaks when it is filled. A full party has two limit gauges. Reaching important bosses in a duty adds an extra limit gauge for a total of two gauges for light parties and three gauges for full parties. During duties which have a single boss and nothing else the extra gauge is unlocked by default. Level 3 limit breaks can only be performed with a job crystal equipped, and each job has a visually unique level 3 limit break.

All limit breaks are unaffected by abilities that reduce cast time, and when used have lengthy animations that prevent the user from moving, which can leave them vulnerable to area of effect (AoE) attacks. Limit breaks are unaffected by the global cooldown.

Damage

Damage dealing limit breaks scale with the combined item level of the party's main hand equipment slot rather than the individual who performed it. Limit Breaks do not deal physical or magical damage, instead using their own damage type. This damage cannot be a critical or direct hit, and is unaffected by any damage increasing effects caused by players. However, this damage may still be influenced by effects caused from outside factors, such as enemy-induced effects or environmental effects.

While old descriptions dating back to the release of A Realm Reborn gave specific potencies in the ability descriptions that can still be found in the game's data, these potencies cannot be viewed in-game, and the observable damage they deal in comparison to each other does not match the potencies given. The new physical ranged DPS limit breaks added in Heavensward do not even have any description or given potencies in the game's data. In addition, the unique damage mechanics used by limit breaks make their potencies incomparable to regular abilities. As a result, Limit Break potencies are essentially unknown, and all potencies on this page are instead given in how much damage they dealt relative to Braver, the melee LB1.

Gauge generation

Passive limit gauge generation

# of gauges	# of penalties
	0	1	2	3	4	5+
1	75
2	180
3	220	170	160	154	144	140

Each level of the limit gauge is comprised of 10,000 units, for a total of 30,000 across three gauges.

Passive

Limit gauges have a passive generation every 3 seconds that increases with each available limit gauge.

Some party compositions can cause penalties to passive gauge generation. Using non-standard party compositions will cause a penalty for each party member off the standard. For example, most 8-man duties have a standard composition of 2 tanks, 2 healers, and 4 DPS; using a party with 1 tank, 1 healer, and 6 DPS in one of these duties will cause two penalties. In addition, when participating in any duty classified as a high-end duty, having any duplicate jobs in the party will cause a penalty for each duplicate. This duplicate penalty does not apply to non-high-end duties.

Active

Active generation can occur when specific events happen during battle. The specifics of these events can vary from duty to duty, with a marked divide between content from before the release of Shadowbringers and those released after. Pre-Shadowbringers content still uses pre-Shadowbringers generation rules.

• Critical health recovery: Generates 200 units per gauge whenever a party member receives a direct heal from another party member at 10% HP or less. Pets such as Eos cannot generate gauge in this manner. In Shadowbringers content, this is reduced to 100 per gauge if the healing of from an AoE action, and healing actions used by non-healer roles (eg. Clemency) will not generate any gauge.
• Surviving lethal damage: Generates 500 units per gauge whenever a party member survives damage greater than their current HP, typically via barrier effects such as Manaward or effects such as Holmgang. In Shadowbringers content, this is reduced to 100 per gauge.
• Interrupts: Interrupting enemy casts can generate limit gauge, be it via dedicated interrupts like Interject or inflicting statuses such as Stun. The amount generated can vary depending on the duty or the action interrupted.
• Killing adds: Killing adds in boss encounters can generate a varying amount of units depending on the duty or the add killed.
• Encounter specific mechanics: Some encounters award varying amounts of units upon the successful completion of a particular mechanic or phase.

List of Limit Breaks

Tank

Tank limit breaks focus on drastically raising the defense and magic defense of the entire party for a short period of time. Typically only used when a large amount of party-wide damage is incoming, and its use is often planned ahead of time rather than spur of the moment.

Prior to patch 3.0, Last Bastion was used by all tank disciplines as their level 3 limit break.

Level	Ability	Job	Image	Cast	Animation lock	Range	Area	Status
1	Shield Wall			Instant	1.93s	—	50y radius	Shield Wall
				Reduces damage taken by all party members by 20%. Duration: 10s
2	Stronghold fka. Mighty Guard			Instant	3.86s	—	50y radius	Stronghold
				Reduces damage taken by all party members by 40%. Duration: 15s
3	Last Bastion			Instant	3.86s	—	50y radius	Last Bastion
	Land Waker			Reduces damage taken by all party members by 80%. Duration: 8s				Land Waker
	Dark Force							Dark Force
	Gunmetal Soul							Gunmetal Soul

Healer

Limit breaks for healer disciplines focus on restoring a percentage of HP to their allies. Their limit break is the only one to gain an additional function at level 3, as it can revive any KO'd allies. In duties where level 3 limit breaks are available, the limit break is often kept is reserve for use by healers at level 3 in case of emergencies. Healer limit breaks are rarely used for the actual healing provided, as there are few situations that require AoE healing so heavy that it can't be covered by normal spells. Level 1 and 2 healer limit breaks are thus rarely seen.

Unlike regular revives, party members revived by a level 3 limit break are revived instantly with no confirmation prompt and need to be prepared to act immediately, though it still applies the Transcendent status to provide invulnerability for 5s or until they act. The Weakness and Brink of Death statuses will not be applied, but their duration will be reset if players were already afflicted by them. KO'd party members are also revived with 100% MP, but no MP is restored to still-living party members. Healer limit breaks will also revive players where they fell rather than the healer's position, which can be a problem if a player died to an instant-death wall such as in The Binding Coil of Bahamut - Turn 5 as they will immediately die again without having an opportunity to move. The Transcendent status will not protect them from such effects.

Prior to patch 3.0, healer limit breaks were also used by physical ranged DPS disciplines, and Pulse of Life was used by all healer and physical ranged DPS disciplines as their level 3 limit break.

Level	Ability	Job	Image	Cast	Animation lock	Range	Area	Status
1	Healing Wind			2s	2.1s	—	30y radius	—
				Restores 25% of own HP and the HP of all nearby party members.
2	Breath of the Earth			2s	5.13s	—	30y radius	—
				Restores 60% of own HP and the HP of all nearby party members.
3	Pulse of Life			2s	8.1s	—	30y radius	Transcendent
	Angel Feathers			Restores 100% of own HP and the HP of all nearby party members, and revives KO'd party members with 100% HP and MP.
	Astral Stasis

Melee DPS

Limit breaks for melee DPS disciplines focus on dealing massive damage to a single enemy. Deals 1.67x the damage of an equivalent magic ranged limit break, or 1.85x the damage of a physical ranged limit break. Often used to push through the final stages of a boss encounter, where their greater potencies make them preferable over the ranged limit breaks.

Prior to patch 3.0, Final Heaven was used by all melee DPS disciplines as their level 3 limit break.

Level	Ability	Job	Image	Cast	Animation lock	Range	Area	Status
1	Braver			2s	3.86s	8y	—	—
				Delivers an attack to a single target.
2	Bladedance			3s	3.86s	8y	—	—
				Delivers an attack to a single target, dealing 2.2x the damage of Braver.
3	Final Heaven			4.5s	3.7s	8y	—	—
	Dragonsong Dive			Delivers an attack to a single target, dealing 3.5x the damage of Braver.
	Chimatsuri
	Doom of the Living

Physical ranged DPS

The physical ranged DPS limit breaks inflict heavy damage to enemies in a straight line originating from the user, requiring a target which determines the direction of the line. Deals 0.54x the damage of an equivalent melee limit break, or 0.9x the damage of a magic ranged limit break. Typically used to quickly eliminate large groups of enemies when chain pulling or during the add phase of a boss encounter. If no melee DPS is present, can also substitute for them against a single target.

Prior to patch 3.0, ranged physical DPS disciplines instead used the same limit breaks as healers.

Level	Ability	Job	Image	Cast	Animation lock	Range	Area	Status
1	Big Shot			2s	3.1s	30y	30y by 8y line	—
				Delivers an attack to all enemies in a line, dealing 0.54x the damage of Braver.
2	Desperado			3s	3.1s	30y	30y by 10y line	—
				Delivers an attack to all enemies in a line, dealing 1.17x the damage of Braver.
3	Sagittarius Arrow			4.5s	3.7s	30y	30y by 16y line	—
	Satellite Beam			Delivers an attack to all enemies in a line, dealing 1.89x the damage of Braver.
	Crimson Lotus

Magic ranged DPS

Caster limit breaks focus on dealing heavy damage to enemies in a target area. Deals 0.6x the damage of an equivalent melee limit break, or 1.11x the damage of a physical ranged limit break. Typically used to quickly eliminate large groups of enemies when chain pulling or during the add phase of a boss encounter. If no melee DPS is present, it can also substitute for them against a single target.

Prior to patch 3.0, Meteor was used by all magic ranged DPS disciplines as their level 3 limit break.

Level	Ability	Job	Image	Cast	Animation lock	Range	Area	Status
1	Skyshard			2s	3.1s	25y	8y radius	—
				Delivers an attack to all enemies in the target area, dealing 0.6x the damage of Braver.
2	Starstorm			3s	5.1s	25y	10y radius	—
				Delivers an attack to all enemies in the target area, dealing 1.3x the damage of Braver.
3	Meteor			4.5s	8.1s	25y	15y radius	—
	Teraflare			Delivers an attack to all enemies in the target area, dealing 2.1x the damage of Braver.
	Vermilion Scourge

Ungarmax

Ungarmax is a special limit break that is only available while running a command mission with an Adventurer Squadron. Using the Execute Limit Break squadron command will have the squadron members perform it. Ungarmax consumes only one limit bar, but requires all three squadron members to be conscious. There is no level 2 squadron limit break. Players can also execute the regular limit break of their current discipline instead of using Ungarmax.

Ungarmax was at one point the centerpiece of an exploit that allowed it to be used outside of Command Missions via the /ac Ungarmax text command due to a programming oversight when it was implemented in patch 4.1. The exploit went mostly undiscovered for over 5 months before news of it began to spread throughout the playerbase, with players finding that the significant damage boost it provided allowed it to outperform even level 3 limit breaks. In response the development team took down all servers for emergency maintenance to remove the exploit, punish players who had abused it, and to improve their anti-cheat measures.

Level	Ability	Cast	Range	Area	Status
1	Ungarmax	3s	14y	20y radius (buff only)	Damage Up
		Orders squadron to execute a limit break on a single target. Also increases damage dealt by party members within a 20-yalm range. Duration:15s Can only be executed while on a command mission, limit gauge is at level 1, and all three squadron members are conscious.

External links

• Limit break research from Allagan Studies, a theorycraft website dedicated to Final Fantasy XIV.