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Magic Defense (魔防, Ma Bōgyo?), also known as Magic Resistance, Resistance, M.Def., Mag.Def, and Magic def, is a recurring stat that is used to determine how resistant a character is to Magic attacks. The higher the Magic Defense, the less Magical damage a character will take. Magic Defense can be increased by the positive status effect, Shell. Some magical attacks are piercing attacks and ignore Magic Defense.
Magic Defense often correlates with the unit's Magic stat. For example, Black and White Mages, with their high Magic stat, often have an excelling Magic Defense stat while physical attackers have poor Magic Defense. Magic Defense can be interchanged with Spirit in some games.
Appearances[]
Final Fantasy[]
Magic Defense is an invisible stat for characters, but can be viewed for monsters in the bestiary. It mitigates damage from magic and enemy abilities, as well as lowering the chance of status afflictions from spells.
Every character grows Magic Defense at a set value per level as determined by their class. This differs between versions.
| Class | NES/Origins | Dawn Of Souls onward[note 1] |
|---|---|---|
| Warrior | 3 | 2 / 3 |
| Thief | 2 | 2 / 3 |
| Monk | 4 / 1[note 2] | 1 / 2 |
| W. Mage | 2 | 4 / 5 |
| B. Mage | 2 | 4 / 5 |
| R. Mage | 2 | 3 / 3 |
- ↑ Left value is amount gained per level by base class, while the right value is amount gained by the corresponding advanced class. e.g. Warriors initially gain 2 points per level up. However, after class-changing to Knights, they gain 3 points per level up.
- ↑ Due to a bug, the Master gains only 1 MDEF per level, compared to the Monk at 4 MDEF per level.
Magic spells and enemy abilities make an accuracy check against the target's Magic Defense. If it misses, the spell will either deal less damage (reduction amount differs between versions) or fail to afflict its status effect.
From Dawn of Souls onward, if the target of a damage spell is a player character, damage is always reduced by a fraction. The reduction is determined by how much Magic Defense the character has.
- If Magic Defense > 200, reduce damage by half
- If 200 >= Magic Defense > 100, reduce damage by a quarter
- If Magic Defense <= 100, reduce damage by an eighth
Final Fantasy II[]
Magic Defense reduces the damage magic and enemy abilities inflict on the target. It is also responsible for avoiding status afflictions, or reducing or avoiding the effects of debilitating spells.
Magic Defense is split into a number and a percentage value. The Magic Defense number (the left value on the stat screen) determines how many hits of magic can be avoided and the percentage (the right value on the stat screen) indicates the chance that a magic hit is avoided. Magic Defense is capped at 16 - 99%.
Magic Defense level can be increased by being targeted by enemy spells. Only the Magic Defense hit count can be levelled, while the percentage is determined by other stats and the currently equipped armor.
The formula for Magic Defense percentage is:
Magic Defense hit count can be temporarily increased in battle via the Shell spell, which can stack up to 255. However, if the target's Magic Defense is at 16 or higher, or if the target's Magic Defense dodge chance is 0%, the Shell buff will have no meaningful effect in battle.
Final Fantasy III[]
This section in Final Fantasy III is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.Final Fantasy IV[]
The base Magic Defense equals to the sum of all armor equipped. The Unequipped sections which includes armor, helmet, armlets, have a magic defense value of 0.
Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-[]
The base Magic Defense equals to the sum of all armor equipped. The Unequipped sections which includes armor, helmet, armlets, have a magic defense value of 0.
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years[]
Magic Defense is determined by the armor the character has equipped.
Final Fantasy V[]
Resistance (also called Magic Defense) is an equipment statistic and represents the character's resistance to magical damage. Magic Defense is ignored if the target is weak against the attacking element, or when the spell cures the target.
Robes have the best Magic Defense, with the Robe of Lords and Black Robe being the best. Most shields don't have any Magic Defense, apart from the Genji Shield and the elemental shields.
Final Fantasy VI[]
Magic Defense (also called Mag.Def) is an equipment statistic and represents the character or enemies' resistance to magical damage. It operates identically to defense for a different type of damage, factoring in negatively into the ultimate total damage in the damage modification of the calculation at the end.
The +1 at the end ensures that an attack never deals 0 damage, and can always only deal 1.
Many magic attacks, such as Ultima, are set to ignore Magic Defense and will deal full damage, skipping the above modification. Special equipment pieces have the best Magic Defense, the best being the Reed Cloak, which only works if the character wearing it is an Imp.
Other equipment that offer high Magic Defense are Snow Scarf (Umaro's equipment, but Gau and Mog can use it as well), the Force Shield, the Minerva Bustier, the creature suits for Strago and Relm, and the Genji Armor.
Final Fantasy VII[]
Magic def is an equipment statistic. This, coupled with the Spirit stat, is meant to reduce damage by magic attacks suffered by the wearer. However, due to a bug, this stat was ineffective until it was fixed in the 2012 PC re-release (the mobile and PlayStation 4 versions are also based on this version). The only way to reduce magic damage in the original PlayStation and PC versions is to increase the Spirit stat.
At 255 Magic Defense, all damage from magical attacks is nearly halved.
Formula for Magic def:
Final Fantasy IX[]
Magic Defense is an equipment statistic and represents the target's resistance against magical attacks. If the attack heals the target (absorbs the damage due to absorbing the element or because it is a curative spell), or deals random damage (Comet and Meteor) Magic Defense is ignored. Gravity spells use a different damage formula that don't factor in Magic Defense.
Steiner's Mental Break can halve a target's Magic Defense and can be used repeatedly. Hats and armlets give the most Magic Defense. The Tin Armor is the only heavy armor with good Magic Defense.
Final Fantasy X[]
Magic Defense determines resistance to magical attacks. The party members gain Magic Defense by activating Magic Defense nodes on the Sphere Grid. Lulu gets the best Magic Defense from her path on the grid, but eventually, every character is able to traverse any path. The player can use Magic Def Spheres to attain higher stats; the spheres can be obtained by fighting One-Eye in the Monster Arena.
The Magic Defense+??% auto-abilities on a character's armor do not affect their Magic Defense stat. Rather, they directly reduce the magical damage taken from attacks.
Auron's Mental Break ability reduces Magic Defense to zero, and some enemies can also use it against the player party. Lulu's Focus ability cuts damage that Magic Defense is considered in by 1/15th each time, and can be stacked up to five times.
Aeons have their separate stats that increase in conjunction with Yuna's, but the player can also boost them manually, and the stats also gradually increase when the player fights battles (any battles count). Of all the aeons, Ixion has the highest base Magic Defense, whereas Ifrit has the lowest.
Final Fantasy X-2[]
The characters' Magic Defense acts as defense to magical attacks and depends on which dressphere the character is equipping. White Mage has the highest Magic Defense, whereas Berserker has the lowest. Magic Defense can also be boosted by equipping accessories and using Garment Grids that grant stat boosts.
The color for the Magic Defense gauge in the menu is pink.
Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission[]
This section in Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.Final Fantasy XII[]
Magick Resist determines the rate of resisting damage from offensive spells and physical attacks from poles. It is determined by the headgear the character is wearing. Light Armor headgear have slightly better Magick Resist than Heavy Armor helms. The Technick Shear lowers the target's Magick Resist by 10% and it can be used repeatedly. No opponent is immune to it, but its base accuracy is only 33%.
Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings[]
Magick Defense is an equipment statistic and determines the rate of resisting damage from magickal attacks. Kytes and Ashe get the best Magick Defense in their armors, whereas Balthier's Magick Defense is the lowest. The Espers have their own MDef stats. Zodiark has the best MDef of all the Espers.
Final Fantasy XIII[]
By combining equipment, the characters can activate the Magic Wall synthesis effect that allows the character to take X less damage from magical attacks. For example 5 Magic Wall means it will take off the first 5 points of Magic damage the character takes, each hit. The highest Magic Wall is 30.
Final Fantasy XIV[]
Magic defense reduces damage taken by magical attacks. While mages tend to have more than physical DPS classes, tank classes exceed them both.
Final Fantasy Tactics[]
The characters do not have a Magic Defense stat. Damage is calculated based on a formula for each attack. When armor is equipped, it increases the character's max HP, and possibly how often they evade attacks, but not a stat that reduces damage like a "Magic Defense" stat would.
However, there are effects that increase a character's resistance to attacks and thus increase their "Magic Defense". An example is the Shell spell, and damage can be greatly reduced based on the character's Zodiac Compatibility.
Final Fantasy Legend III[]
The higher the number for M.Def., the greater the ability of the character to defend itself against damage by magic attacks.
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time[]
This section in Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.Final Fantasy Dimensions[]
This section in Final Fantasy Dimensions is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.