Reduces the enemy's Magic Def.
Description
Mental Break is a Swd Art in Final Fantasy IX used by Steiner to attempt to halve an enemy's Magic Defense per successful use for a cost of 8 MP.
Obtained[]
Mental Break is learned for 45 AP from Ice Brand and Gold Helm. Ice Brand is stolen from Beatrix in Cleyra and Alexandria Castle, found in the Alexandria Castle, and bought from shops afterward. However, Steiner is not a permanent party member until the party has the Blue Narciss. Gold Helm is bought from shops after the party returns from the Outer Continent.
Mechanics[]
Mental Break attempts to halve the enemy's Magic Defense per use. It has a 50% base accuracy, but successive uses on the same enemy stack, greatly weakening the foe. It works on any enemy and the effect cannot be dispelled once inflicted, as the effect is a stat reduction rather than a status effect.
Use[]
Mental Break makes an enemy more susceptible to magical damage, such as Vivi's Blk Mag and Dagger and Eiko's eidolons. Though the stat reduction is formidable, Break moves' downside is that Steiner is one of the party's strongest damage-dealers, and Mental Break would use his turn for something other than offense, and it may miss. Though successive moves will do increased damage to the target, if Steiner had used all his moves for dealing damage, the player could have ended up with a faster battle. Vivi, Dagger, and Eiko can also a lot of the time target an enemy's elemental weakness or use Elem-Atk gear, dealing increased damage without needing Mental Break.
In battles where the player is "idling" while waiting for Zidane to steal all goods on offer, Steiner's Break moves may come to use: they weaken the enemy, but do not kill it off.
Instead of using Mental Break, the player could use Quina's LV3 Def-less on enemies that are susceptible (these include Ozma and the final boss); though the effect may not be as great per individual turn, it will target both the enemy's Defense and Magic Defense, never misses, and will stack like Mental and Armor Break.
Behind the scenes[]
Mental Break originates from the Rend-type abilities used by Knights from Final Fantasy Tactics, though one that disables the target's Magick Power does not feature due to the ability destroying equipment. After appearing in Final Fantasy IX, the Break abilities went on to appear as much more useful abilities in Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy XII. The debuffs in Final Fantasy XIII could also be seen as being in the same continuation.