Change Attack to Mug
Description
Mug is both a support ability and a command ability in Final Fantasy VIII: the character who junctions the Guardian Force that has the support ability learned can equip Mug to change their Attack command to the Mug command, allowing them to steal items from opponents when damaging them with normal attacks; there is no base Steal ability. The reason Mug is learned as a support ability even if it is not a passive ability in practice is because it is not equipped in the command window, but instead replaces the Attack command.
Obtained[]
Mug is learned by Diablos and Bahamut for 200 AP. It is a decent idea to use the Magical Lamp at the earliest (get it from Headmaster Cid at the Timber mission briefing) and then set Mug as one of the first abilities for Diablos to master; however, 200 AP is a steeper AP requirement than most abilities need.
Bahamut is a late game GF, obtainable from the secret island in the corner of the world map once the player has a flying transport.
A quick way to AP-grind once the player has a means to traverse all of the world map is against the Cactuars in Kashkabald Desert.
If the player removes Mug with Amnesia Greens, there is no way to get it back.
Mechanics[]
If an enemy is mugged, it does not drop items after the battle, but does not affect card drops or special drops that are always received after certain battles. Due to the level scaling system, most enemies actually give worse items when mugged instead of defeating them normally and obtaining item drops. For example, Elnoyle at high tier (level 30+) drops Energy Crystals, but mugging from it only yields Moon Stones, same as the low tier (level 1–19) version.
The formula for Mug to steal is as follows:
MugDifficulty is often 128 or higher, meaning a base Mug% of 50% or higher, which is further increased by the character's Spd.
Enemies have four item "slots" in the game data and the item one obtains via Mug depends on which slot the character steals from. The lower slots contain common items, whereas higher slots usually contain better/rare items. If the character successfully mugs an enemy, the game decides which item slot's item the player gets by utilizing the random number generator (random value between 0 and 255).
- If (rnd < 178) Slot = 0[1]
- else if (rnd < 229) Slot = 1
- else if (rnd < 244) Slot = 2
- else Slot = 3
- else if (rnd < 244) Slot = 2
- else if (rnd < 229) Slot = 1
| Item Slot | Chance |
|---|---|
| Slot 0 | 178/256 69.5% |
| Slot 1 | 51/256 20% |
| Slot 2 | 15/256 5.8% |
| Slot 3 | 12/256 4.7% |
If the player has the Rare Item party ability in effect, the probabilities are modified. Since it is impossible to get a value higher than 255 on the random number generator, it is impossible to get an item from Slot 3 with Rare Item equipped, which means, counter-intuitively, Rare Item might prevent the player from obtaining the rarest items.
- if (rnd < 128) Slot = 0[1]
- else if (rnd < 242) Slot = 1
- else if (rnd < 261) Slot = 2
- else Slot = 3
- else if (rnd < 261) Slot = 2
- else if (rnd < 242) Slot = 1
| Item Slot | Chance |
|---|---|
| Slot 0 | 128/256 50% |
| Slot 1 | 114/256 44.5% |
| Slot 2 | 14/256 5.5% |
| Slot 3 | 0/256 0% |
Although Biggs (1), Wedge (1), Elvoret, and X-ATM092 have muggable items, they cannot be obtained in a normal playthrough due to the Mug ability not being available when these enemies are fought.
The player's own party members will not yield any items if Mug is used against them. Squall's critical hit still depends on the player timing 
.
Use[]
Mug is a good way to amass more items for refining and weapon remodeling. Drop items may be preferable to mugged items, and also received in greater quantities, but an enemy may not drop something every time whereas the player can keep mugging until it succeeds. However, it is difficult to prevent an enemy from dying from Mug, as there is no way to steal without doing damage in Final Fantasy VIII. The player could use a character without STR-J junctions to do minimal damage if this is a concern, or junction elemental spells the targets absorb to the mugger's Elem-Atk-J and also use Spd-J and Spd+%, if available, to improve success.
Regular enemies' item spoils depend on their level, and their levels are determined by the player party's average level. LV Up and LV Down can be used to manipulate regular enemies' levels freely, abilities known by GF Tonberry.
Notable mugs include:
- Bomb Spirit as a rare mug from a high level Bomb.
- Laser Cannon from a high level Elastoid, but as Elastoid is an early game enemy the player would need to grind levels to get them to yield Laser Cannons, which is generally ill-advised in Final Fantasy VIII as players can gain the ability to augment their stat growth as they level up down the line with GF stat bonus abilities.
- Heros and Holy Wars from Seifer almost every time he is fought.
- Elixir from the main boss at the Deling City parade as it has no other item spoils.
- Biggs and Wedge yield GF ability items when mugged in D-District Prison, and drop healing items otherwise.
- Stat boost items from the color-changing Left Orb and Right Orb on NORG's throne, and a Circlet from NORG himself.
- Adamantine from BGH251F2 in Fishermans Horizon.
- Power Generator as a rare mug from Blitz, needed to teach Quistis Ray-Bomb.
- Luck-J Scroll from Odin in Centra Ruins optional dungeon.
- Raijin in Balamb Town gives the same Str Up items as mugs and drops but the player can get two if they mug. Fujin, who soon accompanies him, might give Hero when mugged, or Megalixirs, same as her drop item.
- Spd-J Scroll from Cerberus optional boss in mobile Galbadia Garden.
- Royal Crown from the main boss in Battle of the Gardens, which is better than the Force Armlet that drops otherwise.
- Stat boost items from Mobile Type 8's probes, which have no drop items.
- Eight Megalixirs from a targetable part and a Samantha Soul from the main boss right after the point of no return, as due to a programming oversight, this boss battle gives no other spoils. Mugging the other target for the Megalixirs in this battle is risky, however, as if the target perishes the battle is lost.
- An Elixir from Sphinxaur, who lacks any other item spoils.
- Curse Spikes from Tri-Faces as they might yield other items as drops and collecting 100 Curse Spikes makes the rare item Dark Matter.
The bosses and enemies the player should not mug:
- High level Elnoyles drop Energy Crystals needed for modeling ultimate weapons but give Moon Stones when mugged.
- Jumbo Cactuar has Cactus Thorns for mugging, a basic item, but drops a Gaea's Ring.
- Raijin in Lunatic Pandora drops stat boost items but yields a Power Wrist when mugged, an item readily enough available from Esthar City Pet Shop at this point.
Ultima Weapon's drop item, 100 Ultima Stones, may be considered better than his mug item, Three Stars. The player can decide if they want 100 Ultimas (refined from the Ultima Stones) or 100 Triples (refined from the Three Stars) as the reward, as the ability from Three Stars is not particularly useful (spend 1 spell when triplecasting).