Shear

Shear
(魔防破壊, Mabō Hakai?, lit. Magic Break)
Availability
Obtained	Zodiac: Barheim Passage (The Zeviah Span) Original: Rabanastre (after Belias), Jahara, Nalbina Fortress (after Judge Bergan)
Required	Zodiac: Shear (50 LP) Original: Shear (35 LP)
Character(s)	Zodiac: Foebreaker, Archer, Time Battlemage (requires Zeromus) Original: All permanent party members
Classification
Type	Physical
Skillset	Technicks
Effect	Reduces enemy's Magick Resist stat. The effect stacks.
Specifications
Cast time	Zodiac: 40 CT Original: 45 CT
Range	Weapon's range
Hit rate	Zodiac: 70% Original: 33%

Lower one foe's magick resist.

Description

Shear is a Technick in Final Fantasy XII that attempts to lower an enemy's magick resistance, making them weak to magick damage, such as spells. The player can use it repeatedly on the same enemy.

Shear is purchased from mid-game shops in the original PlayStation 2 version, and is found in a mid game treasure in the Zodiac versions. In the original version, all player characters who have the License Board can activate it. In the Zodiac versions, it is used by certain jobs.

See also: Mental Break (ability)

Obtain

The license for Shear costs 35 License Points in the original PlayStation 2 version, where Shear is sold in Technicks shops in Rabanastre (after defeating Belias), Jahara, and Nalbina Fortress (after defeating Judge Bergan) for 3600 gil.

In the Zodiac versions, the Technick costs 50 LP and is found in Barheim Passage's Zeviah Span. This is the area accessed with the Barheim Key item, obtained from the patient in the desert / cactite family sidequest. The treasure for Shear always spawns in the south end of Zeviah Span, accessed from the area below, West Annex.

In the Zodiac versions, Shear can be used by Foebreaker, Archer, and Time Battlemage , though the latter requires Zeromus's license to reach it.

Mechanics

In the original PlayStation 2 version, Shear lowers any enemy's Defense stat by 10% with 33% base accuracy. In the Zodiac versions, Shear reduces any enemy's Defense by 10% plus 1 with 70% base accuracy.

$Success~Chance \%= Base~Chance + (User's~Level - Target's~Level)$

If the user's level exceeds the target's, the chance becomes:

$Success~Chance \% = 3 \times (User's~Level - Target's~Level)$ $+ Base~Chance$

The Technick still rarely works in weak mode in the Zodiac versions where the player is permanently on level 1, suggesting the accuracy cannot drop all the way to 0%.

The effects stacks when used repeatedly, potentially reducing the enemy's magick resistance to almost nothing, however, as the result is rounded up, the player cannot reduce the enemy's Magick Resist to 0 and the ability will reduce the stat less after every successful use. The effect does not expire and cannot be removed by any means as it is not a status effect but a stat decrease. Shear will miss if an enemy's Magick Resist has been reduced as far as it can go.

The Technick's range is the equipped weapon's range, meaning it can be used on flying targets when the user is equipped with a ranged weapon. Using it on sleeping targets wakes them up. As curative spells bypass the target's Magick Resist anyway, using Shear on undead enemies does not make them take more damage from cure spells.

Use

Shear could be useful against any enemy to increase damage against them. As the damage cap was removed for the Zodiac versions, Shear can be even more useful, though some enemies like Yiazmat have damage-reduction augments that are independent of their stats and thus Shear is largely wasted on them. Shear can be good against the flan-type Marks, like Orthros, which are best dealt with magick. Inflicting Shear on a target can increase poles' damage output against them.