Sphere (Final Fantasy XI)

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'''Spheres''' in ''[[Final Fantasy XI]]'' are a battle element that bestows beneficial status effects upon players as long as they are within a certain radius of the player or friendly monster that has the sphere effect; however, the sphere effect's benefit does not extend to the one who generates it. The bestowed status does not wear off with time, but it does wear off quickly once removed from the sphere's radius. Unlike buffs from other sources, sphere-bestowed buffs do not display messages in the log window when being inflicted or wearing off, and there is no visual indication that a player or friendly monster is providing a sphere.

Sphere-type effects were first added to the game with the ''[[Final Fantasy XI: Wing of the Goddess|Wings of the Goddess]]'' expansion, where they are bestowed by [[Mantelet]]s—temporary defensive structures erected on [[Campaign]] battlegrounds that grant [[Refresh (status)|Refresh]], [[Regen (status)|Regen]], and [[Regain]] statuses to allied troops until the Mantelet is destroyed. The [[Beastmen]] also can erect their own Mantelets, which bestow their benefits to the beastman armies instead of players. The Campaign Freelancer [[Pixie (Final Fantasy XI)|Titania]] also has a sphere that grants allied players a strong Regain.

Later, the [[Summoner (Final Fantasy XI)|Summoner]] job ability [[Avatar's Favor]] was added, which gives the (Avatar name)'s Favor status with varying effects depending on the specific avatar.

Eventually, the addition of [[Voidwatch]] gave players access to [[Pulse Panoplia|rare special glowing armor]] that bestowed the [[Ensphere]] status for various stat boosts such as +Haste or +Critical Hit Rate depending on the specific armor. Furthermore, [[Atmacite]] usable during Voidwatch operations could give players even more powerful Ensphere effects such as Refresh or Auto-Reraise.

Soon afterwards, the [[Trial of the Magians]] allowed players to, with immense effort, upgrade [[Relic Weapon (equipment)|relic]], [[Mythic Weapon|mythic]], or [[Empyrean Weapon|empyrean]] weapons and shields to glow and gain a sphere effect called [[Afterglow]].

Spheres are conceptually very similar to the effects of enhancing-type [[Geomancer (Final Fantasy XI)|geomancy]], but the effects of Geomancy affect the Geomancer (although not his Luopan). The opposite of a sphere is an [[Aura (Final Fantasy XI)|Aura]].

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