Final Fantasy XIII

Final Fantasy XIII Logo

Status Effects

There are two different types of status effects in the game and various terms are used to describe them throughout this strategy guide:

  • Status Enhancements - Also referred to as positive buffs, positive spells or buffs.
  • Status Ailments - Also referred to as negative buffs, negative spells or debuffs.

When it comes to controlling your party members and their roles, Status Enhancements are generally cast by your Synergist Role IconSynergists on your party members and Status Ailments are cast by your Saboteur Role IconSaboteurs on enemy combatants.

Hope casting Faithra as a Synergist

Status Enhancements

Status enhancements can provide a wide range of benefits to your party members in battle. They may either be cast by a Synergist Role IconSynergist, equipping certain accessories that cast them or initiated through the use of an Shroud Item IconAegisol or Shroud Item IconFortisol. The impacts of these enhancements cannot be overstated and it’s important to cast them on your party members for many of the more difficult battles in the game.

Synergist Role IconSynergists can also cast Status Enhancements to counteract Status Ailments. For example, the status ailment of Debrave Ability IconDebrave, which will reduce a target’s physical attack power, can be countered by having the Synergist Role IconSynergist cast Bravery Ability IconBravery. Note as well that some enemies will cast status enhancements on themselves which will need to be Dispel Ability IconDispelled or counteracted.

Here is a list of the status enhancements you will encounter in Final Fantasy XIII:

Game Description Additional Details
Barfire Ability IconBarfire Raise target’s fire resistance.
Barfost Ability IconBarfrost Raise target’s ice resistance.
Barthunder Ability IconBarthunder Raise target’s lightning resistance.
Barwater Ability IconBarwater Raise target’s water resistance.
Bravera Ability IconBravera Significantly raise target’s Strength for a short time. Strength +75%
Bravery Ability IconBravery Raise target’s Strength. Strength +25%
Enfire Ability IconEnfire Add fire attribute to target’s COM, RAV, SEN, or SAB attacks.
Enfrost Ability IconEnfrost Add ice attribute to target’s COM, RAV, SEN, or SAB attacks.
Enthunder Ability IconEnthunder Add lightning attribute to target’s COM, RAV, SEN, or SAB attacks.
Enwater Ability IconEnwater Add water attribute to target’s COM, RAV, SEN, or SAB attacks.
Faith Ability IconFaith Raise target’s Magic. Magic +25%
Faithra Ability IconFaithra Significantly raise target’s Magic for a short time. Magic +75%
Haste Ability IconHaste Accelerate target’s ATB Gauge recharge rate. ATB Gauge refill rate +50%
Protect Ability IconProtect Raise target’s physical resistance. Physical Resistance +33%
Protectra Ability IconProtectra Significantly raise target’s physical resistance for a short time. Physical Resistance +50%
Shell Ability IconShell Raise target’s magic resistance. Magical Resistance +33%
Shellra Ability IconShellra Significantly raise target’s magic resistance for a short time. Magical Resistance +50%
Veil Ability IconVeil Raise target’s status ailment resistance.
Vigilance Ability IconVigilance Boost target’s odds of interrupting actions and avoiding interruption of own.

Status Ailments

Status ailments impact enemies and party members by making them more susceptible to various game mechanics (weaker to physical attacks, damage from Poison, unable to take certain actions, etc.). These ailments can greatly increase the effectiveness of your party members against enemies that are afflicted with them, but they can also have a highly detrimental effect on your party members if they are hit with any by an enemy.

Saboteur Role IconSaboteurs can be used to load up enemies with status ailments and, once Passive Ability IconLibra has been used to expose an enemy’s weaknesses to status ailments, the Saboteur Role IconSaboteur will focus on debuffs that will have the largest impact in battle.

Note that every party member and enemy has a chance to resist status ailments that are cast on them, which means that a Saboteur Role IconSaboteur may need to cast them a few times in order for them to be properly applied.

Here are the status ailments available in the game and their impact:

Game Description Additional Details
Curse Ability IconCurse Lower target’s odds of interrupting actions and avoiding interruption of own.
Curse Ability IconCursega Render targets within a wide radius interruption-prone and deal magic damage.
Daze Ability IconDaze Stun target, rendering it vulnerable, and deal magic damage. Stuns the target until they are hit again.
Daze Ability IconDazega Stun and deal magic damage within a wide radius. Stuns the target until they are hit again.
Death Ability IconDeath Slay target instantly, dealing magic damage instead if unsuccessful. Has a low chance to instantly kill the target (1%).
Debrave Ability IconDebrave Reduces target’s physical power.
Defaith Ability IconDefaith Reduces target’s magic power.
Deprotect Ability IconDeprotect Reduce target’s physical resistance and deal magic damage. Decreases resistance to physical damage by 89%.
Deprotect Ability IconDeprotega Reduce physical resistance and deal magic damage within a wide radius. Decreases resistance to physical damage by 89%.
Deshell Ability IconDeshell Reduce target’s magic resistance and deal magic damage. Decreases resistance to magical damage by 89%.
Dispel Ability IconDispel Reduce magic resistance and deal magic damage within a wide radius. Decreases resistance to magical damage by 89%.
Fog Ability IconFog Remove target’s most recent status enhancement and deal magic damage.
Fog Ability IconFog Disable target’s spell-casting abilities and deal magic damage.
Imperil Ability IconImperil Disable enemy spell casting and deal magic damage within a wide radius.
Imperil Ability IconImperilga Reduce target’s elemental resistances and deal magic damage.
Pain Ability IconPain Reduce elemental resistances and deal magic damage within a wide radius.
Pain Ability IconPainga Disable target’s physical abilities and deal magic damage.
Poison Ability IconPoison Disable enemy physical abilities and deal magic damage within a wide radius.
Poison Ability IconPoisonga Poison target and deal magic damage. Deals 1% damage every 3 seconds.
Slow Ability IconSlow Poison and deal magic damage to targets within a wide radius. Reduces the ATB Gauge fill rate by 50%.
Slow Ability IconSlowga Reduce ATB Gauge recharge rate and deal magic damage within a wide radius. Reduces the ATB Gauge fill rate by 50%.