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FFIX Death

Death in Final Fantasy IX.

Nice knowing you!

Lulu upon casting Death, Final Fantasy X

Death (デス, Desu?), also known as Fatal, Reaper, or Doom, is a recurring Black Magic spell from the Final Fantasy series that inflicts Instant Death on its target. Death is also often referred to as the status effect of KO, or having zero HP.

Death, typically, is easy to resist and usually results in a miss. There are other forms of Death used by enemies, e.g. Level 3 Death or Level 5 Death will kill any character that has a level divisible by the set number. The level-specific variants are generally very accurate or 100% accurate when the conditions for their application are met.

In most games, the spell's special effect is represented by the personification of death, known as the Grim Reaper.

In the modern series, using Death on an undead creature has no effect and it may even fully replenish the undead target's health.

Appearances[]

Final Fantasy[]

Black Mage - RUB

Instantly kills one foe.

Description

Death (RUB on the NES or Reaper in Final Fantasy Origins) is a level 6 Black Magic spell, which attempts to inflict Instant Death on a single enemy.

It has a low success rate, but there is an upgraded version called Kill. Evil Eye, Death Eye, Astos, Dark Wizard, and Marilith are capable of casting the spell.

The spell can be bought at Crescent Lake and can be learned by the Black Mage and Black Wizard job classes. It can also be cast from the Deathbringer. In the Dawn of Souls, 20th Anniversary Edition and mobile releases, it costs 30 MP to cast.

Final Fantasy II[]

Kills foes instantly.

Description

Death (Doom in Origins) is a Black Magic spell which attempts to inflict Instant Death on one or all enemies. The success rate increases with the spell's level. Any character can learn Death by having them use the Death Tome (Doom Scroll in Origins).

Death Tome
Effect Allows the target to learn Death when used outside of battle. Casts Death VIII when used in battle.
Buy Jade Passage
Find Fynn Castle
Drop Sorcerer
Cost 10,000 gil (all releases)

Death VIII can be used by Imperial Shadow and Sorcerer, while Death XVI is used exclusively by Astaroth.

Final Fantasy III[]

Death is a level 8 Black Magic spell that can be bought in Eureka for 60,000 gil. It inflicts Instant Death on one enemy with a 35% success rate, and can also be cast through the item Black Musk. The enemies Qumqum and Echidna can use the spell against the party.

Final Fantasy IV[]

Causes Death.

Description
FFIV Death

Death in Final Fantasy IV (GBA).

Death (Fatal on the SNES) is a Black Magic spell that attempts to cause Instant Death for 35 MP. It has a casting time of 5. It is learned by Rydia at level 52 (level 55 in 3D versions) and Palom at level 46. It has an accuracy of 60% in 2D versions (30% accuracy in 3D versions). Both Dark Sage and Blood Eye can cast the spell.

In the Easy Type version, the casting time was reduced to 2.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-[]

Death is a Black Magic spell that inflicts Instant Death to one or all enemies at the cost of 35 MP. It is learned by the impostor Rydia (level 52) and Palom (level 46).

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years[]

Death costs 35 MP to cast, and is learned by Rydia (level 55), Palom (level 47), and Fusoya (default).

Final Fantasy V[]

Effect sprite in Final Fantasy V.

Death (also called Doom) is a level 6 Black Magic purchased at Phantom Village for 10,000 gil. It attempts to inflict Instant Death on one target, and it costs 29 MP to cast. It can be used by Alchymia, Aquathorn, Carbuncle, Black Warlock, Exdeath's Soul, Fury, Necrophobe, and Archeodemon.

The player can also use Death by catching and releasing a Mani Wizard, Tonberry, or Aquathorn. Death is one of the spells that can be cast from the Wonder Wand for free.

Death is stopped by the target's Death immunity, but works on Heavy enemies that are not immune to Death. Death fully heals the undead.

Final Fantasy VI[]

Death Magic from FFVI Pixel Remaster

Death from Final Fantasy VI (Pixel Remaster).

Death (also called Doom) is an Attack spell that attempts to cause Instant Death for 35 MP. It is learned from the esper Catoblepas at a rate of x2. It is a vital part of the infamous Vanish-Doom bug. It has a 95 hit rate and is vulnerable to Runic. The Soul Sabre and Death Tarot weapons have it as an Added Ability.

It can be used by Level 50 Magic, Magic Master, Death Rider, Death Machine, Necromancer, Death Warden, and Behemoth King (Undead).

Final Fantasy VII[]

The spell Death is learned on the Destruct Materia. It attempts to inflict Instant Death on one target. It requires 10,000 AP to learn and 30 MP to cast, and has accuracy of 44%. The Instant Death effect can be added to physical attacks with Added Effect.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-[]

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Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-[]

Death can be obtained from various missions and monsters, as well as in Materia Fusion by fusing a mastered Stop Materia with Libra, or Poison with any DMW Materia. It attempts to inflict Instant Death on a target at the cost of 18 MP.

Final Fantasy VIII[]

Concept art of the Grim Reaper by Tetsuya Nomura.

When cast in battle, Death attempts to inflict Instant Death upon one enemy. It is one of the best spells to junction onto the Luck stat, although it may be wiser to junction the spell onto ST-Atk-J or ST-Def-J to cause or protect against Instant Death respectively (ST-Atk-J is particularly useful; if one Junctions 100 Death spells to it, any enemy without an innate immunity to Death can be killed in one hit). While few enemies hold the Death spell for the player to draw from, it can be manufactured from many refinery items.

Casting Death in battle increases compatibility with Doomtrain by 1, but lowers compatibility with Carbuncle by 0.2.

Final Fantasy IX[]

Death is a Black Magic spell used by Vivi. It is taught through the Black Hood, costs 20 MP to cast, and takes 45 AP to learn. It has a 35% base accuracy before Vivi's stats and the enemy's level are taken into account. It can be reflected and works with Return Magic. It can be used by Lich, Ozma, Whale Zombie and Ash.

Final Fantasy X[]

FFX Death

Death in Final Fantasy X.

Death is the second-to-last black magic spell learned along Lulu's basic Sphere Grid path. It attempts to kill one target, and it costs 20 MP. Lulu can cast multiple Death spells with her Overdrive, Fury.

An upgraded version called Mega Death (オーバーデス, Ōbā Desu?, lit. Over Death) is used by Yunalesca, which inflicts Instant Death on all characters who are not afflicted with the Zombie status, or have Deathproof in their armor. Anima also has a similar ability called Pain.

Death can also be cast with the Use item Farplane Shadow and Farplane Wind.

Final Fantasy X-2[]

Death is part of the Arcana skillset used by the Dark Knight dressphere, but can also be used through the Bitter Farewell Garment Grid or while equipped with the Mortal Shock accessory.

Death can also be used through Yuna's Festivalist ability Ultima Sandals. It requires Doom to be mastered and 50 AP to master for it to be used by Dark Knights, and costs 24 MP to cast. For enemies, the spell is exclusive to the Precepts Guard.

Final Fantasy XI[]

Death
MP All
Effect Consumes all MP. Has a chance to knock out the target. If Death fails to knock out the target, it will instead deal darkness damage. Ineffective against undead.
Duration
Casting Time 4 seconds
Recast Time 180 seconds
Magic Type Dark Magic
Element Dark
Jobs BLM 99

Death is a spell available to Black Mages at level 99 after spending 1200 JP on the job. It consumes all of the caster's MP and attempts to inflict Instant Death. If the effect fails, the target instead takes Darkness elemental damage proportional to the MP consumed. Most undead enemies resist this.

Death is more readily available to enemies, though mostly the more powerful or rare ones. It is cast by the Dark Rider, megaboss statues of Dynamis, and Angra Mainyu, the megaboss of Dynamis—Beaudcedine, generally in conjunction with Chain Spell. Death, is usually unavoidable and causes instant KO, but there are means of resisting the spell. The Shadow Ring item obtained from Dynamis Lord offers resistance to Death. The Flawless Ribbon also resists death.

Final Fantasy XII[]

FFXII Death

Death in Final Fantasy XII.

In the original version, Death is an Arcane Magick 5 license that requires 60 License Points, and uses 30 MP. It can be bought in Rabanastre, Nalbina, and Phon Coast for 5,200 gil.

In the Zodiac versions, Death is an Arcane Magick 2 license. It costs 50 LP and 30 MP, and is obtained from a treasure in Paramina Rift's Karydine Glacier. This magick is only available for the Red Battlemage job class.

Death's base success rate is 35% in the original version and 50% in the Zodiac, but it is also affected by the caster's Magick Power and the target's Vitality. Zalera's skill Kill has the same effect as Death with a 100% hit rate. As with Death, enemies with Safety passive ability are immune to Instant Death.

Prime Level Death is also a skill used by Zalera as a boss, inflicting instant death upon party members whose levels are prime numbers. Presumably, the only levels at which all such spells may be avoided are 49, 77, and 91 as there are no spells relating to multiples of 7, 11, or 13.

Final Fantasy XIII[]

Death is Vanille's full ATB skill and acts in a similar way to a Limit Break. It deals up to 99,999 HP damage (but can break the damage limit with a Genji Glove) and has a 1% chance of inflicting Instant KO. This is increased by an additional 1% for each status ailment the target is afflicted with. The Saboteur role bonus will also increase the success rate.

Death is not classified as a debuffing spell, so its chances of hitting cannot be directly boosted with the passive ability, Improved Debuffing, found in Vanille's Belladonna and Malboro Wands (the improved status chances do add that additional 1% as the statuses and debuffs land more easily thereby increasing Death's chances to land albeit indirectly)

. The success rate is also unaffected by chain bonus, in contrast to other Saboteur abilities. Unlike other full ATB skills, Death will not delay the end of a stagger period, and it can benefit from Enspells. Like Last Resort, Death will not keep an enemy alive at 1 HP during the animation.

Death is also used by the Sacrifice Cie'th in Eden and Orphan's Cradle, and the final boss can use an attack called Progenitorial Wrath that attempts to instantly kill a player, in the same way as Death. The chance of this happening can be lowered by equipping Cherub's and Seraph's Crowns (they do not stack, however).

Final Fantasy XIV[]

Death itself is not an action available to the Warrior of Light in regular duties, however variations of the spell are available to them within adventuring forays as limited actions.

Within eureka, the Warrior of Light can use Death L Death L as a logos action, obtained from combining mnemes found within logograms. Once set in an array it can be used as a duty action. Death L has 30 uses and has a chance of instantly KOing enemies, though the success rate increases as the enemies health decreases.

Within save the queen areas, they can use Lost Death Lost Death as a lost action extracted from mnemes found within forgotten fragments. Used as a duty action, Lost Death has 10 uses and has a chance of instantly KOing enemies, with the chances increasing as their health is lowered. Additionally, Lost Death's chances of success are increased when under the effect of Spirit of the Ordained Spirit of the Ordained.

Among NPCs and enemies Death as an action is more common, though it most notably features as variations:

Death of the Seventh Dawn (サイオンズ・デス, Saionzu Desu?, lit. Scion's Death) is an action used by party member Urianger as part of the trust system. While in the instanced Dungeon Dungeons he will occasionally cast the spell on regular enemies, instantly KOing them. He will not use the spell on bosses and will always target the enemy with the lowest HP.

A variation on Death, called Mega Death (オーバーデス, Ōbā Desu?, lit. Over Death) is used by the Voidsent Forgall as a boss in the weeping city of mhach. Mega Death will kill anyone who is not suffering from Gradual Zombification Gradual Zombification.

Another variant of Death, called Void Death (ヴォイド・デス, Voido Desu?) is cast by Deathgaze Hollow in Dun Scaith Dun Scaith. It will draw all Alliance members in and anyone caught in the spell will instantly be killed.

Deathgaze Hollow also uses another variant, called Void Death IV (ヴォイド・デスジャ, Voido Desuja?, lit. Void Deathja), which will create dark square on the arena which will eventually trigger and kill anyone standing on them.

Yet another Death variant, Advanced Death IV (強化デスジャ, Kyōka Desuja?, lit. Enchanced Deathja) is used by the Diablo Armament within the dalriada, creating multiple spots that will expand and trigger all who stand upon them to die, before spawning even more.

Final Fantasy XV[]

Enemy killed by Death spell in FFXV

An enemy destroyed by Death spell, restoring health to Noctis.

Death is exclusive to Noctis. It is one of three Ring Magic abilities used when the Ring of the Lucii is equipped as a weapon. It enables Noctis to drain the life-force of enemies and causes them to disintegrate. Death is the first spell Noctis learns on the ring and becomes available in Chapter 13.

Death deals damage, slows the enemy down, and applies a debuff that instantly kills the enemy when fully applied (a red skull appears next to the enemy's name if they can be killed by Death). When Noctis is not casting it, the effect of this invisible debuff gradually wanes. When the "instant death meter" is full, the enemy dies and Noctis recovers half his maximum HP. If the enemy dies from the damage Death deals, Noctis does not get healed. Some rare enemies are immune to the instant death, but even most bosses are susceptible. Casting Death consumes MP by a fixed percentage, and thus maximum MP is irrelevant. The rate is roughly 5% per second.

The damage and instant death rate are affected by Noctis's Magic stat and the enemy's hidden "death resistance" stat. Death works is at its maximum capacity when Noctis has roughly 500 Magic and increasing his Magic beyond this will not boost Death further. Death ignores buffs obtained from eating food.

Patch 1.06 dramatically improved the instant death rate, removed most enemy immunities, and made Death deal damage.

Final Fantasy Tactics[]

Black magick that offers up the target's soul to the spirits of the dead for an instant KO.

Description

Death gods carving life, take their souls! Death!

Upon casting (PlayStation)

Death is learned through the Black Mage job for 600 JP. It has a speed of 10 and uses 24 MP and causes Instant Death. Since more enemies than usual are humes, using Death is very reliable.

Final Fantasy Tactics Advance[]

FFTA Death

Death in Tactics Advance.

Cuts the very threads of life. Instant KO.

Description

Death is a Dark-elemental spell that can be learned from the weapon, Life Crosier for 300 AP, used by Alchemists, which can inflict Instant Death and costs 36 MP to cast. It is stealable through the ability Steal: Ability, and is also susceptible to Return Magic.

Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift[]

Death causes Instant Death. It can be learned by Arcanists from the Heretic Rod for 450 AP. It costs 16 MP to cast and a has a range of 3.

Final Fantasy Type-0[]

Death casts a wisp of harrowing magic that places the target in Killsight status. It can be learned by completing the SO "Defeat the Diepvern" during "The Amiter Resistance" and requires all magic stats to be at 75.

The Final Fantasy Legend[]

A Magic Book called Death appears with a book icon before its name. It cast Death, and can be bought in Hidden Town and Ameyoko for 5,000 GP or found in Jail. It only has 20 uses and Instant kills on one target.

Final Fantasy Legend II[]

A Magic Book called Death appears with a book icon before its name. It cast Death, and can be bought in numerous towns across the various worlds for 6800 GP or found in chests. It only has 30 uses, and also increases a Robot's HP by 45 when equipped on them. It inflicts Stun on non-undead such Skelton, Zombie, O-Bake on a single target. The formula is Mana x13.

Final Fantasy Legend III[]

Fatal is a Black Magic spell will inflict Instant Death if successful. It cost 36 MP to use, and it can be bought for 25,000 GP in Dwelg Town (Underworld).

Final Fantasy: The 4 Heroes of Light[]

Death is the strongest Dark Magic spell and costs 4 AP to cast. Death can be given to any character by having a Death Tome in the character's inventory. The spell can only be purchased in Urbeth for 5,000 gil. A Death Tome can also be found in a chest inside the Pirate Hideout after obtaining the Magic Key.

Final Fantasy Dimensions[]

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Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia[]

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Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]

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Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]

Death is a Black Magic ability with a Rarity of 4☆. It KO's one target, it can initially be used once and it can be honed to Rank 5. It can be created by using Greater Black Orb x5, Greater Ice Orb x3, Greater Dark Orb x3, and 10000 gil.

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Final Fantasy Explorers[]

Shoot a magical missile that has a chance of putting an enemy to death.

Description
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Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]

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World of Final Fantasy[]

Death is an active ability that inflicts Death on a single enemy for 8 AP. It can be used by Death Searcher, Kobold Mimic, Lich, Mimic, and Mimic Jackpot.

It is also an enemy ability used by Mimic Queen, The Immortal Dark Dragon, and Garland.

Chocobo's Dungeon 2[]

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Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances[]

Bravely series[]

Bravely Default - Death

Death in Bravely Default.

Death is a level 6 Black Magic spell in Bravely Default. It has a 60% chance to cause instant death to one target. It costs 15 MP to use. It can be bought in Grandship (ch 5) for 6400 pg.

Death is also a level 6 Sword Magic spell. It imbues a weapon with the status ailment death for ten turns. Has a 75% chance to cause death in one target when attacking.

Gallery[]

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