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Vaan Pyroclasm or

Vaan's Level 3 Quickening, Pyroclasm.

Quickening (ミストナック, Misuto Nakku?, lit. Mist Knack) is the term for the Limit Break system in Final Fantasy XII and its sequel, Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings. In Final Fantasy XII, Quickenings use a new system over previous Limit Break systems, involving the real-time input of button commands, requiring fast reflexes to chain together attacks before a timer depletes.

In Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, Quickenings use a more familiar system involving charging up a "Mist Gauge" to unleash a powerful attack. Quickenings also appear in the Dissidia Final Fantasy series for Gabranth and Vaan.

Mechanics[]

Final_Fantasy_XII_HD_Remaster_All_Quickenings_ファイナルファンタジーXII_ザ_ゾディアック_エイジ_ミストナック集

Final Fantasy XII HD Remaster All Quickenings ファイナルファンタジーXII ザ ゾディアック エイジ ミストナック集

Quickenings

Quickenings are divided into three levels, with each being more powerful than the previous and requiring more Mist Charges to use. Quickenings are found on the License Board. In the original version, each requires 50 LP to unlock, but the Zodiac version has varying license costs for the Quickening licenses.

Quickening licenses teach the recipient their next level technique. In the original release, each Quickening square can be taken by only one character and will disappear from the other characters' boards after being acquired. However, as there are eighteen squares in total, all party members can learn all of their Quickenings. The Zodiac versions have four Quickening licenses on each board; once three Quickenings have been acquired, the final one will be removed from that character's License Board(s).

In the original release, Quickenings boost the recipient's max MP when unlocked—Level 2 Quickenings double the recipient's original MP, and Level 3s triple it. The party member's MP bar takes on a gold color to represent how many "Mist Charges" they have. The MP lengthens as more Quickenings are learned, and will consist of one, two or three golden bars depending on the user's Mist Charges. Each golden bar represents 100% (with 1 charge), 50% (with 2 charges) or 33% (with 3 charges) of the user's max MP. Using a Quickening costs a number of Mist Charges equal to the Quickening's level; for example, it costs two Mist Charges to use a level 2 Quickening. In the menu, the number of Mist Charges a party member has is indicated by golden tokens that appear next to their MP counter, with one token for each Mist Charge.

In the Zodiac versions, Quickenings no longer use MP, but have their own Mist Charge gauge, similar to Revenant Wings. The mechanics remain the same, but a character afflicted with Silence can still use Quickening since it no longer draws from the user's MP. The Mist Charge gauge recovers slowly over time, but for the most part can no longer be charged by using Ether or Hi-Ether items, as they no longer draw from MP. Using an Ether restores an extremely minute portion, while a Hi-Ether restores most of a single of the three bars. It can, however, be fully recovered by using an Elixir, as well as when touching a Save Crystal or other situations in which the party is fully healed. A Megalixir will fully restore the gauges of all three active party members, or all reserve members if targeted at the reserve. The Charge Technick charges both MP and the Quickening bar; while a failed Charge reduces the user's MP to zero, it does not reduce the Mist gauge.

Quickening-license-ffxii

Quickenings are learned on the License Board.

Using a Quickening takes no Charge Time and normal gameplay halts as the character executes the attack. A timer appears along with a blue bar and button icons corresponding to any of the three current party members who know Quickenings. Characters who are KO'd, petrified, stopped, disabled, berserked, silenced (original version only) or confused cannot use Quickenings, or if they are wearing the storyline-specific nethicite accessories: Goddess's Magicite, Manufacted Nethicite (original only), and Dawn Shard.

As the attack executes, the timer and blue bar deplete, and the player must quickly press a shown button to have the next character execute another Quickening. This is called a "Quickening Chain". The player may press R2 (RT on Xbox) to "shuffle" the shown commands for the other party members, randomizing the commands they can be given.

If a character has the "Mist Charge" option available, using it will restore the character's Mist Charges to full and allow more Quickenings to be chained. The faster the player inputs the next command, the more time they will have to input another command during the next attack. Assuming the player can react quickly enough, and they get lucky in having the Mist Charge command appear, there is virtually no limit to how long a Quickening chain can get. One tip for building a long chain is rubbing something like a pen over the controller buttons, allowing for nigh instant random pick, and even if the hit is "Mist Charge", the player will almost always hit a Quickening before "Mist Charge" comes up again. When the chain ends, characters lose MP (or Mist Charge bars in the Zodiac versions) equal to however many Mist Charges they used in the chain, and any characters who used the Mist Charge command lose all their MP (or Mist Charge bars).

The option to use Quickenings is not available while an Esper is summoned, as it draws from the same Mist mechanic and all party members are absent except for the summoner.

Time limit[]

The player must input the command for the next Quickening in the chain within a time limit, and the faster the player selects a new Quickening, the more time they have left.

The exact formula for time allowed for hit k+1 is:

[1]
  • T(1) = 4 seconds.
  • X(k) is the time the player spends to make an action for hit k.

The player always has four seconds for the first hit. If the player is fast, they will get more time for subsequent hits.

Example:

T(1) = 4
X(1) = 0.4 (the player spends 0.4 seconds to initiate the second Quickening)
T(2) = T(1) - X(1)/2 = 4 - 0.2 = 3.8 (3.8 seconds is left to initiate the next Quickening)

Mist Charge[]

The chance for "Mist Charge" to appear as an option depends on the number of Quickening participants.

  • 1 Participant: 1/6
  • 2 Participants: 1/7
  • 3 Participants: 1/8

If the character has all bars full, the option of Mist Charge does not appear.

Damage calculation[]

Every Quickening uses the user's Strength stat, but because they are executed using MP, they cannot be used if the character is unable to perform magick, with the previously mentioned exception of the Zodiac versions. Despite their appearances, Quickenings and Concurrences are non-elemental. They also break the damage limit. Level 1 Quickenings have a power of 90, level 2 have a power of 140, and level 3 have a power of 230.

Damage done is equal to a random number between 1 and the power of the Quickening multiplied by a random number between 1 and the character's Strength. Thus, a character with 50 Strength using a level 2 Quickening will do random damage between 1 and 7000. Damage dealt with Quickenings is unaffected by Reverse.

Depending on how many Quickenings the player chains, and what levels they are, a Concurrence may occur when the Quickening chain ends. Concurrences are powerful attacks that affect not only the target of the Quickening chain, but all enemies nearby as well. If the player fulfills the conditions for more than one Concurrence, the strongest one will take priority. Executing every Concurrence adds Gabranth's sprite to the Sky Pirate's Den, and awards the "Mistwalker" trophy/achievement in The Zodiac Age.

The damage of each quickening hit is:

[1]

POW is a fixed number that depends on the Quickening level.

  • POW (Lv1) = 90
  • POW (Lv2) = 140
  • POW (Lv3) = 230

STR is the Strength of the character performing the hit. The damage of each Quickening is summed up at the end to produce the total damage. Regular Quickening hits only damage the target enemy. Certain enemies can reduce received damage, including damage from Quickenings.

If the party performs enough Quickening hits, they can trigger a Concurrence. Concurrences have a radius of 10, and thus also damage enemies close to the target.

POW x Lv(enemy)[1]

For example, for a level 99 enemy, a Black Hole alone would deal a damage of 253 x 99 or 25,047.

List of Quickenings[]

Character Quickenings
Level 1 Level 2 Level 3
Vaan Red Spiral
Red Spiral(Name in Japanese: レッドスパイラル)
White Whorl
Deep Hazard(Name in Japanese: ディープハザード)
Pyroclasm
Melt Crimson(Name in Japanese: メルトクリムゾン)
Vaan Red Spiral Vaan White Whorl Vaan Pyroclasm or
Balthier Fires of War
Compass of Plunder(Name in Japanese: 略奪のコンパス)
Tides of Fate
Portolan of Destiny(Name in Japanese: 宿命のポルトラン)
Element of Treachery
Aspect of Trickery(Name in Japanese: 謀逆のアスペクト)
Balthier Fires of War Balthier Tides of Fate Balthier Element of Treachery
Fran Feral Strike
Chaotic Splitting Deadly Palm(Name in Japanese: 乱命割殺掌)
Whip Kick
Strong Armor Destroying Point Kick(Name in Japanese: 強甲破点蹴)
Shatterheart
Chew Attack Ice Wolf Wave(Name in Japanese: 咬撃氷狼波)
Fran FeralStrike Fran Whip Kick Fran Shatterheart
Basch Fulminating Darkness
Shockwave of Black and Darkness(Name in Japanese: 闇と暗黒の衝撃)
Ruin Impendent
Unmistakable End(Name in Japanese: 紛れ無き終焉)
Flame Purge
100 Demon Scorching Sun of Crushing Evil(Name in Japanese: 百鬼・烈日の破邪)
Basch Fulminating Darkness Basch Ruin Impendant Basch Flame Purge
Ashe Nordswain's Glow[note 1]
North Star Bone Crushing Slash(Name in Japanese: 北斗骨砕斬)
Heaven's Wrath
Holy Light Explosion Slash(Name in Japanese: 聖光爆裂斬)
Maelstrom's Bolt
Heavenly Drum Thunder Sound Lightning Slash(Name in Japanese: 天鼓雷音稲妻斬)
Ashe Northswain's Glow Ashe Heaven's Wrath Ashe Maelstrom's Bolt
Penelo Intercession
Power over Life & Death(Name in Japanese: 生殺与奪)
Evanescence
Disappearing like Mist(Name in Japanese: 雲散霧消)
Resplendence
Scenic Beauty(Name in Japanese: 山紫水明)
Penelo Intercession Penelo Evanesence Penelo Resplendence
  1. Northswain's Glow prior to The Zodiac Age

List of Concurrences[]

The Concurrences' animations use the same animation as the Espers' special moves when fought against as bosses. For example, Black Hole uses the same animation as Zodiark's Darkja.

Concurrences are non-elemental.

Concurrence Quickenings Required Power Image
FFXII Zodiac
Inferno 3x Level 1 Quickenings 90 FFXII Inferno
Cataclysm 7x Level 1 Quickenings 6x Level 1 Quickenings 110 FFXII Cataclysm
Torrent 2x Level 1 Quickenings
3x Level 2 Quickenings
2x Level 1 Quickenings
2x Level 2 Quickenings
130 FFXII Torrent
Windburst 5x Level 2 Quickenings 4x Level 2 Quickenings 155 FFXII Windburst
Whiteout 5x Level 3 Quickenings 4x Level 3 Quickenings 175 FFXII Whiteout
Ark Blast 2x Level 1 Quickenings
2x Level 2 Quickenings
2x Level 3 Quickenings
205 FFXII Ark Blast
Luminescence 3x Level 1 Quickenings
3x Level 2 Quickenings
3x Level 3 Quickenings
251 FFXII Luminescence
Black Hole 4x Level 1 Quickenings
4x Level 2 Quickenings
4x Level 3 Quickenings
253 FFXII Black Hole

Other appearances[]

Final Fantasy XII manga[]

SesshoukuHatsudou Fran

Fran's "Sesshouku Hatsudo".

In the Nalbina Dungeons, Balthier uses Fires of War to defeat Gijuk and Bwagi, and in the Garamsythe Waterway, Fran uses a new Quickening, "Sesshouku Hatsudo," which could be translated as "First Contact" or "First Snow/Cold". It's an ice-elemental attack that kills Firemane. Plenty of magickal energy and great concentration are needed to perform Quickenings, and while Fran's magickal aptitude is how she is able to perform hers, Balthier is implied to have been enabled by the quantities of Mist around him.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings[]

Quickenings are simplified, with only one Quickening available to each character, and no potential for chains. Quickenings are learned upon the defeat of a certain Rank III Yarhi, and are charged by the Mist Gauge, which fills up as a character deals and receives damage in battle.

Character Quickening Obtained by defeating Effect
Vaan Pyroclasm Belias Deal heavy damage to all foes in range.
Penelo Dance of Rapture Ultima Fully restore all allies' HP and remove debuffs.
Kytes Nature's Wrath Chaos Deal heavy elemental damage to all foes in range.
Filo Wind Soul Mateus Allow allies to act immediately.
Llyud Fanfare Hashmal Fortify all friendly Espers.
Balthier Element of Treachery Shemhazai Deal heavy ranged damage to one foe.
Fran Gaze of the Void Exodus Remove buffs from all foes.
Ashe Empyrean's Edict Famfrit Prevent all foes from summoning Espers.
Basch Apocalypse Shield Zalera Nullify all damage to the group.

Dissidia Final Fantasy (2008)[]

Blows embodying wrath itself.

Menu description of Gabranth's EX Burst
GabranthEXBurst2

Gabranth's EX Burst, with the Black Hole Concurrence.

Gabranth's EX Burst is a sequence of three Quickenings based on Basch's from Final Fantasy XII—Fulminating Oblivion, Ruin Unflinching, and Frost Purge. As Gabranth performs the attack, a timer will count down as the player cycles through the other Quickenings Gabranth can perform. If they select the next-level Quickening before the timer depletes, Gabranth will chain the previous Quickening with the next.

If the player misses the timing or inputs the wrong command, the sequence ends. Depending on how many Quickenings Gabranth chains, the sequence ends with the Inferno (0 chains), Ark Blast (1 chain), or Black Hole (perfect) Concurrence. The command for Mist Charge can be spotted during the "shuffle," but can never be selected.


Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy[]

A powerful attack infused with Mist.

Menu description of Vaan's EX Burst
Vaan Quickenings

Vaan's EX Burst, with the Luminescence Concurrence.

With the addition of Vaan, his Quickenings appear as his EX Burst, in which they are chained the same way as Gabranth's. It starts out with Red Spiral (where swirls of energy appear around the opponent and then hit by a beam of light), White Whorl (where Vaan kicks up a tornado and slams it into the opponent), and Pyroclasm (where Vaan creates two fireballs in his hands and tosses them at the opponent, causing a massive explosion), and it concludes with Luminescence, where Vaan traps the opponent in between two Concurrence circles and consumes them in a blast of light.

Gabranth's EX Burst remains unchanged.

Dissidia Final Fantasy NT[]

Vaan's Quickenings (Red Spiral, White Whorl and Pyroclasm) function as his HP attacks. Unlike the other characters, Vaan can use two HP attacks instead of one, and each Quickening can chain into Luminescence after landing two HP attacks.

Vaan gains three more HP attacks: Azure Torrent, Calamitous Orb and Earthen Eruption, and the ability to chain into the Black Hole Concurrence, which can be used after he lands five HP attacks, doing more damage than Luminescence.

Dissidia Final Fantasy Opera Omnia[]

With the exception of Vayne and Reks, all playable characters from Final Fantasy XII use Quickenings in some way.

Vaan, Basch, Fran, and Ashe all use their level 1, 2, and 3 Quickenings as their first, second, and EX abilities, respectively. Vaan uses Red Spiral, White Whorl, and Pyroclasm. Basch uses Fulminating Darkness, Ruin Impendent, and Flame Purge. Fran uses Feral Strike, Whip Kick, and Shatterheart. Ashe can use Nordswain's Glow, Heaven's Wrath, Maelstrom's Bolt, and her Revenant Wings Quickening, Empyrean's Edict. Llyud can use Fanfare as his EX ability.

Additionally, Vaan and Ashe both can trigger Concurrences. Vaan's Red Spiral will trigger Whiteout and his White Whorl will trigger Luminescence. Ashe's Maelstrom's Bolt EX ability will trigger Arc Blast provided she has 3 Limit Breaks on her EX weapon or its passive.

While Penelo and Balthier both use other abilities for their first and second skills, they can use their level 1 Quickenings of Intercession and Fires of War, respectively, as their EX ability. Level 2 Quickenings of Evanescence and Tides of Fate are their respective LD ability. Level 3 Quickenings of Resplendence and Element of Treachery are their respective BT ability.

Gabranth's EX ability is called Quickening, his EX Burst from Dissidia Final Fantasy whose animation uses all three of Basch's Quickenings—Fulminating Darkness, Ruin Impendent, and Flame Purge—back-to-back-to-back.

Relm-ffvi-snes-battleThis gallery is incomplete and requires Fires of War, Flame Purge, Fulminating Darkness, Intercession, Maelstrom's Bolt, Ruin Impendent and Shatterheart added. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by uploading images.
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Theatrhythm Final Fantasy[]

Pyroclasm is an ability exclusive to Vaan, learned at level 40. During Battle Music Sequences, each time a boss-type enemy enters, Pyroclasm damages that enemy based on Vaan's Strength, Magic and Level.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call[]

Pyroclasm is an exclusive reactive ability that costs 18 CP to equip. It is activated in Battle Music Sequence (BMS) when a boss-class enemy appears. It deals damage in direct proportion to Strength, Magic, and level. It is learned by Vaan (level 40).

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy All-Star Carnival[]

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Pictlogica Final Fantasy[]

Some Quickenings appear as abilities.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade[]

Characters from Final Fantasy XII use Quickenings and Concurrences when they are summoned as Legends. In addition, players can obtain certain Quickenings to use as abilities.

Ability Cards
Legend Cards


Final Fantasy All the Bravest[]

Vaan, Ashe, and Balthier use their signature Quickening's White Whorl, Northswain's Glow, and Fires of War as their primary attack.

Final Fantasy Record Keeper[]

Some of the Quickenings appear used by their original wielders.

Gallery[]

Relm-ffvi-snes-battleThis gallery is incomplete and requires Balthier's Fires of War added. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by uploading images.

Final Fantasy Explorers[]

FFE-Luminescence

Luminescence.

Players can transform into Vaan via the Trance system and use Luminescence.

Final Fantasy Brave Exvius[]

Relm-ffvi-snes-battleThis gallery is incomplete and requires Dirty Dancing/Dance of Rapture and Northswain's Glow added. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by uploading images.
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Mobius Final Fantasy[]

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World of Final Fantasy[]

Tides of Fate is Balthier's Champion summon ability. It inflicts water-elemental magical damage to all enemies, bypassing defense. It has high topple strength. It can be obtained through DLC and costs 2★ gauges to use. When used "The Fates" plays.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game[]

Several cards featuring Final Fantasy XII party members have their Quickenings as abilities.

Basch's card depicting his promotional render has Flame Purge. For a cost of 5 Fire CP, Dulling Basch and discarding another Basch card, Flame Purge deals 9000 damage to up to two target Forwards.

Vaan's card depicting his promotional render has White Whorl as its ability. Activated by paying one Wind CP and discarding a Vaan card, White Whorl sets all Wind Forwards the player controls to Active. Another Vaan card has Pyroclasm, which deals 2000 damage to a chosen Forward for each Backup the player controls, for a cost of Dulling Vaan and paying two Wind CP.

Balthier has two cards with his Quickenings. The card depicting his promotional render has Fires of War, costing a Wind CP and the discard of another Balthier card. Fires of War grants Balthier the Pre-Emptive Strike ability and prevents him from being targeted by summons or abilities until the end of the turn. His Revenant Wings artwork card uses Element of Treachery. For two Wind CP, dulling Balthier, and the discard of another Balthier card, Element of Treachery deals 10,000 damage to a Forward of the player's choice.

Ashe's ability on her promotional render card is Heaven's Wrath. For the discard cost of another Ashe card and two Water CP, Heaven's Wrath grants Ashe +2000 power and the Pre-Emptive Strike ability until the end of the turn.

Penelo's card depicting her render appearance has Evanescence. For the discard of a Penelo card and Dulling Penelo, the player can choose a Dulled Forward and send it to the Break Zone.

Non-Final Fantasy guest appearances[]

Puzzle & Dragons[]

PxD Balthier

Balthier.

Balthier is depicted with art with him performing Element of Treachery.

Behind the scenes[]

In the Japanese original version and International Zodiac Job System, Quickening chains are accompanied by a message, like "Cool!" and "Very Cool!", beside the chain number. The higher the chain, the better the message.

The Bradygames official strategy guide for Final Fantasy XII lists Whiteout and Luminescence in reverse. This is a mistake, as Luminescence is the stronger of the two. The Ultimania guide includes a picture of a 47-hit level-1 Quickening. It is made possible by purchasing only one Quickening license and then acquiring an Esper that requires three Mist Charges to summon (Famfrit, Chaos, Ultima, or Zodiark).

An early trailer of Final Fantasy XII shows that the standard battle HUD was initially present during the Quickening sequence instead of the simpler HUD, which relied on pressing buttons to chain Quickenings. It also seems that Quickenings were not initially meant to be chained.

Fran's Shatterheart seems to refer to the Diamond Dust ability performed by Shiva. The kanji of the Japanese name for the ability, on the other hand, refer to the Crush Accessory/Icewolf Bite ability of the Divine Knight job from Final Fantasy Tactics, being only somewhat different in the last of five kanji.

Basch uses Fulminating Darkness against Air Cutter Remora, the boss at the introduction of Final Fantasy XII. He will use it automatically when it has 40% of HP left, finishing the battle. Despite this, he still has to learn it when he joins the party. Basch is also the only character in English to not speak when performing his Quickenings, only letting out various grunts and cries.

Etymology[]

The term "quickening" refers to the action of bringing someone, or something, to life, as well as the feeling of stimulation or excitement.

The Japanese name of Quickening references "mist". Mist is a phenomenon caused by small droplets of water suspended in air.

The word "Concurrence" simply means "agreement" or "approval" or "bargain". In other terms, a concurrence is a condition or situation that creates a good outcome of it.

References[]

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