Zantetsuken (ability)

Template:Images

Odin using the Zantetsuken in Final Fantasy VII.

Mine obsidian blade shall split atwain the threads of thy future, whilst its crimson fuller shalt channel the lifeblood of thy past. Now wail as thy soul is bestrewn across the plains of Valhalla!

Odin while using Zantetsuken in Final Fantasy XI.

Zantetsuken (斬鉄剣, Zantetsuken?, lit. Iron-Cutting Sword), also known as Steel-Bladed Sword and Atom Edge, or by a shortened name Zantetsu or Z-Sword, is Odin's signature attack in the Final Fantasy series, and shares its name with his sword. Zantetsuken typically causes instant death to all targets, or does very high damage to them. In some games, Zantetsuken has an upgrade called Shin-Zantetsuken, which has a higher success rate.

When used Odin appears and dashes past enemies, slashing them once with his sword -- moments later, the enemy sprites/models bisect and slide apart before fading, a death animation usually unique to Zantetsuken. However, the attack can fail in some games.

Appearances

Final Fantasy III

Template:Sideicon When fought as an enemy, Odin will use Zantetsuken to do heavy damage to the party. Zantetsuken is also his strongest attack as a summon, and instantly kills all enemies.

Final Fantasy IV

Template:Sideicon

Odin using Zantetsuken in Final Fantasy IV.

Odin and Lunar Odin will both raise their sword as a warning before attacking with Zantetsuken, doing approximately five thousand damage to the entire party. When summoned by Rydia, Odin uses Zantetsuken to dispatch all enemies. The success of Odin inflicting death is based directly on Rydia's Wisdom/2, meaning the highest possible hit rate for Zantetsuken is 49%, though moving Rydia to Slot 1 will increase this to 61%.

In the original American SNES version of Final Fantasy IV, Odin's attack was called Z-Sword when he was fought, and the name of his attack when summoned was not specified. This was likely because the developers could not fit the entire word Zantetsuken in the available text box.

Final Fantasy IV -Interlude-

Template:Sideicon Zantetsuken is Odin's attack when summoned and functions identically to its Final Fantasy IV appearance.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years

Template:Sideicon Odin is possessed by Maenad during the final tale, but he eventually regains his control when he sees Ceodore, Rosa, and Kain. He rejoins Rydia as an Eidolon, and uses Zantetsuken when summoned.

Zantetsuken is also used by the boss Gilgamesh in the Wii and PSP versions, though it only attempts to KO one character, and is involved in a Band ability used by Cecil and Rydia, which is known as Iron Flash. It either instantly kills all enemies, or does high damage to them.

In the smartphone versions, the superboss Lunar Odin uses Zantetsuken as his signature ability, like the does.

Final Fantasy V

Template:Sideicon

Odin using Zantetsuken against the party in Final Fantasy V.

Odin will use Zantetsuken regularly during the battle against him, but its power is lower than usual, and only does approximately a thousand damage to the party. When summoned, he uses Zantetsuken to kill all enemies if they are non-heavy.

If there are heavy targets, Odin throws Gungnir at them for physical damage. Although it is overall not a good idea to use one-hit KO moves on bosses, Odin's Zantetsuken attack can, in fact, one-shot the final boss's back portion, but only if used through the Magic Lamp; otherwise Odin will use Gungnir instead.

Final Fantasy VI

Template:Sideicon

Odin uses Zantetsuken in a cutscene.

Odin uses Zantetsuken in a cutscene in the Ancient Castle to slice a group of enemies, but is bested when an unknown sorcerer confronts him and is immune to the attack. Odin uses Zantetsuken to kill all enemies when summoned as an esper. The Zantetsuken sword has a 25% chance of slicing enemies, and it works against the undead. In the older translations, Zantetsuken was known as Atom Edge.

The enemy Desert Hare, found around South Figaro, sometimes casts Cure, Cura or Esuna upon party members, in particular the party member that defeated them. However, if dispatched instantly by Zantetsuken, the Desert Hare will still use magic on a party member despite being off-screen and technically dead.

Final Fantasy VII

Template:Sideicon

Storyboard for Final Fantasy VII.

Odin uses Steel Bladed Sword when summoned to kill all enemies. Though if used against an enemy that is immune to instant death he will use a non-elemental attack called Gunge Lance.

Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII-

Template:Sideicon

This section about an ability in Before Crisis -Final Fantasy VII- is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.

Crisis Core -Final Fantasy VII-

Template:Sideicon Odin uses Zantetsuken to kill all enemies when summoned. It has a very high rate of success in this game. Only a few enemies are immune to instant death. Unlike for other summons, the level of the summon makes no difference.

$Chance = [(Zack's LV - Enemy's LV) / 10] + (255 - Enemy's VIT) / 2.55$

Final Fantasy VIII

Template:Sideicon

Seifer reverses the Zantetsuken.

When fought in the Centra Ruins, Odin will use Zantetsuken to instantly kill the party when the timer reaches zero. After he is defeated, Odin will appear at random at the start of a battle and use Zantetsuken to kill all enemies. This version of the attack features the characters for "Zantetsuken" (Zan Tetsu Ken) in the animation, which appear as Odin's attack is shown three times from three different angles.

This was also the first English release of a game to use the attack's proper name, which has carried over to remakes of earlier games. When the party faces Seifer aboard the Lunatic Pandora, Odin will appear to use Zantetsuken against him, but Seifer will use (斬鉄剣返し, Zantetsuken-gaeshi?, lit. Zantetsuken Reverse) to counter the attack and bisect Odin. Though Odin perishes, Gilgamesh emerges from a dimensional portal and takes hold of the Zantetsuken, emerging later in the battle to defeat Seifer. Gilgamesh will then use Zantetsuken as one of his four random attacks when he appears in battle, to the same effect as Odin's attack. Gilgamesh has a 24.6% chance of using Zantetsuken, in addition to the chance of Gilgamesh appearing at all.

Final Fantasy IX

Template:Sideicon Zantetsuken is Odin's attack when he is called into battle. It normally kills all enemies, but if Dagger is equipped with the Odin's Sword ability, learned for 50 AP from the Ancient Aroma, Zantetsuken will still do damage to enemies immune to its instant kill. Zantetsuken's success rate increases as the party acquires more Ore, but this also decreases the damage done if the instant kill fails.

Final Fantasy X-2

Template:Sideicon In Final Fantasy X-2, the Samurai dressphere has two abilities based on Odin's trademark attack: Zantetsu, which has a chance to instantly kill a single target in the same manner as Zanmato in Final Fantasy X, and Shin-Zantetsu, which inflicts instant death on all enemies.

Final Fantasy X-2: Last Mission

Template:Sideicon Zantetsuken is an unique ability that can be used by any character when using the Samurai dressphere as the main dress, it costs 4 MP to use. It has a chance of instantly defeating an enemy, having no effect if missed. It has a range of one tile ahead of the character.

Final Fantasy XI

Template:Sideicon Zantetsuken is the name of Odin's ultimate attack when he is battled in the last chamber of Einherjar, which he uses at ~9% health. This ability will instantly kill any players in range, unless they /heal, which can prevent instant death (but not damage). This can prove difficult for those tanking Odin, since physical melee damage taken causes the /heal command to cancel itself, rendering them open to the attack during the window of opportunity for Zantetsuken to actually execute.

Zantetsuken is also the name of Odin's Blood Pact when summoned by players through Astral Flow; the attack functions similarly as it would against players, instantly killing applicable targets within range. Against a Notorious Monster, however, it will instead deal a high amount of damage.

Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings

Template:Sideicon Odin's special attack is Zantetsuken, which does heavy damage to all enemies in front of him and knocks them back as well.

Final Fantasy XIII

Template:Sideicon

The storm is here!

Lightning

In Gestalt Mode, Odin transforms into a horse and Lightning splits his sword, also known as Zantetsuken, into two and wields them while riding him. Lightning is able to perform Zantetsuken while riding Odin, and the attack's strength has different levels. It has a chance to instantly kill the opponent, but is not a status like in other games; therefore no enemy is immune to the attack. Whether or not Zantetsuken kills the enemy is determined by Odin's physical attack power and the current chain bonus.

Zantetsuken raises the stagger gauge by a various amount based on level prior to dealing damage:

Level 1: 17.00 * 3 = 51.00

Level 2: 17.00 * 5 = 85.00

Level 3: 17.00 * 8 = 136.00

$[3 * Odin's PA * (Chain Bonus)^2]$

If the enemy has less HP than the solution, it dies. If the instant kill fails, it deals fairly low damage instead.

Final Fantasy XIII-2

Template:Sideicon Zantetsuken appears as a Feral Link ability for Twilight Odin.

Also, Zantetsuken can be used by Gilgamesh.

This section about an ability in Final Fantasy XIII-2 is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.

Final Fantasy XIV

Template:Sideicon Odin is part of a FATE, re-occuring group event. Zantetsuken is his special attack which he will execute below ~5% HP. If Odin is not killed before the cast is finished the attack kills everyone currently participating in the FATE.

Final Fantasy Type-0

Template:Sideicon

Zantetsuken in Final Fantasy Type-0.

Zantetsuken is an attack performed by the Eidolon Odin. A player must sacrifice a character's to summon Odin, who can then use three powerful attacks, of which Zantetsuken is the most powerful, slicing enemies in half, instantly killing them. The attack can be charged to increase the chance of success, though it won't work against certain enemies.

Odin's upgraded version, Grimnir, uses Shin-Zantetsuken, which has higher chance of success.

Final Fantasy Dimensions

Template:Sideicon

This section about an ability in Final Fantasy Dimensions is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.

Dissidia Final Fantasy

Template:Sideicon Odin uses Zantetsuken when summoned. The attack attempts to instantly cause a Brave Break to the opponent, with a 50% success rate.

Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy

Template:Sideicon

Let's finish this! Bulls-eye!

Lightning

Lightning uses Zantetsuken as the final blow of her EX Burst.

Zantetsuken also appears as Odin's summon abilities, having the same effect as in the original Dissidia.

Theatrhythm Final Fantasy

Template:Sideicon Zantetsuken returns as Odin's signature attack and is used when he is summoned in battle stages.

Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade

Template:Sideicon Zantetsuken appears in the Odin summon stone, which appears as a event reward in Final Fantasy III Saronia Castle Mysteries event. When charged and summoned in an All-Out Attack, Odin uses Zantetsuken.

This section about an ability in Final Fantasy Airborne Brigade is empty or needs to be expanded. You can help the Final Fantasy Wiki by expanding it.

Final Fantasy All the Bravest

Template:Sideicon Zantetsuken is the ability that Odin uses when summoned by Krile during battle.

Final Fantasy Trading Card Game

Template:Sideicon Odin's cards allude to his Zantetsuken ability, having various effects that instantly Break a Forward of the player's choosing when Odin is played.

Non-Final Fantasy Appearances

Kingdom Hearts

The move Zantetsuken appears in all games of the series except 358/2 Days. It is a powerful attack that deals damage and has a chance to instantly destroy enemies it strikes. The exception is Chain of Memories, where Zantetsuken instantly breaks the opponent's card regardless of level and renders it unreloadable for the rest of the battle.

In Kingdom Hearts II: Final Mix+ features "Zantetsu Counter" as an ability, which allows Sora to counter with Zantetsuken after blocking an attack. In Re:coded, "Zantetsu Prime" is the final ability of the Ultima Weapon Keyblade, and grants Sora's normal attacks a random chance to destroy an enemy instantly.

Gallery

Template:Gallery

References

Template:Summons Template:Command Abilities Template:Limit Breaks Template:Enemy Abilities Template:FFXIII