Final Fantasy II/Magic

There are 40 different spells available to the player characters in Final Fantasy 2. They can be divided in two groups: White spells, mainly dealing with healing and defense, and Black spells, mainly dealing with attack and debuff.

Every character can learn any spell by using up (reading) the appropriate tome or scroll of the same name. Magic tomes/scrolls can be purchased in shops, found in chests for free, or dropped by defeated enemies.

Every spell has a level, and that corresponds to the Magic Points (MP) necessary to cast the spell itself. Every spell starts at level 1, and the level is increased after repeated use of the spell. The effectiveness every spell depends on the spell level and the Magic attribute of the caster; White spells are also based on the Wisdom of the caster, while Black spells depend on caster's Intelligence.

How to distinguish White and Black Magic
Whenever the players find a new spell tome, there is no direct clue whether it is White or Black. It is important to know it in advance, so that a White spell can be taught to a character with high Spirit (or a character whose Spirit you want to increase), and similarly a Black spell can be taugth to a character with high Intelligence (or a character whose Intelligence you want to increase).

Here's an exhaustive list of hints:
 * In the first town, the magic shop sells a "Cure" spell that is obviously White and three offensive spells, i.e. Blizzard, Thunder and Fire, that are obviously Black.
 * At the beginning of the second mission Minwu the White Mage joins the party; he's equipped with sixteen White spells, i.e. all except four.
 * Later in the game, the Ultima spell is referred to as the "ultimate White magic".
 * The last three White spells are Slow, Holy and Mini; they can all be bought in shops after Fynn is re-conquered, moreover Mini can also be found in a dungeon.
 * Any other spell is, therefore, a Black spell.

Furthermore:
 * Magic shops generally sell White spells; there are few "black" exceptions, though: the aforementioned magic shop in the first town, the Vacuum spell, and a secret shop during the last mission.
 * On the other hand, Black spells are generally found in chests in the dungeons; the only "white" exceptions are a few chests containing the Mini spell or spells known by Minwu.
 * Also, defeated enemies sometimes drop a Black spell; the only exceptions are three white spells already known by Minwu.
 * After a spell is assigned to a character, if the character casts a White spell a white and blue energy ring appears around him/her, but if he/she casts a Black spell a yellow and green energy ring appears instead.

Healing and field spells
Field spells can be cast both during and outside a battle. They are probably the most important spells.

The first white spell found in the video game, and probably the most useful. Don't buy armor, but instead keep using this spell and raise its level. In battle it can also be used to damage undead enemies (i.e. enemies that absorb Death element). The Healing staff cures the enemies it hits instead of damaging them; it should only be used to attack the allies or undead enemies.
 * Cure

Another important spell, it revives allies that are knocked out. In battle, it can also be used to instantly defeat undead enemies.
 * Life

This spell can heal status ailments that don't wear off after battle. It is much more effective if used after battle; indeed, if your character gets debuffed and you cast Esuna in battle, the enemy can debuff him/her again and you just wasted one turn. The status ailments that can be cured by Esuna are six: blindness, toad, stone, curse, poison and amnesia.
 * Esuna

Teleport has two functions. First of all, it can teleport the full party back to the entrance of any dungeon, although the caster's HP is greatly reduced; similarly, it can also make the party escape from battle. The second function is considered by some players as a cheat: it instantly defeats all the enemies, but this makes fights way too easy; the drawback is that after a quick fight the attribute upgrades are very limited.
 * Teleport

Support spells
Support spells are battle spells that target the allies.


 * Basuna

Basuna heals status ailments that wear off at the end of a battle. When enemies cast debuff spells on your party like "confuse" or "sleep", it would be useful to cast this spell every turn by a slow character. Success rate depends strongly on the level: low level Basuna can only heal few specific status ailments, while at a high level it can heal them all. The status ailments that can be cured by Basuna are: sleep, paralysis, confusion, venom, mini, silence and slow.


 * Blink (300 G): increases evasion
 * Protect (300 G): increases physical defense
 * Shell (300 G): increases magic defense
 * Barrier (5000 G): increases elemental defense
 * Wall (5000 G): increases magic evasion

These spells all increase different types of defense: five different ones, just to make things complicated. Evasion and magic evasion affect the probability that the enemy misses. Physical, magic and elemental defenses reduce the damage from the specified source. Of course, the price is related to the usefulness.

Debuff spells
Debuff spells are battle spells that target the enemies, but deal no damage.


 * Fear

Cast successfully this spell on an enemy, and it will flee battle. It is not a real victory: the enemy will drop neither gold nor items, and if all the enemies flee, the party will receive no upgrades. Use it only against annoying little enemies.


 * Silence (600 Gil)
 * Sap (1000 Gil)
 * Fog (2000 Gil)

Three spells with similar effect: they all limit the spellcasting abilities of the enemy. "Silence" temporarily stops the enemy from casting spells, "Sap" cuts down its Magic Points, "Fog" permanently prevents the opponent from using magic. Of course, the price is related to the usefulness of the spell. The Rune axe can cast Fog unlimited times with no MP consumption.


 * Dispel

This spell animation is the opposite of Barrier (see above), and it lowers or removes various types of defenses of the enemies. The effectiveness of the spell is strongly related to its level.


 * Swap

Swap can be a dangerous spell: use it on a low-rank enemy, and the caster not only will lose all of his/her MP, but also most of his/her HP. Said this, make sure it is cast on a spellcasting enemy and, in general, on an enemy with high HP and MP. Swap can be used to replenish the caster's MP who, being a white magic user, will be anyway able to restore any HP loss by casting "Cure" the next turn. Swap can also be used to heal the caster in critical health condition, i.e. very low HP. In order to level it up, you can cast it on the allies, because it will always miss.


 * Slow

This spell reduces the number of hits of the enemies. It is the converse of "Blink" (see above). It is one of the four spells unknown to Minwu the White Mage.

Attack spells
Attack spells are battle spells that deal damage to the enemies or instantly defeat them. These three spells are not included in the sixteen known by Minwu the White Mage.

Mini reduces the enemy to a microscopic size, forcing it to leave the battle. The result is its instant defeat, without the drawbacks of the "Fear" spell.
 * Mini

Holy damages enemies. It is especially effective against undead (i.e. enemies that absorb the Death element). The Holy spear can cast Holy unlimited times with no MP consumption.
 * Holy

Ultima deals non-elemental damage. Its power is related to the power of every other white spell assigned to the caster.
 * Ultima

Summary table
In the table below, when two different spell names are reported, the first is the one used in the GBA "Dawn of Souls" and PSP "Anniversary" editions, the second one is the one used in the PSX "Origins" edition.

Locations:
 * Towns: most White spells can be bought in shops;
 * Minwu: he knows several White spells since the beginning;
 * Dungeons: spells that can be found and obtained for free are highlighted in green'''.
 * Win from enemies: the Ogre Mage enemy sometimes drops a Blink tome when defeated; he can be first encountered in Kashuan Keep; all the locations of this enemy are in the enemies page.

Select the Rune axe or the Holy spear from the Item menu to cast a spell; a character equipped with the Healing staff will cure the target, so make him attack the allies or the undead. The effectiveness of the spell cast depends on the user's Wisdom.

Field spells
Field spells can be cast both during and outside a battle.

Very similar to the white "Teleport" spell, it teleports the characters one floor back in the dungeon. Otherwise, in battle it can also instantly defeat the enemies.
 * Warp

Support spells
Support spells are battle spells that target the allies.

All these three spells increase the attack of the allies, and their effects stack up. "Berserk" directly increases the strength, "Aura" adds elemental effect to the ally's attack weapons, and "Haste" increases the accuracy and the number of hits. Two weapons can be used to cast Haste and Berserk unlimited times at a fixed level with no MP consumption: Yoichi's slingshot and Masamune's sword.
 * Berserk
 * Aura
 * Haste

Debuff spells
Debuff spells are battle spells that target the enemies, but deal no damage.

The enemy's accuracy is greatly reduced. The Dark slingshot inflicts the Blind status on the enemies it attacks.
 * Blind

The enemy's attack and defense are greatly reduced. The Ancient sword inflicts the Curse status on the enemies it attacks.
 * Curse

Three similar spells, they all prevent the enemy from acting for a few turns. It seems logic to assume that the difference is in the element, but this is not confirmed. The Sleep sword inflicts the Sleep status on the enemies it attacks.
 * Stun (8000 Gil)
 * Stop (8000 Gil)
 * Sleep (8000 Gil)


 * Confuse

The enemies will attack each other. This is the most difficult spell to get, because it is only dropped occasionally after defeating some giants in a secret room in the last dungeon.


 * Osmose

It takes MP away from the enemies and give them to the caster, thus replenishing the caster's MP. The character who uses this spell will never run out of MP, and will be free to raise every spell to the maximum. The effect is reversed if used against undead enemies.

Attack spells
Attack spells are battle spells that deal damage to the enemies or instantly defeat them. They are generally the favorite spells of beginners, but they lack variety: they just defeat enemies, as normal physical attacks do.


 * Blizzard (element: ice)
 * Fire (element: fire, of course)
 * Thunder (element: lightning)

The three basic elemental spells, thay can all be purchased in the starting town, Altair. "Blizzard" is probably the one that is less often made available during the game. "Fire" can be found in the dungeon of the second mission, so you don't have to buy it in Altair, the first town. "Thunder" is the most common one, in fact not only Leila starts already equipped with it, but also two weapons can cast it unlimited times without using MP: the Mage's staff and the Thunder spear.


 * Scourge (element: poison)

This spell can occasionally inflict either the "poison" or the "venom" status, that deal extra damage at the beginning of every turn. This spell can be cast for free by the Wizard's staff, that is anyway found late in the game.


 * Death (10000 Gil; element: death)
 * Break (10000 Gil; element: ?)
 * Toad (10000 Gil; element: ?)

Three instant-defeat spells. "Death" instantly kills the enemies, "Break" turns them into stone and "Toad" transforms them into toads, forcing them to leave battle. The result is the same, anyway. Since their price is the same too, it seems logic to assume that the difference is in the element, but this is not confirmed. As a final note, if Toad is raised to level 16 a secret is unlocked.


 * Drain (element: death)

Not only it deals damage, it also replenishes the caster's HP. The effect is reversed if used against undead enemies, who absorb the Death element. The Blood sword drains health points from the enemies it attacks.


 * Flare

A non-elemental attack spell, it inflicts full damage to any enemy.

Summary table
Very few black spells can be bought in shops, but every one can be sold; selling price is half of purchasing price. Spells that can only be found have their value cell highlighted in gray, and the number reported is twice the selling price. Of course, the value of a spell is related to its importance and usefulness.

Locations:
 * Magic shops: few black spells can be bought in shops, and most of these can anyway be found for free in dungeon chests or dropped by defeated enemies;
 * Chests: black spells that can be obtained for free are highlighted in green;
 * Leila: she starts with one black spell already equipped;
 * Win from enemies: many enemies randomly drop spells upon defeat; there is one black spell that can only be obtained this way, and it is highlighted in red.

Some weapons cast a black spell if selected from the "Menu" item in battle, others (marked with a star*) cause a status ailment when attacking an enemy. The effectiveness of the cast spell depends on the user's Intelligence, while the frequency of the inflicted ailment depends on the user's weapon skill level.

Magic shops
19 out of 20 White spells can be bought in shops, but only 8 out of 20 Black ones can be. The twentieth White spell is the goal of a mission, while almost every Black spell can be found in chests or is won from defeated enemies.

Elements
There are eight elements in Final Fantasy 2, plus the Holy element.

Enemies have different affinites to one or more elements: some may be weak against a given element and get double damage; some may resist and get half damage; some may absorb the element and get healed instead of suffering damage.

On the other hand, many enemies may use elemental attacks, and several pieces of armor give extra protection against one or more elements.


 * Fire (spell: Fire)
 * Ice (spell: Blizzard)
 * Lightning (spell: Thunder)

The three basic elements, that were found already in Final Fantasy 1. Fire and Ice are opposing elements: usually, enemies weak against one are resistant versus the other one. Lightning is the element that water enemies are generally weak against.


 * Poison (spell: Scourge)

This element is associated to the Poison and Venom status ailments. A monster or character hit by the Scourge spell not only will suffer poison-elemental damage, but may also be inflicted either the poison or venom status.


 * Body
 * Soul
 * Matter

It is not clear which spells are associated to these three elements, nevertheless they are listed as such in the in-game bestiary. Since there are four different instant-defeat attack spells (Break, Toad, Mini and Death), it seems logical to assume that they have four different elements (including Death, below), but this is not confirmed.

(Note for a test: according to the bestiary, the Emperor is the only enemy that absorbs the Matter element; no enemy absorbs Body or Soul.)


 * Death (spells: Death, Drain, Osmose)
 * Holy (spells: Holy, Cure, Life)

Enemies that absorb the Death element are also known as Undead; they include skeletons, zombies, vampires and the like. These enemies are the only ones that, in turn, are damaged by the Cure and Life spells; the "Holy" spell deals damage to any enemy, and increased damage to the Undead.


 * Non-elemental offensive spells: white Ultima, black Flare

These two spells are the only offensive ones that have no associated element, therefore they will deal full damage to any enemy.

Status ailments
Temporary statuses: Sleep, Paralysis, Confusion, Venom, Mini, Silence, Slow.

Permanent statuses: Blindness, Curse, Toad, Poison, Amnesia, Stone.

Similar statuses:
 * Sleep and paralysis (spells: sleep, stun, stop)
 * Mute and amnesia (spells: silence, fog)
 * Venom and poison (spell: scourge)
 * Mini, toad and stone (spells: mini, toad, break): when the spells are used on the enemies, they are instantly defeated; when used on the party, Esuna or other items are used to cure the status.

Magic strategy
In order to maximize the effectiveness of spells, it would be advantageous to have characters with White spells only and characters with Black spells only. Every character can learn up to 16 different spells, but there are 20 spells per alignment. Considering the three main characters, one example of strategy could be the following:
 * assign 16 black spells to Maria, because she starts with higher Intelligence and equipped with a bow/sling, and the final slingshot in the game can cast a black spell;
 * assign 4 Black and 4 white spells (hereafter referred to as "leftovers") to Firion, because he's a balanced character; moreover, he starts equipped with a sword, and the final sword in the game can cast a black spell;
 * assign 16 White Spells to Guy, because he can rely on his physical attributes to attack; moreover, he starts equipped with an axe, and the final axe in the game can cast a white spell.

The eight "leftover" spells should be spells that are found somehow early in the game, so that the later and more powerful spells can be assigned to the characters with more advanced Wisdom or Intelligence. Furthermore, the "leftovers" can also be some spells with effect very similar to other spells of the same alignment, in particular either Silence or Fog (white spells that prevent enemy magic), either Stun or Stop (black spells that paralyze the enemies), either Toad or Break or Death (black spells that instantly defeat enemies). Also, Thunder can be included in these, because the same spell can be cast in three other ways: by Leila and by using two weapons from the item menu. (Example: Protect, Fear, Sap, Fog, Thunder, Blind, Stun, Toad.)

In order to get a high level of magic proficiency, your characters should use their magic as much as they can. As soon as you saved enough money, buy three Ethers for 1000 Gil each. Then, have your characters use their magic until they deplete all their MP: now it's time to use weapons. When a character's Health Points (HP) are low, give one Ether to your White magic user; right before the boss, give the other two Ethers to your other two main characters. The temporary fourth character generally doesn't need Ether, either because he has lots of MP (Minwu) or because he has no spells (almost everyone else).

Debuff spells are defined as "battle spells that target the enemies, but deal no damage". They are generally underestimated by beginners because they miss quite often. Truth is, a leveled-up debuff spell becomes very effective in preventing the enemies from damaging your characters, i.e. a black spell becomes sort of a defensive spell. A support white spell like Protect or Shell reduces the damage your party suffers, but a successful debuff spell like Sleep or Stun prevents damage completely!

Soul of Rebirth
Minwu starts with sixteen white spells; Scott starts with three black spells, plus two white ones already equipped by Minwu; during the game, seven more spells can be found in chests or purchased in shops, and eight more are won from defeated enemies.

It could be useful during the main game to teach Ricard the spells that cannot be found in Soul of Rebirth; such spells are listed as "missing" in the table below. He could also be given any spellcasting or special weapon, e.g. the Thunder Spear.


 * White magic:

Minwu is the white mage. He could sacrifice a few spells to make room for Holy, Mini and Ultima (e.g. he could give up Silence and Sap, that are weaker than Fog, plus any one spell that can be bought back in Machanon).

If every character has Cure and Life the game becomes a bit easier.


 * Black magic

Scott starts with some proficiency in black magic, and he could be assigned all the black spells that can be found.


 * Missing from Soul of Rebirth


 * Slow: not a big loss, it has small effect even at high levels.
 * Stop: not a big loss, the similar Stun and Sleep are available.
 * Death & Break: not a big loss, the similar Mini and Toad are available, not to mention Warp and Teleport.
 * Drain & Osmose: yes, this is a loss, because these two spells make the game much easier; therefore, you'll have to stock up Ethers instead.