Diamond Dust Diamond Dust , also known as Gem Dust , is a recurring ice - elemental attack in the " Final Fantasy " series . It is commonly used by Shiva . Diamond Dust is also known in PAL versions as " Polvo de diamante " ( Spanish ) , " Polvere di Diamante / Diamanpolvere " ( Italian ) , " Diamantenstaub " ( German ) and " Poussière de Diamant " or " Transcendantale " in ( French ) . Appearances . " Final Fantasy III " . Diamond Dust is one of Shiva ' s abilities . It is similar to her Icy Stare but deals ice - elemental damage to the entire enemy party . " Final Fantasy IV " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s summon attack that inflicts ice - elemental damage to all enemies . Though she can be fought in the " Advance " and " " releases in her normal form as well as the Lunar Shiva . She will not use Diamond Dust against the player , but , instead , she uses the strong ice attack , Ice Storm , which has a similar effect and affects a random amount of party members . " Final Fantasy IV - Interlude - " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s attack when summoned and functions identically to its " Final Fantasy IV " appearance . In the " Final Fantasy IV " sequel , Diamond Dust is still Shiva ' s signature attack . It is also an attack used by Nova Dragon . " Final Fantasy V " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s summon attack . It inflicts ice - elemental damage to all enemy targets for the cost of 10 MP . During the battle against Shiva she will only use Blizzara , and not her signature attack . " Final Fantasy VI " . Diamond Dust , originally titled Gem Dust , is Shiva ' s attack . It inflicts ice - elemental damage to all enemy targets for the cost of 27 MP . " Final Fantasy VII " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s summon attack which hits all enemies with ice - elemental damage for 1 . 5 times magic damage for the cost of 32 MP . " Final Fantasy VIII " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s ice - elemental attack which strikes all enemies . Shiva ' s summon time is 12 . 9s , which , according to the " Final Fantasy VIII Ultimania " , allows the player to boost its damage to around 180 % of normal damage using a regular PlayStation controller . Its damage is calculated as follows : Elemental Defense starts at 800 ( 0 % ) , 900 nullifies damage and 1000 absorbs it . If an enemy is shown to be weak against an element , its Elemental Defense is below 800 . If damage becomes negative ( due to high Elemental Defense ) , the target is healed by that amount . " Final Fantasy IX " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s ice - elemental summon attack which targets all members of the enemy party for the cost of 24 MP , ( originally 96 MP until Dagger loses her summons ) . The spell power for Diamond Dust can be boosted by accumulating Opals in the inventory . Like all summons , it can have either a short or long summon animation . With the support ability Boost the player can also summon the long animation . " Final Fantasy X " . Shiva uses Diamond Dust as her Overdrive , inflicting ice - elemental damage to all enemies . Diamond Dust is also used in the battles against Shiva and Dark Shiva , where the attack is non - elemental . Dark Shiva ' s Diamond Dust deals 79 , 802 to 90 , 110 damage that cannot be reduced by anything but another aeon ' s Shield . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " . While summons cannot be used , the enemy Shiva can use Diamond Dust on the party . " Final Fantasy XI " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s Astral Flow Blood Pact . It costs twice the user ' s level in MP to active the command , and using it reduces MP to 0 . Diamond Dust deals massive ice - elemental damage to all enemies within its area of effect . The Judge of Wings also summons Shiva who uses Diamond Dust to knock Balthier out during the toryline . " Final Fantasy XIII " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s finishing move in Gestalt Mode . It greatly increases all enemies ' chain gauges and inflicts heavy non - elemental damage . How much the chain gauges increase is dependent on the ability ' s level . Diamond Dust can reach a maximum level of three by initiating Gestalt Mode with a full Gestalt gauge . Diamond Dust raises the chain gauge by an amount based on the attack ' s level prior : " Final Fantasy XIV " . Diamond Dust is Shiva ' s ultimate attack used in both the hard and extreme difficulty versions of Akh Afah Amphitheatre trial . Like most Primal ultimate attacks , the player party is required to defeat additional enemies to prevent an automatic defeat . Should the party defeat the Ice Solder enemies , Diamond Dust will only deal moderate damage to the entire party . However , should the player party fail to defeat all the Ice Soldiers , Diamond Dust will instantly kill the party . " Final Fantasy Tactics " . The summon Shiva casts Glacial Shards , an ice - elemental attack similar to Diamond Dust . " Final Fantasy Type - 0 " . Diamond Dust is a ice - type magic attack of the Eidolon Shiva . Its strength depends on how well its combo is performed . The Eidolons Shankara and Petite Shiva use an upgraded version , called Crystal Dust . " " . Diamond Dust appears as an enemy ability used by Mammon . The attack inflicts moderate Water - elemental damage to all enemies . " Final Fantasy Dimensions " . Diamond Dust is the ability used by Shiva . It costs 34 MP and inflicts Ice damage to all enemies . Shiva also uses Diamond Dust as her signature attack during the battle to obtain her . " Dissidia Final Fantasy " . When summoned , Shiva uses Diamond Dust to prevent the opponent ' s Bravery from increasing during a certain period of time . " Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy " . Yuna can summon Shiva to perform Diamond Dust as an HP attack . It requires 30 CP to equip and 150 AP for mastery . Yuna also summons Shiva to perform a chase and assist HP Attack . Shiva also returns as a summon , purchasable from certain Moogle Shop s . " Theatrhythm Final Fantasy " / " Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call " . Diamond Dust returns as Shiva ' s signature attack and is used when she is summoned in Battle Music Sequence s . Non - " Final Fantasy " guest appearances . " " series . is a Keyblade in ' and ' and their respective remakes ' and ' . In " Kingdom Hearts Final Mix " and " HD 1 . 5 ReMix " it is obtained after defeating the in the Gold Match . In " Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories " Diamond Dust appears as one of ( only against ) . Vexen creates a swirling blizzard around the area , damaging Riku . In " , Diamond Dust is Vexen ' s . He summons ice from the ground to strike enemies from beneath , dealing Ice - elemental damage and inflicting the Frozen status . In " , Diamond Dust appears as a usable by Terra , Aqua , and Ventus . It is an ice - based style that seems to specialize in crowd - control and dealing with multiple enemies . Etymology . The attack is called Transcendental in the French versions . Transcendental is a philosophical term . For Kant , it is what constitute an a prior condition of experience .