Speed ( stat ) Speed , also known as Dexterity , Agility , or Agl , is a recurring statistic from the series . It determines how often a unit will attack . In games with Active Time Battle or Conditional Turn - Based Battle , it is used to determine the rate at which the ATB or charge time gauge rises . It can be augmented or reduced by Time Magic spells Haste or Slow . Appearances . " Final Fantasy " . Agility increases a character ' s Accuracy and Evasion by 2 for each Agility point gained from level - ups . Each point of Agility gained as a result of equipment or the Speed Plus item will only increase Accuracy and Evasion by 1 . The higher a character ' s Agility the more likely they are to make the first move in a turn . Having a couple of points of Agility more than a monster does not guarantee a successful first move each turn ; it only increases the chance . " Final Fantasy II " . Agility factors into evasion , and hence contributes to evading attacks more effectively and action order in battle . Agility has a random chance of increasing after each battle , based on the character ' s Evasion - % stat . Hence , avoiding heavy armor and equipping shields or weapons with high evasion values will boost Agility growth . " Final Fantasy IV " . Speed determines how fast a character gets their turn and casts magic ; the speed is also affected by the character ' s weapon . " Final Fantasy IV - Interlude - " . Speed works the same way as it did in the previous game . Speed is calculated the same way as has its predecessors , meaning that Speed determines how fast the character ' s turn will come up . " Final Fantasy V " . Agility determines the characters ' battle speed . The game ' s Battle Speed setting in the config determines how many turns opponents get , but doesn ' t affect the player party . A character ' s stats are determined by which job they are using . Thief is the fastest job , and Berserker the slowest . Thief can learn a skill called Agility , which makes any job as fast as a Thief . To prevent speed ties for characters in the same job , every character has a different inherit boost to Agility . From slowest to fastest : Galuf ( + 0 ) , Bartz ( + 1 ) , Lenna ( + 2 ) , Faris ( + 3 ) , and Krile ( + 4 ) . The Swift Song from the Bard ' s Sing skillset boosts the party ' s Speed while the Bard is singing . " Final Fantasy VI " . Speed determines the characters ' battle speed . The game ' s battle speed setting in the config determines how many turns opponents get , but doesn ' t affect the player party . Each character has a set of base stats that are static , unless boosted by espers ' level up abilities . Only two espers boost Speed : Odin and Cactuar . Locke has the highest natural Speed , and Strago the lowest . " Final Fantasy VII " . Dexterity determines the speed of which the units ' ATB Gauge fills up ( in conjunction with the battle speed setting in the config ) , as well as affecting the character ' s physical evasion in conjunction with the Defense % given in the character ' s armor . Dexterity can be increased with the Speed Source item and with the Speed Plus Independent Materia . The maximum additional Dex that can be gained through the Speed Plus Materia is + 100 % when stacked with multiple Materia . The accessory Choco Feather also gives + 10 to Dexterity . The exact amount of Dexterity gain via leveling up is randomized at each gained level , but the game is programmed in a manner the characters never stray too far from the intended average . List of characters ' possible minimum and maximum Dexterity on Level 99 from " Final Fantasy VII " FAQ / Walkthrough by Absolute Steve " Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII - " . Determines the rate of fire . " Final Fantasy VIII " . The Speed stat affects the rate the characters ' ATB gauges fill up . The characters base stats are low , but of the main six playable characters Irvine is the fastest and Quistis the slowest . The stat can be boosted with Spd Up items ( which are rare ) and with the Speed Plus % abilities some Guardian Force s can learn . Characters can boost their speed by junctioning spells into their Spd - J — Triple is an especially useful spell for that . " Final Fantasy IX " . Speed stat determines how fast the ATB gauge fills , but due to the way the attacks work , it has almost no impact on the actual gameplay . Speed increases as the characters level up , and can also be boosted by wearing certain pieces of equipment . Zidane is the only character who can max out his speed stat to 50 without the use of cheats . In Zidane ' s case Speed is an important factor for damage in his Thievery skill . Formula for Speed : The SpdBase values differ from character to character , but never change . The SpdBonus is the only way the player can affect the Speed growth and every level the bonus goes up by a rate that ' s worked out from the character ' s current stat increases . For example , if the character has equipment that gives 3 extra Speed , then SpdBonus will go up 3 every time they level up . ( See " Final Fantasy IX " Max Stats FAQ by KADFC for more info ) . Mechanics - wise , the Speed stat reduces the " size " of the ATB bar so it takes fewer " ticks " to fill . However , everyone else ' s ATB gauges continue to fill during ability animations except for the character performing the ability , and thus most of the time when a character takes their turn , everyone else ' s bar will completely fill during the animation . Party members ' actions thus queue up and happen one after the other , and by the time they are done the first character ' s bar has filled and they have joined the queue . This means that the most the Speed stat can affect the turn order , but will rarely result in a character getting more turns than a slower character . " Final Fantasy X " . Agility determines how often a character gets a turn . Agility can be increased by activating agility nodes on the Sphere Grid . Rikku has the best Agility on her path on the grid ; Auron and Lulu are the worst ; but eventually , any character can traverse any path . Agility Spheres can be farmed from the Fenrir on the Monster Arena to further boost Agility . The benefit of raising agility caps off before reaching 255 . The first turn of battle may , from a technical point of view , come slightly quicker with higher Agility , up as far as 250 ; though this is negated in the event of a Preemptive Strike or use of a First Strike weapon . Apart from this first turn , the effect of raising Agility caps off at 170 . The first turn effect is virtually negligible , therefore many players choose to stop raising Agility once they reach 170 . The Standard Sphere Grid in its default configuration already contains enough Agility nodes to reach 170 . Aeons have their own stats separate from the characters ' . They are mainly based on Yuna ' s stats , but also can be boosted manually and increase when the player fights more battles . Shiva is the fastest aeon , and Ixion the slowest . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " . As opposed to its predecessor , " Final Fantasy X - 2 " applies the traditional ATB system to determine the battle unit ' s refilling speed of the ATB gauge . The character ' s stats depend on which dressphere she is wearing ; Berserker is the fastest job and Dark Knight the slowest . The color for the Agility gauge in the menu is light blue . " Final Fantasy XI " . Dexterity is a stat compared with an enemy ' s agility to determine the likelihood that a character ' s blow will be a critical hit , and also plays a significant role in determining the damage caused by Sneak Attack when used by a Thief . It ' s associated with the element of Lightning , and thus many lightning - based items add DEX to a character ' s stats . Dexterity also has a direct impact on a character ' s accuracy stat . For every two points of DEX a character has , his / her accuracy is raised by one point . When using a Two - Handed Weapon , for every 4 points of DEX , the player ' s accuracy value is raised by 3 ( . 75 per one point of DEX ) . " Final Fantasy XII " . Speed affects the charge time to perform actions in conjunction with the battle speed setting in the config and which weapon the character is using ( some weapons are faster than others ) . Speed stat also boosts the power of bows , ninja swords and daggers and determines the character ' s counterattack rate . Some equipment also boosts Speed , especially the accessory Cat - ear Hood . The Speed stat is less significant in " Final Fantasy XII " than in the other games in the series . The charge time difference is only noticeable if a character has very low speed and the difference decreases as speed increases . Even for the extremes , the highest - possible Speed ( 99 ) only makes charging 21 % faster compared to the lowest - possible Speed ( 23 ) . The damage daggers , ninja swords and bows deal depends on both Strength and Speed . During low levels this offers a distinctive edge but on higher levels , the edge is decreasingly obvious . The Haste and Berserk statuses increase a unit ' s Speed and also stack , and influence the character ' s battle speed much more than their Speed stat . The characters gain Speed as they level up . There are no significant differences between characters . The following formula determines a character ' s Speed : " Final Fantasy XIV " . Dexterity affects the power of physical ranged attacks , as well as melee attacks by Archers , Rogue s , Bards and Ninjas . " Final Fantasy Tactics " . Speed determines how often a unit gets a turn . Every tick , each character ' s CT increases by their Speed ( for example , a character with 10 Speed has their CT increase by 10 , a character with 3 increases their CT by 3 , etc . ) . When the CT reaches 100 , that character gets a turn . Speed maxes out at 50 , as it is useless to have a Speed greater than it since the character will get a turn in two ticks anyway . " Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles " . " " . Focus , represented by the water element , is one of Layle ' s five stats , which , like the other four , can be increased by equipping accessories . Focus determines how quickly Layle can lock - on to a target . " Final Fantasy Mystic Quest " . The higher the number , the better chances the character will attack first . " The Final Fantasy Legend " . Agility is shorten to Agl . The higher the number , the greater the character ' s agility will be . The screen only displays a maximum of 99 agility , however , they may have up to 255 agility . " Final Fantasy Legend II " . Agility is abbreviated to Agl and influences how often the character can hit the target . It also shows how well they will do with ranged and martial art skill weapons . Some weapons use the Agl stat instead of the usual Str stat for its damage formula . This stat impacts damage dealt with light swords , the ability to run from enemies , dodging enemy attacks , and most importantly , determines the sequence of turns in battle . Units with higher Agl will act before those with lower Agl . It can be raised by equipping light swords and various other items for battle . Agl caps at 99 , but can be raised higher than that by equipping certain items and armor such as Hermes . " Final Fantasy Legend III " . The higher the character ' s Agility , the easier it is for the player to run from battle . Agility also affects a character ' s initiative , ability to do damage by swords , and accuracy of attack . " Final Fantasy Explorers " . Mobility determines how fast a character can move . It can be increased by Equipment Traits and Haste , or reduced by Slow and Paralysis . Each class has a different base Mobility .