Chain ( term ) Chain is a recurring gameplay mechanism in the " Final Fantasy " series that involves chaining attacks or killed enemies . Appearances . " Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII - " . The game has a speed - based chain system . No matter the type of enemy , if they are killed fast enough the word chain appears on the screen , along with the number of enemies killed in - a - row . " Final Fantasy X - 2 " . The parties can chain attacks by relentlessly attacking a single target . The chain is indicated by a Chain x1 ! message that pops on the screen while a unit is being hit . Both the player party and the enemy party can chain attacks . After each attack there is a two second window during which if the target is attacked again , the chain will keep building . The longer the chain , the more damage the next attack inflicts . The window between attacks is two seconds for normal attacks and three seconds after a critical hit . Chain x1 ! damage is normal damage plus 45 % , and any hit that continues the chain adds 5 % to the multiplier ( e . g . " Chain x3 ! " means the attack dealt 55 % bonus damage ) . The maximum bonus multiplier exceeds 600 % . On top of increased damage , attacking an opponent while it is still staggered from the previous attack ( i . e . within the two second window ) prevents the enemy from evading the next attack , and also prevents the enemy from executing its own attack . If the player builds a long enough chain , the enemy may never get a chance to attack back , but if the enemy has already begun its attack animation , chaining attacks on it will not stop the attack . This is especially noticeable with enemies with slow attack animations , such as the Tonberry - type enemies . Thief is a good job to use to build a chain , due to being fast and always attacking twice in succession . Yuna ' s Festivalist ( and " HD Remaster " versions ) can also deal two attacks in one turn . The Gunner ' s Trigger Happy is one of the best ways to build a long chain . Units afflicted with Stop cannot be chained , as they will never enter their stagger animation . In " Final Fantasy X - 2 HD Remaster " , achieving a Chain x99 will unlock the " Full Chain " trophy . " Final Fantasy XI " . Experience Chains refer to extra experience gained while killing multiple monsters in a quick period of time . EXP Chains can only be made while fighting monsters that check as Even Match or more difficult . The time limit for killing another monster to make or continue the chain depends on the chain ' s level and the character ' s level . The bonuses and time limits for EXP Chains are listed below . " Final Fantasy XII " . There are two types of chain : the player can chain kills by killing the same type of monster to obtain more loot as loot drops , and the player can chain their Quickening attacks to deal more damage to targets and to trigger finishing moves known as Concurrences . Chaining Enemies . The player can build a chain by killing enemies of the same species . Genus breaks down all monsters in seven types , which are broken down further into different species or classes . As a player progressively kills enemies of the same species , the chain grows shown as a number above the party ' s ATB and HP bars in the lower - right of the screen . Chaining enemies makes it more likely they will drop rarer items , and makes it possible they will drop multiple items and more than one of the same item . As chain level increases , the number will flash when the next stage is reached , signified by the icon representing the dropped items changing ― from a sack to a silver coin to a gold coin to a large gold coin . At higher chain levels loot items may bestow beneficial effects on the party . These bonuses include 10 % recovery of HP and MP , and bestowing Protect or Shell statuses . On Chain Level 0 there is no chance of bonuses , but at Level 1 there is a 10 % chance of gaining HP or MP recovery when picking up a piece of loot , on Chain Level 2 the chance is 20 % plus 5 % chance the party leader is buffed with either Protect or Shell , and on the highest Chain Level there is a 25 % chance to receive HP or MP recovery from loot , and a 5 % chance all of the party being bestowed with either Protect or Shell . All drops fall into one of the five categories : Always , High , Mid , Low , and Very Low . " Always " drops are rare and reserved to special battles , such as how Omega Mark XII always drops the Omega Badge . The effects of Chain Level on drops is as follows : There are two exceptions to this rule : drops as a result of monographs and the Canopic Jar are unaffected by Chain Level but will still drop from chained enemies normally , so the player can receive multiple items as normal drops along with monograph and Canopic Jar drops . Increasing the Chain Level is partially random , but is influenced by the player picking up the loot items enemies drop . Every time the player picks up loot the hidden counter towards the next level up will go down by 1 ( Lv 0 ) , 2 ( Lv 1 ) , or 3 ( Lv 2 ) . Even if the player picks up all loot the chain will still level up eventually , because the game forces a chain level up at certain stages . If the player does not pick up loot one can always level up the chain between 6 to 10 kills , reaching the highest Chain Level in 18 to 30 kills . From time to time the player may notice the chain number flashing . This happens 5 % of the time , and indicates the player can now pick up loot without penalty . When fighting multiple enemies at once the player can leave the loot on the ground and pick them up all at once when the chain number flashes . The no - penalty time ends when the player kills the next target and the chain number no longer flashes . Every time the chain number starts flashing there is a 60 % chance it will keep flashing when the next target is killed . A chain is broken when an enemy of a different species is killed . This is shown by the chain counter being crossed out , and it will start over counting the new enemy species as " 1 " for purposes of a new chain of that enemy type . Chains are broken if the player touches a Save Crystal or enters a town ( any area where only Vaan is controllable ) . Boarding the " Strahl " does not reset the chain , which the player can exploit to get rare loot from enemies that usually cannot be chained because there are no enemies of the same type nearby , such as the Tower at Pharos . The player can also kill other types of enemies without breaking the chain by using the Break and Poison spells . The Zone out glitch can also be used to chain enemies , even Rare Game . Acquiring a 50 chain in battle unlocks Montblanc as a trophy in the Sky Pirate ' s Den . Hidden Chains . On top of the regular chain , there are two " hidden chains " invisible to the player . The first one is related to the normal chain and allows the player to gain multiple items in one loot drop . This effect activates when the player kills the same enemy in a row . The player can keep the chain going by killing enemies of the same species , even if they are different enemies , such as wolves , hyenas and worgens . The player starts randomly receiving multiple units of the same item at a single loot drop after they have killed more than 10 of the same enemy in a row . The most possible items in one drop is 4 ( achieved after killing 26 or more of the same enemy in a row ) , but the chance is low even at high chains . Two items at a single loot drop is the most the items in the " Very Low " category can drop . In some cases a monster can drop the same item in different categories ( High , Mid , Low , Very Low ) at the same time , which should not be confused with the multiple items bonus . The player can also build a reverse chain by doing the opposite of building a normal chain and killing only different type of enemies in a row . When building a reverse chain the game gives no indication the chain is building , but it still affects the item drops in following manner : If one builds up a reverse chain to more than 20 there is a 15 % chance to receive the same item drop one would otherwise receive with a regular Chain Level 2 . Quickening Chain . Another type of chain is a Quickening chain . Every character has three Quickening moves , one for each Quickening level . The level 3 Quickenings are the most powerful , but require all of the character ' s MP to perform . All active members in the party who know Quickening moves and who are not Berserked or Confused or otherwise incapacitated , can join in the chain . When the player executes a Quickening the game imposes a time limit , and the player can attempt to chain as many Quickenings as possible within it . The characters ' available Quickenings come up for selection at random , and the player can shuffle through the options by the press of . Sometimes a Mist Charge option activates , which restores the character ' s MP to full , allowing them to perform more Quickenings . By successfully chaining different level Quickenings together the player can trigger finishing attacks known as Concurrences . " Final Fantasy XIII " . Building a chain bonus on the enemy target has a pivotal role in the Command Synergy Battle system . The player can fill up a chain gauge to deal successively more damage and , once the gauge is full , stagger the enemy . Staggered enemies can be launched into the air preventing them from hitting back . Whether staggered or not , a higher chain bonus directly increases damage from the party ' s attacks , and the chance to successfully inflict negative statuses . The chain bonus is capped at 999 . 9 % . All attacks are not equal to building the chain . Enemy chain bonuses are most effectively increased by the Ravager role but Ravager attacks do not increase the chain gauge ' s timer by much , making it easy to lose the chain bonus . Other roles don ' t increase the chain bonus by much , but increase the chain gauge ' s timer more than a Ravager . When using Medic and Synergist roles the player may notice player characters also have a chain bonus . This chain bonus doesn ' t increase damage taken from enemies , but applies to the strength of healing spells and the duration of enhancements , and is increased by casting such spells and enhancements . " Final Fantasy XIII - 2 " . Stagger returns and works the same as in " Final Fantasy XIII " . " Stagger Wave " is an electrical charge that appears with an enemy ' s HP gauge , and as the player attacks the wave fluctuates . When an enemy is attacked with something it is vulnerable against , the wave fluctuates more , and as the player attacks the enemy with its weakness , the Stagger Wave will grow and the enemy will eventually be staggered . Certain are imbued with auto - abilities which change certain abilities into more powerful when used against staggered opponents . Whereas in the earlier installments the player was to raise chain gauge to to the stagger point and enemy would become vulnerable to damage and action interruption for a set amount of time , in " Lightning Returns : Final Fantasy XIII " the player can stack stagger effects as each enemy can have more than one stagger condition , and player can apply indispensable status ailments on an enemy . " Final Fantasy XIV " . Experience Chains work similarly to " Final Fantasy XI " exp chains . They can only be gained while fighting monsters that are of the same level or above the player ' s current class level . Chain bonuses stack with linking , guildleve , level difference and party bonuses . When chaining , a timer appears above the experience bar and the current chain number is displayed on the screen . Chains also apply to gathering , however it only applies to consecutive items gathered from individual node . The chain bonus resets if a player fails to harvest a material , or if the node is exhausted . " Dissidia Final Fantasy " . When a Battle Piece is interacted with , such as an item being taken or an enemy being defeated , any adjacent enemy Battle Pieces turn berserk and attack the player , resulting in a chain of battles where the player has no chance to heal in - between . This is critical to conserving Destiny Points on many boards by the player positioning their character to chain multiple enemies and minimize their movement on the board , while maximizing the DP earned from enemies . Enemies can be prevented from going Berserk by using certain skills . " Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy " . Chains function similarly to how they do in " Dissidia " , but as Destiny Points are no longer used , chains serve a different purpose in practice . When enemies are chained the KP multiplier increases by the amount of enemies chained ― chaining two enemies increases the multiplier to 2x KP , while chaining three increases it to 3x . Chains can also be cancelled by pressing before a chain battle . When the chain is complete the player earns as much KP as they won from the enemies by fulfilling the KP Chance requirements , times the multiplier . Thus , defeating enemies in a chain can exponentially boost the KP the player earns . Some skills allow the player to chain enemies in new ways , such as the Cross Chain chaining all enemies on a diagonal to the player . " Theatrhythm Final Fantasy " . When the player hits consecutive notes they build chains . At the end of the battle in the Battle Results screen their best chain is displayed , which affects overall rank the player will get for a cleared level .