Holy (Final Fantasy XII)

Holy is a White Magicks spell in Final Fantasy XII, both in the original PlayStation 2 version and the Zodiac re-releases. It is the only damage-dealing offensive White Magicks spell, though curative spells can also be used to damage the undead. Holy's long cast time and high Effect Capacity make it cumbersome to use. It deals holy damage to one target; undead enemies and dark-elemental enemies are weak to it.
Holy can also be cast via Holy Mote items.
The enemies Holy Elemental, Diakon Entite, Behemoth King, Shadowseer, and Luxollid also use Holy. The Undying uses Piercing Holy, which penetrates a character's Reflect status.
==Obtained==
Holy's license costs 100 License Points in the Zodiac versions, where can be found in Pharos - First Ascent (Wellspring Ravel - 3rd Flight), though Reddas can use it prior to this when he joins the party has a guest.
The treasure for Holy is reached by building red bridges with the Deidars. The party must first kill the Brainpans to build green bridges and advance through the dungeon. Killing Deidars will destroy any already-laid pieces of green bridge, if that bridge is not complete and set. However, when the green bridge is complete and set in place by stepping onto it, the player can backtrack and kill Deidars to form red bridges that lead to new treasures.
In the original PlayStation 2 version, Holy's license costs 55 LP and the spell is bought for 11200 gil from Balfonheim Port after Sky Fortress Bahamut has appeared.
In the Zodiac versions, Holy can be used by those assigned to the White Mage job class, as well as by Monk with the Esper Chaos's license acting as a bridge to reach it on the board. Reddas also has it during the time he is a guest in the party. Ultima knows it, but has no default gambit setup for it.
In the original version, Chaos uses it on holy-weak foes and Zalera uses it on itself when its HP is not full and there are no enemies in the vicinity to attack.
==Mechanics==
Holy deals holy-elemental damage to one target, affected by various modifiers. Holy bounces from Reflect unless the caster wears an Opal Ring. Holy has 100% accuracy though it can still miss due to the target's magick evasion stat (unlike cure spells). The amount Holy damages its target depends on the caster's Magick Power stat and Level. Using Holy to damage enemies gains MP to the user if they have the Warmage license. Holy's base cost to use is 48 MP in the Zodiac versions and 60 MP in the original version.
The damage formula is as follows:
[157 \times RANDOM(1 \sim 1.125) - Target~Magick~Resist] \times [2 + {Magick~Power \times (Level+Magick~Power) \over 256}]
With the Serenity license or the Magick Gloves accessory, the damage is inflated to 150% when the caster is in full health. With the Spellbreaker license or the Leather Gorget accessory, the damage is inflated to 200% when the caster is in HP Critical. If the caster has Faith, Holy will also damage for 30% more. Holy's damage can also be augmented by 50% with equipment that has affinity with holy: Holy Rod, Staff of the Magi, or the White Robes. The boosts stack multiplicatively, but the caster can only get the elemental affinity bonus once and wearing multiple holy-boosting equipment pieces at once does not stack the effect.
==Use==
Holy is the only purely offensive spell for the White Mage class in the Zodiac versions. The player can easily set up via the gambit system, such as Foe:holy-weak→Holy. However, Holy's downsides are that it has a high cost in cast time, MP, and effect capacity (in the original version, no other spell or Technick can go off simultaneously), and most enemies weak to holy are undead, against whom Curaga or Curaja would be better, as they bypass the target's Magick Resist stat. Holy's cast time is so lengthy, the player could have likely attacked the target with normal attacks for similar amount of damage. The spell is also obtained very late into the game.
Reddas joins with Holy in the Zodiac versions, where he is the earliest chance to use it. In the original version, getting the Esper Chaos is the earliest chance to cast the spell, but in this version, Espers cannot be directly controlled and Chaos will simply use it against holy-weak foes. In all versions, the player can find some Holy Motes earlier than the spell is available.
Category:White Magicks in Final Fantasy XII