Flame Shot (Final Fantasy VIII)

Flame Shot is a Limit Break for Irvine in Final Fantasy VIII that deals Fire-elemental physical damage to all enemies depending on his Strength stat. It is used with Fire Ammo. When Shot initiates, the player has a variable amount of time to fire at their targets with and cancel with . Ammo cannot be swapped amid a Shot action. Flame Shot has middling firing speed. The time allotted for shooting depends on Irvine's Crisis Level, a hidden calculation in the game. Limit Breaks are randomly available when Irvine is on low health or under Aura.
==Obtained==
Irvine can use Flame Shot when the player has Fire Ammo is the inventory. It costs 500 gil per ammo in Cloud's Shop in Esthar City. It is made much earlier with Ifrit's Ammo-RF from Bomb Fragment (1=20), Fuel (1=10), and Red Fang (1=40), as well as with Quezacotl's Card Mod from the Oilboyle card (1=30). Bomb Fragments are obtained from Bombs, fought in the Fire Cavern.
==Mechanics==
Flame Shot deals Fire-elemental physical damage to all opponents, each hit's damage calculated as per the following formula:
:Critical Determination
:Critical\% = (Luck + 1) / 256 \times 100
Where "Luck" is Irvine's Luck stat. If the hit criticals, it will deal double damage.
:Base Damage Calculation
:Damage = Strength^2 / 16 + Strength
:Damage = Damage \times (265 - Target's~Vitality) / 256
:Damage = Damage \times 40 / 16
Where "Strength" is Irvine's Strength stat and "Vitality" is the targets' Vitality stat. For comparison, the Power value of a normal attack is 20, meaning one hit from Flame Shot, whose Power is 40, is twice as powerful than using his Attack command; the damage potential increases from being able to fire consecutively, the guarantee that the shot will not miss, being able to hit all enemies, and the ability to exploit enemies' weakness to Fire.
Elemental damage bonus is calculated as follows:
:DamageBonus = Damage \times 100 \times (800 - ElemDef) / 10000
:Damage = Damage + DamageBonus
The target's ElemDef starts at 800 (0%), 900 is 100% defense, and 1000 is 100% absorption. If an enemy is weak against an element, its ElemDef is below 800. A value higher than 800 means the enemy resists/absorbs the element. If Damage becomes negative (due to high ElemDef), the target will be healed by that amount.
All damage is randomized slightly:
:Damage = Damage \times ([0..32] + 240) / 256
The time Irvine has for Shot depends on his Crisis Level in the following manner:
:Crisis Level 1: 8 s
:Crisis Level 2: 12 s
:Crisis Level 3: 20 s
:Crisis Level 4: 26.6 s
Crisis Level is a hidden stat calculated based on how low Irvine's current HP is compared to his maximum, the number of dead allies, and the number of ailments he is afflicted with. The worse off he is, the longer Shot times the player can expect. Crisis Level is also raised with the Aura status.
One round of Flame Shot takes 1.2 seconds from the timer. This makes it slower than Quick Shot, Normal Shot, Scatter Shot, and Dark Shot, but faster than Armor Shot, Canister Shot, and Hyper Shot.
If the target has Protect, damage is halved. Shot will not awaken sleeping enemies.
Limit Breaks never miss and are unaffected by Elem-Atk junctions.
==Use==
Flame Shot is Irvine's strongest Limit Break that hits all enemies. It is also his only elemental Limit Break. Flame Shot is better than Scatter Shot whenever the enemy does not outright nullify or absorb Fire damage, even though it is slower, as it is far more powerful.
Fire Ammo is only bought from the last town visited in the story, but can be acquired far earlier via Guardian Forces' refiner abilities. Ifrit learns Ammo-RF on level 10, and the items for making Fire Ammo are not too rare; the player can simply buy Fuel from shops and then refine those and get Fire Ammo likely before Irvine even joins the party.
Flame Shot is best used against groups of enemies. If the player brings Irvine to Missile Base, Flame Shot is good against the groups of G-Soldiers fought therein, including under the timer after BGH251F2. If the player brings him to Balamb Garden, Flame Shot is good against the groups of enemies the Garden Faculty summon during the Balamb Garden Revolt, and especially against Oilboyles, who are weak to Fire damage. Flame Shot is good against Fujin and Raijin, and any boss that summons minions, like Ultimecia (Griever form). It is good against groups of enemies in the Deep Sea Research Center and the final dungeon, as long as the enemy does not nullify or absorb Fire.
Flame Shot is likely the player's best method of dealing Fire damage, as it is likely more potent than summoning Ifrit or triple-casting Firaga.
Irvine should be junctioned toward high Strength to make the most of his Limit Breaks. The Guardian Forces that have Str-J natively are Shiva, Ifrit, Brothers, Pandemona, and Cerberus. It is also worthwhile to give Irvine any Str+% abilities. Because each hit has a chance of being a critical hit, Irvine is also an excellent choice for Luck-J and Luck+50%; the only GF that has Luck-J natively is Cactuar, but Luck-J Scroll is available from some sidequests to give to the GFs Irvine is junctioning.
If the player additionally inflicts Vit 0 onto the enemies, Flame Shot can be even more powerful. For the best chance of getting the maximum timer, the player can have Irvine in critical HP and have him under Aura status. However, Aura spells and stones are rare.
==Citations==
Category:Shots in Final Fantasy VIII