Poison (Final Fantasy XII)

Poison is a Black Magick spell in the Zodiac versions of Final Fantasy XII, and a Green Magick spell in the original PlayStation 2 version. It is a single-target status ailment spell that temporarily makes the affected suffer passive damage. Its upgrade is the multi-targeting Toxify spell. Poison is a much more useful status than Sap to apply onto enemies.
It is also an enemy ability used by Skeleton, Jelly, Nightmare, (Dark Skeleton [b]), Darkmare, Pumpkin Head, Fideliant, Imperial Magus [c, d], and Spinner-Rook.
==Obtained==
In the Zodiac versions, Poison's license costs 40 License Points. The spell is found in Dalmasca Estersand's Sand-Swept Naze. This is the area with access to the Barheim Passage's main entrance, which becomes blocked after fighting the Mimic Queen. The treasure for Poison is just south from the entrance to Barheim.
In the original version, Poison is a Green Magick whose license costs 30 LP. It is bought for 500 gil from Nalbina Fortress since the beginning of the game.
In the Zodiac versions, Poison can be used by the Black Mage and the Red Battlemage, as well as by Uhlan after unlocking a 100 LP Quickening license.
==Mechanics==
Poison attempts to inflict the status of the same name that reduces HP by 1/16 of the unit's max HP every 12 seconds. An enemy's death by Poison does not count toward or break the chain level. The damage is unaffected by Reverse.
The formula for the duration is:
:100 - (Poisoned Target's Vitality x 0.5)s
The base success rate is 60% in the original version, increased to 65% in the Zodiac versions.
:Success Rate = Base Rate + (User's Magick Power - Target's Vitality) %
The success rate is unaffected by the target's Magick Evade stat, as the spell instead checks against the target's Vitality.
The hit rate is improved by further 50% with the caster having Faith status, or doubled with Serenity license/Magick Gloves when on full health, or Spellbreaker license/Leather Gorget when in critical health. Target's Shell halves the accuracy of the spell. If the caster is wearing the Indigo Pendant, Poison will succeed unless the enemy is immune to the status.
The accuracy underflow bug is a glitch in some versions of Final Fantasy XII where a low level character with extremely low Magick Power stat attempts to use a status move on a target with very high Vitality, and the accuracy of the spell becomes less than zero. In this case the accuracy will underflow to 100%, allowing certain status spells to always succeed.
Poison status is removed with Antidote, Poisona, Esuna, and Remedy.
Poison costs 8 MP to cast without Channeling licenses in the Zodiac versions, and 10 MP in the original. The spell will bounce from Reflect unless the caster wears the Opal Ring.
==Use==
Poison is a status affliction spell the player can easily set up via the gambit system (such as with Foe:Any→Poison). However, it is best used situationally and with the Indigo Pendant equipped whenever possible. As alternatives, the player can also use an Antidote with the Nihopalaoa equipped, Thorned Mace (15%), Yakei (10%), Bamboo Arrows (25%), and Poison Bombs (25%).
Poison can be fairly good to deal passive damage, however, status ailments that disable enemies altogether (Disable, Sleep, and Stop) are superior. Poison would be best against enemies that take long to defeat, like bosses, but most tend to be immune to ailments, as otherwise using a damaging spell would be more worthwhile over using Poison.
As enemies killed via Poison do not break the battle chain, the player could use it to kill enemies of a different type while still preserving their chain. However, Break and Countdown are likely preferable for this, as they would kill the target outright when the timer expires, whereas to kill enemies with Poison, the player should dwindle their HP down first or it would take multiple casts of Poison to dispose of them.
Category:Black Magicks in Final Fantasy XII
Category:Green Magicks in Final Fantasy XII