Dark Shot (Final Fantasy VIII)

Dark Shot is a Limit Break for Irvine in Final Fantasy VIII that deals physical damage to an enemy depending on his Strength stat as well as a number of ailments. It is used with Dark Ammo. When Shot initiates, the player has a variable amount of time to fire at their chosen target (the player can re-targeting during) with and cancel with . Ammo cannot be swapped amid a Shot action. Dark Shot has fairly fast firing speed, equal with Normal Shot. 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 Dark Shot when the player has Dark Ammo is the inventory. It costs 300 gil per ammo in Cloud's Shop in Esthar City. It is available much earlier via refining, as it is made with Ifrit's Ammo-RF from Poison Powder (1=10) and Venom Fang (1=20), and with Quezacotl's Card Mod from Abadon card (1=30). Poison Powder is obtained from Grats and Venom Fang from Anacondaurs.
==Mechanics==
Dark Shot deals non-elemental physical damage to an opponent, 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 14 / 16
Where "Strength" is Irvine's Strength stat and "Vitality" is the target's Vitality stat. For comparison, the Power value of a normal attack is 20, meaning one hit from Dark Shot, whose Power is 14, is 30% weaker than using Irvine's Attack command; the damage potential comes from being able to fire consecutively and the guarantee that the shot will not miss, as well as the myriad status ailments whereas the player can only attach so many to normal Attack via ST-Atk-J.
All damage is randomized slightly:
:Damage = Damage \times ([0..32] + 240) / 256
Each strike from the Shot attempts to inflict ailments on the target: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, or Slow. The chance of inflicting these is calculated as follows:
:If (StatusDefense >= 200) Target does not get the status
:else:
::Infliction% = Strength / 4 - Target's Vitality / 4 
::Infliction% = Infliction% - StatusDefense + 200
The target's StatusDefense starts at 100 (0%) and the cap is 200 (100%).
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 himself 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 Dark Shot takes 0.7 seconds from the timer. This makes it equal with Scatter Shot and Normal Shot, but slower than Quick Shot (0.2s).
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==
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Dark Shot is Irvine's status ailment Limit Break, able to inflict various ailments. The shot is excellent for inflicting sleep to susceptible enemies, as his other shots will not not awake sleeping enemies. The player can get Irvine to low health, use Dark Shot, and then keep Irvine on low health and follow up with a stronger shot while the enemy remains disabled. The downside is that Dark Shot is not very strong and the player could simply use a normal attack with ST-Atk-J, however, with Dark Shot, the player can fire consecutively. Dark Shot would be good against Ruby Dragons, Elnoyles, Iron Giants, and human bosses like Fujin and Raijin. Dark Ammo is also good for making enemies harmless for drawing, carding, and devouring purposes.
Dark Ammo is only bought from Esthar, but can be made much earlier with Ammo-RF (Ifrit learns it on LV10) or Card Mod. The items needed to make it with Ammo-RF are not rare, and so the player may already have access to Dark Ammo by the time Irvine joins. Dark Shot may be the most useful early on, or at least before the player has access to Doomtrain.
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.
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. If the statuses are the main boon of the ability, then Dark Shot does not need the longer timer as much as his other Limit Breaks.
==Citations==
Category:Shots in Final Fantasy VIII