Bad Breath (Final Fantasy VIII)

Bad Breath is a Limit Break for Quistis in Final Fantasy VIII that inflicts the susceptible enemies with ailments, and higher the current Crisis Level, the more ailments it can inflict. It is a potentially early Limit Break learned from a Malboro Tentacle. Limit Breaks are randomly available when Quistis is on low health or under Aura.
Malboros usually always use Bad Breath as their first move, and their version inflicts Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Confuse, Berserk, Petrifying, and Curse.
==Obtained==
Quistis learns Bad Breath when a Malboro Tentacle is used in the inventory. Malboro Tentacles are obtained from Malboros, enemies fought in Grandidi Forest (accessed on a chocobo) and on Great Plains of Esthar before the Lunar Cry, as well as on the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell. The player needs to take care when fighting them lest the entire party falls to ailments, however. Among the best defense against a Malboro's Bad Breath is equipping a Guardian Force with the StatDefx4 ability and junctioning Pain, Confuse, Berserk, and Sleep, leaving only Slow and Petrifying. With Auto-Haste equipped, Slow will not afflict the character either.
A Malboro Tentacle is also made with Quezacotl's Card Mod from four Malboro cards since the beginning of the game. Examples of players who use Level 5 cards are the man manning the Balamb Garden entrance barriers and Trepies in the 2F classroom.
==Mechanics==
Bad Breath inflicts various statuses to all enemies depending on Quistis's Crisis Level:
* Crisis Lv 1: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Confuse.
* Crisis Lv 2: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Confuse, Berserk, Stop, Petrifying.
* Crisis Lv 3: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Confuse, Berserk, Stop, Petrifying, Petrify, Zombie.
* Crisis Lv 4: Poison, Darkness, Silence, Sleep, Slow, Confuse, Berserk, Stop, Petrifying, Petrify, Zombie, Vit 0, Doom, Death.
Crisis Level is a hidden stat calculated based on how low the party's current HP is compared to their maximum, the number of dead allies, and the number of ailments the party members are afflicted with. The worse off the party is, the better Limit Break outcomes the player can expect. Crisis Level is also raised with the Aura status.
If the enemy is immune to the status Bad Breath is attempting to inflict, the status will not take effect. No enemy resists Vit 0.
Limit Breaks never miss.
==Use==
Bad Breath is the best of Quistis's three ailment-inflicting Blue Magic spells, the others being LV?Death and Acid. Bad Breath inflicts many more statuses and targets all enemies, and at the highest Crisis Level, inflicts both Instant Death and Vit 0. However, as Crisis Level is a hidden stat, it can be hard to gauge whether the attack will reach that level.
If the player gets the Limit Break early from the card game, they can use it against some of the early tough enemies, like T-Rexaur and Granaldo. Against most random encounters, Quistis is better off using Degenerator instead. Grats are immune to Degenerator, meaning Quistis is better off using her other Blue Magics against them, Bad Breath being one good option. Bad Breath is good against bosses, especially human opponent bosses that tend to be susceptible to ailments, like Biggs and Wedge in D-District Prison, Fujin and Raijin, and the time compression Sorceresses.
If the player does not want to defeat an enemy outright with Degenerator, such as for carding, mugging, or devouring purposes, Bad Breath is a good way to make them mostly harmless. The player can keep Quistis on low health with Initiative to hopefully open the battle with Bad Breath.
Though ailments can also be inflicted via spells or ST-Atk junctions, Bad Breath in excellent in that the player does not need to know what ailments the enemy is weak to; if it is weak to anything, Bad Breath will likely inflict it. The boon of a Limit Break is that it jumps the action queue and does not expend any Magic stocks. However, once the party has Doomtrain, it is more reliable than Bad Breath, though takes some Charge Time to use.
Category:Blue Magic in Final Fantasy VIII