Angelo Rush (Final Fantasy VIII)

Angelo Rush is an Angelo ability for Rinoa in Final Fantasy VIII that deals physical damage on one enemy as a counterattack, its power depending on Rinoa's Strength stat. It is her default Angelo ability, used randomly when Rinoa is struck by an enemy in battle.
Angelo Rush is one of four passive Angelo abilities not used via the Limit Break Combine command, rather, it activates on its own, randomly summoning Rinoa's dog, Angelo, to strike the enemy that damaged Rinoa. There is no way to turn the ability off or unlearn it in the case the player views it as a detriment, e.g. during drawing sessions.
Angelo Rush may be inspired by a similar attack used by Shadow and Interceptor in Final Fantasy VI.
==Mechanics==
Angelo Rush deals non-elemental physical damage to an opponent as per the following formula:
:Critical Determination
:Critical\% = (Luck + 1) / 256 \times 100
Where "Luck" is Rinoa's Luck stat. If the attack 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 32 / 16
Where "Strength" is Rinoa's Strength stat and "Vitality" is the target's Vitality stat. For comparison, Angelo Rush is 60% stronger than a normal use of Rinoa's Attack command.
All damage is randomized slightly:
:Damage = Damage \times ([0..32] + 240) / 256
If the target has Protect, damage is halved. Mechanically, Angelo Rush is treated like a normal physical attack from Rinoa.
Angelo Rush activates randomly when Rinoa is hit by an enemy in battle; the type of attack does not matter, physical or magic. Angelo Rush does not activate when hit by a party member, when she takes passive damage from Poison, or if the enemy attack dealt no damage or healed her. When Rinoa is damaged by the enemy, either Angelo Rush or Angelo Recover will activate:
:if (16 >= [0..255]) Angelo Recover is used on Rinoa (6.6%)
::else if (16 >= [0..255]) Angelo Rush is used on the enemy that attacked Rinoa (6.2%)
If Angelo Recover is not learned, its step in the calculation is skipped.
Angelo Rush targets the enemy that attacked Rinoa, unless her Counter killed it, in which case a triggered Angelo Rush will retarget to a different enemy. If Rinoa has both Counter and Angelo Rush, both will activate, Counter taking precedence. If the enemy attack killed Rinoa, then no counter will take place.
Enemies' counterattacks do not trigger from the player's own counterattack, but their final attacks will activate if Angelo Rush killed the target.
Angelo abilities are not available in the battles against Propagators.
==Use==
Angelo Rush is Rinoa's default Angelo ability, available in every battle where Rinoa is in the active party except against Propagators. Angelo Rush lets her randomly have an attack in without using up a turn when she is damaged by an enemy. Rinoa can be given a support role and still do damage this way. This also makes Rinoa a good candidate for Cover, taking damage for others and hopefully countering with Angelo Rush. Angelo Rush is better than Counter, as it is stronger than a normal Attack command. The player can use both and also equip Counter, which activates even if the enemy attack did not connect, whereas Angelo Rush requires for Rinoa to take damage to activate. If the player wants Rinoa to be the one in the party to be hit, she can also equip Return Damage, though this is a niche ability no Guardian Force learns natively.
Angelo Rush is more of a means of situational bonus damage than a part of gameplay strategy. There is no way to turn it off in case the player wants to keep enemies alive for magic drawing, carding, mugging, devouring, or Angelo Search purposes; the player can simply not have Rinoa in the active party to avoid it, as there are scarce parts in the game where Rinoa is a mandatory party member: the short segment she is the party leader in Deling City, the part where the player divides the party and needs to send Rinoa to either Missile Base or Balamb Garden, the part aboard Ragnarok where Angelo is unusable, anyway, and in the final dungeon where the player needs to use two parties to accomplish certain objectives.
If the player wants Rinoa in the party and still to avoid Angelo Rush, they can KO her (though this may activate Angelo Reverse, if learned), or use Defend so she will be invulnerable to physical damage (though magic still hits her). The player can give her Elem-Def-J junctions to absorb enemy attacks, give the enemy Darkness or greatly raise Rinoa's evasion to avoid most attacks, silence enemies that use magic, or give the party member next to her in the line-up Cover to take damage for her.
As damage from Angelo Rush and most of her Combine abilities are based on Rinoa's Strength stat, she is better off built toward Strength until she learns her ultimate Limit Breaks, Angel Wing and Wishing Star. However, when she joins the player, the party already has two superior physical attackers: Squall and Zell. The player can aim to distribute their Guardian Forces for every Strength-focused character to have Str-J and Str+% abilities. The GFs that natively have Str-J are Shiva, Ifrit, Brothers, Pandemona, and Cerberus, but it can be added with Str-J Scroll, bought from pet shops (Timber pet shop requires Familiar).
==Notes==
===Annotations===
===Citations===
Category:Combine abilities in Final Fantasy VIII