Fang (Final Fantasy XIII party member)

Fang is a playable character in Final Fantasy XIII. She is a strong physical attacker who also specializes in defending and inflicting status ailments on opponents. She wields a double-bladed spear, making her akin to a Dragoon, a recurring job from the Final Fantasy series, as her signature attack is a jump-attack thar refers to famous past Dragoons, called Highwind.
Fang's double-bladed spear can split into a three-section staff. Fang is offensively-geared and has the highest Strength; her stats, abilities, and weapons make her one of the party's best damage dealers. Out of the six playable characters, Fang has the longest Crystarium expansion, learning the most abilities, including every auto ability. She is the only one to not obtain the Ravager role before the Crystarium expansion in Chapter 10. Her weakness is not dealing well against enemies that resist or are immune to physical attacks.
Fang is the last character to join the party, not being available until partway through Chapter 7. Her victory pose is to twirl her spear, then put it back on her back.
===Roles===
Fang consistently has the strongest physical attack power, which makes her an excellent Commando. Fang joins as Lightning is becoming a stronger Ravager, so there's plenty of synergy with the pair. Fang learns all Commando abilities. Her full ATB skill, Highwind, is a powerful Commando attack that will wipe the target's stagger gauge.
Fang is a powerful Saboteur, specializing in abilities that hinder enemy movement. The only major spell she does not have is Poison, but her wide range of abilities means she can weaken any powerful enemy. As a Sentinel, Fang has the same skillset as Snow, the only difference being she has lower HP. Fang starts with Mediguard and has a weapon that increases damage from counterattacks.
Although her low Magic means she can't heal much with Cure or Cura as a Medic, Fang can use Esuna and Raise. She is a late bloomer as a Synergist, and the only other character along with Vanille to learn the -ra level buff spells, which are stronger but don't last as long. She has the fewest Synergist spells overall, but learns many useful ones, including Haste.
Despite not majoring in the Ravager role, Fang learns all elemental strikes and spells up to the -"ra" level, with Water and Wind being her -"ga" specialty. She learns all of the passive abilities and has the third fastest spell-casting animations behind Lightning and Snow.
===Stats===
thumb|250px|Fang in Final Fantasy XIII as a Commando.
;Base statistics
Stat 	Beginning/l'Cie	Mastered Crystarium
HP 	750 	24,000
Strength	145 	2,005
Magic 	90 	1,300
===Eidolon===
Fang's Eidolon is the non-elemental Bahamut that takes flight in his Gestalt Mode. Bahamut uses physical attacks and non-elemental spells. Using Fang's Saboteur role with it provides a deadly combination to some of the toughest enemies in the game.
===Weapons===
Fang uses a spear that has two forms like most weapons do in Final Fantasy XIII: her two-bladed spear splits into a three-section staff (sansetsukon in Japanese) in battle. On the blades of her spear, Fang's name is engraved in the Pulsian alphabet. Fang's ultimate weapon is an allusion to Kain Highwind, a Dragoon from Final Fantasy IV.
As Fang is focused on offense, her weapons have high stats and few special abilities. Her starting weapon is Bladed Lance, that has slightly higher Strength with few downsides. It can synthesize "Physical Wall".
Gae Bolg has "Improved Counter", that multiplies the damage from Sentinel's counterattack abilities by x1.4 and by x1.8 on LV II. The trade-off is the low max stats, but it comes with the ability to synthesize "Buff Duration".
Pandoran Spear has "Improved Debilitation", boosting the success rates of Slow, Curse, Pain, Fog, and Daze by x1.2, while LV II boosts them by x1.4. It provides slightly more Magic and can synthesize "Buff Duration".
Partisan is Fang's Magic-boosting weapon, and upgrading it into a Kain's Lance will almost even out her overall stats. It can synthesize "Magical Wall", although its usefulness is negligible.
Punisher has "Stagger: TP Charge" that restores a bit of TP if Fang initiates stagger. It has low max stats and the "Magical Wall" synthesis ability.
Shamanic Spear has high Magic at the cost of "Enfeeblement", weakening all physical attacks, and the synthesis ability "Magic Damper" (immune to magical damage but can only be healed by items or Eidolons).
Dragoon Lance is a weapon sold by Gilgamesh, Inc. that provides the highest Strength with "Stifled Magic", that cripples her magical abilities, and "Ethereal Mantle" synthesis ability (immune to physical damage but can only be healed by items or Eidolons).
Taming Pole has excellent stats with "Stagger Lock". It is a popular choice for upgrading, as Fang can spend most of her time leading as a Commando or Saboteur, and thus not be hindered by Stagger Lock.
==Quests==
Fang is the last character to join the party, not being available until partway through Chapter 7. Depending on the player's leveling habits, this can put her at an advantage or a disadvantage compared to the rest of the party. The first four stages of her Crystarium cost 0 CP, but Fang does not start gaining CP until the player first takes control of Snow in Palumpolum. If the player has been level grinding in Chapters 3–6, there will be a significant gap between the CP available to Fang and the CP available to the other five party members. In contrast, if the player avoided many battles after the party became l'Cie, Fang may have a large statistical advantage due to the numerous cost-free nodes in her Crystarium.
Fang is playable in chapters 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, and 13. She is a mandatory party member in the following boss battles:
*Ushumgal Subjugator (Chapter 7)
*Havoc Skytank (Chapter 7)
*Kalavinka Striker (Chapter 9)
*Bahamut (Chapter 10)
*Alexander (Chapter 11)
*Hecatoncheir (Chapter 11)
The player gains the ability to freely configure their party near the end of Chapter 9, and Fang can be used as the party leader, also appearing as the player-controlled character on the field. The player can ride a chocobo with her in the Archylte Steppe (she rides side-saddle), and uncover hidden treasures. When Fang uses the elevator lever in Taejin's Tower, she pushes it with her leg while the others use their arms.
There is also an optional scene between Fang and Sazh at the chocobos' pond in the Steppe, unlocked by doing enough missions to open the way there.
==Quotes==
==See also==
*Fang (Lightning Returns party member)
Category:Character gameplay in Final Fantasy XIII