Drain (Final Fantasy VIII)

Drain is an indirect magic spell in Final Fantasy VIII. The spell steals HP from the enemy and heals the spellcaster. It is one of the few spells that cannot be reflected. Drain can also be junctioned to boost stats, and notably, can be junctioned to ST-Atk-J to cause all physical attacks to heal the user slightly.
Blue Dragon and Lefty can use Drain on the party. Adel uses an unnamed Drain ability on Rinoa, which has an attack power of 33. Trauma uses a variation of Drain with an attack power of 50 and whose damage cannot be reduced with Shell.
==Obtained==
Drain is a rare spell only drawn from a few enemies. It can be refined from Vampire Fangs using the Guardian Force Leviathan's ability Supt Mag-RF. This makes fighting Red Bats (and their cards) and Glacial Eyes a good way to obtain Drains, as they are a good source of Vampire Fangs.
==Stats==
==Mechanics==
Drain steals HP from the target and returns it to the caster, with the target's Drain resistance determining how much HP is restored. It is cast using the Magic command, Selphie's Slot Limit Break, or Rinoa's Angel Wing. Casting Drain in battle does not affect compatibility with Guardian Forces, being one of the few spells to not do so.
The amount of HP stolen from the target and granted to the user is determined as follows:
:Damage = Magic + 26
:Damage = Damage \times (265 - Target's~Spirit) / 4
:Damage = Damage \times 26 / 256
Drain has equal spell power to Water. It is slightly stronger than second tier elemental spells, Fira, Blizzara, and Thundara, though these can be used to exploit enemies' elemental weaknesses, whereas Drain is non-elemental.
When junctioned, Drain provides a meager boost to stats. It can be junctioned to ST-Atk-J or ST-Def-J to apply the Drain status effect to physical attacks or mitigate the amount of HP restored from opposing attacks. The 50% damage increase from Berserk will not affect how much HP is drained.
If Drain is used and either the attacker or target are undead or under the Zombie status, both sides will take damage. If both meet the criteria, it will function normally. When attacking an enemy that absorbs an element that is junctioned to Elem-Atk-J, the attacker will be damaged and the target will be healed, though both sides will be healed if one is undead or afflicted with Zombie.
==Use==
As an alternative, the player can use Absorb taught by the Guardian Force Pandemona, a command ability that has a similar effect to Drain.
Drain is most useful when junctioned to Status Attack to heal the attacker. It would couple especially well with Darkside, which improves damage but hurts the user. With Drain in ST-ATK-J, the attacker can recoup some or all of the HP lost from using Darkside. However, Drain in ST-ATK-J also has its downsides in the use of elemental attacks and enemies that absorb elements as well as undead enemies, so it is not always the preferable Status junction. The player may also intentionally want to be on low health to activate Limit Breaks. Limit Breaks deal "special damage" and the attacker does not gain health during them even if they have Drain junctioned to ST-ATK-J.
Drain ignoring Reflect could be situationally useful, though the player could simply summon Guardian Forces to deal magic damage to enemies who have Reflect. It can be good in a pinch to minorly heal a character while also dealing damage. Drain is the only way Rinoa can heal herself during Angel Wing, which could be useful if the other party members are not available to help her. Her Drain during Angel Wing would also be exceptionally strong as all magic is boosted under Angel Wing.
==Citations==
Category:Magic in Final Fantasy VIII
de:Saugen (FFVIII)