Meteor (Final Fantasy VIII)

Meteor is an attack magic spell in Final Fantasy VIII. It is a non-elemental spell that damages random enemies at ten separate intervals. The result can be anywhere from negligible to devastating. On single targets, such as bosses, this makes Meteor the most damaging spell. It also provides the second-highest boost to Strength, and the third-highest boost to HP, when junctioned.
==Obtained==
Meteor can be drawn from a few high-level monsters, and refined from Meteor Stone and Star Fragment using Bahamut's Forbid Mag-RF ability. The Red Giant card modifies into five Meteor Stones. Island Closest to Heaven and Hell have numerous hidden draw points for powerful spells, which make for good spell-grinding spots.
The player can also get one Meteor spell from Zell's "love quest" if they give Beef & Red as the answers to a "survey" held by girls at the library, and later return for the results.
Boko can use ChocoMeteor if the player has trained him in the Chocobo World. In Final Fantasy VIII Remastered, Chocobo World is no longer available, but Boko uses his special skills natively, upgrading his attack depending on Squall's level.
==Stats==
==Use==
Meteor has a spell power of 20 for each of its ten separate damage intervals, meaning damage for each meteorite hit is calculated as:
:Damage = Magic + 20
:Damage = Damage \times (265 - Target's~Spirit) / 4
:Damage = Damage \times 20 / 256
Where "Magic" is the caster's Magic stat and "Spirit" is the target's Spirit stat.
Against a single target, such as most bosses, Meteor will do more damage than Ultima, barring a low Magic stat against a high Spirit target. It doling out its damage across multiple hits also allows it to bypass the damage limit of 9999. Its damage output is less impressive against multiple targets, where Ultima will generally perform better as it damages all enemies equally. Meteor can deal heavy non-elemental damage to a single target when cast as a spell. While it, therefore, cannot take advantage of any elemental weaknesses, it can also not be resisted or absorbed by an enemy, and its extreme damage output even exceeds the damage dealt with elemental spells striking a weakness.
It is cast as a spell in the Magic command, Selphie's Slot Limit Break, or Rinoa's Angel Wing if she has it in her inventory. Due to its rarity, and its potency when junctioned to stats, most characters should stock Meteor to junction it to stats and not cast it with Magic, unless draw-casting it, or casting it with Selphie's Slot or Rinoa's Angel Wing.
Casting Meteor in battle increases compatibility with Eden by 0.4 and with Brothers, Diablos, Leviathan, and Bahamut by 0.2. Casting Meteor doesn't lower compatibility with any GF.
Meteor provides the second-highest boost to Strength when junctioned, and the third-highest boost to HP. It can also absorb Wind- and Earth-elemental damage when junctioned to Elem-Def-J.
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A known damage-dealing trick is to have Rinoa use her Angel Wing with Meteor as the only/main offensive spell in her inventory, resulting in her casting Meteor spells in rapid succession, especially when under Haste status, without expending them. Because spells deal 5x the normal damage when used through the Angel Wing Limit Break, Rinoa will devastate most opponents this way. Any other offensive spells the player wants for junctioning should be placed right under Meteor in Rinoa's magic list, as when the RNG chooses spells for Angel Wing to cast, it will just roll over to the next spell until a suitable spell is found; this way most RNG results lead to Meteor and the other spells are only chosen if the game specifically lands on them. This set-up works well against Ultima and Omega Weapons, as well as the final bosses.
Certain enemies, such as Behemoth, Torama, Fujin and Omega Weapon, use the spell against the party. As it cannot be reflected or absorbed with junctions, the only way to protect against it is to use Shell and junction for high Spirit stat.
==Etymology==
==Citations==
Category:Magic in Final Fantasy VIII