Boost (Final Fantasy VIII)

Boost is a GF ability in Final Fantasy VIII, used to power up Guardian Forces' damage when summoned via timed button presses. The maximum boost is x2.5 the base damage. Boost makes the game more interactive even during long summoning animations.

Obtained[]

Boost costs 10 AP to learn; all junctionable GFs have it bar Diablos, Carbuncle, Cerberus, and Cactuar, since their effects either do not deal damage, or do a set amount of damage. Removing Boost with Amnesia Greens is not recommended, as there is no way to regain the ability. Whenever the player acquires a new GF, they are set to learn Boost by default, should they have it.

Mechanics[]

During the summon animation, the player can hold down and tap to increase the power of the summon's attack; the drawback is that if the player fails to boost the GF sufficiently, it may end up dealing less damage than it would have when not boosted at all. The damage varies between 75% and 250% of the normal damage, and the percentage increases by 1 for each button press, though it will drop to 75% if the player presses the button whenever a red cross appears over the cursor. If the player makes no attempt to boost damage, the attack will deal the default amount, indicated by the absence of a visible number next to the cursor.

GFs with longer summon animations, such as Eden, are the easiest to boost.

Boosting is significantly easier in the original PlayStation version, as the battle UI operates at 60 FPS instead of 15. Although subsequent ports use different control layouts, they still function the same. For instance, in the PS4 Remastered release, the bottom-left corner of the touchpad is held in lieu of . On Nintendo Switch, the player needs to press and hold the - (minus) button while mashing the Y button. On Xbox One the player holds Select and mashes X.

The Boost sequence is always the same for a summoning animation, and so the player can learn the pattern if they summon the same GFs often. Unless the player can get the number consistently to exceed 100, Boost is not worth using.

With Battle Speed set to medium, the list below displays the approximate length of time allowing the player to boost and the approximate value of % increase for summon damage, as based on the original PlayStation version with the higher frame rate.^[1]

GF	Summon Time	DMG Potential
Quezacotl	13.3s	180%
Shiva	12.9s	180%
Ifrit	13.0s	180%
Siren	17.6s	200%
Brothers	19.3s	220%
Leviathan	21.4s	230%
Pandemona	22.8s	240%
Alexander	22.1s	230%
Doomtrain	22.9s	240%
Bahamut	22.1s	230%
Tonberry	14.0s	190%
Eden	72.6s	250%

Each GF uses the following formula^[2] for determining the amount of damage they deal. The Boost modifier is equal to 100 if the player does not attempt to boost the damage or does not have the ability learned. The LevelMod and Power values vary per GF.

${\displaystyle Damage = LevelMod \times Level / 10 + Power + PowerMod}$

${\displaystyle Damage = Damage \times (265 - TargetSpr) / 8}$

${\displaystyle Damage = Damage \times Power / 256}$

${\displaystyle Damage = Damage \times Boost / 100 }$

${\displaystyle Damage = Damage \times (100 + SummonMagBonus) / 100 }$

If the Guardian Force is elemental, the target's elemental defense attributes affect the damage outcome.

${\displaystyle Damage=Damage\times (900-ElemDef)/100}$

Elemental Defense starts at 800 (0%), 900 nullifies damage and 1000 absorbs it. If an enemy is shown to be weak against an element, its Elemental Defense is below 800. If damage becomes negative (due to high Elemental Defense), the target is healed by that amount.

Use[]

Boost is generally useful if the player is summoning GFs to deal damage. For example, it is useful to learn Boost for Shiva before fighting Ifrit, for Quezacotl before fighting X-ATM092, and Leviathan before fighting BGH251F2 in Fishermans Horizon or Jumbo Cactuar. Cerberus and Carbuncle give buffs and cannot be boosted, and Diablos and Cactuar deal damage based on their levels, and likewise cannot be boosted.

Most GFs damage caps at 9999, meaning that boosting can have diminishing returns after a time for the strongest GFs, but in the beginning of the game, summoning and boosting is among the best ways the player can do damage to multiple enemies at once. The downside is that the summoning animation is always the same and the game can get boring by fighting this way. When the player can junction their party with Str-J and Str+% abilities, using physical attacks quickly becomes more convenient than summoning.

Eden can break the damage limit and is thus a great GF to be summoning in the endgame, and is also fairly easy to get to 250%.

Citations[]