Summary
Magic has existed in theFinal Fantasyfranchise since it debuted in 1987 on the NES. Players could create several magic-based Jobs, like the Black Mage, and buy spells in shops. Nowadays, most skills are learned naturally through character progression, skill trees, or Job sets. One of the biggest elemental types in the series is based on fire.
Fire-based attacks have come in many varieties. Some have been repeated numerous times, and others are locked into a single game. Let’s go through how these fire-based spells have affectedFinal Fantasygames and rank them based on power. Attacks from fire-basedSummons, like Ifrit, will not be counted as that would be too cheap of a ranking.
Final Fantasy 9has a unique combo system that exists only between two characters.Vivi is a Black Magewho can cast powerful spells, with his strongest fire-based attack being Firaga. Steiner is a knight who uses physical skills, but if Vivi is in the party, they can use Sword Magic together.
This will imbue Steiner’s sword with magic, with Firaga Sword being his strongest fire-based attack, which can be stronger than Vivi’s Firaga on its own.
Meltdown exists in a few of the games, and it can switch between non-elemental, like inFinal Fantasy 8,and elemental,like inFinal Fantasy 6. Not only is Meltdown a fire-based attack inFinal Fantasy 6, but it also does wind-based damage, and it can ignore enemy defenses.
There is a risk to using it, though, as it will attack everyone, including the allied party. However, players can equip gear to absorb the spell, making the negatives not troublesome.
Final Fantasy 16is a unique game, as players will primarily control Clive, who can absorb Summons called Eikons throughout the campaign. He is innately gifted with Ifrit’s powers, but he can also gainanother fire-based Eikon, Phoenix.
Players can swap between Eikons in combat, and each Eikon will give Clive a good amount of abilities. Flames of Rebirth is the best Fire skill at his disposal, which will strike an area with a pillar of fire and heal Clive in return.
Like Meltdown, Flare can be fire-based or non-elemental in the series, with the latter being the norm across games likeFinal Fantasy 4andFinal Fantasy 6.Final Fantasy 7is one game where Flare is a fire-based spell, but it is outplayed byLightning Returns: Final Fantasy 13’sversion.
In that game, Flare will attack all enemies for a burning amount of damage. AsLightning is by herselfin the game, all types of area-effecting spells are important to clear battles quickly.
Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7has a cool Materia system as players can fuse the items together to craft stronger spells. Hell Firaga, which shoots three fireballs randomly at enemies or an enemy that will do a good amount of damage.
What makes it killer, though, is that Hell Firaga has status effects attached, including Poison, Silence, Stop, and Death. If players are lucky, Hell Firaga can be an instant killer, which is good forZack, as he, too, was aloneon his journey.
Limit Breaks vary from game to game, like inFinal Fantasy 8,Irvine can use Shot. Based on the ammo given, he can shoot rapidly, and players can make it stack nicely. Fire Ammo would be his best fire-based attack, and it can be devastating.
However, players can get more from Lulu inFinal Fantasy 10if they use her Overdrive. Firaga Fury will cast Firaga multiple times, depending on how good players are at timing their button prompts, but at mass output, this can hurt a lot.
Firaga is typically the best fire-based spell for Black Mages in the series, but there are a few that go beyond that. Firaja is the best fire-based Black Mage spell inFinal Fantasy Tactics, for example. This spell will attack a large area on the grid for a massive amount of damage.
It takes time to cast, which can be interrupted if enemies move out of the way, but that’s why it’s important to cast Haste on Black Mages in the game.
Flare Star is in a few games, likeFinal Fantasy 6,as Gau can learn it from monsters. However, it pales in comparison to the power it has inFinal Fantasy 14. It’s the top spell for a Black Mage, and it will primarily strike one target with concentrated damage, and then that will spread out in a radius.
It’s similar to how Firaja can spread inFinal Fantasy Tacticsbut on a grander scale.Final Fantasy 14has some of the strongest magic in the series, but it takes dedication with its many Jobs to master spells like Flare Star, making the effort grueling but worth it in the end.
