Classes & combat
Status Effects
Stun, freeze, bind, confuse, slow, burn, poison, blind and weaken. What each does to you and to creatures, and how bosses break.
A status effect is a condition laid on a fighter by a skill, a soul or a creature's attack. There are nine. You see them as small marks on bodies, as icons by a creature's name, and as a row of icons by your own HP and MP, each with a ring that drains as it ends.
The nine statuses
| Status | On a creature | On you | Holds the body? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stun | Stops. No attacks, no touch damage | You cannot move, jump or cast | Yes |
| Freeze | Frozen mid-pose, no attacks | You cannot move, jump or cast | Yes |
| Bind | Rooted to the spot, but it can still swing | You cannot move, jump or cast | Yes |
| Confuse | Wanders off at a slower pace, turns around, forgets to attack, and does no touch damage | You are immune | Yes |
| Slow | Moves slower | You move slower, but never below half speed | No |
| Burn | Takes fire damage over time | Takes fire damage over time, based on your max HP | No |
| Poison | Takes poison damage over time | Takes poison damage over time, but poison alone never takes your last HP | No |
| Blind | Loses its target and its aim, and searches without tracking you | The world goes black, with only your own hero visible, and your blows miss | No |
| Weaken | Deals less damage | You deal less damage | No |
The four that hold the body are Stun, Freeze, Bind and Confuse. They are the hard ones.
When a status lands on you
- Stun, freeze and bind lock your controls. Your stick, jump, ATTACK and skills do nothing until the status ends. It never lasts long.
- Blind is the one to plan for. The screen fades to black and only your own hero stays visible, so you cannot see what is coming. Your swings and skills can miss. The HUD still works, so keep your potions ready.
- Burn and poison tick on your HP. Poison will never finish you off, but burn can.
- Slow and weaken make you move slower or hit softer. They stack with the rest.
- Heroes are never confused, because a reversed pad would be miserable.
Potions heal HP and MP. They do not cure a status, so wait it out or avoid it. Some support skills grant a short window of freedom, such as the Lightblade's Unbroken, and the Windstrider's can make you untouchable. During one you cannot be stunned, frozen or bound, and you are not knocked back.
Putting statuses on creatures
Some of your skills carry a status, and some skills let you choose one with an EFFECT pick. That pick is permanent. See Skills and Skill Points. Each class leans on its own theme:
| Class | EFFECT options across its skills |
|---|---|
| Lightblade | Stun, Blind, Burn, Weaken |
| Starweaver | Freeze, Confuse, Burn, Blind |
| Windstrider | Slow, Stun, Blind, Bind |
| Moonshade | Confuse, Poison, Blind, Weaken |
| Thornwarden | Bind, Poison, Slow, Weaken |
Each pick offers two options on one skill: one control (Stun, Freeze, Bind, Confuse or Slow) and one pressure (Burn, Poison, Blind or Weaken). The damage is the same either way. Control keeps a creature from hitting you and feeds the boss BREAK bar. Pressure adds damage over time or a debuff.
Souls and creatures use statuses too. A creature that dies while burning, frozen or poisoned falls in that style.
Boss BREAK
Bosses shrug off the hard statuses. A stun, freeze, bind or confuse that would land on a boss fills its BREAK bar instead. The bar sits under the boss's HP bar.
- Hold the boss with hard statuses and the bar fills.
- When the bar is full, the boss is BROKEN for a few seconds. It stops acting, it cannot attack or move, and it takes extra damage from everything: your swings, damage over time, summons and souls.
- The bar empties, and the next one is bigger.
- If you stop holding it for a while, the bar slowly drains.
The other statuses, Slow, Burn, Poison, Blind and Weaken, work on bosses as normal. Blind does not fill the bar.
BREAK applies to true bosses: map bosses, boss lairs, dungeon and raid bosses, and the Crowned. Elites and ordinary creatures take hard statuses as usual.
Tips
Read next
CombatAttacks and combos, skills and cooldowns, your class gauge, Soul Burst, creature tells, the target lock, and what happens when you fall.Skills and Skill PointsThe skill tree, how Skill Points are earned per job, ranks, prerequisites, permanent EFFECT picks, buffs and buff macros.Classes and JobsThe five classes, their two paths each, the four advancements, and how to try every class before you choose.
Creatures and BossesHow field creatures behave, what Elites and Crowned giants are, which guardians wait in the lairs, and how to read an attack before it lands.
AUTO-HuntingLet your hero hunt for you. How AUTO picks targets and fights bosses, what it uses, how its time works, how to save battery and how auto-quest differs.