Break a strong enemy
Bosses, MVPs, and Rare and Mythic monsters carry a shield with hidden weaknesses: particular weapon types or elements. Hitting a weakness reveals it for everyone and chips away at the shield.
When the shield reaches zero, the monster is Broken. For a few seconds it is stunned and takes much more damage. It then recovers its full shield, but the weaknesses you found stay revealed. Each later Break of the same monster is a little shorter than the one before, so make the first one count.
Skills chip shields best. Auto-attacks chip too, but only every so often, so a single fast attacker can't keep a boss stunned on their own. Story guardians, job trials and class-chapter duels fight without a shield.
An MVP's shield refills when it moves into a new phase, and Breaking an MVP while its signature attack is warned on the ground cancels that attack. See MVPs, encounters & tombstones.
Boost a skill
Landing ordinary attacks on a monster that carries a Break shield builds Boost Points, up to five. Ordinary monsters without a shield don't build them. Press B to arm your points; the next skill you land spends them and becomes stronger for each point. A boosted skill that misses keeps your points. Healing skills are boosted too.
Unspent points are lost if you stay out of combat for a little while, so spend them while the fight is on. Boost is a skill bonus: it does not affect ordinary attacks.
Breaker's Feast, a dish from Cooking, gives you a Boost Point with your first blow of each fight while it lasts.
Latent Power
Your Latent Power meter fills as you land hits on monsters and fills faster when monsters hurt you. One skill can only add so much, however many monsters it hits, so a single big area spell won't fill the meter at once. When it is full, press V to unleash a short burst named for your class family. After a burst ends, the meter rests for 30 seconds before it starts filling again. The meter empties if you die.
| Class family | Burst | While it lasts |
|---|---|---|
| Novice, Super Novice | Beginner's Luck | More attack and magic attack, more critical hits |
| Swordsman line, Taekwon, Star Gladiator | Unbending Blade | Much more attack, more defense, casting cannot be interrupted |
| Archer line, Gunslinger | Hawk's Focus | Faster attacks and more critical hits |
| Mage line, Soul Linker | Arcane Surge | Instant casting and more magic attack |
| Blue Mage | Unbound Grimoire | Every learned technique usable, prepared or not; more attack and magic attack; faster recovery |
| Red Mage | Chainspell | Hexes cast instantly at half the SP; faster recovery |
| Acolyte line | Divine Grace | Skills cost no SP, stronger healing |
| Thief line, Ninja | Shadow Rush | Skills cost no SP, more critical hits |
| Merchant line | Windfall | More attack, skills cost half SP |
| Summoner | Pack Call | More magic attack, skills cost no SP, a stronger summon, and Pact Shift without a cooldown |
Three ways to work a shield
- Blue Mages reveal weaknesses: Azure Study reads a shield, and every new weakness they reveal gives nearby party members a Boost Point.
- Red Mages exploit them: swapping Edge to a revealed weakness turns it into broken shields, and Crimson Cue turns marks into the party's Boost Points.
- Summoners cover elements over time with their bound pacts, and only they notice when their spirit senses a hidden weakness. A spirit's abilities chip shields; its basic attacks only reveal.
Bringing it together
The status window shows your Boost Points and Latent Power meter. Save a Latent Power burst and a full set of Boost Points for the moment a guardian or MVP is Broken.
None of this replaces preparation. A Broken boss can still recover and hit hard.