As you proceed through the game you’ll get more and more increasingly powerful spells, and will discover slowly what goes best for what stat. So, at the end of the game (when you have access to just about everything), it’s going to be time to take stock and decide what is the best set-up for your stats. Well, let me help you with that and show you the best spell junction setup you could possibly have, and make yourself a really powerful party to save the world.
Hit Points (HP): Meteor
The elephant in the room is that yes, Ultima does give you 6000 HP when a hundred are junctioned to HP. However, there are a lot more components when concerning hit points then just what’s junctioned. Character’s level ups add HP, and there are plenty of GF abilities that raise hit points by various percentages. This is why the best spell for HP is Meteor. It provides an extra 4800 HP and that’s plenty enough with all the other hit point boosts to reach the cap of 9999 – though you don’t really even need that much to be safe in battle. How to Obtain: The easiest way to get lots of Meteors is by drawing them from a level 45 or greater Ruby Dragon on the Centra Continent.
Strength (STR): Ultima
Strength dictates how much damage you do with physical attacks…and I know: duh, of course it does. But that means that the best things to attach to it are attack spells, and the most attacking spell of the attack spell crew is our boy Ultima. As the poster boy for damage, a max Ultima stack adds an incredible 100 Strength. With that much power, in addition to the weapons and strength boost support abilities, you’ll be doing 9999 damage with every swing. Hitting an enemy with Squall’s Lion Heart limit break for max damage is amazingly satisfying. How to Obtain: Ultimas can be drawn from an invisible draw point outside the Shumi Village and while that’s recharging between draws you can go get more of the spell on the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell. Bahamut’s Forbid Mag RF ability can also make you a few.
Vitality (VIT): Meltdown
Vitality(also known as defense) determines how much damage you’ll take when you get hit with physical attacks. There’s an equal amount of physical and magical attacks in the game, so it’s nice to keep both equally strong. There’s a lot of good VIT junctions, but the best for an ultimate endgame build is Meltdown. Meltdown is a spell that applies VIT 0 to an enemy, so in an ironic way it’s perfect for the stat. It adds an additional 80 points to vitality which is super substantial and helpful, keeping you safe in battle. How to Obtain: Go to the Cactuar Island and fight the Jumbo Cactuar, but don’t beat it! Take the time to draw as many Meltdowns as you need! If you’ve already beaten the JC, then you can fight high-level Bombs on the Esthar Continent for the spell.
Magic (MAG): Pain
Magic dictates how much damage your spells (as well as certain limit breaks) deal to enemies. It also determines how many spells you draw from either draw points or enemies. It’s a semi-important stat because of these things. What can we do to make it better? Pain! The source of magic is Pain! The Pain spell is a good buff-up to your MAG stat, giving you an extra 60 points with a stack of 100. Magic isn’t as important as the others, so this kind of boost is perfect for it. How to Obtain: Curse Spikes refine to 10 Pains each. You can get the Spikes by either mugging Tri-Faces or refining Tri-Face cards (which is much easier).
Spirit (SPR): Full-Life
As Vitality is defense against physical attacks, Spirit is defense against magical attacks. For battles against big baddies, both are very important. And as such, it’s very important that you keep them both equally strong. There are a lot of decent choices when it comes to Spirit boosts, but what really makes the spirit shine is Full-Life. Full-Life gives +85. That is more than enough to concrete a solid defense against whatever magical attacks come your way. Laugh off Meteors and Ultimas like they’re pitiful Fires and Blizzards. Nothing can stop you! How to Obtain: You can draw them from the Tonberry King, and that’s your best bet for reliably getting them. But you can also refine the Phoenix Spirit item into 100 of them should you find one of those.
Speed (SPD): Triple
Having a high-speed stat is amazing. When you have max speed (or close to it) and then cast Haste, your ATB bar will fill up in less than a second. This means you’ll be getting at least ten times as many turns as your enemy. Throwing out stuff like limit breaks as if they’re regular attacks is probably the coolest thing you can do in the game. And in FF8, Triple gives an additional 60 points of speed. That’s a very noticeable difference in how quick you are. Triple is the best spell for speed in the game, it was practically custom made to be junctioned to the stat. How to Obtain: You can draw infinite Triples from Cerberus if you choose to fight him during the siege on Galbadia Garden. This is the earliest, and most reliable place to get it, though you can also receive it by modding Quistis’ card for Samantha Souls which can in turn be made into 60 Triples each.
Hit Percentage (Hit%): Double
Hit Percentage (accuracy) is perhaps the least important stat. Both Squall and Selphie naturally have 100% hit percentage, and the others rarely miss their attacks anyway. That said, if we’re building an ultimate endgame Junction list, we have to junction something to everything. The Double spell is your best bet for Hit Percentage. It’s fairly easy to obtain and adds an additional +40. Never miss again! Unless you get blinded. How to Obtain: Get some Dragon Fins from Grendals on the Galbadia Continent and refine them using Diabolos Time Mag RF for 20 each.
Luck (LUK): Aura
Luck determines critical hits. That’s about it. That’s pretty cool, though. And at max Luck you’ll be scoring a critical hit with every attack (except for Squall, who can only get crits through pulling the trigger on his gunblade). Using Tonberry’s Luck+50% support ability is a good start, but we can do better! Attaching the Aura spell to Luck increases it by 40 – and even that is enough to notice a difference in the number of times you critically hit. Get critical! How to Obtain: Get some Fury Fragment drops from either Red Dragons or Grendels and refine into 5 Auras each. Or you can do circles around the Islands Closest to Heaven and Hell to fill up that way.
