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Final Fantasy V enemy types

Final Fantasy V has seven enemy types, also known as target types when not exclusive to enemies. They are boolean properties of targets, meaning any target can possess any number of them, including none.

Some weapons deal increased damage against certain enemy types, and some other weapons and spells greatly boost their damage output against certain enemy types. A few commands only work against certain enemy types, and miss otherwise.

Content in italics is exclusive to the Advance and decommissioned 2013 mobile and Steam releases.

Assumptions[]

Types that are not included in this page do not exist in the game, despite some misleading names and in-game descriptions of certain weapons. For instance, the Ogre Killer does not deal additional damage to giants, mainly because "Giant" is not a type in Final Fantasy V.

Avian[]

Avian targets are weak against the Aevis Killer. Some avian targets are also among the enemies that are unable to evade (barring the image status) attacks whose category is aerial.

The avian type is applied inconsistently throughout the game. First, not all flying enemies possess it. Second, certain enemies that are palette swaps of avian enemies, are not classified as avian (e.g. Wyrm, Zu, and Archeoaevis). Third, not all enemies whose name ends in "-aevis" are classified as avian-type.

The avian type must not be confused with the float status natively and permanently possessed by many visually flying enemies that makes incoming earth-elemental spells always miss.

Likewise, the avian type must not be confused with the inability to evade actions whose category is aerial. That property (as opposed to the avian type) is responsible for the increased damage dealt by all bows and whips against certain targets in the Pixel Remaster version.

Avian-type enemies
Increased damage inflicted

Desert[]

Desert-type targets are very weak against Aqua Breath.

While most exclusive desert-dwellers are classified as desert-type, there are three exceptions: Dhorme Chimera, Ankheg, and Ammonite can only be encountered in deserts, but are not classified as desert-type targets.

Desert-type enemies
Large boost to damage inflicted

Dragon[]

Dragon targets are weak against the Dragon Lance and the Dragon's Whisker, and very weak against Apollo's Harp.

The player can add this type to any target (including party members) by mixing Dragon Kiss on them (Dragon Fang + Maiden's Kiss). This strategy increases the viability of Apollo's Harp, even against difficult bosses such as Omega.

Dragon-type enemies
Increased damage inflicted Large boost to damage inflicted

Heavy[]

Heavy is a special type possessed by some regular enemies and some bosses. Its main feature is the blocking of many effects that would normally enable battles to be completed quickly without having to deal regular HP damage. It can be applied to party members via mixing Dragon Kiss.

Heavy targets have the following properties:

  • Immunity to certain death/ejection effects.
  • Immunity to abilities such as !Condemn and !Flirt.
  • Immunity to abilities that deal fractional damage based on current HP.
  • Immunity to abilities that deal MP fractional damage based on current MP.
  • Forcing alternative effects of certain incoming actions that would otherwise kill them.
  • Shorter duration of certain non-permanent statuses.
Heavy-type enemies

Human[]

Human targets are weak against the Man-Eater. Party members are not classified as human targets.

Human-type enemies
Increased damage inflicted

Magic Beast[]

Magic Beast targets are weak against the Beast Killer, Artemis' Bow, and susceptible to !Calm.

The magic beast type is applied very liberally throughout the game to include enemies that do not resemble beasts.

Magic Beast-type enemies
Increased damage inflicted

Undead[]

Undead targets exhibit the following properties:

  • Their HP are fully restored by most instant death abilities (including the unblockable Level 5 Death). Some undead enemies (e.g. Archeodemon) even cast Death on themselves intentionally to get fully healed.
    • They are however vulnerable to the added status of the Killer Bow and some other instant death effects, like non-undead targets.
    • On the flip side, they can be instantly killed by reviving effects, unless they are also heavy.
  • Most HP-healing abilities deal damage to them.
    • Full-cure abilities (e.g. Elixir) reduce their HP to a single digit value, unless they are also heavy, in which case miss.
    • They can still be healed by White Wind, though.
    • MP-healing effects (e.g. Ether) work as normal on them.
    • Effects that normally heal both HP and MP (e.g. Elixir[note 1]) deal HP damage to them but still restore their MP.
  • HP-draining and MP-draining effects (e.g. !Lance) are reversed on both caster and target if either of them is undead.
    • MP-damaging effects (e.g. Magic Hammer) work as normal on them.
  • The Sage Staff and the Apollo's Harp deal greatly increased damage to them.
  • They are susceptible to Requiem.

Some undead targets are also unable to evade attacks whose category is white (e.g. the White Magic Cure).

Party members wearing the Bone Mail become undead during battles. They are treated as non-undead in the main menu (i.e. they can be healed and revived normally).

The undead type must not be confused with the innate state of the Necromancer job and its signature Undead support ability. In both cases, the relevant party member acquires some of the properties of the undead type (e.g. vulnerability to healing magic) while retaining the capability to be revived in battle.

Undead-type enemies
Large boost to damage inflicted

Notes[]

  1. ↑ With the usual caveat for full-cure abilities against heavy undead targets.