Utsusemi And Ga Spells

I will always take damage with spells such as firaga3 with all shadows up ?

Yes, though on some spells, maybe all, the number of shadows will reduce damage. Also some JAs will do the same thing.

Utsusemi does not protect against any AoE spell or most AoE abilities.

Um some partially correct answers.

Utsusemi will not do anything against AOE spells and pretty much most magically AOE abilities.

It will however provide at least some protection on alot of physical AOE abilities though often takes more than 1 shadow and if you don't have enough shadows to fully block the reduction in dmg is no where near proportionate to the number of shadows absorbed lol

Could have swore I read something about utsu reducing damage on something that was AoE... I'll go poke around after Besieged.

Wiki states:


Loses all copy images, and takes damage and/or becomes enfeebledThe caster is hit by an AoE magical WS such as Blood Saber, or an AoE spell such as Firaga.
The caster is hit by an AoE enfeebling spell like Breakga.
Note: Some spells (e.g. Diaga) and WS's (e.g. Negative Whirl) can strip copy images, damage, and enfeeble at the same time.

http://wiki.ffxiclopedia.org/wiki/Copy_Image

so not officially clear anywhere lol

Never seen anything about shadows reducing AoE damage. They reduce damage from multi hit weaponskills but not spells.

of course it does...its just AOE physical dmg it reduces, not magical... IE: whirl of rage from weapon mobs, mitigated by absorbing 2 shadows...surely you've noticed that that move can be blocked by shadows in sky doing like Brigandish Blade or something

Didn't read what I said? Those are WS not spells. AoE/Multi hit whatever

Whirl of Rage can be absorbed by shadows and it's an AoE TP move. Multi-hit TP moves can also be absorbed by multiple shadows.

On the other hand, magical based spells and abilities will almost always strip shadows and deal damage. There are some exceptions, like Sleepga from Shiva Prime, which won't strip shadows at all.

The best thing you can do when you know an aga is coming at you, is to prepare to put back on your shadows. Monster casting Firaga III at you and there's no stun available? Start casting Utsusemi: Ichi mid-way through its cast so that you'll have shadows up after Firaga III wrecks you.

Utusemi shadows will not block any magical AoE effect, or reduce the damage by any amount.

Utsusemi -WILL- block most all physical AoE effects (Some exceptions). The downside is that, unlike players, enemies frequently have access to multi-hit AoE physical attacks. This is why damage may be reduced with more remaining shadows, or blocked entirely with enough or if the mob has missed an attack. (Often the case of Weapon monsters varrying if they take 1-3 shadows. They just missed)

There are some exceptions to the second rule, as stated. Monsters just cheat like that.

Unless I'm tripping to an incredible extent, Utsusemi used to absorb AoE magic just like it absorbs AoE physical attacks now. They removed that at about the same time that they made losing shadows lose a small amount of enmity.

My memory is pretty hazy, but I believe it did infact absorb AoE magic. Likely considered a broken mechanic that took some time to patch.

It's really TP move dependent.

Any spell ending in "Ga" will immediately strip shadows, and then inflict the status effect/damage. No protection is offered whatsoever.

TP moves are case-by case. Some abilities like Wind Shear are absorbed with 1-2 shadows, despite being total AOE.

Most Physical AOE can be absorbed by 4 or less shadows, including Wyrm's Spike Flail. (Threefold Area of Effect attack).

Some AOE debuffs wont remove shadows but still hit you.

And utsesmi and blink used to be the same thing. Had same status icon too. All AOE moves would strip and deal dmg but all single targets would only remove 1 shadow and was based on weather they would actually hit you. Instead like now if a goblin uses goblin rush it will strip 3 shadows even if you are a lvl 75 thf and it is a lvl 1 goblin

I don't think that Utsusemi absorbs any magical AoE damage at all. And even if it does, it's still going to hurt. Haha. Utsusemi blocks single-target spells, and will block a number of hits from a TP move used by an enemy.

Example 1: Archaic Chariot's Discharge. AoE Paralyze + Damage. Wipes Shadows. Ouch!

Example 2: Suzaku's Gliding Spike. Single Target Damage. It's 1 hit, so it takes 1 shadow.

But some AoE moves can be absorbed by Utsusemi, which makes it confusing.

Example 3: Armored Chariot's Mortal Revolution. Sometimes it takes 1 shadow, sometimes 2, sometimes 3. Heck, sometimes I swear it wipes all 3 of my shadows and still stuns me and knocks me back lol.

So in conclusion, it just depends on what you're fighting, and what moves that monster uses. If you're unsure, you may want to take a trip to wiki's beastiary. ;)

As mentioned, way back in the day, Utsu did absorb AoE spells.

Then they tweaked Utsu for balance, and made it so that shadows got wiped and you took damage.
The varying shadows on some AoE TP moves was also implemented then. It's supposedly based on Ninjitsu skill level.

Utsusemi does block sch aoe spells though like drain-ga aspir-ga and sleep2-ga

I always found it extremely annoying that -ga spells get to strip my shadows and deal full damage to me. If its going to eat the shadows they should mitigate some of the damage.

Ahh I miss the old days. Nin was my first 75. Multi-hit skills and AOE spells all took only 1 shadow. There was no enmity loss when a shadow absorbed the dmg. And ranged attacks could miss and not take a shadow.

Nin's were gods back then. Almost noone ever used a pld for anything, including gods and hnm. Double mambo/march tanking Byakko naked was the shiz, it was a right of passage for a mt nin. I miss the good old days.