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Final Fantasy VIII

Diablos

By
Nathan Garvin

Easily the coolest-looking GF in the game, Diablos must be tamed before he’ll lend you his services. After the Seed Field Exam you’ll be given orders by Headmaster Cid to head to Timber. After he gives you these orders, talk to him again to acquire the Magical Lamp, which you can use at any time to summon Diablos. Defeat the GF in battle and he’ll join you. Diablos’ attack, Dark Messenger, is odd in that it doesn’t deal damage normally. Instead, it deals gravity damage equal to 1% of the targets max HP per level of Diablos. At its base level, level nine, Diablos will deal damage equal to 9% of each foes’ max HP. At level fifty Diablos deals damage equal to 50% of each target’s max HP, and so on. Whatever the percentage, this damage caps at 9,999. Unlike most gravity effects, which deal damage based on a target’s current HP, Diablos’s attack can readily kill foes, as it deals damage based on the target’s max HP.

Diablos Stats

Level HP Attack
9 730 9% of target’s max HP
100 5,950 100% of target’s max HP

Diablos Base Compatibility

Squall Quistis Zell Selphie Rinoa Irvine
660 600 580 610 620 610

Diablos Compatibility Factors

Compatibility Factor Source
Opposed GF --
Compatibility Items Steel Orb
Favored Magic Demi, Flare, Meteor, Quake, Ultima
Opposed Magic Dispel, Esuna, Protect, Reflect, Shell

Diablos Abilities

Diablos starts out with Mag-J and can learn HP-J and the rare Hit-J, and since you can acquire him before traveling to Timber, he can serve as one of your cornerstone GFs. In this case, he shouldn’t be paired with Quezacotl, Ifrit or Siren… at least not initially, as you’ll want to spread those stat junctions around. Diablos is also the first GF to learn Ability x3, which should become eclipsed by Ability x4 when you start acquiring Rosetta Stones, but for now it’s a welcome boon.

Other interesting abilities include Darkside, which causes the character to deal 3x normal damage with their regular attack at the cost of 1/10 of their HP (Drain junctioned to Status Attack can counter this quite well). Diablos also comes with the much-appreciated Mag+20%, Mag+40%, HP+20%, HP+40% and HP+80% abilities.

Mug allows the character to attempt to steal items while dealing normal damage - an indispensable way to acquire some items. On the other hand, if you’d rather not fight Enc-Half and Enc-None will halve the encounter rate, or prevent random encounters entirely. Some set encounters and all boss fights are unavoidable, but it’s still an essential tool for keeping your levels low.

Diablos has two refining abilities. ST Mag RF allows Diablos to refine status-affecting spells out of items, notably the Meltdown spell from Mystery Fluid (great for reducing enemy defense and for junctioning to Vit-J) and the Pain spell from Curse Spikes (one of the better early-game Mag-J junctions).

Ability AP
HP-J 50
Mag-J --
Hit-J 120
Ability x3 --
Magic --
GF --
Draw --
Item --
Darkside 100
HP+20% 60
HP+40% 120
HP+80% 240
Mag+20% 60
Mag+40% 120
Mug 200
Enc-Half 30
Enc-None 100
GFHP+10% 40
GFHP+20% 70
GFHP+30% 140
ST Mag-RF 30
Time Mag-RF 30
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Guide Information
  • Publisher
    Square Enix
  • Platforms,
    PC, PS1, PS4, Switch, XB One
  • Genre
    RPG
  • Guide Release
    15 March 2019
  • Last Updated
    4 June 2022
    Version History
  • Guide Author

Share this free guide:

Follow the exploits of Squall, a resident of Balamb Garden and SeeD aspirant whose first contract as a professional mercenary expands into a fight to save the world from an evil sorceress.

This guide will cover the main quest-line chronologically, giving advice on leveling (and how to avoid it), where to find the best spells, how to acquire all GFs and defeat all bosses. In addition the guide will cover all side quests and will also include in-depth mini-guides for Chocobo World and Triple Triad. By following this guide you can aspire to the following:

  • Complete walkthrough of the main questline.
  • All side quests and optional content.
  • How to defeat both of the game’s superbosses.
  • Information on how to acquire each GF and a discussion of their abilities, including where to assign them.
  • Information on Triple Triad, including the location of every card in the game and how to best use them.
  • Low-level run information.
  • Information on min-maxing stats.
  • A mini-guide for Chocobo World.
  • Information on all characters, including stats and how to acquire all their weapons and limits.
  • Triple Triad guide.

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