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Final Fantasy VIII

Irvine

By
Nathan Garvin

Considering himself a smooth-talking ladies man, Irvine tries to project an aura of cool detachment. This facade tends to crack under pressure, but cut the guy a break - it can’t be easy being a sniper who uses shotguns. Irvine is the only SeeD in your party who hasn’t served time at Balamb Garden, and for some reason dresses like a cowboy.

Level HP Str Vit Mag Spr Spd Luck
Lv 13 699 10 8 10 7 22 14
Lv 100 3,880 45 31 42 28 39 21

Limit Break: Shot

When Shot is activated, Irvine will get a random amount of time to blast the enemy with a barrage of bullets. The time he’s allotted is roughly 8 - 26 seconds; determined in part, as usual, by several factors including how many HP he has left (as a percentage of his max HP), how many allies are KO’d, and if he’s afflicted by status effects.

Time isn’t the only factor to consider, however, as Irvine can choose between a variety of ammo to use during his Shot limit, which has different effects. The ammo chosen and its effects are listed below:

Ammo Consumed Shot Type Speed Effect
Normal Ammo Normal Shot Normal Damages one enemy (base power 16).
Shotgun Ammo Scatter Shot Normal Damages all enemies (base power 14).
Dark Ammo Dark Shot Normal Damages one enemy and can inflict Blind, Poison, Silence, Sleep and Slow (base power 14).
Fire Ammo Flame Shot Slow Fire damage to all enemies (base power 40).
Demolition Ammo Canister Shot Slow Damages one enemy (base power 60).
Fast Ammo Quick Shot Fast Damages one enemy (base power 7).
AP Ammo Armor Shot Slow Damages one enemy, ignores defense (base power 80).
Pulse Ammo Hyper Shot Slow Damages one enemy (base power 120).

Keep in mind some other limitations to Shot: if a particular Shot attack requires you to target a specific foe and that foes dies during the Shot, subsequent attacks will deal zero damage. Also, if you run out of ammo during your Shot attack, the attack will end prematurely.

For much of the game, Flame Shot, Canister Shot and Armor Shot will all serve you well, as this ammo is power, deals hefty damage, and easy to create. Towards the end of the game, however, focus should shift to Quick Shot, as its single-target damage output is simply phenomenal, allowing Irvine to compete with even Squall in Zell. The only limitation, of course, is running out of ammo, and considering it’s not remotely difficult to pop off 30+ rounds of Fast Ammo in a single limit break, it’s not terribly unlikely. That said, since Fast Ammo can be refined from Normal Ammo (1:1 rate) Shotgun Ammo (2:1 rate), and both Normal Ammo and Shotgun Ammo can be purchased from most general stores, and an infinite supply of Gil is always at your fingertips once you have the Tonberry GF, it shouldn’t be hard to keep your stock of Fast Ammo full… between fights, anyways.

In any event, here’s a list of the types of ammo Irvine can use and where to get it, so you can ensure you always stay stocked up.

Ammo Acquired Ability
Normal Ammo Buy from general stores --
Normal Ammo 1x Screw = Normal Ammo x8 Ammo-RF
Shotgun Ammo Buy from general stores --
Dark Ammo 1x Venom Fang = Dark Ammo x20 Ammo-RF
Dark Ammo 1x Abadon Card = Dark Ammo x30 Card Mod
Fire Ammo 1x Fuel = Fire Ammo x10 Ammo-RF
Fire Ammo 1x Bomb Fragment = Fire Ammo x20 Ammo-RF
Fire Ammo 1x Oilboyle Card = Fire Ammo x30 Card Mod
Fire Ammo 1x Red Fang = Fire Ammo x40 Ammo-RF
Demolition Ammo 1x Missile = Demolition Ammo x20 Ammo-RF
Demolition Ammo 1x Trauma Card = Demolition Ammo x30 Card Mod
Demolition Ammo 1x Running Fire = Demolition Ammo x40 Ammo-RF
Demolition Ammo 1x Cactus Thorn = Demolition Ammo x40 Ammo-RF
Fast Ammo 1x Normal Ammo = Fast Ammo x1 Ammo-RF
Fast Ammo 1x Shotgun Ammo = Fast Ammo x2 Ammo-RF
Fast Ammo 1x GIM47N Card = Fast Ammo x10 Card Mod
AP Ammo 1x Sharp Spike = AP Ammo x10 Ammo-RF
AP Ammo 1x Chef’s Knife = AP Ammo x20 Ammo-RF
Pulse Ammo 1x Laser Cannon = Pulse Ammo x5 Ammo-RF
Pulse Ammo 1x Energy Crystal = Pulse Ammo x10 Ammo-RF
Pulse Ammo 1x Power Generator = Pulse Ammo x20 Ammo-RF

Weapon: Shotgun

Irvine’s a sharpshooter, but lets be honest - sniping foes from a distance is like, a lot of work, and if Irvine ever successfully pulled off a shot from a great distance than thirty feet, one might start wondering why he doesn’t just take out every foe that way, and that would bring into question the whole “random encounter”, “line up and slug each other until one side dies” combat system. So Irvine mostly uses shotguns, deriving absolutely no tangible benefit from his use of ranged weapons. Suitably, then, his weapons aren’t any stronger than most other weapon types. He’s got the standard four weapons, with an ultimate weapon that caps out at +25 Strength. On the plus side, his ultimate weapon’s 115 Hit% is somewhat higher than the norm.

Weapon Materials Cost Str Hit%
Valiant Screw x4, Steel Pipe x1 100G 12 105%
Ulysses Bomb Fragment x1, Screw x2, Steel Pipe x1 200G 15 108%
Bismarck Dynamo Stone x4, Screw x8, Steel Pipe x2 400G 20 110%
Exeter Dino Bone x2, Moon Stone x1, Screw x18, Star Fragment x2 800G 25 115%

How to Obtain Exeter: Irvine, like Rinoa, has an ultimate weapon that requires some rare components, and all things considered it might not be worth going out of your way to acquire them when his second-best weapon, the Bismarck, is pretty good in its own right.

The two Dino Bones can be acquired easily enough from T-Rexaurs, either as drops or, more reliably, when mugged. You can also refine 1x Armadodo Card or 2x T-Rexaur Cards for this purpose. Screws are common enough that it shouldn’t bear much description - defeat some Geezards near Dollet or refine 1x Geezard Card for 5x Screws. Star Fragments can be dropped by a variety of foes (Anacondaur, Chimera, Hexadragon, Iron Giant, Ruby Dragon, T-Rexaur, Tri-Face), but the easiest way to get them early is to refine 3x Iron Giant Cards via Card Mod. The Moon Stone is the real troublesome component, as it can only be acquired by defeating or mugging Elnoyles, defeating high level Imps or mid-to-high level Toramas. None of these foes can be fought until disc 3, so unless you have Chocobo World, you’re probably going to have to wait for this marginal increase to Irvine’s stats. Shame.

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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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