Tactical Points

Abbreviation: TP A percentage indicating a character's ability to perform Weapon Skills. Similar to Limit Break gauges from previous Final Fantasy games. The TP bar ranges from 0% to 300%, and a Weapon Skill may be used as long as a character has 100% TP or above. Usage of a Weapon Skill will typically deplete the user's TP fully, although the Samurai job has various abilities that allow them to circumvent this and retain some TP following a Weapon Skill. TP is also used for the majority of the Job Abilities associated with the Dancer Job, with more powerful abilities requiring a greater TP cost. This can be avoided with the use of Trance, the job specific ability, or by using Jigs, which have no innate cost at the price of having no combat purpose. TP is generally produced from successful melee attacks that hit for at least 1 damage point. The amount of TP gained per hit is primarily dependent on the delay of the attacker. TP is also gained any time you take damage from a melee or magical attack. Damage Over Time spells, such as Dia and Poison, will only give TP if the initial cast does direct damage, not for the damage dealt by the status effect. Resting causes a character to lose TP at a rate of 10% TP per healing tick, unless the character has Signet inside of a Conquest area or Sigil inside a Campaign area. Many items, job traits, job abilities, and status effects exist that manipulate TP. The Icarus Wing is a popular medicine that immediately produces 100% base TP for the user, allowing for an immediate Weapon Skill, but can only be used sparingly. Store TP is a trait that passively increases your rate of TP gain, whereas Subtle Blow passively decreases the rate of TP gain for enemies that you attack. Meditate produces a variable amount of gradual TP, and Reverse Flourish produces immediate TP based on stocked Finishing Moves. Regain is a generic collective term for status effects that passively and gradually bestow TP over time. Plague status gradually decreases the afflicted's TP as one of its detrimental effects. There are also means to directly reduce or drain an opponent's TP, such as the Dark Knight spell Absorb-TP, and the enemy abilities Feather Tickle and Carnal Nightmare. Monsters can also possess and use TP. Instead of Weapon Skills, each monster species has its own set of unique special attacks that they can use their TP on. Monsters will use their TP semi-randomly when at 25% HP or above, until reaching 300% TP at which point they will use it on one of their special attacks. Once monsters fall below 25% HP, they will no longer save their TP and will attempt to use their special attacks immediately upon reaching 100% TP. Most monsters follow this behavior, but some can circumvent it, usually Notorious Monsters. Note that monsters can gain TP very quickly when attacked by a party (see below).

Base TP

Updated TP Gain

The April 18, 2006 update changed the TP system so that weapons of various Delays would gain TP at relatively the same rate. The 5.0 TP floor was removed, and weapons of higher Delay gain TP at a rate similar to that of low Delay weapons. Shortly after the update, the players from Studio Gobli found the new TP formulas. The new formulas are:

Delay	Tactical Points
0 - 180	5.0 + [(Delay - 180) * 1.5 / 180]
181 - 450	5.0 + [(Delay - 180) * 6.5 / 270]
451 - 480	11.5 + [(Delay - 450) * 1.5 / 30]
481 - 530	13.0 + [(Delay - 480) * 1.5 / 50]
531 - 999	14.5 + [(Delay - 530) * 3.5 / 470]

Post-Update TP Gain

Relative speed of TP Gain vs delay of the weapon

Before vs. After Update

• TP gained per hit is truncated after the tenths decimal position: say you use an Horror Voulge (Delay:489), the formula above result in 13.27 TP/hit, which is truncated to 13.2 TP/hit.

• "Two-Handed Weapon Delay -x%"(Example: Sword Strap) works like Dual Wield delay and TP is recalculated after reduction.

• TP return from ranged attacks is calculated by combining the delay of the weapon and ammo together, and using the combined delay in the standard TP equation.

Additional TP Gain

Other instances in which a player gains TP:

• When a player is hit by a physical attack, he gains 1/3 of what the attacker gained (once again, rounding down to the nearest tenth). Most enemies have 240 Delay, gain 6.4 TP, and give players 2.1 TP per hit (6.4/3 = 2.13333).
• When a player is hit by a damaging spell, he gains 5 TP.

Enemy TP gain Enemies gain TP in the following ways: When attacking a player, TP is calculated normally based on Delay. Most enemies have 240 Delay, and gain 6.4 TP per hit. When hit by a melee attack, enemies gain the attacker's Base TP + 3. When hit by a spell that does direct damage, enemies gain 10 TP. When hit by a physical Blue Magic spell, enemies gain 10 TP for every hit that connects.

Subtle Blow The Subtle Blow trait decreases the enemy's TP gain per hit: (Base TP + 3) - SubtleBlow% The Subtle Blow trait also affects the TP enemies gain from direct damage spells: 10 - SubtleBlow% Edit: Sept 8 09 by wasa, removed redundant part of formula (1 - sb%) if you -% or *% then * or - from another value the results will be the same (13.8 + 3) - 40% = 10.08 (13.8 + 3) * (1 - 40%) = 10.08 "(13.8 + 3) - (1 * 40%) = 16" is an incorrect formula Edit: Sept 5 09 by Taylore, corrected formula from (Base TP +3) - SubtleBlow%. This does not read correctly. Also changed the effect on spells from 10 - sb%. Note: sb% should be calculated as a decimal. ie: sb40% = 0.4 Subtle Blow caps at 50%.

Store TP The Store TP trait increases TP gain per hit as follows: Base TP * (1 + StoreTP%) For example A Level 75 Samurai with Store TP IV (a bonus of 25% TP) using a Great Katana with a 450 Delay would get: 5.0 + [(450 - 180) * 6.5] / 270 = 11.5 TP 11.5 TP * 1.25 = 14.375 truncated to 14.3 TP When a character with Store TP hits an enemy, only the Base TP is used in the enemy's TP gain calculations. Store TP also applies to the TP gained from being attacked. Store TP also applies to the 1 TP from extra hits in a Weapon Skill. Store TP also affects how much TP is gained from the use of TP gaining items, such as Daedalus Wings or Icarus Wings. In the example above, a Samurai with Store TP IV would receive 125% TP from using an Icarus Wing.

Dual Wield The Dual Wield trait allows players to equip two weapons simultaneously and reduce their Delays. TP gain when dual wielding is calculated using this reduced Delay: Combined Delay = (Delay1 + Delay2) Reduced Delay = Combined Delay * (1 - Dual Wield %) Reduced Delay per hand = Reduced Delay/2 If they do not, calculating the TP using the Reduced Delay/2 will give you an incorrect result. For example A Level 75 Warrior/Ninja with Dual Wield II and Suppanomimi (a bonus of -20% Delay) using a Maneater with 276 Delay and a Joyeuse with 224 Delay would get: Combined Delay : 276 + 224 = 500 Reduced Delay : 500 * (1 - 0.20) = 500 * 0.80 = 400 Reduced Delay per hand : 400/2 = 200 delay TP gain per hand : 5.0 + [(200 - 180) * 6.5] / 270 = 5.481... → 5.4 TP/hit TP gain per round (assuming both main and offhand weapon don't miss) : 5.4 TP *2 = 10.8 TP/round

Shield Mastery The Shield Mastery trait awards a fixed amount of additional TP when a player successfully blocks an attack with his Shield. Shield Mastery I awards 1 more TP Shield Mastery II awards 2 more TP Shield Mastery III awards 3 more TP TP Gain = (EnemyTP / 3) + ShieldMasteryBonus Shield Mastery does not award its bonus TP for shielding a hit if 0 damage is taken.

Exceptions If a melee or magic attack lands for 0 damage, neither attacker nor defender will gain any TP. If an attack is blocked Stoneskin, even though damage may be inflicted to the Stoneskin, no TP will be produced if the defender's HP is undamaged. Damage from Additional Effects and Damage Spikes effects do not produce TP. Counterattacks give TP to the target countered against, as if he were hit normally. The defender countering the blow gains no TP. The Warrior job ability Retaliation will produce TP for the Warrior when a successful "retaliation" occurs. Chi Blast does not produce TP. Jump and High Jump produce TP for the attacker, but not for the defender. Avatar Blood Pacts do not produce TP for the defender. Multi-hit physical blood pacts will produce full TP for the Avatar for each hit landed (instead of full TP for the first hit, and 1 TP for each subsequent hit). Corsair Quick Draw attacks do not produce TP. Multi-hit weapon skills give the attacker standard TP for the first hit, then 1 TP for each successive hit that lands. If the first hit misses, but the remaining hits land, only 1 TP for each hit that lands will be given. Example: A sword with 236 delay will have 6.2 TP return. If only the first hit of Vorpal blade lands, they will have 6.2 TP return. However, if the first hit missed, but the other 3 hits landed, it would result in 1.0 + 1.0 + 1.0 = 3.0 TP. If single-handed weapons are Dual Wielded, the weapon skills gain 1 additional hit which return the same amount of TP as if 1 hit is landed Example: A sword with 236 and 225 delay will have TP return 5.3 TP per hand with Dual Wield II. When doing Vorpal Blade, If both main hand and off hand weapons hit the opponent, the player gains 10.6 TP. If 3 consecutive hits also land, then they have 10.6 + 1.0 + 1.0 + 1.0 TP return. Multi-hit weapon skills only give the defender TP for the first hit and the additional hit from the use of Dual Wield. The TP gained by the defender is the amount normally gained for each strike. Blue Magic physical spells give a monster 10 TP per hit. They can be affected by Subtle Blow, just like other offensive magic attacks. No TP is bestowed to the caster. Example: When a Blue Mage casts Bludgeon the target gains 30 TP (if all 3 hits land for damage).

History

• Sep. 10, 2007 Version Update:
  • Charmed pets no longer lose TP while not in combat mode. (S-E had stated previously charmed monsters were supposed to lose TP when not in combat, by design.)
• Aug. 27, 2007 Version Update:
  • Grips, a new type of equipment for two-handed weapon users' sub slot, were introduced. Equipping or unequipping Grips would cause a loss of TP already accumulated.
• Jul. 24, 2006 Version Update:
  • The spell Absorb-TP was introduced; it steals the enemy's TP and give it to the caster.
• Apr 18, 2006 Version Update:
  • The amount of TP accumulated when attacking a monster has changed for both the player and the monster. (See Tactical Points/Delay to TP (pre-Apr. 2006 update) for details on the old TP gain formula.)
  • Shield Mastery job trait added to Paladin, which grants bonus TP when blocking an attack with a shield.
• Dec. 13, 2005 Version Update:
  • Dragoon's two-hour ability changed to Spirit Surge, under which High Jump would remove target's TP, an amount proportional to the damage dealt.
• Sep. 14, 2004 Version Update:
  • Macro command <pettp> added to show amount of TP for pets; S-E clarified that charmed pets are supposed to lose TP when not in combat mode.
  • Avatars' TP now affect some magic Blood Pacts attacks; TP is consumed when those Blood Pacts are used. (Avatar TP does not affect physical, enhancing, or enfeebling Blood Pact techniques, and would not be consumed when those are used.)
• Apr. 22, 2004 Version Update:
  • Multi-hit Weapon Skills' TP return adjusted; normal TP on first hit, and 1 TP for each subsequent hit.
  • Monster targeted by multi-hit Weapon Skills now only receive TP from the first hit.
    • For Hand-to-Hand Weapon skill and Dual Wield users, the first two hits will give the target TP.
  • Elemental Weapon Skills changed to return TP.
  • Subtle Blow job trait added to Monk and Ninja, which reduces amount of TP given to targets.
• Oct. 21, 2003 Version Update:
  • TP will no longer be reset when changing weapons in the Ammo slot.