List of abilities in Dragon Quest VIII
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This is a list of all the abilities in Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King for the PS2 in alphabetical order of weapons.
| Name | Description | Notes | MP Cost | Learned by | Tension? |
| Helm Splitter | A skull-splitting smash that lowers an opponent's defense as it inflicts damage | Deals normal damage and reduces an enemy's defense by 50% (25% in 3DS) of its base defense score for 7-10 turns. | 0 | Yangus: Axe (6 points) | Yes |
| Hatchet Man | An unpredictable attack that can slay an enemy with a single blow... if it connects. | It has a 50% chance to miss, 25% chance to make a normal hit, and a 25% chance to make a critical hit. Recommended for hunting metal enemies. | 3 | Yangus: Axe (19 points) | Yes |
| Parallax | A focused strike capable of occasionally paralyzing an enemy | Deals 30% more damage than a standard attack and has a 1⁄8 chance to paralyze an enemy for 5-8 turns | 2 | Yangus: Axe (42 points) | Yes |
| Axes of Evil | Generates a vortex from your axe blade that chews into a group of enemies | Hits all enemies in a group from left to right. The first hit is slightly weaker than a normal attack and the damage lessens as the attack moves through the group | 0 (2 in 3DS) | Yangus: Axe (42 points) | Yes |
| Executioner | A powerful roundhouse strike that fells an opponent in one blow if it hits | An upgraded Hatchet Man. Instead of a 25% chance to make a normal hit and a 25% chance to crit, it's a 50% chance to crit. | 3 | Yangus: Axe (42 points) | No |
| Typhoeus' Maul | An ancient axe technique that works wonders on monsters of the beast family. | Against most enemies, this causes 50% more damage than a normal attack. Against beast enemies, it does double the damage of a normal attack | 6 | Yangus: Axe (100 points) | Yes |
| Crosscutter Throw | Traces an X in the air as it ploughs in the enemy. | Hits the first enemy with 80% normal power. The second strike on the first enemy is 10% of the first hit times the number of enemies on screen. | 2 | Hero and Morrie: Boomerang (6 points) | Yes |
| Power Throw | A full-force throw that damages all enemies equally. | Does slightly less damage than a normal attack, but deals consistent damage to each enemy. | 4 | Hero and Morrie: Boomerang (18 points) | Yes |
| Firebird Throw | Transforms your boomerang into a firebird that incinerates your enemies. | Deals consistent fire damage to each enemy in the range of 36-45 damage. | 6 | Hero and Morrie: Boomerang (32 points) | Yes |
| Super Throw | A fearsome attack that uses all your strength to cause extreme damage to all foes. | An upgraded Power Throw. Does slightly more than normal damage and damages consistently across all enemies hit. | 4 | Hero and Morrie: Boomerang (52 points) | Yes |
| Starburst Throw | Bathes all enemies in a shower of burning light. | Deals base damage of 76-84 points to all enemies. | 8 | Hero and Morrie: Boomerang (82 points) | Yes |
| Gigathrow | Pulverizes a single enemy with the force of a thunderbolt. | Deals lightning damage with the calculation of ([LVL x 2 + 125] +/- 10%) to a single enemy. | 15 | Hero and Morrie: Boomerang (100 points) | Yes |
| Sandman's Arrow | A magical arrow capable of putting a single enemy to sleep. | Deals the same amount of damage as a normal attack, but may put the enemy to sleep at the same accuracy as snooze | 2 | Angelo: Bow (6 points) | Yes |
| Cherub's Arrow | A secret bow technique that regenerates your own MP. | Deals the same amount of damage as a normal attack, but regenerates the users MP at 1⁄16 the amount of damage dealt. | 0 | Angelo: Bow (18 points) | Yes |
| Needle Shot | Capable of felling an enemy instantaneously if a vital area is hit. | Deals 1 damage, but has a 1⁄16 to instantly kill an enemy. | 1 | Angelo: Bow (25 points) | No |
| Multishot | A hail of blows directed randomly against one or more enemies. | Fires 3-4 arrows at randomly chosen targets at half the damage of a normal attack | 4 | Angelo: Bow (44 points) | Yes |
| Seraph's Arrow | A secret technique that recovers even more MP than the Cherub's Arrow | An upgraded Cherub's Arrow. Deals the same amount of damage as a normal attack, but regenerates the users MP at 1⁄8 the amount of damage dealt. | 0 | Angelo: Bow (66 points) | Yes |
| Shining Shot | An arrow that bathes all enemies in a destructive magical light. | Deals base 116-124 points of Boom-based damage. | 10 | Angelo: Bow (88 points) | Yes |
| Needle Rain | A rain of arrows that can occasionally obliterate all enemies in a single salvo. | 1|16} chance to insta-kill an enemy. If not, each hit does 1 damage. | 1 | Angelo: Bow (100 points) | Yes |
| Sarcastic Snigger | Reduces a single enemy's tension by one level. | Lowers the tension of a single enemy by 1 level. | 3 | Angelo: Charisma (13 points) | No |
| Angel Eyes | A powerful glance capable of paralyzing a single enemy. | Does 15-28 points of damage and has a 1⁄8 chance to paralyze an enemy. | 4 | Angelo: Charisma (19 points) | Yes |
| Chilling Chuckle | Reduces the tension of an entire group of enemies by a degree. | An upgraded Sarcastic Snigger. Lowers a group of enemies' tension level by 1. | 3 | Angelo: Charisma (52 points) | No |
| Charming Look | A glance so powerfully captivating that it burns all enemies in its path. | An upgraded Angel Eyes. Does 65-85 (65-105 on 3DS) points of damage to all enemies and has a 1⁄8 chance to paralyze an enemy. | 4 | Angelo: Charisma (81 points) | Yes |
| Heart Breaker | An attack that occasionally causes the target to miss a turn. | Does normal damage, but the enemy has a 25% chance to miss their turn. | 2 | Yangus: Club (19 points) Morrie: Club (20 points) |
Yes |
| Penny Pincher | A special technique that steals gold coins from an enemy. | Does normal damage but steals 10% of an enemy's money when it connects. It does not affect the money gained at the end of the battle. Small chance there is no gold dropped. | 2 | Yangus: Club (25 points) | Yes |
| Monster Masher | A powerful smash that works wonders on monsters of the material family. | Deals 50% more damage to material monsters. Occasionally does more more damage to other monsters. On the 3DS, it deals 25% more damage to normal monsters and 75% more damage to material monsters. | 3 | Yangus: Club (32 points) | Yes |
| Mind Breaker | A superior club attacks that dominates foes and renders them unable to attack. | An upgraded Heart Breaker. Does more damage than a normal attack and has a higher chance to lose a turn. | 2 | Yangus: Club (71 points) | Yes |
| Gold Rush | A powerful strike that steals an opponent's gold coins as it inflicts damage. | An upgraded Penny Pincher. It does 25% more damage and steals 20% of an enemy's money. Like Penny Pincher, it is not guaranteed to steal the money on a hit, and it does not affect the money earned at the end of a battle. | 2 | Yangus: Club (93 points) | Yes |
| Devil Crusher | An esoteric club technique effective on demon and material family members. | An upgraded Monster Mash. It does 50% damage to demons and material monsters. On the 3DS, it does 75% damage to them, and 25% damage to normal monsters. | 5 | Yangus: Club (100 points) | Yes |
| Stone's Throw | Hurls rocks at a single group of enemies. | Deals base 8-20 damage to a group of enemies. | 0 | Hero: Fisticuffs (17 points) Jessica: Fisticuffs (19 points) Morrie: Fisticuffs (7 points) Red: Fisticuffs (18 points) |
Yes |
| Knuckle Sandwich | A powerful focused and damaging bare-fisted strike. | Deals 50% more damage to an enemy that isn't resistant to the strike/rock element. Is not increased by tension but does not expend tension either. | 2 | Hero: Fisticuffs (24 points) Yangus: Fisticuffs (12 points) Angelo: Fisticuffs (35 points) Morrie: Fisticuffs (28 points) |
No |
| Defending Champion | A defensive ability that greatly reduces the damage inflicted by physical attacks. | Reduces damage done to the character by 90%. | 0 | Hero: Fisticuffs (11 points) Angelo: Fisticuffs (68 points) Red: Fisticuffs (7 points) |
Yes |
| Harvest Moon | Pummel all enemies with a chain of cartwheels and backflips. | It uses the calculation 3/(1+number of enemies) times damage to each enemy. | 6 | Jessica: Fisticuffs (45 points) Angelo: Fisticuffs (42 points) Red: Fisticuffs (60 points) |
Yes |
| Thin Air | Generates a powerful vacuum-vortex that slices all enemies to ribbons. | Damage is calculated using the calculation (((Level*2 + 30) * 0.8) + or - 10%) capping at level 60 which means its maximum damage is 108-132. | 0 | Hero and Yangus: Fisticuffs (42 points) Jessica: Fisticuffs (68 points) Morrie: Fisticuffs (42 points) Red: Fisticuffs (33 points) |
Yes |
| Multifists | A vicious four-hit strike on a random enemy. | Each hit does 1⁄3 normal damage meaning maximum damage is 4⁄3 normal damage. | 0 | Hero: Fisticuffs (70 points) Yangus: Fisticuffs (60 points) Morrie: Fisticuffs (68 points) |
Yes |
| Boulder Toss | Showers all enemies with enourmous boulders. | Deals base 72-104 damage to all enemies. | 4 | Hero: Fisticuffs (82 points) Yangus: Fisticuffs (100 points) |
Yes |
| Miracle Moon | A miraculous technique that pummels all enemies while regenerating your own HP. | An upgraded Harvest Moon. Deals the same damage as Harvest Moon but recovers a quarter of the first blow in HP to Angelo. | 6 | Angelo: Fisticuffs (100 points) | Yes |