Status effect

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Status effects are a recurring element of the Dragon Quest series, and come in the negative status ailments and the beneficial status buffs. Both the party and monsters have access to these effects in most titles, and strategic use of both becomes vitally important during an adventure.

Status ailments damage, immobilize or otherwise debilitate a combatant. Almost every status ailment can be lifted with the help of an item specific to that ailment. Many status ailments disappear immediately after a battle, while others can only be removed with a spell, a night at the inn or a visit to the church. Some spells exist expressly to inflict status effects, and some weapons have a small chance of inflicting a status ailment after a successful hit. Occasionally, a special move may have a chance of causing a status effect.

Status buffs exist to either raise the stats of a character and give them an advantage in battle against weaker foes or to stand a better chance against powerful boss monsters or to reduce incoming damage. Typically buffs will fade in battle after a number of turns have passed, though there are exception where a buff will last the entire battle, such as all versions of Dragon Quest VI. Only two types of buffs remain in effect after battle, being camouflage and pep.

A number of these effects can be wiped out by Disruptive Wave or with a perfect panacea, if available.

List of recurring status effects

Negative Status Ailments

Image Name Effect Debut Remains After Battle?
Beguiled icon.png
Beguiled* The character has become infatuated and will attack their fellow party members. Dragon Quest X No
DQTact ATKDown.png
Blunted Physical attack power is reduced. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies No
DQTact Hobble.png
Bound/Hobbled The character is rooted to the spot and cannot make any movement until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. Dragon Quest Tact No
DQTact Breath Lock.png
Breath Locked The character cannot use breath skills until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. Dragon Quest Monsters No
Confused.png
Confused The character may attacks their fellow party members or themselves. They might also do nothing at all. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Cursed.png
Cursed The one of the character's statistics are set to 0 as a result of wearing cursed equipment, along with suffering paralysis or attacking their friends. They can only remove the equipment by visiting a church. In some installments, it is caused by certain attacks. For this type of curse, the effects are:
  • HP being reduced by 1 every four steps
  • MP being reduced by 1 every four steps
  • Randomly becoming stunned during battle
  • Spells and skills randomly failing during battle
  • Attacking a random ally
Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line & Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride Varies
Dazzled.png
Dazzled/Blind The character is much more likely to miss with physical attacks, dropping accuracy to 38 or 58 depending on the spell or skill used. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line No
Dead icon.png
Dead/Death The character cannot act in any way until they are revived by a spell, item, or at the church. Dragon Quest Yes
DQTact AGLDown.png
Decelerated Agility is reduced, causing characters to act later in battle and starting with Dragon Quest VIII, reduces evasion. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Double Down icon.png
Double Down The affected character becomes more susceptible to negative status ailments. Dragon Quest X No
Envenomated icon.png
Envenomated The character takes damage after each round of the battle. Reduces HP by 16 of maximum per turn in Dragon Quest V. Starting with Dragon Quest VI this was reduced to 18 of the maximum. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride Yes. The condition becomes Poisoned after battle ends.
Fizzled.png
Fizzled The character cannot cast spells until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. Dragon Quest No
Paralysis.png
Paralysed The character is unable to act during battle. Counts as a party wipe out if everyone is afflicted in III, but not so in later games. Initially cured through spells or items and walking for 32 steps on the world map, but will wear off in battle after a few turns beginning with VI. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation Varies
Poisoned.png
Poisoned The character takes damage while traveling on the field. Originally, from Dragon Quest to Dragon Quest IV it was dealt every four steps. In Dragon Quest V and VI it was increased to eight steps. Since Dragon Quest VII it has been every single step. Beginning with Dragon Quest XI, being poisoned now deals 1~5 damage per turn in addition to walking damage. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line Yes
DQTact DEFDown.png
Sapped The character's Defence is decreased. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line No
Shypox icon.png
Shypox The character suddenly remembers something embarrassing in the middle of battle, stunning them for a single turn. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age No
Skill Seal icon.png
Skill Sealed The character cannot use skills until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. Dragon Quest X No
Sleep.png
Sleep The character cannot act until awoken by an attack, or until a random number of turns have passed. A character who has been put into a deep sleep will take even longer to wake up on their own. Dragon Quest No
Stunned.png
Stunned The character must waste a turn or two while being frozen in fear, rolling around laughing, knocked down, grinning after a Puff-Puff, etc. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No

Positive Status Enhancements

Image Name Effect Debut Remains After Battle?
Accelerated.png
Accelerated Agility is increased. In VIII onwards, this also increases evasion. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Alma Mater icon.png
Alma Mater Negates the effects of instant death once for 7~10 turns, allowing the affected character to survive with 1 HP. In later games, this extended to any fatal damage as long as the character's HP is higher than 50%. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies No
Nopic.png
Backdraft Reflects breath attacks once. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation No
Bounce icon.png
Bounce Reflects magic spells. Certain games only allow the spell to be used on the caster themselves. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Buff icon.png
Buffed Defence is increased. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line No
Nopic.png
Camouflaged User is less likely to be targeted by monsters, and cannot be seen by foes on the world map. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies Yes
Cover icon.png
Cover The user is taking attacks for either one character or the entire party. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation No
Divide icon.png
Divided Character creates two additional shadow clones of themselves. The next attack or skill will be performed three times the next turn. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age No
Auto Zing icon.png
Divine Intervention Character is automatically revived with 1 HP if they take fatal damage. However, unlike Alma Mater, there is no HP limit. Dragon Quest X No
Nopic.png
Dragon Morphed into a giant dragon. Will alternate between roasting and slashing at enemies while being resistant to fire. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Auto Kazing icon.png
Grace of the Goddess Automatically revives the user with at least half or most of their HP if they take fatal damage for 5 turns. Dragon Quest X No
Greatsword Guard icon.png
Greatsword Guard Increases chance of parrying physical attacks with a greatsword. Dragon Quest X No
Insulated icon.png
Insulated Damage from breath attacks is decreased. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Kaclang icon.png
Kaclang Turned into invincible steel for several turns. The target cannot move during this time. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Nopic.png
Magic absorbent Spells that target the user will restore their MP. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride No
Magic Barrier icon.png
Magic Barrier Magic resistance increased. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation No
MP Regeneration.png
MP Regeneration Character recovers some MP each turn. Sometimes granted with certain pieces of equipment. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King No
Oomph icon.png
Oomph Physical attack power increased. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Nopic.png
Pepped up Several stats are increased at once, and access to special techniques is granted. Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age Yes
Rehealed.png
Regeneration Character recovers some HP each turn. Sometimes granted with certain pieces of equipment. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker No
Status Ailment Immunity icon.png
Snap, Crackle, Poofed Character becomes immune to negative status ailments for a few turns. However, does not protect character from instant death or certain abilities such as Kaching Kaclang. Dragon Quest X No
Snub icon.png
Snubbed Magical attacks have no effect on the target from now on. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen No
DQTact Tension.png
Tension The character has psyched themselves up, increasing the amount of damage of their next action, including attacks, spells, and skills. If the character reaches a state of super high tension, they will take reduced damage or become immune to negative status effects. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King No