A guide to terms and abbreviations of FFRK - Version 3.0
This was last updated on 05/17/16.
If you have any questions or think something should be added, hit me up with a reddit PM or find me in the Discord chatroom.
If there is one thing i still see a lot of confusion about to this day (understandably), it's about the many terms and abbreviations of FFRK (Final Fantasy Record Keeper :P). Everyone uses them, but not everyone knows what they actually mean. Situations like this can happen every day:
"I just got Cloud's MC3 and i'm super happy".
Most people can easily spot the little mistake, but it's not always that easy to distinguish.
I kept this joke from the original guide. The keen eye might notice that we already have MC3s in the japanese version.
To make conversations in this board easier i have written a little guide on terms and abbreviations that are more and less frequently used, containing smaller and bigger explanations of the subjects. Note that this is not a list of terms you need to learn to understand the game, but more of a list to come back to, if you don't understand a certain term.
Also note that i base this around my own experience of communications within the sub and the chatrooms. I may decide to not integrate an abbreviation into my guide simply because it isn't used much (if at all). I'm still open for any terms i missed, so if you think i did, feel free to comment here.
Tip: Use Ctrl+F to search for the abbreviation you need.
general terms:
| abbreviation | explanation |
|---|---|
| global | the global version of the game, aka for everywhere but Japan |
| JP | simply used for describing the japanese counter-part of FFRK, that is about 5-5.5 months ahead of content compared to global |
| F2P | Free-to-Play (players call themselves that if they don't spend money, although the term is sometimes used more loosely by some users, e.g. some 100 gem buyers also call themselves "F2P") |
| SB | Soul Break |
| SSB | Super Soul Break (SSB-relics give the corresponding character a stat boost upon mastery and are stronger than normal SBs) |
| B(S)SB | Burst (Super) Soul Break (SSB-level SB, that gives the user a Burst-mode after usage, which has multiple temporary benefits) |
| O(S)SB | Overflow (Super) Soul Break, a new type of SB in JP since 04/30/16 that allows you to break the damage limit of 9999 up to 99999 (50% stronger than SSBs when thinking in potency) |
| RW | Roaming Warrior (the SBs of your fellow players, that you can summon to battle two times) |
| S/L | Stop/Load (the process of force-closing the app and restarting it) - If you choose "continue" you restart in the round you closed and can try again, without losing stamina. If you choose "cancel" instead you will be outside of the stage and will have to spend stamina again, but the drop will be reset. |
| HoR | Hall of Rites (option to use Hero Souls and Memory Crystal Lodestones to trade for characters and memory crystals) |
| RNG | Random Number Generator (some people equal that to luck) |
| QoL | Quality of Life (updates that make the game more accessible, etc.) |
| DU | Dungeon Update |
| gacha | gacha is a japanese toy machine in which you can insert money to draw a random toy and that's exactly how it works in games as well |
| BSB Fest | upcoming fest banners featuring new BSBs |
| W-BSB Fest/DBF | Dual Burst Fest, the fest that comes 3 months after the BSB fest |
| Greg | Gilgamesh - Throughout the Hildibrand questline in FFXIV, the (idiot) "gentlemen inspector" Hildibrand (consistently) gets Gilgamesh's name wrong, and calls him Greg. Explanation is courtesy of u/verrius |
| U/M | Ultimate/Misfortune (Misfortune is the JP fan-translation which some people still use, especially JP-only players (140 difficulty, in the events; also has a + variant that is 160 difficulty and a ++ variant that is 180 difficulty) |
| Abyss | the term used in JP for the Nightmare dungeons |
| clone | in the sub commonly used to referr to a SB that is exactly the same as another |
party related terms:
| abbreviation | explanation |
|---|---|
| MC | Memory Crystal (unlocks the level cap to level 65 and unlocks RMs) |
| MC2 | Memory Crystal II (unlocks the level cap to level 80) |
| MC3 | Memory Crystal III (unlocks the level cap to level 99; only available in JP) |
| RM | Record Materia (passive abilities that can be freely used by any level-cap broken character) - Note: every character has a different RM to unlock so try to get them all, since every character can equip any RM |
| RM2/3/4 | Record Materia 2/3/4 - RMs unlock successively |
| RS | either Record or Relic Synergy, depending on context - Note: some people also claim it means realm synergy, but funny enough Dr. Mog only mentions record and relic synergy in his tutorials, so "realm synergy" is a term coined by the players |
| Record Synergy | if you use a character in the corresponding realm he/she gets static stat bonuses |
| Relic Synergy | if you use equipment in the corresponding realm it gets bonuses, based on its level |
| R1/2/3/4/5 | Rank 1/2/3/4/5, used for showing the rank of an ability |
| Trinity | originally the holy trinity of wall/hastega/medica (terms explained later), however the term has evovled since then and is currently not used consistently in the community, e.g. some also count boostga; the ideal trinity is wall, Shout/Sheep Song (upcoming mage equivalent), and a Curaga medica (imo) |
| Shout/Scream-Team | the long-time "meta", although lately we're moving a bit away from it in JP; short summary: use Ramza's Shout SSB (+50% ATK + Hastega) and spam B/SSBs with the aid of Lifesiphon |
| Meta | when everyone does the same / uses the same things, because it is believed to be the best (this is my own definition of the term); it's also used as a meme sometimes |
| Mage "Meta" | an old meme from forgotten times; is used synonymously with the term "mage team" now |
combat terms:
| abbreviation | explanation |
|---|---|
| LR | Long Range (attack can hit for full damage in back-row) |
| ST | single target |
| AoE | Area of Effect, meaning it hits all allies/enemies |
| CT | Cast Time, but some people also use it for Cutting Trigger, Squall's SSB relic (the time a skill takes until it is casted/used, which varies depending on ability) |
| Advantaliate | using Luneth's Advance SB on your retaliator (Advance gives ATK +150%) |
| Drawtaliate | using Draw Fire and Retaliate on the same character, to avoid/counter all single-target PHY-type attacks |
| Tauntaliate | same as Drawtaliate, the name originates from the MMO term "taunt", which is attracting enemy attacks (both terms can be used, though it feels like Tauntaliate is the more popular option) |
| Advantauntaliate | using Advance on your "tauntaliator" |
| Lureflect | Using Magic Lure on a reflected character to lure in all single-target BLM abilities and reflect them |
| OWA | One Winged Angel (a 5* Katana for Sephiroth) |
| SLG | Stormlance Grimoire, Tyro's grimoire from the Beginner Banner |
| proc chance | likelihood of a special effect occurring, "proccing" being used mostly for hitting statuses (so the hit% of a skill) |
| Buff | a temporary beneficial status effect |
| Debuff | a temporary detrimental status effect |
| LS | Lifesiphon (Com4 ability, gives largely increased SB gain) |
| Wall | a type of effect that boosts DEF&RES, commonly used to refer to the famous SBs of Tyro and Y'shtola |
| Medica | AoE heal (some people only consider character specific AoE heals to be "medica") |
| Hastega | AoE Haste SBs |
| Boostga | AoE ATK-boosting SBs |
| Faithga | AoE MAG-boosting SBs |
| Imperil Element | a SB that lowers the elemental resistance of enemies; go here for more info |
| Attach Element | also called En-X (X being the element), a SB that gives multiple benefits related to using elements, full info here |
abilities/SBs:
| abbreviation | explanation |
|---|---|
| SG | Sentinels Grimoire (Tyro's famous SB, that gives your party +200% DEF and RES) |
| SS2 | Stoneskin II (clone of Tyro's SB mentioned above, but used by Y'Shtola instead) |
| HotE | Hand of the Emperor (Leon's SB that gives your party +30% ATK and DEF - stacking with normal ATK buffs); also commonly used to refer to other SBs that are a clone of it; e.g.: "a HotE-type SB" |
| HotF | Hymn of the Fayth (Yuna's SB that does a Cura-potency AoE heal and gives high regen) |
| HH | Heroic Harmony (Mog's SB that reduces ATK/MAG by -50% on all enemies) |
| DG | Divine Guardian (Garnet's SSB that gives your party +50% RES, Hastega and High Regen) |
| mini/pseudo-Scream | Lenna's 3rd SB, that gives +30% ATK and Hastega |
| MG8 | Mighty Guard (VIII) the first SSB from Quistis (that gives Shellga, Hastega and High Regen) |
| SC | Saint's Cross (5* Knight ability) |
| TR | Thief's Revenge/Raid (5* Thief ability, named Thief's Raid in JP) |
| QH | Quick Hit (5* Celerity ability; there are legends of a god having two R4 versions of this) |
| FB | Full Break (5* Support ability) |
| FC | Full Charge (5* Combat ability from JP, translation still pending) |
AI terms:
| abbreviation | explanation |
|---|---|
| PHY | most physical attacks, scales with ATK (counterable by retaliate, unless stated otherwise) |
| BLK | all black magic, scales with MAG |
| WHT | all white magic, scales with MND (not all holy-damage is WHT!) |
| BLU | blue magic, currently only used by enemies (example: Aero or White Wind) |
| SUM | all Summons, all scaling with MAG, except Kirin and Carbuncle, since those give statuses that have their duration affected by MND |
| NAT | everything else, can be physical/magical/buff/heal/something else; also called Inborn |
| NIN | magical Ninja abilities (like Lightning Scroll), they ignore RES, but use a different damage calc than normal magic (and overall are less powerful most of the time) |
The main differences (apart from scaling) for AI terms are how they interact with e.g. reflect/retaliate/runic/other skills.
-
Retaliate dodges and counters all PHY type abilities target at self. If it's AOE, only retaliate user will be unaffected.
-
Reflect will reflect all single-target BLK and WHT. BLU, SUM and NAT are unaffected.
-
Runic(/Grand Cross) will attract and nullify all single-target BLK(/and WHT) spells. For AOE BLK(/and WHT) it will only absorb the hit on the Runic user. BLU, SUM and NAT are again unaffected and will ignore Runic(/Grand Cross).
-
Some enemy skills will interact with specific type of skills. For example, a certain Sin boss in X will nullify all BLK and WHT before its tentacles are destroyed, but SMN and NAT would deal damage normally.
You lose medals for using BLK/SUM on Evrae Altana (Nightmare), but if you use a NAT-type SB like Yuna's BSB, you don't lose medals. -
NAT is more or less uncounterable skills. It's a bit more than that, but it's all you need to know about it.
Orbs
This part explains how the abbreviations of Orb types work:
Example: GSO = Greater Summon Orb
The first letter determines the orbs rarity. The second determines it type. And the last letter simply means "orb".
First letter:
| abbreviation | explanation |
|---|---|
| Mi | Minor (most people actually write out "minor orbs", as this is a more uncommon abbreviation) |
| L | Lesser |
| no letter | normal Orb (3*) (also fairly uncommon) |
| G | Greater |
| M | Major |
Second Letter:
| abbreviation | explanation |
|---|---|
| P | Power |
| B | Black |
| Wh | White |
| S | Summon |
| NE | Non-Elemental |
| F | Fire |
| I | Ice |
| L | Lightning |
| E | Earth |
| Wi | Wind |
| H | Holy |
| D | Dark |
Note that 6* Orbs do not have a common abbreviation yet and are just referred to as "Crystal". E.g. 6* Earth Orb = Earth Crystal
Sources and rest:
Here for the data on the SBs. This is u/Enlir's famous sheet which is my favourite.
Here for information about synergy.
Wikipedia for a definition of the term "Buff".
Dr. Mog's Tutorials for a clarification on the RS term.
Have fun playing and chatting, Scytherman96
Posted May 17, 2016, 8:19 PM UTC · edited