Overdrives are Final Fantasy X’s version of Limit Breaks. It allows a character to use a special attack that’s unique to them. Overdrives have a wide variety of effects depending on the character, from powerful attacks to buffing your party. Some bosses within the game even have their own Overdrives.
How to Access Your Overdrive
In battle, every character in your party will have a bar under their name and stats, showing how close you are to being able to execute the Overdrive. How you fill the bar depends on how you set your Overdrive Mode (see Overdrive Modes below). Once your bar is filled, press left on the menu, and the character’s Overdrive will be the only option (for example, Tidus will show Swordplay to select). Each character has their own unique way of executing their Overdrive properly.
Rikku has half of her Overdrive bar filled, while Tidus has a full bar.
Overdrive Modes
A character’s Overdrive Mode determines how the character’s Overdrive bar will fill.
By default, every character starts in Stoic mode, which requires them to take damage to fill their bar.
In order to learn a new mode, you must fulfill the condition for it a certain number of times.
Once a new mode is learned, you can choose your Overdrive Mode in the Overdrive menu. Each character must learn these modes individually, and each character has their own conditions to learn each mode.
Name
Fill Condition
Turns for Tidus
Turns for Yuna
Turns for Wakka
Turns for Lulu
Turns for Kimahri
Turns for Auron
Turn for Rikku
Stoic
Fills when the character takes damage.
Default
Default
Default
Default
Default
Default
Default
Warrior
Fills when the character damages an enemy. Does not apply to items and Overdrives.
Fills when the character kills an enemy with at least 10,000 HP, or at least 20x more HP than the estimated damage.
50
50
50
70
45
40
50
Rook
Fills when the character reduces or nullifies damage with buffs (such as Shell).
120
110
120
120
120
120
120
Victor
Fills when winning a battle and being an active member.
120
150
160
200
120
200
140
Coward
Fills when escaping from battle.
600
900
400
980
700
1000
450
Ally
Fills at the start of the character’s turn.
600
500
350
480
300
450
320
Sufferer
Fills at the start of the character’s turn if inflicted with a status effect.
100
80
100
110
130
120
90
Daredevil
Fills at the start of the character’s turn if they’re at critical HP.
170
90
140
150
200
260
110
Loaner
Fills at the start of the character’s turn if fighting alone.
60
180
110
45
90
35
170
Characters’ Overdrives
Each character has their own unique set of Overdrive skills. They all have a different way of executing their Overdrives and learning new ones. Below are short summaries of each of the characters’ Overdrives, where you can find links to more in depth guides for them.
Tidus’s Overdrive is Swordplay. All of them do damage to either a single target or the enemy party, and he learns them by using the Swordplays he already knows a certain amount of times.
Yuna’s Overdrive is Grand Summon. When used, she will summon a chosen Aeon with a full Overdrive bar. Yuna and all of her Aeons have only one Overdrive that they already know by default. The only exceptions are Valefor, who has a secret second Overdrive you can find, and Yojimbo, who has no Overdrives at all.
Wakka’s Overdrives are Slots. Depending on which Slots you use, it can be used to deal damage, inflict negative status effects, or a combination of both. He can learn new Slots through playing Blitzball.
Lulu’s Overdrive is Fury. When used, she will cast the selected Black Magic spell a certain number of times, depending on how well the Overdrive is executed. She will automatically learn a new Fury when she learns the corresponding Black Magic spell in her Sphere Grid.
Kimahri’s Overdrive is Ronso Rage. There are a variety of possible effects depending on which Ronso Rage is used, from damaging enemies, to buffing your party. He learns new Ronso Rages by using Lancet on various enemies found throughout the game.
Auron’s Overdrive is Bushido. They all do damage to either a single target or the enemy party, and when executed properly, can add an additional effect. He learns new Bushido skills by gathering Jecht Spheres scattered throughout Spira.
Rikku’s Overdrive is Mix. When used, she will combine two selected items to create one of many different possible effects. Rikku doesn’t need to learn her various Mixes, but you must have the required items, and figure out which combination of them you need for the desired effect.
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KainHighwind27
I'm a huge gamer who especially loves the Final Fantasy series. I will play just about any game, especially if it has anything resembling a Dragoon.
