Crisis Core: How to break the Damage Limit
When you first begin Zack’s journey in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, there’ll be a strict limit on how much damage he can deal. But limits are made to be broken - and we can teach you to break the damage limit, shattering enemies with ten times the default cap.
In fact, we'd argue that this is one of the best things about Crisis Core - breaking through what seems like the traditional RPG upper bounds to deal absolutely ludicrous amounts of damage, or tank mega-attacks like it’s nothing. Even though it feels like a cheat, Crisis Core is actually designed around it, with high-end, late-game optional missions practically requiring you to have at the very least HP counts well in excess of the game’s basic 9,999 health limit.
On this page, we explain how to break the damage cap, opening Zack up to be an overpowered and satisfying-to-play beast. We've got a similar page for how to break the HP, MP, and AP limits, too. This guide will work for both Crisis Core Reunion on modern platforms and regular Crisis Core on PSP.
How to Break the Damage Limit in Crisis Core
Once Zack reaches higher levels by leveling up and once you begin to get your hands on some of Crisis Core’s most powerful moves, including the fabled Punch-type Materia, you’ll find Zack is dishing out a solid 9,999 damage with hits - which means you’re rubbing up against the maximum damage Zack can deal.
That’s all well and good early on, but as you reach later pieces of Crisis Core and face enemies with tens or even hundreds of thousands of HP, you might want a little more oomph - and breaking the damage limit is how you do that. There’s nothing quite like dealing 99,999 damage - ten times the initial limit!
There’s a number of items available that, when equipped, break through the damage limit barrier.
The earliest available item of this kind for you is likely to be ‘Brutal’, an accessory found in Mission 7-4-6, “Breakthrough”, which is part of the “Contacts from P” storyline, which itself folds into the “Seeking Priceless Items” section.
This mission can be unlocked from Chapter 5; at that point Mission 7-2-1 unlocks, and you just need to progressively complete missions from there to reach 7-4-6.
Damage Limit Breaking Items
There’s also three other items that allow you to break the Damage Limit, but they’re harder to get:
- Brutal: the earliest opportunity you’ll have to break the damage limit. Complete mission 7-4-6, as described above.
- Genji Glove: found inside a treasure chest during mission 9-6-4, “Biomechanical Threats”. This also permanently keeps you in ‘Critical’ status, raising the chance of landing a critical hit.
- Divine Slayer: a reward for beating the superboss found in mission 9-6-6, “The Reigning Deity”. Breaks all of the stat limits, acts as Libra, plus boosts a bunch of stats. The ultimate accessory.
- Heike Soul: A reward for completing all of Crisis Core’s side missions. Gives a range of buffs and debuffs, including the damage limit break.
Breaking the Damge Limit with the Buster Sword
Once Zack gets his hands on the iconic Buster Sword at Chapter 6, which is roughly Crisis Core's halfway point, he unlocks a new mechanic, but only in Crisis Core Reunion, the remastered version of the game. This new mechanic, Buster Sword Proficiency, allows you to break the damage cap and deal 99,999 damage - but only in certain circumstances.
It's not massively relevant to this page - as using accessories, as described above, is simply easier. But check out our Crisis Core Buster Sword Proficiency guide if you need to know more.