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 temporarily raise certain stats of a character or to reduce incoming damage. Typically, buffs will fade in battle after a number of turns have passed, though there are exceptions where a buff will last the entire battle, such as all versions of Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation. Only two types of buffs remain in effect after battle, being camouflage and pep.

All positive status effects are removed by the use of Disruptive Wave and some negative status effects are curable with a perfect panacea, if applicable.

  • Note that in Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, oomph/blunt and buff/sap are tracked as a scale from -2 to +2 (-2, -1, 0, +1, +2). As a default state, all party members (and enemies) are reset to 0 outside of battle.

List of status effects[edit | edit source]

Negative Status Ailments[edit | edit source]

Image Name Effect Debut Cure Remains After Battle?
Beguiled* The character has become infatuated with the enemy and will either attack their fellow party members or do nothing at all. Dragon Quest X
  • Physical damage (An ally's "Attack" function/enemy damage) or certain AoE spells (like kaboomle)
  • Sobering slap (ability)
 No
Blunted Physical attack power is reduced. Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies No
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
Breath Locked The character cannot use breath skills until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. Dragon Quest Monsters No
Confused The character may attack (with lowered accuracy) the enemy, fellow party members or themselves. They might also do nothing at all. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation No
Cursed 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

Note that in Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, curses can also temporarily reduce a character's maximum HP and are also able to have a random chance each turn of killing a character instantly. Of the above afflictions, curses can only make a character become stunned during battle.

Dragon Quest (cursed gear), Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line (cursed gear in battle) & Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride (status efffect) Varies (Yes, always, for Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age) (can be walked off in the overworld in some games)
Dazzled/Blind The character is much more likely to miss with physical attacks, dropping accuracy to 3⁄8 or 5⁄8 depending on the spell or skill used. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line No
Dead/Death The character cannot act in any way until they are revived by a spell, item, or at the church. Removes all other status effects. Dragon Quest Yes
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 The affected character becomes more susceptible to negative status ailments. Dragon Quest X No
Envenomated A battle-exclusive ailment. The afflicted character takes damage after each round of battle. Reduces HP by 1⁄6 of maximum per turn in Dragon Quest V. Starting with Dragon Quest VI this was reduced to 1⁄8 of the maximum. In Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, being envenomated deals 1~5 damage per turn. It turns into poison after battle has ended, but will be replaced with envenomation if the party enters a battle again. However, it may have a reduced countdown, which is reliant on how many steps the party took in the overworld. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride Yes (can be walked off in the overworld as the status effect poison.)
Fizzled The character cannot cast spells until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. Dragon Quest No
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 (can be walked off in Dragon Quest Builders 2)
Poisoned An overworld-exclusive ailment, and will be afflicted on a character if they are envenomated during battle or if they are walking on a patch of poisonous terrain. The character takes damage while traveling in the overworld. Originally, from II to IV it was dealt every four steps; in V and VI, it was increased to every eight steps, and from VII to X it was reduced to being dealt every single step. Turns into envenomation when entering a battle, unless it is due to poisounous ground. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line Yes
Sapped The character's Defence is decreased. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line No
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 cure. No
Skill Sealed The character cannot use skills until the condition wears off, or the battle ends. Dragon Quest X No
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 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 cure. No

Positive Status Effects[edit | edit source]

Image Name Effect Debut
Accelerated Agility is increased. In VIII onwards, this also increases evasion. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
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
Backdraft Reflects breath attacks once. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
Bounce Reflects magic spells. Certain games only allow the spell to be used on the caster themselves. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
Buffed Defence is increased. Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line
Camouflaged User is less likely to be targeted by monsters, and cannot be seen by foes on the world map.
  • Note that this effect lasts even after the battle is finished.
 Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies
Cover The user is taking attacks for either one character or the entire party. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
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
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
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
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
Greatsword Guard Increases chance of parrying physical attacks with a greatsword. Dragon Quest X
Insulated Damage from breath attacks is decreased. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
Kaclang Turned into invincible steel for several turns. The target cannot move during this time. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
Magic absorbent Spells that target the user will restore their MP. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride
Magic Barrier Magic resistance increased. Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation
MP Regeneration Character recovers some MP each turn. Sometimes granted with certain pieces of equipment. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King
Oomph Physical attack power increased. Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation
Pepped up Several stats are increased at once, and access to special techniques are granted.
  • Note that this effect lasts even after the battle is finished.
 Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age
Regeneration Character recovers some HP each turn. Sometimes granted with certain pieces of equipment. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
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
Snubbed Magical attacks have no effect on the target from now on. Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen
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
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