Skull Shield

Skull Shield
Moonberries Required:	2
SP Cost:	5
Move Type:	Defensive
Description:	Vyse summons the spirit of an ancient Air Pirate to defend and counterattack for his crew.

Skull Shield (スカルシールド) is the fourth of Vyse's Super Moves. It costs 2 Moonberries to learn and 5 SP to use.

Information

Skull Shield is an Expedited Ability, which will execute immediately at the beginning of the turn, regardless of quickness rating. Vyse calls upon past pirates to protect their mission, shouting " Pirates of old... defend our cause! ". In the Japanese version, Vyse yells: " Saa, koi! Sukaru Shiirudo! " which translates to " Come forth! Skull Shield! ".

The effect is very similar to that of Vyse's Counterstrike, but with the major difference that it is applied to the entire party. When Skull shield is in effect, all party members are rendered completely invincible to standard attacks from any and all foes for that turn; additionally, the pirate spectre will appear and counterattack the enemy.

Skull Shield's invincibility does not cover magic or enemy S.moves. Unlike Counterstrike, the party does not also gain the benefit of taking the guarding stance, thus any damage that gets around this technique will be calculated normally. Furthermore, Skull Shield does not protect against any status conditions the foe's standard attacks may have.

Analysis

It is especially useful when combined with Gilder's Aura of Denial, to block status effects, and Aikas Delta Shield, to block magic. Using all 3 of these techniques together will result in the team being rendered invinsible to all attacks other than enemy S.moves. Of course, this also means Fina will be the only character left able to attack, and will likely need a lot of SP to fight properly. It is debatable as to wither Skull Shield or Justice Shield is truly the more useful move, but most players seems to tend toward Justice Shield due to its wider applications.