Vigintio using Meltdown in Bravely Default II.
Meltdown (メルトン, Meruton?, lit. Melton) is a spell exclusive to Bravely Default II. It is a powerful fire and wind dual-elemental magic spell available from the Arcanist job's Necromancy command.
Meltdown is learned at job level 8 for the Arcanist job. It deals powerful fire and wind-elemental magic damage to all members of the player and enemy parties. It costs 70 MP to cast.
When combined with the Red Mage's Nuisance specialty passive, Meltdown can be a powerful debuffing move due to its dual-elemental nature, allowing it have a chance of inflicting the Berserk, Doom, Silence, and Sleep statuses on the damaged targets. However, this can be counterproductive if players lack status immunity equipment and gets affected themselves.
Due to the spell's potentially detrimental nature of inflicting damage on the party, players should be careful when performing the spell, as it could easily wipe out the player's party without the proper elemental resistances. However, if the player has the proper fire and wind resistant equipment, combined with an Oracle's Elemental Ward Divination skill, Meltdown can inflict minimal damage, or even heal members of the player party when used.
Vigintio is also able to use Meltdown in battle both times he is faced, dealing damage to the player party while healing himself due to his absorption of fire and wind.
Etymology[]
Melting is a physical process that results in the phase transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. Nuclear meltdown is an informal term for a severe nuclear reactor accident that results in core damage from overheating.
Meltdown, also known as Merton or Kaustra, originates from the Final Fantasy series of games. The spell was first introduced in Final Fantasy VI as a powerful spell that dealt fire and wind dual-elemental damage to player and enemy parties. The spell's appearance in Bravely Default II serves as an homage to the original Final Fantasy VI appearance, involving the user unleashing a powerful fire and wind-elemental magic attack to all enemies and allies on the field.