Hyper Beam
- "All charged up! This'll be good!"
- ―Lance with a readied Hyper Beam, Epic Battle Fantasy 4
Hyper Beam is a weapon-elemental skill available for Lance in Epic Battle Fantasy 4 and 5.
Description
If Lance does not have the Charge status effect, Hyper Beam will cause him to take out his gun and absorb energy into its barrel, giving himself a Charge. The Charge will wear off after a few turns, meaning that Lance will have to Charge again if he waits too long.
If Lance is already charged, he will instead fire a massive white-colored beam with elemental particles from his gun. This deals massive weapon-elemental damage to all enemy units, consuming the Charge status in the process. It's a little more accurate than normal skills, and it has an enhanced chance to inflict any on-hit effects of Lance's equipped gun.
While powerful, Hyper Beam's usefulness is somewhat hampered by the fact it takes 2 turns to use; in EBF4, it also requires Lance to spend MP on both turns, essentially doubling its cost. On the other hand, its high status infliction rate can make it useful to spread status effects with low base chances. It's generally best to Charge Lance at the end of an enemy wave in preparation for the next wave.
In EBF5, Hyper Beam received a power increase, and it's become slightly easier to use with the introduction of Haste; using the Ion Cannon Limit Break also gives Lance an automatic Charge. It's also somewhat noteworthy as one of his few skills that lacks a cooldown, although its Charge turn mitigates this.
Some of Lance's guns randomly give him a Charge between turns, allowing him to fire Hyper Beam without a turn penalty. These guns include the Premium Accelerator gun in EBF4, as well as the Sub Zero and Thunder Core in EBF5, but the most notable example is the Alt Green Goliath available in the latter game's Equip Remix Custom Game; its high Charge chance guarantees that Lance can fire off a Hyper Beam on every turn after the first.
Epic Battle Fantasy 4
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Hyper Beam | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Takes two turns to use. Uses MP twice. Targets all foes. Element and effects depend on current weapon. | ||||||
| Target | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF |
| All | 
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|
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120% | 10% | 10% |
| Level | Power | Status Chance | Status Strength | MP | AP Cost | |
| 1 | 100 | (150%) | (100%) | 16 | 400 {600} | |
| 2 | 130 | (150%) | (100%) | 20 | 800 {1200} | |
| 3 | 170 {160} | (150%) | (100%) | 24 | 1500 {2500} | |
| 4 | 230 {200} | (150%) | (100%) | 28 | 3000 {5000} | |
| 5 | 300 {240} | (150%) | (100%) | 32 | 9000 {15000} | |
| Requirement(s) (all) |
  
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| Note: Stats in braces (below/right from actual) are for its pre-v2 update version. | ||||||
Epic Battle Fantasy 5
 |
Hyper Beam | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Takes two turns to use: Charges on the first use, and fires on the second use. Deals huge magical damage to all enemies.
| ||||||
| Target | Type | Element | Status Effect | Acc | Crit | RdF |
| All |
|
|
|
120% | 10% | 10% |
| Level | Power | Status Chance | Status Strength | AP Cost | ||
| 1 | 120/3 | (150%) | (100%) | 1000 | ||
| 2 | 170/3 | (150%) | (100%) | 2000 | ||
| 3 | 230/3 | (150%) | (100%) | 4000 | ||
| 4 | 300/3 | (150%) | (100%) | 8000 | ||
Trivia
- Hyper Beam is most likely inspired by the move of the same name from the Pokémon franchise, although its mechanics are closer to that of Solar Beam and other "charge" attacks; in Pokémon, Hyper Beam requires the user to skip the turn after their attack in order to recharge their energy.
- Lance can be seen using Hyper Beam during the intro sequence and certain cutscenes of Epic Battle Fantasy 3, even though the skill is not available in-game.
- Prior to the v2 update, Hyper Beam in EBF4 was the most expensive skill to fully upgrade in the entire game, requiring more AP than even Limit Breaks.