The following table includes Zell’s statistics from level 7, when he joins the party, till level 100. These statistics obviously do *not* refer to junctioned stats. In Final Fantasy VIII the important thing is not to fight billions of battles to level up, but to use correctly the Junction system. In fact, equally distributing Guardian Forces among the party and choosing the right magic to junction, increases all the stats much faster and better, than what can be done through plain level up.
In any case, taking a look at Zell’s values gives important clues on how to use him in battle so here they are:
| Level | Exp | HP | Str | Vit | Mag | Spri | Spd | Luck |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 | 7000 | 544 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 21 | 15 |
| 10 | 9000 | 627 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 5 | 22 | 15 |
| 20 | 19000 | 1035 | 16 | 12 | 14 | 9 | 23 | 15 |
| 30 | 29000 | 1435 | 22 | 17 | 19 | 14 | 25 | 16 |
| 40 | 39000 | 1828 | 27 | 21 | 24 | 17 | 26 | 17 |
| 50 | 49000 | 2212 | 32 | 25 | 29 | 20 | 28 | 17 |
| 60 | 59000 | 2589 | 36 | 28 | 33 | 22 | 29 | 18 |
| 70 | 69000 | 2958 | 40 | 30 | 36 | 24 | 31 | 18 |
| 80 | 79000 | 3320 | 43 | 32 | 38 | 26 | 32 | 19 |
| 90 | 89000 | 3673 | 45 | 33 | 40 | 26 | 34 | 20 |
| 100 | 99000 | 4018 | 47 | 33 | 42 | 27 | 35 | 20 |
The following values instead refer to other playable characters’ statistics. For the sake of simplicity I included only the “main” characters, leaving out all those who are temporary members, such as Seifer or Edea, or characters controlled for short periods of time, such as Laguna, Kiros and Ward. All stats are taken at level 100 and, as in the previous case, they are not junctioned.
| Character | HP | Str | Vit | Mag | Spri | Spd | Luck |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zell | 4018 | 47 | 33 | 42 | 27 | 35 | 20 |
| Squall | 4187 | 47 | 41 | 45 | 36 | 37 | 22 |
| Quistis | 3883 | 46 | 30 | 42 | 34 | 34 | 31 |
| Selphie | 3680 | 45 | 28 | 49 | 38 | 37 | 36 |
| Rinoa | 4181 | 67 | 31 | 63 | 39 | 36 | 22 |
| Irvine | 3880 | 45 | 31 | 42 | 28 | 39 | 21 |
The comparison between Zell stats with other characters’ shows that the HP, Vitality and Strength parameters are his strong assets. If we imagine a podium, Zell will rank third for the HP value (behind Squall and Rinoa), and second for both the Strength value (behind Rinoa and tied up with Squall) and Vitality value (behind Squall). His Magic level is also pretty good, while the Spirit level is instead quite low, but it does make sense as Zell should be used as a “physical” character. The only parameter stat that left me a bit baffled was Speed…considering Zell’s personality I always thought it should have been higher :P