FFRKV: Now We Post Like Men! And Ladies! And Ladies Who Dress Like Men!

[Red Fel]

And I've officially collected all outstanding RMs. Feels good.

Anyway! Ultimate and U+ drop tonight! Here's what you can expect.

Ultimate: Steiner. Medals for using Dark attacks, reducing his Atk, and reducing his Def. He's weak to Dark, nulls Holy, and has no debuff weaknesses. He does, however, have two very big exploitable vulnerabilities. First, with the exception of Ultimate Climhazzard, all of his attacks are physical; if you get lucky, you can bring only physical mitigation to deal with him. Second, with the exception of Ultimate Stock Break, Ultimate Iainuki, and Ultimate Climhazzard, all of his abilities are single-target physical - which means Tauntaliate is a totally legitimate and devastating exploit here. With Protectga, Tauntaliate, and Power Breakdown, you should be able to mitigate the vast majority of his damage. Victory gets you orbs, a crystal, and the 5-star Gulug Stone accessory.

U+: Kuja 2: Bishounen Boogaloo. Medals for reducing Kuja's Mag and Res. Where Steiner was phys-exclusive, Kuja is mag-exclusive. No elemental weaknesses and no debuffs, and he brings copious amounts of spell-based pain. There are also scripted nukes - when he hits 70% HP, he drops a Gravija which deals damage based on current HP (so heal after it, not before); when he hits 50%, he throws One Million Volts, a lightning AoE; when he hits 25-30%, he throws Ten Million Volts, an even bigger lightning AoE. Obviously, magic mitigation is mandatory. Also, after 50% health, he switches to acting twice a turn, so Hastega will be necessary to keep up. Many of his spells are single-target, however, so Magic Lure + Reflect is a solid option, as it will cause him to eat some of his own damage (but not as much if you're mitigating). Victory gets you orbs and a crystal.

[Slayn82]

Finally something Weak to Dark Damage. Against Steiner Ultimate, Vivi, Edea, Dark Cecil and Basch will have the time of their life.

For now, I cleared the FF III event. Still didn't master Leviatan, switched the mage team composition a bit, brough Terra and Rinoa in place of Celes and Rydia, but still need more lighting damage. Maybe I will create a couple R3 thundagas that I don't actually need - tried to give Terra Firaja and Drainga, damage was better than Celes did, but not hard enough. Lack of Realm Synergy is so annoying.

Bahamut wasn't too bad, but I doubt I could master it.

EDIT: had 4 battles with Leviathan today. Keep losing 1 medal for actions and 2 for damage taken, even if the damage is very manageable. It's his physical damage that is stealing my medals. I will try giving Power Breakdown to Terra, and cross my fingers. Hope this works.

EDIT 2: And Terra's Power Breakdown did it. Mastery achieved. I have to put Kuja or Kefka in my future plans if only for Protectga. Also, a R3 Flare wouldn't be a bad thing. Maybe could have used Krile instead of Terra.

Team Leviathan details:
Minwu 65 - Shellga R2, Curaja R4, Mako Might.
Rinoa 67 - Thundaja R3, Thundaga R4, Witch Of Succession.
Yuffie 65 - Magic Breakdown Dance R4, Lighting Veil R5, Attunement 2.
Terra 68 - Power Breakdown R3, Thundaga R5, Devotion.
Edea 66 - Thundaja R3, Thundaga R5, Dr. Mog Teachings.

RW Stone Skin II.

Rinoa, Terra and Edea had around 350 Mag, and RES from 203 to 233. The accessory from this event was with Edea. Under Faithga, Thundaja was hitting near cap, and 3* skills on the 5 K to 6.5 K range.

[spectralphoenix]

Well, it took until 5 minutes before the challenge ended, and it took me 3 mithril, but I beat my first Ultimate in Leviathan!

My team, for posterity:

Vaan 67 - Magic Breakdown R3, Armor Breakdown R2 - Katana Master
Terra 80 - Thundaja R2, Thundaga R4 - Blood of Espers
Eiko 65 - Curaga R4 Protectga R2 - Eidolon's Gift (useless, but I don't really have much for a WM)
Beatrix 65 - Banishing Strike R3 Shellga R1 - One Eyed General
Gilgamesh 68 - Draw Fire R2 Retaliate R5 - Mako Might
RW - SG

Didn't do too much in the way of fancy tactics - Gil tauntaliated to keep damage down in the first phase, then I used SG in the second. Faithful Companion and Emerald Light kept everyone healthy and hasted. Other than that, I just blasted, Breakdown'd, and tried to keep the thing from buffing itself for too long. Ended up with everyone standing, but lost one medal for actions and two for damage, so no mastery.

Lessons learned:
1) Need more hones - if I didn't get an ability use phoenix bonus after my first try, this would have been impossible. Really wish I could have gotten the MPOs instead of the Earth Crystal
2) I hate bosses which move twice in a turn - I suspected this before, but now I know.

[Antonok]

3 pull on banner 2 got me 2 3* crap and a 4* armlet I can make into 4+ so eh.

First shot on Steiner was almost a victory. Got him down to about 1/5 health then he did some Ultimate something attack that pretty much wiped the group. Bit of a RNGfest to see if he spams AoE attacks (or decides to 1 shot your Edea :smallfurious:) but oh well. A lvl 60 Edea with an R3 Memento Mori and R1 Dark Zone can wreck his **** bad. She did probably 90-100k BY HERSELF. Everything was hitting 8k+ without any faithga. I think I need to craft another Lifesiphon and give it to Edgar, get his Drill up a bit faster.

Also one note on Steiner, there is no KO medal so you can go ham on him without worrying about someone kicking it.

[Greg_S]

U+ Steiner's down. Edea summoned my RW (Banishing Blade) Round 1, then went Memento Mori round 2. Battle ended with 27 seconds on the doom timer, so my team sliced him apart. Edea was MVP with MM + Dark Zone. She capped every hit for a total of 109,989 damage.

I eschewed Shellga and Magic Breakdown, going instead with FB and Armor Breakdown on Ramza. Tyro used Dark Bargain and Lifesiphon, but could have stuck with just bargain, since it again capped.

His damage output's lower than Leviathan and he doesn't have the spike potential that the fish had either.

EDIT: Dark Messenger plays during the Kuja battle. Please adjust your volumes to maximum.

[danzibr]

Grats to people on victories!

Mastered Steiner. Holy crap he hits hard before you get mitigation up. Over 7k on my Tyro. First real try my SG dropped near the end. Whoops. Second real try got him.

Going to go Reta on Kuja, I think.

[Slayn82]

Congrats on your first Ultimate Victory spectralphoenix. Good job.

100 gem got me Ragnarok, putting Beatrix in the Main List. FF IX now has become another solid realm for Synergy, meaning I'm reasonably set on gear from VI to X.

[danzibr]

U+ is hard. Single target physical attack hits hard. Magic hits hard.

I want to bring Tauntaliate (for defense) and Magic Lure + Reflect (likewise). But between that, mitigation, and healz, that leaves like 0 ability slots. Damn.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Whoo, Ultimate and U+ victories! Good work, folks.

Did two 11 pulls on the new banner and netted myself Exploda, the Ice Staff, and Gauntlets, as well as seven 4*s. Not the mage bounty I was hoping for but certainly not a bad haul by any stretch. Although I've somehow run myself entirely out of scarletite, which is... inconvenient. Oh well, incoming orbfest!

[Greg_S]

U+ is hard. Single target physical attack hits hard. Magic hits hard.

I want to bring Tauntaliate (for defense) and Magic Lure + Reflect (likewise). But between that, mitigation, and healz, that leaves like 0 ability slots. Damn.

I stacked up with 4 lightning resist accessories- Gigas Armlet, Bolt Ring, Necrophobe Ward, and the Bolt Armlet. Even then, the key was timing my RW magic blink (thanks, Antonok!) and dodging that first Gravija, because there's just not enough time to heal up after it between Gravija and him going into trance spam mode.

Note if you're trying to time the Magic Blink: He doesn't automatically use Gravija when his HP drops below the 70% threshold. He uses it on his next turn, so you can queue up attacks and then your SB/RW if needed.

You could lock L99 Kuja in a loop by reflecting/dispelling, as reflect sends him into flare star mode, then dispelling would reset his ATB. I don't think you can do that to U+, though.

[Antonok]

I really really really hate not having synergy gear for realms.

If I restarted and was a bit more conservative with my mithril, how much could I get before BSBfest? (And would it be possible to get 25 for a WHT lucky banner pull?)

Edit: VI, VII, X, XII, and oddly enough III are the only realms I have synergy gear for. The rest I might have a stray weapon or the accessories from the events. Thats about it.

[Simkin]

Ult down. Stars were Edea with MM (R4) + DZ (R2) and D.Cecil with DB (R3) + SC (R1).

Don't think I'll try Ult+ tonight.

[SuperPanda]

Steiner U is down. Needed two S/Ls because he kept gunning for Zidane before mitigation was up and then following up on Zidane again.


RW - Wall
Zidane (Dismissal/Tempoflurry)
Arieth (Shellga/Curaja) [Planet Protector]
Basch (Retaliate / Life Siphon) [Fulmimating Darkness]
Garnet (summons which weren't worth much) [Divine Guardian]
Ramza (Power breakdown / Full Break) [Tailwind]

once Basch got tauntilate running the fight was pretty much over. His SB was hitting for 21k with Planet Protector up which was nice. Could likely have replaced Garnet with Kefka (Magicite infusion) and darkness skills for a faster kill.

[T.G. Oskar]

I only have expert on Tiamat because that last hit made Ramza face plant on my run. So gratz there.

I still got Expert for all the trouble, as despite having good mitigation, I still got near-killed, and couldn't beat it fast enough (got out of Full Breaks and Magic Breakdown, out of Quakes, and was barely surviving with a few SB bars up,


As for the snake- you think it's fast now, wait till it gets hasted in phase 3.

I'm well aware of the Guado Guardian using buffs on EA, and how the creep refuses to die, so it's best to focus on EA.


There is so much RNG in this fight it isn't even funny - that said if you can get shellga and wall up those photon sprays deal roughly 200, 300, or 400 per hit depending on phase (yeah it gets more hp and boom each time it does). I don't have a native wall so I had to survive phase and the start of 2 without wall or I'd have run out by phase 3 and get straight up murdered.

I had no native hastega for a whim so I honed haste to 10 casts and stuck it on Eiko. It's s slower start but workable.

I had good good gear, Diara hitting for 7-8k good, and it was a frustrating slog.

I went full healer- blaster so I can't answer banishing strike. I also didn't take dispel at all since it only works on one lense and in phase 3you want to nuke it down fast!

While I have native Hastegas, I don't have any on White Mages either. It's fortunate that the Lucky Draw ended up giving me Sentinel Grimoire, since I don't have a native RES boost other than Celes' Magic Shield and Cecil's Rampart (which aren't as strong), but SG doesn't last for that long, so I need a reliable way to recharge it ASAP.

I had to shatter my Diara to make space for other skills, so I'm limited mostly to Diaga and FoT, though as I have the Healer RM I could spare some Curagas (the only skill I have a duplicate of) to blast EA if necessary, so I'm not that strong on the blasting category, and mildly solid on the healing category (unless I replace Beatrix for Selphie and double up on Medicas).

I probably should switch Curaise into Beatrix and use it in case I need a Raise, set Esuna to Lenna (she's the fastest WHM I got, mostly because of levels) and if I can't use Banishing Strike, set up Dispel into my second-fastest WHM (Rosa or Yuna) and use it for Phase 2 and whenever GG buffs EA. Still need to check if Banishing Strike works for Phase 2 (that should kill the 2nd Lens faster, and help with the other Lenses too), and see if Celebration Grimoire doesn't count as BLM, Summoning or if it triggers Counter Poison Breath, to have the mini-Medica effect + the damage.

[SuperPanda]

Phase 2 charges your SBs amazingly.

Honestly it sounds like abilities and hones will be what keeps you from clenching victory.

Native wall + Divine Guardian RW and you probably don't need medica (Heavy regen and hasted healing will take care of most while Wall + shellga/protectga will keep incoming damage low enough that you don't need to panic often).

Curaise - I shattered it long before this event. Reddit said that when cast on undead (ie.lenses) the cure property hit first. This means that you can only use the raise property on your own people. Its basically another copy of curaga.

Cure spells for damage: For comparison my damage outputs
Renewing Cure ~2.3 k *
Trabia's Flower ~3.3 k *
Curaga ~ 4k
Curaja ~ 5.5 k **
Diara ~7.5 k **
Diaga 9999

* denotes that these were on Arieth with my best gear
** denotes that these were on Selphie with my second best armor/accessory and fourth best staff (but staff had +significant holy damage) and another + significant holy damage on RM.

Its res score raises in each phase as does its health. By phase 3 my weakest mage was hiting for 9.7k with Diaga - other drops were more pronounced.

I shatterred Arise and downgraded the resulting holy-orbs to make my abilities, the first time I've ever downgraded major orbs (Will likely do it again for Summoning Nightmare).

Good luck TG. Its an evil evil snake but with wall (and maybe a mythril use to ensure full SB charges) I think you could master the fight.

[Forbiddenwar]

Wow. Mastered both Ultimates. These two were actually fun. But that might be because of DG. Between the breaks, walls shellga, and SG, most of what kuja threw at me was regenga away.

[T.G. Oskar]

Phase 2 charges your SBs amazingly.

Honestly it sounds like abilities and hones will be what keeps you from clenching victory.

I can see why you mention that - Photon Spray, right? Just using it on the first Phase charged Yuna's SB gauge enough that I could do two Sendings if necessary.

As for hones...well, I think I'm overloaded on Curaga, since I got a R5, an R3, and Curaise at R3 so that's roughly 26 uses of Curagas. The lack of many Diagas might be my weakness, though I got enough Ninja Magic for Phase 2 even if I start using it from Phase 1; it might not be much, but 2.3k damage to everything helps a lot.


Native wall + Divine Guardian RW and you probably don't need medica (Heavy regen and hasted healing will take care of most while Wall + shellga/protectga will keep incoming damage low enough that you don't need to panic often).

Yeah - Divine Guardian + SG reduced damage to laughable levels, and the only thing that honestly can scare me is Sweeping Scythe.


Its res score raises in each phase as does its health. By phase 3 my weakest mage was hiting for 9.7k with Diaga - other drops were more pronounced.

Far as I recall, it's only on Phase II where EA's Res is increased; at Phase 3, it has more HP than on Phase 1, but less HP than on Phase 3. IIRC, the HP in Phase 3 was...about 30% of its total HP. Perhaps the increased RES and the use of so many spells made it feel like it had more HP?


Good luck TG. Its an evil evil snake but with wall (and maybe a mythril use to ensure full SB charges) I think you could master the fight.

Tried it again, and at least I could take it to Phase 2. I definitely need to set Lenna exclusively for Esuna, because, other than the RNG preventing me from setting Protectga/SG before it makes its first attack, the times I've lost is because Esuna wasn't cast on time. I might need to create and hone Poisona just to keep uses of Esuna safe for Phases 1 and 3.

In other topics, I tested Banishing Strike...and indeed, it works on the Altana Lenses! Its Dispel also stops the empowered Photon Spray. The damage wasn't that impressive, but at least it's something - between Ninja Magic and Yuna's Sendings, I had all lenses halfway through and EA at a quarter of its HP. That said, I don't think Divine Guardian as an RW will cut it, because it doesn't seem to last that long - the Heavy Regen does, but the Haste seems to end on the worst time. That, or the snake zombie's speed increases each Phase - and yes, I'm well aware that the Guado Guardian will use Haste on it, and that Reflect is a really, really bad idea because FoT can be reflected (as well as Healer).

[SuperPanda]

U+ Kuja is down but only expert. I'd love the summon orbs but I don't think i can salvage any medals compared to the run I just had.

[Red Fel]

Took a shot at Ult Steiner with a Tauntaliate party. Did well, but couldn't take him down. Interestingly, Seifer with a Darkness melee attack (Dark Bargain) did massive damage, unbuffed, from the back row. So I'm definitely switching things up this time.

Bringing Kuja with MM/DZ, that should be fun. Trying to decide if R2 is enough on each; I could go R3 on DZ, but that would absolutely neuter my supply of MDOs and MNOs. Could probably go R3 or even R4 on MM if I wanted. Somehow I doubt I need to bring his +Dark RM, given how strong the abilities are and the fact that it's targeting a weakness. Pity there's no Darkness dualcast yet.

Other than that, probably Wakka as support, Y'shtola for wall, and then two others. Maybe DK!Cecil? Should I even bother bringing a Tauntaliator? It is a puzzlement.

EDIT: Oh my duh. Drainga deals Dark damage. And it's BLK, which means (1) Vivi can use it, (2) with synergy, and (3) with Focus Magic SB, and (4) with dualcast RM. Teehee.

[Antonok]

Took a shot at Ult Steiner with a Tauntaliate party. Did well, but couldn't take him down. Interestingly, Seifer with a Darkness melee attack (Dark Bargain) did massive damage, unbuffed, from the back row. So I'm definitely switching things up this time.

Bringing Kuja with MM/DZ, that should be fun. Trying to decide if R2 is enough on each; I could go R3 on DZ, but that would absolutely neuter my supply of MDOs and MNOs. Could probably go R3 or even R4 on MM if I wanted. Somehow I doubt I need to bring his +Dark RM, given how strong the abilities are and the fact that it's targeting a weakness. Pity there's no Darkness dualcast yet.

Other than that, probably Wakka as support, Y'shtola for wall, and then two others. Maybe DK!Cecil? Should I even bother bringing a Tauntaliator? It is a puzzlement.

EDIT: Oh my duh. Drainga deals Dark damage. And it's BLK, which means (1) Vivi can use it, (2) with synergy, and (3) with Focus Magic SB, and (4) with dualcast RM. Teehee.

I would get Memento Mori up actually. It can deal cap easily and with haste I was able to use all 6 charges of it, plus both Dark Zone uses before the doom timer hit, dealing quite a crapton of damage to him.

Speaking of, I'm going to try it by replacing Cloud with Jecht. Lose Fenrir Overdrive but I can a stackable Att boost and able to exploit weakness. Just hoping Edgar's Drill can counteract the -30% Def lose.

[Calemyr]

I remember hearing stories about a BSB-focused Relic Draw coming in the relatively near future. Is that this weekend?

[Red Fel]

I remember hearing stories about a BSB-focused Relic Draw coming in the relatively near future. Is that this weekend?

You mean the BSB-fest (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/orb-dungeon-3/)? On most recent examination, it appears to have been moved back a month or so. So I don't think we'll be seeing it.

On the other hand, the reports say we're getting an Orb Rush this weekend, so that's a good thing.

EDIT: And Ult Steiner is down, no medals lost! Here's how I did it:
Sephiroth: Armor Break, Lifesiphon, Adventurer's Dagger RM.
Wakka: Power Breakdown, Full Break, Rebel's Might RM.
Kuja: Memento Mori, Dark Zone, Zeal RM.
Vivi: Darkra, Drainga, Blood of Espers RM.
Y'shtola: Curaja, Protectga, Dr. Mog's Teachings RM.
RW: Garnet (Divine Guardian).

First time I tried it, I got him down to about 1/3 remaining, before he one-shotted Y'shtola in between buffs. Without SSII up, things got painful quickly. One S/L later, things were much smoother. I was right that I didn't need Kuja's +Dark RM; with Memento Mori up, he dealt exclusively max damage. Vivi's damage was a bit weaker, until he got Focus Magic running, but the dualcast proc made up for the difference. Honestly, even with Black Materia, Sephiroth contributed fairly little to this fight; I may as well have brought an exclusively caster group for all the damage he and Wakka did. (The Support helped, of course.) The Hastega and Regenga from DG was also a massive help.

Even with R3 MM and R2 DZ, Kuja ran out of uses before the end. Haste had something to do with it.

Punchline, he dropped a GBO! Ha!

Anyhow, Ult is done. And honestly, of late, I feel myself not being tempted by the U+s. Orbs are nice, crystals are okay, and I'm certainly curious as to whether I have the tools and the timing, but a part of me just can't be bothered. At least with Ults I get a neat accessory reward. (And this one will actually be useful when Cid Missions first drop, because Fire Resist.) But the U+s? I'm trying not to burn out, thanks.

Short version: Probably not taking a shot at U+ Kuja.

[Cozzer]

Got USteiner! He killed me a few times by spamming Ultimate Climbhazard, but in the end I managed to survive him long enough.

I tried UKuja+ but, while my mitigation layers let me survive quite a while, my damage output just isn't good enough.

[danzibr]

I feel ya, Cozzer.

At first I tried Advantauntaliate. Damage was alright, but I had no Medica.

Then I tried an offensive mage party (my best offensive SSB's are Rinoa's and Terra's), and damage output just wasn't enough.

Probably give it another go after the weekend. Hope I don't have to give this guy a pass. I've mastered all the other U+'s so far.

[Greg_S]

Got USteiner! He killed me a few times by spamming Ultimate Climbhazard, but in the end I managed to survive him long enough.

I tried UKuja+ but, while my mitigation layers let me survive quite a while, my damage output just isn't good enough.

Lureflect could be very useful on someone with drain strike, drainga, or TR. Reading the AI thread, once he hits 76% HP, he's got at least a 40% chance to use a single-target, reflectable spell.
He doesn't shift into flare star-only mode unless the entire party is under reflect, so lureflect is safe.

[tyckspoon]

Steiner went down on the first attempt; kind of surprised. Eiko, Exdeath, Vivi, Zidane, Keeper. Eiko healing, Exdeath with MM/Dark Zone, Vivi with a couple of -ja (I actually forgot give him the Darkra I have honed, which probably would have made enough extra damage for Exdeath to beat his own MM Doom timer. As it was he passed out after throwing all his Darknesses and one Grand Cross), Zidane Lifesiphoning into Rumble Rush (Exploda's SB - Steal Power + attacks), Keeper for SG and playing Support with Breakdowns. Smooth Tank'n'Spank; with all mitigation up the AoEs only hit for ~700, which was pretty trivial to heal with Greater Regen from a Divine Guardian RW. Ultimate Shock required a direct cure, but no significant risk of death. Going to try Kuja after the weekend Orbing/leveling, see how things go with a team full of level 80 synergies.. (I think Steiner, Beatrix, Eiko/Garnet depending on if I feel like I need Emerald Light, Zidane, Keeper?)

[Slayn82]

Steiner Mastered here too. Minwu, Ramza, Basch, Vivi and Edea, all lvl 65 - 68 range. Edea got Drainga R4 and MM R3, and Doublecast BM.
Vivi had Drain R5, Firaja R3, Devotion, and RS Mace of Zeus.
Basch had Lifesiphon R4, Retaliate R5, Pride of Red Wings, RS Ragnarok Sword, and Golbez Armor.
Ramza had Power/Armor Breakdowns, Mako Might and Zidane's Sword.
Minwu had Curaja/Protectga, Dr. Mog Teachings.
RW was Heroic Harmony.

Basch's Fulminating Darkness was hitting damage Cap on the 3 hits - the Sentinel effects helped a small bit. So were Edea's spells, and Vivi too was near 9K after Edea's Magic Infusion. Vivi's SSB was hitting for 24K damage.

[Antonok]

Weekend orb rush is here! White, Lightning, and Wind. Guess my ffrk weekend is decided.

Edit: and upgrade mats. I need to learn to scroll down...

[Starwulf]

Hey hey all! I'm still alive :) Starting to come back to FFRK a little, started playing a new game(I think it was even mentioned on here, Brave Frontiers) and it's been sucking up my time. Been logging on the last few nights, did the whm lucky draw and finally got a haste, though it's not terribly useful(Eiko's golem wand that gives haste and heals I think?) since I don't even have Eiko leveled.

I've missed out on so many orbs though, I've barely touched the last three events, the last one is the first one I actually did anything, made it to the boss rush but didn't bother to go any further(total lack of III synergy, I was actually having mild issues on the 99 battle). I have been logging in daily though to get all the freebies, which is nice since I just got Tornado Strike! Finally a nice wind-based ability :)

So how have things been going in FFRK? Any news on when the BSSB fest is? I see we have an Orbrush weekend, I'll have to try to get on and run it a few times, especially for the wind orbs. Can't tonight though, FISHING!!!!!

Anyways, mostly wanted to drop in and say hi ^^

[danzibr]

Welcome back, Starry!

Yeah, 'dat Orbrush. Freakin' Wind + garbage. Oh well.

Looking ahead, most recent Nightmare in JP is another Support. 2 hits, lowers chance of the boss inflicting debuffs. Looks like utter crap for a 6* ability (rather, extremely niche uses). Also I noticed between now and then we get a whopping 1 more 5* Support user, and that's way down the line, for XII. For some reason, still no for II and III. Whatevs.

[Simkin]

Ult+ Kuja is down. Shamelessly cheated. Used mythril to load up all my SBs or I probably never would have pulled it off. Party was:

Squall (80), Lifesiphon (R3), Barrage (R2), Blasting Zone x3
Tyro (80), Magic Breakdown (R2), Full Break (R1), SG x3
Cloud (80), Lifesiphon (R2), Pound (R3), Fenrir Overdrive x3
Vanille (80), Curaja (R5), Shellga (R3), Miracle Prayer x3
Refia (75), Exploding Fist (R1), Dismissal (R3), Blazing Fists x3
5 Mythril: 4x Offense+, 1x HP+

Never was able to finish Bahamut, so I was bound and determined I was going to get this one.

When I checked the site all the early wins were expert only, so I didn't even try to S/L all day long and find a creative solution. Brute Force FTW.

[TeChameleon]

Huh. So apparently the RNG thinks that I'm in desperate need of a Black Mage. The character-specific five-star drops that I've gotten have been: Valiant Knife and Ichigeki as my first two... and then Tellah's Stardust Rod, Palom's Triton Dagger, and Vivi's Cypress Pile. Heck, even my White Mage Lucky pull was Vanille's Binding Rod, which has nearly twice as much MAG as it does MND.

Also, apparently the RNG hates me *sigh* >.<

Still putzing along- got my first 65 today (Celes), although I don't have even one MCII yet :/

Oh well. Progress of a sort is happening.

[T.G. Oskar]

Hey hey all! I'm still alive :) Starting to come back to FFRK a little, started playing a new game(I think it was even mentioned on here, Brave Frontiers) and it's been sucking up my time.

Oh, so you're playing Brave Frontier? Can I interest you in the world of Lapis?

That's the world of the upcoming A-lim game published by Square-Enix, Final Fantasy Brave Exvius, which is...the Brave Frontier battle system on a shared world populated by Final Fantasy characters and topics. There's a pre-registration going through, in case you need another excuse to waste game to spend your time on.

But, keeping on topic: handled the Boss Rush and Valia Pira, and despite a lack of FF weapon synergy, I handled it nicely. Went with a near-full FFIX team (Beatrix, Quina, Zidane and Eiko; used Terra because of synergy, strong magic and obviously devotion) and wiped them out easily; Zidane with Blind Shell and Steal Defense, alongside Quina with Full Break and Power Breakdown, Terra with Waterga and Magic Breakdown, Beatrix with the EA skill setup (Banishing Strike and Shellga) and Eiko with Curaga and Protectga. Blind made me pretty much untouchable by both, and while Lani had a lot of spells around, they were pretty much neutralized between Magic Breakdown, Full Break and Shellga. I don't recall missing any medals, or perhaps just one.

Valia Pira was also a joke. Switched Terra with Steiner, gave him Aerora Strike, switched Blind Shell with Wind Slash on Zidane and Power Breakdown with Magic Breakdown on Quina. Once again, the mitigation took VP's damage to joke levels, and everything went up pretty nicely. Ended up losing 1 medal to damage and 1 to actions, but Championed it as well. That means Beatrix is level-broken twice (yay!), which is good as I can use that for...

Orbrush, double yay! Planning to use the days for leveling up the White Mages (save for Lenna; she's at a pretty high level) and maybe Vivi and Basch, to get Black Mage Awakening a good FFIX mage for future events and another good Tauntaliator, respectively. Will have to do the brunt of the Orbrush today, since I plan to use the more XP-efficient Sundaily on Sunday instead for leveling-up.

[Forbiddenwar]

Never was able to finish Bahamut, so I was bound and determined I was going to get this one.

When I checked the site all the early wins were expert only, so I didn't even try to S/L all day long and find a creative solution. Brute Force FTW.

Ditto on bahamut.

But

Wow. Mastered both Ultimates. These two were actually fun.


I managed to master kuja+, with one medal lost, using a magic blink RW to ignore gravija, and magic lure+reflect (and a auto reflect RM to get the ball rolling). But having garnets DG naturally helped a lot, along with 4 resist lit accessories.

[danzibr]

Grats to people on victories!

A plan is evolving in my head. I happen to have Kimahri's Magic Blink. I could bring Advance as my RW (otherwise my offense just isn't cutting it), and do an Advan(taun)taliate party with Lureflect. Yeah, that might work. Something like

Garnet, Curaja, Shellga, DG
Tyro, Full Break, Tempo Flurry, SG
Kimahri, Armor Break, Magic Break, MG
Pally Cecil, Magic Lure, Reflect
Gilgamesh, Draw Fire, Retaliate
RW Advance

Just to check... so I've read Magic Blink works on Graviga, but does it also work on the One Million/Billion Volts?

[Antonok]

Honed Fullbreak to R2 so that should cover longer fights (and give a bit more damage to Wakka).

Been using the chance to level a couple people (Edea, Penelo, and Tifa) with the orbrush. Still need to fit barret in there somewhere to prepare for the VII event.

Edit: Not looking forward to gathering another 15 MHO for Saint's Cross R2.

[SuperPanda]

Orbrush is up.

Ultimately did not get Bahamut U+ III down.

Got Vivi, and Auron to 65 (though they were already at 63), also Ingus and Arc form 61 to 65 and am working on Edea (58), Porom (61), and Beatrix (57) (started at 50 each - though Edea got egg'd to 50).

If I get them to 65 before the end of sun-daily I've got Vincent, Reifa, Kuja, Agrias, and Reno who have MC2s and are sitting at 50 still. I'm thinking Agrias, Kuja, and Vincent will be the next team. Galuf and Kimarhi deserve notes here too being under 50 still despite having Galuf's MC2 in storage.

Looking at upcoming content: I've got Yuffie at 65 but Jecht and Rikku are in the 50s, Edgar is at 65 but Sabin 50. Cyan, Setzer, and Gau are all low level too - of all of those only Cyan has a relic and its basically Kain's Lancet and the Katana is usually better used by Shadow or Ramza.

I haven't looked too far beyond that on who is getting MC2s. Without relics none of the above are contenders for my A-list spots and few of the RMs look particularly amazing so far. Still my plan is to try and clear my "level break me" screen.

I'm wondering if I should put one of my A-listers in my leveling party and be working on getting more people to 80 while I get benchers with MC2s to 65. What about other people? Is having a large variety at 65 and a competent core at 70+ better than having a competent core at 80 and a wide variety at 50?

[Slayn82]

Just to check... so I've read Magic Blink works on Graviga, but does it also work on the One Million/Billion Volts?

Yes, it works, it's NAT: LIGHTING MAGIC DAMAGE type. But timing it is a bit difficult, because Kuja uses Flare Star often so you need to get the blink up and trigger the phase change fast.



Looking at upcoming content: I've got Yuffie at 65 but Jecht and Rikku are in the 50s, Edgar is at 65 but Sabin 50. Cyan, Setzer, and Gau are all low level too - of all of those only Cyan has a relic and its basically Kain's Lancet and the Katana is usually better used by Shadow or Ramza.

I haven't looked too far beyond that on who is getting MC2s. Without relics none of the above are contenders for my A-list spots and few of the RMs look particularly amazing so far. Still my plan is to try and clear my "level break me" screen.

I'm wondering if I should put one of my A-listers in my leveling party and be working on getting more people to 80 while I get benchers with MC2s to 65. What about other people? Is having a large variety at 65 and a competent core at 70+ better than having a competent core at 80 and a wide variety at 50?
I recommend leveling Rikku as soon as you can. Create a Bard Protectga, and give her Thief or Machinist abilities, and you re pretty well set. Edgar also is great.

I'm going for maximizing the amount of characters who have MC2 to lvl 65, and anyone who gets a relic get egged at least to lvl 60. Usage is pushing the better characters to low 70s, and has been enough to clear content. Only Wakka and Tyro are at 80, with Tidus at 78.

I will have to push Aerith to 80 fast. I'm used to Minwu's Medica, and Pulse of Life heals way less.

On Ultimate + : Kuja seems doable, and even masterable, if I can get a better grip of his patterns. I have already gotten 2/3 of his HP on first try. Anyway, one Major orb away from Full Break R2. That will make him much more manageable.

Planned party is :
Minwu 65: Protectga R2, Curaja R4, Dr. Mog, Will of the White Mage.
Celes 69: Drain Strike R4, 5* Wind spellblade R1, unbreakable Sword, Invincible Blade.
Beatrix 65: Lifesiphon R4, Shellga R2, Pride of the RWs, SSB.
Ramza 68: Magic Breakdown R3, Full Break R2, Mako Might, Shout.
Vivi 69: Drainga R4, Firaga R4, Dual cast BM, SSB.
RW Wall.

Maybe Garnet DG is a better RW than Wall. Will prolong the first phase, where Kuja occasionally attack with physical, but will let me fill SB pretty well. If I get Aerith to 80, she can substitute Minwu. Other plan is take out Vivi for Aerith, and run two Medicas. Anyway, with Aerith in Minwu's place, this is my orbrush party.

[Red Fel]

Personally, I'm leveling my summoners. Why? Because the next Nightmare is Neo Bahamut.

I'm in a pretty good place levels-wise. Everyone who can be LBed is LBed. Everyone expecting an LB soon is of-level. Yuffie is 65. I suppose I could work on my XIII cast, but that's still a week or so off.

But having a good team for Nightmares is important. Amusingly, several summoners also have ample WHM (looking at you, Arc and Aerith), so they can cover as healers as well for that fight. But I like to be prepared.

Maybe I'll work on my XIII cast later. I dunno. I'm not particularly happy about the Figabros event - MC2s for a bunch of rubbish characters and Setzer. Edgar, Sabin, Gau and Cyan are bad, particularly compared to the rest of their cast, and leveling them will be a nuisance. But again, weeks out.

[Antonok]

Personally, I'm leveling my summoners. Why? Because the next Nightmare is Neo Bahamut.

I'm in a pretty good place levels-wise. Everyone who can be LBed is LBed. Everyone expecting an LB soon is of-level. Yuffie is 65. I suppose I could work on my XIII cast, but that's still a week or so off.

But having a good team for Nightmares is important. Amusingly, several summoners also have ample WHM (looking at you, Arc and Aerith), so they can cover as healers as well for that fight. But I like to be prepared.

Maybe I'll work on my XIII cast later. I dunno. I'm not particularly happy about the Figabros event - MC2s for a bunch of rubbish characters and Setzer. Edgar, Sabin, Gau and Cyan are bad, particularly compared to the rest of their cast, and leveling them will be a nuisance. But again, weeks out.

Edgar's actually pretty good. Decent armor selection (granted weapon selection is weak), decent stats, Has Combat, Machinist, and Knight* 5, with support 3. Bonus points if you have his drill.

*You saw nothing. This edit does not exist <jedi hand wave>

[danzibr]

Thanks Slayn.

Working on Edea, Beatrix, and Kimahri. I find it odd the key to my plan for mastering a U+ is Kimahri. I think it'll work though: my first attempt was Adavantaliate and I was whupping booty, but just took too much damage.

[Red Fel]

Edgar's actually pretty good. Decent armor selection (granted weapon selection is weak), decent stats, Has Combat, Machinist, and Combat 5, with support 3. Bonus points if you have his drill.

Funny story. I have his Drill and his Bioblaster. In fact, I think I have his Partisan as a 6-star. And since he can use Combat 5, Lifesiphon is a thing, so yay, SBs. And come to think of it, Knight is now a pretty solid ability set; so is Machinist. So I'll retract somewhat; if I need a specific status ailment or Holy weakness, he's a very solid choice.

But consider the rest of the cast, particularly with what I have. Terra is an obvious choice for any party, unless BLM is a specifically bad idea; Setzer, being the primary Support of the cast, is a fix as well. Relm is the 5-star WHM for VI, so she's in. That's three spots filled. Celes is my go-to for one of the last two spots, especially since I have her Runic SB. And for the fifth spot, Locke gives me Celerity 5 (Tempo Flurry, Dismissal), Thief 5 (Steal Power, Thief's Revenge), Support 3 (Busters aren't Machinist, but they function), Combat 4 (Lifesiphon), and his Phoenix Plunder SB for a mini-medica.

Unless I need a specific source of Holy damage, Edgar's just a second-stringer.

[Antonok]

You know I just realized, I've had Locke's Wing Edge (at 6* no less) for ever and it has a minor medica on it that I never noticed mainly because Locke wasn't good enough to justify using.

Edit: Looking at the upcoming VII banner (seems theres only 1 this time), this is the first banner that doesn't have something on it I'd like to have. So seeing as my VII synergy is good (even pulled a 4* katana a while back), I'm going to skip this one.

[Slayn82]

Mastered Kuja. Leveled Vivi and Aerith to 72, gave FullBreak R2 to Ramza, and used a Mythril for the offensive bonuses and two SB bars for Beatrix and Celes and one for the others. RW was SS II.

Vivi with focus was hitting 9999 damage with Firaja, Witch Of succession and FB - using Mace of Zeus and Edea's Hat, plus a +30 MAG relic. Pulse of Life was healing for 1800. Beatrix and Celes SSBs were doing around 25K+ damage. Once Kuja goes Super Sayan, you have to nuke him fast. He was hitting hard even with all mitigation along Wall. It was the successive no sellings from Celes and Beatrix that saved me, but Garnet SSB would be a fair substitute for Magic Blink, or a second Medica.



Edit: Looking at the upcoming VII banner (seems theres only 1 this time), this is the first banner that doesn't have something on it I'd like to have. So seeing as my VII synergy is good (even pulled a 4* katana a while back), I'm going to skip this one.
I actually want Caith Sith's Megafone or Yuffie's SSB. Having my first Instrument would be pretty nice, and the SB effect is great. An Heroic Harmony type of SB is a fair substitute for Wall sometimes, and would make Pulse of Life more attractive.

A Instant Cast AOE physical damage sounds great to me. Give her own RM Nyuk Nyuk Nyuk for instant attacks, her instant Medica and Instant SSB, Ninja and Celerity skills, and she has a good DPS. Also, Barret can pull Lifesiphon + Entrust, and suddenly Yuffie becomes a Swiss Army Knife.

[tyckspoon]

Nightmare Summon will probably be the first one I don't don't bother making a serious effort at until a few months worth of developing more high-grade summons. Just don't have enough 4-stars to be certain of being able to carry through the fight.. Suppose I could try it with Ninja spells, but I hate the idea of giving up synergy in these fights.

[Red Fel]

Nightmare Summon will probably be the first one I don't don't bother making a serious effort at until a few months worth of developing more high-grade summons. Just don't have enough 4-stars to be certain of being able to carry through the fight.. Suppose I could try it with Ninja spells, but I hate the idea of giving up synergy in these fights.

Actually, the current proposed strategy just involves lots of 3-star summons. There is a reason for this - the boss has a certain mechanic similar to Nightmare Ultima's, where you can attack the mini-target to deal massive damage to the boss - and thus 3-stars will be sufficient. Not to mention that Nightmare synergy will really beef up damage output.

[Antonok]

Some good progress today. Penelo hit 80, Edea went from 60 to 71, Tifa is up to 28. I know I got at least 2 MWO worth of lower Orbs, at least 4 MLO worth, and probably around 8 MWhO (3 of those from Giant Cactuars which is all they dropped). Speaking of, I have 24 MWhOs, do they have any use/will get use at all? With Edea higher level, I'm going to attempt Steiner again soon with this set up:

Wakka 80: Power Breakdown R3/Fullbvreak R2/Aurochs Reels
Edea 71: Memento Mori R3/Dark Zone R1
Arc 76: Curaja R4/Protecga R2/Renewing Rains (Steiner does have 1 magic attack but it's mostly for the regen)
Edgar 65: Lifesiphon R3/Double Cut R4/Drill
Yuffie 65: ???/Box Step Sarabande/Clear Tranquil
RW: Shout

As far as Summoner Nightmare goes, I have Shiva, Ramuh, and Ifrit at R4 and Manduin at R2 with enough orbs to make it R3 thanks to this event so I'm hoping thats enough to carry me. Available summoners being Yuna, Aerith, Arc, and Keeper (all 70+).

Edit: Well Steiners Ultimate Climhazard IS magical so magic blink will negate it. The regen didn't help near as much as I thought. I just plain and simple do not have damage. My big damage comes from Holy based abilities and Cloud's Fenrir Overdrive.

[tyckspoon]

Actually, the current proposed strategy just involves lots of 3-star summons. There is a reason for this - the boss has a certain mechanic similar to Nightmare Ultima's, where you can attack the mini-target to deal massive damage to the boss - and thus 3-stars will be sufficient. Not to mention that Nightmare synergy will really beef up damage output.

Yeah, I've looked at the fight. I've got Valefor, Bahamut, and then the 3 star elemental trio who are at 4 uses. Still doubtful I'll have enough uses to get through the fight if I have to use them for all three phases worth of damage.. And I really don't want to have to craft and hone another set of them just for that fight, they're not that useful most of the time.

[danzibr]

Got Kimahri up to 65. Should get Beatrix to 80 by tonight (currently 78). Then to implement my janky plan against the U+.

Really, if I get the timing of the scripted attacks down, I think it'll be an easy ultimate (granted, I plan on spending a mythril to get at least 2 SB uses on Garnet, Tyro, and Kimahri).

[Merlin the Tuna]

Got Zidane, Garnet, Kuja, Vivi, and Beatrix north of 50. Hasn't been quite the revelation that last orbfest was for me, since my highest level going in isn't something pathetic like 35, but dang will I take it. Also took a small ~20 stamina detour to farm Garnet's Healer RM (drops only in FF9 dungeons, get it while we've got some cheap ones!) and Relm's +EXP RM (just missing Cid's now) which roughly evens out the diversion. I think I'm standing pat at two stamina refreshes for this event, one via mythril and one via shards courtesy of that super-cheap FF14 Ifrit dungeon.

Really having a heck of a time keeping up with everything though. I only just wrapped up the Antlion fight before the rush started, so I've still got at least 5 Kuja dungeons left before the event wraps. Also haven't tackled any of the Reraise gatekeepers, and I've still got 1 Crushdown and 3 Ultima ones I should be in the ballpark on, and yet here comes the Cait Sith event. The flesh is weak! I'm not burning out, but I can definitely see where it comes from.

Speaking of the Cait Sith event, do we know which dungeons the Cid Missions will be for, or even whether they're dungeons from the event or from the core FF7 realm?

[Antonok]

Speaking of the Cait Sith event, do we know which dungeons the Cid Missions will be for, or even whether they're dungeons from the event or from the core FF7 realm?

From Kongbakpao (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/cait-sith-event/):

Complete the Church in the Slums elite dungeon with Cloud and Aerith in your party.
Complete the Shinra Building elite dungeon with Cloud and Barret in your party.
Complete the Junon elite dungeon with Clud and Yuffie in your party.
Complete the Cargo Ship elite dungeon with Cloud and Tifa in your party.

Going to go ahead and say its the event dungeons as the names are the same.

[SuperPanda]

Poron and Edea have hit 65 and been switched for first stringers Arieth and Rinoa. Beatrix is at 63.

Looking at the next few events:
Cait Sith
XIII Lighting/someone new
Fiagro twins
Braska

Can't say I see any pulls I'm super excited for. Might even skip gem pulls on VII and XIII. XIII is not a very strong realm, but I have a mage staff (Vanille), 2 guns (New years, and Lightning SSB), and a stat-stick spear. Enough for a very solid team. VII I'm doing pretty good on. Will probably still gem pull, but I'm thinking of skipping it.

Not really sure what the next banner I'm really pysched for is (BSB fest or P.Cecil BSB are top contenders cause oh my goodness I want that sword. FFXIV banner 1 also - Thyrus... it tasks me and I shall have it. From RNGs heart I pull at thee. With my last mythril I spit at thee... Oops, sorry, got thinking about the wrong type of whale.

[Antonok]

Steiners finally down. Said screw it and took Cloud instead of Edgar for more damage. Tough ultimate with the only synergy you have is 2 measly accessories, even if he does have a weakness to exploit. Took more s/ls than I would of liked just because he had a very unhealthy obsession for killing Yuffie.

Edit: Only lost 1 medal for damage taken which really surprises me.

[Slayn82]

Not really sure what the next banner I'm really pysched for is (BSB fest or P.Cecil BSB are top contenders cause oh my goodness I want that sword. FFXIV banner 1 also - Thyrus... it tasks me and I shall have it. From RNGs heart I pull at thee. With my last mythril I spit at thee... Oops, sorry, got thinking about the wrong type of whale.

LOL. Good luck, and firm hands to pull hard, matey.

I'm aiming for Braska 2, but I'm not very good on hoarding. While VII has some stuff I want, it will all come back in another banner.

FF XIII, where I don't have much Synergy. Lighting is at 70, and I got the New Year gun, a stat stick 5* fist, and a 4*+ fist, plus one generic armor. Would like to get something, specially for Fang.

FF VI, have lots of 4*++ gear, and Celes SSB. This is a strong banner for me. Would be great to get Edgar Chainsaw, and Sabin SSB is like Beatrix, 8 hits but a physical Blink instead. Setzer offers a 610 ATK/MAG debuff, becoming standard for supports, and the next best thing to Wall. Works for me.

And on the BSB banners, what got my interest is Tyro's BSB, will probably pull on its banner.

[danzibr]

Me, I'm saving it all for BSBfest. Wonder how much mythril we'll get between now and then.

[Antonok]

Hard to say on the mythril. The counter post has it added up to 124 thru July 1st, with another potential 70 depending on events (big bridge, orbrush weekend, bssb event itself).

Plenty to get a couple pulls.

[danzibr]

Hard to say on the mythril. The counter post has it added up to 124 thru July 1st, with another potential 70 depending on events (big bridge, orbrush weekend, bssb event itself).

Plenty to get a couple pulls.
Thanks!

Where's this counter post you speak of? I'm up to about 180, would be delighted to have 350 by the end of BSBfest.

[Antonok]

Thanks!

Where's this counter post you speak of? I'm up to about 180, would be delighted to have 350 by the end of BSBfest.

That post would be here. (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/4gkpt7/mythril_counter_mayjune_edition_counter_mithril/)

[Red Fel]

Alright. Mention has been made of tomorrow night's VII event, so I figure I might as well dive into that. So here it is!

A Night to Remember is the new VII event, which debuts Cait Sith, VII's Bard/Dancer/mascot. (Sorry Red XIII. Just not cute enough.) The event also features Aerith, Barret, Tifa, and Yuffie, MCs for all five (plus Cloud makes six), an MC2 for Yuffie, and a Hero's Soul, Empty MC, and Empty MC2. There's also a 4-star Blonde Wig accessory (+Atk and Sleep resist) and a 5-star Cat's Bell accessory from the Ultimate (+Mind and +HP).

The new character is Cait Sith, a cat/moogle/robot/telepathic traitor thing. It's a hot mess, is what it is. It's also a solid backup, with WHM 4, Summon 4, Bard 5 and Dance 5. Cait Sith uses daggers, rods, staves, and instruments, and hats, light armor, and bracers. At 65, his Atk is 110, low for a melee but high for a caster; his Def is 104, more along the lines of a Support user; his HP is 4290, again more solid than most casters and some Supports. His Mind, the important thing for his buffs and debuffs, is 138, which is incredibly solid for a non-dedicated WHM. Also, he's one of the only characters who can use Multi Break (others being Tyro, Penelo, and Mog) so that's a pretty big mark in his favor.

Banners! Or, rather, banner, since there's only one this time 'round. It features:
Crystal Cross: Yuffie's SSB thrown. Attack and Magic. 3-hit AoE 2x PHY damage, instant-cast, with party Blink.
Wizard Staff: Aerith's SSB rod. Attack, Magic, and Mind. Medica + Reraise.
Yellow M-Phone: Cait Sith's SB instrument. 3-hit AoE that deals 2.37x, 3.16x, or 3.95x Non-Elemental WHT damage, reduces Atk and Mag.
Atomic Scissor: Barret's SB gun-arm. Pure Attack. 3-hit AoE 1.38x Lightning PHY damage, Imperil Lightning.
Platinum Fist: Tifa's SB fist. Pure Attack. 2-hit single-target 2.5x ranged NAT damage, Boostga.
Chocobracelet: Shared-SB bracer. Attack, Magic, Mind, Defense, and Resistance. Regenga.
Fire Fang: Stat-stick dagger. Pure Attack. Item increases fire damage dealt.
First, a note about the Yellow M-Phone. Yeah, it has three different possible multipliers, chosen randomly when you use the ability. So it can deal as much as 11.85x. Note also that despite dealing Non-Elemental damage, it is a WHT ability - meaning that it counts as WHM for medal purposes, and is boosted by Mind instead of Mag.

So, should you pull? Well, this gives Yuffie yet another instant-cast SB. And given her new RM (basically another Thunderstroke), Yuffie is becoming Miss Right Now. So if you want a source of Blink (not Magic Blink, just regular) this is a solid option.

That said, the rest of them? Aerith's is a solid medica, but its secondary effect is something we generally try to avoid. Cait Sith's weapon is a solid stat-stick for anyone using instruments, and his SB is decent, if random. Gun-arms, like hairpins and dolls, are a tragic waste. Tifa's fist is yet another Monk Boostga; solid, but not incredible. And the shared-SB and stat-stick are what you'd expect. Honestly, unless you're desperate for a good instrument, need VII synergy, or just really love one of these characters, I'd skip it.

Moving on, this event features event quests. They've been discussed upthread, but basically, you have to clear certain parts of the event with certain party members. From what I understand, this means "a party that includes" these characters, not "a party consisting solely" of these characters. If you don't want to have to change your party, the five you'll need are Cloud, Aerith, Barret, Yuffie, and Tifa. You won't have a BLM, but I don't think any of those dungeons have a caster-specific target score, so you should be fine.

Bonus battle time!
+: Boss Rush. Two fights, against bosses that were previously +++ and Ultimate, respectively. (Remember that event? Fun.) You'll need a source of Slow. Victory gets you orbs and Yuffie's MC2.
Four Saints: Medals for not being KO'd, and for Slowing any of them. Gorkii is the only one with elements (weak to Wind, null Earth; he's the flying one, what do you expect?) so that's less of an issue. All of them are vulnerable to Poison, Paralyze, Slow, Blind, and Sap; Gorkii is also vulnerable to Stop. Gorkii uses buffs and a single-target proportionate HP attack; Chekov has a Paralyze ability. Aside from that, all attacks are single-target physical. You only need physical mitigation, and Tauntaliate in particular is quite good. Be sure to bring Tempo Flurry. Since they're all susceptible to Paralyze, Quetzalcoatl will trivialize this encounter. Since they're all susceptible to Blind, so will Sephiroth's Shadow Flare and Wakka's Aurochs Reels.
Godo: Daddy's home. Medals for not being KO'd, and for afflicting him with Slow. GoDaddy is susceptible to Poison, Slow, and Sap, and you'll definitely want the added benefit of those damage ticks. He has powerful physical and magical attacks, so control him, mitigate his damage, and burn him down quickly.
++: Rude. Medals for not being KO'd, reducing his Def, and afflicting him with Slow. He comes with guards. He and the guards are all susceptible to Slow, Poison, and Blind; the guards are additionally vulnerable to Silence, Paralyze, Confuse, Stop, and Sleep. The guards use physical attacks and a Blind/Sleep ability, so nuking them with AoEs is a priority. Rude uses a Shell (bring a Dispel if you're going caster-heavy), single-target and AoE magic abilities, and a self-cure. Slow him, mitigate for magic, nuke him down. Victory gets you orbs and a mythril.
+++: Demons Gate. Medals for not being KO'd, reducing his Atk, and killing him before he uses Petrif-Eye. His attacks are primarily physical (but watch out for his Ice AoE). He is susceptible to Slow and Sap, and you'd do well to bring both. He throws out Demon Rush (strong physical AoE) at 75%, 50%, and 25% health, so be sure to heal up before each impact. Mitigate and burn him down fast. Victory gets you orbs, a Rosetta Stone, and an Empty MC2.
Happy materia hunting.

[T.G. Oskar]

The new character is Cait Sith, a cat/moogle/robot/telepathic traitor thing. It's a hot mess, is what it is.

How about drone? It fits the bill...well, if you're in Shadowrun, anyways. Reeve seems a lot like a drone rigger, with Cait Sith being his main drone, though using Shinra's satellite system (and considering he had signal in the Temple of the Ancients, that system is the bomb!) rather than your typical remote control. Assume he's hot-simming at all times, and that he has a control rig cyberware, and you can figure out how he does the Cait Sith thing while still being the mayor of Midgar.


That said, the rest of them? Aerith's is a solid medica, but its secondary effect is something we generally try to avoid. Cait Sith's weapon is a solid stat-stick for anyone using instruments, and his SB is decent, if random. Gun-arms, like hairpins and dolls, are a tragic waste. Tifa's fist is yet another Monk Boostga; solid, but not incredible. And the shared-SB and stat-stick are what you'd expect. Honestly, unless you're desperate for a good instrument, need VII synergy, or just really love one of these characters, I'd skip it.

I...wouldn't discount Barret's Atomic Scissors, if only because they offer Imperil Lightning. Particularly if you have a Desch on your party, or a lot of items that grant boosts to Lightning damage, or RMs that boost vulnerability damage (like Attunement II). The future meta involves that - using Imperil (Element) on a target, then spamming the vulnerability with things that exploit the same vulnerability. With En(Element) already here (again, why I mentioned Desch), you can end up doing a bunch of damage with little effort: Desch's Bolt of the Ancients will deal vulnerability damage, then Desch can take advantage of the boost to Lightning damage to further increase the damage dealt. IIRC, Lightning has the same trait (in case you need someone you might want to use more, unless it's her coat). It also does wonders to increase damage with Swift Bolt. And it's AoE, so it works on solitary bosses and those with flunkies. Sure, it's not 100% vulnerability, but when the enemy gets like 2000 Resistance, any increase to damage is welcome. Plus, it helps Barret on his task as FFVII Supporter/Machinist. And all that as an SB. All I say is, if you do choose to invest on the banner, it's not a complete waste. I'd say Tifa's Boostga is a bit more of a waste, if only because Aerith offers a much better boost on her own, and it's mostly a mild boost to damage.

[tyckspoon]

Dang Kuja has a lot of defense.. Shout, level 80 in-realm beatsticks carrying character relics, still only hitting for 4-5k. Both RW charges and near all my abilities didn't burn much past.. Probably 40%. Gonna have to rejig my abilities if I want to try physical again.. Probably give up the Lure/Reflect strategy for more damage abilities, figure out a way to fit an armor breakdown in there... (give Zidane steal Defense maybe?

RE: Barrett - the ability is fine. It's just hard-locked to a single character, so nobody else can use the weapon even for synergy purposes. And the character it's locked to isn't that useful outside of that one ability.

[Greg_S]

How about drone? It fits the bill...well, if you're in Shadowrun, anyways. Reeve seems a lot like a drone rigger, with Cait Sith being his main drone, though using Shinra's satellite system (and considering he had signal in the Temple of the Ancients, that system is the bomb!) rather than your typical remote control. Assume he's hot-simming at all times, and that he has a control rig cyberware, and you can figure out how he does the Cait Sith thing while still being the mayor of Midgar.

Barret's cybered-up as well, poor Cloud's got a cortex bomb. Shame the Turks are the worst CorpSec around.

The Yellow M-Phone's pretty good too. FB + MBD + its debuff cuts enemy magic down to 54% of its original value. At that debuff level, you're taking damage that's close to walled levels, and adding Celes or PCecil's default SBs will cut that down even further.

[Antonok]

JP is getting a new Overflow SSB in the upcoming FFX event. Tidus will get a single hit Water/NE attack capable of breaking the 9999 damage cap. That event will also launch Yuna's Wedding Dress wardrobe record, but still no Seymour as a playable char.

Also Yuna gets a SSB that increases the party's max HP by 2k (same as one of the 6* WHM abilities)

[danzibr]

JP is getting a new Overflow SSB in the upcoming FFX event. Tidus will get a single hit Water/NE attack capable of breaking the 9999 damage cap. That event will also launch Yuna's Wedding Dress wardrobe record, but still no Seymour as a playable char.

Also Yuna gets a SSB that increases the party's max HP by 2k (same as one of the 6* WHM abilities)
Oooh. Those are nice.

Before long I finally get to try Kuja again. Productive Orbrush: got Edea and Beatrix to 80, Kimahri and Porom to 65. Need 2 more empty MC2's, then my break level cap screen is empty again.

[Antonok]

Huh. JP is also getting a new class type this event. No idea what but they get a 4 and 5* ability. Will update in about 13 hours when it releases as it seems no ones datamined it yet.

[Chen]

Beat Kuja though didn't master it (lost 1 actions 2 damage medals). I see no way around losing the 2 damage which means needing to beat him in ~61 actions (if I recall from the reddit thread). I was probably pretty darn close to that so I could probably go back and master it if I could be bothered too, but it's already another fairly random fight near the end if you get pummeled by multiple AoEs in a row. And it's just major orbs, since you get the crystal for just beating it. I'll probably leave it at that.

Glad Yuffie's MC2 is coming out in the next event. Can have my A team up all at level 80 and get 5 hits out of Thief's revenge without synergy. Would consider doing a pull but saving for the BSB banners seems more logical at the moment, especially since I already need Yuffie's SB gauge for her AoE heal.

[Cozzer]

Aaand FF3 core content is done! I'm finishing the last FF6 Elite right now, and after that FF5 and its stupid "only-white/only-black magic" gimmicks will be my last core milestone!

[danzibr]

Grats on the progress Cozzzer!

Mastered Kuja. By golly, that's the hardest U+ so far. First boss in a looooong time I spent a mythril on. Just 1, for SB purposes, but man. Kimahri was a key player.

[Antonok]

Interesting. The Ult and U+ dropped with the rest of the event. Hmmm

Edit: This is kind of a bummer event. Only 8 Mythril instead of 10.

[danzibr]

Interesting. The Ult and U+ dropped with the rest of the event. Hmmm

Edit: This is kind of a bummer event. Only 8 Mythril instead of 10.
That is interesting.

*Not* looking forward to the U+. VII is my strongest realm, by far, but I don't know if I can beat it.

[Antonok]

That is interesting.

*Not* looking forward to the U+. VII is my strongest realm, by far, but I don't know if I can beat it.

Agreed. Its more a test of hones than anything. All bosses have phys AND magical damage so you need both protecga and shellga, plus power/magic breakdowns.

Without a strong mage I just don't think I can even do it. Not without doubling up lifesiphon on Cloud so FO spam.

Edit: I might not be able to do the U+ but I'll be damed if I'm skipping the Ultimate. I want need those holy orbs!!!!

[Merlin the Tuna]

I imagine they dropped the Ultimate battles right away since there's only the one banner. No need to make a big deal of updating the event as a result

On the FF9 front, I only BARELY squeaked by Garland today. (And mastered him, of course. Seems pretty hard to beat these things without mastering them.) Surprising, too, since I have pretty good synergy, but it turns out Long Range is a real pain. Needed to use a Beatrix RW and get lucky blinking past a bunch of flares, but managed to put him down just as I ran out of literally all of my abilities. Doesn't exactly make me thrilled to attempt Steiner, but man would I love a 5* accessory.

[Antonok]

YAY!!! Finally got anothe google opinion rewards survey which gave me a 100 gem pull on the IX 2nd banner.

Got Beatrix's Ragnarok!!! The thing I really wanted. Now I have 2 magic blinks!

I is happy.

Edit: Which is actually my strongest weapon now. 2 more Att than 1st Fusion.

Edit 2: This is also the damage I've been wanting. With Yuffie's MCII, thats a solid all 80s A team with choice of 2 healers.

[T.G. Oskar]

YAY!!! Finally got anothe google opinion rewards survey which gave me a 100 gem pull on the IX 2nd banner.

Got Beatrix's Ragnarok!!! The thing I really wanted. Now I have 2 magic blinks!

I is happy.

Edit: Which is actually my strongest weapon now. 2 more Att than 1st Fusion.

Edit 2: This is also the damage I've been wanting. With Yuffie's MCII, thats a solid all 80s A team with choice of 2 healers.

Grats on the pull! I'd have loved to get Ragnarok; it would have been exceptional for the Nightmare battle, even if I couldn't use the SSB anyways. Plus, it'd have made Beatrix part of the Benchwarmer team, and made the Garland battle much easier.

Speaking of which - STILL haven't beaten the Zombie Worm. A few changes allowed me to take it to Phase 3 at last (mostly, giving Phantasm to the Keeper, Salve to Beatrix and Flower of Trabia to Yuna; however, the key was the Orbrush leveling since it took everyone but Beatrix to level 70 or higher). I'm still finding problems with the worm's Speed, since Divine Guardian's Haste runs out too fast - even at speed 3, I end up being bombarded. Mitigation is usually no problem, as I can reduce Photon Spray damage to around 300 - 400 damage per hit with Shellga and SG, but speed means I can't use Rosa's Medica fast enough on the actual moment I need it. Having a rough workday meant I couldn't spend more time dealing with the battle.

Thus, just to spend more time, I went and did the Garland battle. Did it on the second official try, using a Celes RW. This did the trick, as Garland's Wave was hitting for pretty high, and Ramza didn't have Dr. Mog's Teachings to release Shout ASAP. Second try was much better, as while I still didn't mitigate his Wave damage enough, my own damage was more consistent. For some reason, when I first used Celes' RW, Terra just wasn't recovering that many uses of Alexander (which she used early on; I only recovered one) and kept filling Magic Breakdown, but after I switched its use to Beatrix, it was filling uses of Saint Cross - that practically sealed the victory.

For the Ultimate Battle against Steiner, I feel I might do a strange set of moves, though I'm pretty sure levels will hurt - Gil using Tauntaliate (of course), Ramza AND Basch for a combo of Shout and Apocalypse Shield (might give Battleforged to Basch to have Apocalypse Shield roughly always on), and most likely Beatrix delivering Protectga/Shellga and/or healing. I would have skipped Gil and went straight with Tauntaliate with Basch, but I need a strong hitter doing Tauntaliate anyways, and Gil's SSB gives Heavy Regen, which is good. I presume Ultimate Shock will hit like a truck, so I might go for a Mighty Guard or Divine Guardian SB. That means I should end up giving an omelet to Kuja in order to use MM/DZ, or just DZ and Shellga to mitigate magic damage later on. Ideally, Physical meta should do the trick, with Gil ideally countering and dealing soft cap damage with both boosts. The trick will be cycling Shout well enough so that it always works with Apoc. Shield, and see what Basch can offer to the battle in the first place.

P.S. I might do a 100-gem pull if I get to buy a card, which I'll use the bulk off to buy Romancing SaGa 2. Not exactly the game I'm looking for (that honor goes to Romancing SaGa 3, which I consider a game way beyond its time), but I happily support the SaGa franchise, and if that means I'll have spare change burning in my (virtual) pocket, might as well use it!

[Slayn82]

Antonok, grats on the Ragnarok. It's very awesome. Magic Blink can mitigate a lot of damage, when it applies, it's on par with a good Medica. To have it on a character with Lifesiphon is nuts. A nice team indeed.

T.G.Oskar, good luck with Steiner. Since you probably are going to use Rosa and her Medica as your Healer in your Team against him, if you run into trouble and take too much damage from a certain attack that ignores defenses, use a ATK/MAG debuff RW instead of Wall.

[SuperPanda]

Sorry, that old post was wrong window.


I've got about 260 mythril burning in my pocket but am at least 4 banners away from anything I think I'll pull on.

Here's hoping Cecil's BSB is still on BSB fest banners - and if the gods are good it will be paired with a wall so I can whale on that banner.

[Antonok]

For the Ultimate Battle against Steiner, I feel I might do a strange set of moves, though I'm pretty sure levels will hurt - Gil using Tauntaliate (of course), Ramza AND Basch for a combo of Shout and Apocalypse Shield (might give Battleforged to Basch to have Apocalypse Shield roughly always on), and most likely Beatrix delivering Protectga/Shellga and/or healing. I would have skipped Gil and went straight with Tauntaliate with Basch, but I need a strong hitter doing Tauntaliate anyways, and Gil's SSB gives Heavy Regen, which is good. I presume Ultimate Shock will hit like a truck, so I might go for a Mighty Guard or Divine Guardian SB. That means I should end up giving an omelet to Kuja in order to use MM/DZ, or just DZ and Shellga to mitigate magic damage later on. Ideally, Physical meta should do the trick, with Gil ideally countering and dealing soft cap damage with both boosts. The trick will be cycling Shout well enough so that it always works with Apoc. Shield, and see what Basch can offer to the battle in the first place.!

For the most part his damage under protectga/breakdowns isn't too bad outside his Ultimate Climhazard which is a magic based ability (read: Magic blink can negate it entirely), he just likes to do a LOT of AoE damage. Tauntalate's really only good for negating his power/armor breaks.

For the new skills that came out in JP: They're Ranger skills. Both water based which I find a bit odd.

[Chen]

Grats on the progress Cozzzer!

Mastered Kuja. By golly, that's the hardest U+ so far. First boss in a looooong time I spent a mythril on. Just 1, for SB purposes, but man. Kimahri was a key player.

For reference on Ultimates you can cheese the SB filling system by making everyone do 1 attack, have your white mage heal against the single target first attack of the boss (with concentration RM) and just flee. It costs 1 stamina so you can fill your gauges without needing to spend mithril. This is even more effective on bosses who buff/debuff as their first action (like Cagnazzo) where you don't need to even heal or bring the concentration RM.

[Starwulf]

Well, I finally got a 5* from a single pull, first one in a very, very long time. While it was on-banner(VII), it was one of the generics, the stat-stick dagger: Fire Fang. Ahh well, gives Wakka something wield I guess :)

[danzibr]

Ooooooh Ragnarok, I'm jealous. And I'm a huge Beatrix fan (both in IX and this). I hope we see it on a BSBfest banner. Currently scheduled not to, but ya never know.

[Friv]

I got Guardian! I got Guardian!

After playing this game for nine months, I have finally successfully pulled a Thrown weapon, and it is a beast. Welcome to the A-Team, Yuffie.

(No, seriously. My entire list of ranged weapons is currently: Evil Lantern (Halloween freebie), Celebration Gun (New Year's Freebie), the Valiant Gun, a not-good 5*+ bow, and now the Guardian.)

[Greg_S]

The boss rush has a nasty trick up its sleeve for the unsuspecting mage. Gorkii (the flying thing) always uses AoE reflect turn 1. Did you know that both Memento Mori and Dark Zone can be reflected? I didn't, until Vincent nuked me.

Additionally, for multi-hit attacks like Dark Zone, magic blink will protect against a single hit, not the whole action itself. The game's inconsistent with how it treats hits vs. actions, so I found that part interesting.

[danzibr]

I got Guardian! I got Guardian!

After playing this game for nine months, I have finally successfully pulled a Thrown weapon, and it is a beast. Welcome to the A-Team, Yuffie.

(No, seriously. My entire list of ranged weapons is currently: Evil Lantern (Halloween freebie), Celebration Gun (New Year's Freebie), the Valiant Gun, a not-good 5*+ bow, and now the Guardian.)
Grats! I'm jelly. Yuffie's on my A team, but I only have her headband. Granted that's a solid Medica, but instant AoE would be mighty nice.

The boss rush has a nasty trick up its sleeve for the unsuspecting mage. Gorkii (the flying thing) always uses AoE reflect turn 1. Did you know that both Memento Mori and Dark Zone can be reflected? I didn't, until Vincent nuked me.

Additionally, for multi-hit attacks like Dark Zone, magic blink will protect against a single hit, not the whole action itself. The game's inconsistent with how it treats hits vs. actions, so I found that part interesting.
Good info, good info. I was just about to assemble my party for the boss rush. Thanks!

[Antonok]

Here we go again. Another s/l fest ultimate because the AI wants to focus one character before I can get any mitigation up.

Edit: I hate this boss. I really really hate this boss. In any incarnation in any game, I absolutely detest this bastard.

Edit 2: Take Multibreak for the Ultimate. Trust me, just do it.

[Greg_S]

Here we go again. Another s/l fest ultimate because the AI wants to focus one character before I can get any mitigation up.

Edit: I hate this boss. I really really hate this boss. In any incarnation in any game, I absolutely detest this bastard.

Edit 2: Take Multibreak for the Ultimate. Trust me, just do it.

I was going to ask- Multibreak doesn't activate the arm grab counters, does it? Debating whether or not to bring two dancers, though I don't know if I'd have enough offense then.

[Antonok]

I was going to ask- Multibreak doesn't activate the arm grab counters, does it? Debating whether or not to bring two dancers, though I don't know if I'd have enough offense then.

No its only when you damage the body and dances don't do damage. The problem is trying to get some form of break on the body without triggering it, and after 10 s/ls I backed out to redo my party cause the arms are hitting for 2500 a hit with the lazer hitting about 2k. Just too many to try and seperately break

Edit: Man I'm going to have to bring power breakdown just for the friggin arms. Would try a retaliate strat but that'd leave me with almost no damage.

[Red Fel]

Well, Demons Wall is down. And since DeNA saw fit to grace us with the U and U+ upfront, looks like I have more work to do. So, those of you who haven't taken a bite out of U yet, let's get into it.

Before I that, a thought. Since I got Black Materia, Sephiroth has become part of my A-team. And I can't help but think that he's the type of person whose idea of problem-solving begins and ends with "I'm gonna drop a meteor on it." Giant monster? Drop a meteor on it. Possessed wall? Drop a meteor on it. Line at the DMV? Drop a meteor on it.

I'm just picturing him saying that, in a calm, blase sort of way, and it gives me a chuckle. Moving on!

Ultimate: Carry Armor. Medals for KOing the body last, reducing the body's MAG, and exploiting the body's Lightning weakness. There are no "Don't get KO'd" medals other than the basic ones, so feel free to let somebody die. Not everyone, but one or two people, if you need to. This is the fight you've seen before, but meaner: the body uses exclusively AoE magic, and the arms either deal physical damage or grab somebody dumb enough to attack the body. The arms have to die first. As others have mentioned, non-damaging attacks can be used freely against the body - the arms only counter damaging attacks. This means that a dance, like Multi Break or Heathen Frolic Sarabande, can safely be used. Victory gets you orbs, a crystal, and the 5-star accessory Cat's Bell.

U+: Arena. Medals for reducing Yin Yang's Mag, Kimaira's Atk, and Proudclad's Atk. It's three waves of bosses. First, a pair of Yin Yangs who use physical and magical AoEs; next, a Kimaira with a physical AoE and a single-target magic attack; last, Proudclad and Jamar Armor, with plenty of everything. It's a battle that tests two things - your ability to soak abuse, and your hones. You need to be able to survive tons of punishment, because there will be tons, and you need to have lots of uses of abilities, or else you will run out. Victory gets you orbs and a crystal.

Personally, I think I'll pass on the U+.

[Friv]

The latest incarnation of "WTF FFRK": Carry Armor.

Before I could get my mitigation up, it hit me with a Lapis Laser, dealing ~2000 damage to each person. Then I got up Multi-Break, Protectga, and Divine Favour (+50% Resistance), and then it hit me with a Lapis Laser for... ~2000 damage to each person.

Does the laser just totally ignore all forms of mitigation?

[Chen]

The latest incarnation of "WTF FFRK": Carry Armor.

Before I could get my mitigation up, it hit me with a Lapis Laser, dealing ~2000 damage to each person. Then I got up Multi-Break, Protectga, and Divine Favour (+50% Resistance), and then it hit me with a Lapis Laser for... ~2000 damage to each person.

Does the laser just totally ignore all forms of mitigation?

From the Reddit enemy AI thread: First two rounds Lapis laser is a Nat 150% non-elemental magic damage AoE. Round 3 unlocks the Nat 330% non-elmental magic damage AoE version (same name). So first two rounds is the low damage one. Third round onwards its 3% chance low damage and 97% chance high damage. st.

[Hunter Noventa]

Well I absolutely annihilated the Demon Wall, it was actually a little sad between Shout, Slowga, Power Breakdown, Box Step Sarbande and Shadowsteel.

But given the horror stories here I'm not going to touch the Ultimates.

[Greg_S]

Carry armor activates the grab as a reaction to damage- this means that the usual bypasses of ninja skills, summons, RWs, and SSBs don't work. Current plan:

Cloud: Lifesiphon + Thundaga Strike + Blade Beam
Keeper: Memento Mori + Dark Zone + Wall for arm nuking
Shadow: Lifesiphon + Dismissal (?) + Shadow Fang
Yuna: Curaja + Shellga for not dying
Cait: Break Dance + MBD dance plus a shared protectga relic

Shout comes as RW. Hit the arms hard with Lifesiphon + DZ, then Cloud SSBs at the first opportunity. That should activate 2 arms. Hopefully Shadow's not grabbed, because then shadow fang should cause one to drop its holder, and DZ should do it to the other one as well.

Wall, Shellga, and double breaks should keep lapis laser livable.

The U+ might end up as a 2-WM battle, I don't know. Fitting protectga and shellga onto a team without hurting offense is always a problem for me.

Edit: Cait Sith's RM changes your attack into "sonic" damage. I'm guessing that's a typo and they meant magic?

[Antonok]

Carry armor activates the grab as a reaction to damage- this means that the usual bypasses of ninja skills, summons, RWs, and SSBs don't work. Current plan:

Cloud: Lifesiphon + Thundaga Strike + Blade Beam
Keeper: Memento Mori + Dark Zone + Wall for arm nuking
Shadow: Lifesiphon + Dismissal (?) + Shadow Fang
Yuna: Curaja + Shellga for not dying
Cait: Break Dance + MBD dance plus a shared protectga relic

Shout comes as RW. Hit the arms hard with Lifesiphon + DZ, then Cloud SSBs at the first opportunity. That should activate 2 arms. Hopefully Shadow's not grabbed, because then shadow fang should cause one to drop its holder, and DZ should do it to the other one as well.

Wall, Shellga, and double breaks should keep lapis laser livable.

The U+ might end up as a 2-WM battle, I don't know. Fitting protectga and shellga onto a team without hurting offense is always a problem for me.

SSBs generally DON'T trigger counter effects. Atleast he never countered me using Fenrir Overdrive

[Red Fel]

And Carry Armor will carry on no more! Mastered with only one medal lost to actions taken. Here's how I did it:
Sephiroth: Armor Break, Lifesiphon; Heroic Stance.
Yuffie: Tempo Flurry, Thief's Revenge; Adventurer's Dagger.
Cloud: Thundaga Strike, Drain Strike; Pride of the Red Wings.
Wakka: Magic Breakdown, Full Break; Mako Might.
Y'shtola: Curaja, Shellga; Dr. Mog's Teachings.
RW: Ramza (Shout).
Here's what I figured - I'm going to attack the arms anyway. If my party gets grabbed, I'll just attack the one doing the grabbing, but I will put my Breakdowns on the body. Funny thing happened - the Arm Grab counter is a chance to counter, not a guaranteed counter. I was able to use Magic Breakdown, Full Break, and Aurochs Reels - all hitting the body - without getting an Arm Grab. (At first. I got grabbed later.)

It was dicey at first. SSII was the first line of mitigation, and that takes awhile to cast - the first Lapis hurt and stung. I had to S/L when two hits were able to KO Y'shtola. But on restart, I was lucky enough to have her first in line. Once SSII went up, Shellga was going up. One precaution I took - nobody targeted the body before SSII was up. (My first try, an unlucky Arm Grab hit Y'shtola while she was prepping SSII. Things declined quickly after that.)

Once mitigation was up, it was pretty straightforward. With MBd, FB, Shellga and SSII, Lapis was barely tickling. Cloud's job in the first round was to prep Shout ASAP. If things got bad, Yuffie's Clear Tranquil charged quickly; otherwise, Tempo Flurry for damage, Thief's Revenge after a Lapis. Sephiroth was prepping Black Materia, which did a solid job, and alternated Armor Break and Lifesiphon. Cloud was able to keep upright thanks to Drain Strike, and saved his Thundaga Strikes for the final round. Basically, everyone hit hard, the arms went down quickly, anybody who got grabbed didn't stay grabbed for more than a second or two, and then the body was toasted.

Victory is mine, and I have no desire to pursue the U+, so I'mma call it here. Maybe do some dailies, or work on the last few elites.

Side note, some of you are probably considering crafting Ultima. You may well be getting close. (If you're where I am, you need 2 BC and 1 NC.) The word on Reddit is: Don't. Ultima is just a (much, much) stronger Meteor, which is in turn just a stronger Ruinga. The real excitement is for Meltdown, an upcoming 6-star BLM that deals 3 hits of single-target Fire/Wind/Earth magic. You read that right - single-target Earth magic, and also the first ability that lets BLMs deal Wind damage. People are understandably excited about this, so you might consider saving your BCs for it.

[danzibr]

Whelp, mastered the U. Easiest ultimate in a while. I feel good about the U+. Probably try it in the next few days.

[Antonok]

Ultimate mastered. 2 Medals lost to damage.

Party was:

Wakka: Magic Breakdown/Armor Breakdown RM: Legendary Shot
Cloud: Lifesiphon/Thundara Strike RM: One-Eyed General
Arc: Thundaga/Protecga RM: Mako Might
Beatrix: Banishing Strike/Saints Cross RM: Dr Mogs
Penelo: Curaja/Multi Break RM: White Magic Adept

RW: Shout

Basically the challenge was 2 fold. Getting mitigation up before a 2 phys + Lapis combo killed someone, and getting breakdowns up before someone got grabbed by an arm.

Went smoothly up until the second arm died. ******* got in 1 more Lapis RIGHT before (seriously, her bar was full red) War Dance went off so Beatrix died. Got Magic breakdown, multi break, and Healing rains up before someone died. Armor Breakdown, Shout, Seiken Shock and arm for huge damage (4k a hit, 8 hits not including crits. Loving the damage of her SSB). then lifesiphon/banishing strike the first arm down. Second arm got a fenrir overdrive/saints cross'd to death. Rest was easy once the arms fell.

So with that dead, I need 9 more MHOs to hone Saints Cross to R2.

[Simkin]

Done through the ++ so far. Out of stamina for a bit before I continue on.

In other news I decided to do an 11-pull and nabbed 2 5*s:
- Tifa's Platinum Fist (yay I suppose), and
- Yuffie's Crystal Cross SBB! Very pleased with this. Have her Wutai Headband too so she's turning into a very solid option for me.

[Greg_S]

I'm with Danzibr- easy ult this time. Finished with 10 secs left on the doom timer.
Cait's dances and wall made Lapis plink for about 500 damage, and let me nuke the arms easily.

Going to give the U+ rush a go as well, nothing looks that painful in it, just a ton of HP involved.

[Antonok]

So the FF Portal App promotion we're getting? They're doing another one for June. Another chance at 10 Mythril and 6 Major eggs.

[T.G. Oskar]

T.G.Oskar, good luck with Steiner. Since you probably are going to use Rosa and her Medica as your Healer in your Team against him, if you run into trouble and take too much damage from a certain attack that ignores defenses, use a ATK/MAG debuff RW instead of Wall.

I have Full Break and Armor Breakdown on Ramza, Magic Break on Basch. My RW is devoted to deal Dark damage.


For the most part his damage under protectga/breakdowns isn't too bad outside his Ultimate Climhazard which is a magic based ability (read: Magic blink can negate it entirely), he just likes to do a LOT of AoE damage. Tauntalate's really only good for negating his power/armor breaks.

Yeah, I noticed.

Fought him earlier on to gauge his power, and...well, with Protectga, he's dealing around 1.1k damage on AoE, which is frankly annoying. I used Dr. Mog's Teachings on Ramza, but I think Basch is the one that has to equip it, as I probably need the buff to Defense more than I need the boost to Attack. Ideally, I should have Basch do Apocalypse Shield ASAP while Ramza starts the debuffs instead of the other way around (Basch dealing damage while Ramza does Shout). With Protectga and Apocalypse Shield in play, I should mitigate its damage enough to survive until Rosa can use her Medica or Gil can use his SSB and work Heavy Regen. From there, Ramza can do Shout and hopefully chain it with AS's bonus for maximum damage output. Beatrix has the Double Hit RM and Basch has Double Cut, so I can do Reta Meta reliably.

Against the Zombie Worm...haven't had much luck. Divine Guardian just doesn't last as much as I'd want to - the Haste or the RES buff go down at the worst possible moment, so I need to gauge the right moment when to use the buff. Did some reshuffling so that Rosa ended up with Diara R3 while the Keeper ended up with Diaga R4. The one time I got again to Phase 3, the Keeper was down (because of Explosion) and revived by Rosa's Medica, and from there it was a struggle mostly to keep up. Think I went through the third Guado Guardian before I got creamed by the normal Poison Breath; thing was, the Keeper got down, and I had used DG already by Phase 2 so the lack of Haste really did the number. For all Banishing Strike can help me against the Guado Guardian and the Altana Lenses (I can take half the HP off the first, the other takes 2.3k but it's enough to weather it down), I think either Beatrix has to use Dispel instead (with enough hones to get a few for Phase 3, right after the GG uses Haste), or scrap Beatrix and use Selphie instead; she's level 65, so she's not that far level-wise from my other WHMs and has another Medica.

[Cozzer]

Defeated Ultimate Carry Armor! Tough but fair fight, I'd say (assuming you have standard Ultimate equipment, at least). I don't think I'll try the Ultimate+, though, since hones and offensive SBs are sort of my weak point. :/

[T.G. Oskar]

To my fortune, I don't have to work today, because I had to delay sleep a bit...but it was worth it.

The putrid Zombie Worm is now once again worm fodder. GOOD. FRELLIN'. RIDDANCE.

Will post the winning team; storytime will come later. Someone has to break Princess Lenna, aka "Give it up, we can't do it!", that she actually could do it, while she was the leader.

Selphie, lv. 65; White Staff, Witch's Hat, Ring of Renewal; Dispel R4, Diara R3; Attunement II
Rosa, lv. 65; Elven Bow, Magician Robe, Sand Pearl; Curaga R5, Shellga R2; Oath of Tycoon
Keeper, lv. 70; Morning Star 6*, Dark Gloves, Rune Armlet; Swift Bolt R2, Diaga R4; Dr. Mog's Teachings
Lenna, lv. 70; Magistral Rod, Viking Coat, Yuna's Obi; Poisona R5, Esuna R4; Salve
Yuna, lv. 70; Healing Staff (FFV), Dragon Armlet, Dr. Cid's Glasses; Curaise R3, Protectga R2; Flower of Trabia
RW: Divine Guardian

I know I said something about the Lucky Draw where I got one of Mama's Boy's Oversized Katanas, and the two Morning Stars, right? Consider my words properly swallowed - switching Selphie for Beatrix was actually a winning move...after some S/Ls, of course.

Phase 1, set up mitigation and dealt as much damage as possible while Lenna was on standby for when the worm used Poison on itself. Second turn was spent unloading Diaras and Diagas; Selphie stopped using Diara after 2 uses, to save for the latter parts. Lenna used Divine Guardian when the worm was around 30% of its HP, which helped as EA used Photon Spray a few times. Phase 1 ended with Rosa setting up her Medica, and both Selphie and Lenna on standby.

Phase 2, Lenna used Esuna ASAP, Selphie used Dispel, and the Keeper refreshed SG. Rosa's Medica got in right on time, nearly topping everyone. Keeper used Swift Bolt, while Yuna unloaded The Sending; Lenna was on Esuna standby duty once again, while Rosa used Curaga on the worm and refreshed Shellga. A combo Swift Bolt/Sending nuked all lenses at once, which meant I could shift to beating the worm again. Once again, before the Phase ended, Rosa unleashed the Medica (because I needed it). Worm went boom, phase ended but not before DG was refreshed.

Phase 3, the GG used Bio on the worm, and Rosa's Medica fired off once again. Refreshed mitigations and went all out. This is when Selphie redeemed herself; between tactically using Dispel whenever the worm got Haste or Shell, and using her own Medica when Rosa's one wasn't ready, I mustered most of the attacks. Keeper was unleashing Diagas like a madman, while Yuna switched to use Curaise offensively. The last legs had the worm poisoning itself, but the Keeper did the final blow and killed it before it could use the Breath.

So, all in all, this was actually a lucky run. No Sweeping Scythe used before anyone could act, no poisoning itself conveniently when the turn cycle was about 4 steps away from Lenna (because I wanted to keep on the offensive, or heal; the darn worm once actually used NPB right after three moves from my people, just moments before Lenna cound unpoison it!), no waiting until Rosa's bar filled up and then conveniently using Sweeping Scythe/Poison Breath to kill her... That last run was actually done with perfect precision.

Three Nightmare bosses down, nine more to go. Now, to get ready for the Summoning battle - fortunately, Terra is once again available, and so does Krile, Yuna and...who knows, potentially even Garnet? And the Keeper, of course.

-- Royal Academy, Hall of Portals --

Lenna: *sigh* It's hopeless. That...fiend...is just too powerful. We can't defeat it.
Rosa: We cannot give up! We are very close to victory!
Yuna: Besides; when miss Terra has ever given up? Even that fool of Gilgamesh pushed through the Demon Wall!
Beatrix: I am witness to it! With my magic and my sword, we vanquished it! This unliving worm is no different; only a bit more complex.
Lenna: Easy for you to say! Our firepower can't handle that kind of magic! If only we could...
Tyro: We're doing all we can! All we have to do is not give up!
Lenna: Easy for you to say. I wish I could help...but no one is fast enough to deal with the fallen wyrm's poisonous breath on time. And the lenses...
Rosa: That is a very important task--
Lenna: AND DON'T YOU START ON IT, MS. "ELVEN BOW"!! You darned lucky...
Beatrix: I wield none of your potent relics, and I need none of them. My skill and my sword are enough.
Lenna: Right; said by someone who just happens to do even less than I do!
Yuna: Your Highness, you're taking it--
Lenna: And why can't your Sending exorcise that beast!
Yuna: I try! It's too powerful a fiend! It's not that easy to send it to the Farplane!
Lenna: Exactly! Useless!
Tyro: Um...why are you lashing at us? It feels you're more disappointed at yourself than at us...
Lenna: Of course not! I'm disappointed at all of you! If we were stronger...if we were more powerful...we could annihilate that fiend! We're the most powerful White Mages around! Except you, master Tyro - you're still a fledging scholar. And lady Beatrix, who swore the oath of Paladinhood.
Beatrix: Indeed - an oath to prove myself against all comers, against all threats and challenges! To never give up against adversity! And this, is but one adversity I refuse to give up!
Lenna: ...The point is, it's too strong. I'm tired, and I think we should be wise and call it a bust.
????: Party pooper.
Lenna: Who says that?
????: One very powerful White Mage that's always left aside. Who got the first Medica for the Academy long before her Highness lady Rosa. And I don't complain about not being part of the team.
Everyone but Lenna: Selphie!
Selphie: Yup! Selphie Tilmitt, at your service!
Lenna: Uh, Selphie, it's kind of you to cheer us up, but pep talk won't do enough.
Selphie: Oh, but I'm not here to cheer you up! Well...not just to cheer you up.
Lenna: Um...come again?
Selphie: Expedition Commander's orders. You see...he personally, and grinding his teeth in disgust, asked me to replace one of the members of your team.
Lenna: You're...serious? He must be a madman...but, it might make some sense. Master Tyro, I thank you for your service, but--
Selphie: He also explicitly told me to tell you the Keeper MUST be part of your party. Something about the new book he got and how it's absolutely necessary to keep up.
Lenna: Well...then...queen Rosa, your service has been most kind, but I believe--
Beatrix: How dare you, your Highness, to remove someone of royal blood who has provided great support to the party!? That is an outrage!
Lenna: Lady Beatrix, this is the reason - it's either her, or summoner Yuna--
Yuna: And you need my rite of Exorcism for when the Lens kick in.
Lenna: Or you. Being Special Expedition Leader, I cannot be out of the party.
Tyro: That also means we would have three Medicas: Selphie's, lady Rosa's, my Healing Grimoire and my Celebration Grimoire.
Lenna: Not to mention, you've also been a key collaborator on a Nightmare battle already.
Beatrix: ...Curses, foiled by sense! I won't take this lightly, however! Miss Selphie, I place upon you the responsibility to earn a victory for our team! Meanwhile...I'll speak my heart to that chauvinist pig...
Tyro: Erm...in the words of master Gilgamesh: how in the many realms do you know about Chauvin, and how he was offensive to women?
Beatrix: ...I heard the word, and the meaning fits, and I don't have to explain it anymore! Master Tyro, I let you aside because you're a child, but I hope that this almost all-women team scores a victory in the name of all woman-hood!
*Beatrix leaves*
Selphie: Hmm...she's taking it nicer than I'd thought.
Lenna: Great, now to reshuffle our entire strategy... Miss Selphie, your task will be to dispel protective magics and shield us with Protectga--
Selphie: Boooring! Why not be more daring!
Lenna: The Expedition Commander may have placed you here, begrudgingly if I may add, but I'm the one doing all the strategy. So, lady Rosa--
Selphie: Hear me out!
Lenna: Alright. Let's see how you do strategy.
Selphie: 'K! So, I get to use one of those Diara spells, while lady Rosa gets saddled with protecting us with spells...and healing, so lady Yuna doubles down on healing and protection. You stay on standby doing your stuff, and master Tyro gets to bombard the Zombie Worm with spells, and using his new book-spell to protect us as well!
Lenna: (Hmm, that would minimize Rosa's participation as well...) Very well...I'll let you do that. So, you can take your Morning Star--
Selphie: But wait! There's more! We also sorta reshuffle our weapons! Master Tyro gets to use my super-special flail, you get to use Yuna's staff, she gets to use your own staff--
Lenna: Not my Healing Rod!
Selphie: Hush! I haven't finished! Anyways, lady Rosa keeps her bow, and I just get to use...
*draws White Staff*
Selphie: ...this nifty new staff.
Lenna: No! The bane of my worthiness!
Selphie: Well, that's in case we don't get to use your own. Double down on stuff, right? Your staff provides a boost to Holy magic...which is great when she uses her ritual of Sending, and since I know that she's using my super-special technique...
Lenna: (Damn, that's solid!) So, how about our Record Materias?
Selphie: Oh, that's also a point we can reshuffle! You see, Rosa gets to hold the Materia where you swore an oath to your country to recover it; lady Yuna holds the Materia evoking the flowers of my homeland, I get master Tyro's Materia that improves damage from elemental weaknesses...and you can use ser Ramza's Materia that removes status effects!
Lenna: Um...forgive my ignorance, but...that's a very solid strategy! How did you figure it out?
Selphie: Straight A's in the Military Logistics class! Always been a buff of strategy, ya know. Squall's a warrior at heart, an' the only one who can match my skills is Quisty anyways. I'm not just a flighty cheerleader, ya see...
Lenna: I'll...take that into consideration. Very well...we'll do it ONE MORE TIME. But, if we fail, and we WILL fail because that worm is too powerful for us, we won't fight it ever again. Deal?
Selphie: Deal.! But I'm gonna show ya that we can do it!
Lenna: Then...let us give it our all! We'll show that putrid, squirming, no-good gas-bloated farty worm what White Mages are made of!
Selphie: That's the spirit! Though...there's one word out of those that I don't like.
Lenna: Let me this one at least.

-- The Nightmare White Magic Dungeon --

Yuna: The Via Purifico...brings back memories...
Lenna: How did we end up fighting a zombie worm?
Yuna: Evrae was actually a sacred guardian of Bevelle. We had to defeat it...well, it was actually Tidus and my other guardians who defeated it. However, as we crossed the Via Purifico, the spirit of the guardian, restless, appeared against us again, as the Evrae Altana. For some reason, whatever is creating these dungeons has empowered it to fight against us.
Tyro: Yeah, that's...something I've been wondering. Who's been shattering the Records, anyways? I'm no closer to fulfilling my goal than I was a year ago!
Lenna: Hush! Sometimes, just beating these creatures senselessly is fun!
Yuna: Master Tyro has a point, though.
Rosa: I'm just happy to be of assistance. Without me along, who will heal you if you're hurt?
Yuna: I can!
Lenna: Actually, we all can...we're White Mages, you know.
Selphie: True, but someone has to be the main healer. That's our job, you know.
Lenna: (Subtle...) Alright. Lady Rosa, you shall heal. The rest, bombard that creature with all your might!
Yuna: Speaking of that creature...it's here!
*Evrae Altana appears*
Lenna: Its stench... It's overpowering...
*EA casts Nightmare Reraise*
Selphie: Um...what's that?
Lenna: The reason why we can't kill it. Once we do, it comes back.
Selphie: Well, we just have to show it who's the boss! Everyone, get ready!
Tyro: Right! Lemme just memorize the incantation in the grimoire!
Yuna: O shielding light! Ward us all from all wounds! Protectga!
*Yuna casts Protectga*
Tyro: I have it!
*EA uses Swooping Scythe*
Everyone: GYAAH!
Tyro: Sorry I'm late! Ahem; "O Mighty Aegis; shield of the Gods, protector of their Champion! I drain thy essence from thee to shield us from all harm! Grand Aegis!"
*Tyro uses Sentinel Grimoire*
Lenna: I thought he had it memorized.
Yuna: Well, it's a spell like those we cast, except it's a very ancient incantation...
Rosa: O warding light! Shield us from foul magics! Shellga!
*Rosa casts Shellga*
Selphie: My turn! Diara!
*Selphie casts Diara without the need of verbal components*
Lenna: Hey! Where's the needlessly lengthy incantation for the spell? Even master Tyro had to be really, really wordy!
Selphie: Oh, it's just Para-Magic! It's a pretty cool magic theory - we just draw the spells we need, fire and forget! You need to junction a Guardian Force for--
*EA uses Sweeping Scythe again*
Everyone: YEESH!
Lenna: Save the explanation for later! Everyone, beat it to a crisp!
Yuna: Take...this!
*Yuna shoots a small sphere of light*
Tyro: O punishing light! Purify the wicked with holy power! Diaga!
*Tyro uses Diaga*
Rosa: O soothing winds! Seal the worst of wounds with life energy! Curaga!
*Rosa uses Curaga*
Lenna: ...And once again, I can't do much...
Selphie: Don't worry! When you're on the benches for so long, you get very creative!
Lenna: That's recomforting...
*EA poisons itself*
Lenna: That's my call! Everyone, hit it as hard as you can! O purging light! Clean the body of foul and corrupting venoms! Poisona!
*Lenna casts Poisona on EA*
*EA stops preparing Nightmare Poison Breath*
*Tyro casts Diaga*
*Selphie casts Diara*
*Yuna shoots a sphere of light*
Lenna: Keep on the offensive!
Rosa: It seems...weakened... Let me aid!
Lenna: Save your spells in case we get hurt!
Rosa: I have more than enough! O soothing light! Purge the dead flesh and breathe new life! Curaga!
*Rosa uses Curaga on EA*
Lenna: Hope this doesn't get to bite us in our behinds later on!
Selphie: The classic "use healing magic on the Undead" trick... Always works! Except when it doesn't.
Lenna: Mind if you stop your cheap philosophizing and focus on your timing?
Selphie: Actually...this is a good time to call our Roaming Warrior! Lenna, you ready?
Lenna: Alright! Wait...why? If the worm poisons itself again...
Selphie: Better now than never!
*EA uses Photon Spray*
Yuna: OW!
Selphie: Ouchie!
Rosa: Eep!
Tyro: Oof!
Yuna: OWW!
Rosa: Yikes!
Selphie: Double ouchie!
Rosa: Nyaah!
Yuna: OWWW!
Rosa: Cut it out!
Lenna: Sucks to be you! Time to draw our trump card!
Alt!Garnet: O Mighty Alexander, protector of my homeland! Shield us with your divine wings! Divine Guardian!
*Alt!Garnet uses Divine Guardian*
Lenna: Hope it doesn't get to bite us later on.
Selphie: You said that already.
*Tyro uses Diaga*
*Yuna starts dancing*
Lenna: Ugh... Yuna, don't try to send it right now!
*Rosa uses Curaga on EA*
Lenna: No! No! We're gonna be beaten silly!
*EA dies*
Lenna: Uh...hey, it worked...
Selphie: Take one for Team White Mage! Booyaka!
*EA reawakens*
Lenna: Celebrating too early, darling? This is what we dread the most. Ready for Round Two, girls! And kid!
Tyro: I know what I must do!
*Tyro uses SG*
*EA funnels power into first Lens*
Yuna: Foul fiend! Go back from whence you came!
*Yuna does The Sending*
Lenna: Alright, Selphie - you see the second Lens? When it starts to shine--
Selphie: Dispel!
*2nd Altana Lens loses its luster*
Lenna: ...I give up.
Selphie: No way! It's your turn, Lenna! Go for it!
Lenna: Alright, but... Anyways... O purifying light, cleanse the body of all foul curses! Esuna!
*Lenna uses Esuna on 1st Altana Lens*
*1st Altana Lens loses its luster*
*EA uses Photon Spray*
Yuna: Oof!
Lenna: Yeesh!
Selphie: Ouchie!
Rosa: Gaah!
Yuna: Gggrh!
Tyro: Aaah!
Yuna: Kyaah!
Lenna: Watch it!
Yuna: OWW! *hits again* Stop it!
Selphie: I don't like that attack.
*EA focuses its power into the second Lens*
Lenna: Get used to it. It's the ONLY thing it's gonna use now.
Selphie: What's the purpose of those lenses, anyways?
Tyro: Raiton! Ikazuchi!
*Tyro uses Swift Bolt*
Lenna: That'll have to wait!
*Lenna casts Esuna on 3rd Lens*
*3rd Altana Lens loses its luster*
Selphie: Right!
*Yuna shoots a sphere of light*
Lenna: It's pretty simple. Each lens amplifies the power of the wyrm's breath weapon.
*Rosa casts Shellga*
Selphie: Amplify?
*Tyro casts Swift Bolt*
Lenna: From what I heard on the dossier...
*EA uses Photon Spray*
Everyone: Oof! Pow! Zort! Kyaah! Oomph! Eep! Nyaah! My spleen! Stop it! I'm not your plaything, you damned worm!
*Yuna uses The Sending*
Lenna: Ow... As...as I was saying, the Lenses...
*EA focuses power into the third lens*
*1st Altana Lens regains its luster*
Lenna: ...amplify the power of that attack. They either enchant it with a status effect, or make it more powerful. Speaking of status effects...
*Lenna casts Esuna*
Selphie: So, you use Esuna to remove the status enchantment, and I use Dispel to...?
*Tyro casts Swift Bolt*
Lenna: Deactivate the one that makes the attack more powerful.
*Rosa casts Curaga*
Selphie: Oh, so I remove the buff placed on it?
Lenna: Pretty much.
*Yuna shoots a sphere of light on EA*
*EA uses Photon Spray*
Everyone: Pow! Bif! Yipes! Gungh! Hnngh! Running! Out! Of! Funny! Sounds!
Selphie: Lucky it's just like getting hit with Nerf balls...
Lenna: Fortunately, once they're broken...
*Tyro casts Swift Bolt*
*All lenses break!*
Lenna: We don't need to use spells on them anymore.
Selphie: Excellent!
*Selphie casts Diara*
Selphie: Umm...just how much the boon from the Roaming Warrior lasts?
Lenna: Wow, I...
*Tyro casts Diaga*
Lenna: ...I have no idea.
*Magic-dampening buff goes down*
*Haste goes down*
*Yuna shoots sphere of light*
Lenna: I guess...now?
Selphie: Well...at least the worm is defense--
*EA uses Photon Spray*
Selphie: Aww, come on! Ouchie! That's cheating!
Lenna: Oof! Talked-- Gaah! Too fast!
Rosa: Unngh! That's it! I must heal all of you!
Selphie: I can do it if you want...
Rosa: No! Keep your offensive at the worm! Allow me to deal with it!
Lenna: Then that leaves me only with one choice...
*Lenna calls Alt!Garnet*
Alt!Garnet: Again? Just remember, this is my last call!
*Alt!Garnet uses Divine Guardian*
*Selphie uses Diara*
*Tyro uses Diaga*
Lenna: Hope Rosa's effort doesn't get wasted... (Wait, why I'm saying that!?)
*EA explodes on its death throes!*
Everyone: Aaaaiiiiiieeeee!
*EA dies...again*
Selphie: That was the biggest ouchie! That worm's a foul player!
*EA rises again*
Selphie: Aww, come on!
Lenna: Wait...I have a plan...
*EA starts casting Nightmare Reraise*
Lenna: Selphie! Let us combine our spells!
Selphie: Uh...how!
Lenna: Try to counter the spell as soon as it's cast! I'll try to do the same from my side!
Selphie: Uh...sure?
*Selphie counterspells Nightmare Reraise with Dispel*
*Lenna counterspells Nightmare Reraise with Esuna*
Everyone but Rosa: ...
*Nightmare Reraise fails*
Lenna: That's it! This is the last round!
*EA summons a Guado Guardian*
Lenna: OH HEAVENS NO! I won't stand idly by this! THIS WORM DIES NOW!
Rosa: Heavens above! It is I, your faithful servant! Shower us with healing light!
*Rosa uses Divine Prayer*
Yuna: I feel rejuvenated! I'll send those creeps to the Farplane ASAP!
*Yuna uses The Sending*
Tyro: This is the last leg! Everyone, give it your all!
*Tyro refreshes SG*
*Guado Guardian uses Bio*
Lenna: Not on my watch!
*Lenna dispels Bio with Poisona*
*EA uses Sweeping Scythe*
Everyone: Aww, COME ON!
Selphie: This big fat worm is just a big creepy cheater! I won't stand by it!
*Selphie uses Diara*
Rosa: Neither will I!
*Rosa uses Curaga on EA*
Yuna: It seems my Sending didn't work! I'll try it again!
*Yuna uses The Sending*
*Guado Guardian dies*
Yuna: Good riddance!
*Guado Guardian rises again*
Everyone: Oh, that's it!
*EA uses Poison Breath*
Everyone: Oof!
Yuna: Pee-yew! That stinks!
Lenna: Oh, it can use its rotten breath without powering it up! This worm is starting to piss me off!
Rosa: Oh no! Yuna, we must replenish our protective spells!
Yuna: Right! Since we know this guy's a cheater...
*Rosa and Yuna use Protectga and Shellga*
*Guado Guardian casts Haste and Shell*
Lenna: I...won't...ALLOW THIS! Selphie, unmake those spells!
Selphie: Right on!
*Selphie casts Dispel*
Tyro: On with the offensive!
*Tyro casts Diaga*
*EA uses Photon Spray*
Everyone: Not again!
Rosa: I...I have prayed to the heavens once. They may not answer again.
Selphie: Luckily...that's why I'm here!
Lenna: Oh, good grief!
*Selphie uses Light of Trabia*
Yuna: Hey...isn't the worm as...stable as before? I remember it from when I faced it! Quick, everyone!
*EA poisons itself*
*Guado Guardian uses Bio on EA*
Lenna: No, no no NO! I might not be able to cancel that degree of poisoning in time!
Yuna: Then, there's only one way...everyone, focus your power on the worm!
Rosa: I will lend my healing magic!
Tyro: I will lend my punishing magic!
Selphie: I will lend another dose of punishing magic! Because one is never enough!
Yuna: Then, I'll do it...without false hopes!
Lenna: And I will lend my recovery magic! I won't lose this time! Everyone - let's show the power that brought Chaos to its knees! Team White Mage...
Everyone: GO! Ultimate White Magic! HOLY!
*Tyro, Selphie, Lenna, Yuna and Rosa, somehow, cast Holy. Don't think too much about it.*
*EA gets obliterated*
Lenna: Take that! And better stay down!
Selphie: Everyone, gather round!
*Selphie starts mounting smartphone into White Staff*
Lenna: Uh...what is that contraction?
Selphie: It's just to take a photo.
Tyro: A memory of our victory.
Lenna: Alright...I'll go for it.
*Everyone gathers round*
Selphie: Great!
*EA starts trembling*
Lenna: Oh, crystals, no...
Selphie: Now, get ready for a...SELFIE!
*Smartphone flashes*
*EA starts to disintegrate*
*Everyone looks back*
Yuna: ...
Rosa: ...
Tyro: Umm...
Lenna: We're so--IT DIED FROM A BAD JOKE!
Selphie: It's not a bad joke; it's just a cool coincidence!
Lenna: You...don't...mean...
Tyro: The worm that just beat us countless times got slain by a--
Lenna: Let's take the record and get out of here. I need a stiff one.
Tyro: Eww! That's gross!
Selphie: I thought dedicated White Mages didn't drink alcohol...
Rosa: Let her do so.
Selphie: I guess it's sometimes allowed...
Rosa: Hey, princess Lenna! I got a good aged whiskey if you want--
Lenna: OH, SHUT UP!
Selphie: ...Should I say that I proved her wrong?
Lenna: I HEARD THAT!

-- Royal Academy, Hall of Portals --

Dr. Mog: Oh, you're back, kupo... Congratulations on your--
Lenna: SHOVE IT DOWN YOUR SMALL FLUFFY BOTTOM!
Dr. Mog: Language, kupo!
Lenna: UP YOURS!
Dr. Mog: But, why--
Tyro: Um, Dr. Mog? She's...kinda angry right now. I think she's on that..."time of the month"
*Everyone else facepalms*
Lenna: I WISH IT WAS THAT! I GET MY LOVELY BUM HANDED DOWN TO ME MULTIPLE TIMES, AND ALL I NEEDED WAS FOR A PEPPY STUDENT TO MAKE A HORRENDOUSLY BAD PUN TO DEFEAT IT! I WON'T ALLOW THIS!
Dr. Mog: Oh, that contrived coincidence! That made me chuckle, kupo--
Lenna: WASN'T I CLEAR? DIDN'T I TELL YOU TO SHOVE IT!
Dr. Mog: Language, kupo!
Tyro: Um, Dr. Mog...?
Selphie: Whoa, deja vu!
Rosa: I can't define what that is, but it felt weird...
Yuna: Let her rest. Anyways...we won! Now to savor our hard-earned victory!
*Selphie's smartphone pings*
Selphie: Oh, it's Penelo on Kuposter!
@therealpenelo: Wow, awesome! Congrats to @seffie n everybody else! #goteamwhitemage #whyiwasntthere
Selphie: Aww, that's so cool!
@seffie: Will see if you can get here next time. #seffietookaselfie
@penelo: OMG I didn't notice! #awesomepun
@seffie: Actually... #seffietookaselfie #killingpun #byebyezombieworm

-- Royal Academy, Hall of Heroes --

Lenna: ...damned little girl, stealing my victory. Damned queen Rosa, getting her bow...
Ashe: You know, that's not healthy.
Lenna: Says the one that's always in conflict with Terra?
Ashe: That's what I was gonna talk you about. I think you should calm down and accept that you won.
Lenna: It's unfair! I could have dealt the last blow, healed the worst of wounds...and all I could do was stay behind and just--
Ashe: Contribute to victory. I mean, when we defeated the Ultima Buster? Everyone had their time to shine. Master Tyro had its time to shine, Krile had its time to shine, even the villain from your world! And he was stuck with healing duties, in a way.
Lenna: But...it's not like--
Ashe: Every bit counts. Sure, Terra was a somewhat bigger collaborator, but I was the one casting Thundaja at the very end anyways.
Lenna: But at least you collaborated...and--
Ashe: And the villain from your own world was the party healer. Didn't you even hear? Crystals, I hope you aren't so blinded by anger...
Lenna: Hmm...come to think about it...you're being awfully nice to your sworn rival, isn't it?
Ashe: That's because...I realized being my sworn rival just didn't cut it. I was blinded by my own hate...and I didn't realize that Terra didn't even care...she didn't even get it, I'd say, but I know she's smarter than she looks at.
Lenna: You just don't get it. I won't be part of the A-team anymore. Rosa got her bow. I heard it from the Expedition Commander himself.
Ashe: Welcome to the bench, Lenna.
Lenna: Et tu, princess Ashelia?
Ashe: Well, do realize that we cover up when the going gets rough. I mean, you think you got one-upped by a perennial benchwarmer, right? It was her strategy that did the trick, not yours...hold on, just listen! However; just how many times have you supported your team to victory? You've been a stalwart of the team almost since Day One. Consider this a well-deserved rest...until you get a nice new toy, in which case you'll shine once again!
Lenna: That...is very wise, princess Ashelia.
Ashe: Thank you very much! But...if you say a word of this to anyone...I'll gut you.

Now, if I could get a Darkflare Star RW for Ult!Steiner's battle... Which will have to wait until tomorrow, since today I'll be GMing again, and that'll be a full-day task.

[danzibr]

I'm with Danzibr- easy ult this time. Finished with 10 secs left on the doom timer.
Cait's dances and wall made Lapis plink for about 500 damage, and let me nuke the arms easily.

Going to give the U+ rush a go as well, nothing looks that painful in it, just a ton of HP involved.
Grats!

My current plan involves spending a single mythril for SB gauges, and Drawtaliate (maybe with Advance, maybe Shout). Looking at their attacks I saw lots of single target physicals.

So the FF Portal App promotion we're getting? They're doing another one for June. Another chance at 10 Mythril and 6 Major eggs.
Sweet.

[Cozzer]

Well, apparently I was underestimating my FF7 party! It took one Mithril, but I did manage to win the U+ gauntlet! There's no big strategy here, you just have to be strong enough and tough enough.

[SuperPanda]

Hmm, the u+ is not going down with a full VII team. I just am not dishing out enough fast enough.

Tried with Arieth shellga/Curaga and with Alexander instead of the buff. At 400 mag Alexander was only dealing around 2200 per hit-

Red was hitting for around 2000 with attack after planet protector, so physical damage seems a much better avenue.

Likely will trade Zack for squall (better sb) but yuffie has my backup heal and red has my hastega. I could trade them for garnet and Ramza - though I feel like I'd be loosing out on damage I might gain it back with divine guardian's Res up and high regen.

[Slayn82]

Just finished beating Carry Armor. It kicked my posterior the whole battle, and both Ramza and Aerith ran out of abilities and were reduced to waiting for the right moment to use their soul breaks. Party was Aerith (Protectga R2/CurajaR4/Knight's Charge), Red XIII (Thundaja R3/Armor Breakdown R3/Ace Striker), Basch (Lifesiphon R4/Retaliate R5/Mako Might), Ramza (Power BD R3, Full Break R2/Dr. Mog Teachings) and Yuffie (Heathen Frolic Sarabande R4/Thunder Veil R5/Thunderstroke), and a Garnet RW for Divine Guardian. Yes, it's Hastega was conflicting with Shout. It was meant to be a learning experience, a first probe, and I was trying some things.

Basch, for instance, came to neutralize the arms, opening with his Fulminating Darkness for the Sentinel Status, and LifeSiphoning/Retaliating as needed. The fun thing is that his damage from Fulminating Darkness proved pretty good, so instead of Retaliating, I let him take the hits for more Charge, and spread the damage on both arms so they were killed at the same time by sucessive Fulminating Darkness, dealing around 12K per use on all targets.

What was the trouble them? Lasers, lots of Lasers. Since Red XIII SSB gives Shellga, and I had a Shared Shellga Relic on Yuffie, I figured I could leave the very early game to HF Sarabande and DG for Mitigation. Sure, once it worked all sins were forgiven, but made for a awfull lot of S/Ls, and even in my winning run, all the damage it dealt left me sweating until Basch destroyed the arms and Red XIII got his SSB.

Surprisingly, I still got Champion Rank, losing one medal for actions and two for damage, but having all the Target Scores done.

[danzibr]

Egad. 3 abilities I want to hone require MBO's: Dark Zone, Thief's Revenge, Multi Break. Need to look at Chain Starter and, uhh, that one that goes with it. Plan carefully.

[Slayn82]

@ Danzibr: The cost of crafting is 10 Power, 6 Wind, and either 6 White for Chain Starter or 6 Earth for Full Charge. Personally, I fully wanted to go for Chain Starter first, because I got more Celerity 5 users with SBs, and it can pair very well with Lifesiphon/SSB on Zell.

On the other hand, Zell is doing pretty well for now using piercing strike or Dismissal as his second ability. And those other Celerity users are mostly Thief 5 characters, who already have access to Thief Revenge.

I will let my future relic pulls decide the issue. If I get something good at Figabros banner, I'm honing Full Charge. Otherwise, go with Chain Starter.

[Simkin]

Ult & Ult+ down. As people have said, a bit easier than some others. Ult+ was intense but not overly hard with good SBs.

[danzibr]

Thanks Slayn! Yeah, Full Charge, that's what it is. Glad they don't take Darks. Pretty set for what those 2 need.

[Greg_S]

U+ is down, no damage medals lost, one for actions. Had to resort to auto attacks at the end there, as 12 hits + 3 SBs weren't quite enough.

If you have native wall, consider leaving out a full-time healer and using Heavy Regen. It sounds insane, but Regen and a medica can keep you topped up really well, as these guys can't break good mitigation.

[danzibr]

Hey Greg, what kind of "good mitigation" are we talking? My current plan is Wall, DG, Shellga, Protectga, Magic and Power Break(down), but no Full Break.

And grats!

[Greg_S]

Hey Greg, what kind of "good mitigation" are we talking? My current plan is Wall, DG, Shellga, Protectga, Magic and Power Break(down), but no Full Break.

And grats!

Thanks! For good mitigation, I'm talking Wall + Shellga/Protectga, and FB/MBD. I used Renewing Rains as my RW in phases 1 and 3, so it dodged a blizzara from the Yings and a laser blast from ProudCl(o)d.

Party setup:

Shadow, R3 Lifesiphon + R3 Dismissal, Shadow Fang
Keeper, R2 Dark Bargain + R4 MBD, Wall
Zidane, R2 Thief's Revenge + R3 Lifesiphon, Shift Break (Phase 1 and 3, didn't use against Chimera)
Yuna, R4 Curaja + R2 Protectga
Ramza, R2 FB + R3 Lifesiphon. Only shouted twice, last SB use was hail of stones.

Strategy for phase 1: Shadow and Ramza build SB charges with Zidane. Zidane uses shift break when Yang 1 was around 25%, then goes back to Lifesiphon.
Strategy for phase 2: Wall lapsed here, so I ate a ~1500 damage AoE rake. Kept building my SBs. Shadow switched to dismissal around here.
Strategy for phase 3: I avoided killing the Jammer Armor because I didn't want to burn ability uses on it, and leaving the jammer alive means that it takes it an extra turn to use beam cannon, plus it'll waste 1/3 of its turns adding reflect to you. The downside to this approach is that it becomes a rock fight, where it can't do much damage to you, but you also can't do much more than plink away- FB's small extra damage from armor breaking was appreciated here.

Yuna finished with 8 charges of Curaja, and I fired off HoTF once just because she had nothing else to do. I might retry the fight with Gilgamesh or Yuffie in her place to see how a full face-punching team handles it.

[Starwulf]

Sooo...out of curiosity, when do we get Barret's MC2? Thought for sure he had gotten his already, went and checked and nope, nadda. Seems kinda odd that Yuffie is already getting hers(and I"m pretty sure Reno and Vincent have theirs as well), but Barret, whom was released before any of those three, is still left out in the cold. Mildly irritating. I hate Yuffie, and mildly despise Reno/Vincent, Barret is actually useful and I like, but just can't compare to a level 80 5* support user like Wakka ><

[Slayn82]

Next FF VII event has Barret and Cait Sith MC2. It's the one that people are calling "Shirtless Sephiroth". Items from the current banner return there.

[Antonok]

We should be getting the next dungeon update tonight, which adds FFXI dungeons

[SuperPanda]

I think I just about done with elites for the update before last (I haven't finished th XIII and VII dungeons on classic for the last update). On the last of the XII, then I'll have some xiii, xiv, and VII to clear - and new update coming tomorrow

Still closest I've ever been to caught up.


Counted: I have the two VI dungeons from the last update to clear on elite, 2 of the xiv elites to clear (the longer one). And all of the XIII and VII from the new update on elite (and four of them to still clear on classic). ~ 14 dungeons to clear before completely up to date. - yay.

[danzibr]

We should be getting the next dungeon update tonight, which adds FFXI dungeons
Sweet!

I too mastered the U+. It really wasn't bad at all. Way easier than Kuja. Least stressful U+ so far due to the low damage output leading to no RNG screwiness. Lost 1 medal for actions, nothing else, but Garnet did die because he Wrist Laser'd her 3 times in a row in addition to his big AoE.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Gah, Thursday is always such a mad dash to wrap up content. Took out a couple more nightmare gatekeepers, including Crushdown's Motor Ball to net my first 6* Accessory, which is a little weird since I still don't have any 5*s. That got me all full of piss and vinegar, so I cooked up just about all of my eggs to go all-in on Steiner. In four tries, I've consistently gotten him to about 20% before a string of AOE started dropping folks.

65 Basch - Retaliate (R4), Draw Fire (R3) - Apocalypse Shield
65 Kuja - Memento Mori (R2), Dark Zone (R1)
65 Zidane - Tempo Flurry (R5), Dismissal (R2) - Rumble Rush
60 Garnet - Curaga (R5), Protectga (R2) - Regenerate (shared)
60 Ramza - Armor Break (R3), Power Breakdown (R3)
RW: Mighty Guard (VIII)

So a pretty typical Tauntaliate setup. Kuja, being shortest on hones, handles the RW on the first turn and halfway through. Hastega ups the DPS, Regen lets Garnet sprinkle in a few retas, and Shell means Ultimate Climhazzard doesn't chuck everybody in a dumpster. I'm going to give this a bunch more goes since an unlikely streak of retaliate-able attacks might carry me through, but any obvious improvements I'm missing?

I could hone Memento Mori to R3 with some orb rejiggering (I seriously underestimated the length of that doom timer), but that isn't a silver bullet on its own. Changing to a Shout RW would amp my damage but seriously undercut my defense - scary but maybe viable? Or I could take that logic to the extreme with a Dread of Death RW, which brings big damage up front and a dark aura to massively increase reta damage. That abandons both my defense AND my hastega though, which... boo. Basch wouldn't be able to taunt for a while, but I could accelerate the blitz by giving Zidane the Armor Break and Ramza an R5 Double Cut for more oomph. Maybe viable?

Unfortunately don't have Mako Might or Dr. Mog's Teachings yet, so even what Soul Breaks I have aren't usable until late in the fight. Aside from Kuja, whose default SB Steiner is of course immune to. :smallannoyed:

[Greg_S]

Gah, Thursday is always such a mad dash to wrap up content. Took out a couple more nightmare gatekeepers, including Crushdown's Motor Ball to net my first 6* Accessory, which is a little weird since I still don't have any 5*s. That got me all full of piss and vinegar, so I cooked up just about all of my eggs to go all-in on Steiner. In four tries, I've consistently gotten him to about 20% before a string of AOE started dropping folks.

65 Basch - Retaliate (R4), Draw Fire (R3) - Apocalypse Shield
65 Kuja - Memento Mori (R2), Dark Zone (R1)
65 Zidane - Tempo Flurry (R5), Dismissal (R2) - Rumble Rush
60 Garnet - Curaga (R5), Protectga (R2) - Regenerate (shared)
60 Ramza - Armor Break (R3), Power Breakdown (R3)
RW: Mighty Guard (VIII)

So a pretty typical Tauntaliate setup. Kuja, being shortest on hones, handles the RW on the first turn and halfway through. Hastega ups the DPS, Regen lets Garnet sprinkle in a few retas, and Shell means Ultimate Climhazzard doesn't chuck everybody in a dumpster. I'm going to give this a bunch more goes since an unlikely streak of retaliate-able attacks might carry me through, but any obvious improvements I'm missing?

I could hone Memento Mori to R3 with some orb rejiggering (I seriously underestimated the length of that doom timer), but that isn't a silver bullet on its own. Changing to a Shout RW would amp my damage but seriously undercut my defense - scary but maybe viable? Or I could take that logic to the extreme with a Dread of Death RW, which brings big damage up front and a dark aura to massively increase reta damage. That abandons both my defense AND my hastega though, which... boo. Basch wouldn't be able to taunt for a while, but I could accelerate the blitz by giving Zidane the Armor Break and Ramza an R5 Double Cut for more oomph. Maybe viable?

Unfortunately don't have Mako Might or Dr. Mog's Teachings yet, so even what Soul Breaks I have aren't usable until late in the fight. Aside from Kuja, whose default SB Steiner is of course immune to. :smallannoyed:

Dread of Death won't help with retaliate, as endark only affects the attack command, not retaliate's counter, sadly. What about using shout, and dropping DZ from Kuja, then giving him shellga? Extra turns will help get you more double cuts, shout will help everyone's damage out and stack with Basch's shield too. If you've crafted steal power, you could give that to Zidane as well and stack double cut on Ramza in place of power breakdown.

[Jurai]

I HATE CARRY ARMOR! HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE HATE! I can bust down one armor before Lapis Lazer kills three party members because Porom can't generate SB meter fast enough to drop Sync regularly enough.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Dread of Death won't help with retaliate, as endark only affects the attack command, not retaliate's counter, sadly. What about using shout, and dropping DZ from Kuja, then giving him shellga? Extra turns will help get you more double cuts, shout will help everyone's damage out and stack with Basch's shield too. If you've crafted steal power, you could give that to Zidane as well and stack double cut on Ramza in place of power breakdown.Wow, it's kind of astonishing how many things only affect the Attack command considering that you should pretty much never use it.

RE: Kuja, Dark Zone is capping, so swapping it for Shellga would put me 40k damage in the hole, which probably torpedoes the run. I think you're right to zero in on that slot though. Fiddling with the damage calculator you linked to a while back (thanks for that, btw), it looks like honing Waterja up to R3 and using the devotion RM would deal a total of 55k. Shout and some equipment fiddling would roughly double my reta damage (1750 to 3450) too, so with those two retoolings combined, the battle might be short enough I could conceivably not get Climhazzard'ed right in the face.

Edit: Actually, 4 extra castings of Waterja would mean 4 retas that I'd be missing out on, and after adding Shout to the picture that's almost a wash. Not having DZ would also make it tougher to pack big damage into Phase 2. Seems like a bad tradeoff. Looks like the answer may just be to shout and punch him in the face. Time to get shonen, I guess?

[Greg_S]

What if you put Eiko/Arc in for Garnet? Don't know your egg status, but WMs are WMs, and their default SBs are Shellga. Maybe Kuja could take the Regen staff?

Dark Bargain would be great on Basch if you've got it. Draw Fire will outweigh the def penalty easily.

[T.G. Oskar]

Wow, it's kind of astonishing how many things only affect the Attack command considering that you should pretty much never use it.

RE: Kuja, Dark Zone is capping, so swapping it for Shellga would put me 40k damage in the hole, which probably torpedoes the run. I think you're right to zero in on that slot though. Fiddling with the damage calculator you linked to a while back (thanks for that, btw), it looks like honing Waterja up to R3 and using the devotion RM would deal a total of 55k. Shout and some equipment fiddling would roughly double my reta damage (1750 to 3450) too, so with those two retoolings combined, the battle might be short enough I could conceivably not get Climhazzard'ed right in the face.

Edit: Actually, 4 extra castings of Waterja would mean 4 retas that I'd be missing out on, and after adding Shout to the picture that's almost a wash. Not having DZ would also make it tougher to pack big damage into Phase 2. Seems like a bad tradeoff. Looks like the answer may just be to shout and punch him in the face. Time to get shonen, I guess?

I've been trying a native Shout/Apoc. Shield mix with Steiner, and it's still beating me senselessly. Problem mostly lies in that the duration of both rarely kicks in; most likely with Shout as an RW it might be more practical.

With AS and Protectga, Steiner's damage plummets to a manageable, but still painful, amount (around 800 for Iai Strike and 900/1k for Stock Break). However, you need to time your buffs - and since I'm using Dr. Mog's Teachings to drop out AS on the first turn, Basch doesn't generate enough to either fuel it in time for Shout or, worse, before it runs out. As an RW, you could drop Shout AND AS at the same time.

Or, at least, after Tauntaliate gets set-up. Power Break can definitely cut your damage into pretty much nothing, which is bad.

That said - it seems the battle was designed to use Darkness spells, rather than Physical Meta. Since you seem to have Kuja around, figure out just how quick you get to drain Steiner's HP with magic, specifically Memento Mori/DZ (or just DZ alone, or even DZ/Drainga). You mention DZ is capping out, so rather than use it immediately, try to use it roughly after Steiner is below HP. Ult. bosses' Weak phases are generally better handled with SB/SSB spamming, as they can deal enough damage to boot.

In my case, I took it only once to near 20% before, as it happens, he beats me with a bunch of AoEs. It doesn't help that back row doesn't aid in terms of reducing damage, as all of Steiner's AoEs apparently hit back row pretty easily. I'm using Doublecast Decay as an RW, and I can wing around 20k damage per hit with Full Break set up; I also set Beatrix with Betrayal Sword just so that she could attempt to spam Darkest Cut and also exploit Shout/AS/Dark Weakness, but I can't seem to approach Weak phase before AS's Defense buff runs out. I chalk it up to bad timing: usually, AS running out as Shout is almost there.

EDIT: Wow, what a case of massive derp! I realize just now that Basch has a redundant skill on Magic Break; since he can't use Breakdowns, that means the ability becomes redundant with Full Break. You know what doesn't? Lifesiphon, which he can equip! Lemme try once again with another Dark-damage RW and Lifesiphon; maybe that way I can get Darkflare Star and crush it before the event ends?

[Merlin the Tuna]

Gooooot him! First try after changing setups too. (Minor equipment rejiggering, Shout RW, splitting the breaks between Zidane and Ramza, and R3ing Memento Mori.)

1 medal lost to actions taken, Kuja survived with 16 ticks left on his doom counter and used his last spell just before Basch caved Steiner's big, rusty head in. Had a couple close calls - Garnet had no visible health for a hot second, so in my head she was in single digits - but he politely declined to drop a Climhazzard-shaped truck on my head or even to beat up on my squishies much.

Moral of the story: Shout is pretty good.

Good luck, Oskar! And thanks for helping me think through some of the particulars, Greg. (Also for the damage calculator. Very handy to not need to spend 60 stamina on a fact-finding mission :smalltongue:)

[spectralphoenix]

Also finished off Steiner. Spent 1 mithril to retry after he killed my healer while I was still getting all my stuff up, then had a pretty easy run right until the RNG decided it would be funny to drop three Climhazzards in a row right at the end, knocking out three of my team. Still got mastery even after the medals lost for KOs and damage.

My team:
Vaan 68 - Power Break, Armor Break - One Eyed General
Kuja 65 - Memento Mori, Dark Zone - Silver Genome (Also had a Dragon Armlet with a shared Shellga SB)
Gilgamesh 68 - Draw Fire, Retaliate - Mako Might
Tifa 80 - Magic Break, Life Siphon - The Zangan Way
Eiko 65 - Curaga, Protectga - White Mage Adept
RW - Shout

One thing I've been wondering, does Full Break last as long as a break or a breakdown? I have enough orbs to make it but not to get it to R2. I figure it's only worth making if it lasts long enough to go most of a fight (breaks are what, 25 seconds?) otherwise I might as well wait until I can get more uses.

[Antonok]

Also finished off Steiner. Spent 1 mithril to retry after he killed my healer while I was still getting all my stuff up, then had a pretty easy run right until the RNG decided it would be funny to drop three Climhazzards in a row right at the end, knocking out three of my team. Still got mastery even after the medals lost for KOs and damage.

My team:
Vaan 68 - Power Break, Armor Break - One Eyed General
Kuja 65 - Memento Mori, Dark Zone - Silver Genome (Also had a Dragon Armlet with a shared Shellga SB)
Gilgamesh 68 - Draw Fire, Retaliate - Mako Might
Tifa 80 - Magic Break, Life Siphon - The Zangan Way
Eiko 65 - Curaga, Protectga - White Mage Adept
RW - Shout

One thing I've been wondering, does Full Break last as long as a break or a breakdown? I have enough orbs to make it but not to get it to R2. I figure it's only worth making if it lasts long enough to go most of a fight (breaks are what, 25 seconds?) otherwise I might as well wait until I can get more uses.

They last the same duration. 15 seconds. But Full Break stacks with Breakdowns so you get that bit extra of mitigation/damage. And I'd go ahead and craft it, 2 uses is still plenty useful.

[Antonok]

Ok so we have the new DU update, the Anothology event starts, and another Keeper's Quiz campaign, tho no site listed for it. So in the next month, we'll be getting quite a bit of mythril.

Edit: And double greens weekend this weekend.

Edit 2: and the Gyshal exchange accessories have been added, to release tomorrow at reset.

[Greg_S]

Ok so we have the new DU update, the Anothology event starts, and another Keeper's Quiz campaign, tho no site listed for it. So in the next month, we'll be getting quite a bit of mythril.

Edit: And double greens weekend this weekend.

Edit 2: and the Gyshal exchange accessories have been added, to release tomorrow at reset.

Start savin' for BSBfest!

Oh man, FF3's Cave of Darkness is in this DU. I'm morbidly excited to play through the most nightmarish dungeon in the series.

[Alanzeign]

Dang, I was kind of hoping the FFXI dungeons would have more bosses. They could easily choose from a number of notorious monsters for any dungeon. And of all the creatures in this game, they decided to include the iconic 'Bat'. Tsk, tsk.

I did appreciate sleeping the dragon as requirement though as that was literally the strategy that everyone used in game. If nothing else, they chose good OSTs for Horutoto Ruins and Maze of Shakrami. For everyone that didn't play FFXI I'd say those tracks are worth listening.

[T.G. Oskar]

-- Aboard the Prima Vista --

Beatrix: I...remember this somewhat. Her Highness, Queen Garnet, and former Queen Brahne saw the presentation of a beloved play, I Want to be your Canary.
Rosa: Sounds romantic.
Ramza: The thought of being inside an airship...'tis something I merely thought in mine dreams. Ser Balthier spoke of them so insistently. I saw airships solely on books...and the Graveyard of Airships, that is.
Gilgamesh: Hey, Bea-bee, is it true--
Beatrix: Still thy tongue, knave! Only my dear Steiner can call me as such!
Gilgamesh: Gee, don't get your knickers in a rush! Is it true that the late Brahne was as hideous as an ogre?
Beatrix: Do you insist on offending me with your rude comments? Her fallen Highness may not have been as...graceful as lady Garnet, but she was...caring.
Gilgamesh: Translation - she was an ogre in face and soul.
Beatrix: Do not speak ill of the dead, you sorry excuse for a jester!
Steiner: You will not lay a step forward! I will not let you take away the Princess! Not even if it's you, Beatrix!
Beatrix: My love! What do you speak about?
Steiner: Beatrix...long have I been shamed. This is my only chance...my only chance to redeem myself!
Beatrix: But you have already done! In my eyes, in the eyes of Alexandria, you have more than proven yourself! Queen Garnet has you in high esteem, you and your Knights!
Gilgamesh: Sure, Rusty at the end managed to snatch the Queen, but--
Steiner: Do not remind me of my failures, Gilgamesh!
Everyone: !!
Steiner: Yes. Who confronts you is not the one in this memory. It is I, Adelbert Steiner, Captain of the Knights of Pluto, sworn protector of Alexandria and her illustrious queen, Garnet til Alexandros!
Beatrix: Ah...my dear...but...
Steiner: I have been in unrest, Beatrix. Once, I was one of the favored of the Expedition Commander - my skills were sought after time and time again. Even my gem, holding my unyielding charge, was of use. But now...I am in ridicule!
Gilgamesh: First Ashe, then Lenna, then Steiner...there seems to be a jealousy bug in the Academy.
Steiner: So, I have decided to search the truth regarding the darkening of the records...on my own! Thus, I shall prove everyone my worth!
*Dark aura emerges*
Beatrix: You have nothing to prove! I...I...
Steiner: Speak no more. You shall lay no step further. Be it the disgraced scion of House Beoulve, the queen of Baron, the foolish knight-captain of the foul warlock Exdeath, or you, Beatrix!
Beatrix: Steiner! How dare you!
Gilgamesh: Uh...I guess we should be going.
Ramza: Truly unusual of thee, ser Gilgamesh.
Gilgamesh: Kid, this ain't a typical battle... This is something else. Either Rusty is possessed, or...
Steiner: You don't appreciate me, Beatrix! I've seen you lay your eyes on other women, hailing their strength! I shall show you not the strength of men, but the strength of a TRUE Knight! En garde, Beatrix! Show me your skill!
Gilgamesh: As I expected, this is a marital fight.
Rosa: Uh...if I may, I can serve as a marriage counselor...
Steiner: With your due respect as befits a person of your stature, my queen, but you're ill-fit to serve as marriage counselor, when you have yet to deal with ser Kain.
Beatrix: Wh...what do you mean, my delectable hunk of man-meat?
Gilgamesh: I can imagine princess Lenna rolling her eyes at the corny response, but--
Steiner: This is my challenge! If you truly love me, Beatrix, let your sword show it to me! Vanquish me, and I shall renew my love towards you.
Rosa: I don't like the sound of this...
Beatrix: But...if I lose? If we lose?
Steiner: ...Then I want a divorce.
Everyone: !!!
Beatrix: No...that's impossible!! NO!
Steiner: Search your feelings, Beatrix. You know it to be true.
Basch: I would advice to search your feelings, fellow knight. Purge your shame - it only leads to self-loathing, to hate, and then to betrayal of all you hold dearest.
Steiner: ...Who are you?
Basch: I am Basch fon Ronsenburg, captain of the Order of Knights of Dalmasca, sworn defender of her majesty Princess Ashelia...and I know a bit about shame.
Gilgamesh: The plot thickens...
Ramza: I have heard about you from ser Balthier. I welcome thee to our entourage, sir Basch.
Basch: Balthier; a man with his heart on the right place, but his tongue on the clouds.
Steiner: What do you know about the measure of a Knight, sir Basch?
Basch: I know enough to stand true to my code regardless of all - betrayal, lies, and doubt. Only by staying true to your principles, do you stand above them all. I can see the ominous aura swelling upon you - the aura of hatred from your self-doubt. Lady Beatrix is strong enough to fight for herself, but I know very well for this to be a trap. I will stand on her side.
Ramza: Have my blade at thy side, lady Beatrix!
Rosa: My magic is at your service. I owe you from your service at the Nightmare White Magic dungeon.
Gilgamesh: While I don't like to get into fights between lovebirds, I can't but back up Basch after that speech. Plus, I figure you need my aid.
Steiner: A five versus one fight! It doesn't matter - I'll take you all on! Prepare yourself! Beatrix, let your blade speak to me!
Beatrix: Steiner! My sword is the sword of Alexandria, but my hand is my own! My heart will guide me to victory, and show you just how much I love you!
Gilgamesh: Really - Lenna would have been downright vomiting over this.
*Steiner enters Trance*
Steiner: Let's even the odds. Haah!
*Steiner hits Gilgamesh*
Gilgamesh: Ow! Nice hit! But it won't work next time...!
*Gilgamesh enters Retaliate stance*
Beatrix: O warding light! Shield us from deadly wounds! Protectga!
*Beatrix casts Protectga*
Rosa: Gilgamesh! You're...bleeding...
Gilgamesh: I have the determination of the first Dragoon...even if I perish, I won't give up!
Rosa: Then let me patch you up! Soothing winds! Seal the wounds and breathe new life! Curaga!
*Rosa casts Curaga*
Ramza: Pray tell, is it me, or are thine incantations different every time?
Rosa: So as long as you describe the nature of the spell, you have some liberties.
Ramza: So much different from sword blows... I only need to do this...
*hits Steiner's arm*
Ramza: ...and this...
*follows to Steiner's body*
Ramza: ...and finish with this...
*ends with Steiner's helm, finishing Full Break*
Ramza: ...to complete my technique.
Basch: To my fortune, I saved a Mist Charge. Apocalypse Shield!
*Basch uses Apocalypse Shield*
Steiner: Your cheap parlor tricks won't help you. Take this!
*Steiner uses Rend Armor on Beatrix*
Beatrix: My armor! But...your attacks were not as strong...why is that so?
Basch: As long as my shield stands, you shall not be harmed.
Steiner: Her armor is gone, knight. But...I should have taken you down with a single stroke?
Gilgamesh: Why not try hitting someone less armored, for once?
*Gilgamesh Draws Fire upon himself*
Rosa: Allow me to heal your wounds, lady Beatrix!
*Rosa casts Curaga*
Ramza: That gives me an idea... Take this!
*Ramza uses Armor Breakdown*
Steiner: Ha! Your breaks are useless against me!
Ramza: It seems not very effective! Why?
Gilgamesh: Well, duh! It's whatever is powering him!
Beatrix: It cannot be his Trance... Though...why is he wearing his Tin Armor?
Steiner: Surprised? I also have my own tricks...
*Steiner hits Gilgamesh with Power Break*
Gilgamesh: Too easy!
*Gilgamesh counters*
Steiner: Damnation! You and your blasted counter attack maneuvers!
Basch: It's pretty easy, partner... Just watch their attack, and hit back!
Gilgamesh: How do you know that?
Basch: There is more to me than meets the eye.
Steiner: It is because of those cheap tricks that stain the art of Knighthood that I have been phased away! But...I won't allow this any further.
Beatrix: I...I cannot harm you...my love.
Steiner: You realize the truth, don't you?
Beatrix: But you're not playing fair. I'll let someone else do the trick.
*Beatrix hits Gilgamesh twice*
Gilgamesh: Hey! Watch it!
*Gilgamesh hits Steiner twice with the counter attacks*
Basch: ...That must be a delusion! Driving counter attacks towards the enemy is the art of a master swordsman, at the very least!
Gilgamesh: Thanks for the compliment. I know.
Ramza: Or an act of foolish fortune, I say.
Gilgamesh: Thanks for the compliment. I know.
Rosa: Is...he for real?
Basch: And now, to refill my Mist Charges...
*Basch uses Lifesiphon*
Steiner: Smart move! But not enough! Take this!
*Basch uses Stock Break*
Everyone but Gilgamesh: Unngh!
Gilgamesh: Too easy!
*Gilgamesh attempts to counter, but fails*
Gilgamesh: Wait...why was that?
Ramza: A sword skill! You are more skilled than you appear at.
Beatrix: But...how? If you had used this skill before, then perhaps...
Steiner: I would have remained? I would have been useful? Is that what you claim, Beatrix?
Beatrix: You would have supported us better! Look at me - I stand before you, using no skill, and yet... I refuse to back down!
Rosa: Um...why do I bleed?
Gilgamesh: That's not what that move usually does.
Ramza: Press the offensive!
*Ramza attacks*
Beatrix: The wound is more dangerous than I thought... He's serious... I have never seen him so serious...
Rosa: Hang on! My magic will keep us afloat!
Gilgamesh: I don't like it when someone avoids one of my hits, so...take this!
*Gilgamesh attacks Steiner*
Steiner: Is that so? Perhaps magic would be better for you? This hardly tickled!
Beatrix: His defense is still strong...and his attacks are more dangerous... It will be difficult to defeat him on his Trance...
Basch: But not impossible!
*Basch uses Lifesiphon*
Steiner: I refuse to give up! Take this!
*Steiner uses Iai Strike*
Everyone, including Gilgamesh: Gaah!
Gilgamesh: That was too fast for me to dodge! How come?
Beatrix: I know one thing about my husband: he may be tough and strong, but he's too slow. Why is he so fast?
Steiner: With this power, I will reach the depth of this mystery, and show everyone who's the boss!
Gilgamesh: Uh, guys, I think we're not hitting him that hard. Ramza, how about you--?
Ramza: Heard ye, ser Gilgamesh. Prepare thy selves!
Gilgamesh: Alright!
Basch: Hmm...perhaps if I...
Ramza: SHOUT! SHOUT! LET IT ALL OUT!
Basch: I see the worth of a good spectacle! Bring on the lights!
*Basch uses Apocalypse Shield*
Rosa: This is...strange, but so quite entertaining!
Ramza: THESE, ARE THE THINGS, I CAN DO WITHOUT!
Gilgamesh: All hail Metal! Woo!
Steiner: Lousy songs and shiny lights will not help you win! Only pure skill!
*Steiner uses Stock Break*
Everyone: *pays no attention*
Rosa: I won't let you get away with this! Heavens! Hear my plea! Save us from the brink of death!
*Rosa uses Divine Favor*
Ramza: COME ON! I'MMA TALKIN' TO YOU!
Beatrix: Now! Let's give it our all! For Alexandria!
Ramza: For Gallione!
Basch: For the Archadian Empi--I mean, Dalmasca!
Beatrix: Charge!
Steiner: I'll be waiting...
*Everyone attacks*
*Steiner deflects all attacks to Gilgamesh*
*Gilgamesh counters all deflected attacks back to Steiner*
Steiner: But...how!? These attacks are stronger than before!
Gilgamesh: Oh, so....the concert is actually uplifting us even more! Well, let's really give it our all! Enkiduuuu!
Enkidu: BROOO!!
Gilgamesh: Enkiduuuuuu!!!
Enkidu: BROOO!!
*Gilgamesh uses Faithful Companion*
Steiner: ARRGH! I refuse to give up! Have a taste of my Ultimate technique!!
*Steiner uses Climhazzard*
Everyone: YOWCH!
Basch: It was...good...for a first try...no?
*Basch is knocked down*
Rosa: Captain Basch!
Steiner: Try harder if you want! I won't give up!
Beatrix: He...he has the Excalibur II! His strongest weapon!
Gilgamesh: Ex...calibur? Ex...CALIBUR!?!?!? GIMME...!
Rosa: O protective light! Shield us from harmful magics! Shellga!
*Rosa casts Shellga*
*Steiner and Gilgamesh trade blows*
Gilgamesh: MINE! MINE! MINE! I must add it to my collection!
Steiner: What a drive! Take it from my cold, bloody hands if you must!
Beatrix: This...this madness... It must be stopped...even if it costs my own life... Take my blow, love!
*Beatrix uses Darkest Cut*
Steiner: Yowch! Hey...you're not used to Darkness, darling... Wait, is that?
*Steiner notices the Betrayal Sword*
Steiner: How dare you take MY sword!
Beatrix: I...I...
Gilgamesh: MINE! MIN--wait, that's it! The sword! The sword fed him with self-loathing, and is now fulfilling its true goal!
Beatrix: What do you mean?
Gilgamesh: That's a Dark Sword, Bea-bee! It will corrupt your soul!
Steiner: You had no other choice but to defeat me with my own sword? And you question me about betrayal? How about yours!?
Ramza: This is going out of hand! Rosa, do something!
Rosa: I...I have no other choice. Sir Steiner, look behind you!
Steiner: I won't be fooled by cheap parlor tricks! This ends now!
Alt!Kuja: You should listen to a queen when it talks to you, darling. How else will you defend against my assault!
*Alt!Kuja uses Darkflare Star*
Steiner: Even you, noble Queen! But I won't give up! Not now! Now that I have realized the truth! My own love, betrayed me! You will know the power of my spirit! Take this!
*Steiner uses Shock on Beatrix*
Beatrix: NOOOO!
Rosa: I guess this is it... I can't heal your wounds so fast, Beatrix...
Ramza: He is relentless... We fight not with a wounded knight, but with a scorned one...
Gilgamesh: Man, that sword is so awesome! I want it!
Steiner: Prepare yourselves! This is the final blow!
Beatrix: I...I must stop him...at any cost. Even if it takes my own life.
*Beatrix drops the Betrayal Sword*
Steiner: ...You give up? You drop your blade, knowing you cannot face the truth?
Beatrix: No! This fight ends now! (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ny24zPeQLks)
Everyone: Huh!?
Steiner: I accept your challenge!
Beatrix: This gauntlet of mine glows with the power of Truth! It's shine tells me to dispel all of your fears!
*Beatrix enters into Trance*
Rosa: What is going on? What is this power!? How strong can it be!?
Gilgamesh: It's over NIIINEEE THOUSAAAAAAND!!!! ...strong, that is.
Steiner: Give it your all, Beatrix! I won't accept any less from the woman I swore to love!
Beatrix: Take this! My love, my oath, and all of my devotion!
Ramza: Such...fighting spirit! Lady Beatrix truly has given it her all!
*Basch makes an effort to wake up*
Basch: Wish...I had such strength...
Beatrix: Rose of May secret technique! Ultimate! Love! Fist!
Steiner: Let our attacks decide our fate!
*Beatrix uses Minus Strike with her fist; Steiner uses Shock with his sword*
*Beatrix shatters Steiner's sword with her fist and strikes him squarely on his heart*
Everyone but Gilgamesh: ...
Gilgamesh: NOOOO!!! That awesome sword, crushed!!
Beatrix: I won't lose.
Steiner: Your pride...won't allow it...
Beatrix: No. Not when love is on the stake.
Rosa: So romantic! A woman, fighting for the sake of love!
Ramza: Such display of chivalry! Surely she is the true victor here!
Basch: You have...overcome your fears, lady Beatrix... You have shown...the true flower of chivalry...
*Steiner's Trance aura dissipates*
Steiner: ...Then I yield. You have proven yourself more than I'd think of it, my dear.
*Super Romantic Hug and French Kiss still tome*
Rosa: Yes! Yes! So much yes!
Gilgamesh: Didn't thought you were a shipper, lady Rosa.
Rosa: Pardon? I do not exile people to other lands, ser Gilgamesh.
Ramza: Beg a thousand pardons for interrupting, but I must inform thee that our portal to the Academy...has just closed.
Rosa: Oh, no! What about sir Basch!?
Steiner: Your Highness, brave knights, my beloved one...and Gilgamesh. You think I wouldn't have been here if I didn't plan for this eventuality?
*Draws a Stone of Recall*
Steiner: Come on, get together! Time to go home...ow, ow ow...! My chest...
Beatrix: Oh no, did I hurt you too much?
Steiner: Only my pride, dear. Only my pride.
Gilgamesh: What about mine!? Can anyone think of the sword collectors? That was an awesome sword I can no longer have in my collection because--
Steiner: It was a replica born of my memories and my foolish desire to prove myself superior. Once I saw my beloved one's determination, I had no need for it.
Gilgamesh: ...oh well, I don't like replicas anyway. Hi ho, off we--oh look, one of those really shiny Orbs! *yoink*

Giving up: NOT AN OPTION.

So, once again and on extra time, I managed to beat Ultimate Steiner. Of course, it wasn't as I dramatized it (I mean, Beatrix going on Trance mode and pulling off a Shining Finger? When I have none of her relics?), but it definitely flowed better than I'd thought of. Ultimately, it was the ~25k damage from Darkflare Star on a weakened Steiner what did the trick, but this time, I once again had good luck.

First, the party:
Beatrix, level 69; Betrayal Sword, Brigandine 5*, Black Belt (IX); Minus Strike R1, Protectga R2; Double Hit
Ramza, lv. 68; Blitz Sword, Power Sash, Aries; Full Break R2, Armor Breakdown R2; Double Cut
Rosa, lv. 65; Elven Bow, Magician's Robe 5*, Sand Pearl; Curaga R5, Shellga R2; Archer in White
Gilgamesh, lv. 74; Genji Blade, Barbut, Black Belt (IX); Retaliate R5, Draw Fire R4; Dragoon's Determination
Basch, lv. 51; Drill, Platinum Shield, Protect Ring (III); Double Cut R5, Lifesiphon R2; Dr. Mog's Teachings

The strategy was as follows: have Basch use Apocalypse Shield, Gil use Retaliate, Beatrix use Protectga and Ramza use any of the breaks (I think the winning run had me use Armor Breakdown first); at second round, I'd use Draw Fire on Gil, have Beatrix hit Gil with Attack (modified by Double Hit), Ramza use the other break (in the winning run, Full Break) and then Basch use Lifesiphon. First leg of the strategy was to charge Ramza and Basch for combined uses of Shout and Apocalypse Shield, and then have Beatrix and Basch use Attack/Double Hit, respectively, to feed attacks for Gil. Since Full Break lowered Steiner's Resistance, Darkflare Star was hitting for around 3.2k a hit, for a solid 25k damage. From there, it was mostly to survive - by that moment Gil had Faithful Companion filled up, so I set him up to Retaliate, then used FC on Steiner for about 21k total.

By the time Steiner went into Weak phase, I made sure everyone was buffed, while Rosa unleashed Shellga to mitigate Ultimate Climhazzard. Steiner got Basch around that time, even if Rosa had everyone topped before Weak phase thanks to Divine Favor. Afterwards, it was mostly to spend all abilities ASAP (use Darkest Cut, Minus Strike, another FC, the last use of Full Break and Armor Breakdown) and hope it stuck. Saved the last use of Darkflare Star for the end, which dealt enough damage to kill it. Probably could have survived another Ultimate Iai Strike or Ultimate Stock Break, but not Ultimate Climhazzard, tho.

Mastered the battle with 3 medals lost (1 for actions, 2 for damage), and also managed to snatch a Major Power Orb as extra loot for the result, which was quite surprising.
Gilgamesh: Oh...I forgot you don't get that one.

[Greg_S]

Accessory shop's up! Just dropped 40,000 Greens on 5 resist accessories. I now have moderate or better lightning resist for 5 chars, fire for 4, and ice on 4, just in time for a likely wave of boss fights that don't use those elements.

[danzibr]

Accessory shop's up! Just dropped 40,000 Greens on 5 resist accessories. I now have moderate or better lightning resist for 5 chars, fire for 4, and ice on 4, just in time for a likely wave of boss fights that don't use those elements.
I'm wondering which to buy. It's cool we get some unseen ones, like XI and XIV.

EDIT: And ahhhhhhhh nothing like gaining stam.

[Antonok]

Looking at the XIII Ultimate fights, looks like a Reflect Boss>Phys party set up will work on him, if only to negate his constant hasting of himself. Otherwise he doesn't seem to have any tricks outside just hurting. Deals both phys and magic damage.

The U+ on the other hand.... this guy is going to suck. He gets an immediate action at the start (so no hit and run tactics for those that adopted it), well, technically it looks like he gets three attacks at the start. He also has a regen he can cast on himself which will heal him ~9200 a tick so it needs dispelled quickly in addition to it raising his attack and magic.

So yeah, plan accordingly.

[Hunter Noventa]

I only had enough greens for 1 item, I grabbed the Cursed Ring for now, 20 Mag and 15 Def is nice, and V is a fairly common realm.

[Greg_S]

I'm wondering which to buy. It's cool we get some unseen ones, like XI and XIV.

EDIT: And ahhhhhhhh nothing like gaining stam.

Elemental Resists are great. Definitely grab a Gigas Armlet, even if you have the one already. Moderate resist cuts damage by 30% (maybe 40%? I've seen both numbers.), so it's a pretty solid layer of mitigation on its own.

Instant death resist lets you resist gravity attacks. YMMV there, when we've seen big gravity attacks, they've usually been phase change moves like on Kuja and Seymour, and you could use Magic Blink to avoid them.

People in JP were talking about another Omega fight coming up, and that the soulfont talisman (XIII) had useful blind resist, so that might be another handy one to grab.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Oof, so many good resistance accessories. Grabbed the Gigas Armlet (which is an absolute steal) and the Coral Ring for now. Gonna have to go daily-crazy for the next few days to see if I can poach a few more.

[Friv]

Yeah, I'm seriously thinking about dumping all of the 14 suprise Mythril into Sundaily this week in order to get all the greens I need for these accessories. It's a better deal than a 3-pull.

[Antonok]

Yeah, I'm seriously thinking about dumping all of the 14 suprise Mythril into Sundaily this week in order to get all the greens I need for these accessories. It's a better deal than a 3-pull.

Keep in mind that BSBFest is coming up, so that 3 pull might be worth saving for :smalltongue:

[Slayn82]

I conceded myself another 3 pull on the VII banner, and got two 4* and a second Wizard Staff. 180 Mag with RS isn't bad, and Minwu can pair with Aerith decently for double Medica.

Dealing with the U+ is going slow. First time used a Wall RW, Ying Yangs only used single target attacks. Lost to the third boss, switched Basch in for tauntaliate, and instead had to deal with lots of AOE physical attacks from them. This is going to be tricky.

[danzibr]

Elemental Resists are great. Definitely grab a Gigas Armlet, even if you have the one already. Moderate resist cuts damage by 30% (maybe 40%? I've seen both numbers.), so it's a pretty solid layer of mitigation on its own.

Instant death resist lets you resist gravity attacks. YMMV there, when we've seen big gravity attacks, they've usually been phase change moves like on Kuja and Seymour, and you could use Magic Blink to avoid them.

People in JP were talking about another Omega fight coming up, and that the soulfont talisman (XIII) had useful blind resist, so that might be another handy one to grab.
Thanks!

Yeah, I'm seriously thinking about dumping all of the 14 suprise Mythril into Sundaily this week in order to get all the greens I need for these accessories. It's a better deal than a 3-pull.
Seconded. Plus I have so many people to get to 80.

EDIT: III mastered. Left myself 1 or 2 in XI. Haven't touched XII. Feel kinda bad for elite Bahamut. Locke's Dimissal triggered 3 times in a row. Poor guy hardly got a move, didn't even Megaflare.

[Jurai]

Thanks!

Seconded. Plus I have so many people to get to 80.

EDIT: III mastered. Left myself 1 or 2 in XI. Haven't touched XII. Feel kinda bad for elite Bahamut. Locke's Dimissal triggered 3 times in a row. Poor guy hardly got a move, didn't even Megaflare.

Agreed. I bought the Brutal Earrings, since I was working in XI at the time and needed a 5* item for a third physical attacker. It's no +30, but the +20/+10 is just as good, honestly.

[danzibr]

Agreed. I bought the Brutal Earrings, since I was working in XI at the time and needed a 5* item for a third physical attacker. It's no +30, but the +20/+10 is just as good, honestly.
I was tempted to get it. I mean, at this point I haven't gotten any. Available until July. Siting just under 100k greens.

[Friv]

Keep in mind that BSBFest is coming up, so that 3 pull might be worth saving for :smalltongue:

Ehn.

Spending fifteen mythril on a 3-pull on the BSB gives me a 9% chance of getting a BSB relic, and a roughly 1.8% chance of pulling two or three.

Fifteen mythril spent on the XP dungeon gives me a guarantee of getting three 5* accessories, with a good chance of getting more if I get a few gysahl drops (it only takes four drops over eighty-one battles to get one more accessory). It also gives me an additional 14 million XP, enough to level five characters from 65 to 80, plus at least 217 growth eggs (worth another two million XP) and probably quite a lot more than that.

[danzibr]

Ehn.

Spending fifteen mythril on a 3-pull on the BSB gives me a 9% chance of getting a BSB relic, and a roughly 1.8% chance of pulling two or three.

Fifteen mythril spent on the XP dungeon gives me a guarantee of getting three 5* accessories, with a good chance of getting more if I get a few gysahl drops (it only takes four drops over eighty-one battles to get one more accessory). It also gives me an additional 14 million XP, enough to level five characters from 65 to 80, plus at least 217 growth eggs (worth another two million XP) and probably quite a lot more than that.
I like your thinking ;)

For me, I still need to get Agrias, Vanille, Kuja, Vivi, Zidane, Zell, Reno, Tifa, Bartz, Yuffie, Galuf, Porom, Ingus, Arc, Hope, Vaan, DK Cecil, Luneth, Ramza, Shadow, Palom, Rydia, Refia, Balthier, Red XIII, Firion, and WoL to 80. By golly, that's 27. Better pick my favorite 5 before Sunday.

[Simkin]

Probably shortsighted of me, but I really have no interest in buying any of the accessories. I'm sure there will be bosses that it will matter more, but I haven't had to use a resistance accessory yet. I have tons as it is, and don't have endless space for them. Just seems like a waste. Sitting at 62K greens right now. Keep trying to get toward a 100K stamina point, but I keep buying a 5* orb here and there.

[Red Fel]

Probably shortsighted of me, but I really have no interest in buying any of the accessories. I'm sure there will be bosses that it will matter more, but I haven't had to use a resistance accessory yet. I have tons as it is, and don't have endless space for them. Just seems like a waste. Sitting at 62K greens right now. Keep trying to get toward a 100K stamina point, but I keep buying a 5* orb here and there.

My thinking is kind of the opposite of yours. Although I agree, for the most part, on accessories - aside from +Resist accessories for specific Cid Missions, I just don't feel inspired to spend - I'm not saving for the stamina shards. In fact, I haven't bought any so far. The reasons are (1) I would only buy a stamina shard to top myself off, basically getting a refill, and I'm generally not in that position, and (2) I'd rather spend on the orbs. They're valuable to me. Having well-honed 5-stars is more valuable to me than having +Resist gear or an extra 1/5 of a stamina point, generally speaking.

Also, only one more Elite and I'm completely current on the new DU. (Still have some old stuff to clear, but the new will be done.) Bahamut III, it's on.

[Simkin]

My thinking is kind of the opposite of yours. Although I agree, for the most part, on accessories - aside from +Resist accessories for specific Cid Missions, I just don't feel inspired to spend - I'm not saving for the stamina shards. In fact, I haven't bought any so far. The reasons are (1) I would only buy a stamina shard to top myself off, basically getting a refill, and I'm generally not in that position, and (2) I'd rather spend on the orbs. They're valuable to me. Having well-honed 5-stars is more valuable to me than having +Resist gear or an extra 1/5 of a stamina point, generally speaking.

Also, only one more Elite and I'm completely current on the new DU. (Still have some old stuff to clear, but the new will be done.) Bahamut III, it's on.

Like I said I buy orbs, just not always all three. I just want the shards in the long run.

[danzibr]

Probably shortsighted of me, but I really have no interest in buying any of the accessories. I'm sure there will be bosses that it will matter more, but I haven't had to use a resistance accessory yet. I have tons as it is, and don't have endless space for them. Just seems like a waste. Sitting at 62K greens right now. Keep trying to get toward a 100K stamina point, but I keep buying a 5* orb here and there.
Man, I dunno, I've used resist accessories a lot. Not sure when they'll come up, if ever... earth resistance, eh? Anyway.

My thinking is kind of the opposite of yours. Although I agree, for the most part, on accessories - aside from +Resist accessories for specific Cid Missions, I just don't feel inspired to spend - I'm not saving for the stamina shards. In fact, I haven't bought any so far. The reasons are (1) I would only buy a stamina shard to top myself off, basically getting a refill, and I'm generally not in that position, and (2) I'd rather spend on the orbs. They're valuable to me. Having well-honed 5-stars is more valuable to me than having +Resist gear or an extra 1/5 of a stamina point, generally speaking.

Also, only one more Elite and I'm completely current on the new DU. (Still have some old stuff to clear, but the new will be done.) Bahamut III, it's on.
Bahamut was quite easy. I did the classic with a Squall BSB RW. Would've made the elite even easier.

I'm holding onto my last couple for Sunday. Have 164 4/5 stam.

Oh right, and yeah, all those accessories, need more space.

[SuperPanda]

I need to go through my inventory and clear out some of the stuff that doesn't get used before I can browse fatabo shop

I'm curious about how positive everyone is on the resist gear - last time I tried using them was on Rubicant ultimate and I could barely see a difference between the people with 3*++ fire resist armors and people with robes.

I'm starting th III dungeons after clearing the xi classics for nostalgia. Hearing March of Vanadiel again brought me back. Happily there was no valkrum dunes.

Haven't gone back to VII u plus yet, might try this Time without killing the jammer - it's always beam spam that kills me.

[danzibr]

Better space out my BM's when I get peeps to 80. Have 6 BM's to level, but 27 total. I've been taking parties of 3 thanks to exp RM.

Looking at my list, there are only 3 people I really want to level: Yuffie, Agrias, Shadow. First 2 because I have their relics, Shadow because I want his.

Edit: SuperPanda, I dunno the numbers on 3++ armor v accessory, but ideally you can get a load more resist from your armor, and the elemental resist from your accessory. More mitigation.

[SuperPanda]

Not yet sure who will be in my leveling party. Will have one a lister working to 80 and two working to 65

I've got just under 300 mythril no waiting on BSB fest. So many relics I want from the up banners. Cecil SSB, balthier SSB, Ramza SSB, and of course thyrus.

I do want chainsaw or drill too, but likely only doing single pulls for both fiagro bros banners.

[Slayn82]

Organizing a bit the inventory, I discovered that since the last festival, by drawing from various banners, and doing 100 gems in each, I got 20 natural five star relics - not counting freebies. 3 were repeated, 2 were not so great shields (Emerald Shield X and Golden Shield VI), and one was a shared Dragon Armlet VII. This leaves 14 unique SBs.

I'm sitting at 11 unique character SSBs. I got 7 of those since the last festival.(Tyro*, Red XIII*, Vivi*, Minwu* before/ Lulu, Ramza, Celes, Zell, Aerith, Zidane, Beatrix since).

Other Relics: 2 Rikku Flexible Arm, 2 Tidus Seekers Shield, Yuffie Pinwheel, Joseph Dragon Claws, Basch's Golden Axe, Edea's Sorcerer's Crow, Golbez Dark Armor.

I used most of my mythril in 3 pulls and single pulls. Only 11 pull at FF IV Banner netted me nothing. Also got nothing on the FF III banners. I'm currently at 9 mythril, and 144/4 stamina. Have 14 classic dungeons and about 40% of the elite dungeons to clear.

Not bad. I will try to pull for a couple of the next festival Banners, hopefully get a BSB soon, and try to get some V character relic.

[danzibr]

11 SSB's! That's nuts. I have way more regular SB's than I do SSB. But then again, I suspect I've been playing longer, dropped mythril on banners which didn't have SSB's.

Still. Nice 8)

[Slayn82]

Thanks Danzibr. I got some good luck since the festival. There's also roughly the same amount of 4*s. I think before the festival I will make a post on Reddit to check how others not hoarding went.

Also, beat the U+. Used almost the same team from U, but with Beatrix instead of Basch, and Divine Guardian instead of Wall, again. Ha to spend one Mythril, but having the whole party with full SB, ready to burst Ying Yangs and the Griphon and have abilities +2 on top was very worth it.
Magic wasn't much of a threat, and Regen/protectga/power breakdown/full break lessened a lot the danger of physical attacks.

Red XIII sees Beatrix also take some power from him. Random targeting can be annoying. Ramza is a more relevant support, Zell deals more damage, on the target I tell him to hit, as does Beatrix, who also can cast Shellga and occupies better the anti-magic niche. And he can't compete seriously with the Mages or all the Thiefs I have. And Wakka/Irvine are waiting for a chance in the spotlight, as are Rikku/Yuffie and the dancers.

He isn't bad, but often going to be the second/third option. He is very versatile, so it's good to have him around, but I will have to think new tricks to teach him. Good to clear dungeons, not so much to fight bosses without a warm up.

[tyckspoon]

Man, I wish I had that many SSB (..or.. even decent character SB) to play with. Especially on some of my otherwise quite good characters - Squall/Cloud/Sephiroth are pretty beefy, but without a good SB they really have an issue closing out tougher fights when the abilities are running low and/or you need really effective damage-per-action to damage race through boss Weak mechanics. I suppose it would help some if I bit the bullet and crafted/honed more 4-star stuff for my physical beaters - I've got enough -ja spells, more or less, but I keep running out of spellblades/Dismissals when I try to run physical on U+ level stuff.

[Friv]

Is there an easy way to check how many SSBs you have? I'm honestly not sure what's an SB and what's an SSB any more.

[Slayn82]

You click on the item and see a yellow + over the SB icon.

[SuperPanda]

Looking at my accessory inventory (contents in spoilers)

+ denotes frequently used and I think I should keep it
- denotes infrequently used and I think I should scrap it
~ denotes unsure if worth keeping
* denotes - this item is special for some reason and even if its bad, I'm keeping it.


Crystal Orb VI +15 ATK, +20 MAG ~ (gets frequent use with Terra's Enhancer)
Amulet VI +20 MAG ~
Muscle Belt VI +10 ATK +300 HP -
Black Belt IX +20 ATK ~
Protect Ring V +500 HP -
Hyper Wrist VIII +20 ATK
Crystal Ring I +10 Def, moderate sleep and paralyze resist ~
Horn of Ice III +20 ATK + (synergy)
Sand Pearl IV +20 MND ~
Fury Ring VII Atk +15, Def +10, HP + 150 ~
Bacchus Wine II +20 ATK +
Blaze Armlet +Major fire resist +
Bolt Armlet + Major Lightning resist +
Champion Belt VII +15 Atk, +10 Def ~
Pearl Rouge IX +15 Mag, + ?resist to sleep ~
Giant's Ring VII +500 HP -
Aurora Armlet + Major holy resist +
Muscle Belt X +20 Atk ~
Magick Gloves XII +15 Mag +150 HP ~
Zephyr Cloak VI Res +15, Moderate earth resist ~
Wolf Earing VII +20 Atk ~
Hope's Scarf XIII + 15 mag, minor death resist ~
Black Belt VI +20 Atk ~
Squall's Necklace VIII + 30 Atk +
Mage's Armlet X + 20 Mag +
Emerald Ring XIV +20 MND ~
Blazer Glove XII + 20 Atk ~
Flame Cloak + 15 mag, +moderate Fire Resist * (first ultimate ever won - trophy to be kept).
Cat's Bell VII Mnd +15, HP + 500 ~
FFT Bracer +20 atk ~
FFT Aries Stone +30 Atk +
New Beginings Sphere X +30 Mnd +
Memento Ring Major resist against death ~
Relief of Cerebrus VII + 30 Mag +
Cid's Glasses XII + 30 MND +
Gulug Stone + 15 Mag, + mod fire resist ~
Black Mage Twinstars IV + 30 Mag +
Sky breaker + 15 mag, + mod ice resist ~
Yuna's Obi + 15 MND, + mod holy resist ~


+ ATK acc: I'm thinking I should pick 3 of my +20s based on low synergy realms (II, III, and X probably) and scrap the rest. That way I have 2 +30 and 3 +20s to pick from.

+ MAG acc: Crystal Orb is suprisingly worthwhile as a + 20 accessory given my 5 best mage weapons are Rinoa's Cardinal++, Rydia's Ice whip+, Garnet's SSB, Ashe's Rube Blade, and Terra's Enhancer - 4 out of five can be used for decent auto damage. Magick Gloves could be very useful to keep seeing as most mages have low HP and Flame Cloak/Sky Breaker would cover up to 6 mages.

+ Def/Res accessories: I don't have many and I haven't kept many. Fury ring looks amazing on paper but I rarely use it since getting +30 attack accessories and a +20 attack in VII. Specialization usually feels more valuable.

+ Mind accessories: Cat's bell stands out as a keeper as does Yuna's Obi. Outside of white-mage nightmare will I ever need that many +Mnd accessories?

+ HP accessores - +500 HP without anything else doesn't feel "worth it" - but Cat's bell certainly looks nice.

+ specific resistances - I'm being told "major" resists are really worth it even after counting on Shellga and a wall RW. My only testing was against ultimate Rubicant using Ice armor and Ice Shield (both at ++) versus 4* robes or a 5* hat w/o fire resit. after wall and shell and considering the res difference - i think the robes actually mitigated better. maybe i'm wrong though.

[danzibr]

Hm. Big question: anyone have number crunching which supports moderate resist is worth it?

Also, looking ahead to BSBfest, while I believe the banners are going t o change, I had a gander at the banners JP got.
Banner 1: Pretty decent. I'd like Pally Cecil's Excalibur, Shadow's Ichigeki, and Sephiroth's coat. Not bad.
Banner 2: Nothing I really want.
Banner 3: Good as banner 1. I'd like Cloud's 1st Fusion Sword, Zack's Apocalypse, Ramza's Grand Armor, and Agrias's Kaiser Plate.
Banner 4: Now this is the f---ing bomb. BSB for Bartz and Tyro, SSB for Gilgamesh and Ramza, the desirable Thyrus, then Vincent's and Basch's armor.
Banner 5: Solid. BSB for Terra and Tidus. SSB for Celes (and Selphie). Then Zack's and Beatrix's gloves, Yuffie's Medica, and SG.

Right now, I have just over 200 mythril. Probably another bit under 100 by the end of BSBfest, enough for 5, maybe 6 pulls. As-is, I'd probably do 1 on 1, 1 on 3, 2 on 4, and 1 on 5. I already have Yuffie's Medica and SG, otherwise I'd rate 5 higher.

[tyckspoon]

Hm. Big question: anyone have number crunching which supports moderate resist is worth it?


Google says moderate means 30% resist, which is about the same as 53% more defensive stat. Or half of an additional shell/protect. Likely better than a Res or Def accessory when it's relevant, not worth giving up much higher base stats for if you'd be swapping from a natural 5 star armor to a lower tier one just for the resist. Of course, that only applies when the boss attacks against your resist, so you either need broad resists (Gigas Armlet), a boss that has a very restricted attack list (Rubicante, element dragons) or just using the more generally applicable def or res items.

[Friv]

You click on the item and see a yellow + over the SB icon.

So, no, then.

Don't really want to click on a hundred plus items one at a time to figure out which ones' SBs are super. I was hoping there was some sort feature that was useful for that.

[SuperPanda]

Hm. Big question: anyone have number crunching which supports moderate resist is worth it?

Also, looking ahead to BSBfest, while I believe the banners are going t o change, I had a gander at the banners JP got.
Banner 1: Pretty decent. I'd like Pally Cecil's Excalibur, Shadow's Ichigeki, and Sephiroth's coat. Not bad.
Banner 2: Nothing I really want.
Banner 3: Good as banner 1. I'd like Cloud's 1st Fusion Sword, Zack's Apocalypse, Ramza's Grand Armor, and Agrias's Kaiser Plate.
Banner 4: Now this is the f---ing bomb. BSB for Bartz and Tyro, SSB for Gilgamesh and Ramza, the desirable Thyrus, then Vincent's and Basch's armor.
Banner 5: Solid. BSB for Terra and Tidus. SSB for Celes (and Selphie). Then Zack's and Beatrix's gloves, Yuffie's Medica, and SG.

Right now, I have just over 200 mythril. Probably another bit under 100 by the end of BSBfest, enough for 5, maybe 6 pulls. As-is, I'd probably do 1 on 1, 1 on 3, 2 on 4, and 1 on 5. I already have Yuffie's Medica and SG, otherwise I'd rate 5 higher.

If nothing changes banners 1 and 4 want to eat my mythril. There is stuff I want on every banner but my most desired 5 are Pencil BSB, tyro bsb, balthier SSB, Ramza SSB, and thyrus. 3 of those are on banner 4 and 2 are on banner 1. Now there is lots more I want but I'd rank those the highest.

I'm at 302 right now, so I could in theory have 350 or maybe 400 by BSB fest depending on how much comes our way by then.

[Red Fel]

Also, looking ahead to BSBfest, while I believe the banners are going t o change, I had a gander at the banners JP got.


If nothing changes banners 1 and 4 want to eat my mythril.

Well, let's see what my priorities are. For reference, I'm going off of the banners listed here (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/orb-dungeon-3/); the contents may be subject to change. For simplicity's sake, I'm going to ignore SBs, although there are some good ones.



Cecil's BSB sword: Excalibur! The BSB is a 5-hit AoE Holy PHY, with En-Holy; the commands are a 1-hit single-target Holy PHY with self-heal, and a 2-hit AoE Holy PHY. This thing is a Holy damage machine, self-augmenting. Given that Holy is rarely resisted, and a useful weakness (particularly against undead enemies), I'd rate it highly.
Shadow's SSB dagger: It's Ichigeki, and it's great. An instant-cast 8-hit with two charges of Blink. Incredibly useful in a pinch, or for a quick kill towards the end of a long boss fight.
Eiko's SSB instrument: Fairy Flute, people. Medica + Reraise. Simple enough, and helpful if you don't yet have a medica.
Balthier's SSB gun: Aldebaran. If you don't have a good gun, this is a decent gun, albeit not amazing. The SSB also has the useful Imperil Fire mechanic, as well as dealing Fire damage, so this is potentially very valuable. Don't forget that Balthier has Spellblade 4, which means he has Firaga Strike. Very useful, if a bit niche.
Verdict: I'mma pull.

Yuna's BSB gun: Tiny Bee. Need a good gun? This isn't it; it stinks. The BSB is decent, though. Basic is 10-hit Non-elemental to one target; commands are a Non-elemental AoE and a very weak medica. Honestly, I'm not sold on this one.
Agrias' SSB sword: Defender. Good weapon, strong SSB (4-hit ranged PHY, Paralyze and Silence procs), on a good character. Nice.
Fran's SSB bow: Traitor's Bow. Seven attacks on a single target, Full Break at Breakdown strength. Pretty potent against single-target boss encounters. Nice.
Vanille's SSB staff: Physician's Staff. Medica + ability refresh. Like Fairy Flute, it's nice to have, and the ability refresh is a great bonus. Nice.
And while I wasn't going to go into SBs, it's worth noting that this banner has Leon's Gold Armor, for Hand of the Emperor.

Verdict: Not amazing.

Cloud's BSB sword: First Fusion Sword. We all know Fenrir Overdrive by now. Raw physical brutality. Useful when physical abuse is called for. Decent.
Yuna's SSB rod: Full Metal Rod. 5-hit AoE Non-Elemental SMN damage, moderate Res boost. Given the availability of superior Res boosts (looking at you, Divine Guardian) this doesn't wow me.
Zack's SSB sword: Apocalypse. 4-hit ranged AoE plus Hastega. It's good if you need a Hastega.
Penelo's SSB rod: Holy Rod. 3-hit single-target Holy WHM, plus medica. This is actually pretty decent, in my book, because it's multifunctional - it's a decent medica and a solid Holy bomb.
This banner also has Ramza's Grand Armor, for Tailwind (Protectga + medica), which is decent, and Agrias' Kaiser Shield (3-hit single-target Atk/Mag Breakdown), which is great.

Verdict: Not amazing, but the Holy Rod is kind of nice. The SBs are better.

Bartz' BSB sword: Ragnarok. Basically, this BSB is all about physical abuse with elemental attacks. The basic effect is a pile of single-target abuse. The two commands are then Wind/Water or Fire/Earth single-target abuse. Great if an enemy is vulnerable to elements; this is a solid choice against spellblade-susceptible enemies. Not wonderful outside of boss fights, or in battles where elemental weaknesses are absent or unusual. Decent, but not inspiring.
Tyro's BSB book: I can't translate all those kanji. The basic effect is Protectga, Shellga, and Magic Blink; the commands are an offensive and a defensive break. The basic effect is really quite nice, although a Hastega would have been nicer; the commands are useful in that they are condensed, although they're unlikely to deal a lot of damage, because Tyro. Assuming they stack, however, they're really helpful.
Gilgamesh's SSB katana: Genji Blade. 3-hit AoE plus Regenga. Not an obscenely good SSB, but Regenga is helpful and Gil is a powerful character.
Ramza's SSB sword: Platinum Sword. Shout. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.
This one also has Y'shtola's Thyrus.

Verdict: I said SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.

Terra's BSB rod: This thing is sick. The opening volley is a 5-hit AoE that deals almost triple damage per hit. The commands are multi-hit Fire/Non and Water/Non single-target nukes. Things are going to die. This is an ability that is good at all times. It is glorious.
Tidus' BSB sword: Razzmatazz. Cute. Really good against a Water-vulnerable enemy, because the base effect is a multi-hit single-target Water PHY with En-Water, and the commands are single-target and AoE Water/Non PHY attacks. Pretty decent, if niche.
Celes' SSB sword: Excalibur again. 5-hit plus Grand Cross, on a very powerful character. SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY.
Selphie's SSB nunchuks: Crescent Wish. Medica + magic blink. Still widely used.
This one also has Yuffie's Clear Tranquil and Tyro's Sentinel Grimoire.

Verdict: Yes.
I'm planning a pull on each. But if I had to prioritize, I'd say 4 > 5 > 1 > 3 > 2. But that's me.

Moving on: Did you know that we get another event tomorrow night? This one's the XIII event, Dangerous Beauty, featuring the debut of everyone's favorite maguffin character, Serah. The event also features Lightning's new outfit, Fang, Sazh, and Snow, MCs for all five, and MC2s for everyone other than Lightning. There's also a Hero's Soul, Empty MC, and Empty MC2, as well as the usual 4-star and 5-star accessories about which we really don't care.

Serah is a plot device Black Mage with some White Mage thrown in - BLM 5 and WHM 3. Standard caster array of daggers, rods and staves, plus swords and bows because reasons, and hats, robes and bracers. To compare her with Vanille, Serah has better Attack and Defense, worse Mind; to compare her with Hope, Serah has worse Attack and Defense, but better Mag (and still worse Mind). But if you want more people on the back row, say hello to your second XIII BLM.

Banners! The first:
Overture: Lightning's BSB sword. Pure Attack. 7-hit single-target 1.15x PHY damage.
Sirius: Sazh's SSB gun. Pure Attack. Protectga, Faithga, high Regenga.
Serah's Glove: Serah's SB bracer. Attack, Magic, Mind, Defense, and Resistance. 2-hit single-target 5.9x Non-elemental NAT magic damage; 4 charges of Short Charge (halves casting time of BLM/WHM/SMN abilities and SBs).
Airwing: Hope's SB thrown. Attack, Magic, and Mind. AoE 8.55x Earth BLK damage, Power Breakdown.
Glaive: Fang's SB spear. Pure Attack. 5-hit random-target 1.02x ranged PHY damage, chance to Blind.
The second:
Power Circle: Snow's SSB fist. Pure Attack. 4-hit AoE 1.5x Ice PHY damage, party +Def.
Starseeker: Serah's SSB bow. Attack and Magic. 5-hit AoE 2.84x Non-Elemental BLK damage, auto-Slow.
Partisan: Fang's SB spear. Pure Attack. 3-hit AoE 1.3x-1.4x (roughly, it varies) Jump damage, Armor/Mind Breakdown.
Corps Field Uniform: Lightning's SB light armor. Attack, Defense, and Resistance. En-Lightning.
Wyrmfang: Vanille's SB rod. Attack, Magic, and Mind. Protectga + medica.
Common items include Tigerclaw (shared-SB rod, single-target Non-Elemental BLK damage and Slow chance) and Gold Bangle (stat-stick bracer).

So, should you pull? It's not an amazing set of items. There's a BSB, so that's a thing. The SSBs are alright, too. But Fang's gear is sitting on both banners taking up space, Airwing disappoints, Wyrmfang is showing its age, and the Corps Field Uniform is no longer as unique as it was. They're not bad, they're just not amazing compared to their contemporaries. Unless you need synergy or really love Lightning, I'd pass.

Bonus battles!
+: Boss rush. You'll need Ice damage and a source of Slow. Victory gets you orbs, eggs, and MC2s for Sazh and Fang.
Svarog: Medals for not getting KO'd and for exploiting the Ice weakness. He's also weak to Wind, and susceptible to both Paralysis and Sleep. He deals exclusively physical damage, single-target or AoE, but with Intimidate that's a non-issue.
Nelapsi and Taxim (x2): Medals for not getting KO'd and for causing Slow. They mix physical and magic, and Nelapsi is out of range, so bring casters and/or guns. Taxim are susceptible to pretty much every element ever. Slow to mitigate more effectively, and remember that the Taxim don't die just because Nelapsi does.
++: Juggernaut. Medals for not getting KO'd, afflicting it with Blind, and afflicting it with Slow. It's susceptible to those, Silence, and Poison. If you keep it debuffed, it will remain in Steam Clean state, which limits its offensive power. In Steam Clean, it only uses physical attacks, but if you give it time to purge, it has a powerful magic attack, Incinerate. Victory gets you orbs, and MC2s for Snow and Serah.
+++: Dahaka. Medals for not getting KO'd, reducing Dahaka's Mag, and dispelling its Haste. Remember that you can do that either with Slow or with Dispel/Banishing Strike. Its damage is primarily magical. It also shifts between three elements - each has strengths (Firestorm absorbs Fire/Lightning, Bone-Chilling absorbs Ice/Water, Plague resists everything) but no weaknesses. He can be Slowed unless in Plague form. Mitigate his magic and Dispel his Haste. Be warned that he also uses Doom. Victory gets you orbs, a Rosetta Stone, and an Empty MC2.
Happy hunting.

EDIT: If you're on the fence about spending on these banners, don't forget that the Summoning Nightmare (with accompanying Lucky Draw) is coming up in two weeks, and there are plenty of useful items (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/4ml2i4/lucky_draw_preview_neo_bahamut_and_why_you_have/) on that banner.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Gah. I've got 92 mythril and plenty of core dungeons left to gather more from, but between all the events and daily runs to gather greens for accessories, who has the time? Truly devious, DeNa.

On the BSBfest banners, agreed that 1, 4, and 5 look like a clear cut above 2 and 3, but I feel like the question mark surrounding Shout is when you'll actually need more than two of them. With everybody and their grandpa using it as their RW, is there really much need to have it natively?

[SuperPanda]

For myself right now the value of having shout natively is how it frees up my party configuration because I don't have wall native (hence why banner 4 looks so good - either wall or shout means awesomeness will follow).

Right now I can have shout in function but I need Arieth as my healer not using medica and another character for their haste - usually garnet for divine guardian. That means I'm pretty much always using Ramza for tailwind and that is 3/5 of my a team set up to make an effective shout to go with wall.

I'd prefer to have shout + dream stage native (when going against magicaly bosses) or at the least the choice to shuffle between my healers.

Alternately if I get thyrus then I can RW shout and have Ramza and Ysholta as more permanent a listers. Having both on the same banner is awesome (and there is the + attack on already powerful Ramza too).

[danzibr]

Welp, not as successful as I hoped. 2 more 80's, 2 more 65's, 3 (?) mythril spent.

[Greg_S]

Gah. I've got 92 mythril and plenty of core dungeons left to gather more from, but between all the events and daily runs to gather greens for accessories, who has the time? Truly devious, DeNa.

On the BSBfest banners, agreed that 1, 4, and 5 look like a clear cut above 2 and 3, but I feel like the question mark surrounding Shout is when you'll actually need more than two of them. With everybody and their grandpa using it as their RW, is there really much need to have it natively?

The accessory greens will be around for a while, so you don't need to rush as much on those.
As an owner of native shout and wall, sure, you can always RW one of those two, but when you've got both natively, it opens up so many options. If you have SG, it helps that keeper and Ramza are both characters with huge skillsets. Want to run Ramza with FB + a ninja skill for Cagnozzo? Sure! I like going Dark Bargain + Magic Breakdown on keeper for painful debuffing. For the Dr. Cid U+, which was all about holy damage, I had Ramza use banishing strike and keeper with Saint Cross.
With native shout and SG, you get to start taking niche RW options. Some of my favorites:

HOTE/Apoc Shield: hit the attack cap in bad-synergy realms like III or XIII
Clear Tranquil/Will of the White Mage: Instant Panic Button
Renewing Rains: Save an ability slot for shellga and waste boss turns
Banishing Blade and other combo debuffs: Especially handy on bosses using physical attacks, because of the way the boss soft cap for ATK works.


You can always RW shout too, but the freedom to bring something else means your party doesn't have as many limits.

There aren't a lot of medicas on the JP banners. I wouldn't be surprised if a few got swapped in for us, or if Beatrix' Ragnarok made an appearance. Fingers crossed for Kuja's gloves, too.
Red's summaries are good, just adding my two cents:
Platinum Sword, SG, and Thyrus are all game-changing relics that you can build teams around, and are every bit as good as the hype.
Ichigeki is as good as advertised. If you draw it, it's wise to invest in augmenting a katana, as Shadow does not have sword access. I used a Shimmering Blade (X) which is up to 136 attack. With that, a bracer, and a +30 accessory, Shadow's attack is at 369 in non-synergy realms.
Tidus' BSB is depressing. It gives you en-water on a character with zero additional water skills. On a spellblade who could suddenly fling waterga strikes with flare strike potency? It'd be wonderful. On Tidus its potential is wasted.
I haven't seen any info on Terra's BSB, so if it adds an en-element, that would change this, but I think its biggest benefit is putting burst mode on a mage. Mages are harder to boost than physical attackers, and Terra doesn't have access to Memento Mori, but burst mode gives her a nice little boost to her already-fantastic stats.
Celes' Excalibur has holy damage up, so if you draw both Excaliburs, Cecil's holy damage gets even more ridiculous.


I was looking at the possible list for the summon lucky draw. The comments on it have been pretty positive, but I can't help but feel nonplussed about a lot of the items on the list. I'm still going to pull on it, because I like doing pulls, but I fully expect to draw something like the Ice Whip here.

[danzibr]

To add a thought of mine, this passed into my mind the other day. Imagine Tyro with SG and his BSB. Build up a couple SB bars, use the BSB first, Shellga + Protectga + Magic Blink, use SG next, Wall. All-in-one defense character.

[Red Fel]

On the BSBfest banners, agreed that 1, 4, and 5 look like a clear cut above 2 and 3, but I feel like the question mark surrounding Shout is when you'll actually need more than two of them. With everybody and their grandpa using it as their RW, is there really much need to have it natively?

Having native access to the trinity is major, because it frees you up to use additional RW options. Consider, for example, a multi-boss battle where all of them are susceptible to Blind. An RW like Aurochs Reels or Shadow Flare would be incredibly useful there. But if you only have, say, a wall, you need a RW with Hastega, simply to be able to keep up with three bosses.

Further, having a native SB means that you can use it more than twice. Not all boss battles last that long, but some do, and having to time your RW usage precisely because you only get two shots at this can cause a TPK. It has for me. (And don't forget that Ramza can use Lifesiphon, so you'll definitely have access to Shout when you need it.)

That's the point. Being able to bring one of these S/SBs on your own means your RW becomes a valuable tool that you can choose, rather than an inflexible requirement.


For myself right now the value of having shout natively is how it frees up my party configuration because I don't have wall native (hence why banner 4 looks so good - either wall or shout means awesomeness will follow).

This.

Also, in an upcoming event (likely after the BSBfest), we can expect Y'shtola's MC2. So if you thought she was an A-lister before, this will really secure her position.


I haven't seen any info on Terra's BSB, so if it adds an en-element, that would change this, but I think its biggest benefit is putting burst mode on a mage. Mages are harder to boost than physical attackers, and Terra doesn't have access to Memento Mori, but burst mode gives her a nice little boost to her already-fantastic stats.

You can find BSB commands here (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/bsb-commands/). Terra's does not include an En-Element. It is excellent against a Fire- or Water-vulnerable enemy; alternatively, it is still valuable against magic-susceptible enemies, because it involves multi-hit single-target magic nukes that deal over 2.5x damage per hit.


I was looking at the possible list for the summon lucky draw. The comments on it have been pretty positive, but I can't help but feel nonplussed about a lot of the items on the list. I'm still going to pull on it, because I like doing pulls, but I fully expect to draw something like the Ice Whip here.

Two big things to keep in mind with respect to Rydia's relics. First, they're whips, meaning they do full damage from the back row. With synergy, that's not major, but at least respectable. Second, her S/SBs are SUM type, as opposed to BLK type. That means that they don't trigger BLK-based counters, and they're augmented by things that boost SUM abilities (such as Rydia's Eidolon's Bond RM). So pulling one of those isn't halfway bad.

I'm not sure what you mean by nonplussed. Sure, there are some so-so items on the list - true of any banner. And admittedly, the characters involved are a mixed bag, because you've got both WHM and BLM summoners. But for the most part, pulling a 5-star on this banner would be a very nice thing. With very few exceptions, they're at least solid; remember that magic S/SBs tend to have delightfully high multipliers.

I, for one, welcome our Eidolon-wielding overlords.

[Starwulf]

So, I have to say, that while I really dislike Yuffie in general, she really impressed me with her damage output in conjunction with Thiefs Revenge. Had to put her in my group for the "Special Mission", and she was, with nothing but full break on, dishing out roughly 16-17k damage with it(about 32-3400 a shot, 5 shots). Seems like she might be the obvious go to in place of Tidus for FFVII dungeons in the future, even though she's not level 80 like Tidus, he can't use TR and she can.

[SuperPanda]

Glancing at the summoner lucky draw, there is a surprising amount there which I'd be a little meh about. Krile, Arc, Yuna, and Hope would provide me with synergy stat-sticks which is always nice.

I have Rydia's Ice Whip+ so getting a third would rival Rinoa for mag-based back row fighting weapon. Getting a new SB for her would be very welcome too.

I've got 2/3 of Eiko's SBs and have Garnet's best SB. I have Arieth's 2 best SBs (strong medica and PP) and already have trouble using more than PP in practice.

Definitely going to pull, but I'm a bit more tepid in my excitement because it looks less likely that I'll get the awesome things I want.

On BSB fest banner hype: What follows is entirely my subjective thoughts based on my leveling/favoritism of characters and current relic selection.


Cecil BSB - one of my favorite characters from a favorite game, and my hands down best knight, and a hands down awesome weapon... This alone might justify 2 pulls if I have the mythril. Going a whaling
Shadow SSB - Instant cast is awesome, less impressed by Shadow than others, but it would be nice to have.
Eiko SSB - already have it. meh
Balthier SSB - a good SB with a great rider on a great character who I also love. Yes please
Seph's Coat - a light armor for VII. unneeded but useful Stat-stick
Faris's Bow - A good ranged weapon, and a good V weapon. Nice to have
Rinoa's Dress - Don't have much Earth element damage, Rinoa is currently my best mage. Nice to have
Sabin's Claws - Already having trouble using all my VI people and gear, Sabin ins't likey to unseat the others. Meh
Relm's Hoodie - I can't remember what the SB on this is, but Relm is fun. Nice to have

Overall - would pull once, maybe twice if I can budget it. - eager to see how it changes.



Yuna BSB - Mind based guns, very specific. Nice effects, gives a reason to use Yuna. Nice to have.
Agrias SSB - Can't use the synergy often, but good weapon on great character who I also like. Yes Please
Fran SSB - Currently Fan isn't on my XII roster because she lacks a decent weapon - this fixes that with a good SB Yes Please
Vanille SSB - Don't care about the character, but its Font of Wisdom + Medica - never bad. Nice to have
Leon's Armor - good SB, synergy stat-stick. Character i'd seldom use. Nice to have
Leila's Dagger - its Boon, on a thief, in II. Nice to Have
Penelo's old staff - medica and boostga, fits Arieth's role as PP with smaller boost but with a Medica. I'll take one
Minwu's Robe wow there is alot of II on this banner. This was his blasty SB. Meh
Edea's hat Kefka's cloak for VIII - redundant on its own, but could be quite nice. Nice to have

Overall - I really want Agrias and Fran's items, but most of the rest is unimpressive. Might actually pass if unchanged.



Cloud BSB - Powerful SB on already powerful char, another +10 attack. Yes please
Yuna SSB - +Mag staff with blasty SB on a healer. Why not? Nice to have
Zack SSB - Nice damage, Hastega, already on my VII team. Yes Please
Penelo SSB - Like Red said, Nuke and Medica, both strongish - Very yes
Tidus's Shield Haste and abilty charge - much better than his default. Nice to have
Ramza Armor Already have one at + level Meh
Edge's 2nd Katana slicy slicy, lightning Nice to have
Agrias Shield good +lighting damage stats. Coral Blade IX + this + Lightning SSB = pain. Yes Please
Ingus Shield Useful stat-stick, can't remember what the SB does. Probably nice

Overall - while nothing on this banner screams "Want!" the banner 1 and 4 do - it has a large variety of useful stuff. Worth 1 pull if not changed too much



Bartz BSB - Powerful weapon on a powerful character in a realm where I lack synergy - Yes please
Tyro BSB - potentially a second full break worth of stacking debuffs, but SB buffs - the super support Yes Please
Gil's SSB - Powerful weapon on a powerful character in a realm where I lack synergy - Yes please
Ramza's SSB - An even more powerful and versatile SB on my go to support A whalin we will go
Vincent's Cloak - I didn't pay attention last time, probably won't care this time either. Meh
Basch's Shield - Useful SB on a useful character with a useful modifer - Yes Please
Lenna's Flames of War - almost shout? A good sized fish caught while whaling - still a good thing
Y'sholta's Wall - Wall! A whalin' we will go!
Balthier's Second gun - Not as awesome as his SSB, but with steal power/shout should put out strong pain. Yes Please

Overall - depending on how much I can afford - might be the first banner I've ever done 3 11 pulls on.



Terra BSB - Rinoa would no longer be my top mage and I'd be okay with that. Yes Please
Tidus BSB - Powerful weapon on a powerful character in a realm where I lack synergy - Yes please
Celes SSB - A Runic affect on a character I like and already use frequently without a relic - Yes Please
Selphie SSB - While wonderful, I already have one
Zack's Glove - An auto-stun on my second go-to VII physical. Yes Please
Beatrix's Glove - don't remember what it does, but the general is pretty good. Nice to have
Tyro's Wall - Wall! If Thyrus fled my nets, might have to whale here.
Yuffie's Medica - Already have it.
Vaan's Katana - I want one SB for Vaan, any of them. I use him a good amount and a good SB would be awesome.

Overall - I'd likely save one pull for this banner but overall I'm not as impressed as I am with 4


If there is ~75 mythril to earn between now and BSB fest (-25 for Summoner Lucky) that would be 350 myhtril or 7 possible pulls. 2pulls on Banner 1, 1 on 3, 3 on 4 and 1 on 5 = 7 pulls... not sure I'd do that, but its how I'm thinking right now

[Starwulf]

Grrr....did anyone else have trouble landing slow on the first round of the Boss Rush? I've killed them entirely 3 separate times now, and not once has slow landed. Starting to become very frustrated, can't afford to lose 3 medals straight out like that. Rofl, literally the very next run my very first Tempo Slow landed on the penguin dude. Huzzah and onwards! First event I've bothered to go past the difficulty 99 stage in...well quite a few events.

Ouch, first attempt at the ++ ended disastrously almost immediately. The first two rounds, both guards used grenade, killing 3 people even with protect up. Obviously just bad luck, they do have 2 other attacks, just rngesus out to kill me on that try, lol.

Edit: And the Demon wall is done and gone as well. Actually quite the chump, took a Shout RW to change things up, and that combined with Barret's Grenade Bomb + Full break, and Tyro's SG made that go reaaaallly fast. Hit like a wuss, and was taking 3200 a shot from Thiefs Revenge(and that was without Steal Power, I took Shadowblade for the sap chance, only used it once though, by the time I used that and 4 uses of TR it was dead).

So, the Ultimate looks fairly doable, once I have the stamina I'll be going after it. But the U+....man I don't think I have a chance in hell at taking that one out. Don't think I have the hones, or just the raw firepower to beat it. The mitigation seems doable with Shellga+Sentinel Grimoire, but I'm not sure even with Shout that I can kill all those creatures.

[danzibr]

They snuck in an extra RM at some point. Quina's, Support deals more damage, need to be in IX. Waiting until the next IX event to get it. Down to needing 3 including it.

[Forbiddenwar]

I was looking at the next ultimate and ultimate +
The ultimate doesn't look too bad, a tauntilate start should negate all the physical damage leaving me free to just mitigate magic damage.

But the Ulti+, *shudders* massive, single target, and AoE, and even random( bypassing any taunt abilities) magic and physical attacks. And there are multiple foes. Everything about it says don't even think about trying. The future events site recommends we use Tyro's bssb, but as far as I know, no one has a chance to have that.

[danzibr]

I was looking at the next ultimate and ultimate +
The ultimate doesn't look too bad, a tauntilate start should negate all the physical damage leaving me free to just mitigate magic damage.

But the Ulti+, *shudders* massive, single target, and AoE, and even random( bypassing any taunt abilities) magic and physical attacks. And there are multiple foes. Everything about it says don't even think about trying. The future events site recommends we use Tyro's bssb, but as far as I know, no one has a chance to have that.
Yeah... I fear this'll be the first U+ I can't master. Apparently a lot of people had problems with Caius. They voted him for the revenge battle.

EDIT: Did the new 142 dungeon. Was surprisingly easy. Like, the boss came with 3 adds, the adds went down in just a couple AoE's, boss did piddly damage.

[Greg_S]

You can find BSB commands here (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/bsb-commands/). Terra's does not include an En-Element. It is excellent against a Fire- or Water-vulnerable enemy; alternatively, it is still valuable against magic-susceptible enemies, because it involves multi-hit single-target magic nukes that deal over 2.5x damage per hit.

Thanks for the link. Terra's BSB commands hit harder than a -ja, so I take that back- it's pretty good!



Two big things to keep in mind with respect to Rydia's relics. First, they're whips, meaning they do full damage from the back row. With synergy, that's not major, but at least respectable.

That's more meaningful for Quistis and breakdowns. If you're doing dungeons, I'm assuming summoning spring is on Rydia.



Second, her S/SBs are SUM type, as opposed to BLK type. That means that they don't trigger BLK-based counters, and they're augmented by things that boost SUM abilities (such as Rydia's Eidolon's Bond RM). So pulling one of those isn't halfway bad.


I'm not sure what you mean by nonplussed. Sure, there are some so-so items on the list - true of any banner. And admittedly, the characters involved are a mixed bag, because you've got both WHM and BLM summoners. But for the most part, pulling a 5-star on this banner would be a very nice thing. With very few exceptions, they're at least solid; remember that magic S/SBs tend to have delightfully high multipliers.

They have high multipliers, but a lot of them fail to beat the existing 4* summons, which is the problem. Summoners haven't gotten a lot of love in the past few months.
I think only 4 of these items are from post-celebration banners: Rydia's Odin, both of Arc's, and Rinoa's party dress, so they're on the downside of power creep. There are some medicas on the list- not the greatest (emerald light excluded), but bad medicas are still good SBs.
The damaging SBs are shaky. The single-target 1800% modifiers are huge, but -ja spells are 900% when neutral, and you can get two casts off in the SSB's cast time, so it's equal there unless you'd be hitting for over 9999 on a -ja. I guess for a last-turn move on a weak phase boss, it's better.

Let me restate my opinion on this banner: We're close to another fest. There's a lot of "meh" on the banner, and as a wall owner, only DG really jumps out as a game-changing relic for me, so I may hold onto my 25 myth here.

[danzibr]

I'm certainly dropping 25 mythril. Can't beat 'dat half-price.

Well, in all seriousness, maybe it's better to save for the really good BSB banners, but I know I won't be able to help myself.

[Hunter Noventa]

I'm certainly dropping 25 mythril. Can't beat 'dat half-price.

Well, in all seriousness, maybe it's better to save for the really good BSB banners, but I know I won't be able to help myself.

I personally have gotten up to 265 mythril as of today, and that's if I don't clear out anymore core dungeons that drop it, or dailies that i've yet to get to. So I'll definitely pull on the Nightmare Lucky Draw, and then every banner but 2 most likely. If I build up enough I might pull twice on a couple of them.

[danzibr]

I personally have gotten up to 265 mythril as of today, and that's if I don't clear out anymore core dungeons that drop it, or dailies that i've yet to get to. So I'll definitely pull on the Nightmare Lucky Draw, and then every banner but 2 most likely. If I build up enough I might pull twice on a couple of them.
Oooh, nice. I have a mere 1 more mythril from core content, juuuuust barely over 200 total. With the 25 from the Nightmare banner, doubt I'll have more than 250 to spend by the end of Orbfest. Looking forward to seeing the official banners, can budget accordingly.

[Hunter Noventa]

Oooh, nice. I have a mere 1 more mythril from core content, juuuuust barely over 200 total. With the 25 from the Nightmare banner, doubt I'll have more than 250 to spend by the end of Orbfest. Looking forward to seeing the official banners, can budget accordingly.

I think I've spent like, 2 mythril on refreshes during orbfest since the FFT banner that got me 2 Platinum Swords, i'm surprised I have as much as I do sometimes.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Finally cleared out the + through +++ battles this morning. I think that finishing with an event before the next one drops is a new experience for me. It admittedly helps that Carry Armor dunked me so hard that clearly it's not worth seriously pursuing. Now hiring dancers, must supply own dances.

Demon's Gate was more of a struggle than I'd have liked, too. I initially brought a Fenrir Overdrive RW to make sure I punched through him before Petrif-Eye came out, but his rushes kept making a mess of things. Switching to Hand of the Emperor proved enough, but I felt a little ridiculous doing it since I have Apocalypse Shield native. I just can't build enough meter though. Really felt the lack of Lifesiphon, SB-friendly RMs, and a medica. Getting close on the first two, crossing my fingers for the summon lucky draw on the third.

[Calemyr]

Question: I have about 18 mil in gold. I am always dancing around 100 abilities. Is there any reason not to shatter every ability I have and rebuild from scratch? Any advice on what to focus on when rebuilding if I were to do so? I'm not as awesome as some of you folk, but I can usually get up to the Ultimate fights (Relm's MC2 is the only event crystal I've failed to get).

Also, I'm sitting on 32k Gyshal. I've already gotten Squall's necklace. I hear Gigas Armlet is a valuable one. Are there any other ones people would advise I grab? (Also note I'm still missing MC2s for Locke and Vanille, so I possibly should save 10k for a second blank MC2.)

[Merlin the Tuna]

Question: I have about 18 mil in gold. I am always dancing around 100 abilities. Is there any reason not to shatter every ability I have and rebuild from scratch?You lose about half the orbs involved each time you shatter. Example: crafting a Firaja costs 5 greater black and 8 greater fire. Shattering it gives you back 3 and 4, respectively. Shattering is generally not something you want to be doing regularly.
Also, I'm sitting on 32k Gyshal. I've already gotten Squall's necklace. I hear Gigas Armlet is a valuable one. Are there any other ones people would advise I grab? (Also note I'm still missing MC2s for Locke and Vanille, so I possibly should save 10k for a second blank MC2.)Gigas is great. In general avoid the +stat ones since they aren't terribly unique or large upgrades over the stuff we can collect on the regular, even from non-ultimate fights. Moderate or major elemental resist (particularly fire and lightning) and Instant KO resist (which also resists %HP attacks) are generally worth picking up. Minor resistances (like Hope's Scarf) are generally not significant enough to be worth shopping for, however.

[Red Fel]

Question: I have about 18 mil in gold. I am always dancing around 100 abilities. Is there any reason not to shatter every ability I have and rebuild from scratch? Any advice on what to focus on when rebuilding if I were to do so? I'm not as awesome as some of you folk, but I can usually get up to the Ultimate fights (Relm's MC2 is the only event crystal I've failed to get).

Other than diminishing returns?

Ability shattering doesn't get you a 100% refund. So if you think you might use an ability, I'd advise against shattering, particularly if it's a 4- or 5-star one.

And when it comes to lower-star abilities, I've shattered most of mine, honestly. A few specific 2-stars for debuffs and such, various 3-stars, sure, but I've shattered a few at this point.

That said, if you were to consider shattering things, I'd advise you to only craft and hone what you need. Better to sit on a pile of orbs than to have wasted them on an ability that was neat at the time. I mean, in the early stages of the game, Flare was the ultimate BLM. High multiplier, massive Non-Elemental damage. No resisting that thing. Now? It's almost toxic how people will avoid it.


Also, I'm sitting on 32k Gyshal. I've already gotten Squall's necklace. I hear Gigas Armlet is a valuable one. Are there any other ones people would advise I grab? (Also note I'm still missing MC2s for Locke and Vanille, so I possibly should save 10k for a second blank MC2.)

Don't bother buying the MC2s unless you're very far behind. We'll be expecting more and more of them - you will catch up eventually. If you buy now, you're basically just purchasing a QoL step-up.

As for accessories, first off, don't bother buying any +20 accessories. At all. Unless you've had a really tough time with Ultimates, you should be getting a +30 every so often, and that's what a +20 is after synergy. +30s are your bread and butter, and if you need them, great.

Similarly, of the Death Resist accessories, one offers "slight" Death Resist. That's basically worthless, given the high hit rate of Death effects, so I'd pass on it altogether.

This Reddit post (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/4l2azy/preanalyze_accessory_shop_evaluation/) discusses the merits of different accessories. Note that it's based on the JP green shop, but I'm pretty sure the accessories are the same. Additionally, keep in mind that the upcoming Big Bridge event features a boatload of accessories (view them here (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/4mqijf/big_bridge_accessories/)) - that might influence your purchase decisions.

Personally, I'd look at what you have. Consider investing in the +30 stat sticks. I probably wouldn't pick up any relic that isn't 5-star, but I'm a snob. Then again, I'm also dumb enough to not actively invest in +Resist accessories, simply because I would rather kill the thing faster than survive its hits.

[Slayn82]

I bought Gigas Armlet, Flame Cloak, another Ice resistance +Mag Ring, and I want the Major and Moderate KO resistance. Hate Gravija, hate hate hate. Ignoring the Bonus Stats.

Also, I'm on a Work related travel, so it's possible won't be much active until Friday, but I can't pass the opportunity to wish to everyone that will pull on XIII banner a Marvelous Time.

[Calemyr]

See, this is why I ask these things. I didn't know the shatter service was inefficient. I thought the cost was, well, the cost. That's more than sufficient reason to not just scrap it all. I mean, outside of Boost, Doublecut, Retaliate, and Lullaby, I don't have anything less than 3 stars. The temptation to scrap my R5 Thundaga to boost my R3 Thundaja was tempting, though. Not to mention all the abilities they hand out that I rarely use, like the jumps (why use a dragoon when a spellblade works just as well?) and monk abilities. Not so much anymore, though.

I have not had much luck with the Ultimates. Honestly, by the time I get the + fights down, I'm burnt out and just skip the ultimates. They simply aren't fun. Like I said, just not as cool as some of you.

[danzibr]

It's kind of surprising we get Serah now, then Cid quite a ways down the line, and don't get Noel for a long donkey time.

And man, looking ahead... I'm not sure I want to keep playing. It's not much of a money sink for me, only do $1 per banner. And it's not even *that* much of a time sink. With core cleared, just do dailies, DU stuff, and events. But... it never ends. Reminds me of why I quite RO and WoW.

I'd really like to see more plot for FFRK itself. Like, at the beginning we see Tyro's hopping into pictures or something because they're being corrupted. And this somehow (?) times in with the Nightmare/Abyss stuff. Maybe when we get all 12 of those dungeons there'll be some plot stuff happening.

Then again... it's probably a huge cash cow. Can't let it come to an end.

[Simkin]

Pretty happy with my progress Sunday. Finished catching up my 80s with the latest five. Back to having all characters maxed at 80 that can be. Now working on the next crop of stragglers to 65.

[Jurai]

I've got a ridiculous list of level 1s, twenty-two in total, with (aside from Core) the greatest concentration in IV and VIII.

[danzibr]

Pretty happy with my progress Sunday. Finished catching up my 80s with the latest five. Back to having all characters maxed at 80 that can be. Now working on the next crop of stragglers to 65.
Crazy as always :P

I think I counted it up, had 27 to get from 65 to 80. Got 2 this weekend, so 25, but... with this event we get a few more. Yeah, dunno if I'll ever catch up.

EDIT: Ooooh. FFXII remake coming to PS4. Exciting.

It doesn't seem to be a remake in the same magnitude/sense that VII is getting one, but I'm excited. Still need to play the 3d IV, then uhh... I'll have played all versions of... oh wait, no, need to do X & X-2 still. Yup, need the 3d IV, the remaster of X & X-2.

[SuperPanda]

My gems have netted me a second 5* since buying them. First was Basch's axe which has been awesome. Now is Sazh's SSB gun. Also means I have 3 XIII guns so New Years party might become a Rosetta Stone.

[Greg_S]

Ooh, Serah can equip swords. Drew her gloves on a 100-gem pull, so she's got my enhancer, the gloves, and a +30 accessory. Welcome to the mage team, Serah, and your SB'd better involve throwing a moogle.

[T.G. Oskar]

My gems have netted me a second 5* since buying them. First was Basch's axe which has been awesome. Now is Sazh's SSB gun. Also means I have 3 XIII guns so New Years party might become a Rosetta Stone.

I'd normally wouldn't make even a 1-pull on the FFXIII banner, since it's a game I loathe, but I must acknowledge that Sazh's SSB gun is just peachy. I mean, sure - it's not Divine Guardian, nor Mighty Guard, but when you already have sources of Haste, it's pretty nice...and it also boosts Magic, which is good if you're aiming for some Mage meta (or just want to buff whatever few casters you have). I feel Sazh with both Vega 42s and Sirius Sidearms and Wrath could make for a pretty nice support for the Support Nightmare... Coupled with Ramza, that is. Protect, Shell, major Regen, two sources of Haste and boosts to Attack and Magic...
On other topics - managed to finally beat Carry Armor. Demon's Gate will remain as a Complete, because I find it hard to beat it in less than 10 turns, to avoid Petrif-Eye. Had to S/L a few times, but one thing's for certain - without good synergy, even having Shout AND SG at once won't do much.

Team, of course, as follows:
Gilgamesh, lv. 74; Butterfly Edge, Power Sash, Wolf Earrings; Retaliate R5, Draw Fire R4; Dragoon's Determination
Ramza, lv. 68; Golden Sword, Platinum Shield, Soft Bracer; Magic Breakdown R3, Armor Breakdown R2; Battleforged
Keeper, lv. 70; Morning Star 6*, Minotaur Plate, Rune Armlet ; Swift Bolt R3, Multi Break R1; Dr. Mog's Teachings
Aerith, lv. 51; White Staff, Holiday Mittens, Dr. Cid's Glasses; Curaga R3, Shellga R2; Thief's Code
Cid, lv. 59; Wind Spear (IV), Dragoon Armlet, Wolf Earrings; Lightning Leap R3, Sky Grinder R1; Self-Sacrifice
RW: Princess Favor (Lenna)

The big problem I found was the timing on mitigation. With SG, Shellga, and either Multi Break or Magic Breakdown, Lapis Laser dealt around 200 damage at first; however, after all of that, it started dealing more and more damage. Gil with Faithful Companion and the RW offered Heavy Regen, which helped, but not as much as I'd like to. The difference was vast, tho - with SG and Shellga alone, Lapis Laser could do 1k damage easily, and if for some reason SG dropped off, damage was enough to 1-hit KO anyone battered enough. Thus, having the Keeper held before using SG, or when SG was about to run out, was a bad idea. Same for Ramza before using Shout, since I had to save the AoE attacks until I used it (specifically Faithful Companion, which dealt pretty nice damage and filled pretty fast enough).

The winning run involved using Multi Break and Magic Breakdown at the right moment - not too early, not too late. Once the two arms were off, the battle actually turned easier; sure, the damage even with full mitigation was hitting like crazy (1k damage with SG/Shellga/Magic Breakdown), but the lightning damage also made the battle end faster (Lightning Leap pretty much took it from half-bar to near-death).

Mastered, with 1 medal lost to actions and 2 to damage. I might feel tempted to try the U+, since apparently it's...easy? Will have to do it with SG, Shout and Rosa's Divine Favor, thus attempting it with a true Trinity.

Finally: apparently an item has finally taken down the defense offered by my only 7* item, the Mythril Mail from FFVI. Turns out it's...Basch's Platinum Shield at 5*. Power Creep is turning to be too absurd... Though I have a spare Mythril Mail, which should turn that armor to 8* when the item upgrade also comes in.

[SuperPanda]

I'd normally wouldn't make even a 1-pull on the FFXIII banner, since it's a game I loathe, but I must acknowledge that Sazh's SSB gun is just peachy. I mean, sure - it's not Divine Guardian, nor Mighty Guard, but when you already have sources of Haste, it's pretty nice...and it also boosts Magic, which is good if you're aiming for some Mage meta (or just want to buff whatever few casters you have). I feel Sazh with both Vega 42s and Sirius Sidearms and Wrath could make for a pretty nice support for the Support Nightmare... Coupled with Ramza, that is. Protect, Shell, major Regen, two sources of Haste and boosts to Attack and Magic...


I spent a single gem pull on it because of lightning strike BSB which just looked strong and because my synergy for XIII is weak. I've onto gotten relics for XIII as gifts, lucky draws, or on celebration banners when chasing something else.

That said, Sazh's gun as 4 more attack than lightning's SSB making it my best gun for off synergy realms.

Still hoping to get a balthier upgrade since I only have his beginners banner gun. Also still hoping on a decent bow. For now I'm happy there.

I have not yet played XIII or the sequels. I'm not likely to in the future.

Hyped for the XII remaster, though it's likely two years till the steam version which is the way I'd rather buy it.

[Starwulf]

Rawr! The Carry Armor ultimate is driving me nuts. kongbakpao says it has two attacks, Lapis Laser(all), Lapis Laser(single target). I call total bullcrap on that. In 3 attempts, it's done nothing BUT the AoE version. Even with SG I just can't get ahead on the healing and I consistently lose either Tyro himself, or someone else.

Meh, this ain't happening. Even getting ahead on healing didn't help once I killed the arms. Literally one-shotted Barret with the single target laser immediately after I killed it's arms, then took out Tyro, followed swiftly by the rest of my team. I Just don't have the defense to handle it. The offense, yes, it was more then halfway dead, but I just can't survive long enough to kill it.

[Antonok]

Pretty sure Carry Armor only gains the singe target after the arms are defeated. At least I don't remember it used until then.

[Chen]

My gems have netted me a second 5* since buying them. First was Basch's axe which has been awesome. Now is Sazh's SSB gun. Also means I have 3 XIII guns so New Years party might become a Rosetta Stone.

Heh I also got Sazh's SSB gun with my 100 gem pull. I'm really not sure what I'd use it for though. I guess a mage team but with Sazh as support? Seems kinda awkward.


Pretty sure Carry Armor only gains the singe target after the arms are defeated. At least I don't remember it used until then.

This is correct. While his arms are up he has a low damage AoE (uses on the first two turns) and a high damage AoE (unlocks on turn 3 and has like 97% chance of being used subsequently). The confusing bit is that they're both called Lapis Laser. Once both arms are dead he replaces the low damage AoE with a higher damage single target Lapis Laser.

[danzibr]

Speaking of Sazh, his new RM is top priority for Retaliate teams. Another attack x2!

Also, looking at Caius, I don't think he'll be too bad. Good few single-target physical attacks. I'm going to try the blow-a-mythril-for-SB-charges strategy.

And.. the second boss in the boss rush was actually kind of hard. Like, way harder than the usual boss rush boss.

[Red Fel]

Speaking of Sazh, his new RM is top priority for Retaliate teams. Another attack x2!

Also, looking at Caius, I don't think he'll be too bad. Good few single-target physical attacks. I'm going to try the blow-a-mythril-for-SB-charges strategy.

And.. the second boss in the boss rush was actually kind of hard. Like, way harder than the usual boss rush boss.

Actually, the Nelapsi/Taxim battle is often like that - absurdly easy or crushingly hard, depending on a number of factors. My advice is to burn down the Taxim fast. They're weak to pretty much everything, so it's not too hard to do, but if you leave them in weak state, they'll start throwing out debuffs, which can ruin things. The other challenge to the fight is that everyone uses a combination of physical and magical attacks, so it's harder to mitigate. I just threw up Shellga, rotated Full Breaks on each, and then focused fire on each Taxim followed by the Nelapsi.

Juggernaut, though? Total cakewalk. He only performed a single damaging attack. (He tried to perform two, but he was Blind both times. Just the second time, his physical AoE hit one person.) I gave Fang Venom Buster and Tempo Flurry, and Sazh Full Break and Blind Shell, and it was a cakewalk; he was too busy Steam Cleaning most of the time to do anything else, and if he did he was too Blind to hit. Bonus, when he died I got Sazh's Double Barrel, so one less RM to farm.

Out of stam for now, but later I'll tackle the +++ and share my thoughts.

[danzibr]

Yeah, ++ was laughably easy.

+++, I'm out of stam, but looking at everything the boss can do... seems like it'll be rough. Probably go physical heavy with Shout RW.

[tyckspoon]

To add a thought of mine, this passed into my mind the other day. Imagine Tyro with SG and his BSB. Build up a couple SB bars, use the BSB first, Shellga + Protectga + Magic Blink, use SG next, Wall. All-in-one defense character.

It's a neat idea, but from my personal experience trying to overload your defenses on a single character means you get somebody killed/irrecoverably beat up before you can put up all your mitigation. Getting everything up in that first turn or two is critical to handling the higher damage output bosses. It's especially bad if you're relying on the cast times of 2 different SB to get it going.. if you're lucky enough to have both SG and the BSB, I'd probably use the BSB (and then Tyro can cover your Support slot for Breakdowns, maybe use his normal slots for weird medal target conditions or other status vulnerabilities) and RW in the Wall.

[T.G. Oskar]

Rawr! The Carry Armor ultimate is driving me nuts. kongbakpao says it has two attacks, Lapis Laser(all), Lapis Laser(single target). I call total bullcrap on that. In 3 attempts, it's done nothing BUT the AoE version. Even with SG I just can't get ahead on the healing and I consistently lose either Tyro himself, or someone else.

Meh, this ain't happening. Even getting ahead on healing didn't help once I killed the arms. Literally one-shotted Barret with the single target laser immediately after I killed it's arms, then took out Tyro, followed swiftly by the rest of my team. I Just don't have the defense to handle it. The offense, yes, it was more then halfway dead, but I just can't survive long enough to kill it.

All I'd say is persevere. Ultimates in the end are just big RNGfests - sometimes, you get a run where you don't get mauled so badly, and then you can capitalize on taking the boss down. I've realized, in the last few Ultimates, that every move has to be executed flawlessly - know when to buff, when to mitigate, measure the duration of buffs, etc. They've helped me measure the time Retaliate and Draw Fire last, enough to know that, on speed 3, Retaliate lasts for around 3 turns (sometimes it runs off earlier), so your Tauntaliator is constantly on a rotation (Reta, DF, attack/SSB, Reta, and so on). Draw Fire lasts for about 5 turns, though, so you can switch things a bit (DF, Reta, attack, Reta, SSB, DF, Reta, attack, and then cycle again). Same thing with mitigation - if I'm sure to get a constant flow of damage, I measure each Breakdown for each quarter of the boss' HP bar (which is why I got confused by this one, because I had to kill the arms first; on my victory, I used Multi Break at first, then roughly after the first arm had its HP halfway, since by then I could use Shout and thus unload the AoEs). This usually means 3 or 4 turns. Once Shout is set up and mitigation is working, it's basically go time for ability use; by Weak phase, it's time for consecutive SB/SSB uses. Most of my S/L cyciles are because of using the wrong ability (like, using Veil of Protection instead of Faithful Companion, or Veil of Annulment instead of Shout, or Attacking insstaed of using Curaga when someone desperately needs the Curaga); the other is because the RNG was incredibly generous to the boss (like, having everyone focus fire on one of my characters while mitigation is starting).

Thus, all I can say is to persevere and keep trying. Eventually you'll get a run where everything runs flawlessly, and you can take it down. I mean: sure, Gil is almost there to second level cap and most are around level 70, but Aerith was at level 51, which is around 61 - 65 with synergy, so it's not like I had a full 80s team. It's doable, but it's a pain, and more so when you're relying more and more on the Trinity. Take note that I'm in a bit of a disadvantage regarding RMs, as I refuse to level up Cloud OR Lightning, hence missing on Mako Might and Thunderstrike (and thus, on two very valuable RMs); you might not have that limitation. I'm actually kinda happy that those are getting redundant on characters I might choose to level (I can make an exception with Yuffie).


Heh I also got Sazh's SSB gun with my 100 gem pull. I'm really not sure what I'd use it for though. I guess a mage team but with Sazh as support? Seems kinda awkward.

Yeah, but much like Tyro, he's set up to be a one-man buffing station. Protectga, Shellga, Haste, high Regen, Boostga and Faithga are pretty solid buffs. This sets up Sazh different from other Supporters; he's a buffer at heart. This is where Wrath does wonders; since it fills the SB gauge faster, you can use it to boost your damage (by a pittance, admittedly) and then double down on buffs (as long as you leave Caltrop Bombs for last). Support Nightmare will be a good example of it, since he can serve as your buffer while still keeping synergy bonuses. Since Ninja magic is always effective, the Faithga is not exactly lost; the Keeper can make pretty good use out of it. Plus, it's a gun, and a high damage gun at that, which is never bad.

[Merlin the Tuna]

I'd really like to see more plot for FFRK itself. Like, at the beginning we see Tyro's hopping into pictures or something because they're being corrupted. And this somehow (?) times in with the Nightmare/Abyss stuff. Maybe when we get all 12 of those dungeons there'll be some plot stuff happening.I get where you're coming from, but I'm actually surprised Tyro exists at all. Like Dragonball Xenoverse (which came out shortly after FFRK), this is pretty much the nostalgia ouroboros. It's pretty conspicuous when your game's plot is NOT "save the world and people that you, the main character, love so much" but rather "save the canon which you, the superfan player, love so much." It can't advance any storyline because the storyline exists solely for retrospective navel gazing. (This is also why my Tyro is somewhere around level 20. If I'm going to play a nostalgia bomb of a game, I'm going to give preferential treatment to characters I'm actually nostalgic for.)
On other topics - managed to finally beat Carry Armor. Demon's Gate will remain as a Complete, because I find it hard to beat it in less than 10 turns, to avoid Petrif-Eye.Petrif-Eye isn't a scripted attack, so he only has a chance to use it starting on turn 10. He's also vulnerable to slow, and his scripted rushes both (A) don't count as turns and (B) reset his ATB. You can stretch that window pretty long, basically. Might be worth giving another go if you're interested in the mastery rewards.
Finally: apparently an item has finally taken down the defense offered by my only 7* item, the Mythril Mail from FFVI. Turns out it's...Basch's Platinum Shield at 5*. Power Creep is turning to be too absurd... Though I have a spare Mythril Mail, which should turn that armor to 8* when the item upgrade also comes in.As I understand it, upgrading items to +++ rank in JP doesn't require another copy of the item, just a Dark Matter of the suitable rank.

[Red Fel]

+++, I'm out of stam, but looking at everything the boss can do... seems like it'll be rough. Probably go physical heavy with Shout RW.

Same. Snow for Banishing Strike, Fang for Tempo Flurry, Sazh for Magic Breakdown, Lightning for protagonism, and Vanille for healbotting.

Seriously, Lightning. This was supposed to be Serah's event. Do you have to hijack every XIII event?


It's a neat idea, but from my personal experience trying to overload your defenses on a single character means you get somebody killed/irrecoverably beat up before you can put up all your mitigation. Getting everything up in that first turn or two is critical to handling the higher damage output bosses. It's especially bad if you're relying on the cast times of 2 different SB to get it going.. if you're lucky enough to have both SG and the BSB, I'd probably use the BSB (and then Tyro can cover your Support slot for Breakdowns, maybe use his normal slots for weird medal target conditions or other status vulnerabilities) and RW in the Wall.

Very much so. It's why, when I'm in a fight that requires multiple forms of mitigation (e.g. Shellga and Protectga), I put the less-vital one on my wall-user. That way, in round 1, wall and a vital mitigation can go up, and in round 2, the next line can go up. I've tried putting all of my mitigation on Y'shtola; it doesn't always work well.


I get where you're coming from, but I'm actually surprised Tyro exists at all. Like Dragonball Xenoverse (which came out shortly after FFRK), this is pretty much the nostalgia ouroboros. It's pretty conspicuous when your game's plot is NOT "save the world and people that you, the main character, love so much" but rather "save the canon which you, the superfan player, love so much." It can't advance any storyline because the storyline exists solely for retrospective navel gazing. (This is also why my Tyro is somewhere around level 20. If I'm going to play a nostalgia bomb of a game, I'm going to give preferential treatment to characters I'm actually nostalgic for.)

Actually, apparently JP is getting more of the metaplot. Which is roughly half a year out for us, so there's that. I'm in no rush.

EDIT: Dahaka is down, and he was a sad, sad joke. Ironically, I thought I removed his Haste - I didn't, because he never put it up, and that cost me 3 medals. And since those were the only medals I lost - none for damage (because he only hit me twice with some absurdly weak spells) and none for actions (because it was over too quickly), I still got mastery. He opened with Faith (which I thought was his Haste); I followed immediately with Fang's Tempo Flurry (which Slowed him), Snow's Banishing Strike, Sazh's Full Break, and Vanille's Shellga. I then proceeded to spam Dismissal from Fang and Lightning. Between that and the Slow, he only took two actions - single-target Fira and single-target Blizzara.

And then he fell down. When he falls down, his Def drops. I was already using Shout, and at that point it was just abusive. He was Stunned so much that he didn't get back up - or take any actions - until he died. It was a slaughter.

Enjoy.

[danzibr]

Oh my my. I suspect I got lucky with RNG, but that was far and away the easiest +++ in a long time. Only did 3 or 4 actions: attack, Foul Utterance (I DG'd immediately after), Haste (I Banishing Strike'd), Lightning, then fell on its face, took a beating and died. I took about 2k damage the whole fight.

Edit: Just noticed Red Fel's edit. Nice. *high fives*

[Red Fel]

Oh my my. I suspect I got lucky with RNG, but that was far and away the easiest +++ in a long time. Only did 3 or 4 actions: attack, Foul Utterance (I DG'd immediately after), Haste (I Banishing Strike'd), Lightning, then fell on its face, took a beating and died. I took about 2k damage the whole fight.

I know, right? Only thing to do now is farm orbs, or RMs for Fang, Snow, and Serah. Probably gonna do RMs.

Still won't farm Qu until the next IX event, though, because seriously, that's a pain. Only IX realms? The cheapest one is 40-something stam! That's crazy talk! Fortunately, the next IX event is...

... scrolling down...

... huh. So, maybe August?

[Calemyr]

I know, right? Only thing to do now is farm orbs, or RMs for Fang, Snow, and Serah. Probably gonna do RMs.

Still won't farm Qu until the next IX event, though, because seriously, that's a pain. Only IX realms? The cheapest one is 40-something stam! That's crazy talk! Fortunately, the next IX event is...

... scrolling down...

... huh. So, maybe August?

I clearly don't have the damage potential of you guys because,while it may have been easy to lock that guy down, I had a devil of a time doing enough damage to beat him before my hones ran out. That said, I did manage to master the fight, so I've got a lot of RM farming ahead of me.

By the way, does anyone actually use the Rosetta Stones? I'm sitting on 13 and I don't know what would be worth upgrading like that.

[Antonok]

By the way, does anyone actually use the Rosetta Stones? I'm sitting on 13 and I don't know what would be worth upgrading like that.

I used them on my best ranged weapons so they'd have a bit more damage to them.

[Simkin]

I used them on my best ranged weapons so they'd have a bit more damage to them.

I have a number of weapons I've put at least several points into, but I've primarily concentrated on my A-team weapons that I often use despite realm synergy. Some of my higher ones are:

- Cutting Trigger (VIII) 118 (+17)
- 1st Fusion Sword (VII) 123 (+17)
- Buster Sword 6* (VII-CC) 124 (+10)
- Platinum Sword (FFT) 123 (+5)
- Thyrus 7* (XIV) 133 (+5)
- Valiant 7* (VIII) 111 (+5)
- Assassin's Dagger 7* (VI) 112 (+4)
- Sentinel's Grimoire 7*, 121 (+4)

I have a large number of +3s, but didn't list those. As you can see my three main swords have gotten the most attention. I have only been using stones for quite awhile (as opposed to merging eq), but I'm starting to get enough synergy in some cases that I may do some merging soon to clean things out a bit.

/Edit: In other news that was the lamest +++ battle ever.

[spectralphoenix]

Whats the current estimate for how much mithril is available between now and BSBfest? I just spent entirely too much mithril getting Lightning's BSB. Also got Serah's Gloves, which seem decent enough, Fang's spear (well, Gilgamesh can get XIII synergy with it, I guess) and Airwing (I also got Skycutter in an earlier banner, so now I have two relics for my most loathed character in FF canon.) Guess I'll be clearing out lots of Core content between now and then.

Also, it's a good thing the +++ is easy to beat in practice, because reading his ability list I have absolutely no idea what he actually does.

[Greg_S]

By the way, does anyone actually use the Rosetta Stones? I'm sitting on 13 and I don't know what would be worth upgrading like that.
Uncommon weapon types are good targets for Rosetta Stones. I don't mean blitzballs, but stuff like guns, katanas, or thrown weapons. Many realms won't have synergy options for these at all. For example, I've maxed out the augment on my Shimmering Blade (X) because I use Shadow and Yuffie a lot, and neither of them can use swords.

[Starwulf]

Inspiring words ^^

While I appreciate the comments, I'm just not sure if I want to keep trying. I'm trying to slowly get back into the game after being away from nearly a month, and forcing myself to keep going after something that's continuously whooping my arse seems like a quick way to just go "nope, not interested". LOL. I probably will give it one more try though, just to see if I have any better luck, maybe rngesus will smile favorably upon me this time. I think the reason Barrett died in a single hit was because SG had likely just dropped. I could have re-applied it one or two turns before but I was so busy trying to continuously heal myself back up I didn't think about SG dropping.

[danzibr]

Whats the current estimate for how much mithril is available between now and BSBfest? I just spent entirely too much mithril getting Lightning's BSB. Also got Serah's Gloves, which seem decent enough, Fang's spear (well, Gilgamesh can get XIII synergy with it, I guess) and Airwing (I also got Skycutter in an earlier banner, so now I have two relics for my most loathed character in FF canon.) Guess I'll be clearing out lots of Core content between now and then.

Also, it's a good thing the +++ is easy to beat in practice, because reading his ability list I have absolutely no idea what he actually does.
Grats on the draws! Mmmmm BSB.

Just checked, I'm sitting on 31 Rosetta Stones. I'm a hoarder.

[Starwulf]

Hmmm, on the subject of Rosetta Stones, I don't have many now, I used them all on my Variable Steel sword in the X realm. Mostly because it's a sword I used in almost every realm even before I rosetta'd it, now that I have it's a permanent mainstay.

Edit: Huzzah! The Ultimate has been taken down, with only 1 medal lost due to damage taken. Finally managed to have a run where everything went right for me. Managed to get SG up JUST before I killed the 2nd arm, I kept the body itself full-breaked/magical breaked right from the get-go, and with all of that I didn't lose anyone. Recast Shout the moment the 2nd arm was done and unloaded as quickly as I could(not that I have any good SB/SSB's for damage, Terra's magitek missile is the best over-all).

Would a full on mage-meta party work for the U+? I just don't see how I'd manage to beat it in any other way. Basically envisioning Tyro(Protectga/Curaja) with his SG, and then Terra, Reno, Vincent, and LuLu. Basically load up with Meteor, Ruinga, Quake, Maduin, Alexander, Waterja, Thundaja and then whatever else. Just go all out right from the start with AoE's and hope I manage to kill at least 1 or 2 of them before the AoE's run out.

If not, I don't think Imma bother, I've not been able to take on a U+ yet, I doubt anything's going to change on that front, I just don't have the damaging SB/SSB's that others have.

[danzibr]

Grats on the victory!

I think a mage party would work, given you have the hones. If you can keep Wall, Protectga and Shellga up, they shouldn't be doing much damage. Just need enough sustained damage output.

[Chen]

The U+ battle of the last event was just an attrition fight. There's a LOT of HP to go through but I'm not sure AoE is all that necessary. You don't need to kill Jammer armor in the last fight, though it can get tough if you have no Medica. The first two fights don't really have any trick to them. Just keep mitigation up and maintain damage. When I beat it I ran out of Hones on Yuffie but I had only brought 4 uses of Thief's Raid and 6 Dismissals with her. She ended up just attacking most of the last fight. Everyone else had enough between hones and SBs.

[Red Fel]

Bunch of mythril, by the way! The Portal App batch of mythril and eggs came in last night, and this morning's announcements included an apology mythril for misstating Juggernaut's Incinerate ability as physical instead of magical. So you should be much further ahead of where you had planned to be.

At this point, I'm over 300 and almost considering a pull on the Beginner Banner, just because. I could pull on that, the Summon Nightmare Lucky Draw, and still have resources to pull on every stage of the BSB.

Not sure I will. But I'm considering.

[Cozzer]

Hmm... I have a bit more than 100 Mithril and I'm going to pull on the Nightmare Banner because come on, 50% discount. Considering future Mithril gains, I think I'll manage to do more or less three 11-pulls from the BSBfest banners.

I'll have to carefully consider my options...

[danzibr]

Bunch of mythril, by the way! The Portal App batch of mythril and eggs came in last night, and this morning's announcements included an apology mythril for misstating Juggernaut's Incinerate ability as physical instead of magical. So you should be much further ahead of where you had planned to be.

At this point, I'm over 300 and almost considering a pull on the Beginner Banner, just because. I could pull on that, the Summon Nightmare Lucky Draw, and still have resources to pull on every stage of the BSB.

Not sure I will. But I'm considering.
Oh. Huh. I actually brought Protectga to that fight because of that tip. I found it weird but trusted Dr. Mog.

In other news, picked up a mythril and MPO from big chocobo. Still holding off on buying accessories.

[Calemyr]

Bunch of mythril, by the way! The Portal App batch of mythril and eggs came in last night, and this morning's announcements included an apology mythril for misstating Juggernaut's Incinerate ability as physical instead of magical. So you should be much further ahead of where you had planned to be.

At this point, I'm over 300 and almost considering a pull on the Beginner Banner, just because. I could pull on that, the Summon Nightmare Lucky Draw, and still have resources to pull on every stage of the BSB.

Not sure I will. But I'm considering.

I'm at 144, and that's just gross.

I'll probably just sit on my stones until after the whole BSB fest. Three good pulls (ironically I was planning on 1, 4, 4) should net me some interesting options. As of right now, though, I'd probably be focused on Vivi's Zeus Mace, which is the best Mag weapon I've got.

[SuperPanda]

The VII event u+ is finally down. I only got complete which means the tasty ice orbs didn't come to me, but I won which is what mattered.

The only real things I changed was leaving up Ramza, switching garnet to offense (not sure it helped) and waiting to refresh wall (didn't really help).

The XIII event is completed and mastered so far too. I can now go back to either greens farming or clearing the DU.

Eager for VI event so Edgar can level break. Not sure if I'll do more than a single pull per banner. And once that's done summoner nightmare should be up.

Then the next events I'm excited for are Rydia (she finally gets her adult Sprite) and xiv (well it's yet another chance for a wall) If these come before bsb fest I'll have a hard time deciding what to spend mythril on, if they come after I don't plan to have much mythril to spend.

[danzibr]

Grats on the victory!

Man, it's weird we have 16 realms for synergy yet only 7 represented in dailies. I'd like to see a few, like the gil or upgrade mats, switched to different realms.

[T.G. Oskar]

Edit: Huzzah! The Ultimate has been taken down, with only 1 medal lost due to damage taken. Finally managed to have a run where everything went right for me. Managed to get SG up JUST before I killed the 2nd arm, I kept the body itself full-breaked/magical breaked right from the get-go, and with all of that I didn't lose anyone. Recast Shout the moment the 2nd arm was done and unloaded as quickly as I could(not that I have any good SB/SSB's for damage, Terra's magitek missile is the best over-all).

Would a full on mage-meta party work for the U+? I just don't see how I'd manage to beat it in any other way. Basically envisioning Tyro(Protectga/Curaja) with his SG, and then Terra, Reno, Vincent, and LuLu. Basically load up with Meteor, Ruinga, Quake, Maduin, Alexander, Waterja, Thundaja and then whatever else. Just go all out right from the start with AoE's and hope I manage to kill at least 1 or 2 of them before the AoE's run out.

If not, I don't think Imma bother, I've not been able to take on a U+ yet, I doubt anything's going to change on that front, I just don't have the damaging SB/SSB's that others have.

Well, first and foremost, grats on the Ultimate! As I mentioned, Ultimates tend to be RNGfests, where sometimes you get everything wrong, and then you get that run where everything goes smoothly. That's why I mentioned perseverence - the RNG sometimes drops you a nice start, which then you can capitalize on.

As for U+...you can skip it if you want. I tried only one U+, and just the first few turns made me realize I was outmatched for it. I've been doing Ultimates reliably, but U+ still outclasses me with my A-team. I focus on Ultimates because of the accessories, but since U+ doesn't offer anything beyond more Major orbs and Crystals, it's mostly for bragging rights anyways. That said - Lightning damage will be more useful for Proudclad, and AoEs will be useful mostly for phase 1 and phase 3 (the Yin/Yangs and the Proudclad with Jammer Armor), so you should have either well-honed ST skills or decent ST SBs (and you already mentioned you lack those, other than Terra's Magitek Missile), so give it a run and gauge whether it's fair play or not.

As for Mythril: rounding around 130 with the FFPA batch, after using some for a 1-pull on the XIII banner, plus 100 gem pulls for both FFVII and FFXIII (weird, right? Then again, the intention was to buy Romancing SaGa II, and that was done already). Got scrap for those (well, at least I got a FFI Knight's Armor to raise mine to 5*), and I still have a handful of Mythril to catch from the FFXIII dungeons. I should easily get 150 for the BSBFest, even discounting the Summoner Nightmare Draw (hey, it's a good time to get Garnet's DG, maybe Terra's Minerva Bustier which has eluded me for so long, and given the last draws, either a second copy of any of Tyro's relics or, for some strange and unknown reason, get Last Judgment Grimoire), and 1-pulls on just about every event coming from now on. I only need a few more stages on the FFXIII event dungeon, so I could return to do Classic and Elite dungeons for more Stamina Shards and hence Mythril if I wanted to.

Question: Do the "defeat Ultimate/U+ with a full-synergy party" Cid's Missions bring something truly worthwhile? I found all of these Cid's Missions offer too little to actually motivate me to level up Cloud, or even dust him off, to comply. Most likely I'll do them if I actually get to meet them, just because I can do so. I mean, I've heard something (in Reddit, just in case) along the lines of having to measure use of Fragments for Record Diving if you want to succeed on most of the upcoming Cid's Missions, which already detail just how hard they can be (particularly when you don't have free access to the Trinity for every realm), so much like U+ currently, I'm asking if they're truly worthwhile. Most likely they'll offer Crystals, a bunch of Major Orbs or Fragments, but I don't find that as worthwhile as getting a new Accessory OR a free Relic.

[danzibr]

The only Cid stuff I remember reading was all just orbs. I dunno, maybe crystals or fragments later.

Speaking of which, only a few more events until we get fragments.

Aaaaaaaand I need to get Sazh's new RM. Nothing like more Advance shenanigans cheese. With 2 double hits and 2 instant attacks, that's a full set.

[Friv]

EDIT: Dahaka is down, and he was a sad, sad joke. Ironically, I thought I removed his Haste - I didn't, because he never put it up, and that cost me 3 medals. And since those were the only medals I lost - none for damage (because he only hit me twice with some absurdly weak spells) and none for actions (because it was over too quickly), I still got mastery. He opened with Faith (which I thought was his Haste); I followed immediately with Fang's Tempo Flurry (which Slowed him), Snow's Banishing Strike, Sazh's Full Break, and Vanille's Shellga. I then proceeded to spam Dismissal from Fang and Lightning. Between that and the Slow, he only took two actions - single-target Fira and single-target Blizzara.

And then he fell down. When he falls down, his Def drops. I was already using Shout, and at that point it was just abusive. He was Stunned so much that he didn't get back up - or take any actions - until he died. It was a slaughter.

Enjoy.

So hey, fun fact if you want to go up against Dahaka. If you use Tempo Flurry to replace his Haste with Slow, the game does not count that as removing Haste for the medal requirement. I lost a single medal for actions taken, so that little fact left me with Expert.

[danzibr]

So hey, fun fact if you want to go up against Dahaka. If you use Tempo Flurry to replace his Haste with Slow, the game does not count that as removing Haste for the medal requirement. I lost a single medal for actions taken, so that little fact left me with Expert.
Laaaaaaaaame.

Need 6 RM. Have all but Quina and Serah in my daily party. Dang 1-80 people.

[Hunter Noventa]

I didn't have an issue with Dispelling haste, bu I bring Agrias and Bainishing strike toe verything I can.

The real issue was the Juggernaut, I had to fight it twice because I completely forgot to even bring blind or poison the first time through.

[danzibr]

I didn't have an issue with Dispelling haste, bu I bring Agrias and Bainishing strike toe verything I can.

The real issue was the Juggernaut, I had to fight it twice because I completely forgot to even bring blind or poison the first time through.
Ouch, yeah, hard to master it without those :P

I'm about to make a spreadsheet with all my elemental resist armor and accessories, and stat accessories. Seriously bloated, gotta trim down.

[DiscipleofBob]

I've given up on trying to get caught up with anything on the game, but I've been still using the various guides to compile equipment, monsters and sprites for the purpose of hopefully running a full 5e (or 4e) campaign based off of Final Fantasy. I'm starting with just Final Fantasy I with the intention of letting the players go through the entire game's plot, with a few twists and turns from players and GM alike.

If this works out, I may try some of the more popular games that might require a bit of homebrew like 6 or 7.

Before I make a full thread on this in the Finding Players section, would anyone here be interested in playing in that sort of game?

[danzibr]

I've given up on trying to get caught up with anything on the game, but I've been still using the various guides to compile equipment, monsters and sprites for the purpose of hopefully running a full 5e (or 4e) campaign based off of Final Fantasy. I'm starting with just Final Fantasy I with the intention of letting the players go through the entire game's plot, with a few twists and turns from players and GM alike.

If this works out, I may try some of the more popular games that might require a bit of homebrew like 6 or 7.

Before I make a full thread on this in the Finding Players section, would anyone here be interested in playing in that sort of game?
Oh man, that sounds awesome. Here, PBP? I'd love that.

Speaking of which, just last night I noticed you can... somewhere... get to information about the characters, like see their profile (with stats), and a second page has a background (with sprite). WoL has good ol' Fighter.

[DiscipleofBob]

Oh man, that sounds awesome. Here, PBP? I'd love that.

Speaking of which, just last night I noticed you can... somewhere... get to information about the characters, like see their profile (with stats), and a second page has a background (with sprite). WoL has good ol' Fighter.

PbP, but if possible with some Roll20 or something similar on the side for combat encounters and just keeping the game moving.

I like the idea of PbP, but I've had very little luck as people tend to wait for other people to post and the game dies. Maybe it'd be different with some fellow FF fanboys?

[danzibr]

PbP, but if possible with some Roll20 or something similar on the side for combat encounters and just keeping the game moving.

I like the idea of PbP, but I've had very little luck as people tend to wait for other people to post and the game dies. Maybe it'd be different with some fellow FF fanboys?
Yeah, I've had bum luck on this forum with PbP. Played in 1 or 2, ran 1, all died out. Usually it'd be me and 1 other devoted person, other people just stopped posting.

But, as you say, it might be different with the FF fanboys ;)

[DiscipleofBob]

Yeah, I've had bum luck on this forum with PbP. Played in 1 or 2, ran 1, all died out. Usually it'd be me and 1 other devoted person, other people just stopped posting.

But, as you say, it might be different with the FF fanboys ;)

However it works out, I'll send you a PM when I get stuff together.

[SuperPanda]

I've given up on trying to get caught up with anything on the game, but I've been still using the various guides to compile equipment, monsters and sprites for the purpose of hopefully running a full 5e (or 4e) campaign based off of Final Fantasy. I'm starting with just Final Fantasy I with the intention of letting the players go through the entire game's plot, with a few twists and turns from players and GM alike.

If this works out, I may try some of the more popular games that might require a bit of homebrew like 6 or 7.

Before I make a full thread on this in the Finding Players section, would anyone here be interested in playing in that sort of game?

I might want to hit you up for the beastiary sprites you've collected eventually.

I've been working on a setting for the pathfinder rules found in FFD20 (bind search takes me right there). I'm basing it on Vanadiel (FFXI) but with elements of games 1-14 thrown in in places.

The federation of windhurst pays tribute to the yagudo and the sultana of Ul'Dahl, using those old enemies as a shield against the magic hungry kingdom of Alexandria. - that sort of thing.

Recently downloaded a tile map maker, was hoping make up world maps (and maybe battle maps) for it. I've had no group to run for in person for a while now. I really need to get used to roll 20 or PBP if I'm ever going to get to use it.

I'm not familiar with 4e or 5e rules enough to help with any conversions but I'd be up for playing if my time zone allows.

[Red Fel]

Speaking of which, just last night I noticed you can... somewhere... get to information about the characters, like see their profile (with stats), and a second page has a background (with sprite). WoL has good ol' Fighter.

The Annex > Library > Characters. You can look at each character, sorted by series. First tab (Overview) gives a summary of FFRK aspects, including role (e.g. Physical Attack, Hybrid, etc.), special traits (gear and ability selection), relative stats, in-game sprite, and whether you've acquired said character. Second tab (Hero Record) gives a summary of original game aspects, including an image of the character from the original game (so WoL is Fighter), plus a summary of the character from the original.

The Library also has the little movies from all of the different events so far, which is actually surprisingly fun.

[Merlin the Tuna]

I didn't have an issue with Dispelling haste, bu I bring Agrias and Bainishing strike toe verything I can.

The real issue was the Juggernaut, I had to fight it twice because I completely forgot to even bring blind or poison the first time through.I can one up this! I actually had to re-do the boss rush because I didn't notice Nelapsi's faraway status and only had one unit that could hit it. Lost a bunch on actions and damage as a result. (Also forgot to slow the Taxims since they got nuked down so easily. Mistakes were made.)

I was actually a little worried going into Dahaka+++ since I struggled a bit with Juggs++. My only blind being Auroch Reels RW was not convenient, and lacking any synergy weapons hurt my damage output a fair bit. Turns out Dahaka's still a joke though - switched to Shout RW and just brutalized him. He hasted twice, hit me twice, then staggered and died. Kind of a shame considering how much work went into programming and documenting his AI, really.

[Greg_S]

I can one up this! I actually had to re-do the boss rush because I didn't notice Nelapsi's faraway status and only had one unit that could hit it. Lost a bunch on actions and damage as a result. (Also forgot to slow the Taxims since they got nuked down so easily. Mistakes were made.)

I was actually a little worried going into Dahaka+++ since I struggled a bit with Juggs++. My only blind being Auroch Reels RW was not convenient, and lacking any synergy weapons hurt my damage output a fair bit. Turns out Dahaka's still a joke though - switched to Shout RW and just brutalized him. He hasted twice, hit me twice, then staggered and died. Kind of a shame considering how much work went into programming and documenting his AI, really.
I had the same experience that everyone else had with Dahaka, though I didn't shout, so he got up from stagger. Once up, he used foul utterance twice... then died.
If his stagger was a little earlier, and automatically ended at a particular HP threshold (X turns or 40% HP, whichever comes first), then he shifted to deluge form as an interrupt, he might have been fun.

I'm sad the U and U+ battles won't come until tomorrow, but gotta keep that Lightning BSB banner up for people to chase, I guess.

[Red Fel]

I can one up this! I actually had to re-do the boss rush because I didn't notice Nelapsi's faraway status and only had one unit that could hit it. Lost a bunch on actions and damage as a result. (Also forgot to slow the Taxims since they got nuked down so easily. Mistakes were made.)

Two things I've noticed about XIII. First, they have more far-away bosses than just about any other game. Second, almost everyone can use (1) guns, (2) spells, or (3) Jumps. (Sorry, Snow, you fail.) My default XIII party, consisting of Lightning (gun), Fang (Jumps), Sazh (gun), Hope (BLM), and Vanille (WHM), can handle a target irrespective of distance, easy.

The only problem, of course, is having adequate guns. Fortunately, between that celebration gun and Sazh's Deneb Duellers, I'm covered.

On a related point, due to some incomprehensible madness, U/U+ is being withheld until tomorrow night. The heck with it, though, I'm going to cover them now.

Ultimate: Chaos Bahamut. Medals for reducing his Atk, reducing his Mag, and afflicting him with Slow. Slow will be valuable, because this guy hits hard. He has some strong single-target physical attacks, which can be completely obviated by Tauntaliate. He also Hastes himself, so you really need those Slows. In his regular state, he uses his physical attacks exclusively, but when he gets weak, he switches to a strong magical AoE, so mitigation is vital. Other than that, it's not a particularly strategic fight - just soak the hits and break the guy. Victory gets you orbs, a crystal, and the 5-star Serah's Pendant accessory (+HP, +Res).

U+: Caius Ballad. Medals for reducing his Atk, reducing his Mag, and removing his Regen. As with most U/U+ bosses with Regen, his ticks for over 9k, so you really want to get rid of it pronto. This guy is a beast. He has massive physical and magical attacks, single-target and AoE. His Body and Soul boosts his Atk and Mag, which overrides Breakdowns, and gives him Regen. And when he gets weak, his Speed increases by 50%, which is just abusive. If you can get it, victory gets you orbs and a crystal.

I'm not even going to try the U+.

[danzibr]

I'm certainly going to try the U and U+. I had to use a mythril to abuse SB gauge gains for the last 2, but with that trick, I'm pretty sure I can handle him. 1 mythril and a bit of time for 10 major orbs and a crystal? Sign me up.

The VI U+... I'm dreading that. Bad memories of the old elite version.

[Starwulf]

Did you have to download the Portal App thingie in order to get the mythril rewards? I was for some reason under the impression that you didn't actually have to download it, that it was a group/community thing and if the community did X, everyone would get the rewards.

Also, I have a question for peeps: A while back, I'm not sure if it was on here, or over on the FFRK reddit, but one or the other, someone posted a way to make a tablet/phone run FFRK a bit smoother, and it involved going into your tablets/phones settings, but I can't remember what exactly it was. Could someone who knows what I'm talking about post how to do it? Got a friend attempting to start playing, but it's not running very well for him, and I wanted to see if that would help.

Edit: on another note, I very nearly didn't get Mastery for the +++ battle, due to the simple fact that the boss never once hasted itself. How can I be dinged just because I killed the enemy so quick that it never casted haste? Hell I specifically brung Gilgamesh with me for Banishing Strike, and had him use it exclusively the entire battle. Thankfully I lost no other medals, so I did still get mastery, but if I had lost even one medal, I'd be quite pissed off >< Faulty game design/mechanics right there in that fight.

[T.G. Oskar]

Welp, can't say I didn't try the VII U+. Only managed to get to Ultimate Chimera before I got soundly defeated. Switched to Cid for the last try, as all bosses had less Defense than Resistance, but switching Dr. Mog's Teachings from the Keeper to Ramza apparently was a bad idea; the damage output from the Yin/Yangs without SG was pretty serious enough. Sadly, one White Mage is not enough.

However, nothing as shame-inducing as having U Chimera deal damage cap on one of my party members. I mean, it's pretty much an achievement I got to that spot reliably in the first place, but relying on a Wall is, IMO, a bad idea, particularly if you can't refill it ASAP.

On the other hand, I opened a lot of Equipment slots by buying Squall's Necklace; by having two items granting a +30 to Attack on their own, I could ditch every +Atk item other than a single copy of +20 ATK from every world. That allows three people to get +30 to Atk, and in occasions a +45 because of Record Synergy.

Will most likely attempt XIII battles tomorrow, before Orbfest.

[Starwulf]

Will most likely attempt XIII battles tomorrow, before Orbfest.

We're having another weekend orbfest? What are the orbs this time?

Edit: Actually are you sure we're having an Orbfest this weekend? Kongbakpao has nothing about it on their Calendar of events, and I haven't seen anything about it in-game either.

[danzibr]

We're having another weekend orbfest? What are the orbs this time?

Edit: Actually are you sure we're having an Orbfest this weekend? Kongbakpao has nothing about it on their Calendar of events, and I haven't seen anything about it in-game either.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure we would've seen the announcement last night. Maybe BSBfest was originally scheduled to drop tonight? I know it got pushed back.

[Chen]

Edit: on another note, I very nearly didn't get Mastery for the +++ battle, due to the simple fact that the boss never once hasted itself. How can I be dinged just because I killed the enemy so quick that it never casted haste? Hell I specifically brung Gilgamesh with me for Banishing Strike, and had him use it exclusively the entire battle. Thankfully I lost no other medals, so I did still get mastery, but if I had lost even one medal, I'd be quite pissed off >< Faulty game design/mechanics right there in that fight.

You can haste him yourself and dispel it if necessary.

[Hunter Noventa]

298 Mithril as of now, and as I go clear out some more Classic Dungeons I'll get some more. I haven't touched these in forever.

[Red Fel]

Did you have to download the Portal App thingie in order to get the mythril rewards? I was for some reason under the impression that you didn't actually have to download it, that it was a group/community thing and if the community did X, everyone would get the rewards.

You do not have to have FFPA to get the rewards. We got rewards from the last FFPA promotion a couple of days ago; at least, I did, and I never used or downloaded FFPA. You do have to use the app if you want to contribute towards the rewards, but they automatically go out to FFRK users.


We're having another weekend orbfest? What are the orbs this time?

Edit: Actually are you sure we're having an Orbfest this weekend? Kongbakpao has nothing about it on their Calendar of events, and I haven't seen anything about it in-game either.

I didn't think we were having another Orbfest. I thought we were having another Double Green weekend. At least, that's what KBP is saying on the calendar.

[Greg_S]

While we're waiting to be killed by Caius...

I saw a video on Reddit of Kain's BSB. It looks sufficiently ridiculous. The attack itself is 4 single-target hits, plus it sets jump time to 0 for at least one jump, maybe two. But one of the burst commands is a 2-hit attack with a self-ether. That looks fun.

EDIT: Via KBP, it's also lightning elemental and carries en-lightning. The other burst command is a 2-hit lightning elemental attack that sets jump time to 0 for the next 2 jumps.

Speaking of dragoons, in about 5 weeks the next 4 event brings another short-charge combo in Blood of the Dragon + Dragonfire Dive. Blood of the Dragon's an R4 skill that sets the next two airtimes for jumps to 0, Dragonfire Dive's a 5*, 2-hit, full-charge-level attack with very long airtime. Plus, Dragonfire Dive uses fire, lightning, and non-elemental orbs, so much less conflict there.
Kimahri's about to get respectable!

[danzibr]

While we're waiting to be killed by Caius...

I saw a video on Reddit of Kain's BSB. It looks sufficiently ridiculous. The attack itself is 4 single-target hits, plus it sets jump time to 0 for at least one jump, maybe two. But one of the burst commands is a 2-hit attack with a self-ether. That looks fun.

Speaking of dragoons, in about 5 weeks the next 4 event brings another short-charge combo in Blood of the Dragon + Dragonfire Dive. Blood of the Dragon's an R4 skill that sets the next two airtimes for jumps to 0, Dragonfire Dive's a 5*, 2-hit, full-charge-level attack with very long airtime. Plus, Dragonfire Dive uses fire, lightning, and non-elemental orbs, so much less conflict there.
Kimahri's about to get respectable!
Freakin' awesome. Kain's one of my all-time favorite FF characters, and I like that Dragoon's getting some love.

[Hunter Noventa]

Speaking of dragoons, in about 5 weeks the next 4 event brings another short-charge combo in Blood of the Dragon + Dragonfire Dive. Blood of the Dragon's an R4 skill that sets the next two airtimes for jumps to 0, Dragonfire Dive's a 5*, 2-hit, full-charge-level attack with very long airtime. Plus, Dragonfire Dive uses fire, lightning, and non-elemental orbs, so much less conflict there.

Those new Dragoon skills are pulled right from Final Fantasy 14, where Dragoons are pretty freaking awesome.

...man, they could totally add Estinien, Ysayle and Alphinaud as FFRK characters, as Dragoon, Summoner and...Support/Black Mage I guess, respectively. Don't get me wrong I like Yda and Papalymo just fine, it's only that those two have been absent for 99% of the expansion.

I fought the regular Puroboros in FFV earlier, and had some trouble getting Silence to stick....then I realized that even with Self Destruct, they barely hurt me and I just ended up having to wait for them to kill themselves. It was kind of hilarious.

[danzibr]

Those new Dragoon skills are pulled right from Final Fantasy 14, where Dragoons are pretty freaking awesome.

...man, they could totally add Estinien, Ysayle and Alphinaud as FFRK characters, as Dragoon, Summoner and...Support/Black Mage I guess, respectively. Don't get me wrong I like Yda and Papalymo just fine, it's only that those two have been absent for 99% of the expansion.
This makes me want to play XIV.