Final Fantasy Record Keeper VI: I'm no Whale! I'm a RELIC Hunter!

[T.G. Oskar]

Welcome to the SIXTH thread of Final Fantasy Record Keeper!

For those of you just joining us, Final Fantasy Record Keeper is a free-to-play freemium game for mobile devices. Like many similar games, the main point of the game is to collect 16-bit versions of characters from every major Final Fantasy game from Final Fantasy I to Final Fantasy XIV. You then train up your party, get equipment for them, form a party of five, and go through dungeons that retell the plot of various Final Fantasy games.

If you've only started recently, or are thinking about starting, it's a game that requires patience but rewards it. A lot of the characters are event-exclusive, but the game's really good at giving additional opportunities to recruit them. There are Daily Dungeons which let you farm resources, upgrade materials, and on Sundays, sweet, sweet valuable experience. Probably the most difficult aspect to acquire is the equipment, which is based off a lottery you can pay in-game currency that you either earn in game (Mythril) or spend real world money on (Gems). Fortunately, the game is very playable without spending a cent, and you can at least get all the characters without paying, though getting the equipment to really live up to their potential that can be difficult, even with disposable cash. Some of the character customization can be limited too, with only two abilities allowed per character (but that can be switched out as needed for different dungeons.)

The good news if you ARE a new player, that while you may have missed out on previous events, the rewards from those events repeat often. And you're actually at an advantage over long-time players as you have more opportunities to get better gear from later events.

Still, it's a game that's simple enough to pick up and enjoy, but with a lot of additional content and challenges to keep you playing, and there's Final Fantasy nostalgia packed into every bit, from the characters to the monsters to the music, all imported from games of Final Fantasy's history. And if you couldn't tell from the fact that this is on its fifth thread, it comes highly recommended by the forum too.

Happy hunting!

Final Fantasy Record Keeper I (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?415439-Final-Fantasy-Record-Keeper)
Final Fantasy Record Keeper II: Also FFRKIV in Japan (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?453065-Final-Fantasy-Record-Keeper-II-Also-FFRK-IV-in-Japan)
Final Fantasy Record Keeper III: Cloud of Darkness... or FF7 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?473229-Final-Fantasy-Record-Keeper-III-Cloud-of-Darkness-or-FF7)
Final Fantasy Record Keeper IV: Tellah Friend to Play Today! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?473229-Final-Fantasy-Record-Keeper-III-Cloud-of-Darkness-or-FF7)
Final Fantasy Record Keeper V: Now We Post Like Men! And Ladies! And Ladies Who Dress Like Men (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?486946-FFRKV-Now-We-Post-Like-Men!-And-Ladies!-And-Ladies-Who-Dress-Like-Men!)!
Upcoming Events (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/events/)
Reddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/)
Official Wiki (https://ffrkstrategy.gamematome.jp/game/951/wiki/Home)
Burst Soul Break Info (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/bsb-commands/)

* = Can be Level Broken up to 65
** = Can be Level Broken up to 80

Core Classes:
Tyro**
Warrior
Knight
Red Mage*
Black Mage*
White Mage*
Devout*
Summoner*
Samurai*
Dragoon*
Dark Knight*
Spellblade*
Viking*
Ranger*
Bard*
Ninja*
Gladiator*
Thief
Berserker
Monk


Final Fantasy I

Warrior of Light**


Final Fantasy II
Firion**
Maria**
Leon**
Gordon*
Ricard*
Josef*
Leila*
Minwu*

Final Fantasy III
Luneth**
Arc**
Refia**
Ingus**
Desch**

Final Fantasy IV
Cecil (Dark Knight)**
Cecil (Paladin)**
Kain**
Rydia**
Edward**
Tellah**
FuSoYa**
Golbez*
Rosa**
Edge**
Palom**
Porom**
Yang**


Final Fantasy V
Lenna**
Galuf**
Gilgamesh**
Bartz**
Krile**
Faris**
Exdeath*


Final Fantasy VI
Terra**
Locke**
Celes**
Mog*
Edgar**
Sabin**
Shadow**
Cyan**
Gau**
Setzer**
Strago*
Relm**
Kefka*


Final Fantasy VII
Cloud**
Barret**
Tifa**
Aerith**
Red XIII**
Yuffie**
Zack**
Sephiroth**
Cid**
Reno**
Vincent**
Cait Sith**


Final Fantasy VIII
Squall**
Rinoa**
Quistis**
Selphie**
Irvine*
Zell**
Seifer**
Laguna**
Edea**


Final Fantasy IX
Zidane**
Garnet**
Vivi**
Steiner**
Eiko**
Amarant*
Quina*
Freya*
Beatrix**
Kuja**


Final Fantasy X
Tidus**
Yuna**
Wakka**
Lulu**
Kimahri**
Rikku**
Auron**
Jecht**
Braska**


Final Fantasy XI
Shantotto


Final Fantasy XII
Vaan**
Balthier**
Fran**
Ashe*
Penelo**
Basch*


Final Fantasy XIII
Lightning**
Snow**
Vanille**
Sazh***
Hope**
Fang**
Serah**


Final Fantasy XIV
Y'shtola**
Thancred**
Yda**
Papalymo**


Final Fantasy Tactics
Ramza
Agrias



Bold are new characters, Italic are Wardrobe Records, others are unlockable in case you haven't gotten a chance to yet.

Seifer, Squall, Rinoa, Laguna, Quistis, Irvine
Lenna, Faris, Bartz, Galuf
Shantotto, Bartz, Luneth, Firion, Yshtola (Dissidia Event)
Short-Haired Garnet, Zidane, Freya, Beatrix
Gabranth, Basch, Vaan, Ashe, Penelo
Garland (hopefully), Kefka, Golbez, Exdeath, Sephiroth (Dissidia Event)
Delita, Ovelia, Mustadio
Cid Raines, Lightning, Snow, Hope, Fang
Krile's SHEEP Dress, Gilgamesh, Bartz, Faris, Lenna
Celes's Opera Dress, Terra, Setzer, Strago, Relm
Rikku's Gullwing Dress. Yuna's Gullwing Dress (Again), Paine, Lulu, Kimahri
Selphie, Edea, Zell, Quistis, Rinoa
Aerith, Barret, Cid, Red XIII
Eiko, Freya, Quina, Steiner, Vivi
Guy, Firion, Josef, Gordon, Leila, Maria, Ricard, Leon (FFII char. boost!)
Larsa, Ashe, Fran, Penelo
Yuna's Wedding Dress, Auron, Rikku, Tidus, Wakka
Noel, Cid Raines, Serah, Sazh, Snow, Vanille
God Onion Knight, Luneth, Arc, Desch, Ingus, Refia (FFIII char. boost!)
Ayame, Curilla, Shantotto (not likely, collab. event)
Irvine, Laguna, Quistis, Rinoa, Squall


Seifer, Irvine
Krile, Exdeath
Shantotto
Freya, Amarant, Quina
Gabranth, Basch, Ashe
Golbez, Kefka
Delita, Ovelia, Mustadio
Cid Raines
Faris, Bartz, Gilgamesh
Strago, Mog
Paine
Aerith, Cloud

Nightmare (Abyss) Levels
Nightmare levels (known as Abyss levels in Japan) are special dungeons where your synergy is not determined by the characters' realm of origin, but there ability to use abilities, encourage a "single class" party. The reward is the ability to craft 6-star abilities. These come once per month. Here's what's coming up soon so you can prepare your teams...

Abyss 1: Black Magic. Nightmare Boss: Ultima Buster. Reward: Ultima
Abyss 2: Combat. Nightmare Boss: Demon Wall. Reward: Crashdown
Abyss 3: White Magic. Nightmare Boss: Evrae Altana. Reward: Reraise
Abyss 4: Summoning. Nightmare Boss: Neo Bahamut. Reward: Neo Bahamut
Abyss 5: Support. Nightmare Boss: CPU. Reward: Triple Foul/Penalty Break/Quad Foul
Abyss 6: Celerity. Nightmare Boss: Tonberry King. Reward: Northern Cross
Abyss 7: Black Magic. Nightmare Boss: Kaiser Dragon. Reward: Meltdown
Abyss 8: White Magic. Nightmare Boss: Guardian. Reward: Curaja? (Adloquium)
Abyss 9: Support, Nightmare Boss: Necrophobe. Reward: Penalty Break



Thanks to Danzibr for the original version, but this one has a desperate need for an update.

Core Characters
Tyro: Last Judgment Grimoire (https://youtu.be/cTom6pLPVEA) - Deal 3 physical Earth elemental attacks on all enemies (ATK +10)

Final Fantasy II
Firion: Lord of Arms (https://youtu.be/f5w22kId_Vc) - Deal 5 ranged physical attacks, 100% chance of Blind (ATK +10)
Maria: Thunder XVI (https://youtu.be/-GljexkPdCM) - Deal 4 magical Lightning elemental attacks to all enemies; raise Magic of allies by 20% (MAG +10)
Leon: Darkstorm Blade (https://youtu.be/gMjFOB0W6iE) - Deal 3 physical Dark attacks to all enemies; +100% boost to user's Defense, attract physical attacks and Black Magic spells.
Minwu: Will of the White Mage (https://youtu.be/MXHW1OoqsI0) - Restore HP to all allies (h85, as Curaga spell); instant cast

Final Fantasy III
Luneth: Swordshower (https://youtu.be/u26uSQTbE34) - deal 8 physical Wind elemental attacks to all enemies; raise Defense of allies by 50%
Arc: Renewing Rains (https://youtu.be/qWzRv1KUqo0) - Grant Shell, major Regen and Magic Blink to all allies
Refia: Blazing Fists (https://youtu.be/jljnIwlbcEo) - Deal 8 physical attacks to one target, user gains +35% to Attack and Defense, Haste
Ingus: Gaia's Vengeance (https://youtu.be/Xkb0Z3UnzUI) - Deal 5 physical attacks to one target; +100% boost to user's Defense, attract physical attacks and Black Magic spells.

Final Fantasy IV
Cecil (Dark Knight): Shadowbringer (https://youtu.be/kSMcPcAHk1g) - Deal 6 physical attacks to one target, take 25% of max HP worth of damage (ATK +10)
Cecil (Paladin): Saint's Fall (https://youtu.be/SkNUPyZ6DoI) - Deal 3 physical Holy attacks to one target (ATK +10)
Kain: Rising Drive (https://youtu.be/BCqmZuOsaCQ) - Deal 4 physical Jumps to one target; remove action delay of next 3 Jumps
Rydia: Odin (https://youtu.be/rIZFosji7oo) - Deal 6 magic attacks to all targets (counts as Summoning), 100% chance of instant KO, raise Defense of all allies by 50% (MAG +10)
Edge: Inferno (https://youtu.be/tdwSbZeKEpg) - Deal 4 Fire/Non-Elemental ranged physical attacks to all targets; Instant Cast
Rosa: Divine Heal (https://youtu.be/aqOcJb2BMdQ) - heal HP of all allies (h85, as Curaga spell), add Magic Blink to all allies (MND +10)
Palom: Chaincast Boltstorm (https://youtu.be/1iWhNrenXr4) - Deal 8 Lightning/Non-Elemental magic attacks on all enemies (MAG +10)
Porom: Sync (https://youtu.be/g3jIhk2O7XU) - heal HP of all allies (h85, as Curaga), add Haste to all allies (MND +10)

Final Fantasy V
Bartz: Trueblade of Legend (https://youtu.be/9L-eXHbBqIU) - Deal 5 physical attacks to one target and raise Defense of all allies by 50%
Gilgamesh: Faithful Companion (https://youtu.be/pz6Jn_dhKtQ) - Deal 3 physical attacks to all enemies and grant heavy Regen to all allies.

Final Fantasy VI
Terra: Magitek Missile (https://youtu.be/wFWmaA2hYrY) - Deal 10 non-elemental magic attacks on one target
Celes: Indomitable Blade (https://youtu.be/ut2yXmRaVaA) - Deal 5 physical attacks on one target; Runic (Black & White Magic)
Cyan: Bushido Bloodmoon (https://youtu.be/EpNeBDvgd3Y) - Deal 3 physical attacks to all enemies, 63% chance of Stop and Stun
Locke: Valiant Strike (https://youtu.be/zEoqbypCNZg) - Deal 8 physical attacks to one target; damage increases as HP decreases.
Edgar: Chainsaw (https://youtu.be/8FcXgAH5Zus) - Deal 6 physical attacks to random targets; Imperil Poison
Sabin: Phantom Rush (https://youtu.be/rfXiKm7civc) - Deal 8 physical attacks to one target and grant physical Blink 1 to all allies.
Shadow: Shadow Fang (https://youtu.be/jc02uJ8XxGU) - Deal 8 physical attacks to one target; Instant cast, user gains physical Blink II
Relm: Portrait of Lakshmi (https://youtu.be/RlkQaNg9lNo) - heal all allies' HP (h85, as Curaga), add major Regen to all allies

Final Fantasy VII
Cloud: Blade Beam (https://youtu.be/1iVa0fnlqSM) - Deal 3 ranged physical attacks to all enemies.
Aerith: Pulse of Life (https://youtu.be/uBb-GLNW-Vk) - heal all allies' HP (h50, as Cura), add Reraise (40% of max HP)
Tifa: Dolphin Blow (https://youtu.be/q5jHBEzcy54) - Deal 4 physical attacks to one target, user gains 50% to ATK.
Sephiroth: Black Materia (https://youtu.be/pgsKgO36btk) - Deal 4 ranged physical attacks to all enemies; 34% chance of Sap
Zack: Apocalypse (https://youtu.be/OjR9gpAdVv0) - Deal 4 ranged physical attacks to all enemies; add Haste to all Allies
Reno: Turk Bombshell (https://youtu.be/d6UzwSpKpbc) - Deal 3 magic non-elemental attacks to all enemies; 100% chance to Stop and Silence
Red XIII: Stardust Ray (https://youtu.be/mpOapWoftEY) - Deal 10 ranged physical attacks to random targets; add Shell to all allies
Yuffie: Gauntlet (https://youtu.be/lCoabN_Bw98) - Deal 3 ranged physical attacks to all enemies; Instant Cast, all allies gain physical Blink I
Vincent: Cerberus Shell (https://youtu.be/2Um_sE4-k3Y) - Deal 4 magic non-elemental attacks to all enemies, raise Magic of allies by 20%
Cait Sith: Moogle Dance (https://youtu.be/FZtOMojsQ-0) - Reduce ATK, DEF, MAG, RES of all enemies by 50%; all allies gain heavy Regen

Final Fantasy VIII
Squall: Blasting Zone
Rinoa: Wishing Star
Quistis: Mighty Guard
Zell: Different Beat
Selphie: Dreamstage
Laguna: Desperado
Edea: Ice Strike


Final Fantasy IX
Zidane: Shift Break
Garnet: Divine Guadian
Eiko: Flames of Rebirth
Beatrix: Seiken Shock
Kuja: Darkflare Star

Final Fantasy X
Tidus: Jecht Shot
Wakka: Aurochs Reels
Auron: Banishing Blade
Yuna: Dragon's Roar
Lulu: March of the Moogles
Jecht: Ultimate Jecht Shot
Braska: Aeons of Wing and Flame

Final Fantasy XII
Vaan: Pyroclasm
Fran: Mist Overload
Balthier: Strahl Strafe
Penelo: Intercession

Final Fantasy XIII
Lightning: Crushing Blow
Sazh: Godsend
Hope: Last Resort
Serah: Ultima Arrow

Final Fantasy XIV
Thancred: Jin-Chu-Ten
Y'shtola: Aethereal Pulse
Yda: Twin Strike Dragon Kick
Papalymo: Enochian Blizzaja

Final Fantasy Tactics
Ramza: Shout
Agrias: Hallowed Bolt



Core Characters
Tyro: Keeper's Tome

Final Fantasy IV
Cecil, Paladin: Paladin Force

Final Fantasy V
Bartz: Light of the Four

Final Fantasy VI
Terra: Blood of Espers

Final Fantasy VII
Cloud: Fenrir Overdrive
Sephiroth: Reunion

Final Fantasy VIII
Squall: Lion's Roar

Final Fantasy X
Tidus: Abes' All-Star
Yuna: Trigger Happy

Final Fantasy XIII
Lightning: Requiem of the Goddess

[T.G. Oskar]

Extra page for additional info. To keep the main page uncluttered, I'll post my guides and analysis on this page, in case someone else has to do this next time.

White Mage Comparison/Analysis (old (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20413168&postcount=910)) (new (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=21089011&postcount=299))

Black Mage Comparison/Analysis (old (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20462210&postcount=1101)) (new (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20817065&postcount=469))

Support Comparison/Analysis (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20744591&postcount=44)

Monk extensive guide (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=20736177&postcount=1485)

[danzibr]

Looks great!

On the topic of + v ++ dailies, those friggin t-Rex's have OHKO. Jerks.

[SuperPanda]

Thanks for the new thread TG.

First up. People were talking Synergy in the last thread, so I did a full status look at my Record Keeper stuffs.


Includes RS Weapons, Armors, Accessories, and Current character levels

Accessories:
Blaze Armlet
Bolt Armlet
Tornado Armlet
Aurora Amlet
Weapons:
Celebration Grimoire
Rune Staff

Characters:
Tyro 65
Warrior 1
Knight 15
Monk 1
Red Mage 50
Black mage 50
Magus 1
White Mage 50
Devout 50
Summoner 52
Samurai 1
Dragoon 1
Dark Knight 1
Spell Blade 1
Viking 1
Berserker 1
Ranger 1
Theif 1
Bard 1
Ninja 50
Gladiator 50

Weapons:
Defender 4*+
Armor:

Accessories:
Crystal Ring 5*

Characters:
Warrior of Light 66

Weapons:
Cat Claws (Dagger) 4*++
Wing Sword (sword) 4*++
Diamond Mace (Staff) 3*++

Armor:
Ruby Curias (Light Armor) 5* Shared SB

Accessories:
Gigas Armlet

Characters:
Firion 65
Maria 65
Leon 50
Minwu 50
Gordon 50
Leila 50
Ricard 50
Josef 50

Weapons:
Light Rod 4* (Black Mage SB)
Light Staff 4* (White Mage SB)
Madura Harp 4* (Bard SB)

Armor:
Feathered Hat 4* (Red Mage SB)
Viking Helm (helm) 3*++
Diamond Helm 4* (Knight SB)
Gaia Vest 4* (Summoner SB)

Accessories:
Sky Breaker Earings

Characters:
Luneth 66
Arc 67
Reifa 65
Ingus 65
Desch 50

Weapons:
Dancing Dager 4*++
Shadow Blade 5* (Drk Cecil SB - 2 hit + boostga)
Lusterous Sword 5* (Pld Cecil SSB - 3hit holy, +HP mastered)
Excalibur 5* (Pld. Cecil BSB) Not mastered + Holy Damage
Murasame 5*+ (Edge SB - 3hit AoE water + stun) + Water Damage
Blood Lance 5* (Kain SB - Lancet)
Lilith Rod 3*++
Polymorph Rod 5* (Tellah SB, recharge ability use)
Ice Whip 5*+ (Rydia SB, Shiva) +Ice Damage

Armor:
Gold Hairpin 5* Hat, minor lightning resist
Black Garb (light armor) 4*++
Sage's Surplice (robe) 3*++
Black Robe 4*++
White Robe 4*++
Dark Glove 5*+

Accessories:
Gauntlets
Carnelian Signet
Flame Cloak
Black Mage Twin Stars

Characters:
Dark Cecil 69
Pld Cecil 80
Kain 65
Rydia 80
Rosa 65
Edward 52
Yang 50
Palom 67
Porom 66
Tellah 65
Edge 65
Fusoya 50
Golbez 50
Weapons:
Orichalum Dirk 3*++
Enhancer 3*++
Ragnarok 5* (Bartz BSB - Mastered)
Partisan 5* (Shared SB AoE sleep buster)
Flame Rod 3*++ +Fire
Healing Staff 5* (Lenna SB, Arise) + Holy
Sage's Staff 5* (Lenna SB, Cura-all + High Regen)
Killer Bow 4* (Ranger SB) +chance to KO
Hayate Bow 4*
Silver Harp 3*++

Armor:
Aegis Shield 5* (Shared SB + party Res, minor KO resist)
Hypno Crown 4*+
Thornlet (helm) 4*+
Mirage Vest (light armor) 3*++
Ninja Suit 5*+
Genji Armor 5*

Accessories:
Cowl of Gilgamesh

Characters:
Lenna 70
Galuf 50
Gilgamesh 67
Bartz 78
Faris 53
Exdeath 50
Krile 53
Weapons:
Maneater (Dagger) 4*++
Crystal Sword 4*
Enhancer 5* (Terra SB, AoE Fire)
Kotetsu 5* (Cyan SB, Lancet)
Partisan 5* (Edgar SB, Bio Blaster)
Gravity Rod 4*++
Lamia's Flute 5* (Kefka SB, 3 hit AOE chance to paralyze and blind)
Moonring Blade 4*

Armor:
Red Cap 3*++
Royal Crown 4*++
Crystal Helm 4*
Diamond Vest 3*++
Red Jacket 4*++
Kefka's Cloak 5* (Kefka SB Haste/Faithga)
Regal Gown 5*

Accessories:
Crystal Orb
Terra's Pendant
Memento Ring
Fateful Coin

Characters:
Terra 76
Locke 70
Celes 69
Mog 50
Edgar 69
Sabin 51
Shadow 67
Cyan 65
Gau 66
Setzer 54
Strago 50
Relm 70
Kefka 65
Weapons:
Hardedge 5* (Cloud SB, Cross Slash)
Butterfly Edge 5*
Crystal Sword 5*+ (Shared SB double lightning strike)
Organics 5* (Cloud SSB mastered)
Buster Sword VII-CC 5* (Zack SB 8 weak hit)
Masamune Blade (katana) 4*
Crystal Glove 5* (Tifa SB, 3 hit)
Wizard Staff 5* (Arieth SSB Curaga-all + Reraise all)
Candle Rod 5* (Shared SB cure-all)
Diamond Pin 5* (Red XIII SB, Lunatic High)

Armor:
Keepsake Ribon 5* hat (Arieth SB, Planet Protector)
Circlet 5*+ (Shared SB Cura)
Wutai Headband 5* (Yuffie SB, Instant 40% medica)
Silver Armlet 3*++
Crystal Bangle 4*++
Crystal Bangle 4*+
Rune Armlet 3*++
Shinra Beta 3*++

Accessories:
Cloud's Goggles
Cat's Bell
Cerberus Relief
Hero's Belt

Characters:
Cloud 80
Barret 50
Tifa 68
Areith 80
Red XIII 63
Yffie 68
Cait Sith 50
Vincent 55
Zacl 71
Sephiroth 65
Cid 50
Reno 50
Weapons:
Mesmerize Blade (Dagger) 4*+
Cutting Trigger 5* (Squall SSB - 4 hit, single target - mastered)
Cresent Wish 5* (Selphie SSB - Dreamstage Mastered)
Cardinal 5*++ (Rinoa SSB - mastered_
Cardinal 5*

Armor:
Ten Gallon Hat 4*
Estharian Helmet 5*
Balamb Garden Uniform 5*

Accessories:
Squall's Necklace
Veil of Adel

Characters:
Squall 80
Rinoa 80
Quistis 56
Zell 65
Selphie 80
Irvine 51
Seifer 62
Laguna 66
Edea 65
Weapons:
Gladius (Dagger) 4*++
Coral Sword 5*+ +Lightning Damage
Ultima Sword 5* (Steiner SB, 3hit AoE +paralyze chance)
Wizard Rod 5* (Garent SSB, mastered and current RW)
Fair Flute 5* (Eiko SSB, Curaga-al + Reraise-all, mastered)

Armor:
Hypno Crown 5* (Eiko SB, 1 wind hit + magic break)
Brigandine (light armor) 3*++

Accessories:
Gulug Stone

Characters:
Zidane 65
Garent 80
Vivi 69
Steiner 75
Freya 50
Quina 50
Eiko 65
Amarant 52
Batrix 65
Kuja 65
Weapons:
Celebration Blade 5* (Shared SB, slow buster)
Warior's Sword 4*
Nodachi 4*
Royal Scepter 5* (Shared SB, Cure-all)
Lullaby Rod 5* (Yuna SB, Cura-all, + High Regen-all)
Official Ball 5* (wakka SB, armor/mental break)

Armor:
Lulu's Hairpin 5* (Party +Res, +Magic)
Bright Arm Guard 4* +Blind resist
Wizard Armlet 4*+
Red Armlet 5* +Fire damage

Accessories:
Adept's Bangle
New Begining's Sphere
Yuna's Obi

Characters:
Tidus 70
Yuna 70
Wakka 72
Lulu 67
Kimarhi 50
Rikku 66
Auron 66
Jecht 65
Braska 50
Accessories:
Brutal Earing

Characters:
Shantoto 45

Weapons:
Platinum Dagger 4*++
Diamond Sword 4*++
Lohergrin 5*+
Runblade 5* (Ashe SB, damage + weak cure-all)
Golden Axe 5* (Bashe SB, AoE 3 hit + taunt)
Trident 4*+ +ice damage
Empyrean Rod 4*++
Golden Staff 4*++
Aveis Killer 3*++
Ras Algethi 5* (Balthier SB, AoE Water)

Armor:
Platinum Shield 5* (Basch SB, party Atk/Def up) + Holy
Heavy Coat 3*++
Survival Vest 5* (Shared SB, Shellga)

Accessories:
Magick Gloves
Doctor Cid's Glasses

Characters:
Vaan 66
Baltheir 76
Fran 67
Basch 65
Ashe 65
Penelo 65
Weapons:
Psicom Knife 3*++
Bladed Lance 5*
Power Glove 4*++
Wyrmfang 4* (Vanille SB Cura-all + Protectga)
Healer's Staff 4*
Peace maker 5*(Lightning SSB 5 hit AoE lightning) mastered
Sirus Sidearm 5*(Sazh SSB, Protectga, + Mag, High Regen) mastered
Goddess Tribute 5*
Evil Lantern 5*

Armor:
Witch's Hat 5* (shared SB + party mag)
Silver Bangle 4*
Silver Bangle 4*++
Titanium Bangle 3*++

Accessories:
Soulfont Talisman
Hope's Scarf
Silver Pendant

Characters:
Lightning 70
Snow 51
Vanile 67
Sazh 67
Hope 67
Fang 52
Serah 50
Weapons:
Thyrus 5* (Y'Sholta SB, Stone Skin II)

Armor:
Ninja Chainmail 5* (Thancred SB, AoE hit + Slow chance)

Accessories:
Inferno Bangle

Characters:
Y'shotla 80
Thancred 66
Yda 50
Papalymo 50

Weapons:
Mythril Sword 3*

Armor:
Mythril Vest 3*
Grand Armor 5*+ (Ramza SB, 40% medica + Protectga)

Accessories:
Aries Stone

Characters:
Ramza 80
Agrias 65



Egg Count:
2* 507
3* 720
4* 274
5* 60

Orb Count:
Power:
1* 116
2* 211
3* 1326
4* 241
5* 25
6* 5
White:
1* 245
2* 351
3* 672
4* 191
5* 76
6* 5
Black:
1* 221
2* 541
3* 997
4* 353
5* 11
6* 8
Summon:
1* 15
2* 21
3* 73
4* 32
5* 15
6* 5
Non-Elemental:
1* 195
2* 362
3* 731
4* 150
5* 23
6* 6
Fire:
1* 214
2* 597
3* 1075
4* 171
5* 53
6* 9
Ice:
1* 141
2* 461
3* 811
4* 123
5* 46
Lightning:
1* 205
2* 448
3* 1009
4* 124
5* 66
Earth:
1* 253
2* 661
3* 1129
4* 191
5* 8
6* 6
Wind:
1* 232
2* 260
3* 915
4* 154
5* 40
6* 5
Holy:
1* 319
2* 167
3* 387
4* 106
5* 36
6* 4
Dark:
1* 181
2* 456
3* 1120
4* 167
5* 53
6* 3


Hone Check:
Firaga R4
Firaja R3
Blizzaga R4
Thundaga R4
Thundaja R3
Waterga R4
Bioga R2
Darkra R1
Sleep R5
Stop R3
Comet R4
Quake R3
Meteor R3
Blindga R2
Ruinga R3
Drain R4
Curaga R5
Curaja R4
Protectga R1
Shellga R2
Silencega R3
Haste R4
Ensuna R4
Raise R2
Diara R5
Diaga R5
Dispel R2
Berserk R4
Renewing Cure R5
Reflect R2
Shiva R5
Ramuh R5
Ifirit R5
Leviathan R2
Kirin R2
Maudin R4
Carbuncle R2
Alexander R4
Bahamut R2
Orthos R2
Fat Chocobo R2
Firaga Strike R2
Blizsara Strike R3
Blizzaga Strike R1
Thunder Strike R4
Thundaga Strike R1
Watera Strike R3
Waterga Strike R1
Aeroa Strike R3
Bio Strike R3
Bioga Strike R1
Tornado Strike R2
Double Cut R5
Magic Break R3
Armor break R3
Power Break R3
Mental Break R3
Launch R2
Full Charge R2
Life Siphon R3
Boost R2
Intimidate R4
Cry R2
Silence Buster R4
Dark Buster R3
Venom Buster R3
Sleep Buster R3
Magic Breakdown R3
Power Breakdown R3
Armor Breakdown R2
Revive R4
Full Break R2
Shadow Bind R2
Wind Slash R3
Dagger Toss R2
Tempo Flurry R4
Dismisal R3
Paralyzing Shot R1
Power Chaing R2
Jump R4
Wind Jump R3
Ice Jump R3
Lightning Jump R3
Sky Grinder R1
Leeching Leap R4
Dragoon Jump R1
Blood of the Wyvern R3
Chi Blast R3
Chakara R2
Punishing Palm R2
Kick R5
Piercing Strike R1
Steal HP R4
Steal Time R1
Steal Defence R2
Steal Power R3
Thief's Revenge R1
Draw Fire R4
Bracing Bash R1
Magic Lure R2
Banishing Blade R4
Shield Bash R1
Saint's Cross R2
Retaliate R5
Iai Strike R1
Mirror of Equity R1
Darkmoon R1
Fire Blossom R3
Flurry of Petals R1
Swift Bolt R3
Water Veil R2
Shadowsteel R3
Fire Veil R3
Phatasm R2
Dobble Blade R1
Gust R1
Requiem R2
Rallying Etude R2
Lullaby R3
Eveloping Etude R1
Box Step Sarabande R2
Exhausting Polka R1
Halting Rumba R1
Hethan Frloc Sarabande R1
Mutli Break R1
Blind Shell R3
Slience Shell R2
Poision Shell R3
Confuse Shell R2
Bio Grenade R1
Dark Bargain R1
Sanguine Cross R1
Dark Zone R2
Memento Mori R1

RM's Not obtained:
Sharp Shooter
Inflame
Power of Darkness
Lone Warrior
Master in White
Pride of Kashuan
Dragoon Pride
Wisdom Beyond Years
Chakram Arts
Spirit of Sasune
Illustiorous Dragoon
Artemis of Baron
Frail Prince
Tough Love
Martial master
Fist of Dawn
Keeper of the Old Ways
Samurai of Doma
Feral Might
Soraring Dreams
Gun Arm Master
Moogle Ward
Uneering Shot
Air Rain
Ace Turk
Instructor's Discipline
Balamb Firebrand
Chosen Sorceress
Prestigitation
Black Mage's Awakening
Secrets of the Qu
Impish Recital
Guardian
Proud Tradition
Summoner's Resolve
Eternal Optimist
Power Pulse
Etro's Intervention
Solemn Soul
Capricious Puglist
Sharlayan Thamaturge
Holy Knight's Pride
Way of the Samurai 1 and 2
Dragoon's Soul 1 and 2
Helm Expertise
Dark Blade
Spellblade Mastery 1 and 2
Hammer Master
Focused Charge
Super Critical

-------

I've been waiting to post a little TG styled story for the Rydia event until we had a new thread as well.

-- Part 1: A Change of Venue --
Garnet: I've been trying to tell all of you ever since I was put on extra-dimensional ambassador duty that we need to build a place to relax like that Royal academy I've visited.
Balthier: Actually if you come this way you'll see we've started on that project.
Garnet: I haven't seen any construction going on.
Balthier: Sage Tellah and Dr. Mog were concerned about having us run around the library, it seemed some of the less savory amongst us were preventing any meaningful research into the records. I understand that young miss Relm has been helping out.
Garnet: so where are all the buildings?
Balthier: there aren't any.
Garnet: but...
Balthier: master Tellah, would you kindly explain while I lead the way to our new watering hole?
Tellah: of course. You seem, young Relm has a brand of magic which it seems is highly prized in this world. All of us, and the records, are made by master practitioners of sketch-o-mancy. It took far less of Dr. Mog's magics to imbue some of her paintings with the power to house records than it did to maintain all of us running around the place.
Garnet: So Relm painted us a new place to hang out?
Tellah: Indeed. She's finished the first one of 14 paintings designs to give us a variety of familiar places to relax.
Balthier: Just step into this painting and head to the falling star, most everyone is likely trying out the Rollenberry Bourdeux '63. According to the resident Mage it's one of the better vintages.

(The shooting star pub, windhurst woods).

Rydia: Garnet! Your back.
Garnet: Rydia, you grew up?
Rydia: Relm helped me fix my record, I've had years of memories that didn't fit that body, I'm much happier now.
Zidane, Edge: much happier...
Garnet: Zidane?
Zidane: I'm just happy she's happy... I mean.. Um ... I think rusty needs a sparing partner.
Shantoto: Oh ho ho ho. How quickly that Mithran male ran,
But truly what else to expect from the man?
Welcome and make yourself at home,
We've fine wines and ales with foam.
Balthier: Yes she always talks like a poem, you get use to it though.
(At one table)
Yuffie: Ow ow... I don't want to do that again.
RedXIII: I agree.
Zack: Look, we don't let something like this keep us down, just gotta train more.
Cloud: We aren't going to let, him win.
Arieth: Last time i let our offense drop, we might have still been able to handle him.
Yuffie: Naw, it was spikey-2 that slowed down, you were doing awesome at the start, what happened?
Zack: Power-chain has limited uses, they were all used by the end.
Red: Perhaps holding back that combo till later is preferable.
Cloud: Rest up, we try again, in the morning.
Red: I'll switch back to magic breakdown.
Zack: Not sure that's needed but our helpful MP here can bring armor break for a little extra pain.
Red: We don't have to kill him again, Basch already did it once.
Yuffie: Course we do! He's still got orbs to steal.
Cloud: We'll kill him as many times, as needed. We make our own destiny.
Zack: You know, you don't have to pause dramatically mid -- sentence every-time. Its gets a bit -- annoying.
Cloud: Deal. With. It.
Yuffie: I've been wanting to say that to him for a long time Spikey-2! I might even remember your name next time.
Zack: What higher praise could a charming hero like me ask for?

(In yet another corner).
Cecil: Are you sure it's alright?
Basch: Take it, with your sword and my shield, enemies will fold before you. I understand Golbez is among those you go to face.
Cecil: He is, my brother's shadow is trapped by the records, unable to realize the light or gain freedom from Zemus.
Kain: Rosa and I are ready to aid you against Golbez.
Cecil: What of the demonic dolls that guard him?
Rosa: Rydia and Edge said they would make a date of it. And before you get that look on your face Bahamut is chaperoning.
Kain: Ah, so the ninja has all the chance of getting the girl that I did.
Rosa: Kain... Please let it go.
Kain: I try.
Cecil: All right, let's get our stuff and head out.

Rydia: Palom, Porom, you two get Tellah and meet us near the records. Once Cecil brings down Golbez we fight zombie-mecha-Doctor.
Palom: Sure thing emerald goddess.
*wham*
Porom: Yes miss Rydia, we will be ready. Come brother.
Palom: Why'd you hit me.
Porom: You might think your attempts to flirt are charming but their very juvenile.
Palom: Considering our age that just proves how mature I am.
*wham*
Porom: And That is for trying to use reason to deflect criticism.

Relm: So... do you like?
Garnet: It's wonderful. Where are you painting for us next?
Relm: Well we need a place to live and cook and stuff which isn't all tropical and such. I've been getting Quistis's help planning out a sketch of Balamb Garden because they've got TV, indoor plumbing, microwaves... Figure it would be a great place to bunk while I work.
Garnet: I was hoping for Alexandria, but that does sound nice.
Relm: It takes time to make a painting this complete, so I'll get to it. Sir rusty has been espousing the virtues of Alexandria as a place for training martial types, maybe after Balamb.
Garnet: Hehehe, just don't let him hear you call him that.
Relm: Well, I figure I'm twice as cute as Eiko and she gets away with it...

Part 2 - The Temporary portal -

Rydia: Go Cecil, we'll catch up with you when this is done.
Cecil: May the light of the crystals go with you.
Edge: yeah, yeah... I know how to handle dolls.
Rydia: Oh?
Edge: Um...
Calca: We can't let you interfere
Brina: With the master's plans.
Rydia: You won't be letting anything happen. Bahamut!
Edge: And some ninja tricks too. (Uses Doppleblade).
Rydia: That's it? I was hoping for a fight.
Edge: We can probably get to Cecil before Golbez is done boasting.
Edge: I can see them at the stairs to the dark crystal.

Golbez: Look unto the face of death. (Summons shadow dragon).
Rydia: You can move now, he's done talking. Oh and this is for Tellah, "Meteor!"
Golbez: Calca and Brina can't have fallen already.
Cecil: It matters not, witness the true power of the light, Paladin Force. (The light blasts away the shadow dragon).
Kain: I'll not be outdone Cecil, Sky Grinder.
Edge: I think you guys have him.
Rosa: Just in case may the light protect you from wayward spells (Shellga).
Cecil: Let's finish this, (Saints Cross.)
Golbez: Noooo, how have you become. So strong... ... ...
Rydia: Excellent work boys, we'll see you again after we take out the cyborg.
Rosa: Take care Cecil.
Kain: You mean, we aren't coming?
Rydia: Not unless you learned some fancy spell casting, this is a magic only fight.
Kain: I must protest.
Rydia: My portal, my rules.
Rosa: Come, Palom, porom, and Tellah are waiting.

Lugaborg: Now witness true power!
Palom: Finally, some one appreciates me.
Lugaborg: No you pipsqueak, I meant-
Palom: Pipsqueak? True Power does not let some junk-pile mid-boss call him pipsqueak. (Double cast thundaga).
Lugaborg: Ow ow. I am true-
Tellah: It would seem thunder disagrees with this metallic monstrosity, perhaps this might work as well (Thundaja).
Lugaborg: I am true-
Rydia: Rahmu, he's speaking again.
Rahmu: Very well, your judgement is silence - (Judgement bolt).
Rosa: Well, there isn't much healing to do, good thing Selphie let me borrow her flower of Trabia.
Porom: Don't worry lady Rosa, I'll handle what little damage this creature can pour our way.
Palom: Mwa-ha-ha... Witness true power!
Lugaborg: Brat. I am (zzzzzaaaap). Ow ow ow.
Rydia: Thanks everyone. We've got to meet back up with the boys to handle the Magus Sisters ahead.
Rosa: I don't remember them.
Rydia: Neither do I, I think this is Kain's part of the portal.

(Further Ahead)
Kain: This tower makes me feel uneasy.
Edge: I don't think I've seen it before. What's wrong with it?
Cecil: Bad memories.
Kain: Truely.
Edge: Oh wait, This looks like the record your brainwash materia was in.
Kain: Indeed, a shame the records will not let me escape from.
Cecil: Its been forgiven, let us defeat this nightmare of yours and be gone from here.
The Sisters: You won't be going anywhere. No one can stand up to our Delta Attack.
Edge: It looks like the fight is joined without them.
Rosa: We're here! Lunar light weaken this arcane might. (Shellga)
Rydia: Bahamut! Toast them.
Bahamut: With pleasure
Cindy: Now you've done it! Let's go, Delta Attack!
Kain: The pain is nothing compared to my Shame, my blood lance with leech away your strength. (Leeching Leap)
Edge: This is a talky fight. (Dismissal).
Cecil: The light commands you! (Paladin Force)
Magus Sisters: Golbez! You're on your own. Come on, we don't get paid enough for this.
Rydia: Come back here! (Gives chase).
Edge: I'll get her.
Kain: No, she couldn't help against the wind demon ahead. Call the prince of Damcyan, he will be of some little aid against ... her.

I've finished the U and U+ as Cid's Missions but I haven't written them up yet.

U team was
Cecil, Kain, Edge, Edward, Rosa and was very straight forward.
U+ First run was
Cecil, Rydia, Lightning, Y'Sholta, Ramza and was pretty straight forward with some RNG tomfoolery.
U+ Cid Mission team was
P. Cecil, Rosa, Kain, Porom, D. Cecil and was far from straight forward.

[Starwulf]

Hmm, so we're posting our natural 5* gear for each realm? Sounds cool, I have a feeling I don't measure up to a lot of you, my luck is generally pretty horrid, but I am interested in seeing which realm I'm the absolute strongest in(pretty sure it's either VII or X).



None. A Defender(3*++) & Knights Armor(4*++) + Crystal Ring Accessory



Giants Gloves, Golden Armor. I was totally unaware that it gave Leon's Hand of the Emperor.



Desch's Sword



Dark Sword, Excalibur(P.Cecil's), Genji Shield, Ebon Armor, 2x Gauntlet's, Carnelian Signet



Excalipoor(lol, I maxed it for funnies), Zantetsuken, Genji Blade, Judgment Staff, Yoichi's Bow, Genji Armor, Cowl of Gilgamesh



Zantetsuken, Enhancer, Rune Blade, Kiku-ichimonji, Partisan, Drill, Stardust Rod++, Maduin's Horn(am I really only missing her armor??), Crystal Orb, Terra's Pendant, Memento Ring, Fateful Coin



Fire Fang, Treeblade, Hardedge, Gold Sword+, Murasame, Masamune, Platinum Fist, Aurora Rod, Telescopic Baton, Gatling Gun, Circlet, Wutai Headband(I really need to start using Yuffie more because of this), Shinra Helmet, Precious Watch, Cloud's Goggles, Cat's Bell(man what junk), Cerberus Relief, Hero's Belt



Maverick(didn't even realize I had this, still doesn't make Zell useful enough to put him in my group though), Party Dress, Squall's Necklace



Mage Masher(does it's Magic Buster stack with Full Break + Magic Breakdown???), Diamond Sword, Storm Staff, Golem's Flute, Fairy Flute(Hmm, I should probably consider using Eiko as my WHM in the future)



Celebration Blade, Variable Steel++, Royal Scepter, Magical Mog, Lulu's Hairpin(Mog and Hairpin are the only reason Lulu stays as my X mage), New Beginnings Sphere,Yuna's Obi



Nadda!



Wow...nothing. So it looks like XII is my absolute worst...geez



Wyrmfangx2(kept them separate so I have a WHM and a BLM weapon), Partisan, Goddess's Tribute, Evil Lantern,Witch's Hat(heh, Tribute, Lantern and Witch's Hat were all freebies given away), 3x Corp's Field Uniform(I got all 3 in a single 11 pull during the SSB fest several months back. Was so excited until I saw it was 3 of those, even if they are incredibly useful in many different realms), Gold Bangle++, Soulfont Talisman, Silver Pendant



Yoshimitsu, Temple Gloves, Inferno Bangle.



Spellbinder, Aries



Rune Staff, Cyclone Grimoire, Sentinel Grimoire, Celebration Grimoire



Soooo...looking at it, I'd say either VI, VII, X and XIII are my best realms. If I had included 4* armor's, I think VI would pull solidly ahead, because I have some pretty strong armors and weapons that are 4*++'s for it on top of the nat 5*'s I have. X is close behind though for sure. XIII has the most useful item over-all, the 3x Field Corps Uniforms, as I use those in many, many realms because they give a pretty decent def/res boost AND give an attack boost as well.

I'm starting to seriously consider doing the beginner's pull, solely for Balthier's Ras Algethi, just so I can have a natural 5* in that realm, lol. Stormlance Grimoire is also tempting just so I can have almost all of Tyro's books.

[danzibr]

Phew, no new characters for a while, but then we get a whole mess of them. Need an Orbfest >.>

And thanks for the shout out in the op. But yeah, that old post of mine is sooooooooooo outdated. I was working on it during my lunch and plan period when I didn't have much else to do, now I'm so busy. Plus, other people have way better lists.

Anyway, nice work!

[Hunter Noventa]

Well I just cleared the classic Wendigo fight, what a pain in the butt. Lullaby was of no help in telling which one was which. I'm not looking forward to the Elite revisit.

[Jurai]

Subscription post, keep an eye for out for my inventory.

[Slayn82]

New thread, yeah. First, my Friend Id code is uEoY, and I'm offering Celes's Indomitable Blade as RW, with gear for FF IV. Gonna change it for FF VIII gear once the event arrives.

Second, decided to throw a couple pulls on Rydia's Banner 2, got a Dark Gloves for it. Not the best, but nice. Decided to try for Yang's Blink and Rydia's party +Def, plus Rosa's Dress being serviceable with Wrath.

Anyone else thinking about Record Diving Vivi? That +30 Mag, and 9% extra black magic damage on top of what he already got and his Default SB make him a heavy hitter and with all his innate Resistance, plus +11 and extra HP, makes him very durable against magic damage.

[danzibr]

Oh yeah, friend codes. Could we get those in the extra info post? Mine is b5bU, currently have Divine Guardian, considering changing it to Shout or Edward's mage Shout lite.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Huh, we got an apology mythril this morning for U+ Seph's battle tips not being quite accurate about his counter mechanics. They mentioned that the issue is now resolved, which: of course it is. The event is over. :smalltongue:

I did manage to master it last night, though not with the Cid Mission team. Level 63 Red & Aeris are pretty squishy without synergy armor, it turns out, and my oh my Seph hit hard and often. Bringing in Auron for tauntaliate, Ramza for Tailwind, and Cecil for world-destroying BSB damage though? Yes, that did nicely. Still need to get a handle on Powerchain though. I've only got it at R2, so I can't spam it but I also shouldn't hang onto it as much as I did on the winning run.

FF4 will be in a bit of a funny place. I've got a couple very big guns - Cecil 80 with BSB, Palom 80 with SSB - but the rest of the crew is hanging around level 55. So the U Cid Mission may be doable? But I doubt I have a chance on the U+ with those levels, which sucks since Palom SSB is the perfect tool for the job. And coming down the pike, FF8 is right out thanks to lack of relics, and FF5 is out due to lack of characters. (Lenna's at 68, Exdeath is at 50, and I think the only other FF5 character I have is Galuf at 1.) So I guess it's time to start prepping for FF9? I should be in pretty good shape for that aside from needing to get either Freya or Quina built up. And FF12 also looks pretty good. Very excited to get Basch level broken again, too.

[SuperPanda]

Friend Code is: 3Lkv

Currently have Garnet with Divine Guardian

Can happily change to: Stone Skin II, Pally Cecil BSB, lulu Focus, or Selphie's Dreamstage on request.

Will likely change my RW to wall with the advent of Cid's Missions.

[Hunter Noventa]

My friend code is Bwbo, and I'm offering Dreamstage right now, I can swap to Shout or Fenrir Overdrive easily enough.

[Jurai]

Good news: Inventory!

Accessories:
Blaze Armlet
Bolt Armlet
Tornado Armlet
Aurora Amlet
Weapons:
Rune Staff

Characters:
Tyro 80
Warrior 50
Knight 50
Monk 1
Red Mage 50
Black mage 65
Magus 50
White Mage 50
Devout 50
Summoner 52
Samurai 50
Dragoon 1
Dark Knight 1
Spell Blade 50
Viking 1
Berserker 1
Ranger 65
Thief 1
Bard 65
Ninja 50
Gladiator 50

Weapons:
Defender 4*+

Accessories:
Crystal Ring 5*

Characters:
Warrior of Light 80

Weapons:
Dancing Dagger (Dagger) 5* Soul Break: Captain's Command (Shellga+Hastega)
Armor:
Ice Gloves (Bracer) 5* Non-Soul Break
Golden Armor (Heavy Armor) Soul Break: Hand of the Emperor
Accessories:
Gigas Armlet
Protect Ring
Bacchus' Wine

Characters:
Firion 65
Maria 65
Leon 65
Minwu 50
Gordon 1
Leila 50
Ricard 51
Josef 51

Weapons:
Madura Harp 4* Soul Break: Valor Minuet II (Large Attack Increase, party-wide)

Armor:
Feathered Hat 4* Soul Break: Doublecast Thunder (Two hits of single-target Lightning damage)
Diamond Helm 4* Soul Break: Knight's Shield II (Large Defense Increase, self-only)

Accessories:
Sky Breaker Earrings
Horn of Ice

Characters:
Luneth 65
Arc 65
Reifa 65
Ingus 65
Desch 1

Weapons:
Seraphim's Mace Super Soul Break: Sync (h85 Medica and Hastega)

Accessories:
Gauntlets
Carnelian Signet
Black Mage Twin Stars

Characters:
Dark Cecil 65
Pld Cecil 65
Kain 50
Rydia 80
Rosa 1
Edward 1
Yang 1
Palom 1
Porom 80
Tellah 65
Edge 50
Fusoya 65
Golbez 65
Weapons:
Excalibur (V) Super Soul Break: Trueblade of Legend
Genji Blade (V) Super Soul Break: Faithful Companion
Giant's Gloves (V) Soul Break: Unyielding Fist
Healing Staff 5*+ Soul Break: Royal Devotion
Killer Bow 4* (Ranger SB) +chance to KO
Hayate Bow 4*+

Armor:
Hypno Crown 4*+

Accessories:
Cowl of Gilgamesh
Flame Ring
Silver Specs

Characters:
Lenna 80
Galuf 80
Gilgamesh 80
Bartz 80
Faris 65
Exdeath 65
Krile 65
Weapons:
Holy Lance Soul Break: Sunbath (AoE Attack Increase and Heavy Regen)
Lamia's Flute 5* Soul Break: Havoc Wing
Moonring Blade 4*++

Armor:
Oath Veil 5*+

Accessories:
Crystal Orb
Terra's Pendant x2
Memento Ring
Fateful Coin
Black Belt
Zephyr Cloak

Characters:
Terra 80
Locke 66
Celes 65
Mog 65
Edgar 50
Sabin 50
Shadow 50
Cyan 51
Gau 1
Setzer 1
Strago 65
Relm 50
Kefka 65
Weapons:
Yoshiyuki Super Soul Break: Black Materia (Four hits of single-target untyped physical damage, chance to sap)
Masamune-Shinuchi Burst Soul Break: Reunion (Four hits of area-of-effect untyped physical damage, and grants Haste and Burst Mode. Commands are Despair (Two hits of Defense-piercing untyped damage) and Flames of Perdition (Four hits of single target Fire physical damage)
Metal Knuckle 4*++
Telescopic Baton 5* Soul Break: Turk Light (One hit of area-of-effect Lightning magical damage, chance to paralyze)

Armor:
Dragon Armlet 5* Shared Soul Break: Veil of Annulment (Shellga)
Holiday Mittens 5* Shared Soul Break: Inspiring Light (Moderate Attack Increase)

Accessories:
Silver Glasses x2
Peace Ring
Poison Ring
Lone Wolf Earring x3
Cerberus Relief
Hero's Belt

Characters:
Cloud 80
Barret 65
Tifa 50
Areith 80
Red XIII 1
Yffie 65
Cait Sith 1
Vincent 80
Zacl 50
Sephiroth 80
Cid 50
Reno 80
Weapons:
Weapons:
Gauntlets 5*+ Soul Break: Meteor Barrage (Three single-target hits of untyped physical damage, grant Haste, Shell, and Protect to user)
Rising Sun 5* Soul Break: Angel Wing Quake (Two area-of-effect hits of Earth magical damage, inflicts Slow on all targets)
Ulysses 5* Soul Break: Canister Shot (Three single-target hits of untyped physical damage, reduce target's Defense and Resistance)
Armor:
Estharian Helmet 5*
Accessories:
Squall's Necklace
Veil of Adel
Glow Curtain
Characters:
Squall 65
Rinoa 80
Quistis 1
Zell 80
Selphie 1
Irvine 65
Seifer 50
Laguna 50
Edea 1
Weapons:
Butterfly Sword 5* Soul Break: Scoop Art (Three single-target hits of Non-Elemental physical damage)
Wizard Rod 5*+ Super Soul Break: Divine Guardian (Area-of-effect Resistance increase, Heavy Regen, and Hastega)
Armor:
Gauntlets 5* Non-Soul Break
Accessories:
Silver Pinion
Gulug Stone
Black Belt
Characters:
Zidane 65
Garent 80
Vivi 80
Steiner 80
Freya 50
Quina 52
Eiko 65
Amarant 50
Batrix 50
Kuja 1
Weapons:
Celebration Blade 5* (Shared SB, slow buster)
Nodachi 4*++
Royal Scepter 5* Shared Soul Break: Mass Mending
All-rounder 5* Soul Break: Attack Reels (Five ranged physical random-target hits, reduce their Magic temporarily)
Dusk Lance 5* Soul Break: Mighty Guard (X) (1 layer of Magic Blink)

Armor:
Bright Arm Guard 4*++ +Blind resist

Accessories:
Soft Bracer
Champion's Belt
Yuna's Obi

Characters:
Tidus 80
Yuna 80
Wakka 80
Lulu 80
Kimarhi 65
Rikku 50
Auron 50
Jecht 50
Braska 1
Accessories:
Brutal Earing

Characters:
Shantoto 1

Weapons:
Kogarasumaru 5* Soul Break: Windburst (Three ranged single-target hits of untyped Physical damage, chance to Blind and Silence)
Ras Algethi 5* Soul Break: Tides of Fate (One ranged area-of-effect water Physical damage)
Golden Staff 3*++

Accessories:
Barcer
Doctor Cid's Glasses

Characters:
Vaan 65
Balthier 80
Fran 65
Basch 1
Ashe 65
Penelo 51
Weapons:
Blazefire Sabre 5* Soul Break: Blaze Rush (Three hits of single-target Non-Elemental physical damage)
Goddess Tribute 5*
Glaive 5* Soul Break: Pulsar Burst (Five ranged random hits of Untyped physical damage)
Tigerclaw 5* Shared Soul Break: Tiger's Roar (One hit of Non-Elemental magical damage, chance to Slow)
Airwing 5* Soul Break: Earthquake (One hit of area-of-effect Earth magical damage, reduce Attack)
Power Glove 4*+

Armor:
Witch's Hat 5* (shared SB + party mag)
Titanium Bangle 3*++

Accessories:
Silver Pendant

Characters:
Lightning 80
Snow 51
Vanile 80
Sazh 50
Hope 80
Fang 51
Serah 50
Accessories:
Inferno Bangle
Tremor Earrings

Characters:
Y'shtola 50
Thancred 65
Yda 1
Papalymo 1


Accessories:
Aries
Bracer

Characters:
Ramza 80
Agrias 80



Egg Count:
2* 5
3* 11
4* 1

Orb Count:
Power:
1* 191
2* 203
3* 82
4* 14
5* 27
6* 4
White:
1* 123
2* 93
3* 94
4* 40
5* 47
6* 2
Black:
1* 143
2* 127
3* 415
4* 176
5* 15
6* 6
Summon:
1* 98
2* 140
3* 118
4* 48
5* 4
6* 2
Non-Elemental:
1* 96
2* 184
3* 498
4* 229
5* 21
6* 4
Fire:
1* 195
2* 236
3* 656
4* 69
5* 42
6* 6
Ice:
1* 80
2* 66
3* 330
4* 59
5* 12
Lightning:
1* 95
2* 116
3* 212
4* 51
5* 17
Earth:
1* 237
2* 800
3* 817
4* 39
5* 55
6* 5
Wind:
1* 130
2* 380
3* 110
4* 0
5* 21
6* 3
Holy:
1* 107
2* 223
3* 182
4* 61
5* 7
6* 2
Dark:
1* 92
2* 36
3* 100
4* 10
5* 44
6* 1


Hone Check:
Firaga R5
Blizzaja R4
Thundaja R5
Waterja R5
Bioga R5
Biora R5
Stop R4
Break R1
Quake R5
Meteor R1
Ruinga R5
Drainga R3
Curaga R5
Curaja R5
Protectga R3
Shellga R3
Silencega R3
Haste R5
Ensuna R5
Diara R5
Diaga R5
Dispel R5
Arise R2
Shiva R5
Ramuh R5
Ifirit R5
Maduin R4
Carbuncle R3
Alexander R4
Bahamut R1
Orthos R3
Firaga Strike R3
Blizzaga Strike R3
Thundaga Strike R3
Waterga Strike R5
Aerora Strike R5
Drain Strike R4
Biora Strike R4
Tornado Strike R1
Double Cut R5
Armor Break R5
Pound R2
Full Charge R1
Lifesiphon R5
Lifesiphon R4
Lifesiphon R4
Venom Buster R5
Mental Breakdown R1
Magic Breakdown R4
Power Breakdown R3
Armor Breakdown R1
Full Break R1
Wind Slash R5
Tempo Flurry R5
Dismisal R4
Power Chain R1
Wind Jump R5
Ice Jump R5
Lightning Jump R5
Sky Grinder R2
Leeching Leap R5
Dragoon Jump R1
Blood of the Wyvern R1
Kick R5
Piercing Strike R4
Steal Power R2
Thief's Revenge R1
Draw Fire R5
Banishing Strike R5
Saint's Cross R1
Retaliate R5
Darkmoon R3
Fire Blossom R5
Yukikaze R2
Swift Bolt R4
Water Veil R1
Fire Veil R1
Phantasm R1
Gust R1
Lullaby R5
Eveloping Etude R2
Stumble Step R1
Box Step Sarabande R1
Exhausting Polka R3
Halting Rumba R1
Heathen Frolic Sarabande R1
Mutli Break R1
Blind Shell R2
Slience Shell R1
Poision Shell R1
Confuse Shell R3
Bio Grenade R1
Dark Bargain R3
Dark Zone R1
Memento Mori R1

RM's Not obtained:
Rebel's Might
Inflame
Power of Darkness
Lone Warrior
Master in White
Grim Determination
Pride of Kashuan
Prey on the Weak
Wisdom Beyond Years
Beloved Soul
Chakram Arts
Devout Soul
Spirit of Sasune
Ancient Power
Pride of the Red Wings
Holy Blade
Paladin's Devotion
Illustrious Dragoon
Archer in White
Artemis of Baron
Royal Song I
Royal Song II
Frail Prince
Ascetic Journet
Tough Love
Black Magic Adept
Black Magic Prodigy
Smoldering Fury
Moon's Grace II
Adventurer's Dagger
Unbreakable Spellblade
Heart of the Dancer II
Pride of Figaro
Keeper of the Old Ways
Hardened Assassin
Samurai of Doma
Wild Child
Feral Might
All In
Soaring Dreams
Blue Mage Defiance
Gifted Artist
Gun-Arm Master
The Zangan Way
Cetra's Destiny
Planet Guardian
Seto's Will
Survival Instinct
Lickety-Split
Lucky Slots
Moogle Ward
Unerring Shot
SOLDIER's Resolve
Air Raid
Lionheart
Keen Eye
Instructor's Discipline
Slots
Flower of Trabia
Charismatic Aura
Icy Manipulator
Chosen Sorceress
Prestidigitation
Healer
Blood of the Summoner
Secrets of the Qu
Impish Recital
One-Eyed General
Silver Genome
Dark Fate
Proud Tradition
Al Bhed Ingenuity
Legend's Blade
Heavy-Handed Father
Selfless Summoner
Summoner's Resolve
Winds of Rabanastre
Viera Virtuoso
Art of the Barrage
Shield of Dalmasca
Desert Bloom
Eternal Optimist
Double Barrels
Power Pulse
Etro's Intervention
Solemn Soul
Blades Like Wind
Honed Flesh
Capricious Pugilist
Derisive Smile
Sharlayan Thaumaturge
Holy Knight's Pride
Healer's Prayer II
Way of the Samurai II
Dragoon's Soul I
Dragoon's Soul II
Helm Expertise
Dark Blade
Spellblade Mastery II
Hammer Master
Ferocious Charge
Blue Moon Barrage
Zealot
Vanish
Super Critical

Also, Bi1H, a Sync I will update for next event when it hits.

[Greg_S]

Friend code:fr4D. It's Sentinel's Grimoire, and I'll leave it as SG unless I get Celes or OK's BSB in the future.

Still plugging away at the CM for IV- I completely agree with Red from the last thread, calling out how RNG-dependent this fight is. If Asura rolls a few counters in a row, or if she decides to spam curaja, you're in trouble. I wish Grand Cross absorbed Raise, because it'd be hilarious to blitz Leviathan down and let Asura waste every turn on an absorbed spell.

EDIT: The gear, ignoring accessories:



5++ Sentinel's Grimoire
5* Rune Staff
5* Celebration Grimoire


4++ Knight's Armor


5* Flame Shield
4++ Wing Sword


3++ Tiger Claws
3++ Dragon Helm
3++ Viking Helm


4++ Dancing Dagger
4++ Black Garb
4++ Black Robe
5* Assassin's Dagger
5* Dark Sword
5* Kotetsu IV x 2
5* Ice Whip
5* Luminous Robe
5* Dark Gloves
3++ Black Cowl
3++ Poison Axe
3++ Ice Rod


4++ Rune Axe
4++ Thornlet
4++ Hypno Crown
5* Air Knife
5* Excalipoor
5* Flametongue
5* Genji Blade
5* Lilith Rod
5* Diamond Armor
5* Gaia Gear x 2
4+ Hayate Bow
3++ Gold Hairpin
3++ Lamia's Tiara
3++ Fire Rod
3++ Thunder Rod


5+ Enhancer
4++ Moonring Blade
4++ Royal Crown
4++ Diamond Armor
5* ICHIGEKI
5* Rune Blade
5* Kotetsu VI
5* Magus Rod
5* Cards
5* Oath Veil
5* Crystal Mail
5* Gaia Gear
4+ Gravity Rod
3++ Gold Helm
3++ Red Cap


5+ Gold Sword
4++ Crystal Bangle
5* Holiday Mittens
5* Organics
5* Tiger Fangs
5* Guard Stick
5* Wutai Headband
5* Silver Barrette


4++ Ten-Gallon Hat
4++ Mesmerize Blade
5* Blitz Sword
5* Sorceress' Crown


4++ Gladius
5* Orichalcum
5* Save the Queen
5* Ultima Sword
5* Cypress Pile
5* Mace of Zeus
5* Hypnocrown
5* Power Sash
5* Gauntlets


5+ Shimmering Blade
5+ Dusk Lance
5+ Lullaby Rod
4++ Bright Armguard
5* Celebration Blade
5* Brotherhood
5* Full Metal Rod
5* Official Ball
5* Red Armlet
5* Royal Scepter
4+ Warrior's Sword


Emptier than the chests in the phoenix cave.


4++ Platinum Dagger
4++ Sledgehammer
4++ Empyrean Rod
5* Runeblade
5* Viking Coat
5* Survival Vest
4+ Trident
4+ Hammerhead
4+ Diamond Sword
3++ Obelisk
3++ Golden Staff


4++ Silver Bangle
5* Wyrmfang
5* Deneb Duellers
5* Witch's Hat
5* Goddess' Tribute
5* Serah's Gloves
5* Evil Lantern
3++ Titanium Bangle


5* Evoker's Horn
5* Ifrit's Kris
5* Ninja Chainmail


5+ Spellbinder
5* Ice Rod
5* Platinum Sword
5* Nu-Khai Armband
5* Grand Armor

[Calemyr]

Just because it's fun.

Non-Unique: 64
Unique: 32
Super: 7


Tyro: Healing Grimoire, Celebration Grimoire
White Mage: Rune Staff



Accessories: Crystal Ring



Accessories: Potect Ring, Gigas Armlet
Shared: Gaia Blade+
Minwu: White Robe



Ignis: Heroic Shield



Accessories: Gauntlets, Rune Armlet, Sand Pearl
No SB: Dark Gloves
Shared SB: Stoneblade, Luminous Robe
Edge: Murasame, Kotetsu
Golbez: Rune Axe+, Ebon Armor
Tellah: Polymorph Rod
Rydia: Mystic Whip*
D.Cecil: Dark Armor
Rosa: White Dress



Accessories: Protect Ring, Cowl of GILGAMESH
No SB: Excalipoor, Hayate Bow++, Lamia's Tiara++, Diamond Armor
GILGAMESH: Kotetsu
Galuf: Thor Hammer, Kaiser Knuckles



Accessories: Crystal Orb, Zephyr Cloak
No SB: Zantetsuken, Gravity Rod++, Crystal Helm+, Crystal Mail
Edgar: Partisan+
Sabin: Kaiser Knuckles
Terra: Minerva Bustier+



Accessories: Bolt Ring, Water Ring, Poison Ring,Cerberus Relief, Blonde Wig
No SB: Basilisk Claw+, Striking Staff, Shinra Helmet
Shared SB: Candle Rod, Boomerang+, Dragon Armlet
Cloud: Hardedge
Sephiroth: Yoshiyuki*
Cid: Partisan



Accessories: Rune Armlet, Glow Curtain, Squall's Necklace
No SB: Blitz Sword, Pinwheel, Balamb Garden Uniform
Shared SB: Blitz Helm
Seifer: Hyperion
Quistis: Red Scorpion*
Rinoa: Valkyrie, Cardinal*
Irvine: Valiant, Ulysses+
Edea: Sorceress's Crown



Accessories: Pearl Rouge, Black Belt
No SB: Adamant Vest
Vivi: Mace of Zeus*
Eiko: Fairy Flute+*
Beatrix: Thunder Gloves+



Accessories: Mages Armlet, Yuna's Obi
No SB: Warrior's Sword++, Variable Steel, Wizard Armlet++
Shared SB: Celebration Blade, Royal Sceptre
Rikku: Flexible Arm+



Accessories: Brutal Earing



Accessories: Ring of Renewal, Doctor Cid's Glasses
No SB: Diamond Sword++
Penelo: Judicier's Staff
Fran: Killer Bow
Balthier: Ras Algethi, Aldebaran*



No SB: Kaiser Knuckles, Goddess's Tribute, Evil Lantern, Silver Bangle++
Shared SB: Keepsake Knife, Tigerclaw, Witch's Hat



Accessories: Emerald Ring, Infernal Bangle
Thancred: Yoshimitsu, Ninja Chainmail



Accessories: Bracer

[Deadline]

Still here! Still keeping those records! Jumping on this bandwagon!

Accessories:
Bolt Armlet
Aurora Amlet
Weapons:
Rune Staff(White Mage) 5* Soul Break: Light Divine (moderate medica)
Celebration Grimoire(Tyro) 5* Soul Break: Celebration Grimoire (ranged physical to all targets and small medica)
Keeper's Tome(Tyro) 5* Burst Soul Break: Keeper's Tome (Everything you'd want in a Super Soul Break, but in a BSB instead :smallmad: )

Armor:
None

Accessories:
None

Characters:
Tyro 70
Warrior 50
Knight 50
Monk 50
Red Mage 50
Black mage 52
Magus 50
White Mage 56
Devout 50
Summoner 52
Samurai 51
Dragoon 58
Dark Knight 53
Spell Blade 52
Viking 56
Berserker 50
Ranger 51
Thief 50
Bard 51
Ninja 53
Gladiator 54

Weapons:
Defender++ 6*

Armor:
Knight's Armor++ 6*

Accessories:
Crystal Ring 5*

Characters:
Warrior of Light 70

Weapons:
Wing Sword++ 6*
Gaia Blade+ 6*

Armor:
None

Accessories:
Gigas Armlet 5*
Protect Ring 4*
Bacchus' Wine 4*

Characters:
Firion 68
Maria 65
Leon 67
Minwu 65
Gordon 65
Leila 50
Ricard 65
Josef 65

Weapons:
Desch's Sword(Desch) 5* Soul Break: Bolt of the Ancients (4x Magic Lightning attacks to all and envelop user in lightning)
Light Rod 4*
Light Staff 4*
Madura Harp(Bard) 4* Soul Break: Valor Minuet II (Large Attack Increase, party-wide)

Armor:
Feathered Hat(Red Mage) 4* Soul Break: Doublecast Thunder (Two hits of single-target Lightning damage)
Diamond Helm(Knight) 4* Soul Break: Knight's Shield II (Large Defense Increase, self-only)
Gaia Vest(Summoner) 4* Soul Break: Call II (calls random summon)

Accessories:
Protect Ring 4*
Horn of Ice 4*

Characters:
Luneth 67
Arc 67
Reifa 66
Ingus 74
Desch 65

Weapons:
Dancing Dagger+ 5*
Lustrous Sword(P.Cecil) 5* Super Soul Break: Saint's Fall (3 physical holy attacks to one target)
Ice Rod++ 5*
Sage's Staff++ 6*
Fabled Harp(Edward) 5* Soul Break: Fabled Song (Protectga and major regen)
Ice Whip(Rydia) 5* Soul Break: Summon Eidolon II (Shiva summon)

Armor:
Genji Shield 5*
Black Garb++ 6*
Ebon Armor(Golbez) 5* Soul Break: Nightglow (2x magic dark attacks to all w/moderate chance to sap)
White Robe++ 6*

Accessories:
Gauntlets 5*
Rune Armlet(x4) 4*
Sand Pearl(x2) 4*

Characters:
Dark Cecil 71
Pld Cecil 68
Kain 65
Rydia 73
Rosa 54
Edward 65
Yang 65
Palom 70
Porom 65
Tellah 65
Edge 51
Fusoya 65
Golbez 58
Weapons:
Excalipoor 5*
Flametongue 5*
Rune Axe++ 6*
Thor Hammer(Galuf) 5* Soul Break: Fist of the Dawn (physical damage to one target and raise party attack a moderate amount)
Moore Branch(Exdeath) 5* Soul Break: Grand Cross (4x non-elemental magic attacks and absorb enemy black and white magic to restor ability uses)
Sage's Staff 5*
Killer Bow(Ranger) 4* Soul Break: Steady Shot II (Fire a shot that doesn't miss)
Hayate Bow++ 6*
Aevis Killer(Faris) 5* Soul Break: Kindred Spirit (ranged physical to all and lower enemy defense and resistance)

Armor:
Hypno Crown+ 5*
Genji Helm 5*
Genji Armor 5*

Accessories:
Cowl of Gilgamesh 5*
Protect Ring 4*
Flame Ring 4*
Silver Specs 4*

Characters:
Lenna 68
Galuf 72
Gilgamesh 65
Bartz 65
Faris 54
Exdeath 62
Krile 52
Weapons:
Assassin's Dagger 5*
Valiant Knife(Locke) 5* Super Soul Break: Valiant Strike (8x physical attacks to one target, more damage if enemy hp lower)
Zantetsuken++ 7*
Excalibur(Celes) 5* Super Soul Break: Indomitable Blade (5x physical attacks to one target and absorb enemy black and white magic to restore ability uses)
Kotetsu(Cyan) 5* Soul Break: Bushido Dragon (physical damage to one target, stealing its HP)
Drill(Edgar) 5* Soul Break: Drill (3x physical attacks to one target and raise party defense a moderate amount)
Gravity Rod 4*
Chain Flail 5* Soul Break: Saintly Beam (magic holy damage to one target)
Maduin's Horn(Terra) 5* Super Soul Break: Magitech Missile (10x non-elemental attacks to one target)
Chocobo Brush(Relm) 5* Super Soul Break: Portrait of Lakshmi (Large medica and magor regen)
Sniper 5*
Wing Edge(Locke) 5* Soul Break: Phoenix Plunder (physical fire to all targets and moderate medica)

Armor:
Golden Shield 5*
Royal Crown+ 5*
Oath Veil 5*
Red Jacket++ 6*
Kefka's Cloak(Kefka) 5* Soul Break: Magic Infusion (hastega and raise party magic a small amount)
Diamond Armor++ 6*
Gaia Gear 5*

Accessories:
Crystal Orb 5*
Amulet 4*
Muscle Belt 4*
Zephyr Cloak(x2) 4*
Black Belt 4*
Fairy Ring 4*
Terra's Pendant 5*

Characters:
Terra 80
Locke 80
Celes 72
Mog 65
Edgar 65
Sabin 65
Shadow 65
Cyan 66
Gau 67
Setzer 65
Strago 65
Relm 70
Kefka 59
Weapons:
Hard Edge(Cloud) 5* Soul Break: Cross Slash (damage and paralyze one target)
Crystal Sword 5* Soul Break: Double Thunder Cut (two lightning attacks)
Gold Sword 5*
Masamune(Sephiroth) 5* Soul Break: Hell's Gate (physical damage to all targets)
Masamune Blade++ 6*
Diamond Knuckles++ 5*
Platinum Fist(Tifa) 5* Soul Break: Burning Arrow (two ranged physical attacks to one target and raise party attack a moderate amount)
Silver Barrette(Red XIII) 5* Soul Break: Trine (magic lightning to all targets)

Armor:
Keepsake Ribbon(Aerith) 5* Soul Break: Planet Protector (raise party attack a large amount)
Wutai Headband(Yuffie) 5* Soul Break: Clear Tranquil (instant moderate medica)
Crystal Bangle++ 6*
Rune Armlet++ 5*
Holiday Mittens 5* Shared Soul Break: Inspiring Light (Moderate Attack Increase)

Accessories:
Bolt Ring 4*
Water Ring 4*
Touph Ring 4*
Poison Ring 4*
Jeweled Ring 4*
White Cape 4*
Fairy Ring 4*
Fury Ring 4*
Champion Belt 4*
Wolf Earring(x3) 4*
Cerberus Relief 5*
Blonde Wig 4*

Characters:
Cloud 80
Barret 65
Tifa 67
Areith 80
Red XIII 66
Yuffie 71
Cait Sith 66
Vincent 65
Zach 65
Sephiroth 80
Cid 65
Reno 66
Weapons:
Shear Trigger(Squall) 5* Soul Break: Fated Circle (3x single target attacks followed by one attack on all targets)
Metal Knuckles 5*
Morningstar(Selphie) 5* Soul Break: Trabia's Light (moderate medica)
Ochu Tentacle 5*
Valkyrie(Rinoa) 5* Soul Break: Angel Wing Bolt (barrage of lightning bolts)
Valiant(Irvine) 5* Soul Break: Fast Ammo (10x attacks)

Armor:
Ten Gallon Hat++ 6*

Accessories:
Turtle Shell 4*
Hyper Wrist(x2) 4*
Squall's Necklace 5*
Rune Armlet 4*
Glow Curtain 4*

Characters:
Squall 73
Rinoa 80
Quistis 65
Zell 65
Selphie 66
Irvine 65
Seifer 50
Laguna 66
Edea 72
Weapons:
Gladius++ 6*
Zorlin Shape 5*
Diamond Sword 5*
Ultima Sword+(Steiner) 6* Soul Break: Sword Art Stock Break (3x physical attacks to all targets with a moderate chance to paralyze them)
Needle Fork(Quina) 5* Soul Break: Mighty Guard (Protectga and Shellga)
Asura's Rod(Garnet) 5* Soul Break: Leviathan (2x summon magic water attacks to all and raise the party's magic a small amount)
Cypress Pile(Vivi) 5* Soul Break: Doublecast Meteorite (two magic non-elemental attacks to all targets)
Storm Staff(Garnet) 5* Soul Break: Ramuh (summoning lightning magic to all targets)

Armor:
Brigandine++ 5*
Adamant Vest 5*
Black Robe 5* Soul Break: Engulfing Flames (magic fire damage to all targets)
Thunder Gloves(Beatrix) 5* Soul Break: Rose of May (4x physical attacks to one target and raise party's defense a moderate amount)

Accessories:
Black Belt(x3) 4*
Pearl Rouge(x3) 4*

Characters:
Zidane 65
Garent 74
Vivi 70
Steiner 72
Freya 50
Quina 65
Eiko 66
Amarant 50
Beatrix 66
Kuja 68
Weapons:
Celebration Blade 5* Soul Break: Slow Buster (physical damage to one target with moderate chance to slow)
Brotherhood(Tidus) 5* Soul Break: Spiral Cut (physical attack on all targets)
Nodachi++ 6*
Royal Scepter 5* Soul Break: Mass Mending (small medica)
Lullaby Rod(Yuna) 5* Soul Break: Hymn of the Fayth (moderate medica and major regen)

Armor:
Defense Veil 5*
Bright Arm Guard+ 5*
Al Bhed Jumper 5*
Wizard Armlet++ 6
Red Armlet 5*

Accessories:
Star Pendant 4*
Soft Bracer(x2) 4*
Muscle Belt(x3) 4*
Adept's Bangle 5*
Adept's Armlet 4*
Mage's Armlet 4*
Yuna's Obi 5*

Characters:
Tidus 70
Yuna 70
Wakka 70
Lulu 68
Kimarhi 66
Rikku 65
Auron 69
Jecht 65
Braska 57

Weapons:
None

Armor:
None

Accessories:
None

Characters:
Shantoto 50

Weapons:
Demonsbane(Ashe) 5* Soul Break: Heaven's Wrath (3x magic holy attacks to one target with moderate chance to sleep and confuse)
Trident++ 6*
Holy Rod(Penelo) 5* Super Soul Break: Intercession (3x white magic holy attacks to one target and large medica)
Killer Bow(Fran) 5* Soul Break: Shatterheart (3x ranged physical attacks to all targets and lower their attack and magic a large amount)
Aldebaran(Balthier) 5* Super Soul Break: Strahl Strafe (ranged physical fire damage to 6 random targets and lower their fire resistance)

Armor:
Kaiser Shield+ 6* Soul Break: Veil of Protection (protectga)
Shepherd's Bolero++ 5*

Accessories:
Rose Corsage 5*
Magick Gloves 4*
Ring of Renewal 4*
Blazer Gloves 4*
Doctor Cid's Glasses 5*

Characters:
Vaan 65
Balthier 72
Fran 70
Basch 50
Ashe 65
Penelo 74
Weapons:
Power Glove++ 6*
Goddess Tribute 5*
Evil Lantern 5*

Armor:
Witch's Hat 5* Soul Break: Witchcraft (raise party's magic a small amount)
Gold Bangle 5*
Titanium Bangle++ 5*

Accessories:
General's Belt(x2) 4*
Hope's Scarf 4*

Characters:
Lightning 69
Snow 70
Vanile 1
Sazh 66
Hope 67
Fang 65
Serah 65
Accessories:
Ruby Ring(x2) 4*
Emerald Ring(x2) 4*

Characters:
Y'shtola 65
Thancred 65
Yda 62
Papalymo 65


Weapons:
None

Armor:
Kaiser Shield(Agrias) 5* Soul Break: Cleansing Strike (3x ranged physical attacks to one target and lower its attack and magic a large amount)

Accessories:
Bracer 4*

Characters:
Ramza 70
Agrias 73



Egg Count:
Lesser: 100
Regular: 100
Greater: 98
Major: 9

Orb Count:
Power:
1* 60
2* 151
3* 259
4* 128
5* 23
6* 2
White:
1* 148
2* 30
3* 801
4* 319
5* 50
6* 0
Black:
1* 361
2* 509
3* 257
4* 130
5* 59
6* 5
Summon:
1* 279
2* 400
3* 538
4* 101
5* 34
6* 0
Non-Elemental:
1* 269
2* 524
3* 197
4* 170
5* 27
6* 3
Fire:
1* 194
2* 361
3* 384
4* 210
5* 46
6* 2
Ice:
1* 175
2* 522
3* 187
4* 165
5* 23
Lightning:
1* 228
2* 611
3* 200
4* 220
5* 34
Earth:
1* 574
2* 347
3* 215
4* 212
5* 35
6* 0
Wind:
1* 442
2* 309
3* 121
4* 216
5* 40
6* 0
Holy:
1* 265
2* 476
3* 757
4* 209
5* 17
6* 0
Dark:
1* 374
2* 220
3* 214
4* 181
5* 55
6* 0


Hone Check:
Firaja R4
Firaja R1
Blizzaja R3
Thundaja R3
Waterja R3
Bioga R3
Darkra R3
Death R1
Flare R1
Break R1
Quake R4
Meteor R1
Ruinga R4
Drainga R1
Curaga R5
Curaja R1
Protectga R2
Shellga R2
Holy R1
Diaga R3
Arise R1
Curaise R1
Maduin R1
Phoenix R1
Valefor R1
Carbuncle R2
Ixion R1
Alexander R1
Quetzalcoatl R3
Bahamut R1
Cactuar R1
Orthos R2
Fat Chocobo R2
Firaga Strike R3
Blizzaga Strike R3
Thundaga Strike R3
Waterga Strike R1
Break Strike R1
Drain Strike R4
Biora Strike R1
Tornado Strike R1
Bladeblitz R3
Pound R2
Barrage R1
Bonecrusher R1
Full Charge R1
Lifesiphon R1
Mental Breakdown R2
Magic Breakdown R3
Power Breakdown R2
Armor Breakdown R2
Full Break R2
Dismisal R3
Power Chain R1
Sky Grinder R1
Leeching Leap R1
Dragoon Jump R1
Blood of the Wyvern R1
Pressure Point R2
Punishing Palm R1
Piercing Strike R1
Steal Defense R1
Steal Power R3
Mug Time R1
Thief's Revenge R1
Minus Strike R1
Magic Lure R1
Banishing Strike R3
Armor Strike R1
Saint's Cross R2
Darkmoon R3
Fire Blossom R1
Yukikaze R3
Flashing Blade R2
Mirror of Equity R1
Flurry of Petals R1
Shadowsteel R2
Phantasm R1
Doppleblade R1
Gust R1
Eveloping Etude R1
Stumble Step R1
Box Step Sarabande R1
Exhausting Polka R1
Halting Rumba R1
Heathen Frolic Sarabande R1
Mutli Break R1
Blind Shell R3
Slience Shell R1
Poision Shell R1
Confuse Shell R1
Bio Grenade R1
Dark Bargain R1
Sanguine Cross R1
Dark Zone R1
Memento Mori R1

RM's Not obtained:
Lone Warrior
Illustrious Dragoon
Artemis of Baron
Frail Prince
Tough Love
Smoldering Fury
Gun-Arm Master
Moogle Ward
Air Raid
Charismatic Aura
Secrets of the Qu
Proud Tradition
Al Bhed Ingenuity
Heavy-Handed Father
Summoner's Resolve
Innocence
Pulse Kindness
Solemn Soul
Blades Like Wind
Capricious Pugilist
Sharlayan Thaumaturge


Friend code esWa, current RW is Exdeath with Grand Cross. I should probably switch that to Celes with Indomitable Blade

[spectralphoenix]

Looks like the new DU is out with new V, XIII, and XIV dungeons. I just finished off my last V elite yesterday, thought I was done with that for a while.

My friend code is HwW2. I'm currently running Emerald Light (Eiko's Hastega+Medica) though I also have Divine Guardian, Apocalypse Shield, and Lightning's BSB, among other things (with the caveat that none of the characters involved are at level 80 yet.)

My current set of character relics (leaving out statsticks and shared SBs for brevity's sake)


FF2
Flame Shield

FF4
Murasame

FF5
Genji Blade
Sage's Staff
Yoichi's Bow

FF6
Kiku-ichimonji
Holy Lance
Dragon Claws
Maduin's Horn
Wing Edge+
Cat Ear Hood
Heroic Scarf
Kefka's Cloak

FF7
Crystal Glove
Wutai Headband
Sephiroth's Coat

FF9
Save The Queen
Ultima Sword
Scissor Fangs+
Wizard Rod
Golem's Flute+

FF10
Lullaby Rod
Full Metal Rod

FF12
Kogarasumaru
Platinum Shield

FF13
Overture
Glaive
Skycutter
Airwing
Serah's Gloves

FFT
Defender
Grand Armor

Core
Last Judgement Grimoire


I kind of wish this game had a PC client. Not so much for the gameplay, but the actual record keeping would be a lot easier with a mouse and tooltips.

[T.G. Oskar]

Friend code is Gm7h, and I got Gil's Faithful Companion as my RW. Has an Attack of 334 and a Mind of 128, just in case. Not planning to change it for the time being, unless something more interesting. I could add Shout or SG, but it's gonna be so cluttered up, I feel I need to offer something more interesting. Could have changed it for Apocalypse this time, but...eh.

-- Royal Academy, Armory --

Dr. Mog: You know why I'm here, don't you, kupo?
Cid: ...Yes.
Tyro: Um, Master Cid...you know we have to do this.
Cid: And I dread it. It's time consuming.
Dr. Mog: But is important to ensure the success of future missions.
Cid: Missions which, of course, you have barely taken. They're for your benefit, you know.
Tyro: But, but... They are very, very hard! How do you expect me to succeed without my potent copy of the Sentinel's Grimoire, or sir Ramza's musical skills?
Cid: They are to provide you with potent allies. And allow you to hone your abilities as well.
Tyro: But--!
Dr. Mog: Hush, kupo - time is of the essence. May we start the inventory review of all weapons we have here? At least, the ones that are our strongest? Our luck with the Lottery has been...
Tyro: Great?
Cid: Unfortunate.
Dr. Mog: ...Auspicious. I need to prove a hypothesis.
Cid: Well...let's begin. I need to return to my lab soon enough...

Tyro: Celebration Grimoire*, Healing Grimoire, Cyclone Grimoire, Sentinel Grimoire
White Mage: Rune Staff*

Realm Synergy: Defender ++, Knight's Armor +
Accessories: Crystal Ring (5*)

Realm Synergy: Cat Claws ++, Wing Sword ++ (6*), Diamond Mace ++
Accessories: Protect Ring (4*), Gigas' Armlet (5*)

Realm Synergy: Wyvern Claws ++, Golem Staff ++, Shuriken ++, Dragon Helm ++, Ice Helm ++, Black Belt Gi ++
Core Characters: Light Rod (BLK), Light Staff (WHM), Madhura Harp (BRD), Feathered Cap (RDM), Knight's Helm (KNT), Gaia Gear (SMN)
Desch: Desch's Sword
Accessories: Protect Ring (4*), Skybreaker Earrings (5*)

Realm Synergy: Mage Masher ++, Dancing Dagger ++ (6*), Defender ++, Poison Axe ++, Wind Spear, Lilith Rod ++, Ice Rod ++, Sage's Staff ++ (6*), Blitz Whip ++, Ice Shield ++, Aegis Shield ++, Black Cowl ++, Black Garb ++ (6*), Flame Armor ++, Ice Armor ++, Luminous Robe, White Robe ++, Dark Gloves
Kain: Blood Lance
Rosa: Elven Bow
Accessories: Rune Armlet (4*), Sand Pearl (4*), Gauntlets (5*), Carnelian Signet (5*), Flame Cloak (5*), Black Mage Twin Stars (5*)

Realm Synergy: Dancing Dagger ++, Enhancer ++, Excalipoor, Rune Axe ++ (6*), Giant's Axe ++ (6*), Gaia Hammer ++, Flame Rod ++, Thunder Rod ++, Judgment Staff, Hayate Bow ++ (6*), Silver Harp ++, Diamond Shield ++, Gold Hairpin ++, Genji Helm, Thornlet ++, Mirage Vest ++, Crystal Mail ++ (6*), Luminous Robe ++
Core Characters: Killer Bow (RNG)
Lenna: Healing Rod
Krile: Magus' Rod
Gilgamesh: Genji Blade
Accessories: Angel Ring (3*), Cursed Ring (5*), Flame Ring (5*), Silver Glasses (4*), Cowl of Gilgamesh (5*)

Realm Synergy: Assassin's Dagger, Zantetsuken, Burning Fist, Gravity Rod +, Moonring Blade +, Red Cap ++, Royal Crown ++ (6*), Crystal Helmet ++ (6*), Crystal Helmet +, Diamond Vest ++, Mythril Mail ++, Crystal Mail ++ (7*), Crystal Mail, White Robe ++
Terra: Maduin's Horn
Locke: Rising Sun
Edgar: Drill
Mog: Heroic Scarf
Accessories: Crystal Orb (5*), Barrier Ring (3*), Sniper Eye (1*), Hero's Ring (3*), Zephyr Cloak (4*), Terra's Pendant (5*), Memento Ring (5*), Fateful Coin (5*)

Realm Synergy: Butterfly Edge, Golden Sword + (6*), Masamune Blade ++ (6*), Metal Knuckles ++ (6*), Quicksilver ++, Dragon Armlet + (6*), Holiday Mittens*
Zack: Apocalypse
Mama's Boy: One Winged Angel Oversized Katana Mk-II
Accessories: Bolt Ring (4*), Chocobo Feather (2*), Star Pendant (3*), Silver Glasses (3*), Protect Ring (3*), Touph Ring (4*), Jeweled Ring (3*), Cloud's Goggles (5*), Cat's Bell (5*), Blonde Wig (4*), Hero's Belt (5*)

Realm Synergy: Mesmerize Blade ++ (6*), Blitz Sword, Betrayal Sword, Minotaur Plate
Selphie: Morning Star + (6*)
Accessories: Turtle Shell (4*), Squall's Necklace (5*), Glow Curtain (4*)

Realm Synergy: Stardust Rod ++, Barbut, Brigandine ++, Power Sash, Magician Robe ++
Garnet: Storm Staff
Accessories: Pearl Rouge (4*), Gulug Stone (5*)

Realm Synergy: Celebration Blade*, Warrior's Sword +, Ice Brand, Nodachi ++ (6*), Royal Scepter*, Bright Armguard ++, Wizard's Bracer ++ (6*)
Yuna: Magistral Rod, Lullaby Rod + (6*)
Accessories: Soft Bracer (4*), Adept's Bangle (5*), Mythril Armlet (5*), Yuna's Obi (5*)

Realm Synergy: Danjuro, Hammerhead ++ (6*), Glacial Staff ++, Kaiser Shield, Heavy Coat ++, Viking Coat, Golden Armor, Shepherd's Bolero++
Fran: Traitor's Bow
Balthier: Ras Algethi
Basch: Platinum Shield
Accessories: Orrachea Armlet (4*), Dr. Cid's Glasses (5*)

Realm Synergy: Keepsake Knife, Power Glove +, Goddess' Tribute*, Evil Lantern*, Witch's Hat*, Silver Bangle ++ (6*), Titanium Bangle ++
Accessories: General's Belt (4*), Soulfont Talisman (5*), Silver Pendant (5*)

Realm Synergy: Goblin Scimitar ++, Ifrit's Kris, Linen Shirt ++
Yda: Sphairai
Accessories: Inferno Bangle (5*)

Realm Synergy: White Staff
Ramza: Platinum Sword, Grand Armor, Nu Khai Armband
Accessories: Aries (5*)

(Note: Bold are relics that grant Super Soul Breaks, Italic are relics that grant regular Soul Breaks, and relics with a * indicate those given freely as Daily Rewards)

Tyro: ...Wow, that's a lot of stuff! No wonder why you find it so tedious, Master Cid!
Cid: Thank you, Captain Obvious...
Tyro: Um...
Dr. Mog: Certainly, the Expedition Commander has a well-stocked Armory...perhaps too much. The Armory has 222 items, of which a few of them haven't been sold yet.
Cid: Some obviously poor things. A few Bows that should be sold, in fact.
Dr. Mog: That also means 80 weapons of very high quality, kupo, with a whopping 39 weapons of 5th rank, and 4 weapons upgraded to the 6th rank. That's almost half of the high-rank weapons overall, kupo!!
Tyro: Wow, that's a lot of nice weapons!
Cid: Four of those are your books, which actually belong in the library. As well, the Crystals have blessed us with various of these weapons - the Golden Swords, the Evil Lantern, the Goddess' Tribute weapon, the Rune Staff, the Royal Scepter and...the Excalipoor. Discounting that, we only have 33 unique weapons. We are quite stocked with daggers, swords, rods and staffs, however.
Dr. Mog: In the case of armor, we have 51 distinct high quality pieces, of which most are rank 3 pieces modified to rank 5; 28, kupo, to be precise. We also have 16 pieces naturally at rank 5, and surprisingly, one suit of armor at rank 7, which is a very precious item as well.
Cid: And whose benefit is bypassed by a shield.
Tyro: And a good deal of them are bangles. They're useful, tho. I often use the Nu Khai Armband for just about everything!
Cid: It could be better, though. We're pretty balanced between robes, light and heavy armor, shields and helms.
Dr. Mog: Surprisingly, a good deal of our items offer protective barriers. The Keepsake Knife, the Kaiser Shield and the Power Sash offer everyone the ability to cast Protectga, kupo, while the Dragon Armlet, the Luminous Robe and the Minotaur Plate grant the ability to cast Shellga! There's no excuse not to have any of those, kupo.
Cid: You could do better. Some relics I've seen can offer both of those, and even more. In fact, the Keeper's Tome offers that protection...and the Sentinel's Grimoire surpasses it.
Tyro: And yet, you still want me NOT to participate in your special missions!
Cid: ...Though, when you think about it, those items have their worth. I would place greater importance in the Holiday Mittens, the White Staff and the Royal Scepter - between the three, you have the ability to heal your allies and boost their attack, and anyone can use them.
Dr. Mog: While they may seem weak, those are very useful items, kupo! Good to develop strategies.
Tyro: But wait... 80 plys 51 equals 131, am I right? And we have over 200 items, so...where are the rest?
Dr. Mog: Glad you asked! We also have 51 accessories, with a whopping amount of 27 of them being of rank 5, kupo! Many grant a boost to Attack power, but some are quite diverse!
Tyro: Umm...that still doesn't account for the remaining 40 items lying around, isn't it?
Dr. Mog: That includes a few factors. For one, there are some items of ranks 3 and 4 that I didn't consider. Some of those, such as the Light Rod, the Light Staff, the Killer Bow, the Feathered Cap, the Knight's Helm and the Gaia Gear are exclusive equipment for your fellow Cores, kupo.
Tyro: So that's 6 items that can be explained. Does that mean we have 34 items that are completely worthless?
Cid: Finally, someone speaks with enlightenment!
Dr. Mog: I...have no explanation for that, young Keeper, but I think I heard the Expedition Commander saying something on those lines, kupo. Something about them having some worth to increase the power of elemental attacks. Some of the items increased to rank 5 actually offer this.
Cid: But they aren't used. Those are 39 items that have no use, and clutter space. That's a waste of resources.
Dr. Mog: You'll have to explain that to the Expedition Commander, kupo.
Tyro: Um...so, what kind of interesting data can we draw from this, Dr. Mog? Golly, I can't believe I beat Ramza in terms of unique items!
Dr. Mog: That's right. You have 4 unique relics, while sir Ramza has 3 unique items, and lady Yuna has 2 unique items. Between lady Yuna, queen Rosa, miss Selphie and the White Mage, and yourself as well, kupo, we have 5 unique Medicas. King Edgar and ser Basch offer 2 partial Walls, while sir Ramza and master Zack have 2 Hastegas. Of course, you also offer a full Wall, kupo.
Tyro: That has ensured a lot of victories! Oh, but don't forget that ser Ramza's song also boosts Attack, something that master Yda's ability also does!
Dr. Mog: Such is the power of Super Soul Breaks, kupo! Between ser Ramza, master Yda, sir Gilgamesh, master Zack, and our Expedition Leader, lady Terra, we have 5 Super Soul Breaks, kupo! Oh, let's not forget master Sabin and miss Fran; that actually makes it 7!!
Tyro: And all of them mastered!
Cid: Bah! You can do better with regular Soul Breaks! Ser Basch's Apocalypse Shield stacks with everything, all of your Medicas are of the regular kind, and your own Sentinel's Grimoire is also a regular Soul Break, even if unique to you. Plus, we have 0 Burst Soul Breaks known.
Tyro: Gee, I remember miss Terra feeling sad that she couldn't unlock the power of her father. And lord Cecil, feeling his Paladin Force hasn't awakened.
Cid: I have a theory. If we could dispatch those 34 items that clutter the Armory, with the current advancements, we may harness the power of stronger Relics in the near future!
Dr. Mog: I think you don't have to convince us to do that, kupo...

I desperately need more VIII and IX stuff, if you notice. Alongside II and III, those are my realms with weakest synergy otherwise. VI is pretty overloaded, however.

[Starwulf]

So, here's a question: how are you supposed to beat Lady Amadine before she uses Void Thundaga, when it's her very first move? Or did I just get reaaaallly unlucky 3x in a row?(I haven't done the elite version yet, just was bored and s/led 3x on the regular)? Seems kinda BS-y to me.

[danzibr]

So, here's a question: how are you supposed to beat Lady Amadine before she uses Void Thundaga, when it's her very first move? Or did I just get reaaaallly unlucky 3x in a row?(I haven't done the elite version yet, just was bored and s/led 3x on the regular)? Seems kinda BS-y to me.
This is some XIV requirement? By the sounds of it, BS-y indeed. Surely you can lose some medals and still master the dungeon, though.

By golly, these new XIII dungeons, so long. 4 battles, each 3 waves. 11 waves before the boss. Man.

[SuperPanda]

I currently have an expedition consisting of Gladiator, Arc, Vivi, Gau, and Kain roaming around the Velt (I mean, flashwind plains) looking for Record Materia and orbs.

(I just stick people in my Daily farming groups unless its an individually powerful RM - its not a fast way of doing things, but neither is it unbearably slow when you don't really "need" that new RM.).

Since White orbs are the only type I see little-to-no need to stockpile, I expect I'll begin the expedition into the new records tomorrow while awaiting the new VIII event.

[Merlin the Tuna]

So, here's a question: how are you supposed to beat Lady Amadine before she uses Void Thundaga, when it's her very first move?I have to imagine it uses the same gimmick from when we fought her in the recent FF14 event - she begins charging, a character gets marked, and if the character uses Defend, the spell fails to fire. Is that not mentioned in the dungeon info? That would be kind of a major oversight.

[danzibr]

Dang. More impressed with Shadow Fang.

Fought the most recent highest difficulty XIII elite boss. Just Shout and crappy-ish gear, Shadow was doing just under 5k per hit. Shout + Full Break, just over 6k per hit. Shout + Full Break + Armor Breakdown, 8k on the nose. 8 hits, 8k damage, 3 casts back to back to back.

[T.G. Oskar]

Urgh! Hate U+!Asura, and she doesn't even do the damage!

If there's a reason why to hate the Healer, she's the reason. Curaja healing for 7k and thus basically minimizing all the damage I was dealing is bad - however, it's Dispel what I hate the most. Shout's Haste? Dispel! Rosa's Shellga? Dispel, even if it's only one! And while I have to focus ALL of my attention on Asura, Leviathan is almost free to do whatever he wants (almost, because Ramza eats at him with Magic Breakdown). Their attacks are strong enough to make Tauntaliate just viable enough to work, but not enough to make it work absolutely.

After a few tries, managed to beat the duo, but not complete it - Rosa got killed at the worst moment, and from there, healing through Heavy Regen just wasn't enough to deal with the deluge of...well, Deluges. Got the victory because I saved all 6 uses I have of Lightning Leap on Leviathan, and he was dealing nearly 8k damage just with Shout, after using Paladin Force twice just to soften them. Fortunately the Keeper had used SG before. If nobody had died, I would have Mastered it, thanks to Kain using Wind Spear and the Slowing Strike shared SB landing Slow on Asura at the right spot.

I plan to replace Kain with Gil, give Gil the Wind Spear, Lightning Leap and Sky Grinder, and make Basch the Tauntaliator to have Shout + AS online. With both, I can just let Gil use Dragoon's Determination to deal as much damage as possible with normal attacks, setting up Slowing Strike, then Faithful Companion for Heavy Regen, while using a Celes or Exdeath Runic RW to negate Asura completely. That should work well enough to finally Master it.

This as a Cid Mission is kinda brutal - you have no Wall other than Cecil's default (+20% DEF/RES), so you need maximum mitigation. Kain MUST be on your party, as he can easily do Lightning Leap and survive - Rosa or Porom MUST have their Medicas and focus on healing, and Edward MUST have one of his Harps to work effectively.

[SuperPanda]

My Cid's mission team was a bit different than that layout but it was far from easy.

I had P.Cecil w/ SSB hp boost and BSB equipped at 80. (Draw fire and banishing blade).

Porom and Rosa using shared SB medicas ( the X rod we just got and Christmas Rod).

Kain with lightning jump and leeching leap.

Dark Cedil with his boostga relic.

RW wall.

Porom was on primary healing duty, would throw up shellga now and then to eat Asura's actions.

Rosa was throwing heals or haste (no SB, just regular old haste).

Dark Cecil would use magic break or life siphon and spam SB when up.

It took multiple runs but I got a lucky one eventually.

Only Cecil was 80 everyone else was between 65-68.

Edit: logged in for an announcement of free mythril (always nice) and confirmation that we are getting Dissidia events. Shantoto MC1 (and 2 I think) so I can use her! Might roll on her SSB, but not sure. Also Kefka MC2 which is nice only cause I've got good gear for him.

[Slayn82]

Prepare yourselves. Dissidia os coming! And DeNA confirmed an orbfest in August. They also are throwing 20 mythril at our faces in login bonuses the next 5 days. That should calm Reddit complaint threads for some time, and that's another thing I'm thankful.

Also, Hunter Noventa, is your posted friend code -Bebo - right? I couldn't add you.

[Hunter Noventa]

Prepare yourselves. Dissidia os coming! And DeNA confirmed an orbfest in August. They also are throwing 20 mythril at our faces in login bonuses the next 5 days. That should calm Reddit complaint threads for some time, and that's another thing I'm thankful.

Also, Hunter Noventa, is your posted friend code -Bebo - right? I couldn't add you.

Ah, I mis-typed it, it's actually Bwbo

[Jurai]

I started JP yesterday, twenty-three hours and twenty-eight minutes ago, and, over the course of three three-pulls, have THREE Super Soul Breaks and one Unique Soul Break: Buster Sword H (Angeal's Wings of Pride), Javelin (Cid's PILOT FORCE (See also: Shout)), and Cid's Goggles (Big Brawl) for my Super Soul Breaks and Cloud's Guise (Climhazzard). It was enough to make me consider giving away my Global account.

[danzibr]

Prepare yourselves. Dissidia os coming! And DeNA confirmed an orbfest in August. They also are throwing 20 mythril at our faces in login bonuses the next 5 days. That should calm Reddit complaint threads for some time, and that's another thing I'm thankful.

Also, Hunter Noventa, is your posted friend code -Bebo - right? I couldn't add you.
Sweet! Do we get Garland???

Ah, I mis-typed it, it's actually Bwbo
Bebo would be cool. Short for belly button :P

I started JP yesterday, twenty-three hours and twenty-eight minutes ago, and, over the course of three three-pulls, have THREE Super Soul Breaks and one Unique Soul Break: Buster Sword H (Angeal's Wings of Pride), Javelin (Cid's PILOT FORCE (See also: Shout)), and Cid's Goggles (Big Brawl) for my Super Soul Breaks and Cloud's Guise (Climhazzard). It was enough to make me consider giving away my Global account.
Wow. Das real nice.

[Jurai]

It's so disconcerting, going through early dungeons with ultra powerful gear when early on, it was levels that pulled me through.

[Greg_S]

I started JP yesterday, twenty-three hours and twenty-eight minutes ago, and, over the course of three three-pulls, have THREE Super Soul Breaks and one Unique Soul Break: Buster Sword H (Angeal's Wings of Pride), Javelin (Cid's PILOT FORCE (See also: Shout)), and Cid's Goggles (Big Brawl) for my Super Soul Breaks and Cloud's Guise (Climhazzard). It was enough to make me consider giving away my Global account.

Started JP last week, and have done 3 11-pulls: the SSB-only lucky draw, the Ice-ele lucky draw, and FF7 banner 1. My loot's not as great as yours, but still pretty solid: 2x Yuffie's SSB, Cid's Shout, Lulu's en-Ice Mog, Steiner's SSB, and Shadow's SSB. Saving up for the FF5 event now in the hopes that I pull Gilgamesh's OSB and SSB.

[Simkin]

Started JP last week, and have done 3 11-pulls: the SSB-only lucky draw, the Ice-ele lucky draw, and FF7 banner 1. My loot's not as great as yours, but still pretty solid: 2x Yuffie's SSB, Cid's Shout, Lulu's en-Ice Mog, Steiner's SSB, and Shadow's SSB. Saving up for the FF5 event now in the hopes that I pull Gilgamesh's OSB and SSB.

What's the driver for playing JP version too? Just for fun? Can you read any of it or is it all in JP?

[Simkin]

My friend code is: BwDj

[Merlin the Tuna]

Gaaah, Cid Mission'd the U without too much trouble and came so close on getting the U+ in hand on my third try. But after downing Asura, Kain dropped a couple ticks before heals came in, which left me short on damage for cleaning up Leviathan. That run definitely benefitted from friendly RNG though; Asura burned a lot of turns casting protects and shells that didn't really matter. Lineup so far:

Pecil: Banishing Strike, Shellga - BSB
Decil: Armor Break, Full Charge
Kain: Tempo Flurry, Lightning Jump
Porom: Curaja, Protectga
Edward: Magic Breakdown, Power Breakdown
RW: Shout

So far Decil has felt like kind of a liability - he's the lowest level (60) and isn't bringing much utility to the table. But the only person I have available to swap in for him is Palom, who brings even less utility and doesn't benefit from Shout's ATK buff. I dunno, maybe having his conveniently-lightning-elemental SSB makes up for that. It's just a big juggling act; Edward needs to split his focus, and every skill feels "required" except for Decil's. Even if I skip the Cid Mission to bring in a tauntailiator, I still can't squeeze in Palom.

Edit: Maybe give Edward the Celebration Blade for the shared Slow SB so that Kain can swap Tempo Flurry for Leeching Leap? I dunno. Feels like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.

[Greg_S]

What's the driver for playing JP version too? Just for fun? Can you read any of it or is it all in JP?

I was traveling a lot last week and needed to kill some time. It's definitely something I'm just playing with. It's all in Japanese, but the icons are the same, so I can fill in the gaps.

[danzibr]

Spent $0.99, got a 3*.

Almost done mastering new stuff. Going to have 168 stam, sweet. Saving the last one for Sunday.

[spectralphoenix]

Did a 100 gem pull, got Quistis's Haste+Cast Speed whip. Which would be an okay ability if I had any idea what Quistis was supposed to do. Seriously, Support 4, BM 4, and WHM 2?

[Merlin the Tuna]

The FF8 cast really does love having those uselessly low proficiencies. I guess Quistis is replacement support for Irvine when you're fighting a mostly-magical boss that you for some reason don't want Full Break for? She's got 20 RES on him; that's about it though.

[Slayn82]

Sweet pull. Quistis gets Black Magic 5 and White Magic 4 through Records Dive, making her much more useful.

Did a 100 gem and 3 pull. Got to upgrade a 3* and a 4*. Wondering if I keep pushing another 3 pull on this banner, or throw my next 25 mythril on the banner 2.

[tyckspoon]

Did a 100 gem pull, got Quistis's Haste+Cast Speed whip. Which would be an okay ability if I had any idea what Quistis was supposed to do. Seriously, Support 4, BM 4, and WHM 2?

She makes a passable Black Mage, especially if you've got one of her whips, and support 4 is Breakdowns which never hurts to have flexibility and extra slots for those. But yeah, unless you're willing to invest in Record Dive for her she's kind of odd.. Still more useful than Irvine, anyway.

[Slayn82]

There's more than meets the eye on Irvine, with Canister Shot he has been an staple for my teams. While he is lacking a bit in RS weapons, his damage using a gun damage + RM isn't bad, Support abilities are reasonably strong and always on demand, and light armor on back row give him enough durability to withstand AOE physical damage from Bosses. Plus Machinist.

He feels kinda like another twist on Wakka, but theoretically he can have RS in other Realms, even if so many guns are Mag sticks, and of those guns who increase attack, you would be better served using its native owner than Irvine.

The nice thing about Canister Shot is that it helps both physical and Magic characters, and the other support is free to bring a DPS or utility ability instead of a aggressive breakdown, or you can stack FB +?BD + Canister Shot.

[Red Fel]

Well, all dungeons are cleared - again - and I'm partway through the VIII event.

Oh, hey, you guys, there's this VIII event. No new characters, but MC2s for Seifer and Irvine. First banner has Rinoa's BSB, Laguna's SSB (Ice AoE with Imperil Ice), and Quistis' SSB (Hastega + party Short Charge 3). Second banner has Seifer's SSB (AoE with high chance to Instant-KO, plus party Def), Irvine's SSB (random-target with auto-Blind and auto-Slow, deals bonus damage if either status is in place), and Selphie's Dreamstage. There's some other stuff too, but a lot of it is middling and gets overshadowed. Squall's Jacket (second banner) does feature an En-Ice SB, which will be even better in light of the upcoming (eventually) 6-star Spellblade Double Blizzaga Strike. But honestly, nothing wows me on these.

Bonus battles!
+: Boss rush. You'll need Atk reducers. Good news, both bosses are purely physical, so mitigation is straightforward. Victory gets you orbs, motes, and Irvine's MC2.
King Tonberry. Medals for reducing his Atk and not getting KO'd. He uses only physical attacks, so Power Breakdown + Full Break + Protectga is a thing. He can also be Stunned, so consider Dismissal.
Odin. The exact same thing. Exact same. Note that he uses Zantetsuken every tenth turn, so if you kill him before that you're golden.
++: Cerberus. Medals for reducing his Mag, reducing his Res, and not getting KO'd. He absorbs Lightning and nulls Wind, but he can be Stunned, so you might consider swapping Squall's Spellblades out for Seifer's Banishing Strike. Dispel Triple when he uses it, or let it expire after several turns of him nuking you into the ground. He uses a lot of spells, but also uses Berserk, Silence, and Blind, so he's one nasty customer. Victory gets you orbs, motes, and Seifer's MC2.
+++: Ultima Weapon. Medals for reducing his Mag, reducing his Atk, and not getting KO'd. No elemental weaknesses, but Stun again. His physical attacks are fairly simple - either one or two standard attacks - but his magic attacks are powerful AoEs, so if you must choose, mitigate magic. He also has a proportionate-damage AoE (Gravija), and uses Light Pillar after a certain number of turns, so try to win quickly. Victory gets you orbs, motes, a Rosetta Stone, and an Empty MC2.

The bad news is that the Ult is a multi-boss Ult. The good news is that it has an exploitable Ice weakness, and only two will be on screen at a time (you face a total of 5). The U+ is a magical nuclear nightmare. There are also full-VIII quests for both, but if you've been keeping up with your VIII cast, it shouldn't be too difficult (except for the lack of wall).

Happy hunting.

[Starwulf]

Sigh. Did 3 single pulls(because even though my VIII synergy is awful, I"m just not interested in burning 50 mythril on it), 2 gold and 1 rainbow(both gold were junk, sadly). The rainbow was my SECOND party dress. Obviously I'm not going to combined them into a 6*, as I can use every bit of equipment I can get for VIII, lol.

[Hunter Noventa]

VIII is a decent realm for me. I have two SBs for Seifer, and Selphie's Dreamstage, and Selphie and Rinoa are 80. The rest is kind of a crapshoot though. Squall's all right at 55ish, as is Seifer. Laguna is just plain 50 and I have no idea what Irvine is at other than being level broken, but it sounds like I'll need him for breakdowns. The Bonus Battles shouldn't bean issue, but the Ults might be.

And i only have so many eggs, though every hero Record and MC turning into one is nice.

[Merlin the Tuna]

++: Cerberus... He uses a lot of spells, but also uses Berserk, Silence, and Blind, so he's one nasty customer.As a heads up, it looks like this version does not actually have status spells. I haven't run him yet, but so sayeth the data miners.

[SuperPanda]

My gem pull netted me nothing, but I'm doing okay on this relm.

I've cleared through the ++ without incident using Squall, Rinoa, Selphie, Edea, and Irvine.

I currently have Irvine in the back with an off Relm gun instead of up front with a RS dagger.

Rinoa is scary strong with a RS hat, a 5*++ RS weapon and a +30 mage relic. Maudlin was double-capping on the boss rush and wishing star was crazy strong on the ++.

[Hunter Noventa]

I tried for a 3-pull on the banner and got nuthin. Such is life. I have a couple more dungeons before the bonus battles, I'm not too worried about those. Elite Adel was a little rough, but mostly because Energy Bomber seems to laugh at mitigation. With mitigation up even her Ultima was doing sub-1k to everyone, and that was just Magic Break and Shell, not even Magic Breakdown.

[Morbis Meh]

I think I shall pass on doing a pull for this event since I have never been a fan of FFVIII anyway XD My realm synergy is laughable except for my beastly Edea (she's sporting roughly 500 mag with her SSB relic atm so that's something). Just going to save my mithril for the next event or hoard it for the FFT event since it is by far my favorite FF game along with 9.

Edit: how does one gain access to 4 star motes? You can only exchange for 3 star from the fat chocobo and 3 stars are only given as a reward...

[danzibr]

I think I shall pass on doing a pull for this event since I have never been a fan of FFVIII anyway XD My realm synergy is laughable except for my beastly Edea (she's sporting roughly 500 mag with her SSB relic atm so that's something). Just going to save my mithril for the next event or hoard it for the FFT event since it is by far my favorite FF game along with 9.

Edit: how does one gain access to 4 star motes? You can only exchange for 3 star from the fat chocobo and 3 stars are only given as a reward...
This (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/fragment/) comes out in a couple days.

EDIT: Just to clarify, only VIII. The come later, sort of like Abyss stuff.

[Red Fel]

This (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/fragment/) comes out in a couple days.

EDIT: Just to clarify, only VIII. The come later, sort of like Abyss stuff.

Yeah.

3-star motes are eventually going to flow like water. Buy 'em for greens, get 'em in every event, etc. 4-star motes are going to be like 5-star orbs were before the green shop - rare commodities, you won't have enough to spend on everyone, budget and plan, etc. And where you get them will be the Mote Dungeons, which, as Danzibr says, function like Nightmares - monthly dungeon which lets you access earlier versions. But where Nightmares are based around an ability category (e.g. BLK, WHT, Combat, etc.), Mote Dungeons are based around a realm (VIII, XIII, etc.).

The first Mote Dungeon, VIII Ifrit, is described as both the hardest (by some anyways) and the lowest-paying. It pays out 5x of three different 4-star motes. Later iterations will pay out dramatically more. By comparison, the III dungeon pays out a total of 200 4-stars, as compared to the VIII's 15.

Budget accordingly.

[Greg_S]

I have Leviathan on the ropes, Cid Mission almost complete. A second Eblan Dual Wield has weakened him to the point where the next hit will kill him. Edward's the only other one left standing. Full Break's charging. AoE Blizzara takes out Edge, but wait! Edward's got a sliver of HP left! The bar's charged, here comes the finishing blow!

Ding! -74 HP from DD's sap. Cue the game over music.

EDIT: Got 'em! Fang's RM3 (+30% dragoon damage) was the big winner. Asura cast protect on Leviathan, so I had a ton of HP to cut through, but one final blood of the Wyvern ended Leviathan and finished the mission. That felt good.

[Starwulf]

Well, even with my absolute crap synergy, the FFVIII +/++/+++ battles weren't much of a challenge. I didn't even have to refresh Shout in the ++ or the +++ battle, I had the fights won before it wore off.

Honestly, I'm not sure I'm going to have much issue with anything below U+ difficulty from now on. I've discovered the wonders of using Faris with her Yoichi's Bow. That things debuff(atk/mag down) stacks with both Fullbreak AND Power/Magic Breakdown. I've seen bosses of stages with 100-120 difficulty hit me for damage in the TEENS with full mitigation up now(SG+Protectga/Shellga+Fullbreak+Power or Magic Breakdow+Sea Lords Broadside). It's...freaking absurd how little damage I get hit for now. And best of all, Faris gets her MC2 in the upcoming V dungeon! It's literally like having 2x Wall up, if Walls could stack.

I'm so enamored of it, that I am actually finally going to go and make a concerted effort to get Clouds RM3 so I can stick it on Faris so she can use her SB at the start of fights for maximum amount of mitigation as quickly as possible. Literally nothing else I have has made me even consider wanting to put myself through the stress of trying to farm a specific Record Materia, but this does.

[danzibr]

Glad things are going well, Starwulf :)

Me, I'm working on the VIII event. Did dailies yesterday.

[Slayn82]

EDIT: Got 'em! Fang's RM3 (+30% dragoon damage) was the big winner. Asura cast protect on Leviathan, so I had a ton of HP to cut through, but one final blood of the Wyvern ended Leviathan and finished the mission. That felt good.
Congrats on the Victory. That first loss, ouch, story gave me flashes from Yunalesca. But that only serves to spice things, makes victory more satisfying.



Honestly, I'm not sure I'm going to have much issue with anything below U+ difficulty from now on. I've discovered the wonders of using Faris with her Yoichi's Bow. That things debuff(atk/mag down) stacks with both Fullbreak AND Power/Magic Breakdown. I've seen bosses of stages with 100-120 difficulty hit me for damage in the TEENS with full mitigation up now(SG+Protectga/Shellga+Fullbreak+Power or Magic Breakdow+Sea Lords Broadside). It's...freaking absurd how little damage I get hit for now. And best of all, Faris gets her MC2 in the upcoming V dungeon! It's literally like having 2x Wall up, if Walls could stack.

Faris is a powerhouse as support, hands down the closest to challenge Ramza and Tyro. And the chance of getting a "Reverse Wal" is the only thing making me have doubts on skipping Support Lucky Draw. I've been using Heroic Harmony/Cleansing Strike as RW on challenging battles, sometimes skipping Magic/Power Breakdowns or Protectga/Shellga.

The support Lucky Draw is the best for mitigation and utility, look at this spread sheet, (https://m.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/4tyut3/support_nightmareabyss_lucky_draw_relic/?ref=search_posts) it has:

Tyro's Wall.
Reverse Walls for Gordon, Faris, Setzer, and Fran.
Shellga/Protectga from Quina's Mighty Guard IX and Tyro's Keeper Tome.
Extended, damaging AOE Full Breaks for Fran and Faris.
Edward, Red XIII, Szah and Ramza offer Protectga + something, Red XIII, and Szah offer Shellga + something.

That's 15 mitigation Relics ranging from nice to broken. Then you get the situational stuff:

Ramza's Stun.
Blind inflicts from Wakka (with Poison) and Irvine (with slow).
Wakka's damage and extended Magic Breakdown.
Blind inflicts from Setzer (somewhat bad).

On the offensive, things aren't bad either: Shout and Song of Swiftness are top relics.
Barret, Faris and Irvine have Wall Breakers (-Def/Res) of 25s, Wakka and Fran have 10s WBs (I like them, but 10 s is a bit too short).
Those stack with FB and Armor/Mental Breakdowns. Everything else at least offers Synergy. Setzer's blind is one of the weakest relics in this Banner, along Red XIII party ability refill and Irvine's first relic.

I think they should have included Dancers in this draw, would have made things more interesting. 6 free pulls is tempting, and there's few terrible relics, they even gave us 20 Mythril right before this banner. Yet, something keeps telling me this isn't the best banner for me right now, and I should give up Seifer's Banners for FF XII.

[SuperPanda]

I'll have my fingers crossed big time for Support Lucky Draw.

I have the following from the Draw list:
Red XIII's Diamond Pin
Wakka's Official Ball
Sazh's Sirius Sidearm
Ramza's Grand Armor+

So there is a high chance of pulling a win on the banner even if it isn't the best one.

For the time being, I've cleared 3 of the new classics, done some daily farming, cleared the event (so far). The team's not up to much at the moment and new RMs are not dropping.

I also picked up FFT:WotL on my iPhone, the port takes a bit to get used to but it works just fine. I'm thinking of getting the 6+1 pack for myself around christmas (That's FF1-6+IV:TAY).

I've played through and loved IV and VI (VI on an emulator) - but not the re-released bonus dungeons. I never played through and beat I-III+V and I've got the feeling that I'm really missing out (on V) and might as well give I and III a shot.

[Greg_S]

Congrats on the Victory. That first loss, ouch, story gave me flashes from Yunalesca. But that only serves to spice things, makes victory more satisfying.
Thanks! It felt really satisfying to drop them after that. 5* skills are worth every orb.

On the lucky draw: you know how good the prizes are on this one, and ATK/MAG combo breaks can make your A-team unstoppable.

I'm with Slayn, though- I've been lucky enough to get the prizes on this banner, so I'll skip it for FFV 1, FFIX 1 (2 BSBs!), or shots at Vaan's crazy BSB on FFXII 1.

[huttj509]

Thanks! It felt really satisfying to drop them after that. 5* skills are worth every orb.

On the lucky draw: you know how good the prizes are on this one, and ATK/MAG combo breaks can make your A-team unstoppable.

I'm with Slayn, though- I've been lucky enough to get the prizes on this banner, so I'll skip it for FFV 1, FFIX 1 (2 BSBs!), or shots at Vaan's crazy BSB on FFXII 1.

When is the lucky draw? Can't find info.

[danzibr]

When is the lucky draw? Can't find info.
With the next Abyss dungeon, which drops... on my birthday! July 27. Nice.

EDIT: Also, way down the road, Cid (like the FFVII dude) gets a SSB which gives Hastega and +50% attack to the party, i.e., Shout.

EDIT EDIT: Also also, with that event, we get a 4* Darkness ability which deals damage, gives +30% attack, and Doom (45 s), then a 5* Darkness ability which deals damage split over 2 attacks, and gets a bonus if your Doom'd. What's this? Yes, it's a physical version of MM and DZ!

[Greg_S]

With the next Abyss dungeon, which drops... on my birthday! July 27. Nice.

EDIT: Also, way down the road, Cid (like the FFVII dude) gets a SSB which gives Hastega and +50% attack to the party, i.e., Shout.

EDIT EDIT: Also also, with that event, we get a 4* Darkness ability which deals damage, gives +30% attack, and Doom (45 s), then a 5* Darkness ability which deals damage split over 2 attacks, and gets a bonus if your Doom'd. What's this? Yes, it's a physical version of MM and DZ!

Galuf just got his BSB over in JP. It's fire-elemental with imperil fire. The cool part? The burst commands are both attacks which have a heal rider. Each of his burst commands heals the lowest-HP char for 30% of their max HP. Going to do a pull on that banner with my JP account.

[Red Fel]

When is the lucky draw? Can't find info.

As Danzibr mentions, it drops alongside the next Nightmare, which is Support-themed. Specifically, the Support is "Quadruple Foul," which imposes four different status ailments - Blind, Sleep, Silence, and Poison. (It's not all that great, honestly.) There's already info up on the Reddit and on KBP, but the event itself involves bosses from XIV, VI, I, and XIII, as well as the Nightmare CPU (that big ball from IV). As with other Nightmares, it will be a gimmick fight, specifically requiring to use Breakdowns for each of the four stats - Attack, Magic, Defense, and Resistance. So be sure to hone those, along with Multi Break. More on the fight itself later in the week.

There's also a spreadsheet of the Support characters and their relics, which you can view here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PhHg-SQhAcwMzznSsV7JJEZr_cwzOqcBw_cYaHm42wE/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=258869617). Again, there are no guarantees that all of these relics will be available in the event - for example, Irvine's SSB, Bismarck, drops tomorrow night, and might not make the cut - but this should give you a general idea of what's available. And, by extension, whether to pull.

ProTip: Ramza is Support. His relics - all of them - should be on the Lucky Draw. You want to pull on this banner.

Keep in mind also that the Nightmare's gimmick keys off of the strength of Breakdowns. That means that while Breaks also trigger the effect, you need two Break uses to get the same effectiveness as one Breakdown use. It also means that SBs that reduce a stat by -40% ought to trigger the gimmick as well, and many of the SBs in the banner reduce at least one stat by at least -40%. So your relic pulls will likely see fairly immediate use.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Bleh, this U+ is driving me mad. The whole game hinges on stacking buffs - a fight all about dispelling your buffs suuuuuuuuuuucks.

Had a couple close calls, egged Kain from 65 to the high 70s. I know I'm bound to get it eventually, but heck if it isn't frustrating.

[Greg_S]

Bleh, this U+ is driving me mad. The whole game hinges on stacking buffs - a fight all about dispelling your buffs suuuuuuuuuuucks.

Had a couple close calls, egged Kain from 65 to the high 70s. I know I'm bound to get it eventually, but heck if it isn't frustrating.

What made it work for me was using Golbez (P. Cecil works too) with Draw Fire round 1, and then, critically, defending. That cut the counters down to about 600 damage, and if I got through a round without being countered, I could switch to Saint Cross.

I know what you mean on the dispel, though. In my winning run I got lucky. She dispelled Edge, who was powerchaining, so it wasn't a huge DPS loss, and then slowed Golbez, who was defending anyway. Every two dispels I renewed Shellga just in case. If you've gotten close, you can do it. Eventually you'll have a run where Leviathan keeps using water pulse and Asura hastes/shells herself.

[Slayn82]

I thought Bonus Battles and Banner 2 would drop today. Had a bit of Mythril earmarked for it. Instead, I did a single pull for Banner 1 (total 5 single pulls +100 gems) and got Laguna's Vega. Ice Imperil with Lifesiphon and Machinist abilities to turn propagators into ice cream in Cid Mission.

So far got Ice SBs for Laguna, Joseph, Rydia and Lulu. At least there's also plenty ice skills to exploit Imperil Ice.

[SuperPanda]

Tried one more single pull on the current banner and got nothing for it. My VIII synergy could be better but is good enough for now. I'm excited for fragment Ifrit (if only because I get to test just how strong my A team is) and the next nightmare.

Seifer, Irvine, and Quistis are in the daily grinder with Seifer about to double break, Quistis half way through that and Irvine trailing far behind.

Q can use my Ice Whip+ which makes her a good support/ Mage backup. Edea can use my second Cardinal while Rinoa uses the first, leading to a very Mage party. One of them will likely wind up with the XIII free hat since I have no VIII faith SB's.

[danzibr]

I thought Bonus Battles and Banner 2 would drop today. Had a bit of Mythril earmarked for it. Instead, I did a single pull for Banner 1 (total 5 single pulls +100 gems) and got Laguna's Vega. Ice Imperil with Lifesiphon and Machinist abilities to turn propagators into ice cream in Cid Mission.

So far got Ice SBs for Laguna, Joseph, Rydia and Lulu. At least there's also plenty ice skills to exploit Imperil Ice.
That's a pretty sweet setup. Split between physical and magical, but still. Cool team with a cool concept.

Edit: I'm starting to like Leon. HotE is solid, and he has max Combat, Knight, and Darkness. Good spread.

[Red Fel]

So far got Ice SBs for Laguna, Joseph, Rydia and Lulu. At least there's also plenty ice skills to exploit Imperil Ice.


Cool team with a cool concept.

So we're doing ice puns, now. Huh.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/cb/dc/70/cbdc70cf819a13ac49834ee7849e0beb.jpg

[SuperPanda]

So we're doing ice puns, now. Huh.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/cb/dc/70/cbdc70cf819a13ac49834ee7849e0beb.jpg

Someone needs degrees of chill, I'm sure this will just be a temp fad until something hot comes along.







I'll see myself out now.

[danzibr]

So we're doing ice puns, now. Huh.

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/cb/dc/70/cbdc70cf819a13ac49834ee7849e0beb.jpg
Ha, it was accidental until the cool concept bit.

Someone needs degrees of chill, I'm sure this will just be a temp fad until something hot comes along.







I'll see myself out now.
Nice ;)

[SuperPanda]

I'm trying to decide how freely I should spend my 3* motes, knowing that 4* motes are a while off but having the feeling that 3* can be spent much more freely.

Currently in thinking of investing my 3*s in one physical and one Mage to start off. Pld Cecil will be an obvious one later on because in addition to being a favorite he also has my most powerful build (SSB, BSB, apoc Shield) - any additional boost is a solid investment in any fight that doesn't absorb, null, resist holy.

For the physical I can "dive" now I'm sold on Bartz. A powerful character for a Relm where I'm weak who also has his BSB making him my V Relm powerhouse and an A team candidate with a lot going for him.

Mages I'm currently torn.

Rydia is probably one of my favorites and now that she has her wardrobe she's a top contender.
Rinoa is my top Mage as she has Her SSB++ (so her weapon has +10 mag over Ice Whip + before synergy). Ice whip has a handy +Ice stat on it, but in the fight that would be most useful Rinoa will have RS on top of her natural bonus.

Add in that the 4* bonus for Rinoa (+staves) is very useful for my since I have many realms with no rods at all). While Rydia would get + mind which she doesn't really use and minor silence resist which is okay. Looking at 3* only they seem about the same. Any thoughts from the playground?

I like Rydia better but I'm geared better for Rinoa (and I still like the character, just not as much).

Lastly, any idea how many 3* motes to max out one 3* node?

[T.G. Oskar]

Did a 3-pull on the Rinoa 2 banner...no luck. Two 3*s and one 4*. Feel tempted for another pull, but I remember what happened on Banner 5, so I'll exercise prudence this time. Have 77 Mythril ATM - enough for a 11-pull and a Lucky Draw pull, but I'm already saving that 11-pull for whenever Terra's BSB makes its reappearance (I will get that Stardust Rod, dammit!) and I aim for at least 2 pulls.

Going with Vivi (want to get his RM3 and then shelf him), Zack (get him to 65), Fran (for the upcoming Support banner), Seifer (needs the levels, honestly; wanted his Almasy Revolver for Zantetsuken Reverse) and Vanille (even though I loathe her, her RMs are just too good and I don't loathe her as much as Mama's Boy, and since she already has levels unlike Lightning, might as well go the extra mile?) on the Sundailies. Fran's rapidly approaching lv. 65, which should be great for the upcoming Nightmare dungeon which will be...this Wednesday!


I'm trying to decide how freely I should spend my 3* motes, knowing that 4* motes are a while off but having the feeling that 3* can be spent much more freely.

Currently in thinking of investing my 3*s in one physical and one Mage to start off. Pld Cecil will be an obvious one later on because in addition to being a favorite he also has my most powerful build (SSB, BSB, apoc Shield) - any additional boost is a solid investment in any fight that doesn't absorb, null, resist holy.

For the physical I can "dive" now I'm sold on Bartz. A powerful character for a Relm where I'm weak who also has his BSB making him my V Relm powerhouse and an A team candidate with a lot going for him.

Mages I'm currently torn.

Rydia is probably one of my favorites and now that she has her wardrobe she's a top contender.
Rinoa is my top Mage as she has Her SSB++ (so her weapon has +10 mag over Ice Whip + before synergy). Ice whip has a handy +Ice stat on it, but in the fight that would be most useful Rinoa will have RS on top of her natural bonus.

Add in that the 4* bonus for Rinoa (+staves) is very useful for my since I have many realms with no rods at all). While Rydia would get + mind which she doesn't really use and minor silence resist which is okay. Looking at 3* only they seem about the same. Any thoughts from the playground?

I like Rydia better but I'm geared better for Rinoa (and I still like the character, just not as much).

Lastly, any idea how many 3* motes to max out one 3* node?

Mastering a 3* node requires 75 different spheres (5, then 10, then 15, 20 and finally 25), though the actual proportion of spheres differs (it can be 1 + 4, or 2 + 3, or 2 + 2 + 1; it's never the same). All characters need 450 spheres, exactly 225 3* spheres and 225 4* spheres to be precise, to master. So, it's best to choose carefully who to dive into. Tyro is the exception, as he has twice the amount of sphere choices, so he requires 900 total spheres to master (6 3* nodes, then 6 4* nodes), and in the future, the Onion Knight because he has the requirement of 10 - 15 unique Onion spheres.

As for who to master: Bartz is a pretty decent choice, since while he lacks Samurai, he's otherwise a much better Cloud, and Knight 3 adds some pretty decent skills. Realm Synergy or not, he's a very solid choice. As for mages...both Rydia and Rinoa have the same +% damage bonuses to BLM and Summoning, you have the benefit of having a weapon for both (albeit one's a SSB and the other is outdated, so point for Rinoa on that), so it really depends on who you plan to have on the long term. If you prefer Rydia over Rinoa in terms of A-team, go for Rydia - having a stronger character in the long run beats having a strong character you're gonna shelf. Rinoa, however, is more practical because of SSB, the fact that Thrown weapons have good RMs to support them, and SSB/latter weapon >> SB/early weapon, even if Mote!Ifrit is weak to Ice.


Edit: I'm starting to like Leon. HotE is solid, and he has max Combat, Knight, and Darkness. Good spread.

Yeah, both Leon and Basch are pretty cool. Basch has Samurai instead of Darkness, but both are pretty awesome in their own right. Basch is a pretty solid Tauntaliator with a native Wall + a solid ATK/DEF boost, whereas Leon can use Darkness to deal immense amounts of damage with Bargain Cross, so they're pretty even.

[Starwulf]

So, decided to do a 1-pull on the 2nd banner, and lo and behold, I got another 5*, this time one that's not a party dress and is in the VIII realm: Edea's Sorceress Crown. What are peeps general opinion on this? It gives haste, which is nice, and boosts magic, but I'm pretty sure it's severely outclassed by Edwards Harp that was released in the previous event. I don't have Edea leveled, at all, and I can't see her taking over Terra's slot as permanent blm in my party, but does having her crown at least let her become the party mage while in VIII realms? Or would the fact that I have Terra's Maduin Horn & Stardust rod(so +20 mag just from them both being mastered) and at level 80 be too much for Edea to overcome even in her home realm?

[SuperPanda]

Edea's crown is a clone of kefka's cloak. Hastega plus 20% Faithga.

Add onto that Edea's access to dark and you've got the a potentially powerful second Mage. Song of swiftness is a 30% Faithga so it doesn't sound that much more powerful.

Edea likely won't upstage Terra even in VIII for most purposes (excepting dark Mage blasting), but more importantly there is no reason not to bring both of going Mage meta on vulderable bosses like the U or Mote Ifirit.

Edea also likely becomes your go-to for VIII Cid's missions.

I'm still toying with my mote investment choices. Part of me wants to wait for PLD Cecil to become available while I also want to boost more people up a few 3* nodes. From the looks of it, we get ~ 15 nodes of each type per event and another ~ 20 every X months, so there isn't much reason not to boost a few 3star node levels / event on likely A- listers. There also isn't much motivation to max out any 3 star nodes apart from the stats they give themselves so a wide-but shallow investment might not be a bad start.

At the same time the higher level boosts are probably better. Mage wise Rinoa looks like the better investment for me, I'm not likely to get a better Mage relic in the near future than Cardinal.

My A team core members (Cecil, Basch, Ysholta, Ramza) don't yet have spheres. will continue to think about this but will treat them like Rosetta stones, keep some in storage for when a new shiny comes about but stope horsing them because they are useless when I do that.

[Hunter Noventa]

Well that's another Ultimate that's not happening. Couldn't even take on the first two propagators with my synergy team, Thundaga just wiped us out way too easily. And since 2/5 of the synergy team could be on my A-Team and they were wiped the hell out, it's not happening. Not enough Lightning-Resist gear, not enough damage output. I'll miss the orbs, but I'd rather focus on getting core dungeons done.

[Slayn82]

I tried to Cid Mission the U. It didn't went well. Team was Irvine, Laguna, Selphie, Squall and Rinoa. RW was Mighty Guard VIII.

Irvine used FB R2+Magic BD R3, Laguna had Tempo Flurry R5 + Blind Shot R3, Squall had Tempo R4 + Blizarra Strike R4, Rinoa Shiva R4 + Blizaja R4, and Selphie with Protectga R2 + Curaja R4, and the X shared Medica.

Landing slow and blind on propagators was easy. Both Squall's and Rinoa's Ice attacks can get close to the cap. But it's hard to heal from their AOE attacks using the shared Medica, even with Heavy Regen to help.

Tried Edea in Laguna's place to have the hastega and get Wall as RW. But then it gets harder to apply slow, and I lose Blind Shot, exactly when I have to give up protectga for Shellga on Selphie. Plus Ultros isn't blinding the propagators.

I think I gonna just clear with my A team and try to Cid Mission the U+ first.

[Greg_S]

So, decided to do a 1-pull on the 2nd banner, and lo and behold, I got another 5*, this time one that's not a party dress and is in the VIII realm: Edea's Sorceress Crown. What are peeps general opinion on this? It gives haste, which is nice, and boosts magic, but I'm pretty sure it's severely outclassed by Edwards Harp that was released in the previous event. I don't have Edea leveled, at all, and I can't see her taking over Terra's slot as permanent blm in my party, but does having her crown at least let her become the party mage while in VIII realms? Or would the fact that I have Terra's Maduin Horn & Stardust rod(so +20 mag just from them both being mastered) and at level 80 be too much for Edea to overcome even in her home realm?

Edward's Harp is strictly better than Sorceress' Crown, but if you don't have Ed's Harp, then Sorceress' Crown is just fine, because you can go mage-heavy and bring Focus as your RW. Focus + Inaugural Parade is a 44% magic boost. Focus also gives you a RES boost like DG does. This opens up some options for you, as you can now have Terra and Edea blast away (Edea with MM/DZ + Mako Might/Dr. Mog), and if you want to bring a physical, it can be someone with a self-boost, like a Monk, Samurai, or Darkness user packing Full Charge with their other skill. It's quite viable to use two mages this way.

[SuperPanda]

First run at the U was with a CM team, they finished with expert ratings. An A team came back later to clear it for mastery.

My A team tackled Bahamut effectively but my CM team got trashed and fast.


U - CM (expert team)
RW: wall
Squall: tempo flurry/life siphon : blasting zone
Rinoa: maudlin/shiva : wishing star
Selphie: shellga/Curaga: Dreamstage
Edea: Blizzaga/Blizzaja (RS stat stick)
Irvine: Magic breakdown/ dark buster (XIII gun).

Would have mastered but blind never landed.

U-A team (mastery)
RW: shout
Squall: tempo flurry / Blizzaga strike (blasting zone)
Rinoa: Blizzaja/ Shiva ( wishing star)
Blather: blind she'll / Blizzara strike (tides of war)
Y'sholta: shellga/Curaja (Stone Skin II)
Ramza: Magic breakdown/full break (tailwind)

U+ A team mastery
RW : shout
Cecil: Magic lure / saint's cross (Paladin Force) no RS
Bartz: watera strike / tempo flurry (light of the four) no RS
Y'sholta shellga/Curaja (stone skin II)
Basch full charge / life siphon (apocalypse shield, fulminating darkness)
Ramza: Magic breakdown / full break (tailwind).

Bartz was wielding my Murasame IV+ for + water on his spell blade and burst command. + 30% spell blade damage. Burst was dealing 4x3,5000

Cecil had 20% sword rm with platinum shield and Excalibur (not mastered) and was hitting his 2 hit burst for 12,000 total.

My Cid's mission attempt went poorly, the A team attempt was on a whole different level.

[Merlin the Tuna]

On a bit of a losing streak lately. :smallsigh: Wasn't able to clear the Asura/Leviathan U+ battle despite literally hours of S/Ling across a few days. I had a few close calls - including one in which Pecil was two ticks from delivering a killing blow before the wipe came - but Asura rarely wanted to even go into buff form, much less waste a bunch of time casting Shell. The 30% chance to change forms I was fine with. The possibility to "change form" into the one she was already in, that was annoying. And this morning I tried a 3-pull on FF8 Banner 2 to see if I could improve my synergy a bit; three 3*s, straight in the trash. Blarg.

Out of curiosity, are there hot banners people are looking forward to aside from the lucky draw this week? I've seen a few references to the next big fest, but I'm not really interested in hoarding for months.

[Slayn82]

I also did a 3-pull for Banner 2, got only whites, and a useless 4*in the 100 gem pull.



Out of curiosity, are there hot banners people are looking forward to aside from the lucky draw this week? I've seen a few references to the next big fest, but I'm not really interested in hoarding for months.

There's the first banner from FF XII Gabranth event, with Vaan's BSB, that gives some pretty good debuffs to enemy Mag and Res, Basch's SSB, who is a single target damage with physical Blink, on a guy with quite a bit of weapon options, and Ashe's SSB, deals lighting/non elemental AOE damage, heals a % of hp from party (about a green potion), Gabranth Armor if you want a Darkness Physical Attacker wit En-dark, Penelo's medica + atk, Balthier's Capella.

Or FF IX next banner, with Zidane and Garnet's BSB, yes, two BSBs in a single Banner. Zidane's deals and imperil Wind damage, Garnet's is lighting/holy. Freya's SSB deals AOE wind damage and eliminates Dragoon air time. Quina's offers a "Hand of the Emperor" clone, Beatrix's Thunder Gloves and Steiner's Ultima Sword complete the banner.

Personally, I prefer the FFXII banner, because Vaan's debuff is quite rare and convenient, Gabranth with Golbez armor and En Dark will be a wrecking ball, Ashe's magic gun has lighting to work with Barrett and Rinoa (and another mag gun for my Yuna and Vincent), Penelo brings a medica worth for hybrid team plus dancer skills, and Balthier is worth for his kit.

And there's Basch SSB. Basch SBs are all about defending the team, and having his Sentinel already, the idea of giving him Knight's Charge + Lifesiphon, and all physical and Blk single targets hitting Basch, all physical AOEs being blinkered is pretty interesting.

By the same token, Beatrix with Draw Fire and Lionheart, using her SSB to magic blink along with Thunder Gloves party +50% def, is quite formidable.

[Calemyr]

I may have asked this before, but I don't think I got much of an answer: What RMs are marked as favorite for everyone? Hastes? Attack Up? Damage Up? Double Skill? I would assume Double EXP. Which are your go-to RMs?

[Morbis Meh]

I may have asked this before, but I don't think I got much of an answer: What RMs are marked as favorite for everyone? Hastes? Attack Up? Damage Up? Double Skill? I would assume Double EXP. Which are your go-to RMs?

Haste, SB Gauge fillers, Attack Up and double skills are usually my go to RM's (still need to get Dr. Mog's Teachings and other useful RM's)

[Slayn82]

My favorite RMs? Mako Might/Dr. Mog Teachings, Battle Forged/Ace Striker, Knight's Charge (usual setup), Lionheart and the +20% weapon damage or 30% abilities damage, and those Instant Attack RMs (Thunderstroke/Lickety Split). Also, Devotion, dual cast BM/Summon, and I need to get the dual cast White Magic one of those days.

Got champion on U+, changing my usual setup by using Laguna instead of Celes. May go back with this team to master the U. My expectations for Ifrit got significantly lower after facing those Bonus Battles.

Laguna isn't as versatile as Zidane, but his SSB has no awkward issues with Shout, and both work well when I don't need magic defenses.

[Greg_S]

I may have asked this before, but I don't think I got much of an answer: What RMs are marked as favorite for everyone? Hastes? Attack Up? Damage Up? Double Skill? I would assume Double EXP. Which are your go-to RMs?

Dr. Mog's Teachings and Mako Might are #1 and #1a. After that, Healer's prayer and the 20% damages, definitely. Rebel's Might (Firion's RM2) has a spot on my list too for supports. Devotion is great.

For characters who are going to stick with a single attack type and who lack a damaging SSB, the +30% job damages are useful. Knight for when you stick someone with Banishing Strike/Saint Cross, and a machinist can hit pretty hard with Setzer's RM. The Dragoon one (Fang) is nice if you've honed dragoon jump, but if you're only using the elemental jumps, then the same caveat applies as with spellblades- you're likely using them against weaknesses and you may hit the damage cap easily. When Thief comes out, combining the 6* thief ability with thief's revenge could be nasty, pushing TR up around Full Charge-level damage.

As for upcoming banners, things get nuts after the fest, so much so that I've seen people on Reddit say they're skipping the fest for the new banner format. Here's what's on the FF5 event following burstfest's first banner:

Gilgamesh's BSB: Gives you sentinel, plus one burst command adds retaliate. Tauntaliate with actual damage now!
Faris' BSB: Full Breakdown plus burst commands of attack and magic breakdown
Krile's Sheep Song SSB: Mag +30%, Hastega, and Heavy Regen
Faris' SSB, Sea Dragon Storm: SSB-level AoE Wind/Lightning Damage plus imperil wind
Bartz' SSB Excalibur
Exdeath's SSB, Neo Almagest: The laws of physics are broken! AoE damage and party magic blink. The armor also gives a magic bonus and a dark boost.
The only SB on the banner, Bartz' Hurricane Tomahawk, which is a little AoE damage (~4x, 2/3 of AoE SSBs) and en-wind.


That's a crazy banner! It's at that point that SSBs start to become normal banner prizes instead of the rarer pulls that we have now. The event after that has Celes's BSB, and by that point, we're just 4 events away from the advent of OSBs and possibly the guaranteed 5* per 11-pull that JP has now.

[Red Fel]

Alright. So I tried the Ult a few times with my VIII team, no dice. Without a medica I'm basically just waiting to be eaten.

Then I whipped out an A-team and obliterated the chompy jerks. Only one medal lost to actions taken. No Cid Mission, but mastery get. My team:
Squall: Blizzaga Strike, Armor Break, Pride of the Red Wings.
Laguna: Tempo Flurry, Blind Shell, Unerring Shot.
Wakka: Power Breakdown, Full Break, Mako Might. (Aurochs Reels.)
Y'shtola: Curaja, Shellga, Dr. Mog's Teachings. (SSII.)
Rinoa: Blizzaga, Blizzaja, Blood of Espers.
RW: Ramza (Shout).
Fight was tough, but wall made it manageable. Aurochs Reels made it easy - with two Blinded, all I had to worry about were the Thundagas, which I could soak thanks to wall. Each individual chomper was pretty easy; it was simply the fact that they kept coming which made them hard. No casualties, mastery get, and now I get to face the U+. More on that when it happens.

[Morbis Meh]

Manage Ultimate but was only able to bring bahumat down between 1/2 and a 1/3 hp... oh well!

[Simkin]

Just finished the Propagators (Ult). Had some trouble with it at first and changed my set up three times before I found a good balance. Team was:

Squall (80), Blizzaga Strike (R3), Blizzara Strike (R5), Unbreakable Spellblade
Tyro (80), Blind Shell (R3), Shellga (R3), Dr. Mog's Teachings
Edea (80), Blizzaga (R5), Meteor (R3), With of Succession
Y'shtola (80), Curaja (R5), Slowga (R2), Mako Might
Rinoa (80), Blizzaja (R5), Blizzaga (R5), Attunement II
RW: Divine Guardian

Propagators thundaga can easily cut through a couple layers of mitigation. Having at least 3 up seemed to be the only way to make it manageable. At any given time I had a combination of SG, SSII, DG, and Shellga up, and also for once put on high Res gear and even some Lit Res gear on my 2 mages. Kept slow and blind on them at all times. Didn't run out of abilities and probably could have taken 2 more without much trouble. Meteor was useless with the level of Mag I was running. My 3 Bliz attackers cut down each in about 2.5 turns. Focused on one at a time.

As usual I'm not motivated to bother with the Cid missions. There's only one or two realms I would. Going to save the U+ until tomorrow.

GL ya'll.

[Starwulf]

I had an issue with the U, only because blind didn't proc, and I had forgotten to bring slow so I had to get blind to proc to have a chance at mastery. Had the last propagator at near death when I said screw it and s/led. Pissed me off doing it though so I haven't went back and given it another try, lol. Didn't have a lick of trouble oddly enough, was never in any danger at all, was killing them at a fairly quick pace.

[Red Fel]

And U+ is down. No Cid Mission, but mastery - not a single medal lost! Took a lot of resets, because either (1) Slow dropped, and refused to reapply; (2) wall dropped, and I couldn't get it back up in time, or (3) Big B decided to spam Ultimate Megaflare for kicks. My team:
Laguna: Tempo Flurry, Blind Shell, Pride of the Red Wings.
Edea: Memento Mori, Dark Zone, Dark Fate.
Sephiroth: Armor Break, Lifesiphon, Adventurer's Dagger. (Black Materia.)
Faris: Magic Breakdown, Full Break, Mako Might. (Sea Lord's Broadside.)
Y'shtola: Curaja, Shellga, Dr. Mog's Teachings. (SSII.)
RW: Ramza (Shout).
Fight went as you'd expect. The struggle was to keep mitigation up constantly. Sephiroth and Edea were my nukes; Laguna kept Slow and Blind up, Faris kept the various Breakdowns up, and Y'shtola kept wall up. Even with all that, Edea died before the end (not from Doom) and the rest of the party was low. A medica probably would have helped.

And I needed every bit of mitigation. He has Res-ignoring attacks, and they hurt. After a ton of resets, though, he's down. There is no way I'm beating him with a VIII team, so I'm pretty much done with that. Instead, I'll look forward to failing the Mote Dungeon. I definitely won't be able to hack it with a VIII team, but I might have a chance with an A-team. We'll see.

Unlike Nightmares, Mote Dungeons have no gimmicks. No tricks. Straight-up, brutal fight with an absurdly powerful boss. Fortunately, Ifrit was so brutal that the devs nerfed subsequent bosses, but don't expect to get this guy on the first try.

And if you do, for goodness' sake, share your party.

[T.G. Oskar]

Finally, finally, after some time, the Propagators are down! It goes to show that my FFVIII synergy, albeit decent, isn't spectacular as V and VI (and surprisingly, relic-wise, VII). Tried with Squall and Selphie, but they couldn't handle it, so I started replacing them with A-team members until none of them were remaining, and hence, no synergy. Even then, the battle was difficult because of Blind. Yes, that spell became mercilessly annoying, since it meant I couldn't recharge SB gauge via attacking.

Party comp. is as follows:
Terra, lv. 80; Maduin's Horn, Dragon Armlet (VII), Terra's Pendant; Blizzaja R2, Shiva R5; Vow of Vengeance
Ramza, lv. 69; Blitz Sword, Minotaur Plate, Bolt Armlet; Dark Buster R3, Magic Lure R2; Hand of the Victor
Keeper, lv. 71; Elven Bow, Nu Khai Armband, Gigas Armlet; Multi Break R1, Heathen Frolic Sarabande R3; Dr. Mog's Teachings
Balthier, lv. 70; Betrayal Sword, Power Sash, Bolt Ring; Blizzara Strike R4, Tempo Flurry R5; One-Eyed General
Yuna, lv. 72; Morning Star 6*, Luminous Robe, Cat's Bell; Curaga R5, Shellga R4; Loving Soul
RW: Terra (Blood of Espers)

This has been my most unorthodox placement of skills so far - while Terra was expected to exploit their weakness to Ice, I made great use of Magic Lure, of all things, as well as the HotV Record Materia. The idea is as follows - with HotV, Ramza could simply use Attack, and since he had the best Lightning protection AND no Battleforged, he would need an alternative to gain more SB gauge; fortunately, being aimed more times than often AND having a RM that replaced attack with something that hits weakness, which increases the SB gauge, did the trick. HF Sarabande reduced the damage from the Propagators' lightning spells enough to allow Heavy Regen to recoup, and Balthier mostly waited until Shout.

The movements had to be precise, as any mistake would be costly (and even done correctly, RNG could simply screw me).
1st turn: Terra, Ramza and Balthier defend, Yuna casts Shellga, Keeper uses SG
2nd turn; Ramza uses Magic Lure, Balthier attacks, Terra either Defends or waits, Tyro uses Multi Break, Yuna either attacks or heals
3rd turn: Ramza and Balthier attack, Terra uses the RW, Keeper uses HF Sarabande, Yuna heals or attacks
4th to 7th turn: Terra uses Chaos Watera, Ramza and Balthier keep attacking, Tyro also attacks, Yuna either attacks or heals. In between turns, Keeper refreshes SG if available.
8th turn: Terra uses Chaos Watera (most likely she's still under Burst Mode), Ramza most likely goes for Shout, Keeper either refreshes HF Sarabande OR uses SG, Yuna most likely heals by now.
9th turn: Terra either uses Chaos Watera OR Shiva, Balthier uses Tempo Flurry, Ramza either attacks, uses Dark Buster or refreshes Magic Lure (the latter if blinded), Keeper either refreshes HF Sarabande or uses SG, Yuna heals with Curaga or Hymn of the Fayth

After that, it's mostly concentrating on one character. Keeper refreshes HF Sarabande each time a Propagator is killed, and Balthier is limited to 2 uses of Tempo Flurry per Propagator, with liberal uses of Blizzara Strike. Terra uses a Shiva on every transition, while Ramza uses Dark Buster mostly once. When 2 Propagators are left, Keeper uses its last Multi Break, Terra reactivates the RW, and then it's mostly keeping up Shout and SG until victory. Once I'm down to 1 Propagator, Terra starts using Blizzaja.

I managed to save some uses of skills, mostly because Tides of Fate (yes, Balthier's first SB) is boosted by Shout, thus delivering 8k damage to both (certainly more than Blood of Espers or Shiva, that is), and by using Tempo Flurry and Blizzara Strike, I was filling it nicely, so I managed to use it about 2-3 times. I was about to S/L at one moment, when the Propagators went for double Thundagas, but by fortune SG refreshed and HotF landed at the right moment.

Ended up with 3 medals lost (1 to actions, 2 to damage), so the battle is mastered. Got the Force Armlet and the orbs, so all there's left is: a) beat Bahamut, b) wait for Mote Dungeon and get creamed mercilessly, c) wait for Nightmare Support (and Nightmare Lucky Support Draw, and a mountain of salt!)

[SuperPanda]

A day of daily dungeons for me with a couple of the new classics, my V team finished up North Mountain classic and my XIV team is delving into toto-rak now.

Gladiator's rm2 dropped so spell blade got egged up to take his place (will do this at a rate of 1/event or so depending on drops until all breakable cores are broken (only lb1, ranger isn't even assured a spot on orb fest leveling for his lb2.

On other iOS- FF sides of things, I've cleared up through Sand Rat's steitch on my new copy of iOS FFT. (I'd been using a google survey alike app which became excruciatingly slow rewards wise after a little and cashed out to buy the app). Now that I've mostly gotten the hang of the controls I'm doing well. Lost a chemist in the first battle of chapter 1, and my team had terrible brave/faith but we're still doing alright.

Excited to get creamed by Ifirt, my A team might take him (doubt it) but my VIII team doesn't stand a chance.

[danzibr]

Dr. Mog's Teachings and Mako Might are #1 and #1a. After that, Healer's prayer and the 20% damages, definitely. Rebel's Might (Firion's RM2) has a spot on my list too for supports. Devotion is great.

For characters who are going to stick with a single attack type and who lack a damaging SSB, the +30% job damages are useful. Knight for when you stick someone with Banishing Strike/Saint Cross, and a machinist can hit pretty hard with Setzer's RM. The Dragoon one (Fang) is nice if you've honed dragoon jump, but if you're only using the elemental jumps, then the same caveat applies as with spellblades- you're likely using them against weaknesses and you may hit the damage cap easily. When Thief comes out, combining the 6* thief ability with thief's revenge could be nasty, pushing TR up around Full Charge-level damage.

As for upcoming banners, things get nuts after the fest, so much so that I've seen people on Reddit say they're skipping the fest for the new banner format. Here's what's on the FF5 event following burstfest's first banner:

Gilgamesh's BSB: Gives you sentinel, plus one burst command adds retaliate. Tauntaliate with actual damage now!
Faris' BSB: Full Breakdown plus burst commands of attack and magic breakdown
Krile's Sheep Song SSB: Mag +30%, Hastega, and Heavy Regen
Faris' SSB, Sea Dragon Storm: SSB-level AoE Wind/Lightning Damage plus imperil wind
Bartz' SSB Excalibur
Exdeath's SSB, Neo Almagest: The laws of physics are broken! AoE damage and party magic blink. The armor also gives a magic bonus and a dark boost.
The only SB on the banner, Bartz' Hurricane Tomahawk, which is a little AoE damage (~4x, 2/3 of AoE SSBs) and en-wind.


That's a crazy banner! It's at that point that SSBs start to become normal banner prizes instead of the rarer pulls that we have now. The event after that has Celes's BSB, and by that point, we're just 4 events away from the advent of OSBs and possibly the guaranteed 5* per 11-pull that JP has now.
Yeah, it's right after the double BSBfest, but I think I'll save at least 100 mythril for that banner.

[Jurai]

Yeah, it's right after the double BSBfest, but I think I'll save at least 100 mythril for that banner.

Inheritor of Tomorrow (Current JP Event) Banner #2 not only has Gilgamesh's Overflow, but also his Burst and his Super. I'm saving for a three-pull there currently. Mainly because if I do that, I think Cloud is going away for just a smidgen, depending on my pull. Where 'just a smidgen' means for eternity.

[danzibr]

Inheritor of Tomorrow (Current JP Event) Banner #2 not only has Gilgamesh's Overflow, but also his Burst and his Super. I'm saving for a three-pull there currently. Mainly because if I do that, I think Cloud is going away for just a smidgen, depending on my pull. Where 'just a smidgen' means for eternity.
Wwhhhhoooooaaaaa that's crazy. Crazy.

[Calemyr]

By the way, is the 4* mote dungeon going to be available to anyone, or just those who've cleared Ultimate+?

[Jurai]

By the way, is the 4* mote dungeon going to be available to anyone, or just those who've cleared Ultimate+?

Having seen it in JP, it's open to everybody.

[Slayn82]

Wwhhhhoooooaaaaa that's crazy. Crazy.
Someone on Reddit pulled the 3 Gilgamesh Relics from that banner in a single 11-pull. Yeah, Crazy.

Trying to decide if I hone Thief's Revenge to R3, or get PowerChain to R2 along with something else. Probably TR, to keep my Thieves competitive with SSB spamming.

[Greg_S]

Inheritor of Tomorrow (Current JP Event) Banner #2 not only has Gilgamesh's Overflow, but also his Burst and his Super. I'm saving for a three-pull there currently. Mainly because if I do that, I think Cloud is going away for just a smidgen, depending on my pull. Where 'just a smidgen' means for eternity.

I pulled from banner #1, got Dorgan's SSB, Galuf's BSB, and Moore Branch. I can now buff my party up to 200% attack with RocketShout and Dorgan's boost. JP is insane.

In other news, I think have a plan for the U+ Cid Mission. I've got Edea's mage boostga and some elemental boost gear, so I'm going mage meta with Slayn's runic as my RW. Rinoa and Quistis will spam -jas, Edea Dark Zones, and Irvine runic tanks. I may just barely have the damage to clear it if the damage calc is correct.

[Simkin]

Bahamut U+ down. Spent a few mythril building up my bars. Had a lot of mitigation going and he still hurts bad once he starts spamming. Only thing I didn't use was blind. Had magic break, full break, protectga, shellga, SG, slow. Toward the end I was essentially spamming my full heal every other turn. Glad it's done.

[danzibr]

First, grats to people on victories!

Second, unless KBP just doesn't list Ifrit's physical attacks as passing over Retaliate, that looks like a solid strategy. Probably not Advandrawtaliate (or, well, maybe), but all of his physical attacks are single target, let you focus your mitigation. That's what I'mma try anyway.

[Starwulf]

Well, after not playing since I got annoyed that no blind landed even once during my first attempt at the U, I finally got back around to giving it another go. Went same as the first, with the sole difference of blind landing. Lost no medals except no slow, so I still got full mastery. This had to have been one of the easiest U's I've ever faced off against, and my VIII synergy is pretty damn awful.


First, grats to people on victories!

Second, unless KBP just doesn't list Ifrit's physical attacks as passing over Retaliate, that looks like a solid strategy. Probably not Advandrawtaliate (or, well, maybe), but all of his physical attacks are single target, let you focus your mitigation. That's what I'mma try anyway.

Well, I can tell ya one thing it doesn't work on, and that's his "Punch" attack. I had JUST applied Draw fire, and it completely ignored Gilgamesh and hit Faris instead.

Also, I already hate this boss, he attacks wickedly fast, my entire party is almost dead and I've only been fighting for 2 rounds ><

Edit: And my entire group is wiped out already. I'm not even bothering, there is just no way, I had full mitigation up, and he still carved his way through my party in big bloody swaths >< Even if I spent a mythril to fully charge all my SB/SSB/BSSB/'s, I'm not going to be able to handle this guy. I barely took out 1/5th of his hp before he wiped me out.

[Simkin]

First, grats to people on victories!

Second, unless KBP just doesn't list Ifrit's physical attacks as passing over Retaliate, that looks like a solid strategy. Probably not Advandrawtaliate (or, well, maybe), but all of his physical attacks are single target, let you focus your mitigation. That's what I'mma try anyway.

Let us know how you make out. My first try was utter defeat. Even with it being my VIII team and not my A team it was still daunting. Checked out the comments on the site and there seems to be very few people having even remote luck.

[Slayn82]

Did my first dance with Ifrit, using my current A team for ultimates - for anyone that missed, it's Ramza with Shout, Celes with Invencible Blade, Beatrix with Seiken Shock, Minwu with Will of the White Mage, and Tyro with Shield Grimoire. My choice of RW was Mog's Heroic Harmony.

So, only Celes could deal Ice damage, and physical at that. In compensation, the team is very good at not dying to magic. Managed to beat Ifrit to his last 15% HP on my first run, and then ran out of hones - something that shouldn't be possible, as Ifrit was spamming magic the whole fight, and Celes was receiving it on her Runic. I estimate he was with 5% HP then.

I had a full R4 Drain Strike and a R4 Blizarra Strike - and Runic didn't refill my Blizarra Strike, so I was left with only Drain Strike. Argh. Celes lasted quite a bit, and even managed to throw her SSB, but once Ifrit used a punch, she went down.

Also, it was quite draw out. It exceeded the two Heroic Harmony uses, and Beatrix used her R4 Lifesiphon/R2 Shellga and many SSBs.

With this setup, and a mythril for some starting SB and preferably extra ability uses, I'm confident on beating him. Maybe hone Power/Magic Breakdowns to R4, Curaja,Lifesiphon and Blizarra Strike to R5 - money is low, just 1 million. But still gonna complain on Reddit about the Runic issue.

[SuperPanda]

Tried Ifirit once with my normal A team.

Got it to about half health before wall dropped and he slammed me with meteor twice in a row.

Magic was working much better than physical - so I might wait for a song of swiftness RW and bring lulu, Rinoa, Rydia, (except I don't have that many ice spells).

With her RS and weapon++ Rinoa was hitting Blizzaga for 7000 while squall with his weapon and shout was hitting Blizzara strike for ~5000. Cecil was only hitting for ~ 3000 with banishing strike with Excalibur and platinum shield after shout.

[Slayn82]

RW options weren't cooperating, so I decided to RW wall and bring Irvine instead of Tyro. Switched Celes Drain Strike to a R3 Bizzaga strike, and Beatrix got a second R4 Lifesiphon, while Minwu changed got her shellga. Early Ifrit punches hard, causing lots of S/L, but once you pass the early game, damage flows well. Yet, only reduced Ifrit to 25% HP, before rocks fell and everyone died. Heroic Harmony and Tyro as second support seems to be my best option.

[Morbis Meh]

Wow... I have not experienced such domination since I was 4 and tried to arm wrestle my father. I looked at the reddit page and glimpsed at Ifrit's stats: Level 255 wtf?!?! 655 speed, +3000 def, 856 res, 326,200 hp... There is simply no way for a f2p player to win unless they have heavily favored FFVIII (which from what I have read is quite lackluster).

Going to pass on this one.

[Hunter Noventa]

Wow... I have not experienced such domination since I was 4 and tried to arm wrestle my father. I looked at the reddit page and glimpsed at Ifrit's stats: Level 255 wtf?!?! 655 speed, +3000 def, 856 res, 326,200 hp... There is simply no way for a f2p player to win unless they have heavily favored FFVIII (which from what I have read is quite lackluster).

Going to pass on this one.

He doesn't just have absurd speed, he definitely acts twice per round. I took my A-team, had Magic Breakdown, Power Breakdown, Protectga, Shellga and Sentinel's Grimoire up and he just tore right through it all without even using Hellfire. They may have slightly overtuned this, because I don't think any amount money, save spending about 100 mythril on buffing, would let you beat this guy.

[Red Fel]

He doesn't just have absurd speed, he definitely acts twice per round. I took my A-team, had Magic Breakdown, Power Breakdown, Protectga, Shellga and Sentinel's Grimoire up and he just tore right through it all without even using Hellfire. They may have slightly overtuned this, because I don't think any amount money, save spending about 100 mythril on buffing, would let you beat this guy.

They did, actually, overtune it. The outpouring of rage and frustration in JP after this came out was so massive that they nerfed all subsequent Mote Dungeons, although they left him intact, for reasons. Also, quite a number of subsequent banners in JP featured numerous Ice SB relics, for what is surely an unrelated reason.

I've already written this guy off as impossible for me at present. Tried a good dozen times with multiple configurations. If I pick offensive options and one healer/buffer/wall, I can't get my mitigation up in time and I'm guaranteed at least one death within the first three rounds. If I pick defensive options and RW, I lack the damage output necessary to put a dent in him. I simply can't mitigate and hurt him.

I can also confirm that Punch ignores Draw Fire and Retaliate. Honestly, I didn't mind Punch; it was his regular multi-hit attack carving my healer in half that was problematic. That, and the fact that a single Firaja, with wall up but not Shellga, could one-shot some of my party, none of whom were below level 65.

A medica is absolutely necessary. A wall is absolutely necessary. Protect, Shellga, and Breakdowns are absolutely necessary. And if you can do all of those, and have damage output left, you might stand a chance.

This is just not happening for me.

[Jurai]

Global: Tried the Propagators. Ate a single-target Thundaga worth 5K. Noped my way back to Earth. They can keep Ragnarok for all I care.

JP: Did a three pull, got Faris' Bracer and Gilgamesh's Genji Blade. As soon as I confirm that I have Faris/recruit Faris, she's replacing Ramza. I have Pilot Force, so I don't need Shout, I've heard his BSB is jank, and unless his OSB gives the entire party Haste, Protect, Shell, and deals bonkers amounts of damage, even by OSB standards, I ACTUALLY regret recruiting him.

[Hunter Noventa]

They did, actually, overtune it. The outpouring of rage and frustration in JP after this came out was so massive that they nerfed all subsequent Mote Dungeons, although they left him intact, for reasons. Also, quite a number of subsequent banners in JP featured numerous Ice SB relics, for what is surely an unrelated reason.

I've already written this guy off as impossible for me at present. Tried a good dozen times with multiple configurations. If I pick offensive options and one healer/buffer/wall, I can't get my mitigation up in time and I'm guaranteed at least one death within the first three rounds. If I pick defensive options and RW, I lack the damage output necessary to put a dent in him. I simply can't mitigate and hurt him.

I can also confirm that Punch ignores Draw Fire and Retaliate. Honestly, I didn't mind Punch; it was his regular multi-hit attack carving my healer in half that was problematic. That, and the fact that a single Firaja, with wall up but not Shellga, could one-shot some of my party, none of whom were below level 65.

A medica is absolutely necessary. A wall is absolutely necessary. Protect, Shellga, and Breakdowns are absolutely necessary. And if you can do all of those, and have damage output left, you might stand a chance.

This is just not happening for me.

Wow, okay then. No wonder my all-80 party got creamed.

In other news, I'm a single dungeon from having all the classic dungeons finished! Then it will be onto the elites. Which will go a lot slower I imagine, since I've been clearing almost everything with Synergy teams. Except FFIII. Screw you FFIII.

[Merlin the Tuna]

There is simply no way for a f2p player to win unless they have heavily favored FFVIII (which from what I have read is quite lackluster).It's one part FF8 characters being so-so (Irvine is bad, what even is Quistis, etc.) but from what I understand a lot of it is just FF8 banners tending to be poor and/or poorly timed. Right now is a perfect example: the banner itself is decent-ish, but everybody just burned mythril on BSB Fest and on the FF4 event.


In other news, I'm a single dungeon from having all the classic dungeons finished! Then it will be onto the elites. Which will go a lot slower I imagine, since I've been clearing almost everything with Synergy teams. Except FFIII. Screw you FFIII.Congrats! I've been loving having the whole suite of Elites to clean up, and have been running full synergy for everything but FF2. It's super nice to be able to plan your core dungeon clears alongside the event schedule. Especially for realms like 8 and 9 that don't have a daily to power up in.

[Red Fel]

So in less humiliatingly disappointing news, the next Nightmare is expected to drop tonight. (Although, they haven't issued the usual announcement, so it might be delayed, I dunno.) Here's what you need to know!

First, banner. This is a Support Nightmare, which means Support characters will love the Lucky Draw. A list of Support characters and their relics can be found here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PhHg-SQhAcwMzznSsV7JJEZr_cwzOqcBw_cYaHm42wE/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=258869617), although there is no guarantee that these relics will be the ones on our banner, because DeNA.

Second, the bosses. We can enjoy the following punishment on our road to Nightmare CPU:
100: Gyges the Great (XIV). Medals for reducing his Atk, reducing his Def, and not getting KO'd. Gyges summons Stone Servants throughout the fight; both he and his servants use exclusively physical attacks, both single-target and AoE, so plan your mitigation accordingly. Gyges is also susceptible to Poison, Stop, and Stun, and the servants are susceptible to everything except Confuse and Berserk, so if mitigating is hard, consider some debuffs. Victory gets you orbs and a Hero's Soul.
110: Humbaba (VI). Medals for reducing his Atk, reducing his Mag, and not getting KO'd. He is weak to Poison (the element, not the status), resistant to Lightning, and - this is important - susceptible to Blind. His attacks are all single-target - physical attacks, magical (Lightning) attacks, and Thousand Needles. If you can Blind him, you only have to worry about his magic. Victory gets you orbs and an Empty MC.
120: Tiamat (I). Medals for reducing her Mag, reducing her Def, and not getting KO'd. Bad news, this version is immune to petrification. She also nulls Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth, so either bring some unusual elements (e.g. Water, Poison) or bypass casters altogether and go full physical meta. She is susceptible to Sap and Stun, which will help a lot. Her damage is almost exclusively magical AoEs, so things like Runic won't help; bring plenty of magic mitigation. Victory gets you orbs, crystals, and an Empty MC2.
130: Barthandelus (XIII). Medals for reducing his Mag, reducing his Def, and not getting KO'd. Good news, unlike the Ultimate Bart, this guy won't dispel wall. Bring both physical and magical mitigation here, and remember to target the Pauldron's and Ailette's weaknesses for massive damage. Keep in mind that Bart and his adornments are all vulnerable to Slow and Stop; the adornments are also susceptible to Poison, Paralyze, Blind, and Sleep, while Bart suffers from Sap and Stun. Victory gets you crystals and the Torrent Armlet accessory.

That leaves us with the Nightmare boss, the CPU from IV. As always, the fight comes in three phases: the first phase, where you fight a boss on a timer; the second phase, where you try to kill the boss using special mechanics; and the third phase, which you hope to avoid because the boss will try to straight-up murder everyone ever every round. Medals are awarded for reducing the CPU's Atk, reducing its Mag, and reducing its Def.
Phase 1: The CPU will start a countdown. You have five rounds to get to Phase 2, or it uses Quad Penalty, which is basically a wipe. You have to kill the Attack Node and Defense Node, and you have to do them both within a relatively short time or else they'll revive. So if you do bring casters, this is probably where you want them, because AoEs.
Phase 2: The Nodes will return, and the CPU will count down from 10. The Attack Node will put a red aura above the CPU, and the Defense Node will put up a red barrier in front of it. After a few turns, they will do the same thing but purple. If you leave these glowy bits up, the CPU will power up, skip to Phase 3, and murder your face. To remove each enhancement, you need to use the corresponding Breakdown.
For the red aura, reduce the Attack of the Attack Node (top).
For the red barrier, reduce the Defense of the Defense Node (bottom).
For the purple aura, reduce the Magic of the Attack Node.
For the purple barrier, reduce the Resistance of the Defense Node (bottom).Keep in mind that if the buffs are reapplied before you remove them, they "level up" and take more hits to remove. Specifically, to reduce a stat, you want a Breakdown, Steal Power/Defense, or High dance. Now, here's where it gets interesting - if you remove the buffs, the Nodes are "exposed" and subject to "overheating." If you use a multi-stat debuff at this time (Atk/Mag on the Attack Node, Def/Res on the Defense Node), they "overheat" (turn red) and work for you. The Attack Node, during this time, will damage the CPU for 9999, and the Defense Node will heal your party for roughly 1.5k. Best way to do this? Denude both Nodes, then use Break Fever. The most important thing is to keep the Nodes alive so that they can continue to serve you. If you hit a Node with an appropriate Break while it is serving you (red), or kill it, it will explode for 9999 damage to the CPU; if both Nodes die, the CPU goes into Phase 3, and you'll probably wipe. Similarly, if the countdown hits 0, the CPU will use Quad Penalty, switch to Phase 3, and you'll probably wipe.
Phase 3: CPU resurrects both Nodes, and uses Globe 199 to one-shot one character every round. It deals 6500-9999 damage, so you're going to die. Don't let him get to Phase 3.
Don't bother bringing casters to this fight. I mean, you can, but CPU uses Reflect, Defense Node resists everything except Poison, and Attack Node resists Earth. Really, what you want to bring are Breakdowns, dances, steals, and so forth. Keep the Nodes working for you and just abuse the CPU until it dies. Victory gets you crystals and the mostly-useless Quad Penalty record.

Happy hunting.

[Cozzer]

Well... it appears I have thoroughly estabilished that I'm not a bad enough dude to defeat the Ifrit. :( At least I'm in good company. At least I think I have a shot at this Nightmare!

[Red Fel]

Well... it appears I have thoroughly estabilished that I'm not a bad enough dude to defeat the Ifrit. :( At least I'm in good company. At least I think I have a shot at this Nightmare!

You probably do! Any Support character will have Nightmare synergy, and of course that includes Tyro Master Race, which means wall if you have SG. And there are some excellent Support characters, particularly if you have their relics - Wakka is pretty powerful, Gordon can be surprisingly effective, Faris' Sea Lord's Broadside is perfect for this fight... You have some solid options.

Again, keep in mind that this fight requires a lot of different abilities. If you don't feel comfortable honing multiple copies of Power Breakdown, you should definitely rely on High dances, Steal Power/Defense, etc. Ideally, if you can hone Multi Break to R3, you should be very solid on that front.

The only challenging part of this fight that I see is the first phase, given that you want to save ability uses. The Nodes have about 40,000 HP, and you need to burn them both down in quick succession. Barring that, though, I could see this going reasonably well for a well-prepared party.

Oh! There is one other thing I forgot to mention. The CPU's damage output is exclusively physical; the Attack Node likewise uses (ranged) physical; and the Defense Node uses heals. So there is no need for magic mitigation.

[danzibr]

Let us know how you make out. My first try was utter defeat. Even with it being my VIII team and not my A team it was still daunting. Checked out the comments on the site and there seems to be very few people having even remote luck.
My A team had plenty of defense, but the damage was awful. When Dr. Mog said Ifrit has high def, he wasn't joking. Definitely a job for a mage party.

[Greg_S]

It's one part FF8 characters being so-so (Irvine is bad, what even is Quistis, etc.) but from what I understand a lot of it is just FF8 banners tending to be poor and/or poorly timed. Right now is a perfect example: the banner itself is decent-ish, but everybody just burned mythril on BSB Fest and on the FF4 event.

The next FF8 banner continues this grand tradition. Loads of ice-elemental Ifrit killers, but it's the week before OSBs and (maybe) guaranteed 5*s on 11 pulls. FF8 also has very little in the 3* and 4* relic pool, so you can't cobble together a lot of synergy without hitting the banners. That's yet another reason FF8 realms are hit-and-miss.

Oh, Ifrit rocked my A-team. I forgot to change setzer's loadout to breaks, but I don't think I've got enough dakka to take down Ifrit yet anyway. I got him down to 75%, but he's too fast. Even with wall/shellga/moderate fire resist gear, AoE Firaja's dealing 1K to my mages. I'll see you in a few months, fire cavern.

EDIT: Really interesting reddit post on doing the CM for Ifrit (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/4uunpe/blitzing_ifrit_my_attempt_on_ifrit_cm_as_a_f2p/). It relies on Edea using Rinoa's BSB to blast away his HP. Edea's essential because she can memento mori herself. Everyone else is there for healing/defense. Going to give that a go with my full A-team later tonight for the clear.

[Hunter Noventa]

Man the CPU sounds appropriately Nightmarish. I'll probably just take my cheap draw and be done with it, I don't have enough physical support users to do that when the only decent ones I have are Ramza, Fran and Faris, and of those only Ramza is 80.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Speaking of Nightmares, I think it's about time I finish up Crushdown and Ultima. At this point I'm pretty confident I can clear Ultima properly (ie no naked ninjas), but for Crushdown: is there any reason to actually attack the arms? From what I'm reading in the Enemy AI dump, it seems like the only point is to soften up the phase 2->3 transition, but you're supposed to win the fight during phase 2 anyway. So... kinda seems like a waste of time, as long as attacking the body won't push it forward too much?

[Chen]

My A team had plenty of defense, but the damage was awful. When Dr. Mog said Ifrit has high def, he wasn't joking. Definitely a job for a mage party.

I think his Res is the same as his Def (something absurd in the 3000+ range).

[danzibr]

(maybe) guaranteed 5*s on 11 pulls
Wait what?

Man the CPU sounds appropriately Nightmarish. I'll probably just take my cheap draw and be done with it, I don't have enough physical support users to do that when the only decent ones I have are Ramza, Fran and Faris, and of those only Ramza is 80.
I've read Multi Break makes the battle a lot easier.

I think his Res is the same as his Def (something absurd in the 3000+ range).
I had, uhh, quite a bit of success (?) with a mage team. Didn't play the sharpest, my Edward was only 65, but got him down to ~15%. This weekend I'll level Edward, then have another go. I think I can take him down.

Oh, and this is not even using any mythril. Yeah, I have a good feeling.

[Hunter Noventa]

I've read Multi Break makes the battle a lot easier.


I still only have that at 2 uses, and no dancers strong enough to survive. It's not like it won't be back.

[Red Fel]

I still only have that at 2 uses, and no dancers strong enough to survive. It's not like it won't be back.

Tyro Master Race is a dancer who is also full Support. With Nightmare synergy, he's actually moderately tough.

But yeah. Currently, the following characters can use Dancer 5, and with it Multi Break: Tyro Master Race, Mog, Cait Sith, and Penelo. Of those, the only one who can use Support 5 is Tyro Master Race. So... Yeah. If you want to use Multi Break, he's basically your only option.

Now, if you want to use any lesser Dancer abilities, Faris is an excellent choice. She gets Dancer 4, and Support 5, meaning she gets Nightmare synergy. But she's the only one other than you-know-who who can do that; nobody else who has Support 5 gets Dancer abilities.

I may end up honing Multi Break, honestly.


Speaking of Nightmares, I think it's about time I finish up Crushdown and Ultima. At this point I'm pretty confident I can clear Ultima properly (ie no naked ninjas), but for Crushdown: is there any reason to actually attack the arms? From what I'm reading in the Enemy AI dump, it seems like the only point is to soften up the phase 2->3 transition, but you're supposed to win the fight during phase 2 anyway. So... kinda seems like a waste of time, as long as attacking the body won't push it forward too much?

Well, attacking the arms at least allows you to charge your SB gauge, if nothing else. But the fact is that if you don't kill him in Phase 2, you really want those arms dead. When he switches to Phase 3 - if he survives that long - he will use an ability. If both arms are dead, that ability is Wail, and will merely hurt and Silence you. If either arm is alive, that ability is Nightmare Crushdown, and that's basically a wipe. That said, he starts using that move in Phase 3 anyway, so you're really better off killing him in Phase 2.

But yeah. Attacking the body with anyone who isn't marked is a bad idea, so just focus on poking the arms. Or do nothing. Your call.

[danzibr]

Ahh, Tyro. Getting more tempted to dump all my motes into him. Don't have his SSB or BSB though (could change in a few hours!).

Anyway. What's your favorite FF song? My single favorite is surely Eyes on Me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qcW0oiLKHg) from VIII, then Movin' (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=knn7EdUff84) from VIII, then Clash on the Big Bridge (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0JnXdfoYpY) from V, then Rose of May (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hcvKpVAwdqY) from IX.

[SuperPanda]

Another reason to attack arms on crush down that I learned when my team took him on: AoE attack and SB are credited based off of who they target, not who they hit. Meaning that of cloud is not marked and uses Blade Beam targeting the arms he hits the body too with no penalty, but if he targets the body it advances the marked people up to gravija.

Building your AoE SB's to damage the wall itself works in crush down.

Edit: mixed feelings on my lucky draw.

3 rainbows:
Barrett's first gun arm (def-Res down) - stat stick no one else can use.
Setzer's gambler darts, (multi-hit+blind chance) - stat stick no one else can use.
Ircine's first gun (stat stick to round out VIII party, questionable SB value).

CM wise, two wins as Irvine got a boost and setter gets a decent ranged option in VI, the gun arm looks like it will sit on the shelf a long time though, I've got red XIII leveled and his lunatic high, so he's generally my choice support for VIII.

[Slayn82]

Finally beat Ifrit, with Mastery. Giving R3 Blizzaga Strike to Celes and a second Lifesiphon R4 to Beatrix, plus honing Ramza's Magic Breakdown to R4 worked. Instead of Heroic Harmony, my RW was Arc's SSB (Shellga+Heavy Regeneration + Magic Blink).

It took 3 casts of Shout/Wall, and Beatrix used her SSB as soon as she had enough for it - she used it 5 or 6 times in the battle. Minwu used his medica 4 times, as soon there were 2 or more people under 50% HP, and it being instantaneous was vital. Meteors and the other big attack were 1100+ damage on Celes. Anyway, I got the loot.

Speaking of it, good luck with the lucky draw. Rainbows for everyone.

[Red Fel]

Banner is up! And survey says...

... huh. Well, I got some combinable 4-stars - three of them - but I managed to snag two 5-stars. Barret's Gatling Gun SB relic (AoE Armor Breakdown) and Red XIII's Magic Comb SSB relic (10 ranged attacks + Shellga). So, that's a thing. Plus side, it means Red XIII is a more functional frontline Support, or something.

I'm gonna call this one a win. And a message that I need to do more VII, apparently.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Lucky draw goooooooo!

Got Red's Silver Barrette (Trine) and Barret's Gatling Gun (Grenade Bomb). Can't be too upset with a pair of 5*s, even if they're niche types and unremarkable SBs.

[spectralphoenix]

Picked up the Sirius Sidearms (Sazh's SSB) in the Lucky Draw. Not too shabby, and I finally have a 5* gun now. Though Lightning may end up using it more than Sazh against all those obnoxious "Out of Melee Range" XIII bosses.

[Jurai]

0.

0.

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeg.

[SuperPanda]

Gun arms do seem popular today.

I'd really been hoping for a solid bow. Posted my results above into an edit. Going to level up my stuff and try Ifirit a few more times before getting to work on the Nightmare bosses.

[Morbis Meh]

0.

0.

Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaeg.

Me too *sighs* well first time in a while so I shouldn't be surprised

Almost everything was useless in this pull since the 2/4 4 stars were maxed

[Starwulf]

Hrmmm.....happy to not have gotten no 5*'s, but...well. 9 3*'s, all junk, my SECOND Sentinel Grimoire(sooo, yeah, don't need that at all), and Red XIII's Diamond Pin. Which could be cool, if he was a worthwhile character at all, and if my Support slot wasn't already being used by someone who is more useful(Faris with her Yoichi Bow). Sad thing is, if I had gotten his Diamond Pin half a year ago I'd have been freaking flipping the hell out right now, happy as hell. A protect and haste 6 months ago? Hell yeah! Now? Sigh, not so much. Now, if it was whats-her-name's Divine Guardian, I'd certainly freak out, that would be amazing, I'd egg her to 70 immediately and she'd take over as my permanent WHM.

[Simkin]

3 5*s on my pull:

- a 2nd Ramza's Nu Khai Armband (FFT), decent stat stick
- 2x Setzer's Cards. Already have his darts. I like him well enough, but nothing I really wanted.

[T.G. Oskar]

First: damn U+!Bahamut. FFVIII synergy is pretty poor, and characters other than Selphie aren't that high-leveled, so it was difficult to beat it, particularly on those last legs. Managed to beat it by having Balthier, in Cloud's Burst Mode, dish enough damage to survive the last blow and win. Evidently, it wasn't mastered. So, already starting to get angry.

Then, I go for Mote!Ifrit...lawl, nope! It took what was pissing me off about Bahamut (its Speed) and boosted it, and even setting up Fire Resist items for everyone, it didn't took enough for it to beat me. Managed to take a sliver of its HP, but it wasn't even a reasonable amount. Ergo, even more pissed.

So, what does a very angry man do? Why, play a bit of Brave Exvius to stall the time for the Lucky Draw, that's it! Oh wait, I still don't have Terra on my team (damn you, RNGs! I stored 5k Lapis for 11 RSTs, and you insist on giving me Marias!? RAAAAGE!!)

Nope, not appeased.

Thus, I angrily throw 25 Mythril into the Lucky Draw Lottery pool, and...?

...


...


...


...


...


Got four 5*! Well, apparently the Random Number Gods are wise not to piss off an angry man, after all?

Of course, it's no Keeper's Tome, or any of Sazh's guns (seriously, I want one of them! Even the Boon one!), but...I'm strangely happy with the result.

For starters, I got back-to-back Blitzballs for Wakka, which include his Super Soul Break, Aurochs' Reels. I also got Attack Reels, so I'm torn figuring out which one to work with (kidding; Attack Reels first, then Aurochs').

Then, I got a deck of cards...Setzer's Cards. Yep, yet another Throwing weapon for FFVI, coupling up Locke's Rising Sun, and further adding to the FFVI pool of items. Honestly, I'm overloaded in FFVI stuff.

And finally...hey, it's a bow! A FFV bow...in fact, it's Faris' bow that delivers AoE Wallbreaking! Oh goody, that means I got a very nice FFV ranged weapon, and Faris is now ready to supplant Ramza on FFV worlds!

So yeah - much better than I expected, as I expected nothing.

...


...


...kinda feel bad for all that have been salted, y'know.

[Hunter Noventa]

Picked up the Sirius Sidearms (Sazh's SSB) in the Lucky Draw. Not too shabby, and I finally have a 5* gun now. Though Lightning may end up using it more than Sazh against all those obnoxious "Out of Melee Range" XIII bosses.

I got the same thing. Guess I have a reason to level up Sazh now. Helps that I already have Lightning's peacemaker. Got another Warrior's Sword (X) so now that's a 6-star.

[tyckspoon]

Got 2 Fran Bows, Whip Kick and Shatterheart. So I guess I should level Fran now.

[SuperPanda]

Got ifirt down to where I couldn't see his health anymore right before he aoe blitzed down the team (with Ramza mid charge of tailwind, selfie mid charge of Curaga and one turn away from Dreamstage, y'sholta already dirt napping, Rinoa out of hones and out of SB and squall charging blasting zone...)

Going to take a break, but I got close this time, I'm just low on hones. Might need to swap accessories around (Ramza should send selfie his mag+fire resist in exchange for her big fire resist, y'sholta should give up her RS hat to Selfie. Time ti hone Curaja one last time so y'sholta doesn't run out of cures as easily.)

Going to stab the nightmare bosses for a bit.

[Perkinz]

Chucked 25 mythril at the Support Lucky Draw.

2 5* items popped out. Got Fran's Loxley Bow (Whip Kick) and...

a second copy of Ramza's Platinum Sword.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. One one hand, I have a 6* weapon... but on the other hand, I'm not sure how often FFT events pop up. Shout is great, don't get me wrong, but I feel like after mastering the SB you could let it gather dust and not be much worse off than you started.

Then I kick myself and remember that people would kill for just one copy of the weapon. :smalltongue:

[danzibr]

Got Sazh's Boon relic.

[huttj509]

Spent 25 mythril...0 5* relics. 3 4* relics, 8 3* relics.

*sigh* well, I can save up for the V banner...

[SuperPanda]

Re: T.G. Okar: FFBE

Maria is basically a variation of Fina. Both are healers with bows. Where Fina's "SB" is an attack, Maria's is an AoE heal.

My current team is Galuf (4*), Shadow (3*), Sabin (4*), Maria (3*) and Shantoto (4*)

When I finally get enough sacred crystals I'll awaken my 3* Terra, but sadly she was underwelming as a mage, attack, or healer (she seems to be a bit of a hybrid).

Shantoto on the other hand is amazing. She's got Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Stone, Water, Aero, Bio (all again at -ra, and the first three at -ga with some spells still locked behind levels). I have a 5* Kefka and I don't feel like replacing her with him because she's just so versatile with her nukes and packs a good amount of MP too.

I recently drew a 3* Bartz and Locke so they'll be going through xp dungeons once I get Terra awoken. I'm not impressed with Shadow but I might keep him to run a team of Sabin, Terra, Shadow, Locke, ... Kefka? (Hey, all VI?) - Sadly though I've still gotten no one from FFIV.

FFRK:
First two nightmare guardians are down. Saw a Rinoa BSB come up on my RW list and thought I'd try a strategy from Reddit for CM Ifirit... boy was that foolish. Waiting for a new Shout to try Ifirit again, I was so very close last time.

Feeling better about my Lucky Draw pulls even if they weren't what I wanted. I've got a solid VIII team's worth of gear now and Setzer might actually have my strongest VI SB, so respectable upgrades in both relms. Barret I'm less sold on but I can give him a chance, VI doesn't really need the love but having a ranged support option might not be bad.

[T.G. Oskar]

Maria is basically a variation of Fina. Both are healers with bows. Where Fina's "SB" is an attack, Maria's is an AoE heal.

My current team is Galuf (4*), Shadow (3*), Sabin (4*), Maria (3*) and Shantoto (4*)

When I finally get enough sacred crystals I'll awaken my 3* Terra, but sadly she was underwelming as a mage, attack, or healer (she seems to be a bit of a hybrid).

Shantoto on the other hand is amazing. She's got Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Stone, Water, Aero, Bio (all again at -ra, and the first three at -ga with some spells still locked behind levels). I have a 5* Kefka and I don't feel like replacing her with him because she's just so versatile with her nukes and packs a good amount of MP too.

I recently drew a 3* Bartz and Locke so they'll be going through xp dungeons once I get Terra awoken. I'm not impressed with Shadow but I might keep him to run a team of Sabin, Terra, Shadow, Locke, ... Kefka? (Hey, all VI?) - Sadly though I've still gotten no one from FFIV.

I know, it's just that it's one of the 3* characters I've gotten the most. Maria, IMO, works somewhat better than Fina because she has a Medica as her Limit Break, compared to Fina's Pray; that said, it's not Rosalia and her own Medica, or Anastasis' Esunaga, so all you've got in the end is use of Bows and Mystery Waltz to drain MP.

My team is comprised (ATM) of Pally!Cecil 4*, Rain 4*, Maria 4* and Magitek Armor Terra 4*, but it's still in flux. I've got Golbez and Exdeath around, and they're supposedly top-tier in the game (at least Exdeath does, IIRC), and a bunch of other people. Currently have Sabin just to give him some levels, but Edgar was there for a while, and now that he awoke, he might return - he has three AoEs, and while MA!Terra has one of them (Bio Blaster), the other two are still pretty nice (Auto Crossbow and Sunbeam). I have no qualms about MA!Terra, as she's pretty serviceable (plus she's nice paired with the Ifrit Esper), but she's not the real one. I've seen a 5* Terra, and she's very useful, having Cura (AoE Heal), Firaga (heavy AoE fire damage) and Graviga (heavy AoE %-based damage; if it's not resisted, you're very close to clearing tough mooks with it), plus Riot Blade and the improved versions are pretty good. Plus, she's one of the few characters ATM with Raise, so she's quite balanced in that regard, and can equip nice stuff (like shields). And her Trust Reward is insane (Ultima!!). And Guardian Mog (Ribbon!) Seriously, there's so many reasons why to have her around, it's crazy.

IV-wise, I have a good team: Pally!Cecil 4*, Rinoa 4*, Kain and Golbez. Kain sucks miserably, though, because he lacks either an AoE attack or a solid damage ability (Jump is nice, but it eats your next turn, and Store is pointless), in comparison to others like Edgar (various AoEs), Sabin (no AoEs except his Limit Break, but has great survival with Chakra) or...say, Chizuru (best physical attacker). Rinoa is a caster, and she has the benefit of being a pure Summoner, so she HAS to have an Esper around (most likely Siren?), but her magic leaves a little to be desired. Golbez comes into full power at 5*, where he gets Binding Cold as an ability, Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga and Bioga, hitting AoEs for four elements, plus Osmose if you need some MP (though Osmose is really inefficient to recover MP as its cost is prohibitive). Exdeath and Kefka pull ahead of Golbez, though, for having stronger Magic ratings and their unique abilities: Kefka gets Trine, Hyperdrive and Heartless Angel as unique spells + three of the four spells Golbez gets (all except Firaga), while Exdeath gets Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga, Graviga (see Terra), Imperil (reduce Element resistance), plus it has so many boosts to its own Magic that it's insane (innate Magic + 30% AND Faith). Shantotto suffers by not having a 5* evolution and being too spread out in terms of powers.

BTW: Sacred Crystals are gained on the Chamber of Awakening, usually at Intermediate. Advanced gets you Holy Crystals instead. Just in case.

[Dorath]

The random number gods have been very kind to me this week. Excalibur from a three draw, Party Dress on a single, now Sentinel's Grimoire and Dream Harp in the lucky nightmare.

[Slayn82]

Congrats on the new Relics, and better luck next time for those who didn't get any. Reading here and on Reddit, my feeling is that the true prizes people are celebrating are Keepers Tome, Shield Grimoire and Platinum Sword, and Barrett/Red XIII are popping everywhere.

And a notification appeared a fee minutes ago. Double greens, and 4* motes will be available on the Fat Chocobo, for 1K each. What also will be available are the shared X Celebration Blade and Royal Staff relics, for 8K. Anyone else thinks maybe its worth getting a second Royal Staff for those Cid Mission?

[Hunter Noventa]

Chucked 25 mythril at the Support Lucky Draw.

2 5* items popped out. Got Fran's Loxley Bow (Whip Kick) and...

a second copy of Ramza's Platinum Sword.

I'm not quite sure how I feel about that. One one hand, I have a 6* weapon... but on the other hand, I'm not sure how often FFT events pop up. Shout is great, don't get me wrong, but I feel like after mastering the SB you could let it gather dust and not be much worse off than you started.

Then I kick myself and remember that people would kill for just one copy of the weapon. :smalltongue:

The 6* Platinum sword I have outdoes almost every other sword I have, a least with no synergy. Which means it's the best sword for a surprising number of realms for me.

[danzibr]

Congrats on the new Relics, and better luck next time for those who didn't get any. Reading here and on Reddit, my feeling is that the true prizes people are celebrating are Keepers Tome, Shield Grimoire and Platinum Sword, and Barrett/Red XIII are popping everywhere.

And a notification appeared a fee minutes ago. Double greens, and 4* motes will be available on the Fat Chocobo, for 1K each. What also will be available are the shared X Celebration Blade and Royal Staff relics, for 8K. Anyone else thinks maybe its worth getting a second Royal Staff for those Cid Mission?
I'm totally getting both of those 5*'s. Solid 6*'s with RS. Also getting all those motes. Big spending spree for me.

[SuperPanda]

I've got 40k greens right now but might have to empty the bank for those motes. I probably won't get a second staff but a second dagger is tempting. With the popularity of physical teams my weak X physical weapons is a recurring issue.

Staff wise I have lullaby rod and the free staff, easily enough to outfit two casters. Weapon wise I have waka's official ball, the dagger, and a couple 4* weapons (no +s) so my physical power is lessened. With Excalibur IV somewhat augmented it is better than the 4*s with RS now and carries a holy boost for saint's cross on Auron.

The motes are exciting though, and I hope double greens lasts through Sunday.

[Red Fel]

a second copy of Ramza's Platinum Sword.

Congratulations! Hate.


Re: T.G. Okar: FFBE


I know, it's just that it's one of the 3* characters I've gotten the most. Maria, IMO, works somewhat better than Fina because she has a Medica as her Limit Break, compared to Fina's Pray; that said, it's not Rosalia and her own Medica, or Anastasis' Esunaga, so all you've got in the end is use of Bows and Mystery Waltz to drain MP.

Is it FFBE time? Okay. First off, have a look over here (https://exviuswiki.com/Unit_Rankings) - it's a comprehensive ranking of different units, with pros and cons. Short version: 5-stars are generally better than non-5s, but not all 5-stars are created equal. Big surprise, Rain, Lasswell, and Fina are basically just placeholders for better units. (Exception: Fina's Cheer, learned at level 72, is the best physical damage buff in the game.)

My team? Currently, it's 5-star Cloud of Darkness, 5-star Celes, 5-star Lasswell, 4-star Kuja, and 4-star Roselia. I'm also up to Siren, Ifrit, and Golem; I haven't been pushing story mode as far as I could have, since I've been grinding characters. But that means that characters with power but limited ability capacity (e.g. CoD, Kuja) have resources. Roselia was an utter nuisance to level, because until she reaches 4-star level 29, she doesn't have an actual, reliable heal. Even Fina has that covered from the outset. That said, once Roselia gets Cura, the only advantage Fina has is Shell/Protect; even then, Roselia still gets Stona, Regen, and at capstone, Roselia's the only character who learns Curaja. Still working on getting her and Kuja to 5-star.

Someday, White Dragon. Someday.


I'm totally getting both of those 5*'s. Solid 6*'s with RS. Also getting all those motes. Big spending spree for me.

Same. Definitely going after relics, definitely grabbing 4-star motes.

In other news, Nightmare CPU is down! I went through several permutations before finding the right team. First, I tried using Tyro with Curaja and Multi Break, Gordon with Magic Breakdown and Curaga (for off-heals), and Edward for Mental Breakdown and Enveloping Etude (for Protectga), along with two more offensive users. Eventually, I realized I needed more offense and less healing, and switched Gordon out for Ramza, switching Curaga out for Banishing Strike. After awhile, I realized I needed still more offense, and could afford to drop some defense, so I switched Edward out as well. My final party looked like this.
Wakka: Armor Breakdown, Tempo Flurry, Legendary Shot.
Ramza: Power Breakdown, Banishing Strike, Heroic Stance.
Barret: Magic Breakdown, Blind Shell, Unerring Shot.
Faris: Mental Breakdown, Dismissal, Pride of Figaro.
Tyro: Curaja, Multi Break, Dr. Mog's Teachings.
RW: Ramza (Shout).
Multi Break was only honed to R2; four uses was sufficient. Full mastery, no medals lost.

Here's what this battle comes down to: Damage is everything, and timing is everything else. First round was a fast burn; the first character up to bat immediately rolled out my first Shout use, Tyro threw out SG, and everyone else used their non-Breakdown abilities to kill the Nodes. Here's where timing came in - the final two blows came from Barret and Faris. Why? Because I needed Wakka, Ramza, and Tyro on standby. As soon as the Nodes died and respawned, Wakka and Ramza threw out their respective Breakdowns, with Tyro following close behind; the Nodes converted almost immediately in Phase 2. Everyone proceeded to nuke the CPU, Breakdowns first for added abuse. After everyone took two attacks, Barret, Faris, and Tyro stopped and waited in standby, while Wakka and Ramza continued to abuse the CPU. As soon as the Nodes recovered, Barret and Faris hit them with Breakdowns (yes, even before the purple auras went up), and Tyro followed with Multi Break again. They were converted almost immediately. Continue the cycle, alternating that way.

It got close, even with all that. When the CPU got down to somewhere between 5-10% health, I went full burn, ignoring the Nodes and blasting the CPU with everything I had, because the countdown was getting close. Tore it to shreds and walked away with my reward.

So, in summary:
You need a lot of offense. Don't stack multiple Breakdowns on a single character; make sure each one has strong Atk and a strong non-Breakdown ability it can use.
Your timing needs to be perfect. If you delay too long, the Nodes put the barriers up, and you need those Nodes on your side as much as is possible.
When the timer gets low, go full burn; ignore the Nodes and just try to finish the fight.
Another thing I learned is that AoE SBs are a terrible idea. On my first try, I used Faris' Sea Lord's Broadside; while it did little damage to the CPU, it did massive damage to the Nodes, which is not what I wanted. This is what makes Multi Break perfect for this role - it deals no damage to the Nodes, which survived the entire fight (until the CPU died, of course).

[T.G. Oskar]

Is it FFBE time? Okay. First off, have a look over here (https://exviuswiki.com/Unit_Rankings) - it's a comprehensive ranking of different units, with pros and cons. Short version: 5-stars are generally better than non-5s, but not all 5-stars are created equal. Big surprise, Rain, Lasswell, and Fina are basically just placeholders for better units. (Exception: Fina's Cheer, learned at level 72, is the best physical damage buff in the game.)

My team? Currently, it's 5-star Cloud of Darkness, 5-star Celes, 5-star Lasswell, 4-star Kuja, and 4-star Roselia. I'm also up to Siren, Ifrit, and Golem; I haven't been pushing story mode as far as I could have, since I've been grinding characters. But that means that characters with power but limited ability capacity (e.g. CoD, Kuja) have resources. Roselia was an utter nuisance to level, because until she reaches 4-star level 29, she doesn't have an actual, reliable heal. Even Fina has that covered from the outset. That said, once Roselia gets Cura, the only advantage Fina has is Shell/Protect; even then, Roselia still gets Stona, Regen, and at capstone, Roselia's the only character who learns Curaja. Still working on getting her and Kuja to 5-star.

Someday, White Dragon. Someday.

Don't think I haven't read it (most of the stuff I said IS based on that Tier ranking, after all), but also note that most characters on top tiers are future-proofed.

Point to mention is that Rain's 6* evolution gives him Full Break+. In comparison to FFRK, Full Break is an ability that reduces all 4 stats by 30% (you know, exactly like in FFRK), which is pretty solid. Now, stat mitigation doesn't stack, so you only need one character who can pull it off. At the moment, Vaan is highly-sought after because he's the only one with Full Break gained natively, but as more characters appear and more 6* evolutions kick in, that'll spread out.

It's pretty easy to give Roselia the Cure ability, so it's not like it's a bad thing; her Medica is already pretty great. She pairs pretty well with Siren, which gets Cure as one of the granted abilities, plus a plethora of other nice skills (the problem is getting them all, since you're most likely unable to get enough points for all of them before reaching 2*).

P.S.: One month from now, there will be another FFT event, this time with Gafgarion...and yes, Thunder God Cidolfas Orland(ea)u. Just quoting what someone quoted on Reddit: "They said that Orland(ea)u is incredibly broken in FFT and they will try their best to emulate this in FFRK". The Thunder God is coming. Repent, or get Divine Ruinated up your bum.

[Merlin the Tuna]

As I'm sure a lot of you did, I approached the Lucky Draw with a mixture of excitement and dread. The former because there were so many possible ways to win, and the latter because getting your hopes up is a recipe for getting knifed in the gut. And aside from the dreaded 0 draw, I figured that the absolute worst I could do would be getting just a Barret relic, as he's (A) just not very good, (B) the only 5* support who has another 5* support in the same realm, and (C) the only 5* support I still have at level 1, in part because of points A & B.

But because Red's Silver Barrette is a MAG-primary weapon, it's not terribly good aside from boosting the associated MAG-based SB. And because Red offers decent weapon choice with terrible armor choice vs. Barret's terrible weapons and decent armor, Barret is the one who had his major weakness shored up. So I ultimately should phase out Red and start building up Barret, even though I did get a relic for the former. It's kinda like I got that knife in the gut and a thumb in the eye. Well played, game. Well played.

Don't get me wrong, I'm happy to have gotten anything out of the draw, much less two 5*s. There's just a little bit of gallows humor to it. :smalltongue:

Anyway, congrats to everyone who won big, condolences to everyone who struck out. Definitely excited to be able to pick up the shared FFX relics after grinding out more greens. Though I'm kicking myself for buying the Major Lightning Orb yesterday; I needed a few more to R2 Full Break (still short a few Ice) but didn't realize the Nightmare dungeon would be paying out a bunch. The only question now is whether I want to combine the daggers or have two on hand, since it would only be my third physical weapon for the realm.

[SuperPanda]

CPU is down.

RW: shout
Tyro: multi break / Curaja (should have brought something else) (level 67, celebration SB)
Barret : breakdown / blind shell (level 50, hammer blow - from lucky draw)
Ramza : breakdown + banishing blade (Excalibur IV+ play shield) level 80 with tailwind
Irvine: breakdown with double cut (should have brought wakka instead) level 66 with fast ammo (lucky draw)
Sazh: breakdown + full break (level 67 with godsend SB - used for heavy regen$.

First thing I learned, without shout I didn't do anywhere near enough damage.
Second thing, I didn't need the healing, once through phase 1 true nodes kept me topped off.

I stumbled getting the nodes into overheat but once there I could have tyro on standby to zap them right back in before they could buff up. Refreshed shout late and stumbled a lot but still wrapped things up before the countdown ran out.

Now back to Ifirt and greens.

Edit: FFBE - looks like most of my current team is lack luster. I need to awaken Terra and level up/ awaken Locke and Kefka to move into my A team. Looks like I should replace Maria with Fina after all. I'll miss shantoto - her and Sabin are easily the powerhouses of my team right now but it seems that they aren't going to improve much... It seems my luck there isn't very good after all.

[Slayn82]

@Merlin the Tuna: Red XIII can get Black Magic 5, +28 Magic and + 12% Black Magic Damage from Record Dive. If only he could fetch Staffs or Rods from it.

I sometimes give him the Magic Comb, a nice hat or bracer that increases Atk and Mag, devotion or +BM damage RM, and use him as a Black Mage, exploiting elemental vulnerabilities, plus Full Break/Mental Breakdown. It's surprisingly effective, because the Shellga is useful, and Stardust Ray packs a nice punch, so he can spam it and recover the DPS disadvantage from your average mage, making use of a + Atk accessory, specially if it's +45, leaving the + Mag to other stronger Mages.

[Morbis Meh]

So haven't tried the Nightmare CPU, not going to bother since I don't have the hones nor do I have any support characters (aside from Ramza) leveled beyond 50 but I managed to clear the other 4 with relative ease so that is at least a start :smallsmile:

As for the FFT event I am super stoked, it's my favorite FF game and TG Cid is da best! (Now whether or not blowing limited mithril stores is a good idea or not is the real question). Other than that event I will probably hoard for the sweet sweet FFV event because 2/5 of my A team if from V so I think I will try to get the others (ie Faris and Bartz) to acceptable levels.

I have a pretty sweet team:
5* Exdeath
5* Pally!Cecil
5* Cloud of Darkness
5* Kefka
4* Firion (who may get tossed for Fina but we will see)

[Hunter Noventa]

So haven't tried the Nightmare CPU, not going to bother since I don't have the hones nor do I have any support characters (aside from Ramza) leveled beyond 50 but I managed to clear the other 4 with relative ease so that is at least a start :smallsmile:

As for the FFT event I am super stoked, it's my favorite FF game and TG Cid is da best! (Now whether or not blowing limited mithril stores is a good idea or not is the real question). Other than that event I will probably hoard for the sweet sweet FFV event because 2/5 of my A team if from V so I think I will try to get the others (ie Faris and Bartz) to acceptable levels.

Orlandu was a magnificent murderbeast in FFT, I'm curious to see how that will translate over to RK. I actually stopped using him in FFT because he was just too strong and stopped me from doing something more interesting with my party.

[T.G. Oskar]

Orlandu was a magnificent murderbeast in FFT, I'm curious to see how that will translate over to RK. I actually stopped using him in FFT because he was just too strong and stopped me from doing something more interesting with my party.

Well, for sure, he'll be a Samurai - there's no other that qualifies, and Ramza is already a Supporter. We've seen that the Knight-based characters (Agrias, Delita) have Spellblade, so he'll most likely have Spellblade 4* or 5*. He knows Holy Sword and Dark Sword skills, so that's Knight and Darkness right there. If you add Meliadoul's sword skills, that means Support 4. Mix that to Combat, and you get:

Combat 5*, Knight 5*, Spellblade 5*, Samurai 5*, Darkness 4*/5*, Support 4*.

That means he'll be Tactics' Tauntaliator, with full access to Bargain Cross, several AoEs (Samurai AoEs, plus Tornado Strike and Aegis Strike), and access to Breakdowns...just for kicks. My suspicion is that Orland(ea)u won't use the sword skills of others (though MAYBE Divine Ruination gets in, and also his Burst Soul Break will have the SBs of Agrias and Gaffgarion for ****s and giggles), but rather share the Draw Out/Bushido moves with Zalbaag.

Because...you DO remember Zalbaag uses Samurai skills, right? Without breaking Katanas, either?

Now, IF they want to make him that broken, he has to be 2nd place in HP, Attack and Defense, a Magic stat enough to make him useful with Spellblades but not overwhelming, and poor Resistance. Thing is, he'll be a physical powerhouse, enough to make Mama's Boy cry in a corner (by facing a REAL MAN, of course!), but he'll be weak magically. However, his SBs will most likely include a %-based Medica, a Regenga + Hastega, and a Protectga + Shellga (because those skills ARE part of Draw Out).

Dreaming, though...he'll have a unique benefit of learning SBs from other fellow Knights, so he can use Agrias' Cleansing Strike, for example. That will mark him as God Tier, alongside Tyro Master Race and "Lv. 99 = God" Onion Knight, for having his own unique property. Oh yeah, and did I mention he'll get Monk 4* through Record Dive?

[danzibr]

P.S.: One month from now, there will be another FFT event, this time with Gafgarion...and yes, Thunder God Cidolfas Orland(ea)u. Just quoting what someone quoted on Reddit: "They said that Orland(ea)u is incredibly broken in FFT and they will try their best to emulate this in FFRK". The Thunder God is coming. Repent, or get Divine Ruinated up your bum.
Looking forward to seeing details on this.

[SuperPanda]

Booyaka_Babe:

That's how you do it! Blizzaga from a healer toppling the mighty guardian of flame #Ifirt_Down

Cultured_Conjurer:

I'm not sure we could have prevailed without your performances on that Dreamstage. Wonderful work.

Booyaka_Babe:

Pretty good yourself with that stone skin spell. #whitemagesrule.

Angel_in_blue:

That was a tough fight. Good work everyone.

Silent_mopey_protagonist:

Good work team

Angel_in_Blue:

Squall? Why is that your handle?

Booyaka_Babe:

I chose it! #emo_lionheart

Angel_in_Blue:

It's perfect.


Flaming_guardian:

Still didn't complete the Cid's mission. #overpowered_and_not_sorry


-----

Ifirt is down with mastery!

Squall, Rinoa, Ramza, Selphie, y'sholta.

Squall packed double ice spell blades and SSB
Rinoa packed Blizzaja and shiva with SSB and devotion
Selphie packed Blizzaga, Curaga, and SSB
Y'sholta packed shellga, Curaja, and wall
Ramza packed Magic breakdown, full break, and tailwind.

Very RNG but Dreamstage helped a lot. Strategy with better write up when I'm not on my phone.

Edit:' typo on squall's Twitter handle fixed

[Starwulf]

Well, I finally got Mako Might, and I'm now considering giving the Ifrit Dungeon another go, as I can lead with either Faithful Companion(Major Regen is just so useful, especially early on), or Sea Lords Broadside(Since it stacks with Full Break + Magic breakdown, this could very well give me the extra edge I need to survive). Not sure which yet, and I won't be doing it until after I get up later today, so if anyone has any suggestions for whom to give Mako Might to, feel free to suggest away :)

[Slayn82]

What will be your RW? Wall or Shout? Hastega>Wall against Ifrit, and you have a fair substitute for Wall with Faris's Broadside. Regeneration is capable to stall a bit Ifrit's actions in speed 3+, due to how the game codes it. So assuming your RW is Shout, and you have Tyro in your team for Wall, I'm recommending Faithful Companion for Mako, unless you plan to give Lifesiphon to Gilgamesh.

[SuperPanda]

My strategy and team for Ifirit in more detail:

RW: Shout
Squall casts on Round 1 (ensures maximum damage while up), waits until it has noticeably dropped or ~ 1/2 through the fight to use it again. Second use also from Squall (no sense in him acting if not under Shout).

Shout still dropped off in the final push resulting in some tense exchanges.

Physical Brute: Squall.
Cutting Trigger, Balamb Garden Uniform, Bomb Ring IV (+Atk, +Med Fire resist). Blizzara Strike R3, Blizzaga Strike R4. Pride of the Red Wings.

Under Shout Blizzaga strike hits for ~ 8500 while Blizzara for 6,500. Blasting Zone hits for 4*4300 (6200 on a critical). Apart from summoning the RW Squal's only job is to put out as much damage as possible while under Shout.

Strategic Mage: Selphie
Crecent Wish, Ten Gallon Hat (4* RS), IX mag+med fire resist accessory Gulug stone. Blizzaga R4, Curaga R5. Knight's Charge.

Selphie's Blizzaga's hit for about 3.2k, enough to be worth throwing at times but not enough to forgoe healing. For the first few rounds she is the primary healer while Y'sholta gets Wall and Shellga up. After that she can throw a Blizzaga when it is safe. Safe is determined by: Everyone is at full health and Y'sholta is free to cast cure or Ramza is charging Tailwind or Magic Blink is up for 3 or more party members. Hitting the ice weakness charged Dreamstage faster which provides alot of breathing room. Her Blizzaga was the finishing blow.

Magical Brute: Rinoa
Cardinal++, Esthar Helmet, Rubicant's Cloak. Blizzaja R3, Shiva R5. Devotion

Rinoa's job is to put out the hurt steadily and repeatedly. Blizzaja hit cap or near cap even without Fullbreak up. Shiva would hit between 3900x2 to 4400x2 depending on the cast. Wishing Star would hit for 2200x5. Rinoa ran out of hones at the end of the fight and would up throwing regular attacks once her SB's were depleted too. I lacked the ice orbs to hone Blizzaja to R4.

Defensive Healer: Y'Sholta
Wizard Rod VII, Royal Gown VI, Gigas Armlet II. Shellga R2, Curaja R5. Dr. Mog's Teachings.

Y'sholta's primary job is to get Wall and Shellga up as fast as possible, keep them up, and keep people healed. She'd recast Shellga when the party was under magic blink and recast Wall when dreamstage was charing, magic blink was up, or Tailwind was charging. She must have cast Wall around 4 times this fight. In the final push with Squall on his last Blizzara strike, Rinoa out of spells, and Ramza out of hones she forsook recharging wall to keep throwing healing spells while Selphie took over ice blasting.

Support: Ramza

Excalibur IV, Grand Armor+ T, 6* flame band. Magick Breakdown R3, Full Break R2. Mako Might

Round 1 Ramza throws up Tailwind, this serves 3 functions. 1) gives shout time to happen to maximize damage. 2) provides protectga early when Ifirit is using only physicals (magic doesn't seem to unlock until his 3rd turn). 3) It covers healing for Y'sholta against the unmitigated hits in those early rounds. After that he tries to keep breaks up while throwing talwind whenever he can (though if the party is full health and under magic blink he holds one to it.


On the winning run there were about 4 S/Ls due to RNG at the start. I used this same party for 3 failed runs before making small tweaks to gear (and hones). The middle of the fight wasn't near as stressful as the start or the end - the mitigation the team had up reduced most attacks to managable levels with both healers working full time. Dreamstage provided breathing room to an extreme degree.

The end of the fight was stressful. Shout had worn off meaning no more strong physical attacks or haste. Ramza was tapping Ifirit for 500 with Excalibur while Squall was punching 3000 with his last Blizzara strikes. Rinoa was running on the fumes of her SB meter or pecking at him with auto attacks. I'd been at this point twice before, both times he finished me off with a deluge of meteors.

Ramza throws up one last tailwind while Rinoa fires off her last Wishing Star before being completely empty. Ifirit tanks the blast and counters with a quadruple hit spread across the team and fully mitigated. Y'sholta starts throwing her second to last Curaja and manages to heal back the Blaze Ifirit sneaks on Squall. Squall hits with his last Blizzara strike and Ifirit keeps coming. Ramza is tapped out, Squall has a Full SB meter but in past runs would never have finished it. Y'sholta and Selphie had full SB guages.

I'm looking at Ifrit's invisible health meter and my team's full life bars but nearly dead hones. Blasting Zone would do him in. I decide to go offensive with Selphie instead because I can't risk the 4+ actions Ifirt would get int he time it would take Squall's bar to charge and the SB to charge. Y'sholta charges Curaja while Selphie charges Blizzaga. Squall's turn comes up and I charge his SB. Ifirt uses AoE Blaze. Selphie's Blizzaga hits and finishes the guardian.


On other notes, After grabbing the mythril (then expanding my gear and ability arsenals for Nightmare) and the Motes from greens shop I have just enough to grab the 2 X items. My X synergy is pretty weak so far and they are tempting combined or seperate.

I have: Official Ball, Warrior Sword 4*, Free Dagger, Lullaby Rod, Free Staff, Bright Armlet +, Wizard Armlet+, Red Armlet, Lulu's Hairpin.
The staff's combined would provide solid mind/magic for Lulu while the Daggers combined would be a powerful front-line weapon while separated would let me equip a full team.

[Red Fel]

So, in other news, the next event drops tonight! Let's talk ladies who dress like men.

The Princess and the Pirate is a V event. It features Lenna, Faris, Bartz, and Galuf, MCs for all four, MC2s for Krile and Exdeath, a Hero's Soul, an Empty MC, and an Empty MC2. It also features Record Dives for Lenna and Faris. No new characters, so let's skip straight to your favorite part, the banners!

The first banner features:
Artemis Bow: Faris' BSB bow. Attack, Magic, and Resistance. 5-hit single-target 1.5x ranged PHY damage, Full Break (-40%). Commands are a ranged Magic Breakdown (-50%!) and ranged Attack Breakdown (-40%).
Mace of Zeus: Lenna's SSB staff. Attack, Magic, and Mind. Medica + party Res boost.
Excalibur: Bartz' SSB sword. Pure Attack. 5-hit single-target 1.58x PHY damage, party Def boost.
Zantetsuken: GILGAMESH's SB katana. Pure Attack. 3-hit single-target 1.71x ranged PHY damage, self-Protect/Shell/Haste.
Ghido's Whisker: Exdeath's SB rod. Attack, Magic, and Mind. 3-hit single-target 3.93x Dark BLK damage, En-Dark.
Magus Rod: Krile's SB rod. Attack, Magic, and Mind. AoE 7.6x Non-Elemental SUM damage, auto-Stun.
The second banner features:
Beast Killer: Krile's SSB whip. Attack and Magic. 8-hit single-target 2.23x Non-Elemental SUM damage, party Short Charge 3. Item may cause Paralysis.
Titan's Glove: Galuf's SSB fist. Pure Attack. 4-hit single-target 1.95x PHY damage, Peerless (total immunity).
Genji Blade: GILGAMESH's SSB katana. Pure Attack. 3-hit AoE 2x PHY damage, high Regenga. Item may cause Paralysis.
Yoichi Bow: Faris' SB bow. Attack, Magic, and Mind. 4-hit AoE 1.01x ranged PHY damage, Atk/Mag -40%.
Power Staff: Lenna's SB staff. Attack, Magic, and Mind. Hastega + Boostga (aka Shout Lite).
Branch of Moore: Exdeath's SB rod. Attack, Magic, and Mind. 4-hit AoE 2.37x Non-Elemental NAT damage, Grand Cross.
Both also feature the Aegis Shield (shared-SB Res-boost, item has minor Death resist) and Green Beret (stat-stick hat).

So, should you pull? Well, you may still be recovering from that last big pull-event, and the Lucky Draw. The fact is, there are some nice items here, like the reappearance of Exdeath's SB. That said, of the items on these banners, all of them will recur on upcoming V banners except for Zantetsuken (which is kind of meh, since you should already have the buffs the SB gives), Magus Rod (which is just an AoE auto-Stun, and you can do better), and Power Staff (and by now you either have Shout or have an RW with Shout). Everything else will either come up on one of the banners in the GILGAMESH V event less than two months away, or (in the case of Moore Branch) on the Dorgann V event which comes several months after that, or on the W-BSB banners that are expected to drop before Gil's event. So you'll see them again.

Oh, and maybe you want to save for that W-BSB thing I just mentioned.

That said, there are some pretty solid choices here. Faris' BSB, on top of being a solid single-target break option, lets you bring other abilities on Faris, such as Celerity, because the BSB covers most of your Breakdown choices. Mace of Zeus offers a solid medica with a solid Res boost. Ghido's Whisker makes Exdeath a sickeningly powerful Darkness caster. The rest are solid, if not amazing.

Personally, I'll be banking my mythril.

Bonus battles!
+: Boss rush. You'll need an Atk reducer and Holy damage. Victory gets you orbs, motes, and Exdeath's MC2.
GILGAMESH: Medals for reducing his Atk and not getting KO'd. He uses strong physical attacks, debuffs, Flash to Blind the party, and proportionate damage. Further, when you beat him once, he Morphs, although at that point you can Blind him if you like. Kill him fast to avoid debuffs.
Exdeath: Medals for exploiting his Holy weakness and not getting KO'd. He's susceptible to Slow and Stun, and uses lots of magic. He also has a Dispel he uses as a counter. Just go completely all-out.
++: Antlion: Seriously, this is a ++ boss? Medals for reducing its Atk, exploiting its Water weakness, and not getting KO'd. He's susceptible to Blind and Stun, and since his attacks are almost all physical, Blind can really cripple him. Otherwise bring physical mitigation and you should be fine. Victory gets you orbs, motes, and Krile's MC2.
+++: Omniscient: What a joke. Medals for using Black Magic, inflicting Slow, and not getting KO'd. Almost all of his abilities are single-target Black Magic, which means that Carbuncle will make him nuke himself into the ground. Use Slowga, the Black Magic ability of your choice, Faith (on him), and Carbuncle, and let him do the rest. Keep in mind that if you hit him with any physical damage, including Retaliate, he completely heals himself and purges all debuffs. This is a caster fight. Victory gets you orbs, motes, a Rosetta Stone, and an Empty MC2.
The Ult this time will be Melusine, but Sleep won't help you on this go 'round. The U+ is Leviathan, and he cribbed Cagnazzo's "gathering water" trick, so bring plenty of Lightning.

Happy hunting.

[SuperPanda]

Thanks for the guide as always Red.

I've 600 gems left and probably a few months before I'd buy any more (if I do). Not sure if I'll single pull on these banners or not. My V synergy is weak but I've got 2 staffs, a spear, and a powerhouse sword. What I really need is a support bow...

In other news I managed to bring down Bahamut U+ CM style.
Squall, Rinoa, Selphie, Seifer, Irvine - RW shout.

Squall tempo flurried until it ran out and then life siphon/SSB.
Rinoa blasted with meteor/Blizzaja.
Selphie healed.
Seifer used lightning resist and draw magic (and got his fallen gun blade RM drop with the killing blow from "No Mercy")
Irvine was testing out his new gun and supporting. Happier with my support lucky pull now. Fast ammo + Shout isn't that bad.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Both of Faris's bows look great, but I think I'm going to hang onto my mythril yet again. I've already got Princess's Favor and Grand Cross, so I'm not really shopping for Lenna or Exdeath SBs. That strikes two items from each banner even without booby prizes like Zantetsuken. I swear I'm going to pull again, someday!

More exciting for me is that Lenna will be the first record-diveable character I have an SB for, which means it's finally time to start spending some motes! (Well, I guess there's Tyro, but he barely counts and Cyclone Grimoire barely counts, imo.)

I continue to be impressed with y'all clearing Ifrit. In personal benchmark news, I finally wrapped up both the Ultima and Crushdown nightmares with just 1 S/L apiece. Crushdown went a little pear-shaped due to having attacks queued up before the Phase 2 transition, which was enough to trigger a wipe. Ultima was just a matter of getting my timing down so that he didn't make it to phase 3. I was actually a little worried about dealing too much damage to the mana sphere, if anything. So on the Nightmare front, I've got the final guardian left on Reraise, Neo Bahamut, and Quad Foul, and the corresponding nightmare bosses themselves. I kinda don't see myself bothering with them right now, since (A) the abilities are mostly bad, and (B) the last guardians only give accessories and 6* crystals, neither of which are terribly useful either. Somehow it feels like there are always more important things going on when the Nightmare dungeons are open.

[SuperPanda]

Gratz on ultima and crash down Merlin. I know it feels great to take down those baddies. Crush down have me a lot of trouble back when I did it, and reraise gave me more.

I'd recommend knocking down those last guardians if/when you can. Those resist accessories are amazing when the need is there. With magic lure and the lighting accessory and shell, Seifer only took ~ 800 from U+ Bahamut's Thunder spells. Fire resist accessories (all 5 I have) are the obly reason Ifirt was even approachable. Without them he could one shot members of my team with wall up. (Heck with them and wall but not shellga he could almost do that too).

[danzibr]

Grats on the victories!

I have yet to beat Neo Bahamut, CPU, and Ifrit. Just 1 stam each, hey, nbd.

Just to clarify, the 4* mote bosses come back, right? Sure hope/think so. I don't feel like beating him in the near future, probably put it off.

[Simkin]

CPU is down and quadruple foul record is mine. I took a slightly different tact and kept in one non-support. The tactics were essentially the same. I burned 2 mythril to charge up gauges. When it was go time I burned down the two nodes. Had my two support with power and armor breakdowns hit the nodes, and tyro multibreak to trigger haywire. At that point everyone but Tyro went into full burn down mode. Tyro alternated either a heal or SG and on his 2nd turn would refresh multibreak, maintaining haywire. Everyone else unleashed SBs or skills. Barriers never go back up if you can keep multibreak happening. 4 charges of it was plenty.

[SuperPanda]

Gratz Simkin.

Re: Danzibr, both the mote boss and CM are available again every time the mote dungeons come back. They don't refresh, so beating it now means there isn't much point in doing it later, but like nightmare, waiting until you can crush it is a viable strategy.

I'm not even attempting Ifirit CM for the foreseeable future. There are JP posts in Reddit as of last week with people saying that they finally cleared it. Good luck.

[danzibr]

Gratz Simkin.

Re: Danzibr, both the mote boss and CM are available again every time the mote dungeons come back. They don't refresh, so beating it now means there isn't much point in doing it later, but like nightmare, waiting until you can crush it is a viable strategy.

I'm not even attempting Ifirit CM for the foreseeable future. There are JP posts in Reddit as of last week with people saying that they finally cleared it. Good luck.
Thanks for the info. Yeah, I'm just feeling so lazy. I'm certain I could down both Nightmare bosses, and I'm pretty sure I could get Ifrit based on how my first 2 runs went, but... just not feeling it.

In other news, got a 5* for $0.99. Krile's old (I think?) rod/staff thing. Solid V mage gear.

[Dorath]

Went with just a single pull on the new banner, got Excalibur (V). My luck is holding.

[Slayn82]

Nice pulls. I got a 4* FFXIII bracer, now ++. This week of double greens slowed the thread a bit, and there's not much excitement for those banners.

I wanted to give Banner 2 a chance, for Exdeath's Runic and those SSB's, but FF XII Gabranth is next week and Basch and Ashe's SSBs are sweet. Guess FF V is fated to be my lame realm synergy.

Not getting many greens, but at least getting a nice amount of Greater and Major Orbs.

[SuperPanda]

I haven't started the V event yet, thinking of waiting until after double greens. I did pick up the two relics in the greens store and considered them my pull.

FF IX is next week and XII is the week after. I haven't looked hard at the IX banner but XII banner 1 has Vaan's BSB which is suppose to be amazing and banner 2 has balthier's imperil fire gun which I badly want. After that we should be getting Dissidia with shantoto's relic and orbfest. Lots to look forward to.

[danzibr]

Vaan's BSB does look good. And on a good character.

But I'm thinking I'm going to save all my mythril until they change the 11-pull mechanics. Well, and do Lucky Draws. Right now it's just 12% for all 11, right? So an expected value of 1.32. But with a guaranteed 5* + 10 at 12%, that ups the expected value to 2.2. Since I'm not struggling with any + or ++ battles (granted... I haven't done a single Cid's Mission), saving my mythril seems the best choice. And that's 11 events from now, assuming we get it the same time as JP. Which is quite a while... and I'll miss the WBSBfest... but I think it's worth it.

[Red Fel]

And in other news.. Omniscient is harder than I thought.

On the plus side, the Carbuncle strategy still works great. He uses single-target magic, and you straight up NOPE it right back in his face.

But his Res has been boosted (this is a +++ battle after all) and his spells, even after Stumble Step and Faith, only deal about 4-5k to him. And he has a big chunk of health. He is able to outlast my Carbuncle, is the point, and it looks like a more direct offense may be required.

I'm going to let stamina recharge, then take him on again with a proper mage meta party.

The rest, though? Pretty much all cakewalks. And bonus, Faris' MC2 is available before the bonus battles, so even less-experienced players should be able to get that.

[danzibr]

Anyone have a link to the list of events/DU's/whatever for JP and global? I'm really just curious if JP has XI and/or T realms yet.

[Simkin]

I'm going to let stamina recharge, then take him on again with a proper mage meta party.


He was easy with a mage party, except the first run I had Agrias as RW, which was a physical hit, which reset him halfway through and I didn't even notice what was happening. Was so disgusted with myself I restarted even though I probably could have finished him.

[danzibr]

I'm glad we finally get a double cast darkness RM. Top of my farming priorities now.

EDIT: I wonder what the current dream team in JP is. Probably (max level and Record Dive, of course, with SB/SSB/BSB) Tyro, Onion Knight, Ramza, Gilgamesh, and soon T.G. Cid. And by probably I mean that's a bit of a stab in the dark that sounds good.

I heard Ramza's BSB isn't very good, though. Still, with his gear and ability spread, and Shout and Tailwind, he's still rock solid.

[Greg_S]

Propagators CM is down. The FFT Ice Rod and IV Ice Whip helped cover for my lack of synergy. Bahamut might not be doable, though. The runic strategy I tried wasn't enough. Tornado's too powerful for me to keep up without a native medica. I'll try it with Wall again, and if not, oh well.

RE: Orlandu, he'll need more than just skill access to be broken. I'm thinking an RM which simulates the mighty sword skills, changing his attack to a 0.5x complete breakdown, i.e., ATK/MAG/RES/DEF/MND/SPD -20%. Perhaps a default SB that puts him into burst mode, because he came with Excalibur? What do you do to capture the feel of a character who can solo the game from the time you get him?

And even that, in the current JP context, would that be broken?

Speaking of JP, some recent thoughts in the spoilers:

The current FFXIV banner netted me Thyrus as well as a shield with a party ATK + 50% and Guts SSB, and Papalymo's mage mega (+30% to party MAG, hastega, and 3 turns of quickcast). This goes well with the Hope OSB and Rydia BSB the summoner banner gave me. As nuts as that pull is, it's not the best stuff on the banner.

Y'shtola's BSB is the real prize- curaga medica plus the new stoneskin effect. It's not been fully documented yet, but I think it works like this: for 25s, you get 1/3 of your max HP as incoming damage reduction. Have 6000 HP and take a 3500 damage hit? Stoneskin cuts that to 1500. There's a reflect damage effect on this banner too, where enemies take 100% of the damage that they deal to you (after you take it, of course).

This banner is so powerful that people are disappointed that they're pulling Thyrus. That's why I have a hard time believing that they can make Orlandu broken in this context.

Danzibr, I was reading through the comments on the new nightmare dungeon, and one person suggested it's time to raise the attack softcap, since mage teams are outputting more damage now- physical teams are still great and shout doesn't suck, but there are more stacking bonuses now, higher base stats with Lv99 characters, and greater elemental options, so the balance is different than it is in global. Mage teams still don't have a lifesiphon, though.

My guess on the current dream team: Y'shtola with her BSB, someone with an OSB, someone with an imperil for the OSB's element, a support (Onion Knight), and someone who can hit the imperiled element, or with a boost for the OSB's stat. So, for one example, Cloud with Climhazzard and his OSB (en-wind plus wind elemental OSB), Zidane with BSB (imperil wind plus power/magic breakdown burst commands), Onion Knight/Ramza (full break + SSB), Y'shtola (wrath and protect or shellga, just keep the BSB up)and Bartz with OSB and his en-wind. That party's burst phase would be sick; the en-winded OSBs would hit for 21.60x (Bartz) and 25.92x (Cloud) regular attack damage. That's 2.5-3x SSB damage.

[danzibr]

[...]
Grats on the victory! And the JP pulls :P

And thanks for the insight. Yeah, that sketch of a party you mentioned sounds awesome. I'd love to see something like that in action... and maybe I will someday ;)

Oh, which reminds me... 2 things, really. First, you mention the new type of wall (which sounds great). Currently in JP, are SG and SSII the only 2 walls still?

I was also thinking of mages having no Lifesiphon. Like, non-elemental damage + SB charge... like Ruin+.

Lastly, does JP have realms for XI or T yet? We're getting a lot of XIV stuff, I imagine we'll have to see stuff from other games to keep from finally getting to the end of everything else. Like, 1 boss away from the entire game on several realms.

[Red Fel]

He was easy with a mage party, except the first run I had Agrias as RW, which was a physical hit, which reset him halfway through and I didn't even notice what was happening. Was so disgusted with myself I restarted even though I probably could have finished him.

Can confirm. Was super-easy with mage meta team. Only issue was his Flare finisher, which can be a great big middle finger if you aren't topped off or using Carbuncle. I wasn't using Carbuncle, but I was topped off, so he only dropped my Exdeath down to about 1/6 health.

But yeah. Keep in mind that he does that.

Other news, got Exdeath's new Darkness dualcast RM, very happy about that.


I was also thinking of mages having no Lifesiphon. Like, non-elemental damage + SB charge... like Ruin+.

Well, don't forget that before there was Lifesiphon, there were Wrath and Entrust. And there are a few casters who have Support. For example, Red XIII has BLM 4 (5 with Record Dive) and Support 5, meaning he can use both Wrath to charge his own bar, and Entrust to give it to somebody else. Terra and Quistis both have Support 4, which is enough for Wrath; Terra has BLM 5, and Quistis has BLM 4 (5 with Record Dive). Both Y'shtola and Rosa have WHM 5 and Support 4.

So there is a Lifesiphon alternative for casters.

[spectralphoenix]

He's also vulnerable to Wind, for whatever reason. I brought along Yuffie for Clear Tranquil and to save on -ja spells, and she was doing some very nice damage with Gust.

Also realized about an hour after I did it that I totally forgot about the ++ Cid's mission. Guess I'll go back to it after putting some of the V folks through a round of Sundailies.

Edit: Ugh, Thundaga damage from the Propagators is ridiculous. DeNA realizes not everyone has native Wall and Shout yet, right?

[T.G. Oskar]

Edit: Ugh, Thundaga damage from the Propagators is ridiculous. DeNA realizes not everyone has native Wall and Shout yet, right?

Having Wall is not strictly necessary, but it makes your life easier.

On my count, I have 4 items that grant Lightning resistance (Luminous Robe, Bolt Ring, Gigas Armlet, Bolt Armlet), which on their own can mitigate a big deal of the Lightning damage from their Thundagas. IIRC, they switch between single-target and multi-target, so Magic Lure works wonders here; by focusing ST Thundagas on one character with increased Res and high Lightning resistance, you can easily turn damage into nothing, which should give you a breather. Add some way to increase Res even further, or hone Heathen Frolic (Sarabande) enough, and that should kill most of the magic damage. +RES RWs/SBs are a form of Wall, to be honest; also, anyone with Paladin Cecil has a native Wall, just not a very efficient one (30% compared to the 100% boost from SG and SSII). Between Magic Lure, a good attack like Saint Cross or Bladeblitz, and Rampart, Pally!Cecil can help nicely.

As for Shout...it depends on your Boostga options. Rallying Etude and Boost are the only native Boosts you can provide to anyone, particularly your Spellblade character (to maximize Blizzara/Blizzaga Strike damage). There's a lot of middle-level Boostgas that can work, particularly if they have an added effect (Lenna's Flames of War is a mini-Shout; Yda's Twin Strike Dragon Kick combines Boostga with Armor Breakdown).

I'd say - your situation could be resumed as "does DeNA realize not everyone has native Boostga and Walls?", to which the answer is "there's two characters with native Wall" (Pally!Cecil is one, Basch's Gallantry is the other IIRC) and "there's a native ability-based Boostga, but the damage granted is pathetic". Also, "feel free to whale on those and get salty".

[SuperPanda]

My CM team for propogators Ultimate took wall as a RW and relied on magic to crush them. I didn't even take haste (though I should have).

I was lucky to have 2 thrown VIII magic weapons, Dreamstage, and swuall's ssb. Irvine settled for using a XIII gun because this was before I pulled his oldie from support lucky.

I had, Rinoa, Edea, squall, Selphie, Irvine.

Rinoa packed ice+ shiva. Edea packed ice + meteor. Irvine full break and blind buster. Squall packed tempo flurry and ice. Selphie packed shellga and Curaja.

The ice spells tear through the props' swell. Shiva was very helpful, and squall/Edea's attacks kept the reinforcements staggered for breaking. Those thunders hit hard though so good luck.

I've got fang (lb2'd in sundaily, now working on ExDeath, Barrett, and Krile).

[danzibr]

lulz, they could balance Orlandeau by making mastery conditions like "Don't use Orlandeau."

Really... I wonder how they'll give him the same feel as T. Just stats and ability spread won't cut it. He'd just be like Tyro+, or Onion Knight+.

EDIT: Also, I find it interesting Edward is like the Ramza for mage parties, pretty much. Doesn't have as good an ability or gear spread, but the whole Hastega + damaging stat business, and Support. I mean, in my physical party versus mage party, they play the exact same role. Edward and Ramza.

EDIT EDIT: Read up on Reddit, yeah, people had my idea several days ago >.>

But I found this hilarious


Kids wear Superman pyjamas.
Superman wears Chuck Norris pyjamas.
Chuck Norris wears TG Cid pyjamas.

EDIT EDIT EDIT: Just learned you can't steal Genji gear in the iOS version of FFT. I was going to buy it until I read that.

[SuperPanda]

The iOS version of FFT is a port of the psp version, I haven't fitted the multiplayer stuff to show up on my phone, but other than that it is suppose to have everything the psp version has (I think).

In the psp version you couldn't steal Gengi gear from elmdore anymore but there was a different battle in beowulf's new side quests where you could. I only just finished chapter 1 in my new iOS copy so I can't say for sure.

[danzibr]

The iOS version of FFT is a port of the psp version, I haven't fitted the multiplayer stuff to show up on my phone, but other than that it is suppose to have everything the psp version has (I think).

In the psp version you couldn't steal Gengi gear from elmdore anymore but there was a different battle in beowulf's new side quests where you could. I only just finished chapter 1 in my new iOS copy so I can't say for sure.
Thanks for the info!

Still, the game is ruined for me >.>

[SuperPanda]

If you haven't played the WotL translation it gives so much more than it looses (also apparently you can get all of the psp multiplayer items in chapter 3 if you've already beaten the game before - not sure what all that means because I never got to try multiplayer on my psp).

I've found he iOS port to be pretty good so far. The touch controls take a little getting use to but overall they're pretty easy to use. The major slowdown from the psp got "fixed" by speeding up some parts - so there is still sound disconnect wth some spells but overall it flows better than the psp version. It still has the psp style art for the cutscenes which I love (though I'd understand if others didn't).

On a side note, as I mentioned I just cleared chapter 1 (not power leveling much till I've got agrias and Mustadio - bus algus/agrath have mink skills this time in the final battle of chapter 1 and was actually hard (in part because in got a bad roll for my common team this run with everyone having brave and faith in the high forties/low fifties).

It's pricey enough that it's not worth getting if your sure that detail would ruin the enjoyment but it's still a wonderful game and the WotL translation is amazing. I do miss some of the better lines from the old one but overall I prefer the new Translation.

i personally never worried myself too much on Gengi gear in the old ones since I usually was having more fun with simple but broken things like monk/squire Ramza. Also calculators... Because those are just insane.

I'm thinking this time I should take the effort to get Dark Knight unlocked (I don't think I ever unlocked it In any of my psp runs, nor onion knight, and I've certainly not done the insane (unlock onion knight, trigger deep dungeon delevel trap down to level 1, level back to 99 as onion knight for ultimate stat growth).

[Merlin the Tuna]

Meh, I'd rather have the original's Engrish than WotL's Ye Oldeth Englisheth. The former has some high highs and indecipherable lows, but the latter is more of a consistent blurg IMO. Even the improvements to the text's... legibility, for lack of a better word... don't help out tremendously, since the story's biggest issues are more related to structure and scene direction than to individual word choices in the translation.

Regardless, I'm surprised that they gave Elmdor Maintenance; stealing the Genji equipment is one of the few actual challenges in the late game. A pox upon unnecessary multiplayer modes!

On the FFRK front, Bahamut is down! Exdeath + Grand Cross + Mako Might was darn near an instant win button, since it eliminates ~40% of Bahamut's actions in all phases. With that up, it was just a matter of getting good enough RNG for Pecil, Zack, and Ramza to pour out damage. Things got a dicey when he threw out 4 consecutive Megaflares, but I was able to just barely hone R4 Magic Breakdown and R2 Full Break before going in. Between that, keeping him slowed, and weaving in Tailwind and Lenna's medica, nothing too scary.

Relatedly, I'll be happy to finally have an MC2 for Exdeath once I finish hoarding greens and tackle the new event. Having him A-team viable will be a huge potential boost, as will getting Basch's MC2 a little ways down the road.

[Slayn82]

Congrats on the Victory, Mr. Merlin. Exdeath's Grand Cross Runic is pretty sweet, he can milk 5 - 6* abilities with it, love those niche utility abilities. Every time I have the chance to pull for FFV relics, I have to pass it for another better Banners. It's getting old.

The announcement that confirmed Dissidia and Orbfest indicated mid August as the probable date, roughly when its scheduled the XII event (16 -24). Do you guys think it will be all simultaneously? I still didn't touch the core dungeons from the last update. Also, will Golbez MC 2 arrive with Dissidia?

[Greg_S]

Bahamut CM is down! My only synergy gear: 5* Sorceress' Crown, a 4++ Ten-Gallon Hat, and a 4++ Mesmerize Blade. Of all the native relics to have, though, a hastega and boostga is the best start. I brought wall as the RW, which was the key to staying alive. Once Tornado's damage dropped under 1K, I knew I could stay alive.

What I learned from this one: If you don't have much synergy, but have a boostga plus some elemental boost gear, you can fake it fairly well. Quistis had the Ice Whip (IV), while Rinoa had the Red Armlet (X), and with parade + mental breakdown + FB, both were tagging him for about 9500 damage, while Edea's Dark Zones did the bulk of the damage.

Danzibr, there is an FFT realm in JP. The first batch has the Orbonne prologue battle, Gariland, Mandalia, and Dorter. No, the Dorter battle doesn't start with an archer ganking you before you can hit him, sadly.

Speaking of FFT, I haven't played the WoTL version, just the PSX. Does the WoTL version fix bugs like blade grasp?

[Merlin the Tuna]

The announcement that confirmed Dissidia and Orbfest indicated mid August as the probable date, roughly when its scheduled the XII event (16 -24). Do you guys think it will be all simultaneously?I think Dissidia may be concurrent with Orbfest. I did some cursory digging through the subreddit for JP info, and it sounds like it was all bosses/no dungeons, similar to the Big Bridge event. That may mean that it's similarly light on stamina needs, which would make it easy to put alongside other goings on.


Does the WoTL version fix bugs like blade grasp?I don't think it does much in the way of bugfixes, though I'm not 100%. I also don't think BG's behavior is a bug, even with it as ridiculous as it is.

Congrats on the CM! That's impressive, doing that much work with that little synergy.

[SuperPanda]

Re: events

I haven't started the V event as I've been trying to build back up my greens stash. The CMs here are going to be a real challenge as my V gear is not the strongest but I'll still be trying.

Barret, Krile, and ExDeath are now in their low 60s and were out of stamina. Fairs is still down in the low 50s but she's also the roll I have no decent weapon for.

I've been looking at banners expecting that I won't resupply on gems until closer to Christmas, which leaves 6 banners to one pull on. I'm leaning to Gabranth 1 & 2 because I'd really like a bow for Fran, a multi hit SB for Balthier, and new SBs for Ashe and Vaan (well anything for Vaan) but I don't need synergy. Larsa 1 looks amazing when it finally arrives so I might use mythril for a real pull be Gabranth might get gems.

Mustadio-2 will get a single gem pull since is like his gun, shout, or nu-Kai armlet.

Dissidia Cosmos 1 gets a single pull for shantoto's relic out of XI nostalgia with the expectation that we won't get the actual XI event.

Then the last 2 gems on Gilgamesh's banners since those look great for V.


I've not finished the New XIV dungeons on classic, or any of the new elite.

Looking forward to orbfest and getting my leveling priorities organized.

Re: FFT translation - matter of taste I guess. I found the new translation refreshing and felt it breathed new life into the world.

Re: FFT bugs.

From what I've found online, all of the major bugs were fixed (and apparently that's why Elmdore has maintenance now) the only remaining ones are graphical and audio - some spells like protect don't have their audio and video synced. On the PSP some of the spells cause massive slow-down. On PSP some of the audio effects are lower quality (haven't noticed on iOS but I might have grown accustom to the psp one). Don't know the blade grasp big specifically.

Some extra stuff added. Change in art design - a few scenes are done in what looks like animated pencil sketches (I really like it but I can understand how some might not). A couple of new classes, quests, characters. Luso (FFTA2 I think) is added and Balthier from FF12 (technically a revenant's wings tie in plot wise I think). Kuai is basically Ramza 2 with I are poach. Balthier is to mustadio's what Orlandeu is to Agrias - flat out better at everything he does and has plenty more options to boot.

Psp version has an ad hoc multiplayer which is said to be fun and challenging though I never got to try. iOS doesn't have multiplayer by makes the items available as a new-game+ option (sort of) from chapter 3 onwards. I'll try to confirm that when I get there again, currently trying to get the chapter 2 generics leveled enough to replace my chapter 1 people who had horrendous stats.

[danzibr]

Bahamut CM is down! My only synergy gear: 5* Sorceress' Crown, a 4++ Ten-Gallon Hat, and a 4++ Mesmerize Blade. Of all the native relics to have, though, a hastega and boostga is the best start. I brought wall as the RW, which was the key to staying alive. Once Tornado's damage dropped under 1K, I knew I could stay alive.

What I learned from this one: If you don't have much synergy, but have a boostga plus some elemental boost gear, you can fake it fairly well. Quistis had the Ice Whip (IV), while Rinoa had the Red Armlet (X), and with parade + mental breakdown + FB, both were tagging him for about 9500 damage, while Edea's Dark Zones did the bulk of the damage.

Danzibr, there is an FFT realm in JP. The first batch has the Orbonne prologue battle, Gariland, Mandalia, and Dorter. No, the Dorter battle doesn't start with an archer ganking you before you can hit him, sadly.

Speaking of FFT, I haven't played the WoTL version, just the PSX. Does the WoTL version fix bugs like blade grasp?
Grats! And thanks for the info. I'm excited to see some more T... unfortunately, to play it I'll have to bust out the ol' PSX version. Darn Genji gear.

[Starwulf]

Hmm, I've had...decent luck today on farming Gyashl greens(or should I say, I've had decent luck in the last hour, lol). Unfortunately I'm just not interested in spending more mythril on stamina refreshes just for exp and greens. Still, I have 17k, and after I buy the X rod to upgrade the other one to 6*, I'll still have 9k. Unfortunately that's nothing considering each 4* mote is 2k greens a piece ><

Edit: On another note, just beat Omniscient in the +++ battle. That was....easy, but irritating at the same time. I brought Tyro, which was a mistake, I clearly didn't need the wall from his Sentinel grimoire, and he ended up being able to do nothing because I brought dispel and curaja on him, and you only need dispel once, and Curaja can't do anything if you bring reflect in the form of Carbuncle which I did. The second mistake was putting Carbuncle AND Alexander on Garnet. I should have just stuck Carbuncle on Terra and then stuck Waterja on her for something to cast in the meantime, and just brought like Reno or Vincent instead of Garnet. Garnet was useless after 4 casts of Alexander and a refreshing of reflect. I did learn something new though, which is your SB gauge DOES go up if you hit your own party members.

Other then that though, easy as pie, lost one medal due to actions taken because I kept casting dispel with Tyro and attacking tyro with Garnet, if I hadn't done that I'd have had full medals. Oh well, live and learn I guess. Going to go and try Bahamut rq before it goes away, not sure if I can handle him due to my crap FFVIII synergy, but we'll see I guess. Well ****, it's already gone, thought I still had time. That sucks ><

[T.G. Oskar]

Sundaily is over, and now I can focus on the important stuff...that being beating the CPU and then spending time on the FFV event.

Added a few levels to Wakka and Faris, double-broke Fran to 66, double-broke Vivi to 66, and slowly adding some levels to Vanille just to get Pulse Kindness and shelve her until a FFXIII event. Between these three days' dailies, I've boosted Multi Break to R2 and made both Mental Breakdown and Flashing Blade, which should aid in the near future.

Also, took the chance to learn all the stuff I needed to learn; Wakka still needs a lot to learn Aurochs' Reels, but at least he memorized Attack Reels, so I can use O'er the Top as his weapon rather than the All-Rounder; likewise, Faris learned Sea Lord's Broadside, giving me a reverse Wall for FFV Cid's Missions and some staying firepower.

Tried the CPU fight, but the lack of proper healing is sorta killing me. I say "sorta" because I could handle with Heavy Regen, making me think Edward's Fabled Song could be a good RW to start the battle (alongside Shout, obviously) while moving to Phase 2. I mostly did it once by having Faris use Box Step Sarabande while Wakka and Fran used Double Cut and Tempo Flurry, respectively. Right now, I can mostly rely on Mist Overload + Full Break to lower down the CPU's defenses, since Attack Reels is a bit of a gamble and Sea Lord's Broadside is dangerous as an AoE (but still useful nonetheless; pretty fun animation).

Still haven't retried Mote!Ifrit, since all these events running at once are kinda driving me crazy (coupled with work, even worse!). Retried U+!Bahamut, but wasn't as successful as the last winning run, since the king of dragons was making quick work out of people. Having a dedicated Tempo Flurry user was better than setting up Powercharge, that's for sure.

Scraping up a few Mythril to see if I can make another 3-pull on the 2nd Banner; is it strange that the relic I'm aiming the most is the shared RES-boost shield (Aegis Shield)? Having Magic Shield as a shared SB could do nicely on Cid's Missions against AoE magic-using bosses, after all...

Re:FFT War of the Lions - it has its ups and downs.I unlocked Dark Knight on Ramza, and it was a pretty nice complement to his Guts/Fundaments skillset. Haven't used Onion Knight, however. I miss as well stealing all Genji equipment on Elmdor(e), but it's not like it's imperative - after all, it's a Matsuno trademark; if you play Tactics Ogre (the original one and not the PSP remake), there was a lot of nice stuff on many characters that you couldn't get, like all the stuff the Dark Knights had. You had to kill them, and only then you'd have them drop the stuff; there was no W.O.R.L.D. system like in the PSP remake, nor the crafting system either. You *could* persuade some of the mooks and get nice stuff early, but the slots were too limited to make it useful, and once you got all the special characters, you'd be hard-pressed to work these people around. Elmdor(e) was a throw-back to that, and skipping Maintenance was an oversight that made it more challenging...or just have Agrias go full Thief, equip a Barette, and go to town stealing his stuff while Ramza learned Ultima.

Oh yeah, and there's a small music quiz going on this site (https://www.reddit.com/domain/music-quiz.finalfantasyrecordkeeper.com/), and we can scrounge up to 10 extra Mythril, so get going!

[Hunter Noventa]

Well I did a 3-draw on the V banner on a whim, got Ghido's Whisker for Exdeath, so that's something. But I really wish it was more clear on what that Dark Aura meant. Does it just mean Dark elemental attacks are boosted?

[Greg_S]

Well I did a 3-draw on the V banner on a whim, got Ghido's Whisker for Exdeath, so that's something. But I really wish it was more clear on what that Dark Aura meant. Does it just mean Dark elemental attacks are boosted?

The Aura statuses, or en-element, as they're also called unofficially, give you +50% damage on skills of that element, and +80% damage on SBs of that element, along with resistance (I think 20%? Could be 30%) to it. It's quite nice if you spec to take advantage of it.

[Hunter Noventa]

The Aura statuses, or en-element, as they're also called unofficially, give you +50% damage on skills of that element, and +80% damage on SBs of that element, along with resistance (I think 20%? Could be 30%) to it. It's quite nice if you spec to take advantage of it.

Ah okay, that is nice especially since Exdeath can use Darkness, though I don't really have the magical Darkness skills honed. But I can at least bring the dark SPELL and might be able to hone that up too. For Omniscient I mean of course.

Of course, it means it's much less useful for Sephiroth and the Flames of Nibelheim. Sure he has access to black magic but honestly, with an attack like that you're better off using Fire Blossom.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Grats! And thanks for the info. I'm excited to see some more T... unfortunately, to play it I'll have to bust out the ol' PSX version. Darn Genji gear.If you're revisiting Tactics, you may want to look at the LFT (Laggy Fantasy Tactics) mod. (Link) (http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=2452.0) It's a rebalance mod, but not a hard-mode one. Makes for a nice way to revisit the game if you've already played it a bunch, since aside from making a few jobs and abilities more useful, it diversifies the story battle enemies and cuts out a lot of JP grinding.

[danzibr]

Well I did a 3-draw on the V banner on a whim, got Ghido's Whisker for Exdeath, so that's something. But I really wish it was more clear on what that Dark Aura meant. Does it just mean Dark elemental attacks are boosted?
Grats!

The Aura statuses, or en-element, as they're also called unofficially, give you +50% damage on skills of that element, and +80% damage on SBs of that element, along with resistance (I think 20%? Could be 30%) to it. It's quite nice if you spec to take advantage of it.
Dang that's nice. Especially on Exdeath. DZ was hitting for about 7.5k per hit, that boost would up it to 10k.

If you're revisiting Tactics, you may want to look at the LFT (Laggy Fantasy Tactics) mod. (Link) (http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php?topic=2452.0) It's a rebalance mod, but not a hard-mode one. Makes for a nice way to revisit the game if you've already played it a bunch, since aside from making a few jobs and abilities more useful, it diversifies the story battle enemies and cuts out a lot of JP grinding.
Thanks, I'll check it out!

[Red Fel]

Of course, it means it's much less useful for Sephiroth and the Flames of Nibelheim. Sure he has access to black magic but honestly, with an attack like that you're better off using Fire Blossom.

Well, the other thing that it does is that it adds that element to your Attack command. So an En-Fire Sephiroth's Attack deals Fire damage, which is handy if you're fighting a Fire-vulnerable enemy and for whatever reason didn't want to bring Fire Blossom. Additionally, using Sephiroth's En-Fire as an RW is a great option on a caster, as they are probably better equipped to take advantage of the bonus damage.

As a bonus, the En-Element bonus damage stacks additively with any gear-based bonus damage. So, for example, if you have an item that increases Fire damage, En-Fire would stack on top of that. However, because En-Element modifies the Attack command, any RM that alters the Attack command (such as Thunderstroke) is disabled for the duration of En-Element.

But yeah. Some En-Elements, such as En-Dark and En-Holy, are more useful than others.

And you really ought to hone some of your Darkness abilities. They're sick. I have an R3 Memento Mori / R2 Dark Zone combo that's consistently devastating, particularly now that there are RMs for both +20% Darkness damage and dualcast Darkness. On a character with En-Dark, that basically punches the damage cap in its face every single time.

One last note. Is the Summer Music Quiz (http://music-quiz.finalfantasyrecordkeeper.com/) giving you trouble? Is it really, really tough? Well, then, filthy casuals, if you feel like being a disgusting cheater, prepare for some answers!

Well, let's consider. "The Decisive Battle" is the boss fight theme from FFVI. "Vana'diel March" is from FFXI. And "Blitz Off!" is from FFX.Of those, Uematsu was primary composer of only one game.The answer is A, "The Decisive Battle."
What scene, you ask?It's Rubicante! Rubicante was one of what quirky villain squad?The answer is C, "Battle with the Four Fiends."
What scene, you ask?This is the Mog House minigame, specifically the scene where Mog takes flight. Remember that one? Well, it takes place in Gold Saucer, so...Surprise! The answer isn't "Gold Saucer," but B, "The Highwind Takes to the Skies."
How can anyone identify it from just one note?Well, without looking at the title, listen to this clip (https://youtu.be/Q0WdQDPRwb4?t=50s). Hear that note?The answer is C, "The Man with the Machine Gun."
Well, at least it's not just one note this time.Without looking at the title, listen to this clip (https://youtu.be/IvohXgIKTgU?t=1m27s). Hear it?The answer is A, "Blinded by Light."

[Slayn82]

Bonus Battles are up, and the Banner 2. 100 gem got me Thornlet. And my second single pull after it turned out Faris's Yoichi Bow, another support relic. At least I finally got a 5* bow and that Atk/Mag status debuff I was after. The only types of weapons I don't have a 5* are spears, hammers and gambling.

Finally did the Demon Wall, but still haven't got mastery. Tomorrow going to do the Support Nightmare bosses.

[Greg_S]

Ah okay, that is nice especially since Exdeath can use Darkness, though I don't really have the magical Darkness skills honed. But I can at least bring the dark SPELL and might be able to hone that up too. For Omniscient I mean of course.

Of course, it means it's much less useful for Sephiroth and the Flames of Nibelheim. Sure he has access to black magic but honestly, with an attack like that you're better off using Fire Blossom.

En-fire does give you a hefty boost to subsequent SBs. Some numbers: Nibelheim Nightmare has a multiplier of 4.0 over 4 hits AoE Fire damage. That's 2/3 of your usual AoE SSB. With Enfire, though, it becomes a 7.2/4 AoE, or 90% of Black Materia. If you only have Nibelheim Nightmare available, you can still do a high amount of damage with lifesiphon chains. Your plan is going to be lifesiphon x6 for two bars, then two Nibelheim nightmares in a row, and Fire Blossom until the boss is dead.

Things get even better if you've got a fire boosting item like Flametongue (V) or Red Armlet (X).

Speaking of Tactics mods: the Rumble Chaos Crashdown randomizer's fun, if you're into randomizers and the weird stuff they produce. Do turn off randomizing job statuses, though. I learned my lesson when all archers spawned with Always: Don't Move and all wizards had Worker 8's perma-innocent.

[danzibr]

Oh!

Has anyone played the Tactics mod with wonky characters like Solid Snake? I saw a video once, long ago. Looked awesome.

[Morbis Meh]

Well that was much easier than expected... Both Ultimates mastered: U took 3 times (the 3rd time cloud buffed it aftet 1/3 if the fight but still mastered) and Leviathan was a chump that went down after the second shot though it was close since tidal wave was charging with 1/5 of its hp left but I blitzkreiged his scaly behind to a mastery.

Imma going to do som nightmare dungeons for fun XD

[Starwulf]

Well, U is down, I have to agree with Morbis, it was one of the easier U's we've had in a while, I didn't even have to s/l once, and I got full medals. Onwards to the U+, I'll edit my post with the results :) Oh, I also got Faris' second RM, Fury of the Seas as a bonus ^^

Edit: And U+ is completed, but not mastered, off by one damn medal, because I didn't notice that RIGHT AFTER I knocked him out of his tidal wave mode, that he went right back into it. He had less then 2% health when he procced Tidal wave, my next attack is what killed him >< So frustrating. Now I gotta go re-do it for the mastery rewards. Still, it was a ridiculously easy U+, I'm thinking I wouldn't have lost an action medal taken if I hadn't been attacking with Tyro(he just had nothing else to do, Gilgamesh's Faithful companion kept me topped off in health for the majority of the fight).

Second edit: And U+ is down and mastered. The second time around was actually a bit rougher, he nailed me a few times in a row with AoE Aqua and the last one went through just as my wall dropped, but I managed to get everyone back up in the green and recover. Still lost a medal for actions taken, but that was the only one :) Sooo..onwards to more elite dungeons I guess :)

[Cozzer]

This game is starting to really like me... latest three 100-gem pulls, three five-star equips. Exdeath's branch, Faris BSSB bow and... huh, a third one I can't remember so not that good I guess. :P

[Hunter Noventa]

Damn Omniscient was rough, I barely had the hones to finish him off and I only managed an Expert. Doesn't help that he can one-shot anyone before mitigation is up/if it runs out. If he hadn't killed two people I might have pulled off the mastery. I don't think I'll be touching the ultimates.

[danzibr]

Grats on victories! Me, I'm waiting until double greens expires.

Damn Omniscient was rough, I barely had the hones to finish him off and I only managed an Expert. Doesn't help that he can one-shot anyone before mitigation is up/if it runs out. If he hadn't killed two people I might have pulled off the mastery. I don't think I'll be touching the ultimates.
Man, I dunno. Omniscient was kinda tough for me, and usually I have little problem with U's, and others have said the U is easy. Might be worth giving it a whirl.

[Red Fel]

Going on record as calling this U easier than the past few. Did it with a full V party, Gil, Bartz, Faris, Krile, and Lenna.

Not saying it was easy per se - Bartz and Faris were dead by the end, I lost two medals to damage and one to KOs - but I got mastery and the CM. Gil brought Armor Break and Lifesiphon, Bartz brought Dismissal and Full Charge, Faris brought Magic Breakdown and Full Break, Krile brought Firaja and Ruinga, and Lenna brought Curaja and Shellga. RW was Shout, obviously. It was manageable, although it would have been a lot easier with a proper A-team.

Tried U+ with my V, wasn't happening. Brought mage meta, but should have brought either Focus or Song of Swiftness RW. May try again with V, or with an A-team.

In other news, got enough greens to buy both relics and all of the motes in the green shop. Still gonna farm, but can relax my pace a bit.

[Greg_S]

Haven't done the +++ and up yet, but I was experimenting with gear setups. My attempts to get Cecil's Excalibur last month netted me 5 5* relics with the 80 mythril I spent: another Kotetsu, the shared robe and gloves, an off-banner XIV dagger, and the off-banner Oath Veil. It's a hat that boosts wind damage. I have the Air Knife (V) which does the same thing.

Say hello to Wind God Bartz! Air Knife + Oath Veil makes Tornado Strike hit like an AoE Saint Cross (3.36/2 potency vs. SC's 3.4/2). The 3* Aerora Strike gets beefed up to pound-level damage. The downside is that I need to use DD to get his attack high enough to softcap with Shout, but this could be fun!

It's a shame the U's immune to wind and the U+ requires lightning focus.

[T.G. Oskar]

-- Royal Academy, Dr. Mog's Office --

Dr. Mog: This is tough, kupo! Our last two Extra-Difficulty Ultimate battles have been a bust, kupo!
Tyro: Well, we actually won.
Dr. Mog: But barely, kupo!
Cid: Plus, you didn't comply with my desired requirements. I expected a full team of warriors exploiting Realm Synergy. You shouldn't rely on the same people always.
Tyro: Um, well...right now, our explorers have diversified a bit. Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg has been a reliable explorer, lady Yuna has been quite reliable, and master Zack has truly shown its worth, but we still have Gil, miss Terra and Lenna on active duty.
Cid: Exactly. I can count the people you and the Expedition Commander constantly deploy with both hands. Usually, about ten of you are qualified for Ultimate missions. I need you to have others qualify as well.
Tyro: Well...there's always Nightmare dungeons. That prompts the Expedition commander to prepare for the situation.
Dr. Mog: That is our only hope. Facing the version of Ifrit from the Mote Dungeon has been disappointing, kupo.
Tyro: He cheats!
Cid: Now, now - he may be powerful enough, but you have no justification to call that thing a--
Tyro: Well...he hits our allies up to eight times before I can even set up the Grand Aegis! And...when we're ready to take the battle to him, he simply chain-casts the Meteor spell! How can we fight firepower of that magnitude!?
Dr. Mog: A good combination of Shellga and Magic Breakdown--
Tyro: Besides that!?
Dr. Mog: ...I could say something about fire-resistant equipment, but--
Tyro: The Meteor spell has no element, Dr. Mog. Ifrit should not be that strong! He's...he's like...
Cid: A superboss?
Tyro: Exactly!
Cid: You have been fighting superbosses for lunch, kid. Perhaps it's time to recognize that Record Synergy--
Tyro: But they tried! Squall, Rinoa, Seifer, Selphie and Irvine, all tried! And they couldn't defeat him!
Cid: Well, they were weak--
Tyro: After everyone but Selphie eating one of Quina's Growth Egg Omelette!
Cid: ...
Tyro: I'll prove to you that it's not a lack of Record Synergy or strategy; it's that the creature itself is powerful! And I'll do it...by vanquishing the trial behind the newest Nightmare portal!
Dr. Mog: I heard it was easy.
Cid: A bit tricky, I'd say...
Tyro: But synergy and strategy should do the trick, no? Remember - it is the Nightmare dungeons that may lead us to why the records are losing their luster.
Dr. Mog: Then, godspeed, kupo, and may the Crystals lead you to victory.
Cid: We'll see about that.
*Tyro leaves*
Cid: ...but I still say he needs to discover the power of all the records. Even those he and the Expedition Commander find weak.
Dr. Mog: I agree with you, kupo...with some exceptions.
Cid: Like?
Dr. Mog: Say...master Josef, or guardian Kimahri.
Cid: Even they have their time to shine. Or will have it, soon.
Dr. Mog: Or Sephiroth.
Cid: ...Well, I'll have to admit, I can agree with you that the Expedition Commander was wise in keeping him apart. He's...unstable.
Dr. Mog: Imagine if he was treated as a hero...kupopo! *shudders*
Cid: ...Now you made me need a drink.

-- The Giant of Bab-Il, the Nightmare Support Dungeon --

Tyro: Wonder what kind of enemy will face us this time... First, it was the Ultima Buster; then, the Demon Wall. Then, we had Evrae Altana, and then none other than the Neo Bahamut itself!
Ramza: 'Tis unusual to have me in this situation, master Tyro. Please, do not tell me you require me for my song...
Tyro: Actually, the dungeon enhances the natural qualities of Supporters, and you're the team's primary supporter!
Ramza: Finally, my qualities recognized!
Tyro: ...but mostly for the song.
Ramza: ...I shouldn't have learned to sing in the first place.
Tyro: Hey! The idea of using Magic Lure and the Gigas Armlet on you was an excellent idea against Barthandelus!
Ramza: At least you acknowledged mine Knight skills in that moment. But, you still insisted on my song. Is that all I am worth to you, master Tyro?
Faris: Count yer blessings, landlubber! I dinnae get chosen up 'til now! Neither did the bridge bunny.
Fran: I don't know if I should count my blessings. I refuse to know what's best, to be called a "bridge bunny" or a "wrench wench".
Faris: Ye work wit' machin'ry?
Fran: Someone has to keep the Strahl working. A steep price to pay, for I lost my connection to the wild. Oh, how I long to hear the Green again!
Faris: Addle-brained lag'morph.
Fran: And yet, don't you miss the sea? We both have lost so much. Or need I remind you that you lost your dear Syldra? I know about pain. Don't make me talk.
Faris: ...Oi, that be a low blow, bunny.
Fran: I'd kindly ask you to refer to me as a Viera, thank you very much! Unless you want to be referred to--
Tyro: Um...please, let's not fight each other!
Ramza: Say, we always face powerful creatures with a party of five... Where's our fifth member?
*Someone approaches*
Fran: *turns around and points with bow* Who goes there!?
Faris: What, did ye hear it, wit' those big ears o' yers?
Fran: Silence!
Tyro: I guess we have our fifth member.
Wakka: Well, well! Who'd have thought I'd be called from the bench? Now, I got a real weapon.
*Fran and Faris look at Wakka's balls*
Fran: And...what kind of weapon is that?
Faris: Ye must be kiddin' me, lad! Thar be nae weapon! Thar be...a toy!
Wakka: Nope. It's a blitzball, ya.
Ramza: Blitz...ball? Does it conduct lightning?
Wakka: No! Well, unless it's enchanted. It's the ball used for blitzball, ya.
Fran: And you call me addle-brained, pirate.
Faris: Pot callin' tae kettle black, sky pirate?
Wakka: Wha, you two are pirate chicks? Awesome! ...No, wait, if I say that, Lulu's gonna have my skin, yah.
Faris: Say to anyone else that I'm a girl, and I'll shiver y'r timbers but good!
Wakka: ...Um, alright...you wanna be a man or somethin', eh?
Faris: It's complicated! If only ye understood th' laws of th' sea!
Wakka: Well, I'm a good swimmer, an' Balamb was surrounded by sea, so...
Tyro: Well, team...we should meet the creature to face soon enough! Be on the ready!
Ramza: Who amongst us shall lead?
Faris: I lead! Me time as pirate cap'n an' me royal heritage fits me to lead!
Fran: I will defer to he or she who has enough combat experience.
Faris: Dinnae tell me ye would follow that fool, Balthier?
Fran: I prefer him as a lover, not a fighter. I am serious in that regard.
Wakka: I'm not that good leading, and I prefer being a team player, so...whatever you want, yah?
Ramza: Then that means master Tyro--
Tyro: And you. Actually, the Expedition Commander has asked me to tell you that you've been selected as the Special Expedition Leader for this challenge.
Ramza: ...I shouldst hath seen this coming.
Wakka: We're a bunch of cheerleaders, yah?
Tyro: Plus, he mentioned you'd take point in the assault, anyways.
Ramza: Curse mine poor selection of weapons! Should have invested in knowledge of brandishing crossbows, but the Akademy of Gariland didst not taught us squires this. Nor did they allowed Knighthood to do so, for 'twas the tools of the Devil.
Faris: A bow be as good as anything, when a gun in'nae available.
Fran: I second the use of bows, though I prefer the cold steel of a straight blade in my hands.
Ramza: Then, you will fight in the back row?
Wakka: I'm pretty tough as they come, but I prefer using Blitzballs.
Tyro: I'm not even that tough!
Fran: ...Is that Balthier's favorite Gun? How did you got ahold of it?
Tyro: Um...master Balthier lent it to me?
*Lights turn on*
Ramza: I doth think this is not good news.
Fran: That sounds like machinery turning on.
????: WARNING. INTRUDERS DETECTED.
Tyro: ...Why do they have to always talk like that?
Wakka: Fiendish Machina! I'll make short work of you, yah!?
Fran: We have all dealt with machinery once. It should be no more difficult than--
????: ACTIVATING ATTACK AND DEFENSE NODE.
Tyro: I guess the puzzle's on the nodes?
Wakka: This feels like Operation Mi'ihen once again! I don't like this!
Faris: Well then, sea puppy, ye should've stayed home then! Take the offensive, quickly!
????: CPU STRUCTURAL INTEGRITY...100%
CPU: COMMENCING NIGHTMARE PROCEDURE.
CPU: NIGHTMARE PROTOCOL WILL INITIATE IN: 30 SECONDS.
Tyro: Aww...damn. We're screwed.
CPU: 29.
Ramza: Do not falter! Please, do not lose hope!
Fran: How do you expect us to-
Ramza: If mine words shan't give you hope...then perhaps my song will!
CPU: SETTING DEFENSE NODE PARAMETERS...
CPU: 28.
*Defense Node heals*
Tyro: I guess I bit more than I could ch-
Ramza: SHOUT! SHOUT! LET IT ALL OUT!
Tyro: -ut up and start kicking bums!
CPU: SETTING ATTACK NODE PARAMETERS...
CPU: 27.
*Attack Node attacks with Laser Barrage*
Everyone: OUCH!
Tyro: That attack is too strong! My mitigation is not-
Ramza: THESE! ARE THE THINGS! I CAN DO, WITHOUT!
Wakka: Gonna make that Node regret it!
Faris: Oi...this music...wants tae make me DANCE!
*Faris follows Ramza with a Box Step Sarabande*
CPU: 25.
Fran: I think I know how to deal with these fools...
Wakka: Watch out! Here comes the pass, yah!
*Wakka WHAMS the Attack Node with a Blitzball-delivered Power Breakdown*
CPU: ATTACK NODE INTEGRITY HEAVILY DAMAGED. LASER POWER REDUCED.
Ramza: NOW, COME ON! I'MMA TALKIN' TO YOU! COME ON!
Alt!Gilgamesh: Enkiduuuuu!!
Alt!Enkidu: BROOOOOO!!
Faris: Curse me pox-ridden bum! These fools be as ridiculous in ev'ry other world as they are in mine!
Alt!Gilgamesh: Enkiduuuu-oh, it's you guys! And lady who dresses like man!
Alt!Enkidu: BROOOOOOO! CROSSDRESSEEEEERRRRR!
*Gilgamesh uses the Faithful Companion combo*
*Defense Node heals the CPU Core*
*Attack Node uses Laser Barrage*
Everyone: GUUUH!
Faris: I warned ye!
*Faris shoots at the Attack Node*
Tyro: O soothing light! Heal the wounds of my allies!
*Tyro casts Curaga*
Wakka: Ya ready, miss?
Fran: I was born ready!
*Wakka uses Double Cut Blitzball Bash on the Defense Node*
*Fran uses Tempo Flurry on the Defense Node*
CPU: 20.
CPU: DEFENSE NODE INTEGRITY HEAVILY DAMAGED.
Tyro: Keep it going!
*Tyro shoots at the Attack Node*
CPU: 19.
Wakka: Quicker, quicker! I don't wanna know what happens when that buzzer goes off!
Fran: We will vanquish these machines in due time! Focus your assault on the Nodes!
CPU: 17.
Faris: Ye dinnae talked f'r two seconds, aye?
CPU: 15.
Fran: Um...no.
*Fran attacks with Tempo Flurry on Defense Node*
Wakka: Whaddya mean?
*Wakka attacks Defense Node with Double Blitzball Bash*
CPU: 12.
Faris: Th' countdown, 'tis runnin' faster!
Wakka: Cheatin' Machina!
Tyro: We need to take it down, fast!
*Tyro shoots at the Attack Node*
*Defense Node heals, Attack Node attacks*
Everyone: KYAAAH!
CPU: 10.
Ramza: Fran, Wakka, spread your fire! IN VIOLENT, TIMES! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TO SELL, YOUR SOUL! Everyone else, to the Attack Node!
Wakka: Aye aye, cap'n.
Faris: I dinnae said anythin'
*Faris and Tyro attack the Attack Node*
*Wakka attacks the Attack Node*
CPU: ATTACK NODE IN CRITICAL CONDITION.
CPU: 7.
Fran: You won't beat us!
*Fran shoots at the Defense Node twice*
CPU: DEFENSE NODE DEACTIVATED.
Tyro: Yeah!
CPU: 5-4-3...
Ramza: IN BLACK, AND WHITE! THEY REALLY, REALLY, OUGHT, TO KNOW!
*Ramza attacks the Attack Node*
CPU: 2.
CPU: ATTACK NODE DEACTIVATED.
Ramza: THOSE ONE-TRACK MINDS! WHO TOOK YOU FOR A WORKIN' BOY!
CPU: NIGHTMARE PROTOCOL CANCELED.
Tyro: Whoo-hoo!!
Faris: Now! Unto th' core, scallywags!
Wakka: Let's score the goal!
Fran: I would not think of this that easily...
CPU: REACTIVATING NODES...
*Attack Node and Defense Node reactivate*
Tyro: ...What.
Wakka: That's foul play, yah!
Faris: Ye pox-ridden scallywag!
Fran: I suspected as much.
CPU: REINITIATING NIGHTMARE PROTOCOL.
CPU: ACTIVATING AUGMENTATION PROTOCOLS ON ATTACK AND DEFENSE NODES.
CPU: NIGHTMARE PROTOCOL WILL INITIATE IN: 60 SECONDS.
Tyro: We've got no time to waste! We must-
CPU: ACTIVATING PHYSICAL FIELD.
*Attack Node activates Physical Field on CPU Core*
CPU: 59.
Wakka: That's a new Node, yah? I guess I got to keep it in line like the last one, yah?
Ramza: KISS THEM, GOOD-BYE! THEY SHOULDN'T HAVE TO JUMP, FOR JOY!
*Wakka SLAMS! the Attack Node with Power Breakdown*
CPU: PHYSICAL FIELD DEACTIVATED.
CPU: ACTIVATING PHYSICAL SHIELD.
CPU: 58.
*Defense Node activates Physical Barrier on CPU Core*
Tyro: Whoa! That will make our attacks hit less hard! Someone, do something!
Faris: I'll have to break its defenses with dance!
*Faris reprises her Box Step Sarabande*
CPU: PHYSICAL SHIELD DEACTIVATED.
CPU: 57.
Tyro: Hmm...what if...?
Fran: Now! Hit the Core!
Tyro: Wait! Lemme show it some of MY moves!
Everyone but Ramza and Tyro: Huh?
*Tyro busts out the sickest, most ill moves in history!*
Tyro: Ya got served, CPU!
*Faris groans*
CPU: ERROR. ERROR. LOSS OF CONTROL ON ATTACK AND DEFENSE NODES. ENTERING EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.
CPU: 56.
*Attack Node goes haywire!*
*Defense Node goes haywire!*
Faris: ...Ye be pullin' me peg leg...
Fran: No time to waste! Everyone, focus on the Core, now!
*Fran uses Tempo Flurry on the Core*
Wakka: Atta it! Gonna show ya how a Blitzball is a great weapon!
*Wakka KA-BLAMS it twice with a Double Blitzball Whammy!*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 93%
CPU: 55.
Tyro: That's not enough!
Wakka: Damn, that damn Machina is tough!
*Ramza attacks with Magic Breakdown*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 87%
CPU: 54.
Faris: It seems that usin' Breakdowns will...break that thing down!
Fran: Talk about redundancy.
Wakka: Well...if that's so...
CPU: INITIATING GLOBE 199 PROTOCOL...
*CPU Core creates small localized gravity wells*
Tyro: Whoa!
Faris: We be...floating?
Fran: Watch out!
*Gravity wells collapse by Hawking radiation!*
Everyone: YIIIIKES!
*Everyone takes falling damage!*
Faris: Curse that pox-ridden machine!
Fran: Since when does machinery become diseased?
Tyro: It's called a "virus", though it works differently.
Faris: We should'a brought us a healer! Me fair sister would've worked nicely!
*Defense Node heals the party*
Faris: ...Wait, that Node healed us?
CPU: 53.
*Attack Node hits CPU Core with Laser Blaster*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 78%
Wakka: An' the other one attacked the Machina, yah.
Tyro: Then, let's press the offensive! But, just for safety... "Oh Mighty Aegis! ..."
*Tyro uses the Sentinel Grimoire's contained spell*
Faris: Aye!
*Faris shoots*
Fran: Let's hit it with all we can!
*Fran uses Tempo Flurry*
Wakka: Gonna try breakin' its power away, ya?
*Wakka BAMS! the CPU Core with Power Breakdown*
Ramza: HAH!
*Ramza attacks with Armor Breakdown*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 66%.
Tyro: Wait, all our attacks meant nothing?
Faris: Th' song! Ramza has stopped singin'!
Ramza: ...Can't I take a rest?
*Defense Node heals*
*Attack Node hits CPU Core*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 55%
CPU: REESTABLISHING CONNECTION...
*Attack Node stops being haywire*
*Defense Node stops being haywire*
Tyro: Whuh-oh.
Wakka: Why I don't like the sound of that, ya?
CPU: CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHED.
CPU: 51.
Fran: This will be harder than I thought...
Tyro: Hmm...hold on a sec. Maybe...we could make those Nodes go haywire again!
*CPU uses Globe 199 on Ramza*
Ramza: By Jove! The pull, 'tis strong!
*Ramza falls violently to the ground*
Ramza: AAAH!
Tyro: Sir Ramza!
Wakka: Damn, that must have left a mark!
Faris: That attack be especially strong!
Ramza: Even your wards failed to protect me, master Tyro! I can continue, but...afraid I may become a goner if the machine takes it on me.
CPU: 50.
Wakka: Timer's runnin' out again! We gotta do somethin', eh?
*Wakka attacks CPU Core with Double Blitzball Whammy*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 51%.
CPU: 49.
*Defense Node heals CPU*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY RESTORED. INTEGRITY AT 57%
*Attack Node hits with Laser Barrage*
Everyone: GHAAAAAAA!!
Tyro: It's hopeless!
Wakka: We need somethin' to get our spirits goin', sir Ramza!
Ramza: ...I must follow-up with an encore, it seems...
Faris: Well, not gonna wait f'r th' song! I'll break those dogs' defenses!
*Faris goes for Box Step Sarabande one more time*
CPU: 48.
Fran: Is it...stalling for time?
Tyro: I fear so...
CPU: DEPLOYING MAGICAL FIELD.
*Attack Node uses Magical Field*
Ramza: It seems waiting was fruitful! Allow me to strike thee down!
*Ramza strikes the Attack Node with Magic Breakdown*
CPU: MAGICAL FIELD DEACTIVATED.
CPU: DEPLOYING MAGICAL SHIELD.
CPU: 47.
*Defense Node uses Magical Shield*
Fran: I have just the right thing to take it down!
*Fran strikes the Defense Node with Mental Breakdown*
CPU: MAGICAL SHIELD DEACTIVATED.
Tyro: Now...it's my turn!
*Tyro pulls off another set of insanely sick moves!*
CPU: ERROR. ERROR. LOSS OF CONTROL ON ATTACK AND DEFENSE NODES. ENTERING EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.
CPU: 46.
*Attack Node goes haywire!*
*Defense Node goes haywire!*
Tyro: It seems that, if we overload its weaknesses, we damage their connection!
Faris: It be now or never, friends! Prepare t' unload with all we got!
*Ramza resumes his singing*
Ramza: SHOUT! SHOUT! LET IT ALL OUT!
Wakka: Alright! I feel invigorated! Time to show ya a skill I learned from a Machina! Time for the Oblitzerator's Attack Reels!
*Wakka starts launching Blitzballs like a machine-gun!*
CPU: CORE IN--CORE IN--CORE INTEGR--CORE INTEGRITY-- WHATEVER.
Tyro: Even Machina do awesome Squall impersonations!
Fran: That foolish kid is as enticing as a wooden pole, and as exciting as watching paint dry.
CPU; CORE INTEGRITY AT 45%. ENTERING WARNING CONDITION.
CPU; ALTERING NIGHTMARE PROTOCOL COUNTDOWN.
CPU: 15.
Tyro: WHAAAAAT!??
Wakka: The damn thing is cheatin' on us! It changed the numbers, ya?
CPU: HA. HA. HA.
*Defense Node heals*
*Attack Node strikes CPU Core*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 39%
CPU: 14.
Faris: Time be runnin' faster! Will ye wait f'r a while, if'n ye may?
Fran: What plan do you have, pirate?
Faris: *screaming* Ye will see when ye see it, lass!
Fran: I feel I have no choice...
*Fran draws strange Nethicite!*
Tyro: I must do my part!
*Tyro attacks*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 35%
CPU: CAN'T LET YOU WIN, KEEPER.
Tyro: It spoke!
CPU: 13.
CPU: YOUR POWER IS WORTHLESS AGAINST ME.
CPU: ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US.
CPU; THERE IS NO CHANCE TAKE YOUR TIME.
CPU: 12.
Faris: There be no time ta lose!
*Faris drags a cannon*
Fran: A cannon? From where did you draw a--?
Faris: From me good ol' caravel, lass! A'ight, scallywags, get ready t' blow th' core outta this place! Ready!
*Faris primes the cannon*
CPU: 11.
Faris: FIRE!!
*Faris fires the cannon*
*Faris' boat fires all cannons!*
CPU: CORE IN--CORE IN--CORE INTE--CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 25%
CPU: ENTERING CRITICAL CONDITION.
CPU: 10.
*CPU uses Globe 199 on the team!*
Everyone: GWOOOH!
*Defense Node heals the party*
*Attack Node hits CPU Core*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 18%
CPU: 9.
Wakka: Time's running out! Here's for a Hail Yevon! ...Uh, don't tell lady Yuna I said that, ya? It's a game term.
Faris: Me lips be sealed. Alright, it be now or never! Take it with all ye got!
CPU: REESTABLISHING CONNECTION...
*Attack Node stops being haywire*
*Defense Node stops being haywire*
Tyro: Not again!
CPU: CONNECTION RE-ESTABLISHED.
CPU: 8.
Tyro: And this time, there will be no time to--
Ramza: Not if you don't dance! Make it quick!
*Ramza pelts stones at the CPU Core*
CPU: CORE IN--CORE IN--CORE IN...STOP IT. STOP IT. OW. OW.
Ramza: I am worth more than my song! Take this!
*Ramza launches a HUGE boulder at the CPU Core*
CPU: CORE INTEGRITY DAMAGED. INTEGRITY AT 10%
CPU: ENTERING SUPER-CRITICAL CONDITION.
CPU: 7.
CPU: ACTIVATING EMERGENCY PROTOCOLS...
*Attack Node activates Physical Field and Magical Field*
*Defense Node activates Physical Shield and Magical Shield*
Tyro: There's no way to take that in time!
CPU: 6.
Wakka: Not if we can't help it! Start dancing, master Tyro!
*Wakka uses Power Breakdown on Attack Node*
Faris: I'l follow y'r steps, laddie!
*Faris pulls off one more Box Step Sarabande*
Ramza: It's now or never!
*Ramza attacks with Magic Breakdown*
Fran: I...
*Fran attacks with Mental Breakdown*
*Fran breaks the Nethicite!!*
Fran: Now!! *trembles*
Tyro: Yes!
CPU: 5.
*Tyro finishes pulling off the sickest moves ever. CPU got served, yo!*
CPU: ERROR. ERROR. LOSS OF CONTROL ON ATTACK AND DEFENSE NODES. ENTERING EMERGENCY PROCEDURES.
CPU: 4.
*Attack Node goes Haywire*
*Defense Node goes Haywire*
Tyro: Now! Someone! Anyone! Take it down!
Fran: Guuuh...
Fran: It's...hot...HOT!!
Faris: Uh...
Fran: THE MIST!!! IT BURNSSSSSS!!
Faris: Are ye sure 'tis not something else, lass?
*Fran lunges at the CPU Core...bare-handed!!*
Fran: GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!
*Fran claws and bites at the CPU Core with reckless abandon!!*
CPU: C-C-C-C-C-C-C-CC-C--CC-C-C-C-C--OH, CRUD.
Fran: GRRRRYAAAAAAAAAA!!!
*Fran goes into Mist Overload rage!!*
CPU: INTEGRITY AT 4%
CPU: 3.
CPU: GAME OVER.
Fran: N----NGH...
Wakka: It's not over 'til it's over, eh! Last time goal shot, Fran!
*Wakka makes a sweet bow pass to Fran*
CPU: 2.
*Fran makes a sweet catch!!*
Fran: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
*Fran shoots and reloads as if she was a Vulcan cannon!!!*
Fran: AAAAAAAAAAAAATATATATATATATATATATATATATTA!!
CPU: 1.
CPU: C-C-C-C-C-C--C-C-C-C-C--
CPU: MAS-MASS-MASSIVE ST-ST-STRR-STRUCTURAL--INT-INTE-INTEGRITY DAMAGE.
CPU: SHUTTING DOWN.
*CPU Core shuts down*
*Ramza stops singing*
Everyone: ...
Wakka: Is that blasted Machina down?
*CPU is not moving*
Fran: HAAAH! HAAAH! HAAAH!
Faris: Seems t' be so.
*Fran faints*
*CPU still doesn't move*
Ramza: Did...did we do it?
Wakka: It...seems so, ya.
*CPU refuses to move*
Tyro: Is it...is it time to celebrate?
Ramza: I...wouldst like to know.
Wakka: Well...might as well try, ya?
*Wakka WHAMS a Blitzball on the fallen CPU Core*
Faris: Ye daft fool!
Wakka: What? If it was still kickin' it, I might have just taken it down for real!
*CPU STILL doesn't move*
Wakka: I take that as a win.
Faris: Um...
Ramza: I agree as such.
Tyro: Yahoo!! We won!
*Tyro does cute little victory dance*
Wakka: Awight! Last minute victory!
*Wakka does super-ridiculous dance, proving he has no moves at all*
Ramza: 'Tis apparent we have won, lady Tycoon.
Faris: Not 'til th' fat lady - ye called me "lady Tycoon"?
*Tyro and Wakka still dance*
Ramza: Aye...I surely didst.
Faris: ...Ye know "lady Tycoon" be me sister, aye? Still...FIRE 'ER UP, BOYS! WE WON!!
*Faris does a jittery dance of successful victory*
Ramza: I am not a dancer, therefore I do my best to sing.
*Ramza sings a victory song*
Faris: Wait a sec!
*Everybody looks at the CPU Core!*
*...Guys, that CPU Core is DESTROYED! Keep doing your silly victory dance!*
Faris: Um...thar Core walked th' plank, it seems.
Tyro: Yay, it's really gone!
*Everybody but the fainted Fran sing and dance to victory!*
Tyro: Five down, seven more to go! Woo-hoo!
*CPU Core jitters*
Tyro: Um...did I say that too loud?
*Quadruple Foul record falls from the scraps*
Tyro: Nope, I guess I didn't.

Mote!Ifrit is still giving me a headache, but the CPU is down for the count! Since I double-broke Fran last Sundaily, I ended up unlocking Art of the Barrage at the end of the battle, so that's another cool thing!

As usual, party composition. This one was stranger than other times...
Keeper, lv. 71; Ras Algethi, Crystal Mail, Cowl of Gilgamesh (?); Curaga R5, Multi Break R2; Master Sniper
Faris, lv. 57; Yoichi Bow, Platinum Shield, Fateful Coin; Exhausting Polka R1, Box Step Sarabande R3; Master Archer
Ramza, lv. 70; Apocalypse, Grand Armor, Hero's Belt; Magic Breakdown R3, Armor Breakdown R2; Dr. Mog's Teachings
Fran, lv. 66; Traitor's Bow, Power Sash, Aries; Mental Breakdown R1, Tempo Flurry R5; Viera Virtuoso
Wakka, lv. 57; Over the Top, Crystal Armor (V), Squall's Necklace; Power Breakdown R3, Double Cut R5, Legendary Shot
RW: Gilgamesh

As you can see, I set Ramza to use Shout ASAP, and the RW was meant to do AoE damage and Heavy Regen. Ideally, while the damage would be low, the Heavy Regen would let me pull through, surviving just by using Power Breakdown. I wanted to use Edward's first song (Protectga + Heavy Regen), but it wasn't available. However, it was the best choice after all.

Also, rather than go for Attack boosters, I went for +damage% for each weapon, except for Ramza. Even wth that and debuffs, Double Cut and Tempo Flurry were hitting for 2.8k per hit, whereas a single Breakdown hit for a whopping 7k to 7.8k. To compare: Fran's Mist Overload did around 2.2k for all hits, Wakka's Attack Reels did 3k per hit, Ramza's Hail of Stones also did around 2.2k, and Faris' Sea Lord's Broadside...about 1.5k.

Meanwhile, Globe 199 did little damage to everyone BUT Ramza, which always got hit for 2k damage. Many S/Ls were because of spamming Globe 199s on the same character, undoubtedly killing them. The other was because of not enough damage to avoid the countdowns. Curiously, Shout always ran out by the first set of haywires, so I needed to wait up until they went haywire again, which cut into a lot of damage.

Finally, and apparently, Support skills dealt more damage than other attacks. I should try it with the Busters, to see if that's right or not.

[danzibr]

Should've done more research on the U before attempting it. Turns out she's immune to Darkness, made my Edea worthless. I probably still could've beaten her, but I was like screw it, fled.

[Red Fel]

U+ is down with Expert, not Master. Brought sort of a B-Team, strong V characters with a wall user. Gil, Bartz, Faris, Krile, Y'shtola. Really tested my resources; Bartz was out of spellblade uses by the end of it, and Krile was out of spells. I won with two deaths, so lost two medals to damage and one to KOs, dropping me to Expert.

Maybe a proper A-team could have done better, but synergy counts for a lot. Maybe using Gil more offensively could have helped, but by Tauntaliating he spared the party from a lot of Leviathan's attacks, and let them conserve ability uses by pinging off of him. But really, it's a hone check - if you have enough hones, and a Hastega, you can keep Tidal Wave from proccing, which is half the battle. Dualcast works great for this fight, because each individual usage counts as a separate Lightning ability. (Note that multi-hit abilities, such as many SBs, only count as a single ability, and since they take longer to charge, generally not as helpful.)

Probably won't try it again. The orbs are tempting, but I just don't have the "I must master every U" enthusiasm I once had. It's awesome when it works, but not as disappointing as it once was when it doesn't. So I'm going back to green/RM farming.

Speaking of, the green shop restocked today. No new 4-star motes, but the usual array of 3-star motes, MOs, and mythril, so go nuts if you like. The MOs are actually useful ones this time, I might try to snag 'em all, if I can.

[Hunter Noventa]

I've started to plow through Elite dungeons now that I've cleared all the classic ones. I was thrilled to find that, for whatever reason, Darril's Tomb Elite gives out SIX Stamina Shards, so I managed to finagle two full refills today while working on those.

So far I've been having no trouble, but I'm not anywhere close to a lot of the tougher stuff that shows up later. It'll be especially tricky getting through some of the elites I don't have good synergy for, like II or III.

[danzibr]

Mastered the U and U+. Thoughts:

The U was easy once I brought the ol' A team. Went physical on her bare ass, high def or no. Easy battle.

The U+ was... weird. The damage output was really low (had Gil doing Tauntaliate). I did have lots of defenses up, though. Anyway, so his damage output was low, but so was mine. Terra's Thundaja was only hitting for about 6k. Must've had high Def and Res, I think. Almost ran out of ability uses.

[Jurai]

On JP's current event, went up against Havoc Skytank, and dropped it with Aerith's Burst (Five hits AoE Holy damage) and the fallout from the components. It got a few hits, but went down with one command.

[Simkin]

Speaking of, the green shop restocked today. No new 4-star motes, but the usual array of 3-star motes, MOs, and mythril, so go nuts if you like. The MOs are actually useful ones this time, I might try to snag 'em all, if I can.

Did it update again after you posted this, or did I miss an update and not buy things previously? When I went today after the update notice there wasn't only the typical 1 mythril and 3* motes, but 3 other mythril, and 4* motes.

[Red Fel]

Did it update again after you posted this, or did I miss an update and not buy things previously? When I went today after the update notice there wasn't only the typical 1 mythril and 3* motes, but 3 other mythril, and 4* motes.

That was from the previous batch, I think. At least, those haven't restocked for me. Did you get them when they came out, along with the 5-star relics?

[Merlin the Tuna]

Huh. Caught up on the event now that my greens situation is in order, and boy howdy does Grand Cross tear it a new one. Cid-Mastered the U on my first try despite healing her by accident a couple times.

For the U+, am I correct in reading that you all managed with only 2 lightning users? I like the look of Gil tauntaliating, but that leaves me with just ExDeath and Bartz to disrupt tsunami.

[danzibr]

Huh. Caught up on the event now that my greens situation is in order, and boy howdy does Grand Cross tear it a new one. Cid-Mastered the U on my first try despite healing her by accident a couple times.

Grats!


For the U+, am I correct in reading that you all managed with only 2 lightning users? I like the look of Gil tauntaliating, but that leaves me with just ExDeath and Bartz to disrupt tsunami.
Surprisingly, yes! I have no idea how long it takes for his Tsunami to go off, but it seems like an abundance of time. With Terra doing Thundaja and Cloud Thundaga Strike, he never once got one off.

Maybe you weren't asking me, but there's my two cents.

[Red Fel]

For the U+, am I correct in reading that you all managed with only 2 lightning users? I like the look of Gil tauntaliating, but that leaves me with just ExDeath and Bartz to disrupt tsunami.

Yup. Again, dualcasting helps, because a single dualcast ability counts as two uses. Even without dualcasting, with Hastega, it's extremely manageable; without either, it's possible, but close. It helped that I kept Bartz, who had fewer overall ability uses, on standby - as soon as Leviathan started gathering water, I hit Bartz' command, and that gave him enough time to hit twice. Krile was able to hit at least once in between, which made it happen.

[Simkin]

That was from the previous batch, I think. At least, those haven't restocked for me. Did you get them when they came out, along with the 5-star relics?

Ah, no I didn't. Must have missed the last update to the shop.

[SuperPanda]

Snagged all the new 3* motes but none of the orbs yet, still restocking greens. (Have gotten both 5* times and all green shop motes so far).

Finally got the +++ and didn't bring dispel or slow to it so had to deal with regen and had no way to slow it. Well I had no way to slow it until it bounced slow off carbuncle and slowed itself. Mage meta: Rinoa, Rydia, Lenna, Kefka (with cloak) and lulu (with hairpin). No medals lost.

Greens hunting and the Us later on. ExDeath level broke but Krile is still in the lower 60s and fairs in the mid 50s. U level CM will be tricky. U+ is, I suspect, not within the Relm of possibility for me.

[Starwulf]

*Grumble grumble Stupid Greens not dropping Grumble Grumble*. I'm not going to be around for a few days, and I wanted to try to get the last few 4* motes I have left in the shop before they disappear in 3 hours, so I did 5 full runs of the ++ Wind/Lightning dungeon, and I got ZERO greens drops >< Very, very unhappy and irritated at the moment. Hell, I only got 5 greater orbs out of the whole thing as well, and no majors, so that just makes it that much worse.

[Slayn82]

Finally got the +++ and didn't bring dispel or slow to it so had to deal with regen and had no way to slow it. Well I had no way to slow it until it bounced slow off carbuncle and slowed itself. Mage meta: Rinoa, Rydia, Lenna, Kefka (with cloak) and lulu (with hairpin). No medals lost.


Good job. Your post motivated me to do the 99+ battles at last. My team for +++ was Rinoa, Edea, Minwu, Krile and Lulu. Minwu had Dispel and Curaja, Edea had inaugural parade, and Lulu had a rod with a shared Slow SB, who didn't process, but Krile used Carbuncle R2 and the boss slowed himself. He only had time to nuke Edea once, and she healed herself with Drainga.

Now it's Melusine. I hate Wack'a'mole battles.

[danzibr]

Good job. Your post motivated me to do the 99+ battles at last. My team for +++ was Rinoa, Edea, Minwu, Krile and Lulu. Minwu had Dispel and Curaja, Edea had inaugural parade, and Lulu had a rod with a shared Slow SB, who didn't process, but Krile used Carbuncle R2 and the boss slowed himself. He only had time to nuke Edea once, and she healed herself with Drainga.

Now it's Melusine. I hate Wack'a'mole battles.
Grats!

You can get around the whack a mole aspect of the battle by using physical or non-elemental magic. Just hit her with fire once when the battle starts for mastery conditions.

[SuperPanda]

I managed the CM for the U with my V gear. Bartz's BSB was useful damage since I didn't have shout with me. My abilities could have been better chosen but it wasn't that hard.

She shifts after ~ actions so I could get off two none jump moves per person not hasted before a shift. With better selection on Bartz it would have gone much faster.

I think I'm not going to try (for now) the u+ cm, but will look at burning a team of Bartz, y'sholta, lightning, Ramza, and Rinoa. That way 3/5 can bring the thunder - even if Bartz's burst commands will likely be of no help.

[Jurai]

What's the 5* Accessory do? I kinda hope it's not a +30 Attack accessory, since I've already got four of them.

[danzibr]

What's the 5* Accessory do? I kinda hope it's not a +30 Attack accessory, since I've already got four of them.
Mind, actually. Not bad.

[Slayn82]

Big surprise : White Mage Medica Banner. Time to pull until something drops.

100 gem - a upgrade for a 3* ( not bad)
3 pull - 3 random 3* (Damn)
1 pull - 4* Healer Staff XIII (you kidding?)

Also, unlike Japan, there are 5* off Banner Rel. This week, guess we are doing core dungeons.

[spectralphoenix]

Ugh, wasn't sure I wanted to pull, did a 100-gem and 11-pull anyway, got a big pile of junk. Whenever I think I shouldn't pull, I'm right. Most of the time I think I'm better off with Garnet's Divine Guardian than an actual Medica anyway.

On another note, finally cleared the last of the Elite dungeons yesterday, so it looks like I'm going to be running dailies for a while. I've also amassed a fair number of Major orbs from all the high end elites I left until last. Any good 5* abilities coming up soon I should keep in mind when divvying up my largesse? About all I have now is an R2 Full Break and some R1's I got as mission rewards.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Whiffed on my first 11 pull, but got Penelo's and Minwu's on the second. Not high-frequency realms, but pretty great! Hooray medicas!

[SuperPanda]

I'm planning to skip the surprise medica- banner.

I've got solid medicas in many areas now plus the shared SB medica from greens shop at 6* making it respectable outside synergy.

It's be nice to name a medica for iI IV VI or XII from this banner, but I'm saving mythril for a banner that makes me more excited.

Best of luck th everyone pulling.

[Greg_S]

On another note, finally cleared the last of the Elite dungeons yesterday, so it looks like I'm going to be running dailies for a while. I've also amassed a fair number of Major orbs from all the high end elites I left until last. Any good 5* abilities coming up soon I should keep in mind when divvying up my largesse? About all I have now is an R2 Full Break and some R1's I got as mission rewards.

We're in a big ability drought right now. The next new abilities are 6*, so you can hone up some of the existing 5* you have. Powerchain, Full Charge, and Saint Cross are all good choices.

The chain -ga spells come about 2 1/2 months from now. These are 2-hit BLMs. Opinions are mixed, from what I can tell, about which ones to focus on. What I think I'll do is wait for an en-spell BSB/SSB, and hone those. My JP account, for example, has Rydia's BSB. Her BSB grants en-earth, so Chain Stonega will synergize better. If you draw an imperil element SB, then that's higher priority for you as well.

Other future 5* skills, stats pulled from the PDF reference in a spoiler. For potency comparison's sake, Saint Cross is 3.4/2 hits, Bahamut is 15/2 hits:



Meteor Crush (Monk, Power/Fire/Earth orbs): 3.0/2 hits, Earth damage. Gives you a shout-level self-boost. It says Monk, which is enough for me to skip it, personally. The self-boost is ok if you're running a mage team, but by the time it's released, Celes' BSB, which grants an ATK/MAG boost, will be available as an RW, so keep that in mind.
Angelsong (Bard, White/Earth/Holy): Heavy Regen to Party. Heavy Regen is great, you just need someone with Bard 5 to stick it on. If you're rolling with Tyro, this might work!
Sapphire Shot (Shooter, Ice/Lightning/Holy): 3.7/2 hits, water elemental. Does less damage if you're not using a ranged weapon. The shooter skillset's added in an FFX event. It's all about doing more damage when you're using a ranged weapon. I think it's there to make supports more interesting? Haven't seen a lot of chatter about it.
Titan (Summon, Black/Fire/Earth): 14.8/2, Earth elemental. It's a summon that doesn't use summon orbs! It's Bahamut but elemental. Comes in the same event with Rydia's powerful BSB. They're made for one another.
Lightning Jump (Dragoon, Ice/Lightning/Wind): 4.52/4, Lightning Elemental. From the same event as Titan, but meant to work with Kain's en-lightning BSB. If you want to use Dragoons, this is a little better than the existing Dragoon Jump, as it splits the damage over 4 hits instead of 2. If you have a source of en-lightning or imperil lightning, this becomes significantly better.
Spirit Cannon (Monk, White/Fire/Earth): 3.0/2, Fire Elemental. Ranged attack that has a 30% self heal... but it's underwhelming. The damage output's below Saint Cross, Thief's Revenge, Dragoon Jump, and Full Charge already. I don't see the point to this one.
Gaia Cross (Knight, Ice/Earth/Holy): 3.2/2, Earth Elemental. Grants draw fire to the user. Combines a good damage skill with an effect you often want on a Knight. This shows up in the next FFIII event with Ingus' BSB which, as you may have guessed by now, adds en-Earth.
Hailstorm Blade (Samurai, Power/Non/Ice) 3.2/2, Ice Elemental. Grants +30% Atk/-30% Res as a unique status, so it stacks with everything. It's a worse tradeoff than Dark Bargain because magic is more common than physical, but YMMV.
Ultima Weapon (Summon, Summon/Non/Dark) 14.8/2, Dark Elemental. Nothing special, just a big dark kaboom, can be boosted, etc.
Death Scythe (Darkness, Fire/Earth/Dark) 3.8/2 if doomed, Dark Elemental. It's like Dark Zone but physical. 3.8/2 is the highest multiplier around for a regular physical skill. Anything higher, like the dragoon skills, has a long air time or charge time.
Tiamat (Summon, White/Summon/Wind) PDF doesn't have the multiplier, but it's wind elemental. It comes in the recent XIV event, which has a great banner. It pairs well with Alphinaud's BSB.
Kaenjin (Ninja, Fire/Ice/Dark) PDF doesn't have a multiplier, but it's 2 hits. Ninja Fire magic, so ignores RES. Pairs with the fire-boosting stuff on banner 2, which you shouldn't be drawing on because banner 1 has ~8 great items on it anyway.
Evil Count (Darkness, Non/Ice/Dark) 15/2, from a reddit thread on it. It's like Dark Zone, in that it does more damage when you're doomed. Unlike Dark Zone, it takes 3 seconds off your doom timer when you use it. Just... stick with Dark Zone.
Dual Thundara Strike (Spellblade, Power/Fire/Lightning), 3.2/2, from reddit. Chain Thundara Strike for your spellblades.



The most commonly used orbs in upcoming 5* skills are Black and Earth. After that, it's Ice/Fire and Non/Dark. Power and Wind get a break, finally.

As for what to focus on, a lot will depend on your relic selections. Mages finally get options, and will start to pull even or ahead of physical teams again thanks to a plethora of mage-centric buffs that are coming. Physical teams still will have shout, but multi-hit 5* skills will extend their usefulness and let them break the 9999 cap.

Honestly, I think our existing 5* physical selection is good as-is. Saint Cross and Thief's Revenge outdamage most of these skills already, so just honing what you've got is a viable plan. If you want to play with mages, stock up on those black orbs and look out for BSBs- big ones to target are Ashe's (en-lightning, one of the burst commands is a mini chain-thundaga), Rydia's (en-earth and summon-typed), and Alphinaud's (En-wind; one burst command gives him powerchain-like quickening of his next action, and the other one is a self-ether, perfect for a low-honed Tiamat).

[danzibr]

Grats to people on good pulls, condolences to those with bad, gl to those who haven't yet. Like SuperPanda I plan on skipping (got a 3* for $0.99). I have Divine Guardian and Portrait of Lakshmi (and Clear Tranquil and Tailwind).

Thanks for the breakdown, Greg_S. Out of everything you listed, the lightning jump looks the best. I went to bring such a thing to a recent boss and found we have nothing of the sort.

Also... I seriously think I'm skipping every single banner except half-price ones until we get guaranteed 5*'s. Just so not worth it.

[T.G. Oskar]

-- The Guardian Tree, the Void --

Gilgamesh: Finally! A party as it should be! Ladies, men, and ladies that dress like men! And kids, too!
Faris: Shut y'r piehole, jester, or I shall feed ye to th' sharks! 'Twas horrifying to even think of you on th' Nightmare dungeon.
Gilgamesh: But...I was there...
Lenna: Dear sister, could you please stop? Gilgamesh here has been a reliable partner since long. His antics can be quite hilarious once you get used to them.
Faris: Thar be it! I can-not "get used" to his antics!
Bartz: I...have the impression I shouldn't be here. Isn't it...you know...a deadly enemy we shall face?
Krile: Stop being a baby about it! We faced this thing before! Remember - it's our memories that give us the power to restore these pictures.
Lenna: Say...I don't seem to remember this...clearly...
Gilgamesh: I know this is the Void, but...where exactly are we? This ain't Necrofail's lair, fo' sho'!
Krile: Looks like a forest.
Faris: Moore?
*Draconic scream*
Krile: Hiry--
Gilgamesh: Hush, kid! Remember; we gotta call it "Wind Drake" now. Even your Soul Break calls it that way.
Krile: But it's a Hiry--
Gilgamesh: Shut it! Or else, we're gonna summon the most powerful entities in history!
Krile: Bahamut, Odin and Alexander?
Gilgamesh: No. *gulp* Lawyers!
Lenna, Faris and Bartz: Eh?
*Hiry...I mean, Wind Drake drops a body*
Krile: The "Wind Drake" that actually has a proper name dropped something.
Bartz: More like somebody. We gotta help her.
Lenna: Why wouldn't you do the same for me...?
Faris: Ye said something, sister?
Lenna: Uh...no, nothing. Just...well, he could do the same thing for yourself! Or Krile.
Gilgamesh: Eww...
Lenna: Stop being such a pervert, Gilgamesh!
Bartz: Hey, girls...and Gil... Whoa...I think memories come to mind...
Krile: Yeah...this feeling...I felt it before. On our world.
Gilgamesh: Deja vu?
Krile: Um...if that's what it means, then sure...
????: Ugh...
Bartz: ...Lenna?
Lenna: You said something...?
Faris: I have a bad feeling about this. Bartz...
Bartz: Don't take me for a fool.
Another!Lenna: Friends! You've come for me!
Bartz, Krile and Faris: ...whoa.
Gilgamesh: Um...I'm supposed to be the expert in Dimensional Rifts, and this is the first time I've seen this. I demand an explanation!
Faris: Stay back. Do not let 'er get close.
*Another!Lenna draws near*
Another!Lenna: Sister! I'm so glad you're here! And Bartz, and Krile, and...Gilgamesh?
Gilgamesh: ...
Another!Lenna: And...an imposter! Friends! Beware! That woman, she is...!
*Wind Drake interposes*
Krile: WIND DRAKE!
*Wind Drake hisses*
Krile: No... This is the moment where...the last Wind Drake gives its life to protect us.
Faris: Aye! Me memory returns! Ev'ryone, to arms!
Bartz: Why do you have to remind me of this...
Gilgamesh: A battle? But...who is the impostor!?
Another!Lenna: That one!
*Wind Drake hisses*
Lenna: Hey - it can't be me. I came with them from the portal, so they already know I'm the real one.
Krile: Wind Drake! Stand back! We know she's possessed! We will help her!
Faris: Aye. 'Twas never an impostor - 'tis a possessing spirit taking abode at my dear sister's body. And, with the strength of the Crystals, we shall--
Gilgamesh: Exorcise her! But...oh wait, Lenna here's a White Mage, so she can do the exorcism rites...whoa, that's pure irony there. You're gonna exorcise yourself, Princess!
Lenna: So...a being that took residence within my body...
Not!Lenna: ...You figured it out quick.
Krile: Don't make me regret it! Wind Drake, back off!
*Wind Drake backs off*
Not!Lenna: It's a shame. His sacrifice weakened me...but you desire to face me at full strength...
Gilgamesh: Uh...well, who's that?
Bartz: The Melusine...a demon of the Rift.
Gilgamesh: Wait...the serpents? They're inside her!?
Lenna: I feel violated! Impure!
Gilgamesh: Hey, watch it! There's kids here!
Krile: We kicked you out of Lenna's body before, and we're gonna do it again!
Melusine: I would like you to try...
*Melusine transforms*
Bartz: Be ready!
Faris: My sister! Even if she be on me side, I shall fight ye as the first time!
Lenna: Wait...was I...?
Krile: Why did that monster had to show your lady parts...?
Gilgamesh: ...Oh, frabjous day! Kahloo, kallay!
*Gilgamesh whistles at Melusine*
Lenna: Gilgamesh! Control yourself!
Gilgamesh: Don't you realize this is the only moment I can see you naked, Princess!?
Faris: Still thy tongue, or ye shall walk th' plank straight inna acid tank!
Lenna: Stop being a pervert! There's kids around!
Krile: Lenna, I already saw your body parts. Everyone saw them. Even Bartz.
*Bartz turns shy*
Lenna: ...Bartz, even you...? Wait...those serpents...around my naked body... KILL IT! KILL IT WITH FIRE!
Bartz: Fortunately we came prepared for it, right Gil?
Gilgamesh: You don't have to say it twice!
Lenna: You...aren't serious, right?
Faris: Actually, sis...'tis a strategy of th' fiend.
Melusine: You will fall victim to my wiles! And...when I take care of you...I will use that body and escape this story... I will not die like last time!
Gilgamesh: Crud, she's self-aware! This is the last time we pay attention to master Cid. "I'll spare some orbs from my personal collection", my bum! I, Gilgamesh, shall exorcise you down!
Lenna: ...You may be a jester, but your heart's in the right place...
Gilgamesh: How was my Garland impression? Say, he's late to the party - might be Rift traffic.
Faris: No time t' dawdle! We be under attack, mateys!
*Faris attacks with Magic Breakdown*
Gilgamesh: Krile! Summon our aid while we incinerate the serpents! Bartz! Get ready!
Bartz: Yes!
Krile: Alright...but I expect Dr. Mog's strategy to work... Hey, Garnet, can you help us a little bit here?
Alt!Garnet: If my service helps...I will... Come, Mighty Alexander! Protect us with your wings!
*Alexander uses Divine Guardian*
Lenna: O shielding Light! Ward us from foul magics! Shellga!
*Lenna casts Shellga*
Melusine: Your White Magic will not protect you from my attacks! You will see your friends fall before me!
*Melusine attacks Bartz*
Bartz: Ouch! Princess, don't worry! I'll deal with her! Just keep on with your heals!
Lenna: Right!
Gilgamesh: Hey! Sexy mama! I learned a little trick from a friend - let's see what happens when your magic becomes worthless!
*Gilgamesh uses Magic Lure*
Bartz: Mighty flames! Burn away the flesh and soul of my enemy with your primal energy! Firaga!
*Bartz casts Firaga*
Bartz: To my blade! Firaga! Strike!
*Bartz attacks with Firaga Strike*
Melusine: *imitating Lenna's voice* Ah! It hurts!
Lenna: Bad copy of my voice. You can't even do that right.
Krile: Besides, we know that you're taking all the blows!
*Melusine glances at Krile*
Krile: ...Oops!
*Krile defends!*
Faris: Krile, when ye decide t' act, this will help ye! Foul desecrator of me sister's body! Try t' follow me steps!
*Faris dances a Stumbling Step*
Melusine: Your dances will not be of utility!
Faris: We shall see about that...
Gilgamesh: Feel the burning power of my spirit! Ougi! Hanahomura!
*Gilgamesh attacks with Fire Blossom*
Melusine: Aaaah! The flames! They burn!
Gilgamesh: The searing hot flames of my blade will cleanse you...
Krile: Stop acting like you're cool. You're not, Gil.
Gilgamesh: ...what, can't a man just try to be cool?
Melusine: I will make you regret this!
*Melusine casts Thundaga*
Gilgamesh: Ooh! Sparky! But not shocking enough!
Lenna: Oh...who to heal... I think I know... O Soothing Light, seal the wounds of my ally, so that they may continue forth! Curaga!
*Lenna casts Curaga*
Bartz: ...Hey, thanks! I'll return that favor, but I hope this won't hurt you...
*Bartz hits with another Firaga Strike*
Krile: ...Aaanytime now...
Faris: I won't wait! Taste my arrows, you fiend!
*Faris attacks*
Gilgamesh: Ready for another round!
Bartz: Hmm...something seems to be changing...
*Bartz defends*
Gilgamesh: I will burn you once again with the flames of my spirit! Take...
*Melusine casts Blizzaga*
Everyone: OUCH!
Faris: ...Even reducing her Magic and with all these mitigations, she hits hard!
Gilgamesh: Then we will strike faster!
*Melusine's magical barrier is changing*
Krile: Gil!
Bartz: Stay your blade! You're gonna...
*Air starts to heat around Melusine!*
Gilgamesh: ...THIS!
*Gilgamesh attacks with Fire Blossom*
*Melusine absorbs the attack*
Melusine: AAHAHAAAHAAAHAAAA!!
Krile: Moron.
Lenna: Idiot.
Faris: Fool.
Gilgamesh: Gaaah! Why didn't you stop me!?
Bartz: I TOLD you...!
*Lenna casts Curaga on Faris*
Krile: Well, my turn has come! And, like last time, I learned a little trick... Freezing winds! Bring with your howl the death of all heat! Blizzaja!
*Krile casts Blizzaja*
Krile: DoubledoubletoilandtroubledoubleBlizzajaGO!
*Krile casts Blizzaja AGAIN!*
Melusine: GYAAAAAA!!
Lenna: Dualcasting!
Krile: It pays to master Red Magic! Though, I have to thank miss Terra for that. I almost don't regret being in the Nursery. Almost.
Faris: I may not have a defined strategy, but my arrows will fly true! Take this!
*Faris attacks*
Bartz: Well...I DO have a strategy! Chilling winds! Condense into crystal blades to pierce my enemy's flesh! Blizzara!
*Bartz casts Blizzara*
Bartz: Condense into my blade! Blizzara! Strike!
*Bartz attacks with Blizzara Strike*
Melusine: You seem to have me well-studied... You don't fear my power... I will make you fear my power...
*Melusine casts Firaga*
*Gilgamesh intercepts the spell!*
Gilgamesh: Not on MY watch, hot stuff!
Lenna: ...Can't you just keep it to a minimum, Gil? It's a demon possessing my body you're talking about! I feel sick just hearing that, and then you have to add a pun to it!
Gilgamesh: ...Pun not intended? Anyways...this may not be the strongest of blades, but it will strike true nonetheless! Take...this!
*Gilgamesh attacks with Genji Blade*
Lenna: ...just take this...
*Lenna smack-heals Gil!*
Gilgamesh: Oi! Mind your manners...hey, I feel better!
Lenna: ...This is actually therapeutical! I should do this more often!
Krile: Ready...?
Bartz: Ready and willing! ...For what, exactly?
Krile: I have an idea. Master Vivi taught it to me. Instead of enchanting the spell yourself...why not...?
Bartz: Ah, as sir Steiner and master Vivi do? Alright...I can do that.
*Krile casts Blizzaja*
Bartz: Deathly frost! Into my blade!
*Bartz delivers Blizzaja through his blade!*
Krile: And that's not enough!
*Krile attacks with ANOTHER Blizzaja*
Krile: Piece of cake!
Melusine: I'll be the judge of that!
*Melusine casts Thundaga*
*Gil intercepts!*
Gilgamesh: Nope! Denied! ...Though, that one starts to feel kinda strong...
Faris: Time t' deliver another dose!
*Faris attacks with Magic Breakdown*
Lenna: Krile! Remember what happened last time!
Krile: You think I don't know?
*Krile defends*
Lenna: Well thought!
*Lenna defends*
Gilgamesh: I prefer constant offense, but I know when to hide upon my superior defense!
*Gilgamesh defends*
Faris: Ye mean hidin' like th' coward ye are!?
*Faris defends*
Melusine: Shielding against my attack won't help! Face my ultimate power!
*Melusine casts Firaga on everybody!*
Everybody: OOF!
Gilgamesh: Close call!
Faris: ...But not enough to defeat us!
*Melusine's magical barrier is changing!*
Krile: Let's see what she'll try to protect herself from!
*Hot and cold winds swirl around Melusine!*
Krile: Jackpot! Roar, mighty lightning! From the sky, shatter the land with your destructive power! Thundaja!
*Krile casts Thundaja*
Krile: DoubledoubletoilandtroubleDoubleThundajaGoGOGO!!
*Krile casts Thundaja AGAIN!*
Melusine: NO! Am I too predictable!?
Krile: Like clockwork!
Gilgamesh: And while I'm here, you can predict where your spells will land! Right...here!
*Gilgamesh refreshes Magic Lure*
Lenna: And that's not the only thing we'll refresh!
*Lenna refreshes Shellga*
Faris: Good! Bartz, funnel your magic upon your blade and finish her!
Bartz: Erm...
Lenna: You don't tell me...
Bartz: ...I didn't brought a scroll of any Thunder spell with me.
Lenna: You MORON!
Krile: You IDIOT!
Faris: Ye FOOL!
Gilgamesh: I'm not the only dunce!
Bartz: ...That was a low blow, Gil.
Lenna: Besides, he forgot. That can happen to us. He didn't blow his reserves on healing the monster, after all...
Gilgamesh: ...You're still bum-hurt about seeing your lady parts, right?
Melusine: What, these parts?
*Melusine flashes her lady parts on Gilgamesh*
Gilgamesh: Ah! I have been blinded by the most wonderful sight! Don't chastise me as such, you fiendish nymph!
Lenna: Why...you...!
Bartz: ...Why didn't she flash me like that...?
Lenna: Bartz! You too!
Faris: Typical o' men.
Krile: That's why I'll be forever single!
Faris: ...until somebody like master Tyro comes along, aye?
Krile: ...and I won't let that hussy of Rydia steal it from me!
Lenna: Krile! Language!
Krile: I'm sick and tired of people telling things about my language! I speak as I want to! I'm a grown woman!
Faris: Kid, swearin' like a pirate be an art; 'tis not something ye merely say. Requires some creativity from y'r part.
Gilgamesh: ...Gotcha! I'm not blinded at all, though the sweet image will forever be etched on my memory!
*Bartz attacks with Rune Axe*
*Gilgamesh follows up with another attack*
*Lenna bash-heals with her Healing Staff*
Bartz: OW! What's that for?
Lenna: Therapy. And you deserve it for being such an ungentlemanly person!
Bartz: Well...excuuuse me, Princess!
Gilgamesh: You know, the guy that said that had a blue tunic as its best armor, plus the one that allowed him to breathe underwater.
Melusine: Ugh...the feelings she harbors for you... They swell upon me, making me vomit!
Lenna: You...! (Why does she have to reveal them...?)
*Faris attacks*
Melusine: This is going nowhere! I will end this, one way or another!
*Melusine casts Blizzaga*
*Gil intercepts it!*
Gilgamesh: Cool move, but not enough to quell our burning spirits!
Krile: What a shock!
*Krile doublecasts Thundaja*
Faris: Even ye, Krile? 'Twill be but time before I jest like Gilgamesh!
Gilgamesh: Join the group! We have cookies!
Melusine: Silence! Enough of your jokes, and your double entendres, and your "camaraderie"! I will teach you I'm not predictable!
*Everybody defends*
Melusine: Have at ya!
*Melusine casts Thundaga on everyone*
Everyone: Gggh!
Faris: Damn...I'm feeling that one! Everyone, get ready!
Krile: Let's see what her barrier will change towards!
*Melusine's barrier dissipates!*
Krile: Um...I wasn't expecting that.
Melusine: How about THAT!
Faris: How about THIS!?
*Faris attacks with Magic Breakdown*
Faris: ...It seems the wound has grown deeper! Everyone! Focus on dealing physical attacks!
Gilgamesh: Ha! My specialty!
*Gilgamesh attacks*
Melusine: It hardly hurt!
*Bartz smacks Melusine with a Shield Toss*
Melusine: Where did THAT came from!?
Gilgamesh: Now you're stealing the moves from Captain America? You're bold, Bartz! ...Gotta get into my A-game if I want to defeat you eventually...
Bartz: Now, try to take me out!
Melusine: Graah!
*Melusine slaps Bartz*
Bartz: That didn't hurt! ...As much. Ow.
Lenna: Bartz!
*Lenna casts Curaga on Bartz*
Krile: Ugh. Not my cup of tea. I'll pass.
*Krile defends*
Melusine: ...I will not be defeated by the likes of you!
Gilgamesh: ...And with that, you've said the 5th cliched saying a villain does when fighting the heroes. Really; you're predictable lady. Or demon. Whatever you are.
Melusine: Then, I shall make use of my other weapon!
Gilgamesh: We're ready for everything. Give it your best shot!
*Melusine entices Bartz*
Bartz: Wh-whaaaa...oh, humina, humina.
Faris: ...Men.
Melusine: *mimicking Lenna's voice* My dear Bartz, wouldn't you be a dear and dispose of those impostors for me? They are causing me SO much trouble...
Bartz: Yes, ma'am.
Lenna: You fall so badly to her charm? I oughta...
*Melusine reactivates her barrier*
*Bartz attacks Gilgamesh!*
Gilgamesh: Hey! I know we have some loose ends we have to deal with, but now's not the time!
Krile: Her barrier is once again active! I dunno what spell to cast now!
Melusine: A-hahaha! The tables have turned, heroes!
Gilgamesh: That makes it six. I mean, when I was a villain, I did quirky taunts. Didn't have to rely on the old book of insults.
Faris: Trust y'r instincts, kiddo! She be desperate f'r a victory!
Krile: I'll...hold back and see what spell works best!
*Krile casts Blizzaja*
*Melusine absorbs it!*
Melusine: That was...refreshing.
Gilgamesh: That's the spirit! That works!
Faris: Ye know we shouldn't praise the villain, do ye, Gilgamesh?
Gilgamesh: But...but...I praised you!
Faris: And now, you're making us look bad.
Lenna: Bartz...I know this is gonna hurt, but...
Bartz: Kill...imposter...
Lenna: This is for your own good! I'm sorry!
*Lenna whams Bartz with her Healing Staff*
Bartz: Whuuuuh...kill...imposter...
Melusine: Nice try, sister, but you're nowhere near as charming.
Faris: Ye have no right t' talk to me sister that way, ye pox-ridden fiend!
Lenna: I think you're wrong. Bartz...
Bartz: Kill...kill...Lenna...needs...me...
Lenna: If you don't respond to this, I'll kill you myself.
*Lenna briefly lifts her robe to show her sweet legs and nice breasts!*
Bartz: Wh-what!? What was that!?
Melusine: But...how! How could you do it!?
Lenna: You forgot that you're using a body that's not yours! And I also know how to seduce men! I just...don't like to use my charms that much. Crystals, I feel dirty...
Krile: Maybe if I use THIS!
*Krile casts Thundaga*
*Melusine absorbs it!*
Melusine: Ooo, that makes me fill jittery!
Gilgamesh: That leaves only one thing. You OK, Bartz?
Bartz: Yeah! Though...why does my head hurt...?
Gilgamesh: Don't worry about that! Let's get ready for this! On my mark...!
Bartz: Um...what you're planning...?
Gilgamesh: Get set...oh, just burn her with your attack.
Bartz: Hold on!
Gilgamesh: Go!
*Gilgamesh attacks with Fire Blossom*
Bartz: I told you to stop!
*Bartz attacks with Firaga Strike*
Melusine: KYAAAAH! My flesh, it burns!
*Melusine's magical barrier is changing!*
Krile: I think I know what to use...
*Krile doublecasts Thundaja*
Melusine: Curses!
*Melusine's magical barrier changes involuntarily!*
Faris: Now, while she's distracted!
*Faris dances a Stumble Step*
Krile: No rest for the wicked! ...And that means you, you icky snake thing that's showing Lenna's lady parts!
*Krile casts Blizzaja*
*Bartz attacks with Blizzara Strike*
Melusine: Stop! STOP!
*Melusine's barrier shatters!*
Gilgamesh: Now's our time! Enkiduuuu!!
Enkidu: Brooooo!!
Gilgamesh: ENKIDUUUUU!!!
Enkidu: BROOOOOO!!!
*Gilgamesh uses Faithful Companion*
Gilgamesh: Take that! And that! And one more time! Thanks for the lift, bro!
Enkidu: Anytime, bro!
Gilgamesh: ...Hey, Enkidu, don't take my TransRifter 3000 with you!
Enkidu: Wh...whaddya say, bro!? I don't have it with me!
*Enkidu disappears*
Gilgamesh: Darn!
Faris: Don't worry, Gil...'tis in good hands!
*Faris shows the TransRifter 3000*
Gilgamesh: What manner of thing you're planning to do with my TransRifter!?
Faris: A little trick I learned not long ago! Hey, boys! Cannons to starboard! Fire, fire!
*Faris commands the Sea Lord to fire all her cannons*
Melusine: NGGH! GUUH!! GAAAH!
Lenna: And now, for the grand finale...!
*Lenna grabs Melusine by the neck*
Lenna: GET OUT OF MY BODY AND NEVER COME BACK!
*Lenna smacks Melusine with the Healing Staff*
*The spirit escapes the body*
Melusine: ...Big mistake.
Lenna: ...Or unexpected strategy.
Melusine: ...Eh!?
Krile: Remember who weakened you? Time for him to show you who's boss!
*Krile summons the Wind Drake*
*Wind Drake attacks*
Melusine: NOOOO! And on my moment of triumph!
Gilgamesh: That's what that guy said when the Death Star blew up!
*Melusine disintegrates!*
Krile: Yay! We won, we won!
Faris: 'Twas expected. Could've done it without Gil, even!
Gilgamesh: Ah, you know I contributed to our victory!
Bartz: I...can't believe it! We're that strong!?
Lenna: Maybe more than that...
Another!Lenna: Uh...what's happening...? Bartz? Krile? Faris?
Faris: Ye be fine now, sweetheart.
Another!Lenna: Sister!
Gilgamesh: Hey, I'm also here!
Another!Lenna: Gilgamesh! But...how?
Gilgamesh: Well, I was sent to the Void, after all.
Another!Lenna: ...You're right. And...who may you be, miss?
Faris: Well...'tis a long story.
Bartz: You see...she is...
Gilgamesh: A nice White Mage that followed us! Yeah. And one that has a terrible allergy to other people's skin, so don't try to touch her - she might disintegrate or something. And you can trust me; I'm a specialist in Dimensional Rifts!
Another!Lenna: ...I don't understand what you say, but...I thank you. Come - we must continue our adventure. If we don't stop it, Exdeath will destroy our world!
Faris: Sis...ye need some rest. As all of us. Here - place th' tent. Sleep tight.
Another!Lenna: ...Yeah. I must. But...I will give you a special gift. Here, miss...my earrings.
Lenna: ...I thought I had lost them!
Another!Lenna: Come again?
Lenna: Um...ehehe, I thought they were mine; they just looked like mine. So...thanks?
Another!Lenna: Yeah. That'll do. Let's rest, guys - we must be ready for all other fights.
Krile: *whispers* And just in time. Our counterparts are getting near. We must go.
Faris: Alright...get some sleep, girl. We be readying our tents soon.
*Another!Lenna falls asleep*
Gilgamesh: *loudly whispering* Time to spirit us out of here! Quick!

-- Royal Academy, Cid's Laboratory --

Cid: ...And here you thought they couldn't do it.
Dr. Mog: With proper strategy, and the right synergy, they can achieve great things!
Tyro: Wow, that's impressive! But...aren't Lenna and Gilgamesh part of the main team, or at least they were? And, didn't Krile and Faris had their unique weapons? And didn't Gilgamesh use Enkidu to his aid?
Cid: All of them are viable strategies.
Tyro: We're not that lucky on other realms, you know. Only that realm's Leviathan remains.
Cid: Let them achieve another victory. I trust in them. Which reminds me...I'm a man of my word...

Ultimate mastered, and with a realm-based team too!

It was mostly the will of the RNG, but I managed to beat Melusine with a full V team! Sure, Gilgamesh and Lenna were part of the A-team, and Faris' Sea Lord's Broadside did wonders, and I almost kicked the bucket, but I managed to did it nonetheless!

Krile, level 65; Magus Rod, Diamond Shield (V), Cursed Ring; Blizzaja R3, Thundaja R3; Blood of Espers
Gilgamesh, lv. 75; Genji Blade, Crystal Armor (V), Gigas Armlet; Fire Blossom R2, Magic Lure R2; Holy Blade
Faris, lv. 57; Yoichi's Bow, Luminous Robe (V), Fateful Coin; Magic Breakdown R3, Stumble Step R2; Master Archer
Bartz, lv. 54; Giant's Axe (V), Genji Helm, Cowl of Gilgamesh; Firaga Strike R2, Blizzara Strike R4; Attunement II
Lenna, lv. 70; Healing Staff, Luminous Robe (IV), Touph Ring; Curaja R5, Shellga R2; Healer
RW: Garnet (Divine Guardian)

The big thing here was Krile dealing heavy damage with Blizzaja and Thundaja (around 8.3k, which turned into 9.6k with Stumble Step), and the nice proc chance of Blood of Espers which allowed some pretty heavy damage. Magic Lure + Gigas Armlet made the battle much, much easier, and all I needed was to keep Magic Breakdown active. Lenna healed most of the time, but since heavy Regen was active, Mass Regen was unnecessary. Gil used Fire Blossom when Melusine was weak against Fire, and attacked normally otherwise. Nailed Faithful Companion AND Sea Lord's Broadside when Melusine went weak against Physical, but that was the least amount of damage (Gil did much, much more than Faris, that's for sure: 2.9k per 3 hits vs. 1.4k per 4 hits). Divine Guardian ran out at the very end, but between a Wind Drake's Roar and a Magic Breakdown, I managed to win.

Also, did the Healing Draw...got two 3* and one 4*. Not that I was expecting anything, anyways.

[danzibr]

Grats on the victory, Thunder God! That's a big victory, too. I've never done a U/U+ CM.

I was thinking more about the upcoming abilities and banners. It's interesting one pull can change your A-team. Right now I begin the mythril hoarding process (already up to ~80!). Should be able to do a good few 11-pulls by the time we get guaranteed 5*'s, assuming we get them the same time as JP, 9 events from now.

So... looking at relics after that, Kain's one of my all-time favorites. If I get his BSB relic, looks like it's Lance of Abel or something, then it becomes top priority to get him to 80 and hone Lightning Jump. Instant spot on A-team.

Just using Kain as an example though. Get a BSB with en-whatever for at least a mediocre character, suddenly that mediocre character becomes rock solid. Get them to max level, invest in RD, hone the appropriate ability/abilities, bam, spot on A-team (barring elemental resist/immunity/absorb). Assuming they can actually use 2 good abilities.

EDIT: Oh, and am I the only one who doesn't get the point of OSB's? What's the difference between doing 50k damage in one hit and doing 10k damage per hit for 5 hits?

[Red Fel]

Okay, yeah, last night's medica banner came out of nowhere. So let's talk about that.

First, a bit of background. At some point in the future, people have been anticipating what was called W-BSB ("Double" BSB) fest in JP - a series of thematic BSB and SSB banners. Thematic, in the sense that each banner followed themes (Samurai, Monk, Dragoon) rather than series. In addition to the banners in the fest, one of them was this one - a healer banner. "Double" doesn't refer to the fact that you have an increased chance - you don't - but rather to the quantity of BSB and SSB relics. There were no featured SB relics at all, only BSB and SSBs. For whatever reason, they decided to drop the medica banner on us now. None of these are BSBs, but they're all SSBs, which means they're still pretty darn potent.

The banner itself features:
Healing Staff: Minwu's staff. Plus side, instant-cast. Minus side, II-synergy is virtually never required.
Seraphim Mace: Porom's staff. Plus side, Hastega, and IV-synergy isn't uncommon. (But note that our next IV event is pretty far off.)
Chocobo Brush: Relm's rod. Plus side, Regenga, and VI-synergy isn't uncommon. (In fact, we have a VI event shortly after W-fest.)
Crescent Wish: Selphie's rod. Plus side, Magic Blink.
Holy Rod: Penelo's rod. Plus side, 3-hit single-target 4x Holy WHT damage, and the item also increases Holy damage dealt. (And a XII event is coming after the upcoming IX event.)
Physician's Staff: Vanille's staff. Plus side, ability use restore. (We also have a XIII event coming within a month or so.)
So, should you pull? Well, these are very strong medicas with generally good rider effects. Hastega, Regenga, and Magic Blink are particularly worthy of note. Even aside from them, however, any of these is a potent relic. With synergy, you're looking at as much as 4500 HP healed at level 80. (Less without.)

That said, if you have a reliable medica, they're less valuable. And the W-fest itself is coming at some point. Further, some of these have an upcoming recurrence. From my check, Vanille's staff is expected to return in the soon-to-come XIII event; Relm's rod comes back in a later VI event; Minwu's staff shows up after that in a II event, and Penelo's rod right afterwards in a XII event; Porom's staff also shows up in a (much, much) later IV event. So if you choose to save your mythril, you won't be missing out. (On those. I'm not sure about the recurrence on Selphie's.)

Depending on how lucky I feel, I may do a pull, but I doubt I'd throw away a full 50 on this banner. There's no BSB, no Platinum Sword-level own this to win the game. These relics are good; medicas are good generally, and these are strong medicas. But the power creep keeps on creeping, as it were, and I'm not feeling overly compelled.

On the subject of events, tomorrow night marks the start of an event, so I'm gonna lay it on you. It's Show of Resolve, an IX event featuring Zidane, Freya, and Queen Bea, MCs for all three plus Garnet, MC2s for Freya, Amaranth, and Quina, Record Dives for Zidane and Garnet, and Garnet's new wardrobe. A haircut. She gets a haircut.

Skipping to the banners, the first features:
The Ogre: Zidane's BSB sword. Pure Attack. 6-hit AoE 0.98x ranged Wind PHY damage, Imperil Wind; Mug Power, Mug Defense.
Dagger of Resolve: Garnet's BSB dagger. Attack, Magic, and Mind. 3-hit AoE 4.75x Lightning/Holy SUM damage; Curaga + Esuna (or Holy damage), 2-hit AoE 4x Lightning/Holy SUM damage.
Dragon Knight Greatcoat: Freya's SSB light armor. Attack, Defense, and Resistance. 3-hit AoE 1.95x ranged Wind PHY damage, Quickened Jumps 3.
Bistro Fork: Quina's SB spear. Attack and Magic. Hand of the Emperor. Item may cause Sleep.
Thunder Glove: Beatrix's SB bracer. Attack, Magic, Mind, Defense, and Resistance. 4-hit single-target 1.29x PHY damage, boost party Def. Item resists Lightning.
Ultima Sword: Steiner's SB sword. Pure Attack. 3-hit AoE 1.37x PHY damage, chance to Paralyze. Item may cause Sleep.
The second banner features:
Ragnarok: Beatrix's SSB sword. Attack and Mind. 8-hit single-target 0.95x PHY damage, party Magic Blink.
Excalibur: Steiner's SSB sword. Pure Attack. 5-hit AoE 1.4x PHY damage, deals damage as Armor Strike. Item increases Holy damage.
Fairy Flute: Eiko's SSB instrument. Attack, Magic, and Mind. Medica + Reraise.
Partisan: Freya's SB spear. Pure Attack. 5-hit single-target 1.03x Jump PHY damage, -Def/-Res.
Kuja's Glove: Kuja's SB bracer. Attack, Magic, Mind, Defense, and Resistance. 4-hit AoE 2.35x Dark BLK damage, En-Dark.
Dragon Claw: Amarant's SB fist. Pure Attack. 3-hit AoE 1.39x PHY damage, Boostga.
The common items are Red Hat (shared-SB hat, Rallying Etude, +Fire damage) and Gauntlet (stat-stick bracer).

Should you pull? Most of them are decent, if not amazing. And there are some solid stat-sticks, like Kuja's Gloves. Of note is the fact that Garnet's BSB has no immediately anticipated recurrence - if you want her massive source of Lightning/Holy damage, this is your shot at it. This also means that if you plan to whale on this banner, you might not want to blow it all on the medica banner.

Bonus battles!
+: Boss Rush. Bring Wind damage. Victory gets you orbs, motes, and Freya's MC2.
Amdusias: Medals for Wind damage and not being KO'd. He uses a mix of physical and magical attacks. (Only physical in the "air," but you can still hit with regular melee while he's airborne.) He's also susceptible to Stun.
Abadon: Medals for Wind damage and not being KO'd. Physical and magical attacks. He's also susceptible to Stun.
++: Shell Dragon. Medals for Ice damage, reducing Mag, and not being KO'd. Physical and magical damage, but not too scary. Susceptible to Stun. Exploit weakness and destroy him. Victory gets you orbs, motes, Quina's MC2, and Amarant's MC2.
+++: Silver Dragon. Medals for reducing Atk, for reducing Mag, and for not being KO'd. He deals mostly physical damage, and is susceptible to Stun. He nulls Earth/Water, and has no elemental weaknesses, but he's not nearly as vicious as his Ult form was back in the day. Victory gets you orbs, motes, a Rosetta Stone, and an Empty MC2.
And to look forward to: The Ult is a three-part boss again, so yay. The U+ is understandably vicious.

Happy hunting.

EDIT: So I decided to do a 3-pull on the medica banner. I saw one silver ball and two rainbow balls. I got a bit stoked. Then the first 5-star turned out to be an off-banner stat-stick hat, Priest's Miter (VI). Nice, has instant KO resist, but meh.

The other one was Physician's Staff. Not only is it a very good medica, it's also an ability restore, which is something I lack. So I'm pretty happy right now.

... And then I realized that I had Vanille's Oerba's Boon SB. And while the Physician's Staff gives a much stronger medica, the overlap somewhat dampens my happy.

[SuperPanda]

Re: OSB

My limited understanding (I don't have a JP account) is that when mastered they grant the character overflow on all attacks.

Example: when Ultimate Rubicant was released my Rydia was doing damage cap with Blizzaga (not Ja). If she'd had overflow then each cast of Blizzaja might have hit for 1,4x damage cap. My Cliud has blade beam and consistently smacks the Damage cap with planet protector wherever that is possible. My Zack has rush assault (8 weak hits).

Blade beam ~ 25,000 - 30,000 depending on buffs/rebuffs
Rush assault ~ 16,000 - 40,000 (I've hit some bosses for almost 5k a hit with armor breakdown, full break, and planet protector). - without overflow Zack has the higher potential damage on a "worse SB because of powerful synergy/buff stacking. With the overflow buff Cloud would be better hands down - of course this is made silly when you realize that for SBs, the new one is better, but on ability uses -

Cecil can smack many not vulderable bosses with saint's cross for 7,000 per hit with his Shout, BSB, enholy, and platinum shield. Vulderable that could be 14,000 per hit if Cecil has overflow.

Other than that it feels really go to see obnoxiously if numbers :)

[Calemyr]

So we skipped Shantotto? I am sad.

[danzibr]

Re: OSB

My limited understanding (I don't have a JP account) is that when mastered they grant the character overflow on all attacks.

Example: when Ultimate Rubicant was released my Rydia was doing damage cap with Blizzaga (not Ja). If she'd had overflow then each cast of Blizzaja might have hit for 1,4x damage cap. My Cliud has blade beam and consistently smacks the Damage cap with planet protector wherever that is possible. My Zack has rush assault (8 weak hits).

Blade beam ~ 25,000 - 30,000 depending on buffs/rebuffs
Rush assault ~ 16,000 - 40,000 (I've hit some bosses for almost 5k a hit with armor breakdown, full break, and planet protector). - without overflow Zack has the higher potential damage on a "worse SB because of powerful synergy/buff stacking. With the overflow buff Cloud would be better hands down - of course this is made silly when you realize that for SBs, the new one is better, but on ability uses -

Cecil can smack many not vulderable bosses with saint's cross for 7,000 per hit with his Shout, BSB, enholy, and platinum shield. Vulderable that could be 14,000 per hit if Cecil has overflow.

Other than that it feels really go to see obnoxiously if numbers :)
Whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuut. That's utterly nuts.

[Greg_S]

Oh, and am I the only one who doesn't get the point of OSB's? What's the difference between doing 50k damage in one hit and doing 10k damage per hit for 5 hits?

OSBs are more powerful than SSBs. The strongest SSB physical multiplier we've seen in Global is Dark Cecil's Shadowbringer, at 9.18/6, and that carries a nasty kickback. The weakest OSB physical multiplier is Bartz' 10, which is lower by virtue of it being Fire/Wind/Water/Earth Elemental. Most physical OSBs have a 12x multiplier, which is 1.5 the usual 8x for single-target SSBs.

Magical OSBs are even more stark when compared to SSBs. Terra's Magitek Missile hits for 18/10 hits. Her OSB, Burning Flame, is 40/1.

Most OSBs so far have the added benefit of an elemental affiliation, and characters usually get an en-element SB before they get an OSB. In the next FF6 event, Terra gets her Tiara, which gives her an en-fire SB. Use her OSB while enfired, and you're now hitting with a 72x multiplier. That's 8 -ja spells or 4 SSBs. The only non-elemental one so far is Gilgamesh's.

OSBs only break the damage cap on the skill itself. They don't let regular skills break the damage cap. I've mastered Hope's OSB, but a -ja spell still caps at 9999, so it doesn't obsolete the chain -gas or summons which multi-hit.

Lastly, one comment on FFIX banner 1: If you run Dagger as a summoner and don't have DG, then her BSB is quite nice. It lets her double as a healer with a curaja command, and the other attack command is summon-typed, so it can bypass some AI counters. If you're using her as a healer, though, the curaja is redundant and you likely won't have the free turns to use the nuke. The weapon itself is probably the best stat stick for ninja mages. It's got a high magic stat and inherent lightning damage + for all your swift bolting needs.

[danzibr]

OSBs are more powerful than SSBs. The strongest SSB physical multiplier we've seen in Global is Dark Cecil's Shadowbringer, at 9.18/6, and that carries a nasty kickback. The weakest OSB physical multiplier is Bartz' 10, which is lower by virtue of it being Fire/Wind/Water/Earth Elemental. Most physical OSBs have a 12x multiplier, which is 1.5 the usual 8x for single-target SSBs.

Magical OSBs are even more stark when compared to SSBs. Terra's Magitek Missile hits for 18/10 hits. Her OSB, Burning Flame, is 40/1.

Most OSBs so far have the added benefit of an elemental affiliation, and characters usually get an en-element SB before they get an OSB. In the next FF6 event, Terra gets her Tiara, which gives her an en-fire SB. Use her OSB while enfired, and you're now hitting with a 72x multiplier. That's 8 -ja spells or 4 SSBs. The only non-elemental one so far is Gilgamesh's.

OSBs only break the damage cap on the skill itself. They don't let regular skills break the damage cap. I've mastered Hope's OSB, but a -ja spell still caps at 9999, so it doesn't obsolete the chain -gas or summons which multi-hit.

Lastly, one comment on FFIX banner 1: If you run Dagger as a summoner and don't have DG, then her BSB is quite nice. It lets her double as a healer with a curaja command, and the other attack command is summon-typed, so it can bypass some AI counters. If you're using her as a healer, though, the curaja is redundant and you likely won't have the free turns to use the nuke. The weapon itself is probably the best stat stick for ninja mages. It's got a high magic stat and inherent lightning damage + for all your swift bolting needs.
Ahh I see. Thanks! So just... butt loads of damage.

Which is totally cool. I like it, the next tier. Just saying SSB's had the new mechanic of stat gains, BSB's had burst mode, and OSB's don't have any new mechanics, just butt loads of damage. Which again, totally cool.

[Jurai]

http://imgur.com/gallery/T19Iz

I did the Cid's Mission for Melusine, but not for Leviathan. Both were Mastered.

[danzibr]

http://imgur.com/gallery/T19Iz

I did the Cid's Mission for Melusine, but not for Leviathan. Both were Mastered.
Grats!

Hey I hear Orbfest is in August. Any idea when?

[Jurai]

Also finished the Nightmare Gatekeepers today, too. Probably going to hold off on this Nightmare boss until I get some more Support 5 relics. Kinda hoping for Garnet's new Dagger and Quina's Needle Fork in tonight's banner.

[Red Fel]

Event is up, and banner is up!

I decided to do a 3-pull. Hey, twice the chance at a BSB, right?

First ball, silver. Second ball, gold. Third ball, rainbow...

Roger me sideways with a poleaxe. I got the Dagger of Resolve. Garnet's not-foreseen-to-recur BSB. My first BSB.

I don't have words right now. Just an inarticulate and shrill squeal of indescribable glee.

[Morbis Meh]

Event is up, and banner is up!

I decided to do a 3-pull. Hey, twice the chance at a BSB, right?

First ball, silver. Second ball, gold. Third ball, rainbow...

Roger me sideways with a poleaxe. I got the Dagger of Resolve. Garnet's not-foreseen-to-recur BSB. My first BSB.

I don't have words right now. Just an inarticulate and shrill squeal of indescribable glee.

Congrats... did 2x 11 pulls because my 9 synergy is terrible... Got 4 rainbows in total: Red Hat (meh), Beatrix's gauntlet (better than nothing), Steiner's sword (stock break is alrightish) and a FFVIII weapon which is not too bad so meh

I splurged my horde but hey I can get another 50 in time for the FFT event and another 50 for the FFV event which are the two I am looking forward to.

Edit: btw is Steiner any good?

[Red Fel]

Congrats... did 2x 11 pulls because my 9 synergy is terrible... Got 4 rainbows in total: Red Hat (meh), Beatrix's gauntlet (better than nothing), Steiner's sword (stock break is alrightish) and a FFVIII weapon which is not too bad so meh

Actually, Beatrix's bracer is pretty great. It manages to remain one of my top bits of gear even without realm synergy; anytime I decide to go attack-focused, it's one of my best pieces. The Red Hat is also really nice, if you don't have a source of Boostga. And since it's a shared-SB item, it can go on pretty much anybody in pretty much any realm. (Except Exdeath, of course.) So I'd say you did pretty well.


Edit: btw is Steiner any good?

Yes. Knight 5, Combat 5, and Spellblade 4 means that he has a lot of fairly brutal options. His default SB is great for tanking, Thunder Slash is a fantastic SB, and Sword Art Stock Break - which you have - is a very solid attack. In terms of his level 80 stats, he's not the strongest Knight or Spellblade offensively, but he has the fourth-highest Def (after Pencil, Ingus, and Gil) and third-highest HP (after Seifer and DK!Cecil). He's a very big beefy tank, is the point.

[Morbis Meh]

Actually, Beatrix's bracer is pretty great. It manages to remain one of my top bits of gear even without realm synergy; anytime I decide to go attack-focused, it's one of my best pieces. The Red Hat is also really nice, if you don't have a source of Boostga. And since it's a shared-SB item, it can go on pretty much anybody in pretty much any realm. (Except Exdeath, of course.) So I'd say you did pretty well.

Well the hat will be only useful for FFIX cid missions because I have Shout :smallredface: Rose of may should help a lot though and it is another good bracer along with the one for FFIV I picked up.

[Greg_S]

Well the hat will be only useful for FFIX cid missions because I have Shout :smallredface: Rose of may should help a lot though and it is another good bracer along with the one for FFIV I picked up.

The hat has Fire damage up- it's very nice for mages, ninjas, and spellblades.

Dagger of Resolve will recur on the summoning nightmare banner when we get Tritoch, 6 nightmares from now.