Final Fantasy Record Keeper VIII: Whale-ever

[Morbis Meh]

Welcome to the EIGHTH 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 goal is to collect and power up 16-bit versions of characters from Final Fantasy games 1 through XIV, and beyond. You then train up your characters, get equipment for them, acquire abilities, and battle through dungeons that retell the plot of various Final Fantasy games.

If you're only just starting out, it's a game that requires patience but rewards it. Realm Dungeons provide a fixed stream of characters, resources, and challenges, and roughly once per week are supplemented by unique Event Dungeons that highlight a particular game in the franchise. If you've caught up on that, Daily Dungeons provide a rotating smorgasboard of farming opportunities, and the deadly Nightmare Dungeons and Mote Dungeons open periodically for the boldest challengers. While it'll take some time to catch up to long-time players, the rewards from past events recur frequently, and in some ways you're even coming out ahead thanks to the better gear opportunities available nowadays!

Equipment is based off of a lottery powered by the game's free currency (Mythril) or real money (Gems), though these days it's a fairly generous one. The game is completely playable without paying a cent, with a steady stream of opportunities for free-to-play players and gambling addicts alike. And crucially, no characters are trapped behind a paywall. It's a game that's simple enough to pick up and enjoy, but with tons of ongoing content and challenges to keep you playing and Final Fantasy nostalgia packed into every bit.

Happy hunting!

danzibr: b5bU
Greg_S: fr4D
Maryring: SfTe
Merlin the Tuna: HdxF
Morbis Meh: Qxp6
Oxybe: Hw6d
Red Fel: ofdd
Slayn82: uEoY
SlyGuyMcFly: Sgv2
spectralphoenix:HwW2
Starwulf: GUtu
SuperPanda: 3Lkv
Hunter Noventa: Bwbo
FFRK Subreddit (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/)
The Great PDF of Overwhelming Knowledge (http://happypluto.com/~misterp/r/ffrk.pdf)
Upcoming Events (http://ffrk.kongbakpao.com/events/)
Oxybe's Spreadsheet of Planning (https://1drv.ms/x/s!AoOrp4z4K0qzg1I2QojwPHC8Iyog)
Skyfire's Record Dive Database (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1SO2Pkju4aufHxdSLtVSo4YaJ3k7sVrcywiaCfglw4SI/edit#gid=1249160093)
Enlir's Database (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16K1Zryyxrh7vdKVF1f7eRrUAOC5wuzvC3q2gFLch6LQ/edit?pref=2&pli=1#gid=344457459)

Final Fantasy Record Keeper VII: Serving Up Whales on a Golden Saucer (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?503623-Final-Fantasy-Record-Keeper-VII-Serving-Up-Whales-on-a-Golden-Saucer)
Final Fantasy Record Keeper VI: I'm No Whale! I'm a RELIC Hunter! (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?495000-Final-Fantasy-Record-Keeper-VI-I-m-no-Whale!-I-m-a-RELIC-Hunter!)
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!)
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 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 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 I (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?415439-Final-Fantasy-Record-Keeper)

[danzibr]

Thanks for starting! For some reason I was thinking Oskar suggested the title, and the honor would go to him.

Oh, and could we get links to all the previous threads? And get the ellipse in the title?

[Morbis Meh]

Thanks for starting! For some reason I was thinking Oskar suggested the title, and the honor would go to him.

Oh, and could we get links to all the previous threads? And get the ellipse in the title?

He did suggest it so my bad if that is the convention, I will add in the previous threads tonight.

[danzibr]

He did suggest it so my bad if that is the convention, I will add in the previous threads tonight.
Not a crisis. You may have angered the resident Thunder God though :P

And looking back... seriously folks, did we only have 3 votes???

[Morbis Meh]

Not a crisis. You may have angered the resident Thunder God though :P

And looking back... seriously folks, did we only have 3 votes???

I will hack the game and transfer Terra's OSB sword to him to appease him for this most grievious transgression...

[SuperPanda]

I will hack the game and transfer Terra's OSB sword to him to appease him for this most grievious transgression...

That would be enough to be forgiven for writing a slash fic shipping the green haired esperkin and he-whose-sword-shall-not-be-used. I think its more than enough for a minor breach in protocol.

Still. New thread! so here's too the new thread tradition of giant status posts:


Ah, the new thread tradition.

Souls: 40 (converting them to eggs but keeping 5 in reserve)
MC1 Lodes: 15 (converting them to eggs but keeping 5 in reserve)
MC2 Lodes: 30 (converting them to eggs but keeping 5 in reserve)
MC3 Lodes: 5 (Still unsure who to spend them on).



99: Tyro, Luneth, Reifa, OK, P.Cecil, Bartz, Terra, Cloud, Garnet, Y'sholta, Ramza
80: 22
70-79: 31
65-69: 65
50-65: 12 (only 2 non-core)
Under 50: All cores so no one cares.


1*: 0
2*: 1151
3*: 992
4*: 824
5*: 120

Egg spending plans: 1)All Realm teams to 80 (when their events come up). 2) Useful "bench warmers" to 80 (when their events come up). 3) New 99s when I decide who. 4)Favored characters not falling into 1 or 2 to 80.

I: WoL, wol, Echo, Sarah, Garland (SSB 4x ST Dark + drain)
II: Firion, Maria, Leon, Gordon, Minwu
III: Reifa (Burst), Luneth (SSB, ST wind +Def), Onion, Arc, Desch (SB self harm, +Atk +Def)
IV: P.Cecil (Burst), Rosa, Rydia (oldSB AoE Ice), Edge (SB AoE Water+Stun), Edward (Honestly I usually bring Kain (SB ST phys drain) for everything but CMs)
V: Bartz (Burst), Faris (Burst,SSB Imperil Wind) Lenna (SB Arise, SB Medica +Regen), Krile, Gilgamesh
VI: Edgar (oldSB AoE Bio), Locke (Burst), Terra (SSB AoE Fire +enfire), Mog (SB regen +Attack), Setzer (SB AoE Fire +%blind)
VII: Tifa (Burst), Zack (SB ST phys damage), Arieth (SB, +Atck, SSB Medica+Reraise), Yuffie (SB Ct0 %medica), Red XII (SB Hastega+Protectga)
VIII: Squall (SSB ST Phys), Edea (SB Hastega+Faith, SSB Ice), Laguna (SSB Imperil Ice), Selphie (SSB Medica +Mblink), Irvine (oldSB Random Target)
IX: Zidane (SSB AoE Steal Power), Garnet (SSB +Res, Haste, Regen; Burst), Eiko (SB AoE Wind Res break, SSB Medica+Reraist, Burst), Beatrix (SB: ST phys +Def), Quina
X: Tidus, Yuna (SSB Medica + HP Stock, SB Medica + Regen), Lulu (SB Focus), Wakka (oldSB wall break), Rikku
XI: oh ho ho ho ho, a team you thought you'd see/ yet the only one is little old me.
XII: Fran (SB Reverse Wall), Penello (SSB ST Holy + Medica), Basch (SB AoE Dark + Taunt, SB +Atk+Def), Ashe (old SB AoE + %Medica), Balthier (oldSB AoE Water, SB Random hit self phys blink)
XIII: Lightning (SB ST +instant cast2, SSB AoE Lightning), Fang (SB ST phys), Sazh (SSB +Regen+Protectga+Faith), Hope, Vanille (Medica+Protectga)
XIV: Y'sholta (Wall, SSB Protectga shellga regen, Burst), Minfila (SSB +Attack + Last Stand), Papalymo (SSB Hastega+Faith+Shortcast), Thancred (SB AoE +slow), Alphinaud (SSB Radian Shield+Atack+Magic, Burst)
T: Ramza (SB Protectga+%Medica), Delita (SB ST + Armor Breakdown), Agrias, Mustadio, Ophelia (Want to switch Delita for Orlandu, likelt to switch Mustadio instead depending on pulls)
XV: ...

A-Teams
Holy: Cecil, Penello, Garnet, Y'sholta, Faris/Tyro
Fire: Locke, Terra, Reifa, Y'sholta/Eiko, Ramza/Tyro
Wind: Alphinaud, Bartz, Luneth, Y'sholta/Eiko, Tyro/Faris
Earth: Tifa, Bartz, Eiko/Y'sholta, Alphinaud, Tyro/Ramza
Magic: Alphinaud, Papalymo, Lulu, Y'sholta, Penelo/Tyro


Dark Matter stores:
1*: 1 (will never be used)
2*: 1 (will never be used)
3*: 3 (unlikely to ever be used)

(After orbfest coverted up to 4* and 5*, only reporting 4, 5, and 6*)

Power:
Greater: 94
Major: 187
Crystal: 46

White:
White orbs (not converted yet): 1508
Greater: 347
Major: 112
Crystal: 19

Black:
Greater: 366
Major: 30
Crystal: 11

Summon:
Greater: 133
Major: 67
Crystal: 13

Non-Elemental:
Greater: 314
Major: 63
Crystal: 23

Fire:
Greater: 120
Major: 107
Crystal: 17

Ice:
Greater: 156
Major: 73
Crystal: 12

Lightning:
Greater: 229
Major: 106
Crystal: 19

Earth:
Greater: 354
Major: 76
Crystal: 15

Wind:
Greater: 251
Major: 116
Crystal: 17

Holy:
Greater: 323
Major: 64
Crystal: 10

Dark:
Greater: 197
Major: 118
Crystal: 16


Motes 3*:
Spirit: 226
Dexterity: 499
Vitality: 236
Wisdom: 94
Bravery: 234

Motes4*:
Spirit: 117
Dexterity: 122
Vitality: 192
Wisdom: 115
Bravery: 188

Motes 5*:
Spellblade: 40
Dragoon: 20
Monk: 50
Thief: 25
Knight: 5
Samurai: 40
Ninja: 35
Machinist: 10
Onion: 16


I: Garland (Warrior 3*)
II: None
III: Luneth (Dragoon5* Lvl 1) Reifa (all 3*, Monk5* lv 2), Onion (Knight 3*, Viking 4*)
IV: P.Cecil (all 3*, Knight 5* lv 2), Rydia (Black Mage 3*), Edge (Thief 3*, Ninja5* lv 1)
V: Bartz (all 3*), Faris (Ranger and Dancer 3*), Gilgamesh (Knight 5* Lv1),
VI: Terra (All 3*), Locke (all 3*, Thief5* lv 2),
VII: Tifa (all 3*, Monk5* Lv 2)
VIII: Squall (Spellblade5* Lv 2), Rinoa (Black Mage 3*), Seifer (Knight5* Lv 2)
IX: Garnet (all 3*)
X: Lulu (Black Mage 3*)
XII: Balthier (Ranger 3*, Machinist5* lv 2), Basch (all 3*, Knight5* Lv 2),
XIII: Lightning (all 3*), Snow (Knight5* Lvl 2)
XIV: Y'sholta (all 3*), Alphianuad (Black mage 3*, Red Mage 3*, Magus 4*)
T: Ramza (Warrior 3*), Mustadio (Machinist5* Lv 2)


All Dungeons Clear. All Nightmares Cleared (Curada not mastered). Torment 200 Cleared and Mastered, 250 not attempted.


Core: Fist of the Monk, Martial Enlightenment
Core: Helm Expertise, Dark Blade
Core: Hammer Master, Ferocious Charge
Core: War Balad
Core: Unyiedling Will
I: The Promised One
I: True Madness
I: First Princess
II: Weapons Master
II: Defiant Archer
II: Darkborn Knight
II: Royal Charge
II: Trick Attack
II: Ward of the Snow Plains
IV: Heights of Honor
IV: Rose of Baron
IV: Tough Love
IV: Wizard's Beard
V: Heart of Grace
V: Fist of Dawn
V: Tempered Blade
V: Unbroken Promise
VI: Love's Wake
VI: Fists of Justice
VI: Mystic Bloodlines
VII: Planet's Salvation
VII: Moogle Ward
VII: Uneering Shot
VII: Worthy Hero
VII: Air Raid
VII: Ace Turk
VII: Prides Sigil
VIII: Orphaned Cub
VIII: Sorceress's Vow
VIII: Instructor's Discipline
VIII: No Chicken Wuss
IX: Tantalus Code
IX: Warrior Extrodinare
IX: Arms of the Qu
IX: Veteran General
X: Dreamguide
X: Savior of Spira
X: Proud Tradition
X: Untarnished Spirit
X: Summoner's Resolve
XI: Witch's Cackle
XII: Wing's Unfurled
XII: A Sky Pirate's Life
XII: True Path
XII: Object of Hatred
XII: Road to Peace
XIII: Bolt from Above
XIII: Eternal Optimist
XIII: Words of Truth
XIII: Beyond Oaths
XIII: Might of the l'Cie
XIV: Oathsworn
XIV: Divine Fists
XIV: Louisoix Heir
XIV: Protector of Erozea
T: Holy Knight's Muse
T: Sword Attested


Current Mythril cache 297 (Budgeted for DU luckys, Aniversary Luckys, FFT, Aniversary pulls (maybe), XI then FFT again).
Gil 41698560 (Likely to go down soon time to reforge again soon.

[Antonok]

I really need to get on to clearing out the elite story dungeons. Just added it up and I have 198 mithril in story dungeons left to clear...

[Morbis Meh]

I really need to get on to clearing out the elite story dungeons. Just added it up and I have 198 mithril in story dungeons left to clear...

My my, quite the secret stash for a rainy banner... Are you a tactics fan or do you plan on saving for the anniversary banners? Maybe chasing the illusive Raine's BSB?

[Antonok]

My my, quite the secret stash for a rainy banner... Are you a tactics fan or do you plan on saving for the anniversary banners? Maybe chasing the illusive Raine's BSB?

Honestly, outside the Summoners and LD banners, I don't really have my eye on anything in particular. Probably just save up for the anniversary.

[Hunter Noventa]

Hello new thread! Feel free to add my friend code to the first post, it's Bwbo, and I just put Aerial Blast as my RW.

And you know what this game could use? A record materia that increases the proc chance of abilities. Because seriously screw battles where you have to rely on Sleep Buster or Phantasm for medals.

EDIT: Ihad to share this, it's just too funny. I'm working through the Elite Dungeons,and I come up to Elite Fork Tower White. You know, with the Minotaur who blocks all magic? Well I brought Y'shtola along to heal up until then...and had her use Asylum just before we finished the round before the Minotaur. At which point I unleashed a torrent of physical Soul Breaks and took him out without taking any damage at all.

Asylum is STRONG.

[Red Fel]

Oh boy, new thread smell!

So, last night I decided to MP the new MPs, instead of soloing them as usual. Because Apocalypse. And apparently other players come in two flavors, and only two - utterly brilliant and cataclysmically stupid.

Let me explain. Before I did Apocalypse difficulty, I did the lighter one. I brought Celes with her BSB, and Papalymo with Swiftcast Fira. And my first party included Y'shtola with wall, Gil with his BSB, and other very helpful people. It also included Minfilia, and while she didn't have Power Breakdown - in fact, nobody did - she did have her BSB. So I figured, "Hey, that's fine, she'll use her BSB and trigger her Breakdown ability."

No, she did not. The fight went beautifully, but we missed out on three freaking medals for what should have been a trivial reason.

The next three parties for that boss failed because either nobody brought wall, or nobody brought Tauntaliate. We finally cleared him, and I moved on to Apocalypse.

It was even worse.

I was actually at one point in a party with two Y'shtolas, neither of whom used wall.

Don't get me wrong. Asylum is cute. The heals are solid. But clearly, you all value it more than I do, because it did not help. This jerk punched right through that bubble.

Finally, I got a good team together - someone who actually used wall, someone who actually used Breakdowns, and - of all things - General Leo with Tauntaliate and Shock. Things finally worked out. It took me five or six parties to get the one group together who actually looked at one another's abilities while planning.

My rage has at least somewhat subsided.

Moving on, as was covered at the end of the last thread, the XIII event was pushed back a day. So we have time to cover it!

The new event is called Flash of Defiance. No new characters, but it features Lightning, Cid Raines, Fang, Snow, Serah, and Noel, MCs for all six, and MC2s for Lightning, Snow, and Cid Raines. Plus, despite the fact that Hope isn't featured, we can get a wardrobe for him. It also features Morbid Countdown, the new DRK 5 ability that deals two-hit Dark MAG damage, increasing substantially (to near-Bahamut levels) if you have Doom - but dropping your Doom counter by 3 seconds in the process. Oh, and Thundering Twinstrike, a SPB 5 ability that's basically Chain Thundaga for Spellblades.

Banner time! The first banner features:
Gladius: Lightning's OSB sword. Single-target 11.25x Lightning/Non PHY damage, +0.75x each additional use, max 13.5x. +Lightning with realm synergy.
AMP Coat: Snow's BSB light armor. 8-hit single-target 0.84x Ice/Non PHY damage, +0.12x damage per hit with all allies alive, Last Stand. (1) 4-hit single-target 0.54x Ice/Non PHY damage, gains an additive (not multiplicative) ATK bonus based on user's proportionate HP remaining. (2) 3-hit single-target 0.8x Ice/Non PHY damage, +30% ATK/DEF (this is ID #6007, so it stacks with Hand of the Emperor, as Ingus'). +Ice.
Mistilteinn: Vanille's BSB rod. Curaga medica, +30% MND self, instant-cast. (1) 2-hit single-target 5.3x Holy WHT damage, -30% RES target. (2) Command medica.
Etro's Embrace: Lightning's SSB light armor. 8-hit AoE 0.62x Lightning/Non PHY damage, En-Lightning. +Lightning.
Howling Soul: Noel's SSB sword. 6-hit single-target 1.23x PHY damage, Auto-Stun, Noncharge 2, instant-cast.
Fang's Armguards: Fang's SSB bracer. 8-hit single-target 0.81x Wind/Non PHY damage, En-Wind. +Wind.
Punisher: Fang's SSB spear. 6-hit single-target 1.28x Fire/Wind jump PHY damage, -50% ATK/MAG target.
Vega 42s: Sazh's SB gun. Shellga + Hastega.
The second banner features:
Eagletalon: Hope's OSB thrown. Single-target 40x Holy/Non BLK damage. +Holy with realm synergy.
Ninurta: Hope's BSB thrown. 4-hit AoE 2.98x Holy BLK damage, En-Holy. (1) 4-hit single-target 2.17x Holy/Non BLK damage. (2) 4-hit single-target 2.62x Earth/Non BLK damage.
Metamorphose Claw: Cid Raines' BSB fist. 6-hit single-target 2.57x Dark/Holy BLK damage, +0.74x damage per hit if user is Doomed, party +30% MAG/DEF. (1) 4-hit single-target 2.2x Dark/Holy BLK damage, magic Noncharge 1. (2) 2-hit AoE 3.9x Dark/Holy BLK damage, +MAG/-RES bargain. +Dark.
Meteorblaze: Serah's SSB bow. Party +30% MAG/MND, Hastega.
Battle Standard: Snow's SSB fist. 4-hit single-target 1.9x PHY damage, Retaliate, party Crit=25%.
Canopus AMP: Sazh's SSB gun: Party mBlink, +50% Boostga.
Cid's Finery: Cid Raines' SSB light armor. 6-hit random-target 2.92x BLK damage, +30% MAG/RES self, Short Charge 4, Doom 45 self.
Flamberge: Lightning's SB sword. 3-hit single-target 1.68x PHY damage, Noncharge 2.
Common to both banners is Serah's Glove, Serah's SB bracer with 2-hit single-target 5.9x magic NAT damage and Short Charge 4. (Note that because it's NAT, it doesn't benefit from RM boosts to BLK.)

So, should you pull? Well, chances are you're either mythril-broke or mythril-hoarding right now. But let's discuss.

OSBs: Lightning's is not great. It deals less damage than your standard OSB, but increases each time you use the OSB. Unless you manage to charge a full SB gauge, that's not a lot; and even at full iteration, you're looking at comparable damage. It's an OSB, so it's good, but compared to others, it's not great. Eagletalon, by contrast, is your standard mage OSB - big chunk of element damage. Admittedly, if you have it and his BSB, the En-Holy effect can help.

BSBs: Snow's first command gives you an additive ATK bonus based on your proportionate HP remaining - the less you have, the bigger the bonus. Contrast this with Valiant Strike, which is a multiplier. At full health, you're getting no bonus damage. So, kind of a mixed bag. The ATK/DEF boost that stacks with others is nice, though. Vanille's BSB, we've covered; it has an offensive element and your standard command medica. Good, but not as amazing as some of the more recent healer BSBs. Hope's BSB, again, is basically only good on Holy-susceptible bosses, where it's amazing; it barely counts as an Earth attack (although it functions in a pinch) and is pretty weak apart from that.

And then you have Cid Raines'. First off, it's a mage fist, which is fine for NINs. But it has a lot more to offer. First, the burst gives the party a +MAG/+DEF buff - and yes, that stacks with a lot, which is perfect for your mage meta. Second, there's a magic noncharge command, which is fantastic. And third, there's a MAG/RES bargain, for even more stacking +MAG. Not only that, but if you're doomed, the damage of the Burst itself is incredibly sturdy. A lot of people are interested in this for their mage meta.

And the rest. None of it's bad, but it's not amazing. It's worth noting that between Cid Raines' BSB and Serah's SSB, you're getting +MAG/+DEF and +MAG/+MND; that's pretty hefty for your casters.

Personally, I probably won't pull on the first banner. I might pull on the second.

Happy hunting.

[Antonok]

So for no particular reason, I made a last single pull on both XIV banners, nada on the second but the first gives me Y'shtola's Aetherial Pulse, which while not great compared to wall, is a nice healer stat stick. These XIV banners have been just downright generous to me.

As far as the XIII banners, I have a small urge to pull just for synergy reasons as I have.... zero XIII synergy. Only thing that interests me is Cid's BSB and between already pulling 2 mage bsbs, and my ire for chasing single relics....

Question though: Is there any even semi decent ways to level a char up outside sundailies?

[Red Fel]

Question though: Is there any even semi decent ways to level a char up outside sundailies?

http://i.imgur.com/0tOhpkU.gif

That's about it, really.

At low levels, you can push them through their own realms - synergy gives an exp boost, after all - but that dries up pretty quickly.

[SuperPanda]

I'll be passing on the xiii banners apart from a sacrificial 100 gem per banner. I should be in a luck debt about now and working to get neutral again before T comes round.

I'm solid enough on xiii considering my lack of emotional connection to the cast. Lightning SSB and powercharger SB, vanille's cura Protectga Medica, a multi hit non elemental SB for fang, great stat sticks (one is VIII) for hope and Sirius for Sazh.

I know Raines burst is suppose to be all kinds of awesome so I'll do what I can to send luck back to playgrounders looking for rainbows and discos here. We've learned that dr. Mog is a carnivore of that helps.


As for leveling people outside sundaily and eggs... I guess if you can far,
Farm U+ content that could work, I'm not sure I'd recommend it though. XP is slooooow outside of orbfest/sundaily (and even then feels sloooow with higher levels).

[Hunter Noventa]

I don't even like XIII and I can field a full XIII party with upgraded SBs of some sort, so I don't feel any need to pull. Which is good. Because MYTHRIL FOR THE THUNDER GOD! EGGS FOR THE EGG THRONE! and all that...

[danzibr]

I'm in the same boat as others.

Pretty mythril starved, and no desire to pull on XIII. I considered pursuing Raines' BSB for a while, then realized I'll probably just RW it. Also, I realized I'll probably be doing a lot more mage parties.

Arc for healz, Tyro for Support + Wall, OK for blasting + BSB, Papalymo for blasting + SSB, Hope or Terra for blasting + BSB. And 2 of them can use the RW, ahh yeah, absurd damage against anything weak to Holy or Dark, and even then, respectable damage against anything else (unless resist+ to both).

[Merlin the Tuna]

I'm solid enough on xiii considering my lack of emotional connection to the cast.Very much in this base. I make it a point to read the pre- and post-dungeon text blurbs for games I haven't played, and the total gibberish in all of the FF13 ones is just charming in an I'm-glad-I-didn't-play-these kind of way. (The FF14 ones hit a similar feeling at the opposite end of the spectrum. I'm pretty sure one involved slaying a dragon and being rewarded for it with a hunk of cheese. Presumably the cheese was magical, at least.) But lucky draws have filled that realm up just fine for me: two Vanille SBs, Fang's reverse wall SSB, Snow's first SSB, Noel's BSB, and even Lightning's original, terrible en-lit SB.

Still, there are some dang fine items on those banners. All four BSBs are solid, and while Cid's towers over the competition, Vanille's really is not far behind. The SSBs are almost uniformly great, too. When the OSB is the booby prize, you've either got a great banner or a terrible one, and these ain't terrible.

[Slayn82]

I'm gonna do a 11 pull on the second XIII banner, want those delicious mage relics. But, with my luck, I'm going to end with another copy of Snow's gloves.

FF XIV U+ is quite a beast. I cleared it, and spent over a couple hours trying to master that fight, without luck. Whenever I'm having a good run, almost beating him, he manages to paralise 2 or 3 heroes, including the Healer, and things go downhill.

[danzibr]

I'm gonna do a 11 pull on the second XIII banner, want those delicious mage relics. But, with my luck, I'm going to end with another copy of Snow's gloves.

FF XIV U+ is quite a beast. I cleared it, and spent over a couple hours trying to master that fight, without luck. Whenever I'm having a good run, almost beating him, he manages to paralise 2 or 3 heroes, including the Healer, and things go downhill.
Yeah, 'dat U+ was hard. He paralyzed a few at the end, but I skeeked out a victory.

Does high Mnd reduce Paralysis duration?

[Merlin the Tuna]

Does high Mnd reduce Paralysis duration?Yep, pretty much every status effect works on a 50 MND = 1 sec modifier. Paralysis starts at 15 seconds assuming equal MND between the attacker and target though, so you need to stack it pretty ridiculously to get major benefit out of it.

Plowed through the FFV U++, FF14 U++, and raid battles this morning, so I'm all caught up. I think I might actually agree that the FF14 U+ is the most trouble of the bunch, specifically because of that paralyze. And the inability to carry an all ranged/all mage Cid Mission team, to boot!

[oxybe]

That U+ is annoying me. Well, I should say RNG is annoying me since it keeps doing something like locking down the entire team, or the 2 main offensive chars and my healer. I should have him beat but he keeps annoying me and I give up only to try again and be RNG'd into submission.

Currently i'm sitting pretty on a bunch of mythril. I'm debating between FFXIII for Raines (I already have his Imp.Holy SB but his claw or coat would net me a full mage party with 3x stacking Faithgas: Papalymo, Alphinaud & Raines). My other FFXIII relics are 2 Fang spears & Lightning SSB1. Well, that and SpoopyPumpkin and SpoopyHat.

Alternatively, I could toss it in the curated full-price summoner banner, which has a high BSB+OSB:SSB ratio with 18:22. But it's a bit hit & miss on which relics I would find useful or don't already have duplicates of.

Either way I'll have enough for my 2 FFT pulls left over, saving the rest for anniversary.

[Antonok]

So um... 100 gem on Banner 1 of the XIII event.... rainbow! Vanille's BSB. I have too many healing things and not enough slots for them :smallsigh:

Edit: How's this for a mage party comp:

Edward - Wrath/Proshellga(bard type) - Song of Swiftness
Y'shtola - Heal/Wrath/Break Dance - SSII
Vanille - Heal/Diaga/Proshellga - BSB
Papa - Magic/Magic - BSB
Alph - Magic/Summon - BSB
RW: OK BSB

A lot of damage, with Papa/Alph BSB, 2 Faithgas with hastega, Wall, lot of healing, Vanille's BSB gives a MND buff to her, and -30% Res to whoever she uses her command1 on.

[Greg_S]

I asked my oldest to do my 100-gem pull tonight, and he was lucky indeed. I also now have Vanille's BSB. Chain Diara, go!

I also can run a mage team like Antonok's. Mine:

Edea: MM/DZ, Hastega SB
Alphinaud: Curaja/Shellga, Deployment Tactics
Vanille: Protectga/Curaja(?), BSB- backup healer, but really there for the nuking
Hope/Quistis: nukes and a burst
Ramza/Setzer/Gordon: Ramza if I want to fling Tailwinds around, Setzer and Gordon for their Atk/Mag breakdowns.

RW: Possibly Raines for Edea, maybe Serah's upcoming SSB with mag/mind/hastega.

I have a CM team for XIII that's a strong mage meta team too. Vanille and Hope have bursts, Serah has her synergy bow and gloves, and Raines is my mori/zone caster. Add in Sazh with good old reliable boon, so I can pick an RW without hastega needs, and I'm in good shape, despite never drawing on a banner for a game I don't like.

Meanwhile, IV is my favorite in the series, I have done multiple 11-pulls for its banners on fests and events, and I have 0 SSBs or higher for it. There's no justice in gacha.

[oxybe]

Currently mage team is basically:

Pick one of caster waifus
Ashe : Dusk's Decree
Kuja : MoriDarkness
Rydia: Odin
Krile : Unspoken Bond
Add two sources of stacking buffs
Alphinaud: Deployment Tactics
Papalymo: Ley Lines
A sprinkle of support
Tyro: support/dance + Sentinel Grimoire
Something, something pick a medica?
Arc : VS physical
Rosa : VS magic
Aerith : BSB = longevity
And a little something borrowed
RW : ExDeath, Power of the Void

Well potentially, RS allowing, this turns Tiamat into a Threeamat.

I'm here all night folks! Don't forget to tip the Bard, don't drink & drive yer chocobo, just give a shout and ride ze shoopuf.

[Antonok]

Pick one of caster waifus

Kuja

Something's not quite right...

[T.G. Oskar]

--Royal Academy, Armory--

Dr. Mog: New year, new inventory of equipment, kupo.
Tyro: Yeah! The last year was bountiful with new and powerful relics! It has even allowed for new teams to form out!
????: Indeed, monsieur Tyro.
Tyro: Master Alphinaud!
Alphinaud: At last, I can do mine appearance! Mine operations estratégiques have led to great victories!
Tyro: Too bad about that Torment dungeon. Man, Bartz' team was trounced!
Dr. Mog: It is made of the resentment of those you have defeated, kupo. They are itching for payback.
Tyro: And the Vault was also a magnificent achievement, master Cid!
Cid: Eh, it was nothing. It's full of worthless stuff, anyways. Expedition Commander and his hoarding ways... Still - Inventory!
Tyro: Yes! First, with Weapons! We have a wider selection of items now.
Cid: Yeah. Just accessible, we got 12 Daggers, 23 Swords, 2 Katanas, 4 Axes, 1 Hammer, 5 Spears, 7 Fists, 15 Rods, 13 Staves, 3 Bows, 2 Instruments, 2 Whips, 5 Throwing weapons, 3 Books, 3 Guns...2 Blitzballs, a Hairpin and a Doll.
Tyro: That's 103 different kinds of weapons, by my count!
Cid: Of those, 67 are of exceptional quality - I would give them a 5-star rating! The rest are modified, aside from two or three which remain at their original strength; mostly for our Core explorers. Also, there are two duplicates - Desch's magical sword, and sir Ramza's Platinum Sword. The Expedition Commander has asked me to keep them separate for the moment, and Desch's magical blades fully enchanted.
Tyro: My books have also been highly enchanted! My Keeper's Tome and Sentinel's Grimoire are truly potent!
Cid: A particular mention should go to the Sage's Staff, from the realm where lord Cecil comes from. This has been enchanted with Dark Matter, making it a powerful staff indeed...on its own realm, that is. With its boost to Holy-elemental magic, it is a powerhouse for White Mages. Speaking of which - there has been a steady increase in items that boost elemental properties. By my count, I claim 14 such items, with an inclination towards Holy damage.
Tyro: Cool! Also, you forgot that shiny Golden Sword, from Cloud's realm.
Cid: Confound it, child - that's not important! The power of the Sage Staff, however, could possibly mean the difference between life and death, child! The added power of these weapons makes it so that the abilities sharing the same element become more powerful, thus ending battles faster!
Alphinaud: Allow me to explain, master Cid. While hitting with brute force often solves many problems, sometimes a more...continuous approach is needed. However, such attacks often have a reduced strength - with this, you can augment each hit, thus augmenting the damage inflicted overall. It is a net gain, particularly when a single hit provides an overflow of damage which, sadly, becomes lost by its sheer strength.
Tyro: So, in other words - these weapons help me hit better when I'm using them with certain attacks?
Alphinaud: That is the essence, oui.
Cid: The Genji Blade also has a potent property of Paralyzing opponents - a trait highly sought-after on the Torment dungeons, as he explained.
Dr. Mog: Continuing with our inventory, we have 7 shields, 8 helmets and 9 assorted pieces of headgear, 14 pieces of light armor, 10 suits of heavy armor, 10 robes and 14 different kinds of armgear, kupo.
Tyro: That makes for 72 pieces of armor!
Cid: Yer countin' skills are top-notch, Keeper...
Tyro: Well, how about saying that we got almost 3 weapons for every 2 pieces of armor?
Cid: That's...not as impressive, Keeper. Nor your counting skills, kiddo.
Dr. Mog: Perhaps their traits are, kupo. By my count, kupo, 28 of these items are of incredible craftsmanship, and a good deal of them are enchanted against the elements - 8 of them protect against Fire, Ice and Lightning, kupo, and 3 of them boost a specific element. Holy, Lightning and Fire, respectively.
Tyro: You mean captain Basch's Platinum Shield, lady Agrias' Kaiser Shield, and miss Refia's Shura Gloves?
Dr. Mog: My, kupo, you know those from memory?
Tyro: The Shura Gloves are new, and the other two are mainstays of our party.
Alphinaud: Did you know, monsieur Tyro, that wearing items that boost a specific element further increase their power? Thus, someone wielding a holy sword and a holy shield will deal exceptional amounts of Holy damage?
Tyro: Wow! I didn't knew that!
Dr. Mog: You haven't paid attention to the lessons, kupo. But, let us continue - accessories, kupo! Of those, we have 83 in total. And of those, the two largest categories include physical Attack boosters and items that improve Fire resistance, kupo. These have been carefully curated, kupo, but still have a few outliers - 13 of them are of lesser quality than the grand majority, while roughly the same amount is of greater quality. Those are the rewards you have reaped, young Keeper.
Tyro: So, that makes a grand total of 258 items, kupo! We're approaching the limit, fast!
Cid: That is what the Vault is about. It holds the items that the Expedition Commander does not wish to drop off, but aren't as useful. Old relics, for example. It holds 32 weapons, 3 pieces of armor and 18 accessories.
Tyro: *looks at the Vault* ...Hey, isn't that...?
Cid: Indeed.
*The Oversized Katanas of Mama's Boy are stored in the Vault. One of them has a note saying - "To marquis Elmdore, who can do silver hair and good physique with style"*
Tyro: Ouch, that's a low blow! But still, some items here could be returned to the main Armory!
Cid: Indeed. At least one of them empowers Fire attacks, and another further boosts Holy damage, and is one of impeccable craftsmanship too!
Tyro: Yeah - that one was replaced by lady Lenna's Nirvana. I know of that.
Dr. Mog: Two of your books are there, kupo.
Tyro: Well...it's because I have no space for them, sir! So, I store them somewhere safe!
Cid: Some other items have utility and are decently strong enough - I would love to work some Dark Matetr into them! The Stoneblade and the Death Sickle are particularly deadly, and are at the limits of their power as it stands. The accessories are those that no longer have any worth, however, but for sentimental reasons they are stored here. Hmm...
Tyro: What?
Cid: Say, that Stardust Rod--
Tyro: Miss Terra's rod?
Cid: No! The other Stardust Rod. From Gaia.
Tyro: Cloud's world, or Zidane's world?
Dr. Mog: Technically, kupo, the world of master Cloud is the Planet. Ser Zidane's world is Gaia.
Tyro: Oh. What about it?
Cid: Don't Vivi got a better weapon? The...uh, Mace of Zeus or something like that?
Tyro: Yeah. Why?
*Cid moves the Stardust Rod (IX) into the Vault*
Cid: I doubt they'll miss it. I'll keep it here safe in case someone needs it.
Dr. Mog: That is a detailed explanation, but we need something more...easy to work with, kupo.
Cid: Got ya covered, Dr. Mog. Here's my report.
Weapons
Core: Rune Staff (native 5*, White Mage's SB, staff), Cyclone Grimoire (native 5*, Keeper's SB, book), Sentinel's Grimoire (augmented 6*, Keeper's SB, book), Keeper's Tome (augmented 6*, Keeper's BSB, book)
FFI: Defender (augmented 6*, sword), Rune Blade (augmented 5*, sword)
FFII: Cat's Claws (augmented 6*, dagger), Wing Sword (augmented 5*, sword), Sun Blade (native 5*, Firion's BSB, sword), Diamond Mace (augmented 5*, staff)
FFIII: Lust Dagger (native 5*, Luneth's SSB, dagger), Desch's Sword x2 (native 5*, Desch's SB, sword), Cat's Claws (augmented 5*, fist), Golem Staff (augmented 5*, staff), Light Staff (native 3*, White Mage's SB, staff), Madhura Harp (native 3*, Bard's SB, instrument), Rising Sun (native 5*, Refia's SSB, thrown)
FFIV: Mage Masher (augmented 5*, dagger), Dancing Dagger (augmented 6*, dagger), Ice Brand (augmented 5*, sword), Defender (augmented 5*, sword), Poison Axe (augmented 6*, axe), Gaia's Hammer (augmented 6*, hammer), Blood Lance (native 5*, Kain's SB, spear), Wind Spear (native 5*, shared SB, spear), Lilith Rod (augmented 5*, rod), Light Rod (native 3*, Black Mage's SB, rod), Ice Rod (Dark Matter augmented 6*, rod), Sage's Staff (Dark Matter augmented 7*, staff), Elven Bow (natve 5*, Rosa's SB, bow), Blitz Whip (augmented 5*, whip)
FFV: Ragnarok (native 5*, Bartz' BSB, sword), Genji Blade (native 5*, Gilgamesh's SSB, katana), Rune Axe (augmented 6*, axe), Giant's Axe (augmented 6*, axe), Flame Rod (augmented 5*, rod), Thunder Rod (Dark Matter augmented 6*, rod), Magus' Rod (native 5*, Krile's SB, rod), Judgment Staff (native 5*, staff), Nirvana (native 5*, Lenna's BSB, staff), Enuo's Scourge (native 5*, Exdeath's SSB, staff), Yoichi's Bow (native 5*, Faris' SB, bow), Silver Harp (augmented 5*, instrument), Beast Killer (native 5*, Krile's SSB, whip)
FFVI: Assassin's Dagger (native 5*, dagger), Thief's Knife (native 5*, Locke's BSB, dagger), Zantetsuken (native 5*, sword), Excalibur (native 5*, Celes' SSB, sword), Drill (native 5*, Edgar's SB, spear), Burning Fist (native 5*, fist), Tigerfists (augmented 6*, Sabin's SSB, fist), Stardust Rod (native 5*, Terra's BSB, rod), Maduin's Horn (native 5*, Terra's SSB, rod), Chocobo Brush (native 5*, Relm's SSB, rod), Rising Sun (native 5*, Locke's SB, thrown), Cards (native 5*, Setzer's SB, thrown)
FFVII: Apocalypse (native 5*, Zack's SSB, sword), Golden Sword (Dark Matter augmented 8*, sword), Rune Blade, Crisis Core ver. (native 5*, Zack's BSB, sword), Metal Knuckle (augmented 6*, fist), 4-Point Shuriken (native 5*, Yuffie's SB, thrown), Quicksilver (Dark Matter augmented 5*, gun), Mythril Clip (augmented 5*, hairpin)
FFVIII: Mesmerize Blade (augmented 5*, dagger), Betrayal Sword (native 5*, shared SB, sword), Twin Lance (native 5*, Squall's BSB, sword), Morning Star (augmented 6*, Selphie's SB, rod)
FFIX: Partisan (native 5*, Freya's SB, spear), Mace of Zeus (native 5*, Vivi's SSB, rod), Storm Staff (native 5*, Garnet's SB, staff)
FFX: Celebration Dagger (native 5*, shared SB, dagger), Chocobo Knife (native 5*, shared SB, dagger), Warrior's Sword (augmented 6*, sword), Icebrand (native 5*, sword), Nodachi (augmented 6*, katana), Flexible Arm (native 5*, Rikku's SB, fist), Magistral Rod (native 5*, Yuna's SB, rod), Royal Scepter (augmented 6*, shared SB, rod), Lullaby Rod (augmented 6*, Yuna's SB, rod), Over the Top (native 5*, Wakka's SSB, blitzball), All-Rounder (native 5*, Wakka's SB, blitzball), Magical Mog (native 5*, Lulu's SB, doll)
FFXII: Runeblade (native 5*, Ashe's SB, sword), Hammerhead (augmented 6*, axe), Storm Spear (augmented 5*, spear), Glacial Staff (augmented 5*, staff), Traitor's Bow (native 5*, Fran's SSB, bow), Ras Algethi (native 5*, Balthier's SB, gun)
FFXIII: Keepsake Knife (native 5*, shared SB, dagger), Power Glove (augmented 5*, fist), Evil Lantern (native 5*, thrown), Goddess' Tribute (native 5*, gun)
FFXIV: Ifrit's Kris (native 5*, dagger), Sphairai (native 5*, Yda's SSB, fist), Thyrus (native 5*, Y'shtola's SB, staff)
FFT: Platinum Sword x2 (native 5*, Ramza's SSB, sword), Mythril Sword (augmented 5*, sword), White Staff (native 5*, shared SB, staff), Healing Staff (native 5*, Ovelia's SSB, staff)
Other: Engine Blade (XV, native 5*, shared SB, sword)
Vault: Dancing Dagger (V), Gladius (IX), Spark Dagger (III), Goblin Scimitar (XIV), Poison Fang (X), Venom Fang (VIII), Runeblade (V), Flametongue (VI), Sleep Blade (IV), Stoneblade (VI), Blitz Sword (VIII), Wightslayer (III), Butterfly Sword (VII), Excalipoor (V), Masamune Blade (VII), One-Winged Angel (VII), Masamune-Shinuichi (VII), Death Sickle (V), Sledgehammer (XII), Trident (XII), Gaia Rod (XII), Poison Rod (VI), Gravity Rod (VI), Stardust Rod (IX), Storm Staff (XII), Healing Staff (V), Flame Bow (V), Dark Bow (V), Killer Bow (V), Hayate Bow (V), Shuriken (III), Healing Grimoire (Core), Celebration Grimoire (Core)

Armor
Core: Conductor's Tuxedo (native 5*, light armor)
FFI: Knight's Armor (augmented 5*, heavy armor), Copper Armlet (augmented 5*, bracer)
FFII:
FFIII: Feathered Hat (native 3*, Red Mage's SB, hat), Dragon Helm (augmented 5*, helm), Ice Helm (augmented 5*, helm), Diamond Helm (native 3*, Knight SB, helm), Black Belt Gi (augmented 5*, light armor), Knight Armor (augmented 4*, heavy armor), Gaia Gear (native 3*, Summoner's SB, robe), Shura Gloves (native 5*, Refia's BSB, bracer), Onion Gauntlets (native 5*, Onion Knight's BSB, bracer)
FFIV: Flame Shield (augmented 5*, shield), Ice Shield (augmented 5*, shield), Aegis Shield (augmented 5*, shield), Black Cowl (augmented 5*, hat), Black Garb (augmented 6*, light armor), Flame Mail (augmented 5*, heavy armor), Ice Armor (augmented 5*, heavy armor), Luminous Robe (native 5*, shared SB, robe), Dark Gloves (native 5*, bracer)
FFV: Diamond Shield (augmented 5*, shield), Gold Hairpin (Dark Matter augmented 6*, hat), Genji Helm (native 5*, helm), Thornlet (augmented 6*, helm), Mirage Vest (augmented 5*, light armor), Crystal Armor (augmented 6*, heavy armor), Luminous Robe (augmented 5*, robe), Black Robe (augmented 5*, robe), White Robe (augmented 6*, robe)
FFVI: Red Cap (augmented 5*, hat), Royal Crown (augmented 6*, hat), Tiara (native 5*, Terra's SSB, hat), Crystal Helm x2 (Dark Matter augmented 7* and augmented 5*, helm), Heroic Scarf (native 5*, Mog's SB, light armor), Crystal Mail x2 (Dark Matter augmented 8* and native 5*, shared SB, heavy armor), Magus Robe (augmented 5*, robe)
FFVII: Protect Vest (Dark Matter augmented 5*, light armor), Rune Armlet (augmented 4*, bracer), Dragon Armlet (augmented 6*, shared SB, bracer), Holiday Mittens (native 5*, shared SB, bracer)
FFVIII: Ten-Gallon Hat (augmented 5*, hat), Minotaur Plate (native 5*, shared SB, heavy armor), Galbadian Bracers (augmented 4*, bracer)
FFIX: Barbut (native 5*, helm), Brigandine (augmented 5*, light armor), Power Sash (native 5*, shared SB, light armor), Magician Robe (augmented 5*, robe), White Robe (native 5*, shared SB, robe), Kuja's Gloves (native 5*, Kuja's SB, bracer)
FFX: Bright Armband x2 (native 3* and augmented 5*, light armor), Wizard's Armlet (augmented 6*, bracer)
FFXII: Kaiser Shield (native 5*, shared SB, shield), Platinum Shield (native 5*, Basch's SB, shield), Heavy Coat (augmented 5*, light armor), Viking Coat (native 5*, shared SB, light armor), Gold Armor (native 5*, heavy armor), Shepherd's Bolero (augmented 5*, robe)
FFXIII: Witch's Hat (Dark Matter augmented 8*, shared SB, hat), Silver Bangle (augmented 6*, bracer), Titanium Bangle (augmented 5*, bracer)
FFXIV: Wizard's Petasos (native 5*, Papalymo's SB, hat), Linen Shirt (augmented 5*, light armor), Evoker's Doublet (native 5*, Alphinaud's SSB, robe), Wizard's Gloves (native 5*, Papalymo's SSB, bracer)
FFT: Kaiser Shield (native 5*, Agrias' SB, shield), Mythril Vest (augmented 5*, light armor), Grand Armor (native 5*, Ramza's SB, heavy armor), Nu-Khai Armband (native 5*, Ramza's SB, bracer)
Other:
Vault: Crystal Shield (VI), Diamond Breastplate (VI), Red Jacket (VI)

Accessories: Crystal Orb x2 (5*, VI), Bolt Ring (4*, VII), Angel Ring (3*, V), Touph Ring (4*, VII), Gauntlets (5*, IV), General's Belt (4*, XIII), Turtle Shell (4*, VIII), Crystal Ring (5*, I), Rune Armlet (4*, IV), Carnelian Signet (5*, IV), Fury Ring (4*, VII), Soulfont Talisman (5*, XIII), Protect Ring (4*, II), Tetra Elemental (5*, VII), Blaze Armlet (6*, None), Bolt Armlet (6*, None), Pearl Rouge (4*, IX), Aurora Armlet (6*, None), Soft Bracer (4*, X), Zephyr Cape (4*, VI), Vanille's Necklace (5*, XIII), Cursed Ring (5*, V), Squall's Necklace (5*, VIII), Regen Ring (5*, VIII), Force Armlet (5*, VIII), Adept's Bangle (5*, X), Flame Ring (4*, V), Mythril Armlet (5*, X), Cloud's Goggles x2 (5*, VII), Cat's Bell (5*, VII), Glow Curtain (4*, VIII), Friendship Ribbon (5*, IX), Oath Ring (5*, XII), Aries (5*, FFT), Thief's Stole (5*, X), Aria Bouquet (5*, VI), Gigas' Armlet (5*, II), Memento Ring (5*, VI), Doctor Cid's Glasses (5*, XII), Shadow Armlet (6*, None), Toxin Armlet (6*, None), Maelstrom Armlet (6*, None), Arctic Armlet (6*, None), Tornado Armlet (6*, None), Crag Armlet (6*, None), Gulug Stone (5*, IX), Fateful Coin (5*, VI), Black Mage Twin Stars (5*, IV), Skybreaker Earrings (5*, III), Vortex Ring (5*, XIV), Inferno Bangle (5*, XIV), Hero's Belt (5*, VII), Mog Amulet (5*, I), Cowl of Gilgamesh (5*, V), Silver Pendant (5*, XII), Victory Pendant (5*, None), Chaos Shard (5*, None), Angel Brooch (5*, None), Lenna's Earrings (5*, V), Bartz' Circlet (5*, V), Silver Pendant (5*, IX), Grass Whistle (5*, FFT), Yuna's Obi (5*, X), Sniper Soul (6*, None), Yuna's Earrings (5*, x), Pendant (5*, II), Locke's Bandanna (5*, VI), War Gong (5*, None), Lucky Dice (5*, Core), Omega Insignia (6*, V), Noel's Pendant (5*, XIII), Luneth's Pouch (5*, III), Squall's Belt (5*, VIII), Zack's Earring (5*, VII), Kain's Boots (5*, IV), Ultima Slayer (6*, X), Stella's Music Box (5*, V)
Vault: Chocobo Feather (VII), Protect Ring (VII), Barrier Ring (VI), Sniper Eye (VI), Hero's Ring (VI), Protect Ring (III), Turtle Shell (VIII), Giant's Ring (VIII), Magick Gloves (XII), Hope's Scarf (XIII), Flame Ring (V), Adept's Armlet (X), Silver Goggles x2 (V), Cloud's Goggles (VII), Blonde Wig (VII), Mystic Tablet (I), Tama's Ribbon (Beyond)
Dr. Mog: Master Cid, may I ask you a question, kupo?
Cid: Yeah, Dr. Mog?
Dr. Mog: ...Are you bored? Because this is an extensive inventory of all items, in the Armory AND in the Vault, kupo!
Cid: Chalk it up to my obsessive-compulsive nature, Dr. Mog.
Alphinaud: By clear observation, I can foresee troubles in certain realms. There is an overabundance of items from certain realms - those native to miss Terra, lord Cecil and ser Bartz. On the other hand, the realms native to ser Zidane, sergeant Lightning and in particular lady Shantotto are in dire danger. So does the realm from sir Firion, but the presence of his Sun Blade has done a welcome change, and that of sir Luneth is quite competitive.
Tyro: Yeah, that's a big problem.
Alphinaud: There is also the presence of multiple items of enhanced value in the realms of master Cloud and master Squall, which can also serve as a weak point. There is much to study here, but...alas, I am tired, and I must rest.
Tyro: Whew, just looking at this makes me faint! I also need to take a rest!
Dr. Mog: Quite the daunting task, kupo. I will return to my office, then.
*All leave*
Cid: ...Pansies. *Looks at Mythril stash* There's a bunch of Mythril here. Though...*looks at small chests*...a good deal of them are reserved.
*Chest 1 says "Reserved for THE THUNDER GOD"; Chest 2 says "Reserved for Seifer, Fujin and Raijin"*

Took me a while, but here it is - an exhaustive list of my collection of items. Like last time, Dr. Mog, Tyro, Cid and newcomer Alphinaud give their opinions on it.

As for the remaining relics (I mentioned I saved 100 for two banners), there's nearly 75 Mythril just...hanging there. The THUNDER GOD'S event won't come until the end of January, which is close to...

The Summoner Lucky Draw! As informed, it will also be curated and with G5*, but at full price. I feel tempted to draw on it, because there's a few realms that could benefit, but most importantly, because it's a 2nd chance for Terra's OSB. That kind of chance I simply cannot ignore, and Nightmare draws have often been quite lucky, so I could end up with a lot of stuff. Maybe even the Arbiter's Apocrypha! ...Or Hope's Ninurta (bleh!) Wouldn't give a damn about Tiny Bee or Aerith's relics if they drop off, though - just not Hope's Ninurta, or...anything from Hope, really, because I don't like him. Knowing myself, that's exactly what I'll end up having, though the RNGods have tortured a friend of mine with that relic instead.

Though, I could instead save it for a pull at the Keeper's Choice Vol. 2 - sure, it doesn't have many things I'd like, but a try for Gilgamesh's Burst is always nice, and I really want that Red Armlet to further empower Terra. However, that OSB, plus all the other banner items, are so tempting! Not to mention Arc's Medicas, Krile's Burst, anything for Rinoa (bet I'll get her Burst, since I'm pretty much collecting the early Bursts, if you've noticed), Eiko's Burst Medica, Ashe's Burst, Alphinaud's Burst, Relm's Burst... Tough choice, tough choice!

[oxybe]

So I finally got around to putting Mage Team 2.0 and Wind Team 2.0 up against the FFXIV U+ and U++ respectively

Oh good lord.

See, that U+ could be described with words, but regretfully (or thankfully, if you're one of the younger folks) we have a censor here in the playground that would stop my more colourful language used to emphasize how much I disrespect that dRNGon and the ample frustrations he gave me while trying to CM the fight. It aggravated me to say the least.

So instead I brought Mage Team 2.0 with the significant improvements FFXIV has made to it:
Ashe - Chain Thundaga, Quetzacotl - Battleforged - Dusk's Decree
Alphinaud - Threeamat, Ifrit - Devotion - Deployment Tactics
Papalymo - Chain Stonega, Chain Firaga - Mako Might - Ley Lines
Tyro - Res Breakdance, MultiBreak - Dr.Mog - Sentinel Grimoire
Arc - Curaja, Protectga - Ace Striker - Word of Kindness
RW - Exdeath: Power of the Void

Oh gods the damage was just disgusting.

Ashe was doing 9k+ per hit. With the neutral Chain Thundaga. While NOT under her EnLighting. Girl, like what?
Alphinaud hit damage cap with Ifrit. yup, 20k damage on a 3star ability.
Papalymo was rockin it in the free world, Chain Stonega was about 6k per hit, while Chain Firaga capped.
Tyro danced like nobody's watching
Arc didn't have the time to gather enough bar to even unleash a medica, even though he had Ace striker.

The fight was over before the dragon even knew what hit it. I guess if I can't outlast RNG-dependant abilities, I'll out-dps them.

I may try to CM it later, but it really annoyed me with it's RNG-ness on that stun.

0 medals lost, innumerable while trying to CM it, 0 with Mage Team and probably the first U+ i've ever beaten without having to use a medica.


Now, Wind Team, I daresay, was even more disgusting when it came to fighting the U++

Alphinaud - Curaja, Shellga - Mako Might - Aerial Blast
Fang - Sky High, Lifesiphon - Battleforged - Megaflare
Luneth - Dark Bargain, Lifesiphon - One Eyed General - Eternal Wind
Tyro - Power Breakdown, Full Break - Dr.Mog - Sentinel Grimoire
Rosa - Wrath, Protectga - Ace Striker - Divine Wish
RW - Onion Knight: Vessel of Fate

Alphinaud used RW'd then Shellga'd and kept using OK command 2
Rosa protectga'd then proceeded to spam wrath and keep the party super healthy
Fang Lifesiphoned for a few turns until megaflare ready
Luneth DB > Lifesiphon until EW ready
Tyro SG > FB > PB, repeat FB & PB until SG ready

Once Megaflare came out... well everything changed when the Wind Gods attacked. Fang used command 1 for a bit and towards the end used Sky High to help out with DPS.

Alphinaud kicked into an immediate Aerial Blast once ImpWind was up (hooray OK BSB Command 2!) and his command 1 was basically a 18-19k Powerchain on this team. 4x 4500-4700 some damage. insta-cast. Dis-gust-ing.

Luneth got his EW up and under DB & command 2 his damage started streaming in with command 1

I was blown away at how easy it just barreled through the U++ without a care. Even after letting the two summoned feathers stick around and destroy the pillar, the boss only lasted long enough to get a single attack off that barely did what... 1500 damage to the party as SG had recently refreshed, tyro was back to breaking him and Rosa had just finished healing the party from the feathers (first one's AoE missed due to magic blink, hah!).

0 medals lost, 0 S/L


All in all, I would say that Mage Team is much better at focusing damage down on a target, but the (mixed!) Wind Team has higher sustain/defense in the long run while still maintaining solid damage thanks to running 2 strong EnWind BSBs with an Imperiler on hand.

End result: FFXIV (mostly) cleared and mastered and Papalymo earned himself that MC3. Good on ya, little dude!

[danzibr]

Alright, we're still on the first page so I can post my levels.

level 50, 2 (Warrior and Knight)
level 65, 13 (most of the rest of Core)
level 70, 5 (Core that can be LB2'd)
level 76, 2 (getting Minfilia's and Alphinaud's RM's)
level 80, 111
level 99, 11

Pretty low on eggs right now >.>

Oh, and did anyone else notice Barret's exp to level is really messed up?

[Antonok]

First run with my mage party thanks to this events eggs getting Papa to 76. Will need a little jiggery-pokery but that damage :smalleek:

Took on the +++ with (only expert because I sort of neglected to read medal conditions. No slow/interrupt)

Edward - Proshellga - SoS
Penelo - Multi Break/Curaja - Intercession
Y'shtola - Diaga/Curaja - SSII
Papa - Chain Bioga/Firaja - BSB
Alph - Ruinga/Ultima Weapon - BSB
RW: OK

With both SoS and OK BSB up, Alph and Papa were just tearing through him (even Firaja was hitting 9k+ through resistance). Issue I ran into is, they didn't do it fast enough before haste/wall wore off (only used 1 RW), and guages weren't filling fast enough to keep them up. Think I might have to sacrifice a couple slots for Wrath for Edward and possibly Y'sh. My only concern with replacing Penelo is that leaves me dancer-less so Edward will need to pack Full Break if I want a break for medals.

So short term goals: Dedicate tomorrow to power leveling Vanille. Get better mage accessories. Better mage hones.

[Forbiddenwar]

New thread but no other reason to post.

How does one get 4* motes, particularly 100s of them? I can't seem to survive the dungeons that offer them with my level 99 team.

Leveling report:
50 characters <65
11 characters =65
82 characters =80
5 characters =99

[Morbis Meh]

New thread but no other reason to post.

How does one get 4* motes, particularly 100s of them? I can't seem to survive the dungeons that offer them with my level 99 team.

Leveling report:
50 characters <65
11 characters =65
82 characters =80
5 characters =99

Well the only ways of getting 4☆ motes are MP and mote dungeons (until you finish those and are SOL)

[Red Fel]

Just a bit of a heads-up. I CM'd the FFXIII ++ dungeon easy. Find a Lightning RW with Lightning Strike. The AoE damage is incredibly powerful, and should kill or almost-kill just about everything. Bring Sazh for Magic Breakdown to get that medal, bring Hope or Cid Raines to use Ruinga/Meteor as cleanup, then whomever else you like. Have Sazh open with MBd for medal, then have Sazh, on his next turn, use the RW. Battle ends. I'm not kidding; two turns, fight was over, CM get. Absurdly straightforward.

Gonna try something similar with the +++ CM, and get back to you.

EDIT: Okay. That was obnoxious. Not because the boss is tough - apart from his Laser, which can be mitigated, he's not all that intimidating. It's because he resists the debuffs you need for medals.

I loathe battles like that. "Inflict X on the boss." I can't do that if he dies too easily, or if letting him live long enough to debuff him puts me in jeopardy of losing because of that stupid Laser. In this case, you need Slow and Interrupt, so a Celerity user (e.g. Fang) should be a good choice - Tempo Flurry, Dismissal, you're done. But it kept failing to stick. Over and over.

I brought Fang (Tempo Flurry, Dismissal), Sazh (Magic Breakdown, Full Break), and Hope (doesn't matter because BSB). In retrospect, should have brought Power Breakdown, because Laser is PHY. I know this, because my RW was Arc's Words of Kindness, and pBlink neutralized the Laser. In any event, on the winning run, RNG smiled on me; Tempo Flurry worked on the second try, Dismissal worked on the second try, and Hope proceeded to use his En-Holy boosted Purification to nuke the guy into oblivion. All medals and CM get. That does it for the XIII event until the bonus battles roll out.

Happy hunting. I need a nap.

[Merlin the Tuna]

How does one get 4* motes, particularly 100s of them? I can't seem to survive the dungeons that offer them with my level 99 team.For the Mote dungeons, definitely start with Dahaka (bring elemental team, YOLO) or Magus Sisters (bring mage team, RW Turk Bombshell, YOLO). For U+ and Apocalypse raid dungeons, play multiplayer. Teammates are a crapshoot, and the UI and connectivity issues don't help, but the sheer number of party members and soul breaks flying out can make up for it. The fights tend to have key "win button" SBs - for the Apocalypse Gilgabros fight, I'd say those are Gil BSB, Luneth BSB, and now Alph BSB - and people are naturally inclined to bring those if they have them. If you don't have one of those tools, bring something supportive - breakdowns & combo breaks, medicas, boostgas, whatever - and just make sure you're contributing. It might get ugly, but as long as you aren't total deadweight, there exist teammates who can help carry you to victory.

Heck, on the FF14 Apocalypse fight, my backliner was Tyro, and I couldn't even use my abilities effectively because his Full Break would've overwritten a teammate's Faris BSB Full Breakdown effect. I actually had to defend with Tyro a couple times just to conserve hones on P Breakdown, and that meant that Wall dropped for a couple attacks because of my inability to build meter. We lost four units, and our single healer was barely able to keep up with damage thanks to it being Ysh with her BSB, but we still managed to squeak things out thanks to half a dozen Pecil BSBs from me and some Alexander spam from a friendly. Not a graceful victory, but without action/damage/KO medals, graceful ain't required.

[Jurai]

Isgebind demanded I bring a Caster party. So I did.

Tyro: Fire Veil, Smoldering Flame, Wall.
Eiko: Curaja, Protectga, Prayer of the Lost
Kefka: Exhausting Polka, Chain Firaga, Havoc Wing
Terra: Firaja, Armor Breakdown, Firaja, Blood of Espers
Garnet: Ifrit, Maduin, Divine Guardian

[SuperPanda]

On 4* Motes - I've gotten them from everything dropping them so far but haven't really used many yet. They've been scarce enough resources that I've wanted to be sure I'll get good use out of what I'm spending them on. OK's Sup5? Yeah, I needed that for III dungeons and it was worth it. Alphi's Blk5? I'm getting very good mileage out of Alphi and Meltdown is icing on the cake. For Tiamat I need to be using his Burst and stacking faithga's, for Meltdown I just need to slot it and go.

XIII ++ CM: I took Sazh, Lightning, and Hope and RW'd Y'sh BSB. Sazh unleashed magic breakdown for medals, Hope called in the RW and Lighting let loose with Crushing Blow (SSB AoE Lightning). That was te front three down before the bubbles popped. The back two took a couple more rounds but between Godsend (Sazh SSB, Protectga+Regenga+Faightga) and Y'sh command 1 healing was a non-factor and they died fast.

XIII +++ CM: I took the same team but brought Vanille Burst as my RW. Hope had Alexander (R4) and Ultima Weapon (R1) and planned to use the RW for heals. Vanille Command 1 did much more than Alex or Ultima which was nice. Lightning brought Tempo Flurry and Northern Cross - So one of the two medal requirements was pretty much a sure thing (Northern Cross hit interrupt status 2/2). Tempo took a while to land but it was pretty much all she did. Sazh's Godsend helped keep us standing while he plinked away damage with his break/downs. The instant cast on the RW made it a great emergency button and made the run pretty straight forward.

Multiplayer - I had to fight the 80 difficulty Odin around 6 times. first run I went in with only a level 10 Tyro/White Mage with R1 abilities. Both their characters got one shotted before any of our actions. Then Y'sh and Alphi took down Odin on their own. Then I tried 4 more times with multiplayer teams but Odin was using S/L on me (One time I "Lost connection as my Meltdown spell was killing Odin and still didn't get credit). When in single player and swept the floor with him. The higher difficulty Odin fell very easily. We had a very polite level 46 Lightning (W/ OSB) / 50 Hope w/ cures join into a raid with my 2 XIV champs, a Bursting Gilgamesh/Bursting Y'sh (I prioritize SSII and I went first so we got walled) and a Celes/Edgar team (Edgar with OSB, Celes with Flare Strike).

My deployment seldom returned damage because between Gilgaburst, wall, and Asylum bubbles we didn't take any. My Y'sh spent the fight wacking Gilga's reta (~3000 damage to the boss after Deployment Tactic's burst. Better than throwing needless cures out).

While I probably should have Alphi burst I always prioritize group buffs over "self awesome" in MP fights. That and I was happy to see the polite newbie get the killing blow with Lightning's OSB. Overall it was a pretty fun fight.

I'm currently saving stamina for Sundaily. Papa, Milfina, and Alphi need to master their new toys before Vanille and Hope get to leveling (Sazh, Lightning and Fang are already 80) along with someone from XI since it should be next (Quina most likely).

[Antonok]

After 3 stam refreshes and a lot of s/ls, and a few eggs from extra MC crystals, Vanille went from 1 to 65 and Papa is got the 4 levels he needed to hit 80.

I'm kind of irked about it, since out of 3 full runs I did after Vanille hit 50, the double xp RM didn't proc a single time :smallfrown:

[T.G. Oskar]

Today wasn't very productive in terms of Sundaily, but it was pretty hilarious.

I'm taking my FFV team (sans Bartz, replaced by Exdeath instead), and giving them some levels. This also means I have Lenna and Exdeath master their new SBs, and have Gilgamesh one step closer to lv. 80 (he's 79 now). However, this isn't the hilarious part.

The hilarious part is Exdeath mastering the Power of the Void...

Exdeath: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!!

...and then having a charge to use it. I used it...and right as it was about to unleash it, the app crashed.

Exdeath: MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!! YOUR TECHNOLOGICAL DEVICE IS NO MATCH FOR THE POWER OF THE VOID!

There's an added layer of hilarity. As you know, I still play Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. There's an event now where you can get an insane amount of XP for your people, but there have been reports of the app crashing during that run, which can take about 45 minutes; this is because the event is bugged and doesn't "save" your progress, so you have the risk of losing everything. At no moment the app crashed (or the phone decided to turn off on its own, which would have been worse), which would have meant doing the entire event run for tomorrow, thus losing a lot of progress (and the Daily Lapis, aka that game's Mythril)...but I do a quick dip on FFRK, and Exdeath crashed my app.

Well played, Exdeath. Well played.

[oxybe]

I see your problem: you trusted a tree. (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0150.html)

On other villain-based news my own Sundaily went rather nice. I got Kuja a MC3 for all his consistent and high quality work and worked him to level 95 via soloing the dungeon all day long, equipped with Luneth's XP bonus RM... 4 major XP eggs later and I have myself another Lv99 duderino.

Next on the list: Papalymo.

I also decided to go full "BUGGER IT ALL" mode and installed FFRK on bluestacks so I could actually try to do the MP stuff after repeatedly failing on my phone.

And after one or two bad runs, we finally got a team that could beat ApocaGreg... and we forgot to bring someone who could break his attack.

Yup. the only mitigation we had was Protectga and Wall. Sigh. Now I have to go beat him up again for mastery. I'd try the fight out solo but boy are those Apocamode bosses a giant pile of nope sandwiches! HAHAHAHAHAHA. BOY DO I FEEL INADEQUATE. I keep getting my poor keister stomped. Sigh.

Here's to hoping MP goes better tomorrow!

[Antonok]

Took 6 refreshes, but I managed to get Vanille from 1-80, Minfilia from 1-24, and papa from 76-80. Just could not get the XP RM to proc at all yesterday :smallsigh:

Oh well. Mage team is up and running with their SB stuff mastered. Bring on tonights Ultimates!

Edit: Also spent my last MCIII lode on Papa, which sadly wasn't until after all was said and done so he has a ways to go still,, along with y'shtola.

Edit2: Took on the FFXIV U++ (first U++ victory actually, since I've neglected attempting them thus this far) with my newly leveled mage party. Champion with 3 medals lost (1 action, 2 damage taken).


Y'shtola Lvl 81 - Curaja/Protecga - SSII
Alph Lvl 80 - Ifrit/Ramuh - BSB
Edward Lvl 80 - Full Break - Wrath - Song of Swiftness
Papa Lvl 80 - Blizzja/Chain Blizzga - BSB
Vanille Lvl 80 - Curaja/Diaga - BSB
RW: OK BSB

Took a bit to get up and going, but once it did... Edward ending up having nothing to do aside from Wrath - SoS in the later half of the fight. Need to do something about that. Maybe replace Wrath for another breakdown. Wrath helped to get a second SoS up before the first fell off, but after that I didn't have much of an issue filling the gauge even without Wrath.

Papa got the first round of RW BSB, which helped taking out the feathers when they popped. Oddly enough, even spamming Swiftspell, his and Alph's gauges filled just about the same. Probably due to the summons hitting the feathers while Papa had to ST them.

Mid fight was probably the hairiest just thanks to the AoE damage from minstrel song and the lone feather that trigerred before it got killed. Luckily, Vanille's BSB is instant. But once I got her into weak phase. she was right. It was over. Had Alph and Papa Enspelled and a BSB ready to go for both, while under SoS/OK and the boss under FB/Vanille Command1 (another -30% Res). Don't think she got another attack off after her Aerial Blast.

[Merlin the Tuna]

As you know, I still play Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. There's an event now where you can get an insane amount of XP for your people, but there have been reports of the app crashing during that run, which can take about 45 minutesYeeesh. That kind of marathon battle has its place in console or PC game, but it is absolute madness in a mobile one. You don't just have to worry about crashes, but also battery life, and, y'know, calls. When I mastered the FF14 Apocalypse raid battle, a telemarketer called me literally about 10 seconds after the kill, while I was still looking at the medal screen. If that pulls the focus from my game while the battle is still going, gg, better luck next time.

Truly, their schemes have gotten even more dastardly.

Speaking of cruel and unusual, I turned a skeptical eye towards the Torment dungeon today, and was rewarded with mastery over the D200 tier! Meet the team.

Gilgamesh: R4 Lifesiphon, R2 Gaia Cross - 1.2x spear (OSB)
Exdeath: R4 Ruinga, R1 Meltdown - Dr. Mog's Teachings (Grand Cross, Neo Almagest)
Alphinaud: R3 Chain Blizzaga, R4 Valefor - Mako Might (Deployment Tactics)
Tyro: R3 Heathen Frolic Sarabande, R2 Multi Break - Battleforged (Sentinel's Grimoire)
Arc: R5 Curaja, R2 Shellga - Ace Striker (Word of Kindness)
RW: Sheepsong

During the mook rounds, Gil used 1 Gaia Cross and a few Lifesiphons between his autos. Exdeath slung Ruingas around like nobody's business, which proved to be a valuable quasi-BSB by way of Grand Cross's sustain later on. Alph's Deployment Tactics was hugely valuable in maintaining a reasonable tempo - "trash" is very much not the right term for these guys - though I do regret casting 1 or 2 of his abilities. Oh, I also got ridiculously lucky in enemy RNG: 3 fairy orcs, 1 hydra, 2 fairy orcs, 5 fairy orcs. Even got a blue and a green potion drop along the way!

For the boss fight itself, it was actually pretty straightforward. Sheepsong's regen kept me mostly topped off thanks to Tyro's mitigation and Exdeath hoovering up spells, and Radiant Shield, while not massive, at the very least accounted for Alphinaud's turns spent autoing. Kill order was green > blue > red, as I think is the traditional "right" way based on AOE probability.

If there's a trick to this whole thing, it seems to be that the mook waves somewhat behoove a physical party so that your autos are not-terrible, but the boss fight demands a magical party thanks to their ridiculous durability. And even that seems to require pretty great tools in your belt, because my CM party was dead in the water on the first wave of Fairy Orcs, when my 440 ATK Galuf's Fire Blossom dealt all of 3500 damage to each of them. As what was intended as a primary mook clearing skill, that was not going to cut it. Alternatively, BSBs, I guess.

Mostly I think I'm just surprised that even with my FF5 goodies (Galuf SSB 5+, Gil OSB, Lenna's cura+regen medica, the two Exdeath SBs, and some 4+++ gear on the side) I had to nope right out of there on the first round of mooks. And sure, Gil is in the low 80s and Faris+Galuf are around 70, but I can't imagine those levels making a huge difference. Fingers crossed for Sheepsong or Krile BSB in the Summoner lucky draw, I guess?

Also, no way in heck do I think I can take the D250. That way lies madness.

[Slayn82]

Well, after some thought, I decided to switch my 11 pull from FF XIII Banner 2 for the current FF XIV banner 2. My Mage team is doing pretty well for now, Raines BSB will reappear, and I could create a strong Fire team, with the chance to get the top notch Papalymo's BSB.

Got 4 rainbows - Sasuke's Blades, Temple Cyclas, Temple Gloves, Augmented Ninja Tekko. Great pull for Synergy, and this gear packs some serious stats, along with minor resistance to Earth and Poison.

Both Yda and Thancred will join Terra and Steiner on Fire team, with Eiko as healer and Ramza in reserve.

Steiner is clearly the Weak link, but still provides fire Spellblade and great utility with Gaia cross to save Tancred's Mirror images for extra DPS. Imperil fire + (-40% Def/Res Break) + Critical Stacking form an explosive combination. Add Shout or Vessel of Fate, hum...

I can R3 Fires Within, Thief's Revenge still R2 but can hone, that's some nice self sustainability. Guess I will get Thancred's MC3.

[DallerMan]

Took 6 refreshes, but I managed to get Vanille from 1-80, Minfilia from 1-24, and papa from 76-80. Just could not get the XP RM to proc at all yesterday :smallsigh:

Oh well. Mage team is up and running with their SB stuff mastered. Bring on tonights Ultimates!

Edit: Also spent my last MCIII lode on Papa, which sadly wasn't until after all was said and done so he has a ways to go still,, along with y'shtola.

Edit2: Took on the FFXIV U++ (first U++ victory actually, since I've neglected attempting them thus this far) with my newly leveled mage party. Champion with 3 medals lost (1 action, 2 damage taken).


Thx!!!!!!!!

[Antonok]

Looking at the handy dandy mithril counter, we should get approx 64 mithril between tomorrow and Summoner's Nightmare. That freed me up for one last 3 pull. Looking at current and upcoming banners, decided XIII banner 1 held more draw (+lightning and +wind items, and more importantly, armor items. Besides, if I ended up pulling Raines BSB in banner 2 I'd have a mental breakdown trying to fit 3 faithgas, 3 mage bsbs, a wall, and Vanille's BSB into a party).

In true gambling addict fashion, I hit the button and low and behold, a shiny rainbow pops out. Fang's Bracers to be precise. This is probably the best thing I could of gotten for 2 reasons: A) +wind armor that can work with both Cloud's Climhazzard AND Alph's BSB; and B) gives me a solid team for an element otherwise severely lacking in abilities.

So, having never used a dragoon, what abilities (if any) should I be looking into honing for her?

[Merlin the Tuna]

In true gambling addict fashion, I hit the button and low and behold, a shiny rainbow pops out. Fang's Bracers to be precise. This is probably the best thing I could of gotten for 2 reasons: A) +wind armor that can work with both Cloud's Climhazzard AND Alph's BSB; and B) gives me a solid team for an element otherwise severely lacking in abilities.

So, having never used a dragoon, what abilities (if any) should I be looking into honing for her?I find that I'm usually loading Fang down with Lifesiphon and either Tempo Flurry or Dismissal for medal conditions, in keeping with my non-Dragoon-y ways. But Leeching Leap is a great all-purpose goon skill (heal 40% on 2.3x potency, vs Drain Strikes 30% on 1.7x), and the 6* Sky High will go wonderfully with +Wind armor and an en-Wind SB, even with just 2 casts. Beyond that, Dragoon Jump is good in a vacuum, but it's only barely stronger than Full Charge. I'd rather just hone & use FC, given its better portability. Likewise, Blood of the Wyvern seems good but always gets sidelined in favor of Lifesiphon. I'd only hone that one up if Freya (who lacks Combat entirely) or a non-SB-wielding dragoon is in your future.

[Greg_S]

Looking at the handy dandy mithril counter, we should get approx 64 mithril between tomorrow and Summoner's Nightmare. That freed me up for one last 3 pull. Looking at current and upcoming banners, decided XIII banner 1 held more draw (+lightning and +wind items, and more importantly, armor items. Besides, if I ended up pulling Raines BSB in banner 2 I'd have a mental breakdown trying to fit 3 faithgas, 3 mage bsbs, a wall, and Vanille's BSB into a party).

In true gambling addict fashion, I hit the button and low and behold, a shiny rainbow pops out. Fang's Bracers to be precise. This is probably the best thing I could of gotten for 2 reasons: A) +wind armor that can work with both Cloud's Climhazzard AND Alph's BSB; and B) gives me a solid team for an element otherwise severely lacking in abilities.

So, having never used a dragoon, what abilities (if any) should I be looking into honing for her?

If you don't have dragoon jump already, then like Merlin said, it's probably not worth investing in. I have it and like it, but we're in a stretch where new skills are going to be thrown at us a few per month, so orbs are precious.
If you want max damage, en-winded sky high is extremely powerful. With the en-wind bonus and the boost from your bracers, sky high is good for 7.20x/4, which isn't too far away from SSB-level damage. If all you need is damage, then stick her with lifesiphon, sky high R1, and probably ace striker or a similar SB boost RM. Lifesiphon 5 or 6 times until you're at 2 1/2 bars of SB. Then go Aerial Loop, Sky High, Sky High, and Aerial Loop x2. If you hand Alph the bracers, it'll be slightly less ridiculous, but the en-wind will still do most of the heavy lifting, damage-wise.

Speaking of banners, drawing Vanille's burst on banner 1 means that I'm going to reluctantly skip the Raines banner. I've got a solid XIII team, and after striking out on my targets in the II, III, and XIV banners, I shouldn't be chasing after a single relic, as stupidly strong as it may be. Also, I don't want to get anything for Snow. Go away, Snow.
I'll reallocate the mythril to the summoner nightmare, perhaps. I also think I'm going to skip the FFT banners. I know that sounds crazy, but banner 1 is really shallow. Yes, Cid's OSB is the T.G. Cid of physical OSBs. Outside of that, though, the banner's not fantastic, plus I already have Agrias' burst and Ovelia's Aegis robe. Her proshellga + HP stock is nice, but wouldn't crack my healer lineup. I'd rather go after the Saintly Excalibur during the fest banners.

[Antonok]

Seems FC/Lifesiphon/Dismissal will be the general use for her then. Won't have access to Sky High til the Nightmare dungeons open up again, and sounds like the other jumps aren't worth the orbs. Going to try and knock out what Nightmare dungeons I missed while it's up this time around. Curious to how far I'll get.

[Merlin the Tuna]

I also think I'm going to skip the FFT banners. I know that sounds crazy, but banner 1 is really shallow. Yes, Cid's OSB is the T.G. Cid of physical OSBs. Outside of that, though, the banner's not fantastic, plus I already have Agrias' burst and Ovelia's Aegis robe. Her proshellga + HP stock is nice, but wouldn't crack my healer lineup. I'd rather go after the Saintly Excalibur during the fest banners.I'm hearing more and more comments along these lines, and I think more than anything it's a good illustration of how consistently good and consistently focused banners have become. Which is great - I love being able to look at a banner and say "This is a chance to get new toys for Orlandu, Agrias, and/or Ovelia. I have/don't have stuff for them, so it's a bad/good idea for me to pull." It's so much nicer than each banner having one item each for 6 different characters, where you just have to pray that you don't end up with 5 SBs for Cloud and none for anybody else.

[danzibr]

I find that I'm usually loading Fang down with Lifesiphon and either Tempo Flurry or Dismissal for medal conditions, in keeping with my non-Dragoon-y ways. But Leeching Leap is a great all-purpose goon skill (heal 40% on 2.3x potency, vs Drain Strikes 30% on 1.7x), and the 6* Sky High will go wonderfully with +Wind armor and an en-Wind SB, even with just 2 casts. Beyond that, Dragoon Jump is good in a vacuum, but it's only barely stronger than Full Charge. I'd rather just hone & use FC, given its better portability. Likewise, Blood of the Wyvern seems good but always gets sidelined in favor of Lifesiphon. I'd only hone that one up if Freya (who lacks Combat entirely) or a non-SB-wielding dragoon is in your future.
Man, I somehow missed Sky High is Wind. And I have Fang's BSB.

I have to wonder... does Sky High get the bonus when the jumper jumps or lands?

[Red Fel]

There's an added layer of hilarity. As you know, I still play Final Fantasy Brave Exvius.

Out of curiosity, do you plan to roll on Ariana Grande when she becomes playable?

Seriously, I'm not making that up (http://kotaku.com/ariana-grande-is-in-a-final-fantasy-game-1790675597).

Don't get me wrong, I still play Mobius even though it is an absolutely hideous cash-grab. (Seriously, $75 for a new class, when you could spend less than that to buy multiple digital copies of FF games?) But at least I can immerse in that one. Seeing a pop star in a game just because the devs absolutely love her is a bit jarring.

Also, the recent Mobius event with Ultros? Hysterical. That one event gave more background and depth to Mr. Typhon than any FF game has ever done, and I loved every minute of it.

[Morbis Meh]

So apparently tonight is the last night for a few of the MP dungeons and vets on Reddit are extending a hand out to some of the newer players to help them beat it before it ends. I think this is a good idea that we could possibly emulate in our small but friendly community. They are recommending new people bring support characters with support SB's (ie wall, OK BSB, etc etc) while the more advanced players bring the pain... I would be down for this and I can help out with ApocGreg with BSB Bartz, BSB Faris, BSB, Alphi etc etc

On a different note I did manage to master Pigs of the deep D200 with the following setup:

Alphinaud (80): R4 Quake, R4 Blizzaga, Deployment Tactics/Aerial Blast (Ace Striker)
Rikku (80): R2 Multibreak, R4: Heathen Frolic Sarabande, Machinations (Weapon Master)
Y'shtola (88): R5 Wrath, R4 Wrath, SSII (Battleforged)
Arc (80): R5 Curaga, R2 Shellga, Words of Kindness (Mako Might)
Refia (92): R3 Fires Within, R4 Lifesiphon, Dance of Carnage (DMT)

[danzibr]

100 gem'd Raines' BSB. Whoa.

[Red Fel]

And new event and banner are up. I decided to do a 3-pull on this banner - not fully commit, but take a few chances. The good news - got one rainbow! The bad news - it's Lightning's Flamberge.

Is it bad? No. It's strictly an upgrade over her default SB, and a good synergy weapon - you know, for all those XIII characters who can use swords. So, Lightning, Fang, Noel, and Cid Raines (except not really Cid, because it's not a MAG sword). And right now, the only SBs I have for her are her default SB (AoE 1.1x PHY) and Stormborn (En-Lightning). So a 3-hit single-target 5.04/3x PHY damage attack with self-noncharge 2 is pretty solid.

I just wouldn't have minded something else from this banner, is all.


100 gem'd Raines' BSB. Whoa.

Congrats! Hate.

[Slayn82]

100 gem'd Raines' BSB. Whoa.
Accept my envy and my congratulations. My 100 gem and my earlier pull allowed me to finishing my second 6* Ten Gallon Hat. Tomorrow I'm going to fry a certain Dragon.

[Antonok]

100 gem'd Raines' BSB. Whoa.

Grats.

100 gem + another $9 3 pull didn't yield any shinies for me. Oh well. Luck had to run out some time. Doing Attempting the MPs before I tackles the ultimates. Apocalypse Barth is no joke. Wall, OK and Alph boosts, medica, breakdowns, and he still wiped that party before we got him to half health.

[Hunter Noventa]

Ugh, well i WOULD have Mastered Barty+++ if Dismissal had actualy worked. Seriously.

And the Ultimate requires it too? UGH.

And forget it, the best Celerity user i Have is Yuffie who jsut gets one-shotted if Protect isn't up, and the beast keeps dispelling it. I'll have to live with one less MC3 because screw this.

[Red Fel]

Just a bit of advice - the U is a beast. I mean, he's just piles of damage. Sure, he takes hits hard, but even with PBd, FB, and Shellga in place, I was getting smashed. Didn't help that he spams a mass-Dispel with damage, either. Keep that in mind.

That said, I was able to beat him with Lightning (using RW - Vessel of Fate), Fang (Dismissal all day), Sazh (PBd and FB), Hope (Divine Judgment, baby) and Vanille (Curaja and Protectga). All medals get, moving on to...

Oh, no way, not CMing this. Switching to A-Team. I'll get back to you.

[Antonok]

Ok after 2 wipes on Apocalypse Barth, I'm moving on for now.

XIII Ultimate is down with only 1 medal lost. Was easier than I expected considering the constant AoE dispel. Party was

Faris - Dismissal/Full Break - Beryl Serpent. Spent most of the fight after the opening SB/command2 trying to get dismissal to stick.
Vanille - Curaja/Diaga - BSB. Curaja til BSB was up then spent all her time spamming the AoE heal command.
Beatrix - Banishing Strike/Saint's Cross - Ragnarok. Standard beat it to death with SC til SB was up.
Y'shtola - Curaja/Protectga - SSII. Spent most of the time reapplying protectga and SSII
Alph - Didn't use any hones - BSB. The heavy lifter. Used OK RW at the start, spammed Swiftspell til his BSB was up, then spammed Command1. Repeat.
RW: OK

Should note the only RS I have is Vanille (who I didn't even equip her staff for. She still had Thyrus from the XIV event :smallsigh: ), Witch's Hat, and Fang's Armguards. Did get really lucky and the opening beryle serpent and saint's cross did enough damage to trigger his first dispel before the RW went off so I had a bit of extra time with haste.

Lightning is going to be fun a <redacted>... Walk in> Second attack she does 4k to the party killing Alph, Y'sh, and Vanille before wall got up.

[T.G. Oskar]

Yeeesh. That kind of marathon battle has its place in console or PC game, but it is absolute madness in a mobile one. You don't just have to worry about crashes, but also battery life, and, y'know, calls. When I mastered the FF14 Apocalypse raid battle, a telemarketer called me literally about 10 seconds after the kill, while I was still looking at the medal screen. If that pulls the focus from my game while the battle is still going, gg, better luck next time.

Truly, their schemes have gotten even more dastardly.

Who said it was a battle? That's an Exploration - y'know, going through the dungeon, having multiple battles, with 3 bosses in between, before doing the final battle. The party I have, though, pretty much plowed through everybody, particularly as my main damage dealer (Luneth) can deal tons of damage in a flash.

FFBE usually has anti-frustration features tacked in - I've had moments where the battle interrupts right before maintenance, and once maintenance is over, I return to the end of that battle or exploration, enough to either win or lose (99 out of 100 times to win), get the prizes, and whatnot. This event, however, apparently has a bug that prevents that, but only if you close the app - and that includes crashing. So far, I've done two runs and nothing happened, but it seems to affect iPhones and those playing with Android emulators. This time, I turned the screen off, rested for like 2 hours, and still managed to do the quest.

The actual battles? The toughest battle (Dark Fina, i.e. your canon White Mage's dark side) takes me less than two minutes. The rest can be done with auto-battle.

So no, it's not a marathon battle, but an actual raid of sorts, except FFBE doesn't have Raid multiplayer, instead having PvP. And a weird one at that. Solo raid? That said, I'm wise enough NOT to touch Elite, even if I feel I could do it, because the bosses there are just insane. Think Torment dungeon for 45 minutes - that's the kind of "nope!" I'm talking about.


Out of curiosity, do you plan to roll on Ariana Grande when she becomes playable?

Seriously, I'm not making that up (http://kotaku.com/ariana-grande-is-in-a-final-fantasy-game-1790675597).

Not...sure. There's no info on what she'll do, anyways - if she'll be OP or not. And considering Noctis is pretty OP in Brave Exvius, and Global got a nerfed version of him...I mean, he can buff (his Limit Break, plus the Link move which is damage + ATK/MAG buff), debuff (Warp Break debuffs ATK/DEF, Thunder Flask debuffs MAG/SPR), place status effects (Fire Flask and Blizzard Flask), do Elemental damage (Fire, Ice and Lightning, with AoE effect), have a near-infinite MP battery (Point Warp), "tank" (Fish, but his DEF and SPR aren't that great compared to others) and heal (Cover as a Regen/Refresh ability, and Comeback as a full revive ability). And he has a weird set of passives. Don't know how JPN got a better version of him.

I got two big pulls saved, for Orlandeau and Trance Terra (and I STILL don't have my Terra there - that's cruel and unusual), so everything else is mostly Rare Summon Tickets and 1/2 price pulls.

And...I don't think I have actually anything to say about FFRK other than "haven't done anything" and "gonna get MP Barthandelus any time soon". Hmm...still haven't decided - should I change my RW to Exdeath, or keep it as Alphinaud (had to do it to help a friend of mine to beat Ultima Weapon, and lo and behold, he did it in overtime! Except he's not enticed to do the same for actual Ultimates - no prizes that are worthwhile, he says). Exdeath is a rarer buff, but Alphinaud is a very sought-after buff, so both are good RWs that everyone could use. I personally incline towards Exdeath for being a rarer buff, but...it all depends.

[Red Fel]

So I tried the U+ with CM and... I was right. I was completely right.

She opens, round one, single-target attack. Round two, single-target attack. Round three, Crushing Blow, which hits hard. Next round can be anything. I got Protectga and PBd up in time for Crushing Blow, and then two rounds later... another Crushing Blow. And don't think you can optimize for PHY, because she has a nasty MAG mode as well.

I sat there thinking, "How is anyone supposed to beat this without wall?"

So I brought out my A-Team. Cloud (Fenrir Overdrive), Onion Knight (MBd and Lifesiphon, although I probably should have used Shellga), Ramza (PBd and ABd because I stupidly forgot to bring FB, and of course, Shout), and Y'shtola (Curaja and Protectga, and wall). For my slot-in, brought Fang (Dismissals all day).

Boss was a total chump at that point. So, yeah. That's why CMs are a thing. Got full mastery, all medals. Moving on to U++.

[Antonok]

Ok same party set up (switched out Diaga on Vannile for Protectga, and put shellga on Y'sh) as the U, U+ is down on the second try. Fight's easy if you can manage the first couple rounds of damage she puts out. Guess I'll attempt the U++, tho I'm going to experiment putting in Fran with Pinpoint and Ashe's SSB. May help, probably won't.

Edit: Oh screw this guys barrier. Multi hit attacks only count as 1 (2 if lightning). Just blew a swift spell and Ashe bsb.

Edit2: Ok first attempt was messy, but I can manage it (almost had it on the first attempt). Gonna have to switch out Fran for Farris (more damage, plus breaks). Otherwise Ashe was a good choice for this fight.

[Red Fel]

And U++ is down!

I originally tried to do this with a physical team, with Celes providing the Spellblade, because guess what you guys Lightning doesn't have SPB 5 unless you RD her so she can't use the new SPB 5 ability you guys. That attempt proved... Ill-advised. So I tried mage meta.

Hey, you guys remember that time a whole bunch of us cheesed Omega with Ashe's BSB? Because I did that here. My party:
Hope: Thundaga, Shellga, Dalmascan Royalty.
Krile: Thundaja, Quetzalcoatl, Mako Might. (Sheepsong.)
Rinoa: Ramuh, Chain Thundaga, Prey on the Weak.
Ramza: Power Breakdown, Full Break, Knight's Charge. (Tailwind.)
Y'shtola: Curaja, Protectga, Dr. Mog's Teachings. (Stoneskin II.)
RW: Ashe (Dusk's Decree.)
It went as you would expect. Hope used Shellga, Krile used Sheepsong, Rinoa used the RW, Ramza used Breakdowns, Y'shtola used wall. Next round, Hope broke out the RW, and so forth. It got a bit brutal towards the end, when the RWs wore off - I suppose I could have saved them for later in the fight - and Ramza snuffed it. But overall, only two medals lost to damage taken, so mastery get.

Next stop, MP. Given that my only BSBs are on Hope... I may not like this.

[Antonok]

And U++ is down!

Grats. Just beat him myself. Unholy gods is that guy a damage sponge. But that's 2 U++ under my belt.


Next stop, MP. Given that my only BSBs are on Hope... I may not like this.

Have fun. He is not easy. Like, the U, U+, and U++ combined are a cake walk compared to him this time.

[oxybe]

So I threw 2 pulls on Banner 2. It was one more then I was initially planning but still within the realm of the possible.

pull 1 : Sera's Glove, Canopus & Cid's Finery
pull 2 : Cid's Finery & Meteorblaze.

The armours are really nice to see. Didn't get Cid's Claw, but his coat matches his gloves (which I already had) so that was a nice pull, and being able to equip 3/5 of my FFXIII team with native 5star armours... beautiful. Following on the heels of Papalymo's Ley Lines and Alphinaud's Deployment Tactics, Sera's bow also serves to adds a third stacking magic buff to my list of faithgas.

I regretfully didn't get either Hope's BSB or Cid's BSB and I don't really feel like chasing them any further at this point. Ok, I kinda do, but still.

So I egged Serah, Vanille & Szah to 65.

Before trying to CM, I decided to run A-Team through the fights first: Alphinaud, Fang, Luneth, Tyro and Rosa. Setup as one would expect. The Ultimate, Adamanchild, was slight a pain in the backside as he caught me off guard, killing Rosa very early on while I was in the middle of applying mitigation. Outside of that it's just a lot of AoE physical attacks, so I was rather happy I brought Ms.WrathSpam who could.

Friendly PSA: he has a haste removal attack and is a real butt about using it.

The Ultimate+, Lighting, wasn't anything special, her switch hitting between magic and physical was a bit trying but beatable.

U++ though... I brought out mage team, featuring our Lightning Goddess: Ashe, alongside Alphinaud, Papalymo, Tyro and Arc, with ExDeath's Power of the Void as RW.

Alphinaud did double duty, mixing Thundaja for boss shield removal with Curaja to support Arc's own Curaja healing+SSB. Papalymo rocked the Chain Thundaga while Ashe uses Quez+Raiden to charge up her BSB.

Oh gods did that BSB do the trick. Command 1 was hitting for damage cap and towards the end of the fight, when I had charged up enough to unleash the BSB a 2nd time under EnLighting, each hit maxed out the damage. Thank you weakness! Boss went down easy.

So now that I was familiar with the fights, I loaded up the team of Cid, Fang, Sera, Szah and Vanille.

Cid : Dark Zone R3, Morbid Countdown R1 - Inevitable Fate - Seraph Wing, Seraphic Ray
Fang : Dragoon Jump R2, Fullcharge R3 - Pride of Figaro - Megaflare, High Dive
Serah: Chain Stonega R2, Chain Firaga R2 - Mako Might - Clock Master, Endless Blessings
Szah : FullBreak R2, Power Breakdown R2 - Dr.Mog - Choco chick
Vanille : curaja R3, Protectga R2 - Cetra's Destiny - Ace Striker - Shared Medica
RW : Wall

What I needed a medica, like, super badly. Like an actual one. People kept dying and I couldn't keep healing with just Curaja

So I swapped wall for medica and got my backside handed to me, like super badly.

Will need to sit and ponder on this. I think if I give Vanille FFVII shared regen armour and bring wall I might be able to do something, but we'll see: for now, it's time for food.

[Greg_S]

Speaking of cheesing bosses with RW'ed BSBs, FFV CM is down! My strategy worked:


Krile: Titan, Chain Firaga, Flame Rod (V) +++
Lenna, Curaja/Protectga, shared medica robe
Faris, Full Break, Mental Breakdown
Exdeath, Renewing Cure/DIspel
GILGAMESH, Draw Fire/Power Break, equipped with synergy rod and exdeath's armor for 391 magic

RW: All Hail Cid Raines

Everyone's got instant death resist gear on. Gilgamesh starts with draw fire, Krile summons Raines. The healers keep healing. Krile goes into nuke mode for 20K per shining moment. Then, turn 3, Gilgamesh summons the strongest of bursts. Thanks to his high base magic as well as the dark damage boost from Exdeath's armor, he's hitting for 24K. Lenna dropped at the end after eating 3 hits of light of the four as well as two hits from a blizzaga barrage, but by that point, Gilgamage's bursting and Titan summons were too much to overcome.

I am jealous of danzibr and everyone else who has the Raines burst.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Ran through the U and Raid U+, will take care of the 1-stamina fights tomorrow. I ran these with full FF13 synergy, which is theoretically fine, except that I'm a dumb-dumb. Since pulling Noel's BSB, I've basically abandoned Sazh. That works fine, as long as I actually have SB gauge. On the U, I didn't give Noel OR Fang (reverse wall) Mako Might/Dr. Mog's Teachings, which meant I was basically just praying that things shook out conveniently until I'd thrown out enough Lifesiphons to actually start applying breaks. On U+ Bart, I didn't screw up that part, but I didn't bring any death resist, and Snow wasn't carrying Banishing Strike, which meant the end was a race to the finish. Way too much S/L for a pair of relatively straightforward fights.

SPEAKING OF WAY TOO MUCH S/L! Seeing all the shnazzy posts on reddit about people squeaking out the Torment Cid Mission, I figured that hey! I've got Gil OSB! I've got Grand Cross! I've even got a decent medica! I can join this club!

So I actually tried this Hit and Run business, of plinking enemies and fleeing repeatedly in order to build SB gauge. It's agonizing. Sure, doing it in Torment dungeons doesn't actually cost any stamina, but it takes so much time! And patience! And battery! And tiiiiiime.

A couple hours later (okay I wasn't 100% focused, but still) I was finally at the triplets in reasonable shape. Then, after a bunch of S/Ls, I accepted that untimely AOE spam was still enough to completely devastate me. Never again.

Part of the problem is likely my loadout. Galuf, being (ideally) invincible for the entire fight, should not be wearing a resist accessory. He especially should not be wearing the bio-resist accessory, what with that being the spammiest of the AOEs. But beyond that, the guy just doesn't put out enough hurt, even going above the buff cap with Fire Blossom or Full Charge. Add to that an awkward Faris setup - Heathen Frolic Sarabande, Multi Break, shared Faithga SB, and that's it - and it looks like trouble. The Choco Suit tomorrow might help a bit, and I could probably give Faris the Pulse Kindness RM so that she has something at least vaguely useful to do between dances, SBs, and RWs, but this feels pretty far out of reach. I'll likely need to bring in Krile instead of Galuf, questionable as that may seem without an SB for her. But that requires leveling, and at this point I think I'm content to sit tight on the Cid Mission.

No idea what a team would look like for the D250. Alphinaud (Deployment Tactics), Tyro (Dances+wall), Exdeath (Grand Cross), white mage (presumably Arc, even if the pBlink isn't terribly useful), and then... Terra? A BSB seems kind of required, but hers doesn't exactly bring the house down, and all my others are physical. Alternatively, there's Papalymo for his en-Ice SSB, but that only helps with the least important target. Though conversely, that does mean that he can put the pedal to the medal once they start dropping.

But jeez, even getting through the mooks sounds terrible. Fingers crossed for Sheepsong or Krile BSB out of the Summoner Lucky, I guess. And maybe for Sea Lord's Broadside and Lenna's SSB/BSB to just fall out of the sky at some point. That'd be neat.

What's our next Torment? FF10?

[Morbis Meh]

Wow those FFXIII Ultimates... When the U+ is harder than the U++ you know something is wrong. U+ is don't bother with mitigation just try to kill her faster (yeah right, it seems to me that she has the speed of Mote Ifrit :smalltongue:) since she is actually pretty squishy. The U++ didn't even have to S/L once, just apply some mitigation, some debuff via Faris and let Mad King Alphi laugh maniacally as he went full avatar mode on the poor machine. Arc was really useful to have panic button blinks on while Y'sh did most of the round to round healing with Asylum.

I am almost dreading the MP battles from what people are saying....

[T.G. Oskar]

Ultimate done (but not Mastered), U+ Mastered, and breaking my head with U++.

Ultimate was done via Mage Meta team (which I called "Mystra's Chosen", because...well, they're magicians): Terra (with her SSBII + Burst), Papalymo (delivering Ley Lines), Y'shtola (Wall, plus she's the healer), Alphinaud (secondary healer/summoner/provider of Deployment Tactics) and Exdeath (for Power of the Void, plus heavy Dark Magic shenanigans). The starting point is molasses-slow; damage on the one-thousands range, three bars to fill, and constantly being beaten by physical attacks. I was about to say "screw it, let's go Gilgamesh with it!", but I had a run where Wall and Power Breakdown (which Terra used against the Adamanchelid) landed on time, and with a RW'ed Asylum, Y'shtola was doing decent healing (decent because the Medica was healing about 900 HP). Once the trio of buffs fell in (particularly Papalymo's, as it provides Hastega), it was death time - Terra was near-capping with her Chaos Fira with En-Fire, Exdeath was capping with Dark Zone, and Papa was also near-capping with Chain Firaga. Couldn't master it because, while Y'sh and Terra debuffed the creature, there was no way to do an interrupt, so I lost those medals. Might try it with my Fire team (Terra, Locke, Refia, maybe Papalymo?) for Mastery, as Locke can provide Mug Breakdown AND Dismissal.

U+Fem!Cloud was annoying, and for good reason - she has 650 Speed, which...as you may recall, is Mote!Ifrit's speed. Well, that, and apparently her cast time is near-instantaneous - she always uses Crushing Blow before I could land my Wall, which was always a problem. This time, I went with a two-pronged tanking strategy, which was quite risky because Fem!Cloud's speed is just insane - GILGAMESH for physical (via Advanced Tauntaliate), Celes for magical (via Indomitable Blade). Terra once again led the team, with the Keeper providing Magic Breakdown and Dismissal (and Wall), and Lenna switching with Y'sh for healing (as she has her Burst Medica, after all). First and foremost - do NOT attempt this without a source of Hastega, unless you're CM'ing and your party is 80+ AND you got good relics for everyone (which means Realm Synergy relics with the adequate SBs for the party), and even then, a Hastega is welcome. I used OK's Burst for it, and with that, I managed to snatch a win. Lost 2 medals for damage and 1 for KO'ed characters, but since the Keeper managed to land a successful Stun via Dismissal, I got the rest, so I won. That said, when the strategy worked, Gil was countering all single-target physical attacks while Celes sucked up the single-target magical ones. Other than that, damage wasn't a problem - Onion's Burst does the trick.

Now, the U++, though...that one's a problem, mostly because nearly all of its attacks are Gravity-based (so you need to draw out the instant KO relics), but you may end up out of hones at the wrong moment. I had Terra with Chain Thundaga and Thundaga, Alphinaud with Ramuh and Quetzalcoatl, Ramza with Full Break and Power Breakdown (I figured I needed him more than the Keeper), Y'sh with Wall and healing, and GILGAMESH[/FONT] for Tauntaliating, as always. That said, Tauntaliating works best early on, as later on the U++ mostly relies on Gravity-based attacks; that said, Alphinaud's Radiant Shield does helped with damage, if only a bit. I notice the problem is the lack of a proper Burst Medica that can be used constantly and heals appropriately, as both Y'sh with a RW'ed Medica, or Lenna with her native own, rarely heal for more than 900, which is bad (even with Gil providing Heavy Regen). I ended having Terra rely on her Burst to do something, out of hones because she used most of them to crush the shield(s). I'll have to reconsider the strategy carefully, but it seems that physical damage is better than magical damage in this case.

[Morbis Meh]

Well ApocBarty is down and boy was it a close one! 5/8 members up at the end. If it wasn't for excellent timing between Arise, Transcendant dream and my tactical use of Asylum we would have been pooched. We managed to keep Clud Strafe alive as our sole DPSer when Barty was down to 1/5 hp and it was a lovely display of teamwork despite no formal communication. A special shout out is due to the lovely player who brought Exdeath with grandcross who saved our bacon with the random counters in the later stages of the fights coupled with meltdown and curada, too bad he didn't survive the end.

[danzibr]

Congrats! Hate.

Accept my envy and my congratulations. My 100 gem and my earlier pull allowed me to finishing my second 6* Ten Gallon Hat. Tomorrow I'm going to fry a certain Dragon.

Grats.

I am jealous of danzibr and everyone else who has the Raines burst.
Thanks!

It's particularly nice since I was going to pull on this banner but made a second pull on XIV-1 instead (which ended up being a big stinker).

And grats to people on victories! I mastered everything but the U++, didn't try that one yet. Nothing gave me any problems. The U was annoying but the damage was surprisingly low. The MP stuff wasn't as bad as I imagined. Got some solid parties.

[Hunter Noventa]

I find I have better things to spend time and stamina on than slamming my face into the XIII Ultimate again, especially when I don't have a proper mage team.I've got great mages don't get me wrong, but the only half-decent Faithga I have is Maria's Song, and Celes is much better at Spellblade than Magic, and the boss has insane defense.

And the whole' Interrupt an Action' medal requirement is just cruel on top of everything else.

[SuperPanda]

Congrats to those happy with their pulls, condolences to those who weren't.

Gratz on victories as well.

On my side I had a heartening defeat. I got within striking distance of killing the Torment trio at D250 (I tried the CM and that simply was never going to happen).

I think I need to change up my RMs on Tyro/Garnet. I'd been starting them with Mako Might/Dr. Mog so that they could start cutting through the rabble like butter but I found myself wishing I'd used ace striker/battleforged.

Tyro, Garnet, Alphinaud, and Y'shtola are frequently juggling their SBs.

Tyro has Keeper's Tome and Sentinel Grimore though Y'sh had wall duty until later in the main fight when her hones of Curaja were running out. Then Keeper started alternating. Battle was going well until Wall slipped (twice - first time on the hand over and second time I waited one turn too long to recast). With Ace Striker on Tyro he should be generating enough SB that he and Y'sh can play Hot-wall-tato on casts and keep both of their bursts up for the main fight without loosing much healing and keeping refreshes of Mblink.

Garnet with Ace striker should have a much easier time getting her burst back as she alternates Divine Guardian and Dagger of Resolve to keep haste and Res+ up on the party.

Alph is fine as he is though I should switch up my strategy for him. I should be running Deployment Tactics at the start of the fight (I am) and then blasting away with spells against weaknesses until I can go Deployment > Burst > ether command x 4 and then spells until out and repeat. I should be able to keep enough damage going out to keep my SBs charging especially if I can start the battle with Deployment Tactics used during the round previous and full spells (not a problem).

I need a different RW - Shout was redundant for everything but the boostga - and even that wasn't that big. Not sure what RW I'd want to bring for this fight.

I think I'll be able to crack the D250 before it closes. Gonna break from that do dailies, MP and other stuff. If I can win I'll have to see if I can story time like TG can.

My gem pulls both netted 3*s here. I'm perfectly fine with that. Next event is for a game I love but likely won't pull for for a while. Event after is for a game I respect and need synergy, but still won't likely pull for. Event after is getting pulls.

[Antonok]

And MP ApocaBarth is down. The odd part? I tried around 10 times last night making sure we had all the stuff. Wall, Proshellga, boostga, etc.

This time? No wall, no breaks at all, no proshellga, only 1 boostga. What did we have? A Magic Blink spamming Beatrix, a Last Stand spamming Minfilia, and 2 Vanille's spamming her BSB. Couple that with about 3 OSBs, and we managed to down him him with only 3 deaths. Just sorry for the 2 people who disconnected/left during the fight (also having to try and control 6 chars in a hectic battle is not fun :smallsigh: ) but everything is now mastered. Back to clearing out the backlog of story dungeons I have.

[danzibr]

Oh man. I haven't even attempted the 200 difficulty. I think I have a good shot at it, my mage team has taken leaps and bounds recently. I fully dived Raines (only he and OK are fully dived for me), but man, it's like 3 months until we can LB3 him.

[Cozzer]

Got Medica II for Y'sthola! Along with Stoneskin II, this makes her a viable healer for FF14 realms. Also, I got Yda's BSSB (no idea who she is, but as long as she can punch U++ bosses into submission she's okay in my book). The two went to multiplayer to try their new toys and were successful even against the hardest boss! Yesterday was a good day for my FF14 realm.

I also got a good SSB for Alphinaud, but he'll be effectively gimped until I can unlock 5* black magic for him (which requires 4* record spheres).

I still haven't tried Torment dungeons, and I'm not really in any hurry to do it. Maybe when another dungeon opens, one with a boss that I don't hate as much as these three unsufferable things.

[Hunter Noventa]

I also got a good SSB for Alphinaud, but he'll be effectively gimped until I can unlock 5* black magic for him (which requires 4* record spheres).

At least 4* Black magic gives -jas and Ruinga. I'm still going to try to get the 'Replenish 1 Summon each battle' RM from Core Summoner and see if I can't create/hone some more summons for Alphinaud.

But I am running out of space for abilities, and I don't want to spend Mythril expanding that anymore than I already have. I need to figure out what I can shatter because I don't use it.

[Merlin the Tuna]

On my side I had a heartening defeat. I got within striking distance of killing the Torment trio at D250 (I tried the CM and that simply was never going to happen).

... Tyro, Garnet, Alphinaud, and Y'shtola...

I need a different RW - Shout was redundant for everything but the boostga - and even that wasn't that big. Not sure what RW I'd want to bring for this fight.Who's your fifth? I assume it's someone physical if you're bringing Shout, but with Alph providing ATK/MAG buffing and Garnet supplying hastega, you could try Maria BSB for straight up damage, Papalymo's Ley Lines SSB for MAG buffing and fastcast (plus a redundant hastega), or Exdeath's Enuo's Scourge for the MAG/RES buff. That last one (combined with Divine Guardian) might even give you enough passive sustain to lighten your white mage load and add some damage elsewhere.

Finished the FF13 U and U+ this morning, after much gnashing of teeth. These guys are too fast and too strong, says I! Lightning is controllable - Gaia Cross & Magic Lure on Snow goes a long way, Noel's BSB & Fang's Highwind provide the rest - but the window to get anything online is ridiculously short, and even with all those tools, I don't think I could've pulled it off without Vanille's SSB medica. Cid Missions are getting tricky.

On the U+ front, I'm a little astonished at how much damage that thing can put out through Full Breakdown, Power Breakdown, and Fang's reverse wall seems like it should be enough to neuter DEF-ignoring attacks, but apparently not. Also, potentially valuable PSA: the Lickety Split/Thunderstroke RM does not work if you have an en-element active. I figured I could use that with Lightning's terrible en-Lit SB to break the shield while Power Charging the rest of the fight, but apparently not. Bring spellblades, bring a doublecast RM, and hope that it cooperates better than mine did.

Onwards, to Apocalypse Bart! Will this be terrible? I suspect this will be terrible.

[Hunter Noventa]

Onwards, to Apocalypse Bart! Will this be terrible? I suspect this will be terrible.

Well, it's XIII. Of course it's terrible.

[danzibr]

Well, it's XIII. Of course it's terrible.
lolol... so true. Burn.

I wonder what the best possible all-purpose mage team is right now. Probably highly trumped by elemental teams when it comes to boss weaknesses. At the moment I only have Hope's BSB, Raines' BSB, and Quistis's BSB when it comes to elemental stuff. Completely missing Fire, Lightning, Ice, Earth, Wind, Water. Well, I have Terra's BSB I guess, doesn't EnAnything though.

[Merlin the Tuna]

I wonder what the best possible all-purpose mage team is right now. Probably highly trumped by elemental teams when it comes to boss weaknesses.Hm, hard to say. Raines reigns supreme, and slot 2 likely goes to either Alphinaud or Maria. After that, I'm not sure you'd really want a third BSB - the slot is likely better devoted to buff (Papalymo/Krile) or utility (Garnet/Exdeath) SBs being supported with regular abilities. White Mage slot probably goes to Vanille, since she can use the RES debuff command and shift to healing afterwards, but Selphie is a good option as well.

If there's a snag, it's that - as usual - mage abilities are really good at murdering stuff but tend to be short on utility. IE, I don't really know what the best support option would be. You could bring OK and try to weave in command 2 between breaks, but you're probably better off with just a breakdown-FB-reverse wall user. In theory, Faris can get away with the most, but I'm not terribly interested in trying to juggle that many different timers at once.

Also, Apoc Bart down. Exdeath is still a boss, having two Vanille BSBs in your party is also pretty great. Amusingly, we didn't actually have anyone running Full Break, but Vaan BSB + Fang's reverse wall amounted to enough. Can we add speeding up SB animations to the multiplayer wishlist? Bart isn't helping, with his lengthy attack animations, but at least the battle UI doesn't disappear when he does it.

[Greg_S]

lolol... so true. Burn.

I wonder what the best possible all-purpose mage team is right now. Probably highly trumped by elemental teams when it comes to boss weaknesses. At the moment I only have Hope's BSB, Raines' BSB, and Quistis's BSB when it comes to elemental stuff. Completely missing Fire, Lightning, Ice, Earth, Wind, Water. Well, I have Terra's BSB I guess, doesn't EnAnything though.

It's a shame we don't have Edward's mag/mind SB- it was in one of the skipped bard events. He'd be a perfect support. My dream mage squad?

Raines w/BSB
Alphinaud w/BSB (Alph over Maria because spamming command 1 over and over again keeps your SB gauge filled so you get en-elemented BSB entries as well)
Yuna w/BSB2- mag/mind +30% AoE on entry, then command 1 to attach valefor, followed by command 2 weak heals and small nukes.
Keeper w/dances or breakdowns and wall
Flex spot: Maria for damage, Exdeath for utility (runic, mag/res boost, magic blink)

RW is some sort of hastega.

I'm cheating a bit with Yuna, but her BSB2 comes out 2 events from now.

Later on, I'd take Golbez w/BSB as the 5th member. His burst grants him sentinel, letting him enjoy that tankiness, and he gets a stoneskin as well as a drain command. Now we just sneak an imperil dark in there, and this party's rolling.

[Red Fel]

Yeah, PUGging for A!Bart is just obnoxious.

I run into a solid party, but two people leave. I run into a party missing necessary stuff (e.g. Magic Breakdown) but we dominate... Right up until we don't. I run into an amazing party with everything... And people DC. Or we get trounced because nobody brought a Dispel. Or this. Or that.

The sheer randomness of these PUGs makes the game's own RNG stand up and say, "I mean, I know, but still... Damn, chief. That's just... Damn."

[Slayn82]

Today has been a good day for FFRK so far. First, I finished the XIV U+ using my brand new Fire team. Ramza (FB?Power BD/Shout/Mako Might), Thancred (Thief's Revenge/Poison Buster/Katon BSB/Ace Striker), Eiko (Protectga/Curaja/BSB Medica/Dr. Mog Teachings), Yda (Lifesiphon/Fires Within/True Demolition/Battleforged) and Terra (Firaja/Chain Firaga/Fire Beam/Doublecast BM).

Eiko's command 1 works magnificently with Thancred's command 1. Yda's second cast of True demolition was doing cap at every hit. Terra was wrecking face. I got that mastery with a single medal lost.

Then, I got my daily Mythril, and did a 1 pull on XIII banner 2. Got Cid Raines SSB. Yay! It's decently strong.

[Deadline]

Sooo, I may have just made a mistake. I've been without a wall since the start, and several fights have made me feel that lack. So the XIV banner #1 was my first real hope of getting a wall. I did two pulls the day it dropped and was well rewarded (6* Yshtola burst, 6* Alphinaud SSB, 5* Minfilia SSB), but no wall. I hemmed and hawed all week, and finally decided to do one more 11-pull (leaving me at 16 Mythril) today. 3 Rainbows:

Another Alpinaud coat, making that a 7* that I quickly reforged.
Minfilia's BSB! Woo!
Yshtola's Thyrus! Awesome! Although, did I just delve to deep?

So yeah, my XIV synergy is really solid now, and I have a native wall. However, does anyone know how badly I'm screwed on mythril planning? I know I want to hit the half price realm banner that drops in the near future, but I probably can't also swing a pull on the FFT banner. The only Mythril I haven't collected yet are the Apocolypse multiplayer dungeons currently open, the Torment dungeon (if it drops mythril), and if the Nightmare dungeons open up between now and the half price lucky draw, then I've got several of those I have yet to do.

Is there any upcoming Mythril I'm missing between now and the half-price realm banner?

Now, off to do the U and U+ for the XIII event.

[Antonok]

Sooo, I may have just made a mistake. I've been without a wall since the start, and several fights have made me feel that lack. So the XIV banner #1 was my first real hope of getting a wall. I did two pulls the day it dropped and was well rewarded (6* Yshtola burst, 6* Alphinaud SSB, 5* Minfilia SSB), but no wall. I hemmed and hawed all week, and finally decided to do one more 11-pull (leaving me at 16 Mythril) today. 3 Rainbows:

Another Alpinaud coat, making that a 7* that I quickly reforged.
Minfilia's BSB! Woo!
Yshtola's Thyrus! Awesome! Although, did I just delve to deep?

So yeah, my XIV synergy is really solid now, and I have a native wall. However, does anyone know how badly I'm screwed on mythril planning? I know I want to hit the half price realm banner that drops in the near future, but I probably can't also swing a pull on the FFT banner. The only Mythril I haven't collected yet are the Apocolypse multiplayer dungeons currently open, the Torment dungeon (if it drops mythril), and if the Nightmare dungeons open up between now and the half price lucky draw, then I've got several of those I have yet to do.

Is there any upcoming Mythril I'm missing between now and the half-price realm banner?

Now, off to do the U and U+ for the XIII event.

We'll be getting 10 mithril from a FF Portal App reward somewhere on the 12th so you'll have enough by then. You'll likely have to skip the Summoner's Nightmare if you want a pull on the tactics banner though. Edit: Here's (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5aq0mw/mythril_counter_novemberdecember_edition_counter/) the current mithril counter

[Slayn82]

Another Alpinaud coat, making that a 7* that I quickly reforged.
Minfilia's BSB! Woo!
Yshtola's Thyrus! Awesome! Although, did I just delve to deep?


Congrats on the pull. I think you got ahead. Any pull with 2 new useful relics is a good one in my book, and you even got a third relic for reforge. A good 7 - 8* mage armor is also a respectable prize by itself, given how many opportunities you will have to use those stats at harder content.

And also, you got what you went after. Yshtola's Stoneskin ROCKS! :smallgroan:

[Greg_S]

Another Alpinaud coat, making that a 7* that I quickly reforged.
Minfilia's BSB! Woo!
Yshtola's Thyrus! Awesome! Although, did I just delve to deep?


Nope. You have wall, and it's still the best relic in the game. There's lots of ways to duplicate things like OK's BSB, and as much as I rave about Raines' burst or T.G. Cid's OSB, you can still deal damage in other ways. But there's nothing that replicates what you get with wall. There is a single +100% res boost (Strago), and a few +100% def boosts (Angeal, Ramza). Wall manages to be twice as strong as each of these, as well as doing both simultaneously.

One more note on the tactics banner: most of the upcoming dungeon updates will include tactics dungeons. As long as we get DU lucky draws, there will be extra shots at good Tactics relics. Meanwhile, I, II, and IV are out of DUs, and X is almost done, so keep that in mind for realm synergy if you use DUs to patch holes.

[Maryring]

All this talk about Stoneskin being good, even though when I failed to get it I was told it was over-rated, made me YOLO and do another XIV pull...

And I got another Healer's Robe for yet another Medica. :smallfrown:

In better news, I also got Veil of Wiyu and Wizard Gloves, so while I'm still reliant on others bringing Wall to MP fights, I can at least consider this yet another powerful upgrade to my mage flexibility. Veil's Burst is also Wind Magic Damage, which is otherwise really hard to get. :smallbiggrin:

In even better news, I took down Exdeath on the FFV fight on overtime.

Krile:Firaja/Stoneja:Sheepsong:Dr Mog
Serah:Quake/Chain Firaga:Moonburst Bow:Attunement II
Terra:Tiamat/Chain Stonega:Blood of Espers:Battleforged
Aerith:Shellga/Protectga:White Materia: Mako Might
Mog:HF Sarabande/Multi Break:Earthmend:Moogle Warrior
RW: Deployment tactics.

Deployment tactics and Sheepsong allowed Terra to get two casts out of Tiamat. The barrier for more casts is *really* high on that thing. Couldn't do it without DT. Anyway, with Shellga and Protectga both, combined with everyone being in the backrow and Mog's dancing, the damage I ended up taking, even during the second half, was quite bearable. It became a DPS chase, and Terra was an absolute goddess. Without any en-effects, her chaos commands almost hit damage cap on weakness, so the fire and water phase was over in two rounds each. The standard spells all hit damage caps. Krile also had fire equipment that helped her damage cap neutral. And with my three mages all packing some kind of earth spell, the fourth stage didn't last long either... though truth be told, Serah did more with her en-ice burst 1 command.

So yeah. A good day I'd say.

[Red Fel]

But there's nothing that replicates what you get with wall.

Except, of course, the other wall relic, Sentinel Grimoire. But otherwise, yeah.


One more note on the tactics banner: most of the upcoming dungeon updates will include tactics dungeons. As long as we get DU lucky draws, there will be extra shots at good Tactics relics. Meanwhile, I, II, and IV are out of DUs, and X is almost done, so keep that in mind for realm synergy if you use DUs to patch holes.

Speaking of, let's look at some upcoming event dates.
This Thursday, 1/12, we expect the IX event, Where the Heart Is. There will also be a Greenfest - specifically, appearances of Ochus that drop large amounts of Gysahl Greens. So if you plan to milk the Green Shop for motes, orbs, or Dark Matter, that's something to anticipate. Also, no new characters, but a new Spellblade ability (Blazing Twinstrike) and, more importantly, a new Thief ability - Dash and Slash - that deals Wind damage. Hey, do you have Zidane's BSB and no real way to exploit that Imperil Wind? Good news!
Next Tuesday, 1/17, we expect the new DU, DU28, featuring FFs VIII, IX, XIV, and T. So if you feel you missed out on any XIV relics on these past two banners, you can take another shot next week, during the DU Lucky Draw.
Next Thursday, 1/19 - because apparently we're back to a seven-day schedule on events, not sure when that happened - we expect the X event, A Dream for Spira. Two new abilities, Ultra Cure (Curaga + Esuna) and Engulfing Twinstrike (water-flavored), and a new character - one who is probably the most annoying FFX character after Isaaru. Ugh.
The following Tuesday, 1/24, we expect the Nightmare Summon, Valigarmanda, complete with Summon banner - probably not a Lucky Draw, though, so be warned. And afraid.
Lastly, the following Thursday, 1/26, the long-awaited FFT event, A Sword for Peace, featuring Gaffgarion and, more importantly, RAIJIN CID. That's the banner about which everyone is talking. So make sure you've saved up appropriately. Oh, there's also a 10-hit Machinist ability, because why shouldn't there be.
Personally, I only plan to spend on the DU Lucky Draw and FFT-1. So I'm pretty set. But if you plan to spend more, you'd better check your mythril count.

[Deadline]

We'll be getting 10 mithril from a FF Portal App reward somewhere on the 12th so you'll have enough by then. You'll likely have to skip the Summoner's Nightmare if you want a pull on the tactics banner though. Edit: Here's (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5aq0mw/mythril_counter_novemberdecember_edition_counter/) the current mithril counter

Ah, thank you kind sir. I'm glad to hear I'll have enough for the DU draw, and maybe I'll be able to squeak enough for a draw on the FFT banner as well, which is all I'm really after in the immediate future.

I was really happy with my fantastic luck on the XIV banner before I pulled this morning, and doubly so now!

[danzibr]

Personally, I only plan to spend on the DU Lucky Draw and FFT-1. So I'm pretty set. But if you plan to spend more, you'd better check your mythril count.
Thanks for the recap! And yeah, that's my exact plan. I'm pretty sure I'll have just over 175 mythril, perfect for the LD then 3 11-pulls.

Oh yeah, and while I dig the new Spellblade abilities, why do 5* Spellblade users have to be so rare???

[Greg_S]

Thanks for the recap! And yeah, that's my exact plan. I'm pretty sure I'll have just over 175 mythril, perfect for the LD then 3 11-pulls.

Oh yeah, and while I dig the new Spellblade abilities, why do 5* Spellblade users have to be so rare???


In FFV and IX, the spellblade's thing was that they could get elemental damage without having to use "magic". They could bypass mp concerns (in V, at least), hit a different defense, and avoid the squishiness that mages carried. In V, there were some fun spell options too, like drain strike, osmose strike, and break strike. For the most part, early FFRK spellblades matched that.

But now, their niche of "elemental attacks for stabbing or shooting types" is being stolen. At the 5* level, spellblades will have access to fire, water, lightning, wind, and ice. The latter two come from either tornado strike, which is a pain to hone (black, power, and wind? Yuck), or snowspell strike, which is hard to hone. Meanwhile, thieves will have access to wind and poison, knights get earth and holy, samurai will get ice (hailstorm), dragoons and machinists get lightning, monks have fire and earth, and shooters have water. The worst part of this is that the 5* spellblade options are pure damage over 2 hits, so their competing options are often better. Consider: blazing twinstrike is 3.2/2 fire damage. Fires within is 3.0/2 fire damage, always ranged for you Refia and Jecht fans, and brings a nice self-heal as well. Thundering twinstrike is 3.2/2, tempest snipe is 3.42/6, both lightning. Engulfing twinstrike's 3.2/2 is weaker than the default sapphire shot's 3.3 multiplier.

Don't get me wrong, the skills are still viable, and spellblade is one of the most widely distributed skillsets, but it makes me sad to see it just sitting there. I don't know what direction they could go to make it more interesting. Perhaps, when the update comes to make imperils stack with one another, that could be spellblade's new niche- deal damage, add a half-strength imperil.

Dash and Slash is very nice if you've got a dagger. I've got the air knife (V) and Bartz' cloak. I plan to stick those on someone (named Vaan), because the +40% elemental boost and the potency rise from using a dagger makes it deal 5.1x/2 damage. That should come close to capping against neutral foes.

[T.G. Oskar]

Hmmm...a huge investment of Mythril is foreseen in the near future.

The DU Lucky Draw for this month is comprised of realms where either I have little synergy (VIII, IX) or realms where synergy is good, but can always be better (XIV, Tactics), so it's a definite pull. I was tempted by the second IX banner, but I might decline to pull for reasons...

...those being the Summoner Lucky Draw, for it's a 2nd chance to pull Terra's OSB, and get nice relics for various summoners (Eiko, Yuna, Arc, even Ashe!), if it's curated as expected. Again, it can end on Hope, which I don't really welcome, and for 50 Mythril, that can hurt a lot, but Nightmare Lucky Draws have usually been great.

Finally, the THUNDER GOD banner. My figurine is ready, but she's once again threatened to end on the gallows if she doesn't properly honor the THUNDER GOD with his regalia (at least one of them). Of course, if his full regalia is granted (his cape and his Saintly Excalibur), then she has a free pass for...

...either Fujin & Raijin (whichever has Seifer's BSB) or Ultros Selection, in case Terra still hasn't gained her OSB AND it appears on the banner itself.

On other topics - retried the Ultimate, and while it STILL caused a headache, this time I went for near-maximum defense - switched Gilgamesh for good ol' Captain Basch fon Ronsenburg, and his Apocalypse Shield coupled with Y'sh's Stoneskin mitigated a huge deal of the damage. Sure, Y'sh isn't as durable as Tyro (nor has the same level), but it worked. Furthermore, I went with Locke, who once again earned his spurs by adding two other layers of ATK mitigation, essentially driving the boss into insanely low ATK (the bottom cap is 69% reduction, and I'm pretty sure I passed that). Mastered with only one medal lost (to damage). Thing is, the Ultimate and Ultimate+ from this event are insanely fast, and get two or three turns by the time you're finishing your first, and their 3rd attack is usually enough to kill one or two people without proper mitigation. U++ isn't that similar, but it's still a headache. I expect to beat it sometime soon, so I can focus on the IX event without difficulty.

[SuperPanda]

Took down the XIII event U+ and ++ last night with my Torment team. Lightning wasn't too bad with full mitigation but the U++ was evil. I got expert and am not planning on going back for mastery.

The fight came down to the boss against Tyro and Y'shtola buffed by radiant shields. Alternating who used wall and who used burst they stayed healed until radiant shield wore off at which point Tyro burst commands ended the fight. It had turned into a brutal endurance fight but those two proved nearly unkillable by its AOE spam.

Will try MP soon.

[Antonok]

Caught up on the classic dungeons, so have to work on the backlog of 100+ or so elite ones. :smallsigh:

Not entirely sure if I want to pull on the summoners nightmare. There's some good things, but the chance of dupes is high for me. May just decide to save it for a pull on the FFT or upcoming VIII banner.

[oxybe]

I... Think I might skip Orlandeau banner. Looking at it, yes it's the Mother Flipping Thunder God himself and his stuff is beastly... but that's really all that I find interesting on it at this point. Some FFT stuff would be nice, yeah, but outside of that realm... I'm not feeling it.

Agrias BSB is basically a Beatrix mirror (Agrias' command 2 is holy damage, while Beatrix's is non-ele, that seems to be the difference). So it's something I already own and doubling up on it seems unnecessary. Her other 2 SBs are her reverse wall SB and an EnHoly SSB (which is dual typed holy/non-ele!). the former is generally nice to have for CM purposes but doesn't really make her A-Team material, while the second would actually be nice to have on hand for a physical-based Holy team, as outside of Minfilia I lack an EnHoly user.

Ovelia's SSB staff is a copy Rosa SSB (hello there other thing I already own) but on an, IMO, worse character, gameplay-wise. Her other SSB is a proshellga with stock healing, which is basically a better version of Rosa's dress SB (which I, again, have, and never use because SSB rocks and I can just pack ProShellga on my teams should I need both).

Mustadio's Hyperbreak is great, but I can't see him replacing Tyro as a main supporter, though as a general secondary support/status inflicter he has tons of potential value, but no real place where "I NEEDS HYPERBREAK" exist, at least for now.

Now comparing this to my two FFXIII pulls have some better value IMO outside of CM territory: I got 2 Faithgas, which stack with the 2 I just got from FFXIV. Seriously: Papa's Mag (Black Mage), Alph's Mag+Atk (Summoner), Cid's Mag+Res (Darkness Caster) & Serah's Mag+Mnd (Black Mage). The game wants me to play mages and I am happy to oblige. Toss in Tyro for support and a BSB Medica RW and we might be in cereal business.

And Szah's Choco-Chick, is a shout-level boostga but comes with the rather valuable MBlink, so I can see myself potentially squeezing him on a physical team as a secondary supporter as it nicely stacks with OK's Vessel of Faith for a solid attack boost. And for Multiplayer Szah+Rosa teaming up with dual MBlinks seems like a rather nice way to be a right mean donkey cavity to a magic-based boss, while still supplying FullBreak/Breakdown and Medica heals. FURIOUS GLARING AT CURRENT U+/A!BART, YOU JERKBUM.

So yeah. It's a nice pressure off my chest, though I'm left wondering where I'm going to throw my Mythril at... sneaky glance at Valigarmanda Summoner banner/FFVIII Fujin.

[Morbis Meh]

Damn dirty heresy

Sir... we can no longer be friends for you have blasphemed against the one true Thunder God. Repent lest your soul be damned for eternity!


JK :smallbiggrin:

That's cool, I am pulling because I love FFT above all others and I do not have relics similar to the ones being displayed on the first banner. I needs TG Cid and Agrias to join Firion on my holy team of destruction!

[SuperPanda]

Today I cleared MP U+ after much trying to get a decent group. I haven't poked Apoc Bart yet.

My team is Tyro/Y'shtola. Tyro running breakdowns (medal requirements) and Y'sh being pure heals. If we have another medica Y'sh brings wall and Tyro burst. If not then it's burst/wall in the other direction. It's not as flashy as alphi/Y'sh but probably more useful over all.

Then I did some dailys. And then I cleared D250 Torment. Rawr.

Still at the gym, can edit in my team later but it was stacked for recent pulls. Alphinaud didn't make t to th end of the fight (fell when all were at 1/5) but Bartz, Garnet, and Tyro just kept chugging along with a steady stream of pain and Tetragrammaton proved itself unspeakably awesome.

Three medals lost. Champion. Can now reforge Thyrus as well.

I'd doubted the awesome of Tyro's burst but it keeps proving again and again to be one of the most versatile relics in my collection, just like its user. It's not strong on its own but it works so well with everything.

[danzibr]

[...]
I see where you're coming from. I'm definitely pulling, and pulling hard, but there are several items I really want: either of Orlandeau's relics, Agrias's BSB (wouldn't mind that shield), also wouldn't mind Ovelia's hat, and I'd really like Mustadio's Pentabreak. But if I were *only* chasing Orlandeau's relics, I dunno, maybe not.

[oxybe]

Don't get me wrong, I would *love me* some FFT stuff. FFT is on my best games of forever list. I think I liked it so much I willed myself a second PS1 copy into existence because I have no idea where that copy came from and all my friends have theirs.

But the Orlandeau banner really only has Orlandeau stuff that I could potentially fit in a FFRK team and with these U++, apocalypse and torment stuff coming out, adding versatility or raw damage to my ATeam or MP stuff just has higher priority then chasing the Thunder God alone.

For now, I'm looking at the future FFT event, the Rafa/Malak one JP had not too long ago in mid-late November, as on it's banner 2 we have all 3 of Cid's items: OSB Excalibur, BSB Cape and newcomer SSB Chaos Sword (6xAoE holy/lightning, 2 turns 0 cast time). Yup. It's even more Cid-licious then Cid's release banner.

But for me it also has Malak's BSB Lighting/Dark with MAG/RES breakdown on use and his commands are 4xST and 2xAoE with short-cast time Lighting/Dark attacks... and I do have an ImpLighting with Fran (alongside Ashe's EnLighting BSB). So more Mage team stuff which is my jams. Yay! His SSB also stacks with his BSB as it offers AoE fire+dark and ATK/RES breakdown. Dude fits somewhat nicely on a mage team if you want to drop a boss' resistance and main method of hurting you.

It also sees the return of Mustadio's Hyperbreak gun and his new BSB: ranged Atk/Mag breakdown on use with command 1 being a 2x ranged ST with 2 turns of insta-cast machinist and command 2 being a ranged Def breakdown. note that his abilities are considered machinist. Turns our Machinist into Mccree.

[danzibr]

Whoa. Just saw Wol's USB. Does damage, dispels, and Def/Res -70%. 70%! Nuts.

[Maryring]

This multiplayer fight is a pain. This is the third time I've had a decent run of where people actually know what they do, only for it to fail miserably because of that ridiculous aura that apparently allows the robot to attack five times in a row. It also takes such a long time to get up a proper team, because so few people pack breakdown effects, and this is one fight where I can't have Ramza Shout and Break myself, since I need Celes to pack her Indo Blade to stop the counter-spells.

[Red Fel]

This multiplayer fight is a pain. This is the third time I've had a decent run of where people actually know what they do, only for it to fail miserably because of that ridiculous aura that apparently allows the robot to attack five times in a row. It also takes such a long time to get up a proper team, because so few people pack breakdown effects, and this is one fight where I can't have Ramza Shout and Break myself, since I need Celes to pack her Indo Blade to stop the counter-spells.

Yeah. I've been bringing Celes with Firaga/Blizzaga Strike and her BSB, but I'm honestly wondering whether I should just take Banishing Strike and Magic Break and use Runic instead. I've only ever seen one person bring a Dispel to this fight, and it did great, and so few people seem willing to pack the requisite Breaks/Breakdowns. Sure, MB is no MBD, but it's something at least.

Still bringing Hope, though. His BSB brings all the pain to the yard. And if someone would just bring an Imperil Holy, we'd have ever so much fun.

[Maryring]

Yeah. I've been bringing Celes with Firaga/Blizzaga Strike and her BSB, but I'm honestly wondering whether I should just take Banishing Strike and Magic Break and use Runic instead. I've only ever seen one person bring a Dispel to this fight, and it did great, and so few people seem willing to pack the requisite Breaks/Breakdowns. Sure, MB is no MBD, but it's something at least.

Still bringing Hope, though. His BSB brings all the pain to the yard. And if someone would just bring an Imperil Holy, we'd have ever so much fun.

Celes with BS and MB is precisely what I bring myself. I originally began with using her burst and then commands to take out the two first faces, but that always led to people tearing down the faces far too fast, which left her with no weakness to exploit to build a second bar of SB. So I ended up just saving that first SB for when the two faces fell off. That runic effect is vital, since he loves to counter everything with hard-hitting magic.

But I'd love to match up with you. You bring Indo Celes and Hope. I'll bring Leo with his Super Holy Imperil, and Penelo with MB and Curaga. Or possibly Lenna with Sarabande. Lenna's Medica comes with a res boost after all.

Also: Are mote dungeons no longer a thing? I figured we'd have the mote dungeons back by now, but I don't see em, and I don't see any planned new mote dungeon events either.

[danzibr]

Celes with BS and MB is precisely what I bring myself. I originally began with using her burst and then commands to take out the two first faces, but that always led to people tearing down the faces far too fast, which left her with no weakness to exploit to build a second bar of SB. So I ended up just saving that first SB for when the two faces fell off. That runic effect is vital, since he loves to counter everything with hard-hitting magic.

But I'd love to match up with you. You bring Indo Celes and Hope. I'll bring Leo with his Super Holy Imperil, and Penelo with MB and Curaga. Or possibly Lenna with Sarabande. Lenna's Medica comes with a res boost after all.

Also: Are mote dungeons no longer a thing? I figured we'd have the mote dungeons back by now, but I don't see em, and I don't see any planned new mote dungeon events either.
They recur, but not with Torment dungeons for some reason. Or at least I read that's how it happens in JP.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Yeah, I think that mote dungeons just went AWOL for a bit due to orbfest putting things on pause. It's a little weird that we'll have Nightmare, Mote, and Torment dungeons available on separate rotating schedules, though. I know that Nightmare opens up permanently when the final one finally comes, at least.

[SuperPanda]

Celes with BS and MB is precisely what I bring myself. I originally began with using her burst and then commands to take out the two first faces, but that always led to people tearing down the faces far too fast, which left her with no weakness to exploit to build a second bar of SB. So I ended up just saving that first SB for when the two faces fell off. That runic effect is vital, since he loves to counter everything with hard-hitting magic.

But I'd love to match up with you. You bring Indo Celes and Hope. I'll bring Leo with his Super Holy Imperil, and Penelo with MB and Curaga. Or possibly Lenna with Sarabande. Lenna's Medica comes with a res boost after all.

Also: Are mote dungeons no longer a thing? I figured we'd have the mote dungeons back by now, but I don't see em, and I don't see any planned new mote dungeon events either.

I'm at work all morning here and at night my internet is less than stable. I'd be happy to try to form a group with playgrounders tomorrow (or in the near future). I tend to be free around 10:00 am local time which is about 7 pm PST.

I've been running: Tyro w/ Magic Breakdown, Defense Breakdown (Can replace with full break). Dr. Mog's Teachings for Sentinel Grimoire or Burst. Y'shtola w/ Wrath (Can replace with Dispell) and Curaja. Mako Might for Stone Skin II or Burst.

I usually lead with Tyro Wall and Y'sh Burst if there are no other sources of wall and the group is set to kill Bart's armor's fast. I haven't managed Apoc Bart yet mostly because my connection was bad last night and so I couldn't join (I'd lag out and disconnect).

[Greg_S]

Don't get me wrong, I would *love me* some FFT stuff. FFT is on my best games of forever list. I think I liked it so much I willed myself a second PS1 copy into existence because I have no idea where that copy came from and all my friends have theirs.

But the Orlandeau banner really only has Orlandeau stuff that I could potentially fit in a FFRK team and with these U++, apocalypse and torment stuff coming out, adding versatility or raw damage to my ATeam or MP stuff just has higher priority then chasing the Thunder God alone.

I consider Agrias' plain SB shield to be the second-best item on that banner. It's a reverse wall that's 10% stronger than your standard support one, on a character who can lifesiphon to keep it up. It'll still be viable in a few months; I just used it on the JP side to beat apocalypse+ Cloud.

Another consideration for the FFT banner: The CM is extremely easy. It's against Gafgarion. He is weak to holy. Give Ramza an instrument, or stick someone with a magic sword. RW Raines' BSB, and you win.

EDIT: I'd be interested in joining a playground group. I can bring Vaan w/BSB for layered magic busting and either Vanille, Eiko, or maybe even Minwu for healing.

[Antonok]

So decided to take a small break from clearing out story dungeons to try and get a few RMs I have yet to nab.

Come to discover, I have an alright FFX team. Wakka, Tidus, Jecht, Rikku, and Yuna are all 65+. Bad thing is I only have relics for Wakka (Auroch's Reels), Yuna (Chaos Rod), and Rikku (Hyper NullAll). Tidus is the weak point of the team though. No SB and relatively weak ability uses. At least Jecht can use Dark skills and Rikku can use Thief's Revenge and Dances/Machinest.

[danzibr]

So decided to take a small break from clearing out story dungeons to try and get a few RMs I have yet to nab.

Come to discover, I have an alright FFX team. Wakka, Tidus, Jecht, Rikku, and Yuna are all 65+. Bad thing is I only have relics for Wakka (Auroch's Reels), Yuna (Chaos Rod), and Rikku (Hyper NullAll). Tidus is the weak point of the team though. No SB and relatively weak ability uses. At least Jecht can use Dark skills and Rikku can use Thief's Revenge and Dances/Machinest.
Tidus has PowerCharge for respectable deeps.

I'm looking to spend more MC3's, since I'm essentially out of people to level. Feel like I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel though.

[Red Fel]

Right. So I'm officially telling the Apoc to sod off, I'm done with it. Not that I've mastered or even cleared it, but I'm done with it.

It's not that it's too hard. I wouldn't be too insulted if it were just difficulty. No, the problem is that it seems impossible for me to put together a functional party. If I had the characters with BSBs, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but the only relevant one I can bring is Hope. And the frustrating thing is what inevitably happens.

I had one party where we had a Beatrix, the perfect partner for Hope - who blew her Imperil Holy on the Pauldron. Not both, just the Pauldron.

I had one party where we had a Relm, great healer with Portrait of Lakshmi - who used most of her heals and Arise uses on her Ramza, despite the fact that our main DPS came from Hope and Cid Raines. Cid Raines, picking up DPS, it should have been perfect! But Relm was the only healer in that party, and would only heal other characters if Ramza was at full health.

I had one party with two Vanilles, neither of whom used a medica until two characters were already dead.

I had one party where there were three supports, all using Full Break. No Magic Breakdowns, and no solid offense, just Full Break.

And on and on the story goes. It's incredibly frustrating, because even when we're doing well, somebody is selfish, or stupid, or wasteful, or something. It's never the boss that does us in; it's us. If I could compose a party of eight from my own characters, I could beat this guy hands-down, but I don't get to do that. I just seem to have the most rotten luck when it comes to PUGs, and I hate a fight that's based entirely on luck. So I'm done with that, and I'll just wait until tomorrow night's event.

[T.G. Oskar]

Right. So I'm officially telling the Apoc to sod off, I'm done with it. Not that I've mastered or even cleared it, but I'm done with it.

It's not that it's too hard. I wouldn't be too insulted if it were just difficulty. No, the problem is that it seems impossible for me to put together a functional party. If I had the characters with BSBs, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but the only relevant one I can bring is Hope. And the frustrating thing is what inevitably happens.

I had one party where we had a Beatrix, the perfect partner for Hope - who blew her Imperil Holy on the Pauldron. Not both, just the Pauldron.

I had one party where we had a Relm, great healer with Portrait of Lakshmi - who used most of her heals and Arise uses on her Ramza, despite the fact that our main DPS came from Hope and Cid Raines. Cid Raines, picking up DPS, it should have been perfect! But Relm was the only healer in that party, and would only heal other characters if Ramza was at full health.

I had one party with two Vanilles, neither of whom used a medica until two characters were already dead.

I had one party where there were three supports, all using Full Break. No Magic Breakdowns, and no solid offense, just Full Break.

And on and on the story goes. It's incredibly frustrating, because even when we're doing well, somebody is selfish, or stupid, or wasteful, or something. It's never the boss that does us in; it's us. If I could compose a party of eight from my own characters, I could beat this guy hands-down, but I don't get to do that. I just seem to have the most rotten luck when it comes to PUGs, and I hate a fight that's based entirely on luck. So I'm done with that, and I'll just wait until tomorrow night's event.

I wanna say "it happens", but more often than not, you have to rely on yourself to provide something worthwhile.

Lemme tell you my side - I finished and Mastered Apoc!Bartz. More often than not, people were asking for 80+, which would have been fine...if my Alphinaud wasn't level 65 at the time. Which is bad. Real bad. The few times we had a team, someone DC'ed (one of those times, the party loaded, but not the Raid Leader, who DC'ed, thus ruining the entire run). I got booted about 4 times, mostly because there was no healer, or no Wall.

Finally, I got a good party! Raid Leader had a Minfilia and a Y'shtola (or Vanille; it was a healer, and had Dispel), and Min had both her SSB (the Boostga with Last Stand) and her BSB. I went with my lv. 80 Ramza with Tailwind and Shout, and Alphinaud with Deployment Tactics (the latter with Mako Might, so that he could drop Deployment Tactics ASAP). The other team members had an Onion Knight and (IIRC, another) Vanille, and one Kain and a Keeper. Most of them had Lifesiphon, Minfilia had Magic Breakdown (so I switched to Armor Breakdown), OK also had Full Break, Kain had Lightning Dive, and the Keeper had Sentinel's Grimoire. Not necessary to mention that whoever had Vanille ALSO had her BSB, and the Raid Leader's healer also had her BSB. Thus, we had more than a good party; the Raid Leader was all "Incredible!" sticker all the time.

The battle started, and the first thing I did was build Ramza's gauge while Alphinaud dropped Deployment Tactics ASAP. While the ATK/MAG buff didn't last for all the battle (though it was refreshed), the Radiant Shield did, and that was a good deal of the total damage I dealt (particularly with Destrudo). For what its worth, the battle between the Pauldron and the Ailettes was straightforward - my Alphinaud used summons to hit weaknesses, Kain decimated with his BSB, and everything was fine. When Barty could be targeted, the Keeper drops Sentinel's Grimoire right that instant - in fact, between Min's Magic Breakdown and Full Break, everything was dandy. I drop my Shout roughly there, and it was mostly dealing as much damage as we possibly could. The battle ended up with three drops (the Raid Leader's healer early on, then the Keeper, then my Alphinaud IIRC), but everything else flowed - Kain was dealing tons of damage, Minfilia used The Echo very late onward, and I switched from using Shout to use Tailwind just to provide Protectga, which was invaluable because Barty decided to hop in with a Destrudo before that happened, so I saved their bacon right there. We had Barty shoot a Destrudo and THEN a Thanatosian Smile before Vanille could use her heal, but Transcendent Dream always saved our bacon. By the time the Raid Leader used Minfilia's BSB, the battle was arithmetically over - it was just a few blows before it died, and I used Shout just in case, but between Kain, OK and Minfilia firing their attacks, it was over no matter what.

Did I have luck? Yes, but I provided something I knew a few people wouldn't provide - Radiant Shield, which was a lifesaver. Also, I thought about providing Armor Breakdown, which was useful because nobody switched that afterwards. Most of the time, we were using the stickers just to praise the others for good, and only ONCE someone used the "Heal PLZ!" sticker, but that was queued up. So, I don't have to worry about it...but my set-up definitely helped. There was redundancy (OK and Alphinaud offer the same ATK/MAG buff, and Minfilia's SSB is similar to Ramza's - between Minfilia and Onion Knight, I could have gone for, say, Faris and use Sea Lord's Broadside while still offering the same benefits of Support debuffing, and damage would have been reduced a lot more. But, that wasn't really necessary. Sometimes, having some redundancy helps - if I know someone else has a Wall, and I'm setting my Wall user, often saying "I'll Support!" will indicate the rest that I'm using the Wall. If someone else does that, and I have, say, the Keeper, I'll switch to Keeper's Tome and debuff instead. But, in the end, it was luck and not anything else.

Ideally, for Apocalypse, there's no better team that the one you recruit yourself. You can ditch those you feel won't contribute, and set up what you believe is the bare minimum - oftentimes the healer or the Wall on the back row, and a supporter or DPS specialist on the front row. The rest you can confection to your needs. Otherwise, you can refresh until you know you have someone with a Wall, and then load in with what you wish to contribute. If there's some redundancy, then hope what else you have isn't entirely redundant enough to make your choice unwise.

And, sometimes, it just won't happen. Much like the battles with the Ultimates, it's trial and error combined with stubborn insistence. Soon, at one time, you'll get that team that delivers that perfect run...

...which is something I'm still waiting with Angryguvspat Whinymech. No matter what I do, that near-1000 ATK is just sickening. Is it me, or is that the highest ATK any Ultimate has climbed to?

[Merlin the Tuna]

It's never the boss that does us in; it's us. If I could compose a party of eight from my own characters, I could beat this guy hands-down, but I don't get to do that.What this post presupposes is... what if you could?

Like, for real, what happens if you act as Raid Leader, assemble a team that looks good, enter the battle, then after a round of actions just force a disconnect? On Android devices, for example, you could pull down the notification bar and turn off wifi without FFRK losing focus. Would that end the battle entirely, or would you get to take over for the other 6 units because you're the leader?

[Antonok]

What this post presupposes is... what if you could?

Like, for real, what happens if you act as Raid Leader, assemble a team that looks good, enter the battle, then after a round of actions just force a disconnect? On Android devices, for example, you could pull down the notification bar and turn off wifi without FFRK losing focus. Would that end the battle entirely, or would you get to take over for the other 6 units because you're the leader?

If the leader disconnects, it ends it. If party members disconnect, the leader takes over control.

Could always ask if the playground would be willing to help. Can set a raid ID and basically make a private party.

[oxybe]

So trying to punch out Fem!Cloud U+ for CM and hitting a rut I don't think I can get out of: If I RW in a wall, I lack the proper AoE healing or offensive boost to survive her hits in the long run and/or kill her. If I RW in a Medica, I lack the defenses or offenses needed to finish the fight on my terms and if I RW in a faithga I lack the mitigation/sustain to survive the fight.

The ++/+++ mini CMs were cute but doable: Hope/Serah tore up the multi-target with their summons/AoE Blk while Cid/Serah unleashed the pain on Bart with Darkness & Chainaga magic respectively. Those two fights reminded me a lot of when CMs first came out.

But that Fem!Cloud U+... Will have to bow out.
---------------------------
So I decided to go after Raid Bart.

U+ went down after a few tries. Papalymo (Chain Blizzaga/Chain Thundaga)+Alphi (Curaja/Shellga) dealing consistent damage and worked as secondary support, primarily buffing the party with Leylines & Tactics. Trying the team player thing.

Then came this one Hope, who didn't really stand out... he was throwing Blizzajas & Thundajas for most of the fight but from the back row, out of nowhere decided to unleash some beastly god-tier OSB that dunked 83k on the boss. To say it won us the fight would be an understatement.

But the Apoca!Bart... phew.

Having real hard time getting a party for that fight.

I'm trying to figure out a good setup to use and these are the ones that come to mind:

Tyro - Multi Break R3, Magic Breakdance R3 - Sentinel Grimoire
Aerith - Curaja R3, Shellga R2 - White Materia
Note: Did try in an actual fight and it did well, we just lacked the damage to do anything of note once the adds were gone.

Ashe - Quetzacotl R4, Shiva R5 - Dusk's Decree
Papalymo - Chain Thundaga R2, Chain Blizzaga R2 - Ley Lines
Note:Tried, tore through the adds like they were paper, we lacked sustain and didn't have our buffs ready for recast in time

Ashe - Quetzacotl R4, Shiva R5 - Dusk's Decree
Fran - Full Break R2 (I think i can actually R3 it safely), Wrath R4 - Pinpoint
Note: Have not tried, basically a setup for Dusk's Decree spam. potential for Enthrust/Wrath meter building/sharing.

Fang - Sky High R1, Lifesiphon R3 - Megaflare
Alphinaud - Curaja R3, Shellga R2 - Aerial Blast
Note: See above, but for Aerial Blast

Beatrix - Saint's Cross R3, Banishing Strike R3 - Knight Protector
Szah - Full Break R2/R3, Wrath R4 - Choco-Chick
Note: Have not tried. A sort of pseudo-support with Sentinel, dispel, etc... potential for spamming Choco-Chick for Mblink dunno if would actually work out in practice

Alphinaud - Curaja R3, Shellga R2 - Deployment Tactics
Papalymo - Chain Thundaga R2, Chain Blizzaga R2 - Ley Lines
Note: Mage buffs, need the right team comp for good effectiveness but has potential to be a huge damage boost

[SuperPanda]

As mentioned I can try to get a raid set up (my) tomorrow morning (Last day of classes before my student's final exams next Monday but I don't teach in the morning on Fridays). I should be able to try again sat-sun my time as well. My mornings are evening for PST. A good point of reference is New Events drop at my 9am and Daily changes at my 4pm.

Apoc Bart is the only source of Mythril I haven't secured available right now so I'm very motivated to get a play-grounder group together and get us all that clear. I'm well suited to bringing Heals with Y'shtola (wall, SSB and Burst).

I can imperil Ice, Wind, or Fire (Laguna, Faris, Locke) with the latter two being better.

My top damage choices are Pld Cecil, Reifa, and Alphinaud.

My best buff is Palypamo though I can also bring Minfilla's SSB.

I think the playground has better supporters but I have Farris and Tyro BSBs and Fran's reverse Wall.

I've been running Tyro/Y'shtola but I think the playground has enough delicious Fire damage that I could run Lock/Y'shtola. Command 1 provides a weak reverse wall but would stack with Vaan burst while Mug Bloodlusts -attack/def would do the same if I brought it. Fire/Holy command should bypass immunity on one of the adds and hit weakness on the other. Alternately I could hold it until Bart is unarmored to open a weakness on him. Locke has some solid equipment options including the pumpkin (even though he'd be in the front row).

Last event I was running Alphinaud/Y'shtola with myself prioritizing Wall and Tactical Deployment if no one was supplying those. I could do the same thing and then pack Chain Firaga and Blizzaga (r3 each) for strong weakness hitting spell power. I haven't been doing this because it means I'm not covering medals.

[Morbis Meh]

As mentioned I can try to get a raid set up (my) tomorrow morning (Last day of classes before my student's final exams next Monday but I don't teach in the morning on Fridays). I should be able to try again sat-sun my time as well. My mornings are evening for PST. A good point of reference is New Events drop at my 9am and Daily changes at my 4pm.

Apoc Bart is the only source of Mythril I haven't secured available right now so I'm very motivated to get a play-grounder group together and get us all that clear. I'm well suited to bringing Heals with Y'shtola (wall, SSB and Burst).

I can imperil Ice, Wind, or Fire (Laguna, Faris, Locke) with the latter two being better.

My top damage choices are Pld Cecil, Reifa, and Alphinaud.

My best buff is Palypamo though I can also bring Minfilla's SSB.

I think the playground has better supporters but I have Farris and Tyro BSBs and Fran's reverse Wall.

I've been running Tyro/Y'shtola but I think the playground has enough delicious Fire damage that I could run Lock/Y'shtola. Command 1 provides a weak reverse wall but would stack with Vaan burst while Mug Bloodlusts -attack/def would do the same if I brought it. Fire/Holy command should bypass immunity on one of the adds and hit weakness on the other. Alternately I could hold it until Bart is unarmored to open a weakness on him. Locke has some solid equipment options including the pumpkin (even though he'd be in the front row).

Last event I was running Alphinaud/Y'shtola with myself prioritizing Wall and Tactical Deployment if no one was supplying those. I could do the same thing and then pack Chain Firaga and Blizzaga (r3 each) for strong weakness hitting spell power. I haven't been doing this because it means I'm not covering medals.

I can pump out fire damage with Terra and Bartz but I would much prefer team WINd via Alphinaud and Bartz. Though I would probably bring Alphi and Y'sh since having Asylum was a life saver.

[T.G. Oskar]

I'm trying to figure out a good setup to use and these are the ones that come to mind:

Tyro - Multi Break R3, Magic Breakdance R3 - Sentinel Grimoire
Aerith - Curaja R3, Shellga R2 - White Materia
Note: Did try in an actual fight and it did well, we just lacked the damage to do anything of note once the adds were gone.

Hmm - interesting. I feel this is the best one, just at a glance, but if you build your own team. You still rely on a team that can dish damage, however (as you mentioned), but as a Raid Leader this is pretty decent.


Ashe - Quetzacotl R4, Shiva R5 - Dusk's Decree
Papalymo - Chain Thundaga R2, Chain Blizzaga R2 - Ley Lines
Note:Tried, tore through the adds like they were paper, we lacked sustain and didn't have our buffs ready for recast in time

This is pure offensive, and has a Hastega, but...it's the Chain Element spells. Papy has only eight spell uses, and half of those are gone by the time you end with the adds. How are your -ja spells? You'll probably deal less damage, but you can stretch those a lot more, particularly if you get double the current amount of hones you have from your Chainspells. The problem is that you'll cap real easily...which means you should save Ley Lines for when Barty arrives, ergo making it better to have, say, Blood of Espers or the Magus' RM2.


Ashe - Quetzacotl R4, Shiva R5 - Dusk's Decree
Fran - Full Break R2 (I think i can actually R3 it safely), Wrath R4 - Pinpoint
Note: Have not tried, basically a setup for Dusk's Decree spam. potential for Enthrust/Wrath meter building/sharing.

Hmm...I'm not really a Fran fan (just use her because she has her Full Breakdown SSB), but I presume this is an En-Lightning/Imperil Lightning group. Right from the start, Wrath won't really help - you want Imperil Lightning for Barty, so Magic Breakdown and maybe Ace Striker/Battleforged is a better idea. I also notice that you set Ashe in the front row, so I presume her Defense and Resistance are pretty high enough.


Fang - Sky High R1, Lifesiphon R3 - Megaflare
Alphinaud - Curaja R3, Shellga R2 - Aerial Blast
Note: See above, but for Aerial Blast

Now, Alphinaud will have huge problems with this kind of set-up to build Aerial Blast. I see Alphi can do Deployment Tactics, so my best recommendation with this is - do what you have with Ashe and have Quetzalcoatl and Shiva, set Ace Striker/Battleforged/Knight's Charge on Alphi, and fire Deployment Tactics followed by Aerial Blast so that you can end up spamming Command 1. Knight's Charge is in case you receive more hits than you can deal, while the other two help sustain your Bursts.


Beatrix - Saint's Cross R3, Banishing Strike R3 - Knight Protector
Szah - Full Break R2/R3, Wrath R4 - Choco-Chick
Note: Have not tried. A sort of pseudo-support with Sentinel, dispel, etc... potential for spamming Choco-Chick for Mblink dunno if would actually work out in practice

Not a fan of this set-up. IMO, Beatrix's Sentinel would help at first, then once Barty can be targeted, she'll lose that benefit, thus leaving her with the random Dispel and the arguably solid Holy Damage...but then you're using her Burst, meaning you already have something better than Saint's Cross. Sazh's Boostga + MBlink does help, but once you're out of Full Breaks and Wraths, you'll have the same problem as before.


Alphinaud - Curaja R3, Shellga R2 - Deployment Tactics
Papalymo - Chain Thundaga R2, Chain Blizzaga R2 - Ley Lines
Note: Mage buffs, need the right team comp for good effectiveness but has potential to be a huge damage boost

Best if you know someone's bringing Wall, Break(downs) and a proper Medica - but again, the problem lies in that Papy will lose steam once he casts his only four spells. Chainspells are great at a specific point, but not afterwards - if you can do lots of damage that the others can mop up after a few turns. You definitely need that both fire their Soul Breaks ASAP, so that you can do with 1 use of each Chain, saving 6 uses for Barty.

IMO, I find that Tyro and Alphinaud, with Tyro doing Multi Break and possibly healing OR Shellga, and Alphinaud using Summon magic and Deployment Tactics -> Aerial Burst is your best bet. Tyro starts with Wall, but might not be able to maintain it - or, you save it for until Barty comes in. Alphinaud helps mop up the first stage of the adds with Deployment Tactics most likely landing in, and once Barty appears, change to Aerial Blast. If you're building up with Ace Striker/Battleforged, Command 2 will help you in case your gauge isn't filled by providing extra uses of summons. You'll still need a Medica, but odds are you'll get two or three, and you should have enough firepower with Alphinaud to deal with Barty's nastiest spells (plus Deployment Tactics helps your damage with Radiant Shield's reflect damage effect).

In my case, I'm still struggling with XIII's U++. It seems that no matter what I do, once the Warmech goes into Ultimate Antimatter Bomb spam, I can't keep up. Switched Alphinaud for Locke (but using Deployment Tactics as my RW), trying to exploit Imperil Fire and several reductions to ATK, but to no avail - that attack can easily do tons of damage, and Lenna simply can't outheal them as I'd want to. I reckon I can take it to 10% of its HP before everything falls out. Arguably, my biggest problem seems to lie in that Mug Bloodlust is still R1, meaning I have to use it with care - and that's a problem, because that means using it around the time Locke's ready for Mirage Phoenix, meaning I have to use it instead of Mug Weapon OR Phoenix Buffet. Perhaps it's that the Warmech has over 900 ATK and 650 SPD with near-instant cast, meaning he gets 3 turns at the moment my characters are finishing their second turn. Tried to use Keeper's Tome to help, but it's not really doing much. Basically, I'm approaching wit's end - strong characters, four Bursts, Wall, Medica, Hastega, a huge boost to Attack, and I still can't seem to break even...and I could beat Ultima Weapon (Doom), which is meant to be more difficult than this guy. Are future bosses as annoying as this one (spamming DEF-ignoring or RES-ignoring attacks, thus basically taking you down unless you spam all your BSBs/OSBs at once with full buffing)?

[oxybe]

@ T.G. Oskar

Yeah I'm still toying around with teams. Apoca!Bart is a beast and i'll take any input I can to help me take him down.

as for the U++, have you tried RWing a Lighting BSB? I brought mage team to him and between Papy chain thundaga, Alph thundaja & Ashe's Quetz/Raiden he got s'ploded pretty fast.

If needed I can upgrade my Chainagas from R2 to R3 and have some MBOs left over, I'm just on a "Sit and see what's needed" mentality.
--------------------------------------------------------------
So FFIX.

Hot on the heels of FFXIV godbanner and FFXIII Reines we get to kick back and relax a bit. Information is unabashedly ripped strait from reddit's /u/Sandslice, here's both banners.



Zidane - Rune Tooth - Sword
OSB "Meo Twister" (PHY: 1180% single wind/non; +100% additive with at least 4 females in your formation)
+ATK Mastery
BONUSES: RS wind+. RS Carrot drops are x1.5

Kuja - Terra's Legacy - Rod
BSB "Force Symphony" (BLK: 220% random dark/non x8 with imperil dark)
+MAG Mastery
BONUS: Dark+

Zidane - The Ogre - Sword
BSB "Stellar Circle 5" (PHY: 98% AoE wind ranged x6 (588%) with imperil wind)
+ATK Mastery

Zidane's Vest - Light armour
SSB "Storm Impulse" (PHY: 97% single wind/non x8 (776%) with en-wind)
+ATK Mastery
BONUS Wind+

Amarant - Rising Sun - Thrown
SSB "Power Throw" (PHY: 93% single x8 (744%) with ATK/DEF+30% as 611; deals improved critical damage)
+ATK Mastery

Garnet - Wizard Rod - Rod
SSB "Divine Guardian" (NAT: party haste, high regen, RES+50% as 607)
+MAG mastery

Beatrix - Ragnarok - Sword
SSB "Seiken: Shock" (PHY: 95% single x8 (760%) with party magic blink)
+ATK Mastery



Steiner - Enhancer - Sword
BSB "Knight's Honour" (PHY: 83% single fire/non x8 (664%) with en-fire)
+ATK Mastery
BONUS: RS fire+

Freya - Heavy Lance - Spear
BSB "Dragon's Crest" (PHY: 95% random wind/non x8, with ATK/DEF-50% as 611)
+ATK Mastery
BONUS: Stop proc

Eiko - Hamelin - Music
BSB "Prayer of the Lost" (WHT: party Curaga and crit=50% as 614)
+MND Mastery

Garnet - Royal Gown - Robe
SSB "Enveloping Warmth" (NAT: party MAG/DEF+30% as 620, and Stock 3000)
+MAG Mastery
BONUS: RS lightning+

Steiner - Tin Armour - Heavy armour
SSB "Sword Mag: Firaga" (PHY: 147% AoE fire/non x4 (588%) with imperil fire)
+ATK Mastery

Freya - Trident - Spear
SSB "Six Dragons" (PHY: 129% single wind ranged x6 (774%) with en-wind)
+ATK Mastery
BONUS: Blind proc

Quina - Golden Hairpin - Hat
SSB "Frog Drop" (PHY: 149% AoE x4 (596%) wtih party ATK+50% as 603 +ATK Mastery
BONUS: Water+



Kuja's Glove - Bangle
SB "Dread of Death" (NAT: 235% AoE dark x4 (940%) with en-dark)

Beatrix - Thunder Glove - Bangle
SB - "Rose of May" (PHY: 129% single x4 (516%) with party DEF+50% as 604)
BONUS: Lightning resist



Kuja uses BLK/black, dealing dark/non damage with bonus damage if Doomed:

Snatch Shot (204% single x4 (816%), +82% doom bonus -> 1144% net)
Burst Energy (294% AoE x2 (588%), +108% doom bonus -> 824% net)


Zidane uses PHY/Thief: 200% single with Steal Stat -40% / +50%:

Mug Power: ATK as 603
Mug Defense: DEF as 604


Steiner uses PHY/Combat, dealing fire/non damage and gaining one extra hit when hitting weakness:

Blaze Sword (52% single x4 (208% -> 260%)
Flame Break (63% AoE x2 (126% -> 189%)


Freya uses PHY/Dragoon: 98% single wind/non x2 (196%) with effect:

Wind Flower (Quickened Jumps 2)
Dragon Draw (command ether)


Eiko does WHT healing:

Eiko's Aid (Curaja + physical blink)
Wayfarer's Hymn (command medica)


While there isn't anything game-changing the few things I'll note are:

1- If you're looking for a wind team starter pack, Banner 1 is not a bad place to start. A nice AoE ImpWind with debuff commands, an EnWind armour SSB with +Wind effect and a Wind based OSB. Plus a wind based 5star Thief skill is released. Not bad.

2- Kuja's BSB makes me sad. He was the Darkness Mage Meta founder and with his MC3 RM, start the fight with a 60 second doom counter, Kuja is primed to make good use of Darkness' self-destructive habits. You can't help but compare it to Reine's

However the commands, as a whole, aren't really impressive. Even under doom you're still looking at a 11.44x multiplier when compared to Dark Zone's 13.5 or Morbid Countdown's 15x, though both of those cap at 20k while Command 1 caps at a theoretical 40k

Still though, You're using your commands not just under Imperil Dark (so basically +20% damage and SB gain as though weakness if they were neutral beforehand), but with a Dark+ weapon. You're still going to be dealing a nice amount of damage, and if you can pull it off, as his glove is shared, you can possibly Empower yourself on top of Imperiling the enemy.

3 - Rusty, like Zidane gets both his ImpFire and EnFire BSB/SSBs this banner and a Fiery Spellblade to play around with. His EnFire BSB is of special note since it has increased number of hits on each command if the enemy is vulnerable to fire.


As mentioned in my banner notes we get 2 new abilities:

Blasting Twinstrike (5★ Spellblade) - Two ST 1.6x fire physical attacks (3.2x total potency)

Dash and Slash (5★ Thief) - Two ST 1.65x wind physical attacks (3.3x total potency), multiplier raised to 1.85x per hit if equipped with a dagger (3.7x total potency)

Both aren't anything too special, outside of simply being raw damage but they're 2x hits of elemental persuasion and we get relics and SBs able to make use of them so if you pull them, you have something this event to play with.

Finally, we're getting a special greens & XP FFIX area. If you want to level up characters, get those Motes/Major Orbs now's your chance. Zidane's OSB weapon also seems to cause a significant amount of bonus greens dropping with RS. The greens are dropped by specific monsters.

And our end of event bosses are the U+ tag-team of Bae & Rusty and our U++ is Zidane!

Beatrix+Steiner are both weak to darkness. If you manage to pull either Kuja's glove or stick this banner, you'll be tearing through them. Even without them, MoriZone should probably damage cap with a high level Kuja. Finally you can also RW in Reines' BSB for double the fun.

Event thread on reddit states to take out Steiner for his AoEs and sap as it makes for surviving Beatrix's "your party is now at 1 HP lol" attacks when she reaches 80% and 40% hp. Beatrix also has Reflect at the start of the fight and can potentially silence.

Zidane though... He's, well, and I quote:


Ah, Zidane. As you'll see when you fight him, he is very, very annoying. His Rumble rush is a 4-hit random target attack with a 303% chance to interrupt, his Booster 8 has a 48% chance to confuse, Steal (303% chance to slow, reduce target's attack/defense by 40% and increase his by 40%, and haste himself) and Mug (same as Steal but with damage) and he has other attacks which have AoE Slow and Sap attached to them.

Yeah, sounds like pain to deal with, noting that his first 3 attacks are steal, so hold off on your haste. At least it's a raw physical fight so you don't need to worry about dual mitigation

He's also a bit frail defense wise, so you can potentially tear through him too fast and activate his scripted attacks before you can recover properly.

[danzibr]

I wouldn't mind helping with Apocalypse Bart, if people want a hand. The best people I could bring are 80 Raines with BSB fully dived, 99 OK with BSB fully dived, and 99 Hope with BSB partially dived.

For my winning run, I think I had OK in the front doing Support, and Raines in the back doing blasting.

[Red Fel]

See, I could see working with people from this thread, or from Reddit - the FFRK subreddit actually has its own numeric tag for those purposes. (We could probably come up with our own.) Planning out a team would work very well, that way. The problem is that we've got a relatively small group of people in what sounds like a relatively large number of time zones.

Part of my problem also, as I mentioned, is that I don't have a lot to contribute. I have Hope's BSB for great deeps, and I have Celes with Runic and/or her BSB (not Indo Blade, please don't confuse me for someone with that much luck). Most of my other BSBs aren't helpful; I have Yuna's Tiny Bee, which is rubbish; Cloud's Fenrir Overdrive, which is meh; Rydia's Mournful Cry, which is similarly meh; Luneth's Eternal Wind, which doesn't do much good here; Zidane's Stellar Circle 5, which also isn't very helpful here; Garnet's Dagger of Resolve, which is mildly useful on the adds but ultimately not terrific; and most recently, the Warrior of Light's Ultimate Shield, which is highly situational and really doesn't apply here.

I do have other non-BSB SBs that are pretty solid. Ramza's Shout, Krile's Sheepsong, wall on Y'shtola and Tyro - I could bring any of them. I also have multiple Vanille and Sazh SBs, and could bring them. Problem is, a lot of my SBs are on back row types - ranged SUP or casters - which means possibly giving up Hope, and my biggest contribution to deeps. You see my problem. Despite some good pulls, I don't have a lot to contribute to a party.

Fact is, if I was in a capable party with Beatrix/Agrias BSB, my Hope would do unspeakable damage. In such a party with also a Cid Raines BSB, it would be obscene. At that point, I could bring Celes with Runic and/or BSB, or instead bring Warrior of Light - either or, plenty of Holy damage to go around. But basically, I rely on Hope and the rest of the party - I don't have two solid characters to bring to it.

Now, the IX MPs might be an entirely different matter.

[SuperPanda]

See, I could see working with people from this thread, or from Reddit - the FFRK subreddit actually has its own numeric tag for those purposes. (We could probably come up with our own.) Planning out a team would work very well, that way. The problem is that we've got a relatively small group of people in what sounds like a relatively large number of time zones.

Part of my problem also, as I mentioned, is that I don't have a lot to contribute. I have Hope's BSB for great deeps, and I have Celes with Runic and/or her BSB (not Indo Blade, please don't confuse me for someone with that much luck). Most of my other BSBs aren't helpful; I have Yuna's Tiny Bee, which is rubbish; Cloud's Fenrir Overdrive, which is meh; Rydia's Mournful Cry, which is similarly meh; Luneth's Eternal Wind, which doesn't do much good here; Zidane's Stellar Circle 5, which also isn't very helpful here; Garnet's Dagger of Resolve, which is mildly useful on the adds but ultimately not terrific; and most recently, the Warrior of Light's Ultimate Shield, which is highly situational and really doesn't apply here.

I do have other non-BSB SBs that are pretty solid. Ramza's Shout, Krile's Sheepsong, wall on Y'shtola and Tyro - I could bring any of them. I also have multiple Vanille and Sazh SBs, and could bring them. Problem is, a lot of my SBs are on back row types - ranged SUP or casters - which means possibly giving up Hope, and my biggest contribution to deeps. You see my problem. Despite some good pulls, I don't have a lot to contribute to a party.

Fact is, if I was in a capable party with Beatrix/Agrias BSB, my Hope would do unspeakable damage. In such a party with also a Cid Raines BSB, it would be obscene. At that point, I could bring Celes with Runic and/or BSB, or instead bring Warrior of Light - either or, plenty of Holy damage to go around. But basically, I rely on Hope and the rest of the party - I don't have two solid characters to bring to it.

Now, the IX MPs might be an entirely different matter.

I don't have an imperil holy but I do have Y'shtola and Tyro with wall and burst on them. Tyro can handle those pesky medal requirements while Yish brings the heals. Your deeps sound very solid (especially if we had an imperil holy). A second healer (preferably Vanille burst for emergencies but Arc/minwu likely could cover) and more deeps for a very solid team.

Been trying more lately and when I get a good team I disconnect. Rather frustrating.

[danzibr]

See, I could see working with people from this thread, or from Reddit - the FFRK subreddit actually has its own numeric tag for those purposes. (We could probably come up with our own.) Planning out a team would work very well, that way. The problem is that we've got a relatively small group of people in what sounds like a relatively large number of time zones.

Part of my problem also, as I mentioned, is that I don't have a lot to contribute. I have Hope's BSB for great deeps, and I have Celes with Runic and/or her BSB (not Indo Blade, please don't confuse me for someone with that much luck). Most of my other BSBs aren't helpful; I have Yuna's Tiny Bee, which is rubbish; Cloud's Fenrir Overdrive, which is meh; Rydia's Mournful Cry, which is similarly meh; Luneth's Eternal Wind, which doesn't do much good here; Zidane's Stellar Circle 5, which also isn't very helpful here; Garnet's Dagger of Resolve, which is mildly useful on the adds but ultimately not terrific; and most recently, the Warrior of Light's Ultimate Shield, which is highly situational and really doesn't apply here.

I do have other non-BSB SBs that are pretty solid. Ramza's Shout, Krile's Sheepsong, wall on Y'shtola and Tyro - I could bring any of them. I also have multiple Vanille and Sazh SBs, and could bring them. Problem is, a lot of my SBs are on back row types - ranged SUP or casters - which means possibly giving up Hope [lol], and my biggest contribution to deeps. You see my problem. Despite some good pulls, I don't have a lot to contribute to a party.

Fact is, if I was in a capable party with Beatrix/Agrias BSB, my Hope would do unspeakable damage. In such a party with also a Cid Raines BSB, it would be obscene. At that point, I could bring Celes with Runic and/or BSB, or instead bring Warrior of Light - either or, plenty of Holy damage to go around. But basically, I rely on Hope and the rest of the party - I don't have two solid characters to bring to it.

Now, the IX MPs might be an entirely different matter.
I think we can totally manage it. And... time zones aren't that much of a problem, I think. SuperPanda's in China right (but even then, could work)? Anyone else outside the US? I dunno, I go by post times. I see people post throughout the day. I'm on all the time >.>

Oh right, but as for what to bring, oxybe has Agrias's BSB. I could bring both Hope and Raines. Or OK and Raines.

Wait, where'd that spreadsheet go?

It might be easier with all the reddit folks, but I have confidence we can assemble a highly competent team. Not just scrape a victory, but own that sucker.

In fact, I don't think my victory run even had *that* good a party.

[Greg_S]

I've got Agrias' BSB, so I could stick her in the front and put Vaan with a gun in the back row.

On the IX event: banner 2 looks better than banner 1. Dagger's SSB would be a nice score for anyone without Raines, and you can treat HP stock like a medica. If you have a fire imperil to create a weakness, Steiner's BSB has a command that hits like full charge after the en-element bonus.

The greens event is a separate daily-style dungeon. Every enemy in it drops greens, and how many they drop depends on the enemy. Ochus are the magic pot equivalents, and drop a lot, while other enemies drop 25 or so. It adds up, though.

Fulminating Firestorm is fine, but dash and slash is great. Just by themselves, dash is better. 3.3/2 potency vs. 3.2/2, plus thief casting time. Fire and Wind are both common enough vulnerabilities. If you have a dagger, dash gets nastier at 3.7/2, and with just one wind+ item, like Bartz's cloak or Cid's goggles, you're now rocking 4.44/2. You're now full charging with thief casting time. Got Faris' BSB? Now you have a little extra punch if you need it. Have Vaan's BSB, and think he could use some extra violence to go along with reverse-shouting and magic-busting? Here you are.

[SuperPanda]

Yeah, I teach overseas in China st the moment. Likely headed stateside in early 2018 (planning to move with contracts, pup, spouse, and associated paperwork can take a long time).

I finally managed to clear Apoc Bart with a good team. I dropped Tyro for Locke and the extra damage made a big differnence (raid leader had squall w/BSB). Another tyro brought breakdowns and wall.

My connection at this time is spotty at best - I think my isp is under the most strain at night. Shortly after event start time is my best connection time if I don't have classes to teach early (next three days). So I'll post here when I'm available and see if we can't scrounge up a team.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Regarding the banners, bear in mind that the next dungeon update hits during the FF9 event, so we can expect a lucky draw on FF8, 9, 14, and Tactics. That may adjust your pull expectations, both for this event and potentially for Orlandu as well. (Obviously you can't net TG Cid's swag, but getting Agrias or Ovelia relics will affect the banner's value.)

[Antonok]

A few points you guys might consider on the ApocaBarth fight: His dispel doesn't get rid of magic blink or Last Stand so a Minfilia or Selphie/Arc/even Beatrix can go a long way in negating his post dispel nuke (and just generally take a load off healers). Another good item would be someone with Magic Lure. It actually negates quite a bit of the counter damage and random single targets the pauldron's throw out.

Dunno what all you guys have, but a few things to consider that really help on the fight.

[T.G. Oskar]

@ T.G. Oskar

Yeah I'm still toying around with teams. Apoca!Bart is a beast and i'll take any input I can to help me take him down.

As I said, your best bet IMO is Tyro and Alphinaud, with the former providing Wall and debuffs, and the latter bringing Radiant Shield and his BSB. With both, you should cover all bases, and despite redundancy, you could easily work things out to a point where your contribution to the team becomes completely noticeable. Basically, if the others can't handle it, then it's definitely not gonna be your fault.


as for the U++, have you tried RWing a Lighting BSB? I brought mage team to him and between Papy chain thundaga, Alph thundaja & Ashe's Quetz/Raiden he got s'ploded pretty fast.

I tried it once or twice - did about 75k with the first use, but the problem is timing the second one. It can't be before everything is set-up, and definitely not during the barrier phase. And, by the time it's viable to use (Very Weak phase), the window of opportunity on a character that can use it (say, Ramza) is tricky. Also, I lose the damage from Radiant Shield; 150k damage isn't exactly easy to beat with Radiant Shield (you need to take 150k worth of damage, for once), but there's other bits of damage lost without the ATK/MAG buff (namely, Terra has to rely on her equip-modified MAG to deal damage, and once Thundaja and Chain Thundaga are out, the damage from En-Fire Burst commands with Locke's Imperil tacked in isn't as amazing). That said, I tried it when Alphinaud was still part of the team, therefore having to rely on Ramza to maximize the damage, so I could try it again with Ramza and Locke in party, with Steal Defense kicking in, to see if I can deal enough damage to matter.

UPDATE: After a switch in tactics (pun intended), I defeated Andygator Watermech U++. Decided to switch the one character I didn't changed (Terra) for someone I already used (Alphinaud), and tried Lightning's OSB as my RW, and...that seems to be the trick.

Except...it doesn't, for a strange reason. I think this was a stroke of luck.

For starters, when I used Lightning's OSB the first time, the attack did 75k damage - this time, my first use did 45k, which to me was a sign of worry. Alphinaud wasn't adding that much damage, other than what Radiant Shield provided, and everyone was dealing pretty much the same amount of damage. So...what did the trick? Perhaps it was the second use of the RW, which hit damage cap? Maybe the fact that Magic boost allowed Ramza to deal much more damage with Swift Bolt? Maybe the fact that AndyMech behaved a bit better this time? No idea, but I know that I didn't have to use Keeper's Tome, and despite being out of hones with Alphi and that Locke's BSB DEFINITELY requires a +Fire item (honestly, I have my suspicions that Locke's Burst 2 command ignores Defense, because it gets such a huge boost from +Fire AND it tends to do the same damage always, no matter the boosts), it pretty much flowed. So, that means I don't have to think any more about it, and that's great, because I can spend my time waiting until next event to come...which will come in about 3 hours.

[Slayn82]

I'm trying the Barthandelus 200 too. I can bring to frontline

Firion 83 with Weaponmaster BSB, Full RS gear, Lifesiphon R5 + Full ChargeR3, Ace Striker. Start just Lifesiphoning, spam Magic Blink and Full Charge once things gets serious.
Celes 81 with Indomitable Blade SSB, 2x +20% Holy gear, Banishing Strike R4 + Saint's Cross R3, Pride of the Red Wings. Let's absorb his magic.
Tyro 99 with Sentinel Grimoire, Full Break R2 and Magic Breakdown R5, Dr. Mog Teachings. Same gear as Firion.

For the backrow

Eiko 79 with Prayer of the Lost BSB, Shellga R2 and Curaja R5, Mako Might. Improves the DPS of a Physical team.
Penelo 81 with Evanescence BSB. Shellga R2 and Curaja R5, Mako Might. Improves a little the team's magic damage, deals some Holy damage on entry, can do well in the offensive with her command 1 (4x Holy damage + self MND), can bring Multi Break in place of Shellga.
Selphie 80 with Strange Vision BSB. She isn't coming in peace. Early game healer, once things get serious, her BSB will make Magic far stronger, and she will pack a 2 hit Holy damage + Dispel.

For now, I'm packing Firon + Penelo. Im availiable in the next 2 hours. Friend code uEoY, and I'm creating a Raid ID: 2709.

EDIT: After a while, opened the party to public, and got a great set up. Had Raines, Onion, Minfilia, Beatrix, Lenna, Alphinaud. Was about to unleash the good stuff and enter the final part of the battle - Telemarketer Call. Ouch.

[Antonok]

100 gem got me Kuja's Gloves. Seems he now replaces Edea for my dark mage slot just by virtue of my now having a relic for him (and an EnDark one at that).

Edit: MPs are down. Classic levels of the event are done. Kuja is at 63 and on his way to 80. Could almost field a IX team for the CM but I'm short a healer/decent support for it. Vivi, Zidane, Kuja, and Beatrix are all 60+. Oh well, maybe if I pull something for Eiko/Garnet in the lucky draw I can try the next event. Also very tempted to blow 15 mithril on a 3 pull just for the hopes of something for synergy. Only have Beatrix's Ragnarok and Kuja's Gloves. Decided not to pull on the Summoners or FFT. Too many chances of dupes on the Summoners and Tactics is eh.

Edit2: Ok Did go ahead with another 3 pull. A second set of Kuja's Gloves. I did ask for synergy...(and it's not actually the worst thing)

[Morbis Meh]

I think we can totally manage it. And... time zones aren't that much of a problem, I think. SuperPanda's in China right (but even then, could work)? Anyone else outside the US? I dunno, I go by post times. I see people post throughout the day. I'm on all the time >.>

Oh right, but as for what to bring, oxybe has Agrias's BSB. I could bring both Hope and Raines. Or OK and Raines.

Wait, where'd that spreadsheet go?

It might be easier with all the reddit folks, but I have confidence we can assemble a highly competent team. Not just scrape a victory, but own that sucker.

In fact, I don't think my victory run even had *that* good a party.

I am not in the states but share their time zones (I am from the great white north) and I am in the CST timezone. If we are running a Holy Team I have a Firion itching to wreak havoc and magic blink is always useful. As for Fel not having BSB's no worries bring hope and one of your walls and someone will bring OK or Alphi (I can do Alphi if needed). My second can be fill in whatever niche we need: revers wall then Farism Healer then Arc or Y'sh (Arc would probably be more useful because phys blink) hastega/faith/boost then Alphi is our man with radiant shield to boot.

Just let me know when we want to take that mother down, if people are comfortable we could use some form of realtime chat to communicate better.

[oxybe]

Gave the banner 1 a single pull, hoping for any of the wind stuff or kuja stuff.

Got the old 1/11... and my first OSB! Hooray! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, WIND FOR THE WIND TEAM! BONUS GREENS FOR THE BLOATED ONE ON HIS VEGAN THRONE!

...

Well occasionally bonus greens.

It seems to be an infrequent proc in the post-fight roundup. After finishing all 3 dungeons I might have gotten 600-700 bonus greens. It's nothing spectacular but still nice. Seeing as how I'll be using it to level up some peeps, having it on hand for the small bonus is cool.

Since I'm putting my 100 planned mythil to FFVIII instead of FFT, I've been looking at upcoming banners again and seeing if their worth is well, worth it. Looking at the Curated JP Valigarmanda Summoner banner I see a lot of repeats... 12/40 in fact. I'm wondering about this banner's worth for me, put it's or if I should just put my last 50 mythril again on FFIX. The game is up there on my list of top FFs, alongside FFT & FFVI. and my inner FFIX fanboy is screaming "PULL 4 GENOMES! PULL 4 QUEEN BEA!" lol.

I also keep forgetting we get mythril from multiplayer which is why my spreadsheet's mythril count keeps being off when compared to my game's and why I keep having more then I initially expected on these last few weeks. better then overestimating at least.

For BSBs I have: Vaan, Minfilia, Auron, Alphinaud, Fang, Luneth, GILGAMESH, Ashe, Beatrix & Aerith if people want to include my stuff in potential teambuilding. I work overnights but if we can plan ahead i can schedule naps when needed. code is Hw6d and if I'm gonna play MP I'll be on bluestacks, so no worries about telemarketers, ha ha.

Unless the power goes out. Then it's just not to be. I do have a mic for voice chat.

EDIT: Sigh I'm weak.

3/11 - Wizard Rod (Boo, Copy!), Beatrix Glove (Yay! Bae item), Zidane Vest (Giddyness intensifies)

Not a bad haul. I'll need to start working on getting some Thieves abilities up and running for Zidane, but all things considered, there were better things I could've spent my mythril on later. But fanboys gonna fan!

[Antonok]

Well occasionally bonus greens.

It seems to be an infrequent proc in the post-fight roundup. After finishing all 3 dungeons I might have gotten 600-700 bonus greens. It's nothing spectacular but still nice. Seeing as how I'll be using it to level up some peeps, having it on hand for the small bonus is cool.

On this note: apology mithril! (https://www.ffrkcentral.com/blog/2017/01/13/upcoming-in-app-announcement-issues-resolved--2)

The relic gives a 50% chance for an extra 50% greens. And they made a mistake on the MPs attack, so hey, free mithril for all!

[Red Fel]

Am I the only one frustrated by the fact that (1) Zidane's BSB includes an Imperil Wind; (2) this new event features a THF 5 ability with Wind damage, which Zidane can use, and which deals extra damage when used with a dagger; and (3) Zidane's best weapons are all swords?

It's like with the XIII event giving us a Lightning SPB 5 ability that Lightning couldn't use without RD, or the VIII event doing the same with with Quistis and BLM 5. Yeah, the character can do the cool new thing the event gave you, but you have to do some stuff other than just the event - in Lightning's case, RD to raise her SPB level; in Zidane's case, voluntarily nerf him by giving him a weaker weapon.

It's... Is it deliberate? Do they do it just to mess with us, or do they not think about these things?

[oxybe]

At least Steiner can use the new spellblade without problem.

Go Rusty!

But yeah, not just his older ImpWind, but his new SSB2 has EnWind and +Wind on the armour. His new OSB has RS +Wind on it and deals wind damage... and is a sword.

The setup is so close to perfect. But neither of his 2 new items allow him to take advantage of the better damage multiplier on the thief 5.

So close.

Maybe we'll get another apology mythril?

[Merlin the Tuna]

It's... Is it deliberate? Do they do it just to mess with us, or do they not think about these things?Just according to keikaku. Incentivizes players to burn through motes, which leads to sunk cost reasoning: "I've already spent precious resources on Quistis, so I should probably pull for some of her relics to get the most out of it." And crimping your mote supply means that it can't act as a stopgap down the road in the event that you hit a wall, which leaves pulling as your only recourse.

The Zidane thing is mostly just weird though. I'm fine with the idea of not dropping the 100% Most Optimal setup right into our laps. There are 2 perfectly good sword users in the realm besides Zidane that would be happy to wield such a potent stat stick, and Zidane himself can use their gear, a 4+++ dagger, or whatever. But it's so close to being perfect that it looks less like a tradeoff by design than it does them trying for perfect and slightly flubbing it.

[Slayn82]

Zidane's case at least is excusable, as not all other thiefs have access to Swords, but every thief has some Dagger. I have Zidane's SSB dagger, and use it on him, leaving his SB Sword to Steiner. The extra potency on this skill will be very welcome.

I agree on it being a strategy to incentive players to spend motes on characters they get Relics for. Lighting having to Dive for spellblade is quite weird, but I guess in her game she mostly is associated with lighting element.

I was complaining another day about the incoming Water Spellblade, when Paine could have Shooter 5 (Since almost everyone from X gets it), to use with her En element. I got her En Water relic, and will have to hone another similar skill, instead of using what I already have.

[Greg_S]

Speaking of missed opportunities, Sabin gets an OSB in the current JP event. The icon does not involve a train. You had one job, DeNA, and it involved Sabin finally suplexing a train onto the enemy.

[danzibr]

Speaking of missed opportunities, Sabin gets an OSB in the current JP event. The icon does not involve a train. You had one job, DeNA, and it involved Sabin finally suplexing a train onto the enemy.
Awwww shucks. Disappointment.

[Antonok]

XI event is completed til the Ultimates. Trying to clear the gyshal dungeons but my phone REALLY doesn't like the sunshafts they added in :smallsigh:

[oxybe]

IX stuff clear and I can start focusing on leveling up Zidane and Beatrix and Papalymo to 99.

I Can now start saving up from scratch for FFVIII and Anniversary Fest in March.

[SuperPanda]

IX stuff is cleared for now. I've got zidane, quina, and Yuna leveling in greens dungeon.

Super excited for the DU. I see everyone on Reddit taking it as assumed that we'll be getting the DU lucky and I sure hope we do - lots to be excited for there. I think it's VII,VIII,IX,T.

My hype list is:
VII - zack's apocalypse
VIII - don't know. A strong Seifer to replace squall.
IX - a quina relic to round out the team.
T - shout!
A-teams: Agrias BSB (Beatrix is the same but I prefer Agrias).

[danzibr]

IX stuff is cleared for now. I've got zidane, quina, and Yuna leveling in greens dungeon.

Super excited for the DU. I see everyone on Reddit taking it as assumed that we'll be getting the DU lucky and I sure hope we do - lots to be excited for there. I think it's VII,VIII,IX,T.

My hype list is:
VII - zack's apocalypse
VIII - don't know. A strong Seifer to replace squall.
IX - a quina relic to round out the team.
T - shout!
A-teams: Agrias BSB (Beatrix is the same but I prefer Agrias).
I'd like a BSB for Agrias or Beatrix.

Actually, there's a lot of stuff I'd like.

Oh, and I see I'm up to 120 mythril! Nowhere near some people on here, but I'm track for the 25 for the DU and 3 pulls for Orlandeau. tbh I'm not as excited as I was, more into mage teams now, but still, Orlandeau... ahh...

[Antonok]

Why does everything take ice orbs :smallsigh: Ice and Holy are 2 orb types I just never seem to have even remotely enough of to do anything

[danzibr]

Why does everything take ice orbs :smallsigh: Ice and Holy are 2 orb types I just never seem to have even remotely enough of to do anything
I'm alright for those 2. But man, Darkness >.>

[Antonok]

I'm alright for those 2. But man, Darkness >.>

My orb count (more so I can get a count for myself :P ):


Power: 342 Regular, 41 Greater, 40 Major
White: 232 Regular, 143 Greater, 36 Major
Black: 136 Regular, 19 Greater, 9 Major
Summon: 136 Regular, 48 Greater, 2 Major
Non Elemental: 204 Regular, 31 Greater, 3 Major > Another one that is fairly scarce
Fire: 246 Regular, 22 Greater, 12 Major
Ice: 0. And I mean I have none. At all.
Lightning: 76 Regular, 21 Greater, 11 Major
Earth: 299 Regular, 25 Greater, 0 Major
Wind: 252 Regular, 33 Greater, 26 Major
Holy: 132 Regular, 8 Greater, 7 Major
Dark: 343 Regular, 92 Greater, 31 Major

Recently went on a small magic honing spree when I pulled Alph and Papa's BSBs to give them something to pack in fights. Mostly the -ja spells and summons, so that took most of my Black and Ice orb supply.

[danzibr]

My orb count (more so I can get a count for myself :P ):


Power: 342 Regular, 41 Greater, 40 Major
White: 232 Regular, 143 Greater, 36 Major
Black: 136 Regular, 19 Greater, 9 Major
Summon: 136 Regular, 48 Greater, 2 Major
Non Elemental: 204 Regular, 31 Greater, 3 Major > Another one that is fairly scarce
Fire: 246 Regular, 22 Greater, 12 Major
Ice: 0. And I mean I have none. At all.
Lightning: 76 Regular, 21 Greater, 11 Major
Earth: 299 Regular, 25 Greater, 0 Major
Wind: 252 Regular, 33 Greater, 26 Major
Holy: 132 Regular, 8 Greater, 7 Major
Dark: 343 Regular, 92 Greater, 31 Major

Recently went on a small magic honing spree when I pulled Alph and Papa's BSBs to give them something to pack in fights. Mostly the -ja spells and summons, so that took most of my Black and Ice orb supply.
Hmm. I'll share mine.

3*, then 4*, then 5*
Power: 4766, 486, 198
White: 3017, 523, 141
Black: 3506, 516, 116
Summon: 899, 185, 61
Non Elemental: 2480, 335, 75
Fire: 2888, 569, 179
Ice: 1997, 234, 85
Lightning: 3149, 503, 21
Earth: 3384, 566, 112
Wind: 3877, 474, 61
Holy: 2785, 389, 84
Dark: 3668, 382, 62

[Red Fel]

It's on.





Regular
Greater
Major
Crystal


Power
40
170
93
49


White
18
447
64
22


Black
13
438
86
19


Summon
27
100
43
13


Non-Elemental
5
369
87
20


Fire
12
374
107
19


Ice
2
105
60
10


Lightning
66
385
72
13


Earth
4
466
110
15


Wind
56
266
99
21


Holy
7
228
84
14


Dark
34
210
50
9



EDIT: Also, the FFRK subreddit now has an approximation - a guess, really - of the DU28 Lucky Draw, assuming it's curated. You can find it here (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5nxkf8/28th_dungeon_update_curated_lucky_draw_relic_list/). It's worth noting that some very potent relics are anticipated, including everything from the recent XIV banners (yes, including Y'shtola's BSB and Alphinaud's SSB).

[Antonok]

If this (https://www.ffrkcentral.com/blog/2017/01/14/upcoming-in-app-announcement-torment-dungeon-) is correct, we'll be getting round 2 of the Torment dungeons monday. This will be a FFX synergy, with a water weakness. Now for those with weak X synergy, we do have the upcoming X event on Thrusday if you care to tempt the fates.

Edit: Depending on how hard I want to hit the Sundaily/Gyshal event, I could probably put together a X synergy party Wakka, Jecht, Tidus, Rikku, and Yuna) Only problem is I have 3 relics for them. Yuna's Chaos Rod, Wakka's Auroch's Reels, and Rikku's HyperNulAll

[danzibr]

Wait, I thought Fuujin was supposed to be some sort of mega ninja. She doesn't seem that good, even with her BSB. Good, but I was under the impression she was boss. Unless the boss is weak to Wind.

[Antonok]

Wait, I thought Fuujin was supposed to be some sort of mega ninja. She doesn't seem that good, even with her BSB. Good, but I was under the impression she was boss. Unless the boss is weak to Wind.

Only for mage teams. Her BSB has -40% Mag/Res on entry, and -30% Res on command 2.

[oxybe]

TYPE 3* / 4* / 5*
POW 303/202/123
WHT 320/113/31
BLK 70/116/85
SUM 137/2/10
NE 340/61/55
FIR 322/101/122
ICE 39/108/80
LIT 280/54/62
EAR 473/137/101
WND 338/98/26
HOL 69/16/6
DRK 382/153/62

Other then Holy and Summon being low, I'm good. Holy is so low because I R3'd MultiBreak and I'm currently coming off having R3'd Tiamat, so summon and wind took a bit of a hit (though we're getting a bunch of wind orbs, like... 36 within the next 6-7 events, unrelesed FFIX Ultimates included). with 72 theoretical i'm still quite a bit off from R3ing everything I would like and be happy with a bunch of R2's, while focusing on the Wednesdaily.

On the flipside, I really should get around to R3ing Fullbreak. I have the Power, Ice and Lightning orbs to spare.

Only Back, Dark and Wind seem to be an issue for me to an extent. Black in case I want to R3 my Chainagas (which I can do 2 of) and Dark seems to be highly common of late, though we're getting like...26 in the next 6-7 events. 107 potential dark orbs means I can R3 1-2 things and have some left over, I'm just curious as to what the upcoming Necrofear ability uses other then dark orbs.


On Fuujin:

She pairs very nicely with Alphinaud if you have a wind team, which is one reason i'm looking forward to her. Alphinaud BSB (DPS Spam), Faris SSB (ImpWind and breaking), Fujin BSB (resistance murder).

She also carries : Black Magic 5, White Magic 4, Support 4, Ninja 5, Shooter 5. That's a lot of versatility when it comes to doing different types of elemental damage, applying status effects, applying stat breaks and more. It's a shame she can only use Daggers, thrown and rods, but still a ton of stuff she can pull off. At 178Mag @80, she's no OK when it comes to Ninja duty, but she can still apply a good amount of hurt on the magic side of things, and can be dived for a potential 209Mag.

[danzibr]

Only for mage teams. Her BSB has -40% Mag/Res on entry, and -30% Res on command 2.
Ooohhhh I see. Yeah that sounds much better.

[Greg_S]

Lightning suffered the penalty for being in 3 games and never developing a personality. CM is down. Went with a mage squad: Serah, Sazh, Vanille, Hope, and Raines. Sazh booned, Vanille burst, Serah summoned Raines as RW, Hope used all 3 charges of Titan then did the same, while Raines did MM/DZ. Being entirely in the back row helped cut down commando phase's damage, and she didn't make it back to commando, as each command from my attackers was hitting for about 19K. No mastery, since I couldn't interrupt her, and I lost a medal for damage. I wish Dr. Mog had mentioned that she had Watera, because I would have left the Gigas Armlets at home. I'll refight her with team Siege Tank and show no mercy.

Next on the list: Apoc. Bart and the non-NUCLEAR warmech.

EDIT: Fujin can carry an extra shellga/protectga for VIII CMs, plus she's got good magic and ninja access. Her burst not only does the mag/res AoE breakdown, but it's also instant-cast. Command 2 has the mental break if needed, and command 1 is a wind-elemental, 4-hit -ja spell with half casting time. Her BSB thrower boosts wind damage too. This all adds up to her being able to start with shellga/protectga round 1, then launch the 5* fujin guard ninja skill a few times until her SB gauge is full. Once that happens, go into burst mode, spam command 1, and you should never leave it. You'll keep debuffs active on the enemy the whole time.
For extra ridiculousness, do as Oxybe suggested, combining her BSB with Alphinaud's, and then add Zack's burst with its imperil and short-casting commands. Now everyone's firing skills at a weakness at double or instant casting time.

[SuperPanda]

On Fuujin:

She pairs very nicely with Alphinaud if you have a wind team, which is one reason i'm looking forward to her. Alphinaud BSB (DPS Spam), Faris SSB (ImpWind and breaking), Fujin BSB (resistance murder).

She also carries : Black Magic 5, White Magic 4, Support 4, Ninja 5, Shooter 5. That's a lot of versatility when it comes to doing different types of elemental damage, applying status effects, applying stat breaks and more. It's a shame she can only use Daggers, thrown and rods, but still a ton of stuff she can pull off. At 178Mag @80, she's no OK when it comes to Ninja duty, but she can still apply a good amount of hurt on the magic side of things, and can be dived for a potential 209Mag.

I've not been too hyped for her but I soon I'll be all "HYPE!"

I do have Alphi Burst and Faris Imperil. I do have Cardina+++ for magical thrown and Edea SSB (only 5*) as well. So she will have access to my highest Mag off synergy relic.

I already have a strong VIII team:
Squall (weak link) with SSB and Spell Blade 6* access.
Edea with +20% Faithga/hastega and Ice SSB (versus Rinoa with SSB)
Selphie with SSB (Mblink!)
Laguna with Imperil Ice SSB
Irvine with Fullbreak and fast ammo

I'm hoping to pull Almansy Revolver at the DU lucky to replace Squall with Seifer (Knight 6* access) or Squall's OSB so that he can give his enemies the cold shoulder as well as his allies (His en-ice jacket or Bartz's en-wind armor are what I'm thinking of grabbing from Tyro select 3 if I choose to pull there).

[danzibr]

Fujin can carry an extra shellga/protectga for VIII CMs, plus she's got good magic and ninja access. Her burst not only does the mag/res AoE breakdown, but it's also instant-cast. Command 2 has the mental break if needed, and command 1 is a wind-elemental, 4-hit -ja spell with half casting time. Her BSB thrower boosts wind damage too. This all adds up to her being able to start with shellga/protectga round 1, then launch the 5* fujin guard ninja skill a few times until her SB gauge is full. Once that happens, go into burst mode, spam command 1, and you should never leave it. You'll keep debuffs active on the enemy the whole time.
For extra ridiculousness, do as Oxybe suggested, combining her BSB with Alphinaud's, and then add Zack's burst with its imperil and short-casting commands. Now everyone's firing skills at a weakness at double or instant casting time.
She seems pretty decent. Definitely better in a Wind team. I don't think I'd ever put her on my A team though.

*But* I do love the instant-cast SB's. Back when I got Shadow's Ichigeki, one of my first SSB's in fact. I'd like Zell's, and really want Noel's. I'd use her for sure, just not A team.

Unrelated to this, anyone LB3 Serah? Her RM looks good.

EDIT: Oh yeah, anyone doing the green thing instead of Sundaily? It gives surprisingly good exp, and I'm finally to the point where I don't need exp. In fact, I'm concerned I'm going to run out of people to level.

[Antonok]

EDIT: Oh yeah, anyone doing the green thing instead of Sundaily? It gives surprisingly good exp, and I'm finally to the point where I don't need exp. In fact, I'm concerned I'm going to run out of people to level.

Been running Yuna thru the greens dungeons. Picked up her MCIII lode for the +30% summon damage (not a bad pick up considering the coming nightmare dungeon). May end up switching to sundaily for the extra eggs though, and the fact that the stupid light shafts they added in the greens dungeons makes my phone want to riot.

[oxybe]

Currently running Zidane solo through it with Luneth's RM3 for bonus XP gain, gained 11 levels, bringing him from 80 to 91 since the event started.

Once Zidane is 99 I still have Beatrix and Papalymo to toss through the level-up wringer and get them to 99.

Serah? She is in consideration for MC3. I got her boostga and i'm playing around with team comps right now, trying to see what I can potentially do with her. It's in competition with Alphinaud's Deployment Tactics and Papalymo's Ley Lines, but in teams where I want to actively use Alphinaud's Aerial Blast it's nice to have a 2nd native faithga I can stack with an RW'd Raines BSB

the 15% magic boost RM is pretty sweet but it's in direct competition with Devotion, Ace Striker/Battleforged/Knight's Charge and Dr.Mog/Mako Might for RM space on a team.

but another Lv99 caster? hard to pass up.

[Red Fel]

Ahh, Sundailies. Yeah, the mini-exp green dungeons are nice, but nothing beats the classic. Plus it looks like I'll probably max out my entire X cast in levels before the X event drops later this week. So, you know, selection. (But let's be honest, I'm not using Kimahri.)

Side note, the subreddit has a nice convenient list of upcoming events (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5nygkb/a_glance_at_future_events/), including new characters, abilities, SBs of note, and wardrobes in each. Note that much of this is subject to change, particularly the XI event, given how XI events have been handled in the past (as in, they haven't).

Also, another breakdown of the DU28 Lucky Draw has been posted (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5ngh5u/relic_in_realm_dungeon_lucky_28_relic_draw/). Assuming the banner is curated to include only SSB+ relics, that's a total of 67 relics - 3 OSB, 21 BSB, 43 SSB. That gives you a better-than-1/3 chance at a BSB or OSB. And again, it's half price. Remember, it drops Tuesday night, so make sure you have your 25 mythril ready.

[Merlin the Tuna]

If this (https://www.ffrkcentral.com/blog/2017/01/14/upcoming-in-app-announcement-torment-dungeon-) is correct, we'll be getting round 2 of the Torment dungeons monday. This will be a FFX synergy, with a water weakness.Interesting. Not really sure what the ideal approach will be for me. Tidus with BSB is a total lock.
Terra with BSB is a strong contender
Ramza makes a strong case for himself by way of Water Veil and Tailwind, especially since I've got Edge's +water katana
Gilgamesh with OSB is always relevant, and tauntaliate may be necessary since Geo apparently has a chance to petrify on his attacks.
Alphinaud with Deployment Tactics can always contribute, even if it's just that + R4 LeviathanI'm thinking probably Tidus/Ramza/Gilgamesh, but Gil's spot is conditional on the enemy AI, I guess. Gordon (reverse wall) and Arc (curaga medica) take the last two slots. I don't think I'm Cid Missioning this without serious help from the Summoner Lucky through, which I think means that I'm now essentially banking on an 11/11 pull to fulfill all my various plans. :smalltongue:

As for short term stuff though, I'm still giving Sundaily preference for powering Gil, Tidus, and Alph towards their respective caps, but I'll likely give the greens dungeon priority every other day while it's around. The greens payout seems pretty modest, but the experience with synergy is spectacular.

[Antonok]

Interesting. Not really sure what the ideal approach will be for me.

The stats for this Torment (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5o4la4/torment_dungeon_2_the_ravenous_deep_ff_x/) are up. Looks like a physical team is the way to go with him, as his Res is significantly higher than his Def. He uses mostly physical, but has an AoE magic attack so split defenses. The biggest things to watch out for is his Swallow/Spit which deals 75% current HP, and his Stone Punch which has a 9% chance to Petrify.

If you care to wait for the X event, we will be getting both Ultra Cure (curaja + esuna), AND Engulfing Twinstrike which is a 2 hit water element spellblade.

Edit: Should be getting the IX Ultimates tonight, and the Zidane U++ is going to be interesting. Low def/res but he throws out an insane amount of status effects.

[danzibr]

Whelp, exhausted all my MC3's. Have 6 people to get to 99. Currently running Beatrix and Dagger through the green dungeon. Wish I had another for Kuja. Guess I'll do that with the upcoming U+.

Beyond that, I have only one single non-core person beneath 80. Ahh, yeah.

[Greg_S]

Edit: Should be getting the IX Ultimates tonight, and the Zidane U++ is going to be interesting. Low def/res but he throws out an insane amount of status effects.

Tauntaliate works really well on Zidane. Use Raines RW for the CM.

[Merlin the Tuna]

The stats for this Torment (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5o4la4/torment_dungeon_2_the_ravenous_deep_ff_x/) are up. Looks like a physical team is the way to go with him, as his Res is significantly higher than his Def.At D200, Geo's DEF/RES are 5107/6417 compared to the triplets' 5015/6724. At D250, Geo's are 6134/8525 vs. their 6257/8410. So he's actually slightly more mage friendly than they were at D200 and slightly less so at D250, though the difference is ultimately negligible. I'm inclined to say that mages will have a better time if they can stack a couple buffs (as is standard mage operating procedure) and can scrounge up multi-hit magical water damage. The latter is likely the bigger issue - Leviathan and Terra BSB are pretty much it at the moment, I think.

For posterity, Ifrit's DEF & RES were 3848. Those were the days.

[SuperPanda]

Ugh, X synergy. Ugh, water teams.

Bartz will likely continue to headline with quad splash strike. Edge nught come play with Eblan water veil (and his +water katana). Other than that? More or less likely to keep the same team as before though.

Against piglets garnet did more were her burst commands against green than with fat chocobo but she had a synergy +holy staff which I don't have in X. The swallow > massive damage says "tactical deployment" to me. The chance to petrify says garnet bsb to me. Everything torment says bring wall to me.

I might swap Bartz for Faris and have keeper run tauntilate. Mblink could be wonderful here.

Seriously doubt I'll try a cm here. By V teams is miles better than X and couldn't even think cm without getting smacked.

Edit: it looks like I'm going to loose most if not all of my Sundaily time and waste a lot of stamina over the next few days.

Had a power out last night (got two full runs in first). Slept well and would have a full charge now but can't connect (vpn won't catch). Have to travel tonight (one day overnight and then on my way home the next). So the next chance I get to efficiently use stamina is the DU drop and I'll be trying to complete the event, MP, and new Torment at the same time.

Also have to proctor tests today for all my grade levels, so very busy week. On happier news I head out on my honeymoon just about when TG CID's event comes (there will be Internet in the lobby and room most likely). Small chance of missing the banners at which point I'll be getting much more valuable things. Most likely to catch them during a lazy morning.

[Antonok]

U and U+ are down. U was easy (Alph's BSB and Cloud's Climhazard tore through the first 2). Screw the U+ though. Cid Raines BSB puts out stupid amounts of damage but they can too. Specially if you screw up and trigger Beatrix's Climhazard.

[danzibr]

U and U+ are down. U was easy (Alph's BSB and Cloud's Climhazard tore through the first 2). Screw the U+ though. Cid Raines BSB puts out stupid amounts of damage but they can too. Specially if you screw up and trigger Beatrix's Climhazard.
Have any physical blink?

And man dat MP. Can't join a single battle.

[Antonok]

Have any physical blink?

Nope. Magic Blinks out the rear. no phys ones though.

Something very rage inducing: After completing the MP for the motes, I discover I'm 1 <long string of expletives> wisdom mote short of getting Alph 5* BLM. ONE!!!! :smallfurious::smallfurious::smallfurious:

[oxybe]

So I finished the extra battles sans U++ and wow. Easy CM. What I basically ended up doing was bringing the metamorphosis claw as RW to the fight and it worked out pretty nicely.

Kuja, Vivi, Garnet, Quina & Eiko stepped to plate.

First we took down Rusty. Vivi opened with a RW, Garnet with her hastega/Regen/res boost, Kuja with Dark Flare Star, Quina with Fullbreak and Eiko with protectga.

Next round was Vivi going for the Command 2 self buff, Kuja with Mori, Garnet RW, Quina Power Breakdown and Eiko healing.

At this point it was over. Kuja DankZone'd for 20k, Vivi channelled his inner Kuja and Command 1 for 40k, Garnet self buffed, Eiko healed, Quina FB'd Beatrix.

Rusty just hung on. And here is where I goofed. Forgetting Metamorphosis's command 1is a powechain, I have Kuja Dark Zone Steiner to kill him knowing Vivi's command 1 won't be reflected by Beatrix as it's not a spell.

Hahaha... Vivi murdered Steiner instantly and Kuja's attack melted Quina on the reflect. Oops.

Either way Beatrix had taken some damage from the 2 self buffs and once the Command 1 spam of Vivi and Garnet started she couldn't live long enough to take advantage of dropping our HP to 1 before getting pummeled for ~80k that came after.

0 medals lost, 1 Quina down, no S/L.

EDIT: Forgot to 100 gem... Rusty's BSB. :D

[Forbiddenwar]

Been focusing on leveling characters here. Less RNG.
I now have just 40 at <65, and 10 characters at 65. The rest are 80+.
Might be a waste of mithril, but sometimes relic hunting feels like a waste too. And I hate getting a great relic for a level 1 character.

Don't know if I'll bother with the cores, however. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

[Greg_S]

100 gems scored me Freya's BSB. After failing miserably twice last night against warmech, I brought her and a mage team. Freya had wrath and sky high. I wrathed her to 3 bars, then went en-wind SSB, BSB, SSB, followed by two sky highs. All in all, it was pretty effective, and Ashe's BSB as the RW shredded the thing. Can't wait to do this one again in 6 months in round 2 of the rematch dungeons, when it gets upgraded to Apoc + level.

I am not looking forward to Torment X. Doesn't look like there's much you can do beyond tank-and-spank.

[SuperPanda]

Finally able to connect again and I got a 5* on my single pull. Looks like rusty wants back on the IX team (likely kicking out queen bea). Zidane has his SSB, bea has her +def, rusty has AoE+paralyze and imperil fire.

Rusty himself and garnet can hit that fire weakness. Vivi often has to stay home for lack of relics (same with Kuja). Not likely to make A team but still rather nice.

[Morbis Meh]

Seriously F*CK zidane, F*CK his creator, F*CK his smug @ss grin, F*CK everything about his douchebag, troll @ss cheatery. U++ is beyond BS, they really need to swtich the AI because zidane's AoE spamming while self buffed, hasted (on top of his already garbage speed and attack) is just unfreaking believably stupid. I want to find the designer of this boss and punch them in their reproductive organs so their children's children will feel it for years to come.

[Cozzer]

"Oh, FF9 is my weakest realm, I'll just do an 11-pull and a 100-gem-pull and see what happens. Oh hey, FF9 is now my strongest realm."

Seriously: Zidane's OSB, Eiko's BSSB (my first healing BSSB), Garnet's Divine Guardian and two bracers with meh SBs but hey, I needed armor.

Makes me feel like I should sacrifice something to the RNG gods.

[Morbis Meh]

Nope. Magic Blinks out the rear. no phys ones though.

Something very rage inducing: After completing the MP for the motes, I discover I'm 1 <long string of expletives> wisdom mote short of getting Alph 5* BLM. ONE!!!! :smallfurious::smallfurious::smallfurious:

I feel your pain, I am 2 short, though if mote dungeons open again I can take a crack at ifrit (newer content seems to be much harder now anyways) to get his sweet sweet wisdom motes...

I also finally managed to beat down Zidane for a mastery 2 medals lost (1 dmg and one for 2 KO's Arc and Y'sh...)

[oxybe]

U++ down thanks to mage team. Thank gods FFIX is one of my stronger realm so I had good gear to setup the party with.


Ashe - Tiamat R3, Chain Lighting R2 - Devotion - Dusk's Decree (didn't use)
Papalymo - Chain Firaga R2, Chain Blizzaga R2 - Mako Might- Ley Lines
Alphinaud - Alexandre R3, Quetzacotl R4 - Battleforged - Deployment Tactics (Didn't use)
Tyro - MultiBreak R3, Attack Breakdance R2 - Dr.Mog - Sentinel Grimoire
Arc - curaja R3, Protectga R2 - Ace Striker - Word of Kindness (didn't use)
RW - Raines: Metamorphosis

So this was a fight.

Had to S/L once for it, but managed to finish the fight with 0 medals lost and papalymo dead, rest of the party barely hanging on.

Simply put this fight. THIS. FIGHT.

With the amount of stuns, confusions and slows I didn't expect to get my three boostgas up so I setup Ashe such a way she could summon Tiamat's 3hit version with only 2 boostgas and devotion, which requires 592Mag. Thanks to Kuja's Punisher+++, Black Hood & a +30mag accessory, I got to 616Mag. Her Chain Tundagas and Tiamat hit damage cap. Lighting Goddess saved my butt.

Arc spent the entire fight slowed, stunned, or confused. He got protectga and a curaja off. then did nothing but look pretty. Tyro didn't fare much better. He SG'd got off a multibreak and spent a long time stunned. I chose dances over support for stat breaking so I could keep everyone in the back row.

With Papalymo I immediately RW'd, boosted and waited a few rounds before unleashing Ley Lines, waiting for most of the party to be slowed before unleashing to hastega. This helped, if only a little. Having run out, he still managed to hit damage cap with his Chainagas. He got 2 off before dying at the end of the fight, because Arc was unable to heal.

Alphinaud RW'd second, followed by boosting and spammed command 1. Alphinaud finished off the fight.

By the end of the fight though, everyone was slowed, stunned or nearly dead. Except Zidane, who was dead. The bugger.

And Papalymo too, I guess. He ain't a bugger though. He done did good.

It's done and i'm not touching it again.

EDIT: APOCA!BART DOWN. Gosh darn that team comp at 7:30am... Mastery, no deaths all at high health. Once in a lifetime.

Two OKs, Vaan and a ExDeath on damage duty. Me and the one OK on Breakdown/Multibreak duty, I has walls for days, my Aerith and their Y'shtola on BSB healing duty and a Greg doing dispel and drawing magic alongside the ExDeath... Just beautiful. Never expected this kind of cooperation with randoms.

Ended up running
Tyro - Lifesiphon R3, Multibreak R3 - Dr.Mog - Sentinel Grimoire
Aerith - Curaja R3, Shellga R2 - Mako Might - White Materia

EDIT #2, APOCA!WALTZ BOOGALOO. Down. Solo.


Ashe - Tiamat R3, Maduin R3- Devotion - Dusk's Decree
Papalymo - Chain Firaga R2, Chain Blizzaga R2 - Mako Might- Ley Lines
Alphinaud - Alexandre R3, Valefor R3 - Battleforged - Aerial Blast
Tyro - MultiBreak R3, Magic Breakdance R2 - Dr.Mog - Sentinel Grimoire
Rose - Wrath R4, Shellga R2 - Ace Striker - Divine Heal
RW - OK : Vessel of Fate

Surprisingly easy. Thank you Tiamat & Aerial Blast.

As said before, 592Magic with devotion allows Tiamat to hit 3x with only 2 faithgas. Alph RWing in Vessel of Fate + Papa's Ley Lines solves that problem... and boy does it just chunk the HP off these waltzes. Waltz 2 and 3 each take 30k per use. Waltz 1, who's hit for neutral still takes about 28k. This dragon is paying back it's Major Wind Orb investments in spades, having done about 250k damage between the three Waltzes!

Papa focused on Waltz 1 with his Chainagas while Alph used OK's command 2. Once Waltz 1 is down the other 2 aren't looking their best and it's Papa's turn to RW in OK while Alph turns on the Aerial Blast on Waltz 2 and Ashe Dusk's Decree on Waltz 3. They both fall rather quickly.

And then I got the fight completion screen and realized I didn't slow any of them. Would've mastered with 2 medals lost, lol.

Swapped out Chain Blizzaga for Slowga, did the fight again. Mastery, 1 medal lost.

Now, while I said "easy" they still hit pretty hard and can kill you if they focus you down, even post-wall/shellga/multibreak/breakdowndance, but that's really all they do: 3 targets that launch damage. no tricks unlike Zidane.

[Hunter Noventa]

H-how can anyone say the U is easy? Counters for 5k? Wind Slash for max damage? What the hell?

[danzibr]

H-how can anyone say the U is easy? Counters for 5k? Wind Slash for max damage? What the hell?
Uhh. They weren't doing anything near that to me. Protectga, Shellga, Wall, Full Break. Maybe Power and Magic Breakdown. I think when I got my defenses up, I didn't see any damage over 1k.

[Morbis Meh]

H-how can anyone say the U is easy? Counters for 5k? Wind Slash for max damage? What the hell?

Yeah I was running Faris reverse wall, mug bloodlust, phys breakdown with wall and proshellga they died a quiet death... U+ was annoying since Queen B had her broken reduce everyone to 1 hp shtick but she like many before her died in agony. I didn't run my mage team with Zidane but maybe that would have made a difference maybe not, I shall never know for it is in the past.

[Hunter Noventa]

I came in with Stoneskin, Power/Magic Breakdown and Shellga. Didn't really have space for Protectga but i guess I might need it. Still should be seeing the 5k damage i was seeing on bosses two and three though. My character synergy with IX is crap so I'm just bringing my A-Team and they shouldn't be having this much trouble.

[danzibr]

I came in with Stoneskin, Power/Magic Breakdown and Shellga. Didn't really have space for Protectga but i guess I might need it. Still should be seeing the 5k damage i was seeing on bosses two and three though. My character synergy with IX is crap so I'm just bringing my A-Team and they shouldn't be having this much trouble.
Could be base Def/Res too, I guess. I don't have great IX synergy, but brought in high level people (all 80+, a couple at 99) with good armor. I'm quite certain Protectga doubles your Def, as does well (additively). So... could be the difference between tripling say 150 or 300.

[Cozzer]

Oh yes third Ultimate monster, do paralyze my whole team as a counter attack, I have no problem with that, it's not like I need to, I don't know, do things. :smallsmile:

:smallfurious:

(Managed to do it in the end, but that was an annoying and gimmicky battle)

[Hunter Noventa]

Could be base Def/Res too, I guess. I don't have great IX synergy, but brought in high level people (all 80+, a couple at 99) with good armor. I'm quite certain Protectga doubles your Def, as does well (additively). So... could be the difference between tripling say 150 or 300.

Yeah I guess I'll have to check on my actual equipped armor. Still seems like it's doing an absurd amount of damage. I've never seen a U doing max damage with no mitigation before.

[Forbiddenwar]

What's the best ability or RW to interrupt? Because Dismissal isn't working for me anymore when I have medal requirements

[danzibr]

What's the best ability or RW to interrupt? Because Dismissal isn't working for me anymore when I have medal requirements
Uhh. Noel's SSB2 is instant-cast, decent damage, and 100% interrupt I think. You can also S/L for the Dismissal proc.

Oh, and I did some calculations. Should be ~4 days worth of stam to get Kuja, Beatrix, and Dagger to 99. At that point Seymour will be out, so I'll have precisely 4 non-core people at cap, with all MC3's exhausted. Ahh yeah, finally at the end when it comes to leveling. And somehow back up to ~50 5* eggs.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Yeah I guess I'll have to check on my actual equipped armor. Still seems like it's doing an absurd amount of damage. I've never seen a U doing max damage with no mitigation before.That's the second monster, right? Yeah, he's got a ridiculous attack that's scripted to happen when he hits 70% health. I'm pretty sure the best approach is just to call in a Cloud or Zidane OSB to skip the first two bosses entirely and spec your team to fight Shell Dragon.
Uhh. Noel's SSB2 is instant-cast, decent damage, and 100% interrupt I think. You can also S/L for the Dismissal proc.Luneth BSB has a guaranteed stun on entry, and his first command also has a 30% stun chance if you want to fish for more throughout the fight.

[danzibr]

Luneth BSB has a guaranteed stun on entry, and his first command also has a 30% stun chance if you want to fish for more throughout the fight.
Good call, good call.

[Hunter Noventa]

Finally managed the Ultimate, just had to have a little better RNG, and remember to use Deployment Tactics on the third boss, not Aerial Blast. He paralyzed most of my party sure, but he killed himself every time he did it.

[Slayn82]

I'm still stuck at the U++ of XIII event. Got quite close with a team of Cid, Agrias, Eiko, Gau and Fran, using Pilot's Steel, Lighting Jumps/Spellblades, Gau's electric SB, and Fran's Pinpoint. Changed to Mage team but failed pretty hard. The weak link is probably Fran, so next run I'm replacing her with Tyro, bringing Wall, and have an Instant Medica RW.

[Maryring]

Barty, I despise thee! Having to somehow time a dispel to trigger just after a mystic aura that you can't know exactly when it'll arrive is lunacy. Having him trigger Dispel, Mystic Aura and... whatever else because you're dead at that point anyway just makes the whole thing unfun.

[Hunter Noventa]

Ugh, Steiner and Beatrix just don't let up do they? Two healers aren't enough to keep up with their damage, even when they both have great Medica SBs, because they just hit too hard and fast. I tried bringing a metamorphose RW and the damage was great, but that would jsut make things worse because they'd start triggering Stock Break and Climhazzard too fast for me to counter, and they do way too much damage even through power Breakdown and Protectga.

I could try changing up my party a bit, but I honestly don't know who I'd bring, I brought my absolute best people and it wasn't enough.
Cloud Lifesiphon/Drain Strike/Fenrir Overdrive
Terra Darkra/Ultima Weapon/Blood of Espers
Ramza Power breakdown/Full Break/Unsung Hero/Shout/Tailwind
Y'Shtola Curaja/Esuna/Asylum/Aetherial Pulse/Medica II
Vanille Curaise/Protectga/Miracle Prayer
RW- Metamorphose

Terra easy hits cap with any kind of dark damage, even without the Metamorphose boost. I think I got Steiner down to about 1/3 my latest try before they just wiped out everyone in about three moves.

[Antonok]

Ugh, Steiner and Beatrix just don't let up do they?

Then may I present the thing that will make you shame quit? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fD7s6fUKsM) Seriously, this just makes me feel bad about my self :smallfrown:

[oxybe]

I'm just trying to figure out why almost all of the attacks going his way missed. What sort of RNG wizardry was that?

[Red Fel]

Then may I present the thing that will make you shame quit? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2fD7s6fUKsM) Seriously, this just makes me feel bad about my self :smallfrown:

You know, I was seriously tempted to do that, until I realized what I was doing wrong with my Metamorphose RW. I had mistakenly thought that the second command (the AoE) was Dark, and the first command (single-target) was Holy. I was wrong; they're both Holy/Dark. Using the first command to focus fire on Steiner, then nuke down Queen Bea, made the fight absurdly easy. My team:
Steiner: Banishing Strike, Draw Fire, Truthseeker.
Quina: Power Breakdown, Full Break, Secrets of the Qu.
Vivi: Darkra, Drainga, Sorceress' Vow.
Kuja: Memento Mori, Dark Zone, Dark Fate.
Eiko: Curaja, Protectga, Dr. Mog's Teachings. (Flames of Rebirth.)
RW: Cid Raines (Metamorphose).
Full mastery get, all medals, plus CM, despite Steiner (mine, not the boss) dying to a Sap tick.

Basically, Steiner (mine) opens with Draw Fire, followed by Banishing Strike on Queen Bea. I wasn't sure whether the BSB could bypass Reflect, but I didn't want to risk it. Quina unloaded Breakdowns on Steiner (the boss) until dead, then Queen Bea until same. Kuja opens with Memento Mori, because why not, and Vivi with Metamorphose. Kuja follows also with Metamorphose. Both are using single-target (command 1), first on Steiner (the boss), then Queen Bea. Eiko unloads Protectga, throws out a heal, and honestly doesn't even get the chance to use her medica. After Steiner (the boss) was down, and focus switched to Queen Bea, she got off one Climhazzard. Just one. Everyone down to 1 HP, Eiko was already charging her medica. Steiner (mine) drops to Sap. Vivi and Kuja instant-cast command 1, and she straight-up dies.

That's the nice thing about that BSB. The first command is not only a multi-hit single-target nuke; it's also a noncharge 1. So there was no wait time before the bomb was delivered. It was great. Cheap and great.

Moving onto the U++. Let's see how I cheese that.

[Slayn82]

I'm just trying to figure out why almost all of the attacks going his way missed. What sort of RNG wizardry was that?

There were some counters involved, I think it was a Retaliate at low HP RM.

[oxybe]

That would do it.

[danzibr]

Command 1 of Raines' BSB pierces Reflect btw.

[Maryring]

I finally managed to beat 200 Barty. The trick was to realise that at 50% health remaining, that's when he triggers the "dispel + aura" trick of his. The dispel I can't do anything about since I brought Celes for Indo Blade and Serah for Ice Burstings. I could only hope that some other people would pick up on this and prep that to reapply buffs.

That happened rarely.

But if I activated a Banishing Strike with Celes right after Barty did his dispel, it would hit right after he activates his aura. That I could do something with. And while it still took several tries to get a team that could work well together, I finally managed to haul one ashore. Funny fact. The final team didn't even pack a Hastega. It did however pack a Last Stand, and that I feel was the big life-saver in this fight.

[oxybe]

Any BSB commands, to my knowledge, pierces reflect as it's not technically a spell. It has an ability category like Black/Summon/Combat/whatever for the purposes of RM (so Raines's commands, which are considered "Black", will be affected by Rinoa's BLK x1.25 RM3 for the purposes of damage) as well as physical or magical for purposes of def/res, but still not a spell.

So not reflectable!

[danzibr]

Any BSB commands, to my knowledge, pierces reflect as it's not technically a spell. It has an ability category like Black/Summon/Combat/whatever for the purposes of RM (so Raines's commands, which are considered "Black", will be affected by Rinoa's BLK x1.25 RM3 for the purposes of damage) as well as physical or magical for purposes of def/res, but still not a spell.

So not reflectable!
Hmm. I could've *sworn* I heard about someone nuking their own party with a BSB command. Maybe not.

[Antonok]

Hmm. I could've *sworn* I heard about someone nuking their own party with a BSB command. Maybe not.

I know single target WHM commands reflect. Ran into that issue with the Waltz Trio. Someone brought reflect and someoen tried to use her command 1. Ended up reflecting off and healing one of the waltz's.

[oxybe]

I did a bit of extra research and it seems there are a few odd ones actually are reflectable: Lulu's (unreleased) BSB commands, Garnet's (unreleased) BSB2 com2 & Selphie's BSB com2 (if it tries to dispel an un-dispelable reflect, it'll fail and bounce back) all reflect back, but they seem to be the weird ones rather then the norm.

[Forbiddenwar]

I can't even do the ultimate with a level 99 team. I can't even get to the last wave. It might be time to quit the game for 9 months again

[oxybe]

@Forbiddenwar

Post your team comp and, if you have it setup, your FFRKCentral profile (https://www.ffrkcentral.com/profile/Hw6d). If you have the latter setup we can check out your comp, gear, SBs, abilities, etc...

[Forbiddenwar]

It's wind slash every time. Even with reverse wall, protectga, full break and power breakdowns it still does 5000+ damage, instantly killing 2-3 characters.

[Antonok]

Really? OSBs are excluded from tomorrows Lucky Draw. (https://www.ffrkcentral.com/blog/2017/01/16/upcoming-in-app-announcement-realm-dungeon-lu-3)

Edit: Actually the wording makes it sound like its only SSB gear and not even BSB gear is included...

[danzibr]

I can't even do the ultimate with a level 99 team. I can't even get to the last wave. It might be time to quit the game for 9 months again
:(

Really? OSBs are excluded from tomorrows Lucky Draw. (https://www.ffrkcentral.com/blog/2017/01/16/upcoming-in-app-announcement-realm-dungeon-lu-3)

Edit: Actually the wording makes it sound like its only SSB gear and not even BSB gear is included...
:(

Mastered the MP 200. The key is to be the raid leader and give all the nubs the boot.

Edit: Waaaaait a minute. What happened to the other torment dungeon? I thought they recurred, but I can't see the pig bros one. Don't tell me it went away!

[Antonok]

Edit: Waaaaait a minute. What happened to the other torment dungeon? I thought they recurred, but I can't see the pig bros one. Don't tell me it went away!

According to the JP players, it will come back. Guessing they didn't want the V torment up for twice as long.

[danzibr]

According to the JP players, it will come back. Guessing they didn't want the V torment up for twice as long.
Thanks!

Mastered the U++. Good timing, totally caught up on everything, ready for the DU.

But man, Zidane, just like in IX itself, was really annoying. It got super hectic at the end. Zidane was almost dead, Gilgamesh readies his OSB, I take a screenshot thinking he's going to die, my buffs drop, Gilgamesh does a meager 11k damage with his OSB. Everyone is slowed, defenses are dropping, he offs Arc in one hit. I scrabble to use my hardest-hitting abilities. Basch with Lifesiphon, Raines with Meltdown, OK with Quick Slice. Thankfully Zidane did a multi-hit attack on Gilgamesh who countered all of them, but the attacks were only for like 400 each. I think it was Lifesiphon that took him down. Man.

[Greg_S]

Another option for the Ult is to RW Zidane with Meo Twister. If the RW has 600 attack and you full break Abaddon, it'll deal about 67K damage. Hit it once or twice before that, and you can skip the scary weak phase. You'll still have to take out Shell Dragon, but that'll let you skip half the fight (it'll fry the first monster too)

Solo party'd Barthandelus. After multiple instances of MP screwing up with random kicks, disconnects, and people who dumped all their OSBs into Bart before the dispel hit, I figured turtling with my own team couldn't be worse. Ramza, Keeper, Vaan, Vanille, and Hope came along with Y'shtola's BSB for stoneskin and a little extra mitigation. It was a slow fight, and I only got an expert thanks to losing two action medals with the obligatory two damage medals. Dispelling fights are no fun.

Lastly, on the DU: I hope the banner doesn't exclude BSBs. I'm ok with not getting OSBs on it, as nice as it would be to have one, but a lot of the available SSBs just don't move the needle these days.

[oxybe]

If anyone needs Zidane with Meo Twister I've set him as my RW for now. Code : Hw6d.

[Forbiddenwar]

If anyone needs Zidane with Meo Twister I've set him as my RW for now. Code : Hw6d.

Thanks, when I get enough stamina I'll try again.

[huttj509]

Some friends and I tried some raids. Ran into something and dunno if it's a known bug.

I was hosting. None of my characters non-default soul breaks were showing up without the weapon/armor equipped. Yes, they were mastered. The other players had their soul breaks showing up. Mine were not, Bartz, Faris, Krile, Galuf were the ones I checked (I'm V focused).

[Antonok]

Some friends and I tried some raids. Ran into something and dunno if it's a known bug.

I was hosting. None of my characters non-default soul breaks were showing up without the weapon/armor equipped. Yes, they were mastered. The other players had their soul breaks showing up. Mine were not, Bartz, Faris, Krile, Galuf were the ones I checked (I'm V focused).

You have to reequip them from the set up screen.

[SuperPanda]

Handled the U but not the U+ or ++ so far. (Time/connectivity has been low). Have not attempted the torment l.

My water and X relics are weak and torments really looks like "go burst or go home."

Hype for du is in check. Reddit seems to be having a debate about whether DU lucky will be SSB+BSB or SSB only. Highly doubt the latter but there is a possibility of it based on a very "leagalese" reading of the datamoned announcement. It does appear confirmed that no OSBs will be included.

Without bursts I'd probably pass. My viii synergy is already SSB heavy. IX is already pretty darn mage strong, XIV is very strong, and T is almost non existent (I've got a knife and a really sturdy platemail).

Will wait to see banner before I decide.

[Morbis Meh]

Welp I tried my hand at the torment and got 2/3's of the way through. I can live with that, now to ignore it for a few months :smalltongue:

[Antonok]

Yuna is 80 and MC3'd thanks to the greens dungeons. Gets my Nightmare team up to par (hones are questionable). And as it's 6am and I'm on vacation this week, I'll write up about said nightmare fight.

Still a week to go but enough time to prepare. According to this write up (http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/114492-final-fantasy-record-keeper/74846477), pure magic fight, all enemies are immune to breaks, and it's a sort of puzzle fight, requiring at least Ifrit/Pheonix, Shiva, and Leviathan at r2 minimum. Summons deal x2 damage, and he counters everything else (including NIN). SBs are not subject to the counter, but good luck getting any use out of them due to his insane Def/Res (27360 DEF, 29012 RES).


Note that Val's HP is shared through all phases.

Valigarmanda: 389,083 HP
Energy Sphere: 50,325 HP

Red Glutton: 15,092 HP
Yellow Glutton: 15,092 HP
Blue Glutton: 15,092 HP

Phase 1:
He will spawn with an Energy Sphere which starts counting down from 5. If not defeated, it will trigger Nightmare Tri-Disaster, which will likely wipe the party, or should you survive, lose you 3 medals. Defeat the first Sphere to trigger phase 2;

Phase 2:
This is where it gets tricky.

Every time an Energy Sphere is spawned, Val will get 2 different colored shields, corresponding to a resistance (red and blue shield means resistance to fire and ice, 2 red shields = immune to fire). You need to use an element opposite the color to remove the shield. The type of barrier will change! They're on a 1 and 2 second rotation. When the barriers are eliminated, 2 gluttons will spawn depending on the color of the barrier destroyed (blue barrier will spawn a blue glutton, etc. Medal condition for spawning a yellow glutton).

Defeating both Gluttons (they only have 15k HP) will trigger them to drop an Ether, or a turbo ether if both gluttons are the same color when defeated. If you're low on hones, you could potentially manipulate the glutton spawns to always get a turbo ether. Also note that the gluttons will run away when either an energy sphere is defeated, or the countdown reaches 0. Defeating 4 energy spheres will trigger phase 3.

If you have Alph or Rydia's BSBs, you could probably just kill the Energy Spheres and ignore the entire mechanics of phase 2, outside spawning a yellow glutton for the medal condition. What I'm hoping to do, since with 2 faithgas and the x2 summon damage, you should easily get 4x9999 hits with his command 1, leaving an Energy Sphere around 10k HP left.

Phase 3:

No gimmicks, just kill him. Note that the Energy Sphere will now start counting down from 3 instead of 5.



My set up for it is looking like:

Edward - ???Wrath/Entrust??? - Song of Swiftness
Yuna - R4 Ifirit/R4 Shiva - Miracle Veil
Ashe - R5 Ramuh/ R2 Leviathan - Maelstrom's Bolt
Alph - R3 Fat Chocobo/R1 Tiamat - BSB
Y'shtola - Curaja/Shellga - SSII/Asylum
RW: OK or Raines

No idea if thats going to be enough damage even with 2 faithgas and Alph's BSB.

[Cozzer]

Evil U++ Zidane is down! Was a bit of a jerk, with his Slowing and Stunning and everything, but eventually he fell prey of my "ignore debuffs and throw everything you have at him" master strategy.

[Maryring]

So. Compared to Barty, the Black Waltzes are... well, a waltz in the park. :smallbiggrin:

Granted, I've only done the 160 level yet. Gonna try 200 later. But even though I ended up with a team where no one packed any dances, and the only slow was my own Celes packing a standard R1 slow spell because no one else bothered, the match still went off without a hitch. Celes Indo Blade is clearly the best Super in all of FFRK history and it shut down much of the Waltzes offense. I also got lucky and had both of my Slow casts hit. But even with a subpar team it still felt more like a 120 difficulty fight.

Also, Alphinaud with Burst and Tiamat rocks the fight.

[Hunter Noventa]

Damn, I'm going to miss another MC3. Ultimate Climhazard can wipe my healers out from full health through Power Breakdown, Full Break and Protectga, it's just not happening.

Well no wonder, Ultimate Climhazzard is magical, not physical.

UPDATE: EAT IT! Finally managed to take them down!
Vivi- Darkra, Chain Firaga
Terra- Chain Bioga, Ultima Weapon
Ramza- Power Breakdown, Magic Breakdown, Unsung Hero
Y'Shtola- Curaja, Shellga, Asylum
Vanille- Curaise, Protectga, Miracel prayer
RW- metamorphose.

Vivi and Terra just opened up with Metamorphose, staggered a bit so they'd have some charges left for Bea. Ramza did the Breakdown Dance, and then once Steiner was down unleashed Unsung Hero to have Noble Blade to cancel refelct, just as metamorphose ran out. Y'Shtola and Vanille spammed heals and SBs, and Asylum saved me from a couple of nasty hits. Terra died to a sap at one point, but I was able to Curaise-Tetragrammatron to get her back for the final blows.

Feels good man. Not touching the U++ of course.

[Red Fel]

The U++ fight is another gimmicky fight that bothers me, because it's not gimmicky in the good way (e.g. Nightmares).

See, it's not that he's too strong. With wall, Protectga, and PBd/FB online, I barely feel a thing. No, it's the Steal/Mug commands that are so frustrating.

I brought a party with two BSBs, plus Shout, and the OK's BSB as RW. I had plenty of Hastega and stat boosts to offset what he did. It was still frustrating, because of the randomness of it. If my healer gets slowed, even briefly, she can't effectively charge her wall. And it's awkward because in the early part of the fight, once Tauntaliate is up, he's dealing no damage; he's just making it very hard for the party to do anything. Then in the late stage, because wall can't recharge effectively, he's suddenly dealing all the damage.

I get that the gimmick is that you should use THF commands to "steal" stats back from him, but it's such an obnoxious gimmick. I don't have Mug Time or Mug Bloodlust. I'm not going to make a THF-heavy party just to counteract his debuffs. And I don't seem to have enough Hastega/Boostga to go around.

It's clear that these latest Us were made with power creep in mind. They feel much harder than past ones. And I get that, to an extent. But this one just didn't feel like a fun fight; it felt like, despite having the tools to counteract what the boss did (Hastega to counteract slow, Boostga to counteract debuffs) I still wasn't making progress. Thankfully, this is a U++, not a U+. All I'm missing by skipping it is some crystal and some upgrade material. I can pass on that.

Besides, DU is tonight. Something to which I may look forward. Even if, as rumor has it, it's SSB only, I still plan to pull on the LD. There are still some good Imperil/En-Element SSBs on that list, and some medicas, and Irvine's Pentabreak SSB, and Alphinaud's SSB with Radiant Shield. Possibly - they acknowledge some SSBs may be omitted.

In other news, updated mythril counter (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5oeyxq/mythril_planner_januaryfebruary/).

[huttj509]

You have to reequip them from the set up screen.

Not sure if I'm misexplaining the issue.

In normal play, My Bartz can use both his default Shield Toss, and also his Choco Rush, regardless of what items I have equipped, because I mastered Choco Rush.

In Raid, at least as leader, he cannot use Choco Rush *unless* he has the armor that gives it to him equipped. It does not show up under his available Soul Breaks. This was not affecting the other people in my group.

Same thing with at least 5 other characters of mine who have soul breaks mastered.

[Merlin the Tuna]

It's clear that these latest Us were made with power creep in mind. They feel much harder than past ones.Very much so. I actually had some trouble with the U's damage output & counters (after a few S/Ls, I switched from calling in a massive Cloud OSB RW on the first and second monsters to the second and third monsters), and the last two events' ultimates have likewise churned out damage even through multiple layers of mitigation. Like... the FF13 U should not have hit that hard through protectga, power breakdown, full break, and an ATK/MAG breakdown. Lightning should not have put out that much damage, that quickly. The FF9 U should not require you to skip entire phases of fights lest you get one-shot. There are some fights where I don't have the right tool for the job, and I accept that those will be tricky. It's just weird to feel like you're well-prepared on levels, gear, and ability, but still get your teeth kicked in a few times just because.

Oh well, at least a Raines RW made the U+ a rollover. Beatrix never got an action after knocking me to 1HP the first time.

On the Zidane U++, is the consensus on mage teams or physical? I'm leaning towards Exdeath and Alph to play master blasters, but tauntaliate also seems handy and Gil combined with a support means I'm halfway to a physical team. Hm. I guess hybrid works, it just seems like a weird mishmash in this case.

[Antonok]

In other news, updated mythril counter (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5oeyxq/mythril_planner_januaryfebruary/).

One to see how much mithril you get, and another to let you decide where to spend it (https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/5oit7o/a_look_at_future_banners_ver5/).

[Greg_S]

Very much so. I actually had some trouble with the U's damage output & counters (after a few S/Ls, I switched from calling in a massive Cloud OSB RW on the first and second monsters to the second and third monsters), and the last two events' ultimates have likewise churned out damage even through multiple layers of mitigation. Like... the FF13 U should not have hit that hard through protectga, power breakdown, full break, and an ATK/MAG breakdown. Lightning should not have put out that much damage, that quickly. The FF9 U should not require you to skip entire phases of fights lest you get one-shot. There are some fights where I don't have the right tool for the job, and I accept that those will be tricky. It's just weird to feel like you're well-prepared on levels, gear, and ability, but still get your teeth kicked in a few times just because.

Oh well, at least a Raines RW made the U+ a rollover. Beatrix never got an action after knocking me to 1HP the first time.

On the Zidane U++, is the consensus on mage teams or physical? I'm leaning towards Exdeath and Alph to play master blasters, but tauntaliate also seems handy and Gil combined with a support means I'm halfway to a physical team. Hm. I guess hybrid works, it just seems like a weird mishmash in this case.

I think a lot of it's due to a proliferation of physical bosses. It's just harder to defend against physical attacks than it is magic. The magic softcap for enemies is so much higher than the attack cap. FB + PBD doesn't cut damage anywhere near as much as FB + MBD, and that holds true for extra breaks too. Magic blinks are more common than physical blinks as well, and magic blinks tend to accompany medicas or end up on good bursts, like Keeper's Tome or Weaponsmaster. Magic is more commonly elemental, so you can add resistance via accessories. You can use the back row and go with ranged or mages, but all it takes is a ranged attack and that's gone.

I suspect that the wind slash on the U is also a mistake, like murder Bartz's round 1 kick was during the Gilgaburst event. I bet it was supposed to have a lower multiplier, but someone screwed up and typed in 5.4 instead of, say, 3.4.

One thing I'm targeting is a good source of last stand. Eiko's anniversary USB or Relm's BSB are my top choices.

[Antonok]

Bursts ARE on the LD (and so are OSBs apparently). My pull gave me 2/11. A second Veil of Wiyu and Burning Fist.

Of all the relics in it, I pull a SECOND veil :smallsigh:

Edit: Welp, time to run Zell up to 80. Out of eggs so this will take a while (BSB owners get priority leveling :P )

[Merlin the Tuna]

Survey says: Squall BSB and a third copy of Quina's hairpin. In theory, I've got a heck of a foundation for a water team, and my FF8 physical team keeps improving matter how much I hope for a single mage item.:smalltongue:

[Slayn82]

I got Ramza and Freya's BSBs from the Lucky Draw. Finally got a 5* Katana! And a Wind BSB, for a Dragoon to complement VII's Cid in arguing for the class. Pretty good pull.

[Greg_S]

We need guns. Lots of guns.
4/11, with 3 FF8 guns. Laguna's slow and ice imperil, and Irvine's hyper break. The other one was Papalymo's BSB. I'm quite satisfied.


I gave the FF5 D200 torment a shot on the JP side. I brought Basch, Ramza, Edward, Celes, and Y'shtola. Celes was there for medal conditions and grand cross via her new BSB2. Ramza was there to grant stoneskin and critical damage up via his SSB2. Edward gave an attack boost and an imperil holy. Basch was there for carnage. I brought Cloud's USB as RW (5 single hits, plus grants SOLDIER mode to the user, for atk +30%, 100% crit rate, and break damage limit).
Basch summoned the RW, everyone else buffed, and then he used his first BSB on the piglets. 6 AoE hits for 8K each. Not bad, but the second use did 6 AoE hits for 17K each. Two turns, 150K damage to each one of them.

[SuperPanda]

My DU- sort of lucky draw:

2/11
Edea SSB thrower (already have so it's adding to my combined mage thrower collection).
Irvine's Bismarck (high chance for blind and slow - machinist shell effect for both).

Irvine's is better than his fast ammo sb, so it's a noticeable improvement, and slow is a tricky element to stick which is more often than not to be valuable. Therefore it's not a total wash.

Back to hoarding.

[Red Fel]

I too enjoyed a bounty of BSBs! 3/11 rainbows, which were:
Ramza's BSB katana, Iga Blade. Great katana, useful BSB, although it conflicts with his Boostga. Although now that there's been a proliferation of +50% Boostgas, and an abundance of Hastegas, Shout doesn't shine like it used to.
Rinoa's BSB thrown, Shooting Star. Great stat-stick, at least. It really does show its age, though; decent damage, with a choice of two different elemental flavors, but it has no rider effect. Not even an Imperil/En-Element. Sure, it's great, and I'm glad to have it; it can go alongside the other Rinoa relics I have (Valkyrie and Party Dress). Fact is, I already got Rinoa to 99, because I needed someone in my VIII cast, and her RM3 is fairly useful. So at least I don't have to power-level her now that I have her BSB.
Garnet's SSB robe, Royal Gown. Oh, hell to the yes. Mind you, I already have two Garnet relics - her SB Storm Staff (back when 7.17x AoE SUM damage meant something) and her BSB Dagger of Resolve. Both are good stat-sticks, but the former shows its age, and the latter is awkward on a character with stats like hers. But a +MAG/+DEF party buff with HP Stock? There's no time that won't be useful. It's a definite boost to a mage meta party.
Overall? Happy Fel.

[danzibr]

Dang, Greg. That's some mad deeps.

And grats to people on the overall decent pulls! I went 2/11, got Ramza's BSB and Alph's Evoker's Doublet. I didn't want either one. I will never use Alph (at least, I have no such intentions), but at least the BSB is going to give my Ramza +10 Str.

[Deadline]

Lucky draw saw me get two rainbows:

Agrias' BSB and Freya's SSB.

Not too shabby!

[Forbiddenwar]

If anyone needs Zidane with Meo Twister I've set him as my RW for now. Code : Hw6d.

Oh my, thank you so much.
I was able to easy knock out the Ultimate with this.

So easy, that I immediately went into the Ultimate+ and


Killed it on my first try. So then I went straight into ultimate++. Never had I even tried the ultimate++.

Nope not quite beat that.
I once got zidane to a sliver of health with GILGAMESH full tauntilating, but random chance prevented a win.

Thinking of trying again with 2burst healers instead of one. Or trying to change the timings on my walls to last longer, or bringing more walls. Point is I'm brave enough to try.

And the Lucky draw netted me two more bursts. I have so few bursts that I'm happy to see any. Including healers circlet! I now have 3 burst healers. I'm bursting with them.

[SuperPanda]

Seriously jelly Deadine - you pulled what would have been for me the grand prize of this (and honestly Orlandu-1). Only thing I'd be happier about would be shout but only because it isn't in Orlandu-1

Major gratz Fel! That's a nice pull.

I have dagger's dagger as well and it's probably one of my most useful items overall. Between the ensuna on the cure and the holy/Lightning on the nuke its extremely useful. It was instrumental in clearing Torment V. I lack a strong Lightning element team and it's awesome on a holy team so Garnet gets heavy use with it on my team. That plus Divine Guardian for me and she's incredibly useful.

That dagger, my viii 5+ and +++ throwns and edge's magic katana make an interesting case for making an all ninja team for shenanigans. Only wish I had better native SB's on my ninjas.

On Alphi doublet - the SB is really good. I have it and his burst and I think Tactical deployment is the better of the two most of the time.

[T.G. Oskar]

Bursts ARE on the LD (and so are OSBs apparently). My pull gave me 2/11. A second Veil of Wiyu and Burning Fist.

Of all the relics in it, I pull a SECOND veil :smallsigh:

Well, it *could* be worse. It could have been just ONE Relic, that being the Veil. Or one of Mama's Boy's Oversized Katanas.

In my case, I got something unusual. See, we're playing tabletop RPGs today, and my friend had the first draw; I had the second. I was expecting...pretty much anything. He gets one disco ball and one rainbow, I get...one rainbow. Basically, he drained my figurine's luck. But hey, things can happen!

Well, he gets a FFVIII relic. And a XIV relic as well - those being Rinoa's Overstrike and Papa's Burst. That means he has two Overstrikes to my own lack. So he wins pretty big, considering he wanted at least ONE FFVIII relic.

On the other hand - the lone relic I get is a very solid one, that being Alphi's Burst. Not only does he have a solid attack option (and Ether as well), that also means my Wind team is now devastating (Luneth, Alphi and Zack) and I also get Deployment Tactics. So, it's most definitely not bad (it's one of the three best Mage relics on the game!), but it still doesn't help me on the VIII and IX realms, which was a primary reason why I pulled in the first place.But it ain't an Oversized Katana from Mama's Boy. Praise the RNGods!

[Calemyr]

My score is 1/11: Y'shtola's BSB, the healer's circlet. I'm kinda swimming in healers: Y'shtola's barrier heal BSB, Yuna's overheal SSB, Penelo's holy/heal BSB, and Vanille's insta-heal BSB. Really not sure which one is the most useful.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Dang, these are some legit lucky draws. Congrats, all!

Cranked out the Apocalypse raid battle - Grand Cross verdict: still pretty great - and the U++. Continuing the power creep discussion from earlier, hoo buddy he hurts. That 40% ATK/DEF buff of his is scary. Arc's instant Curaga+pBlink definitely saved my bacon there. I popped that after eating his first scripted AOE, which let me dodge the second, scarier scripted AOE. One more unscripted AOE one-shotted a few guys, but Gilgamesh finally shook off his ATK/DEF debuff and cut loose an OSB for the finish. Highly recommend bringing him with a Gaia Cross + Demonsblood loadout. Possibly even if you have his BSB! I think this was the first time I truly felt like I needed more Mako Might/DMT RMs; one went to Arc for an on-demand medica, and the other went to Alphinaud for Deployment Tactics. Even with Battleforged, Tyro was never able to build the meter to cast Wall. Hm. Hmmmm. There still isn't a third one of these in JP, is there?

[Morbis Meh]

I managed a 3/11 tonight: Air Knives (dupe), Freya SSB (Full wind team ahoy), and.... HAMER]LIN blarg! Now my white mage team is pretty damn solid (Arc with both his SSB's, Minwu with his SSB, Y'sh with all of her SB's, Garnet with a couple of her SB's and now Eiko joining the team).

Having the Hamelin also means ninja Ramza is now a go since it is a lovely ranged weapon and will also boost his Shout duration.

I am quite pleased with this tbh XD

[oxybe]

@Forbiddenwar. No worries mate, happy to help!

So the banner is curated for SSB+ and includes OSBs? gonna have to throw some mythril it's way...

Aaaaaand I got Quistis's Dress and Dagger's Dagger of Dagger Dagger!

Good pull, good pull. 2 mage bursts. I'll need to level up Quistis a bit, but still. Worth emptying my last few mythril cache.

[Slayn82]

Pretty good pulls for everyone, I see. Probably the best in the last 3 months. Congrats to all.

Also, heard that the Green hunt gives pretty good xp to master relics.

[Antonok]

Also, heard that the Green hunt gives pretty good xp to master relics.

Roughly 140k per stage. Zell mastered his new BSB in 4-5 stages I think

[Cozzer]

I'm completely out of Mithril. :/ Let's see if I can make it to 25 in time, with the help of his Dungeon Update...

That said, the Multiplayer fight agains D160 Black Waltz was so much of a shutout that our healers didn't have anything to do for most of the fight. Now I just need to find a good team for the D200. I can bring Zidane with his wind OSB and Eiko with her healing BSSB, so I don't have to worry about not pulling my weight. :smalltongue:

[Maryring]

Aww. I went 0/11 on this "Lucky" draw. Oh sure, there was the guaranteed Rainbow, but that was just a copy of a relic I already got. Quistis Cerberus whip, which is kind of worthless since I've got Papa's Ley Lines already. I was really hoping for something from IX too.

[Hunter Noventa]

Lucky draw....only 1 rainbow, boo.

And it's Steiner's BSB. I hate Steiner. He's so...goofy looking. I was never a big fan of IX to begin with but this feels insulting.

[danzibr]

Aww. I went 0/11 on this "Lucky" draw. Oh sure, there was the guaranteed Rainbow, but that was just a copy of a relic I already got. Quistis Cerberus whip, which is kind of worthless since I've got Papa's Ley Lines already. I was really hoping for something from IX too.
This seems to be the biggest stinker on the forum. I spent 50 mythril in attempt to get that when it first game out, but since it's obsolesced, and it's not that great a stat-stick as few people use whips.

Lucky draw....only 1 rainbow, boo.

And it's Steiner's BSB. I hate Steiner. He's so...goofy looking. I was never a big fan of IX to begin with but this feels insulting.
Hmm, I would've liked it. He's a solid Knight, and the BSB is decent.

I need to look at the orbs I need. I was considering getting the MLO that just went away, missed that window. I immediately got the MWiO that popped up, since I was starved for them for so long, but I don't think I actually need them anymore.

Up to nearly 200k greens though. Already have 2 of the absurdly expensive stam shards, can almost get 2 more, then just 1 left!

[Hunter Noventa]

This seems to be the biggest stinker on the forum. I spent 50 mythril in attempt to get that when it first game out, but since it's obsolesced, and it's not that great a stat-stick as few people use whips.

Hmm, I would've liked it. He's a solid Knight, and the BSB is decent.

I need to look at the orbs I need. I was considering getting the MLO that just went away, missed that window. I immediately got the MWiO that popped up, since I was starved for them for so long, but I don't think I actually need them anymore.

Up to nearly 200k greens though. Already have 2 of the absurdly expensive stam shards, can almost get 2 more, then just 1 left!

I've got enough Knights and Spellblade. And I really don't need another BSB with Fire attacks, even if it has a Fire boost.

I should still have close to 250 Mythril for the Thunder God banner at least.

[danzibr]

I've got enough Knights and Spellblade. And I really don't need another BSB with Fire attacks, even if it has a Fire boost.

I should still have close to 250 Mythril for the Thunder God banner at least.
Man, you're beating me. I only have 100 on the nose atm, hopefully up to 150 by then.

[SuperPanda]

I haven't checked my current greens for a while but I think I'm almost able to grab a super expensive stam-shard instead of the cheap ones (I think I still have one cheap shard left to buy too).

Finally brought down Zidane U++. I'd seen some explicatives used towards him and while I'm usually not the type to [type] such language, even I must add "Ditto."

The little stinker slammed Eiko with interupt 4 rounds in a row while she was trying to use her BSB 4 runs in a row. Twice in a row he did it while also hitting and stunning Tyro each time while he tried to call down wall (the other two times he'd stun-lock Tyro from using any breakdowns so that wall eventually fell off and then murder us with AoE spam).

Eventually got him down with two medals lost.
RW: Onion Burst.
Tyro (Wall / Support, Dr. Mog's teachings)
Garnet (Dispel, Haste, Burst, Doublecast white)
Eiko (Protectga, Curaja, Burst, Mako Might)
Locke (Mug bloodlust, Thief's Revenge, Burst [Imperil Fire], Ace Striker)
Alphinaud (Meltdown, Chain Firaga, Burst, Battleforged).

Alphianud never lived long enough to use his burst, or honestly to exploit Imperil. He'd be toasted, stun-locked, or confused just as he got a chance to shine.

Locke was a damage machine throughout the whole fight.

Tyro face planted most runs but held on long enough to finish the fight with Full break this time.

Garnet was the white-magic goddess of this fight. Taking over healing at the end hand dishing out dispells to keep us in the fight.

Eiko should have been queen healer, instead Zidane put her in nap time.

The U+ was also tricky but the CM is done.
RW: Wall
Rusty with Mind Break (R1), Firaga Strike (R3), Dr. Mog's, and SSB [Imperil Fire]
Garnet with Ifirit (R5), Ultima Weapon (R1), double cast summon, and Burst
Quina with Fullbreak (R2), Power Breakdown (R4), Support Damage+ and default SB (She tried to Eat Beatrix twice after she ran out of abilities).
Eiko with Protectga (R1), Shellga(R2), Burst and Mako Might.
Beatrix with Saint's Cross (R3), Gaia Cross (R2), Knight's Charge, and Rose of May (Def booster)

The strategy was to focus fire on Evil Rusty first, then bring down Evil Bea. Break both of their Attack, Def, Mag, and Res (full break) but mostly Attack. Break Bea's Mind (at start and as Rusty falls), and exploit their weakness to Fire.

Ultima Weapon took care of the medal requirement for Darkness damage but Ifirit and Holy-Ramuh were the magical workhorses of the fight. Vivi techincally participated (in Steiner's SSB) so he'll get credit too.

Then went over to an MP fight handing the 60 stamina one (well 20 because I joined a group). I saw "wind weakness" so brought Alphi/Y'sh. We had another Y'sh who said "I'll Support" so I thought "Cool, I get to Burst!"
Fight starts:
Gilgamesh uses his burst (weak backrow cloud uses double-hit... it wasn't very effective). Onion Knight uses burst, Celes uses Faith, Ramza uses shout, My Y'sh uses Burst, other Y'sh uses SSB (Not wall!), Onion panics "Support Please!" Alphi uses Burst - Its super effective.

I start spamming tetragamaton and Alphi command 1. The rest of the group is working on the middle waltz (Fire weak waltz) while Alphi's wind command is ripping through the one on the bottom. By round 4 or 5 Cloud is down, bottom waltz is down, top waltz is full and middle waltz is 1/3. I'm trying to build SB charge as fast as I can because the incoming damage is very high.

Gilgamesh goes down as I open another Burst on top waltz ripping chunks of its life off. Middle and top waltz die almost at the same time but I'm the only one blasting top waltz. I'm recasting Burst and top Y'sh is just now casting wall (but neither of us finish the cast). Barely got mastery (not sure how - I didn't see how we landed slow).

Haven't run the Apocalypse battle yet. Back to greens farming for me.

[danzibr]

Grats!

This talk of MP reminds me... why oh why do people with Y'shtola's burst *and* SSII open with her burst? Even when nobody else has well. Seriously, we need that extra DR. We don't need a turn 1 medica.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Aww. I went 0/11 on this "Lucky" draw. Oh sure, there was the guaranteed Rainbow, but that was just a copy of a relic I already got.A 1/11 dupe is indeed lame, but if it's even a tiny bit of consolation, I kinda like getting dupes on half price draws. In the context of items, power creep typically takes the form of single-digit amounts of ATK/MAG/whatever. A 5+* older item will far outstrip a current 5* one when they're both under synergy. Admittedly, you'd rather that mega stat stick be something flexible like a sword or rod, but Quistis can be made to be useful in a lot of FF8 teams, at least.

Not getting any new toys with it certainly is a bummer, though. Sorry mate.