Final Fantasy Record Keeper XI: More Expansions, More Salt!

[Red Fel]

Ahh, new thread smell.

So do magicite effects stack? Like using two Evrae which both have empower holy 15 abd attack boon 15, are these redundant or is it useful to have two? Or should I be trying to get one of each boon among all the magicites?

They do stack but additional copies are basically halved. So 20+15 is roughly 28. Crystals and the 6* magicites also have a trick in that they have passives that are combined into each other.

Yeah. The short version is that there are diminishing returns; the long version is that there is math. First of all, consider that each magicite in your deck has stats - ATK, HP, etc. - that add up to a collective bonus for the deck. Then you move onto the passives, and those stack in... varying ways. Here is a chart put together about a year ago of 5-star passive enhancements. As you can see, stat-based passives - ATK Boon and MAG Boon, for example - sharply drop off in utility after the first, while more subtle bonuses, such as Fast Act, stack reasonably well.

This post builds on that one - scroll down to Magicite Passives to see what's going on. It also goes into some of the trickier numbers, like Surging Power (damage increases proportionate to HP) and Hand of Vengeance (damage increases inversely proportionate to HP).

Also I managed to get my FF IV Historia crystals to level 50 and broke its cap and holy crap its cast effect is strong. Seems much better than the magicites I currently have. Am I missing something here? Do all those boon buffs make a much bigger difference (I mean the historia crystal has a bunch too but they are lower values it seems).

It is and it isn't. As Darkdragoon notes, Historia Crystals combine multiple passives, to a lesser degree than the more focused Magicites. The first thing you probably notice about using a Crystal is that its entry deals overflow damage. Unless you're accustomed to 5-star Magicites, that's going to seem like a pretty big deal - and, to be fair, on-command overflow damage is pretty useful. But that's not the focus of Historia Crystals, just a fringe benefit. (At least, not until you limit break one multiple times, and enjoy a flat 99,999 on entry.)

The benefit of Crystals over Magicites is the various passives they provide, as Darkdragoon notes, consolidated into one easy button. After the first limit break, a Crystal provides the party with Omni Element Boost on entry, and hits the enemy with Omni Imperil on subsequent hits. Not all Magicites grant a party Element Boost, and not all grant an Imperil, and certainly none cover every element. In addition, all Crystals by default provide a boost to all base stats (ATK, DEF, etc.), and increase damage dealt and decrease damage taken by realm-appropriate characters. Starting at level 50, they also provide passive HP, healing, crit rate and damage, increased tick speed while casting, and increases to damage dealt and decreases to damage taken, in addition to the realm-specific bonuses. Another quick chart for reference.

The fact remains that a Magicite deck will be more valuable for elemental content, for the most part, because it is more focused. A Magicite deck can be tailored to the precise elemental threat posed - for example, you may want a main Magicite that prevents debuffs, or one that deals MAG instead of PHY damage; you may want to try to stack speed and crit buffs for a fight that's more like rocket tag, but stack DEF and RES buffs for one that's more of a drawn-out stall. Historia Crystals don't give you that flexibility.

In addition, as previously mentioned, Historia Crystals are extremely tedious to level. Magicites can be leveled rather efficiently in the EXP dungeon. Historia Crystals are basically dependent upon grinding Cardia dungeons for Rat Tails, and a Magicite deck may end up being more helpful to you in that particular task than an under-leveled Historia Crystal.

That said, it has been mentioned, if you have a half-formed 3-star Magicite deck, you can expect a limit-broken Historia Crystal to outperform it. But once you hit 4- or 5-star Magicites, you will see your Historia Crystals fall to the wayside until you can break them significantly.