Final Fantasy Record Keeper VII: Serving Up Whales on a Golden Saucer

[Merlin the Tuna]

Welcome to the SEVENTH 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!

Spoiler: Friend Codes

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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

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Last Thread: Final Fantasy Record Keeper VI: I'm No Whale! I'm a RELIC Hunter!

[Merlin the Tuna]

Edited and otherwise trimmed the initial post a bit, since the character list in particular was wildly out of date. We should probably get some newbie tips in there at some point, but for now, I'll try to keep up with Friend Codes in there as people post them.

[SuperPanda]

Friend Code 3Lkv

RWs of choice:
Eiko Prayer for the Lost (Currently Set)
Y'Sholta Stone Skin II.
Locke Mirage Pheonix
Cecil Paladin Force

I've been working in Sundaily to level Eiko 71 (mastered her BSB), Firion 69, and Josef 60. I've shifted to having 2 north of 65 and 1 south to reflect my current situation. Only Josef, (FFII Theif, forgot her name), Yang and FuSoYa remain under 65 among my named characters.

Cores continue to wait for the previous to drop its RM before joining the Daily team. Spellblade made it to 62 before dropping and Samurai is following suit.

My priorities for leveling to 80 are protagonists (MC3 candidates) and A-listers or potential A listers. Eiko joined that group recently.

Luneth is 99 as I decided on that RM for today's farming. (Josef has his RM). Undecided on who the next one would be. My egg vaults are still rather full.

[Slayn82]

Good job with the new thread, Merlin. I put a notice and a link in the previous thread. Also, please add me to the RW list, I'm unable to edit the sheet from my phone, and my notebook isn't available.

My friend code is uEoY, and I'm offering Celes with Indomitable Blade (Runic + Damage), geared for the current event.

Can also provide the following BSBs: Rinoa, Eiko; and on SSBs: Arc's Renewing Rains; Braska's Summoner's Dream.

[Red Fel]

I'mma add my code too: ofdd, and the current slotted RW is Y'shtola (Stoneskin II).

I s'pose I could change her out for Ramza (Shout), or Hope (Divine Judgment), as needed. But come on, lookit them ears.

Hmm, how'm I doing on leveling? Well, I've been leveling up a few of my IIs (the next event is II, so you know). I haven't used the MC3 Lode; saving it for inspiration. In the meantime, here's who I have at what levels:

Spoiler: Levels!

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• I:
  • 65-79: Warrior of Light, Garland, Sarah, Wol, Echo
• II:
  • 65-79: Firion, Leon, Maria, Gordon, Minwu, Leila, Ricard, Josef
• III:
  • 65-79: Luneth, Refia, Ingus, Desch
  • 80: Arc
• IV:
  • 65-79: DK!Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Edward, Yang, Palom, Tellah, Edge, Fusoya, Golbez
  • 80: Paladin!Cecil, Rydia, Porom,
• V:
  • 65-79: Galuf, Bartz, Faris
  • 80: Lenna, GILGAMESH, Exdeath, Krile
• VI:
  • 65-79: Celes, Mog, Edgar, Sabin, Shadow, Cyan, Gau, Setzer, Strago, Relm, Kefka
  • 80: Terra, Locke
• VII:
  • 65-79: Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Zack, Cid
  • 80: Cloud, Aerith, Yuffie, Vincent, Sephiroth, Reno
• VIII:
  • 65-79: Squall, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Seifer
  • 80: Rinoa, Laguna, Edea
• IX:
  • 65-79: Zidane, Vivi, Steiner, Amarant, Beatrix, Kuja
  • 80: Garnet, Freya, Quina, Eiko
• X:
  • 65-79: Kimahri, Rikku, Auron, Jecht, Braska, Paine
  • 80: Tidus, Yuna, Wakka, Lulu
• XI:
  • 65-79: Shantotto
• XII:
  • 65-79: Vaan, Balthier, Fran, Penelo, Gabranth
  • 80: Basch, Ashe
• XIII:
  • 65-79: Lightning, Snow, Sazh, Fang, Serah, Cid Raines
  • 80: Vanille, Hope
• XIV:
  • 65-79: Thancred, Yda, Papalymo
  • 80: Y'shtola
• T:
  • 65-79: Delita, Ovelia, Mustadio
  • 80: Ramza, Agrias

Core jobs omitted, because seriously, those guys, am I right? Suffice to say that everyone, cores included, has been LBed.

Additionally, aside from the level 99 RMs, the only RMs I'm missing are

Spoiler

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• Black Mage: Omnicast Fire
• Berserker: Berserker's Awakening
• Leila: Trick Attack
• Ricard: The Last Dragoon
• Josef: Ward of the Snow Plains
• Fusoya: Wizard's Beard

So on the one hand, I have a lot of characters to level. On the other, the levels are spread enough that I'm never without a solid team.

Newbie tip: It's good to have one solid team of extremely high-level characters to overcome most challenges. But it's also good to diversify, spread out the experience so that if you need a specialized team, you have options.

EDIT: Oh, by the by, the U/+/++ battles are up in the IX event! Here's what you should know.

• U is Taharka. Weak to Fire and Wind, resists Ice, nulls Earth. If you pulled on the banner and got something for Zidane, Vivi, or Steiner, you're in a good place. Medals for exploiting his Fire and Wind weaknesses and reducing his MAG. Normally, he deals magic damage, but he'll periodically curl up; when he does so, his DEF jumps up, and he uses physical attacks. Plow through for your 5-star accessory.
• U+ is Kraken and two Tentacles. He has no weaknesses and absorbs Water. Medals for reducing his MAG, defeating him before he uses Ink five times, and defeating him before he uses Ultimate Waterga. Now, here's the thing - the Left Tentacle is what uses Ink. So if you kill that, he can't Blind you, and you make that medal requirement. But, he won't use Ultimate Waterga until you've taken out both Tentacles. So the trick is to take out the Left Tentacle, then take down Kraken before he can do too much damage. Alternatively, adopt a "YOLO" position and attack Kraken directly; the fight ends once he dies. Take him down and get the MC3 Lode.
• U++ is Zorn + Thorn = Multigemini. Weak to Fire and Holy, resist Dark, so Steiner, Vivi, and Queen Bea are going to bat for you here. Medals for reducing Melti's MAG, exploiting its Fire weakness, and taking it down before it uses Meteor four times. First, however, you face the twins. As long as both are alive, they can use Twincast Meteor, so focus fire and kill one of them quickly. Melti itself is a beast; it has extremely powerful magical attacks, its Ultimate Wings counter deals PHY damage that ignores DEF, and its Ultimate Meteor is a powerful MAG AoE that ignores RES. So offensive mitigation (Magic Breakdown + Full Break) is a must. Win, though, and you get some crystals and a bunch of upgrade materials.

Have fun with that. Me? I'm doing Sundailies.

[danzibr]

Everything looks good!

I only need to get BM and Josef to 65. Have nearly all the RM (well, except the 99's). I was 100% caught up until recently. Nice to have stuff to do.

[SuperPanda]

I had almost forgotten about the tradition of new thread status posts. Here's mine

Spoiler: Levels!

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• I:
  • 65-79: Warrior of Light, Garland, Sarah, Wol, Echo
• II:
  • 50-64: Leila, Joseph
  • 65-79: Firion, Leon, Maria, Gordon, Minwu, Ricard,
• III:
  • 65-79: Refia, Ingus, Desch, Arc
  • 99: Luneth
• IV:
  • 50-64: Yang, FuSoYa
  • 65-79: DK!Cecil, Kain, Rosa, Edward, Palom, Tellah, Edge, Golbez, Porom
  • 80: Paladin!Cecil, Rydia
• V:
  • 65-79: Galuf, Bartz, Faris, Lenna, Gilgamesh, Exdeath, Krile
  • 80: Bartz
• VI:
  • 65-79: Celes, Mog, Edgar, Sabin, Shadow, Cyan, Gau, Setzer, Strago, Relm, Kefka, Terra, Locke
• VII:
  • 65-79: Barret, Tifa, Red XIII, Cait Sith, Zack, Cid, Yuffie, Vincent, Sephiroth, Reno
  • 80: Cloud, Aerith
• VIII:
  • 65-79: Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Seifer, Laguna, Edea
  • 80: Rinoa, Squall
• IX:
  • 65-79: Zidane, Vivi, Steiner, Amarant, Beatrix, Kuja, Freya, Quina, Eiko
  • 80: Garnet
• X:
  • 65-79: Kimahri, Rikku, Auron, Jecht, Braska, Paine, Tidus, Yuna, Wakka,
  • 80: Lulu
• XI:
  • 65-79: Shantotto
• XII:
  • 65-79: Basch, Ashe, Vaan, Fran, Penelo, Gabranth
  • 80: Balthier
• XIII:
  • 65-79: Snow, Sazh, Fang, Serah, Cid Raines, Vanille, Hope
  • 80: Lightning,
• XIV:
  • 65-79: Thancred, Yda, Papalymo
  • 80: Y'shtola
• T:
  • 65-79: Delita, Ovelia, Mustadio, Agrias
  • 80: Ramza,

[*]Core jobs not Level broken:[list][*]Dragoon, Dark Knight, Viking, Berserker (all level 1)

RM's still missing

Spoiler

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• Tyro: Scholar's Boon
• Black Mage: Omnicast Fire
• Samurai: Way of the Samurai II
• Dragoon: Dragoon's Soul I, Dragoon's Soul II
• Dark Knight: Helm Expertise, Dark Blade
• Viking: Hammer Master, Ferocious Charge
• Berserker: Berserker's Axe, Berserker's Awakening
• Bard: War Ballad
• WoL: The Promised One
• Garland: Stalwart Warrior
• Sarah: Royal Benediction
• Echo: Tiny Sprite
• Firion: Weapons Master
• Leon: Lone Warrior
• Minwu: Master in White
• Gordon: Royal Charge
• Leila: Trick Attack
• Ricard: Dragon's Pride, The Last Dragoon
• Josef: Ward of the Snow Plains
• Desch: Duty Bound
• Pld. Cecil: Azure Blade
• Kain: Illustrious Dragoon
• Yang: Tough Love
• Tellah: Sage's Monograph
• FuSoYa: Wizard's Beard
• Golbez: Brooding Darkness
• Bartz: World Traveler
• Galuf: Fist of Dawn
• Terra: Light of Hope
• Mog: Moogle Warrior
• Sabin: Keeper of the Old Ways
• Strago: Mystic bloodlines
• Cloud: Truth Seeker
• Barret: Gun-Arm Master
• Cait Sith: Moogle Ward
• Vincent: Uneering shot
• Cid: Air Raid
• Reno: Ace Turk
• Swuall: Orphaned Cub
• Quistis: Instructor's Discipline
• Zell: Balab Firebrand
• Zidane: Prestidigitation, Tantalus Code
• Freya: Warrior Extrodinare
• Quina: Arms of the Qu
• Eiko: Impish Recital
• Tidus: Dreamguide
• Kimahri: Proud Tradition
• Braska: Summoner's Resolve
• Paine: Gullwing Blade
• Shantoto: Legendary Lady, Witch's Cackle
• Vaan: Wings Unfurled
• Gabranth: Object of hatred
• Lightning: Bolt from Above
• Snow: Eternal Optimist
• Serah: Etro's Intervention
• Cid Raines: Might of the l'Cie
• Y'Sholta: Matoya's Treasure
• Papalymo: Sharlayan Thamaturge
• Ramza: Standard Bearer

I still have alot of RMs to farm out and I've been slowly ticking those off through my daily dungeons. I have most of the ones I suspect I'd use with regularity and as such am in no rush to collect the rest.

I've been able to clear the U++ both with my A team and then CM it using Reddit-tricks (Hope RW mission). I've been able to clear Mote Ifirit with my A-team (can not CM it though). I'm pretty happy with my teams and levels, slowly working to improve teams across realms and gather RMs through daily orb dungeons.

[Starwulf]

Mmm, Ultimate for IX is done, poor thing didn't even get to curl up before it died. Finishing Touch did 99,799 damage, took it from half health to virtually dead, a Chain Firaga and Firaga Strike did the rest. Onwards to the U+!!!

I don't think I've ever actually posted what I have leveled, I'll do so in a bit, about to watch a movie with the wifey ^^

[oxybe]

Oh I'm probably going to have fun with Meltigemini, having pulled Queen Bea's BSB and two Steincaliburs... I'm ready for all the Holy damage! I'm actually pretty hyped for FFIX. It went from being a rather lopsided "I hope you want to use mages!" to a surprisingly strong realm for me

Currently waiting for my energy to build up so I can Challenge the Ultimate with this party:

Beatrix, 78 - SteinCalibur+, Kuja's Glove, Greg's Cowl - Ace Striker - Knight Protector
Lifesiphon / Shellga

Steiner, 74 - Lightbringer, Faris's Bracer, Victory Pendant - One Eyed General - Sword Art:Climhazzard
Aero Strike / Firaga Strike

Freya, 80 - Trident, Quina's Hairpin, Fated Coin - Pride of Figaro - Six Dragons
Dragoon Jump / Power Breakdown

Quina, 74 - Rhomphaia, Black Hood, Aria bouquet - Dr. Mog - Frog Drop
Fullbreak/ Magic Breakdown

Garnet, 80 - Wizard Rod, Edea's Hat, Lenna's Earrings - Mako Might - Divine Guardian
Curaja /Protectga

I am seriously liking my FFIX lineup: Strong mitigation, 50%boostga, Hastega with high regen, strong attacks... Toss in a RW Maria's Song and I'll be dunking the damage (noting that of the 3 offensive characters, Steiner is my weakest at 455 attack after RS, and Beatrix sitting atop the pile, as she should, with 521... both with native Holy+ weapons). I likely will no longer pull on FFIX banners at this point.

Noting that I also have Kuja with a 5+ version of his stick.

Spoiler: Levels!

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• I:
  1-49: Garland, Sarah, Wol, Echo
  50: WoL
• II:
  1-49: Leon, Maria, Leila, Joseph, Ricard
  50-64: Firion, Gordon, Minwu,
• III:
  1: Refia, Ingus, Desch, Arc, Luneth
• IV:
  1-49:DK!Cecil, Yang, FuSoYa, Tellah, Golbez
  50-64: Edge, Kain
  65-79: Paladin!Cecil, Edward, Palom, Porom
  80: Rosa, Rydia
• V:
  50-64: Galuf
  65-79: Bartz, Faris, Lenna, Bartz, Exdeath
  80: Gilgamesh, Krile
• VI:
  1-49: Terra, Locke, Gau, Kefka
  65-79: Celes, Mog, Edgar, Cyan, Strago, Setzer
  80: Sabin, Shadow, Relm
• VII:
  1-49: Barret, Yuffie
  50-64: Tifa, Cid
  65-79: Cloud, Red XIII, Cait Sith
  80: Aerith, Zack, Sephiroth, Vincent, Reno
• VIII:
  1-49: Laguna
  65-79: Squall, Quistis, Zell, Selphie, Irvine, Seifer
  80: Rinoa, Edea
• IX:
  1-49: Amarant
  50-64: Eiko
  65-79: Zidane, Steiner, Beatrix, Quina
  80: Garnet, Kuja, Vivi, Freya
• X:
  1-49: Lulu, Braska
  50-64: Rikku, Auron
  65-79: Paine, Yuna, Wakka
  80: Jecht, Tidus, Kimahri
• XI:
  1: Shantotto
• XII:
  1-49: Vaan
  50-64: Basch
  65-79: Gabranth
  80: Balthier, Ashe, Fran, Penelo
• XIII:
  1: Snow, Sazh, Lightning, Serah, Cid Raines, Vanille, Hope
  54: Fang
• XIV:
  1: Thancred, Yda, Papalymo, Y'shtola
• T:
  1: Delita, Ovelia, Mustadio
  65-79: Ramza, Agrias

Eeep. My FFI, FFII, FFIII, FFXIII & FFXIV really needs more love, looking at it broken down this way. Fang is getting there slowly though. She's cool. She can hang out with the cool kids like Balthier, Beatrix, Zack & Greg.

Also: Zack & Greg sounds like a bad Disney Channel sitcom.

Spoiler: mythril planning

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After deliberating, I decided on spending my 100 FFII mythril on FFIX for nostalgia and FFIX seems to be a bit more frequently appearing. No regrets though as my pulls got me pretty much everything I would've liked from FFIX minus Eiko's BSB.

next up is my 3 planned pulls for FFIII in late November and 2 planned FFXIV pulls just before the New Year. Hoping for something decent!

[Starwulf]

And the U+ is down as well! First off, a very important tip to all: It's recommended that we kill the left tentacle first because it can use an ability called "ink" which, as it sounds, causes blindness to the character it hits. The issue is, it's not the LEFT tentacle that we see, it is IT'S left tentacle, which is instead the one you can target on the right of the screen. I was 2/3rds of the way through the battle, with what I thought was the left tentacle dead, when all of a sudden I see "Ink" being used. Thankfully it only used it twice and targeted both Terra and Tyro, so it affected nothing.

Next up: You need a lot of mitigation for this fight, both physical and magical, it hits like a truck and casts very deadly spells. I only lost one medal, but it was due to damage taken, and I had all 5 characters being fairly close to dying when the battle ended.

Other then that, he has no elemental weaknesses, or even status debuff weaknesses, so ya gotta go in loaded to the gils with your powerful abilities, each Tentacle has 77k damage(though you don't have to kill them) and Kraken itself has 277k HP. You can't use a lot of AoE's because once you kill both tentacles it opens up the ability "Ultimate Waterga" for the Kraken, and if it uses that it's an auto 3 medals lost. That hurt my damage output a bit and my healing as I've come to rely fairly heavily on Gilgamesh's Faithful Companion for it's major regen.

Onwards to the levels:

Spoiler

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Spoiler: FF1

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Warrior of Light: 68. Everyone else at 1

Spoiler: FF2

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Firion/Josef: 50. Everyone else at 1

Spoiler: FF3

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Luneth/Desch: 50. Everyone else at 1

Spoiler: FFIV

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P.Cecil/Rydia: 80 Rosa/Kain: 76 D.Cecil: 75 Edward/Edge/Tellah/Fusoya/Golbez: 50. Everyone else at 1

Spoiler: FFV

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Gilgamesh/Faris: 80 Exdeath: 77 Bartz: 69 Lenna: 50. Everyone else at 1

Spoiler: FFVI

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Terra: 80 Locke/Edgar/Shadow: 76 Kefka: 75 Sabin: 67 Cyan/Setzer: 66 Celes/Mog/Relm: 50. Everyone else at 1

Spoiler: FFVII

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Cloud: 99 Yuffie: 80 Barret: 78 Vincent: 76 Aerith: 75 Sephiroth: 72 Tifa: 56 Zack: 54 Reno: 43 Cid: 50 Red/Cait Sith: 1(wow, a realm with only two 1's!

Spoiler: FFVIII

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Squall: 80 Seifer/Edea: 76 Zell: 65 Selphie/Irvine/Laguna: 50 Rinoa: 10 Quistis: 1

Spoiler: FFIX

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Vivi: 80 Eiko: 77 Beatrix: 76 Zidane: 75 Garnet: 65 Steiner: 50. The rest at 1

Spoiler: FFX

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Tidus/Yuna/Wakka/Lulu: 80 Auron/Rikku/Jecht: 76 Braska: 65 Kimahri/Paine: 1

Spoiler: FFXI

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Shantotto is 1

Spoiler: FFXII

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Balthier: 80 Vaan: 77 Penelo: 50 Fran: 32. The rest at 1

Spoiler: FFXIII

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Vanille/Fang: 76 Lightning/Snow: 50. The rest at 1

Spoiler: FFXIV

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Yda: 76 Thancred: 67. The rest at 1

Spoiler: FFT

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Ramza: 76. The rest at 1

Spoiler: Core

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Tyro: 80. Black Mage/Devout: 50 Warrior: 30 White Mage: 8. The rest at 1

My Friend Code is: GUtu

I usually have 1 of 3 people up: Cloud with Finishing Touch(currently up). Ramza with Shout(298 MND!) or P.Cecil with Paladins Force.

[danzibr]

Grats to people on the victories!

I actually haven't started the IX event. Better get on that :P

For levels, I'll do a much simpler breakdown:

• 1-49: 2
• 50-64: 15
• 65-79: 48
• 80: 72
• 99: 1

[Jurai]

Still grappling with IX Ults. Taharka wasn't too bad, Kraken's a pile of trash, and Meltman (WITH THE POWER TO... MELT!) is still giving me trouble. I can end ome twin right after the first Twin Meteor, but Melty hits like a truck.

[Hunter Noventa]

Took a me a few reloads to beat Taharka, just some rotten luck with SG running out with bad timing or a Medica going off too late mostly.

EDIT: Well damn, Kraken was intense. I had to whip up an Omelette for Beatrix, and come in with two healers, otherwise I just didn't have enough mitigation to keep up with the damage coming out. I actually got use out of Curaise being able to raise to boot. But I managed to Master it like so-
Beatrix (Banishing Strike, Saint Cross, Holy Knight's Pride, Rose of May)
Freya (Ice Jump, Leeching Jump, Burmecian Dragon Knight)
Ramza (Power Breakdown, Magic Breakdown, Shout, Dr. Mog's Teachings)
Vanille (Curaja, Shellga, Miracle Prayer, Battleforged)
Selphie (Curaise, Protectga, Ace Striker, Dreamstage)
RW- SSII

Between the Ether effect of Miracle Prayer, and the Magic Blink of Dreamstage, I pulled it off with 2 medals lost to damage, and 1 to actions.

I'm not even going to touch the U+++. But now I can start getting Ramza to 99.

[oxybe]

I don't know what the U+'s deal is but the constant AoE spam of Bio is making beating him a real pain in the tuchas. but I CM'd him.

Setup

Beatrix, 78 - SteinCalibur+, Kuja's Glove, Carnelian signet- Dr.Mog- Knight Protector
Lifesiphon / Banishing Strike

Steiner, 74 - Lightbringer, Flame Shield (II), Victory Pendant - One Eyed General - Sword Art:Climhazzard
Firaga Strike / Saints Cross

Kuja, 80 - Punisher+, Black Hood, Gulug Stone - Devotion - Dread of Death/Darkflare Star
Memento Mori / Chain Firaga

Quina, 74 - Rhomphaia, White Dress, Flame Ring - Dr. Mog - Frog Drop
Fullbreak/ Magic Breakdown

Garnet, 80 - Wizard Rod, Edea's Hat, Gigas Armlet - Ace Striker - Divine Guardian
Curaja / Shellga

RW : Tyro - Sentinel Guardian

Part 1 of the fight had Steiner RW, Kuja Memento Mori, Garnet Shellga, Quina Frog Drop then finally Queen Bea Knight Protector.

With the fire resist we focused on Zorn, Beatrix using commands while Steiner Saint's Cross & Kuja used Memento Mori. altogether they did ~40k per round, dropping Zorn by round 3 and focusing on Thorn who was dealing very little damage at this point when under Full Break+ Magic Breakdown+Shellga+Wall.

Part 2 is basically one big DPS race had Quina ready to use FullBreak when Multigemni appears and Beatrix refresh her Knight Protector, At this point Kuja switches to Chain Firaga and Steiner continues to Saints Cross a few more times. Beatrix continues to make use of weaknesses to keep her SB generation up and about at the 55-75% HP mark, Steiner refreshes the RW and Garnet & Quina use Divine Guardian and Frog Drop respectively .

While Meteor still dealt significant damage as it ignored resistances as did his physical counters, Full Break & Magic Breakdown kept it at a reasonable range while his Bio's potency was severely reduced down to triple digits due to resistance stacking + magic debuffing, in essence allowing Garnet's Curaja & DG's high regen to pickup the slack and we were able to DPS him down, with Kuja dying in the end (which would have happened due to Memento Mori), losing a single medal for damage.

As a sidenote: Kuja wrecked in this fight as expected even without additional support, consistently hitting the damage cap on Zorn/Thorn under FullBreak with Mori and dealing a solid 20k per use of Chain Firaga thanks to his 518 magic and Mori's Magic buff. Good job Kuja, you keep proving to me your worth your weight in hones, even when not dropping phat Dark Zones.

Bragging rights

speaking of RWs, should I stick with Lakshmi? The more interesting ones I can see I have are

Greg - MORPHIN' TIME (8xst, built in tauntilate with dispel command)
Beatrix - Knight Protector (4xholy aoe ImpHoly, sentinel on command 1, res+ on command 2)
Fang - Megaflare (4xranged wind aoe ImpWind, 4xst wind command 1, 2xaoe wind command 2)
Kuja - Dread of Death (4xdark aoe, EnDark)
Rosa - Divine Heall (85pot medica + magic blink)
Tyro - Sentinel Grimoire (wall)
Relm - Portrait of Lakshmi (85pot medica + high regen)
Freya - Six Dragons (6xst wind, EnWind)
Quina - Frog Drop (planet protector W/4x ranged AoE dam)

[Greg_S]

Friend code: fr4D. Currently running Hope's BSB with IX synergy for those who want to try it in the CM. Will probably switch to White Materia later.

Spoiler: Mythril Planning

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Planning to do 50 on one of the FFII banners. Banner 1's objectively better, but banner 2 has two hastegas, and Maria's BSB is still a top-tier damage option in current JP. Then 50 on Larsa 1, 50 on OK 1,maybe 50 on OSB fest for Terra, 50 on the Raines BSB, and ideally 100 on FFXIV. That should clean up my weakest synergy realms quite well.

Smoked Taharka with the mage team. I burned through all but 6 of my MFOs honing Chain Firaga to R3, but I don't regret it one bit with an enfired Terra. Haven't had a chance to do Kraken yet, but I might try to bring in the wind team and just blitz the body down Nope, he's got 277K HP on the body. At best, the wind team can drop 100K in a single round, and I don't think I can easily hit that against a U+ -level fight.

[SuperPanda]

Brought down Melted Cheese U++ with a mixed A-team (Fire and Holy). No CM, might try with Greg_S's RW on dark mage Kuja later on.

The AoE spam from the boss is pure evil even with shellga, wall, and full break on him (I don't think I had time to get magic breakdown on him before Ramza was either stuck in tailwind or face down. That stuff was ripping me up.

Team: RW - Shout
Pld. Cecil. Excalibur IV, Platinum Shield +Atk. Saint's Cross/Banishing Blade/ Ace Striker, Paladin Force

Garnet. Dagger of Resolve/Hypno Crown IX/+Mag. Alexander/Curaga/ Battleforged / BSB

Terra. Wizard Rod IX/ Fire Armlet/+Mag. Firaja/Chain Firaja/. Devotion / Fire Beam

Y'Sholta. Crescent Wish VIII / Royal Gown IV / +Mind. Shellga/Curaha/. Dr. Mog's Teachings/ Stone Skin II

Ramza. Coral Sword+ IX/Grand Plate T/+Atk. FB/MBD/ Mako Might/Tailwind.

Zorn and Thorn were pretty straight forward. With a one-two of Stone Skin II and Tailwind I got meaningful mitigation up and healed back up from the opening volley. With Garnet on backup healing duty there was little danger in that part of the fight. Once Cecil and Terra got their en-element going the fight was ready to move to Melted Cheese.

Melted Cheese is a real killer. It was bringing that classic heart disease known as Bio - hitting all for 1k+ through shellga and shield and hitting at least 3 times between healer actions. His Ultimate Meteo-balls brought on even more cholesterol to clog up the even, bringing Ramza and Y'sholta low and leaving healing to a wounded Garnet just run out of burst mode.

A renewed application of Fire Beam and Paladin Force finished off the boss before what would have been a wipe. - Mastery, but no CM.

My resources when looking at trying to CM this with Greg_S's RW:

Steiner w/ a solid but uninspired SB.
3 strong mage weapons (Eiko BSB, Garnet SSB, Garnet BSB).
Eiko's SSB provides solid healing AoE while Garnet's BSB provides strong ST healing - alternately Divine Guardian provides Haste + Res and Heavy regen.
Kuja will have a synergy weapon to join with Memento Mori.
I have to fit Quina in there somewhere for Fullbreak.

Kuja, Garnet, Eiko, Steiner, Quina - 4 armed to the teeth and one hanging on for dear life. Kuja goes MM>RW spam while Steiner supports with spellblade damage, Quina breaks, and the other two heal as best they can.... Won't try tonight but might try soon.

[danzibr]

Greg - MORPHIN' TIME (8xst, built in tauntilate with dispel command)
Beatrix - Knight Protector (4xholy aoe ImpHoly, sentinel on command 1, res+ on command 2)
Fang - Megaflare (4xranged wind aoe ImpWind, 4xst wind command 1, 2xaoe wind command 2)
Kuja - Dread of Death (4xdark aoe, EnDark)
Rosa - Divine Heall (85pot medica + magic blink)
Tyro - Sentinel Grimoire (wall)
Relm - Portrait of Lakshmi (85pot medica + high regen)
Freya - Six Dragons (6xst wind, EnWind)
Quina - Frog Drop (planet protector W/4x ranged AoE dam)

I'd say Gilgamesh or Tyro.

And grats on victories!

Mythril planning... we get ~100 per month, right? Currently I'm around 170.
Rest of October: Spending 50 on II 1, then nothing else until the start of November, so I'll be at roughly 150 then.
November: 25 on DU, 50 on IV 1, 50 on III, brings me down to around 75.
December: 25 on DU, 50 on Gilgamesh banner, I guess 100 on OSBfest, brings me down to 0.
January: 25 on DU, and uhh... well crap, I won't have enough to pull for Noel's bamf SSB.
February: 25, 50 on T.

Maybe I need to reevaluate. Those 25 on DU's add up. And II is so uncommon, I don't know if it's worth pulling on. I have a 7* sword and dagger, as well as Ragnarok, gives me 3 weapons with attack ~200, can probably beat all the content with that. And that IV banner, has Kain and Rydia gear, was going to pull for that, maybe I shouldn't.

[oxybe]

Oh cupcakes... I forgot to take DUs into consideration.

Looking at pksage's spreadsheet and randomly tossing them monthly on the 12th... I shouldn't hit into an issue until Orlandu banner, at which point i'm still running a 10 mythril deficit, assuming I allocate the 10 from the FFIV Cid event to a FFT pull. Though I really don't want to be working through the assumption of negative mythril.

that leads to disappointment.

[danzibr]

Oh cupcakes... I forgot to take DUs into consideration.

Looking at pksage's spreadsheet and randomly tossing them monthly on the 12th... I shouldn't hit into an issue until Orlandu banner, at which point i'm still running a 10 mythril deficit, assuming I allocate the 10 from the FFIV Cid event to a FFT pull. Though I really don't want to be working through the assumption of negative mythril.

that leads to disappointment.

Hey uhh, you have a link for that spreadsheet you're talking about? That sounds mighty convenient.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Ahh, finally managed to squeak out the U++. It's another up-tempo fight, where plowing through it means you take some very manageable attacks but stalling out spells major trouble. Very similar to the Ultros battle a couple events back, except this one is weak(ish) scripted attacks followed by painful random ones, rather than weakish random attacks followed by powerful scripted ones. Team was Zidane (Thief's Revenge), Beatrix (Saint Cross), and Kuja (MM + Chain Firaga) on damage, plus Quina and Garnet.

Quina's Frog Drop was super helpful since it meant I could bring a Divine Guardian RW to further mitigate the incoming spells. The only snag is that the transition from the clowns to Meltigemini is crazy tight - you need to hit a Full Break basically immediately in order to sneak in a Mag Breakdown before his second-turn Ultimate Meteor, and in my case that led to my boostga dropping out for a turn since Quina was so occupied. Thankfully, I only had to eat 1 AOE Bio in his normal phase and 1 Flare in his weak; those things hurt.

My quick status report: (Cores excluded)

• Level 1-50: 35 units
• Level 51-65: 32 units
• Level 66-80: 52 units
• Record Materia: 15 of 33 pages complete (I ain't counting all that )
• Core Dungeons: 580 of 598 complete

[oxybe]

Here is a link to my spreadsheet, via excel online.

[Maryring]

Oh, we're sharing how we're doing in the game? I might as well, though not much exciting has been happening with me as of late.

Spoiler: Maryring's stats

Show

Ramza 66
Yuna, Celes, Terra 63
Basch 61
Mog 58
Paine 55
Cloud 51
Cyan, Setzer 50
Wakka, Lulu, Rikku 46
Tyro 38
Strago 32
Barret, Aerith, Red XII, Cid 28
Wol, WoL, Garland, Sarah, Echo 27
Black Mage, White Mage, Kain 25
Rydia 24
Kimahri 11

Everyone else is level 1

Also, I really wish stamina recovered faster, or dailies didn't cost so much stamina. 90 stamina means 4.5 hours waiting just to recover stamina from one daily. Can't get much playing done in that little time.

[Simkin]

So, my current status on things:

Core content: All complete

Character Levels:
- Level 99: Cloud
- Level 96: P.Cecil
- Level 80: 96
- Level 65-79: 10
- Level 50-64: 30

Record Materia: 7 (of 33) pages left to collect

Ult dropped 1st try. U+ on the second try. Deliberated a fair bit over which MCIII to get next; finally decided on P. Cecil. Haven't touched the U++ yet.

[Red Fel]

Well, all three U's are down, mastery get, no CM on the U++ though. First one I cleared with an all-IX team (Steiner, Zidane, Quina, Vivi, Garnet); latter two with an A-Team. My A-Team compo was:

• Sephiroth: Armor Break, Lifesiphon, Adventurer's Dagger.
• Cloud: Lifesiphon, Firaga Strike, Pride of the Red Wings.
• Queen Bea: Banishing Strike, Saint Cross, One-Eyed General. (For the U+, I used Zack with Power/Charge.)
• Ramza: Magic Breakdown, Full Break, Mako Might.
• Y'shtola: Curaja, Shellga, Dr. Mog's Teachings.
• RW: Selphie (Dreamstage).

Dreamstage was super effective in the U++. My team could soak the first pair of AoEs, but Dreamstage not only healed them back up, it ensured that the next few shots did nothing. It was also effective after the Meltigemini transformation - apparently it blocks Ultimate Meteor, who knew?

I had tried both with an IX team, but got overwhelmed far too easily. It only now occurs to me that I could have brought Eiko's SSB medica, but I'm not sure even that would have helped enough; these bosses hit hard and fast. What's more, Zorn and Thorn lack weaknesses; frankly, although Melti hit harder, he went down faster than the twins did. As such, without sources of massive damage, pressing the twins was a losing proposal. I might try again for that CM, but I'm pretty satisfied where I am right now.

It's worth noting that Y'shtola's wall was only useful for the first half of the fight. While it does soak some of Melti's Bio, the big threats are his Ultimate Wings counter (ignores DEF and happens almost all the time) and his Ultimate Meteor (ignores RES). Wall does nothing to those; offensive Breakdowns (which trigger Wings) are what you need. However, it was very useful in the early fight, when those two weirdos decided to spam hard-hitting spells. So, six of one, half dozen of the other.

[danzibr]

First, grats to people on the victories!

Here is a link to my spreadsheet, via excel online.

Whoa, that's incredibly useful. Thanks! Ahh... makes the planning so useful. Truly appreciated.

So, my current status on things:

Core content: All complete

Character Levels:
- Level 99: Cloud
- Level 96: P.Cecil
- Level 80: 96
- Level 65-79: 10
- Level 50-64: 30

Record Materia: 7 (of 33) pages left to collect

Ult dropped 1st try. U+ on the second try. Deliberated a fair bit over which MCIII to get next; finally decided on P. Cecil. Haven't touched the U++ yet.

Haha, nice! I was curious what your numbers were. Man, I only have 73 80+'s, you have 98. 98. Wowza.

[Simkin]

First, grats to people on the victories!

Whoa, that's incredibly useful. Thanks! Ahh... makes the planning so useful. Truly appreciated.

Haha, nice! I was curious what your numbers were. Man, I only have 73 80+'s, you have 98. 98. Wowza.

I think you spent more time getting everyone to the 65 mark than I did. I have more in the lower tiers still, I just concentrated on taking one group at a time all the way to 80.

[oxybe]

Whoa, that's incredibly useful. Thanks! Ahh... makes the planning so useful. Truly appreciated.

Feel free to make use of it: I likes me spreadsheets. It's nothing fancy, but it's functional and works for my needs. It does need some updating about once a week or so but otherwise it helps me focus on what orbs I need to grind or who I can toss some motes towards, as well as plan out my mythril

[Greg_S]

Wind team has downed Kraken. As soon as I survived that second round, it was all good. Under shout, my 4-round max burst went like this:

Round 1:
Freya: Six Dragons (36000)
Faris: Full Break (6000)
Cid: Big Brawl (24000)
Fang: Megaflare (20000)

Round 2 and 3:
Freya: Sky High (36000)
Fang: Dragoon Jump (20000)
Cid: Sky High (24000)
Faris: Heathen Frolic Sarabande (0)/Full Break (6000)

Faris had to used shared protectga, otherwise it'd add another 20% to megaflare. All in all, I'm satisfied with the pain this group can drop.

I read the relic discussion for the FF2 banner. I am going to drop 50 mythril on it. I just can't figure out which one to use. General opinion is that they're both of roughly equal power. Banner 2's got a better top half, IMO, but Banner 1 is deeper. I think I want to do banner 2, just because I want a shot at Maria's BSB, but I could be swayed to the depth on 1.

[SuperPanda]

IX u++ CM down.

Team: garnet, Steiner, eiko, Quina, and Kuja.

Phase 1: Kuja used meteor though I now know I could safely have used one RW charge to burn through faster. Garnet and Eiko balanced healing and garnet gave up her early BSB for divine guardian which was a major help.

Phase 2: Kuja burned while the girls healed, the thing applied breakdowns and Steiner was there. He did damage but more importantly he soaked damage.

Edit: I was away from my computer before.

Team:
Garnet: Wizard Rod IX, Mage Hat+ VII, +Mag Acc. Protectga/Curaja. Dr. Mog's Teachings w/ SSB and BSB
Steiner: Coral Sword+ IX, (Tailwind Armor+ T) (I can't remember which name it gets), + Atk acc. Firaga Strike/Saint's Cross. +Sword RM, Sword Art:Stock Break..
Eiko: BSB flute, Royal Gown VI, +Mind Acc. Shellga/Diaga. Mako Might and BSB
Quina: 4*++ Dagger (not reforged yet), Dark Glove+ IV, +Attack Acc. FB/MBD. Secret's of the Qu RM. Default SB.
Kuja: Dagger of Resolve IX, Hypno Crown IX, +Mag Acc IX. Meteor/Memento Mori. Devotion RM, Default SB.

Phase 1: Zorn and Thorn's opening salvo is met with protectga and Eiko BSB. Z'n'T seem to follow with physical attacks for a round or two giving Garnet a change to put up Divine Guardian and protect while Eiko puts up Prayer of the Lost and Shellga. Eiko favored single target heals except when met with Dual meteor where her AoE heal command could recover from most of the damage. Double single healers could have kept up with the incoming damage here while stocking medicas with Shellga + Divine Guardian.

Steiner and Kuja were on damage patrol with Kuja saturating the field with Meteor and Steienr hammering away with Saint's cross. Eiko's crit Fixing was in no way a solid replacement for Shout or similar and seemed to provide almost no crits from Saint's Cross. I now know I could have gone MM>RW spam earlier and been safe doing so, but I was playing it safe and dragging out the "easy" part to build SB charge on Eiko and Garnet. Overall this seems to have been a good thing.

When the first of the ZnT duo was down I switched to MM>RW (With it being Hope BSB again). The second was down within one round.

Phase 2 have been a sticking point in the past with AoE spam just blasting me away despite my best efforts. In many ways this run was RNG blessed with him targeting relatively full life people with ST attacks keeping me always in fear of death without succumbing to it. Kuja blasted away with MM+Devotion holy commands easily checking off 8.5kx4 attacks. Garnet and Eiko remained hasted due to their own BSBs and Steiner/Quina did what they could, applying breaks and fire damage. Garnet's ST heals and Eiko's group heals gave me alot of breathing room. If you have one of Eiko's medicas and banked SB charges in phase 1 you could achieve a similar result through that (though in this fight re-raise is a trap. He acts too fast for the reraise to matter). Garnet got the odd blast in there but with the amount of pain Kuja was pumping out any damage from her was incidental and being on full healing wouldn't be a bad idea.

Mastered the fight.

[Starwulf]

Well, I guess I have to absolutely admit that once you start doing daily dungeons on a regular basis, that the gyashl greens start flowing in like water. I didn't start until this past morning(6 a.m. monday morning, it's now 4:45 a.m. tuesday morning) and I've already accumulated 7500 greens. Though I've already spent 4k, 1k on the free mythril, then 3k on 2x 4* dark matter and 2x 3* dark matter(prepping for II, and doing my only IX items that can be reforged).

I imagine by the time the next DU comes around I'll be both dead broke, and swimming in lots of reforged equipment as well as most likely a fair amount of surplus greens. Hey, I might finally be able to start buying those major orbs and the 3* motes! How wonderful :)