I have now reloaded the +++ 6 times. Each time, all 4 of the enemies get to go before I get an action off, and gib someone. This isn't a particularly enjoyable experience.
Edit: Also, Lullaby is utterly useless, as it has now triple-missed 5 times in a row.
Man, that is some terrible luck.
Lullaby always hit at least one of them for me.
My first try, I got two of them, could NOT get the 3rd, and then things went pear-shaped really fast. I think I got 2 turns in before the cone of cold spam and AE physical stuff dropped someone.
Since then, it's been miserable. If Lightning can ever get her SB charged, that might do a number on the freakin' snowflakes, which I'm pretty sure is half the battle right there. Buuuut no. Nope. 3 Cone of Colds on one character, every time. Or two and a smack from the fat one. Etc.
Do you not have a Dr. Mog's or Mako Might?
'Cuz yeah, I could see that being a meat grinder if you don't. My first round was devoted to setting up mitigation, activating Shout, casting a Lullaby and casting a Meteor.
And then on the next turn the Shout-boosted Crushing Blow would destroy the snowflakes.
Even then, though, three of my party members died because I underestimated how much damage he did. Shellga on its own was not enough. I really don't care enough about the Mastery bonus to try again, though.
I have Mako, but it's on Garnet at the moment so she can get DG up ASAP, and Lightning's got Lifesiphon/Drain Strike. Maybe I'll swap it and hope I can pull another Shout RW, because this is nuts.
Edit: Well, killed the snowflakes, but then he decided to spam Blizzaja every turn, and welp.
@dporowski Please post your setup, I suspect you have room for improvement. (Though Cone of Cold did hit more randomly for me.) My biggest recommendation is that if Garnet is the one holding Shellga, she needs to be casting that first round. DG gives only a 50% RES boost, Shellga is 100%. You can find MANY more Shout RWs (and others) in this big RW list. You now have no excuse for ever not having the RW you want (you can reset your list by running a dungeon, e.g., IV's Fabul Castle for 1 stamina).
If you don't have Wall, you might consider using Yuna to bring Protectga and Ramuh (relatively easy to hone). You might also consider trying Heathen Frolic or Heathen Frolic Sarabande in addition to Lullaby (and using it beforehand). It hurts your damage output, but staying alive is your first concern. Note that Lullaby has a 20% proc rate per enemy, Sleep and Sleep Buster have a 30% proc rate, and Phantasm has a 50% proc rate. Come to think of it, your best shot may be using Garnet and Lenna, bringing Protectga and Lullaby on Lenna letting you bring both Power and Magic Breakdown (assuming you don't have Full Break), putting Ace Striker, Battleforged or Mako Might (if you have both MM and Dr. Mog's RMs) on Lightning if you can get her to 590 ATK with Shout without an ATK boost RM, and using Lightning's SSB as soon as Shout is up and Lullaby has procced at least once (Lifesiphoning if necessary).
Keep in mind that if you're using Shout, then DG only adds 50% RES and High Regen. Which are great, but MUCH less important on the first round than the extra 50% RES from Shellga. I note that if Lightning has 590+ ATK after Shout, she should be able to kill all of the Azers in a single use of her SSB (6.5 * 2 * (590^1.8)/(600^.5) = 51570, i.e. 49995, and Azers have 43k HP each).
Heh, yeah... Don't have Lenna, Yuna's at 1 (though I can fix that), don't have Full Break, don't have Ace Striker, Battleforged, etc... My RMs aren't a great selection yet and I've got crap XII synergy.
Off the top of my head, the "almost" was:
65 Tyro, Armor Breakdown/Lullaby, default SB, RM was Concentration 2 since it's best I have. (Penelo's relic)
65 Rinoa, off-realm 5* weapon, Curaga/Dispel, BLM use regen, whatever that was, no fancy SBs.
65 Auron, 4*+ XII sword of some kind, Drawtaliate, Banishing Blade, some +dmg RM I think
65 Garnet, DG relic, Protect/Shell, Mako, DG for SB
65 Lightning, her gun relic, R2 Lifesiphon, Drain Strike, her default RM, Crushing Blow
I'm thinking the Dispel did nothing for me, so lose that, swap out Tyro for Penelo @ 65 for another Medica/Hastega from War Dance and better stats, swap Mako to Lightning to alpha down the stupid snowflakes, and Shellga faster. A Ruinga + Shouted CB should nuke the flakes, and then just try to kill the boss and keep mitigation up.
I honestly don't much care about mastery, though it'd be nice; I just want that MC2.
Edit: 3 rapid attempts later, Garnet was focussed down (Cone, Cone, Cone; Cone, Cone, melee, etc) before I got more than a single ability off each time. I am taking a break, because this is stupid.
Whenever you're ready to try again, try some of these suggestions.
- Move your top heal spell to Garnet. It'll do more good on her than on Rinoa.
- Auron's already Draw Firing, you don't need Protect as badly since most attacks should be focusing on him.
- Rinoa's not doing much there despite being one of your higher leveled characters. I forget when you said you started playing, but from what I recall, you at least were able to get Agrias. Don't know if you were able to manage the MC1 fight.
- On that note, ditch Rinoa and bring Agrias, craft a Magic Lure. She'll handle the single-target Blizzaga spam like a champ if you can egg her up as high as you can. Give her a literally any other attack ability - Double Cut is great since you're already focusing on a Retaliate strategy.
Take out Armor breakdown, add magic breakdown, AoE Blizzaga problem solved. Ramza would be MUCH better than Tyro - any support with sleep buster and Magic breakdown would. Take out Rinoa, add Penelo, give her Curaga and Shellga. Give Garnet Protectga and your best summon. Knock off that Drawtaliate, bring damage skills on Auron - or replace him if you have someone who can hit harder. If Cone of Cold is still a problem, give Auron Magic Lure and make that the first thing he does.
Use RW Shout. Concentration does literally nothing in this fight, nothing at all - use any relevant damage or +atk RM. And go look at Enlir's spreadsheet (use Google), and level characters to get Rebel's whatever (+atk and regen), Self-Sacrifice (+atk and def and sap), Dragoon's Determination (+atk and sap), Pride of the Red Wings, and Adventurer's whatever (+dagger damage). They are essential to success.
I also just don't think it's really true. Power creep is pretty slow in this game, and the most powerful relic in the game is one of the oldest ones in SG! There is some creep on stuff like Boon -> MG8, but they're generally just tacking stuff on to the effect you really want.
I have to say, as an owner of MG8, I basically never got any real use out of it anywhere but the story dungeons in that month or so between her initial event and SSBFest. It came in that awkward time when Mako/Dr. Mog was unavailable, so I couldn't pop it right away which just kills its utility, and Quistis is really hard to find a spot for, especially with Ramza around. I basically haven't touched Quistis since around the SSBFest. It'd probably be different if I didn't have a native wall and had to RW that though. It's easy to find a hole for Tyro to fill. Not so much her.
Still get 20-25 RW summons on mine per day though, so at least it seems popularish for that.
More or less agreed. That'll change when she gets 4* WHM from Record Dive (which is the role Garnet fits now). It would be nice to be able to use Garnet for supplementary AoE needs, and Quistis for supplementary single target and BLM debuff needs. OTOH, I'd really rather be using a 4th physical... But high-mnd hastega + high regen + anti-magic convenience is hard to give up.
I have now reloaded the +++ 6 times. Each time, all 4 of the enemies get to go before I get an action off, and gib someone. This isn't a particularly enjoyable experience.
Edit: Also, Lullaby is utterly useless, as it has now triple-missed 5 times in a row.
Man, that is some terrible luck.
Lullaby always hit at least one of them for me.
My first try, I got two of them, could NOT get the 3rd, and then things went pear-shaped really fast. I think I got 2 turns in before the cone of cold spam and AE physical stuff dropped someone.
Since then, it's been miserable. If Lightning can ever get her SB charged, that might do a number on the freakin' snowflakes, which I'm pretty sure is half the battle right there. Buuuut no. Nope. 3 Cone of Colds on one character, every time. Or two and a smack from the fat one. Etc.
Do you not have a Dr. Mog's or Mako Might?
'Cuz yeah, I could see that being a meat grinder if you don't. My first round was devoted to setting up mitigation, activating Shout, casting a Lullaby and casting a Meteor.
And then on the next turn the Shout-boosted Crushing Blow would destroy the snowflakes.
Even then, though, three of my party members died because I underestimated how much damage he did. Shellga on its own was not enough. I really don't care enough about the Mastery bonus to try again, though.
I have Mako, but it's on Garnet at the moment so she can get DG up ASAP, and Lightning's got Lifesiphon/Drain Strike. Maybe I'll swap it and hope I can pull another Shout RW, because this is nuts.
Edit: Well, killed the snowflakes, but then he decided to spam Blizzaja every turn, and welp.
@dporowski Please post your setup, I suspect you have room for improvement. (Though Cone of Cold did hit more randomly for me.) My biggest recommendation is that if Garnet is the one holding Shellga, she needs to be casting that first round. DG gives only a 50% RES boost, Shellga is 100%. You can find MANY more Shout RWs (and others) in this big RW list. You now have no excuse for ever not having the RW you want (you can reset your list by running a dungeon, e.g., IV's Fabul Castle for 1 stamina).
If you don't have Wall, you might consider using Yuna to bring Protectga and Ramuh (relatively easy to hone). You might also consider trying Heathen Frolic or Heathen Frolic Sarabande in addition to Lullaby (and using it beforehand). It hurts your damage output, but staying alive is your first concern. Note that Lullaby has a 20% proc rate per enemy, Sleep and Sleep Buster have a 30% proc rate, and Phantasm has a 50% proc rate. Come to think of it, your best shot may be using Garnet and Lenna, bringing Protectga and Lullaby on Lenna letting you bring both Power and Magic Breakdown (assuming you don't have Full Break), putting Ace Striker, Battleforged or Mako Might (if you have both MM and Dr. Mog's RMs) on Lightning if you can get her to 590 ATK with Shout without an ATK boost RM, and using Lightning's SSB as soon as Shout is up and Lullaby has procced at least once (Lifesiphoning if necessary).
Keep in mind that if you're using Shout, then DG only adds 50% RES and High Regen. Which are great, but MUCH less important on the first round than the extra 50% RES from Shellga. I note that if Lightning has 590+ ATK after Shout, she should be able to kill all of the Azers in a single use of her SSB (6.5 * 2 * (590^1.8)/(600^.5) = 51570, i.e. 49995, and Azers have 43k HP each).
Heh, yeah... Don't have Lenna, Yuna's at 1 (though I can fix that), don't have Full Break, don't have Ace Striker, Battleforged, etc... My RMs aren't a great selection yet and I've got crap XII synergy.
Off the top of my head, the "almost" was:
65 Tyro, Armor Breakdown/Lullaby, default SB, RM was Concentration 2 since it's best I have. (Penelo's relic)
65 Rinoa, off-realm 5* weapon, Curaga/Dispel, BLM use regen, whatever that was, no fancy SBs.
65 Auron, 4*+ XII sword of some kind, Drawtaliate, Banishing Blade, some +dmg RM I think
65 Garnet, DG relic, Protect/Shell, Mako, DG for SB
65 Lightning, her gun relic, R2 Lifesiphon, Drain Strike, her default RM, Crushing Blow
I'm thinking the Dispel did nothing for me, so lose that, swap out Tyro for Penelo @ 65 for another Medica/Hastega from War Dance and better stats, swap Mako to Lightning to alpha down the stupid snowflakes, and Shellga faster. A Ruinga + Shouted CB should nuke the flakes, and then just try to kill the boss and keep mitigation up.
I honestly don't much care about mastery, though it'd be nice; I just want that MC2.
Edit: 3 rapid attempts later, Garnet was focussed down (Cone, Cone, Cone; Cone, Cone, melee, etc) before I got more than a single ability off each time. I am taking a break, because this is stupid.
Whenever you're ready to try again, try some of these suggestions.
- Move your top heal spell to Garnet. It'll do more good on her than on Rinoa.
- Auron's already Draw Firing, you don't need Protect as badly since most attacks should be focusing on him.
- Rinoa's not doing much there despite being one of your higher leveled characters. I forget when you said you started playing, but from what I recall, you at least were able to get Agrias. Don't know if you were able to manage the MC1 fight.
- On that note, ditch Rinoa and bring Agrias, craft a Magic Lure. She'll handle the single-target Blizzaga spam like a champ if you can egg her up as high as you can. Give her a literally any other attack ability - Double Cut is great since you're already focusing on a Retaliate strategy.
Take out Armor breakdown, add magic breakdown, AoE Blizzaga problem solved. Ramza would be MUCH better than Tyro - any support with sleep buster and Magic breakdown would. Take out Rinoa, add Penelo, give her Curaga and Shellga. Give Garnet Protectga and your best summon. Knock off that Drawtaliate, bring damage skills on Auron - or replace him if you have someone who can hit harder. If Cone of Cold is still a problem, give Auron Magic Lure and make that the first thing he does.
Use RW Shout. Concentration does literally nothing in this fight, nothing at all - use any relevant damage or +atk RM. And go look at Enlir's spreadsheet (use Google), and level characters to get Rebel's whatever (+atk and regen), Self-Sacrifice (+atk and def and sap), Dragoon's Determination (+atk and sap), Pride of the Red Wings, and Adventurer's whatever (+dagger damage). They are essential to success.
As a note, Drawtaliate is, to date, my hardest-hitting strategy.
I also literally don't have access to any of those yet, because I haven't got the characters yet, because I haven't got there in the core dungeons yet. I mean yes, I want them, but well, that's like a thousand stam away.
Edit: Update. After my best attempt yet, where I got him to oh, 30%, then he cast 2 consecutive Freezethings, then 2 Blizzajas, and I couldn't heal up in time, they have proceeded to yet again alpha a character off the field before my first ability 3 times in a row.
I believe "65" may be lower than the expected level for this.
Edit x2: I mean I do seriously appreciate the advice. I just think the access to "things" I have may by overestimated at the moment.
And it's Fire, Earth, Black, Scarletite, and Adamantium.
Sigh.
Oh well, mythril is mythril. Exp is exp.
E:
I don't think I could even say what these are used for. I have a stockpile of like, all three. I guess I need some Earth to ever get Saint Cross to R3, but like, three times that many Holy.
And immediately got a gigantaur on the first round of the 45 stamina one for an MEO. Whee.
Earth is used in Saint's Cross and Chain Starter, but the other two are probably not in high demand. The orbs cross over heavily later in a Machinist Skill which is pretty nice, but that's months away.
I have now reloaded the +++ 6 times. Each time, all 4 of the enemies get to go before I get an action off, and gib someone. This isn't a particularly enjoyable experience.
Edit: Also, Lullaby is utterly useless, as it has now triple-missed 5 times in a row.
Man, that is some terrible luck.
Lullaby always hit at least one of them for me.
My first try, I got two of them, could NOT get the 3rd, and then things went pear-shaped really fast. I think I got 2 turns in before the cone of cold spam and AE physical stuff dropped someone.
Since then, it's been miserable. If Lightning can ever get her SB charged, that might do a number on the freakin' snowflakes, which I'm pretty sure is half the battle right there. Buuuut no. Nope. 3 Cone of Colds on one character, every time. Or two and a smack from the fat one. Etc.
Do you not have a Dr. Mog's or Mako Might?
'Cuz yeah, I could see that being a meat grinder if you don't. My first round was devoted to setting up mitigation, activating Shout, casting a Lullaby and casting a Meteor.
And then on the next turn the Shout-boosted Crushing Blow would destroy the snowflakes.
Even then, though, three of my party members died because I underestimated how much damage he did. Shellga on its own was not enough. I really don't care enough about the Mastery bonus to try again, though.
I have Mako, but it's on Garnet at the moment so she can get DG up ASAP, and Lightning's got Lifesiphon/Drain Strike. Maybe I'll swap it and hope I can pull another Shout RW, because this is nuts.
Edit: Well, killed the snowflakes, but then he decided to spam Blizzaja every turn, and welp.
@dporowski Please post your setup, I suspect you have room for improvement. (Though Cone of Cold did hit more randomly for me.) My biggest recommendation is that if Garnet is the one holding Shellga, she needs to be casting that first round. DG gives only a 50% RES boost, Shellga is 100%. You can find MANY more Shout RWs (and others) in this big RW list. You now have no excuse for ever not having the RW you want (you can reset your list by running a dungeon, e.g., IV's Fabul Castle for 1 stamina).
If you don't have Wall, you might consider using Yuna to bring Protectga and Ramuh (relatively easy to hone). You might also consider trying Heathen Frolic or Heathen Frolic Sarabande in addition to Lullaby (and using it beforehand). It hurts your damage output, but staying alive is your first concern. Note that Lullaby has a 20% proc rate per enemy, Sleep and Sleep Buster have a 30% proc rate, and Phantasm has a 50% proc rate. Come to think of it, your best shot may be using Garnet and Lenna, bringing Protectga and Lullaby on Lenna letting you bring both Power and Magic Breakdown (assuming you don't have Full Break), putting Ace Striker, Battleforged or Mako Might (if you have both MM and Dr. Mog's RMs) on Lightning if you can get her to 590 ATK with Shout without an ATK boost RM, and using Lightning's SSB as soon as Shout is up and Lullaby has procced at least once (Lifesiphoning if necessary).
Keep in mind that if you're using Shout, then DG only adds 50% RES and High Regen. Which are great, but MUCH less important on the first round than the extra 50% RES from Shellga. I note that if Lightning has 590+ ATK after Shout, she should be able to kill all of the Azers in a single use of her SSB (6.5 * 2 * (590^1.8)/(600^.5) = 51570, i.e. 49995, and Azers have 43k HP each).
Heh, yeah... Don't have Lenna, Yuna's at 1 (though I can fix that), don't have Full Break, don't have Ace Striker, Battleforged, etc... My RMs aren't a great selection yet and I've got crap XII synergy.
Off the top of my head, the "almost" was:
65 Tyro, Armor Breakdown/Lullaby, default SB, RM was Concentration 2 since it's best I have. (Penelo's relic)
65 Rinoa, off-realm 5* weapon, Curaga/Dispel, BLM use regen, whatever that was, no fancy SBs.
65 Auron, 4*+ XII sword of some kind, Drawtaliate, Banishing Blade, some +dmg RM I think
65 Garnet, DG relic, Protect/Shell, Mako, DG for SB
65 Lightning, her gun relic, R2 Lifesiphon, Drain Strike, her default RM, Crushing Blow
I'm thinking the Dispel did nothing for me, so lose that, swap out Tyro for Penelo @ 65 for another Medica/Hastega from War Dance and better stats, swap Mako to Lightning to alpha down the stupid snowflakes, and Shellga faster. A Ruinga + Shouted CB should nuke the flakes, and then just try to kill the boss and keep mitigation up.
I honestly don't much care about mastery, though it'd be nice; I just want that MC2.
Edit: 3 rapid attempts later, Garnet was focussed down (Cone, Cone, Cone; Cone, Cone, melee, etc) before I got more than a single ability off each time. I am taking a break, because this is stupid.
Whenever you're ready to try again, try some of these suggestions.
- Move your top heal spell to Garnet. It'll do more good on her than on Rinoa.
- Auron's already Draw Firing, you don't need Protect as badly since most attacks should be focusing on him.
- Rinoa's not doing much there despite being one of your higher leveled characters. I forget when you said you started playing, but from what I recall, you at least were able to get Agrias. Don't know if you were able to manage the MC1 fight.
- On that note, ditch Rinoa and bring Agrias, craft a Magic Lure. She'll handle the single-target Blizzaga spam like a champ if you can egg her up as high as you can. Give her a literally any other attack ability - Double Cut is great since you're already focusing on a Retaliate strategy.
Take out Armor breakdown, add magic breakdown, AoE Blizzaga problem solved. Ramza would be MUCH better than Tyro - any support with sleep buster and Magic breakdown would. Take out Rinoa, add Penelo, give her Curaga and Shellga. Give Garnet Protectga and your best summon. Knock off that Drawtaliate, bring damage skills on Auron - or replace him if you have someone who can hit harder. If Cone of Cold is still a problem, give Auron Magic Lure and make that the first thing he does.
Use RW Shout. Concentration does literally nothing in this fight, nothing at all - use any relevant damage or +atk RM. And go look at Enlir's spreadsheet (use Google), and level characters to get Rebel's whatever (+atk and regen), Self-Sacrifice (+atk and def and sap), Dragoon's Determination (+atk and sap), Pride of the Red Wings, and Adventurer's whatever (+dagger damage). They are essential to success.
As a note, Drawtaliate is, to date, my hardest-hitting strategy.
I also literally don't have access to any of those yet, because I haven't got the characters yet, because I haven't got there in the core dungeons yet. I mean yes, I want them, but well, that's like a thousand stam away.
Edit: Update. After my best attempt yet, where I got him to oh, 30%, then he cast 2 consecutive Freezethings, then 2 Blizzajas, and I couldn't heal up in time, they have proceeded to yet again alpha a character off the field before my first ability 3 times in a row.
I believe "65" may be lower than the expected level for this.
Edit x2: I mean I do seriously appreciate the advice. I just think the access to "things" I have may by overestimated at the moment.
Yeah, you may just not have access to the materials youneed for this one. Maybe bagic break instead of breakdown, I'm still recommending magic lure, and a non-core white mage instead of Penelo? I mean, you've got Lifesiphon, you must have some orbs lying around. Down-convert to 3* orbs if necessary. 3* breaks will hit harder for you than drawtaliate.
I have now reloaded the +++ 6 times. Each time, all 4 of the enemies get to go before I get an action off, and gib someone. This isn't a particularly enjoyable experience.
Edit: Also, Lullaby is utterly useless, as it has now triple-missed 5 times in a row.
Man, that is some terrible luck.
Lullaby always hit at least one of them for me.
My first try, I got two of them, could NOT get the 3rd, and then things went pear-shaped really fast. I think I got 2 turns in before the cone of cold spam and AE physical stuff dropped someone.
Since then, it's been miserable. If Lightning can ever get her SB charged, that might do a number on the freakin' snowflakes, which I'm pretty sure is half the battle right there. Buuuut no. Nope. 3 Cone of Colds on one character, every time. Or two and a smack from the fat one. Etc.
Do you not have a Dr. Mog's or Mako Might?
'Cuz yeah, I could see that being a meat grinder if you don't. My first round was devoted to setting up mitigation, activating Shout, casting a Lullaby and casting a Meteor.
And then on the next turn the Shout-boosted Crushing Blow would destroy the snowflakes.
Even then, though, three of my party members died because I underestimated how much damage he did. Shellga on its own was not enough. I really don't care enough about the Mastery bonus to try again, though.
I have Mako, but it's on Garnet at the moment so she can get DG up ASAP, and Lightning's got Lifesiphon/Drain Strike. Maybe I'll swap it and hope I can pull another Shout RW, because this is nuts.
Edit: Well, killed the snowflakes, but then he decided to spam Blizzaja every turn, and welp.
dporowski Please post your setup, I suspect you have room for improvement. (Though Cone of Cold did hit more randomly for me.) My biggest recommendation is that if Garnet is the one holding Shellga, she needs to be casting that first round. DG gives only a 50% RES boost, Shellga is 100%. You can find MANY more Shout RWs (and others) in this big RW list. You now have no excuse for ever not having the RW you want (you can reset your list by running a dungeon, e.g., IV's Fabul Castle for 1 stamina).
If you don't have Wall, you might consider using Yuna to bring Protectga and Ramuh (relatively easy to hone). You might also consider trying Heathen Frolic or Heathen Frolic Sarabande in addition to Lullaby (and using it beforehand). It hurts your damage output, but staying alive is your first concern. Note that Lullaby has a 20% proc rate per enemy, Sleep and Sleep Buster have a 30% proc rate, and Phantasm has a 50% proc rate. Come to think of it, your best shot may be using Garnet and Lenna, bringing Protectga and Lullaby on Lenna letting you bring both Power and Magic Breakdown (assuming you don't have Full Break), putting Ace Striker, Battleforged or Mako Might (if you have both MM and Dr. Mog's RMs) on Lightning if you can get her to 590 ATK with Shout without an ATK boost RM, and using Lightning's SSB as soon as Shout is up and Lullaby has procced at least once (Lifesiphoning if necessary).
Keep in mind that if you're using Shout, then DG only adds 50% RES and High Regen. Which are great, but MUCH less important on the first round than the extra 50% RES from Shellga. I note that if Lightning has 590+ ATK after Shout, she should be able to kill all of the Azers in a single use of her SSB (6.5 * 2 * (590^1.8)/(600^.5) = 51570, i.e. 49995, and Azers have 43k HP each).
Heh, yeah... Don't have Lenna, Yuna's at 1 (though I can fix that), don't have Full Break, don't have Ace Striker, Battleforged, etc... My RMs aren't a great selection yet and I've got crap XII synergy.
Off the top of my head, the "almost" was:
65 Tyro, Armor Breakdown/Lullaby, default SB, RM was Concentration 2 since it's best I have. (Penelo's relic)
65 Rinoa, off-realm 5* weapon, Curaga/Dispel, BLM use regen, whatever that was, no fancy SBs.
65 Auron, 4*+ XII sword of some kind, Drawtaliate, Banishing Blade, some +dmg RM I think
65 Garnet, DG relic, Protect/Shell, Mako, DG for SB
65 Lightning, her gun relic, R2 Lifesiphon, Drain Strike, her default RM, Crushing Blow
I'm thinking the Dispel did nothing for me, so lose that, swap out Tyro for Penelo @ 65 for another Medica/Hastega from War Dance and better stats, swap Mako to Lightning to alpha down the stupid snowflakes, and Shellga faster. A Ruinga + Shouted CB should nuke the flakes, and then just try to kill the boss and keep mitigation up.
I honestly don't much care about mastery, though it'd be nice; I just want that MC2.
Edit: 3 rapid attempts later, Garnet was focussed down (Cone, Cone, Cone; Cone, Cone, melee, etc) before I got more than a single ability off each time. I am taking a break, because this is stupid.
Whenever you're ready to try again, try some of these suggestions.
- Move your top heal spell to Garnet. It'll do more good on her than on Rinoa.
- Auron's already Draw Firing, you don't need Protect as badly since most attacks should be focusing on him.
- Rinoa's not doing much there despite being one of your higher leveled characters. I forget when you said you started playing, but from what I recall, you at least were able to get Agrias. Don't know if you were able to manage the MC1 fight.
- On that note, ditch Rinoa and bring Agrias, craft a Magic Lure. She'll handle the single-target Blizzaga spam like a champ if you can egg her up as high as you can. Give her a literally any other attack ability - Double Cut is great since you're already focusing on a Retaliate strategy.
Take out Armor breakdown, add magic breakdown, AoE Blizzaga problem solved. Ramza would be MUCH better than Tyro - any support with sleep buster and Magic breakdown would. Take out Rinoa, add Penelo, give her Curaga and Shellga. Give Garnet Protectga and your best summon. Knock off that Drawtaliate, bring damage skills on Auron - or replace him if you have someone who can hit harder. If Cone of Cold is still a problem, give Auron Magic Lure and make that the first thing he does.
Use RW Shout. Concentration does literally nothing in this fight, nothing at all - use any relevant damage or +atk RM. And go look at Enlir's spreadsheet (use Google), and level characters to get Rebel's whatever (+atk and regen), Self-Sacrifice (+atk and def and sap), Dragoon's Determination (+atk and sap), Pride of the Red Wings, and Adventurer's whatever (+dagger damage). They are essential to success.
As a note, Drawtaliate is, to date, my hardest-hitting strategy.
I also literally don't have access to any of those yet, because I haven't got the characters yet, because I haven't got there in the core dungeons yet. I mean yes, I want them, but well, that's like a thousand stam away.
Edit: Update. After my best attempt yet, where I got him to oh, 30%, then he cast 2 consecutive Freezethings, then 2 Blizzajas, and I couldn't heal up in time, they have proceeded to yet again alpha a character off the field before my first ability 3 times in a row.
I believe "65" may be lower than the expected level for this.
Edit x2: I mean I do seriously appreciate the advice. I just think the access to "things" I have may by overestimated at the moment.
Yeah, you may just not have access to the materials youneed for this one. Maybe bagic break instead of breakdown, I'm still recommending magic lure, and a non-core white mage instead of Penelo? I mean, you've got Lifesiphon, you must have some orbs lying around. Down-convert to 3* orbs if necessary. 3* breaks will hit harder for you than drawtaliate.
Heh, Lifesiphon R2 basically cleaned me out of GPOs, for instance. But, I mean I needed it eventually, so that's okay.
I'm I think close to being able to do this level, which is nice; I bounced off 99s in the last one. I think if I had Mog's as well as Mako, I'd be in a lot better shape, too, since I could War Dance early, for a boosted CB to mostly clear the flakes out. As is, my first set of mitigation runs out as I'm killing those, and I can't guarantee being able to re-cast DG, and at this pace will absolutely be out of SG RW uses by the time I get to the boss, which is "sticky". Gave Auron Retal/LS, and that was working okay, since I got to put damage on with my mages which I otherwise wouldn't have had, and he generally had a pair of Banishing Blade uses queued up by the time I got the adds cleared.
God they really have to stop all the talking at the start of these fights. When you have to S/L 50+ times it gets really tiring to sit there for 30 seconds while they talk.
faaaaaart black fire and earth again. It's like the 3 orbs I need least. Was hoping for holy since if I get 60 MHO I think I can self justify making Saint Cross R3 even though I think it's probably not needed.
Oh well, I do need 10 mythril and xp never went to waste.
Man what did you guys do to down Judge Magister? The dude has (what seems like) an asinine amount of RES and DEF. Sephiroth was hitting him for 3K, and Bioga was doing 2.5K. I suspect I just don't have enough FFXII synergy to do anything in this fight.
Fire, Earth and, Black again? That's kind of disappointing.
If they start over again, I'll gladly take another Wind weekend.
Why doesn't the interface have something stronger than agree? I'd spend so many mythril. I'm set for R3 Thief's Revenge and the high-damage Dragoon skill we'll get in a couple months, but Chain Starter and Full Charge are where the fun is, and I need so... many... wind orbs...
faaaaaart black fire and earth again. It's like the 3 orbs I need least. Was hoping for holy since if I get 60 MHO I think I can self justify making Saint Cross R3 even though I think it's probably not needed.
Oh well, I do need 10 mythril and xp never went to waste.
R3 Saint Cross has been the biggest upgrade I've gotten since Mako Might let me use SSII in the first round. It is utterly worth it, two thumbs up, would hone again.
+1
Options
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Man what did you guys do to down Judge Magister? The dude has (what seems like) an asinine amount of RES and DEF. Sephiroth was hitting him for 3K, and Bioga was doing 2.5K. I suspect I just don't have enough FFXII synergy to do anything in this fight.
Yeah I think so. The FFXII Ultimate. He has 3 Judges and himself. I just can't put a dent in his health without running out of steam.
Are you bringing a dispel? He starts with Protect/Shell.
E:
This was my party and he was a snap after the first couple turns of scary damage before I got all my mitigation up. Don't let the sword fool you. That's Ashe's unique and it's made for mages, so it's more like in the low dagger range for a physical user (85 Atk pre-RS). http://i.imgur.com/WCeASnV.png
Son of a bitch. Well that'd explain it. Usually by the time I get to fight him Agrias (who has Banishing Strike) is dead. I swear she taunts them or something.
Son of a bitch. Well that'd explain it. Usually by the time I get to fight him Agrias (who has Banishing Strike) is dead. I swear she taunts them or something.
I was contemplating a gimmicky strategy of Drawtaliate plus Grand Cross. That'd completely nullify everything but the occasional AoEs, let whoever spam a powerful AoE in return, and the minis would feed the retaliate machine. I do have GC natively though, so if you're relying on an RW, that may not be as viable.
I didn't realize the protect/shell either before going into the fight, but I powered through. I had a lot of mitigation and they just tickled me in ways that heavy regen easily was able to keep up until Crushing Blow/Hallowed Bolt took them down hard.
Shadow Flare seems to work great in the fight as it basically makes them useless. I just didn't do any damage... And that's because I was dumb and not dispelling.
0
Options
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Definitely bring a honed Banishing Strike, R2 or R3 should do it.
The tricky parts to that fight are the first two turns before you have all your mitigation up, balancing bringing enough AoE to kill the adds with ST damage for the boss, and transitioning to the boss's weak phase with enough gas saved up, since Bergen sub 50% is a monster.
To that last point, you should spend the first 50% doing Lifesiphon or whatever; then before pushing him under 50%, make sure all the adds are dead, refresh Shellga/SG/Magic Breakdown, then hammer him with SBs from 50% to zero, since he is fast as all heck and either does a nasty AoE, or nasty spells that can hit the same person twice in a row.
I was thinking Grand Cross, too. Do you know how long it lasts? I'm not sure if she can keep it up 100% of the time (even with Haste), so I may go with Ace Striker. If she doesn't need that I'll probably go with Mako to get the ball rolling.
0
Options
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
I was thinking Grand Cross, too. Do you know how long it lasts? I'm not sure if she can keep it up 100% of the time (even with Haste), so I may go with Ace Striker. If she doesn't need that I'll probably go with Mako to get the ball rolling.
Yeah, Bergen is stupidly fast. He was able to keep up well with Slow on him against a hastega'd team.
Treat the fight like Vosslar a while back. There's three phases to the fight.
Phase 1: Kill the adds
Phase 2: Recovery to 50%. Set up, prepare
Phase 3: 50-0% DPS sprint
I was thinking Grand Cross, too. Do you know how long it lasts? I'm not sure if she can keep it up 100% of the time (even with Haste), so I may go with Ace Striker. If she doesn't need that I'll probably go with Mako to get the ball rolling.
It and both of Celes's runic type abilities are 25 seconds.
One thing I've wondered though, is whether or not Grand Cross/Indom Blade will pull enemy Protects/Shells. If so, that could be pretty useful for the U+ too. I know that there's a type of ability that auto-hits though, but it seems like anything that can be reflected should also be runic'ed.
A nice thing I found out recently too is that even if it doesn't draw AoEs, it still protects the caster.
Yeah, Bergen is stupidly fast. He was able to keep up well with Slow on him against a hastega'd team.
Treat the fight like Vosslar a while back. There's three phases to the fight.
Phase 1: Kill the adds
Phase 2: Recovery to 50%. Set up, prepare
Phase 3: 50-0% DPS sprint
Oh. He's not immune to slow, huh?
Man, how did I space on that? Oopsies.
0
Options
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Yeah, Bergen is stupidly fast. He was able to keep up well with Slow on him against a hastega'd team.
Treat the fight like Vosslar a while back. There's three phases to the fight.
Phase 1: Kill the adds
Phase 2: Recovery to 50%. Set up, prepare
Phase 3: 50-0% DPS sprint
I didn't consider for a moment you could Slow Bergen. Whelp, that's why he was taking two turns to my one.
Edit x2: I mean I do seriously appreciate the advice. I just think the access to "things" I have may by overestimated at the moment.
Another thing that might help is to note that SBs have a longer cast time. Sometimes against multiple foes that might get a hit off first, i'd cast protectga/shellga first before any other damage mitigation SBs
Edit x2: I mean I do seriously appreciate the advice. I just think the access to "things" I have may by overestimated at the moment.
Another thing that might help is to note that SBs have a longer cast time. Sometimes against multiple foes that might get a hit off first, i'd cast protectga/shellga first before any other damage mitigation SBs
Once I switched to Shell->DG it was a big improvement, yeah.
Might try going for the MC2 lodes in the Nightmare; if I can scrape through those, I can break Garnet and not feel bad even if I can't get through to Penelo's at the moment, since I'll have a lode for when she hits the HoR.
faaaaaart black fire and earth again. It's like the 3 orbs I need least. Was hoping for holy since if I get 60 MHO I think I can self justify making Saint Cross R3 even though I think it's probably not needed.
Oh well, I do need 10 mythril and xp never went to waste.
R3 Saint Cross has been the biggest upgrade I've gotten since Mako Might let me use SSII in the first round. It is utterly worth it, two thumbs up, would hone again.
Shrug, I have all of Agrias' relics so she's got plenty to do usually, as 6 lifesiphon turns plus 2 SB casts is most of the fight.
faaaaaart black fire and earth again. It's like the 3 orbs I need least. Was hoping for holy since if I get 60 MHO I think I can self justify making Saint Cross R3 even though I think it's probably not needed.
Oh well, I do need 10 mythril and xp never went to waste.
R3 Saint Cross has been the biggest upgrade I've gotten since Mako Might let me use SSII in the first round. It is utterly worth it, two thumbs up, would hone again.
Shrug, I have all of Agrias' relics so she's got plenty to do usually, as 6 lifesiphon turns plus 2 SB casts is most of the fight.
Once the Cid Missions kick in, I'm sure those generic high level hones will become a bit more valuable.
At least, for those who care about doing them. Which reward you with orbs for more hones, and continuing the endless cycle.
I was thinking Grand Cross, too. Do you know how long it lasts? I'm not sure if she can keep it up 100% of the time (even with Haste), so I may go with Ace Striker. If she doesn't need that I'll probably go with Mako to get the ball rolling.
It and both of Celes's runic type abilities are 25 seconds.
One thing I've wondered though, is whether or not Grand Cross/Indom Blade will pull enemy Protects/Shells. If so, that could be pretty useful for the U+ too. I know that there's a type of ability that auto-hits though, but it seems like anything that can be reflected should also be runic'ed.
A nice thing I found out recently too is that even if it doesn't draw AoEs, it still protects the caster.
Nope nopety nope, the judges do nothing that Grand Cross can help with. And Drain is the only thing it'll absorb in the U+.
I was thinking Grand Cross, too. Do you know how long it lasts? I'm not sure if she can keep it up 100% of the time (even with Haste), so I may go with Ace Striker. If she doesn't need that I'll probably go with Mako to get the ball rolling.
It and both of Celes's runic type abilities are 25 seconds.
One thing I've wondered though, is whether or not Grand Cross/Indom Blade will pull enemy Protects/Shells. If so, that could be pretty useful for the U+ too. I know that there's a type of ability that auto-hits though, but it seems like anything that can be reflected should also be runic'ed.
A nice thing I found out recently too is that even if it doesn't draw AoEs, it still protects the caster.
Nope nopety nope, the judges do nothing that Grand Cross can help with. And Drain is the only thing it'll absorb in the U+.
Well, at least it nullifies all the single target multi-casts the big one throws your way. That sucks though. It'd be great for all those annoying battles where adds are constantly tossing up buffs, especially a certain soon to come Abyss one with an unlimited supply of adds applying buffs and poisons.
Got him. Down to fumes by the time I did, but I'll take it.
Edit-- Final party:
65 Tyro, some weapon, Armor/Magic Breakdown bot
65 Penelo, Cure/Shell, War Dance
65 Garnet, Protect/Shiva(...oops.), DG, Mako
65 Auron, 4*+ something, Armor Break/Lifesiphon R2, Banishing Blade, some +sword damage RM
65 Lightning, her gun, Thunder/Thundara Strike, CB.
RW SG
I swear to god, I have no idea why it worked better, but it did; Garnet/Tyro seriously spent most of the fight defending. I cannot wait until I no longer have to drag that little bugger around once he coughs up Mog's.
Thanks for listening to me bitch about that damn thing.
His main draw isn't necessarily his effectiveness through damage or stats, but he's fantastic at fulfilling medal objectives and bringing that one completely necessary ability that didn't really fit in with a regular party.
When I ran retaliate constantly I got a LOT of mileage out of putting Full Break/Protectga on Tyro, with Josef's double hit RM. It let me run a single WHM, and the double hit damage with retaliate on my heavy hitter allowed me to bypass his substandard stats.
Posts
Take out Armor breakdown, add magic breakdown, AoE Blizzaga problem solved. Ramza would be MUCH better than Tyro - any support with sleep buster and Magic breakdown would. Take out Rinoa, add Penelo, give her Curaga and Shellga. Give Garnet Protectga and your best summon. Knock off that Drawtaliate, bring damage skills on Auron - or replace him if you have someone who can hit harder. If Cone of Cold is still a problem, give Auron Magic Lure and make that the first thing he does.
Use RW Shout. Concentration does literally nothing in this fight, nothing at all - use any relevant damage or +atk RM. And go look at Enlir's spreadsheet (use Google), and level characters to get Rebel's whatever (+atk and regen), Self-Sacrifice (+atk and def and sap), Dragoon's Determination (+atk and sap), Pride of the Red Wings, and Adventurer's whatever (+dagger damage). They are essential to success.
More or less agreed. That'll change when she gets 4* WHM from Record Dive (which is the role Garnet fits now). It would be nice to be able to use Garnet for supplementary AoE needs, and Quistis for supplementary single target and BLM debuff needs. OTOH, I'd really rather be using a 4th physical... But high-mnd hastega + high regen + anti-magic convenience is hard to give up.
As a note, Drawtaliate is, to date, my hardest-hitting strategy.
I also literally don't have access to any of those yet, because I haven't got the characters yet, because I haven't got there in the core dungeons yet. I mean yes, I want them, but well, that's like a thousand stam away.
Edit: Update. After my best attempt yet, where I got him to oh, 30%, then he cast 2 consecutive Freezethings, then 2 Blizzajas, and I couldn't heal up in time, they have proceeded to yet again alpha a character off the field before my first ability 3 times in a row.
I believe "65" may be lower than the expected level for this.
Edit x2: I mean I do seriously appreciate the advice. I just think the access to "things" I have may by overestimated at the moment.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
Tube: This must be what it felt like to be an Iraqi when Saddam was killed
Bookish Stickers - Mrs. Rius' Etsy shop with bumper stickers and vinyl decals.
And it's Fire, Earth, Black, Scarletite, and Adamantium.
Sigh.
Oh well, mythril is mythril. Exp is exp.
E:
I don't think I could even say what these are used for. I have a stockpile of like, all three. I guess I need some Earth to ever get Saint Cross to R3, but like, three times that many Holy.
And immediately got a gigantaur on the first round of the 45 stamina one for an MEO. Whee.
Yeah, you may just not have access to the materials youneed for this one. Maybe bagic break instead of breakdown, I'm still recommending magic lure, and a non-core white mage instead of Penelo? I mean, you've got Lifesiphon, you must have some orbs lying around. Down-convert to 3* orbs if necessary. 3* breaks will hit harder for you than drawtaliate.
Heh, Lifesiphon R2 basically cleaned me out of GPOs, for instance.
I'm I think close to being able to do this level, which is nice; I bounced off 99s in the last one. I think if I had Mog's as well as Mako, I'd be in a lot better shape, too, since I could War Dance early, for a boosted CB to mostly clear the flakes out. As is, my first set of mitigation runs out as I'm killing those, and I can't guarantee being able to re-cast DG, and at this pace will absolutely be out of SG RW uses by the time I get to the boss, which is "sticky". Gave Auron Retal/LS, and that was working okay, since I got to put damage on with my mages which I otherwise wouldn't have had, and he generally had a pair of Banishing Blade uses queued up by the time I got the adds cleared.
If they start over again, I'll gladly take another Wind weekend.
Oh well, I do need 10 mythril and xp never went to waste.
Why doesn't the interface have something stronger than agree? I'd spend so many mythril. I'm set for R3 Thief's Revenge and the high-damage Dragoon skill we'll get in a couple months, but Chain Starter and Full Charge are where the fun is, and I need so... many... wind orbs...
R3 Saint Cross has been the biggest upgrade I've gotten since Mako Might let me use SSII in the first round. It is utterly worth it, two thumbs up, would hone again.
Are you talking about the Ultimate fight? Bergen?
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
Are you bringing a dispel? He starts with Protect/Shell.
E:
This was my party and he was a snap after the first couple turns of scary damage before I got all my mitigation up. Don't let the sword fool you. That's Ashe's unique and it's made for mages, so it's more like in the low dagger range for a physical user (85 Atk pre-RS).
http://i.imgur.com/WCeASnV.png
I was contemplating a gimmicky strategy of Drawtaliate plus Grand Cross. That'd completely nullify everything but the occasional AoEs, let whoever spam a powerful AoE in return, and the minis would feed the retaliate machine. I do have GC natively though, so if you're relying on an RW, that may not be as viable.
I didn't realize the protect/shell either before going into the fight, but I powered through. I had a lot of mitigation and they just tickled me in ways that heavy regen easily was able to keep up until Crushing Blow/Hallowed Bolt took them down hard.
The tricky parts to that fight are the first two turns before you have all your mitigation up, balancing bringing enough AoE to kill the adds with ST damage for the boss, and transitioning to the boss's weak phase with enough gas saved up, since Bergen sub 50% is a monster.
To that last point, you should spend the first 50% doing Lifesiphon or whatever; then before pushing him under 50%, make sure all the adds are dead, refresh Shellga/SG/Magic Breakdown, then hammer him with SBs from 50% to zero, since he is fast as all heck and either does a nasty AoE, or nasty spells that can hit the same person twice in a row.
25 seconds.
Treat the fight like Vosslar a while back. There's three phases to the fight.
Phase 1: Kill the adds
Phase 2: Recovery to 50%. Set up, prepare
Phase 3: 50-0% DPS sprint
It and both of Celes's runic type abilities are 25 seconds.
One thing I've wondered though, is whether or not Grand Cross/Indom Blade will pull enemy Protects/Shells. If so, that could be pretty useful for the U+ too. I know that there's a type of ability that auto-hits though, but it seems like anything that can be reflected should also be runic'ed.
A nice thing I found out recently too is that even if it doesn't draw AoEs, it still protects the caster.
Oh. He's not immune to slow, huh?
Man, how did I space on that? Oopsies.
I didn't consider for a moment you could Slow Bergen. Whelp, that's why he was taking two turns to my one.
Another thing that might help is to note that SBs have a longer cast time. Sometimes against multiple foes that might get a hit off first, i'd cast protectga/shellga first before any other damage mitigation SBs
Streaming 8PST on weeknights
Once I switched to Shell->DG it was a big improvement, yeah.
Might try going for the MC2 lodes in the Nightmare; if I can scrape through those, I can break Garnet and not feel bad even if I can't get through to Penelo's at the moment, since I'll have a lode for when she hits the HoR.
Shrug, I have all of Agrias' relics so she's got plenty to do usually, as 6 lifesiphon turns plus 2 SB casts is most of the fight.
Once the Cid Missions kick in, I'm sure those generic high level hones will become a bit more valuable.
At least, for those who care about doing them. Which reward you with orbs for more hones, and continuing the endless cycle.
Nope nopety nope, the judges do nothing that Grand Cross can help with. And Drain is the only thing it'll absorb in the U+.
Well, at least it nullifies all the single target multi-casts the big one throws your way. That sucks though. It'd be great for all those annoying battles where adds are constantly tossing up buffs, especially a certain soon to come Abyss one with an unlimited supply of adds applying buffs and poisons.
Edit-- Final party:
65 Tyro, some weapon, Armor/Magic Breakdown bot
65 Penelo, Cure/Shell, War Dance
65 Garnet, Protect/Shiva(...oops.), DG, Mako
65 Auron, 4*+ something, Armor Break/Lifesiphon R2, Banishing Blade, some +sword damage RM
65 Lightning, her gun, Thunder/Thundara Strike, CB.
RW SG
I swear to god, I have no idea why it worked better, but it did; Garnet/Tyro seriously spent most of the fight defending. I cannot wait until I no longer have to drag that little bugger around once he coughs up Mog's.
Thanks for listening to me bitch about that damn thing.
Well, no, in this case he also was my highest-level character that could use everything I needed.
His main draw isn't necessarily his effectiveness through damage or stats, but he's fantastic at fulfilling medal objectives and bringing that one completely necessary ability that didn't really fit in with a regular party.
When I ran retaliate constantly I got a LOT of mileage out of putting Full Break/Protectga on Tyro, with Josef's double hit RM. It let me run a single WHM, and the double hit damage with retaliate on my heavy hitter allowed me to bypass his substandard stats.