Laguna USB:6* ice gun! Imperil ice, with self High Quickcast 1 and gain High Quickcast 1 after using ice attacks. Best imperil ice (not that there are many choices). Can do shenanigans with Laguna's legend materia plus Frost Offering, or you can go for DPS via Icicle Shot (now) or Freezing Snipe (next XII event). Pretty cool! Edea USB: En-ice, self +30% MAG/RES, and Witch Ability Double (spend an extra hone for guaranteed doublecast). Monster with a well-honed Abyssal Shards and an Ice Chain. Kiros BSB: Ice/dark damage and party +30% ATK/MAG. Commands are fast Armor and Mental Breakdown. An awkward package, but if you like Kiros you can certainly build a team around it. Ward BSB: En-earth. C1 increases its own cast speed the more you use it, until the burst ends or is recast. C2 has an ATK boost. The damage is not all that great on the commands (though they are both AOE). Since Ward doesn't have access to a 5* earth damage ability, this is mediocre, though there are occasionally fights where you really want AOE earth damage. Edea BSB: En-ice. C2 boosts MAG, C1 gets up to six hits if your MAG is high enough. Still one of the better options for general mage DPS. Rinoa BSB2: En-ice. C1 scales harder than normal with MAG, C2 boosts Rinoa's MAG and breaks a target's (no damage though). Way less exciting than Edea's burst, but still serviceable. Laguna LMR: 20% chance to add Minor Imperil Ice to machinist abilities. Could do silly things in conjunction with his LM2 (doublecast Machinist), Ultra, and Cold Offering, otherwise not very useful. Edea LMR: 35% chance to gain Quickcast 1 after using ice attack. Great if you're capping C1 or to push out doubled Abyssal Shards faster; her LM1 and LM2 are also fine though. Rinoa LMR: +1% MAG per magic hit dealt, up to +20%. Great if you're below MAG softcap, otherwise not a significant upgrade to her LM1. Kiros SSB: AOE pentabreak. Ward SSB: Party +50% ATK and Last Stand. Edea SSB: Imperil dark. Possibly the worst of the many options for Imperil Dark, but if needs must...
Banner 2: October 29
Zell USB:6* fire fist! En-fire. Instant fire/non damage, self +30% ATK/DEF, and chase any action that crits at least once with some additional fire/non damage hits. If you have a 50% crit rate buff, the chase will happen after pretty much any action that deals four hits. A great option for fire damage. Raijin OSB: It's an OSB. Zell BSB:Fire fist. Instant damage and party 50% crit rate. C1 has an ATK buff, C2 grants Instant Action 1. Decent physical buff while providing solid non-elemental damage, it's still pretty good. Raijin BSB:Lightning hammer. En-lightning. C1 heals an ally for 40% and builds up a charge, C2 unloads all the charges, gaining potency and an extra hit for each charge up to 6. A fully-charged C2 does a silly amount of damage, but you only get to do it once. A fun option for unloading a lot of damage all at once. Laguna BSB: Imperil lightning. C1 has small chance to paralyze/silence, C2 grants Instant Machinist Attacks 2. A fine option for imperil lightning, I use this frequently for AOE Jump Start fights since my best AOE happens to be lightning, and it works great for that. Fujin BSB:Wind MAG thrower. Instant wind/non damage and MAG/RES break. C2 has an additional small RES break. Some people swear by this, but I got it off the crystal tower selection and it hasn't really impressed me yet. It's certainly a good option for a stacking MAG break. Zell LMR: Start with 50% crit rate buff. It's a way to turn on his Ultra chase and LM2, but usually I'd prefer to get a party crit buff from somewhere and use his LM1 and LM2. Raijin LMR: 35% chance to gain Quickcast 1 after Monk ability. It's fine, I guess? Fujin LMR: Start with en-wind. Nice for speed clears, especially in conjunction with her OSB. Zell SSB: Damage and self 25% crit rate. Massively dated. Raijin SSB:Lightning ATK light armor. Party Last Stand, High Regen, and Instant Action 1. Still very usable, and on a nice piece of armor to boot. Fujin SSB:Wind MAG light armor. En-wind. Instant wind/non damage. Still pretty good - people use this as the backbone of sub-30 Golem clears, for instance.
Overall thoughts, future banners, etc.
Kiros and Ward's stuff is pretty disappointing (unless they're your bros, of course). There's a decent amount of usable ice stuff (Laguna USB, Edea USB/BSB, Rinoa BSB2) on Banner 1 though, so that could be a reason to pull there. Banner 2 has a lot of element boost items on it, including some rare fire fists for your monks. Zell's Ultra is a top-tier damage SB, and his burst isn't shabby either.
Next VIII event is roughly 14 weeks away. SSBs will be gone by then! The banners are 6* items, bursts, and legend materia. Banner 1 has Rinoa USB/BSB2/LMR, Irvine USB/BSB2/LMR, Fujin USB/BSB/LMR, Zell USB/BSB2/LMR, and Edea BSB/LMR. Banner 2 has Squall USB/OSB/BSB2/LMR, Laguna USB/BSB2/LMR, Selphie USB/BSB2/LMR, Seifer BSB/LMR, Kiros BSB, and Ward BSB. Banner 1 is especially interesting because all four of the 6* items have element boosts (ice throw, wind throw, fire gun, fire fist).
Upcoming event schedule:
VIII - III (Refia USB/Ingus Chain) - VII (Sephiroth/Reno/Cid USBs, Rude and Elena) - IV (Ceodore/Kain/Rydia/Golbez USBs) - BRA*BRA 2 (who knows?) - X (Paine/Tidus/Jecht/Braska USB, Tidus Chain) - T (Agrias/Marche/Gaffgarion/Ovelia USBs, Ramza BSB2 and LMR, Montblanc) - IX (Garnet/Steiner/Vivi/Zidane USBs, Marcus) - XII
Laguna USB:6* ice gun! Imperil ice, with self High Quickcast 1 and gain High Quickcast 1 after using ice attacks. Best imperil ice (not that there are many choices). Can do shenanigans with Laguna's legend materia plus Frost Offering, or you can go for DPS via Icicle Shot (now) or Freezing Snipe (next XII event). Pretty cool! Edea USB: En-ice, self +30% MAG/RES, and Witch Ability Double (spend an extra hone for guaranteed doublecast). Monster with a well-honed Abyssal Shards and an Ice Chain. Kiros BSB: Ice/dark damage and party +30% ATK/MAG. Commands are fast Armor and Mental Breakdown. An awkward package, but if you like Kiros you can certainly build a team around it. Ward BSB: En-earth. C1 increases its own cast speed the more you use it, until the burst ends or is recast. C2 has an ATK boost. The damage is not all that great on the commands (though they are both AOE). Since Ward doesn't have access to a 5* earth damage ability, this is mediocre, though there are occasionally fights where you really want AOE earth damage. Edea BSB: En-ice. C2 boosts MAG, C1 gets up to six hits if your MAG is high enough. Still one of the better options for general mage DPS. Rinoa BSB2: En-ice. C1 scales harder than normal with MAG, C2 boosts Rinoa's MAG and breaks a target's (no damage though). Way less exciting than Edea's burst, but still serviceable. Laguna LMR: 20% chance to add Minor Imperil Ice to machinist abilities. Could do silly things in conjunction with his LM2 (doublecast Machinist), Ultra, and Cold Offering, otherwise not very useful. Edea LMR: 35% chance to gain Quickcast 1 after using ice attack. Great if you're capping C1 or to push out doubled Abyssal Shards faster; her LM1 and LM2 are also fine though. Rinoa LMR: +1% MAG per magic hit dealt, up to +20%. Great if you're below MAG softcap, otherwise not a significant upgrade to her LM1. Kiros SSB: AOE pentabreak. Ward SSB: Party +50% ATK and Last Stand. Edea SSB: Imperil dark. Possibly the worst of the many options for Imperil Dark, but if needs must...
Banner 2: October 29
Zell USB:6* fire fist! En-fire. Instant fire/non damage, self +30% ATK/DEF, and chase any action that crits at least once with some additional fire/non damage hits. If you have a 50% crit rate buff, the chase will happen after pretty much any action that deals four hits. A great option for fire damage. Raijin OSB: It's an OSB. Zell BSB:Fire fist. Instant damage and party 50% crit rate. C1 has an ATK buff, C2 grants Instant Action 1. Decent physical buff while providing solid non-elemental damage, it's still pretty good. Raijin BSB:Lightning hammer. En-lightning. C1 heals an ally for 40% and builds up a charge, C2 unloads all the charges, gaining potency and an extra hit for each charge up to 6. A fully-charged C2 does a silly amount of damage, but you only get to do it once. A fun option for unloading a lot of damage all at once. Laguna BSB: Imperil lightning. C1 has small chance to paralyze/silence, C2 grants Instant Machinist Attacks 2. A fine option for imperil lightning, I use this frequently for AOE Jump Start fights since my best AOE happens to be lightning, and it works great for that. Fujin BSB:Wind MAG thrower. Instant wind/non damage and MAG/RES break. C2 has an additional small RES break. Some people swear by this, but I got it off the crystal tower selection and it hasn't really impressed me yet. It's certainly a good option for a stacking MAG break. Zell LMR: Start with 50% crit rate buff. It's a way to turn on his Ultra chase and LM2, but usually I'd prefer to get a party crit buff from somewhere and use his LM1 and LM2. Raijin LMR: 35% chance to gain Quickcast 1 after Monk ability. It's fine, I guess? Fujin LMR: Start with en-wind. Nice for speed clears, especially in conjunction with her OSB. Zell SSB: Damage and self 25% crit rate. Massively dated. Raijin SSB:Lightning ATK light armor. Party Last Stand, High Regen, and Instant Action 1. Still very usable, and on a nice piece of armor to boot. Fujin SSB:Wind MAG light armor. En-wind. Instant wind/non damage. Still pretty good - people use this as the backbone of sub-30 Golem clears, for instance.
Overall thoughts, future banners, etc.
Kiros and Ward's stuff is pretty disappointing (unless they're your bros, of course). There's a decent amount of usable ice stuff (Laguna USB, Edea USB/BSB, Rinoa BSB2) on Banner 1 though, so that could be a reason to pull there. Banner 2 has a lot of element boost items on it, including some rare fire fists for your monks. Zell's Ultra is a top-tier damage SB, and his burst isn't shabby either.
Next VIII event is roughly 14 weeks away. SSBs will be gone by then! The banners are 6* items, bursts, and legend materia. Banner 1 has Rinoa USB/BSB2/LMR, Irvine USB/BSB2/LMR, Fujin USB/BSB/LMR, Zell USB/BSB2/LMR, and Edea BSB/LMR. Banner 2 has Squall USB/OSB/BSB2/LMR, Laguna USB/BSB2/LMR, Selphie USB/BSB2/LMR, Seifer BSB/LMR, Kiros BSB, and Ward BSB. Banner 1 is especially interesting because all four of the 6* items have element boosts (ice throw, wind throw, fire gun, fire fist).
Upcoming event schedule:
VIII - III (Refia USB/Ingus Chain) - VII (Sephiroth/Reno/Cid USBs, Rude and Elena) - IV (Ceodore/Kain/Rydia/Golbez USBs) - BRA*BRA 2 (who knows?) - X (Paine/Tidus/Jecht/Braska USB, Tidus Chain) - T (Agrias/Marche/Gaffgarion/Ovelia USBs, Ramza BSB2 and LMR, Montblanc) - IX (Garnet/Steiner/Vivi/Zidane USBs, Marcus) - XII
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Second night in a row of double banners.
FF8-1 100 gems: 4* garbage
FF15 Renewal 100 gems: Also 4* garbage
This is getting pretty stupid. I was going to pull on the FF15 banner, but I'm guaranteed to go Barbut/11 apparently, so I don't think I'll even bother.
Data for posterity:
11 misses in a row
19/164 lifetime
0/4 this batch
9/65 last batch (0.1 items below EV, which is pretty much exactly expected return, though quite a few duds even on my hits)
Note to self: No whining, Rikku USB, never forget. Also Cloud BSB2.
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38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
Maybe just stop doing the 100 gems. Pulling the lever seems to be stressful for you (right there with you) and by 100 gemming you are pulling near constantly.
The extra mythril was too intoxicating. I pulled on XV renewal in a quest for Noctis stuff since I have his LMR (and nothing else).
1/11 Iris SSB (dupe)
Don't chase relics kids.
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
Maybe just stop doing the 100 gems. Pulling the lever seems to be stressful for you (right there with you) and by 100 gemming you are pulling near constantly.
Alternatively, read what you post at the end of your spoiler and take it to heart.
Walking away from the slot machine is a good idea. They tell you there's a discount on tokens because they know that'll help them get money by selling tokens.
So I'm 1/14 on 100 gemming going into tonight's pull on XV (Desch's BSB, by the way, so I can't be too sour). I've also been saving up to splurge on the FFXV banner to try and fish for Noctics' SSB since it'll likely buy me a sub-30 on at least two magicites (Golem and Fenrir I think).
150 mythril in the tank, get it on the 100 gem. I guess I need a new banner to target...
FFTA, Superfest, and UltraOnion coming up fast.
FF6, FFX, and FF12 banners are also solid.
E:
Man. Renewal banners have been ridiculous to me for 100 gems.
Little over a week remaining on these Renewals so I'm slowly starting to ramp up the refreshes. The goal is to get to the 5th while using as much natural stamina as possible to hoard mythril.
So I'm 1/14 on 100 gemming going into tonight's pull on XV (Desch's BSB, by the way, so I can't be too sour). I've also been saving up to splurge on the FFXV banner to try and fish for Noctics' SSB since it'll likely buy me a sub-30 on at least two magicites (Golem and Fenrir I think).
150 mythril in the tank, get it on the 100 gem. I guess I need a new banner to target...
FFTA, Superfest, and UltraOnion coming up fast.
FF6, FFX, and FF12 banners are also solid.
E:
Man. Renewal banners have been ridiculous to me for 100 gems.
I'm 1/21 for 100 gem pulls between the Renewal, FF15, FF8 and BRA*BRA banners, which is super disappointing. That one was Gogo (V)'s BSB, which is cool, but that also means I'm ~15 straight without a hit. Definitely a longer streak than usual, it feels like.
SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
XV 100 Gem: 3*
17 in a row
VIII 100 Gem: 3*
18 in a row
I feel so good
silence you can't complain yet until you match this fuckery, okay?
Of course nothing new in XV, so I can stop falling behind at least.
Thanks all for the feedback on Shadow Dragon, I'll turn it over in my head more. I can't do that yet until I clear Mist Dragon anyway, which I can't do until I level Kuja and Raines up appropriately some more
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
silence you can't complain yet until you match this fuckery, okay?
Of course nothing new in XV, so I can stop falling behind at least.
Thanks all for the feedback on Shadow Dragon, I'll turn it over in my head more. I can't do that yet until I clear Mist Dragon anyway, which I can't do until I level Kuja and Raines up appropriately some more
My record for 100 gem misses is around 35? I broke it when I got Indom Blade way back in the day.
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MaddocI'm Bobbin Threadbare, are you my mother?Registered Userregular
Did a pull on FFXV, since there doesn't seem to be many chances at FFXV in the near future and I just got Noctis's awesome LMR
1/11 Sword of the Father, definitely could have gone worse
it's kinda annoying that the magicite i most want to farm is also probably the most rng heavy for me.
need a few things to go right, or at least not wrong, to get sub-30 shadow dragon and it's just frustrating enough that i want to stop after 2ish times.
at least once they're back to 60 stamina doing it 5 times in a row won't be possible anymore heh
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Speaking of RNG Magicite
Has anyone moved to Slow Resist on Fenrir instead of Wind?
I'm waffling trying that on my DPS. Runs get so bad if I get a double slow on my DPS and I just sit there and can't do anything.
Has anyone moved to Slow Resist on Fenrir instead of Wind?
I'm waffling trying that on my DPS. Runs get so bad if I get a double slow on my DPS and I just sit there and can't do anything.
I dunno, a good chunk of his damage output is wind element, it might be worth a try but survival might end up an issue. I used multiple sources of haste on that fight, and one of my friends has Rosa's USB so he can magic blink pretty much every Savage Withering Winds except the first one, so there are ways to get around it. I think Astra blocks slow as well? I'd be interested in hearing how the incoming damage is with slow resist instead of wind resist, though.
Blurgh, 30.4 seconds on Mist Dragon with my physical dark team, now with some actual dark magicite backing them up. That fight is just such a mess, I lose so much time to inputs.
Yeah, when I was running Fenrir I had 4 of 5 with resist slow accessories (I would have done all 5 but I didn't have that many at the time). I also brought along Haste just in case.
I mitigated the extra wind damage by bringing two healers though.
PSN/Steam - Elderlycrawfish
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Has anyone moved to Slow Resist on Fenrir instead of Wind?
I'm waffling trying that on my DPS. Runs get so bad if I get a double slow on my DPS and I just sit there and can't do anything.
I dunno, a good chunk of his damage output is wind element, it might be worth a try but survival might end up an issue. I used multiple sources of haste on that fight, and one of my friends has Rosa's USB so he can magic blink pretty much every Savage Withering Winds except the first one, so there are ways to get around it. I think Astra blocks slow as well? I'd be interested in hearing how the incoming damage is with slow resist instead of wind resist, though.
How did your friend with Rosa USB manage handling who's holding the Shellga? (Rosa and just not have the heal up until Turn 4?) Did they skip Dispel also because they had the blink?
(IME not taking Dispel for his early Haste means he gets off more Savage Withering Winds faster, which means normal Hastega/re-BSB can't handle it, which tends to do bad things to a run.)
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Maybe just stop doing the 100 gems. Pulling the lever seems to be stressful for you (right there with you) and by 100 gemming you are pulling near constantly.
Alternatively, read what you post at the end of your spoiler and take it to heart.
I know. It may not seem like it but I do appreciate the difference my hits have made for me. Getting misses on 100 gems just seems personal when you're lifetime below EV.
Has anyone moved to Slow Resist on Fenrir instead of Wind?
I'm waffling trying that on my DPS. Runs get so bad if I get a double slow on my DPS and I just sit there and can't do anything.
I dunno, a good chunk of his damage output is wind element, it might be worth a try but survival might end up an issue. I used multiple sources of haste on that fight, and one of my friends has Rosa's USB so he can magic blink pretty much every Savage Withering Winds except the first one, so there are ways to get around it. I think Astra blocks slow as well? I'd be interested in hearing how the incoming damage is with slow resist instead of wind resist, though.
How did your friend with Rosa USB manage handling who's holding the Shellga? (Rosa and just not have the heal up until Turn 4?) Did they skip Dispel also because they had the blink?
(IME not taking Dispel for his early Haste means he gets off more Savage Withering Winds faster, which means normal Hastega/re-BSB can't handle it, which tends to do bad things to a run.)
Why would you bring Shellga to Fenrir? His only magic attacks are piercing. He had Rosa with Ace Striker and Wrath, and basically only used Wrath and the USB as far as I know. I think Onion Knight brought Protectga? I'd have to ask him but he goes to sleep pretty early so I couldn't find out for a while.
-edit- As far as I know he didn't take a dispel either. I know I didn't take a dispel on any of my runs.
chrisnl on
+1
SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Has anyone moved to Slow Resist on Fenrir instead of Wind?
I'm waffling trying that on my DPS. Runs get so bad if I get a double slow on my DPS and I just sit there and can't do anything.
I dunno, a good chunk of his damage output is wind element, it might be worth a try but survival might end up an issue. I used multiple sources of haste on that fight, and one of my friends has Rosa's USB so he can magic blink pretty much every Savage Withering Winds except the first one, so there are ways to get around it. I think Astra blocks slow as well? I'd be interested in hearing how the incoming damage is with slow resist instead of wind resist, though.
How did your friend with Rosa USB manage handling who's holding the Shellga? (Rosa and just not have the heal up until Turn 4?) Did they skip Dispel also because they had the blink?
(IME not taking Dispel for his early Haste means he gets off more Savage Withering Winds faster, which means normal Hastega/re-BSB can't handle it, which tends to do bad things to a run.)
Why would you bring Shellga to Fenrir? His only magic attacks are piercing. He had Rosa with Ace Striker and Wrath, and basically only used Wrath and the USB as far as I know. I think Onion Knight brought Protectga? I'd have to ask him but he goes to sleep pretty early so I couldn't find out for a while.
-edit- As far as I know he didn't take a dispel either. I know I didn't take a dispel on any of my runs.
Typo, I meant Prot. Oh, he had OK. *grumbles* That makes sense then.
I might just try Rosa instead, that would dodge the Slows just fine, as much as missing out the meter gain annoys me.
Has anyone moved to Slow Resist on Fenrir instead of Wind?
I'm waffling trying that on my DPS. Runs get so bad if I get a double slow on my DPS and I just sit there and can't do anything.
I dunno, a good chunk of his damage output is wind element, it might be worth a try but survival might end up an issue. I used multiple sources of haste on that fight, and one of my friends has Rosa's USB so he can magic blink pretty much every Savage Withering Winds except the first one, so there are ways to get around it. I think Astra blocks slow as well? I'd be interested in hearing how the incoming damage is with slow resist instead of wind resist, though.
How did your friend with Rosa USB manage handling who's holding the Shellga? (Rosa and just not have the heal up until Turn 4?) Did they skip Dispel also because they had the blink?
(IME not taking Dispel for his early Haste means he gets off more Savage Withering Winds faster, which means normal Hastega/re-BSB can't handle it, which tends to do bad things to a run.)
Why would you bring Shellga to Fenrir? His only magic attacks are piercing. He had Rosa with Ace Striker and Wrath, and basically only used Wrath and the USB as far as I know. I think Onion Knight brought Protectga? I'd have to ask him but he goes to sleep pretty early so I couldn't find out for a while.
-edit- As far as I know he didn't take a dispel either. I know I didn't take a dispel on any of my runs.
Typo, I meant Prot. Oh, he had OK. *grumbles* That makes sense then.
I might just try Rosa instead, that would dodge the Slows just fine, as much as missing out the meter gain annoys me.
Ah alright, I thought that might have been a typo so I mentioned Onion Knight being included as well. I think dodging the slows is a more than adequate tradeoff for missing the meter generation from getting hit, though gearing for slow resist could be viable if you can handle the increased healing load. Since you don't lose stamina for failing, it doesn't hurt much to give both setups a try and see which you prefer.
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Minor survey time~
What are people's cutoffs for being a whale vs not (some lesser category)?
Ballparking it, I think I would say...
<$20/mo - Minnow (~MMO monthly sub fee territory)
$20-$250/mo - some gradation between being a tuna to a porpoise
$250/mo - Full out whale, no question
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
I only have slow resist on Ramza and Cid for Fenrir, because Cid getting slowed fucks up Hastega refreshes for more important people. Edea needs to hold wind resist since she falls over to a stiff breeze.
Of course, Ramza is also throwing out the occasional Affliction Break so if a slow does land I grumble loudly.
Has anyone moved to Slow Resist on Fenrir instead of Wind?
I'm waffling trying that on my DPS. Runs get so bad if I get a double slow on my DPS and I just sit there and can't do anything.
I dunno, a good chunk of his damage output is wind element, it might be worth a try but survival might end up an issue. I used multiple sources of haste on that fight, and one of my friends has Rosa's USB so he can magic blink pretty much every Savage Withering Winds except the first one, so there are ways to get around it. I think Astra blocks slow as well? I'd be interested in hearing how the incoming damage is with slow resist instead of wind resist, though.
How did your friend with Rosa USB manage handling who's holding the Shellga? (Rosa and just not have the heal up until Turn 4?) Did they skip Dispel also because they had the blink?
(IME not taking Dispel for his early Haste means he gets off more Savage Withering Winds faster, which means normal Hastega/re-BSB can't handle it, which tends to do bad things to a run.)
Why would you bring Shellga to Fenrir? His only magic attacks are piercing. He had Rosa with Ace Striker and Wrath, and basically only used Wrath and the USB as far as I know. I think Onion Knight brought Protectga? I'd have to ask him but he goes to sleep pretty early so I couldn't find out for a while.
-edit- As far as I know he didn't take a dispel either. I know I didn't take a dispel on any of my runs.
Typo, I meant Prot. Oh, he had OK. *grumbles* That makes sense then.
I might just try Rosa instead, that would dodge the Slows just fine, as much as missing out the meter gain annoys me.
Ah alright, I thought that might have been a typo so I mentioned Onion Knight being included as well. I think dodging the slows is a more than adequate tradeoff for missing the meter generation from getting hit, though gearing for slow resist could be viable if you can handle the increased healing load. Since you don't lose stamina for failing, it doesn't hurt much to give both setups a try and see which you prefer.
Single healer with a mBlink in the party and Sealion magicite should be enough to cover all of Fenrir slows/howls as long as you plan to kill him in under a minute. Dont bother with dispel either.
My team had Selphie with MM, protectga, and curaja. Start fight by using proga, then use dreamstage SSB after first howl to recover hp and protect against next howl. Spam curaja. After next howl use sealion to grant wind attack blink. This should cover you till his 3rd howl at which point i forget if Fenrir dies, or if Selphie has enough meter for a second Dreamstage, which then covers until Fenrir death.
Gnome-Interruptus on
MWO: Adamski
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
edited October 2017
Rosa worked better than my old configuration (another fucking Wing Raptor, though) but my god is it frustrating to use Ayame against Fenrir sometimes. Alphinaud got slowed on the initial hit and I rely on him to weave in an auto to break the blink periodically, which he was completely unable to do. Ayame ended up not getting enough meter for her BSB until 30 seconds in because she had two Lifesiphons blinked. =/ Run might've gotten sub40 but for that.
Rinoa does completely unreasonable amounts of damage (40k/turn after her steal in BSB mode and probably has a fast proc going) so she can cover most of the slack but sheesh.
I love Ayame but given that I'm already running a pair of MAG buffs, another Ice mage would probably fit better than her. She's only doing about 22kish fast in BSB mode (+the doublecast and additional fast chances), which is respectable but not the damage the top mages can do just with BSB commands. This'll change when the ability refactor comes in at least and I can bother spamming Hailstorm instead.
Man I really love Terra's USB. My alt account can consistently get between 39 and 42.5 seconds with a team of Terra (USB, Meltdown, Wrath), Ramza (Entrust, Wrath), Onion Knight (BSB, Shellga, Smoldering Fire), Braska (Summoner's Dream, Chain Firaga, Firaja) and Y'shtola (BSB, Protectga, Curaja). Quite obviously Terra is doing the majority of the work, with 30k fire aura enhanced Meltdowns and USB entries that hit for 65k+ with the aura up. Onion Knight hits for about 15k with Smoldering Fire while the hones last, then 6k or so with his C2. Braska hits for almost nothing, like 9.5k Chain Firaga maybe (I don't pay attention to his damage really). If I also had Terra's OSB I could probably get sub-30s, or if I spent the motes to legend dive her. It's a faster clear than my main account which uses a similar team that replaces Braska with Rapha and her BSB and uses Terra's SSB + OSB combo instead of the USB.
It really makes me wish I had another shot at Terra's USB, but it looks like it is going to be probably after the next festival and right before UltraOnion that the next chance for Terra stuff arrives. Those two banners (Terra USB/OSB/BSB2 and UltraOnion) are pretty awesome, though.
Yeah, I want Terra's USB a lot. These days, my strategy for her tends to involve a variety of buffs that speed up her actions as fast as possible, for more Wrath and more of her OSB. Replacing her Fire Beam with Omen would come close to perfecting the strategy.
It's really inconsistent though (I failed to even kill the thing on the next three tries after). The right people need to take the right hits at the right times so they have enough meter to do what they need to do when they need to do it without dying. On one frustrating failure, I saw it was going to be really close whether Ramza had enough for his final USB cast, so I had Onion pass his nearly empty meter just to be sure. Nope, still just a sliver short. Also I'm still losing a ton of time to input delay and I'm not sure what to do about it. Most of the other magicite fights I know exactly whose turn is next at all times, but for this fight it's a crapshoot, probably in no small part because I have two characters with multiple SBs equipped, and menuing time varies a good bit.
I was below EV forever on 100 gems with little actually useful even when I did hit but this year I got fangs overstrike, quistis overstrike, zack chain, shadows ultra, shantotto's ultra, strago burst, and a dupe or two.
I've been excited for this event to come. Laguna is another of my favs, easily top 5. Early in my first playthrough of FF8 (when it came out) my opinion of him was pretty close to Squall's. "I dreamed I was a moron." He's easily my favorite out of 8 now. Pulled hoping for his USB. He was complete before the event dropped.
4/11: Laguna USB!, Rinoa BSB2 x2, Edea Imperil Dark SSB (dupe)
YES! Only missing his LMR. I can live with that. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for an ice version of Tempest Snipe. Completed his LD as well. The animations for his soul breaks are some of the best.
Posts
Banner 1: October 26
Edea USB: En-ice, self +30% MAG/RES, and Witch Ability Double (spend an extra hone for guaranteed doublecast). Monster with a well-honed Abyssal Shards and an Ice Chain.
Kiros BSB: Ice/dark damage and party +30% ATK/MAG. Commands are fast Armor and Mental Breakdown. An awkward package, but if you like Kiros you can certainly build a team around it.
Ward BSB: En-earth. C1 increases its own cast speed the more you use it, until the burst ends or is recast. C2 has an ATK boost. The damage is not all that great on the commands (though they are both AOE). Since Ward doesn't have access to a 5* earth damage ability, this is mediocre, though there are occasionally fights where you really want AOE earth damage.
Edea BSB: En-ice. C2 boosts MAG, C1 gets up to six hits if your MAG is high enough. Still one of the better options for general mage DPS.
Rinoa BSB2: En-ice. C1 scales harder than normal with MAG, C2 boosts Rinoa's MAG and breaks a target's (no damage though). Way less exciting than Edea's burst, but still serviceable.
Laguna LMR: 20% chance to add Minor Imperil Ice to machinist abilities. Could do silly things in conjunction with his LM2 (doublecast Machinist), Ultra, and Cold Offering, otherwise not very useful.
Edea LMR: 35% chance to gain Quickcast 1 after using ice attack. Great if you're capping C1 or to push out doubled Abyssal Shards faster; her LM1 and LM2 are also fine though.
Rinoa LMR: +1% MAG per magic hit dealt, up to +20%. Great if you're below MAG softcap, otherwise not a significant upgrade to her LM1.
Kiros SSB: AOE pentabreak.
Ward SSB: Party +50% ATK and Last Stand.
Edea SSB: Imperil dark. Possibly the worst of the many options for Imperil Dark, but if needs must...
Banner 2: October 29
Raijin OSB: It's an OSB.
Zell BSB: Fire fist. Instant damage and party 50% crit rate. C1 has an ATK buff, C2 grants Instant Action 1. Decent physical buff while providing solid non-elemental damage, it's still pretty good.
Raijin BSB: Lightning hammer. En-lightning. C1 heals an ally for 40% and builds up a charge, C2 unloads all the charges, gaining potency and an extra hit for each charge up to 6. A fully-charged C2 does a silly amount of damage, but you only get to do it once. A fun option for unloading a lot of damage all at once.
Laguna BSB: Imperil lightning. C1 has small chance to paralyze/silence, C2 grants Instant Machinist Attacks 2. A fine option for imperil lightning, I use this frequently for AOE Jump Start fights since my best AOE happens to be lightning, and it works great for that.
Fujin BSB: Wind MAG thrower. Instant wind/non damage and MAG/RES break. C2 has an additional small RES break. Some people swear by this, but I got it off the crystal tower selection and it hasn't really impressed me yet. It's certainly a good option for a stacking MAG break.
Zell LMR: Start with 50% crit rate buff. It's a way to turn on his Ultra chase and LM2, but usually I'd prefer to get a party crit buff from somewhere and use his LM1 and LM2.
Raijin LMR: 35% chance to gain Quickcast 1 after Monk ability. It's fine, I guess?
Fujin LMR: Start with en-wind. Nice for speed clears, especially in conjunction with her OSB.
Zell SSB: Damage and self 25% crit rate. Massively dated.
Raijin SSB: Lightning ATK light armor. Party Last Stand, High Regen, and Instant Action 1. Still very usable, and on a nice piece of armor to boot.
Fujin SSB: Wind MAG light armor. En-wind. Instant wind/non damage. Still pretty good - people use this as the backbone of sub-30 Golem clears, for instance.
Overall thoughts, future banners, etc.
Next VIII event is roughly 14 weeks away. SSBs will be gone by then! The banners are 6* items, bursts, and legend materia. Banner 1 has Rinoa USB/BSB2/LMR, Irvine USB/BSB2/LMR, Fujin USB/BSB/LMR, Zell USB/BSB2/LMR, and Edea BSB/LMR. Banner 2 has Squall USB/OSB/BSB2/LMR, Laguna USB/BSB2/LMR, Selphie USB/BSB2/LMR, Seifer BSB/LMR, Kiros BSB, and Ward BSB. Banner 1 is especially interesting because all four of the 6* items have element boosts (ice throw, wind throw, fire gun, fire fist).
Upcoming event schedule:
VIII - III (Refia USB/Ingus Chain) - VII (Sephiroth/Reno/Cid USBs, Rude and Elena) - IV (Ceodore/Kain/Rydia/Golbez USBs) - BRA*BRA 2 (who knows?) - X (Paine/Tidus/Jecht/Braska USB, Tidus Chain) - T (Agrias/Marche/Gaffgarion/Ovelia USBs, Ramza BSB2 and LMR, Montblanc) - IX (Garnet/Steiner/Vivi/Zidane USBs, Marcus) - XII
Alternate opinions:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/7831mt/relic_discussion_borrowed_dreams_the_greatest/
Some of my other recent banner reviews:
II: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/38473246#Comment_38473246
XV: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/38432090#Comment_38432090
38thDoE on steam
Ice chain where are you?
38thDoE on steam
FF8-1 100 gems: 4* garbage
FF15 Renewal 100 gems: Also 4* garbage
This is getting pretty stupid. I was going to pull on the FF15 banner, but I'm guaranteed to go Barbut/11 apparently, so I don't think I'll even bother.
Data for posterity:
19/164 lifetime
0/4 this batch
9/65 last batch (0.1 items below EV, which is pretty much exactly expected return, though quite a few duds even on my hits)
Note to self: No whining, Rikku USB, never forget. Also Cloud BSB2.
38thDoE on steam
1/11 Iris SSB (dupe)
Don't chase relics kids.
Alternatively, read what you post at the end of your spoiler and take it to heart.
And here I am, going on 0/25 for 100-gem pulls... :x
I did go 1 dupe/lots between two fests. My luck's been good since then though. Regression to the mean.
100 gem VIII: Kiros' hyperbreak SSB.
Can't say I'll ever use it, but thanks for the armor synergy I suppose.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
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.
17 in a row
VIII 100 Gem: 3*
18 in a row
I feel so good
silence you can't complain yet until you match this fuckery, okay?
Of course nothing new in XV, so I can stop falling behind at least.
Thanks all for the feedback on Shadow Dragon, I'll turn it over in my head more. I can't do that yet until I clear Mist Dragon anyway, which I can't do until I level Kuja and Raines up appropriately some more
My record for 100 gem misses is around 35? I broke it when I got Indom Blade way back in the day.
1/11 Sword of the Father, definitely could have gone worse
He ended up getting... Sword of the Father and Bronze Bangle
need a few things to go right, or at least not wrong, to get sub-30 shadow dragon and it's just frustrating enough that i want to stop after 2ish times.
at least once they're back to 60 stamina doing it 5 times in a row won't be possible anymore heh
Has anyone moved to Slow Resist on Fenrir instead of Wind?
I'm waffling trying that on my DPS. Runs get so bad if I get a double slow on my DPS and I just sit there and can't do anything.
I dunno, a good chunk of his damage output is wind element, it might be worth a try but survival might end up an issue. I used multiple sources of haste on that fight, and one of my friends has Rosa's USB so he can magic blink pretty much every Savage Withering Winds except the first one, so there are ways to get around it. I think Astra blocks slow as well? I'd be interested in hearing how the incoming damage is with slow resist instead of wind resist, though.
I mitigated the extra wind damage by bringing two healers though.
(IME not taking Dispel for his early Haste means he gets off more Savage Withering Winds faster, which means normal Hastega/re-BSB can't handle it, which tends to do bad things to a run.)
I know. It may not seem like it but I do appreciate the difference my hits have made for me. Getting misses on 100 gems just seems personal when you're lifetime below EV.
Why would you bring Shellga to Fenrir? His only magic attacks are piercing. He had Rosa with Ace Striker and Wrath, and basically only used Wrath and the USB as far as I know. I think Onion Knight brought Protectga? I'd have to ask him but he goes to sleep pretty early so I couldn't find out for a while.
-edit- As far as I know he didn't take a dispel either. I know I didn't take a dispel on any of my runs.
Typo, I meant Prot. Oh, he had OK. *grumbles* That makes sense then.
I might just try Rosa instead, that would dodge the Slows just fine, as much as missing out the meter gain annoys me.
Ah alright, I thought that might have been a typo so I mentioned Onion Knight being included as well. I think dodging the slows is a more than adequate tradeoff for missing the meter generation from getting hit, though gearing for slow resist could be viable if you can handle the increased healing load. Since you don't lose stamina for failing, it doesn't hurt much to give both setups a try and see which you prefer.
What are people's cutoffs for being a whale vs not (some lesser category)?
Ballparking it, I think I would say...
<$20/mo - Minnow (~MMO monthly sub fee territory)
$20-$250/mo - some gradation between being a tuna to a porpoise
$250/mo - Full out whale, no question
Of course, Ramza is also throwing out the occasional Affliction Break so if a slow does land I grumble loudly.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
My team had Selphie with MM, protectga, and curaja. Start fight by using proga, then use dreamstage SSB after first howl to recover hp and protect against next howl. Spam curaja. After next howl use sealion to grant wind attack blink. This should cover you till his 3rd howl at which point i forget if Fenrir dies, or if Selphie has enough meter for a second Dreamstage, which then covers until Fenrir death.
MWO: Adamski
Rinoa does completely unreasonable amounts of damage (40k/turn after her steal in BSB mode and probably has a fast proc going) so she can cover most of the slack but sheesh.
I love Ayame but given that I'm already running a pair of MAG buffs, another Ice mage would probably fit better than her. She's only doing about 22kish fast in BSB mode (+the doublecast and additional fast chances), which is respectable but not the damage the top mages can do just with BSB commands. This'll change when the ability refactor comes in at least and I can bother spamming Hailstorm instead.
It really makes me wish I had another shot at Terra's USB, but it looks like it is going to be probably after the next festival and right before UltraOnion that the next chance for Terra stuff arrives. Those two banners (Terra USB/OSB/BSB2 and UltraOnion) are pretty awesome, though.
It's really inconsistent though (I failed to even kill the thing on the next three tries after). The right people need to take the right hits at the right times so they have enough meter to do what they need to do when they need to do it without dying. On one frustrating failure, I saw it was going to be really close whether Ramza had enough for his final USB cast, so I had Onion pass his nearly empty meter just to be sure. Nope, still just a sliver short.
So rng is rng.
4/11: Laguna USB!, Rinoa BSB2 x2, Edea Imperil Dark SSB (dupe)
YES! Only missing his LMR. I can live with that. I wonder how long we'll have to wait for an ice version of Tempest Snipe. Completed his LD as well. The animations for his soul breaks are some of the best.
Fenrir is so screwed.