Okay, cleared up the list a bit with some more detail:
Main roster (either at 65 or on their way) and their respective breaks:
Warrior of Light - Ultimate Shield BSB
Tyro
Cloud - Fenrir Overdrive BSB, Climhazzard SB
Arc - Word of Kindness SSB
Squall - Sub-Zero Blast OSB,
Garland - Chaos Bringer SSB, Chaos Cyclone SB
Soul break equipment on hand:
Locke's Valiant Strike SSB
Cecil's Shadowbringer SSB
Zidane's Stellar Circle 5 BSB
Cid (VII) Pilot's Steel SSB
Josef's Avalanche SB
Cid Raine's Seraphic Ray SSB
Penelo's Intercession SSB
Vanille's Oerba's Booon SB
Reno's Turk Bombshell SSB
Bartz Choco Romp SB
Steiner's Sword Magic Firaga SSB
Desch's Selfless Spirit SB
Sabin's Soul Spiral SSB
shared soul break blitz
shared soul break witchcraft
Your main team is decent. If you haven't got any good soul breaks for Tyro though, he doesn't have much purpose being there. He can do a lot of different things, but he would be much more useful to you if you had his Wall or BSB relics. That said, he's your best "Support" character because this is a natural fallback role to give him if you don't have any good relics for 5* Support characters, which it seems you don't.
I would probably bench Garland, and keep the rest of the team as is. Cid (VII) is worth consideration because his SSB will let you do some of the more difficult fights. Equip him with Lifesiphon and some kind of jump skill (Dragoon Jump or Lightning Dive if you can craft either of them).
This is all likely to change over the course of the next two weeks as you will be able to pull on Lucky Draw banners and the free extra "Ultros" banner and all of them have potential to shake up your team.
EDIT: You have Penelo's Curaga SSB though. You could bench Tyro and use her instead, and give her some dances.
For fun, I broke out the growth eggs and did the FFXI Record Mission as solo Shantotto.
Ruinga for trash and Chain Firaga for the boss. It was quite easy; I didn't come close to a loss. I took a Vanille RW, to heal in a pinch, but Shantotto was overleveled, so she just warmed the bench.
Ugggghhhhhh. They seem to have blocked Reddit here at work. I can't access the page here on my desktop. Have to view it using the crappy mobile site.
It is quite terrible, but you can switch to the desktop mode using the drop-down menu button on the upper right, and that's usable (albeit nonoptimal) on a phone.
So what is everyone hoping to get on the three lucky draws + Ultros select this week? Here's my top 5s, taking into account the average is ~2.3 relics per pull, and the expected is 1 (duplicate of an existing relic).
Curaga+ LD:
1. Vanille BSB
2. Eiko BSB
3. Rosa BSB
4. Aerith BSB
5. Aerith USB (or Yuna's Miracle Veil if Umbrella isn't in the pool).
Honorable Mention: I'd be ecstatic if I got Y'shtola BSB here, but there's a chance for it on Ultros Select as well.
EnElement LD:
1. Maria BSB
2. Alphinaud BSB
3. Refia BSB
4. Ashe BSB
5. Kain BSB
Honorable Mention: Ayame BSB when?! :bigfrown: Also Cloud BSB, but it's on the Cloud USB banner I'm planning on pulling for
BSB only:
(obviously anything I'd be happy with from the first two banners I'd be happy getting here. My list here is stuff specific to this banner only)
1. Raines BSB
2. Fujin BSB
3. Firion BSB
4. Zell BSB
5. Setzer BSB (if it's in the pool) otherwise Relm BSB
Honorable Mention: any healer BSB with a Medica command, Orlando BSB (for if I happen to also get his OSB), Fran BSB (acceptable in case no Setzer's BSB)
Ultros Select:
1. Y'shtola BSB
2. Any of the physical OSBs
3. Terra's OSB
4. Aerith BSB
5. Pecil BSB
Mostly just hoping for Y'shtola BSB, though any OSB or BSB w/medica command would be nice since I have zero to date of either.
Curaga+
1. Y'shtola BSB
2. Yuna SSB2 (I REALLY need an FFX medica)
3. Perseus Bow
4. Aerith USB
5. Pretty much anything
Dupes: Eiko BSB, Vanille BSB, Selphie SSB. Only 3/19 is pretty good odds.
BSB Only
1. Rikku BSB (you knew this was coming)
2. Cid Raines BSB
3. OK BSB
4. Vaan BSB
5. Lightning BSB2
Dupes: P.Cecil BSB, Bartz BSB, Cloud BSB1, Squall BSB, Rinoa BSB, Quistis BSB, Eiko BSB, Paine BSB, Lulu BSB, Lightning BSB1, Vanille BSB, Minfillia BSB, Agrias BSB, Ramza BSB. 16/105 (these odds keep getting better).
Ultros Select
1. OK BSB
2. Y'shtola BSB
3. Celes SSB
4. Any of the OSBs
5. Ditto
Dupes: P.Cecil BSB, OK SSB, Ramza SSB. 3/11. The worst odds of all the banners, but the only one with any OSBs and my best shot at a Grand Cross effect.
All these banners seem pretty promising for me, with the biggest potential duds being EnElement (there sure are a lot of SBs in there...) and Ultros Select.
My normal go to for memory crystals is power of the relics I have for them. It appears you are playing on the Japan rather than Global version so it is kind of hard to get specific. That said, BSB or USB seems like a really good indicator that you would want to spend level break them as often as possible. It would also help to indicate which of the SBs you are referring to. Cloud, for example, has 2 BSBs. Sabin is up to I think 3 SSBs. You get the idea.
Is it possible there's a version difference on Android? I'm in the US and picked up FFRK through the Google play store.
Ok, so there is my confusion. You used USB and Unique SB so it threw me off. As mentioned, USB typically refers to Ultra Soul Breaks that have just started filtering through.
Still, BSB or better is the easiest way to determine yes or no on using crystals. They are pretty generous with MC1 and 2s so I wouldn't sweat those too much. You will eventually get everyone. MC3s are precious though. Squall, Cloud, and Zidane would be candidates for them if that was my team. Tyro does have an amazing RM and so does Cloud for purposes of advanced content so go with them if you can. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to wait till after the 3 lucky draws and ultros banner before making any decisions. The curaga banner might be the best newbie banner ever. The two following BSB banners will likely boost some characters to A team.
Edit: Ah, yes. Thank you for the much more clear picture. Cloud's BSB is an antique, but still great for where you are at. The Cid SSB you have is golden. Like easily one of the best to have around currently, and an easy anchor of any physical team at any level. Both Arc and Penelo look like they would be super awesome as healer. Sabin's heal is also pretty amazing in its own right if you have space for him. The defense boost helps, and situationally the group esuna is life saving. A very solid set of relics over all.
With a physical focused team (e.g., Cloud, Squall, Zidane), should I go with one healer and Cid or two healers?
My normal go to for memory crystals is power of the relics I have for them. It appears you are playing on the Japan rather than Global version so it is kind of hard to get specific. That said, BSB or USB seems like a really good indicator that you would want to spend level break them as often as possible. It would also help to indicate which of the SBs you are referring to. Cloud, for example, has 2 BSBs. Sabin is up to I think 3 SSBs. You get the idea.
Is it possible there's a version difference on Android? I'm in the US and picked up FFRK through the Google play store.
Ok, so there is my confusion. You used USB and Unique SB so it threw me off. As mentioned, USB typically refers to Ultra Soul Breaks that have just started filtering through.
Still, BSB or better is the easiest way to determine yes or no on using crystals. They are pretty generous with MC1 and 2s so I wouldn't sweat those too much. You will eventually get everyone. MC3s are precious though. Squall, Cloud, and Zidane would be candidates for them if that was my team. Tyro does have an amazing RM and so does Cloud for purposes of advanced content so go with them if you can. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to wait till after the 3 lucky draws and ultros banner before making any decisions. The curaga banner might be the best newbie banner ever. The two following BSB banners will likely boost some characters to A team.
Edit: Ah, yes. Thank you for the much more clear picture. Cloud's BSB is an antique, but still great for where you are at. The Cid SSB you have is golden. Like easily one of the best to have around currently, and an easy anchor of any physical team at any level. Both Arc and Penelo look like they would be super awesome as healer. Sabin's heal is also pretty amazing in its own right if you have space for him. The defense boost helps, and situationally the group esuna is life saving. A very solid set of relics over all.
With a physical focused team (e.g., Cloud, Squall, Zidane), should I go with one healer and Cid or two healers?
Mitigation is king in the game. You all but need a dedicated support for any of the upper level content, and it's very likely you'll get at least something for a support from the free draw on Saturday if nothing else. You don't really have any good support relics otherwise. Penelo's your best 'support' at the moment, but she does so through dances, which not a lot of units can use, so aren't as readily portable.
I'd honestly hold out until after the lucky stuff and especially Ultros Select before making any big decisions since that'll almost certainly shake things up a lot, especially with your support situation as it has three extremely powerful relics for supports (or near supports in Y'shtola's case) on it.
+3
BrodyThe WatchThe First ShoreRegistered Userregular
edited March 2017
RE: DoctorArch
I feel like WoLight, Cloud, Cid(VII), Tyro for breaks, and Arc/Penelo would be a fairly solid physical base. Or actually, depending on you skills/hones and general level, Cid can equip a Combat Break, and give a Combat Break to one other person, and you could do 4 DPS and a healer until you get the skills/relics for a true support.
Brody on
"I will write your name in the ruin of them. I will paint you across history in the color of their blood."
Should she just be paired with an Entruster to ensure constant uptime on Indo Blade?
I know I'm a bit late on this one, but when Legend Materia come out I feel that Celes is a good candidate for the Legend Sphere dive. She gets a Legend Materia from her dive that makes hitting a weakness give double soul break charge instead of 1.5x normal. She is one of the few characters able to hit every possible weakness, so she should be able to get 120-130 soul break points per action if there is any weakness to exploit.
My normal go to for memory crystals is power of the relics I have for them. It appears you are playing on the Japan rather than Global version so it is kind of hard to get specific. That said, BSB or USB seems like a really good indicator that you would want to spend level break them as often as possible. It would also help to indicate which of the SBs you are referring to. Cloud, for example, has 2 BSBs. Sabin is up to I think 3 SSBs. You get the idea.
Is it possible there's a version difference on Android? I'm in the US and picked up FFRK through the Google play store.
Ok, so there is my confusion. You used USB and Unique SB so it threw me off. As mentioned, USB typically refers to Ultra Soul Breaks that have just started filtering through.
Still, BSB or better is the easiest way to determine yes or no on using crystals. They are pretty generous with MC1 and 2s so I wouldn't sweat those too much. You will eventually get everyone. MC3s are precious though. Squall, Cloud, and Zidane would be candidates for them if that was my team. Tyro does have an amazing RM and so does Cloud for purposes of advanced content so go with them if you can. It wouldn't be a terrible idea to wait till after the 3 lucky draws and ultros banner before making any decisions. The curaga banner might be the best newbie banner ever. The two following BSB banners will likely boost some characters to A team.
Edit: Ah, yes. Thank you for the much more clear picture. Cloud's BSB is an antique, but still great for where you are at. The Cid SSB you have is golden. Like easily one of the best to have around currently, and an easy anchor of any physical team at any level. Both Arc and Penelo look like they would be super awesome as healer. Sabin's heal is also pretty amazing in its own right if you have space for him. The defense boost helps, and situationally the group esuna is life saving. A very solid set of relics over all.
With a physical focused team (e.g., Cloud, Squall, Zidane), should I go with one healer and Cid or two healers?
Ok so, I am going to make a couple assumptions. You have no favorites you are dying to run, you do not have any 5* abilities as yet honed to usable levels, and you are working towards clearing top end content. You have a few options here. First off you will want some kind of supportish character. So if we seal in (as an example) Cloud, Squall, Zidane, Cid, and Penelo as a team you will want to have between them a version of Attack break and Magic break. Mitigation is key in this game. Fortunately you actually have something to work with there ready built into the team. Zidane with the skill Lifesiphon to get his SB bar up fast enough should be able to use his replacement for attack command (C1) to apply Attack Breakdown which is slightly better (5% difference on top end content). You can also use Steal Power BUT that would replace Cid's attack buff with (do we have a stacking guide in the intro?) a weaker attack buff. Zidane's C1 gives a 50% attack buff making it ideal since it either stacks with, or is equivalent to any other attack buff you would want to use.
What you will eventually run into as a problem though is wanting to stack the ability Full Break with other forms of mitigation. This requires a character with either Support 5 or Dancer 5 and an open space. Penelo could do this with Multi Break (aoe Full Break with no damage), but then she would not have a slot for protectga/shellga which you will want. Ideally you would have both, and early on it is very helpful in certain fights. Still, with RW Wall I think it is manageable. Regardless, if you are running a Support 5 then the advantage of the * Breakdowns truly shine because there is no long an opportunity cost to bringing them along. If nothing pops out from the upcoming lucky draws you can just pick your favorite as this is not a stat heavy position. Tyro easily fills it, and my desire to shit all over his abilities is well documented in these threads.
If I were building the team from what you have listed I would probably go with the following. Squall, Zidane, Cid, Support 5, Healer with curaga level group heal (medica). Cloud's BSB while nice, loses a spot here to a support 5 to bring Full Break and Magic Breakdown. Zidane would be Lifesiphoning to use his BSB and then cycling his C1, defend command (C2) for the Armor Breakdown command, and a third attack of your choosing. Thief's revenge for me, but that is expecting a ton of orbs for so early. Anything would do. Squall would Lifesiphon into OSB for stupid damage. Give him your best everything for attack. The stupid multiplier should let you blow right past a lot of low level fights that just don't have the HPs to tank a hit like that. Healer with shellga since physical attacks tend to not be as scary, but adjust as needed. Shuffle in others as needed. Not getting enough healing? Substitute in Sabin for an extra heal and defense boost to reduce strain taking out either Squall or Zidane depending on how they are performing for that fight. Boss absorbs wind? Cloud with Attack Break in for Zidane with minimal loss.
This gives a pretty solid base though to shuffle from is the idea. I would be comfortable with that team at 99 to go against a generic U++ so you are working from a great base is the good news. As you get further though fights will get weird in what they demand. There are some realm dungeons that are ranged only, for example. I would also keep in mind that OSBs are a really new concept comparatively when reading the forums. Current content is not broken, or even changed much by their presence. They can completely wreck older dungeon shit though to a hysterical degree. Just laughably broken for a lot of stuff that was in now way intended to take a huge hit.
Edit: It appears we do not have a stacking guide in the intro, so a quick overview. The basic rule of thumb is if a buff affects identical stats it will not stack. So the previously mentioned Steal Power gives a character a buff to attack. Pilot's steel also applies an attack buff so they do not stack. The one most recently applies has priority. However if you were to use Dark Bargain it would give you a +30% attack buff and a -30% defense penalty. This does stack with Pilot's Steel because it affects a different set of stats. To my knowledge there is only one SB that defies this convention and it really sucks. The same general rule applies to debuffs as well which is why you can have Full Break and Attack Breakdown, but not Attack Breakdown and Steal Power.
Defense and resistance ignore this rule largely. Protectga, which affects only defense, will stack with Sabin's Soul Spiral which also buffs only defense. Sentinel and a few other effects also stack. For the ideal set of rule here you will have to refer to the PDF which is quite helpful. The short version is you can get shellga/protectga + one SB enhancement + one from abilities that lure attacks to you.
It is also important to not that buffs and debuffs typically stack multiplicatively. So if you have 2 Pilot's Steel, and Dark Bargain active you would a 95% buff to your attack! This also applies to debuffs and is one of the reasons the difference between break and breakdown is not as pronounced as one would hope. (The other issue is a lot of top end content "resists" break effects and consequently everything is cut in half from the start). There is an absolute cap on both. I believe Boss's can't be reduced below half stats, and stats cannot exceed 150% increase (2.5 multiplier). There is also attack and magic softcaps, but that is probably not relevant just yet. All of this also applies to RMs that increase stats for when that becomes more relevant.
Edit2: I am generally unaware of Warrior of Light's combat abilities so throw him in the above when he would be a better pick. Between his C1, Protectga, Wall, and maybe Draw Fire you should achieve some truly stupid levels of defense on him.
Should she just be paired with an Entruster to ensure constant uptime on Indo Blade?
I know I'm a bit late on this one, but when Legend Materia come out I feel that Celes is a good candidate for the Legend Sphere dive. She gets a Legend Materia from her dive that makes hitting a weakness give double soul break charge instead of 1.5x normal. She is one of the few characters able to hit every possible weakness, so she should be able to get 120-130 soul break points per action if there is any weakness to exploit.
Every weakness? Even Dark?
I mean, I suppose there's Drainga as an option, but that's not exactly ideal, though I guess it works if you're just using it for meter build.
Took a dive on the second FF2 banner and was rewarded! Three rainbows: Maria BSB, Leon BSB and Gordon's ATK/MAG buff SSB.
Is the Torment CM possible with these soulbreaks plus:
Josef's Medica SSB
Firion's SSB
Maria's SSB
Guy's imperil Earth
I'm not sure what I'd RW, Wall seemed pretty necessary when I beat it with my A team.
A crazy person has done it with literally just Guy's imperil Earth. With Guy's imperil, Maria's BSB, Gordon's ATK/MAG buff, and Josef's medica, you really couldn't ask for too much more (Minwu gets the last spot, of course). You've got some options for what to RW: Wall is obviously a fine choice, but you could also try Sheepsong, Divine Guardian, or Minwu BSB.
Clear trash with the craftable 4* Break ability and Maria's BSB. If you get a round with an ogre mage, consider hitting it with Magic Break(down) and just sitting there under Shellga and Defend to build up meter. Have your team Defend going into the boss round so you don't get hurt too bad by the opening Thunderbolt. Use mostly the single target command with Maria, starting with the thunder guy, so you don't eat too many counters from the ice guy.
Don't forget your fire/ice/lit resist accessories. Probably put everyone in the back row even though you are running multiple physical characters - Maria BSB does plenty of damage, you just need to not die, and taking half damage from Boulders helps a lot.
Took a dive on the second FF2 banner and was rewarded! Three rainbows: Maria BSB, Leon BSB and Gordon's ATK/MAG buff SSB.
Is the Torment CM possible with these soulbreaks plus:
Josef's Medica SSB
Firion's SSB
Maria's SSB
Guy's imperil Earth
I'm not sure what I'd RW, Wall seemed pretty necessary when I beat it with my A team.
A crazy person has done it with literally just Guy's imperil Earth. With Guy's imperil, Maria's BSB, Gordon's ATK/MAG buff, and Josef's medica, you really couldn't ask for too much more (Minwu gets the last spot, of course). You've got some options for what to RW: Wall is obviously a fine choice, but you could also try Sheepsong or Minwu BSB.
Guy's Imperil Earth before Imperils stacked, even.
@ Rius
Any chance we can get an OP update for USBs, and stacking info? I think with as many buffs as a new player is likely to encounter it would be useful. Also request to include the C1, C2 acronyms with the BSB info cause that could be super confusing.
@ Rius
Any chance we can get an OP update for USBs, and stacking info? I think with as many buffs as a new player is likely to encounter it would be useful. Also request to include the C1, C2 acronyms with the BSB info cause that could be super confusing.
I don't know what you're on about, the OP has always included that information. Pay no attention to the edits behind the curtain.
Should she just be paired with an Entruster to ensure constant uptime on Indo Blade?
I know I'm a bit late on this one, but when Legend Materia come out I feel that Celes is a good candidate for the Legend Sphere dive. She gets a Legend Materia from her dive that makes hitting a weakness give double soul break charge instead of 1.5x normal. She is one of the few characters able to hit every possible weakness, so she should be able to get 120-130 soul break points per action if there is any weakness to exploit.
Every weakness? Even Dark?
I mean, I suppose there's Drainga as an option, but that's not exactly ideal, though I guess it works if you're just using it for meter build.
I never claimed she had GOOD options for every element (Dark being the only one requiring a non-physical ability), but she can hit every weakness, and if you're bringing her for Indomitable Blade you want to make sure that stays up 100% of the time. Others that can hit every weakness include Tyro (of course), Fujin and Onion Knight. There are likely others of course, but most casters can't hit Wind and most physical characters can't hit Dark.
Man, I'm getting so antsy for the festival banners that every time I see a few posts pop up in a shortish period of time I assume oh man the festival banners are out!
and they are not.
come onnnn dena gimme some time to agonize over where to spend my mythril
Man, I'm getting so antsy for the festival banners that every time I see a few posts pop up in a shortish period of time I assume oh man the festival banners are out!
and they are not.
come onnnn dena gimme some time to agonize over where to spend my mythril
Eh I'm sure they'll be up a day or two before they go live, I don't think they've ever been a complete surprise. We won't get a whole lot of time to plan for them, though.
Man, I'm getting so antsy for the festival banners that every time I see a few posts pop up in a shortish period of time I assume oh man the festival banners are out!
and they are not.
come onnnn dena gimme some time to agonize over where to spend my mythril
All in on Celes's OSB.
Gamble on Setzer's BSB.
Celes's OSB is shiny, but I think that Runic uptime is a more important use of meter for her.
Should she just be paired with an Entruster to ensure constant uptime on Indo Blade?
I know I'm a bit late on this one, but when Legend Materia come out I feel that Celes is a good candidate for the Legend Sphere dive. She gets a Legend Materia from her dive that makes hitting a weakness give double soul break charge instead of 1.5x normal. She is one of the few characters able to hit every possible weakness, so she should be able to get 120-130 soul break points per action if there is any weakness to exploit.
Every weakness? Even Dark?
I mean, I suppose there's Drainga as an option, but that's not exactly ideal, though I guess it works if you're just using it for meter build.
I never claimed she had GOOD options for every element (Dark being the only one requiring a non-physical ability), but she can hit every weakness, and if you're bringing her for Indomitable Blade you want to make sure that stays up 100% of the time. Others that can hit every weakness include Tyro (of course), Fujin and Onion Knight. There are likely others of course, but most casters can't hit Wind and most physical characters can't hit Dark.
How can you forget THE THUNDER GOD?
Also, around 98% of summoners since that covers everything but bio.
Really though, being able to hit every element but dark is just a weird quirk of there being no dark element in spellblades. Having even just spellblade 3 gives you coverage of everything but holy, dark, and earth. Although similar goes for holy. Only knights, white mages, and summoners can hit that.
Eh I'm sure they'll be up a day or two before they go live, I don't think they've ever been a complete surprise. We won't get a whole lot of time to plan for them, though.
Last anniversary, the datamined banner ended up changed slightly. Yuna's (worse) SSB was replaced with her SB.
Thankfully, I have Terra's OSB sword, which functions nicely as a physical/magic hybrid option for Celes, if I need her to carry Drainga for meter build.
I think I remember one surprise banner only getting discovered an hour or two before it went live. I want to say it was that horrible debuff SB banner late last Summer?
I wonder if they could conceivably not upload any banner for the festival until it's time to go live? What a mindfuck that would be; "is this banner good enough for my mythril?"
I think I remember one surprise banner only getting discovered an hour or two before it went live. I want to say it was that horrible debuff SB banner late last Summer?
I miss the pickup banners Japan got. We're getting the dungeon lucky draws instead, which are probably a bit better pools in general (rather than stuff like... ice, debuff, buff, COMBAT, etc), but it remains to be seen whether we're going to start getting those draws for free (one time) like they've been recently. Probably another case of RIOT if we don't.
I wonder if they could conceivably not upload any banner for the festival until it's time to go live? What a mindfuck that would be; "is this banner good enough for my mythril?"
I'd probably end up not pulling at all with indecision paralysis, or maybe just toss some on whatever TG Cid OSB was on.
Japan only had one really good banner, and that one might not even have been good for everybody because I'm sure lots of people already had the good stuff on it. I'm really interested in seeing what we get, I'd like to get a good physical OSB (mostly Orlandeau, but any of the ones I have an elemental aura soul break for would be welcome) and a good healer BSB (Penelo's is adequate, but I'd prefer Y'shtola, Vanille, Relm or a few others). If the banners aren't super interesting, then I guess I get more chances at Cloud's wombo combo.
Firion's BSB is a hell of a drug, as is Gordon's Goddess Bell.
Also, used his Atk/Mag boost (had to use Wrath and got Goddess Bell up right around halfway through the fight) along with RWing Wall since I have Josef's hastega, so the most damaging thing he did was on his third turn. Both scripted Starfalls were blinked away, and a third non-scripted one did a piddling 1k damage all around.
He was being a huge ass with countering my attempts to Banishing Blade haste by reapplying haste. He also slowed Josef early on, and J-monk was basically no longer an entity in the fight at that point.
+1
38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
What if they just skip the festival banners like they skipped the orbfest in what two festivals ago?
What if they just skip the festival banners like they skipped the orbfest in what two festivals ago?
The image with the banner times already leaked, so there certainly are 5 banners happening. What is in them, not so much tho.
Technically, it just says "Second Anniversary Draw" for 3/24 to 4/4.
It'd be pretty funny/rage inducing if they did something super wacky with it, like every day a different realm themed banner.
Also, U++ downed. Easy peasy with the mage squad and using OK BSB to counter the slows. Well, Exdeath was at like 3 seconds left on the Memento Mori counter, but easy as far as taking damage goes.
Posts
Your main team is decent. If you haven't got any good soul breaks for Tyro though, he doesn't have much purpose being there. He can do a lot of different things, but he would be much more useful to you if you had his Wall or BSB relics. That said, he's your best "Support" character because this is a natural fallback role to give him if you don't have any good relics for 5* Support characters, which it seems you don't.
I would probably bench Garland, and keep the rest of the team as is. Cid (VII) is worth consideration because his SSB will let you do some of the more difficult fights. Equip him with Lifesiphon and some kind of jump skill (Dragoon Jump or Lightning Dive if you can craft either of them).
This is all likely to change over the course of the next two weeks as you will be able to pull on Lucky Draw banners and the free extra "Ultros" banner and all of them have potential to shake up your team.
EDIT: You have Penelo's Curaga SSB though. You could bench Tyro and use her instead, and give her some dances.
Steam: TheArcadeBear
For fun, I broke out the growth eggs and did the FFXI Record Mission as solo Shantotto.
Ruinga for trash and Chain Firaga for the boss. It was quite easy; I didn't come close to a loss. I took a Vanille RW, to heal in a pinch, but Shantotto was overleveled, so she just warmed the bench.
Mine cleared up in about 4 hours.
It is quite terrible, but you can switch to the desktop mode using the drop-down menu button on the upper right, and that's usable (albeit nonoptimal) on a phone.
Curaga+
1. Y'shtola BSB
2. Yuna SSB2 (I REALLY need an FFX medica)
3. Perseus Bow
4. Aerith USB
5. Pretty much anything
Dupes: Eiko BSB, Vanille BSB, Selphie SSB. Only 3/19 is pretty good odds.
EnElement
1. Cloud BSB2
2. Maria BSB
3. Tidus BSB
4. Luneth BSB
5. Alphinaud BSB
Dupes: P.Cecil BSB, Desch SB, Quistis BSB, Zidane SSB2, Kuja SB, Yuna SB3, Lulu BSB, Jecht BSB, Paine SSB, Minfillia BSB. So...10/69 (nice).
BSB Only
1. Rikku BSB (you knew this was coming)
2. Cid Raines BSB
3. OK BSB
4. Vaan BSB
5. Lightning BSB2
Dupes: P.Cecil BSB, Bartz BSB, Cloud BSB1, Squall BSB, Rinoa BSB, Quistis BSB, Eiko BSB, Paine BSB, Lulu BSB, Lightning BSB1, Vanille BSB, Minfillia BSB, Agrias BSB, Ramza BSB. 16/105 (these odds keep getting better).
Ultros Select
1. OK BSB
2. Y'shtola BSB
3. Celes SSB
4. Any of the OSBs
5. Ditto
Dupes: P.Cecil BSB, OK SSB, Ramza SSB. 3/11. The worst odds of all the banners, but the only one with any OSBs and my best shot at a Grand Cross effect.
All these banners seem pretty promising for me, with the biggest potential duds being EnElement (there sure are a lot of SBs in there...) and Ultros Select.
With a physical focused team (e.g., Cloud, Squall, Zidane), should I go with one healer and Cid or two healers?
Mitigation is king in the game. You all but need a dedicated support for any of the upper level content, and it's very likely you'll get at least something for a support from the free draw on Saturday if nothing else. You don't really have any good support relics otherwise. Penelo's your best 'support' at the moment, but she does so through dances, which not a lot of units can use, so aren't as readily portable.
I'd honestly hold out until after the lucky stuff and especially Ultros Select before making any big decisions since that'll almost certainly shake things up a lot, especially with your support situation as it has three extremely powerful relics for supports (or near supports in Y'shtola's case) on it.
I feel like WoLight, Cloud, Cid(VII), Tyro for breaks, and Arc/Penelo would be a fairly solid physical base. Or actually, depending on you skills/hones and general level, Cid can equip a Combat Break, and give a Combat Break to one other person, and you could do 4 DPS and a healer until you get the skills/relics for a true support.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
I know I'm a bit late on this one, but when Legend Materia come out I feel that Celes is a good candidate for the Legend Sphere dive. She gets a Legend Materia from her dive that makes hitting a weakness give double soul break charge instead of 1.5x normal. She is one of the few characters able to hit every possible weakness, so she should be able to get 120-130 soul break points per action if there is any weakness to exploit.
Ok so, I am going to make a couple assumptions. You have no favorites you are dying to run, you do not have any 5* abilities as yet honed to usable levels, and you are working towards clearing top end content. You have a few options here. First off you will want some kind of supportish character. So if we seal in (as an example) Cloud, Squall, Zidane, Cid, and Penelo as a team you will want to have between them a version of Attack break and Magic break. Mitigation is key in this game. Fortunately you actually have something to work with there ready built into the team. Zidane with the skill Lifesiphon to get his SB bar up fast enough should be able to use his replacement for attack command (C1) to apply Attack Breakdown which is slightly better (5% difference on top end content). You can also use Steal Power BUT that would replace Cid's attack buff with (do we have a stacking guide in the intro?) a weaker attack buff. Zidane's C1 gives a 50% attack buff making it ideal since it either stacks with, or is equivalent to any other attack buff you would want to use.
What you will eventually run into as a problem though is wanting to stack the ability Full Break with other forms of mitigation. This requires a character with either Support 5 or Dancer 5 and an open space. Penelo could do this with Multi Break (aoe Full Break with no damage), but then she would not have a slot for protectga/shellga which you will want. Ideally you would have both, and early on it is very helpful in certain fights. Still, with RW Wall I think it is manageable. Regardless, if you are running a Support 5 then the advantage of the * Breakdowns truly shine because there is no long an opportunity cost to bringing them along. If nothing pops out from the upcoming lucky draws you can just pick your favorite as this is not a stat heavy position. Tyro easily fills it, and my desire to shit all over his abilities is well documented in these threads.
If I were building the team from what you have listed I would probably go with the following. Squall, Zidane, Cid, Support 5, Healer with curaga level group heal (medica). Cloud's BSB while nice, loses a spot here to a support 5 to bring Full Break and Magic Breakdown. Zidane would be Lifesiphoning to use his BSB and then cycling his C1, defend command (C2) for the Armor Breakdown command, and a third attack of your choosing. Thief's revenge for me, but that is expecting a ton of orbs for so early. Anything would do. Squall would Lifesiphon into OSB for stupid damage. Give him your best everything for attack. The stupid multiplier should let you blow right past a lot of low level fights that just don't have the HPs to tank a hit like that. Healer with shellga since physical attacks tend to not be as scary, but adjust as needed. Shuffle in others as needed. Not getting enough healing? Substitute in Sabin for an extra heal and defense boost to reduce strain taking out either Squall or Zidane depending on how they are performing for that fight. Boss absorbs wind? Cloud with Attack Break in for Zidane with minimal loss.
This gives a pretty solid base though to shuffle from is the idea. I would be comfortable with that team at 99 to go against a generic U++ so you are working from a great base is the good news. As you get further though fights will get weird in what they demand. There are some realm dungeons that are ranged only, for example. I would also keep in mind that OSBs are a really new concept comparatively when reading the forums. Current content is not broken, or even changed much by their presence. They can completely wreck older dungeon shit though to a hysterical degree. Just laughably broken for a lot of stuff that was in now way intended to take a huge hit.
Edit: It appears we do not have a stacking guide in the intro, so a quick overview. The basic rule of thumb is if a buff affects identical stats it will not stack. So the previously mentioned Steal Power gives a character a buff to attack. Pilot's steel also applies an attack buff so they do not stack. The one most recently applies has priority. However if you were to use Dark Bargain it would give you a +30% attack buff and a -30% defense penalty. This does stack with Pilot's Steel because it affects a different set of stats. To my knowledge there is only one SB that defies this convention and it really sucks. The same general rule applies to debuffs as well which is why you can have Full Break and Attack Breakdown, but not Attack Breakdown and Steal Power.
Defense and resistance ignore this rule largely. Protectga, which affects only defense, will stack with Sabin's Soul Spiral which also buffs only defense. Sentinel and a few other effects also stack. For the ideal set of rule here you will have to refer to the PDF which is quite helpful. The short version is you can get shellga/protectga + one SB enhancement + one from abilities that lure attacks to you.
It is also important to not that buffs and debuffs typically stack multiplicatively. So if you have 2 Pilot's Steel, and Dark Bargain active you would a 95% buff to your attack! This also applies to debuffs and is one of the reasons the difference between break and breakdown is not as pronounced as one would hope. (The other issue is a lot of top end content "resists" break effects and consequently everything is cut in half from the start). There is an absolute cap on both. I believe Boss's can't be reduced below half stats, and stats cannot exceed 150% increase (2.5 multiplier). There is also attack and magic softcaps, but that is probably not relevant just yet. All of this also applies to RMs that increase stats for when that becomes more relevant.
Edit2: I am generally unaware of Warrior of Light's combat abilities so throw him in the above when he would be a better pick. Between his C1, Protectga, Wall, and maybe Draw Fire you should achieve some truly stupid levels of defense on him.
Every weakness? Even Dark?
I mean, I suppose there's Drainga as an option, but that's not exactly ideal, though I guess it works if you're just using it for meter build.
Is the Torment CM possible with these soulbreaks plus:
Josef's Medica SSB
Firion's SSB
Maria's SSB
Guy's imperil Earth
I'm not sure what I'd RW, Wall seemed pretty necessary when I beat it with my A team.
A crazy person has done it with literally just Guy's imperil Earth. With Guy's imperil, Maria's BSB, Gordon's ATK/MAG buff, and Josef's medica, you really couldn't ask for too much more (Minwu gets the last spot, of course). You've got some options for what to RW: Wall is obviously a fine choice, but you could also try Sheepsong, Divine Guardian, or Minwu BSB.
Clear trash with the craftable 4* Break ability and Maria's BSB. If you get a round with an ogre mage, consider hitting it with Magic Break(down) and just sitting there under Shellga and Defend to build up meter. Have your team Defend going into the boss round so you don't get hurt too bad by the opening Thunderbolt. Use mostly the single target command with Maria, starting with the thunder guy, so you don't eat too many counters from the ice guy.
Don't forget your fire/ice/lit resist accessories. Probably put everyone in the back row even though you are running multiple physical characters - Maria BSB does plenty of damage, you just need to not die, and taking half damage from Boulders helps a lot.
Guy's Imperil Earth before Imperils stacked, even.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDVkijKF6Ic
Also, Maria's SSB is just a shitty faithga. Her BSB makes it almost easy mode.
Any chance we can get an OP update for USBs, and stacking info? I think with as many buffs as a new player is likely to encounter it would be useful. Also request to include the C1, C2 acronyms with the BSB info cause that could be super confusing.
I don't know what you're on about, the OP has always included that information. Pay no attention to the edits behind the curtain.
Inquisitor77: Rius, you are Sisyphus and melee Wizard is your boulder
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I never claimed she had GOOD options for every element (Dark being the only one requiring a non-physical ability), but she can hit every weakness, and if you're bringing her for Indomitable Blade you want to make sure that stays up 100% of the time. Others that can hit every weakness include Tyro (of course), Fujin and Onion Knight. There are likely others of course, but most casters can't hit Wind and most physical characters can't hit Dark.
and they are not.
come onnnn dena gimme some time to agonize over where to spend my mythril
Or maybe that's just my mind focusing on what I do know about, namely the FFVI banner and the luckies.
All in on Celes's OSB.
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.
Gamble on Setzer's BSB.
Celes's OSB is shiny, but I think that Runic uptime is a more important use of meter for her.
How can you forget THE THUNDER GOD?
Also, around 98% of summoners since that covers everything but bio.
Really though, being able to hit every element but dark is just a weird quirk of there being no dark element in spellblades. Having even just spellblade 3 gives you coverage of everything but holy, dark, and earth. Although similar goes for holy. Only knights, white mages, and summoners can hit that.
Last anniversary, the datamined banner ended up changed slightly. Yuna's (worse) SSB was replaced with her SB.
That was... kind of a surprise.
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.
I miss the pickup banners Japan got. We're getting the dungeon lucky draws instead, which are probably a bit better pools in general (rather than stuff like... ice, debuff, buff, COMBAT, etc), but it remains to be seen whether we're going to start getting those draws for free (one time) like they've been recently. Probably another case of RIOT if we don't.
I'd probably end up not pulling at all with indecision paralysis, or maybe just toss some on whatever TG Cid OSB was on.
Firion's BSB is a hell of a drug, as is Gordon's Goddess Bell.
Also, used his Atk/Mag boost (had to use Wrath and got Goddess Bell up right around halfway through the fight) along with RWing Wall since I have Josef's hastega, so the most damaging thing he did was on his third turn. Both scripted Starfalls were blinked away, and a third non-scripted one did a piddling 1k damage all around.
He was being a huge ass with countering my attempts to Banishing Blade haste by reapplying haste. He also slowed Josef early on, and J-monk was basically no longer an entity in the fight at that point.
The image with the banner times already leaked, so there certainly are 5 banners happening. What is in them, not so much tho.
Technically, it just says "Second Anniversary Draw" for 3/24 to 4/4.
It'd be pretty funny/rage inducing if they did something super wacky with it, like every day a different realm themed banner.
Also, U++ downed. Easy peasy with the mage squad and using OK BSB to counter the slows. Well, Exdeath was at like 3 seconds left on the Memento Mori counter, but easy as far as taking damage goes.