Rafa USB: Self en-lightning, party +30% MAG and Haste and Quick Magic Attacks 3. It's the same as Ley Lines but with the added en-lightning. This is a great mage hastega, especially against things that are neutral or better vs lightning, but there are a variety of other hastegas that are nearly as good (Ley Lines, Sheepsong, Vessel of Fate). Malak USB: Instant lit/non damage and Full Breakdown, and party magic blink. Magic blinks are pretty good (especially instant), but I'm not that thrilled by Full Breakdown. This is not especially great at either DPS or support, I'd usually rather have something that was very good at one or the other. Rafa BSB: Lightning/non damage with party +30% MAG/RES. C1 deals damage and moderately heals one party member, C2 has an extra MAG buff. Very solid, is comparable to Raines BSB. Malak BSB: Lit/dark damage with -40% MAG/RES. Quick casting commands. It's a dual break. Meliadoul BSB: Earth/holy damage with -50% ATK/DEF. C1 is Power Breakdown, C2 is -20% ATK/MAG. This is quite a bit of ATK breaking all in one place, just add a Full Break from any support character and laugh at physical-only bosses. Rafa LMR: 35% to gain Quick Action 1 after any lightning attack. Not much better than her legend dive LMs for DPS, but getting faster C1s for the off-healing could be pretty cool, especially in conjunction with the LM2 for doublecasts. Malak LMR: Auto en-lightning. Seems pretty good if you're trying to close fights quickly. Meliadoul SSB: Imperil earth. Orlandu SSB: Instant holy/lit damage with self Instant Actions 2. Usually you'd rather use his OSB, but if you have this and not that, it's far from useless - this is pretty high DPS. Ovelia SSB1: Party Curaga plus Magic Blink is still pretty useful, though there are Ultras that do that with a couple bonuses. Malak SSB: Fire/dark damage with -40% ATK/RES. It's a dual break.
Banner 2: September 17
Delita USB: Holy/fire/ice/lit damage with self [+30% ATK/+25% RES/50% crit rate] and Instant Action 2. Hits four elements, and reasonably hard; it's not lolWTF like some other recent USBs though (Edge/Shadow). Ovelia USB: Instant party Curaga, +100% RES, and Last Stand. Pretty good! Delita BSB: Holy/fire/lice/lit damage with bonus crit damage. Commands also hit those elements and have bonus crit damage. Desperately needs a crit rate buff from somewhere; if you have one, it's a decent option for elemental coverage. Ovelia BSB:Holy MND staff. Holy/non damage, party Cura, self +30% MND. Instant Curaja and medica commands. It's a pretty basic healer burst that does the job, but there are a variety of others that are better. Mustadio BSB: Damage and -40% ATK/MAG. Commands for Armor Breakdown and Instant Machinist Attacks 2. Remarkably good DPS potential for something with an ATK/MAG dual break. Delita LMR: +2% ATK per Spellblade hit, up to +34%. Better after spellblades get buffed to 4 hits, but probably not a huge upgrade over his other LMs. Ovelia LMR: 25% dualcast white. If Ovelia is your gal, you absolutely want this because casting White magic is literally all she does, and her LM2 is not great (reduce elemental damage taken by Ovelia). Ramza SSB1: It's Shout (party haste and +50% ATK)! It's still great. Mustadio SSB2: It's a pentabreak. Rafa SSB: Fire/non damage with party haste and self Quick Actions 2. Not a convenient form factor for hastega. Delita SSB:Lightning sword! Damage and -50% ATK. Junky SB, interesting stat stick.
Overall thoughts, future banners, etc.
These banners feel like a repeat of the last event. Banner 1 has a bunch of dual breaks and a couple party buffs, which could be attractive if you're in the market for those. Banner 2 doesn't have much of particular note, other than I guess Delita's tetra-elemental stuff.
Next T event is in about 10 weeks. Banner 1 has Agrias USB/BSB/LMR, Marche USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza USB/BSB2/LMR, and Meliadoul BSB. Banner 2 has Gaffgarion USB/BSB/LMR, Ovelia USB/LMR, Rapha USB/BSB, Montblanc BSB/LMR, and Mustadio BSB. FINALLY Agrias makes her triumphant return after being missing for multiple events, with a pretty cool Ultra (it's an upgraded Cleansing Strike). Marche USB is pretty nuts, dealing solid damage on its own but also granting High Quickcast to front row allies whenever Marche uses a Knight ability for a great party DPS increase. Ramza BSB2 is an upgrade to Shout, adding en-holy and some burst commands for Ramza to use if you get tired of breakdowns. It's a pretty good banner overall for physical teams.
But wait, there's more! The next-next T event is only another 10 weeks after that (20 weeks from now). Banner 1 has Orlandu USB/OSB/BSB/LMR, Alma USB/BSB/LMR, Marche USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza BSB2/LMR, and Gaffgarion BSB. Banner 2 has Mustadio USB/BSB/LMR, Meliadoul USB/BSB/LMR, Agrias USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza USB, Montblanc BSB/LMR, and Gaffgarion LMR. If you wait even longer, you can also try for crazy Orlandu stuff while you're shooting for Agrias/Marche/Ramza!
Hard for me to recommend pulling on either banner for this event. Stay strong, the festival is only a couple weeks away and its banners should be ridiculous. If not, the next two Tactics events have very strong banners and you wouldn't go wrong spending there.
Upcoming event schedule:
T - VI (Shadow/Setzer USBs) - 30th Anniversary Fest! - Dissidia villains (Gabranth USB/Garland Chain) - II (Minwu/Leon USBs) - III (Refia USB/Ingus Chain) - XV (Prompto USB) - VIII (Laguna/Edea/Zell USBs, Kiros and Ward) - VII (Sephiroth/Reno/Cid USBs, Rude and Elena) - IV (Ceodore/Kain/Rydia/Golbez USBs)
Does a healer BSB that includes a WHM holy attack in the initial burst count as offensive magic for the purposes of getting the benefit of stuff like Allegro Con Moto?
Edit:
Hahahaha! Tested it, and it seems like the answer is "yes"!
Pfft. You get two turns of them doing just ST weak attacks. That's more than enough time to drop a Thunder God'ed Dusk's Decree and two Tritochs to chunk them all for like 80% of their HP, if not more. More damage!
But more seriously, Dusk's Decree is the light for that battle. Those things are flimsy as fuck.
I don't typically look at Ultimate+ CMs from the perspective of "what's the best damage RW for this situation", and it's mostly because I'm too lazy to curate my RW list. I like to do them with a utility or defense RW and whatever I've got lying around in-realm
I usually do too, because I have the utility stuff sitting around.
But you only need to do ~80k AoE here.
Just like this FFT one where you only need to do 93k to a single target. Just blow it the fuck up when you barely need to do any damage.
I'm cooling it on Tactics stuff until Ramza BSB2 shows up, I think
I'm waiting on Orlandeau USB, personally.
Comparing the two banners, the TGCid one is actually significantly worse for me. Basically the entirety of Alma's relic set is a wash. Even if I had all of them, she wouldn't crack my top four healers, which leaves just CMs, and I've already got Ovelia's very strong MBlink + Curaga (which is literally just what Alma's BSB is, plus burst mode). And I already have TGCid's OSB and Gaff's (useless) BSB. So that right there is two dupes, and four things I don't particularly want.
Whereas the earlier banner trades Alma for Agrias's also very powerful stuff, and she's already my prime knight. And ditches Gaff's stupid old dark BSB for a hybrid break one in Meliadoul in a relatively rare element (earth/holy) with actually useful commands. And has both of Ramza's amazing utility relics (USB and Chant). Leaving aside the stuff duplicated across the two of them, it's basically TGCid's USB vs five other relics. Chase the banner, not the relic!
Kefka, Ovelia, Mog, Rapha, and Ashe turns out to be a pretty hilarious team. Always be healing, no matter what else you're doing. And do it faster, because you're attacking.
I want Ovelia's LMR, but the rest of that banner is so meh, and I don't have the mythril to pull on it and still have enough for the triple luckies.
I'm cooling it on Tactics stuff until Ramza BSB2 shows up, I think
I'm waiting on Orlandeau USB, personally.
Comparing the two banners, the TGCid one is actually significantly worse for me. Basically the entirety of Alma's relic set is a wash. Even if I had all of them, she wouldn't crack my top four healers, which leaves just CMs, and I've already got Ovelia's very strong MBlink + Curaga (which is literally just what Alma's BSB is, plus burst mode). And I already have TGCid's OSB and Gaff's (useless) BSB. So that right there is two dupes, and four things I don't particularly want.
Whereas the earlier banner trades Alma for Agrias's also very powerful stuff, and she's already my prime knight. And ditches Gaff's stupid old dark BSB for a hybrid break one in Meliadoul in a relatively rare element (earth/holy) with actually useful commands. And has both of Ramza's amazing utility relics (USB and Chant). Leaving aside the stuff duplicated across the two of them, it's basically TGCid's USB vs five other relics. Chase the banner, not the relic!
Alma's USB is very nearly everything I'd want for a "first round cast SB" in any given magicite dungeon. Given a choice, I'd drop reraise for last stand, but hey, may help with that Shadow Dragon fight. Cid's USB is amazing. Ramza's BSB2 is stupidly great and saves me a wrath slot, so I can bring affliction break AND entrust on Ramza. The LM's are all above average power.
I already have Ramza's Shout, Chant, and History's Truth, so I may be in a bit of a different place than you, but I love that banner. So. Much.
Ramza's LMR also has the potential to be pretty clutch, as being the first out the gate in every fight can be a huge deal. Shout before any other actions, or drop a History's Truth to give everyone first round instacast.
Ramza: Affliction Break/Full Break; Shout/Chant/anything ; TGCidmode
Edge: Quick hit/Sapphire Shot; Eblan doppelganger x3; start with proshellhastega
TGCid: Saint Cross/Powerchain; SSB/BSBx2; 30% weakness
Rosa: shellga/curaja; shared medica; heal much more
Kain: Omega Drive/Lighting Dive; BSBx3; much more spear
RW: Cloud USB; Magicite: Hydra
I'd gotten the 1CM previously, but it made me wonder if I could swing this, and turns out I could!
Basically, Eblan Doppelganger is the best healing, but sometimes you need a tad more breathing room (hence shellga and shared medica). Otherwise, buff and hit. Once hydra had the imperil lightning, Kain's BSB entry was doing over 100k to both enemies. His third BSB entry killed Shadow dragon. I'd done TGCid's SSB to make his next two BSB entries instantaneous. Once they were done, it left the boss with a tad life left - everyone's remaining abilities/TGCid's CMD1 took care of it.
Trash wasn't good or bad. Didn't eat a lot of Paralyzes, and basically just turtled until my two BSBs were online, and then Golbez killed everything. Rebuffed in Round 4, then tried the boss fight.
With Porom and Rydia calling RW Raines, and Golbez his own BSB, I can just get Shadow Dragon down before Shadow Fang. After that I just run out of gas. Even with two healers, if I mess up the timing, two of any magic attack kills anyone and everyone, and it's too much damage too close together in very weak. Eventually it's just Golbez attacking with Dark magic, which the boss resists. Uugh, I have zero physical anything for this realm.
Oof, no non-elemental fallback on Golbez's commands is pretty rough. Maybe try a Chain Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga instead of Gaia Cross, and let the Sentinel effect from the burst entry handle the tanking for the trash?
Depending on how crucial you feel Enkidu's medica is when you have two medicas of your own, maybe try Mom Bomb to make Meltdown punchier?
Maybe drop Maduin for Chain Firaga/Thundaga/Blizzaga as well, for a little extra push to close it out.
Fry on
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Oof, no non-elemental fallback on Golbez's commands is pretty rough. Maybe try a Chain Firaga/Blizzaga/Thundaga instead of Gaia Cross, and let the Sentinel effect from the burst entry handle the tanking for the trash?
Depending on how crucial you feel Enkidu's medica is when you have two medicas of your own, maybe try Mom Bomb to make Meltdown punchier?
Maybe drop Maduin for Chain Firaga/Thundaga/Blizzaga as well, for a little extra push to close it out.
I don't have a Mom Bomb, sadly. I guess that's a worthwhile project, except killing Liquid Flame again is going to be a huge PITA. Going to rejigger everything else like you said.
Also fun not fun fact! Golbez's Burst commands are split between SUM and BLK, and his abilities obviously won't be Dark elemental, so there's no one good RM for him to use. I'm going with Reno's +BLK if you have a Rod equipped, for now.
E: Swapping the last two people from Paralyze to elemental resist as well.
Someone tell me why I shouldn't pull on UltraEdge 1 when tonight's event's mythril brings me up to 50.
You want to be sure you have mythril on hand for lucky draws, in case the Magic Pots don't show up until later. Also, festival banners are right there and they're probably going to be way awesome.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Someone tell me why I shouldn't pull on UltraEdge 1 when tonight's event's mythril brings me up to 50.
You need to make sure you have enough mythril for fest luckies, and the percentage of items on that banner that are actually strong is probably pretty low compared to fest banners.
I kinda want to pull too, because I'm finding my IV stuff a tad thin right now, but...well...I've only got a bit over 100 mythril right now, no way I'm dropping that number further.
I'd like to pull on these but they don't even look like they'll really help for the torment cms. the big power relics don't really do much for you against golbez. And the bottom is just so mediocre.
Caught up on all FF4 event content! Still need to do the Torment stages, but I'm glad I got that all out of the way. Also have to do this week's six Magicites.
Caught up on everything except a few nightmares that I didn't master yet. I don't know when I'll ever get the motivation to deal with those. Nice to hit the monthly magicite goal today and get 3 mythril for 20 clears. I wish I had saved more, only around 35 mythril right now with the fest imminent.
Damnit Hydra! I really need another copy of Enlil. Just one more. I could use 2, and will come back for the second later. Just fucking spit one out so I can cycle to Bismarck on my road around the wheel of farming as I approach Living Flame for the rematch of the century. This time featuring an enwater OSB from Bartz.
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BeastehTHAT WOULD NOTKILL DRACULARegistered Userregular
I want the two non-Hydra 3* magicites from beating Hydra
Of course this means I've gotten Hydra 4 times in a row
I want the two non-Hydra 3* magicites from beating Hydra
Of course this means I've gotten Hydra 4 times in a row
I am up to 8 Humbabas, and 5 Hydras with 2 Enlils. 2 99 Humbabas seems like it could be fun, and I would be tempted to run match on over all effectiveness at some point, right now I would just like the one that pumps up Lightning a ton.
Looks like expected return on the free 30 pull during the fest should be 5 total relics on average, including the guaranteed 6*, assuming the usual 14% chance per pull of a rainbow. Someone will go Tyro OSB/30.
This is without any LD for my three DPS characters. I could possibly conceive of getting it under 30 with a concerted effort (legend dives plus magicite leveling), but it's really not worth blowing a bunch of motes on a single magicite dungeon.
Sealion time is around 39 seconds, Golem about 48 seconds. Haven't done the others enough to have a reliable time.
Rydia's RM is doing literally nothing. Those 30% weapon RMs are for physical damage. Swap it for something that boosts her Mag or Blk. Preferably Mag since that's a lot more boost for your buck since you're definitely way under the cap and that'll help both her commands and OSB.
While I agree that Rydia's RM is doing literally nothing, I'm not convinced that giving her a +MAG RM would be the best choice. Assuming she is below 521 MAG before buffs, then using Devotion should give +35% total damage, but also cause her to receive more damage. It's a viable choice if her survival isn't posing a problem. +BLK would buff her Chain Stonega and Quake damage, but do nothing for her OSB which is SUM. My personal preference would be +30% weakness from Tyro's level 99 RM, which is nearly as much damage as Devotion without causing any problems with taking more damage.
For reference, my setup for Rydia for this fight puts her at 488 MAG, so while I could get more damage by using Devotion, the actual benefit would be minor as her OSBs (with aura) are capping at 99999.
-edit- Also consider using Fat Chocobo over Quake, my Rydia slightly breaks 10k damage per Fat Chocobo cast before her earth aura goes up, and an 8.8x/2 has to do better damage than a 5.6x (ignore this if you aren't using Quake at all, which is certainly possible with entrust happening).
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AegisFear My DanceOvershot Toronto, Landed in OttawaRegistered Userregular
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
edited September 2017
Went back in to Liquid Flame, and the rematch wasn't quite so bad? First wipe was to forgetting to recast Wall, per usual, but then it was just a matter of getting a run with no Paralyzes on key people early in the fight.
Killed him in 52.something seconds, which is about 7 seconds faster than last time.
E: Oh and most importantly, Mom Bomb dropped! So let's see if it helps my FF4 Torment 200 CM woes.
Rafa USB: Self en-lightning, party +30% MAG and Haste and Quick Magic Attacks 3. It's the same as Ley Lines but with the added en-lightning. This is a great mage hastega, especially against things that are neutral or better vs lightning, but there are a variety of other hastegas that are nearly as good (Ley Lines, Sheepsong, Vessel of Fate). Malak USB: Instant lit/non damage and Full Breakdown, and party magic blink. Magic blinks are pretty good (especially instant), but I'm not that thrilled by Full Breakdown. This is not especially great at either DPS or support, I'd usually rather have something that was very good at one or the other. Rafa BSB: Lightning/non damage with party +30% MAG/RES. C1 deals damage and moderately heals one party member, C2 has an extra MAG buff. Very solid, is comparable to Raines BSB. Malak BSB: Lit/dark damage with -40% MAG/RES. Quick casting commands. It's a dual break. Meliadoul BSB: Earth/holy damage with -50% ATK/DEF. C1 is Power Breakdown, C2 is -20% ATK/MAG. This is quite a bit of ATK breaking all in one place, just add a Full Break from any support character and laugh at physical-only bosses. Rafa LMR: 35% to gain Quick Action 1 after any lightning attack. Not much better than her legend dive LMs for DPS, but getting faster C1s for the off-healing could be pretty cool, especially in conjunction with the LM2 for doublecasts. Malak LMR: Auto en-lightning. Seems pretty good if you're trying to close fights quickly. Meliadoul SSB: Imperil earth. Orlandu SSB: Instant holy/lit damage with self Instant Actions 2. Usually you'd rather use his OSB, but if you have this and not that, it's far from useless - this is pretty high DPS. Ovelia SSB1: Party Curaga plus Magic Blink is still pretty useful, though there are Ultras that do that with a couple bonuses. Malak SSB: Fire/dark damage with -40% ATK/RES. It's a dual break.
Banner 2: September 17
Delita USB: Holy/fire/ice/lit damage with self [+30% ATK/+25% RES/50% crit rate] and Instant Action 2. Hits four elements, and reasonably hard; it's not lolWTF like some other recent USBs though (Edge/Shadow). Ovelia USB: Instant party Curaga, +100% RES, and Last Stand. Pretty good! Delita BSB: Holy/fire/lice/lit damage with bonus crit damage. Commands also hit those elements and have bonus crit damage. Desperately needs a crit rate buff from somewhere; if you have one, it's a decent option for elemental coverage. Ovelia BSB:Holy MND staff. Holy/non damage, party Cura, self +30% MND. Instant Curaja and medica commands. It's a pretty basic healer burst that does the job, but there are a variety of others that are better. Mustadio BSB: Damage and -40% ATK/MAG. Commands for Armor Breakdown and Instant Machinist Attacks 2. Remarkably good DPS potential for something with an ATK/MAG dual break. Delita LMR: +2% ATK per Spellblade hit, up to +34%. Better after spellblades get buffed to 4 hits, but probably not a huge upgrade over his other LMs. Ovelia LMR: 25% dualcast white. If Ovelia is your gal, you absolutely want this because casting White magic is literally all she does, and her LM2 is not great (reduce elemental damage taken by Ovelia). Ramza SSB1: It's Shout (party haste and +50% ATK)! It's still great. Mustadio SSB2: It's a pentabreak. Rafa SSB: Fire/non damage with party haste and self Quick Actions 2. Not a convenient form factor for hastega. Delita SSB:Lightning sword! Damage and -50% ATK. Junky SB, interesting stat stick.
Overall thoughts, future banners, etc.
These banners feel like a repeat of the last event. Banner 1 has a bunch of dual breaks and a couple party buffs, which could be attractive if you're in the market for those. Banner 2 doesn't have much of particular note, other than I guess Delita's tetra-elemental stuff.
Next T event is in about 10 weeks. Banner 1 has Agrias USB/BSB/LMR, Marche USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza USB/BSB2/LMR, and Meliadoul BSB. Banner 2 has Gaffgarion USB/BSB/LMR, Ovelia USB/LMR, Rapha USB/BSB, Montblanc BSB/LMR, and Mustadio BSB. FINALLY Agrias makes her triumphant return after being missing for multiple events, with a pretty cool Ultra (it's an upgraded Cleansing Strike). Marche USB is pretty nuts, dealing solid damage on its own but also granting High Quickcast to front row allies whenever Marche uses a Knight ability for a great party DPS increase. Ramza BSB2 is an upgrade to Shout, adding en-holy and some burst commands for Ramza to use if you get tired of breakdowns. It's a pretty good banner overall for physical teams.
But wait, there's more! The next-next T event is only another 10 weeks after that (20 weeks from now). Banner 1 has Orlandu USB/OSB/BSB/LMR, Alma USB/BSB/LMR, Marche USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza BSB2/LMR, and Gaffgarion BSB. Banner 2 has Mustadio USB/BSB/LMR, Meliadoul USB/BSB/LMR, Agrias USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza USB, Montblanc BSB/LMR, and Gaffgarion LMR. If you wait even longer, you can also try for crazy Orlandu stuff while you're shooting for Agrias/Marche/Ramza!
Hard for me to recommend pulling on either banner for this event. Stay strong, the festival is only a couple weeks away and its banners should be ridiculous. If not, the next two Tactics events have very strong banners and you wouldn't go wrong spending there.
Upcoming event schedule:
T - VI (Shadow/Setzer USBs) - 30th Anniversary Fest! - Dissidia villains (Gabranth USB/Garland Chain) - II (Minwu/Leon USBs) - III (Refia USB/Ingus Chain) - XV (Prompto USB) - VIII (Laguna/Edea/Zell USBs, Kiros and Ward) - VII (Sephiroth/Reno/Cid USBs, Rude and Elena) - IV (Ceodore/Kain/Rydia/Golbez USBs)
I would just like to point out a little thing that makes banner 1 for FFT special. It has two 6* mage rods on it. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only banner so far to feature two 6* mage weapons that nearly every mage can use. I doubt it is enough to sway anybody's feelings on the overall banner quality, but 6* weapons are incredibly useful in magicite dungeons.
Of course, the datamined content also included translation of the actual banner relics, including Meia's burst, which we're definitely not getting. I'm interested in seeing if they're going to actually feed us the CSBs we're due too.
Magicite drops are the best argument for drop inspectors.
I had, no joke, 13 Humbaba "drops" in a row. I did the first 4 and somewhere in the string of inspected drops was like "wait, this can't be right." It was right.
Of course, the datamined content also included translation of the actual banner relics, including Meia's burst, which we're definitely not getting. I'm interested in seeing if they're going to actually feed us the CSBs we're due too.
Dang, those banners are NUTS. Definitely gonna pull on at least 2 and 3. Probably 4, too, if I've got the budget for it.
EDIT: Oh, wait, there's a note that they might not be real. Dang.
Posts
Banner 1: September 14
Malak USB: Instant lit/non damage and Full Breakdown, and party magic blink. Magic blinks are pretty good (especially instant), but I'm not that thrilled by Full Breakdown. This is not especially great at either DPS or support, I'd usually rather have something that was very good at one or the other.
Rafa BSB: Lightning/non damage with party +30% MAG/RES. C1 deals damage and moderately heals one party member, C2 has an extra MAG buff. Very solid, is comparable to Raines BSB.
Malak BSB: Lit/dark damage with -40% MAG/RES. Quick casting commands. It's a dual break.
Meliadoul BSB: Earth/holy damage with -50% ATK/DEF. C1 is Power Breakdown, C2 is -20% ATK/MAG. This is quite a bit of ATK breaking all in one place, just add a Full Break from any support character and laugh at physical-only bosses.
Rafa LMR: 35% to gain Quick Action 1 after any lightning attack. Not much better than her legend dive LMs for DPS, but getting faster C1s for the off-healing could be pretty cool, especially in conjunction with the LM2 for doublecasts.
Malak LMR: Auto en-lightning. Seems pretty good if you're trying to close fights quickly.
Meliadoul SSB: Imperil earth.
Orlandu SSB: Instant holy/lit damage with self Instant Actions 2. Usually you'd rather use his OSB, but if you have this and not that, it's far from useless - this is pretty high DPS.
Ovelia SSB1: Party Curaga plus Magic Blink is still pretty useful, though there are Ultras that do that with a couple bonuses.
Malak SSB: Fire/dark damage with -40% ATK/RES. It's a dual break.
Banner 2: September 17
Ovelia USB: Instant party Curaga, +100% RES, and Last Stand. Pretty good!
Delita BSB: Holy/fire/lice/lit damage with bonus crit damage. Commands also hit those elements and have bonus crit damage. Desperately needs a crit rate buff from somewhere; if you have one, it's a decent option for elemental coverage.
Ovelia BSB: Holy MND staff. Holy/non damage, party Cura, self +30% MND. Instant Curaja and medica commands. It's a pretty basic healer burst that does the job, but there are a variety of others that are better.
Mustadio BSB: Damage and -40% ATK/MAG. Commands for Armor Breakdown and Instant Machinist Attacks 2. Remarkably good DPS potential for something with an ATK/MAG dual break.
Delita LMR: +2% ATK per Spellblade hit, up to +34%. Better after spellblades get buffed to 4 hits, but probably not a huge upgrade over his other LMs.
Ovelia LMR: 25% dualcast white. If Ovelia is your gal, you absolutely want this because casting White magic is literally all she does, and her LM2 is not great (reduce elemental damage taken by Ovelia).
Ramza SSB1: It's Shout (party haste and +50% ATK)! It's still great.
Mustadio SSB2: It's a pentabreak.
Rafa SSB: Fire/non damage with party haste and self Quick Actions 2. Not a convenient form factor for hastega.
Delita SSB: Lightning sword! Damage and -50% ATK. Junky SB, interesting stat stick.
Overall thoughts, future banners, etc.
Next T event is in about 10 weeks. Banner 1 has Agrias USB/BSB/LMR, Marche USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza USB/BSB2/LMR, and Meliadoul BSB. Banner 2 has Gaffgarion USB/BSB/LMR, Ovelia USB/LMR, Rapha USB/BSB, Montblanc BSB/LMR, and Mustadio BSB. FINALLY Agrias makes her triumphant return after being missing for multiple events, with a pretty cool Ultra (it's an upgraded Cleansing Strike). Marche USB is pretty nuts, dealing solid damage on its own but also granting High Quickcast to front row allies whenever Marche uses a Knight ability for a great party DPS increase. Ramza BSB2 is an upgrade to Shout, adding en-holy and some burst commands for Ramza to use if you get tired of breakdowns. It's a pretty good banner overall for physical teams.
But wait, there's more! The next-next T event is only another 10 weeks after that (20 weeks from now). Banner 1 has Orlandu USB/OSB/BSB/LMR, Alma USB/BSB/LMR, Marche USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza BSB2/LMR, and Gaffgarion BSB. Banner 2 has Mustadio USB/BSB/LMR, Meliadoul USB/BSB/LMR, Agrias USB/BSB/LMR, Ramza USB, Montblanc BSB/LMR, and Gaffgarion LMR. If you wait even longer, you can also try for crazy Orlandu stuff while you're shooting for Agrias/Marche/Ramza!
Hard for me to recommend pulling on either banner for this event. Stay strong, the festival is only a couple weeks away and its banners should be ridiculous. If not, the next two Tactics events have very strong banners and you wouldn't go wrong spending there.
Upcoming event schedule:
T - VI (Shadow/Setzer USBs) - 30th Anniversary Fest! - Dissidia villains (Gabranth USB/Garland Chain) - II (Minwu/Leon USBs) - III (Refia USB/Ingus Chain) - XV (Prompto USB) - VIII (Laguna/Edea/Zell USBs, Kiros and Ward) - VII (Sephiroth/Reno/Cid USBs, Rude and Elena) - IV (Ceodore/Kain/Rydia/Golbez USBs)
Alternate opinions:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/6xoen2/relic_discussion_sworn_by_steel_a_nofly_zone_fft/
Some of my other recent banner reviews:
V: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/38191547#Comment_38191547
XI: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/38156974/#Comment_38156974
XV: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/38118392#Comment_38118392
Edit:
Hahahaha! Tested it, and it seems like the answer is "yes"!
BRB, making a Kefka/Ovelia team.
I usually do too, because I have the utility stuff sitting around.
But you only need to do ~80k AoE here.
Just like this FFT one where you only need to do 93k to a single target. Just blow it the fuck up when you barely need to do any damage.
I'm waiting on Orlandeau USB, personally.
Comparing the two banners, the TGCid one is actually significantly worse for me. Basically the entirety of Alma's relic set is a wash. Even if I had all of them, she wouldn't crack my top four healers, which leaves just CMs, and I've already got Ovelia's very strong MBlink + Curaga (which is literally just what Alma's BSB is, plus burst mode). And I already have TGCid's OSB and Gaff's (useless) BSB. So that right there is two dupes, and four things I don't particularly want.
Whereas the earlier banner trades Alma for Agrias's also very powerful stuff, and she's already my prime knight. And ditches Gaff's stupid old dark BSB for a hybrid break one in Meliadoul in a relatively rare element (earth/holy) with actually useful commands. And has both of Ramza's amazing utility relics (USB and Chant). Leaving aside the stuff duplicated across the two of them, it's basically TGCid's USB vs five other relics. Chase the banner, not the relic!
I want Ovelia's LMR, but the rest of that banner is so meh, and I don't have the mythril to pull on it and still have enough for the triple luckies.
Alma's USB is very nearly everything I'd want for a "first round cast SB" in any given magicite dungeon. Given a choice, I'd drop reraise for last stand, but hey, may help with that Shadow Dragon fight. Cid's USB is amazing. Ramza's BSB2 is stupidly great and saves me a wrath slot, so I can bring affliction break AND entrust on Ramza. The LM's are all above average power.
I already have Ramza's Shout, Chant, and History's Truth, so I may be in a bit of a different place than you, but I love that banner. So. Much.
Team:
Ramza: Affliction Break/Full Break; Shout/Chant/anything ; TGCidmode
Edge: Quick hit/Sapphire Shot; Eblan doppelganger x3; start with proshellhastega
TGCid: Saint Cross/Powerchain; SSB/BSBx2; 30% weakness
Rosa: shellga/curaja; shared medica; heal much more
Kain: Omega Drive/Lighting Dive; BSBx3; much more spear
RW: Cloud USB; Magicite: Hydra
I'd gotten the 1CM previously, but it made me wonder if I could swing this, and turns out I could!
Basically, Eblan Doppelganger is the best healing, but sometimes you need a tad more breathing room (hence shellga and shared medica). Otherwise, buff and hit. Once hydra had the imperil lightning, Kain's BSB entry was doing over 100k to both enemies. His third BSB entry killed Shadow dragon. I'd done TGCid's SSB to make his next two BSB entries instantaneous. Once they were done, it left the boss with a tad life left - everyone's remaining abilities/TGCid's CMD1 took care of it.
FF4 D200 Torment is proving to be terrible, in comparison. I'm going to need to dig a bit deeper for this one. So far:
Edward: Full Break/Magic Breakdown (Hastemarch, MAG/MND buff) Ace Striker
Golbez: Meltdown/Gaia Cross (BSB) +DMG
Rydia: Alexandor/Maduin (No SB) +DMG
Porom: Ultra Cure/Protectga (Hastega + Medica) Mako Might
Rosa: Wrath/Shellga (BSB) Battleforged
RW: Raines BSB
Magicite: Enkidu
Trash wasn't good or bad. Didn't eat a lot of Paralyzes, and basically just turtled until my two BSBs were online, and then Golbez killed everything. Rebuffed in Round 4, then tried the boss fight.
With Porom and Rydia calling RW Raines, and Golbez his own BSB, I can just get Shadow Dragon down before Shadow Fang. After that I just run out of gas. Even with two healers, if I mess up the timing, two of any magic attack kills anyone and everyone, and it's too much damage too close together in very weak. Eventually it's just Golbez attacking with Dark magic, which the boss resists. Uugh, I have zero physical anything for this realm.
Depending on how crucial you feel Enkidu's medica is when you have two medicas of your own, maybe try Mom Bomb to make Meltdown punchier?
Maybe drop Maduin for Chain Firaga/Thundaga/Blizzaga as well, for a little extra push to close it out.
I don't have a Mom Bomb, sadly. I guess that's a worthwhile project, except killing Liquid Flame again is going to be a huge PITA. Going to rejigger everything else like you said.
Also fun not fun fact! Golbez's Burst commands are split between SUM and BLK, and his abilities obviously won't be Dark elemental, so there's no one good RM for him to use. I'm going with Reno's +BLK if you have a Rod equipped, for now.
E: Swapping the last two people from Paralyze to elemental resist as well.
You want to be sure you have mythril on hand for lucky draws, in case the Magic Pots don't show up until later. Also, festival banners are right there and they're probably going to be way awesome.
Banners with FOUR USBs and LITERALLY ALL BURSTS are coming. Plus the most ridiculous Lucky Draws to date next week.
The Kefka/Ashe team is proving hilarious. They killed the Calcabrinas before Ashe even got a bar.
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.
...Assuming they don't go the way of the OSB draw.
Exdeath would be proud.
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.
Festival luckies don't fail me now.
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.
Of course this means I've gotten Hydra 4 times in a row
I am up to 8 Humbabas, and 5 Hydras with 2 Enlils. 2 99 Humbabas seems like it could be fun, and I would be tempted to run match on over all effectiveness at some point, right now I would just like the one that pumps up Lightning a ton.
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.
While I agree that Rydia's RM is doing literally nothing, I'm not convinced that giving her a +MAG RM would be the best choice. Assuming she is below 521 MAG before buffs, then using Devotion should give +35% total damage, but also cause her to receive more damage. It's a viable choice if her survival isn't posing a problem. +BLK would buff her Chain Stonega and Quake damage, but do nothing for her OSB which is SUM. My personal preference would be +30% weakness from Tyro's level 99 RM, which is nearly as much damage as Devotion without causing any problems with taking more damage.
For reference, my setup for Rydia for this fight puts her at 488 MAG, so while I could get more damage by using Devotion, the actual benefit would be minor as her OSBs (with aura) are capping at 99999.
-edit- Also consider using Fat Chocobo over Quake, my Rydia slightly breaks 10k damage per Fat Chocobo cast before her earth aura goes up, and an 8.8x/2 has to do better damage than a 5.6x (ignore this if you aren't using Quake at all, which is certainly possible with entrust happening).
I don't know what you're talking abou...
Salamander - 99
Salamander - 65
Liquid Flame - 99
Mom Bomb - 65
Bismarck - 99
Enki - 99
Enki - 50
Bottomswell - 50
Wing Raptor - 80
Fenrir - 50
Enkidu - 50
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Killed him in 52.something seconds, which is about 7 seconds faster than last time.
E: Oh and most importantly, Mom Bomb dropped! So let's see if it helps my FF4 Torment 200 CM woes.
I would just like to point out a little thing that makes banner 1 for FFT special. It has two 6* mage rods on it. To the best of my knowledge, it is the only banner so far to feature two 6* mage weapons that nearly every mage can use. I doubt it is enough to sway anybody's feelings on the overall banner quality, but 6* weapons are incredibly useful in magicite dungeons.
I don't remember seeing them anywhere in the datamined content.
https://www.ffrkcentral.com/pages/datamined/20170824-game-update
https://www.reddit.com/live/zhnprf52drvl
Of course, the datamined content also included translation of the actual banner relics, including Meia's burst, which we're definitely not getting. I'm interested in seeing if they're going to actually feed us the CSBs we're due too.
I had, no joke, 13 Humbaba "drops" in a row. I did the first 4 and somewhere in the string of inspected drops was like "wait, this can't be right." It was right.
Dang, those banners are NUTS. Definitely gonna pull on at least 2 and 3. Probably 4, too, if I've got the budget for it.
EDIT: Oh, wait, there's a note that they might not be real. Dang.