Firion USB:6* Holy sword. En-holy. Holy/non damage and EX Loyal Retainer (+30% ATK, 2x cast speed that gets faster with each attack used during the duration, up to 6.5x cast speed). Reasonable EX mode, but Firion can't take advantage of en-holy other than via SBs, which is a big letdown. Luneth USB: En-wind. Wind/non damage, High Quickcast 1, and EX Gale (+30% ATK, gain High Quickcast 1 after using Wind attack). At the moment, Luneth's options for wind are SBs, Sky High, and Tornado Strike; eventually we'll get a new 5* Dragoon wind jump. Working with jumps can be aggravating for speedruns, but for regular use this is pretty good if you can hone Sky High. Warrior of Light USB:6* Holy sword. En-holy. Holy/non damage and EX Light Bless (+100% DEF, up to +30% Knight damage based on number of Knight abilities used). One of the weaker DPS EX modes: why can't it just start at full value like everyone else's? Onion OSB: It's an OSB. Non-elemental only (boo), but option-selects between physical and magical. Onion BSB: Party +30% ATK/MAG and haste. C1 is physical dmg and Instant Physical Attack 1, C2 is magical dmg and Instant Magic Attack 1. Still great! Firion BSB:Holy sword. Instant damage and party Magic Blink. C1 builds up to 8 attacks with repeated use, but you probably just want to use C2 that grants Instant Action 1. Still great! Desch BSB: En-lightning. C2 boosts MAG, C1 grants Quick Magic Attacks 1. Very good magic DPS. Leila BSB: En-bio. C2 mugs ATK/MND which is weird, but sure why not. Rare source of poison damage, decent but not spectacular physical DPS burst. Ingus BSB1: En-earth. Damage and +30% ATK/DEF to Ingus on entry. Commands for Sentinel and Retaliate. Great utility piece when you want Sentinel/Drawtaliate, and pretty solid at dealing Earth damage. Warrior of Light BSB:Holy shield. En-holy. C2 has a small DEF boost, C1 can get up to five hits with enough DEF. It's a pretty decent option for physical holy DPS. Maria BSB: En-earth. Earth/non damage. C2 is a MAG buff, C1 deals up to 6 hits if your MAG is high enough. Still one of the best mage DPS bursts. Emperor BSB:Dark rod. En-wind. Rare source of magic wind damage, otherwise unremarkable. Garland BSB: En-dark. Doesn't have a non-elemental option, and the commands kinda suck. Matoya BSB: Fire/ice/lit damage, boring commands. OK for elemental coverage, otherwise not exciting.
Banner 2: September 26
Terra USB: En-fire. Fire/non damage and EX Magitek (+30% MAG and 2x cast speed) for 25s. Great in conjunction with her OSB, still pretty great by itself with Meltdown or Chain Firaga. Bartz USB: Wind/water/fire/earth damage, with EX Spellblade Barrage (+30% ATK, 2x cast speed, chases Wind/water/fire/earth spellblades). Pretty good DPS, fun, good elemental coverage. Pecil USB:6* Holy sword. En-holy. Damage, 6000 HP stock for Cecil, and EX Paladin (+100% DEF). The massive HP stock is pretty cool if you've set up Cecil to tank. Faris USB1: Pentabreak plus stun. It's ok. Bartz BSB3: En-earth. C2 has an ATK buff, C1 grants +15% Spellblade damage for 2 turns. Pretty good source of Earth damage. Celes BSB2: Holy/ice damage, self +35% ATK/DEF and GRAND CROSS (absorb enemy white/black magic). C2 has an ATK buff, C1 grants +15 Spellblade Damage for 2 actions. Pretty good DPS, and occasionally Grand Cross will just break a fight for you. Mog BSB: Party haste and +30% MAG/MND. C1 is instant Curaga + regen, C2 is Magic Breakdown. Great mage team buff. Relm BSB: Party Cura and Last Stand. C1 is instant Curaja, C2 is standard medica. The Last Stand on this feels like cheating to me, I've been getting good use out of this the last few months. Ceodore BSB: Damage and party 40% HP medica. C1 is damage and ally small heal, C2 is AOE damage and ally Esuna. Lifesiphonable medica is sometimes interesting, and this has some utility on the commands. Rosa BSB: AOE holy damage and party Curaga. C1 is Curaja + Magic Blink, C2 is standard medica. Does the job. Rydia BSB: En-earth. Commands are a little boring, but they are Summon type which is occasionally relevant. Golbez BSB:Dark rod. Dark/non damage, and Golbez gets +30% MAG and Sentinel. C1 turns on Summon mode and grants a 30% HP bubble to Golbez, C2 deals Dark damage (with lifedrain if summon mode is on). Interesting as a mage burst with Sentinel. Locke BSB1: Imperil fire. C1 mugs ATK/MAG for that extra little bit of mitigation. Gogo V BSB:Water rod. En-water. C2 is standard mage command, C1 copies the last ability used by an ally and becomes faster with repeated use. Seems interesting, but I still haven't seen anyone do anything especially cool with it.
Banner 3: September 28
Cloud USB: Wind/dark damage, with EX Soldier (+30% physical damage, Break Damage Limit) and Cross Slash (100% crit chance). You've heard about this, right? A defining physical damage SB. Zidane USB: Wind/non damage, Imperil Wind, and EX: Master Thief (chase Thief abilities with an extra hit, with a 35% chance for Minor Imperil Wind). On the surface this isn't that impressive, but it could be silly in conjunction with Zidane's Legend Dive, as he gets a Trance mode that grants instant cast for Thief abilities. Squall USB: Ice/non damage, High Quick Cast 2, and EX: SeeD (after every second Spellblade action, do a bonus AOE ice/non attack). The bonus attacks aren't so very punchy, usually you'll do about as well with any random OSB as you would by following this with spellblade spam. Sephiroth OSB: It's an OSB. Squall BSB2: En-ice. C1 charges up the C2 until the burst mode ends or you start a new burst. C2 does up to 7 hits and truckloads of damage if it's fully charged. Charged C2 does a monster amount of DPS, especially if you can Legend Dive Squall for doublecasts. Zell BSB:Fire fist. Instant damage and party 50% crit chance. C1 has an ATK buff, C2 grants Instant Action 1. Solid DPS. Cloud BSB2: En-wind. C2 has an ATK buff, C1 scales more than normal based on ATK. Pretty strong DPS on its own, absolutely silly when combined with the USB. Sephiroth BSB2:Dark katana. En-dark. Dark/non damage and self magic/phys Blink 2. C2 is an ATK buff, C1 gets more hits based on ATK. This is in my default Jump Start team, it's quite solid. Eiko BSB: Party Curaga and 50% crit chance. C1 is Curaja + Blink, C2 is standard medica. I like this a lot as a way to add some physical punch via my healer. Cid VII BSB: En-wind. Commands get extra attacks vs weakness. A strong wind DPS option. Garnet BSB1:Lightning MAG dagger. Lightning/non damage. C1 is Curaja + Esuna, C2 does AOE damage. A very disappointing SB, but at least the stat stick is interesting for some characters. Zidane BSB2: En-wind. C1 does a weird stacking ATK debuff to the enemy and buff to Zidane, C2 copies the ATK buff to the party and then resets the counter. Decent wind damage, with some utility. Rinoa BSB2: En-ice. C2 steals MAG (no damage, though). C1 scales harder than normal on MAG. Seems ok. Edea BSB: En-ice. C2 has a MAG buff (with damage), and C1 gets up to six hits if your MAG is high enough. Fantastic DPS, especially if you can get that sixth hit.
Banner 4: September 30
Tidus USB:6* Water ball. En-water. Water/non damage, Instant Cast 1, and EX: Ace (+30% ATK, chase Water attacks). The chase is pretty potent, so it's great DPS. Shantotto USB: En-lightning. Fire/ice/lightning damage, and EX: Dualcast Magic (+30% MAG, 100% chance to dualcast Witch at the cost of an extra ability use). Pretty good DPS if your Witch abilities are honed enough and you have Quickcast and/or a Chain running. Vaan USB: Instant damage and mug ATK/RES, grants EX: Sky Pirate (+30% Thief damage, Instant Cast Thief). Great DPS if your Thief hones hold out, and the break can be relevant. Rikku USB:6* Water fist. Party 30% ATK/MAG + Haste + Protect + Shell. A great team buff! Yuna BSB1: Magic damage. C1 is some AOE damage, C2 is a substandard medica command. Worst burst in the game? Vaan BSB: Instant damage and MAG/DEF break. Commands for Magic Breakdown and Armor Breakdown. Fantastic supporting break, and also pretty solid DPS. Ayame BSB: En-ice. Ice/non damage and self +30% ATK/RES. C2 has an ATK buff, C1 casts quickly. It's not Squall BSB2, but it's still very good damage, and in a rare element. Auron BSB2: En-fire. C2 has an ATK buff. A decent option for physical fire DPS. Aphmau BSB: Party Cura and +30% MAG/MND. C1 heals a party member and toggles summon mode. C2 is a medica, with an added attack if summon mode is on. Good mage party buff, also does healing. I have Yuna BSB2 which is very similar, and I like it a lot. Seymour BSB: Imperil Dark. Commands are a little weak, and have chances for Instant KO and slow. Reks BSB: Party haste and +30% ATK/DEF. C2 is damage and ally heal. Good party buff, with a little utility. Curilla BSB: Holy/non damage and party +30% ATK/DEF. Has a Sentinel command. Nice team buff plus utility. Balthier BSB2: Imperil fire. C1 is a weak attack with small chance for Minor Imperil Fire, C2 becomes more potent with C1 uses. There isn't a combination of C1 and C2 that pays out especially well. But hey, it's an imperil. Ashe BSB:Lightning MAG light armor. En-lightning. C1 is pretty good damage and a self-heal. A decent mage DPS burst.
Banner 5: October 2
Noctis USB: Damage, 100% damage shield for Noctis, and EX: Royal Power (ATK +30%, +10% non-elemental damage, falls off when damage shield is gone). A pretty good general purpose damage option, but the EX mode might fall off too quickly against tough enemies. Alphinaud USB: En-wind. Wind/dark damage with EX: Dreadwyrm Trance (summon attacks deal up to +30% damage based on hone rank; when the mode ends, casts Deathflare for 7% of the total summon damage dealt). I haven't mathed out whether this is actually better DPS than his burst, maybe slightly? Lightning USB:6* lightning sword! En-lightning. Lightning/non damage, High Quickcast 1 and EX: Blinding (+30% ATK and grant High Quickcast 1 after lightning attacks). Pretty great DPS! Raines OSB:6* dark MAG fist. It's an OSB. Alphinaud BSB: En-wind. C2 does damage and restores one ability use, but most of the time you just want to spam C1 for Instant Magic Attacks 1. Pretty good magic DPS. Nabaat BSB: Imperil dark. C2 has a small chance for Minor Imperil Dark, but just keep using Wrath and recasting instead. Raines BSB:Dark MAG fist. Holy/dark damage and party +30% MAG/DEF. C2 has a MAG buff, C1 grants Instant Magical Attacks 1. Still probably the best mage burst, though he has some competition. Minfilia BSB:Holy sword. En-holy. C1 is Power Breakdown, C2 is Magic Breakdown. A neat way to get some DPS on a character with Support 5. Hope BSB2:Holy bracer. Holy/non damage and stun, self +30% MAG/RES. C1 is AOE Dispel + Slow and turns on summon mode, C2 does damage (with chance to stun if summon mode is on). AOE dispel is a rare find, but it's also rare to need. A little weak at actual DPS. Noctis BSB: Instant damage and +30% ATK/DEF/RES for Noctis. C1 grants High Quickcast 2, C2 grants 30% damage shield and Ether (no damage though). Seems ok for general use. Yda BSB:Fire fist. Fire/non damage and Full Breakdown. C2 grants Yda a 30% damage shield (no damage, though). C1 does damage and builds up Greased Lightning (bonus ATK and cast speed, falls off when Yda takes damage). I don't find Full Breakdown that useful. Greased Lightning sounds fun if you can make it work, but it's very difficult to keep it from constantly falling off. Overall not very good. Gladiolus BSB: En-earth. C1 gets five hits with sufficient DEF, C2 grants Sentinel. Good damage, good utility. Papalymo BSB:Fire rod. En-fire. C2 has a MAG buff, C1 gets up to 6 hits with enough MAG. Very good mage DPS. Iris BSB: Party Cura + Status Blink + 30% damage shield. C1 is Instant Curaja, C2 is standard medica. One of the contenders for Best Burst Medica.
Overall thoughts, future banners, etc.
Banner 1: Garland, Matoya, and Emperor bursts are a little iffy, everything else on here is pretty good. Three holy swords if you need those.
Banner 2: Gogo, Rydia, and Rosa bursts are not great, and Faris USB1 is a little disappointing for an ultra. Terra and Bartz ultras are great/amazing, and Celes BSB2, Mog BSB, and Relm BSB are all pretty good.
Banner 3: Lots of big winners: Cloud USB, Squall BSB2, Cloud BSB2, Zell BSB, Sephiroth BSB2, Edea BSB. The only stinkers on here are Sephiroth OSB (which is still an OSB), Squall USB (which is basically an OSB), and Garnet BSB1 (which is still a good element boost relic). Hard to go wrong here. Also note the concentration of ice damage.
Banner 4: Ultras are all good, and several good party buffs. Aside from Tiny Bee (whyyyy), the "bad" relics are Imperils so they're still pretty decent.
Banner 5: Lightning USB is great, but the other three 6* items are perhaps a little on the weaker side. Still, fully half of the items on the banner have element boost (granted, two of them are MAG fists).
Overall, I think banner 3 looks especially great for Big Damage. If you need party buffs, look at banner 4. Otherwise, pull for your favorite characters.
Interestingly, there aren't any Chain Soul Breaks on this banner. Who knows whether we will get the missed mini-fest (Super Fest/Chain Fest) soon, or we'll have to wait until the Christmas fest before we see those again. Veterans can speculate on that - if you save up and then we don't get any such banners, well, the value of mythril only goes up with time.
One note for Tidus USB specifically is that it, along with a ton of other Tidus stuff, is going to be in the next X event. Which is still a ways off, but if he's your guy then you may consider waiting rather than going too deep here.
Upcoming event schedule:
VI (Shadow/Setzer USBs) - 30th Anniversary Fest! - Dissidia villains (Gabranth USB/Garland Chain) - XV (Prompto USB) - II (Minwu/Leon USBs) - III (Refia USB/Ingus Chain) - VIII (Laguna/Edea/Zell USBs, Kiros and Ward) - VII (Sephiroth/Reno/Cid USBs, Rude and Elena) - IV (Ceodore/Kain/Rydia/Golbez USBs)
Heck yeah, got the 3-man for the FF3 Torment Jump Start! I was only able to manage the 1-man last time around. Cloud/Faris/Refia/Onion/Arc with RW Wall and Enki primary.
Improvements since last time around;
Curada Rank 2 (for Arc's sorry no-SB-having ass)
Enki (for Arc's sorry... you get the idea. Plus LoLWindDamage)
Cloud Full Dive (to go with his BSB2)
Faris USB2 (holy cow, ATK/MAG/MND break? Made for this fight. Bahamut was still Curaja'ing for 7.6k hp, but Megaflare was tickling for 1.1k damage.)
+6% Wind and +10% DEF/RES and +5% ATK/MND from Magicite Passives.
What can one do with Gogo's Mimic? If you have his BSB online, you have Enwater, and he has access to Chain Waterga to begin with. I'm struggling to come up with a non-Burst command that he'd want to mimic. Maybe Ogopogo, when that comes out? He can't mimic burst commands, can he?
What can one do with Gogo's Mimic? If you have his BSB online, you have Enwater, and he has access to Chain Waterga to begin with. I'm struggling to come up with a non-Burst command that he'd want to mimic. Maybe Ogopogo, when that comes out? He can't mimic burst commands, can he?
Mimic 6* abilities like Meltdown/Tritoch/Curada.
I'm pretty sure the best thing to do is have someone like Alph use Tritoch, and then the whole party besides Gogo goes to SBs/Burst commands, letting Gogo mimic it ad infinitum.
What can one do with Gogo's Mimic? If you have his BSB online, you have Enwater, and he has access to Chain Waterga to begin with. I'm struggling to come up with a non-Burst command that he'd want to mimic. Maybe Ogopogo, when that comes out? He can't mimic burst commands, can he?
Well, you can turn one copy of R3 Chain Waterga into two. You can double up on your 6* Summon hones in the same fashion; it doesn't have to be Water based.
Banner breakdown
Banner 1: 2 dupes. Not really wild about any of this stuff except for maybe Firion or Maria BSB. Hope to get one of the 12 non-dupes on the lucky draws so I can pass with a clear conscience.
Banner 2: 2 dupes. Would be pleased with Rydia BSB (in conjunction with her OSB, should allow me to sub-30 Hydra), Mog BSB, and Bartz USB. Probably looking at a pull here.
Banner 3: 3 dupes. Most dupes of any banner, but the top end is just too good to pass up. Would be ecstatic with Cloud USB, but either of Zidane's relics would likely push me into a full LD (have his OSB and en-wind SSB already). Either of Squall's relics would be great, too. Looking at one pull, possibly more if I dupe out on my first pull.
Banner 4: 1 dupe, fewest of all banners. Would be pretty damn happy with any of the USBs, Ayame BSB, Vaan BSB, or Aphmau BSB. Not going to get my hopes up for Tiny Bee, she's eluded me too many times already. Thinking 1-2 pulls here.
Banner 5: 2 dupes. This banner is basically Lightning USB or bust, and I'm not sure I need it badly enough to pull. I have sub-30 on Bismarck already, so why spend Mythril when there's other elements to shore up? Aphmau BSB would be nice too but everything else is kind of meh.
For people bemoaning the loss of Rinoa CSB from the PS1 banner (and I'm right there with you), do note that Rinoa's BSB2 is also a really good mage ice soul break. It's a bit tricky to get to the last breakpoint (592 base magic with burst mode and two 30% mag buffs, 455 base magic if you fit a third 30% mag buff in there which is reasonably achievable) but if you can, the C1 is very slightly lower potency than the C1 and C2 on her BSB1, except her BSB2 includes an ice aura. It probably runs into capping issues on easier content, but on Fenrir that won't be an issue. I'm not sure if her C2 on the BSB2 is ever worth using, as the gain in potency is minimal but the gain from higher MAG is fairly significant. Assuming you just barely hit the 1200 MAG to get full potency on the C2, you gain 32.8% damage from the higher MAG, so each C1 following is effectively 50% stronger, so if you aren't capping after the C2 buff you only need to complete 4 total burst actions to have starting with C2 pull slightly ahead, and you definitely win by a fair amount if you get 5 total burst actions. The higher your base magic is above 455, the lower the value of starting with C2. In a situation where she has a synergy weapon it shouldn't be a problem to forego using C2 at all (though it still provides a tiny bit of utility by debuffing enemy MAG), but the important scenario here is really against Magicite bosses and I doubt she is going to be much above 500 base MAG in that situation.
Banner 3 - Rinoa CSB > Dupe Sephiroth OSB is fucking agony, but if there isn't a better ice banner coming I should probably still pull at least once. And I don't think there is. Also Zidane USB is really strong for me (and would push me to legend dive him).
There is a decent ice banner coming. The next VIII event, banner 1, has Laguna's USB (imperil ice), Edea's USB (enIce), Kiros BSB (ice damage, ice-damage-breakdowns), Rinoa and Edea's ice BSBs, and LMRs for Laguna (small chance to imperil ice with machinist abilities), and Edea (med chance to self quickcast 1 with Ice abilities), along with a bunch of other stuff.
Banner 3 - Rinoa CSB > Dupe Sephiroth OSB is fucking agony, but if there isn't a better ice banner coming I should probably still pull at least once. And I don't think there is. Also Zidane USB is really strong for me (and would push me to legend dive him).
There is a decent ice banner coming. The next VIII event, banner 1, has Laguna's USB (imperil ice), Edea's USB (enIce), Kiros BSB (ice damage, ice-damage-breakdowns), Rinoa and Edea's ice BSBs, and LMRs for Laguna (small chance to imperil ice with machinist abilities), and Edea (med chance to self quickcast 1 with Ice abilities), along with a bunch of other stuff.
Yeah, that one was on the maybe list, but Kiros and Ward's own items are mediocre enough that I think I'm better off throwing my lot in with the fest.
I never thought I'd say this, but it sure would be nice to get some elementally themed banners like JP has. Or, you know, like the skipped SuperFest had.
That might actually be more dupes than I had on the last fest? Yeesh. We'll see what I get from the lucky draws, but I might end up doing one pull per banner. Maybe a second on banner 3, I could use the ice stuff and the ridiculous Cloud/Squall stuff would be nice. Also might throw an extra pull at banner 1 for holy swords, the only ones I have so far are two copies of Beatrix BSB.
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silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
Is it crazy to hope Tiny Bee on banner 4 is a mistake? It wouldn't be unprecedented.
Dupe-wise, these aren't even bad banners for me. I'm at 3/0/3/0/3, and there's plenty left on banner 3 that's enticing to me. I'm gonna have to see how the lucky/free draws go.
Am I failing to notice something obvious, or is Rydia's BSB just kind of weak? I feel as though she's never been able to put out suitible damage with it, even on recasts.
Am I failing to notice something obvious, or is Rydia's BSB just kind of weak? I feel as though she's never been able to put out suitible damage with it, even on recasts.
Supposedly it's quite weak, although I would welcome it as a source of en-Earth. It also has summon-coded commands which can be quite handy for counter-happy bosses.
I get her doing about 22k per C1 against Hydra, but I mostly use it for the earth aura to fuel 99999 OSBs. The entry is AOE so it has a lower multiplier than a single target one, which is a pretty severe downside when all of the hardest content (magicites) is single target. The commands being summon abilities is super nice in a decent number of situations. It's not a BSB to get excited over, but it is at worst an average mage BSB which is still pretty good (and it's better than Rinoa and Terra BSB1s for sure).
@azith28 so we've been chatting a ton on the last few pages 'cause the festival banners got datamined. What's your favorite FF and/or who's your favorite character?
My guess is he had write-ups pre-written, and simply had to update them for the changes. Either that or he was bored and decided to just crank them out.
It would be nice to have Rydia's OSB. I wonder if there's a non-Lucky Banner opportunity for it again, or if it'll go by the wayside when her Leviathan BSB2 comes out.
Enlong on
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SpectrumArcher of InfernoChaldea Rec RoomRegistered Userregular
Am I failing to notice something obvious, or is Rydia's BSB just kind of weak? I feel as though she's never been able to put out suitible damage with it, even on recasts.
Supposedly it's quite weak, although I would welcome it as a source of en-Earth. It also has summon-coded commands which can be quite handy for counter-happy bosses.
It's okay. Her C1 is a 8.96/4. Other problem is she doesn't get a bargain, only a straight AoE command.
For reference, some of the other that aren't the 'best':
Rinoa's BSB2 (which itself is considered just outside top tier) scales up to 12/4
Shantotto's BSB is 8/4 fast
Krile's BSB is 8.68/4+stun
And now some of the absolute best ones:
Maria scales up to 12/6+petrify
Papalymo scales up to 12/6
Alphinaud is 7/64/4+next cast instant
It would be nice to have Rydia's OSB. I wonder if there's a non-Lucky Banner opportunity for it again, or if it'll go by the wayside when her Leviathan BSB2 comes out.
It's weird. Tri element is kind of nice in that you can use it more frequently, but it's also a hindrance since the potency is less. I tend to use it only for the Earth element since that's my weakest of the three, but if you are looking for more coverage in general I guess the flexibility is pretty nice.
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38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
Maria BSB has petrify? I got it when it came out and never noticed.
The FFIV event that introduces Ursula (which I believe is the only known FFIV event in the future) has a Rydia-tastic banner 2. Rydia USB (10 water/non summon hits, water aura, party MAG/RES buff), Rydia OSB, Rydia BSB2 (6 AOE water/holy summon hits, imperil water) and Rydia LMR (35% chance for Quickcast 1 after using a summon ability).
Posts
The Stop spell?
Edit: I WASN'T BRINGING SHELLGA BECAUSE I'M A DUMBASS
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
B1: lost a Refia dupe for a Desch dupe. OK BSB and I have poor 1&2 coverage, so probably a pull.
B2: dammit, had two dupes, one was removed but three more were added. Still great top prizes but going in with 4 dupes is ugh. Might have to pass.
B3: had 3 dupes, two removed and 1 added. Still, some hot winners on this one so probably pulling.
B4: 2 dupes, 1 was switched for another, still not bad. Chance to go Tiny Bee/11. Probably still pulling.
B5: the last, best hope for peace. 2 dupes went to 4 dupes in the change, plus no Enkindler anymore. Probably passing.
I guess the lucky draws will also change up banner pulls depending on how lucky/unlucky they are.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Banner 1: September 24
Luneth USB: En-wind. Wind/non damage, High Quickcast 1, and EX Gale (+30% ATK, gain High Quickcast 1 after using Wind attack). At the moment, Luneth's options for wind are SBs, Sky High, and Tornado Strike; eventually we'll get a new 5* Dragoon wind jump. Working with jumps can be aggravating for speedruns, but for regular use this is pretty good if you can hone Sky High.
Warrior of Light USB: 6* Holy sword. En-holy. Holy/non damage and EX Light Bless (+100% DEF, up to +30% Knight damage based on number of Knight abilities used). One of the weaker DPS EX modes: why can't it just start at full value like everyone else's?
Onion OSB: It's an OSB. Non-elemental only (boo), but option-selects between physical and magical.
Onion BSB: Party +30% ATK/MAG and haste. C1 is physical dmg and Instant Physical Attack 1, C2 is magical dmg and Instant Magic Attack 1. Still great!
Firion BSB: Holy sword. Instant damage and party Magic Blink. C1 builds up to 8 attacks with repeated use, but you probably just want to use C2 that grants Instant Action 1. Still great!
Desch BSB: En-lightning. C2 boosts MAG, C1 grants Quick Magic Attacks 1. Very good magic DPS.
Leila BSB: En-bio. C2 mugs ATK/MND which is weird, but sure why not. Rare source of poison damage, decent but not spectacular physical DPS burst.
Ingus BSB1: En-earth. Damage and +30% ATK/DEF to Ingus on entry. Commands for Sentinel and Retaliate. Great utility piece when you want Sentinel/Drawtaliate, and pretty solid at dealing Earth damage.
Warrior of Light BSB: Holy shield. En-holy. C2 has a small DEF boost, C1 can get up to five hits with enough DEF. It's a pretty decent option for physical holy DPS.
Maria BSB: En-earth. Earth/non damage. C2 is a MAG buff, C1 deals up to 6 hits if your MAG is high enough. Still one of the best mage DPS bursts.
Emperor BSB: Dark rod. En-wind. Rare source of magic wind damage, otherwise unremarkable.
Garland BSB: En-dark. Doesn't have a non-elemental option, and the commands kinda suck.
Matoya BSB: Fire/ice/lit damage, boring commands. OK for elemental coverage, otherwise not exciting.
Banner 2: September 26
Bartz USB: Wind/water/fire/earth damage, with EX Spellblade Barrage (+30% ATK, 2x cast speed, chases Wind/water/fire/earth spellblades). Pretty good DPS, fun, good elemental coverage.
Pecil USB: 6* Holy sword. En-holy. Damage, 6000 HP stock for Cecil, and EX Paladin (+100% DEF). The massive HP stock is pretty cool if you've set up Cecil to tank.
Faris USB1: Pentabreak plus stun. It's ok.
Bartz BSB3: En-earth. C2 has an ATK buff, C1 grants +15% Spellblade damage for 2 turns. Pretty good source of Earth damage.
Celes BSB2: Holy/ice damage, self +35% ATK/DEF and GRAND CROSS (absorb enemy white/black magic). C2 has an ATK buff, C1 grants +15 Spellblade Damage for 2 actions. Pretty good DPS, and occasionally Grand Cross will just break a fight for you.
Mog BSB: Party haste and +30% MAG/MND. C1 is instant Curaga + regen, C2 is Magic Breakdown. Great mage team buff.
Relm BSB: Party Cura and Last Stand. C1 is instant Curaja, C2 is standard medica. The Last Stand on this feels like cheating to me, I've been getting good use out of this the last few months.
Ceodore BSB: Damage and party 40% HP medica. C1 is damage and ally small heal, C2 is AOE damage and ally Esuna. Lifesiphonable medica is sometimes interesting, and this has some utility on the commands.
Rosa BSB: AOE holy damage and party Curaga. C1 is Curaja + Magic Blink, C2 is standard medica. Does the job.
Rydia BSB: En-earth. Commands are a little boring, but they are Summon type which is occasionally relevant.
Golbez BSB: Dark rod. Dark/non damage, and Golbez gets +30% MAG and Sentinel. C1 turns on Summon mode and grants a 30% HP bubble to Golbez, C2 deals Dark damage (with lifedrain if summon mode is on). Interesting as a mage burst with Sentinel.
Locke BSB1: Imperil fire. C1 mugs ATK/MAG for that extra little bit of mitigation.
Gogo V BSB: Water rod. En-water. C2 is standard mage command, C1 copies the last ability used by an ally and becomes faster with repeated use. Seems interesting, but I still haven't seen anyone do anything especially cool with it.
Banner 3: September 28
Zidane USB: Wind/non damage, Imperil Wind, and EX: Master Thief (chase Thief abilities with an extra hit, with a 35% chance for Minor Imperil Wind). On the surface this isn't that impressive, but it could be silly in conjunction with Zidane's Legend Dive, as he gets a Trance mode that grants instant cast for Thief abilities.
Squall USB: Ice/non damage, High Quick Cast 2, and EX: SeeD (after every second Spellblade action, do a bonus AOE ice/non attack). The bonus attacks aren't so very punchy, usually you'll do about as well with any random OSB as you would by following this with spellblade spam.
Sephiroth OSB: It's an OSB.
Squall BSB2: En-ice. C1 charges up the C2 until the burst mode ends or you start a new burst. C2 does up to 7 hits and truckloads of damage if it's fully charged. Charged C2 does a monster amount of DPS, especially if you can Legend Dive Squall for doublecasts.
Zell BSB: Fire fist. Instant damage and party 50% crit chance. C1 has an ATK buff, C2 grants Instant Action 1. Solid DPS.
Cloud BSB2: En-wind. C2 has an ATK buff, C1 scales more than normal based on ATK. Pretty strong DPS on its own, absolutely silly when combined with the USB.
Sephiroth BSB2: Dark katana. En-dark. Dark/non damage and self magic/phys Blink 2. C2 is an ATK buff, C1 gets more hits based on ATK. This is in my default Jump Start team, it's quite solid.
Eiko BSB: Party Curaga and 50% crit chance. C1 is Curaja + Blink, C2 is standard medica. I like this a lot as a way to add some physical punch via my healer.
Cid VII BSB: En-wind. Commands get extra attacks vs weakness. A strong wind DPS option.
Garnet BSB1: Lightning MAG dagger. Lightning/non damage. C1 is Curaja + Esuna, C2 does AOE damage. A very disappointing SB, but at least the stat stick is interesting for some characters.
Zidane BSB2: En-wind. C1 does a weird stacking ATK debuff to the enemy and buff to Zidane, C2 copies the ATK buff to the party and then resets the counter. Decent wind damage, with some utility.
Rinoa BSB2: En-ice. C2 steals MAG (no damage, though). C1 scales harder than normal on MAG. Seems ok.
Edea BSB: En-ice. C2 has a MAG buff (with damage), and C1 gets up to six hits if your MAG is high enough. Fantastic DPS, especially if you can get that sixth hit.
Banner 4: September 30
Shantotto USB: En-lightning. Fire/ice/lightning damage, and EX: Dualcast Magic (+30% MAG, 100% chance to dualcast Witch at the cost of an extra ability use). Pretty good DPS if your Witch abilities are honed enough and you have Quickcast and/or a Chain running.
Vaan USB: Instant damage and mug ATK/RES, grants EX: Sky Pirate (+30% Thief damage, Instant Cast Thief). Great DPS if your Thief hones hold out, and the break can be relevant.
Rikku USB: 6* Water fist. Party 30% ATK/MAG + Haste + Protect + Shell. A great team buff!
Yuna BSB1: Magic damage. C1 is some AOE damage, C2 is a substandard medica command. Worst burst in the game?
Vaan BSB: Instant damage and MAG/DEF break. Commands for Magic Breakdown and Armor Breakdown. Fantastic supporting break, and also pretty solid DPS.
Ayame BSB: En-ice. Ice/non damage and self +30% ATK/RES. C2 has an ATK buff, C1 casts quickly. It's not Squall BSB2, but it's still very good damage, and in a rare element.
Auron BSB2: En-fire. C2 has an ATK buff. A decent option for physical fire DPS.
Aphmau BSB: Party Cura and +30% MAG/MND. C1 heals a party member and toggles summon mode. C2 is a medica, with an added attack if summon mode is on. Good mage party buff, also does healing. I have Yuna BSB2 which is very similar, and I like it a lot.
Seymour BSB: Imperil Dark. Commands are a little weak, and have chances for Instant KO and slow.
Reks BSB: Party haste and +30% ATK/DEF. C2 is damage and ally heal. Good party buff, with a little utility.
Curilla BSB: Holy/non damage and party +30% ATK/DEF. Has a Sentinel command. Nice team buff plus utility.
Balthier BSB2: Imperil fire. C1 is a weak attack with small chance for Minor Imperil Fire, C2 becomes more potent with C1 uses. There isn't a combination of C1 and C2 that pays out especially well. But hey, it's an imperil.
Ashe BSB: Lightning MAG light armor. En-lightning. C1 is pretty good damage and a self-heal. A decent mage DPS burst.
Banner 5: October 2
Alphinaud USB: En-wind. Wind/dark damage with EX: Dreadwyrm Trance (summon attacks deal up to +30% damage based on hone rank; when the mode ends, casts Deathflare for 7% of the total summon damage dealt). I haven't mathed out whether this is actually better DPS than his burst, maybe slightly?
Lightning USB: 6* lightning sword! En-lightning. Lightning/non damage, High Quickcast 1 and EX: Blinding (+30% ATK and grant High Quickcast 1 after lightning attacks). Pretty great DPS!
Raines OSB: 6* dark MAG fist. It's an OSB.
Alphinaud BSB: En-wind. C2 does damage and restores one ability use, but most of the time you just want to spam C1 for Instant Magic Attacks 1. Pretty good magic DPS.
Nabaat BSB: Imperil dark. C2 has a small chance for Minor Imperil Dark, but just keep using Wrath and recasting instead.
Raines BSB: Dark MAG fist. Holy/dark damage and party +30% MAG/DEF. C2 has a MAG buff, C1 grants Instant Magical Attacks 1. Still probably the best mage burst, though he has some competition.
Minfilia BSB: Holy sword. En-holy. C1 is Power Breakdown, C2 is Magic Breakdown. A neat way to get some DPS on a character with Support 5.
Hope BSB2: Holy bracer. Holy/non damage and stun, self +30% MAG/RES. C1 is AOE Dispel + Slow and turns on summon mode, C2 does damage (with chance to stun if summon mode is on). AOE dispel is a rare find, but it's also rare to need. A little weak at actual DPS.
Noctis BSB: Instant damage and +30% ATK/DEF/RES for Noctis. C1 grants High Quickcast 2, C2 grants 30% damage shield and Ether (no damage though). Seems ok for general use.
Yda BSB: Fire fist. Fire/non damage and Full Breakdown. C2 grants Yda a 30% damage shield (no damage, though). C1 does damage and builds up Greased Lightning (bonus ATK and cast speed, falls off when Yda takes damage). I don't find Full Breakdown that useful. Greased Lightning sounds fun if you can make it work, but it's very difficult to keep it from constantly falling off. Overall not very good.
Gladiolus BSB: En-earth. C1 gets five hits with sufficient DEF, C2 grants Sentinel. Good damage, good utility.
Papalymo BSB: Fire rod. En-fire. C2 has a MAG buff, C1 gets up to 6 hits with enough MAG. Very good mage DPS.
Iris BSB: Party Cura + Status Blink + 30% damage shield. C1 is Instant Curaja, C2 is standard medica. One of the contenders for Best Burst Medica.
Overall thoughts, future banners, etc.
Banner 2: Gogo, Rydia, and Rosa bursts are not great, and Faris USB1 is a little disappointing for an ultra. Terra and Bartz ultras are great/amazing, and Celes BSB2, Mog BSB, and Relm BSB are all pretty good.
Banner 3: Lots of big winners: Cloud USB, Squall BSB2, Cloud BSB2, Zell BSB, Sephiroth BSB2, Edea BSB. The only stinkers on here are Sephiroth OSB (which is still an OSB), Squall USB (which is basically an OSB), and Garnet BSB1 (which is still a good element boost relic). Hard to go wrong here. Also note the concentration of ice damage.
Banner 4: Ultras are all good, and several good party buffs. Aside from Tiny Bee (whyyyy), the "bad" relics are Imperils so they're still pretty decent.
Banner 5: Lightning USB is great, but the other three 6* items are perhaps a little on the weaker side. Still, fully half of the items on the banner have element boost (granted, two of them are MAG fists).
Overall, I think banner 3 looks especially great for Big Damage. If you need party buffs, look at banner 4. Otherwise, pull for your favorite characters.
Interestingly, there aren't any Chain Soul Breaks on this banner. Who knows whether we will get the missed mini-fest (Super Fest/Chain Fest) soon, or we'll have to wait until the Christmas fest before we see those again. Veterans can speculate on that - if you save up and then we don't get any such banners, well, the value of mythril only goes up with time.
One note for Tidus USB specifically is that it, along with a ton of other Tidus stuff, is going to be in the next X event. Which is still a ways off, but if he's your guy then you may consider waiting rather than going too deep here.
Upcoming event schedule:
VI (Shadow/Setzer USBs) - 30th Anniversary Fest! - Dissidia villains (Gabranth USB/Garland Chain) - XV (Prompto USB) - II (Minwu/Leon USBs) - III (Refia USB/Ingus Chain) - 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/71bj97/relic_discussion_special_30th_anniversary_parade/
Some of my other recent banner reviews:
T: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/38268349#Comment_38268349
IV: https://forums.penny-arcade.com/discussion/comment/38230021#Comment_38230021
Improvements since last time around;
Curada Rank 2 (for Arc's sorry no-SB-having ass)
Enki (for Arc's sorry... you get the idea. Plus LoLWindDamage)
Cloud Full Dive (to go with his BSB2)
Faris USB2 (holy cow, ATK/MAG/MND break? Made for this fight. Bahamut was still Curaja'ing for 7.6k hp, but Megaflare was tickling for 1.1k damage.)
+6% Wind and +10% DEF/RES and +5% ATK/MND from Magicite Passives.
Cloud did RW Wall -> Hailstorm -> BSB2 -> C1 spam -> BSB2 -> BSB2.
Refia did a null Meteor Crush, then BSB, then 5-hit Lifebanes for ~30k damage. She did the second RW Wall.
Faris opened with Steal Power, then double USB2, then Dash and Slash. Cloud's second and third BSB2 entries did 80k damage.
Onion was in the front row with TGCid Mode; BSB -> Magic Breakdown (in time for first Megaflare) -> Full Break -> C1 spam.
Arc opened with his default SB for Shellga, then cast Protectga, then pretty much used Curada when needed until it ran out, then used Shared Medica.
5* Spirit Motes, give them to meeeeee
(Magicites are so exciting for improving weak CM teams.)
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.
Into a horrible, horrible mistake.
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Mimic 6* abilities like Meltdown/Tritoch/Curada.
I'm pretty sure the best thing to do is have someone like Alph use Tritoch, and then the whole party besides Gogo goes to SBs/Burst commands, letting Gogo mimic it ad infinitum.
Well, you can turn one copy of R3 Chain Waterga into two. You can double up on your 6* Summon hones in the same fashion; it doesn't have to be Water based.
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.
Having everyone use burst commands and soul breaks besides him is another interesting idea.
Can he mimic himself?
Banner 1: 2 dupes. Not really wild about any of this stuff except for maybe Firion or Maria BSB. Hope to get one of the 12 non-dupes on the lucky draws so I can pass with a clear conscience.
Banner 2: 2 dupes. Would be pleased with Rydia BSB (in conjunction with her OSB, should allow me to sub-30 Hydra), Mog BSB, and Bartz USB. Probably looking at a pull here.
Banner 3: 3 dupes. Most dupes of any banner, but the top end is just too good to pass up. Would be ecstatic with Cloud USB, but either of Zidane's relics would likely push me into a full LD (have his OSB and en-wind SSB already). Either of Squall's relics would be great, too. Looking at one pull, possibly more if I dupe out on my first pull.
Banner 4: 1 dupe, fewest of all banners. Would be pretty damn happy with any of the USBs, Ayame BSB, Vaan BSB, or Aphmau BSB. Not going to get my hopes up for Tiny Bee, she's eluded me too many times already. Thinking 1-2 pulls here.
Banner 5: 2 dupes. This banner is basically Lightning USB or bust, and I'm not sure I need it badly enough to pull. I have sub-30 on Bismarck already, so why spend Mythril when there's other elements to shore up? Aphmau BSB would be nice too but everything else is kind of meh.
Mom Bomb - 65/65
Liquid Flame - 93/99; 1/65
Salamander - 80/99; 1/99
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
D R O P T R A C K E R B O Y S
Seriously, FFRKompanion is so easy to use.
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.
There is a decent ice banner coming. The next VIII event, banner 1, has Laguna's USB (imperil ice), Edea's USB (enIce), Kiros BSB (ice damage, ice-damage-breakdowns), Rinoa and Edea's ice BSBs, and LMRs for Laguna (small chance to imperil ice with machinist abilities), and Edea (med chance to self quickcast 1 with Ice abilities), along with a bunch of other stuff.
That might actually be more dupes than I had on the last fest? Yeesh. We'll see what I get from the lucky draws, but I might end up doing one pull per banner. Maybe a second on banner 3, I could use the ice stuff and the ridiculous Cloud/Squall stuff would be nice. Also might throw an extra pull at banner 1 for holy swords, the only ones I have so far are two copies of Beatrix BSB.
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 refuse to admit defeat!
Currently DMing: None
Characters
[5e] Dural Melairkyn - AC 18 | HP 40 | Melee +5/1d8+3 | Spell +4/DC 12
Supposedly it's quite weak, although I would welcome it as a source of en-Earth. It also has summon-coded commands which can be quite handy for counter-happy bosses.
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.
He's a spoony bard.
The Monster Baru Cormorant - Seth Dickinson
Steam: Korvalain
For reference, some of the other that aren't the 'best':
Rinoa's BSB2 (which itself is considered just outside top tier) scales up to 12/4
Shantotto's BSB is 8/4 fast
Krile's BSB is 8.68/4+stun
And now some of the absolute best ones:
Maria scales up to 12/6+petrify
Papalymo scales up to 12/6
Alphinaud is 7/64/4+next cast instant
It's weird. Tri element is kind of nice in that you can use it more frequently, but it's also a hindrance since the potency is less. I tend to use it only for the Earth element since that's my weakest of the three, but if you are looking for more coverage in general I guess the flexibility is pretty nice.