If you've been like me and have been spending mythril as soon as you hit 15, might want to hold off for a bit - dunno if we'll get something for Black Friday or not.
If you've been like me and have been spending mythril as soon as you hit 15, might want to hold off for a bit - dunno if we'll get something for Black Friday or not.
I'm ALMOST at 300, then I'm going to do all the draws at once. After the Dungeon Update, fishing, and a few more daily logins, I should be able to do them all this weekend, and still have 50 in the tank.
Although if I can't do the 260 CM for FF15, I'll have to throw a pull there and hope for the best.
That Nabaat BUSB sounds neat for the party +dark boost, but I'm kinda skeptical of how useful it'll be if the imperil only comes out at the very end, because that's practically halfway through a sub-30 run.
Party dark boost ten percent is actually kinda garbage due to stacking rules. But getting four imperils for one bar rather than two is interesting, especially since it's a decent damage tool on its own, what with the dark aura and the overstrike action. It is a valid point that a 30 second fight will be almost over by the time that imperil is deployed, though.
If you can kill a 5* magicite-quality boss in anywhere near 30 seconds, does it really matter anymore if your tools could be even more optimal? You don't even get crystals for it anymore.
Also, since bosses tend to get deadlier as their HP falls, backloading damage a bit probably does more good than harm.
If you've been like me and have been spending mythril as soon as you hit 15, might want to hold off for a bit - dunno if we'll get something for Black Friday or not.
I'll find some way to get Gilgamesh BSB for a third year in a row.
With the amount of relics I have for WoL, I'm debating diving him. Mostly for stat boosts, as his LM1/2 are not super spectacular (plus, I have both of his LMRs). I have a ton of bravery motes and I wouldn't mind balancing out what i have.
...but I remembered that I pulled Ceodore's USB, and I have his BSB and his dive is a little more interesting, though still niche. Hmmm
I also have no idea who to dive in the Wis/brv and Dex/brv categories. Thinking of Prompto for vit/brv though.
I know I can just not do a dive now but those 5* motes just sit there and taunt me!
I'm in the same position in regards to WoL. I picked up the I set in the Full Throttle draw, so now I've got his AOSB, OSB, en-holy BSB1, and his LMR. No Glint or USB, but en-element and an AOSB are a good enough combo for many characters.
I just don't feel like WOL's Legend Dive kit is really gonna boost his damage much. His Legend Dive is a big victim of the early adopter problem in this game.
+3
38thDoelets never be stupid againwait lets always be stupid foreverRegistered Userregular
Man why why all these Elite Dungeons have Break requirements. Stupid Chain holders (except Ramza) don't have Support 5* on them!
They made everything immune to status conditions so what else is there? You can use the combat skill break or just bring a break RW since you can't bring anything good anyways. I typically forget and have to redo a stage every dungeon update.
I always bring Full Break, or Multibreak/Enfeebling Jitterbug in my non-Magicite teams, so those conditions always get met unless I kill something so fast that my support unit doesn't get 2 turns.
Think we'll get anything on Sunday? WOFF probably doesn't have a Part 1 coming, and this bomb fest is its own thing. We got WOFF on Tuesday because of the release of Maxima, so I'm not sure what else is on the table.
My Tactics team is pretty stacked. I'm only missing a handful of SBs for the knights - Orlandeau SSB, Ramza USB1/LMR2/BSB1/Hail of Stones SB, and Agrias USB1/USB2.
Screw it, it's 15 mythril. YOLO!
2/11, one disco - Ramza LMR2, Ramza USB1! Holy crap, I dodged so many dupes! Ramza's nearly complete!
What a way to finish out the discounted realm draws!
Had thirty mythril lying around after I finally got around to wrecking some of the new realm dungeons that I'd forgotten about. Decided to go do another pair of realm pulls, figured I could always use more- and the first two games are where I'm hurting for relics.
II: 1/11, no disco. Leila BSB "Poison Cloud XVI" (Deal eight physical poison and non-elemental attacks to all targets, temporarily infuse the user with the power of poison, and grant Haste and Burst Mode to the user. Burst Modes: Poison Sting - Deal four physical poison and non-elemental attacks to one target. Reduced delay before hitting. Pirate's Venom - Deal two physical poison and non-elemental attacks to one target, lower its Attack and Mind a small amount, and raise the user's Attack and Mind a small amount.) - This actually looks rather attractive. I mean, it's not going to hit for a lot, but I don't think I've seen enPoison on anything else. I don't know how effective this will be in my party, but it might be something to leave up for that fact.
Figured, well, it couldn't get much worse, so I yanked on I.
4/11 again. Two discos.
Sarah LMR "Warrior's Ballad" (Small chance to restore a small amount of HP to all allies when using bard abilities.) I haven't really used Sarah that much, but Materia is Materia.
Meia BSB "Famfrit" (Deal six summon magic water and non-elemental attacks to all targets, temporarily infuse the user with the power of water, and grant Haste and Burst Mode to the user. Burst Modes - Pallida Fructis: Temporarily lower the user's Defense a moderate amount, and increase the user's Magic a moderate amount. If the user has Burst Mode, grant Summon Strike to the user. If the user has Summon Strike, deal four summon magic water and non-elemental attacks to all targets, and remove Summon Strike from the user. Pallida Schelling - Deal four summon magic water and non-elemental attacks to one target. Deals more damage if the user has Summon Strike.) Not sure how I feel about this one, but... it's water element with enWater...? Maybe for my water team? Yay?
Maia OSB "Pallida Mors" (Deal massive magic water and non-elemental damage to one target. Deals more damage if the target is Vulnerable or has a Slight Weakness to water. Can break the damage cap.) - Combining this with her BSB makes her pretty solid. This with enWater will hit like a truck. Pretty useful, and might make a decent addition to a Water team.
Warrior of Light AOSB "Bright Overload" (Deal three massive physical holy attacks to one enemy. Can break the damage cap.) Yeah, this is pretty damn good. This is definitely something to add to my Holy team- along with Beatrix, Penelo, and TG Cid, I think I have a lot of potential as far as that!
Is it just me, or do I seem to always hit something huge after I end up with a crap draw?
Gonna do a quick and dirty analysis of my discounted realm pulls:
I - Garland LMR
II - Gordon LMR, Minwu USB1
III - Refia USB
IV - Edward LMR, Cid IV BSB
V - Xezat BSB
VI - Relm LMR, Cyan LMR, Celes AOSB
VII - Cait Sith BSB, Sephiroth BSB, Tifa LMR, Tifa USB2
VIII - Ward BSB, Rinoa LMR4
IX - Eiko BSB, Garnet BSB1, Amarant BSB
X - Rikku LMR1, Yuna LMR1, Jecht OSB
XI - Ayame LMR
XII - Reks USB
XIII - Lightning BSB2, Vanille USB2
XIV - Papalymo LMR, Cid XIV BSB
XV - Noctis USB
Tactics - Ramza LMR2, Ramza USB1
Type-0 - Ace LMR1, Machina OSB, King USB
Dupes italicized, good stuff bolded, dupes I don't mind getting more of italicized and bolded. :P
So that's 255 mythril spent, roughly the same as five regular pulls, only less targeted. There were 34 relics, of which 11 were discos. I'm thinking that the overall relic count is about average, but as far as whether 11 discos is above, at, or below average I have no idea. There were 14 dupes, but also 11 useful items (some overlap in there). Eleven good relics out of the equivalent of five pulls is not a bad return on the mythril spent, I think!
Daily draw was Steiner SSB (dupe). Good for the price.
Pulled a bit on the XV Fishing/Torment banner, too, hoping to dodge the five dupes in there:
4/11 - Prompto LMR (dupe), Prompto LMR (dupe), Iris BSB (dupe), Gladiolus LMR. Ew, but at least Gladio's already got his BSB and OSB to take advantage of the en-earth.
3/11, two discos - Ignis LMR, Noctis USB2, Prompto CSB! Hot damn, that's practically a perfect pull for me! That LMR lets Ignis do the quick buffs, Noctis finally has a replacement for his BSB/USB1, and a physical lightning chain!
Darklyre on
+5
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
So the time has come, and the only question is now:
What order do I do discounted realm pulls in? Type-0->Tactics->15->1, or vice versa?
Minwu - SSB, LMR, USB2. LM2 sucks, possible candidate for half dive, even though LM1 is specifically healing-oriented.
Arc - SSB, BSB(2, I think), USB. Doublecast. Benefit both offensive and healing
Rydia - earth BSB, LMR. Doublecast summon, though
Golbez - Chain, USB, Swolebez BSB, LM2 is weird, but potentially useful.
Lenna - both bursts, USB2. Possible candidate for half dive, LM2 sucks
Strago - SSB, BSB, LMR. LM2 looks weird, potential for half dive because of dualcast LMR
Mog - USB. This one actually looks like it has potential, since he'll PROBABLY be dancing after the USB, anyway.
Sephie - SSB, BSB, USB (but the poorer version of each). Doublecast is always good.
Eiko - BSB, USB. Trance on healer with instant haste last stand medica would be great
Shantotto - USB, LMR. USB seems like it'd work well with her LMR/LM2, but I need to actualy get the witch abilities honed to support it
Larsa - USB, BSB. I've got a dived Penelo with everything, feels weird to double up on realms even though dedicated astra healer is good
Knight Available: 1.5
Candidates:
Ceodore - USB, LM2 looks useful I guess?
Marche - BSB, LMR but his is the only remaining dive that's worth a damn?
Hybrid Available: 1
Candidates:
Reno with just his burst? I don't fucking know.
Speedster Available: 3
Candidates:
Locke - Glint, BSB1. Trance is nice
Zack - Chain. HIC3 is nice
Zidane - USB1, LMR, synergizes quite well with trance
Tidus - only got his BSB2 and OSB, but dualcast is good
Lion - BSB, SSB, doublecast thief is good
Vaan - USB, both SSB, but LM2 kinda sucks
Noctis - OSB, BSB, Glint - HIC3 is good
Whatever we call VIT/BRA available: 2
Candidates:
Faris? I mean I guess I'm juggling her USB1 and BSB2, but meh
Rikku? for USB1, but meh
Wakka - got his USB and burst, and I guess imperil water on sharpshooter isn't USELESS
Minfilia - got her USB, but those don't synergize at ALL
Morrow - another entrust bot. why not.
Combat available: 4
Candidates:
Garland - Chain, but dive doesn't do THAT much for him
Master - BSB, doublecast monk. But it's non elemental, so doublecast is eh.
Galuf - USB, but LM2 sucks
Sephiroth - both BSB, USB1. Good option
Paine - USB, BSB1. Good option
Balthier - BSB1, USB1 - imperil fire synergizes with USB decently well
Estinien - USB - not worth it because the LM2 I think overwrites the USB
Ignis - BSB - Doublecast fire is nice, but doesn't synergize with his BSB
King - USB, LMR - HIC3 seems like it'd be a nice jump
With 182 SPI, 240 DEX, 154 VIT, 169 WIS, and 271 BRA left over, so I can fit in a couple more there, too.
Still need to compare with "what might get me more motes by making Torments doable", but leaning:
Mage - Mog, Eiko, Shantotto, Minwu half, hold onto other two for the future
Knight - Ceodore, sure
Speed - thinking Zack and Zidane, leaving one
Hybrid - None
Vit/bra - None
Combat - Seph, Paine, and King. Hold onto the others.
I dived Mog, since I have his USB/BSB. Haven't had an opportunity to use him extensively but seems like it was a good choice to pair with his dancing.
Arc's great but most people aren't going to field battle white mage teams so, eh. No regrets for me because I really like running a WHM team when I can.
I dove Locke but don't nearly mess with the Trance as much as I should. But I have a bunch of relics for him (chain, usb1, bsb2) so it was an easier choice to make.
Zack's a good choice, you can use the Haste+IC3 to build meter quick and drop his chain; freeing up a MM/DMT for other team members.
I dove Tidus with just BSB2 and OSB back when I had few water options and Maliris was curbstomping me. Helped a bit, but it really started to shine once I got some en-water relics for him.
I dived Balthier ages ago with BSB2/OSB/LMR and while it wasn't a game changer, he imperils pretty darn well with the added lm2 so overall it was worth it for my fire team.
I just dove King a few minutes ago, I gotta test it out and see if that was worth it.
I usually label Vit+Brv as Support class.
I also annoyingly intermixed dived and dove and I apologize but I'm not gonna read my own post to go and fix it!
First Famfrit clear, 39 seconds. No chain, no radiant.
I messed up a bunch and at the end everyone was dead and Orlandeau had like 12 hp left but he managed to get in the killing blow a millisecond before Famfrit could.
But I still won, and hopefully I get the timing down better in the future.
I have all of that except Elarra (but I presume another healer could sub in easily enough) and, admittedly, the ton of great Prompto stuff. Don't really have any good physical lit imperil (I think like...Fran SSB or something like that?)
5* magicites are pretty easy to trance on because they're so scripted and hit so hard.
4* for my 2 magic trances i usually brought onion knight with blizzara and that worked on the 2 fights i used it on. physical was sephiroth and he went in naturally against siren every time.
Man. I can't wait for the New Wave of Witch abilities. My icy Witch team works nicely against Tiamat, but it's going to be really nice once Sudden Blizzara and Horror Blizzard (or however they're translated) exist.
Lack of coffee made me decide to spend 15 myth on the XIV realm draw. I can still have 100 by the time VI rolls around.
2/11: Ysayle LMR (chance to Imperil Ice 1 when using Ice attacks), Haurchefant LMR (Chance to reduce incoming damage when equipped with a shield).
Ech. Ain't gonna be using Haurchy's thing much at all, seeing as that's my one and only relic for him. And I just proved that Ysayle has stiff competition in the Ice department, even if I were to grab her BSB off of the Acoylte Archives. It's interesting how her BSB and dive seem to revolve around Witch skills (lots of cast time reductions), but I'm pretty sure Matoya has her beat. She might be someone to keep an eye on if I can't get enough damage with Rinoa's chain when the Wind magicites roll around, though.
Man. I can't wait for the New Wave of Witch abilities. My icy Witch team works nicely against Tiamat, but it's going to be really nice once Sudden Blizzara and Horror Blizzard (or however they're translated) exist.
I have both Shantotto and Edea USBs. My poor, poor dark crystals...
Only relics which I think are necessary are a healing burst (Iris BSB or something) and ignis's BSB for the haste/boost. Trick to this one is a complete Sylph magicite (heal, but more importantly 20 Earth resist), and lots of breaks. I brought prompto with nothing for ATK and full break, Iris had the atk/mag dance, and Ignis had mug bloodlust.
It was a war of attrition, and I had glad's SSB as a security blanket, but last stand only proc'd once, on one person.
Chain Waterja, Lunar Leviathan, and Sapphire Bullet are available. Has this always been the case?
They popped up with the most recent Torment.
+3
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
@Fry took your tips and workshopped my Famfrit a bit. Managed to get five sub-30 clears in a row, with only a few resets, in about an hour, so a major improvement in efficiency.
Rambling:
Swapped Edgar to slot 1, Lightning to slot 2 (though not sure if this matters or is reversible), and put Garnet in spot 4. She needs to take the first Cannonade to have enough SB to refresh the Chain in time.
First improvement was entering a shamanic trance and honing my senses to a razor edge, so much so that I was able to press Lightning's first Quadstrike at 0.98 seconds instead of 1.08 seconds, which caused a cascade of speed ups that ended up accruing time instead of losing it over the course of the fight. In general, I was able to get the timing for pre-pressing inputs down, leading to much faster reactions, as long as I could correctly anticipate which character's turn would be next. In the event of a tie, I needed to pause as the icon starts to appear, but before it's fully open, so I could figure out whose turn it was going to be. Also in general since the fight started going the same way every time, it was easier to watch who acted first, so I could better judge whose turn it would be first.
Clearing the DPS check for phase 1 was balanced on a razor's edge. Generally I found Edgar should go two Offerings, then two Snipes. If Orlandeau overperforms on his OSB cast (crit or lots of early imperils), the timing works out that Edgar can just Offering four times. If I do TOO much DPS, I skip the Water Shot, which grants critical SB meter.
Because of the way turns end up, Lightning and Edgar finish their 4th actions right before Water Shot. So if they DPS enough to skip Waterja in 4 actions, they also skip Water Shot, which throws off later SB refreshes. This is why Edgar can't go whole hog with his Snipes. But if they both start casting their USBs while Waterja is casting, they won't finish in time, which prematurely eats Water Blink. Orlandeau and Edge can't do enough damage to push phase 1 into 2 between Water Shot and Waterja. So out of necessity Lightning has to Ripper Bolt once, which delays her USB a turn.
Phase two has been more stable. Occasionally I can skip the Cannonade, but it's rare. I just need to not mess up the timing on Edge's SSB refreshes.
Phase three usually ends after Orlandeau's third OSB. I've also gotten better at predicting the Protect.
I suspect Kain is a bigger upfront DPS contribution than Garnet, allowing easier phase 1 transitions, but once she gets going with her song, everyone else starts crushing it. She only Tritochs once for SB meter.
I was cheap and only put Tempest Snipe to R4, but it's been working, so I'll save orbs for now.
Good call on the +Weakness RM for Lightning. It's maybe a 1% improvement, but it helps.
Everyone has +40% Lightning, no worries there.
I had been leveling a second Hades to feed to my first for double +15 Dark, but I egged it to 99 and think I'll keep them separate for now. It's an extra 3% damage over Darkmare.
I didn't want to pull the trigger on Garnet's LD as well unless it looked impossible. I already LD Edgar for this, and that might have been a mistake instead of Reno.
Actions are generally:
Lightning: Quadstrike x4, Ripper Bolt, USB, Ripper Bolt, USB when it's up
Edgar: Offer x2, see if TG Cid OSB crits, if yes, Offer x2, if no, Snipe x2, USB, Snipe, refresh USB before 25s, Snipe.
Edge: SiT, FD x2, SSB2 after Gravity, FD until full SB bar, SSB2 after Gravity, SiT when FD runs out. Timing can change based on phase transitions.
Garnet: Chain, Song x2, Tritoch, refresh Chain after Gravity, Song until end
TG Cid: RW, wait for Chain, Stormspell, wait for Gravity, OSB, Stormspell, Magicite, Stormspell, OSB when it's up.
I ditched Water resist except for Garnet (whose stats don't matter, but whose HP is low) and Edge, who split the difference with Water resist and 15 ATK.
Garnet had to be in slot 4 to refresh the Chain in time.
I swapped Edgar and Lightning, though I'm not sure if it makes a difference. They're in slots 1 and 2 in case things go pear shaped in phase 3.
Cid manages to get a third OSB off right at the 29.something mark, if W-Casts haven't killed the boss sooner.
That reminds me that I was planning on making a list of the music that would play if you were encountering each magicite in their home game. For example, you never fight Midgardsormr as a boss in FFVI, so his theme would be the Yeti's Cave theme, which plays where you find his stone. Imagine the Dirt Snake fight with that playing.
Enlong on
0
silence1186Character shields down!As a wingmanRegistered Userregular
So, I acquired a few relics today.
I did the 15 mythril discounted pull for each realm.
Deuce BSB, Queen LMR, Nine LMR, Rem USB
Marche BSB, Orlandeau BSB, Ovelia BSB2, Ramza LMR (dupe), Alma USB (dupe), Rapha USB
Gladio LMR (cover), Gladio LMR (dupe), Noct OSB, Iris USB
Yda USB (dupe), Cid 14 USB
Fang BSB1, Fang BSB1 (dupe), Fang BSB2
Balthier BSB2, Gabranth OSB
Aphmau BSB (dupe), Prishe BSB, Aphmau LMR
Yuna LMR (w-cast WHT)
Zidane BSB1, Beatrix LMR (cover), Beatrix LMR (dupe)
Raijin LMR (Init Aura), Quistis USB
Cait Sith BSB (dupe), Tifa LMR (Growing ATK)
Celes BSB1 (dupe), Celes LMR, Locke Glint (dupe), Celes Glint
Faris USB3
Rydia BSB2, Palom BSB
Ingus BSB2, CoD OSB
Firion LMR (W-cast Combat), Maria Glint
Meia LMR, WoL USB1 (dupe)
Well, that started off well, but sort of petered out by the end. Items of note:
Deuce BSB, Rem USB, Iris USB, Cid 14 USB (maybe?), Quistis USB, Faris USB3. LMRs are by and large not bad for characters that otherwise don't have Legend Dives, except of course for Cover, of which I got FOUR. There's a smattering of possibly useful Bursts as well, but probably not.
Full Throttle draw!
Wrieg (BEYOND) BSB
Well, that could've been worse, technically speaking, but then again, maybe NOT.
Since I received Deuce BSB in my realm draw, that decides my bonus set.
FF6 Relm BSB, Terra BSB2, Terra OSB, all of which are new and varying degrees of useful.
I'd also never done my Acolyte Archive draws, and won't be doing any non-Lucky draws probably for three months, so now is as good a time as any to do them.
Bartz Unique (+Wind dagger)
Gordon Unique (Moderate Fire Resist)
Lenna SSB (honestly I had most of these)
Ingus SSB (+Earth sword)
Gladio SSB (could be useful in realm CMs)
Iris BSB (not as pressing a need anymore, but could still be useful in realm CMs)
Kelgar BSB (maybe for FFV Torment?)
Ashe BSB (wanted this forever)
Alphinaud BSB (wanted this forever)
47 new items. Might take a while to learn all that. At least tomorrow is Sundaily!
Posts
I'm ALMOST at 300, then I'm going to do all the draws at once. After the Dungeon Update, fishing, and a few more daily logins, I should be able to do them all this weekend, and still have 50 in the tank.
Although if I can't do the 260 CM for FF15, I'll have to throw a pull there and hope for the best.
Also, since bosses tend to get deadlier as their HP falls, backloading damage a bit probably does more good than harm.
I'll find some way to get Gilgamesh BSB for a third year in a row.
...but I remembered that I pulled Ceodore's USB, and I have his BSB and his dive is a little more interesting, though still niche. Hmmm
I also have no idea who to dive in the Wis/brv and Dex/brv categories. Thinking of Prompto for vit/brv though.
I know I can just not do a dive now but those 5* motes just sit there and taunt me!
They made everything immune to status conditions so what else is there? You can use the combat skill break or just bring a break RW since you can't bring anything good anyways. I typically forget and have to redo a stage every dungeon update.
Think we'll get anything on Sunday? WOFF probably doesn't have a Part 1 coming, and this bomb fest is its own thing. We got WOFF on Tuesday because of the release of Maxima, so I'm not sure what else is on the table.
Screw it, it's 15 mythril. YOLO!
2/11, one disco - Ramza LMR2, Ramza USB1! Holy crap, I dodged so many dupes! Ramza's nearly complete!
What a way to finish out the discounted realm draws!
II: 1/11, no disco. Leila BSB "Poison Cloud XVI" (Deal eight physical poison and non-elemental attacks to all targets, temporarily infuse the user with the power of poison, and grant Haste and Burst Mode to the user. Burst Modes: Poison Sting - Deal four physical poison and non-elemental attacks to one target. Reduced delay before hitting. Pirate's Venom - Deal two physical poison and non-elemental attacks to one target, lower its Attack and Mind a small amount, and raise the user's Attack and Mind a small amount.) - This actually looks rather attractive. I mean, it's not going to hit for a lot, but I don't think I've seen enPoison on anything else. I don't know how effective this will be in my party, but it might be something to leave up for that fact.
Figured, well, it couldn't get much worse, so I yanked on I.
4/11 again. Two discos.
Sarah LMR "Warrior's Ballad" (Small chance to restore a small amount of HP to all allies when using bard abilities.) I haven't really used Sarah that much, but Materia is Materia.
Meia BSB "Famfrit" (Deal six summon magic water and non-elemental attacks to all targets, temporarily infuse the user with the power of water, and grant Haste and Burst Mode to the user. Burst Modes - Pallida Fructis: Temporarily lower the user's Defense a moderate amount, and increase the user's Magic a moderate amount. If the user has Burst Mode, grant Summon Strike to the user. If the user has Summon Strike, deal four summon magic water and non-elemental attacks to all targets, and remove Summon Strike from the user. Pallida Schelling - Deal four summon magic water and non-elemental attacks to one target. Deals more damage if the user has Summon Strike.) Not sure how I feel about this one, but... it's water element with enWater...? Maybe for my water team? Yay?
Maia OSB "Pallida Mors" (Deal massive magic water and non-elemental damage to one target. Deals more damage if the target is Vulnerable or has a Slight Weakness to water. Can break the damage cap.) - Combining this with her BSB makes her pretty solid. This with enWater will hit like a truck. Pretty useful, and might make a decent addition to a Water team.
Warrior of Light AOSB "Bright Overload" (Deal three massive physical holy attacks to one enemy. Can break the damage cap.) Yeah, this is pretty damn good. This is definitely something to add to my Holy team- along with Beatrix, Penelo, and TG Cid, I think I have a lot of potential as far as that!
Is it just me, or do I seem to always hit something huge after I end up with a crap draw?
I can has cheezburger, yes?
I - Garland LMR
II - Gordon LMR, Minwu USB1
III - Refia USB
IV - Edward LMR, Cid IV BSB
V - Xezat BSB
VI - Relm LMR, Cyan LMR, Celes AOSB
VII - Cait Sith BSB, Sephiroth BSB, Tifa LMR, Tifa USB2
VIII - Ward BSB, Rinoa LMR4
IX - Eiko BSB, Garnet BSB1, Amarant BSB
X - Rikku LMR1, Yuna LMR1, Jecht OSB
XI - Ayame LMR
XII - Reks USB
XIII - Lightning BSB2, Vanille USB2
XIV - Papalymo LMR, Cid XIV BSB
XV - Noctis USB
Tactics - Ramza LMR2, Ramza USB1
Type-0 - Ace LMR1, Machina OSB, King USB
Dupes italicized, good stuff bolded, dupes I don't mind getting more of italicized and bolded. :P
So that's 255 mythril spent, roughly the same as five regular pulls, only less targeted. There were 34 relics, of which 11 were discos. I'm thinking that the overall relic count is about average, but as far as whether 11 discos is above, at, or below average I have no idea. There were 14 dupes, but also 11 useful items (some overlap in there). Eleven good relics out of the equivalent of five pulls is not a bad return on the mythril spent, I think!
Rinoa Arcane (3 Earth/Ice hits, +Ice Thrower)
I get it, game. You want me to keep using Rinoa. I was already planning to, honest!
Maybe I should hunt down Serah's ice Chain, to free up Rinoa to use her Bubsy and this thing.
Pulled a bit on the XV Fishing/Torment banner, too, hoping to dodge the five dupes in there:
4/11 - Prompto LMR (dupe), Prompto LMR (dupe), Iris BSB (dupe), Gladiolus LMR. Ew, but at least Gladio's already got his BSB and OSB to take advantage of the en-earth.
3/11, two discos - Ignis LMR, Noctis USB2, Prompto CSB! Hot damn, that's practically a perfect pull for me! That LMR lets Ignis do the quick buffs, Noctis finally has a replacement for his BSB/USB1, and a physical lightning chain!
What order do I do discounted realm pulls in? Type-0->Tactics->15->1, or vice versa?
To be clear, I'm doing everything from 15 down to 1, inclusive.
Candidates:
- Minwu - SSB, LMR, USB2. LM2 sucks, possible candidate for half dive, even though LM1 is specifically healing-oriented.
- Arc - SSB, BSB(2, I think), USB. Doublecast. Benefit both offensive and healing
- Rydia - earth BSB, LMR. Doublecast summon, though
- Golbez - Chain, USB, Swolebez BSB, LM2 is weird, but potentially useful.
- Lenna - both bursts, USB2. Possible candidate for half dive, LM2 sucks
- Strago - SSB, BSB, LMR. LM2 looks weird, potential for half dive because of dualcast LMR
- Mog - USB. This one actually looks like it has potential, since he'll PROBABLY be dancing after the USB, anyway.
- Sephie - SSB, BSB, USB (but the poorer version of each). Doublecast is always good.
- Eiko - BSB, USB. Trance on healer with instant haste last stand medica would be great
- Shantotto - USB, LMR. USB seems like it'd work well with her LMR/LM2, but I need to actualy get the witch abilities honed to support it
- Larsa - USB, BSB. I've got a dived Penelo with everything, feels weird to double up on realms even though dedicated astra healer is good
Knight Available: 1.5Candidates:
- Ceodore - USB, LM2 looks useful I guess?
- Marche - BSB, LMR but his is the only remaining dive that's worth a damn?
Hybrid Available: 1Candidates:
- Reno with just his burst? I don't fucking know.
Speedster Available: 3Candidates:
- Locke - Glint, BSB1. Trance is nice
- Zack - Chain. HIC3 is nice
- Zidane - USB1, LMR, synergizes quite well with trance
- Tidus - only got his BSB2 and OSB, but dualcast is good
- Lion - BSB, SSB, doublecast thief is good
- Vaan - USB, both SSB, but LM2 kinda sucks
- Noctis - OSB, BSB, Glint - HIC3 is good
Whatever we call VIT/BRA available: 2Candidates:
- Faris? I mean I guess I'm juggling her USB1 and BSB2, but meh
- Rikku? for USB1, but meh
- Wakka - got his USB and burst, and I guess imperil water on sharpshooter isn't USELESS
- Minfilia - got her USB, but those don't synergize at ALL
- Morrow - another entrust bot. why not.
Combat available: 4Candidates:
With 182 SPI, 240 DEX, 154 VIT, 169 WIS, and 271 BRA left over, so I can fit in a couple more there, too.
Still need to compare with "what might get me more motes by making Torments doable", but leaning:
Mage - Mog, Eiko, Shantotto, Minwu half, hold onto other two for the future
Knight - Ceodore, sure
Speed - thinking Zack and Zidane, leaving one
Hybrid - None
Vit/bra - None
Combat - Seph, Paine, and King. Hold onto the others.
Thoughts?
Arc's great but most people aren't going to field battle white mage teams so, eh. No regrets for me because I really like running a WHM team when I can.
I dove Locke but don't nearly mess with the Trance as much as I should. But I have a bunch of relics for him (chain, usb1, bsb2) so it was an easier choice to make.
Zack's a good choice, you can use the Haste+IC3 to build meter quick and drop his chain; freeing up a MM/DMT for other team members.
I dove Tidus with just BSB2 and OSB back when I had few water options and Maliris was curbstomping me. Helped a bit, but it really started to shine once I got some en-water relics for him.
I dived Balthier ages ago with BSB2/OSB/LMR and while it wasn't a game changer, he imperils pretty darn well with the added lm2 so overall it was worth it for my fire team.
I just dove King a few minutes ago, I gotta test it out and see if that was worth it.
I usually label Vit+Brv as Support class.
I also annoyingly intermixed dived and dove and I apologize but I'm not gonna read my own post to go and fix it!
First Famfrit clear, 39 seconds. No chain, no radiant.
I messed up a bunch and at the end everyone was dead and Orlandeau had like 12 hp left but he managed to get in the killing blow a millisecond before Famfrit could.
But I still won, and hopefully I get the timing down better in the future.
Team
Prompto, LD, Spark Offeribg/MBD, USB/BSB, Ace Striker
Ignis, Entrust, BSB, LMR, DMT
Elarra, LD, Dispel/Warrior's Hymn, USB, LMR, MM
King, LD, Snipe x 2, USB/SSB, weakness RM
I have all of that except Elarra (but I presume another healer could sub in easily enough) and, admittedly, the ton of great Prompto stuff. Don't really have any good physical lit imperil (I think like...Fran SSB or something like that?)
e: I DO have OK pUSB and celerity abilities, tho.
Btw, how do you use Trance characters?
i know that's pretty easy content but lol that's hilarious. ice magicite runs gonna be real funny i think.
1: wing it, and hope the boss knocks them down on their own.
2: strategize an opening turn that will have you hit the Trance user with an attack just weak enough to not kill them outright.
3: give the Trance character Last Stand (however you can get it) and smack them with a full power attack that would otherwise kill them outright.
4:(only for Darkness users) spam Crimson/Sanguine Cross until your health bottoms out.
4* for my 2 magic trances i usually brought onion knight with blizzara and that worked on the 2 fights i used it on. physical was sephiroth and he went in naturally against siren every time.
2/11: Ysayle LMR (chance to Imperil Ice 1 when using Ice attacks), Haurchefant LMR (Chance to reduce incoming damage when equipped with a shield).
Ech. Ain't gonna be using Haurchy's thing much at all, seeing as that's my one and only relic for him. And I just proved that Ysayle has stiff competition in the Ice department, even if I were to grab her BSB off of the Acoylte Archives. It's interesting how her BSB and dive seem to revolve around Witch skills (lots of cast time reductions), but I'm pretty sure Matoya has her beat. She might be someone to keep an eye on if I can't get enough damage with Rinoa's chain when the Wind magicites roll around, though.
Not the best mythril I ever spent.
Only relics which I think are necessary are a healing burst (Iris BSB or something) and ignis's BSB for the haste/boost. Trick to this one is a complete Sylph magicite (heal, but more importantly 20 Earth resist), and lots of breaks. I brought prompto with nothing for ATK and full break, Iris had the atk/mag dance, and Ignis had mug bloodlust.
It was a war of attrition, and I had glad's SSB as a security blanket, but last stand only proc'd once, on one person.
They popped up with the most recent Torment.
Rambling:
Swapped Edgar to slot 1, Lightning to slot 2 (though not sure if this matters or is reversible), and put Garnet in spot 4. She needs to take the first Cannonade to have enough SB to refresh the Chain in time.
Edgar Offer/Snipe (USB) TGM (LM2, R)
Lightning Quadstrike/Ripper Bolt (USB) +DMG (LM2, R)
Edge SiT/Flash Disaster (SSB2) Ace Striker (LM2)
Garnet Tritoch/ATK Song (Chain) DMT
TG Cid Banishing Strike/Stormspell Strike (OSB) MM (LM2, 1)
Mimic Queen
First improvement was entering a shamanic trance and honing my senses to a razor edge, so much so that I was able to press Lightning's first Quadstrike at 0.98 seconds instead of 1.08 seconds, which caused a cascade of speed ups that ended up accruing time instead of losing it over the course of the fight. In general, I was able to get the timing for pre-pressing inputs down, leading to much faster reactions, as long as I could correctly anticipate which character's turn would be next. In the event of a tie, I needed to pause as the icon starts to appear, but before it's fully open, so I could figure out whose turn it was going to be. Also in general since the fight started going the same way every time, it was easier to watch who acted first, so I could better judge whose turn it would be first.
Clearing the DPS check for phase 1 was balanced on a razor's edge. Generally I found Edgar should go two Offerings, then two Snipes. If Orlandeau overperforms on his OSB cast (crit or lots of early imperils), the timing works out that Edgar can just Offering four times. If I do TOO much DPS, I skip the Water Shot, which grants critical SB meter.
Because of the way turns end up, Lightning and Edgar finish their 4th actions right before Water Shot. So if they DPS enough to skip Waterja in 4 actions, they also skip Water Shot, which throws off later SB refreshes. This is why Edgar can't go whole hog with his Snipes. But if they both start casting their USBs while Waterja is casting, they won't finish in time, which prematurely eats Water Blink. Orlandeau and Edge can't do enough damage to push phase 1 into 2 between Water Shot and Waterja. So out of necessity Lightning has to Ripper Bolt once, which delays her USB a turn.
Phase two has been more stable. Occasionally I can skip the Cannonade, but it's rare. I just need to not mess up the timing on Edge's SSB refreshes.
Phase three usually ends after Orlandeau's third OSB. I've also gotten better at predicting the Protect.
I suspect Kain is a bigger upfront DPS contribution than Garnet, allowing easier phase 1 transitions, but once she gets going with her song, everyone else starts crushing it. She only Tritochs once for SB meter.
I was cheap and only put Tempest Snipe to R4, but it's been working, so I'll save orbs for now.
Good call on the +Weakness RM for Lightning. It's maybe a 1% improvement, but it helps.
Everyone has +40% Lightning, no worries there.
I had been leveling a second Hades to feed to my first for double +15 Dark, but I egged it to 99 and think I'll keep them separate for now. It's an extra 3% damage over Darkmare.
I didn't want to pull the trigger on Garnet's LD as well unless it looked impossible. I already LD Edgar for this, and that might have been a mistake instead of Reno.
Actions are generally:
Lightning: Quadstrike x4, Ripper Bolt, USB, Ripper Bolt, USB when it's up
Edgar: Offer x2, see if TG Cid OSB crits, if yes, Offer x2, if no, Snipe x2, USB, Snipe, refresh USB before 25s, Snipe.
Edge: SiT, FD x2, SSB2 after Gravity, FD until full SB bar, SSB2 after Gravity, SiT when FD runs out. Timing can change based on phase transitions.
Garnet: Chain, Song x2, Tritoch, refresh Chain after Gravity, Song until end
TG Cid: RW, wait for Chain, Stormspell, wait for Gravity, OSB, Stormspell, Magicite, Stormspell, OSB when it's up.
I ditched Water resist except for Garnet (whose stats don't matter, but whose HP is low) and Edge, who split the difference with Water resist and 15 ATK.
Garnet had to be in slot 4 to refresh the Chain in time.
I swapped Edgar and Lightning, though I'm not sure if it makes a difference. They're in slots 1 and 2 in case things go pear shaped in phase 3.
Cid manages to get a third OSB off right at the 29.something mark, if W-Casts haven't killed the boss sooner.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm8P91HZGwc
seriously I can't listen to that song after so many Magicite Fights.
That reminds me that I was planning on making a list of the music that would play if you were encountering each magicite in their home game. For example, you never fight Midgardsormr as a boss in FFVI, so his theme would be the Yeti's Cave theme, which plays where you find his stone. Imagine the Dirt Snake fight with that playing.
I did the 15 mythril discounted pull for each realm.
Deuce BSB, Queen LMR, Nine LMR, Rem USB
Marche BSB, Orlandeau BSB, Ovelia BSB2, Ramza LMR (dupe), Alma USB (dupe), Rapha USB
Gladio LMR (cover), Gladio LMR (dupe), Noct OSB, Iris USB
Yda USB (dupe), Cid 14 USB
Fang BSB1, Fang BSB1 (dupe), Fang BSB2
Balthier BSB2, Gabranth OSB
Aphmau BSB (dupe), Prishe BSB, Aphmau LMR
Yuna LMR (w-cast WHT)
Zidane BSB1, Beatrix LMR (cover), Beatrix LMR (dupe)
Raijin LMR (Init Aura), Quistis USB
Cait Sith BSB (dupe), Tifa LMR (Growing ATK)
Celes BSB1 (dupe), Celes LMR, Locke Glint (dupe), Celes Glint
Faris USB3
Rydia BSB2, Palom BSB
Ingus BSB2, CoD OSB
Firion LMR (W-cast Combat), Maria Glint
Meia LMR, WoL USB1 (dupe)
Well, that started off well, but sort of petered out by the end. Items of note:
Deuce BSB, Rem USB, Iris USB, Cid 14 USB (maybe?), Quistis USB, Faris USB3. LMRs are by and large not bad for characters that otherwise don't have Legend Dives, except of course for Cover, of which I got FOUR. There's a smattering of possibly useful Bursts as well, but probably not.
Full Throttle draw!
Wrieg (BEYOND) BSB
Well, that could've been worse, technically speaking, but then again, maybe NOT.
Since I received Deuce BSB in my realm draw, that decides my bonus set.
FF6 Relm BSB, Terra BSB2, Terra OSB, all of which are new and varying degrees of useful.
I'd also never done my Acolyte Archive draws, and won't be doing any non-Lucky draws probably for three months, so now is as good a time as any to do them.
Bartz Unique (+Wind dagger)
Gordon Unique (Moderate Fire Resist)
Lenna SSB (honestly I had most of these)
Ingus SSB (+Earth sword)
Gladio SSB (could be useful in realm CMs)
Iris BSB (not as pressing a need anymore, but could still be useful in realm CMs)
Kelgar BSB (maybe for FFV Torment?)
Ashe BSB (wanted this forever)
Alphinaud BSB (wanted this forever)
47 new items. Might take a while to learn all that. At least tomorrow is Sundaily!
It was Tidus's Unique: Swiftform (Haste and Ether to the party).
So, "hit" is a relative term.