I really didn't take good advantage of super synergy for Ifrit, so I sure as heck made sure to do it this time for Shiva. Most of my decent characters have mastery, and all but two have unlocked at least the treasure nodes. But dang I've been chugging tomes and potions like crazy.
I wish there was a week or two longer of super synergy, the amount of time we get just disappears so quickly.
Booooo 291k out of 300k on Abyss 3-9 COSMOS with Setzer, Vayne, Lenna, Ifrit (wave 4), Quistis (wave 2). I could probably have done better with Serah instead of Lenna but I was worried about healing, which turned out to be a bit unnecessary.
Went back with Zack, Vayne, Lulu and crushed it for 400k lol
I did the six super synergy characters with twelve actual good characters, plus a few extra good characters, to maximum. Then I went back and hit Ifrit with some of the characters that were on 2x XP.
0
BeastehTHAT WOULD NOTKILL DRACULARegistered Userregular
i completely flubbed grinding people through shiva, it's been a busy month with work and a new hearthstone expansion
on stratum 6 of abyss, some of the requirements have been fairly draconic, glad i have older units like setzer/eiko to fill in gaps
Heh, I've had a single copy of Rydia's 15 and 35 since she came out, and I never did anything with them. I threw 20 tickets at her banner and got some Yang 15 power stones and a copy of her 15.
I threw 5k at her banner and got 3 more Yang power stones and her EX, lol. I am fucking over all my luck for the 70/70 era, aren't I
If I'm doing this math right, Rydia + Serah = +150% ATK and mBRV to the whole party, plus always hitting elemental weakness. That's pretty gnarly, although if you add a DPS then you've got no healing.
Yo, the Abyss Cosmo level 6 fight is an even worse experience. You're definitely going to want your very best.
Of course, the conditionals are 1 sword, 1 greatsword, and 1 white Crystal so I hope your best fit in those categories.
(I did Vayne, Agrias, and Serah. 53 turns, 360k. But I had to really conserve my abilities whenever possible. Everyone was almost out of attacks at the end.)
Over the course of the morning I maxed out Rydia's crystal strength and pulled her EX (my first!) on my second multi-draw. My waifu is very strong indeed.
I cleared out the shop for Mog's Gym, now it's a matter of figuring out which characters get strengthened. I haven't been following the meta, and for reference I'm only at Act 1 Chapter 11 in the story, so any suggestions on who I should focus on?
We're starting to get to a point where you need EX weapons for tippy-top content, with a very few exceptions of characters who have released recently without an EX (Lulu, Freya; Fran soon, Aphmau a bit later). Vayne and Zack banners are up for a few more days, and they're both very good; there's also a banner right now that has both Squall and Layle EXes on it, so twice the chance of hitting an EX. We should be getting a second banner for Abyss Beta, probably in the next few days. We don't know for sure what will be on it, but it's a strong bet it will have two EXes on it. I think one of them will probably be a re-run of Warrior of Light, which would be a good investment as he is due to receive a very strong rework soon.
Based on Gil spent, I figure I've made ~300 eidojas for Serah, Zack and Vayne. Of the three ideal combinations of passives for them, I've gotten exactly one, for Zack.
Man, got lucky to get Rydia's EX quickly, about 50 tickets got me nadda, so I did a 10+1 pull, which got me a ridiculous haul, Fujin's 15, Yang's 15 and 35, Shadow's 35, and Rydia's EX.
Crazy pants!
Though I also have to say that Rydia's EX ability animation is rather ... underwhelming. We don't even get to see the dragon? Boooo. Leviathan looks more impressive than the dragon. Also, why not call it mist dragon or something more interesting? Just "dragon" is milquetoast.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. ~ Terry Pratchett
+5
IlpalaJust this guy, y'knowTexasRegistered Userregular
11 pull on Fran banner, 2/11
Fran 35 & Ashe EX gg ez no re (oh god thank you)
FF XIV - Qih'to Furishu (on Siren), Battle.Net - Ilpala#1975
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
If you're looking for some ideas for how to get through the Abyss, here's a crowdsourced spreadsheet reddit has been putting together, showing teams people used for all of the boss fights.
New Abyss levels are live. Lightning got her rework! Banner is Lightning, Garnet, and.....Sabin?
I managed to get (but not mlb) Lightning's stuff the last time around, guess I need to learn how to Lightning? Sparkstrike does HP damage now but I dunno what the best uses of her abilities are.
Fran Cosmos was tough, I had to reformat several times, kept running way over on turns. Eventually got it done with Cloud, Rinoa, Vanille, Shiva, friend Layle EX.
Really need to bring a strong dispel. Balthier 35 might be good enough, but I don't own it. Faris is probably too slow and unwieldy. Cloud can sort of keep them under control if you are careful to have Meteorain up for their triple buff. It might be possible to have the dispel on your friend if you time it well and use your summon to extend the time the baddies are not buffed.
Oh, and the things are huge sacks of HP so bring splash damage. The twins are probably great if you have them fully built out.
Bring a Dispel, or tons and tons of splash/extra damage and Summon before their second turns. Swap in a Quistis friend and chunk them back a bunch of turns. It's pretty touch and go, still; a dispeller would make it much easier but it's gotta be Balthier or Vanille, Faris is too weak for COSMOS atm.
Late September: Radiant Artifact Tokens
- Revamp of World of Illusions artifacts - get tokens as drops, exchange for your choice of character's Eidoga/ja
bloom tokens/bloom fragments for upgrading level 65 abilities. Read the in-game explanation, it's slightly complicated
August 29: Atlas raid (including Cosmos co-op)
- community missions for High Shards, gems, etc
- personal missions for bloom tokens, bloom fragments, etc
August 29: WoL costume (classic red) available again
- also triple books back on sale, and limited time gem sales
Sep 2: Alisaie LC
Sep 5: Porom event
- both will be coming with level 70 (as will all characters coming forward)
Sep 9: Act 2, Chapter 4 (Paine)
Sep 9: 101 characters celebration
- co-op first meet will be reset
- double cycle quest rewards
Some time soon: (possibly this Friday)
- Twitter campaign: details TBD, award gems, high crystals, etc to community
It cost me 36 power stones (to level up all three of Lenna's weapons from nothing), but I have now full cleared stratum 9 of the abyss. Used Lenna and Rinoa both times, with Vivi and Firion covering the weapon type missions.
Joshua mentioned something on stream about Firion being surprisingly good, which is why I thought to use him. He fits quite well with Lenna, I gotta say.
+1
BeastehTHAT WOULD NOTKILL DRACULARegistered Userregular
Cleared score and requirements in a single run on 9-7 Cosmos with Rinoa Lightning and Y'shtola (Quistis friend used Vs the phantom armor, Shiva summon)
Rinoa died to a full power from atma weapon and it didn't matter because Y'shtola EX
Haven't been playing as much, so I just got around to working out the first boss of Abyss. Got it down with Setzer, Rydia, and Vayne (I had thought I needed to perfect the boss to get past it), got it down, but took too much damage in the last wave (dumb Cloud) so I didn't hit the point value (had something like 250k and needed 300k). I might have done better, but I really don't understand Vayne. I got his EX early (I think just from tickets, or maybe 1 draw), but I haven't played around with him much. How are you supposed to juggle his abilities?
Also, using Setzer was a bit of a blast from the past, and a reminder how far down he's fallen without an EX (even with his rework). I hope his EX comes soon... (checks event schedule prediction) its another month? Boo.
Also, looking at the schedule, does Eiko still not get her EX with Ultimate Ramuh?! Thats really rough.
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. ~ Terry Pratchett
Vayne's strength is that he gets lots of free turns and his HP+ is very strong. This infographic might help.
Start with his second ability to get [Consul's Wisdom] which gives him some ATK/mBRV, turns on his party auras, and transforms his BRV and HP attacks. His second ability also gives one stack of [Conqueror's Power], which reduces enemy ATK. His first ability gives 2 stacks of [Conqueror's Power], and his transformed BRV and HP attacks give one stack each. His EX gives 3 stacks.
When [Conqueror's Power] hits 3 stacks, all his abilities are transformed to + versions that don't consume turn count and give him consecutive turns. This allows him to pump out lots of damage without increasing the turn counter, which is great for COSMOS difficulty as the turn requirements are relatively low. BUT, the + versions of his abilities do not add/refresh stacks, so he's got a sort of rotation going on.
Basically you want to get to 3 stacks, then you're gonna get 3 turns in a row. You'll still expend ability uses if you use them, but his EX refreshes one charge of each ability. Depending on the length of the fight and your need for damage, you can use those free turns for more Mach Waves/Force of Wills, or you can throw out three HP+ attacks.
Don't ever use his EX+, because his plain EX gives you 3 stacks.
I like using Vayne's EX on the last turn of a triple turn, so your next turn is also a triple. Nyuk nyuk. But yeah, definitely do not ever use the plus version of the EX ability, you want the stacks!
Ideally you want to use either Mach Wave or the EX at least once whenever you're not in bonus turns mode, so you get to the bonus turns faster. If he's near full BRV when his turn comes around (because someone else healed his BRV, usually), that's a good time to use the HP+ attack. If you're in a super long fight and need to conserve ability uses, BRV+ into HP+ can be a decent first two turns of a triple.
Force of Will gets its own paragraph, because there's a lot to it. If you need to push back the enemy a turn, use FoW. If you need a small BRV heal on an ally, use FoW. (If you don't need any particular other summon, equip Bahamut for bigger BRV heals from all the extra breaks.) If an enemy is about to unbreak, maybe FoW or not depending on what's going on. If you can afford to wait a turn for the enemy to recover, and then break it, maybe don't FoW. On the other hand, if the enemy is going to take the next turn and use it to HP attack, maybe you do want to FoW so you can reset it to 0 BRV. Generally try not to use FoW on enemies that are not currently broken, because you're robbing yourself of a break bonus (you can't get it twice in one turn), and it's SUPER feelsbadman if you fail to break the target with the front half of FoW (thus wasting the unbreak effect).
Keep an eye on any external buffs on Vayne, he burns through them very quickly, so you'll need to refresh more often than usual. If you happen to group him with a character who can extend buff durations (Eiko in particular, but I think also Sazh/Hope/Yuna), if you extend buffs when Vayne has three stacks, you'll give him an extra bonus turn.
Another aspect of Vayne others didn't mention: his second ability, Force of Will, also works as a form of turn delay because he will unbreak his target between the 2 BRV+HP attacks, meaning he can push a boss's turn back relatively frequently. This can be amazing for buying you more time to damage/kill a boss before a big attack comes out. He's no Quistis in the sheer power of his turn delay, but he will do it more frequently.
It's also a little late for this since Vayne just lost his 2x EXP bonus from his event, but master his summon boards for the extra stats if you have not already done so. Those make a huge difference for him (and for every character, really).
Edit: whoops, I missed Fry's post. Anyways, Vayne is a lot stronger than he first appears.
Grinding Shiva was pretty exhausting. There'll eventually be the option to grind the fight with one party and accrue board points you can allocate on anyone's board, which, hey, I'll take that as soon as possible please
Eiko also gives lots of ATK and mBRV via standard buffs, which Vayne doesn't give himself, so they pair nicely.
Yeah, I kinda just stumbled on it, but pairing Rydia with Vayne worked out well, since she enchants water and then makes the enemy weak to water (kinda like an attack buff) and Leviathan gives a max BRV buff, so that worked out well, though Vayne did eat through his enchants at a crazy rate.
Thanks Rius, Xerink, and Fry for the tips!
The trouble with having an open mind, of course, is that people will insist on coming along and trying to put things in it. ~ Terry Pratchett
Did Abyss 6-13 COSMOS (score + all missions) with Vayne, Agrias and Serah. I continue to be super happy to have gotten Agrias' EX all those months ago, she keeps popping up as exceptionally useful. Heals over time, random paralyze procs, Silence, 100% splash damage on her EX, works really well with Serah's mBRV buffs. What a champ.
Posts
Suffice to say the bad luck streak of June/July has been sufficiently compensated for
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 wish there was a week or two longer of super synergy, the amount of time we get just disappears so quickly.
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 hope the next board is easier to farm, heh.
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.
Went back with Zack, Vayne, Lulu and crushed it for 400k lol
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.
on stratum 6 of abyss, some of the requirements have been fairly draconic, glad i have older units like setzer/eiko to fill in gaps
I threw 5k at her banner and got 3 more Yang power stones and her EX, lol. I am fucking over all my luck for the 70/70 era, aren't I
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.
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.
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, the conditionals are 1 sword, 1 greatsword, and 1 white Crystal so I hope your best fit in those categories.
(I did Vayne, Agrias, and Serah. 53 turns, 360k. But I had to really conserve my abilities whenever possible. Everyone was almost out of attacks at the end.)
I cleared out the shop for Mog's Gym, now it's a matter of figuring out which characters get strengthened. I haven't been following the meta, and for reference I'm only at Act 1 Chapter 11 in the story, so any suggestions on who I should focus on?
Artifacts fucking suck.
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.
Crazy pants!
Though I also have to say that Rydia's EX ability animation is rather ... underwhelming. We don't even get to see the dragon? Boooo. Leviathan looks more impressive than the dragon. Also, why not call it mist dragon or something more interesting? Just "dragon" is milquetoast.
Fran 35 & Ashe EX gg ez no re (oh god thank you)
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
So that's kind of below average, lol.
Up to 450 Serah arts with no double cursed btw
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.
2 Ashe 35
3 Fran 15
Seven Ashe 15s
... No sign of Balthier, which is annoying because I could actually use another of his 15s. Oh well
I managed to get (but not mlb) Lightning's stuff the last time around, guess I need to learn how to Lightning? Sparkstrike does HP damage now but I dunno what the best uses of her abilities are.
Sabin 15
Six copies of Garnet 15, including two in the first three draws and two of the last three draws :0
Oh well
Really need to bring a strong dispel. Balthier 35 might be good enough, but I don't own it. Faris is probably too slow and unwieldy. Cloud can sort of keep them under control if you are careful to have Meteorain up for their triple buff. It might be possible to have the dispel on your friend if you time it well and use your summon to extend the time the baddies are not buffed.
Oh, and the things are huge sacks of HP so bring splash damage. The twins are probably great if you have them fully built out.
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.
Aug 28: Artifact Auto-Enhance
Late September: Radiant Artifact Tokens
- Revamp of World of Illusions artifacts - get tokens as drops, exchange for your choice of character's Eidoga/ja
August 29: level 70 awakening wave 1
Sazh, Laguna, Yda, WoL, Shantotto, Cater
(Laguna EX shown)
- difficulty 70 cycle quests
bloom tokens/bloom fragments for upgrading level 65 abilities. Read the in-game explanation, it's slightly complicated
August 29: Atlas raid (including Cosmos co-op)
- community missions for High Shards, gems, etc
- personal missions for bloom tokens, bloom fragments, etc
August 29: WoL costume (classic red) available again
- also triple books back on sale, and limited time gem sales
Sep 2: Alisaie LC
Sep 5: Porom event
- both will be coming with level 70 (as will all characters coming forward)
Sep 9: Act 2, Chapter 4 (Paine)
Sep 9: 101 characters celebration
- co-op first meet will be reset
- double cycle quest rewards
Some time soon: (possibly this Friday)
- Twitter campaign: details TBD, award gems, high crystals, etc to community
Sep 13: Noctis LC (and costume)
Sep 16: mystery character (Cinque)
Sep 23: Selphie LC
Sep 19: level 70 awakening wave 2
Seven, Faris, Terra, Yuna, Zack, Ramza
Next stream: Joshua will be talking about the EX weapon shop
Joshua mentioned something on stream about Firion being surprisingly good, which is why I thought to use him. He fits quite well with Lenna, I gotta say.
Rinoa died to a full power from atma weapon and it didn't matter because Y'shtola EX
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.
Also, using Setzer was a bit of a blast from the past, and a reminder how far down he's fallen without an EX (even with his rework). I hope his EX comes soon... (checks event schedule prediction) its another month? Boo.
Also, looking at the schedule, does Eiko still not get her EX with Ultimate Ramuh?! Thats really rough.
Start with his second ability to get [Consul's Wisdom] which gives him some ATK/mBRV, turns on his party auras, and transforms his BRV and HP attacks. His second ability also gives one stack of [Conqueror's Power], which reduces enemy ATK. His first ability gives 2 stacks of [Conqueror's Power], and his transformed BRV and HP attacks give one stack each. His EX gives 3 stacks.
When [Conqueror's Power] hits 3 stacks, all his abilities are transformed to + versions that don't consume turn count and give him consecutive turns. This allows him to pump out lots of damage without increasing the turn counter, which is great for COSMOS difficulty as the turn requirements are relatively low. BUT, the + versions of his abilities do not add/refresh stacks, so he's got a sort of rotation going on.
Basically you want to get to 3 stacks, then you're gonna get 3 turns in a row. You'll still expend ability uses if you use them, but his EX refreshes one charge of each ability. Depending on the length of the fight and your need for damage, you can use those free turns for more Mach Waves/Force of Wills, or you can throw out three HP+ attacks.
Don't ever use his EX+, because his plain EX gives you 3 stacks.
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.
Ideally you want to use either Mach Wave or the EX at least once whenever you're not in bonus turns mode, so you get to the bonus turns faster. If he's near full BRV when his turn comes around (because someone else healed his BRV, usually), that's a good time to use the HP+ attack. If you're in a super long fight and need to conserve ability uses, BRV+ into HP+ can be a decent first two turns of a triple.
Force of Will gets its own paragraph, because there's a lot to it. If you need to push back the enemy a turn, use FoW. If you need a small BRV heal on an ally, use FoW. (If you don't need any particular other summon, equip Bahamut for bigger BRV heals from all the extra breaks.) If an enemy is about to unbreak, maybe FoW or not depending on what's going on. If you can afford to wait a turn for the enemy to recover, and then break it, maybe don't FoW. On the other hand, if the enemy is going to take the next turn and use it to HP attack, maybe you do want to FoW so you can reset it to 0 BRV. Generally try not to use FoW on enemies that are not currently broken, because you're robbing yourself of a break bonus (you can't get it twice in one turn), and it's SUPER feelsbadman if you fail to break the target with the front half of FoW (thus wasting the unbreak effect).
Keep an eye on any external buffs on Vayne, he burns through them very quickly, so you'll need to refresh more often than usual. If you happen to group him with a character who can extend buff durations (Eiko in particular, but I think also Sazh/Hope/Yuna), if you extend buffs when Vayne has three stacks, you'll give him an extra bonus turn.
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.
It's also a little late for this since Vayne just lost his 2x EXP bonus from his event, but master his summon boards for the extra stats if you have not already done so. Those make a huge difference for him (and for every character, really).
Edit: whoops, I missed Fry's post. Anyways, Vayne is a lot stronger than he first appears.
3DS FC: 2234-7230-2712
Battle.net: Kriese#1709
But effort (and potions)
Switch - SW-7373-3669-3011
Fuck Joe Manchin
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.
Yeah, I kinda just stumbled on it, but pairing Rydia with Vayne worked out well, since she enchants water and then makes the enemy weak to water (kinda like an attack buff) and Leviathan gives a max BRV buff, so that worked out well, though Vayne did eat through his enchants at a crazy rate.
Thanks Rius, Xerink, and Fry for the tips!
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.