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Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

NGDBSS posted:

I was working on this in the previous thread, but since I've got the most obvious quirks out of the way I'll mention it here as well. Back in the previous thread's OP there was a spreadsheet listing a bunch of cool information about the extant dungeons, such as all of their loot/stamina breakdown/progression. In addition, there was a snazzy chart showing off that same progression up through DU 25. Unfortunately it seems they're not updating it anymore (or at least not the parts about dungeons), but in the meantime I figured I'd work on keeping it updated and to make a few new features. (Everything updates from a master file, sorting by stamina-to-shards ratios/filtering by DU is possible but currently wonky, and filtering by orb loot is up.)

Thoughts for the future:
  • Because Google Docs can be wonky at times, should I just implement dedicated buttons for sorting/filtering that I wasn't able to easily share before? The way things currently work is that the document is set to edit permission, but most cells are manually locked down.
  • Should I add in/remove event dungeons when they come?
  • What other data processing should I try for? For instance, should I mention notable status effect weaknesses, or is that best left to ffrk.pdf?
  • Who made the original file, anyway? I'd like to credit them (as I will be crediting Enlir once I add in loot for upcoming DU 26-31) but I don't recall seeing a name on that.
  • The original creator had worked a fair bit ahead of the global dungeons on certain details like stamina breakdowns/mastery conditions/progression, but Enlir doesn't have those. Is there JP-version information I can find to collate such things, or am I SOL until a given DU drops globally?

I guess element/status weaknesses could be handy to list for bosses, especially for people playing through on JP trying to figure out how to clear old stages with one reference guide. As for getting info on mastery conditions and such for upcoming dungeons, you might be stuck trying to parse the google-translated JP Wiki: https://xn--ffrk-8i9hs14f.gamematome.jp/game/780/wiki/%E3%83%88%E3%83%83%E3%83%97%E3%83%9A%E3%83%BC%E3%82%B8

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Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

Is it a bad idea to use mythril for a stamina recharge on these sundailies? It's really tempting to refresh it and keep pushing levels, but I know a lot of people recommend never using mythril for stamina.

Save mythril refreshes for orbfests. They offer slightly less XP than the Sundaily, but you get guaranteed orb and gil drops from every enemy. Dailies just aren't worth it, on their own.

KnoxZone posted:

U++ was an absolute joke of a fight, even with my crummy mage synergy.



The only change from this ss was I equipped the acc from the U fight on red for more fire resistance.



One damage medal loss due to his scripted attacks. Most of his magic pierces res so shellga isn't needed, but magic breakdown + full break is essential (preferably the dances since breaks miss when core is closed). Mages have it far far easier.

Oh good, that's encouraging. I have almost no mage gear for FFVII, but hopefully I can pull it off anyway.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Hogama posted:

Going back in time to the event ending in a few hours or so, I, uh, have a question.

So, the only SB I even have in the party is Mighty Guard VIII, not even a shared medica equipped. Selphie ended the battle with 8 charges of Curaja because I didn't need to cast anymore after it stopped attacking physically.
Did I miss some mechanic, and that's why every single one of the dragon's spells did 0 damage, or...?

What was your RW?

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Huh. Then, uh, no, that's very strange.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Dr Pepper posted:

None of them because that requires getting them to level 99 and that leads to :siren:wasted EXP:siren:

:colbert:

Only if you use the character again after that! Which is why Luneth is the perfect choice.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!


Yaaay, mastered the CM even with bad relics and no SBs besides shared medicas. I had to S/L once because I accidentally cast protectga when I should've been healing, but the second time went pretty smoothly.

I actually had way more trouble with the undead dragons. I brought a bad setup that basically forced me to be doing constant damage, and I couldn't keep up mitigation for all the counters and Pandora's Boxes and crap. Screw those guys.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

kalensc posted:

My VII armors are all Res-based so I'm a bit short in the Def department and thinking of bringing the Atk-Down Dance. Did you need that 2nd ability (Gust?) on Yuffie at all, or could you have gotten by with just the Swift Bolts?

Yuffie's second ability is phantasm, which is the highest single-target ninja magic damage we've got at the moment. Even with Sheepsong my damage output wasn't great (see the lost medal for actions taken), and I was running relatively low on ability uses. If you've got better magic sticks or maybe a Hope BSB RW, you could probably drop Phantasm for a dance.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

NGDBSS posted:



:woop: Got the map working! (Edit: Oops, I cropped off the right border.)

Oh nice, I love that thing. I was disappointed when the last one stopped getting updated.

Grozz Nuy posted:

Does anybody have a Sheepsong or Hope BSB RW set for Diamond Weapon? I thought I had a few Sheepsongs on my following list but I can't seem to find them now, I must have either gotten bumped off their lists or they changed to something else.

I've got Sheepsong: Q3Nf

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
Arg, I knew I shouldn't pull.



I have now gotten every one of Fang's spears without ever pulling on a XIII banner. And I have a generic 5* FFXIII spear- FOUR XIII spears, and all different, arg! Also, every one of my G5 pulls so far has been 1/11.

It's a BSB, but her Atk&Mag breakdown SSB is arguably more useful. And I don't have any good Wind SBs to take advantage of the imperil. Hrmm.

I just wanted some better III or Tactics synergy.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Kemix posted:

My good luck continues in FFRK. I can swim in all these relics. Got a nice 5/11 on the half-off pull tonight.



I truly am the most all American FFRK Player. ALL THE GUNS. All of them...except not.

We all hate you. You're the reason my relic pull rate has actually dropped since guaranteed 5*.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Panic! at Nabisco posted:

Has the Wutai Headband recurred on anything but lucky draws with massive relic pools? I'd love a % medica option so I'm not forced into having Ramza whenever I use a non-medica WHM.

It was previously on quite a few banners, but none going forward, no. There are a number of % medicas on non-healers going forward, however, including Ashe's SSB (we actually have already gotten this), and SBs for Josef and Sabin, I believe. Pretty sure there are a number of other ones too.

Edit: Yeah, Curilla on the potential FFXI banner, and Onion Knight's magic SSB on the the second OK banner (which no one will be pulling on) also have them.

Schwartzcough fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Oct 12, 2016

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

Considering using one or two mythril this weekend to restore stamina and blast through the sundaily in the hopes of being able to finish the Ultimate battles in the FF7 event before it goes away, but I'm curious - do you lose any stamina you have left when you refresh it, or does "overflow" and add whatever you had left on top of maxing it?

If you refresh with stamina, you keep any extra you have (so if you have 15 with a max of 150, you'll have 165/150). When you get a refresh from stamina shards, you do not and lose any stamina you had.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

LornMarkus posted:

The question is how sad and weak is it?

It's 6 single-target wind hits, attach wind, and a higher multiplier depending on the number of 5* dragoons in the party. They keep trying to push this "party of dragoons" angle, but dragoons get almost no ability diversity. I mean, they're better than monks, but as far as I know there's no White 4, Support 5, or other important skillsets on a dragoon.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Zurai posted:

For those considering spending all your mythril on the Celes/Locke banners in next week's event in Japan, don't forget that we're getting a World of Final Fantasy cross-promotion event with new characters and new relics for those characters the following week. As a reminder, the last two times an event has introduced a pair of new characters for a brand new realm, we got the first FF14 banner and the first FFT banner. I expect them to push the envelope again for WoFF.

And if the WoFF banner turns out to be a bust after all, the Celes/Locke banners will still be active.

And we're almost certain to get a FFXV event in late November/early December, and I'd be shocked if it wasn't an excellent banner. So again, might be worth saving up mythril.

Edly posted:

I think I can beat the U+ dragon zombie fight if I do the build-up-SB-and-mythril-continue trick. How do I get the most out of my continue? If I move all my characters to the back row for the SB-building run, then continue, then flee and move my attackers into the front row, do I lose the continue bonus?

Have you tried the hit and run tactic? That's where you put a white magic spring RM on your healer, go into the fight and have everyone do one attack and your healer cast curaja, and then flee. Repeat over and over to build up SB charges. Costs no mythril, and since you're fleeing between fight there's no problem moving people to the front row when you're done.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

AweStriker posted:

Speaking of U+ Dragon Zombie woes, I find myself struggling to keep up around phase two or three. When I took a hiatus six months ago I had utterly ridiculous levels of high-end VII stuff that is probably slightly less high-end now.

What I'm trying now:

Sephiroth - Flashing Blade, that one AoE Fire samurai ability, +20%ATK w/ Sap (has Black Materia)
Cloud - Lifesiphon, Fira Strike, +Soul Gauge/action (has Fenrir Overdrive)
Ramza - Full Break, Power Breakdown, +Soul Gauge/action (has Tailwind)
Lenna - Shellga, Curaja, Start SB (has Flames of War and Princess' Favor)
Y'shtola - Magic Breakdown, Diaga, Start SB (has SSII)

Previous attempts have included Tifa with Waterkick and Burning Arrow and I also have LH; I also wasn't quite sure what RW to take with that setup.

(Not everyone is at their max level and no one has any Sphere skills.)

Any suggestions? I'm pretty sure I can get through this

What are you bringing as a RW? If Lenna's Flames of War are enough to take you up to the attack softcap, you should probably bring a good medica (I'm thinking one with magic blink to use just before you kill two of the dragons, to nullify their Pandora's Boxes). If you're not doing enough damage, you might want to go with Shout and bring a healer with another medica or something. If you go that route, you might put the [Start with SB] RM on Ramza, so you can use Tailwind early and get Protectga up. WIth Wall, Protectga, Shellga, Full Break, the breakdowns, and two medicas, you should be able to weather a lot of punishment.

Other than that it's general strategy stuff. If you have a stronger single-target option for Sephiroth than Flashing Blade (or another lifesiphon), do that. Preferably you want to do as much damage to the third one as possible with SBs so you don't get countered into the ground.

Edit:

Panic! at Nabisco posted:

What are you RWing? If you have Flames of War and are using it, you can maybe forego Shout and RW a Pencil/Hope/Garnet/Beatrix BSB for holy smackdown.

Or that. Celes too, which gives +30 ATK/mag and holy-based spellblade bursts. I brought Celes', but my problem was I was doing damage too fast, and I couldn't get all the breaks and re-up mitigation in time while dealing with all their AoE death counters and such. I think taking this battle conservatively is the way to go.

Schwartzcough fucked around with this message at 23:19 on Oct 13, 2016

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Edly posted:

Thanks for the tip, that would be my first choice but I don't have the magic spring RM. I spent all my growth eggs on unlocking Mako Might so I'm tapped out for now.

Bummer. Depending on how far you are, you might want to just level up Fusoya instead of the core White and Black mages (in the future, not necessarily right now). Fusoya's RM2 works as both a black magic and a white magic spring, and he's a real character you could actually use instead of core garbage.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
First pull:


Hooray! Beatrix's BSB, and a pretty good off-banner.

3 of my last 6 non-lucky draws have been off-banner generics. 50% off banner rate, yaaay....

But I couldn't resist pulling again!



Humph. Since G5 I have gone 5/44- that's an 11% rate. My pull rate has gotten much shittier since G5 arrived. Oh well, being really unlucky during G5 is still less painful than my first year of playing.

I really wanted that gold hairpin, but I can't really justify pulling again.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grozz Nuy posted:

Hey, I'm back ahead of you in mythril now! :v: Do we know when the first of those datamined mythril gifts is due to drop? If we get two before the 26th (or maybe one and an apology mythril or two) I might be able to hit 500 before Larsa starts. Or I could clear a couple extra Elites from my backlog if I decide hitting a completely symbolic milestone is actually important to me.

Oh, if you've got a realm dungeon backlog then you're way ahead of me. I've already cleared this week's DU. I gambled all on a second pull and lost! Ok, except for those other 420 mythril.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
I auto-battled through the event and don't think I saw roulette used even once. :shrug:

Cape Cod Crab Chip posted:

You're right, of course, but clearly you can tell I'm venting, right? Fact is I felt worse about that pull than any blank I've had. That's just how it is.

I'll trade you one of my 1/11 pulls of Excalibur IX for your pull! If I keep getting 1/11 pulls I'm gonna flip my poo poo. I spent so many months saving up mythril for the improved draw rates, only to end up hovering around the absolute minimum possible draw rate after multiple pulls.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Panic! at Nabisco posted:

It's a bit weird to use because it doesn't synergize with boostga very well, but you can make it work. It combos really well with something like Trueblade of Legend that buffs your defense (not to mention wall!), and if you stick a reforged 8* armor on Steiner he can do some pretty respectable damage with it. That's pretty much the only build Aegis Strike is good with, too!

While you can make it better by buffing DEF, Steiner's SSB will pretty much always be pretty bad. The problem is how the formula works- It's based on 70% DEF and 30% ATK, so as you say, boostgas don't help much. But the real kicker is that the way it computes for the DEF value, is it's almost entirely based on his NATURAL defense- pre-buffs. The benefit you get from buffing DEF is very minimal. So while yes, to get the most out of it you need to stack Wall and Protectga and Draw Fire, it's still going to end up significantly weaker than a purely ATK-based SSB that gets full benefit from boostgas.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

KataraniSword posted:

Well, it makes more sense on someone like Steiner who is designed to be a sky-high DEF unit, than on one of the more attack-oriented Knights like Beatrix or Agrias.

All things considered, though, if we minmax like that it really should've been on Edgar or Cecil.

They should've just made the DEF-based attack equation less terrible; then it could still be a good SB.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grozz Nuy posted:

Did Reddit ever publish data on the drop rate for Ragnarok? Because if the rate for 6* relics is actually .1%, then a bunch of people either got crazy lucky or chased it really hard because plenty of people seem to have it.

On-banner 6* items are 1%, just like BSBs. Supposedly in Japan getting an OFF-BANNER 6* is .1%, but it looks like results in global so far are showing 0.000% chance of off-banner 6*.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Dr Pepper posted:

No since Cloud's OSB is on Banner for that one it's the usual 1%.

Though, I have to wonder what the odds are for the G5 pull are. Do they just make it proportionally the same chances?

Yeah, the guaranteed 5* item has the same odds of any normal pull, including 6* or off-banner.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Griefor posted:

I had a disappointing pull on Eiko's Banner. 2/22, Beatrix's BSB and Garnet's SSB. Not that bad in general, but I was hoping for more FFIX synergy items and some soul breaks for characters I would actually get from the event, since I had no FFIX characters yet (except Vivi/Steiner from realms maybe?). So I decided to use some hero souls to unlock Faris and Beatrix (I also had a Faris BSB weapon just sitting unused, and it's supposedly good), since both don't seem to be coming up anytime soon according to the event calendar. All I need now is a good soul break for a healer, but I have Minwu's SSB sitting in my inventory already and I'm not wasting a hero soul on him since he's coming next event. Aeris with Seal Evil (so basically nothing) will have to do until then.

I thought Beatrix's BSB was pretty good. Damage in the same league as the rest of my team (Cloud USB, Cid(VII) SSB, Faris BSB) and in Burst mode there's a great double hit attack which makes physical attacks target her. Then I first used it against a group boss. :stare: that poo poo is AoE holy gently caress it's amazing!

So yeah for new players I would definitely recommend using a hero soul or two to unlock characters if the first BSBs you get are for characters that you won't be seeing for a long time.

Uuurg, that's not a bad pull. Anyway, Garnet is a perfectly serviceable healer, and her SSB is pretty good. It's not a medica, but you'd be surprised how much high regen will end up healing your team. Plus hastega and a RES boost are almost always good.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

CaptainPsyko posted:

Not only is Beatrix's BSB AoE Holy, it also applies an effect known as Imperil Holy; what that doesnis makes bosses vulnerable to attacks that do holy damage (such as, for example, Beatrix's burst commands, and many of the Knight skills she can use.)

Just to clarify, only Bea's first burst command is holy, and gives the Sentinel effect. Her second burst command is non-elemental (but is slightly stronger to compensate) and gives her a 40% RES boost. So optimally you'd use the second burst once if you're fighting anything with magic attacks, then spam the first attack for higher damage and quicker SB gauge building.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

So what are some of the better mage banners that are coming up soon-ish? I know I want to pull on OK and it sounds like Alphinaud is amazing too, but I've honestly got a pretty ridiculous physical team set up once I gain some more levels and craft / hone some better skills. Meanwhile my mage gear is mostly middling to bad, and I think the only mage BSB I have is Garnet's. Other than that I've got random low +Mag stuff like Shotgun and Sorcercess's Crown, but nothing that seems amazing based on what other people's mage teams look like.

I want to change that, since physical teams definitely aren't ideal for some situations, and I don't want to hit a wall where I need mages and have jack poo poo to work with. Anything coming up that is really heavily mage-focused, or are most of the godly banners people are talking about a good mix of physical / magic gear and I just have to hope I stop pulling swords?

This is what you're looking for: https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/52agoo/mage_meta_ultimate_guide_what_relics_to_look_out/

Even if you don't want to read the whole guide, he goes through all upcoming banners and points out the top ones for great mage stuff.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

Oh wow, that's pretty thorough!

Thanks everyone, definitely gonna keep saving up Mythril now that I have a few things to look forward to.

Also I just realized I have Hope's SSB, and I meant to ask: does it scale off of his Magic of Mind stat? I'm not really sure how holy stuff works with that, since it's typically associated with white magic.

Hope's scales off MAG. Pretty much only dedicated white mages get mnd-scaling attacks. I can't even think of any Blk 5/Wht 5 characters that have mnd-based SBs.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

KataraniSword posted:

Yeah, there's a few 5*s that are still literal bottom of the trash bin; Behemoth Knife and Genji Shield IV come to mind. Organics/Ogre Nix VI, too.

Most of them will be good synergy for whatever realm they're in, though, if nothing else.

I went from having Steiner's cruddy first sword as my only IX synergy weapon, to getting a terrible off-banner generic sword, Excalibur IX, Lightbringer, and then Excalibur IX again in the last two weeks. So even combining the Excaliburs I have 4 swords now and the generic is even worse than Steiner's first, so it'll never get used. Oh well. Wish I could get a spear for Freya or Quina to use.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
I was pretty nervous going into this U++, but, uh, I kinda spanked it hard.



Have Bea's BSB and Eiko's cura medicas; they were the only SBs that got used.

Opened with Bea's BSB, Full Break on each Twin, Two bahamuts and an Aegis strike and they were pretty much dead. They went down a lot faster than I thought (granted, Bea does have an Excalibur(IX)+ and the Platinum Shield for high ATK and +40% holy damage). As Bea was finishing off the last twin Quina was 90% done charging Full Break, so I could get off the magic BD before he used meteor. Kuja also had Meltdown charging. Eiko had a medica charging to go off after Meteor. The breaks, A Saint Cross, two meltdowns and an Alexander had him below 50% HP, and a couple more summons, Saint Cross, and Chain firagas had him dead shortly after his second meteor. Never saw Bio.

So yeah, if you have the damage output to melt through his HP fast enough he's really not too bad. All his really nasty stuff is locked behind his guaranteed moves at the beginning and 50% marks.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

THE AWESOME GHOST posted:

I know people say always pull on lucky draws but I have Aerith BSB and like 3 other medicas (Rosa SSB, Yuna SB, Penelo SB)

I should probably skip this yes

Specifically people meant you should always pull on HALF-PRICE lucky draws, which this is not. It's a very skippable banner. After another month or two in Japan, they changed these new full price lucky draws to always be SSB or better, to remove the risk of getting awful first-generation SBs. But that time has not yet come.

Anyway, brute forced my way through the Nightmare. It wasn't pretty, but it got the job done.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

Finally



(Technically Chain Firaga was my first 5-star, but that was anticlimactic so I'm not counting it. )

Now my question is, which 5-star ability do I focus on now? Do I keep saving orbs to hone this first? I'm mainly running a physical team with a mage team on the backburner until I get more relics / level people up. I hear about Thief's Revenge and Saint's Cross a lot, but I don't really have a good thief and my only knight doing holy damage right now is Beatrix. For magic, I have no idea. Chain spells? Dark Zone?

Also, what summon should I shoot for first? I'm getting reasonably close to being able to craft one. I see Alexander a lot on people's screenshots, is that a good place to start?

Concentrate on honing Full Break to R2.

Honestly, a lot of the 5* abilities are most useful for when you want to start doing Cid Missions, and need to keep up good damage output without access to Soul Breaks. If you're still just concentrating on an "A" team, you really only want to look at abilities that would be useful for your best characters.

That said, Saint Cross is great because it's high damage, Holy is *relatively* easy to boost, and there are a LOT of knights in the game, making them easy to fit into CM teams. They also tend to be great characters both defensively and offensively.

Thief's Revenge is also great, but there are less good thieves to get full use out of it, and it can't be boosted. Still a very solid option for a self-sufficient character due to its healing effect.

Dark Zone is good because, paired with Memento Mori, it allows a mage character to do good damage even on a Shout team, because they bring their own self-buff. Memento Mori gives a 30% magic boost along with Doom, and DZ does more damage when the user is doomed, so you get a significant power boost there.

The Chain -agas are more of a luxury; they'll generally do less damage than Dark Zone if you're not hitting a weakness, and hitting a weakness requires making multiple different chain -agas.

Dragoon Jump is another good damage ability for Dragoons. It has a long air time, so it pairs well with Blood of the Wyvern (4* Dragoon ability) which makes the next 2 jumps have no airtime. Again, Dragoons are less common than Knights, though. Also, there's a Lightning-element 5* dragoon ability coming up soonish that has a slightly lower multiplier but more hits, so you're less likely to hit the damage cap.

Those are the top 5* skills at the moment I think. Meteor is a good AoE Black magic spells, and there are a number of OK AoE physical abilities, but none are high priority.

For summons -yeah, make and hone one of Valefor (more Wind orbs) or Maduin (more Non-elemental orbs) first, since they're strong and never resisted. After that, Alexander is a good second 4* summon.

Edit:

CaptainPsyko posted:

One big caveat about Thief's Revenge: it only really comes into its own for thieves around level ~70-75. (Subtract ten with realm synergy). Prior to that, it's basically a good drain strike and doesn't justify its orbs, so hold off unless you're ready levelwise.

In general, a good 5* priority order is:

1) Hone Full Break to R2
2) Hone Multi-hit elemental skills that you can boost. That means Chain *-ga if you have a Mage with an En-Element B/SSB, Saints Cross if you have any Excalibur/Lightbringer but especially one of the newer ones with Enholy/Imperil like Cecil, Celes, Beatrix, etc.
3) Strong skill combinations that lean into your relics. PC/FC if you have tools for Lightning/Zell/Tidus/Gau/Zack, Dragoon Jump (or wait for Thunder Jump) if you have stuff for Kain/Freya/Fang/etc., Dark Zone for an Edea or Golbez or Kuja or you get the idea.

After that, you get into niche stuff like multibreak, or 'I need a strong skill that lots of mans can use for CMs' reasons to Hone full charge or TR or chaingas, and so on.

Oh yeah, I totally forgot about Multi-Break, Full Charge, and Powerchain.

Multi-break is less frequently useful than Full Break, but it's basically the Full Break you bring to bosses with multiple targets. Not as high a priority as Full Break, but don't ignore it- it's almost mandatory for the support Nightmare.

Full Charge is a good general skill to have- anyone with Combat 5 can use it, so it's easy to slot in. It does almost standard SB-level damage (not SSB) for a long cast time. Not a game-changer, but nice to have.

Powerchain reduces the cast time of the next ability used to 0, so it works very well with Full Charge or before using a SB. However, it's single-hit and it's damage isn't that impressive on its own, so it's definitely more of a niche ability.

Schwartzcough fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Oct 21, 2016

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
I think I've become the thread's Schwartzcough again. For single pulls I've pulled one 5* in the last 26 pulls, and I'm 5/44 on 11-pulls since G5 started, which is half the average rate and virtually the lowest rate you can possible get. Uuuugh, it's too soon to do this again.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!
Somebody from Japan. Ugh, just ugh:



ZiegeDame posted:

So if I'm in the market for a little bit of II synergy (and have 500+ spare mythril anyway) which is the better banner to be pulling on? I've already got a really old axe for Firion and Leon's Hand of the Emperor as my only II gear.

The top prizes are basically Firion and Maria's BSBs, so I guess decide if you want to chase a good physical BSB or a pretty top-tier mage BSB.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Kawalimus posted:

I can't make heads or tails of this Nightmare boss. I tried going in and just beating it up cause I have the heals and mitigation but the thing is rock solid defensively. I don't want to hone up ninja magics so I'm gonna have to do it the regular way but I look in this fight and not even sure what's going on or what I'm supposed to do. It doesn't make any sense to me. Reading some guides talking about changing the targets or what have you. Guess I'll have to watch a video or something. What I mean is I don't wanna even do it it looks stupid.

The cannon targets you and does damage equal to its health (starts at 9999). But if the targeted character performs an action on another character (healing, attacking, whatever) it changes the target lock to that character. So the idea is to wait until the cannon is just about to fire and have the targetted character Diaga the launchers or guardian so that it damages itself.

The trick seems to be that you have to kill one of the launchers yourself the first time, otherwise it's ATB lines up so that it'll end up passing the "potato" back to you a fraction of a second before the cannon fires.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

Yeah, I was a little unclear on that last bit about the multiple IDs thing - Full Break seems like it should have a different ID than Ark Blast, which only affects 2 stats instead of 3, but it didn't seem like I was doing any more damage after using both than I was after using just Full Break. But using Armor Breakdown and Magic Breakdown after Full Break did have an effect. But it could have just been from me hitting with different characters or something.

So hypothetically, if I have a Breakdown, Full Break, an SB that lowers both Attack and Defense, and an SB that lowers Defense and Res, *all* of those stack?

Yes, they all stack. And Ark Blast does stack with Full Break. Although:

NGDBSS posted:

And in my case, it also helped to have SG and Princess's Prayer for removing Expose Weakness and blocking a round of Atomic Ray (respectively).

Expose Weakness is apparently two separate effects of Defense down and Resistance down, rather than a combined Defense AND resistance down. So it does not conflict with SG even though they both affect the same stats. Expose Weakness would cancel out things like a Res buff from Garnet's SSB or a defense buff from Bartz' SSB.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Panic! at Nabisco posted:

How is it that elite Jenova DEATH from realms can murder my entire party on the first turn before I can even get any mitigation or breaks off :catstare: This fight is significantly more bullshit than any U+/U++ I've tried other than Bartz

I found that stage hard as hell. I barely limped past it and had to come back to master it later.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

kalensc posted:

Finally tried the U++ CM, native Divine Guardian and some good RS armors kept me alive while the RW of Vivi's BSB dealt all the damage. Feels good to master that boss!

Now to decide if I'll do an 11-pull on an IX banner or keep saving up. If power's going to keep on creepin' then perhaps the next IX banner will be better.

How much mythril are you up to now?

You can already check out all the banners that Japan has gotten, including the next IX banners. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1e1xUGHH-OBdlM0QzWoME4GRJt9v3ocQmdmylI62hwFk/edit?pli=1#gid=1211382974

But the current IX banner is already good. It seems to me like banners for a good while (up through where Japan is) will be of comparable, consistently-high quality, so that the next banner in the same realm won't necessarily be better than the current one. There are some notably fantastic banners that stand higher than others like the XIV banner, but at this point I feel there's less incentive to hoard for "power creep" purposes.

Then again, there are banners like the Ultros Select that Japan got for the 2nd anniversary that are pretty ridiculous, so still keep some reserve mythril around.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

AweStriker posted:

I forgot I had Golbez's Ebon Armor. It gives +Dark, so is a Memento Mori&Dark Zone combo worth it on him?

I'm thinking "yes", but Dark Zone being a 5-star I thought I'd check.

Yes. Golbez (or Exdeath, who can also wear it) will do excellent damage with MM&DZ with +dark gear. If you have a good magic sword/dagger, you can also do crazy stuff for Cid Missions, like turning Leon or Seifer into dark mages with a magic weapon and the +dark armor. Their damage won't be nearly as good, but it can still be serviceable.

Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Panic! at Nabisco posted:

I guess I just need to level up my guys, because that was...that was a shitshow. I was bringing along Vivi, Vincent, and Maria as attackers, Tyro as a support/SG holder, and Exdeath as a healer. Also I guess I need infinite -ja hones so they can actually last through the drat fight. Would it be worth bringing a non-nightmare synergy healer like Relm or Lenna instead of Exdeath to give access to a medica?

What kind of "support" are you having Tyro doing? Kaiser Dragon, like most Nightmare bosses, is IMMUNE to break effects, in case you were doing that. Basically you want to fill two slots with Curaja/Shellga, and the rest can all be damage.

Also, I totally planned to pull on these II banners, but my pulls have been so poo poo lately that I'm basically chickening out. Besides, too many people in this thread have pulled Maria's bow for me to ever get it.

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Schwartzcough
Aug 12, 2009

Don't tease the Octopus, kids!

Grizzled Patriarch posted:

I wasn't around for the last Orbfest so my hones are just total poo poo and I'm not sure what to do about that. I still have a lot of dungeons left, but maybe I should be farming dailies instead for a while? The only other option would seem to be breaking down major orbs and I'm pretty sure that's a terrible idea.

Yeah, unless you're really short on gil there's no downside to converting orbs. 1 major = 10 greater = 100 regular = 10 greater = 1 major - there's no orbs lost from converting, so it's better to turn the orbs into what you need now rather than missing out on rewards while you save for abilities you can't afford.

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