Finally got around to knocking this one off:
III Dragonking mastered in 29.55 (with Wait Mode 2)
Mog (QC LMR+LM2): R5 HA, R5 Passion Salsa / MM / USB1, AASB x2
CoD (DC LMR+LM2): R5 HA1, R5 Touched by Darkness / DMT / Glint+, USB1, AASB1
Aria (DC LMR+LM2): R5 Holyja, R5 ACM / Gathering Storm / Glint+, USB2
OK (Rod DMG LMR+ DC BLK LM2): R5 HA1, R5 Wrath / Wind DMG+ / Switchdraw Glint, AASB1, AASB2
Luneth (DC LMR + LM2): R5 HA, R5 Wrath / Swd DMG+ / Advance, AASb1, AASb2, LBO
RW: Historia Chain 2
L120 HC
Full HE on CoD/Aria. OK had a Wind+++ rod because III has no damn rod artifacts.
WHY.
Rough plan:
Mog: AASB2, Passion Salsa, HA spam until phase 2, HA to keep up heals, USB1 after Aria USB2, HA, wait for phase 3 -> AASB2, Passion Salsa, HA spam
CoD: Glint+, AASB, HA spam until close to phase 2, TBD to not push phase 2 too fast to allow OK to build more gauge, USB1 after phase 2 change, TBD, HA spam until phase 3, HA, AOSB, HA
Aria: Glint+, HC, Holyja spam until phase 2, ACM, RW as close to 16.00 as possible, USB2, ACM, Holyja, USB2 after phase change, ACM, USB2, Holya
OK: Wrath x2, Glint, HA spam until phase 2, AASB2, AASB1, HA spam
Luneth: Wrath, RW, Wrath, Advance, HA spam until 4 gauges, HC to help push phase 2, AASB1, AASB2, HA spam, LBO after Aria USB2
Finally had some time to work on this. My previous best attempt was 33 seconds, using Luneth AASB1 to push phase 1 bolstered by OK AASB2, saving CoD AASB1, OK AASB1, and Luneth AASB2 for phase 2. I tried for several hours and couldn't go any faster. Always kept getting to phase 2 around 16~17 seconds, which was just too slow.
This time I used a different tack, using CoD AASB to push phase 1 faster, and saving Luneth AASb1+AASb2 for phase 2 onwards. I would also drop OK AASB2 right before AASB1 instead of using AASb2 early on, since that would give OK BDL2. Betwen Luneth BDL2, OK BDL2, and CoD overstrike HA, I figured that should have allowed me to break King's Rage and hopefully win faster.
That worked a bit better, though I kept winning around 31.60 seconds. I thought maybe CoD AASB1's Radiant Shield was chewing up too many ticks on Wait Mode 2, so I turned it off. Didn't help - my time was 31.57 with Active Mode 1. Foo.
So then I tried something that I had only seen speedrunners use for this level of content: Dr. Mog's Teachings on a DPS. Specifically, CoD. She was using a damage RM before, but she was capping with her HA1 fairly easily, so I thought I'd give DMT a try to get her AASb out faster and push phase 1 faster so I could have more time at the end. I put Gathering Storm on Aria since she never used any SBs until phase 2 anyway, as Mog solo heals phase 1.
Initial results were promising, at least as far as my goal of reaching phase 2 faster. I was now hitting phase 1 in around 13.50 instead of between 15+. Unfortunately, this mad gauge management harder. Aria, OK, and Luneth all didn't have quite enough gauge to navigate phase 2 quickly initially, which slowed me down ultimately and made me exit phase 2 more slowly. I rectified this by using Wrath twice on both OK and Luneth early on instead of just once, plus I spammed nothing but Holyja on Aria instead of rotating ACM -> Holyja in phase 1.
That did the trick. I made it to phase 2 quickly, while Luneth had 4 gauges before even reaching phase 2 and could use HC to push phase 2. OK had 4 gauges after Challenging Roar, so they both were able to get out AASBs in a timely manner. Aria also had more gauge, being able to USB2 in phase 1 and had enough to USB2 twice in phase 3, which was absolutely necessary for the sub-30. Healing was
tight in phase 3, with Mog and Aria having no visible HP after Phase 2 Dragonking Clawswipe, but thankfully were not Sapped, and I was able to heal up enough and push phase 3 before things could go sideways.
In phase 3, I actually broke King's Rage in one turn: CoD HA, OK AASB1 overstrike chase, and a triple cast from Luneth did it. Those were all done with IC. Another round of attacks, then Aria did another USb2, and another round of instant attacks got me the sub-30 with 0.45 seconds to spare. I used Luneth LBO at 0.7% HP left - completely unnecessary, but felt
good.
So that's all 18/18 DKs sub-30. Finally done with this content (on main).
In terms of oustanding content, I just have mage Abductor (my ice mage team is a one BDL short of what I'm comfortable tackling that fight with) and mage Alexander (I could do that fight now if I lensed Kuja's AASB, and
probably could do it even if I didn't, but I figure I might as well wait for lab missions first since there's no incentive to fight it now; maybe I'll get some tech in the future to make it simpler). And I should be good with fights for the rest of Season 3, so I can wait things out.
Of course, I only have one lab sub-30 (mage Striker w/ OD) on the current ones I've beaten, but I'll let powercreep handle that.
