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Final Fantasy: Record Keeper |OT| Renewal Era
- Thread starter GooZ
- Start date
Also regarding grinding, if you don't want to really min max you can save a lot of time by levelling some of the Magicites only to 80. For example for dampen you'd lose only 1% (10 + 8/2 = 14 instead of 10 + 10/2 = 15). Same goes for elem empower. For a setup with 3 empower, Say you are using a 3* imperil Magicite that has 10 empower. Then you can inherit a 12 empower at level 80 instead of 15 at 99. So with an additional 15 empower you end up with 26 instead of 28. Still a bit less but much better for your sanity :) This is probably less true for things like health boon or precise strike where the extra 2% has probably more effect (8 +8/2 = 12 instead of 10).
Narrowed my choice for USB down to Barbie or Laguna.
Might try Syldra tommorrow and see how it goes with Laguna just using chain and his LMR..and I may drop Ayame for Delita since I got his USB2 a little while back. The lack of enIce might hurt though.
And 18:76 is my best on heca. First time trying Tyros critical USB and that thing does some work. Butz chases were capping under max chain.
Might try Syldra tommorrow and see how it goes with Laguna just using chain and his LMR..and I may drop Ayame for Delita since I got his USB2 a little while back. The lack of enIce might hurt though.
And 18:76 is my best on heca. First time trying Tyros critical USB and that thing does some work. Butz chases were capping under max chain.
Syldra is ridiculous. Even with the new softcap I haven't managed to beat her. The Reddit mastery thread is post after post of people with BOTH Squall and Sora ASBs.
To clarify regarding double ward I was referring to having both Blade Ward and Spell Ward on the same magicite, not double Blade/Spell on the same one. That's what WarAdept had in his post setup and I saw some folks on reddit recommend the same, but again this was a while ago now and things have changed a bit. So just as an example that original post/setup would have a physical fire deck be something roughly like:
1)Marilis w/? inheritance
2)Marilis w/? inheritance
3)Whatever elemental Ward is needed (ex. Gizamaluke w/Gizamaluke inherited on it for double Dampen Water)
with the 3rd-5th magicites being some sort of combination (depending on imperil/defensive need) of:
-Whatever Magicite with both Blade/Spell Ward 5 on it
-Imperil Magicite (Mom Bomb in this instance) w/? inheritance
-Evrae w/Magic Boon inherited on it (so it has both ATK and MAG boons on it)
So now that time has passed and there have been changes to certain things (like Wards being nerfed a bit and Health Boon being held in higher regard) I'm just trying to figure out how to finish out my 4* decks. Obviously things will change once I'm able to move onto 5* but I'm trying to get to that point lol. So like in the above example I'm wondering if I should say toss a Blade Ward on the first Marilis, Spell Ward on the 2nd Marilis (just to cover all of my bases since again I'm looking for general decks not super min/maxing) then Health Boon on the Imperil magicite? Or still run a Blade/Spell Ward magicite and put Health Boons on my two Marilis, or? I don't get the feeling I can mess up *too* badly here, but I wouldn't mind a little bit of direction on what to do here either >_>
1)Marilis w/? inheritance
2)Marilis w/? inheritance
3)Whatever elemental Ward is needed (ex. Gizamaluke w/Gizamaluke inherited on it for double Dampen Water)
with the 3rd-5th magicites being some sort of combination (depending on imperil/defensive need) of:
-Whatever Magicite with both Blade/Spell Ward 5 on it
-Imperil Magicite (Mom Bomb in this instance) w/? inheritance
-Evrae w/Magic Boon inherited on it (so it has both ATK and MAG boons on it)
So now that time has passed and there have been changes to certain things (like Wards being nerfed a bit and Health Boon being held in higher regard) I'm just trying to figure out how to finish out my 4* decks. Obviously things will change once I'm able to move onto 5* but I'm trying to get to that point lol. So like in the above example I'm wondering if I should say toss a Blade Ward on the first Marilis, Spell Ward on the 2nd Marilis (just to cover all of my bases since again I'm looking for general decks not super min/maxing) then Health Boon on the Imperil magicite? Or still run a Blade/Spell Ward magicite and put Health Boons on my two Marilis, or? I don't get the feeling I can mess up *too* badly here, but I wouldn't mind a little bit of direction on what to do here either >_>
Put a Health Boon on Evrae since that will boost the effectiveness of Surging Power. I almost always have at least one Evrae equipped, typically two. The second Evrae has Fast Act or Spell Ward.
Past that I tend to think of each Magicite as either offensive or defensive. Maliris is an offensive Magicite so I like to stack either another elemental Empower or another Attack/Magic Boon or even something like Deadly Strikes on Silver Dragon.
Defensive Magicites get another elemental Dampen. I also liked to keep another Gizamaluke with inherited Blade Ward as my all-purpose blocker.
Like you said, you can't really mess up too badly since it just takes time to farm up more Magicites.
Past that I tend to think of each Magicite as either offensive or defensive. Maliris is an offensive Magicite so I like to stack either another elemental Empower or another Attack/Magic Boon or even something like Deadly Strikes on Silver Dragon.
Defensive Magicites get another elemental Dampen. I also liked to keep another Gizamaluke with inherited Blade Ward as my all-purpose blocker.
Like you said, you can't really mess up too badly since it just takes time to farm up more Magicites.
Double Wards still worth it, but more so for 5* level than 4*. Don't bother at 4* level.
Personally, I'm doing the following for 5*
Elemental booster: Empower element + 2 xL15 Empower Element inherited (e.g. King Behemoth with 2 xL15 Empower Lightning inherited)
Elemental Dampen: L10 Dampen + L10 Dampen inherited. (e.g. Famfrit + L10 Fire Dampen inherited). The second passive varies, but going forward, HP Boon is probably the safest choice.
General Defensive magicite: Phoenix with L8 Blade Ward / L8 Spell Ward inherited. Can also use Famfrit or Mateus if you want.
Attack Booster: Currently Manticore with 2 x L15 ATK Boon inherited. Those will change to L20 ATK Boon as soon as I'm able to. I will probably transfer those 2 xL20 ATK Boons to Madeen later.
Magic Booster: Currently Quetzacoatl with 2 x L15 MAG Boon inherited. Those will change to L20 MAg Boon as soon as I'm able to. I will probably transfer those L20 MAG Boons to Madeen later.
Critical DMG Booster for Cloud: Belias with L10 Deadly Strikes inherited. Only Cloud (and later Sephiroth) uses this. Will probably transfer the 2 xL10 Deadly Strikes to Madeen later.
Healing boost magicite: Currently this is just Siren with an otherwise useless L15 Empower Holy inherited. Basically, MND Boon + Healing Boon turns out to be very useful in some fights - I had massive problems clearing Mateus with Elarra USB as solo healing, but once I dropped Siren in my deck it was manageable, simply because her entry now healed 7700 instead of 5400, meaning that I didn't automatically die to 6000 AoEs in Phase 3. I'll probably replace Siren with Lakshmi later on.
BTW, while they'l be replaced later on, I have two Evraes right now that I use, one with L8 Fast Act and the other with L8 HP Boon. The latter is used far more frequently than the former.
The idea behind these is to be as versatile as possible, not necessarily have a deck optimized for the next magicite in a wheel. If I need, say, physical Lighting and Fire physical damage, I can run Behemoth King, Belias, and Manticore, and still have room for two defensive magicites. If I need to defend against Fire and Ice, I can drop in Phoenix and Famfrit, and still have room for offense.
The only places where this becomes somewhat iffy are for Holy (Madeens will be around for other stuff, so I might not need a Madeen with triple Holy empower), and Wind (Typhon and Syldra have ATK+20 and MAG +20 natively, lessening the need to bring a dedicated ATK/MAG booster).
Personally, I'm doing the following for 5*
Elemental booster: Empower element + 2 xL15 Empower Element inherited (e.g. King Behemoth with 2 xL15 Empower Lightning inherited)
Elemental Dampen: L10 Dampen + L10 Dampen inherited. (e.g. Famfrit + L10 Fire Dampen inherited). The second passive varies, but going forward, HP Boon is probably the safest choice.
General Defensive magicite: Phoenix with L8 Blade Ward / L8 Spell Ward inherited. Can also use Famfrit or Mateus if you want.
Attack Booster: Currently Manticore with 2 x L15 ATK Boon inherited. Those will change to L20 ATK Boon as soon as I'm able to. I will probably transfer those 2 xL20 ATK Boons to Madeen later.
Magic Booster: Currently Quetzacoatl with 2 x L15 MAG Boon inherited. Those will change to L20 MAg Boon as soon as I'm able to. I will probably transfer those L20 MAG Boons to Madeen later.
Critical DMG Booster for Cloud: Belias with L10 Deadly Strikes inherited. Only Cloud (and later Sephiroth) uses this. Will probably transfer the 2 xL10 Deadly Strikes to Madeen later.
Healing boost magicite: Currently this is just Siren with an otherwise useless L15 Empower Holy inherited. Basically, MND Boon + Healing Boon turns out to be very useful in some fights - I had massive problems clearing Mateus with Elarra USB as solo healing, but once I dropped Siren in my deck it was manageable, simply because her entry now healed 7700 instead of 5400, meaning that I didn't automatically die to 6000 AoEs in Phase 3. I'll probably replace Siren with Lakshmi later on.
BTW, while they'l be replaced later on, I have two Evraes right now that I use, one with L8 Fast Act and the other with L8 HP Boon. The latter is used far more frequently than the former.
The idea behind these is to be as versatile as possible, not necessarily have a deck optimized for the next magicite in a wheel. If I need, say, physical Lighting and Fire physical damage, I can run Behemoth King, Belias, and Manticore, and still have room for two defensive magicites. If I need to defend against Fire and Ice, I can drop in Phoenix and Famfrit, and still have room for offense.
The only places where this becomes somewhat iffy are for Holy (Madeens will be around for other stuff, so I might not need a Madeen with triple Holy empower), and Wind (Typhon and Syldra have ATK+20 and MAG +20 natively, lessening the need to bring a dedicated ATK/MAG booster).
Well I just 'finished' my 4* magicite farming except for Holy/Dark which I haven't attempted yet (and am about to). I've got one of all of the other 4* magicites at 99 with a 2nd copy somewhere on the way to 99.
How crazy do I need to get in terms of my decks to start attempting 5*'s? Outside of my Dampen element magicites (where I've been dumping a level 99 back into the same one for the 15% overall) I haven't inherited anything on these, so I'm wondering if need to actually be highly leveling more magicites for inheriting on these 4*'s to make reasonable goes at 5* magicites, or if I can get away with just dumping low levels on them just for very minor additional buffs.
How crazy do I need to get in terms of my decks to start attempting 5*'s? Outside of my Dampen element magicites (where I've been dumping a level 99 back into the same one for the 15% overall) I haven't inherited anything on these, so I'm wondering if need to actually be highly leveling more magicites for inheriting on these 4*'s to make reasonable goes at 5* magicites, or if I can get away with just dumping low levels on them just for very minor additional buffs.
(I have only 2 5* beaten, so take with a grain of salt)
Double dampen is a must for most 5* imo, and one blade/spell ward lv 5 will help a lot as well.
For offensive passives, just 2 lv99 of the correct 4* is enough to start (but not for sub30)
Double dampen is a must for most 5* imo, and one blade/spell ward lv 5 will help a lot as well.
For offensive passives, just 2 lv99 of the correct 4* is enough to start (but not for sub30)
Mr. Daravon:
Full inheritance helps. That's all there is to say. The extra stats are substantial. It likely won't make or break a team with winning or not, but having L99s in enough to at least get started. Depending on how strong your teams are generally, you might not need full inheritance, but every little bit helps.
BTW, the general consensus is to start the 5* cycle with Lightning (earth-weak) magicites, so if you're going to bother with full inheritance, just stick to the earth magicites. That's because the game gives you Stone Press, a 5* ability to break Quetzacoatl's Savage Mode, and Behemoth King's Savage MOde is actually one of the few you don't want to break since he takes so much more damage during it*. Once you can beat a 5* magicite, you raise that to L99 and use that against the next appropriate 5* magicite in the wheel to break Savage. However, if you have a super strong elemental team otherwise and have a reliable means of dealing with a magicite's savage mode, you can start elsewhere on the wheel.
*Note It's that latter point that makes Hecatoncheir, who will be the easiest 5* magicite for anyone with a decent wind team, completely useless. Not only are the passives on the earth magicites meh, Hecaton does magic damage on entry, which means you'd ostensibly use it for the physical-resistant Behemoth King, but as noted, you don't usually want to break BK's Savage unless you can't handle the incoming damage. So Heca is basically a Lightning dampen magicite that you get long after you'd probably need it. It's not even a replacement for 4* dampen Earth Guardian like the other 5* dampens are, because Earth Guardian is very useful - I daresay crucial - to block a lightning imperil from Quetz, meaning you only eat 4500 AoEs in Phase 3 rather than 6000+.
Full inheritance helps. That's all there is to say. The extra stats are substantial. It likely won't make or break a team with winning or not, but having L99s in enough to at least get started. Depending on how strong your teams are generally, you might not need full inheritance, but every little bit helps.
BTW, the general consensus is to start the 5* cycle with Lightning (earth-weak) magicites, so if you're going to bother with full inheritance, just stick to the earth magicites. That's because the game gives you Stone Press, a 5* ability to break Quetzacoatl's Savage Mode, and Behemoth King's Savage MOde is actually one of the few you don't want to break since he takes so much more damage during it*. Once you can beat a 5* magicite, you raise that to L99 and use that against the next appropriate 5* magicite in the wheel to break Savage. However, if you have a super strong elemental team otherwise and have a reliable means of dealing with a magicite's savage mode, you can start elsewhere on the wheel.
*Note It's that latter point that makes Hecatoncheir, who will be the easiest 5* magicite for anyone with a decent wind team, completely useless. Not only are the passives on the earth magicites meh, Hecaton does magic damage on entry, which means you'd ostensibly use it for the physical-resistant Behemoth King, but as noted, you don't usually want to break BK's Savage unless you can't handle the incoming damage. So Heca is basically a Lightning dampen magicite that you get long after you'd probably need it. It's not even a replacement for 4* dampen Earth Guardian like the other 5* dampens are, because Earth Guardian is very useful - I daresay crucial - to block a lightning imperil from Quetz, meaning you only eat 4500 AoEs in Phase 3 rather than 6000+.
Cid BSB on my 100 gem.....
Anyway putting together a holy team for Hades. My Shadow Dragon team was:
Ramza dived w/BSB2 and LMR (instacasts ATK Boostega then C1's)
Marche dived w/everything (USB then Assault Sabre for frontline quickcasts)
TGC dived w/USB and LMR (Hailstorm into Assault Sabre into USB etc)
Warrior of Light w/Chain (only for Chain, then does Guardbringer since I don't have more copies of AS)
Elarra dived w/USB
Until I got WoL's chain I was using Agrias who is dived with almost everything so I would run her with Divine Cross into USB2 for imperils; I swapped her out for WoL but I figured Marche doublecasts + party quickcast with his USB beats her out? Anyway, should I just run basically the same thing but swap Elarra out for an Astra user? For relevant Astras I have Larsa (paging Balphon) BSB and USB, Vanilla USB1 and Iris BSB.
I actually weirdly *do* have most/all of the relevant white mage DPS relics like the kits for Rem, Arc and Minwu BUT I don't really have much in the way of abilities honed/crafted for that setup other than I think one Holy at r4 or 5. So the thought of running a full white mage team is amusing I would have to do major crafting and honing investments.
Anyway putting together a holy team for Hades. My Shadow Dragon team was:
Ramza dived w/BSB2 and LMR (instacasts ATK Boostega then C1's)
Marche dived w/everything (USB then Assault Sabre for frontline quickcasts)
TGC dived w/USB and LMR (Hailstorm into Assault Sabre into USB etc)
Warrior of Light w/Chain (only for Chain, then does Guardbringer since I don't have more copies of AS)
Elarra dived w/USB
Until I got WoL's chain I was using Agrias who is dived with almost everything so I would run her with Divine Cross into USB2 for imperils; I swapped her out for WoL but I figured Marche doublecasts + party quickcast with his USB beats her out? Anyway, should I just run basically the same thing but swap Elarra out for an Astra user? For relevant Astras I have Larsa (paging Balphon) BSB and USB, Vanilla USB1 and Iris BSB.
I actually weirdly *do* have most/all of the relevant white mage DPS relics like the kits for Rem, Arc and Minwu BUT I don't really have much in the way of abilities honed/crafted for that setup other than I think one Holy at r4 or 5. So the thought of running a full white mage team is amusing I would have to do major crafting and honing investments.
Your team seems to be good for Hades. With enough DPS, you will only see one Black Cauldron, so you can use Unicorn to blink it. But you can use Larsa as well.
And since you mentioned Marche, I have his USB, and his quickcast increases your dps way more than imperils. With a chain, you will likely be capping anyway, so its better to have more turns
And since you mentioned Marche, I have his USB, and his quickcast increases your dps way more than imperils. With a chain, you will likely be capping anyway, so its better to have more turns
I just gave it a couple of attempts using Larsa USB w/Larsa using Protectga and Marche using Shellga and it didn't go super great. My biggest problem actually is that I don't think my magicite deck is up to par for him yet; the damage output he was getting off on me was absurd. Between Unicorn and Larsa USB I didn't run into status problems other than Interrupt (which is very annoying), but even with resist accessories and full buffs up I was just running into problems with folks getting killed. Closest run I had him down to like 20% at about 27 seconds before it went totally south, but Marche had also been dead for like half the fight.
I could probably keep banging my head against it with with what I have, but I really need some better magicites I think more than anything. I only have one each of the 3* magicites and haven't attempted Siren yet so I've only got two Empower Holy 10 magicite and a single Dampen Dark 6 and as previously mentioned I don't have anything inherited on my other magicites other than some double Dampens so I think that's my weak link here. Dark is one of only two chains I don't have so I was intending to try to do Hades then Siren but I might reconsider that. I've got fairly good (but not godtier or anything) Dark options, but these 4* fights suck without chains; Water is my only other element I have no chain for but I have pretty fantastic water options and even then Marilis was still pretty annoying even though it's an easy sub-30 for me. I'll sleep on it and then look at Siren in the morning and see if maybe trying to clear her first for some Dampen Dark magicite is a better option even if my dark team isn't gonna be as good as my holy team.
Fake edit: I wasn't capping even with chain up outside of TGC once he got his USB going. I always wonder on stuff like this - is it better to have Marche and TGC (or whoever) Life Siphon to get into SB's sooner or should I be doing Assault Sabre from the get go instead for sooner damage + chain? I'm pretty sure it's the latter but sometimes I'm not sure.
I could probably keep banging my head against it with with what I have, but I really need some better magicites I think more than anything. I only have one each of the 3* magicites and haven't attempted Siren yet so I've only got two Empower Holy 10 magicite and a single Dampen Dark 6 and as previously mentioned I don't have anything inherited on my other magicites other than some double Dampens so I think that's my weak link here. Dark is one of only two chains I don't have so I was intending to try to do Hades then Siren but I might reconsider that. I've got fairly good (but not godtier or anything) Dark options, but these 4* fights suck without chains; Water is my only other element I have no chain for but I have pretty fantastic water options and even then Marilis was still pretty annoying even though it's an easy sub-30 for me. I'll sleep on it and then look at Siren in the morning and see if maybe trying to clear her first for some Dampen Dark magicite is a better option even if my dark team isn't gonna be as good as my holy team.
Fake edit: I wasn't capping even with chain up outside of TGC once he got his USB going. I always wonder on stuff like this - is it better to have Marche and TGC (or whoever) Life Siphon to get into SB's sooner or should I be doing Assault Sabre from the get go instead for sooner damage + chain? I'm pretty sure it's the latter but sometimes I'm not sure.
Do you have Healing Smite? It helps a lot. My DPS for Hades is Marche and TGC with USB as well. TGC with two Assault Sabres, and Marche with Healing Smite. I don't have a chain, and they are hitting for 6k~8k once their USBs are up, and its enough to almost sub30 (~35 sec with my current setup)
(And I think its always better to not use LS.)
(And I think its always better to not use LS.)
No unfortunately not. I'm waaaaay behind on content; I've barely touched any of the Neo Torments, I'm 4-6 months (more maybe?) behind on Record and Story dungeons, and obviously behind on magicites. My plan was to try to finish my 4* magicites before making serious attempts at the Neo torments since I knew they'd be needed, all I've done is I think the first two FFT and one of the other ones and I had enough to make Voltech which was top first pick, but Healing Smite will be my 2nd most likely. I'm sitting on a hilarious amount of crystals since I haven't really used them on anything so tapping out on magicites for a bit to try to clear some of the torments is also an option I suppose?
Did some very nice progress over the week end, cleared Earth, Lighting and Holy 4* magicites in a row.
After doing Tiamat for a while, Midgardsormr and Ixion felt very easy (even managed to sub 30 Ixion on the first try)!
Got lucky and got Garland CSB and OSB with daily draws a while back and I think it helped a lot with Siren (well, I have pretty good TGC and Sephiroth, so that helps too :) ).
Now I have just Hades to go... I'm actually scared by this fight. The only Holy USB I have is TGC. Other than that I have a few Holy BSBs but they're probably not going to cut it. Even on the magic side I have pretty much nothing... (btw, apart form Holy what kind of choice is there for magic holy?).
I'm afraid this is going to be a big road block for me... we'll see.
After doing Tiamat for a while, Midgardsormr and Ixion felt very easy (even managed to sub 30 Ixion on the first try)!
Got lucky and got Garland CSB and OSB with daily draws a while back and I think it helped a lot with Siren (well, I have pretty good TGC and Sephiroth, so that helps too :) ).
Now I have just Hades to go... I'm actually scared by this fight. The only Holy USB I have is TGC. Other than that I have a few Holy BSBs but they're probably not going to cut it. Even on the magic side I have pretty much nothing... (btw, apart form Holy what kind of choice is there for magic holy?).
I'm afraid this is going to be a big road block for me... we'll see.
Mr. Daravon:
Tackle Siren before Hades. She's much easier, and her magicite drops are more important for Hades than vice versa. In particular, you want 2xL99 Evrae and a L99 Seraph with minimum of L7 Dampen Dark inherited. They will make your Hades run much easier.
TGC/Ramza/Marche/WoL/Larsa should have no trouble with Hades. You have two things to look for:
1) It's a DPS race, in that the faster you go, the fewer Black Cauldrons you'll see. In my experience, Phase 2 Cauldron is the hardest to skip. You want to DPS past the one in Phase 1 and the one in Phase 3, ideally. There are also scripted AoE Stuns on turn 1 in Phase 2 and Turn 1 in Phase 3. So your best bet to dealing with things is to DPS past Phase 1 Black Cauldron, use Larsa USB to block P2 Turn 1 Stun, use Unicorn to block Phase 2 Black Cauldron, then use Larsa USB again to block Phase 3 Turn 1 Stun. This will allow your DPS characters to concentrate on blitzing Hades down without interruption or Black Cauldron ruining your day.
2) There's a scripted Dispel at 50% that is just awful. How smooth your Hades runs will go will likely depend on how easily you are able to deal with this. The issue is that while Hades will use Dispel on his next turn after 50% and it has 0 cast time, it is not an interrupt. He doesn't cancel his current action to do it. This means that, depending on what he's doing and how your DPS is going, the timing to refresh Hastega can vary wildly and it can really screw with your actions.
Tackle Siren before Hades. She's much easier, and her magicite drops are more important for Hades than vice versa. In particular, you want 2xL99 Evrae and a L99 Seraph with minimum of L7 Dampen Dark inherited. They will make your Hades run much easier.
TGC/Ramza/Marche/WoL/Larsa should have no trouble with Hades. You have two things to look for:
1) It's a DPS race, in that the faster you go, the fewer Black Cauldrons you'll see. In my experience, Phase 2 Cauldron is the hardest to skip. You want to DPS past the one in Phase 1 and the one in Phase 3, ideally. There are also scripted AoE Stuns on turn 1 in Phase 2 and Turn 1 in Phase 3. So your best bet to dealing with things is to DPS past Phase 1 Black Cauldron, use Larsa USB to block P2 Turn 1 Stun, use Unicorn to block Phase 2 Black Cauldron, then use Larsa USB again to block Phase 3 Turn 1 Stun. This will allow your DPS characters to concentrate on blitzing Hades down without interruption or Black Cauldron ruining your day.
2) There's a scripted Dispel at 50% that is just awful. How smooth your Hades runs will go will likely depend on how easily you are able to deal with this. The issue is that while Hades will use Dispel on his next turn after 50% and it has 0 cast time, it is not an interrupt. He doesn't cancel his current action to do it. This means that, depending on what he's doing and how your DPS is going, the timing to refresh Hastega can vary wildly and it can really screw with your actions.
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So I just downed Quetz and realized that...probably because I'm a new player I don't have many OSBs. How screwed am I for the other 5* Magicites?
While not as annoying as Hades, Siren can be a pain as well. During phase 3, she will counter everything with a self 9999 curaja, and doublecasts will cause her to doublecast curaja as well. So, save some SBs for her last phase
You can use magicites to break the savage modes. Its not that reliable, but it works
JG_Lionheart:
The point is to use the magicite you can beat to break the Savage mode of the next one in the cycle. A L99 5* magicite will always do Overflow damage on entry. You just have to use the appropriate type, magical or physical. So a L99 Quetz, which does magic damage, would be used against Geosgaeno; King Behemoth does physical damage and would be used against Famfrit; Geo, in tern, does physical damage and would be used against Phoenix; Famfrit inflicts magic damage and would be used against Belias. And so on and so forth.
The main problem with using 5* magicites to break other 5* magicites savage is that, outside of the initial entry, the magicite's regular attack isn't guaranteed to break savage mode. Several of the 5* magicites' savage modes have damage reduction on top of their massive stats, so if you're not running a chain or stacking imperils, the subsequent magicite attacks after summoning might not break Savage. Moreover, some of them make things even worse by using Bar-Elements to reduce or nullify their elemental weaknesses, making it even more unlikely that your magicite summon won't break Savage. The worst of these offenders are Mateus and Slydra - it's high count chain + imperils for these two or GTFO. Adamantoise doesn't stack Bar-element, but ups the ante by having a special defensive buff that you currently cannot remove (Syldra does this too, on top of everything else), so it's just as bad.
The point is to use the magicite you can beat to break the Savage mode of the next one in the cycle. A L99 5* magicite will always do Overflow damage on entry. You just have to use the appropriate type, magical or physical. So a L99 Quetz, which does magic damage, would be used against Geosgaeno; King Behemoth does physical damage and would be used against Famfrit; Geo, in tern, does physical damage and would be used against Phoenix; Famfrit inflicts magic damage and would be used against Belias. And so on and so forth.
The main problem with using 5* magicites to break other 5* magicites savage is that, outside of the initial entry, the magicite's regular attack isn't guaranteed to break savage mode. Several of the 5* magicites' savage modes have damage reduction on top of their massive stats, so if you're not running a chain or stacking imperils, the subsequent magicite attacks after summoning might not break Savage. Moreover, some of them make things even worse by using Bar-Elements to reduce or nullify their elemental weaknesses, making it even more unlikely that your magicite summon won't break Savage. The worst of these offenders are Mateus and Slydra - it's high count chain + imperils for these two or GTFO. Adamantoise doesn't stack Bar-element, but ups the ante by having a special defensive buff that you currently cannot remove (Syldra does this too, on top of everything else), so it's just as bad.
Looking at Siren stuff now; is it really bad to bring mages? I have a fair amount of dark options but they're mostly mage-based. Also I haven't had to put together much of a dark team in ages and like half of this stuff I've never used since I got it since the last time I had to put together a super serious dark team >_>. At a glance dark things I have that might be good (again honestly I'm not sure on like half of these)
-Emperor w/BSB2
-Cloud of Darkness w/BSB1 (not sure if the Radiant Shield would trigger her heal counter?)
-Golbez w/BSB1/USB1
-Exdeath w/BSB1/USB1/BUSB1
-Shadow w/USB1
-Kefka w/BSB2
-Sephiroth w/BSB2/OSB/ASB
-Edea w/BSB
-Seifer w/BSB1/USB1
-Kuja (dived) w/BSB1/OSB1/USB1
-Seymour w/BSB
-Gabranth w/BSB1/USB1
-Vayne w/BSB
-Raines (dived) w/BSB/OSB
-Nabaat w/BSB
-Gaffgarion w/BSB
-TGC (dived) w/LMR and USB
I've never even used Exdeath, I got all of those relics for him in the last like 3 months off LD's and whatnot lol. If I do need to run a physical team for this fight I'm guessing something maybe like TGC/Shadow/Sephiroth with x healer and x booster? I don't have OK's pUSB, I usually run Ramza with his BSB2 for that, so I guess I could slot him in and just use him as an entrustbot, then I'm assuming Elarra USB unless there's a gimmick here I need blinks or something for.
-Emperor w/BSB2
-Cloud of Darkness w/BSB1 (not sure if the Radiant Shield would trigger her heal counter?)
-Golbez w/BSB1/USB1
-Exdeath w/BSB1/USB1/BUSB1
-Shadow w/USB1
-Kefka w/BSB2
-Sephiroth w/BSB2/OSB/ASB
-Edea w/BSB
-Seifer w/BSB1/USB1
-Kuja (dived) w/BSB1/OSB1/USB1
-Seymour w/BSB
-Gabranth w/BSB1/USB1
-Vayne w/BSB
-Raines (dived) w/BSB/OSB
-Nabaat w/BSB
-Gaffgarion w/BSB
-TGC (dived) w/LMR and USB
I've never even used Exdeath, I got all of those relics for him in the last like 3 months off LD's and whatnot lol. If I do need to run a physical team for this fight I'm guessing something maybe like TGC/Shadow/Sephiroth with x healer and x booster? I don't have OK's pUSB, I usually run Ramza with his BSB2 for that, so I guess I could slot him in and just use him as an entrustbot, then I'm assuming Elarra USB unless there's a gimmick here I need blinks or something for.
TCG, Shadow, Sephiroth will do a lot of work. My Siren team was TCG and off element Edge for my primary damage.
Mr. Daravon:
I should point out that my sub-25 Siren team used LD Vayne (OSB/LMR), LD Raines (BSSB), and LD Kuja (BSSB1/OSB/LMR), with OK BSSB/LMR and originally Aphmau USB. Vayne ran as physical. You can bring mages, especially dived ones with Silence resist, but bring Ultra Cure (I had OK run Dispel/UC). Raines has no Silence resist so he used to get hit fairly often in the beginning, but I could cure his Silence and still sub-30. If OK got silenced, that was a Restart. Probably needed to Restart if important people got Silenced' in Phase 3 too.
Regardless, you have TGC USB, who is vastly superior to Vayne. Sephiroth w/ BSSB2/OSB is a good option. I'd still consider Kuja for the Imperil BSSB1. Shadow w/ USB is also really good, though I don't know if you want to mess with keeping up blinks since Siren does have some physical attacks. Regardless, I hope you have hundreds of Major Dark orbs if you haven't honed dark abilities as yet.
Oh, and for the record, Radiant Shield attacks do not trigger counters.
I should point out that my sub-25 Siren team used LD Vayne (OSB/LMR), LD Raines (BSSB), and LD Kuja (BSSB1/OSB/LMR), with OK BSSB/LMR and originally Aphmau USB. Vayne ran as physical. You can bring mages, especially dived ones with Silence resist, but bring Ultra Cure (I had OK run Dispel/UC). Raines has no Silence resist so he used to get hit fairly often in the beginning, but I could cure his Silence and still sub-30. If OK got silenced, that was a Restart. Probably needed to Restart if important people got Silenced' in Phase 3 too.
Regardless, you have TGC USB, who is vastly superior to Vayne. Sephiroth w/ BSSB2/OSB is a good option. I'd still consider Kuja for the Imperil BSSB1. Shadow w/ USB is also really good, though I don't know if you want to mess with keeping up blinks since Siren does have some physical attacks. Regardless, I hope you have hundreds of Major Dark orbs if you haven't honed dark abilities as yet.
Oh, and for the record, Radiant Shield attacks do not trigger counters.
Yeah, I just beat Siren myself with TGCid/Seph (USB/OSB)/Garland (CSB/OSB)/Elarra/Ramza.
Full dive TGC destroys her but he consumes hones soooo fast, especially since I had to also hone stuff for Seph so I couldn't get any of them R4 :/
Seeing Seph hits for 20k with Crimson Cross is also pretty nice!
Consistently beat her in around 27s with this setup.
Full dive TGC destroys her but he consumes hones soooo fast, especially since I had to also hone stuff for Seph so I couldn't get any of them R4 :/
Seeing Seph hits for 20k with Crimson Cross is also pretty nice!
Consistently beat her in around 27s with this setup.
Yea syldra ain't no joke. I can't even survive very long. Lol
Edit: Swapped in Tyro and it's gonna considerably better allowing magic breakdance on elarra along with Shellga from USB. I forgot to equip frost offering though so it was doomed from the start.
Edit: Swapped in Tyro and it's gonna considerably better allowing magic breakdance on elarra along with Shellga from USB. I forgot to equip frost offering though so it was doomed from the start.
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I need to decide on my USB selection; I've already got Elarra's USB so don't think I can justify picking Aerith's USB2, especially considering I don't have Vivi, Palom, or Tyro (Godwall) USB's. I'm tempted to grab OK's pUSB just to even further kit him out but that's probably a poor choice given my other options.
I'm assuming my best general options having Elarra would be Vivi/Palom/Tyro correct? Godwall is tempting and I do have Tyro's instacast 2 LMR, but not much else for him besides his free stuff, and I feel like Godwall is better used as a summon (which doesn't apply to Magicites though). I don't have anything notable for either Vivi or Palom, I do have Vivi's LMR (not sure which # it is) where he does more BM damage at the expense of longer cast times but that's it. I don't specifically need Lightning or Fire mage tech one over the other. I guess how much of a pain in the ass is it to deal with Vivi's Trance? The general recommendation I see on reddit is Vivi is better but requires some work around his Trance, and also assumes it's a shorter fight that will be over by the time his Trance is, whereas Palom is easier to work with/not gimmicky. Any particular thoughts?
I'm assuming my best general options having Elarra would be Vivi/Palom/Tyro correct? Godwall is tempting and I do have Tyro's instacast 2 LMR, but not much else for him besides his free stuff, and I feel like Godwall is better used as a summon (which doesn't apply to Magicites though). I don't have anything notable for either Vivi or Palom, I do have Vivi's LMR (not sure which # it is) where he does more BM damage at the expense of longer cast times but that's it. I don't specifically need Lightning or Fire mage tech one over the other. I guess how much of a pain in the ass is it to deal with Vivi's Trance? The general recommendation I see on reddit is Vivi is better but requires some work around his Trance, and also assumes it's a shorter fight that will be over by the time his Trance is, whereas Palom is easier to work with/not gimmicky. Any particular thoughts?
Mr. Daravon:
Yes, Vivi is basically "win within 25 seconds of Trance" or else, plus you have to deal with the Trance itself, while Palom's is no fuss and dualcast has no time limit. Vivi has a 50% chance to triple cast with his USB, though, while Palom is only 35%. You have Vivi LMR1, which will make Vivi better at off-element than Palom for you. The slower casting speed is offset by Gathering Storm (Vivi caps with chains pretty easily if you have them) and/or Elarra USB.
As for dealing with Trance, frankly, while somewhat of an issue in 4* magicite, that's not an issue in 5* magicite due to all the incoming damage. Simply don't heal Vivi and you'll trance within 7-8 seconds.
Personally, I use Vivi w/ USB1 against KB (sub-60 officially), Geo (sub-30), Belias (sub-30), Manticore (sub-30), and he's 99% going to be used against Typhon and Adamantoise when I get around to them (disclaimer: I have physical gen 2 chains for all elements + Zack CSB).
Yes, Vivi is basically "win within 25 seconds of Trance" or else, plus you have to deal with the Trance itself, while Palom's is no fuss and dualcast has no time limit. Vivi has a 50% chance to triple cast with his USB, though, while Palom is only 35%. You have Vivi LMR1, which will make Vivi better at off-element than Palom for you. The slower casting speed is offset by Gathering Storm (Vivi caps with chains pretty easily if you have them) and/or Elarra USB.
As for dealing with Trance, frankly, while somewhat of an issue in 4* magicite, that's not an issue in 5* magicite due to all the incoming damage. Simply don't heal Vivi and you'll trance within 7-8 seconds.
Personally, I use Vivi w/ USB1 against KB (sub-60 officially), Geo (sub-30), Belias (sub-30), Manticore (sub-30), and he's 99% going to be used against Typhon and Adamantoise when I get around to them (disclaimer: I have physical gen 2 chains for all elements + Zack CSB).
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D240 & 280 XI Torment done and sub 30'd.
Just like the real thing this Shadowlord is a giant asshole, hits really hard, and leaves a pile of bodies behind. At least he doesn't summon his dragons to help him fight this time.
My party was
Onion Knight - Entrust, Shellga, bsb with DMT
Shantotto - Chain Thundaja, Hell Thunder, usb with +black magic damage rm
Ayame - Snowspell Strike, Hailstorm, bsb, osb, +sword damage rm
Aphmau - Protectga, Curada, usb, Mako Might
Curilla - Assault Saber, Power Breakdown, bsb, +sword damage rm
On the 240 I would have OK use his bsb, the realm chain, shellga, and entrust Shantotto to get her up and running. Shadowlord was dead after her usb and one Hell Thunder along with whatever damage Ayame and Curilla did.
The D280 was a little harder because it was tough to keep people alive even with a good healing usb. I ended up entrusting Aphamau instead of Shantotto so I could spam her usb. Even doing that I still couldn't keep Curilla alive after about 10 seconds or so. Ayame lasted until about 20 seconds before dying and by that time he was almost dead and Shantotto was able to finish him off just a hair under 25 seconds.
Just like the real thing this Shadowlord is a giant asshole, hits really hard, and leaves a pile of bodies behind. At least he doesn't summon his dragons to help him fight this time.
My party was
Onion Knight - Entrust, Shellga, bsb with DMT
Shantotto - Chain Thundaja, Hell Thunder, usb with +black magic damage rm
Ayame - Snowspell Strike, Hailstorm, bsb, osb, +sword damage rm
Aphmau - Protectga, Curada, usb, Mako Might
Curilla - Assault Saber, Power Breakdown, bsb, +sword damage rm
On the 240 I would have OK use his bsb, the realm chain, shellga, and entrust Shantotto to get her up and running. Shadowlord was dead after her usb and one Hell Thunder along with whatever damage Ayame and Curilla did.
The D280 was a little harder because it was tough to keep people alive even with a good healing usb. I ended up entrusting Aphamau instead of Shantotto so I could spam her usb. Even doing that I still couldn't keep Curilla alive after about 10 seconds or so. Ayame lasted until about 20 seconds before dying and by that time he was almost dead and Shantotto was able to finish him off just a hair under 25 seconds.
Sub 30d both lower difficulties.
Curillas USB, mostly junk until now finally shines in a big way.
Curilla USB healing smite protecga Dr mog
Ayame ld osb bsb lmr hailstorm
Shan ld USB chain thundaja
Elarra ld USB lmr curada hastega
Prishe earth monk (have her ssb, didn't use)
Also pulled a dupe bartz bsb in the daily. Oh well, it's the rs water helm, so there's that.
With some work I think I could hit 50 on dwhale swapping in alphmau with her bsb and lmr. Serious downgrade from elarra obviously. And alphmaus ld is junk.
Edit. Prishes ssb is actually pretty amazing not quite edge usb0 level. Mod hp, last stand, major regen to all. That supplements alphmau nicely.
Curillas USB, mostly junk until now finally shines in a big way.
Curilla USB healing smite protecga Dr mog
Ayame ld osb bsb lmr hailstorm
Shan ld USB chain thundaja
Elarra ld USB lmr curada hastega
Prishe earth monk (have her ssb, didn't use)
Also pulled a dupe bartz bsb in the daily. Oh well, it's the rs water helm, so there's that.
With some work I think I could hit 50 on dwhale swapping in alphmau with her bsb and lmr. Serious downgrade from elarra obviously. And alphmaus ld is junk.
Edit. Prishes ssb is actually pretty amazing not quite edge usb0 level. Mod hp, last stand, major regen to all. That supplements alphmau nicely.
R: XI Torment
D240: 13.62 (quadcast from Shantotto for 9999x24)
D280: 22.27
Curilla: R4 Healing Smite, R4 Magic Breakdown, MM (BSSB), one Holy Boost
Shantotto (LM2+LMR1): R4 Chain Thundaja, R4 Hell Thunder, Scholar's Boon (USB), double lightning boost
Prishe: R4 Earth Iron fist, R3 Protectga, Ace Striker (SSB), double Earth boost
Aphmau (LM1): R3 Shellga, R4 Curada, DMT (USB)
Lion: R4 Flash Disaster, R4 Storm Ride, Dagger DMG+ RM (USB), double wind boost
Dark resist on every one.
Magicites: Quetzalcoatl, KB, Phoenix, Seraph, Evrae
I have a good shot at clearing the D??? I'm just not sure who would be better between Lion or Ayame. Ayame only has BSSB/SSB, but is fully dived. I don't have Lion dived, though I certainly can. Just looking for the best and least resource-intensive clear.
Random Painted Highway:
Based on the progress by users on Gamefaqs, you actually might have enough to beat the D??? outright. Or at least get well above 50%.
D240: 13.62 (quadcast from Shantotto for 9999x24)
D280: 22.27
Curilla: R4 Healing Smite, R4 Magic Breakdown, MM (BSSB), one Holy Boost
Shantotto (LM2+LMR1): R4 Chain Thundaja, R4 Hell Thunder, Scholar's Boon (USB), double lightning boost
Prishe: R4 Earth Iron fist, R3 Protectga, Ace Striker (SSB), double Earth boost
Aphmau (LM1): R3 Shellga, R4 Curada, DMT (USB)
Lion: R4 Flash Disaster, R4 Storm Ride, Dagger DMG+ RM (USB), double wind boost
Dark resist on every one.
Magicites: Quetzalcoatl, KB, Phoenix, Seraph, Evrae
I have a good shot at clearing the D??? I'm just not sure who would be better between Lion or Ayame. Ayame only has BSSB/SSB, but is fully dived. I don't have Lion dived, though I certainly can. Just looking for the best and least resource-intensive clear.
Random Painted Highway:
Based on the progress by users on Gamefaqs, you actually might have enough to beat the D??? outright. Or at least get well above 50%.
Got to my first High stakes VS syldra with Icy offering. So this may be doable without Laguna USB for me after a bit more tweaking. I was pretty close to ASB range before I got knocked out
Edit: Since those tickets drop before KH in Japan I wonder if it'll be given out as an event reward / gift and possibly something we get really early?
Edit: Since those tickets drop before KH in Japan I wonder if it'll be given out as an event reward / gift and possibly something we get really early?
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[QUOTE="ShinUltima, post: 17917468, member: 27142"
Random Painted Highway:
Based on the progress by users on Gamefaqs, you actually might have enough to beat the D??? outright. Or at least get well above 50%.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I saw one with my exact line up that hit 70ish, I think mine is a bit stronger, so whenever I get around to jt, it should be productive. I haven't even attempted the 0 or 3 dwhales yet either . Really slacking.
Random Painted Highway:
Based on the progress by users on Gamefaqs, you actually might have enough to beat the D??? outright. Or at least get well above 50%.[/QUOTE]
Yeah I saw one with my exact line up that hit 70ish, I think mine is a bit stronger, so whenever I get around to jt, it should be productive. I haven't even attempted the 0 or 3 dwhales yet either . Really slacking.
This, there's some interesting stuff on this banner, but it's just too close to 4A. I'm at 473 mythril. :) Some of that might go to KH depending on how the banner looks.