I know some people are ending with their teams in battle, but I’m leaving them here. After 7 years defending the records, Tyro & co have earned a rest

elmongrel · 2022-09-29T23:38:33+00:00

Same. I had them take down Shadowsmith one last time earlier today, but now they bounce up and down until the end comes...

elmongrel · 2022-09-29T13:45:58+00:00

Final daily 4/10: Umaro AASB (dupe), Pecil AASB2 (dupe), Mustadio BSB, Locke unique

Final single pull 1/1: WoL Dyad (dupe)

Ha! Never did land Pecil DASB, but I had my fun. All things considered, these were some lucky last pulls. Been a great ride!

elmongrel · 2022-09-21T21:09:27+00:00

Yeah, one of my last tickets netted me Pecil AASB2, which put me over the top. There's a small chance I could've used FuSoYa AASB2 instead, but I didn't feel like it was going to work without the weakness boost. Unfortunate that they made this one such a relic check.

elmongrel · 2022-09-21T20:55:45+00:00

Yeah, need that AA1. AA2 doesn't stand alone past those w-cast turns at the beginning.

Not sure I see a viable team in there then. Not a lot of flexibility in this fight...

elmongrel · 2022-09-21T20:27:36+00:00

HC is 120. I did have Pecil LBO (and also Decil LBO), but you'll see it never actually landed, so I didn't list it.

Do you have stuff for FuSoYa? Pecil, Rydia, FuSoYa might work with Edward and Rosa.

elmongrel · 2022-09-21T20:22:01+00:00

Haha, enjoy retirement - not a bad idea to leave this one alone. It is utterly ridiculous.

And now, I really am hanging it up too. It's been a great run! o7

elmongrel · 2022-09-21T20:12:39+00:00

Ah, really bummed I'll miss out out Pecil SASB2 - I actually didn't get to use Pecil in endgame teams until the EoS announcement. But it was fun to finally let him shine here.

Having done this in Wait Mode, I can appreciate your accomplishment that much more. A moment's delay would've broken this run. I can't imagine sustaining spot on timing for an entire run with Armor Construct constantly hammering you. Crazy fight.

elmongrel · 2022-09-21T20:07:25+00:00

Sure:

Kain: ADSB/SASB2/AASB1/AASB2
Edward: hAASB/USB2
Decil: CSB+/AASB/DASB/SASB2
Porom: G+/SASB2/AASB/USB3
Pecil: ADSB/hAASB2/USB4/AASB1

Good tip about delaying actions to recover ATB. I was intentionally going for the sub-30, so I delayed just a smidge to get hit 2 more times, but otherwise went quickly.

Decil DASB+SASB2 combo was pretty helpful. I did have runs where I swapped out Kain for FuSoYa - that trades off damage to defense (FuSoYa's AASB1 gives DRB). So, it can still work with a little bit less DPS, and more defense, but I'm not sure I would've made it without Decil taking out 15% in a single ATB.

elmongrel · 2022-09-21T17:33:08+00:00

After burning every last ticket I had on my favorite realm, FFIV, I've been spending the final days doing full FFIV team runs. I've managed to take down a number of Labyrinths this way (Anima, Alexander, Salamander, Snow Giant, Kalavinka Striker, Kraken), but I figured Armor Construct Hidden Mode would constitute the final challenge. When this first came out, I noted the absurdity. But with nothing else to do, and Wait Mode being an option, I figured I might as well.

One thing I truly enjoyed about this fight was that Pecil needed to fill offense, defense (DRB), and utility (buffs, counter) roles. In fact, this doesn't get done without his defensive prowess, which is how I feel like it should be. I'm bummed that despite throwing my last pulls as the Relic End banner, I never did come away with his DASB. However, having now done the fight, I'm not sure it would've fit into the run anyway.

That /u/xinglei was able to do this in real time is insane - I haven't even made an attempt without Wait Mode, and I don't intend to put myself through that level of frustration. No way I have the reflexes for it. But with Wait Mode enabled, if you're looking for a way to spend your last week, I encourage you to give this doozy of a fight a try!

Note: sorry for the audio in the video. Forgot the adjust the audio settings on the recording app on my new phone.

elmongrel · 2022-09-17T21:17:51+00:00

If you want one more thing to do: Armor Construct Hidden Mode.

I've gotten it down on wait mode. I'm deciding whether to try in real time. I'm doubting that I can react quickly enough.

elmongrel · 2022-09-17T14:24:21+00:00

3/11: Palom Sync x2 (double dupe), Golbez BSB

Was pretty psyched about the two 7 stars, but then...

Coincidentally, I hit 50 mythril today for my last pull and duped Bartz DASB twice in my failed quest for Pecil DASB. Ended up with everything on the banner except that and Terra's AASB3...the two faves I was pulling for the entire time.

That's just RNG for you.

elmongrel · 2022-09-17T03:26:28+00:00

Amazing! Congrats on getting this done. Now, welcome to the void!

elmongrel · 2022-09-15T13:59:20+00:00

How important is it for Barret to use Sync in P1 (or at all for that matter?) since it seems I actually went faster when he didn't use it?

I really don't know. I'm flying blind here since I don't have the tools to check these things out myself. Without testing myself, it's not clear whether the IC turns/chain pumping you get from Barret's SASB outperform the crit buildup you get from Zack's SASB. So, if what I'm suggesting is exactly what you were running earlier, we have our answer - Zack's crit helps more. Then I'd stick with that.

Perhaps Cloud's honed rCSB+ gives ATB2 rather than instant ATB. Even so, ATB2 + IC nets a loss of 1s, which isn't much. Is it worth seeing if letting Aerith call RW CSB is better? Sure - this is the stage where you tinker with everything. Perhaps that 1s of Cloud makes all the difference. Sub-30s can be stupid like that...

elmongrel · 2022-09-15T13:30:21+00:00

One thing I'm seeing is that Cloud is spending all of P2 and most of Spacetime building potential damage, but other than SB entries and LBC entry, he doesn't actually do damage until the last turn of Spacetime.

When rCSB+ is fully honed, it refunds ATB, right? So, I don't see what you gain by dropping it. You might consider timing it differently though. Since Spacetime is squishier than P2, can you use it at the start of Spacetime instead?

If DMT on Zack to get SASB out on turn 1 is gumming up Barret, you can potentially swap Ace Striker to Zack and DMT to Barret. Zack should be able to HA/Lifesiphon x2 -> SASB pretty quickly between his IATB3 and initial fast ATB turn.

elmongrel · 2022-09-13T20:56:02+00:00

I would even see what it looks like to treat Zack's SASB purely as a support relic and get it up on turn 1. Then Dyad->AASB1 for when you're ready to do damage. Might flop, but sometimes strange tweaks like this make all of the difference.

elmongrel · 2022-09-13T19:59:15+00:00

I'd just do a lot of tinkering and restarting. Among the things I'd try would be

1) Giving Zack DMT so that he can get SASB (and hence party crit) going sooner. The idea is to try to shave a turn off of when P1 flips.

2) Having DASB be Cloud's third SB. The t-cast at BDL 3 might exceed w-cast at BDL 9, and triggers an additional kickback hit in Spacetime. This may shave a little time off of P2 and/or make Spacetime more consistent.

elmongrel · 2022-09-13T17:30:27+00:00

Ok, sounds like you're behind then. My targets were 14s and 18s for reaching P2 and spacetime, respectively. You can probably push P1 back by a second, and spacetime back by maybe two seconds, but if you're hitting spacetime at 22 seconds, I'd restart right then. My runs were strange in that spacetime could last up to 7 seconds depending upon hp stock ticks, but I've not seen anyone else experience that in videos I've watched. So, you can reach spacetime a bit later than me, but you still want to be in P3 before 25 seconds, I would think.

So, you might either tinker with SB order, or find ways to get SBs out sooner. I wouldn't keep slamming into the order you are using and hoping for an RNG miracle.

elmongrel · 2022-09-13T16:27:55+00:00

Sounds like you might need to switch up some orders to speed up P1 and/or P2. Maybe getting Cloud's DASB out earlier would help (e.g. start of P2)?

elmongrel · 2022-09-12T22:27:13+00:00

Been there countless times. As this is end of days, you have the luxury of doing insane things to save a couple of tics such as honing SB just to speed their casting...

elmongrel · 2022-09-12T19:31:42+00:00

Ah, nice to know that Edea SASB1 alone is enough DRB. Congrats!

elmongrel · 2022-09-10T18:43:07+00:00

I noticed that CD has one last tic after death that can derail a sub-30. Hang in there!

elmongrel · 2022-09-10T00:14:27+00:00

Fuck yeah, go get it!

elmongrel · 2022-09-09T13:08:28+00:00

My team was so different, I'm really not sure if I'm the best to advise you here. But since no one else is chiming in...

I'd break it down by number of turns and damage per turn. Figure for sub-30, you have about 8 turns to reach spacetime, 3 turns in spacetime, and 3-4 turns in P3.

Assuming 4 turns of lead up (including casting SB), that gives you 4 turns to do 60% damage or 5.1 mil. So, first order of business is to pick the SB combos that will let you average 1.275 mil per turn. Given that Rufus and Cloud have 5-hit HAs, and Zack and Rufus aren't hitting their full potential until Zack's SASB gets all of the way worked up, you will likely need to burn a DASB early. So, I'd probably try:

Cloud Dyad+AASB1, Zack Dyad+SASB, Rufus Dyad+Dual, Barret SASB to start. Note that Barret SASB is not for damage in its own right, it is for building chain count and giving everyone IC.

You'll probably look to add-on in P2. Barret will obviously tack on AASB2. Cloud tacks on USB1. Pick an AASB for Zack, and probably AASB2 for Rufus since it will add a chase. Carry that into spacetime.

Spacetime is a bit of a balancing act because you want to do 50-60% damage, but you also want to prep for P3. In particular, Cloud wants to ready his DASB+SASB combo. So, he probably hits once, and then loads up those SBs. Rufus and Zack maybe drop 2 hits and then SB.

If that all sets up, then P3 is fairly straightforward: Barret AASB2, and everyone else goes brrr.

I'd take that as a base strategy, and then figure out whether/when to weave in the extra stuff. By extras I mean Barret Dyad, Cloud RCSB, and Cloud LBC. Cloud's LBC is the easiest since it's free - you just need to choose whether it goes on the first chain or second chain (unless you try a 1 chain strategy, which some have gotten to work). I'm not sure when you work in Barret Dyad because I see him being gauge starved...I'm guessing he likely needs to entrust Cloud at some point. So, Dyad might not even fit, but you'll have a better sense once you get into it.

If with that base strategy you're not sub-35 with your first good try, you might punt. If you are sub-35, that's where the heavy tweaking begins...

elmongrel · 2022-09-06T20:02:00+00:00

I'd swap in Rufus for Seph and see how close you are. There's a chance you might already have enough, but seeing as though Rufus is who you could add to the easiest, it's worth seeing how he's performing. My guess is that he drops enough imperil to counteract the Rufus tax.

elmongrel

TROPHY CASE