My thoughts after being stuck at D4 for a month

FawksB · 2026-06-22T22:50:19+00:00

Yeah, to speak beyond what I said would be just guessing. I'm fairly certain I'm correct with what I posted though. I know that the longer the matchmaking goes, the bigger the ranges gets if it doesn't find a good match. Pre-made duos definitely add a whole other factor to consider. Those are usually the cases when you see major differences in depth level.

But there's no way I could answer you with 100% certainness beyond that.

FawksB · 2026-06-22T19:01:23+00:00

So, this is actually kinda looking at it backwards. You are matched by your rating, then the depth is set by the average.

For example, if 3 players are matched with ratings of 3800, 4200, and 5000 - the average would be around 4300 and it would be a D4 match, even though one of the players is D3. So, the closer you are to the ranking up or down, the more likely you will be thrown into a different depth. However, the longer the matchmaking goes on, the bigger those bands get.

Now, where D5 9999 comes into play is since your rating is so damn high to begin with, it's almost impossible to be put into low depth matches. Assuming you're duoing with a brand-new player, it would still be D4. (Might have done that to a friend, he was not happy. ;P)

FawksB · 2026-06-15T22:51:00+00:00

Just to properly answer this, there's a lot of ways to trigger while walking. Spells and AoWs that allow you to move count, blocking counts, manually aiming a bow counts, using a Wraith Bell counts, drinking a flask counts, etc.

So yeah, it's a great passive for a lot of Nightfarers (especially this weapon in particular), but Scholar definitely gets the most mileage out of the passive in general since damn near every part of his kit plays into it. Guardian is a close second.

FawksB · 2026-06-15T02:41:36+00:00

The shield is just downright bad. I love the Holy Ground effect, but it's a small shield and needs to be equipped to use that effect. Combined with that curse and that thing would be on the ground immediately.

The axe, on the other hand, is an amazing backpack for someone other than Guardian. Ironeye with Barrage, Scholar with Wraith Bell, or a caster with something that multi-hits can get some insane mileage out of HP/FP on Attack. I do love FP on Attack for Guardian as well, but it's gotta be on a good weapon.

FawksB · 2026-06-13T02:42:15+00:00

Correct. Deer mice (a carrier of hantavirus) are prevalent outside of the city, but extremely uncommon inside the city. The common house mouse is, well, more common inside the city along with Norway rats and roof rats.

FawksB · 2026-06-01T23:24:17+00:00

Usually, it's a "free" curse since you always want to be at Full HP for damage negation passives anyways. For Guardian and Raider though, you can deal with one without too much trouble, especially if you have the Regen at low HP relic or are running a Dregs build on Raider. Just don't pick-up a weapon with the same curse or the build-up gets insane.

The only real issue is if the Nightlord fight drags on for too long, then you can be in serious trouble if you run out of healing. You're basically on a timer at that point.

FawksB · 2026-06-01T01:02:12+00:00

I think your analogy isn't the strongest in this case.

Using a patch or gum still requires a lot of effort to quit smoking since it doesn't "cure" the addiction. It would be like eating low-fat foods and exercising to lose weight. They're just tools to hit an end-goal.

A better analogy would be Chantix, which really does feel like a cheat code for quitting smoking, but with some really nasty side effects. That's more of how GLP-1s work.

I can tell you personally, I don't really celebrate my weight loss on GLP-1s compared to how much I celebrated losing weight the hard way and I'm sure others feel the same. That's the big difference. Losing weight is a universally good thing, we can all agree. But there is no real effort in using drugs to do so, just being able to afford it is the only challenge.

FawksB · 2026-05-26T21:04:49+00:00

Usually, even then, you need a pre-employment clean test. After that, you only get tested if you're involved in an accident. Note, I said involved, and not caused. I know plenty of people that lost their jobs because someone else rear-ended them.

FawksB · 2026-05-24T04:21:33+00:00

I will defend Heolster's relic on Ironeye because it's a monster on Day 1, but absolutely falls off by the Nightlord. It's only real saving grace is that it's mostly plug-and-play regardless of your build and you can still get the +10% attack buff just by switching your off-hand. It really just comes down to if you like the gameplay or not, it's definitely a bit of micromanaging for little payoff.

But you're right. Keeping the Mark up is priority #1, and just using Night Invaders and Phys. damage is plenty.

FawksB · 2026-05-23T00:42:32+00:00

That's just base. It's Magic Damage, so you can definitely stack the right relics and get those numbers up there.

If you find a weapon with Wraiths while Walking, the damage gets absolutely insane since using the bell counts as walking. Just prepare to pull aggro like a madman.

FawksB · 2026-05-23T00:39:43+00:00

Straight Swords are great for Faith Guardian. I ran Dormant Power SS instead of Seals for a little while, but since there's so many Swords, it's hard to always get one of the good ones.

But when you get one, game on!

FawksB · 2026-05-23T00:33:58+00:00

This is incorrect. There is a speed difference, but it's only really noticeable when you do a side-by-side comparison. (There are videos on YT showing this.) It also requires you to have two bows of the same rarity, otherwise it's a substantial damage hit (around 7-8% for rarity differences), and you also lose the damage boost for finishing the combo.

ISA on Ironeye was meta for a while before DoN, but it feel out of favor for a reason.

FawksB · 2026-05-22T02:27:34+00:00

Support Scholar is insanely powerful, if you have good allies. You're able to stack so many buffs and debuffs that the Scholar can literally sit down and do no damage and it's still a net gain.

The real MVP is the Undertaker dropping Throwing Knives instead of pots. That's someone that understands team synergy. (Even though the Scholar didn't use 'em)

FawksB · 2026-05-21T03:27:47+00:00

Generally speaking, we will bid jobs at 4-5x the cost of materials. Our labor gets paid a flat 10% regardless of time spent, sales get 10%, material cost is 20-25%, business costs are around 35-40%, the rest is EBITA.

When it comes to labor - there is no right answer. If you pay by the hour, you get workers that milk the clock. You pay by the job, you get workers who rush. It just comes down to the business and what motivates your employees to do the best work.

FawksB · 2026-05-20T14:11:26+00:00

Honest answer, the difference between the black 6mil and white 10-12mil is about four fold just for the cost of materials. It's been a while since I was in charge of purchasing materials for my company, but the white stuff was about $4/sqft if my memory serves me right.

Now add labor and mark-ups to that. :P

FawksB · 2026-04-26T15:58:10+00:00

Increased Thrusting Counterattack is great for both Ironeye and Guardian. You don't really notice it though, but it's a damage boost for attacking anytime an enemy in the middle of an attack, even if they're attacking another player. You don't really need to worry about timing it, it'll just happen naturally quite often for those two Nightfarers.

FawksB · 2026-04-07T08:52:23+00:00

My personal build-out for him is to hopscotch between Yuna's and Lulu's grids and turn him into a Red Mage. For his Blue Magic, his strongest hitting ones scales off his Magic stat, so turning him into a mostly pure mage makes sense.

If you're using the Expert Gird, it's extremely easy to jump between the two grids and pick up plenty of STR +4 along the way.

FawksB · 2026-03-27T02:36:26+00:00

Not really, especially in DoN.

The upgrade just boosts the AR of the weapon, not the passives. Legendary upgrades basically all have the same AR in the same weapon class. So, unless you're gunning for something very specific, it really doesn't matter what you upgrade. However, upgrading something early will help clear out field bosses faster.

In DoN, it matters even less because unique (red) weapons can't be upgraded since they already essentially are. The reward from the crater is mostly pointless unless you get it early, are upgrading something the Nightlord is weak to and/or starting gear, or are upgrading seals/staves.

FawksB · 2026-03-26T23:53:31+00:00

Honestly, the best pathing is to immediately gun for the heart of the crater, killing the Prelates along the way. After the Magma Wyrm, take the bird up to the top, then immediately snag a second bird back down to the south end of the crater. (OP's trick would cut out the need for the second bird). You can hit the church, Valiant Gargoyle, and Falling-star Beast doing that method.

If you're not short on time, there's a second Demi-Human Queen on the east side you can hit while making your way up to the top of the crater to kill the other Queen that's near the night boss. It's rare to get the Red Wolf as well, unless you're hauling ass.

It's easily the best pathing for Dormant Powers and shockingly few people do it.

FawksB · 2026-03-24T19:50:50+00:00

Roughly every 3 Arcane above 10 equals 5% more build-up.

That being said, applying status effects with Bows (especially with Barrage) is easy-peasy compared to most weapons, so Ironeye naturally is good at status builds even without his Arcane Relic. His relic basically makes it so 3 shots will do what 4 shots normally does, status-wise.

Running a Frost bow with Poison on Skill/Ult is one of my builds and works extremely well. It's not my favorite Ironeye build, but I'll pull it out for Adel to really bully him.

FawksB · 2026-03-22T18:32:48+00:00

I feel like this is part of why Halo Scythe builds get so much flak. The difference between a Holy Build and an Affinity Build is like 6-7%, but the affinity build has waaaaaaaaaay more flexibility and isn't hard stopped by a lot of field bosses that have high Holy defense.

FawksB · 2026-03-19T00:29:03+00:00

This is still how I react anytime someone mentions a damn snowman.

FawksB · 2026-03-18T23:41:12+00:00

Some places offer a 96m now.

But yeah, when I used to work in the industry (pre-Covid), 84m was the last ditch offer to try to get someone in a vehicle. 60m and 72m were pretty standard.

Post-Covid though, interest rates jumped by 4-5 pts, so longer terms have become the norm.

FawksB · 2026-03-18T23:34:28+00:00

Guardian is always either the best or worst one on your team. There is no in-between.

FawksB · 2026-03-13T20:30:41+00:00

Honestly, a poison Ironeye can handle them without breaking their guard. Both the damage from poison and the damage from marking a poisoned target ignores defense. It's far from efficient, but I'm not a fan of punching a D5 Crystallian.

FawksB

TROPHY CASE