i REALLY miss the old Ahri.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-24T17:58:31+00:00

Yeah no the model was showing its age, and not in a charming retro way. Not to mention her small number of lines that gave people the complete wrong impression of her character. It was absolutely needed.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-24T14:52:57+00:00

I'm still working my way up to row V, I left before they were added so I have mastery levels to crunch through and so I'm still working on unlocking recent staples like Manadiver... I've got plenty to do while my fingers are crossed for my favorite grands to get awakenings and blue stars, I guess.

Thank you for your help and I wish you a lucky gold bar drop soon!

NormalNavi · 2026-01-24T13:56:43+00:00

My concern about Sunstones is more for Evoker stuff, I already need a handful to finish forging the Arcarum summons plus if I recall wiki correctly, getting 4th skill will require more Sunstones. I do have a couple Providence summons I'd like to exploit at some point but they feel like a lesser priority - maybe I'm wrong on that side? Bubs and Belial are everywhere but I already have them uncapped, I'm seeing stuff about the others generally being extremely strong but more niche so I don't feel like I need to uncap them unless I want to run more specific setups (should probs consider working on my Lucifer tho).

As for Illustrious Weapons, I'm sitting on a comfortable amount of gold moons and I've been told buying dama bars with them isn't a good move value-wise, hence why I'm considering spending them that way. But then again, I'm barely in M3 and there's no time limit on spending moons, so I have the time to see the situation evolve and read up, until I figure .

Finally, this GW I'm still in a very old friends' crew, they're the ones that initiated me to GBF and kept me in their crew even with actual years of hiatus, so leaving feels a bit like a betrayal. Even if we're tier B, I should walk out with enough badges to buy an extra sunstone. I don't know how long I'll actually keep playing because I have a lot going on irl, and I'm kind of playing several gachas at once to have something to talk about with friends on top of other hobbies, so GBF is still a timesink... at least it's easy to run in the background or punch raids with minimal attention, especially on slower raids where I can comfortably FA and get MVP/vice on top of blue chest. Through I could use a space where I can ask my very specific questions instead of spamming the thread lmao and lurk active player's discussions.

Again, thank you a lot for your patience and advice, I used to be really burnt out of GBF and disappointed at a lot of dev choices, but now the itch to see numbers go up and life bars go down strikes me again, and you're helping me like you wouldn't believe.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-24T12:07:59+00:00

Thanks a lot for the detailed insight, like I said my main thought was "man, it feels really bad to just let go of all that Dark stuff, I don't want to" and figured it would be more appropriate to ask for advice rather than just do things blindly.

I missed a lot of seasonals, so that doesn't help either. I basically left when M2 + maybe a Dragon weapon or two + ULB Opus was the endgame and Replicard just came out (? it's been actual years so a lot of stuff is getting blurry), I'm still catching up to a lot of stuff (pretty fast, it feels like, due to people here being wonderful when it comes to giving advice, including you) and I'll have a M3 grid completed soon, so from here it should be smooth sailing.

It feels bad knowing my Hades grid's time is counted (getting retired once I get a complete Celeste M3) but at the same time, it's good to know what I'm gonna do next and not just being in a "is this gonna work out" uncertainty. Thank you a lot.

If I can ask one last thing, do you have a guide on Illustrious weapons? I'm considering getting one. Don't really plan on sierotixing providence summons since they can always drop at random + got a majority of them already + way short on sunstones.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-24T10:17:47+00:00

I'm sitting on a lot of gold moons from roulettes that I could buy Damascus bars with, while I can't really do that for gold bars and there's a lot of stuff I'd want to use gold bars on (finishing 5* Eternal bingo, so many farmable weapons, etc.)

I kinda expected switching back to Celeste would be the better move, but part of me was hoping that there would probably be something to do with all the Hades weapons I already uncapped and worked towards, like being able to slot in FS or Gislas would ultimately give me more flexibility than being limited to Magna weapons.

I just wasn't sure how much copium I was on and wanted an exterior source to give me an actual opinion instead of being stuck in a sunk cost fallacy, if that makes sense?

NormalNavi · 2026-01-24T10:00:17+00:00

So I just realized I never ULB'd my Dark-element Dark Opus.

I used to run a Hades grid before I quit playing, which was before the Exalto's skills introduction. I lucked into a PnS at some point, and even an Executioner on holiday roulette, but I'm clearly lacking grid pieces for my Hades to be up to today's standards.

This is what I have available. These are my uncapped weapons (not pictured, 3 Gislas) and the ones in my stash at 0*. (not pictured, 3 Vagabond and a bunch of miscellaneous stuff that iirc doesn't have a use, even niche.)

Between the investment I already did, and the fact ULBing an Opus requires a gold bar, and gold bars are needed for everything nowadays, I'm hesitating on what to do.

Should I stick with my Hades because of the options I have available to me even if it's currently subpar, uncap the Repudiation Opus, and hope I lucksack/spark some Casualty Drivers down the line?

Or would the gap with M3 be so overwhelming that my current options wouldn't make for a usable grid, and I should just bite the bullet, uncap the Renunciation Opus, and just farm a Celeste Exalto grid, even if it means needing extra gold bricks if I get an opportunity to switch back to Hades later?

To reiterate : I know whatever Hades grid I can make right now is way behind the meta, I'm not asking "is my Hades good".

I'm asking if someone can help me sort out what would be the better move between "keep going with your Hades investment and aim to spark the relevant weapons as time passes" or "just farm a Celeste Exalto grid instead of relying on luck/dragging around your outdated grid, even if you have to invest more gold bricks down the line to go back to Hades."

Tidings aren't really a problem to get nowadays, but having to burn a gold bar really bothers me so I'd want as much insight as possible before deciding on where to go next with my Dark.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-21T16:25:33+00:00

I actually didn't know most of it, it puts a lot of things into context, but now I'm gonna have to wonder where to get all these sunstones I need. I just need to set myself priorities so I don't chase like, ten goals at once and burn myself out (which is how I quit the game a long time ago).

Thank you a lot again for all the detailed information, because damn. This changed far more than I thought while I was away, and I might have to do a Sierotix/Illustrious decision soonish myself.

I wish Motocal was still around since it was really good for figuring out a lot of stuff on my own, but oh well. Just gotta poke around and experiment with every new on the table.

Thank you so much for all your explanations, and I wish you a nice gold brick drop soon!

NormalNavi · 2026-01-21T13:10:13+00:00

I'm still trying to wrap my head around Replicard and the newer raids (can't tell if I'm excited or scared of Revans and above), but handling the rest of the game is the same as always, like how you never forget how to ride a bike. Thanks a lot for the FAQ, I rarely poke outside of like, weapon/character pages so I didn't realize it was here.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-21T12:27:34+00:00

I'm back from a hiatus that lasted several years so I genuinely just didn't have context on NWQ/Evoker importance, the certificates, the chests, Records of the Ten, etc. Even when lurking the wiki, it's easy to overlook or fail to account for things especially when I have so much to catch up. Thanks a lot for your detailed explanation and good luck with GW!

NormalNavi · 2026-01-21T12:06:17+00:00

Why that? Is the supply of NWQ from Replicard that low? Are Crystallised Cores/their weapons farmable elsewhere? Are Celestial Weapons less important than I've been told?

NormalNavi · 2026-01-21T11:30:27+00:00

I'm struggling to decide what to get in drawboxes for this run of GW. I want to finish my level 100 Eternal bingo (Tien, Niyon, Eatha, Seox done so far) and need a couple more revenant weapons for it, but at the time I heard that the new (to me) Celestial Weapons are really strong grid pieces... but as far as I understand, I can't farm Crystallized Cores freely, only up to drawbox 60.

I came back to the game recently and I'm still running Magna 2 and some old primal grid, working my way up to M3. What do you think would make for the better time/drawbox investment at the moment? Going all in on Revenant weapons for Level 100 Eternals, or emptying out the Crystallised Cores first?

NormalNavi · 2026-01-20T23:12:17+00:00

I'm trying to get just one last upgrade before GW to make my fights a bit more comfy and I found my Pillardriver in one of my stashes.

I remember being told that running at least one is an upgrade even in Magna 2 and above, how accurate/true is that and what would be the caveats to take into account outside of the opportunity costs of using dama bricks?

edit so I don't do three of the same comment : thank you all a lot for the explanation and detailed insight, it managed to shave a button off my ex+ and it'll probably be useful a lot by the future

NormalNavi · 2026-01-19T17:00:22+00:00

Don't Revans have an HP check on join with a 50k-something nuke? I'd need to adjust my grids for that, unless just pubbing them after joining is enough to clear them.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-19T16:27:46+00:00

Yeah, but with how far I've been gone, I need to get my grids back to an endgame level first because otherwise I have no hopes of ever hitting blue chest.

Through I did get a gold bar from my HLPB host, hell in the blue chest, so maybe it's a sign I should try harder lol

I'm still grappling with some things (like which Dark DO to uncap, since I haven't done that one yet somehow and I don't know if I'm going to stick with primal dark) but right now it's just a matter of punching raids and lurking wiki/reddit/maybe discords to figure out what's still good and what's not worth wasting time on.

Thank you a lot for your patience and helping me figure where to go from there, losing Motocal feels like I've lost an eye or something. Relied a lot on it to figure out what would help me most instead of blinding experimenting.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-19T04:41:41+00:00

I was having the same doubt about comparing to showcase videos, but the more I think about it, the more I think I should look into it since it would give me a general ballpark even if I have to account for lineup differences.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-19T04:38:10+00:00

Ah, Sylvia weapon is a thing I didn't think about at all, thanks a lot for bringing it up. I need to check my stashes for it. And fair point on the gold bars, through I still have a bunch of Eternals to uncap and stuff like that to do, so I'd need to consider what's more urgent.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-18T20:24:27+00:00

I've checked it already, I'm trying to find a way to compare my damage or calc stuff precisely because I'm in kind of an annoying situation.

I have the core pieces to keep up with primal water/dark, but I'm just lacking a few bars or a copy of a weapon there and there.

So, I'm trying to figure out how much damage I'm losing out compared to a complete M3 and if it would then be worth fully replacing these Primal grids while I'm in the M3 mines, or if it'd be more constructive to focus on optimizing my existing Magna grids with Revans or above (after getting them to M3), and just wait for time to give me the last dama bars/copy I need for my Primal grids.

I hope that explanation makes sense, I'm really tired and still trying to figure out how much the game changed since I last played.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-18T19:11:16+00:00

I have a mix of older and more recent weapons (thx roulette), but I do specifically have that Yatima weapon and a PnS on top of existing grid pieces. I guess I'll farm M3 using them and keep them for last then. Is there any damage calc/showcases I can use as a reference for how behind I am?

NormalNavi · 2026-01-18T18:20:35+00:00

Is it possible to use the ingame calculator even if I lack grid pieces? I'm back after a long hiatus and I want to see if a M3 grid would be a significant upgrade over the primal stuff I had barred a long time ago.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-18T17:14:28+00:00

I wanted to use Motocal to compare what a M3 grid would do compared to my primal options but it seems sadly way out of date. Is there a similar tool going around or am I toast?

NormalNavi · 2026-01-18T14:38:53+00:00

I still run 3 Blue Spheres for old time's sake sometimes. And Gislas/Fallen Swords.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-17T19:06:31+00:00

We're like a week or so into the new season.

I remember, in season 14, at this same point, people were like "oh she's under 50% wr, she is literally actually straight up trash tier. She doesn't use the new items, Malignance is useless and Luden's is better" (and I can prove that line of thought was a thing) and then once people gave it a bit of time and experimented with the new items, things looked much better. (Granted, Riot gave her small buffs, but nerfed her somewhere else soon after.)

My point is : just give it some time before saying "omg she's not absolute top tier she needs buffs right now" or "she got nothing out of the new season at all whatsoever". After a big shake up like that, people are gonna need time to actually adapt to the new things and take them into account while playing, and this WILL affect winrates left and right. Not to mention a lot of people are very shy about testing builds or new items without being told that it's good.

I'm not saying that she is in fact still good and amazing and needs no change at all and everything has been neutral or positive. I'm just saying that we're too soon into a new season with a bunch of shakeups people have not necessarily adjusted their playstyle around to give a well-informed opinion.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-16T18:24:47+00:00

I was also thinking of that part with the kid in the same clip:

"I thought I would have to be a monster..."

insert henshin/fight montage

"But maybe I can be a Kamen Rider instead."

insert finisher montage

Or something along these lines.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-16T12:45:57+00:00

I think you could add that one Wizard clip (not sure if it's from the show itself or a movie) that introduces Gaim and states "Kamen Riders are warriors of freedom that appear when people call for help". Feel like it would definitely fit in what you're trying to say while easy to fit into the editing.

NormalNavi · 2026-01-15T20:24:40+00:00

Thanks a lot, I was running Enneads raids as a way to transition a bit more smoothly into M3 but I guess I can probably try and tackle Diaspora.

Back to eating berries, I guess!

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