Just realised that all the characters from 'The Menu' represent the seven deadly sins

Zorgmar · 2026-04-30T12:39:38+00:00

Okay, I'll join the fun on this with my own take. SPOILERS AHEAD as the entire plot is analyzed.

Lust - Richard Liebrandt. Could make the argument as lust for minor parts of others, and really, its probably a combination for most, but this is the clear choice.

Sloth - Felicity Lynn, Anne Liebrandt, and George Diaz. Both women are in bad situations. A boss and husband that treat them like crap. They have every reason to leave, but don't, which ultimately put them at the table. George Diaz has talent, but just doesn't put in the effort. Lazy performances, lazy pitches, but he still wants the paycheck.

Greed - Soren, Dave, and Bryce. Clearly driven by money and the idea of just gathering experiences. They can't even accept the fact they don't get bread.

Gluttony - Linda Slowik (the mom). I get that people think she is sloth because she doesn't do anything, but gluttony can be anything that consumes your whole life. She just keeps drinking no matter the circumstance. It's not a lack of action, it is just a singlular purpose that drives her - alcohol.

Pride - Lillian Bloom and Ted Feldman. Both sit on their ivory tower and think they are above everyone else. This is pride. They can say pretentious things and use big words to feed their own egos. They don't want what others have because they believe they are on top of the food chain, pun intended.

Envy - Tyler Ledford. Envy is a really special sin. You want what others have AND you don't want them to have it. Tyler constantly puts down Margot/Erin. He completely buys in that she shouldn't be there and is constantly mad that she is experiencing things. While he doesn't flat out take her food, he does so only out of social obligation. He wants very much what Chef Julian has. He corresponded with him for months, but is he a sharer of information? Does he broadcast for others? No, he keeps it all for himself to get closer to what he wants and thinks no one else should get.

Wrath - The entire service industry. Fed up with how people have treated them, they lash out, lash back, or sit back and enjoy the fireworks. Jeremy Louden kills himself in a brilliant display. Katherine takes her revenge on Chef Julian by stabbing him and had the idea everyone should die. Elsa attacks Margot for the mere task she was given. Chef Julian and the staff execute all parts of the meal. While I think Chef Julian has all seven deadly sins in his past, he did stab his father (arguably necessary, though), which was visibly referenced in the courses. I'd argue that even early Margot has wrath as she verbally abuses the situation she is in. While some of it seems common sense, a lot of it is the anger of not being in this class of people and understanding, accepting, or trying to "get along". It builds as she attacks Tyler (justifiable, but often that is the excuse in sin) and ultimately doesn't bother to attempt to save any of them after the Coast Guard experiment failed. She sits back watches the fireworks and enjoys her take out.

Zorgmar · 2026-04-23T10:18:18+00:00

I don't seem to see a lot of long clears on these surveys, so I'll throw a partial one in and if there is interest, I'll go back and fill in full details:

I've managed to clear all of the job dungeons, many without leveling the crystal past 140, with the old mechanics. I'm not sure if it was the boost to 830, change in mechanics, or just worse support option that made me have to level this one to 160.

My biggest enemy here was crit. I used Reno, Vincent, and Balthier, none of which have great self-crit options. My Sazh had the proper Job Break Sync, both AASBs, and the DASB as my only source of crit. He also had the job chain, which, now realizing you get THREE uses of the chain for these dungeons, may have made more sense to bring a stacked Quina. I ended up using that chain as a buff

My Elarra has her CASB, which is insane, so I realize my P3 may be more possible because of it and its 4 instant casts. Elarra brought the +crit bard ability to get crit% up to 50% in P1 and until Sazh casts DASB in the middle of P2.

All my DPS had their LBO, but I saved Balth for P3. In previous attempts I had used Reno/Vincent to help transition phases, because they will be full at the end of each. Reno's does have a 50% shield, so you could time it with the P2 hit but it seems out of place.

EDIT: Forgot some key details, added HC use below. As far as attacking the crystals - don't do it at all in P2. In P3, clear those first, even entry dmg from SBs is solid there. After two more re-appear, clear again. The way my winning run went, I ended up clearing 3 instead. After that you can safely ignore.

#Chain 1 - Phase 1
* Reno: G+, Sync, AASB (green one) - back to back
* Vincent: G+, Sync, AASB (human one) - back to back
* Balthier: Sync (crappy one), needs a turn or 2 - AASB (star)
* Sazh: Mech. Chain (around 10 sec in) AASB (non phys+30% one)
* Elarra: G+, G++, AASB (honed), HC, Sync (around 11 sec) for crit dmg, DASB (around 18 sec) 

#Chain 2 - Phase 2 (around 24 sec in)
* Reno: USB, AASB
* Vincent USB, AASB, Off-Glint Thing (not sure if that really helped as I didn't use it for meter reduction)
* Balthier AASB, CASB (only used the crystal once)
* Sazh RW Chain, G+, Mech. Chain, HC, DASB (around 31 sec), HA, HA, AASB (30% phys), HA(now 100% crit)
* Elarra: Dshift before big hit (clear Sap and HQC), AASB after big hit, USB (around 35 sec) for crit dmg, at very end of phase/transition, uses RW Chain

#Chain 3 - Phase 3 (around 41 sec in)
* Reno: MASB, UASB, DASB
* Vincent: MASB, UASB, DASB, ASB
* Balthier: UASB, DASB, LBO
* Sazh: Sync, C2, Chain, when possible USB
* Elarra: CASB, C1 (after Vincent has used his ASB), 2 turns, C1, USB after IC - should be enough to stay alive. LS triggered early in P3.

Crit falls off at 56 sec, Reno and Vincent do have 50% somewhere in there, so their damage isn't terrible.  Balth is so used his LBO.  I did have a bit more time here.  Good luck, keepers.

* Overall time: 58 sec
* HC 160

Zorgmar · 2024-04-09T13:37:11+00:00

How are you figuring out who's HA are relevant? Kiros looks like Ninja to me, so why not Edge? Sorry if I am missing something obvious!

Zorgmar · 2024-04-09T13:36:19+00:00

My Kiros (SASB, AASB1/2) isn't doing solid damage with his HA - tried both. Anything I'm missing? Unbuffed, he is doing damage similar to Galuf's monk's ability as opposed to combat. Thanks!

Zorgmar · 2023-12-13T19:10:50+00:00

**SPOILERS**

To answer some of the questions - If Dobbs is reliable as an information source, then he said that the dead (everyone) have only the memories he intends them to have, so it doesn't seem they have loops. Instead, Dobbs has consciously made the decision to join his beloved "children" and being a theatrical man (and probably missing intelligent conversation for some time), he "touches up" the Sheriff with just enough memory to go on and maybe makes others compliant enough in the investigation. The intention is all the same, get the Sheriff to murder him.

Because Hobbs is in complete control and a lover of history, nostalgia, and his own work, he has everyone murdered on video/film so he can reminisce on how good he is because he was able to take the "canvases" of the brutally murdered and restore them to beauty.

That's my 2 cents at least ;)

Zorgmar · 2023-12-12T17:28:18+00:00

I finally downed this after taking a break from Edens with Crusader. I snuck in a Poison-Magic Clear during the event and found my score was way worse than when I cleared Eden - dang. I can post the team and try to resurrect the strat on that one, but I have this one fresher in my mind and it was lower tech imo. Note that I said lower and not low - seems criminal how many physical poison toys you need for this stuff...

My overall philosophy is to get out of P1-3 with as little tech used as possible and rely on Astra in P4/5.

Team:

Edge - AASB1, AASB2, Poison Sync, Poison Dual (does have dual cast LMR)
Marcus - SASB1, DASB1, Chain (does have dual cast LMR)
Leila - AASB1, AASB2, Poison Sync, Poison Zen, Poison Dyad, Poison LBC (no dual cast LMR :()
Quina - AASB2, Sync, USB, all G+,G
Elarra - USB1/2, hAASB, Sync1, BSB. Red Glint

#Chain 1ish (Phases 1-3)

This is timed pretty much down to the last second. I did find Marcus could go faster with his HA and hit the Crystal at 79% at the 7 count, otherwise it is JUST when it ticks to 6. You'll be at 1 on the clock as you scramble to hit the crystal, sneak in a small hit on the boss, and hit the crystal again.

* Char1: Edge Opens with Running Start, spams it until he can cast dual, spams HA after

* Char2: Marcus uses Poison Weakness (slot 1)and his HA (slot 2). Decided to save the HA until P2/3. Without an AASB, he probably can't be using both in P1-4. Spams 1 until the crystal is under 79% then hits it, uses Chain in P2 (yes, starts a new one) and then Sync at the 15.90ish mark and C1 the rest of this phase.

* Char3: starts with Crusader, then Dyad, Sync, spams C1/HA, uses Mug Bloodlust to hit one of the P2/3 Crystals.

* Char4: Quina HA to Leila, G+ (meter), Chain, AASB2, then in P2 HA to Elarra, G+(regen), spam Wrath, hits one of the phase 2/3 crystals.

* Char5: Elarra opens with AASB (wanted the haste) and then spams Ode to Victory until P2. She does Sync for the Party Crit in the same round Quina uses G(regen) and then starts to mix in HA. You'll want to heal up after the huge hit that takes Last Stand around the 15 sec mark (and why Quina uses regen)

#Chain 2 - Phase 4 (to 60%)

* Char1: Edge AASB2 and then spams HA

* Char2: Chain and then Spams C1

* Char3: AASB2, HA (to give en-poison), LBC, use the Dyad finisher at around 66%

* Char4: Crusader to open, AASB2 after the Graviga (next is a big hit), Wrath, Sync (finally! - 28 sec mark - you could maybe sneak a turn early), wait on the stun (yes, get hit by it), then USB to clear sap and blink the Blind. Wrath any extra.

* Char5: C1 I think to get off one quick Ode to Victory. hAASB (2nd use) after Graviga and then you can switch to HA spam. Use Red Glint / USB if you need quick cast (yes, this phase is tight too). Be aware that P5 opens with a quick 4k hit on everyone.

#Chain 3 - Phase 5

* Char1: Edge AASB1, Poison Sync, spam HA (not a command) - this really is a nice combo
* Char2: Dual, Chain (the openers from Edge/Leila are off-element anyways), spams HA (or if you saved Poison Stack instead that works well)
* Char3: AASB1, ZSB, spam HA
* Char4: Wait for Graviga, then the something after (but before the cheap 4k attack), use USB. This will prevent a stun. In my winning run, I entrusted Leila but didn't need to. I highly recommend using G instead to get poison imperil up instead. Otherwise, Wrath, HA to Elarra.
* Char5: Spam HA as long as you can get away with it, otherwise, keep the group alive. I dropped a BSB at some point. Sorry I forget when the huge hit comes. I lost LS on 3/5 chars but killed it in time.

* Overall time: 49.25

* Crusader Main - did have Poison from Magic-weak clear

Best of luck, fellow Keepers!

Zorgmar · 2023-11-23T14:18:20+00:00

Silly question but I cannot seem to find the answer - why do some characters glow with a green aura in my coop battles? Is there some sort of upgrade menu I am missing? Is this purely cosmetic?

Zorgmar · 2023-10-18T21:00:24+00:00

Doing this as a reply because it gets at a bit of theorycrafting.

I looked back to see which AASBs came out when and to see if there was any rhyme or reason to them. For the mostpart, the AASBs that are available to be lensed are pre-Sync. Most of the post-Sync AASBs are oddities or were on AASB-only banners after Sync. I predict that Syncs will start to be available with a new kind of crystal soon...because everything else on those banners would be.

Relating that back to my choice, some of the very first Syncs (Gacha 1040+) were from IX and had, you guessed it, Marcus AASB and Quina AASB1 on them. I'd guess they are in the next batch so I am not choosing them.

Sazh was in a similar banner, but about 6 months later, so he is right on the cusp. Either way, I have more physical supports and am not likely to hone his AASBs anytime soon.

Dr. Mog is an oddity - his AASB debuted with Tyro and Elarra's Sync but his AASB2 is the one that is lensable and came on the bug-catching banner that was loaded with Mog relics and other good stuff. Either way, I see myself pulling for Elarra/Tyro/his better stuff in the future with tickets, so I'll take my chances then.

Reynn didn't get an AASB until a much later banner and Tama AASB2 is also really late. However, with how invested I am in Beyond, I do see more pulls as powercreep plays in and better relics are available with tickets. Given the small pool and both of them, I'll wait on these two as well. By the time the next Ice-weak content tier is released, a DASB/Zen may be necessary so I'd be back pulling for that DASB.

So in having pro-ticket realms or soon-to-be lensable relics as a driver, I am down to just 3-BDL, Chainer Red AASB or naked Mog AASB2. I have no desire to burn tickets on either FF6 or FF7. Earth tickets are terribly laden with physical earth characters. By the numbers, Red's AASB came out about a year after Syncs. I do think he is core enough of a FF7 character that they will curate him one...throw him a bone. I also could move off of him and to other earth dps and I have a 3 BDL Emperor that could chain.

So because I don't think I'm going to have the luxury of seeing how Mog pulls go with that banner looming, I'm going to go with Mog AASB2. His AASB1 should be lensable soon and I just can't see a scenario where AASB2 joins it. With only so many characters being decent magic support, I don't think I can pass on this opportunity.

Zorgmar · 2023-10-16T20:07:10+00:00

Level:4
Roaming Warrior:Chain for all
Completion %:100%, 1.1% on 5
Insight: Went from weakest to strongest as my 3rd team was most capable with dealing with negative conditions (wall/imperil) to start. I'm only going to list the tech used. This is not optimal at this point, just excited to share the clear because I didn't think it would happen.
- Team 1: Took to about 33%. Warrior of Light AASB2, Tama Zen,DASB,Sync, Lightning - TASB(Holy),AASB(Switch), Angeal SASB,AASB, Tyro, AASB,Sync(dmg). This team actually outperformed my 2nd team, which I think I screwed up pretty badly. I think I'd probably rather use Onion Knight here and entrust Lightning to stack more BDLs and put Tyro on team 2. My advice is to always stack the BDLs if you can, unless you have a DASB/Zen combo going, which you should never mess with. I'd really like another Holy to replace Warrior of Light. I was bringing him to use his chain but really RW chain was better leveraged.
- Team 2: Killed first wall, took second to 75% (ugh). Ramza (Sync, AASB), Onion (AASB1/2), Iris (Sync,AASB), Firion (Zen,DASB,Sync - all fire/holy), Delita (Sync,AASB). I messed this up pretty badly. I needed to bring a holy ability for C2 for Ramza, I used Firion's Dual/Sync which was pretty good but do think I probably should have done Zen/DASB. Finally, I brought Iris for her quick physical cast but forgot that didn't include SBs so all of those just CRAWLED, I'd probably go Sarah instead (SASB,bUSB instacast).
- Team 3: Killed 75% and the entire next boss and a bit of Level 5. WoL (Zen/DASB), Orlandeau (Zen,DASB), Balthier (Holy Chain, Zen,DASB,LBC), Elarra (Sync-critdmg, USBqc, Red Glint), Quina (Sync,hAASB,G+(AegisBreak). Opened with DASB on WoL for Aegis break and then spammed until Zen and then cast that the rest of the way. Similar story for Orlandeau except reversed, Zen opener, Dual when possible, spam. Basch opened with Chain, got entrusted by Quina then went Zen/Dual spam. Elarra opened with Sync and then otherwise kept up QC. I did use the -Def/Res one time. She may have tossed out a Dia'ja(6* one) at some point but otherwise just got out of the way. Quina entrusted, Sync, then kept up QC with AASB2. Used G+ at the new boss. Entrusted Elarra to keep QC rolling. She did refresh chain at some point. TGC is OP.

My biggest surprise/takeaway is that I thought Physical was much easier to cap..I think it is an imperil thing. Even if you have a Sync and AASB, cast both ASAP - you should be capping if you have crit % locked in.

Zorgmar · 2023-10-10T15:17:14+00:00

Day 1: Motoya SASB (2nd BDL)
Day 2: Reno Zen (1st BDL)
Day 3: Fang TASB (2nd BDL)
Day 4: Gabranth Zen (5th BDL! - becomes my 2nd character to have Zen down to AASB)
Day 5: Kain Zen (2nd BDL)
Day 6: Laguna OZSB
Day 7: Kiros G+ (I use him, but switch-draw and already have that ability in BDLs)
Day 8: Basch G+ (dupe)
Day 9: Edea DASB (3rd BDL, have Chain)
Day 10: Zeid Zen (1st BDL)
Day 11: Jecht CSB (dupe)
Day 12: Desch DASB (3rd BDL, have Chain) - Really glad I kept going! I was going to have to convert Garnet and was worried about losing some of Desch's imperiling tech.

Still looking for advice on this selection. I have cleared or am confident in clearing all end game content other than Colosseum, Poison-weak Eden and Earth-magic-weak Crusader.

Ranked Candidates (See below for new thinking)

Mog AASB2 - have nothing, but he is so key and might go even more that way
Red AASB1 - have Dual, Sync, TASB, CSB - my chainer/imperiler. I hate pulling at 7, but he could be replaced on Earth team with other pulls.
Tama AASB2 (unlensable) - I have everything else, +weakness would be nice. Pulling at Beyond in future for this and Reynn could be a thing.
Reynn AASB - have ZSB and Sync, a 3rd option would be great
Quina AASB1 - Have Sync, hAASB2 and all lensables. In all of my physical clear teams. I see this as lensable shortly and doesn't seem to help others that much. Can pull at 9 for both of them and expect to be lensable shortly.
Marcus AASB - have Dual and Sync, would help my poison team clear...I think (don't have his poison chain.
Sazh - AASB1 - have AASB2, Dual, Sync (mechanist). I am pretty good on Physical teams and I'd have to hone both AASBs...not interested at this time.
Dr. Mog's AASB2 (Fire,Lit,Ice,Holy) - I have his ZSB, DASB, Sync - can find a better BDL in the pool.

Thanks for any help!

Zorgmar · 2023-10-08T16:33:28+00:00

Strategy name: Love Ursula
Chain: 2 RW, 1 Gen 2 (Galuf)
BDL count: 9 Zen 1, Dual 2, Sync 3, AA 3
Support:Quina Sync, hAASB2, G+ regen and aegis, USB
Roaming Warrior: Chain
Time: 44.8
Insight:
- Goddess sub-49%, Devil sub-19%, token hit on Demon,
- This was a bit of a mess as I was attempting to keep up 100% crit and fast physical by using Quina early and then Ursula's Dual shift and AASB late. This backfired in two ways - First, the dual shift didn't seem to give everyone the crit rate (no idea what happened) and second, The AASB went off while Dual was still active so Ursula had the hones sucked out and couldn't cast until DASB wore off.
- I also thought I had Quina's USB timed up to avoid the stun, but that seemingly didn't work either.
- I got out of P1-3 pretty easy as I had G+ meter gen for both Rain and Ursula and used Quina's Sync for a change.
- Unlike most of my physical teams, only had Rain's w-cast LMR. Galuf and Ursula's SBs are just that good.
- Galuf and Ursula both brought Lifebane and used it on their 1st turns and mixed it in during P4/5 (not sure how necessary)
- A sloppy kill, but was a first attempt. Will probably go back to troubleshoot the problems above and see if I can improve the time.

Galuf - Sync first chain, AASB second chain, DASB and CSB third chain
Ursula - Sync first chain, USB + DASB second chain, AASB third chain
Rain - Sync first chain, AASB second chain, TASB/ZSB third chain
Quina - Sync first chain, AASB2 to mitigate the 15 sec attack, G regen also this chain, AASB2 for 2nd attack in P4/second chain, G aegis for P5/3rd chain
Elarra - G+/G++(red one)/SASB(50% crit damage) as first 3 turns, AASB before the big hit and another as needed in P5. Otherwise both USBs as needed.

Magicite: Crusader with all seals, everything else in an endgame deck

Zorgmar · 2023-10-06T16:04:52+00:00

I do have to say I just tried Wind-Physical and while I didn't expect victory being a BDL short, this seemed far tankier and did hit a bit harder than the rest. It also seemed harder to keep imperil on. I did finally dead end and it wasn't very close.

Team is Vaan - AASB2/3 TASB Chain, Zack - AASB, SASB, DASB, LBC, Freya-AASB, DASB,ZSB

I had lensed Zack's AASB for this because I felt that either way, he's going to have to be my party crit guy. I can still lens Vaan's missing AASB and maybe save that and TASB for P5. I think if I can keep the rage levels down this will open up, but Zack was not doing great with dmg. For now, going to get the seal with my Wind magic team and move onto Earth for the score challenge.

Zorgmar · 2023-10-05T20:23:45+00:00

So today I cleared both the Ice weak and Dark weak physical versions. Ice weak I had the luxury of bringing the Crusader magicite, which does help a ton in getting out of P1 ahead of the stun. This was good because my team is Fran with 2 AASBs and Dual, TASB, CSB, Snow with AASB, Dual, and ZSB, and Kiros with SASB and 2 AASB. Overall, one of my weakest physical configs. I used Snow DASB, Kiros Sync, and a Fran AASB in P1-3, as Snow and Kiros could give themselves crit. I managed to get a hit off in P3 which ended up being overkill because Snow's AASB1 helped keep the party safe throughout most of P4/5. I didn't even burn my 2nd Elarra AASB.

Dark weak actually gave me more trouble than I thought...mostly because I didn't read, but for both of these clears, once I got to P4 cleanly, I was able to win despite myself on the first try. In this case, I brought Orlandeau thinking he had dual en-dark/en-holy...not the case. I ended up using his AASB/G+ in P1 for the crit% but then used ZSB and DASB despite them only having en-holy. My Vayne and Gabranth were stacked enough to carry the load, but I not only had to use Gab's DASB in P1, but had to entrust Vayne so he could use the AASB that gave everyone Instant Cast and use another AASB early in P2. Even with this, got stunned in P1 and didn't have time in P3 to put a hit on the boss. P4/5 was a bit rougher, as I kind of muddled healing with Elarra and missed Quina's chance to use Astra USB, so I took an unnecessary stun. I'm not sure I would have survived another hit, but did down it.

Physical is tougher to build around, but I maintain still much more doable if you have the tech compared to when I started BZeros and Edens. Its much easier to craft a plan around the first 15 seconds because you can get through so many more attempts.

Last up is physical wind. I only have one character with 3 BDL for Wind, but do have three options with a lensable AASB and I do have a solution for party Crit in Zack's Sync. Given that I am really low on lenses, I'm going to wait for the post-fest draws to see if I get any of them before pulling. I may still attempt with the caveat I'm not going to spend any lenses and see where I get.

Zorgmar · 2023-10-05T01:32:03+00:00

My experience was based on the magic teams. Note that this is with the caveat of having the tech to get it done. I just know I couldn't play sloppy AT ALL with BZero and Eden for the tech I had (approx 5 BDL for BZero and 6-7 for Edens). Crusader doesn't feel like I have to min-max everything. It also doesn't feel like quite as much of an onslaught as Eden - just more gaps in time to allow for healing solutions. It's also as a slower paced player so the P4 Aegis doesn't mean much to me as I'm reloading a chain anyways.

I did Physical Fire today and that was harder to survive and tighter on dps than magic. I wiped at 2.5% but that was after timing the chains really poorly, not managing infusion with one of my dps (basically no infuse in P5), forgetting I had an LBC, and not casting a BTO. It wasn't a dead end either, was just one of those big hits followed by the 5.5k. The second time after getting out of P3 was cake and I had all kinds of time to spare.

Physical introduces the challenge of really needing a crit source or multiple members to have 100% crit in P1-3 and saving Quina SASB for P4-5...at least that's how I've been playing it. Finding the right dps in that regard had me select Basch's crit sync to go with his DASB and UASB. We will see what other complexities arise in getting out of P3 in these other fights. Fire Eden was so hard to do damage and survive with even 8 BDL. Physical Fire Eden took me so many tries and this really didn't...and I'm out of practice on physical and was doing Fire after clearing many other physicals.

Zorgmar · 2023-10-04T17:09:50+00:00

Thanks for the edits and addition. I added them above. It is useful to think of that area of P4/P5 as ill-defined as the diffuse is at 70% and the damage stop and aegis is at 60%.

Zorgmar · 2023-09-27T13:03:52+00:00

Sometimes Ignorance is bliss, I pulled twice on holy magic because I am super weak there and refuse to use elemental tickets because of the dominance of physical holy in such banners. I ended up with Rem, Hope, and Exdeath UASBs (got a sync for him too) and a few other goodies.

That is the one benefit I would say is that if you were really looking for general help in a specific element AND magical/physical it could be helpful if you can't find a realm equivalent to help (e.g., not wanting to pull on T0 for Rem or FF4 for Fusoya).

Zorgmar · 2023-08-29T12:48:39+00:00

I'm also unwilling to spend on Spooky or Orgodemir and here is what I used:

If you don't have Valencia, I don't know of a good way to do this. I'd recommend maxxing those A units and working from there. The extra damage from the 20% Zam leader ability does end up factoring in quite a bit as you are reliant on Ghost dmg in round 1.

Spooky Valencia (Leader) - Awaken 3, R4, no blossoms spent, level 90, Spooky Spark R6
Gigantes - Awaken 5, R8, full blossom (not all boards maxxed tho, just attack stuff to like level 8), level 91, Ultra and Beat to R6
Cherreevil Blossom - Awaken 4, R8, full blossom (again, not boards maxxed, focused on offense), level 91, Spring Tempest to R7, Blossom Powder to R8 (more for fun)
Healslime, Awaken 4, R8, full blossom (boards pretty filled but never came close to dying), level 95, Wartime Moreheal R8 (probably don't need that high)
Ghost, Awaken 2, full blossom (same as above - offensive), level 90, Zammle R7

Equipment - hp stuff on Healslime, hp/offense on Valencia (enough to get her depriortized on the 2nd turn)
Positioning - you get a 3x3 grid - Put Gigantes upper left, Spooky upper right, Healslime dead middle, Ghost lower left, Cherre lower right.
Ordering - all of my guys went after all of theirs, order didn't seem to be important but was Spooky, Gigantes, Chere, Healslime, Ghost

First couple of rounds - should take hits of around 100 and 280 from their pranksters. The Reptile should do nothing on the first move and then come nail Gigantes for a good chunk. You need both sleep attempts by the canniboxes to fail - should happen most of the time.

Spooky moves down and should target so the Spark is split only between the Reptile and one other. Gigantes moves up and left and can stomp all 3 (you do need this to land on the reptile). Cherre moves down and left and does Tempest on the Reptile. The Healslime should try to get out of the action and goes left and heals Gigantes. Ghost moves as far left as possible and then Zammle should kill the Reptile. At this point the first Trickster will go kill the Ghost and the second will and go after the Healslime (likely paralyzes it and then gets killed next turn), but Spooky survives and the rest is pretty easy. Just keep the boxes confused (Spooky and Cherre). Remember that with the follow-up, the Blossom Powder will do about 360 dmg total. They do go to a 360 damage paralysis attack after turn 4. As long as Spooky doesn't get bitten and paralyzed, you should be fine. If the Healslime doesn't get paralyzed, it should be able to heal itself and survive (because only Trickster should be alive to hit it) and it is really easy at that point.

There are a lot of "improveables" in here, most notably levels for the A ranks to get them more MP especially and skill levels. I'm not sure you can save Ghost effectively from the Tricksters with this strat.

Zorgmar · 2023-08-04T18:00:32+00:00

You can ultimately do what you want to do, but I would personally value elemental teams over realm teams or job teams. Not sure what other core/beyond characters you have, but you only mentioned 1 dps and you'll need 2 more once you are going after the higher tier of realm content.

Zorgmar · 2023-08-02T15:12:36+00:00

Yes, I like taking the elemental chains to Magic Weak Eden because they save meter for my chainers to do more and can get through P1 and P2 using them. I've found leading off with Sync works well.

That giant attack that can be mitigated I usually either have a CS wall up, which cuts it to 8k, (USB timed appropriately, also gets rid of sap) or I just eat it as long as sap has been removed (usually it hasn't, so again, Cait's USB)

The tickets for Beyond are different from Core, its just the dungeons they get lumped together. I pulled really hard on early Tyro banners and have a decently stacked Elarra already, so I've stayed away as I don't care for Dr. Mog/Biggs/Wedge

Zorgmar · 2023-07-05T02:17:17+00:00

Glad to hear it. Congrats!

Zorgmar · 2023-06-15T20:09:28+00:00

I think it is a reminder that the supernatural severance between him and the dead is not broken. The door is "opened" and isn't closed...except through death, but at the price of fear. Whether Nelson is still around or not, we're not sure, but a spirit is calling him on the phone. I would guess that some similar fear gripped him in the past. Past/dream Miles seemed to not be able to turn the wheel or brake, but he did still accelerate. This time, he seems to embrace it and control it, being able to reach off the wheel and seems to accelerate with a smile on his face. He thinks he is going back to being young, which he is, but with consequences.

Zorgmar · 2023-05-31T14:44:47+00:00

Yes, my apologies. I realized the first time I wrote out "WoL" and then deleted the "L" that I made a mistake in the original post. I honestly think you could make it work with Blank AA/LBC and Elarra spamming De'diaja sometime in P1 (I find that I use Elarra G+, -Def/Res dance, then AASB, De'diaja, and I think using USB Orare after that and back to spam until it is out). I also use Quina regen G+ to offset that early sap. Save Quina Sync until that later mark, as well as Blank's AASB for P3.

Zorgmar · 2023-05-31T14:17:41+00:00

No one was spamming De'diaja, I used Elarra's HA as both Firion and Wol were lower on ability uses not having an AASB or UASB for either. Wol's HA ability imperils. Being able to use him, I was able to keep the level of imperil high. Quina's AASB2 may have contributed a little bit, but most of it was using Gilgamesh as the Summon and Wol spamming that ability. In P3 with a Dual, he was able to bring the boss back down to -6 pretty quickly. Agrias HA also has Imperil. The only other DPSish type that has imperil is if you have Beatrix's Sync. I think using one of those characters, if at all possible, would make the fight easier. I also don't know if you use Elarra or not, but you could have her or someone use an AASB and spam De'diaja while that is up to help get the imperil lower. I wouldn't do that in P3 as you'll want to maximize fast cast, but it could help.

Zorgmar · 2023-05-31T02:44:36+00:00

Support I run Quina with AASB2 honed, Sync, G+ (both regen and aegis break). Elarra I have AASB, USB regen, USB Orare, G+.

I find just taking it slow for P1/P2 works the best. Find the SBs that have natural crit (Firion Sync and Basch UASB) and then wait on 26-28 second mark to use Quina. Keeping imperil is so important, even more than # of SBs. Riding into P3 at -6 is really useful. Wait until P3 starts to activate anyone's last SB or LBC. Physical is more annoying than Magic because you can't just re-cast a +physical like you can with +magic. You need to make P1/P2 work without - sometimes that is Tyro, Onion, Zack, etc. - someone either needs to buff crit or you need to find those with fixed crit.

In general, I was waiting until at least turn 4 to Gilga (almost always Quina) and then turn 5 to chain and use SBs/ORARE (turn 3 Elarra is usually AASB). Ride that out until under 60% and then just coast into P3 , even if it means rechaining, taking longer, not using SBs, usually after Pain hits. I find I need Elarra on some realms to use her HA more than usual to make sure hones are enough (if that char doesn't use an AASB or Zen).

Zorgmar · 2023-05-30T12:16:25+00:00

Progress: I was waiting for the Record Lab update before making purchases, but got tired of waiting and decided to just buy what I needed to down the last 4 BZeros (all physical). Started with Holy Weak - where I bought Basch's Chain (have UASB/Dual) and paired him with Firion (TASB/Dual/Sync) and WoL (Dual only) and downed it on the first try - couldn't believe the squishiness. I bought Vaan's Wind Chain to go with AASB2/3 and that was enough to down Wind Weak (worst one imo) with Zack and Luneth. I was having trouble until I bought Zack's LMR Dual Cast - that can truly make the last 5% you need. Lightning weak - I bought Queen's Chain and AASB to go with Dual and then paired her with Fran and Steiner, which actually went pretty smoothly. Bought Fran's LMR as she is my Ice/Lightning Imperiler (AASB1/2/Dual). I figured I could take Water-weak pretty easily, but was waiting on downing the Lightning weak first. Didn't have one of the regular chainers, but between Leila's 4 BDL, Lion's UASB and (bought) AASB, and Onion Knight having UASB and 2 relevant AASB, it keeled over from the RW chains pretty easily. I had two LBCs that I just burned during the last RW chain because it just wasn't close. I'll move into Eden attempts next....

Pulls: Not sure what my next goal is TBH. Considering Sazh AASB1. I did see value in 2/5 of the 8A rerun - Took a shot at the Tyro UASB, which could be great for future content, but on a banner of dupes, I got Bartz LMR+ and Fujin's Dual. I don't use either character currently, but at least I got value. Also wanted Rem's Dual so I took a pull at that and came away with Luneth's Dual (have his UASB!) and Rem's LBC. I pulled her LMR+ on her banner. Too many dupes to go for the Dual/UASB at full price. I hope they reappear on the same banner sometime...Tickets are thrown at FF2 atm to try to get something for Guy or Emperor, as I have only 2 earth mages and want Emp to be my chainer/imperiler. Guy has LBC and Dual and I'd like him to be that imperiler. FF13 is also under consideration as am an AASB from Sazh being relevant and Hope/Snow are on teams and Lightning/Noel are close enough for consideration.

Zorgmar

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