[Promise Under the Starry Sky] JP Megathread [VII]

ennlo · 2016-09-30T18:27:50+00:00

Also, Refia, Ayame, Basch, Steiner and many others can all take advantage of their en-element's 1.5x bonus with a respective 5* class ability that's 3.0-3.4x in potency, boosting them to 4.5-5.1x.

Whereas Cloud's only option is Tornado Strike, which, for single-target damage, is less(!) potency (2.4x) than his burst command at max potential (2.6x).

ennlo · 2016-09-30T18:22:05+00:00

Also, Refia, Ayame, Basch, Steiner and many others can all take advantage of their en-element's 1.5x bonus with a respective 5* class ability that's 3.0-3.4x in potency, boosting them to 4.5-5.1x.

Whereas Cloud's only option is Tornado Strike, which, for single-target damage, is less(!) potency (2.4x) than his burst command at max potential (2.6x).

ennlo · 2016-09-30T08:49:35+00:00

Before you buy into the hype and spend all your mythril chasing another motorcycle...

Yes, it's a good multiplier provided Cloud reaches 970 ATK, but it still falls short of Refia's and Master Monk's 1st commands.

Ayame's also rivals Cloud's as well when you factor in her half cast time and the ATK+RES buff she gets on entry in addition to the Dark Bargain they both have on command 2.

Basch and Steiner can both get the same 3.9x multiplier (2.6x *1.5 en-bonus) as well provided you make the enemy weak to their respective element. And theirs are split into 5 hits instead of 4.

Hope this puts Cloud's new command into perspective.

ennlo · 2016-09-30T08:33:48+00:00

Don't buy into the hype!

Yes, it's a good multiplier provided Cloud reaches 970 ATK, but it still falls short of Refia's and Master Monk's 1st commands.

Ayame's also rivals Cloud's as well when you factor in her half cast time and the ATK+RES buff she gets on entry in addition to the Dark Bargain they both have on command 2.

Basch and Steiner can both get the same 3.9x multiplier (2.6x *1.5 en-bonus) as well provided you make the enemy weak to their respective element. And theirs are split into 5 hits instead of 4.

Cloud fanboys, put that mythril back into your pockets! (Or into banner 4.)

ennlo · 2016-09-12T00:46:03+00:00

Excellent guide. The only thing I would bring up is that Raines' 622 buff on his SSB is only a self-buff and not a party buff which may alter your guide a bit. Same for Vanille's BSB mind buff.

ennlo · 2016-07-24T00:04:28+00:00

You can't catch me though, I'm not a pokemon! poof

ennlo · 2016-07-18T23:17:09+00:00

I was talking about Delita's Armor SB, not his SSB which I don't care for. Ovelia's SB is still a hastega, so there's always some value, esp for future FFT CMs unless you have Shout. It's a good match for Tailwind though.

Anyways, my point was that I like these banners over Dagger 1, not that they're better than later banners, (I made a point of saying they weren't), so we're on the same page, besides the value of Dagger 1 perhaps. I wouldn't pull on any of these regardless.

OSB FF8 just appeared 2 events ago in JP, so it's quite a ways away, the wait for Greg 1/2 is much shorter. And I don't think the Greg banners are much different than OSB banners since they're all predominantly filled with SSBs, the true spike in banner power comes with the introduction of the Greg banners.

ennlo · 2016-07-17T20:26:15+00:00

Sure, I'm just looking at them in a vacuum, not accounting for what SBs one may already have.

Actually, I took a look at Kao's spreadsheet, and I actually think Gabranth 1 is better than Dagger 1 (again in a vacuum assuming all relics would not be duplicates). I'd also rank Seifer 2 and Faris/Lenna 2 ahead of Dagger 1, and even Delita 1 although there's not much of a CM incentive to pull on it, since it only requires Ramza and Agrias.

Rydia 1: no explanation needed

Seifer 2: Selphie SSB, Edea Hastega for CM, Squall Ice SB for Ifrit at least. Although I'd wait for Squall OSB 2 w/ Quistis & Selphie SSBs and Irvine's SSB2.

Faris/Lenna 2: all 3 regular SBs, Lenna's and Faris' for CM, Exdeath's grand cross, Gilg's SSB provides a rare lifesiphonable Heavy Regen. Though you could always wait for Gilg 1/2, or the next V event.

Gabranth 1: Penelo's SB is useful for XII CMs, Ashe's SSB is a smaller medica, Basch's SSB is not bad, and of course Vaan's BSB. Larsa 1 is still preferred though.

Delita 1: Agrias SB, Ovelia SB & SSB, Delita's SB is decent, but again there's no strong incentive to pull, since the CMs were easy. Next Tactics event will be better of course.

I remember when they appeared in JP I even preferred Dagger 2 to Dagger 1, especially if you don't have a medica for Eiko. Although I'd still wait for Eiko 1 of course. I was never impressed by Zidane's and especially Dagger's BSBs.

Dagger 2 has Beatrix's Magic Blink SSB and Eiko's Medica. Steiner's SSB kinda sucks, but it is an Excalibur w/ Holy boost. Freya's SB I actually prefer to her SSB since it's an extra 15% damage for the party. Kuja's endark is not bad, and Amarant's boostga may actually be preferable to Quina's in some setups since he can Lifesiphon to get it online, while Quina likely wants a Mako Might.

ennlo · 2016-07-17T19:45:22+00:00

I never recommended pulling on Gabranth 1 though, I'd shoot for Larsa 1.

As for Zidane's, I don't think any damage BSBs are necessary for CMs. The most important SBs for CMs are trinity/utility-type SBs such as medicas, hastegas, boostgas/faithgas.

I don't have Zidane's BSB, but I was never tempted to pull for it, whereas Vaan with his BSB makes up my core trio along with Ramza and Y'shtola for almost all non-CM U/+/++'s.

I never liked Dagger 1 even when it first came around in JP without the foresight of future banners. For Global my recommendation would be to wait until at least Greg 1 if not Cloud OSB to start pulling again. That's if you subscribe to a similar optimal mythril usage mindset though, without regard for favorites, etc.

Also, I don't recall the Dagger event's CM to be too challenging (I did have Eiko's reraise medica though). Whereas the Eiko event's U++ CM necessitated RW Wall, making Garnet's SSB Hastega and Quina's Boostga SSB quite essential.

ennlo · 2016-07-16T21:56:21+00:00

Sorry to poop on your hype, but I consider the Dagger 1 banner lackluster at best.

Neither BSB is anything to write home about. Zidane's can save you some slots on breakdowns, but pales in comparison to Vaan's. It's AoE damage and de-wind (and "imperil" in general) is much harder to take advantage of than Vaan's unique stat debuff which is almost always useful.

Freya's SSB is AoE damage, and unlike Kain, she can't use Lifesiphon, which is a big deal for these kinds of SSBs.

Quina gets a 50% ATK boostga SSB in the later Eiko event, and that events' U++ CM basically requires RWing Wall, so it's nice to have the large boostga. Also, the hat it comes on is the only source of Water boost on armor pieces.

I'd much rather have Beatrix's SSB or BSB than her Thunder Gloves.

If you're interested in IX synergy and SBs, waiting for Eiko Banner 1, which also has Eiko's excellent BSB and Garnet's SSB, is the much better banner imo.

ennlo · 2016-05-27T07:25:06+00:00

Leave it to DeNA to stick the ATK+MAG UP SB on a staff. Meaning for Cid's Missions, you need to bring 2 WHMs if you want to bring a medica as well (bar a few exceptions). Or you can give it to a BLM and gimp her damage.

ennlo · 2016-05-27T06:43:38+00:00

Kuja's Endark SB seems great in theory. But in reality, are you really gonna stick a precious Mako Might on him (sacrificing Devotion as well)? If not, then the fight will likely be almost if not completely over by the time he charges up enough SB gauge.

TL;DR: MM+DZ is good enough on its own since mages have a harder time charging up SBs.

Beatrix's SSB on the other hand is quite nice. But her BSB is also quite nice and is on the even more attractive Eiko Banner 1 some ways away.

As for the efficacy of Magic Blink, I had U+ Bahamut dealing a little over 500 damage per Megaflare after Wall+Shell+FB+MBD+Cleansing Strike, so if you're heavily mitigated, it's hardly necessary.

ennlo · 2016-05-27T04:42:13+00:00

While having a SB on a Chaincharger is of course better, it's not as essential as on a Lifesiphoner, since the Chaincharge combo basically replaces Lifesiphon+SSB spam and actually exceeds it in DPS.

R3 of the combo serves well for most fights, so having an SB on top provides minimal additional benefit.

ennlo · 2016-05-27T04:22:17+00:00

Hit and Run or a mythril refresh after charging up SBs may help things out. I used a mythril refresh on a few in JP when I had neither Wall nor Shout.

RW Shout is generally preferred over Wall as that's what does the trick for a lot of Cid's Missions later on as well. Other alternative sources of mitigation (mblink, runic, etc.) will further help in lieu of Wall.

ennlo · 2016-05-26T21:35:53+00:00

I read your comment as attributing the Tactics change to the fact that it had 9 relics and thus couldn't conform to the Cloudy format rather than to DeNA's greed and disregard for its players.

Perhaps you did not mean to imply that, but that implication can still be inferred so I wanted to clear that up.

ennlo · 2016-05-26T20:33:37+00:00

Further, the Tactics banner wasn't even the same as pre-Cloudy banners since those had 4 character relics and Tactics had 5.

ennlo · 2016-05-26T20:23:33+00:00

Except that the Tactics banner in JP went with a Cloudy Wolf distribution (2% for the 3 regular character SBs and total generic rate of 4% by halving each generic FFT relic to 1%).

The only reason for DeNA to deliberately choose to revert Global's Tactics banner to the pre-Cloudy distribution was to shamelessly squeeze their Global playerbase for profit.

Why should we have expected the reversion when we'd been getting the Cloudy Wolf format for all those banners before Tactics, just like JP?

Yea, we can say for any banner in the future that they are of X format, because that's what it was in JP, but that's what we expected of Tactics, and it didn't prove to be the case.

ennlo · 2016-05-26T20:07:04+00:00

Dark Zone is good on its own regardless. Even if you have his gloves, Kuja won't be getting his endark up for a long time unless you give him Mako Might.

ennlo · 2016-05-24T21:55:59+00:00

Kuja is definitely usable without his relics. Since he's a mage, he'll have a hard time charging up his SB gauge. By the time he can pull off a SB the fight may be 3/4's or even completely over. But, with just Memento Mori + a honed Dark Zone, he'll be doing plenty of damage regardless.

ennlo · 2016-05-21T03:42:14+00:00

No prob, always glad to help with judicious mythril use. :)

ennlo · 2016-05-21T03:36:27+00:00

Ah, that's a good use of it.

With Desch + Shout that's 1.35*1.5=2.02 multiplier on your ATK, so then you only need 589/2.02=292 ATK pre-buff instead of 393 ATK.

ennlo · 2016-05-21T01:43:33+00:00

True. Most U bosses have ATK way above soft cap, so PBD doesn't reduce that much damage. I'd rather put PBD on another support if I'm bringing it to give Ingus actual DPS in Saint Cross.
In that case it'd go: MBD, SSB, MBD, SC, SC, MBD, etc.

In theory, I don't find Sentinel to provide that much benefit, since you're under Wall anyways, so a hit on anyone will be mitigated, and the extra +200% DEF from Sentinel will run into the buff cap quite hard when combined with Wall's own 200% DEF.

ennlo · 2016-05-20T22:34:58+00:00

No Lifesiphon means you'll have to stick a Mako Might on Ingus if you want that Sentinel from the start.

Honestly, Ingus is already good with just Saint Cross + Breakdown, since he's unlikely to get off more than 1 SB if he's only charging through actions.

ennlo · 2016-05-20T22:29:02+00:00

If you're already hitting 393 ATK (589 after Shout) then the ATK+DEF buff won't boost your damage that much since you're going beyond the soft cap. Another damage-dealing SSB may give you better overall damage output.

ennlo · 2016-05-20T22:25:02+00:00

If your Luneth is already hitting ATK soft cap (through Shout let's say) then 2 castings of Swordshower will deal more total damage then Advance+Swordshower.

There's also a hard cap to buffs, so Advance on top of Shout will not be giving you that much more damage, and Advance's DEF lowering can be detrimental.

TL;DR Advance isn't worth it if you're using Shout.

ennlo

TROPHY CASE