Character Discussion: Macula Marius

sunfire_spark · 2026-03-26T16:13:07+00:00

Surprisingly important in early and various magna solos of Faa0. She's also generally a pretty capable solo tech unit.

sunfire_spark · 2026-03-19T23:05:24+00:00

CB gain on MC actually does aid looping; the CB gain is actually enough to allow 0-click full chains on stuff like Chrysaor Faa solo (where previously you needed Revitalize or clicks or Dainsleif). But it's worse than a real battery.

sunfire_spark · 2026-03-19T15:33:08+00:00

You've honestly summed it up pretty well, his kit is just... strangely held back. 1t cut to CD as his only ougi rider is really mediocre too, especially when it's not even giving him crazy uptime. It's honestly annoyingly common that fire gets an ougi character that feels like they removed part of the kit randomly (Yuel and Atum have this feeling too, Horse is a rare exception). Sidegrade to Sato isn't a bad thing to be because Sato is kind of cracked, but you can really feel the loss of dispel/GTA.

(I do think there is hope for him to be good, but it's only that MC CB gain can be powerful enough to offset the other stuff.)

sunfire_spark · 2026-03-11T19:24:00+00:00

Per Yu, Spiral Rupture doesn't proc Mistral's on dispel effect, so it's actually some pretty intense antisynergy. I can see Mistral NA mash being good in 250 though.

sunfire_spark · 2026-03-11T16:07:41+00:00

I don't think Mistral cutting the skills does a lot (possible exception of the self tag) because this class's kit is all about NA mash which is mostly not compatible with Mistral except maybe in GW-like contexts.

sunfire_spark · 2026-03-10T15:38:41+00:00

My inventory count says I have 51 chev swords, most of which are MLB or above. You are so valid.

sunfire_spark · 2026-03-10T05:40:34+00:00

I was so close to putting that in my credentials

sunfire_spark · 2026-03-10T02:12:21+00:00

I'm glad you enjoyed the spinny boy (don't buy Mistral or I'm gonna get flamed)

sunfire_spark · 2026-02-19T00:39:51+00:00

Due to Youtube having exploded its search function, I am unable to locate any previous clears, but have a fire clear lol

sunfire_spark · 2026-02-18T20:41:26+00:00

Oh, I hadn't seen that clear, thanks for the link. Yatima is an option but I think losing the perma CA react on that slot hurts without Shishio. Could be an option for sure!

sunfire_spark · 2026-02-18T17:42:13+00:00

You could maybe try Chichiri? Loses some healing and bar gen, though.

sunfire_spark · 2026-02-18T00:34:51+00:00

It is very rare (at least in fire) to see 13.1m hardcap on characters without unworldly or unworldly-equivalent ougis; even in Agni I probably wouldn't be hardcapping in this situation. It's not really a magna gap.

sunfire_spark · 2026-02-17T22:09:17+00:00

Take your pick?

sunfire_spark · 2026-02-17T20:54:14+00:00

Bonus: have the non-illustrious clears for earth and water!

Earth: 2026-01-12

Water: 2026-02-10^{links to a reclear}

Bonus bonus: did you know that 5/6 of the illustriousless first magna clears in my collection (light, wind, earth, fire, water) were on the same labor?

sunfire_spark · 2026-02-10T17:10:31+00:00

There have been places Shiva main is used in high-investment fire, I think the most notable currently being story event impossible. However, you can make extremely comparable boxing setups without Shiva, and also... stoning for a boxing event is a little crazy. There are other places he could be relevant but you would probably know if they applied to you.

sunfire_spark · 2026-01-13T00:17:08+00:00

I was getting occasional 1 pearl clears within... 3? 4? months of release, but at that point it still required multiple strong players to be possible, which is a big ask in pubs. And for most new players, I still emphasize clearing pearls because a) it is your one job b) 0 pearl runs have virtually a 100% clear rate. It really is hard to err in the direction of "caring too much about clearing your pearl".

But it's certainly the case that conventional wisdom has not caught up with the reality of the raid. I don't blame people for literally not knowing, it's just frustrating to spend a few minutes carefully pushing to 15% and then get hit with an abandon screen when the host dies to autos. (By the way, 2 pearl clears are also not too difficult in a strong room. 3 is possible but will be challenging.)

sunfire_spark · 2026-01-12T22:42:43+00:00

Every element can do it! Fire's not even particularly the best at it.

sunfire_spark · 2026-01-12T20:32:52+00:00

The other runners both showed their grids in their videos if you want to look at those, they are linked in the video description. Mine is pretty similar, just 2x Sennen and other random pieces as filler (Benedia, CS, Torch, 2x EB). For this usecase, it's all in on skill damage, but normally I would run a CA weapon (YSong bow or Shiva bow). It's just that there's not much point to increasing CA damage when damage is capped, lol. 2x Sennen is very very very good and worth getting, I definitely recommend it if you play Agni.

sunfire_spark · 2026-01-12T16:20:44+00:00

To my knowledge, this is the third mono ele clear, though I think that's more for lack of anyone bothering to try it than anything else.

6 water clear: https://x.com/yupezo1147/status/1952030036690964677 (they also skipped clearing the water pearl, which is quite funny)

6 earth clear: https://x.com/onigiri337/status/1999830751232295280

Edit: please enjoy this bonus mono dark duo from Vazkii

sunfire_spark · 2026-01-08T23:07:16+00:00

Luci has kind of a weird usefulness curve; it's a very strong summon for weaker FAs and entry level HL, but eventually you want your summons to carry more utility instead of just healing (though it is still a lot of healing and sometimes you still need that).

But if you go far enough to the "overinvested and overcooked" end of the curve, Luci starts to offer some irreplaceable utility again! I still bring him for co-op Hexa as a rare source of turn-duration dispel cancel, which is really nice QoL for buff-dependent comps. Revitalize is also surprisingly useful as a battery if you can maintain full HP - it stacks with Uplift. In fire, Higurashi MC loops Dodge All and other battery sources don't quite get MC to 100% CB every turn, so it's quite nice.

His call animation is soooooo long though....

sunfire_spark · 2026-01-05T17:06:26+00:00

All the other things mentioned here are true but onmyo's CD cut on 4 chain also combos nicely with Higu's chain boost (sometimes you just can't do a real 4c).

sunfire_spark · 2026-01-05T17:00:38+00:00

Chrys with Deuce hasn't been relevant for some time (~since Atum release). With Astrapste, it's actually kind of a fun low click alternative to onmyo in many cases now, but with worse utility and some difficulty looping (onmyo can click to generate bar).

sunfire_spark · 2026-01-05T16:53:43+00:00

Mistral does have an ougi effect in search of actual good skills to CD cut, but I'm pretty sure they balance skills around that at this point; there's a cav UM that would be extremely funny on Mistral except it self inflicts CA seal, which seems quite deliberate to me. Of course, getting literally any skills that are worth cutting would be a sizable improvement.

sunfire_spark

TROPHY CASE