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Final Fantasy Brave Exvius |OT2| All your Shadows Belong To Us

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Kouriozan

Member
0,5% chance of Giglamesh is totally worth throwing everything you have for it
/sarcasm
Will wait for a better banner and the JP summon rules before trying to get him.
 
Never chase the rainbow. Minus the Halloween units I have every base 5* in the game except the one I chased....Lightning....Dat Bitch. Pulled all the the others looking for other units.

I learned my lesson after chasing Elza, but that got me CoD and Butz, so it wasn't a wash. Daily pulls only. Unless there's a Black Friday special. Because all bets are off. Because Greg is my favorite.
 

shintoki

sparkle this bitch
0,5% chance of Giglamesh is totally worth throwing everything you have for it
/sarcasm
Will wait for a better banner and the JP summon rules before trying to get him.

You know the chance for a banner Rainbow doesn't change with the summon rule change. It will still be the same .5%.

The only change is that other .5% of rainbows will be the other Base 5.
 

Rootbeer

Banned
after pulling lightning, luneth and dark knight cecil, i'd feel overburdened with luck if i pulled a gilga this banner... still gonna try though!

i'm gonna throw an 11 pull at it and hope for a bartz. if not, it's dailies until the banner ends then do another 11 pull. that's the most i'm willing to do. i think. o_O
 

Kouriozan

Member
You know the chance for a banner Rainbow doesn't change with the summon rule change. It will still be the same .5%.

The only change is that other .5% of rainbows will be the other Base 5.
I know, but at least I won't get a troll 5 stars Duane once we get it.
Getting Ramza as a consolation price would make me feel infinitely better.
 

Pejo

Member
I'll drop 2 10+1's on the ff5 banner and call it a day, Greg or not. I have so much room for improvement with the current TM's I have, it'd be totally sweet to get Greg's, but my party really just needs more TM's done.

I'm hoping I get a Faris just for collector's sake, not that I'll use her much. Are we expecting the "bonus" unit stuff to continue with all of these events now? If so, I guess I have a reason to awaken Galuf and Krile. I'll be farming Sacred Crystals with my TM team all day today.
 

Zalasta

Member
My daily is Kefka. At least it's not a bottom tier 3 star, but I already have 2 >.> Have yet to pull any Dark Destroyer even though all I really could use is Gaff or DKC.

As for next banner, I have 3 Exdeath already (2 maxed and 1 at 3* with LB level 8). Wouldn't mind my first Bartz though!
 

Iceman829

Member
I would guess it's worth doing some daily pulls and using some tickets on the upcoming banner since I don't have Bartz or Exdeath? I have all the other mages right now (Kefka x2, Arc, Tellah, etc)
 
An interesting and amazing breakdown of Bartz and his 6* capabilities. He's one of the few units i don't have. Maybe I'll get him during the banner, surely don't need him at all but he can be turned into a power house.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FFBraveExvius/comments/5e9tit/analysis_of_bartzs_旋風斬_work_in_progress/



This is a work in progress. I'll finish the rest tomorrow. Need to rest! Still to be done: F2P gear/analysis Remove buffs & stat pots to calculations (important!) Make things look prettier

So, I'm sick of seeing people asking the same questions and people answering either in a stupid manner or without really thinking about it. Bartz's 旋風斬 (referred to as Cyclone Slash or CS from here on, but called Wind Shear on Exviuswiki) is a truly misunderstood skill, and I'm going to rant on here until people finally open or blow their minds.

Ask the right questions!

There are a lot of discussion threads about Bartz and CS, but really they boil down to a few questions:

1) What's Bartz's best equipment set if trying to maximise CS?

2) How does Bartz's damage compared to XXXX's superskill?

3) Is CS worth gearing for?

The main problem in trying to answer all these questions is that they're the wrong questions to ask about Bartz. This is because all of these are based on an assumption that there exists some theoretical "generic setup" which will always maximize damage on opponents in a way that can be abstractly compared with others. In a way, this is because we haven't had to deal with Bartz before. When we had Lightning and Luneth, they were both physical attackers. We could just use (ATK)², and assume that the opponent retained the same DEF when we fought them. Or we had to compare Kefka and Exdeath, who were both mages, and therefore we could simplify the calculations to look at (MAG)² and ignore the SPR.

The problem with this is of course Bartz will need both opponent DEF and SPR for calculations, but when you compare against Luneth, for example, there is no basis to assume the opponents' DEF will be the same as SPR. So if we arbitrarily make that assumption in our calculations, we will be wrong as soon as the opponent's DEF is higher than their SPR, or vice versa. Saying Luneth theoretically deals 35% more damage with Cut Through will make no actual difference unless we know that the boss (Antenora, let's say) doesn't have 100 DEF and 2 SPR. If you don't understand why this is, try comparing Cut Through and Thundaga Blade on a Bas Relief.

So, because we need 2 variables instead of 1 to compare Bartz to pure physical or pure magical attackers, it is easy to see that as opponent DEF and SPR change, Bartz' "optimum gear" changes.

Rule no. 1. Bartz's CS doesn't have a single best equipment set.

Now, if I told you at the beginning hybrid skills were best because of their flexibility, you would have nodded and ignored me. But it is true, and Rule no. 1 means we have to rephrase our questions:

1a) What are some of Bartz's best equipment sets if trying to maximise CS for ATK, MAG, or a combination?

2a) How does Bartz's damage compared to XXXX's superskill, if we assume certain values or ratios for DEF and SPR?

Question 3 stays the same, but the answer is now much more complex than first intended.

In an ideal TMR world of raw numbers, 3 "simple" overpriced builds

First, before we delve into the numbers, some important principles:

The hybrid formula uses both (ATK)² / DEF and (MAG)² / SPR in equal measure. This might cause some to think ATK = MAG, but the quadratic components mean that if the total amount of ATK and MAG combined is fixed, the best method is actually to go either all ATK or all MAG.

This means that when we compare equipment and materia, we have to look at the incremental benefit of adding a small ATK to an already massive ATK, or of adding a big MAG for a small decrease to that massive ATK. If an item gives both ATK and MAG in large quantities, great! But Omnirod will probably be meaningless in an ATK build, and Enhancer might be crap for a MAG build.

This is all about trade-offs, and theoretically, if opponent DEF is 30 and SPR is 10, then there exists an "optimum build" for that particular ratio that maximises damage. The build might be similar to one where DEF = 50 and SPR = 5, but will be drastically different from the build for DEF = 5 and SPR = 50. So it's helpful to think of equipping for ATK and MAG as a see-saw...and see what each end looks like, before we look at what lies between.

Full ATK Whale Build:

Base ATK with stat pots: 149

Base MAG with stat pots: 148

Innate passives: (with a sword), 50% ATK/30% MAG

Best Sword: Moonblade, 118 ATK

Best DW: Sakurafubuki 98 ATK when used with Blade Mastery

Armor: Brave Suit, 15% ATK/15% MAG

Headgear: Black Cowl, 28 ATK

Accessories: Celestial Gloves x 2, 60 ATK/60 MAG

Abilities: Power of Creation + Seal of Destruction + Dual Wield + Blade Mastery, 100% ATK/50% MAG

Total Passives: 165% ATK/95% MAG Total Add-ons excluding weapons: 88 ATK/60 MAG

(normal) (squared) (with 40% buff) (squared)
Total ATK with stat pots (listed) 698.85 758.45
(sword hand) 600.85 361,020 660.45 436,194
(other hand) 580.85 337,386 640.45 410,176
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Total MAG with stat pots (listed) 348.6 407.8
(sword hand) 348.6 121,521 407.8 166,300
(other hand) 348.6 121,521 407.8 166,300
2 hits are dealt with weapon ATK/MAG applying to that hit only. This gives a "raw damage" of 3,183,219 over 2 hits. The ATK to MAG ratio is 2.54. This will be important later.

Full MAG Whales Build:

Innate passives: (with a sword), 50% ATK/30% MAG (sword is better because of Letters and Arms, see below)

Best Sword: Enhancer, 82 ATK/23 MAG

Best DW: Omnirod, 20 ATK/91 MAG

Armor: Lordly Robe, 35 MAG

Headgear: Creepy Mask, 30 MAG

Accessories: Celestial Gloves x 2, 60 ATK/60 MAG

Abilities: Letters and Arms x3 (requires sword) + Dual Wield, 150% MAG

Total Passives: 50% ATK/180% MAG Total Add-ons excluding weapons: 60 ATK/125 MAG

(normal) (squared) (with 40% buff) (squared)
Total ATK with stat pots (listed) 413.5 473.1
(sword hand) 393.5 154,842 453.1 205,299
(other hand) 331.5 109,892 391.1 152,959
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Total MAG with stat pots (listed) 588.4 647.6
(sword hand) 497.4 247,406 556.6 309,803
(other hand) 565.4 319,677 624.6 390,125
Final "raw damage" = 2,857,102 over 2 hits. ATK to MAG ratio = 0.51

Let's do one more step and consider what happens if we do a Whalest of Whalest build that looks to maximize both.

Full Hybrid Whale Build

Innate passives: (with a sword), 50% ATK/30% MAG

Best Sword: Moonblade, 118 ATK

Best DW: Deathbringer, 120 ATK

Armor: Brave Suit, 15% ATK/15% MAG

Headgear: Creepy Mask, 30 MAG

Accessories: Celestial Gloves x 2, 60 ATK/60 MAG

Abilities: Power of Creation + Letters and Arms x2 + Dual Wield, 30% ATK/100% MAG

Total Passives: 95% ATK/145% MAG Total Add-ons excluding weapons: 60 ATK/95 MAG

(normal) (squared) (with 40% buff) (squared)
Total ATK with stat pots (listed) 588.55 648.1
(sword hand) 468.55 219539 528.15 278942
(other hand) 470.55 221417 530.15 281059
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Total MAG with stat pots (listed) 588.4 647.6
(sword hand) 457.6 209397 516.8 267082
(other hand) 457.6 209397 516.8 267082
Final "raw damage" = 2,954,245 over 2 hits. ATK to MAG ratio = 1.05

(Swap Deathbringer for Omnirod = 2,971,281 at ratio = 0.73) (Swap 2x Letters and Arms for 2x Seal of Destruction = 2,860,982 at ratio = 1.89)

Whaling Conclusions

ATK Build Hybrid Build MAG Build
"Raw damage" (assumes DEF = SPR = 1) 3183224 2954247 2857106
% of max 100% 92.8% 89.8%
ATK to MAG ratio 2.54 1.05 0.51
% MAG damage 28.2% 48.8% 66.2%
So after all that reading and calculations, we have some useful information at last. Several things worth nothing:

ATK whale build comes up in front damagewise. This isn't a huge surprise given that weapons give a lot more ATK than MAG, and the restriction for Letters and Arms and Bartz's passive buff for him to use at least one sword. Enhancer is nice, but doesn't compare to the TM weapons.

To reach the extra benefit, though, they have to use Moonblade. Hello, Dark element! This could work both ways, allowing chaining with other Dark attackers (like Duane!!!! haha), but also limiting elemental exploitation. If you swap out the Moonblade for an Enhancer, the damage drops by 2.3% (data not shown).

There's less than 10% difference between a full ATK build, and a full MAG build. Or to look at it another way, if for a given boss, DEF turned out to be 10% higher than SPR, the momentum would shift the other way. 10% difference in final output is not very noticeable, particularly since the innate variation in damage calculation is 15%......which leads me to conclude:

Rule no. 2: For whales looking at Cyclone Slash, it doesn't matter whether you build for ATK or for MAG (if you had all the TMRs in the world). So stick to ATK.

Of course, this is because you will use Wind Barrage, but perhaps surprisingly less than you might expect. With the same full ATK build, Wind Barrage comes out at 3,385,481, or just 6.4% higher (data not shown). Not only is this less than normal variation, but if your Wind Barrage even swings 1 hit out onto a trash mob, you've actually done less damage to your target. (Need actual data confirmation, with current gear).

Disclaimer: This is assuming you're under both Cheer and Focus, have maxed both MAG and ATK on Bartz using stat pots, as well as applied the same breaks to both DEF and SPR of the opposing boss. In arena, it's a different story because damage per "attack" is capped.

Now this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, but let me look at a final point:

In contrast to the overall damage, as you'd expect, the ATK to MAG ratio varies greatly between builds, from 2.5 to 0.5. I've translated this into % MAG damage, which tells you how much of the "raw damage" comes from the MAG component. What this actually means is that if you had everything available to you, you could actually switch gear depending on the boss's preference for DEF or SPR, and target the weaker one.
Rule no. 3: For Bartz's Cyclone Slash, flexibility and broad gearing options is the key.

Be prepared to switch gear depending on what you face, if you for some reason really like using Bartz. Or kill everyone with Elza. What do I care?!

Meanwhile, in F2P land....

(Coming Soon!~ because F2P stuff always comes late....)
 

Syntsui

Member
Gumi sent me another email regarding my problem with the tickets, now they asked for some specific information. I hope this gets resolved by the end of the week.

Never got a rainbow in a daily pull, feel like Friday will be the day!
Me too, I'm seeing rainbows in my dreams already.
 

Alkez

Member
You know, as I sit here running my second tm farming session of the day I'm beginning to wonder:

Does it seem weird to anyone else that we spend most of our time on this game letting the game play itself?

I never really thought too much about it before but I feel like I just try to clear things up as soon as possible with as little nrg as possible so that I can set my macro to run lol. It doesn't bother me, it's just a gaming experience I'm not used to. If I could see my total hours on this game I would guesstimate that only about 25% of it was me actually playing.
 
You know, as I sit here running my second tm farming session of the day I'm beginning to wonder:

Does it seem weird to anyone else that we spend most of our time on this game letting the game play itself?

I never really thought too much about it before but I feel like I just try to clear things up as soon as possible with as little nrg as possible so that I can set my macro to run lol. It doesn't bother me, it's just a gaming experience I'm not used to. If I could see my total hours on this game I would guesstimate that only about 25% of it was me actually playing.

Yeah but thats a choice. You could just play it normally and get trust rewards with just earning Moogles
 

Kouriozan

Member
Also, I wasted everything I had for Tilith, god she was hard to pull. (30 tickets and 15,000 Lapis)
Gumi has to give me a rainbow, I deserve it!
 
You know, as I sit here running my second tm farming session of the day I'm beginning to wonder:

Does it seem weird to anyone else that we spend most of our time on this game letting the game play itself?

I never really thought too much about it before but I feel like I just try to clear things up as soon as possible with as little nrg as possible so that I can set my macro to run lol. It doesn't bother me, it's just a gaming experience I'm not used to. If I could see my total hours on this game I would guesstimate that only about 25% of it was me actually playing.

Yeah, I agree with that. On a side note, once I've got my game-changing premium TMs, I think I'm going to try a bit less. It's honestly just that some TMs are so powerful that they're impossible to ignore.

I'm also anxiously awaiting the story update! Call me crazy, but I love the dialogue and think the localization team does a great job.
 

Valentus

Member
Normal Bartz full build.

Base ATK: 123
Passives (50%): 61,5
Brave Suit: 18,45
Black Cowl: 28
Bracers x2: 60
Materias (50%) : 61,5
Blade Mastery: 61,5

Total Base ATK: 414 (rounded)

ATK main hand (Moon Blade) : 532
ATK off hand (sakurafubuki): 512

without killers and buffs and assuming a Bemoldar as enemy (def 160):

Seeker Blade Damage Main Hand: 95521
Seeker Blade Damage Off Hand: 88474

Total damage: 183.995


Now my build of bartz:

Base ATK: 123
Passives (30%): 36,9
Brave Suit: 18,45
Black Cowl: 28
Bracers x2: 60
Materias (50%) : 61,5
Blade Mastery: 61,5

Total Base ATK: 389 (rounded)

ATK main hand (Sakurafubuki) : 487
ATK off hand (Kaiser Knuckles): 490

Seeker Blade Damage Main Hand: 80045
Seeker Blade Damage Off Hand (elemental weakness of skill is active) : 97240

Total damage: 177.285

Damage is almost the same, but i like forsee the future, so lets change the bracers for 2 Champion belts (+30 ATK/DEF, +20% ATK/DEF if knuckle equip)

Total base ATK: 438

ATK main hand (Sakurafubuki) : 536
ATK off hand (Kaiser Knuckles): 539

Seeker Blade Damage Main Hand: 96962
Seeker Blade Damage Off Hand (elemental weakness of skill is active) : 117661

Total damage: 214623

So when good ol snow comes to global, under normal circumstances, Bartz equipment will be better with kaiser knuckles than moon blade.
 

Whizkid7

Member
An interesting and amazing breakdown of Bartz and his 6* capabilities. He's one of the few units i don't have. Maybe I'll get him during the banner, surely don't need him at all but he can be turned into a power house.

https://www.reddit.com/r/FFBraveExvius/comments/5e9tit/analysis_of_bartzs_旋風斬_work_in_progress/



This is a work in progress. I'll finish the rest tomorrow. Need to rest! Still to be done: F2P gear/analysis Remove buffs & stat pots to calculations (important!) Make things look prettier

So, I'm sick of seeing people asking the same questions and people answering either in a stupid manner or without really thinking about it. Bartz's 旋風斬 (referred to as Cyclone Slash or CS from here on, but called Wind Shear on Exviuswiki) is a truly misunderstood skill, and I'm going to rant on here until people finally open or blow their minds.

Ask the right questions!

There are a lot of discussion threads about Bartz and CS, but really they boil down to a few questions:

1) What's Bartz's best equipment set if trying to maximise CS?

2) How does Bartz's damage compared to XXXX's superskill?

3) Is CS worth gearing for?

The main problem in trying to answer all these questions is that they're the wrong questions to ask about Bartz. This is because all of these are based on an assumption that there exists some theoretical "generic setup" which will always maximize damage on opponents in a way that can be abstractly compared with others. In a way, this is because we haven't had to deal with Bartz before. When we had Lightning and Luneth, they were both physical attackers. We could just use (ATK)², and assume that the opponent retained the same DEF when we fought them. Or we had to compare Kefka and Exdeath, who were both mages, and therefore we could simplify the calculations to look at (MAG)² and ignore the SPR.

The problem with this is of course Bartz will need both opponent DEF and SPR for calculations, but when you compare against Luneth, for example, there is no basis to assume the opponents' DEF will be the same as SPR. So if we arbitrarily make that assumption in our calculations, we will be wrong as soon as the opponent's DEF is higher than their SPR, or vice versa. Saying Luneth theoretically deals 35% more damage with Cut Through will make no actual difference unless we know that the boss (Antenora, let's say) doesn't have 100 DEF and 2 SPR. If you don't understand why this is, try comparing Cut Through and Thundaga Blade on a Bas Relief.

So, because we need 2 variables instead of 1 to compare Bartz to pure physical or pure magical attackers, it is easy to see that as opponent DEF and SPR change, Bartz' "optimum gear" changes.

Rule no. 1. Bartz's CS doesn't have a single best equipment set.

Now, if I told you at the beginning hybrid skills were best because of their flexibility, you would have nodded and ignored me. But it is true, and Rule no. 1 means we have to rephrase our questions:

1a) What are some of Bartz's best equipment sets if trying to maximise CS for ATK, MAG, or a combination?

2a) How does Bartz's damage compared to XXXX's superskill, if we assume certain values or ratios for DEF and SPR?

Question 3 stays the same, but the answer is now much more complex than first intended.

In an ideal TMR world of raw numbers, 3 "simple" overpriced builds

First, before we delve into the numbers, some important principles:

The hybrid formula uses both (ATK)² / DEF and (MAG)² / SPR in equal measure. This might cause some to think ATK = MAG, but the quadratic components mean that if the total amount of ATK and MAG combined is fixed, the best method is actually to go either all ATK or all MAG.

This means that when we compare equipment and materia, we have to look at the incremental benefit of adding a small ATK to an already massive ATK, or of adding a big MAG for a small decrease to that massive ATK. If an item gives both ATK and MAG in large quantities, great! But Omnirod will probably be meaningless in an ATK build, and Enhancer might be crap for a MAG build.

This is all about trade-offs, and theoretically, if opponent DEF is 30 and SPR is 10, then there exists an "optimum build" for that particular ratio that maximises damage. The build might be similar to one where DEF = 50 and SPR = 5, but will be drastically different from the build for DEF = 5 and SPR = 50. So it's helpful to think of equipping for ATK and MAG as a see-saw...and see what each end looks like, before we look at what lies between.

Full ATK Whale Build:

Base ATK with stat pots: 149

Base MAG with stat pots: 148

Innate passives: (with a sword), 50% ATK/30% MAG

Best Sword: Moonblade, 118 ATK

Best DW: Sakurafubuki 98 ATK when used with Blade Mastery

Armor: Brave Suit, 15% ATK/15% MAG

Headgear: Black Cowl, 28 ATK

Accessories: Celestial Gloves x 2, 60 ATK/60 MAG

Abilities: Power of Creation + Seal of Destruction + Dual Wield + Blade Mastery, 100% ATK/50% MAG

Total Passives: 165% ATK/95% MAG Total Add-ons excluding weapons: 88 ATK/60 MAG

(normal) (squared) (with 40% buff) (squared)
Total ATK with stat pots (listed) 698.85 758.45
(sword hand) 600.85 361,020 660.45 436,194
(other hand) 580.85 337,386 640.45 410,176
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Total MAG with stat pots (listed) 348.6 407.8
(sword hand) 348.6 121,521 407.8 166,300
(other hand) 348.6 121,521 407.8 166,300
2 hits are dealt with weapon ATK/MAG applying to that hit only. This gives a "raw damage" of 3,183,219 over 2 hits. The ATK to MAG ratio is 2.54. This will be important later.

Full MAG Whales Build:

Innate passives: (with a sword), 50% ATK/30% MAG (sword is better because of Letters and Arms, see below)

Best Sword: Enhancer, 82 ATK/23 MAG

Best DW: Omnirod, 20 ATK/91 MAG

Armor: Lordly Robe, 35 MAG

Headgear: Creepy Mask, 30 MAG

Accessories: Celestial Gloves x 2, 60 ATK/60 MAG

Abilities: Letters and Arms x3 (requires sword) + Dual Wield, 150% MAG

Total Passives: 50% ATK/180% MAG Total Add-ons excluding weapons: 60 ATK/125 MAG

(normal) (squared) (with 40% buff) (squared)
Total ATK with stat pots (listed) 413.5 473.1
(sword hand) 393.5 154,842 453.1 205,299
(other hand) 331.5 109,892 391.1 152,959
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Total MAG with stat pots (listed) 588.4 647.6
(sword hand) 497.4 247,406 556.6 309,803
(other hand) 565.4 319,677 624.6 390,125
Final "raw damage" = 2,857,102 over 2 hits. ATK to MAG ratio = 0.51

Let's do one more step and consider what happens if we do a Whalest of Whalest build that looks to maximize both.

Full Hybrid Whale Build

Innate passives: (with a sword), 50% ATK/30% MAG

Best Sword: Moonblade, 118 ATK

Best DW: Deathbringer, 120 ATK

Armor: Brave Suit, 15% ATK/15% MAG

Headgear: Creepy Mask, 30 MAG

Accessories: Celestial Gloves x 2, 60 ATK/60 MAG

Abilities: Power of Creation + Letters and Arms x2 + Dual Wield, 30% ATK/100% MAG

Total Passives: 95% ATK/145% MAG Total Add-ons excluding weapons: 60 ATK/95 MAG

(normal) (squared) (with 40% buff) (squared)
Total ATK with stat pots (listed) 588.55 648.1
(sword hand) 468.55 219539 528.15 278942
(other hand) 470.55 221417 530.15 281059
--- --- --- --- --- --- ---
Total MAG with stat pots (listed) 588.4 647.6
(sword hand) 457.6 209397 516.8 267082
(other hand) 457.6 209397 516.8 267082
Final "raw damage" = 2,954,245 over 2 hits. ATK to MAG ratio = 1.05

(Swap Deathbringer for Omnirod = 2,971,281 at ratio = 0.73) (Swap 2x Letters and Arms for 2x Seal of Destruction = 2,860,982 at ratio = 1.89)

Whaling Conclusions

ATK Build Hybrid Build MAG Build
"Raw damage" (assumes DEF = SPR = 1) 3183224 2954247 2857106
% of max 100% 92.8% 89.8%
ATK to MAG ratio 2.54 1.05 0.51
% MAG damage 28.2% 48.8% 66.2%
So after all that reading and calculations, we have some useful information at last. Several things worth nothing:

ATK whale build comes up in front damagewise. This isn't a huge surprise given that weapons give a lot more ATK than MAG, and the restriction for Letters and Arms and Bartz's passive buff for him to use at least one sword. Enhancer is nice, but doesn't compare to the TM weapons.

To reach the extra benefit, though, they have to use Moonblade. Hello, Dark element! This could work both ways, allowing chaining with other Dark attackers (like Duane!!!! haha), but also limiting elemental exploitation. If you swap out the Moonblade for an Enhancer, the damage drops by 2.3% (data not shown).

There's less than 10% difference between a full ATK build, and a full MAG build. Or to look at it another way, if for a given boss, DEF turned out to be 10% higher than SPR, the momentum would shift the other way. 10% difference in final output is not very noticeable, particularly since the innate variation in damage calculation is 15%......which leads me to conclude:

Rule no. 2: For whales looking at Cyclone Slash, it doesn't matter whether you build for ATK or for MAG (if you had all the TMRs in the world). So stick to ATK.

Of course, this is because you will use Wind Barrage, but perhaps surprisingly less than you might expect. With the same full ATK build, Wind Barrage comes out at 3,385,481, or just 6.4% higher (data not shown). Not only is this less than normal variation, but if your Wind Barrage even swings 1 hit out onto a trash mob, you've actually done less damage to your target. (Need actual data confirmation, with current gear).

Disclaimer: This is assuming you're under both Cheer and Focus, have maxed both MAG and ATK on Bartz using stat pots, as well as applied the same breaks to both DEF and SPR of the opposing boss. In arena, it's a different story because damage per "attack" is capped.

Now this obviously doesn't apply to everyone, but let me look at a final point:

In contrast to the overall damage, as you'd expect, the ATK to MAG ratio varies greatly between builds, from 2.5 to 0.5. I've translated this into % MAG damage, which tells you how much of the "raw damage" comes from the MAG component. What this actually means is that if you had everything available to you, you could actually switch gear depending on the boss's preference for DEF or SPR, and target the weaker one.
Rule no. 3: For Bartz's Cyclone Slash, flexibility and broad gearing options is the key.

Be prepared to switch gear depending on what you face, if you for some reason really like using Bartz. Or kill everyone with Elza. What do I care?!

Meanwhile, in F2P land....

(Coming Soon!~ because F2P stuff always comes late....)

With Bartz being the first character I pulled in game and my strongest for the longest time, this write up makes me very excited to use him again. Currently trying to grind out Dual Wield for him & get Dualcast for Refia. Man I need more equipment...
 
They'll probably do a black friday where all summons are 50% off, rather than making all lapis 2 for 1. That way they force you to spend it now, so you're still empty the next time an event comes around :)
 
I wish Nox worked on iPhone. like an app from app store. I dont have a jailbroken iphone.

so I will hold on in maxing Bartz. maybe I get one when he arrives again. Is Gilgamesh the one you want or?
 

Lyrian

Member
Reddit seems to be buzzing at the moment that they got Gumi to formally acknowledge macroing as a valid in-game activity (shocking news).

As so long as the macro just taps buttons and doesn't inject anything into the game, they are cool with it. The only disclaimer being that if your macro goes haywire and starts spending lapis, the error belongs to you and not them (so no refunds/resets for haywire macros).

Not surprising, but nice to see a semi-formal statement on the matter finally so the matter can be put to bed once and for all.
 

cw_sasuke

If all DLC came tied to $13 figurines, I'd consider all DLC to be free
Just lost my +75 Arena weekly streak because the game crashed before the Battle.

Cool.
 
Reddit seems to be buzzing at the moment that they got Gumi to formally acknowledge macroing as a valid in-game activity (shocking news).

As so long as the macro just taps buttons and doesn't inject anything into the game, they are cool with it. The only disclaimer being that if your macro goes haywire and starts spending lapis, the error belongs to you and not them (so no refunds/resets for haywire macros).

Not surprising, but nice to see a semi-formal statement on the matter finally so the matter can be put to bed once and for all.

hey Im cool with that

Now fix your app so my emulator stops crashing!
 

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
-- good news they're taking TMR injection seriously. don't say you weren't warned.

-- good news they're probably cool with macro-ing.

-- daily: 5th Luna. Jesus.

-- my plan to max ingus before the end of the maxwell banner hit a small, sacred crystal-sized speedbump. But at least he's 5* now. brb grinding maranda coast all effing day long.

-- not sure what happened over the past day but i am just not going to stress out about missing DPS units on banners. i'll pull my dailies, i'll save lapis when i want, i'll do events as much as possible, i'll have fun being my small dolphinish self. think that's the long-term play here. it just doesn't make sense to stress out about keeping up with people spending a lot of cash on this thing.

-- all that said, my most wanted list: Gilgamesh, Luneth, Lightning, Elza, maybe Delita? Otherwise my stock is really quite good!
 
-- not sure what happened over the past day but i am just not going to stress out about missing DPS units on banners. i'll pull my dailies, i'll save lapis when i want, i'll do events as much as possible, i'll have fun being my small dolphinish self. think that's the long-term play here. it just doesn't make sense to stress out about keeping up with people spending a lot of cash on this thing.

-- all that said, my most wanted list: Gilgamesh, Luneth, Lightning, Elza, maybe Delita? Otherwise my stock is really quite good!

It's funny... I came the exact same conclusion today. I realized that what I was chasing were the people spending lots of money on this game, not the actual units themselves. Because if I'm honest with myself, my current group is damn good, especially with the 6* upgrades coming down the pike. I literally have no glaring holes in my team anymore.

So why should I go crazy with the pulls? I'll let those that are willing to spend the money on the game get them and hope they're on my friend list. Just do the dailies and see if I get lucky. I need to get back to the place of no stress with this game and just have fun with it.

I think the Maxwell event is what helped me turn the corner. The fact that I could beat her without TMs and no "whale" level units really drove home to me that I'm not lacking because I don't have Luneth or Lightning.

Of course... all of this being said... I still would really like one of them there rainbow level units. :)
 

PantherLotus

Professional Schmuck
It's funny... I came the exact same conclusion today. I realized that what I was chasing were the people spending lots of money on this game, not the actual units themselves. Because if I'm honest with myself, my current group is damn good, especially with the 6* upgrades coming down the pike. I literally have no glaring holes in my team anymore.

So why should I go crazy with the pulls? I'll let those that are willing to spend the money on the game get them and hope they're on my friend list. Just do the dailies and see if I get lucky. I need to get back to the place of no stress with this game and just have fun with it.

I think the Maxwell event is what helped me turn the corner. The fact that I could beat her without TMs and no "whale" level units really drove home to me that I'm not lacking because I don't have Luneth or Lightning.

Of course... all of this being said... I still would really like one of them there rainbow level units. :)

ok well i'm still working on the bolded but LOL we are exactly on the same page. just gimme that sweet sweet rainbow crystal action.
 
Since the Event isnt a Mog King one with Unit Bonuses I might not even bother raising my Bartz and Exdeath for now

To much shit in my backlog already
 
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