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[Falk]

Of COURSE, we get to this point, and he double Flare Stars. What are the chances, heh.

Gonna go level Zidane across Orbfest and come back later. If I'm going to do it sooner or later, might as well do it later and have some padding on RNG.

WELL

Being the ass I am, and since it cost 1 stamina, I decided to just grind to 3 SBs (took about 10 minutes and 15 stamina) and let her rip.

2x Black Materia (~30k) and 2x Scoop Art (~15k), followed by some lifesiphon, followed by another salvo of 2x + 2x, and Kuja+ passed away.

Definitely feeling underpowered now hahaha, Cid Missions are going to be tuberculosis fun.

Probably should have just replaced Zidane with like a Knight with reflect and r3 Saint Cross or something. Feels like building gauge for a lackluster 15k pop (I realize he's lv65 and not 80) was kinda counterproductive.

 

[ultra7k]

So bizzare, pulled another 3* this morning from the daily draw.

Went into Kuja thinking I've got this. Pulled Divine Guardian last night for Garnet. Put her in my party thinking it was a heal! Turns out it's a major regen.

Hahah, Kuja goes into trance mode, and I've timed the SSB perfectly. It goes off, and I'm wondering why my guys aren't healed...he then does his AOE burst and wrecks me.

Lol guess I need to bring Lenna for this fight.

 

[HungOverOnATues]

That U+ was rough. Took a few different party setups to finally get the right mix of DPS and mitigation. The first couple of clears I ended up only getting expert from losing a medal to actions and 2 to damage.

Anyone know offhand when we start seeing Cid missions?

 

[hesho]

bah... tried twice and got expert twice on kuja... kinda annoyed now.

edit: bahhhhh i give up, i got expert 4 times now ><

 

[Balphon]

That U+ was rough. Took a few different party setups to finally get the right mix of DPS and mitigation. The first couple of clears I ended up only getting expert from losing a medal to actions and 2 to damage.

Anyone know offhand when we start seeing Cid missions?

Cait Sith's event (the next one) has them, but the actually difficult ones don't start until Braska's event (four events away).

Braska event should have:

Clear Sanubia Sands (90) with Jecht only. (Boss: Cactuar)
Clear Bevelle Palace (99) with Jecht/Auron/Braska only. (Boss: Bahamut)
Clear Inside Sin (140, U+) with FFX characters only including Tidus/Yuna/Auron. (Boss: Braska's Final Aeon)

 

[AdawgDaFAB]

I now have 3 of Garnet's SSB rod and both of Vivi's SB rods. Would a full synergy mage team work for Kuja or does he have completely absurd res that would make that undoable?

I have a bunch of mage unique SBs (most are useless for damage but provide utility):
Kefka - Magic Infusion [Hastega + Faithga]
Kuja - Dread of Death [EnDark]
Strago - Sabre Soul [-DEF/-RES 25s]
Terra - Trance Flood [+MAG]
Krile - Wind Drake's Roar [Interupt]
Hope - Earthquake [-ATK]
Ashe - Heaven's Wrath [Confuse / Sleep]
Golbez - Nightglow [Sap]
Rinoa - Angel Wing Quake [Slow]
Rinoa - Angel Wing Bolt
Vivi - Double Venom
Vivi - Doublecast Meteorite
Reno - Pyramid [Stop / Silence]

 

[Falk]

Feels like the only way right now to do U+s with magic is if they're vulnerable to something and even then you don't hit 9999 (Cagnazzo) unless you bring something like Magic Infusion.

Some (highly anecdotal, handwavy) tips for Kuja - don't aim for 1 action 1 damage medal. Chances are if you're killing him fast enough that you don't lose the second damage medal, you're not going to lose an action medal anyway. In other words, plan to kill him without losing action medals instead. That way 1 or 2 medals lost on damage is irrelevant. (The game won't let you lose 3 damage medals, as a reminder) You can also lose up to 1 person at the end as long as you're sure you didn't lose an Action medal.

That's a -lot- of HP to burn through, but if you can do it within two friend summons (whether it be Hastega or Wall) you're probably fine on the action medals. If you run out and limp to the finish line chances are you've lost an Action medal.

 

[LucaMac]

I now have 3 of Garnet's SSB rod and both of Vivi's SB rods. Would a full synergy mage team work for Kuja or does he have completely absurd res that would make that undoable?

I have a bunch of mage unique SBs (most are useless for damage but provide utility):
Kefka - Magic Infusion [Hastega + Faithga]
Kuja - Dread of Death [EnDark]
Strago - Sabre Soul [-DEF/-RES 25s]
Terra - Trance Flood [+MAG]
Krile - Wind Drake's Roar [Interupt]
Hope - Earthquake [-ATK]
Ashe - Heaven's Wrath [Confuse / Sleep]
Golbez - Nightglow [Sap]
Rinoa - Angel Wing Quake [Slow]
Rinoa - Angel Wing Bolt
Vivi - Double Venom
Vivi - Doublecast Meteorite
Reno - Pyramid [Stop / Silence]

Flare was 9999ing for me with Lulu (focus in use) while drainga was hitting for about 7k with a 3x Wizard rod. If you've a magic boost (which you do), a mage with that is grand. Though I only used the one mage.

Safe to say I slaughtered Kuja. RW Wall + divine guardian + focus + shell + full moderate lightning resist accessories on all and shout with Locke and Agrias life syphoning away. I think I've only really used Ystola and her wall in just the white mage abyss since getting it. RW is much handier for the most part, as anybody can drop it. Having to choose not healing over renewing mitigation is too much stress...I don't think this party will be changed often for a long long time. Zidane only popped in for locke once because he as a mission requirement...until Cid missions of course. Which is why they exist I guess.

 

[Falk]

I think Cid Missions are great because they finally add a dimension to the game that tacking a neverending stream of harder difficulties don't - you need to use certain characters, and you need to only limp over the finish line, medals/mastery be damned.

It's a huge shakeup vs what the comfort zone of teams have become for most people, and really, really makes you think outside the box.

 

[LucaMac]

I think Cid Missions are great because they finally add a dimension to the game that tacking a neverending stream of harder difficulties don't - you need to use certain characters, and you need to only limp over the finish line, medals/mastery be damned.

It's a huge shakeup vs what the comfort zone of teams have become for most people, and really, really makes you think outside the box.

Yea I'm looking forward to them. I've done a few in Japan but not too many as my levels on anyone outside my main crew is shockingly bad. I only started at the Relm event over there. Did the FFVII U++ Diamond weapon mission, but I'd pulled very decent gear while chasing the dragon for Clouds OSB...egged Red XIII, Cid and Aeris from level 1 to 80 and Cloud to 99. Her BSSB is insanely good. Other than that I've only managed when I've had gear for characters and therefore they had levels (or ones that don't require a full team)...over 75% of my Japan characters are level 1, the rest are 65+ and have some sort of soulbreak. In global however my lowest are those stuck at 50...I'm looking forward to getting to use the lot of them...but also to leave my comfort zone.

 

[HungOverOnATues]

Decided to try another team composition on the U+ for fun by putting Yshtola in as a physical support instead of as a mage. Last time I did this was with Vossler since I could throw a Danjuro on her. No good synergy weapon for her this time - just a 4* dagger - but it didn't matter much in the grand scheme of things. This let me use Shout + HotE RW for damage and bring in another WHM with a medica to deal with gravija and the AOE damage. Overall it made the fight incredibly easy.

Original mastery team with Garnet's +RES/Heavy Regen SSB

Yshtola support team with Hand of the Emperor RW

Cait Sith's event (the next one) has them, but the actually difficult ones don't start until Braska's event (four events away).

Cool. Looking forward to it. Luckily I have great FFX synergy so that Braska one might not be too bad.

 

[firehawk12]

Is there a way to do this without magic lure? I'm basically out of greater power orbs.

 

[LucaMac]

Is there a way to do this without magic lure? I'm basically out of greater power orbs.

The way I did it, but it involves stacking certain soul breaks...never even thought of magic lure. Wall + two resistance soul breaks + shell and lightning resist cuts down the damage significantly. Of course that means having at least one resistance SB that's stackable with shell apart from Celes default...though if you have a natural wall you could bring one as a RW assuming your damage output is fairly good. I can put up Lulus focus (if you're using mages) or Garnets Divine Guardian instead of my Shout if you need one...you really need the damage output too though. I managed without the extra reflected damage, but I'd very good synergy.

 

[firehawk12]

The way I did it, but it involves stacking certain soul breaks...never even thought of magic lure. Wall + two resistance soul breaks + shell and lightning resist cuts down the damage significantly. Of course that means having at least one resistance SB that's stackable with shell apart from Celes default...though if you have a natural wall you could bring one as a RW assuming your damage output is fairly good. I can put up Lulus focus (if you're using mages) or Garnets Divine Guardian instead of my Shout if you need one...you really need the damage output too though. I managed without the extra reflected damage, but I'd very good synergy.

Hrm, yeah, my problem is that I would need to bring Shout and I don't really have any +res SBs on hand to use on my team.

Maybe I'll just give this one a pass.

 

[Falk]

FWIW

SBs:

Seph - Black Materia (SSB, about 30k a pop)
Zidane - Scoop Art (SB, about 15k a pop)
Red XIII - nada
Tyro - SG
Yuna - HotF

Unabashedly spent 15 stamina filling out 3 SB gauges then wailed on him.

As mentioned earlier, Zidane could probably have been swapped out with Knight with Knight kronk RM and r3 Saint Cross and probably would have output just as much damage.

 

[Balphon]

Is there a way to do this without magic lure? I'm basically out of greater power orbs.

I tried magic lure but he doesn't really hit himself hard enough to make it worth the effort in light of all the AoE he uses.

 

[firehawk12]

FWIW

SBs:

Seph - Black Materia (SSB, about 30k a pop)
Zidane - Scoop Art (SB, about 15k a pop)
Red XIII - nada
Tyro - SG
Yuna - HotF

Unabashedly spent 15 stamina filling out 3 SB gauges then wailed on him.

As mentioned earlier, Zidane could probably have been swapped out with Knight with Knight kronk RM and r3 Saint Cross and probably would have output just as much damage.

I'm going blind, what's on the second slot of Zidane and Tyro?

I tried magic lure but he doesn't really hit himself hard enough to make it worth the effort in light of all the AoE he uses.

Ah, RNG gotta RNG?

 

[Balphon]

Ah, RNG gotta RNG?

More like magic lure/reflect isn't a great mitigation tool when 50% of his attacks bypass it, but yeah.

 

[ultra7k]

I'm going blind, what's on the second slot of Zidane and Tyro?

Looks like Brigandine (IX) and Turk Suit ?

 

[WarAdept]

Looks like Brigandine (IX) and Turk Suit ?

Yeah it looks like that to me. Unless Firehawk means the 2nd ability slot, in which it's Thief's Revenge/Protectga.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, that's what I meant. I also need to see if I have those lightning resist accessories. I'm guessing you can't sort those by special abilities?

 

[Falk]

I'm going blind, what's on the second slot of Zidane and Tyro?

Thief Revenge, Protectga

Thief Revenge was interesting in that had I needed to, I could have honed it and given it to Locke or something (since Zidane is 65) to do more damage than Zidane and his B-tier SB, but then again it'd probably have been for this one fight. (Had to decide between Saint Cross and Thief Revenge a while back and went with the former)

It was generally in there as a Drain Strike rather than a damage ability, but hilariously enough ended up doing ~10k per use vs ~15k SB with a longer castbar and requiring you to use ~7k Lifesiphons.

 

[BassForever]

Had to hone up saints cross to r3 and both my life syphons to r4 but it was worth it ultimate Kuja went down.

 

[PixyJunket]

OOOOOOORBS.

 

[c-murph]

OOOOOOORBS.

10 easy Mythril!

 

[PixyJunket]

10 easy Mythril!

They will simply be fueled back into the Orbs, the beast that is Major Wind Orbs will never be sated.

 

[c-murph]

They will simply be fueled back into the Orbs, the beast that is Major Wind Orbs will never be sated.

Gotta save for that BSBfest! I need Tyro's BSSB or SG!

 

[PixyJunket]

Gotta save for that BSBfest! I need Tyro's BSSB or SG!

I was sitting on 420 (heh) before Orbs started, I think I'm good. <3

 

[c-murph]

I was sitting on 420 (heh) before Orbs started, I think I'm good. <3

Nah, man. Think Platinum Sword.

 

[Anustart]

Is it worth it to spend a couple mythril recharging stamina for the orb fest?

 

[SoulUnison]

Is it worth it to spend a couple mythril recharging stamina for the orb fest?

I never feel bad about putting at least the Mythril I get from the event right back into the event.

Don't go crazy, but Major Orbs and great EXP are worth it.

 

[greyshark]

Magic Lure + Reflect was MVP for me getting mastery on Kuja. Basically half his attacks are nullified from doing any kind of damage to you, and the AoE is easily handled by Heavy Regen once you stack all the magic mitigation you can (Wall+Magic BD+FB+Shellga+RES Up SB). Add in the double resistance from Magic Lure and my reflected Knight was essentially invincible.

This setup worked so well I probably could have gotten by with no healing outside of Heavy Regen.

 

[AdawgDaFAB]

After struggling so hard before, I easily Mastered Kuja U+ with a reworked team. I kicked Yuffie to the curb and beefed up my DPS and Mitigation. As a result, I didn't even need to use the Shared Medica I put on Garnet:

SBs: Locke's SSB, Celes's SSB, Fran's Whip Kick, Basch's Shield, Garnet's SSB

I love that these U+ fights only take 1 STA. It's fun to tinker and tinker with teams until finding JUST the right strategy to annihilate them.

 

[Mental Atrophy]

After struggling so hard before, I easily Mastered Kuja U+ with a reworked team. I kicked Yuffie to the curb and beefed up my DPS and Mitigation. As a result, I didn't even need to use the Shared Medica I put on Garnet:

SBs: Locke's SSB, Celes's SSB, Fran's Whip Kick, Basch's Shield, Garnet's SSB

I love that these U+ fights only take 1 STA. It's fun to tinker and tinker with teams until finding JUST the right strategy to annihilate them.

With that gear you should be embarrassed you ever struggled.

 

[AdawgDaFAB]

With that gear you should be embarrassed you ever struggled.

The reason I struggled was because I thought I absolutely needed Medica on my team and Yuffie or Aerith are my only options. Many times I'll find Yuffie doing low damage, but her insta-heals being clutch in my victories; as has also been the case with Dismissal Stun luck.

It was either Shout RW + Fran for 5* Support (died too fast) or Wall RW + Basch for Boostga/DEF (1 Turns, 2 Damage medals lost = Cleared but not mastered,

Spoiler

AND I forgot to bring Mental Break anyways D:

). Once I decided to give Yuffie the boot and reoptimize my abilities, the fight became a breeze.

Now that I have Basch, this Wall RW team may become my new go-to base for end game parties, rather than trying to always Shout RW all the time. Shield SB + Wall RW provide tons of mitigation and a solid damage boost. It may not match Shout, but him spamming Saint's Cross helps make up the difference. I also have solid flexibility for my 2 main damage dealers too: Locke's SSB for pure multiplier, Celes's SSB for Runic + 5* spam, Pecil's SSB + Sentinel for Holy Weakness + Tanking, Agrias's SSB for AoE, Tidus's SSB for Water Weaknesses and Zack's Helicopter Thingy for Interrupt Spam.

 

[Falk]

Now that I have Basch, this Wall RW team may become my new go-to base for end game parties

Until Cid missions

:U

 

[PixyJunket]

Nah, man. Think Platinum Sword.

Cause that worked out so well for everybody the last time.

 

[BassForever]

Cause that worked out so well for everybody the last time.

*cough*

 

[c-murph]

Cause that worked out so well for everybody the last time.

*cough*

What? Didn't everybody end up with three of them? lol

But that's what I mean... The more Mythril to throw at the banner the better. Well, in theory.

 

[Falk]

Well, in theory.

This is the crux of it, really.

One way of looking at it (and this probably makes more sense to the geeky programmer types) is, imagine all your draws ever were governed by a set of random numbers that were already decided, but unknown to you till you pull. In any practical scenario imaginable to an observer, this is perceptibly exactly the same as it being completely randomized as you pull.

Now imagine if you had a string of bad luck coming up. It wouldn't have mattered if you pulled on Banner A or B (assuming same number of items you want), you'd still not have gotten it. In that case, measuring if A or B benefits more and pulling on that, luck be damned, is the best logical choice.

There's obviously a lot more nuance to it than that - should e.g. A have a 1% chance of something you reaaally want vs B with 3% of something that'll benefit you even if it's not unicorn like A, sequential banners where you might have stopped pulling if you got what you wanted, thus affecting how much Mythril you might subsequently have to pull on other stuff, etc. but yeah, that's the gist of it.

In other words, not pulling something just because you might not get it is a fallacy. If it makes the most sense in terms of pure statistics, go for it.

 

[PixyJunket]

I'm starting to wonder if I should go on a refill frenzy this time.

Pros:
EXP, I gots lots of fresh faces that need to hit 80.
Record Materia, see above.
Orbs, always good, Lightning is coming up strong lately and Wind is needed for EVERYTHING.
Mythril, I have enough to waste a lot and still run camp during Burst Celebration.

Cons:
I'm going to get nothing but Major White Orbs, I just know it.

 

[Mental Atrophy]

Since they added greens, 90-stamina dailies, and orb completion rewards, I don't think the current generation of orb rush is worth refreshing for. I still think it's worth doing because it awards a few more of orbs than dailies, with a good chance of Wind, in addition to the experience points... but I wouldn't spend mythril on it.

 

[MrDaravon]

I'm starting to wonder if I should go on a refill frenzy this time.

Pros:
EXP, I gots lots of fresh faces that need to hit 80.
Record Materia, see above.
Orbs, always good, Lightning is coming up strong lately and Wind is needed for EVERYTHING.
Mythril, I have enough to waste a lot and still run camp during Burst Celebration.

Cons:
I'm going to get nothing but Major White Orbs, I just know it.

You talking about the orb rush this weekend? There's a thread on the subreddit doing some of the math for it if that helps at all: https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKeeper/comments/4lfmif/weekend_rush_vs_daily_dungeons_will_update/

I might do a handful of refreshes just to work on leveling but not gonna go in too hard on it or anything, only have something like 62 mythril right now. I'm 3 Elites away from being back to caught up on dungeons, then my next immediate goal is to get my Cores from 50 to 65 (I have a few done) as all my non-cores are already at 65 or higher. My constant fucking at the hands of RNG on banners isn't really compelling me to hoard mythril for orbfest banners next month, I might do some pulls but will probably spend mythril/money more on refreshes for orbs and to focus on getting folks from 65 to 80.

Also need to finish getting all of my RM's, haven't made much progress on that and we keep breaking new MC2's lol. I did all the BS dungeon/target specific ones so at least all I have left is the non-realm specific random drop ones, I think including everyone up through Kuja's MC2 I'm down to only about 10 or so left.

 

[CuthbertAllgoodz]

Since they added greens, 90-stamina dailies, and orb completion rewards, I don't think the current generation of orb rush is worth refreshing for. I still think it's worth doing because it awards a few more of orbs than dailies, with a good chance of Wind, in addition to the experience points... but I wouldn't spend mythril on it.

Not caring too much about exp and not needing gils, the amount of White Orbs I get is making me wish that it was simply Wednesday daily all week-end... I am thankful for the 10 Mythrils but I for sure won't refresh until the next generation of Orb Fest starting with the one that should be coming with BSB Fest.

 

[c-murph]

I'm not wasting my Mythril. I have 132 right meow and hope to get at least 200-250 so I can pull 4-5x on Tyro Weapons. I want SG/PG.

 

[Anustart]

What skills should I be getting/honing with these wind orbs? Right now I have tempo flurry r5 and r3. Launch r3 as basically my only good physical abilities outside some spell blades. Also have a r1 life siphon that is mostly useless as it barely fills gauge and only have 2 uses.

 

[MrDaravon]

Fuuuuuck, I keep forgetting I need to do the Nightmare dungeons, I haven't touched any of them lol. I think orbfest was going during the first one and I've been busy with IRL stuff a lot recently. I'll have to get to that Monday, or at the very least get the three stages done that each reward a blank MC2 lode, I'm still 5 short. Hopefully I can snag those (no idea if I've got gear/setup for these) and I'll only be two short which I should be able to get from events or the next monthly fat chocobo rollover. Excellent. Almost totally caught up with all content/stuff except having everyone at their level cap.

 

[Anustart]

Fuuuuuck, I keep forgetting I need to do the Nightmare dungeons, I haven't touched any of them lol. I think orbfest was going during the first one and I've been busy with IRL stuff a lot recently. I'll have to get to that Monday, or at the very least get the three stages done that each reward a blank MC2 lode, I'm still 5 short. Hopefully I can snag those (no idea if I've got gear/setup for these) and I'll only be two short which I should be able to get from events or the next monthly fat chocobo rollover. Excellent. Almost totally caught up with all content/stuff except having everyone at their level cap.

I was trying dreadnought yesterday, could get damn close on him, but always came up short. Incinerate can eat a dick. He used it 6 times in a row once.

 

[Falk]

What skills should I be getting/honing with these wind orbs? Right now I have tempo flurry r5 and r3. Launch r3 as basically my only good physical abilities outside some spell blades. Also have a r1 life siphon that is mostly useless as it barely fills gauge and only have 2 uses.

Not exactly wind orbs but if you haven't gotten Breaks, you should start with those (and Breakdowns as an eventuality)

edit: As in, Armor Break, Power Break, etc. not the Petrify BM spell

 

[Anustart]

Not exactly wind orbs but if you haven't gotten Breaks, you should start with those (and Breakdowns as an eventuality)

edit: As in, Armor Break, Power Break, etc. not the Petrify BM spell

I do have some, but question, do the effects stack? Can I power break something several times?