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[GDJustin]

Yeah - I have 0 MAX characters, actually. It just seems very XP/$$$ inefficient. I get everyone to 55-65, which is enough to clear fornights.

My plan has been to finally work on getting a few key characters (Arlong) to MAX after getting a basic stable of all five colors to 50-70. But I keep pulling more key Gacha characters I have to level and evolve, so I actually never get to focus on one character and dump all my turtles into them.

Maybe part of the problem is that the great characters I pull from the Gacha are almost always 4*. By my count, I got 4* versions of Apoo, Kidd, Basil, Jozu, Vista, Izo, and Urogue. That's a LOT of extra EXP needed to evolve that I could have skipped if I nabbed 5* versions instead. Especially when you add them to the Fortnight & raid characters that need evolving.

 

[Cloggerdude]

I hope I can take him down in two turns so that his special won't be a problem.

Oh, I think you can, but it sounds like you're going to use Paulie to lock in the orbs first. Not sure how much damage you'll be throwing down, but you may want to check to make sure you don't do more than 60% on the initial burst.

 

[ZekeThePlumber]

Finally got my second skill up for Paulie. My Law team should be ready now (CD is 18 rounds for Law and Paulie and 16 for Apoo).

How exactly did you get your Apoo skill down from 20?

 

[Kumo]

How exactly did you get your Apoo skill down from 20?

Apoofest most likely. Mine's at 19.

 

[pelicansurf]

Yeah - I have 0 MAX characters, actually. It just seems very XP/$$$ inefficient. I get everyone to 55-65, which is enough to clear fornights.

My plan has been to finally work on getting a few key characters (Arlong) to MAX after getting a basic stable of all five colors to 50-70. But I keep pulling more key Gacha characters I have to level and evolve, so I actually never get to focus on one character and dump all my turtles into them.

Maybe part of the problem is that the great characters I pull from the Gacha are almost always 4*. By my count, I got 4* versions of Apoo, Kidd, Basil, Jozu, Vista, Izo, and Urogue. That's a LOT of extra EXP needed to evolve that I could have skipped if I nabbed 5* versions instead. Especially when you add them to the Fortnight & raid characters that need evolving.

This was my mentality too, before 40+ stamina raids. Now getting to MAX is the only way to farm those Raid Bosses.

 

[Cloggerdude]

http://optc-strategy.blogspot.com/p/lucci-fortnight.html

Here's the first draft of my strategy blog. Still need to finish teams, but that's going to take a little more work.

Feel free to chime in with any kind of criticism you can think of. This is a very rough draft, so I very much welcome suggestions on possible changes. Writing critiques are welcome as well, as I can tend to be a bit fluffy in my writing style.

The formatting is probably my biggest hang up right now. I want to provide more detail than other sites, but I also don't want it to be too overwhelming. I think that putting pictures in will help to break up the flow a bit, but I'm also considering breaking each section into its own web page. Thoughts?

 

[RedBoot]

So how exactly does Lucci's pre-emp special work? I assumed it was like Kalifa's, and it would just give your whole team weak (red) orbs, but it sounds like the formula's a little different? My team is built around the red to green flip, so hopefully it'll still work.

 

[Cloggerdude]

So how exactly does Lucci's pre-emp special work? I assumed it was like Kalifa's, and it would just give your whole team weak (red) orbs, but it sounds like the formula's a little different? My team is built around the red to green flip, so hopefully it'll still work.

It's definitely not like Kalifa's special, where it turns all orbs to weakness, except for Meat/Tandem. This one appears to be a bit different. I found one video that gave me this pattern:

Green >> Red
Purple >> Red
Meat >> Blue
Tandem >> Blue

That being said, I could only find the one video, so I'm missing some of the orb colors and I also can't say for sure that the changes for some of them aren't random.

Edit: I'm getting some confirmation now that it will change all orbs randomly to either QCK, STR, or Meat.

 

[RedBoot]

Edit: I'm getting some confirmation now that it will change all orbs randomly to either QCK, STR, or Meat.

Bleh, I don't like random. Random is bad.

I was going to run:

Mihawk (captain)
Asura Zoro (friend captain)
Asura Zoro
Onigumo
Paulie
Green Pirates Armed Fighter (has the red to green flip, Zeff would also work here)

Mihawk and Onigumo's skills are at 21 turns, so I'd basically have to stall 21 turns on the way to Lucci (should be easy). Their skills put Lucci around 600k. Green Pirate flips the orbs, Paulie locks them, then I have two turns to burst Lucci down. That team should be able to do 380k with matching orbs, so it'd be easy to pull off.

I think it'll still work (I'd have neutral damage at worst), but I'm a bit worried about the variance.

 

[Hana-Bi]

Apoofest most likely. Mine's at 19.

Yeah, got like 5 Apoos and 4 of them gave me an skill up.

Oh, I think you can, but it sounds like you're going to use Paulie to lock in the orbs first. Not sure how much damage you'll be throwing down, but you may want to check to make sure you don't do more than 60% on the initial burst.

Don't we have two turns till Lucci first attack or will Lucci immediately attack when his health is below 40%?

 

[pelicansurf]

http://optc-strategy.blogspot.com/p/lucci-fortnight.html

Here's the first draft of my strategy blog. Still need to finish teams, but that's going to take a little more work.

Feel free to chime in with any kind of criticism you can think of. This is a very rough draft, so I very much welcome suggestions on possible changes. Writing critiques are welcome as well, as I can tend to be a bit fluffy in my writing style.

The formatting is probably my biggest hang up right now. I want to provide more detail than other sites, but I also don't want it to be too overwhelming. I think that putting pictures in will help to break up the flow a bit, but I'm also considering breaking each section into its own web page. Thoughts?

Say nothing special one more time. One more freaking time...

Good strat, but use some different word variety!

Also, my team tonight:

I also have level 60 Smoker (1st evolve, not bike), Kalifa, Paulie, Lion Song Zoro, Zeff, and a few others.

 

[Hana-Bi]

Hmm, with 900k health I think I've got a problem with my team... With perfects and a max Merry and a level 60 Law friend I'm only doing 390k damage. Strat would be to use Law, Apoo and Paulie special at turn 2 take a normal hit and finish him off in turn 3... But if I miss one perfect this probably won't work...

 

[Cloggerdude]

Say nothing special one more time. One more freaking time...

Good strat, but use some different word variety!

Haha, I'll do some rewrites. I felt like I was probably repeating myself a bit.


You could say my writing style is.... Nothing special.

Edit: I see what you're talking about now. I just copy and pasted those, haha. I'll give them a bit of variety.

 

[Majukun]

so when exactly is the maintenance stating?

 

[ZekeThePlumber]

I'm kinda conflicted on what team I should use for Lucci. Since I don't have a Law I wonder if Friend Captain Law/Asura Zoro Captain is viable, which would allow me to run this team:

I'm partial to this one since I'll still have the orb changing and locking AND I'll have a slot to use my Biker Smoker who hits pretty damn hard.

My other option would be this:

I'd lose Biker Smoker in favor of a ton of health while still keeping an orb changing and locking combo. Damage wise, Kalifa/Izo is inferior to Apuu/Law but this would be my only option if 5x damage isn't enough for Lucci.

 

[pebs1]

I'm kinda conflicted on what team I should use for Lucci. Since I don't have a Law I wonder if Friend Captain Law/Asura Zoro Captain is viable, which would allow me to run this team:



I'm partial to this one since I'll still have the orb changing and locking AND I'll have a slot to use my Biker Smoker who hits pretty damn hard.

My other option would be this:



I'd lose Biker Smoker in favor of a ton of health while still keeping an orb changing and locking combo. Damage wise, Kalifa/Izo is inferior to Apuu/Law but this would be my only option if 5x damage isn't enough for Lucci.

I'd probably go the first one since Smoker gives you a damage reducer to make up for the lost health.

 

[Hana-Bi]

I hate that I couldn't do one Mihawk run last week. Without a (nearly) max skilled Mihawk things will be a lot harder...

 

[Qmzn]

You could say my writing style is.... Nothing special.

Ha. Still, it gets the job done. Solid, informative guide. Nice to see something that comes from game knowledge, not just a copy-paste run from Gamewith, run through a translator.

Can't say I 100% agree with the assessments on fodder special manuals, though. I keep Gin around, because like Alvida and Hachi, Gin's one of the few with a 1/2 damage Captain skill, and as far as I know, the only one in the QCK category. There's not currently a boss to leverage that against, though, unless you want to to do Expert Kuro with Vivi. Gin's also one of the few units involved in a 3-man damage Tandem--you know, that mechanic the devs all but abandoned? Still, all this does make him unique, and missions have been known to leverage unique characters in weird ways.

Chopper, on the other hand, is outclassed by a bunch of other units, even in pure PSY teams (Gaimon and Dory). I can't see an angle where those manuals aren't pure fodder.

 

[Cloggerdude]

Ha. Still, it gets the job done. Solid, informative guide. Nice to see something that comes from game knowledge, not just a copy-paste run from Gamewith, run through a translator.

Can't say I 100% agree with the assessments on fodder special manuals, though. I keep Gin around, because like Alvida and Hachi, Gin's one of the few with a 1/2 damage Captain skill, and as far as I know, the only one in the QCK category. There's not currently a boss to leverage that against, though, unless you want to to do Expert Kuro with Vivi. Gin's also one of the few units involved in a 3-man damage Tandem--you know, that mechanic the devs all but abandoned? Still, all this does make him unique, and missions have been known to leverage unique characters in weird ways.

Chopper, on the other hand, is outclassed by a bunch of other units, even in pure PSY teams (Gaimon and Dory). I can't see an angle where those manuals aren't pure fodder.

Meh, I'm going to disagree with you on the whole Gin thing. He's not trash level, but he's pretty dang close. Even assuming that you could make some kind of argument for keeping him around, his special is pretty horrible anyway, so the skill ups aren't really going to matter that much.

You've convinced me to change the Chopper book to fodder though. Dory is vastly superior and Gaimon is probably a better pick overall too (and readily available). I was pretty on the fence about it anyway.

 

[Cloggerdude]

Don't we have two turns till Lucci first attack or will Lucci immediately attack when his health is below 40%?

You're right. I'm dumb.

 

[Qmzn]

Meh, I'm going to disagree with you on the whole Gin thing. He's not trash level, but he's pretty dang close.

I agree that he's close to trash level, actually. I wish that Bamco would give some of these early units new life as niche captains, but after reading about the 4.0 update and the ability slots, pure endurance/defense crews seem to be going the way of the dinosaur.

I suppose I was hoping to somehow do an endurance kill on Enel, with Gin + LS Zoro captain, plus Smoker, GP Chopper, Mihawk, and Marco, but that seems like way more trouble than it's worth.

It really stings to not have Marco going into the Lucci fortnight. More manuals to keep around for gacha-only characters I may never get.

 

[pelicansurf]

In what scenario would you ever want to use Gin? Besides than in a scenario in which you own no other units.

 

[ZekeThePlumber]

In what scenario would you ever want to use Gin? Besides than in a scenario in which you own no other units.

I imagine once Baratie gets missions he'll probably be used for one of them. And maybe you have a striker team and are desperate for a QCK striker.

 

[RedBoot]

In what scenario would you ever want to use Gin? Besides than in a scenario in which you own no other units.

Ha, his evolved form was my third or so pull when I started the game, so I used him a bit early on since his stats were decent.

I understand the idea behind keeping him around. He does have a unique ability that could be useful, if the game ever presented such a scenario. It's just unlikely that something like that will ever come up (and it gets less likely as we go on). I'll keep him in my inventory just in case, but then I'm still holding onto people like Butchie and Siam so I'm just a hoarder.

 

[Qmzn]

A lot of the early-game units seem a reflection of devs feeling out the design. The units with weak damage specials are fairly functional in the early fortnights, especially when used to reduce the number of minions on a boss stage. Now, with the way boss characters are designed, if a special doesn't buy time, manipulate orbs, or multiply damage, it's usually pointless. Even big nukes like Killer's rarely see action, but if it also changed his orb to match, I imagine he'd show up in most QCK teams.

I think the efficacy of Blackbeard's special is a good indicator of how inflated the damage and HP totals have become. I wonder if slotting the "sometimes survive with 1 HP" ability into a Blackbeard crew will be a good way to clear otherwise inaccessible Master-level content? Then again, there's already other units that already allow you to ignore a single hit, guaranteed.

Not sure whether this secondary ability system will be a good thing, or just another excuse for a difficulty bump and a new arms race. I find it interesting how G3 Luffy has only 2 ability slots. There seems to be some thought going into this whole deal.

The design of the ability book is sweet, though. I want a book like that on my shelf.

 

[RedBoot]

A lot of the early-game units seem a reflection of devs feeling out the design. The units with weak damage specials are fairly functional in the early fortnights, especially when used to reduce the number of minions on a boss stage. Now, with the way boss characters are designed, if a special doesn't buy time, manipulate orbs, or multiply damage, it's usually pointless. Even big nukes like Killer's rarely see action, but if it also changed his orb to match, I imagine he'd show up in most QCK teams.

I think the efficacy of Blackbeard's special is a good indicator of how inflated the damage and HP totals have become. I wonder if slotting the "sometimes survive with 1 HP" ability into a Blackbeard crew will be a good way to clear otherwise inaccessible Master-level content? Then again, there's already other units that already allow you to ignore a single hit, guaranteed.

Not sure whether this secondary ability system will be a good thing, or just another excuse for a difficulty bump and a new arms race. I find it interesting how G3 Luffy has only 2 ability slots. There seems to be some thought going into this whole deal.

The design of the ability book is sweet, though. I want a book like that on my shelf.

My favorite early game specials are the ones on Higumo and the mountain bandits. Standard 10x or so nukes…except they have cool downs of 40 turns. It's basically saying, yeah, you'll never use this.

As for the new ability system, I think the worst part about the discrepancy between Japan and Global is that we won't get to be on the front lines of exploring the new system. A lot of the tech and strategies will be figured out long before we get the content. Discovering new tricks is a lot of the fun in this game. (I'm actually kind of glad the blog's coverage for Kalifa, Lucci, and the next few fortnights is so bad, it gives us a chance to figure things out)

 

[chrono01]

We had better get that Member Box increase. Don't let me down, NBE!

 

[Tidd]

We had better get that Member Box increase. Don't let me down, NBE!

 

[chrono01]

I should expect despair.

 

[fivepersondude]

I should expect despair.

Ultimate Despair!

Also, haven't checked out the gaffers blog yet; but regardless thanks! The lack of info I find and the reposting of months old global strays on the other is annoying. I will be checking yours out. (Tomorrow, most likely!)


Edit:
Checked out the post, it is very informative. One thing that I would like is recommended teams. I know at the moment it would be tough, but GAF sources team will come shortly after.

 

[Wazzy]

I had a great TT on Monday where I believe I got 12 elders on my second run(I missed my first run at work) which got my Garp to 80 and my Rayleigh to 40. Elders were all used on Garp.

I seriously hope for a box increase but also they really need to have more TT throughout the week.

 

[AdawgDaFAB]

I should expect despair.

Wawawawawa! You must never give into disbear. Hope is the key!

Spoiler

RABU-RAAAAAAAABU!~

 

[Kumo]

Just a reminder to get your 5 snails in for the day once the maintenance ends before it resets at 4 AM PST!

 

[Tidd]

Just a reminder to get your 5 snails in for the day once the maintenance ends before it resets at 4 AM PST!

+ use all your stamina before! Because you have a chance of refilling it!

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Extended

 

[ZekeThePlumber]

Extended

They thought they could sneak in that extra hour like I wouldn't notice!

 

[Kumo]

+ use all your stamina before! Because you have a chance of refilling it!

Yeah, that too! xD

Extended

Obviously, they need that extra hour to implement the code for more box space!

Spoiler

Lol, who am I kidding? ;_;

 

[william_557]

They thought they could sneak in that extra hour like I wouldn't notice!

yeah normally i wouldn't notice but i wanted to have a go at luccis special island

 

[chrono01]

Extended

Because they're adding that last minute box expansion.

...Right? Right!?

 

[Tidd]

Are you sure you're using PST and not PDT? They didn't change the game to summer time, so we still have 45minutes left till the maintance is over?!

Or should the maintance be done by 23:00PST?

Edit: yep maintance should've be done by 23:00PST >.>

 

[ZekeThePlumber]

Because they're adding that last minute box expansion.

...Right? Right!?

No, they ran out of space for the update so they're removing stuff they could probably use later.

 

[chrono01]

No, they ran out of space for the update so they're removing stuff they could probably use later.

Removing all of our units so we no longer have space issues incoming!

 

[Sn4ke_911]

2.2 is here!

 

[Tidd]

Hahahahahahahahahababa

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Ooooooooooooo Cotton Candy from Coby.

 

[Majukun]

so.. what is the best character to give a boost in atk to?

 

[ZekeThePlumber]

Still no box upgrade. Chrono, I would collect all your salty tears but I have nothing to keep them in.

 

[Sn4ke_911]

30 sta Lucci is easy-peasy.

 

[HawthorneKitty]

Sweet, got the Sea Cat.

 

[Majukun]

30 sta Lucci is easy-peasy.

What team?