So basically to get a character rdy for tough content:
- Level to 80, unlock all attributes (the ones that use the crystals)
- Gear with R4 armor and accessory (I think you can only get OS and ranking ones right now, but they rotate, and matching elements gives a stat buff and enhances the effect. Gear with R4 farmed weapon / R3-4 gatcha weapon. Farmed R4 weapon is worse than R3 usually, unless they are tailored for a specific char, still the newer ones are pretty good and beat R3 sometimes.
- Upgrade the skill slots. The medallions you can farm them in events (Griffin drops void, crab drops earth and water), or exchange for them with stardust. Rainbow essence are rare, you get a few from completing certain missions and from the exchange shop. Priorities are the ATK up (since they don't take essence) and combo window (since keeping combo boosts damage by a ton). That said, farming medallions takes a ton of time, so the effects (besides combo window) are fairly minor, so no rush unless you really need the edge for ranking.
Ignoring whales with their Lvl 100s and R5 weapons, gearing can only get you so far. Many people hit a wall here. Once you get past the not dying stage in a mission (self healing and shield units help a lot in that), you can try to better your time. Tips here:
- Team Comp: Tailor your team based on who you are fighting. Many bosses have elemental / weapon weaknesses which boost your damage 1.5x - 2x, so a 3 min fight becomes a 1.5 min one. They also have resistances which halve damage. This is why people get irritated when people bring wind chars to the crab fight, since he is fire element half the time.
- Combo: Every 10 hits you/ your team does increases damage by 5% to a max of 100% damage at 200 hits. Combo is dropped by someone taking damage (including blocking!), or when no one hits an enemy for about 1.5s after the last hit (combo window gives you more time to get a hit in). Exceptions to this are shield units who don't lose combo when hit, and when you are doing an SS3 (you don't drop combo when hit in the middle of the animation). This is why the 'default' multiplayer behavior used to be spam SS3, switch when out of MP and hope the boss dies before that. Combo is usually the difference between a fast run and a slow run (assuming there are no leechers who are undergeared), so you want to keep hitting the boss and avoid all its attacks.
- Boss knowledge: Can't keep your combo if you don't know when to dodge and when its safe to get hits in. Parrying the attacks can be parried means your team doesn't get hit, and the attack that follows the parry (usually an SS3) is a guaranteed crit (for 1.5x damage). Also, many of the newer bosses take minimal damage except after a parry. Consistency is king though, learn to recognise the timing for one parry and get that down 100% before moving to the next one.
I recommend practicing on Solo EX Storm Griffin. Most of his attacks have big windups so you can tell when they are coming. Don't bring an AI follower, so hes more predictable and try to get <50s. Plus you always need more void medallions. Aim to consistently parry the charge, the dive attack, and the stomp that generates a whirlwind. The peck comes out fast so its harder to parry consistently.
Tower wise, its a somewhat a reversal of the previous tips. The monsters hit hard, and timing is less of a concern (S rank is a few minutes). Your priority is to avoid damage. And you must also ration out your characters and even use the lousier ones to progress. That usually means one 4* per stage when starting out, paired with a healer if the 4* can't heal. When I was starting out in the very first tower, free OS Yuna cleared 2 stages with the farmed Yuna sword together with a 3* healer. She's really good against slimes btw. Other tips, learn to parry the regular mobs, especially the lizards. Hitting the golems from the back is safe and a good way to regen MP. Unless your MP is full, don't use SS3 for damage, use it to heal, that means autoing after a parry is a good idea if you need to build up MP
If you can give a list of units, we can try to give a team comp for the stages.
