3/11, 1 dupe (because no Ultra or Overstrike is 6*, ergo no disco balls)

  • Leo's Shock! For one, I already have a pretty decent Imperil Holy on Edward, and this is SSB level, so meh. On the other hand....it's Leo's OG move, brah! Mad respect for the man.
  • Edward's Lamia Har...yep, that's the dupe. I mean, I can look at it the positive way: it's another instrument, and Edward's Burst has proven surprisingly good (it's the reason the Spoony Bard is on the Soulcage MC pair, alongside Quina; that, and stacking debuffs). But, one harp is enough - I could always go for others.
  • Laguna's Fomalhaut! That makes Team Lightning viable - Ashe and Desch with En-Lightning, Laguna with the Imperil, and Rapha as (admittedly good) filler. It also pairs well with Tempest Snipe.


Overall, the winner here is Laguna's gun, because it enables Team Lightning. Leo is mostly a fun weapon to have, and Edward's dupe harp seems kinda...eh, but having Imperils for at least six teams now makes it pretty nice. There's overlaps in a few (Edward and Leo offer Imperil Holy, Kuja and Seymour offer Imperil Dark), but overall there's pretty much one for each. Only missing Imperil Ice (which is absurdly rare) and Imperil Earth (ditto)

RE: Edward's Burst - it's enough to make me change my mind about the Spoony Bard. It starts with Shout-level Boostga, and given that you'll have a Hastega around, it means Ramza can stay at home (at least until his absurd BSB2...), then pair it with Imperil Holy, then adds two commands that provide stacking debuffs. Sure, one of them is the very common ATK/MAG, but the other is a Wallbreaker, which is less common. The Sap thing isn't that bad on big battles, because you're expected to heal a bit more: Sap is more dangerous when there's an overlap between ticks, but Ultimates and Apocalypse battles tend to be more generous with that. It does make a number on Regen, though, which is a shame. Edward's stats are troublesome, yeah, but he can dip in White Magic (3* only, but that's enough for Curaga and Dispel), so he's flexible in terms of skills and it evens out (plus, he's one of the few official Bards in game, and the poster-boy for such). What really kills him is his armor selection, as he can only wear Robes, which don't offer a lot in Defense in the first place, and his weapon selection doesn't help his Attack, which he has very little of. That said, his Burst is pretty self-contained, and superb on a Physical party. Also, it pairs well with certain Bursts (Orlandeau, because Steely Swordplay is ATK/DEF so it offers a stacking debuff; Raines, because his Burst Command 1 is Holy elemental and enables Instant Cast; Firion, because Burst Command 2 enables Instant Cast and is Holy damage, plus is a natural complement and enabler to Agrias' and Beatrix's bursts) on a character who can offer the essentials in the first place (Protectga, Shellga, major Regen, Dispel, debuffs) so it'll have something to do. Do something about that survival issue, and he does surprisingly well.