Final Fantasy Record Keeper

[Red Fel]

That said - he's pretty surprising for a character without a Memory Crystal just yet. 2nd best Defense, decent Attack (not at the top 10, tho) and on the top 5 in terms of HP, meaning he's a tank first and foremost. Combat 5 and Spellblade 3 means he gets to use the Breakdowns and also most of the Spellblades (barring Flare Strike), and with Swords & Axes (hey, a native Axe user!), he's pretty much set up. The only thing he lacks is a good SB, but Veil of Protection/Annulment and the new ability to equip SBs should do the trick.

Breaks, not Breakdowns. Breaks are Combat, Breakdowns are Support. Sadly, Breaks become less valuable later in the game. Also, I don't think we have any 5-star axes yet, and swords are plentiful enough that it's hardly a problem. But yes, all around, a welcomed addition.

Side note, his SB, combined with an RW Paladin!Cecil's Sentinel, makes for an awesome tank.

On the other hand, Maria is to Black Mages what Lenna is to White Mages - she's another character that can equip Bows, and has WM 3 in addition to full Black Magic. She's no slouch in her Magic stat, either. Almost a viable competitor for that coveted BM spot. Almost.

Ehh... Lenna is a white mage who dabbles in black magic and uses a bow, true. She also has a very solid SB and the highest (pre-break) mind stat in the game. She's awesome and a solid choice for party healer.

Maria is a black mage who dabbles in white magic and uses a bow and, inexplicably, a spear. She has a ranged damage SB, which is okay, I guess? But on a blaster, you really don't care about physical attacks. Not to mention that her magic stat isn't even in the (pre-break) top five. It's pointless to compare her or anyone to an ultra-specialist like Vivi, but she still lags. Heck, she ranks behind Yuna, and Yuna is a healer who summons. She's only a few points ahead of Vanille, who is a healer with BM4 and Support 2. That's really rather disappointing. And let's not forget that while a bow is nice for back-row attacks, it doesn't boost casting stats the way a good staff or rod does.

Really, unless her stats jump with a level break, I'm not feeling it from her.

[Chen]

Out of curiosity, are there any good strategies for taking out Elite Anima. It's kicking my butt.

Note also that anima itself doesn't actually do anything except revive its arms and counter attack. So kill one arm, power and magic break the other and then beat anima to death.

If you use retaliate you need to NOT attack the other arm at all (no breaks) because retaliate always targets the enemy with the lowest % health. However, if you do use retaliate you negate ALL of anima's counter attacks.

[Hunter Noventa]

Note also that anima itself doesn't actually do anything except revive its arms and counter attack. So kill one arm, power and magic break the other and then beat anima to death.

If you use retaliate you need to NOT attack the other arm at all (no breaks) because retaliate always targets the enemy with the lowest % health. However, if you do use retaliate you negate ALL of anima's counter attacks.

That's about what I did for that fight, though I didn't have Retaliate. Didn't realize it would work on the counters or I probably would have brought it.

in other news, vivi hit 51 as I've been moving through the Core dungeons, and he regularly hits max damage against anything vulnerable to what he's casting. having the Relic Weapon probably helps with that too of course.

[SuperPanda]

Got Drk Cecil, need some levels for Pld Cecil.

My Cloud has hit 38 with Rydia and Whm about 4 levels behind and everyone else trailing buy 8 or more levels. I've been doing some lower level Elites so, Classics, Events, and Dailies all kind of as a mess. Listening to Red Fel in thread I've switched to doing stamina farming in classics (slight detour to get Drk Cecil though I haven't leveled him at all yet (Sunday will do xp runs with all my stamina).

My gear has gotten upgraded alot on this event, I'm seeing alot of Max-Level on most of my better things. My IV Lilith Rod + (level 15) has only 4 more Magic than my (name escapes me) Rod XII (level 1) so I still need to level that up for any non IV dungeon. 3 best swords are now Sleep Sword + (IV) max level. Falchion VI max level and Enhancer + (4 star Level 11). Have a couple max level 4 star armors (Crystal Helmet III and Hypno Crown V) and some level 13 4 star bangles (VII and XIII respectfully).

Abilities are getting better: Curaga R1. Cura R2. Ensuna R1. Dia R3. Thundaga R2. Bio R2. Watera R2. Fire Strike R2. Wind Strike R2. Retaliate R1. Chi Blast R2. Chakara R1. Armor Break R1. Double Attack R1. Jump R2 (still use Kain a good amount for IVs). Lots of work still to do but I'm able to complete Hards with a good RW and some luck (even to Mastery on the right day).

Dungeons up to level 35 are where I'm comfy (higher is doable with the right luck and RW).

Now if only I could finally get a good weapon on mythril pulls (Rydia's Ice whip and Mythgraven Blade pretty please.) though Lunatic High and/or Boon would be nice too (Or Cloud's Relic mostly because he's pretty much always in the team). I have one RW with Ice Whip and SB Shiva has always done 5000 or more that way.

[Chen]

Now if only I could finally get a good weapon on mythril pulls (Rydia's Ice whip and Mythgraven Blade pretty please.) though Lunatic High and/or Boon would be nice too (Or Cloud's Relic mostly because he's pretty much always in the team). I have one RW with Ice Whip and SB Shiva has always done 5000 or more that way.

5* relics that are not part of the current banner have either a 0% chance of being drawn or something like 0.001% chance of being drawn. So don't waste mythril trying to get the Ice Whip or Mythgraven blade. Sazh's gun for Boon is one of the ones available from the Lightning banner and that'll be at ~1% chance per pull.

For those old relics you need to wait for the Soul Break celebrations they do every now and then that re-offer them, or hope they show up in one of the upcoming banners. I don't think there's an FFIV event coming up so I doubt those two would be coming before the next celebration.

[Red Fel]

Abilities are getting better: Curaga R1. Cura R2. Ensuna R1. Dia R3. Thundaga R2. Bio R2. Watera R2. Fire Strike R2. Wind Strike R2. Retaliate R1. Chi Blast R2. Chakara R1. Armor Break R1. Double Attack R1. Jump R2 (still use Kain a good amount for IVs). Lots of work still to do but I'm able to complete Hards with a good RW and some luck (even to Mastery on the right day).

Abilities are generally more valuable than gear, with the exception of a few really solid SBs. You're doing well with your abilities, though, so that's good. Keep in mind that you want to focus on particularly potent, generally applicable abilities. Work on getting Curaga to max rank, and if you can, work on Esuna as well. As soon as you can do so, try to hone your core three -ga spells (Thundaga, Firaga, Blizzaga) to R4, and work on your -ra Spellblades on the side. Power and Magic Break are more valuable than Armor or Mind Break, so focus on those two. I've linked this list before, but it makes good sense.

Be careful not to spread yourself too thin when honing abilities; after all, you can only use 10 at a time, so you'd better make sure they count.

[Hunter Noventa]

Looks like the Aerith event is coming up this week. I wonder what else they're going to pack in with it.

I spammed as much of the exp dungeon as I could got Cloud to 50 so that'll increase the exp everyone else gets. Had a hard time doing the hard exp dungeon consistently though. but i can just Auto-battle the Normal one with Cloud and Sephy in the party for 30k exp for 15 stamina, so that's not so bad.

[Red Fel]

Looks like the Aerith event is coming up this week. I wonder what else they're going to pack in with it.

Good question! Here's the info I've dug up. First, the gacha:

• Keepsake Ribbon: Aerith's relic hat. Gives her an SB that boosts allies' attack, adds minor silence resistance.
• Guard Stick: Aerith's relic staff. Gives her a Cura SB.
• Crystal Sword: Shared SB that deals two lightning physical hits (a la Thunder Cut).
• Wizard Bracelet: Shared SB that does ice magic AoE.
• Gold Armlet: Shared SB that casts Protectga.
• Adamant Bangle: Stats, no SB.
• Butterfly Edge: Stats, no SB.

So, it's great if you want alternatives for Aerith. Otherwise, meh.

Now, what about the dungeon? Well, it gives you Aerith, and Aerith's MC. There's also an accessory with Res and poison resist, the three-star Faith ability, and the four-star Diaga ability. The dungeon is your typical Classic/Elite mode, with bosses including Lost Number, Materia Keeper, Jenova BIRTH, Red Dragon, and Demons Gate.

Honestly... This event doesn't wow me. Yes, I'm getting Aerith out of it; I missed her the first time around, so this will be a treat. But the rest... Eh. We'll see.

[DiscipleofBob]

I did a quick peak over to the JP version and I thought people might be interested to know we'll eventually be getting some FF14 material in both dungeons and characters.

[Chen]

I spammed as much of the exp dungeon as I could got Cloud to 50 so that'll increase the exp everyone else gets. Had a hard time doing the hard exp dungeon consistently though. but i can just Auto-battle the Normal one with Cloud and Sephy in the party for 30k exp for 15 stamina, so that's not so bad.

Even if they're at max level they count as one of the members when dividing the exp at the end of a battle. So even with Cloud maxed your exp will still be divided by 5 for a full party.

As for the Aerith gatcha, the Staff is a good black mage weapon and her ribbon is very strong SB. The three bangles are all decent as well what with having ~75 def/res and 20 atk/mag/mnd. I probably won't use 50 mythril on this but I'll do the 100 gem pull and maybe a 3 pull as well. I'm surprised we're fighting the materia keeper, lost number and Jenova Birth, AGAIN. Here's hoping they throw in Red XIII's crystal too. That would be pretty sweet, I could replace Wakka with him since I have his Protect/Haste SB.

[Knaight]

Even if they're at max level they count as one of the members when dividing the exp at the end of a battle. So even with Cloud maxed your exp will still be divided by 5 for a full party.

Sure, but you can use really high level characters to carry a group, and level n characters in areas that usually take level n+20 characters level really quickly.

[Chen]

Sure but I was responding to the "so that'll increase the exp everyone else gets" part which is not how it actually works unfortuantely. I use Sephiroth with his relic Katana and retaliate to clear through the heroic exp daily with my random team that needs leveling. Throw double cut on whoever can use it, give someone the double attack materia and each action will kill one mob (one type of mob even die to just a single hit). Until we get ruinga this is probably the easiest way to clear the heroic exp daily. Or I guess a very highly honed bladeblitz.

[Red Fel]

As for the Aerith gatcha, the Staff is a good black mage weapon and her ribbon is very strong SB. The three bangles are all decent as well what with having ~75 def/res and 20 atk/mag/mnd. I probably won't use 50 mythril on this but I'll do the 100 gem pull and maybe a 3 pull as well. I'm surprised we're fighting the materia keeper, lost number and Jenova Birth, AGAIN. Here's hoping they throw in Red XIII's crystal too. That would be pretty sweet, I could replace Wakka with him since I have his Protect/Haste SB.

Yeah, the staff is a rod - again with that. So annoying; is it a staff or a rod? Pick a side, we're at war. And it is a good black mage weapon. Most of the 5-star banner items tend to be good, on their face, at least statwise. I wouldn't point to one and say it's explicitly bad. Still, it's just good, not amazing, although it's nice to have a healer with a mass-heal other than Lenna.

No MC for Red XIII that I could see, though. Just the one, from the look of it. It's possible that the unexpected happens, but none of the sites I've checked have mentioned it (although they beg, oh, how they beg).

[Chen]

No MC for Red XIII that I could see, though. Just the one, from the look of it. It's possible that the unexpected happens, but none of the sites I've checked have mentioned it (although they beg, oh, how they beg).

We're not due to get the crystal if we follow the japanese schedule, but I think they've added crystals early in a prior event (Vivi maybe, I don't recall). They've also been changing the rewards a bit from the Japanese side (we got almost 6x the orbs in the mage/warrior event) so I'm still going to remain cautiously optimistic.

[Red Fel]

We're not due to get the crystal if we follow the japanese schedule, but I think they've added crystals early in a prior event (Vivi maybe, I don't recall). They've also been changing the rewards a bit from the Japanese side (we got almost 6x the orbs in the mage/warrior event) so I'm still going to remain cautiously optimistic.

For what it's worth, if what I'm seeing is correct, Red XIII's RMs would make me more angry than happy. Again, from what I've seen, his first RM is auto-reflect, and his second is regen-when-critical. The latter is nice, but only works once per battle, and if it happens at all it will happen frequently; the former is awful, because it means you can't heal him, and you're going to need to because he is absurdly squishy.

Aerith's RM is rather frustrating, too. Increase holy damage? I mean, if it counts healing as holy damage, that's nice, but otherwise that's awfully narrow a focus.

But yeah. Let's hope that we get nice things. That would be nice.

[Knaight]

For what it's worth, if what I'm seeing is correct, Red XIII's RMs would make me more angry than happy. Again, from what I've seen, his first RM is auto-reflect, and his second is regen-when-critical. The latter is nice, but only works once per battle, and if it happens at all it will happen frequently; the former is awful, because it means you can't heal him, and you're going to need to because he is absurdly squishy.

On the other hand, that could be really useful moved to other characters, particularly anyone with much in the way of monk (or anything else with nonmagical self healing).

[Red Fel]

So, I've started on the event, dived right in, and got ahold of an RW of Aerith that uses Planet Protector. That's the new relic SB that gives an attack boost to the party. And I used it.

And my Sephiroth proceeded to smack the damage cap about the skull soundly.

I'm going to go listen to JENOVA's theme music so hard.

[SuperPanda]

Still making slow but noticeable progress marching towards tackling heroic dailies (mastering Hard dailies) and getting further in events.

Was able to get Sahz's crystal using my XIII team which I've realize is ~8 levels behind my A team (Which I think is enough that record Synergy wasn't making up for the difference anymore as nice as it was to see the team glow blue). Did Master that run though. Not sure how I'd get to Lightning's Crystal but that's a problem for another day.

Working through the lower level on Aeirth's event. Lots of 3star orbs which is very nice. I should be able to craft/refine some -ga magic as Fel's link recommends. Rydia is turning into a little power-house of her own (Still haven't gotten far enough to snag ViVi and no one else I've come across is really a mage). I'm almost able to recruit Lenna from V (Cleared but didn't master a difficulty 39 dungeon with my XIII team in V's world. Leena's quest is a 42 but my A team should be able to do that after they get Aerith). Then I'll have choices for white mages. - If I understand Record Materia right from the websites I can't get any until I have the character's memory crystal, so there isn't a rush to get Black Mage and White Mage to 50 until then.

On the current banner: The Staff/Rod looks nice for making Aerith into White Mage ++ but that isn't really needed. The other gear looks less impressive. I'll likely be trying to boost her up to replace White Mage, but I'm not sure about rolling on stuff yet. Might wait. I don't plan to roll on anything until I've amassed 50 mythril again since I've never gotten a 4star without doing that (never gotten a 5 star at all). I know it doesn't increase the odds but it sure feels like it does (plus the one free draw).

[Chen]

For what it's worth, if what I'm seeing is correct, Red XIII's RMs would make me more angry than happy. Again, from what I've seen, his first RM is auto-reflect, and his second is regen-when-critical. The latter is nice, but only works once per battle, and if it happens at all it will happen frequently; the former is awful, because it means you can't heal him, and you're going to need to because he is absurdly squishy.

The RM is fairly irrelevant to me. I have enough RMs that are good that I don't really need more. The simple fact that I could equip an RM on him and get him to level 65 is why I want his crystal. He's got a good skill setup for support and an insane SB with his relic (which I have). In any case, no crystal for him, so it's moot for now.

Auto-reflect has some uses I'd imagine too. Throw it, drain strike and retaliate on a single char and you can solo a number of bosses (some of which with mastery!). Sure it's niche, but still better than any of those something-when-critical ones.

As to pulling, the odds don't change (yet) per pull. Eventually there's some boost that will be applied for every pull that isn't a 5* but it's not clear what that boost actually is, even though it's been on the Japanese server for a while now. The only benefit to doing a 50 mythril pull is that you get one "free" pull with it (11 instead of 10). I did the 100 gem pull and one three pull. Got the 5* plain sword which is ok, though 2 points worse than my 6* Giant blade. Still good for Cloud in this event and any other FFVII stuff which is nice.

[Hunter Noventa]

Even if they're at max level they count as one of the members when dividing the exp at the end of a battle. So even with Cloud maxed your exp will still be divided by 5 for a full party.

Well that's stupid.

I powered through the regular side of the event and got Aerith, but I doubt I'll make use of her much, not when I already have a level-broken Selphie for healing duties.

I'm doing the Elite run that rewards a third Mythril Staff so I can combine it up to 4 stars, but other than that and powering through Jenova to get Aerith I'll probably ignore it and the Relic Draw.

[Calemyr]

I powered through the regular side of the event and got Aerith, but I doubt I'll make use of her much, not when I already have a level-broken Selphie for healing duties.

I'm still not sure who to use as my white mage. I've got level broken White Mage, Yuna, and Garnet, Lenna at 41, Vanille at 40, Aerith at 15, and Selphie (MC) at 1. I have no 5* mage relics at all, so that doesn't help me decide, and the only natural 4* mage relics are the Light Staff and Light Rod. Pity Yuna can't use guns, as the only 5* weapons I have are a lot of swords, the Kaiser Knuckles and Baltheir's gun.

Ignoring their relics and relic-based SBs, which white mage is the best?

[Chen]

Well that's stupid.

Would make it very easy to level new characters by taking 4 max leveled chars into a dungeon and just feeding tons of exp to the new char. I'm guessing that's what they wanted to avoid. You can still do that but the new char would get their normal share of exp instead of 5 times the amount.

I powered through the regular side of the event and got Aerith, but I doubt I'll make use of her much, not when I already have a level-broken Selphie for healing duties.

Aerith does have some niche uses for her SB which is AoE Stop + Silence. The Oilboyles in one of the elite levels and the three sisters in another ones are good examples.

I'm doing the Elite run that rewards a third Mythril Staff so I can combine it up to 4 stars, but other than that and powering through Jenova to get Aerith I'll probably ignore it and the Relic Draw.

Jenova is supposed to be a fair bit easier this time than last (I guess since it's not the last boss). I would definitely push to get Faith from one of the later fights and then do the Ex+ fight (or ++) for Diaga. I think it should be just a first time reward and not a mastery one so it should be doable.

I'm still not sure who to use as my white mage. I've got level broken White Mage, Yuna, and Garnet, Lenna at 41, Vanille at 40, Aerith at 15, and Selphie (MC) at 1. I have no 5* mage relics at all, so that doesn't help me decide, and the only natural 4* mage relics are the Light Staff and Light Rod. Pity Yuna can't use guns, as the only 5* weapons I have are a lot of swords, the Kaiser Knuckles and Baltheir's gun.

Ignoring their relics and relic-based SBs, which white mage is the best?

Selphie or Aerth have the highest Mnd at 65. Lenna has the highest at 50. Lenna's default SB is also nice as a mass regen. The fact Lenna can't use an RM is a big downside though. Being able to throw R1 Protectga up every fight and still have 2 up for the boss fight is very nice (with WM RM 2 of course). Tyro can work too if you need a different ability and can't fit it in the rest of your group. He's good for holding one Curaga and then one niche ability, especially those that don't need good stats to work (intimidate, the busters, even breakdowns if necessary).

[Red Fel]

I powered through the regular side of the event and got Aerith, but I doubt I'll make use of her much, not when I already have a level-broken Selphie for healing duties.

I'm still not sure who to use as my white mage. I've got level broken White Mage, Yuna, and Garnet, Lenna at 41, Vanille at 40, Aerith at 15, and Selphie (MC) at 1. I have no 5* mage relics at all, so that doesn't help me decide, and the only natural 4* mage relics are the Light Staff and Light Rod. Pity Yuna can't use guns, as the only 5* weapons I have are a lot of swords, the Kaiser Knuckles and Baltheir's gun.

Ignoring their relics and relic-based SBs, which white mage is the best?

Time for some comparison shopping!

Okay. First, let's compare just Aerith and Selphie, because they're the two big guns. This comparison will be made at level 65, assuming level breaks and full availability of stuff.

Statwise, the two are tied for the highest Mind stat in the game, but Selphie has higher Defense, HP, and Resistance. Weaponwise, both use Staves, Rods, and Daggers, but Selphie also uses Whips (although there are so few it's hardly relevant). Both use Hats, Robes, and Bracers, but Selphie also uses Light Armor.

So far, Selphie is leading.

Abilitywise, both use WM 5 and BM 3. Selphie gets Celerity 3, which has some use but not a lot (but see Wind Slash). Aerith gets Summoning 2 and Support 2, which are frankly more valuable. Advantage Aerith.

Last, SBs. Aerith's base SB, as mentioned by Chen, is powerful in niche situations. Selphie's base SB is just... Underwhelming. Unless you plan to use Sentinel, in which case having an ubershielded ally is useful, you can do a lot better. In terms of relic SBs, Aerith can perform a mass-heal, which is always useful, or boost the party's attack, which is solid in a melee-heavy party. Selphie can perform a mass-heal, again useful.

The point is, of Aerith's SBs, all three have merit. Of Selphie's two, only one. Advantage Aerith.

Overall, stats and gear selection are a very minor piece of the puzzle. What really matters are abilities and SBs, and Aerith carries the advantage there. I'm not saying she's de facto better, but she is not to be disregarded, particularly now that she can be leveled to 65.

With respect to comparing all healers, I found this useful thread on reddit. (Warning: Some naughty language.) It compares pretty much everyone¹, at 50 and 65², in far more detail than I care to go into here. It's a bit outdated, in that it doesn't consider Aerith at 65, but it's fairly accurate otherwise.

¹ It includes Garnet, Yuna, Selphie, Aerith, Lenna, Arc, Vanille, and Tyro.
² Where applicable.

[Calemyr]

So, ignoring relics (which do not apply in my case), it's basically Aerith and Selphie, with minimal difference and Tyro (who I have at 56) peeking in for versatility?

[Red Fel]

So, ignoring relics (which do not apply in my case), it's basically Aerith and Selphie, with minimal difference and Tyro (who I have at 56) peeking in for versatility?

Well, yes and no.

First off, at 65, you have Garnet, Yuna, Selphie, and now Aerith. Yuna and Garnet (and Aerith) offer more versatility than Selphie in terms of the availability of summons, which can have a major impact. On the other hand, Selphie's mind stat is superior to Yuna's and Garnet's. That said, with the right spells, a small difference in Mind isn't a bad thing, particularly when you consider just how much Garnet and Yuna bring to the table, particularly in the form of Summoning 5, SBs, and the stats to back them up. It's not a case of a clear winner.

Now, with respect to Tyro... Ugh. "Versatility" is overrated in his case. Yes, he can do anything, and be crap at it. His stats are horrid. I mean, if you really want a healer in heavy armor who uses Spellblade abilities, he can do that, but he'll also be horrible at healing and dealing damage. There are healers with versatility - they have Summoning, Black Magic, Support, and so on. They have the stats to back them up. There's a threshold after which point being "great" at one or two things is substantially more valuable than being "okay" at everything, which is where Tyro lives.

[Calemyr]

Well, yes and no.

First off, at 65, you have Garnet, Yuna, Selphie, and now Aerith. Yuna and Garnet (and Aerith) offer more versatility than Selphie in terms of the availability of summons, which can have a major impact. On the other hand, Selphie's mind stat is superior to Yuna's and Garnet's. That said, with the right spells, a small difference in Mind isn't a bad thing, particularly when you consider just how much Garnet and Yuna bring to the table, particularly in the form of Summoning 5, SBs, and the stats to back them up. It's not a case of a clear winner.

Now, with respect to Tyro... Ugh. "Versatility" is overrated in his case. Yes, he can do anything, and be crap at it. His stats are horrid. I mean, if you really want a healer in heavy armor who uses Spellblade abilities, he can do that, but he'll also be horrible at healing and dealing damage. There are healers with versatility - they have Summoning, Black Magic, Support, and so on. They have the stats to back them up. There's a threshold after which point being "great" at one or two things is substantially more valuable than being "okay" at everything, which is where Tyro lives.

My Kain is still low level (24), so Tyro's good for jump and other target score things. That's not to say I've used him in a while.

Anyway, the experts are as stuck who the most useful healer is as much as I am, eh? There's a comfort, at least.

[Red Fel]

Anyway, the experts are as stuck who the most useful healer is as much as I am, eh? There's a comfort, at least.

Well, part of the problem is that there's no one best choice for anything. Even in a field with strong forerunners, like Cloud being a default go-to melee guy, there are distinguishing features for others. Realm synergy is a thing. Unique options (such as Lightning being able to Spellblade with a gun) are a thing. There are always other considerations, contexts in which the "best" isn't the best, or the "second best" becomes a clear leader.

The same guy who did the Know Your Records: White Magic thread also did one for Support and one for "Samuraitaliaters."

For Support, he compared Wakka, Fran, Irvine, Red XIII, Terra (she technically uses Support), Gordon (while he's not dead), and Tyro. His conclusions are varied (Wakka is best, unless Irvine has an awesome gun, or you need Support on the front lines). For a role like Support, as with White Magic, you really rely on context.

It's worth noting that, for Retaliatemans, he compared Cloud, Cyan, Sephiroth, and Tyro; big surprise, Cloud is practically tailor-made for the role, but a well-equipped Seph is a beast. Even in that narrow case, the best choice is dependent upon available options.

The point is that there's really no such thing as "most useful X," given how widely contexts can vary. Oh, there are worst choices for X (usually Tyro), and often middling choices make themselves known (e.g. Red XIII), but rarely are there clear leaders for a particular category that obviate all others.

[Calemyr]

Well, part of the problem is that there's no one best choice for anything. Even in a field with strong forerunners, like Cloud being a default go-to melee guy, there are distinguishing features for others. Realm synergy is a thing. Unique options (such as Lightning being able to Spellblade with a gun) are a thing. There are always other considerations, contexts in which the "best" isn't the best, or the "second best" becomes a clear leader.

The same guy who did the Know Your Records: White Magic thread also did one for Support and one for "Samuraitaliaters."

For Support, he compared Wakka, Fran, Irvine, Red XIII, Terra (she technically uses Support), Gordon (while he's not dead), and Tyro. His conclusions are varied (Wakka is best, unless Irvine has an awesome gun, or you need Support on the front lines). For a role like Support, as with White Magic, you really rely on context.

It's worth noting that, for Retaliatemans, he compared Cloud, Cyan, Sephiroth, and Tyro; big surprise, Cloud is practically tailor-made for the role, but a well-equipped Seph is a beast. Even in that narrow case, the best choice is dependent upon available options.

The point is that there's really no such thing as "most useful X," given how widely contexts can vary. Oh, there are worst choices for X (usually Tyro), and often middling choices make themselves known (e.g. Red XIII), but rarely are there clear leaders for a particular category that obviate all others.

Can't fault your logic, but the problem is that white mages are 75% unnecessary. If you're taking enough damage to need a healer, you're usually not going to be getting mastery on the stage anyway. They can do holy damage, but not a lot, and even the ones with less feeble physical options have to decide between being a good healer or a meh healer and a meh fighter. There are few instances where you need two healers, and many instances don't require any. So are you better off to have a few mid-level ones or one high level one?

I mean, fighters? I chew through them, particularly because of my stockpile of good swords. I've got three 65s (Cloud, Squall, and Tidus), and a number in the 50s and 60s. You can afford to spread the love because they already get such a large portion of the XP on average. Black mages? Who compares to Vivi (other than Terra)? But white mages are the hard ones: they aren't essential enough to get a good share of the XP, and they aren't distinct enough for one to stand out over the others. So who do you focus on? I suppose they're just all the same, to some degree. Maybe one day I'll get a relic to break the stalemate. Not holding my breath, though.

[Deadline]

For white mages, it's a toss up between two of them for me:

Aerith (her default Soul Break is useful on several high-level battles)
Yuna (for to bring the Summons. Carbuncle is practically a necessity on some fights - like Elite Macalania Temple (I got Summoner's MC! Yay!))

Calemyr, you bring a white mage to keep the trash from sapping you to the point of uselessness against a boss (and to avoid losing medals on a boss due to focused fire dropping a character). Admittedly, until you are doing the high level elite dungeons, you don't really need them all that much.

And I'm not sure what gear or who you've been using, but when I slap Diara on Yuna or Aerith, they hit for about 3-5K damage, about 1-2K damage behind a black mage.

[Calemyr]

For white mages, it's a toss up between two of them for me:

Aerith (her default Soul Break is useful on several high-level battles)
Yuna (for to bring the Summons. Carbuncle is practically a necessity on some fights - like Elite Macalania Temple (I got Summoner's MC! Yay!))

Calemyr, you bring a white mage to keep the trash from sapping you to the point of uselessness against a boss (and to avoid losing medals on a boss due to focused fire dropping a character). Admittedly, until you are doing the high level elite dungeons, you don't really need them all that much.

And I'm not sure what gear or who you've been using, but when I slap Diara on Yuna or Aerith, they hit for about 3-5K damage, about 1-2K damage behind a black mage.

I'm usually able to power through most trash with little trouble. Yeah, I usually use one healer in the big elite dungeons*, but I keep running into the same problem: no gear + no healer with high levels + lots of roughly equivalent options = no healer powerful enough to meaningfully contribute when it counts.

I've got no white mages over 51 and I only have the Light Staff for good staves. Using defensive items to get the best MND bonus possible, I get 2-3K off of Diara, myself. Decent, but I would take less damage with a fighter in their place, and Vivi (with the Light Rod) throws out 5-7K before vulnerabilities.

* I never said healers were useless. Three quarters of the game, however, they do not carry their weight in a fight in my experience.