FFRKV: Now We Post Like Men! And Ladies! And Ladies Who Dress Like Men!

[Merlin the Tuna]

1 pull on the new banner netted me Palom's dagger, the stat stick dagger, and the dragon bracer; I already like this better than the FF8 event.

Admittedly I didn't pull on either FF8 banner, but even just the event party was wildly newbie un-friendly. Irvine's crappiness has been well documented, Zell and Laguna's main draws are niche ability sets I don't have the orbs for while I'm still building out my core baseline, Edea is powerful but an inflexible blunt object, Squall is powerful but bringing spellblade just means he's filling the same niche as Edea, and Rinoa has mediocre white magic and can't equip staffs. It's a far cry from the FF12 folks, who brought utility up the wazoo and could flex anywhere they needed to. Looking forward to having a decent spread for FF4, especially since Rydia and Kain are already decently leveled from core dungeons.

[Red Fel]

And +++ is down. Let's review our lessons from this event.

1. Scarmiglione is a joke in any form. For those of you who haven't tried the boss rush yet, keep in mind that in his first form, he is flanked by four zombies that don't die when he does. If you kill him first, you still have to deal with them. Also, Runic completely trivializes the first fight - it pulls his Thunders, his Counter Thunders, and his minions' Drains. Note that if he dies first, they stop using Drain and switch to physical attacks - and if you've prepared for the second Scar fight, you've got plenty of physical mitigation to use. In the second fight, as long as you don't use Fire, all he'll do is attack and slow you; if you brought two or more WHMs armed with Cure-line or Dia-line spells, he's toast.

2. Baigan is concentrated evil. In every realm, there is that one boss. In VI, it was Mt. Koltz. In IV, it's Baigan. Piece of advice - have Pencil bring Saint Cross, because it has a built-in Esuna that can get rid of Blind (unless he's also paralyzed). Also, don't bring Blood of Espers. Blood of Summoners is fine, but Blood of Espers is a huge risk, because he immediately puts up Counter Reflect. That said, there is one way it's useful - if the body has lower HP than the arms, and Reflect is down, use a spell on one of the arms to bring them lower (but not kill them). If you proc again, it will target the body. Then just bring out Banishing Strike again and repeat the process.

3. Odin is manageable if you prepare. Power Breakdown + Full Breakdown + Protectga is a good start. Throw in a source of Slow and a wall and you're golden; he'll attack infrequently, and then for maybe 200-400 damage. That said, he is a tank. Annoyingly, he only raised his sword two or three times in my fight, which meant that most of the battle I was without a weakness to exploit. While that wasn't too bad, it was a nuisance.

Looking forward, the Ultimate and U+ are going to be interesting. The Ultimate has three phases, with changing vulnerabilities, which is annoying. But the U+ is a very tactical fight, so that's going to be fun. Hopefully.

Or I might just pull my hair out. Either or.

[danzibr]

Grats to people on the victories!

I actually forgot about the event and was doing core content (did I already mention this? Hmm...), so I finished the second elite, but that's it.

Oh, but I'm up to 162 4/5 stam. Ahhhh yeah.

[DiscipleofBob]

Oh yay another event and classic updates. That's even MORE stuff I have to catch up on at some point.

Regarding After Years, I played it when it first came out on the Wii. FFIV was the first video game I ever played and there's a lot of nostalgia for me, and honestly?

After Years might be better than the original. It captures everything that made the first game great, lets you explore the whole setting all over again, and actually has a lot of bonus endgame content. Just ignore anything the final boss actually says and assume he's a raving lunatic.

[Hunter Noventa]

Yesss, picked up Pride of the Red Wings during the Underground Waterway, now DRK!Cecil can die in obscurity. Now to put together a party for Baron Castle.

Hilariously, Ramza ends up with more attack than anyone because I have a Fabled Harp and he has a better Chassis than Edward.

[Simkin]

So I've had some ups and downs the last day or so. Did several 11 pulls on the IV banner (I have terrible self control). The first two I got no 5*s, the second even had no 4*s! The third balanced it some with 4 5*s, which made me feel a bit better. Those were:

- Stardust Rod (Tellah) - Sounds mildly interesting but I hate this damage the user business.
- Kotetsu (Edge) - Very happy with this. I'm lacking in "normal" IV equipment (I have Kain's spear, Rydia's whip, etc., but no swords.)
- Another Assassin's Dagger (IV) - I got a couple of these long ago, this is now a 7*, which is quite solid.
- A second Dragon Gloves (IV) - So this is now a 6*, also nice.

Cleared all through +++, battles were a joke. Even Odin dropped as fast as I could dish out damage. I forgot to even take a way to reduce his attack and still got champion.

And then unfortunately, really pissed myself off by accidentally hitting create when I was looking at Sanguine Cross, thus wasting the orbs to create it because I got it from the +++ and certainly don't need a second copy. Don't know that I like it much with how much damage it does to the user.

On the flip side I honed Dark Bargain to R3 and I like that an awful lot. Very solid damage.

And lastly, hurray for Rydia MCII. One of my favorite characters.

[Slayn82]

Today had a lot of work, only managed to have a break to play right before going back home. Lost even dailies.

Finished the event up to Odin, but didn't get Mastery at Baigan. Rydia with her Mom's whip hits so hard using summons - a single Alexander cleared the zombie mooks on the + battle. Unfortunately, those arms of Baigan can have a trace if HP left when you finish the body and yet still have enough to explode any party members. And judging if you will kill all 3 or not is an art I'm yet to master.

Odin was a good opportunity to use Irvine, and again he delivered for the mixed team. Canister Shot and Armor Breakdown made the damage to Odin progress pretty well. SG + Protectga + Power Breakdown means the team was taking 400 - 600 damage per hit. Not bad.

[Simkin]

Finished the event up to Odin, but didn't get Mastery at Baigan. Rydia with her Mom's whip hits so hard using summons - a single Alexander cleared the zombie mooks on the + battle. Unfortunately, those arms of Baigan can have a trace if HP left when you finish the body and yet still have enough to explode any party members. And judging if you will kill all 3 or not is an art I'm yet to master.

You have a couple rounds before they come back. Take the body to 20-30%, take the arms both near death, kill them both, then burst the body down the rest of the way.

[Greg_S]

Trying with a full synergy, no one at their level cap team for these battles. Scarmiglione can be silenced, reflected, and both ninja skills and summons bypass counters. Nice and pleasant there.

I wasn't around for the nightmare stories of Baigan in the dungeons, before HP bars, before RWs, but I'm with you folks: this is not a fun battle. Those medal conditions are quite the annoyance. I was expecting to have a little bit of time after destroying the arms to work on the body, like with Triton, Nereid, and Phobos, who gave you 20 seconds. Nope! Baigan revived them the next turn, as he's got a 50% chance to revive them if both are dead. I had thought I'd try to power through and just lose the self-destruct medals, but losing the self-destruct medals has a really good chance of KOing a character because it's tough to judge those tiny HP gauges, so that's a second reset. Eventually took him down and experted when his next-to-last attack dropped Palom before Curaja. Got revenge with the A team, though.

I think my FF4 team has hit its limit at Odin, though. I don't have any synergy rods past a 3++ Ice Rod, and Golbez was barely breaking 8K on a thundaja to his sword. Would like to try with the full synergy team before switching things up. A Google Opinion Rewards 100 gem pull netted me Edea's helmet, so I've been experimenting with a mage team in some of the recent elites. It's holding up a lot better than I expected in the 130+ dungeons!

[TeChameleon]

... huh.

My very first piece of character-specific gear (before even Tyro's Stormlance Grimoire, I think, since I didn't actually realize that I needed to do anything further on the newbie pull after I did the relic draw >.>) was Shadow's Ichigeki. Nice to know that it stays useful/awesome. And seeing Interceptor in FFRK makes me oddly happy.

And apparently the RNG has decided that I don't have enough Black Mages, since the two 11x pulls I did on the FFIV banner netted me the Stardust Rod and Triton's Dagger. I got the Dragon Gloves as a final 5*, so all in all, not too bad. I'm even managing to do some slightly-harder stuff than I thought I would be able to; got Mastery on Mt. Ordeals- Grave, which as far as I can recall, is the most difficult dungeon I've even attempted, much less beaten (and yes, I know, I know. I'm new to this, give me a break )

[T.G. Oskar]

Still haven't handled the Seifer trio Ultimate, which I'm finding mind-numbingly difficult, but done some progress on Classics, Elites and the Event. I'm at one dungeon from getting the Wonder Twins Palom and Porom, and got to 113 Stamina.

Dreading the upcoming White Magic Nightmare, I decided that getting Flower of Trabia was enough motive to force-feed Selphie a power-omelet to level 65. Turns out that, after running her through the FFXIV dungeons, she dropped the RM2 on the second battle. So...that means I got a pretty reliable RM, one that should work on the Nightmare boss as it's not physical, therefore it shouldn't activate the counter-breath and should deal decent damage. Between FoT, Yuna's SB (The Sending) and Tyro using Ninja skills, I think I got a good chance of beating it. Of course, that means I have to remake and hone Esuna, which for some reason I shattered. Must have been because the Salve RM just pretty much nulls the need for it.

Oh, and speaking of getting new RMs...I got Ramza's Battleforged as well. Mwahahahaha!!

EDIT: Oh, guess I finally have a working FFVII team for future events. Reno or Vincent as Black Mages, Barret as supporter (even if the only FFVII gun I got isn't really that awe-inspiring), Aerith as WHM, and Zack and Cid as main hitters. Pretty unorthodox team, but it covers most of the big deals (BLM, WHM, Support; then, I add Dragoon, Spellblade and Machinist to the mix, alongside some Celerity and Summoning), and with a good deal of relics for it (Dragon Armlet, Holiday Mittens, and a veritable choice of weapons for Zack which include his SSB weapon), I guess future events shouldn't look so bleak.

Of course, they're still so behind. Poor AVA-Lasties, paling in comparison with the Ultra-Returners, or Yuna's Angels, or even the Omega Sky Pirates. I mean, even Baron's Finest is pretty well set-up, and even the SeeDie Groupies. Poor, poor AVA-Lasties; soon enough, even the Elemental Warriors (of Light) will curb-stomp them.

[Chen]

Hilariously, Ramza ends up with more attack than anyone because I have a Fabled Harp and he has a better Chassis than Edward.

I'm in the same situation. The only other good weapon I have for FF IV is a 6* Blood Lance. And no one in my A team can actually use it (though I can toss it on Gil if I need a retaliator at least).

[danzibr]

Grats to people on victories/progress/pulls!

Mastered the new DU this morning. The very last elite wasn't hard, but man oh man you need a lotta dakka. Jurai will have no problem. I ran out of ability uses on 2 people (I brought a mage party btw, didn't want to be bothered by Blind). It's like 3 bosses in one dungeon. Funky green Hojo, Heretic Hojo, Lifeform-N Hojo.

I guess a mythril use would make it a lot easier.

[Hunter Noventa]

I'm in the same situation. The only other good weapon I have for FF IV is a 6* Blood Lance. And no one in my A team can actually use it (though I can toss it on Gil if I need a retaliator at least).

I'm actually considering using Gil for that against Baigan+, all his attacks are physical after all. I can't really think of a good combination of people to counter everything though. I only have two uses of Halting Rumba to try and Stop the arms, and I know I'm likely to lose medals for actions and damage. I'm bringing Terra with Shiva and Ruinga to bypass Reflect, Cloud for Spellblade and being one of my strongest characters, Ramza for Shout and Power Breakdown, and Selphie for healing and Protectga.

Do I bring Gil for Tauntaliate? Or Agrias for Banishing Strike? (Though Gil can do that too and he might have higher attack than Agrias, but I actually have an SB for Agrias). The only decently leveled Dancer I have that can even use Halting Rumba is Yuffie and I feel like she'd fold like paper against this jerk.

[danzibr]

I'm actually considering using Gil for that against Baigan+, all his attacks are physical after all. I can't really think of a good combination of people to counter everything though. I only have two uses of Halting Rumba to try and Stop the arms, and I know I'm likely to lose medals for actions and damage. I'm bringing Terra with Shiva and Ruinga to bypass Reflect, Cloud for Spellblade and being one of my strongest characters, Ramza for Shout and Power Breakdown, and Selphie for healing and Protectga.

Do I bring Gil for Tauntaliate? Or Agrias for Banishing Strike? (Though Gil can do that too and he might have higher attack than Agrias, but I actually have an SB for Agrias). The only decently leveled Dancer I have that can even use Halting Rumba is Yuffie and I feel like she'd fold like paper against this jerk.

Gil for Tauntaliate is a good idea. Lots of physical attacks.

And uhh, getting Edea's SSB as a RW is a *great* idea for that fight. She murdilated them.

[Hunter Noventa]

Gil for Tauntaliate is a good idea. Lots of physical attacks.

And uhh, getting Edea's SSB as a RW is a *great* idea for that fight. She murdilated them.

Gil actually worked amazingly well. Between that and the AoE I had going on I mastered it almost perfectly. Somehow I killed one arm, but he didn't revive it, and Blade Beam finished off the other arm and Baigan at the same time. Shiva + Ruinga + Water Veil (since there's no Ive Veil) took care of the rest. I was pretty shocked at how smoothly it went, but I'll admit I got lucky.

Odin should be interesting, to say the least, but after Baigan I'm feeling confident.

[Greg_S]

Gil actually worked amazingly well. Between that and the AoE I had going on I mastered it almost perfectly. Somehow I killed one arm, but he didn't revive it, and Blade Beam finished off the other arm and Baigan at the same time. Shiva + Ruinga + Water Veil (since there's no Ive Veil) took care of the rest. I was pretty shocked at how smoothly it went, but I'll admit I got lucky.

Congrats! He'll only revive the arms if both are dead. The original fight in IV was like that, where you'd want to kill the left arm first and then rush the right arm after the body died.

Fat Chocobo's offering Major Wind, Power, and Non-elemental orbs this week, so bye bye greens. Would it help anyone if I did an orb priority guide? I've been mulling over what's out and what's coming up for budgeting purposes.

EDIT: Never mind: The great PDF, page 16, has the best competition diagram around.

[danzibr]

Congrats! He'll only revive the arms if both are dead. The original fight in IV was like that, where you'd want to kill the left arm first and then rush the right arm after the body died.

Fat Chocobo's offering Major Wind, Power, and Non-elemental orbs this week, so bye bye greens. Would it help anyone if I did an orb priority guide? I've been mulling over what's out and what's coming up for budgeting purposes.

I've decided to not buy 5* orbs, I think. Unless I *really* need them. I want to save my green(s) for the stam shards and 5* accessories (assuming we get them).

[Hunter Noventa]

Congrats! He'll only revive the arms if both are dead. The original fight in IV was like that, where you'd want to kill the left arm first and then rush the right arm after the body died.

Fat Chocobo's offering Major Wind, Power, and Non-elemental orbs this week, so bye bye greens. Would it help anyone if I did an orb priority guide? I've been mulling over what's out and what's coming up for budgeting purposes.

Ugh I could really use that Major Wind, if only to break it down for all the things I need Greater Wind for...

[Red Fel]

Fat Chocobo's offering Major Wind, Power, and Non-elemental orbs this week, so bye bye greens. Would it help anyone if I did an orb priority guide? I've been mulling over what's out and what's coming up for budgeting purposes.

I've decided to not buy 5* orbs, I think. Unless I *really* need them. I want to save my green(s) for the stam shards and 5* accessories (assuming we get them).

As a rule, I don't buy the stam shards unless I need a quick refresh. And the accessories... I'm still on the fence about those.

But here's what I can tell you about 5-star ability uses. More specifically, what each orb is used for. You can draw your own conclusions from the list.

• Fire: Exploding Fist, Flare Strike, Flare, Meteor, Dragoon Jump, Bio Grenade
• Non-Elemental: Flare Strike, Flare, Meteor, Flashing Blade, Bahamut, Dragoon Jump, Dark Zone
• Ice: Flashing Blade, Doppelblade, Holy, Sky Grinder, Full Break
• Dark: Bahamut, Doppelblade, Multi Break, Bloody Cross, Thief's Revenge, Odin, Dark Zone
• Holy: Holy, Multi Break, Saint Cross, Arise
• Earth: Meteor, Bloody Cross, Saint Cross, Barrage, Full Charge, Bio Grenade
• Wind: Saint Cross, Arise, Barrage, Sky Grinder, Quick Hit, Mug Time, Thief's Revenge, Chain Starter, Full Charge, Tornado Strike, Valefor
• Lightning: Sky Grinder, Mug Time, Thief's Revenge, Full Break, Odin, Exploding Fist, Dragoon Jump, Ixion, Quetzalcoatl
• Power: Entrust, Exploding Fist, Flare Strike, Flashing Blade, Doppelblade, Bloody Cross, Barrage, Full Break, Quick Hit, Mug Time, Bio Grenade, Chain Starter, Tornado Strike, Full Charge
• White: Entrust, Holy, Multi Break, Arise
• Black: Entrust, Flare, Meteor, Dark Zone, Tornado Strike

(Italics indicate abilities not yet released. Underscore indicates 4-star abilities.)

In other words, your biggest priorities are... Well, whichever ones you like. Obviously, Wind and Power see some of the most use. Holy and White see very little use. On the other hand, some of the orbs that see little use are also used in powerful abilities - Holy is used in Saint Cross, Ice in Full Break.

And as Hunter Noventa mentions, orbs are also useful for breakdowns. No, I won't list the competition for 4-star orbs.

[Hunter Noventa]

And Odin is down without a problem. Lost a little on Damage and Actions, but I still mastered it.

Put my party together for the first Ultimate, but that'll wait obviously, and I have orbs to farm tonight.

Finally spent a bunch of my growth eggs getting Cloud, Ramza and Selphie to 80.

[Jurai]

Grats to people on victories/progress/pulls!

Mastered the new DU this morning. The very last elite wasn't hard, but man oh man you need a lotta dakka. Jurai will have no problem. I ran out of ability uses on 2 people (I brought a mage party btw, didn't want to be bothered by Blind). It's like 3 bosses in one dungeon. Funky green Hojo, Heretic Hojo, Lifeform-N Hojo.

I guess a mythril use would make it a lot easier.

Great, looks like a 3-pack of Hohos. I much prefer Twinkies.

[danzibr]

What are people's thoughts on ability uses and bosses? To the last U+ I brought Locke with r2 Thief's Revenge and r3 Dismissal. He had a crappy limit break and I don't think he used a RW. Ran out of uses at the end.

So for a beater with no plan to use RW or limit break, at least 12 ability uses is good, I think. So uhh... for my plan with Chain Starter -> Full Charge, I don't think r2 of each is enough.

[Red Fel]

What are people's thoughts on ability uses and bosses? To the last U+ I brought Locke with r2 Thief's Revenge and r3 Dismissal. He had a crappy limit break and I don't think he used a RW. Ran out of uses at the end.

So for a beater with no plan to use RW or limit break, at least 12 ability uses is good, I think. So uhh... for my plan with Chain Starter -> Full Charge, I don't think r2 of each is enough.

As a general rule, if I have 8-10 uses of a 3-star, 6-8 uses of a 4-star, and/or 4 uses of a 5-star, I'm generally in a good place for an Ultimate. If I err on the low side (for instance, R3 Power Breakdown and R2 Full Break) I'm likely to run out at the very end.

R2 for two 5-stars would be woefully insufficient, in my mind. I want to know that I have ability uses good for at least 12 rounds, ideally 14-16. By way of example, when I have someone packing R5 Tempo Flurry and R4 Dismissal, I have never had that person run out of uses. Frequently, when I have someone packing two R3 Spellblade abilities, that character won't run out either. My default Sephiroth uses R4 Armor Break and R3 Lifesiphon, a total of 14 uses, and he never runs out.

[Antonok]

I tend to do what Red Fel does. If I bring an r1 or r2 I always put something with atleast 8 uses in the other slot. R4 Banishing Strike with R1 Saints Cross, or R4 breakdown with r1 fullbreak, or even R5 Tempo Flurry with R2 (whatever that armor breakdown dance is). Working on honing Dark Bargain to r4 or 5 to go with R1 Exploding Fist. But yeah, I try to bring at least 10 ability uses on a char for anything 100+ difficulty.

On another note, had to run a mage team for one of the dungeons last night. It made me realize I really need to work on magic hones. Managed to kill the boss with my very last ability use. Would really help if I could get some decent mage gear.

[Chen]

What are people's thoughts on ability uses and bosses? To the last U+ I brought Locke with r2 Thief's Revenge and r3 Dismissal. He had a crappy limit break and I don't think he used a RW. Ran out of uses at the end.

So for a beater with no plan to use RW or limit break, at least 12 ability uses is good, I think. So uhh... for my plan with Chain Starter -> Full Charge, I don't think r2 of each is enough.

Chain Starter/Full charge is even worse because Chain starter speeds things up so much. It's like Quick Hit. Fantastic skill in terms of damage and effect. But it's a 5* and you burn through its uses extra fast due to what it does so it's effectively useless (barring ridiculous honing). R2 Chainstarter + R2 full charge MIGHT work if you have a good SB and you use the SB increasing RMs. Each attack should give 60 SB poins which is increased to 90 with the RM. That means you have 720 SB points for all your abilities, not including any hits you take. With AoEs and maybe one or two regular attacks you probably have 2 SBs worth of uses there. If you're using A team level people that's 10 attacks over the combat. Use that person to trigger your RWs and it'll probably last.

If I look at my support characters they usually run Full Break R2 and a breakdown at R3. That and they usually get one or two SBs off and no RW activating. That puts you at pretty close to 12-13 normal actions. Also consider if you are low on hones use some regular attacks for the first few rounds while you're buffing getting defenses up. Not only does it let you save bigger hitters for the more dangerous later phases, it also ensures the big hitters are going to be buffed properly.

[Simkin]

In other words, your biggest priorities are... Well, whichever ones you like. Obviously, Wind and Power see some of the most use. Holy and White see very little use. On the other hand, some of the orbs that see little use are also used in powerful abilities - Holy is used in Saint Cross, Ice in Full Break.

Yeah, i.e. I need/want all of them =)

[Jurai]

I spend precisely 24000 Gysahl Greens a month. Two MC2 lodes (though that'll change once I finish my MC2 collection) and four Mythril. Once I'm up to date, I'll be hoping and praying for the accessories to come over. I could do with a third +30 ATK and maybe a fourth or fifth +0 MAG. Heck, I'd enjoy Godo's Mask, and voted for a rematch against him in the REVENGE FIGHT poll.

[Friv]

I've taken a break from MC2s; I still need three, but there are plenty of upcoming Nightmare dungeons, and I have twelve people at Lv 65-75, so having Tifa, Squall, or Auron level broken doesn't actually change a lot for me at the moment.

I am buying mythril and Major orbs, unless they're white, but saving whatever else I get.

[SuperPanda]

Looking at 5* abilities, I usually won't craft them unless I can take them to R2 right away but I also don't break them down.

My potential A listers include: P.Cecil, Cloud, Squall, Garnet, Arieth, Rinoa, Rydia, Steiner, Ramza, Lightning, Basch (not yet leveled), Yuffie, Edge, Wakka (Weak SB), Kefka (once Kuja's event), Lulu.

From those I can see a strong argument for Meteor (not yet crafted, but I think I can take it straight to R2), Saint's Cross (R2), Bahamut (not enough summon orbs to take to R2, and even then that's only 2 casts... so Maudin or Valefor to R4 instead?), and maybe Holy (for the upcoming nightmare).

Sword Flash looks nice but I don't have an A list samurai with gear (I do have Cyan with a Katana but even with that he usually looses his spot to someone without a SB like Locke, Celes, or Setzer who can fill niches he just can't - also I can bring Cloud and use his Katana if I need a retaman who can't draw fire (Need to see if Basch can use Katanas - because if so Fulmimating Darkness > Retaliate > Saint's cross = >:) ).

Thief's Revenge looks awesome but I haven't been able to get much milage out of it due to most of my thieves being lower level currently or Vaan - who needs to be near 80 and in XII to get the fifth hit. Also without something like Shout it doesn't hit as hard as I'd like meaning that the only thief who really gets milage out of it for me right now is Yuffie.

Exploding Fist sounds amazing but I'd have a similar problem - made worse because my only monk with good gear is Tifa and Yuffie is borrowing her weapons in VII for the forseeable future. A hand full of my monks can use good synergy daggars, but I usually have better weapons (or better characters to use that weapon with).
Bahamut looks very powerful, but I dislike leaning on it without heaving a Tellah like ability charge and Tellah is no longer a A lister (capped and can't gain Xp and I've got much better healers/mages now). Vanille's SSB would be amazing for that.

All this said, I'm sneaking through Ultimate and U+ content now so I'm not in a big need of these skills yet - but I think Meteor R2 would be good with my many powerful mages.