Final Fantasy Record Keeper VI: I'm no Whale! I'm a RELIC Hunter!

[danzibr]

Dr. Mog's Teachings and Mako Might are #1 and #1a. After that, Healer's prayer and the 20% damages, definitely. Rebel's Might (Firion's RM2) has a spot on my list too for supports. Devotion is great.

For characters who are going to stick with a single attack type and who lack a damaging SSB, the +30% job damages are useful. Knight for when you stick someone with Banishing Strike/Saint Cross, and a machinist can hit pretty hard with Setzer's RM. The Dragoon one (Fang) is nice if you've honed dragoon jump, but if you're only using the elemental jumps, then the same caveat applies as with spellblades- you're likely using them against weaknesses and you may hit the damage cap easily. When Thief comes out, combining the 6* thief ability with thief's revenge could be nasty, pushing TR up around Full Charge-level damage.

As for upcoming banners, things get nuts after the fest, so much so that I've seen people on Reddit say they're skipping the fest for the new banner format. Here's what's on the FF5 event following burstfest's first banner:

• Gilgamesh's BSB: Gives you sentinel, plus one burst command adds retaliate. Tauntaliate with actual damage now!
• Faris' BSB: Full Breakdown plus burst commands of attack and magic breakdown
• Krile's Sheep Song SSB: Mag +30%, Hastega, and Heavy Regen
• Faris' SSB, Sea Dragon Storm: SSB-level AoE Wind/Lightning Damage plus imperil wind
• Bartz' SSB Excalibur
• Exdeath's SSB, Neo Almagest: The laws of physics are broken! AoE damage and party magic blink. The armor also gives a magic bonus and a dark boost.
• The only SB on the banner, Bartz' Hurricane Tomahawk, which is a little AoE damage (~4x, 2/3 of AoE SSBs) and en-wind.

That's a crazy banner! It's at that point that SSBs start to become normal banner prizes instead of the rarer pulls that we have now. The event after that has Celes's BSB, and by that point, we're just 4 events away from the advent of OSBs and possibly the guaranteed 5* per 11-pull that JP has now.

Yeah, it's right after the double BSBfest, but I think I'll save at least 100 mythril for that banner.

[Jurai]

Yeah, it's right after the double BSBfest, but I think I'll save at least 100 mythril for that banner.

Inheritor of Tomorrow (Current JP Event) Banner #2 not only has Gilgamesh's Overflow, but also his Burst and his Super. I'm saving for a three-pull there currently. Mainly because if I do that, I think Cloud is going away for just a smidgen, depending on my pull. Where 'just a smidgen' means for eternity.

[danzibr]

Inheritor of Tomorrow (Current JP Event) Banner #2 not only has Gilgamesh's Overflow, but also his Burst and his Super. I'm saving for a three-pull there currently. Mainly because if I do that, I think Cloud is going away for just a smidgen, depending on my pull. Where 'just a smidgen' means for eternity.

Wwhhhhoooooaaaaa that's crazy. Crazy.

[Calemyr]

By the way, is the 4* mote dungeon going to be available to anyone, or just those who've cleared Ultimate+?

[Jurai]

By the way, is the 4* mote dungeon going to be available to anyone, or just those who've cleared Ultimate+?

Having seen it in JP, it's open to everybody.

[Slayn82]

Wwhhhhoooooaaaaa that's crazy. Crazy.

Someone on Reddit pulled the 3 Gilgamesh Relics from that banner in a single 11-pull. Yeah, Crazy.

Trying to decide if I hone Thief's Revenge to R3, or get PowerChain to R2 along with something else. Probably TR, to keep my Thieves competitive with SSB spamming.

[Greg_S]

Inheritor of Tomorrow (Current JP Event) Banner #2 not only has Gilgamesh's Overflow, but also his Burst and his Super. I'm saving for a three-pull there currently. Mainly because if I do that, I think Cloud is going away for just a smidgen, depending on my pull. Where 'just a smidgen' means for eternity.

I pulled from banner #1, got Dorgan's SSB, Galuf's BSB, and Moore Branch. I can now buff my party up to 200% attack with RocketShout and Dorgan's boost. JP is insane.

In other news, I think have a plan for the U+ Cid Mission. I've got Edea's mage boostga and some elemental boost gear, so I'm going mage meta with Slayn's runic as my RW. Rinoa and Quistis will spam -jas, Edea Dark Zones, and Irvine runic tanks. I may just barely have the damage to clear it if the damage calc is correct.

[Simkin]

Bahamut U+ down. Spent a few mythril building up my bars. Had a lot of mitigation going and he still hurts bad once he starts spamming. Only thing I didn't use was blind. Had magic break, full break, protectga, shellga, SG, slow. Toward the end I was essentially spamming my full heal every other turn. Glad it's done.

[danzibr]

First, grats to people on victories!

Second, unless KBP just doesn't list Ifrit's physical attacks as passing over Retaliate, that looks like a solid strategy. Probably not Advandrawtaliate (or, well, maybe), but all of his physical attacks are single target, let you focus your mitigation. That's what I'mma try anyway.

[Starwulf]

Well, after not playing since I got annoyed that no blind landed even once during my first attempt at the U, I finally got back around to giving it another go. Went same as the first, with the sole difference of blind landing. Lost no medals except no slow, so I still got full mastery. This had to have been one of the easiest U's I've ever faced off against, and my VIII synergy is pretty damn awful.

First, grats to people on victories!

Second, unless KBP just doesn't list Ifrit's physical attacks as passing over Retaliate, that looks like a solid strategy. Probably not Advandrawtaliate (or, well, maybe), but all of his physical attacks are single target, let you focus your mitigation. That's what I'mma try anyway.

Well, I can tell ya one thing it doesn't work on, and that's his "Punch" attack. I had JUST applied Draw fire, and it completely ignored Gilgamesh and hit Faris instead.

Also, I already hate this boss, he attacks wickedly fast, my entire party is almost dead and I've only been fighting for 2 rounds ><

Edit: And my entire group is wiped out already. I'm not even bothering, there is just no way, I had full mitigation up, and he still carved his way through my party in big bloody swaths >< Even if I spent a mythril to fully charge all my SB/SSB/BSSB/'s, I'm not going to be able to handle this guy. I barely took out 1/5th of his hp before he wiped me out.

[Simkin]

First, grats to people on victories!

Second, unless KBP just doesn't list Ifrit's physical attacks as passing over Retaliate, that looks like a solid strategy. Probably not Advandrawtaliate (or, well, maybe), but all of his physical attacks are single target, let you focus your mitigation. That's what I'mma try anyway.

Let us know how you make out. My first try was utter defeat. Even with it being my VIII team and not my A team it was still daunting. Checked out the comments on the site and there seems to be very few people having even remote luck.

[Slayn82]

Did my first dance with Ifrit, using my current A team for ultimates - for anyone that missed, it's Ramza with Shout, Celes with Invencible Blade, Beatrix with Seiken Shock, Minwu with Will of the White Mage, and Tyro with Shield Grimoire. My choice of RW was Mog's Heroic Harmony.

So, only Celes could deal Ice damage, and physical at that. In compensation, the team is very good at not dying to magic. Managed to beat Ifrit to his last 15% HP on my first run, and then ran out of hones - something that shouldn't be possible, as Ifrit was spamming magic the whole fight, and Celes was receiving it on her Runic. I estimate he was with 5% HP then.

I had a full R4 Drain Strike and a R4 Blizarra Strike - and Runic didn't refill my Blizarra Strike, so I was left with only Drain Strike. Argh. Celes lasted quite a bit, and even managed to throw her SSB, but once Ifrit used a punch, she went down.

Also, it was quite draw out. It exceeded the two Heroic Harmony uses, and Beatrix used her R4 Lifesiphon/R2 Shellga and many SSBs.

With this setup, and a mythril for some starting SB and preferably extra ability uses, I'm confident on beating him. Maybe hone Power/Magic Breakdowns to R4, Curaja,Lifesiphon and Blizarra Strike to R5 - money is low, just 1 million. But still gonna complain on Reddit about the Runic issue.

[SuperPanda]

Tried Ifirit once with my normal A team.

Got it to about half health before wall dropped and he slammed me with meteor twice in a row.

Magic was working much better than physical - so I might wait for a song of swiftness RW and bring lulu, Rinoa, Rydia, (except I don't have that many ice spells).

With her RS and weapon++ Rinoa was hitting Blizzaga for 7000 while squall with his weapon and shout was hitting Blizzara strike for ~5000. Cecil was only hitting for ~ 3000 with banishing strike with Excalibur and platinum shield after shout.

[Slayn82]

RW options weren't cooperating, so I decided to RW wall and bring Irvine instead of Tyro. Switched Celes Drain Strike to a R3 Bizzaga strike, and Beatrix got a second R4 Lifesiphon, while Minwu changed got her shellga. Early Ifrit punches hard, causing lots of S/L, but once you pass the early game, damage flows well. Yet, only reduced Ifrit to 25% HP, before rocks fell and everyone died. Heroic Harmony and Tyro as second support seems to be my best option.

[Morbis Meh]

Wow... I have not experienced such domination since I was 4 and tried to arm wrestle my father. I looked at the reddit page and glimpsed at Ifrit's stats: Level 255 wtf?!?! 655 speed, +3000 def, 856 res, 326,200 hp... There is simply no way for a f2p player to win unless they have heavily favored FFVIII (which from what I have read is quite lackluster).

Going to pass on this one.

[Hunter Noventa]

Wow... I have not experienced such domination since I was 4 and tried to arm wrestle my father. I looked at the reddit page and glimpsed at Ifrit's stats: Level 255 wtf?!?! 655 speed, +3000 def, 856 res, 326,200 hp... There is simply no way for a f2p player to win unless they have heavily favored FFVIII (which from what I have read is quite lackluster).

Going to pass on this one.

He doesn't just have absurd speed, he definitely acts twice per round. I took my A-team, had Magic Breakdown, Power Breakdown, Protectga, Shellga and Sentinel's Grimoire up and he just tore right through it all without even using Hellfire. They may have slightly overtuned this, because I don't think any amount money, save spending about 100 mythril on buffing, would let you beat this guy.

[Red Fel]

He doesn't just have absurd speed, he definitely acts twice per round. I took my A-team, had Magic Breakdown, Power Breakdown, Protectga, Shellga and Sentinel's Grimoire up and he just tore right through it all without even using Hellfire. They may have slightly overtuned this, because I don't think any amount money, save spending about 100 mythril on buffing, would let you beat this guy.

They did, actually, overtune it. The outpouring of rage and frustration in JP after this came out was so massive that they nerfed all subsequent Mote Dungeons, although they left him intact, for reasons. Also, quite a number of subsequent banners in JP featured numerous Ice SB relics, for what is surely an unrelated reason.

I've already written this guy off as impossible for me at present. Tried a good dozen times with multiple configurations. If I pick offensive options and one healer/buffer/wall, I can't get my mitigation up in time and I'm guaranteed at least one death within the first three rounds. If I pick defensive options and RW, I lack the damage output necessary to put a dent in him. I simply can't mitigate and hurt him.

I can also confirm that Punch ignores Draw Fire and Retaliate. Honestly, I didn't mind Punch; it was his regular multi-hit attack carving my healer in half that was problematic. That, and the fact that a single Firaja, with wall up but not Shellga, could one-shot some of my party, none of whom were below level 65.

A medica is absolutely necessary. A wall is absolutely necessary. Protect, Shellga, and Breakdowns are absolutely necessary. And if you can do all of those, and have damage output left, you might stand a chance.

This is just not happening for me.

[Jurai]

Global: Tried the Propagators. Ate a single-target Thundaga worth 5K. Noped my way back to Earth. They can keep Ragnarok for all I care.

JP: Did a three pull, got Faris' Bracer and Gilgamesh's Genji Blade. As soon as I confirm that I have Faris/recruit Faris, she's replacing Ramza. I have Pilot Force, so I don't need Shout, I've heard his BSB is jank, and unless his OSB gives the entire party Haste, Protect, Shell, and deals bonkers amounts of damage, even by OSB standards, I ACTUALLY regret recruiting him.

[Hunter Noventa]

They did, actually, overtune it. The outpouring of rage and frustration in JP after this came out was so massive that they nerfed all subsequent Mote Dungeons, although they left him intact, for reasons. Also, quite a number of subsequent banners in JP featured numerous Ice SB relics, for what is surely an unrelated reason.

I've already written this guy off as impossible for me at present. Tried a good dozen times with multiple configurations. If I pick offensive options and one healer/buffer/wall, I can't get my mitigation up in time and I'm guaranteed at least one death within the first three rounds. If I pick defensive options and RW, I lack the damage output necessary to put a dent in him. I simply can't mitigate and hurt him.

I can also confirm that Punch ignores Draw Fire and Retaliate. Honestly, I didn't mind Punch; it was his regular multi-hit attack carving my healer in half that was problematic. That, and the fact that a single Firaja, with wall up but not Shellga, could one-shot some of my party, none of whom were below level 65.

A medica is absolutely necessary. A wall is absolutely necessary. Protect, Shellga, and Breakdowns are absolutely necessary. And if you can do all of those, and have damage output left, you might stand a chance.

This is just not happening for me.

Wow, okay then. No wonder my all-80 party got creamed.

In other news, I'm a single dungeon from having all the classic dungeons finished! Then it will be onto the elites. Which will go a lot slower I imagine, since I've been clearing almost everything with Synergy teams. Except FFIII. Screw you FFIII.

[Merlin the Tuna]

There is simply no way for a f2p player to win unless they have heavily favored FFVIII (which from what I have read is quite lackluster).

It's one part FF8 characters being so-so (Irvine is bad, what even is Quistis, etc.) but from what I understand a lot of it is just FF8 banners tending to be poor and/or poorly timed. Right now is a perfect example: the banner itself is decent-ish, but everybody just burned mythril on BSB Fest and on the FF4 event.

In other news, I'm a single dungeon from having all the classic dungeons finished! Then it will be onto the elites. Which will go a lot slower I imagine, since I've been clearing almost everything with Synergy teams. Except FFIII. Screw you FFIII.

Congrats! I've been loving having the whole suite of Elites to clean up, and have been running full synergy for everything but FF2. It's super nice to be able to plan your core dungeon clears alongside the event schedule. Especially for realms like 8 and 9 that don't have a daily to power up in.

[Red Fel]

So in less humiliatingly disappointing news, the next Nightmare is expected to drop tonight. (Although, they haven't issued the usual announcement, so it might be delayed, I dunno.) Here's what you need to know!

First, banner. This is a Support Nightmare, which means Support characters will love the Lucky Draw. A list of Support characters and their relics can be found here, although there is no guarantee that these relics will be the ones on our banner, because DeNA.

Second, the bosses. We can enjoy the following punishment on our road to Nightmare CPU:

• 100: Gyges the Great (XIV). Medals for reducing his Atk, reducing his Def, and not getting KO'd. Gyges summons Stone Servants throughout the fight; both he and his servants use exclusively physical attacks, both single-target and AoE, so plan your mitigation accordingly. Gyges is also susceptible to Poison, Stop, and Stun, and the servants are susceptible to everything except Confuse and Berserk, so if mitigating is hard, consider some debuffs. Victory gets you orbs and a Hero's Soul.
• 110: Humbaba (VI). Medals for reducing his Atk, reducing his Mag, and not getting KO'd. He is weak to Poison (the element, not the status), resistant to Lightning, and - this is important - susceptible to Blind. His attacks are all single-target - physical attacks, magical (Lightning) attacks, and Thousand Needles. If you can Blind him, you only have to worry about his magic. Victory gets you orbs and an Empty MC.
• 120: Tiamat (I). Medals for reducing her Mag, reducing her Def, and not getting KO'd. Bad news, this version is immune to petrification. She also nulls Fire, Ice, Lightning, and Earth, so either bring some unusual elements (e.g. Water, Poison) or bypass casters altogether and go full physical meta. She is susceptible to Sap and Stun, which will help a lot. Her damage is almost exclusively magical AoEs, so things like Runic won't help; bring plenty of magic mitigation. Victory gets you orbs, crystals, and an Empty MC2.
• 130: Barthandelus (XIII). Medals for reducing his Mag, reducing his Def, and not getting KO'd. Good news, unlike the Ultimate Bart, this guy won't dispel wall. Bring both physical and magical mitigation here, and remember to target the Pauldron's and Ailette's weaknesses for massive damage. Keep in mind that Bart and his adornments are all vulnerable to Slow and Stop; the adornments are also susceptible to Poison, Paralyze, Blind, and Sleep, while Bart suffers from Sap and Stun. Victory gets you crystals and the Torrent Armlet accessory.

That leaves us with the Nightmare boss, the CPU from IV. As always, the fight comes in three phases: the first phase, where you fight a boss on a timer; the second phase, where you try to kill the boss using special mechanics; and the third phase, which you hope to avoid because the boss will try to straight-up murder everyone ever every round. Medals are awarded for reducing the CPU's Atk, reducing its Mag, and reducing its Def.

• Phase 1: The CPU will start a countdown. You have five rounds to get to Phase 2, or it uses Quad Penalty, which is basically a wipe. You have to kill the Attack Node and Defense Node, and you have to do them both within a relatively short time or else they'll revive. So if you do bring casters, this is probably where you want them, because AoEs.
• Phase 2: The Nodes will return, and the CPU will count down from 10. The Attack Node will put a red aura above the CPU, and the Defense Node will put up a red barrier in front of it. After a few turns, they will do the same thing but purple. If you leave these glowy bits up, the CPU will power up, skip to Phase 3, and murder your face. To remove each enhancement, you need to use the corresponding Breakdown.
  • For the red aura, reduce the Attack of the Attack Node (top).
  • For the red barrier, reduce the Defense of the Defense Node (bottom).
  • For the purple aura, reduce the Magic of the Attack Node.
  • For the purple barrier, reduce the Resistance of the Defense Node (bottom).
  Keep in mind that if the buffs are reapplied before you remove them, they "level up" and take more hits to remove. Specifically, to reduce a stat, you want a Breakdown, Steal Power/Defense, or High dance. Now, here's where it gets interesting - if you remove the buffs, the Nodes are "exposed" and subject to "overheating." If you use a multi-stat debuff at this time (Atk/Mag on the Attack Node, Def/Res on the Defense Node), they "overheat" (turn red) and work for you. The Attack Node, during this time, will damage the CPU for 9999, and the Defense Node will heal your party for roughly 1.5k. Best way to do this? Denude both Nodes, then use Break Fever. The most important thing is to keep the Nodes alive so that they can continue to serve you. If you hit a Node with an appropriate Break while it is serving you (red), or kill it, it will explode for 9999 damage to the CPU; if both Nodes die, the CPU goes into Phase 3, and you'll probably wipe. Similarly, if the countdown hits 0, the CPU will use Quad Penalty, switch to Phase 3, and you'll probably wipe.
• Phase 3: CPU resurrects both Nodes, and uses Globe 199 to one-shot one character every round. It deals 6500-9999 damage, so you're going to die. Don't let him get to Phase 3.

Don't bother bringing casters to this fight. I mean, you can, but CPU uses Reflect, Defense Node resists everything except Poison, and Attack Node resists Earth. Really, what you want to bring are Breakdowns, dances, steals, and so forth. Keep the Nodes working for you and just abuse the CPU until it dies. Victory gets you crystals and the mostly-useless Quad Penalty record.

Happy hunting.

[Cozzer]

Well... it appears I have thoroughly estabilished that I'm not a bad enough dude to defeat the Ifrit. :( At least I'm in good company. At least I think I have a shot at this Nightmare!

[Red Fel]

Well... it appears I have thoroughly estabilished that I'm not a bad enough dude to defeat the Ifrit. :( At least I'm in good company. At least I think I have a shot at this Nightmare!

You probably do! Any Support character will have Nightmare synergy, and of course that includes Tyro Master Race, which means wall if you have SG. And there are some excellent Support characters, particularly if you have their relics - Wakka is pretty powerful, Gordon can be surprisingly effective, Faris' Sea Lord's Broadside is perfect for this fight... You have some solid options.

Again, keep in mind that this fight requires a lot of different abilities. If you don't feel comfortable honing multiple copies of Power Breakdown, you should definitely rely on High dances, Steal Power/Defense, etc. Ideally, if you can hone Multi Break to R3, you should be very solid on that front.

The only challenging part of this fight that I see is the first phase, given that you want to save ability uses. The Nodes have about 40,000 HP, and you need to burn them both down in quick succession. Barring that, though, I could see this going reasonably well for a well-prepared party.

Oh! There is one other thing I forgot to mention. The CPU's damage output is exclusively physical; the Attack Node likewise uses (ranged) physical; and the Defense Node uses heals. So there is no need for magic mitigation.

[danzibr]

Let us know how you make out. My first try was utter defeat. Even with it being my VIII team and not my A team it was still daunting. Checked out the comments on the site and there seems to be very few people having even remote luck.

My A team had plenty of defense, but the damage was awful. When Dr. Mog said Ifrit has high def, he wasn't joking. Definitely a job for a mage party.

[Greg_S]

It's one part FF8 characters being so-so (Irvine is bad, what even is Quistis, etc.) but from what I understand a lot of it is just FF8 banners tending to be poor and/or poorly timed. Right now is a perfect example: the banner itself is decent-ish, but everybody just burned mythril on BSB Fest and on the FF4 event.

The next FF8 banner continues this grand tradition. Loads of ice-elemental Ifrit killers, but it's the week before OSBs and (maybe) guaranteed 5*s on 11 pulls. FF8 also has very little in the 3* and 4* relic pool, so you can't cobble together a lot of synergy without hitting the banners. That's yet another reason FF8 realms are hit-and-miss.

Oh, Ifrit rocked my A-team. I forgot to change setzer's loadout to breaks, but I don't think I've got enough dakka to take down Ifrit yet anyway. I got him down to 75%, but he's too fast. Even with wall/shellga/moderate fire resist gear, AoE Firaja's dealing 1K to my mages. I'll see you in a few months, fire cavern.

EDIT: Really interesting reddit post on doing the CM for Ifrit. It relies on Edea using Rinoa's BSB to blast away his HP. Edea's essential because she can memento mori herself. Everyone else is there for healing/defense. Going to give that a go with my full A-team later tonight for the clear.

[Hunter Noventa]

Man the CPU sounds appropriately Nightmarish. I'll probably just take my cheap draw and be done with it, I don't have enough physical support users to do that when the only decent ones I have are Ramza, Fran and Faris, and of those only Ramza is 80.

[Merlin the Tuna]

Speaking of Nightmares, I think it's about time I finish up Crushdown and Ultima. At this point I'm pretty confident I can clear Ultima properly (ie no naked ninjas), but for Crushdown: is there any reason to actually attack the arms? From what I'm reading in the Enemy AI dump, it seems like the only point is to soften up the phase 2->3 transition, but you're supposed to win the fight during phase 2 anyway. So... kinda seems like a waste of time, as long as attacking the body won't push it forward too much?

[Chen]

My A team had plenty of defense, but the damage was awful. When Dr. Mog said Ifrit has high def, he wasn't joking. Definitely a job for a mage party.

I think his Res is the same as his Def (something absurd in the 3000+ range).

[danzibr]

(maybe) guaranteed 5*s on 11 pulls

Wait what?

Man the CPU sounds appropriately Nightmarish. I'll probably just take my cheap draw and be done with it, I don't have enough physical support users to do that when the only decent ones I have are Ramza, Fran and Faris, and of those only Ramza is 80.

I've read Multi Break makes the battle a lot easier.

I think his Res is the same as his Def (something absurd in the 3000+ range).

I had, uhh, quite a bit of success (?) with a mage team. Didn't play the sharpest, my Edward was only 65, but got him down to ~15%. This weekend I'll level Edward, then have another go. I think I can take him down.

Oh, and this is not even using any mythril. Yeah, I have a good feeling.

[Hunter Noventa]

I've read Multi Break makes the battle a lot easier.

I still only have that at 2 uses, and no dancers strong enough to survive. It's not like it won't be back.