Final Fantasy Record Keeper VIII: Whale-ever

[oxybe]

Spoiler: Orbs

Show

TYPE 3* / 4* / 5*
POW 303/202/123
WHT 320/113/31
BLK 70/116/85
SUM 137/2/10
NE 340/61/55
FIR 322/101/122
ICE 39/108/80
LIT 280/54/62
EAR 473/137/101
WND 338/98/26
HOL 69/16/6
DRK 382/153/62

Other then Holy and Summon being low, I'm good. Holy is so low because I R3'd MultiBreak and I'm currently coming off having R3'd Tiamat, so summon and wind took a bit of a hit (though we're getting a bunch of wind orbs, like... 36 within the next 6-7 events, unrelesed FFIX Ultimates included). with 72 theoretical i'm still quite a bit off from R3ing everything I would like and be happy with a bunch of R2's, while focusing on the Wednesdaily.

On the flipside, I really should get around to R3ing Fullbreak. I have the Power, Ice and Lightning orbs to spare.

Only Back, Dark and Wind seem to be an issue for me to an extent. Black in case I want to R3 my Chainagas (which I can do 2 of) and Dark seems to be highly common of late, though we're getting like...26 in the next 6-7 events. 107 potential dark orbs means I can R3 1-2 things and have some left over, I'm just curious as to what the upcoming Necrofear ability uses other then dark orbs.

On Fuujin:

She pairs very nicely with Alphinaud if you have a wind team, which is one reason i'm looking forward to her. Alphinaud BSB (DPS Spam), Faris SSB (ImpWind and breaking), Fujin BSB (resistance murder).

She also carries : Black Magic 5, White Magic 4, Support 4, Ninja 5, Shooter 5. That's a lot of versatility when it comes to doing different types of elemental damage, applying status effects, applying stat breaks and more. It's a shame she can only use Daggers, thrown and rods, but still a ton of stuff she can pull off. At 178Mag @80, she's no OK when it comes to Ninja duty, but she can still apply a good amount of hurt on the magic side of things, and can be dived for a potential 209Mag.

[danzibr]

Only for mage teams. Her BSB has -40% Mag/Res on entry, and -30% Res on command 2.

Ooohhhh I see. Yeah that sounds much better.

[Greg_S]

Lightning suffered the penalty for being in 3 games and never developing a personality. CM is down. Went with a mage squad: Serah, Sazh, Vanille, Hope, and Raines. Sazh booned, Vanille burst, Serah summoned Raines as RW, Hope used all 3 charges of Titan then did the same, while Raines did MM/DZ. Being entirely in the back row helped cut down commando phase's damage, and she didn't make it back to commando, as each command from my attackers was hitting for about 19K. No mastery, since I couldn't interrupt her, and I lost a medal for damage. I wish Dr. Mog had mentioned that she had Watera, because I would have left the Gigas Armlets at home. I'll refight her with team Siege Tank and show no mercy.

Next on the list: Apoc. Bart and the non-NUCLEAR warmech.

EDIT: Fujin can carry an extra shellga/protectga for VIII CMs, plus she's got good magic and ninja access. Her burst not only does the mag/res AoE breakdown, but it's also instant-cast. Command 2 has the mental break if needed, and command 1 is a wind-elemental, 4-hit -ja spell with half casting time. Her BSB thrower boosts wind damage too. This all adds up to her being able to start with shellga/protectga round 1, then launch the 5* fujin guard ninja skill a few times until her SB gauge is full. Once that happens, go into burst mode, spam command 1, and you should never leave it. You'll keep debuffs active on the enemy the whole time.
For extra ridiculousness, do as Oxybe suggested, combining her BSB with Alphinaud's, and then add Zack's burst with its imperil and short-casting commands. Now everyone's firing skills at a weakness at double or instant casting time.

[SuperPanda]

On Fuujin:

She pairs very nicely with Alphinaud if you have a wind team, which is one reason i'm looking forward to her. Alphinaud BSB (DPS Spam), Faris SSB (ImpWind and breaking), Fujin BSB (resistance murder).

She also carries : Black Magic 5, White Magic 4, Support 4, Ninja 5, Shooter 5. That's a lot of versatility when it comes to doing different types of elemental damage, applying status effects, applying stat breaks and more. It's a shame she can only use Daggers, thrown and rods, but still a ton of stuff she can pull off. At 178Mag @80, she's no OK when it comes to Ninja duty, but she can still apply a good amount of hurt on the magic side of things, and can be dived for a potential 209Mag.

I've not been too hyped for her but I soon I'll be all "HYPE!"

I do have Alphi Burst and Faris Imperil. I do have Cardina+++ for magical thrown and Edea SSB (only 5*) as well. So she will have access to my highest Mag off synergy relic.

I already have a strong VIII team:
Squall (weak link) with SSB and Spell Blade 6* access.
Edea with +20% Faithga/hastega and Ice SSB (versus Rinoa with SSB)
Selphie with SSB (Mblink!)
Laguna with Imperil Ice SSB
Irvine with Fullbreak and fast ammo

I'm hoping to pull Almansy Revolver at the DU lucky to replace Squall with Seifer (Knight 6* access) or Squall's OSB so that he can give his enemies the cold shoulder as well as his allies (His en-ice jacket or Bartz's en-wind armor are what I'm thinking of grabbing from Tyro select 3 if I choose to pull there).

[danzibr]

Fujin can carry an extra shellga/protectga for VIII CMs, plus she's got good magic and ninja access. Her burst not only does the mag/res AoE breakdown, but it's also instant-cast. Command 2 has the mental break if needed, and command 1 is a wind-elemental, 4-hit -ja spell with half casting time. Her BSB thrower boosts wind damage too. This all adds up to her being able to start with shellga/protectga round 1, then launch the 5* fujin guard ninja skill a few times until her SB gauge is full. Once that happens, go into burst mode, spam command 1, and you should never leave it. You'll keep debuffs active on the enemy the whole time.
For extra ridiculousness, do as Oxybe suggested, combining her BSB with Alphinaud's, and then add Zack's burst with its imperil and short-casting commands. Now everyone's firing skills at a weakness at double or instant casting time.

She seems pretty decent. Definitely better in a Wind team. I don't think I'd ever put her on my A team though.

*But* I do love the instant-cast SB's. Back when I got Shadow's Ichigeki, one of my first SSB's in fact. I'd like Zell's, and really want Noel's. I'd use her for sure, just not A team.

Unrelated to this, anyone LB3 Serah? Her RM looks good.

EDIT: Oh yeah, anyone doing the green thing instead of Sundaily? It gives surprisingly good exp, and I'm finally to the point where I don't need exp. In fact, I'm concerned I'm going to run out of people to level.

[Antonok]

EDIT: Oh yeah, anyone doing the green thing instead of Sundaily? It gives surprisingly good exp, and I'm finally to the point where I don't need exp. In fact, I'm concerned I'm going to run out of people to level.

Been running Yuna thru the greens dungeons. Picked up her MCIII lode for the +30% summon damage (not a bad pick up considering the coming nightmare dungeon). May end up switching to sundaily for the extra eggs though, and the fact that the stupid light shafts they added in the greens dungeons makes my phone want to riot.

[oxybe]

Currently running Zidane solo through it with Luneth's RM3 for bonus XP gain, gained 11 levels, bringing him from 80 to 91 since the event started.

Once Zidane is 99 I still have Beatrix and Papalymo to toss through the level-up wringer and get them to 99.

Serah? She is in consideration for MC3. I got her boostga and i'm playing around with team comps right now, trying to see what I can potentially do with her. It's in competition with Alphinaud's Deployment Tactics and Papalymo's Ley Lines, but in teams where I want to actively use Alphinaud's Aerial Blast it's nice to have a 2nd native faithga I can stack with an RW'd Raines BSB

the 15% magic boost RM is pretty sweet but it's in direct competition with Devotion, Ace Striker/Battleforged/Knight's Charge and Dr.Mog/Mako Might for RM space on a team.

but another Lv99 caster? hard to pass up.

[Red Fel]

Ahh, Sundailies. Yeah, the mini-exp green dungeons are nice, but nothing beats the classic. Plus it looks like I'll probably max out my entire X cast in levels before the X event drops later this week. So, you know, selection. (But let's be honest, I'm not using Kimahri.)

Side note, the subreddit has a nice convenient list of upcoming events, including new characters, abilities, SBs of note, and wardrobes in each. Note that much of this is subject to change, particularly the XI event, given how XI events have been handled in the past (as in, they haven't).

Also, another breakdown of the DU28 Lucky Draw has been posted. Assuming the banner is curated to include only SSB+ relics, that's a total of 67 relics - 3 OSB, 21 BSB, 43 SSB. That gives you a better-than-1/3 chance at a BSB or OSB. And again, it's half price. Remember, it drops Tuesday night, so make sure you have your 25 mythril ready.

[Merlin the Tuna]

If this is correct, we'll be getting round 2 of the Torment dungeons monday. This will be a FFX synergy, with a water weakness.

Interesting. Not really sure what the ideal approach will be for me.

• Tidus with BSB is a total lock.
• Terra with BSB is a strong contender
• Ramza makes a strong case for himself by way of Water Veil and Tailwind, especially since I've got Edge's +water katana
• Gilgamesh with OSB is always relevant, and tauntaliate may be necessary since Geo apparently has a chance to petrify on his attacks.
• Alphinaud with Deployment Tactics can always contribute, even if it's just that + R4 Leviathan

I'm thinking probably Tidus/Ramza/Gilgamesh, but Gil's spot is conditional on the enemy AI, I guess. Gordon (reverse wall) and Arc (curaga medica) take the last two slots. I don't think I'm Cid Missioning this without serious help from the Summoner Lucky through, which I think means that I'm now essentially banking on an 11/11 pull to fulfill all my various plans.

As for short term stuff though, I'm still giving Sundaily preference for powering Gil, Tidus, and Alph towards their respective caps, but I'll likely give the greens dungeon priority every other day while it's around. The greens payout seems pretty modest, but the experience with synergy is spectacular.

[Antonok]

Interesting. Not really sure what the ideal approach will be for me.

The stats for this Torment are up. Looks like a physical team is the way to go with him, as his Res is significantly higher than his Def. He uses mostly physical, but has an AoE magic attack so split defenses. The biggest things to watch out for is his Swallow/Spit which deals 75% current HP, and his Stone Punch which has a 9% chance to Petrify.

If you care to wait for the X event, we will be getting both Ultra Cure (curaja + esuna), AND Engulfing Twinstrike which is a 2 hit water element spellblade.

Edit: Should be getting the IX Ultimates tonight, and the Zidane U++ is going to be interesting. Low def/res but he throws out an insane amount of status effects.

[danzibr]

Whelp, exhausted all my MC3's. Have 6 people to get to 99. Currently running Beatrix and Dagger through the green dungeon. Wish I had another for Kuja. Guess I'll do that with the upcoming U+.

Beyond that, I have only one single non-core person beneath 80. Ahh, yeah.

[Greg_S]

Edit: Should be getting the IX Ultimates tonight, and the Zidane U++ is going to be interesting. Low def/res but he throws out an insane amount of status effects.

Tauntaliate works really well on Zidane. Use Raines RW for the CM.

[Merlin the Tuna]

The stats for this Torment are up. Looks like a physical team is the way to go with him, as his Res is significantly higher than his Def.

At D200, Geo's DEF/RES are 5107/6417 compared to the triplets' 5015/6724. At D250, Geo's are 6134/8525 vs. their 6257/8410. So he's actually slightly more mage friendly than they were at D200 and slightly less so at D250, though the difference is ultimately negligible. I'm inclined to say that mages will have a better time if they can stack a couple buffs (as is standard mage operating procedure) and can scrounge up multi-hit magical water damage. The latter is likely the bigger issue - Leviathan and Terra BSB are pretty much it at the moment, I think.

For posterity, Ifrit's DEF & RES were 3848. Those were the days.

[SuperPanda]

Ugh, X synergy. Ugh, water teams.

Bartz will likely continue to headline with quad splash strike. Edge nught come play with Eblan water veil (and his +water katana). Other than that? More or less likely to keep the same team as before though.

Against piglets garnet did more were her burst commands against green than with fat chocobo but she had a synergy +holy staff which I don't have in X. The swallow > massive damage says "tactical deployment" to me. The chance to petrify says garnet bsb to me. Everything torment says bring wall to me.

I might swap Bartz for Faris and have keeper run tauntilate. Mblink could be wonderful here.

Seriously doubt I'll try a cm here. By V teams is miles better than X and couldn't even think cm without getting smacked.

Edit: it looks like I'm going to loose most if not all of my Sundaily time and waste a lot of stamina over the next few days.

Had a power out last night (got two full runs in first). Slept well and would have a full charge now but can't connect (vpn won't catch). Have to travel tonight (one day overnight and then on my way home the next). So the next chance I get to efficiently use stamina is the DU drop and I'll be trying to complete the event, MP, and new Torment at the same time.

Also have to proctor tests today for all my grade levels, so very busy week. On happier news I head out on my honeymoon just about when TG CID's event comes (there will be Internet in the lobby and room most likely). Small chance of missing the banners at which point I'll be getting much more valuable things. Most likely to catch them during a lazy morning.

[Antonok]

U and U+ are down. U was easy (Alph's BSB and Cloud's Climhazard tore through the first 2). Screw the U+ though. Cid Raines BSB puts out stupid amounts of damage but they can too. Specially if you screw up and trigger Beatrix's Climhazard.

[danzibr]

U and U+ are down. U was easy (Alph's BSB and Cloud's Climhazard tore through the first 2). Screw the U+ though. Cid Raines BSB puts out stupid amounts of damage but they can too. Specially if you screw up and trigger Beatrix's Climhazard.

Have any physical blink?

And man dat MP. Can't join a single battle.

[Antonok]

Have any physical blink?

Nope. Magic Blinks out the rear. no phys ones though.

Something very rage inducing: After completing the MP for the motes, I discover I'm 1 <long string of expletives> wisdom mote short of getting Alph 5* BLM. ONE!!!!

[oxybe]

So I finished the extra battles sans U++ and wow. Easy CM. What I basically ended up doing was bringing the metamorphosis claw as RW to the fight and it worked out pretty nicely.

Kuja, Vivi, Garnet, Quina & Eiko stepped to plate.

First we took down Rusty. Vivi opened with a RW, Garnet with her hastega/Regen/res boost, Kuja with Dark Flare Star, Quina with Fullbreak and Eiko with protectga.

Next round was Vivi going for the Command 2 self buff, Kuja with Mori, Garnet RW, Quina Power Breakdown and Eiko healing.

At this point it was over. Kuja DankZone'd for 20k, Vivi channelled his inner Kuja and Command 1 for 40k, Garnet self buffed, Eiko healed, Quina FB'd Beatrix.

Rusty just hung on. And here is where I goofed. Forgetting Metamorphosis's command 1is a powechain, I have Kuja Dark Zone Steiner to kill him knowing Vivi's command 1 won't be reflected by Beatrix as it's not a spell.

Hahaha... Vivi murdered Steiner instantly and Kuja's attack melted Quina on the reflect. Oops.

Either way Beatrix had taken some damage from the 2 self buffs and once the Command 1 spam of Vivi and Garnet started she couldn't live long enough to take advantage of dropping our HP to 1 before getting pummeled for ~80k that came after.

0 medals lost, 1 Quina down, no S/L.

EDIT: Forgot to 100 gem... Rusty's BSB. :D

[Forbiddenwar]

Been focusing on leveling characters here. Less RNG.
I now have just 40 at <65, and 10 characters at 65. The rest are 80+.
Might be a waste of mithril, but sometimes relic hunting feels like a waste too. And I hate getting a great relic for a level 1 character.

Don't know if I'll bother with the cores, however. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

[Greg_S]

100 gems scored me Freya's BSB. After failing miserably twice last night against warmech, I brought her and a mage team. Freya had wrath and sky high. I wrathed her to 3 bars, then went en-wind SSB, BSB, SSB, followed by two sky highs. All in all, it was pretty effective, and Ashe's BSB as the RW shredded the thing. Can't wait to do this one again in 6 months in round 2 of the rematch dungeons, when it gets upgraded to Apoc + level.

I am not looking forward to Torment X. Doesn't look like there's much you can do beyond tank-and-spank.

[SuperPanda]

Finally able to connect again and I got a 5* on my single pull. Looks like rusty wants back on the IX team (likely kicking out queen bea). Zidane has his SSB, bea has her +def, rusty has AoE+paralyze and imperil fire.

Rusty himself and garnet can hit that fire weakness. Vivi often has to stay home for lack of relics (same with Kuja). Not likely to make A team but still rather nice.

[Morbis Meh]

Seriously F*CK zidane, F*CK his creator, F*CK his smug @ss grin, F*CK everything about his douchebag, troll @ss cheatery. U++ is beyond BS, they really need to swtich the AI because zidane's AoE spamming while self buffed, hasted (on top of his already garbage speed and attack) is just unfreaking believably stupid. I want to find the designer of this boss and punch them in their reproductive organs so their children's children will feel it for years to come.

[Cozzer]

"Oh, FF9 is my weakest realm, I'll just do an 11-pull and a 100-gem-pull and see what happens. Oh hey, FF9 is now my strongest realm."

Seriously: Zidane's OSB, Eiko's BSSB (my first healing BSSB), Garnet's Divine Guardian and two bracers with meh SBs but hey, I needed armor.

Makes me feel like I should sacrifice something to the RNG gods.

[Morbis Meh]

Nope. Magic Blinks out the rear. no phys ones though.

Something very rage inducing: After completing the MP for the motes, I discover I'm 1 <long string of expletives> wisdom mote short of getting Alph 5* BLM. ONE!!!!

I feel your pain, I am 2 short, though if mote dungeons open again I can take a crack at ifrit (newer content seems to be much harder now anyways) to get his sweet sweet wisdom motes...

I also finally managed to beat down Zidane for a mastery 2 medals lost (1 dmg and one for 2 KO's Arc and Y'sh...)

[oxybe]

U++ down thanks to mage team. Thank gods FFIX is one of my stronger realm so I had good gear to setup the party with.

Spoiler: Team comp for U++ and strategy/discussion

Show

Ashe - Tiamat R3, Chain Lighting R2 - Devotion - Dusk's Decree (didn't use)
Papalymo - Chain Firaga R2, Chain Blizzaga R2 - Mako Might- Ley Lines
Alphinaud - Alexandre R3, Quetzacotl R4 - Battleforged - Deployment Tactics (Didn't use)
Tyro - MultiBreak R3, Attack Breakdance R2 - Dr.Mog - Sentinel Grimoire
Arc - curaja R3, Protectga R2 - Ace Striker - Word of Kindness (didn't use)
RW - Raines: Metamorphosis

So this was a fight.

Had to S/L once for it, but managed to finish the fight with 0 medals lost and papalymo dead, rest of the party barely hanging on.

Simply put this fight. THIS. FIGHT.

With the amount of stuns, confusions and slows I didn't expect to get my three boostgas up so I setup Ashe such a way she could summon Tiamat's 3hit version with only 2 boostgas and devotion, which requires 592Mag. Thanks to Kuja's Punisher+++, Black Hood & a +30mag accessory, I got to 616Mag. Her Chain Tundagas and Tiamat hit damage cap. Lighting Goddess saved my butt.

Arc spent the entire fight slowed, stunned, or confused. He got protectga and a curaja off. then did nothing but look pretty. Tyro didn't fare much better. He SG'd got off a multibreak and spent a long time stunned. I chose dances over support for stat breaking so I could keep everyone in the back row.

With Papalymo I immediately RW'd, boosted and waited a few rounds before unleashing Ley Lines, waiting for most of the party to be slowed before unleashing to hastega. This helped, if only a little. Having run out, he still managed to hit damage cap with his Chainagas. He got 2 off before dying at the end of the fight, because Arc was unable to heal.

Alphinaud RW'd second, followed by boosting and spammed command 1. Alphinaud finished off the fight.

By the end of the fight though, everyone was slowed, stunned or nearly dead. Except Zidane, who was dead. The bugger.

And Papalymo too, I guess. He ain't a bugger though. He done did good.

It's done and i'm not touching it again.

EDIT: APOCA!BART DOWN. Gosh darn that team comp at 7:30am... Mastery, no deaths all at high health. Once in a lifetime.

Two OKs, Vaan and a ExDeath on damage duty. Me and the one OK on Breakdown/Multibreak duty, I has walls for days, my Aerith and their Y'shtola on BSB healing duty and a Greg doing dispel and drawing magic alongside the ExDeath... Just beautiful. Never expected this kind of cooperation with randoms.

Ended up running
Tyro - Lifesiphon R3, Multibreak R3 - Dr.Mog - Sentinel Grimoire
Aerith - Curaja R3, Shellga R2 - Mako Might - White Materia

EDIT #2, APOCA!WALTZ BOOGALOO. Down. Solo.

Spoiler: Fight and setup

Show

Ashe - Tiamat R3, Maduin R3- Devotion - Dusk's Decree
Papalymo - Chain Firaga R2, Chain Blizzaga R2 - Mako Might- Ley Lines
Alphinaud - Alexandre R3, Valefor R3 - Battleforged - Aerial Blast
Tyro - MultiBreak R3, Magic Breakdance R2 - Dr.Mog - Sentinel Grimoire
Rose - Wrath R4, Shellga R2 - Ace Striker - Divine Heal
RW - OK : Vessel of Fate

Surprisingly easy. Thank you Tiamat & Aerial Blast.

As said before, 592Magic with devotion allows Tiamat to hit 3x with only 2 faithgas. Alph RWing in Vessel of Fate + Papa's Ley Lines solves that problem... and boy does it just chunk the HP off these waltzes. Waltz 2 and 3 each take 30k per use. Waltz 1, who's hit for neutral still takes about 28k. This dragon is paying back it's Major Wind Orb investments in spades, having done about 250k damage between the three Waltzes!

Papa focused on Waltz 1 with his Chainagas while Alph used OK's command 2. Once Waltz 1 is down the other 2 aren't looking their best and it's Papa's turn to RW in OK while Alph turns on the Aerial Blast on Waltz 2 and Ashe Dusk's Decree on Waltz 3. They both fall rather quickly.

And then I got the fight completion screen and realized I didn't slow any of them. Would've mastered with 2 medals lost, lol.

Swapped out Chain Blizzaga for Slowga, did the fight again. Mastery, 1 medal lost.

Now, while I said "easy" they still hit pretty hard and can kill you if they focus you down, even post-wall/shellga/multibreak/breakdowndance, but that's really all they do: 3 targets that launch damage. no tricks unlike Zidane.

[Hunter Noventa]

H-how can anyone say the U is easy? Counters for 5k? Wind Slash for max damage? What the hell?

[danzibr]

H-how can anyone say the U is easy? Counters for 5k? Wind Slash for max damage? What the hell?

Uhh. They weren't doing anything near that to me. Protectga, Shellga, Wall, Full Break. Maybe Power and Magic Breakdown. I think when I got my defenses up, I didn't see any damage over 1k.

[Morbis Meh]

H-how can anyone say the U is easy? Counters for 5k? Wind Slash for max damage? What the hell?

Yeah I was running Faris reverse wall, mug bloodlust, phys breakdown with wall and proshellga they died a quiet death... U+ was annoying since Queen B had her broken reduce everyone to 1 hp shtick but she like many before her died in agony. I didn't run my mage team with Zidane but maybe that would have made a difference maybe not, I shall never know for it is in the past.

[Hunter Noventa]

I came in with Stoneskin, Power/Magic Breakdown and Shellga. Didn't really have space for Protectga but i guess I might need it. Still should be seeing the 5k damage i was seeing on bosses two and three though. My character synergy with IX is crap so I'm just bringing my A-Team and they shouldn't be having this much trouble.

[danzibr]

I came in with Stoneskin, Power/Magic Breakdown and Shellga. Didn't really have space for Protectga but i guess I might need it. Still should be seeing the 5k damage i was seeing on bosses two and three though. My character synergy with IX is crap so I'm just bringing my A-Team and they shouldn't be having this much trouble.

Could be base Def/Res too, I guess. I don't have great IX synergy, but brought in high level people (all 80+, a couple at 99) with good armor. I'm quite certain Protectga doubles your Def, as does well (additively). So... could be the difference between tripling say 150 or 300.