Final Fantasy Record Keeper X-2: Gems, Mithril, Salt - In Position!

[darkdragoon]

Even busier today but it looks like both the record and realm updates hit. Upgrades for Nabaat seem interesting, Sazh and Hope could use more but tend to be "oh, yeah, they can do that"

[T.G. Oskar]

Just down to the Fire, Holy and Dark Magicites, and Bariaus Velius Belias is down!

Spoiler: Party Compo

Show

Keeper, lv. 99; Divine Veil Grimoire, Lustrous Shield, Gold Hairpin; Mage's Hymn R4, Wrath R5; LM2, LMR, DMT
Meia, lv. 99; Svetovid, Mellow Mermaid, Rosetta Ring; Voltech R4, Ogopogo R2; LM2, LM1, +Much Weak
Arc, lv. 99; Malicious Revolt, Leila's Bandanna, Aria's Ribbon; Curada R5, Dispel R4; LM2, LM1, Battleforged
Onion Knight, lv. 99; Rod of Water, Strago's Guise, Flame Cloak; Chain Waterga R5, Wrath R5; LM(BLK), LMR, Ace Striker
Edge, lv. 99; Conformer, Onion Knight's Helm (!?), Gulug Stone; Water Veil R4, Steal Power R3; LM2, LM1, MM
RW: Fabula Raider (Elarra)
Magicite: Famfrit lv. 99; Geosgaeno lv. 99, Syldra lv. 99, Quetzalcoatl lv. 99, Adamantoise lv. 99

SBs Used: GodWall, Keeper USB2, Meia Water Woke, Meia Glint, Arc Medica SSB, (occasionally) Arc USB, Onion mUSB, Onion Sage Woke, Edge USB0, Edge Gen 0 Chain.

So yeah - Edge managed to collaborate with his two most broken SBs - Gen 0 Water Chain and Eblan Doppleganger. Who knew?

As you may have noticed, it's basically Keeper + two DPS + healer + Chain. Edge is my only Water Chain holder, but to his fortune I bought his USB0, which is great because it not just gives me Haste and Last Stand, but also helps me avoid Belias' starting strike, which helps a LOT. With Onion Knight finally having his LMR, he can use the RW and then just casually load up on SB gauge. Meia, however, is main damage dealer because of Voltech, even though she works sorta like a Rinoa, where her contribution is less chain building and more rapid fire attacks.

That said, the battle begins rather slow, since Edge has to build his gauge from scratch, and the Keeper has to build some of the gauge to have his USB2 (Warder's Apocrypha) ready to fire. However, once that's done, I can ignore the Berserk effect Belias uses on slots 1 and 5, meaning I can just use the Keeper to provide yet another Magic boost.

But once again, Edge surprises, because Water Veil provides a rather early large amount of damage, and because he has W-Cast Ninja skills, he can reliably W-Cast Water Veil, so that's roughly 19k damage early on almost for free. Steal Power is there to negate Saber for the most part.

In any case, Belias just became a super easy fight. One thing I hate about this battle, though, is that Fire Rage is the opposite of most Rage modes, where they take less damage while at it. Belias, in comparison, takes more, so you want him to be on Fire Rage mode before firing the big guns (AKA, either Meia's or Onion's AOSBs).

That said, I got a win at 29.99 seconds. Sub-30 by a chinny chin!

Anyways, I also managed to beat Brush!Kain (geez, what a PAIN!) and snatched enough Record Sapphires for my first Hero Ability! And guess which one is it?

• Onion Knight's Onion Wizardry! This is a 5-hit Fire/Water/Wind/Earth BLK spell, which makes Onion Knight an insanely flexible character. For starters, it's BLK, so it can be W-Cast by him. Second, it covers four elements, so he can collaborate with the Fire, Earth, Wind or Water teams. And finally....well, it has the right balance of damage and hits that you want when using his Awakening, so done correctly, you can deal 15 hits worth of damage for up to 19k+ a hit. Badly measured, that's about 299k worth of damage on one hit, if used correctly. Hero Abilities are absurdly rare, but this one - and Bartz's - are must-haves, particularly since that leaves you free for the other source of DPS to use either Meltdown, Volltech, or Chain -ja spells.

So...what's your plans for when you get 100 Record Sapphires?

[danzibr]

Even busier today but it looks like both the record and realm updates hit. Upgrades for Nabaat seem interesting, Sazh and Hope could use more but tend to be "oh, yeah, they can do that"

It's a helluva banner.

Just down to the Fire, Holy and Dark Magicites, and Bariaus Velius Belias is down!

Spoiler: Party Compo

Show

Keeper, lv. 99; Divine Veil Grimoire, Lustrous Shield, Gold Hairpin; Mage's Hymn R4, Wrath R5; LM2, LMR, DMT
Meia, lv. 99; Svetovid, Mellow Mermaid, Rosetta Ring; Voltech R4, Ogopogo R2; LM2, LM1, +Much Weak
Arc, lv. 99; Malicious Revolt, Leila's Bandanna, Aria's Ribbon; Curada R5, Dispel R4; LM2, LM1, Battleforged
Onion Knight, lv. 99; Rod of Water, Strago's Guise, Flame Cloak; Chain Waterga R5, Wrath R5; LM(BLK), LMR, Ace Striker
Edge, lv. 99; Conformer, Onion Knight's Helm (!?), Gulug Stone; Water Veil R4, Steal Power R3; LM2, LM1, MM
RW: Fabula Raider (Elarra)
Magicite: Famfrit lv. 99; Geosgaeno lv. 99, Syldra lv. 99, Quetzalcoatl lv. 99, Adamantoise lv. 99

SBs Used: GodWall, Keeper USB2, Meia Water Woke, Meia Glint, Arc Medica SSB, (occasionally) Arc USB, Onion mUSB, Onion Sage Woke, Edge USB0, Edge Gen 0 Chain.

So yeah - Edge managed to collaborate with his two most broken SBs - Gen 0 Water Chain and Eblan Doppleganger. Who knew?

As you may have noticed, it's basically Keeper + two DPS + healer + Chain. Edge is my only Water Chain holder, but to his fortune I bought his USB0, which is great because it not just gives me Haste and Last Stand, but also helps me avoid Belias' starting strike, which helps a LOT. With Onion Knight finally having his LMR, he can use the RW and then just casually load up on SB gauge. Meia, however, is main damage dealer because of Voltech, even though she works sorta like a Rinoa, where her contribution is less chain building and more rapid fire attacks.

That said, the battle begins rather slow, since Edge has to build his gauge from scratch, and the Keeper has to build some of the gauge to have his USB2 (Warder's Apocrypha) ready to fire. However, once that's done, I can ignore the Berserk effect Belias uses on slots 1 and 5, meaning I can just use the Keeper to provide yet another Magic boost.

But once again, Edge surprises, because Water Veil provides a rather early large amount of damage, and because he has W-Cast Ninja skills, he can reliably W-Cast Water Veil, so that's roughly 19k damage early on almost for free. Steal Power is there to negate Saber for the most part.

In any case, Belias just became a super easy fight. One thing I hate about this battle, though, is that Fire Rage is the opposite of most Rage modes, where they take less damage while at it. Belias, in comparison, takes more, so you want him to be on Fire Rage mode before firing the big guns (AKA, either Meia's or Onion's AOSBs).

That said, I got a win at 29.99 seconds. Sub-30 by a chinny chin!

Anyways, I also managed to beat Brush!Kain (geez, what a PAIN!) and snatched enough Record Sapphires for my first Hero Ability! And guess which one is it?

• Onion Knight's Onion Wizardry! This is a 5-hit Fire/Water/Wind/Earth BLK spell, which makes Onion Knight an insanely flexible character. For starters, it's BLK, so it can be W-Cast by him. Second, it covers four elements, so he can collaborate with the Fire, Earth, Wind or Water teams. And finally....well, it has the right balance of damage and hits that you want when using his Awakening, so done correctly, you can deal 15 hits worth of damage for up to 19k+ a hit. Badly measured, that's about 299k worth of damage on one hit, if used correctly. Hero Abilities are absurdly rare, but this one - and Bartz's - are must-haves, particularly since that leaves you free for the other source of DPS to use either Meltdown, Volltech, or Chain -ja spells.

So...what's your plans for when you get 100 Record Sapphires?

Grats!

I'm thinking to get Noctis's HA. I have his Sync, and it's pretty good, but from what I read (and I agree by the looks of it), his HA turns the dps up to 11. I'm thinking to try Earth and Fire and Wind Odin before too long, only have Water beaten, and Noctis will definitely be on team Fire.

EDIT: Thinking hard about it, having beaten Water (weak) Odin, pretty confident I can do Earth, Fire, Wind, and Dark. Holy is a maybe, Lightning is a big lolno, and Ice is a doubtful.

[Chen]

So I havent played this in ages. I think I had recently gotten Cloud’s BSB which was hot stuff at the time. I assume its still worth continuing this account if I were to restart right? Or are there some bonuses that would make it more worthwhile to just start over?

[danzibr]

So I havent played this in ages. I think I had recently gotten Cloud’s BSB which was hot stuff at the time. I assume its still worth continuing this account if I were to restart right? Or are there some bonuses that would make it more worthwhile to just start over?

Welcome back!

You get bonuses for tots number of days logged in. Def don’t start over.

[T.G. Oskar]

So I havent played this in ages. I think I had recently gotten Cloud’s BSB which was hot stuff at the time. I assume its still worth continuing this account if I were to restart right? Or are there some bonuses that would make it more worthwhile to just start over?

It depends. If you stay with your old account, you should qualify for Devotion bonuses, which count the total number of days you logged in. These give you some Mythril and Bonus Draw tickets, which are 10x free draws from the entire list. Also, you get retroactive access to Magicites if you had unlocked them; otherwise, you need to spend some time clearing up quests in order to get to the earliest Magicites. (Same goes for new Torment Dungeons).

On the other hand, restarting means you have to start from scratch, but you get more Mythril due to starting all Record Dungeon quests anew.

In any case, it's kinda irrelevant for a variety of reasons - you can go on a Mythril splurge and do Realm/Elemental draws. Just choose the Realm you like the most, or the Element you feel is the weakest, and do the first pull at 15 Mythril. You're really aiming for Chains, Awakenings and Syncs now; most of the old relics are at the Anima Lens shop, and your best bet is to do the high-level dungeons and Record Dungeons to get as many Anima Lenses as possible. Not just that - with lv. 99 characters, you can get access to Record Spheres and Record Boards.

So...my recommendation is to log in with your previous account, see if you can handle some of the quests, and if not restart? Like...give it a one week trial with your old account and then decide?

[Chen]

Plugged in the old account and holy crap theres a lot to do. Should I just clear the regular and elite dungeons until those are all done? Or start somewhere else?

[danzibr]

Plugged in the old account and holy crap theres a lot to do. Should I just clear the regular and elite dungeons until those are all done? Or start somewhere else?

Top priority would be the stuff that goes away. Current events, and you get rewards for doing a 5*+ magicite daily (should do 2, need 14/week). Ideally build up to being able to auto a 5* magicite. Also record dungeons, get at least 10 done by August or something.

[Antonok]

Top priority would be the stuff that goes away. Current events, and you get rewards for doing a 5*+ magicite daily (should do 2, need 14/week). Ideally build up to being able to auto a 5* magicite. Also record dungeons, get at least 10 done by August or something.

I would recommend doing all the record dungeons if you can afford the time investment. A whole lot of crystal waters (upgrade material) and a decent amount of mithril. Aside from just a few battles, there's no need for any regular party since the scenarios are locked into certain equipment/levels/abilities.

On another note: This upcoming maintenance on Tuesday/Wednesday should come with the Books of Creation II & III (notable since one gives free copies of 5* magicites) along with some other things.

[Chen]

So whats the meta now? I was using Advance/relaliate and some combination of Wall/Haste along with the few BSBs I had. Is using Lifesiphon to spam SBs still normal? Or has everything crept so much that this is all pointless? Also in terms of gear should I still be keeping all these various realm gear pieces at 4-5* or is it just a waste of space now?

I finished one of the temporary events even the ultimate one just with a random setup I had for that realm and basically P. cecil’s BSB that carried it. Didnt seem overly hard.

[danzibr]

Big time Elemental focus. Chains, imperils, magicites, weaknesses.

There’s a bit of Lifesiphon going on. 6* hitting weakness gives a lot of gauge. And getting hit a lot.

Top priority is probably getting a real nice healer USB from the shop. Takes lenses, get them from dupes and record dungeons.

I suggest Rosa’s Rosa’s Guise (with her Wrath it’s constant quick cast) or Elarra’s Magika Album (she has Dancer and Bard), plus Tyro’s Divine Veil Grimoire.

Edit: also Tyro’s Keeper’s Cap. Slap Mako Might on him, turn 1 instant Haste + Shell + Protect + Wall. Bananas.

[T.G. Oskar]

Top priority is probably getting a real nice healer USB from the shop. Takes lenses, get them from dupes and record dungeons.

I suggest Rosa’s Rosa’s Guise (with her Wrath it’s constant quick cast) or Elarra’s Magika Album (she has Dancer and Bard), plus Tyro’s Divine Veil Grimoire.

dan, I think you need to explain why they're good. I have other suggestions in mind.

The recommendations are there because they're Instant Cast, meaning they're useful no matter what. Most people will die by Elarra, because...let's face it, she's a superb healer. However, I found someone who can out-pace Elarra in healing in nearly every aspect.

But, let's get to business. Elarra is the girl that looks like a female Tyro but with pigtails. She's one of the best healers in the game, and as dan mentioned, she has access to Bard skills (Bards got a couple of songs that get better the more you use them - Warrior's Hymn, Mage's Hymn, Goddess' Paean and Ode to Victory - plus Allegro con Moto for casters) and Dancer skills (they got a new 6* skill, Passionate Salsa, which is basically Full Breakdown + a minor Medica, which scales from 500 up to 1000 per use), plus the first of the USBs with the Regenga buff (heal 2000 HP every 2 seconds for about 8 seconds or so). She's a super complete healer with a lot of options. If you're going for Elarra, dive her (full Record Spheres) so you can get her two Legend Materias (one boosts healing, the other allows you to doublecast White Magic spells with a good chance of success), and maybe invest in her Legend Materia Relic (self-explanatory: it gives you access to new Legend Materias). Thing is, Elarra *can* be gained through Record Dungeons (the ones you access on the airship), but it takes some time, and you won't get Memory Crystals for her, so you'll have to invest on them through other means.

Rosa, on the other hand, offers two great USBs - one (Benediction) grants mBlink (avoid one magic spell, whether WHM or BLK) and HP Stock (like temporary HP, you get healed as soon as you take damage up to a certain amount) and is cast instantly. The one dan mentioned (White Mage Wonder, gained through Rosa's Guise) also grants Regenga, plus a quick cast effect that reduces the casting time of most attacks. As mentioned, Rosa has access to Wrath, so she can cycle it rather effectively, but on the other hand, she lacks all that Elarra has that makes her good (access to Bard and Dancer skills, doublecast WHM, etc.) and her Legend Materia is rather poor.

That said, I'd actually go for someone like Aerith or Sarah. The reason is because, while Regenga is good, you might prefer Last Stand (i.e., if you get killed, you instead survive with like 1% of your HP), and both Aerith and Sarah have access to both. Aerith's USB grants Last Stand and quickcast, her Legend Materia allows you to activate a mini-Medica with a small chance of success whenever you use ANY White Magic spell (about a 20% chance of success), and she has a Legend Materia Relic that allows doublecasting WHM spells (at a lower chance of success than Elarra, though).

However, I'd like to point Sarah (i.e., the princess from FF1) as a better choice, for the following reasons. Sarah, much like Elarra, has access to both doublecast WHM (through her Record Spheres) and a Legend Materia relic that allows activating a mini-Medica when using Bard skills (meaning she can potentially heal while buffing, which is pretty cool; don't count on activating it a lot, tho). She has two USBs on the Anima Lenses shop (the Record Lab, BTW); one of them is a decent buffing suite (+ATK/+MAG, Shellga, Hastega and HP Stock) and the other is an Instant Cast Medica that grants Last Stand. The key thing about this other USB is that it enables you Brave Mode (replaces your Attack command, becomes stronger when you use certain abilities). The command that replaces Attack when you use this USB is an Instant Cast Medica that's less powerful than the one you activate when using the skill, but the most important thing is that at full power it also grants Instant Cast to the entire party (i.e., you activate your abilities automatically). Since it powers up from both WHM and Bard uses, you can potentially use it twice for as long as the Brave Mode lasts. She also has a third USB that grants Regenga and Quick Cast, but it's not on the Anima Lenses shop. Other than lack of access to Dancer, Sarah is actually equal if not better than Elarra on almost everything - same Legend Materia, strong USBs, access to Record Boards which further enhance your character, and so on. Unlike Elarra, though, she can also provide a decent buff suite if you find someone who can Entrust her.

(Something to point out: if you're lucky, many of the other healers are also pretty good. Relm has both a Last Stand USB and a Regenga USB with a sweet rider effect that deals damage and provides Medica, but they're not on the Anima Lenses. Lenna has the same Legend Materia as Aerith but as a relic, and both a Last Stand USB and a Regenga USB ON the Anima Lenses shop. Also: you'll want to invest in Larsa, because there's a bunch of bosses who are now using auto-hit status effects which are super annoying, and can only be blocked by Astra - which Larsa offers in several flavors.)

Edit: also Tyro’s Keeper’s Cap. Slap Mako Might on him, turn 1 instant Haste + Shell + Protect + Wall. Bananas.

True.

Thing is, Legend Materia is expensive. You don't get many Lv. 2 Anima Lenses, and each Legend Materia Relic costs 3,000 of those, so it'll take a while to gain them. That said, Tyro's Keeper's Cap and Onion Knight's Cape are great choices, since they provide exactly the same benefit. Oh, do note that it's IC2, so you get two rounds of Instant Cast.

[Chen]

Jeez I barely recognize half the terms in those last posts. So Anima lenses let me buy relics but presumably not the new ones like these chain or sync ones. Something like Haste, shell, prot, wall all together just sounds ridiculous compared to what im using now.

[danzibr]

dan, I think you need to explain why they're good. I have other suggestions in mind.

[snip]

Excellent! Yes, thank you, Oskar. I fully intended to do a write-up when I got back to my computer (was on my phone).

Discliamer: some of this comes down to preference.

Preliminary note: a winning team, so to speak, usually has a CSB (Chain Soul Break), boostga/faithga (which is built into the so-called generation 2 CSBs), dakka, quick/instant cast, and Protectga+Shellga+Hastega+Wall. Sometimes you need Astra (status effect blink), and sometimes you don't need any defenses ('cause the boss ignores res/def).

With that said...

I disagree with a few points. I'll elaborate.

Quick cast *incredibly* useful (instant better of course, but harder to come by). Regular SB casting time is so friggin' slow.

As far as healers go, Rosa can cycle through Wrath Wrath USB Wrath Wrath USB et cetera. Every third (quick) turn, she's tossing out a full heal, giving Regenga, and giving everyone QC2. Plus, as you mentioned, she has other relics available, notably mblink. Note to Chen: nowadays tons of attacks can't be dodged, so blink isn't as useful as it used to be. Her LM does indeed stink.

Elarra can't Wrath so you won't be getting that constant quick cast, but she can do boostga/faithga wit Bard access (as well as buffing crit chance). Super handy. And Passionate Salsa is super nice when you get it, though I'd say it's kind of low priority.

I disagree with Sarah. I use her on my I team, but would never field her over Rosa or Elarra.

Larsa is the king of Astra. He also has a QC2 relic, but it's not in the shop.

Aerith is good for physical teams. QC3, but it only works on physical stuff. And Last Stand, yeah, that's nice, but I rarely see it used.

Rem's Heal+Bubble+IC1 is great, if you time things right.

Jeez I barely recognize half the terms in those last posts. So Anima lenses let me buy relics but presumably not the new ones like these chain or sync ones. Something like Haste, shell, prot, wall all together just sounds ridiculous compared to what im using now.

Yeah, Tyro's DVG is *absurd*. Turn 1, so many buffs. Outrageous, thinking about what we used to have to do.

Your general power increase is going to go something like...

-Do Record Dungeons to get crystal water and anima lenses.
-Buy Rosa's Guise/Magika Album, Divine Veil Grimoire, and Keeper's Cap from the shop (former for Rosa/Elarra, latter 2 for Tyro). Feel free to not take this suggestion.
-Grind mote dungeons to dive your characters. You really want their LM (Legend Materia). Some of it's kinda junk, some amazing (like Haste+IC3, Instant Cast 3).
-The details are unclear to me, but Wednesday we get free 3* (and maybe 4*?) magicite. Make your magicite decks.
-Grind out magia. I auto it on my phone, takes a couple hours. This will get you +100 attack or magic, and +10% damage for a particular element. Huge damage increase. I do +mind/health for healers.
-Get artifacts, specifically the non-realm ones. You get artifact stones from events, then rainbow crystals (used for upgrades) from converting gear into them. I strongly suggest getting the +mind dagger first, put it on your healer, they'll heal so much more.
-When you have Chains and Awakenings/Syncs, you're ready for 5* magicites (not that you *need* them, but boy it makes life easier).
-Do Torments and Dreams, whatever you can handle. These get you rubies, which get you certain 6* abilities.
-At some point look into Record Boards and Hero Abilities.
-All the while do events and regular dungeons for mythril, pull on banners when you feel like it.

Also, make sure you don't get rid of your armor that gives +elemental damage.

[T.G. Oskar]

I disagree with Sarah. I use her on my I team, but would never field her over Rosa or Elarra.

Trust me: I have a fully-decked Elarra and a fully-decked Sarah, and I find myself fielding Sarah more and more, specifically for those 5* Magicites.

I value Last Stand just as much as Regenga, because Regenga helps you keep on top shape, but doesn't help when things get rough (i.e.: Heca, which as you may recall was a pain for me). Sometimes, that Last Stand is the difference between a TPK and win. Elarra and Sarah have those options, but Elarra's easiest way to access it is through her BSB (which isn't IC), whereas Sarah's version is a Brave USB with a superb Brave lv. 3 command.

Other than that, they're extremely similar in many ways - both have the same LM2 and LMR, both have access to Regenga and Last Stand, both have access to Record Boards, and most importantly, both have access to WHM and Bard skills. The main difference is that Elarra has access to Dancer skills, easier access to Regenga and a Crit Damage+ buff, whereas Sarah has easier access to Last Stand, a Brave command that grants IC1 and a better buff suite.

It's not like I wouldn't field Elarra anymore, but I'm fielding Sarah a lot more. She's twice as valuable on Holy/Dark teams when O'Light or Garland are around, because her Regenga USB also offers a +Holy/+Dark boost.

And I'll debate you Wrath-cycling. It's great when it works, but most Magicite nowadays have annoying 1st-turn %-based attacks followed by a barrage of attacks that make that strategy dangerous. If I put DMT or MM on Rosa, that means I might not have it for someone else that could expend its Soul Breaks on Turn 1, such as Tyro (Godwall), Onion Knight (pUSB or mUSB) or a Chain holder.

[danzibr]

I checked my Elemental teams (I’ve beaten all 5* and auto’d most of them), looks like I use Elarra 7 times, Rosa 8 times, Aerith 3 times, Larsa 2 times. Yes, several double healers.

Current versions anyway.

[Chen]

I appreciate all these posts. So after a healer, I should be focusing on elemental teams for endgame.

For the time limited events I imagine those same teams work (unless they’re specifically immune to an element I guess). Any suggestions on which element to start with? And as for the team I presume its all just element synergy? Do you still want a support for breakdowns and stuff?

Is it also still important to have gear from every realm for synergy? I know that was a huge pain to move stuff around when I last played.

[danzibr]

I appreciate all these posts. So after a healer, I should be focusing on elemental teams for endgame.

For the time limited events I imagine those same teams work (unless they’re specifically immune to an element I guess). Any suggestions on which element to start with? And as for the team I presume its all just element synergy? Do you still want a support for breakdowns and stuff?

Is it also still important to have gear from every realm for synergy? I know that was a huge pain to move stuff around when I last played.

Whatever you happen to have relics for. For me it was physical Water (and it remains my strongest team to this day). Oh yeah, Poison never got any love.

For Support, Entrust is definitely a thing. Depending on the battle, different breaks/dances are super handy to overwrite buffs, but high end content has extreme break resistance.

Uhhhh realm synergy, sorta. For weapons you’ll get an over abundance of artifacts. Regular weapons until then.

Armor though, I never get rid of any of that.

[Red Fel]

I appreciate all these posts. So after a healer, I should be focusing on elemental teams for endgame.

For the time limited events I imagine those same teams work (unless they’re specifically immune to an element I guess). Any suggestions on which element to start with? And as for the team I presume its all just element synergy? Do you still want a support for breakdowns and stuff?

Is it also still important to have gear from every realm for synergy? I know that was a huge pain to move stuff around when I last played.

Dan and Oskar have answered these in large part, but here's another perspective.

First, focus on time-limited events, as stated, followed by grinding Record and Realm dungeons for those sweet, sweet mythrils.

Next, focus on your elemental teams. Eventually, you'll want one for each element (except Bio, poor forgotten Bio) in both PHY and MAG. These will become your Magicite teams. You need to clear Magicite to build up your Magicite deck, to help you with...

Your next job, which is building realm teams. Realm synergy gear is super useful, sure, but you'll probably end up looking more at certain bonuses - like elemental damage/resistance or status resistance - instead of raw numbers. This is especially true now that we have the Artifact Acropolis, which lets you purchase realm- or element-specific gear of your choice of type. (Focus on the latter.) It's a great way to fill in the holes in your teams without over-reliance on gacha.

What you'll want, though, are competent characters from each realm to take on the Torments, which are realm-specific endgame bosses who get weaker when you bring more characters from the appropriate realm. Those Magicites you farmed will be helpful for their elemental and status boosts, and clearing Torments will get you Rubies, which you can use to...

Complete your next task, which is buying 6-star abilities from the Ruby shop. These things are powerful. And you'll need them to take on harder Magicites, to build better Magicite decks, which will help you take on harder Torments, to get more Ruby abilities, which will help you take on harder Magicites...

That's the endgame cycle. It's worth noting that certain abilities fall by the wayside. For example, in Magicites, your SUP status breaks - your Breakdowns and such - will become effectively useless. However, it's always still good to have at least one competent SUP-user for each realm, because that same rule doesn't apply to Torments.

Basically, it boils down to starting with what you have - characters, gear, abilities - then focusing on an achievable task in front of you with that team, then slowly expanding to fill in gaps in what you don't have, then repeating the cycle. For instance, if you have an extremely strong FFVIII team, you can try to take on FFVIII events and Torments, build up resources, and maybe splurge on an upcoming banner for, say, FFV - which will allow you to take on harder FFV content.

As an aside, some realms have a natural elemental leaning. For instance, VIII is heavily Ice, X is heavily Water, and IX has a solid leaning towards Wind.

But yes. For endgame content, you will generally want - among more specific choices - three things. First, a Chain, either element or realm, to boost everyone's damage. Second, an Imperil, to make the enemy take more damage from your element of choice. And third, an En-Element, to boost the damage you deal of a given element. In addition, specifically on your healer(s), you will want a 0CT (instant-cast) SB, steady access to medica, W-Cast, and one or more of Last Stand, Astra, and/or ProShellHastega. Bonus if you cram several into one SB - most do.

There are also certain characters who stand out for their excellent coverage. Bartz is pretty much the ultimate Spellblade, giving him access to basically every element, and a role in almost every PHY team composition. OK is his MAG alternative, with bonus points for his excellent USBs - one with Boostga/Hastega, one with Faithga/Hastega - although his use as party booster eventually falls by the wayside as such abilities become more widespread. Then there are certain element-dedicated characters - for example, if you have good SBs for Ashe, you can't find a better LIT caster. Again, a lot of it comes down to that if - if you have the necessary SBs and LMRs, a given character gets elevated to "must have" status.

A general rule I followed was to do 3-star Record Dives for all characters, then 4-star dives for all characters with a USB or better (but eventually all characters), then 5-star dives for anyone I use with regularity - so at least one healer and SUP per realm, anyone with a Chain, and any go-to characters.

There are some things you don't need to worry about. I haven't used any Crystal Water, because Megalixir syndrome. And while I use Magia Points, I use them as I get them, rather than farming them - think of them as a tiny bonus for using a fully-leveled character, rather than a necessity. And if you mess up, you can reassign Magia Points, so there's really neither urgency nor concern about waste.

Just focus on your mythril for now.

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot! Speaking of the gacha, we now have realm- and element-specific banners, ongoing, that you can pull at any time. Your first 11-pull pull on a given banner - say, the Ice banner or the FFVII banner - is 15 mythril instead of 50, so if you're sitting on a large pile and need to catch up, it's a great way to do so. We also periodically get Realm/Element Tickets, good for one free 11-pull on the banner of your choice. So if you're not saving for a particular Fest - like the one we're expecting later this month - that's a great option for you.

[Chen]

I do have a fair bit if Mithral so is it worth pulling on all the element and realm banners (eventually)? Or once I hit a chain (hopefully) I should move to focus more on that type to build a full team up rather than spread it out?

[danzibr]

I do have a fair bit if Mithral so is it worth pulling on all the element and realm banners (eventually)? Or once I hit a chain (hopefully) I should move to focus more on that type to build a full team up rather than spread it out?

I’d say pull once on every single realm and elemental banner.

Also, I disagree with Red Fel on the ingredients of a team.

Chain, pretty much essential. Awakening or Sync, pretty much essential (btw the jump from USB to AASB is *huge*, AASB to Sync is not that big). EnElement, not hugely important, apparently until you get to 6*. Imperil, not hugely important.

Lots of my auto teams have off element AASB and/or no imperil.

[T.G. Oskar]

To expand a bit on what Fel says - the concept in endgame is to have both good Realm and Elemental teams. One A-Team for every Realm, plus one good Physical and one good Magical team for every element (except Poison - and even then, Poison is seeing a revival with the current endgame Odin magicite boss).

As dan mentioned, while one good healer is alright, it's best to have more than one good healer, with the aim of eventually having one great healer for every Realm. Note that some characters are built better for other aspects - for example, FFII has both Minwu and princess Hilda, but the latter is a better healer than the original White Mage because Minwu is a better offensive WHM caster. The same goes for Arc and Aria. FFXII has some overlap, since both Penelo and Larsa are great healers, but Larsa edges Penelo because of mastery of Astra. FFX has Yuna as the sole healer, but her focus has been recently over buffing her Summoner side; likewise, while Eiko is the better healer in FFIX, she has been focused as a Summoner, even though Garnet is the resident Summoner there. And both Rosa and Palom are solid healers, but then again they have competition with Ceodore. There are some healers who really edge out the others (Elarra, Rosa, Larsa; I insist on Sarah because of her skillset and stuff), but in the end you should work out on buffing one healer per Realm, then seeing which one works the best for you in the long run.

After that, the two best characters to buff are Bartz and Onion Knight. The latter, as mentioned, is almost unrivaled in Elemental flexibility. In his own realm, he can collaborate well with Krile and Galuf, which specialize mostly on Earth and Fire. Do note that, as it currently stands, he tends to incline better towards Wind, but he's great on the four main elements (Earth, Water and Fire, plus Wind). Onion Knight starts bad, but he's insanely flexible at the end, becoming the magical counterpart to Bartz (magical Earth, Water, Wind and Fire). Do note that Onion Knight is also a very good Ninja, which can help you on the physical Earth and physical Water teams as well.

There's also characters that excel exceptionally well in one element. As mentioned by Fel, Ashe is pretty much the undisputed goddess of Lightning - she has an insanely good Legend Materia that chases Lightning spells with a 3-hit magic attack coupled with a random 1,500 heal. Squall is extremely focused on Ice, though he has a pretty solid secondary element in Fire. Cloud, if you get his first USB, is godlike with Wind - he's the only one who can reach 99,999 damage if set correctly. And of course, Terra is unrivaled in terms of magical Fire damage, though she has a secondary focus on magical Wind. Each of these become good ancillary characters for Elemental teams, and because you'll build them well, you can have them as ancillary characters for their Realms, which can cause your strategy to shift within the realm. (For example: as Fel mentioned that FFVIII has a strong Ice theme, FFIX a Wind theme and FFX a Water theme, FFVI has a strong Fire theme and FF Tactics a HUGE Holy theme).

Supporters are not as important in the long run, since the endgame bosses resist Breakdowns heavily, even though some of them also happen to use attacks that ignore Defense and Resistance. You should still have one of those for each Realm, though, because they're still heavy on Realm dungeons. Dancers are great alternatives, however, and to an extent Thieves.

Finally, there's Chain holders. Part of the current meta is to have a Chain holder to maximize damage output. Chain SBs generally works as follows: you activate them, and a time bar appears on the top of the screen. Generally, this Chain lasts for 15 seconds. A Chain boosts a specific element or a specific Realm, and every attack made of the specified element, or conversely every attack made by a character of the boosted Realm, gets a general damage boost and adds 1 to the Chain counter per hit. The higher the Chain counter, the higher the damage. This is because Chains give you a general boost AND a cumulative boost. There's three "tiers" of Chains right now:

• Generation 1 Chains, which were the first Chain SBs that appeared. These generally involve some minor damage that immediately boosts the counter, or a minor bonus. This chain tops at 99 hits. The best of these "Gen 1" Chains is the one from Zack, which boosts Wind damage, but also works as a Boostga with a buff to Critical hit chances. In fact, it's so good that it altered subsequent Chains.
• Generation 2 Chains. These all offer a very similar bonus, and come in three flavors: Physical, Magical and Realm. As expected, Physical Chains grant a Boostga, Magical Chains a Faithga (and in the case of Holy, a MND boost), and Realm chains offer a Boostga, Faithga AND Hastega. The Chain counter is also larger, topping at 150 hits, and offers the best boost to damage overall.
• "Free" Chains. Each of these appeared on a specific event (the Fat Chocobo event), and they allowed everyone to hold a Chain SB. Do note that they're often the weakest, but they're on the Anima Lenses shop, so they're accessible. They top at 99 hits, offer a paltry elemental bonus and have no entry buff, so they're generally weak - useful only if you have no Chain for the realm.

Do note that this Fat Chocobo event is offering a Gen 1 Chain for free, so if you can manage, somehow, to get enough Krakka Greens for it, aim for that one. Garland's Physical Wind Gen 1 Chain may be somewhat outdated, but it's nonetheless pretty good.

In the end, you'll want 1 healer (possibly 2), two Damage dealers, one Chain holder and one free slot to cover with what you need the most - Supporter, second Healer, buffer, etc. Do note that the efficiency of Supporters and Tanks has been reduced immensely, and Retaliate is no longer a viable option in endgame (*mumble grumble*)

The following are great options to consider for choosing overall:

• Vaan. Let's be honest, I'm not a fan of Vaan. However, he has a unique BSB that reduces Magic and Defense, and that combination is almost unrivaled. He's also good for Physical Wind teams if you get some of his relics.
• Rikku or Basch. The two have a unique buff suite I tend to call the "RikkUltra", because Rikku got to it first. These SBs (Hyper Mighty Gs and Essence of Knighthood - don't take me on that last one) offer a Boostga, Faithga, Hastega, Protectga and Shellga all at once, which is insanely good in the long run. Rikku has a minor Water specialization, while Basch is a Knight specializing in Holy damage with some Samurai support.
• Tyro. The little protagonist has retained the crown of superior support, though do note that his focus is on Support mostly, so don't expect him to be a damage dealer. Of course, you want his GodWall (Protectga, Shellga, Hastega, Wall), but he can also double as a damage multiplier with his USB and Awakening, that can offer a buff of up to 100% chance for Critical hits, based off his use of Support abilities. He also has an easily accessible buff that improves Attack, Defense, Magic, Resistance AND Mind, access to Astra, and two ways to provide a Medica with one SB gauge. Plus, he has access to virtually all abilities, so you can set up Bard or Dancer moves with him.
• Ramza. Though his time as the best physical Supporter is long gone, if you get the right relics he's still very good. Battle Cry (his second BSB) is Shout 2.0, History's Truth is a great buff suite that grants IC1, he has access to a Legend Materia that allows him to start with Haste and IC1 (so pop Dr. Mog's Teachings or Mako Might on him and have him buff from 1st turn), and he's also the holder of a Gen 2 Physical Holy chain, so he can contribute with that. Do note that Ramza has a focus on Holy damage and access to all Knight moves, so he can also contribute to damage.
• THUNDER GOD Orlandeau. He might not have many relics, but BOY if he's still kinda OP. His OSB, Thunder God, now can be used with one SB gauge, his Legend Materia allows him IC3 AND Haste, his Legend Materia relic allows him to doublecast Knight and Darkness skills, his USB grants him a temporary 100% Critical hit chance and Ability Double (spend 2 uses of an ability, use them back to back). And, if you can get his Awakening*, you're golden, because it's his OSB buff combined (3x reduction in casting speed, so you use abilities super-fast) and 100% Critical hit chance with the ability to always doublecast Knight and Darkness moves.

Once you deal with those, you can start up building teams for every Realm and every Element to reach endgame content nicely. All we can say is - one team for the entire game is a thing of the past, and you'll need to dedicate some time to build up characters, but it's not so hard and it can be very rewarding. And persevere - if you can't succeed, try, try again.

*: One last thing to point out is the "Awakening" SBs. They're basically "Super Saiyan" modes for each character. Awakenings offer a set of benefits, including Break Damage Cap 1 (that is, your damage limit is no longer 9999, but increases by 10k for every "level" of BDC; for comparison, Cloud and Mama's Boy have SBs that grant them BDC 9, and some Awakenings grant BDC 2), the ability to either doublecast or have increased casting speed with certain elements or skill schools (that is, you can have a Fire Awakening that benefits every Fire ability you cast, whereas a WHM Awakening benefits every White Magic spell you cast), and most importantly, Infinite Hones. For the duration of the Awakening, you don't consume uses of the skill or spell each time you use them. Do note that Infinite Hones don't apply to Ability Double, but most of them do grant dualcast, AND work with dualcast Legend Materia so you can use three at once. Most of these Awakenings also grant a buff (generally EnElement, which boosts the damage of the element) or have some sort of Chaser that activates after one, two or three uses of a specific move. Finally, Awakenings can only be used ONCE, so measure their use carefully.

[danzibr]

Well said, Thunder God Oskar!

To piggyback on the Butz and OK are amazing, they can cover EVERY outer element with their AASB1. Butz gets Wind, Earth, Fire, Water primary, then Ice and Lightning thanks to dual element Spellblade abilities.

Similar for OK and Voltech granting access to Lightning and Ice.

Or Rinoa. Her first AASB is Ice, but thanks to Tritoch that also gives Fire and Lightning, and thanks to Voltech gives Water (and again Lightning).

So... no matter what offensive AASB you get, check the character skill use and multi element abilities.

[Chen]

So lots of talk of how people are good with their relics, but is there target farming for those? That's the anima lenses right? But it's not all the relics is it? Do I still need to essentially RNG pull a chain, Awakening or whatever or can those also be farmed?

Also good call on that chain relic in the Fat Chocobo store. I have Kuja's Dark Overstrike SB (no idea where I got that) so I can beat that mist dragon first stage pretty easily. Just need to do it 10 times to get the 50k greens.

[tyckspoon]

So lots of talk of how people are good with their relics, but is there target farming for those? That's the anima lenses right? But it's not all the relics is it? Do I still need to essentially RNG pull a chain, Awakening or whatever or can those also be farmed?

Also good call on that chain relic in the Fat Chocobo store. I have Kuja's Dark Overstrike SB (no idea where I got that) so I can beat that mist dragon first stage pretty easily. Just need to do it 10 times to get the 50k greens.

RNG pulling, but you can sort of target based on selectively pulling on the right banners - save your mythril for banners featuring the element, Realm, burst type, etc that you want. Still going to have to be lucky, but you can try to tip the odds.

..started a disposable account on an emulator just to poke at the game and see what the new player experience is like. It's kind of odd having it unlock things like the Record dungeons early on and have it refer to characters and story events that you won't actually see for quite a while. First daily free draw: Ricard's Ultra Soul Break. Ok then.

Play along a bit, finish some of the Acolyte book challenges, spend mithral on the 15-gem discount Element/Realm draws. Hit 3 rainbows. Kain's Sync spear, Aranea's Awakening Spear, Gau's Arcane armor. So.. Lightning Dragoons is apparently a thing we're doing.

[danzibr]

So lots of talk of how people are good with their relics, but is there target farming for those? That's the anima lenses right? But it's not all the relics is it? Do I still need to essentially RNG pull a chain, Awakening or whatever or can those also be farmed?

Also good call on that chain relic in the Fat Chocobo store. I have Kuja's Dark Overstrike SB (no idea where I got that) so I can beat that mist dragon first stage pretty easily. Just need to do it 10 times to get the 50k greens.

Yeah, the RNGness of banners hardly changed.

But often the second banner in an event is guaranteed 2 5*+. Older relics but sometimes the banner are really really good.

And sometimes they do a draw-2-choose-1 deal. 2 draws like normal, then select a specific relic from a list.

RNG pulling, but you can sort of target based on selectively pulling on the right banners - save your mythril for banners featuring the element, Realm, burst type, etc that you want. Still going to have to be lucky, but you can try to tip the odds.

..started a disposable account on an emulator just to poke at the game and see what the new player experience is like. It's kind of odd having it unlock things like the Record dungeons early on and have it refer to characters and story events that you won't actually see for quite a while. First daily free draw: Ricard's Ultra Soul Break. Ok then.

Play along a bit, finish some of the Acolyte book challenges, spend mithral on the 15-gem discount Element/Realm draws. Hit 3 rainbows. Kain's Sync spear, Aranea's Awakening Spear, Gau's Arcane armor. So.. Lightning Dragoons is apparently a thing we're doing.

Ooh Kain Sync, nice.

[Red Fel]

So lots of talk of how people are good with their relics, but is there target farming for those? That's the anima lenses right? But it's not all the relics is it? Do I still need to essentially RNG pull a chain, Awakening or whatever or can those also be farmed?

Yes. As has been mentioned, there are now many more ways to get good loot from banners, but the Anima Lens shop is basically your work-around. They come in four ranks - 1, 2, 3, and +. You can get 1, 2, and 3 Lenses as victory drops, and also when you pull duplicates on the gacha, based on the rarity of your dupes. You can get + Lenses exclusively from the gacha, based on the number of relics you pull (regardless of dupes). 1, 2, and 3 Lenses are used in the Lens shop; + Lenses are used on Record Boards. The Lens shop allows you to select from an assortment of relics, which they periodically update. It can be sorted by character or by recommendations for endgame dungeons, which is helpful.

But yes. RNG is still king. If you don't get a Chain or Awakening from the gacha, you'll sit behind the curve for awhile (or until they start putting those in the Lens shop, don't hold your breath). That said, watching the banners is helpful - Fest banners tend to have good choices, as do some regular banners. Awakenings have quickly come to occupy the niche that BSBs did way back when - three or four at the top of a banner is a pretty common sight. Syncs are still rarer than a three-dollar bill, though.

Basically, for anyone trying to catch up in a hurry, your best bet is discounted banners. The first pull on each of the Realm and Element banners is an example - spending 15 instead of 50 really gets you more bang for your buck. Likewise, when the Lucky Draws (first pull is half price) and Realms On Parade (5 mythril for a 3-pull) come in advance of a Fest, it's a great time to pad your collection. Given that all of them guarantee at least one 5-star or better, you're getting a much better chance for the cost.

[danzibr]

Speaking of chains...

Oskar already mentioned that the gen 0 chains (or "free" chains, as he called them) are in the lens shop. I used one or two in my 5* clears, better than nothing.

It's also worth mentioning, the CSB you just got from the current Chonkobo event is the first of 8. They'll be doing the other Elements, ~1 per month, so if nothing else in 7 months you'll get free gen 1ish chains.

And... it's worth explaining chains a bit more.

-They come in 2 flavors, Element and Realm. I'll talk about Element below.
-ALL chains give at least a flat +20% to damage, called a field effect. Gen 2 and 2.5 chains give +50%.
-The number that increases is *another* +??% to damage, 1% per hit. They all cap at +99%, except gen 2 goes up to +150%.
-Gen 0 chains *only* give the field effect and cap at x2. Still, they were free/in the lens shop. Thus, maxed, a gen 0 chain gives damage x2.388.
-Gen 1 chains came out first. They're like gen 0 chains but also deal damage or something. There are physical and magic versions of each.
---As mentioned, they're coming out with a second wave of "free" CSBs, similar in power to gen 1 chains.
-Gen 2 chains don't deal any extra damage, but in addition to the aforementioned differences, they give +50% attack, or +30% mag/+30% mnd for Holy. Physical and magical versions of each.
-Gen 2.5 chains are still coming out. They're like gen 2 with the higher field effect, but with the old lower +99% cap, and they're also instant cast and give +2 elemental attack level.

Long story short, all chains are really good. The higher the generation, the better (in a vacuum, but of course they come attached to characters).

[tyckspoon]

So, don't know if this is normal level of nice for these banners, or if I'm being abnormally lucky.. hit a few more Realm/Element discount banners. Firion's Awakening (Knight/Samurai abilities, Holy attacks), Beatrix's Awakening (Knight abilities, Holy attacks), and.. Hope's Holy Chain. So that seems like Team Needs a Gazillion Holy Spheres should be coming around nicely.

[danzibr]

So, don't know if this is normal level of nice for these banners, or if I'm being abnormally lucky.. hit a few more Realm/Element discount banners. Firion's Awakening (Knight/Samurai abilities, Holy attacks), Beatrix's Awakening (Knight abilities, Holy attacks), and.. Hope's Holy Chain. So that seems like Team Needs a Gazillion Holy Spheres should be coming around nicely.

Grats!

I applied all 7 of my free tickets toward Lightning banner. Got me Kain Sync. I call that a win.

Also, free CSB RW for magicites. Nice.

Edit: you can get water from the green shop! Def gobble that up.