Board 8 > Final Fantasy Record Keeper Topic 52: Our greatest foe yet... A SANDWORM?!

(+) Yeah! (+)

You can skip the walls if you're fast enough before Shiva reabsorbs them.

Noctis can also use the aoe fire/ice samurai ability if you need to kill them.

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I skipped the walls pretty easily with my fire magic team (though it took me quite a few tries to deal with her tankiness in P3). I think Papa pretty much handled P2 himself for me with his sync, so I would think youd have a pretty easily time doing the same with that team as long as you have your BDLs up.

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Got her first try. Hammered through phase 2 pretty easily, while saving Noctis AASB for phase 3. That bulk and instant savage 3 jump is no joke though, Locke became pretty useless fast. Noctis MVP though, hit that AOSB2 for about 16k a pop before the 100k finish. Didn't even deal with the walls, mainly because I put the wrong samurai skill in slot 2 lmao. So she healed for 150k at the start of phase 3.

Edit: Time was 40.46, so definitely my slowest time, but figured I needed to build to skip as much of phase 2 as possible.

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Yeah if you skip the walls the heal (+barice iirc?) is unavoidable. Presumably having balthier for imperils helps with that; my chainer was Vivi who was otherwise dead weight

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Anyway, I got my third 500 Gilgamesh down (XIII; I was a bit worried about healing since I only have Vanille's BSB, but it was fine even after Mog was killed). Not sure if I can do the XIII 550 or two other 500s; I would have thought I had enough for VI, but I could only get the 500 down to 10% earlier.

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4/11

Braska USB
Jack Sync
x2 Braska sync

4/11

Braska USB dupe
Braska glint+
Rubicante Chain!
Braska sync dupe

3/11
Braska glint+ dupe
Jack Awakening
Rubicante dyad!

No second cap break for Rubicante though :( (his dyad is imperil/fire damage+ party buff)

Did two more pulls for the ticket, Braska glint+ and and USB dupe. Used the ticket on FF3 and got a dupe OK awakening 1.

Sync select grab bag was a 1/11 Zidande BSB dupe UGGGGGHHHHHHHH

I think I wanna hold off on the other draws, my luck has gone down the toilet.


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Sigh I get close to that Sin sub30 with my new Braska sync but I seem to run out of sync time just when Braska is about to finish him off. Phooey! Guess I'll wait till he gets his hero gear.

I suppose I could dream select his awakening but I dunno, even with a Hope like sync would he make the Ice Giant team against Vivi or Ace? Probably not...


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I still have gems left from the last dream select so I'm going to do at least one pull this time.

Grabbing Zack's awakening would be the most immediate help since I think it would probably let me beat Sandworm. My biggest concern there is his chain is weaker than most. I could pick up Luneth's or Faris's in a couple months but I have no cap breaks for them so I'd have to accumulate those too, whereas at least I already have Zack's chain and his sync right now.

Ultimecia's sync or Alisae's awakening (already have her sync) would help with the magic version but I think I wouldn't quite be able to beat it even with those. Eiko's sync could be an option too (I have both awakenings).

I could also go for Golbez's awakening (I have his sync) since the IV labyrinth is coming up. Or Lenna's awakening 1 to just improve all my elemental teams since she's my #1 healer now... not sure how much I need it but it couldn't hurt.

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Planning for physical Valefor now. I have Squall SASB/AASB/AOSB and Ayame SASB/AASB/AOSB, but my chain is Celes (who also has Dyad/AASB/AOSB). This is all well and good, but none of those gives me any imperil, and I'm pretty sure Valefor has bar ice at least one or twice. Can I get by using only Shiva for imperils?

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I use laguna for imperiling things but that's a lot of tech

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I ran a similar party. Celes with basically just chain, and Squall + Snow with similar stuff to your Squall + Ayame, to beat him pretty easily.

I did use Fran as imperil with just her dualcast LMR (didn't use her imperil lmr as I didn't have it at the time) and her imperil USB.

Anyway I do think you need a little bit. The big thing is that while I don't think he would buff his resist to a point where you couldn't kill him, you don't want your meter generation to go down by not hitting weak. Those 3 with an imperil + healer would be a good party-- if you don't have Laguna you don't necessarily need him. Whichever character you have that vaguely slots that has machinist 6* or any sort of imperil ice soul break would probably be sufficient.

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I have other stuff for him IIRC, including an imperil USB I believe. I likely don't need critfix, so maybe tossing Laguna into that 4th spot instead of Tyro can work. Only other issue would be hastega. Aeris needs to have dispel for when Valefor hastes herself, and I don't have her USB1. I suppose I could put Elarra in there instead, since her AASB has haste, but Aeris is so good with the physical quickcast on both Sync and USB2.

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Celes can use Banishing Strike, Squall can use Dispel. Those are two more options for dispel if you're hurting for slots and can spare an ability slot from either one.

(I used the former option)

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Lopen posted...

Celes can use Banishing Strike, Squall can use Dispel. Those are two more options for dispel if you're hurting for slots and can spare an ability slot from either one.

(I used the former option)

I totally forgot about banishing strike, that's a great call thanks!

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Actually technically I used Dispel on Celes looking at my party list. Not sure why.

I think for the very slight lower CT than Banishing.

Either way!

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Well since it's pay day I decided to do the other 3 dream selects

Sync 2

Vaan enWind glint
Ceodore glint+

Awakening 1

Dupe Vaan usb
Dupe Aphinaud AOSB
Cait Sith sync!!

Sweet! I never got around to honing Cait Sith awakening.

Awakening 2

Fran Sync!

Yay my luck rebounded! I hope my ticket goes well too since that's the last one before FF3 Bahamut comes out.

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Good lord that incoming damage from Valefor is no joke. Got to phase 3, died around 25% left. I don't know if Aeris can solo heal this. Maybe switch her for Elarra because then I get regenga at least.

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Heh, I also got paid and figured why not do the dream draws...

1/11 WOL LMR
2/11 Golbez AOSB, dupe FuSoYa realm chain
1/11 OK G+ (Empowered infusion earth)
2/11 Fran G+ (twin element), Rydia earth sync!

Bit late on the Rydia earth sync since I've beaten Kalavinka Striker, but it makes my FF IV magic team a lot better. Golbez awakening was the one pick I already was 100% decided on and now I'll have 2 cap breaks each for Golbez, Rydia, and Edge. That should make Bahamut doable and help a lot for next season's labyrinth.

Haven't decided on my other picks yet... leaning toward Garnet's sync since I have her chain and no cap breaks. Lightning lab is a ways away but it seems guaranteed to stay relevant. Shantotto's sync's a possibility because of ATB and my XI team isn't that good, although for lightning DPS I think I'm already pretty good. Second awakening is probably between Zack, Lenna, and Thief. Any others I should consider?

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If you're gonna use Garnet for magic weak Kraken consider getting her awakening as well. It imperils on entry and has an imperil chase.

I'm probably gonna pick Garnet sync as well, to help with FF9 Bahamut as well. Other sync is probably gonna be Meia.

Awakenings I'm leaning on Faris 2 and Braska (I saw what he did to Shiva with his sync, he does mad damage after a few turns!) Yuna 2 as well. But I'm gonna wait until FF3 Bahamut to make my pic in case I need Aria's awakening to stay alive.


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Man, my earth mag team could definitely use that Rydia sync!

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Which do you think is better between Garnet's awakening and her sync? I might grab the awakening later since I don't need it for a while... ironically there's more competition for the awakening pick now.

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Why not both?

Well maybe the sync now since next dream select has better stuff like Kefka, Ashe 2, CoD ect. Still you'll want both for a 7 million HP boss.

I used up one of my dream selects on Braska 1 Since I was trying to sub30 Sin but I kept coming short (or dying) Best time was 34 seconds so far, but man is this fucking whale annoying!

I tried FF10 Bahamut and got to about 75%, but he keeps killing me because Yuna is too busy attacking trying to kill him before Mega Flare triggers. Grr, wish I had Braska's hero gear now...!

Wish I had another cap break for Lulu. Ugh I'm getting pretty tempted to get Yuna's sync...

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Well, I'm definitely planning to draw on Winter Fest b1 which has her awakening dyad, arcane dyad, and new awakening (healing focused). So I don't know if I want to use both picks on her now.

Man I hate Bahamut. Haven't managed to beat IV yet, his damage reduction in phase 3 is insane. Golbez is the only one on the team who has a good way to break 20k (his sync command 2, I think I need to use Rydia's AOSB early just so I can remove the 5 layers of king's rage in time.

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I'd go for the awakening because she's a summoner and has low hones to work with. Be warned it's not a dualcast awakening.

The FF4 labyrinth is next week if you want to wait on Bahamut so you can get Golbez (and any other characters) hero artifacts.

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I realized I was using Rydia's begin with enwater LM even though I was using her earth SBs. I fixed that and managed to beat Bahamut... then after I beat him I realized she STILL had a +water armor equipped, lol. Anyway, one more Bahamut down. (8 down, 10 to go)

Also tried to sub 30 Kalavinka, got 30.87 on my first try but then I messed up on my second try and somehow got Rydia paralyzed in phase 4. It's definitely doable, not sure how much effort I'm going to put in right now though.

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Finally got around to killing water-weak Dark Odin

Just dark-weak left, though my dark teams are kind of a mess... never figured out which 6* abilities were worth using because of the dumb drawbacks they all seem to have

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Ticket day! used mine on FF3

Dupe Aria usb and Luneth sync

Ugh, unless I get lucky on the daily and get Arc awakening 2 before the 9th looks FF3 Bahamut is gonna be a bitch.

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Ticket on ice.

I get another fucking dupe of Rinoa's AASB. That thing's now 7/15 just from tickets, while I'm still fishing for that second cap break for any ice mage.

XII - Basch G+, Fran USB, dupe Gabranth BSB

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Tried physical Shiva for the event mission once; completely lost steam in P3 and wiped at 12%.

I think my mistake was using Caters AASB2 first instead of her AASB1 (only her first infuses so I wanted to save that for P3, but 2 ran out before I could get off another anti-aegis debuff which would have really helped). It was also annoying to have to use Treys glint to reinfuse; the switch-draw mechanic is really awkward and essentially wastes two turns of his AASB (to use the glint, and then to use a non-infused attack).

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Hell yeah!!



Screenshotted after the death animation this time to avoid crashing my game. :)

I did this without getting a new relic for Zack so I don't need to consider him for my dream selection anymore. I had a moment of panic when Omnislash left the Sandworm at 0.2% less than one turn before Labyrinth Maze End, but Zidane got his turn in time and was able to finish him with a final use of his sync ability.

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Congrats!

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Valefor down in 42.28!

Finally just selected Lagunas chain since I had one selection from a while ago apparently lol, so used that, subbed Tyro in for Celes and Elarra in for Aeris. Toootally forgot to bring dispel on anyone, so Valefor was hasted for quite some time. Used Squall and Ayame SASBs right after using Lagunas chain, around 12 seconds or so. Then once Valefor came back down, used both of their AASBs (and re casted chain). Frost fire carnage and renzokuken demolished the tornados. Definitely not a fast clear, but it was relatively safe, as Tyro entrusted Elarra plenty of bars. Squall had so much SB gauge left over lol. His AOSB was the killing blow, though it definitely wasnt necessary.

Just Alexander and Diablos left. Ive heard Alex is stupid easy and Diablos is difficult. I have a pretty solid dark and holy team, both physical and magic, so hopefully Im ready.

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Phys-weak Shiva down!



Using Ydas sync correctly without the Papa combo is so annoying. Got a ticket from it which I used on earth...

1/11: Josef AASB! This is only my second cap break for II and it looks like its a full break counter, so Ill gladly take it even though Im not sure hed make my earth team (and definitely not ice).

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Phys-weak Shiva down!



Using Ydas sync correctly without the Papa combo is so annoying. Got a ticket from it which I used on earth...

1/11: Josef AASB! This is only my second cap break for II and it looks like its a full break counter, so Ill gladly take it even though Im not sure hed make my earth team (and definitely not ice).

Which 6* magicites do you have left?

Also, got a ticket today, used it on FF 14 again

2/11 - Y'shtola AASB, Alphinaud Sync dupe

So I've now very recently gotten Y'shtola's sync and AASB. A viable mage in that realm I assume?

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Y'shtola is a terrible offensive mage. Since they decided to change her just when record boards came out her damage is awful because she doesn't have the black magic damage nodes from 3-5 motes that other characters have.


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Ive only cleared mag weak Titan, phys weak Leviathan, and now both Shivas. I think I possibly have the tech to kill Ramuh (Ive gotten him to P3) but Im not great at the game and dont have the patience to spend hours working out non-power creep clears.

I think the main issue with using Ysh as dps is that shes the realms only healer (unless youre gonna take an out of realm healer instead of support).

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SSJSephirothGokuX123 posted...

Y'shtola is a terrible offensive mage. Since they decided to change her just when record boards came out her damage is awful because she doesn't have the black magic damage nodes from 3-5 motes that other characters have.

Figures lol.

LordoftheMorons posted...

Ive only cleared mag weak Titan, phys weak Leviathan, and now both Shivas. I think I possibly have the tech to kill Ramuh (Ive gotten him to P3) but Im not great at the game and dont have the patience to spend hours working out non-power creep clears.

I think the main issue with using Ysh as dps is that shes the realms only healer (unless youre gonna take an out of realm healer instead of support).

Yeah that's definitely a good point!

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You might think that, but actually the main issue is that her damage is terrible, lol. Like I heard people say it was bad and I was still unprepared for how weak she really was. It's disappointing, they should have buffed her to make those SBs actually useable but it looks like they just moved her back to healing instead (she'll get a new healing sync in the New Years fest)

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Are they moving Alphinaud back to dps too?

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Yeah, he already got an offensive dyad a few months ago and he gets a new sync in the New Years fest.

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Oh right; I actually have that dyad but it didnt occur to me that it was newer than his healing stuff!

(Also whoops yeah Ysh is not the only XIV healer, but Alph is great dps so itd suck to have to heal with him instead)

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I made the rest of my dream picks so I can stop thinking about it and not worry about accidentally forgetting. I took Thief AASB because it helps my worst realm and my worst element, and it's a +bio armor which actually matters (it's the first one I have). For my syncs I took Vincent's and Garnet's, since I will definitely be using them as chainers in upcoming labyrinth fights.

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Alexander down in 26.32

Well that was pretty easy. Seph and Shadow syncs (both had AASBs that were never used), Seifer chain, Tyro+Elarra. Had to make the light sphere move once, but that was it.

So only Diabolos left. He's apparently one of the most difficult ones, so that's a bit concerning. I do have Orlandu and Agrias Sync/AASBs and Ramza chain, so that should be helpful.

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You basically need to have some kind of party esuna effect for Diabolos, if you do he's not that bad. Tyro's glint is a good one for this fight. I think you basically just need to use it twice at the right times to end fever dream and the rest of the time just keep attacking. Also I think you want your DPS in the bottom 3 slots so they don't get immediately fever dreamed in phase 1 but I could be misremembering.

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Mog ball on the daily draw... dupe Agrias AOSB

Used my 15 day ticket on earth: 1/11, Noctis earth sync!

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Kaxon posted...

You basically need to have some kind of party esuna effect for Diabolos, if you do he's not that bad. Tyro's glint is a good one for this fight. I think you basically just need to use it twice at the right times to end fever dream and the rest of the time just keep attacking. Also I think you want your DPS in the bottom 3 slots so they don't get immediately fever dreamed in phase 1 but I could be misremembering.

Looking at the script, looks like it's regular world in phase 1, dream world phase 2, and then phase 3 starts regular, but if you destroy the rift, you go to dream world. He hits slot 1 and 2 with the dream thing early in phase 1, then slots 4 and 5 a bit later. Gonna put Orlandu in slot 3, and Agrias and Ramza in 4 and 5. I wonder if it's just easier to destroy the rift once in phase 3 and keep him in dream world, so I don't have to worry about constant switching. I know he stacks the pain real fast though.

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Grats on Alex! I tried dark-weak Dark Odin yesterday (my last one) a few times and wiped around 20% despite having what on paper seems like a pretty good team...

So looking at Noctis's earth ability access, I guess he really wants his HA2 to use with his earth sync, huh?

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Grats on Alex! I tried dark-weak Dark Odin yesterday (my last one) a few times and wiped around 20% despite having what on paper seems like a pretty good team...

So looking at Noctis's earth ability access, I guess he really wants his HA2 to use with his earth sync, huh?

Dark weak Dark Odin suuuuucks from what I remember. I don't remember the specifics, but I remember him being one of the hardest ones. I had a pretty murderous Sephiroth, and still struggled a bit.

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Yeah he sleeps 4 people at some point which was ultra-obnoxious (on my 20% run I got lucky and was able to clear with Mog's AASB2 chase on his next move). I think the main issues for me were that I was using pretty low hit count abilities (Anima with Seymour, whatever the imperil ability's called with Vayne) and I couldn't get enough meter to use Golbez's sync after chaining with him... I guess I probably should have used a meter RM on him. I was basically constantly capping on everyone while the chain was up, so presumably fixing those issues could get me a win but it's just so annoying.

Actually it might be easier for me to ignore Golbez's chain and use the RW one so he can use his sync right away? Not sure how much I need his chain's buffs here, but probably worth a shot.

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