Board 8 > Final Fantasy Record Keeper Topic 55: Hello Alexander, Shiva... again

(+) Yeah! (+)

I think the cutoff date was an event two or three weeks after last fest. I remember someone saying there's Dual Awakenings in the pool now.

Got phys Kraken down to 52.2%... now to see if my 2 BDL fire magic team can get Snow Giant to 70%!

(I have more BDL for phys fire but no native chain besides Locke's, and from what I've heard wall is almost required for Snow Giant?)

Managed to get magic-weak Snow Giant down to 38.6%! Keeping Vivi alive was extremely annoying since his HP is so low and I don't have any magia for it. Surprised I got that far on 2 BDL (though one was Papa sync and I also have Terra's AOSB).

Anyway, not gonna try for any of the scrolls... I could maybe do Salamander if my water magic team had some finishers, but alas

Oh wait, come to think of it I don't have the ice seal on my WOdin... maybe that's why Snow Giant's damage was so insane?

VII DK down with 3.5 BDL (+ Cloud USB1 + Seph USB2):

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/0/7/AAC7eiAAC4If.jpg

It was really annoying to figure out a way to activate Sephs trance; I eventually got it with him using Forbidden Cross and Aerith holyjaing him. (I should have taken Demons Cross but was dumb and took the magic version; whoops). Hopefully fixing that can get me the sub-30?

I still havent beaten VII DB though

I used all 18 tickets on FF11 and I didn't get Zeid sync

Didn't get Lissette awakening/sync, Ayame Sync/Awakening or Shanttoto sync either! But the game gave me 5 Curillia syncs

Well I did at least get

Prishe and Zeid dyads
Aphmau sync and dualcast lmr
Shantotto gen 2 chain
Lisette guardian (first one I got of this type of relic)
Lion USB2, imperil LMR

Well at least I have a complete Aphmau for what it's worth now.

First 7 tickets, got Elarra sync 2, Lilisette sync, and Raines AASB2. The rest were dupes and junk. That should probably be enough to beat XIII DK since I was so close before... probably should spend more tickets on XI. If I have Lilisette's awakening and sync should I run her instead or Orran/Mog/Cait on that DK?

Did 3 more pulls, got 2 copies of Lion's dyad and then Curilla's sync. That's 2 cap breaks for Curilla to go with 2 for Ayame and Shantotto so I'll give that team a try.

Off to a terrible start

Fire --> 1/11: Krile GSB1
FFT --> 2/11: Orlandeau G+1 (dupe), Ovelia USB3 (dupe)
XV --> 1/11: Noctis USB1
IX --> 2/11: Steiner SASB2, Kuja BSB2 (dupe)
VI --> 1/11: Leo AOSB

5 tickets left

FFT --> 1/11: Delita LMR3
VII --> 1/11: Reno BSB
VI --> 1/11: Locke CSB (dupe)
IX --> 2/11: Beatrix SASB2, Kuja BSB1
Fire --> 1/11: Steiner AASB2

Other than Steiner a total bust

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/6/6/AAEagUAAC4V6.jpg
Just core and XI left!

11 Tickets
4 borderline usable relics total (Gau Sync, Strago Sync, Shadow Awakening, Rude Awakening)

" Rude Awakening" indeed very subtle game

Congrats! XIII DK sucked. Core shouldnt be that bad though!

Speaking of guys who suck, got physical fire weak WOdin down!:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/9/2/AAC7eiAAC4X4.jpg

Need to reclear for another seal, but after that Im just missing the bio seals (for which I have I grand total of 0.5 BDL)

This team had 5 BDL and an LBO (plus Steiner HE), but I still had a hell of a time dealing enough damage because I had to use the RW chain and Caters damage is pretty mediocre (she only gets one stack of infusion across both awakenings). My chain ran out at like 7% but luckily I was able to eke it out.

Lopen posted...

" Rude Awakening" indeed very subtle game

If you have Red XIII Sync/Awakening and Cait awakening he actually works very well with them, I've seen him on Hell House teams.

Nexus Alexander is tomorrow, apparently he's one of the easiest Nexus bosses and we get a lower difficulty for a couple more rewards. Magic should be good with CoD, Raines and Naabat, physical... well I was hoping I'd get Zeid sync, but Sephiroth and Seifer with Kiros will hopefully do the job. If I need a character with two cap breaks I have Vayne or Ardyn if Kiros can't get the job done.

I have 6 BDL for dark magic (2x each for Raines, Golbez, and Seymour; no finishers though) so maybe I can actually clear my first lab boss if it's easier than the rest!

Well what makes Alexander easier is that he doesn't have the painting/orb BS the previous nexus bosses have he just has a second thing of damage reduction in phase 2 where he has a rage of 20 stacks, but each time you hit him with a cap break it also lowers the damage reduction. No micromanagement here just go ham and try to do as much as damage as you can!

Nice, that sounds like my kinda fight

Continuing to make use of Steiner, Deathgaze dead:

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/7/AAC7eiAAC4a7.jpg

I was putting this one off because its one of the 3x full break ones and I didnt want to use Tyro, but I guess I actually could have done it before because Eikos guardian can tank one (and luckily guardians arent useless at less than three bars like LBOs). I had Mog counter the first one after getting deathed and rezzed by Eikos AA2, Steiner counter the second, and Madeen tank the third. Zidane was charging up his dyad finisher when Steiner killed him.

Crafted Steiner, Zidane, and Garnets HAs today (well see if I can avoid making Eikos for the DK); I also finally made use of my Book of Trials X pick to get Garnets BSB which has an ATK/MAG buff and an imperil, giving her a second gauge outlet. I think I should be able to take down the DK too with what I have, and then hopefully I can take down Is after getting Garlands HE.

SSJSephirothGokuX123 posted...

If you have Red XIII Sync/Awakening and Cait awakening he actually works very well with them, I've seen him on Hell House teams

I have some of those but yeah I wasn't saying it was bad, just that 4 usable relics out of 11 draws was. Don't have an immediate use but could see it being useful at some point

Got em

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/1/6/AAC7eiAAC4bY.jpg

Probably had the sub-30 if I had used Zidanes dyad finisher a turn earlier... whoops. He had hone issues, though; went through all 10 uses of his HA.

FUCKING FINALLLY I beat physical Enkidu!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/1/9/AADoKzAAC4bb.jpg

Man I remember when I 100 gem'd Josef's sync like a year ago and was super disappointed because I thought I would never use the guy, but I recently remembered I have that and his awakening, and his ultra is imperil + damage reflect and he's fast with a 6 hit hero abilty, and if you use his sync command twice it gives the party 100% crit. Even then I won on the last turn praying on a quadcast!

Just physical Salamander and the Alexanders left for Nexus bosses!

I tried XI DK a few times, geez that one is hard. Was trying a full realm team at first but Aphmau's USBs are kinda bad so I swapped him out for Lenna. That let me stay alive but even with 6 cap breaks my damage just cratered in phase 2 and I got dead ended.

I still have 8 tickets but I don't really want to just dump them into XI since the odds of drawing something that would actually help me are already getting pretty low. I guess I'll just wait for more power creep.

For Alexander, I should be pretty set for magic if he's easy. I'm going to draw tomorrow though and hope to get stuff for DK Cecil, Cloud, and Golbez, since it's a pretty good banner.

Congrats!! Abductor sounds like a nightmare.

Josef was surprisingly good for my II DB/DK teams with just his AASB2 and BSB (actually useful since it has buffs)

Also got the sub-30 on IX after unlocking the DK nodes (28:10)!

Yeah for some reason FF12 Bahamut is one of the most overtuned even though FF11 is one of the most neglected realms. He has 5.7 million HP, second highest after FF6. That's why I was trying to get Zeid's sync so badly since that's the best DPS in that realm.

Aphmau is a girl FYI.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/4/0/AADoKzAAC4bw.jpg

And yeah Enkidu is one of the worst bosses in the game. He's too fast, bulky, hits very hard and imperils the party, and he slows. Only saving grace is that he doesn't use sap.

Also I know the game calls him Abductor but I always think of the purple generic enemy which is called Abductor and while the nexus boss is green.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/4/7/AADoKzAAC4b3.png

Plus it kinda feels lame that a generic enemy is a superboss (yeah I already know Sandworm and Armor Construct are also generic enemies...) At least Enkidu is a character.

Oh yeah, I forgot that abductor had different coloration... I think my last four job fiesta was like seven or eight years ago

In XIV Enkidu is literally a chicken painted green...!

Okay technically the real Enkidu also exists in one of the Gilgamesh fights but still

Oh yeah, I don't know why I always forget Aphmau is female. I'll try to remember.

Should I hone Lilisette's awakening? Or hone Aphmau's awakening and use Mog instead of Lili? I don't really want to burn 14 scrolls just for this fight... but on the other hand the value of scrolls is falling as we move from AASBs to more DASBs.

Weird they call him Abductor if he's the wrong color. I haven't played 5 through in a very long time.

You might not need to hone Lillisette's AASB if you can go fast enough to still have it up for the second full break; it reapplies the full buff every two support ability uses

I guess that might involve holding off a bit to counter P1 full break though; not sure how viable that is

Awakenings are far from obsolete since they still provide infinite hones unlike syncs and Dual Awakening, plus some have chases, imperils, extra dualcasts ect.

You can dream select Aphmau awakening and/or sync if you don't want to use scrolls.

It's not necessary to hone Lili AASB for the Bahamut, since you only really need to counter the phase 3 FB. The reliable QC and damage barriers could still be nice though, if you choose to hone it for 2 uses.

The Sync is also a FB counter, so there's also that. Or, if you have her LBGuardian, you can use it to dodge the FB.

LordoftheMorons posted...

In XIV Enkidu is literally a chicken painted green...!

Some of my favourite cutscenes from that storyline involve Enkidu the chicken. Absolutely hilarious. Especially the post-SB arc, where Gil had to eat him to stay alive, but he came back in the end anyway lmao.

I tried Snow Giant and effortlessly got him to 10% with my phys fire team but man he gets brutal on that last phase.

• Turn 4: Labyrinth Primal Rampage <Unblinkable Piercing AllElem Magic Dmg + Self Pain Lv1 to Lv7>
• Turn 5: Pummeling Fist <40% MaxHP Dmg + Confuse> [Slot 2+3+4]
• Turn 6: Solar Plexus <Instant> <Massive Piercing Phys Dmg> [Slot 1]
• Turn 7: Labyrinth Maze Gate <Unblinkable 7500 Raw Dmg + Interrupt/Paralyze/Slow>

He basically destroyed me in short order with that move set. What's the play here. Am I supposed to try and burst him down immediately after Turn 4 or what.

Either you need really busted recent syncs like Locke's, lots of cap break stack and dyad finishers or really, really good RNG. I only beat Snow Giant with lucky quadcasts with Trey and Master.

So I guess what we're looking at if I take that approach is burning through... 7 million divided by 5, 1.4 million HP. Wow. That's what, 1400k?

So what I have is this.

Genesis
Auron
Master
Barret

With Pain 7 (I assume imperil 6 is needed for that) it seems reasonable to do capped damage on every hit. Looking at burst options I'd have.

Genesis Arcane Overstrike (20x19999 + 99999) (500k)
Auron AASB hitz (19999 x10-15) (200-300k)
Master AASB hitz (19999 x10-20) (200-400k)
Barret Overflow Limit (99999x5) (100k)

Lucky with cap breaks that's 1300k. Coming up short 100k. Honestly might be doable? I don't know. Genesis being able to full cap break with his Arcane Overstrike lead-in hits might be a bit ambitious too but he did do quite a bit with them and I only had somewhere in Imperil 2-4 up not knowing the mechanics of the fight. But I did get him to 10% NOT trying to burst him after that rampage (didn't even get the Overflow Limit off) so it might be possible.

3 labyrinth quest tickets was nice at least even if I'm not gonna beat Frost Giant in time to get the scroll goods.

Got Wakka Dyad and Braska Awakening (and a Kimahri Sync I'll never use) off of one of them which gave me by far my most wanted ticket out of my now 14 used tickets.

3/11 - DK Cecil chain, Golbez dyad, Seifer DASB
1/11 - DK Cecil DASB
3/11 - dupe Golbez dyad, dupe Seifer DASB, dupe DK Cecil DASB.

Damn, that third pull was such a huge disappointment.

100 Gem Seifer DASB
1/11 Seifer Dyad
2/11 Golbez DASB, Seifer Awakening

Guess the game really wants me to use ol' ROMANTIC DREAM here. I don't really want to (though I will-- I don't hate Seifer or anything) and really wanted Dark Cecil stuff most so this was a bit disappointing.

I may do one more draw later.

Might do one pull here... Golbez is my magic chainholder and Seifer will be my phys one once I lens it. On the other hand, I'm not sure how much they need it; both already have two BDL and no gauge G+.

Alexander down!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/9/8/AADoKzAAC4nm.jpg

Shame I missed the sub40 but yeah he's definitely the easiest nexus boss so far, just be wary of his high damage in the first phase.

Got a dupe Lion AOSB with my ticket from beating him, 7/10 now :/

Wow, that was quick. Congrats!

These lab load speed increases are a godsend. Still in the 5 floor lab so I guess I'll see about the trash fight nerfs later

Yeah it make manual runs a lot less time consuming thank god.

I also beat the weaker Alexander and sub30'd him first try. CoD died because I got careless but he's so squishy Raines and Naabat still killed him in time.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/2/3/AADoKzAAC4n_.jpg

Got a dupe Prishe awakening and Lissette BSB with that ticket.

Ugh need to rework this FFI lab team I set up for magia grinding... Meia is apparently the fastest character so she wastes her first turn using the wall instead of her sync. Guess I might need to use a haste RM on someone

Okay fuck it, I have no self control

3/11: Golbez DASB!!!, Decil limit chain, Cloud AASB3

Yessss, the Golbez dual awakening (my second one after Machina) was my top want here and the Cloud AASB should help as well with FF7 content. That's also my first limit chain; maybe it'll be useful if I ever get anything else for Decil.

Minor correction, CSB+ is different from a limit chain. Great pull though. Golbez's DASB was my top want and I also wanted both Cloud relics a lot.

Oh are the limit chains the ones that boost the max count of an active chain? I forgot that there were two new types.

Easy Physical Alexander down, almost got a sub30!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/6/8/AADoKzAAC4os.jpg

Got Naja's enEarth lmr with my ticket. Ugh.

Yeah, they can either start a chain or boost a chain that's already going. They seem weird, I think we will get them around June fest.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/7/7/AAEagUAAC4o1.jpg

This one was pretty easy. Beat the 580 in 25s in my first real try (had a couple false starts when I realized I didn't equip the right SBs) and then I beat 650 on my first try period. Y'shtola is actually good! Stonega Skin means you can bring a different RM and she can heal if needed (I didn't need it) and her damage was good until phase 3. Also I don't like villains so I got to use a minimum evil Dark team. I wanted to do Shadow/Cloud/DK Cecil for physical but I didn't get Cloud's stuff so I'm going to have to use Sephiroth instead.

I almost beat physical weak Alexander but I keep dying to sap, even when I'm using Sarah's USBs when the Alexander is in attack animation I feel like not doing one more pull on last fest to get Sarah's regenra & 3 turn quickcast was a major regret.

I guess I should actually make Seymours HA

Augh why does every single ability need non-elemental and dark

580 magic weak was easy, also got him my first real try

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/3/8/4/AAC7eiAAC4qg.jpg

Used the ticket on V; 1/11, dupe Krile LMR :(

Wow, got the real version second try!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/0/6/AAC7eiAAC4q2.jpg

I just used my SBs as I got the gauge besides Mog U1 (which I should have used earlier but was worried I wouldnt have the gauge to recast his AA2); because of that Golbez was only doing like 9k a hit with his dual. In retrospect I probably should have had Golbez do chain >sync>chain>dual. I got to 20% at 26 seconds, rechained, and Wodin got the killing blow.

Ticket>Tactics: 3/11: Marche AOSB, Orran USB, Delita GSB

I got my hopes up when I saw the book D:

Oh man got the real physical version just by the skin of my teeth!

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/4/2/9/AADoKzAAC4rN.jpg
I was almost gonna do a rage pull for Seifer stuff since I was always under 10% from a win, but man I squeaked it out!

Got a dupe Prishe dyad with that ticket, nuts!

Congrats on all the Alex kills already