theicarusgambit

[theicarusgambit]

Yay Jump Start! I don’t know why I worry about things that resist elements in this kind of environment. An early imperil let Luneth tear through this defense without much care. Zidane got his bsb2 up, then blasted her down until I couldn't see a bar of health left. Her hp dropped so fast that I let Onion Knight use his osb a couple of times. This went so fast that I don’t have much tactic advice. 

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This fight asks for poison, which remains as one of the only elements I have no relics for, other than Vivi’s dated Unique. So, I went with one of my strongest elements. I used poison attacks on Onion Knight, but an imperil wind followed by a wind bsb, ssb, and osb were more than enough to bring this one down. I did bring fire resist and a wall rw, but hitting him hard and fast seems to be the best plan for attack. there aren’t any real tricks to beating him, so my advice to you is to just overwhelm him. 

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According to Dr. Mog:

Rufus’s attacks start off easy to handle, kupo! But the longer the battle goes on, the more powerful and quick his attacks become, so try to use your strongest abilities to end the fight fast! Rufus has high Resistance, and Dark Nation has high Defense, so use attacks appropriate for each! Dark Nation uses support magic like Slow, Dispel, and Haste, which can pose a real problem, kupo. To fight back, have your own Dispel and Haste on hand! Rufus and Dark Nation are both resistant to break debuffs, but since most of their attacks are physical, Protectga and Power Breakdown are must-have abilities for this fight! Don’t let an egomaniac like Rufus get the upper hand, or things will get ugly fast, kupo.

I read it as this:

Rufus’s attacks start off easy to handle, kupo! But the longer the battle goes on, the more powerful and quick his attacks become, so try to use your strongest abilities to end the fight fast! Rufus has high Resistance, and Dark Nation has high Defense, so use attacks appropriate for each! Dark Nation uses support magic like Slow, Dispel, and Haste, which can make it funny when you constantly remove them, kupo. To fight back, have your own Dispel and Vessel of Fate on hand! Rufus and Dark Nation are both resistant to break debuffs, but since most of their attacks are physical, Protectga and Gleaming Wyrmfang are must-have abilities for this fight! They are also mostly tauntable, so bring Ingus.  Don’t let an egomaniac like Rufus get the upper hand because, in the end, the most famous Rufus is still a naked mole rat, kupo.

Thanks for the advice, Doc!

For me, Dark Nation was very easy. Constantly removing status effects made him focus on setting them back up. Also, his lower defense meant that Raines could freely run through him. For defenses, I brought Protectga, Sentinel Grimoire, two Power debuffs, and put almost everyone in the back row. The only one I didn’t do that with was Ingus. For him, he had another boost with Gaia Cross and his bsb. Oathsworn Espada and Lionheart meant that his sb bar charged quickly. Once Dark Nation was gone and he began his late game spam, Ingus switched to Titan’s Blade, further reducing Rufus’ attack while also doing more damage than OE. 

[theicarusgambit]

So I started a new app game called Kingdom Hearts Union x[CROSS]. I played it a little bit once upon a time, but I’m already way passed where I was. It’s cool to start a game here, though!

So far, I made Icarus here. I just Leopardas because whatever. The plot is very thin, but I like the storybook look to it. Icarus himself looks like he’s flirting with everyone he comes across or he looks completely done with the world. That’s it. Those are his expressions. 

I might put up a post for medals and things later, but for now this is what we got.

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Final Fantasy Type-0 additions include Ace, Deuce, and Nine, as well as a burst for each, a super for each, a legend materia for each, and an ultra for Ace and Deuce.

I thought I’d give an opinion on each of them while there were still a few days to draw. I will only give opinions on what I have acquired so far, though,so this will not include either ultra or Deuce’s legend materia. 

Ace himself:

Attack: 3 Defense: 1 Hit Points: 3 Magic: 5 Resistance: 2 Mind: 2 Accuracy: 3 Evasion: 3 Speed: 4

Daggers, Rod, Staff, Thrown Hat, Light Armor, Robe, Bracer, Accessory

Black Magic 6, White Magic 4, Summoning 6, Celerity 6, Sharpshooter 5

Ace himself has a lot of options open to him. He also has a passable attack with a thrown weapon in hand for auto, but let’s be real, you’ll run him as a full on mage. Fortunately, this is something he does very well. While you will probably never take advantage of his White Magic 4, Black Magic and Summoning 6 is enough all on its own. One of his legend materias even gives him a fire boost, making him a great option to use for Meltdown or Valigarmanda.The other makes him start with haste and instant cast his first three moves, which is rather common but very good.  With 3 in attack, celerity 6, and sharpshooter 5 (along with new fire sharpshooter abilities) he can get physical if you want him to, which is nice given he has thrown weapons.

With his bsb: 

His bsb is really good, honestly. Not meta defining, but good enough to get real use out of. While his enfire is reserved for his ultra, this has the benefit of being both instant cast and granting the party physical blink. With that ace up your sleeve, you can really work your way around a lot of issues with some serious bosses. His commands are kind of great, too. Fire BOM hits the target four times with a reduced delay, meaning he can really pick up the pace. It hits harder if the user is in the front row, but that’s not enough to get me to actually put him there. Fire SHG hits both targets twice, then reduces Ace’s resistance and raises his Magic. That should really help with the damage. This bsb honestly seems really solid. It is unfortunate that he can’t abuse lifesiphon or wrath to keep up the blinks, but it is still undeniably good.

With his lm:  Spiral Breaker would be trivial if it was an rm, but as an lm it really could be useful. It grants Ace a small chance to avoid one physical attack when using a black magic ability. This seems to be very small, but it activated enough for me to notice. Being able to avoid hits even rarely is a nice ability. I don’t know what else to say about that.

Deuce herself:

Attack: 1 Defense: 1 Hit Points: 2 Magic: 5 Resistance: 4 Mind: 5 Accuracy: 3 Evasion: 3 Speed: 3

Dagger, Rod, Staff, Instrument Hat, Light Armor, Robe, Bracer, Accessory

Black Magic 6, White Magic 6, Bard 5

Up until now, I mostly rated my white mages on a.) if they have support 4 or combat 4 and b.) the quality of their soul break. Deuce honestly might make me reconsider that a bit. She’s clearly a white mage, but did you see that magic stat? She has a super high magic with access to Meltdown. She definitely has a second strong option with that kind of power. She also has bard 5, which does give her a few tricks, even if they aren’t exactly amazing. Her lms increase her healing a small amount and give her white magic spells a slight chance to trigger twice.

With her bsb:

On one side, you could totally just give her black magic as her abilities and rely on this bsb for healing. On the other, it just lacks a certain oomf. It does raise her attack and magic, which can really help her damage as well as the party’s. Still, this doesn’t stack with Onion Knight’s bsb, which is about my go to for party buffs. The initial aoe heal is only moderate, too. The abilities are Cure ff, which heals a party member by a very large amount instantly. The other is Healing Meody, which is an aoe heal for a small amount. While both of these are good options, they’re the same as Larsa and Y’Shtola’s bsbs, who both have Wrath access and cool initial effects. This bsb is solid, but nothing special. Unless you aren’t already using the same kind of buff, though. If you aren’t, an additional boost to attack and magic might just be music to your ears.

Nine Himself:

Attack: 4 Defense: 4 Hit Points: 4 Magic: 1 Resistance: 1 Mind: 1 Accuracy: 3 Evasion: 3 Speed: 3

Dagger, Sword, Spear, Shield Hat, Helm, Light Armor, Heavy Armor, Bracer, Accessory

Black Magic 3, White Magic 3, Combat 6, Dragoon 6

Nine has some good stats, to be sure. He can use some very useful weapons and armor, too. He lacks a bit of the raw power some other characters have, but he’s solid. His lms give him a small wind boost, which is nice, and a cool ability to raise his attack a large amount, proportional to the number of jump attacks he’s dealt. That helps out his build a good amount.

With his bsb:

His bsb is Class Zero Basher-In-Chief, which probably has the best name for a soul break since Snow’s Here We Go! CZBIC is a very solid sb. He nails a guy eight times with wind jump attacks and gains enwind. His commands hit a guy four hits, dealing more damage if they are at all weak to wind, and hit all targets twice, lower his defense, and raise his attack. His attack looks like it can go pretty high, especially with his lm. Sky High will really be fun on him.

With his lm:

So far, I’ve been a bit impressed with this guy, but he hasn’t sold it quite yet to me. After all, to make it on my physical wind team is hard. I have a lot of possible options there. That said, this lm really seals the deal for me. Dizzying Leap has a small chance to temporarily lower the target’s wind resistance a small amount when using jump attacks. That is a damn good attempt at a spot. That has me actually thinking. Granted, I need to figure a good way to handle support if I add him. I might have to use Onion Knight and Ramza still, given their 5* support. Either way, he’ll try to spearhead the assault by trying to lower their wind resistance. It would be nice to get a jump on things.

[theicarusgambit]

Type-0 complete!

So, I managed to pull off a couple of draws for Type-0- I don’t have anything to save for before Super Fest, so I don’t feel bad. I have everyone’s bsb as well as the lm for Ace and Nine. With the 20 mithral they handed us I’ll definitely get one more pull before it leaves. I really want Ace’s usb and I like to collect from these offshoots. Side note, as of this event I have a party’s worth of lms, so that’s cool. 

Anyway, I was lucky enough to get Ace’s bsb. I decided to take advantage of this fact by burning down everything in sight. I really enjoy Ace’s bsb, by the way. If I get his usb he may become a mainstay for jump starts. Nine’s lm might find him on a team with Zidane and Luneth, too. 

The first fight was with lesser coerls. After the pain of fighting one in XV, I found a satisfaction in setting these ablaze. Krile really made it easy with aoe fire. Ace could do similar, so that was kind of awesome. Deuce did boost the part further with her bsb, though it was rather unneccesary; the team did enough on their own. If you have magic and good aoe firepower I highly recommend that route. It meant I really ran through this fight.  Some defensive barriers would go a long way, too. SG and Protectga were enough for me.

Beyond that was Brionac. This thing is vulnerable to fire, ice, and lightning, giving you a lot of options. Given that the cm is for a party with Ace, medals are for fire damage, and I already had a party set up for fire I opted to just continue, the only difference was giving Vivi Meltdown to exploit over Firaja. It has one of those medals for beating it before it uses x move y amount of times, so time is precious here. Meltdown, Chain Firaga/Thundaga/Blizzaga, Snowspell, Ixion, sbs, whatever you need to hit it fast and hard. It definitely seemed to prefer physical hits, so Protectga is recommended, as well as physical breaks. It has a decent chunk of health, but the defenses don’t hold as well as some others of this difficulty. Mostly, exploit your advantages and you’ll be good. 

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2017/03/05

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And the prize for the efforts.

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So, that was notably rougher. Sadly Luneth went down pretty late in the game so I didn’t get to finish up with his heavy Sky High damage. That said, I still managed to pull it out. But hey, they pulled it off! I missed the Shout/Chant attack boosts and Larsa’s superior commands. But, hey. I won.

[theicarusgambit]

My first playthrough of the jump start torment. I took the easy way, relying on Zidane and Luneth to blast this guy to hell with help from rw Cloud usb. They brought this guy down quickly, with Swallow offering only mild annoyance at best. Ramza was helpful and I enjoyed the wall and Larsa’s frequent healing. Now, given I wasn’t running my standard wall as rw, I was lacking my usual support unit. Ramza, Y’Shtolla, and Larsa picked up the slack with Stoneskin II, breakdowns, protectga, and shellga. It kept me alive and did it well enough Zidane never even hit Trance mode. I guess it worked well. I’m actually really happy with myself, since they took down the 250 and 300 torments on the first try. 

That said, I am going to have to take this on again. Luneth is so close to finishing off his lm. I do need to beat it with two X characters next go around. That will give me 20x dex motes, and that’s enough to finish it off. Larsa will be swapped out for Yuna for sure, but I’m not sure who will take the other spot yet.

[theicarusgambit]

ceentipede:

 I’m so excited for the Type-0 event. I honestly don’t know how I would fit the three in if I got their stuff, but I want it. 

[theicarusgambit]

kittykittyhunter replied to your photoset: I really can’t begin to tell you how excited I am...

Oh whoa, that’s super cool! I’ve only really been throwing Legends at Lightning so far and I’m so hyped about nearly mastering her board. Congrats!

Thank you! I’ll need to work on Lightning down the line, actually. For now, it’s mostly Zidane, Luneth, and Raines.

[theicarusgambit]

Zidane (FFIX) | ぎどら