FFRK - Triumph Over Darkness (IV) Event & Strategies
FFRK's first dedicated wind Black Mage. Whats a Blue Mage?
Barbariccia. Or Valvalis. Or Valvalicia. Or Cialis...she would probably work either way.
This event is also centered on Cecil's struggle between Dark Knight and Paladin, and his triumph at Mount Ordeals.
"I should have killed you and Rosa both when I had the chance...allow me to amend my past mistakes!" - Barbariccia
Barbariccia is one of Golbez's four Archfiends, titled the Empress of the Winds. She makes her home in the Tower of Zot, and is protected by her three minions, the Magus Sisters. She does not make an appearance until Cecil and his friends attempt to rescue Rosa, who is kept in the top floor. Barbariccia then appears and blames Kain Highwind for being a traitor.
Kain says he was being controlled by Golbez, and his true wish is to fight alongside Cecil. The party defeats Barbariccia and in her dying breath, she destroys the tower, hoping that Cecil's party would be trapped inside. Rosa casts Teleport, and warps the party out.
Event Start Date: June 14
Event Bonus Battle: June 17
Event End Date: June 24 (Possibly extended due to Summer Fest)
All information is taken from a mixture of Reddit/Spreadsheets and my own obviously expert analysis.
Though the information provided is used as a guideline and not always taken directly from the thread. When necessary, additional thoughts on Cid Missions and battle strategies are added.
Moderate chance to doublecast wind element abilities.
FuSoYa:
Small Black and White Magic damage up.
Moderate chance to doublecast Black and White Magic.
Palom:
Small Black Magic damage up.
Moderate chance to doublecast Black Magic abilities.
Barbariccia:
Small White Magic healing up.
Moderate chance to doublecast White Magic abilities.
Acolyte Archives
Beat 'Antlion 凶++' with a party consisting of FFIV synergy characters.
Balance Changes
You spoony bard!
Relics
SUPER SOUL BREAKS ARE OFFICIALLY DEAD!
LONG LIVE 1/11 LMR PULLS!
SSB's are banished, and new character will generally received a USB/OSB and a Burst. The SSB slots are now taken up by LMR's or the odd BSB.
Pecil and Decil get the big tech, it being their event, and have elementally flavored AOSB's and Glints with relevant support effects.
There is also some good in-realm SB's for Torments, but to beat the dead horse fest is a scant 1.5 weeks away...so weigh decisions appropriately.
That said, sparing one shot on either banner isn't terrible. Banner 1 is strong holy or dark physical damage, while banner 2 has strong wind a lightning mages and a Yuna-esque medica USB.
Future Event Banner Comparison:
Next FFIV event should be sometime in September and is Kain/Yang centric with Golbez's dark chain 2.0 magical counterpart to Seifer.
It seems to mark a trend in JP that had slightly diminished banner potency before Brave Mode was introduced.
Stat buffs from the EX mode have a unique ID and will stack with everything.
Many USB’s come with a built in class damage boost. These are separate from the iteration class boosts and do stack.
EX modes last 15 seconds, while buffs provided by the USB entry last 25 seconds. (Terra is an exception, with her EX Mode lasting 25 seconds).
Special Effects:
General Boost: These can be anything specifically tied to the EX Mode - HP Stock, Crit Fix, Cast Speed, Ability Boost, Stat buffs, and even Break Damage Limit. This will stack with every other buff on the user, including other EX Modes.
Rank Boost: This provides a damage boost scaling with the rank of the ability used. The boost starts out at ~5% for R1 increasing to ~30% for R5+.
Chase: Follow up attack(s) triggered by using abilities of a specific element or school while under the EX Mode. The number of these chase attacks can be random, reliant on the rank of the ability used (Rank Chase) or status of the user (Status Chase).
Cycle: Unit receives a quickcast or instacast charge when using abilities tied to a specific element or school – generally meant to be used in repetition for maximum effect.
Build Up: A gradient damage boost toward a specific ability school based on the number of ability uses from the start of the battle to when the EX mode is applied. This buff is not tied to EX mode duration, and will persist whenever the EX mode is active.
Wind Up/Finisher: Generally applying to Summoners, this will provide additional damage based on the sum total of all type (class or element) damage done during EX mode when the mode expires. The unique aspect of this is that a recast of the USB will count toward the exit damage of the previous EX mode.
Phantom Cast: This effect will auto cast an attack every few second at a set rate independent of the character. The number of attacks or potency is not reliant on any outside factors (Haste, Slow, QC) and will generally produce 4 actions per EX Mode.
Cheer: This will grant a party wide effect after using a triggering ability. For example, Marche will triple the cast speed of every front row party member (himself included) for 1 turn after he uses a Knight ability.
Ability Double: This will guarantee that an ability will cast 2 times per use at the cost of 2 hones. The first cast can trigger appropriate W-Cast materia for a total of 3 hits, but the additional hits will not generate SB gauge.
Banner 1:
Covering his duality, Pecil and Decil gain holy and dark versions of the 3 hit AOSB's.
Pecil's 2nd USB is actually the games 4th Wall buff with an EX mode 'Lunarian' that carries an Atk/Def buff and he will also trigger a frontline Cheer type medica when using Knight abilities. Additionally, his Glint is a self-holy stack effect and party HP Stock of 2000.
Decil has a USB that gels really well with the Dark Knight paradigm; 10x ST dark/non hits, en-dark, 100% HP Stoneskin, and EX mode 'Red Wings' that grants an Atk+30% buff and 100% W-cast Darkness (*not* ability double) abilities while under Stoneskin and 3x Darkness fast cast. The downside is that it drains him of 99% his current HP on entry so have a healer attached to his hip before he starts throwing out the boosted Sanguine Crosses.
Decil's glint is a darkness element boost and a 100% Stoneskin.
FuSoYa gains a holy/non element Squall type BSB with 8x holy/non ST damage on entry with en-holy. Both commands are Black Magic, with C1 being the 2x holy/non + Moonlight buildup and C2 dealing 3-6 of 230-300% holy/non ST damage based on Moonlight.
Returning Items:
Pecil: BSB2
Decil: BSB2
Spoony Bard: BSB
Banner 2:
We wind amazon now.
Barbariccia's mage dagger of windy USB daggerness is 10x ST wind/non damage with a Mag/Res boost, en-wind, and an 'Evil Gale' chase; 5x ST wind/non damage triggered by wind abilities.
Her BSB seems like standard fare, offering a imperil on entry along with 8x ST wind/non damage. Commands are Black Magic, with C1 4x ST wind/non damage and 2x double cast speed with C2 a 2x AoE wind/non damage attack + Mag/Def bargain.
Palom gives Ashe a run for best lightning mage here, as his USB carries 10x ST lightning/ice damage with a self Mag/Res boost, en-lightning, and Black Magic ability double.
Finally, Porom channels Yuna and offers an instant Curaga medica with Last Stand and Reraise for her USB.
Notes: The Dark Elf will start in this form. You can leave protect at home.
No water attacks, so Gigas Armlets are a good armor choice to cover his fire/ice/lightning elements spells. He will also start to lean more on AoE casts as his HP depletes, so try to save an Enkidu or medica for the later stages.
Cecil AOSB will deal with him. Not by itself, but pretty quickly at ~60% health.
Antlion + 凶Antlion HP: 350,000 Target Score:
Defeat Antlion with at least 3 characters not KO'ed.
Weak: Ice Absorbs: Water Resists: None Null: None Vulnerabilities: None
Notes: You can ditch the shellga here. 100% physical fight.
Antlion has a chance to counter every attack with Pincer. It can be ST or AoE and pierces Def. As he loses HP, the counter chance creeps upward until hitting 100% for the last 30% health. Better to burst him down and slow walk the first half of the fight.
The plus side is that none of the attacks are ranged, so back row members can have that advantage.
Acolyte Archive:
Summons are un-counterable. Antlion has an ice weakness. Rydia is in realm. Yup.
A back row Pecil (hell, even a front row one) can soak a fair bit of the non NAT attacks using Sentinel or Draw Fire.
Edge can also pack that instant physical blink with his USB0.
Don't be afraid to slow walk the first 50-60% if you're low on CM medicas. Just be ready to burst down after that threshold, because the counter rate picks up a lot.
Mixed mitigation is key, as is Affliction Break if you can manage it as Sandy can Berserk you. If you can't slot it in, prioritize Slow and Confuse resists. Cindy may even be worth a stacking Mug Bloodlust because she can dish out some physical pain. The status effects have 1x and 3x versions.
If you're unfamiliar with FFIV:
Cindy: Rebel Wilson
Sandy: Slender
Mindy: Tiny
Astra can save you all the headaches as well.
You should take out Cindy first to stop any chance of her reviving any of her sisters. At the start of the fight, Sandy will cast reflect on Cindy and Mindy will bounce spells off of Cindy. Mind the reflect with BSB commands or summons in a mage centered party.
Jump Start: A change! They all get a HP boost. Cindy: 600,000 - Sandy/Mindy: 250,000
Dark Knight Cecil (Apoc ++) 滅Decil HP: 680,000 Target Score:
Notes: Are you surprised this is 100% physical? You shouldn't be. It's Decil.
The fight starts with a 60 second Doom timer, and like Demon Decil can decrease the time with an AoE physical darkness attack to set it at 45 and then 30 seconds.
Many of his attacks are also ranged, so back-row won't save you much mitigation. Pack all the Power BD variants for stacking purposes.
The good news is that there aren't any status effects and his only elemental damage is dark. Also, not omni-resist like the amazingly awesome Leviathan.
Finally, Soul Eater raises just his attack. So Power Breakdown should be used with absolute determination.
Acolyte Archive: There is a bonus mission here for completion with a FFIV party. The prize is 2mil gil, so don't worry about it too much.
Yeah palom's is actually the thing I'd want. The banner 2s for now vs later are pretty similar, later one has decil AOSB vs pecil's pretty bad ultra1 now, edward's burst and edge's burst vs porom and golbez bursts, and the LMR differences. That's better by a bit but not as much as I'd expect (golbez's is just useless by then but none of them are all that great; if all I had for decil were his lmr and aosb I"m really not sure if I'd use him).