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  1. #1
    Ridill
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    Gilgamesh

    FFRK - The Empress Of Time (VIII) Event & Strategies



    Do you have enough swords, Queen of Time Kompression?

    I'm going to go ahead and get the important stuff out of the way:
    Spoiler: show
    Rinoa is Ultimecia.
    Squall is not dead.
    Spoiler: show

    Best Teacher stuff is next FFVIII event.

    Zell lost the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Championship.


    "Kurse all SeeDs. Swarming like lokusts akross generations. You disgust me. The world was on the brink of that ever-elusive 'time kompression'. Insolent fools! Your vain krusade ends here, SeeDs." - Ultimecia

    Ultimecia is an incredibly powerful sorceress from the future, who seeks to compress past, present and future into one; erasing all life but her own.

    She sends her mind to the present time and possesses the sorceress Edea Kramer, but the primary protagonist Squall Leonhart and his friends manage to track her down to her very own era and destroy her for good.


    Event Start Date: July 5
    Event Bonus Battle: July 8
    Event End Date: July 15

    All information is taken from a mixture of Reddit/Spreadsheets and my own obviously expert analysis.

    Much info for the event comes from this thread and its related links: https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKee...hk&sh=e47205ae

    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.

    Notable Rewards:

    ...Whatever.

    New Characters Acquired:

    Ultimecia: Black Magic 5, White Magic 5, Summon 5, Darkness 5, Witch 5

    Dress Spheres Acquired:

    ...Whatever.

    Old Characters Acquired:

    Squall
    Seifer
    Laguna

    New Memory Crystals:

    Ultimecia MC1/MC2

    Old Memory Crystals:

    Squall MC1/MC2
    Seifer MC1/MC2
    Laguna MC1/MC2

    New Record Materia:

    Ultimecia:
    • Gain a small amount of Mag, but lose a small amount of Res.
    • Deal moderately more damage with wind element attacks.
    • Deal much more Black Magic damage when a Rod is equipped.


    New Record Dive

    Ultimecia - Black Magic 9%, Summon 6%

    New Legend Materia:

    Spoiler: show
    Ultimecia:
    • Small Black Magic damage up.
    • Moderate chance to doublecast wind element abilities.


    Acolyte Archives
    • Beat 'King of Grudges 凶++' with a party consisting of FFVIII synergy characters.



    Balance Changes

    ...Whatever.

    Relics

    Best Teacher is on another banner.

    Kind of a good banner to skip, honestly, coming off a fest that introduces a lot of power creep.

    The wind mage you're pulling for here is on B2, and your other reason for pulling is good ice tech - especially Laguna's Chain and Squall's items.

    Also to note that there are 11 (yes, ELEVEN) BSB's on these banners. This is not normal, but dilutes the middle of the banners quite a bit. You can breathe a sign of relief that this event was not shoehorned into pre-fest and gain an easy 13 mythril.

    Future Event Banner Comparison:

    That said, next FFVIII (Rinoa + Quistis) should be a focus if you want VIII specific gear. The bulk of B1's major items return on B1 with Quistis/Rinoa stuff.

    While not the Poison Queen we dreamed of, Quistis does become FF8's resident buffer with that event.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKee...gj&sh=d715536b

    Element Boosts:
    Spoiler: show
    Banner 1:
    • Ice: Squall USB2
    • Dark: Seifer USB


    Banner 2:
    • Ice: Laguna CSB, Rinoa USB
    • Wind: Fujin USB, BSB
    • Fire: Irvine BSB


    Ultra EX/Chase Type Glossary:
    Spoiler: show
    Rules of thumb:
    1. Stat buffs from the EX mode have a unique ID and will stack with everything.
    2. Many USB’s come with a built in class damage boost. These are separate from the iteration class boosts and do stack.
    3. 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, Element 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+.
    • Class Boost: This provides a flat damage boost for a specific class of abilities (Knight, Black Magic, etc). Generally weaker than the Rank Boost at ~15-20%, but applies to all abilities under that class - including Burst commands.
    • 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:

    Those are some cute chains you have there. It would be a shame if someone were to come along and put them on...aww crap. My leg is cramping up.

    Laguna brings the first v2.0 chain to the ice element, offering a standard Atk Boost for the physical 2.0's.

    New for global is Squall's 2nd +ice sword in as many weeks, this time for his much improved USB2. This time, Squall has 12x ST ice/non physical hits with en-ice and a new EX Mode 'Lion'. 'Lion' pairs a self Atk boost with a familiar iteration mechanic, chasing Spellblade abilities with 4-8x ST ice/non hits with an increased damage modifier and crit rate with each successive use.

    The downside is that the iteration boosts pale in comparison to his BSB2 (+2% potency, +5 crit, +1 hit per stage), but it is still nice to have. Overall, this provides similar output to his BSB2 when all is said and done.

    Seifer pops out a new USB as well, 18x dark/fire ST hits with a self Atk/Def boost and a party CT0 charge. The hit potency is a little weak, but Seifer is kind of built around chain building anyways.

    Which brings us to his new BSB offering: 8x ST dark/fire entry with party Dark Radiant Shield. His commands share the Darkness school, with C1 offering a dark/fire Crimson Cross equivalent and C2 3x ST dark/fire hits with fastcast x3.

    Rino...Ultimecia has a lukewarm entry, gaining a wind/dark OSB with a weakness potency boost and standard 8x ST wind/dark magic entry with en-wind. Her commands share Black Magic and is similar to a Squall type (but really more Kefka lines of damage) buildup, with C1 being 2x wind/dark hits and 'Wind of End +1' while C2 is 3-6 hits of 230-300 potency based on 'Winds of End' charges.

    Returning Items:

    Squall: BSB2
    Laguna: BSB2
    Selphie: BSB2

    Banner 2:

    This whole banner is repeats, but some not too terrible ones.

    As mentioned in the event recap, 6 BSB's on B2 here. That dilutes the middle of the pool a fair amount, but Fujin, Edea, and Zell still have decent to good BSB's and Irvine has a semi rare +fire gun.

    At the top end of the banner, Laguna's solid imperil-ice USB (and +ice gun to boot) and Fujin's USB stand out as strong options. Rinoa's USB isn't bad either, but she gains much better tech in the next VIII event post Witch ability buff.

    Returning Items:

    All

    Legend Materias:
    • B1 - Seifer: Small chance to w-cast Darkness abilities.
    • B1 - Ultimecia: Begin battle with en-wind.
    • B1 - Squall: Begin battle with en-ice.
    • B1 - Laguna: Small chance for minor imperil-ice when using Machinist abilities.
    • B1 - Selphie: Small chance to grant Last Stand when using ST White Mage healing abilities.


    • B2 - Rinoa: Mag buildup - Black Magic. 1% -> 20%.
    • B2 - Edea: Moderate chance to fastcast cycle x1 when using Ice element abilities.
    • B2 - Fujin: Begin battle with en-wind.
    • B2 - Zell: Begin battle with Crit Fix 50%.



    Relic Discussion
    https://www.reddit.com/r/FFRecordKee...ws&sh=1f1383f0

  2. #2
    Ridill
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    Gilgamesh

    You're the best looking guy here.

    Good news is that pre-cognition returns, as it was with this event on the JP timeline that someone took over the reigns of boss AI.

    Ultimate + Apocalypse Battles
    Fire Cavern
    凶Ifrit
    HP: 260,000
    Target Score:
    • Defeat Ifrit with 3 or more heroes not KO'ed.

    Weak: Ice
    Absorb: None
    Resist: Fire
    Null: None
    Status Vulnerabilities: None

    Notes: Ifrit carries mixes offenses, but of major note is that Hellfire is a piercing magical hit. Bring the magic BD.

    Ifrit has regressed since Mote Ifrit. His physical hits can be tauntilated, and KO resist is better than fire resist because of AI selection (ST gravity at 50%, AoE at 25%).

    King of Grudges +
    凶Tonberry King
    HP: 350,000
    Target Score:
    • Defeat Tonberry King with at least 3 characters not KO'ed.

    Weak: None
    Absorbs: None
    Resists: None
    Null: None
    Vulnerabilities: None

    Notes: You can ditch the shellga here. 100% physical fight.

    Although a lot of the attacks are fixed damage, Junk can be used often enough that the protect is needed.

    'It's Sharp!' is used on scripted turns, and does increasing damage based on current phase with it topping out at 4,000. You don't want to face many instances of this at low HP, because it will kill you quick. Rely on Last Stand or push through it fast. Curada can help mitigate this a lot as well.

    Acolyte Archive:

    Nothing special, no weaknesses or resist, no status to worry about. Pack your in-realm heavy hitters and try to end the fight ASAP.

    For Last Stand, I think Raijin has some sort of SSB that can help you go fast. Selphie can help with encouragement as well.

    Don't rely on Laguna. His leg will just cramp up.

    Tomb of the Unknown King (Apoc +)
    滅Sacred and Minotaur
    HP: Sacred: 300,000 - Minotaur: 400,000
    Target Score:
    • Defeat the bosses with 2 or more heroes not KO'ed.

    Weak: Poison
    Absorbs: None
    Resist: None
    Null: None
    Vulnerabilities: None

    Notes: 100% physical fight. Quistis can also be de-benched for this fight and enjoy riding Doomtrain.

    Pretty straightforward. Sacred (larger one) can stun you, but you will want to clear him first anyways because Mad Cow Special is an AoE piercing physical hit and Sacred can use it as part of his normal AI.

    Jump Start: ...Whatever.

    GF From Another World (Apoc ++)
    滅Diabolos
    HP: 670,000
    Target Score:
    • Defeat Diabolos with 2 or more heroes not KO'ed.

    Weak: Wind (120%)
    Absorbs: None
    Resist: None
    Null: Earth
    Vulnerabilities: Blind

    Notes: 100% physical and gravity based fight, but all of the gravity attacks are un-blinkable and auto-hit. So no easy lantern use for a quick G.F.

    But look! You can blind him. Just like in the game! It is worth slotting in some form of Blind because of the mitigation it offers for the other half of Diabolos' arsenal. You also will have a hard time relying on Last Stand here, because Sap is a prevalent status effect.

    Do note that many of his gravity hits do Max HP damage, so they can kill outright if you aren't capped off. Around entering Weak mode around 70% HP, he gains access to 'Apocalypse Gravija' which is a ST 70% Max HP damage hit used on every 1+6n turns and 'Ultimate Gravity' which is used on his 5th turn after entering the phase and locked for 3 turns after use.

    Acolyte Archive: There is a bonus mission here for completion with a FFVIII party.

    This may be easier to accomplish than 4's attempt, mostly because Diabolos isn't resistant to anything. Just watch the earth nullification.

  3. #3
    Salvage Bans
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    how do you pronounce it...

    Rinoa (Rin-oh-ah) or, Rinoa (Rin-wha)?

    All my life it's been "Rin-oh-ah", but that I'm eating healthy, it has me wondering if it was supposed to be "Rin-wha" all along... like the grain.

  4. #4
    Ridill
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    Quote Originally Posted by Sumy View Post
    how do you pronounce it...

    Rinoa (Rin-oh-ah) or, Rinoa (Rin-wha)?

    All my life it's been "Rin-oh-ah", but that I'm eating healthy, it has me wondering if it was supposed to be "Rin-wha" all along... like the grain.
    We'll know in 5 days

  5. #5
    Ridill
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    Gilgamesh

    Quote Originally Posted by Sumy View Post
    how do you pronounce it...

    Rinoa (Rin-oh-ah) or, Rinoa (Rin-wha)?

    All my life it's been "Rin-oh-ah", but that I'm eating healthy, it has me wondering if it was supposed to be "Rin-wha" all along... like the grain.


    It's always been Ri-no-ah to me. Kwis-tis, Ed-ee-a, Sigh-fer, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Alkar View Post
    We'll know in 5 days
    Alleged Dissidia reveal? I only trust JP land enough to expect Luna. Rinoa will be good if it is her, though.

  6. #6
    Member since 2006 and still can't think of a title.
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    Kil'jaeden

    Is this the event that brings in the dark days of no longer getting easy 5* motes via Jumpstarts?

  7. #7
    Ridill
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    Quote Originally Posted by Kirin View Post
    Alleged Dissidia reveal? I only trust JP land enough to expect Luna. Rinoa will be good if it is her, though.
    Nomura dropped so many hints that it can only be Rinoa lol (never been voiced before and designed by himself).

  8. #8
    Relic Shield
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    Sylph

    Quote Originally Posted by Sumy View Post
    how do you pronounce it...

    Rinoa (Rin-oh-ah) or, Rinoa (Rin-wha)?

    All my life it's been "Rin-oh-ah", but that I'm eating healthy, it has me wondering if it was supposed to be "Rin-wha" all along... like the grain.
    I say Rin-No-Uh.

    Since it's japanese, I think it could either be how I say it, or Ree-No-Uh?

  9. #9
    Blue Magic is Best Magic
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    Oh very cool, but she is like a juiced up Edea.

  10. #10
    D. Ring
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    Diabolos

    Quote Originally Posted by Melena View Post
    Is this the event that brings in the dark days of no longer getting easy 5* motes via Jumpstarts?
    Yep, the FF4 event was our last JS. We now get Elemental Corridors (monthly pre 3* magicite Elemental dungeons) and Neo Torments instead to make up for it.

  11. #11
    Ridill
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    Diabolos CM was no joke but still managed with no good healer SBs other than Selphie's SSB. Used Raijin for Last Stand but it never triggered anyway. Bring Blindga if you don't wanna deal with his physicals.

  12. #12
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    Yeah, Diabolos was odd... on my fourth attempt he never did a single physical attack... all various forms of Gravity, which made it cake. Didn't know he could be blinded (thanks "Doctor" Mog... although he does actually list blind as a debuff, who reads that for level 200+ monsters? <.<).

    RW'd: Eiko for Last Stand.

    99 Rinoa - Tornado, Meltdown - Wind+ - USB
    99 Fujin - Raging Storm, Wrath - Weakness+ - BSB
    99 Seifer - Crimson Cross, Lifesiphon - Ace Striker - SSB, USB
    99 Squall - Snowspell Stike - BSB2
    99 Selphie - Curada, Protectga - SSB

  13. #13
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    The description should have mentioned that it opens with apoc gravija...had to restart to put start with meter on selphie.

    Nothing too weird aside from that although I should have put ninja combo on kiros for dark chain, instead of lifesiphon/powerchain.

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