Which weapons to upgrade!

[Priran]

I've been using Apocalypse for Lightning. Ironstrike is barely noticeable with Haste and it does so much more damage per hit than even the Helter-Skelter I was using before it's silly.

edit: Wait, Bravega/Faithga are actually bigger stat boosts than the single-target?

[Gokulo]

I've been using Apocalypse for Lightning. Ironstrike is barely noticeable with Haste and it does so much more damage per hit than even the Helter-Skelter I was using before it's silly.

edit: Wait, Bravega/Faithga are actually bigger stat boosts than the single-target?

There are 2 version - one is aoe, other is still single but bigger boost (you notice 2 blue arrows on the status icon, not 1)

[Akiyama]

There's a Bravega and Bravera? If so, I did not know that. D:

My Fang is using the Taming Pole > Venus Gospel, Lightning has a maxed out Helter Skelter (though I may up a Lionheart to mess with), and I may try out an Apocalypse. Not sure, though.

[Elcura]

I haven't seen a Bravega or Faithga, I think those are just mistranslations for Bravera and Faithra. The -ra spells for buffs (including Protectra and Shellra) are still single target, but give bigger boosts, yet they don't last half as long. They're the ones that give 2 arrows and overwrite the basic tier.

I would kill for -ga buffs.

[Akiyama]

Yeah, I thought so. I'd kill for 'em too so I didn't have to waste a slot on Auto-Bravery/Faith.

[Gokulo]

Oh, I actually thought that maybe some character I don't use has -ga but I was wrong it seems

[Amiricle]

Axis would be pretty good for all of the +ATB even if you're controlling Fang and not her, hell, especially if you're not controlling her, since the AI will actually be able to input as fast as the queue becomes ready.

Although, since at Omega weapon you lose the +ATB benefits, and you only get the bare skill which I don't think is that good..

I havent upgraded to omega yet since them damn adamantoises weren't putting out and I took a break for god of war, but losing the +atb rate synergy isn't all that bad.
The atb attack charge it has innately that is kept by omega version is actually very good. Every 5 attacks restore 1 full bar of your atb gauge (20% per hit on Enkindler, possibly more with AoE), and is particularly impressive if you are using army of one. One 'Army of One' (which costs 5 atb bars to execute), returns, on average, 3 atb bars because of the number of hits army of one does, meaning you only have to wait for 2 bars to fill to use that skill again.

[Mellema]

It appears that XP is never lost until you get to the final final ultimate absolute last ★ form.

For example, if you put in way more XP than is needed for Gladius to ★ (54800 from zero) when you use a Uranium catalyst, the resulting Helter-Skelter could be level 50 or more right away.

I'm not sure if it backcalculates the lower XP a higher tier item gets from the same item, otherwise you could plug in 2,181,777 XP to a level 1 Axis Blade and it should transform to Enkindler★ then directly to Omega★.

I think that would be about twenty x3 boosted Ultracompact Reactors in one go?

Just tested this while upgrading Belladonna > Marlboro Wand. Using 38k exp yields a level 15 Marlboro wand. Using a 3x Reactor for 120k exp gave me a level 15 Marlboro also. So going way over will just waste you alot of money.

[Celeras]

Oh, I actually thought that maybe some character I don't use has -ga but I was wrong it seems

Same..

"Fang, though not majoring in this role, learns the helpful Haste and Veil spells early on compared to Lightning, Snow, and Vanille. She also learns a wide array of area of effect buffing spells, in some cases superior to the single-target versions of Sazh and Hope."

From the Wiki, fail.

[Atreides]

Still can't decide on a weapon for Sazh, right now it's between

Spica Defenders, upgraded have Augment Maintenance II, 713 STR 911 MAG and
Antares Deluxes, upgraded have Chain Bonus Boost II, 610 STR 616 MAG

Chances are if I swap Sazh in itll be to use his SYN so that's why I originally decided to go with Spica Defenders (that, and they have one of the highest MAG of the weapons that don't have drawbacks) but I could see Sazh being good on RAV with Chain Bonus Boost II in making the chain go up faster.

Actually, do Antares Deluxes make mobs stagger faster, or do they just increase the chain bonus faster once mobs are already staggered?

Thoughts on which to upgrade?

[Sonomaa]

pulled this from an upgrade faq, thought it might help
( http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox...e/950899/59331 )

===TRIPLICATING TRAPEZOHEDRON===========================================[#4.c]

 Once you have one Trapezohedron, you can turn that one into three.

 To do this, pick up a Mistilteinn, one of Vanille's weapons, buyable from
 Plautus's Workshop for 11,000 gil. Along with this, you will need the
 following materials:

  159 Sturdy Bone          \
   89 Superconductor        \ Total gil:
    2 Particle Accelerator  /    1,507,400 gil
   28 Ultracompact Reactor /

    1 Scarletite
    1 Trapezohedron


 Now, use the following items to upgrade the Mistilteinn in this exact 
 order (for best cost effectiveness)

  36 x Sturdy Bone
  50 x Superconductor

   1 x Scarletite

  36 x Sturdy Bone
   2 x Ultracompact Reactor
  15 x Sturdy Bone
  27 x Superconductor

   1 x Trapezohedron

  36 x Sturdy Bone
  26 x Ultracompact Reactor
  36 x Sturdy Bone
   2 x Particle Accelerator
  12 x Superconductor


 The weapon should now be a maxed out Nirvana. Once you dismantle this, you
 will receive:

  71 x Monstrous Fang
  60 x Entrancing Tail
  36 x Moonblossom Seed
  10 x Tear of Woe
   3 x Trapezohedron

[Boyiee]

Just got into chapter 12. Lionheart is now available to use - should I grab it and upgrade it, or stick with my level 34Enkindler. I'm running with haste boots + scarf so I have atb II + 15% rate.

Pretty sure I saved not too long ago with a lower level enkindler (somewhere in the 20's) I'm sitting on over 1million gil and some ultracompact reactors so I could go anywhere with this. Running Fang/Light/Hope if it helps, using Army, Fang has a level 36 Venus. Was thinking the quick stagger will make up for the stagger lock on fangs weapon, but spamming army is fun.

[Drace]

Just got into chapter 12. Lionheart is now available to use - should I grab it and upgrade it, or stick with my level 34Enkindler. I'm running with haste boots + scarf so I have atb II + 15% rate.

Pretty sure I saved not too long ago with a lower level enkindler (somewhere in the 20's) I'm sitting on over 1million gil and some ultracompact reactors so I could go anywhere with this. Running Fang/Light/Hope if it helps, using Army, Fang has a level 36 Venus. Was thinking the quick stagger will make up for the stagger lock on fangs weapon, but spamming army is fun.

I had a capped tier2 Enkindler I used forever on Light and loved it, but found upgrading the Lionheart to work signficantly better in the long run.

I use the haste boots + scarf for farming as well, and the quick stagger is very noticeable on the Lionheart (mine is *Omega level now). With capped Kain's Lance (from Venus Gospel) on Fang, they are an absolute beastly combination for Fang COM, Light RAV. Don't even really need tri RAV for quick staggers any more - just use Lionheart with Light and another RAV, leave Fang on COM for high damage and you will shred through mobs

[Boyiee]

I hear alot of people going on about spamming Army, it seems to slow my battles down. At least, I've only used it in random encounters. When is the time to spam army? One mob encounters or bosses?

[Viq]

Any time you're using Lionheart/Omega with Random: Instant Stagger, more or less. The more chances to proc stagger, the better.

[Saga]

Alright, couple quick questions just so I get some idea of where I'm at. I'm almost 17 hours in, on chapter 8 I think, about to rescue Sazh and Vanille. I'm dumb like most people and elected to upgrade gladius, which is now a level 23 Helter-Skelter. Should I start upgrading my Axis Blade? Is it a huge pain in the ass to re-upgrade stuff?

Also, when the hell does this game open up? I think once I get Sazh and Vanille all 6 of my party members should finally be together for the first time in the entire game, I'm hoping in chapter 9 I can start doing some farming and side quests.

[Elcura]

Chapter 11 is when things open up.

[Boyiee]

Alright, couple quick questions just so I get some idea of where I'm at. I'm almost 17 hours in, on chapter 8 I think, about to rescue Sazh and Vanille. I'm dumb like most people and elected to upgrade gladius, which is now a level 23 Helter-Skelter. Should I start upgrading my Axis Blade? Is it a huge pain in the ass to re-upgrade stuff?

Also, when the hell does this game open up? I think once I get Sazh and Vanille all 6 of my party members should finally be together for the first time in the entire game, I'm hoping in chapter 9 I can start doing some farming and side quests.

I did the same thing with gladius. I opted to wait until I could buy adamantite to upgrade axis to a level 2 weapon (thus giving ATB II) before making the switch or spending money.

In chapter 11, the upgrade item becomes available, money farming and cp farming become available, and some great items that give the "boost" effect for higher ATB rate become available. That seemed the best time to switch to axis. I went from a level 22helter to a 22Enk.

[Elcura]

I also farmed mission 7 until I had enough money for Adamantite and to upgrade my Enkindler to max. At the very least, you should make back the money you spent on it.

[Boyiee]

Has anyone tried using Omega(Axis) and Omega(Lionheart) on the same playthrough to see which they preferred?

Using fang with Kain from Taming pole, as COM, means full time RAV for Light for the most part (minus single target during staggers) so spamming army with Lionheart would seem pretty good. Shit unless you main Fang, then I guess axis would be best so you can Highwind asap.