Ffrk Black Armored Echoes Where Can You Get It
Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japan Current Progress Part 4
I started playing the Japanese version of the Final Fantasy Record Keeper (#ad) (FFRK) mobile game during its recent Fire Chocobo event. Since then, I've managed to do a lot of things in the game. Here's a list of my current progress.
Before that, let me start by saying the reason why I started playing the Japanese version of FFRK. It's the same reason why I'm also playing the English version. The answer is Genesis Rhapsodos from Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. Currently, he's my absolute, most favorite Final Fantasy character. He's in Final Fantasy Record Keeper, so that's why I'm also here.
Cardia Dungeon Support Event
The Cardia Dungeon Support event just started in FFRK. This requires you to complete quests in the Dreams and Torment Dungeons in order to get various rewards. These rewards include tickets that you can use to pull on select banners.
At first glance, this sounds really awesome. And then you find out that the tickets are single draws only, meaning you only get one relic per ticket. To make matters worse, there's no guarantee with these tickets unlike if you do a multi-draw wherein you're guaranteed to get at least 1 relic that's of 5-star or higher rarity. So you could use these tickets and end up with nothing but crap. Which is exactly what happened with me. In short, this event is terrible. At the very least, they could have given us one free multi-pull instead of all these useless single draw tickets.
One of the banners that came with this event features relics from Final Fantasy VII, including Aerith or Aeris Gainsborough's Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB) and Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB). I'm interested, of course, especially because I have none of the other relics offered by said banner. That's why I threw all the tickets I got here, but there's no way I'll use mythril. Why? Because the rates are absolutely terrible. There's only one Sync so the rate of getting it is even lower. Did I mention that I hate this event?
But wait there's more. Clearly, the event wasn't bad enough yet so the game made sure to lock quite a bit of rewards behind much harder content. For the first few tickets and other rewards, you could do any Dreams or Torment Dungeon, even the lowest level ones and you can still get the prizes. After that, you're now required to master at least 2 Level 450 or D450 fights although you can get a bit more rewards just by dealing at least 20% damage to the enemy.
Then you're also required to master 1 Phantasm Dungeon as well as deal at least 80% damage to 2 Phantasm bosses in order to get all the rewards. Phantasms (known as Dreambreakers in the English or Global version of the game) are even more difficult than D450 Torment fights. I haven't tried a single one yet, but I highly doubt I'd be able to deal even a bit of damage to the boss, much less win. And that's even if we're talking about the Final Fantasy VII fight where I have the most relics. Ugh. Eff this blasted event.
The only good thing about the Cardia Dungeon Support event is that the tickets give Anima Lens+. This was actually the event that gave me the last few I needed in order to finally get Genesis's Hero Ability, Creation Laceration or Genesis Slash.
Final Fantasy XII D450 Torment Dungeon
The ongoing Cardia Dungeon Support event had me considering what other D450 Torment Dungeon I could possibly complete so I can get even just a few more of the rewards.
The Final Fantasy XII D450 fight seemed to be one of the more feasible options, largely because Balthier's (Ffamran mied Bunansa) from this realm. He's part of my current team since I have the following relics for him:
- Chain Soul Break, Incendiary Trap - fire Chain
- Flash Tech Soul Break+ (known as Glint+ Soul Break in the English or Global version of the game), Morning Fortune
- Burst Soul Break, Spark of Change - lowers enemy's fire resistance level by 2 (also known as Imperil)
I also have Gabranth's dark Chain and Penelo's healing Awakening. And so I decided to try with the following team:
- Genesis Rhapsodos (#ad) as my main and only DPS
- Elarra (from Final Fantasy Record Keeper) as my primary healer
- Balthier for his fire Chain and fire Imperil to support my fave
- Penelo for her healing Awakening to act as my secondary healer
For the last team member, I decided to go with Fran even though I have zero relics for her because she can use Wrath and Entrust. So I figured she could at least make herself useful by giving her team mates more gauges.
I had to level her to 99. I couldn't justify giving her Motes though, not even the 3-star or 4-star ones since those resources are so limited. This is especially the case for me since my Japanese account is still pretty new, so I'm not swimming in even the most common of Motes.
Surprisingly, I actually managed to get pretty far with this team. Unfortunately, I ended up losing, only being able to deal 79.6% damage (getting the enemy down to 20.4%) before everyone in my party was killed. Still, this run showed me it was possible to win. I just have to figure out when Zodiark, the boss, uses certain devastating and crippling moves.
See, I actually looked up his moveset and turn order beforehand. One thing that really jumped out at me was that he was capable of giving himself complete invincibility from physical, magical and ninjutsu attacks for 5 seconds a.k.a you'll deal 0 damage with your abilities depending on which barrier is up and what skill you're using. For example, if he has his physical barrier up, then you'll deal 0 damage if you use physical abilities and Soul Breaks.
This was definitely something to watch out for. The problem was that all the text descriptions are in Japanese and I don't know what this move even looks like so I have no way of knowing when it's currently happening. As such, there were times during the battle wherein Genesis was dealing 0 damage.
The worse was when I tapped to activate his fully charged and max rank Limit Break Over Flow, Light of Rapture, which ended up dealing 0 damage because the invincibility barrier was up, but I didn't know it was. So much epic fail. Argh! If only that attack had hit, I might have won. At the very least, it would have taken huge chunks of the boss's health away.
Definitely gonna need to look up some videos to help me with this. I need some sort of cue so I know when that barrier will show up. I also think I might just go with 4 off-realm chars or just drop both Fran and Penelo since they're the weakest links in the team. I mean, if I want someone to Wrath and Entrust, I might as well just bring Tyro (from Final Fantasy Record Keeper) instead. And Elarra has worked well enough for me as my sole healer in other hard fights.
The problem was that the more off-realm chars you have, the harder the fight will be. The bosses will become resistant to all the elements so you really need to stack Imperil as high as possible otherwise your damage will plummet even more than it already will due to hardly having any realm synergy chars.
Final Fantasy XII D450 Torment Dungeon Take 2
I did look up some YouTube videos. In the English version of the game, you'll know exactly when Zodiark uses Anti-Magick (immune to magic and ninjutsu attacks for 5 seconds) and Magick Wall (immune to physical attacks for 5 seconds) because there's a long text description telling you about it. When the barrier falls off, you'll also know about it since there's another long text telling you it's over. That's definitely helpful.
But, see, the thing is, that's also in the Japanese version. In fact, both versions tell you what move the boss is using. There's also text showing what move your charas are using. Too bad I can't read Japanese. From watching more English and Japanese videos though, I saw that the Japanese version also has long text whenever Zodiark becomes invincible.
So I took that as my cue, something to watch out for. From consulting the turn order and moveset guide again, I also learned that these moves happen in later phases of the fight, so at least I don't have to worry about it in the beginning. Plus, since Genesis is a pure physical attacker, I also don't have to worry about Anti-Magick even if it's currently up.
Anyway, although I considered going full off-realm with only Balthier as the in-realm char, I decided I would try with 2 in-realm charas first. I wanted to use Penelo since I have her Awakening. I figured I'd try with her first then if it doesn't work out, just try again with a different team or tweak my current party. I dropped Fran and replaced her with Tyro. So now my current team was:
- Genesis
- Tyro
- Elarra
- Balthier
- Penelo
I had Penelo equipped with Passionate Salsa and Curada while I gave Elarra Warrior's Hymn and Ode to Victory. As soon as the fight started, I remembered that I needed Dispel because the boss buffs himself. Heck, he starts the fight with Protect, Shell, Haste, and Reflect, all of which definitely need to be dispelled ASAP. So I had to quit the fight because there was no way I was going through this without Dispel. That's just asking to lose, not to mention a waste of my time.
Final Fantasy XII D450 Torment Dungeon Take 3
So this time I gave Elarra Warrior's Hymn and Curada while Penelo got Passionate Salsa and Dispel. I also took the opportunity to replace the Inferno Assault that I had equipped to Genesis with Lifesiphon. Since I'm doing this fight mostly off-realm, I'm not going to be hitting weakness damage so it was better to bring Lifesiphon for faster Soul Break charging.
I have Balthier and Genesis use Lifesiphon to build up their gauges. Tyro uses Wrath. Once he has at least 2 gauges, he'll Entrust to Balthier first unless Elarra needs to use her Ultra now. Penelo dispels Zodiark's buffs then spams Passionate Salsa. Elarra activates her Glint+ then uses Curada. I wait until after the Sap move before casting her Ultra so that its Regenga effect will not be overwritten. If I really need to heal now, then I just use the healing Roaming Warrior that I borrowed.
This was a very slow fight because, in the beginning, no one was dealing damage. Well, sure, they were, but their attacks were in the low hundreds so it really wasn't worth mentioning at all. Zodiark's HP bar barely moved with these attacks. Things started improving once I had more gauges.
I cast Balthier's Burst Soul Break first so he can star Imperiling fire. Then I cast his Chain Soul Break. With more gauges from Tyro, he can cast his Burst again. I activate my Final Fantasy VII Historia Crystal for more damage and another source of Imperil though it's only by 1 level. Still, every bit helps. Another cast of Balthier's Burst got me the full or max stack of Imperil fire, meaning Zodiark's fire resistance level was now down by 6.
While all that was ongoing, I have Genesis use his Ultra Soul Break for more buffs followed by his Awakening. The Chain should be up by then with at least 4 stacks of Imperil fire. However, even with max Imperil active, it's still not possible to make Zodiark weak to fire. It doesn't matter though because the effects of Genesis's Awakening lets him break the damage cap with his attacks.
At around this time, I have Elarra start using Warrior's Hymn to further buff Genesis's attacks. He's dealing around 19999 or thereabouts per hit which is super special awesome. Unfortunately, I ended up being way too slow. I wasn't able to get past phase 1 before Zodiark used his auto-KO move. I needed to get him down to 80% HP and into phase 2 before that instant KO move happens. Ugh, and here I thought things were going pretty well when I finally managed to max Imperil fire and cast my fave's Awakening. Sigh.
Final Fantasy XII D450 Torment Dungeon Take 4
Okay, next try. This time, I tried to be faster. I also tried to rectify the mistakes I made in the previous try. For instance, I had Balthier equipped with his Flash+ which gives him like 1 gauge but I forgot to use it. So now I remembered to use it. It's only 1 bar but it definitely helps since he needs an exorbitant amount and he needs it fast so I can start attacking right away.
I was trying to be fast, but this run still looked like it would end in failure due to making a lot of mistakes as usual. Thankfully, I somehow managed to get past phase 1 before my party could be instantly KO'ed. I also managed to max Imperil fire.
Much later, my party was at low health after another one of Zodiark's attacks. I meant to use Elarra's Ultra or the healing Roaming Warrior. But it was Penelo's turn and her Awakening was fully charged. It was the only one she was equipped with, and it was flashing. I was panicking because everyone was at low health, so I ended up tapping on it. I hadn't wanted to use it yet though since it can actually resurrect dead allies. No one was dead yet (thankfully), so I wanted to save it for as long as possible, just in case it was necessary.
Another mistake was not using Elarra's Ultra more often. Not really for the heal since I would definitely cast it if I needed to restore the party's health. Apart from healing though, it also gives everyone quick cast for 2 turns so that would have helped speed up my chars even more. Besides, it wasn't like I needed to save Elarra's gauges since she actually ended up with a near full bar.
Speaking of having a near full bar, this really made me wish that I had more of Elarra's and even Tyro's relics since both had a lot of extra gauges they could have made use of to support the party even more. Once my fire Chain was up and Imperil fire was stacked to max, Tyro only needed to give the occasional gauge to Balthier in order to refresh the Chain and make sure Imperil fire was always at max stack.
Having Tyro's Arbiter's Tome and Elarra's Magika Orare could have allowed Genesis to deal even more damage or at least make sure he was consistently breaking the damage cap with all of his attacks once the effects of his Sync and Awakening were active. He was able to break the damage cap, but there were a few times wherein that wasn't happening at all. I guess this was when some of my attack buffs, like the one from Warrior's Hymn, ran out and I hadn't been able to refresh them yet.
The fight was really long, so much so that, aside from worrying about being too slow and being hit with the instant KO move because I couldn't get Zodiark to switch phases fast enough, I was also concerned that I would run out of abilities since most of them aren't at max rank yet. Well, I didn't have to worry too much about Genesis since his Hero Ability was at max rank and he gets infinite fire ability uses for as long as the effects of his Awakening are active.
Elarra ran out of Warrior's Hymn though. The others were close to running out as well. Yeah, the fight was that long. Felt like it dragged on though I was trying to be fast. Maybe I wasn't fast enough though I could only be glad I was at least fast enough to avoid being hit with the instant KO move.
I wonder if I would have been better off if I'd brought Auron (from Final Fantasy X) instead of Penelo. He usually acts as my secondary DPS since I have his Sync, Awakening, and Flash+. Maybe having him around so I had 2 chars dealing damage would have made the fight go by faster.
On the other hand, that would mean needing to equip Elarra with Dispel. I don't mind dropping Curada if I have to. While I did end up using it a few times during the course of the battle, it wasn't something I relied on since it only heals one char at a time, albeit by quite a lot.
The problem was that Elarra was mostly focused on casting Warrior's Hymn so she could buff Genesis's attack. Without Penelo to Dispel, I would have had to have Elarra juggle between buffing my DPS and dispelling the enemy. Besides, I think having Penelo spam Passionate Salsa also helped a bit. It debuffs Zodiark and heals the party a little. And her Awakening gives her unlimited uses of Dancer-type abilities.
Like what I did in my previous try, I had Genesis activate his Ultra first then his Awakening. I then alternated between spamming his Hero Ability and Void Destruction. Once the effects of his Awakening had worn off, he had enough gauges to cast his Sync. I opted to cast his Flash+ first for more buffs. Then I activated his Sync and tried to alternate between his 2 Sync commands. He dealt a lot of damage. Most of the time, he was breaking the damage cap.
Even with all that, it didn't seem to be enough though. I don't know if it's just because I'm only using one DPS in this fight or if it's because Zodiark is just that tanky. Or maybe it's a combination of both. The point is the boss still had some health (around 22.4%) left when the effects of Genesis's Sync ran out.
I was worried I would lose after coming this far. I could still cast Genesis's fully charged and max rank Limit Break Over Flow, but if this failed to finish off Zodiark, then I was basically out of options. Genesis still had some skill uses left, and I could keep using his Ultra as long as I had 2 gauges, but if I can no longer break the damage cap with these moves, then it would take way too long to defeat Zodiark, assuming it's even possible. I might just end up encountering his instant KO move again.
Much to my relief, Genesis's Light of Rapture was able to finish off Zodiark. It dealt the full 99999 damage each time it hit (it deals 5 hits so that was 5x99999), so it was able to take off the rest of Zodiark's health. Hell yes! Also phew. Huge sigh of relief. That was intense beyond words. I really thought I wouldn't be able to make it. So glad I managed. Somehow.
Also, I did end up encountering Magick Wall. I saw the long text though I couldn't tell if it was talking about physical or magical and ninjutsu attacks. I only knew it was Magick Wall when my chars started dealing 0 damage.
It's only up for 5 seconds, but that feels like an eternity in the game, especially since the effects of Genesis's Sync was currently active when this happened. It felt like such a waste of time. Instead of being able to deal damage, I couldn't do anything. Thankfully, this setback didn't result in me losing the fight.
I'm really happy I was able to do it. Of course, there's lots of improvement to be had here like trying to cut down my clear time. But I'm not gonna bother with that right now. This is more than good enough already, especially since, initially, I didn't even think it was possible for me to do it.
Final Fantasy XII D450 Torment Dungeon Winning Team
This is the party I used to defeat Zodiark:
- Tyro
- Genesis - currently has 1033 Attack
- Balthier
- Elarra - currently has 962 Mind
- Penelo
They're equipped with the following Soul Breaks:
Genesis
- Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB), Purgatorial Wave
- Limit Break Over Flow, Light of Rapture
- Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB), Genesis Rhapsody
- Flash Tech Soul Break+ (this is known as Glint+ Soul Break in the English version of the game), Epic of Heroes
- Flash Tech Soul Break, Epic of Destruction
- Ultra Soul Break, Apocalypse Genesis
Tyro
- Unique Soul Break, Sentinel's Grimoire
- Ultra Soul Break, Divine Veil Grimoire
- Flash, Purifying Grimoire
Balthier
- Chain Soul Break, Incendiary Trap
- Flash+, Morning Fortune
- Burst Soul Break, Spark of Change
Elarra
- Glint+, Magika Amuletum
- Ultra Soul Break, Magika Album
Penelo - Awakened Arcane Soul Break, Dancing Heart
They have the following Weapons, Armors, Accessories, Abilities, and Record Materia:
- Tyro - moderate dark resist Accessory, Rank 5 Wrath and Rank 4 Entrust, Ace Striker Record Materia
- Genesis - Level 50 of 50 fire Sword Artifact, Armor that gives +34 Attack, Accessory that gives +30 Attack, Rank 5 Genesis Slash and Rank 4 Lifesiphon, Record Materia that increases damage dealt when equipped with a Sword
- Balthier - Level 50 of 50 Final Fantasy VII Realm Sword Artifact, Accessory that gives moderate dark resistance and +700 HP, Rank 3 Burnt Offering and Rank 5 Lifesiphon, Battleforged Record Materia
- Elarra - Level 50 of 50 holy Dagger Artifact, Armor that gives +44 Mind, Black Armored Echoes Accessory, Rank 4 Warrior's Hymn and Rank 3 Curada, Mako Might Record Materia
- Penelo - Final Fantasy XII Armor for more Defense and Resistance, major dark resist Accessory, Rank 5 Dispel and Rank 3 Passionate Salsa, Lionheart Record Materia
Fire-Weak Dark Odin
I decided to try fighting the fire-weak version of Dark Odin. This battle is Level 500. Just like with the 5-star Ice Magicite (against Mateus) and the Final Fantasy VII D450 (against Jenova) Torment Dungeon battles, I wanted to beat fire-weak Dark Odin on auto. I do intend to try it manually too, but, for now, I want to go for an auto clear. I brought my current team, which was also my main and fire team, to this fight:
- Genesis Rhapsodos
- Auron from Final Fantasy X
- Balthier (Ffamran mied Bunansa) from Final Fantasy XII
- Tyro from Final Fantasy Record Keeper
- Elarra from Final Fantasy Record Keeper
I lost, but it's fine. I'll keep working on tweaking my party, trying different things to see which one works. So far, I've been able to get dark-weak Odin down to 54.1% health. Not bad, huh?
The good news is that the very first time I fought Dark Odin without dying in the first few turns (IIRC, I had to inflict at least 10% damage to get the clear), I got my very first Black Armored Echoes. This Accessory gives moderate resistance to all elements. I thought doing another version of Dark Odin would get me another Accessory, so I tried fighting his dark-weak version. I have some dark relics, but I wasn't really expecting to win. I just wanted to deal enough damage that would get me my second Black Armored Echoes. Well, I managed to get the clear, but, unfortunately, no second Accessory.
So I checked again, and it looks like the first Black Armored Echoes was given as a first-time reward. Initially, I thought it was a reward specifically for my first time clearing the fire-weak Dark Odin fight and that I would get another for clearing another one of his forms. Unfortunately, it doesn't work like that. I need to actually beat Dark Odin, not once but twice, in order to get my second Accessory. Then I'll need to beat even more of his elemental forms to get the rest of them. AFAIK, there's 5 Black Armored Echoes to be had, one for each member of your party.
In short, there's no way I'll be getting any more Black Armored Echoes anytime soon. Ah, well, at least I already have one. It's definitely better than 0, so this is already a huge improvement for my party. At the very least, I could give it to the one who's more likely to need it.
Fire-Weak Dark Odin Latest Try
After tweaking my setup some more, I decided to try the fire-weak Dark Odin fight again. To my surprise, I managed to get way further than my previous try. My party brought Odin down to 22.4% health remaining. Welp, did the changes I made to my setup really make that much of a difference, or did I just get lucky?
The best part is that the battle wasn't over yet. Everyone was still alive though I worried it wouldn't be for much longer since their health bars were so low you could barely see them. This is most visible with Tyro and Elarra as you can see in the screenshot below. I mean, maybe the others have more health since it is kinda hard to see with all that light, but Tyro and Elarra were definitely in danger of dying. I think the countdown (currently at 8) that just started means that the fight will forcibly be ended (a.k.a either unavoidable auto eject or instant KO) soon unless I somehow manage to beat Odin before that happens.
My party managed to survive though thanks to Elarra's Ultra and its Regenga. She's really super special awesome as my main healer even if I don't have all of her relics. In the pic below, you can see that everyone's now back to full health while Dark Odin's HP bar has been reduced to 13.3%. Oh, man, am I actually gonna make it?
Earlier, Auron was dealing attacks that broke the damage cap. Then his attacks started being crappy again. I think it's because the effects of his Awakening had ended. Much earlier, he'd already cast his Sync so the effects of that were long over.
Genesis was still breaking the damage cap with his moves. Dark Odin's really tanky though. He refuses to die and he hits really hard. My party managed to bring him down to 2.0% health remaining, but Elarra ended up dying. Balthier and Tyro were also at low health. It isn't quite visible in the screenshot below, so am not sure about Genesis's and Aauron's health bars.
I can only be thankful that the effects of Elarra's Regenga were still in effect so even with my healer dead, I still had a chance. The fight definitely needed to end already though. Man, Odin, why won't you just croak it already? I don't want to lose after being able to get this far.
So Balthier did end up dying. Auron and Tyro were still alive though I don't know for how much longer. Thankfully, the effects of Genesis's Awakening were still active, and he managed to finish off Dark Odin with Void Destruction. Hell yes! This was another super intense battle. So glad I was able to make it.
My clear time is way over 30 seconds, but it doesn't matter. I'll just keep trying to improve. For instance, I think it would have been better if I had let Genesis and Auron use their Awakenings first before their Syncs. In fairness, I didn't think I'd actually win so I didn't bother to switch their Soul Breaks around.
There was also how Tyro ended up casting Divine Veil Grimoire (DVG) later in the fight, but this wasn't really necessary since I'm already borrowing the Fabula Guardian Roaming Warrior, which does the same thing as DVG minus buffing the party with Protect, Shell, and Haste. I'd have been better off letting Tyro cast another Soul Break (this would mean having to buy more of his relics from the The Record Lab though) or just having him keep on using his abilities.
Fire-Weak Dark Odin Winning Team
This is the team and setup that got me my first victory against Dark Odin:
Genesis
- Level 50 of 50 fire Sword Artifact, Armor that gives +34 Attack, Black Armored Echoes Accessory
- Rank 5 Genesis Slash and Rank 4 Inferno Assault
- Record Materia that increases damage dealt when equipped with a Sword
- He's equipped with all of the relics I have for him though he only ends up using his Flash+, Sync, Awakening, and Limit Break Over Flow in this fight
- Current Attack is 1013
Auron
- Level 45 of 50 fire Katana Artifact, Level 25 of 25 Armor that gives him more fire damage (it's Genesis's Dirge of Cerberus outfit which gave me his Ultra Soul Break; now you know why it's been max leveled), moderate ice resist Accessory
- Rank 3 Frostfire Carnage and Rank 3 Iai Hellfire
- While I also have Auron's Flash+, for this fight, I've only equipped him with his Sync and Awakening
- Record Materia that increases damage when using a Katana
- Current Attack is 868
Balthier
- Level 50 of 50 Final Fantasy VII Realm Sword Artifact, moderate ice resist Accessory
- Rank 3 Burnt Offering and Rank 3 Flame Offering
- I've only equipped him with his Flash+ and Chain Soul Break
- Ace Striker Record Materia
- Current Attack is 684
Tyro
- Whichever Armor and Weapon he can equip, moderate ice resist Accessory that also gives +500 HP
- Rank 4 Warrior's Hymn and Rank 3 Ode to Victory
- He's equipped with his Ultra Soul Break, Divine Veil Grimoire, and his Glint Soul Break, Purifying Grimoire
- Record Materia that lets him start the fight with Haste so he'll be the one to cast Fabula Guardian
Elarra
- Level 50 of 50 holy Dagger Artifact, Level 25 of 25 Armor that increases her Mind by 44, major ice resist Accessory
- Rank 3 Passionate Salsa and Rank 4 Valigarmanda
- She's equipped with her Glint+, Magika Amuletum, and her Ultra, Magika Album
- Dr. Mog's Teachings Record Materia
- Current Mind is 982
Final Fantasy Record Keeper Daily Free Draw
Each day, FFRK lets you do one free draw. You can only get 1 item from this pull, and it's almost always useless trash. It's possible to get 5-star or higher rarity items here, but it's very, very rare.
Airstep Sword (XV), a 5-star rarity, Sword-type relic showed up on one of my daily free draws. This gave me my very first relic for Noctis Lucis Caelum (from Final Fantasy XV).
To be more specific, I just got his Super Soul Break, Gladiolus Link. This deals physical attacks and removes "delay from all allies' actions for one turn". Not that bad for a 5-star item, especially since Supers have been horribly powercrept by now.
Final Fantasy VII Phantasm Dungeon
The fight in this dungeon is Level 580. The enemy or boss is Ultima Weapon. I didn't think I had a chance to win this battle. I wouldn't even be looking at this if it weren't for the Cardia Dungeon Support event. Looking through the list of rewards again, I saw that you can get 2 more tickets if you're able to deal at least 30% damage in 1 Phantasm Dungeon.
The tickets will probably give me crap as usual and 30% still seems way too difficult considering the level of this fight. This is a huge jump from the D450 Torment Dungeons. Plus, so far, I've only beaten like 1 or 2 Level 500 fights and those took like a million tries before I somehow managed to win.
Even though victory seemed like nothing more than a faraway dream, I still wanted to give it a try anyway. And so I went in with the team I use to auto the FFVII D450 Torment Dungeon. Well, I did tweak a few things such as removing Dispel and switching my Accessories from poison resist to dark resist.
I tried the fight on auto first just to see how it would go. It didn't go very well at all. There were a lot of times wherein I hardly dealt damage. Sure, sometimes, my chars did deal attacks that break the damage cap, but Ultima's way too tanky and has way too much HP. He's also way too strong. His attacks really hurt. They also Sap which cancels out Regenga and doesn't play very well with Last Stand. He even has moves that can Blind and Paralyze chars.
Somehow, my team was able to bring Ultima Weapon down to 75.3% health, but both Cloud and Aerith were long dead. My remaining chars were barely hanging on.
Sure enough, I lost. I was sad about that, but, at the same time, I was also rather pleased that my team managed to get that far, especially on auto and with so many things going against them. I also thought I had at least been able to get the tickets from the Cardia event. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case at all. It turned out I was only able to deal 27.4% damage to Ultima Weapon. Eff! So close to 30%.
If I hadn't gotten this far already, I wouldn't have bothered trying again. But I'm so close to 30% that I feel that's at least doable. So I tweaked my party a bit more before trying again and hoping for the best. Yeah, I'm still doing it on auto.
I don't really want to bother with this fight right now. I'm only really doing it for the Cardia event rewards. I mean, why bother if victory is impossible anyway? I'll need more firepower and healing to even stand a chance against Ultima Weapon, so I don't want to spend too much time on this right now.
Anyway, thankfully, it was much better this time. At the very least, Cloud and Aerith didn't end up dying so soon. I was able to cast Genesis's Limit Break Over Flow which dealt full damage so that helped take off a huge chunk of Ultima's HP.
Of course, I still believed it would be impossible to win. And I was right. Soon, my chars started dying one by one until only Genesis was left.
He ended up getting paralyzed so I couldn't do anything anymore. I was basically just staring at the screen, waiting for the end because Ultima Weapon just kept right on attacking then attacking some more.
Yeah, I lost. It's fine though because I did it. Managed to deal 30.1% damage to Ultima so I got the tickets. Hell, yes!
That's it for me though. There's no way I can manage any more than that, not even if I do it manually, so not even gonna bother. Ain't no one got time for that. I'm gonna miss out on the following rewards:
"Clear with 30% damage in 2 Phantasm Dungeons: 1 Mythril
Clear with 60% damage in 1 Phantasm Dungeon: 3 Cardia Support Relic Draw Tickets
Clear with 60% damage in 2 Phantasm Dungeons: 3 Artifact Stones
Clear with 80% damage in 1 Phantasm Dungeon: 1 SB Honing Scroll
Clear with 80% damage in 2 Phantasm Dungeons: 1 Mythril
Master 1 Phantasm Dungeon: 5 Cardia Support Relic Draw Tickets
Master 2 Phantasm Dungeons: 2 SB Honing Scrolls"
But, eh, what can you do, right? Anyway, here's the team and setup that got me the "Clear with 30% damage in 1 Phantasm Dungeon" reward:
Cloud Strife
- Level 40 of 40 Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core Sword (this is the one that gave me my fave's Limit Break Over Flow; since I ended up with multiple copies of this relic, I fused them to further increase its stats), FFVII Armor that gives +16 Attack, Accessory that gives +30 Attack
- Rank 5 Lifesiphon and Rank 3 Raging Quadstrike
- Cloud's equipped with the only relics I have for him - Glint+, Jenova Cell Power, Ultra Soul Break, Ultra Cross Slash, and Ultra Soul Break, Darkpetal Bloom
- Record Materia that increases damage when equipped with a Sword
- Current Attack under realm synergy is 922
Genesis Rhapsodos
- Level 50 of 50 Final Fantasy VII Realm Sword Artifact, FFVII Armor that gives +59 Attack, FFVII Accessory that gives +23 Attack and moderate resistance to the dark element
- Rank 5 Genesis Slash and Rank 4 Inferno Assault
- He's equipped with all the relics I have for him even if he didn't get to use them all in this battle
- Record Materia that increases damage if you're hitting the enemy's weakness
- Current Attack under realm synergy is 1284
Aerith or Aeris Gainsborough
- Level 1 Final Fantasy VII Rod weapon that gives +161 Mind, FFVII Armor for additional Defense and Resistance, Black Armored Echoes Accessory
- Rank 3 Memento of Prayer and Rank 3 Curada
- Ultra Soul Break, Innocent Cure
- Mako Might Record Materia so she can use her Ultra right away and give everyone Last Stand
- Current Mind under realm synergy is 478
I just created Memento of Prayer specifically for this fight. It gives everyone Regen so I intended to have it overwrite Ultima's Sap. Unfortunately, I forgot just how low Aerith's Mind is. Yeah, sure, my party did get the Regen effect, but its healing output is based on the healer's Mind. Since Aeris' was so low, it barely healed (it was in the low hundreds or thereabouts), making it essentially useless. I'd have been better off giving this to Elarra.
Speaking of which, I'm also not sure if the Regen effect from this ability would end up overwriting the Regenga from Elarra's Ultra. That's definitely a bad thing since Elarra's Regenga heals way more than this.
Sephiroth
- Level 45 of 50 dark Katana Artifact, Level 25 of 25 Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus Armor (a.k.a my fave's Dirge of Cerberus outfit) that gives +40 Attack, FFVII Accessory that gives +45 Attack
- Rank 3 Taboo Raid and Rank 3 Demon's Cross
- Sync Soul Break, Demonic Lord
- Record Materia that increases damage when equipped with a Katana
- Current Attack under realm synergy is 904
Elarra
- Level 50 of 50 holy Dagger Artifact, Armor that gives +44 Mind, major resistance to dark Accessory
- Rank 4 Warrior's Hymn and Rank 3 Passionate Salsa
- Glint+, Magika Amuletum, and Ultra Soul Break, Magika Album
- Lionheart Record Materia
- Current Mind is 982
Cardia Support Relic Draw Tickets Results
There was no point in saving the Cardia Support Relic Draw Tickets I just got since the Cardia event was ending soon. I had to use the tickets before they expired. I'm not expecting anything. I mean, I'd love to be able to get something of use, but- Sigh. Why couldn't we have gotten a free multi-draw instead? That would have guaranteed at least one 5-star item. Eff this event.
Whatever. Let's just get this over with already. Just as I suspected, the tickets yielded nothing but trash. What a complete and utter waste of time. How I loathe this event. Ugh, sometimes this game can be so frustrating. If my fave wasn't here, I wouldn't be here at all.
Notes:
- pics are from Amazon.com; links shown above
- screenshots are from my Final Fantasy Record Keeper Japanese game account
Ffrk Black Armored Echoes Where Can You Get It
Source: https://freyayuki.tumblr.com/post/636807965072130048