DFFOO [FEOD:Transcendence 14][ticket run] Raines FR board and I am not letting the bosses move
22Free pull once again net me Kurasame FR and free multi-ticket gave me more copies. So I gave Kurasame the usual 2000ish FR board point treatment and that works out perfectly without FE.
Due to him not having FE and the boss gets extra FG% on player action, I enlisted the help of Aerith to get me some HP dmg cap boost and FG% boost, as the boss FT is quite nasty and lasts for an eternity. I just don't want to deal with it lol.
Doing this on the same day as FFXIV patch day is quite ... exhilarating tbh. Either do it early or I would have to wait till much later.
Boss:
Force:
+2%: Player/Boss action
0/%: Boss BRV/HP dmg up and 70% BRV dmg reduction except for fire/ice
30/60/90%: Boss BRV/HP dmg up with increments
FA: Slime Rain++
Guaranteed hit, reduces player characters' HP to 50% of its current value
For +++ version (If your inflicted stack debuff is at 3-5 stacks):
- reduce to 10%
- dispel all framed buffs on player characters
Both versions ignore BRV/HP dmg reduction.
FT: 15T
- Cannot be delayed through breaks/subject to turn deletion
- Player characters cannot increase BRV
- Bosses would spam "Slime Rain+"
Slime Rain+: AOE BRV+HP attack that ignores BRV/HP dmg reduction
Weakness: (cancel FT)
FA that deals Ice Melee BRV dmg and inflicts one or more 5 stack debuff
Normal Behaviour:
Boss normally has AOE BRV attack.
They also get a buff called 'Intimidation" (stat buffs) and a mutli-stat stackable debuff that increases its levels after your character act.
Threshold:
80-30%: Body is softened (dispelled at 30%)
This is a mechanic that reacts to the level of stack debuffs the boss currently has, when they are below levels:
5: DEF up
3: HP heal during action
2: 100% BRV dmg reduction
no stack debuff/6 or above: 300% HP dmg reduction
(Yes, stack debuffs that are 6 or above are treated as not having a stack debuff, so don't go overboard)
50%: Body is hardened
- 100% HP dmg reduction outside of launches
- also off-turn inflict you with a debuff
General Approach:
They are not too dangerous when it is not FT yet, but don't underestimate that 2% extra charge due to player/enemy actions. They get to 100% relatively fast even though you start at 50% FG with the synergy boost change (which always hold true for summon fights/FEOD).
They get really nasty during FT with the AOE HP attack spam and HP% attacks with their FA. They go through mitigation and the FT lasts for a whooping 15T. So I just didn't want to deal with it and decided to pop FR early and wipe them without giving them a chance to move.
Besides charging the FG, Aerith here prevents the off-turn debuffs from happening. Her HP dmg cap up from armor is also a means for me to help cope with the lack of Kursame BT.
All this is just me saying Cid Raines carried really hard with two FR only characters.
The 50% threshold mechanic indicates that having launches to negate the extra HP dmg reduction would be very helpful. For that purpose and not letting the bosses move, I used Cid Raines here.
For ticket run purposes I needed Kurasmae to be in the party. If the ticket is not your concern, you can still do something similar to this run but use Kurasame CAs. As long as you don't let the bosses move or just move once and let them remain at 4/5 stacks of debuff, his direct presence is not strictly needed. His rework makes him deal quite a lot of dmg even without BT though, so he is still doing really well here.
Cid Raines' vital FR improvements:
Large portion of the success of this run should also be attributed to the introduction of Cid Raines' timely arrival of FR board. It makes it so that in the duration of Cid Raines FR, every party member can would initiate a launch. It helps alleviate the problem of needing multiple targets for characters without inherit launching capabilities.
As established shortly after the introduction of FR board, FR(e) from other characters also help with his BT/FR turn count problem. He still only has 6T worth of BT, but since other characters and now Cid Raines himself has FR boards, they can use the echo version to stall the FT count. Therefore, his FR dragging others to the turn queue no longer burn through his FT and makes it really hard to use in conjunction to his BT. You still need to BT after FR for a full coverage, but now with Lunafreya LDCA, you can set up a really nice turn queue and 6T FT/BT phase for him. It is REALLY easy to get to 999% as well given his FR%.
Also as a really nice bonus, his FR now gives an extra 20% HP dmg cap up for launches. As a result, Cid Raines now gives a 70% party HP dmg cap while making every party member launches. These are quite substantial improvements to his dmg potential and QoL for using his FR.