DFFOO [JP] Aerith and Chaos
43Did one with the same team but in Rubi's LC, then I remembered that LC resist Earth, so brother summon phase turned out to be not very good for Jack's -BRV mechanic.
Therefore, back to WoL IW I go. Aerith is one of the very flexible characters in the game and she is just very practical in many stages. Communing with chaos is just one of those combos.
Why Jack?
Honestly both of the cursed artifact ladies, Serah and Aerith, are quite good at providing party mBRV. Together with Sazh's generic buffs and a Wakka CA, Jack can actually give the bosses very close to -999,999 BRV with brothers summon phase (can actually get to -999,999 if Ramza subs out Serah). Outside of summon phase, he can still get to around -740K, so quite a lot of free 200K extra HP dmg per HP hit.
Aerith's Holy off-turn attack can also enjoy the extra HP dmg from Jack's -BRV. It may not seem much when Holy itself can be amplified by FR%, but it is still extra dmg that hits everyone.
FR
Another thing is related to Aerith, her FR (echo) and Jack's FR. Though Jack's FR has 20% dedicated to using melee moves, the remaining 50% is granted when bosses are broken and have -BRV. Said 50% does not require you to actually attack the target. Aerith's S1/S2/FR (echo) are not attacks, and they all give an extra FR% (50/50/80 respectively). So using Aerith's FR (e) would allow you to get some really quick FR% without taking up any FT.
As Jack's FR requires bosses to be at -BRV. it means that having bosses recover from break would give you less bonus. Aerith with her instant turn rate moves can help you plan and space out the break recovery turns (bosses recover from break after 5 turns in general) such that you can get all the bonuses outside of using melee attack and get Jack to break the bosses again as they recover.
From this example we can deduce that the prime base FR for Aerith's echo are those that give you % without needing to attack. Something more passive like simply having a shield (WoL), healing (Zack/Llyud), having buffs /granting BRV (Hope), having a level/special buff (Squall/Llyud) etc. It is very easy to get over 110% with some of these options and give yourself a head start. In this case Aerith + Jack FR offers 130+X%.
Small note:
I intended to BT again with Aerith just to have a glorious finish, but the bosses could never live before summon phase was over.
The thing with Aerith's BT finisher is that it functions very similarly to Yuna's BT finisher. You would want her to be holding the highest amount of BRV before you lay down some judgement. Again, with the 30% BRV gained/refund cap in current Shinryu, you would struggle to get her to that ideal amount just by her own refund after attacking last turn (consider that there was also refund from Serah BT in this run, but that wasn't enough either. Probably best to have 3 refund sources). I gave up the last turn and use FR instead, just to get some more BRV with the higher gained overflow before the finisher.
If you use her finisher for a big nuke at the end of a FT, remember to give her enough BRV before the moment. I once got a 45+m on Hell House with her.
Besides Jack, Aerith can be fitted into a lot of different comps. IBRV gang with WoL/Zack, BRV gain/HP+++ comp with Sherlotta (or even Yuna), Extra HP dmg from buffs with Ashe/Lunafreya (such that she can stand there and preserve the buffs) etc. I even did one with Thancred, just so he can hog the turns and trigger Aerith and Garnet's BT. There is a lot of fun to be had.
I am very intrigued to see if Quina's BT effect can interact with Aerith's Holy and Jack's last attack that scales with -BRV, and to what extent.