DFFOO [JP] New but not the newest toy: Grandpa's FR with triangles, needles and 50% cap up
31Well, it is basically a last month release but I got it just now from the free daily series bundle banner and ... I wanted it, so let's go!
As usual I hurried Terra away and did not use her at the end because I didn't want her taking up too much time and dealing too much dmg with FR(e) (e=echo).
Strago is one of the highest HP dmg cap characters when we simply look at HA+ values (iirc special void boss Exdeath is the only one with a unique even higher cap HA+3). He may not have a lot of HP dumps on his skills other than EX, but because of this, ignore defence attacks, the existence of UW+5 and now his 50% HP dmg cap up FR, he still deals dmg like a current era character does. His EX is still hitting like a bus, so that's where Ashe and Bahamut comes in. If you want a club for bazooka EXs, Seymour can be there alongside Ashe as well.
For context, Strago here has HA+0, UW+5, and FE 20. Also if Garnet or Sherlotta are used in place of Ashe due to their higher combined HP dmg cap up from HA and BT, his HP dmg cap can get much higher. When he eventually gets his BT, I would expect him to reach 300K+ base with ease (unless he doesn't get it, but that is highly unlikely to happen at that point in time).
Arguably you can use Ramza
Another nice thing about his FR is the conditions are quite generic. It just requires you to break or attack a broken target and use magic commands while Strago gets 20% if targets are broken. Now that FR boards are out, these conditions practically can suit any magic users as long as bosses are broken. Coincidentally 5/8 of the current FR(e) users are magic (Garnet, Terra, Neon, Cod, Vivi). As long as the bosses do not have BRV floor (i.e. unbreakable) it should be quite easy to use Strago FR as the base and find FR board partners for him currently (and look, Serah is right there as well).
Grandpa also comes with rebreaks x2 using his LD/FR, so pairing with other delayers or manipulators like Ashe (slightly unfortunate that the HP+ is melee) and Cid Raines (friendly reminder that although he uses fists and kicks, he is a magic dmg dealer) you can avoid enemy turns rather easily. Even with the bosses' off-turn queue arrangement in this stage (Sice LC), you can still hoard all of the turns to yourself without being bothered by their debuff shenanigans.
The one drawback with Strago is ... he is a staff user. So you will have to decide who you would want to give the UW to (ignore me if you just have spares UW staff somewhere). That said you can still use him like a double rebreaker like the old days for utility purposes or for the sake of using his FR as a base. He works just fine, it is just a pity that part of that dmg is not fully utilized when you want to use him with a lot of other magic/BT users like Garnet and Vivi. I wanted to use Vivi with him here at first, but ultimately wanted to see his dmg even though I only have him on HA+0.
P.S.
In terms of FFVI other than Strago BT, currently still waiting for Shadow rework and his western theme for BT.