[DFFOO JP] non-synergy Locke w/ support
6Have a D. Pandemonium with Tifa and Zidane (basically no support) one for comparison to see if it is possible to just rely on ignore defence and CAs for damage.
Tbh I did not expect this to be so devastating that Serah did not get to come back lol. The setup idea was to have Serah fill the debuff slots so there is not much room for additional defence down and rely mainly on BRV dmg up by debuffs and Serah + Paine. I think I have underestimated how Locke's LD icon buff with its inherit Sazh + Iroha LD effects (stolen BRV up and consume BRV reduction) compounds with Paine's (left) 40% BRV gain up and Selphie's BRV gain up bundled up in launches. Just to reiterate though, BRV consumption reduction is not a kind of BRV gain (green numbers). The BRV gain up affects Locke's batteries, and damage refunds in between HP attacks on top of less consumption, thus boosting his damage so much the refund from launch is compounded again with BRV gain up with Selphie's debuff.
Locke's "items":
The main goal is to get to HP (Genji Gloves x Master Scroll), which is Locke's hardest hitting attack with 8 HP dump. To get there however, you may need to go through a few loops and manage his treasure items to get GG and Master Scroll.
He has one of the most if not most transformed BRV and HP attack in the cast. Before LD, he can steal Genji Gloves, Miracle Shoes and Master Scrolls. GG and MS are basically a 50/50 RNG bundle whenever you do a Sneak Slash or c65. HP (GG) after use does not consume GG, but both HP (MS) and HP (Master Scrolls) do. After LD and c85 has arrived, the most significant changes are:
HP (GG): Grants Mug (Thief's Bracer) after use while Brigand's Glove & Thief's Bracer is active. Mug (TB) is one of the two guaranteed ways to get Genji Gloves and BG & TB only comes from LD. Technically you can use this to grant Mug (TB) to grant yourself GG again next time, but it is not a free turn / action. So relatively speaking it is not an efficient move. It is still one way to loop GG back though so bear it in mind if you don't want to deal with RNG as much. It also increases recast by 20%, so it is a way to get to Master Scroll through EX if GG is your sole item possessed.
HP (MS): Stays active when Master Scrolls is on. It is still a free turn with no action delay. It now also turn Sneak Slash into Sneak Slash+. So this is a turn manipulation and item reshuffling move.
HP (master scrolls): With C85 it does come with increase 20% EX recast. That said, it still dispels master scrolls, so unless you are sure that EX is coming up after use, there is not much point in pushing this button imo.
C65 (C88): It now gravities target straight to 0 BRV and Locke get 100% of the stolen amount while dispelling 4 buffs and cleansing all debuffs while breaking BRV dmg cap by 30%. It is another button for the GG and MS lucky draw as well.
Reminder:
Sneak Slash+ functionally is still the same. It puts Locke right before the target's turn if he was behind them originally. It also randomly draws an item among GG and MS.
EX: Mirage Dive: It is the move that refreshes buffs and one of the two moves that grants (Master Scroll).
LD: Dagger Dance: It grants everything and your "I don't want to deal with RNG" button. Also the only other button that guarantee gives you GG and the only other button that gives you Master Scroll.
S2: It has 2 HP dumps now so by extension it also heals you twice. So Locke is a much more reliable melee healer than he was. (not even counting BT)
So how to deal with the items?
The easiest way out is just press LD and get GG x Master Scroll.
Next if you don't have any items, you can either do Sneak Slash+, C88 Steal item for a draw.
If GG:
You can either HP (GG) if recast is not up (20% recast up and recycles Mug (BG & TB) to grant GG again next cycle), S2 to fill recast or EX if recast is up to get master scroll and complete the cycle.
If MS:
You can abuse the free turn and no action delay to go into Sneak Slash+, put yourself in front of the boss and draw again. If it is MS again then just cycle over and over until you get GG lol. If your buff runs out, you can press the win button i.e. LD or C88 and try your luck. If you have Mug (BG & TB) saved up, just press it for GG instead.
Do be aware though. If you use an item stealing move (Sneak Slash+, C88) while you have either GG or MS (esp. GG since it is the thing that you would want), it will cancel whatever you have for a draw again. This may cause a dilemma when you have gathered GG x Master Scroll already, and you really want to press C88 to cleanse debuffs/ gravity the boss/ go for the BRV dmg cap up before going into a BT phase but risk rinsing off GG.
Speaking of BT, if the planets have aligned it is possible to do 3 GG x Master Scroll. If RNG does not give you GG with Sneak Slash+, I wouldn't bother Mugging inside BT and would just press S2 as a filler.