DFFOO [JP][Act 4 Ch 1 Pt 1][ticket run] Local Florist denies Hell House of its fireworks
33I was not supposed to get to do this so early today, but I got through the first level of XIV savage raid unexpectedly fast, so I was able to experience this update pretty much as it was released.
Very fond of Aerith, both in VII or in this game, so I targeted her BT. Even though I don't have plans on using Zack along, his FR showed up in the process, so may as well use his FR in this ticket run.
Back to more challenging story chapter fights we go. The Hell House packs some really hard punches (or rockets), and it has quite a bit of tricks and complexity to it that impedes you from steamrolling it just with FR echo spamming. 1 FT finishing this boss is not easy either and it can be really lethal if you are not careful. The boss is quite a lot of fun.
Boss: Hell House
Hell House has 2 phases and both of them shares the same force mechanics:
+4%: Player action
20%: Hell Bomber (P1) and Crazy Attack (P2) are upgraded to their +versions
40%: Ignore turn deletion/delay (break exclusive)
70%: Same as 20% but ++version
80%: BRV/HP dmg up
*Both Hell Bomber/Crazy Attack are normally just ST BRV attacks.
+ ver. means they become guaranteed hit ST BRV+HP attack.
++ ver. means they become ST BRV+HP x2
FA: Hell Bomber/Crazy Attack+++ (AOE BRV+HP x2, guaranteed hit)
Also buff themselves with "Explosives" - massive ATK/DEF up and AD down
Debuff your party with "Heavy Weight" - BRV/HP Poison and AD up
FT: 20T
- Rainbow BRV dmg (cap)
- 300% HP dmg reduction outside of FA
Weakness: (cancel FT)
Entering FT with a melee FA that gives all party members buffs or use a FA that heals the party while dealing no dmg (Zack+Aerith)
Threshold events:
(P1)
40%: SPD up
20%:
- use self-destruct drop (reduce player current HP to 30%) (ignore BRV/HP mit)
- phase change, fully healed, dispel all buffs and debuffs
- cannot be defeated (lock HP at 1% even if you one shot it from 20%+)
(P2)
90%: SPD up
70/40%: Hell Breath
- consume 100% of all player characters' current BRV
- reduce player current HP to 50% (ignore mit)
- buff themselves with "Stubborness (?)"
- this reduces BRV dmg and (pretty sure it is 999%) HP dmg taken
60/50%: Crazy Attack (BRV)
- buff themselves with ATK/DEF/SPD/BRV dmg up
20%: Self-destruct drop+
(same as the normal version but without buff/debuff removal and healing)
*Note that Self-destruct drop (+) can still happen inside a summon phase.
General Strategy and Notes:
Hell House set up a lot of hurdles and mechanics to prevent you from just go into a BT and roll it over after setting up a decent amount of FR% with FR echo.
The most obvious obstacle is it has 2 phases and together, they have a large amount of HP. You have to push till 20% of its first phase to prompt a phase change, so attempting a 1 FT finish means you have to be quite effective in the first phase and reserve some turns for the second.
The phase change cleanses all debuffs. That means any attempts to prevent them from doing dmg through debuff is nullified. You would have to spend one FT reapplying those debuffs.
Since its threshold attacks are still active inside summon phases/BT phases, you still take HP dmg during those "safe moments". Using BT phase can lead to sudden death if you are not careful.
Thirdly, they have double tap attacks or attacks that ignore mitigation. It is very easy to die to just one attack.
Aerith here not only prevents the nasty debuffs on you and buffs on the boss, her golden BT buff also makes the party take 100% less BRV/HP dmg. Those double tap or even rainbow BRV attacks would end up doing nothing at all.
With a +4% FG on player action, you may also be facing those ++ attacks when the boss is at a high FG%. If you don't have someone that prevents Hell House from getting that 999% HP dmg reduction buff as Hell House reaches those thresholds, it could be quite troublesome.
Consider reapplying Aerith's debuff/BT to prevent them from dealing dmg/reducing dmg.
Brief note on Zack:
Zack and Rubicante don't get along too well because Zack can't use his follow-ups without a boss that is actually targeting him. The shield part and its FR% works, but not the part where he needs to hit someone that is targeting him (Boss actually targets Rubi)
Regarding Aerith:
Her BT has an indefinite amount of active duration. The white materia buff does not go away unless someone's HP is below 50%/dead. In those cases it dispels to revive/heal the party.
The white materia off-turn attack has a max of 200K HP heal storage. It fires whenever it has 3 stacks and the turn is finished. It is susceptible to HP dmg cap up influences due to armor/UW/BT/FR/FR%.
You can BT at the very start so she constantly fires off Holy throughout the fight or BT whenever you need those 4T worth of golden 100% dmg taken down buff the most. As long as you keep your team above 50%, it will stay there forever, which should not be hard in this day and age.
Finally her BT finisher hits like a bus, so consider using it at the end of a FT.