DFFOO [JP][Autumn Campaign MD pt 3] Back to clearing without FR echo
14Final part of the Autumn Campaign MD. Pretty chill fillers between the next new FRBT drop and you get an extra 4th free pull ticket from clearing all 3. Overall quite enjoyable format I would say.
It is actually quite easy to die in this Shinryu, but if you are aware of the dangers and troubles the bosses cause, it should not be too hard to get through. After all, this one is not the most recent, so even without echo they should die quite quickly.
Series 3: (White/Black Crystal)
Chaos | Machina LD Chaos --- Humbaba + Marilith | 2B1W
Lufenia | Lilisette FR Shinryu --- Guardian x2 | 1B2W
Shinryu | Act 3 Final Ch pt1 (Jack G FRBT) Shinryu --- Medusa x2 | 2B1W
*From experience, the Lufenia one has a weirdly tight score requirement. Even though there is no strict turn requirement, without breaks/HP loss and launches, I actually failed once finishing at T10. So either bring some launches or don't slack and finish it earlier.
You can find the detailed info in the video for Act 3 Final Ch. Part 1. The difference is you can't use Jack G here since he is a blue crystal character. I would bring up some key points here.
1. +5% FG as player act + Melee BRV FA as force weakness while locked to B/W crystal characters
The FG charge is incredibly fast. Even with 3 FE 23-30 character, FG character moving at QS spamming charging skills, you would reach 100% at the same turn as the enemy and they would pop their FA during off-turn. That means it is quite impractical to outpace the boss FG, unless you resort to charging with BT phase.
Also there are not an abundance of B/W crystal characters that have FR and has FG charging skills at the same time.
Luckily, it is balanced by having a really easy to fulfil force weakness. Still be on the lockout for keeping the boss being broken, so that their FA remains as a BRV only attack. Otherwise it hurts.
2. Dmg reduction
The boss has a permanent 100% magic BRV reduction. On top of that, at a 20% HP interval starting at 90% HP, they put up a HP shield that also reduces range BRV dmg by 100% and completely banishes player's BRV gain. So range characters are also at a disadvantage and the strategy of solely relying on someone/something like Cait Sith/Fusoya LDCA or Sherlotta would not be 100% consistent.
Characters with high melee BRV dmg are naturally more preferential here. Though since Quina is a black crystal character, realistically you can slot him/her in and use whoever as well. Do note though, the boss threshold attacks and FA become strong (+/++ version) when they are broken, and Quina does not mitigate the problem of having 1 BRV dmg outside of his/her own rainbow BRV dmg.
3. Dmg mitigation, buffs and debuffs
Boss has relatively high dmg output and can one shot you out of nowhere, threshold or normal attacks alike. They can get HP dmg up from the +version of a normal bite attack so Raijin LDCA does not 100% protect you from HP dmg if you let them move too much. Their threshold attack (+, if not broken) can also give them a BRV dmg up buff, which adds fuel to the fire.
I used Auron here to tank the hits (also often gets broken and pushed back) and recover HP when he counters. Technically Gladio/Galuff also work, but as they are more BRV gain dependent and the boss stops BRV gain when even one of them has the HP shield up, it may not be the most ideal choice even though they arguably are more foul proof than Auron in the survival department.
While the bosses do not have locked turns, they do have an ample amount of giving themselves SPD up/AD down while giving you SPD down and AD up. With the many turns and threshold attacks they have, using counters seems to be one of the simpler ways of dealing with them.
Machina is here to delay himself while countering the bosses alongside Auron. It is more beneficial to start FR before 90%, as the bosses have a lot of turns and threshold attacks bundled up in that timeframe. So some dmg control at the beginning of the quest is preferred.
Machina's FR is partially compatible with both Auron and Yuna. Though Auron covering Machina means less direct chances for Machina to use his EX counter, the bosses still have AOEs during off-turn threshold attacks and he would still act with his LD follow-up after boss turns. Therefore the coverage for his FR is still solid.
Yuna fits in with the BRV/HP+ condition of his FR. She is here mainly for support and FG charging. Her buffs can overwrite Hope's SPD up buff on the party as well. While the boss has 100% magic BRV dmg mitigation, Yuna's BRV gain and refund is solid enough to deal near cap dmg even with 1 BRV dmg even without BT. The only time she does nothing is when the boss bans BRV gain with the shield or when they enter FT.
Next even is about 6 days away but we should know some more details about the characters involved within 3-4 days. If I have time, I may dabble in GL Crevasse for a bit.