DFFOO [JP][Faris Raid] C90 Faris with Cor/Garnet
5Got Agrias LD and Tifa BT on the same 10 ticket, but since it is almost criminal not to use a counter/off-turn team for the mechanics of this boss, I used this team instead.
Seriously though, any bosses with warp and free-turn mechanics should be put on suicide watch in this day and age with so many counter attack units getting updated recently, with Faris being the newest among them.
Ardyn and Garland also got early reworks but their C90 has not yet arrived. So I would rather wait a bit for that to happen. They look quite good so far.
Boss Mechanics:
Force Mechanics:
FG:
0%: 100% BRV dmg reduction on any attacks that are not water/thunder/wind aspected
40%: Both Bosses immediately get to act once after player actions (outside of summon and BTs)
FA: (Not an attack but it will keep doing what it was going to do normally)
Boss immediately gets 2 turns with no action delay after its own turn
FT: 5 turns
1. BRV gain consumption reduced
2. BRV gain after action (aroudn 50K)
3. Energy Cannon becomes the +version, which always recovers from Break and becomes a solo HP dmg attack
Weakness:
FA that deals water aspected range BRV dmg
They also take 100% increased BRV/HP dmg from traps during FTs
Normal attacks and Thresholds:
Other than some generic BRV/HP attack, it does slash, which gives itself some buffs (ATK/iBRV up) and energy cannon, which gives itself mBRV and BRV dmg up. These buffs are framed, so you would have to actually dispel them if you want to.
Eventually it will use its recast "Flamethrower", which is an AOE BRV+HP attack.
Threshold:
When below 50%, they would immediately warp to the front with 3 turns of action to do whatever they have been doing. This is essentially their FA effect without the FT effects.
Approach:
Given how many turns they get after FG 40%+, it basically invites counter attack and off-turn dmg teams. With Faris's EX having a 6 turn duration and a 3 HP dump attack + splash, she is very good for this boss as the attack triggers off boss turns.
Similarly Garnet would get a lot of LD stack charges from their actions, Her water enchant also deals with the FG 0% effect (100% BRV dmg reduction on wrong elements). Faris FR also water enchant, so it can also be a partial remedy. You can use others like Krile, Ashe, Lunafreya FR (water enchant) etc. Mog can also be a pretty good member here with water off-turn attacks for Faris FR.
Cor would get a lot of additional attack, especially when their recasts are AOE. He also keeps a party member safe from breaks. If it comes to boss FR. he can keep their BRV in check along with Faris's LD.
Also due to the very same reason, your debuffs would drop very quickly and they will almost always have some buffs on, unless your upkeep with framed debuffs is very tight with all 3 characters. So if you go on the route of something along the lines of relying on Raijin LDCA to neutralize the bosses' threats during their FR, your timing would have to be really precise, since it only lasts for 2 turns.
Other than getting a lot of turns to potentially charge their recast for some AOE HP dmg spams, the most dangerous part, which is not reached in this run, is actually their FT effect. They gain up to about 50K BRV and can potentially one shot you after every single one of their consecutive turns. So apart from the aforementioned precision Raijin LDCA, you can use someone else like Agria's improved 2 turn confusion/silence and 0 BRV gain strat like Arciela/Kadaj to tackle this part.
If you use a counter/off-turn attack team though, they would most likely be dead before you exit your FR. With Cor, you can practically keep them at his turn until they die. Cor's FR is also very similar to Faris's, as part of her condition is also off-turn dmg (that are water based, which she enchants with her FR). So if you opt for using Faris's FR the result should be quite similar. Although you would need to keep the boss at 8 debuffs at all times during FT, since her second condition scales off of the amount of debuffs.
Finally, Faris becomes much more desirable to put in an active party. Even without FR, she is dealing a decent amount of dmg and a potential counter attack team member. Aside from her dispel and debuffs, she now also has some enchant capabilities for additional support. So it should be quite safe to assume that she has lived past the days of being mainly a CA character.