DFFOO [JP][Lilisette FR Raid] Boss did not let me move and killed themselves with threshold domino
23Rather easy raid, probably would do a chill/even slower run. This is one of those threshold turn spawning bosses with very closely spaced HP thresholds, so I thought it is a job for Minwu/Gladio/Cor/Auron etc.
This one has an extra gimmick that it resist elemental BRV attacks and just ... BRV dmg in general lol. So they want you to BRV gain through it/BRV refund it. It was a no brainer to try Snow for the first clear and it was very smooth as expected.
So I tried Machina because of the EX counter + LD off-turn counting twice for Minwu's FR and led to this hilarious threshold domino, so I kept this one instead.
The idea is to let the boss spawn extra turns again inside extra turns by pushing the thresholds at the right time, while Minwu's trap would refresh just in time. Took a bit of practice, but since they have 3 turns, there is a bit of leeway of engineering this with a certain degree of dmg control.
Boss Info: Guardian x2
Force Mechanics:
+1%: On boss turns
0%: 999% BRV dmg reduction on all elemental attacks
FA: Meteor+++
You die.
FA: Meteor++ (downgraded from +++ if you inflict more than one debuff on them) (Guaranteed hit)
200% iBRV BRV gain+ HP attack, and then (20% of your current HP) HP attack
FT: 10 turns
They simply cannot die.
Weakness: (Cancel FT)
FA that deals melee BRV dmg and battery other party members
Threshold Mechanics:
At any point, the boss can do basic BRV/HP attack and magitek laser, which helps the boss recover from break, and it is a magic BRV+HP attack.
Boss juggles between three modes in accordance with its HP thresholds:
80-100/30-50%: Kraken Mode
Any time they move, they get BRV gain before attacking (around 10-20k).
Both of its new attacks have action delay down, and one of it would inflict "SPD down".
60-80/20-30%: Malboro Mode
They cannot be broken, BRV would be set at at least 1%.
This is the only mode with a physical BRV attack (tentacle slap).
They would also use Bad Breath, which inflicts "darkness", SPD down", and "poison".
I used Lenna CA to ignore the nuisance that is darkness debuff.
50-60/0-20%: Ultima Weapon Mode
100% BRV dmg reduction.
It gets additional attacks that is:
1. Flare (pretty hard hitting ST BRV attack)
2. Meteor (AOE BRV), it gets action delay down if it breaks/hit someone that is broken
Additionally, the boss gets 2 free turns after it reaches its next turn when they hit 80/60/50/20% HP thresholds.
Worth noting is that among these, both Ultima Weapon would spawn extra turns. Although the boss only gain BRV attacks during this mode, they are quite hard hitting, so they may eventually gather enough BRV to do a laser attack that kills you.
Also, since the boss gain 1% FG every time it moves and it spawns turns, if you leave them to their own device without going into FT yourself first, they can go into bunker mode with their own FT really quickly.
Notes on approach:
There are 3 main areas of concern: dmg mitigation, BRV dmg reduction and the blind debuff.
If you don't intend to let them go into FT, they can only do ST HP attacks. So something like invincible Gladio, Auron, Snow, Galuf or dodgers like Edge would pretty much be the end of this topic. Though due to the nature of them spawning turns, debuff based tanks would be at a slight disadvantage of periodically refreshing the lock debuff (or something like Gabranth), unless you kill them really quickly.
Their laser attack can mostly be absorbed by WoL LDCA, unless their other high BRV dmg attacks get to your shield first. Machina inheritably has BRV dmg reduction, and he delays himself, so he was the one holding the CA.
At this point I am very used to tackling 1 BRV dmg situation lol (que 6WQ A3). Just BRV gain, BRV refund, Cait Sith/Sherlotta through it. Using non-elemental attacks can avoid the reduction outside of Ultima Weapon mode, but it really does not matter in the end.
Sherlotta has a Cait Sith LDCA because Machina's Spiral Lynchpin and Minwu's overhead 3 dump off-turn cannot cap with just Sherlotta. If Snow was there it would have been a non-issue (This does not even concern Snow, he would just refund to full anyway even without BT).
Most debuffs don't matter much, it is just the blind effect that would cause annoyance. Either use debuff evasion or stack yourself with framed buffs.
One thing a bit interesting is that Lilisette FR also has an extra slow aura. Considering the boss can slow you and has action delay down as well, I think she is just intended to somewhat counteract their FG% gain and endless turns. I have no idea how effective/noticable it is though.
All in all, threshold turn spawning bosses, even without teleport, is always fun to just sit back and watch the fireworks when you go the counter route. There are nuances like Minwu's trap would fall off if their turn spawn gets too one-sided, so it is not 100% fault proof and brain dead. It is a spectacle when it all works out though.