DFFOO [JP][Vaan IW] FFVII Girls: First time using Tifa BT and Cissnei
Currently having home quarantine so can still upload lol. May as well do more runs.
Actually did a Vayne run in Vaan IW for the irony lol. It is a bit repetitive with all the punching and follow-up going off so I chose not to upload it, but it felt good seeing Vayne with FR is very relevant even with other ST specialists out there.
This IW boss actually has QUITE a bit of health. Even by Tifa BT standard, you either need a second BT that increases HP dmg cap (or Aerith)/second follow-up character with additional % dumps like Leo LDCA/Lunafreya buffs and Selphie launches to pull off a clean 1 FR cycle finish.
It also comes with a few restrictions that you have to deal with, so it may seem like a brain dead simple fight with 1 FR cycle, but there is a bit more that meets the eye.
Boss: Holy Angel Ultima (XII)
Fight starts by going into Abnormal Dimension immediately, so you would not be able to summon. Blessing still works thoguh.
Force Mechanics:
+0.1% on player action
-0.1% when taking elemental weakness dmg
30%: resist All attack types
40%: "Abnormal Dimension" - field mBRV/iBRV down
60%: "Abnormal Dimension" - field ATK/DEF/BRV dmg down
80%: "Abnormal Dimension" - field SPD down and Action Delay Up
FA: Complete (or Perfect) Ultima (Holy AoE BRV+HP)
The problem is if this attack breaks you or someone was broken already, Ultima would do a follow-up "Holyja++", it would instantly wipe you.
FT: 5 turns
Ultima would start spamming Holyja+, which is an AoE Holy BRV only attack.
If it breaks you or someone is broken already though, it would follow-up with a Holyja++.
Weakness: (cancels FT)
ST FA that deals magic BRV dmg
Threshold Mechanics:
Ultima has 2 sets of HP threshold mechanics:
80/40/20%: Ultima would enter a green aura state "Preparing for recovery"
After Ultima has 2 turns worth of action, the boss would cast "full cure" and heal back to 100% HP.
If you have successfully dealt elemental weakness BRV dmg 10 times before the cast, it will cancel the cast.
On top of FG debuffs, Ultima would also inflict the following framed debuffs:
90/30%: Paralysis
80/50%: ATK/mBRV down and poison
Approach:
The debuffs, the 30% FG "resist all attack types", "full cure" and the possibility of Ultima breaking/attacking your broken character and wipe you are the difficulty for this fight.
Having enough DPS to 1 cycle the boss is the cleanest method to ignore the full cure and possibly Ultima's FT since the boss does not really have any off-turn shenanigans to bar your way. If not, then deleting its turn/ consistent breaks to push the boss turn off the queue are the most effective method of not caring about the full cure.
Aerith here helps a lot with her great HP dmg cap up armor and blocking all sources of Ultima's debuffs. Her battery also ensures characters are not broken or can get around the 30% FG resist when enchant CAs are not in place yet. With BRV refunding moves, it is not 100% necessary to get enchant CAs, but for Cissnei's follow-up, she kinda needs it.
For my Vayne run though, I could go for a long time before BT without enchant, because Kain does not use up BRV and Cor and Vayne gets immense cash back. Also Selphie's debuff gives back a lot of BRV for the next attack. I used Raijin LDCA instead to ignore the debuffs and lower its attack so much that it would never break me.
Follow-up attacks and off-turns do count towards the Full Cure knock off counter. So other than for dmg purpose, it is wise to use some of those characters.
Even though Minwu technically is not really efficient in a ST setting, he can delete turns and set off traps to deal with Full Cure and breaks. On top of that, he also enchant holy. Lunafreya, Faris and Kurasame are also very good here for the enchant, turns and follow-ups.
The boss has a lot of HP, so if you fail to 1 cycle it (even with a lot of DPS), Ultima would usually end up with around 10-25% HP left. It would not do anything extremely dangerous immediately (unless FA immediately), but one problem I found was that enchant CAs would likely to fall off soon before you can finish the boss. So do bear that in mind if you go that route and may end up with only a few thousand dmg to dissipate the last drops of boss HP.
Few thoughts on Vaan FR:
Good for him and others with the free skills, but very rarely do characters run out of skills since C90 started, so the gimmick is really for letting others contribute to the FR bonus when Vaan cannot get all of the turns. Ironically though I think Vaan FR and Vayne with free skills have quite a bit of synergy.