User:Notaboutmi

Draftspace of random notes - maybe they'll find a home somewhere eventually. Will collect stuff here when I'm not working on a specific part of the wiki.

=Ability Tables=

Later - Replace the Image section with uploaded images of the Ability icons as appropriate. Revise the Notes section, come up with sensible abbreviations because GAWD English words are too stupidly long.

=General Usage EX Ability Review=

Rewritten to simply evaluate each EX ability as one big list. Strategy on which to pick?

Situational - Clear All and Dispel, and to a lesser extent Gravity, can be the difference between victory and loss in certain fights. These are completely fight-specific EX choices, but in those fights, their importance is great enough to outweigh all others.

The Top 4 - Arrow Rain III, Miserable Mist, Rage III, and Armor Break are the Top 4 EX abilities. They are, hands down, the most universally useful EX abilities in the game. If you don't have any particular direction or style to go with, or if you just work best with it, it's hard to go wrong with these four. Arrow Rain III is the most wellrounded ability providing an AoE nuke with a good multiplier and a potent Attack Down debuff and low CD. Miserable Mist provides a double debuff that helps offensively and defensively with strong magnitude and the ability to stack with the majority of character-provided debuffs. Rage III increases the entire party's damage at 60% upkeep without chance of failure and even applies raid-wide. Armor Break can bridge the gap to help maximize defense debuff level. That said, in raids or coop, you have to consider that everyone else also knows these are universally useful, and aside from Arrow Rain III, these all become pretty reduced in impact with overlap.

Anything Else - This boils down to party setup and style after the above. Certain jobs prioritize MC potential damage output, which benefit a lot more from certain self-buff Abilities. Certain jobs are great with Nuke abilities due to high ability damage, high self buffs, or a combination of the two. Certain jobs lend well to alternative buff or debuff abilities as they rely more on the rest of the party to deal damage. Dark Fencer just laughs and works well with most EX abilities due to its high versatility and already having Miserable Mist. Think of what your party accomplishes, what won't conflict or what stacks up, and how it benefits you.

WEAPON MASTER

Rage I/II/III - One of the Top 4 EX. 60% upkeep of a high level damage buff, affects the entire raid as well. It's plain more damage for your entire party, so it can fit well on any job. Be mindful that Type 1 attack buffs are also very common to get from characters, though, so keep your party in mind.

Armor Break - One of the Top 4 EX, though admittedly the bottommost one. Absent a Type 1 defense debuff from your party, Armor Break is a very solid EX for any job. Damage of the nuke isn't much but it's the debuff that's important.

Rampage - Self multi-rate is pretty low priority for an EX slot. Most jobs have preferable routes to use to accommodate ougi gain issues, if not their own options for multi-rate.

HOLY SABER

Drive Burst I/II/III - A conditional nuke, though it's a condition that is pretty easy to have for having a good multiplier and cap. Hermit enjoys it for the extra oomph and the CD is easy to work with their Focus cycles. Hawkeye can use it with Break Assassin II to benefit from the attack buff while not consuming the actual BA charge, if the enemy is close enough to break with the nuke.

Centurion - There's not many times that blocking a single hit is worth both an EX slot and reduced attack. Some mention goes to Bishop though, as with having Revive access, preserving your own life against an impossible AoE attack to revive afterwards can potentially turn the tide of battle.

Cover - Few classes want to actually be hit, nevermind use an EX slot for it. Ogre has Counter though, and Cover works against normal attacks to guarantee Counterattacks and the consequent damage negation. It has a low enough CD to work well with general Counter cycle timing.

CLERIC/BISHOP

Aura - Defense buffs are rare, and while 15% is not huge, it's still reduced damage and it's still raid-wide. Lasting multiple turns help soften the blows when you're not dealing with ougis that you'd prefer Phalanx. Very supportive.

Clear All - Situationally the most important EX. With its low CD, it works on any job that has to deal with crippling status enemies.

Shining - AoE fixed-element nukes are, at this time, not very useful.

Dispel - Situationally the other most important EX. Some fights have very important threshold or ougi buffs that must be taken care of or the fight goes completely south. Works on any job.

Revive - High CD, and the requirement being that anyone besides the MC is dead, make this not a very popular EX choice. In most situations that you would want to be ready with a revive, you probably want to run Bishop directly.

HERMIT

Fire/Ice - AoE fixed-element nukes are, at this time, not very useful.

Blind - The best secondary buff EX, as its success rate is not marred and it's a particularly potent Blind. Can work pretty well on any job, though bonus goes to Dark Fencer for the increased debuff success rate.

Poison - Damage of the nuke is low and Poison itself starts to taper off in contribution as you progress in the game. Can be handy if you're running XMas Rosetta though, or if somehow every other debuff is covered and you need more debuffs.

Focus - Its off-class penalties are pretty steep, and few classes actually have both a potent nuke and good cause to actually run it with Focus. Early-game Sidewinder can appreciate it for capping Killstreak well before your pool does, though.

HAWKEYE

Treasure Hunt I/II/III - A sure sign that you've resolved yourself to contribute nothing significantly useful to the actual fight. Or, you've become so powerful that you literally don't actually need a battle-contributory EX.

Trick Step - Low CD makes it actually have some kind of potential application but unaware of any fight where you can actually make the most of it - most OD gauges are either too durable for it to matter, or so fragile that you could do better with Drive Burst III.

Deadly Aim - High CD off-class and the triple rate is unimpressive off-class, even with the 4 turn duration. Self-multi-rate is very low priority for an EX as most classes either have better options for ougi gain or even just multi rate.

DARK FENCER

Elemental Force I/II - These skills benefit high hit, low multiplier nukes, which makes it a lot more about what your party composition is since all MC nukes are single hit.

Quick - While it is a party buff, it is also very low magnitude apparently. That said, early game, it's probably one of your best EX choices.

Miserable Mist - One of the Top 4 EX. Offensive and defensive, extremely high magnitude for a debuff, and it stacks with the majority of debuffs available as a Type 2. Works on any job for both solo and raid purposes.

Gravity - Very fight-specific, but not as situationally important as Dispel/Clear All, Gravity can range from exactly enough benefit out of the extra turns to carry you to victory, to completely unchanging the result of your demise. A bit easier on class due to synergy with Delay II, but still considerable as the situation calls for it. Valkyrie gets an extra mention as certain fights would change the multiplier on Resonance Surge to a very desirable increase.

OGRE

Sacrifice I/II - It's a large attack buff and it lasts many turns, but it does reduce your defense and sharply enough to be fatal. Most Jobs that focus on MC damage tend to have equal or better options is the main issue. Hawkeyes can use this to maximize Break Assassin contributions.

(Selfheal) - There's not commonly a point where keeping only the MC alive is important enough to take up the EX slot. Most classes that would use this well (HS, DF), would be able to use Medic equally well to heal the whole party.

Fighting Spirit - Actually a very handy nuke - the MC has the most important job for hitting 100% ougi, and this lets you accomplish that very conveniently. Jobs that don't have good multi options enjoy it, especially Hermit and Sidewinder who can also maximize its damage potential due to their job stats. Also works well with parties that have a source of ougi gain rate increase.

Rahu Asura Formation - While the ougi gain rate is very usable off-class, the high CD restricts this somewhat. More to point, the same class gives Fighting Spirit which can generally give a lot more ougi gain faster.

SIDEWINDER

Arrow Rain I/II/III - At III, it becomes one of the Top 4 EX. Arrow Rain III is hands down the most versatile and all-across potent EX. It offers a good damage multiplier on a low CD, it strikes all enemies, and it comes with an exceedingly helpful debuff at a strong magnitude. Essentially a go-to EX for any job if you don't know what else to think.

Hardline - Because the vast majority of encounters will have at least one debuff up, it is one of the most reliably powerful nukes at basically guaranteed 4x. The CD is on the high end however, which can mess with rotations. Slightly more useful in solo than in raids, because...

Killstreak - ...when there are at least 4 debuffs on the enemy, Killstreak does more damage than Hardline for the same CD. This is very easy to hit in raids. That said, most of the nuking classes don't pick it - Sidewinder already has it after all, and Hermit has Bounce which gives better damage. Holy Saber can enjoy it in raids with the high attack multiplier from Phalanx II.

SUPER STAR

Charm Song I/II - The hit rate is already low, and it only gets worse without a Harp. It tends to be too much of a risk to warrant usage.

Minstrel Song - CD8 for a 750 heal across 5 turns is inferior to CD7 for an instant 1500 heal. That's really all it boils down to this as an EX choice.

Soul Pilfer - The debuff resistance drop is affected significantly by the lack of Harp, going from the strongest pilfer in the game to the weakest. That said, DF's can still use it with their increased success rate and their processing 3 debuffs of their own. Sidewinders may also consider it as it is another status to land and even if it's a small boost it can help its team land other debuffs.

Song of Grande - 50% upkeep for 20% DA rate is not typically worth an EX slot but it's still better than Quick. That said by the time you get Song of Grande, you're probably not in the early game that it could feasibly fit as an EX.

VALKYRIE

Dual Impulse I/II/III - Without a spear or axe, single-turn multi-attack is not worth it. Weapon Master has better things to do than debuff enemy multiattack rate. However, for the spear-wielding Cleric/Bishop/Holy Saber, this is a buff skill without equal at III. The self-triple-attack helps patch ougi issues for the class, the party benefit of the multi-attack can also greatly amplify damage output. As Rage III is one of the Top 4 EX, there's a lot of potential conflict of multiple players running it, while few can run this buff due to the job restrictions - making it always something that can contribute.

Pyre Revelation - It's a decent damage nuke that provides self buff potential. Arrow Rain III has less cooldown and more applicability in general and thus gives this nuke a lot of run for its money. Need to investigate how it works well with certain jobs like Ogre, Hermit, and Sidewinder.

Resonance Surge - The penalty to multiplier for off-class, combined with the high CD and difficulty to maximize that multiplier safely, makes this pretty much a no-go outside of style. As it only offers damage, many other nukes simply are superior either in that department or in the utility they offer (or both, for Arrow Rain III).

ALCHEMIST

Medic - Very handy if you need survivability, as it works for the full party. Works best on Dark Fencer (reduced CD and good solo survivability), Holy Saber (potent party survivability), Cleric/Bishop (double heal), and Super Star (Overture II's combination of defense up and heal max up).

Raise Morale - 5% ougi heal on parties is pretty low. It's plausible to run into situations that that patches up a full chain, but it's more common you'll need it on MC and Fighting Spirit does the task better at half the cooldown.

NINJA

Fuuma Shuriken - ???

Cloudy - CD6 3.25x nuke is, on its own, not really worth a slot thanks to Arrow Rain III. With a katana, Samurai already has Finishing Touch for high multirate, and doesn't gain anything from the blind. With a fist, Ogre can actually make use of the attack buff and ougi gain buff to close up the holes of Rahu Asura Formation.

SAMURAI

Meditation - 30% ougi cost is steep and basically prevents this from being useful on the majority of jobs, with two exceptions. Weapon Master and Ogre both have ougi heal abilities that can permit both 100% upkeep of Meditation as well as allow performing an ougi with Meditation up. Keep in mind, though, critical hits only work with weakness bonus, and while 60% attack is still huge, you're missing out if you're working not with advantage.

THIRDSKILL - Self defense buff is largely underwhelming. With a Katana, Ninjas do not particularly need illusion or to reduce their attack. With a Bow, Sidewinders can potentially enjoy the attack buff to use with their nukes, but losing out on ougi and multi rate is crippling to their overall damage since nukes are capped.

=Image Sets=

Storing reference here for when Mana needs to grab the stuff later.

=Barebones ZEx Review=

Weaponmaster - Not tried yet but Brave Soul's numbers looked really good.

Holy Saber - Reflect is 20% which is just... not remotely worth the EX slot. Stacking defense buff could maybe be nice in certain fights if you can keep aggro (Holy Saber job master weapon maybe?), but can probably contribute a lot better with an EX that helps the rest of the party more directly (Blind, Dual Impulse III with spears, etc.)

Hermit - Not tried yet.

Bishop - Veil can surpass Cleanse All in certain situations since it works on all status from a particular attack. Recastable barrier might be cool if its barrier strength is good enough.

Hawkeye - Dispel is 2CD less than Force Snatch, Force Snatch gives you the buff you dispel (usually in scaled down effect, duration 3 turns) - pick as the situation calls. Apparently Break Keep scales REALLY WELL with TH to the point it's handy for certain fights, but no personal experience yet.

Ogre - Cover is 1CD less than Ichijigamae, Ichijigamae gives +2 counter count - pick Ichijigamae when fighting enemies with high multiattack rates, stick to Cover otherwise. Refined Spirit seems to cap at 30% and is basically a 100% upkeep of the buff so it can be handy since Ogre's ougi gain has the capacity to benefit from continual self-attack buffs.

Dark Fencer - Quick Down is the lowest multidown debuff so that's pretty mediocre. Blood Sword untested.

Sidewinder - Swap has potential shenanigans but always targets slot 5, so keep that in mind. Sturdy Aim is probably better off with you running Ogre's Fighting Spirit EX - same CD, but is a decently useful nuke to work with your Ability Damage rather than a status for a single 1x bonus to Killstreak.

Super Star - Not tried yet.

Valkyrie - Doesn't have the toolset or stats that Ogre does that make having a stacking-attack-buff worth it over Rage III - especially since on a spear Valk you would want to run Rage III to pair with Dual Impulse III for super party buffing. Randgrith is untested but enemy mode-gauge manipulation is usually more of a party member job than an MC job.

Alchemist - The only reason you'd ever run Alchemist is for the ZEx, unless you really just wanted to wear glasses and wear the cutest outfit.

Ninja - Untested but sounds funny.

Samurai - Can help preserve the effects of the primary class skill against things like AoE ougis. CD5 is good for a dodge.

=Alchemist a la Rollin Guide=

Alchemist

Type: Healing Weapons: Dagger/Gun JP Cost: 500 Prerequisites: 1x[Magic Orb], [Title] Level Up bonus: HP +20, Healing +2% at level 1, 5, 10, 15, and 20 (totaling to +100 HP and +10% Healing) Master bonus: Healing +5%

Abilities (Cooldown/Duration)

- Imbue: Cure Potion (7/-) - Creates a Cure Potion. - Medic (7/-) - Heals party HP, caps naturally at 1500 - Raise Morale (10/-) - Recovers ougi for everyone in the raid (10% if an Alchemist, 5% otherwise)

Zenith Abilities:

- Demon Pills (6/3) - Casts a buff that at the end of 3 turns, casts a high level Attack buff on the party (50%, seems to stack with all other buffs similar to Overture II) for 3 turns.

Support Abilities

- Knowledge of Alchemy - Increases effectiveness of cure potions (50% -> 60%) and all potions (35% -> 42%). - 鼓舞の心得 - Increases the effect of Raise Morale

Recommended Zenith Perks: Attack, HP?, Defense?

Random notes to later compile into a decent review: The way the Cure / All Potion works is as follows - it only affects the Alchemist. In the case of Cure Potions this is easy. In the case of All Potions, it affects the character and everyone after the character. Since MC is first slot, this generally does mean it affects the whole party.

An extremely selfish class compared to Cleric/Bishop - the heals are both party-only, as is the ZEx. Raise Morale is raid-wide but weak helpfulness. No debuffs to apply on the enemy either, so it's entirely all trying to benefit your own team. This isn't bad on paper, but it is a thing to think about.

Medic is a useful EX skill if you don't have a healer in your party otherwise and don't want to run Cleric or Bishop. Good options to run it include Holy Saber, Dark Fencer, and actually Cleric/Bishop can still enjoy it as yet more source of healing in their rotation.

Raise Morale is not a useful EX skill - the value-to-CD ratio is just too weak compared to most every other ougi heal in the game. Especially off-class since 5% is very, very rarely exactly how much you need compared to 10%.

ZEx is where Alch really shines. The offset delay tends to make it fall in line with when you would naturally perform your full chains, and the size of the buff is pretty amazing. Works well if you have other sources of attack buff to work with from the rest of your party.

Alchemist follows the same job theory as Super Star does ("A strong party is better than just a strong MC"), but executes it terribly in comparison. Heals instead of defense/heal-rate-up, extremely lackluster ougi heal vs. multi-rate-up, and a greater attack bonus but requires the EX slot to do that. It's still usable if you don't have good harps - dagger/gun is an accessible weaponspace for most elements and Alch still gives functional healing. It's a job that can basically function mid-tier but requires the EX slot to do so - whether or not you can afford to do that is based a lot on your party makeup.

Extremely hard to justify running the class without the ZEx - it's competitive with Cleric/Bishop for healing due to having two abilities, but Cleric/Bishop both have additionally useful EXes with Clear All/Dispel, and Raise Morale is still very ???. If you're using the EX slot for something else besides the ZEx, you could probably be running a different class unless you really need those Cure Potions. The ZEx is the main unique thing that Alchemist brings and is the biggest effect it brings to your party.

Because the zenith passive is also pretty worthless, if you don't actually plan to run Alchemist (or grab Medic at least), consider saving your JP for more immediately useful jobs. 500 isn't cheap.

=Samurai a la Rollin Guide=

Samurai - to do later, since that's also missing from rollin's guide.

Type: Weapons: JP Cost: 500 Prerequisites: 1x[Phys Orb], [Title] Level Up bonus: Master bonus: Attack +5%

Abilities (Cooldown/Duration)

- -  -

Zenith Abilities:

-

Support Abilities

- -

Recommended Zenith Perks:

=Random Mechanical Notes=

HOW CERTAIN THINGS WORK

Counter - Counter causes the character to evade any normal attacks from an enemy, and then perform an attack in response, usually with an increased multiplier. Each attack received, including multiattacks, will be countered if there are counters remaining. Each evade-and-attack decrements the counter count by 1. Does not work on ougis of any kind, only on regular attacks.

DETAILS: Counter happens after the result of all of that enemy's attacks for that turn. Each hit of Counter counts as a separate action for the purposes of things such as Grande's Absorption effect, the enemy entering OD or Break status, etc. Damage still affected by Weakness/resist. TODO - If an enemy kills you with multiattacks before you actually counter, do you counter first? What happens if you counter something with Reflect on?

Reflect - Reflect counts as a damage cut (stacks additively with Damage Cut and Element Resistance). The damage reduced by the reflect is then returned to the enemy, and your reflect count is reduced by 1. Because enemy damage tends to be significantly lower than the damage you need to do, Reflect tends to be weak damage-wise, but defensively it's still a full damage cut.

DETAILS: If the player hits 100% damage cut by a combination of reflect and damage cut/element resistance, then the damage is completely negated, none is reflected at all, and the reflect counter will not decrement. Enemies who just have 100% Reflect (certain coop bosses) do reflect all of the damage. Certain enemies also have a cap on reflected damage, even if the amount of damage reduced is greater (e.g. Genbu has 50% reflection capped at 300 damage reflected). Reflected damage takes on the color of the element of the originating attack, but the damage inflicted is functionally typeless and so it ignores all reductions/multipliers.

Illusion - Illusion allows the character to avoid damage and effects from a single-target hit of an attack. This includes regular attacks, single-target ougis, and multi-hit random-target ougis. Each hit negated will reduce the illusion count by 1. AoE attacks will still hit through and will not affect the illusion count.

Evasion - Evasion allows the character to completely avoid all damage and debuffs for a single turn. This includes everything.

Sentinel - Fortress EX skill behaves like Evasion but operates as a hit basis like Counter/Reflect/Illusion do.