I’ve been on strategic autopilot in RW for two reasons:
1) It’s tough to click on spells in a timely fashion with a crowded screen. It makes me tune out.
2) It’s worked… until now.
Missions are getting tougher, enemy levels are rising. A deeper mechanical understanding may help.
Let’s start looking at party leaders. I’m mostly reviewing the utility abilities, with an eye towards deciding on which party members are my strongest (“core”) and which are more situational.
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Vaan: Solid general damage. Not sure I love his utility. LOW SITUATIONAL
Magick/Abilities
-Sprint: Self-movement speed buff. Usually just means he rushes to his death faster.
-Steal Speed/Endurance/Power: Steal Power seems like it could be good against a nasty boss.
-Timeslip: Stop. Nice big enemies aren’t resistant.
Quickening: Pyroclasm. Strong area damage.
Support
-Sprint Shoes: Area movement speed buff. It’s… okay?
-Battle Boots: Chance to deal an extra attack with each hit. It’s… okay????
-Winged Boots: Immobilize immunity. Nice in melee-heavy group.
-Germinas Boots: Increases rate of Mist Charge accumulation. Pretty good.
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Penelo: An indispensable healer. CORE
Magick/Abilities
-Mystic Dance/War Dance: Group faith/bravery buff. Great with the right groups.
-Esunaga: Situationally indispensable.
-Hypnotic Dance: Group Disable. I NEED to use this more.
Quickening – Dance of Rapture: Full ally heal/esuna. The problem is that I want to use this when my esper groups take hit, but espers die quickly. Nice HOLY SHIT MAYDAY MAYDAY button.
Support
-Argyle Armlet: Mind increase. Maybe if I’m getting destroyed by magic?
-Corsage Bracelet: Silence immunity.
-Protective Armlet: Regen.
-Healing Armlet: Increases healing magick. Good if I aim for 4-5 healing espers.
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Kytes: Solid black mage, especially against groups. CORE
Magick/Abilities
-X-ga: every kind of group elemental magic I could want. I should use non-gambit spells more regularly.
-Charge: Increases potency of next spell. Use before engaging a boss or large enemy pack.
Quickening – Nature’s Wrath: Group elemental damage. [Non-rhetorical question: What element is this? Is it whatever element the monster is weak again?]
Support
-Incanter’s Pouch: Increase group magick. Ok.
-Traveler’s Pouch: Poison immunity.
-Goblin Pouch: Additional loot at the end of battle. Farming tool.
-Faerie Pouch: Reduces cast time. Solid when I care about espers utility magick.
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Filo: All depends on how strong Power/Defense Snare are. LOW CORE
Magick/Abilities
-Defense/Power/Speed Snare: Set trap to lower stamina and mind/strength and magick/speed and movement speed. Defense/Power have real potential.
-Glide: Movement buff. Meh?
-Decoy Bit: “Divert damage from the group to the decoy.” Again, I want to try this. I have no idea how much damage it diverts.
Quickening - Wind Soul: “Allow allies to act immediately.” Sounds bad at first, but might allow me to to double cast powerful abilities.
Support
-Silver Earrings: Speed buff.
-Gold Earrings: Stop immunity.
-Moon Earrings: AP accumulation buff. Potentially huge level advantage in a long fight.
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Llyud: Group physical damage. LOW CORE
Magick/Abilities
-Jump: Area damage.
-Revive: Nice, but Penelo already has it. She’s in every group. Llyud’s gives diminishing returns.
-Jump/Crimson Wings: Two area damagers.
Quickening – Fanfare: “Fortify all friendly espers.” Could amplify a big esper army.
Support
-Mythril Gloves: Confuse immunity.
-Winged Gloves: Float. Maybe if the enemy uses some kind of quake attacks?
-Blazer Wings: Affinity buff. More espers is good.
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Balthier: Single-target physical powerhouse. CORE
Magick/Abilities
-Tri-shot: Three successive shots to one foe.
-Percussive Slug: Knockback.
-Sniper Eye: Attack range buff. Meh.
-Quicksilver: Self-strength buff.
Quickening – Element of Treachery: Heavy single-target damage. Great against bosses.
Support Abilities
-Golden Ring: Increases gil earned in battle. No thanks.
-Emerald Ring: Blind immunity.
-Sapphire Ring: Self-haste. I love how this synchronizes with the rest of his abilities.
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Fran: More defensive/crowd-controlling single-target damage. SITUATIONAL
Magick/Abilities
-Blinding/Sleep/Silencing/Confusion Arrow: Single target status inflictions. Maybe against bosses that are weak to these.
Quickening – Gaze of the Void: Basically dispelga. It’s good, but I’m surprised it’s quickening.
Support
-Goggle Mask: Ranged damage buff. Solid for ranged-heavy group.
-Lamia’s Tiara: Sleep immunity.
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Ashe: Phenomenal support. CORE
Magick/Abilities
-Slowga: HELLLL YES
-Hastega: Group haste. HELLLLLLLLLL YES
-Regenga: Group regen. JFNFDIOSFNDSOI FYES YES YES
No quickening yet.
Support
-Golden Amulet: Reduces summoning time. Situational.
-Jade/Noble’s Collar: Stamina and mind/Strength and magick buff when Ashe’s HP is full. Risky.
-Embroidered Tippet: Increases experience earned. Hooooly shit this is great.
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Basch: Tankasaurus rex. CORE
Magick/Abilities
-Protectga: YESSSHSHSHSSS
-Shellga: BASCH WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE YOU BEAUTIFUL MAN
-Flash of Steel: Damage to foes in a line extending from the user. Llyud has a version of this. It’s… ok.
-Inner Peace: Give user Regen and removes debuffs. Pretty solid, especially if I use Basch to tank the first hits of a powerful enemy or pack.
No quickening yet.
Support Abilities
-Judicer’s Helm: Group max HP buff. Verrrry nice.
-Atlas/Dragon Helm: Group Stamina and Mind/Strength and Magick buff when Basch’s HP is low. I don’t like this. Feels like a much tougher condition to maintain than Ashe’s similar gear.
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So in the end:
CORE: Ashe, Basch, [Llyud or Filo], [Balthier or Kytes], Penelo. I want both Balthier and Kytes, but I also want one flyer in most groups. Kytes will usually be my default with Balthier in for big boss missions.
BENCH: Vaan, Fran
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Next, I’ll check out espers. I’ve mostly just used them as generic counters. For instance, I’d see a ranged water enemy and find a melee lightning. I want to do better.
I want to pay more attention to their abilities. I noticed recently that when I click “Details” twice, I can see any spells the esper might cast!
I’ll skip the espers with simple damaging abilities in this review. Most of these abilities are single-target unless I note that they’re area.
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Fire
-Bomb: Sacrifice all HP to deal massive area damage. VERY interesting for a final attack or when I have easy access to summoning gates.
-Lamia: Confuse.
-Balasa: Slow. Less useful if I plan to keep Ashe and her Slowga in my core party.
-Ifrit: Area slow. See above.
-Chaos: Can cast FLARE on a single foe! Powerful even if the enemy’s resistant to fire.
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Water
-Shivar and Siren: Stop.
-Cuchulainn: Poison. [Non-rhetorical question: does poison do pre-set damage over time or a percentage of max health?]
-Shiva: Area Stop.
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Earth
-Atomos: Drain. Nice sustain.
-Cu Sith: Blind. Okay against physical damaging groups maybe.
-Golem: Immobilize. Nice supplement to a ranged party.
-Exodus: Meteor! (Presumably) non-elemental area damage.
-Hashmal: lolol his area earth damage ability is called “Roxxor.”
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Lightning
-Raiden: Silence.
-Tiamat: Mighty Guard! Super powerful.
-Ramuh: Area silence.
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Neutral
-Carbuncle: Single-target and area heal. Far better than the White Hare.
-Ultima: Esuna/cure, though only single-target.
-Tonberry: Stamina debuff. Nice supplement to a physical-heavy group. Its Karma deals damage based on the target’s kill number. I can imagine cheesing out a win by sending swarms of cannon fodder to die, and then following up with Tonberries to blast it apart.
-Diabolos: Sleep. Also uses a Gravity, percentage damage. Nice against high HP esper packs. I doubt it works against rank 3 espers, but maybe.
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Next time: Going to grind my party up from 38-40 to around level 45. Will simultaneously try to craft good weapons for my core party.
