I have posted similar post in other occasion, but I guess this thought may help someone else with limited resource/ planning to play longer too.

December DV

• Physical Gatekeeper: Dark Kitty Tiger (Beast, Thunder/Earth)

  Relative DEF increase from last DV's Dark Jealous: 6.9%.

  Looking at previous DV, the physical gatekeeper was still relatively a joke when I saw Tifa punch for 2,147,483,647.

  Personally, I don't think we'll see a need of new physical damage dealer.

• Magic Gatekeeper: Dark Amoebozoa (Aquan, Fire/Light)

  Relative SPR increase from last DV's Dark Tunnel Armor: 1.64%

  If you already have Terra, I think you are set for easy damage capping. Otherwise, I'm not too sure if we'll be able to see an easy clear with Ibara. The team probably want Relm, or some other magic DD to be geared well.

• Final Boss: Dark Golem (Stone)

  Relative DEF/SPR increase (averaged): 29.01% if we go by JP's Dark Odin. But it's relatively the same with GL's Dark Odin, since GL's Odin stat is straight 30% buff from JP's Dark Odin.

  If they don't change Golem's stats and we have NVA Edgar banner before this DV, I think you are set on capping (assuming you also have great gear to put on him), whether you managed to get NV Terra or not. Of course, Edel can help quite a lot with her stone killer (phys and also magic, in case you are to slot in Ibara).

  Speaking about Edel 100% stone killer and Aileen's 200% physical only stone killer, I found that their difference is relatively small if you also have your team go with dark element burst.

  • 200% killer buff from Aileen on stone killer capped unit is (1 300% 200%)/(1 300%) - 100% = 50%
  • 15% dark buff and 100% killer buff from Edel on unit with only 225% stone killer passive : (1 225% 100%)/(1 225%) - 100% = 50.3%
  • 15% dark buff and 100% killer buff from Edel on unit with 300% stone killer passive : (1 300% 100%)/(1 300%) - 100% = 43.75%

  If you have Ibara, but not Terra, I don't think having Edel instead of Aileen isn't strictly inferior in this case.

• Schedule

  My guess DV9 is going to be live on Dec 24th. Just the appropriate time to go with Christmas banner.

Banners

• December 17th

  Since Terra has gone live on 10th, we still have another week of banner before Christmas banner on 24th. My guess is that Dec 17th would be Locke banner (raid), to continue 2 weeks of FFVI. That means NVA Edgar will come and help you on building higher bursting capability. So capping Golem would seem easier if you don't manage to get NV Terra.

  EDIT: So there's a question asking about NVA Edgar on how he's great. The short answer is that he's that true TDW Dragoon without limitation and is NVA. Let's have a table to compare him with last gen dragoons like Cid and GC Fang

  Stats	Cid	Fang	Edgar
  Jump modifier (LB-boosted)	40x	40x (46x)	80x (100x)
  passive jump damage bonus (TMR/STMR included)	200%( 125%)	125%( 150%)	350%( 100%)
  Chain modifier cap	4x	4x	6x
  Innate DW	No	Yes	Yes
  Innate ATK TDW	---	50%	150%
  Base ATK ( pot door)	300	306	346 (EX 1), 368 (EX 2)
  VC	---	---	100 or 110 (potentially)
  Weapon selection	Dagger, Sword, Spear	Dagger, Sword, Spear	Dagger, Sword, GS, Spear, Gun
  Armor selection restriction	Robe	Heavy armor, Robe	none

• December 24th

  So what about the Christmas banner itself? It has been hinted from the glitch from 2 weeks ago that Felix and Christine became an eligible unit to be fragmented. So the guess is that these 2 units will receive their NVA on Christmas banner. However, looking at December's DV magic gatekeeper stage, they don't seem to be an optimal choice for this stage unless they add light element to Christine, or somehow make Felix a pure magic in BS as opposed to hybrid in his base 7★ form.

  If Gumi somehow pity the player who didn't manage to grab Terra and want to give a chance for them to perform well in DV, I think they should release a NV base magic DD with fire or light theme.

• December 31st

  I can only think it's NV Lasswell banner time. He's hard to gear (due to sword, great sword, katana, and spear only for his weapon selection), only have 4x cap because he's TDH, can't increase his variance because he's magic DD on BS, etc etc. He sucks, but probably can become the best choice for people who still struggle capping magic gatekeeper stage.

Other future banners

I think the heavy resource drain for DV will finally loosen up, as far as we see the future NV units from JP. I personally think Raegen & Lasswell is skippable for DV if one already has Sora, Riku, and NVA Edgar.

They might be a relevant choice in February DV, however, since the last boss is Dark Kokuryu and R&L have 150% Dragon Killer buff plus 200% killer passive in their kit.

Other than that, Raegen & Lasswell output isn't really that much higher than Sora's. And last bosses don't have element of choice.

I haven't seen other unit being a prevalent big burster after Lasswell & Raegen. Mazurka is interesting, but you kinda force her to convert to TDW with expensive lightning STMR, Zenaida's STMR, and Riku's STMR to find her performance isn't that much higher or even lower than NVA Edgar.