As usual, Global ratings are my own opinions relative to other character or TMs available at the time this is written (effectively, rating on a curve where a 10/10 unit is the best, or tied with the best, at this exact moment -- not forever), with Japanese ratings coming from altema.jp and are based on the characters current max rarity in Japan. Japanese TM ratings are on a scale from: Unranked, A, S, SS, to SSS.

SLIGHTLY BRIEF EDITION AS I GOT HOME LATE AND HAVE PLANS SHORTLY! NOW WITH (LIKELY) MORE TYPOS, GRAMMATICAL ERRORS, AND COPY AND PASTE ERRORS FROM OLD SYPs. edit: totally not as brief as I planned, but still rushed

CHARLOTTE:

Rarity: 3★ to 5★

Global Party Rating: 7/10

Charlotte is a tank, and arguably the best 5★ max tank in the game (some will say WoL for Full Break, but from a pure tanking standpoint, Charlotte beats him.)

As for tanking she brings Royal Armlet, which is a 50% chance to protect party members and take 50% less damage. This is stronger than WoL's version, but weaker than 6★ Cecil's.

Passively she brings 10% ATK, 20% DEF, 10% HP, Auto-Regen, Undead Killer, and Demon Killer (but tank DPS is generally pitiful enough that those killers, while exciting on other characters, don't really matter on Charlotte.)

For white magic, she brings Shellga, but if you already have Focus you don't need this.

She also has Power Break (3 Turn -15% ATK) because... why not? If you don't have this covered that gives her something to do.

Her Limit Burst is a (400HP, 160%-255%) and increase DEF (40%-59%) for 3 turns to all allies -- ranges depend on LB rank.

New this patch you can get a Charlotte exclusive shield which, first of all, is a very decent shield in its own right (beaten only by the TM shield or Star Quartz shield) but also gives her the ability Cleansing Light which is an AOE Esuna.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 92/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Equip H Shield - 5/10

Ability - Equip Heavy Shield

This TM is okay -- a heavy shield on your healer or, in rare cases, dps (who isn't using dual wield or doublehand) is a decent survivability increase, but likely much lower priority than other TMs you could farm if you have a variety of them available to you.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): A Rank

Why would you want Charlotte?: As mentioned above, for many of you she's the best 5★ max tank available -- but is that enough anymore? AOE Esuna could have it's uses, but Tilith and CoD have that too. She's a good enough character but it's sad she's back a second time as even those of you that missed her the first time will drop her as soon as you can for a 6★ tank.

Is she FUTURE-PROOF?: Yes. Charlotte has VERY recently received a 6★ upgrade in Japan, so do expect it to be quite awhile off for Global.

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CHIZURU:

Rarity: 4★ to 6★

Global Party Rating: 8/10

Chizuru is a physical dps with high ATK (154 ATK 20% 25% with a katana equipped) with awful weapon options (dagger and katana) and decent equipment options (hat, helm, clothing, light armor heavy armor.)

Passively she brings a 30% chance to counter physical attacks, Blade and Body ( 25% ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR with a katana equipped -- the 25% ATK portion was also included above), a 20% chance to negate physical damage taken, and double LB gauge fill rate.

Offensively (I'll only be covering the highlights here), Chizuru brings Phantom Shadow (140% AOE Physical damage ignore 50% defense -- this normalizes to 280%), Dismissal (210% Single Target Physical damage and 30% chance to inflict stop for three turns), Glint (200% Single Target Physical damage and ignore 25% DEF -- this normalizes to 267%), and finally Barrage like she's always had.

His limit burst is a 310% to 430% (depending on rank) single target physical attack.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 93/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Blade Mastery - 9/10

Materia - Increase Base ATK by 50% with a Katana Equipped.

Assuming you have the katana to back this up, this is the highest DPS increase from a TM on Global outside of Dual Wield. Who knows if we'll ever see Miyuki on a rate-up for her TM katana, but she's only a 3★ base so there's a decent chance you'll daily pull one (or more) eventually.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): SS Tier

Why would you want Chizuru?: Chizuru has a top top top tier TM. If you want whale levels of ATK on your physical DPS this TM is a must. Chizuru herself is great at 6★ but her incredibly limited weapon options hold her back. If you have the katana(s) to use her and/or her TM she's very desirable -- if not? You may not be overwhelmed with her with just a Masamune.

Is she FUTURE-PROOF?: I really need to chance the name for this section -- it's getting weird on 6★ upgrades. Anyway. Yes -- because she has 6★ now and she has ability enhancements in Japan. Please click above to follow to the reddit wiki page to view her future ability enhancements.

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MERCEDES:

Rarity: 4★ to 6★

Global Party Rating: 7/10

Mercedes is a physical damage dealer with high ATK (146 ATK 20%, 50% with an axe equiped), a substandard selection of weapons (dagger, sword, axe, hammer) and a great selection of equipment (hat, helm, clothing, light armor)

Passively, Mercedes brings 20% HP and Aquan Killer (not one of the more exciting killers, but still good when it's good.)

For support, Mercedes brings Warcry (3 Turn 50% ATK buff to all allies) which probably isn't worth spending a turn on a DPS character to cast if you have Cheer or Embolden, and she has Escape.

Offensively, Mercedes brings Barrage, and Sea King's Chop (270% single target physical damage and decrease water resistance by 20% for 3 turns.)

Her Limit Burst is a 270% to 390% (depending on rank) AOE water physical attack which is totally usable.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): 87/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Viking Axe - 8/10

Weapon - Axe - 125 ATK, Water Element

The new highest ATK weapon on Global, but axes aren't the most flexible weapon type (not a lot of high tier characters use them) and water, outside of on Mercedes herself, isn't and element you can expect to see get a lot of support -- at least not until Tidus (who, btw, can't use axes.)

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): S Tier

Why would you want Mercedes?: Mercedes is a perfectly capable physical attacker that comes with a TM weapon which syngerizes well with her (and helps offset her very limited weapon options.) If you plan to put Dual Wield on her, or not farm her TM weapon, you'll have a hard gearing Mercedes up to feel impressive beyond just being a 6★ character with good ATK and Barrage.

Is she FUTURE-PROOF?: Yes, Mercedes comes with 6★. She also has received Ability Enhancements in Japan. Click through to the reddit wiki page to see their details.

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NOCTIS:

Rarity: 5★ to 6★

Global Party Rating: 10/10

Noctis is physical attacker with very high ATK (158 ATK) but no base ATK passives -- he has several weapon related passives we'll get to later. He has great weapon options (dagger, sword, greatsword, katana, spear, thrown, gun) and good armor options (light shield, heavy shield, hate, clothing, light armor.)

Passively he has 15% HP, 15% MP, a 20% chance to negate physical attacks, a 30% chance to count physical attacks with a self heal (400 HP, 3x mod) and a TON of equipment specific passives:

• 20% ATK / 15% DEF with a dagger
• 20% ATK / 15% SPR with a sword
• 35% ATK with a greatsword
• 20% ATK/MAG with a katana
• 20% ATK/SPR with a spear
• 20% DEF/SPR with a shield (either kind)
• 25% MAG/SPR with a thrown weapon
• 20% MAG/DEF with a gun

Of those, Noctis' kit scales best with ATK, so focus on dagger (well don't because all daggers suck), sword, greatsword, katana, or spear on him.

For support, Noctis brings Link (100% single target physical attack and AOE 3 Turn 30% ATK/MAG buff) but is only useful if you're lacking Cheer/Focus (or better), Comeback (100% HP rez), Cover (Heal (1000HP, 10x) and refresh (10MP, 0.2x) per turn over 3 turns to all allies -- which is a ton of extra utility), and Warp Break as an ATK/DEF debuff but we'll talk about that... right....

...now! Offensively, his best command is Warp Break which is a 250% single target physical attack with ignore 40% DEF (normalizes to 417% -- the highest ATK in the game on Global) but also decreases ATK/DEF by 30% for 3 turns -- 30% makes the ATK/DEF debuff equal to the ATK/DEF portions of Full Break which is probably 'good enough' to replace your Full Break user except on particularly magic damage fights. He also three Hybrid abilities with added effects being:

• Fire Flask - 400% AOE Fire Hybrid damage and 30% chance for 2 random status effects
• Ice Flask - 400% AOE Ice Hybrid damage and 30% chance to inflict stop
• Thunder Flask - 400% AOE Lightning Hybrid damage and reduce DEF/SPR by 30% for three turns.

For AOE fights, pick the one whose element compliments the fight most and/or the one whose additional effect does. If two or less targets (and low fire, ice or thunder element resistance) you'll do more damage for less MP with Warp Break on a single target. Also, friendly reminder regarding Hybrid damage, because of the fact that it's calculated based on the ATK damage calculation plus the MAG damage calculation and then divided by two, and that the ATK/MAG damage calculation is based on ATK² or MAG² do note that you will get more damage on hybrid abilities by either stacking as much ATK or as much MAG as you can and only taking gear or abilities with both if you're not sacrificing your primary stat to do so. In Noctis' case of having strong physical abilities, and no strong magical abilities, it makes most sense to focus entirely on ATK (unless you can get both with no drawback like Maxwell or Karl's TM.)

His final attack is Point-Warp. This is a 300% single target 1 turn delay jump but also recovers 2000 HP and 135 MP to himself giving him self sustain.

And finally, his Limit Burst is a bonkers 800% to 1160% (depending on rank) single target physical attack and AOE increase ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR by 50%-74% (depending on rank) for 2 turns.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): NOT YET RATED

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Ring of Lucii- ??/10

Accessory - 3 MAG/SPR and grants access to:

• Alterna - Magic damage (510%) with ignore SPR (25%) to all enemies (normalized to 680%) for an insane 99 MP
• Death - Instant KO (30%) and physical damage (80%) with HP drain (30%) to one enemy
• Holy - Chance to negate physical damage taken (25%) and counter physical attacks (25%) with light magic damage (120%) and recover MP (40) to self

I really have no idea how good this is. On a mage it seems useful (Holy in particular is just a nice ability to have) but Alterna's insanely high mana cost... I don't know how often I would cast it. If I can afford 99MP a cast (198MP when double cast) I'm either going to go OOM before the fight ends or the fight was easy enough that I would have easily won without this ability. It's ~3% more efficient damage than meteor. Eventually someone will analyse this item far more in depth than I have time to this week.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): NOT YET RATED

Why would you want Noctis?: Noctis is an entirely different caliber of character than what we've had on Global so far but, especially with his multiple equipment passives, he basically requires Dual Wield to see his full potential.

Is he FUTURE-PROOF?: Yes - but... BUT... BUT BUT BUT. I've seen people suggest that one day they will buff Noctis to match his Japanese counterpart. Anything is possible I suppose, but it's a much safer plan to operate under the assumption that this version of Noctis is how he's going to stay on Global.

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SHOULD YOU PULL?: Do you TM farm, have a decent katana and need a Chizuru? Blade Mastery is so good that I'm actually going to recommend you consider pulling for 4★ base on a banner with TWO 4★ base and a 3★ base that you likely already have. If you don't TM farm? I'd still do daily pulls because you never know, but going all in for Noctis is unlikely to result in you getting Noctis. Mercedes is okay, and Chizuru is quite good but only if you have the weapon(s) to put on her and Charlotte is outclassed if you already have a 6★ tank. As always remember how low the odds are of a 5★ before you blow all of your resources on Noctis.