Hello everyone and welcome to the Should You Pull for the Ver 2.0 FFBE Banner. I'm Letsdothisbro and I'll be your guide on this magical adventure. Its been a crazy week for me with school and I wasn't even sure I'd have time to write this at all, so there is no pointless story this time. Sorry guys. I'm sure most of you won't miss it anyways. Without any more hesitation, allons-y!

Shera 3* -5*

^{*5 /6 is the total of base stats, maximum pots, and all non-conditional passives at maximum rarity.}

Global Party Rating: 4/10

We have entered the first of the great FFBE Golden Ages, and Shera is our first 3* Base DPS. Sadly, not all that glitters is gold and he doesn't quite make the cut against many of the competing 3/4* base units. Nevertheless, if you are new and pull him with your free 10 1 he isn't the worst unit in the interim.

For passives, he has 10% Atk/Def/Spr. Additionally he gets 30% Atk with a Sword, making a total of 40% Atk in passives. At max Atk Pots, this is 175 base Atk with passives if you're holding a sword. Thats pretty good in the 3-5* Unit zone. He also comes with innate Demon Killer For equipment, Shera can wield Daggers and Swords, and he can wear Light Shields, Hats, Light Armour, and Clothes. His weapon choice is very limited sadly, but at least swords are fairly accessible. It could be worse. It could be throwing weapons. Ugh.

For Skills he does alright also. Barrage is great at any point of the game and is more common on 4* bases or Bartz. He also has Entrust, for making some important LB's go off faster, like Cecil. His best AoE moves are the classic Bladeblitz (1.4x Aoe) and a new move called Sieg Zoldaad. This move does 1.9x Fire Aoe damage and boosts your teams Fire resistance by 40% for three turns. Thats fairly decent and goes well with some early mages if you're trying to get a Fira chain going. He also has Cheer which gives him a bit more added utility.

Japanese Altema Rating: 75/100

Global TMR Rating: Successor - 15% Atk/Hp and 20% Fire Resist - 5/10

Sadly, this TMR is outSHINEd on its own banner. Get what I did there? Shine? Heheh. Anyways, while the 15% HP is useful at keeping your DPS alive, its not worth the 15% less attack and the Fire resist is just a side-bonus. There are many better TMRs for Dps that will make this irrelevant, and the 15% Atk is wasted on a tank. Also, Tanks have better TMRs anyways, so poor Shera's TMR just is mediocre at both.

Japanese Tmr Rating (Altema.jp) A Tier

Who does this unit compare to? You can compare him to any of the 3/4 base DPS as a new player is likely to have some of them.

• Bartz: Bartz wipes the floor with Shera with his better abilities, greater utility, and superior stats that come from having a 6* upgrade.

• Rain: Rain has better utility with Full Break and Leadership, and while his Atk is lower he keeps your team alive along with contributing to their damage. Its hard being a 5* max in a 6* world.

• Laswell If we lower the bar enough, anyone will win right? Shera is a better unit if you're new then poor Laswell. He has a higher Atk when using a sword, better damage, and more utility overall with his Aoe Fire resist buff and Cheer. Laswell does have better elemental coverage, being able to hit Air and Ice instead of Shera's Fire and he also has a Dispel, but the latter can be gained by Espers. Overall, Shera wins this one.

Why would you want Shera? If you are new, he isn't the worst choice. There are, of course, a lot of stronger units even at 3* and he doesn't stand up to a lot of the 4*s at all, but if you're just starting out and get him on that 10 1 pull he will do in the interim. The Cheer really contributes if you don't have it yet.

68? Enhancements? Nada. Its a hard knocks life sometimes.

Shine 4* - 6*

^{*5 /6 is the total of base stats, maximum pots, and all non-conditional passives at maximum rarity.}

Global Party Rating: 6.5/10

Shine is our second Physical DPS on this banner. She is apparently some manner of super ninja assassin maid, which is an entirely underused and never seen before trope. She specializes in single-target damage and debilitation while avoiding attacks via dodge and reduced target chance.

For passives, she has 20% Atk/Def/Spr and 10% HP/MP. This is fairly good but doesn't quite have enough Atk to put her at the top of the 4-6* DPS units. She also has a 10% chance to negate physical damage taken and decreases her chance of being targeted by 50%. These are great as they keep your DPS alive without requiring any sort of activation. The 50% Target chance reduction is especially good and is not the norm for Base 4s. For gear, she can equip Daggers, Swords, Bows, Whips, and Throwing Weapons. She sadly misses the big two DPS weapons, Katana and Greatsword, but having access to swords is good. Rising Sun is also a very real weapon. She can also wear Hats and Clothing. The Clothing is the most unfortunate as Light Armor is always something nice to see. Nevertheless, she can still use the Blackbelt Gi.

For Skills, Shine pulls her weight a little. Noir Atack (2x Dark Single Target) has a chance to Blind the enemy, which has its uses. Surprise Attack goes really well with the rest of her kit, reducing a single enemy's Defence and Dark Resist by 40% for 3 turns. As most of Shine's DPS is Dark, this is a neat little synergy that I wish FFBE had more of. Double Corruption inflicts two random status Ailments but sadly does no damage. Into Darkness is her big DPS move, with a 2.8x multiplier, Dark damage, and a 100% to crit. Its a hefty 45 Mp sadly, but hits notably hard and gives her a role as a chain finisher. Lastly Smoke lets you leave a battle and has uses for Events when you need to leave a battle or save for the boss. You can craft the Smoke Bomb though so its not super necessary.

Altema Unit Rating: 83/100 (pre-enhancements)

Global Tmr Rating: Quick Assault - 30% Atk, 10% Dodge Chance - 9/10

This is amazing and the biggest reason you want Shine. 30% Attack is the most you can get without requiring specifics like Blade Mastery. IMO, the bonus attack is worth losing the other stats of Lunge Combo or Seal of Destruction, and the 10% Dodge Chance really helps offset that loss. This on Noctis or Lightning is exactly what you are looking for, and this TMR is the biggest reason to pull on this banner.

Japanese TMR Rating (Altema.jp) S Tier

Who does this unit compare to? Shine is lower on the DPS scale then most of her 6* brethren and in my opinion she doesn't cut it.

• Chizuru: If you're not loaded on powerful units and only have room for Chizuru or Shine, you should take Chizuru. She has stronger stats, with a higher base attack as well as more passives when she has a Katana. Shine has the advantage of status effects and being harder to hit, but Chizuru also has a dispel, Barrage, and a chance to Stop for Arena.

• ** Firion:** Our recently 6'd buddy also wins here. He's a better Chain finisher imo with Fin Briar, has his weapon collector passives, and his plethora of Killers take the lead over our lady of the night. Furthermore, he is a 3 base, and Fin Briar goes perfectly with two Chizurus in a chain if you do it properly. I give this one to Firion.

Why would you want Shine? You want her TMR. You do. Trust me, you do. Thats the absolute biggest reason to pull for her. If you're new and have no better units and are opposed to rerolling, she can probably carry you through a lot of the earlier content, but she isn't strong enough to carry a team with some of the end game stuff.

Olive 5* - 6*

^{*5 /6 is the total of base stats, maximum pots, and all non-conditional passives at maximum rarity.}

Global Party Rating: 9/10

Olive continues our train of getting physical with this banner. Olivia Newton John would be very proud. She is a gun-wielding DPS machine who takes advantage of innate doublehand and a very high attack to pound enemies into the dirt. Her skills all seem to have a high MP cost and I expect she will run into mana trouble in the long fights but if you can support that she will be one of the best DPS in the game right now.

For Passives, she has 20% Hp/Spr and 30% Atk, as well as an innate immunity to Paralysis and Confusion. 30% Atk might not look like a lot, but we're not done yet! She also has Heavy Arms Proficiency, which gives her an additional 75% of a Weapons Atk if she is single-wielding. Furthermore, she has 50% Atk when wielding a gun as well as Machine Killer. This is a lot of added damage and we will get into some math in a bit. Olive comes with the much needed Auto-Refresh (5% MP/Turn) to keep her Mana higher but I don't think its enough. Last, but by far not least, she has Mortar Beacon. This is a pretty unique skill that on the third turn of a battle (NOTE: Only the third turn. NOT every three turns. That would be busted) she uses Mortar Beacon to do an Aoe Physical damage attack. The multiplier? 5x. Thats the highest non-Lb multiplier in this game. This is a great addition that makes the third turn a massive swing in damage without any sort of mana cost attached.

Now, the promised math. Lets assume you have an Olive with maxed Attack pots. This puts you to 190.

• Candy Gun ( 65 Atk, Fire): A recent addition from the winter holiday event. Giving her a gun gives you 50% Atk, in addition to her base 30%. That puts us at 342. Add 65 to get to 407. Now you add the 75% from her passive, so thats another 48, leaving you at 455 Atk with an OK event item and no TMRs. Thats pretty good.

• Sparky ( 120 Atk, Lightning, Doublehand): Now we get to get silly. We have our 190 and a Gun so the 80% puts us to 342 again. 462 with the weapon attack, plus another 90 from her passive to go to 552. Another 60 from Sparky's own Doublehand gets you to 612. 612 with a single TM and doesn't pull away better weapons from other units like Dual Wield will.

I think that speaks for itself. Furthermore, if I understand how FFBE passive work correctly, Bartz's TM Doublehand should stack with Sparky and her own passive, adding another 60 Atk, which is Blade Mastery level.

"Ok, Letsdothisbro, she has a lot of attack. Now what can she DO with it?"

Well, I'm glad you asked! She can THROW! Isnt that amazing!? In all seriousness, she has a powerful skillset worthy of this level of stats. Flash Grenade (1.4x Aoe, Light) is a decent ability that has a 50% chance to blind. Light is also fairly good when you consider units like Orlandeau, future Agrias, and Excalibur the item. Shattering Shot is another one of those neat abilities that I think is a cool addition. Its a meager 1.2x multiplier, but it breaks Defence by 50% and reduces lightning resistance by 50%, both for 3 turns. That's the highest Defence break in the game right now, and the lightning resist reduction goes really really well with her TMR, further increasing her massive damage. Doing this on turn 1 or 2 followed by the Mortar Beacon we mentioned before will decimate an enemy.

She also has a decent Aoe with Grapeshot (1.5x, ignore 25% Def) that normalizes out to 2x. Napalm Grenade is a 1.4x Aoe that deals Fire damage and reduces Fire Resist by 50% for 5 turns. Thats a large and long reduction, far longer and stronger then normal. Olive can also buff her attack by 50% AND add Fire element to her attacks for 5 turns. This is one of the first examples of adding an element to attacks that JP has currently and the fact that its a choice is really nice. It also has synergy with both her Fire Reduction and any sort of Fire chains you have going on. Lastly is True Shot (2.4x, Ignore 50% def) which nukes a single target into next week. It normalizes out to a whopping 4.8x damage. The catch here is it costs a hefty 42 MP and Olives mana pool is fairly small (150 w/out pots, 215 with). She does have Auto-Refresh but it can only go so far and in the really long fights she will run out of mana without help. Nevertheless, its nothing a proper team comp and item set cant beat and the payoff is certainly there. Its like investing in Apple 15 years ago, but without all the risk. And the heaps of money. Ok, its not that much like investing in Apple but you get the point.

Japanese Altema Rating: Global Exclusive! Eat your heart out, Japan.

Global TMR Rating: Sparky (Gun) - 120 Atk/Lightning Element/ Doublehand - 8/10 (10/10 if on Olive)

This is a very powerful weapon and its raw stats refuse to be denied. If being single-wielded its a whopping 180 Atk and if the rumors are supposedly true it can be held with another weapon for dual-wield. Sure, that costs you the doublehand but its still 120 Atk and Lightning element. A certain pink haired girl I can think of would love to get a hold of that. (Spoilers: Its Lenna.) Also, the synergy with Olive herself is massive, with her getting 50% Atk off of wielding it, plus an additional 90 off of her mega Doublehand. If I have Olive, this is a priority TM. End of story.

Japanese TMR Rating (altema.jp): Global Exclusive!

Who does this unit compare to? Mainly the big three DPS: Noctis, Gilgamesh, Yun, with Luneth currently at 3.5. If you're looking for some raw BIS stats, I recommend this thread with Kudos to /u/Mementomori28 .'

I'm not going to do unit specific here because its a quick and easy one. The more TMS involved, the more those three will beat Olive. Just dual-wield/Genji versus just Sparky, I'm giving it to Olive and her massive attack. When you start adding BiS gear, our biggest DPS units start to overtake the little lass as they're casing Warp Break or Cut Through twice instead of Olive's once despite her potentially higher Attack stat.

With the math having been done and I having slept, it looks like Olive is our new DPS queen even with dual wield. That being said, she does have less utility then Noctis so she doesn't entirely beat our prince yet.

Noctis' utility is just really unfair. Like, seriously unfair.

Why would you want Olive? Why wouldn't you want Olive? Her power is massive and she requires less TMRs then most of the dps kings to reach massive stats and power. 612 Attack with one TMR is amazing.

She also does the most damage in the game. There's an interesting conversation about her dual-wield versus single wield capabilities so I'll link that here

Should you pull? I'm gonna say the rare YES on this one, but with the usual stipulations. Its a yes purely because of Shine's TMR which is one of the best attack TMRs in the game. The 5* base doesn't make the banner sadly, and the 3* isn't too hot, but if you TMR farm now or intend to TMR farm one day in the next several months, you're going to want as many Shines as you can get. Thankfully theres an 10 1 free summon to tempt you into hoarding otherwise mediocre units! Good luck!

Phew, that wasn't so bad. Again, sorry to all three of you who want the silly story. It might appear again next week. Welcome everyone, to the new era of FFBE, and let the voice of love take you higher may you all have great pulls!