Should I Farm That - Da-Chao Statue (FFVII Raid) and Armeggeddon (GLEX trial) Edition

Not much time this week so this will be a bit shorter than usual.

Raid Loot

Peace Ring
[accessory]: 35 SPR, 100% confusion resist, Peaceful Mind => 25% resist to SPR break

If confusion is the only ailment you need to prevent, this is a pretty good option. Other accessories with 100% confusion resist are either STMRs or have worse secondary stats. That said veterans will probably never need it.

At only 25%, the SPR resist isn't too helpful as you can't rely on it to keep you alive. You're better off using the slot for HP/SPR instead.

Standard-Issue Sword
[sword]: 78 ATK, man-eater: 50% damage from physical or hybrid attacks

Oh fun. I finally get to do an analysis that takes into account the Fixed Dice nerf / damage calculation change. For those of you not aware, starting with Lich all trials will use that formula. Also, the extra stages for story events have been using them for a couple months or so already.

My criteria is pretty straight forward. The extra damage from the killer/variance/whatever needs to outweigh the damage reduction from the damage calculation.

For DW calculations, I assume the other weapon is 120 ATK. Obviously if you are using a stronger weapon, the better off you are.

First let's figure out how much extra damage the man-eater gives. Between the man-eater materia and Diabolos' killers, that an easy 200% starting point. That means the extra 50% killer only gives (3.5 / 3) = 16.7% more damage.

log((weapon 1 weapon 2) / 2 30) / log (185) = 93.1%

1.167 * 0.931 = 1.086 which means 8.6% more damage compared to the old calculation.

But if we replace it with a weapon with 120 ATK (that comes to 96% of damage compared to old calc) we need to factor in the difference in ATK. For the sake of less confusing math, I'll assume all attacks will come from the 120 ATK weapon (true if you use multi-cast with a DW unit).

1.086 / .96 = 1.131 so the total ATK needs to be sqrt(1.131) = 1.064 or 6.4% higher.
42 ATK difference with 200% TDW is 126 ATK 126 / 0.064 = 1969 ATK.

So if your total ATK (ATK used in calc, not the displayed ATK) with this weapon equipped is higher than 1969, then this weapon with the killer would be better than the 120 ATK weapon.

Overall, the difference isn't enough to really matter and the exact differences will vary greatly based on your gear and units so use FFBEEquip when gearing your units for fights. I don't think anyone will really miss this if they don't have it and if you aren't tight on space, you probably won't regret keeping it either.

Shinra Alpha
[accessory]: 28 DEF, 16 SPR

Anything with 15% HP or more (and no DEF or SPR) will likely provide far better physical and magic eHP. Too many better options out there. Don't bother unless you're a collector.

Curse Ring (FFVII)
[accessory]: 20 ATK, 20 MAG, 20% HP, take 2000 HP damage at start of battle or after revive.

This is a pretty good compromise accessory when you want to add tankiness without giving up too much ATK or MAG. Plenty of better options out tehre but they are mostly trapped behind rainbows and limited events. However, due to the 2k HP damage (same as Delita's infamous STMR), this is a terrible option if you are facing a boss with a preemptive attack, reviving with a weak raise spell/ability, or doing any battle with multiple waves that you plan on clearing in one turn (MK, story, etc.). For that reason alone, I'm putting this under the trash category.

(S)TMRs

Zack's STMR
True hero
[materia]: 40% ATK with greatsword equipped, 100% eqATK and 25% accuracy when equipping a weapon in both hands.

This is BiS level gear. Especially if you have Esther or some really nice ATK accessories you can use instead of Marshal Gloves or equivalent.

Zack's TMR
Buster Sword (FFVII)
[greatsword]: 145 ATK, 10% HP/MP, 2H (1-1.6x dmg var, 25% acc)

This is 5 ATK higher than Squall's TMR in JP but GL got a boost to his TMR to 150 ATK. So instead this is 5 ATK lower but has 10% HP/MP. A decent trade off if you goal isn't e-peen.

Yuffie's STMR
Conformer (FFVII)
[throwing]: 172 ATK, 69 MAG, 2H (1.05-1.55x dmg var, 50% acc), Bird Killer 50% damage from physical and hybrid attacks to birds, Wrath's Judgment => 100% ATK when HP falls below 80%

By far the strongest ATK throwing weapon in the game (next highest is Pecciotta's TMR with 130 ATK) and it is also the only 2H throwing weapon in the game other than Fixed Dice which has been severely nerfed. The ATK crisis buff is okay if you aren't running a buffer but not so useful on Yuffie since she has a 250% ATK buff on her cool down.

Yuffie's TMR
Wutai Ninja
[materia]: 30% ATK. 1 LB/turn, 20% ATK when equipped with clothes

A conditional 50% ATK is a bit low but the LB/turn does make up some of the loss. Compared to Estark's TMR (rainbow, limited, 50% 60% ATK with sword, 2 LB/turn) it is short 10% ATK and 1 LB/turn but the clothes requirement is much better than the sword one. Not too bad considering Estark is a limited unit. EDIT: I wrote that when I incorrectly had Estark's as 50%. Still, not a bad difference considering the limited nature of Estark's TMR (even though more recent limit units don't seem to get that bonus any more).

Looking at the materias with LB fill rate, Raegen's TMR gives up to 60% ATK but requires weilding two different weapon types. Generally 2 LB/turn is better than 50% LB fill rate so that's about on par. OK Refia's TMR gives 50% ATK (sword condition) and 50% LB fill rate so it is slightly worse.

Bart's STMR has an unconditional 60% ATK and 50% machine killer to go with the 100% LB fill rate. That's defnitely better but you'd hope so with it being a limited rainbow's STMR.

Overall, this is par for the course for materias that give both ATK and LB.

Armeggeddon Trial

Of course we get a surprise trial on the day I'm supposed to release this post... Guess I better review it too... sigh...

Like I did with the tectonic gear, I'll be reviewing them both individually and as a set.

Catastrophic Bracer
[accessory]: 10 DEF, 15 ATK/SPR, 15% earth resist, Catastrophic Set => 20% ATK/SPR when equipped with Catastrophic Crown

At 15% earth resist, this is still a bit on the lower side for an accessory but everything better is either limited or an STMR so let's give credit where it's due. While the 20% ATK when using the set is good, the flat 15 ATK is too low for an accessory. That said, if you need to worry about survival first and ATk second, this is a very good option. SPR doesn't have nearly as main units with eqSPR boosts so the conditional 20% SPR is still pretty good.

Catastrophic Crown
[hat]: 20 DEF, 24 ATK/SPR, 15% HP, 30% earth resist, 50% stone resist, Catastrophic Set => 20% ATK/SPR when equipped with Catastrophic Vest

This is the new king of of earth resists in the head slot with the next best items coming in at 20%. Other than Tectonic Crown when used by Sylvie, this gives the most HP of any head geat other than the STMRs of Freya (VP) and Yuraisha. Combined with the high SPR, this is extremely good on magic tanks when you don't need the head slot for a differnt elemental resist (or ailment resist).

The moderate flat ATK makes this a very good survival/attack compromise item even if you are not using with in a full set for the extra 20% ATK/SPR.

Catastrophic Vest
[light armor]: 50 DEF, 30 ATK/SPR, 15% HP, 30% earth resist, 50% stone resist, Catastrophic Set => 40% ATK/SPR when equipped with Catastrophic Bracer

Only Gaia Gear (robe, -50% wind, 50% earth, 30% stone reist) has a higher earth resist for this slot but as a robe it isn't always an option for units that can use light armor. The only other body slot items with 30% earth resist are Luneth's STMR, Felix's STMR, and Marie's TMR. That's really good company to be in. Unlike all that other gear, this also gives 15% HP which is only bested by STMRs (all clothes) and Tectonic Vest (light armor from original event).

Needless to say, this is very good for survival/ATK compromise gear.

Catastrophic Set
75% earth resist
100% stone resist
80% ATK 69 ATK
80% SPR 69 SPR
30% HP
80 DEF

Here's what I said about Tectonic Set:

50% earth resist
100% stone resist
40% ATK 25 ATK
40% SPR 25 SPR
25% HP
60 DEF
30% ATK (Esther) 30% SPR (Sylvie)

These are solid numbers for earth resist but you can do better if you have the gear. However, it's really hard to gear 2 or 3 units to get 50% earth resist with just the head, body, and one accessory slot so once again, getting an extra set isn't a bad idea (but based on past events, probably very grindy).

Let's see how hard it is to get similar stats without the earth resist. We'll ignore rainbow gear and limited TMRs (event gear okay) and stick to only hats, light armor, and accessories:

Bomb Engagement Ring
Leichtpanzer
Bombardier's Bicorne

30% ATK 66 ATK
30% SPR 30% HP
69 DEF

If you just want the HP or want to focus on physical eHP, this wins easily. Way more ATK (if you have some eqATK bonuses), more HP, and more DEF. If you need to worry about magic eHP, this isn't as good but the extra 5% HP closes the gap a bit. If you have Prishe's Hairpin the additional 10% HP makes this around the same magic eHP (trading 15% SPR 25 SPR for 15% HP probably favors the HP build).

Overall, the full set looks to be a decent mix of ATK, HP, and SPR and if you factor in the earth resists it becomes extremely good.

As you can see, this is already way better than the Tectonic set that I really liked (enough to farm 3 sets. No regrets). As a player that values survival gear and tactics over pure offense, this makes me really, really happy.

TL;DR:

Very good:

• Catastrophic Set (accessory, hat, light armor, very good tanky stats, very good survival/ATK compromise stats)
• Zack's STMR (materia, 40% ATK with greatsword, 100% eqATK TDH)
  
• Zack's TMR (greatsword, 145 ATK, 2H)
  
• Yuffie's STMR (throwing weapon, 172 ATK, 2H) a bit niche due to weapon type (not many users with innate passives or gear with appropriate passives)
  
• Yuffie's TMR (materia, 50% ATK with clothes, 1 LB/turn)
  

Take it or leave it:

• Standard-Issue Sword (78 ATK, 50% human killer)
  

Newbie Gear:

• Peace Ring (accessory, confuse resist)
  

Trash:

• Shinra Alpha (accessory, low DEF and SPR)
  
• Curse Ring (FFVII) (accessory, 2k HP damage at start of battle)
  

Other Stuff

Since I didn't even have time for terrible jokes, I'll share this work in progress that was inspired by Charlotte's story event. This has been tempting me to redo all the story to make sure I don't miss any characters.

Also, I'll be making a separate post either later today or Friday for something a few of you have been waiting for.