Should I Farm That - Barrier Tower (FFV raid) and Castle Palamecia (FFII week 2 exploration) Edition

Another really terrible work week so keeping it short. And next week is likely to be terrible too...

On the bright side, I'm not Blizzard.

Raid rewards

Black Robe (FFV) max craft: 1
[robe]: 20 DEF, 33 MAG, 32 SPR, 30% dark resist

The only other sources of 30% dark Dark Robe (4 star TMR, 55 MAG, 35 DEF, 20 SPR, 30% dark resist), Rivera's STMR (74 SPR, 35 MAG, 28 DEF, 30% light.dark resist), and Imperial robe (Morgana trial reward, 30 MAG/SPR, 50 DEF, 15% HP, 30% dark resist, 50% blind resist, additional 40% MAG/SPR when equipped with Imperil Heels).

If you already have plenty of dark resist robes, you can skip this. If you don't, this is worth picking up. Niche gear rating.

Flame Ring
[accessory]: 5 DEF/SPR, 25% fire/ice resist, -50% water resist

The fire/ice resist is pretty good and the only accessories with more fire/ice resist are A Rain's STMR ( 30% all elements, 30 ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR) and Protect Ring (FFVII) (limited, 30% fire/ice/lightning). Cloak of Flames (4 star TMR, 20% fire/ice resist, 18 DEF, 30% SPR) has less resist but the SPR boost closes the gap against magic attacks a bit and 5-10% damage is generally not the big of a deal anyway.

The water imperil automatically makes this a bit more niche than usual elemental resist gear. .

Coral Ring
[accessory]: 5 DEF/SPR, 25% fire/water resist, -50% lightning resist

Only accessory with more fire/water resist is A Rain's STMR. Eureka Cloak and Faerie Cloak both give 20% fire/water/wind/earth resists which will generally be more useful due to covering more elements and no lightning weakness.

The lightning imperil automatically makes this a bit more niche than usual elemental resist gear. .

Hearts Against the Void
[materia]: 10% ATK/MAG

Somehow, I picture this as a bunch of still beating human hearts floating in space...

This is just trash considering all the other gear that is readily available in the game. For example, Adventurer (free from farming relics) gives 10% ATK/MAG/DEF/SPR.

Newer players should not even bother letting these clutter their inventory.

(S)TMRs

Warrior of Light Krile's STMR
Krile's Scrunchie
[hat]: 100 MP, 60 MAG, 32 DEF/SPR, 100% resist to all status ailments

This is pretty much a MAG focused version of LM Fina's TMR (10 DEF, 24 MAG, 51 SPR, 100% resistance to all status ailments).

At 60 MAG, this is tied with Karlette's STMR and only 1 MAG behind Veronica's STMR (limited). That alone makes it potentially BiS on units focused on MAG. Combined with the ribbon effect, it's all but certain to be BiS.

Warrior of Light Krile's TMR
Girl Entrusted with Hope
[materia]: 50% MAG, 30% EVO MAG, 5% MP per turn

An unconditional 50% MAG is very good. The only other unconditional 50% MAG materias are NE Hope's STMR and Christine's STMR.

Looking at the 30% EVO MAG, this is a direct upgrade to Morgana's TMR (5 star, 50% MAG (req rod), 20% EVO MAG) but neither can be stacked so there's a good chance you'd want both if you like to use summoners whose damage use MAG.

30% EVO MAG is tied for the highest with Eiko's And Citra's STMRs making it potential BiS for summoners but that is too niche to give it that rating. This gets a very good rating for the unconditional 50% MAG and 5% refresh.

Warrior of Dawn Galuf's STMR
Warrior from Another World
[materia]: 40% HP/DEF, 50% fire/light resist

40% or more HP is still very rare. Of those materias, the only other materias that come close to this for eHP are Gladiolus' SMTR ( 50% HP, 30% DEF, 100% DEF crisis buff) and arguably Olberic's TMR ( 40% HP, 20% DEF/SPR, paralyze resist). There are a few options with 30% HP/DEF/SPR (worse phys eHP but better boost to magic eHP) but they are all STMRs (Zarg, Lilith, Elfreeda).

This is almost always going to be part of any phys eHP build, so it gets the potential BiS rating. The fire/light resist is just a very nice cherry on the top.

Warrior of Dawn Galuf's TMR
Galuf's Sword
[sword]: 130 ATK, 30 DEF, 20% HP

This is a great weapon for physical tank as it provides some rare DEF on a weapon and a health dose of HP. Lilith's TMR (limited rainbow, 20% HP, 10% DEF/SPR, 95 SPR) is better when you consider magic eHP and the 20% more HP you can get from IW ( 40% HP is the mace rare boost) but not all physical tanks can use maces (Wilhelm, Sieghard, and Galuf cannot). Nyx's Dagger ( 20% HP, 50 DEF, 158 ATK, 20% all elements resist) is a clear upgrade over this (and all notable physical tanks can equip daggers) but that's an STMR and both Galuf and upcoming CG WoL have weapons for TMRs so you'd only use Nyx's Dagger if you happen to have their STMR also.

If you're looking for a weapon with HP on it, Enhancer (sword, 10% HP) is pretty easy to get from a trial and it is tied for highest HP on a weapon that is a common weapon type for tanks, isn't an STMR, and isn't from an event.

As an offensive weapon, 130 ATK is nothing special but the defensive stats makes this an excellent choice for a DW unit when you need to give them more bulk without sacrificing too much ATK.

Overall, this gets a Potential BiS rating as the only better physical eHP weapons are an STMR and TMR from a limited rainbow unit.

Dark Mage Exdeath's STMR
Overcoming Death
[materia]: 60% MAG, 50% damage from magic attacks against humans, insects, and plants

Unconditional 60% MAG is still extremely good thanks to Alim still hating mages. The only materias that give a bigger boost are Livid Shantotto's STMR (80%) and Engulfing Light (80%) from the Morgana Trial. That last one doesn't really count because you need a light elemental weapon and there are no high MAG light weapons in the game.

The killers are a bit weaker than I'd hope. The equivalent STMR materias for ATK give as much as 75% killers (Flammie's and Firion's STMRs) so mages still lag behind in quality gear.

But even without the killers this qualifies for potential BiS (more thanks to the general lack of strong mage materias than it being OP)

Dark Mage Exdeath's TMR
Dark Ring
[accessory]: 6 DEF, 52 MAG, 30% dark resist, Power of Darkness => 10% MAG

52 flat MAG is good for an accessory, the only non-STMR accessory with higher MAG is Ether Laser (limited rainbow TMR, 55 MAG). Let's see how the 10% MAG makes it stack up against other gear.

Let's look at Nutkin Hairpin (4 star TMR, 40 MAG, 40% MAG). 12 less flat MAG comes out to 48 MAG if you can manage 300% TDH. Unless you have insanely good eqMAG TDH gear, it's highly unlikely that you'll hit the MAG stat cap so that extra 30% MAG comes out to around 90 MAG (assuming pots and doors). As long as you can get at least 30% MAG out of Nutkin Hairpin, it wins easily.

Let's compare to Facade of Balance (rainbow TMR, 45 MAG, 30% MAG, 20% MP, 50% LB fill rate). It's only a 7 MAG difference now which is a mere 28 MAG with 300% TDH. As long as you can get another 20% MAG before you hit the cap, Facade of Balance wins.

For TDW in all cases, you'll want to just plug it into FFBEEquip. TDW mages can hit the stat cap extremely easily so this TMR has a good chance of being better thanks to the higher flat MAG. Then again, one of those other options can help free up a materia slot for killers/survival making those better choices when max damage isn't your only concern.

Obviously if you need the dark resist and MAG, this is an extremely good option.

Overall, the stats are still good but due to a 4-star TMR being better in most cases, this only gets a good rating.

FFII week two

Thunder Spear
[spear]: 68 ATK, lightning element, Thunderbolt => AE physical lightning attack with 40% lightning imperil

Only stronger 1H lightning spear is Explosive Spear - Blast Off (limited, 76 ATK). Due to how weak this weapon is, you'd only want it to force a lightning element on a DW attacker and for some crazy reason a spear is your only option. Plenty of stronger TMR options from 3 star units for other weapon types (sword, greatsword, axe, and gun), so the odds of you ever using this is extremely low. Very niche rating for a rare element/weapon type combo.

Healing Staff
[staff]: 65 SPR, M Undead Killer => 50% damage from magic attacks against undead

Sadly, this has no MAG otherwise it'd be much better. I can't think of any units that have magic attacks that scale to SPR and still enough damage for killers to matter so that lack of MAG really hurts. But it still has decent potential value on TDW mages (good luck gathering the magic TDW gear). Stardust Rod (FFBE) has 167 MAG and 75% magic undead killer (and 50% magic demon killer) so it's extremely unlikely you'll ever use this if you can clear the Octopus 2.0 trial. Very niche rating for the rare magic killer and awkward SPR/staff instead of MAG/rod.

Sunblade
[greatsword]: 104 ATK, 50% damage from physical and hybrid attacks against undead.

All of the weapons with undead killer are 2H bows. So this becomes a potentially BiS weapon in undead fights for DW units that can equip greatswords. But that's the only time you'd ever use it so it gets the niche rating.

Dark Resistance 20%
[materia]: see above

You know the drill: Good only if you lack dark resist materia. Niche gear.

TL;DR:

Potential BiS:

• Krile's STMR (hat, 60 MAG, ribbon effect)
  
• Galuf's STMR (materia, 40% HP/DEF, 50% light/fire resist)
  
• Galuf's TMR (sword, 130 ATK, 20% HP, 30 DEF, very good physical eHP boost)
  
• Exdeath's STMR (materia, 60% MAG, 50%magic killer against humans, insects, and plants)
  

Very Good:

• Krile's TMR (materia, 50% MAG)
  

Good:

• Exdeath's TMR (accessory, 52 MAG, 10% MAG, 30% dark resist, good stats but worse than a 4-star TMR in most general cases)
  

Niche:

• Black Robe (FFV) (robe, 30% dark resist)
  
• Flame Ring (accessory, 25% fire/ice resist, -50% water resist)
  
• Coral Ring (accessory, 25% fire/water resist, -50% lightning resist)
  
• Sunblade (greatsword, 104 ATK, 50% physical undead killer)
  
• Dark resistance 20% (materia, 20% dark resist)
  

Very Niche:

-Thunder Spear (spear, 68 ATK, lightning element, rare elemental/weapon type combo)
- Healing staff (staff, 50% magic undead killer, staff and SPR stat makes it less likely to be used in undead fights)

A pile of rat turds but still light years better than my company's CIO's personality:

• Raid materia
  

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