Should I Farm That - Vs Mordegon (DQ 11S Raid), Narshe (FFVI week 2 exploration)

Welcome to SIFT, the only thread that will blatantly plagiarize the work of others and feel no remorse about it.

Another DQ11S banner with about 38,097 units. Mama mia! Here we go again... I can't stop this feeling, deep inside of me. Gumi, you just don't know what you do to me. I try to stop my hands from shaking but something in my mind's not making sense.

This just outright pisses me off that we get another stupid box banner or whatever the hell it's called. I don't care if they are harder, better, faster, stronger. Gumi, you're so condescending, your gall is never ending. We don't want nothin', not a thing from you! I saw the sign and it opened up my eyes. Oh, but I need some time off from that emotion. Go on now, go, walk out the door. Just turn around now 'cause you're not welcome anymore.

I'm not pulling on this banner beyond the 5 free silver keys. Some will win, some will lose, some are born to only pull blues. What's the use of trying? All you get is pain. When I wanted Terra, I got Awakened Rain. Rain keeps falling, rain keeps falling down, down, down, down...

And I definitely won't spend any money on this banner. Been working so hard, I'm punching my card eight hours for what? How on earth did I get so jaded? Life's mystery seems so faded... There's a heavy cloud inside my head. I feel so tired I put myself to bed. I'll be stumbling away slowly learning that life is OK.

And all those rainbow units means that there is a ton of extra gear to review. Gumi, do you really want to hurt me? Do you really want to make me cry? Sometimes I feel I just gotta run away. I've got to get away from the pain that you drive into the heart of me. But I'm rising up, back on the sub. Did my time, took my chances. Went the distance, now I'm back on my feet. Just a monkey and his will to survive.

On the bright side, more FFVI. Now we're walking on sunshine and don't it feel good?

Raid loot

Demon Spear
[spear]: 148 ATK, 2H (1-1.5x dmg var, 50% acc), Demon Spear => counter (30%) physical attacks with instant KO (max 1/turn).

Only 2H spears with higher ATK are Cid's and Nalu's STMRs (both 175 ATK). Those have wind and lightning elements respectively so this is the highest ATK on a 2H non-elemental spear in the game. It beats out Aranea's TMR (140 ATK) but that also gives 100% jump damage so it is situationally better. Seeing as how most 2H spear units are dragoons, that's most situations...

Main use for this is going to be arena trolling. Stick it on a super tanky unit and make people wonder why their unit suddenly died. Also, you're the spawn of Satan's left testicle if you do that.

2H spears only have 1.25x average damage variance so they are only used by units that have a very strong preference to them. With dragoons preferring TDW builds or at least a spear with jump damage, this ends up as very good but also very niche weapon.

Combat Costume
[clothes]: 39 DEF, 25% eqATK TDH, 25% acc

This is the only body slot gear in the game with eqATK TDH. But with no other ATK on it, it is useless to anyone with halfway decent gear. Newbie gear only.

Scholar's Specs
[accessory]: 20 MAG/SPR

I couldn't decide between these three reviews so you get all of them.

This one is garbage. There are much better options. Do not waste your time.

Scholar's Specs suck so much that certainly the soiled masses has some superior accessories to use. This solely suits recently starting players suiting up their sorcerers but you should simply place it in the refuse receptacle.

Maximum MAG gain from this is 80 (60 for TDW) which is about the equivalent to ~27% MAG. Unless you're hitting the stat cap, Magistral Crest (4-star TMR, 30% MAG/SPR) is outright better (along with several other accessories I won't bother listing).

Puff-puff pass
[materia]: ST 45% ATK/MAG break for 3 turns and 20% charm for one turn.

I can't decide if I love or hate this. Best I can tell (I checked for 17 seconds) this is the strongest ATK/MAG break that you can equip on any unit (Shiva's ability is only 40%). But 45% doesn't really do jack shit in a fight that needs the breaks...

On the other hand, this should be a fun tool for people that go for weird themed clears.

This gets a brand new rating: masochist niche (crazy strategies only)

(S)TMRs

The last DQ11S event was recent enough (just about 2 months ago) that I'm not going to review the gear for Great Dragon, Mordegon, Eleven, Veronica, and Serena. You can just read my write up from when they were new.

The Lord of Shadows' STMR
Sword of Shadows
[greatsword]: 178 ATK, dark element, 2H (1-1.6x dmg var, 50% acc)

Well, we went from elemental 2H weapons being highly desired to simple nice to haves if the element matches the fight. At 178 ATK, you need an STMR from a unit named Cloud to get more on a 2H greatsword. But being elementally locked to a less commonly used element greatly reduces the overall usefulness of this weapon. I'm struggling to think of a unit that prefers 2H greatswords and works with well dark (no external imperil required).

As there are very limited units that would want to use this, it gets the very good but niche rating.

The Lord of Shadows' TMR
The Beginning of the End
[materia]: Dispel all enemies and allies. AE physical attack (3x, ignore 50% DEF)

Now this is an awesome materia. The gear I love most is things that help open up new builds or strategies for you. This is most definitely one of them. The number of fights where you need to dispel your own team and the enemy are a bit limited (mostly 3 star esper fights?) so it probably won't see much use, but you'll love it when it does.

The attack on this is a bit interesting at first glance. It's a 20 hit attack with 12 frame intervals but it's not part of any chaining family (tornado and flood have 12 frame intervals too but different delays and hit counts). Also, you'll have just dispelled your team so no buffs or imbues so it's really hamstrung.

Even if you don't get this unit, hold on to the raid trust moogles so you can prism it if it turns out to be useful to you in the future.

Very good but niche.

Jasper Unbound's STMR
Supreme Sentinel
[materia]: 60% ATK/MAG, 75% magic/physical human killer

This is a hybrid STMR that rivals Elena's. Neither can stack with itself anyway so you'd likely use both if you happened to own both (you lucky son of a submariner). Unrestricted 60% ATK is still pretty good and just about anything over 40% MAG is hard to come by so this is solid on physical attackers or mages too.

The 75% killer is a great bonus to an already awesome materia. The only other sources of 75% physical man-eater are man-eater and CG Firion's STMR. Only sources of 75% magic man-eater are man-eater and M Human/Machine Killer.

Potential BiS (especially for hybrid and magic attackers)

Jasper Unbound's TMR
The Strategist
[materia]: 20% HP, 30% ATK, 30% ATK with fists.

We already have a few 60% ATK materias for fist users. FFS, one of them is the 4 star unit on this same damn banner. But this is easily better than most of them thanks to the 20% HP. I'll never say no to adding bulk without sacrificing any ATK.

Considering Karten prefers fists, Aigaion fist 2.0 is a very good option on AK Rain and eHyoh, and Madam will want fists too when she arrives, I think that's enough just critical mass to pull this out of the niche category. Potential BiS.

Erik's STMR
Nicker's Knack
[materia]: 40% ATK/MP with dagger, sword, or throwing weapon. 100% LB fill rate.

Here's a very tasty materia for TDW units that can make use of it. Pretty meh for TDH units unless you need the MP or LB fill rate.

Throwing weapon condition can be pretty much ignored so this would optimally be on a TDW unit that can use both swords and daggers. The problem is the lack of strong daggers. The three strongest are the STMRs of Nyx, Locke, and Ignis. The strongest non-STMR is Erik's TMR (which you should have if you have his STMR...) but that is stuck with earth element thus extremely situational.

So the strongest non-elemental dagger you can get without RNG is the Assassin Dagger (10-man trial, 116 ATK). That's not exactly a powerful weapon but 80% ATK from a single materia slot isn't something to sneeze at. It can easily free up a materia slot for another killer or survival gear.

The 100% LB fill rate and MP boost when using a dagger (150% LB fill rate IW rare) makes this a solid choice for support units too. You'll almost always have a need for LB spamming support units, so I think that's enough to tip the scales from very good but niche to Potential BiS.

Erik's TMR
Dynamo Dagger
[dagger]: 140 ATK, earth element, Dynamo Dagger => 50% eqATK TDW

Yay to the TDW boost. Boo to it being on an earth dagger. Seriously, have we ever had a popular unit that used Earth other than Aileen who came out 30 months ago?

140 ATK is enough to compensate for it being a dagger (it'd be on a TDW unit so other hand can hold a weapon that triggers a mastery), but the limitations from the earth element can't be ignored. Very good but niche rating.

Sylvando's STMR
Shamshir of Light
[sword]: 162 ATK, light element, Shamshir of Light => 20% HP and recover 10% MP per turn

There is only one light sword in the game that isn't either from an event or trapped behind a limited rainbow. And it only has 80 ATK. Needless to say this is extremely good when you need a light sword. The question is, when do you need a light sword? Due to being a 1H weapon, you'd be using this on TDW unit and none of the meta ones we have right now would use light without an external imperil.

On the more defensive side, 20% HP on a high ATK weapon is extremely good. With a IW rare ( 20% ATK/HP) you'd have 40% HP. And you'd be using on a TDW unit so you might as well go all-in with HP. With a lot of HP on it, it becomes a good option for tanks and support units too.

Overall, this is pretty much a less flexible version of Shadow Lord's STMR (sword, 160 ATK, 20% HP/MP). Thanks to the light element, I'm giving it very good but niche instead of potential BiS.

Sylvando's TMR
Chivalry Skills
[materia]: 40% HP/MP

This is the second best HP/MP combo materia in the game. Only Summer Folka & Citra's STMR has more (50% plus 60% ice/water/dark resist). Still, if you're building for eHP, there are better options that give DEF or SPR instead of MP.

Good rating

Jade's STMR Split-Pot Poker
[spear]: 180 ATK, Split-Pot Pump => 25% phys beast/bird/machine killer, 2H (1-1.5x avg dmg, 50% acc)

Same issues as Demon Spear. 2H spears just aren't very good. The killers help a bit but you'd still only use this on TDH units that prefer spears.

Very good but niche.

Jade's TMR
Allure Skills [materia]: 40% ATK, 20% ATK with clothes, 20% counter to phys attacks with charm (30%) and 60% ATK/MAG break for 2 turns.

Low counter rate makes the charm ignorable. The break is nice but again the proc rate makes it too unreliable to depend on it.

Conditional 60% ATK is still extremely good. Clothes are extremely common for physical attackers (6L Rain being the most notable exception).

The only non-STMRs with higher ATK boosts are Electrifying Might (trial, 80% ATK with lightning weapon), Flowing Might (trial, 80% ATK with water weapon), Disparate Swordsman (4 star TMR, 70% ATK total with both katana and clothes), and Fierce Greatsword user (4 star TMR, 70% ATK total with both greatsword and heavy armor).

Except Vincent's TMR ( 60% ATK, -10% SPR), all of the other non-STMR 60% ATK materias have a weapon condition making them far more restrictive than this one. This meets the criteria for Potential BiS (very high chance of being included in a ATK focused BiS build when STMRs are excluded) but including this materia and others from this event, there are 21 non-STMRs and 23 STMRs that can give 60% ATK. Unless you're a relatively new player (or insanely unlucky) this would just be more clutter in your inventory.

Very good rating.

Rab's STMR Godbird Sceptre
[rod]: 131 ATK, 162 MAG

Kurasame's STMR is a sword with 130 ATK, 162 MAG, and ice element. This is effectively a non-elemental rod version of his sword. IOW, extremely good for TDW hybrid units.

Potential BiS for hybrids.

Rab's TMR
Meteorite Bracer
[accessory]: 40 ATK/MAG, Meteorite Momentum > 100% LB fill rate

Kurasame's TMR is an accessory with 40 ATK/MAG, 50 MP, and 50% ice resist. The fight and units you use would determine which is better. We'd need with Kunshira's STMR or Chocobo Fina's STMR to do better for the flat ATK/MAG.

Accessory slot is very important for TDH/TDW boosts so this isn't necessarily going to be BiS on a hybrid unit but it's not so rare I'd call it niche. Very good rating.

FFVI Raid week 2

Hyper Wrist (FFVI)
[accessory]: 20 ATK

This isn't the shitty Hyper Wrist that we've had for 3 years. This is a brand new shitty Hyper Wrist. I recommend just not bothering to open that chest.

Rune Blade (FFVI)
[greatsword]: 55 ATK, Ancient Writings => 5% phys evade, 40% crit rate (only affects normal attacks)

This isn't the shitty Rune Blade that we've had for 3 years. This is a brand new shitty Rune Blade. I recommend just not bothering to open that chest.

Ice Resistance 20%

Good if you're desperate. Useless otherwise.

Cursed Shield (FFVI)
[heavy shield]: 70 DEF, -20% fire/ice/lightning resist, Accursed Fate => 20% physical/magic evasion, inflict poison and silence at the start of battle or revive

In FFVI, using it 256 times in battle would transform it into the Paladin Shield (same JP name translated to Hero's Shield in other FF games). No transformation in this game so you're stuck with the curse.

But holy fucking shitcakes, 20% evade from a shield? Next best is Basch's TMR which only gives 10% (but far better overall stats).

Poison and Silence aren't a big deal as you'll likely have immunity from other gear (and you can often just outright ignore them). The elemental resists are somewhat problematic as those are very common boss elements but -20% isn't really that big of a deal most of the time (contrary to popular belief, it isn't necessary to completely negate elemental attacks to survive a fight) unless it happens to be the element of the enemy's big attack.

Also, that shield slot tends to be very important on tanks (death resist, passive provoke, general tankiness) which makes this even harder to work into builds.

Balancing the awesomeness of 20% evade and all the drawbacks makes this an easy to rate very good but niche.

TL;DR:

Potential BiS

• Japser Unbound's STMR (materia, 60% ATK/MAG, 75% phys/mag human killer)
  
• Jasper Unbound's TMR (materia, 20% HP, 30% ATK, 30% with fist, HP is what puts this at BiS level)
  
• Erik's STMR (materia, 40% ATK/MP with dagger/sword/throwing, 100% LB fill rate)
  
• Rab's STMR (rod, 131 ATK, 162 MAG)
  

Very Good:

• Jade's TMR (materia, 40% ATK, 20% with clothes)
  
• Rab's TMR (accessory, 40 ATK/MAG, 100% LB fill rate)
  

Very Good But Niche:

• Demon Spear (spear, 2H, 148 ATK, instant KO counter, 2H spears are very niche)
  
• The Lord of Shadows' STMR (greatsword, 2H, 178 ATK, dark element)
  
• The Lord of Shadows' TMR (materia, dispel all enemies and allies)
  
• Erik's TMR (dagger, 140 ATK, earth element, 50% TDW)
  
• Sylvando's STMR (sword, light element, 160 ATK, 20% HP, 10% MP refresh, light element makes this less universal)
  
• Jade's STMR (spear, 2H, 180 ATK, 25% phys beast/bird/machine killer, 2H spears are very niche)
  
• Cursed Shield (FFVI) (heavy shield, 20% evade, -20% fire/ice/lightning)
  

Good:

• Sylvando's TMR (materia, 40% HP/MP, there are better options for eHP builds.)
  

Masochist niche:

• Puff-puff (materia, 45% ATK/MAG break)

Newbie gear:

• Combat Costume (clothes, 25% eqATK TDH)
  
• Ice resistance 20% (materia)
  

Overflowing septic tank tier:

• Scholar's Spec (accessory, 20 MAG/SPR)
• Hyper Wrist (FFVI) (accessory, 20 ATK)
  
• Rune Blade (FFVI) (greatsword, 55 ATK)
  

Upcoming schedule

Thanks to next week being GLEX units and Thanksgiving festivities starting on Wednesday for my extended family, there's a very high chance that I will not post next week (I never work on SIFT when I can be spending time with my family instead). I may or may not cover that gear the following week depending on how much time I have (work has been brutal lately).