Once upon a time, raid free units were game changing. Nowadays, people barely even notice them outside of their trust masters and former fusion-hell. This is understandable, given that most reviews are in terms of resource management, which includes pulls, enhancement spendings, and the occasional rare "others". That, and raid free units typically kind of suck in comparison to their current equivalent-star bases. These units, however, do benefit newer players with a limited unit pool, and as such, will be written with that in mind. Without further ado...

Strange Gourmand Quina - Raiders of the Free Review

Limit Burst

Frog Drop (7★, 28 LB)

• Magic damage (12.1x ~ 15x) with ignore SPR (50%) to all enemies.

Quina's AoE option not locked to either wind or earth. Beyond having 24.2x ~ 30x normalized mod, there is not much to say here.

Trust Reward

Head Chef's Hat (Accessory)

• DEF 16, MAG 16, SPR 16
• Mag 40%
• Auto-heal (1800 HP, 1x) per turn

As a general reminder, HP regen do not stack with other HP regen.

Super Trust Master Reward

Bistro Fork (Spear)

• ATK 76, MAG 150
• Increase LB gauge fill rate (100%)
• Increase wind and earth resistance (20%)

High magic stats are fairly rare for spears. In additional, elemental resistance on weapons are also incredibly rare. That said, the number of spear-using mages are incredibly limited (mostly to the various Sakura's), so this weapon has more long-term usage for support units for the LB fill, DW hybrid units, and units that need the additional elemental resistance.

Notable Skills

Wind and Earth Curtain

• Increase wind and earth resistance (100%) for 3 turns to all allies
• Grant HP barrier (5000) for 3 turns to all allies
• 4-turn CD, available on turn 1

High resistance, plus some additional temporary HP. While the duration will end before the ability is available again, the resistance buff can be kept permenently with a dupe alternating casting times.

Gastronomist (counter)

• Mitigate damage taken (40%) for 3 turns to all allies
• 40% counter chance when receiving physical/magical attacks, max 1/turn

The general mitigation provided is very usable, just below the typical 50% found on many tanks. In addition, assuming Quina receives at least one attack every turn, then this has a statistical average refresh turn count (2.5/1.5 turns for 1/2 attacks, respectively) lower than its duration, giving it a high chance of being permanently maintained through out the fight once procced. You can also up the counter rate with certain equipments, to increase the reliability. That said, as it is not on-demand, it does nothing for the initial turns and anytime dispel/re-raise happens, so it's far safer to use it as a gap filler when other units cannot maintain a high general mitigation, or have fillers for Quina (like Awakened Warrior of Light).

Notable Magic

Before we start, it's worth noting that all of Quina's innate magic spells are blue magic. This mostly means three different things: (1) they are affected by any mission or reactions related to magic spells, (2) they cannot be dualcasted in any means currently, and (3) they may be affected by reflect (barring the ones with ignore SPR component). Also, like many blue magic users, they will also require some additional investments to learn their abilities, in Quina's case, to do the event auxillary missions, in addition to the proper level.

Mighty Guard (FFIX)

• Increase DEF and SPR (150%) for 3 turns to all allies
• Mitigate physical damage taken (20%) for 3 turns to all allies
• Mitigate magic damage taken (20%) for 3 turns to all allies
• Grant HP barrier (3000) for 3 turns to all allies

Decent buffs, both mitigation types, plus a barrier that can be spammed. Fairly action efficient to make up for the fact that it cannot be part of a multicast.

Angel's Snack

• Cure all status ailments to all allies

Auto-Life

• Auto-revive (1% HP) for 3 turns to one ally

While this is Quina's only innate form of either raise/re-raise, the fact that it revives an unit at death's door makes this less useful in the age of many turn action trials.

White Wind (FFIX)

• Heal (2500 HP, 18x) to all allies
• Heal (6300 HP, 36x) split over 3 turns to all allies

Goblin Punch

• Magic damage (7.5x) with ignore SPR (50%) to one enemy
• Increase modifier (7.5x) for 4 turns to caster (can't be dispelled): Goblin Punch
• Absolute Mirror of Equity Family70-6-6-6-6-6-6-6

Initial damage modifier of 15x, going up to 30x while the buff is active. It's mostly there is you need either a non-wind/earth option, or want to target a single unit only.

Twister (FFIX)

• Wind magic damage (3x) with ignore SPR (50%) to all enemies
• Wind magic damage (14x) with ignore SPR (50%) to all enemies
• Decrease wind resistance (100%) for 3 turns to all enemies
• Chaos Wave Family52-20-20-20-20

Earth Shake

• Earth magic damage (3x) with ignore SPR (50%) to all enemies
• Earth magic damage (14x) with ignore SPR (50%) to all enemies
• Decrease earth resistance (100%) for 3 turns to all enemies
• Chaos Wave Family52-20-20-20-20

Bad Breath (FFIX)

• Inflict all status ailments (80%) to all enemies

Very niche, mostly for early arena or very specific trials, like Asura and Empress Supreme (Lgd)

Notable Others

• Decent all-around stats and passives, particularly defensive ones when paired with Quina's equipment masteries.
• Innate resistance to confuse and paralyze
• 7% innate auto-refresh
• Innate 150% mag TDH

Notable Issues

• Suspectible to some other status ailments (notable silence and petrify)
• Unusual equipment selection and masteries (cannot equip staff, and clothes/spear mastery)
• Uses single-cast CW and AMoE frames, which at this point is probably a unique chaining family
• Cannot use different abilities in the same turn, mostly hampering Quina's support capabilities in terms of turn economy.

Nude Expeditions

^{Subject to rounding errors
Success capped at 16%, anything above is solely for comparison purposes
No gear equipped or using a 0-statted variant for mastery
Parentasis denote with all masteries
7★★ denotes with S/TM ability activated, but without S/TMR equipment stats calculated}
Expedition Charts

Builds and Comparisons

• All units will only have access to one of their own TMR, unless noted otherwise (mostly to equalize TM ability access). If the unit has easy access to their STMR, it can also be used for themselves, and possibly other units.
• If any passive are conditional on equip, assume that the unit have a 0-statted variant of it equipped (unless its his/her S/TMR)
• [WIP] All units will be limited to story-shop-buyables. Fallen gear up to and including Torturous Trio, and Scorn gear up to and including Marching Beast are also included. Espers aren't included and Materia's may be included depending on their revelance to the build, but will generally be included if part of S/TMR.
• Assume spark chaining, whenever chaining math is done
  • Assume exactly 2 chainers, with the result calculation being damage dealt by a single chainer
  • Assume single-element for physical/hybrid, unless otherwise stated
• Base stat's only, no pots of any sort.
• If Limit Burst is used, calculation is done using a Lvl 1 version (unless noted otherwise).
• (NEW) All units will get a minimum of 130% stat boost while in battle (via Black/White Elemental Veil - Blue Mage Fina)
• All units will get a minimum of 35% imperil (Crazy Day)
• Using the below formula for calculations and comparisons, unless noted otherwise:
  • Reg Damage = (Stat²⁾ * Skill.Mod * Chain.Mod * Imperil * (Lvl.Correction)
  • Phys eHP = HP * DEF
  • Mag eHP = HP * SPR
  • Heal = Base Healing (SPR/2 MAG/10) * Mod

Strange Gourmand Quina Strange Gourmand Quina

**Budget Damage Build**

Right hand: Bistro Fork ATK 76, MAG 150  
Head: Celebrant's Miter DEF 10, SPR 10  
Body: Siren's Robe DEF 30, MAG 40, SPR 40  
Accessory 1: Barrier Ring SPR 8  
Accessory 2: Head Chef's Hat DEF 16, MAG 16, MAG 40%, SPR 16  
Materia 1: Malboro's Whisper HP 20%, MAG 30%  
Materia 2: Echidna's Kiss MAG 30%  
Materia 3: Scholarly Wisdom DEF 10%, MAG 40%, SPR 10%  
Materia 4: Hat Arts MAG 30%, SPR 30%  
Total: HP:9256, MP:472, ATK:223, DEF:363, MAG:1392, SPR:552

PeHP: 3,359,928 / 5,664,672
MeHP: 5,109,312 / 7,608,432 (latter are with 130% buffs)

Goblin Punch
  1664^2 * 15 * 3.07 * 2.2 = 280,516,853
  1664^2 * 30 * 3.07 * 2.2 = 561,033,707
Twister/Earth Shake
  1664^2 * (6 * 2.6125   28 * 4) * 1 * 2.2 = 777,741,352
  1664^2 * (6 * 2.6125   28 * 4) * 2 * 2.2 = 1,555,482,705
Limit Burst
  1664^2 * 30 * 2.2 = 182,747,136

**Budget Support Build** (many free equipment slots)

Right hand: Bistro Fork ATK 76, MAG 150  
Head: Frozen Crown HP 500, DEF 16, SPR 50  
Body: Scholar Robe MP 20, DEF 13, SPR 10  
Accessory 1: Head Chef's Hat DEF 16, MAG 16, MAG 40%, SPR 16  
Materia 1: Hat Arts MAG 30%, SPR 30%  
Total: HP:8782, MP:492, ATK:223, DEF:429, MAG:1083, SPR:533

PeHP: 3,767,478 / 6,296,694
MeHP: 4,680,806 / 7,420,790 (latter are with 180% buffs)

White Wind
  Inst: 2500   (845/2   1355/10)*18 = 12,544
  HoT : [6300   (845/2   1355/10)*36] / 3 = 8,796 per turn

Above Dmg Build
Above Support Build

For the comparison, I'll be mostly looking only at their ability to heal and support, mostly because the last free magic attack-type damage dealer is outside my 3-month cutoff, and is otherwise unimpress compared to most meta units. I've included a seperate builds below for with more equipment options on the support and damage side if interested. This ignore STMR, limited, premiums, and IW stats, but does include Quina's own STMR. Do note that the support build is very flexible due to the nature of the role.

Damage Build

Right hand: Bistro Fork ATK 76, MAG 150  
Head: Wizard's Petasos MP 25, DEF 20, MAG 52, MAG 15%  
Body: Lordly Robes (FFBE) DEF 45, MAG 65, SPR 65  
Accessory 1: Nutkin Hairpin MAG 40, MAG 40%  
Accessory 2: Nutkin Hairpin MAG 40, MAG 40%  
Materia 1: Top Operative MP 30%, MAG 30%  
Materia 2: Magic Charger   
Materia 3: Untrue Saint MAG 60%  
Materia 4: Prodigies of Mysidia MP 20%, MAG 50%  
Esper: Shiva HP 93, MP 105, ATK 58, DEF 61, MAG 100, SPR 98  
Total: HP:9294, MP:939, ATK:321, DEF:474, MAG:2817, SPR:634

Phys eHP: 4,405,356
Mag  eHP: 5,892,396

Goblin Punch
  2817^2 * 15 * 3.07 * 2.2 =   804,515,272
  2817^2 * 30 * 3.07 * 2.2 = 1,609,030,544
Twister/Earth Shake
  2817^2 * (6 * 2.6125   28 * 4) * 1 * 2.2 = 2,230,542,614
  2817^2 * (6 * 2.6125   28 * 4) * 2 * 2.2 = 4,461,085,229
Limit Burst
  2817^2 * 30 * 2.2 = 524,114,184

*Does not include any stat buffs

Sample Support Build

Right hand: Bistro Fork ATK 76, MAG 150  
Left hand: Shield Connector DEF 24, SPR 76  
Head: Hairpin of Purity DEF 10, MAG 24, SPR 51  
Body: Vishnu Vest MP 15%, DEF 36, SPR 36  
Accessory 1: Genbu Ring HP 20%, DEF 7, DEF 20%, SPR 7, SPR 20%  
Accessory 2: Shield Gauntlet HP 20%, DEF 28, SPR 25  
Materia 1: Hero's Vow - Earth HP 30%, DEF 20%, SPR 20%  
Materia 2: Gust Mane HP 30%, DEF 20%  
Materia 3: Protector of Lapis HP 20%, SPR 40%  
Materia 4: Hero's Vow - Light SPR 60%  
Esper: Carbuncle HP 56, HP 10%, MP 72, ATK 28, DEF 63, MAG 55, SPR 77  
Total: HP:16292, MP:752, ATK:291, DEF:771, MAG:1270, SPR:1090

PeHP: 12,561,132
MeHP: 17,758,280

White Wind
  Inst: 2500   (1090/2   1270/10)*18 = 14,596
  HoT : [6300   (1090/2   1270/10)*36] / 3 = 10,164 per turn

*Does not include any stat buffs

Blue Mage Fina Blue Mage Fina (6★)

Right hand: Wizard's Staff ATK 13, MAG 6, SPR 32  
Head: Frozen Crown HP 500, DEF 16, SPR 50  
Body: Siren's Robe DEF 30, MAG 40, SPR 40  
Accessory 1: Head Chef's Hat DEF 16, MAG 16, MAG 40%, SPR 16  
Materia 1: Hat Arts MAG 30%, SPR 30%  
Total: HP:5541, MP:296, ATK:125, DEF:235, MAG:414, SPR:449

Phys eHP: 1,302,135 / 2,194,236
Mag  eHP: 2,487,909 / 4,216,701

Curaja
  2500   (761/2   622/10)*18 = 9,577
White Wind
  Inst: 2500   (761/2   718/10)*18 = 10,641
  HoT : [6300   (761/2   718/10)*36] / 3 = 7,527 per turn

*Notes:
  *using Quina's TMR due to lacking her own TMR
  * Significantly better with Holy Wand, which is outside of the current build restrictions

Above build

• UMFina can dispel
• UMFina can full buff the party's stats ( 130% full-buff)
• UMFina can increase the party's full-elemental resistance ( 60% all elements)
• UMFina has better revive/auto-revive options
• UMFina can recover party's MP
• UMFina can increase LB gauge better
• Quina can provide physical/magical mitigation
• Quina may provide high general mitigation (counters)
• Quina has better party's DEF/SPR buffs (150%)
• Quina can spam 3000 HP barriers
• Quina can provide 100% wind/earth imperil

On survivability alone, Quina is better. However, when including the rest of their kits, the difference becomes less obvious. Quina excels in general party survivability, while UMFina is better for both her recovery kit and niche elemental resistance utility. For the most part, Quina gets the win, though UMFina can come out ahead if almost all damage can be resisted through the elemental buffs.

White Mage Rosa White Mage Rosa

Right hand: Elven Bow (FFIV) MP 20%, ATK 36, MAG 98, SPR 140  
Head: Frozen Crown HP 500, DEF 16, SPR 50  
Body: Siren's Robe DEF 30, MAG 40, SPR 40  
Accessory 1: Rosa's Earrings DEF 26, SPR 38  
Materia 1: Hat Arts MAG 30%, SPR 30%  
Total: HP:7660, MP:432, ATK:457, DEF:356, MAG:395, SPR:1094

PeHP: 2,726,960 / 4,297,260
MeHP: 8,380,040 / 10,494,200

Curaja
  2500   (1370/2   395/10)*18 = 15,541
Limit Burst (HoT only; lvl 1 and lvl 30)
  [5840   (1370/2   652/10)*18] / 3 = 6,447 per turn
  [8160   (1370/2   652/10)*30] / 3 = 10,222 per turn

Above build

• WMRosa can revive
• WMRosa has better auto-revive options
• WMRosa can restore MP
• WMRosa can provide bird-killers
• WMRosa is not completely locked to single-cast
• Quina can provide physical/magical mitigation
• Quina may provide high general mitigation (counters)
• Quina can increase the party's DEF/SPR (150%)
• Quina can spam 3000 HP barriers
• Quina can provide 100% wind/earth imperil

Ultimately, the comparison is depending on whether you need a pure healer, or a healer with support capabilities. For newer players who will probably have plenty of holes in their roster, I'd give the win to Quina for the mitigation and barrier abilities.

Kimahri Kimahri

Right hand: Spirit Lance (FFX) ATK 177  
Head: Frozen Crown HP 500, DEF 16, SPR 50  
Body: Siren's Robe DEF 30, MAG 40, SPR 40  
Materia 1: Ronso Guardian HP 30%, ATK 30%, MAG 30%  
Materia 2: Hat Arts MAG 30%, SPR 30%  
Total: HP:9760, MP:443, ATK:1096, DEF:335, MAG:928, SPR:464

PeHP: 3,269,600 / 6,656,320
MeHP: 4,528,640 / 8,178,880

White Wind
  Inst: 2500   (838/2   928/10)*18 = 11,712
  HoT : [6300   (838/2   928/10)*36] / 3 = 8,241 per turn

Above build

• Kimahri has double-mirage
• Kimihri has stronger DEF/SPR buffs (80%)
• Kimahri can break (not well on the first turn though)
• Kimahri can entrust
• Kimahri has innate water resistance
• Kimahri can permenently provide fire/lightning/water resistance
• Quina can provide physical/magical mitigation
• Quina may provide high general mitigation (counters)
• Quina can spam 3000 HP barriers
• Quina can provide 100% wind/earth imperil
• Quina can (poorly) auto-revive units
• Quina can cure all status ailments (except virus)

This comparison is ultimately a toss up in my books. Quina is the better healer with the addition of mitigation buffs and ailment cures, but Kimahri has mirage and many good non-mitigation support utilities.

CG FinaCG FolkaMyraLight Warrior LennaDoctor Aiden Many 7★ Healers

The thing Quina has going for the unit are the mitigation and barrier buffs. Beyond that, the free unit's not amazing, to put it lightly.

Conclusion - New Player Variant

Quina's kit can be taken in one of two approaches: a support/healer or a magical damager.

As a damager, Quina's very simple to use. Just spam one of Quina's damage abilities, preferably either Quina's earth/wind chaining spells. In addition, with Quina's two main damaging spells, this unit can easily swap between the two with minimal damage loss, with the loss only occurring due to the imperil. As a bonus, because these are magic spells, they will clear any mission objectives involving either using or killing with spells.

On the support side, there is quite a bit going on for Quina. The unit has a very bare bone kit of a typical healer. However, Mighty Guard, coupled with the White Wind regen, alone can make up for it. In addition to the stat buffs, it also includes type mitigation and HP barrier to everyone. Because this is not locked to a cooldown, Quina can feasibly spam this every turn to refresh the barrier. Quina's counter, while somewhat unreliable, can be used to maintain high general mitigation with high/complete uptime after the intital turns. The main issue with the counter lies on the initial turns and when the party gets reraised or dispelled, but the latter can be mitigated as counters proc again after a dispel/reraise, esentially ignoring the loss of the buff.

All-in-all, Quina is a very good support/healer for new players (especially if missing mitigation buff users), or be built for budget damage if needed.

Conclusion - Veteran Variant

Realistally, Quina's only okay for just one of those two roles.

In terms of damage, Quina is very abysmal. The damage is very little compared to that of most units. In addition, Quina's only able to either use non-elemental AMoE chains, or the long abandoned CW family. To drive the nail in the coffin, blue magic cannot be multicasted as of yet, meaning that Quina cannot be used to support chain with better units.

In regards to the unit's healer role, the term "bare bone" used is perhaps very accurate. All Quina has are HP heals, ailement cures, and a really shitty ST auto-revive, none of which are castable with one another due to blue magic issues. If someone goes down, Quina is unable to do anything, usually relying on either another unit or Pheonix to recover.

Support-wise, it's okay. The type mitigations are a bit low, as we are entering into 30% territory, most prominantly with new Nichol sometime in the future. For dispels, assuming no other healers, Quina will be incapable of both healing and rebuffing for that initial turn. In addition, the general mitigation being stuck on a counter leads to situations where it will not be available on the initial turns/regular revive, or it just won't proc due to either really bad luck, or Quina never eating any physical/magical damage. Still, as a gap filler, the counter is fine as-is.

Quina can fill in in some niche parties, but it's a very specific niche.

Side Rant

Wish there were gender neutral pronouns in the English language, barring from "it" (when clowns attack).

^{Math Fix Status: Satisfied}

Edit: ^{reflect stuff, counter boosters}