Good saturday to you and I hope you're doing fine!
This week we got another two damage dealer banner and unfortunately both have similar kits as in, outside of their rotation abilities, they have more or less nothing to offer that's actually good while having different kind of builds. For the most part you can just go straight to the math section on this one.
Other than that I think a bird shat at my window, which is my highlight of the day. Or downlight, depending on how you want to phrase it. No idea how that bird achieved that but good job?

Banner Review: Sterne Sterne Leonis & Kitone Kitone by Memel0rd

Sterne Sterne Leonis:

Trust Master Reward : Increase ATK (50%)
Increase equipment ATK (50%) and accuracy (25%) when single wielding any weapon

STMR : Lion Armor (Light Armor) - 434 HP, 38 ATK/DEF, 50% LB damage

Overview:

Leonis more like buffed up FF2 Leon. Does remind me a lot of him and Leonis tries to have minor dark knight traits in his kit.

Sterne Leonis has great base stats with high HP, ATK and DEF as well as good SPR and even better passives. 190% ATK and 250% TDH with no weapon condition. Due to his equipment selection we can actually use two-handed Axes on him and luckily there's a trial 165 two-handed Axe available! The axe also grants 75% stone killer.
His bulk is alright, could definitely be a lot better for a TDH unit. 60% HP, 40% DEF and 50% SPR? Luckily he gets to the TDH cap extremely quickly and doesn't need to build for LB damage, so it's not as bad as some other TDH units.
He comes with a mere blind and confusion resistance, but makes it up through his innate 150% human killer, which is one of the most common enemy types. Especially in Dark Visions.

If you get lucky, Sterne Leonis' damage can be upped by a decent amount as he has a 40% chance to counter any attack with a 500% modifier boost to Hyoton and Hazard Spin, which are two of the three chains we're using in the rotation. The modifier boost also lasts 4 turns, so if the enemy actually has the chance to hit back and hits him 2-3 times, you have a good chance of maintaining these buffs the whole fight.

Sterne Leonis can W-/T-Cast all of his abilities but a lot of his abilities that aren't used in the rotation are just not good and are simply there to fill his kit. For example, Paralyzing Edge and Shadowbind are really weak ST finishers that apply 40% paralyze or stop. Who needs that?
A 540% finisher with a 1000% DoT for 4 turns, why would you want to use that? Or a 1400% finisher that fills 5 LB orbs when we don't even use his LB?

The only one really worth mentioning is Grim Reaper. Not because of the 50% death, but because it is a slighter weaker version of Hazard Spin but is a ST chain instead of AoE. Both are even AMoE! They have a 30% modifier difference, which is neglectable, but the option in DV to first AoE chain and then go into ST ones or stick to ST only can be very important. By that we also cover Hazard Spin, which does deal 5% self-damage and can inflict blind, but eh.

Through Hyoton and Anton, Sterne Leonis has the option to imbue either dark or ice while also chaining and imbuing. The modifier itself isn't too bad even with 2550%, which is one of the stronger imbues, and the 100% imperil will even come in handy early on.

That is until we use one of his CD abilities: Hazard Break!
Hazard Break is available at Turn 2 and has an effective 7200% backloaded modifier that also imperils ice and dark by 120% for effectively 3 turns, which is neat. It's a ST chain so you can either start with Hazard Spin in DV and then transition into Hazard Break or simply use Grim Reaper alongside it.
In this case you deal 10% HP to yourself. With two Hazard Spins you'll proc the upgraded Limit Burst, but the LB is a 6 hitter that doesn't properly chain and would have to be LB capped. If you can pull it off, it is a damage boost, but not a massive one. For LB team comps this does have some merrit, but likely requires a lot of support due to costing 42 crysts and he'd lose out on a lot of damage by using his LB fill abilities over damage.

Though if Sterne Leonis dies, his Limit Burst can grant him back the lost T-Cast.

Lastly his second CD, Self-Sacrifice. Available at Turn 1 with a 5 turn cooldown and having a 4 turn 300% ATK boost, we naturally want to use this every single time we can. It also grants us T-Cast for the next 4 turns.
This means we will have one turn without the ATK buff and one turn without T-Cast, which isn't a huge damage loss. The self 1 turn 15% DEF break is almost irrelevant. At max stats, assuming you do not have break immunity, you'll lose roughly 37 DEF. Could be worse.

How does he fare in the meta?

Sterne Leonis, after Rico who can be unreliable in Dark Visions, has the second highest average physical damage while also having high damage output early on.

One mediocre turn of setting up into one of his highest bursts and then consecutively high damage turns isn't half bad, but for Dark Visions rankings can be a worse option than Noel or WH Raegen due to their significantly higher bursts on Turn 4 respectively.

The small damage difference between Sterne Leonis and the other two contenders, Noel and WH Raegen, is most likely going to diminish once you gear for killers as Sterne Leonis has the natural disadvantage as a TDH unit and only a slight headstart in damage.

Despite the on-paper lead in damage I wouldn't place Leonis above the two TDW boys.
Against human enemies though that's a different story as having 150% innate human killer is amazing and makes gearing a lot easier. You can use the free materia slot for more damage or more bulk, give him that sweet Diablos to get to a 275% killer and call it a day. Though in terms of pure burst he'd still lose out.

A fine damage dealer that sadly isn't too interesting as a collaboration unit. Would have expected a bit more quite honestly.

Awesome TMR and STMR though. 50% ATK/TDH with no conditions is a good step up from let's say Starplayer Tidus. And his STMR directly outclasses AK Rain's TMR. Which had to happen at some point. 38 ATK on a light armor is good, 50% LB damage is even better.

Build Maths:

Sterne Leonis Damage Build:
https://ffbeEquip.com/builder.html?server=GL#5b670e40-bdcc-11ea-8219-c768f320c4e6

Realistic Build:
https://ffbeEquip.com/builder.html?server=GL#9b3d5f10-bdcc-11ea-8219-c768f320c4e6

Sterne Leonis Damage

ATK post 300% buff: 3571
ATK post 150% buff: 3160
Assuming spark chains


Rotation:
Turn 1: Self-Sacrifice   Hyoton   Hazard Spin
Turn 2: Hazard Break   Hazard Spin x2
Turn 3: Hazard Spin x3
Turn 4: Hazard Break   Hazard Spin x2
Turn 5: Hyoton   Hazard Spin x2
Turn 6: Self-Sacrifice   Hazard Break
Turn 7: Hazard Spin x3
Turn 8: Hazard Break   Hazard Spin x2
Turn 9: Hyoton   Hazard Spin x2
Turn 10: Hazard Break   Hazard Spin x2


Turn 1: [ 3571^2 x 25.5 x 3.445 x 1.5   3571^2 x 43.3 x 4 x 2 ] x 1.5 = 9146489077
Turn 2: [ 3571^2 x ( 17 x 3.223   55 x 4 ) x 2.1   ( 3571^2 x 43.3 x 2 x 4 ) x 2.2 ] x 1.5 = 25615173317
Turn 3: [ 3571^2 x ( 16 x 3.223   27.3 x 4 )   3571^2 x 43.3 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 x 1.5 = 21342509528
Turn 4: [ 3571^2 x ( 17 x 3.223   55 x 4 )   3571^2 x 43.3 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 x 1.5 = 26140795232
Turn 5: [ 3160^2 x 25.5 x 3.445   3160^2 x 43.3 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 x 1.5 = 14309532058
Turn 6: 3571^2 x ( 17 x 3.223   55 x 4 ) x 2.2 x 1.5 = 11563682124
Turn 7: [ 3571^2 x ( 16 x 3.223   27.3 x 4 )   3571^2 x 43.3 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 x 1.5 = 21342509528
Turn 8: [ 3571^2 x ( 17 x 3.223   55 x 4 )   3571^2 x 43.3 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 x 1.5 = 26140795232
Turn 9: [ 3571^2 x 25.5 x 3.445   3571^2 x 43.3 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 x 1.5 = 18273888349
Turn 10: [ 3160^2 x ( 17 x 3.223   55 x 4 )   3160^2 x 43.3 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 x 1.5 = 20469784003


Average Turn 1-10: 19,434,515,844
-> 133% of Lone Lion Squall's damage ( 14,651,237,231 )
-> 120% of Tifa (FFVII: AC)'s damage ( 16,151,778,045 )
-> 113% of Mystical Ice Lasswell's damage ( 17,244,208,639 )
-> 107% of Noel's damage ( 18,233,059,108 )
-> 104% of War Hero Raegen's damage ( 18,734,988,296 )

Character Design: 5/10
Sprite: 9.5/10
Chainer: 9/10
Trust Master Reward: 9.5/10
STMR: 9/10
Arena: 7.5/10
Limit Burst: 7.5/10
Future Proof: 7.5/10
Free 2 Play: 9/10
Pay 2 Play: 7.5/10
Personal Rating: 8.5/10
Optimal Rating: 8/10

Kitone Kitone:

Trust Master Reward : Saiga Gauntlet (Accessory) - 142 HP, 43 ATK, 26 DEF, 20% Phys Evasion

STMR : Night-Blooming Flower (Materia) - Increase ATK (70%)
Increase equipment ATK (25%) when dual wielding
Increase lightning resistance (60%)

Overview:

Kitone is way too similar to Sterne Leonis despite being a TDW unit. Unfortunately they both have the same vibe of having too many filler abilities. And it bothers me, try to make these more interesting. Make them diverse so that you WANT to use them. I'll give a few examples in a bit how you could make them more interesting.

Firstly her base stats. Kitone on the first glance is similar to Sterne Leonis, but also has very high MAG and has an even split in pots. So you can get a decent amount of MAG on Kitone.
Now, I know she's a Ninja unit, which in the past wanted ATK and MAG due to being hybrid. But she has NO MAG or Hybrid scaling ability. Why would you waste 90% MAG and an even pot split on her for that? She has no spells, no hybrid / MAG abilities and her LB is phys, too. An unnecessary design flaw that adds less than nothing.
Excuse my little rant, other than that with an innate 150% TDW and 160% ATK she's fine but could've been better. Her bulk, despite being a TDW unit, leaves a lot to desire in comparison to others. 50% HP, 40% DEF and 20% SPR with no guts passive and only 20% phys evasion is pretty low. Manageable? Sure.
Kitone is resistant against poison, confusion, petrification and stop, which is pretty good while also having 30% fire / earth resistance and a 50% demon / human killer. Definitely nothing to rant about here!

Kitone can W-/T-Cast all of her abilities.
Now, to the abilities:
Let's take Utusemi for example. A self 3x mirage stack. Perhaps for thresholds okay, but there are other ways around for that. More interestingly would've been an AoE mirage stack on an actually strong chainer!
Or any of her three DoTs. With the highest DoT she has, a 3000% modifier, it's not too horrible but they don't chain. If these DoTs chained, she would've likely used them but sadly they don't.
And then she has a ST 80% stop and a self 5 LB fill, which do nothing. The only reason to use her LB would be for a self 100% demon / human killer buff. With 36 crysts it's not easy to fill but also not a milestone that you have to achieve.

Her imbues are the same as Sterne Leonis' with different elements: Fire and Earth. The modifiers after passives go up to a 1980% modifier BUT be careful! The fire imbue is Stardust Ray and the earth one AMoE. Doesn't matter if you're using dupes, but in case you don't...

Now, Kitone has two main chaining abilities. Behold:
Dream Within a Dream and.... Dream Within a Dream . There's no normal version. They only differ in their chaining family: AMoE and Stardust Ray. In this case, SR is slightly better due to having 2 more hits.
The chain is split in 3 parts. Through passives and our CD ability, we can get up to a 5900% modifier per cast. Alongside TDW and the 6x chain cap that's not bad.

In terms of buffing up, Kitone has a very similar ability as Sterne Leonis: Speed Cast. Available at Turn 1 with a 5 Turn cooldown, a self 4 turn 250% ATK buff and T-Cast for the upcoming 4 turns. Thus the gap without either is the same as Leonis.

Decider of Fate is Kitone's way to get that sweet 120% double imperil. Available at Turn 1 with a 5 turn cooldown as well, you get an effective 120% imperil for 5 turns, thus 100% uptime without any dispels. More importantly, you also gain a 500% modifier boost on both Dream Within chains, which is an effective 1500% modifier gain. You'll only have one turn without that buff unless you die.

How does she fare in the meta?

Kitone is in pretty much the same boat as Sterne Leonis but has the TDW advantage.

Her damage is slightly lower than Leonis but the same concept: One turn of set up and then consecutive high damage. All the arguments used for Leonis can be made for Kitone as well with the only difference that she has TDW instead of TDH, making it easier to stack killers without losing much damage.

Her 50% innate demon / human killer and access to demon / human killer buff can make her pretty strong in DV, but is missing the burst damage to outperform Noel and WH Raegen.

Thus I'd say that Kitone is better than Sterne Leonis but still not better than WH Raegen nor Noel.

Kitone's TMR is in many situations a worse version of Rico's. Unless you do not care about the ATK gain and do not need the extra 5% evasion, which is rare for non-STMR evasion builds to just pass up on 5% evasion.
Her STMR is also a downgrade in most cases from Riku or Sora as it grants 70% ATK and 25% TDW. If you have a unit with 25% or 75% TDW, it can be better due to the 60% lightning resistance but even then, the resistance gain isn't guaranteed to be useful. If you get the STMR, it's good, 70% ATK just like that isn't bad, but you likely won't see it in the optimised whale builds.

Build Maths:

Kitone Damage Build:
https://ffbeEquip.com/builder.html?server=GL#67399b90-bdcf-11ea-8219-c768f320c4e6

Realistic Build:
https://ffbeEquip.com/builder.html?server=GL#cb1e4520-bdcf-11ea-8219-c768f320c4e6

Kitone Damage

ATK post 250% buff: 3405 RH
ATK post 150% buff: 3148 RH
Assuming spark chains


Rotation:
Turn 1: Speed Cast   Decider of Fate   Katon
Turn 2: Dream within a Dream  x3
Turn 3: Dream within a Dream  x3
Turn 4: Dream within a Dream  x3
Turn 5: Katon   Dream within a Dream  x2
Turn 6: Speed Cast   Decider of Fate
Turn 7: Dream within a Dream  x3
Turn 8: Dream within a Dream  x3
Turn 9: Katon   Dream within a Dream  x2
Turn 10: Dream within a Dream  x3


Turn 1: 3405^2 x 19.8 x 5.5575 x 2.2 = 2806736063
Turn 2: [ 3405^2 x ( 24 x 4.19   35 x 6 )   3405^2 x 59 x 2 x 6 ] x 2.2 = 25980262228
Turn 3: [ 3405^2 x ( 24 x 4.19   35 x 6 )   3405^2 x 59 x 2 x 6 ] x 2.2 = 25980262228
Turn 4: [ 3405^2 x ( 24 x 4.19   35 x 6 )   3405^2 x 59 x 2 x 6 ] x 2.2 = 25980262228
Turn 5: [ 3148^2 x 19.8 x 5.5575   3148^2 x 44 x 2 x 6 ] x 2.2 = 13910380623
Turn 6: 0   0 / 0 = 0.00
Turn 7: [ 3405^2 x ( 24 x 4.19   35 x 6 )   3405^2 x 59 x 2 x 6 ] x 2.2 = 25980262228
Turn 8: [ 3405^2 x ( 24 x 4.19   35 x 6 )   3405^2 x 59 x 2 x 6 ] x 2.2 = 25980262228
Turn 9: [ 3405^2 x 19.8 x 5.5575   3405^2 x 59 x 2 x 6 ] x 2.2 = 20865589403
Turn 10: [ 3148^2 x ( 14 x 4.19   30 x 6 )   3148^2 x 44 x 2 x 6 ] x 2.2 = 16714559401


Average Turn 1-10: 18,419,857,663
-> 114% of Tifa (FFVII: AC)'s damage ( 16,151,778,045 )
-> 107% of Mystical Ice Lasswell's damage ( 17,244,208,639 )
-> 100% of Noel's damage ( 18,233,059,108 )
-> 98% of War Hero Raegen's damage ( 18,734,988,296 )
-> 95% of Sterne Leonis' damage ( 19,434,515,844 )

Character Design: 5/10
Sprite: 7/10
Chainer: 9/10
Trust Master Reward: 8.5/10
STMR: 8/10
Arena: 8/10
Limit Burst: 7/10
Future Proof: 7.5/10
Free 2 Play: 9/10
Pay 2 Play: 8/10
Personal Rating: 8/10
Optimal Rating: 8.5/10

Conclusion

Strong units just nothing new to see here.

Sterne Leonis and Kitone are very similar to each other down to the point where you could say that only their builds differ. In terms of actual performance they are almost the same unit with some tiny differences, which is not what you want to see for a collaboration banner.
For Dark Visions both are good but not the best possible choices, but at the same time not all players have all choices open, so there's that!
Both would prefer to have more bulk, especially Kitone as a TDW unit, while neither have a guts passive, so you could potentially run into some trouble.
If you don't care too much about damage dealers, this is an easy skip. Perhaps try to get one Leonis for that sweet TDH TMR.

Have a pleasant weekend!

Memel0rd out​