Great saturday to you! Hope you're having a nice weekend....

And hopefully someone quotes that before reading any further, get baited.

Just kidding, but this banner is one of the weirder ones we've seen in a while so let's go over it and see why's that.
Also, Neo Visions pretty soon and I'm excited for it! Let's just hope we'll see proper safety nets and step ups.

Banner Review Princess Ashe Dethroned Heroine Ashe & Vossler Vossler by Memel0rd

Princess Ashe Dethroned Heroine Ashe:

Trust Master Reward : Simply Myself (Materia) - Increase MAG (30%)
Increase HP/MAG (20%) when equipped with a dagger
Increase HP/MAG (20%) when equipped with a sword

STMR : Sword of Kings (Sword) - 120 ATK, 171 MAG, 22 DEF/SPR, 25% Mag Mitigation buff (permanent), Enables Power to Destroy Nethicite: Magic damage (12x) to all enemies
Decrease MAG (75%) for 1 turn to all enemies
Nullify next spell spell cast for 1 turn

Overview:

Have you ever looked at a unit and thought to yourself: Wow, this is unnecessarily complicated and bloated? Ashe in a nutshell.

Ashe's base stats are so and so. Her HP is low but her DEF/SPR are decent while having high MAG/MP. And her innate HP passive doesn't shine either, 40% HP isn't that high, luckily she does have 80% DEF/SPR, so you mostly want to focus on HP when working on bulk.
For whatever reason, if you decide to not go for MTDH and instead equip a shield, you'll gain 150% MAG, 60% DEF/SPR and 30% HP. This might be an excellent way for newer players to not make Ashe die and her damage will still be high enough for a ton of the content up to more recent additions.
Without swords or daggers, Ashe has a total of 300% MTDH and 230% MAG, which is excellent. If she did focus on MTDW instead, she could utilise her own TMR a lot better and would receive another 70% MAG with her own TMR, so it's a real shame that she doesn't. It's a mess and doesn't make much sense unless you equip her STMR. Even then, the Dark Visions rod has 50 more MAG, which makes a big difference with MTDH.
She's resistant against silence, confusion, stop and charm which is good, and she has innate 150% bird / aquatics killers. Even if they're rare, if they apply, it's a hefty free boost.

Here is the part where Ashe is getting extremely bloated. She can T-Cast all of her abilities and later on has a combo T-Cast.

Ashe has a set of CWA chains and not one, not two, THREE SETS of BS chains. The CWA is only used for Dark Visions or chaining partners, all of them are ST, too.

So, why does Ashe have TRHEE sets of chains for each element?
Well, obviously packing effects into one ability is too simple, we want to spice it up. Don't tell anyone that we are doing the exact same thing that other mages do, too, with one ability.
We have one set of chains that imperils their respective element by 110%. Then one that boosts our MAG by 200%. And then for each element an unlockable combo for one turn that is actually unique as you have to use all of the abilities.... except you can't use anything else anyway. A CD ability that's available on Turn 2 with a 3 turn cooldown for each ability.
It's a series of three casts that apply 120% imperils for a total of two turns, a 300% MAG buff for that turn, lots of self-boosting modifiers and then the actual original part of Ashe: healing.
The healing part is not a major dealbreaker and you can only use it once every three turns unless you want to go for dual element set ups. On the realistic build with a 180% SPR buff and two Ashes, you'll heal 10600 HP every 3 turns.

Now what I've described are a total of 21 different abilities. I hope you don't mind that I didn't go super in detail. It's really just unnecessary fluff, they could've saved so much ability space for that. And while it's important, it means you'll have to scroll through your abilities way more. :P

At least Ashe has some unique abilities to make up for it!

Ashe can both give 100% provoke to A DIFFERENT UNIT, which is a first. This might be cool for some strategies if you lack auto-provoke, but still suffers from the issue that:
A) it costs an action, thus less damage
B) it can still be dispelled.
But I can see it being used creatively as Ashe's first turn isn't strong and you can save up on an action and well not every fight spams Dispels. Throw in someone cool like an evasion MM Xon or if you're having trouble gearing for auto-provoke just a normal tank without having to waste an action, there you go.

Now, want to hear a joke? Ok, listen. What if I told you we gave one of our units a unique ability that negates a spell and grants them a 90% magic mitigation for one turn. Sounds good? Yes, might just help you get through a threshold. So... guys... how much should it cost? What about 200 MP? No?
529 MP? WE GOT A DEAL.
I mean seriously, if it helps you survive a threshold, it might be extremely helpful, but 529 MP is jokingly expensive.

Ashe's Limit Burst has a base 7000% modifier and innate lightning element while also applying an imperil before dealing damage. It is spread across 100 frames so you can easily cap the whole thing. She only has innate 50% LB damage but if we ever get one of the story supports that we totally didn't skip to rush NV for higher LB damage buffs than 50% it might actually be worthwhile on specific set ups. Otherwise, you'll need the LB crysts for the burst turn on Turn 3.

How does she fare in the meta?

Dethroned Heroine Ashe is good but last week we got Angel of Death Kuja.

How does that matter? Kuja has more than double her damage. And if you want elemental versatility as well as CWA Bolting Strike frames, we have WC Ace and BB Rem, who are both on the same level of damage as Ashe.

Now, in return, what does Ashe have what both Rem and Ace do not?
Decent heals on Turn 3, higher burst damage than they do and the unique ST Provoke on someone else.
She can match up nicely with Ace and Rem because of the T-Cast Bolting Strike synergy for Dark Visions, though likely will not be used as much due to not having all elements on hand and having a slight disadvantage for not utilising physical killers.

Overall she's strong, she's fine but we are so close to Neo Visions and we already got power houses for Dark Visions, I wouldn't going for her.

You might look at her TMR and think to yourself: WOW 70% MAG and 40% HP! That's awesome!
Then you realise you need to equip a dagger and a sword. So it's a TMR on STMR level that needs proper STMRs to work. For TMR options the best you'll get is Terra's Sword with 135 MAG and for Daggers 120 MAG. No, unless you got STMRs, don't do it.
Ironically, Ashe's STMR is the best MAG sword with 171 MAG, though even then I'd mostly suggest it on Ashe herself as she gains some extra stats for equipping a sword.

Build Maths:

Dethroning Heroine Ashe Damage Build:
https://ffbeEquip.com/builder.html?server=GL#3c106730-e068-11ea-a85e-47522cbf77b4

Realistic Build:
https://ffbeEquip.com/builder.html?server=GL#fdcf3fe0-e068-11ea-a85e-47522cbf77b4

Dethroning Heroine Ashe Damage

MAG post 300% buff: 4022
MAG post 200% buff: 3737
MAG post 150% buff: 3595
Assuming spark chains


Rotation:
Turn 1: Grand Spark   Magna Spark x2
Turn 2: Thunder's Echo   Spark Mist Charge   Magna Spark
Turn 3: Northswain's Glow - Lightning   Heaven's Wrath - Lightning   Maelstrom's Bolt - Lightning
Turn 4: Magna Spark x3
Turn 5: Thunder's Echo   Spark Mist Charge   Magna Spark
Turn 6: Northswain's Glow - Lightning   Heaven's Wrath - Lightning   Maelstrom's Bolt - Lightning
Turn 7: Magna Spark x3
Turn 8: Thunder's Echo   Spark Mist Charge   Magna Spark
Turn 9: Northswain's Glow - Lightning   Heaven's Wrath - Lightning   Maelstrom's Bolt - Lightning


Turn 1: 3595^2 x 29.8 x 3.6115 x 1.55   3737^2 x 32.5 x 2 x 4 x 2.1 = 9780905895
Turn 2: [ 3737^2 x 35 x 3.6115   3737^2 x ( 45   42.5 ) x 4 ] x 2.1 = 13971386991
Turn 3: [ 4022^2 x 56 x 3.6115   4022^2 x ( 85   139 ) x 4 ] x 2.2 = 39084598287
Turn 4: [ 3737^2 x 32.5 x 3.6115   3737^2 x 32.5 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 = 11594194028
Turn 5: [ 3737^2 x 35 x 3.6115   3737^2 x ( 45   42.5 ) x 4 ] x 2.1 = 13971386991
Turn 6: [ 4022^2 x 61 x 3.6115   4022^2 x ( 90   144 ) x 4 ] x 2.2 = 41150763970
Turn 7: [ 3737^2 x 32.5 x 3.6115   3737^2 x 32.5 x 2 x 4 ] x 2.2 = 11594194028
Turn 8: [ 3737^2 x 35 x 3.6115   3737^2 x ( 45   42.5 ) x 4 ] x 2.1 = 13971386991
Turn 9: [ 4022^2 x 61 x 3.6115   4022^2 x ( 90   144 ) x 4 ] x 2.2 = 41150763970


Average Turn 1-9: 21,807,731,239
-> 106% of Benelovent Beauty Rem's Damage ( 20,587,710,541 )
-> 104% of Dancing Heart Penelo's damage ( 21,052,936,663 )
-> 103% of Wild Card Ace's damage ( 21,172,119,331 )
-> 67% of Umbral Dragon Dark Fina damage ( 32,323,930,256 )
-> 50% of Angel of Death Kuja's damage ( 43,259,860,253 )

Character Design: Too much/10
Sprite: 9.5/10
Chainer: 8/10
Trust Master Reward: 6.5/10
STMR: 8.5/10
Arena: 1/10
Limit Burst: 7/10
Future Proof: 5/10
Dark Visions: 6/10
Free 2 Play: 8.5/10
Pay 2 Play: 6.5/10
Personal Rating: 7.5/10
Optimal Rating: 7/10

Vossler Vossler:

Trust Master Reward : Vossler's Gauntlets (Accessory) - 27 ATK, 24 DEF, 32 SPR
Increase ATK (30%) and DEF/SPR (20%) when equipped with a great sword

STMR : Nightmare (Large Sword) - 171 ATK, 41 DEF, 100 SPR, 20% SPR, 25% human killer, 2-Handed

Overview:

Vossler is a really weird, unique unit and somewhat of a traitor in the actual game. I mean man, siding with the opposing forces? Come on man.

Vossler has a good set of base stats with great base HP, DEF and high SPR. Which are all fitting as he's a magic tank, but he also tries to be an off-tank, focusing on TDH. And even though he has 180% ATK and 150% TDH, his base ATK is abysmal. In comparison, meta units have around 310 base ATK whereas Vossler has around 230. With ATK buffs and passives that makes a monstrous difference. So by default a huge ATK deficit. He does have 140% HP, 120% DEF and 190% SPR with his own TMR as well as 50% draw attacks, 10% phys / 20% mag dodge and, to be super unique, two guts passives. One that locks at 10% HP, one that locks at 5% HP.
The guts is so unique that you can equip a guts STMR onto him to potentially proc three times Guts before dying as most guts STMRs only need to be above 1% HP. Now I can't think of any fight right now where you'd benefit from three guts procs in one turn, but I mean.... why not?
Vossler is resistant against poison, paralyze, disease and stop, which is pretty good, and the additional 50% lightning / dark resistance definitely helps as a magic tank.

Now, what can be an actual drawback is Vossler's lack of Heavy Shields. You can equip him with the accessory that enables H-Shields ofc, but then you might need to skip his TMR or moogle charm. His TMR ability adds a neat counter, 10% draw and the 20% DEF/SPR with some flat DEF/SPR. You can skip it as you don't lose out on a ton but if you care about auto-provoke you'll need to use up another slot instead.

Now to his actual kit.... it's a mess. It's all over the place. He can W-Cast all of his abilities except for the FF12 specific AR chain and he can T-Cast his chain skills, which isn't half bad. For support chaining definitely not bad.

But his chains are limited. While Vossler's chains all share BS frames, they have innate lightning or dark element, so you can't just chain him up with everyone. With his CD ability he can boost them up for one turn every 4 turns for a total 11100% modifier, which sounds good per se, but consider he's a magic tank and has low base ATK, so even if you gear him for TDH and skip the shield, the damage won't be amazing. And that's one turn.

Now, aside from the usual AoE cover and active provoke buff, Vossler has some unique tools. For one, he has an on-demand AoE 30% magic mitigation 40% general mitigation buff in one ability, though in return doesn't have the usual AoE 50% mitigation CD ability. He also has a ST dispel that breaks afterwards, but those are only 65% breaks.
Actually, let me take that mitigation assumption back because Vossler has a CD cover with 70% average cover mitigation and a 2 turn AoE 80% magic mitigation buff. It might sound weird, but unless the magic attacks ignore the cover, it's incredibly likely that the jump from an e.g. 30% magic cover to 80% won't change a ton. It will be better for sure, but if you already stack an average 70% mitigation with another perhaps 40~50% general mitigation, you already only have 15% damage left. That remaining 15% would go down to ~11% with 30% or to 3% with 80%. It can make a difference but if you have TWO guts passives and good stats, doubt it'll change a ton.

Everyone wants a slice of Paladin Cecil, so does Vossler. But only a slice, not the whole bread. Thus Vossler has an AoE 150% DEF/SPR buff with an attached 75% lightning dark resistance and 50% water / light resistance buff. It's a good buff and you can apply lots of stuff within one turn alongside the W-Cast.

It becomes even weirder once you see that Vossler has a CD ability that mitigates magic damage from human enemy types (similar to the new Clothes from the Behemoth trial), that's a new mechanic and the first time we see it on GL.

If you're feeling lucky, one of his CD abilities is extremely unreliable but sounds super fun on some other units. On a 4 turn cooldown available at Turn 1, a 2 turn AoE phys cover with 100% mitigation. The chance of proccing it? 7%. Well, it's actually higher than 7%, it's 7% for each party member except for Vossler. Not reliable and kinda weird to see on a magic tank, but I could see similar abilities in the future on some fun units. For example a katana wielding dude who's supposed to parry lots of stuff, why not on someone like him?

His Limit Burst is straight forward and good.
It costs 28 crysts, boosts damage mitigation by 50% and DEF/SPR by 180% for 4 turns and.... oh. 100% provoke buff. If you don't intend to make him the provoker that can be awkward. If you're running him as the auto-provoker anyway, it doesn't matter.

How does he fare in the meta?

Vossler comes too late.

He would've been a great transition from prior magic tanks leading up to Paladin Cecil as there are almost no merrits that Vossler has that Paladin Cecil doesn't do better.

He has to take up a mediocre accessory slot or swap it out for another provoke gear to hit 100%, his on-demand DEF/SPR buffs are lower than Cecil's while Cecil also potentially has 80% ele res buffs for ALL elements while Cecil can easily maintain both phys and mag mitigation buffs while being fast, while having self 75% mitigation.

In chaining department, they don't take much except that Cecil has synergy with AWoL Stardust Ray. Not huge but it's there.

Other than that, Cecil has more. He has ST revives, okay-ish AoE HP recovers and good MP recovers, and a high chance to counter with AoE 2 LB fills. Up to 6 times. Yup!

While Vossler does have the double (or up to triple) guts passive niche, I'd argue it's currently not super important.

If you're outdated on magic tanks, he'll do a good job for sure! But for those who own Paladin Cecil he's at best a sidegrade that you'll occasionally pack out to play with.

His TMR is pretty weird and I can't think of anyone who wants to equip it besides himself. I mean decent ATK/DEF/SPR with no TDH or TDW? 30% ATK with greatswords and 20% DEF/SPR, it's all over the place. Perhaps on a unit who goes ATK/DEF hybrid?
His STMR falls in an incredibly similar category. 171 ATK, 41 DEF and 100 SPR? Great! Absolutely great. 20% SPR, give that to me. Aaaaand it's two-handed. Now, it can be a way for some TDH users to gain some bulk easily, which is nice, but current top-tier TDH users don't use Greatswords.  

Build:

Vossler Build:
https://ffbeEquip.com/builder.html?server=GL#ee8d6120-e080-11ea-a85e-47522cbf77b4

Character Design: 5/10
Sprite: 7.5/10
Tank: 8.5/10
Trust Master Reward: 6/10
STMR: 8.5/10
Arena: 2/10
Limit Burst: 8.5/10
Future Proof: 7/10
Dark Visions: 7.5/10
Free 2 Play: 9/10
Pay 2 Play: 7.5/10
Personal Rating: 7.5/10
Optimal Rating: 8/10

Conclusion

This banner would be decent to good. I mean both Ashe and Vossler aren't bad. Vossler can be important for those who still lack a solid magic tank to this day, even though we have others that have been around for a long time, such as Sacred Shield Charlotte.
Vossler would've made a great transition in the powercreep curve from Pre-Cecil to Cecil,but as of right now doesn't have any outstanding niches that make him a good fit over Cecil.
Ashe herself is already heavily behind the powercreep curve by being on the same damage level as WC Ace and BB Rem and being locked into elements WHILE having the same chain family as both. Imo I wouldn't recommend pulling.

Have a good start into the week :).

Memel0rd out​