Hey everyone.

So I thought about whether I want to do this or not after getting downvote-bombed yesterday on a simple pull video (yet Sinz gets upvotes for literally the same thing). I had this done ahead of time and I hate throwing away things I’ve already finished, so here we are. I’ll leave out my video for the banner review I uploaded because people apparently hate any other content creator not called Sinzar on this Reddit. This is NOT THROWING SHADE ON SINZAR. I have a good relationship with him and love his videos and the great insight he's giving. It's more a wake-up call to the community that there's other content creators out there, too.

Melo Overview

Melo’s Base Form is a plain and simple Magic Wind & Water Chainer with some Imperils that he can weave in to increase his own/everyone’s dps. The imperils he’s able to do are 120% Wind and 120% Water which also chain in CWA-frames. His Brave-Ability “Lingering Drops” is a 72x mod Water magic attack with Bolting Strike frames on the other hand, making him a suitable partner for the likes of say Physalis (but she’d be using an entirely different element). His Base Form Cooldown, Bubble Mark, is honestly an insult to any Neo Vision unit there is. At 250% MAG increase for 3 turns, it’s plain bad. It doesn’t even matter that he gains 15% Water amp – himself only – while doing that. Since you’re probably using his own Vision Card, that Water amp is useless anyway. Well, at least it unlocks his Quad-Cast … for Black Magic spells only. That you also have to upgrade the old-fashioned way, meaning with Crystals and not Doritos. Sounds already kind of MELOdramatic? Well, it gets worse.

Melo’s Brave Shift is a literal one trick pony with nothing but his 500% MAG powerup and Single Use per battle Grandis abilities. His 500% MAG increase is lost upon using a single (offensive) action. Once used, there’s basically no point to remain in his Brave Shift unless you want to powerup again for 3 turns and blast of one good Black Magic Spell on turn 4 that is. Which sounds good on paper but he’s dealing literally zero damage in the meantime.

So what about Melo’s LB then? While in base it’s a 24 frame (should be AMoE chain-friendly) hitter, in Brave Shift he’s a true LB finisher with a single hit that makes him kind of good for DV and DV only. I personally hated not having Dark Fina & Sol (Tag unit) for last DV and wasn’t able to cap Diabolos because of that, so maybe Melo will fill that void. Technically, he should as he’s a very strong single hit finisher with a 110x Water magic damage LB in Brave Shift. Considering his weak 150% LB powerup but the 500% stored MAG%, this should hit very hard regardless.

TMR/STMR Evaluation

Melo’s TMR is our first actual Mage LB Materia. It provides 50% MAG and 50% LB Damage, which is pretty sweet but keep in mind that we’re not in dire need of MAG% these days. Not a single unit has troubles reaching that sweet sweet 400% MAG through gearing, unless you’re trying to make an old 7* work. Vision Cards really spoiled us all. Thus making this a 50% LB materia only and well, there are some better options – Sora’s STMR comes to mind. While yes, this is comparing a TMR to an STMR, the point still stands. If you used Sora’s STMR, Squall’s STMR (A Lion’s Heart) to this date, you won’t change those for Melo’s TMR all of a sudden because MAG% is not an issue. But still, it’s good for what it does and should you ever run into trouble capping MAG%, this materia might come in handy.

Melo’s STMR on the other hand is great. Not only great but best in slot for everyone that is not an evoker. Well, maybe some evokers want to use one copy if you’re pairing them with Relm that is. At 180 MAG and 50% LB damage increase (let’s forget the measly 28 ATK), this is a straight up powercreep to Delta Sakura’s STMR and a pretty steep one at that. Should you off-banner (or on-banner) Melo, I’d argue that getting his STMR is a good option going forward. Delta Sakura is a budget alternative now.

Vision Card Evaluation

So the Vision Card in general is pretty basic. 40 Base MAG at Level 1, 100 Base MAG at Level 10. So far, so good. The passives at Level 4 & 7 are a downgrade compared to Sol’s Vision Card. Melo’s VC provides 80% MAG in total when you’re equipped with a Rod, which is 20% less than Sol’s VC that provides 100% MAG for the same piece of equipment. On the flipside though, the wearer of Melo’s VC gets a 15% Water Phys/MAG amp to his or her damage if he or she is a FFBE unit. It’s a nice VC for NV Physalis so to speak but less so for Melo himself as he is able to amp Water for the same amount (unless these effects stack which I don’t think they do). Well, at least the VC passive is undispellable.

Example Build (Brave Shift only)

Weapon 1: His own STMR

Weapon 2: His own STMR

Head: Red Hellebore

Chest: Minister’s Coat

Accessory 1: Ravenheart

Accessory 2: Cursed Doll

Materia 1: Any LB Materia with =>50% LB increase

Materia 2-4: Free to use

VC: Sol’s VC or his own

Esper: Whichever is needed

With this, you’re guaranteed a minimum of 250% LB damage. If you’re choosing to pick his own VC, you’re set at 400% MAG, 300% LB and got 3 slots left to fill with killers of your choice. Obviously, the Head and Chest pieces, as well as the second Accessory may be changed as well at your own leisure. By and large, he’s very slot efficient to gear and leaves you with enough wiggle room to fit in killers or resistances if you need them.

His Brave Shift rotation:

Turn 1: 3x I can‘t call everything a pain

Turn 2: 3x I can‘t call everything a pain

Turn 3: 3x I can‘t call everything a pain

Turn 4: I can‘t call everything a pain Magic Tool Amplifier Lazing Burst

Turn 5: LB

How does he fare in the meta?

Melo is sadly trash tier when it comes to anything else other than Dark Visions. Why use Melo’s chaining when you can easily pick up on Shui Yu and get the job done at a faster pace? If you’re not interested in Dark Visions, I’d wager that you entirely skip his banner. And even in Dark Visions, you’re forced to go to Turn 5, which will cause trouble as you’re more often than not forced to dispel your team on turn 3 or 4 depending on when the boss imperils you. Suppose this is not the case, then Melo is actually a wonderful and super strong finisher with strong damage output. But if you can’t kill with that one shot of his, you’re left empty handed for the remainder of the fight.

Should you pull?

Unless you want to score in the top 100 in Dark Visions, there’s no reason to. He’s the best bench warmer you’ll ever have in your roster. When you think Eldryn (I was tempted to write Yoshikiri for the memes) was bad, Melo puts this to a whole new level. Collector or huge Melo fans will pull regardless. And if you’re pulling for STMRs, off you go! Me personally, I don’t like one trick ponies such as Melo.

If you guys don’t want to read through all of this, you can watch this as a video [REDACTED due to prior hostility]. Have a nice weekend and best of luck should you decide to pull! I always appreciate feedback, so fire away! :)

Cheers

Livedililol

P.S.: I have no idea whether Tips & Guides is the correct flair for this. Someone help a fellow boomer out pls lol.