EDIT Zidane STMR is now UNLOCKED for everyone. Rejoice!

Hey everyone.

I wish I was Lightning-Fast today with my review but work kept me busy far too long today. Anyway, no random tangents today! I made a few changes to the review as is evident. I think less is more. I’m not compromising on the amount of information, just more condensed.

Lightning-Fast Zidane Overview

Supporting unit with 250% Party LB increase, MP/LB Fill, Mirage (1 stack for Party) and 150% P/M Avian Killer (AoE!) with 150% fill rate. He’s a jack of all trades in base when it comes to party support.

In Brave Shift, he’s the full package. Perfect Dispel on Demand (OP much?), 130% Fire/Wind Imperil that shortens Faris’s burst rotation by 1 turn, and that absurd LB at 165x mod baseline. Thing is: This badboy stacks his LB twice by 65x mod up to a whopping 295x mod. That’s rad.

First impression: If he had breaks, too, he’d be ridiculously OP. Oh and Dagger Imperil. Come on Gumi, why not? Guess we need a reason to pull for Hawkeye.

TMR/STMR/Chronicle Weapon Evaluation

TMR is best in Slot for him. Stats are kind of meh with 45 ATK, 15 DEF & SPR (I’m kind of spoiled by Noctis’s STMR these days, sorry) but still superb for a TMR. Provides 30% Evasion, which is the first cloth piece to do so. Save the best for last: 500 Static ATK for Lightning-Fast Zidane (among all the other Zidanes, too but well … who uses them anymore lol).

STMR. Love it or hate it, the STMR is what makes Lightning-Fast Zidane unique in a certain, stalling way. You’re singing for 5 turns, turn 1 not counted. So starting to sing at turn 1 gets you the best mods on turn 6 where you ideally wanna burst away. I’ll shamelessly copy the Wiki for a second regarding the buffs:

1. Auto-cast next turn:

Increase ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR (250%) for 4 turns to all allies

1. Auto-cast next turn:

Increase LB damage (100%) for 1 turn to all allies (can't be dispelled)

1. Auto-cast next turn:

Increase LB damage (150%) for 1 turn to all allies (can't be dispelled)

1. Auto-cast next turn:

Increase LB damage (200%) for 1 turn to all allies (can't be dispelled)

1. Auto-cast next turn:

Increase ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR (300%) for 1 turn to all allies

Increase LB damage (300%) for 1 turn to all allies (can't be dispelled)

Combine this with any kind of AoE Killer and/or Imbue and we can finally put MM Xon to rest in DV. It’s stupid powerful and will greatly benefit anyone who doesn’t have either strong LB buffs themselves or none at all (hi Ibara). The STMR on its own will secure NV Zidane a spot in DV for the next months, probably even forever. Depends on how good Celes performs in DV because she’s the next best unit to use this STMR. It’s limited to Bards. There are a few but most of them are 3, 4 or 5 Star units nobody uses anymore (Eiko or the old Zidanes to name a few).

Ultima Weapon (FFIX) 4 is his Chronicle Weapon. You’ll need Rakish Thief Zidane (5 Star unit) for that. Best case: You’re having it twice because two of these bad boys make your life easier and his damage reaches it’s maximum potential. 206 ATK, 50% TDW, 50% LB, 3 LB/turn, and 400 Static ATK. It’s just as OP as Ultima Blade for NV Noctis/Ardyn. It’s not a must have, like I said, but it’s what makes Lightning-Fast Zidane so strong.

Vision Card Evaluation

Another 110 ATK card with 80% ATK from Daggers. It’s gooood. Also provides 50% LB damage to FFIX units. I don’t know what to tell you here but imagine having 2 Chronicle Weapons and this Vision Card. You will a.) Cap LB at 300% b.) Cap TDW and c.) almost cap ATK% lol. Zidane is just ridiculously slot efficient in every way.

Potential Builds & Damage Calculations

Heads up! I’ll be looking at a best in slot build here. It’s easier to do and I can’t say what people have or don’t have. Damage falls of significantly if you’re not using his Chronicle Weapon because you need to substitute with materia or equipment.

Gearing:

Weapons: 2x Chronicle Weapon

Head: Red Hellebore

Chest: TMR

Accessory: Highest ATK (Chacco Plushie or Warlord Leg Guards) or Killers

Materia: STMR, rest is up to you

VC: His own

As for the rest: Here’s gear I used last week and kept it all the same.

A few assumptions:

• 90% DEF Break (might not fit in a team but using an 85% break just equally scales down all numbers!)
• 300% ATK buff
• 300% LB buff for everyone
• Total of 104% Amp for Zidane, Edgar, Ardyn, Lassgen, and Elric Brothers (45% 25% from Bartz Faris and on top of it 20% from DV Wind Stage), and 74% for Noctis (45% 25%, 20% Light Amp)
• We’re facing a 22.5k DEF DV Boss with 50% passive DEF, 60% Ele Resistance
• 300% Killers, no additionall killer buff (just scales equally for everyone, so no point)
• 130% Imperil (125% actually for Noctis)
• Spear and Sword Imperil at 25%, 0% for Zidane

Here are the results at EX 3 shown in millions:

If you’d like to see a screenshot with a few more details, here it is: Picture of it

Or in relative numbers:

Zidane is 194.79% of Elric Bros damage lol. If that’s not powercreep, I dunno what is. 248.83% of Lassgen. Even comparing Zidane to Dragoons who reigned supreme for so long now ends up in his favour. Zidane is 109% of Ardyn’s best possible average damage and 110.27% of Noctis’s on best average damage (Noctis and Zidane are pretty much tied when using a DoC Aerith Light Team by the way). And well, Edgar falls off completely.

By the way: Looking at the numbers should give you a rough idea why I said that Dragoons will fade out of the meta. In June I’m personally expecting Hawkeye to drop. Gumi hinted at their US get together event that they’re thinking of bringing that Collab to Global. With the 5th Anniversary coming up, that’s like the best opportunity to do so. Zidane is our entry point to the return of the LB meta. So let’s enjoy the fresh air with our Dragoons one potential last time this month. We might not see them this prominently anymore next month.

Now I understand that having 2 STMR of Rakish Thief Zidane might not be applicable to all. So let’s take a look at the numbers when you include only 1 Chronicle Weapon and just another 50% LB Weapon (for simplicity, I will not use Noctis Chronicle Weapon here). Everything else will be held constant, so no changes other than the weapon! I’ll use Eleven’s STMR and just ignore the increased variance but use 12.5% Sword Imperil now (which will almost negate the drop in ATK).

Here are the results at EX 3 shown in millions:

As can be seen: Don’t stress out too much about not having 2 Chronicle Weapons. Is it best? Obviously as the numbers state. But you’ll be perfectly fine if you don’t have them twice. And when you consider the increased variance, the damage might come out on top even, which is something we’ll have to monitor. Now, let’s see what happens when we use CPN’s STMR just for the lulz:

Here are the results at EX 3 shown in millions:

Oopsie daisy. Looks like we found our DV winner here. You have to have either Noctis or Ardyn in your team for that. Keep this in mind please. But since Hawkeye has a Dagger Imperil, Zidane’s damage will skyrocket anyway. So there’s that.

How does he fare in the meta?

Zidane is top DPS until Hawkeye comes around. Should he never arrive, we’ll enjoy him at the top of our damage ranking until Avalanche Tifa and Sephiroth come to global, which may or may not be months before that happens. Technically speaking, we’re 7 banners away from Tifa but Gumi splits everything. Keeping this in mind, we’re actually 14 weeks away from Tifa which would line up perfectly with the 1-year anniversary of NV. Coincidence? I think not. Anyway, Zidane is a swiss army knife of a unit. He (almost) does it all. The only two things he’s missing are breaks and dagger imperil. He’s the best DV unit you can get and immensely slot efficient in every single aspect. How good is he for trials? A little bit less so because to make the best use of him, you want to sing for 5 turns and that kind … feels lame. But don’t fret, even with his 250% own LB buff you’ll do plenty of damage.

Should you pull?

People will downvote me for this but I think the answer to this question is a very simple: Yes. Like I said above: He is a swiss army knife. He’s got the perfect dispel, the party mirage, the party killer buff, the party 250% LB buff, 130% imperils (Wind/Fire). He’s just too slot efficient to skip. I’ve read so many comments in /u/sterlander’s Thread stating that Seph is just around the corner and that Zidane’s role will be compromised. I think this is very far from the truth in both aspects. Yes, Sephiroth is the next best thing but he might be 15 weeks away. Do you really want to wait 15 weeks in a worst cast scenario? Really? Doesn’t this sound kind of familiar? Remember what happened to 5 Star Akstar back in the day? We may be looking at something very similar here as we’re still expecting a few fan design units.

But then again: If you’re not active in DV and just do Trials to get them done, skipping is okay. Pulling for favourites is still the most enjoyable way to play the game. Just don’t fall into powercreep pitfalls. We’ve had this before with Akstar and then everyone was surprised when Esther happened.

Feedback is always appreciated!

Cheers

Livedili

PS.: So much for keeping it short, I guess. LOL