I realize that sub-30 3* is probably not all that impressive nowadays, given that we have bigger fish to fry now (aka 4*'s). I've been doing this as a side project that started out as me trying to help a friend come up with a relatively minimal set up to sub-30 Hydra. I decided that since I was only trying to come up with a setup to help him get across the line, I didn't want to dive anyone unnecessarily. What started out with me trying to help a friend come up with a sub-30 Hydra setup ended up being a self-made challenge to try and beat the 3* Magicites without any Legend Dives. I actually managed to complete this a week before Global got their 4* Magicites, but hadn't found the time to post this. I hope this post helps if anyone is still stuck trying to sub-30 3* Magicites for whatever reason.

Another limitation I imposed was to only use unique copies of 3* Magicites - this will hopefully make it more replicatable for people.

I would like to note that these strategies are generally SB and/or ability heavy. Furthermore, they were done in JP, so there may be some minor differences (e.g. JP had ability buffs that increased the hit count of the Ninja abilities for example, or buffs to SB gains for 6* abilities, etc.), but I have tried to keep them to as minimal as possible.

Also I would like to note that, being relatively SB reliant, I kind of cheated a little and used certain Legend Dived characters (these will be marked with an asterisk below), however I did not use their Legend Materias at all. Conveniently, none of the characters I used had any LMR's, so I guess you can say it's more of a No Legend Materia run rather than no Legend Dives.

Please feel free to use this as a baseline - Legend Dives, Chains and using 4* Magicites will always make them go faster.

General notes:

• Barring Liquid Flame and Shadow Dragon, the other 6 I have primarily cleared using a mage meta comp. It is my belief that the core duo of Edward another MAG buffer will give you enough damage to take down 3* bosses with just 2 damage dealers, or even 3. My own core was generally stretched to 3 people as I didn't have Hastemarch - I had Soulsong (SSB) instead. In order to accomodate a stackable MAG buff, a Hastega, and a healer, I often ended up sacrificing 3 slots to my core.
• Note that I consider the best version of this core to be Edward's Song of Swiftness SB (yes, a unique SB! It's really good guys) plus a stackable MAG buff from the healer slot (e.g. Yuna BSB2, Porom BSB, Deuce BSB). Likewise, another alternative version of this core would be Deuce BSB Mog BSB, but you will generally lose the AoE heal command. Yet another alternative version which is basically a combination of Edward SB2 SSB is OK M-USB - best paired with Deuce BSB in my opinion. However I sadly do not have any of OK's USB's in JP :(
• These strategies aren't too Entrust heavy, the more mages you have, the less Entrusts you need.
• Mage's Hymn R2 and Allegro con Motto R2 are what enables mages to sub-30 these guys without Legend Dives. I keep them at R2 because in a 30-seconds run, you are unlikely to use more than these. Strategy for using these skills is simple - open with Allegro, use Mage's Hymn twice or so, then refresh Allegro. Never let Allegro drop, constantly refresh Mage's Hymn. Pretty simple concept.
• In regards to runs utilizing OK - I don't have his LMR, but it's proven to be a blessing in disguise. Without the LMR, the BSB will generally go off around the 5s mark in the fight. The ATK/MAG buff will last for 25 seconds, which means you do not need to refresh it. It's only a minor detail, but if you have his LMR, it is very possible to avoid refreshing buffs if you can do a sub-25 run instead.

Now, let's get to it!

Hydra

Kill shot

RW: Fabula Guardian

Magicite:

• Main: Shell Dragon (IX)
• Subs: Sand Worm (X), Hydra (V), any two MAG Boon magicites

Thoughts:

This was the fight that set me off on trying to complete this challenge, and probably one of the easiest ones in my opinion. Didn't require any Earth gear too.

Before I pulled Edward's SSB on the recent JP fest's Buff Lucky Draw, I was using Sarah as my Bard. Since Sarah has the Gathering Storm RM, I use her to cast the Wall RW.

Maria can hit enough MAG for 6-hits on BSB C1 without requiring C2. After OK casts his BSB, use Wrath once, then Entrust that to Maria - you want her BSB to go online as soon as possible. After that, OK simply does 2 Wraths and Entrusts Rinoa. Maria mainly just uses Chain Stonega until she can use BSB, then immediately switch to C1 after. Rinoa starts by casting Faith on self, then spamming Meltdown. Use OSB liberally once you have about 3 stacks of Mage's Hymn, and while all your MAG buffs are active.

Porom provides healing, pretty self-explanatory. Porom will open with Shellga, then BSB, then cast Shell Dragon when it is up. After that she just mainly spams C2. Both Porom and Yuna are interchangeable here - if you have Yuna BSB2, you can actually consider dropping Curada for Titan and trying to contribute some damage where possible. It should deal good damage given that there's a lot of MAG buffs active.

Fenrir

Kill shot

RW: Fabula Guardian

Magicite:

• Main: Wendigo (XII)
• Subs: Taharka (IX), Fenrir (VI), any two MAG Boon magicites

Thoughts:

After I did Hydra as above, I wanted to see how far I could take my original core of 3. I swapped out Maria for Shantotto, and Rinoa for Ysayle. Ysayle can really be swapped for any Ice Mage with En-Ice as well (e.g. Reynn BSB, Rinoa BSB2, Edea BSB), or an Ice-elemental OSB Mage user. Ice gear is also stupid rare, so I didn't have any of them for this run.

Same idea as before - entrust Shantotto ASAP so that she can get her USB off. Her USB will allow you to double cast the Witch abilities with a 100% rate - this effectively doubles your damage output from Shantotto, and is what allowed me to deal enough damage to Fenrir, given how bad Ice magic option can be.

Also as before, Sarah will summon Wall and do Bard stuff. Porom will do Protectga, BSB, then summon Wendigo.

Golem

Kill shot

RW: Fabula Guardian

Magicite:

• Main: Enkidu (V)
• Subs: Wing Raptor (V), Golem (V), any two MAG Boon magicites

Thoughts:

This was the first fight where my original core faltered - I simply could not deal enough damage to Golem given the bad options I had for Wind magic. I had the option of honing Tornado in JP, which was a new 5* 4-hit single-target Wind-elemental Black Magic ability, but decided not to, so that it would be more replicatable for Global players.

I haven't been blessed with much Wind gear in JP, but Fujin does have her BSB weapon, and OK can use a Wind dagger/sword or something (e.g. Bartz' Air Knife).

What eventually worked was my new Edward SSB, plus dropping my healer for Faris. As you can see, the setup itself has a fair bit of RNG - I could not even fit Protectga or a healer into this party to sub-30 without Legend Materias. You'll have to pray that Golem doesn't focus target a specific person, and spreads his damage out so that you can get maximal value out of your one party heal that is Enkidu.

Fujin will use Stitch into Meltdown. Refresh Stitch once before casting BSB, then back to Meltdown spam. If you run out of hones, use C1.

Alphinaud will open by self-Faithing, then using Tiamat. Use BSB whenever it is up - a key trick for DPS-ing with Alphinaud's BSB is to use C1, then chain that into a BSB cast. I can't remember if I used Faith or Protectga here for Alphinaud - try and see what works for you.

OK carries Shellga which is all the mitigation I could fit in, then just spams Raging Storm.

Edward does Edward things. Note that Soulsong's entry comes with MAG QC3, so you can open with Mage's Hymn then do Allegro after that instead. Try to refresh Soulsong if necessary before Allegro drops.

Faris' role is primarily to provide Imperil Wind via her USB2, so you can achieve the same results with her SSB2. She literally does 0 damage otherwise. You will want to Entrust once to Alphinaud early, then try and get your first USB2 up ASAP after that. Once that's done, continue to Entrust Alphinaud instead.

Liquid Flame

Kill shot

RW: Fabula Guardian

Magicite:

• Main: Bismarck (VI)
• Subs: Enlil (XIII), Bottomswell (VII), Liquid Flame (V), any ATK Boon magicites

Thoughts:

Ok, so I cheated on this one a little with four dived characters. However, Water as an element is sorely lacking Mage options besides Strago BSB (which I don't have) and Meia (who is pretty crap anyway), plus Water is generally the stomping ground for Ninja and Spellblades. Bartz has 40% Water damage from gear, while the others have none.

I originally used this as an example to just try brute-forcing with my Marilith setup (minus the Legend Materias), dropping my healer for Rikku, and sticking in Ramza for the ATK buff. Make sure to give everyone Instant KO resistance accessories as well - this is essentially what allows you to run a no healer Liquid Flame. ...ok I cheated again, Yuffie's USB1 has a heal component attached to it. I can't recall being able to use it, as I favoured her En-Water BSB1 however.

There really isn't much to this strategy other than "just continually pummel down Liquid Flame". Try to have Bismarck blink one of his Savage Firagas.

If possible, try to line up your SB casts for Bartz, Yuffie and Tidus after Ramza has cast his USB, to save a few precious seconds.

Sealion

Kill shot

RW: Fabula Guardian

Magicite:

• Main: Mombomb (IV)
• Subs: Salamander (III), Sealion (IX), any two MAG Boon magicites

Thoughts:

Possibly the easiest due to the sheer option for mages in Fire. I didn't even realize that Mog's BSB and Edward's SSB does not stack (both buffed MAG/MND) but I still managed to sub-30 him anyway. Heck I even managed to fit in Thancred, quite possibly one of the most forgotten characters in FFRK.

Same as any of the Edward setups above - just load up the buffs, then do the Mage's Hymn Allegro con Motto rotation, refreshing SSB before Allegro drops off. Mog provides ST healing, but really should be replaced for a better option (for example, bring a proper healer with Gathering Storm, and drop Thancred for Onion Knight with BSB instead).

Thancred was just there primarily as a Ninja spamming Smoldering Fire, and using BSB1 when possible for 1 extra stack of Imperil Fire on top of Mombomb. It was also Thancred's duty to summon the Mombomb Magicite and the Wall RW.

Papa and Ace set up Proshellga, then use their respective skills, until they can BSB. Unlike Maria, Papalymo will probably need about 4 stacks of Mage's Hymn before he can start hitting 6 hits, but I also say this because I was effectively only running one party MAG buff - with another proper MAG buff that isn't Mog BSB, you possibly only need 2 stacks of Mage's Hymn.

Bismarck

Kill shot

RW: Fabula Guardian

Magicite:

• Main: Hydra (V)
• Subs: Enki (XIII), Humbaba (VI), Bismarck (VI), any MAG Boon magicite

Bismarck is notorious for the damage dealt, so I decided to use Rapha as a secondary healer that can provide a stackable MAG buff for Edward, plus Hastega. In tandem with Vanille's BSB, I was able to keep up with the healing output required.

As with Fenrir, Shantotto's USB provides a lot of damage here, as does Ashe's BSB1 command. There isn't much to this fight again other than to pummel with your mages.

Garnet with BSB2 was actually an option for me but she either didn't fit the Hastega requirement (no Hastega on entry), or since she can't displace Rapha, stacking all that MAG buff would become relatively pointless due to soft cap mechanics. She is an option over Edward though, since she also has access to BRD6.

Mist Dragon

Kill shot

RW: Fabula Guardian

Magicite:

• Main: Shadow Dragon (IV)
• Subs: Phantom (VI), Darkmare (XII), Mist Dragon (IV), any MAG Boon magicite

Another relatively easy fight for mage meta, given that there are powerful Dark Mage options like Kuja, CoD, Exdeath, etc. The real problem with Dark Mages is the lack of ability choices - 2 copies of the Memento Mori Dark Zone set would easily beat this fight, and is probably the best option for Dark Mages in general anyway (Dread Heal is also usable over Dark Zone, but Dark Zone will deal more damage if you don't value the self-sustain from Dread Heal). I went with Dread Heal over a second Dark Zone to try and introduce some uniqueness in abilities used.

The idea here is to have OK try and Entrust Kuja as soon as possible, so Kuja can cast his SSB2, which will give him En-Dark. After that Onion will continue to Entrust Kuja who should deal more damage with his SSB2 than CoD would with her USB, since Kuja's SSB2 is a single-target entry, compared to CoD's USB being AoE.

Any healer with a good SB would work fine in my opinion here - I simply used Selphie since she's also a powerful healer in her own right with her USB. Can't say Last Stand made much difference for me, but you can also try to use it to play more offensively (not sure how though).

Shadow Dragon

Kill shot

RW: Fabula Guardian

Magicite:

• Main: Mist Dragon (IV)
• Subs: Shadow Dragon (IV), Unicorn (VI), Kirin (VI), any ATK Boon magicite

Global probably won't be able to do this one until they gain access to Assault Saber, which should be soon! In the meantime, I do not think anyone would be of sane mind to craft three Divine Cross Guardbringer combos instead, especially for Beatrix's USB which is relatively hone intensive.

This is another cheat fight as I have not only two copies of Assault Saber, but I also have Marche's USB.

Looking back on this fight, Orlandeau ALWAYS died, there was no way I could save him. But I somehow managed to push out enough damage with just 4 characters.

Once you have Mist Dragon Magicite active, Shadow Dragon will fail to do any reasonable amount of damage - at which point, I switched in Vanille compared to other healers so that she can use her C1 for additional damage.