Should You Pull (Jul 7, 2017)

Original Post / Discussion: [https://www.reddit.com/r/FFBraveExvius/comments/6ll8cd/defianthermits_should_you_pull_final_fantasy_xii/ DefiantHermit's Should You Pull? Final Fantasy XII Banner - Jul 7]

Hello everyone, it's /u/DefiantHermit here for this week's banner, featuring the FF12 cast and a new GL exclusive unit replacing the smuggest sky pirate ever.

There really isn't anything else to say here, just that I ask y'all to forgive any oversights I might've had on Zargabaath's analysis.

So without further ado, here's my analysis for the Final Fantasy 12 Banner!

Zargabaath
Zargabaath is our brand new GL exclusive unit, and one branded as support; unfortunately, Gumi decided to take down dear protagonist from this banner to include the judge, and we'll see if it was worth it. Base 146 ATK (+30 with pots) is great and due to his Authority (+30% ATK w/ Sword/Large Sword & +30% MAG w/ Katana/Hammer/Spear) and Flames of Justice (+20% ATK/HP w/ Light Weapon & +20% MAG/MP w/ Fire Weapon) passives, he gets excellent +80% ATK extra, for a fantastic total of 316 ATK.

His MAG side, though, is a sketchy: base 130 MAG (+30 with pots) is below what you'd expect and even though his passives provide a possible +80% MAG, they require Zargabaath to be wielding weapon types that have no innate MAG stat. He can't equip rods either, so his MAG side is heavily limited.

Equipment selection is concise, but does the job: Swords, Greatswords, Katanas, Hammers and Spears for weapons and Helms, Light and Heavy Armour for the armour arsenal.

Starting with his support skillset, we have Righteous Sword (ST 120% 1 Hit Phys Damage +40% Ignore DEF & Dispel - normalized to 200%) as your dispel on a weak stick and Warden (50% chance to counter Phys/Mag Damage (200% Mod)) as a pretty good counter chance for orb/LB generation, but on a character without innate provocation.

His main selling points are his two stat buffing abilities: Hero Crest (ST 4 Turn +100% ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR) as an incredible ST buff and Archadian Light (AoE 3 Turn +60% ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR & +100% Blind/Paralyze/Confuse/Disease Resists) as a great AoE Buff with some added ailment immunities.

Zargabaath can also provide elemental resist through Bastion (AoE 3 Turn +40% Element Resists) and some ST HP/MP healing through Rejuvenate (ST 100% HP Recovery & 50% MP Recovery).

His offensive skillset is comprised of Word of Law (AoE 300% 1 Hit Light Magic Damage +50% Ignore SPR & AoE 2 Turn 20% Damage Mitigation - normalized to 600%) as an impressive MAG finisher with an on-demand mitigation, Sacred Strike (ST 150% 1 Hit Light Phys Damage +50% Ignore DEF & 3 Turn -50% Light Resist - normalized to 300%) as an okay physical finisher with an excellent Light Imperil attached and Judgment Blade (ST 160% 1 Hit Phys Damage +50% Ignore DEF & ST 30% Attack w/ 50% MP Drain - normalized to 350%) as a stronger finisher with added MP drain.

Word of Law would be your go-to move if it were not for his unfortunate MAG issues. Even then, both his physical attacks have decent enough modifiers and side effects to warrant using him as a finisher during his abilities downtime.

Finally, his LB is (AoE 300% -> 420% Magic Damage +50% SPR Ignore & AoE 2 Turn 30% Damage Mitigation - Normalized to 600% -> 840%), offering a better mitigation, but not on-demand.

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Judge Helm - +35 DEF, +20 SPR, +15% All Ele Resists (Exc: Dark) - Helm - 8.5/10

Excellent defensive helm, giving respectable DEF, some SPR and nice elemental resistances. Definitely on your priority list for tanking purposes.

Why would you want Zargabaath?: Because he's a fine support unit and doubles as an acceptable finisher. He's not without his problems, though, and since he's a GL exclusive, this section will be a bit longer for some theorycrafting.

Zargabaath is an obvious attempt at grabbing some pulls before Ramza's enhancements (and future bards) and to grab onto Rikku's hype. However, a +60% AoE All Stat buff is not that impressive and it's vastly inferior to singer's buffs. Yes, it allows the character to perform other roles for 2 turns, but lacks the attached HP and MP heals.

His ST +100% All Stat buff is more impressive number-wise and it allows him to focus the buffs on relevant characters, keeping a 4 character rotation if need be. The downside to this flexibility is that it's delayed and requires some micro-management.

His damage mitigation numbers are unfortunate, with Rikku just being released: you'll take ~14% extra damage compared to a 30% mitigation and without LB support on his skillset, his LB is not coming out soon enough, specially with a 2 turn duration.

Zargabaath's offensive skills are also a bit of a letdown. Word of Law could be a great MAG finisher, but his MAG options are crippled due to equipment restrictions. His physical finishers just pale in comparison to dedicated finishers.

As some closing thoughts, I'm not sold on Zargabaath. Yes, he's a pretty good character for current GL environment, but there simply isn't anything gamechanging about him. He doesn't bring the brokeness of Rikku's Auto-Raise; his stat buffing is not very impressive, his mitigation is subpar and his offensive skills are okay. What he brings is versatility, and I'm just not sure if it's top tier versatility.

What about the future? GL exclusive, so enhancements are unknown. There are many enhancement fronts, though, so his upgrades will certainly be juicy when they come.

Ashe
Ashe is one of those neat units that play key roles in some strategies and fights. She comes with a great base 145 MAG (+34 with pots) and an incredible +80% MAG from passives for an amazing total of 322 MAG. Her ATK stat is also important, depending on how you plan on using her: serviceable base 130 ATK (+26 with pots), but “only” a +50% ATK passive, for a rather bad total of 234 ATK.

Equipment selection is excellent, being able to wield Daggers, Swords, Greatswords, Katanas, Staves, Rods and Maces and wear Robes, Clothes, Light Armour, Hats, Helms and Small Shields. You'll be definitely using a sword on one hand due to her Power Seeker (+50% ATK/MAG when equipped with Sword) passive, which likely leaves a rod on the second one if you're building her for magic or GS/Katana if you're going physical. Her armour selection is also broad enough to fit different playstyles.

Her support skillset includes Liberating Flash (180% AoE 1 Hit Physical Attack & AoE 3 Turn -40% DEF/SPR Debuff), offering a decent offensive break, Meditate (AoE 5 Turn +45% MAG/SPR) as an upgraded Focus and Crushing Bone (230% AoE 1 Hit Magic Attack & AoE Cure All Ailments) as your all-ailment cleanser.

Her offensive skillset is based on Sacred Light Sword (230% AoE 10 Hit Magic Attack + Ignore -25% SPR - normalized to 306% - & AoE ~1200 HP Heal w/ 3.4x Mod), which offers a great amount of hits for chaining with a copy (or other skills that share 10 Frames per hit) and a bonus Curaga. Unfortunately this is this fixed elementless, meaning the final chain modifier for both Ashe and whatever finishers you might want to bring will be less than the +300% cap. Additionally, this is one of those unfortunate magic abilities that don't trigger twice with DW, so the maximum chain you can get with it is 19-hits.

Aside from that, she has access to Thundaja (200% AoE 1 Hit Thunder Magic Attack + 100% Each Use (Max: 5)), which can reach excellent 700% modifier and also allows you to use Ashe as a finisher. She doesn't have innate DC, though, so be sure to bring it if you plan on using Thundaja.

Ashe also has access to Hero's Sword (270% ST 7 Hit Physical Attack), which is a weaker, but physical version of Sacred Light Sword (same frame data, except for the first hit). Since this can be used twice with Dual Wield and can be imbued with an element, when elemental chaining with another copy (or a suitable replacement) this will deal more damage than SLS and provide a capped chain for your finishers.

Finally, she has the expected Auto-Refresh (Recover 5% MP per Turn) and her LB is a decent heavy hitter in the form of (270% -> 390% AoE 1 Hit Thunder Magic Attack + Ignore -50% SPR - normalized to 540% -> 780%).

Japanese Altema Rating: 92/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Ashe's Ring - +3 DEF, +30% MP/MAG, +50% Light Resist - Accessory - 9/10

Excellent mastery not only for magic based users, but really anyone that needs an MP Boost. The extra Light Resist is just icing on the cake.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): S Rank

Why would you want Ashe?: Because she's a serviceable, bulky magic based chainer that has some healing included in her chains. This makes her excellent on some trials and fights that favor magic, like Blood Moon. She can also be used as a finisher with Thundaja, as long as you bring a DC to properly abuse it and as a good physical chainer if you build her that way.

Her downsides are that her magic chain is fixed elementless, so the bonus modifier for both her and whatever finisher you may have will be lower, and she can't make use of any Imperils you might have. This also can't be dual cast and doesn't trigger twice with Dual Wield, so her final damage output will be restricted that way.

Her physical chain provides more overall hits with DW, is capable of generating elemental chains and will provide more damage than her magic chain and a capped chain for your finishers. She has significantly lower ATK than MAG, though, and there will be no built-in heals on the physical chain.

What about the future? No enhancements announced for Ashe yet, but she still fares extremely well in JPN as a “budget” chainer and will likely keep having uses on MAG based fights. Future enhancements will likely focus on one side of her, likely the magical, but we'll have to wait and see.

Rasler
Cecil Rasler was not even alive in his game and yet gets a version, while freaking Fran is stuck at a  max. I just... don't get this game at times. Anyway, Cecil Rasler, has base 140 DEF (+34 with pots) is excellent and there's a whopping +70% DEF from passives, for an amazing total of 295 DEF. His SPR is not so fortunate, but he still sports a great base 135 SPR (+26 with pots) and an acceptable +20% SPR from passives, for a total of 193 SPR.

Equipment selection is limited compare to the other tanks, but serviceable. Rasler's able to wield Daggers, Swords and Greatswords, so no Gigantaxe or Staves, and wear Light and Heavy Armour, Helms, Small and Large Shields. Due to his excellent Vanguard Slasher (+50% DEF when equipped with Heavy Armor) passive, you'll definitely be wearing heavy armour.

We'll start with his support/tank skillset: All Resist Light (AoE 3 Turn +50% Light Resist) offers some decent AoE Light protection, Esunaga (AoE Cure Poison, Blind, Sleep, Silence, Paralyze, Confuse) provides some great ailment cleansing and Curaga (AoE ~1000 HP Heal w/ 3.4x Mod) allows him to be a backup healer if you ever need it.

His tanking skillset consists of Sentinel (30% Chance to Defend an Ally (Reduce +50% Phys./Mag. Damage)), which is extremely inferior to Cecil's Saintly Wall and can hardly be relied upon, but Royal Obligation (1 Turn 20% Chance to Defend Allies (Reduce +30% Phys./Mag. Damage)) can be activated to provide some AoE cover.

Unfortunately, 20% proc chance on his AoE cover and 1 Turn duration means it's awfully inferior to WoL's The Light is with Us and locks Rasler into using the same skill every turn if he wants to keep the cover up.

Finally, his LB is an (AoE 5 Turn +50% -> 74% DEF/SPR), literally a defensive, restricted version of Cecil's LB.

Okay, his tanking skills are horrible compared to the top 2 tanks, so what does Rasler bring to the table to warrant using him? He brings chaining potential with Patriotic Slash (300% ST 7 Hit Light Physical Attack), backed up by a serviceable 238 ATK (159 base when fully potted) due to his Sword Mastery (+50% ATK when equipped with Sword) passive.

Patriotic Slash has 10-frames between hits, so it's able to chain with Ashe, Fohlen and Reberta. This means that while Rasler might not be a suitable tank for you, he might be just the unit you need to complete a chain without bringing a copy on a friend unit

Japanese Altema Rating: 91/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Patriotic Recall - +20% DEF/+30% HP & +30% Light Resist - Materia - 9.5/10

Fantastic defensive materia, offering the expected amount of HP on a solo materia, but also bringing extra DEF and a bonus Light Resist sprinkled in.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): S Rank

Why would you want Rasler?: Not because you don't have a tank, but because you need a chainer that fits your units. 10-Frames between hits means he can chain with a copy, Ashe (her physical skill), Fohlen and Reberta, providing a backup chain partner if you can't bring a friend unit. Rasler has some decent ATK to back him up, is rather beefy and can provide backup healing and status cleansing too.

He doesn't stand well as a “solo” chainer, though, as his ATK is just acceptable, his modifiers are not that great and he has no way to attach an Imperil to his chains. He's decent enough if you have no other chainers, though!

What about the future? No enhancements for Rasler, so there's still some hope he can be a decent tank in the future. For now, though, his only noteworthy traits lie on his chaining skill.

Vaan
One of the most coveted units on the meta, Vaan is back with a shiny new awakening, but is it enough for a comeback? He has a pretty mediocre base 128 ATK (+30 with pots), but a pretty decent +50% ATK from passives, leading to an underwhelming 237 ATK.

Equipment selection is great, as he's able to wield Daggers, Swords, Greatswords, Rods, Staves, Hammers, Axes, Spears, Maces and Knuckles and wear Clothes, Light and Heavy Armour, Helms and Small Shields. So he's able to equip a great deal of relevant weapon types and has a nice supporting armour set available.

Relevant supporting skillset includes Resist Stop (3 AoE Turn +100% Stop Debuff Resist) as a neat and uncommon Stop resistance, Focus (AoE 3 Turn +40% MAG/SPR) as a decent magical buff and Counter Break (20% Chance Counter Magic w/ AoE 3 Turn -40% ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR Debuff) as a pretty good AoE Full Break counter, even though at a very low proc chance.

His offensive set includes Bird Killer (50% Physical Damage vs Avians), Thick Hazard (210% AoE 1 Hit Physical Attack & 100% Virus) as an uncommon virus inducer and his main skill, Assault Strike (270% ST 8 Hit Physical Attack), which has an okay modifier and pretty good amount of hits.

The frame data on Assault Strike is pretty weird (8-Frames between hits) because it currently only chains with a copy, Chainsaw and T.Terra. Unfortunately, the hit count only matches when chaining with a copy, so 2 Vaans should be the way to go if you plan on using him as a chainer

Japanese Altema Rating: 88/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Maximilian - +62 DEF - Heavy Armour - 3/10

This wasn't exciting back in the day and it isn't exciting now. Completely bland armour piece that gives no other benefit other than a relatively big DEF number. Extremely low on your priority list, if you ever get through all other relevant masteries.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): Unranked

Why would you want Vaan?: Because he's a decent budget chainer. He's able to perfectly chain with himself for an excellent 31 hit chain, giving a wide room for your finishers to land on a capped chain. His damage is not gonna be close to the big name chainers, as not only does he have poor modifiers on Assault Strike, but a relatively poor base ATK too.

Other than that… he can't do much. His Full Break is completely outdated and shouldn't be relied upon on harder fights at all.

What about the future? No enhancements for Vaan yet, so expect some juicy upgrades in the future!

Bonus: Penelo
Once a troll pull Penelo is now… still a troll pull. Base 87 ATK (+30 with pots) is bad even for a, but there's a surprisingly solid +40% ATK from passives to back it up, for a pretty good total of 163 ATK.

Equipment selection is bad, being able to wield Daggers, Staves, Instruments and Maces and wear Robes, Clothes and Hats. Due to her Fighting Odoriko (+30% ATK/MAG when equipped with Dagger) passive, you'll definitely be wielding a dagger (Bowie Knife is quite handy here), but there's no real good option for the second hand.

Skillset is excellent for a unit, but there's only 2 relevant skills: Final Dance (AoE ~150 HP Heal w/ 3x Mod & AoE Cure Poison, Blind, Sleep, Silence, Paralyze, Confuse) which is basically Esunaga and Sword Dance (100% ST 6 Hit Physical Attack (x4 Damage), which has great modifiers, excellent amount of hits and very good frame data (5-Frames between hits).

Sword Dance can chain with the popular budget chainers: Amelia, Setzer, Chizuru and Rikku, but the hit-count doesn't match, so be careful if you ever want to use her as a chainer with one of these.

Japanese Altema Rating: 75/100

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Equip S Sword - Unit Can Equip Daggers - Materia - 5/10

There aren't many relevant daggers in the game aside from Bowie Knife, which you'll just use DW instead if you need this to equip it. There's also no exceptional dagger coming in the near future that would warrant using this, so meh.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): A Rank

Why would you want Penelo?: You don't. I mean, if you're really, really, really missing a chainer, I guess you can go with Sword Dance and one of the other chainers, but even that is a massive stretch.

What about the future? No awakening for Penelo yet, even with this week's JPN FF12 event, so be on the lookout for it!

Should You Pull?
It's definitely less pronounced than the previous banner, but yes, you should pull for at least one Ashe. She's an extremely versatile unit, being able to work as a magic chainer with attached healing, a good physical chainer and even a finisher.

Rasler is not a good tank, but fits a niche role of backup chainer for people with Rebertas and Fohlens (alternatively, he allows people without those units to bring them as friends and chain with them). He can also chain with himself and Ashe, so he's a new addition to the “budget” chainers list. Both featured units have excellent masteries, so it's never a bad pull if you're actively farming TMRs

Vaan is… eh. If you have none of the available chainers, Vaan can certainly help you. His chains are decent enough, but frame data currently only enables him to chain with a copy.

For whales, Zargabaath is... good. He's a versatile support unit, able to fit many roles, including that of damage dealing. Whether he's worth pulling, I wouldn't say so, as there's nothing gamebreaking/gamechanging about him that's not available on other characters. If you're not a whale and pulled Zargaguy, yay!