Should You Pull (Jul 14, 2017)

Original Post / Discussion: [https://www.reddit.com/r/FFBraveExvius/comments/6n0r98/defianthermits_should_you_pull_ffbe_story_banner/ DefiantHermit's Should You Pull? FFBE Story Banner 2 - Jul 14]

Hello everyone, /u/DefiantHermit here for the second FFBE story banner, featuring a lovely elf couple, a Indiana Jones wannabe and a Dwarf Slave!

Not much to say here once again, so I just hope you enjoy the read! Lali-ho!

Lunera
Lunera is our second elf and while her kit is a bit weird, she's a pretty fine unit. Base 152 MAG (+30 with pots) is excellent, and she has +80% MAG from passives to back it up, for a fantastic total of 327 MAG, rivaling most physical based units, but due to her Superior Elf (+50% Wind/Light Resist & +50% MAG/SPR when equipped with Bow) passive, most of the bonus comes with a bow.

Her equipment selection is great, being able to wield Daggers, Rods, Staves, Bows, Instruments, Whips and Maces and wear Hats, Robes and Clothes. It's a decent weapon selection for mages and a sufficient clothes selection.

Her supporting skillset includes Esunaga (AoE Cure Poison, Blind, Sleep, Silence, Paralyze, Confuse), as a great status cleanser; Blanc Love (+100% Silence/Paralyze/Petrify Resist), providing some neat ailment immunities; good ol' Auto-Refresh (Recover 5% MP per Turn) for some MP sustainability.

Elf Song (+40% ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR while Singing (3 Turns) & AoE ~1350 HP Heal w/ 10x Mod while Singing split over 3 Turns & AoE ~30 MP Heal w/ 0.6x Mod while Singing split over 3 Turns) allows Lunera to work as an acceptable healer and MP battery, healing ~1000 HP and ~40 MP per turn at 300 SPR. GL is getting this ability enhanced to +1 as default, which gives it a nice sustained +40% All Stat buff.

Elf Song's Stat Buffs are re-applied on the following turn for units that died and encompass all stats at once, which is excellent. However, +40% is not impressive, so if you have other reliable sources of MP battery and don't need the HP top-off, you're better off using Lunera as a damage dealer.

Her offensive skillset allows her to work both as a finisher and a chainer. As a finisher, she has access to Gleaming Arrow (250% ST 1 Hit Light Magic Attack + 250% Each Use (Max: 6)) and Gail Arrow (sp?) (250% ST 1 Hit Wind Magic Attack + 250% Each Use (Max: 6)), which were changed on GL to ramp faster, but cap at a lower final modifier. This is actually great and will allow Lunera to deal more damage as a finisher than the previous version on fights that take less than ~12 casts.

Those abilities are tagged as magical and thus can't be dual cast and don't proc twice with DW, but from the second cast onwards, they already have very respectable modifiers.

Her chaining skill is Aureole Ray (400% AoE 20 Hit Wind/Light Magic Attack), which has excellent modifiers, amazing amount of hits, but split innate elements. Even though this can't be dualcast and doesn't trigger twice with DW, it provides an excellent chain in terms of length and capping room. Since it's dual elements, it takes half the amount of hits to reach a capped modifier, so any hit after the 6th will get the full chain bonus (+300%).

The frame data is a bit sketchy at 4-Frames between hits, so she can only reliable chain with a copy, but it's a relatively straightforward chain to perform manually.

Japanese Altema Rating: 91/100 (Before Enhancements) - 97/100 (After Enhancements)

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Elf's Bow - +51 ATK, +135 MAG, +50% Magical Damage vs Demons - Bow - 9.5/10

This is an excellent mastery as bows go, boasting a huge MAG stat and a neat Demon Killer. Extremely likely to be Lunera's BiS and a fantastic weapon for future MAG bow users.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): S Rank

Why would you want Lunera?: Because she's an excellent magic-based chainer, a great magic-based finisher and becomes a Ramza copy with enhancements.

Her overall chain damage will definitely be lower than the big physical chainers, her reliance on bows to get a significant MAG boost means she won't achieve an extremely high MAG stat and her locked elements might definitely mean a hit in damage, but she's extremely reliable and flexible at what she does.

The +40% All Stats on Elf Song is exactly as expected, allowing her to be a mini-bard for HP and MP top-offs and sustainable stat buffing, but it's nothing very impressive.

What about the future? Enhancements truly breathe new life on her. Aureole Ray gets a massive boost in modifier (720%) and hit count (30 Hits), further ramping its damage; Superior Elf gives her ridiculous +150% MAG/SPR with bows and accepts Instruments as a defensive/support option (+30% DEF/+80% SPR).

Blanc Love brings her some extra HP, Demon Killer and Thunder Resistance. The main attraction, though, is the +2 enhancement on Elf Song, which provides +90% All Stat Buff, alongside the already excellent MP refresh and serviceable healing.

Bran
Lunera's lover, Bran is here to show the physical side of elves and he's pretty okay at it. Base 150 ATK (+34 with pots) is excellent, but there are no weapon masteries and only a +30% ATK passive to back it up, for a rather disappointing total of 239 ATK.

Equipment selection is excellent, though, as he's able to wield Daggers, Swords, Greatswords, Spears and Knuckles and wear Robes, Clothes, Light Armour, Hats and Helms. A great selection of weapons with released masteries and a fine selection of armour, just missing heavy armour (for DKS).

His support skillset includes Noble Elf (+50% Thunder/Light Resist), providing passive elemental resistance, Thunder Shield (AoE 3 Turn +50% Thunder/Light Resist), providing party elemental resists (and making him immune to Thunder/Light); Counter (30% Chance Counter Physical Attacks) and Eye for an Eye (Increase Counter Chances 2x) for some sweet LB generation and Osmose Blade (140% ST 1 Hit Hybrid Attack & ST 30% Attack w/ 30% MP Drain) as some extra MP sustain, since he lacks Auto-Refresh.

Bran has a copy of Lunera's Elf Song (AoE ~1350 HP Heal w/ 10x Mod while Singing split over 3 Turns & AoE ~30 MP Heal w/ 0.6x Mod while Singing split over 3 Turns), but unfortunately gets no enhancement on it, so it's just an MP battery.

His offensive set is comprised of a few poor modifier, low hit-count abilities, that share the same frame data (5 Frames between hits) the most notable being Bright Burst (200% AoE 3 Hit Light Physical Attack) because of light chains.

His main skill is Thunder Clap (270% AoE 7 Hit Thunder/Light Physical Attack & AoE 3 Turn -50% Thunder/Light Resist), sharing Lunera's style of duo elements, but actually including both imperils on the skill. Even though the modifier is lower than that of the big chainers, the fact that this is duo elements means his overall chain modifier is 3.62, compared to the usual 3.41 for the other 7-hitters, slightly reducing the modifier gap.

Another advantage of split elements is the increased chainer window for capped chain (anything after the 7th hit) and that it allows for two different sets of finishers, all benefitting from the same chain. Thunder is notably related to Thundaja/Thundaga boosters and Light to the all-too-common Excalibur for physical attackers.

Thunder Clap has 5-Frames between hits, so can perfectly chain with itself, Setzer's Primastic Flash, Amelia's Disorder and Chizuru's Phantom Shadow (different hit count for the last 2, though). This is a great array of possible chainers and shouldn't be hard to provide your own, or bring a friend unit.

Japanese Altema Rating: 89/100 (90/100 After Enhancements)

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Elven Pride - +20% ATK, +30% MP, +30% Thunder Resist - Materia - 8/10

If that gave +30% HP instead of MP, this would be fantastic. Instead, this is basically a trade of 10% ATK (and probably some HP depending on the materia) for MP, which might not be very significant for damage dealers.

For support units and generally heavy MP users, you'd much rather have a defensive stat accompanying that +MP. Still a pretty good materia if you can provide it a good home.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): A Rank

Why would you want Bran?: Because he's an excellent chainer which brings two different Imperils to the table, an excellent amount of hits and a common frame data, allowing him to chain with the common budget chainers.

His damage is definitely inferior than chainers because of modifiers and lower ATK stat, but should be significantly higher than the budget chainers, specially because of the Imperils.

What about the future? Bran's enhancements were focused on the offensive side of things, with Noble Elf giving him +30% ATK w/ Swords and a -75% Light/Thunder Imperil counter chance (~20% chance with Eye for an Eye).

His Thunder Clap gets a boost in modifiers to 320% and an MP discount, but nothing else, so it still pales in comparison to chainers. Finally, Thunder Shield gets boosted to +70% elemental resists and provides a neat +15% Damage Reduction.

Overall decent enhancements, but none gamechanging to ramp up Bran's score.

Helena
Helena is a pretty neat concept for an explorer unit, with thematic skills and great looks. She comes with base 140 ATK (+30 with pots), which is good, but only a +20% ATK passive leading to a very disappointing 204 ATK.

Her equipment selection is excellent, being able to wield a large variety of weapons: Daggers, Swords, Katanas, Bows, Hammers, Spears, Instruments, Whips, Throwing Weapons, Guns and Knuckles and wear an acceptable selection of armour: Clothes, Light Armour, Hats and Small Shields.

Supporting skillset is comprised of: Crisis Detection (20% Chance Dodge Physical Attack) offering some innate dodge, Hide (3-5 Turn Stealth) if you ever need it, Camouflage (Decrease Target Chance by 50%) offering some great target reduction and Unbelievable Heart (3 Turn Self +100% Poison/Blind/Silence/Paralyze/Confuse/Virus/Petrify Resist) as an unfortunately ST (and self only) and not innate ailment resistance.

Neverending Dream (Self 100% Sleep & Self Recover 50% HP/MP) provides a neat self recovery at the cost of a self-inflicted sleep and First Class Adventurer (Wield Two Dagger, Whip, Throwing Weapon, Gun) brings some innate DW, even though for unusual weapon types.

Her only relevant damaging skill is Best Shot (Critical Hit 300% ST 1 Hit Physical Attack - normalized to 450%), which offers an excellent modifier for a finisher. There's also some LB support with Miracle Excavation (Gain 1.5 LS per Turn), allowing you to speed up her (270% -> 390% AoE 3 Hit Physical Attack + Ignore 50% DEF & AoE 3 Turn 40% -> +64% ATK/MAG - normalized to 540% to 780%) LB. It has excellent modifiers and provide a pretty good offensive buff if you have it levelled.

Japanese Altema Rating: 83/100 (84/100 After Enhancements)

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Mystical Skull - +3 DEF/SPR, +50% LB Fill Rate, Recover 5% MP per Turn - Accessory - 8/10

LB Fill Rate and Auto-Refresh bundled on an accessory is great. Excellent mastery for units that need that extra MP boost and would love to output their LB more often, like dear Rikku.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): A Rank

Why would you want Helena?: Because she's an okay budget damage dealer. Having innate DW is always a plus for players without many resources, even though it's restricted to uncommon (and generally underwhelming) weapons. Her finishing skill has a pretty good modifier and she has some decent self-support skills to get by.

Her main issue, though, is that her high-end ATK is not great. Her base ATK is lower than most top tier damage dealers and relying on a +20% ATK passive to carry her won't work. Her weapon selection does allow for some stronger builds involving Katanas and Knuckles, but you'll need to sub in a DW source.

What about the future? Helena received some enhancements in JPN and they're not that bad! First Class Adventurer provides +40% ATK with guns and some LB fill rate boost; Best Shot gets upgraded to 350% base modifier (525% with crit) and Neverending Sleep gets a +60% ATK boost (on self) and +10 LB crystals, allowing her to “spam” her LB quite reliably.

Ruggles
Lali-ho! Ruggles is the newest addition to playable dwarves, but he's unfortunately coming without his awakening. Base 106 ATK (+16 with pots) is decent, but there's only a +10% ATK passive, leading to a disappointing total of 134 ATK.

His equipment selection is amazing, being able to wield Daggers, Swords, Katanas, Greatswords, Axes, Hammers, Spears, Instruments, Throwing Weapons, Maces and Knuckles and wear Everything but Robes. Due to one of his passives, you'll be mostly gearing him with Axes and Hammers, though.

skillset is subpar and uninteresting. One of his only notable skills is Song of Memories (AoE ~950 HP Heal w/ 6x Mod while Singing split over 3 Turns & AoE ~5 MP Heal w/ 0.1x Mod while Singing split over 3 Turns), which works as a veeeery bad MP battery at ~7 MP per turn at 300 SPR (which is already a stretch).

Ruggles can also use Production, which randomly uses one out of 4 skills. Notably, they include a -50% Earth Imperil and a -45% DEF/SPR debuff, which are great. You can check the odds and the full effect by going to his wiki page clicking on his name on this thread.

Japanese Altema Rating: 87/100 (After Awakening)

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Master's Hammer - +108 ATK, Earth Element - Hammer - 6/10

Hammer is currently not a major weapon type, as it lacks a mastery materia and not many characters can wield one. This weapon is only noteworthy because it allows characters to join in on Aileen Imperil chains.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): Unranked

Why would you want Ruggles?: Currently, for his TMR, as he's a rather underwhelming unit. When his awakening is released, he gets some neat supporting skills for magic based parties, but it's still not a great unit.

What about the future? Like previously mentioned, Ruggles gets a awakening in the future alongside enhancements. They turn him into a niche magic party support unit, with a strong -50% ATK debuff and a neat +80% MAG/SPR song. His enhancements are lengthy and boring, so I'm gonna go over it in detail whenever he's up on an enhancement batch. Meanwhile, you can check them on his page.

Should You Pull?
Hey, we're back to the depends territory! If you lack decent chainers or are not satisfied with your budget options, Bran offers some fantastic chaining ability, being the first on the list of chainers to bring not one, but two Imperils on his chaining skill.

If you're really lacking a finisher, Helena works as a budget unit, with innate "Dual Wield" and a respectable 450% modifier finishing hit. Her TMR is also not bad at all for users that need some MP help and LB support.

Ruggles sucks now and continues sucking with his awakening. He has a niche TMR for people with Aileen, but completely passable otherwise.

For whales, Lunera is an extremely versatile unit, able to generate excellent magic based chains, work as a great magic based finisher and, in the future, work as a proper bard. With the rate up, this is your 3rd shot at getting a Bard before Roy comes, although you're likely gonna need to wait a while for her enhancements for that job to be properly done.

If you're not a whale and pulled Lunera, yaaay!