Should You Pull (Aug 4, 2017)

Original Post / Discussion: [https://www.reddit.com/r/FFBraveExvius/comments/6r51ht/defianthermits_should_you_pull_veritas_banner_1/ DefiantHermit's Should You Pull? Veritas Banner 1 - Aug 4]

Hello everyone, /u/DefiantHermit here for this week's Should You Pull! This time featuring not Nier half of the Veritas cast, a lovely black mage and freaking Tim!

Only announcement here today is that I'm dropping Altema ratings because they're a goddamn mess. Let me know if you'd like them back just for referencing, but I don't see many reasons as to why, specially with their recent TMR rating re-structure.

Hopefully no Marie-links this time around so, without further ado, here's my analysis for the Veritas Banner 1!

Veritas of the Dark
Orlandu is back! Wait.. wrong unit. But you've read that right, Dark Veritas is mostly known for being Orlandu's chaining partner, with a skill extremely similar to Divine Ruination. DV comes with a great base 150 ATK (+30 with pots) and a whopping +70% ATK due to his Greatsword Mastery (+50% ATK when equipped with Greatsword) passive. This leads to a total of 306 ATK, which is excellent.

Equipment selection is pretty solid, being able to wield Daggers, Swords, Greatswords, Katanas, Axes and Spears and wear Light and Heavy Armours, Helms and Heavy Shields. Due to his innate mastery, you'll definitely be wielding a GS, leaving the other slot open for a great selection of weapons with masteries, including the brand new Axe Mastery from Fire Veritas.

His supporting skillset is surprisingly vast, consisting of Impact (210% AoE 1 Hit Dark Magic Attack & AoE 3 Turn -45% ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR Debuff), which, aside from the weird Magic base, is an excellent -45% Full Break; Darkness (Absorb Dark Damage & +100% ATK after HP drops below 30% & +100% DEF after HP drops below 30%), providing innate Dark immunity and a fantastic ATK/DEF buff if you cross the HP threshold and Immovable (+100% Blind/Paralyze/Petrify Resist), granting some key innate ailment immunities.

Additionally, Protection of the Deep Darkness (3 Turn Self +100% Poison/Sleep/Silence/Confuse/Virus Resist & AoE except Self 3 Turn +70% Dark Resist) grants DV extra ailment immunities whenever you need them and a great AoE Dark Resist buff for your party members. Darkness' Retaliation (20% Chance Counter w/ ST 3 Turn -100% Dark Resist) is a counter with an amazing Imperil attached, Defensive Barrier (AoE 3 Turn 20% Damage Reduction) is a pretty decent mitigator and there's the expected Auto-Refresh (Recover 5% MP per Turn) for some MP sustain.

There's some merit to mention an innate Graviga (AoE 75% Target HP Damage) that can be used on your own party members to trigger crisis stat buffs, like WoL's DEF/SPR buffs and Fire Veritas' ATK buff. Double Edge (2x 160% AoE Physical Attack) also gets a mention, as it's able to bypass

His offensive skillset is comprised of 2 skills: Dark Guilt (200% ST 7 Hit Physical Attack + Ignore 50% DEF & ST 3 Turn -50% Dark Resist - normalized to 400%), being the aforementioned copy of Orlandu's Divine Ruination, with the same frame data and modifiers, but a different Imperil and Dark Blade (200% ST 1 Hit Dark Physical Attack + Ignore 50% DEF & 5 Turn Add Dark to Attacks - normalized to 400%), acting as a serviceable finisher and imbuing his attacks with Dark so he can make full use of his Imperil.

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Sworn Six's Pride - Dark - Dark - +30% ATK with Greatsword & +30% ATK with Heavy Armour - Materia - 9.5/10

And here begins the +60% ATK materia era and it begins with style. Greatsword is a very common weapon type due to the excellent Excalibur and this is an enhanced copy of GS Mastery for those that can equip Heavy Armours.

Why would you want Dark Veritas?: Because he's Darklandu. Great ATK stat, excellent equipment selection and amazing chaining skill, allowing him to chain with extreme ease with another DV or an Orlandu. When duoing with the old man, either Excalibur or Deathbringer are suitable weapons, but when chaining with a copy, you can bring a Deathbringer or a Light Imperil from another source or lose a bit of dps and use Dark Blade for the elemental imbue.

Additionally, DV is an excellent choice for Landu owners during the future 10-man trials, as you cannot bring friend units or duplicates. Not only that, but DV's supporting kit makes a lot of support units envy. Damage mitigation that rivals Zargaguy's, Breaks that rival WoL's and Minfilia levels of AoE Dark Resist buff.

A fantastic TMR is just a bonus.

What about the future? No enhancements for DV yet, but he's a perfectly fine character out-of-the-box and will continue to be top tier for a looooong time.

Veritas of the Flame
And my Axe! Fire Veritas is our first legit Axe-wielding finisher, and he's a damn fine unit. Base 155 ATK (+34 with pots) is amazing and there's an excellent 70% ATK due to his Axe Mastery (+50% ATK when equipped with Axe) passive, leading to a fantastic total of 321 ATK.

FV's equipment selection is extremely wide, as he's able to wield Daggers, Swords, Greatswords, Katanas, Bows, Axes, Hammers, Spears, Maces, Guns, Knuckles and Throwing Weapons and wear Light and Heavy Armours, Helms and Heavy Shields. Aside from the obvious Axe, his off-hand weapon is extremely flexible, allowing for a multitude of weapons with available masteries. FV's been sporting a Fixed Dice build in JPN and since nothing relevant has changed in GL, it should still be the go-to weapon for him, getting a massive multiplier boost at the cost of some innate +% ATK.

His support skillset is more limited than Dark Veritas, but still has some decent abilities: Defensive Barrier (AoE 3 Turn 20% Damage Reduction) as a decent mitigator, Retaliation of Fire (20% Chance Counter Magic w/ ST 3 Turn -100% Fire Resist) as a counter with amazing Fire Imperil and the expected Auto-Refresh (Recover 5% MP per Turn) for some MP sustain. The new Inspiration (AoE 3 Turn +80% ATK/MAG) provides a massive offensive buff for your party, significantly stronger than Embolden or similar buffs.

Fire Veritas has the same ailment immunities as DV due to his Immovable (+100% Blind/Paralyze/Petrify Resist) passive, but he gets a brand new counter in Exaltation (30% Chance Counter Phys/Magic w/ Grant: 500% ST 1 Hit Physical Attack + Ignore 50% DEF - normalized to 1000%), which enables a ridiculously strong finisher for the next turn if triggered.

The offensive skillset is rather similar to Balthier's (RIP leading man), including several Imperil + Elemental Imbuers and a harder hitting elementless finisher. The Imperil skills are Fire / Earth / Wind / Dark Axe (150% ST 1 Hit Physical Attack + Ignore 50% DEF & ST 5 Turn -50% Fire/Earth/Wind/Dark Resist & 5 Turn Add Fire/Earth/Wind/Dark to Attacks - normalized to 300%), which allow FV to cap a variety of different chains without having to swap equipments.

After swapping elements and adding the Imperils, you can use Heavy Stomp (250% ST 1 Hit Physical Attack + Ignore 50% DEF - normalized to 500%) as an excellent hard hitting chain capper.

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Sworn Six's Pride - Fire - Fire - +30% ATK w/ Axe & +30% ATK w/ Heavy Armour - Materia - 9/10

FV's TMR is great for Axe wielders, providing an excellent +60% ATK boost and turning them into a “major” weapon type. It's unfortunate that it's stuck on a unit and that there are a very limited amount of decent Axes, but this is fantastic for anyone that can benefit from it.

Why would you want Fire Veritas?: Because he's an incredibly strong finisher, being able to reliably finish a variety of chains, while also providing Imperils for chainers that lack them. Even though his supporting skillset pales in comparison to Dark Verita's, FV's versatility and finishing potential are huge, further enhanced by his 1000% counter skill.

However it's not all sunshine and rainbows for FV. Even though he brings his own Axe Mastery materia as a TMR, Axe selections are extremely lackluster compared to other weapons and you currently have to rely on a +85 ATK axe (because Mercedes' Axe hurts you, unless you're capping Tidus chains). Like in JPN, you should be building him towards a Fixed Dice build, making use of the boosted modifiers and weighing on the lack of decent axes.

What about the future? No enhancements for Fire Veritas yet, so expect some juicy number updates!

Veritas of the Earth
And my Shield! … Okay, that doesn't sound as good as the Axe, but Earth Veritas has a damn fine shield, which is linked to his role and TMR. Base 144 DEF (+34 with pots) is excellent, but there's only a +30% DEF passive to back it up, for a great total of 231 DEF.

Equipment selection is the more restricted amongst the Veritas, as he's only able to wield Daggers, Swords, Hammers and Spears and wear Light and Heavy Armours/Shields and Helms. Due to his role, this weapon selection is sufficient, specially the Hammer slot for Mighty Hammer.

EV's supporting skillset is comprised of Kingdom (Absorb Earth Damage & +100% SPR after HP drops below 30% & +100% DEF after HP drops below 30%), providing Earth immunity and a ridiculous defensive buff if his health drops; Tied Up (+100% Paralyze Resist) as his only innate ailment immunity and Protection of the Earth (AoE except Self 3 Turn +100% Earth Resist), extending his earth immunity to the remaining party members.

Finally, there's a decent mitigator in Defensive Barrier (AoE 3 Turn 20% Damage Reduction) and all stat break immunity in All Guard (3 AoE Turn +100% Stat Debuff Resist). His LB is a (270% -> 390% AoE 6 Hit Physical Attack + Ignore 50% DEF & AoE 1 Turn 30% -> 54% Damage Reduction), which is relatively cheap and provides a ridiculous damage mitigation when fully leveled, albeit for a turn only.

Earth Veritas' skillset has some counter support with Counter (30% Chance Counter Physical Attacks) and Eye for an Eye (Doubles Counter Chances), turning him into a Esper Orb/LB Crystal generating machine.

His tanking role is performed by Guardian (3 Turn 60% Chance to Defend Allies from Phys Damage (Reduce +35% Phys./Mag. Damage)) which got a MASSIVE sneak buff in GL, becoming extremely similar to WoL's The Light is with Us, which slightly higher proc chance, but weaker damage reduction (50% for both on TLiwU). This allows EV to function as a very good AoE cover tank and replace WoL if you don't need a breaker.

His tanking set is complemented by Flaming Press (270% AoE 1 Hit Physical Attack & 2 Turn +100% Chance to be Targeted) as a 100% provoke on a stick and Guard Smite (140% ST Physical Attack & Self 1 Turn 50% Damage Reduction) to provide a much needed damage reduction..

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Sworn Six's Pride - Earth - Earth - +40% DEF with Heavy Shield, +40% ATK with Heavy Armour - Materia - 9/10

Excellent materia, offering an “unconditional” (regarding weapons) ATK passive for Heavy Armour damage dealers and a sweet DEF passive for tanks or any support unit that can wield a Heavy Shield.

Why would you want Earth Veritas?: Because he's an excellent cover and provoke tank and a great nuke damage mitigator with his LB. If you don't need WoL's breaks or Embolden (or can provide them from another source), EV is a very suitable replacement, with on-demand mitigation, longer provocation time and that sick LB.

His TMR is also a great selling point, providing a significant DEF buff for heavy shield users and a great ATK buff for heavy armour wearers.

What about the future? No enhancements for EV either, but the GL exclusive change considerably ramps up his usability. There's also a lot of potential for number tweaking here, so be on the lookout!

Victoria
Aah, enough of the heavy armour dudes, let's take a look at our new lovely black mage! Base 146 MAG (+34 with pots) is excellent and there's a whopping +70% MAG from passives to back it up, for a ridiculous total of 306 MAG on a !

Equipment selection is mage's default, as she's able to wield Daggers, Rods, Staves and Maces and wear Robes, Clothes, Hats and Light Shields. Unfortunately no Swords for L&A shenanigans, but innate shields provide some extra protection if need be.

Victoria has access to Dual Black Magic (Use Two Black Magic) to use alongside Meteor (250% AoE 1 Hit Magic Attack + Ignore -25% SPR - normalized to 333%) and Firaja (200% AoE 1 Hit Fire Magic Attack + 100% Each Use (Max: 5)). Firaja is a very viable way to build her as a finisher, as it sports a fantastic 700% final modifier, after just 3 turns.

Her relevant abilities includes Annihilation of Knowledge (AoE 3 Turn -40% MAG/SPR Debuff) as a pretty decent magic based break, Spell of Time (30% Chance 3 Turn Stop) as an arena annoyer and the good ol' Auto-Refresh (Recover 5% MP per Turn).

Her magic based chainer is Overflow (220% AoE 10 Hit Dark Magic Attack + 120% Each Use (Max: 7)), which can reach ridiculous 1060% modifiers, but after 7 turns, as this is an ability and can't be dual cast. Fortunately, this is already imbued with an element, so the chains are gonna be elemental and more than enough to reach the cap for your finishers. Assuming no sparks, this has an effective chain multiplier of 3.175, which is pretty good. Unfortunately, the frame data of 24 Frames between hits is abysmal, and only allows Victoria to chain with a copy and not without issues.

To finish things off, here's a peculiar ability named Evoke Magic (200% MAG per Use (200% Max) until Next Action), which provides a stupidly high MAG boost (+360 MAG with no previous buffs), but takes her turn and only works for the next ability/spell cast. Since this quite a unique ability, I'll take some time to run some napkin math on its viability using some specific thresholds:

Without any MAG buffs:


 * At 491 MAG, this provides a +300% damage boost
 * At 869 MAG, this provides a +100% damage boost
 * At 1601 MAG, this provides a +50% damage boost

Overwriting Focus


 * At 321 MAG, this provides a +300% damage boost
 * At 623 MAG, this provides a +100% damage boost
 * At 1209 MAG, this provides a +50% damage boost

So, Hermit, how do I interpret this data? It's gonna depend on 2 factors, one of which JPN people (and dear /u/Nazta) can confirm: Are you using a spell or ability? If you're using a spell, does the buff persist for the second cast of a DC? the buff doesn't stick for the second cast on a DC, but has special implications for 10-man trials with reflect.

If you're using an ability (like chaining with Overflow), this buff has to provide at least a +100% damage boost to make losing a turn viable, so if your Victoria has less than the number in the middle (869 and 623 MAG), this is worth it (which depends on how well geared she is).

If you're using a spell (like meteor and Alterna) and the buff sticks through DC, this ability is insane and as long as your Victoria's unbuffed MAG is lower than the third number (1601 and 1209), you'll deal more damage by buffing than just landing your nukes (which happens all the time).

If you're using a spell and the buff doesn't persist on the second cast, then the requirements are significantly steeper and your Victoria needs to have unbuffed MAG lower than the first numbers (491 and 321) for the buff to outdamage your nukes (which isn't happening). If you can abuse Reflect, though, things start to get nastier and Victoria gets herself a niche role.

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Dark Robe - +35 DEF, +55 MAG, +20 SPR, +30% Dark Resist - Robe - 9/10

Excellent offensive robe, providing the largest MAG stat on this piece of equipment to date (even in JPN) and some great Dark Resistance to boot. Very likely BiS for many offensive mages.

Why would you want Victoria?: Because she's a very strong magic nuker with Firaja and a proficient elemental magic chainer with Overflow. Very high MAG stat, innate DC and the ability to work as a finisher and a chainer on just a is excellent.

Obviously, she's not without her problems, as even though Overflow can reach stupid modifiers with time, it's still an ability, and thus can't be DC, taking significant time to ramp up. Additionally, it has poor frame-data, so she can only chain with herself. Being imbued with Dark is excellent, though, as it allows her to reach the chain cap and ramp her own damage as well. All of these make Victoria a relevant character for MAG based trials and fights.

What about the future? Out of this banner, Victoria's the only one who received enhancements and aside from the same crappy hit-count split on Meteor that Exdeath got, our little mage gets more MAG passives and a buff to Overflow's modifier (250% base and +150% per tick) for a possible final modifier of 1300%.

Timothy
Yup, you've read that right, a max unit with an A Rank. Tim… othy? Nah, Tim is quite a surprise as a unit and you'll see just why. Due to his support role, his most important stat is going to be his HP so he can take a few hits and survive, but at a base 2355 HP (+300 with pots) and no passives, it's gonna be a constant issue to worry about, even with his innate Camouflage (Decrease Target Chance by 50%) for ST hits.

Equipment selection is very poor, as he's only able to wield Instruments and wear Robes, Clothes and Hats. There are no relevant Instruments on GL as of yet (3 juicy instruments in the veeeeeeeeeery long future, though) and armour selection is meh.

There are 3 relevant fronts on Tim's skillset: Breaks, Imperils and LB. He has access to Imperils for all elements split into 3 different skills: Mischief (ST 3 Turn -40% Fire/Ice/Thunder Resist), Harsh Words (ST 3 Turn -40% Water/Wind/Earth Resist) and Ominous Words (ST 3 Turn -40% Light/Dark Resist). Their downsides is the lower modifier than the standard 50% and that they are ST.

His innate breaks are stupidly good, but are split for each stat: Attack / Defense / Magic / Spiri Kill (ST 3 Turn -50% ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR Debuff, respectively). Once again, a -50% stat break provides +10% extra damage and +18% extra mitigation over -45% offensive and defensive breaks, respectively.

Not only that, but his LB is an out-of-the-park full-break (ST 3 Turn -40%->59% ATK/DEF/MAG/SPR Debuff). -59% breaks provide a +143% damage boost (+34% over -45% breaks) and, more importantly, a ridiculous 83.2% damage mitigation (a whopping +80% over -45% breaks). To add icing to the cake, not only is it extremely cheap at 14 crystals, but Tim has an innate High-Tide (+100% LB Fill Rate) for this to be reliably available once every 3 turns.

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Trick Hat - +35 MAG/SPR, +15% MP - Hat - 9/10

Tim just couldn't leave it at that and decided to reward you with one of the strongest MAG based hats in the game, only surpassed by 2 units in the very far future. This is BiS for Fryevia and pretty much all mages. The extra MP is just icing.

Why would you want Tim?: Quoting /u/Rozaliin, “Uh, because he's fucking awesome? Duh.” That really is it, he's a max unit that puts A LOT of  “support units” to the ground. His breaks are absolutely disgusting, he has Imperils for every elements to supplement Imperil-less parties and has a fantastic TMR to boot.

What about the future? Goomi, Tim when?

Should You Pull?
Even though those are not limited units, I believe pulling to be the adequate choice here. This is such a unit banner in the way that ALL units are useful, not only on their skillsets, but on their TMRs too. 3 Fantastic physical offensive materias, and two excellent magic offensive equipment.

Earth Veritas is basically WoL 2.0 on Global due to Guardian's boost, trading breaks for on-demand mitigation and an exceptional nuke mitigator LB. Victoria is our second legit magic chainer (I'm not forgetting Fry this time!), being able to easily reach the chain cap with her elemental chaining ability and also to work as a proper finisher with Firaja or Alterna builds. Tim is a monster unit, with a cheap, reliable -59% Full Break on his LB and additional -50% Breaks and -40% Imperils for all stats and elements on his skillset.

For whales, the obvious prize here is Dark Veritas, but both units are excellent. DV is Orlandu #2, providing not only a chaining partner for current and future trials (specially the 10-man ones) but a great supporting kit as well. FV is an awesome finisher, being able to hop in a myriad of different chains with his own Imperil and elemental imbues.

If you're not a whale and pulled either units, gimme some of your luck, plz yay!