So, funny story. I based my team's lategame partially around Strago being able to be my status whore for the late floors that have mobs of PCs. There is one minor kink in that plan, however. Specifically... unlike, uh, FF7, FF8, FF10, and FF12 (enemies), FF6 has the lousy *single-target* version of Bad Breath, like FF9. Despite having the Bio Blaster animation, Sour Mouth is in fact ST. Oops! Oh, well. (Hence the boss heavier floor pick, where Strago can still contribute Big Guards, strategic status-one-enemy deals, etc.) (Also, insert STONE hype for mass Confuse?! [no])
Strago, Red, & Feena are largely unchanged from post here:
http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php/topic,5907.msg137177.html#msg137177Celes's repertoire:
Cure/Cure2/Cure3/Antdot/Regen/Remedy/Life/Life2/Life3
Ice/Ice2/Ice3/Fire/Fire3/Bolt3/Bio
Imp/Sleep/Mute/Break/Muddle/Berserk/Doom/Vanish/Haste/Slow/Demi/Rasp/Osmose/Safe/Shell/Dispel/
Learned this floor: Quick
Team Snowfire | Celes, Feena, Red XIII, Strago (Neo Speed), Ricardo
[Celes: Kirin , Siren, Shoat, Unicorn, Phantom, ZoneSeek, Tritoch, Phoenix, Raiden] [Feena: All Eggs]
Floor 7a: The Elemental Ties that Bind
Team Snowfire vs. Sasarai, Tengaar, Hellion and Scarmiglione-Z (FF4DS)
Tengaar probably throws up Canopy Defense here. Feena blows it away with an MT spell that gets nulled. [SIDE NOTE: Scarmiglione apparently has a 50% counter against offensive magic. I'm not sure the counter would trigger when the offensive magic is nulled, though. Even if you see the counter as happening, it might be possible to remove Canopy Defense with something that wouldn't qualify as an "offensive spell" to Scar? He apparently doesn't counter healing, for example, so maybe heals / status / something might do the trick here anyway.] Red beats down somewhere. Strago... depending on how much Yellow Scarf hype there is, he might go for Sour Mouth on Sasarai, or he could stick with Big Guard. Ricardo does something. Sas, assuming he's non statused... probably wants to cast Earthquake, that'll resolve before Celes's turn. (Land of Eternity & Silent Lake are slow. Another Canopy Defense means that nobody is doing offense and I can get buffing.) Anyway, Celes summons Raiden on her turn, and that wipes the Suikoden crew for whom Yellow Scarves don't stop ID. Somebody heals away Earthquake's damage. With no Canopy Defense, Alhealer+ might just OHKO Scar depending on how it works, and he's not a threat anyway without counters, which I won't trigger since I'll kill him with only healing. Let Ricardo get a bunch of Stock.
Team Snowfire vs. Barbariccia, S2 Luc, Tiamat (FF1) and Flik
Barbariccia is apparently no longer actually really fast in FF4DS, and has the following line:
Vulnerable to Blind, Paralyze, Poison, Sap, Silence, and Slow
She gets off one turn (at best?) which doesn't accomplish a whole lot. Let's grant her turn-1 speed respect but figure out who she could kill later and assume for now that she's not seen as fast. Luc can throw in some MT wind damage as well (his Sleep is terribad in S2 apparently). Red & Feena hit Flik (Feena possibly using MT), which may not be enough depending on Feena damage respect - if so, Ricardo blows stock to finish the job, then uses EternalTreasure for DEF/SDEF buffing. Strago Sour Mouths Barbariccia. If Celes as seen as > average speed, that's a win on the spot, either heal or do something cheaty. Otherwise, Tiamat has 3HKO elemental MT damage, but it's ramming into buffs by now, and certainly won't off Celes.
So... worst case scenario is probably this. Grant Luc / Barb speed hype. Killing Celes is impossible... and someone other than Feena tends to lead to badness. So sure, let's say Barb physical + Luc Shredding kills Feena. Red... probably gets a Limit and a free turn somewhere, but let's ignore that. He Life2s Feena. Strago Sour Mouths Barb. Ricardo EternalTreasures (and possibly even blows Stock for an Arc Cure if necessary?). This... basically buys Flik a turn. Except now that the buff is in play, he can't kill full-HP and buffed Feena, and he definitely can't kill the Lightning-immune Celes. So he can zap one of Strago / Ricardo / Red, maybe, if Ricardo didn't Arc Cure as well and the right S2 damage average is used. Let's say Red to deny revival. Tiamat can get a turn, but it won't kill anyone even ignoring the buff. Celes Raidens out Flik & Luc. gg, Tiamat & statused Barb can't take this vs. plenty of revivers and Celes.
Team Snowfire vs. Kary, Ho-oh and Rubicante
This is an interesting fight. DS Rubicante's Inferno is apparently an insane MT OHKO according to the topic, and Sunny Day boosts it further. (I talked with Meeple.... apparently Rosa & Rydia take half the damage listed, and Cecil without resistance takes the listed number straight (but will have strong Fire Resistance in-game), but Edge explodes. Edge must explode with ridiculously over the top numbers to drive the average that high, so I'm a little suspicious, but I doubt it matters with Sunny Day anyway.) So, the winning plan is in killing or disabling Kary - the only source of good physicals - letting everyone die to Rubicante's Inferno, then having Celes solo Rubicante. Once just Ho-oh is left, revive everyone so that the next fight is winnable. (Ho-oh can't really do anything to Celes either.)
FF4DS Rubicante is below average speed, Kary is average speed, Ho-oh is fastish but largely ST. Ho-oh wants to Sunny Day, I think. It hoses Strago's Water magic and makes Rubicante's Inferno even more freakishly damaging to deter me from a stalling strategy, while his ST damage isn't overly scary. (If he Safeguards he just gets ignored, he can't really damage Celes if Kary falls anyway.) So... Kary beatdown time. There are two ways to win here:
- Plan A: Just kill Kary - easier if you see Celes as faster than average or have low FF1 boss respect. (NEB's latest topic only sticks Kary HP at 0.70 PCHP.) End of the World (non-elemental) + Red physical + GrandTrain + 2x Gale Blast (Ricardo's wind damage spell, it's not THAT bad a damage drop) + ? Celes's resisted Ice3 ?... even if you disrespect the damage, 5-6 attacks add up. You probably need to respect Kary as reasonably tanky to survive this.
- Plan B: Kary only resists "Mind" based status by 30%. To quote the topic:
Mind: Sort of a catch-all that includes any status effects which could be considered Mental. Sleep, Stun, Confuse, Silence, Slow, Darkness, and Fear all fall under this category.
So Feena Snoozes, Strago Sour Mouths Kary, and if Celes is seen as faster than average, she can throws in her status attempt as well. That should add up to a solid 70-90% of a status landing.
After that, as noted, Rubicante wipes out non-Celes characters. Celes Imps Ho-oh if necessary, and that never wears off. (Ho-oh was probably statused round 1 if less damage than all 5 character's turns were needed to kill Kary, or in the status blitz option if the status landed on Kary from Feena or Strago's attempts.) Rubicante is left with a bad physical to threaten the evasive Celes with, and he has to spend a turn to unlock it with Close Cape. Celes kills the statused Kary if "Plan B" was used, then kills slowish Rubicante with buffs and healing. FF4DS bosses have MP you can Osmose from and even drain them entirely of, apparently, so she isn't resource threatened - in fact she might even take away his ability to Inferno with Rasp, but whatever, doesn't matter so long as Ho-oh is statused. Celes Lifes the team, Ricardo plays MP-regen is needed, builds Stock if needed on a Ho-Oh who gets healed.
Team Snowfire vs. Suicune, Marle, Lenus, Umi (Cthulu) and Cagnazzo (FF4DS)
Cag & Marle are slow. Lenus, bizarrely enough, is also slow... well, she starts slow, and gets super-speed at 60% HP for Lenus1. Lenus1's good moves are also locked until 60% HP. She probably wants her sucky in-game Lenus2 form, which can at least spam .35 PCHP damage MT from the start.
That leaves Suicune and Umi for fastish. Celes getting a turn is, as usual, deadly. Umi can Seal Strike.... but... that risks somebody status-healing Celes. Stun Strike is 60% chance, if it hits, which it very well may not since Celes has good block / dodge. So she plays it safe and goes for Siren's Call to trade turns and drive Celes insane. Suicune... well, damage doesn't do a lot here, so let's say Rainy Day to drive Lenus's MT 3HKO up to barely-a-2HKO? Otherwise, this team lets me play my game. Feena & Red kill Marle (throw in Ricardo if you have insane Marle tank respect I guess), Strago can either Big Guard or Sour Mouth Umi, Ricardo buffs the team and can blow Stock to do something else, etc. Lenus & Cag can't kill anybody post-Ricardo buff - Cag has an ST 2HKO, Lenus has a Water-elemental MT 2HKO post-Rainy Day, and that won't work against my buff. Feena can use Alhealer + or even Tree of Life if necessary; otherwise, if Umi has been statused, the team has nothing to stop Celes from getting turns. Suicune can be statused or killed with Zap Whips or whatever, Cag is worthless, Lenus is saved for last and answered by spamming MT cures. Ricardo rebuilds Stock and plays the MP-regen song.
Team Snowfire vs. Yuri2, Alice, Id and Ashera
I haven't played FE10 yet (although I will soon!) so I'm fuzzy on Ashera. I'm going to assume an average speed Ashera here.
Id beats the snot out of somebody - either Feena or Celes, probably. Id is also frail, so 2/3 of Feena/Red/Ricardo knock him out before he gets a second turn. I'll reserve the third action taken aside from killing Id and note that my team has a free action available. Strago Sour Mouths Yuri2 - SH2 can't block Imp. Ashera does something. However, only whoever Id attacked has taken damage yet, and Ashera doesn't have a OHKO nor really MT, so she at best kills the person who took damage. Celes, if still alive, is definitely faster than Alice, so Quicks then either has two shots at Imp status on Alice, or just double-Rasps all her MP leaving her with book beatdown. After the statused SH characters are dispensed, it's then my team vs. Ashera. I believe I win that with massive healing + revives.
Okay, so thinking on it... if Celes is faster than Ashera ( =average?), then it doesn't matter who Id hits. I get to status both Yuri & Alice. If Celes is slower... Id definitely wants to attack Celes. So Id beatdown + Ashera damage might take Celes out before she gets a turn. Right. So let's say Id hits Celes, and take the interp where Celes is slower than Ashera. There are several ways to win out regardless.
If Id is seen as sufficiently frail (stat topic claims 0.67 PCHP, I believe, takes extra damage from physicals, but has 25% evade vs. physicals), then Red + Ricardo take him down single-handedly. According to the FF7 stat topic, full-MP endgame Red XIII deals .51 PCHP damage. (And he'll have full MP thanks to Ricardo stalling in the fight before.) So long as Red's attack hits, Ricardo only needs to spend one magic spell to finish Id off. He can spend the other spell Galing Celes so that she hustles out Ashera on the tiebreak. Additionally, Feena still has a turn. She can either open with Snooze and see what happens - it's 50% Sleep or so MT, maybe sleep both SH characters and make it easy, maybe sleep 1 and free up Strago to status the other rendering Celes speed moot - or she can just fullheal Celes so that she survives an Ashera turn. She can also smash Id with magic as an insurance policy in case Red XIII's attack misses. Of course, she has to pick just one action, but they all help my chances in a game of rocket tag with percentages attached.
Also, even if disaster strikes and Id evades an attack, Celes is seen as below average speed, Ricardo can't spare a turn to Gale Celes, etc., this means that one of Id / Alice / Yuri gets a turn. That's bad, but with Ashera being mostly ST, it may not be "lose the fight" bad considering the sheer amount of buffs / healing / revival. For example, if Id hits Celes, Feena fullheals Celes, but Red screws up and misses Id.... Ricardo doesn't even bother trying to damage Id, Gales Celes, and Celes still gets Quick'd turns to both status Alice & drop pain on Id. Id will survive and unleash more fast pain, but with Tree of Life and lots of revival I can still finish off Id round 2 then rebuild my position.
Once Ashera's left, think it's easy. Apparently the Reflections reflect some damage when dealt non-lethal damage. There aren't any MT attacks in game, so it's not clear if MT spells get reflected or not, but let's say they do - I still have a pile of buffs & revival, so MT spell->character dies->MT-> Ashera reflections die -> revive my dead mage should do the trick.
It's rocket tag, but a game of which that's in my favor I believe.
(EDIT: Had a few names transposed above, other minor fixes. Nothing like theorizing about RPG characters at 2:30 AM.)
