Ultimate Vossler mastered. Took only 3 tries, mostly a case of getting a feel of the fight and when to drop certain aspects.
Team:
Vaan (65): Lohegrin, Genji Helm (VI I think? The one with Divine Majesty), Some Strength Boosting Accessory, R5 Tempo Flurry, R3 Steal Power, Dragoon's Determination
Cecil (65): Diamond Sword++ (XII), Viking's Coat, Godo's Mask, R4 Dispel, R3 Armor Strike, Self Sacrifice
Tyro (70): Ras Alghetti, Eden's Coat, Omega Badge, R3 Banish Blade, R3 Lifesiphon, Dr. Mog's Teachings
Rinoa (60): Bronze Mace++, Mystery Veil, Magic Gloves, R2 Meteor, R4 Waterja, Devotion
Yuna (64): Lullaby Rod, Priest's Miter, whatever my best Mind Boosting accessory was, R2 Protectga, R4 Curaja, Mako's Might
RW: Hand of the Emperor
The roles should be pretty clear, but I'll cover them nonetheless. Vaan was again a primary damage dealer, having a natural 5* with Synergy (Lohegrin is 1 away from Blazefire Sabre, so it's not even a bad one), and Steal Power, which means double duty as he's also covering Mitigation. His one weakness is lack of a decent Soul Break, but I guess Red Spiral is OK if he really needs a damage push. Mostly though, Tempo Flurry lasted the fight; I think he ran out of ammo on his last turn and had to use a basic physical but overall, wasn't meaningful. Tempo Flurry chosen for a few reasons:
-one of my few R5 skills, and with Vaan having one slot for Steal Power, there you go
-2 Hits, thought he might break 10k with HotE and Steal Power; he doesn't sadly (Though he wasn't far)
-Inflicts Slow, which is a condition; if he can hit with it, I won't have to manipulate things for Rinoa later. Winning Run, go figure, he doesn't, so bah
-It's a fast skill, so it helps insure 2 turns between Steal Powers. Might not be necessary, but the extra insurance is handy
Cecil because I needed 3* Magic user and I wanted someone who can do OTHER THINGS. I could have given it to Rinoa, but well, I'll get to that later. Cecil honestly just ended up being the perfect fit. Let's look at everything he was able to do in this fight:
-Dispel for the condition. Also he can use it to get rid of Reflect and Rinoa's damage is roughly similar to his boosted Armor Strike anyway, so it's an even trade
-Armor Strike w/ Shield Grimoire and Hand of the Emperor hits really hard, like 7k hard. Yeah, not as good as Vaan, but it's note-able.
-Tank, making him great for Quadruple set ups, especially since I gave him the Viking Coat (5* Synergy armor!)
Self Sacrifice was pretty much a perfect fit here of course, won't have to get into why. Basically, Cecil casts dispel when necessary, getting the condition and removing Reflect, has 6 turns of really good damage with an occassional "ok" hit with Cerulean Shock. When he runs out of Ammo? He simply defends the rest of the fight. At this point, Vossler is in his Quadruple Phase, and Cecil backed up by all the mitigation defending basically was always my highest HP Character even after being hit with *2* Quadruples, so Yuna focuses on healing him everyturn, and so long as my mitigation doesn't fall behind, I'm good.
Tyro's there because Shield Grimoire basically, because why else? Unlike Beatrix, his offense was meaningful here, at least with HotE. He was using a 5* Synergy weapon after all, in Back Row no less. Lifesiphon of course insured he'd get SG built up before it ran out so I wouldn't be caught without it, Banishing Blade is that extra Dispel option to stop Enrage and Reflect.
Now you might question why I chose Rinoa as my Black Mage instead of Ashe, who is similar leveled AND has Synergy. The answer? Angelo Quake. The 100% chance of inflicting Slow AND still hitting Vossler for about 5.5k meant she was an ideal Black Mage here. Turns out this was the right call because, as I said, Vaan didn't get any Slow activation with Tempo Flurry, so Rinoa squeezing in Angelo Quake right before the 2nd knight died insured I got the req. Otherwise? She casts Meteor in the first 4 turns, hitting all targets for high damage; I mathed it out and even if she hit 9999 every shot, Vossler would still be in his initial phase when she ran out of Meteors, so obvious opening.
Also, I needed a Black Mage for this fight anyway, given his condition. Meteor insured that I never had to worry about Reflect screwing me over. Generally though, I had enough Dispel that Rinoa could use Waterja fine, so long as I never fired it off until I waited for his actions.
Yuna...you know the routine by now. She has Hymn of the Fayth and thus is my staple White Mage in all content. The only notable change is I have Curaja at R4 now, which is meaningful since it insured I could always offset his damage against Cecil putting him back at #1 health to eat more quadruples. Protectga was an obvious 2nd move because the only magic attack is from his support, which Shield Grimoire + Heavy Regen is more than capable of handling by itself and they don't last long enough.
Why Hand of the Emperor? Similar to Beatrix, the defense push is quite handy and it was a better boost than what Planet Protector gives since it stacks with Steal Power, as well as increasing Armor Strike by a similar amount due to how that works.
Overall? I think this was the best handled Ultimate thus far. There really felt like minimal RNG involved in it; it was really a case of just learning the pace of the fight and how to handle things. While Beatrix wasn't bad there was still that "Don't cast Holy, don't cast Holy, PLEASE DON'T CAST HOLY!" moments and all that. Here? Vossler actually is scripted in how his moves work in a way you can build around, and plan accordingly. It's the first Ultimate where I felt like I had a sense of control of the fight, instead of "things will be fine if the RNG doesn't hate me!" Again, Beatrix was definitely a step in the right direction, since a big thing with her was her targeting WASN'T random, for her notable moves, but Vossler felt like they took another step in the right direction, more asking you to play very cautiously, as RNG was a very minor factor. Yeah what moves he does was random, but a lot of how they work means it didn't really matter if you were planning right; it's all about having the right resources and using them appropriately.
