Yeah, so FF12 event up next. Balthier's (Alternately, Valfreya*) MC2 and a bunch of shit I don't care about based on the description. Any info on what the SSBs actually are, Snow?
*I am having way more fun doing this than is reasonable, guys
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So, Rufio. Crow for me, bitch. I beat him, but missed mastery by quite a lot.
This has been an interesting fight to get information from. For instance, today I learned that Dispel isn't actually that annoying, because while it does get rid of Protect/Shell/Regen/Haste, it does NOT get rid of buffs that directly affect the stat (SG, Sun Bath, etc.) and does not cancel out Reraise. So Dark Nation's Dispel is, while annoying, not the massive threat it seemed to be on the first try. I also learned that Black Panther is way smarter than, say, Dark Bahamut, because reflecting his teammates does not lead to him reflecting haste onto you. Literally after I typed that it happened in the next run. It was a failed run because Ramza was dead, but well it does happen apparently.
After several resets, I've determined that I have no fucking idea how Rufus' AI works, but I have an OK theory. I'm pretty sure KBP was wrong (EDIT: After writing this, I looked back at the wiki and they've updated with correct information. I guess nobody else playing had any idea how it worked for a while either), and it isn't after Dark Nation bites it, but after a certain number of turns that Rufus just goes "MAKO CANNON MAKO CANNON MAKO CANNON" and you die. Or it could be bad luck! But I think not. No matter if I focused down his puppy, if I focused him down, or if I spread the damage between them, always around the time Aeris gets her first SB gauge filled I get a Mako cannon to the face, and then several more. For a while, he'll go back to his starting attack pattern, but then MAKO CANNON MAKO CANNON. Actually, I documented his moved over several times to see if they were fixed, and it seems like after about turn 8-10 or so the Mako Cannon floodgates open and while he doesn't use it quite every turn, he uses it a shitload. For the record, my winning run looked something like this:
1. Shotgun
2. Shotgun
3. Kyuk Kyuk Gatling
4. Double Shotgun
5. Gatling
6. MT Fire attack
7. Gatling
8. Shotgun
9. Gatling
10. Mako Cannon
11. Mako Cannon
12. Mako Cannon
13. MT Fire
14. Mako Fire
15. Mako Cannon
16. Mako Fire
17. Mako Fire
18. Mako Cannon
19. Mako Cannon (Second SG wore off here)
20. Shotgun
21. Mako Cannon
22. Mako Cannon (Aeris Dead)
23. Mako Cannon (Agrias dead, Aeris Double dead)
24. Shotgun (Agrias double dead)
25. Mako Cannon (Mog, Ramza dead)
I beat him this round, but only Zack was left alive and it was super tense. As you can see, after about turn 10 or so he just started spamming that blasted fucking move without remorse.
I'm not quite sure if mastery is possible, and if it is it's going to take a lot of S/Ling for RNG luck, but the obvious improvement is swapping Agrias out. Reflect did contribute, but not very much, and Agrias herself contributed very little in the back half of the fight once Dispel wasn't a necessity. Unless Rufio's MDef is stupid, swapping in Terra with Dispel/Waterja will be an immediate extra 2500+ a round in the last half of the fight. Gilgamesh with Come At Me Bro is tempting, too, especially to counter the double shotguns and give me an extra boost of damage while Dark Nation is still alive, assuming his ST attack is indeed Reta-able. Plus, he does have more HP than anyone else I'm fielding, but... not having dispel potentially means bringing on the Mako Cannon phase of the fight sooner than later, or going into that phase of the fight with him hasted. I suppose I could swap Break Fever out, if I went this way, since Gilgy would be providing mitigation against ST attacks. It'd be an RNG fest for sure, but it's not like the first phase wasn't already... actually, that's sounding really fuckin' sexy.
Mmph, I wish I could test out his RES without spending another 3 hours of stamina. Maybe I'll actually do Terra first just so I know for sure if it's a valid route or not and I'm not wasting time S/Ling Gilgamesh's waiting for the perfect RNG roll. EDIT: Definitely trying Terra first, actually, because the accessory I earned from it gives 45 MAG with synergy. Yuss.