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Update 58: Preparing for the 4th Boss
Before we get to voting on the party that takes on the 4th Stratum boss, let's see how our guild is doing.
Oh and just a word of warning, if you're on the Deep City route, you're going to face an entirely different boss. So any advice I offer here does not apply to that boss.
It's probably too late for diplomacy.
Cassandra is our defensive support, and is capable of protecting our party against physical and elemental attacks. The latter is really useful in the upcoming fight.
I may not be good at fighting, but I'll do my best to help!
Despite Alice being good at assassinating enemies, she's not that great when it comes to boss fights. She could probably throw items to others and dodge things. Maybe.
I wonder if I could be helpful in a big fight.
Fang is our main source of ailments. He might be able to actually contribute in the upcoming fight, since it is somewhat susceptible to ailments.
I wonder if it will truly come to blows.
Akatsuki is a fast support, being able to nullify our party's TP costs and deals some okay damage if he should fight.
Hrm. I hope this doesn't become a full blown war.
Asteria is our elemental attacks and one of our stronger damage dealers.
Somehow I get the feeling I should bring some really strong people down to the 16th floor.
Form Qi now provides a 50% boost to healing skills.
Faye is pretty much the best support to bring for the fight. She's a really good healer, and she can dispel both ailments and binds. That last part is really important for the fight.
Sheesh. I feel sorry for Rose and Charlotte. Being on the receiving end of Faye's rants ain't fun, I'll tell ya that.
Armor Piercer is now level 4, so it deals 185% damage. But getting it up to that level unlocks a pretty neat skill for Sidney.
Once is never enough!
It's just as high as he can count!
HEY!
Double Action is a really good passive. Whenever Sidney uses an attacking skill, he has a very small chance to use that same again in the same turn for free. Unfortunately, it only works with single target skills. At level 1, it provides a 10% chance for a skill to activate again.
Sidney is by far our best physical attacker. He hits really hard with Front Mortar, and Double Action now gives a small chance for him to use it in the same turn again.
Wait, what happened with Faye?
I said I don't want to talk about it!
Still working towards Swashbuckling.
Susan is a good buffing support, enabling our party to deal way more physical damage with both Attack Order and Eagle Eye. Prevent Order is also good for blocking any incoming ailments. Unfortunately, it doesn't work with binds, which are the bigger threat in this fight.
You sure you don't want me to teach you a couple of sea shanties for what Faye has you doing?
I already said no thanks.
Rapier Mastery now provides a 9% boost to regular attacks.
Scott is a pretty fast attacker and hits decently hard. But the other guild members are about to catch up with him in terms of damage since the Jolly Roger has the power of a 5th Stratum Rapier.
Hmph. I was hoping the flaming katana would let us off easily. Maybe I should have covered it in ice or electricity instead.
Oh shoot, I forgot to have her forget Kaishaku. Oh well, I'll have to hope that it's not an issue in the upcoming fight.
Had her max out Endure again.
My skills with a blade are returning to me!
And I have her learn Katana Mastery so she can do some stuff other than Swashbuckling shenanigans. At level 1, it provides a 2% damage boost to Charlotte's regular attacks when she uses a Katana, not Swords like its description claims.
Charlotte can build up Limit super fast and attack multiple times with Swashbuckling. Eagle Eye also enables other physical attackers to hit even harder.
Ugh. I can't believe Faye's making us do gathering work now! That's supposed to be Alice's job!
Maybe if you didn't spend all of the money Alice worked soooo hard to earn for us...
I get the point! Sheesh!
So I asked people if I should rework Rose's skillset to show something off. The results were unanimous. So I retooled her skillset entirely and gave her the flaming Katana.
Endless Battle is now level 10, so Rose gains a 25% damage boost to her physical attacks.
I also go ahead and max out Berserker Vow, which increases her physical attack power by 90% for 4 turns at the cost of losing 90% of her current HP on cast. The latter part isn't much of a penalty if you use the skill right.
That katana better have been worth it!
I have her put a point in Katana Mastery so she can wield the flaming Katana.
Maxing out Endure on her.
Getting Bloody Lance up to 3.
Can't keep me tied down!
I have her learn Unified Spirit and level it up to 3. What it does is that it places a buff on Rose that nullifies any binds targeted at her for 4 turns. Unlike Prevent Order, it doesn't wear off if it blocks any binds. At level 3, the cost gets lowered from 12 TP at level 1, to 8 TP. Oh and the reason I got that skill was because...
I'll follow your lead! Just let me know when to strike.
Behold. The most utterly broken skill in the game. Warrior Might is kind of like the Buccaneer's Chaser skills. Only far far better. For one thing, it chases all attacks. Not just ones of a specific damage type. And unlike the Chasers, which only have a chance to chase an attack, Warrior Might is guaranteed to chase every single attack that connects with the enemies. I'm sure you can see where this is going. There have been setups made to exploit this with terrifying results. It is by far the best damage skill in the game, simply because it outputs so much damage with the right party setup. It's decently strong otherwise, but it doesn't utterly trivialize the entire game in that case. It's only marginally weaker than the chasers, dealing only 165% damage instead of 170% at level 10, but that's really not an issue. And unlike the Chasers, it does increase the amount of incoming damage by a huge amount, but that's hardly a risk. Especially when you have a Gladiator learn this skill. Oh and the reason I had Rose equip the flaming Katana? Well elemental forges provide a 10% damage boost for each forge, but it only works for regular attacks... and chasers! So that's even more damage that Rose can dish out with this. Mind you in order to get the most out of this, she needs to be paired up with people that know Swashbuckling. Otherwise she's just a decent damage dealer, but nothing special.
And then I spend the rest of her skill points in various places.
Rose is potentially our best damage dealer, even out-damaging Sidney. However, she's probably an even bigger glass cannon than him, shattering if something even looks at her funny. But if used properly, she's a harbinger of destruction.
And here's some info on the boss itself.
Stratum 4 Boss
Level: 50
HP: 12830
AT: 48
DF: 44
Weakness: N/A
Resistance: Volt
Absolute must haves:
-A Monk with Unbind at level 7 or higher. If you don't have that, you better bring along a ton of Therica As, or you'll really regret it. If you don't, bringing along a Hoplite with a max level Antivolt will be necessary. (A lower leveled version will not cut it.)
-Any form of Fire defense, such as a high level Antifire or Fire Mists. You're not gonna last long without those.
Highly recommended, but not required:
-A way to dispel ailments, such as a Monk's Refresh or Therica Bs.
-Defense against Volt attacks if you already have a way to deal with binds. Volt Mists or a high level Antivolt will suffice.
Just don't:
-Going for its conditional drop the normal way. Seriously it's the worst conditional drop in the game to try to get. Use a Formaldehyde if you really want it.
Now, vote for up to 3 characters to come along for the fight. Votes must be bolded.
Also, what do you think the 5th Stratum will look like?