User blog:Valthan/Squad Building 101



Building a good squad is kind of like a puzzle. It's all about sticking as many different effects as you can together with as few of them overlapping as possible. For example, you wouldn't want two units who increase Atk to be on the same team. Why? Because only one of them can be active at a time. When the second one activates their ability, it will simply overwrite the old one.

This doesn't sound so bad? Well, you're right. It isn't the end of the world if there's some overlap. But that's only if their effects are around the same strength. If the first unit increased Atk by 140%, but the second one only increased it by 100%, then you would lose 40%! Seems much more important now, doesn't it?

Units that heal over multiple turns work like this, too. It works just like the other buffs. If one healer does it, then a second one, then only the second one will stick. Burst healers, though, will heal your squad directly, so they don't have this problem.

There are some exceptions to this rule, however. Effects from an Ultimate Brave Burst will never overwrite any other effects. Instead, they'll stack on top of them! Leader Skill effects also stack like this; as do Extra Skills and Sphere effects. So all you really need to worry about are the effects from Brave Burst and Super Brave Burst.

Let's do an example, shall we?

Example Squad
Neptunian Tridon

Tridon's BB and SBB both cast an Earth shield with additional effects. His BB heals the squad over 3 turns while his SBB gives a 140% Def buff and increases BC and HC drop rates by 30% each.

Virtuous Champion Krantz

Krantz's BB and SBB both provide 50% damage mitigation along with giving Light and Dark element buffs to his team. His BB will cure status ailments on the team. His SBB will provide a burst heal.

Imperator Zedus

Zedus's BB increases Spark Damage by 70% and increases the Elemental Weakness damage bonus by 50%. His SBB increases Spark Damage by 80%, Critical Damage by 50% and has a 50% chance of decreasing the enemies' Atk and Def by 50%. If he has his Extra Skill, both his BB and SBB will increase Critical Hit Rate by 60%.

Sanguine Hood Ciara

Ciara's BB increases Atk by 115%. Her SBB increases Atk by 140% and adds Fire, Water, Earth and Thunder element buffs to her team. If she has her Extra Skill, both her BB and SBB will add a Def Ignore effect.

Pumleficent Semira

Semira's BB has a 75% chance of causing Poison, Paralysis, Curse, Weak and negates all status ailments. Her SBB has an 80% chance of causing Poison, Paralysis, Curse, Weak, negates all status ailments and increases BC and HC drop rates by 35% each. If she has her Extra Skill, both her BB and SBB will also remove status ailments that are already there in addition to negating new ones.

Inferno Rifle Bestie

Bestie's BB increases everyone's BB gauge by 4 BC for 3 turns in addition to 6 BC immediately. Her SBB gives a buff that will increase their BB gauge by 4-7 BC each time they're attacked in addition to increasing BB gauge fill rate by 30%.

Results
Well now. Let's see how we did, shall we? For these results, let's make Tridon the Leader and Bestie the Friend Leader. Then we will look at what happens when everyone uses their SBB.

Total Effects (Leader Skills + all SBBs)


 * HP +70%
 * Atk +140%
 * Def +170%
 * Rec +50%
 * Burst heal worth (3000~5000 + 22.5% of Krantz's Rec)
 * BB gauge consumption reduced by 25%
 * BB gauge requirement reduced by 25%
 * BB gauge fill rate +30%
 * BC and HC drop rates +30% OR +35% (!)
 * Damage taken boosts BB gauge by 4-7 BC
 * ALL elemental damage
 * Def Ignore
 * Critical Hit Rate capped at 70%
 * Critical Damage +50%
 * Spark Damage +80%
 * Damage Mitigated by 55%
 * Earth elemental shield with 3000 HP and 3000 Def
 * 80% chance of causing Poison, Paralysis, Curse, Weak
 * 50% chance of causing Atk and Def Down by 50%
 * All status ailments removed and negated

Oh, dear. It seems that despite my best efforts we still have a little bit of a clash. Tridon and Semira both provide BC and HC buffs. Thankfully the difference is only 5%. I can live with that.

The inclusion of Weak and Def Down seems a bit pointless when we have Def Ignore. It's not entirely useless, however. In raids, other squads might not have Def Ignore and they will be thankful for these debuffs.

All in all, not a bad squad. I hope this has been enlightening for you.