User blog:Zexia0053/Understanding Extra Skills

I've been asked by my friends a lot on using extra skills, so... I guess I'll just make a guide on them.

Extra Skills
An Extra Skill is a skill (similar to Leader Skills) that can be obtained by 7 Stars in BF. Unlike Leader Skills, which like the name says needs the said unit to be a Leader, Extra Skills can be used at any position in your team (Leader or not doesn't matter).

Unlocking Extra Skills
Unlocking an Extra Skill is not too hard, but I can assure you they need a lot of Burst Frogs if you're lazy and have no patience.

Requirements: The hard part here is either Are you ready to play hard to get your extra skills now?
 * 1) Unit has to be 7* (obviously?)
 * 2) SBB fully leveled (at this point there'll be a cutscene similar to that of a 6* unlocking SBB)
 * 1) Trying to get Legend Stones. Those are the evolution material for some 7* units, which unfortunately, only 3 existed for each player through the Brave Points Redeeming shop. I feel bad because I could not get my 2nd and 3rd stones.
 * 2) Mecha Gods. The respective elemental Mecha Gods are no pushovers, in fact with the wrong squad you could end up burning a gem or two trying to get one.
 * 3) Metal Mimics. Some units need them to get 6* forms, and some for their 7* forms. The problem being obtaining them, since you need a Bat Mimic, Metal Ghost, King and God to get one.
 * 4) Evolution cost. 1.5 million to evolve a 6* into 7*. Pray you have that amount of Zel. Add that with an extra 200K Zel for a Metal Mimic (if required) and you have a total cost of 1.7 million Zel or even 1.9 million if you need two Metal Mimics.
 * 5) Extra Skill spheres. In the case of some units their Extra Skills need their respective Spheres to activate. Should be easy, if those spheres were not located in the Grand Gaia Chronicles or other hard-to-access areas.

Activation of Extra Skills
There are 2 known conditions to activate a 7* unit's Extra Skill. A 3rd condition only available in JP at the moment is to have a unit of a certain name in your team. This only applies to Claire and Colt, whose Leader Skills, Bonds of Fire and Ice, can be triggered by EITHER having Claire and Colt in the same team, or having their respective Spheres Blazing Lance and Freezing Blade equipped.
 * 1) SBB fully pumped. This is the easier of the two conditions, as all you need is a maxed-out SBB.
 * 2) Equipping of certain Spheres. Some units (i.e. The Six Heroes, Claire and Colt of the Guardians of Meirith, and Sefia and Kikuri in JP) need to equip their respective Spheres, for example, Lexida for Selena to activate the said Extra Skill.

Arena Use: Not on Opponents' Side??
Strangely enough, despite being available to 7* units if they fulfill its conditions, Extra Skills do NOT apply on your opponent team.

My speculation being the fact Extra Skills are not applied so to ensure an overall level of balance in Arenas.

Extra Skill Effects:
Each of the Extra Skills and their effects, and a bit of my own opinion in them. As a side note though, I will ONLY cover what BFGlobal has released, exception being Sefia and Kikuri.

Flame Legend Vargas: Spark of Future Flames

It's time to set the Earth on fire, boys! Vargas' Extra Skill gives him an extra 20% boost to all stats (a common trait of The Six Heroes' Extra Skill) and a buff to damage towards weak elements (50%) when he equips Dandelga.

This would be good, but unfortunately the said weak element damage buff does not work with elemental conversion BBs, which is a trait shared between weak element damage buffs of other units. Overall still a good Extra Skill, if it were not limited to his element alone.

Ice Legend Selena: Bearer of Honor

In addition to the 20% all-stats boost, said Extra Skill also grants Selena what I call the Angel's Blessing buff, which allows her to survive any potential finishing attack once for as long as her health hits 20% or less, which is similar to the Angel/Goddess Idol buff. Activates if she equips Lexida.

From being a good healer/attacker, Selena just got promoted to a all-rounded tank/heal/attack queen, and I'll give her the Eternal Queen title simply because she can survive any potential killer attack on her. Combine that with Lexida's 30% health bonus and its health regen abilities, this makes her really tough to kill in long-run battles such as Trials, GGC and Frontier Hunter. One of the best Extras in my opinion.

Earth Legend Lance: Return to the Great Tree

20% all stats boost, and a probable mini-mitigator effect (20% chance to reduce 20% of all incoming damage) when equipped with Drevas

Overall his stat boost is the saving grace, since the mini-mitigation effect has a 20% chance to proc and reduces 20% of damage ONLY for himself. Why, Lance? WHY?

Thunder Legend Eze : Foolish Resolution

20% all stats boost, and a 50% boost to crit damage with Batootha equipped

Like the Extra Skill's name, this is quite... stupid. If you're playing Eze in a crit-based team this helps a HUGE lot, but if you're not, well...

And yes, Eze. Seriously? Killing yourself just because you're the only one who can surpass yourself? Great way to die. (Read his lore and you will know what I am talking about)

Light Legend Atro: Prayer of the Holy Blade

20% all stats boost, and 20% less BB consumption when BBs are used with Urias equipped

A good Extra Skill, since it helps reduce Atro's BB consumption when he uses his BB or SBB. Works best with his SBB if you can charge it fast, allowing you to maintain a steady 100% boost to Atk and Def for your team for 3 turns. The result? You just made Atro one of the craziest buffers of the game, Gumi.

Dark Legend Magress: True Knight's Pride

20% all stats boost, and a 50% chance to ignore the opponent's defense when attacking with Leomurg equipped

Magress' main selling point as a 7* is his UBB, which mitigates all damage to 1 or 0 (excluding fixed damage such as Maxwell's wipeouts). His Extra Skill, however, has a high chance to ignore enemy defense, making him good for enemies whose defense can be ignored. Stack this with defense-ignoring units to make it work its magic.

Brimstone Emperor Alpha: Bold Soldier's Power

80% boost to Atk if HP is full, can be stacked

Unless you can find a way to maintain full HP during long-drawn battles, I cannot guarantee your satisfaction toward this Extra Skill.

Cyclone Emperor Tazer: Wise Sorceror's Power

80% boost to Atk if BB gauge is filled, can be stacked

An obvious attempt to market his SBB, which can be used indefinitely once fully charged. It's good though, since it DOES work out well with the said SBB.

Rose Empress Tora: Polluting Darkness

Small chance (8-10%) of causing a random status proc when attacking

Tora's main selling point is her ability to wreak havoc on enemies with status procs, and this further amps up the chaos she can create. Not useful however due to its small chance of proccing, if compared to Semira (aka Halloween Plague, as her SBB has a Supreme chance of causing any status procs.)

Heavenly Emperor Kanon: Eternal Shining Light

Cancels all stat procs on himself

... what a waste of a nice skill. His Leader Skill has the same effect, so unless he's not the leader this is pretty much wasted.

Frolic Emperor Kira: Supreme God's Opposition

25% chance to reflect back 15% of any damage dealt to Kira

More reasons why Kira can be considered badass as f**k? One, he might as well be Maxwell's child since his Leader Skill is almost the same (just that it buffs Light and Dark only). Two, he's a critbuff AND Def-ignoring person. Three, appearance-wise he's badass. And four, despite the small chance he CAN reflect back damage dealt to him. Can be stacked with any damage-reflecting spheres too for more effect.

Cataclysm Empress Feeva: Blessing of Life

20% chance to absorb 25% of all damage taken, and also absorbs back 5-8% of any damage she deals.

Considering Feeva's somewhat low HP for a 7* this is OK, since it allows her to recover any lost health. A good Extra Skill for Feeva, and Feeva alone.

Magma Twin-Pike Claire / Glacier Twin-Blade Colt: Bonds of Ice/Bonds of Flame

30% boost to all stats if Claire equips Blaze Lance/ Colt equips Ice Blade OR both are in the same team

What makes this unique amongst Extras is the fact this ONLY buffs Claire and Colt's stats. That's the first fact. The second fact is that their Extra Skills (in JP, that is) have an alternate activation requirement: both of them are in the same team. Which means Claire gains her ES if Colt (at any *) is in the team and vice versa.

As a personal note, I have both Claire and Colt as Guardians (not exactly the best type for those typing-conscious people?) and I find their extra skills quite unbelievable, despite being stat boosts and nothing else. Just by having their twin alone gives them their ES. That's so... OP.

Sylvan Excalibur Quaid: Valiance

1.5% boost to Atk, Def and Rec for every 1% of lost HP

While the stat boost is handy, Quaid's Extra Skill however poses a huge risk. Since the boost increases with lost HP, you might have to face the risk of being taken down before you can bring out his full power. This means you're going to have to either run him with Hadaron 6* (Leader Skill has a similar effect) or without any healers. Are you ready to gamble on your lives people?

Thunderbird Sabre Diana: Dormant Emotions

Fills 4 BC per turn for Diana herself

BB spam. The entire point of Diana is her BB/SBB spam. 'Nuff said.

Radiant Virtue Fadahl: Earnest Devotion

Fills 2-3 BC whenever he takes damage

Are you a maso, Fadahl?

OK, back to the topic. This is essentially a clone of Lily Matah, except it's not as powerful as hers. It does help, however if he is stacked with Lily Matah or BB-filling units thanks to his BB's effects.

Galactic Treasure Ivris: Protective Volition

One chance to survive an instant kill attack when her health hits 20%

Say hello to Selena's Dark-element cousin! Ivris, despite being Themis' sister (Themis is the little girl from the 2nd batch of Element Converters, Might and Magic) is more of an offensive healer, capable of attacking, healing and cancelling status ailments all at once. Whoa. Top that with her Extra Skill, which is almost a clone of Selena's. Close-enough clone, don't you agree?

Her UBB however, takes UBB to an all new level by giving her the ability to grant TWO random units the Angel's Blessing Buff. TWO. That's... holy sh*t. Now you have a good excuse to bring less Angel/Goddess Idols to missions.

Angelic Blades Sefia: Radiant Volition

100% buff to Atk power of her BB/SBB/UBB with Holy Eight equipped

Sefia... how I wish you were in my roster of units...

Back to topic. Sefia's Extra Skill is the probably one of the first of its kind, as it ONLY buffs the Atk of her BB/SBB/UBB. While it may sound crappy, consider this: Sefia is the closest opponent against Atro for the hardest-hitting Light Leader so far, and if she's the Leader she grants a 100% Light Atk buff and a 50% boost in BB charge rate. Stack that with her Extra Skill AND her Sphere, Holy Eight, which grants a 30% Atk and Def boost and a 50% crit damage boost. Result? She can wipe the hell out of her opponents before they can even retaliate.

Out of topic: Sefia's BB and SBB grants all her allies a Paralyze proc chance, and her UBB triples all allies' normal hit counts (yes you read that, TRIPLE). This officially makes her one of the most powerful leaders in-game for mono-element Light teams, or if you just want to capitalise on that BB fill.

Demonic Idol Kikuri: Red Calamity Torrent

20% buff to all stats, also adds small chance (8-10%) to proc a random status ailment with Scarlet Pin equipped

If Sefia is the Light version of a BB charger (aka Solar Battery), then Kikuri is the polar opposite (Void Battery). Kikuri's Extra Skill is a combination of the Six Heroes' and Tora's, giving her an additional 20% boost to all stats and also a small chance to proc status elements

Out of topic: Kikuri's BB effect changes with its 3 different forms: Her BB creates a curse wave (Curse? It's not useful all the time though), her SBB adds the Matah Effect (BB fill when damaged), and her UBB, other than buffing the team's Atk, also deals damage at the end of the turn (I don't understand this effect though).

Conclusion
As it goes, Extra Skills give your units a unique edge in battle. Now, get ready to pump because newer waves of 7*s are coming, and with each one their own unique Extra Skills.

"The wheel of fate is turning..."