User blog:Dera73/TRIAL 3 GUIDE vs. Maxwell

Leader #1
It is my firm belief that one of your leaders must help boost your HP to high enough levels to survive the barrage of Meteors (4,800 damage without mitigation) and Destiny's (14,000 damage without mitigation).

Notable Leaders of this type are

Oulu- 20% boost to Def and HP & chance of small reduction in damage taken

+20% HP and Def is useful and the chance of damage reduction, although very unreliable, is pretty good when it procs on the heavier hits. Will not be helpful when under SS's DEF ignore. Generally an OK LS though and could possibly sub in for Grah if you don't have one (pft). BB/SBB are 50% mitigation (to be expanded on later in the guide.

Gravion- 20% boost to Def and HP & chance of small reduction in damage taken

Same as Oulu. Don't recommend this unit though since his BB/SBB eat up a lot of BCs.

Grah- 20% all parameters and -15% damage from light (and dark) types.

Arguably the best LS, looks like it was made to go against Trial 3. BB adds Dark element as well to help with the damage. Very fond of this unit as I used him (before Tridon came out)

Exvehl- 30% boost to HP of all Units & slightly recovers their HP for 1 turn

Again, nice +30% HP, turn by turn regen is OK but it's too miniscule to really matter in the long run. This LS is OK but I would rather Tridon/Grah again. Very fast anti-status effects on BB and offensive SBB for SS loop.

Kuhla- 30% boost to HP of all Units & slightly recovers their HP for 1 turn

Again, nice +30% HP, turn by turn regen is OK but it's too miniscule to really matter in the long run. This LS is OK but I would rather Tridon/Grah again. Very special BB/SBB. Even if she is not leader I would bring her as sub (to be discussed later)

Eve- 30% boost to HP of all Units & probable slight HP recovery when attacked

A nice +30% HP, but a tiny bonus from HP recovery. It's cool to have the LS proc on a Meteor and watch your unit get a good chunk of its HP back. This is an OK LS but I would rather Tridon/Grah for the extra mitigation. Nice DEF buff on her SBB which helps survival.

Tridon- 30% boost to HP, 50% boost to REC, mitigates 10% of damage received & 15% boost to critical hit chance.

A lot of nice buffs in one LS, nice HP boost, nice REC boost to help the sustain with HCs, pairs nicely with a sub-Zelnite. Mitigates 10% of Maxwell's damage, weaker than Grah's 15% but the extra HP makes up for it, extra chance to crit helps with the damage. LS is the best in this category in my opinion. BB/SBB adds a very helpful shield.

Ragshelm- 30% boost to Atk and max HP for all Units & adds chance of ignoring an opponent's Def when attacking

A nice +30% HP and ATK, ignore DEF chance might as well not be there. SBB is very useful for ATK down debuff which helps increase survival. Also give DEF down debuff which helps increase damage but not by much.

Leader #2
The other leader must help you with passive BC regeneration. Passive BC generation is when you get your BB gauge back without attacking.

Notable Leaders of this type are:

Lilly Matah- 3-6 BCs when attacked

The best in it's category. Can further be boosted with her BB/SBB along with BC drop rate increase and BC/turn. HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS UNIT. Very fond of her because she allows me to use Darvanshel instead of locking in Narza as main mitigator.

Orna- Boost in the BB gauge when attacked  & boosts the BB gauge fill rate

An OK LS but must be further augmented with a Narza sub-unit. NO EXCEPTIONS. Brings a nice +50% crit chance that helps get over SS loop.

Eva- Boost in the BB gauge  when attacked & probable slight reduction of damage taken

An OK LS that ties in with the overall theme of survival. Needs to be augmented with a Narza sub-unit. NO EXCEPTIONS. Brings a nice DEF buff and +40% crit chance to the table.

Mitigation Units
Mitigaiton units that are notable have the "reduces damage taken by half for 1 turn" in their BB/SBB descriptions. This unit(s)'s job is to help reduce the crazy 4,800 damage and 14,000 damage from Meteor and Destiny to a more managable 2,400 and 7,000 (both are further decreased by Grah and Tridon Leads)

The four units that are capable of this are:

Oulu- The oldest of its class. Incapable of damage this Forretress does nothing remarkable except for the +100% DEF in its SBB, the strongest DEF buff out of all mitigators.

Darvanshel- A direct upgrade to Oulu in every way except the DEF buff in the SBB where he falls to +50%. This is not that much of a drop though considering Darvanshel DOES DAMAGE while mitigating. Damage = BCs = more BBs = more DMG + heal = survival + Maxwell's death. Worthy to note is that Darvanshel's BB does more damage than his SBB. Very fond of this unit as I used him (before Shera's release)

Narza- A very interesting mitigation unit. Capable of preventing status, mitigating and provides a passive BC regeneration buff in his SBB that is stronger than Lilly Matah's SBB. 5-6 BCs vs. 3-6 BCs. Makes Orna and Eva useable as leaders though i personally prefer Lilly Matah. Usually you want to use Lilly Matah's SBB on specific turns (right before the hard turns) but what you need during those hard turns is Narza's BB to be up. If you used Narza's SBB before the hard turns it would be a little hard to keep it up DURING the hard turns.

Shera- A direct upgrade to Darvanshel. They both attack while mitigating but what made Darvanshel good was the fact that he helped with BC generation; Shera does it better. Also to note is that Shera doesn't buff DEF but instead buffs ATK +80% which helps get over SS loop but hurts the survivability a little. This is a negligible sacrafice as the "hard turns" are full of DEF ignore anyway.

Healers
Healers are...well...units that heal. They help keep you alive and kicking. It is my belief that all premium healers are viable for this role. There are some that perform better than others those.

Healers that are notable are:

Altri- The oldest healer in the book. A healer that is capable of helping with status-prevention. Honestly, despite its age, Altri performs excellently in this Trial. Its defensive stats are excellent and its BB/SBB help to keep statuses such as Paralysis (Juggernaut) Curse (Abbadon) and Weakness (Maxwell) at bay.

Elimo- The second oldest healer in the book. This one is special because she brings a DEF buff +40% BB +50% SBB and with her SBB she helps mitigate damage by 25%. It's not that much but can help you keep up your health during the "easy turns". During the hard turns, if you need to heal use Elimo first and then your main mitigator as the main mitigator's -50% damage would get replaced by Elimo's -25% otherwise. WARNING: stats are a tad low

Themis- A very good healer. REC buff +80% on SBB will help you help based on HCs alone. The added Dark element helps get over SS loop. This description is short but Themis is an excellent healer for this job. There just isn't much to say since her abilities are basic but good.

Ulkina- The best healer for this Trial. Nice stats, fastest heal at 18 BCs only while the others are 20 BCs+. Not only that, her BB removes status ailments. If that wasn't enough her SBB does damage (albeit replacing the heal in her BB). This allows for her to pick up the slack when the time for getting over the SS loop draws near. Instead of healing she can contribute to the DPS to help kill Maxwell once and for all. On top of all of that her SBB prevents status ailments for 3 turns too. Best healer in the game right now in my honest opinion. Very fond because I used her.

Tia- A healer which just can't stop healing. BB is heal + healing over time (HoT from now on). SBB is healing + HoT and BCs/turn if you aren't running Lilly Matah/ Kuhla, this is extremely useful. BC/turn will give her a part of her gauge back at the end of the turn which means more BB/SBB = more healing + HoT.

Extra #1
Now you have covered all the MUST HAVES in this Trial. Your other two units are your choice. This could still go horribly wrong though. For the first choice unit I would go with another survival-oriented unit.

I HIGHLY RECOMMEND a BC burst unit for this slot. BC burst units are units that fill your gauge instantly on your turn. Moments where your mitigator/healer are just short of their BB/SBB is where this unit would shine. On a hard turn, you would have to use on of your Fujin's to help you get out of the sticky situation, but with a BC burst unit, you can save that Fujin for the SS loop where you can use them to get SBB instantly or you can save them for your second team.

Notable units of this type are:

Zelnite- The master theif strikes again. 8 BCs instantly along with a highly useful BC/HC drop rate. If you are running Lilly Matah, use Lilly Matah after Zelnite so her +20% BC drop rate overwrites his +15% BC drop rate. The HC drops will come in REALLY useful giving you healer the time to charge up and in Ulkina's case, even contribute to the DPS.

Kuhla- A personal favorite. Zelnite is better I will admit but I am fond of her because she is the unit I used and I remember all those times she saved me that Fujin. +115% ATK on her SBB also helps to push the DPS through. Also the 4 BC/turn helps tremendously it clashes with Lilly Matah (who does the exact same thing) but not so badly that you can't use them on the same team.

Arus- A very nice unit which is more of an Extra #2 type of guy but his BB doubles up as a BC burst type. With 8 BCs to his name, Arus is very versatile and an excellent pick for this slot.

Belfura- A very nice unit that has ATK down and DEF down in her BB as well as SBB. The BC burst effect is only in her SBB so you might have to save her SBB a little bit. The ATK down though helps tremendously with the survival and the DEF down pushes the DPS just a little bit. Not highly recommended but is sufficient for this role.

If you don't have a BC burst unit then you can pick one of the below.

If you have followed my guide so far, there's a chance you might not have picked up an anti-status unit or a DEF buffing unit.

Anti-status is important if you aim to one-squad this Trial. Juggernaut and Abbadon cast Paralysis and Curse which stop you right in your track. If you don't have one I recommend using a first squad with a friend that has a "nullfies all status ailements" LS and instead use this team as your second.

Notable units for anti-status specifically are:

Melchio- Low stats, only prevents doesn't remove ailments, does very little to contribute to DPS. Why is he on this list? THIS: http://youtu.be/LysRTyBSZQw?t=1m21s

Exvehl- It has the fastest "remove and prevent" effect. I like it the best.

DEF buffers are not that important though and if you get to this point and still have no Extra #1 I would recommend you either choose two units from the Extra #2 section or you can double up on mitigators. Not saying the DEF buff is a bad buff. It's just that this trial is full of DEF ignore so it's near useless in this situation. But if you want to use it to help you take the "easy turns" even easier.....

Notable DEF buffers specifically are:

Eve- +100% DEF and nice stats.....that's it.

Extra #2
Alright this it. This is the main man/woman in your squad. The MVP. The star. The DPS-er. If all-out offense is your claim, this is your game. Right here is where the offense picks up. All throughout the guide I beat survival into every one of your units. Everyone's purpose was survival or helping the people who take care of survival but right here is the damager.

Your Extra #2 guy is the one netting you damage. He/She can either buff the party with an offensive buff or just have a high damage BB/SBB.

The high damage BB/SBB part mainly refers to the 4 unlimited SBBers. They are

Lilith- The oldest one with a damage modifier of a whopping 620%. Every "easy turn" you should be using her SBB pumping out the damage.

Rowgen- A one-hit wonder of 620% multiplier. If that one hit sparks you will visibly see Maxwell's health jump down a bit. Very fond of this unit as I used him myself. Used him every turn I could and laughed when Maxwell's health decreased chunk by chunk.

Sergio- Stats are a tad low. He gets the job done though just like the others. He is a tad low with 600% modifier though.

Arus- 620% modifier as well as being a hidden BC burst unit. You can sacrafice his unlimited SBB to get your squad out of a sticky situation.

The buffing party part refers to the two notable offensive buffs CRIT and Spark which multiplicatively increase damage output.

Notable units of this type are:

Luther- +50% spark, BB does more damage than SBB

Faris- +45% CRIT, additional self buff on HC drops (+30% BB, +80% SBB) help to keep team healthy. BB does more damage than SBB.

Garnan- Bestows +30% CRIT and +70% Spark, an excellent candidate for this spot.

Mariudeth- +45% CRIT. Excellent if you could Spark him as well.

Orna- +50% CRIT, helps with the DPS.

Squads that I have used an succeeded with are as follows:

My own:

Lilly Matah (lead)

Darvanshel

Ulkina

Kuhla

Rowgen

Grah (friend)

Friend I helped #1

Grah (lead)

Narza

Altri

Zelnite

Luther

Lilly Matah (friend)

Friend I helped #2

Lilly Matah (lead)

Darvanshel

Altri

Kuhla

Lilith

Grah (friend)