User blog:HQDominator/The Quest for the Best: Ishgria Expedition Edition

The Quest for the Best
As in every RPG game, there are good character to use and bad characters to use. In my blog, I will attempt to confirm which of these units, by batch, are the best to have and which ones you could really skip out on.

I will use a personal rating system for this so that I'm not copying everyone else’s ratings. For Stats, I go with who has the higher altogether stats of the batch, for usability I will go with the unit with the most usability out of the 5 sections, and for everything else I will assign a number rating, and at the end I will base my conclusion off of who has won the most sections. If two units are tied, I will use their individual number ratings as the tie-breakers.

With that, let's get started!

Ishgria Expedition Batch
This batch is one that Global has been wanting for a while, and for good reason. These units are not all out in Global right now, but they will all be out within a week (probably) so I figured I'd do a review since these units are all really good.


 * -|Indigo Flare Griff=


 * -|Indigo Soul Iris=


 * -|Emerald Radiance Libera=


 * -|Roaring Staff Rhoa=


 * -|Sinister Basilisk Kafka=


 * -|Virtuous Champion Krantz=

Stat Comparison
To start with, I will do a stat comparison. Since I already linked the units into tabs, I will put all of the units down with their fully imped stats (for Lord) for easier comparison.

HP from highest to lowest: Griff, Kafka, Rhoa, Krantz, Libera, Iris

ATK from highest to lowest: Rhoa, Kafka, Libera, Iris, Krantz, Griff

DEF from highest to lowest: Iris, Krantz, Libera, Griff, Kafka, Rhoa

REC from highest to lowest: Libera, Krantz, Iris, Kafka, Rhoa, Griff

The unit with the best stats in my opinion is Kafka. She is 2nd place in both HP and ATK (the 2 most important stats in my opinion) and doesn't have the lowest stats in any area.

A close second would be Krantz, since he had the same type of stat balancing (2nd in DEF and REC, low in HP and ATK) but Kafka had higher stats in the more important areas.

Winner:

Leader Skills
Griff LS boosts HP and ATK by 30%, Critical hit damage by 150%, and fills 6-8 BC every time someone critical hits. These are some of the best stat boosts in the game for a LS and one of the best critical hit boosting Leader Skills. The fill BB gauge when attacking can be unreliable, but it is definitely useful. 9/10

Iris reduces damage taken by 15% when guarding, boosts 5 BC when guarding, and has a 20% chance to reduce 20% damage. This LS is good to use on battles where the bosses remove buffs and do strong attacks, but not very useable when the units are not guarding. 7.2/10

Libera boosts BB attack by 100%, boosts BB gauge fill rate by 50%, and boosts BC and HC drop rate by 12%. She is a good leader to use for increasing damage output and for having SBBs filled after each turn. 9/10

Rhoa gives a 30% boosts to HP and ATK, boosts Spark damage by 50%, and boosts BB guage by 1-2 BC when sparking. This is one of the best stat boosting Leader Skills in the game, and one of the best Spark Leader Skills. He gives a high damage output, good survivability, and good BB refill. 10/10

Kafka gives an 80% boost to ATK, gives a chance to inflict any status ailment (with varying probabilities), and boosts 2-5 BC when attacked. The 80% ATK is very helpful as well as the status ailments for doing high damage. The refill BC is useful, but she doesn't give much survivability to the team so it is partially useless. 9.4/10

Krantz gives a 100% boost to ATK, 30% boost to HP, and a 12% boost to BC and HC drop rate when 5 elements or more are present. This is a LS that gives a huge boost to damage dealt, a huge boost to squad survivability, and a huge boost to keeping BB gauges refilled. The only bad thing about this LS is that it requires 5 elements, which can limit your squad building. 9.5/10

In conclusion, Rhoa has the best Leader Skill because he gives one of the best Spark damage/BB refill Leader Skills in the game and because his stat boosts gives the squad better survivability and extra damage.

Winner:

Brave Bursts
Griff has a 14 combo Aoe that boosts Critical Hit damage by 50% and adds Fire and Water elements to all units' attack for 3 turns. This is extremely useful when paired with his ES, which adds a 60% Critical Hit chance to his BB/SBB, but isn't very usable otherwise. The elements are always good to have. 9/10

Iris has a 12 combo Aoe that adds Fire and Water elements to all allies' attack for 3 turns and reduces Fire and Earth elemental damage by 10% for 2 turns. This is the only such buff in the game on a BB, but it's only useful against a few units in the game. 7.8/10

Libera has a 15 hit combo Aoe that adds Earth and Thunder elements to all allies' attack for 3 turns, boosts DEF and REC by 120%, and boosts BC and HC drop rate by 20%. This is a BB that gives several buffs, including some that aren't usually used and therefore are more useful. The DEF up boost isn't as good as some, but it is not bad. 8.5/10

Rhoa has a 15 combo Aoe that adds Earth and Thunder elements to all allies' attack for 3 turns and has a 25% chance to make the enemies 25% less resistant to Spark damage. His ES also adds DEF ignore to BB for 2 turns. The reduce resistance to Spark damage is the only one in the game right now, and can greatly increase the damage output. The fact that it is only a 25% chance reduces the score slightly, but not too much. 9.5/10

Kafka has a 15 combo Aoe that adds Light and Dark elements to all allies' attack, has a 10% chance to inflict Injury, Weakness, and Sickness, and a 7% chance to inflict Poison, Curse, and Paralysis when the enemies attack friendly units for 3 turns. Kafka is one of two units in the game who can do this buff (Vernil is the other) and it is very useful to use. Of course, it can be used to exploit a bug that inflicts status ailments on bosses who are immune to status ailments, but it is getting patched. Either way, it is a great way to inflict status ailments. 8.10

Krantz has a 12 combo Aoe that adds Light and Dark elements to all allies' attack for 3 turns, reduces damage taken by 50% for 1 turn, and removes status ailments. Krantz is the only unit out of the batch to mitigate damage or remove status ailments, which makes him very useful. He removes status ailments, but other than his elemental buffs he has no other buffs that last several turns. 8.5/10

In conclusion, Rhoa wins this round because his BB can a) be stacked with other damage boosting buffs (as opposed to Griff's, which is replaceable) and b) is the only buff of it's type.

Winner:

Super Brave Bursts
Griff has a 17 combo Aoe that boosts Critical Hit damage by 50%, boosts BB gauge fill rate by 30%, and adds Fire and Water elements to all units' attack for 3 turns. This is extremely useful when paired with his ES, which adds a 60% Critical Hit chance to BB/SBB, but isn't very usable otherwise. The elements are always good to have. His SBB is pretty much the same as his BB except for the BB gauge fill rate. This way, even if the units do not trigger the refill BB gauge refill during critical hit (from his LS) they will still get a lot refilled. 9.5/10

Iris has a 15 combo Aoe that adds Fire and Water elements to all allies' attack for 3 turns, has a 10% chance to reduce enemies' ATK by 20% for 3 turns, and reduces Fire and Earth elemental damage by 10% for 2 turns. This reduce elemental damage is the only such buff in the game on a SBB, but it's only useful against a few units in the game. There are better ATk down buffs in the game with better chances of infliction, but added to the other things that she does it can be very helpful. 8/10

Libera has an 18 combo Aoe that adds Earth and Thunder elements to all allies' attack, boosts ATK by 50% of REC, and boosts BB gauge by 4-7 BC when attacked for 3 turns. This is an extremely versatile SBB as it has several good buffs, all of which last for 3 turns. The boost ATK by REC is extremely useful when paired with the 120% REC boost from her BB. 9.5/10

Rhoa has a 19 combo Aoe that adds Earth and Thunder elements to all allies' attack, boosts Spark damage by 70% for 3 turns, and has a 25% chance to make the enemies 25% less resistant to Spark damage for 2 turns. His ES also adds DEF ignore to BB for 2 turns. The reduce resistance to Spark damage is the only one in the game right now, and can greatly increase the damage output, especially when paired with the boost to Spark damage that he gives. The fact that it is only a 25% chance reduces the score slightly, but not too much. 9.4/10

Kafka has a 18 combo Aoe that adds Light and Dark elements to all allies' attack, has a 10% chance to inflict Injury, Weakness, and Sickness, and a 7% chance to inflict Poison, Curse, and Paralysis when the enemies attack friendly units, and boosts ATK by 10% of max HP for 3 turns. As I said before, it is a great way to inflict status ailments, but the boost ATK by max HP can greatly increase the damage output, especially since it can be stacked with other ATK buffs. 8.10

Krantz has a 16 combo Aoe that greatly recovers HP, adds Light and Dark elements to attack for 3 turns, and reduces damage taken by 50% for 1 turn. The 50% mitigation is extremely useful, but there are many other units in the game who can do this buff just as easily if not better. The recovering of HP is definitely usable, but health regen from an attacker is usually not very good. 8/10

In conclusion, Libera has the best SBB because her buffs give the most diversity and are all very good to use. Both Griff's and Rhoa's SBBs would give more damage, but they are purely for dealing damage while her's does other things as well as boost damage.

Winner:

Ultimate Brave Burst
Griff has a 21 combo Aoe that boosts critical hit damage by 300% and boosts ATK by 20% of max HP for 3 turns. This gives a massive damage boost to the entire team especially when paired with his SBB. 9.2/10

Iris has a 20 combo Aoe that boosts Fire and Water elemental damage by 400% for 3 turns and reduces all Fire and Earth enemies' attack to 1 for 2 turns. This is extremely useful for things like Lugina and Seria's Trials especially on their heavy attacks. This is not useful in many situations, but it is indispensable in certain battles. 8/10

Libera has 22 combo Aoe that boosts BB damage by 500% for 2 turns and boosts ATK by 100% of REC for 3 turns. This is a great UBB for boosting damage when paired with her SBB's REC boost, but not the best one for damage in the game (although 500% BB damage is awesome.) 9/10

Rhoa has a 23 combo Aoe that boosts Spark damage by 130% and makes enemies take 50% more damage from Sparks. This UBB can give MASSIVE Spark damage when combined with his LS and SBB and give the damage consistently. 9.5/10

Kafka has a 22 combo Aoe that inflicts all status ailments on all enemies (except the ones who are immune unless you exploit a bug) when attacking and when attacked. This is very good to use when enemies are resistant to status ailments or when you need to inflict several status ailments on multiple people. 8/10

Krantz has a 20 combo Aoe that boosts ATK by 100% of DEF and reduces damage by 75% for 2 turns. He is the only unit in this group that has a 1000% damage multiplier instead of 1200% damage multiplier, so his UBB is not meant for damage, but it does improve survivability greatly as well as a relatively good ATK boost. 9/10

In conclusion, Rhoa has the best UBB of the batch because he not only gives a massive damage boost with the Spark damage up and the Spark resistance down and because he can give consistent damage (unlike Griff's.)

Winner:

Extra Leader Skill
Griff's ES adds a 60% boost to critical hit rate when he uses his BB or SBB and refills 4 BC when he critical hits. This is perfect for him since his BB and SBB boost critical hit damage but not critical hit rate. It makes the damage much higher and much more consistent. 9.5

Iris's ES doubles her normal hit count. This increases the damage her normal attack does and the BC dropped from her normal attack. Not very practical unless she is normal attacking, though. 7.5/10

Libera's ES has a 25% to restore 20% of the damage taken and restores HP each turn. This can help her to not die, but the 25% to restore is not very reliable. 8.5/10

Rhoa's ES adds DEF ignore to BB and SBB for 2 turns and boosts his BB gauge by 1 BC each time he sparks. The DEF ignore can slightly increase damage, but is especially good for Metal Parades. His boost BB gauge when sparking is good, but not very high so it doesn't help too much. 9/10

Kafka's ES gives her a 50% chance to fill 2-3 BC when attacked and boosts damage that she does to enemies by 100% when they have a status ailments on them. 50% chance is probably good enough to use, and the damage boost to enemies with status ailments is okay, but is completely useless on bosses who are immune to status ailments. 8/10

Krantz's ES gives him a 20% chance to reflect 20% of damage and gives him a 20% reduction in BB gauge needed to fill his BB/SBB/UBB. Being as he is a mitigator who you would probably want to be using the BB of each turn, this helps a lot to keep it up every turn. 9/10

In conclusion, Griff's ES is the best of the batch because of the way it interacts with his BB/SBB in order to make getting maximum damage more consistent. It doesn't offer much in terms of survivability, but with the damage he does, that won't be much of a problem.

Winner:

Usefullness
Next, I will discuss how useful each unit would be in different areas of the game.

There are 5 areas for usefulness, Arena, Grand Gaia Chronicles, Trials/Grand Quest, Raid, and Frontier Hunter/Gate. If 2 units are tied, the tie goes to the one who had a higher rating on the one they didn't win on.

For Arena, a Leader Skill that boosts ATK or BB gauge fill rate is good to use, but it also comes down to how they would work as subs. I base it mostly off of their normal hit counts and their normal ATK damage, as well as their DC.
 * -|Arena=

1: Kafka (LS gives good damage, could status ailment enemies, refills BB when attacked. DC of 33)

2: Krantz (LS gives awesome damage, boosts BC/HC drop rate, good HP boost=less units dead. Rainbow teams are limited though)

3. Libera (LS boosts fill rate and BC/HC drop rate, average 36 DC. No attack boost except on BBs)

4. Iris (High normal attack/DC, especially when paired with ES that doubles hit count)

5. Griff (BB/SBB do a lot of damage. DC of 36)

6. Rhoa (LS doesn't help much, BB/SBB not the most effective. DC of 39)

For GGC, a Leader Skill that boosts HP and/or DEF is good to use when paired up with a LS that boosts BC drop rate or BB fill rate, but it also comes down to how they would work as subs combined with how their BB and SBB would work against the bosses.
 * -|GGC=

1: Rhoa (Stat boosting LS + boost BB gauge when Spark + Spark damage. BB/SBB help boost damage as sub)

2: Griff (Stat boosting LS + critical hit damage + critical hit refills BB gauge. BB/SBB help boost damage as sub.  Not as reliable as Rhoa)

3: Krantz (GREAT stat boost LS + BC/HC drop rate. Requires Rainbow Squad.  Mitigation is always good to have as well)

4: Libera (BB refill rate + BB damage + BC/HC drop rate is good. No stat boosts though)

5: Iris (LS can help in some circumstances, but not a lot. BB/SBB buffs are only good against 1/3 of the enemies)

6: Kafka (many of the bosses are immune or resistant to status ailments, but BC refill is ok)

For Trials and Grand Quest, a Leader Skill that boosts HP and/or DEF is good to use when paired up with a LS that boosts BC drop rate, BB fill rate, or add BB gauge when attacked, but it also comes down to how they would work as subs combined with how their BB and SBB would work against the bosses.
 * -|Trials/Grand Quest=

1: Rhoa (Stat boosting LS + boost BB gauge when Spark + Spark damage. BB/SBB help boost damage as sub)

2: Krantz (GREAT stat boost LS + BC/HC drop rate. Requires Rainbow Squad.  Mitigation is always good to have as well.  Most Trials and many GQ bosses are Light or Dark, so the elemental buffs are good as well as removing status ailments on BB)

3: Griff (Stat boosting LS + critical hit damage + critical hit refills BB gauge. BB/SBB help boost damage as sub.  Not as reliable as Rhoa, especially since most of these bosses have crit resistance)

4: Libera (BB refill rate + BB damage + BC/HC drop rate is good. No stat boosts though)

5: Iris (LS can help in some circumstances, but not a lot. BB/SBB buffs are only good against 1/3 of the enemies.  GREAT as a sub in the EX Trials)

6: Kafka (many of the bosses are immune or resistant to status ailments, but BC refill is ok)

For Raid, a Leader Skill that boosts damage paired with one that boosts HP is a good combo, but it also comes down to how they would work as subs combined with how their BB and SBB would work against the bosses.
 * -|Raid=

1: Rhoa (Stat boosting LS + boost BB gauge when Spark + Spark damage. BB/SBB help boost damage as sub)

2: Griff (Stat boosting LS + critical hit damage + critical hit refills BB gauge. BB/SBB help boost damage as sub.  Not as reliable as Rhoa, but still pretty good since the bosses usually have more than one part)

3: Libera (BB refill rate + BB damage + BC/HC drop rate is good. No stat boosts though)

4: Krantz (GREAT stat boost LS + BC/HC drop rate. Requires Rainbow Squad.  Mitigation is always good to have as well)

5: Kafka (many of the bosses are susceptible to status ailments, and BC refill is ok)

6: Iris (LS can help in some circumstances, but not a lot. BB/SBB buffs are only good against 1/3 of the enemies.  GREAT as a sub in the EX Trials)

In Frontier Hunter, three main things give high points: Sparks, Elemental Weakness Damage, and Damage. When you get to the higher levels of Frontier Gate, you will also need a mitigator and a status ailment inflictor is needed on at least one battle. Here are my choices for FH usefulness.
 * -|Frontier Hunter/Frontier Gate=

1: Rhoa (Stat boosting LS + boost BB gauge when Spark + Spark damage. BB/SBB help boost damage as sub)

2: Griff (Stat boosting LS + critical hit damage + critical hit refills BB gauge. BB/SBB help boost damage as sub.  Not as reliable as Rhoa, but still pretty good since the bosses usually have more than one part)

3: Libera (BB refill rate + BB damage + BC/HC drop rate is good. No stat boosts though)

4: Krantz (GREAT stat boost LS + BC/HC drop rate. Requires Rainbow Squad.  Mitigation is always good to have as well)

5: Kafka (many of the bosses are susceptible to status ailments, and BC refill on LS is ok)

6: Iris (LS can help in some circumstances, but not a lot. BB/SBB buffs are only good against 1/3 of the enemies.  GREAT as a sub in the EX Trials)

Conclusion: Rhoa is the most useful in most situations mostly because his Leader Skill could be used in pretty much any situation in order to not only deal high damage but also to keep the squad alive. His BB and SBB further his usefulness. Most of the other units can be used just as well, but none of them would be as consistently good.

Winner:

Conclusion
To recap, here are the winners:

Stats:

LS:

BB:

SBB:

UBB:

ES:

Usefuless:

WINNER!!

Rhoa wins this round because of his superior Leader Skill and his unique buffs. Griff was a close second (even though he only won 1 area, Griff came in second place in most everything else) and is very useful, but the fact that he is just a tad bit less consistent gave this round to Rhoa.

So who is going to spend all of their gems on this batch? I know I will :P My advice would be to wait and hope they release the Godly summon that came out in Japan when this batch was released (3 gems and a guaranteed 7 star unit) before summoning.

Like this? Hate this? Let me know in the comments!

Leave suggestions and I'll get to them eventually! (unless I'm really busy)