QUICK UNIT ANALYSIS FOR VERMILION BATCH
VERMILION (鳳閻神ヴァーミリオン)
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Vermilion looks so
aggressive! So, nuker unit, right?
o
Nah, HP/BB sustain. Naturally.
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Stat spread is focused on HP and ATK to be honest, for a unit that
has no directly offensive buffs, the high ATK feels unusual - never a bad thing
as long as the unit deals damage, but unusual
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High-ass drop checks, HP, ATK and instant BC fill per turn, as
well as an ES/LS combination that might allow for turn 1 BB as the defensive
squad (if she survives 2 hits). Vermilion is not a bad arena unit at all - no extra hits or type 3 AI, but if
you think about where global is going with challenge arena...
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Beginning with her LS, we see she's basically her sphere as a unit
with slightly different numbers. So naturally, Vermilion offers BC/HP
regen, and BC/HP heals when attacked. There are two things to note - it's a
damn good LS for BC support for trials/GQ-esque content, and the chance to heal
HP when attacked is basically a mitigation effect that will only protect you
from attacks that will kill you.
o
What hurts it most is that when a fight does something that's
actually a threat, it's usually one or two attacks that nearly kill you
followed by smaller attacks that finish the job, or a single attack that does
kill you if not defended properly. If the LS fails against those
attacks, it's not going to achieve much. If i's put up against a 100% HP nuke
and you don't mitigate, HP-when-damaged simply won't save you. It's basically
best for attrition-y fights with tons of attacks like raids, but then the LS
offers no damage support...
o
Side-note: Heal-when-attacked effects trigger individually to one
another. You can't stack the chance for 100% chance of the heal for 100% heal,
though you can bundle a load of these on top of one another and they do all get
a chance to work. Just never expect it to be perfect.
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Vermilion ES is more
BC/HP when attacked. Needless to say she does pretty well in the BB sustain
department, and is pretty hard to deal significant damage to if you build
around this stuff.
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Vermilion’s BB looks
decent on paper. HP regen and BB regen are pretty solid effects, though neither
is top tier on this BB, and instant BC fill is always pretty useful in an
emergency. However, she offers better versions of the buffs on her SBB - you
might be giving up around 1000 HP and 4 BC over the next couple turns for 6 BC
instantly. Might be worth it, might not.
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So her SBB obviously carries stronger HP regen (still short of Selena) and BB regen (top tier), along with a top tier BC fill when
attacked effect (but no instant fill). Yay more competition for that role? She
kinda tries to compete with the healing aspect of Paris/Rina instead of the stats aspect of Paris/Nadore, which might be good if you can still get stats elsewhere. I'd
say 7 BC/turn is better than Bestie's 30% Ares on
SBB as well, so... this isn't a bad combination, we just need to build a new
squad to make it work.
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Finally, the UBB, which has a new effect we've never seen~ but
first note that she has the pretty well-known full HP/BB regen buffs. Well, not
quite full BB regen for some units like Granvas or Gazia, but BC drops would cover the rest... as for the new effect,
google translate suggests it's an instant revive applied to the entire party
(33% chance per unit)
o
Which is pretty neat, but less chance of activating than the
chance-based angel idol buff. Can’t be buff wiped though - got that going for
it.
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I like Vermilion. We'll need
to re-work squads to fit her in because she clashes with a couple meta units,
but she's good at what she does.
PIANY (命泉の華蓮神ピアニー)
There was once a pixie named Piany who
lived deep in the woods of the great forest east of the Vriksha Duchy. Though
she never showed herself in front of humans, it is said she did trust a
princess who loved nature. However, when a plague threatened to wipe out all of
the people that the princess held so dearly, the pixie used forbidden demonic
powers in order to help her. She then transformed herself into a flower that
keeps all illnesses at bay.
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This one actually does more than her sphere. Quite a lot more.
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Stat spread is pretty solid, but her imps are skewed in favor of
REC and she doesn't even burst heal. It kinda goes with her SBB REC -> ATK
buff, but generally speaking I'd rather have higher ATK to begin with...
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Solid for arena. 40DC, AoE, status-immunity for the troll rule.
Doesn't really compete with Selena or Iris, again.
o
I can almost never say a new water unit is top tier for arena
because Selena was the first 7* in the element...
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Piany's LS called - Deemo can go home
again. She basically has the same LS as Light-Deemo, with a 7*
upgrade of 40% HP and status immunity. This, of course, makes her amazing for
trials and GQ. There's no damage component, so she struggles in raids, but it's
just overall so strong defensively and with such a good BC fill on spark that I
can see it being used everywhere damage isn't king.
o
Though she suffers from the recent trend of new units not having
good hit counts to actually get that spark BC fill with, and admittedly there
is some heavy competition for the role if you're willing to get status immunity
elsewhere.
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Her ES gives her a little more BC fill when sparking
(chance-based, and she has hit count problems, so...) and personal status
immunity that'll work through any form of buff wipe, sphere lock or LS lock
currently in the game. Just in case. Most of the time if she's leader that's
irrelevant, though.
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Piany's BB and SBB are completely different, which is pretty
refreshing. Her BB fits a little more into the current meta thanks to Vermilion giving competition to Paris and Nadore - Piany brings a 130% DEF/REC buff to the field along with a status cure
to cover the rest of Paris/Nadore's
functionality, while also adding a spark-BC buff - which if I'm not mistaken is
the first on a BB/SBB to trigger at 100% chance, making it the most valuable of
its type. That might change by the end of the maintenance, considering it's
unusual, however.
o
The status curing might be pointless with her LS active, but
unfortunately if she doesn't bring her LS she has no way of providing immunity,
which is pretty bleh. Though we've been able to live with that in the past.
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Her SBB goes in a different direction entirely, sharing no buffs
with her BB. Instead, it's got a 200% BB mod buff, an 80% REC->ATK convert
buff, and stat-down immunity... for... one turn. Eh. Now, there are a couple
problems with this - it totally clashes with Avant and Gazia, and the stat down immunity is, to be honest, pretty terrible -
not only because it only lasts for 1 turn, but because you'd probably cure stat
downs immediately most of the time and only really be affected by DEF down most
of the time, if an enemy even has it.
o
Her SBB is actually stronger than Avant's, you're
just getting a bit of clash if you use her together with him (it's bearable at
any rate). Definitely weaker than Gazia's, though.
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Finally, Piany's UBB is actually surprisingly nuke-ish, providing 500% BB mod,
120% spark damage, and yet more spark-BC. In crit-resistant content, this is
generally the best kind of UBB nuke to have, so it does have some value.
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So Piany's core problem is you have to build a squad that doesn't need Avant (or in global, Gazia) to use her
to full effect. You can also only really afford to use her SBB if you have
status immunity, which her BB doesn't provide, and most status immunity units
also cure status, so suddenly if you want to use Piany's SBB you have
to build a squad where her BB's status cure is completely irrelevant - either
through her LS, or another unit providing status immunity/curing.
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Or you can purely use her BB, which isn't really autobattle
friendly but at least it's actually really good.
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Overall, she's a strong unit, you just can't use her SBB with the
most meta units in both global and JP.
DREVAS (魔槍源神帝ドレヴァス)
A demon pike that belonged to Lance, one
of the Six Heroes. This pike originated from the Vriksha Duchy and is said to
bestow its user with the power of nature. However, it bears a curse that
completely fuses the pike to its user over time. It is rumored that Lance could
hear the voice of the demon pike, but there are various theories as to what the
pike told him.
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He's a bit of an odd one, to be honest. His unit abilities don't
seem too sure on what he should be doing... well, the sphere wasn’t much to go
by.
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Stat spread looks to be heavy on ATK, but after imps it's actually
pretty well-rounded between high ATK and DEF, with REC and HP being average.
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As for as the arena's concerned, Drevas has pretty
strong abilities, and no extra hit ES units to compete with in earth. 40 drop
checks is good, nearly 3k ATK is good, causing status effects is
sometimes-good, being immune to status effects is sometimes-good. One of
earth's better arena units, not that the competition is amazing.
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Drevas' LS is basically a small improvement on Drevas' sphere. It's got status immunity and 30% HP/DEF, just like the
sphere, and a more niche 15% mitigation against fire and earth. Fire's an odd
element for Drevas to have mitigation against, seeing as he's weak to it, but I
guess that's not really a problem.
o
This batch already has a better general purpose status immunity +
HP LS in Piany, however - Drevas' LS is niche.
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His ES actually defines him as a status curing unit of choice,
giving himself status immunity (in case you didn't take his LS) and making his
BB and SBB cure status effects.
o
This also ensures that you won't be able to use him as your only
status handling unit until 7*, though...
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Drevas' BB's first ability is status immunity. Again, in case you didn't
take his LS. Then the rest of its effects go off on a tangent - he has status
reflect, and water/thunder mitigation buffs. So he provides 15% mitigation to
fire and earth if he's a leader, and 10% mitigation to water and thunder if he
uses a BB or SBB... kinda odd. As this kind of mitigation is multiplicative
with regular mitigation in JPBF, it's not particularly strong, but it's...
something, I guess.
o
Of course, with his ES he cures and immunes status here, so if you
need the niche his other effects provide, he's a good option for handling that
role.
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His SBB, on the other hand, drops the status immunity for a niche
effect that increases damage against targets with status ailments. Hopefully
his status reflect helps you land at least some form of ailment to use this,
though it's not perfectly reliable. The other effects of his SBB are the same
as his BB.
o
If you want that buff, you have to use it after his BB to make
sure you have status immunity - though most of the time you can get by with
just curing ailments and not actual immunity, you'll probably open yourself up
for a turn while you charge to SBB.
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Finally, Drevas' UBB is pretty standard for a status infliction unit, in that it
takes his status infliction buff and ramps the infliction rate up to 100%
(before resistance). It also ramps up his damage buff against status-inflicted
enemies to +300%, and grants a (pretty fringing huge) HP -> ATK convert buff
with a value of 50%. Which is still weaker than UBB-tier ATK buffs or BB mod
buffs, but actually manages to outpace regular ATK% buffs.
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Overall, though, Drevas appears to be a very niche unit. Status effects aren't always
important, and curing/immunizing ailments a pretty heavily contested niche with
most of the other units providing it having more general purpose buffs that are
easier to use. Doesn't help that the best competition for his LS is one of his
batchmates, either.
RUDE/LYUD (幻蒼の雷劫神リュード)
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In JPBF,
Spirit Tiara is actually named after this guy, but the global description of
the sphere has nothing to do with him. So I'm not posting that with him. He
seems like a match for King's Crown, but that's such a generic and weak sphere
I'd doubt Alim would make a unit for it. Maybe his full lore entry would help.
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More BC-fill-when-attacked units! Feels like every role
represented in this batch is represented by more than one unit...
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Dat HP. Also, nearly 3k ATK, but DEF and REC
are at the lower end of the spectrum.
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Another viable arena unit - huge stats and drop checks, but no
extra hits, relevant BB effect or T3 AI. May make for a troll-ish leader due to
his LS and ES enabling turn 1 BB as the defensive squad, though surviving
enough hits to charge BB is admittedly pretty difficult against the meta damage
squads.
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LS is buffer jewel + BC fill when attacked. Solid. Not much to
say, but this kind of thing works pretty well for trials and GQ.
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ES is... literally a weaker version of Vermilion's, above.
Some BC fill when attacked and a chance to restore HP. It helps make sure you
can maintain his buffs.
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Lyud's BB is actually interesting, not because of the ability
combination, but because we rarely ever see full-strength BC-when-attacked on a
BB - it's almost always on SBB, which leads to slow start-ups with squads
reliant on the buff. We get a mid-tier regen buff here as well.
o
Just don't underestimate how useful having the most important BC
gen buff on BB can be following a buff-wipe + BB drain or on the first few
turns of a trial. He has it on SBB as well if you just want to Fujin him,
anyway.
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Speaking of Lyud’s SBB, it's actually pretty nifty. First, we see 50% Ares
(BC fill rate) - stronger than any unit has had this buff (except Granvas'
self-buff), and it's not totally negligible. Then there's a fairly weak 15%
HP->ATK convert, and the top-tier 4-7 BC fill wehn attacked buffs, which are
ok. Then you get to the end of it and realize the max BC gen is pretty crazy,
because this SBB has 43 hits, which is more than any other SBB in the
game.
o
It's about bloody time we saw a good hit count on a new RS unit...
it does a lot for supporting spark BC, spark damage, BC drop rate and Ares buffs,
and diminishing hit counts has been the major problem for BB spam for a while.
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Lyud’s UBB ends up being pretty bland, though. It has max HP
regen, 50 BC regen, and 30% HP -> ATK convert. Solid. Boring.
o
Even though Drevas had 50% HP -> ATK convert on a UBB in the same batch. I was
hoping Gumi would make it high value on UBB in general...
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I like this guy, but his role is, again, heaaaavily contested.
Maybe he's better for it than Vermilion, though -
should we work our squads around Lyud + Piany or Vermilion + Piany or... just keep using Paris? Time will tell.
KIRAVEL (皇輝龍神キラヴェール)
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This guy's
sphere hasn't reached global yet, but we know what it is. It's called キラヴェールの瞬断雷 and gives ATK/DEF and mitigation for the first
two turns.
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Also, I don't think he's a dragon anymore. More of a Sargavel-style chicken monster.
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Heavily ATK-focused stats, and his HP has really suffered for it,
actually ending up a fair amount below average. DEF and REC are still
acceptable, however.
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Arena-wise, he's outclassed by free units Ark and Lucius, though solid
overall. No particular strengths outside of damage output and BC gen.
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LS is a strictly better Raaga, in the same
element as Raaga... lack of
any defensive merit past turn 2 still hurts it, though. If you want spark BC gen,
this batch already has that covered better with Piany as long as
you're not raiding - though without HP, you might not be using Kiravel in raids either...
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ES is just more BC gen on spark. He doesn't have great hit counts,
but the value's pretty high for when you do spark him. He's got 1 turn effects,
so you need to fill him consistently and he does need all the help he can get.
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BB is an AoE with... spark damage and ATK down. The value of the
ATK down is top tier, so it's not hurtng no matter where you take it, but
Ragzeberum and Granvas have better chances if you want to dedicate a unit to that. Spark
damage is so heavily contested you need a strong secondary niche on units to
compete, and I'm not sure ATK down is good enough (though thankfully it's on BB
and can be spammed).
o
The spark damage is only 70% on BB and lower than SBB, so you may
not want to use BB just for the ATK down if damage is more important to you.
Though, 10% spark damage doesn't make much of a difference either... the higher
raw damage of SBB probably means more.
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SBB adds the spark damage increasing debuff to the mix, increases
the spark damage to 80% and... that's it. Uninspiring, but if you want to
optimize damage output you need to use it every turn if possible - which at
only 18 hits may be difficult on spark BC alone.
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Finally, Kiravel's UBB is...
the first part of him I don't think of as a disappointment. It grants 50%
mitigation for 3 turns, which as a UBB buff stacks with regular mitigation
(though admittedly there are better pure mitigation UBB), and 100% mitigation
against light/dark for 1 turn. Which are the elements most trials are, so you
can see that coming in handy from time to time.
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I don't really like this guy. There are better general units for
spark-BC/damage in raids such as Chrome and Rhoa, Piany's generally going to be better for trials and GQ, and his UBB
doesn't really replace anybody well enough to be the sole reason you'd take
him.
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Basically, everything he does can be better done by other units
that are already used, so... I wouldn't use him.
FABROS (神魔煌騎フェブロス)
A weapon that encompasses both holy and demonic powers. It is said that
Grahdens first obtained it while adventuring in his youth. Certainly ancient,
this weapon suits its owner well, though no one knows where in Grand Gaia he found it. No
legends mentioning Ishrion have been left behind, and the other Summoners of
Old will not speak of it either. Because of this, many rumors claiming that it
hides the secrets of the gods, or that its true shape may not be a weapon still
circulate to this day.
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His LS/abilities are almost identical to Ishrion, so I expect
that's his sphere. The description is ambiguous enough to make it plausible.
You can clearly see "both holy and demonic powers" in his artwork,
too.
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Slightly above average HP, well above average ATK, and low
DEF/REC, with flat imp caps. Pretty acceptable stat spread; he ends up with
almost as much ATK as Mifune, too.
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Nice arena specs - very high drop checks, very high ATK, ATK buff
on BB for even more damage. Lacks extra hits or T3 AI, but the dark element
doesn't have much of either of those so far, so he doesn't have huge
competition in-element.
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Fabros' LS, as
mentioned, is basically a stronger Ishrion. 40% HP/ATK with 18% BC/HC drop rate
- maybe less solid in the days of BB spam not relying on BC drops, but it
provides at least something to every aspect of regular squads. Some healing,
some BC gen, some damage, some HP. Maybe not as strong as a rainbow lead like Krantz, though you do get a bit more HP/drop rates than him and no
element requirements.
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His ES makes BC and HC more effective, though just for himself.
It's got good synergy with his LS and buffs, seeing as he makes you get more of
each. The numbers here are pretty low, however.
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The BB is pretty neat. While BC/HC drop rate aren't as popular,
they're still solid, and you get a mid-tier ATK buff and 8 instant BC fill -
the latter making it more desirable in content, and both making it more
desirable in arena.
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The SBB, though, is just plain... better in almost every way. It
ups the ATK buff to 130%, ups the instant BB fill to 10 BC, and adds a 30% ATK
-> DEF convert, which is still a strong amount in JP BF. You still get the
BC/HC drop rate buffs, they're just the part that's not better (they're
unchanged from BB).
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Finally, his UBB is mostly a plain damage boost. 250% ATK/DEF,
500% BB mod and instantly fills any empty BB gauges in your squad (once Alim
remember to change the number off a 0 it'll probably be like, 500 or something)
- so use them up the turn before you fire it, then fire it and you can use them
all again. Solid for content that's crit resistant, for everything else there's
Avant.
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This guy poses some obvious synergy with Piany and Lyud, filling out the remaining buff left behind by removing Paris/Nadore and giving Lyud BC drop rate to work with his 50% Ares and 43 hit count. After
that you'd just have to fill the squad out with damage buffs and a mitigator.
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Plus his instant BC fill everywhere is just great. Shame his hit
counts suck, but he makes up for it.
(Source)
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