Arena battle videos and discussion

[Zotis]

More gauntlets eh?  Cool, looking forward to it.

[Barren]

Happy Thanksgiving Final Fantasy Hacktics! I present to you three gauntlet series to watch while you are at the comfort of your own (or someone else's) home. I have a detailed team analysis for Fenire and Rouroni Elmdor for since they are two new comers and so prepare for that when the time comes. In the mean time, enjoy

FFT Arena 1.38d Gauntlet Series: Fenire

FFT Arena 1.38d Gauntlet Series: Otabo

FFT Arena 1.38d Gauntlet Series: Rouroni Elmdor

[Fenire]

Thanks Barren! sing sang... not much singing... was hoping that with the high speed on the lancer he would be landing in time. didn't matter though due to the lack of singing... well I have some work ahead of me reworking my teams. Thanks again Barren.

[Otabo]

spoiler: Otabo Gauntlet series

4-0, not bad. But yeah, those monks are definetly losing Chakra next update, and I need to find some way to give the paladins some poison protection. I might try to find a way to spice those pallies up a bit too. Thanks, Barren.

[Elmdork]

I LOLed so hard during the eternal series. That was hilarious, never seen anything like it. And you pit me against one of my favourite teams! I'm a fan of severe weather alert XD
Thanks barren, you did a great job today.

spoiler

so, it's fair to say get rid of berserk helm and make him a functioning member of society and poe the bard is not pulling his weight. A paladin with a shield and sing would fulfil his original objective, And I like building paladins.
Anywho, WOOOOO! my first victory! But there is some fixing to do.

[Barren]

Thanks guys and I'm glad you enjoyed these videos for the holiday. Here are my thoughts and analysis on the teams presented by the newcomers. And while I may be aware that changes are already made, I want to give my opinions anyways.

spoiler: Fenire

Fenire's Benders team consist of a thunder/water absorb team with the samurai casting lore's thunder flare and malestrom to heal and hurt at the same time. Counter Flood as a backup plan for inflicting status effects and magic defend up and pilgrimage so she won't suffer too badly from magic damage as the battle progresses. A singing paladin that uses battle song to increase PA and angel song to heal MP. Also comes with gold shield and defense ring to absorb lightning and water but it is weak to earth which may be problematic when facing units with earth slash or kikuchimoji as they are both earth elemental attacks. Warpath and Defense UP are there so should be survive a physical move it will trigger HP Restore which is always a nice way to absorb beatings. Coral Sword to heal his allies by slashing them and probably cast water ball too. It's also got blind protection so it can freely use grand cross to heal itself since as mentioned previously it can absorb water. A typical martial arts monk with high PA and chakra band. It's a very popular some might say overused setup but it's very effective. Very versatile too as it has rubber costume to absorb lightning and water and has HP Restore and Warpath, makes it a very dangerous unit to deal with. And finally a support time mage with absorb MP so when lore attacks or angel song occur, it will regain MP. Magic Defend UP and pilgrimage is there again to survive magical damage. Haste 2 and sinkhole to support and to disrupt respectively. Has access to Cure 2, raise, esuna and holy for extra support and sniping goodness.

Overall I like the concept of this squad but this could use some remodeling. First of all the samurai may end up hurting herself with thunder flare which wouldn't be ideal. If you are going to absorb lightning you can switch samurai with scholar so she can have access to Mace of Zeus which absorbs and strengthens thunder. Another thing too is while the paladin may have angel song it wouldn't hurt to give your scholar move-mp up so that way you won't have to always rely on the angel song to heal MP. Angel song does help but move-mp up does as well so that's what I would go for over pilgrimage only because pilgrimage is usually there for chances of inflicting status spells or more damage with magic guns. It does increase lore damage though so it's understandable why you chose pilgrimage. Your paladin should probably have float for a movement because it can cover the earth weakness and you can run across rivers and marshes without any restrictions. And while I do like the gold helm for status protection purposes, cross helm might be preferred if you're using angel song and grand cross because it grants more MP. Your monk is the one I like most personally so he's fine. And your time mage seems good as well, hopefully it won't waste her MP for a holy heal. Thankfully cure 2 should be the more logical spell to use for healing since it goes off quicker.

Fenire's Garrrr consist of two undeads and two immortals. We have two archers one with summon magic and carbunkle and ramuh? I would rather use silf because you can get a don't act/don't move proc in plus it compliments further wind damage thanks to hawk's eye. But since thief hats are so popular it would seem that ramuh would make the cut. But still, I like magic attack up and pilgrimage on spell gun archers. Especially if you crank their speed up. I'm iffy on counter magic though because archers don't really have the MP or the MA to make counter magic be effective. Plus it has the potential of backfiring on you depending on what team you are facing. I would go with projectile guard personally and hopefully get a equip break or even arm aim in. Same goes for male archer because he's sporting the similar idea. I would take out time magic and swap it with draw out and masamune. Because the phoenix blade units can't be hasted anyways. As far as your two phoenix blade users: First off we have a paladin who uses quickening, nurse and southern cross. Has PA Save and warpath to further increase the damage. Defense UP so it can be physically tanky. Because of the fact that phoenix blade users are slow you might want speed save instead so it can reach its turn quicker. Defense UP and Warpath is fine. But steal is pretty useless on a slowed unit and since you only have 3 abilities (I believe Dokurider confirmed this), you need more than 3 abilities for a unit to use quickening. You could have probably replaced steal with sing and give it last song so that way you can potentially have your archers double/triple turn your opponents and cause even more havoc. Also since you have the flame shield it is weak to ice. Also as any immortal and undead goes, they can go on living forever, even if it was trapped in statues. Meaning it is very vulnerable to petrify or seal evil and those alone unless you have a way to get rid of it and put anyone out of commission. I would switch the diamond armlet on both immortals for the jade armlet. Covers ice weakness and prevents stop and petrify. Same with the thief too who also uses phoenix blade but again could use a different secondary because Tsumazuku is really useless. Again you need more than 3 abilities for quickening to be used at all. Maybe even throw in talk skill to be even more of an annoyance like blackmail or mimic daravon. Overall it does have decent staying power but may need some readjusting on all of your units that I described.

Fenire's sing sang team has an immortal bard and he's packing with several elemental resistances and some absorption with the exception of earth, thunder and holy. Projectile guard to protect himself from pesky archers and gunners. Uses cheer song to boost speed of his allies and has elemental to switch things up. An undead lancer with equip clothes...neat. Has level and vertical jump 6 and uses basic skill to build PA and resurrect someone with wish. Warpath so it can land harder hitting jumps and speed save to reach his turn quicker. A martial artist monk with a PA setup, chakra band and rubber costume, same as his benders team. And a singing chemist with battle song and throwing knife for death sentence. Well as far as this goes, I know what you're going for here but there are a couple of things I would change personally. Your lancer has no ways of healing itself and your monk shouldn't be your only means of healing. Move-HP Up might be the better option or even switch speed save with HP Restore because your lancer if in critical will run off and hide in a corner somewhere and not fight until all of his allies are dead. Yes being undead has its advantages but it also has its disadvantage too. And while 4 move on a chemist is good in case you need to reach to somebody, I think move -1 might be better because you can access more items to use. Still the team seems okay

Fenire's Status Break Time has a near full decked out PA archer with bow gun. Attack UP, Warpath and HP Restore is there for support because of its low HP though you could have switched battle boots with cherche because auto protect is always a nice thing to have and you might be better off using concentrate if you want to proc the breaks. An oracle with two hands and ivory rod. Draw out and fly to help out the party with murasame and masamune. Has access to spells like Petrify and Blind Rage to cause trouble for the opponent. Not sure how I feel about this one. I mean yes it's capable of melee even with 50 fury but if you have status spells too you might as well give her 70 faith. Otherwise I would switch her over to samurai and give here equip polearm and switch yin yang magic with talk skill if you want status as back up. We also have a time magic paladin with battle axe for haste 2, balance and decap procs. Also has Auto potion and the very uncommon but effective maintenance. Maintenance is a hard counter to those break/steal strategies. Move-MP Up so it can keep up with the spells it has including Reraise. I like the fact that the paladin has 5 move so he can immediately help his allies but since he has time magic and has haste 2, he should be going last because he can then get everyone in range for a haste 2. Plus I would raise his faith to 70 because you want balance to be as accurate as possible. And finally a white magic squire that has a lot of evasion and elemental defense. This is probably the worst unit out of all 4 because you have a squire who is a Sagittarius male and has worse compatibility with your paladin who is a Gemini male. The way compatibility works in Final Fantasy Tactics is rather straightforward. Compatibility effects the overall damage and chances of landing a raise spell or a status spell. Let's say for example your unit is a Capricorn. Capricorn is in January. It has good compatibility with Taurus and Virgo because they are 4 months apart. Regardless of gender there is good compatibility. There's also cases of bad compatibility like Libra and Cancer because they are 3 months apart. Anyone that is 3 months apart equals bad compatibility. Then there's best/worst compatibility. They must be half a year apart and have to be the opposite gender for best compatibility i.e. Aquarius and Leo. Worse compatibility comes into play when it's two units of the same gender but 6 months apart. Faith also plays a role in landing spells; usually the higher your faith value is, the better your chances are to land a spell but you take more damage from magic. With that said your squire should probably be female and maybe even switch her over to priest because priests have better MA and MP pool than squires. I understand the need for evasion but there are better ways to go about a support unit.

spoiler: Rouroni Elmdor

Rouroni Elmdor's Dorter City Graverobbers team looks to be a bunch of thunder/dark absorbing walking corpses looking to dig their opponents an early grave. They consist of a undead monk with Chaos Blade and PA Save. He has jump for secondary meaning that with the Monk's natural high PA and the Chaos Blade's high WP jump is going to do a significant amount of damage. Punch Art paladin with maintenance and auto potion coupling with move-hp up to provide some longevity. Tactician's blade to give him movement so he can actually catch up to his allies in case they need for support. An undead oracle with lore and MA Save so she can hit harder with thunder flare and shadow shade as the battle progresses and couple that with short charge she's bound to get them off quickly. As well as inflict paralysis and dispel. However, oracles with lore are really not a good mix at all because they lack in resurrection and there are times when units are immune to don't act i.e. Defender or Crystal Helmet. Then there's a bard with abandon yet no mantle to speak of and time magic with short charge. While haste 2 is good what you lack overall is staying power. Punch Art's revive isn't going to be enough in the long run. You would want an item bot or someone with raise/raise 2 to keep up the sand bagging.

Rouroni Elmdor's Zirekile Highwaymen are traditional bounty hunters looking for jobs just to kill time. What we have here is a berserked paladin with dragon spirit so hopefully for his sake that he gets hit physically while still alive. Attack UP and Move-HP Up further compliments the help. Though if you want to avoid spells for the most part try giving him reflect mail and to help with his evasion further, try maybe projectile guard so that way arrows and gun shots can't get to him. At least that's what I think happens (not sure though). Doesn't have a secondary which means that he'll only use southern cross as a AoE attack. It's usually a good idea to give him a secondary. Two archers that are item bots and have lots of mobility thanks to germinas boots and jump +2. These archers are actually well built. They have great endurance and move and they can hit decent enough for their damage to combine. The samurai is the one in question here because she has overwhelm, meatbone slash (though for the video I did she has counter flood). And while she still has masamune (I took that out originally to keep counter flood) murasame and chirijiraden are the ones that benefit from overwhelm. Yin Yang magic is a odd choice here because all she has is paralyze, you can add sleep in case paralyze is not the spell to use. Still with some editing need to be done it can be potentially a very good team concept wise. Just get rid of echo grass if you want your paladin to remain berserk.

[Dokurider]

Hey guys, I'm gonna have an Arena Livestream Sunday. It will feature real time testing/feedback for everyone that wants it. 1 PM Pacific Time sound good?

[Barren]

I'll be home from work after 3 PM EST so I might miss your live stream

[Dokurider]

Maybe not. I'll have it running as long as possible. Plus it's a ballpark time. I just wanted to throw a time out there to get an idea of when to start streaming.

[reinoe]

Well I work from 8-11am on Sunday PST.  Then there's a going away luncheon for some friends of mine ending whenever.

So I'll probably be able to see most of it.  Will it be on Youtube, twitchtv, or somewhere else?

[Elmdork]

1pm on the server's clock is 8am where I live, but I'm a night worker, so I should be able to do it. Sounds awesome dokurider, this is my new favourite pastime.

spoiler: barren

originally everyone had mantles and was impervious to don't act, but then I figured "the hell am I afraid of? Everybody's a tank" so they got the shoes. This is a negotiable change, mantles and perfume are an equally deadly, but more defensive option. So about the paladin, he originally had reflect mail, then I have him pa+1, then you suggested reflect mail (and I always consider your analysis) which I put on for like.. 10 minutes. now he has crystal mail. "Elmdor you fool! Why would you do that?!" I did that to prevent charm, the only status I can't cure, and people use that shit. Last thing I need is for my berserk paladin who leads my group into its proper formation, to turn around and 1hit my damned archer. Their only major weakness is terrain plays a pretty big factor in their performance (narrow obstacle ridden passage way=defeat--fort zeakden with two mountable towers=victory in 3 rounds) perfumes increasing defence and lowering mobility could help, but I like them to do their jobs to the best of their ability (well.. duh..)

Your gauntlet series was awesome, I watched everyone's. Otabo's undead monk team does what my grave robbers should just wayy better. I'm not gonna bite the team, I'll consider a ground-up re working of the them. Anywho, my point is you're helping me a lot, and I love doing this. So thanks, barren.

[Barren]

Not a problem. I usually don't give lengthy team analysis but once in a while I should. As far as your reasoning with the paladin being charmed there is always stigma magic which removes charm. The reason for reflect mail is that spells (except for some lore and all summon) bounces off of the unit and in case you have a unit that can cast spells you might be able to hit long distance spells or have a spell hit twice pending on the unit's position.  I've seen dokurider did that way back in the day with his wizards and knights. Reflected flares are always fun. Otherwise just hope you don't run into a team that carries charm

[Elmdork]

As long as the archers have a good shot, so do I. I'm building a tournament team, so even if a team is completely impervious to don't act, poison and oil, they'll win one against me (likely) and lose 3 to death sentence and petrify. I want to run them through a bunch of team styles and decide weather to beef up defences, or let em' be reckless and "explosive"

I think reckless is more fun to watch. I touched em' up a bit and they're ready to take a beating!

Oh, about the reflect mail: murasame is a key part of my team's healing. Will reflect mail prevent my paladin from healing?

[Barren]

As long as the archers have a good shot, so do I. I'm building a tournament team, so even if a team is completely impervious to don't act, poison and oil, they'll win one against me (likely) and lose 3 to death sentence and petrify. I want to run them through a bunch of team styles and decide weather to beef up defences, or let em' be reckless and "explosive"

I think reckless is more fun to watch. I touched em' up a bit and they're ready to take a beating!

Oh, about the reflect mail: murasame is a key part of my team's healing. Will reflect mail prevent my paladin from healing?

Reflect does not block any draw outs so murasame will still heal a reflected unit

[Elmdork]

Actually, I agree with you (regarding reflect mail) Being vulnerable to charm is a fair price to pay for the powerful counter offensive my melee units can possess. I might consider giving rock counter attack to further increase DPS, but he has PA save for now, as he's too resilient to make dragon spirit worth it. Even regenerator would have been better.

[Barren]

I'll run more matches eventually with your team amd see if you can pick up on a thing or two

[reinoe]

Actually, I agree with you (regarding reflect mail) Being vulnerable to charm is a fair price to pay for the powerful counter offensive my melee units can possess. I might consider giving rock counter attack to further increase DPS, but he has PA save for now, as he's too resilient to make dragon spirit worth it. Even regenerator would have been better.

I'm sure a reflect team can work.  It's happened in the past, but it takes a lot of forethought.  For example the unit with reflect.  Is it to protect the unit or is it to bounce spells off the unit?  What spells are you hoping to bounce using Reflect?

Don't forget that enemy units can use reflect too.

[CT5Holy]

Arena stream would be awesome! I might miss a good bit of it though, but it's a great idea!

[Elmdork]

I'm sure a reflect team can work.  It's happened in the past, but it takes a lot of forethought.  For example the unit with reflect.  Is it to protect the unit or is it to bounce spells off the unit?  What spells are you hoping to bounce using Reflect?

Don't forget that enemy units can use reflect too.

It's simply to make him resistant to magic. The only spell my team casts is paralyze, and a quick accessory switch could make them immune to it, but I chose the boots to focus on offence. The only thing I don't like about the reflect mail is I could end up healing an absorb team, which I designed my team to be good against element absorb. On the other hand, that berserk paladin will chunk away that HP pretty quick.

[Dokurider]

Okay, so it's going to be at http://www.twitch.tv/dokurider @ 1 PM Pacific Time. I'll have it running as long as possible. Bring your teams.