So the new event landed yesterday afternoon and from what we were initially teased with, it would be the 4th story that integrates into Stan’s and Aliza’s storyline but to my surprise, while they did play an important part, most of the event were focused on new characters named Attiyah and Tabina.
At start, it looked like your typical casual event but when the event finally got to the part where the two are reunited, IT WAS CLEAR, IT WAS BOLLYWOOD (but seriously, my normie first impressions was that of a Disney movie), the couple sing and dance and mind you, THE SING AND DANCE SCENES ARE ABSOLUTELY UNSKIPPABLE unless you completely skip the entire chapter; the singing and dancing are not just in 1 chapter either, it had scenes in other chapters too and in order for the crew to actually beat the primal beast, Stan and Aliza had to join in the couple in the singing and dancing as, apparently, “Love” can quell the uncontrolled hatred that has affected the event’s featured beast.
Anyway, enough of the summary and let’s get down to my thoughts in the event. Generally, it’s a pretty fun event albeit a bit too cliche IMO, one of the strong points of the event for me was the fact that Tabina was voiced by Kaede Hondo, who also voiced Sakura Minamoto who is the main protagonist in another cygames property, the zombie idol anime “Zombieland Saga”, during the first bits of the event, she was absolutely killing with over the top hilarious and unconventional dialogue but when the event finally came to the singing and dancing, BOI, YOU ALREADY KNOW YOU’RE IN FOR A TREAT!
Another strong point of the event is actually branching out to another possible entire series of events which will now focus on Attiya and Tabina as things definitely have not settled down with the family grudge as seen in the ending; Tabina is also teased to be one of the new playable characters based from the ending (AND SHE’S A BOW PROF! THIS GAME NEEDS MORE BOW PROF!), it’s definitely a plus for me whenever GBF introduces new characters that have the potential to become your crewmates mainly because this allows them to expand the roster further and lessen the release of character variants especially for characters who already has a ton of variants already.
Now, as for Stan and Aliza, this event finally allows Stan to go back to your crew so we can definitely expect a new Stan unit in the upcoming part 2 of legfes; I like the Stan we see in this event as he seems to be a mix of how he was during Boots & Blades and the Hero & Princess event, a bit matured but still having some of the traits of the old Stan but he really needs to get a haircut though. Aliza, on the other hand, now has developed her martial arts as well as it was something she was struggling from during “A Thousand Reasons” so, in a sense, she has grown as a character thanks to this event. Hopefully, this also means that Aliza will be getting an FLB soon now that she has reached new heights. (But please give us Zeta FLB first)
I guess the disappointing part is that we never really see if they’re finally going to fight now that Stan is back in the crew and that both of them have grown as characters; not to mention, Stan chickens out on handing the flower from Boots & Blades at the very last minute but who knows, maybe more will be supplemented on their gacha units? But yeah, as an event that initially teased that it was bound to be a StanLiza event, I definitely had more expectations on how they will be developed but, in the end, nothing much has changed between the two and the event was mainly focused on molding Aliza than their actual relationship more than anything.
With the release of the Optimus Series summons’ FLB yesterday, Primals are now ridiculously back up there way at the top, while it’s obvious that a full whale primal grid will stand above all. I can’t help but think if it’s now possible to do hybrid grids. I was doing some tests last night but I can’t achieve optimal hybrid builds due to the lack of weapons but one test grid came close though and I think it really has decent potential too. (see below for grid and lineup)
As you can see above, my primal weapons suck but for what the grid’s worth, I was hitting Athena for around 600k+ with Diantha when I tested this. Probably after I ULB my Opus and have some Blue Spheres, then this might just work to my advantage. Of course, as the title suggests, it’s theorycrafting so until I actually achieve that said grid, I won’t be able to say for certain.
How it could possibly work
Point 1: Notice that I used Fimbuls and it’s a fact that Fimbuls do not have any attack mod leading to me lacking some normal attack modifiers on the primal side BUT that’s where Diantha kicks in, while not a whole lot, her tlepilli buff provides 30% normal attack and some nifty DA which allows you to regain just a bit of the lost attack mods from your grid; if you’ve been using Diantha for a long time, you’d also know that she can maintain that buff with 100% uptime upon Ougi-ing once.
Point 2: Notice that my lineup consists of Lily and OG Europa which means every time Lily uses her CA, the party gets a nifty 55% water attack up and on top of that, you can always initially gain 50% water attack up early by summoning Leviathan Magna, juggle this with Ca Ong or Water Buncles and you pretty much maintain a good source of at least 50% water attack up, making up for the loss of an elemental support summon in a similar fashion to when you use Double Primal/Double Magna.
Point 3: The grid is far from being complete with the lack of a ULB Magna Stamina Opus and at least 2 Drang Balls, generally my objective is still to Ougi real hard more than anything but this should also hit autos to a decent degree as right now I’m already hitting up to 680k (if she crits) with Diantha on autos.
Possiblydoing it for other elements
You might be wondering, all the points I brought up above are just for water but what about other elements. Theoretically, the main wheel (fire, water, earth, wind) elements have the biggest chances of pulling them off mainly because they have access to Regalia units (Shiva, Europa, Grimnir and Alexiel), having these units are a huge plus mainly due to their ability to boost elemental attack up effects, pairing them with proper units (Athena and Shiva, Scathacha and Grimnir, Okto and Alex) can give your lineup a more definite power.
Next thing that you need to consider is the magna-side weapons themselves, generally you’d want to make use of double skilled magna weapons like Tyros Zither, Summer’s Mirage, Nibelung Horn, Last Storm Harp and the likes but you’d also want to chug in 1 or 2 attacks should you use attack-less weapons like Nibelung Horn and Last Storm Harp.
Lastly, much like the highlander grids that are quite popular nowadays, the ULB Opus plays an important factor, generally I believe the advantage goes to ULB-ing Magna Opus because Magna definitely lacks some secondary modifiers since sentence only affects your CA and not your normal attacks; primals can take care of itself as they have easy access to Stamina modifiers along with having massive attack modifiers for the grand weapons.
Is it possible for light and dark? It should but the end-case would probably be weaker than the main wheel hybrids due to the missing elemental attack boosting units that the main wheel has, you’d probably want to mix Eden, chev swords and possibly mittron bow should you want to try it for light while dark will probably see a mix of Abyss Spines, Fallen Swords, a Qilin Bow and Hermanubis.
Edit: Should you want to try light, you can use Huanglong Katana but make sure you have enough green skill providers to rack up a permanent 50% light attack up.
Definitely, if you have a full whale grid, this would be meaningless as full whale grids are definitely way more powerful but for Magna users, it might be interesting to look at especially with how ridiculously broken the Primal FLBs are; additionally, it’s fun to mess around every once in a while especially when there’s literally nothing to do at the game at the moment. (no magnafes, waiting for the new event, etc) It’s definitely something unorthodox but seeing as it now has better potential than before, it might just have its own magic and I’m always up to discovering unorthodox builds when it comes to the games I play.
So the event page for Dancing Avengers Flames of the Heart has just went live a few minutes ago and with that, we get a glimpse of the event’s contents regarding the free whatever, the event boss’s element, the event weapons and if there’s gonna be another mini-game. For this event, we, yet again, get another event skin and this time, it’s for Aliza.
Ever since post-anniversary 2018 events (Robomi Z), we’ve been getting less and less free characters but instead getting more and more skins, while the skins are appreciated, 2019 has gone full blown into the trend as the year (excluding Collabs) so far had only given 2 free characters (3 if you can “Second Advent” as a 2019 event), the 2 being the R Cat from “The Many Lives of Cats” and SSR Sandalphon (if and only if you hadn’t already gotten him from “WMtSB II: Paradise Lost”) and the rest have been skins.
Why am I upset? I’m deeply invested in Granblue’s stories whether they be casual stuff or heavily lore related, this easily means that with more skins, the less stories there are to be told = the less we also get to know some characters cause even if the free character might have really bland and non-important stories in their fate episodes, it’s these stories that let you, the player, get to know a character; for one, I certainly have developed my love for Aster mainly because of her event SR’s fate episodes even if they were just your everyday routine generally back when I was still in my noob days.
I think one of the reasoning behind the rise of event skins is that they believe no really uses the SRs and, most often than not, people just really use them as skins anyway; while the reasoning does prove a good point I still find it disappointing as even event SRs can provide their worth so long they’re built properly, i.e. Sevilbarra from “Reflections for a White Clover” whom I use for my light GW EX+ OTK setup or even the Swimsuit Olivia from “Bzzt! Amped-up Summer!” as she’s literally a Grand Olivia lite which can be completely useful in certain situations should you not have the grand version, I remember using her for time but I’ve got the Grand version now.
To be honest, I’m quite fine if not all events come with event SRs like what 2018 did but at least it still felt balanced as we still got quite a number of free characters last year compared to this year; I guess they’re only putting out free characters now if they really feel the need to tell a story on them be it supplementary to the current event or not as long as the character in question isn’t due for an SSR gacha release yet but yeah, I really wish we go back to a more balanced release of free skins and free characters during the new events.
Before anything else, if you’re still a new player and you’re reading this then this post is probably not for you as this focuses on the one-turn-kill (OTK) aspect on Unite & Fight(GW)’s Extreme+ raid which will be everyone’s best source of piling up meats/baits.
Now, if you’ve been playing GBF for a good while already and are part of a Tier A crew then fast tracking your EX+ kills for more meats is definitely something you’ll aim for especially when the upcoming advantage is already a good element in your account; that said, some people actually does have a hard time forming teams that can pull off the OTK stunt. While grid plays an important factor, your lineup plays an even more important factor as you specifically need to deal around 20m damage in 1 turn to pull off the said feat. As the title suggests, this is a post focused on discussing a list of useful characters but before anything else, let me just clear up that I’m recommending based on the units that I have because I can’t speak for units that I don’t have even if most people recommend them.
Main Character Class:
Now, I haven’t played around with different classes a lot for OTK setups so I’ll just put up the two most I’ve used and played around with.
Chrysaor
The main bread and butter class for CA-based parties due to the class’ ability to dual CA, if you’re wielding a primal grid then you definitely can’t go wrong with a combination of Ixaba and Xeno Katana or just bluntly dual wield Ixabas as it is the better option if you throw in The Sun from your summon pool. For free options, it’s best to dual wield Xeno Katana and one among the following: Sword of Valorblaze (FLB seraphic), Ushumgal, Wasserspeier or Ultima Sword/Katana. You’ll definitely want to bring splitting spirit and dual arts for your subskills, also bring mist if you need to.
Berserker
Your next best option to Chrysaor, with a trusty weapon such as Xeno Axe ready, it might just be what you’ll need if you run a party of ridiculous Auto-Attackers but lack the MA to do it; Aside from the fact that zerks can easily cap def down by themselves, the damage cap up from rage VI also helps in achieving the 20m target.
Mechanic
Everyone’s favorite anytime Strike Time class, while it’s harder to OTK with mechanic, it’s not an impossible feat especially in Magna where they recently got access to Summer’s Mirage (RotB Fire Gun); the main problem with fire mechanic is the lack of good fire guns as Summer’s Mirage, Benedia and Ultima Gun are your only good options. If you plan to Meme-chanic your way, you’re definitely going to need The Sun to pull it off as purely CA just won’t be enough for now; it may change once Purifying Thunderbolt (Grand Shiva bow) gets an FLB though which I feel is coming this September.
Free Characters:
Lyria
Roles: CA Burst, Extra Summon, Buffer, Debuffer
Lyria is definitely one of the best free SR characters there are in the game, while she doesn’t do normal attack, her strength comes from her Charge Attack which has a really high damage and damage cap that makes even some SSRs’ Charge Attack damage looks like wet noodle damage; with a grid with at least SSR Seraphic weapon and Summer’s Mirage (the recent fire RotB Gun), Lyria (with a maxed EMP chart) can easily deal up to around 3.6m CA damage and the best part of it is that Lyria can easily reach 100% meter by herself in turn 0. Additionally, if you can’t cap def down, you can put Lyria in the 2nd slot so that after her CA finishes, she can further reduce the enemy defense by 10%, allowing the 3rd and 4th slot units to hit harder; you can also use her sk 2 to grant extra damage boost due to the attack up and crit chance it provides.
Another plus on Lyria is that bringing her in the frontlines allows you to dual summon per turn; picking Shiva as your Support Summon and bringing in FLB Arcarum summons like The Devil or The Sun can perfectly utilize Lyria’s dual summon ability as Devil gives capped Attack and Defense down when combined with MC’s Miserable Mist while The Sun gives your 1st-3rd slot an extra attack turn which may just be what you need to push your damage, if lacking, to 20m, once you finish summoning them off, summon Shiva just before you press that sweet sweet orange button to grant everyone in the party that assassin buff.
Esser/Tien (FLB required)
Roles: CA Burst/Auto Attacker, Nuker
One of the Eternals, a set of characters that you can unlock via grinding and some amount of crystals, once one of the weakest Eternals there are but she got her rebalance last year and from then on, she has been one of the strongest hitters in Fire and she’s 100% non-gacha and free as long as you’re patient enough to grind out the unlock process.
FLB is a must because it is where she jumps from TH/Bounty bot to a really heavy hitter and doing so also raises her Charge Attack Damage Cap which makes her useful if you want to OTK via CA burst; you’ll want to at least have her at lv 95 to fully utilize her strengths for OTK setups.
She’s pretty straight forward to use, if you’re bursting via Charge Attack then she almost needs to do nothing but attack, click on her skills 1 and 3 if you still lack damage for extra nuke damage which contributes to more or less around 2m combined. If you’re doing the OTK via autos then you’d want to cast her 3 first before pressing her 2 so she’ll have 100% TA and 30% bonus damage during her assassin-buffed Autos. Do note that her own assassin buff DOES NOT stack with Shiva summon’s assassin buff, the best work around for this is call shiva first, cast her 3 then use her 2 as her break assassin buff is stronger than what Shiva’s inner eye buff can provide.
Non-Limited Gacha Characters:
SSR Therese
Roles: Auto Attacker, Nuker
There’s only really one word for Therese: AUTO. Pumping her skill 2 grants her 80% echo and a guaranteed TA and if you combine this with Shiva and The Sun (if you have Lyria in the lineup), Therese can definitely gobble up a huge chunk of the 20m requirement, with her TA Autos on Shiva alone, she’s already dealing at least 6m damage. If you need more damage, you can throw her 3 which should give more or less around 800k damage if you have SSR Seraphic. (1m+ if you have a skill cap up key from Opus or Ultima)
Fire Metera
Roles: Auto Attacker, Nuker
Probably one of the older units in this list, if I must define Fire Metera, she’s pretty much Therese Lite, mainly because they serve the same purpose but being an older unit, Metera doesn’t have a guaranteed TA like Therese does which might put your 20m punching powers a bit in the RNG zone should you use Metera on an auto attacker lineup (unless, of course, you can provide her a decent MA boost); on the bright side, Metera has a lot of nukes so if you have some Ushumgals and a skill cap up key, her nukes can definitely nab you around 2.5m at the very least
Ghandagoza (FLB Required)
Roles: CA Burst, Nuker, Buffer
A fully leveled and fate-episode-completed Ghandagoza is needed to before you should even consider him in your lineup, the reasoning for this is because of his post-100 fate upgrade that lets his sk2 grant him 100% meter and 10 rage stacks which easily bumps CA Damage by 100% and his CA Damage Cap by 20% thus making him able to deal heavy damage whether you throw him into an Auto party or a CA Burst party.
Should you need extra damage, his sk 1 has 640k nuke, which should at least deal around 800k when topped with SSR Seraphic weapon; lastly, if you need some added attack boost, Ghanda’s sk3 provides the party with a 20% fire attack up.
Athena
Roles: CA Burst, Nuker, Debuffer, Buffer
I can literally think of Athena as Ghanda Lite much like how Metera was to Therese, much like Ghanda, Athena’s job is to CA burst mainly but is highly dependent on 2 things: someone give her meter and if she manages to inflict “burn” on the boss; once she does, her CA damage gets boosted by 30% and the cap goes us by 10%. Since you’re literally gonna throw her nuke to try and burn the boss, this also immediately gives around the same nuke damage as ghanda’s sk1 while also giving you an added benefit of an extra 10% def down. Lastly, putting her in the second spot will allow the 3rd and 4th members to benefit from her CA’s 15% fire attack up.
Tsubasa
Roles: Buffer, CA Burst
Tsubasa’s use is literally only if you run a CA Burst Party, otherwise, he’s not in a high priority. Using his 2 charges up the boss’s diamonds by 1 and then grants the entire party 30% meter, 30% CA damage up and 10% CA Cap up which immediately strengthens your entire party’s overall CA Burst. He is best ran with Anila (to be discussed next) and a Chrysaor MC as this is the mix that will easily let you Burst through 20m hp. That’s it for Tsubasa really.
Limited Gacha Characters:
SSR Anila (FLB required)
Roles: DATTOSHITEMO! Buffer, Debuffer
Perhaps the most limited character in this list due to her rotating in legfes once every x months but admittedly, Anila’s pretty average in terms of both Ougi and Auto Attacks but it’s her Buffs that make up for her average damage, sk3 is the button savior for Chrysaor + Tsubasa lineups mainly because it literally transforms Tsubasa’s 30% meter from his 2 to a whooping 45% top it off with Chrysaor’s dual CA which then gives 15% meter each ougi to the party; aside from the huge meter gain boost, the buff itself gives a pretty solid attack up which helps you cap your Ougis even faster.
If you still lack in damage to reach your CA/Auto Caps, her 4 will surely bump your party’s damage further due to Strength being a separate layer modifier. If you still can’t cap defense down, her 1 also does a great job of helping it cap by inflicting 20% fire def down; using her 1 also helps her contribute in Auto Attack setups due to receiving 40% superior element echo from though relying on her 1 means you’ll need to have her maxed out and you’ll also have finished her 100 Fate. Definitely a huge player in any OTK lineup.
Shiva
Roles: Buffer, Auto Attacker, Debuffer, Nuker
Probably the one you need most for Auto Attack team due to his sk 2’s ridiculous 15% unique attack mod and 10% cap up for the party, this is already on top of the fact that Shiva hits hard by default and has a skill that allows him to have guaranteed triple attack and the bonus counter on dodge/damage might also help you push for the 20m should you lack it given that Shiva gets hit a lot by the 50 trigger. If those aren’t enough, you can pump his sk 1 for a nifty 1m+ nuke on top of a 10% def down that stacks with literally every kind of def down; definitely someone you’d want on auto attack/mix teams but someone you can easily pass off for a CA burst team.
Now that the list is done, you’d definitely want to play around with different combinations of units, personally one of the easiest to pull off would be using a mix of CA Burst units and Auto Attackers (mainly Therese) but also remember that the less button clicks you do, the faster the total meat turnaround you’ll have. Personally, my OTK team atm consists of Chrysaor, Lyria, Tsubasa and Anila and my grid is as follows:
I can run this with both Shiva x Shiva (since I don’t have MLB Agni yet) or Shiva x Agni
My record for this is 6 clicks (5 skills and 1 summon), do let me know if you want to see how I do my OTK.
There’s only really one banner this time for the audio preview and it’s that of Aliza and that means it’s part of the Hero and the Princess story arc! In order to catch up if lore interests you, you’d want to read up on the following event stories in order:
“The Cowardly Hero & The Captive Princess” (in sidestories)
“Boots & Blades” (in sidestories later this month)
“A Thousand Reasons” (look it up on YT if you need to)
A Certain Skyfarer's Ramblings & Musings 