[I Scream, You Scream] Building your Scream Team, Pt. 5: SSB Rankings

Table of Contents

Party Composition

Abilities & DPS

Orb Chart

Character & SSB evaluation: Mages & Supports

Character & SSB evaluation: Celerity & Spellblade

Character & SSB evaluation: Job Classes

SSB Rankings

Banner Evaluation: Intro & Cloudy Wolf

#SSB Rankings Now that we’re done with the Character and SSB evaluation, I thought it would be useful to present a recap of what I consider to be the top Physical Damage SSBs and BSBs.

#Top 5 Burst Soul Breaks

• 5.(tie) Cloud & She-Cloud Lightning: These two have similar BSBs, except that Lightning's burst commands are weaker in exchange for a stun proc on her single-target command and a slow proc on her AoE one. If the boss's SPD is high enough, stunning him may not be all that meaningful, in which case, Cloud's higher DPS commands get the edge. That is, assuming you're making use of the commands at all.

• 3. Bartz: At 2.75s, his BSB's entry Soul Break is slower by 0.25s. His burst commands are also slightly weaker on average than Cloud's or Lightning's unless combined w/ Balthier's Oil-Fire effect. If hitting weakness however, those same commands jump up to a 1.48x DPS, which is even slightly higher than instant jump Dragonfire Dives. Edit: Upon further consideration, I've decided to move Bartz above Cloud and Lightning, since his has a higher potential if there's a weakness, and if not, then Lifesiphon is better for all three.

• 1.(tie) Pecil: Pecil's Burst is so powerful not because of its burst commands, but rather because of the en-holy status it grants and the boostable nature of holy. With en-holy, all holy attacks get +50% dmg and holy Soul Breaks get +80%, making up for the BSB's low initial multiplier of 5.1x . You don't want to actually use his commands, but rather spam Saint Cross with en-holy +50%. Basch's Platinum Shield will likely break the tie and make Pecil's #1, and having a RS Excalibur on top of that is utterly insane. Just watch out for holy resistance.

• 1.(tie) Kain: Wait but Kain doesn't have a Burst! Yes, one of the top BSBs is actually just a SSB, since in practice it's used like a BSB with instant jump Dragonfire Dive "burst commands". This is kind of like a non-elemental version of Pecil's where you'd be spamming Dragonfire Dive instead of Saint Cross. With holy boosts, Pecil's has the higher ceilling, but Kain's won't be meeting with elemental resistance.

A chart comparing burst commands:

Action	Damage/Time	DPS
Average SSB	7.8/4.25=	1.84x
Pecil Saint Cross w/ en-holy & 20%	6.12/3.55=	1.72x
Bartz 4-hit hitting weakness	5.04/3.4=	1.48x
Kain Instant Jump Dragonfire Dive	4.7/3.25=	1.45x
Pecil Saint Cross w/ en-holy	5.1/3.55=	1.44x
Chainstarter + Full Charge	6.68/5=	1.34x
Dragoon Combo	11.6/9.9=	1.17x
Saint Cross (20%)	4.08/3.55=	1.15x
Thief's Raid	3.5/3.4=	1.03x
Pecil 1-hit burst w/en-holy (9999 cap)	3.45/3.4=	1.01x
Saint Cross	3.4/3.55=	0.96x
Full Charge	4.68/5.05=	0.93x
Lifesiphon x3 + SSB	13.2/14.45=	0.91x
Bartz 4-hit fire w/Balthier's Oil	3.02/3.4=	0.89x
Cloud 4-hit burst command	2.8/3.4=	0.82x
Lightning 4-hit burst w/ stun chance	2.58/3.4=	0.76x
Bartz 4-hit elemental burst	2.52/3.4=	0.74x

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Let's talk about BSBs: Are they worth it? Well, BSBs basically extend your hones, or kind of give you extra ability slots. (The use of the word "burst" is a misnomer since what they really give you is sustain, but "sustain" doesn't sound very sexy. Sustain Mode? Sustain Commands?) Let's look at Cloud's for example since his is pure non-elemental damage, and can be considered the template. His single-target burst command is 2.8x with the 80% crit chance factored in, which is the same multiplier as Barrage. That's 0.82x DPS. So once in burst mode, even if you're out of SB bars, it's still better to use Lifesiphon + BSB, since it has a higher DPS of 0.91x, as long as you have the hones for Lifesiphon and the turns to cast the BSB. Pecil's and Kain's are special cases since their follow-up "burst commands" aren't actual burst commands and have a much higher DPS. Still, if you're looking to blitz down an Ultimate's weak phase, then chaining SSBs is still the highest DPS at 1.84x. In this case, you won't be getting any use out of the burst commands. If you launch your BSB with the intention of making use of the commands then you'll likely want to unleash it earlier, which, given the differing degrees of difficulty of the boss's phases, may not necessarily be the best idea.

I kind of see BSBs as a marketing ploy to get you to throw mythril (and hopefully spend gems) chasing after your favorites all over again. Along with dress records, it also allows them to re-feature the popular characters in events, essentially having a rotation of their top cash cows. This is how I imagine DeNA's thinking went. They wanted to create a new tier of shiny, but they also didn't want to break the game by introducing even more power creep, but rather, sustain the game's viability for as long as possible. So they introduce BSBs that have essentially the same damage as SSBs just with Burst Mode tacked on. Ingenious, huh? Those extra Burst Commands seem powerful, but they're at the opportunity cost of your turns and other abilities, and most of them are still out-DPS'd by Lifesiphon and other abilities. (Imagine, if they had jumped to 11.0x multipliers for BSBs, how high the multipliers would have to be once things like Omnislash start coming out. That wouldn't be power creep, but a volcanic power eruption.) Since most BSBs out now don't actually have any additional effect in the Soul Break entry (besides granting Burst Mode), I actually think they don't compare well to the top tier SSBs with the most powerful effects.

[Do note, if you're some ways below the soft cap (~328 ATK), then the +20% to ATK from Burst Mode provides a significant boost. If you're at or over soft cap, however, then the stat boost only gives you ~9% more damage. This doesn't apply to magical BSBs (Yuna, Terra, Rinoa, Garnet) since the MAG soft cap is much higher. Their problem is how to actually charge up their BSB.]

#Top 5 Offensive Soul Breaks

• 5. Tyro's Stormlance Grimoire: It may be easy to forget Tyro's SLG as an option. But if you do pull Agrias's shield, SLG becomes a 9.6x multiplier, and it's guaranteed with 50 mythril. Tyro's poor ATK means you need to dedicate some serious RS for him, but with his access to all equips and all abilities, he'll always bring something to your team. Lightning is also one of the better elements, and will come in handy for U+ Cagnazzo, among others. If you have SG or are planning for his BSB, however, you may want to look elsewhere.

• 4. Balthier's Fastest Strahl: The Oil effect gives a +20% boost to damage for all of Balthier's subsequent SSBs. Having a FFX Red Armlet also increases this to a +20% boost for the initial, now 9.5x, and +44% for subsequent SSBs in conjunction with Oil for 11.4x. The Oil status also allows Balthier's teammates to get in on the fire-boosted action, although that may be hard to fully utilize.

• 3. Auron's Banishing Blade: A stacking -25% DEF after break resist, along with a -25% ATK, should amount to ~13% more physical damage for your entire party that isn't affected by ATK soft cap. Much easier to capitalize on than Balthier's Oil effect. The only problem with Auron's SSB are the banners it appears on.

• 2. Jecht's Ultimate Jecht Shot: Still don't have solid numbers on the percentage boost. But if it's 50%, that's an overall 25% increase to your party's physical damage. Even if it's 30%, that's still a 15% boost. Jecht's SSB gives you the real physical "Focus" and SSB-level damage, scoffing at HotE and its clones.

• 1. Shadow's Shadow Fang: 23.04x in 5.25 seconds. 'Nuff said, right? Even if the boss is still standing after Shadow's SSB onslaught, he now has extra "free" turns to spam Dismissal or Lifesiphon for even more SSB fun, while his teammates are still working on their 2nd SSB. Shadow's SSB is basically the anti-BSB. Where BSBs give you more total damage output at the cost of turns, saving you hones, Shadow's has the highest DPS by far, but encourages you to have higher hones for him.

#Top 5 Mitigation Soul Breaks

• 5.(tie) Bartz & Luneth: They both provide a +50% DEF buff to the party with their SSBs. This may be helpful for physical-heavy bosses, or if you find yourself needing that extra layer of mitigation. In other cases, the amount of damage that it reduces may be negligible. Between the two, Bartz gets the edge with his wider weapon selection, higher RES, and slightly better skillset.

• 4. Agrias's Split Punch: The only regular soul break that makes it on here. Its stacking Offense Breakdown effect, which applies an ATK/MAG -50% debuff (-25% after break resistance), can be very useful by adding another layer of debuffs, especially when DEF and RES ignoring attacks become more common. Agrias herself also has a very good skillset. The main downside is its SB-level damage (5.13x).

• 3. Auron's Banishing Blade: Like Agrias's Split Punch, Auron's SSB provides a stackable layer of ATK debuffing in addition to the DEF debuff mentioned above. For bosses where you really want the extra magic mitigation though, Agrias's SB may have the edge.

• 2. Beatrix's Seiken Shock: Speaking of magical mitigation, if you're looking for the ultimate in magic protection, then Beatrix has your back. Magic Blinking your party can be thought of as a better stun, nullifying one if not more of the boss's turns. If the boss has no magical attacks however, then this just provides damage, but those bosses are pretty rare.

• 1. Shadow's Shadow Fang: Yes, Shadow's SSB counts as mitigation as well. If you're bursting down the boss like a demon then the boss won't get as many turns, and won't deal as much damage to your party in turn. Plus, don't forget the self-blink x2 Shadow gets as well, making him essentially invulnerable to physical attacks once he starts bursting in weak phase. Sometimes, the best defense is a speedy offense.

#Top 5 Overall Soul Breaks

• 5. Balthier's Fastest Strahl: A close one. You could make the case for Pecil's BSB with the right equipment, or even Agrias's SB, but I'm giving the edge to the leading man himself. If you have the Red Armlet, Balthier can turn his following SSBs into 11.4x multipliers. Good damage on a versatile character who can exploit both elemental weaknesses and status vulnerabilities.

• 3.(tie) Auron & Jecht: Until we get the numbers on Jecht's, I'm calling this one a tie. Auron's provides both physical mitigation and extra damage. While Jecht's only provides a damage boost, but it should be a much higher one. If you do pull Jecht's SSB, he can also make use of any RS fists you have lying about, while still having the all-important sword access, whereas Katanas can be used by a decent number of top-tier characters (Ramza, Bartz) other than Auron.

• 2. Beatrix's Seiken Shock: Magic Blink is just such a powerful effect, saving you on damage taken and nullifying bosses' turns. And there's a decent number of Ultimates with scripted AoE magic attacks (Gravija, Megaflare) that occur with phase transitions that Magic Blink can just completely neutralize. And equally important, Beatrix's attack animation is awesome.

• 1. Shadow's Shadow Fang: 23.04x in 5.25 seconds. Physical self-blink throughout weak phase. Oh, and Interceptor. Need I say more? Absolutely, brutally, ridiculous.

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So, besides Pecil's BSB almost making it, no BSBs are represented in the Top 5 at all.