#Table of Contents

[I Scream, You Scream]

[You Don't Need It]

Welcome to the World of Ruin

Banner Evaluation: Relm

Let's Talk About Celes

---

I was planning a more elaborate post, but in the interest of getting this out there earlier, I had to pare it down. That other stuff will have to come later. And anyways, for some reason, there's quite a few relics on both banners that are somewhat controversial or required quite a bit more explication.

#On Valiant Roundabout Apology Knife

I honestly think there's a good likelihood that the increased 5* rate and snuck-in Valiant Knife rate was a deliberate action on DeNA's part. It's probably as close as they'll get to an apology, since issuing a real apology would require them to admit that they did lower the rates on the Tactics banner. If this is their "apology" or "compensation" though, I'm surprised more people didn't point out the obvious: that it requires spending more mythril or gems (god I hope not). Either way, assuming this was done with intention, then it's still either just a way to regalvanize interest in pulling on these banners if they felt the scandal adversely affected it, or a clumsy tactic designed to distract or mollify us without addressing the actual problem. It's pretty simple for DeNA to list the rates under each relic like they do in JP, so if they don't it's because they're unwilling to.

Relm Banner 1

• Chocobo Brush @1%: Relm's SSB, Curaga Medica + Major Regen. The only character Medica for FFVI, as Mog doesn't have one (and Locke's doesn't count). I actually think this is the best Medica on a White Mage. (Though Ramza's and Yuffie's are still better if your White Mage is covering Wall.) Plus, I'm a fan of the animation. Adorable brat painting a portrait of a seductive esper goddess definitely beats out all the other generic Medica animations.

---

Major Regen vs. Magic Blink: In general, I find Major Regen more universally useful than Magic Blink. Over a 35s duration, it will heal your party members for 70% of their Max HP. Magic Blink is great for scripted Gravijas and Megaflares, but other times it may only 'blink' a minor magic attack that would have been heavily mitigated anyways (even possibly just a couple hits from a larger multi-hit attack). And for the admittedly rarer non-magic Ultimate, it won't be of any help at all. Magic Blink is still a nice utility effect with strong potential, but I'd prefer having it on Beatrix's SSB (and now Kimahri's SSB as well), since they can keep it up more often by spamming Lifesiphon. (Rosa can use Wrath, but I don't like Wrath that much since you're spending turns just charging SB gauge.)

---

• Ichigeki @1%: Please see Job Classes and SSB Rankings. Shadow's SSB is currently the best SSB in Global and even beats the current BSBs. The instant cast gives it a bursting utility that no other SB or skill in the game currently offers. It lets Shadow output more damage in less time and it functions similarly to haste in giving your opponent less turns which is in effect a form of mitigation. Yes some people point out that Shadow isn't a great character since he has a limited skillset, and you'll need to augment a weapon to give to him when he can't equip for RS, but in JP I was running Bartz and Balthier with Lifesiphon and either Power/Armor Break or Tempo Flurry and Shadow can do just the same. With his SSB, you don't need anything else for Shadow, and you can always bring a Knight for Banish Raid or a Machinist or Spellblade in another slot, and no one else offers the same burst utility that Shadow can (until Vaan).

---

Even if this is the best damage SSB, ultimately, as with almost any other SB, you don't need it. You don't even need Scream and Wall since Cid's Missions demonstrate that you can master with just one as a RW.

---

• Valiant Knife @1%(??): I'm just going to repost an analysis I did earlier of Valiant Knife here.

---

Locke's SSB has been touted as giving him +40% to ATK, but remember, to get +40% ATK, Locke needs to be at 10% or less health. So if he's maxed at Lv 80, that's 580 HP or less, which means he's hanging on by a thread. Also, +83.2% damage from +40% ATK will only happen if your Locke is significantly below ATK soft cap, so then it's really just "making up" for your lack of RS on Locke, and only for his SSB's damage. He will still be doing much less damage w/ his Lifesiphons, Thief's Raids, etc. if his base ATK is low.

---

I think a more accurate comparison to other SSBs is to assume you can hit soft cap (relatively easy with a RS weapon and Shout), in which case that +40% ATK translates to 18% more damage (which is still higher than a +83.2% damage boost under soft cap), so we can effectively think of the multiplier as 9.44x in the extreme maximal situation.

---

SSB	Multiplier	Damage/Time	DPS
Average SSB	8.0x	8.0/4.25=	1.88x
Locke @580 HP	9.44x	9.44/4.25=	2.22x
Shadow	7.68x	7.68/1.75=	4.39x

---

In any given span of time, Shadow will be doing much more damage, and enhancing his survivability with his SSB's self-blink x2. Whereas Locke's survivability will be highly tenuous. He could get one-shotted at any time, perhaps even before he actually gets off his SSB. Locke's SSB also has anti-synergy with Thief's Raid.

---

In most cases, Locke's SSB is basically the same as Squall's vanilla SSB with a bit more damage. Even Pecil's SSB with one holy boost (a la Platinum Shield) will get you a consistent 9.47x multiplier without having to mess with any of that HP nonsense. (Bar 9999-capping, but that won't be a problem with higher DEF bosses.)

---

If you're pulling on Relm 1 for physical SSBs, then Shadow's is still the top prize and Locke's ninja-inserted knife is just the consolation. And with Thief's Raid, you don't even need his SSB to make good use of Locke.

---

• Morning Star @2%: The SB is not bad, providing a -50% DEF & RES AoE break for Strago. But the problem is that it's on Strago, who is one of the last characters to get his MC2. And even when he does, his MAG stat is still on the lower end for dedicated mages. Still, this is a decent stat stick even if you're not using Strago. As a new weapon it sets the new bar for MAG at 120 MAG. Almost all other upcoming MAG weapons are found on SSBs, and remember, since Mage SSBs are quite terrible (even if you're running a mage team, Mage SSBs don't provide that big a boost), I highly recommend avoiding pulling on banners that feature those. So if you're looking for a MAG stat stick that most mages can equip, this one's not bad at all. The next high-MAG one will be Desch's sword which being a sword is limited to sword users. That said, if you have an older MAG weapon, some extra points of MAG isn't that great a difference, so it's not like you need this.

• Rune Blade @2%: Celes SB. 5.1x wind-elemental damage. Still it's a sword, so at least it's a good VI stat stick, but the SB is meh. I suppose the wind-elemental can come in handy for U+ Bahamut in Desch's event, but even then it will be capping at 9999 x3.

• Drill @2%: Edgar SB. 5.01x and DEF+50% to the party. Edgar is probably the best Machinist because he can equip a Machinist skill + Saint Cross. (The others in contention would be Zidane and Rikku w/ Thief's Raid.) That doesn't require him to have a SB, but if you have one it doesn't hurt. The DEF buff on this one may even make it more useful than his higher-damage SSB.

If you're looking for physical SSBs, then with the Valiant Knife insertion, this looks like the best banner until BSBFest. If you're lacking in physical VI synergy, then this is a great banner to pull on as well. (Though technically, you don't really need physical SSBs. As Cid's Missions show, you can get by with just 5* skills and a Scream RW. You don't even need Wall in most cases.)

#Relm Banner 2

• Excalibur @1%: Celes' SSB. 7.9x and Grand Cross effect. I like the animation, I love the grandiose JP name {Magnificent Sword of Constant Victory}, and I'm a big fan of the character Celes, but I'm not that big a fan of Celes' SSB. You can't really compare it to other physical damage SSBs since Celes can't Lifesiphon, so she'll never really be able to spam it that well, even if she's hitting weakness for bonus SB points. So if it can't function well as a damage SSB, at least we can think of it as a utility SSB right? But even then, I think Runic/Grand Cross is a very niche effect that can be very powerful, entirely crippling a boss's arsenal, but for most Ultimates that's just not the case. And you should be heavily mitigated for magic anyways, so it's likely the Runic won't be saving you much damage. The only upcoming Ultimate where I think Runic/Grand Cross makes it significantly easier is U+ Cagnazzo in Palom & Porom's event because he counters with Stop. So I really can't recommend spending mythril to chase a SSB that will only shine in one Ultimate battle.

---

Celes SSB vs. Beatrix SSB: I think this is an apt comparison because Magic Blink and Runic both serve as forms of magic mitigation. And it's safe to say Beatrix's Magic Blink SSB wins by a wide margin. It will be much more useful in a majority of Ultimate battles. She can Lifesiphon to spam it, and Magic Blink covers AoE magic attacks as well as single-target ones, and not just those listed as BLK or WHT. Even when Celes gets her much needed Knt 5 buff making her an actual knight with an actual 5* DPS option, she still doesn't have Cmb 4 for Lifesiphon or Wht 4 until you can record dive it.

---

• Maduin's Horn @1%: Even if Terra is the top tier mage at the moment, Mage SSBs just aren't good at all. The 18.0x multiplier is only equal to two castings of a -ja spell, and because of its relatively slow 3s SSB cast time, the DPS isn't even drastically higher than just straight up casting two -ja spells. So even if you're looking to run a mage team, purely damage Mage SSBs like this one don't provide that tangible a benefit.

• Valiant Knife???: Probably not, but who knows. DeNA has shown no consistency in what they do, besides preferring to operate behind smoke and mirrors so that they can get away with said inconsistency.

• Cat-Ear Hood @2%: Relm SB. Good stats on the hat, mediocre SB. The blind proc is rarely useful. Edea's headdress has the same stats, and offers a much better SB. And speaking of Edea's headdress...

• Kefka's Cloak @2%: Probably the best reason to pull on banner 2 is if you're interested in pulling this bad boy. I actually don't mean to shower it with praise when calling it a bad boy though. The fact of the matter is that mage teams will not be as effective as physical teams for the foreseeable future, so if you're looking to save mythril, I wouldn't focus on a mage team at all. In JP, it seems like DeNA is only now trying to readjust course with mentions of multi-hit BLK spells being released soon. But if you're looking for that time in 6 months when mage meta may see a comeback (and who knows how successful DeNA will be), there will be better mage "Screams" out by then: Edwards's (+30% MAG) and Krile's (+30% MAG and major regen). I'd even recommend Edea's upcoming version over Kefka's since she comes out with her MC2, while Kefka will have to wait quite a while, and having her Hastega may help you out if you're crazy enough to tackle the Fragment Ifrit Cid's Mission.

• Wing Edge @2%: Ancient relic with a terrible one-hit SB that provides a pitiful heal. The dud of banner 2. And what a dud it is.

This is a mage banner so I don't recommend pulling unless you're planning to run a dedicated mage team. Of course, if Celes or Terra is your favorite, then that's a different matter altogether, and beyond the scope of this guide. Just remember, if Celes and Terra are truly concerned, they wouldn't want you to spend gems either. ;)