An Adept is You - Buff Spells
Buff Spells
^(Supporter Association, 2 slots per family, 2 spells per family.)
Healing isn't the only way to keep one's allies up and moving - boosting an ally's power through buff spells is often just as effective. Boosting your striker's attack could help take a foe down faster, while boosting the warding of an ally in Heavy Armor might help mitigate the some of the damage they take from spells. Much like their offense-oriented counterparts, there is both a variety of things to buff, as well as a variety of ways to apply them.
Types of Buffs
^(Variable Class Tier: See each effect for availability.)
Before discussing the types of spells, it's important to discuss the effects themselves. Every buff spell follows the same spell style, but different effects are learned at different class tiers and affect enemeies in different ways.
Attack:
^(Class Tiers 2 and Above.)
Focuses on the target's Attack stat. Raises it by 12.5% for low power, 25% for mid power, and 50% for high power. 50% is the max Attack can be raised by.
Defense:
^(Class Tiers 1 and Above.)
Focuses on the target's Defense stat. Raises it by 12.5% for low power, 25% for mid power, and 50% for high power. 50% is the max Defense can be raised by.
Casting
^(Class Tiers 2 and Above.)
Focuses on the target's Casting stat. Raises it by 12.5% for low power, 25% for mid power, and 50% for high power. 50% is the max Casting can be raised to.
Warding
^(Class Tiers 1 and Above.)
Focuses on the target's Warding stat. Raises it by 12.5% for low power, 25% for mid power, and 50% for high power. 50% is the max Warding can be raised to.
Agility:
^(Class Tiers 2 and Above.)
Focuses on the target's Agility stat. Raises it by 12.5% for low power, 25% for mid power, and 50% for high power. Tactical: Increases Movement by 1 tile for Mid Power, Reduces Movement by 2 tiles for High Power). 50% is the max Agility can be raised to, +2 is the max Movement can be raised to.
Resistance:
^(Class Tiers 1 and Above.)
Focuses on the target's Elemental Resistance stats - all of them. +20 for low power, +40 for mid power, +80 for high power. -80 is the max Resistance can be raised to.
Maximum HP, Maximum PP, Luck, Elemental Level, and Elemental Power are not able to be raised by spells. Some djinn are able to affect Luck, and Summons can boost elemental power once they end, but apart from these sources they cannot be raised.
Basic Buff
^(Limit one per affected stat.)
The basic form of a buff, this spell affects a single target, attempting to inflict a Mid Power buff on an ally. This effect lasts for 4 turns (~30 seconds), and has the standard chance of being dispelled.
Advanced Buff
^(Takes the form of Area, Power, or Long Buffs, depending on fundamental effects. Limit one per affected stat.)
There are three types of advanced debuff. Which type an adept uses isn't a matter of which one they chose, but rather what their fundamental alignment is. The Area type can change to the Power or Long type depending on how djinn are set up on the character. In effect, you're not choosing between one of the three types - you're getting all of them.
Area Buff
^(Natural Form. Stellar: Available when using mostly Stellar djinn. Solar: Available when using Solar djinn. Lunar: Available when using mostly Lunar djinn.)
The standard form of advanced Buff, this type of buff applies a low power buff to all allies. The effect lasts for 4 turns (~30 seconds), and has the standard chance to be dispelled.
Power Buff
^(Rightward Form. Stellar: Available when using mostly Lunar djinn. Solar: Available when using Stellar djinn. Lunar: Available when using mostly Solar djinn.)
The form an advanced buff takes when using djinn of the righthand fundament - this targets a single ally and grants a High Power buff to the target. The spell lasts 4 turns (~30 seconds), but has is more vulnerable to being dispelled.
Long Buff
^(Leftward Form. Stellar: Available when using mostly Solar djinn. Solar: Available when using Lunar djinn. Lunar: Available when using mostly Stellar djinn.)
The form an advanced buff takes when using djinn of the lefthand fundament - this targets a single ally and grants a Mid Power buff to the target. The spell lasts for 8 turns (~60 seconds), and is resistant to dispelling effects.
Buff Limits
Buffs do not stack infinitely. Rather, each stat has two buff "slots" associated with it. When granted a buff, one of those slots will be filled with the buff's effects, and the countdown will begin. Once the timer hits 0, the buff wears off and the stat retruns to normal. However, should a second application of that buff occur, the timer for the first slot will be reset to its original value, and both slots will begin counting down. This means if an aly was granted a Basic Casting buff, and three turns later it was given a Power Casting Buff, it would now have a +25% buff to Casting with a 4 turn duration, and a +50% buff with a 4 turn duration (this hits the cap, so only +50% will register). If another attempt to buff casting is then attempted, it will fail.
This means that you cannot spam area buffs to keep your team with higher stats - if both slots are filled a +12.5% Casting Buff, this means you cannot use a stronger buff to raise the stat even further. Remember that a major part of support involves strategy, and plan your buffs wisely!
It should also be noted that minimum and maximum caps for standard stats aren't something buffs worry about. If an ally has 180 resistance in an element thanks to their equipment, then applying a +80 resist buff to them can effectively give them 260 resistance to that element!
Common Q&A:
Wait... these seem familiar...
I'd hope so. They're more or less identical to how debuffs work, but do positive effects to allies rather than negative effects to enemies.
Do the advanced buffs seem to be going the other way compared to advanced debuffs?
What, in the kind of form they take? Yeah. If you spec your character out so that they have access Long Buffs, they'll have access Power Debuffs as well (and visa versa).
What's better? A buff to attack or debuff to defense?
Depends on the situation. If the foe has high defense, a defense debuff might be more valuable. If the ally has tons of attack, an attack buff might be better. But you'll also want to keep in mind other things - a defense debuff is something all your allies can take advantage of, while an attack buff is something that can work against multiple foes. As with most things, how you want to approach things for your character involves a bit of strategy to it.
Any questions or comments? Feel free to ask them down below!
Posted Aug 7, 2017, 3:44 PM UTC · edited