Brave Frontier

I didn't mean to write a book.

tl;dr - My Fronter Hunter group building and execution skills suck ass.

Been farming the end this season. Scores range depending on what shows up. Hitting between 2.3 and 2.9 million. So far that's good enough for mid 3k ranking.

Using Kira*2, zenia, ark, shida, feeva

I used a Dion lead + Quaid + Loch and my scores skyrocketed fwiw. Dunno where he stands anymore but Dion is hella good and I never understood why he never seemed to mentioned for...anything.

DoctorSpooge_sl said:

I used a Dion lead + Quaid + Loch and my scores skyrocketed fwiw. Dunno where he stands anymore but Dion is hella good and I never understood why he never seemed to mentioned for...anything.

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I half considered trying a dual Dion lead group, but didn't for two reasons. One being that my selection of thunder/earth units are not nearly so strong as my dark/light....the other being that Dion friends are harder 'n shit to come by.

You are right though, no reason that Dion can't be every bit as strong as Kira. He is even stronger vs the first 20 levels of Frontier Gate mission 1 due to the distribution of elements.

It would probably be a good move for me to put together my best possible Dion focused group just to have it ready to go whenever a Dion friend is available.

Ishad_sl said:

Been farming the end this season. Scores range depending on what shows up. Hitting between 2.3 and 2.9 million. So far that's good enough for mid 3k ranking.

Using Kira*2, zenia, ark, shida, feeva

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Never got Shida, but using Quaid....Nemeth instead of Ark, but that does remind me that I need to do that trial damn soon and raise him up.

My best score was 2.6m so that is right in the ballpark at least, but my low scores are absolutely atrocious.

I got my Ark.

Personally, I think that trial was harder than folks were letting on. I *loath* turn counting events though. It wasn't *that* bad, but if anyone else hasn't done it yet, don't be surprised if it takes a few tries to get used to all the patterns and thresholds and whatnot....some folks were talking like you could go in blindfolded and face-roll it, but that was an exaggeration - take it seriously though, and it won't be so bad.

I have ~100 of my Honor summons left to spend during SHS. I won't get as much done with it as I had hoped, but at least Ark should get some crystals on him. I figure a few solid days of starting to restock on Evolution units (going to have to reserve at least one full day just for Metal Mimic farming, Mech Gods and Totems/Miracles will be at least another couple of days - I used a LOT), then I might even have time left to run some Imp Parades while half-energy is still up with time left over for fun and surprises. (rawr!)

For the first time ever, all 5 members of my go-to Raid squad are 100% Imp'd. It's a nice feeling to finally have that. Beyond that though, a lot of units become kinda niche and I'm hesitant to use Imps on characters I'm not sure about just because I've wasted so many imps on the wrong characters (in retrospect at least) in the past. I actually have some cluttering up my inventory atm. I am raising up a Breaker Edea to replace that Oracle that gave me such headaches - as Frontier Gate 3 is supposed to be an "Earth Only" gate, I'm seriously considering going ahead and fully Imp'ing Breaker Edea for it. I should probably consider giving Kira some imps as I'll be using him for Frontier Gate point farming and such, but a "Max Imp'd Kira" doesn't excite me in any way at all....I should probably just do it anyway....maybe because he is from one of the older 7-star batches, but it just doesn't seem like his stats will ever amount to much (compared to newer units at least) no matter how many imp's I pour into him. A little afraid he'll be outdated soon too as old as he these days, even if he is uncontested within his own his niche right now.


Also: Anima Rize or Breaker Rize? I want to raise one of those two up....I have a Lord Rize I'll sell for achievement points once the replacement is done. Usually Anima would be the no-brainer pick, but Rize's only niche is dropping massive nukes, so I'm not sure the usual wisdom applies. If she's still useful in any of the toughest content, an Anima would probably still be worth it - otherwise, just for mega-nuke farming or somesuch, maybe Breaker is the way to go...kinda like Breaker Mifune used to be. I don't plan on Imp'ing her without a damn good reason, but I'd like to raise up the best version of her that I can, while I have that opportunity.

I haven't gotten to try Nemethgear at Imp farming yet, but I am hoping that he'll own that with just a Blighted Seal sphere and no imps. I'd prefer not to put imps on a fodder/imp farmer if I can....would seem a waste unless it is really needed. I'd rather save imps for units that will be going into Trials/GGC's, Frontier Gate level 30's and RC5/RC6.

I do have an Ultor that would be nice if I gave him some attention, I'm just not too sure where I'd use him. I have one other character that I'm hesitant to mention, but I'm not sure where I'd use her...she's a real demon I've never used her yet, and I'm not even sure where I would use her (without giving another character the boot), but I still kinda love her a little bit - Lord typing and all.

Ao-_sl said:

Fucking, missed terminus legwand gem by 2k points (1.298m) and now I can't get past 1.1m. I've been farming end and terminus off and on. I'll go just enough to get +2 ranks. I've got all the rewards except the legwand.

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doh, should be one day left, GL Ao-

My dirty little secret is that until this month I've never done better than +2. I came very close last month to a +3, and I'd have made it with even 1 or 2 more orbs, but I wasn't willing to drop a gem on it (even though I maybe should have as close as I was).

I'm looking at at least a +3 for the first time ever this month. RNGesus will decide how close I should get to the +4.....I was finally in +4 territory before the bad luck started hitting a couple days ago, and I'm back in the middle of +3 now.

Imps are like sphere frogs, you start out needing them badly then after a while you are fusing them into random shit. I've got 14 imp keys left and am imping shit like kagura and medina.

Edea gets used in fg3 and in rc6 mission 2 (boss is thunder). I use ultor as a nuke sub in raid teams when the boss isn't crit resistant. I was using him as the fire sub in my rainbow arena team but bestie took his slot.

Definitely breaker rize, she's one of the premier Dion nuke subs.

At the very least I like to farm out some Mecha Gods during half-energy so I never have to pay 70 energy for one of them. Getting some on 'sale' at 35 energy is so much more appealing even if they do take some space.

Ao-_sl said:

And holy shit fuck these raid drops. I've been running desparte measures for every raid orb I have for the last week and I'm at 1 queen jewel and 1 dark jewel.

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** You should switch to doing the RC4 X1 mission "Dark Wings, Dark Work" ASAP for Queen and Dark Jewels. The rates will be significantly better for you than in RC3. There is an X1 or X2 mission for flame jewels that blows the rates of other locations out of the water too.

Shiny Jewel is the one that drove me nuts. The last time they had the "Raid drop bonus" event whatever they called it, while everyone else was farming for Buffer/Occult items, I was farming out those damn Shiny Jewels just because I never wanted to farm one again lol. I think I pretty much succeeded too because I still have a few on hand and I'm pretty much done with farming for Malice Jewel parts (more or less) and will only upgrade a 2-3 more from Legwands, but only using Legwands I get from Frontier Hunter rewards.

After I first started focusing on Malice crafting, unless I hit some bad luck, it would still take 3 weeks of concentrated farming to finish one if I had to craft the Legwand. Legwands from Frontier Hunter would shorten that so between crafting my own and getting one from Frontier Hunter, I could finish ~2 a month. When the bad luck hits though, sometimes I could go a week+ and not get a single Jewel....every now and then good luck will hit too though and you'll get a few in a couple days.

It is just a coincidence but I crafted my first Buffer Jewel this morning. I had that one from the Water Vortex Arena, but this morning was the very first one I crafted myself. I'm half considering trying to farm the parts for an Occult Treasure just to have one available before I go back to try to craft a second Buffer.

Ishad_sl said:

Imps are like sphere frogs, you start out needing them badly then after a while you are fusing them into random shit. I've got 14 imp keys left and am imping shit like kagura and medina.

Edea gets used in fg3 and in rc6 mission 2 (boss is thunder). I use ultor as a nuke sub in raid teams when the boss isn't crit resistant. I was using him as the fire sub in my rainbow arena team but bestie took his slot.

Definitely breaker rize, she's one of the premier Dion nuke subs.

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lol, I look forward to the day when I can put Imps on niche characters I barely use. I'm a long way from that still though I think....I'm doing a lot better than I was, but I still have plenty of characters I use that need 'em. I'm just afraid of wasting them still because I could put together a list of un-imp'd characters I'm actually using in some capacity or another....hopefully I'll get in some good imp farming time later this week while 1/2 Energy is still up. It could really take the pressure off.

Yea, I think Imp'ing up my Edea would be a solid use of Imps. I've been hesitant to use her just because up until now my Oracle Edea has been in competition with a max imp'd Aaron, and for all the bad press Aaron got about his defense buff, he is a friggin god send as a BC battery. A max imp'd Breaker Edea would look a lot more appealing though when I need her.

I need to revamp my whole arena team still. I recently plugged in my un-imp'd Lord Michele in place of max Imp'd Lord Quaid as Leader, but I still have other changes to make....at the very least I think it is time to retire Griel from my arena team. It has been so long since I gave my arena squad in-depth look that I'm not even sure who my best options are anymore. I know Sefia and Will might have to have a Battle Royale for the Light slot in the rainbow group....Sefia's paralysis infliction gives her a step up that doesn't show in the stats though, she might still reign supreme.

Breaker Rize it is! I do need to start giving attention to having a solid Dion group on-hand, just to have it available at a moments notice.

Just for fun lately, I put together a High-Hitcount-SBB squad just for quest farming and such. Lowest hitcount in the group was 35....the sparks were glorious lol....I literally doubled my record for sparks in a single turn as soon as I let that group out of the gates. That group has no real purpose aside from just the fun of unleashing all manner of sparking mayhem shenanigans on the world, but it was a riot. lol Ark "only" weighs in at 32 hits on his SBB, but he'd be the perfect leader for the spark/hitcount group with his added bulk - I might "change the world" with the hitcount group when 2x is up next just for kicks heh

I think I might treat myself to a little experience farming today while the Monday Vortex and Half-Energy Vortex are up at the same time Going to feel like a vacation after the last few weeks

The slot machine is also a ridiculously good source of imps and great reason to farm raids beyond sphere upgrades.

Ishad_sl said:

The slot machine is also a ridiculously good source of imps and great reason to farm raids beyond sphere upgrades.

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Yup.

In fact I think it helps if you just pick whatever raid you need mats from most, and then just start doing that raid - except mentally not doing it for the mats, do it for the medals. You'll be able to cash in a steady stream of medals at the slots, and any mats you get will come in as a bonus.

Functionally it makes no difference at all, but mentally, it makes it far less tedious if you are looking at Medals as the cash-in rather than just being disappointed at coming up empty on Jewel farming run after run after run. The mats will come eventually, but it helps to not fixate on them so much in the meantime.

Good rates on the slots... even better than from Super Honor Summons for imps/sphere frogs etc. It really adds up over time.

Ao-_sl said:

problem with medals is that I get a shit ton of spheres. I'm running out of item room

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lol yea, I've actually started selling 30% and 35% spheres. It feels like a sacrilege to do, but I had to cut back.

I think I keep something like 1 20%, 2 25%, 3 30%, and 4-5 each of 35% / 40% / 45%'s for each stat (if I have that many, which I don't for some stats, particularly the 45%'s which are still pretty rare, I don't have many of those) I don't have any great reasons for keeping those particular numbers, only that it got to a point that I HAD to cut back somewhere. I can't imagine needing more than 5 of any one stat sphere all at once....especially with new ones coming in all the time. Even then it still amounts to a lot of spheres taking up a lot of slots. It was getting out of hand though.

A few days back I did something that was *long* overdue: I got on the Brave Froniter Wiki and looked up each and every one of my spheres and got rid of anything that was both useless and non-upgradable.....along with those excess stat spheres that were taking up space for no good reason. I still have dozens and dozens of the damn things, but I think I sold between 40 and 50 spheres total that day. I even sold some that actually can be useful...for example, I can't imagine needing 5 Evil Shards all at once, especially with some of the newer/better BB spheres around, so I sold 2 of those.

I wonder if I'm going to be excited or salty tomorrow. I never got a Zedus (all the hype train is behind Zedus)....but I do have a Breaker Andaria. Funny thing is, all the chatter behind Andaria goes something like "hmmm....make her a mitigator maybe?" Nobody seems to have a clear idea besides that to make her anywhere near as valuable as any of the other SBS 7-stars.

Either way I am definitely holding off imp'ing my Edea just yet until I see what happens with Andaria. I have imps to drop on *somebody* crowding up my inventory, just not sure who to drop them on....it was going to be Edea until I read the patch notice. Hopefully Andaria will be good enough to make me change my mind. I have like 60 SHS summons I was going to pull this morning too, but I guess I should wait on that until after I see what happens with Andaria....pretty sure I'll want to raise her up even if she ends up being mediocre.

Either way, I wouldn't be surprised if one or both units somehow manage to turn the meta on its head all over again.

Andaria is pretty straight forward. Up her ls bc cost reduction to 25%, slap 30% hp on her. Sbb up her 5 bc per turn to 7, add on a second bc modifier (bc fill, ares buff, or bc on hit). Roll out your more offensive based bestie and call it a day.

Predicting zedus is going to disappoint.

Finished fh with +4, incoming rank 39. Back to farming frontier gate.

I use it on mifune for imp farming. Use sacred treasure on my mitigator. No one else uses bb per turn spheres really.

Ishad_sl said:

Predicting zedus is going to disappoint.

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Kind of a bold prediction...seems like most folks are looking for Zedus to blow the doors off. For purely selfish reasons, I just hope Zedus isn't so friggin' amazing that I feel left out in the cold tomorrow for not having one heh. It wouldn't hurt my feelings any if Gumi turned Andaria into Globals SBS answer to Vesti....not sure where I'd use her, but as I never got a Vesti, I'd damn sure welcome it. I'm trying to keep my expectations low on both characters for now.

I am out of the prediction business myself, I have no clue what to expect. Particularly how their Extra Skills or unique spheres might redefine their characters. On that subject though, I did farm out 2 more Void Chunks this morning just to be ready for their unique spheres....I've read no word yet on when or where their other unique sphere material will be coming from, but I'll want to craft both as soon as they become available.

I still haven't imp'd a Mifune to farm imps. Not sure if I should or not anymore....Quaid or Nemethgear might be nearly as good while still being useful in other content. I haven 't farmed imps since I used Rize back when Metals were still around though. Leaning toward trying Quaid with a Spirit Tiara and Demon Core next maybe. Or taking Nemethgear for a spin just in the interests of science. If all else fails, I can still dump imps on a Breaker Mifune and hope the investment pays off in the long run. Only trouble with that is that I wouldn't/don't currently have a use for Mifune anywhere else. If Quaid works out well enough, it would be best for me as he is already Imp'd up and ready for all manner of shenanigans.

Rank 39 is awesome man...you can almost see the top of the ladder from there


On the subject of the Demon Core - my scores farming End definitely improved after I put it on Quaid....he was having lots of BB fill issues and the Demon Core ensured he was full every single time....if I could have filled his SBB every time while going with a more offensive sphere, it would have been preferable....but a filled SBB trumps all other considerations in that particular circumstance. It'll be a godsend for him in Imp farming too if that route is viable for me. I didn't take the Sacred Crystal off my mitigator even though I wasn't using a mitigator in FH......If it came to that I could have, but FH is enough of a pain in the ass without adding shuffling spheres back and forth constantly for days on top of it all. That and I'm a long long way from the Demon Core reward from Frontier Hunter ranks. I don't regret getting it.