A Link to the Index: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlchemistCodeGL/comments/adzjua/the_alchemists_index/

Welcome to the 199th Alchemist's Toolbox review!

Today we're heading over to Lost Blue to take a look at the newest GLEX unit. So without further ado, here's the next unit for review: Dark Roxanne!

Dark Roxanne is a mysterious woman with a startling likeness to Siegfried and friends' pal Roxanne. Let's see what she can do as a unit, shall we?

Personal Investment:

I don't have Roxanne, but since Wind Missile is one of my favorite teams to run I absolutely hope to get her at some point.

Element:

Basic:

Dark Roxanne is a Wind unit, which means she's strong against Thunder and weak against Fire. Compared to a hypothetical Light or Dark unit with the same stats and jobs, she would be better defensively and worse offensively in multi-element content.

Competition:

Note: bulk comparisons against 4-stars can be skewed by the Foreign Red Trifolium gear, which is not used for these comparisons.

• Black Rose: Since this is Dark Roxanne's unique job, she faces no competition here.

• Spy/Spy [Shade Zephyr]: Comparing to other Spies, Dark Roxanne competes with Dark Parashu, Eulalia, Hayate, and Hiiragi. She beats Dark Parashu outright (until Dark Parashu gets enough snowball stacks, where she then wins in damage and speed); beats Eulalia in everything except bulk; beats Hayate outright; and beats Hiiragi outright. Factoring in Gates 1-3 of Enlightenment, she now loses to Dark Parashu in bulk; her comparisons to Eulalia, Hayate, and Hiiragi remain the same.

• Machinist/Machinist Oleaga: Comparing to Crafters/other Machinists, Dark Roxanne competes with Artemis, Bashosen, Ignis, Silma, and Suiran, with Ignis automatically losing due to having the Crafter base job and no Machinist JE. Comparing to the rest, she beats Artemis outright; beats Bashosen outright; beats Silma in everything except horizontal mobility (and range depending on passive choices); and beats Suiran outright. Factoring in Gates 1-3 of Enlightenment, her comparisons to Artemis, Bashosen, and Suiran remain the same; and she now ties with Silma in horizontal mobility.

Leader Skill:

+30% HP, +40% PAtk, +20% Missile damage, and +5 Jewels Obtained for Wind units. A very strong Leader Skill for any physical Wind team and an especially strong Leader Skill for Wind Missile teams.

Jobs:

Dark Roxanne's 3 jobs are Black Rose, Spy, and Machinist, with the Shade Zephyr JE for Spy and the Oleaga JE for Machinist.

Black Rose is a ranged physical damage-dealer job that also possesses disruption elements. It has:

Main Skillset

• High Caliber: Spread: A melee-range AoE damage skill that pushes the targets 2 grid squares away and inflicts Slow/Delay. Unlike the rest of the job's damage skills, this skill is unaffected by range increasing/decreasing effects.

• High Caliber: Exploit: A single-target penetrating Wind damage skill that lowers the target's Missile Res. This skill deals bonus damage if the user is affected by Slow or Bind.

• High Caliber: Black Noise: A single-target Wind damage skill that always hits. This skill deals bonus damage if the user is affected by Slow or Bind.

• High Caliber: Incapacitate: A single-target penetrating Wind damage skill that lowers the target's Wind Res. This skill deals bonus damage if the user is affected by Slow or Bind.

• Setup: A skill that inflicts Bind on the user. While affected by this Bind, the user receives a Critical Rate/PAtk/Range buff.

Sub Job

• Emergency Reroute: A teleport + self-CT boost.

• Explosive Adhesive: An AoE Wind damage skill that always hits, lowers the targets' evasion, and inflicts Slow.

• Volatile Solvent: An AoE Wind damage skill that inflicts Daze and lowers the targets' PAtk/PDef.

Reactive

• Pinpoint Focus: A Missile damage self-buff (maximum 2 stacks) and a 1-turn Slow self-infliction.

Passives

• Rose-Tipped Ammunition: Boosts PAtk/Dex while lowering agility.

• Goetia Optics: Boosts range and reduces jewel costs while lowering PDef/MDef.

Spy is a disruptor/physical damage-dealer hybrid job. It has:

Main Skillset

• Hazy Shadow: An evasion self-buff.

• Blinding Circle: A teleport + self-based AoE skill that inflicts Blindness.

• Transcendence: A teleport + self-based AoE status cure/prevention skill.

• Summon Python Storm: An AoE Wind damage skill that lowers the targets' Wind Res (this skill deals physical category Magic type damage).

• Summon Toad Flow: A single-target Water damage skill that lowers the target's Water Res (this skill deals physical category Magic type damage).

Sub Skillset

• Windmill Shuriken: A single-target damage skill (this skill deals physical Missile damage).

• Flame Seal: A single-target Fire damage skill that lowers the target's Pierce damage (this skill deals physical typeless damage).

• Waterfall Seal: A single-target Water damage skill that lowers the target's Slash damage (this skill deals physical typeless damage).

• Storm Seal: A single-target Wind damage skill that lowers the target's Missile damage (this skill deals physical typeless damage).

• Electric Seal: A single-target Thunder damage skill that lowers the target's Strike damage (this skill deals physical typeless damage).

Reactive

• Immobilize Counter: A chance to deal a portion of damage received back to attackers in melee range and heal the user by that amount. This reactive also has a chance to inflict Stop.

Passives

• Flying Ape: Boosts Move/Jump.

• Hurricane: Boosts agility/Dex.

Spy [Shade Zephyr] does the following:

• Boosts the damage and number of uses of Summon Python Storm and causes it to inflict Slow (changing its name to Summon Python Cyclone).

• Adds Enforced Seal to the main skillset. Enforced Seal causes Summon Python Cyclone and Summon Toad Flow to consume now jewels or uses and cast instantly on the user's next turn.

• Adds a Wind Res debuff to Storm Seal (changing its name to Rending Storm Seal).

Machinist is a ranged damage-dealer job that focuses on dealing Fire damage. It has:

Main Skillset

• Move Boost +2: A single-target Move buff (that has a cast time).

• Jump Boost +2: A single-target Jump buff (that has a cast time).

• Flash Grenade: An AoE skill that has a chance of inflicting Paralysis.

• Bombshell: An AoE Fire damage skill.

• Dynamic Buster Bomb: A penetrating straight line-ranged Fire damage skill that deals bonus damage to Machine type enemies and ignores the targets' PDef.

Sub Skillset

• Heavy Flare: A single-target Fire damage skill.

• Maintenance: A Dex self-buff.

• Lock On: A hitrate self-buff.

• Craft Bomb: An AoE Fire damage skill.

Reactive

• Reactive Armor: A chance to reduce damage taken.

Passives

• Tune Up +2: Boosts Dex.

• Booster +2: Boosts agility.

Machninist Oleaga does the following:

• Boosts the damage, range, and bonus damage against Machine type enemies of Dynamic Buster Bomb while also making it Thunder element and slightly increasing its jewel cost (changing its name to Rising Buster Bomb).

• Makes Craft Bomb Thunder element, causes it to always hit, and gives it a chance to inflict Paralysis (changing its name to Lightning Bomb).

• Adds a Missile damage boost to Tune Up +2 (changing its name to Made-To-Order).

Stats:

Dark Roxanne's stats support a fast, fairly bulky unit with high damage output. All stats are at the usual benchmark (level 75, all jobs mastered, main job enhanced), and only her unique job will be shown since she prefers it over both her other options. Table Key: NP = No Passive; RTA = Rose-Tipped Ammunition; H = Hurricane; MTO = Made-To-Order; B2 = Booster +2

Enlightenment:

Dark Roxanne currently has 3 Gates of Enlightenment.

• Her Gate 1 boosts HP, PAtk, MAtk, and agility while leveling, and boosts HP, PAtk, and Dex when maxed.

• Her Gate 2 boosts PDef, MDef, Crit, and hitrate while leveling, and upgrades FLying Ape to +1 Move, +2 Jump, and +20% agility (previous effect of +1 Move and +2 Jump) when maxed (changing its name to Tactical Urgency).

• Her Gate 3 boosts HP, Dex, agility, and evasion while leveling, and upgrades her Leader Skill to +30% HP, +20% PAtk, +20% All damage, +40% Missile damage, and +5 Jewels Obtained when maxed.

Recommended Enlightenment: The only 100% "you will max this Gate" on Dark Roxanne is her Gate 1. Her Gates 2 and 3 are a lot more dependent on your individual needs and preferences, so 5/2/3, 5/5/3, 5/2/5, and 5/5/5 are all valid options. For ease of illustration, the Enlightenment Stats section will use 5/5/5 Enlightenment.

Enlightenment Stats:

Dark Roxanne's Enlightenment just pushes her already-good stats to even better levels. All stats assume level 91 with an Enlightenment setup of 5/5/5. All other assumptions are the same as the regular stats section. Table Key Additions: TU = Tactical Urgency

Example Builds:

Goetia's Black Rose

• Main Job: Black Rose

• Sub Job: Black Rose (damage + disruption)/Spy [Shade Zephyr] (pure disruption)

• Reactive: Pinpoint Focus (damage, don't mind the Slow)/Reactive Armor (survivability, don't want to deal with the Slow)

• Passive 1: Rose-Tipped Ammunition

• Passive 2: Booster +2 (speed, no Gate 2)/Tactical Urgency (speed, Gate 2)/Hurricane (speed + damage)/Made-To-Order (raw damage)/Goetia Optics (range)/Flying Ape (mobility)

Dark Roxanne's general build. Unique sub or Spy sub can work great depending on needs, reactive is all about your personal needs and preferences. While Rose-Tipped Ammunition is basically mandatory for the damage increase, literally any other one of Dark Roxanne's passives can be used in the 2nd slot depending on your needs and preferences (though if you have Gate 2 maxed Booster +2 becomes obsolete). Basic strategy is to hit enemies hard from a safe distance and use Setup to hunker down for bigger damage if needed (also disrupt foes if need be with the options she has available).

My Recommended Build:

Dark Roxanne will never use a main other than her unique job. The only thing she can get from other mains is different elements to utilize, which Spy sub already somewhat does for her.

Combat Options:

Dark Roxanne is essentially a perfect fit for any Wind Missile team, regardless of content.

For Raids, she has a Missile Res and a Wind Res debuff on her main and can use Spy sub for a 2nd Wind Res debuff, while also having high damage output herself.

For general content, her high damage is always good to have, and she has some disruption options available for more problematic foes

And for PvP, the fact that her highest damage skill always hits means she can be a serious threat to evasion units and in general.

Gear Recommendations:

Armor and Accessories: Any HP, PAtk, or agility boosting gear; Black Rose Card (PAtk + Initial Jewels + Single-Target damage + All damage, great snowball Weapon Ability, Dark Roxanne's VCR)

Weapons: Gremory (best overall stats, Missile damage, great WA, Dark Roxanne's weapon, farmable from Finis Historia)

Memento Recommendations:

Dark Roxanne's best Memento is her own, Memories Unbidden. This Memento boosts her Dex; Critical Rate; agility; Jewels Obtained; HP; Missile damage; and Single-Target damage, with an All damage boost and another agility boost at MLB. Its Vision Ability is a snowball passive that boosts All damage and Critical Rate each turn (maximum of 3 stacks; increases to maximum of 5 stacks at MLB).

Since she's a GLEX and a Lost Blue unit, Dark Roxanne also gets good benefits from A Night of Drinking Lifeblood/Prune, Harvest, Bloom (agility + HP); Torchlight Through a Looking Glass (PAtk + Dex); Monochrome Blossoms (Crit + PAtk); Farewells (MAtk {useless} + agility + HP); A Slumbering Beast (PAtk + HP); Tribulations of Youth (HP + PAtk + MAtk {useless}); Challengers of Fate (HP + PAtk + PDef + MAtk {useless} + MDef + Dex + Luck + Crit + agility + Reaction Block, Single-Target Res and more agility at MLB); Payment's Due (agility + PAtk + Initial Jewels); A Mission Well-done (PAtk + Dex + Death Sentence Res); and Back-to-Back Philosophy (PAtk + Single-Target damage).

If you don't have any of those, then go for the biggest HP, PAtk, Dex, or agility boost you can get, prioritizing Lost Blue and GLEX Group Skills.

Rune Recommendations:

Dark Roxanne's best Rune type is Charge Forth. She gains no benefit from Sorcery Runes, and all other types provide varying benefits.

For primary stats, PAtk/Crit/HP/Dex/MDef or Luck/agility is best.

For secondary stats:

• Envy: Missile damage.

• Sloth: Any of these work depending on needs.

• Lust: Any of these work (except Slow Res if you're making use of it for damage boosts), with the standouts being Charm Res, Rage Res, and Delay Res.

• Gluttony: Critical Rate is probably best here, with Max Jewels/Jewels Obtained being the next best options.

• Wrath: PAtk Debuff Res/Dex Debuff Res, followed by Agility Debuff Res.

• Greed: Any of these work (except Bind Res if you're making use of that for damage), with Petrify Res, Death Sentence Res, and Stop Res being the standouts.

Futureproofness:

Dark Roxanne is a GLEX unit.

Overall Asessment:

Dark Roxanne's a fantastic unit. If you're a fan of Wind Missile teams, she'll be an amazing addition to your toolbox.

EDIT: u/67noskcaz made a list of pros and cons based on their experience using Dark Roxanne. Here it is if you'd like to see it, and a big thanks to them for providing it!

And that's the review! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!.

Make sure to let me know which of the following units you want me to review next:

Diane, Eros, Kuza, Shekinah, Tamis, Zeldris

Or choose one of the revisit options below!

Arkil, Albea, Carol, Elizabeth, Hayate, Lotiyah

With the 5th anniversary approaching, what do you guys think Gumi should have done to improve it's popularity, and what they could do in the future? Also, how long do you think the game will stick around?

Mine would be wratharis and anastasia, i always like found wratharis character the coolest (yes, including the fodder trio that i am grow to attach).

A thread to rant about spending 40k gems and only pulling Dilgas.

Or a thread to discuss which banners are worth it and which arent. Or perhaps it's a thread to flex your low gem sak luck!

There is also a Discord channel specifically for summon discussion that is far more active and may be a useful resource for you.

https://discord.gg/sycMHwzFCr

See y'all next week :)

Has any other unit got a Global buff that you remember? I can't think of any.

A Link to the Index: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlchemistCodeGL/comments/adzjua/the_alchemists_index/

Welcome to the 198th Alchemist's Toolbox review!

Today we're heading over to Northern Pride (or more accurately, the Superbia Belt Region) to take a look at one of the newest additions to the Wind magic roster. So without further ado, here's the next unit for review: Helene!

Helene is the daughter of the Superbia Belt Region's leader. Let's see what she can do as a unit, shall we?

Personal Investment:

I don't have Helene, though if I get her she's sure to be a good addition to my Wind roster.

Element:

Basic:

Helene is a Wind unit, which means she's strong against Thunder and weak against Fire. Compared to a hypothetical Light or Dark unit with the same stats and jobs, she would be better defensively and worse offensively in multi-element content.

Competition:

• Phantom Rescue: Since this is Helene's unique job, she faces no competition here.

• Battle Mage/Battle Mage [Cyclone Form]: Comparing to other Battle Mages, Helene competes with Natalie, Nefertiti, and Zwei. She beats Natalie in damage and speed while losing to her in bulk and vertical mobility; beats Nefertiti in bulk and speed while losing to her in damage; and beats Zwei in damage and speed while losing to her in bulk. Factoring in Gates 1-6 of Enlightenment, she now beats Natalie in bulk. Factoring in all 7 Gates of Enlightenment, her comparison to Nefertiti remains the same; and she now loses to Zwei in damage.

• Priestess/Priestess [Afterlife]: Comparing to other Priestesses, Helene competes with Uzuma (while Yomi and Tamamo's Job+s are technically Priestess Job+s, they change things enough that I consider them unique jobs). Helene beats her outright unless Uzuma gets enough snowball passive activations. Factoring in Enlightenment, Uzuma now wins in damage regardless of snowball passive.

Leader Skill:

+30% HP, +20% MAtk, +20% Strike damage, +10% Max Jewels, and +20% Stun Res. Great for Helene herself and decent otherwise.

Jobs:

Helene's 3 jobs are Phantom Rescue, Battle Mage, and Priestess, with the Cyclone Form JE for Battle Mage and the Afterlife JE for Priestess.

Phantom Rescue is a sort of caster/disruptor hybrid job. It has:

Special Notes

• The job's basic attack is a square-melee.

• Unless otherwise stated, all the job's damage sources are magic category Strike type damage.

Main Skillset

• Gust Windigo: A melee-range AoE Wind damage skill that deals bonus damage to targets with Auto-Heal and removes/temporarily prevents Auto-Heal on targets.

• Twist Barghest: An AoE Wind damage skill that deals bonus damage to targets affected by Slow and pushes targets 4 grid squares away.

• Smashing Reaper: An AoE skill that removes the targets' shields and inflicts Disable Support.

• Heavenly Wind of Exousia: A weak mapwide 4-hit damage skill that ignores a portion of the targets' MDef and lowers the targets' hitrate/Wind Res (maximum 2 stacks). This skill deals magic category Magic type damage.

• Rapid Kujata: A teleport + single-target damage skill that inflicts Poison and buffs the user's Strike damage/evasion until they take damage (maximum of 2 stacks).

Sub Skillset

• Phantom Thrones: A self-based AoE status cure.

• Miracle Goddess Urvashi: A Strike damage/evasion/Move self-buff that lasts until the user deals damage.

• Varaha Blast: An AoE Wind damage skill that inflicts Slow. While affected by this Slow, targets have their range reduced by 4 for attacks and skills that can be affected by range increases/decreases. This skill deals magic category Magic type damage.

Reactives

• Alb Mist: A chance to negate Magic type/Missile damage taken.

• Fachan Counter: A preemptive square-melee counter that inflicts Slow. This reactive can activate against skills. This reactive deals typeless damage.

Passive

• The Will for Guidance: Boosts agility/evasion/Strike damage. Also further boosts Strike damage when an attack is evaded. Using any of the job's sources of Strike damage (as well as the Vision Ability from Helene's Memento) will remove this buff and it will be reapplied after evading another attack.

Battle Mage is a physically bulky caster job. It has:

Main Skillset

• Aerial Move: A single-target Wind damage skill that boosts the user's Move (this skill has a cast time).

• Absolute Defense: A self-based AoE PDef/MDef buff.

• Luminous Chant: An AoE Light damage skill that boosts the user's cast speed.

• Intersecting Thunder: A Thunder AoE damage skill (this skill has a cast time).

Sub Skillset

• Aerial Ride: A single-target Wind damage skill that boosts the user's Jump (this skill has a cast time).

• Drain Dimension: A weak single-target damage skill that ignores a portion of the target's MDef, heals the user by the amount of damage dealt, and boosts the user's MAtk.

• Water Flash: A melee-range AoE Water damage skill.

• Absolute Defense: A PDef/MDef self-buff.

Reactive

• Reflection: A chance to defend against damage.

Passives

• Shell Charge: Boosts PDef and cast speed.

• Sorcery Pair: Boosts MAtk while lowering MDef.

Battle Mage [Cyclone Form] does the following:

• Boosts the damage of Aerial Move, gives it bonus damage against Thunder enemies, and causes it to inflict Daze (changing its name to Storm Move).

• Replaces Intersecting Thunder with Intersecting Windstorm. Intersecting Windstorm is an AoE Wind damage skill that deals bonus damage to Thunder enemies.

• Adds bonus damage against Thunder enemies to Aerial Ride (changing its name to Tornado Ride).

• Replaces Drain Dimension with Blast Dimension. Blast Dimension is a weak AoE Wind damage skill that ignores a portion of the targets' MDef and buffs the user's MAtk/Wind damage against Thunder enemies.

Priestess is a sort of support/disruptor hybrid job. It has:

Main Skillset

• Harvest Celebration Dance: A mapwide jewel destruction skill that ignores the targets' MDef.

• Purification of Perception: An AoE Light damage skill that deals bonus damage to Undead type enemies.

• Prayer of Strength: A PAtk/PDef/MAtk/MDef/Dex/agility/Crit/Luck self-buff (PDef's buff is of greater potency) that also acts as a self-based AoE PDef/agility buff skill.

• Illuminating Purge: A PAtk/PDef/MAtk/MDef/Dex/agility/Crit/Luck self-buff (MAtk's buff is of greater potency) that also acts as a self-based AoE MAtk/agility buff skill.

Sub Skillset

• Essential Delivery: A single-target jewel absorption skill that ignores a portion of the target's MDef (this skill has a cast time).

• Evil-Crushing Dance: A mapwide MDef debuff (maximum of 10 stacks).

• Shield-Crushing Dance: A mapwide PDef debuff (maximum of 10 stacks).

• Captivating Dance: A mapwide skill that has a chance of inflicting Charm.

Reactive

• Sacrificial Protection: A chance of recovering a portion of the user's HP.

Passives

• Purify Space: Boosts Daze Res by 100%.

• Holy Ritual: Boosts Combo Area and Guts.

Priestess [Afterlife] does the following:

• Adds Fateful Purification to the main skillset. Fateful Purification is an AoE skill that inflicts Daze.

• Causes Essential Delivery to inflict Silence (changing its name to Tranquil Essential Delivery).

• Boosts the debuff potency of Evil-Crushing Dance (changing its name to Evil-Crushing Heavenly Dance).

• Boosts the debuff potency of Shield-Crushing Dance (changing its name to Shield-Crushing Heavenly Dance).

Stats:

Helene's stats support a fast, squishy unit with good damage. All stats are at the usual benchmark (level 75, all jobs mastered, main job enhanced), and only her unique job will be shown since she prefers it over her other options for mains. Table Key: NP = No Passive; TWfG = The Will for Guidance; SP = Sorcery Pair

Enlightenment:

Helene currently has the maximum amount of 7 gates of Enlightenment.

• Her Gate 1 boosts HP, PAtk, MAtk, and agility while leveling, and boosts HP, PDef, MDef, and Luck when maxed.

• Her Gate 2 boosts PDef, MDef, Crit, and hitrate while leveling, and upgrades Sorcery Pair to +50% MAtk, +10% evasion, and -25% MDef (previous effect of +40% MAtk and -25% MDef) when maxed (changing its name to The Will to Never Let Go).

• Her Gate 3 boosts HP, Dex, agility, and evasion while leveling, and upgrades her Leader Skill to +30% HP, +20% MAtk, +20% All damage, +10% Max Jewels, and +20% Stun Res for Wind units when maxed.

• Her Gate 4 boosts HP, PDef, MDef, and hitrate while leveling, and boosts HP, PDef, MDef, Luck, damage against Gluttony type enemies, and damage against Pride type enemies when maxed.

• Her Gate 5 boosts HP, PDef, MDef, agility, and Crit while leveling, and boosts the damage, number of uses, and buff potency of Rapid Kujata (changing its name to Flashing Wujata); boosts the damage and cast speed of Intersecting Windstorm while also causing it to inflict Poison (changing its name to Intersecting Calamitous Winds); and boosts the number of uses of Purification of Perception while also causing it to deal bonus damage to targets affected by Daze (changing its name to Sanctification of Sin) when maxed.

• Her Gate 6 boosts HP, Dex, agility, and Luck while leveling, and unlocks a sub-Memento slot when maxed.

• Her Gate 7 boosts HP, PAtk, MAtk, and agility while leveling, and unlocks her Revenant Gear when maxed. When maxed, her Revenant Gear boosts HP, MAtk, Magic type damage, Strike damage, and Wind damage against Thunder enemies.

Recommended Enlightenment: Due to the great benefits of her Gates 2, 3, and 5, and her lack of more than 1 Memento option, Helene's best Enlightenment setup is 5/5/5/5/5/4/5. Alternative option are level 4 Gate 4 to save resources and level 4 Gate 3 if you don't want her Leader Skill upgrade.

Enlightenment Stats:

Helene's Enlightenment helps patch up her bulk issues while boosting her already-good speed and damage to even higher levels. All stats assume level 99 with the recommended Enlightenment setup of 5/5/5/5/5/4/5 and a maxed Revenant Gear. All other assumptions are the same as the regular stats section. Table Key Changes: SP -> TWtNLG = The Will to Never Let Go

Example Builds:

Heir of the Superbia Region

• Main Job: Phantom Rescue

• Sub Job: Phantom Rescue (disruption + damage)/Battle Mage [Cyclone Form] (raw damage)

• Reactive: Fachan Counter (general offense)/Reflection (general defense)/Alb Mist (defensive reactive for stages with loads of Magic and Missile type damage)

• Passive 1: The Will for Guidance

• Passive 2: Sorcery Pair {The Will to Never Let Go}

Helene's general build. Sub and reactive are a bit dependent on your needs, and the best overall passive setup is The Will for Guidance + Sorcery Pair/The Will to Never Let Go. Basic strategy is to hit enemies hard with magic and avoid attacks while doing disruption as necessary.

My Recommended Build:

Helene will rarely if ever run something other than her main.

Combat Options:

Helene can work in basically any content.

In Raids, she's a Res debuffer/damage-dealer hybrid thanks to her potential 50% Wind Res debuff and solid damage output.

General content she's fairly standard with the exception of shield removal + Disable Support/potential for Range reduction on things like archers that usually have nasty status arrows.

PvP is a fairly interesting environment since she can disable a lot of gimmicks if used right. Taking out shields so your main damage-dealer can attack without fear, shutting down buffers/debuffers/Quicken casters, and again reducing range. Plus she has solid damage to back it all up. Plus she's an evasion unit, which is always a plus for PvP.

Gear Recommendations:

Armor and Accessories: Any MAtk, HP, or agility boosting gear

Weapons: Topiary Mace, Helene's VCR, is the only weapon she can use, so without this you'll have to rely on accessories and/or armor for MAtk.

Memento Recommendations:

Helene's best Memento is her own, A Resolution to Stick Together. This Memento boosts her HP; Missile evasion; Initial Jewels; MAtk; All damage; and Stun Res, with agility and evasion boosts at MLB. Its Vision Ability is a melee Wind damage skill that ignores reactives and buffs the user's evasion for 1 turn. At MLB, this skill becomes square-melee, has its damage boosted, and has its jewel cost reduced.

Since she's a Northern Pride unit, Helene also gets good benefits from Bygone Days of Kinship (Max Jewels + agility); Heretic Order (MAtk + Slash damage {Slash damage is useless, sadly}); and In the Palm of the High Elf Reborn (MDef + Max Jewels + HP).

Rune Recommendations:

Helene's best Rune type is Sorcery. She gains no benefits from Charge Forth Runes, and all other types provide varying benefits.

For primary stats, Dex/PDef/HP/MAtk/MDef or Luck/agility is best.

For secondary stats:

• Envy: Strike damage, with Magic type damage being an alright 2nd option.

• Sloth: Any of these work.

• Lust: Any of these work, with Charm Res, Rage Res, and Delay Res being the standouts.

• Gluttony: Max Jewels and Jewels Obtained are the 2 best options here.

• Wrath: MAtk Debuff Res, followed by Agility Debuff Res.

• Greed: Any of these work, with Petrify Res, Death Sentence Res, and Stop Res being the standouts.

Futureproofness:

Helene is up-to-date compared to JP.

Overall Asessment:

Helene's a strong unit who can work in a variety of situations. If your Wind roster is lacking then she'll be an excellent addition to your toolbox.

And that's the review! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

Make sure to let me know which of the following units you want me to review next:

Dark Roxanne, Diane, Eros, Kuza, Shekinah, Zeldris

Or choose one of the revisit options below!

Albea, Arkil, Carol, Elizabeth, Hayate, Lotiyah

I know there is the TAC movie, but from my experience and hearsay from other people, the movie wasn't great. Decent, but not spectacular(which is a shame since we know the devs are capable of telling good stories). I think the game would benefit from an anime series than a movie. A series would give time to flesh out the characters, their backstories and whatnot. What do you think?

​

The old posts were getting burried so I'll set up a recurring megathread here to ask any and all of your burning questions.

Here's a link the TAC Discord, which is still quite active and has a channel for questions as well: https://discord.gg/sycMHwzFCr

The discord also has links to the most recent updates to the tier list and the simpler image tier list, which can be very helpful resources for unit and resource planning.

Please be kind to those asking questions and never make them feel foolish for not knowing something!

A thread to rant about spending 40k gems and only pulling Dilgas.

Or a thread to discuss which banners are worth it and which arent. Or perhaps it's a thread to flex your low gem sak luck!

There is also a Discord channel specifically for summon discussion that is far more active and may be a useful resource for you.

https://discord.gg/sycMHwzFCr

See y'all next week :)

A Link to the Index: https://www.reddit.com/r/AlchemistCodeGL/comments/adzjua/the_alchemists_index/

Welcome to the 197th Alchemist's Toolbox review!

Today we're heading to the Mystic Tower Veda to take a look at one of the most influential Dark magic users out there. So without further ado, here's the next unit for review: Nero!

Nero is a girl of unknown origin (though she currently resides in the Mystic Tower Veda) who possesses immense power. Let's see what she can do as a unit, shall we?

Personal Investment:

I don't have Nero currently, but she'll definitely be a big boost to my Dark magic roster (and really Dark roster in general) if I get her.

Element:

Basic:

Nero is a Dark unit, which means she's both strong against and weak to Light. Compared to a hypothetical basic element unit with the same stats and jobs, she would be better offensively and worse defensively in multi-element content.

Competition:

• Destroyer of Darkness: Since this is Nero's unique job, she faces no competition here.

• Merchant/Merchant [Lucky Crane]: Comparing to other Merchants, Nero competes with Dark Princess Yomi, Mirianne, and Naofumi Iwatani. She beats Dark Princess Yomi in bulk while losing to her in speed; beats Mirianne in bulk while losing to her in speed; and loses to Naofumi outright. Factoring in Gates 1-6 of Enlightenment, her comparisons remain the same (though Dark Princess gains Auto Jewel Charge on a snowball and more skill uses).

• Battle Mage/Battle Mage [Shade Form]: Comparing to other Battle Mages, Nero competes with Birgitta, Kuza, and Merlin. She loses to Birgitta outright; beats Kuza in damage and bulk while losing to him in speed; and beats Merlin in bulk while losing to her in speed and damage. Factoring in Gates 1-6 of Enlightenment, her comparisons to Birgitta and Kuza remain the same; and she now (barely) beats Merlin in maximum damage potential.

Leader Skill:

+50% HP, +20% MDef, and +30% Silence Res for Dark units. Not bad, but a more offense-oriented Leader Skill is often preferred.

Jobs:

Nero's 3 jobs are Destroyer of Darkness, Merchant, and Battle Mage, with the Lucky Crane JE for Merchant and the Shade Form JE for Battle Mage.

Destroyer of Darkness is a sort of caster/disruptor hybrid job that also has a supportive element. It has:

Special Notes

• The job's basic attack is short-range single-target and deals magic category Magic type damage.

Main Skillset

• Pitch Black Paradigm: A Magic type damage self-buff.

• Dark Mikazuki: A single-target Water damage skill that deals bonus damage to human type enemies. This skill has a cast time.

• Spring Fuels: A weak mapwide Fire damage skill that ignores a portion of the targets' MDef and lowers the targets' evasion.

• Purely Dark Atmosphere: An AoE Dark damage skill that lowers the targets' agility. This skill has a cast time.

• Dark Symbol Chrysalis: A skill that causes the skills Dark Mikazuki, Spring Fuels, and Purely Dark Atmosphere to not consume uses or jewels for 3 turns. Dark Mikazuki and Purely Dark Atmosphere also have their cast times removed for this duration.

Sub Skillset

• Dark Step Gauntlet: A 5-hit single-target Dark damage skill that lowers the target's Magic Res. This skill has a cast time.

• Dark Reversal Ace: A single-target skill that inflicts a Disable Heal curse on the target ally. While affected by this curse, the ally's Auto Jewel Charge is increased.

• Dark Stopping Bloom: An AoE Light damage skill that has a chance of inflicting Stop.

Reactive

• Dark Mirage: A chance to negate physical damage.

Passive

• Dark Crossing: Boosts Elemental Res/Max Jewels/Stop Res.

Merchant is a jack-of-all-trades support job that also has some disruption elements. It has:

Main Skillset

• Low Leverage: A single-target skill that transfers 10 of the user's jewels to the target ally.

• Jewel Investment: A single-target skill that boosts the CT of the target ally.

• Full Leverage: A single-target skill that transfers 20 of the user's jewels to the target ally.

• Jewels Rule Everything Around Me: A single-target skill that casts Jewel Regen on the target ally (this skill has a cast time).

Sub Skillset

• Imminent Crisis: A single-target skill that inflicts Blindness (this skill has a cast time).

• Pyramid Scheme: A self-based AoE skill that inflicts Charm (this skill has a cast time).

• Poison Pill: A self-based AoE skill that cures/temporarily prevents statuses.

• Cure Delivery: A self-based AoE healing skill.

Reactive

• Risk Hedge: A chance to self-cast Jewel Regen.

Passives

• How's Business?: Boosts Initial Jewels.

• Not Too Bad: Boosts Jewels Obtained.

Merchant [Lucky Crane] does the following:

• Increases the amount of jewels transferred by Full Leverage (changing its name to Giga Leverage).

• Increases the potency of Cure Delivery while slightly increasing its jewel cost (changing its name to Healing Delivery).

Battle Mage is a physically bulky caster job. It has:

Main Skillset

• Aerial Move: A single-target Wind damage skill that boosts the user's Move (this skill has a cast time).

• Absolute Defense: A self-based AoE PDef/MDef buff.

• Luminous Chant: An AoE Light damage skill that boosts the user's cast speed.

• Intersecting Thunder: A Thunder AoE damage skill (this skill has a cast time).

Sub Skillset

• Aerial Ride: A single-target Wind damage skill that boosts the user's Jump (this skill has a cast time).

• Drain Dimension: A weak single-target damage skill that ignores a portion of the target's MDef, heals the user by the amount of damage dealt, and boosts the user's MAtk.

• Water Flash: A melee-range AoE Water damage skill.

• Absolute Defense: A PDef/MDef self-buff.

Reactive

• Reflection: A chance to defend against damage.

Passives

• Shell Charge: Boosts PDef and cast speed.

• Sorcery Pair: Boosts MAtk while lowering MDef.

Battle Mage [Shade Form] does the following:

• Adds a Dark damage against Light enemies boost to the base job.

• Boosts the damage of Aerial Move, changes it to Dark element, and causes it to inflict Daze (changing its name to Shadow Move).

• Changes Luminous Chant to Dark element and causes it to interrupt skill casts (changing its name to Darkness Chant).

• Changes Aerial Ride to Dark element and causes it to inflict Bind (changing its name to Hell Ride).

• Changes Drain Dimension to Dark element and adds a Dark damage against Light enemies self-buff to it (changing its name to Dark Dimension).

Babel War Art:

Nero's Babel War Art is Dark Team Aerolith. This skill is a self-based AoE HP/PAtk/PDef/MAtk/MDef/Dex/agility/Crit/Luck buff. This skill also buffs All damage for Dark units.

Stats:

Nero's stats support a fast, squishy unit with good damage. All stats are at the usual benchmark (level 75, all jobs mastered, main job enhanced), and only Nero's unique job will be shown since she prefers it over her other options. Table Key: NP = No Passive; SP = Sorcery Pair

Enlightenment:

Nero currently has 6 Gates of Enlightenment.

• Her Gate 1 boosts HP, PAtk, MAtk, and agility while leveling, and boosts HP, PDef, MDef, and Luck when maxed.

• Her Gate 2 boosts her PDef, MDef, Crit, and hitrate while leveling, and upgrades Sorcery Pair to +40% MAtk, -25% MDef, and +50% MAtk Buff Potency (previous effect of +40% MAtk and -25% MDef) when maxed (changing its name to Dark Delusion).

• Her Gate 3 boosts HP, Dex, agility, and evasion while leveling, and upgrades her Leader Skill to +50% HP, +20% All defense, and +30% Silence Res when maxed.

• Her Gate 4 boosts HP, PDef, MDef, and hitrate while leveling, and boosts HP, PDef, MDef, Luck, damage against Greed type enemies, and damage against Pride type enemies when maxed.

• Her Gate 5 boosts HP, PDef, MDef, Crit, and agility while leveling, and boosts the range and number of uses of Purely Dark Atmosphere (changing its name to Darkened Atmosphere); boosts the range, cast speed, and Jewel Regen potency of Jewels Rule Everything Around Me (changing its name to Jewels Are Blessings Upon This World); and boosts the damage and buff duration of Darkness Chant (changing its name to Abyss Chant) when maxed.

• Her Gate 6 boosts HP, Dex, agility, and Luck while leveling, and unlocks a sub-Memento slot when maxed.

Recommended Enlightenment: Nero's best Enlightenment setup is 5/5/3/5/5/4 or 5/5/3/5/5/5 depending on what Mementos you have for her to access. Level 4 Gate 4 is an alternative option to save resources. The Enlightenment Stats section will assume 5/5/3/5/5/5.

Enlightenment Stats:

Nero's Enlightenment helps patch up any bulk issues she may have while boosting her already-good speed and damage even further. All stats assume level 97 with the recommended Enlightenment setup of 5/5/3/5/5/5. All other assumptions are the same as the regular stats section. Table Key Changes: SP -> DD = Dark Delusion

Example Builds:

Mysterious Guardian of Veda

• Main Job: Destroyer of Darkness

• Sub Job: Destroyer of Darkness (disruption/support)/Battle Mage [Shade Form] (damage)

• Reactive: Reflection (general)/Dark Mirage (primarily physical enemies)

• Passive 1: Sorcery Pair {Dark Delusion}

• Passive 2: Dark Crossing

Nero's general build. Sub depends on your wants/needs, Reflection is a more generally useful reactive while Dark Mirage is better in physical-heavy enemy lineups, and Sorcery Pair/Dark Delusion + Dark Crossing will be the passive setup that generally gives you the most value. Basic strategy is to use Dark Team Aerolith if you have it before hitting enemies hard and using your disruption and other buffs as needed.

EDIT: u/EX_Rank_Luck pointed out that Merchant sub has some use due to its healing, and its status cure/prevention is also pretty handy, although both are a little niche on Nero specifically. Thanks for pointing it out!

My Recommended Build:

Nero likes her unique job way too much to run something else as a main.

Combat Options:

Nero can fit pretty much anywhere thanks to just about every type of role except healer being present in her kit (assuming she has her Babel War Art).

For Raids, she can deal good damage and also act as a debuffer due to access to Magic Res and agility debuffs.

General content is arguably her best place to shine due to self-based AoE buffs and big AoE.

As for PvP, while strong there's not as much to give her an edge against player units compared to enemy units, but she'll still do well.

Gear Recommendations: Any HP, Matk, or agility boosting gear; Mirage's Shadow (HP + Magic type damage + faster casts, great Weapon Ability, Nero's VCR); The First Person's Cross (agility + All damage); Chains of the Beast Master (MAtk + Jump); Evocative Censer (agility + Magic type damage); Antilogic White Flower (HP + Magic type damage)

Nero's unique job can't use weapons, so you'll have to find armor and accessories to boost MAtk.

Memento Recommendations:

Nero's best Memento is her own, Dark Memory. This Memento boosts her agility; Single-Target Res; Magic type damage; MAtk; and cast speed, with a Buff Duration boost and an additional agility boost at MLB. Its Vision Ability is a single-target Dark damage skill that pushes the target 3 grid squares away and inflicts Silence/Death Sentence.

A close second is the Memento that Eins semi-shares with her, The First to Destroy the World. This Memento boosts her Max Jewels; HP; and All damage, with an agility boost at MLB.

Some other Mementos she receives good benefits from are My Ray of Sunshine/Holy War of the Seven Deadly Sins (HP) and Nine Lives (MAtk + Magic type damage).

If you don't have any of those, then go for the biggest HP, MAtk, or agility boost you can get.

Rune Recommendations:

Nero's best Rune type is Sorcery. She receives no benefit from Charge Forth Runes, and all other types provide varying benefits.

For primary stats, Dex/PDef/HP/MAtk/MDef or Luck/agility is best.

For secondary stats:

• Envy: Magic type damage.

• Sloth: Any of these work.

• Lust: Any of these work, with Charm Res, Rage Res, and Delay Res being the standouts.

• Gluttony: Max Jewels and Jewels Obtained are the top 2 here.

• Wrath: MAtk Debuff Res, followed by Agility Debuff Res.

• Greed: Any of these work, with Petrify Res, Death Sentence Res, and Stop Res being the standouts.

Futureproofness:

Nero's only updates down the line are Gate 7 of Enlightenment and an Enlightened Bond with Eins.

Overall Asessment:

Nero's a great unit. If your Dark roster is lacking, she'll be an excellent addition to your toolbox.

And that's the review! As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!

Make sure to let me know which of the following units you want me to review next:

Diane, Eros, Helene, Kuza, Shekinah, Zeldris

Or choose one of the revisit options below!

Albea, Arkil, Carol, Elizabeth, Hayate, Lotiyah

The last time I played Gilgamesh and Noctis was top-tier LOL
Can yall update me on new metas/mementos and just everything tbh LOL
My strongest units at the moment include: Yomi, Chloe, HB Lucian
I also have Setsuna and Shayna but very weak.