DLC 2 is hard are heck

[MakoSOLIDER]

They made it so every hit you take reduces your max hp and eventually the liberator trick doesn't work.

 

I think I have to actually get an OP build but I really don't understand the gear systems. I imagine many builds have been nerfed to hell now too.

 

Anyone know how gear works?

[Zayne7_]

12 minutes ago, MakoSOLIDER said:

They made it so every hit you take reduces your max hp and eventually the liberator trick doesn't work.

 

I ran into this problem, too. 
My mistake was relying on Liberator's Mighty Guard Mastery passive. Use the Runic Protection command ability instead (in combination with Extra Mode). As long as it's active, you don't have your HP reduced by attacks. Hope this helps.

Edited October 26, 2022 by Zayne7_

[MakoSOLIDER]

27 minutes ago, Zayne7_ said:

I ran into this problem, too. 
My mistake was relying on Liberator's Mighty Guard Mastery passive. Use the Runic Protection command ability instead (in combination with Extra Mode). As long as it's active, you don't have your HP reduced by attacks. Hope this helps.

This helped so much thanks! Eventually extra mode is disabled though ?

[Baker]

How is the DLC? Is it the same as DLC 1 with just 2 new boss fights and having to fight against the same story enemies and bosses again? Or is there actually some new stuff?

Edited October 26, 2022 by Baker

[MakoSOLIDER]

5 minutes ago, Baker said:

How is the DLC? Is it the same as DLC 1 with just 2 new boss fights and having to fight against the same story enemies and bosses again? Or is there actually some new stuff?

Nope it's what you said. Same old same old

Edited October 26, 2022 by MakoSOLIDER

[Baker]

4 minutes ago, MakoSOLIDER said:

Nope it's what you said. Same old same old

That is so lazy. I wish I hadn’t bought the season pass. I’ll skip it for now then..

 

Thanks.

[oYazmat]

1 hour ago, MakoSOLIDER said:

Nope it's what you said. Same old same old

Lazy devs... there are so many enemies in Final Fantasy...

[Tothoro]

Yeah, this one's gonna be much tougher than the previous DLC. Working on builds now for a guide with Xillynoc. I'm not entirely sure if there is a new cheese method that will work (if there is, I haven't found it). So I think we will need to start creating builds to get through some of the harder challenges.

 

Character levels, job levels, and equipment levels are the easiest answer but you have to limit break your way to the new maxes. The second-most important piece I think is going to be passives from job affinity. Paladin's 400% affinity gives immunity to status effects, for example. Between the ability to dump master points into affinity and craft equipment I'm hopeful that we'll be able to find a build that doesn't involve grinding out equipment for hours and hours.

 

But as others have mentioned, it's pretty much just recycled assets with randomized elements and difficulty modifiers. It does feel pretty lazy and hard for the sake of being hard.

[oYazmat]

Just to get back on how gear works (this is just from my memory since I played recently):

 

- The more rare the better stats (some lower level are better than higher if they have better rarity rank)

- Gear had affinity bonus for jobs, with latest gear you have like 2 jobs for a piece of equipment, the idea is to get 400% (or at least the bonus you want), for as many jobs as you can that can power up the job you are using (in other words, if you play Sage, check the affinity bonuses of the other jobs that goes well with Sage, and equip gear that will boost that)

- Chaos affinity! I don't remember what this does... you get this in gear post game

- Evocation/Ultima affinity: This boosts the passives you get from you chosen DLC 1 tree. I guess get it as high as you can for the Tree you are using (Ex: you are using Demon Lord then get as much gear with Ultima affinity as you can)

- You can upgrade affinity at the Smithy

- You can also change/upgrade bonus stats of equipment at the smithy (so get the bonus that will be useful for you job and upgrade them?)

- You can raise you equipment level up to 5 at the smithy (More stats I guess?)

 

That's pretty much what I remember... never used the smithy. I just used to hit optimized equipment...

 

As for DLC 2 stuff, I haven't touched that for now... maybe this weekend

Edited October 26, 2022 by oYazmat

[MakoSOLIDER]

You can also put one pieces affinity onto another now so in theory it's easier to make a build but it's very resource heavy

[Laozuli]

So after just finishing the dlc, I thought I share my build and some tips to minimalise grinding. 

 

I got my build from a youtuber before dlc 2 but mine is a bit watered down I think (or it has been nerfed). Still I was able to do between 30-40k damage and either 1-shot or two-shot normal enemies, and was able to beat bosses until floor 30. I played as barbarian since its skill "annihilating light" let me do damage with some distance from enemies. The warden does more damage but you need to be closer to enemies and it takes a longer time charging.

 

Build.

 

So the main is barbarian (upgraded version of breaker - evocation) and make sure you are level 150 on it.

 

Spend your job points as follows:

- Break + 50 (5points)

- Strenght +40 (20pts)

- Breaker job affinity + 300% (20pts)

- Near death damage dealt + 12% (20pts)

- Charge attack damage dealt +7,5% (15pts)

- MP recharge with normal attacks + 10,5% (15pts)

 

Job affinities: 

- At least 400% in breaker for extra strenght and the ability to increase damage after soul break (is really handy for mobs). More is also oké (I had 700% which might be to much) but 400% is minimum.

- 400% in rune knight for decreased cost in using abilities. 

- At least 400% in dark knight for increased near death damage and to have this effect be always active regardless of health (this is crucial). 

- At least 160% in samurai for decreased cost in using abilities (however 250% is prefered for the extra stat boosts - I only had 163% so you should also be fine without it).

- Extra affinities that give a lot of strenght to boost damage. I had 120% in Ronin and 160% in Cylic warrior but anything works if it just gives you extra strenght). 

 

Max your gear with the following abilities:

- Strenght

- Charge attack damage increase

- Near death damage dealt

 

For your secondary job you should pick a ninja. Ninja has the "utsusemi" ability which lets you survive 3 hits. This is very handy for bosses or just running though gateway missions. When a mission starts - switch to your secondary and pop this skill. Then switch to your main to deal damage and repeat if you get hit more then 3 time (an aura effect will wear off). 

 

Abilities: 

- Summon Taichi

- Mighty Strikes

- Seal of blood

 

-Runic protection but only in extra mode

 

Pop these when able but be careful with your mp since the "annihilating light" skill still needs 2 bars. You get your mp back when soulbursting and you can also use your items like Ether when fighting bosses. 

 

General tips for the dlc:

- You can use "extra mode" until floor 22 but try to avoid it. With a variant of the build posted above, you should have no issue clearing normal monsters and chaos monsters. Fighting these monsters gets you more loot needed to complete certain throphies such as summon stones, arcanium or sealed weapons. You can use extra mode when your points are really low or to quickly finish a null rift (mandatory boss);

- Fusing is handy to get the job affinities you need but its very resource draining. You need rat tails and crests of the specific job which means a lot of farming. I used it for 3 pieces of gear, most of it I got from the exchange shop. Farming crests can be done on any difficulty, even casual. Just switch to the jobs you want crests for and play the mission "Ebon warriors" at ??? which is a gauntlet of 50 enemies. Crest drop is random but usually between 15-20.

- Don't forget the pets, they are really handy. They give passives when offering an item and general bonuses when you perform certain activities in their quest. I used the Harpy (for extra crit damage and when you give her an item it gives mp recovery upon slain enemies), Wolf (Ronin and Samurai affinity + and break damage), Sagahin (strenght and physical damage +), Tonberry (dark knight and breaker affinity +) and the iron giant (cyclic warrior affinity up). But just check what works with your build;

- For the "blessing of the summoned" throphy, you just need to have 12 weapons or gear with each of the different summons. So just keep track of which ones you already have. This is also why you should avoid "extra mode" as you need arcanium and it drop even from regular enemies. 

- When you got arcanium to spare or already have the blessing thropy, pick some arcanium chests in the hall for extra healing items and summon stones. For throphies you need at least the tonberry and cactuar (see the post of Tobaldou) and they both come from the flawless summoning stone. You can save scum these monsters however after testing I found out you need to complete at least a new rift to change the monster that is being summoned. Otherwise you always get the same;

- For the "extra dimentional gift" throphy you need to clear a rift given by Gilgamesh and these can be tough. However sometimes he gives a single boss rift instead of multiple. Try to get one of these and use all your healing items to take down this boss.

- Use your gil and healing items. The phoenix downs are life savers as are all items that give mp. Also you can use mp items before entering a rift so you can start with max mp. This is handy for boss rifts. 

-When your points are dangerously low, just do gateway runs to get them back up. You can ignore every enemy and with the ninja skill even tank some hits when you open chests. 

- You can exit the labyrinth without losing progres by picking "return to world map" at the cube. You can return to the same floor with all your progress by picking the main mission rift labyrint.

- You can skip most of the boss fights in this dlc if you don't feel comfortable doing them. At certain points you need to clear a null void which is a mandatory boss fight. You can use extra mode until floor 22 to clear these if you are struggeling or want to save gil in the early stages (for example I used it in the beginning to save gil so that I didn't need to farm that especially). After floor 22, you need to clear 2 more null voids to get past 30. These bosses are random so if your are struggeling with one, just give up and try another one. (Just keep an eye on your point and do gateways to keep the number up). Pick the more easier bosses that give you room to use your ability (I had Chaos Advent and the Chimera - and for the Gilgamesh rift the Kraken)

 

 

I hope this info help somebody in tackling this dlc.

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Laozuli
Extra tips

[Ampki]

This dlc is insane I can’t even get past the wanderer mission to even start the dlc

[MakoSOLIDER]

Just now, Ampki said:

This dlc is insane I can’t even get past the wanderer mission to even start the dlc

You can't die in the wanderer mission. It won't let you.

[Ampki]

Ano but griffin destroys me and my team before I can even do anything haha 

[cometowner]

You are into dlc and still cannot understand gear system 

[Ampki]

14 minutes ago, cometowner said:

You are into dlc and still cannot understand gear system 

It’s been a while…. Playing other games etc I’m not going to remember. 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Ampki

[MakoSOLIDER]

2 hours ago, cometowner said:

You are into dlc and still cannot understand gear system 

Speaks volumes about how convoluted the systems are that most players don't understand it.

[Sunny]

On 10/26/2022 at 8:50 AM, Baker said:

That is so lazy. I wish I hadn’t bought the season pass. I’ll skip it for now then..

 

Thanks.

So the season pass isn't worth it? ...damn I literally just put the game and the season pass in my cart, gonna wait and see then.

[Baker]

6 minutes ago, Sunnyburrito said:

So the season pass isn't worth it? ...damn I literally just put the game and the season pass in my cart, gonna wait and see then.

Totally not worth it imo. For me this is a fine example of a pure cash grab. I think Square Enix already knew all DLC’s would be shit so they made sure you can’t buy them separately. Otherwise nobody would buy DLC 2&3 after that ridiculous DLC 1. ?

 

I would wait until all DLC is released and grab the season pass on a deep sale if you’re interested in 100%.

 

Edit: I did really enjoy the main game. 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Baker

[Laozuli]

24 minutes ago, Sunnyburrito said:

So the season pass isn't worth it? ...damn I literally just put the game and the season pass in my cart, gonna wait and see then.

 

Hmmm it kinda depends on how much you like grinding for the end game? Stranger feels like a very poor and unbalanced imitation of Nioh and while a playthrough on normal to experience the story and kick some ass to final fantasy monsters is actually pretty fun, the end game is horrible. 

 

Like MakoSoldier said the systems are badly explained in the game itself so you need to rely on some guides to make a brokenish build just to get through the latter difficulty spikes. And even then most of those builds are just gimmick builds to quickly clear monsters or bosses. While in Nioh, you could beat bosses by relying on learining patterns and just leveling your gear, this game is centered less on skill and more on gimmicks. 

 

I suggest maybe watching some vids of people playing dlc 1 or 2 so you can see if the grind is worth it?

Edited October 27, 2022 by Laozuli

[Sunny]

1 hour ago, Baker said:

Totally not worth it imo. For me this is a fine example of a pure cash grab. I think Square Enix already knew all DLC’s would be shit so they made sure you can’t buy them separately. Otherwise nobody would buy DLC 2&3 after that ridiculous DLC 1.

 

I would wait until all DLC is released and grab the season pass on a deep sale if you’re interested in 100%.

 

Edit: I did really enjoy the main game. 

Well to be honest I wasn't interested in this game at all, but it's Final Fantasy so I want to platinum even if it's a turd on fire, I thought the DLCs were more areas along with the new classes...kind of a let down, actually what changed my mind was The Warrior of Light, meh will wait for a sale then, thanks for the honest thoughts.

52 minutes ago, Laozuli said:

 

Hmmm it kinda depends on how much you like grinding for the end game? Stranger feels like a very poor and unbalanced imitation of Nioh and while a playthrough on normal to experience the story and kick some ass to final fantasy monsters is actually pretty fun, the end game is horrible. 

 

Like MakoSoldier said the systems are badly explained in the game itself so you need to rely on some guides to make a brokenish build just to get through the latter difficulty spikes. And even then most of those builds are just gimmick builds to quickly clear monsters or bosses. While in Nioh, you could beat bosses by relying on learining patterns and just leveling your gear, this game is centered less on skill and more on gimmicks. 

 

I suggest maybe watching some vids of people playing dlc 1 or 2 so you can see if the grind is worth it?

I mean I've been playing JRPGs my entire life so I'm no stranger to obnoxious grind, was the classes and what not fun to play? The battle system I mean, on videos and trailers it looked pretty sweet.

[Laozuli]

45 minutes ago, Sunnyburrito said:

I mean I've been playing JRPGs my entire life so I'm no stranger to obnoxious grind, was the classes and what not fun to play? The battle system I mean, on videos and trailers it looked pretty sweet.

 

The first 5 to 10h are fun since you will just experiment with the classes and abilities but then the game just overstays its welcome. It feels like a low budget game due to the fact that there are limited levels and monster types. So you will be farming a lot of the same monsters over and over again.

 

If I compare it with Nioh again, I minded the grind way less in those two games since they have better mechanics, plenty of different enemies and is generally better balanced. In Stranger I just wanted to have the grind over asap. 

 

If it wasn't for the fancy steelbook it came with at launch, I would probably have skipped this game

 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Laozuli

[Xillynoc]

Still working on the guide for all this with xTOTHORO...not encouraging that a lot of the strategy/advice I've seen is "find a better player to co-op with" ? according to Tentativeuser, even the most optimal builds (like Laozuli's above) are basically one-shot by every monster you have to deal with after floor 21, regardless of strats like maintaining a constant Protect and Shell barrier combo, so it seems like it comes down to luck and/or skill...don't suppose anyone's found something more effective since? We do have a couple 100%ers already, so clearly it can be done.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Xillynoc

[Tentativeuser]

1 hour ago, Xillynoc said:

Still working on the guide for all this with xTOTHORO...not encouraging that a lot of the strategy/advice I've seen is "find a better player to co-op with"  according to Tentativeuser, even the most optimal builds (like Laozuli's above) are basically one-shot by every monster you have to deal with after floor 21, regardless of strats like maintaining a constant Protect and Shell barrier combo, so it seems like it comes down to luck and/or skill...don't suppose anyone's found something more effective since? We do have a couple 100%ers already, so clearly it can be done.

 

Not every monster will one shot you, but typically any dangerous attack will. From my experience getting the 100%, every viable build is a glass cannon (particularly in the later floors) and a build's effectiveness will vary depending on player skill. Fortunately, there is not much enemy or boss variety in this game and they behave in very predictable patterns. 

[Sunny]

6 hours ago, Laozuli said:

 

The first 5 to 10h are fun since you will just experiment with the classes and abilities but then the game just overstays its welcome. It feels like a low budget game due to the fact that there are limited levels and monster types. So you will be farming a lot of the same monsters over and over again.

 

If I compare it with Nioh again, I minded the grind way less in those two games since they have better mechanics, plenty of different enemies and is generally better balanced. In Stranger I just wanted to have the grind over asap. 

 

If it wasn't for the fancy steelbook it came with at launch, I would probably have skipped this game

 

Thanks for the tip, almost bought the whole thing season pass and all at full price lol

I'll wait for the DLCs to end and get the bundle on a discount.

Edited October 28, 2022 by Sunnyburrito