As the celebration of the second year of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius continues, many players continue to reminisce about the past year. While 5* base units get the majority of the hype based on their rarity, there have also been many valuable 4* units that crack from gold crystals during summons. Although some units find new through enhancements like Warrior of Light, this article will focus solely on units that are good to go right out of the box.
Notable 4* Units of the Second Year of Final Fantasy Brave Exvius
Rikku (Released June 29th, 2017)
It is fitting to start our list off with the unit who was released right as Final Fantasy Brave Exvius reached its second year. Rikku arrived in Final Fantasy X’s “Macalania Woods” event, and immediately became a staple on teams for some of the game’s most difficult content. She was one of the first pure support units worthy of putting in a party. This was due to her awesome damage mitigation and auto-revive Limit Burst.
Her kit relies on her “Mix” skill. Using Mix unlocks a few other techniques for three turns, most notably, Hyper NulAll. This move not only provides 30% damage mitigation but also 40% elemental resistance to all party members. That wasn’t even the best part. Where she really shined was through her Limit Burst: Hyper Mighty G. When leveled to the max, Hyper Mighty G gives a ridiculous 74% increase to Defense and Spirit, and Auto-revive to the entire party.
When stacked with Hyper NulAll, Hyper Mighty G helped parties survive big hits from bosses that would otherwise wipe the entire party. Even if the party was wiped out, they’d just be Auto-revived. Rikku’s main downside is that her main moves are locked behind Mix, so if she is KOed, she has a turn where she is basically useless. It could make the party vulnerable.
Nowadays, she is outclassed by pure buffers like Maritime Strategist Nichol, whose huge stat boosts and damage mitigations make Auto-revives less necessary. Players who were lucky enough to pull Yan during the “Festival of Love” event also probably benched their Rikku. Still, she helped a lot of players clear a lot of challenging content this past year.
Illusionist Nichol (Available Oct. 20th-Nov. 3rd, 2017)
One of the more interesting 4* base units to make it into the game so far would have to be Illusionist Nichol. He isn’t talked about as much today because he was a limited unit released during the “Return to Halloween Castle” event. For a while though, he was all the rave as one of the better gold crystal summons. Referred to in the community affectionately as iNichol, he plays a unique role in parties by using illusion magic to turn any unit into an evade/cover tank.
iNichol’s moveset revolves around his “Illusion” skills and his ability cast two of them in one turn. The two that earned him a spot in parties are Illusion – Doppelganger and Illusion – Redirect. Both are abilities cast on a party member. Doppelganger negates two physical attacks taken on an ally, and Redirect makes a party member cover and mitigate physical damage against the rest of the party. This was nice at this time because many players still did not have the gear to make evade units. Even if they did, stacking a unit with evasion gear sacrificed other stats.
Having iNichol in the party gave some flexibility with tanking. It could create a tank who could dish out monstrous damage, like Demon Rain. Or, it could make an already great tank like Wilhelm even better. iNichol doesn’t get as much love as he used to, but there are still a lot of players who still frequently have him on their team.
Ashe (Released July 7th, 2017)
Another great gold crystal unit is the Ashe, the Princess of Dalamasca. She is another unit who came out not long after the anniversary, with the Final Fantasy XII event, “Henne Mines.” Though Ashe has been around for a while, she still finds herself on many player’s teams, because of her ability to both chain magic damage and recovers HP for the party simultaneously.
In theory, Ashe is a versatile unit that has a kit allowing her to be a physical, or magic damage dealer. Her main passive gives her a 50% magic and attack boost when equipped with a sword, and she has the move Barrage, which attacks enemies four times with physical damage. In reality, no one is building her that way. Her optimal build is to go for as much magic as possible and spam her Heaven’s Fury skill.
Heaven’s Fury is a chaining ability that deals magic damage, but also heals the party at the same time. In certain situations, it can allow players to just go without a healer in favor of another unit (usually another damage dealer). Ashe is currently being given out as a reward for finishing the tutorial, meaning every new player gets one for free. Since Ashe is only a 4* base, and not particularly rare, it doesn’t take players long before they obtain a second, giving them an easy chaining partner.
She also recently got her enhancements, giving her value for some time to come.
Mystea (Released Dec. 1st, 2017)
Mystea’s release was hyped for months coming up to the “Fate of the Dragoon” banner. Up to that point, the game did not have any real magic tank available. Players were forced to rely on purely physical cover and provoke tanks, which did not work well for trials that were being released at the time. Upon release, Mystea became a staple on teams and is still the MVP for players who have not been able to pull Basch or Chow for more recent content.
Of course, Mystea’s main value comes in the form of her Triteleia Wall ability. This gives her the chance to cover the party from and mitigate magic damage for the entire party. She does have other uses, however. One great ability is Clear Veil, which gives the party 100% resistance to all status ailments and stop for three turns. This combined with her magic cover is crucial especially in “The Rumble of Malboro” fight. It can even make her more valuable than 5* magic tanks for that trial in many instances.
She also has some more niche moves that may be used depending on the situation. Mind Fortress gives an 80% spirit buff to the entire party except her. This was pretty good at the time of her release, but isn’t really anything special now. Reinstate is great for removing debuffs from herself, ensuring her spirit stays as high as possible at all times. Finally, Destination boosts her own spirit by 100%. The move could eliminate the need for a buffer if the party is taking on a magic only damage enemy.
Victoria (Released Aug. 4th, 2017)
Victoria is basically the definition of a Black Mage. She has huge magic numbers and is capable of dealing massive damage. However, as a gold crystal unit, she was balanced out with horrible survivability stats. Victoria arrived on one of the best all-around banners of the year, “Time for Revenge,” which featured Veritas of the Flame, Veritas of the Dark, Veritas of the Earth, Timothy, and her. While most pulled hard for Veritas of the Dark, Victoria and Timothy are both valuable for the Trust Master Reward (TMR).
Due to her high damage output abilities, Victoria found herself on many player’s teams. During long battles, with the help of a good tank, she can actually outdamage many 5* base units. Her kit is a bit complicated, and takes a few turns to get going, as it relies on her “stacking” abilities. Stacking abilities get stronger each time a player uses them. The two that are worth noting for Victoria are Firaja and Overflow.
Now, both Firaja and Overflow take six uses to build up to maximum damage. Overflow does more damage when it is stacked to the max, but Firaja can be dual-casted, where Overflow cannot. The way to get around this is to dualcast Firaja the first three turns, and then finish off the cap with Overflow on turn four. Players can also maximize damage by casting reflect on the party each turn during the Firaja buildup and reflecting it off the party to the enemy.
Obviously, this is a tricky way to deal damage, because if Victoria is KOed any time during her stack build, it resets. If players can find a way to keep Victoria alive and build up her damage, she has a lot of value on teams.
*Edit: The Firaja + Overflow stacking has since been disabled. Victoria can still deal good damage solely with Overflow, it just takes longer to build up.*
Liquid Metal Slime (Available Apr. 27th-May 10th, 2018)
Hailing from the Dragon Quest event, “Monster Carnival,” Liquid Metal Slime (LMS) is a one-of-a-kind unit in the Brave Exvius world. It is a 4* base, 5* max with really weird stats. The only equipment it can wear is two accessories and no materia. When completely leveled, it has a whopping 999 defense, 500 spirit, and 600 HP. That ridiculous defense stat makes it the best physical provoke tank in the game.
Players can do a few things to maximize its stats further. One valuable piece of equipment to give it are Gauntlets, obtained through Star Quartz. This allows LMS to equip a shield, allowing it to boost his spirit, defense, or even HP. From there, a flat HP boost accessory like Carbon Bangle is the best way to maximize its HP. Carbon Bangle effectively doubles its HP to 1,200. This may seem small, but even the strongest baddies barely put a dent in it with its unreal defense.
It is worth noting, that LMS can also be fused into a unit to get them immediately leveled from 1-100. But, since it was a limited unit, not many players would be willing to party with their blob of metal just for that.
Lexa (Released June 15th, 2018)
The article began with Rikku, who was released right at the start of year two. It is fitting that it also includes Lexa, who was released on the final banner before the anniversary, “Where Destinies Intersect.” While Lexa suffers from a similar problem Victoria has of having low HP and defense, damage-wise, she blows her away – literally. Lexa is a wind elemental mage and is the first four-star base unit to have access to both Tornado and Aeroja.
This makes her extremely valuable for 10-man trials, as she can pair nicely with either Barbariccia or Pure Summoner Rydia. Chaining with one (or even both) of the two yields ridiculous damage, and the combo of Tornado and Aeroja means she can finish her own chains. Her downside is like Victoria, she takes a few turns to build up to maximum damage. Lexa also struggles with being very squishy and has to worry about MP sustainability.
Despite that, with the right support around her, she can outdamage most other 5* base mages. New players will love her, as well as older players who may have still been using Shantotto as a chaining partner. Her TMR is also very good, giving a 40% magic and 20% spirit boost when equipped with a rod.
9S (Available Aug. 11th-24th, 2017)
There is no way to finish this article without mentioning the God of the Gold Crystals, 9S from Nier: Automata. 9S had major hype, mostly due to his top-tier TMR, Pod 153. This TMR is an accessory that has multiple uses through its passive and active abilities that it grants. A170: Scanner, probably the least useful of the bunch, increases the drop rate of common items. A120: Repair basically casts regen on the party. A060: P Shield is a bit more useful, granting 40% mitigation to physical attacks for two turns for the party. The real prize comes in the final move, R020: Mirage, which is an eight-hit move with a 3x modifier. When two of these are combined, it turns any character into a very good chainer.
9S himself is still a very good support unit. At the time of his release, Purge: MAG/SPR, Purge: ATK/DEF and his elemental purges were top-tier debuffing abilities. Between his two elemental imperil abilities, he can cover anything except dark and light. 9S also mitigates all damage by 30% with Spread Shield. He has extra value in his above-average all-around stats for a 4* unit. He is pretty flexible in his builds as well, in that he can equip basically anything the game has to offer. Like any good support unit, his Limit Burst is also awesome, giving a 54% full-break to one enemy.
While he himself has fallen out of favor to newer units, his TMR is still one of the more valuable in the entire game.
Last Word on Year Two Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Gold Crystal Units
There is nothing like seeing that bright, rainbow-colored crystal come down during a summon. Even still, there are still some pleasant surprises that come from the crack of gold crystal. This past year, there were some very valuable 4* base units that helped get players through a lot of difficult content. Support units like Rikku and 9S are some of the most valuable to help with survivability. Tanks like Mystea and Liquid Metal Slime absorb the big damage from challenging bosses. Damage dealers like Victoria and Ashe can get the job done for players having trouble chasing some of the more elusive 5* units. The advent of 7* awakenings will probably make these types of characters obsolete, but players will never forget the help these gold crystal units provided.
—-Next up – From Troll to Top: Units Who Shine After Enhancements—-
Main Image Credit: Ryan Hawks