Evasion is a unique stat to Final Fantasy Brave Exvius (FFBE). A few other titles use evasion but not quite like FFBE does. It has created an entirely new role of “evade tanks.” Many players wonder if this was intentional or accidental since most evade tanks do better than even the bulkiest-geared physical tanks. Still, evasion is here to stay in the game. Here is a look at some of the units that benefit the most from evasion, each of them having a slightly different role.
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Top Five FFBE Evade Units
5. Noctis
Noctis was the original evade unit. He was one of the first units to be released with innate evasion and his Trust Master Reward (TMR) Ring of the Lucii adds another 25 percent. Players who were able to pull two of him easily were able to get him to 70 percent evasion. That meant that they just needed a few more pieces of gear from there.
What made Noctis so viable early on in the game was that he was able to act as an evade tank and still deal solid damage. Back in those times, AoE physical tanks weren’t really necessary, so Noctis was able to singlehandedly carry players through certain tough boss battles. He has the ability called Fish which gave him 100 percent chance to be targeted for one turn. However, most players would just slap the Esper Golem on him and use Provoke, which lasts for three turns.
His versatility really made him a great choice for solos too. Though Noctis could technically still deal damage even when geared towards evade, he was usually best suited simply acting as a support unit.
His Cover ability gave the entire party Regen and Refresh during times where there were few units who could do so. His Comeback move was basically the same as Full Life. In case he got low on his own MP, Point-Warp let him restore his own MP.
Plus, his different flask moves did things like inflict status ailments and break enemy stats.
Nowadays, Noctis has fallen out of most parties simply due to power creep. His versatility was great in the game when he first came out, but now slots are usually given to characters who specialize. Noctis does a lot, but he doesn’t do a lot of things very well compared to others. Still, he will always hold a special place in veteran player’s hearts for getting them through some of the tougher trials back in the day.
4. Zargabaath
Zargabaath is kind of the newer Noctis. He is a very versatile character who can be built a few different ways (although it is not advisable to use him as a damage dealer.) His path to relevance is kind of interesting. He is a global exclusive character who was a bit odd upon initial release. Not a lot of people were sure what to do with him, but he could do a lot of things.
Hero Crest is single target, but its 100 percent boost to all stats was the best in the game for a very long time. Some players even found a use for his Berserk Crest ability, using it on certain bosses to get them to only attack.
He has all kinds of great support moves like Word of Law, Rejuvenate, and Bastion. At 6*, he has 20 percent evade, giving some players the idea of making him a provoke tank by equipping him with more evasion gear and Golem.
Where he really shines is when fully enhanced at 7*. His innate evasion goes up to 40 percent, making him easy to get to 100 percent.
Although provoke tanking isn’t as viable these days, he can still do it, at the cost of some of his support usage. Since he is support, many players just opt to give him full evasion and not tank, because, why not.
Finally, where Noctis used to be the solo king, Zargabaath takes that title now. Just don’t ask the players who do it how long it takes.
3. Dracu Lasswell
Dracu Lasswell has had an interesting journey in FFBE.
When he was first released, even though he was one of the first 6* units, he was universally shunned. He just really didn’t do anything well. His TMR was cool since it gives 10% evasion, but it inexplicably boosts magic and spirit, and not attack. His passives were junk, and he didn’t have any innate evasion to make people want to take advantage of his TMR. He was meant to be an attacker, but his abilities were too weak and couldn’t chain.
Year two he got some enhancements, but they didn’t do much to help him. He gained 20 percent evasion, and some passive attack increases when equipped with a katana, but it didn’t stop him from being a troll rainbow.
However, he finally got the justice he deserved in his third go-around as a 7* unit.
Eldritch Powers made his TMR useful, giving him a 100 percent boost to equipment attack when single wielding, 20 percent more attack, and a nice 20 percent evasion increase. Add that in with his 20 percent evasion from enhancements, and it gives Dracu Lasswell a whopping 50 percent evasion. Players lucky enough to get his STMR are rewarded with 15 percent more evasion and a better version of a Marshall Glove.
Just throw on a Ring of the Lucii, and a Quick Assault materia and players can easily break 100 percent evasion and more than 2,000 attack. He also finally got chaining moves, putting him in the Divine Ruination, and even Absolute Tranquility families. Yes, he too can solo. Check out how easily he solos Engels, the limited trial from the Nier: Automata raid:
2. Mercenary Ramza
While most any physical cover tank can get the job done as an evade unit, Mercenary Ramza is probably the best choice to do it. Although he has no innate evasion, veteran players will have no trouble getting him to 100 percent with slots to spare. His equipment selection makes it easy since he can equip one of the oldest, yet most valuable pieces of evade equipment: Kiyomori.
Evade tanks are really the most common use of evasion these days. But what makes Ramza stand out above others like Wilhelm, Basch, and even Sieghard?
Well, it is the fact that if players are able to keep Mercenary Ramza’s TMR on him, he gains 50 percent stop immunity and some elemental resistance. When fully enhanced, he will be immune to the rest of the statuses, including Charm, and gains more elemental resistance.
This means that Ramza can be built a little differently depending on the fight, and potentially even act as a magic tank in addition to physical tanking. (Although his magic cover move is on a cooldown, so if he dies, it can make things complicated.) He even has some niche moves like Entrust and Raise.
As long as evade tanks are still viable, Mercenary Ramza should see plenty of time in players’ parties.
1. Beryl
Beryl is a fan-created unit, whose kit is as unique as it looks. He is a hybrid of a magic tank, magic damage dealer, breaker, and even provoke tank. Most players just go the straight magic tank route since building him balanced makes his stats a bit lackluster. However, Beryl is easily built for evasion, and much of the evasion gear can also boost his other stats.
For one, Ring of the Lucii boosts magic by 30 percent well as giving 25 percent evasion. Slap two of them on, and due to Beryl’s 30 percent innate evasion, he already gets to 80 percent, with a nice 60 percent magic boost. He doesn’t have an AoE physical cover, but his Alone in the Dark Ability draws attacks to him, and mitigates all damage by 30%
Remember how bad Dracu Lasswell’s TMR was for him pre-7*? Well, it is actually perfect for Beryl. It gives 10 percent evasion and 30 MAG/SPR.
Then, to finish him off, players can slap on the newer (but limited) materia, Transcendent Soul, which boosts spirit by 25 percent and gives 10 percent evasion.
This still frees up plenty of slots to either give Beryl more spirit, and let him double as magic and a physical tank, or throw on some magic boosting gear. He has a ton of chaining families, including for Chaos Wave, or even Divine Ruination. An underrated, yet tough to get materia, Grim Brilliance, which is Grim Lord Sakura’s STMR will really make him shine. Beryl has a ton of use built for evasion, even though most players overlook him.
Last Word on FFBE Evade Units
Full evade units were once very tough to attain in FFBE. Newer players will still struggle to get the gear to do so since a lot of the good materia and equipment is time limited. However, veteran players likely have a plethora of items, and can probably create a party of multiple units with 100% evasion. This ranking highlighted a few different roles of evasion units but was not exhaustive. Be sure to comment on what your favorite evasion unit to use it!
Great article you made ryan and i believe there’s some units are deserves some credit too as evasion units like : enhance chizuru , ling , brother these can have 40 % evasion from passive alone making them easier to build and not to forget about setzer , shine and soleil since they have about 30% evasion making them in the past like arena cancer .
And last two past events we got our hands on some magic evasion materia which can provide more useful in future trails i can’t wait to see how much we can get it .
I’d have made it a top 10, or include honorable mentions.
– Chizuru for being virtually the first unit to easily 100% while being meta enough to be useful.
– Brother for being the cheapest (and one of the most funny) unit to 100% actually.
– Tank units in general (not only M-Ramza) because evade tanks whose role actually is to tank are crazy, especially with covering, and because 100% evade counter tanks are wonderful LB generators at worst and murder machines at best.
– A lower place for DracuLasswell, who is limited and hard to access, and a mention of Ling, who was more useful when she had access to 100% evade.
– A higher place for Zargabaath, whose utility places him among the top (along with MS Nichol) and who can cheese most of the 3* Espers alone through Rejuvenate+2 & counters (he spams Rej+2, he takes magical hits, he dies and is reborn, he takes physical hits, he evades, he counters, make it a loop and expect 100+ turns).