The seven chosen warriors assembled, confused. They’d been in the dark for so long, unused. A voice called out to them: warm, yet challenging. It promised to guide them through a series of trials, but how far they would get was up to their teamwork. They’d have to go face increasingly difficult challenges in the Chamber of the Fallen. Eager to finally get off the bench, yet fearful of extreme difficulty, the brave warriors reluctantly agreed to their task. This is their story.
This article was inspired by an earlier article by Ryan, where he compiles the best 3* Base Team. Find it here.
Final Fantasy Brave Exvius Trials with 3* Base Units
The Chosen Warriors
The warriors were carefully selected based on their role. None were the best overall at it, but they were amongst the best that come from blue crystals during summons. Firion as a damage dealer and finisher. He is valuable due to his many killer traits and attack boosts from different equipment. Cloud of Darkness as a hybrid damage dealer and support unit. Useful for her overall versatility. Cecil, the paladin, who protects the party from the attacking beasts. Roselia, the triple casting white mage who does her best to keep the squishy party alive. The once mighty mage Exdeath acts as the magic damage dealer who is swapped out occasionally for Cerius, the green mage. Cerius is mostly responsible for damage mitigation and dispelling enemies.
Warming Up
The first few trials only act as a warm-up for the warriors, helping them boost their confidence and learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Attack of Intangir and Surging Menace were short work, as the warriors saw just how much their strength was increased due to years of collecting trust master rewards and gear from the very trials they were attempting.
Attack of Antenolla tested the group a little bit. Firion took out the main flower on the first turn, but Cloud of Darkness and a dual dose of Firaga were not enough to finish off the rest of it.
Rampage. Cecil evaded some of the damage but couldn’t cover the party from all of it. Cloud of Darkness and Exdeath fell. Roselia suddenly revealed that she didn’t actually have the spell Raise and could only revive through her limit burst or by sacrificing herself. Phoenix Downs came in handy. Firion finished the smaller flowers off. Immediately after the battle, Roselia was equipped with the Phoenix esper to give her Raise.
Parade on the Big Bridge
The team moved onto their next challenge: they had to cross a huge bridge covered in seemingly endless waves of enemies.
Here, their endurance and teamwork would finally be tested. Exdeath’s Firaga made short work of first two waves, but after that, the monsters got a bit beefier. Teamwork started to come into play. Cecil excelled at his tanking duties since hits were mostly single target physical damage. Roselia was a great MP battery with her White energy skill. Cloud of Darkness shined against the human enemies with Man-Eater. The team had horrible synergy and couldn’t chain together with their builds, but Firion’s Fin Briar showed why he was one of the last 3* base characters to leave some player’s teams. After ten waves of various foes, the group again came out victorious.
The dust of battle cleared as the ragtag group attempted to catch their breath. They could see the end of the bridge, but there was one last clash to be had here. With a strange laugh, a multi-armed figure rushed the crew, each arm bearing a different elemental sword. The party quickly figured out elements to offset his attacks and fell into the roles they had settled into in their recent engagements. As Firion and Cloud of Darkness cut off the elemental arms, Cecil easily absorbed the weaker attacks that got through. Exdeath dealt his deadly spells from a distance, and Roselia didn’t even really have to do much this time. In only six turns, the figure known as Gilgamesh fell.
With one last weakened laugh, he disappeared, leaving behind a cheap, knockoff version of the Excalibur sword. The party didn’t dare even touch it but walked off. With their confidence and chemistry at a height, they were eager to move on to their next challenge.
The Corrupted Espers
Before they knew it, the heroes were swept back up into the vortex, landing right in front of two huge and angry looking espers. At first glance, they seemed like the same espers that were lending their strength to the party thus far, but they were giving off a strange, dark energy that warned of an impending danger. Both seemed to be in a tranquil trance, but suddenly, Siren, without acknowledging their presence, began a slow hum and started strumming her humongous harp. A black cloud engulfed the two beasts, and Ifrit popped to life, enraged.
The blue crystal warriors looked to each other in resolve, noticing that Exdeath had been replaced by the green mage Cerius. They would need her elemental support for this battle. This time, the team had to deal with magic damage, but luckily Cerius “Bar” spells mitigated most of the elemental damage. Cloud of Darkness’s innate elemental resistance was great here, as well as Firion’s killers. The party first vanquished Ifrit and then made short work of Siren.
The Charming Demon
Exdeath returned to the group after a short hiatus to take on Echidna. She was rumored to be a charming demon, who absorbed both life force and mana, while also inflicting a number of debilitating status ailments to her foes. Each member made sure to focus on status immunity while attempting to balance it with damage dealing capabilities to take her out before she had too much time to use her demonic gifts.
Cecil distracted the lizard-like hag, fighting her demonic charms with all his might. Firion, covered from head to toe with demon-killing gear, dealt massive damage that the beast had no answer for. She was slain before she knew it.
The True Test
As the heroes pressed forward for their next battle, Exdeath was again swapped out for Cerius. The team braced for what they could sense was going to be a long battle that would test their will. If successful, they would be ready for the final challenge.
First, a foul-mouthed Octopus crept towards them. Its squishy skin acted as an effective barrier against Firion and Cloud of Darkness’s physical strikes, but they knew they just had to hold their ground and whittle down its endurance. Its tentacle strikes didn’t do much to Cecil and Cerius made sure to have earth resistance up for when it began creating tremors in its occasional fits of rage.
Knowing its chances of victory were slim alone, Orthros called out for its fiendish friend Typhon to assist it. Luckily, the fiend party was still prepared with its demon killer gear, and the deformed dark cloud was extremely weak to Firion’s sword. It attempted to muster up a deep breath and blow some of the warriors away to even the playing field, but Cerius quickly jumped in with a wind horn to offset the big blow.
Before long, the cephalopod found itself alone once more. It mustered all its strength to take out the now seasoned party. It pummeled the party with frantic tentacle attacks that almost became too much for Roselia’s white magic to handle. Cloud of Darkness’s defenses could hold, and Cecil couldn’t catch each hit in the seemingly endless onslaught of attacks. Mana was getting dangerously low, and Roselia couldn’t do anything to restore it.
Cloud of Darkness and Cerius knew that they had to sacrifice themselves for the victory so that Roselia could conserve MP to keep the others going while Firion finished off the foe.
Cycling Robotic Arms
This was it. The party knew that their next battle would be their last. Even the overachieving three-star team knew that they had no shot against enemies like Malboro and the Bloody Moon, where magic tanks and bigger damage were necessary to victory. They also knew that this battle would not be easy, and if they were successful, it would be exponentially as long and difficult as to what they had faced before.
As the team approached though, Cecil knew that he would not be able to help the team this time. His single target provokes would only draw the machine Aigaion’s kill-shot arm to him, leaving the party vulnerable to each attack afterward. He knew someone who could get the job done, much better than him: Charlotte.
A native of Grandshelt, Charlotte is the only blue crystal warrior with physical cover tank abilities. She also has value in being able to bestow the party with MP refresh, something necessary for the long fight ahead. Cerius stayed with the team as well. This time she provided damage mitigation through the Cradle of Horns Materia and dispelling abilities with Bushido Freedom. Firion would again be the main source of damage, with Roselia curing each turn. Cloud of Darkness again selflessly took one for the team, acting as the target of the robot’s kill shot each turn.
Most of the battle was just a matter of meticulous, monotonous, melodramatic moves. Each turn the team repeated the exact same actions again and again and again. In a cyclic fashion that was as mechanical as their foe, the warriors repeatedly chipped away at each arm before going after the body.
It seemed like over a century, but the right arm was still not felled. The team felt as if the machine was laughing at them, attempting to transform them into the same emotionless robot that it was. Together, they kept each other alert and focused. They knew that one wrong move by a single member could make their long battle be in vain.
Finally, after almost 150 turns, the right arm stopped regenerating after it was disabled. Cloud of Darkness, dizzy and more fatigued than the rest from the pounding metal fist, was able to begin contributing to the party. Getting a second wind at her presence, and knowing that they were making progress, the party pressed on.
The Final Push
It took another 50 turns to eliminate the next arm. The party had to remain calm and push back both feelings of anticipation for the battle’s end, and anxiety for the body’s wrath once the arms were gone. They knew that once it got below 70% of its life force, things would get more challenging. Aigaion would start using an ability that was dubbed “World Destroyer” every five turns. This move had the potential to annihilate the entire crew and make their entire battle for naught.
It gathered light, and the party braced for impact. All went into a defensive stance except for Roselia, who ensure the party was at full strength, and Cerius, who put up a Cradle of Horns to mitigate as much of the damage as possible. All but the latter two survived. The party quickly regrouped and somehow got back to full strength – right in time for the second. Firion had only been able to do minimal damage. Something had to change to make it work.
Luckily, Cerius remembered that she was able to regenerate HP with her Heart of Light move. This allowed Roselia to guard before World Eater and survive the damage. From there, the party knew that as long as they were careful and didn’t let the weariness of the battle break them down, they would come out victorious.
On the 249th turn. The mass of metal was finally brought down. The warriors stared in disbelief; it was a bittersweet victory. Proud of themselves and grateful for their allies who worked with them to take on these trials, they knew now that they may never see the light of day again.