Insane Difficulty: BNW 1.8 Character Build Guide [WIP] - Insane Difficulty

Note: This is a massive WIP. Stuff will likely be completely overhauled as time progresses, including the format and other such things. My view on some of the builds could change and/or expand, and thus change stuff substantially. I also am quite receptive to feedback on characters and if anyone has a build or concept that has worked for them that I don't cover please feel free to add your experience. Also I really want to encourage build discussion, and the intent of this guide is not to establish the "best" builds, but simply to explain what a build does. The premise is that MOST builds in BNW are quite viable. This also means I will avoid complete specific EL loadouts for builds and instead seek to educate people on what will be the result of their decisions.

Table of Contents
1. Intro
2. Stats
3. WoB Build Practices
4. Characters

• I. Terra
  
• II. Locke
  
• III. Edgar
  
• IV. Sabin
  
• V. Shadow
  
• VI. Cyan
  
• VII. Gau
  
• VIII. Celes
  
• IX. Setzer
  
• X. Mog
  
• XI. Strago
  
• XII. Relm
  
• XIII. Gogo
  
• XIV. Umaro

The purpose of this guide is to provide an understanding of the thought process behind building characters. While playstyles change from player to player, good building practices are nearly universally applicable. The primary aim of this guide isn't to give exact builds, but to help point the player in the right direction and explain the results of their decisions.

Before discussing specific character builds, it's helpful to know some overall concepts.

Hybridization of ELs should generally be avoided.

It's beneficial to focus a character down a specific path, rather than try to make them fill several conflicting roles. An example of this would be mixing Stamina and Vigor ELs on Cyan. While he gets access to skills for both stats, only one will be in play at a time when Cyan uses an ability. In effect, one of the stats becomes a "wasted" stat as far as abilities go. Neither stat gets high enough to perform well so the character ends up being fairly average at multiple things rather than good at one thing (which admittedly is desirable sometimes).

A tl;dr for this is: Avoid mixing Vigor ELs with Stamina and/or Magic ELs.

Know their (your) role.

Evaluate and consider what a character's role will be before building them. Will they be a damage dealer? A healer/support? An offensive caster? What abilities will they use? This may change during the course of a playthrough, but it goes a long way towards making a build more effective.

Do what seems fun.

It's really hard to totally brick a character. Worst case scenario, there is a respec option available. If a build is working out, stick with it!

Stamina

Stamina is primarily a protective stat, bonusing the Regen line of curative magic (Remedy, Regen, RegenX), as well certain party heals (Harvester, Mantra, Chakra). It also affects some abilities offensively (Dragon, Eclipse, Shock, Reprisal) and is the primary damage stat in the Atma and Omega Weapon. While on paper it appears to be a secondary stat to Vigor or Magic, Stamina can actually be utilized as a main stat and will turn any character built around into a tanky version of themselves. This is a direct result of two affects that Stamina has:

1) Damage Variance Reduction - the tl;dr of this is Stamina reduces the amount of incoming magical damage. This is particularly significant for defense ignoring attacks like Quasar as this is the only way to mitigate the damage from them.

2) Status Mitigation - Stam/128 is the % chance to completely avoid a status ailment. This affects ALL status ailments and can free up extra relic slots for other purposes as the player may no longer need to protect against them directly.


Vigor

Vigor is both an offensive and defensive stat, bonusing nearly every physical option in the game. All weapon attacks (excluding Omega), Physical Blitzes, Bushido, Tools, Ninja Stars/Knives and so many more, receive direct damage increases from Vigor. Like Stamina, Vigor also has a Damage Variance Reduction piece to it. Instead of magic, however, it reduces incoming physical damage. This means characters on the front row are more likely to survive these hits.


Magic

Magic is a stat that drives the damage behind most offensive spells, including curative magic outside the Regen line of spells. It also has a role to play in many supportive skills (like Dances), some attacks/abilities (e.g. Blitzes, Slots, Tools, Scrolls), and affects weapon procs. It is one of the most straightforward stats with no other special attachments to it.


Speed

Speed is the king of all stats, and also the simplest. Speed determines how often a character gets turns. It also influences how often Regen (and Sap) ticks occur, how quickly Stop wears off if a character is affected by Haste and how quickly Jumps lands. [verify]


HP / MP

The only thing special about HP involves Mantra and Holy Wind, otherwise it behaves exactly as its expected to. More HP means your character can take more damage. In Mantra/Holy Wind's case, it plays a role in how much hp is healed. MP is rather obvious as well and has no special circumstances.

Evasion / Defense

Defense (both magic and physical) has a direct impact on how much damage is recieved from the respective attacks. It is a very significant mitigation and shouldn't be ignored. Stacking defense is a very viable way to reduce damage. Similarly, evasion (both magic and physical) is a chance to directly avoid an attack altogether. Evasion stacking is one of the most potent defensive options in the game, as some particularly nasty attacks (e.g. Meteo) respect evasion and can be avoided entirely.

WoB Build Practices

Often times, a WoB build will be very different than an end game build and not even really follow the same sort of rules that a complete game build would follow (e.g. the concept of hybridization). So while splitting EL between Kirin and Bismark through the entire game would create a rather subpar Cyan, it's completely practical to splash those in the WoB just to make Cyan a little more survivable. Another example would be pure Seraph Celes. While she likes the HP/MP a lot in the WoB, doing that the entire game results in no gains in any damage stats (Vigor/Magic) or Speed.

Reserved.

Terra

Terra is an exceptionally balanced character and can fill many roles at the same time, regardless of her build type. She will always carry a respectable Magic and Stamina by virtue of her equipment, insuring that her healing and (to an extent) offensive Magic capabilities are always at least reasonably useful. The trade off for good Magic and Stamina means she'll never be able to hit extreme levels of Vigor without total dedication to it - specifically, she lacks Vigor on her end game weapon options.

Base Stats

• Vigor - 30
  
• Speed - 30
  
• Magic - 42
  
• Stamina - 30

Espers

• Unicorn - HP +30/Stam +1
  
• Carbunkl - MP +25/Stam +1
  
• Maduin - Mag +1/Stam +1
  
• Bismark - Vgr +2
  
• Tritoch - Stam +2
  
• Phoenix - HP +30/MP +15
  
• Ragnarok - MP +40

Spells from Espers

• U: Sleep Cure 2 Remedy
  
• C: Rflect Shell
  
• M: Muddle Rasp Break
  
• B: Storm Regen Life
  
• T: Fire 3 Ice 3 Bolt 3
  
• Ph: Cure 3 Life 2
  
• R: Ultima

Natural Magic, including level learned.

• 1 - Cure
  
• 4 - Fire
  
• 6 - Imp
  
• 8 - Muddle
  
• 10 - Fire 2
  
• 15 - Slow
  
• 20 - Fire 3
  
• 25 - Life 2
  
• 30 - RegenX

Character Analysis:
Offense: Terra boasts the strongest form of offensive elemental magic in Tier 3 Fire, Ice and Bolt. She also has Tier 1 and 2 Fire spells, but since Fire is the weakest of the elemental magics, she'll often get better mileage out of Break due to its defense ignoring properties in the earlier part of the WoB. Storm allows her to hit a Water/Wind weakness and can be useful in the right situation. Terra also gets two sets of undead slaying spells in Rasp and Cure/2/3 since the latter are Holy-elemental.

Defense: Terra has an unrivaled selection of curative options of both the Magic-based and the Stamina-based line of spells. In addition to this, being one of only two Life 2 casters, Terra is cemented as one of the top healer/support characters in the game. Terra is lacking the more useful party buff options, only having access to Shell, Rflect and Regen. She can't have everything.

Status: Her options are among some of the best in Sleep, Slow, Muddle and Imp. Slow is nearly universally useful on bosses, while Sleep, Muddle and Imp are very potent at shutting down random encounters.


Morph
Morph is a 25% increase in all damage dealt, both magical and physical. It is also a 100% increase in all damage received. This penalty can be reduced to 25%, scaling with her Stamina. It is a toggle ability that does not persist through death or encounters. One interesting side effect is this also boosts how much HP Regen ticks heal and how much HP Cure spells restore when cast on her. Of course this increase can be stacked with a Power Glove (25% Phys) or Crystal Orb (25% Magic) and Bserk (50% Phys), so her damage can hit absurd levels. The trade off is that she becomes dramatically more fragile, so supporting and protecting her accordingly is critical when wanting to use this ability.


Builds

Stamina
Primary: Tritoch or Unicorn
Secondary: Carbunkl or Unicorn

There are two big variations to Terra's Stamina build. One of them pushes Stamina as high as it will go by focusing on Tritoch levels and only supplementing her HP with a few Unicorn levels. The other pays no heed to Tritoch and simply takes as many Unicorn levels as possible while similarly supplementing HP with Unicorn. Both are viable. Both builds also want some Carbunkl levels for MP, as this build is primarily a healer and support class.

There is a special component to this build called Omega Weapon (or Atma Weapon). This weapon ignores defense and uses Stamina instead of Vigor in its damage formula. It also does more damage when Terra is at full health. When combined with Morph, this allows Terra to hit very hard physically in a build that at a glance, wouldn't appear to have such an option. Something else special about her Stamina build is that her equipment still allows her to get a very respectable 60-70 Magic, so she can still function very well as an offensive caster in conjunction with Morph. As such, this build is by far the most effective user of Morph. Finally, with all the additional status mitigation and magic damage reduction from Stamina, this build is arguably her most survivable one.


Magic
Primary: Maduin
Secondary: Phoenix
Tiertiary: Carbunkl + Unicorn instead of Phoenix

Terra's Magic build is by far one of her more straightforward builds. She has powerful elemental magic, including an early defense ignoring spell in Break. She gets access to the earliest Tier 3 spell (Fire 3) of anyone in the game. Building her for Magic will simultaneously give her some extra Stamina, which is never wasted. Supplement Terra's hp/MP with Phoenix levels or with Carbunkl and Unicorn. This basically trades a small bit of Magic for more Stamina and MP, and lets Terra gain some HP/MP sooner than she'll have access to Phoenix. This build can also double as a healer, and while not as durable as her Stamina build, still utilizes Morph rather well.


Vigor
Primary: Bismark
Secondary: Phoenix or Unicorn

One of the most damaging builds in the game, especially when dual wielding Wing Edges, Terra's Vigor build is the epitome of 'glass cannon'. Whether to go with Phoenix or Unicorn largely depends on the choice of weapons. If Apocalypse is available, she probably wants that all the time, so Phoenix levels become more important for MP-fueled crits. Zantetsuken is an equally viable choice, especially when drawing counterattacks. The biggest question that Vigor Terra faces is whether or not to Morph her. Without it, she can still do plenty of damage with 90-100 Vigor and still be as survivable as anyone on the front row. However, if she is properly supported, her damage becomes rather insane with Morph. It is tedious to set up all of the damage buffs (Bserk + Morph + Image + Haste) because when she dies, she has to be buffed all over again, so use with discretion.

Another (though less significant) effect of stamina is that it boosts regen ticks while lowering damage from sap. This section would actually flow better if Vigor and Stamina were mentioned *before* stamina, though it would involve slightly rewriting the parts talking about damage variance.

Also, players often tend to get confused about what is and isn't magical damage, which is what led me to flat-out state that *all* damage is magical unless otherwise stated. Things like Edgar's magical tools, Fire Dance/Sonic Boom, ninja scrolls, etc. are things people often forget are tied to magic - they tend to just think of spells and not much else. May also be worth specifically noting that it affects the strength of traditional healing magic, in contrast to the stamina-boosted spells.

For speed, it should probably be mentioned that it is ideally mixed with a primary damage stat for maximum DPS rather than just rammed exclusively (from a mathematical standpoint); one disadvantage in particular that a higher-speed character going for damage will face is drawing more counter-attacks, and the fastest characters tend to be quite squishy. Pure speed is thus most useful for healing and support purposes.

Shock also considers HP alongside Mantra and Holy Wind. The Atma/Omega consider HP *ratio*, but the actual maximum value is irrelevant.

I'm enjoying this so far, keep it up!

I felt like with Terra and Celes, a decision was to be made: Make one Stamina/Omega/Support and the other Magic. I know it's not the ONLY decision, but I think it produces the best results.

They do have a lot of gear overlap, so that's a good idea. Especially if you pair them together, which is an amazing combo.

Locke

Locke is most often defined by his speed, and rightfully so. His speed rivals Shadow and Gau and he is typically only slower because he has more EL options to choose from. Locke can play the role of one of the best front row Fighters, or an excellent Fire and Bolt caster, an exceptional Tank or one of the best healers in the game.

Base Stats

• Vigor -30
  
• Speed - 42
  
• Magic - 30
  
• Stamina - 30

Espers

• Ramuh - Vig+2
  
• Ifrit - Spd+2
  
• Kirin - HP+30/Stam+1
  
• Phoenix - HP+30/MP+15

Spells from Espers

• R: Bolt Bolt 2 Life
  
• I: Fire Fire 2 Drain
  
• K: Cure Cure 2 Demi
  
• P: Fire 3 Cure 3 Life 2

Character Analysis
Offense:
Spells - Locke has pretty limited spell options in Fire and Bolt magic. He does gain access to Tier 3 Fire, which makes this his most potent option. This does consume a lot of MP, so it's often relegated to being more of a strategic option than an every-fight spell. Tier 2 spells are exactly half as strong as Tier 3 spells, but cost 1/3 the MP. The significance of this is when combined with a Sage Stone, Locke can effectively get Tier 3 damage for 2/3 the MP cost from a Tier 2 spell. Drain is a useful self-heal for non-magic builds and Demi is potent against high HP random encounters. Of course, Curative magic slaughters undead, so Locke is particularly effective at this with his Fire and Cure lines of spells.

Weapons - Locke's selection of weapons is pretty diverse. Swords, Daggers and Throwing weapons lead to a variety of weaknesses to exploit namely: Fire, Ice, Bolt, Water/Wind, Human, Holy and Floating. He also has access to two defense ignoring weapons in Valiance (dagger) and Atma/Omega Weapon (sword), giving him the exclusive option to dual wield them.

Defense:
While Locke has no spells from the Regen line, he has all of the major spells from the Curative line, including being one of two Life 2 casters. This cements his role as a top tier healer, regardless of what build he runs. He has no buff spells at all, so he'll struggle to properly support a party by himself.

Status:
Locke has absolutely no means of setting status effects on the enemy, unless you count setting Sap from his desperation attack.

Mug:
In short, Mug adds a physical attack to steal. It's marginally useful at best, as Steal is largely underplayed in BNW. See the readme for more specifics about how it behaves with special weapons. Just let it be known that Mug has situational use at best.

Notable Equipment:
- Ninja Mask
Headgear that makes Locke/Shadow counterattack. An amazing physical option.
- Sage Stone
Relic that grants X-Magic. As I mentioned earlier, this lets Locke effectively get the same power/damage as a Tier3 cast with only spending 2/3 the MP. It also makes him very efficient at healing and reviving multiple targets.
- Rogue Cloak
Fight Always Hits, 25% Magic Damage. This bonuses everything Locke does magically, and when paired with Ninja Mask, makes an effective Black Belt. It makes his Fire 3 option very strong.

Sword & Board or Dual Wield:
Locke has a unique equipment option in that he can swap between dual wielding virtually everything he has access to and wearing that weapon with a shield. Celes, Terra and Mog can only do this with throwing weapons. This means he gains back damage he lost from the dual wield penalty, and he trades his other weapon for dramatically more defense. This is significant because Locke has access to every shield in the game. Swapping between these setups can make or break a fight, so learn when it’s good to do it.

Builds

Vigor
Primary: Ramuh
Secondary: Ifrit or Phoenix

Locke is an exceptional fighter, packing two +2 Espers that support it. He'll push high levels of Vigor very easily and with his excellent Speed he'll have plenty of turns to swing his weapons. He can attack a large array of weaknesses (see above), but his strongest pure physical weapons come in the form of Valiance and Zantetsuken. This is a potent dual wield combo, especially when combined with something like Bserk. Locke wants to splash either Ifrit EL or Phoenix EL to tip him towards more damage or survivability, respectively. Just don't sacrifice Ramuh EL to do it. His only elemental resistance comes in the form of shields or Esper equip bonuses, so he has a sizable vulnerability in that area when dual wielding.

Stamina
Primary: Kirin
Secondary: Ifrit or Phoenix

There are two builds worth considering here. One that revolves around playing backup healer and absorbing hits, or one that focuses on attacking with defense ignoring damage in the form of Omega Weapon. For the former, it's better to stack Kirin and splash Phoenix. For the latter, it's better to splash Ifrit for speed. While either of these can play either role, focusing the Secondary ELs a little bit tips the scale slightly towards favoring one or the other. If attacking physically with Omega, stacking as much Stamina as possible is important as this directly bonuses Locke's damage and regen ticks. Regardless of which route he goes, he'll have a very beefy amount of HP. In a very real sense, Locke mimics Cyan's survivability when Drain is likened to Empowerer.

Note: This is a rare occurence where stacking Vigor and Stamina works effectively. Locke gets enough Vigor and Stamina from his equipment to do respectable damage with both Omega Weapon and Valiance at the same time even without Bserk. The special weapon properties that affect damage based on life offset to an extent, making the damage very consistent. This is a pretty niche role, and benefits from being paired with a support class. It is never beneficial to combine Ramuh ELs with Kirin ELs. He'll be far too lacking in Stamina for this to be worthwhile.


Magic
Primary: Phoenix
Secondary: Ifrit

As a healer and an offensive caster, Magic Locke is very effective at both. He really wants at least half of his EL to be Phoenix so he has enough MP to sustain his expensive spells. After that, he gains as much benefit from high speed as he does more MP/HP, so which one gets added is dependent on playstyle. Every bit of his Magic stat will come from equipment, so it's important to load up on as much as possible. Locke especially likes the Stat Hat (as this is his only helmet that has Magic) and the Crystal Sword.

On Rogue Cloak & Sage Stone:
The Rogue Cloak is pretty much a perma-equipped relic for Locke as the 25% bonus makes sure he's competitive with other spell casters. The Sage Stone increases his damage and healing output substantially, but at the cost of a defensive or status mitigating relic. It should be used with discretion because of this.

I suggest changing vig Locke's secondary esper to either Ifrit or Phoenix. Drop the tertiary. Phoenix + Ramuh is plenty good, because HP and MP are just that good on Locke. He's got incredible enough speed from speed gear.

I don't think Locke can have enough speed honestly, as long as it doesn't come from giving up Vigor levels. He's not going to have amazing HP as a Vigor build, but he will have crazy speed and damage, which is what you want. If you wanted Locke to be more survivable you could certainly push out more Phoenix levels, that's true. I'll amend it to read a little better.

Eh, if I want a speedy glass cannon, I'll take Shadow. Without HP/MP, Locke's a lesser Shadow. But, whatever. Thanks.

He has a much better overall hp than Shadow does, and he'll get access to Phoenix for the free 25% hp, so he'll probably never be quite as frail as Shadow. They do suffer from similar vulnerabilities but unlike Shadow, Locke has better defensive options overall.

Right. You can now equip Phoenix. Gives Locke at least 3 starting HP ELs on Shadow, plus a shield. Yeesh.

I'll buy that you can do Phoenix as tertiary, though I still stand by secondary Phoenix being just as good. Locke's a tank.

It's absolutely just as good, I'm not disagreeing with you dude. I'm just saying, his Vigor build wants speed as much as it wants hp. You can go either way and it functions just fine with Phoenix EL or without. I've used both.

Nah, you're good. I just wasn't seeing Ifrit as really useful, but I forgot how stupidly powerful the new Phoenix equip is.

You guys seem to be in the loop with the current goings-on of the mod, at least when it comes to character builds and balance. I'm really interested in where things stand balance-wise, as in are the characters pretty much a lock with regards to their builds/stats/powerlevels and whatnot so they're not likely to be changed(at least in any significant fashion) in the mod going forward?

If so, Celes was always of special interest to me, her being my favorite character as the first canonical FF female knight, so I wonder where things stand with the builds that reinforce that role fantasy (paladin or some such warrior knight-type build).
Back when I first played, the consensus in these forums seemed to be that her late game tools for those builds were lacking in comparison to mage-y builds, whether it was due to the slightly under-performing Illumina or her shock, which is a great addition to the game, but not quite strong enough to build around it. Even her ultimate spell Merton was pretty much universally disregarded as just not worth it, and yea, it felt pretty silly... I gotta admit that I was a bit bummed about all that and didn't finish the game, hoping that some of her lategame tools would maybe be addressed at some point. Has any of that changed recently/expected to change?

Though the balance is tight, it's not perfect. There are some old issues that have never really been resolved. Celes' non-Siren builds is one of those.

That said, BTB and Synchysi have burned out. I'm not holding it against them if they don't do much of anything. They've worked hard enough.

That said, I spearheaded a balance mod a few versions ago, and I do believe I'm going to do so again. Paladin Celes is one issue I hope to address.

Hapanpappa, on 22 March 2017 - 06:12 AM, said:

All of Celes' builds function exceptionally well within their roles. I'll do a write up for her at some point soon, but I've run every build she can be pretty much and she's great in all their roles.

1.8.5 is in the works hardcore right now, which should hopefully address some balance issues that have been a core problem for awhile, so stay tuned.

I can't quite deduce from the replies whether something has already been done to the things I talked about or if it'll be addressed at a later point in time. Anyways I'm optimistic if either of those are true.

As to how she was, at least back then, I suppose it comes down to perspective; the non-magical options are serviceable for sure, and the gameplay is balanced enough so you can enjoy and beat the game using any build..

However, to some players like me, what ends up mattering most is if it makes logical sense to pick one over the other. It shouldn't feel like I'm forced to sacrifice potential just to realize a character in accordance with their story role or whatever, whether it's because there are other characters who could do the same thing better or because frankly, facing cold numbers, their lategame tools are lagging behind other equivalents. Or in a case like with merton, for example, I'd have to go out of my way to make it even viable at all and even then you, I and everyone else knows there are far better options and it's just not worth it in the long run.

I may very well be in the minority on this but it's that sort of nagging feeling that I can't quite live with.

Well, everything else is just so perfect with the mod, this is just one little thing that happens to concern something really close to my heart so it unfortunately affected my enjoyment, probably more than it should. Still, looking forwards to possible readjustments... I'd rerun this thing with a fiery intensity and fervor if that came to pass.