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thzfunnymzn

Stamina-based AoE Elemental Blitzes

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While it is somewhat selfish for me to re-post this idea, there's been some support in the chat room for posting this idea on the main forum. (Mostly discussion from last night and this morning >_>). Also, though a little selfish, it seems like most of the time when this idea is revived, it receives mostly positive support. It is only because of this perception (positive reinforcement from the community) that I feel bold enough to re-post this idea myself. If I'm wrong, I apologize for my arrogance.

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The idea at its core, according to flavor:

     Change Fire Dance & Air Blade to be stamina-based attacks, just like Aurabolt. All of Sabin's elemental Blitzes would now be stamina-based. (He's the Avatar now). So it'd be support Sabin's counterpart to attack Sabin's elemental claws. Also, Sabin's magic stat is the lowest in the game, but his stamina stat is tied with Strago's for highest. This change means all his Blitzes run off of one of his two builds (attack or support), instead of a useless stat.

The idea at its core, according to balance:

     Air Blade (Sonic Boom) is utterly useless by endgame - it runs off of Sabin's worst stat and has low BPow to boot. It's a wretched combination, with pitiful results such as "1000 damage to all enemies in Kefka's Tower, but oh, that guy is immune to Wind, whoops." OTOH, stam Sabin's Aurabolt really falls off by the lategame. It has 24 defense-ignoring BPow - that's a tier-2 spell; the Nirvana Band can only boost it be so much. (Did I mention that Chakra & Mantra aren't boosted by Nirvana Band? So, is Aurabolt even receiving the Nirvana boost by endgame?) Support Sabin is all about that Chakra / Mantra spam, but even support dudes have off turns where they'll wanna pitch in with damage. So, it's a match made in heaven - Air Blade becomes useful, and stam Sabin gets some extra oomph.

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To avoid being op, Fire Dance would need its spell power nerfed, and Air Blade would need split loss. To give some idea, the current numbers for Fire Dance & Air Blade are:

  • Fire Dance - 48 BPow, 24 Magic, Level 15 - 283 damage, all enemies
  • Fire Dance - 48 BPow, 43 Magic, Level 15 - 448 damage, all enemies
  • Fire Dance - 48 BPow, 24 Magic, Level 20 - 353 damage, all enemies
  • Fire Dance - 48 BPow, 43 Magic, Level 20 - 572 damage, all enemies
  • Aurabolt - 24 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, 80 Stamina, Level 20 - 1216 damage
  • Aurabolt - 24 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, 90 Stamina, Level 30, Nirvana Band - 2487 damage
  • Without Nirvana Band - 1989 damage
  • Air Blade - 36 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, 24 Magic, Level 30 - 895 (lol) damage, all enemies
  • Air Blade - 36 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, 41 Magic, Level 30, Nirvana Band - 1791 damage, all enemies

 

First things first, Air Blade is the important change here. Let's look at it.

  • Air Blade (stamina) - 36 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, Split Loss, Level 30, 42 Stamina - Vigor Sabin - 1465 damage
  • Air Blade (stamina) - 36 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, Split Loss, Level 30, 90 Stamina, Nirvana Band - 3729 damage
  • Without Nirvana Band - 2984 damage

So, 3k - 3.7k damage, vs Aurabolt's 2k - 2.5k damage. It is AoE, so that's a thing. vig Sabin still doesn't get much out of it, even as an AoE, but stam Sabin suddenly has a pretty good looking AoE for Kefka's Tower. It's no Ultima, but it ain't bad. Still, if a strong AoE is undesirable for Sabin, it can always be given split loss. stam Sabin would get 1.5k - 1.8k AoE damage out of it. (vig Sabin would be back to getting 700 AoE damage - plz don't use).

If split loss is desirable but we also want Sabin to use Air Blade's AoE functionality to decent effect, having Sabin learn Air Blade a few levels earlier is an option. (Say, level 27?). 1.5k - 1.8k AoE might look a little bit better in Hidon's Cave or Ancient Castle then it does in Kefka's Tower.

Personally, I don't think the split loss is necessary.

Next up, Fire Dance.

  • Fire Dance (stamina) - 24 BPow, 48 Stamina, Level 15 - 246 damage, all foes
  • Fire Dance (stamina) - 24 BPow, 73 Stamina, Level 15 - 354 damage, all foes
  • Fire Dance (stamina) - 12 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, 48 Stamina, Level 15 - 299 damage, all foes
  • Fire Dance (stamina) - 12 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, 73 Stamina, Level 15 - 431 damage, all foes
  • Fire Dance (stamina) - 24 BPow, 50 Stamina, Level 20 - 327 damage, all foes
  • Fire Dance (stamina) - 24 BPow, 83 Stamina, Level 20 - 518 damage, all foes
  • Fire Dance (stamina) - 12 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, 50 Stamina, Level 20 - 398 damage, all foes
  • Fire Dance (stamina) - 12 BPow, Defense-Ignoring, 83 Stamina, Level 20 - 630 damage, all foes

12 defense-ignoring spell power included because then Sabin's elemental blitzes form a cute progression of 12 -> 24 -> 36 spell powers, all defense-ignoring.

Fire Dance's spell power can be tweaked to whatever - there was nothing special about the spell powers that I chose. They just "felt" good. What is noticeable is that, with these stamina-based spell powers, the "lowest damage" and "highest damage" set-ups tend to be similar. vig Sabin with no magic equips (magical Fire Dance) or moderate stamina equips (stamina Fire Dance) do about similar damage with Fire Dance. Meanwhile, Sabin with pure magic equip (magical Fire Dance) and stam Sabin (stamina Fire Dance) are doing about the same damage.

IOW, the spell powers insure Fire Dance doesn't get any weaker or stronger than before. It mostly means that, instead of being cute and equipping Sabin with Stat Hat and Cotton Robe to leverage Fire Dance's power, you just play stamina Sabin to leverage Fire Dance's power.

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Discuss.

 Oh, and I demand fan art of Avatar Sabin in BNW now. Aang can go eat his heart out.

Edited by BTB

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