Advanced Build Strategies

This section provides organizing principles for optimal builds, which are further elaborated in the Elemental Team-building Guide. While not meant to be comprehensive, this section illustrates general themes in the builds I’ve put together, and provides tips for users to construct builds in the same mold.

Some elements will lean towards one build style over others. For example, Fire and Thunder aren’t tooled well for Sustain builds, while Wind is particularly well-suited for Burst builds.

Versatile build
The Versatile build aims to be ready for any challenge by bringing the right skills to counter your foes. Such builds will aim to reach -40%-50% ATK/DEF, have at least one source of AoE heals (> 200/turn), and bring Overdrive extension (e.g., Black Propaganda), all while keeping the Soul or EX slot free for a utility skill (e.g., cleanse, dispel) to respond to encounter-specific needs. Blind or Combo attack down to mitigate spikes in normal attack damage are also typical features, as is Affliction resistance down to ensure that debuffs land.

Mordred is commonly used in Versatile builds since Overdrive extension has few alternative sources, and Mordred combines this with several other useful debuffs, including Affliction resistance down and Blind. Her Relic weapons also apply Combo attack down with Bursts, while her Discipline Relic weapon adds a Dispel to Outrage. But the core feature of Versatile builds is that core debuffs are provided by kamihime, allowing the player to switch Souls depending on the demands of each encounter.

Sol is also favored in Versatile builds, since she brings healing, cleanse, dispel, and a class C ATK debuff all in one character. Since she has no elemental weakness, she can fit into builds for all elements. The tradeoff for using Sol is that it reduces overall damage by ~15% in a maxed non-Light team.