Quote Originally Posted by Keyen View Post
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Or I should just get this hercules axe, don't ever use Ryu-oh on a fire team, get the def debuff on burst (which apply after her own burst I guess?) -- or a way overcapped 60% (Axe + hepha + sniper shot), and call it a day? --
This.

Notice two things:
1. The Axe - like all Soul weapons - gains the Burst effect at 1 Star and upgrades at 3 Star. That means you need 60 Regalia to reach -50% Def with Herc, and 120 Regalia to overcap. However, overcapping isn't a bad thing - debuffs do get resisted, after all.
2. Herc being faster than the rest of your team isn't necessarily a bad thing either. Herc can be so fast that you solo Burst with Herc and still make it for a Full Burst! I often do this myself in AQ5 on teams that are low on debuffs.

Overall, Dartagnan is just so damn weak when compared to Herc (and this is before we talk about how bad defensive Soul weapons are compared to offensive ones). Only run Dartagnan if you absolutely, ABSOLUTELY have to, such as Thunder teams that don't have access to SSR Baal/Mammon.
Quote Originally Posted by Unregistered View Post
-- And Ryu-oh already has a reputation of below average accuracy with her debuffs (I don't have her so I can't speak from experience). Using her off-element is probably not advised.
As somebody who has run Ryu-Oh for ages, can confirm. For A type debuffs, she's piss poor. C type debuffs seem to have a univerally low hitrate just because they're AoE, I guess. Anyway.

For Ryu-Oh to hit 100%, she needs:
1. 6% Affliction from Accessories
2. Elemental advantage
Most A typers only need one of the above. In addition, Ryu-Oh's BP also needs VoF as a third requirement for 100%, which means it really has an awful hitrate.

On a side note, I used to run Ryu-Oh in my Fire just because I literally had no fourth decent Fire Hime. It worked out alright, but running four decent Fire Hime is certainly better.