Thread: Tier 4 Soul Megathread

Well, I was supposed to make a thread about turtling (days ago, in fact), but this has been bothering me for ages, so screw it. Later.

So, since I'm a nitpicky little shit who doesn't like the way Kitty reprented the data on the new, upcoming Souls, I decided to make my own.


Notice that T4 either outright use the MP upgrades of T3 Souls, or at least they have the exact same ones. Which is sad, I was hoping that they would finetune the strength's/weaknesses of the Souls through that system, but I guess not then.

Disclaimer: I could be wrong. About everything. It's not like I have seen T4 Souls in action.

The first half of T4 Souls, comes in... April? Early May?
T4 Arthur:

->Open Spoiler<-

1: Self +100 burst/burst-damage+ (+?%)(once)/burst-cap+ (+65%?)(once) [6]

2-A: Def- (A -30%) 150 seconds [6] (significantly higher affliction rate than Ambush?)
2-B: Self-atk+ (+?%)(stacks) 15t [3]
2-C: Self -20 burst/guaranteed(?) combo+ 3t [7]

3-A: Raid atk+ (A +40%) 3t [5]
3-B: All damage+ (unique frame? +30%)(once), all damage cap+ (+15%?)(once) 1t [6]
3-C: Self -20 burst, all crit+ (+50% damage, low activation rate?) 3t [6]

Passive1: Self combo+ (weak)
Passive2: All +5% atk

Soul weapon burst effect: All elem+ (+10%) 2t
Offensive Soul weapon skill: Burst damage+ (+?%), burst cap+ (+20%)
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Passive2 increased TO or BY 10%?


Overall? Pretty impressive for an Arthur. The fact that nobody has bothered to check numbers on a few of the skills means that T4 Arthur is probably just not used. Still, -30% A Def isn't bad, even with the reduced timer. The biggest combo that she has is probably PF+3-C+1. But since other souls like even T3 Shingen basically does the same thing, I don't see much point here.

Weak Soul weapon skills, still overall decent for just about everything. Sadly, decent just isn't good enough for T4 Souls.

T4 Joan:

->Open Spoiler<-

1: All 60% damage reduction 1t [6]

2-A: All double+ (A +25%)/regen (300) 5t [7]
2-B: Self def+ (C? +60%)/taunt/regen (400) 5t [6]
2-C: Self def+ (C? +93%)/guard 2t [6]

3-A: Atk- (A -30%) 180s [7]
3-B: Self retaliate 3t [6] (retaliate is intercept, except doesn't nullify normal attacks but triggers from all damage)
3-C: Overdrive reduction (high chance) [5]

Passive1: Taking damage gives self +20% atk(stacks) 3t (does not trigger from 0 damage)
Passive2: All +5% def

Soul weapon burst effect: Self damage cut (probably 20% like T3 Joan?)
Offensive Soul weapon skill: Abi1 CD reduced by 1 (6 -> 5)
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Self damage cut (20%)

First off... why the fuck does T4 Joan 2-A not use Joan's unique Dbl+ B frame?!
While theoretically capable of filling a few niches (such as 2-C+3-B), seems very lackluster. The only skill that stands out here is 3-C orb eater. That combined with the offensive Soul weapon makes her stronger than Joan for the generic Joan niche ("live one turn longer"), but most of the time Joan will do everything that T4 Joan can. Because of how absolutely ridiculous T4 requirements are, this Soul seems like a hard pass.

T4 Andromeda:

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1: All heal 2000 (400/t) [5]

2-A: Raid def+ (A? +40%?) 3t [6]
2-B: Dispel [5]
2-C: Heal 4000 [5]

3-A: Revive [7]
3-B: Self+ally fortitude 12t [12]
3-C: Generate potion [7]

Passive1: All max +5% HP
Passive2: Self-regen (250/t)

Soul weapon burst effect: self +50%? Ascension 3t?
Offensive Soul weapon skill: Add cleanse to abi1
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Add regen (350/t? 2t?) to abi1

Well, a huge upgrade to Andromeda. Advantages:
1. 25% better heal. You know, the very reason to run Andromeda.
2. Let's face it, def+ is quite crappy. You can swap that out for a single target heal or dispel. If you don't need either, you can still run an upgraded def+ even without a Soul weapon.
3. No dead 3rd ability. You can still run revive if you want, but you don't have to use that piece of garbage.
4. Passives that aren't dead.
Literally better than Andromeda in every single way.

As a side note, this finally puts the final nail in Cass' coffin, as there will not be any content where even theoretically Cass will be the best Soul for you.

T4 Solomon:

->Open Spoiler<-

1: 10x damage [6] (cap ~1m with MP upgrades)

2-A: All fire/water/wind/thunder/light/dark damage [6]
2-B: Element res- (-20%) 180s [7] (applies your own element)
2-C: Activate abi1 three times [usable once per battle, 5 turns after battle has begun] (can be used on turn1 with "Hour of the Overlord" EX skill)

3-A: All abi+ (+50%)/ability cap+ (+10%) 3t [5]
3-B: Elemental atk- (-20%) [7] (this always applies the element you're strong against, so if you're Fire, it always applies "Wind Atk-"... ... what happens if you're Phantom element?)
3-C: All ability CD-1 [8]

Passive1: All ability+ (+20%)
Passive2: Using abi1 gives all ability damage cap+ (+4%)(stacks up to five times)

Soul weapon burst effect: Self ability CD-1
Offensive Soul weapon skill: Abi1 is AoE
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Chance to give -1 CD to abi1 per turn (?%)

Make no mistake, T4 Solomon is a complete monster. Different ways to use her?
1. Able to give the very rare elem res- debuff, and if you're running elemental advantage also the extremely rare elem atk- debuff. Can bring the reset EX ability to double your chances of applying these. That's kind of like having a unique frame Sniper Shot that can be used twice.
2. Being able to blast 63,75x damage on turn1 (not including abi 3-B, twice!) is a massive spike damage. Insane.
3. Pumping out CD reduction with 3-C and reset. Did your Hime have good skills? Well, now they have those skills even faster!

With the exception of 3-A, all of these skills are fucking amazing. This girl is by far the strongest of the first half of T4 Souls, hands down.

T4 Siegfried:

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1: Self atk+ (+125%)/guaranteed triple/spread 1t [6]

2-A: Against Stunned: All atk+ (? +?%)/normal attack cap (+?%)/ability cap (+?%)/burst damage cap (+?%) 2t [6]
2-B: All mode gauge reduction+ (+?%)/normal attack cap (+15%)/ability cap (+15%)/burst damage cap (+15%) 2t [6]
2-C: All crit+ (+20% damage, 100% chance)/def- (-?%) 5t [8] (def down cannot be cleansed, only blocked. Also, there is only one crit frame and for overwriting purposes the game considers only the damage portion, so if you for example use inferior Frigg's crit+ with higher damage but significantly less chance, this buff will miss)

3-A: 15x stun nuke + stun+ [8] (damage happens before stun+ is applied)
3-B: All gauge down (-30%), all burst gain (+3) 3t [6]
3-C: Normal attack [4] (use with abi1!)

Passive1: Against Raging: All combo+ (low?)
Passive2: Against Stunned: All atk+ (+?%)

Soul weapon burst effect: Echo burst depending on enemy state (damage is: stun > raging > normal)
Offensive Soul weapon skill: All guaranteed combo against Stunned
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Against Raging: Self follow-up (+30%)

Probably the biggest winner of T3 -> T4 upgrades. The complete garbage Siegfried gains lots of great stuff. Of particular note is the guaranteed crit skill, which basically just gives you outright +20% damage. This can be very useful in some niches.

Aside from that skill, just overall decent. But decent isn't good enough for T4 costs, so if you're using her, you're going to use her BECAUSE of that 20% more damage. Which is a good enough reason to, really.

The second half of T4 Souls, comes much later:
T4 Mordred:

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1: All 4x DoT (50k per DoT?) + blind + charm 5t [8]

2-A: All affliction+ 3t, all enemies debuff resist- 180s [6]
2-B: All debuff prevention (once), all enemies affliction chance- 180s [6]
2-C: Extend turn-based debuffs on enemies by 2t [12]

3-A: All BP 180s [6]
3-B: Electrocute 2t [7] (Electrocute is Paralyze, except turn based and thus only applies to you and not raid)
3-C: Shade 3t [7] (poor hitrate)(Shade is guaranteed(?) Blind, except turn based and thus only applies to you and not raid)

Passive1: Debuffs give self atk+ (+4% per)/dbl+ (+?% per)/trpl+ (+?% per)
Passive2: When a normal attack hits an enemy with a debuff(?), guaranteed(?) -10% atk/def (unique frame?), disappears when debuff (which one?) disappears (only applies to you, not raid)

Soul weapon burst effect: Dispel
Offensive Soul weapon skill: Reduce abi1 CD from 8 -> 5 (full uptime!)
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Soul affliction rate increased to "1.2x" (is that the same as 20% Affliction from Accessories?)

Holy mother of debuffs. If T4 Shingen didn't exist, this would probably be meta. 2-C seems to be a bit insane if you land 3-B (no info on that hitrate, probably awful) or Perkele debuff. I think I saw Bear mention some "infinite lockdown combo" with T4 Mordred somewhere, but not really seeing it from these abilities. More information would be appreciated.

T4 Dartagnan:

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1: All (1 + (Snatch*0.5))x damage based on Snatch stacks + Snatch (3?) [4] (cap 500k)

2-A: Self atk/def+ (B +50%)/heal 1800 3t [5] (if there is an enemy with 6+ Snatch, apply to all)
2-B: All atk/def (B +50%)/dbl+ (+20%)/trpl+ (+20%)/crit (+30%? damage, ? chance) [7] (duration depends on Snatch stacks, 9 stacks is 5t)
2-C: Self burst -10, reset abi1 CD [1]

3-A: All atk/def- (B -30%) 180s [6]
3-B: 250k fixed damage / def- (-5?%)(stacks) 10t [10] (CD reduced by 1 per Snatch stack)
3-C: Self HP-5%, reset abi1 CD [1]

Passive1: Snatch chance+, Snatch CD-1 *note: I've already applied this to abi1!*
Passive2: Gain self special atk+ (+3%)/combo+ (+?%) per Snatch stack

Soul weapon burst effect: Self combo+ (Dartagnan was about +50%, so probably around the same here)
Offensive Soul weapon skill: Snatch CD-1 (abi1 becomes 3 turns)
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Snatch success rate significantly increased

Wow. This girl just seems outright FUN.
Too bad that FUN is not allowed when T4 Soul requirements are so fucking retarded. Probably ends up being a hard pass for everyone.

T4 Hercules:

->Open Spoiler<-

1: Buff nuke [7]

2-A: Self atk+ (+100?%)/normal attack cap+ (+?%)/follow-up (+?%) 5t [7]
2-B: Self -10% HP/burst +40/burst damage+ (+?%)/burst damage cap (+?%)(stacks) 10t [2]
2-C: Self special atk (+?%)(stacks) 15t [3]

3-A: Self def+ (+?%)/vigor (+?%)/barrier (2000)/regen (300/t) 5t [7]
3-B: Self damage cut (-20%)/counterattack/endurance/fortitude (once) 5t [7]
3-C: Self def+ (+?%)(stacks) 15t/heal 1500 [3]

Passive1: Self increased debuff resistance, combo+ (+?%) (slightly higher than buffed T3 Herc)
Passive2: Abi CD-1 *note: I've already applied this to all skills!*

Soul weapon burst effect: -25% Def, Eidolon frame
Offensive Soul weapon skill: Self-crit+ (+minimal damage, +minimal chance) (gives a perm buff icon to power up abi1)
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Self-heal limit+ (+50%)

While downgraded from Hercules in many ways (why is she only 20% damage cut now, down from 30%? Why are her buffs all split up between abilities you can't stack? Why does her offensive weapon no longer give +burst?), there are some advantages. To be noted is that both 3-A and 3-B are primarily defensive skills, but both have an offensive part in them (counter-attack and vigor). The endurance buff from 3-B is particularly strong and a low HP T4 Herc with it will take nearly no damage, but remember that 3-B is the only skill that leaves her entirely without self-healing... and it's not 100% uptime.

Combined with the EX skill Overlimit, T4 Herc can eventually work her way up to be quite the beast if you build for stacking skills. But taking 2-B is basically the only way for her to be decently fast now, and you'll probably need 3-C to keep her healed up with that.

Overall... what a mess. While she is probably stronger than T3 Herc, will probably end up being a hard pass for everyone who didn't look her up first.

T4 Morgan:

->Open Spoiler<-

1: All combo+ (+20?%)(stacks)/burst gain- (-2?)(stacks) 10t [2] (max stacks gives guaranteed combo, but prevents burst gain? Cannot be cleansed, only prevented?)

2-A: All berserk (+50%) 3t [7] (yes, less than T3 Morgan...)
2-B: All burst -20, all vigor (+?%)/barrier (?) 3t [7] (cannot be used if there is anyone in the party below 20 burst)
2-C: All HP -15%, all counter-attack/fortitude (once) 5t [7]

3-A: All HP -20%, all normal attack [7]
3-B: All follow-up (+?) 3t [7]
3-C: All spread 3t [7]

Passive1: When equipped with Staff: All def+ (+?%), when equipped with Arcane: All regen (+150/t)
Passive2: Can use abilities during berserk

Soul weapon burst effect: Charm
Offensive Soul weapon skill: When hitting with combo attack, chance (?%) for abi2/3 CD-1
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Increase passive1 to 250/t

Uuuh. Holy normal attacks Batman. I guess she has a niche, not entirely sure if that niche can possibly be decent in any way.

T4 Shingen:

->Open Spoiler<-

1: Summon 1 ghost [4] (notice, no burst gain!)

2-A: All dbl+ (+25%)/trpl+ (+15%)/burst gain+ (+3) 3t [7]
2-B: Self+ally burst +30 [4] (can increase own burst by 60)
2-C: Summon 1 ghost [7]

3-A: Consume all ghosts: all burst damage+ (+?% per ghost)/burst cap+ (1 ghost +10%, 4 +25%) 3t [6] (needs 2 ghosts to surpass PF)
3-B: Consume 2 ghosts: instantly self burst without losing burst gauge [0] (can gain 30 burst from offensive Soul weapon)
3-C: Consume 5 ghosts: give all burst +100 [7]

Passive1: Max burst gauge +100 (100 burst is consumed for bursts, unlike most stuff does NOT convert extra burst into damage)
Passive2: Start battle with 1 ghost, gain combo+ from ghosts (+?% per) (note: maximum ghosts is 5!)

Soul weapon burst effect: burst +30
Offensive Soul weapon skill: Start the battle with 2 extra ghosts (1 -> 3) (enables you to use 1+2-C+3-C to immediately full burst on turn1)
Defensive Soul weapon skill: Soul burst gives special atk+ (+5%)(stacks) 3t to all

While significantly slower than T3 Shingen (no +35 per 3t, no passive for 12.5 burst per hit), T4 is still ridiculously strong. Nothing is really stopping you from using PF with T4, but remember that T4 is slower.

Show up late to the party? That's fine, you can just full burst on turn1 (no PF though).
Want to REALLY blow up the boss? Just gather up the ghosts and use 3-A. Not sure which is better, PF or Multi-Shot Death for this. Absolutely MSD if 3-A is included in 500% burst damage+ cap.

Overall looks like an absolute winner in all respects. The era of T3 Shingen is dead, long live the era of T4 Shingen.

EDIT 2020-08-28: Cleaned up a few skill mistake, most particularly the way T4 Dartagnan 2-C and 3-C work.