I need a how to I couldn't keep up! I wish I could play her even 1/4 this well

It’ll only build ATB if you’re refocused or hasted. Otherwise it’ll break even. Also doesn’t build banishment. Mug is actually being used to help proc skill master/corsairs compass, and to keep Yuffie aerial without dodging as aerial ninjutsu (punch and kick combo) is her fastest staggering attacks. The ATB buildup with refocus is just a nice bonus. Storms Fury builds an entire level on her banishment, so using it right after is a good way to ensure a maxed banishment, but she needs to proc skill master or ATB stagger as she uses it to have ATB leftover

thank you for thr clarification! 1. I thought skill master Materia procs at 3 DIFFERENT skills? 2. Mug + Refocus with Corsair Compass / Haste got it! 3. Storm Fury building a whole level on Banishment Understood!

Most of these fights will probably go fine if you try to mimic them, but keep in mind I always have a purpose for every move I make in these videos, and changing anything could cause the Strat to fall apart. This would be most noticeable in round 3, as after he uses enshadow, the diabolical variant will teleport and duplicate himself. I had to stagger it super fast before it teleported to avoid that, and it could be tricky if that does happen, considering I had nowhere to put healing materia. If you need healing, don’t hesitate to use purification over banishment

Appreciate it 🙌Don’t worry I’m still procrastinating on attempting again. The diabolical variant duplicating is all too familiar to me at this point. I’ll keep it in mind when I try again bro thank you

Hmm. Hard to say Yuffies was tough because it’s so hard to tell what’s happening when doppelgänger is on the field. Plus the diabolic variant has a health gate before he uses enshadow so you ideally want him to use it before the stagger, but then shortly after he will teleport away and duplicate so you have to stagger in a short window or else you waste a lot of time Clouds was a bit tough too just because I kind of had to learn how to deal with more of the Ironclad’s moves since staggering him isn’t worth going for Reds took longer than I expected solely because the gigantoad is really fast to attack and hard to predict, and attacking the tongue usually results in some damage taken, so I ended up not going for pressure there and just beelining for some vengeance for a quick stagger Barrets wasn’t too bad, just had to make good use of his ATB charge rate with corsairs compass, buffing skills and berserk/stop Tifas was pretty easy, Kid G was a little unreliable in his pressure duration though Aerith’s was pretty easy and reliable, as was Cait Sith with his insane stop duration and blocking on moogle is insanely reliable, plus the enemies he faces are very predictable in their attack patterns Stop was a constant. Used it in all of them. In my opinion, it is the most useful spell in the game as long as the enemy can be hit by it, and it’s relatively cheap cost. Extending its duration by any means really helps.

@@2052brad yeah I totally agree with stop being broken amongst many of the other strats people came up with, but I liked how clean and slick your builds and plays were when tackling these bouts! it made me think about new ways to play with these characters despite already having 130 hrs lol

Completely depends on the circumstances of combat. Like, I’d say to make a fair tier list I’d have to have a bunch of sub-categories, Physical Damage, Magical Damage, ATB Generation, Stagger Rate, Stagger Rate (Pressured), Tankiness, Agility, Ranged Capability, Support Spell Compatibility, Team Utility/Support, Solo Potential, Synergy Skills and Abilities. I honestly think all these are really important. I can’t boil the characters down to a core rank because each character performs better than others depending on the role you are looking for. I’d say all around Tifa is probably the best, as she excels in most categories.

@@2052brad Tifa does seem ridiculously good! That said, from what I’ve seen, it seems like Yuffie might be the best overall. While she doesn’t have the best physical or magic damage, she can fight effectively in close quarters & at range, is very fast, can hit elemental weaknesses at range nearly for free & thus pressure enemies easily, pull enemies in as a combo starter, zip to enemies where her shuriken is thrown, summon a clone to mimic her actions, and build towards either a massive damage attack or one that absorbs HP & MP. I’ve scarcely seen such a ridiculously versatile character in a party-based Action RPG!

Was actually using it more to help build stagger. Her aerial ninjutsu attacks (punches and kicks) has the best stagger rate per second of all her attacks. Usually at the combo finisher, she will drop back to the ground, but using mug I was able to keep attacking from the air without needing to dodge or retrieve and throw. But yes, it also was used to build ATB. With refocus, Mug refunds more than it costs. Also a good skill to throw in for Skill Master setups. It won’t give me bravery or faith since there is nothing to steal from them in VR

@2052brad aw neat. I just did my no-hit run of cloud vs. the warriors this morning. Tifa vs The Martialists is probably the easiest. I think someone commented on a video of yours that Cait vs The Mindflayer is criminal solo.

Are you using Lightning and wind - elemental on the weapon? If not that might be affecting stagger increases on joker if he staggers faster from wind damage. Another reason I could think is that you have to use her aerial ninjutsu kicks between the mug because they increase the stagger pretty fast compared to anything else she can do and is the main reason why mug was so useful here. In some of these runs I used Malboro orb, but not this one so yeah she only had the two sources for stop duration bonuses

​@@2052brad Yeah I'm using the same setup like in your description and following the same steps. I used to improvise a bit and switched cleansing with enemy skill for plasma discharge and was able to clear this bout with 2:32 finally 🙏🏼Got poisoned during Diabloic Variant, but it wasn't a big deal tho. The aoe lightning explosions with her aerial kicks worked pretty solid for staggering the whole wave, escpecially King Zu due to his weakness. Thanks for your guides and the reply and keep up the awesome work :)

Thank you! Appreciate the kind words. Yes, feel free to do so, I have no problem with that. I think it’d be a fun experience to watch a reaction to my content

An accessory called corsairs compass

@@2052brad Thank you!

1. To help proc Skill Master 2. To help proc corsairs compass 3. He will attack too quickly after dodging the first attack to use doppelgänger and stop side-by-side

On the ground it depends on stats. She tends to be balanced in stats, so if I have time to do full combos I preferably like to do full melee combo into hold square at finisher, throw and ninjutsu combo into retrieve, then use aerial attacks and abilities. Prefer to use ninjutsu attacks in mid-air, it gives good stagger buildup. Mug was nice here, it helped me rack on the stagger with Aerial Ninjutsu attacks and go/remain airborne without needing to do retrieve or dodge, but in regular play I’d probably not use it much unless I want to proc brave/faith thief. I think Yuffie and Barret are top tier for the Corsair Compass as their abilities benefit a lot from having 3 ATB, so I like to have them proc it before staggering to deal big burst damage. Like with Yuffie, Brumal form, Stop, Doppelgänger, Mug, Art of War, then you have your proc. And it lends itself really well to skill master as well.

I am currently working on the duo bouts, but it’s slow going. I have a strategy that works for them all, but bahamut and kujata are making it much harder to no damage

@@2052brad oh great! I only have the zack challenge to do and chapter 13/14 and I will finally have platinum. I'm going to struggle with Zack I can feel it, he's very hard

Not a guide, but I’ll do the duos in the same fashion as these ones eventually. Need a few days break before getting to it

@@2052brad Do you help via SharePlay by chance?

​@CFranchise13 If it helps I've done the Sephiroth one, basically using the same Cloud build from this guys solo bout. In addition with Sephiroth build up his triangle attack, dodge, triangle (make sure the full spin plays out), repeat. It does decent stagger, builds ATB and gives him limit SUPER fast. Essentially get that synergy up to use the skill and give Sephiroth unlimited AP to go ham with spells and combine that with similar tacts from Cloud's solo bout. Trying to get all the brutal bouts done before I attempt Zachs which I've heard is harder, got two to go.

@@CFranchise13I don’t think my internet is solid enough to not suffer horrible lag and delays

Thrown windstorm to pull them in and refund ATB, wait for the shuriken to return, then windstorm again to crowd control and damage the wolves. ATB boost and Blizzara