Soul Breaks and Relics

To-do: this section:
- What SBs do people typically chase?
- What to pick from the Acolyte Archives? / Record Lab? When?

-- Sections 3 & 4: Soul Breaks and Relics ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Back to main guide: https://pastebin.com/LpNNnM37

INDEX -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[3] SOUL BREAKS
    [3.1] Soul Break Types
          [3.1.1] Bursts
		  [3.1.2] Glints
          [3.1.3] Chains
          [3.1.4] Overstrike and Arcane Overstrikes
          [3.1.5] Ultras
		  [3.1.6] Braves
		  [3.1.7] Awakenings and Syncs
    [3.2] Elemental Infusion and Imperil
	[3.3] What's in a good Soul Break?
	[3.4] Soul Break Combos
[4] RELIC DRAWS
    [4.1] Rare Relic Draw methods
    [4.2] Special Relic Draws
    [4.3] Which banners should I draw on?
	[4.4] The Acolyte Archives
	[4.5] The Record Lab
    [4.6] On "trap banners"
    [4.7] Closing comments

[3] SOUL BREAKS --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Soul Breaks are special attacks characters can use by filling up their Soul Break gauge, which goes up with actions or damage taken.

There's three types of Soul Breaks: Default, Shared, and Unique.

Default SBs come with the character and are very much sub-par.

Shared SBs come with 5* equipment from Relic Draws, can be used by the character that equips the piece, and essentially never appear anymore unless you get them from the Free draw. Their only uses are as slot-savers for poverty strategies.

Unique SBs come with 5* or 6* equipment, similar to shared SBs, but they can only be used by the specific character who the weapon is meant for. While the piece can be equipped by other characters, they won't be able to use the SB. Uniques can be deal-makers or deal-breakers for a lot of characters, and as with any gacha, it shouldn't be surprising that some are so game-breaking you'll see people blowing upwards of hundreds of mythril on banners where they're featured.

As Soul Breaks come with equipment, it follows that Soul Breaks can only be used when a character is equipping a certain item. However, any Soul Break that is Unique or higher can be Mastered, in the same way characters gain EXP. Mastering a Soul Break allows a character to use Soul Breaks without equipping the associated relic, and in addition, most Soul Breaks come with an associated stat boost for mastery.

[3.1] SOUL BREAK TYPES -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Power Creep™ in RK has advanced to the level where, apart from a few fundamental effects (e.g., Sentinel's Grimoire), lower levels of Soul Breaks are now rare or extremely niche. Almost all Soul Breaks are now Super Soul Breaks or higher -- these are Soul Breaks which grant a permanent +10 to some stat when mastered.

The vast majority of Super Soul Breaks have generic effects, do not recur on current featured banners, and in most cases, powercreeped: most often, they are damage-dealing effects with some occasional utility like a stat boost or debuff.

Most SSBs that find use nowadays are simply because they are prototype or essentially powercreeped versions of more powerful Soul Breaks now; for the most part, you'll use them as a newer player for lack of anything else since  you got them for free from the Acolyte Archives. Others are simply because they provide utility far above their level, on par with that needed by the current meta.

Most useful SSBs will tend to be those with effective combinations of buffs or debuffs (i.e, Ramza's Shout) or powerful healing (Arc's Words of Kindness, which is an instant heal with a Blink effect).

The below categories of SSBs are the only ones still worth describing in this era of powercreep. Some will save your draws from being duds, while some will not.

[3.1.1] Bursts

Burst Soul Breaks grant a character "Burst Mode" status: a temporary increase to all stats, plus Haste -- and change the character's Attack and Defend commands to special abilities. A notable feature of Burst Mode is that unlike most buffs, absolutely nothing can dispel it -- not even Ultimate Dispel effects that remove stat buffs like Sentinel's Grimoire's. (The Haste given by Burst Mode is still lost, but the Burst Mode itself won't fade.)

For example, Cloud's 1st Fusion Sword Burst Soul Break changes his Attack and Defend to a two-hit AoE and a four-hit single-target attack. Most on-entry casts of Soul Breaks deal damage, although some simply grant buffs or debuffs, with their associated Burst commands being attacks. Healing Burst Modes obviously tend to have healing commands, and so on.

RWs using Burst Soul Breaks grant these commands to the user, regardless of whether they are the character the Burst is meant for or not, which makes Bursts especially flexible RWs.

BSBs were previously the baseline for having a top-level character: they provide theoretically infinite use of commands, which was a longevity much appreciated in content such as the first series of Torment Dungeons. However, outside of specific need or certain reliables, Bursts are now considered some of the most basic Soul Breaks, typically considered "poverty" options when there are few other things available to you for the current endgame content.

However, they're more than sufficient for a great deal of content, spanning up to Apocalypse++ bosses and the beginning of 4* Magicite. It's highly recommended that you learn to make use of them well.

[3.1.2] Glints

Glints are a special class of Soul Breaks that only use one bar of the Soul Break Gauge (or, if you're a veteran, half a bar), sharing two special characteristics:

- All Glints trigger instantly
- All Glints can only be used up to thrice per battle

All offensive Glints will grant some sort of stackable buff plus an additional effect. The most common primary effect is a special type of Elemental Infusion which stacks up to three times and is denoted by an intensifying aura OR a boost to a school of abilities; the most common secondary effect is to reduce cast time for some number of turns.

Glints are often used in conjunction with a powerful Ultra Soul Break, and have limited effectiveness without.

[3.1.3] Chains

Chain Soul Breaks initiate, unsurprisingly, Chains, which boost the multiplier attached to the corresponding element for every attack of that element occuring in the Chain window. Furthermore, a flat "field" multiplier to attacks of the specified element will be active as long as the chain is active. Each hit increases the multiplier by 1%, starting at 101%, so a chain at 99 hits has a 200% multiplier, or in other words double damage. A Chain lasts 15 seconds in in-game time, similar to most effects such as Burst Modes.

There are three "generations" of Chains.

The first generation of Chain Soul Breaks have a wild variation of on-entry effects. Most open with eleven hits to kickstart the Chain, plus a secondary effect such as two turns of quick-cast to the party, or Last Stand; others open with twenty-two hits and no secondary effect. The most definitive characteristic, however, of first-generation Chains is that their chain multiplier is capped at 99 hits and their flat "field" multipler to their element's attacks is 20%.

The second generation of Chain Soul Breaks are entirely uniform. Without exception, there are no on-entry attacks to kickstart the Chain, but in exchange, they provide a +50% ATK or MAG buff, the highest possible, a field multiplier of 50%, and a chain multiplier capping at 150 hits. All elements have two second-generation chains: one boosting physical attackers; and the other, magical attackers. (The Holy magic chain provides a +30%/30% MAG/MND buff due to the nature of offensive Holy magic.)

The third generation refers to Chains with a 99-multiplier cap, but which retain the +50% ATK / MAG buff and the same field multiplier. The trade-off is simply that the chain is instant-cast.

A third, separate type of Chain exists: the Realm Chain, whose multiplier is centered on -- you guessed it: a specific Realm. Any attack of any type originating from a character of a certain realm will feed such a chain, regardless of element.

Chain Soul Breaks generally reach max effectiveness paired with a focused, efficient team, or in raids wherein the entire group is specifically set up to use it. Capping a chain is highly dependent on the use of follow-up,  dual-casting, and reflecting effects, and learning to make use of them is essential to mastering end-game content. Torments and Magicite in particular strongly encourage their use, and the sooner you learn to do so, the better.

[3.1.4] Overstrike and Arcane Overstrikes

Overstrike Soul Breaks come with 6* weapons and are the equivalent of mechanics such as Limit Break -- they are one-hit attacks that go over the damage cap and can deal up to 99999 damage. Their primary purpose is usually to deal decisive blows: to rush damage during weak phases when bosses go completely insane, or to provide burst damage in situations where beating the clock for a time-attack run is needed.

Arcane Overstrikes are essentially three Overstrike attacks at once. To offset this, they can only be used once per fight and require an extra bar of the Soul Break gauge. There are two types of Arcane Overstrikes:

- ones which, simply, cast three Overflow hits
- ones which cast 20 regular hits followed by a single Overflow attack

At capped damage, both types round out to about the same damage. The latter type is less consistent (21 damage variations versus 3), but in combination with a Chain, builds multiplier rapidly. The former type is more consistent and is best used to cap off a high-multiplier chain.

The effectiveness of Overstrikes always peaks with support or matching elemental weaknesses, because despite the massive multiplier on their damage it's still hard to hit the absolute damage cap.

[3.1.5] Ultras

Ultra Soul Breaks are, in this writer's opinion, literally just excuses to allow better-than-SSB effects to proliferate without having to attach them to Bursts, Overstrikes, or Chains (or God forbid, have them be regular SSBs), as well as stick insane effects on rarer 6* relics.

Of the Soul Breaks attached to 6* relics, USBs are the most general-purpose and can range from heals, to a wide range of buff combinations, to plain old damage with buffs to do even more damage.

Some Ultra Soul Breaks grant EX Modes. Similar to Burst Modes, EX Modes grant stat boosts, can't be dispelled, and usually add a specific effect, such as reducing cast time for a class of abilities such as Knight or Samurai abilities, as well as increasing a specific stat such as MAG or ATK.

In most cases, your Relic Draw budget will be aimed towards collecting Ultras and Chains first and foremost.

[3.1.6] Braves

A sub-type of Ultra / Awakening Soul Breaks similar to Burst Soul Breaks, granting Brave Mode, which replaces the Attack command with a special Brave command that gains power by fulfilling a condition -- said condition is to use abilities of a certain type. For example, a Brave Mode with a condition to use Black Magic abilities will increase the power of the Brave command every time a Black Magic spell is cast.

Brave command levels are from 0 to 3, and on entry, Brave Soul Breaks grant an initial +2 to command level (+1 in JP -- an advantage that they don't have). Effects vary: offensive Brave commands are typically Overflow hits, similar to an Overstrike, which gain power as the command level rises, while healing Brave commands will result in progressively stronger heals. Using a Brave command resets the command level to 0.

Brave Mode, while granting no stat boosts like Burst Mode, cannot coexist with the latter, as they both modify the basic command set.

[3.1.7] Awakenings and Syncs

Awakenings are single-use Soul Breaks which grant the following effects:

- Infinite casts of applicable skills as long as the Awakening mode is active (e.g., if the applicable type is Spellblade, only abilities like Snowspell Strike are applicable; if it's Ice OR Fire attacks, then Snowspell Strike / Blastspell Strike would both be applicable)
- Guaranteed double-cast OR instant-cast attacks, or significantly reduced cast time, for attacks of a certain type
- A follow-up or additional effect
- For damaging Awakenings, grants the user the ability to break the damage cap up to 19999

Suffice it to say that Awakenings are, well, pretty fucking broken. They trivialize content up to about the 5* Magicites in the hands of a capable player, purely by walking all over the Savage Mode mechanics that comprise a large part of the difficulty. The same goes for Torments, whose 2-million-HP DPS checks are now child's play when you can just spam multiple 19999 hits per turn.

But, as with most powercreep, DeNA releases content which matches it (hi, Odin). The dualcast, especially, is useful for breaking through the stacking Savage Mode mechanics prevalent in Phantasm dungeons / 6* Magicites / et cetera.

Syncs are similarly single-use Soul Breaks found on 7* relics which grant the following effects:

- Maximum stacks of the relevant EnElement to the user.
- Similar to Bursts, replaces the Attack and Defend command with two skills. These skills must "sync" to the skills in the first / second slot of your character's deck. If they do, the skill is now synced, and cannot be used.
- Using the skill in a specific slot causes your character to immediately follow up with its synced skill.
- e.g., Lightning's Sync, Gestalt Drive, has two skills requiring a Celerity sync. If her skill loadout is, say, Flash Disaster and Thundering Quadstrike in that order, the first skill will Sync; the other will not, and can be used normally. Using the first skill will cause her to follow up with Flash Disaster immediately afterward.

The difference between a Sync and an Awakening can usually be felt in 6* Magicite, where EnElement's effects are amplified, but for many purposes, you can think of them as similar.

[3.2] ELEMENTAL ATTACHMENTS AND IMPERILS -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Plenty of Soul Breaks, such as Paladin Cecil's Sacred Cross, Alphinaud's Aerial Blast, and Exdeath's Dark Earth Shaker, to name a few, are capable of granting elemental affinity to their users, which manifests as an elemental aura in battle; others, such as Balthier's Strahl Strafe, are capable of lowering a specific elemental resistance.

The former, known as En-[element] or elemental attach, does the following:

1. Makes Attack command elemental
2. Elemental abilities are boosted by 50%
3. Elemental Soul Breaks are boosted by 80%
4. Grants a resistance to that element

Elemental attachment SBs, especially those attached to USBs like Terra's Omen, Luneth's Zephyr Memories, or Marche's Divine Combo, therefore usually end up as high-end Soul Breaks because of their inherent ability to empower elemental damage. It's not the whole story (not anymore, at least), but it's a good start.

The latter, better referred to as Imperil SBs, reduce a specified elemental resistance (but cannot reduce an existing full weakness). Imperil carves out its niche on bosses without weaknesses if you can overload on the resulting exploit -- or in Torments, Magicites, and Apocalypse-level and above where bosses only have slight weakness, allowing Imperil to either exacerbate an existing one or open up a new avenue of attack. Another useful effect of Imperil: hitting weaknesses generates more SB gauge energy, which can make the difference in prolonged fights.

[3.3] What's in a good Soul Break? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So let's put this all together. What's in a good Soul Break?

The best way to explain is probably by example. Here's a list of relics I'm personally familiar with and which are strongly desirable to this day:

BUFFS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Divine Veil Grimoire
Character: Tyro
Soul Break: Sentinel's Grimoire
Increases the party's Defense and Resistance 200%. Grants Shell, Protect, and Haste to the party.

Tidal Knuckles
Character: Rikku
Soul Break: Hyper Mighty G
Increases the party's Attack and Magic 30%. Grants Shell, Protect, and Haste to the party.

Zeus Mace
Character: Onion Knight
Soul Break: Forbidden Wisdom
Increases the party's Magic and Mind 30%. Grants Haste and doubles casting speed for three turns for any offensive magic attacks. Also grants the user Sage EX Mode, boosting their Magic a moderate amount and increasing the damage of their Black Magic abilities a small amount.

HEALS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Healing Rod
Character: Aerith
Soul Break: Innocent Cure
Instantly restores a large amount of HP to the entire party, grants them Last Stand (which allows them to survive one lethal attack -- if multiple lethal attacks are dealt in the same turn of damage, all of them are survived), and triples their casting speed for three turns for any physical attacks.

Magika Album
Character: Elarra
Soul Break: Magika Album
Instantly restores a large amount of HP to the entire party, triples casting speed for two turns, and grants Regenga, restoring 2000 HP per tick every two seconds.

OFFENSE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Force Stealer
Character: Cloud
Soul Break: Ultra Cross Slash
Deals five physical wind and dark attacks to one target; grants SOLDIER EX Mode, which increases damage a moderate amount and guarantees critical hits, as well as allowing all attacks to break the normal damage cap.

Excalibur Trueblade
Character: Orlandeau
Soul Break: Sword Saint
Deals twelve critical physical dark and holy attacks to one target; grants Sword Saint EX Mode, which increases the user's ATK a large amount and automatically casts Knight- or Darkness-type abilities twice at the cost of an additional charge.

Avengers
Character: Ignis
Soul Break: Sagefire
Deals ten fire and non-elemental attacks to one target; grants the user EnFire and a 30%/30% boost to ATK/DEF. Causes the user's Fire abilities to double the casting speed for the user's next action and all party members in the same row.

Noticing a pattern?

Buffing Soul Breaks make extensive use of Hastega and provide a cocktail of buffs.
Healing Soul Breaks are chased for their secondary effects; a great deal of "good" heals typically have anywhere between two or more of: an instant cast, a speed boost to the party, Last Stand, Stoneskin, Astra...
Offensive Soul Breaks are chased for how much easier they make it to do damage either consistently, fast, or both.

The Roaming Warrior system is inundated with such Soul Breaks. There's nothing wrong with drawing for the relic of your favorite characters (and a great deal of the time, they have relics of similar quality to these) but if you have no idea what to use your mythril on or just want to have a relic considered "good", look into relics like these.

As an additional note: Chains, by their nature, are some of the best Soul Breaks you can hope to draw.

In particular, there are three types of relics commonly thought to compose a "trinity":

- Wall-type SBs (DEF / RES buffs stackable with Protect and Shell)
- Medicas (group heals)
- Hastega + stat buffer SBs

Relic drawing specifically to chase these kinds of relics as a beginner is a common recommendation -- acquire all three and you'll be able to ease yourself into the way a great deal of parties are composed.

Damage-dealing SBs are considered good when they deal truly absurd damage or have the potential to do so (Metamorphose or Ultra Cross Slash). Arcanes and Overstrikes fall into this category, but are better used as your own SBs and not as RWs.

Almost every Soul Break relic has a niche and a creative application, especially in situations where your choice of available characters is restricted in some form (e.g., Book of Time missions, Crystal Tower runs). That being said, for everything else where you can bring your best team without restriction, these relics are key.

[3.4] SOUL BREAK COMBOS AND TIPS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- When do I use a Glint? --
Glints are meant to combo with other Soul Breaks, for the most part.
If a Glint provides EnElement stack, use at least one before you recast your Ultra or Awakening.
Stacking EnElement Glints are also pretty damn handy during 6* Magicite and their diffusion bullshit.

-- When do I use a Chain? --
Once your team is ready to unload the majority of its attacking power.
Don't waste it at the start when you're still ramping up.
Seriously though, a Chain will almost always be a good bring unless the boss is specifically allergic to the character who has it.

-- Radiant Chains --
Elemental Radiant Shields are designed to combo with chains.
Endgame bosses are pretty damn fast, and an elemental shield will add 5 to the chain count per turn, more if the attack in question deals multiple hits.
And if you have good healing like Last Stand they also do a lot of damage if the boss is particularly painful.
A pretty basic example is Ingus and his BSB2 / AASB and his CSB. Any Earth chain will do too if you want to see what I mean.

-- When do I use an Arcane Overstrike? --
When your chain count is high or capped / when your imperil stack is maxed / both.
Right before the enemy gets a huge DEF boost for whatever reason, like when their stats change due to a phase change or because of a skill, like Syldra's High Stakes.

[4] RELIC DRAWS -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here we fucking go.

Relic Draws are your main way of getting equipment, from weapons to armor (accessories, however, can only be won in events).

Every day, you get one free Common Relic Draw. It's been buffed recently and now has a sort-of decent chance of getting you something useful. Do it daily.

The real monster is the Rare Relic Draw. The game offers three different methods of doing these: 1x Draws, 3x Draws, and 11x Draws, for 5, 15, and 50 mythril respectively -- which you get for clearing dungeons in the core content and events. The thing about Mythril is that it's non-renewable, and free mythril hand-outs, like the daily Mythril login bonus, are comparetively slow once you've cleared all your Realm Dungeons. If you're a NEET with disposable income, though, Rare Relic Draws go for 100 Gems on your first 1x pull, 300 subsequently, 900 for a 3x, and 3000 for an 11x. If you're a /desperate/ NEET with not enough Mythril to hit the magic 50, DeNA also includes the option to combine what Mythril you do have with a variable number of relative Gems.

Now, Rare Relic Draws can pull any equipment piece rated 3* to 6*, and they are where you will draw most of your mid- to end-game equipment. The problem is, RNG is a bitch and will pretty much never give you what you want: cue despair as highly anticipated Relic Draw banners give out Legend Materia relics and /ffg/ anons commit sudoku by the hundreds, killing the general for real this time -- not like DeNA's uncharacteristically shoddy handling of Global as of late isn't pissing people off already.

[4.1] Rare Relic Draw methods ----------------------------

There's two common philosophies that go into Rare Relic Draws:

a.) Straight 11x draws. Consider that a 1x draw costs 5 Mythril, which is to say that a bulk draw nets you an extra chance AND a guaranteed 5* or 6* piece FOR FREE. It's costly, it prolongs your suffering, it tests your patience, and it requires a lot of planning on which events you don't intend to draw from. Nonetheless, it's the most common kind of draw.

Thanks to the guaranteed 5* mechanic, there's literally no reason to not do this if all you want are 5*s and 6*s -- just don't blame anyone if you still don't get what you're looking for. Pay for a slot machine (or don't) and get what you get.

b.) On continuous 1x draws, and 3x draws

Poorfag drawing method. Only do this if you're desperate and short on Mythril.

Anon who first wondered about Relic Pull probability: https://warosu.org/sci/thread/S7389586#p7401007;
the reasoning: https://warosu.org/sci/thread/S7389586#p7401022 (check 'em)

Replies: https://warosu.org/sci/thread/S7389586#p7401309; https://warosu.org/sci/thread/S7389586#p7401350

To quote: "...if i was interested only in obtaining a [5*], would I be saving any money by [doing Relic Draws] one at a time and stopping as soon as I draw such a prize?" The idea, therefore, is that your goal is to obtain a 5* and then stop -- if the math works out, this should save Mythril more of the time. The wording, however, fails to address the problem that 5* equipment is not created equal: the answers assume that prizes of the highest tier are equally desirable. Furthermore, you may be interested in obtaining several 5* relics from a banner instead of aiming for one 5*.

As a note: 3x draws are shit, never do them unless you really believe in meme magic (totally viable). They have no advantages whatsoever compared to a 1x or 11x.

[4.2] Special Relic Draws ----------------------------

-- LUCKY RELIC DRAW --

The Lucky Relic Draw was first introduced in Japan's 1-year anniversary event and given to Global even earlier, and works as follows: you get an 11x draw for half-price (25 Mythril or 1500 Gems). Any relics in the advertised pool are fair game, so if a Realm Dungeon Lucky Draw advertises VII relics that are SSB and up you can draw duds like Organics. You can only draw from a Lucky Draw banner once.

These happen every now and then. They are frequently tied to updates to the Realm Dungeons, with the pool consisting of relics from the realms in the update. They also occur on special occasions, such as during anniversary events, fests or the Black Friday draws. For the most part, it's well worth your while to stock some Mythril for them, especially the three pre-fest draws.

For the beginner, Lucky Draws are always a great way to improve your party, since at this point you're just shotgunning for whatever 5* or 6* relics you can get as opposed to sniping for particular characters (but, you know, bonus if you get something for you're waifu). For veterans, you're likely attempting to snipe particular, powerful relics, and these may not be so much of a help. I would consider your synergy for a certain realm, possession of a certain Soul Break type, or lack thereof, before going ahead.

-- REALMS ON PARADE --

The Realms on Parade are a series of banners which signal an approaching "fest" event. They count down, one per day, offering a 3x draw for 5 Mythril with a guaranteed 5* or higher on at least one relic. They offer a great deal of discount value, easily far more than that which Lucky Draws offer, but again, the veteran RK player is urged to reconsider if he or she is aiming to snipe relics instead of shotgunning.

-- THE NEWCOMER BANNERS --

Special banners for VII, X, and XIII. They're Global-exclusive, but they're not exactly very good for the price. Your first draw on each is a Lucky Draw -- the catch? There are no 6* relics, and the pool can include relics as old as Cloud's original Buster Sword. Avoid these unless you are a whale with the express desire to "complete" a character's collection of relics for your autism.

[4.3] Which banners should I draw on? ----------------------------------------------------------------------

In the end, the main object of RK is >fun. Feel free to ignore this and just draw for your favorite characters' relics if you like.

However, if you need to be serious about it, go for viability first and then synergy.

Beginners should be drawing from Lucky Draws and the Realms on Parade all the time. For veterans, check your synergy in featured realms for Dungeon Update LDs before deciding that they're trap banners.

Generally, realm-specific banners are inferior to Soul Break Celebration banners, which usually only come once every two months or so, and don't often contain all the best SB relics in one banner compared to Celebration banners. This isn't to say that event banners aren't godly on occasion.

In terms of SB viability:

Reiterating the advice concerning the "trinity", these types of SBs are top priority:

- A Wall-type SB (Sentinel's Grimoire, Stoneskin II)
- A Medica (Divine Portrait, Asylum, Guardian Mog, etc.)
- A Hastega (Shout, Hyper Mighty G, etc.)
- A stat booster (Vessel of Fate, Ley Lines...)

If you can get these, you're set for a really good while and can feel a bit more free to draw for the relics of the characters you want.

When looking to improve your DPS, look into BSBs or USBs with EX Mode effects, especially those with an EnElement, such as Cloud's second BSB or Alphinaud's. BSBs such as Vaan's Ark Blast are also good simply because of their low or even instant cast times for attacks, as well as the secondary effects they offer.

Other useful types of SBs are:

- Chains (build your team around them)
- Elemental imperils ("reduce resistance to...")
- Stat reductions (especially those with unique stat reduction combinations)

General damage-dealing SBs, while also useful, take a backseat to the aforementioned.

As always, it's still a good idea to grab really good upcoming SBs, the thread will usually know about them. Or you could listen to that guy who ranks banners by how many waifus there are in them, fuck if I care.

In terms of synergy: look at your equips and see which ones you think you're lacking in or consider which realms you're having difficulty in. That's pretty much it.

[4.4] The Acolyte Archives  -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[4.5] The Record Lab ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- work in progress --

[4.6] On "trap banners" ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You'll occasionally see /ffg/ anons replying to a post about a banner -- usually a dungeon update-based Lucky Draw -- and calling it a "trap banner" - basically, banners with too much shit on them (e.g. outdated shit like first-gen SSBs or SBs that aren't Sentinel's Grimoire or Thyrus) to justify even wasting Mythril.

In a lot of cases it's just /ffg/ shitposting, but there are plenty of banners for which this holds true -- especially the Newcomer's Banners. Even banners that would normally would be good can be trap banners if they're scheduled right before banners that are hyped to hell and back, because they serve to siphon your Mythril budget and entice you to buy gems (kupo) when your stock of Mythril runs out prematurely.

Generally, if there's a lot of buzz in-thread about SB fest banners or something hyped up like Alphinaud and Minfilia's event to the point where there's genuine derision for anyone doing relic draws for any reason before then, DeNA is probably working some trap banner magic. Of course, it never hurts to ask.

[4.7] Closing comments -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In closing, remember this: A RARE RELIC PULL IS A GAMBLE. Don't go over what you can afford, and never let bad luck cause you to make bad decisions -- remember the sunk cost fallacy! Give yourself a Mythril budget for banners you want to draw from and STICK TO IT. More importantly, don't be those whales on Reddit who apparently spend like thousands until they draw what they want. When they quit or the game's service ends, they'll lose all of it, but DeNA still has their shekels, and at the end of the day that's what counts to them.