DDFF Build 101 draft

	When planning a PvP build it is a necessity to include meter depletion on both assist and EX. These can be included either via Judgment of Lufenia or Seal of Lufenia equipment sets and / or Battle Hammer and Dismay Shock basic accessories. These take away a bit of opponent's meter upon landing an HP, enabling you to force the opponent to escape from HP damage earlier as well as bypass EX Revenge situations when you could've been finished otherwise.

	It is a good idea to make equipment sets for your character with both Judgment of Lufenia and Seal of Lufenia sets on as to accomodate different matchups where you may have to prioritise depleting one meter over the other.

	After that, an ideal PvP build usually goes for one of the following:
	A) Damage (with or without wall rush)
	B) Assist (Side by Side)
	C) Bravery boost on dodge / block
	D) EX Core
	E) Hybrid (a mix of everything)

	Good reliable accessory boosters include Summon Unused (and the opponent variant), Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Aerial and Large Gap in HP. You'll see these recommended a lot.

	Damage
	Self explanatory, a damage build prioritises high bravery damage output and subsequently total HP damage per HP hit. Not everyone can reach the same lengths of bravery damage, usually due to low damage multipliers on one's moves and lower base attack stat. These characters usually circumvent this shortcoming with wall rushes or the help of high base bravery in conjunction with assists, but we'll get to those a bit later.

	Prishe, Garland, Sephiroth, Cloud, Kain, Kuja and Ultimecia are some of the characters who can benefit greatly from the following.

	For equipment you should always seek out a weapon with 69 ATK stat unless your character's exclusive weapons provides 70 ATK (Garland's Gigant Axe for example). If your armor set is for Seal of Lufenia's 5 % EX depletion, Lufenian Dirk (hand, Parrying gear) is a must as it provides +1 attack as well as good 72 defense.

	Earthbreaker, Cleaver and Rhongomiant (for King of Tragedy EX Revenge builds) are good weapons possessing 69 attack stat that anyone can wield with the help of a CP glitch.

	For accessories it comes as no surprise that Hyper Ring, Muscle Belt / Earring are viable choices here. Bundle Hyper Ring + Muscle Belt or Earring ()depending on the character) with boosters such as BRV > Base Value, Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Summon Unused and Aerial / Grounded for a respectable damage output.

	Add extra abilities such as Sneak Attack, Counterattack and Riposte to really shred the opponent's bravery with upped critical hit rates, maybe even include First Strike ability if you think you(r character) can go the distance, that one is guaranteed to activate on the first hit you land. These are generally always good to have, your opponent can only disable one of them, meaning you will still maintain a good critical hit rate throughout the match. Even characters with subpar bravery damage can do wonders with a bit of double damage from critical hits, so when spreading out your CP give these abilites some thought.

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	Assist
	These builds revolve around the special accessory "Side by Side" that prevents you from acquiring any EX AT ALL (even from EX cores), but in turn gives you a massive chunk of assist bar from landing just one HP. Side by Side is very potent with characters who can link HPs on their own and followup with an assist afterwards or need meter to for general momentum, including (but not limited to) Warrior of Light, Cloud, Onion Knight, Zidane, Jecht, Golbez and Kefka.

	For equipment you can apply a lot from the damage build paragraph. However, this is where high base bravery / wall rush damage really get their time to shine.

	Piggy's Stick is a Katana-type weapon that provides +239 to your base bravery in addition to the head armor, but it comes with -80 % BRV recovery. You have to be able to secure base bravery for each hp for optimal damage, so boosting BRV recovery will become a part of your build. If you focus your meter depletion on accessories, you can opt to equip Royal Crown (head) with 100 % BRV recovery, Borghertz's Hands (hand) and Lufenian Armor (torso) both providing 39 base bravery each. Lufenian sets' meter depletion is still nothing to sneeze at, so don't rule them out.

	For accessories you now have an excellent 1.5x booster on your hands, Empty EX Gauge. This is a big booster that will be active for the entirety of the match, and bundled with Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Aerial and Summon Unused (as well as BRV = 0 if you can secure wall rushes) you have a lot of profit on your hands.

	Aforementioned damage rings, as well as Sniper Eye for wall rush HP damage are good picks. If you don't equip Royal Crown, Bravery Orb as well as Great Gospel are worthy candidates too. But mostly Bravery Orb as that scales with your boosters. If you feel you need a good headstart in the meter race, Together as One is a great pick. Include Badge of Trust and you pretty much start the match with two assist bars if you deem it essential for your upcoming matchup.

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	Bravery boost on dodge / block
	This kind of build tailors specifically to few matchups: Ultimecia, The Emperor and Sephiroth (Shadow Flare abuse).
	By forgoing pure damage and some meter gain and depletion you can amass over 100 bravery every time you dodge a move, including unblockable projectiles. Same applies to blocking, except for the unblockable part of course.

	An example build involves the Adamant Chains set for an 8 % BRV boost on dodge.

	Weapon of Choice
	Adamant Shield
	Adamant Helm
	Adamant Vest

	You can swap out Adamant Helm for Dueling Mask (3 % BRV boost on dodge) and your weapon of choice for Adamant Knife if the matchup you're playing won't grant you many opportunities to land hits.

	For accessories Zephyr Cloak is a no-brainer. Heart's Ease if you can block consistently (e.g. Jecht and his Jecht Block) and of course Battle Hammer and Dismay Shock for meter depletion.
	Boosters should include the general Summon Unused, Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge and Aerial (or Empty EX Gauge if you go Side by Side).
	Special accessory Back-Breaking Straw is a good addition as well despite it not scaling with your boosters. At this point you should have one or two accessory slots to spare and if you do not use it for Side by Side + Together as One, other complementary special accessories such as Tenacious Attacker, Hero's Essence and First to Victory are not the worst picks out there.

	Or you can go for Opponent's Summon Unused and After 30 seconds boosters, that's fine too.

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	EX Core
	Another matchup specific build, this one prioritises the amount of EX you get from a single EX core. This often means you play a grounded game and / or are prepared for EX core races. Against characters who tend to hug the ceiling (Ultimecia and Exdeath) this can be an easy way to acquire a great amount of EX every time an EX core shows up. It is also viable in matchups where character x can outrun character y in a lot of situations e.g. Onion Knight vs. Cloud of Darkness.

	For equipment, Loki's Lute weapon provides +20 % boost to EX core absorption, although it does only have 67 attack. Squall and Vaan can equip their exclusive weapons for a 30 % boost with 68 attack.

	The Soul of Yamato equipment set (Genji parts) provide an EX Core appearence boost, but is usually preferable only on Gabranth as the set complements more of his EX mode gameplan than others.

	For accessories, Dragonfly Orb is often the go-to basic accessory for EX core builds. The assist gauge duration nerf is hardly relevant, it decays from two bars a bit faster, but if you can maintain your assist meter consistently it's not really a big problem.

	Aside from the aforementioned good boosters, EX Core Present adds a good 1.5x bonus to each of your cores. Aerial is preferable as not all stages plant their ex cores to the ground (see World of Darkness) and the matchup you play is most likely aerial-oriented anyway.

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	Hybrid
	This is all about picking a good balance between damage and meter play. Maybe some added ex force absorption with more wall rush damage? Or perhaps you really want that early assist meter boost with Together as One but still desire to benefit from EX cores, hybrid builds can make that happen. In hybrid builds assist and ex co-exist and what you go for is really up to you.

	For easier ex gathering you can equip Heaven's Cloud weapon with an added 4M EX intake range, combined with Tenacious Attacker it could not be any easier (without Aerith assist). You won't be going for damage with that one, but play for the long-term meter game.

	An example set of accessories could include basic accessories Muscle Belt, Sniper Eye, Battle Hammer, boosters BRV > Base Value, Pre-EX Mode, Pre-EX Revenge, Aerial, special accessories White Gem, Tenacious Attacker and First to Victory.