Deuce’s Lost Chapter “Gentle Strength” is arriving on 11/24 at 6PM PT (11/25 2AM UTC)! For those of you who missed her original event, you will now be able to unlock the support character Deuce from Final Fantasy Type-0. Deuce brings BRV battery, one of the best party ATK and mBRV auras in the game, party mBRV overflow, framed buffs, and general excellent support-y goodness! For the full details on Deuce check out the infographic [coming soon!] from the Tonberry Troupe. In this article, we’re going to be focusing on the CHAOS boss Count Steam and what you can do to complete this event.
Deuce CHAOS
Count Steam Stats
Level: 150
HP: 1,600,000 each
Elemental Weakness: None
90% Resist: Melee, Ranged
Elemental Absorb: Fire, Holy
Immunity: SPD Down, DEF Down
Abilities
The ability names are translated from Japanese. As such, they may change upon global release.
- Firaga: ST fire magic BRV attack
- Group Firaga: AOE fire magic BRV attack
- Counter Fire: On melee/ranged physical BRV attacks, counters with ST fire BRV attack and dispels all of target’s buffs (including framed buffs).
- Foot: ST HP attack
- Right Steam: ST magic BRV attack
- Left Steam: ST magic BRV attack
- Multislash: Melee ST BRV attack + HP attack
- Flame Ball: ST fire magic BRV attack
- Gives self-buff ATK up
- Steam Burst: when BRV < iBRV, BRV Heal, AOE magic BRV attack + AOE HP attack
- Gives iBRV down debuff to all targets
- Steam is building… : SPD up, ATK up, DEF up
- Blown Off: Cancels SPD up, ATK up, DEF up from “Steam is building”
- Movements become lively! : SPD up, ATK up, DEF up, iBRV up, mBRV up at 80% HP threshold
- Movements become more lively! : Even more SPD up, ATK up, DEF up, iBRV up, mBRV up at 50% HP threshold
- Steam is further building… : When one Count Steam is defeated, cancels all debuffs, including framed debuffs
- Becomes immune to debuffs, SPD up, ATK up, DEF up
Missions
TARGET SCORE: 460,000
NO K.Os
Turn Count: 85 or less
HP Damage taken: Less than zero. ZERO!
CHAOS Clear rewards: 5 Ruin’s adamantine nuggets, 10 Refuge’s adamantine nuggets
CHAOS Overview
One very important thing to think about when approaching this fight are the mission requirements. If you want to complete, you must take zero HP damage. On wave 3, it is two Abyss Worms that like to do Drain Head, a BRV heal + HP attack. Some possible candidates for healing include Aerith (synergy), Sherlotta, Warrior of Light, and Porom. The wave 5 bosses Count Steam, also have two BRV+HP attacks, so you WILL be taking damage. You absolutely need a healer if you want to complete the event. However, this event is also permanent, so you can always come back to it.
Count Steam resists melee and ranged physical attacks by 90% AND will immediately counter any of these attacks with a brutal fire attack that dispels all of the targets buffs and framed buffs. So the only physical character you would even consider bringing is Warrior of Light. Even then, you have to be extremely careful when using his Throw Buckler or Shining Wave (EX). The good thing is his shield will absorb the damage before getting dispelled.
The basic approach to this fight is to bring lots of magical DPS, support/debuffs, healing, and keep both bosses debuffed and broken. Be mindful of their target (unless you brought Warrior of Light), and heal when needed. Most importantly, do NOT kill them one at a time. When one is defeated, the remaining will cancel all debuffs including framed debuffs, gain debuff immunity, and huge SPD, ATK, and DEF up!! So the objective is to kill both within turns of each other.
If you happen to kill one during a summon, the remaining one will not do it’s aura until the summon ends. Also of note, the boss will not counter physical attacks during summon. You can try to save your summon for that final push to kill both at the same time, but it’s also okay to summon if you’re about to die! Another option is to summon before the 50% aura buff, to maximize your damage per turn. It will depend on how safe your team composition is without the summon security blanket.
At 80% HP threshold, they will get an all stat up aura, similar to Leviathan. This is going to become a CHAOS staple. Then, at 50% HP, they will get an even stronger stat up aura. Overall, this fight is about bringing the right damage type (magic only), managing your skill uses, and healing. It’s not quite as tight a turn count as Leviathan, but the roster choices for magic damage are also much more limited and there’s no global synergy.
Team Building
Magic DPS: Ace (3/3 EX+)* [synergy], Krile (3/3 EX+), and in a few days, Ultimecia (3/3 EX+)
Support: Deuce (3/3 EX+)* [synergy], Sherlotta (HP regen), Serah, Relm
Healer: Aerith [synergy], Porom, Selphie, Yuna
Tank: Warrior of Light (0/3 EX+)*
Friend Unit: Ace, Sherlotta, Deuce
Summon: Leviathan, Shiva, Ramuh
*There were JP clears of not maxed EX+ Ace and Deuce, and Warrior of Light at various EX+ levels.
Ace and Ultimecia are the premier magic DPS of this era. So it’s a no brainer that they shine in this fight. Ace has synergy and brings heavy damage, excellent auras and some utility (RNG Heals!), while Ultimecia has better AOE damage, and free turns to maximize DPT. Some players were able to complete this event with a 0/3 EX+ Ace.
Supports here also need to be mindful of the physical damage counter attacks which limits the roster. Deuce with synergy is an excellent choice for her terrific auras and battery. Sherlotta still shines here with her 20% HP damage buff and batteries. She also inflicts sap and her attacks are magic-based. Serah was picked for her debuffs and auras, and finally Relm for her battery, blind, and turn manipulation.
To fulfill the healing role, the options here are fairly straight forward. Aerith with synergy, Porom is the best pure healer bar none, whilst Selphie and Yuna were also used to fulfill this role. Also note, you may be able to get by with a combination of Warrior of Light and Sherlotta. While their heals are not very strong, over time they should be enough.
Warrior of Light is unique in that he can fulfill the tank role here even while being a physical unit. His Shining Shield ability does not actually do a BRV attack, so will not incur the counter. However, Throw Buckler will cause a counter attack so be wary. Luckily, his shield absorbs the counter but he will lose all of his buffs. Save your Shining Shield for wave 5, and use throw buckler more during the earlier waves. Some players brought Warrior of Light so magic DPS can go hog wild!
Also, DO NOT bring Ifrit because Count Steam absorbs fire!
Successful JP clears
The most used characters in inkwelder’s Early CHAOS clears spreadsheet were:
Ace – 33
Sherlotta – 22
Deuce – 16
Serah – 10
Krile – 9
Aerith – 9
Warrior of Light – 7
Ultimecia – 5 (I would assume she would be higher if she came out before Deuce LC dropped).
Check out the link for the full list of team compositions, video links to clears, etc. It’s an amazing resource!
Deuce LC is our first magic based CHAOS fight and it’s a doozy! I wish everyone luck this weekend, and don’t forget, because this is a Lost Chapter, the Clear rewards are permanent. If you can’t beat it, you can always come back to it later with more powerful characters like Ultimecia.
Thanks and credits to: inkwelder and the Tonberry Troupe, Rem (DissidiaDB), Black Nero (YouTube), and the DFFOO Crystal Chronicles Podcast Discord.