hawk222

Ugh, there's a lot of stuff to cover this time... Ok, first the Moogle Shop. It's... interesting. On the one hand, it's disappointing that none of the items can be bought with Munny (as many were hoping). On the other hand, you can now get traits without dealing with stupid luck-based trait rolls. Of course, this means that those with the means will be able to make perfect medals while those without the means might be able to get perfect medals. Not to mention the prices on these traits. I mean, 5000 jewels is a little steep. VIP gets select traits for 1000 jewels on a weekly basis, which is a better deal, but that 5k price tag... The "nice" thing is that this is a permanent fixture, so not buying something now shouldn't have a negative impact in the future. Passive buffs are good, medal leveling quality of life updates are good (can be accessed using the Optimize button), increased speed in Union cross is super helpful (be careful if you're sensitive to lots of flashing images, though), subslot boosts have basically made the single-attribute Keyblades godly while the tri-attribute Keyblades are now low on the totem pole, and storage has been increased by 1000. Speaking of which... STORAGE SALE!! Finally! What a relief, considering that the Kyroo medals can't be stacked yet and therefore are taking up way too much space in everyone's inventory. Definitely take advantage of this. It's 10,000 jewels for 1000 storage spaces, which is quite the good deal (much better than paying 20,000 jewels when there's no storage sale). The sale goes for about a month, so you have time to get enough jewels if you don't have enough right now. The collab event with FFBE is a great way to get rewards, though we'll have to rely on the FFBE players if we want our rewards. I have no doubt that they'll get almost if not all of their prizes. Leviathan is a bit of a challenge, as you're not allowed to use medals that cost 0 gauges. This will be much easier if you have a copy medal with extra attack (like Lea/Axel or Angelic Amber) so you can copy your buffer medal. Remember not to spend jewels on this just to get the jewels it rewards. The Stained Glass medals can be upgraded to Supernova+ now, which is nice, but I don't think this is a good deal to chase. These banners are falling price, which is good, but they only last for a few days, which makes me think something better is coming. Since Stained Glass medals are in the general pool of medals, I recommend playing the long game and working slowly to upgrade these guys. Last 2 things are the High Score Challenge and the Paradox Cup quests. The HSC is pretty much the same as it has been before: do well and you get gems (and a few useless skills). If you have % medals, great. If you don't, you should be fine with the highest score you can get with what you've got. There are only 2 paradox Cup quests this time, both are challenging, and both only offer gems and a title (for the second quest). If you can beat them great; if you can't, it's fine.

"Re" is short for "reflect". What you're seeing is the new reflect status, which bounces back part or all of an opponent's damage (even though you still take damage). Currently, only 2 medals offer this: KH3 Anti-Aqua for Magic and KH3 Roxas for Power. Anti-Aqua reflects 100% of Magic damage while Roxas only reflects 15% of Power damage

I'll have to get back to you on this one. I haven't been working on the Hades Cup because I was wasting AP on the event coin quest and I'm just now catching up.

Possibly: it's the 3rd week of Lich availability. Aqua was available for 5 weeks and Xemnas was available for 4 weeks, but there haven't been any notices saying how long Lich is supposed to be available for. Looking at the trait medal banner for Lich, though, it looks like this one will be 5 weeks, just like Aqua. (So basically, you can expect these sorts of VIP medals to last for the whole month that they're introduced in.)

So, we're back to the avatar board reprints that are more skippable. The skills are just a little too lacking. Outfits are cute, though. So, there's a Cloud event that costs a minimum of 500 AP, and they have an event that gives a chance at jewels but costs 60 AP per quest. Which is more important, I wonder? Also, beating Cloud so much starts to get repetitive. Key Art #21 is a bit of a mixed bag. It's got that nice strength boost for all medals, and the animation is new (when was the last time we had a new animation??), but it feels a little unnecessary at the moment. We have things like Ultimate Form Sora and the Foretellers, which all do similar things. On top of that, the F2P mercy is a 1-in-5, which means you could get junk for 15,000 jewels (or at least, not what you wanted). The VIP deal is better in that the medal is guaranteed, but the cost is higher. I'd say that this is basically a skip if you have Ultimate Form Sora.

Ok, so first Shiva's back, then the Titan's back. Expect Ramuh to come back next. Like with Shiva, the only rewards for this are a title and gems, so don't feel too bad if you can't beat all of the quests. That being said, you might have an easier time with Titan if you have the new Foreteller medals (something that we didn't have when Shiva was around). I'm not saying to pull for them in order to beat Titan, just that they'll be helpful if you have them. Speaking of things that are returning, the time trial challenge is back. They plop you down right in front of an enemy with a lot of HP and expect you to kill it fast. Right, because that's so easy. Some things to keep in mind: there's a healer in each quest that will heal a stupid amount of HP once it drops below 50%, and neither enemy should be able to kill you despite being high level (though the main enemy can inflict paralysis which can mess with your setups). Currently the top scoring time is around 1 minute (how???) while the top 5000 comes in at around 8 minutes and 30 seconds. The jewels for this aren't much, so not scoring high enough/not placing at all isn't the worst.

Do you have any pictures of your medal list that you can share? It helps provide a better idea of what you have to work with. If you can, try to filter it so that only the T8, T9, and T10 medals are showing. You'll need to make different setups depending on the enemy and Keyblade you're using, so one setup will help but won't necessarily solve all of your problems. All of your setups will need a buffer at the beginning, something that gives you all of your strength buffs and debuffs all of the enemy's defenses. Medals like KH3 Kairi A and Supernova HD Xion are great for that, as well as Invi (though Invi can only heal you once and only provides +12/-12). Once you've secured your buffs and debuffs, it's all about matching your medals to the attribute slots on your Keyblade. Just make sure not to use an overwrite medal (things like KH2 Kairi EX+ and Gula EX+) after you've already used your buffer: it will reduce your buffs/debuffs and result in you doing less damage.

So, the survey returns. It's essentially a free 600 jewels, so do try to fill it out when you get the chance. That being said, it seems like it's been limited a bit since the last one. They probably got too many "suggestions" from less-than-happy players and decided to limit it to 1 complaint suggestion per person. Still, the section is big enough to add more than 1 thing, and there's a feedback section, so... That's something, I guess? Chasm of Challenges season 3 is here and it's still tough. Fortunately it's permanent (for now), so you can still tackle the quests at your own pace. The Star Piece boards are very nice and are definitely recommended. It's a little disappointing that the lux skill is an Atk Boost 7 instead of an 8, but lux++ is always good regardless. And for once, the reprinted boards aren't totally bad either! The skills are basically on the edge of being outdated, but that means they're still basically good for now (again, lux++ is always good). Finally, the TVA banners. These are... interesting. Falling price is very appealing. Aqua is the standout medal here because she was previously VIP only. That being said, these banners are only available for 3 days, which stands out as a little odd. Why not keep them around longer? Not to mention that the Foreteller banners are still active, and each Foreteller provides similar boosts and buffs along with higher special attack bonuses. All in all, I can't say for sure that you should pass on these banners. But keep in mind that they may come back later, and maybe pass on them for the time being.

So, the memories of the war are finally here. The good news is that this appears to be a permanent fixture in the game, which is a smart move on the developers' part. (I know I won't be able to play it for a little while due to the event coin quests eating all of my AP again...) Tsum Tsum medals coming back likely means that they're being upgrade to Supernova, so hold onto any spare copies you have from the previous collaboration (I didn't pull on the previous banner). Those login rewards are very appealing, but it's ok if you miss a couple of days: as long as you log in before the trailer premiere date, you should be able to receive the rewards for any days you've missed. Conversely, any of the White Mushroom B medals you miss will be unavailable after that day/week has passed. Be sure to collect as many as you can! And don't sell or use them before the rewards have been given out. The Brainteaser challenge is unlike any of the previous anniversary quiz events. This time, you can't just look up the answers on a Kingdom Hearts wiki page (though you can already find the answers posted elsewhere online). I recommend trying them for yourself before you look up the answers: it's more entertaining that way! They start to get particularly challenging after quest #5. Once again we've got an event coin quest, though this time there are also 10 draw tickets available in addition to the Kyroo medals. You'll need 45,000 event coins to complete all of the boards. The same strategies from previous events apply: wear clothes with Item Drop and Rare Enemy perks to get the Gift Shadow to show up and (hopefully) drop a Riku+Moogle medal. The Golden Tricholoma takes the place of the Sparkler from last month's event, and it isn't affected by any of your perks (same as before). Finally, the Hades Cup. It's back, it's hard, and it gives lots of jewels. It's also here for the whole month, so not being able to beat it now just means you have the whole month to try. As with all events that offer jewel rewards, don't spend jewels to earn jewels. If you were going to pull regardless, then it should be fine. But spending any more than 6000 jewels just to get the 6000 jewels is a foolish move.

So, the Lich is now a medal. It basically serves the same function as Xemnas did previously, though his STR boost is halved. However, he makes up for it with a STR boost included in his supernova. Keep in mind, though, that it can only be used once, similar to Kairi B and KH3 Xion. There are now 15 monthly gem quests instead of 5. Keep that in mind when managing your AP. Atk Boost 11 Max is this month's Coliseum prize, and it's much more appealing than last month's Atk Boost 11. If the past is any indication, we can expect to see Atk Boost 11 combined with a lux skill and with an SP skill in the coming months. Shiva is actually very similar to Ifrit. Both can absorb a certain attack type, both have counters (though not for each quest), and you can probably use a similar setup to beat both of them. Remember: not being able to beat Shiva isn't bad. There are no jewels on the line this time, only some gems. Don't waste time trying to beat her if you don't have the means. I'll skip the bit about the enhancement boards because it's basically the same info from before. The Foretellers, on the other hand... These guys are definitely powerhouses, and having any one of them would benefit you quite a bit. That being said, these are available right off the bat: something better may be coming soon. Since they're not exactly 100% necessary for quest completion just yet, it wouldn't hurt to wait out the banners a bit and see what else becomes available. Something to note about these banners is that the F2P banner doesn't come with trait medals while the individual VIP banners do. Additionally, the F2P banner is a 5 mercy which guarantees 1 of the Foretellers at random, but the counter won't reset if you pull a Foreteller before you hit the mercy pull. The VIP banners also give 30 VIP coins, which seems like a good deal (and it is). The trait boards will be around for the entire month, though. If you're thinking about loading up on VIP coins right away to get traits, keep that fact in your mind and maybe don't do that.

Alright, it's been a bit but here we go again! Free jewels are always good, and free draw tickets are also good! Though this probably means that upcoming PVP and HSC rewards will include draw tickets. Just a heads up there. Here's something that's a little weird: Kairi B is available via ticket pulls but not KH3 Xion. On top of that, Xion hasn't been available since her initial banner. Maybe this means she'll get a banner this month? While this week's PVP specifies that the top 100 get special titles, it should be noted that any player who ranks in the top 7000 will get 1000 jewels. This is a pretty nice deal, especially considering how some people have trouble getting into the higher ranks. The countdown quests are pretty easy. Mostly just "avoid the enemies" and "open all the treasure chests". You can get those Kyroo subslot medals from the event, which is yet another reminder that these things still aren't stackable (storage sale when???). Finally, it's time for another guilt campaign! Most players don't even need the increased bonus ranges that are offered, especially since practically every new medal comes in 7* form. The real appeal is the lowered material requirement (or rather, "double experience points"). No need to worry about spending 25 HDL (Huey, Dewey, & Louie) medals when you could just spend about 12 instead! One last thing: the Chasm of Challenges quests are leaving soon, so try and complete them if you can! The 8th and final quest offers gems as well as a title (and is much easier compared to the 7th quest, so using a skip ticket+ on #7 wouldn't be a bad idea).

This Kairi B deal has been placed just early enough before the anniversary deals start that it's easy to call it bait. That being said, you don't really need this medal. Despite being a Kairi medal, it's not exactly a game-changer like previous Kairis have been. The +5000 STR effect from her Supernova is nice, but remember that it only lasts for 1 turn. After that, the most you can get is +500 (unless you have extra attack or use a copy medal). I'd recommend passing on this deal. It's a shame since this is the sort of deal that you'd like to see for Kairi medals. Skip the Sweet boards: they're bad for your teeth. The enhancement boards are still looking good, and are always a viable option if you need the skills they have. Just consider if you actually need them or if you just think you might need them. Trait boards are primarily focusing on the STR boosting medals this time. Could be worth your jewels to grab a few, but you should realistically only get what you need.

Dang, I'm super late this time. Ok, KH3 Dark Riku. He's nice for PVP, but he's not exactly necessary. While he'd be nice to have, I don't see much of a reason to try and mercy him. Hard to say if he'll be available in the general medal pool or if he'll be brought back from time to time (like Kairi B and KH3 Xion, for example). The Monster Sora boards look really nice! They're a great deal if you decide to get them. Part 2 of the event coin quests has started, and it's more of the same. The coins all reset and there are new event boards, so be sure to get those Kyroo medals when you can. Remember: they'll be stackable (eventually). The 60 AP quest is still your best bet since it has the highest rate for Gift Shadows. The Sparkler appearance rate isn't affected by your rare enemy perk, so just be glad you found one if you see it. The high score challenge is basically just "try to rank high to get gems" again. The enemies are all Power-based this time, so bring your Magic medals for best results. When will they stop giving us terrible skill medals as rewards, though? (They're terrible compared to what's actually needed.) It's already passed, but the one-day deal is doing another 1-in-10 setup. Remember: if you have 5 or more of the guaranteed medals, you probably shouldn't pull. Same advice applies to any similar upcoming banners, too.

Well now, this is a pretty welcome change to the raiding format! People have been complaining about raid bosses not having enough health, and others have been complaining that they have too much health, so this is a nice compromise. Also, jewels in the ranking rewards is just fantastic (though it's annoying that only first place gets 3000 while the top 10 or so in JP all get 3000 each). While the boss may not level up as quickly anymore, it doesn't matter since they all start with maxed stats now. Still, you need to beat them to get coins, so keep at it!

So, they've upgraded more T4 medals. Hope you didn't sell any of these! The medals are nice for damage, though I don't think you need to bother with pulling for them. You might as well if you're 1 or 2 away, but otherwise this is pretty much a pass. The thing to keep in mind is that the Japanese version's anniversary (which also gets celebrated in Global) is coming up in just about 20 days, so you would be wise to conserve your jewels and see what kind of deals will be coming.

As I'd mentioned on a different site, they were almost definitely planning to give VIP players an accessory that gave Rare Enemy perk or Item Drop perk (because of the ongoing event coin quests). Guess they opted for both. Xemnas looks great, and the format follows the same one as KH3 Aqua did previously. Will we ever get them outside of VIP? Who knows. His effect is similar to KH3 Xion (without the defense boost), so here's a good way to get a reverse strength booster if you missed out on her banner. If you do get Xemnas this week or one of the other weeks, a single pull from the trait banner wouldn't hurt. More than one is where it starts to get a little problematic, though... It's a bit late, but the one-day banner is back. This will technically be useless advice at this point, but I'll give it anyway. Look through the list of possible mercy medals. If you have half of them or more, don't pull. I know that some of the medals are really appealing (like Monster Sora and Pirate Sora), but your odds of getting them compared to one you already have are low. These banners will keep showing up, so not pulling on this one doesn't mean you've completely missed out. Lastly, the damage contest returns for the first time in... has it been a year? Maybe. The format is essentially the same as last time, though now you're fighting legitimate enemies instead of golden mushrooms. There are 2 Power-based groups, one with ground-based enemies and the other with aerial-based enemies. Like the high core challenges, choose your medals wisely and pick the group that you're confident you can beat. Actually killing a group gives more points than failing, but you'll still want to try to take out both groups (even if you die to one of them). Unlike the high score challenges, the % boost medals are all 1%, so you don't need to focus much on stacking % boosts when making your setup. The rewards are all gems, so if you think you can make do with a smaller payout, you may not need to try as hard as other players.

You have 5 dots filled in, but you need the special attack bonus (referred to as "guilt" by the playerbase) to be unlocked, which means you'd need to use another Fantasia Mickey B ("Mickey and brooms" or "M+B") or another copy of the medal. At that point, you'll see a percentage next to the 5 dots instead of just the symbol you see now. When that percent is maxed out (230% for this particular medal), you'll be able to evolve the medal using your Blue Fairy medals. However, I don't recommend evolving this medal yet. You only have 1 M+B and it should be used on better medals. This Kairi doesn't need the strength increase that evolving a medal to 7-stars would give.

So much to talk about... Ok, first is the Ultimate Form Sora deal. Honestly, it feels like they want everyone to have this medal. Not entirely sure why, but it's hard to argue with this. The medal is a powerhouse with a great effect (also helpful if you wanted Kairi B but didn't get her), and the banner is a 5-mercy for everyone. Personally, I think I'll wait until closer to the end of the banner before pulling, just to see what all is available. (Remember: just because we're told which new medals are coming doesn't mean we're told what banners are coming.) In terms of trait boards, the ones that look most appealing are Lea/Axel and Anti-Aqua. The others aren't bad, of course, and you should get them if you really feel like you need the traits (though you always want to be prepared for disappointment, just in case). The skill boards continue to be pretty solid, with both boards having good skills. Remember that you'll need a Def Boost 5 Max to get a good ranking in PVP. Second Chance is also becoming more necessary for completing events. Keep both of those things in mind and spend accordingly (or don't spend at all). The Keyblade boosters are back, though this will probably be the last month they're available as it sounds like those Keyblades will be permanently upgraded in September. The prize for this month's Coliseum is just a basic attack skill, not a max/lux/SP skill. If you don't feel like you need it, I wouldn't worry too much about ranking high. Finally, the event coin event. Like previous events, there are different levels of difficulty providing more coins but requiring more AP. This time there are 4 quests instead of 3, and the notice seems to indicate that the higher difficulty quests have a better chance of spawning a Gift Shadow. Gift Shadows can now also drop Riku+Moogle medals, which means that you'll want to use outfits that have both Rare Enemy and Item Drop perks. As for the Kyroo medals, they exist only to boost your subslots. Right now, all of your subslots are filled with attacking medals, but these frogs will let you replace some of those medals and allow you to sell them (if you don't need them). For example: I have an abundance of HD KH2 Leon medals which could be replaced by these Kyroo medals, after which I could sell my extra Leons and free up space in my inventory. Something to note about these medals is that they are supposed to be stackable but have not been update to do that yet, so keep that in mind when you redeem your event coins. (If you want to wait as long as possible, you can wait until the last day of the event before getting your frogs. They'll still be there until the end of the event, so it's like having an extra storage space.)

Cute outfits, but the skills just aren't worth it.

Namine EX+ is a good medal, but what you really need for your setups is more general defense down. Namine only gives -2 while the stained glass medals give -4. Having the copy Namine on SoM allows you to get -8 defense down in total. If you ever get the supernova versions of Kairi and Xion, then Namine EX+ wouldn't be a bad medal to include after them. But given what you currently have, this seems to work better. Despite being an upright medal on a reverse slot, Terra works better overall in this case. Roxas in the pet slot doesn't give himself any buffs or debuffs, so you need to have those taken care of before you get to him. With that setup, the only thing missing is -15 upright defense, and HD Terra gives that in one move. The same reasoning applies for using Woody instead of Pegasus. Woody grants -15 upright defense but Pegasus grants none. Once again, the idea with the setup is to have Roxas do as much damage as possible. As you get more tier 9 medals, you'll be able to get those buffs and debuffs much more easily.

For #2, did you mean PVE? PVP for this week doesn't use Fairy Stars or Stroke of Midnight. It sounds like you want a sort of basic, jack-of-all-trades kind of setup. I usually use Fairy Stars (FS) for that, though you might have a stronger Stroke of Midnight (SoM). You're lacking in prominent buffers, but you can still manage somewhat. Not sure it'll get you all the way to tier 10 in PVE, but it'll at least help a bit. Fairy Stars Slot 1: KH2 Kairi EX+ Slot 2: KH Stained Glass #2 EX+ Slot 3: HD Ava EX Slot 4: SN - KH3 Youth in Black Slot 5: KH3 Woody Slot 6: SN - KH3 Roxas Stroke of Midnight Slot 1: KH2 Kairi EX+ Slot 2: KH2 Namine Slot 3: KH Stained Glass #6 EX+ Slot 4: HD Ava EX Slot 5: Supernova - HD Terra Slot 6: SN - KH3 Roxas These are rough setups, but they get you a good amount of buffs and debuffs so that you can get a good hit in with your pet slot medal and your friend medal. You'll want to work on getting these guilted and evolved to 7-star (and then up to supernova or supernova+). Skills will also be important (for example, try to get a high-level atk boost skill for Roxas).

These are all good medals, but I can't help but feel like something bigger is coming. It's up to you if you want to drop 15k jewels on 1 of these banners, but I don't recommend going for them if you already have the medal and you just want traits. There are better ways to get traits, and for a cheaper price, too. Other than that, VIP is basically the same this week as it has been, so I don't have much else to say about it.

It all depends on what you're trying to do. For example, are you looking for a good setup for Coliseum (PVE)? Or maybe you're trying to beat one of the events?

Honestly, the guilt campaign is the only worthwhile update here. Guilting medals might not be much of a thing anymore but conserving resources when leveling up medals is always helpful. All three of these deals are bait. Yes, people call everything "bait", but this is one situation where the term definitely applies. This isn't to say that these medals aren't good: they're actually much better now that they've received upgrades. But you don't need to bother with a 5-mercy pull for them. It's not even worth it just to pull for trait medals (really though, it's never worth it to pull for a trait medal). Save your jewels for the next big medal(s). And once again, these reprint boards are worthless now: skip them.

Yeesh: first it was 100 Magic gems and now it's 100 Speed gems. So, the Hades Cup had some surprise quests. Not exactly shocking. The good news is that the Paradox Cup quests are basically optional: you won't get any jewels from completing them. So if you wanna try for them, go for it! If you can't beat them, well, no big deal: all you're missing are a few gems. The Ferry Reaper challenge is easy for a few quests, then starts to get harder. Unless you have high-level medals with air defense -60 traits, you're gonna have a bad time. The rewards are primarily draw tickets, so this is another challenge where completing it isn't 100% necessary.