Pack Mentality - Chocobos or Humans?

[Jlagreen]

Hi,

I just can't decide if I should go for a Chocobo-only pack or Human-only pack.

I guess a Combo of Red/Blue Chocobo with Pack Mentality and Purple/Green/Silver situational is pretty good.

In the Human pack I would use Lightning, Amodar, Sazh and Nabaat. So I wouldn't have a sentinel but what if SE decides to bring Snow or Fang as DLC for that? I might get pretty pissed, if SE brings Snow as SEN and Fang as COM and maybe Vanille as MED while my Pack mentalities are used on Chocobos.

So, how would you decide?

Also, Lightning is really great but I think Red Chocobo is a better COM than Amodar. On the other hand Amodar has a lot HP (I think 10k with all-power) and can be used as a SEN substitute (in a MED/MED/COM paradigm).

I like Chocobos but Lightning is my most favorite char in FF13/FF13-2, so it's a hard decision

[Navar]

If Lightning is your favorite use humans.

That seems to be an easy choice.

I Love me some Omega so I spent the time to make a siphon boost omega despite it not being optimal.

[Jlagreen]

well another issue is that I can't find any good builds with Lightning and Amodar using pack mentality. But I have one for Chocobos...

Somehow I think that using Amodar with 10.000HP as substitute SEN is a good idea. That way I can keep Sazh as SYN and have some power-up spells in SYN/SYN/SYN paradigm. The red Chocobo has like 6-7k HP, 2-3k HP don't sound like much but in the fight with Nabaar my silver Chocobo had 9k and with her special <6k meant instant death to it.

[EmoDevo]

Chocobo pack. Mostly because I dont have DLC but really, they are usually the most well rounded in each role. The annoying thing is the double up of red/gold COMs each with different abilities. Personal choice there.

[Jlagreen]

I've decided for Humans now, because I don't like to change my pack all the time. Therefore Amodar will be a SEN substitute in SEN/SEN/COM as he has enough HP for that. Sazh is a good SYN and Nabaat seems to be a pretty good SAB. Lightning is also one of the best RAV out there, so I should have a good uber pack

But I have a different problem now. First of all, I messed with my Lightning earlier und therefore released her and I have yet to catch Amodar, too. And in that the game really hates me. In everything else so far, I have been pretty lucky but Amodar won't drop his crystal. I tried killing him first and last and always with feral link and retry but nothing so far.

I tried to use cactuar feral link but even with 450-500% Sync the crystal won't appear (Monster fragment skill ON). Now I am raising Twilight Odin for his Feral link because it's difficult to see if Cactuar is making the final hit. Leveling Twilight is really a pain

Anyway, what might really piss me off in the feature is that SE decides to release Fang DLC with her as COM. But on the other hand I will probably not play this game then anymore. Once my Human pack is done, I will get 100% game completion and play sth else

Oh, and of course I am going to show Gilgamesh big time with my uber pack. He is actually the reason that I am trying to build one

[Jlagreen]

OMFG, I think I have a big issue

I decided to catch Lightning again, so I infused here into my Blue Chocobo. But now when I fight her, the monster info tells me that she is already tamed. But she is not in my list anymore

Can I still catch her?

[widget624]

Originally Posted by Jlagreen

OMFG, I think I have a big issue

I decided to catch Lightning again, so I infused here into my Blue Chocobo. But now when I fight her, the monster info tells me that she is already tamed. But she is not in my list anymore

Can I still catch her?

Yes, any monster that can be re-fought can be recaptured.

[Jlagreen]

Yeah, I realized that later

Anyway, my Amodar build is done and working now on Lightning and Sash.

And damn Amodar is kind of twisted. Against grounded foes he is weaker than other COMs (Chichu, Omega, Red Choco, etc.) but flying/launched and pretty large Enemies are doomed. His Chaingun ist just crazy as it hits hard so many times. His Feral Link seems pretty good, too as he hits 5x for good DMG.

I decided to finish the main story as I didn't want to farm for potent crystals with Microchus anymore. So, I set out with my Pack (Amodar, Lightning, Sazh) and I killed all bossfights in like 5-6min altogether . Can't wait to finish Lightning and Sazh and then I will tackle Gilgamesh

[Jlagreen]

Oh, btw. here is my final build for my human party:

Amodar:

Passives:
01) Ally KO: Power Surge II (RL)
02) Strength +35% (YL)
03) Magic +35% (YL)
04) Syphon Boost II (YL)
05) HP +30% (8)
06) Resilience +40% (8)
07) Role Resonance (7)
08) ATB Attack Charge II (6)
09) Feral Speed II (6)
10) Pack Mentality (4)

Stats:
HP 12944
STR 1260 (1890 with COM/COM/COM)
MAG 679 (1018 with COM/COM/COM)

He is not the fastest but strong and his MAG stat is decent, so he is ok with Ruin, too. With his high HP I skipped defensive passives and decided for ATB charging and Feral link speedup. His Chaingun is insane against big bosses, flying creatures and launched enemies. Otherwise his Handgrenade is handy in farming as it does lik 8-10k AoE.


Lightning:

Passives:
01) Attack: ATB Charge II (RL)
02) HP +30% (YL)
03) Strength +35% (7)
04) Magic +35% (7)
05) Resist Physical +36% (7)
06) Resist Magic +36% (7)
07) Role Resonance (7)
08) Quick Stagger (7)
09) Chain Bonus Boost II (6)
10) Pack Mentality (4)

Stats:
HP 7891
ATK 1086 (1629 with RAV/RAV/RAV)
MAG 1084 (1626 with RAV/RAV/RAV)

I think Lightning is the most balanced RAV you can get as she is very good against any foe (thx to equally high stats). And she is the best looking monster you can get


Sazh:

Passives:
01) Critical: Haste (RL)
02) Augment Maintenance II (RL)
03) Feral Speed II (RL)
04) Item Collector (RL)
05) Auto-Haste (9)
06) HP +30% (8)
07) Auto-Vigilance (8)
08) Auto-Bravery (7)
09) Auto-Faith (7)
10) Magic +35% (7)

Stats:
HP 11681
ATK 785
MAG 905

His Auto-Abilities are more or less intended for the COM as I start with Sazh in party (except Haste as it's good for Sazh, too).
I gave him all -ga spells but still it takes some time for him to get out the attack buffs. This is sth SE should really work on, I really would like to remove all defensive buffs from my monster SYN. This is also why SYN/SYN/SYN was great in FFXIII but sucks in FFXIII-2. Anyway, Sazh does a decent job, only I messed up and didn't use ATB+1 enhancements so he has only ATB 4 now (does anyone know if you can get Sazh again?)


I use these paradigms for any battle:
COM/COM/COM
RAV/RAV/RAV
SAB/SYN/SYN
SEN/SEN/COM
MED/MED/COM
SAB/SAB/SYN

So far I like my pack but I have yet to test it on some big guys

[widget624]

You can get another Sazh by releasing the one you have then closing the DLC gate and replaying it. If you have fortune medals from your first time through it can be done in a matter of no time.

I can't believe you actually sacrificed Chichu for this. Can't say I would have done it. Since you have the only change to your builds I would do is drop HP +30% on Lightning for Siphon Boost II which works with Attack: ATB Charge II and put Chain Bonus Boost II on Amodar instead of either Feral Speed II or Resilience +40%.