GW section will often be out of date as GW setups are typically brainstormed in the months leading up to GW. Setups will typically be methods from the prior GW with minor updates for new content. Additionally, since GW bosses differ every run final setups won’t be known until GW actually begins.
Water Unite and Fight 2023
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How to Farm
GW consists of 7 rounds.
The first two are colloquially refered to as meat farming. For most players, this round consists of farming out Extreme or Extreme+ to get host mats for the raids of Finals. In the first round, Preliminaries, all honor is counted to both crew and individual honors. In the second, Interlude, honors only count towards individuals. Farming preliminaries is a lot more important for this reason where interlude can often be skipped unless ranking. NM90 is also available these days but will usually be ignored by everyone but the top rankers due to the small honors it provides for it’s meat cost.
The bulk of GW is the four rounds of Finals. In this stage, teams go head to head to see who can get more honors during the round period. These rounds introduce Nightmare raids which uses the meat farmed during the previous rounds. Day 1 introduces NM95, Day 2 brings NM100 and NM150, and Day 3 provides the final fight NM200. While the best players will aim for the highest level every day, the general rule for all players is to farm whatever stage nets you the most honors per hour. So for example, if your best NM200 takes more than 3.25 times longer than NM150, it would be better to run NM150. The other main meta concern of this round is meat usage. It is helpful to both set meat usage goals and limits for each round so that you can both meet your individual goals as well as retain meat for the later rounds with a much higher honors/meat ratio.
The final round is Final Rally, a rematch against the GW boss with your whole crew. The fight is generally not notable in terms of diffculty and can easily be FA’d or refresh spammed.
Notable Changes This Year
In the last year, the most notable grid changes has been the release of two new guns. Hraesvelgr
is a 150 GM monster of a weapon that will be core to all the fastest setups. Beyond the high investment of 150 GMs, it requires farming out the bullets of soldiers to use to it’s full potential but it is highly worth the investment. On the cheaper end is Exo Antaeus
. While no where near as strong as Hrae, it offers a great discount option for magna grids especially for NM150. It also is a solid grid piece especially as an HP slot. Varuna also recieved ATK awakenings for Murgleis
and Blue Sphere
as additional great sources for cap up. And least but not least for weapon changes is Judgment of Torrential Tides
. It can either be an excellent source of HP for Aquashade grids or a great option for FA or NM200 for the damage reduction.
Character wise, there are four noteworthy releases in the last year plus one excellent rebalance. Catura (Holiday)
provides buffs to MC namely her skill 2 Legendairy Love
Caster and Water MC gain Double Strike (4T).
providing double strike to MC which pairs well in soldier or RB setups. Anila (Yukata)
and the newly rebalanced Cagliostro (Summer)
are both strong for longer auto focuses comps that will likely see plenty of use in NM200 setup for players without Hrae or FA in general. Another great FA release is Vikala (Halloween)
, a buffer and support for skill damage comps that works better the most skill damage characters you field. And last but not least, Fediel (Summer)
is a strong ougi attacker that also provides stackable CA supp to party. She will likely see use for NM95 and NM150 but will fall off for NM200.
Like for most elements in the last year, Yatima
makes a major impact in GW setups and is high priority for anyone playing manually. Also like most elements, the transcendance for Lucifer
and Bahamut
will be potentially very useful. Lucifer will be great for FA and NM200. Bahamut support also has high potential to be used for a variety of applications.
Flash Update
Gabriel
and her weapon Gospel of Water and Sky
are both excellent.
Gabriel’s backline passive provides a 20% summon aura boost similar to Michael which means putting her in the backline for any team is a positive. In the frontline, she’s great for OTK, NM95, FA, and Manadiver mashing. This is particularly due to both her strong buffs on Kitrino Nima
as well as her passive stacks that raise on ally TAs and result in a large nuke after Gabriel’s autos at 4 stacks.
Water finally gets it’s Pact weapon with Gospels. The value of Gospels varies heavily depending on your current setup. For Magna, it is a huge boost thanks to even one letting you drop Crit and Auberons. For non Hrae Primal, it is a good boost overall. Water’s current weapons makes it a bit awkard to use with it being unable to drop crit in burst setups even with the alternative supp source. Hrae gamers don’t use it at all thanks to the weapon itself already maxing supp damage.
Checklist
Below is a quick overview of weapons, characters, and summons that will see use this year.
Weapons
The following are the reccomended weapons to have either have farmed for magna players or barred for Varuna.
Recommended Leviathan
- 4 Ancient Auberons
- 2 Wamdus’s Cnidocyte
- 4 ATK Esna
- 4-6 ATK, 2-3 DEF Schrodinger
- ATK Schrodinger Mk II
if possible.
- ATK Schrodinger Mk II
- 3 Tyros Zither
- 3 Leviathan Gaze Omega
- For setups with Gospel of Water and Sky.
- Ideally TA and Stam rolls.
- For setups with Gospel of Water and Sky
- 1 ULB Reflection of The Moon
- 0-1 ULB Rise of Justice
- 1 ATK, 1-4 SPC Exo Antaeus
- 1 Wilhelm Militis
- 1 Dante Alighieri
- 0-1 Judgment of Torrential Tides
- Ideal if possible to get it.
Recommended Varuna
Hraesvelgr
- 1 Hraesvelgr
- Used for all top setups, but not required to rank.
- 3-4 Calamitous Aquashades
- 2 ATK Murgleis or 1 ATK Murgleis and 1 ATK Blue Sphere
- 1 ULB Reflection of The Moon
- 1 ULB Rise of Justice
- 1-2 Fimbul
- 1 Judgment of Torrential Tides
No Hrae
- 3 Calamitous Aquashades
- 2 Gospel of Water and Sky
- 1 ATK Murgleis or 1 ATK Blue Sphere
- 2 Taisai Spirit Bows
- 1-2 Galilei’s Insight
- 2 Knight of Ice
- 1 ULB Reflection of The Moon
- 1 ULB Rise of Justice
- 1 Judgment of Torrential Tides
- 1 ATK Exo Antaeus
Characters
This is a short list of a lot of the most notable characters for this year. Characters not on this list may still be useful particularly when you lack stronger characters.
Core
- Haaselia FLB
- FLB turn Haaselia into a monster buffer especially thanks but certainly not limited to now starting with her Full Moon on swap in.
- Rings: Skill Cap/TA
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Poseidon
- Powerful zero button attacker due to his high hit counts.
- Excellent ougi option thanks to his ougi nuke and ability to fill charge bars to max via Ruler of the Sea
150% Water damage to all foes (Damage cap: ~340,000).
All allies gain ATK Boosted (Stackable) (5% (30% Max), Multiplier: Unique Stackable), DEF Boosted (Stackable) (5% (30% Max)), and Charge Bar (20%).
(Consumes all Tide Father lvls. Boost to activations based on number consumed [Max: 10 times].) . - Excellent for NM200 thanks to his the the teamwide debuff resistance on his skill 3 Isthmia
All Water allies gain Isthmia (5T).
. - Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Zeta (Water)
- An excellent zero button slot due to providing teamwide echoes on her passive.
- Also can be used as an attacker especially for magna thanks to having both an assassin and double strike in her kit.
- Support Setup
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Attacker Setup
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: ATK
- Lucio (Summer)
- Two sets of stacking echoes including a massive targetable 90% echo.
- Particularly sees use due to his skill 3 Without You
Grant a Water ally Bonus Water DMG (90%, 2T), Guaranteed TA (2T), 70% Fire Cut (2T), and Debuff Resistance Boosted (100%, 2T).
providing GTA to attackers like MC in Exo gun and Hrae setups or Uno. - Rings: Stamina/TA
- Earrings: Supp/TA
- Awakenings: MA
- Gabriel
- 20% boost to Magna and Primal skills makes her an instant slot at least in backline of almost every team.
- Also has great usage for OTK and Manadiver setups.
- Rings: Skill Cap/TA
- Earrings: TA
- Awakenings: MA
Excellent
- Erika
- Offers a solid set of buffs for single attacker setups and has a targetable free auto attack that works great for the high damage from Hrae or Exo setups.
- Rings: Stamina/TA
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Catura (Holiday)
- An MC buffer that grants them double strike that pairs well for gun setups.
- Echo does not stack with Lucio.
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Gwynne
- Relic Buster as a character having a lot of similar benefits as an attacker.
- Can’t use qilin to reset her free autos, but her double strike and assassin makes up for it.
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: ATK
- Anre
- One turn assassin character. Good for NM95 but typically needs to be paired with Lucio for GTA.
- Rings: Stamina/TA
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: MA
- Wamdus
- Great NM95 character for warlock setups thanks to her 1T 50% damage amp and 4 hit count autos.
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Vajra
- Core for ougi setups thanks to both her high damage in ougi setups as well as her very strong set of teamwide buffs.
- Rings: Skill Cap
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: MA
- Helel ben Shalem (Summer)
- Strong attacker for sustained ougi setups thanks to both the debuffs she provides, double CA on 10 buffs, and both delay and dispel on ougi.
- Rings: CA Cap
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: ATK
- Fediel (Summer)
- High damage ougi attacker and support. Particularly more useful for shorter bursts than Shalem due to her double ougis being easier to activate.
- Great option for long bursts still but may fall off depending on boss mechanics.
- Rings: Skill Cap
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: ATK
- Anila (Yukata)
- Excellent auto focused buffer for extended setups like FA and NM200.
- Has a lot of strong teamwide buffs but they take time to build up.
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Cagliostro (Summer)
- Excellent buffer especially with her rebalance but needs 5 crests to reach full potential.
- This limits her to NM200 or FA setups.
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: MA
- Lancelot (Grand)
- Strong auto attacker with great self buffs and perma double strike.
- Takes time to ramp up to full potential but still a strong attacker before then.
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
Generally Useful
- Leona (Yukata)
- Targetable instant charge makes her great for two turn warlock setups for an additional turn on teamwide double strike.
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Mirin (Holiday)
- 200% charge ougi character great for Bonito comps.
- Rings: CA Cap
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: ATK
Full Auto
- Vikala (Halloween)
- Skill damage support and buffer that performs better the more skill damage characters are the in better.
- Rings: Skill Cap
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Cassius (Valentine)
- Skill damage attacker with very spammable skills including a dispel skill.
- Can be a bit on the slow side with all his presses.
- Rings: Skill Cap
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Feower
- Solid debuffer with delay and echoes on ougi.
- Rings: Skill Cap
- Earrings: Stamina
- Awakenings: MA
- Anne
- Lots of defensive tools especially on her ougi makes her a great option for surviving any hard hitting raid.
- Rings: Stamina
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
- Societte
- Teamwide mirror image on ougi is great for mitigating damage especially for single target bosses.
- Rings: Healing
- Earrings: Supp
- Awakenings: MA
Summons
A list of summons that will see use this GW.
Core
Excellent
Generally Useful
- Tyrannosaurus (Summer)
- Great option for pushing more damage in Warlock setups or Charge Attack setups.
- Princess Long Ji
- OTK summon for auto activating Manadiver’s nuke.
Example Grids
Here are a few examples of weapon configurations for this year.
Warlock
Warlock
and similarly Manadiver
are the main burst classes for NM95. These will be single sided setups typically except in the case of having Gospel of Water and Sky in Omega grids. Outside that, the other variants rely on crit weapons.
Magna
For magna, Ancient Auberons are very acceptable weapon to enable crit. It doesn’t quite reach 100% crit but it reaches close enough for practical use. This can reach 100% with Gabriel backline, but once you gain access to her grid, it winds up being better to drop crit all together. This is due to the general low strength of Ancient Auberons as grid slots.
Primal
In all cases, primal still relies on crit for it’s Warlock burst. An Aquashade configuation does not do the neccesary raw damage to outperform Crit in this case. The low button presses makes it hard to reach cap and any increase in cap up has little effect. So it is better to stick with the higher raw damage than add in more cap up that you can’t reach.
Hraesvelgr
Hraesvelgr has 100k supp via it’s 3rd skill already. This both means Cnidocytes and Gospels won’t see use with it. Instead, it goes all in on grid based cap up. Since Calamitous Aquashades require HP to reach their full potential, a Fimbul and a Judgment of Torrential Tides with Azure Fortitude are used to pad out the HP. Alternatives the Draconic Provenance are a 4th Aquashade or a 2nd Fimbul.
Full Auto
Below are some examples of Full Auto configuations for this year.
Magna
For Magna, Lumberjack
is one of the very great FA classes this year thanks to the teamwide buffs, the defensive utility, and the heals as well as the strong MC damage from Log Lop
3-hit, 150% elemental damage to all foes (Damage cap: ~185,000 per hit).All allies gain Double Attack Rate Boosted (Stackable) (10% (50% Max)), Triple Attack Rate Boosted (Stackable) (5% (25% Max)), and DMG Cap Boosted (Stackable) (2% (10% Max)).
(While Woodcutter’s Song is in effect: Auto-activates upon normal attacks.)
. It will likely be one of the stronger choices for NM200 as well. The below is a single sided example which can pair with Bubs or Lucifer depending on the fight.
Primal
For primal, we will cover two FA setups.
The first is Manadiver. It is an excellent skill damage class for high amounts of skill damage from per turn. Despite this, the characters generally lean towards an auto slant. This setup will ideally lean single sided either Bubs x Varuna or Lucifer x Varuna. Without Gospels, the standard crit option will be used. For Gospels however, we can slot in Calamitous Aquashades for more grid cap up. Unlike in the manual case, all buttons will be pressed in FA making it much easier to reach the high cap up.
The other main potentional FA is a Varuna x Varuna Street King
setup. This will swap out MC for Haase and go all in on skill damage. Hence this one slotting in the skill supp weapon Knight of Ice which also both pairs as a damage option with Gospels and provides more HP for the Aquashades.
