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GwenMay -> RE: =AQ= Golden Giftbox Crossover Extravaganza (2/12/2023 12:39:31)
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Great job, AQ team! Bringing back clones of strong, rare items is very welcome, and I appreciate both the art and design of the new items! In my opinion, this is one of the better crossover years in terms of item design and art.
I have bought and tested all the new items, and made the following tier list. Best in slot means best in element/item slot for its effect, strong choice means a competitive option for builds that can utilize it, niche means strong in certain situations, and very niche means useful in only a few situations, and even then there are likely better items.
BEST IN SLOT
• QuadMod (UR). A very welcome QuadForce clone, in my opinion it is the strongest damage boosting misc by far. Gives +20% damage, +50 LUK, .5x incoming light damage, and can toggle any combination of STR, DEX, INT, and CHA to 250. I would pick this over alternative damage boosters in most situations, never mind the shenanigans its stat boosting effect opens up.
• Invincible Heart (UR). A very welcome Invincible Star clone, and thus the best quickcast damage reducing spell in game. Usable by all builds, and a strong choice for any character with a free spell slot.
• Mindbreaker Shield (UR). Quickcast 2 turn -28 blind and -9 defenses with an inherent -20 to enemy save, this is very powerful in general and particularly for dodge builds. Energy shields don't have a lot of competition, and this is easily the best of the bunch. I note that it uses INT for major roll, which makes it even better for mage dodgers. Since it has an inherent -20, 0 INT chars that lose the major roll still have a 50/50 chance, so it's good for 0 INT builds as well.
• Pridelord Guest/Pet (Rare). Fire clone of Spotter Drake with guest variant, and thus the best choice for fire pet/guest in game for beastmasters and a strong choice for 0-cha characters that want to inflict statuses. The guest in particular has no competition for omni-boosting effects.
STRONG CHOICE
• Mosquito Guest/Pet (UR). Wind pet/guest clone of Cometoid, so absolutely amazing for sustain-oriented beastmaster builds. The only thing keeping it from the best in slot category is its competition with Spotter Drake, Cometoid, and Nightbane guest.
• Cosoma Guest/Pet (Rare). Ice pet/guest, consumes defboost to do up to +200% damage. Potentially the strongest ice pet/guest damage options, assuming you have a reliable way to gain defboost and the resources to do so. Only kept from best in slot option by its reliance on defboost consumption and its stiff competition from Legion Cyro Cannoneer, Ghost Ally, and Jr. Archmage.
• Twisted Dragonfire Sword (UR). Updated version of the original Dragonfire Sword, toggles between melee/magic/ranged and can pay sp to do +15% damage, +8.5 bth, or both. Also looks cool. Steep price at UR for a damage boosted weapon when compared to the gold pyromancer bloodblade and rare blazing bloodzerker blade (both of which also boost fire spell damage and have an fsb), but the mrm toggle, sp cost, and versatility makes it a competitive option nonetheless. Aerin pointed out that, raw power-wise, this is the best option for fire since the 15% damage plus 8.5 bth equals 25% melee power, 5% more than the 15% + 5% bloodblades get pre-fsb.
• Staff of Inversion (Rare). Technically, the light magic weapon that deals the most weapon damage. I originally placed this in best in slot, but on further consideration placed it here due to the strong competition from light bloodblade/bloodzerker blade.
• Snake Master Strike (Rare). Darkness overcharged spell, boosts lucky strike chance by 30% for two turns and inflicts poison. A competitive alternative to dragonguard, especially if you have shieldcake charges to further increase lucky strike chance.
NICHE
• Titan Mug (UR). Outclassed as as a general use damage booster by QuadMod, despite costing the same, this can technically boost player damage more (up to +33%) against enemies that do a lot of hits. Only for people with a UR to spare and a very specific use-case scenario in mind. Boosts 20% first turn equipped, thereafter boosts a minimum of 10% plus about 5% more for each hit that lands. Does not count hits the player dodges, and only boosts 10% if enemy is stunned or does not attack.
• Illustrious Savior Armor (UR) and Shield (Rare). Both strong dodge choices against bosses as each trigger to do +12 mrm (+24 total), but are terrible for general use and face stiff competition even against bosses for dodge builds. Triggered armor can toggle between +12 mrm and +20% damage, does both with fsb. Also looks amazing.
• Illustrious Savior Weapon (Rare). Water weapon that gets a downtrigger against normal enemies and +20% against bosses, it's absolutely outclassed by water bloodblade/bloodzerker blade in just about all use case scenarios save one. Only get if you're a dodge character looking to trigger the Illustrious Savior FSB to have the armor do +20% damage and +12 mrm against bosses.
VERY NICHE
• Zurvana's Pity/Wrath/Blessing (Rare). Energy mrm weapons that you can click to quickcast cure bleed. Necromancer's Absorb Hexes removes bleeds and a lot of other status effects, plus heals players, at the cost of a turn. Hexbound Shield transfers burns and hexes quickcast for free to enemy, instead of removing them, up to twice per battle and one attempt per turn. Zurvana's use case is thus when you somehow need to remove a bleed more than 2 times in a battle without giving up a turn - I can't think of that ever coming up.
• Shadowflame Glaive (Rare). Ranged darkness weapon that pays damage to inflict a darkness burn, burn gets stronger depending on number of hits, but capped at 4. MC gives -20 to enemy save. If you're building a burn focused ranger this is decent I suppose, but otherwise don't get it. Looks great though.
• Rainbow's End (Common). Ranged light weapon that's like Shadowflame, except its not MC and the burn power depends on hits/connected, not number of hits. Again, looks great but only for ranged burn focused builds.
EDITS: Typos and corrections.
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