Faris
Character Notes & Recommendations
Have updates or suggestions? Contact us via Reddit or Discord, find our info Behind the Scenes!Summon Board Passive selections:
NOTE: Numbers listed below refer to which of the 7 passives in sequence to select for each Ultimate Summon Board for the characterRamuh choose 3 / 4 / 5
Leviathan choose 3 / 4 / 6
Pandemonium choose 3 / 4 / 6
Odin choose 3 / 6 / 7
Bahamut choose 4 / 5 / 6
Usuals:
Ifrit, Shiva, Brothers 4 / 5 / 7
Diabolos & Alexander 4 / 5 / 6
For more details and help with summons, check Summon Hub!
How-To-Play Notes
Faris' first skill use is free. Even though her debuffs are already applied, best to open with Open Fire (S2) to gain quicker access to Open Fire+, and more guaranteed dispels.
Spellblade Sword Dance (LD) is used to drop her debuffs, imperil enemies, and ensure that enemies can’t hold BRV after their turn. Use of this is basically when the debuffs are about to fall off, you’ll likely want to refresh them, just be mindful of the boss cleansing debuffs.
Waterwhirl+ (S1) is best when you have some BRV already and want to maximize damage from the splash. This shaves only a single enemy, and is best used to upkeep her buffs. Enfeeblement up is useful to make sure that debuffs from Open Fire+ are successful, though the LD inflicts these also.
Open Fire+ (S2) is her AoE BRV shave, debuff, dispel skill. Her ATK/DEF/Poison debuffs aren’t guaranteed unless her Waterwhirl Enfeeblement buff is up. Note that these are generic debuffs, so if an ally applies mBRV Down more potent than 30% (like Serah), their mBRV debuff will override Faris’ and it will be framed (if the LD has framed them already).
Thunderstorm (EX) recharges in 2 skill uses. As long as enemies are weak to *ANY* of her elements, she will hit for weakness damage. Best to spam skills with Faris, she isn’t particularly fast which makes her Whirlpool trap much more useful in off-turn teams.
Whirlpool Shot puts Jecht Shot to shame with it's elegance. It asks the party to deal water damage at any time but it also asks the party to attack a heavily debuffed target on turn allowing her to be used in both on and off turn teams.
Team Synergy Notes
Important! If using Faris as a call, her debuffs are applied in the following order: Enchanting Dance, Poison, ATK, DEF, mBRV. If you have room for only 1 debuff, you'll get Enchanting Dance. You will need FOUR debuff slots open to get her massive DEF Down debuff to stick. Even with 8 debuff slots it may be quite the investment
Great support even in lockout era as if you can't break enemies normally with BRV damage, her LD debuff will lower enemy BRV to 0 after their turns and break them with her Whirlpool effect. To maintain her HP damage, pair her with Sherlotta or Snow BT effects, Cait or Alisaie LDCA effects or Setzer LD buff.
Sphere Recommendations
NOTE: Recommendations as of infographic release. The sphere letters below are hyperlinked to our Sphere Hub which lists all available spheres sorted by effect!A Sphere - Focus on ATK and BRV DMG, weakness triggers are absolutely fine. Avoid melee/ranged ATK ups since her kit is mixed.
E Spheres - Paine is best, otherwise focus on ATK or Fujin/Reno (debuff auras), since she already uses a lot of debuff slots. ATK spheres are Yuffie, Seymour, Emperor.
Removable Passives
NOTE: Passives should generally only be removed if you lack CP space. There are very rare occasions where a character has a bad passive that disrupts their optimal gameplay.BRV Attack+ Up (never used)
Bonus Up All (marginal effect)
Crown's Order (a party aura of mBRV/iBRV +10% isn’t much, remove if you *really* need the space)