Theoretical Grid Building Guide

Last Update: July 29, 2023
This guide is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0, a permissible license for futureproofing. (more info)
(What does this mean??)Essentially, this gives you the right to make your own versions of the guide. If I stop maintaining the guide one day, you're welcome to pick it up and continue it as long as you give credit, so that it can live on and help players even after I leave.

Introduction

This guide serves as a theoretical primer on the logic used to build weapon grids. The guide will go through all you need to know to build your own grids from scratch instead of just copying other premade grids.

	Warning, please read me before continuing.

This guide is designed to show theory, and in order to do so, examples will have to be provided. There is no guarantee that the grids shown here are up to date-- or even good in the first place. Any grids shown are examples to demonstrate concepts only and should not be taken at face value.

This guide is designed for players who are already fairly invested in the game and whose grids are mostly copied from friends or other sources without much understanding of what makes them tick. This guide, therefore, intends to help readers understand the theory that informs grid building and get them up to speed as to why the grids they're using look like that, how to improve them, and how to make their own.

If you're a new player, start with Basic Grids.
For examples of grids for more progressed players, go to Advanced Grids.
For a list of which weapons are worth to farm, check my What to Farm Guide.

It's worth noting that no man is an island and no grid is built in isolation. Grids do not have copyright protections, and "grid stealing" is an accepted (and even encouraged) practice in the Granblue Fantasy community. Not only that, but most grids are just copies of other grids designed for similar situations with some minor adaptations for the new one. You rarely have to build anything from scratch, so go ahead and reference as many wiki examples and YouTube showcases as you want.

Common Misconceptions

Before we start, I'd like to clear up some common misconceptions that tend to trip up fledgling players, so we can go in with a clean slate.

There Is No General Content

Unlike other games in the same genre, you will not get far in Granblue Fantasy with only one team per element. The high variety of options for team building means that a lot of buildcraft is open for optimizing toward different goals, and those goals tend to be at odds with each other.

If you've ever hung around any sort of community that can help new or fledgling players, you've probably heard something among the lines of "help me make a grid for general content" - and also the sour reaction to the question.

The point is, well, there is no general content. There is no one grid per element that will fare well in every situation you'll run into. When you make a grid, you should do so with some purpose in mind for where you'll use it. We'll delve into types of content later, but here's some examples of things that you may want to consider:

The length of the fight - shorter fights might want to bring timed weapons like Ancient Nalakuvara, whereas longer ones might enjoy progression weapons such as Peridot Crossbow from Rise of the Beasts.
The enemy's damage output - if the boss you're fighting can hit really hard, you may have to pack additional HP weapons vs just optimizing for damage, whereas putting defensive weapons in a grid that you use for a weaker boss is redundant and will just make the kills take longer.
Specific mechanics or gimmicks, such as, for example, Ra's multiple charge attack based Omens. For a Ra team, you'd want to bring Charge Attack supporting weapons such as Summer's Mirage, or Al-Abad, which would otherwise be weak in setups that don't rely on charge attack damage.

Some important notes to keep in mind:

You only need enough HP to not die!
- Doesn't matter if you kill the boss with 1% of your HP left or 100%, it's dead either way.
- Packing additional HP for situations where the boss doesn't hit hard is just going to make the kill slower for no noticeable benefit.
You don't always have to optimize, especially if you don't think you'll be fighting a boss often, but it's good to if you intend to do it a lot.
Ultimately, building teams for specific bosses is an effort in saving you time. The less time you spend on each boss, the more time you have to do other things. How far you want to go with that is entirely up to you.

The Tier List Kinda Sucks

The Character Tier List page is very often misunderstood. With a game as complex as Granblue Fantasy, you can't simply take a character out of context and assign a number to it and have that number fully explain its power level.

Even the far more useful Grades sub-page of the tier list is not something that should be fully relied upon, as the values given there are wildly reductive of the different types of content the game contains. Beyond that, older characters in the list are rarely updated to reflect the current metagame, or whatever new content or strategies have emerged since.

At the time of writing, the following hold true in the GameWith tier list:

Wilnas is currently a 9.9, with an A in High Difficulty. Wilnas is irreplaceable for the best Fire SUBHL setups, and Eternity Sand farming setups in Seofon HL, so this grade does not reflect his usability.
- Furthermore, Wilnas had previously been at 9.5 with recent additions such as Michael wildly improving his damage potential. In a vacuum, the 9.9 rating is reductive, as without having Michael, a player can not make full use of him.
Mugen (Halloween) is rated B in High Difficulty (Kamigame gives him a D too), which was a valid assessment at his release. However, after the release of Makura and Lu Woh, Mugen has become an irreplaceable component of the fastest SUBHL setup in the game with no useable substitute. (To my knowledge. You can watch the setup here)
- However, even if Mugen was updated to a higher rating in High Difficulty, this doesn't fully reflect the reality that two other limited characters, as well as a Primal grid with multiple Radiant Rinne are required to actually make use of him, so the rating would still be dubious.
Halluel and Malluel have an SS rating for Full Auto which is also very reductive as their damage output is lacking, and their unique skills are only properly applicable to high-end Full Auto for difficult raids such as Dark Rapture (Hard). The SS rating is justified for how incredibly powerful they are in that situation, but does not show the full picture that they're only "good" for lower-difficulty raids.

In short, while the Tier List is a reasonable way to quickly evaluate if a character you just got is useful, avoid relying on it too much. The game is far too complex to be reduced to numbers and letters. The grades page in particular can not fully encapsulate the depth of a character's usability nor its synergies. The same character can be useless or amazing even within the same category depending on the content and its surroundings.

Remember, there is no general content, so it follows that there are no general ratings either.

Damage Prediction is Unreliable

When building a grid, you can see a widget below it with the estimated damage you will deal to off-element enemies or to enemies of the type weak to the element you are building.

For multiple reasons, this prediction is highly inaccurate and should not be fully relied upon.

The predictor shows only the amount of damage estimated for your main character, against a base defense enemy, without any buffs or debuffs for either party.
Critical hit damage is not accounted for unless you achieve an outright 100% total crit rate. It doesn't matter if you have 99% crit; if it is less than 100%, it will not be reflected in the damage prediction.
The left predictor never accounts for critical hit despite element-less enemies being able to receive critical hits.
As such, when using the predictor, if you are building a setup with less than 100% critical hit, you will have to consider for it manually.

As for any weapons that affect different units differently (such as race restrictions for Bahamut Weapons or proficiency restrictions for Ultima Weapons), know that their effect on the prediction will only be seen if the change affects the main character, so be careful of seeing a really large number when equipping, for example, an Ultima Weapon that no other member of your party benefits from.

Aside from those cases, the predictor is a very useful tool for quickly gauging whether to swap out weapons or not. Additional context and parameters can be viewed and adjusted by clicking the (i) icon such as your party's HP or number of turns passed.
As long as you're aware of its limitations, the predictor allows you to quickly iterate on damage focused setups without getting in a fight.

The Icons Lie

Look at these two icons:

Intuition would tell you that the icon on the right would likely be 3 times as powerful as the icon on the left-- or at least significantly stronger.
When looking at the Weapon Skills page, we see a different story. At Skill Level 15, the "small" skill provides a 12% boost, whereas the "big" skill provides an 18% boost. The same is true for other skills such as HP Up.

While when boosted by a summon, this different is very significant, it's not as large as the iconography implies. This is mostly common knowledge, but it does tend to trip up new players. Icons are good to quickly compare two different weapons with a similar skill, but the iconography can be misleading in terms of indicating the actual magnitude of difference between them.

Time is Relative

In nearly all aspects of life, the concept of speed typically refers to how long it takes you to complete a task. In a game as reliant on ping as Granblue Fantasy, however, raw time is not an accurate metric to determine how efficient something is when comparing to other players.

You are welcome and encouraged to use kill time as a measure of your own personal speed, but when it comes to sharing setups, there's several standard metrics used to quickly broadcast the efficiency of your build:

Turn Count
- Very straightforward. Everything else being equal, the more turns you take, the slower you're being
- Turn count is not the be-all-end-all of optimization. Ultimately, a turn is just a game action. If your turns are slow, you're still slow
Button Count
- A "button" is a skill press or a summon call
- Because you can only take one action at a time in Granblue, the more actions you take, the more time you spend waiting on the game to let you take the next one
- In some cases, players will separate skill button presses from summon calls, so you may see something like "3b1s" to indicate "3 skills, 1 summon"
Chain Count
- Every action in Granblue has an associated "lockout" value. Lockout is the "⏳ Waiting..." widget you see sometimes when going really fast
- While in Lockout, you can queue up actions, but none will be taken until the waiting time ends (except using Potions for some reason)
- Chain Bursts, or just Chains, which happen when you perform two or more Charge Attacks in one turn, are the source of the highest lockout in the game. This lockout is higher the larger the Chain Burst is
- Lockout persists between battles, so when going really fast, your goal becomes minimizing lockout which tends to result in minimizing Chains

Building With A Purpose

Before you can begin making a new grid, you need to know what you're trying to accomplish. At the end of the day, weapon grids are tools to get a job done. That job can be to kill a given raid safely, to reach a Blue Chest threshold, to help carry a high difficulty raid team, etc.

In real life, we don't always use the same tool for every job. You wouldn't use a hammer to cook food. In the same vein, your grids should be built in service of the purpose they're intended to fulfill. Establish the objective first, then assemble the tools-- not the other way around.

And to really hammer it home - there is no general content, nor are there general grids.

I stole this meme from gaijins lol

With that spiel out of the way, let's look at some basic archetypes of grids you may wish to build.

45m Blue Chest

In my humble opinion, having a team that can quickly and efficiently reach 45,000,000 damage in each element is the first big goal every midgame Granblue Fantasy player should strive for. To understand why exactly this HP threshold is important, we need to look at how drops are distributed in the Regalia and Ennead series of raids.

Let's start by looking at the loot table for Shiva - specifically the Blue Chest table:

We can derive a few things from this:

The weapons we want to get from this boss are in this chest.
We need to acquire 380,000 honors, or deal 38,000,000 damage, to guarantee the chest will appear.
Assuming you're not the host, and the raid doesn't stall, there's no reason to ever deal more than 38m damage.
Ideally, we want to do this quickly so we don't burn our lives away in the Shiva mines.

Most Impossible bosses that get heavily farmed feature this mechanic, forcing players to contribute to the raid a bit. Understanding how much damage you have to deal to get a Blue Chest will help you tune your teams and grids to reach the desired values as fast as possible so that you can get your weapon drops equally fast.

The reason I recommend targeting the 45m threshold is because of Ennead raids such as Atum. To compensate for their DefiedDMG taken is boosted based on lvl (Can't be removed / Max: Lvl 5 / Lvl rises each time an Omen is canceled)
Local status effect mechanic, Enneads will have a slightly higher Blue Chest threshold. This value will change from raid to raid as some have more HP than others, but 45m is a fairly clean and safe value to aim for.

You can test your 45m teams using the Old Lignoid or Used Lignoid of the respective element in Trial Battles.

While there are many ways one can build a team that can quickly reach 45m damage, I will personally recommend the tried and true Relic Buster Charge Attack burst-- not because it's the most efficient in any regard, but because it's very accessible, and most players can assemble one with some elbow grease. By the time you can start building faster teams, you probably won't be spending your days in the M2 mines anyway.

Relic Buster's Engage AugmentsGain 5 Machine CellConsumed upon normal attacks and using skills (Can't be removed / Max: 5)
(Max: 5) and restore HP (Healing cap: 2000).
(When HP is 50% or above: Also gain StrengthATK is greatly boosted based on how high HP is
Strength: 45%-15%Duration: 3 turns.)
At level 30:
(When HP is below 50%: Also gain JammedATK is greatly boosted based on how low HP is
Strength: 30%-90%Duration: 3 turns.) and Limit BurstAll allies gain Charge Bar +Instantly boosts Charge Bar by
, C.A. DMG Up (1 time)Charge attack DMG is boosted (1 time)
Duration: Indefinite, and C.A. DMG Cap Up (1 time)Charge attack DMG cap is boosted (1 time)
Duration: Indefinite based on number of Machine CellConsumed upon normal attacks and using skills (Can't be removed / Max: 5)
.
(Consumes all Machine CellConsumed upon normal attacks and using skills (Can't be removed / Max: 5)
.) combo can immediately set your team up for a 4-chain charge attack. By itself, this will not be able to reach 45m in most situations, so additional buttons must be pressed.

At this point, what else you will need to do will depend on what you have available. You should fit your team with high CA-damage characters (e.g. Narmaya (Grand)), or characters with additional CA skill damage (e.g. Kolulu). If available, my go-to pick is calling Beelzebub, as that alone adds over 9 million damage and makes further attacks hit harder. Other great options include any sources of C.A. ReactivationCharge attack reactivates
(e.g. Fediel's The Black's EncroachmentThe field is engulfed in the Malice of DespairAll foes' and allies' DEF is lowered / Take DMG every turn
Duration: IndefiniteField effect
Local status effect.
(Can't recast.)), Double StrikeAttacks twice each turn
(e.g. Silva (Yukata)'s Silent AimGain Silent AimCan't normal attack / Less likely to be attacked / Upon charge attack: Double Strike effect to a fire ally in the next position / At end of turn: 15% boost to fire allies' charge bars / Boost to C.A. specs (Stackable) (Can't be removed)
Duration: 5 turns.), or just straight up large damage skills.

	You can find a list of Unworldly C.A. sources at Umikin's List.

Before you go into a raid, check what the Blue Chest value is and focus on that. Don't fret if your first attempt takes quite a few buttons, chains, or even turns to get there. Ultimately, what matters is that you can get the Blue Chest consistently and fast enough that you're not bottlenecked in progression by your own speed. As you move further into the game and acquire better weapons and characters, you'll slowly be able to start shaving off buttons.

Lastly, it's worth noting that not all raids have Blue Chest. In particular, the Malice/Menace Series (e.g. Anima-Animus Core) do not. In those situations, except for the MVP chest, as long as you deal any damage your drop rate is equal. For raids where your desired drop is in the Gold Chests, you may wish to bring additional drop rate support instead, such as Dragon Bar V, Kaguya summons, Tien in the backrow, and Journey Drops.

Solo FA

This category is essentially the "Just Kill The Boss" one. When most people look to create a team, this is what they tend to be looking for. Even if not necessarily for solo kills, you want teams that can do a significant amount of the boss's HP so you can carry your own hosts if not many other people show up.

This is the point where the most buildcraft happens and where you're allowed to try all sorts of different strategies. Ultimately, though, we want setups that can put out high DPSDamage Per Second without dying.

Some basic rules for building FA teams:

Understand what the boss does - and build with that in mind.
- A boss with low mechanical complexity such as Shiva has more space to bring low-HP teams that focus on damage.
- A boss notorious for hitting really hard such as Bennu might require a different approach with a more balanced team.
- Bosses with mechanics will need you to build around them, such as taking a charge-attack focused party to Osiris.
Remember, you only need enough HP to not die.
- Sure, you can take your super bulky charge-attack based Ra team to Grimnir, and chances are it'll work, but since Grimnir doesn't hit nearly as hard, you'd likely be wasting time by not bringing a more damage-centric setup.

24m OTK

24 Million is the amount of health the Extreme+ enemy in Guild War has. It's also just a generally safe value to aim for (if not a bit lower) for use in story event farming or in Replicard Sandbox 5 bar enemies to farm Astras and Ideans.

Given the HP threshold we are trying to reach is so low, and the amount of fights we'll be plowing through is so large, optimization is essential here to not burn your days away on trivial content. The first step of optimizing OTK is to trim the button count as low as possible and then to minimize the lockout induced by the attack so that we don't have to wait for the next fight.

Helpful tools for optimizing this type of setup include Belial (Summer) for the counterattack damage and Chain of Temptation (aka. "Freyr Key"Colloquially called that due to providing the same buffs Freyr (Summon) does., for the third slot in Dark Opus Weapons) for the very powerful buffs provided. Care should be taken when using both at the same time as Freyr Key provides a dodge buff which can work against Belial's counters.

What follows is a non-exhaustive progression of OTK builds for most players:

2b4c2 Buttons, 4 Chains - We can start with the Relic Buster Skill 1 + Skill 2 combo described in the 45m section. Lower level players may have to press an additional button or two to reach the threshold. The four charge attacks alongside the Chain Burst should be enough to kill the boss.
- Characters with innate C.A. ReactivationCharge attack reactivates
  or equivalent, such as Eahta or Golden Knight, can push this up to a higher chain count. This induces additional lockout, so it should only be done if no better option can be achieved.
1b4c1 Button, 4 Chains - Utilizing two Huanglong summons or equivalent Tsuchinoko or Artemis series. allows a team to start at 90% charge bar. The remaining 10% can be filled using a skill such as Full Arsenal IIIGain Instant ChargeInstantly sets Charge Bar to 100%
Unaffected by Charge Bar Gain status effects.
No effect when afflicted by Shorted debuffs or when Charge Bar is above 100%., 50% ATK UpATK is boosted
Strength: 50%Multiplier: NormalDuration: 1 turn , and 30% C.B. DMG UpChain burst DMG is boosted
Strength: 30%Duration: 1 turn .
At level 30:
Also gain 20% C.A. DMG Up (1 time)Charge attack DMG is boosted (1 time)
Strength: 20%Duration: Indefinite and 10% C.A. DMG Cap Up (1 time)Charge attack DMG cap is boosted (1 time)
Strength: 10%Duration: Indefinite. or Splitting SpiritConvert caster's HP to charge bar3% charge bar for every 250 HP consumed, up to 100% charge bar.
(Consumes up to 50% of current HP.) on the main character to allow for a full chain with only one button.
- Because two Huanglongs are used as the Main and Support summons, the grid building here is drastically different as you won't be able to rely on weapon skill boosting summons.
0b3c0 Button, 3 Chains - This setup is similar to 1b4c, but using an Eternal as the character in the second slot. If you have every Eternal recruited, the Shield of Eternal Splendor will provide 10% additional charge bar to your Eternals at the start of battle, which allows for 3 charge attacks without any button presses.
- If a character that gives 40% Charge Bar at the start of battle such as Charlotta (Grand) is available, a 0b4c setup can be made using a single Huanglong summon instead, allowing for zero-button builds with lower requirements but with higher lockout.
0b0c0 Button, 0 Chains - The "just attack" build - no charge attacks included. This type of setup tends to make use of characters with guaranteed Triple Attack, as well as automatic skill or counter damage such as Bowman. This is generally a tall task for most elements and may be impossible without ideal character availability.
- Due to a quirk in how lockout is calculated, 0b1c is technically less lockout than 0b0c because charge attack lockout is calculated based on chains, and one single charge attack does not create a chain. This is relevant for characters that start the battle at 100% charge bar such as You.
- Beelzebub havers may want to opt for a setup that calls Bubs and then immediately attacks - the call can take a bit, but this is generally much easier to pull off and produces very low lockout overall. (Tip: you can use a skin over Bubs to make the animation faster - the fastest animations are Rose Queen and Aphrodite, in order)
Further Optimization - After 0b0c is accomplished, some other minor optimizations can be done to ensure you get the most out of your build:
- Building a setup that consistently kills without the boss attacking at all because boss attacks add a slight additional lockout.
- Using Kaguya as your main and/or friend summons will allow you to get additional host materials in Guild War and story events as well as more desirable drops in Sandbox.
- Ultimately, these upgrades are very high end, and often require incredibly powerful builds. The holy grail is a double Kaguya setup with no enemy action, which requires either Ereshkigal or Percival (Grand).

Many other configurations are possible depending on what you have available. I've seen many uses of 0b2c or even 1b0c to minimize lockout. Don't let the listing above be a strict progression, and try to work out the best you can do with what you have.

	Additional information on OTK setups and optimization can be found in Inabarama's Page.

As a curiosity, the fastest possible OTK is a singular skill press - as a skill press induces the lowest possible lockout. This was first achieved in the 2023 Fire Guild War using Percival (Grand) which figuratively set the game's servers on fireGranblue servers crashed during prelims in this Guild War, causing the event to have to be delayed by one day.

131m Burst

131 Million is the amount of health the Nightmare Lv.95 enemy in Guild War has. Setups for this have a lot more flexibility, and the way you build them will vastly depend on your element and character picks.

Aside from Guild War use, the 100-150m damage mark is a good point to aim for when it comes to just having a setup handy for bursting down raids like the Six Dragons or UBHL.

131m setups tend to rely on extra combat steps (such as Tag TeamAll allies instantly perform a normal attack without using up a turn. or Percival (Grand)'s Koenig Dekret900% Fire damage to all foes (Damage cap: ~1,020,000).
All Fire allies gain 100% Fire ATK UpFire ATK is boosted
Strength: 100%Duration: 1 turn and 30% Bonus Fire DMG (1 time)Deals bonus fire DMG for normal attacks (1 time)
Strength: 30%Duration: 1 turn .
All Fire allies instantly perform a normal attack without using up a turn.
(Consumes King's BlazeATK is greatly boosted based on how high HP is / Deals bonus fire DMG upon normal attacks (Can't be removed)
after activation.)), full-turn Assassin buffs (such as Narmaya (Holiday)'s Apex of NothingnessGain Butterfly EffectDeals bonus superior element DMG for one-foe one-ally attacks
Strength: 80%Duration: 2 turns
100% Charge Bar:
6 turns and Dodge/Tank-and-Counter (2 times)Counters upon dodging one-ally attacks or taking DMG
Strength: 200%Duration: 2 turns
100% Charge Bar:
6 turnsCounter attacks grant 5% charge bar per hit..
(Consumes 30% of charge bar. Consumes 100% of charge bar to extend buff duration to 6 turns.) or Gwynne's Ram It DownGain Ram It DownATK is sharply boosted (Can't be removed / Can't be extended)
Strength: 50%Multiplier: AssassinDuration: 1-4 turns.
(Consume up to 3 Discharge CellConsumed upon Gwynne's normal attacks and skill use (Can't be removed / Max: 5)
.
Extend effect duration based on number consumed.)), or using a Dark Opus weapon with Chain of Falsehood for Double StrikeAttacks twice each turn
Duration: 1 turn .

While it is beyond scope for this guide, it's also worth mentioning the 288 Million threshold for Nightmare Lv.150, but this value is rarely relevant outside of Guild War.

Endgame Farming

At this point, we enter the realm of fully manual play in high end racing or high difficulty raids.

The three main pillars of endgame content are as follows:

High Difficulty raiding - namely SUBHL at the time of writing.
Gold Brick farming - where you set up a team that can reach Blue Chest thresholds in GOHL, Akasha or PBHL as fast as possible.
Eternity Sand farming in Revans series raids, such as Diaspora, with setups that can push out 4 million honors as fast as possible for potential sand drops.

These situations all require specific builds to keep up with the difficult enemies or competitive nature of the gameplay, so generic hints aren't particularly helpful here.

Modifiers and You

Introduction to Modifiers

Weapon Skill Types and how to make use of them is potentially the most important topic in grid building theory. Colloquially, these are called Modifiers, or "Mods." You may also hear the term "Frame" to signify a particular source of a modifier-- more on this later.

There are three families of modifiers - Normal, Omega, and EX, respectively, usually differentiated by the top-left identifier in their icons:

Furthermore, within each family, there are multiple different types of mods - the most common ones being Might, Stamina, and Enmity.

Might always provides a static amount of attack up.
Stamina provides higher attack up the higher your current HP is relative to your max HP.
Enmity works like Stamina, but scales with how low it is.
Other additional modifiers exist, but these are the most common.

Here's an example of Omega Might, Stamina, and Enmity, respectively:

Please know that:

The term "Omega" is a debated bit of localization. When referring to Omega skills, nearly all players will use the original term "Magna." This guide will continue to use Omega as per wiki style guides, but in colloquial use, you will rarely hear "Omega."
The icons can lie. While looking at these icons shows you their respective mods, some skills do not have descriptive icons. When in doubt, consult the wiki pages for the weapons you're curious about.

Summon Boosting

Omega/Magna skills are always boosted by their respective summons - e.g. the Stormwyrm's Might II skill in Tiamat Gauntlet Omega will be 140% stronger if you're using a maxed out Tiamat Omega summon, and 280% stronger with two. That's a total of 380% when you add up the original 100%.

Normal skills are a bit more complex. In order to determine whether a Normal skill is boosted by its summon, you have to look at the skill's name. Let's use Hades as an example. A 5★ Hades reads as follows:

150% boost to Dark's, Hatred's, and Oblivion's weapon skills.

If we then look at the weapons Fediel's Spine and Fallen Sword, we can see both have varying levels of a Stamina skill:

However, these skills are substantially different. The skill present in Fediel's Spine is called Eclipse's Stamina whereas the one on Fallen Sword is called Hatred's Stamina. If we look at Hades' description above, only Hatred is boosted, not Eclipse. While both of these weapons provide the same "Normal Stamina" mod, the Stamina in Fallen Sword would be stronger when Hades summons are present, but Fediel's Spine comes out on top when they're not.

We call skills that are boosted by summons Boosted Skills, and Unboosted Skills refers to those that aren't eligible for any summon boost. Except for an irrelevant meme case, EX skills are always unboosted.

Because of how powerful summon boosting is, all non-veteran players are recommended to use the respective Omega/Magna summons and build around them for all their grids. Even if you have the correct summon, the options for F2P farmable boosted Normal weapons in most elements leaves much to be desired, so Normal Summon-based Grids (colloquially referred to as Primal Grids or Optimus Grids) are left for already familiarized players and utilize multiple gacha weapons (often of the Grand Series).

Mod Mixing

Let's consider the following example grid and assume that this grid is built for double Tiamat Omega usage:


	Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK	Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK	Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK

	Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK	Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK	Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK

Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK	Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK	Stormwyrm's Might IIBig boost to wind allies' ATK	Raphael's Blessing IIAmplify Wind allies' damage against Earth foes by 20%. Wind's MajestySmall boost to wind allies' ATK and max HP

This might, in theory, look reasonable. We got a Seraphic Weapon in there to boost our damage against Earth enemies, and the Tiamat Gauntlet Omega at Skill Level 20 is the weapon that has the biggest attack boost available - a whole 20% looking at the Weapon Skills table. With two Tiamat Omegas boosting us 280%, that 20% goes up to 76% - and with nine fists in the grid (putting the Seraphic aside as it'll always be in the grid for on-element fights) that's a whopping 684% total!!!

Well... not quite.
This is the part where the different mods come in play. In short, two different mods will stack multiplicatively, whereas two of the same mod stack additively. This might be hard to wrap your head around initially, so let's look at some examples.

For these examples, assume once again double Tiamat Omega.

Tiamat Gauntlet Omega SL20 + Tiamat Gauntlet Omega SL20

As previously stated, under double Tiamat Omega, each of these provides a nice 76% attack up. As both weapons provide the Omega Might mod, we add them together.
Our result is therefore:

76% + 76%

= 152%

Tiamat Gauntlet Omega SL20 x5

The same logic as the previous example applies - except this time we add all five together. Our result is therefore:

76% + 76% + 76% + 76% + 76%

= 76% x 5

= 380%

Info: Percentage Multiplication

In the next section, we'll be multiplying two percentages by each other. If you just care about the theory, and not the math, feel free to skip to it.
It's important to know that in this context, a 20% value is to be applied as "20% more", and not just "20%". This essentially means that, for multiplication purposes, the Tiamat Gauntlet Omega, with its 76% Might, will be shown as 176%, or more accurately, 1.76 - we do this because the base value is always 100% of your attack, the default, so "76% more" would be 176%.
For the purposes of multiplication, say we're multiplying "50% more" by "30% more", you'd represent the values as 150% and 130%, as such:

("50% more") x ("30% more")

= 150% x 130%

= 1.5 * 1.3

= 1.95

= "95% more"

Tiamat Gauntlet Omega SL20 + Last Storm Harp SL15

Let's bring in something different. The Last Storm Harp only goes up to SL15 due to not having a 5★ uncap available, so we'll work with that.
At SL15, from the Weapon Skills table, and at 100% HP, the Last Storm Harp provides an 11.98% boost. Multiplied by our Summon Boost of 380%, this goes up to roughly 45.5%.
However, Last Storm Harp provides Omega Stamina, which is different from the Tiamat Gauntlet Omega's Omega Might. When we have two different mods like this, we multiply them together, as such:

<total omega stamina> x <total omega might>

= 145.5% x 176%

= 256%

using the multiplication logic from the previous section
If you look back to the 2x Tiamat Gauntlet Omega example, despite the raw numbers being larger, it only added up to 152%. This demonstrates why you don't want to add too many weapons of the same mod type together-- and that different types of mods mix much better than a lot of the same. Therefore, when making a grid, strive to include different types of mods.

Tiamat Gauntlet Omega SL20 + Last Storm Harp SL15 + Innocent Love SL20

We already know from the previous examples the values of the first two weapons. Looking at the Weapon Skills table, we can see that the unboosted SL20 Innocent Love provides a 37.0% EX Might mod.
Similarly to the previous example, this is a new mod in our mix, so we multiply it with the other ones:

<total omega stam> x <total omega might> x <total ex might>

= 145.5% x 176% x 137%

= 350%

using the same multiplication logic as before, just with three components
And just like that, in only three weapon slots, we've nearly got the same amount of boost as that five Tiamat Gauntlet Omega setup over there. Cool, right?

Tiamat Gauntlet Omega SL20 x3 + Last Storm Harp SL15 + Innocent Love SL20

Purely out of curiosity, let's add two more Tiamat Gauntlet Omegas, to see how much better adding two other mods is compared to our 5x setup.
The math for this remains the same as our previous setup, except that Omega Might is now provided by various weapons:

Total Omega Might = 76% + 76% + 76%

= 76% x 3

= 228%

"228% more" can be represented as 328% when we add the base 100%.
Therefore:

<total omega stam> x <total omega might> x <total ex might>

= 145.5% x 328% x 137%

= 653%

A massive improvement from our measly 380%, right? Imagine what we could do if we swapped in even more different mods.
This is why you'll see every grid use a variety of different weapons-- even some not boosted by the summon! Furthermore, this is exactly why weapons that bring multiple mods by themselves tend to be highly popular - namely classics such as Luminiera Sword Omega or Tiamat Bolt Omega.

	Be careful! Sometimes, if you add a weapon with a new mod whose raw value is weak enough, you might be better off adding another of a mod you already have. Multiplication might grow bigger than addition, but if you multiply by something really small, well, you're not going too far. Use the damage predictor to try and figure out what's the best for your situation!

Mod and Frame Caps

Since this is Granblue Fantasy, nothing is simple. First off, some mods have a cap on how much of them you can have in your grid - these values can be found on the Weapon Skill Caps Table.

While for most red mods (middle column), it's unlikely you'll ever reach these, it's not that difficult to add enough of a yellow mod (left column) to your grid that you'll end up with a value higher than its cap. To verify if you're overcapping, you can either do the math yourself, or check on the predictor's "Weapon Skill Boosts" tab for numbers that appear in orange, as such:

In this grid, "DMG Cap" is maxed out, so adding additional weapons that provide it would have no effect. Meanwhile, "C.A. Supp." is not, so it's still open for more weapons of the type.

Special Variants

Looking at the table, you might notice the following pairs of entries:

and
and

These are special cases - they are an example of two "Frames" that provide the same mod. A source of a mod is referred to as a Frame. In this case, "EX Might" and "EX Might Sp." are two different frames.

"EX Might" and "EX Might Sp." provide the same "EX Might" mod, so you add them together, but "EX Might Sp." is capped at 80%, whereas "EX Might" does not have a cap. The same is true for the type "DMG Cap" types: they add together for your total grid damage cap but are provided by different weapons and have separate caps. If you cap both, you can have up to 40% total grid damage cap.

Restricted Frames

Sometimes, a frame is restricted to only one instance of it - this is often the case with several skills provided by Dark Opus and Astral Weapons, for example:

Rhongomyniad's Skill Damage Cap mod is on the same frame as Sword of Renunciation with a β Pendulum and do not stack at all. Having two in your grid will only result in 50% up.
- Phantom Fangs also provides the Skill Damage Cap mod but on a different frame. Having one plus one of the aforementioned weapons in your grid adds up to 70%.
- Unfortunately, the game itself is incredibly opaque when it comes to this type of information. Generally, the best way to know where something fits is to look at its wiki page.

Critical Hits

Critical Hits in Granblue Fantasy are a fairly complex topic on their own. Multiple sources of Critical Hit can apply separately, and each modify your damage by different values. Since this guide is mainly dedicated to the theory of grid building, we'll be focusing on Critical Hit rate as provided by the weapons in your Grid.

Critical Hit (often shortened to just "Crit") is a unique mod within the grid. All instances of Critical Hit are added together no matter what family they fall into. 70% "Omega Critical Hit" + 10% "Normal Critical Hit" is 80%, not 87%.

When attacking an enemy that has no element or that you have elemental advantage against (e.g. Water character vs Fire enemy), each hit will roll for Critical Hit once for each of your sources. Additional sources usually come from character skills, but for this calculation, the entire grid is one source. If the damage predictor shows 80% critical hit, then 80% of hits will be Critical. Grid-based Critical Hits deal 50% more damage.

The reason this is important is because we can treat the 50% more damage from a Critical Hit as a "hidden mod" in our grid. If we can get it to 100% (or close enough to 100% that the difference is negligible), we're essentially adding another +50% mod to the grid. We've seen from the previous section that adding unique mods is very powerful, which makes Crit based grids highly popular and accessible.

Critical Hit is capped at 100% - having a total that's any higher provides zero benefit.

We want to add up enough of the Critical Hit mod that we reach 100%, so let's look at the Critical Hit Table. Below are some example popular configurations for Crit grids. This table is non-exhaustive, and other alternative and niche configurations also exist, but I chose to show off only the main ones for the sake of brevity.

Summons	Config	Description
Double Omega	3x Big	114% Crit - More than enough. Seen in configurations such as 3x Nibelung Horn or 3x Last Storm Harp.
	2x Big + 1x Small	100.7% Crit - Just plenty. Since 3x Big gets us way over the threshold, the last Horn or Harp can be replaced with Coruscant Crozier or Autumn's Transformation, the latter of which actually being Medium Crit. This configuration sees use in Optimus/Primal as well, such as the classic Water Taisai Spirit Bow and Galilei's Insight core.
	4x Medium	98.8% Crit - Not 100%, but close enough the difference is negligible. The most common uses for this configuration are 4x Ancient Auberon and 4x Ancient Ecke Sachs. There really isn't much need to add an additional one to cover the remaining 1.2%, so we usually stick to 4.
Single Omega	4x Big	96% Crit - We're starting to edge into unsafe territory, so pushing any lower than this isn't advised. To my knowledge this is seen only in single Tiamat Omega burst builds with 4x Last Storm Harp.
Double Optimus	2x Big II	96% Crit, up to 100% when the respective 4★ Six Dragons summon is present. Such as 2x Bab-el-Mandeb or 2x Ivory Ark. At the time of writing, Big II Crit weapons are available only in the Grand series, but tend to be the cores of their respective elements' builds due to the tiny footprint for a big benefit.
Single Optimus	3x Big II	90% Crit, up to 100% when the respective 4★ Six Dragons summon is present. Such as 3x Fist of Destruction or 3x Evanescence. I personally do not recommend pursuing this configuration if you don't have access to the 4★ Six Dragons summon for the element because 90% isn't fully consistent.

	Be careful! Just because something has Crit on it doesn't immediately make it a viable option! For example, Abyss Gaze is almost never seen compared to 4x Ancient Ecke Sachs which sees a lot of use despite both providing the same amount of Crit. Crit aside, AES is a weapon that provides two damage boosting mods by itself, and so it is a much more efficient grid piece than Abyss Gaze.

Beyond Raw Damage

Aside from simply maximizing your raw damage, there are other important aspects to keep in mind when building a team. The importance of each of these secondary mods will vary drastically between situations, and your character picks will often inform you on which parts you may want to strengthen.

Survivability

Weapons that have HP skills on them, on average, tend to have fewer offensive skills to compensate for it. As already stated, you only need enough HP and defense to not die, so it stands to reason that you want to minimize your focus on survivability.

It's often said that the best defense is a good offense, and this tends to be true in Granblue Fantasy as well. The fewer turns you take, the fewer opportunities the boss has to attack you back. My personal approach to HP in grids is to start with one that's as low HP and as high damage as possible, and if that isn't enough, swap around more defensive pieces until it works.

It's worth noting that great weapons you may already want to use (e.g. Luminiera Sword Omega or Bab-el-Mandeb) that incidentally have HP skills on them are incredibly valuable because you do not have to "waste" a slot on bulking up since the weapons are already great for damage even without the HP.

Aside from just adding more health, the main avenue for increasing survivability is stacking Defense either via Garrison skillsBoost to DEF based on how low HP is (e.g. Majestas, Sleipnir Shoe), Defense Awakening (e.g. Sette di Spade, Love Eternal) or weapons that flat out just provide defense (e.g. Landslide Scepter, Lord of Flames).

For teams that have consistent sources of healing, weapons with Healing Cap on them may also be considered such as Petit Bouquet de Fleurs or, for element-less fights, any Ultima Weapon with Gauph Key Dio on it.

Charge Attack Builds

Teams focused on sending out as many charge attacks as possible can often get away with a smaller raw attack value if that space is used instead to improve the charge attack potential. Given that charge attacks tend to have high percentage multipliers on their damage already, less base support tends to be necessary. Each character has a different modifier for their charge attack, and the Main Character's modifier and extra skills on C.A. will depend on what mainhand weapon they have equipped.

One of the prime examples of this is Omega Water Kengo which tends to run 3x Tyros Zither. When looking at damage prediction, the water harp is somewhat weak with only a Medium Might skill and no other raw damage frames to help mix up mods. The true value of Zither comes from the fact that it can boost charge attack damage and damage cap a significant amount which isn't reflected in the damage predictor.

This means that teams dishing out super high amounts of charge attack damage may have really low auto attack damage because their grid isn't focused on that. Whether you want to use charge attack boosting weapons or not will ultimately depend on how many charge attacks your team does as opposed to normal attacks. If you're unsure, give it a test and see which works out better.

As a general pointer, the main reason Kengo is by far the most popular pick for Charge Attack teams is the power of its Class Champion Weapon Unsigned Kaneshige when socketed with Emblem of Devilry. The massive amount of charge bar this weapon-emblem combo can put out for your entire party is unmatched outside of Illustrious Weapons, and is, at the time of writing, a near-necessity for these builds.

Damage Cap

Every instance of damage in Granblue Fantasy is governed by an associated Damage Cap, or just "cap" from here on out. Cap is, as the name implies, the highest possible damage you can deal in that instance. Cap exists to prevent ridiculous setups from reaching amounts of damage that would entirely break the game.

As already demonstrated by Tyros Zither in the previous section, different types of weapons can affect cap for different types of damage. Zither improves cap for charge attacks whereas something like Daur da Blao would improve cap for skill damage. Weapons such as Baihu Claw Malus affect general cap for all types of damage.

It's important to note that damage cap is not damage. It's simply the higher ceiling of damage the game allows you to deal. You still need to soup up the rest of the setup enough to reach it. Be careful when using weapons that provide cap at the expense of being otherwise weak such as Scales of Dominion. These weapons are only really usable if the rest of the grid can carry the damage high enough to reach the new cap. When in doubt, test it out!

Supplemental Damage

Supplemental Damage, or Supp for short, is a skill found on several weapons which increases the amount of each instance of damage by a fixed value.

Some examples:

If a Colomba is in the grid, all charge attacks from your party will have their damage increased by 400,000.
If a Agonize is in the grid, all skill damage hits will have their damage increased by 100,000.
If a Harmonia is in the grid, all damage instances will have their damage increased by 50,000.

Supplemental Damage is added to the final damage after damage cap applies, and is often referred to as a type of "cap break."

Supp applies to every instance of damage, so a single Agonize would increase a 3,000,000 damage skill to 3,100,000 damage, but if that skill was 10 hits of 300,000 instead, you'd end up with 10 hits of 400,000 for a total of 4,000,000 instead. Because of this, the more hits of the type in question you deal, the higher the value Supp provides.

Regarding generic Supp weapons like Pain and Suffering and the rest of the Pact series, these apply to every instance including those generated from Bonus DMGDeals bonus DMG for one-foe one-ally attacks
or characters that deal multiple hits per attack such as Poseidon and thus the more hits you expect to deal, the higher their value becomes. Conversely, if your team deals mostly in charge attack damage, they become less valuable.

	Be careful! It's very easy to fixate on the power of supplemental damage and forget that providing raw damage is just as important. For example, a weapon like Piercing Galewing in a weak grid with no other Daggers might actually result in your overall damage being lower!

Multiattack

Multiattack, or DATADouble Attack / Triple Attack is, in most situations, just a "good to have" mod. All other things being equal, you'd obviously prefer a weapon that increases your DATA over a weapon that doesn't, but in general, it's not something worth fussing about too heavily.

The one major exception to this are setups that need to reach Guaranteed Triple Attack ("GTA") on all characters for perfect consistency-- namely zero chain OTK setups in which DATA becomes premium.

Main and Friend Summon Picks

The choice of summons for a team tends to revolve around exactly what the team needs. By default, teams tend to use double Omega or Optimus summons ("double-sided"), but a lot of alternative options also exist for different setups. The most relevant "single-sided" setup for most of the game is using Beelzebub as your main summon for burst situations as this allows for the Main Character to start the fight incredibly buffed and also for BoreDEF is sharply lowered / DMG taken is sharply boosted (Can't be removed / Can't be extended)
Strength: 50% DEF Down / Boost to DMG taken cap: 100,000Duration: 1 turn Local status effect to land immediately.

Some unboosted setups are also popular such as double Huanglong for 0b OTK or Beelzebub/ Qilin for longer lasting burst.

When working with single-sided or unboosted setups, it's important to keep an eye on "secondary" mods - such as HP or Crit. Most sources of these tend to be tied to the summon, so you have to be careful not to be too fragile or not to accidentally take your Crit value to a level too low for it to be reliable.

Higher rank players tend to use Lucifer Lv.250 as an alternative pick to double-sided due to it freeing up the grid from needing as much HP. Lucifer setups don't go into crit as often due to the grid size restrictions. This isn't exactly relevant for most players, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

Putting it All Together

To put it all together, I'm going to show off a few grids that I've made for different types of content. These are my personal grids, so they will reflect my use cases and the tools I have access to, and as such may not be optimal, but I can at least provide the thought process behind them. Some of these may be outdated on purpose as I felt the older build had more of interest to talk about.


Lvl 130



Main Summon	Support Summon	Not Selected Not Selected Not Selected




		Lvl 250


	Fool-Hanged Man's PerseveranceMassive boost to Earth allies' ATKModifier: EX. Restore 12% HP to Earth allies with 12 or more buffs at end of turn (Healing cap: 1200). Sephira Maxi-Earth20% boost to Earth allies' DMG Cap in Arcarum. 5% boost to Earth allies' DMG Cap. Earth's MajestySmall boost to Earth allies' ATK and max HP	Axe Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many axes are equipped Ridge's PersistenceSupplement earth allies' DMG based on how high their HP is	Axe's WrathBoost to ATK, max HP, and multiattack rate based on how many axes are equipped Axe Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many axes are equipped

	Labrys PlenumBig boost to axe-specialty allies' ATK and max HP / Big boost to axe-specialty allies' ATK based on how high HP is. Scandere Aggressio10% boost to one-foe attack DMG cap Fulgor ImpetusAmplifySeraphic modifier superior elemental DMG by 25%.	Lifetree's Insignia IIIBig boost to earth allies' ATK / Take 5% damageBased on max HP. every turn. Earth's MajestySmall boost to earth allies' ATK and max HP	Ridge's PersistenceSupplement earth allies' DMG based on how high their HP is Amber ArtsBoost to earth allies' skill DMG cap

Adjudicator's SupremacyMassive boost to earth allies' ATK Empyrean Adjudicator's SanctityWhen main weapon (MC only): 20% Bonus Earth DMG effect when not debuffed.	Concrio IgnisBoost to Humans' and Draphs' ATK and HP. Vita IgnisBoost to all allies' ATK and max HP based on number of Humans and Draphs in party.	Terra's Might IIIMassive boost to earth allies' ATK Mountain's StaminaMedium boost to earth allies' ATK based on how high HP is	Terra's MajestyBig boost to Earth allies' ATK and max HP γ Revelation15% boost to charge attack DMG cap Cunning TemptationAt start of battle: Various buffs 50% ATK UpATK is boosted Strength: 50%Multiplier: NormalDuration: 4 turns 50% DEF UpDEF is boosted Strength: 50%Duration: 4 turns 10% DMG Cap UpMaximum amount of DMG that can be dealt per hit is boosted Strength: 10%Duration: 4 turns 35% DA UpDouble attack rate is boosted Strength: 35%Duration: 4 turns 25% TA UpTriple attack rate is boosted Strength: 25%Duration: 4 turns 20% Dodge Rate UpChance to dodge DMG and debuffs Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 20% Debuff Success BoostedDebuff success rate is boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 80% Skill DMG UpSkill DMG is boosted Strength: 80%Duration: 4 turns 20% C.A. DMG UpCharge attack DMG is boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 30% C.B. DMG UpChain burst DMG is boosted Strength: 30%Duration: 4 turns 20% C.B. DMG Cap UpChain Burst DMG Cap Boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns VeilDebuffs will be nullified (1 time) Duration: Indefinite"Veil" is an unofficial name used by the wiki for this status effect. Its actual in-game name is "Immune." Dispel Cancel (1 time)Effects that remove buffs will be nullified (1 time) Duration: Indefinite to all allies / 30% hit to max HP

This setup wants to leverage Vikala (Summer)'s Yintopian BountyOther Earth allies gain Double StrikeAttacks twice each turn
Duration: 1 turn .
Self-inflict C.A. SealedCan't use charge attack (Can't be removed)
Duration: 3 turns. to give the first 3 members Double StrikeAttacks twice each turn
for a fast and low lockout 1b0c kill without the boss getting to attack. I used this exact build in the July 2023 guild war and it was 100% consistent.
For this to be possible, all 3 of the team members chosen must be very hard hitting with only auto attacks, thus we take:

Apsaras MC with Exo Kshathra, with five Axe/Spear weapons in the grid to activate Free-Flowing Style. This hits much harder than the alternative in double-spear Iatromantis.

Cucouroux (Halloween), who has guaranteed Triple Attack, and Split AutosEach hit is split in three, all three benefitting from Supplemental.

Pengy (SSR) for her guaranteed Triple Attack and extra nuke after attacking.

As for the grid choices, we're roped into running Beelzebub and Freyr Key on the opus, as we need to be able to guarantee Triple Attack on the MC. Accounting for the innate TA Apsaras has from its passives, using Bubs, we need to make up for 21% in the grid, and Freyr Key provides 25%. This extra TA could be given through other means, such as Halluel and Malluel (Summon), Catura (Event) and additional grid support, but Freyr was just easier.
Since Exo Kshathra requires MC to not be debuffed, we can't run Belial (Summer) here, which also renders Freyr Key better, as we don't have to rely on actually taking damage and that strategy being hamstrung by Dodge Rate UpChance to dodge DMG and debuffs
.
The grid is mostly built for us already. The five Axe/Spear requirement is steep, especially as I don't have Collapse of The Tower, instead of opting for a simple Voltage-focused setup with Solomon's Axe Militis and Toothache and Suffering. The Militis axe serves double duty in that it helps provide additional Supplemental support to a team that will deal a ton of hits, so it likely would've made it in there either way.
At this point, my grid was already a hodgepodge of different axes with a complete lack of summon synergy, so I decided to lean into it and go for a fully unboosted setup with a Bahamut or Lucifer friend summon, so I added weapons with high firepower that don't require a boost - namely Fang of the Dragonslayer, Ished and Sword of Bahamut Coda, with Ished also providing nice Supplemental.
One more axe was required, and the Ultima Axe was a choice between running an Ultima Gun for the other two members plus a Nibelung Horn, but since I was already leaning into unboosted synergy, I opted for the Ultima. This might've been suboptimal but I didn't have the need to test it. The other build I've seen of this used four copies of Nibelung Horn with a single Yggdrasil Omega summon for a crit grid, but I didn't have access to four at the time.
It's been a while but to my knowledge, I didn't have to prototype this much, as it worked off the bat. The Ichigo Hitofuri was just what first came to mind that I had on hand that had a mod otherwise not present in the grid in Normal Stamina for characters other than MC, but looking at it, it could've easily been a bunch of other different pieces. As the enemy doesn't attack, any concern for survivability is moot, and all that matters is that we land the kill consistently, which this did.



Main Summon	Support Summon	All allies gain Charge Bar +Instantly boosts Charge Bar by , C.A. DMG Up (1 time)Charge attack DMG is boosted (1 time) Duration: Indefinite, and C.A. DMG Cap Up (1 time)Charge attack DMG cap is boosted (1 time) Duration: Indefinite based on number of Machine CellConsumed upon normal attacks and using skills (Can't be removed / Max: 5) . (Consumes all Machine CellConsumed upon normal attacks and using skills (Can't be removed / Max: 5) .) Limit Burst Not Selected Not Selected




		Lvl 250


	Oceansoul's MightMedium boost to water allies' ATK Oceansoul's SentenceMedium boost to water allies' C.A. DMG and C.A. DMG cap	Oceansoul's MightMedium boost to water allies' ATK Oceansoul's SentenceMedium boost to water allies' C.A. DMG and C.A. DMG cap	Oceansoul's MightMedium boost to water allies' ATK Oceansoul's SentenceMedium boost to water allies' C.A. DMG and C.A. DMG cap

	Blade's WrathBoost to ATK, max HP, and multiattack rate based on how many katanas are equipped. Snowfall's QuenchingSupplement Water allies' C.A. DMG based on how high their HP is. Snowfall's Ascendancy10% boost to Water allies' Special C.A. DMG Cap.	Blade's WrathBoost to ATK, max HP, and multiattack rate based on how many katanas are equipped. Snowfall's QuenchingSupplement Water allies' C.A. DMG based on how high their HP is. Snowfall's Ascendancy10% boost to Water allies' Special C.A. DMG Cap.	Blade's WrathBoost to ATK, max HP, and multiattack rate based on how many katanas are equipped. Snowfall's QuenchingSupplement Water allies' C.A. DMG based on how high their HP is. Snowfall's Ascendancy10% boost to Water allies' Special C.A. DMG Cap.

Empress-Justice's VirtueWhen main weapon: Massive boost to Water allies' ATKModifier: EX. Water allies restore 10% HP upon casting buff-removing skills (Healing cap: 3000). Sephira Maxi-Water20% boost to Water allies' DMG Cap in Arcarum.	Concrio VentusBoost to Humans' and Erunes' ATK and HP. Incursio VentusBoost to all allies' ATK based on number of Humans and Erunes in party.	Terra's MajestyBig boost to Earth allies' ATK and max HP γ Revelation15% boost to charge attack DMG cap Cunning TemptationAt start of battle: Various buffs 50% ATK UpATK is boosted Strength: 50%Multiplier: NormalDuration: 4 turns 50% DEF UpDEF is boosted Strength: 50%Duration: 4 turns 10% DMG Cap UpMaximum amount of DMG that can be dealt per hit is boosted Strength: 10%Duration: 4 turns 35% DA UpDouble attack rate is boosted Strength: 35%Duration: 4 turns 25% TA UpTriple attack rate is boosted Strength: 25%Duration: 4 turns 20% Dodge Rate UpChance to dodge DMG and debuffs Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 20% Debuff Success BoostedDebuff success rate is boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 80% Skill DMG UpSkill DMG is boosted Strength: 80%Duration: 4 turns 20% C.A. DMG UpCharge attack DMG is boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 30% C.B. DMG UpChain burst DMG is boosted Strength: 30%Duration: 4 turns 20% C.B. DMG Cap UpChain Burst DMG Cap Boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns VeilDebuffs will be nullified (1 time) Duration: Indefinite"Veil" is an unofficial name used by the wiki for this status effect. Its actual in-game name is "Immune." Dispel Cancel (1 time)Effects that remove buffs will be nullified (1 time) Duration: Indefinite to all allies / 30% hit to max HP	Gladius PlenumBig boost to sabre-specialty allies' ATK and max HP / Big boost to sabre-specialty allies' ATK based on how high HP is. Scandere Aggressio10% boost to one-foe attack DMG cap Fulgor ImpetusAmplifySeraphic modifier superior elemental DMG by 25%.

This is the setup I used to farm Shiva and Atum weapons, it uses the Engage AugmentsGain 5 Machine CellConsumed upon normal attacks and using skills (Can't be removed / Max: 5)
(Max: 5) and restore HP (Healing cap: 2000).
(When HP is 50% or above: Also gain StrengthATK is greatly boosted based on how high HP is
Strength: 45%-15%Duration: 3 turns.)
At level 30:
(When HP is below 50%: Also gain JammedATK is greatly boosted based on how low HP is
Strength: 30%-90%Duration: 3 turns.) and Limit BurstAll allies gain Charge Bar +Instantly boosts Charge Bar by
, C.A. DMG Up (1 time)Charge attack DMG is boosted (1 time)
Duration: Indefinite, and C.A. DMG Cap Up (1 time)Charge attack DMG cap is boosted (1 time)
Duration: Indefinite based on number of Machine CellConsumed upon normal attacks and using skills (Can't be removed / Max: 5)
.
(Consumes all Machine CellConsumed upon normal attacks and using skills (Can't be removed / Max: 5)
.) combo plus a Beelzebub call to do quick-ish blue chests. Much more optimized setups are very easily doable, but M2 and Ennead aren't exactly competitive, so I didn't feel the need to.
A quick glance at the character choices should be pretty simple, it's just three characters with Unworldly charge attack. Lecia (Water) backrow provides a little bit extra damage.
Grid wise, it's a pretty straightforward build that just wants to maximize the one-turn CA damage. Before I had access to Schrodinger this was running four Tyros Zither and just basic damage support, but with 'dinger, I felt I only needed three, especially since every character already has insanely high cap. Realistically I could probably pull it down to two but once again, I didn't feel the need to optimize further, as it already fulfilled my goals.
The triple Schrodinger was a simple pick for the case at hand. While the weapon's Supplemental damage caps out at two copies, we're dealing with characters here whose charge attacks are so strong they'll hit hardcapA hard 6.6 million damage cap enforced by most raids with ease, so we want to max out on that, which caps at three.
As you can see, this grid has an off-element Dark Opus in it, with Freyr Key. When you don't rely on counters or very tight margins to cap, Freyr Key is so powerful that it ends up stronger than an on-element opus for the turns its active. My Harp of Repudiation is just perpetually on Freyr and I use it across all my 45m Blue Chest grids for this reason. This is, in some senses of the word, fairly suboptimal, as I could probably squeeze out more damage by swapping my keys around as needed, but I personally enjoy the comfort of just having a Freyr key to fall back on.
As for the other weapon choices, Rise of Justice has Unworldly CA, and that's essentially the only reason it's there. It's even at 0★. The Bahamut weapon didn't really have much thought behind it, I just needed something to quickly fill a space and the simulator made it look pretty good. When testing, it worked out fine so that's what I ended up with.


Lvl 150	Lvl 130



Main Summon	Support Summon	All allies instantly perform a normal attack without using up a turn. Tag Team Not Selected Not Selected




		Lvl 250


	Stormwyrm's StaminaMedium boost to wind allies' ATK based on how high HP is Stormwyrm's Verity IIBig boost to wind allies' critical hit rate	Stormwyrm's StaminaMedium boost to wind allies' ATK based on how high HP is Stormwyrm's Verity IIBig boost to wind allies' critical hit rate	Tranquility's PersistenceSupplement wind allies' DMG based on how high their HP is Whirlwind's ProgressionMedium boost to wind allies' wind ATK based on number of turns passed

	Stormwyrm's StaminaMedium boost to wind allies' ATK based on how high HP is Stormwyrm's Verity IIBig boost to wind allies' critical hit rate	Stormwyrm's StaminaMedium boost to wind allies' ATK based on how high HP is Stormwyrm's Verity IIBig boost to wind allies' critical hit rate	Stormwyrm's BetrayalBoost to wind allies' ATK for first 8 turns of battle Stormwyrm's TyrannyBig boost to wind allies' ATK / 10% cut to wind allies' max HP

Tranquility's FortitudeSupplement wind allies' DMG based on how low HP is Preemptive Gale BladeBoost to wind allies' ATK for first 8 turns of battle	Makhaira PlenumBig boost to katana-specialty allies' ATK and max HP / Big boost to katana-specialty allies' ATK based on how high HP is. Scandere Aggressio10% boost to one-foe attack DMG cap Fulgor ImpetusAmplifySeraphic modifier superior elemental DMG by 25%.	Terra's MajestyBig boost to Earth allies' ATK and max HP γ Revelation15% boost to charge attack DMG cap Cunning TemptationAt start of battle: Various buffs 50% ATK UpATK is boosted Strength: 50%Multiplier: NormalDuration: 4 turns 50% DEF UpDEF is boosted Strength: 50%Duration: 4 turns 10% DMG Cap UpMaximum amount of DMG that can be dealt per hit is boosted Strength: 10%Duration: 4 turns 35% DA UpDouble attack rate is boosted Strength: 35%Duration: 4 turns 25% TA UpTriple attack rate is boosted Strength: 25%Duration: 4 turns 20% Dodge Rate UpChance to dodge DMG and debuffs Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 20% Debuff Success BoostedDebuff success rate is boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 80% Skill DMG UpSkill DMG is boosted Strength: 80%Duration: 4 turns 20% C.A. DMG UpCharge attack DMG is boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns 30% C.B. DMG UpChain burst DMG is boosted Strength: 30%Duration: 4 turns 20% C.B. DMG Cap UpChain Burst DMG Cap Boosted Strength: 20%Duration: 4 turns VeilDebuffs will be nullified (1 time) Duration: Indefinite"Veil" is an unofficial name used by the wiki for this status effect. Its actual in-game name is "Immune." Dispel Cancel (1 time)Effects that remove buffs will be nullified (1 time) Duration: Indefinite to all allies / 30% hit to max HP	Glimmer's PactSupplement light allies' DMG Harp Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many harps are equipped Glimmer's QuintessenceBoost to light allies' DMG cap

This is a "generic" burst setup that I mainly used for Galleon blue chest farming. It uses the tried and true Korwa (Summer) and Narmaya (Grand) combo with Niyon 150 support for big 1 turn damage.
The core of grid the are the four Last Storm Harp, boosted by single Tiamat Omega as seen above. The choice to use a critical hit build came from Narmaya's Draped in ButterfliesFor Wind allies' critical hits: 3% boost to damage cap and 10% Bonus Wind DMG effect., but more optimized setups can probably just pump more raw power into her and use Echo on the Dark Opus instead. Once September 2023 Guild War comes, I'll replace this build with a tighter 131m/NM95 one, but for now this is the one I have.
The off-element opus comes back, and is frankly not a perfect choice here. Narmaya absolutely requires as much power fed to her as possible to cap her assassin damage, so using an off-element weapon like this will substantially lower her output. Alas, I did not feel like spending a gold bar on another opus just for this, but I might do so for Guild War. In the same vein, the choice of using Ultima Katana here over other ultimas is very important to help pump her up.
The turn locked skills on Abu Simbel and Ancient Nalakuvara are choice here, as they live on their own "hidden" mod in the grid, and since we only take two turns at most with this, provide us incredible bang for our buck, and were the first thing I added right after.
When looking for some EX mod to add to the grid for mod mixing, the Harmonia ended up as a slam-dunk for the Voltage synergy with our six harps, but will probably fall off once the Opus is changed to be on-element. Lastly, the Mandjet is just a clean bit of supplemental to help round it off. Usually this type of grid would prefer a damage cap weapon in the slot Mandjet currently takes, but it already tends to struggle capping as is, so it wouldn't provide much benefit overall. Once this is updated with an actual set in stone HP target, I suspect this will be one of the first changes.
An interesting note about this grid is the synergy between backrow Katzelia and the Supplemental DMG (2000)DMG taken is supplemented (Can't be removed)
Strength: 2000Duration: 3 turns provided by Belial (Summer). As having Belial gets you to start the battle with a debuff already present on all of your characters, Katzelia's Judgement ReversedWhen Sub Ally:
Refresh 5% of Wind allies' HP after each turn when not debuffed (Healing cap: 350).
30% boost to Wind allies' ATKPerpetuity modifier when debuffed. will be permanently active, providing a huge 30% buff to our attack.



Main Summon	Support Summon	Inflict 25% ATK DownATK is lowered Strength: 25%Base Accuracy: 80%Duration: 180 secondsStacking: Dual and 25% DEF DownDEF is lowered Strength: 25%Base Accuracy: 80%Duration: 180 secondsStacking: Dual on all foes. Miserable Mist 100% elemental damage to a foe. Inflict 20% DEF DownDEF is lowered Strength: 20%Base Accuracy: 80%Duration: 180 secondsStacking: Single. Armor Break Gain Triple StrikeAttacks 3 times each turn Duration: 1 turn . (Consumes 40% of charge bar.) No More Doubt


	Ironflame's PrimacyMedium boost to fire allies' ATK / Medium boost to double attack rate for fire allies Ironflame's AegisSmall boost to fire allies' max HP	Ironflame's Stamina IIBig boost to fire allies' ATK based on how high HP is Ironflame's AegisSmall boost to fire allies' max HP	Ironflame's PrimacyMedium boost to fire allies' ATK / Medium boost to double attack rate for fire allies Ironflame's AegisSmall boost to fire allies' max HP

	Wilnas's FirestormBoost to Fire allies' ATK0.1% per turn per skill level, max 25%Modifier: EX based on number of turns passed. Emerald BarrierWind DMG reduction to all allies. Ironflame's Majesty IIIBig boost to Fire allies' ATK and max HP	Ironflame's MightMedium boost to fire allies' ATK Ironflame's SentenceMedium boost to fire allies' C.A. DMG and C.A. DMG cap	Heliacal SovereignUnworldly boost to Fire allies' ATK. Astral Blow II10% Bonus Fire DMG effect to Fire allies' triple attacks.

Kengo's NatureWhen main weapon (MC only): 50% boost to charge bar gain. Kengo's Devilry	Inferno's Might IIIMassive boost to fire allies' ATK Hellfire's StaminaMedium boost to fire allies' ATK based on how high HP is	Blaze's CruxSupplement fire allies' C.A. DMG Arsus ExcelsiorBoost to fire allies' C.A. DMG cap	Makhaira PlenumBig boost to katana-specialty allies' ATK and max HP / Big boost to katana-specialty allies' ATK based on how high HP is. Scandere Aggressio10% boost to one-foe attack DMG cap Fulgor ImpetusAmplifySeraphic modifier superior elemental DMG by 25%.

This is a very slow but reasonably consistent team to solo Ra in Full Auto, guard off.
Mirin (Summer)'s release was my initial inspiration for this setup, as she seems perfectly fit for the boss's constant CA omens and need for a sustain unit. Ra nearly forces you to play Kengo to kill it efficiently, so the Silva (Yukata) and Wilnas combo for the other two slots was a quick and dirty pick for the damage source. These two characters have excellent synergy, as Silva's Silent AimGain Silent AimCan't normal attack / Less likely to be attacked / Upon charge attack: Double Strike effect to a fire ally in the next position / At end of turn: 15% boost to fire allies' charge bars / Boost to C.A. specs (Stackable) (Can't be removed)
Duration: 5 turns. enables Wilnas to use his Triple Attack buff much more often.
As for the grid, this one had to go through a lot of revision to get right. Earlier versions of the grid had Dark Opus in them, with more general damage support over sustain. As I tried it out against Ra's attacks, I quickly realized I needed to stack as much HP as possible, which is what brought in the entire top row of weapons as well as the Draconic Harp.
The choices of Summer's Mirage and Al-Abad were very straightforward, and were there from the start. A charge attack team would need charge attack support, and well, this is charge attack support.
The grid was lacking EX mod and a bit of normal mod, which led to the introduction of Sol Remnant. The Astral weapon helps pump up Wilnas' already strong TAs enabled by Silva's Double StrikeAttacks twice each turn
as well as just being a generally strong EX pick. The Ixaba was taken over something more conventional like a Bahamut weapon to enable additional charge bar gain for Mirin's Swimsuit Made with LoveHas a maximum charge bar limit of 200%.
Gain these boosts in order based on number of katanas equipped:
30% boost to ATKPerpetuity modifier,
50% boost to DEF,
20% boost to charge bar gain,
10% boost to damage cap,
30% boost to healing and 20% boost to healing cap..
Notice also the lack of a Belial in the summon sheet. This is, once again, because the setup desperately needs the HP to survive Ra's attacks, so while some auto and skill damage does float around it would buff, it ended up being a liability upon testing. Lastly, Vira (Valentine) in the backrow is just an insurance policy in case the boss's RNG decides to just target one of our units to death, so we have a strong tank to help push the kill.



Main Summon	Support Summon	Convert caster's HP to charge bar3% charge bar for every 250 HP consumed, up to 100% charge bar. (Consumes up to 50% of current HP.) Splitting Spirit Consume all Magic Circles Fire CircleA magic circle possessing the power of fire (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Water CircleA magic circle possessing the power of water (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Earth CircleA magic circle possessing the power of earth (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Wind CircleA magic circle possessing the power of wind (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Light CircleA magic circle possessing the power of light (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Dark CircleA magic circle possessing the power of dark (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) to grant all allies 10% x (Magic Circles Fire CircleA magic circle possessing the power of fire (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Water CircleA magic circle possessing the power of water (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Earth CircleA magic circle possessing the power of earth (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Wind CircleA magic circle possessing the power of wind (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Light CircleA magic circle possessing the power of light (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Dark CircleA magic circle possessing the power of dark (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) ) Bonus DMGDeals bonus DMG for one-foe one-ally attacks Strength: 10% x (Magic Circles Fire CircleA magic circle possessing the power of fire (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Water CircleA magic circle possessing the power of water (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Earth CircleA magic circle possessing the power of earth (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Wind CircleA magic circle possessing the power of wind (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Light CircleA magic circle possessing the power of light (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Dark CircleA magic circle possessing the power of dark (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) ) (Max: 80%)Duration: 1 turn . (Max: 80%.) (Cannot be used without Magic CirclesFire CircleA magic circle possessing the power of fire (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Water CircleA magic circle possessing the power of water (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Earth CircleA magic circle possessing the power of earth (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Wind CircleA magic circle possessing the power of wind (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Light CircleA magic circle possessing the power of light (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) Dark CircleA magic circle possessing the power of dark (Max: 2 / Can't be removed) .) Dragon Break Not Selected






		Lvl 250


	Purgatory's PactSupplement dark allies' DMG Axe Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many axes are equipped Purgatory's QuintessenceBoost to dark allies' DMG cap	Purgatory's PactSupplement dark allies' DMG Axe Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many axes are equipped Purgatory's QuintessenceBoost to dark allies' DMG cap	Oblivion's Might IIIMassive boost to dark allies' ATK Hatred's StaminaMedium boost to dark allies' ATK based on how high HP is

	Oblivion's Verity IIBig boost to dark allies' critical hit rate Hatred's MajestyMedium boost to dark allies' ATK and max HP	Oblivion's Verity IIBig boost to dark allies' critical hit rate Hatred's MajestyMedium boost to dark allies' ATK and max HP	Oblivion's Might IIIMassive boost to dark allies' ATK Dark's TriumSmall boost to dark allies' multiattack rate

Mistfall's Majesty IIIBig boost to Dark allies' ATK and max HP β Revelation50% boost to skill DMG cap Deceitful FallacyBonus Elemental DMG effect / Sharp hit to charge bar gain	Oblivion's TemperingBig boost to dark allies' skill DMG cap / Big supplemental boost to skill DMG Dark's FandangoSmall boost to dark allies' ATK / Small boost to triple attack rate	Oblivion's TemperingBig boost to dark allies' skill DMG cap / Big supplemental boost to skill DMG Dark's FandangoSmall boost to dark allies' ATK / Small boost to triple attack rate	Luctor PlenumBig boost to melee-specialty allies' ATK and max HP / Big boost to melee-specialty allies' ATK based on how high HP is. Scandere Aggressio10% boost to one-foe attack DMG cap Fulgor ImpetusAmplifySeraphic modifier superior elemental DMG by 25%.

This is a setup to farm Gold Brick drops from Akasha. It is a somewhat older version of the build from before I had access to Ereshkigal and Ilsa (Yukata), but I do find this one a bit more interesting to talk about due to all of the moving pieces.
The core of the rotation comes in using the Dark Opus Charge Attack effect when equipped with Chain of Falsehood to provide Double StrikeAttacks twice each turn
to the entire team. We then take characters that can make good use of attacking twice, either by just having super high self-steroids like Seox or by having access to an automatic nuke on each attack, in the case of Fediel and Bowman. The charge attacks are provided by Splitting SpiritConvert caster's HP to charge bar3% charge bar for every 250 HP consumed, up to 100% charge bar.
(Consumes up to 50% of current HP.) on turn 1, and RuneweavingCall forth the power of the tetra-elements to cast a spell.
At level 30:
Also gain Charge Bar +30%Instantly boosts Charge Bar by 30%
Strength: 30%. + on turn 2.
As for the grid weapon choices, 2x Pain and Suffering is non-negotiable in any optimized dark grid. As the build is on double Hades, we can then bring in the 2x Bab-el-Mandeb as an incredibly powerful compact core, as it provides a good bit of attack and HP (which is somewhat important to survive potential triggers from Akasha), as well as being an Axe, which synergizes wonderfully with the Voltage on our PnS.
As a very large portion of our damage comes from Fediel's auto activated multi hit nukes, we want to bring in a lot of skill damage supplemental to make sure those reach their full potential, hence the 2x Skeletal Eclipse. I believe in older versions, I was running Agonize instead, which is a bit weaker, but farmable. Once I took out Fediel for Ilsa, the skill damage supplemental fully came off in favor of Eternal Signature, as just Bowman's small nukes weren't enough to make proper use of it, and Ilsa's War EternalAll Dark allies gain 100% / 20% Critical Hit Rate UpAttacks made with elemental superiority have a chance to deal boosted DMG
Strength: 100% chance of dealing 20% more damage.Duration: 5 turns, 15% DMG Cap UpMaximum amount of DMG that can be dealt per hit is boosted
Strength: 15%Duration: 5 turns, and 20% Bonus Dark DMGDeals bonus dark DMG for one-foe one-ally attacks
Strength: 20%Duration: 5 turns. helps us hit much harder to fulfil ES's cap up.
The Fallen Sword exists in the grid mainly for mod mixing, as we don't have any other source of Stamina, making FS a perfect pick here. The Parazonium used to be a Celeste Zaghnal Omega previously, as it being an Axe allowed us to cap PnS Voltage, while also providing a small bit of mod mixing thanks to having an Omega skill we otherwise only have a small amount of from the Dark Opus. Parazonium ended up simulating higher when tested after its Attack Awakening was released, so the change was made then.
As for some interesting minor details, notice the usage of β Pendulum in the Dark Opus. This is done to leverage the fact that it provides a medium nuke upon Charge Attack, just to squeeze a little bit more damage. Likewise, as the Dark Opus' charge attack provides Oblivion CrestDark magic is amplified (Max: 5 / Can't be removed)
, we take Forte and Cagliostro (Halloween) in the backrow as they make up Dark's fairly lackluster crest support. Lastly, we also can use Peace in DeathTakes no debuffs / Effects that remove buffs are nullified / Charge bar is boosted on every turn (Can't be removed / Ends upon taking DMG 2 times)
as a way to negate the boss's dispels which would otherwise ruin our buffs and kill our momentum (as a bit of trivia, Eresh builds instead make use of Freyr Key for this same purpose).



Main Summon	Support Summon	Gain 70% Charge Bar Gain UpCharge bar gain is boosted Strength: 70%Duration: 3 turns. Pandemonium Gain Charge Bar +100%Instantly boosts Charge Bar by 100% Strength: 100% and VinlandCharge bar will be boosted by 100% at the end of the turn (Can't be removed) Duration: 2 turns. Vinland Extend the duration of all allies' buffs by 1 turn. (Excludes 1-turn buffs.) All allies gain two random buffs. Jomsborg


	Scarlet ConvergenceWhen at least 4 weapons of the same weapon group are equipped: Boost to fire allies' ATK, DEF, and DMG cap	Blaze's PactSupplement fire allies' DMG Axe Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many axes are equipped	Blaze's PactSupplement fire allies' DMG Axe Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many axes are equipped Blaze's QuintessenceBoost to fire allies' DMG cap

	Ironflame's Stamina IIBig boost to fire allies' ATK based on how high HP is Ironflame's AegisSmall boost to fire allies' max HP	Ironflame's Celere IIMedium boost to fire allies' ATK and critical hit rate Ironflame's EnmitySmall boost to fire allies' ATK based on how low HP is	Ironflame's Celere IIMedium boost to fire allies' ATK and critical hit rate Ironflame's EnmitySmall boost to fire allies' ATK based on how low HP is

Ironflame's Majesty IIIBig boost to Fire allies' ATK and max HP β Revelation50% boost to skill DMG cap Deceitful FallacyBonus Elemental DMG effect / Sharp hit to charge bar gain	Cosmic Sword II50% boost to ATK and HP of equipped swords. Azure Sword's DisciplineBoost to DMG Cap based on how many sabres are equipped.	Ironflame's Celere IIMedium boost to fire allies' ATK and critical hit rate Ironflame's EnmitySmall boost to fire allies' ATK based on how low HP is	Ironflame's Celere IIMedium boost to fire allies' ATK and critical hit rate Ironflame's EnmitySmall boost to fire allies' ATK based on how low HP is


Hierophant-Sun's BlessingMassive boost to Fire allies' ATKModifier: EX. Drain effect to Fire allies with multistrike Double StrikeAttacks twice each turn Triple StrikeAttacks 3 times each turn Quadruple StrikeAttacks 4 times each turn effects. Sephira Maxi-Fire20% boost to Fire allies' DMG Cap in Arcarum. Fire's MajestySmall boost to Fire allies' ATK and max HP	Concrio IgnisBoost to Humans' and Draphs' ATK and HP. Vita IgnisBoost to all allies' ATK and max HP based on number of Humans and Draphs in party.	Gladius PlenumBig boost to sabre-specialty allies' ATK and max HP / Big boost to sabre-specialty allies' ATK based on how high HP is. Scandere Aggressio10% boost to one-foe attack DMG cap Fulgor ImpetusAmplifySeraphic modifier superior elemental DMG by 25%.

This team is designed to farm Sette di Spade and Eternity Sand from Seofon by getting 4 million honors for Blue Chest as fast as possible, while still being able to help with the post 10% cleanup phase. At the time of writing, I have farmed 10 4★ Sette di Spade with this (lord help me).
This one will be slightly different, as it's an adapted version of a similar setup from quwatoro. My version is a bit different, so I'll start with trying to "reverse-engineer" quwatoro's original design, and then explain my changes.
The team composition is pretty much just the three best characters Fire has access to right now. For nearly all Seofon setups, Percival (Grand) is straight up required, and the Wilnas and Michael combo is the fastest damage you can currently pull off. For a raid without any stopgaps other than high damage checks, this is basically all we need.
Similarly to the previously shown Dark Akasha setup, this leverages Chain of Falsehood to provide Double StrikeAttacks twice each turn
to the entire team. I believe the choice of using Viking instead of the more common Berserker for this raid comes from the need to compensate for Omega's lower firepower and damage cap with Norden HarrAll allies gain 20% DMG AmplifiedDMG for one-foe attacks and counterattacks is amplified
Strength: 20%Duration: 3 turns.
If main or auxiliary weapon is a sabre: Also gain Guaranteed TAGuaranteed triple attack regardless of Triple Attack Lowered debuffs
Duration: 3 turns.
If main or auxiliary weapon is an axe: Also gain Bonus DMG (1 time)Deals bonus DMG for normal attacks (1 time)
Strength: 30%Duration: 3 turns.. One of the two had to be chosen for access to VinlandGain Charge Bar +100%Instantly boosts Charge Bar by 100%
Strength: 100% and VinlandCharge bar will be boosted by 100% at the end of the turn (Can't be removed)
Duration: 2 turns. either way.
Watching the video, you can tell that the damage cap requirement is fairly tight. The greatest choke point is the omen break on the third turn without using Koenig Dekret900% Fire damage to all foes (Damage cap: ~1,020,000).
All Fire allies gain 100% Fire ATK UpFire ATK is boosted
Strength: 100%Duration: 1 turn and 30% Bonus Fire DMG (1 time)Deals bonus fire DMG for normal attacks (1 time)
Strength: 30%Duration: 1 turn .
All Fire allies instantly perform a normal attack without using up a turn.
(Consumes King's BlazeATK is greatly boosted based on how high HP is / Deals bonus fire DMG upon normal attacks (Can't be removed)
after activation.), and enough cap is required to hit it - hence the need for a 4★ Crimson Scale and the inclusion of the Lord of Flames.
At this point, we need to fulfil Lord of Flames's "4 weapons of the same type" requirement to turn it on. I assume quwatoro here decided to take a bread and butter crit grid with Ancient Ecke Sachs, as AES fulfils a triple purpose for this:

They're all Swords, so they turn on LoF, and then allow for additional weapon-type synergy, such as the Cosmic Sword seen.

With Michael's boost, they fully cap crit, and bring in a bit of enmity too which helps us hit through the boss's constant onslaught of teamwide attacks.

They have an abnormally high base HP value, much higher than most other weapons, even high end ones. Once again, this creates great synergy with Cosmic Sword, which multiplies that HP even higher.

I'm not exactly sure what informed the 5th AES in here, but I can only assume it's for more raw HP, as his team goes down into the red fairly often during the video.
This leaves us with the few extra picks on the grid:

Cosmic Sword was already mostly explained previously, but since we're so in need of damage cap, it's perfectly synergistic with the rest of the setup

Nilakantha provides great mod mixing, in that we don't have Omega Stamina yet, and also additional HP to help us survive

Sword of Pallas Militis is a great pick for the Additional Weapons slot due to the sheer amount of swords we already have, plus it'll be boosted by the Cosmic

Ultima Axe for boosting up Wilnas so he can cap when under his assassin buff

With that said, let's now look at my changes.
The first thing you'll notice is that my grid has access to the full 13 slots. The original one was made before that was available. My immediate pick for filling the final slot was Heat of The Sun, as the DrainNormal attack and C.A. DMG dealt is partially absorbed to HP
effect it provides is fantastic for sustain against the boss's high damage, especially in rooms where not much debuff support from other players is available.
As I had access to a second Crimson Scale, I wanted to incorporate that into the grid. When building this, I felt like the 5th AES was the weakest link in the original build, so that's what I chose to swap out in the main grid. Having two CS in the grid muddied up the Voltage skill a bit, to the point where the Sword of Pallas Militis in the Additional Slots was proving to be less important.
I chose to take a Sword of Bahamut Coda into the Militis slot instead, which provided some much needed Normal Might mod that the grid was otherwise lacking, and some additional HP to make up for the removed AES. Another potential option would've been Kiss of The Devil, but as mine is not built, I don't know if it would be ideal.
At this point, my grid looked exactly as shown above, but with both CS at 0★, and an Ultima Axe instead of the Ultima Sword. After some attempts at the raid, I noticed that more often than not, I was not hitting the 77,777,777 Damage requirement on turn 3, and just failing the entire rotation because of it. To compensate for this, I tried a raid without reloading to examine where the damage was lacking, and made the choice to swap out Ultima Axe for Ultima Sword, in order to help Percival and Michael hit a bit more to round off the damage, as it looked like Wilnas could hit just fine being ringed and in Attack Awakening.
Uncapping one of the CS to 4★ fulfil the damage cap was required as well it seemed, but after that test was done, as long as SingedHP is lowered on every turn based on Singed lvl (Can't be removed)
is at 7 or higher, I've yet to fail the turn 3 omen.
My last change was bringing in Charlotta (Halloween) to the backrow for an additional Blue Potion through Carnival KnightAdd 1 blue potion at battle start.
(Takes effect even when Charlotta is a sub ally.), as when playing in raids full of other Vikings/Berserkers, the boss was never fully debuffed in Attack Down, which made my ability to consistently help with the 10% cleanup inconsistent. The extra potion helped fill that gap, and I was in my merry way farming swords for the next month.


Leviathan Mino



Main Summon	Support Summon	Fill 3 charge diamonds on all foes. All allies gain 20% Bonus DMGDeals bonus DMG for one-foe one-ally attacks Strength: 20%Duration: 3 turns, Charge Bar +30%Instantly boosts Charge Bar by 30% Strength: 30%, and 1 Elemental Crest Hellfire CrestFire magic is amplified (Max: 5 / Can't be removed) Duration: Indefinite Deluge CrestWater magic is amplified (Max: 5 / Can't be removed) Duration: Indefinite Wasteland CrestEarth magic is amplified (Max: 5 / Can't be removed) Duration: Indefinite Typhoon CrestWind magic is amplified (Max: 5 / Can't be removed) Duration: Indefinite Aurora CrestLight magic is amplified (Max: 5 / Can't be removed) Duration: Indefinite Oblivion CrestDark magic is amplified (Max: 5 / Can't be removed) Duration: Indefinite. (Crest gained based on caster's element.) Secret Triad Inflict 25% ATK DownATK is lowered Strength: 25%Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 secondsStacking: Dual, 25% DEF DownDEF is lowered Strength: 25%Base Accuracy: 90%Duration: 180 secondsStacking: Dual, BlindedAttacks have a slight chance to miss Duration: 180 seconds, and Poisoned (9999)HP is lowered on every turn Strength: 9999Duration: 180 seconds on all foes. Dark Haze Remove 1 debuff from all parties. Clarity


	Zion's Celere IIBig boost to light allies' ATK and critical hit rate Light's GraceSmall boost to light allies' max HP and debuff resistance	Glimmer's PactSupplement light allies' DMG Harp Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many harps are equipped Glimmer's QuintessenceBoost to light allies' DMG cap	Glimmer's PactSupplement light allies' DMG Harp Voltage IIBoost to ATK based on how many harps are equipped Glimmer's QuintessenceBoost to light allies' DMG cap

	Zion's Might IIIMassive boost to light allies' ATK Light's TriumSmall boost to light allies' multiattack rate	Zion's TemperingBig boost to light allies' skill DMG cap / Big supplemental boost to skill DMG Light's FandangoSmall boost to light allies' ATK / Small boost to triple attack rate	Golden VitalityBoost to light allies' ATK, DEF, and DMG cap based on their max HP Light's MajestySmall boost to light allies' ATK and max HP

Zion's Celere IIBig boost to light allies' ATK and critical hit rate Light's GraceSmall boost to light allies' max HP and debuff resistance	Zion's MajestyBig boost to Light allies' ATK and max HP β Revelation50% boost to skill DMG cap Zion's StaminaBig boost to Light allies' ATK based on how high HP is	Zion's GarrisonBig boost to light allies' DEF based on how low HP is Light's TemperingSmall boost to light allies' skill DMG cap / Small supplemental boost to skill DMG	Zion's GarrisonBig boost to light allies' DEF based on how low HP is Light's TemperingSmall boost to light allies' skill DMG cap / Small supplemental boost to skill DMG


Concrio VentusBoost to Humans' and Erunes' ATK and HP. Incursio VentusBoost to all allies' ATK based on number of Humans and Erunes in party.	Chariot-Star's WishMassive boost to Light allies' ATKModifier: EX. 20% Bonus Light DMG effect to Light allies with DivinityTriple attack rate is boosted / DMG taken is boosted . Sephira Maxi-Light20% boost to Light allies' DMG Cap in Arcarum. Light's MajestySmall boost to Light allies' ATK and max HP	Knightcode's Might IIBig boost to light allies' ATK Sephira Light-TekMassive boost to light allies' critical hit rate in Arcarum

I use this team for running Super Ultimate Bahamut with my crew when our better Light player isn't available. My preferred role for that raid is DPS with Dark, but someone does need to take care of the Light TenetAll allies' HP is lowered at end of turn based on lvl (Can't be removed / Max: 10 / Lvl lowers each time a light party cancels an Omen)
stacks, so this one get brought in for those situations.
The core idea behind this team is using Makura's Haring EscapeSwitch positions with a sub ally.
Makura gains Jade MoonlightGains the following effects when switching to main ally upon another ally being knocked out or switched out with Blowback effect: ATK, DMG cap, and charge bar gain are boosted / Nitotsuisou effect / Hanaorimito effect (Can't be removed)
Duration: Indefinite.
(When switching with a Light ally:
Ally receives Makura's buffs.)
(Can't be recast.) to pass NitotsuisouHostility is boosted / Attacks twice each turn / 4-hit light DMG to a foe and hit to ATK and DEF (Stackable) after normal attacks / Can't use Nitotsuisou while in effect (Can't be removed / Ends upon taking DMG 2 times)
Duration: Indefinite to Lu Woh, so that his Radiant Spearthrow6-hit, 150% Light damage to a foe (Damage cap: ~108,000 per hit).
Inflict 10% ATK Down (Stackable / Max: 40%)ATK is lowered (Stackable)
Strength: 10% (Max: 40%)Base Accuracy: 100%Duration: 180 seconds and 6% Special Attack DMG Lowered (Stackable / Max: 30%)Foe's special attack DMG is lowered (Stackable / Can't be removed)
Strength: 6% (Max: 30%)Base Accuracy: 100%Duration: IndefiniteLocal status effect.
(When Aureole of LifeFoes' ATK is boosted / Light allies' HP is restored every turn
Field effect
Local status effect is in effect:
Auto-activates upon normal attacks.) automatically activates twice every turn.
Once Lu Woh is out, Mugen (Halloween) will SubstituteReceives foe attack in place of an ally
(Excludes all-foe all-ally attacks)
for him for the entire rest of the fight and guard every turn, using Cloaked GuardianGain Substitute (Select)Receives foe attack in place of an ally (Can't be removed)
Duration: Indefinite, 30% Dark DMG LoweredDark DMG is lowered (Can't be removed)
Strength: 30%Duration: IndefiniteDark DEF Up. Not a Damage Cut.
Reduces Dark damage taken on a multiplier
separate from Damage Cuts., and Dark SwitchElemental DMG from foes turns into dark DMG (Can't be removed)
Duration: Indefinite.
(Only substitutes for a selected ally. Can't recast.). This setup ensures Lu Woh will never get hit, thus never losing any NitotsuisouHostility is boosted / Attacks twice each turn / 4-hit light DMG to a foe and hit to ATK and DEF (Stackable) after normal attacks / Can't use Nitotsuisou while in effect (Can't be removed / Ends upon taking DMG 2 times)
Duration: Indefinite stacks, and deliver extremely high damage via his automatic nukes. This is a variation on the build talked about in the Tier List section above.
The core of this grid is just a quintessential Light core, with 2x Harmonia and 2x Ivory Ark for high supplemental, as well as full crit and a lot of HP to survive the encounter. This setup does not charge attack after the initial few turns, so mainhand Ark was just coincidental and not put there for the Echo.
Since nearly all our damage will come from multi hit skills, we want to cap that supplemental frame. The original version of this grid ran 2x Radiant Rinne for this purpose, as well as Sleipnir Shoe and Sunset Fan to have enough HP and defense to deal with the boss's attacks. Since the release of Symmetria, I've compressed down those three weapons down to just two SymmetriaWhen boosted, each Rinne provides 100k supplemental, and each Symmetria provides 50k, thus adding up to the full 200k cap in the end..
The rest of the grid is fairly flexible. I had my Dark Opus on Stamina, which led to me choosing Gambanteinn over a conventional damage choice Eden. This was the case in the original grid too. An Imperious Fury was then brought in after the Symmetria switch freed up a slot as just a very strong general all rounder. If I switched out the opus skill to, say, ProgressionProgression on Light DO is often used for a SUBHL final phase burst strategy., I'd consider switching an Eden into the Gamba slot.
My original intended Symmetria configuration was double Defense, but after Fury was added to the grid, I noticed I was capping my HP mod at 400% with just one, so one of them was changed to Attack, which created the current configuration.

Closing Notes

Thank you for reading this far. I hope the contents of this guide helped you better understand how grid building works in this game.

I made this guide because I see a lot of Rank 200 or higher players who just copy grids from other people without any knowledge of how they work or how to make tweaks in case a need arises. It's important to understand that the grid building process isn't exactly elegant. You have to try out different things until you land on one that works how you want it to-- especially when you're missing components of setups you were inspired by.

I hope the examples provided help show where different types of builds can be put to use, and how building with a target in mind influences your choices. I also hope that the guide dispelled both the myth that you can just use a general grid, and the myth that you must always play with fully optimized setups. Ultimately, I believe knowing that makes grids tick is fundamental to the iterative style of buildcraft in this game, so with the knowledge you gained here, get out, and get building!

Acknowledgements

	If you have any questions, or want to suggest an improvement, you can get in contact with me at the GBF Wiki Discord Server - my Discord username being vazkii.

Massive thank you to:

Mettie, avalira, jedmund, and No Laifu for early proofreading and structural feedback that informed the overall design of the guide.
tapp, nemulis, and Tabibito/Belú for more specific feedback towards the later stages of writing and catching important missing info.
Umikin for providing, and teaching me how to use the team templates.
Julinya for running through the guide in an editing pass to fix my grammar

Changelog

July 29, 2023

Added the explanations to the demo grids (finally!!)
Updated some of the chibi icons for more diversity
Made Awakening references prettier
Updated conclusion section a bit
Improved several bits of wording around the place
Fixed Cagliostro (Dark) being displayed in the Akasha example instead of Cagliostro (Halloween)
Removed WIP indicators

Previous Changelogs

July 14, 2023

Renamed to Theoretical Grid Building Guide
Moved HP info up to "There is no General Content"
Added a note on drop rate up options for Gold Chest raids
Added info on Kaneshige to the CA section
Added info on defense and heal cap weapons to the survivability section
Added note on weapons that bring multiple mods
Added info on Bubs-attack OTK
Added a link to the DPM292 Lu Woh SUBHL setup
Fixed some minor issues around the place

July 12, 2023

Finished the first full draft of the main guide, excluding the examples. Editing and more feedback still pending...

User:Vazkii/How2Grid