There are still a lot of fights in the Cardia Dungeons in the Final Fantasy Record Keeper (FFRK) mobile game that I have yet to clear.
After hearing the news that Final Fantasy Record Keeper was gonna end its service on September 29, 2022 (I talk more about that in another post), I wanted to finish as much of FFRK’s content as I can.
I know it doesn’t really matter, but still. For now, I don’t want to say goodbye to Final Fantasy Record Keeper yet. Heck, I wish this game didn’t have to end, at least not anytime soon.
Anyway, so I started going through the Cardia Dungeons, checking each quest and looking to see which ones I’ve already cleared. Will try to do the ones I haven’t cleared yet. Also trying to see if I can sub-30 these fights.
Torment Dungeons
There’s a Torment Dungeon for each of the Final Fantasy realms as well as Final Fantasy Record Keeper. There are 3 Torment fights per realm with the following quest levels: 240, 280 and 450.
The fights here have long since been powercrept so I’ve been able to do most of them already.
Final Fantasy XI D280 Torment Dungeon
Also known as Hatred Incarnate, Part 2. For this fight, my team was:
- Shantotto from Final Fantasy XI
- Lion from Final Fantasy XI
- Ayame from Final Fantasy XI
- Prishe from Final Fantasy XI
- Cait Sith from Final Fantasy VII (#ad)
Shantotto served as my main DPS since I have multiple BDL relics for her. Lion and Ayame were my secondary DPS. Cait Sith served as my support, healer, and buffer.
Don’t have a single BDL relic for Prishe so she was undoubtedly the weak link on this team. She was basically just here because I needed to bring another Final Fantasy XI char for this fight.
Speaking of this quest, this has been so powercrept by now that I was able to get the win in 6.50 seconds.
Final Fantasy XI D450 Torment Dungeon
Also known as Hatred Incarnate, Part 3. For this fight, I brought the same team that I used to beat the Final Fantasy XI D280 Torment dungeon. This fight was so easy that I was able to clear it in 10.95 seconds.
Dragonking Dungeons
The Dragonking fights in the Cardia Dungeons are quest level 630. There’s a Dragonking quest for each of the Final Fantasy realms as well as Final Fantasy Record Keeper. The boss for each of these fights is Bahamut.
Door of Kings, Final Fantasy XV Dragonking Dungeon
For this fight, my team was:
- Gladiolus Amicitia from Final Fantasy XV
- Iris Amicitia from Final Fantasy XV
- Lunafreya Nox Fleuret from Final Fantasy XV
- Ravus Nox Fleuret from Final Fantasy XV
- Mog from Final Fantasy VI
Gladiolus, Lunafreya, and Ravus served as my DPS. Mog and Iris served as my healers, buffers, and supports.
Have Gladio’s Dual Awakening Soul Break (DASB) and Synchro Arcane Soul Break (SASB). His Awakened Arcane Soul Break (AASB) is Lensable but I decided to try this fight first and see if I can make do without it.
Have Lunafreya’s Sync 2 and AASB. Have Ravus’s Sync, Dual, AASB, and True Arcane Soul Break (TASB) or Arcane Dyad Soul Break (ADSB).
Everyone did really well. Was able to get the win in 42.55 seconds. There are some rewards locked behind being able to sub-30 this quest so I tried it again after Lensing Gladiolus’s AASB.
Tried to go as fast as possible but the best I was able to manage was getting the win in 39.00 seconds. Very frustrating.
Will have to try this fight again later on. For now, I’ve decided to move on to a different quest since there’s still a lot I have yet to do.
Dreambreaker Dungeons
There’s a Dreambreaker Dungeon for each of the Final Fantasy realms as well as Final Fantasy Record Keeper. This fight is quest level 580.
Final Fantasy IV Dreambreaker Dungeon
For this fight, my team was:
- Rydia from Final Fanatasy IV
- Kain Highwind from Final Fantasy IV
- Tellah from Final Fantasy IV
- Porom from Final Fantasy IV
- Cait Sith from Final Fantasy VII
Rydia served as my main DPS since I have both of her Awakenings and some of her Syncs. Since each char can only equip 1 Sync per fight, I chose to bring Rydia’s holy Sync. She’s a really good magical DPS.
Kain and Tellah were my secondary DPS. Have Kain’s Dual and 1 of his Syncs. His Awakening is Lensable but opted not to Lens it for now. Have both of Tellah’s Awakenings. Kain deals physical damage while Tellah’s a mage.
Porom and Cait Sith served as my supports, healers, and buffers. Cait Sith is the premier support for mages. He did a really great job boosting Rydia’s and Tellah’s damage output.
Porom also has some support for mages. Only have her Sync and one of her Ultra Soul Breaks as well as her Glint+ Soul Break though.
Since I didn’t have a proper physical support, Kain didn’t do that well on this fight. So I just had him be the one to call on the Final Fantasy IV Roaming Warrior Chain and summon my Final Fantasy IV Historia Crystal.
Had Kain use his Soul Breaks when he had the gauges to do so but his damage was meh and he didn’t always break the damage cap even with his Sync and Dual up.
Rydia and Tellah more than made up for Kain’s subpar damage though thanks to Cait Sith’s and even Porom’s buffs and support. Was able to get the win in 30.30 seconds.
That .30 really bothered me. Was so close to being able to sub-30 this fight on the first try. It really sucks that I wasn’t able to.
Because I was so close to the sub-30 already, decided to try this fight again. Much to my annoyance though, while I was able to get the win again, I wasn’t even close to getting the sub-30 this time.
Kept trying this fight but it just wasn’t working out. Sometimes, I don’t even get the win, or I do but the fight ends up taking too long. Or I just quit halfway through because it’s clear that I’ll fail to get the sub-30.
Ended up wasting so many resources on this fight. Pretty sure I wouldn’t have done that if the game wasn’t ending.
But then again, if FFRK wasn’t ending, I wouldn’t even be doing this fight right now. I would have gladly waited until I can get more Final Fantasy IV tech to really make this fight easy.
For a while, I kept bringing the same team whenever I tried this fight. Then I decided to make some changes. I’ve tried switching between Mog and Cait Sith as my supports.
Cait Sith is great for mages but Mog can support magical DPS too. More importantly, Mog’s AASB2 is the perfect counter against the Full Break debuff that the Dreambreaker and Dragonking bosses use at certain HP thresholds. So if I bring Mog, I can counter this debuff.
My Mog isn’t as built as my Cait Sith though. Have most of Cait Sith’s relics whereas for Mog, I only have his AASB2, which I’ve honed to the max so he can use it twice per fight, his Sync, and one of his Ultras.
At some point, I tried Rosa Joanna Farrell from Final Fantasy IV as my healer instead of Porom. I only have her AASB and one of her Ultras so I had to Lens her Glint+ Soul Break that would let her instantly grant Protect, Shell, and Haste to the party.
Rosa’s a decent enough healer but she doesn’t really offer any buffs and such to the party. She can equip the Wrath ability though so it’s pretty easy to have her spam her Ultra Soul Break. One of the effects of the Ultra I have for her is being able to reduce the delay of everyone’s actions for 2 turns.
My Final Fantasy IV Historia Crystal was at Level 99 of 120. I thought that would be enough for this fight but since I kept failing to sub-30 this quest, I decided to spend the resources to level up my FF4 Historia Crystal to 120.
Also ended up wasting resources on Edward Chris von Muir from Final Fantasy IV. Don’t have a single BDL relic for him but I ended up creating his Hero Ability and unlocking most of the tiles on his Record Board.
Edward’s Hero Ability can reduce the delay of the party’s actions for 1 turn. I have his Ultra that temporarily increases the magic and mind of the party as well as reduces their offensive magic casting time for 2 turns.
Between Edward, Rosa, and either Cait Sith or Mog, I thought they’d be able to really speed things up so that Rydia and Tellah can just keep on attacking the boss as fast and as often as possible.
Edward can also use the Entrust ability so I had him give his gauges to Rydia so she can use one of her BDL relics right away. Even with this setup though, still had to keep trying and trying before I finally managed to sub-30 this fight.
My latest try finally gave me the win in 27.45 seconds with a team of Rydia, Tellah, Cait Sith, Rosa, and Edward.
So glad to finally be over and done with this fight. By now, I’m so sick of this quest. I never want to do this again.
Now I just find myself annoyed that these quests require you to sub-30 them in order to get all the rewards. Why can’t we just clear these fights once then move on to the next?
I think for now I’m just gonna clear these fights once then just go back and try again for the sub-30 later on. It’s too annoying and frustrating to bother with this right now.
Final Fantasy V Dreambreaker Dungeon
For this fight, my team was:
- Bartz Klauser from Final Fantasy V
- Galuf Halm Baldesion from Final Fantasy V
- Lenna Charlotte Tycoon from Final Fantasy V
- Famed Mimic Gogo from Final Fantasy V
- Mog from Final Fantasy VI
Bartz, Galuf, and Gogo served as my DPS. Lenna and Mog were my supports and healers.
Have multiple BDL relics for Bartz and Galuf. Only have Gogo’s Awakening. They all did very well but there were times wherein they weren’t able to break the damage cap even though they were still under the effects of their BDL relics.
Maybe if they’d been able to consistently break the damage cap, I’d have been able to sub-30 this fight. As it is, got the win in 31.45 seconds which means I have to try this again later on. Meh. Totally not looking forward to that at all.
Final Fantasy VIII Dreambreaker Dungeon
To my surprise, I’ve apparently already tried this fight before. Wasn’t able to get the win though. The best I’d been able to manage was being able to deal 70.1% damage to Cerberus, the boss of the Final Fantasy VIII Dreambreaker dungeon.
Now that I’m trying this fight again and hopefully managing to get the win this time, my team was:
- Squall Leonhart from Final Fantasy VIII
- Rinoa Heartilly from Final Fantasy VIII
- Ultimecia from Final Fantasy VIII
- Selphie Tilmitt from Final Fantasy VIII
- Cait Sith from Final Fantasy VII
Rinoa and Ultimecia are magical DPS. Squall’s a physical DPS. Selphie’s a healer.
Don’t have anything for Selphie so I had to Lens one of her Ultras and her Glint+ Soul Break for this fight.
Instead of Squall, I wanted to run Fujin from Final Fantasy VIII since she deals magical damage. Have 2 of Fujin’s Awakenings. Just created her Hero Ability for this fight.
But when I tried to level it up, I found that I didn’t have enough of the Crystals needed to do so. I could just equip Fujin with another ability but I decided I might as well just try this quest with Squall first.
At least I already have Squall’s Hero Ability. Plus, I have more BDL relics for him when compared to Fujin. I have 3 of Squall’s Awakenings and 2 of his Syncs.
Squall did well enough but he wasn’t able to consistently break the damage cap even while under the effects of his Sync or Awakening. More often than not, he was dealing crappy damage.
Rinoa and Ultimecia did very well. Cait Sith’s buffs helped a lot as well. Selphie did well enough as my healer though I do wish I have her Awakening and even Sync. Managed to get the win in 36.20 seconds.
Final Fantasy IX Dreambreaker Dungeon
Apparently, I’ve also already tried this fight before. Failed to get the win though. The most damage I’d been able to deal to the enemy here was 52.8%.
Now that I’m trying this fight again and hopefully managing to get the win this time, my team was:
- Zidane Tribal from Final Fantasy IX
- Kuja from Final Fantasy IX
- Vivi Ornitier from Final Fantasy IX
- Eiko Carol from Final Fantasy IX
- Cait Sith from Final Fantasy VII
Zidane deals physical damage while both Vivi and Kuja are mages. Eiko’s a healer.
Have 2 of Zidane’s Awakenings and his TASB. Really wish I have his Sync and his Dual as well.
For Vivi, I have his ice and lightning Awakening and his ice and lightning Sync. His fire Awakening is Lensable but opted not to get it yet. Have Kuja’s Dual and Awakening. Have Eiko’s Awakening and Sync.
This team did pretty well. Kuja and Vivi were able to deal a lot of damage thanks to Cait Sith. Managed to get the win in 30.40 seconds. It’s really too bad that I missed out on the sub-30.
Since I was so close to being able to sub-30 this fight, decided to try it again. This time, got the win in 30.87 seconds. Meh. How utterly infuriating.
Thankfully, third time’s the charm. My third try gave me the win in 28.90 seconds. Yay. So glad to finally be over and done with this fight.
Final Fantasy X Dreambreaker Dungeon
For this fight, my team was:
- Tidus from Final Fantasy X
- Wakka from Final Fantasy X
- Yuna from Final Fantasy X
- Rikku from Final Fantasy X
- Mog from Final Fantasy VI
Tidus, Wakka, and Rikku deal physical damage so I couldn’t bring Cait Sith to this fight. I really wish that I also have a good support for physical DPS.
Mog isn’t cutting it, especially since I don’t even have all of his Soul Breaks. And he’s really more for countering the Full Break debuff that the bosses of the Dreambreaker and Dragonking Dungeons inflict on their opponents upon reaching certain HP thresholds.
Yuna served as my healer for this fight. Have a few of her Soul Breaks, including 1 of her Awakenings. She did well enough although I do wish that I have more of her Soul Breaks.
Only have 1 of Rikku’s Syncs and her water Chain Soul Break. One of her Awakenings is Lensable but opted not to get it yet.
For Wakka, the only BDL relic I have for him is his Sync. Too bad his Awakening isn’t Lensable.
Have Tidus’s Dual, both of his Syncs, and one of his Awakenings plus a few of his other relics, including his Limit Break Chain (LBC) for the water element.
Wakka and Rikku also deal water damage and they offer some support with their kits so the main reason why I brought them to this fight was so I could run a full Final Fantasy X water team and so they can support Tidus who was gonna be my main DPS.
I used Tidus’s Sync 2 first. He got to move pretty often and he dealt really good damage. However, ended up running out of uses of his Hero Ability before the fight was over.
By the time I wanted to use his Dual, he only had like 2 uses left of his Hero Ability. So his DASB was basically wasted. At least I was able to use his Awakening, which gives him infinite uses of his Hero Ability for a few seconds (IIRC, it’s around 15 or so).
Although Tidus dealt really good damage, there were times wherein he can’t even break the damage cap even while under the effects of his BDL relics.
The same can be said for Wakka and Rikku. In fact, it’s worse for the 2 of them since, more often than not, they can’t break the damage cap at all. They also became useless once the effects of their Syncs ran out.
Only managed to get the boss here down to 18.6% HP before he killed my entire party. Meh. How utterly annoying. Now I have to try this again.
It’s clear now that it won’t be possible to solo DPS this fight with Tidus. Maybe if I have more of his relics and a way to give him more uses of his abilities as well as better support, he might be able to manage.
As it is, have to see about replacing either or both Wakka and Rikku. Gonna need more DPS for this quest. Ahh, I really wish I have more and better Final Fantasy X relics.
Decided to drop Wakka and replace him with Auron from Final Fantasy X. Have 1 of Auron’s Syncs and 1 of his Awakenings. He’s a physical DPS who deals fire damage.
My team was now Mog, Auron, Tidus, Rikku, and Yuna. This time, I used Tidus’s Awakening first as soon as he had enough bars to do so. Auron did well enough but, as usual, there were times wherein he and Tidus failed to break the damage cap.
Rikku’s damage was basically nonexistent, making me believe it’d be pointless to buy her Awakening from the The Record Lab. I doubt it would make much of a difference to this fight. If I could get more of Tidus’s and Auron’s BDL relics though, that would definitely help.
Unfortunately, once again failed to get the win. This time, I only managed to get the boss down to 24.2% HP before he killed everyone.
Ugh. Getting really sick and tired of this fight. Thankfully, third time’s the charm. Was so glad when I finally managed to clear this quest for the first time.
Too bad it took me 45.55 seconds so have to go back for the sub-30. But don’t want to do this again anytime soon. Will try it again later on.
Conclusion
So what about you? Have you done any of the quests in the Cardia Dungeons? What do you think about these fights? Feel free to share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below or by reblogging or replying to this post.
Notes:
- screenshots are from my Final Fantasy Record Keeper game account
- originally published on my main Tumblr blog on Nov 1st, 2022 11:38:30pm
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