Firion Tactics

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Mordax Praetorian

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Take the formatof this post and replace it with your Firion style, post questions to others about their Firion

Why Firion:

Firion is a very defensive tactical character who loves the ground and rewards forward thinking and a cool mind over twitch reflexes

Core Build:

In order to function Firion must equip the following attacks:

  • Rope Knife > Double Defeat (I'm NOT using the english name)
  • Lance Combo > Double Defeat
  • Fire
  • Shield Bash
  • Speed++
  • Omni Air Dash
Strategy:

  • Hug the ground
  • Shield Bash your opponent's projectiles
  • Lance Combo opponents approaching from the air
  • Rope Knife opponents approaching from the ground
  • Pop up and cast fire when safe
  • When opponent reflects fire:- Move Away - Deactivate Lockon - Shield Bash the reflected Fire
The idea here to create a Firion which is impossible to approach or attack safely

Rope Knife might as well be unblockable and will defeat anyone comming at you from the ground, and Lance Combo will catch anyone comming from the air 99% of the time

Fire is to force people to act, because you'll win the match if they don't.
Fire is a really poor attack, but thats exactly why it works
When you have 3 Fires going, and especially if you're throwing out Reel Axe/Thunder/Straight Arrow, it becomes very difficult not to reflect fire
As previously mentioned, Fire is an outright terrible attack, so you should have no problem shield bashing the reflected fire to win the match

Ranged HP attacks are quite the weakness to the strategy, as you still have to deal with these by dodging, so excessive spam of Fire and Projectiles will be your downfall

Patience is a real virtue here, you have the ability to force the opponent to act but using it leaves you open
Omni Air Dash is recommended because it allows you to relocate (ie to grab EX Core) very quickly, if you get caught in the air then you're doomed

This build deals HP damage often, but doesn't gain Brave all that well, you can win in relatively few hits because of the bonus Brave gained after landing an HP attack, however being at a low Brave most of the time leaves you quite vulnerable to Break if you screw up

Options

Reel Axe: This is good to keep the opponent on their toes and to increase the chance that they'll have to use a block or dash, resulting in a reflected Fire
While you won't hit with Reel Axe often, theres a big payoff when you do. You can dodge cancel Reel Axe into Rope Knife, and go from there to Double Defeat
Be very careful with this move, as it leaves you open for quite a while, pick your times to use it very carefully

Sword Slash (Ground): If you are thinking about equipping this, pick another character

Blizzard: Mostly redundant, Fire is far better for getting Shield Bashes from, and both can be used for punishing in the air, you can use it to throw out extra projectiles to force a reflection, and in this regard it works better than Reel Axe, but you don't get as big a payoff when you land one

Thunder: Again, this is great for keeping people moving, and if needs be you can hide behind a wall and spam it for some cheap brave
In certain cases you can use it to punish at a distance, try it just after you've dodged a ranged HP attack

Sword Slash (Air): Quick start up and gives you a melee option in the air, however its pathetic range is a real drawback, just stay on the ground instead

WeaponMaster: This is a very powerful HP attack for Firion because it gives you a really viable option in the air

Straight Arrow: Another great projectile to mix in, you can often create situations where the opponet's options are either to get hit by Straight Arrow, or to reflect Fire, however since it is an HP attack, you can't use it to straight out bait a block from he opponent

Equipment:

The 2 most important atts for Firion are Brave and Defense

The higher your Brave, the more you get back for landing an HP attack and the fewer you need to win. Since this Firion style lands a lot of HP attacks, a high Brave is very powerful

Defense comes second because you're always working at a low Brave, you need to be able to take as many attacks as you can from that Brave before you get broken, as this can hand victory to the opponent

HP is less important than Defense because when you go into EX mode you get Blood Weapons, which can quickly fix a lack of HP, avoiding Break is more important
 
Nice guide.

Block and combo is real useful for riposte and damage. Spam shield bash on bartz (don't attack him). Weaponsmaster is so annoying. Swordslash can be used to counter snooze and lose though since it's so quick and if you are stuck in the air against a spammer.
 
Bartz can reflect the magic from shield bash =P

sword slash in the air is actually a good move, since it cant be blocked on reaction and has one of the highest priorities in the game, you can just go up and punish virtually anything with it. I have free air dash on just so that I can take advantage of this move and the nice counter attack crit that youre most likely going to get. Mixed in with weapon master for catching people that try to block/dodge sword slash, making them the perfect combination. This along with the fire and straight arrow combination gives firion an actual air game.

fire will often times allow you to get a free reel axe against people that do block fire, these people are usual using characters that want you to shield bash so they can reflect it back at you(wind shear, omni guard, etc) or use a move that goes through the shield bash magic animation(braver, rough divide, etc). While they attempt to block fire, reel axe them, and itll often defense crush them, letting you use double trouble. Also, reel axe to rope knife does not work on floaties or if you hit someone that was far from the ground, so I equip double trouble c just in case.

If you time it right, straight arrow can hit someones thats been hit by fire or force an opponent to dodge and get hit by fire(which will most of the times give you a sneak attack crit) and if you happen to have another fire out, the opponent will be forced to dodge it, since itll be from behind him, or get hit, both of which will allow you to get a free hit from another straight arrow with the right timing.

rope knife is also one of the best counter attacking moves in the game. If you counter attack a melee move or they are guarding, riposte will automatically activate and youll be dealing heavy damage. Note: Dont try to use rope knife from the max range, because itll be too obvious. Instead, use it in the same range as lance combo. Rope knife will catch anyone that blocks or dodges, and lance combo will catch any jumpers.


Note, do not try to shield bash melee attacks, because a block is much more rewarding. If you block and use a reel axe - rope knife, youll be activating riposte and sneak attack and deal much more damage than a shield bash. Also remember, shield bash does not last as long as a normal block, so your timing must be perfect. In exchange however, a failed shield bash isnt as punishable as a failed block.

A list of what I know that cannot be blocked by it:
All HP attacks - A few that don't have Defense Crush property will cause Firion to stagger
WoL's Sword Thrust (staggers on block, BUT only when he's not in EX mode)
Firion's Rope Knife (staggers on block)
Firion's Reel Axe (Defense Crush)
Cecil's Dark Cannon (since it comes from behind, it usually cannot be blocked. BUT you can Shield Bash it if you're at the max range of the attack, where it can't grab you from behind)
Bartz's Reel Impulse (Defense Crush)
Squall's Heel Crush (staggers on block)
Garland's Lance Charge (staggers on block)
Garland's Round Edge (2nd and 3rd hits staggers on block)
Emperor's Thunder Crest
Kefka's Waggly Wobbly Firaga (according to rshadowkirby, it staggers on block when it's big)
Ultimecia's charged Knight's Axe (Defense Crush)
Kuja's Remote Flare (it will still hit you even if you block or Shield Bash)
Kuja's Burst Energy (it can be bashed, but it's not effective. It will trigger the close range counter, which Kuja can avoid with a quick dodge cancel.)
Shantotto's Retribution (it can be blocked if it comes from the front, but it will hit you if it comes from behind)
Jecht's fully charged BRV attacks (they gain Defense Crush when fully charged)

Firion's is one of the most overated out there, mainly for one reason, FIRION HAS NO OPTIONS AGAINST STALLERS and anyone, and I do mean ANYONE, can stall out firions EX mode. Sure you can try snooze and lose, but a smart opponent will not care if his brave is lowering, and a character like squall can just beat fang you at any given time to regain any lost brave. Unless you EX counter and break the opponent, youre unlikely to do enough hp damage to cause youre regeneration to actually be useful. Your best options to do hp damage in EX mode are straight arrows when two fires are out, or dashing up to the opponent while to fires are out and weapon mastering them. Even so, the fact that youre not doing your links will severely limit your brave output. If you manage to get them down to zero brave with snooze and lose, thatll be your only chance to get a break, so its very important that you use that to your advantage, but the opponent will be much more cautious and will be paying close attention not to get hit by any fires at that point.

I find it much more useful to use force begets courage. Not only does the lack of EX mode prevent the opponent from stalling you the whole time, but with firion's brave will be racking up like crazy if you have the right build. Avoiding break is not as important as not getting hit by an hp attack. Due to firions many ways of dealing hp damage along with the ex force hell be absorbing when he gets broken, he can recover from a break easily, however his hp is not something that can be recovered easily for the reasons stated earlier. However, hp is still not that important to firions overall game. The 2 most important stats for firion is brave and attack. The same trick wont work on an opponent twice , and fiirion will be using tricks in order to get in that hp damage. It is very important for firion to do as much damage as possible in one hit so you wont need to keep doing hp attacks, wont be forced into using up all your tricks, and wont become predictable. Plus the fact that dealing more brave damage will release more EX force which will further raise your brave, youll be doing 2000 damage(or more depending on your build) of hp everytime

overall, firion is a character that depends on limiting the opponents options in order to get them to do what you want. Luckily he has many tools and combinations to do so. Fire + straight arrow, Fire + shield bash, fire + free air dash + weapon master, Fire + free air dash + sword slash, weapon master + sword slash, fire + reel axe, rope knife + lance combo......and thats basically goes through all his must have moves, but you can be creative and find more that works for you.
 
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Note:

I typed this without realizing how old the topic was & now, damn it, I'm putting it up:

Why Firion:

Aside from being completely badass, Firion has a lot of options for both short & long range fighting.

Core Build:
Straight Arrow
Reel Axe > Double Trouble
Lance Combo > Double Trouble
Weaponmaster
Shield Bash
Thunder
Speed++
Omni Air Dash


Strategy:

Basically, you want to avoid your opponent & fight from long range. This is difficult to do for most characters, even ones with long range attacks, as they’ll be open during the firing of said attacks. The omni air dash sacrifices your ability to close in on your opponent, but coupled with the speed boost, it allows you to get out of tight situations very quickly. You can scale the entire stage in a split second, making it easy to grab EX Cores before your opponent can even get moving.

Use Omni Air Dash to get a good angle & then let the Straight Arrows rip. Mix up your timing & charging to make them more difficult to dodge. As an added bonus, your opponent will usually be forced to an edge, adding Wall Rush damage to the mix.

Use Weaponmaster only when you have the opponent cornered in a small area, as it’s easy to dodge & leaves you wide open, despite its power. Thunder exists to give you an aerial brave attack, as your options in that regard are sorely lacking. Thunder is superior to Blizzard or Fire because it can’t be reflected & keeps the opponent moving. Using Sword Slash in combination with Thunder is a decent strategy, but I dropped it because I didn’t have the AP for it.

If forced into confrontation on the ground, if the opponent is far away, use Reel Axe. If they’re close, wait for them to come to you, then either use Lance Combo or Shield Bash. Reel Axe & Lance Combo can also be used to get bravery instead of going to Double Trouble. But, either way, you should force your opponent back & in position for a Straight Arrow.

His Abilities:

Reel Axe: A speedy, hard-to-guard attack. If you want to use Double Trouble, odds are that you’ll usually go with this. The downside is that it’s easy to dodge & leaves you open at close range.


Lance Combo: While it has a short range & forces him to be stationary, it attacks all around, making it hard to avoid if you're running at Firion to attack him.


Sword Slash (Ground): Every ability has its use, but this one is a mystery to me.

Rope Knife: A simple attack that drags the enemy towards you from a close range. A nice surprise about Rope Knife is that Firion can adjust where he throws the knives if the opponent dodges beforehand. It does a few more hits than Reel Axe & initiates the same finisher.


Blizzard: A nice, speedy projectile, but most enemies have better magic & you have better attacks. It won’t be much of a help. I usually used it in conjunction with Fire & Thunder to force enemies to move, before I dropped it.


Fire: A slow homing attack. Pretty annoying, but not too difficult to evade. In response to the trick about Shield Bashing it, since it's so slow, it shouldn't be that hard for the opponent to evade that, as well as evade or even stop the counterattack.

Thunder: Pretty easy to dodge & the enemies will usually dodge towards you. This makes it useful to set up attacks. As well, it can be used in certain situations to spam a brave attack. Individually, the bolts are pretty weak, but they add up.

Sword Slash (Air): Nice to trigger a Chase Sequence, but other than that, it’s risky.

WeaponMaster: An excellent ability that can also block incoming attacks. The problem is that Firion can’t move much & it leaves him wide open.

Straight Arrow: Firion’s first & best ability. Fastest of the ranged HP attacks, my core strategy with Firion focuses on creating openings for this move.

Shield Bash: Excellent defense ability that transfers into a speedy attack combo. Also seems to have a high chance of critical. Easily his 2nd best ability, with the exception of Straight Arrow.

Equipment:

With the exception of Shield Bash, Firion’s HP attacks are all aerial. Even Straight Arrow (Ground) causes him to levitate. Because of this, you’ll want accessories that increase his midair attacking abilities. You might also look for ones that increase damage to dodging opponents, since you typically won’t hit with your first Straight Arrow. In this setup, Firion is shit for Brave Damage, so you may want to focus on increasing his HP damage. He should gain Brave back quickly enough that you can deal about 1 K damage at a time, earning victory in about 9 attacks.

Firion’s best summons are ones that allow him to take down the opponent’s brave while focusing on HP attacks from a distance. My personal favorite is Iron Giant. That 9K Brave will go down to 4500, 2250, 1125, & pretty soon be lower than Firion’s, all while their HP goes down the drain.

Greatswords, Katanas, & Axes are the best weapons for Firion because they increase his attack, EX Intake Range, & Wall Rush HP Damage, respectively. If you can get a Machine, more power to you. Riposte, Counterattack, EX Critical Up, & Cat Nip are all excellent boosts for Firion.


EX Mode:

Lastly, it should go without saying that Firion is a monster in EX Mode. His ability to absorb opponents’ HP & his strong EX Burst make his one of the most overpowered EX Modes in the game, right up there with Kefka & Cloud.

Unlike other characters, I really have no strategies for his EX Mode, other than to wittle down the Brave as much as I can (or to a few hundred, whichever comes first) & go in for the kill.
 
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Sword Slash (Ground): Every ability has its use, but this one is a mystery to me.
Click to expand...

actually, I've realized now that this is actually his best move

not only is it the fasest attack in the game, but it has absolutely no ending lag, making it completely safe. It also will hit anyone approaching from above, as well as forcing early reactions

Sword Slash (Air): Nice to trigger a Chase Sequence, but other than that, it’s risky.
Click to expand...

just the opposite actually, this move is his safest air option

Reel Axe: A speedy, hard-to-guard attack. If you want to use Double Trouble, odds are that you’ll usually go with this. The downside is that it’s easy to dodge & leaves you open at close range.
Click to expand...

reel axe is his slowest and easily his worst ground brave attack. And its the worse to have double on as you can rope knife right after it anyway. I rarely ever equip this, as his other ground moves are so much better.

Fire: A slow homing attack. Pretty annoying, but not too difficult to evade. In response to the trick about Shield Bashing it, since it's so slow, it shouldn't be that hard for the opponent to evade that, as well as evade or even stop the counterattack.
Click to expand...

Like I said in my last post, dodging fire gets you shot, getting hit by fire gets you shot, blocking fire gets you shot. All they can do is dash through it, which is what you want as theyll approach you so you can go back to your melee game.

Youve forgotten Rope Knife, which is godly in that it catches those early dodges and blocks that swordslash forces. Just dont spam it

Lance combo is very powerful when you use the brave variant, and its speed makes it easy to mix up with sword slash

Weapon master catches anyone thats predicting a aerial swordslash

As I said in my last post, his EX mode is GREATLY overrated. While it could be godly effectwise, the fact that Firion cant pressure well makes it easy for him to be stalled out

the best summons for firion are pretty much the same as the best summon for everyone =P(omega/ultima weapon(forgot which) > iron giant)

best weapons are based off builds. If it was a regen build, than his best weapon would be a rod, and so on

Snooze and Lose is almost a neccessity for firion as it pressures the opponent. EX crit boost is not, as said before, EX mode isnt that good, and you automatically get a 50% crit boost when in EX


and lastly, Firion is a CLOSE RANGE character. Although he is a competent long range character, his close range game is where its at
 
If Firion was meant to be played exclusively at close range, he would not have so many long range abilities, including his first HP attacks. Firion certainly can put pressure on enemies, as that's exactly what I did to get him to Level 100.

I'm not even sure how you can say that Swordslash is a safe move. Any move that relies on the enemy being right in front of you to execute is extremely dangerous. Swordslash had its uses, but I wouldn't say it's his best attack. Likewise with Rope Knife. I knew I forgot one. In any case, it is fairly decent, but Lance Combo hits a similar range all around him & Reel Axe hits much farther away.

As for technique, the equipment & summons I lined up were in regards to the fighting style I outlined. It goes without saying that if you don't play Firion like this, they won't work as well for you. With particular regards to summoning, given the long recharge time of Ultima & Omega Weapons, I tend to save them for dire situations instead of making them my main summons for any character. As far as the fire plan goes, I once faced an Onion Knight that dodged out of the way of my Shield Bash attacks, then went on to kick my ass before I finished. It's not an unbeatable strategy. For instance, what if you're up against Garland in EX Mode? He can keep hacking at you even with all of the things you throw at him.

I should note that I regretably have never had a chance to test any of my characters on human opponents.
 
he was given those options to help him with his close range game

if not for those, hed get raped easily by a turtling player

and I didnt say exclusively, he does indeed have a range game, but that doesnt mmean you should be dashing away from the opponent. They should be dashing towards you

Any attack that CANT BE PUNISHED is pretty safe. If you master the range, swordslash is firions safest and easily his best pressuring option in close range

Rope knife is a punisher to get the early blocks and dodges sword slash causes

lance combo, while fairly quick, is still punishable when missed, so its not something you can use often, but instead mixed in with swordslash

reel impulse gets you punished instantly when used

I know that fire + sheild bash isnt unbeatable, but if they could get you before you finished it, it obviously meant you were too close when using it

Shield bashing an EX garland is still perfectly safe as long as youre in good distance


Believe me, playing humans is a completely different experience. Thats where mindgames actually take place, and the opponent will actually punish your reel axe =P
 
Maybe so, but on the other hand, the Computer is a Cheating Bastard. They have reaction times that humans do not, equip things normally not allowed by the game, & are just generally pricks about it. Ergo, while a field test would be preferable, since that is all but impossible, I'm still pretty confident in the way I set Firion up. His equipment could use work, though.

I will admit that Firion has very solid close range capabilities. Then why play him from long range? As I said, it's something so few characters can do. Exdeath is particularly easy, as you can usually hit him with a Straight Arrow while he's trying to use Reverse Polarity.

If I have an ability as good as Straight Arrow, I may as well put it to use, & if it's not working, he can be adjusted to fight at close range. After all, he has the essentials: Attacks that get him to Double Trouble, Shield Bash, & Weaponmaster. I once remember a battle where I beat Onion Knight because he kept grinding headlong into my Shield Bash. Not the smartest AI I've ever fought, but the point is that stratagems are flexible.

As for EX Mode Garland, the point I was making is that he'd just run through the Fire spells & HP attack you. So, if he knew what he was doing, you may not get a chance to use Shield Bash.
 
a real Exdeath would easily reflect a stright arrow right back in your face with a rp canceled high guard =P

As for Garland, with his slowness he couldnt get to you after dodging sheild bash, and he could only take the hit if hes doing an attack, so he still wouldnt be able to get to you. A pretty safe strategy if you ask me =P

the only problem I had with the running away and straight arrowing strat, is thatd it would fail against many of the cast. Many characters are faster then firion, so theyd eventually catch him in his attempt to distance himself, and force him to play his melee game(which is easily on of the best ground melee games in the game).
 
Wait, so Garland's ability only applies while he's attacking? If so, I hadn't noticed that before.
 
yes, the ability super armor makes it so his attacks will not be stopped even if he is hit by another attack, as long as it doesnt do hp
 
I'd been under the impression that he could just run through shit. That's kind of disappointing.
 
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