Kain Highwind has a set of pretty powerful buffs in December that are as follows:
When casting Jump III, 50% of Kain’s ATK now gets added to his Current BRV before multipliers apply.
Pride of the Dragoon buffs increased from [+20% ATK and +20% MAX] BRV to [+30% ATK and +30% MAX BRV].
Gungnir charges increase from 5 to 6.
Table of Contents
Kain Highwind
General Information
- Game: Final Fantasy 4
- Roles: BRV Shaver, HP Attacker, BRV+HP Attacker, Self-buffer
- Attack type: Melee
- Weapon Type: Spear
- Crystal Type: Black
- Optimal Use: Pure, unmatched Ranged DPS.
Who He Is
Kain Highwind was robbed.
His life would have been great if Cecil never showed up.
Kain Highwind was supposed to be the advent of an unforeseen level of power. He was destined to become the military leader of the mightiest kingdom in the world, becoming a living legend, and marry the love of his life. Then an alien starchild fell from the heavens and usurped his destiny. Afterwards, no matter how much Kain excels or achieves he will always be outperformed by the outsider who dropped from the heavens.
Now his fate is to be forever overshadowed by another. No matter how great he was meant to be, his legacy is lessened because there is someone slightly greater. He can never be the best, just really good. Which is a damn shame, because in any other normal life where this outsider didn’t exist – hell, he SHOULDN’T exist – Kain would have deservedly won the title of “The Best.”
Is it any wonder he turned to darkness after having spent his life in shadow?
Stats
- HP: 5/5
- INT BRV: 3/5
- MAX BRV: 2/5
- ATK: 5/5
- DEF: 4/5
- SPD: 3/5
Abilities
| Ability | Description | Type | Uses | Base | Weapon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jump III | Increases BRV based on Attack, then raises it by 1.2 before inflicting an HP attack. Grants Pride of the Dragoon for 2 turns. Pride of the Dragoon raises Max BRV and Attack. | BRV Multiplier, HP Attack, Self-buff | 6 | Increases Current BRV by 50% of Kain’s ATK, then multiplies Total BRV by 1.2x before unleashing an HP attack. Grants Kain Pride of the Dragoon (+30% ATK and +30% MAX BRV) for 2 turns. Transforms BRV Attack into Jump for 2 turns. | Increases Current BRV by 50% of Kain’s ATK, then multiplies Total BRV by 1.5x before unleashing an HP attack. Grants Kain Pride of the Dragoon (ATK Up +30% and MAX BRV Up +30%) for 6 turns. Transforms BRV Attack into Jump for 6 turns. |
| Gungnir | Single Target BRV+HP Ranged Non-Elemental Attack | BRV+HP Attack, Self-buff | 6 | ATK 60%. | ATK 190%. Grants Kain ATK Up +30% and MAX BRV +30% for 6 turns. |
| Jump | Single Target 1-Hit BRV Ranged Non-Elemental Attack. | BRV Attack | N/A | N/A | ATK 110%. |
*Max uses with all Weapons and Charged passives equipped.
High Priority Passives
| Passive | Description | CP cost |
|---|---|---|
| King of the Skies (Kain’s Lance) | Increases the potency (+130%) of Gungnir and lowers its action delay. Grants Small Max BRV Up (+30%) and Small Attack Up (+30%) for 6 turns. | 20 CP |
| Power of the Proud Dragoon (Wind Spear) | Increases the BRV gain (+0.3x) of Jump III and lowers its action delay. Extends the duration of Pride of the Dragoon (+4 turns). | 20 CP |
| Charged Jump III | Jump III Use +1. | 10 CP |
| Mighty Gungnir | Slightly increases BRV damage dealt (+0.1x) by Gungnir. | 10 CP |
| Quick Jump III | Slightly raises turn rate for Jump III. | 10 CP |
| Quick Gungnir | Slightly raises turn rate for Gungnir. | 10 CP |
| The Soaring Dragoon | Slightly raises Speed for 1 turn when BRV equals 0. | 20 CP |
| Heavenly Assault | Slightly raises ATK (+5%) upon attacking an enemy that is not targeting the user. | 15 CP |
Low Priority Passives
| Passive | Description | CP cost |
|---|---|---|
| Critical SPD Up | Slightly raises Speed for 1 turn after inflicting a critical hit. | 5 CP |
| Break SPD Up | Slightly raises Speed for 1 turn after breaking an enemy. | 10 CP |
| BRV Guard Up | Slightly raises DEF (+30%) when BRV is over 50%. | 10 CP |
Kain’s natural passives suuuck. I am prioritizing Quick Jump III before Quick Gungnir because I believe the unique buff on Jump III will always be a priority, AND Jump III let’s you build BRV defensively with Jump so it’s better to speed it up. The Soaring Dragoon makes the list because all of Kain’s abilities dump his BRV, which means you’ll be hitting 0 BRV a LOT throughout the fight. Heavenly assault is a poor man’s Sneak Attack, but enemies look away from Kain enough for it to be worth it. Plus, Kain always wants more ATK over SPD.
Crits are more reliable than Breaks. Defense is useless. Enough said.
Artifact Priorities
ATK +108
Mighty Gungnir ★ ★
Mighty Jump ★ ★
MAX BRV +330
Kain Highwind plays a lot like Vaan: He’s gonna be at 0 BRV more often than not with all his BRV dumps. This means that, despite his low MAX BRV, Kain is in little danger of capping his BRV. You want ATK as it boosts every single command he has. Mighty Gungnir is next as the stronger his BRV+HP, the more action efficient Kain is. Mighty Jump is a very unique Artifact passive. An artifact passive just to buff his BRV+! You can get a LOT of uses from this, so buff it up. Improves his longevity and BRV shaving, too. MAX BRV makes a special exception as 4th on the list. While Kain should not be capping, it never hurts to give his DPS more leeway. And with his self-buffs, he’ll get more mileage out of it than most.
Weapons
| Name | Ability | CP |
|---|---|---|
| Wind Spear | Increases the BRV gain (+0.3x) of Jump III and lowers its action delay. Extends the duration of Pride of the Dragoon (+4 turns). | 15 CP |
| Kain’s Lance | Increases the potency (+130%) of Gungnir and lowers its action delay. Grants Small Max BRV Up (+30%) and Small Attack Up (+30%) for 6 turns. | 35 CP |
Weapon Priorities
Kain’s Lance
Wind Spear
Another close call. Kain’s 15 CP weapon TRIPLES the duration of his unique buff and his BRV+. BUT. His 35 CP MORE than triples the potency of his BRV+HP. If you’re picking between one or the other, you’re a casual Kain fan. And a casual Kain fan will be more than happy to get the hardest hitting BRV+HP attack in the game.
Strengths
Strongest Ranged BRV Shaver.
Strongest BRV Multiplier HP attack in the game. Minimizes his bad matchups by ignoring DEF and resistances with Jump III.
Strongest BRV+HP attack in the game.
Strongest Ranged DPS period in the game.
Best self-buffs in the game.
He’s Kain Motherfuckin’ Highwind. The Legend Himself.
Weaknesses
Zero team utility.
Full potential requires a bit of setup.
Bad synergy with other buffers.
Could not bring himself to kill Cecil.
Where He Currently Stands
Kain Highwind was robbed.
His debut would have been amazing if Sazh 35 CP hadn’t shown up out of the blue.
Kain Highwind was supposed to be the advent of an unforeseen level of power. He was destined to be the first truly great Ranged DPS, possess the strongest buffs possible, and the single most powerful BRV+HP attack in the game. Then a time-traveling gun fell from the heavens and usurped his destiny. Then, no matter how much Kain excelled or achieved he was always outperformed by the walking chocobo nest who dropped from the heavens.
Now his fate is to be forever overshadowed by another. No matter how great he was meant to be, his legacy is lessened because there is someone slightly greater. He can never be the best, just really good. Which is a damn shame, because in any other normal life where this outsider didn’t exist – hell, he SHOULDN’T exist – Kain would have deservedly won the title of “The Best.”
Is it any wonder he turned to darkness after having spent his life in shadow?
Anyways, let’s take a look at Kain. For a DPS, he has some mediocre-ass stats. 3/5 INT BRV? 2/5 MAX BRV!?!? WTF is this!? Then you see his self-buffs. Then you understand. Jump III gives the unique buff, Pride of the Dragoon. I’m not sure whether that means Kain is the pride of all Dragoon, or if this is the pride of Kain Highwind the Dragoon, or Dragoons are just proud. It doesn’t matter, it’s a unique buff that gives +30% ATK and MAX BRV. Then Gungnir gives another +30% ATK and MAX BRV in generic buffs on top of that.
For ATK, Kain Highwind has the highest base ATK possible. That means with full MLB, Kain sits at 1867 ATK. With just one buff up, that’s 2427 ATK. With both buffs up, that’s 2987 ATK. Wow!
For MAX BRV, Kain’s base is at about 4800 not counting Affinity. Pretty shit, right? But now let’s apply just one buff. That turns into 6240 MAX BRV. Pretty respectable. Now let’s apply both buffs. 7680 MAX BRV. Now let’s pretend Sazh doesn’t exist. WOW! That’s the highest ATK and MAX BRV possible in the game!!!
Kain Highwind was supposed to make a big splash, as is given with such a canonically powerful character. Imagine a world where only one person had Sazh level buffs. As if a Sazh was secretly hiding on the sidelines buffing Kain and only Kain while the other chars got left in the dust. THAT is what Kain was supposed to be. But with the early release of Sazh’s 35 CP, now everyone CAN REACH Kain-levels of power. Don’t get me wrong, Kain is still above the rest of the peasant stock. With Sazh Buffs, Kain still has his unique buff, boosting him to a total of +90% ATK and MBRV. He’s just… not as special. As is his life story: great, but not the best.
Kain Highwind is the best HP Attacker in the game. Now, what do I mean when I call someone an HP Attacker? I mean they have an ability that gives them a huge BRV gain before unleashing an HP attack. While this means that no BRV shaving gets done, it also means that HP Attackers are effective DPS in any situation. Being able to gain a portion of your ATK in BRV, then multiplying the total means you get pure, unadulterated results. BRV Gain and HP Damage unaffected by resistances or DEF. Fuck those turtles, ghosts, and slimes. Jump III, GG.
Jump III is the best BRV Multiplier we have. Currently, our more famous HP attackers, Zidane and Terra, get a flat 1.2x and 1.5x multiplier to Current BRV respectively. Along comes Serah with the newest version. She gets 30% of her ATK added to her BRV first, THEN a 1.3x multiplier to Current BRV. Very nice. Now, Kain’s Jump III is 50% of his MASSIVE ATK stat, then a 1.5x multiplier to Current BRV. HP Attackers are good at ignoring bad matchups, right? Then that makes Kain the best at it. He could do a number on those pesky Berserker Armors if you really needed him to. Of course, don’t expect him to have NO bad matchups, just that he’s not as gimped as most when it comes to bad matchups.
Jump III also turns Kain’s BRV Attack into Jump for 6 turns each cast, similar to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. This means his standard Melee BRV Attack becomes Ranged and increases potency to 110%. Even more interesting is that for the first time ever, Cool Guy Kain gets an artifact passive called Mighty Jump! THIS MEANS! You can add a multiplicative buff to the BRV damage Kain can do with his BRV Attack!!! I mean, even his BRV Attack gets potency boosts. Everything about this character is meant to just hit harder than the average character.
Kain Highwind has the strongest BRV+HP attack in the game. Kain has the highest ATK stat in the game. Two of the heaviest hitting BRV+HP Attackers we know tie him in ATK stat: Terra and Squall. Terra’s Meteor has a potency of 162%. Squall’s Renzokuken+ has a potency of 180%. Kain’s Gungnir has a whopping 190% potency. And the best part? No having to spend a turn chanting. No having to make sure your BRV is low. No setup. Just pick up your spear and chuck it. Let it also be known that this is the only pure Ranged BRV+HP in the game as well. Irvine has a BRV+HP, but it’s an AoE split damage meant to whittle down waves. Kain is out to fucking gank someone.
In the past, I had said that Terra was built to be the perfect well-rounded attacker with a tool for every situation: high stats, self-buffs, and BRV Multiplier HP attack, and a heavy BRV-shaving BRV+HP attack. Now Kain does it all but better. Literally the only thing keeping Terra from being obsolete is her Magic attribute.
It bears repeating one more time that while all of Kain’s abilities pack new record-breaking potencies that he has this ON TOP OF BEING ABLE TO BUFF HIS ATK AND MAX BRV BY +60%. And if that wasn’t enough, Sazh bumps that to +90%. Every single ability he has results in an HP attack. That’s 12 total ways to target enemy HP. 6 BRV Multipliers and 6 BRV+HPs. Combine his ridiculous stats and buffs with 190% potency Ranged BRV+HP and 36 potential Jumps and you have yourself not only the hardest hitting, no setup DPS, but you have the strongest Ranged BRV Shaver in the game. I had to qualify “no setup” because Vaan can top his numbers, but only with 4 charges of his amped up abilities. I do not, however, have to qualify “Strongest Ranged BRV Shaver in the game.” Sustainability, flexibility, and power. Kain has it all.
There’s always a catch, however. Kain also requires quite a bit of set up to reach his full potential. True to his lore, Kain works hard for his power. Each of his abilities provide half of his full power. This means buff management is key because without buffs, Kain is a subpar character. With one buff up, he is an average character for a potential of 71 turns. With both buffs up, he is an extraordinary character for 35 turns. This is a huge pain in the ass. This gives you a wealth of strategies and options: Do I want Kain to be a passable DPS in a long fight or a god in shorter fights? Do I play it safe and then ramp it up when I need to? Or do I go full throttle from the beginning?
To keep Kain Highwind at maximum potential, you need to follow a Jump III with a Gungnir to keep both buffs up, and that combo isn’t always optimal. Hell, sometimes you need to throw out one of his abilities at suboptimal times for a kill. You can’t always plan to stretch his buffs as long as possible. Kain is going to be one of those characters where you need to be able to read the flow of the battle to use at maximum efficiency: He has the ability to ramp up and down depending on the tempo of the fight. That said, I would personally always try to get Pride of the Dragoon up first, as others could possibly supplement Kain with generic ATK buffs. Just as how his hated rival Cecil could protect all the losers he left on the ground whenever he jumped into the air for 30 seconds in his own game, his hated rival Sazh can unexpectedly help Kain out by alleviating hhis buff-juggling pressure with Attack Boost.
TL;DR Just remember that buff-juggling makes or breaks a Kain player.
0 Buffs = Shit Kain
1 Buff = Okay Kain
2 Buffs = Amazing Kain
So what are Kain’s true weaknesses? Well, he is an extremely selfish independent DPS like Lightning, but even more so. Where Lightning’s +40% ATK buff made her an annoyance to other buffers, Kain packs a +30% to both ATK and MAX BRV, rendering popular supports such as Eiko far less effective when paired with him. Really, he’ll neuter a lot of buffers. Even God Emperor Sazh is half as effective when buffing him.
Again, Kain Highwind is just like Lightning, a purely selfish independent DPS in the fact that all he does is ridiculous damage with no team utility. No buffs, no debuffs, no status effects. Just pure single target assassination. Huge ass numbers. This is impressive at face value, but for the more experienced team builder, a well-built team can put out more overall DPS than a single hyper carry. Kain Highwind is an easy solution, not a great team player.
Lastly, Kain constantly dumps his BRV. All the damn time. This means he’s a poor match for Launchers but a great match for BRV Batteries. Keep that in mind while building your team.
With all said and done, Kain is a self-reliant Sazh buff. 36 possible turns of buff uptime. 36 possible turns of a BRV+. He boasts versatility and longevity, and is a no-brainer pick for taking out anyone with a Ranged weakness. He is a good strong pick whose weaknesses are only accentuated with the arrival of Sazh’s 35 CP. If the 35 CP did not appear, Kain could have carried so hard that you would want to build around him. But with the 35 CP, team synergy is much more important, and buffing other strong characters with more team utility and launch compatibility CAN outshine Kain.
Still though, Kain Highwind is a real badass. And not all of us play this game seeing only pure numbers (I do, though). I’m sure having a single character hit harder than anything we’ve seen before is going to make a lot of people happy.
Preferred Environment
Kain Highwind is the uncontested best when it comes to one thing: Killing birds. Destroying anything with a weakness to Ranged. Kain’s default BRV Attack is Melee. But with proper management, it should be Jump more often than not, which is a decently potent Ranged BRV Shaver. Combine that with the most powerful Ranged attack in the game that just happens to be a BRV+HP attack, and you have yourself a bird slayer.
While Jump III let’s Kain minimize his bad matchups, a physical resistant enemy still cramps his style. You’ll want to avoid bringing Kain to physical resistant fights, but he won’t be total deadweight if you’re caught by surprise.
Who does Kain Highwind work with? Well, as a self-reliant DPS, he can be comfortably put into any team comp and pull his weight.
What!? That’s not good enough for you? Fine, you spoiled fuck.
As a pure DPS, Kain Highwind stands to gain the most from debuffers. He provides all the buffs he needs. You can’t improve on perfection. The only thing you can do is to weaken his targets. IDEALLY, Irvine could work. If you are luck incarnate and can proc Irvine’s Ranged Resist Down every time No, I can’t do this. Even if Irvine procs Ranged Resist Down EVERY time he’s still garbage. Any debuffer with DEF and MAX BRV Down go great with Kain. Tidus again is first place. DEF Down, and SPD Down means Kain can build up BRV for defense after his many, many BRV dumps. Seymour is also a great choice, as is Faris.
Next ideally are the BRV Batteries. Kain has so, so many BRV dumps. If he gets small boosts here and there from BRV Batteries, he could be DPSing at his full potential every turn. Of course you have the regulars like Eiko and Krile, but as the game ages, I find myself leaning towards Aerith more and more. As we start seeing an increase in the power of BRV Shavers and DPS in general, most can almost reach their MAX BRV by themselves with little trouble. Aerith provides modest increases that reduce the possibilities of leaking BRV, and longevity. As well as those precious, precious heals for that sweet, succulent Ifrit’s Blessing.
Then there are the Power Buffers: Ashe and Sazh. These two are the buffers who can benefit almost ANY character. While less than ideal since it’s not always the best strategy to put all your eggs into one character, Sazh can increase Kain’s buffs by another +30% while Ashe can increase his BRV Shaving by another +20%. Add another +20% ATK from Ifrit and baby, you got a stew going.
Lastly, Kain Highwind goes well with any existing FF4 character, such as Cecil, Yang, or Edge, to remind you how canonically inferior they are to him.
Summary
Since the arrival of Sazh’s 35 CP, I have been asked “Mino, why is Sazh rated so low in JP at the time of his 35 CP release? It seems so overpowered.” And then I say… nothing. I say nothing. I tend not to answer stupid questions like this and “Should I pull for X if…” But if I DID answer, I would say it’s because as time progresses, more and more DPS can buff THEMSELVES to Sazh levels. Kain is the first. If you could have a team of 3 Kains, you don’t need Sazh. Sazh’s strength is that he himself is a mediocre character. With Sazh buffs, he becomes above average WHILE elevating a stronger DPS to far greater heights. So 3 top-tier DPS outweighs Sazh + 2 top-tier DPS. Once Kain, Kuja, and Wakka release with their 35’s, Sazh is no longer optimal. Once Awakenings hit, he’s dead. Fret not, Sazh fans, he’s not dead yet. Kain is only one man. So far.
Kain Highwind is the beginning of this DPS powercreep. Sazh 35 CP is a blessing, as Sazh can actually make MANY characters as strong as Kain. As I said in my last eval, Sazh is our messiah and we are blessed; with him around, our meta is not so rigid. Kain is Judas. He is the first to strike a blow to our God Emperor Sazh’s divine reign, as is fitting with his character, let’s be honest. Kuja will be the next to betray our Lord.
A final message. Please, for the love of God Emperor Sazh, do not bring 3 Sazh to the Kain co-op. Please. As I just said, Sazh’s REAL power is buffing someone stronger. 3 or even 2 Sazh’s buffing themselves is just a slightly above average DPS. 3 Kains would be a far, far better comp. Any team with more than one Sazh is suboptimal. Stop. I beg of you.
Score
1st place out of the countless Dragoons and Highwinds who wish to capture a piece of his glory through his name or his old hand-me-down lance.
