This is the evaluation of our bad and hyped boi who is coming from the legendary Final Fantasy VII – as a villain.
Table of Contents
Sephiroth
- Main Game: Final Fantasy VII
- Crystal Color: Green
- Class Function: Melee DPS, Melee BRV Shaver, Debuffer (Aura)
- Weapon Type: Greatsword
- Damage Type: Melee
What makes him special?
Sephiroth joins GL and takes the stage as the Best Single Target DPS. He is unmatched, and unchallenged when it comes to multi-hit Single Target DPS who not only hits hard, but also hits even harder as the fight grows longer via his unique Jenova buff.
He comes in as the slowest character in the game, but with his unique Jenova buff, he catches up with the rest of the cast, as he provides a powerful attack that hits hard and hits fast. To top it all off, while he continues to become faster, the enemy in turn goes slower. His abilities make him an even more powerful DPS unlike any other.
Character Details
- HP: 1/5
- ATK: 5/5
- IBRV: 4/5
- SPD: 1/5
- MBRV: 5/5
- DEF: 4/5
Abilities
Fervent Blow – 10 hit Non-Elemental melee Single Target BRV Attack. 270% potency.
Octaslash – 7 hit Non-Elemental Melee Single Target BRV + HP Attack. 210% potency. Grants 1 Jenova Stack. Grants 1 additional Jenova Stack when attacking a broken or breaking an enemy.
Unique Buff
Jenova
- Maximum of 5 stacks with 35CP weapon passive.
- Applies a SPD Up to Sephiroth. Each stack increases the effect of SPD UP.
- Applies a SPD Down to all enemies. Effect remains the same regardless of the number of stacks.
- Adds Max BRV UP for each stack (20%/40%/60%/80/100%).
- Adds ATK UP for each stack (10%/20%/30%/40%/50%).
Sephiroth is without a doubt, the strongest single target DPS in the game, his Jenova stacks get his stats up to 50% ATK and 100% MBRV, to top it all off, this unique buff has the ability to stack with every other buff we have; this allows him to become an even stronger DPS.
He starts off as the slowest character we have, but as he gets his Jenova stacks; he becomes faster and faster.
Points of Interest
Jenova Stacks requires skill uses
To reach peak performance, Sephiroth needs 3 uses of Octaslash. The sad news is, his Jenova is applied after the attack. On the flipside, one proper (broken target) use of Octaslash gives me 20% atk and 40% MBRV which is already at par with other DPS.
Jenova Grants SPD UP to Sephiroth
This SPD Up, is not as strong as most people seem to believe, one must remember, his SPD is the lowest in the game, what Jenova does is simply make it match the other characters with high SPD. More often than not, SPD isn’t what makes a character have a turn quickly, it’s the high turn rate they have, which Sephiroth only has when he breaks an opponent (he has to break the target himself to get this high turn rate). My sources told me that Sephiroth is still pretty slow even after all the buffs.
Jenova Grants a SPD Down to all targets
While handy, it is not strong enough as many people believe, similarly to the SPD UP he gains. To add to that, it doesn’t increase in effectiveness with each stack. On one side, it only requires a single stack of Jenova to hit the SPD Down, on the other, it doesn’t get any stronger. What this simply does, is make it so that Sephiroth does not feel as slow than he truly is.
Jenova is a unique framed buff and has no duration
Jenova being a framed buff opens the door for a lot of possibility, the most obvious one is adding in even more regular buffs to Sephiroth so he can do even more damage. With it being framed, unique and having no duration. Sephiroth can be paired with just about everyone. He has no real limiting factor to him, other than being a melee DPS. The door is open for him and he can join any table he would like because he has the most room for growth among any DPS, alongside Papalymo (who also has a unique buff).
Recommended Artifact Passives
ATK + 108
One-Winged Angel Up **
MAX BRV + 330
Being mostly a straight DPS, Sephiroth’s Best Artifacts are pretty straightforward and require little explanation. If you are unlucky, even a Mighty Fervent Blow ** and Mighty Octaslash ** will serve you well.
Strengths
Unmatched Single Target DPS.
Jenova Unique Buff stacks with all other buffs.
High Ability Count.
Weaknesses
Requires the use of 3 Octaslashes to reach peak performance.
Slowest Character at the beginning of the fight.
Low Impact Party Utility.
What is his place in the current meta
Sephiroth will be the lead single target DPS, his unmatched multi hit and incredible MAX BRV allows the numbers to fly, as his DPS is unrivaled, aside from Kuja, who is more of an AoE centric DPS. However, while Sephiroth’s power is incredible and somewhat frightening, his reign as the very best single target DPS last for 10 short days, as the title of King goes to another.
Sephiroth as an individual character
Sephiroth is what I picture as the prime example of what an “independent” character should be, his buffs are framed, so any party buffer that goes with him, gives him the full buffs, unlike some characters like Squall, who’s ATK UP doesn’t stack with other regular attack ups, only overwritten by better ones.
Team Synergy
Sephiroth’s unique buff allows him to party with just about anyone. So instead of breaking down what he has and come up with a party, I’ll go with themes to what kinds of parties you can make.
Damage | Team 1: (Sephiroth, Raijin, and Ramza)
Raijin with his 15CP weapon passive, grants the whole party with a 20% Physical ATK Buff, and Ramza grants everyone a 30% ATK UP, and BRV Regen. All these buffs stack with one another and allow all three of them to so large amounts of damage.
(For those who aren’t aware, while Raijin maybe an unpopular character, his ATK Stat is of the highest tier, and should not be underestimated, especially in this set-up with an additional 30% ATK up on top of his 20% P ATK up)
Defensive | Team 2: (Sephiroth, Hope, and Aerith)
Hope grants the party with the strongest defensive tools in the game, Aerith provides a strong heal and a BRV Battery. Both Hope and Aerith providing BRV allow Sephiroth to play differently as he can save his abilities for more important moments. Hope also provides a SPD UP to the party, something that stacks with Sephiroth’s own, this allows Sephiroth to go even faster, mitigating his problems with slow speed. Aerith’s ability to heal and even revive the dead makes his team unkillable.
(A small problem with this team is Hope’s MAX BRV)
The Team you’ll probably use | Team 3: (Sephiroth, Eiko and Sazh)
Despite my efforts to encourage players to try different characters and work on their team building skills. That being said, all I can say is. Yes, this team works, and it’s very good.
Team Thoughts
Sephiroth works with just about everyone, that being said, his teammates do not share that same freedom, so when building a team with him, make sure the other two characters work well together too!
Overall Conclusion
Sephiroth, like I said before, is undoubtedly the strongest ST DPS the game; however, that reign is short as another DPS comes in gun-blazing, and bringing out the big guns. He is strong, without a shadow of a doubt, but he’ll be challenged in 10 days, and then again when awakening comes.
Which leads me to this new section.
What does he have to offer post-awakening
With awakening right around the corner, it begs the question on whether or not Sephiroth is even worth pulling for, my answer is “it’s conditional”.
Sephiroth is pretty much a straight DPS. He has nothing to offer other than his damage, with awakening coming up, he gets powercreeped very quickly, even with his SPD UP and SPD Down from Jenova, its not impactful enough to make him relevant. That’s just how much stronger awakened characters are. I believe a lot of questions need to be answered, one being just how strong are the first batch of awakened characters. I can say without a shadow of a doubt, and with multiple people telling me the same thing, is that the first batches of awakening characters are just incredibly stronger. (Yes even the bad awakening ones)
While some awakened characters have a lot left to be desired, their stat gain alone puts them at the top, and are only considered horrible due to having insight of what awakened characters are even better. That said, with stat boost alone making awakened characters the cream of the crop, Sephiroth has only his damage to offer. So now what do we do with him?
It’s simple you either, enjoy his time before level 60s come out, or you make different choices. When it comes to the awakening, you will be limited to the choices of who you can awaken, given limited Tier 4 crystals, High Shards, the most popular choices in the first two batches in terms of DPS, is Cloud, Terra and Vaan.
Now, if you dislike one of those characters and do not wish to awaken them, Sephiroth becomes an alternative. He gives you a choice, he has the role of a DPS and if you choose not to awaken some DPS, you will need one, and Sephiroth can be that guy (for a short time of course).
Sephiroth will be weaker than the Awakened DPS for sure, there is no doubt about that, but he is good enough to give you a fighting chance and give you free reign to choose another to awaken.
This is what pulling on level 50 characters moving forward allows you to do, it allows you to have choices on who to awaken.
Not everyone wants to play the same characters, some people want to have the choice, but those choices need to be done carefully, and with conditions. If you choose not to awaken DPS (for the first few batches) for one reason or another, you need a powerful DPS to compensate for your lack of power, Sephiroth is one of your best choices, and that’s what he has to offer.
Sephiroth allows you to have a choice NOT to awaken certain DPS as he is strong enough to fight the battles ahead (at least for a short period of time).
Final Words
I hope you all enjoyed this evaluation. Remember, enjoy the game, that’s why we play, isn’t it!
Special credit: Decrith
