Contents
Introduction
Hello, welcome to my dark guide. This is a basic guide for players with dark questions to be answered. This is not a guide for min/max, nor is it a guide to gisla/hades/whale build.
What Dark Characters to ticket/use?
Dark has a lot of great characters, however, you should always remember that without a good grid, characters alone will never achieve much. Every character in granblue has a role or utility to fill, therefore, no characters should really ever be regarded as useless.
so fucking true
You can also look at a tier list from the following two sites and decide what you want from there.
Best options:
Vira –
Most dark players will recommend vira simply because of how useful her veil is. She also has echo when Luminiera Merge is active and 2 turns of TA is really great. She is also pretty tanky unlike naru and she has a self heal for 2000. Think of her as a cookie cutter character for end dark teams. Although vira has fallen off in the meta as an attacker due to the presence of new stronger attackers, we should never overlook the importance of veil.
Naru –
Probably the best dark draph character, 70% bonus elemental weakness echo is really strong, and she even has ODA up her sleeves. She also has a stacking attack buff up to 50%, and a delay should you ever need it.
Her only downside is her defense down that comes with her skill 1 and the fact that the animation quite a while.
Summer Zooey (Limited) –
Summer Zooey is prob half the reason why dark is strong, and every dark players will want her somehow. She isn’t really strong on her own, she is only strong when paired with enmity (read weapon guide for info). Some players will say “no zooey, no dark”, but honestly, you don’t need her to do well in dark. I don’t have her either, yet. I’m not gonna explain too much on her, go read up reddit tier list on her.
Djeanne –
An extremely great character for short fights where you wanna burst for damage. Her skill 2 brings her stats up to crazy amounts for 5 turns and then weaken her at the 6th turn. Her skill 1 also brings a useful defense down if you need it and force emnity. Should you ever feel that she is dying, use her skill 3 to make her invulnerable for 5 turns before she gets knocked out.
Korwa –
B-but, isn’t korwa wind? No, Korwa is rainbow element. She’s not an attacker, she’s a buffer who can be slotted into almost any team you want. Take note that she only excels in long battles, lasting more than 10 turns.
Orchid –
Shes quite the beast as long as you can maintain her puppet mode, which isn’t very hard honestly. She has a 1.2m nuke on a 6 turn cd. When shes on puppet mode, she has a 40%-50% TA rate, and 100% DA, her crit rate and damage really shines when you are fighting against light. Her puppet mode shield refreshes whenever she ougis and her skill 2 is there to help keep her charge bar up. With zenith now, just add her def and hp zeniths to 2* and you’ll hardly she her instakilled when in tangled strings anymore. A super auto-attacker really close to six level.
Great options:
Vania / Vampy –
Vampy may not be in the meta anymore, but she is still useful for solo content where you need a dispel, delay, or charm. She is a utility character though so don’t expect her to shit out tons of damage.
Beatrix –
Great character. 50% attack, 50% DA, 30% TA, 30% defense, 500 Regen, all in one. Overall she needs some learning to use and orchid is probably a better option.
Try this link on how to use her: https://docs.google.com/document/d/14rvxp51mj8yMf_F3cp8rXe1UeSQ3TV4XR_nyPH2Q-l8/edit
Black Knight (Limited) –
Great character, although she is a legfes limited, so most players won’t get their hands on her, since summer zooey/orchid is probably better to aim for if you really wanted a limited dark character. Her skill 1 brings you a delay and dispel together. She also brings in one of the best debuff in game, fear.
Forte –
Pretty decently strong character, but mostly only used on dark draph team. Her passive support skills works even when she is on the backline.
Dark Zeta –
She gains echo on burned enemies, and she has a 100%TA for 3 turns for 30% charge bar which is really good. She also brings in dark resis down for the team and her burn rate is pretty high, most players claim she hardly ever misses. Her light damage reduction buff isn’t the best but it’s there. A decent character.
Cagliostro (dark)
Great character for solo’ing hard contents. Her skill1 gives the team a 50% crit chance which can be super useful when fighting on element. Overall, a pretty decent character to use as a support when facing hard content, dark lack proper supports.
Other options (Probably only after you have all the above characters and still want more):
Veight –
Think of him as a toned down Six, pretty similar, but slightly different.
Vaseraga –
Hes much better with his 5* upgrade now, but still, dark has a lot of good characters that Vaseraga is still unable to truly compete with in the meta. He does work pretty well in a draph team though if you are into that.
Lady Grey –
She got buffed recently, but she is still a debuffer regardless, so she needs to be on element to actually work consistently. Good unit for solo play as she can cover def down pretty much all by herself.
Cerberus –
She’s basically a TA machine after she got buffed recently. However, her lackluster skillset is what prevents her from becoming a great character.
Guild War Character Six:
Six –
He is the other half reason why dark is so strong. He is the carry of darkness, the reason why dark can reach cap auto damage. One of the best guild war character to aim for. If you are reading this and considering playing dark, then you should get him.
Other character questions:
Q: Does dark have any healers?
A: Yes, but we don’t need them. Think of them as luxury. If you need a healer in dark, MC is the healer.
Q: Naru or Vira?
A: Whatever fits your playstyle, or whichever waifu you prefer, both are the same, neither of them are stronger than the other in any way.
Q: Must I have summer zooey?
A: No, you don’t need her to do well in dark. What you really need for HL is six and korwa.
Q: Should I make Six?
A: Why not? Unless you are short on gold bars. He is the best auto-attacker in dark after all.
Q: Do I need limited characters?
A: No, but let’s be honest here, cygames needs to make money to feed their family too. So of course they’re gonna make limited characters like summer zooey, orchid, lucio, sturm, drang, lecia, etc. really strong and top in their meta for most cases. In the end, no one is forcing anyone to spend crazy to get all the limited characters in all element to be the best. It’s your money, just decide what you want to spend on and be happy with it.
Weapon Grid:
I would assume everyone here uses a celeste magna build, cause dark only have celeste and hades to boost weapon skills, and hades is pretty much for the whale/cash build….
Celeste only boost Shalim skills, so take note your weapons have those if you want them to be boosted. These are what we call Magna modifiers.
Hades boost Dark,Hatred, Oblivion and Blackstar skills, These are what we call normal modifiers.
Unknown modifiers are a special modifier on their own. Just lookout for the EX symbol at the skill icon.
Usually a magna weapon grid will be made out of a Mainhand, 6-7 magna weapons, 1 bahamut weapon, 1-2 unknown, or 1 normal modifier weapon.
You want your weapon skills to be boosted, and celeste only boost magna weapons, therefore it is better to use celeste and magna weapons. If you are thinking about hades build, then I’ll tell you it’s not worth it unless you can 4* uncap your normal modifier weapons and push them to sl15. Even then the effort and money compared to making a celeste grid is probably not worth it unless you are willing to throw in at least 3-4 Gisla.
Also, your magna weapons scale lower and lower the more you add them in, 6-7 is a good number to stick with, and you will want to mix up modifiers. Bahamut weapon is already considered a normal modifier, so the next modifier people usually look for is unknown.
Claw or Axes?
A commonly asked question. Claw or Axe?
Either is fine, really. Axe is better than claw at 100% Hp, Claws win Axe at around the 75% – 80% Hp mark. This is because Claws have the weapon skill, enmity, it is a weapon skill which increase your damage as your hp decreases, hence, it’s a risky playstyle. Axe is also much much easier to farm than claws, so that is something to consider too.
Claw grid, Axe grid, Mix grid, all three works. There’s no best grid in dark, unless hades gisla grid. Play whichever you like. Axe is cookie cutter, Claws require some thinking to work around with.
The only reason why people suggest claws with summer zooey, is because she can bring your team’s Hp to 1, while making it invulnerable for 1 turn, allowing you to make the full use of enmity.
She allows you to easily and efficiently make use of the enmity in a Claw grid, which can be hard to maintain and achieve.
Bahamut Weapon
Take note that Bahamut weapons will depend on the race of the characters that you want to use. Most dark players use these 4 bahamut weapons.
Bahamut Dagger:
Useful for human/erune teams, most players will go for this, as it is the most used bahamut weapon. Generally used in other elements too.
Bahamut Sword:
Boost humans/Draph race. Why? Cause six can reach cap even without the bahamut boost. Though some players will prefer Six to have the extra hp, and probably cap faster. Also this weapon does not boost Korwa’s Hp if you’re using her.
Bahamut Spear
For players who play Six / Naru, as it boost erune and draph. Not commonly used in other elements, but a very good weapon for dark if you play Naru.
Bahamut Axe
Only really used for dark draph team with Axe build. Still a strong weapon for dark players who play draph with Axe build, but less used nowadays.
How many Cortanas?
In case you don’t know what’s a Cortana, its a dark dagger that boost dark characters multiattack attack and cut their Hp by -10%.
Most players will want either 2-3 Cortanas in their end grid for the multiattack boost. Decide for yourself how many you want, as some people will not be able to handle the -10% Hp from each Cortana. DO NOTE THAT CORTANA IS FOR HADES GRID AND OLDEN CORTANA IS FOR MAGNA GRID, two different weapons with different modifiers.
Basically Cortana improves your damage by allowing your characters to hit 1 or 2 times more per turn, thus improving your overall dps in raids.
It is best advised to farm DAO for your Cortanas only after you have a MLB grid at least. This is because DAO does not drop skill level fodders for your weapons, and she does not drop dark quartz which you will need 200 of per magna weapon FLB. You will probably be unable to use your Cortanas efficiently without an at least MLB grid as the Hp loss can be really painful and it will be a torture to play on any content with 4k-6k range Hp. Most players who are able to use Cortanas without hurting their Hp too much are Rank 155 (to unlock the Bonus Party Hp perk), have a FLB grid, and have a decent amount of +bonuses. Therefore, if you are only beginning, do not worry too much about farming those Cortanas yet. And when you start farming, enjoy the DAO farming experience.
Grid Progression Guide
Rank 1-50, Starting out:
The starting grid of every GBF player, your grid will be messy and cramp up with whatever ssr you can find or salvage. Once you are rank 30 , you will be able to leech omega celeste and that will be your GBF life for quite a while so learn to love/hate her.
You can always trade for at least 2 ssr weapons per month using your Renown Pendants gained from clearing and leeching raids. Try to cap your Renown Pendants every week to make the most of this trading system as it is will be your most reliable method to build up your grid instead of relying on RNG droprates.
For more info on pendant farming, try https://gbf.wiki/Pendants .
Rank 50-80
At this point your grid is only starting to take shape. Use whatever celeste axe/claw (preferably) and spear you can find. Take your time to slowly uncap each weapon as you progress throughout the game. Try to get a baha weapon for whichever character race you are playing and keep an eye out for dark event weapons which are unknowns. Also try to participate actively in guild wars and aim for either a dark gw dagger or gw harp.
It is a good idea to have a MLB celeste spear as it will serve as a decent placeholder before you get enough axe/claws to fill up your grid. The celeste spear will also serve as a useful mainhand weapon should you need it.
At this point it is too early to aim for a pure build and probably better for you to just use whatever you can get your hands on.
Rank 80-100
At this point your grid should be taking shape already. Most of your weapons should be mlb by now with a few still uncapped. Do not worry as it is normal to transit into HL with a few non-mlb weapons. You should have a proper guild war weapon main hand weapon by now. If you are lucky, you should have a dark unknown by now, if not, just use a second baha weapon as a temporary placeholder. If you want, rage of the beast event has a tradable unknown weapon from the shop, however, you will need to join a kirin train with a beast seal for it, which may be somewhat difficult for some of you.
At this point you can start considering if you want an axe or claw build in the future.
Rank 100+ and beyond
At this point you should have decided if you want an axe or claw grid.
You can also start to flb your weapons now and try to upgrade your baha weapon to coda at the same time. Be careful about leeching bahaHL raids as some people will take it seriously and mark your name on sites or mass spam unpleasant stickers on your profile. If you were to join a bahaHL raid, as much as possible try not to die and aim for 500k honors minimum.
Once your grid is near mlb/flb or when you have enough dark quartz from celeste to flb all your weapons already, you can start farming DAO for cortanas.
End Weapon Build Examples
The weapon build shown below are only examples. It is up to you to decide what you want to put in your weapon grid and how you wish to make it.
Bahamut weapon shown are all daggers, feel free to change it to the bahamut weapon you would like to use.
Unknown weapon shown is the recent dark unknown sword, any dark unknown would do.
Gisla mainhand? But isn’t it a whale weapon? Not really, all it takes is a suptix for gisla and you can FLB it with the damascus bar easily available from events now. It may take some time, but it is not impossible. Also, Gisla is still very relevant in a magna grid, of course, if you can’t afford a Gisla, there is always the option of using a Bahamut Spear or Celeste Spear in place of it.
Also, remember to enjoy the game, whatever grid you choose in dark element, it’s pretty much the same, either axe grid, or claw grid, you can have decent damage output, so whichever style fits you best.
For the fine tuning / optimization, it’s really up to your choice, since it’s based around your choice of character, i.e. if your character is a good attacker, but needs more MA, then 3 Cortanas might do the trick, if your character alone have a good source of MA, then you might want some more raw damage, if they are too squishy you will want more hp. And these are something that can’t be directly answered by everyone here. You will always be sacrificing something no matter what choice you make, be it HP, Raw Attack, or Multiattack Rate.
Axe Build
Pros:
Consistent damage
Axe drops more often than claws
Easier to build and use
Better than claws when HP >80%
More consistent at carrying than claws in HL content not including magna HLs
Cons:
Weaker than claws when HP <80%
Note:
The reason why axe are arguably stronger than claws is because when you go into 6 man HLs and BahaHL, sages will be there to spam heal, thus it’ll be hard to utilise enmity efficiently. In 6 man contents, it is generally better to play safely as each man counts. If you are risking your mc/characters, then you may as well just be risking the raid by turning it into a 5 man show.
Claw Build
Pros:
Better than axe when HP <80%
High risk, high reward playstyle
Synergise well with summer zooey
Cons:
Weaker than axe when HP >80%
Inconsistent damage
Drops less than axe
Less consistent at carrying than claws in HL content not including magna HLs
Note: To really use a claw grid efficiently, you need to be able to bring your HP down and maintain it with success and reliability. The only character atm who’s able to help achieve that is summer zooey. Not being able to abuse your HP values reliably means that you’ll prob end up doing less than an Axe grid somewhat more or less.
Mixed Build
Pros:
Most economical dark build, easiest build to achieve
Smooth transition to pure axe/claw build
Jack of all trades
Not everyone plays Granblue for a living
Cons:
Jack of all trades, but master of none
You are neither stronger than axe when HP>80%, nor stronger than claws when HP<80%
Note: Mix build is the weakest of all three builds, however, if you are just starting out as a dark player, mixed build can be good for you as it is easier to build and faster to get stronger, you can still consider changing to a pure axe/claw build anytime you want when you farmed sufficient axe/claws to make a pure build. If you are a veteran just wanting to farm a sub-dark element team, mix build can be for you too if you just want a workable grid.
Summons
What summons should I get? A lot of new players will ask these questions.
Keep all of your SR carbuncles, these guys will usually take up half your summon grid, more or less. Uncap them with moonlight stones from the casino, but you can only get 5 stones per month, so prioritise at your own discord which elemental carbuncle to mlb first. The reason why carbuncles are so helpful is because they reduce damage of ‘said’ element by 50%, and increase damage of ‘said’ element by 50% as well. The damage reduction can prove extremely useful once you tackle into harder contents, both solo and raid, as bosses down the road can hit and ougi very hard, in certain cases, a carbuncle is required to stay alive for some boss triggers.
Free summons :
Anat ( Wind ) : Very useful, and she is free, just grind for her in the casino. She gives an attack buff on active and will do good for stats as she can be easily mlb.
Other useful summons from the gacha are:
Athena (Fire) : Very useful active effect, 30% damage reduction pair with a phalanx means 100% damage reduction. The good thing is that she is universal against all elements and multi element attacks unlike carbuncles, and that she provides more Stats than a Carbuncle.
Garuda (Wind) : She gives a single free dodge for the team on active, as bosses down the road can hit very hard. She also helps with surviving at low HP for claw grids for 1 attack, but take note that she does not work to survive boss ougis and multi-hits.
Apollo ( Light ) : His active gives a free veil, very useful for protection against debuffs as those can cripple your team. Less relevant if you are playing vira as vira already has her own veil for the team.
Dark Angel Olivia ( Dark ) : She provides a delay on the boss on active, which can always be helpful. Take note the delay hit rate is dependant on the element of your MC, and as you should already know, always be on-element for consistent debuff hit rate. She also gives a -1 CD to all dark character skills at FLB, helpful but it can be rather niche at times.
Bahamut ( Dark ) : Do you need a bahamut to do well in dark? I would say no, but the bahamut summon does help a lot in the early game. Once you start getting enough claws / axes / cortanas, with sufficient skill levels, you will want to use a celeste summon instead to ramp up their skill %, more so with claws and cortanas, because of their enmity and multiattack skill which really needs boosting. A bahamut summons will probably work better as a support summon in the later game.
Shiva ( Fire ) : Provides a buff that gives ODA/BA tier damage for the team for 1 turn. He can only be used once per battle/raid though.
Grande ( Light ) : Provides a drain buff which restores 500 HP to all allies for 3 turns. When FLB’ed, her drain buff restores 1000 HP per turn, which is a total of 3000 HP for the 3 turns.
Baal ( Earth ) : Remove 1 debuff for the team on active, just like a clear. Apollo is probably more useful as veil can prevent all debuffs inflicted at that very instance. Clear only removes 1 debuff.
