Refined Spheres Guide

All of the information here is generously provided by Nibelung, original creator of the RF Sphere Analysis threads on reddit.

Introduction

This is mostly a guide about RF spheres that are powerful as a placeholder options for your characters that you do not plan to equip proper spheres on. Thus, it may be on your best interest to craft enough to slot them on everyone that fits the description. I’m here to list which units fulfill their requirements, and to whom they may be best RF option to use as placeholders until you decide to slot a proper sphere.

However, no matter how strong, a refined sphere is never as good as a proper sphere. So, if any of the characters I list below already have proper spheres slotted for them, please, don’t overwrite your sphere with a refined one. The numbers I list are a cap, not a minimum. As in, if you craft more than that, probably you will run out of units that can even activate the sphere regularly.

Probably you will not be able to craft spheres for everyone, and need to pick and choose who will receive them. That’s ok. Especially as the shops start having spheres that are good for a large amount of characters. Only you have knowledge of your own roster, and are in a better position to decide who are the best picks when you need to choose.

tl;dr: 30 Hope spheres, one of each other.

Hope

Effect: After granting buff, raises party’s MAX BRV, ATK by 2% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This is the strongest party-wide D-sphere in the game, alongside Wakka’s. The main issue with it is having some way to keep buffing all the time to maintain high uptime.

Hope sphere is, alongside Wakka, the only D-sphere that provides a party-wide ATK/MBRV buff. The main issue is that the sphere effect only last 3 turns, which requires you to use it on a character that is able to keep refreshing buffs every third turn, either by having a lot of skill uses to burn, some way to apply a buff using BRV+/HP+ attacks, or by having a fast charge EX with a buff attached to it.

Remember that this sphere do not stack with itself, so you only need to craft a maximum of one per character. It do stacks with its normal version, so you can have a Hope sphere and a Hope RF sphere in the same unit, but not two of the same specific kind.

My advice is for you to craft 30 Hope RF spheres, and slot them on those units: Ace, Aerith, Alisaie, Aphmau, Balthier, Bartz, Beatrix, Edgar, Edge, Edward, Firion, Guy, King, Krile, Kuja, Layle, Lightning, Maria, Nine, Onion Knight, Porom, Rem, Rude, Sephie, Terra, Tifa, Vanille, Vayne and Warrior of Light

Laguna

Effect: When dealing critical hit to target with group BRV attack, inflict to all enemies: 3 turns MAX BRV Down 12%

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This is one of the few E-slot spheres that do not require a debuff to trigger. Thus, it’s a viable option for the characters with an E-slot that do not debuff.

I do not advise anyone to invest in this sphere because I’m not a fan of RF E-spheres that apply generic debuffs, because it risk pushing off other, more important, unframed debuffs.

It is worthy saying, however, that it’s one of the few E-slot spheres that Ardyn can trigger consistently, since most others requires the user to either be at max HP, or inflict a debuff.

My advice is for you to craft one single Laguna RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Thancred

Effect: After attacking target’s weakness, apply an aura effect that reduces enemy’s BRV by 12% of individual INT BRV at start of enemy’s turn for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: Astaroth Raid (September)

How good is it? Faris RF sphere does the same job more consistently.

While there are many E-slot users that can deal weakness damage on their own, most of those can also inflict debuffs, which makes them eligible for ATK-boosting spheres, like Yuffie or Seymour.

On top of that, Faris RF sphere provides exactly the same debuff, with the condition to land a critical hit, which is much more universal than Thancred’s conditional.

My advice is to craft one single Thancred RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Golbez

Effect: Raises own ATK by 2% when attacking target’s weakness, up to 2 times, once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

Shadow

Effect: When dealing critical hit to single target, raises ATK by 4% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good are they? There are other RF A-spheres that grant the same ATK bonus and a second buff on top of it. Pick one of them instead of those spheres

My advice is for you to craft one single RF sphere of each, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Vivi

Effect: When attacking target’s weakness, raises MAX BRV by 2%, up to 2 times, once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good generic sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Vivi RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Next batch preview:
Next batch will come with the Crimson Arms Heretics at June 11th, and will feature the RF spheres of Bartz (A sphere, Yellow), Cyan (A sphere, Blue), Penelo (C sphere, White), Seymour (E sphere, White), Steiner (A sphere, Green), and Zell (A sphere, Red).

PREVIOUS BATCHES

These spheres are not available for crafting in the newest shop, but if you have them in stock and want to review recommendations on who are good candidates to use them, check below.

tl;dr: One of each, except for Seven, that is a generic sphere, and you can stock up as many as you want.

^Yes, ^it’s ^another ^good ^red ^crystal ^generic ^sphere ^to ^the ^pile.

Seven

Effect: When attacking target’s weakness, raises BRV damage dealt by 4%

Reoccurrence in shop: Tunneler Raid (August 2021)

How good is it? Straight buff to BRV damage, which counters BRV damage reduction from Lufenia bosses, is a rare buff.

Seven RF sphere have the advantage that, on the right characters, it have basically a non-conditional conditional. Most elemental units can imperil their own element, and those that can’t usually have another unit available to do so for them. While fighting an enemy weak to your element, all your hits will have extra damage.

So, Seven RF sphere for elemental units is basically a flat 4% buff to damage. It’s on par with Cloud RF sphere, with the advantage that it will still boost damage while the boss have shields or massive BRV gains that you need to shave.

Elemental units with imperil (31): Alisaie, Cater, Cecil (both), Celes, Ceodore, Cid, Desch, Eiko, Garnet, Gau, Golbez, Guy, Kuja, Kurasame, Lann & Reynn, Leon, Lightning, Lulu, Onion Knight, Palom, Papalymo, Raijin, Reno, Rydia, Sabin, Shantotto, Vincent, Vivi, Yuri and Xande
Damage type imperilers (3): Auron, Fran, Irvine
Weakness damage against debuffed targets (6): Amidatelion, Arciela, Fang, Faris, Seifer, and Seymour
Other units with situational weakness damage (11): Edgar, Layle, Leo, Lion, Locke, Paine, Seven, Steiner, Thancred, Tifa, Zidane

I personally prefer to slot a 4% ATK/IBRV, 4% ATK/MBRV or 6% ATK sphere on your A slot, but 4% BRV damage is as much of a generic A sphere effect as any of those. So, I will not list an amount for you to craft. Be aware that since it boost damage directly, it will not increase your ATK value for things like ATK-based battery. Remember to craft at least one sphere for the event mission to get the blue nuggets.

Freya

Effect: Raises party’s MAX HP by 4%

Reoccurrence in shop: Dimension’s End Transcendence 5 (October 2021)

How good is it? That’s a unique bonus that is not found in any other sphere in the game. It can’t be compared with other spheres because of that, requiring a more fine analysis.

Extra HP is usually a good thing. Most characters outside synergy average around 13k~18k HP with all summon boards and max level. That means this sphere provides around 500~700 HP to each party member. While this value is mostly irrelevant, I’ve survived a fair number of fights because an HP attack left me with less than 1k HP and allowed me to heal back. But more often than not, we get a dead party member when we get broken during a big attack, or we get overwhelmed by an attack that deal more HP damage than we have MBRV.

I would not sacrifice 2% party ATK for 4% party MAX HP, and the sphere says that it do not stack with itself, which may imply that even if multiple party members have this RF sphere slotted, the party would only benefit from one sphere effect. It’s a unique effect, but preventing a death at a narrow HP value is too niche to be a generically useful sphere. There is a reason why HP passives are on top of the list of what we should unequip when we need 5 CP for something else.

Porom and Lenna to-be-released LDs key off of party total HP value, and benefit the most from this sphere. However, this is not the first time Freya RF sphere appear on the shop, and you certainly can use the previous RF and this shop’s RF to slot them on both. If you choose to go this route, remember that regular and RF spheres stacks, and Porom have two D slots, allowing you to stack both regular and RF sphere for 14% party HP increase.

My advice is to craft one single Freya RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Agrias

Effect: While HP is MAX, raises MAX BRV by 4%

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good generic sphere

My advice is for you to craft one single Agrias RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Garland

Effect: Raises ATK by 2% when inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break, up to 2 times, once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: Lamia Heretics (November 2021)

How good is it? There are other RF A-spheres that grant the same ATK bonus and a second buff on top of it. Pick one of them instead of Garland sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Garland RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Lenna

Effect: When recovering own HP, raises party’s INT BRV by 4% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good placeholder sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Lenna RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Yda

Effect: Increases BRV damage dealt by 4% when attacking enemy not targetting self

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? Straight buff to BRV damage, which counters BRV damage reduction from Chaos/Lufenia bosses, is a rare buff. The problem with this sphere is the trigger.

This sphere will be useless against bosses that have many ALL attacks, and have reduced effectiveness when playing without a lock tank on your team. Considering all that, it’s a decent sphere, but being of average power alongside the inconsistent trigger make it not a good investment. There are better options for BRV damage spheres, like Seven or Cloud.

My advice is for you to craft one single Yda RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Next batch preview:
Next batch will come with the Divine Alexander later this month, and will feature the RF spheres of Golbez (A sphere, Black), Hope (D sphere, White), Laguna (E sphere, Blue), Shadow (A sphere, Black), Thancred (E sphere, White), and Vivi (A sphere, Black).

PREVIOUS BATCHES

These spheres are not available for crafting in the newest shop, but if you have them in stock and want to review recommendations on who are good candidates to use them, check below.

Vanille

Effect: 40% chance to remove 1 buff from target when inflicting Break

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere is amazing on characters that have the ability to rebreak on demand.

Dispel in general is a situational ability, but when it is required, it completely changes how the battle treats you, and sometimes you don’t need to bring a full dispeler for this fight. While the RF version of the sphere don’t guarantee a dispel, on those characters it happens often enough that it’s relevant over time.

There are five characters with an E-slot and the ability to rebreak on demand: Aranea, Ardyn, Gabranth, Noel, and Vayne.

From those:

Aranea will re-break literally every turn she takes. That will make her a dispeler almost as good as Cloud with his WoI weapon (and as good as, if you use Vanille normal sphere).
Ardyn have trouble triggering any other E-sphere because either need him to debuff or be at full HP, two conditions Ardyn shouldn’t be able to fulfill.
Noel and Vayne uses non-elemental attacks, can’t debuff, and I can’t recommend the use of spheres that inflict generic debuffs because they risk pushing off other, more important, debuffs from the enemy.
Gabranth is the only one in this list that debuff often enough that he can benefit from Yuffie RF sphere, which gives you the option of those two spheres for him.

My advice is for you to craft up to 5 Vanille RF spheres, to slot on those characters listed above, as you see fit.

Basch

Effect: When taking HP damage, raises own ATK by 8% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: DE:Transcendence 6 (December 2021)

How good is it? This is the highest ATK value you can receive from a RF sphere, but its short duration and inconsistent trigger make them not that useful

Most tanks have a lot of tools to prevent taking HP damage, between shields, blinds, nullification and dodges. That makes the only character that can reliably use this sphere being Basch himself. Which just make it easier to simply slot the actual sphere on him and call it a day.

My advice is for you to craft one single Basch RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Porom

Effect: After granting buff, grants party member HP based on 1% of individual MAX HP at start of party member’s turn for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? Too little healing to be relevant.

Even on characters that can maintain the sphere active 100% of the time, 1% MAX HP regen is laughably low. This is not enough to cover chip damage, and definitely will not save you if you need big heals. Most characters will not even reach 300 HP regen per turn.

It does have one single niche usage, which is increasing the orb count on Amidatelion’s Lost Chapter lufenia, if you decide to fight it without any source of HP regen on your team. If you happen to find yourself on this situation, just use the single Porom RF sphere you need to craft to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Rydia

Effect: When atacking target’s weakness, increases BRV damage dealt by 2% and grants an effect to self that raises ATK by 2% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? We have other RF A spheres that provide better stats on both effects. Use one of those.

My advice is for you to craft one single Rydia RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Terra

Effect: Raises INT BRV, MAX BRV by 4% for 3 turns when dealing critical hit

Reoccurrence in shop: Story Act 3 Chapter 4-1 (September)

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good generic sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Terra RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Vayne

Effect: When attacking target afflicted with Break, increases BRV damage dealt by 4%

Reoccurrence in shop: Rafflesia Raid (November)

How good is it? Straight buff to BRV damage, which counters BRV damage reduction from Lufenia bosses, is a rare buff. Said that, it’s roughly equivalent to a similar ATK bonus, which places this sphere on average tier.

The trigger of this sphere is very restrictive, only affecting attacks that hit enemies already broken (or the subsequent hits after you break). This do not help you when you need extra damage to actually break the target (or their shields) in the first place, or if they happen to have a special effect that don’t allow them to be broken.

If you want to invest on BRV damage spheres, my recommendation is to use your stash of Cloud RF sphere, or invest on Seven RF sphere in the next shop.

My advice is for you to craft one single Vayne RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Lilisette

Effect: Grants party 2% of individual MAX BRV when inflicting debuff on target once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

Y’shtola

Effect: Increases BRV by 12% of INT BRV when inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: Divine Pandemonium (October 2021)

How good are they? Paladin Cecil RF sphere does the same thing better or more consistently

Soon we will receive a rework on how Encouragement-type HG armor works and it’s widespread knowledge that MBRV-based battery will skyrocket for the characters that own that kind of armor, with the most iconic one being Paladin Cecil sphere.

Lilisette sphere provides the exact same battery value, but “inflicting a debuff” happens much less frequently than “breaking or attacking a broken target”.

Y’shtola sphere share the same conditional, but keys off IBRV, which is simply a smaller raw number, which means it provides much less battery than any other sphere that key off MBRV. 52% IBRV is significantly lower than 42% MBRV.

Since we are even allowed to stack multiple Paladin Cecil spheres on characters with multiple C slots, there isn’t any reason to equip these sphere on any character with an Encouragement-type HG armor. And without the benefit of the armor, the potency on these spheres are just too low to matter.

My advice is for you to craft one single RF sphere of each, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Fujin

Effect: When dealing critical hit while HP at MAX, reduces all enemies’ SPD by 4% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This is an aura debuff, which means that it does not fight for a debuff slot, and can bypass inherent enemy immunity.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of E-spheres that provides debuffs, because we often have to count debuff slots to make sure our team is not pushing off each other debuffs, and those spheres just make some otherwise perfect teammates not perfect anymore.

Despite the relative low potency in this RF spheres, it just provides extra debuffing without fighting for debuff slots. That’s huge, and while rare and situational, may help while playing alongside certain characters, like Caius, Emperor or Amidatelion to stack more debuffs on top of their huge framed debuff list. Or Kefka, if you want to go for debuff overkill.

Since it’s of situational usage, I will not list preferred characters to slot this sphere. Personally, I still advice you to equip Seymour, Yuffie, Irvine and/or Kefka RF sphere on your E slots, but I think this spheres may work on characters that have multiple E slots.

Regardless of what you decide, remember to craft at least one Fujin RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Kuja

Effect: Increase BRV damage dealth with group BRV attacks by 4%

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

The trigger of this sphere is very restrictive, only affecting the character when using an skill with AoE BRV damage. AoE BRV damage have a tendency to be used more in quests with multiple bosses, which makes them hit the BRV cap very often, even with Lufenia BRV damage reduction in effect.

I don’t think this is a good sphere to invest on, when we have better alternatives for BRV damage in general with Cloud or Seven RF spheres.

My advice is for you to craft one single Kuja RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Balthier

Effect: Raises own Break Bonus by 20% when party inflicts Break

Reoccurrence in shop: Divine Brothers (August 2021)

How good is it? Break Bonus BRV gain is of irrelevant value at current power level.

My advice is for you to craft one single Balthier RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Sabin

Effect: MAX BRV by 4% for 6 turns when dealing critical hit

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good generic sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Sabin RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Yuffie

Effect: Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 4% for 3 turns when inflicting debuff on target

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This is the best E-sphere in the game, and the only reason to not slot that on a character with an E-slot is if they can’t debuff once every three actions

There are no other E sphere that buffs ATK and MBRV. This sphere is as good as the best A-spheres out there. While MBRV in general as becoming less important over time, it’s still relevant for pretty much everyone. However, that means this sphere is competitive with the other RF E-spheres that provides 6% ATK (Seymour, Irvine, Kefka, ~~Auron~~).

The thing that make this sphere jump in usefulness over those is that Yuffie sphere is stackable, and double E slots is relatively common. As long as the character is able to debuff often enough, you can simply recycle Yuffie sphere effect over and over.

I’ll list down every character that I believe are able to debuff every three turns simply by playing them as usual, but in the end, it’s your own choice to decide if you want to fill those slots with Yuffie or a 6% ATK sphere.

My advice is for you to craft 29 Yuffie spheres, and slot them at the following units (bold means extra E slots): Cinque, Desch, Emperor, Gabranth, Irvine, Kefka, Kurasame, Palom, Prompto, Quistis, Raijin, Reno, Seifer, Serah, Seymour, Shantotto, Thancred, Trey, Vanille, Vincent and Zidane.

The Emperor

Effect: Raises own ATK by 4% for 6 turns when inflicting debuff on target

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? Read the section right above this one. What would you want Emperor sphere for?

Sure, there are the other characters that do not debuff often enough to sustain a good uptime on Yuffie sphere. But for those, you slot Seymour sphere (returning in June) that requires you to debuff twice to have a permanent 6% ATK increase for the rest of the fight.

It’s not a bad sphere per se, but it’s just overshadowed by Yuffie and Seymour spheres. Still, it do have a very, VERY niche use: Units that 1) do not qualify for Yuffie sphere; 2) have multiple E slots; and 3) have either some kind of ATK-based battery, or mixed damage type that makes ~~Auron/~~Irvine/Kefka options subpar.

My advice is for you to craft 2 Emperor RF sphere, and slot them, alongside Seymour sphere, on Faris and Kam’lanaut.

Celes

Effect: Increases BRV by 16% of INT BRV after using ability, once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: 6-Warrior Quest (July 2021)

How good is it? Right now, it’s trash. With the changes to Encouragement-type HG armor, it will become an interesting alternative to offensive B-sphere

Spheres that battery after fulfilling the conditional are already borderline useful under current power level. RF version of those spheres, that cut their power down in 60% are not even worthy of notice.

However, last thread I informed everyone about the importance of Paladin Cecil RF sphere with the changes to Encouragement-type armor, and you might be asking, “why Celes sphere did not jumped in importance as much as Cecil?” There are a few points worthy of notice here.

The first and more important is that your IBRV number is nowhere as big as your MBRV number. Even after adding as many buffs you can, IBRV will hardly go much higher than 10k, while even your worst units, if properly geared, will get around 25~30k MBRV. We will notice the jump in battery when that change happens, but it will not be as drastic as what we will see with Cecil sphere and other MBRV-based batteries.

The second point is that the bonus itself will still keep the normal Celes Sphere fairly above what the RF sphere will provide. The power gap between Celes RF and normal sphere will change from 12~40% IBRV to 52~80% IBRV for Encouragement-type HG armor users. In comparison, the difference of Cecil RF and normal sphere is 42~45% MBRV. That makes Cecil RF sphere more valuable because you skip the decision of what to do with his actual sphere. With Celes, you still have the option to slot her sphere into someone that do not have an Encouragement-type HG armor and it will work reasonably well at 50% IBRV (Eg, Machina or Celes herself)

The third and last point is that B slots are much more rare than C slots, with only 5 units having both a B slot and an Encouragement-type HG armor: Beatrix, Galuf, Gladiolus, Snow and Warrior of Light

While I still consider Gabranth to be the superior defensive option, if you prefer to use your slots to increase your offense, once the armor update comes live, Celes sphere will start providing some decent numbers for those characters.

Regardless of what you decide, remember to craft at least one Celes RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Eiko

Effect: Restores own HP by 4% of MAX when granting buff to target once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? The healing granted is self-only and too little to matter

Healing in DFFOO is worthy if its a constant stream that will keep your team clear of chip damage, or a big fat healing that will take you out of the danger zone in one single skill use.

Eiko RF sphere provides low, inconsistent healing, only to the user. That would make it relevant to lock units that can direct the party HP damage to themselves, but all tanks have other tools to deal with that extra pressure (self-healing, shields, damage resistance, dodge). Every other unit would benefit more from adding a proper healer into your team instead of benefiting of this sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Eiko RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Lulu

Effect: When attacking target’s weakness, raises own INT BRV, MAX BRV by 4% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good generic sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Lulu RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Selphie

Effect: After recovering HP, raises party’s INT BRV, MAX BRV by 2% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: Tunneler Raid (August 2021)

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good generic sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Selphie RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Cecil (Paladin)

Effect: When inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break while own HP at MAX, grants party 2% of individual MAX BRV once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? Right now, it’s trash. But in a few months, a change on Encouragement type HG armor will make it absurdly good. Stock it up.

Spheres that battery after fulfilling the conditional are borderline useful under current power level. RF version of those spheres, that cut their power down in 60% are usually not even worthy of notice. That’s where Cecil sphere was, back when it first appeared in Ultimate Odin. But something happened in the meantime.

At Golbez BT cycle in JP, there was a change made into Encouragement type armor. Instead of boosting BRV gain by 5%, it’s increased to 30%. Then, at some time between that and Yuna BT cycle, it changed again to instead of applying the boost into the battery value, it started adding the boost additively straight to the percentage value of the battery. And 30% of MBRV is a very big number. Add up the 10% we already have from Diabolos and Odin summon board passives, and you are looking at 42% MBRV party-wide battery for free every turn. Double that if you have two C-slots!

Cecil sphere is reliant on the power of Encouragement HG armor. If the character don’t have that armor, you will benefit more from using Alphinaud, Garnet or Maria RF spheres, as usual.

Black Nero did a good video going into further details. Check it out as well.

My advice is for you to craft 16 Cecil spheres, and slot them in only after you buy their HG armor, for the following units (bold means two C slots): Agrias, Alphinaud, Cait Sith, Gladiolus, Lenna, Lilisette, Porom, Rosa, Serah, Sherlotta, Snow, and Yuna.

There are units in JP that have not yet received their HG armor, and some of them might have C slots and get an Encouragement type armor, which will qualify them to also receive Cecil sphere as best-in-slot. So craft some extras for the future as well.

Jecht

Effect: When dealing critical hit, raises INT BRV, ATK by 4% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? 4% ATK/IBRV is a decent boost, which I think rivalizes with 6% ATK spheres. It’s an amazing sphere for the characters that benefit from high IBRV.

A is the most common slot in the game, and by giving straight stat buffs to two prime stats, it’s useful for any character. It is a very good RF sphere, and usually I would advice you to craft as many as you can.

However, next shop will have Yuffie RF sphere, which is an amazing sphere that have not yet reappeared in JP, and also requires red crystals. On top of that, I believe many of you followed my advice to buy a very large stash of Machina RF spheres, and they are equivalent to Jecht.

My advice is for you to craft one single Jecht RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Exdeath can’t critical, and thus do not benefit from this sphere.

Barret

Effect: After inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break, raises party’s MAX BRV by 2% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months

How good is it? This sphere do not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good generic sphere

My advice is for you to craft one single Barret RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Fang

Effect: When inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break, raises own ATK by 4% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: Tunneler Raid (August 2020)

How good is it? There are other RF A-spheres that grant the same ATK bonus and a second buff on top of it. Pick one of them instead of Fang sphere

My advice is for you to craft one single Fang RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Laguna

Effect: When dealing critical hit to target with group BRV attack, inflict to all enemies: 3 turns MAX BRV Down 12%

Reoccurrence in shop: Divine Alexander (May 2020)

How good is it? This is one of the few E-slot spheres that do not require a debuff to trigger. Thus, it’s a viable option for the characters with an E-slot that do not debuff.

I do not advise anyone to invest in this sphere because I’m not a fan of RF E-spheres that apply generic debuffs, because it risk pushing off other, more important, unframed debuffs.

It is worthy saying, however, that it’s one of the few E-slot spheres that Ardyn can trigger consistently, since most others requires the user to either be at max HP, or inflict a debuff.

My advice is for you to craft one single Laguna RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Kam’lanaut

Effect: When inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break while own HP at MAX, inflicts 6 turns ATK Down 12% on selected target.

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months

How good is it? ATK Down is a common debuff, and its abysmal potency means it will be overwritten often. And that is on top of the usual issue of debuff-inflicting E sphere.

I do not advise anyone to invest in this sphere because I’m not a fan of RF E-spheres that apply generic debuffs, because of the risk of pushing off other, more important, unframed debuffs.

My advice is for you to craft one single Kam’lanaut RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Alisaie

Effect: Raises MAG ATK by 6% for 6 turns when dealing critical hit.

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This is one of the rare RF spheres that provide a 6% ATK bonus. Many A-spheres provides 4%, thus this sphere is strictly better than the common alternatives.

A is the most common slot in the game, so don’t be discouraged by the sheer number of characters that can make use of this sphere. Since it’s attack bonus only affect magic attacks, it should be given priority for the characters that only have magic attacks. Maybe you can use extra spheres on characters that have magic-heavy mixed kits, but I’d advise to slot raw ATK sphere on those.

Remember that this sphere do not stack with itself, so you only need to craft a maximum of one per character. It do stacks with its normal version, so you can have an Alisaie sphere and an Alisaie RF sphere in the same unit, but not two of the same specific kind.

Papalymo (previous shop) and Cloud of Darkness (July) RF spheres are equivalent to Alisaie’s, but it’s only relevant for stacking purposes.

My advice is for you to craft 21 Alisaie spheres, and prioritize units with double or triple A slots, because those units will be able to stack Alisaie alongside Papalymo and/or Cloud of Darkness sphere for a total of 12~18% Magic ATK bonus. This is the absolutely best RF A-sphere for most magic users in the game, both because of its potency and how easy it is to fulfill the trigger. It’s up to you to decide where you want to stop.

Triple A slots, full magic (5): Cloud of Darkness, Sabin, Strago, Papalymo, Xande
Double A slots, full magic (8): Ace, Gau, Kuja, Lulu, Rydia, Shantotto, Ultimecia, Vaan
Single A slots, full magic (8): Alphinaud, Amidatelion, Arciela, Beatrix, Celes, Edward, Emperor, Seymour
Note on Exdeath: Exdeath can’t land a critical hit, so do not use Alisaie’s Sphere on him. He needs Cloud of Darkness or Papalymo to get 6% MAG ATK on his A sphere.

Sazh

Effect: When dealing critical hit, raises party’s ATK by 2% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This is one of the strongest party-wide D-sphere in the game. Only ones that have greater power are Hope and Wakka, but they have tighter requirements.

This sphere is generally useful for everyone. If the character has a D slot, the only reason to not slot this RF sphere is either if the character qualifies for maintaining Wakka or Hope at 100% uptime, or if they already have Lyse RF sphere slotted.

This is also a repeat from The Sneering Demon RF shop, so it’s possible you already crafted all Sazh spheres you needed then.

My usual advice is to craft as many Sazh sphere as you can. You can slot them in a vast number of characters, and it stacks with itself. Most of the future characters incoming also have a D slot themselves, so having some Sazh RF spheres in reserve is always a good idea.

However, because Alisaie is a strong red crystal sphere that have not yet reappeared in JP, and Yuffie is another great red sphere that is coming next month, my recommendation this time is to skip Sazh in favor of Lyse sphere in June, since they are equivalent, and she uses white crystals, which are less in demand than red ones. Remember to craft at least one Sazh RF sphere for the blue nuggets.

In case you decide to craft Sazh spheres regardless, the 36 characters that can make use of it sphere (bold means two D slots) are: Alphinaud, Ashe, Barret, Caius, Cloud, Desch, Eiko, Freya, Fujin, Garnet, Hope, Irvine, Kain, Keiss, Kihmari, Krile¹, Kurasame, Lann & Reynn, Lenna, Lilisette, Lion, Lulu, Lyse, Noel, Penelo, Prompto, Raijin, Ramza, Rinoa, Rosa, Rude, Seven, Sherlotta, Steiner, Yuffie, and Yuna.

¹Krile after her LD is elligible for Wakka sphere, but since she have two D slots, I think the second one should still hold a Sazh/Lyse sphere.

Cater

Effect: When evading enemy attack, raises own INT BRV, ATK by 4% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months

How good is it? This sphere provides the same bonus as Jecht and Machina spheres, but its trigger means only a few characters can benefit from it.

ATK/IBRV+4% is a top tier stat combo for RF spheres, but when your competition is Machina sphere, it’s hard to justify using anything with a more restrictive trigger. But some characters that rely on dodging and countering can benefit from that sphere.

There are 7 characters that can make good usage of Cater RF sphere: Cater, Edge, Eight, Galuf, Jack, Prompto, and Shadow.

My advice is to craft at least one Cater RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets, but if those 7 characters still have an empty A slot, go ahead and buy it for them.

Snow

Effect: Raises ATK by 4% while targeted by enemies

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months

How good is it? It’s one of the two B-slot RF spheres that provides an ATK bonus. That makes those good choices if you prefer to use your B slots for increased damage instead of defensive options.

I prefer to use B slots to increase party defense, and I think Gabranth is the absolute best generic RF B-sphere in the game (and it will return in July). But for those that prefer a “more damage” approach to your slots, Snow is good for providing an ATK bonus in a slot that usually do not provide an ATK bonus.

There are only 19 units with a B slot currently in the game, and 11 of those provide their own B sphere, which usually fits best in their own slot. As always, a refined sphere is never as good as a proper sphere, so effectively you only need to craft 8 B-slot RF spheres total through the entire game to cover all the gaps.

Snow’s sphere benefits any unit that have lock mechanics. Usually that would rule out any unit that do not provide a B sphere of their own, but there is one exception: Eald’narche. You want to use him in content where you can Terror-lock a boss, either by explioiting an ALL attack, or using a friend/call to lock the target on him upon his return to the field. So using Snow sphere on Eald’narche is a decent option, and so is using it on any lock tanks: Basch, Celes, Guy, Snow, Warrior of Light and Zack.

Regardless of what you decide, remember to craft at least one Snow RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Gau

Effect: Increase BRV damage dealt by 4% while HP is MAX

Reoccurrence in shop: Story Act 3 Chapter 4-1 (August 2021)

How good is it? While the bonus is decent, the trigger makes it just a worse Cloud sphere

Straight buff to BRV damage, which counters BRV damage reduction from Chaos/Lufenia bosses, is a rare buff. With that said, it’s roughly equivalent to a similar ATK bonus. 4% ATK is baseline for a RF A sphere, with the good spheres providing something else on top of that bonus, or providing a better bonus.

However, the conditional that you need to keep your HP at MAX to activate the sphere makes its usage very limited in current content, since every other lufenia boss has some kind of damage aura or poison or just regular HP attacks that will constantly chip away your HP. That’s why they buffed Ifrit pasive to require only 50% HP instead of 80%, or the original 100%.

If you wanted to invest in BRV damage boosts, you could have invested in extra Cloud spheres in January; or you can wait and enhance attackers that exploit elemental weaknesses with Seven spheres in May. In comparison, Gau’s sphere is not a good option.

My advice is to craft one single Gau RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Onion Knight

Effect: Raises ATK by 2% when dealing critical hit, up to 2 times, once per turn.

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months

How good is it? There are other RF A-spheres that grant the same ATK bonus and a second buff on top of it. Pick one of them instead of Onion Knight sphere

My advice is for you to craft one single Onion Knight RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Papalymo

Effect: When inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break, raises own MAG ATK by 6% for 6 turns.

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This is one of the rare RF spheres that provides a 6% ATK bonus. Many A-spheres provides 4%, thus this sphere is strictly better than the common alternatives.

Remember that this sphere do not stack with itself, so you only need to craft a maximum of one per character. It do stacks with its normal version, so you can have a Papalymo sphere and a Papalymo RF sphere in the same unit, but not two of the same specific kind. This is also a repeat from the Ultimate Bahamut RF shop, so it’s possible you already crafted all Papalymo spheres you needed then.

Alisaie (March) and Cloud of Darkness (July) RF spheres are equivalent to Papalymo’s, but since Alisaie also use red crystals, you don’t really save anything by going for the spheres now or in the next shop. It’s only relevant for stacking purposes.

My advice is for you to craft 22 Papalymo spheres, and prioritize units with double or triple A slots, because those units will be able to stack Papalymo alongside Alisaie and/or Cloud of Darkness sphere for a total of 12~18% Magic ATK bonus. This is the absolutely best RF A-sphere for most magic users in the game, both because of its potency and how easy it is to fulfill the trigger. It’s up to you to decide where you want to stop.

Triple A slots, full magic (5): Cloud of Darkness, Sabin, Strago, Papalymo, Xande
Double A slots, full magic (8): Ace, Gau, Kuja, Lulu, Rydia, Shantotto, Ultimecia, Vaan
Single A slots, full magic (8): Alphinaud, Amidatelion, Arciela, Beatrix, Celes, Edward, Emperor, Seymour
Exdeath: For some unknown reason, Exdeath battery is affected by Magic ATK bonus, thus he is an exception to “do not slot on battery-based characters”. Exdeath can’t trigger Alisaie sphere, so he needs Cloud of Darkness or Papalymo to get 6% MAG ATK on his A sphere.

Cyan

Effect: After inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break, raises ATK, BRV that may exceed MAX BRV by 2% for 6 turns.

Reoccurrence in shop: Bartz Heretics (June 2021), Divine Pandemonium (September 2021)

How good is it? This is one of the few spheres that provides a bonus to BRV Overflow, but the 2% potency make it less desirable than other prime A RF sphere

There are a few specific units that really benefit from as much BRV overflow you can amass (eg, Lann & Reynn), but we have a fair amount of 4% ATK/MBRV RF spheres, and generally this will be more useful than half the attack bonus and such small overflow increase. The base MBRV increase will make the natural ability overflow increase as well.

My advice is to craft one single Cyan RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Palom

Effect: When attacking target’s weakness, raises own MAX BRV by 4% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, and thus is not a good placeholder sphere.

My advice is to craft one single Palom RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Penelo

Effect: Grants party 8% of individual INT BRV when granting buff to target once per turn once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: Bartz Heretics (June 2021).

How good is it? Spheres that battery your team after fulfilling the conditional are already borderline useful under current power level. RF version of those spheres, that cut their power down in 60% are not even worthy of notice.

My advice is for you to craft one single Penelo RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Thancred

Effect: After attacking target’s weakness, apply an aura effect that reduces enemy’s BRV by 12% of individual INT BRV at start of enemy’s turn for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: Divine Alexander (June), Astaroth Raid (September)

How good is it? Faris RF sphere does the same job more consistently.

While there are many E-slot users that can deal weakness damage on their own, most of those can also inflict debuffs, which makes them eligible for ATK-boosting spheres, like Yuffie or Seymour.

On top of that, Faris RF sphere provides exactly the same debuff, with the condition to land a critical hit, which is much more universal than Thancred’s conditional.

My advice is to craft one single Thancred RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Utimecia

Effect: Inflicts DEF Down 12% for 6 turns when dealing critical hit while HP at MAX

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months

How good is it? DEF Down is a common debuff, and its abysmal potency means it will be overwritten often. And that is on top of the usual issue of debuff-inflicting E sphere.

I do not advise anyone to invest in this sphere because I’m not a fan of RF E-spheres that apply generic debuffs, because of the risk of pushing off other, more important, unframed debuffs.

My advice is for you to craft one single Ultimeca RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Machina

Effect: Raises INT BRV, ATK by 4% for 3 turns when inflicting Break or attacking target afflicted with Break

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? 4% ATK/INT BRV is a decent boost, which I think rivalizes with 6% ATK spheres. It’s an amazing sphere for the characters that benefit from high INT BRV.

A is the most common slot in the game, and by giving straight stat buffs to two prime stats, it’s useful for any character. Alongside Jecht (and the unreleased Yang) sphere, this is the best all-around generic placeholder sphere in the game. On top of that, Machina RF sphere requires black crystals, which will have zero usage for good spheres in the foreseeable future.

My advice is for you to go all in and craft as many Machina RF spheres as you can. Remember to keep just enough High Crystals to raise Machina, Caius and Palom to level 80. Everything else you can spend as if there is no tomorrow.

Maria

Effect: After recovering HP, raises party’s INT BRV, ATK by 2% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? Alongside Alphinaud, this is the most powerful party-wide RF C-sphere in the game. Pretty much everyone with a C slot have some kind of healing or buff, and they have the same effect, just with a different conditional.

This is a repeat from the Act 2 Finale Pt. 1 RF shop, so it’s possible you already crafted all Maria spheres you needed then.

C slots are spread around a vast array of character types. That makes “generic usage” kinda hard to analyze. So, basically, I checked all C slot units that can heal themselves often.

My advice is for you to craft 16 Maria RF spheres, and use them for those characters: Agrias, Cait Sith, Caius, Cecil (Paladin), Eiko, Firion, Freya, Ignis, Lenna, Leo, Nine, Penelo, Porom, Rinoa, Rosa and Sherlotta. All of them have some kind of HP regen aura/buff, or can heal often enough using skills, EX, and HP++ actions. Basically, they will be healing themselves consistently during the fight, and thus, will trigger Maria RF sphere all the time.

Basch, Rude and Yuri can make use of both Maria and Alphinaud RF spheres for the same result. They buff and heal themselves very often, thus the conditional for both spheres are easily fulfilled. It’s your call which sphere you want to slot on them.

Lenna, Penelo, Rosa, Sherlotta and Yuri have two C slots, and this sphere stack with itself. The info above assumes you’ll be using a single RF sphere on them. If you want to slot both of their C slots with the recommended sphere, remember to craft the extras.

Paine

Effect: Raises party’s ATK by 2%, lowers all enemies’ ATK by 4% for 3 turns when attacking target’s weakness

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months

How good is it? This is the only E-sphere that provides a party-wide ATK bonus, and the ATK debuff is an aura that won’t fight for debuff slots.

In general, if you are able to hit for weakness damage consistently, this sphere is really interesting. You might prefer to prioritize the own unit ATK with Seymour, Kefka or Irvine, but if you prefer to spread the love, this is a perfectly valid sphere to use.

The main issue here is that Maria is a really good RF sphere, and they share the same crystal color. My advice is to invest more on Maria RF spheres than Paine, but it’s your decision in the end, and you might even have some spare blue to invest here if you want.

There is a total of 15 E-slot units that can consistently hit weakness because they imperil their own element or attack type: Auron, Cater, Cecil (Dark Knight), Desch, Fran, Fujin, Gau, Golbez, Irvine, Kurasame, Palom, Raijin, Reno, Shantotto and Vincent

There is another list of 15 characters that can hit for weakness damage on some more specific conditionals. I think those characters are better served with another E sphere, but I present the list just so you can judge for yourself: Amidatelion, Arciela, Edgar, Fang, Faris, Kefka, Layle, Lion, Paine, Relm, Seifer, Seymour, Thancred, Vanille, and Zidane.

Regardless of how you decide to spend your blue crystals, remember to craft at least one Paine RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Freya

Effect: Raises party’s MAX HP by 4%

Reoccurrence in shop: Kaiser Behemoth Raid (May 2021)

How good is it? That’s a unique bonus that is not found in any other sphere in the game. It can’t be compared with other spheres because of that, requiring a more fine analysis.

Extra HP is usually a good thing. Most characters average around 15k~21k HP with all summon boards and max level. That means this sphere provides around 600~850 HP to each party member. While this value is mostly irrelevant, I’ve survived a fair number of fights because an HP attack left me with less than 1k HP and allowed me to heal back. But more often than not, we get a dead party member when we get broken during a big attack, or we get overwhelmed by an attack that deal more HP damage than we have MBRV.

I would not sacrifice 2% party ATK for 4% party MAX HP, and the sphere says that it do not stack with itself, which may imply that even if multiple party members have this RF sphere slotted, the party would only benefit from one sphere effect. It’s a unique effect, but preventing a death at a narrow HP value is too niche to be a generically useful sphere. There is a reason why HP passives are what we unequip when we need 5 CP for something else.

My advice is to craft one single Freya RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Ramza

Effect: With 3 or more buffs, raises party’s INT BRV, MAX BRV by 2%

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere do not provide an ATK bonus, and thus is not a good placeholder sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Ramza RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Yda

Effect: Increases BRV damage dealt by 4% when attacking enemy not targetting self

Reoccurrence in shop: Kaiser Behemoth Raid (May 2021)

How good is it? Straight buff to BRV damage, which counters BRV damage reduction from Chaos/Lufenia bosses, is a rare buff. Said that, it’s roughly equivalent to a similar ATK bonus, which places this sphere on average tier.

4% ATK is baseline for a RF A sphere, with the good spheres providing something else on top of that bonus, or providing a better bonus. However, this sphere will be useless against bosses that have many ALL attacks, and have reduced effectiveness when playing without a lock tank on your team. Considering all that, it’s a decent sphere, but being of average power alongside the inconsistent trigger make it not a good investment.

My advice is for you to craft one single Yda RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Irvine

Effect: Raises own ranged ATK by 6% for 6 turns when inflicting debuff on target

Reoccurrence in shop: Story Act 3 Part 1 (Late February 2021)

How good is it? This is one of the rare RF spheres that provides a 6% ATK bonus, and thus it’s a prime sphere for any ranged characters.

Since its attack bonus only affects ranged attacks, it should be given priority for the characters that only have ranged attacks. Maybe you can use extra spheres on characters that have mixed kits, but I’d advise to slot raw ATK sphere on those. It’s important to notice as well that the extra ATK will only benefit your ranged BRV hits, and will not be accounted when you have other mechanics linked to your ATK value (eg, battery).

Remember that this sphere do not stack with itself, so you only need to craft a maximum of one per character. It do stacks with its normal version, so you can have an Irvine sphere and an Irvine RF sphere in the same unit, but not two of the same specific kind. This is also a repeat from the Ultimate Odin RF shop, so it’s possible you already crafted all Irvine spheres you needed then.

My advice is to craft up to 9 Irvine spheres and slot them on those characters: Aranea, Eald’narche, Fran, Irvine, Laguna, Seifer, Trey, Vincent, and Yuffie.

Irvine, Seifer, Trey and Vincent also qualify for Yuffie’s RF sphere, which provides 4% ATK/MBRV for 3 turns after applying a debuff. If you are short on yellow high crystals, or value more a double stat buff instead of a higher ATK, you have the option to avoid crafting spheres for those and saving them for when Yuffie RF appears on shop, at Divine Ramuh (late March).

Faris

Effect: Grants effect for 6 turns that reduces enemy’s BRV by 12% of individual INT BRV at start of eney’s turn when dealing critical hit while HP at MAX

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

Fujin

Effect: When dealing critical hit while HP at MAX, reduces all enemies’ SPD by 4% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: Count Steam Heretic Quests (April 2021)

How good is it? Those two are aura debuffs, which means that they do not fight for a debuff slot, and can bypass inherent enemy immunity.

Yes, I’m analyzing those two spheres in the same section, just like I did previously with Galuf/Snow, because my advice for them are exactly the same.

Faris and Fujin, despite the relative low potency in their RF spheres, just provides extra debuffing without fighting for debuff slots. That’s huge, and while rare and situational, may help certain characters, like Caius, Emperor or Amidatelion to stack more debuffs on top of their huge framed debuff list. Or Kefka, if you want to go for debuff overkill.

Since it’s of situational usage, I will not list preferred characters to slot this sphere. Personally, I still advice you to equip Seymour, Yuffie, Irvine and/or Kefka RF sphere on your E slots, but I think those spheres may works on characters that have multiple E slots.

Also, Faris sphere specifically will help with two Lufenia fights (Exdeath later this month, Boss Rush 2 next month) that increase orb count on sap/poison damage. Keep some in reserve, just in case you are not pulling for Exdeath or Ultimecia.

Regardless of what you decide, remember to craft at least one of each sphere to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Golbez

Effect: Raises own ATK by 2% when attacking target’s weakness up to 2 times, once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: Divine Alexander (May 2021)

How good is it? There are other RF A-spheres that grant the same ATK bonus and a second buff on top of it. Pick one of them instead of Golbez sphere

My advice is for you to craft one single Golbez RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Firion

Effect: Raises own MAX BRV by 4% for 6 turns when recovering own HP

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A for at least 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, and thus is not a good placeholder sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Firion RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Lenna

Effect: When recovering own HP, raises party’s INT BRV by 4% for 3 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: Kaiser Behemoth Raid (May 2021)

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, and thus is not a good placeholder sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Lenna RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Wakka

Effect: With 5 or more buffs: Raises party’s MAX BRV, ATK by 2%

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months

How good is it? This is the strongest party-wide D-sphere in the game, alongside Hope’s. The main issue with it is that the trigger is really hard to sustain.

Remember how hyped I was for Sazh RF sphere in the last thread? Wakka sphere gives the same bonus, and add MBRV on top of it. However, sustaining 5 buffs full time is a very harsh conditional. This is also a repeat from the very first RF shop, so it’s possible you already crafted all Wakka spheres you needed then.

Remember that this sphere do not stack with itself, so you only need to craft a maximum of one per character. It do stacks with its normal version, so you can have a Wakka sphere and a Wakka RF sphere in the same unit, but not two of the same specific kind.

My advice is to craft 6 Wakka spheres, because those are the units that can self-sustain 5 buffs full time, and have a D slot: Cait Sith, Celes, Galuf, Sazh, Selphie and Wakka.

Beatrix, Edge, Eiko, Garnet, Porom and Rinoa technically also have 5 self-buffs, but because of how they are played, they can’t sustain a decent uptime relying only on their self-buffs.

While I do not advise you to do so, there is a fair amount of characters that can self-sustain 4 buffs. If you are ok relying on an external source of an extra buffs to trigger the sphere, the following units can provide 4 buffs to themselves: Ace, Aerith, Ashe, Cloud, Edgar, Firion, Hope, Irvine, King, Krile, Kuja, Lenna, Lightning, Lulu, Lyse, Maria, Nine, Onion Knight, Penelo, Prompto, Ramza, Rem, Steiner, Terra, Warrior of Light and Yuna.

Cloud

Effect: Raises BRV damage dealt with critical hits by 4%

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

4% ATK is baseline for a RF A sphere, with the good spheres providing something else on top of that bonus, or providing a better bonus. Cloud sphere, however, have the advantage that it have basically a non-conditional conditional. Unless you are fighting a weird boss that can’t be broken (Aranea event), most of your hits will be critical anyway. Even if you ARE fighting one of those weird bosses, we have ways to buff critical chance, so that you can deal critical damage on them.

So, Cloud sphere is basically a flat 4% buff to damage. (Almost) no strings attached.

Since it’s generally useful for everyone, I will not list preferred characters to slot this sphere. Personally, I still advice you to equip a 4% ATK/IBRV, 4% ATk/MBRV or 6% ATK sphere on your A slot, but I think this sphere also fit the niche of generic A RF sphere. Just remember that since it boost damage directly, it will not increase your ATK value for things like ATK-based battery.

Celes

Effect: Increases BRV by 16% of INT BRV after using ability, once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: Divine Ramuh (March 2021)

How good is it? Spheres that battery after fulfilling the conditional are already borderline useful under current power level. RF version of those spheres, that cut their power down in 60% are not even worthy of notice.

My advice is for you to craft one single Celes RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Rem

Effect: Restores 2% of own MAX HP for 6 turns when taking HP attack while HP less than 50% of MAX

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

How good is it? 12% MAX HP healing per proc, and a terrible conditional trigger. Awful sphere, stay away from it.

My advice is for you to craft one single Rem RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Setzer

Effect: Inflict SPD Down 8% for 6 turns when dealing critical hit while HP at MAX

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

How good is it? SPD Down is not a very common debuff, but it still has all the issues of spheres that grant a generic debuff.

I do not advise anyone to invest in this sphere because I’m not a fan of RF E-spheres that apply generic debuffs, because of the risk of pushing off other, more important, unframed debuffs.

If you want to use your E-slot to apply SPD down on the enemies, wait for Fujin RF sphere, that gives SPD down as an aura, and do not occupy a debuff slot (which also bypass debuff immunity). Fujin RF sphere will arrive in the very next RF shop.

My advice is for you to craft one single Setzer RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Yuri

Effect: Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 2% while HP is MAX

Reoccurrence in shop: Divine Brothers (July 2021)

How good is it? There are other RF spheres that provides 4% bonus to those two stats. Pick one of them instead of Yuri’s sphere

My advice is for you to craft one single Yuri RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Sazh

Effect: When dealing critical hit, raises party’s ATK by 2% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: Story Act 3 Chapter 1 (February 2021)

How good is it? This is one of the strongest party-wide D-sphere in the game. Only ones that have greater power are Hope and Wakka, but they have tighter requirements.

This sphere is generally useful for everyone. If the character have a D slot, the only reason to not slot this RF sphere is either if the character qualify for maintaining Wakka or Hope at 100% uptime, or if they already have Lyse RF sphere slotted.

My advice is to craft as many Sazh sphere as you can. You can slot them in a vast number of characters, and it stacks with itself. Most of the future characters incoming also have a D slot themselves, so having some Sazh RF spheres in reserve is always a good idea.

The 36 characters that can make use of Sazh sphere (bold means two D slots) are: Alphinaud, Ashe, Barret, Caius, Cloud, Desch, Eiko, Freya, Fujin, Garnet, Hope, Irvine, Kain, Keiss, Kihmari, Krile, Kurasame, Lann & Reynn, Lenna, Lilisette, Lion, Lulu, Lyse, Noel, Penelo, Prompto, Raijin, Ramza, Rinoa, Rosa, Rude, Seven, Sherlotta, Steiner, Yuffie, and Yuna.

Sephiroth

Effect: Raises own MAX BRV, ATK by 4% if HP at least 50% of MAX at start of last wave

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

How good is it? 4% ATK/MBRV is a decent boost, which I think rivalizes with 6% ATK spheres.

A is the most common slot in the game, and by giving straight stat buffs to two prime stats, it’s useful for any character. It also have the benefit from being one of the few 4% ATK/MBRV RF spheres out there, alongside Ardyn, Rinoa and Prishe. Ardyn and Rinoa have not reappered in JP yet, and Prishe will be available only in July.

The caveat of this sphere is the conditional. This sphere will only activate during the last wave, which isn’t a problem in 1-wave fights, like all Lufenia we had so far. When we reach boss rush and DE Transcendence, the benefit of this sphere will be reduced because of its trigger alone. Most Lufenia fights will still be 1-wave, so it will have a good run regardless.

Remember that this sphere do not stack with itself, so you only need to craft a maximum of one per character. It do stacks with its normal version, so you can have a Sephiroth sphere and a Sephiroth RF sphere in the same unit, but not two of the same specific kind.

My advice is for you to craft 12 Sephiroth RF sphere, and slot them on units that also have last-wave passive conditionals, to pile up on the 1-wave goodness: Cecil (Paladin), Exdeath, Garnet, Gilgamesh, Layle, Lightning, Noctis, Rydia, Sephiroth, Serah, Terra, and Zack. Craft more on your own judgement.

(Relm, Ramza and Warrior of Light also have last-wave passives. Relm and Ramza don’t have an A-slot. Warrior of Light would prefer an increase on IBRV for extra shields)

Galuf

Effect: When dodging attack, raises ATK by 4% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

Snow

Effect: Raises ATK by 4% while targeted by enemies

Reoccurrence in shop: Story Act 3 Chapter 1 (February 2021)

How good are they? They are the only two B-slot RF spheres that provides an ATK bonus. That makes those good choices if you prefer to use your B slots for increased damage instead of defensive options.

Yes, I’m analyzing both spheres in the same section, because they share the same slot, the same crystal color, and there are very few units with a B-slot. Spreading the info across two sections would feel repetitive.

Myself, I prefer to use B slots to increase party defense, and I still think Gabranth is the absolute best generic B-sphere in the game. But for those that prefer a “more damage” approach to your slots, Galuf and Snow are good for providing an ATK bonus in a slot that usually do not provide an ATK bonus.

There are only 18 units with a B slot currently in the game, and 10 of those provide their own B sphere, which usually fits best in their own slot. As always, a refined sphere is never as good as a proper sphere, so effectively you only need to craft 8 B-slot RF spheres total through the entire game to cover all the gaps.

Galuf’s sphere benefits units that have innate high evasion, which is basically only Galuf himself and Edge. Galuf RF sphere is inherently better than Edge RF sphere, that have the same conditional.
Snow’s sphere benefits any unit that have lock mechanics. Usually that would rule out any unit that do not provide a B sphere of their own, but there is one exception: Eald’narche. You want to use him in content where you can Terror-lock a boss, either by explioiting an ALL attack, or using a friend/call to lock the target on him upon his return to the field. So using Snow sphere on Eald’narche is a decent option, and so is using it on any lock tanks: Basch, Celes, Snow, Warrior of Light and Zack.

Regardless of what you decide, remember to craft at least one RF sphere of each, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Jecht

Effect: INT BRV, ATK by 4% for 3 turns when dealing critical hit

Reoccurrence in shop: Hell Wyrm Raid (March 2021)

How good is it? 4% ATK/IBRV is a decent boost, which I think rivalizes with 6% ATK spheres. It’s an amazing sphere for the characters that benefit from high IBRV.

However, next month Machina RF sphere will provide the same buff, with pretty much the same conditional (break or hit broken target) but requires black crystals, which have much less competition for good spheres in comparison with red (Sazh, Papalymo, Alisaie, Vanille, Yuffie, etc).

My advice is for you to craft one single Jecht RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Wait one month for Machina.

Exdeath can’t critical, and thus do not benefit from this sphere.

Ignis

Effect: After granting buff, raises party’s MAX BRV by 2% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

How good is it? This sphere does not provide an ATK bonus, so it’s not a good generic sphere.

My advice is for you to craft one single Ignis RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Raijin

Effect: When inflicting Break or attacking a target afflicted with Break, raises PHY ATK by 6% for 6 turns

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

How good is it? This is one of the rare RF spheres that provide a 6% ATK bonus. Many A-spheres provides 4%, thus this sphere is strictly better than the common alternatives.

A is the most common slot in the game, so don’t be discouraged by the sheer number of characters that can make use of this sphere. Since its attack bonus only affects physical attacks, it should be given priority for characters that only have physical attacks. Maybe you can use extra spheres on characters that have mixed kits, but I’d advise to slot raw ATK spheres on those.

Remember that this sphere does not stack with itself, so you only need to craft one sphere per character, regardless of how many A slots they have. It’s important to notice as well that the extra ATK will only benefit your physical BRV hits, and will not count for any other mechanics linked to your ATK value (eg, battery).

Kain’s RF sphere is equivalent to Raijin’s, but affect only Ranged attacks. I advise to slot Kain’s on pure ranged units with a single A slot. However, Kain last appeared in October, and have yet to reappear in JP. If you missed the opportunity to get Kain RF spheres then, using Raijin now is not a bad idea.

My advice is for you to craft up to 26 Raijin’s spheres. This is the absolutely best RF A-sphere for many physical units in the game, both because of its potency and how easy it is to fulfill the trigger. It’s up to you to decide where you want to stop.

Triple A slots, Full Melee (4): Cyan, Garland, Jecht, Squall
Double A slots, Full Melee (4): Auron, Gilgamesh, Seven, Steiner
Double A slots, Full Ranged (3): Aranea, Cid, Seifer
Double A slots, Mixed Melee/Ranged (4): Fang, Noctis, Paine, Tidus
Single A slots, Full Melee (9): Ardyn, Bartz, Cait Sith, Caius, Gabranth, Kurasame, Noel, Raijin, Snow
Single A slots, Mixed Melee/Ranged (6): Cecil (Dark Knight), Cecil (Paladin), Edgar, Faris, Lion, Warrior of Light

The units below may receive Raijin spheres, but because of their nature, I recommend slotting something else instead. If you are aware of the trade-offs and prefer to slot Raijin RF sphere on them, do it at your own judgement.

Recommended to slot raw ATK spheres on these
- Double A slots, Mixed Magic: Cater, Golbez, Lann & Reynn, Onion Knight, Zack
- Single A slots, Mixed Magic: Ashe, Desch, Leon, Thancred, Vayne, Yuri
- Physical units with ATK-based BRV battery: Agrias, Balthier, Basch, Ciaran, Cinque, Cloud, Eight, Firion, Freya, Galuf, Gladiolus, Jack, Kain, Kam’lanaut, King, Leo, Lightning, Locke, Lyse, Machina (when he gets his LD boards), Nine, Prishe, Prompto, Sazh, Sephiroth, Setzer, Shadow, Tifa, Trey, Yang, Yda, Zell, Zidane
Recommended to slot Kain RF sphere on these
- Single A slots, Full Ranged: Barret, Eald’narche, Fran, Irvine, Keiss, Laguna, Vincent

Lightning

Effect: When inflicting Break, raises INT BRV, ATK by 2% up to 2 times, once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

How good is it? 4% ATK/IBRV is a decent boost, which I think rivals 6% ATK spheres. It’s an amazing sphere for the characters that benefit from high IBRV.

This is a prime sphere. A is the most common slot in the game, and by giving straight permanent stat buffs, it’s useful for any character. Just remember that this sphere does not stack with itself, so you only need to craft a maximum of one per character.

Exdeath can’t break, and thus does not benefit from this sphere.

Since it’s generally useful for everyone, I will not list preferred characters to slot this sphere. I do advise, however, that you should give priority to units with counter/re-break mechanics, since they will fulfill the conditional earlier than other units.

In the future, Jecht and Machina spheres provide the same buff (4% IBRV/ATK), but with a more lax trigger. While their benefits are not permanent like Lightning’s sphere, you can maintain easy 100% uptime with them. Jecht requires landing a critical hit, Machina requires breaking or hitting a broken target.

Jecht will arrive in Sephiroth Heretics by December 16th. Machina will arrive in Divine Diabolos by February.

Edge

Effect: Increases BRV by 16% of INT BRV when dodging attack

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

How good is it? Spheres that battery after fulfilling the conditional are already borderline useless under current power level. RF version of those spheres, that cut their power down in 60% are not even worth of notice.

My advice is for you to craft one single Edge RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.

Penelo

Effect: Grants party 8% of individual INT BRV when granting buff to target once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: Ultimecia Heretics (February 2021), Bartz Heretics (June 2021).

This sphere was repeated in a more recent event! Please check its description higher up in the list for up-to-date advice.

Vincent

Effect: Inflicts ATK Down 12% for 6 turns when dealing critical hit while HP at MAX

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

How good is it? ATK Down is a very common debuff, and the potency is too low to matter.

I do not advise anyone to invest in this sphere because I’m not a fan of RF E-spheres that apply generic debuffs, because of the risk of pushing off other, more important, unframed debuffs. And that’s before we even consider the laughably low potency that will often be overwritten by other ATK down debuffs.

My advice is for you to craft one single Vincent RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets.

Zack

Effect: After attacking target targeting self, increases BRV by 16% of IBRV once per turn

Reoccurrence in shop: N/A at least for 8 months.

My advice is for you to craft one single Zack RF sphere, to fulfill the event mission and get the blue nuggets. Don’t bother crafting more.