Kaustra Question

Can you mb kaustra?

yes.




Ending Credits.

Next game.

Random Bonus Fact after Credits:

Kaustra is named Melton for the JPs

Yes. However, like Helix spells, it's Magic Burst was left unaffected by the Magic Burst Damage update a few years ago.

so you don't get bonus damage if you mb it? nor helix?

You do. But a few years ago, to promote nuking again, they vastly increased the Magic Burst Damage. When they did, they intentionally left Helix spells and Kaustra out of the damage increase, for balance reasons.

The normal bonus for mb and mbb gear/traits do work. However a couple of years ago there was an update to mb. They increased the regular multiplier that was based on how many steps the skillchain that was mb was. They also increased mb dmg on top of that for all spells but kaustra and helixes. Though the note says only for monsters that have " lower resistance to the element generated by the magic burst."

It's also the update that destroyed enmity generation on mb

Dunno if it's the mobs I use it on but every time I have ever used Kaustra it's been total ***damage. Like maybe 300 damage tops. I use the same set as Helix and get decent numbers on those though. Is it some different set altogether?

A lot of mobs have dark resistances

It's also dark magic instead of elemental, in-case you don't have that skilled up (or a rule is making you swap into the wrong set based on the magic type).

You can push low 5 digits with MB Kaustra depending on the mob (taking into account elemental resistance and overall magic evasion, which is dependent on ilevel). For example Sajj'aka and August in Sinister Reign are weak to darkness, so if you feel like using Tabula Rasa to save time, Kaustra will make short work of those. In Escha it can help on a lot of NM even without inherent weakness to darkness, like Amymone, Palila, or even Shockmaw, to give a few examples where I've used it successfully.

It can also help on the February 2017 Vol. 2 Ambuscade (Sangome). Kaustra is not wiped when it summons the protector NMs at 75%/50%/25%.

Just keep in mind magic damage+ doesn't affect Kaustra in case you have occasion to use some of this month's Ambuscade armor set for helix damage.

It's definitely geared differently than Helices and elemental magic.


So priority seems to be to stack as much INT as you can, and also load up enough MAcc so you can land the spell unresisted. Dark elemental affinity and MB-bonus are a given. Fill in with Dark Magic skill to extend duration:

ItemSet 349665

- Akademos Path A,
- Amalric Path C,
- Merlinic INT+15, Macc +40, and +9% MB between legs/feet,
- Lugh's Cape INT+30, Macc +20,
- Mujin vs Shiva +1 depends on target.


Mallquis +1 legs are actually a pretty good Kaustra piece if you're lacking INT on Merlinic legs.

Whats a good Kaustra set?

just to be clear, MAB and Magic Damage do nothing for it?
but Macc and Magic burst + are good?

Int,darkness elemental items, and mab all play a role here.