Command Missions

“

Put your squadron's training to the test with command missions─four-man unit operations that will take you on forays into perilous dungeons. With an increased level cap and the option to glamour your squadron's equipment, now is your chance to impress the higher-ups and make a name for yourself in your Grand Company.

— Patch 4.1 Special Site

Command Missions is a feature of Adventurer Squadrons released in patch 4.1 of Stormblood. It allows the player to enter an dungeon with 3 unit members. While unit members have their own free will, responding as the situation demands, they can be given orders to guide their actions.

Requirements

• Squadron Rank 2 or above
• Listen to the squadron sergeant's explanation about new missions

Eligible Dungeons

Dungeon	Level	iLvl	Expenditures	Squadron EXP
Halatali	20		1,000	4,500
The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak	24		1,200	5,400
Brayflox's Longstop	32		1,600	7,200
The Stone Vigil	41		2,000	9,000
Dzemael Darkhold	44		2,200	9,900
The Aurum Vale	47		2,400	10,800
The Wanderer's Palace	50	110	2,500	11,250
Pharos Sirius	50	110	2,500	11,250
Copperbell Mines (Hard)	50	110	2,500	11,250
Brayflox's Longstop (Hard)	50	110	2,500	11,250
The Wanderer's Palace (Hard)	50		2,500	11,250
Sohm Al	53		2,800	12,600
The Vault	57		3,000	13,500
The Fractal Continuum	60	210	3,500	15,750
Pharos Sirius (Hard)	60	240	3,500	15,750

• Players must have unlocked these dungeons prior to deploying command missions.
• Party composition restricted to 1 Healer, 1 Tank, and 2 DPS.

Forming a Party

To start a command mission, a party of one tank, one healer, and two DPS is required. This includes the player's role.

1. Select "Command missions" after speaking with the squadron sergeant.

2. Select a command mission from the list.

3. Choose the unit members you wish to take, and select "Deploy."

4. You will now enter the command mission with the selected unit members.

Giving Orders

The Orders hotbar will appear upon entering a command mission, and includes the various Order actions.

The available Orders are as follows:

Engage - Tells your unit to attack the targeted enemy.

Disengage - Disengage tells your unit to break off combat and regroup near you. While Disengage is in effect, it will be replaced with the order Re-engage. The Disengage status can be lifted by issuing either the Engage or Re-engage order.

Re-engage - Lifts the Disengage status.

Execute Limit Break - Causes all unit members to perform the   Ungarmax limit break when the casting time has ended. This costs one level of the limit gauge.

Ungarmax deals single-target damage and grants Damage Up to the entire party for 15 seconds.

Orders can be set to your other hotbars by selecting them from the Orders interface found within Actions & Traits. There is also an action for toggling the Orders hotbar, which can be set to hotbars.

Battle Tactics

Battle Tactics govern unit members' behavior during a command mission. New battle tactics may be acquired by completing command missions. One battle tactic can be assigned to each unit member.

Speak with a unit member and select Display Orders from the enlistment papers.

Selecting Display Orders opens the Specify Battle Tactics

• Initially, only the Independent battle tactic is available.

Completing a command mission will cause 1 tactic at random to be increased by 1 level. If the tactic selected has not been learned yet, this raises it to level 1 and counts as learning it.

Tactics will adjust the unit member's performance as follows:

Tactic	Level	HP	Damage Dealt	Damage Received
Independent	1	+4%	+4%	-4%
	2	+8%	+8%	-8%
	3	+12%	+12%	-12%
	4	+16%	+16%	-16%
	5	+20%	+20%	-20%
Offensive	1	-	+12%	-
	2	-	+24%	-
	3	-	+36%	-
	4	-	+48%	-
	5	-	+60%	-
Defensive	1	+6%	-	-6%
	2	+12%	-	-12%
	3	+18%	-	-18%
	4	+24%	-	-24%
	5	+30%	-	-30%
Balanced	1	+6%	+6%	-
	2	+12%	+12%	-
	3	+18%	+18%	-
	4	+24%	+24%	-
	5	+30%	+30%	-

Tips and Tricks

Unit members have much-higher defenses than players, and are unaffected by several fight mechanics, such as The Aurum Vale's Burrs debuff.

• Unit members do not attempt to resolve fight mechanics, so it is fully on the player to do so when necessary. In some cases, this may require telling the squadron to disengage (example: telling them to not stand in the electrified water in Halatali).
• When bosses target a party member to perform a mechanic on, they will always choose you, and never an NPC member.
• Mechanics that require two players will simply never occur (example: The last boss of The Vault will never cast Holy Chain).

Unit members use old versions of job actions that are no longer available to players - for example, Marauder's   Overpower hits in a cone in front of them, rather than a circle around them; Gladiators use   Flash; Arcanists use   Shadow Flare.

Tactics-wise, it is generally best to set the Offensive tactic on all unit members (including tanks and healers), as they are already very bulky. This can allow for faster dungeon clears, as well.

• The Offensive tactic will also increase the amount of healing the healer does.

Arcanists are very effective unit members, as they frequently use AoEs to defeat enemies quickly. They also apply Slow and occasionally heal with   Physick, making the healer's job easier.

• Arcanists use   Shadow Flare, which leaves a damage-over-time zone on the ground. Try to lure enemies into this for extra damage.

When pulling packs of enemies, using the Engage action will tell the tank to pull them. If playing as DPS or healer, make sure to do this instead of attempting to pull packs yourself, as to not draw too much enmity to yourself.

The healer can occasionally react too slowly to the party taking damage. There are some measures to help them out:

• Bring an Arcanist, as mentioned above.
• Try to limit tank pulls to single or double packs. Avoid full wall-to-wall pulls.

If your healer is incapacitated during a command mission, consumable items such as   Phoenix Down and   High-grade Company-issue Tonic can be used to revive them. If you have no means to revive unit members, any which are incapacitated will remain so until the player is incapacitated, at which time the full party will be returned to the start of the dungeon.

  Ungarmax is significantly stronger than the player's own limit break, and it only uses 1 bar instead of all bars. Try to use it at the start of a boss fight, to make the most of the 15-second Damage Up buff.

Rewards

Completing Command Missions rewards all standard dungeon loot and character XP, plus Squadron XP for all squadmates, and potential for additional loot such as   High-grade Company-issue Tonic and Grand Company Aetheryte Tickets. Chemistry bonuses that grant additional rewards such as Materia can also trigger from Command Mission completion. Squadron members may also gain new Battle Tactics or increase Mastery for existing Battle Tactics; see the Battle Tactics section above for details on how Battle Tactics work.

In summary;

• Standard dungeon loot from all chests (weapons, armor, accessories, etc.)
• Boss EXP for Player's current class/job (includes Armory & Rested bonuses)
• Squadron XP for all AI-controlled squadron members
• Additional special items (  Company-issue Tonics, Grand Company Aetheryte Tickets, etc.)
• Chemistry-based bonus items, if applicable/available
• New Battle Tactic or increase to an existing Tactic's Mastery

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