Command Missions

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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.

When a command mission is completed, each unit member has a chance to either learn a new tactic, or raise the level of 1 already-learned tactic at random.

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

General mechanics

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 job actions that are no longer available to players - for example, Gladiators use   Flash; Arcanists use   Bane and   Shadow Flare.

Tactics

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. The higher damage can allow for faster dungeon clears, and the Offensive tactic also increases the amount of healing the healer does.

Recommended classes

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

• When Arcanists use   Shadow Flare, they leave a purple zone on the ground that deals damage-over-time and applies Slow to enemies inside it. Try to lure enemies into this zone for extra damage, and to ease pressure on the healer.

Engaging battle

When pulling packs of enemies, using the Engage action will tell the tank to pull them. However, the tank tends to tunnel vision on that single target, and will not attempt to grab enemies that they lose enmity on. It's much more effective to pull packs yourself with an AoE, so the enemies crowd around you, then run into the tank so they can take the whole pack's enmity at once.

Disengaging from battle

If you use the Disengage option, then unit members will completely stop attacking until told to Re-engage the same target, or Engage a new target. They will also start following you closely.

• Unit members will usually not retreat from a boss, even if the boss becomes invulnerable or places a damage-over-time puddle on the ground. Disengage will force them to retreat, which is helpful for certain fights.
• Be careful: if you Disengage and then attack something without using Engage/Re-engage, then your unit members will not help you fight it, and the healer will not heal you. They will only resume combat once they are told to Engage/Re-engage, or once the target they disengaged from dies.

Example cases to use Disengage:

• Halatali's Thunderclap Guivre (first boss), when it electrifies the water. While waiting, target the Lightning Sprites that spawn and use Engage to fight them.
• Halatali's Tangata (last boss), when it summons a pool of fire and becomes invulnerable. Target the Fire Sprites and use Engage to fight them, as defeating them is required to remove the invulnerability.
• The Thousand Maws of Toto-Rak's Graffias (last boss), when it summons a green pool of poison. Wait somewhere outside of the pool to lure the boss out of it, then Re-engage once it's safe.

Healer behavior

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

• Bring an Arcanist and bait enemies into   Shadow Flare, as mentioned above.
• Try to limit tank pulls to single or double packs. Avoid full wall-to-wall pulls.

Reviving

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.

Using Limit Break

  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.

• If you have any damage-over-time effects, try to apply them after this buff activates, to snapshot the buffed state.

Managing loot

When doing a Command Mission, all loot from chests will go straight to you instead of using the loot rolling system. This can quickly give you a lot of loot, probably more than you will actually use.

Some suggestions on what to do with unwanted gear:

•   Desynthesis it for desynthesis exp. However, note that you will stop gaining desynth exp once your desynth level is 50 above the gear's item level. The items you get can be used for crafting, or sold on the market board for a little Gil.
• Turn it in to your Grand Company for Company seals, using the Expert Delivery option. This can even get you a net profit of seals, compared to the cost of doing the mission.

Something to note: most dungeon gear will have the "unique" tag, meaning you can only have 1 copy of that gear piece per inventory - that is, 1 in your normal inventory + armory chest (these are shared), 1 in your Chocobo Saddlebag, and 1 in each Retainer's inventory. Dungeon loot will not account for which gear you already have - it can and will attempt to give you duplicates at random. When this happens, the duplicate is simply lost.

• Therefore, it's best to deal with all your loot in-between dungeon runs, to reduce the chance of missing out on anything in your next run.
• If you're using the desynthesis option, note that you can desynth while you're still in the dungeon, therefore desynthing between chests can help keep your inventory clear for more dupes.
• If you want to keep some gear for alt jobs, but still want the benefits of having dupes to desynth/turn in, then put the gear you want to keep in a separate inventory (Chocobo Saddlebags are easiest), so it won't block you from receiving dupes.

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
• Chance to learn a new Battle Tactic or increase an existing Tactic's Mastery

Images

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