Ouvel is scary.
Scary looking.
And his attacks hurt. 
But he's not unbeatable. 
Few pointers:
For us dps minstrels... we have to keep away. Far away.
The field is very small and ouvels body is very large..ww
_
There is one major stun and debuff towards 40% hp left and ouvel goes kind of crazy so I like to use warrior song at least after the boom.
After that you keep attacking ^-^....
But keep in mind ouvel has aoe attacks, both magical and physical. They are very wide and very dangerous.
For tankers, ouvel stuns the tank a lot so it is very easy to lose hate. Plus for some reason, it seems that mana burn from enchanter causes ouvel to teleport the party members right in front of him....
Which is super scary.
But anyhow, ouvel isn't too bad. Plus the walk is much easier than, say, raton... mainly because there is a warp item that teleports you right to ouvel.. fufu
(Had to cut the video ;-;)
My favorite boss when I started Iruna was schingel. I remember he was such a hard boss... and people always got jealous of me because schingel always gave me exelis.. 
Too bad exelis is so cheap now...;-;
But anyway, for fun I decided to do a video at schingel.. for old times sake.
Special Bow versus Normal Bow Dragonewt
Does the extra stats boosted from the casting of 3 songs cause -atk for special weapon users? And can a special bow minstrel beat the damage of a normal bow minstrel?
This is an interesting theory that I have been thinking about. Although I have always considered normal bow to be the stronger maximum DPS (and probably will continue to unless new equipment comes out), I wondered about ヘイファルテ, the upcoming special bow that gives .5 atk per agi stat.
But if a special bow user uses thimble and this new bow, they would still be .1 atk per stat lower than a normal bow user using adamantite arrow (and .15 atk lower if monty beret was out in English Iruna). If that special bow user uses adamantite arrow and this new bow, regardless of their stat allocation, it would still be unable to beat a normal bow user (because either they have to use 256 stat points on DEX which gives no atk bonus for special bow users or they are pure AGI-STR-CRT, in which case their ability to spam dragonewt will be very difficult or weakened by skill delay equipment).
Then I got thinking... aren't special bow minstrels further weakened by the stacked buff songs themselves?
As it has been explained on Wiki regarding Song Lore:
LV160から199まで1曲あたりALLステータス+7 200から1曲あたりALLステータス+8 40毎に+1?
※ミンストレルの歌1曲あたりのステータス上昇量について
Lv239～249までAll+9、Lv250からAll+10
For those of us over Lvl 250, that means +10 points per stat per song! That's 30 points per stat for 3 stacked songs, regardless of what song buff it used. Thus many players will have already noticed that regardless of the song buffs, they hit harder, they have more HP and MP, their evade is higher, etc.
...
But what about those special weapon users? As we already know, special swords get -1atk per crt and special bows get -1 atk per vit and -1 atk per int.
If you're thinking what I'm thinking, that means -30 atk for special sword users if any 3 songs are played, and -60 atk for special bow users. That's a lot of -atk. Σ(ﾟдﾟ;)
So, if this is true... special bow minstrels cannot beat a normal bow minstrel in terms of damage. They lose atk wise as well as stat wise, due to the -60 atk from using 3 buff songs at one time. m(_ _。)m
Let's try to test the difference.
ヾ(＠°▽°＠)ﾉ1
TEST!
Level at time of the test: 316
Stat Distribution: 406 str, 380 dex, 384 crt
Equipment:
Daiginjo upgraded [18 atk] + raton [6% atk]
illusion+9 [225 atk][15% atk] + 2 ganei [20% atk]
malicia+9 [162 atk] ganei [10% atk]
acc *QC4 [-2% atk]
ad. Arrow [1.1 atk per str] + noid
ira[20 atk][12% atk] + dorry [12% atk]
valtia [3% atk]
mamonea
zazel [2% atk, 15 atk]
cheltil
str+2
*ATK5 [23 atk]
*STR4
*CRT1
*DEX2
Extra stat points:
3 per stat from guild [level 73]
160 atk from apost
255 physical power from apost
Monster:
ノムマールLv247 has 0 Defense (presumably because levels 248-249 have 0 defense)
For sake of simplicity, I will only review the results for 1 test (thus +10 stat points per stat) with Dream Song (which gives no atk boost) and adamantite arrow (which in theory shouldn't affect the results as it would give 1.1*10 atk bonus regardless of whether a special or normal bow was used).
Note: The test used fairly constant variables (only the weapon was changed for the test) in order to avoid the inclusion of outside factors affecting atk. The test offers a hypothetical that is impractical in-game (a special user's use of adamantite arrow with only strength, agi, and crit as well as ヘイファルテ). This type of minstrel would be very difficult to use (due to delay) but could have very high damage. Regardless, the test will show that using songs in general as a minstrel has the effect of decreasing attack for special bow minstrels.
RESULTS!
Normal Bow
Theoretically, because of the +10 stat points from the passive skill Song Lore, the normal bow adjusted atk should increase more greatly than the special bow adjusted atk.
Dex+10 (x2 for normal bows) = 20
Str+10 (x2 for normal bows) [x3.1 with adamantite] = 20[31]
So, the extra attack from Dream song alone should be an uncorrected 51 atk points with adamantite arrow (adjusted through atk% equipment and other variables) for the use of any 1 buff song.
Now, let's adjust the atk for the right calculation...(￣▽+￣*)
Resting ATK correction calculation:
((415str x 3.1atk)+(385dex x 2atk)+160+18+225+20+15+23 + unknown 職業別補正) x (1 + .06 + .15 + .2 + .1 - .02 + .12 + .03 + .05) = (2517.5 + 職業別補正) x 1.71
Assuming the 職業別補正 is a constant 0 for all test purposes, this means that adjusted attack at rest should be about 4304.925.
ATK correction with Dream Song:
(2517.5 +51+ 職業別補正) x 1.71 = (2568.5+職業別補正) x 1.71
If the 職業別補正 is 0, the adjusted attack with Dream should be about 4392.13 atk and the difference of attack between at rest and Dream is about 87.21 atk.
Actual attack
Resting Atk 4381, eva 357, aspd 66
with dream: 4462 atk, 369 eva, 88 aspd
with dream/pass: atk 5253, eva 381, aspd 220
with dream/nost: atk 4542, aspd 110, eva 381
with dream/pass/nost: atk 5335, aspd 264, eva 393
with pass: atk 5171, eva 369, aspd 176
with nost: 4462, eva 369, aspd 88
You can tell the +10 stat affect is in effect (because eva and aspd increased with just Dream Song). And as you can see, there is a difference of (4462-4381) 81 atk points from just Dream Song alone.
The calculated adjusted attack difference for Dream Song should be about 87.213 while the actual adjusted extra atk points was 81.
Special Bow
Then, I switched out illusion for malicia. The hypothetical status would be allocated as such with Dream song:
Agi+10 (x2.5 for special bows)[x3 with ヘイファルテ] = 25[30]
Crt+10 (x1 for special bows) = 10
Int+10 (x-1 for special bows) = -10
Vit+10 (x-1 for special bows) = -10
[Str+10 x1.1 with adam. arrow] = [11]
[Dex+10 x1 with thimble] = [10]
With Dream song, that would mean 26 [35 with ヘイファルテ and thimble] extra atk points (adjusted through atk% equipment and other variables) for the use of any 1 buff song. With ヘイファルテ and adamantite arrow, the extra attack should be 31.
Resting Atk Correction Calculation:
((3agi x 2.5)+(388crt x 1)+(415str x 1.1)+(3int x -1)+(3 vit x -1) +160+18+162+20+15+23+職業別補正) x (1 + .06 + .12 + .12 -.02 + .03 + .02) = (1244 + 職業別補正) x 1.43
If 職業別補正 is 0, atk at rest should be 1778.92.
ATK correction with Dream Song:
(1244 + 26 + 職業別補正) x 1.43 = (1270 + 職業別補正) x 1.43
If 職業別補正 is 0, atk with Dream should be 1816.1 with a difference of 37.18 between Dream and resting attack.
Actual attack
Resting atk 1826, eva 357, aspd 66
with dream: 1860 atk, 369 eva, 88 aspd
with dream/pass: atk 2471, eva 381, aspd 220
with dream/nost: atk1894, eva 381, aspd 110
with dream/pass/nost: atk 2506, eva 393, aspd 264
with pass: atk 2436, eva 369, aspd 176
with nost: atk 2471, eva 369, aspd 88
The actual difference is (1860-1826) 34 atk points from atk with Dream Song, while the adjusted atk difference should be about 37.18 (not taking into account minstrel's 職業別補正).
CONCLUSION
まー.....
Assuming this test is as accurate as I can make it...
As you and I both probably expected, a special bow user likely cannot beat the damage of a normal bow user of the same level and similar high-grade equipment. (´∀｀);;
Normal bow atk is increased more than special bow atk with Song Lore
Regardless of whether a special or normal bow was used, the results show that atk rises with Dream song and that atk rises more if a normal bow is used. Obviously, it is concerning that the equipment and status allocation of my minstrel used for this test had the stats and better equipment as a normal bow user, rather than as a special bow user.
That's why we must look at the difference of atk rise between the two, without looking to how much higher atk the normal bow results show in general.
The actual adjusted difference in attack for the bows was 81 for normal bows, 34 for special bows, which is fairly close to what was estimated through the adjusted calculations above (not including minstrel's 職業別補正). It appears from these results that the stat rise from minstrel's passive skill, Song Lore, does in fact apply to a minstrel's -atk bonuses from using a special bow.
So in general, it seems that using special bow is inferior in terms of atk to normal bow for minstrels because of the use of Song Lore.
Minstrel's 職業別補正 seems to also favor normal bow use
Do minstrels get a job bonus?
Interestingly, the results helped shed light on the 職業別補正 for minstrels. Although on wiki, status bonuses for minstrels are described only as "?" and is relatively unknown, it appears there are indeed status and/or atk bonuses for minstrels.
Although you would think that the 職業別補正 should be constant, regardless of whether the minstrel uses a normal bow or different weapon, this does not appear to be the case. Further, it might even be affected differently with Song Lore.
Well, we need to know what the job bonus for minstrels is (if there is any).
I took the calculations I made in the results above to approximate 職業別補正:
Normal Bow at Rest: 職業別補正 = 44.488
4381 = (2517.5 + 職業別補正) x 1.71
Normal Bow with Dream: 職業別補正 = 41.15
4462 = (2568.5 + 職業別補正) x 1.71
Special Bow at Rest: 職業別補正 = 32.92
1826 = (1244 +職業別補正) x 1.43
Special Bow with Dream: 職業別補正 = 30.69
1860 = (1270 + 職業別補正) x 1.43
So it appears that generally, even the 職業別補正 for minstrels generally favor the use of a normal bow. It is still unknown what the actual 職業別補正 is per stat, but in general minstrel's attack is raised with its job and that attack is adjusted via the minstrel's weapon and other relevant variables...
...It is strange that for both bows, the calculated adjusted atk (87.21 normal)(37.18 special) was more than its actual adjusted attk (81 normal)(34 special). With this in mind, could we say that the job bonus for minstrels generally decreases the minstrel's attk...?
I don't know. (Ｔ▽Ｔ;)
But that could explain why dragonewt damage is generally less for the minstrel than their warrior-class party member's dragonewt damage...
...
....
(/ω＼)
_<
Afterword: So...should minstrels avoid special bow?
The results of this test is not meant to dissuade future minstrels looking to use special bows! Special bow users enjoy the luxury of having high evasion (without the use of quick turn and evasion from pet skills or Warrior Song) as well as the ability to fight bosses face-on for longer periods of time without a party (and the ability to take advantage of special bow automatic buffs, like mirage bow). While I may never be able to solo a level 300+ boss, ADC or other agility type minstrels will have a much easier time soloing such bosses.
But...
For now, a normal bow user can comfortably expect to have the highest damage-per-second for a minstrel, I'm left to wonder if a different type of weapon could out-damage a normal bow minstrel (even if they are unable to spam Dragonewt per second). My guess is a very tentative "yes."
Up until recently, I always assumed that dragonewt operated like a normal physical attack, except amplified like spellburst for the "critical" hits. But then I noticed that when I auto attack a monster with daiginjo on, my critical rate is extremely low. Yet my "critical" rate for my dragonewt damage is nearly the same as if I wore a different additional like separation arrow.
So I decided I must test the difference between dragonewt "critical" hits and "regular" hits to determine at least a rough estimate of how to properly calculate dragonewt damage.
Let's recap what we already know about dragonewt damage:
1. It only shows "white" damage
2. But there are 2 types of general hits: "critical" or "regular"
3. To increase both of these damages, atk must be raised
4. To increase the larger "critical" damage, crt and crt damage must be raised
5. The larger "critical" damage is guessed by some to be approximately 3 times the amount your auto critical damage (this is an extremely broad estimate). This does not hold true for the lesser "regular" dragonewt damage.
6. Like other physical damage skills for other jobs, these damages may be increased by certain buffs (like chakra, agility, shell break), elemental equipment/enchantment (such as origin, flame bow), or status effect on the monster targeted (such as dizziness)
7. In a party, the dragonewt damage of each party member is added up into 1 attack against the targeted monster so long as that member is sufficiently close by (and in boss fights, party members must do something like get hit, buff, heal, or attack (basically anything that will affect your hate bar) so that their damage is included in the overall dragonewt damage--they cannot just sit and expect their damage is included!)
8. Generally, other party members' dragonewt damage is larger than the minstrel's own dragonewt damage if those party members are physical dps types
9. If you are in a party and you dragonewt a mob, if your dragonewt by itself can kill the mob then the partys' damage is not included in the total dragonewt damage
10.Each song buff adds extra stats to each party member
A. How does dragonewt affect barrier on bosses? (for more information on Cleave Song, please refer to my friend グリ父's blog)
B. How is the "regular" dragonewt damage calculated?
C. How is the "critical" dragonewt damage calculated?
D. How is the "critical" rate of dragonewt calculated?
E. How much atk does Passionate Song boost?
F. How much crt does Nostalgia Song boost?
G. What is the best critical damage % to atk % ratio for the highest dragonewt damage?
H. Does the extra stats boosted from the casting of 3 songs cause -atk for special weapon users? And can a special bow minstrel beat the damage of a normal bow minstrel?
I. Can a magic bow minstrel achieve high damage?
J. What kind of party arrangement helps achieve highest DPS?
Other questions about minstrels in general are also many in number...
K. How much extra evasion does Warrior Song give?
L. Does Sweet Home affect rare drop rate?
M. Do minstrels get any type of job bonus?
N. Is a "shellbreak" minstrel type a viable hybrid to use?
O. Can a normal bow minstrel solo bosses?
P. How much dex is necessary to achieve 1 second songs? How much skill delay is necessary in general?
Q. Can a non-bow minstrel achieve 1 second songs?
There are many questions to be answered. Can you think of any other questions? Let's start to try to answer them!
(ﾉﾟοﾟ)ﾉ
Today's test was very simple.
Putting concerns about hate, crt rate, skill delay, and recoil aside, which additional equipment gives the highest output of dragonewt damage?
I compared 4 popular additionals (all without crysta because I didn't want to waste another raton).
First I tried daiginjo upgrade
Then ribbon of birth
Then separation arrow
Then finally barbarotita upgraded
Unsurprisingly, daiginjo wins in max damage with an overwhelming 110k. In second place was separation arrow, which did about 97-105k damage, with an average of 101k damage. Unexpectedly, barbarotita upgrade nearly tied second place with an average 100k damage. In last place was ribbon of birth with an average 97k, which still isn't too bad. Even though its stats sounded so great, it turns out not to be that great for dragonewt damage (which makes sense in retrospect because it greatly increase melee, rather than the atk per level it also does)!
For fun I also tried to see of the ribbon of birth will procure revival enough to be of practical use...
Nope.
So.....
There's a strange thing about Dragonewt....
Usually, when you enter a boss fight, your dragonewt damage will not connect.
(・・。)ゞ??
Let me explain. If you play as minstrel, you will quickly notice that in regular field maps, as long as you are decently close to the monster a party member is attacking, your dragonewt damage will register. You will see the telltale reddish orange light hitting the mob and in your battle log it will say:
"Dragonewt Song!!
You dealt ___ damage to monster"
But, if you are too far, you will still see all the green skill circles go around your party members, but no reddish orange light (so only your party members' dnewt damage connected). Andddd, no battle log recording your damage.
But we all know this.
The problem we're dealing with today is what happens when your damage does not connect in a boss fight.
Let's talk about Leviam.
Leviam is a fairly easy boss, but it is easy for a tanker to lost hate and a bishop to lose control of the fight because of all the stuns. This makes it a problem for a minstrel (regardless of how much evasion you might have, you probably cannot really take on Leviam head on).
So we try to step back. But if we step too far away, our attacks don't connect!
What to do... ( ￣っ￣)
I've noticed an easy fix to this problem. Instead of heading up to the boss to manually target him (and possibly killing yourself), you can rebuff.
For example, when I enter Leviam's boss map, I head far back to about where the bishop is (around the pillars). Then as soon as the tanker begins hitting Leviam, I immediately cast a buff song like dream.
You'll notice that once that happens, your attacks will connect!
Here's a short video showing what I mean (I accidentally used the wrong buffs here but meh...
)
With the last update, a new rare boss was introduced to Iruna. The boss spawns in the area after Iburie and before Merijia (which drops al crysta of -1 second item delay and +.5 second skill delay).
The boss looks very similar to (and has the same name as) the aggressive mobs around it except it carries a very large green sword.
His defense is pretty high and due to the aggressive monsters on the map, it can be difficult to kill him...
But it is worth trying. The rare boss drops the additional equipment White Maid Headress and a crysta that attaches an auto light skill (presumably nemesis) while cancelling whatever auto is on that equipment (like pretortoise, leviathan, ifrit, dajarte..).
Plus the add is cute and especially awesome for bishops and enchanters. It's stats are: autoskill trigger +6%, aspd +10%, "the higher your INT and DEX..."
This last stat is very interesting. I read a very informative blog entry on it at まど様のブログ, which explains that it basically increases your light power as your INT and DEX increase.
As まど様writes, the additional definitely is stronger than ercarte for bishops' nemesis. Even though my level is still low (275), I could still see a difference.
Ercarte+normal buffs at jacobs:
White brim + normal buffs (with spellburst it hit over 130k):
White brim+buffs+ignition:
White brim+buffs+ignition+light drink:
White brim+buffs+light drink+spell boost (ignition wore off.. ;-;):
Pretty neat.
Added edit:
At yarde wearing white maid with buffs and ignition and lichter:
So I've been busy with work and with leveling my minstrel. But now she is past the cap of 310 so I won't have to worry too much when the next level cap happens...plus I can farm ouvel now that I am finally caught up with the main quest!
With my new level, my damage has also increased quite a bit (it's about 10k more than what's pictured when I wear daiginjo upgrade with raton).
Not too bad, right?
My first attempt to upload a video!
I recorded a very short session at mamonea with one bishop and one gladiator.
The game plan for minstrel is simple: just get the timing right.
The fight starts your hp off with 1, so you should turn on your buffs once all your party members are in the boss field.
Then, once your hp is increased, heal and spam dragonewt 4-6 times and prepare to rebuff.
Mamonea will then cast a skill delete, so depending on your tanker, cast the necessary song (I casted warrior because our tanker was a spam type and had little hp).
Then you heal again after the next time your hp returns to normal, and then dragonewt til the fight ends.
Simple!
Edit:
I forgot to mention I have very little hp cutrently.. haven't been able to switch out my crysta yet
新しいアバター
Cute,right?
It is available to all players in tailoring even though it is a lvl10 recipe.
This boss here is Lydia, the new boss for the event. I have yet to see what rare it drops.
Updates to come!
EDIT:
The new boss, Lydia, can be fought as a level 150 or 300 boss fight at the end of the Xmas Event.
Lydia 150 is very easy. Solo for most classes should be fairly quick. However...
Lydia 300 is a bit tricky. There is 1 debuff and 1 mp/hp delete before the debuff and another after the debuff. She also continuously depletes your hp/mp, causes ailments fear and bleeding, as well as causes freeze and has an AOE attack that can kill you when you are frozen.
As minstrel, there are a couple things to consider:
If your party has a high wizard -
Use DPS songs (wisdom, passion, nostalgia) and dream at the beginning. Dnewt till...
After the 1st hp/mp delete, eat a revlx/revl and continue Dnewt till...
Upon the debuff, cast dream, joy and sorrow, and the DPS song.
After the 2nd hp/mp delete, eat revlx/revl, cast dream, joy and sorrow, and Sweet Home for rare drop rate up and Dnewt til boss is destroyed.
If your party does not have a high wizard -
Use DPS song, dream, and joy and sorrow. Dnewt till..
1st hp/mp delete, eat a revlx/revl and continue Dnewt till..
Debuff, cast dream, joy and sorrow, and DPS song, then...
2nd hp/mp delete, eat revlx/revl and cast dream, joy and sorrow, and sweet home. Then dnewt!
Note for all characters: After the debuff, the boss will cast agility/delay/somethingelseIforgot down, which will make it more difficult for your tanker to keep hate. It will also make it much more difficult for you to run away from your bishop (so stay a bit away from them from the beginning).
As for what Lydia drops, both types drop silver snowflake crystals. The crystals can be exchanged at the kijimu at the event area in Rokoko for various items, including warps to the Event bosses or for special ice element "Freesia" weapons.
They are incredibly strong. Compared to weaker 2s bows, Freesia beats them.
I took a few pictures of the new damage on nommars and on the stats for the bow and sword but they have yet to show up on my phone... so that will have to wait... (´・ω・`)
Edit with photos:
Freesia Sword stats
Freesia Bow stats
Damage at nommars with freesia bow eisen and only mins buffs:
Same, but with ignite:
Edit:
My guildy Motokuro did a very informative video on the difference between 1s newer bow damage versus old 2s elemental bows:
https://youtu.be/qlR8a0XA5f4