Granblue Fantasy Relink: Vane Guide

Overview

Vane, the vice-captain of Feendrache's Order of the White Dragons, is an ice element tank who is not only capable of dealing massive amounts of damage, but is also the only character that is consistently able to have him and his team completely ignore mechanics of a boss with his Rampart ability. His main damage comes from combo finishers, and his triangle attack has unique properties in that is heals Vane per hit, and where if he collides with an enemies attack, he will block and ignore the attack, allowing him to unga bunga and keep on the offensive. As he has a lot of self healing in his kit, and the ability to give himself hostility, he makes an excellent tank, outside of his ability to shield his team.

Gameplay

Vane has a unique Beatdown meter where landing combo finishers and link attacks fill up this bar, allowing him to deal a powerful triangle combo if the bar is completely full. While it may seem like the most damage would come from pulling off this full combo, it is in fact not; as not only does it take a while to pull off, but you should focus on exhausting your skill cooldowns that lead into combo finishers instead, as that leads to dealing the most damage. Not only that, but with his unique sigil Hero's Will, every combo finisher lower's Vane's skill cooldowns, and the best combo that leads to the most combo finishers is the square, square, triangle, triangle combo, as it counts as two combo finishers. Below is a simple gameplay demonstration of Vane's damage rotation, while not optimal, it should give you a solid idea of how to play him:

You should still weave in triangle attacks from time to time as it heals Vane and can block enemy attacks, but focus on building fast skill CD with Vane to go along with his Sigil, and always interrupt his beatdown combo with skills as soon as they come off cooldown, and back into combo finishers.

Skills

Arm Destruction

• A frontal shockwave attack that deals a high amount of stun
• One of Vane's best offensive skills, as the high stun power often means that it will trigger a link attack, meaning you can go straight into a combo finisher to quickly fill up his Beatdown bar.

Rampart

• Casts a circle around Vane that grants Invincibility. Hold while casting to prolong the duration.
• An absolute must have skill for any Vane playstyle. This is his unique ability that allows his entire team to completely ignore boss mechanics such as when they become enraged.

Energy Destruction

• A powerful sweeping attack. Deals more damage based on how full Vane's SBA gauge is.
• Don't let the SBA gauge factor into rather you use this skill or not, even at 0%, this is Vane's most damaging skill, and by the time the CD comes back around, you can use it again at a higher SBA gauge meter for an absurd amount of burst damage right into combo finisher for even more damage.

Heroic Beat

• A fast lunge slash that restores Vane's HP based on the damage he dealt.
• Not only is this a very good lunge attack to keep up with your opponents, but also acts as a heal, saving you a precious potion. Not to mention as it is an offensive skill, he can go straight into combo finisher from it. A must have skill for any Vane.

Rift Driver

• A multi-hit assault that pulls foes in front of Vane toward him.
• Likely Vane's worse offensive skill, as not only does it take a while to complete, which means it's not good for burst damage, but also the fact that bosses do not get pulled in with this skill, making that attribute pointless outside of trash mobs.

Breakthrough

• Grants Hostility⬆️ and ATK⬆️(30%) to Vane.
• This skill is suited for if you want to play as more of a tank role with Vane, as you're more likely to attract enemy attention away from your team.
• The ATK buff is good, but may become obsolete as you get into endgame as damage caps will likely already be met.

Drachenstolz

• Grants Guts, ATK⬆️(30%), and DEF⬆️(30%) to Vane
• The defense buff along with guts allows Vane to play a bit more carefree, especially if you have quick cooldowns, you'll be able to pop this a lot, saving you from being KO'd and unable to tank for your team.
• This goes extremely well with Soul Eruption, as once you survive a hit with 1 HP, you can full heal with Soul Eruption, more on that below.

Soul Eruption

• Fully restores Vane's HP and removes all debuffs. Also grants ATK⬆️(30%) and DEF⬆️(50%). Can only be activated when Vane is at or below 30% HP.
• This goes well with Drachenstolz as guts will leave you with 1 HP, and this skill will instantly full-heal you and re-buff you with a powerful 50% defense buff to help your survivability.

Skill Recommendations

Best Weapon(s)

As all characters are damage dealers, and the best way to increase your damage at the early game is with critical hits, his best weapon before his fully ascended and terminus weapons would be Ukonvasara, which gives the crit rate trait and a total 50% boost to critical hit damage passive at max level.

Best Sigils

For Vane, I would equip his two unique sigils Hero's Creed and Hero's Will, Hero's Will in particular will make his skill rotation much quicker, which for the Rampart skill, you want to make sure is up when you need it the most. To go with the theme of skill cooldown, you will want Cascade and Quick Cooldown. For damage, you will want Damage Cap, War Elemental, and Supplemental Damage. Apart from that, you'll want Guts/Autorevive, Potion Hoarder, and Aegis. If you're using Drachenstolz, I would go with Autorevive instead.

Quick Cooldown V

• Shortens skill cooldowns.
• Max Sigil Effect: T.Lvl 15, Skill cooldown -10%

Cascade V

• Shortens skill cooldowns whenever you hit a foe. Effect strength changes based on the attack type.
• Max Sigil Effect: T.Lvl 15, Skill cooldown -1.5%

Damage Cap V

• Raises the damage limit of attacks.
• Max Sigil Effect: T.Lvl 15, ▢/△ attack DMG cap +45%
• Skill DMG cap +45%
• SBA DMG cap +45%

Autorevive V

• Automatically recover from critical condition. Reactivation time is shortened based on trait level.
• Max Sigil Effect: T.Lvl 15, Ready for activation after 170 seconds.

Potion Hoarder V

• Increases the stock of recovery items.
• Max Sigil Effect: T.Lvl 15, Green potion +3, blue potion +5, mega potion +5, revival potion +2

Aegis V

• Raises maximum health as a proportion of your current maximum health.
• Max Sigil Effect: T.Lvl 15, HP +35%

Over Mastery

Upon reaching level 80, 90, and 100, you will be able to spend excess MSP into Vane's over mastery. I would prioritize Critical Hit Rate, Normal Attack Cap, Skill Attack Cap, and Stun in that order. Anything else is just a bonus.

Conclusion

Vane is an extremely good character, in my opinion, one of the best characters in the game not only due to his incredible burst damage potential with Energy Destruction, but also with his Rampart skill, which with high skill CD, you will be able to consistently use in order to protect your entire team from tricky boss mechanics, overall saving items for those longer boss fights. He will be welcomed and loved into any end-game boss hunts.