Introduction
Merry Christmas, friends! What better way to celebrate than by administering Laterano shotgun justice against the non-believers? Let us forget the trauma that was POO and celebrate. Santa Executor is here to keep all you bad boys and girls in line!
Update Dec 18 - Reaper Modules appear to be coming in this update, ahead of schedule. They are mentioned in the JP patch notes. Presuming this is not a typo, I have updated the article to reflect this. Reaper Modules are added to the FAQ and several small notes have updated verbiage. I have also taken this chance to update Jessica the Liberated's lookahead.
This article specifically covers the new units from the Hortus De Escapismo event, You can find the full version of the guide here, or on the banner below which covers all of the other noteworthy Masteries in the game
FAQ and Banner Discussion
Q: Should I pull?
A: Maybe, leaning towards yes. Executor the Ex Foedere is a very solid unit. He's currently the best solo laneholder, and his theoretical DPS is on par with top-tier DPS units like Ch'en the Holungday. He’s good enough to justify the rolls but a number of issues ultimately keep him out of the very top of the meta.
Executor2 is the sort of unit who looks better on paper than in practice. By raw stats and DPS he looks like he should be among the best in the game, yet the downsides of his kit severely hold him back. He simply lacks the general viability of other top-meta units and instead slots as more situational than his numbers might otherwise imply. His skills are Attack Recovery, with his main skill having a close to unusably high cost. He is unhealable, meaning there are places he just can't be used. His damage is backloaded, which is always an issue, and there's an RNG component to boot. He has a ton of value and I don't want to imply he's bad by any means, but these drawbacks do matter when discussing the top tiers. They are why he's a non-factor in both CC and high Ascension IS. 24 SP Attack Recovery is a nearly insurmountable flaw when comparing him to the best of the best!
More importantly, the next two units after him are better. Eyjafjalla the Hvit Aska and Typhon are both super powerful units that hit that general usability sweet spot that Executor2 misses. On top of that, Eyja2 is a Limited unit who is only a few weeks away (mid-January). Executor2 is ultimately one of those units that will fall victim to pull priority. As I've said in this article series before, you can't pull everyone unless you're a whale. Executor2 has advocates and, full disclosure, there are some well respected players who would call him a must pull. However, in my opinion, he ultimately falls a bit short on the pull priority list.
Q: What is Executor the Ex Foedere's role? Is he a laneholder or a DPS unit?
A: A bit of both, which is a big part of why he's so strong, although he's more effective as a laneholder. His damage supplements that laneholding ability better than it stands on its own. His DPS has some big advantages. He's a Melee unit with good range, ammo utility, high damage-per-hit Physical, True AOE, and a good dose of DEF ignore to boot. Unfortunately the flaws noted above are all pretty big drawbacks that hold him back in the DPS realm. While he may compare well to Ch'en2 (for example) purely by the numbers, in practice he is quite a bit less reliable.
Instead his value lies in his combination of damage, bulk, and sustain, allowing him to hold tough lanes completely on his own. He is one of the "low-op clear" monsters alongside units like Ling and Penance because he does enough on his own that he can often hold entire maps entirely on his own! The drawbacks again hold him back from being a true member of the top-tier meta, but are more manageable in this role. In fact, like Penance, he can often be more effective on his own where beating up on weaker units contributes directly to his sustain and uptime.
Enmity operators such as Mushas, Juggernauts, and Reapers are always a bit tricky to evaluate. They require more work and thought than a more typical deploy-heal-damage sort, both to use and to write about. That's all still true here with Executor2, but he has the most upside of any of the enmity operators (except perhaps Module Mudrock) which can make him uniquely worth the effort!
Q: I've heard Executor the Ex Foedere's Module is very good. Is it necessary to use him effectively like it was with Lin? Will his grades be adjusted when his Module comes out?
A: Executor2's Module, which comes with the So Long, Adele patch in mid-January (potentially within a few short weeks of this update), is a tremendous Module. It smooths out his frustrating RNG, increases his total damage, reduces his effective SP costs, and raises the ceiling of DEF he can deal with. It's actually one of those rare cases where a Module has better DPS gains than Masteries do! If you plan to promote Executor2, then you definitely want his Module. However, Executor2 is not like Lin in this regard. The baseline assessment remains the same, with or without Module. His usage doesn't change, he's just better at it. In short, it’s worth getting, but it shouldn’t influence your pull decision.
Please note that the above was written before the patch notes were released. It appears Yostar is moving the Reaper Modules up to this patch instead of waiting until So Long, Adele. Aside from the timing, nothing changes. His Module is a must get for Executor the Ex Foedere.
Q: Insider or Kroos the Keen Glint? You say Insider is good, but under what circumstances should I raise him?
A: Both. Early in your career, I would start with Insider to high E1, but if you only raise one to E2 + Masteries, I’d rather raise Kroos2. On any random stage, Insider will likely perform better. He has a sky-high ATK for a 5★ Marksman which makes him a great general-purpose unit. However, I think Kroos2's stun has a lot more long term value. Kroos2 is the only 5★ Marksman (not counting April who is quite different from the rest) who is even remotely meta, and that's because of her stun. So overall she has better long term value, although that value is ultimately content-dependent. Once IS#4 cycles in, for example, her value will drop until some new content that values the stun comes out.
All that said, there's plenty of room for both. The ol' faithful suggestion is to carry two Marksman on your roster, and both are significant upgrades over the 4★s. They also both work well at E1, so in my opinion the difference is academic. Of course, already established players or those who are lucky enough to have Exusiai or Archetto won't need both. For those players, the value of Kroos2's stun will come out ahead.
Q: Would you like to rant about Spuria a bit?
A: Why yes. Yes I would. 5★s are near and dear to my heart, so it particularly hurts me to see their current state. Spuria is the ultimate example of Hypergryph’s horrible balancing and general DGAF attitude towards recent non-6★s. Spuria feels like the peak of those terrible design decisions. Of course, I'm aware that most people won't care about a forgettable 5★. Few people promote even the good 5★s, so there isn't a lot of difference to most of the player base between an average one and a terrible one.
Nevertheless, these units are in the game. People will pull them, be it by blind chance or by ignorance (or in rare cases like myself, insanity). So I just cannot for the life of me understand how a unit like Spuria makes it out of playtest. You could literally double all of her numbers* and she still wouldn't hold a candle to Aak, who is already a low-tier 6★. I just cannot fathom the choices that went into Spuria.
In my opinion, bad units are far worse for the game than overpowered units. While powercreep is a problem, Arknights is ultimately a single-player PvE game. Unless the stage balance starts to become affected, it doesn't matter too much how high the top gets. Hell, I myself quite enjoy throwing Texas2 and Yato2 around in IS! But by that same token, there is no reason for the bottom units to be just as awful as they are. They create frustrating and unusable bloat and hurt the overall player experience. Few players would lose interest because their units are “too good”, but many will if they consistently pull unusably awful units.
Seriously, a 20% chance to stun the unit for a paltry 30% ATK buff? An ASPD buff that actively makes the stun part worse? That works on a single class anyway? Is that a joke? And her alternative skill is a single-use on-deploy? Literally one of those (NTRK’s S2) has EVER been good on a unit without reduced redeploy and it required ignoring a core game mechanic to get there! All that on a unit that REQUIRES a Medic?
It's so bad that even her base skill is a joke. There's so many 20% workers without a ramp up already. Compare it to Greyy2’s or Liskarm’s skill at the same rarity!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Yes, I am mad as hell about it. On the plus side, the last few 5★s on CN have been quite a bit better, so maybe we're at least coming around the bend finally. (edit: haha just kidding, Leto is awful so we’re back to square one).
Ok, I’m done. Let’s move on.
*As my good friend Boelthor pointed out, with double stats she’d actually make a broken Muelsyse clone. I’m still leaving this as is though because that’s somehow funnier.
Q: Where is Typhon? Wasn't she supposed to be between Executor and Eyjafjalla the Hvit Aska?
A: I included this last update, but I'll include it again here, and probably again during Eyja2's update too! Basically Typhon will almost certainly be getting the Dorothy treatment. Due to how Yostar currently organizes the schedule, there isn't enough time for CN’s July event before the global anniversary. That event was Dorothy last year, and it's Typhon this year. Barring a major change, it’ll probably happen again next year too.
Additionally, Typhon's event is the story lead-in event to IS#4. We know that the final IS#3 update will probably drop in January. Given that Eyja2's event likely runs through the end of January, it makes sense that Typhon’s banner will get shifted to February instead.
Although the usual caveat applies here. We never know for sure with Yostar until it actually happens…
Q: Any Module thoughts this patch?
A: Hortus de Escapismo
- Artificers and Stainless - The base effect here is good, especially for Stainless and Roberta. The extra devices make them a lot more usable, and if you use either, you'll definitely want to grab it. Stainless also has some good Module upgrades. The improvement to his downtime and decreased RNG makes it worthwhile if you use him quite a bit, although his off-meta nature will make justifying the Block cost difficult. Roberta does not need the Module upgrades and Windflit (still) sucks, so don't waste your Blocks on them.
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Aak - If you're a meta player, there's no need to get Aak's Modules or upgrades. It doesn't change anything at all about how you'd use him in a meta context. However, if you're a Niche player where Aak might fit into your team, or just like using him, Aak’s Module and upgrades may be a godsend. There are a lot of individual effects here, but in total, they make him far more reliable as a regular unit (as opposed to being stuck as a buffer). With his S1 and Mod3, he becomes a solid alternative DPS option, with much more reliable control and sustain.
This won't actually change his grades since I already had his S1 graded (perhaps controversially) as a fringe option. However, I have taken the opportunity to update his write-up. It was a bit long in the tooth already, but it now also reflects his Module potential. I also took the opportunity to give his grades a slight grade tweak for consistency, although this is unrelated to his Module.
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Reapers - In a bit of a surprise, it appears Yostar is moving the Reaper Modules up, likely to coincide with Executor's release to build some hype, rather than waiting. It's an unusual choice, but it's mentioned in the JP patch notes. Assuming that's not a mistake, I'll include the write-up here as an edit.
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Reaper base - The Reaper base Module effect is subtle, but strong. 10 hp really does not seem like that much or like it would make a difference, but it's a 20% increase and when you consider that it's per target and how many times a Reaper attacks per map, it's actually a huge total amount of healing over the course of the map! It's a well worthwhile upgrade for any Reaper you regularly use.
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Executor the Ex Foedere - I already discussed this one above so I won't go too into depth again. However, to reiterate, his Module upgrades are tremendously powerful and are must gets. They give a big boost to his damage, lower his effective SP a bit (his double hit Talent grants an extra SP), smoothes out his RNG, and allows him to tackle tougher DEF. Executor2 is already a solid unit, but his Module is really what elevates him to another level.
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La Pluma - While definitely not as mindblowing as Executor's Module upgrades, La Pluma's are worth a gander, especially given how popular she is. 8% ATK is a solid increase, but getting full stacks isn't always easy so it's hard to call her upgrades essential.
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Highmore and Humus - These two are the more off-meta Reapers, and sadly their upgrades reflect this. Neither is really worth pursuing unless you particularly use the unit a lot, and Highmore's is notably poor.
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- Flametail - I don’t usually talk about off-meta second Modules too much. Modules are not the point of this article, so I usually keep the focus on the big ticket items (like Bagpipe and NTRK below). However, Flametail is one of my favorites and this is my article, so I’m going to write about her second Module anyway!
For the general player, her first Module is the better one. In terms of effective damage, the upgrades on her first and the base effect on her second come out about even, so the comparison comes down to the first’s reduced deployment cost versus the second’s upgrades. The main value in her second is how it improves her off-skill. The second improves her off-skill bulk, dodge, and damage (the shared buff and DP gain aren’t particularly valuable). For the general player, I think the reduced deployment cost comes out significantly ahead given how Pioneers are typically used. Being better on-skill is also more important given why she’s used over Saga. You can get her out faster for better skill-on impact with her first Module, while her second will be more situational.
CN (lookahead) - Zwillingstürme im Herbst
- Juggernauts - In another example of the best getting better, an already strong archetype gets an amazing Module. The base effect here is really good for the cost and it will be a must-get for both Penance and Mudrock. Their upgrades are nice as well, although a bit less essential. For heavy users, they'll be must gets, but given the limited supply of Blocks, the upgrades for either are not as important as the base.
- Bagpipe - The best get better part 2. Bagpipe already had a great Module so I’m not sure why HG felt the need to give her a second, but here we are. Bagpipe's Modules are a somewhat curious situation. She's very meta and powerful, but in the context of the meta lately, she’s often ending up relegated to support for Ines or a Flagbearer. Additionally, both Modules are great, but neither is overpowering. So there’s some interesting discussion to be had. Her first Module helps her ramp-up and adds a few extra DP, while her second is a pretty nice damage bump. In a vacuum, I like her second better, but the nuance muddies the water. If you already have Bagpipe's upgraded first Module, I wouldn't worry about her second. It isn't worth the blocks. If you haven't gotten either and are debating which to get, I would go for the second for most players, but Advanced players should likely stick to her first. In any particular stage, the damage usually matters way more than 4 seconds of ramp up, but those 4 seconds can make all the difference in high risk situations.
- Nearl the Radiant Knight - Another unit who didn't need a second Module, although in this case, it isn't as good as her first. Of course it will still have some good niche use, but unless you're S2 dropping her into particularly dangerous situations, the first Module will usually out-damage the second by a good bit. Her first Module already adds a good amount of damage, and she needs to get the revive buff on the second in order for it to be comparable. However, she’s pretty bulky during S2 which decreases the number of situations where her second mod will pull ahead.
- Bassline - While a large majority of people won't want to invest the resources into a 5★ Guardian's Module upgrade, Bassline's at least warrants a mention for its novelty. He is the *only* unit, other than Nightingale, who can directly grant RES to an ally. Nightingale is a favorite punching bag of people (like me) who like to point out early balance mistakes, so the fact we've finally gotten another RES buffer after 4.5 years is noteworthy indeed.
CN (lookahead) - The Rides to Lake Silberneherze
This patch is a doozy and I'll be saving my review for the next update. However, I wanted to note that there are FOUR second Modules in this patch. My typical advice in this column has been not to wait for second Modules on meta ops due to the very slow pace. This isn't even a major patch, so seeing four here is eye-catching. I won't jump to any conclusions yet (c.f. the fact there's not another third Module yet), but if this trend continues, that'll be some advice to reconsider.
Q: "The shilling myself question"
A: If you missed it in the previous updates, I published my first fictional work. You can find the clean version of it over on AO3 here.
Hortus De Escapismo - Arbiter ae Quissimus
Executor the Ex Foedere
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S3M1 | Breakpoint | ||
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S3M3 | S+ | S | S |
Executor the Ex Foedere can be tricky to evaluate. He has a ton of potential between his super strong self sustain and incredible theoretical DPS which is True-AOE, high-hit Physical, and from a Melee tile - all very valuable attributes. But those benefits come with hefty drawbacks which complicate the overall picture. He has a high Attack Recovery cost, inconsistent RNG, and can't be healed. Those are all potentially big problems!
However, while that overall assessment is muddy, his Masteries are actually very straightforward. His S3 is his standout skill because it has by far the best damage potential and sustain, and its Masteries are extremely important to effectively using him. Accordingly, his S3 Masteries are a high priority, although a touch lower than the very top of the meta still. In addition to above average DPS increases, the biggest drawback of his S3 is the absurdly high Attack Recovery cost. At S3M3 it's still a painful 241 SP, but that's a vast improvement over the 301 SP at SL7. Executor2 is a unit who oftentimes can “feel bad” to use, but he will feel much worse at SL7 than at S3M3.
Also note that S3 has a breakpoint at M1. The sustain during the skill increases by a full 33%. While relatively minor among the world of breakpoints, it’s still worth grabbing ASAP.
Pass on his S1 and S2 Masteries. Both will likely have some fringe usage for heavy Executor2 users, but S3 just does too much. The opportunity cost of not using S3 limits any potential value that an expensive 6★ Mastery might have.
Be aware that Executor's fully-upgraded Module is nearly as valuable as his Masteries. His Module and upgrades actually edge out Masteries in terms of DPS gain, but the reduced SP cost still make Masteries a higher priority. Regardless, plan to do both to get full use out of Executor.
1Note that Executor2 gains an extra SP when his double attack Talent triggers. In the above discussion, I used the displayed base values to avoid confusion, but in practice, the values will be lower. Without Module, S3 has an “effective average” SP of 25 at SL7 and 20 SP at S3M3. With Module level 3 and S3M3, the effective average is 18 SP. So Masteries reduce S3’s cost by 5 SP while Module reduces it by an additional 2 SP.
Spuria
| None | None | |||
Spuria is awful. Do not raise her. Seriously. In this Mastery guide, every unit at least has a skill suggestion, even if they are ultimately ungraded. I can't even make a suggestion with Spuria as both of her skills are awful. She is almost always actively detrimental to have on the field, pulling healing away from other units for nearly no return on investment.
I suppose if you *really* insist on promoting her, then S2 is the one to go with. Mastery reduces the stun chance and duration, so it will be less actively damaging to your team. You might theoretically be able to get some value out of S1 Mastery too, if you really enjoy the madness of RNG, since at least her DEF ignore is relatively high.
But seriously. Do not promote Spuria unless you know what you're doing. You’ll get more value from your resources by spending them on literally anything else.
Insider
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S2M3 | A- | A | A- |
In an era of absurd DPS, it can be easy to overlook Marksman, but for the life of the game they have always been a reliable source of cheap basic damage. Insider joins their ranks as another solid low-rarity option who’s worth strong consideration for anyone without a strong Marksman core. His uniquely high ATK (for a Marksman) and targeting priority even gives him some potential value in already established teams.
Insider is a unit who works pretty well at E1 already. Unfortunately, that’s because his E2 and Mastery upgrades are fairly poor. However, he is still good enough to justify the resources. If you do opt to promote Insider, his S2 is a decent Mastery target. It's his main skill and the only one to Master. As stated though, the gains over Mastery are poor, and S2SL7 to S2M3 is a below average 9% gain to DPS with no change to uptime or ammo capacity. There's no reason to pursue his S1, even as a secondary skill. While it is damage-scale which often has more value, it has a far lower ammo count and is Attack Recovery, which limits any potential benefit it might have.
The Grading System
Story vs Advanced vs Roguelike
There are very few absolute answers when it comes to prioritizing upgrades. A major determining factor is what exactly your goals are. Now, there are actually many more types of players than these three, but the most obvious delineation as far as which Masteries to think about comes down to the type of content you're most interested in clearing. If you only find value in first time story clears and risk 18 CC, then your goals will be different for someone looking to reach high-risk (25+) in CC.
Story - A story player is a player who is only interest in rewarded content. This means all normal stages and challenge modes (without added personal challenges), risk 8 on CC daily stages, risk 18 on CC permanent stages, and the SSS game mode.
Advanced - An advanced player here is any player interested in non-reward topics such as higher risk CC and more min-maxed gameplay or specialty clears.
A note on the topic of the Advanced grades is that these grades should not be taken as specific advice for a specific CC. There may be an occasional specific note to provide some context or example, but the intention here is to be more general than a particular event and prioritize skills that will be broadly useful in multiple scenarios. A skill appearing once in a high-risk CC is not enough for inclusion here as CCs tend to lend themselves to niche scenarios that can't really be planned for. Further still, Advanced grades encompass all min/maxed gameplay and do not, strictly speaking, have to be about CCs.
Roguelike - These grades are specific to the Integrated Strategies game mode (aka, the Roguelike mode or IS#2 or IS#3). These grades are slightly different compared to the Story vs Advanced delineation since the same sort of pressures apply in the mode regardless of the type of player you are. These grades tend to be more "meta" focused than the others. For IS#3, only up to Ascension 7 (trimmed medal) is considered for grades, however write-ups may include suggestions for higher Ascensions.
The Grades
S - These Masteries are the cream of the crop. They are Masteries that everyone with the unit should do and give a high priority to. Units with S tier Masteries get an outsized value from them, either because the skill is incredibly powerful or because it changes how the unit is used. For the Roguelike mode, S-tier grades are reserved for the best skills on the most meta of units (whereas meta value is not necessarily a requirement in other mode grades).
A - These Masteries are powerful Skills that most players who have the unit should do. These are among the most powerful Masteries in the game, but less overtly overpowered than the S-tier Masteries.
B - These Masteries are reasonably powerful and worthy of consideration, but have a factor which hold them back. The impact may be relatively small for the cost, the unit may not be especially powerful already, the unit may not fit well into the meta, or there may be a better version available, among other examples.
C - These Masteries are strong enough to be noted, but should only be done by the most end game of players with nothing else to do. There's value in them, but most players will have something better to be doing.
Breakpoint - Not a true grade, but a designator given to an M1 that gives an unusually large benefit. In most cases, these should be prioritized immediately after the E2, thanks to their low cost and high value. Note that there are many M2 and M3 breakpoints but they are not considered breakpoints for this purpose as the cost is much more expensive. Also note that some breakpoints on valueless skills are excluded as well.
NG or None - Not a true grade, but these are sometimes used for Skills which are noteworthy but not worth Mastery. Either the skill or unit is not worth using, or the Mastery has very poor Mastery gains. NG stands for "No Grade".
Please remember all rankings here are considered independent of E2 priority, but do consider overall unit strength. And most importantly, these grades should be treated as guidelines rather than absolute requirements.
Mastery Look Ahead
As usual, the most recent CN event, The Rides to Lake Silberneherze, won't be reviewed until the next update. However, I will say Degenbrecher looks very good and may even be the best unit ahead of us, although I'm not ready to go that far yet. Fortunately, she's still six months off so she shouldn't influence the upcoming pull choices too much.
I've also taken the chance to update Jessica the Liberated to reflect her found value in IS#4.
Be aware that the order below reflects the order they were released on CN. However, due to how Yostar schedules the events, it is unlikely to be the same order on Global. The likely event order is So Long, Adele > Skógrinn Svartr Vill Einn Draumr > IS#4.
| Skógrinn Svartr Vill Einn Draumr | ||
| Santalla | Gacha | Santalla is a unit who isn't quite there. The effects, in principle, are nice. Freeze is a powerful effect, and a rare one at that. However, poor uptime and a strong RNG component really hinder her usability. The icicles actually aren't completely RNG, falling in a pattern of left column, right column, center column. This *can* mitigate some of the RNG (but not all), however this just adds a layer of complexity to maximize an already subpar unit. For most, Santalla will just not be worth the effort and frustration she requires, especially considering how many quality 4 and 5★ Casters there are. Still, she has good utility, and will likely pull out a low grade on her S2. |
| Typhon | Gacha | At first glance, Typhon may look like a side-grade or a debatable and incremental upgrade to Rosa, however the early going has shown Typhon to be a more "complete" unit. She is designed better from the ground up, rather than having a Module tacked on to an undertuned base. Modules can only fix so much. Typhon's primary boss killing skill (S3) is much more potent, while her secondary (S2) skill covers the general use scenarios much better. The result is a high damage unit with a big range that can be both a boss killer and a general DPS in one. This dual-value has made her a top IS#4 pick in the early going. Typhon will be a more highly graded M6 compared to Rosa. In Rosa's case, her S2 tends to "make up" for some of the flaws in her S3, while Typhon has two clear and powerful roles between her skills. Plan for the M6 (S2 and S3) with Typhon, but her S3 should be first, however, due to being her more unique role. Also be aware that Typhon still needs her Module too, although she is a little less reliant on the upgrades than Rosa is. |
| IS#4 | ||
| Valarqvin | Welfare | The first operator to inflict Elemental Damage for the good side, Valarqvin is, if nothing else, an interesting look into the potential future. On her own, she's a modest unit. The Apoptosis/Necrosis is quite nice itself, but outside of IS#4 she doesn't apply it particularly reliably and she has nowhere near the value that Highmore does in her IS chapter. For now, she is mostly a novelty. Stick with S2 if you do raise her, which outputs enough to trigger the effect against bosses. S1 just doesn't do enough of the Elemental damage to ever reliably apply the effect outside of IS#4. She needs 3 activations to trigger the effect on normal mobs, but can only store 2. |
| So Long, Adele | ||
| Bryophyta | Welfare | In an era where 6★ powercreep is out of control, the 5★s seem to be going in the reverse direction. It's as perplexing as it is frustrating. Bryophyta is functionally worse than Whislash, an already ungraded 2.5 year old unit that's permanently available via Record Restore. It's baffling that kits like Bryophyta's continue to come out at this stage of the game. If that mini-rant wasn't clear, do not raise Bryophyta unless you have a fetish for bad units. |
| Poncirus | Gacha | A lot of people were excited by the idea of an infinite duration Vanguard skill, but unfortunately the numbers just aren't there so we're left with yet another disappointing 5★. The passive DP generation of her ramped up S2 is lower than Scavenger/Courier's much cheaper S1. Outside of the novelty that just leaves her as a stat stick, and while her ramped up stats are decent for the rarity, given her role and ramp up she just isn't worth the team space or resource costs. She's a nice idea at least but will be ungraded and only Vanguardknights or similar niches will find any value from her. |
| Swire the Elegant Wit | Gacha | A dream unit for creative players but one who lacks any meaningful place in the meta, Swire's alter will likely be a graded M9, but a low-graded one across the board that probably won’t be worth raising at all for many players. Swire does so much that it would be impossible to give each skill a fair assessment in a single lookahead paragraph. That will have to wait for the full update, but for now S2 looks like it will be the highest graded skill. Unlike Trapmasters, the bombs can be replaced on tiles occupied by enemies. Mixed with the slow, she can kill some real tough targets with ease by rapidly replacing the bombs as they detonate. Her S3 will be a well graded alternative, especially with the push force increase, although will ultimately be more situational than S2 on an already situational unit. Finally her S1 makes a great every day skill. While not as unique as the other options, it's essentially a better version of Jaye’s S2 that isn’t reliant on attacking or neutered by enemy DEF. |
| Eyjafjalla the Hvít Aska | Gacha Limited | Being a pure-healing gacha limited Medic, Eyja is notably overtuned even at SL 7. It has given her a surprising place near the top of the meta, especially in IS#4. This, plus some pretty poor Mastery gains, will make her an interesting unit to grade when the time comes. Regardless of which skill ends up on top though, she will be a strongly graded M6 since a lot of her value is that she is the only Medic who has both a crazy good burst skill (S3) and a crazy good consistent skill (S1). For now, her S1 is the preferred default skill, although it has shockingly poor Mastery gains. Her S3 brings a lot to the table in terms of utility with significantly better Mastery gains, but a long downtime and S1 being so overtuned makes it a bit more situational. Her S2 will be graded as well, although Mastery on it is definitely overkill. Few enemies are capable of piercing the barrier at SL 7 already. |
| Come Catastrophes or Wakes of Vulture | ||
| Coldshot | Welfare | While I always applaud HG for trying new things, Coldshot seems like a half baked idea. There's potential in the archetype and I look forward to what the eventual 6★ can do, but in Coldshot's case, the kit just isn't there. The ammo mechanic is a hindrance with no upside that regular skills couldn't do which leaves her as a low DPS, poor range, single target unit with no utility. She at least hits fairly hard which is nice, but even then doesn't compare well to similar options at the rarity. She will be ungraded, but stick with S2 if you do raise her. S1 just has no upside in comparison. |
| Almond | Gacha | Being a Hooker (puller) already put Almond in a tough spot even before we knew her kit. The competition is tough between Gladiia and Cliffheart who are both commonly available welfares and both extremely good. Surprisingly then, Almond’s kit is "ok" for what it is. Not good exactly, but she at least has value in various Nicheknights. However, for the general player with no access restrictions, both of her skills are inferior to her competition. Gladiia's S1 is better than her S1 since she has no force increase at M3, and Cliffheart's S2 is generally better than her S2 since her cycle is much worse. |
| Jessica the Liberated | Gacha | We haven't had a unit like Jessica in a long time, who has quite a difference in value, depending on the game mode. As an overall unit, she is merely average. She is a hybrid Defender mixing some utility, alright damage, and alright bulk. Not a bad package, but not especially great either. However, Jessica has carved herself out an incredible niche in the Roguelike mode. She ends up providing a near perfect mix of attributes for the demands of the mode with few flaws. The biggest flaw, her fairly low ATK on S2, isn't an issue in her basic laneholding role either (at least in IS#4). It's difficult to get too into the nuance in a single paragraph, but she's become the top Defender pick in IS#4, even edging out Horn who struggles a bit in the more confined maps. For Story players, her S3 will be the higher graded skill with a mid-level grade. It has a big ATK boost and lots of utility to go with it. S2 will be somewhere behind. The fairly low ATK on the skill will make it harder to find general use. However, for the Roguelike specifically, S2 will be the highest graded skill thanks to its better cycle and burst. It just ends up used more often than S3. |
| Episode 13 - The Whirlpool That Is Passion | ||
| Delphine | Welfare | Delphine is surprisingly decent given how bad the recent 5★s and story welfares have been. She is another well designed Mystic Caster like Harmonie, and can output some pretty decent total damage, especially with the Arts DoT attached to her S2. Of course, 5★ Casters have a tough time justifying investment costs and that remains true here. Delphine is certainly a marked improvement relative to the recent lower rarities, but she will still be a fringe option. There’s a chance she picks up a grade, but if she does it will be lower than either Harmonie or Indigo due to a lack of utility. |
| Verdant | Gacha | Verdant is a somewhat similar situation to Humus, but much worse. He has the same fundamental problem of being worse than a freely available welfare unit (Bena, available from Record Restore), however unlike Humus and despite being a good archetype, Verdant isn't a particularly good take on the Dollkeepers. The Achilles heel of the Dollkeepers (and why Specter2 was so bad on release) is their effective cycle time since they can't generate SP in doll form. That flaw is on full display with Verdant, which is especially egregious since his S2 is already a bad DPS skill. Then to grind some salt into the wounds, his doll does essentially nothing in the meantime. Go with S2 if you do want to Master a skill. A bad DPS skill is better than no DPS skill and he doesn’t have the stats to tank with S1. |
| Vendela | Gacha | Generally, Vendela is worse than the already ungraded Hibiscus the Purifier, so she is unlikely to pick up a grade. However, she is at least usable which is a step up from many recent 5★s. The unique value of her kit is in her S2, and abusing the taunt and reflect is the key to any niche she has above Hibiscus, however that is ultimately very situational and in most cases Vendela will just seem underwhelming. Her fairly mundane S1 may actually be the better daily driver given it has higher uptime and damage potential (before accounting for the reflect), although again Vendela's S1 is inferior to Hibiscus' S1 and Hibiscus doesn't have the reliance on it to begin with. |
| Hoederer | Gacha | Hoederer is a tricky unit to evaluate. The damage is certainly there but in general people are getting carried away by highlight reels, which tend to play to his strengths and avoid his weaknesses. For example, he can solo 7-18 which is impressive.... but Executor2 could do it pre-Module on CM and he isn't top-tier meta either. Those Crusher weaknesses are potentially harsh too. The archetype frailty is here, S3 can be draining without a steady flow of enemies, and the cycle time is.... weird to say the least, among other issues. To be clear, he is good, especially relative to expectations of the archetype, but he is also probably not the new Surtr (which yes, I have seen someone say). We'll need some time to really assess just how good he is, but regardless his S3 should be well graded as his main skill. His S2 will pick up a grade also due to the stunlock potential on longer-windup enemies, however Mastery doesn't influence that use-case. S1 may be graded as well due to how much it heals on a short SP cost, but its uses will probably be crowded out by S3 and S2. |
| Zwillingstürme im Herbst | ||
| Caper | Red Certs | While recent non-6★ of new archetypes have been very undertuned, Caper is an exception who makes for a pretty nice low-rarity DPS unit. She has a good stat spread, strong DPS, a unique range, and doesn't seem to be as impacted by ASPD debuffs as other units. On the other hand, she has little utility, and meta-chasers won't find any value in what she brings. Still, niche players will find her to be a quite nice addition, and she's probably even good enough to justify the cert cost for newer players. S2 will be the skill for Mastery. It has far better damage thanks to the extra projectile. S1 doesn't do anything special and doesn't have good damage numbers for an Offensive Recovery skill of its nature. |
| Diamante | Red Certs | Diamante has gone pretty well under the radar, and that's largely because he's probably the least interesting unit in the patch. He's awkwardly set up to do most of his damage to units already under Elemental fallout, but the units best at applying Elemental fallout (Virtuosa and Ebenholz) don't need his help. He also isn't great at applying Necrosis himself, and even in the best case scenarios, his damage isn't particularly noteworthy. Add on a 600 red cert cost and you get a unit that’s not really worth the cost. That said, I wouldn't be too shocked if he shows up in some niche clears as a source of pseudo-True Damage, but even that will depend on if other Elemental damage dealers line-up with the niche theme. In such rare cases, either skill might have potential. His S1 is probably best in an isolated vacuum since it's the skill that can actually apply Necrosis, but S2 will out damage it if paired with other Elemental units. |
| Lessing | Welfare | After a strong start, the 6★ Welfares really fell off a cliff and that trend continues with Lessing. He's in a natively bad archetype and has meaningless utility, resulting in a unit with no good place on a roster. Self status removal seems an odd choice to design a unit around given that Lumen (another welfare) can already do it for everyone. There's a decent chance Lessing becomes the second ungraded 6★ after Vigil. If he does pick up a grade, it will be on his S3 which is the most impactful in total. Husbando and Welfare players will probably want his S2 as well, but for the general player, the effective cycle is far too long to be useful. |
| Bassline | Gacha | Bassline is the best gacha 5★ in quite a while. He fills a strong basic role with plenty of niche value that makes him a pretty appealing consideration. His S1 is identical to Nearl (Defender) but he overall trades some healing effectiveness for bulk. Although like Nearl, the choice to invest in him rather than the much cheaper (and great in IS) Gummy is a fair question. His S2 adds some unexpectedly great additional niche value as well. It is the single best no-damage-stall skill currently available (think the UT gas cans / eggs or flowers) with a full 60 second uptime (20 seconds more than Nearl's S2), and the external Arts mitigation is also rare. To be clear, that niche will rarely see practical use. But it’s still worth nothing that he’s the increasingly rare kind of 5★ with the potential to appear in advanced end-game content. |
| Viviana | Gacha | It's not really fair to compare Viviana to Surtr, who is one of the best units in the game. However, it's rather inevitable. It's also useful, I think, to show why Viviana is a below average 6★. Viviana lacks everything that makes Surtr so good, resulting in an ultimately subpar unit with little upside. She does cap out at some very high Arts DPS from a melee tile, which is natively a pretty strong niche to have, but the upside ends there. She has a long wind-up, no RES-shred, heavy RNG, a focus on "dueling", and no self-sustain. Whereas Surtr is brain-dead drop and delete, Viviana is quite a bit harder to use for usually far worse results. S3 will be her main, and probably only, skill for Mastery. It has the highest DPS and limits the RNG to her shields rather than her damage. There won't be much need to invest beyond that. S2 is decent enough, taken alone, but in places where it's better than S3, you should probably be using a different unit instead. The extra block will often result in her shields getting eaten up by trash hits. |
| Virtuosa | Gacha Limited | Virtuosa (a.k.a. Arturia) is a remarkably unique unit. While most "unique" units end up being quite niche or gimmicky, Virtuosa is very powerful as she is the first unit to truly exploit the potential of friendly Elemental Damage. I do not have the space here to give a full write-up of the Necrosis effects, but the important part is that, when triggered, it effectively deals 12k True Damage. This is more than enough to kill most basic mobs and many elites, and Arturia can often trigger it on large groups with her Talent alone! She is currently the best "sweeper" in most situations, while also being similarly effective against bosses.
S3 will be her primary graded skill, with S1 somewhere behind. S3 triggers the Necrosis Fallout incredibly fast on all targets in a wide area. S1 will be more situational, but at S1M3 she begins with a full 3 charges which allows her to heli-drop the Necrosis Fallout effect against even bosses. Her S2 will probably be a pass. It's still good, but she's so good with her other skills there's rarely reason to bring another unit into the fold. Lest I oversell her, there are two drawbacks to keep in mind. First, enemies can have both resistance to the Elemental Damage itself and to the resulting damage. Only enemies from her initial event currently have either resistance, which is why she is so powerful, but like normal RES with Casters, if it becomes more common, it will severely limit her. Second, her DPS isn't actually that high. As HP pools bloat in difficult content, she will become less and less effective compared to more traditional DPS options. |
