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Arknights: In-depth Review - Pudding

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Preface

Pudding is the future 4Chain Caster welfare Operator to be released alongside the Near Light event into the Shop Voucher Store. Knowing the sad state of Chain Casters on release, Pudding has a lot to prove in order to be worth the Vouchers she cost. Does she shine as brightly as Passenger’s lightning, or is she as pitiful as Leizi? Let’s find out!

Introduction

Pudding can be claimed through the Shop Voucher Store. You can claim Pudding for 150 Vouchers per copy, up to her maximum Potential. She does not replace Breeze or Ethan in this store, but runs alongside them.

Near Light will be an incredibly important event for all Chain Casters, as it marks the date that they get their own Modules. Unlike for many other archetypes, Modules are almost a necessity for Chain Casters, as (with the exception of Leizi’s) they massively improve their combat prowess.

Amongst all three Chain Casters, Pudding is definitely the one to get the best boost from her Module, which is saying quite a bit considering how much Passenger’s boosts his viability. Thanks to the combination of the Module effects and extra Stat boosters with Pudding’s unique skillset, both her burst DPS and utility can receive a massive boost under ideal circumstances.

As a result and due to how much it increases her combat viability, all calculations and comparisons in this article will take her Module into account, remarking where it’s notably powerful.

Pudding
Portable Electrical Measuring Equipment
Attacks deal Arts damage and jump between 4 enemies. Each jump no longer deals less damage and inflicts a brief Slow
Stat Value
max_hp 70
attack_speed 4
CN:
NA:
Pudding's Chibi

Review

General Stats

As it is to be expected, Pudding’s stats are lower in all regards when compared to her fellow Chain Casters, both of which are of a higher rarity, even at equal levels. Much like those two, she also shares the same downsides when compared to Core Casters: higher DP Cost, and much slower Attack Interval.

Thankfully, however, Pudding’s kit serves to solve these issues for the most part, starting right from her Talent, which fixes her naturally lower Attack stat.

Talents

Electromagnetic Wave

Pudding’s Attack is permanently increased by 10%.


Extremely simple Talent (as simple as 3★ Operators, even) but really effective for Pudding. This Talent singlehandedly raises her Attack to a more manageable 672, which puts her in line with Core Casters like Amiya. If she’s at Potential 4 (which costs 600 Tokens), she can even rival Leizi with 698 Attack, which is pretty impressive.

Skills

Skill 1: Tactical Chant β

Skill 1 Icon

When activated, Pudding’s Attack Speed is increased by 75 for 25 seconds.


This Skill is a generic one she shares with Gitano and Greyy. While it does decrease her Attack Interval to 1.55 seconds, the damage boost really is nothing impressive, especially when compared to her second Skill. Even under the best possible circumstances, this Skill fails to be any better than Pudding’s second one. With a very similar uptime of 41% there really isn’t any tactical usage for catching specific wave timings either.

Skill 2: Diffusing Current

Skill 2 Icon

When activated, for 20 seconds Pudding’s Attack is increased by 110%, and her attacks can bounce through the same enemy multiple times.

Pudding’s second Skill is not incredibly easy to utilize. It requires careful timing and planning, but when hitting the sweet spot it can result in a massive increase to her burst DPS, allowing her to very quickly take down powerful enemies.

Ideally, this skill must be used when there are only two enemies within range of the lightning bounces, resulting in each of them taking 110% of Pudding’s Attack twice in a row (thanks to the Module, these bounces do not decrease the effective damage). Each of the individual hits also applies her archetypal Slow effect, resulting in a longer Slow that’s comparable to the one Passenger and Leizi get with their own Modules.

All in all, hitting the sweet spot can be difficult, and with 35 seconds of downtime you don’t want to waste your Skill activations, but if you plan accordingly and use Pudding when the time is right she will be able to mow down powerful armored enemies with ease. It does take a bit of practice, but when used correctly she can provide greater Burst and Average DPS than a traditional Core Caster like Amiya.

Conclusion (tl;dr)

So, should I purchase Pudding? Is she worth the Vouchers she costs? Is she a viable replacement for Core Casters? The answer is MAYBE. Pudding’s second Skill is extremely unique and may come in handy for certain situations, but she’s often considered a worse option than Passenger in this regard for the most part. Still, Pudding is a really powerful Operator and even gets to shine through Crimson Solitaire, where she can put her unique effects to really, really good use.

Pudding E2 Art

Best of luck when pulling, Doctor!

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