Surtr

“What I hate most are those who will not stop asking why. I hope you are not like this.”

Surtr is an Infected who has dozens of memories that contradict each other, practically no talent for Originium Arts, and a giant flaming broadsword that can casually destroy anything that gets in her way. To say she is an enigma would be an understatement: nothing is known about her (or the giant flaming broadsword) and there doesn’t seem to be much chance of finding answers anytime soon. This doesn’t bother Surtr, though. She’s happy to kill some time at Rhodes Island as a 6* Arts Guard, bringing her unstoppable DPS and undefeatable survivability to the table. And then slicing the table in half.

For a person who can barely use Originium Arts, Surtr is a stupidly powerful Arts DPS unit. Her first Talent, Molten Flame, causes her to ignore a flat amount of enemy RES, making it that much more difficult for enemies to withstand her onslaught. Her E2 Talent, Remnant Ash, gives Surtr several seconds of immortality when she takes lethal damage and then retreats her from the field; even death will not stop Surtr from killing a few more foes!

And there’s no doubt that killing her foes is exactly what Surtr will be doing. Her first Skill, Laevatain, is a quick-charging auto Skill that dramatically increases her ATK for her next attack. If she kills her target with this Skill, it immediately recharges. If facing a steady stream of enemies she can one-shot, Surtr can keep using this Skill forever—and that’s just her first Skill! Her second, Molten Giant, widens the scope of her attack: her ATK increases, her attack range increases, and the number of targets she can hit increases. Furthermore, if Surtr is only hitting one target, the ATK buff increases in strength, making this a great general-purpose Skill. But let’s be real: you’re here for her Skill 3, Twilight. Twilight increases Surtr’s max HP and restores her to full HP, then pumps her ATK, attack range, and number of targets through the roof. The Skill charges very quickly and is permanent once activated, turning Surtr into a one-woman Catastrophe burning the world to the ground.

There must be a drawback to Twilight’s immense power, right? Sadly, there is. Twilight constantly drains Surtr’s HP once activated—and remember, Twilight is permanent, so once you’ve hit the ignition switch, you can’t stop it. The self-damage starts out small but ramps up over time, up to 20% of Surtr’s HP per second. It’s possible to heal through this damage, but it’s not really the point. Sooner or later Surtr will run out of HP, activate Remnant Ash for a few final seconds of destruction, and then retreat so she can cool down and do it all over again.

You can get pretty consistent DPS out of Surtr with Laevatain or Molten Giant, but Twilight changes the playing field, making her more of a drop-in assassin. This is an expensive proposition—Surtr’s DP cost is already high, and it skyrockets if you start deploying her multiple times in a fight (to say nothing of waiting for her redeployment timer to run down). Used recklessly, Surtr can burn through all of your resources as easily as she does the enemy forces, leaving you scrambling for the fire extinguisher. But used well, who can resist the siren song of Surtr’s true power—the melody, you might say, of a Song of Fire and, er, Fire.