Should You Summon: Gala Audric Ft. Summer Leonidas

Welcome to another edition of the Should You Summon articles, an opinion piece to help you decide whether you should summon for the latest units or not. With the recent release of the second part of Chapter 20 of the main campaign, Gala Audric is hoping to aid the ability for the light element to combat the Legend Tartarus Agito fight. Alongside the paternal king, a summer alt of Leonidas also enters the game as a lance-wielding shadow unit with ties to the current Stranded Scions raid event. As per usual, Gala banners feature a boosted appearance rate for summoning any 5-star adventurer or dragon of 6%, so now is a good chance to restock on eldwater via duplicates or try your chance at further boosting your elemental rosters.

Starting with the new Gala unit of the banner, Audric takes on a new appearance to provide aid to the Prince and his allies in the ensuring battles to come. Like with past Gala releases, a lot of his kit is designed to ease some of the difficulties that players are potentially facing in the newly released Legend Tartarus fight. And as a light axe unit, Audric has an excellent chance of dominating a weapon-element combination that has only seen recent dominance from Julietta thanks to her kit not being affected by the Curse of Nihility debuff.

To begin with, Gala Audric’s playstyle is very similar to the previously released Gala Alex, who received damage benefits by chaining skills consecutively using her unique skill reservoir gauge. For Gala Audric, this is tied to his first ability Undying Will, which grants him a skill reservoir gauge that can be filled up to three levels via his unique standard attack combo, dash attack and force strike. This ability also has two additional perks:

• Increases Gala Audric’s attack rate by 2% per skill used (maximum attack rate bonus of 10%)
• Grants a defence amp every two times he uses a skill (maximum team amp level of 3). This perk will not activate again for 30 seconds.

Defence amps are the second type of amp buff to be introduced into the game, and almost work identically to strength amps; with the difference being that these amps grant a defence bonus rather than a strength. While defence amps may not provide any bonus to your damage bonus like strength amps, the added survivability they can provide is significant, particularly at the higher team defence amp levels. A rundown of how the bonus of this amp type is as follows:

• An individual level 1 and 2 defence amp grants a 10% and 20% defence bonus respectively. These individual amps have a 60 second timeframe for which a unit can level them up before resetting. Levelling up a level 2 defence amp will upgrade it to a team defence amp instead.
• A team defence amp level 1, 2 and 3 grants a 30%, 60% and 90% defence bonus respectively. A team defence amp level 1 and 2 have a 30 second timeframe for which a unit can level them up, while a team defence amp level 3 has a 60 second duration. A team defence amp at maximum level can either be:
  • Extended by 15 seconds if the unit who generates a team defence amp does not have the same maximum team defence amp level as the current available maximum.
  • Refresh the buff duration if the unit who generates a team defence amp does have the same maximum team defence amp level as the current available maximum.

As an example of the scenarios described above, if a team defence amp level of 3 is currently on the field, then a unit such as Gala Audric has the capabilities of refreshing the buff duration as he also possesses a maximum team defence amp level of 3 within his kit. However, if an adventurer can only generate a maximum team defence amp level of 2 as described in their kit, that unit generating a team defence amp would only extend the duration of the level 3 team defence amp by 15 seconds.

Back to the unit at hand, Gala Audric can fill up 1 level of his reservoir skill gauge by performing a standard combo string of 5 attacks. By doing so he is granted the ability to either use one of his two skills that he possesses. His first skill Overkarma deals 3 hits of 390% damage, inflicts flashburn and can dispel one buff of any foes hit by the attack. His second skill Circlet of Exaltation simply deals 2 hits of 793% damage. However, these skills have additional perks that can be activated by triggering a skill chain. A skill chain is triggered if the same skill is utilised again within a short time window, and if the player possesses more than 1 level of skill reservoir charge after the initial skill is used. You will be able to see in game if a skill chain is possible to be triggered as the skill will have a glowing blue border surrounding it. If a skill chain is successfully pulled off, both Overkarma and Circlet Exaltation will receive a damage bonus multiplier of 1.2 against flashburned enemies. This means Overkarma will instead deal 3 hits of 468% damage, while Circlet Exaltation will deal 2 hits of 951.6% damage instead. Important to note is that Overkarma in its skill chain variant will not inflict flashburn, which means you don’t have to worry about rapidly ramping up the flashburn resistance of enemy due to successive application of the affliction.

Considering this information, the preferred way to maximise his damage potential will be as follows:

1. Fill the skill reservoir gauge to 2 levels by performing two standard attack combo strings.
2. Utilise Overkarma to apply flashburn to the enemy.
3. Refill the reservoir gauge to 2 levels by performing one standard attack combo string.
4. Utilise Circlet of Exaltation due to its higher mods.
5. Perform skill chains by ensuring that the Circlet of Exaltation skill is only ever used when Gala Audric has more than 2 levels of skill gauge (done by performing one standard attack combo string).
6. Repeat action, while utilising his first skill to reapply flashburn whenever it runs out or dispel any buffs from the enemy.

If you are about to enter a break phase of a boss fight, it would be wise to fill his skill gauge up to 3 levels, to provide him with an excellent burst option through repeated use of the Circlet of Exaltation skill. To wrap his kit up, his second ability Gauge accelerator provides a 35% additional bonus to his ability of reducing the overdrive gauge of an enemy. His co-ability meanwhile provides a 30% boost to the critical damage modifier whenever a unit performs a critical hit, the first of which light has access to. This alone is a great reason to summon for him, as units who perform a significant amount of critical hits such as Gala Luca or Ilia will greatly benefit from this boost alone.

Overall, Gala Audric boasts a well-rounded kit that gives him options for good continuous damage, excellent break damage, and rapid dispel access if the skill reservoir gauge is used correctly. This last point is particularly great for the Legend Tartarus fights, as there are many situations in which stacks of Relentless Rage buff, which will significantly strengthen his attacks during a fight and pose a greater danger for your allies to get knocked out. His dispel ability is also excellent in combatting the third portal of the fight, as the clone will spawn in with a regen and damage reduction buff that makes it challenging for it to be defeated. Gala Audric’s excellent burst damage potential is also great at dealing with the Tartarus clones in a quick manner whenever you enter a portal in the fight. On the topic of portals, his dual resistance ability also enables him to safely enter any portal during the fight that inflicts curse or poison, as it will negate those afflictions. His gauge accelerator ability also allows him to possess a force strike that can take significant chunks out of the overdrive bar during berserk, allowing for more break opportunities to finish the fight.

If there is one downside to Gala Audric is how open the meta is lookling like in the light element as of now. In the solo version of the Legend Tartarus fight, the number of buffs that Tartarus applies to himself during a fight is greatly reduced from the coop version. As such the need for rapid dispelling is not as great when a player could simply run a dispel skill share instead or tank the Mortal Chasers with a dragon form, as they will not be room-wide attacks like they are in multiplayer. Players can also simply utilise a high hit count unit, such as Ilia, to easily deal with the Tartarus clones that spawn in the portals and circumvent each clone’s unique mechanic. In a cooperative setting, while running one Gala Audric is advised, you can bring other high damage units such as Gala Luca, Gala Prince or Ilia, or a healer such as Gala Zena or Hildegarde, and play as those roles instead. As such, I can only recommend summoning for Gala Audric if you possess none of the capabilities to clear these Legend Tartarus fights as described above.

Gala Audric though will also have value though within the Lilith’s Encroaching Shadow fights, as he is his ability to rapidly dispel the multiple strength buffs via his skill chain of Overkarma, as well as his defence amps, is invaluable to providing more survivability in this encounter. Because his kit also has no conditional buffs, he is also immune to the effect of the Curse of Nihility debuff, allowing him to deal some excellent damage and compete with some of the best units in the light meta. As such, if you are struggling with clearing the Lilith fight with the units you currently have Gala Audric will greatly increase your chance of clearing it due to his great dispel utility, damage, and defence amps. Do note though that Gala Audric can have troubles hitting the wings with his normal combo string, so it may be better to target Lilith directly instead.

It is recommended to run co-abilities which provide a strength boost found on blade adventurers and a light damage boost found on either Peony (+20%) or Persona’s Sophie (+15%) to increase his damage output. The third co-ability slot can either be a skill damage boost found on wand adventurers to boost his skill chaining capabilities, or a critical rate boost found on dagger adventurers to come more out of his critical damage co-ability. Consider running in content without the Curse of Nihility debuff Gala Zena in this third co-ability or an equivalent unit who has the chain co-ability Above 10 hits = Critical Rate, which increases a unit’s critical rate by 13% when the combo count is 10 or higher.

In the presence of the Flashburn and Paralysis affliction, the following build will best aid you in maximising his damage output:

• Extreme Teamwork (+25% Flashburn Punisher)
• Memory of a Friend (+20% Flurry Strength)
• Spirit of the Season (+20% Paralysis Punisher)
• A Small Courage (+20% Skill Damage)
• The Queen of the Knife (+10% Flurry Devastation)
• Crown of Light (or equivalent +20% Skill Damage print from the Rise of the Sinister Dominion fights)
• Savage Hawk (Lance’s Boon) or Mask of Determination (Bow’s Boon) (Sword’s Psalm III)

In you are unable to afflict an enemy with paralysis, such as the Legend Tartarus fight, consider swapping the associated punisher print with Kung Fu Masters, which provides a 14% critical rate boost to axe adventurers. Because of this, The Queen of the Knife print should then be swapped for a 4-star print which boosts critical damage further such as Chariot Drift, or a broken punisher print such as Sniper’s Allure to maximise his burst damage during a break phase of a fight.

The second unit of this banner, Summer Leonidas enters the game as another dragondrive unit within the shadow element. This time however, Leonidas dons a lance weapon to try and usurp his dominance over some excellent damage options provided by Forte and Lathna. And as we begin to look at his kit, you’ll notice some similar capabilities to another summer units who was released last month.

First things off though, Summer Leonidas dragondrive capabilities are tied to his first ability Summer Conqueror. While in dragondrive mode, his force strike is significantly powered up, allowing it to be charged to 3 levels of increasing damage. And you are rewarded for charging it up to the maximum level, as his force strike will deal 4 hits of 692% damage, and 1 hit of 764%, totalling to 3532% damage. This force strike also allows the user to gain a significant amount of SP on connection, as well as being moveable while it is charging, ensuring you can dodge any incoming attacks. The second perk while his dragondrive is activated is that his strength is boosted by 50%, further adding to his already incredible force strike damage. Of course, the downside of his dragondrive is that there is no way for him to regenerate it while active besides naturally accruing dragon gauge by dealing damage to an enemy.

However, he does have means of quickly dragondrive gauge while it is not active thanks to his first skill Exingent Vanquisher. At a ridiculously small SP cost of 2285, it will deal 1 hit of 1548% damage and fill his dragondrive gauge by approximately 27% on connection. As such, two uses of this skill would allow him to enter dragondrive as soon as possible. However, considering how small the SP cost is, it is preferrable to instead utilise this skill to maximise the dragondrive gauge before entering the mode, to maximise your uptime to dish out his strong force strike’s. Exigent Vanquisher though has a secondary variant while in dragondrive mode, and this leads to his primary niche within the shadow element. The variant of his first skill will instead deal 1 hit of 2022% damage and lower their shadowblight resistance by 20% for 30 seconds. His second skill meanwhile Phantasmic Servant deals 2 hits of 854% damage, inflicts shadowblight, grants the user a defence amp (team amp maximum level of 2), and increases the entire team’s chances of inflicting shadowblight by 50% for 30 seconds (does not stack). Finally, his secondary ability Shadowblight Edge increases the chance of inflicting shadowblight by 50%.

This kit overall is targeted for the Asura’s Blindling Light fight, who possesses a significant 80% shadowblight resistance while in her major form. This kit should enable Summer Leonidas to inflict the shadowblight affliction without significant issues, which will enable the use of Shadowblight punisher effects within this fight and any future fights with significant shadowblight resistance. However, unlike Summer Alex who boasted excellent scorchrend capabilities but struggled to meet the personal damage demands of the flame element, Summer Leonidas boasts this excellent utility and great damage that allows him to stand with some of the best shadow element units in the game. This damage should see him get use in the Legend Kai Yan fight as well as a secondary option to a damage unit with dispel capabilities such as Bellina, Alberius or Joker. As such, I recommend summoning for him if you do not possess good damage option within the shadow element or require the use of the shadowblight affliction to better deal with the Asura’s Blinding Light fight.

Due to how strong his force strike is, Summer Leonidas should at the very least run the force strike and strength boosts found on Grace and blade adventurers respectively. The third slot can either be a skill damage boost found on wand adventurers, or a critical rate boost found on dagger adventurers. For specifics, Ieyasu would be the ideal strength boost choice due to his dragon haste chain co-ability allowing Summer Leonidas to acquire more gauge for his dragondrive. For the same reason, Summer Prince would be the ideal dagger adventurer co-ability choice. Finally, Vania is the ideal wand co-ability choice as she possesses the HP 60 = Critical Rate chain co-ability, which increases an adventurer’s critical rate by an additional 8% when they are above 60% HP.

For wyrmprints, flurry prints are off the table due to the timeframe it takes for Summer Leonidas to charge his force strike to level 3 while engaged in dragodrive. Assuming the shadowblight and poison afflictions on an enemy, the following build should help Summer Leonidas out in maximising damage potential:

• A Man Unchanging (+30% Posion Punisher)
• Lurker in the Woods (or equivalent +50% Force Strike)
• Welcome to the Opera! (+25% Shadowblight Punisher)
• A Small Courage (+20 Skill Damage)
• Beautiful Nothingness (or equivalent +10% Strength when HP is equal to or greater than 70%)
• Savage Hawk (Lance’s Boon) (Sword Psalm III)
• Crown of Light (or equivalent +20% Skill Damage print from the Rise of the Sinister Dominion fights)

In the scenario where poison is unavailable, consider running a critical rate boost print such as Levin’s Champion.

This second build simply considers a doublebuff heavy setup in the presence of Patia and Grace in an environment without the Curse of Nihility Debuff. In this scenario consider running one strength doublebuff print and one critical damage doublebuff print in place of strength boosting prints or punisher prints that will not activate due to a lack of the associated affliction applied to a boss.

On Summoning Rates and Wyrmsigils

• Gala Banners possess a boosted 5 star summoning rate of 6%
• Both Gala Audric and Summer Leonidas have an individual summoning rate of 0.5% respectively
• Besides the two focus units, Gala Thor and Cat Sith, as well as Summer Sinoa, Cleo, Norwin and Verica are sparkable on the banner

Final Verdict: Yes if you currently don’t possess alternatives.

Gala Audric is the star of the banner, boasting excellent damage and dispel utility that will greatly reduce the difficulties that you may be experiencing currently in the Legend Tartarus fight. However, even going for him alone Summer Leonidas is also an excellent adventurer to get in the process, boasting excellent damage and a unique niche that will become more valuable as time goes by.