Should You Summon: Gala Chronos Nyx Ft. Halloween Laxi and Halloween Sylas

Welcome to another edition of Should You Summon, a secondary opinion piece to help you decide whether to summon for the latest characters or not. The end of the month has not only brought with it a new Gala unit that will probably make its presence known with their respective element, but the first round of limited units until the first few months of next year. In a surprise twist, Gala Chronos Nyx has been selected as the gala dragon of choice, with an element that has no relation to the recent endgame release of the Surtr’s Devouring Flame fight. Of course, with the November This Month in Dragalia Lost article stating the release of the Legend difficulty of the Lilith’s Encroaching Shadow fight, it may have made more sense for the developers to instead take the opportunity to sell a unit to exceed in that fight. Alongside him are two brand new limited units donning Halloween entire to celebrate the ongoing festivities: that being Sylas and Laxi. Let us see if these two can be the first excellent Halloween units to have been released in the game.

Normally in these articles I like to discuss the adventurers first, as they generally have a greater impact on gameplay compared to dragons, which you won’t be shapeshifted into often in most fights. However, Gala Chronos Nyx is an exception, as he has the potential to make a monumental impact that could finally push light into one of the best damage elements in the game. I am sure some of you are doubting the bold claims that I have just made, but maybe I can convince you of this power with a further deep dive into this dragon.

Well, you are in luck, as the second component of the Time’s Transcendence ability makes it so that the remaining shapeshift time while in Gala Chronos Nyx’s form can only be reduced with standard attacks, dragon strikes and skills, instead of it being depleted over time. For reference, without any dragon time effects, Gala Chronos Nyx will store 20 action charges whilst shapeshifted. Each of his standard attacks, which deal 3 hits of 330% damage, will consume 1 of these actions, while his skill (which we will get to soon) will consume 10 of his potential actions. The real kicker is that no matter the charge level, Gala Chronos Nyx’s dragon strike will only ever consume 1 action of his shapeshift gauge. That means that technically, you could utilise up to 19 dragon strike attacks before performing Gala Chronos Nyx’s skill, allowing for him to unleash incredible damage to his enemies. It is also important to note that effects that increase the player’s dragon time will allow Gala Chronos Nyx to perform more actions before their shapeshift ends. Dragon time depletion delay effects though, such as Gala Prince’s Dragonlight Resolve III, will not increase Gala Chronos Nyx’s actions, as it does not affect the amount each action depletes the gauge.

Furthermore, Time’s Transcendence provides an additional boon in that Gala Chronos Nyx will consume 1 of his action charges to automatically dodge most attacks in the game that would have hit him. The only exceptional attacks that he cannot automatically dodge are attacks that are intended to wipe the entire party, which will deal 99,999 damage to the player. Finally, Gala Chronos Nyx’s skill, Dimensional Oblivion, adds additional firepower to his already amazing dragon form, dealing 7 hits of 500% damage to the target and nearby enemies.

Overall, Gala Chronos Nyx brings the levels of damage output that no other dragon has even come close to so far, even with the recently released Gala Bahamut. A combination of his devastating maximum dragon strike, whose charge time is relatively fine for most endgame fights, as well as standard attacks will significantly ease the damage requirements of any light endgame so far. If there was one drawback to note, it is that it is incredibly hard to exit his dragon form once you have shapeshifted. Because of his lack of utility, there may be times where you could possibly fail or greatly hinder the progress of a fight as you need to utilise an adventurer’s kit to deal with certain mechanics of a fight, such as dispel or affliction application. As you cannot inflict afflictions either, you won’t be able to gain the effects of affliction punishers consistently, meaning it may be better to specialise into dragon damage builds to focus on Gala Chronos Nyx’s damage output. However, by getting to know the specific timings of mechanics of a fight, you can ensure that you shapeshift during a period that allows you to utilise his amazing dragon strike damage. This is a must summon dragon if you want to significantly ease the damage requirement of light endgame fights currently available and into the future.

The first of two new Halloween themed adventurers, Laxi dons a costume and takes to the stage to act as one of the leads in the theatrical play “Philosophia’s Monster”. Wielding a rapid-fire manacaster, she completes the elemental roster of this weapon archetype in the game. Considering how potent each elemental rapid-fire manacaster has been in Dragala Lost so far, it won’t be too surprising for her to meet the high expectations that units such as Lapis and Gala Leonidas have set within the game. And considering she is a limited unit to boot, there is a good chance the developers have made her adventurer kit excel further to push for sales of this adventurer.

Let’s start with the main mechanic of her adventurer kit, which is tied to her first passive ability Clockwork Creature. This ability grants her a unique clockwork gauge that is filled at the start of quests and will begin to gradually deplete as Halloween Laxi uses her force strike. While performing this action though, she will be granted the following effects until it is completely depleted:

• Damage dealt by her force strikes is increased by 10%.
• The rate that force strikes decrease the overdrive gauge is increased.
• The attack rate of her force strike is increased by 12%.
• Her movement speed is significantly increased while performing a force strike.

Considering that one of the main sources of damage for rapid-fire manacaster is their force strikes, these benefits provide her a significant increase in her damage output. Her attack rate increase will furthermore allow her to fill her skill gauges faster, enabling her to utilise her second skill sooner than expected. I’ve noted her second skill Trick 99: Clockwork here as it is the main way for her to refill her clockwork gauge outside of the automatic fill generation that occurs when it is fully depleted. This skill, at an SP cost of 8,450, will deal 3 hits of 524% damage to surrounding enemies, grant the user a defence amp (maximum team amp level of 3), and fills the clockwork gauge by 30%. However, this skill will deal more damage and fill more of the clockwork gauge based on the combo count as follow:

• 25 hits: 10% more damage and 45% of the clockwork gauge filled.
• 50 hits: 20% more damage and 60% of the clockwork gauge filled.
• 75 hits: 30% more damage and 75% of the clockwork gauge filled.
• 100 hits: 40% more damage and 100% of the clockwork gauge filled.

Due to rapid-fire manacasters having the ability to rapidly attain high hit counts, Halloween Laxi will not have any troubles fulfilling the maximum requirements of her skill, allowing her to have very little troubles maintaining her clockwork gauge throughout the fight. However, in case there are brief moments of a fight where she could potentially lose her combo counter, she comes with the second passive ability Flashburn Frenzy. This ability not only increases the time in which the combo counter resets by 0.5 seconds, but also increases the user’s chance of inflicting flashburn by 25% for every 15-hit combo, and a stack of ‘Flashburn Trickster’ each time they inflict flashburn, each providing a 7% flashburn punisher effect respectively. Halloween Laxi can get up to three stacks of both effects if the current combo string does not get reset.

To help her achieve the maximum ‘Flashburn Trickster’ stacks, her first skill Trick 00: Ghost Fig, at an SP cost of 4,480, not only applies said affliction, but will deal 12 hits of 99% damage to the target and nearby enemies and dispel a buff from each target hit. To round off her excellent kit, she comes with the chain co-ability Combo = Critical Rate, which increases her critical rate by 1% for every 10-hit combo, up to a maximum of 20% in one combo string.

Halloween Laxi overall brings a kit with excellent damage capabilities in the light element, and some added utility with her dispel and amps to boot. Her force strike heavy playstyle, combined with the passives granted by her Clockwork Creature passive ability, provides a level of comfort for players to continue dealing great damage from afar, while ensuring they dodge incoming damage markers with finesse. Her dispel ability makes her another alternative for buff removal that is required in the Legend Tartarus and Master Lilith fights to reduce the potency of incoming danger of certain attacks, while her rapid-fire playstyle will easily deal with the Tartarus clone checks. Her added ability to reduce the overdrive gauge faster will further provide added methods to deal with the Berserk phase of the Legend Tartarus fight with ease. If there was only two downsides to note, her heavy reliance of maintaining combo count for maximum damage efficiency could be a problem in fights with brief pauses of action. However, with chain co-abilities that provide additional combo time, as well an overdamage buff provided by supporting adventurers, Halloween Laxi should have little troubles maintaining or re-engaging these buffs. Her heavy force strike nature also means she lacks excellent burst options during the break phase of a fight to capitalise on damage bonuses present. However, even with these drawbacks, I would highly recommend summoning for Halloween Laxi if you don’t have a current premier light damage unit for endgame content.

Like most of the light element, units who have an overall damage-oriented kit will typically favour light element damage and strength increase co-abilities, which are found on Peony or blade adventurers respectively. Persona’s Sophie is also a fine choice for a light damage boost; however, she only provides a 15% increase compared to Peony’s 20%. For her final backline option, her significant force strike modifiers means that she should focus on co-abilities that increase her critical rate, which are found on dagger adventurers, or, thanks to her inherently respectable critical rate from her chain co-ability, a critical damage boost found on the adventurer Gala Audric. Alternatively, if you do not have either of these options, you could consider utilising the skill damage backline option, found on wand adventurers, if you wish to capitalise on her rapid skill output thanks to her slightly boosted attack rate while the clockwork gauge is in effect. Finally, if you are struggling with maintaining combo count during fights, consider selecting adventurers that have the combo time chain co-ability as a backline option, such as Mitsuhide or Fritz.

For wyrmprints, the following adventurer kit should be a solid all-around choice to help her maximise her solid force strike modifiers, while maintaining the use of a flashburn affliction punisher to capitalise on the effects of her first skill Trick 00: Ghost Fig:

• Extreme Teamwork (+25% Flashburn Punisher)
• Memory of a Friend (+20% Flurry Strength)
• Here Comes the Sealers! (+50% Force Strike)
• Beautiful Gunman (+17% Critical Damage (Manacasters))
• Enter the Blue Rose (+12% Critical Rate (Manacasters))
• Mask of Determination (Lance’s Boon) (+4% Critical Rate)
• Savage Hawk (Lance’s Boon) (Sword Psalm III)

As described previously, Gala Chronos Nyx smashes the rest of the light element field when it comes to dragon of choice, simply due to this solid passive strength increase and incredible dragon form. Outside of this dragon, Gala Reborn Jeanne continue to be a solid option, providing a 70% strength increase passively and an extra 30% boost to the light element damage modifier whenever the user gains 10% dragon gauge. Daikokuten is also another solid choice for light element dragons thanks to his strong dragon form providing an attack rate boost to allies when the Curse of Nihility debuff in not on the field. For those missing out on the limited light dragons, Cupid is the next best choice, whose recent fifth unbound provided a base 65% strength passive increase, and a Curse of Nihility immune 30% strength buff for the first 3 minutes of a fight. Free to play players without any of these options still have the excellent High Jupiter to choose, whose dragon form allows him to excel in fights even with an average passive damage increase to light adventurers.

Alongside Laxi, Sylas dons a Halloween attire to play as Dr. Schmidt in the “Philosophia’s Monster” theatrical play and brings along his aromatic capabilities to the shadow element. Wielding a bow this time, he has a real chance to set a place within a varied meta thanks to a lack of bow units dominating this element class. Considering his useful utility options that his standard version brings the table, let us see if that translates over to a unit who is compelling to use as a damage and support hybrid.

We’ll start with quite possibly the most important component of his kit, the Dark Experiment passive ability. This ability firstly allows Halloween Sylas to increase his own strength by 30% when his HP is 70% or above. The second part of this ability enables him to carry out dash attacks by tapping the screen during a dodge, and subsequently increasing the damage of said attacks by 200%. To add to this, Halloween Sylas is immediately able to begin his standard attack combo string at his second attack after performing a dash attack. This ability to seemingly enter dash attacks and combo them into standard attack ties into the third part of this passive ability, which allows Halloween Sylas to rack up three different unique buffs to hold at a time:

• ‘Combo Sample’ buff is attained by performing the fifth attack of a standard attack combo that connects with an enemy.
• ‘Strike Sample’ buff is attained by performing a force strike that connects to an enemy.
• ‘Dash Sample’ buff is attained by performing a dash attack which connects to an enemy.

By holding all three of these buffs at once, Halloween Sylas’s first and second skills are empowered, and will consume said buffs whenever an empowered skill is used. It is worthwhile getting these three buffs in most circumstances as his first skill, Surgical Trick, receives a significant boost in power from its base version. At an SP cost of 2,520 regardless of which version is used, this skill will deal 1 hit of 1864% damage to enemies in a line, inflict poison, and dispel one buff from each target. While holding all three different types of samples though, Halloween Sylas will consume them all to additionally deal 6 hits of 171% damage, inflict shadowblight, and provide an additional dispel to a target, making this the first skill in the game to dispel two buffs at any one time.

His second skill Aromatic Treat, at an SP cost of 6,000, will apply one of the following effects at random to each member of the entire team:

• Maximum HP is increased by 15%
• Light resistance is increased by 20% for 10 seconds (does not stack)
• Damage taken is reduced by 10% for 20 seconds (does not stack)

At times, this skill can grant all affects at the same time and remove all afflictions on the player. However, while holding all three different types of sample buffs, this skill will grant all bonuses and remove all afflictions guaranteed. Utilising his second skill or dispelling an enemy buff or barrier activates the effects of his second passive ability Forbidden Procedure, which grants the following:

• 20% added damage to the modifier applied against light-attuned enemies for 30 seconds (does not stack)
• A defence amp, with a maximum team amp level of 2 (10 second internal cooldown)
• The skill gauges of his first and second skill being filled by 15% (10 second internal cooldown).

Finally, this passive ability furthermore provides a 15% adaptive suppression debuff on the enemy for 10 seconds whenever an enemy buff or barrier is dispelled.

Overall, Halloween Sylas provides an excellent kit that grants significant team utility in the shadow element, while retaining respectable damage capabilities. His ability to dispel two buffs at once will help reduce some pain points that player may still face against the Kai Yan fight, in which two dispels are required to fully remove his shield. This double dispel ability also plays into the newly released Surtr’s Devouring Flame, in which Surtr will grant himself several copies of a buff whenever he activates the Daystar Restoration ability that will gradually heal him over time. His ability to enable dual punisher effects will also be appreciated within this fight, where rapid affliction application is necessary to remove the Fiery Resistance effect that halves all incoming damage. His ability to increase the survivability of the team will also be appreciated in solo or cooperative teams, where having that extra level of safety could enable yourself to survive certain incoming attacks better. Overall, Halloween Sylas provides a fun playstyles and great utility that, while mayhap not placing him at the pinnacle of shadow damage in the game, still makes him a solid recommendation to summon for if you are struggling to meet dispel or affliction requirement for current shadow element endgame fights.

For co-abilities, a typical setup of blade, wand and dagger backline will provide additional boosts to the strength, skill damage and critical rate of Halloween Sylas. For specific adventurer choices, both Ieyasu and Summer Prince provide an additional boost to the amount of dragon gauge Halloween Sylas will receive during a fight, granting him access to his dragon form sooner. In content without the Curse of Nihility debuff, the adventurer Vania can provide an 8% critical rate buff while Halloween Sylas’s HP is 60% or above, enabling him to have a further chance of landing critical hits whenever an attack lands on an enemy. An excellent alternative in Curse of Nihility content is the Agility boost co-ability provided by the adventurer Joker from the Persona collaboration, who provides a useful 7% attack rate passive boost to the team.

For wyrmprints, the following setup will help further the skill damage, strength and critical rate output of Halloween Sylas, while assuming he is able to have great uptime on both the shadowblight and poison afflictions:

• Emissaries of the Heavens (+20% Flurry Strength)
• Welcome to the Opera! (+25% Shadowblight Punisher)
• Dear Diary (+14% Critical Rate (Bows))
• The Plaguebringer (+25% Poison Punisher)
• Chariot Drift (+15% Critical Damage)
• Your choice of any two-skill damage 6th or 7th slot wyrmprints

For dragons, Gala Bahamut remains a strong choice for content with and without the Curse of Nihility debuff, thanks to his strong shapeshift form and excellent base passive ability of 120% strength. The dragon Gala Cat Sith however remains an excellent option for Halloween Sylas in content without Curse of Nihility, as it provides 15 stacks of an on-field buff of 180% skill damage that further empowers the damage of his enhanced first skill. Considering that bow users typically can attain a high hit count fast as well, Halloween Sylas should have no problems replenishing stacks of this buff by performing a 25-hit combo. Outside of these two dragon options, Arsene continues to be a solid option, providing a passive 180% skill damage increase to shadow-attuned adventurers, as well a dragon skill that has great burst damage opportunities during the break phase of a fight. For players without these limited or Gala dragons, your next best choice will be Chthonius, whose recent fifth unbind provides a base 60% strength passive boost, a further 10% on field buff whenever a shapeshift is performed (twice per quest), and a 30% Surge of Strength buff for the first 3 minutes of a fight. For players without these options, you have a solid free to play choice in the form of High Zodiark. He provides a base 40% HP and strength passive increase, and a further 40% Surge of Strength buff for the first 3 minutes of a fight. The required materials for this dragon can be grinded from its associated Advanced Dragon Trials fight.

On Summoning Rates and Wyrmsigils

• Gala banners feature a boosted 6% rate to summon any 5-star adventurer or dragon available in this banner’s pool.
• The three focus units are all limited, and as such may not return for a period of time on subsequent summoning banners.
• Both Halloween adventurers have an individual summoning rate of 0.5% respectively, while Gala Chronos Nyx has a 0.8% summoning rate to attain.
• Besides the three focus units, Gala Zena is the other unit that is sparkable on this banner.

Final Verdict: Summon

All three units provide excellent utility and damage options that will give your respective elemental teams a significant boost to their damage output. Even if you are unlucky to get the two Halloween adventurers, I would highly recommend pushing to attain a copy or spark a copy of Gala Chronos Nyx if you can. The boost of damage he provides to a wide variety of light attuned adventurers cannot be understated and will surely assist you in your endgame endeavours for many months to come.