Should You Summon: January 2022 Gala Remix Banner Ft. Kimono Notte, Gala Luca and Gala Thor

Welcome to another edition of the Should You Summon article, a secondary opinion piece to help you decide whether you should consider pulling for the latest or returning adventurers or dragons in Dragalia Lost. This time around, another kimono alt for the main cast of the game has been introduced into the game, joining the already released kimono alts of Luca and Elisanne. Besides this kimono units, the remaining two units are returning Gala units on focus rates. Let’s see then if this combination of new and returning units will make for a banner worth spending your summoning currency on.

As the main mascot of the game, it isn’t too surprising that the fairy Notte receives her first alt, nearing a year since her Gala version was originally unleashed into the game. Donning a kimono and wielding a staff, Notte hopes to bring excellent healing capabilities, while boasting respectable damage, to the light meta. She may have some stuff competition in the form of Vixel, whose dispel and amp capabilities provide excellent team support in manual play, and Hildegarde, whose incredible healing output has remained a staple of solo light endgame content for most of the game’s history. Let’s see then if Kimono Notte brings along unique capabilities that rival the recently released healers Sandalphon, and Ayaha and Otoha.

We will start with the main gameplay mechanic of her kit: New Year’s Metamorphosis. This grants Notte a unique shapeshift called ‘metamorphosis’ and replaces the dragon gauge with a unique dragon drive gauge that holds a maximum of 1,800 UTP (unique transformation points). In order for Notte to shapeshift, she only needs at least 560 points to shapeshift, and regardless of the dragon equipped, will always shapeshift into her unique ‘metamorphosis’ form. The user can either tap the gauge while in metamorphosis form or let the gauge be consumed to return to their original form, and the damage taken whilst in metamorphosis form is reduced by 50%. Whilst in her shapeshift form, her first and second skills are upgraded and will be immediately ready for use, while her standard attacks are changed. The state an amount of her original first and second skill gauge that has been filled will be saved meanwhile, meaning that she can continue building SP for them back when she left them off when she returns to her original form. Also note that, like other units with a unique gauge, effects which provide additional benefits for shapeshifting or whilst in shapeshift form will not apply to her.

Speaking of her standard attacks, the second benefit of this passive ability changes her standard attacks, force strikes and dash attacks to instead summon butterflies that pursue the target, like the previously released adventurer Meene. These butterflies do disappear though upon shapeshifting or returning to her original form. Her force strike will also provide a small heal to her teammates.

The number of butterflies that Notte does have on the battlefield is important, as it can increase the potency of her effects with her first and second skills. Her first skill Faerie Sunrise, at an SP cost of 6,255, will restore HP to all teammates, and grant a regenerative heal to them for the next 15 seconds. This skill will also restore additional health to all teammates based on the number of butterflies currently summoned on the battlefield and increase the entire team’s shadow resistance by 20% for 10 seconds if there are six or more butterflies (does not stack). While in metamorphosis form, this skill is enhanced into Faerie Sunset (1,960 SP), which will instead deal 5 hits of 338% damage to multiple targets and enemies nearby, inflict flashburn, and deal additional hits of 168% based on all summoned butterflies on the battlefield. Both versions of this skill will consumer all butterflies summoned on the battlefield.

Her second skill meanwhile Faerie Fortune, at an SP cost of 8.940, will restore heal to all teammates, remove all afflictions from the entire team, and increase the modifier applied to damage against shadow-attuned adventurers by 10% for the entire team for 30 seconds. This skill will also grant Notte 75 UTP for each butterfly the user has summoned and increase the entire team’s maximum HP by 10% if the user has six or move. This skill will consume all summoned butterflies. Whilst in metamorphosis form though, this skill is enhanced into Faerie Fantasy (2,620 SP), which will instead deal 1 hit of 1,045% damage, and summon four butterflies that will circle Notte for 13 seconds, which will deal 72% damage every 0.5 seconds. These butterflies will be removed once she resumes her original form.

The rest of her adventurer kit is simple to process at this stage. The final perks of her New Year’s Metamorphosis will grant her teammates a ‘life shield’ equal to 20% of the user’s maximum HP at the start of her quest, as well as granting a critical damage amp (maximum level of 1) each time Notte uses either version of her first and second skill (8 second cooldown). Her second passive ability Skill Prep will immediately fill 100% of her skill gauges at the start of quests. Finally, Kimono Notte comes equipped with the unique chain co-ability Combo = Shapeshift Prep, which will fill her dragon gauge by 3% for every 50-hit combo.

Overall, Kimono Notte possesses excellent healing capabilities that match her rival compatriots without great difficulty but provides the added benefit of having excellent damage thanks to her metamorphosis form. Not only does Kimono Notte offer excellent burst and regenerative healing, but she provides some great support utility to her teammates in the form of a shadow resistance buff, an elemental damage modifier buff, flashburn affliction for punisher effects and an increase in HP to all her teammates for the remainder of the quest. This makes her an excellent option as the AI healer of the light element, as she comfortably provides greater survivability capabilities to the player-controlled character, as well as her other AI teamates in battle. Her only main disadvantage to Hildegarde is the inability to cleanse users of the Curse affliction, which shadow-attuned bosses still tend to afflict with their attacks in endgame content. The Curse affliction prevents users from generating SP, using skills, or shapeshifting into the user’s dragon form, so it can be a handy backup if you expect your poison resistance adventurers to take damage at times.

In manual play, Kimono Notte obviously has the benefit of providing significant healing, while dealing great damage in shapeshift form. Not only do her standard attacks deal respectable damage on their own, but their ability to generate a significant amount of SP, on top of her butterfly generation, means that she will be able to wield her skills more often. This is great news for her, as her first skill can deal a maximum of 3,370% damage if a maximum of 10 butterflies are on the field, whilst her second skill can deal a maximum of 2,917% damage for the duration of 13 seconds respectively. Her only main downside to her rival Vixel is the inability to dispel, which has been a significant requirement to ease the significant number of buffs present on enemies in high-difficulty endgame content. If the rest of her cooperative team can provide excellent dispel utility in her place though, it will most likely not be a significant deficit in the end. As such, I would recommend summoning for Kimono Notte if you enjoy playing as a healing unit in Dragalia Lost, and if you wish to improve your current capabilities for the light solo or cooperative endgame content.

For co-abilities, I would recommend running a dagger adventurer with the combo time chain co-ability, as well as the light element boost found on the limited-adventurers Peony (+20%) or Sophie (+15%). The combo time chain co-ability extends the window between hits, ensuring flurry print effects remain active for the duration of a fight. Outside of these two co-ability choices, you have a selection of either a strength, skill damage or combo = critical rate boost found on blade adventurers, wand adventurers, and the adventurer Halloween Laxi. These three types of adventurers will provide further boosts to Kimono Notte’s damage output, ensuring you get the most of her metamorphosis form.

For wyrmrpints, due to the difficulty in currently maintaining uptime on the paralysis affliction, I will only assume the maintaining of flashburn affliction for her build setup. Also not considering the state of an enemy, the following build will help maximise her damage output:

• Any +20% Flurry Strength Print (such as Emissaries of the Heavens)
• Extreme Teamwork (+25% Flashburn Punisher)
• Moonlight Party (+22% Critical Damage when HP is equal to or above 70%)
• A Small Courage (+20% Skill Damage)
• The Queen of the Knife (+10% Flurry Devastation)
• Either of the Sword Psalm III wyrmprints (such as Savage Hawk)
• Any of the +20% Skill Damage Rise of the Sinister Dominion wyrmprints (such as Apple-licious Dreams)

For dragon, as Kimono Notte transforms into her metamorphosis form regardless of her equipped dragon, she will want to equip the one with the best passive ability. When considering element-attuned modifers provided from co-abilities and her second skill, the dragon Gala Chronos Nyx just provides the best benefit for Kimono Notte, at a base passive increase of 100% strength. Next up would be the dragon Gala Reborn Jeanne, who provides a 70% strength increase, and a further 30% increase to the element modifier applied to shadow-attuned enemies. Outside of these two dragons, players lacking limited options may wish to consider the dragon Cupid next, as he provides a 65% base strength boost, and an additional 30% Surge of Strength boost for the first 180 seconds of the quest.

The first of two Gala units returning for this remix banner, the adventurer Gala Luca is once again available on focus rates. Since release, Gala Luca has remained a dominant damage powerhouse within the light element, remaining a staple in all legend difficulty meta teams. This is as a result of his adventurer kit being centralised to boosting and taking advantage of the innate high critical rate that he possesses.

This is because of his two passive abilities: Connecting Call and Critical Rate. The Connecting Call passive ability increases Luca’s critical rate by 4% for each buff with a different icon applied to him (up to a maximum of 28%). In content without the curse of nihility buff, this passive ability would also apply one of the following buffs each time Luca gets a critical hit (three second cooldown):

• Sylvan Secret Arts
• Human Wisdom
• Rokkan Expertise

Each one of these buffs increase Luca’s critical rate by 4% for 20 seconds, but only one instance of each buff can be active at the same time. His second passive ability Critical Rate provides an increase of 13% to his chance of getting a critical hit on his enemy

Gala Luca can take advantage with these critical rate boosting effects when either utilising damage skill shares, or his first skill Shining Slash. At an SP cost of 2,870, it will deal 4 hits of 507% damage to enemies in a line, with its critical rate increasing by 10% for each buff with a different icon applied to the user, up to a maximum of 70%. The added benefit of this skill is that the critical rate boosting effect also applies to attack skills in dragon form, meaning Gala Luca can furthermore unleash devastating power based on his equipped dragon skill. To further take advantage of his consistent critical hits, his second skill Brilliant Booster, with an SP cost of 3,899, adds 80% to the critical damage modifier for 10 seconds. Unfortunately, this buff is wiped in content with the Curse of Nihility debuff, but at they very least, this skill will also grant Gala Luca a strength amp (maximum team amp level of 3, 30 second cooldown).

It is no wonder then that Gala Luca continues to excel within the light endgame content, as his critical rate kit ensures he possesses strong damage output whilst in his adventurer form, and subsequently in his dragon form. His one significant drawback is his lack of team utility and supportive capabilities for his teammates within a fight. Besides his amping capabilities, he has no means to provide an affliction to a boss, dispel buffs from an enemy, increase the team’s survivability, or provide any buffs or debuffs that increases the team’s damage output. While this doesn’t hurt Gala Luca’s viability in choosing him for endgame content, it does mean that it is only recommended to bring one of him along in a cooperative environment, as there are other damage units who can provide these missing capabilities of Gala Luca. Even taking this into account though, I would recommend summoning for Gala Luca if you wish to experience the very best damage output that the light element has to offer.

I'll keep this section of the analysis very brief, as if you have been around Dragalia Lost for a while now, you have most likely heard of the tragic downfall of Gala Thor. Once the peak of dragon damage output, the version 2.0 update of the game at the third anniversary brought his competitors up to be more in line or above his prowess. This has unfortunately had the consequence of hurting him long term, especially when the Curse of Nihility debuff was introduced. 

But let us not get too ahead of ourselves before divulging his passive abilities and dragon form. To start with, Gala Thor comes with two unique passive ability. His first, Chariot Rider, will increase the base strength of an adventurer by 50%, increase the user's energy level by one stage for each 5 seconds that past, and provide a further increase to the user's strength based on the user's energy level. At minimum, it will provide a 25% boost at level one, while at the maximum level of 5 (energised) it will provide a 45% strength boost. His second passive ability Thunder Bringer will energise the entire team when his shapeshift is undone.

For his dragon form damage, his unique skill Thor's Hammer will deal 1 hit of 325% damage to the target, inflict paralysis, and will deal additional damage based on the number of taps the player registers on the screen as follows:

• Stage one (3 taps): 1 hit of 785%
• Stage two (6 taps): 1 hit of 1,380%
• Stage three (9 taps): 1 hit of 1,780%

Ultimately, Gala Thor is just not future proof for the game's design going forward, as Curse of Nihility has remained prevalent in endgame content. As Curse of Nihility wipes energy buffs from the field, he turns out to be a basic 50% strength dragon, which is incredibly lacklustre compared to later Gala's and recently fifth unbound dragons. Even outside of Curse of Nihility though, Gala Thor's passive increase are incredibly lacklustre to Gala Reborn Jeanne or even Gala Chronos Nyx, who just provides a base 100% strength increase with no conditionals. As such, unless you care about encyclopedia bonuses, do not summon for Gala Thor, as he is incredibly lacklustre and outclassed.  

On summoning rates and wyrmsigils

• A Gala summon showcase provides a boosted 6% adventurer summon rate over the 4% summoning rate of standard summoning banners.
• Kimono Notte and Gala Luca are summonable at 0.5% focus rates respectively, while Gala Thor is at a boosted 0.8% summoning rate.
• The two Gala units are limited to this banner
• Outside of these three focus units, the dragon Raphael is the only other sparable unit of the banner

Final Verdict: If you need a boost to your light element team, summon

While Gala Thor remains as disappointing as ever, both Gala Luca and Kimono Notte add significant value to the damage output and healing of your light element team respectively. Of course, if you are in the position where you are already clearing light endgame content without significant issues, with the damage and healing units provided, your need to summon for these units will greatly reduce. Ultimately, if you are in that position, it is up to you whether or not you wish to attain them just to experience their play styles or not.