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Should You Summon: June 2021 Prize Summon Showcase Ft. Isaac and Raphael

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Should You Summon: June 2021 Prize Summon Showcase Ft. Isaac and Raphael

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Disclaimer: The opinions below are written by GamePress and do not actually reflect Nintendo, Cygames, or the fairy Notte's opinions... probably. If they somehow do, it's merely coincidental!

Welcome to another edition of Should You Summon, an article to provide a secondary opinion when you have troubles deciding whether to pull for the new adventurers or dragons added to the game. As it seems to be common occurrence now, every single event seems to add two banners to summon from. One, which is tied directly to the Gala unit of the month, and now this banner, which ties an adventurer and dragon to a prize summon showcase. Like all previous showcases, treat the prizes that you summon from this banner as an added cherry on top to those adventurers and dragons you get, and not the sole reason to go for it. This month’s banner features a light adventurer and dragon to possibly add to your team’s roster should they turn out to be excellent additions to this respective meta.

Guardsman of the Verdure

So he's the one that has guarded the super secret Yggdrissil tree? Or, well, not so super secret now i guess. Wonder what awesome Sylvan traditions I can learn from his visit.

The protector of Yggdrasil, Isaac enters the game as the third 5-star light bow of the game, hoping this alleviate an element and weapon archetype that does not boast any impressive meta options. His current competition consists of Summer Mikoto, who ever since the second anniversary buffs has fallen off a cliff when it comes to damage output thanks to how slow he gets his unique sun and moon buffs, and Summer Cleo, who offers decent support and damage utility, but is bested by other options within the light element on both fronts.

So overall, it is clear Isaac does not have much of a high bar set for him to leap ahead of these two units. However, as you will soon find out its more of a challenge then it really should be. Starting with his most complex skill Wealdfury, this deals a rather low 1 hit of 800% and 4 hits of 75% damage at an SP cost of 2835, and not only activates a random Verdure Blessing effect to Isaac, but also a buff zone with that grant a slightly more potent version of this effect, both of which last for ten seconds. The effect can grant one of four colours, each having their own buffs to them:

  • Red: Increases the user’s strength by 5%, and generates a buff zone which increases the strength of adventurers within it by 10%
  • Blue: Gradually fills the skill gauges of the user by 2%, and those standing within the associated buff zone by 2%
  • Green: Gradually recovers the user’s HP with 10% recovery potency every 3 seconds, and those standing within the buff zone by 20% every 3 seconds.
  • Yellow: Increase the user’s attack rate by 5% for every 10 seconds, and adventurers standing within the associated buff zone by 10%.

As such, Isaac can double-dip on both the effects granted by Verdure Blessing and those also from the buff zone. Do note that the buffs from the buff zone are immune to Curse of Nihility, positioning Isaac as one of the only adventurers who can generate useful buff zones for endgame Sinister of the Dominion fights. This skill also has one added benefit tied to his first ability Guardsman of the Verdure, which allows him to gain a strength amp each time it is utilised (maximum team strength amp of 2). Due to its low SP cost, Isaac can utilise a skill haste build that allows him to reliably output buff zones and amps for his adventurers, uniquely positioning as a respectable light support option for Rise of the Sinister Dominion content such as Master Lilith.

However, like other units who can abuse amps, they do tend to have low skill mods, and this is reflected in not only his first skill, which deals approximately 1200% damage, but his second skill as well. His Skill 2 Lightning Hunt meanwhile deals a disappointing 1 hit of 1500% damage at a ridiculously high SP cost of 7475.  Besides this waste of a skill, he comes with the Poised Strength ability, which passively increase his strength by 20% whenever he is in a buff zone, something that is easily achieved due to his skill 1. The second ability as mentioned before, Guardsman of the Verdure, also comes with the added benefit of increasing his shadow resistance by 5% whenever he is in a buff zone.

As mentioned previously, due to his poor mods because of him being positioned as an amp buffer for the game, his personal damage is mostly a non-factor for all content outside of Curse of Nihility environments, even with some decent support options. However, within this environment he seems to be a possible meta option for light teams in battles, like that of how Kimono Ellisane found a place within the flame meta in Curse of Nihility content. Due to his passive abilities and buffs not being nullified, his low mods can be carried somewhat by these perks that other raw damage adventurers miss out on. His ability to output amps and buff zones from his skill 1 also allows him to have great support utility that the current light element is lacking when adventurers suffer from Curse of Nihility. Combined this with a unit who has the capabilities of generating a team strength amp level of three such as Gala Prince or the soon to be released mana spiral of Gala Luca, and you have got a strong enabler unit who can be an excellent pseudo damage and buff support option for fights such as Master Lilith.  Of course, one of his main drawbacks will be the random nature of his skill 1 buff output, as 3 out of the 4 options provide great damage utility to supporting adventurers, while one will be typically useless when you must bring healers such as Hildegarde to combat corrosion. As such, I can recommend summoning for him if you need a good support option within the Master Lilith fight, while also boasting some respectable damage.

Recommended Builds: Because light currently possesses no co-abilities or chains which would add to the ability for him to utilise his Skill 1 more often, I would suggest to go with the standard strength, light damage and skill damage co-abilities that are found on blade units, Peony or Sophie, and wand units respectively. This helps his personal damage out to be a bit more respectable within the light element. If you do wish to utilise his Skill 1 slightly more often though, you do have the option of running Joker’s co-ability in none element-locked content, who provides a 7% attack rate increase to adventurers.

Considering his Skill 1 is at a relatively low SP cost, and assuming you are running with at least one other strength amp unit, a standard damage setup for Isaac position him as a great pseudo damage and support option for your light teams. For a standard damage setup assuming 100% paralysis and flashburn uptime from other adventurers, the setup below maximises punisher effects from those two afflictions, skill damage, strength bonuses from the Sword’s Psalm effect, and other bonuses that lend well to increasing output damage. In the off chance that you do not have access to paralysis or flashburn affliction, switch these out prints which improve his skill haste and critical damage.

If you though wish to prioritise Isaac as an amp adventurer for your team though, you can do a full-blown skill haste damage setup to ensure he can get his amps out as quickly as possible. For his skill haste build, make sure you are running the dragon Tie Shan Gongzhu to provide him with a skill haste boost of 35%. Also run the two standard skill haste prints Jewels of the Sun and Memory of a Friend to get as close to the maximum cap for skill haste from wyrmprints. The Castle Cheer Corps will grant him the force charge ability, as well as his third skill haste affinity. For dominion print slots, its best to run prints which provide the bow’s boon to maximise the skill haste affinity, such as Mask of Determination and Savage Hawk. Wind’s of Oaths will also give you the final point of skill haste you’ll need to maximise the cap, even if you overcap. The final two normal wyrmprint slots can either be filled with skill prep to immediately ready up Isaac’s skill 1 at the start of a quest, or wyrmrprints which provide a damage boost via skill damage and strength bonuses.

Raphael's Justice

So that's the archangel that watches over Ryszarda? Well, she does certainly seem strong. I can see where Rys may have got some of her talents from.

Due to the impending release of another Rise of the Sinister Dominion fight at the end of the month, Raphael is the third archangel has been added to that game, that which has given her blessing to Ryszarda. Unfortunately, though, she boasts nothing that screams impressive or meta defining within the light element. Starting with her passives, she grants a basic 60% boost to the user’s strength, and the unique Raphael’s Aid ability. This ability restores their HP with 132% recovery potency when they take a hit, and grants them the ‘Raphael’s Aid’ effect, in which for 30 seconds the user’s defence is increased by 50%. This ability will then not activate for another 60 seconds. While these passives would certainly be good to increase consistency of teams which auto and farm endgame content, they do nothing to alleviate her within a cooperative environment against the likes of Gala Reborn Jeanne or Daikokuten.

Her dragon form however is respectable, boasting some large mods with her standard attacks. Her skill Angelic Justice also hits hard, dealing 1 hit of 650%, 1 hit of 800% and 1 hit of 950% damage, and readies the user’s second skill immediately. This skill is a respectable utility option for units who either rely on their Skill 2 to empower themselves, such as Albert or Pecorine, or to units which can provide strong support options, such as Gala Euden and Peony. It obviously can also help Ryszarda, whose skill 2 heal allows her to unlock her sigil benefits quicker. Even with this boon though it is hard for her to circumvent the deficits of her passives, and as such I do not recommend summoning for her at all.

Final Verdict

On Summoning Rates and Wyrmsigils

  • This banner has normal summoning rates, with a 4% chance of summoning any 5-star adventurer or dragon
  • Isaac boasts a 0.5% chance to summon, while Raphael has a 0.8% chance of attaining one copy of her
  • As this is a prize showcase, you will receive a prize based on individual rates displayed in the game per summon you perform, with the higher quality prizes being rarer to get
  • Isaac and Raphael are the only sparkable units in this banner.

Final Verdict: Skip

While Isaac seems to have a potential place within the light meta for Curse of Nihility content, its hard to justify solely summoning for him when, outside of this content, his damage and support is just not competitive with the best of light. Raphael, while being a decent option for adventurers to equip for auto teams, has no place as a competitive option for improving the damage output of adventurers. It is probably in your best interest to skip this banner and wait to see which gala unit will be reprised as the focus in the upcoming gala remix banner later this month instead of spending summoning currency on this showcase.  

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