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Halloween Sakura

Analysis by Ceui
Halloween Sakura - Gentle Nekomata

5

Obtainable as a 5 only

Hero Stats

Max Avg Total Stats at Lvl 40
147
HP 33
ATK 32
SPD 34
DEF 14
RES 34

Stat Variations

Level 1 Stat Variation
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 15 7 7 3 7
Middle 16 8 8 4 8
High 17 9 9 5 9

Level 40 Stat Variations
5★
HP ATK SPD DEF RES
Low 30 29 31 11 31
Middle 33 32 34 14 34
High 36 35 37 18 37

IV Sets

Key stats worth increasing through nature if possible.
Complementary stats that matter, but not to the point of picking them over key stats for nature increase.
Relatively worthless stat that can safely be decreased through nature.
HPATKSPDDEFRES

Halloween Sakura has an overly specialized stat spread, focusing primarily on Attack, Speed, and Resistance. As her primary role is as a mage killer, investing more in these stats is highly recommended as the other stats are much less relevant to her role.

Boons

  • +ATK: Attack is particularly important for builds that rely on Poison Dagger or Kitty Paddle due to its boosted scaling with the effective damage. Outside of those builds, while it is beneficial for Sakura to deal more damage, it is less preferable compared to Speed.

  • +SPD: Speed has always been a double-purposed stat that assists in many different functions. Sakura however relies mainly on her weapon’s effective damage for her typical anti-mage / anti-infantry builds and thus requires Attack more for those circumstances. Nonetheless, Speed is still a fantastic boon for her as it improves her survivability, offense, and also her ability to reliably run utility-based builds such as a Windsweep debuff build.

Neutral

  • RES: Resistance is pivotal to her ability to bait high damage mages such as cavalry or flier mages. Sakura does hit a nice threshold of 34 Resistance at neutral and thus is best to be left that way.

  • HP: While HP is less influential on Sakura’s survivability against mages than Resistance, it is still preferable to leave it untouched to further improve her mage matchups.

Banes

  • -DEF: Easily Halloween Sakura’s weakest stat. Even without a boon this stat is too low to have a meaningful impact on her survivability against physical threats

Skill Sets

Naughty Kitty (Player Phase Assassin

Build by
Recommended
Kagami Mochi+ (+Spd)
Alternate: Kitty Paddle+
A Swift Sparrow 2
Alternate: Death Blow 3
Reposition B Desperation 3
Glimmer
Alternate: Iceberg
C Spd Ploy 3
IVsSDef Ploy 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IVs: +ATK or +SPD / -DEF
  • Weapon: Kagami Mochi (+Spd) / Kitty Paddle+ / Poison Dagger+
  • Assist: Reposition
  • Special: Glimmer / Iceberg  
  • Passive A: Swift Sparrow / Death Blow / Fury
  • Passive B: Desperation / Guard / Swordbreaker
  • Passive C: Spd Ploy / Def Ploy
  • Sacred Seal: Def Ploy / Speed +3 

Halloween Sakura has a nice Attack and Speed spread for a dagger user, with the option to run either Poison Dagger or Kitty Paddle. This make her a potent Player Phase nuker that specializes on taking out one type of enemy on initiation.

Similar to her optimal build, an Attack boon and Glimmer are ideal to maximized her one-shot potential. Iceberg is a decent alternative when fighting against tankier foes and takes advantage of her great Resistance. With a Speed boon, her Speed reaches 37 before any skills or buffs kick in, and thus also enables her to go for a Speed-oriented build that focus on getting double attacks.

Outside of the two obvious choices in Kitty Paddle and Poison Dagger for coverage, Halloween Sakura's high Speed allows her to run alternatives such as Kagami Mochi or Lethal Carrot, both giving her great kill pressure against general enemies instead of just mages or infantries. However, they will also make her more dependent on Desperation to activate her Special. Kagami Mochi is the better choice compared to Lethal Carrot, as Sakura has enough Attack to deliver a big dent against most enemies with 1 turn Glimmer.

As this build is focused solely on Player Phase, skills that are activated when Sakura initiates is preferable, namely Death Blow or Swift Sparrow. Death Blow is much better for an Attack boon Sakura, while a Speed one will prefer Swift Sparrow to have the possibility of doubling her target should her first hit fail to kill. Fury is a good budget alternative that also goes well with Desperation, and the stats boost from it allow Sakura to more reliably take a hit in Enemy Phase from various mages.

Aside from Desperation, Guard is a good skill for her to initiate on units with decent physical bulk and powerful Special-based builds, for example Ayra or units running Steady Breath or Vengeful Fighter. Swordbreaker or any other breaker grants her better coverage depending on the threats she need to handle for the team.

Spd Ploy is, once again, her best standalone C slot as it boosts her damage output tremendously while also granting her utility. Aside from Spd Ploy, Def Ploy is a good option for her one shot build.

Neko Overlord (Enemy Phase Mage Killer)

Build by
Recommended
Kitty Paddle+ A Atk/Res Bond 3
Alternate: Warding Stance 3
Reposition B Guard 3
Glimmer C Def Ploy 3
IVsSDistant Def 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IVs: +ATK / -DEF
  • Weapon: Kitty Paddle+
  • Assist: Reposition
  • Special: Glimmer/ Iceberg / Glacies  
  • Passive A: Atk Res Bond / Mirror Stance / Fierce Stance
  • Passive B: Guard / Quick Riposte / Dull Ranged
  • Passive C: Def Ploy / Atk Ploy / Varies on Team
  • Sacred Seal: Distant Defense / Quick Riposte

Halloween Sakura’s claim to fame is her cute but deadly paddle, which she uses to decimate any mages foolish enough to come across her. This is by far her best and most practical build, providing her a niche that is highly relevant in Arena Assault, but will fall off short if she is a core member of regular Arena team.

Kitty Paddle is the main premise of this build, allowing her to oneshot the majority of low physical bulk mages and heavily dent bulky ones. Due to the 50% bonus to damage from Kitty Paddle against mages, an Attack boon and Glimmer are ideal for this build.

As her main role is to bait mages (which is often easier than aiming to initiate on them), Halloween Sakura would most prefer to have high Resistance to tank her enemy’s initial hit. Furthermore, as stated above, Attack is highly valuable to increase her one-shot potential. Thus, skills that can increase both of these two stats are fantastic choices on her.

Atk/Res Bond is one example of such a skill. Not only does it grant Halloween Sakura the two stats she wants the most, it also works in Player Phase provided she initiates when standing near an ally, providing her a way to be useful in such circumstances. Other alternatives include Mirror Stance, Fierce Stance or Warding Stance, which perform similarly on Enemy Phase, but do nothing for her Player Phase.

For her B slot, Guard allows her to prevent units that are reliant on Specials to deal meaningful damage, such as Reinhardt or Bold Fighter armor mages. Quick Riposte is another good choice and goes well with a Distant Defense Sacred Seal, giving her more kill pressure at the cost of less security against said Special-reliant mages. Dull Ranged is another interesting choice, allowing her to nullify mages that are heavily reliant on Blade tomes, such as many flier, armor, and cavalry mages.

It is worth noting that having a good base Resistance results in being able to run Ploy skills with great success. Skills such as Def Ploy or Atk Ploy not only improve Halloween Sakura’s combat ability against certain matchups, they also help allies when she is not able to contribute.

It’s Just a Prank, Nyan (Debuffer)

Build by
Smoke Dagger+ (+Spd) A Swift Sparrow 2
Alternate: Darting Blow 3
Reposition B Windsweep 3
Iceberg C Spd Ploy 3
Alternate: Savage Blow 3
IVsSPhantom Spd 3

Show Explanation/Analysis
  • Preferred IVs: +SPD or +RES / -HP
  • Weapon: Smoke Dagger+ (+SPD) / Rogue Dagger+ (+SPD)
  • Assist: Reposition
  • Special: Iceberg / Glacies
  • Passive A: Swift Sparrow / Life and Death / Darting Blow
  • Passive B: Windsweep
  • Passive C: Spd Ploy / Savage Blow / Def Ploy
  • Sacred Seal: Phantom Speed / Savage Blow

A dagger user with good enough Speed will always make a fantastic debuffer and chip damage dealer. Halloween Sakura is no exception, with enough Speed to run a Windsweep build against the majority of meta threats, and enough Attack to leaves a scar on most units she run into.

This build is revolves around a strong debuff weapon, with Smoke Dagger being the best candidate thanks to its powerful AoE debuff. Rogue Dagger is a decent alternative, which is able to buff her team as well, but at the cost of the debuff itself being weaker. Without the bonus damage from Poison Dagger or Kitty Paddle, Sakura will go best with Iceberg or Glacies to do meaningful damage in extended engagements.

As this build requires Windsweep to bypass powerful physical tanks, Speed refine and Speed boon are ideal. Phantom Speed should also be considered, as without it Sakura will find it hard to initiate on high Speed meta units like Mia or Ayra. To further facilitate this, her A skill should grant her Speed on initiation, with the ideal choice being Swift Sparrow, Life and Death, or Darting Blow.

Stacking Savage Blow makes her a fearsome chip damage dealer on top of her debuff utility. Ploy skills are also fantastic options for her C slot, granting her utility when the team encounters dragon units whom Windsweep does not work against.

Introduction

Halloween Sakura is an exclusive 5 star dagger user with particularly specialized stats. Characterized with good Attack, high Speed and great Resistance, but terrible Defense and HP, she excels as a mage killer, infantry killer, or a dedicated debuffer. She is most similar to Felicia as an anti-mage unit with a worse weapon choice but better stat spread, and is comparable to Kagero as an offensive dagger user.

She works well as a specialist against mage-centric teams, but falls off against anything else. The gentle nekomata suffers from the same problem every other dagger unit encounters: The whole class lacks the pure firepower other classes possess, and needs to rely on weapons which specialize on certain targets to be useful. This generally reduces them to nothing but Arena Assault picks to counter specific units rather than being part of a good Arena core able to face off any team.

Strengths

Good base Attack for a dagger user

32 base Attack at neutral is not on the level of Kagero, but definitely sufficient to run weapons like Kitty Paddle or Poison Dagger, making her a dangerous nuker to a particular subset of enemies. 

Good base Speed

For Sakura, Speed is a particularly important stat and she is certainly not lacking in this aspect. Not only does it improve her dueling potential and damage output against high Speed magic threats, it also allows her to run a utility-based build with skills like Windsweep.

High Resistance

Sakura trades Defense for Resistance, making her a very effective tank against mages. While her Resistance is not as monstrous as Felicia’s, it is plenty good enough to let her be be a dedicated mage hunter.

Access to anti-infantry, anti-mage and debuff weapons

Being a dagger user, Sakura can utilize dagger weapon with powerful effects like Poison Dagger, Kitty Paddle, or Smoke Dagger, and has the stat spread to make good use of them.

Weaknesses

Poor physical bulk

Sakura has horrifically low Defense and an equally unimpressive base HP. She is extremely vulnerable to physical attacks and it is highly recommended that she avoids taking any form of damage from physical tanks and dragons.

Suffers from over-specialization

Similar to most of her dagger-wielding friends, Sakura is too specialized for her job. She either works to deal with mages or infantry (or both), which causes her to lose power against other type of units. This hurts her viability for an Arena core, which generally prefers heroes who can face multiple types of enemies. As a result, Sakura is best utilized as an Arena Assault unit than a main core of an Arena team.

Weapon Skills

Weapons SP Rng. Mt.
Iron Dagger

After combat, inflicts Def/Res-3 on foe through its next action.

Dagger users only.
50 2 3
Steel Dagger

After combat, inflicts Def/Res-3 on foe through its next action.

Dagger users only.
100 2 5
Kitty Paddle

Effective against foe using magic.
After combat, if foe uses magic, foe suffers Def/Res-7 through foe's next action.

Dagger users only.
200 2 5
Kitty Paddle+

Effective against foe using magic. After combat, if foe uses magic, foe suffers Def/Res -7 through foe's next action.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Dagger users only.
300 2 8
Available Rearmed Weapons
Arcane Void
Weapon Evolution
Weapon Upgrades
Weapon Upgrades

Special Skills

Special Skills SP Turns
Chilling Wind

Boosts damage dealt by 50% of unit's Res.

Learns by default at 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100 4
Glacies

Boosts damage dealt by 80% of unit's Res.

Unlocks at 5 ★
Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
200 4

Passive Skills

Passive Skills SP Slot
Warding Stance 1

If foe initiates combat, grants Res+2 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
50
A
Warding Stance 2

If foe initiates combat, grants Res+4 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
100
A
Warding Stance 3

If foe initiates combat, grants Res+6 during combat.

Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
200
A
Guard 1

If unit's HP is ≥ 100% at start of combat, enemy is inflicted with Special cooldown charge-1.
(If using similar skill, only highest value applied.)

Inheritable by all units.
50
B
Guard 2

If unit's HP is ≥ 90% at start of combat, enemy is inflicted with Special cooldown charge-1.
(If using similar skill, only highest value applied.)

Inheritable by all units.
100
B
Guard 3

If unit's HP is ≥ 80% at start of combat, enemy is inflicted with Special cooldown charge-1.
(If using similar skill, only highest value applied.)

Inheritable by all units.
Unlocks at 5 ★
200
B
Dagger Valor 1

If unit survives and uses a dagger, unit gets 1.5x SP.
(If similar skill effects also used, only highest multiplier applied.)

Dagger users only.
30
C
Dagger Valor 2

If unit survives, all dagger users on team get 1.5x SP.
(If similar skill effects also used, only highest multiplier applied.)

Dagger users only.
60
C
Dagger Valor 3

If unit survives, all dagger users on team get 2x SP. (If similar skill effects also used, only highest multiplier applies.)

Dagger users only.
Unlocks at 5 ★
120
C

Other Info

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