Halloween Sakura

• 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.

• 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.

• 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.