Thief Nina

Stat Variations

IV Sets

Exceptional Damage Potential

The Shadowy Figures having a baseline of 37/43 Atk/Spd (in addition to a perpetually active +9 Atk/Spd boost and the ability to deal adaptive damage from their weapon) already places them at a stellar starting point relative to others: while they may not have any means of bypassing follow-up prevention, just one strike alone is going to leave a pretty hefty dent. This is amped substantially, however, through Shadowy Quill’s unique damage-boosting mechanic.

• While reminiscent of the popularized Bladetome and Broadleaf effects, Thief Nina and Kagero’s Shadowy Quill is, for all intents and purposes, a strict upgrade in two key ways:

• For one, Shadowy Quill combines both effects — in that it considers buffs Nina and Kagero have present and debuffs active on foes — into one seamless package by cherry picking the higher values in calculating the total.
  • For instance, if Nina and Kagero have +6 visible Atk/Spd/Def/Res against a foe with a -7 Atk/Def visible debuff, Shadowy Quill will specifically keep their +6 Spd/Res bonus while skipping their Atk/Def bonuses to instead count the -7 Atk/Def debuff on their enemy for +26 bonus damage. 
  • This individual stat calculation not only makes it quite simple to push Nina and Kagero’s damage to devastating heights, but also grants their gameplay an appreciable amount of safety. Even against foes who can potentially nullify the pair’s buffs or debuffs, they still have whatever isn’t nullified to rely on for their damage — and foes who can negate both aren’t particularly common.
• Furthermore, whereas other similar effects enhance damage in the form of a direct boost to a unit’s Atk, Shadowy Quill takes this one step further and makes this a true damage bonus — meaning that it remains a flat number that won’t change, even if they otherwise wouldn’t be able to deal damage. This makes the ease in maintaining Shadow’s maximum bonus damage even more threatening.

Unparalleled Mobility

The 【Canto (Recall)】effect of Thief Nina and Kagero’s Shadowy Quill adds another layer of dimension to their overall gameplay, making the pair highly mobile by yeeting themselves back to their starting position after making an attacking or Assist action every turn. 

Paired with their dagger cavalry status, this draws immediate parallel to the notorious Yuri and his (dis)Honorable Blade, though the difference is that Nina/Kagero’s Canto isn’t limited by a set number of spaces — as long as Canto Control isn’t in play, they will always warp back to their starting position no matter how much they actually moved. This is, needless to say, extremely powerful in the player’s hands, especially when paired with skills like Wings of Mercy and Disarm Trap that allow for simpler maneuvering, and helps largely circumvent their poor bulk — it’s hard to punish extending too far into enemy range when nothing is “too far.”

This easily places the Shadowy Figures’ mobility leaps and bounds above any comparable cavalry units, and this is further compounded by the effects of their Duo Skill as listed below.

Colorless Dagger + Cavalry Benefits

Thief Nina and Kagero’s ranged cavalry status is a natural complement to the hyper-offensive lean and 【Canto (Recall)】effect built into Shadowy Quill, as the pair can easily assert Player Phase dominance by an effective five-tile range to maximum effect (as they can go as far as they like without worrying about overextending). Furthermore, access to Disarm Trap (among other neat class-exclusive skills like Atk/Spd Catch) and neutral matchups across the board from the wonder that is being colorless helps round out their overall flexibility and ease-of-use.

Duo Hero Benefits

Having Kagero by her side does more favors for Nina than simply making her look prettier, with her status as a Duo Hero granting some accessory benefits. For instance, their scoring potential in Colosseum-related modes is drastically elevated as their BST is counted as a whopping 195, they can enable certain structures within Aether Raids, and they have access to a Duo Skill.

While Duo Skills have been rather… diverse in how useful they actually are, Thief Nina and Kagero’s is extremely synergistic with their preferred playstyle and makes them even more of a mobile nuke on turns (or maps) it is accessible: it immediately grants them another space of movement for an effective six-tile range, and any foes in their cardinal directions or who have a penalty active are debilitated with inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-7 and the【Panic】 penalty. The debuffing portion of this skill makes maximizing their damage potential child’s play — especially when running Nina/Kagero alongside allies who passively apply global debuffs to avoid the cardinal direction limitation — and having so much movement is genuinely terrifying

Abysmal Physical Bulk

With such an intense fixation on aggressive play built into every aspect of their kit, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that their overall physical bulk is as horrible as it is — with only a mere 56 physical bulk as a baseline and no form of Def enhancements in their weapon, Nina/Kagero are susceptible to being one-shot by a stiff breeze and largely rely on OHKO’s and their retreating options to operate.

Increasingly Common Countermeasures

It’s genuinely not too difficult to find units nowadays that can output considerable damage considering how overwhelming PRF weapons have gotten; however, what makes Thief Nina and Kagero truly unique is their ability to combine such prowess with little repercussion due to Canto and Disarm Trap, similar to direct comparable Yuri. While relying on 【Canto (Recall)】isn’t a bad thing in itself, the introduction of the Hex Trap and 【Canto Control】 make Nina/Kagero’s strategy much less foolproof than once before — and falling prey to either such mechanics makes it pretty likely that they’ll just be defeated quickly.

Weapon Skills

Weapons	SP	Rng.	Mt.
Iron Dagger After combat, inflicts Def/Res-3 on foe through its next action. Learns by default at 1 ★ Unlocks at 1 ★ Dagger users only.	50	2	3
Steel Dagger After combat, inflicts Def/Res-3 on foe through its next action. Learns by default at 2 ★ Unlocks at 2 ★ Dagger users only.	100	2	5
Silver Dagger After battle, inflicts Def/Res-5 on foe through its next action. Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Dagger users only.	200	2	7
Shadowy Quill Enables【Canto (Recall)】.  Grants Atk+3. If unit initiates combat or is within 2 spaces of an ally, calculates damage using the lower of foe's Def or Res, grants Atk/Spd+6 to unit during combat, and deals damage = total of the greater between unit's current bonus or foe's current penalty to Atk/Spd/Def/Res. (Calculates each value independently. Excluding area-of-effect Specials.) Effect:【Dagger ７】  【Canto (Recall)】 After an attack, Assist skill, or structure destruction, unit can return to the space they moved from.  (Once per turn. Cannot attack or assist. After moving, if a skill that grants another action would be triggered (like with Galeforce), Canto will trigger after the granted action. Unit's base movement has no effect on movement granted. Granted movement treated as Warp movement.)  【Dagger ７】 After combat, if unit attacked, inflicts Def/Res-７ on target and foes within 2 spaces of target through their next actions. Learns by default at 5 ★ Unlocks at 5 ★ Non-Inheritable skill.	400	2	14

Special Skills

Special Skills	SP	Turns
New Moon Treats foe's Def/Res as if reduced by 30% during combat. Learns by default at 4 ★ Unlocks at 3 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.	100	3
Luna Treats foe's Def/Res as if reduced by 50% during combat. Unlocks at 4 ★ Non-inheritable by Staff-wielding units.	200	3
Lethality When Special triggers, treats foe's Def/Res as if reduced by 75% during combat. Disables non-Special skills that "reduce damage by X%." Unlocks at 5 ★ Dagger users only.	500	4

Passive Skills

Passive Skills	SP	Slot
Atk/Spd Catch 1 At start of combat, if foe's HP = 100% or if【Penalty】is active on foe, grants Atk/Spd+3 to unit during combat.  【Penalty】 All effects that last "on foe through its next action." Includes penalties inflicted by a skill like Panic or Threaten and negative status effects (preventing counterattacks, restricting movement, or the effects of a skill like Triangle Adept or Guard). Cavalry & Flying Only Unlocks at 2 ★	60	A
Atk/Spd Catch 2 At start of combat, if foe’s HP = 100% or if【Penalty】is active on foe, grants Atk/Spd+4 to unit during combat.  【Penalty】 All effects that last "on foe through its next action." Includes penalties inflicted by a skill like Panic or Threaten and negative status effects (preventing counterattacks, restricting movement, or the effects of a skill like Triangle Adept or Guard). Cavalry & Flying Only Unlocks at 3 ★	120	A
Atk/Spd Catch 3 At start of combat, if foe’s HP = 100% or if【Penalty】is active on foe, grants Atk/Spd+5 to unit during combat.  【Penalty】 All effects that last "on foe through its next action." Includes penalties inflicted by a skill like Panic or Threaten and negative status effects (preventing counterattacks, restricting movement, or the effects of a skill like Triangle Adept or Guard). Cavalry & Flying Only Unlocks at 4 ★	240	A
Atk/Spd Catch 4 At start of combat, if foe's HP = 100% or if【Penalty】is active on foe, grants Atk/Spd+7 to unit during combat. At start of combat, if foe's HP = 100% and【Penalty】is active on foe, grants an additional Atk/Spd+2 to unit during combat.  【Penalty】 All effects that last "on foe through its next action." Includes penalties inflicted by a skill like Panic or Threaten and negative status effects (preventing counterattacks, restricting movement, or the effects of a skill like Triangle Adept or Guard). Cavalry & Flying Only Unlocks at 5 ★	300	A
Chill Def 1 At start of turn, inflicts Def-3 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def through its next action. Inheritable by all units. Unlocks at 2 ★	60	B
Chill Def/Res 1 At start of turn, inflicts Def/Res-3 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def+Res total through its next action. Inheritable by all units. Unlocks at 3 ★	120	B
Chill Def/Res 2 At start of turn, inflicts Def/Res-5 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def+Res total through its next action. Inheritable by all units. Unlocks at 4 ★	240	B
Chill Def/Res 3 At start of turn, inflicts Def/Res-6 on foe on the enemy team with the highest Def+Res total and foes within 2 spaces of that foe through their next actions. Inheritable by all units. Unlocks at 5 ★	300	B
C Feud 1 If in combat against a colorless foe, disables skills of all foes, excluding foe in combat. During combat, disables skills of all colorless foes, excluding foe in combat. Inheritable by all units. Unlocks at 1 ★	60	C
C Feud 2 If in combat against a colorless foe, disables skills of all foes, excluding foe in combat, and inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-2 on foe during combat. During combat, disables skills of all colorless foes, excluding foe in combat. Inheritable by all units. Unlocks at 2 ★	120	C
C Feud 3 If in combat against a colorless foe, disables skills of all foes, excluding foe in combat, and inflicts Atk/Spd/Def/Res-4 on foe during combat. During combat, disables skills of all colorless foes, excluding foe in combat. Inheritable by all units. Unlocks at 4 ★	240	C