Alchemist (Protocol Assimilation)

Level 100 5★ -> Level 100 5★ Maximum Potential

Unlike G&K Dolls, Ringleaders provide their Buffs to any unit in the Echelon that is tagged appropriately, making positioning less important. Instead, they operate via a series of 'Tags'. 

Team Building Notes

The first tank Ringleader, Alchemist's Skills lets her tank enemies way better than Manticores, which enables SF teams that doesn't rely on Manticores acting as tanks and doesn't sacrifice performance either. Her potential is not to be underestimated, neither by Commanders keeping up with the meta, nor by Casual Commanders. Alchemist is a huge QoL improvement and can make fighting annoying enemies, like Coeus in Chapter 13 and Theater, a walk in the park.

Insane and immortal, Alchemist has arrived. Those following Protocol Assimilation for any length of time will have heard of Alchemist as one of the few ‘Must get’ Ringleaders for those looking to stay on top of the meta, and this is absolutely true. Alchemist offers something for any player, both those looking to push the game well past its limits, and those who simply want an easier time clearing the more annoying fights between them and the story cofcofCoeuscofcof.

A key part of Alchemist’s kit, and her ability to be so durable is tied to a special debuff she applies, the Organism mark. Please ignore the fact basically nothing we fight is actually an organism. 

This mark is applied to the target when Alchemist scores a critical hit, and causes all enemies affected by it to take additional Damage, and every attack on them will provide Alchemist with a small HP Shield that can stack infinitely. Thanks to a boosted Crit Rate, Alchemist can apply this somewhat reliably, alongside other reliable application methods. We will come back to this debuff later on, but keep this in mind when looking at the other parts of Alchemist’s kit.

From an offensive standpoint, Alchemist does not initially appear to stand out. Her stats are mostly unexceptional, slotting in the middle of the pack of existing Ringleaders without much fuss, except for the fact she has an elevated base Crit Rate of 40%. Her attacks deal 2 hits of 0.5x Damage, leaving her with the ‘traditional’ weakness to Armor in spite of her slightly buffed AP value. Alchemist does vary the extra functionality slightly depending on what Stance she is in: Defend Stance gives Alchemist increased attack range, while any other stance boosts her Crit Rate and causes her to deal Melee attacks instead. While this seems to make it important for Alchemist to manage her stance, as a key part of her kit hinges upon scoring Critical Hits, this does not end up being the case in practice, due to a combination of her Active Skill, and the possibility for Stance swapping to mess with other members of her Echelon.

Alchemist’s Active Skill Terminus deals 9 attacks with random targeting. Each attack hits twice for up to 1.3x sure-hits that can Critical Hit, as well as applying the Organism mark. For the duration of these attacks, Alchemist is invulnerable. This can therefore be exploited to completely avoid powerful enemy attacks, boss phases, or left on Auto to spread the Organism mark around instead.

Application of Organism is governed by her second Skill, Quantitative Activation, along with periodic self-Buffs. These buffs are more important than they might appear, thanks to a strong synergy with every part of Alchemist’s abilities. When leveled, the first activation lines up with Alchemist’s Active Skill, allowing it to benefit from the Damage and Crit Damage buffs. And in longer battles, which Alchemist is likely to see, this will become de-synced from her Active and its invulnerability period, allowing the large Evasion buff to come into its own, helping to stretch the shields Alchemist is going to have in spades last a bit longer, while pushing up Alchemist’s generalized DPS in the process.

This brings us to the discussion of Alchemist’s staying power which comes from combining the stacking shields from Organism with her fourth Skill: Gravity Unravel. The movement speed buff when in a non-Defense stance is generally pointless, but the stacking HP shields truly shine. Refreshing every second for up to 6% of Alchemist’s maximum HP (Roughly 70 HP at level 100), this is a fantastic survivability tool, able to absorb most single attacks without breaking, and refreshing fast enough to continue doing so for the course of a battle. Combine this with the stacking shields from attacking enemies with the Organism mark, 12 HP Shield or more per second, and Alchemist becomes incredibly hard to bring down, and if her shields do come down, her Active Skill is likely right around the corner to evade the incoming damage.