Pekola

Overview

Pekola is a rather odd RF that requires much more setup to be functional than practically any other RF. If you do not give her her required 5 buffs (which includes her own 0 ICD HP Shield), she will never attack. Combine this with her Lowest HP% targeting, not locking on to targets and chance to cleanse buffs on enemies while attacking and you have a Specialist who should not be used in a general RFHG. She also ignores HP Shields and Armor which is a nice bonus, meaning you should always have Sniper Ammo equipped on her.

Pekola will not attack until she reaches 5 buffs in total, and if she at any point loses all buffs, she will revert to her non-attacking state. As Fairy talent buffs count towards the total and these have a permanent duration unless cleansed, this should only really happen against Quills of Patmos. The applicable buffs are as follows: HP Shields and multiplicative DMG, RoF, Acc, Eva, Crit Chance, Crit Damage, Mov. As such, a Fairy talent that provides multiple buffs (Aim and Fervor) combined with Signal Flares will make this fairly easy. Note that Fervor is rather odd in that it counts as 3 buffs immediately at the start of battle, even though the effect scales over time.

If you meet the conditions for Pekola to attack, then every attack (not individual hit) has a 15% chance to cleanse enemy buffs. As this is a single-target unreliable cleanse, this is only really useful for bosses and single high HP targets.

Then, Pekola's targeting is somewhat unreliable, as any weaker enemy that is being hit even by just HGs is likely to be the lowest HP% target, which means Pekola will start attacking them as she does not lock on like most RFs. If she is in an echelon where the other DPS has sufficient damage to make the intended target have the lowest HP%, this isn't as bad, but if you don't, Pekola will just be wildly attacking whatever she feels like.

Additionally, Pekola has a very potent Damage buff based on the missing HP of the unit she's attacking. As this caps at 100% of her own current Damage, any target that has already been attacked by her or another DPS is likely to already be capped. As such, this is effectively a permanent 100% Damage self-buff, letting her excel at her niche. Combine this with her rather amazing SPEQ, her damage output is quite good, provided you give her a good target to utilize it on.

Finally, her HP Shield is based on her own max HP, coming out to a mere 22 HP Shield at Skill Level 10, level 100. As this is so extremely weak, it is largely irrelevant to her kit other than activating herself at the start of the battle.

Strengths

Amazing Auto-attack DPS

Combining her practically permanent 100% Damage self-buff with her 45% Crit Damage SPEQ, Pekola has amazing DPS.

Ignores Armor and HP Shields

Being able to ignore HP Shields is becoming more useful as more enemies with HP Shields are added to the game. The same can be said for very high Armored targets.

Cleanses Buffs

There are very few Dolls that can cleanse enemy buffs and while Pekola isn't exactly the most reliable, she is one of the easiest to use.

Unique Targeting

Lowest HP% targeting can be both a blessing and a curse, requiring careful consideration if Pekola is the right tool for the job.

Weaknesses

Needs to be Activated

As Pekola will never attack unless she has 5 buffs at the same time, this forces certain teambuilding requirements..

Unique Targeting

Lowest HP% targeting can be both a curse and a blessing, requiring careful consideration if Pekola is the right tool for the job.

Inconsistent Buff Cleansing

15% chance to cleanse per attack (not per hit) is not high enough to rely on.

Susceptible to Enemy Cleanse

If Pekola is cleansed, she will stop attacking, and reaching 5 buffs again can be very difficult, combined with that lack of further permanent Fairy talents and Flares means even more attention must be paid to keep the buffs going. Preventing her from being cleansed in the first place is usually a much better option.