Last Cloudia: Should You Pull? - Collection of Mana
This is the first Limited banner we're getting and it's a big one, featuring 3 Units and 3 Arks. Nostalgia aside, how do these Units stack up to the rest of the cast? Are the Arks worth your time?
Unit Breakdown
Randi
Pull Rate: 0.5%
Tier List Placement: S+
- Top Tier Physical DPS (Neutral element).
- Currently regarded as the strongest physical Unit even on the japanese server, due to his great skill multipliers and amazing Ability Tree.
- Each one of his skills is super effective against a different race: S1 for Undead, S2 for Beasts and S3 for Spirits.
- Hidden ability: Neutral Attack Raise (Increase the power of non-elemental attacks by 20%).
- Ultimate: Strong physical damage to an enemy.
Primm
Pull Rate: 0.5%
Tier List Placement: A+
- High Tier Buffer/Physical DPS (Neutral element).
- Her kit is stacked with Saber spells for each element except dark (These will add a significant Impact-like hit of the chosen element to the normal attack of a Unit). Plus one of her Traits will extend the duration of all buffs and debuffs cast by her by up to 25%, making her an ideal choice for learning those kinds of spells.
- Her S2 will make her jump instantly to the target enemy, making it an incredibly handy skill to get right into the action. When PvP is released, this will be very useful for closing in on enemy casters.
- Hidden ability: Mana (Unique buff that increases physical damage dealt by 20%. Will stack with Popoi's version).
- Ultimate: Nullify physical damage taken by the party for a while (or until a certain threshold is reached).
Popoi
Pull Rate: 0.5%
Tier List Placement: S
- Top Tier Magical DPS (Earth/Fire/Dark element).
- Popoi's main strength lies on their unique spells. They're all real-time, so if you use them you'll never have to sit around waiting for an animation to finish. Burst, Explode and Evil Gate are the best spells available for them.
- One of their Traits will increase the power of their spells by up to 20% when hitting the enemy's weak point.
- Hidden ability: Mana (Unique buff that increases physical damage dealt by 20%. Will stack with Primm's version).
- Ultimate: Strong dark magical damage over a small area.
All three characters are great in my opinion. Even if Randi is considered to be at the top of the physical DPS food chain, do not underestimate what a well-built Primm might do for your party.
Randi is a pretty straightforward unit. He deals a lot of damage, and he deals it fast. His S1 and S2 have a very fast execution time, allowing you to spam them until you run out of SCT.
His S3 is a different beast altogether, as Randi will spin all around the place, often sliding out of the enemy's hitbox as well. This skill can either be subpar or incredibly overpowered, should a boss allow it.
The Mana Beast boss is the first one you can see this working on, as it has a fixed hitbox that spans most of the screen, and thus will take damage from every single hit in Randi's "Spin to Win" animation.
Primm is one of the better supports in the game, and not a bad physical DPS herself. Of course chances are that if you focus on support skills, her damage might suffer in comparison to more dedicated units (as SC is finite), so it will depend on how you build her.
Her Saber spells are unique and they will add an extra hit of the chosen element to the normal attack of any unit. They will not turn the entire normal into that element, that's a common misunderstanding.
Popoi is one of my favorite units in the JP server, being the ideal choice for fast farming as their spells don't freeze time. They also come with a built in INT Up III, so if you haven't pulled God of the Dead, that's another reason to focus them.
Burst and Explode have a very fast animation, cover a significant amount of ground, and are usually perfect for instantly clearing out waves, provided you have adequate casting time reduction.
Evil Gate on the other hand will deal concentrated dark damage over a smaller area. Among their other spells, Thunderbolt and Dropper give Popoi access to two extra elements for free (so a total of 5 elements for 0 SC), but these aren't very powerful sadly.
Ark Breakdown
Final Fantasy Adventure
Pull Rate: 0.833%
Tier List Placement: A
Notable skills:
- Lv 1 - Conversation: Occasionally regenerates a small amount of HP. A cheap and decent survival skill.
- Lv 6 - Monkey Baby: Regular attacks have a chance of inflicting Silence. Damage + 30% against silenced enemies. Most hard bosses can't be silenced, and the skill is quite pricy at 8 SC.
- Lv 8 - Honey Elixir: Spends all of Unit's MP (must have at least 200 MP) to greatly recover HP and fully restore SCT. Incredibly situational, will be more redundant in GL because of MP nerfs, especially after Star Eye is available.
- Lv 10 - Gemma Knights: Will grant a considerable chance to dodge magic damage. This is probably the main reason you'll want to get this Ark.
Lv 10 Ark Ability:
- Increase the power of offensive spells belonging to the Collection of Mana collaboration by 20%.
- [Arena only] Increase skill damage by 30%.
- Reduce all damage taken by 10%.
Rating: 7/10. A surprisingly robust ability in an otherwise mediocre Ark. This ends up being the best option for Popoi if you want to set them up as your support, as it will boost all of their spells by 20%. The Arena boost is nice but there are probably better options for PvP.
Ether reward:
- Accessory
- HP + 250 / DEF + 50 / MND + 50
- Activate Protection, Magic Barrier, Regeneration and Speed when HP is low.
Rating: 6/10. A great accessory for survival, it basically gives the Blessing of Mana skill for free, saving you 3 SC (if you even land the Ark below that is).
Secret of Mana
Pull Rate: 0.833%
Tier List Placement: A+
Notable skills:
- Lv 5 - Acid Storm: Powerful Ice spell that hits the entire screen, with a chance to lower DEF. It's a viable alternative to Diamond Dust.
- Lv 7 - Power Counter: Increases STR by a whopping 30% as long as your Ultimate gauge is full.
- Lv 9 - Lunar Magic: Causes strange things to happen randomly.
- Lv 10 - Blessing of Mana: One-time Speed, Protection, Magic Barrier and Regeneration buffs when close to death. Even if the effect is subpar, this is really cheap at 3 SC.
Lv 10 Ark Ability:
- When equipped with a Sword, increase STR by 5% for each active buff on the Unit (Max: 30% STR).
- If a Man, a Woman and an "Other" unit are in the party, Max HP + 25% (equipped Unit only)
- STR / DEF / INT / MND + 5%
Rating: 8/10. Great passive. This is clearly meant to work with the entire SoM cast, as Randi, Primm and Popoi will trigger the Max HP boost on the equipped unit. Primm's buffs will help increase the STR of the equipped character as well.
Ether reward:
- Sword
- +300 HP / +185 STR
- Increases damage dealt to God-type bosses by 30%.
Rating: 9/10. The best sword in the game, competing with a future unreleased ether reward.
Trials of Mana
Pull Rate: 2.734%
Notable skills:
- Lv 1 - Wisp's Time: Light spell damage + 10% during the day. (6 AM to 6 PM, PT)
- Lv 2 - Shade's Time: Dark spell damage + 10% during the night. (6 PM to 6 AM, PT)
- Lv 4 - Moon Saber: Grants HP absorption to an ally's normal attacks.
- Lv 6 - Holy Bolt: Powerful light spell with a medium-sized AoE.
- Lv 8 - Fullmetal Hugger: Confers a barrier that neutralizes a basic status effect, one time only.
- Lv 10 - Holidays of Mana: STR / DEF / INT / MND + 5% on Sundays only.
Lv 10 Ark Ability:
- STR + 30% during the night. (6 PM to 6 AM, PT)
- Collection of Mana spells cost -2 MP
- Pursuit damage + 30%
Rating: 6/10. A powerful STR boost, but only during the night. The Pursuit damage increase should help if you have a normal attack-focused build with Impact skills, even better if you use Primm's Saber spells.
Ether reward:
- Accessory
- MP +20 / INT + 30 / MND + 30
- Magic damage received - 10%
Rating: 4/10.
The Arks in the banner are not as meta-defining as the units, and that is a very good thing, since they are limited. The moment we start getting crucial skills on our limited arks, you could potentially gimp your entire roster by not pulling a certain item.
Needless to say, all of the Ark skills are unique, and can't be obtained from any other Arks.
Don't fret too much if you can't land Final Fantasy Adventure, unless you really want to set Popoi as your support.
Gemma Knights is an excellent defensive measure against magic, but at the moment of writing there haven't been any significant magic-focused bosses on JP that couldn't be dealt with simply by keeping their INT debuffed with Lostoma. It definitely could find use on some bulkier PvP builds however.
Tree of Mana is definitely the best Ark to come out of this banner. Even if the abilities aren't really that exciting, both the Ark passive and the Ether reward are excellent.
Power Counter is a significant boon (+30% STR is no joke) for physical units with a subpar Ultimate, like Lukiel...or maybe even Sevia if you don't care about her damage reduction. Just keep in mind that the gauge will need to be filled first so you'd only be looking to use it on long stages or boss fights.
Lastly, Trials of Mana is probably one of my favorite SRs in the game, it's very unique.
Holy Bolt in particular is very noteworthy since it's the only real-time Light spell, and you'll find it's quite powerful and fast as well. The only catch would be the smaller AoE, but I still really recommend teaching it to your mages for faster clears overall.
Should You Pull?
It's obvious by now but this is a resounding YES.
This is the first limited banner, and what a banner it is. 6 items on the list and only one free lap on the Step-Up makes for a sad free 2 player. But you can always keep pulling on the regular banner, as long as you have hoarded enough of course.
It's not a matter of whether or not you should pull, it's a matter of when to stop.
There is probably gonna be an Ark Focus Banner on the 2nd week, if they choose to follow the JP version. This means that there's an optimal strategy to pulling, if you wish to save as many gems as you can at least.
When pulling, be it on the Step-Up or the Regular banner. You'll want to stop for sure the moment you get 2 of the 3 Units on the banner.
The reason for this is that the Day 3 Guaranteed ticket has a 33% chance to give you that Unit you're missing. If you're only aiming for one particular Unit (like Randi), then you can choose to not pull at all until you get said ticket and try your luck then.
Once your ticket is spent, you can choose to either keep trying for whatever Units you're missing on the Step-Up/Regular banner...OR wait for the Ark banner to show up on the last week, and invest your gems there instead for a higher chance to land Tree of Mana if you still don't have it.
If you're only missing Final Fantasy Adventures though, you can probably stop pulling altogether unless you're a completionist.
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