Kasen Ibaraki

Kasen Ibaraki was released on June 11th, 2021 in Festival: Sages of Gensokyo. 

The mysterious one-armed hermit, Kasen Ibaraki, also known by her pseudonym of Ibarakasen, is - well, she’s a lot of things. She’s one of the sages of Gensokyo - a group who collectively created the land and work behind the scenes to keep it safe, though she disagrees heavily with the other sages on just about everything. She’s an oni, who desperately attempts to keep it under wraps, although it’s something of an open secret between her gluttony, fear of common oni weaknesses such as baked soybeans, conspicuous hair bun which certainly aren’t hiding horns, and general fighting prowess. She openly preaches lofty ideals and genuinely does want everyone to be better people, but then also gluttonously devours sweets and tends to act somewhat hypocritically. Still, overall she’s a nice woman you definitely want on her side - certainly not least of which because she’s, well, both an Oni and a Sage, with enough power to more than back up her S Tier Friend status.

For farming purposes, Kasen excels at any stage where there is both one wave and one enemy. Her Solo Last Word does plenty of damage at 1 Power, which is especially relevant as those stages tend to have bosses with higher health totals. She also doesn’t have to worry about resistances, as her passive ensures that enemy resistances are no problem. 

For harder fights, Kasen is strictly a selfish damage dealer, and as such has two primary uses. The first is simply blasting a single target - her Last Word deals considerable enough damage even with a single turn to work with, and this can often be enough. But her main niche is any fight in which she has 2 to 3 turns to set up beforehand - hitting both 3 Power and a large amount of Yin, Yang, and Cri ATK Up from her Spell Cards. If given those turns, she won’t even need external support or a Full Break - whoever you point her at is probably already knocked out, they just don’t know it yet. A good thing too, since unfortunately her Skill 2, an important part of her damage profile, also gives her Quick, making her harder than most to support.

Beyond that, she also brings somewhat average Element Breaks, but nothing special. Her Spell Card 1 has 1/1/2/3 Solo Water Breaks at 0/1/2/3 Power, and her Spell Card 2 has the same but Earth instead. Her Last Word also has the same layout but for Fire, but - why would you ever use it to Break in the first place?

Overall, Kasen’s both a respectable farmer, and a solid selfish damage dealer in both short and especially longer harder fights. Just keep in mind damage is all she’s bringing, and this hermit will bring her devastating strength to bear for you. So long as she’s got enough snacks, of course.

Here are the chances for Kasen’s secondary effects (per bullet):

Wrap Sign: Prosthetic Arm Proteus:
Chance for Stun 0%/0%/35%/0%/0%/0%

When the Ice Melts, the Waves Wash the Old Moss's Beard:
Chance for Stun 0%/0%/0%/0%/0%/35%