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Touhou LostWord: Tier List (Challenge)

Tier List Index

Introduction

DISCLAIMER

This tier list is NOT new player friendly! A tier list geared for the average player can be found in the Tier List Index.

Assumptions

Generally, a Friend being ranked low does not mean they are worthless - due to LostWord’s elemental system, even Friends who have otherwise lacking kits can still bring element attacks for a full break. A low ranking simply reflects that they lack damage, utility, or both compared to other Friends. Additionally, due to how ATK UP and DEF DOWN work, combined with easy access on Story Cards, even the least damaging Friends can still work - it will take additional support, turns, or both, but even the lowest Tier Friends can hit hard.

Lower-rated Friends are not irredeemable, they just take more effort to use than those rated above them.

Why is Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 not currently weighted heavily?

Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 has been a major bump toward a Friend’s overall strength in the topic of their Spell Cards and Last Word. While we have yet to see certain kinds of upgrades yet such as elements added onto bullet lines, we have gotten certain kinds of upgrades such as added Killers, anomaly breaks and more bullet line effects along with what we are used to can play a part in the improvement of a Friend. In some cases, a Friend could receive a large amount of/notable Fantasy 2.0 Upgrades that it is enough to justify moving them up at least one tier, such as a certain sagacious spirit for example.

Rating Notes

For a baseline of comparison, all Friends are considered to have maximum investment. Check the key points below for what defines maximum investment:

  • Level 100
  • Rank 5
  • MAX Limit Break
  • MAX Awakening
  • MAX Stats (does not include Superior Incense)
  • Optimal story card setup

Additionally, the basis of this revision will skew more towards modern content. The primary criteria of which are as follows:

  • Killer availability, variety, and relevance
  • Party-Based Utility (Certain Friends' unique mechanics included)
  • Barrier-Breaking Potential
  • Damage Potential
  • Combination of theoretical and practical overall usage
  • Usage based on recent contents released

Tiering Definitions

EX Tier: The summit of everything a Friend strives to be. Friends in this tier have above average aspects in all regions with multiple extremely valuable traits, performing their roles to spectacular perfection.

SS Tier: The ordered tier just below EX. These Friends have mostly EX tier qualities but may have 1-2 lacking regions that hold them back. Even with this, they can still compete with the very tier above them.

S+ Tier: Not as well-rounded as the EX/SS-Tier units, but are still incredibly good for easily clearing content. In some specializations, these units may even outperform Friends in the EX/SS tiers.

S Tier: Great for clearing various content, and either having something that sets them apart or don't have too many caveats holding them back.

A Tier: Friends who can get the job done well, albeit not quite as effectively as those in S-Tier.

B Tier: Reasonably solid Friends when put to use, but especially for higher rarities, cannot compete with the above as effectively.

C Tier: Friends that may have a specific niche, but struggle a lot with competing with the higher tiers.

D Tier: Friends who will struggle to get a lot of usage in a decent chunk of Challenge-based content, but could occasionally find a window of opportunity.

E Tier: These Friends could find some use in early-game content, but need a lot of help and really lag behind the rest in general, let alone Challenge-based content.

Additional Notes

  • Only the EX, SS and S+ tiers are ordered from bottom to top.
  • Tiers B, C, D and E are not ordered based on performance, but based on a mix of main Touhou Game debut (6, 7, 7.5 and so on) and ascending rarities with an A-Z formula for universe codes if needed (Prayer, FES, UFES, Relic/Genic, Epic).

Update Log

2/26/24: Made some adjustments to the EX and SS Tiering Definitions.

2/24/24: Another update to the Tier List, with the addition of SS Tier.

5/10/23: Introduction of the E Tier to segment units better.

4/30/23: A complete tier list overhaul to be in line with the current perspective towards modern content. It will take time to work on porting over the overhaul for all characters and thus, you may review the justifications provided here. Thank you for your patience!

Tier List

Note: The border on a Friend's tier placement reflects their type:

  • Red: General Friends
  • Gold/Yellow: Festival (FES) Friends
  • Blue: Ultra Festival (UFES) Friends
  • Purple: Epic Friends
  • Green: Relic Friends
  • Red: Genic Friends

Click on a Friend's icon or name to access their character page, and "Explanation" gives a brief overview of their strengths and weaknesses.

Role
Attack
Debuff
Def
Destruction
Healing
Speed
Support
Technical
Obtained From
Epic
Fes
Genic
Prayer
Relic
Ultra Fes
EX
Yukari (C3)

C3 Yukari Yakumo is a Heal-Class Friend who goes the extra mile with support via Yang ATK, CRIT ATK and Bind Removal as well as her own tanking potential Sun and Water breaks, Freeze anomalies and of course, devastating power!

Abundance in Breaks

With only 2 Non-Elemental bullet lines on C3 Yukari’s Spread Shot, every other line either consists of Water and Sun. With 2 of each on her Spread Shot, and 3 of each on her Focus Shot, and both Spell Cards as well as 6/6 lines of Water in her Last Word, you’ll be more than content with her immense Sun and Water breaking potential! On top of that, she also has some handy Freeze anomaly utility, being able to instantly inflict and break an enemy’s Freeze anomalies via Second Spell Card. While she doesn’t do a lot of this across all enemies at once, this is always a handy flavor to add to C3 Yukari’s powers.

Massive Damage Output

Simply put, C3 Yukari’s damage is incredible and cannot be underestimated. With Yang ATK and CRIT ATK buffs that can be easily maxed out as well as Yang DEF debuffs on all enemies all over her Last Word, not only will the Serene Summer Sage’s damage be consistent but will also be backed up greatly with massive Hard Scaling, contributing to a truly impactful Last Word! She can also gain +0.75 and +1.25 Spirit Power from her first and second skills respectively, meaning instant access to a fully powered Last Word. It’s also worth mentioning her Killer range being fantastic, with common ones like Youkai, God and Human which she can really take advantage of with her CRIT ATK buffs. Our carefree sage in question will not disappoint you!

Very Valuable Offensive Utility

The Yang ATK and CRIT ATK buffs mentioned earlier also extend to her teammates, also being maxed out for them as well as a fruitful 4 Turn Duration via Skill 3. We also have the ever so valuable team-wide Spirit Power UP being accessed in her first skill, adding +0.75 to everyone’s Spirit Power count. All in all, C3 Yukari is a fantastic option for Spirit Power and Yang-based buffs.

Boundary of Healthy and Unhealthy

As a Heal Class Friend, C3 Yukari excels at this very purpose! Starting with teamwide HP recovery, she can recover 80% of it via Skill 1 and her Last Word’s Post-ATK including a 100% HP recovery. Don’t forget that since C3 Yukari has the highest HP in the game at 9000, being able to also heal your teammates by that much HP isn’t to be overlooked! As for Barrier support, C3 Yukari’s Skill 3 and Second Spell Card grant the team Barriers. Finally, being able to cleanse multiple Binds/Stat Debuffs for the team is a very much loved trait, executed by her Skills 1 and 3, as well as a Last Word Post-ATK effect!

Renko (LR1)

LR1 Renko Usami is an Attack-Class Friend who together with the Makai God known as Shinki, is capable of massive Spirit Power gain, great access to Sun and Water elemental breaks, mastery of Blind and Poison anomalies and reaps the benefits of their Resonance Skill 3, increasing the party’s Spirit Power and Damage for every Friend at the front guard.

Legendary Illusion ~ Infinite Damage

LR1 Renko and Shinki have it all figured out when it comes to staying very true to their Attack Class. Potential 40% increase in damage if said target is weak to Sun or Water (preferably the former)? Check. Lots of Yang ATK via base stat total of 1977, Yang ATK buffs and Yang ATK II on top? Check. A solid range of Killers that can also be capitalized on with CRIT ATK buffs via self-anomaly inflictions and CRIT DEF debuffs? Check. A new Resonance Skill effect that further increases the team’s damage for every Friend on the frontline, with Genic = 2 Friends instead of 1? The same Resonance Skill effect having an immunity to Buff Removal on harder stages like VS Divergent Spirits? Check yet again! It’s ironic, but may also be no surprise how the Creator of Makai easily destroys her opponents with pure power!

Here Comes the Sun, and Anomalies

Not only is LR1 Renko and Shinki broken in damage, but they break the mold, and then some via easily breaking the barriers of her enemies by focusing on a lot of Sun and Water elements (mostly Sun) and can easily pile up the Blind and Poison anomaly inflictions on all her enemies (Blind anomalies via Skill 2, Poison anomalies via Spell Card 1 Pre-ATK), to set them up for breaking, like with her Focus Shot or Spell Card 1 at 2P. While the Water breaks are on the more modest side, that is because there is an incredible amount of Sun breaks to go around, like the All-Sun Spell Card 2 and Last Word.

”That’s The Spirit!”

To complement the above, whether it be damage or anomaly breaking, LR1 Renko and Shinki are always going to be stocked up on Spirit Power, whether it be selfish or given to the team. For the selfish side, we have Skill 2 (1.50), Spell Card 1 Post-ATK (1.75), Last Word Post-ATK (2.75), and Passive 3 (0.35 every turn). As for the supportive side, we have Spell Card 2’s Post-ATK (0.85 for the party) and Skill 3’s Resonance Effect pertaining to Spirit Power. This boosts the party’s Spirit Power by 0.25 x the number of Friends at the front. With Genics reaping the benefits of this by counting as 2 Friends instead of 1, this will be a minimum of 0.50 gained, with a hypothetical 1.50 granted should there somehow be 3 Genic Units at the front of the party.

Crit or Miss?

As great as the selfish anomaly inflictions are for keeping afloat that all-important CRIT ATK, or there comes a situation where those inflictions are lost, nullified or other anomalies are inflicted first, it’s going to be a bit difficult to set up more CRIT ATK outside of her Last Word Pre-ATK. There is also the CRIT DEF debuff effect on Skill 1 that could mitigate this, but overall, it’s probably not too big of a worry, but that’s where a certain other Genic unit can help out…

One-Time Resonance

As fantastic as Skill 3 is for its ability to ramp up the party’s damage and Spirit Power unlike those that came before in Touhou LostWord, one could see its 8 Turn cooldown duration as an unfortunate sting in its tail. With these crucial effects only lasting 2 turns and most likely only going to be used once per battle, you will definitely have to think more about how and when you use this Skill to get the most out of it, as the chances of waiting 8 turns to use it again in the same battle aren’t might be rather low.

Youmu (L80)

Trained in the art of sword fighting, L80 Youmu Konpaku will cut through any and all disillusions facing her way, proving herself as your guiding light for present and future endeavors.

Extremely Powerful and Solid Support Capabilities

As a Support unit, the usual focal point is to support the party, which L80 Youmu fulfills in an excellent way. The buffs she provides have excellent duration and low cooldowns, allowing her to constantly supply her party with it and in turn not worry about it much as the fight goes on. Specifically, her 3rd skill allows for infinite Yin ATK and Yang ATK UP buffing with an extra turn to give leeway to potential skill use stalling.

Self-Sustainable Soul

This is an extension to L80 Youmu’s ability to provide solid support to the entire party as in conjunction to being able to support this well, the unit herself will definitely not be left out of it. Every aspect that she is able to support, whether it be powerful attack buffs, barrier restores, and Spirit Power, will be maximized to its fullest due to low downtime.

Massive Variety and Range of relevant Killers.

Youmu is able to deal with a myriad of disillusions with her powerful access to a wide variety and range of Killers such as Gensokyo, Parallel Presence, Soul, and Human, with some niche Killers included within. This enables her to dish out an outstanding damage potential due to guaranteed critical hits upon many, many foes.

Centered Around Metal-Elemental Breaking

Majority of her attacks revolve around the Metal element, along with some fragmented elements. This allows her to be very useful in regards to Metal based content and at the same time, may limit her usage on other stages that resists Metal.

Decent Anomaly Inflicts and Breaks

She is able to inflict Poison to all targets and simultaneously break it at 2.00P using her 2nd spell card. Additionally, her Spread Shot can do the same, albeit only on a single target at 1.00P.

Team-wide Poison Inflictions is a Potential Pain

Her Skill 3, which provides 2 Poison inflicts to the party, is beneficial for L80 Youmu due to her Ability. However, this can slightly gimp other units in the party who are Yang oriented due to the anomaly’s negative effects. On the other hand, this is quite minor when compared to other anomalies and you can mitigate this via Grazing and/or anomaly cleanse. In fact, this can become a boon instead for your party if they benefit from the anomaly itself.

Marisa (L80)

L80 Marisa Kirisame is a Speed-Class Friend with extraordinary Slice Scaling, Burn anomaly mastery, lots of access to Spirit Power and of course, immense damage potential.

A Beacon of Spirit Power Generation

L80 Marisa’s Spirit Power gain is not something to overlook, due to the fact that there are many ways she can really bring this up, such as Skill 2 granting 0.50 Spirit Power to the team every other turn and Skill 3 granting herself 2.00 Spirit Power. There are more ways to bring this up too, such as her Post-ATKs in her Spell Card 1 and Last Word, her Passive 3 that gives 0.30 of it every turn and even whenever inflicted with Poison, granting 0.20 per infliction!

High Potential Damage thanks to Wide Killers and Slice Scaling

Having high Yang ATK and Agility stats at 1900 and 1600 respectively is fine and all, but Slice Scaling (222% on Last Word lines 1 and 5) with easy to max out Agility, Agility II and even great Killers like Youkai, Soul, Fairy and Parallel Presence together will hit many enemies critically.

High Burn anomaly Inflicts + Breaks

Being able to break 6 Burn anomalies of all enemies in 1 turn is no small feat, since L80 Marisa can inflict 3 layers via Skill 1, then inflict another 3 layers on them all via Spell Card 2, which can all be broken at 2P.

Mix of Star, Sun and Fire on Spell Cards

While the Burn anomaly breaking above is huge, dealing with the mix of elements may be a bit of a pain, with Star generally being the main element with Sun and Fire trying to appear as well.

Party Burn Inflictions, albeit 1 Turn

Skill 1 is not only capable of inflicting enemies with Burn, but her allies, and by extension, herself are inflicted with Burn anomalies. For L80 Marisa, she gains offensive buffs from anomalies in the form of both Burn and Blind, which works in her favor, but not all enemies benefit from it, so plan accordingly to make sure inflicted allies benefit from, or are immune to Burn.

Limited CRIT ATK Buffs

While self-inflicted Burn anomalies are able to to grant L80 Marisa essential buffs like Yang ATK and CRIT ATK, this is the only way for her to gain CRIT ATK, and while she has ways to work around this via CRIT DEF DOWN on all enemies on Skill 1 and Barrier restoration via Spell Card 1 Post-ATK to keep the Burn anomalies strong, she may have to rely on teammates and/or Story Cards to truly capitalize on her strong range of Killers.

Reimu (F1)

F1 Reimu Hakurei is an Attack-Class Friend who sets quite the benchmark for Epic Friends by bringing Sun and Wood elements, Burn, Paralyze and Freeze anomaly utility, great Killers and is just an all-round powerhouse.

Great damage with Shots, Spell Cards, and Last Word

Any attack from F1 Reimu can practically be a strategic nuke in its own right. There’s almost countless benefits to them: Wood and Sun elemental access, great buffs that go off during both basic shots and spells 100% of the time, and crazy barrier break potential thanks to a Last Word that both inflicts and breaks Burn and Paralyze breaks at the same time!

Divine Spirit Power gain via Spell Cards and Skills

Getting 2.00 Spirit Power on F1 Reimu’s Skill 3 and granting herself 3P access turn 1 without outside help wasn’t enough for Reimu. She decided that she needed to produce 1.50 Spirit Power upon using her First Spell Card as well, meaning F1 Reimu will almost always attack at her fullest boosts with ease.

Tanky due to her Passives and Skill 2

F1 Reimu’s defensive stats and buffs are good already, but what really seals the deal on her defensive utility is found on her Skill 2 and Passive 1. Her second skill provides a 50% damage reduction from Youkai enemies to the whole team for 2 turns, while her passive means any dweller of Gensokyo will deal 35% less damage to her. Both Youkai and Gensokyo are common tags in the game, so F1 Reimu takes great advantage of this.

Team-wide Anomaly Infliction can both help and hinder

F1 Reimu applies 2 layers of Burn and Freeze to her whole team via her Skills 1 and 2 respectively, which acts as a doubled edged sword. Friends who can utilize these anomalies benefit the most in a team, while Friends who gain nothing or prefer other types of anomalies would do better either staying away or grazing out the unwanted anomalies.

SS
Koishi (F1)

F1 Koishi Komeiji is a Technical-Type Friend who brings so much to the table, including Wood and Metal elemental breaks, massive anomaly utility and ridiculous damage power.

Amazing Overall Damage

With F1 Koishi’s Last Word being augmented by amazing Story Cards like Little Sister and Sweets as well as a great deal of self buffs from the get-go, it’s no wonder that she can dish out insane amounts of damage both in the first turn as well as with setup. Her other Spell Cards are also no slouch as they also contain great Killers like Gensokyo.

Spontaneous Survivability

F1 Koishi can certainly tank a few hits here and there with the sheer amount of defensive buffs across her kit. Combined with her Skill 2 restoring her Barriers, she can sustain herself in more difficult content, assuming that she doesn’t get her grazes locked.

Anomalies and Elements Everywhere

While F1 Koishi has an insane amount of elemental breaks (and no non-elemental lines at that!) her true appeal would be her anomaly breaks, where she can inflict a load of Poison anomalies and break them by herself simply using Skills and Spell Cards.

Party Poison Anomaly is a double edged sword

Ultimately, the only true flaw this character would have is how she can affect her team with Poison anomalies, which can be somewhat detrimental if you can’t afford to graze and are using Yang attackers. It may be possible to also take advantage of this though, by using units benefiting from Poison anomalies.

Maribel (LM1)

LM1 Maribel Hearn is a Destroy-Class Friend who together with the Evil Spirit known as Mima, seals the deal by buffing the team’s CRIT ATK, Yin ATK, Agility, Accuracy and CRIT Accuracy while pulling off great break potential through their Moon and Fire elements and Burn + Blind anomalies. To top it all off, this Genic unit’s Resonance Skill grants +4% CRIT Damage and CRIT Chance x the number of Friends at the front guard.

Critical and Destructive Resonance

Being a Destroy Class Genic unit means that LM1 Maribel and Mima can do wonders not only for themselves but also for others! Having a Resonance Skill that boost the party’s CRIT Damage and CRIT Chance by 4% for every Friend at the front guard (minimum 8%), combined with CRIT Accuracy buffs, Elastic and Explosive Bullets, Killers won’t even be required to ensure CRIT damage, and this extends to many other Destroy-Class Friends as well as a certain other Genic counterpart! The Killer range that LM1 Maribel and Mima have isn’t particularly impressive, so this is rather huge for them!

Merry and Mima, the Powerful Magicians

Of course, Merry and Mima are able to deal great damage while also helping with providing guaranteed CRITs the way they can! Using Burn and Blind anomalies to increase offensive stats, mainly Yin ATK and CRIT ATK, plus having the Spirit Power to dish out the boosted damage, and a lot of the buffs provided are also mostly shared with the rest of the team. Appearing on Skills, Spell Cards and even through the (unknown) Ability! Includes CRIT ATK, CRIT Accuracy, Yin ATK, Agility and Accuracy.

Barrier Broken by an Unbreakable Vengeance

In terms of elements, being purely focused on just 2 elements completely across the board is very handy and consistent, as LM1 Maribel and Mima can fully hone in on just Moon and Fire. With their Spread Shot, Spell Card 2 and Last Word completely full of Moon, with Fire accompanying it on their Focus Shot and Spell Card 1, it will be a difficult time for those especially weak to Moon. In addition, anomaly breaking is pretty good too, as Spell Card 1 can break both Burn and Blind anomalies, inflicted on all enemies via the same Spell Card as well as Skill 2. It won’t be too difficult to pull off some quick Full-Breaks here.

Complete, Stunning and Unbound Darkness

LM1 Maribel and Mima have some tricks up their sleeves as well, however. On top of the damage, CRIT Support and breaking, this new Genic unit is now one of the few who has a guaranteed method of Stunning all enemies via an Impact Bullet Line. Thanks to her Focus Shot, it is possible to use this to your advantage. Do note however that using Skill 2 on the same turn will result in LM1 Maribel and Mima moving after all enemies, so keep that in mind! As for an additional other trick, should they be in a literal bind or two, or even three, Spell Card 1’s Post-ATK allows 3 Binds/Stat debuffs to be completely dispelled, providing a handy bit of utility.

Might Struggle Stacking Yin ATK for the Party

While LM1 Maribel and Mima are perfectly fine with how they go about their Yin ATK thanks to their anomaly inflictions and personal Yin ATK stacking thanks to Spell Card 1’s first bullet line having a Yin ATK buff lasting 3 turns, it might be a little more complicated when it comes to supporting the team with Yin ATK. These team Yin ATK buffs are achieved via Grazing and Spell Card 2 Pre-ATK, although the latter lasts 2 turns, meaning that outside of external support and/or Story Cards, keeping them alive for Yin allies that may need it could be a real pain.

Resonance Boundary

As critically acclaimed as Skill 3 is for what it brings to the table and to other allies via CRIT Damage and CRIT Chance boosting, 8 Turns isn’t exactly the most ideal cooldown duration out there. In most scenarios, this is going to be a one-time Skill per battle, so it is important to make sure you pick the perfect opportunity to use it, especially given that these effects only last 2 turns.

Marisa (Cz1)

Cz1 Marisa Kirisame is a Speed-Class Friend who spices up the competition with her Agility II buffs, anomaly buffs via Burn, Freeze and Paralyze, a mix of Specular bullets and Yin DEF debuffing, Burn anomaly inflicting and breaking, and some team support, mainly with Spirit Power given to the team across 3 turns.

Spicy Damage Output

The Witch of Scarlets Dreams has massive damage potential that one could dream of, and there are multiple factors making this possible. From a very strong Killer range that mainly includes Gensokyo and Youkai, to an absurdly high Slice scaling especially present, especially in her Last Word (240% Scaling on Line 1) to a mix of both Yang ATK and Agility being just as absurdly high at 1950 and 1700 respectively, to the backing of Agility II buffs on top of the above. With even her Spell Cards having a massive damage potential in their own right, it’s probably an understatement to say that Cz1 Marisa has the ingredients required to create a spicy concoction of power in her arsenal!

Support With a Twist

Having ways to support the team is always welcome, and in Cz1 Marisa’s case, that is present here! From Agility and Accuracy on Skill 1, to CRIT ATK on Spell Card 2 Pre-ATK, to Yang ATK when Boosting and through Last Word Pre-ATK, to Agility II and Spirit Power on Skill 3. However, what makes the Spirit Power support stand out here is that this is granted to the team across the span of 3 turns instead of the usual 1 turn. That free 0.50 Spirit Power buff for the team lasting multiple turns has never happened before, making it special for Cz1 Marisa! It’s also worth noting that she might struggle stacking up Yang ATK for the team outside of her Last Word Pre-ATK, team support and potential Story Cards so that could be worth keeping in mind. As for the Agility II buff to the team, this could really benefit some allies that use this for Slice Scaling, most notably L80 Marisa who already has Agility II buffs and high Slice Scaling.

Well-Rounded Instructor

When it comes to self-sufficiency, Cz1 Marisa has it all covered, and doesn’t need too much help when setting up for damage. She can gain more Yang ATK and CRIT ATK when inflicted with Burn anomalies, also backed up by aforementioned team support that also benefit her just as much as in Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, Agility, Accuracy, Agility II and Spirit Power. This is even backed up by CRIT DEF and Yin DEF debuffing on enemies, and as for Spirit Power, an additional 0.35 Spirit Power from her Passive 3 every turn as well as Skill 3 continuously granting 0.50 Spirit Power for 3 turns is not to be underestimated, making the need to reach the full 3P less tedious.

Witch of Scorching Dreams

Cz1 Marisa’s Burn inflict potential on her enemies…or on a specific enemy is massive, as demonstrated by both Spell Card Pre-ATKs inflicting 4 layers of Burn on a single enemy, as well as 2 layers of it on all enemies via Skill 2 and 3 layers of it on all enemies via Last Word. These are broken via Solo Spread Shot, Solo Spell Card 1, Solo Spell Card 2 and All-Targeting Last Word (All 1P) with additional Freeze breaks also covering most of the above. There is a problem though, the only way to break the Burn barriers of all enemies is through her Last Word, as the rest are achieved on just 1 enemy. Those are achieved via low boost requirements, and the amount of anomaly breaks that could be pulled off is massive, but it could be an issue if you’re looking for a friend to Full-Break multiple enemies right away.

Specular Summer Shenanigans

From one of her signature Story Card’s effects, to a Skill, to bullet line debuffing, there are a good chunk of Yin DEF debuffs despite Cz1 Marisa being a Yang unit. This is because nearly every single bullet line here is Specular, with her Yang damage targeting the Yin DEF of her enemies instead of Yang DEF. Being potentially useful with Yin allies (such as Z1 Marisa) as well as strengthening her Yang ATK if necessary, it can really benefit Cz1 Marisa here, although you might have to keep this in mind when it comes to other allies going about these debuffs.

The Heat of my Elements

There are 3 elements that appear in Cz1 Marisa’s kit: Sun, Star, and most commonly, Fire. Fire appears on all 6 bullet lines of her Last Word, and is the main element of Spell Card 1 and Spread Shot, with Star really getting a chance to shine on Spell Card 2 and even her Focus Shot. Finally, Sun is a little scattered across her non-Last Word attacks which is a bit difficult to work with. Since Cz1 Marisa can deal massive damage, worrying about elemental weaknesses on enemies and/or her 30% damage boost with her effective elements might not be overly important here, but if the abundant Fire element here can’t hack it, the Sun and Star elements might not be enough to fall back on.

Sniper Soaker’s Spell Card Limitations

For an Epic Friend like Cz1 Marisa to have 2 Solo-Targeting Spell Cards instead of the now common trend of a Friend having 1 All-Targeting and 1 Solo-Targeting Spell Card is a bit of an elephant in the room, since if on some stages she is faced with multiple waves/gauges, her Focus Shot, even for her can only do so much, especially compared to the colossal damage that Cz1 Marisa can deal. It may be somewhat appropriate for the Sniper Soaker wielder to have Spell Cards that can effortlessly shoot down 1 enemy at a time, and it has to be noted these Spell Cards are still incredibly strong in their own right, but struggling to wipe out multiple enemies in one fell swoop outside of her Last Word could be a problem on specific stages, especially without support.

Reimu (L80)

L80 Reimu Hakurei is a Speed-Class Friend who runs the roost with her stackable Accuracy and Agility buffs for the team, 222% Slice Scaling on her Last Word, a strong Killer range and anomaly mastery.

Speedy and Strong Youkai Exterminator

L80 Reimu has just about all the important stuff one could need for a Friend capable of pure damage against her targets. Strong range of Killers, massive Slice Scaling going up to 222% to go with a high Agility stat of 1690 (which can be maxed out easily, but more on that later), Agility II buffing on her Last Word Pre-ATK, Hard Scaling is also snuck in with some ways to slightly gain Yang DEF, Spirit Power constantly flowing in with her Passive 2 and Skill 3, using self-inflicted Poison anomalies every turn for offensive buffs, and self-inflicted Burn anomalies on bullet lines to add to her already strong Spirit Power gaining potential (Blind anomalies are also possible too). When it comes to raw damage, L80 Reimu uses almost any avenue possible to ramp up her power, and to great success at that! Should be more than enough to exterminate those in her path…

Fantasy-Like Support

The main reason why L80 Reimu’s Agility is so easy to max out, and this extends to her Accuracy too, is because of that satisfying Skill 1! With it being usable every turn, the Accuracy and Agility buffs lasting 2 Turns and those buffs also being provided to the team, anyone who benefits from Slice Scaling or would like help with Accuracy will absolutely benefit from this Skill! But it doesn’t end there, because L80 Reimu can share her Spirit Power boosting with her teammates through both Spell Card Post-ATKs. To a lesser extent, Skill 2 can also boost the team’s Yang DEF and if it counts as a form of support, L80 Reimu can even look to debuffing which can still be of use to allies, whether it be Yang DEF, or CRIT DEF (as well as a Yin DEF debuff to a very minor extent).

Shrine Maiden of Survivability

As somewhat of a callback to her L1 self, there are parts of L80 Reimu’s kit that may remind you of those survivability moments. A most notable example would be her ways of granting 2 Barriers to the team with Skill 2 and Spell Card 1, as well as L80 Reimu also taking 35% less damage from both effective and resisted elements. But it’s not just about tanking, since another way for L80 Reimu to require 1 less Graze for whatever reason, she could resort to her Spell Card 1 against a single enemy at 3P. Another way for L80 Reimu to survive would be with her rather solid Burn breaking potential, using her mix of Skill 3 and Spell Card 2 to rack up Burn breaks, stopping the enemies in their tracks.

Eternally Evasive Shrine Maiden

With Rank II buffs well and truly into the game at this point, we would end up finding more and more different versions of it, and here comes Evasion II, which L80 Reimu gives to the team via Skill 3. Unfortunately, the only possible use this can have would be in clear-based content, where any allies could rely on luck to clear a potentially more challenging stage, like a VS Divergent Spirits one at Level 120 for example. In short, it can be deemed less effective than something like the aforementioned Agility II buff in L80 Reimu’s Last Word Pre-ATK.

Potentially Poisonous Anomaly Distribution

This shares something in common with another Reimu variant on the beach, but L80 Reimu’s Skill 1 not only has what it takes to max out the team’s Agility and Accuracy, but it will give the team 2 layers of Poison anomalies. If they are immune to it or benefit from it in any way, then it’s a win-win. Otherwise, Yang Allies susceptible to this will slightly suffer from this. It may be possible to go about this in a strategic way when it comes to handling anomalies, but the ideal allies would benefit in some way, like L80 Marisa for example.

Sun, Star and a String of Other Elements

While L80 Reimu’s Burn breaking potential is rather respectable, and the way her Sun and Star elements are distributed, this Shrine Maiden isn’t by any means a bad breaker, but with Fire taking up some of her Focus Shot, Wood appearing on her Spread Shot, and a slight bit of Earth sneaking into both Spell Cards, it does slightly work against L80 Reimu, but it’s not the worst way to go about elements to be fair.

Needs a Jumpstart in Yang ATK Buffs

L80 Reimu’s only way of gaining Yang ATK is through her Skill 1, granting herself 2 Poison anomalies of both Yang ATK and CRIT ATK which she desperately needs, especially the former. While her Last Word gives her team CRIT ATK, and the various Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs L80 Reimu has could mitigate this, it’s just a case of needing extra support to keep her Yang ATK and even CRIT ATK up and running.

Kasen (L80)

L80 Kasen Ibaraki is an Attack-Class Friend that can bring the pain with her version of Stored Power increasing her damage output based on Spirit Power, the Ability to work well with Burn anomalies, helpful offensive support and great self sufficiency.

Armed and Ready with Stored Spirit Power

L80 Kasen’s Skill 3 is a massive factor to her raw damage output, as it can grant not just herself, but her allies a massive boost in power! From 0% assuming 0P available, to a massive 100% if this wild and horned hermit’s Spirit Power has climbed up to the Spirit Power cap of 5P, this skill alone does so much for her, and with easy access to Spirit Power, it will be such a painful time…for her enemies at least! Other ways for L80 Kasen’s damage to stay strong include her Ability’s power increase for resisted elements by 40% and a similar increase for effective elements by 25% as well as her usage of Slice Scaling going up to 110% in her Last Word. As for the cherry on top, we have a Yin ATK II buff in her Last Word.

Self-Sufficient Sage’s Spirit

With the power, or rather her Stored Power doing wonders for her power, naturally L80 Kasen has some strong Spirit Power gain. With it all located in her Skills and Spell Card Post-ATK, it’s easy for her to maintain that strong damage potential. In addition, she also has access to Accuracy buffs to ensure consistency as well as the more offensive ones like Yin ATK and CRIT ATK, both via conventional means and through self-inflicted Burn anomaly buffs. She can also give herself Agility buffs for that Slice Scaling too.

Wild and Horned Hermit’s Helpful Support

With the aforementioned Stored Power also benefiting the whole team with a potential 100% raw damage boost, as well as the self-sufficiency in Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, Spirit Power, Yin DEF, Agility and Accuracy also spreading to the team. Her Skills are full of helpful effects for both herself and the team, especially benefiting Yin-based Friends, but anyone will greatly appreciate those helpful Spirit Power buffs.

Semi-Painful String of Elements

L80 Kasen is also armed with a large number of elements, in fact, all 8 of them appear in one way or another! However, this isn’t as bad since her Spread Shot is the only source of Metal, Wood and Fire. As for her Spell Cards, it’s more focused towards Sun (Spell Card 1, Last Word) and Star (Spell Card 2), plus she has that cushion of having an Ability that boost any resisted elemental damage by 40%. In terms of the breaking department, should Sun and Star not get the job done, L80 Kasen does at least have her Burn anomaly breaking potential to fall back on.

Severed Killer Range

Possibly the main thing holding back L80 Kasen is her Killer range, due to its quantity over quality approach. With many appearing ones like Parallel Presence, Mastermind (LW), Human, Shrine Maiden and many more appearing, it doesn’t quite hit the largest amount of enemies compared to other Friends out there, although it’s not as bad as other Friends’ Killer ranges out there.

S+
Sanae (F1)

F1 Sanae Kochiya is a Support-Class Friend who provides Support in many ways: Spirit Power, Yang ATK, Yin ATK, Accuracy, CRIT ATK and Yin ATK II. On top of that, she also brings breaks via Star, Earth and Metal elements as well as Paralyze and Poison breaks.

Faithful Support

F1 Sanae’s powers when used to benefit the team are very beneficial, vast and versatile, especially on the offensive side of support. Yin ATK, Yang ATK, Accuracy, CRIT ATK, Spirit Power, Barriers, even Yin ATK II! These appear all over her kit, whether it be Skills, Ability, or Spell Card effects, and some of these can last as long as 5 turns! As for her Skill 1 though, with a 3 turn cooldown for Yang ATK and Yin ATK buffs lasting 4 turns, this means F1 Sanae is more than capable of maxing out the team’s Yin ATK and Yang ATK by using this Skill again before these buffs expire!

Anomalies, Elements and Breaks

Should F1 Sanae want to use other means to do her team justice, she can use Burn, Paralyze and Poison anomalies. Burn anomalies give her offensive buffs as per her ability, and the other two give her 0.20 Spirit Power per layer. These two anomalies can also be inflicted on her enemies, with Poison anomalies inflicted via Skill 2 and Spell Card 1, Paralyze ones are inflicted via Spell Card 2 and alongside their respective Spell Cards, can also be broken via Last Word, and in Paralyze’s case, her Spread Shot too. On top of that, her elements are either Earth, Metal, or most importantly, Star. Earth is located in her Spread Shot and Spell Card 1, Metal is found on her Focus Shot and Spell Card 2, whatever attack you use has up to 3 Star lines (4 on Last Word).

Miraculous Attacker

On top of Support and Utility, F1 Sanae can hold her own when it comes to damage dealing. Alongside her high base Yin ATK of 1950, her Killers are solid and can hit a good chunk of enemies with God, Youkai, Human, Soul and Religious. Her Slice and Hard Scaling helps a good amount, especially on her Last Word, and her Yin ATK buff duration is expected to never run out on its own thanks to the constant Yin ATK UP bullet lines and her Passive 3 she can fall back on.

Faith is for Three Elements

Trying to balance more than 3 elements (Metal, Earth and mostly Star) is a tough ask, but F1 Sanae's main element is Star so against Star enemies, breaking with that element is rather manageable, but outside of that, Earth and Metal elements might struggle with effectiveness due to clashing with each other.

Can't Quite Extend CRIT ATK Outside of her Last Word

While she can increase the team's CRIT ATK in short bursts via Grazing, and her Last Word can make the team's CRIT ATK last for 3 Turns, of all the buffs she accounts for, unfortunately F1 Sanae can't extend CRIT ATK as effectively as others like Yin ATK, Yang ATK and Accuracy.

Conflicting Anomaly Breaking

When it comes to F1 Sanae, unfortunately, if she needs to increase the team's Spirit Power with Skill 2, and wants to anomaly break her enemies, it also comes with inflicting Poison on all enemies. In addition, Spell Card 2 inflicts Paralyze on all enemies, and can break those anomalies at 3P, however, with those Poison anomalies in play, those could get in the way of the same Paralyze anomalies since those can only be broken via her Spell Card 1, targeting one enemy. This isn't an issue if focusing on a specific enemy, but the Paralyze and Poison anomaly inflicting conflict can work against F1 Sanae, unless there are allies that can handle both.

Sakuya (L80)

L80 Sakuya emerges as a Debuff-class Friend who shears away the enemy’s defense, allowing her to crush the opposition in no time.

The Moon, Stars and Izayoi

Both Moon and Star feature on all and every single bullet line L80 Sakuya has, including options for full Star and Moon breaks on Spread and Focus shots respectively.

Enables Yang Friends via Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs

L80 Sakuya’s claim to fame as a Debuff-class Friend manifests in Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs from her Spell Cards and Skill 2.

Very Strong Killer Range.

With L80 Sakuya’s bullet lines covering Human, Youkai, God and Parallel Presence Killers among others, she can guarantee CRITs on a large assortment of the LostWord cast.

Perfect, Elegant, Stunning and Ignited

L80 Sakuya can break Burn anomalies with her attacks (with Paralyze breaks in Last Word), constantly give herself Burn anomalies with her bullet lines which buff her offensive stats, and she can even guarantee a Stun on a single enemy with 2P on her second Spell Card! Speaking of this Spell Card, she can also inflict 5 Burn anomalies onto an enemy before breaking it, also at 2P.

Some Friends May be Affected from Burn Anomalies

Not everyone relishes the Burn quite like L80 Sakuya does, with normal units taking a hit to Yin ATK and Yin DEF unless they remove it by Grazing, anomaly healing or just waiting it out. Synergizes with Friends with Burn converting Abilities such as F1 Reimu, C3 Reimu, C3 Marisa and of course, her L80 Remilia Scarlet.

Buffs Outside of Burn-Inflicted Anomalies is Lacking

Simply put, if L80 Sakuya does not have the Fire anomalies inflicted on herself, her damage is weakened, especially as those are her only ways of granting buffs. Without external support or Story Cards, there may be a few fights out there lacking that perfect and elegant outcome due to her lacking conventional offensive buffs.

Tenshi (T5)

T5 Tenshi Hinanawi is a Speed Class Friend with strong Slice Scaling, a massive Killer range including Gensokyo and Youkai Killers, lots of Fire and Wood breaks on Spell Cards and the potential to hit an enemy with many Burn/Poison anomalies.

Colossal Damage as Seen Through a Biker’s Mind

T5 Tenshi knows full well how to deal massive damage numbers as a result of multiple factors: A mix of Slice and Hard scaling to take advantage of (moreso Slice scaling), a 40% Boost in damage if any elements are effective against said target(s) and more importantly, a fantastic Killer range, mainly carried by Gensokyo and Youkai. Other appearing ones include Heaven, Human, Celestial, Racer and Hakurei Shrine. Needless to say, T5 Tenshi is more than capable of dealing massive damage.

Biker in her Element

When it comes to leaving enemies fully broken, T5 Tenshi has what it takes to do just that. While her Spread and Focus Shots have 5 lines of both Earth and Metal elements respectively, her Spell Cards include a lot of Fire and Wood with a slight lean toward Fire. To top it off, her anomaly dealing potential is deadly against a specific enemy, with 4 layers of Burn on Skill 1 and Spell Card 2 which can be broken by any Spell Card or Last Word. Poison inflicting and breaking has a bit of a spotlight, but is only inflicting 4 layers of Poison via Spell Card 1, which is broken by this Spell Card and Last Word.

Spirit Power Soaring to the Sky

Having instant access to 3P just through one’s set of Skills is a very appreciated feat, and like her fellow biker buddhist, T5 Tenshi does just that with 1.75 Spirit Power gained from Skill 3 and 0.25 for the team with Skill 2, being used every other turn. In addition, one of her Passives secures her 0.15 Spirit Power every turn and a Spell Card 1 Post-ATK effect also grants between 0.50 and 1.75 Spirit Power. For the most part, T5 Tenshi isn’t going to be struggling too much when it comes to Spirit Power.

One Track Minded Anomaly in Heaven

T5 Tenshi can successfully flood an enemy with Burn and Poison anomalies, mostly Burn. While this is great for pulling off a full-break towards an enemy, this only really works on a single enemy and not all of them. Assuming she is up against multiple enemies, she might have to rely on other allies to help out in case there is a bit of awkwardness in T5 Tenshi’s anomaly management, whether it be enemies who don’t get inflicted with either anomaly, or even enemies without the elemental weaknesses in T5 Tenshi’s arsenal.

In Need of Down to Earth Offensive Buffs

While T5 Tenshi does have some helpful Yang DEF debuffs, the only form of Yang ATK comes in her Last Word, and it’s definitely possible to work with those buffs and debuffs. That said, CRIT ATK is definitely lacking to say the least. This hurts especially because of T5 Tenshi’s strong Killers, which can still be made up for through Story Cards and/or team support.

Seiran (B3)

Seiran (B3) is a Speed-class friend who supports Yang Agility teams with Water and Moon elements while stopping enemies in their tracks with Freeze and Paralyze anomalies.

Powerful Damage Synergy

All of Seiran’s knowledge comes to bear with the plethora of synergies in her kit geared towards inflicting pain. A combination of Yang ATK and Crit ATK buffs for herself and debuffs on her enemies gives her a good head start while her Agility scaling lends her a good burst of speed. Her ability to deal 30% more Water and Moon damage on enemies weak to those elements will leave her opponents rooted to the spot as the hammer comes rushing down, the moment of impact made sweeter by the range of killers she has, which include Youkai, Kaiju, Moon Rabbit, Fairy, Machine and God. There won’t be much left to clean up when she’s done with her opponent.

An Anomaly in the Ranks

Seiran is able to manipulate both Freeze and Paralyze Anomalies to her favour, distributing them among her enemies and breaking them in wide sweeping ALL attacks that cover her Spell Card 1 and Last Word. She can do the same on a single enemy that has Burn applied to them with her Spread Shot as well.

Stunning Presence

Players looking to devise stall based strategies will enjoy Seiran’s ability to guarantee a stun on her 3P Focus Shot. This works well with her high base Agility stats and Agility buffs, ensuring she can pin enemies down before they have time to even blink.

Could use more buffs

Seiran has a decent kit to start with, but it doesn’t give her very many levels, even when maxed out. She can use a Friend or Story Card to help boost her levels of Yang ATK, Crit ATK and Agility further to maximize her output.

Remilia (L80)

L80 Remilia Scarlet is an Attack-Class Friend with both Yin and Yang support, great breaks and greater damage when the stars align.

Amazing Damage, Especially with her Last Word

Coupled with the powerful Story Card, The Heat of My Fingertips, L80 Remilia can do a great deal of damage with her Last Word. If her Killers are able to connect, those numbers will start going through the roof!

The Break of my Fingertips

Anomalies, elements, L80 Remilia has you covered! Granted, her elements aren’t the most consistent in the world due to her Spell Cards containing a mix of Moon, Metal, Star, Fire and Water, but her full-Moon Last Word and additional anomaly breaks will easily make up for that! L80 Remilia can do well when it comes to barrier breaking enemies due to a decent amount of Burn anomalies which she can then use to break with either both Shots or her Second Spell Card.

Utility From Skills and Spell Cards

Not only can she do a good deal of barrier breaks with burn anomaly breaks, but her skills also lend themselves well to this performance. With a strong buff duration of 5 turns on Skill 1, debuffs on Skill 3, and even more buffs to provide the team with her First Spell Card and Last Word.

Survivability is Somewhat Limited

A flaw that L80 Remilia does have is her lack of Barrier Restoration, as her only source of barrier restoration in her kit is her Last Word. On top of that, as a unit who benefits from Burn anomalies, if she is lacking external Barrier support, this could be a potential issue.

Kasen (W5)

W5 Kasen Ibaraki is a Speed-Class Friend who goes full steam ahead with team support via Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, Accuracy, Agility and Spirit Power as well as a powerful Killer range, Burn anomalies to inflict and break, and repeatedly gains Spirit Power with one of her Skills.

Tremendous Nio-Oni Strength

As what one could expect from an oni, or a Nio-Oni, W5 Kasen has the power to really hammer away on her enemies. With an impressive mix of Killers such as Youkai, Soul and Divine Spirit, a strong Slice Scaling such as 5 lines with 175% Slice Scaling in her Last Word and effective elements getting their own separate damage with an increase of 45% via her Ability, W5 Kasen has what it takes to go full steam ahead when it comes to crushing her enemies!

Nio-Oni’s Strong Support

When looking at her kit, you can see W5 Kasen is able to bring a good chunk of offensive support, such as Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, Spirit Power, Agility and Accuracy! This benefits W5 Kasen herself, but also her allies, thanks to her Skills, Spell Cards and more, with Agility benefiting other Friends with Slice Scaling, strong Accuracy buffs to make sure Friends can’t miss their targets, Yin ATK for Yin friends, CRIT ATK to help with landing CRITs and a bit of Spirit Power on top of it all. Should this be counted as support, she can also add in some debuffing via CRIT DEF and Yin DEF debuffs. On top of the commendable support…

Self-Sufficient Steampunk Servant of Shuten

....It’s needless to say that W5 Kasen is able to provide for herself what she needs to be as strong as she is in the first place. The above buffs can be racked up, especially Yin ATK, Agility and Accuracy. Should this Nio-Oni be in a bind, her Skill 1 can remove 2 Binds/Stat debuffs, and as for anomalies to work with, she can take advantage of Burn anomalies, whether it’s to self-inflict (with Blind) to increase her Spirit Power further, to inflict enemies with them to weaken their Yin stats, and/or to simply just land breaks (also with any Blind anomalies). Without any desperate need of external support, W5 Kasen has what it takes to lock horns with and grind the gears of her foes!

Possibly Perplexing Yin ATK Buffing on Post-ATKs

When increasing W5 Kasen’s Yin ATK, a slight awkward point with those kinds of buffs is that her Spell Cards boost the Yin ATK after the attack, rather than before. This does have absolutely no drawback from a supportive standpoint, but should one want to use her Spell Cards for raw damage while building her Yin ATK.

Slightly Awkward Elemental Distribution

It should be noted this isn’t as awkward as other Friends, but the mix of Metal, Earth and a bit of Sun elemental bullets (and even very little Wood in her Shots) can be a little complicated, especially when taking into account her Ability’s effective/resisted elemental bullet power. Ultimately, it’s not a huge concern, but it’s not the most ideal elemental distribution for some.

Koakuma (E1)

E1 Koakuma provides the team with a set of skills and spell cards. Entailing barrier breaks, dishing out damage, or great utility, Koakuma is sure to serve you well.

Excellent Barrier Breaks

Barrier breaks are one of the factors that our butler excels in. Coming out with an emphasis on Metal and Moon elements to offer as well as anomaly breaks, mainly Incineration (Burn breaks).

Amazing Damage Output

Gensokyo and Youkai Killers cover the majority of the cast in the game in which E1 Koakuma has access to all her spell cards including her Last Word. This will guarantee critical hits against them and thus, ranks her on the high spectrum of damage potential. Additionally, she also has access to Slice and Hard scalings which further increases her damage with Agility and Defense buffs respectively.

High Utility

E1 Koakuma can inflict anomalies via spell card and skills, although she can also do so towards her team which can prove beneficial or detrimental depending on who is slotted in the party with her. The main course, however, is the fact that she is able to dispel her party’s locks. In addition, she also has the ability to consistently provide Yin ATK + Yang ATK buffs, Spirit Power support, and healing related effects.

No Innate Source of CRIT ATK and Accuracy Buffs

As excellent as E1 Koakuma is, she has her own demerits as well, one of the most observable factors is how she does not have any innate source CRIT ATK and Accuracy buffs at all. This impedes her damage potential as she is not able to fully maximize her powerful Killers and scalings. Hence, she needs to constantly rely on external sources - story cards and her party’s buffs.

Sanae (L80)

L80 Sanae Kochiya is an Attack-Class Friend with a mix of self-sufficiency, and support, a mix of Hard and Slice Scaling and of course, her Stored Power mechanic allowing the team to get a 20% Boost in damage when her HP is at 100%

Miraculous Power

Whether it be her wide range of Killers (both quality and quantity), or her power-enhancing Stored Power, or any other means like her Hard and Slice Scaling, L80 Sanae very much does what her role would entail as an Attack-Class Friend. With the main Killers she has being Human, Youkai, God, Youkai Mountain, Parallel Presence backed up by much more, she is more often than not going to find enemies to land her Critical Hits.

Super Supportive Shrine Maiden

L80 Sanae also brings a good chunk of support too, such as her Yang ATK buffs from Skill 1 and Spell Card 2’s Pre-ATK, both lasting 4 turns, a good amount of Spirit Power from Skill 3 and Spell Card 2’s Post-ATK, some Accuracy for the team when Boosting (can go hand in hand with aforementioned Spirit Power buffs. There are also some team buffs with Yang DEF and CRIT ATK in her Last Word Pre-ATK, but of course, her unique support lies in, again, that Stored Power in her Skill 3! Serving as another method of helping strong allies get even stronger, this kind of miracle could make all the difference in some battle scenarios!

A Moriya Shrine’s Worth of Self-Sufficiency

Whether it be offense, defense, utility or healing, L80 Sanae is definitely able to fend for herself and stay strong whatever the situation may be, she will most likely keep finding herself with 100% of her HP by her many ways of healing up, such as her Passive, Spell Card Post-ATKs, Skill 3 or some Absorb bullets, really making sure her Stored Power is in effect. She has a way of gaining more Barriers via Skill 2 so that Grazing and preserving her anomaly buffs won’t be an issue, and she has the potential to inflict and break 6 Paralyze anomalies from the jump, using a combo of Skill 1 and Spell Card 1. And of course, she has the Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, Spirit Power and Accuracy needed to stay afloat and miraculously wipe out her enemies!

Too Chilled Out?

L80 Sanae’s main way of making sure she gets those anomaly buffs off the jump is by her Skill 2. However, this isn’t just for her, but also for her allies. Lasting 3 turns, it may be idea to make sure these allies do not suffer the downside of having their turn priority messed up, although if they benefit from it in some way or can inflict it back, it’s a bonus instead.

Hand in Hand with 6 Different Elements

Unfortunately, L80 Sanae struggles with elemental consistency, which may make it hard for her to know what element to specialize in, whether it’s Star that only appears in her Last Word, Earth appearing in her Spread Shot or Spell Card 1, Metal appearing in her Focus Shot or Spell Card 2, or Wood, Sun and Moon appearing more scattered and to a lesser extent. While this is heavily mitigated by her strong Paralyze breaking potential as mentioned above, it’s still going to be awkward to try and land effective damage on enemies, especially if they have as few as 1 elemental weakness.

Not Enough Faith for Every Buff

L80 Sanae’s self-sufficiency is definitely strong, but it doesn’t cover every little thing. Having the Hard and Slice Scaling to further increase her damage output, her Yang DEF and Agility buffs are unfortunately a bit limited, appearing on some bullet lines and in Yang DEF’s case, in her Last Word Pre-ATK. Should these buffs be maxed out, L80 Sanae can further reap the rewards of both Scalings, even though their base stats aren’t the highest with 1200 Agility and 925 Yang DEF. On a lesser note, should L80 Sanae not have access to Boosting whether it’s by being binded by Boost lock, or just having less than 1.00 Spirit Power, Accuracy could be a potential issue.

Reisen (L80)

L80 Reisen Udongein Inaba is an Attack-Class Friend bouncing in with Yin ATK II buffs, a mix of Hard and Slice scaling and massive damage potential.

Secret Weapon of Support

With team support, L80 Reisen is actually amazing when it comes to racking up those Yin ATK buffs for the team. Skills 2 and 3 provide a collective total of 4 stages, 3 boosts add 3 more stages and even something like Spell Card 1 can almost max it out instantly. Needless to say she is great when it comes to quick bursts of Yin ATK, but she also benefits the team with 0.75 Spirit Power via Skill 3, and if they count, the debuffs on her enemies that include Yin DEF and CRIT DEF can come in useful too.

Smartguns Blazing

L80 Reisen is a damage dealing machine whether it comes to Killers being as strong as they are, Hard + Slice Scaling, and of course, her great offensive capability in general. The aforementioned Yin ATK buffs, her benefits from Burn anomalies that add more Yin ATK and CRIT ATK for herself, and of course, Yin ATK II.

Aim, Ready, Fire…Burn?

Not only does L80 Reisen benefit from Burn anomalies for offensive buffs, but she manages to prove she can break 7 Burn anomalies on a single enemy with her Spell Card 2. This is on a single target though which might be awkward if you want to focus on multiple enemies as her Last Word is her only All-Targeting anomaly breaking attack, which will most likely be used for damage. However, this can be great on a single enemy, but otherwise, it is also an option to treat the Burn anomalies like another way of debuffing Yin DEF.

4 Elements to Juggle

Not having as much of a focus on elements is a bit of an issue, with Spell Card 1 being a mix of Wood and Earth, Spell Card 2 being fully Fire and her Last Word being mainly Moon with a bit of Earth. Having a boost in power when the enemy either resists or is weak to her elements is helpful, but breaking is just a bit awkward on the elemental side, as if the anomaly side of things above wasn’t enough.

Slightly Misses Out on Key Buffs for Offense

As amazing as her damage potential is, L80 Reisen not getting CRIT ATK buffs outside of her Burn anomaly buffs and occasional bullet lines, as well as the CRIT DEF debuffs here and there, it’s a bit of an inconvenience to not be able to fully take advantage of her Killers on her own, but that can be covered by Story Cards or other Friends relatively easily. Other ways to help with damage since her Hard and Slice Scaling is a factor would be to buff her Agility and Yin DEF further.

Kogasa (C3)

C3 Kogasa Tatara is an Attack-Class Friend who has vast Water and Metal breaking potential, Freeze anomalies to go around and high natural Yang ATK, with a bit of Yang ATK II on top.

Incredible Damage Potential

C3 Kogasa has multiple ways of increasing her damage to really surprise her enemies. From a high base Yang ATK stat coming in at 1975, to her Metal and/or Water elements getting a 55% boost in power if they are effective against her target(s), and can also take advantage of Yang ATK II buffs on Skill 3 and her Last Word! To top it off, if she can land any Killers, C3 Kogasa will be scoring home runs with those CRITs!

A Large Umbrella’s Worth of Anomalies

Whether it’s using anomalies to benefit herself or inflicting and breaking them on her competition, C3 Kogasa is not to be underestimated with her handling of anomalies. C3 Kogasa inflicts herself with Freeze anomalies to boost offensive stats (mainly Yang ATK and CRIT ATK) through Skill 2, and Burn anomalies if inflicted on her also provide the same benefit. While she doesn’t inflict any Paralyze anomalies on herself, they can still boost her Agility, Accuracy and Evasion if possible. Enemies suffer Freeze anomalies from Skill 2 and Spell Card 1 and have them broken via Spell Card 1 and Last Word at 2P and 3P respectively, while Poison anomalies can be inflicted via Last Word, also being broken at 3P. On top of that, if you want to break enemies with elements, no worries there, as every single bullet line will either be Metal or Water, making it that bit easier to achieve those breaks.

Autonomous Tsukumogami

Not only does C3 Kogasa have the potential to deal devastating damage, but she can do that easily just with what her kit’s buffs provide, like with her Skill 1’s Yang ATK and CRIT ATK buffs, 5 turns worth of 4 stages of Accuracy for the team via Skill 3, Agility buffs on Spell Cards to enhance the impact of her Slice Scaling, 2.30 Spirit Power gained from Skills 1 and 3 (Skill 1 grants 0.55 Spirit Power to the team every 3 turns), and actually isn’t going to struggle too much with keeping her anomalies in check as Skill 2 both provides Freeze anomalies for herself while also adding a Barrier, so that if she needs to Graze to avoid damage, C3 Kogasa can survive that little bit longer. If she needs to escape a Bind and Spell Card 2 is available, that will do the trick for her as well.

Surprisingly Limited Killer Range

The main thing holding back C3 Kogasa whenever she goes out swinging is her Killers not hitting as many enemies as some other Friends out there. While the ones she has (Human, Fairy, Soul, Aquatic, Swimsuit, Summer, Human Village, Hakurei Shrine, Myouren Temple) are not the worst as a collective, they certainly aren’t the best either, as the ones you’re probably getting the most out of will probably be Human, Fairy and Soul, as well as maybe Swimsuit and Summer on some VS Divergent Spirit stages with other C3 enemies. Ultimately, this is C3 Kogasa’s main obstacle stopping her from her grand slams critically decimating her foes.

Turn Durations on some Buffs are Hit or Miss

Despite her self-sustainability as mentioned above, while some turn durations on buffs like team Accuracy and selfish Agility are rather long, Skill 1 is a good example of her Yang ATK and CRIT ATK potentially being hard to maintain, especially on her own. This is because those buffs on Skill 1 last for 1 turn, and a lot of other buffs, like on Spell Card 2 and Last Word also last 1-2 turns which could be an issue when it comes to rather longer 1 wave stages.

Reimu (C3)

C3 Reimu is here to spend her days playing games featuring her modified Yin-Yang Beach Ball to her heart’s content as a Speed-Class Friend that’s ready to rumble!

Amazing Wood and Water breaks, with 0P Water break on both Shots

Every bullet from this beachside shrine maiden features either Wood or Water elements, meaning you’ll have breaks for days. Couple this with her 0P Water breaks of both shots and you have a super soaker that any kid would love to get from the Patron Saint of Learning for Xmas!

Great Base Stats can go Towards High Slice Damage

C3 Reimu is naturally endowed with big guns, with a staggering 1940 Yang ATK and 1560 Agility at max. This works perfectly with a full Yang kit and strong Slice values especially on her Last Word!

Powerful and Non-Stop Yang ATK and Agility Support

C3 Reimu’s multiple sources of team enhancements culminates in a crazy 1 Turn Cooldown on Skill 3, which constantly boosts Yang ATK and Agility for her entire team.

Great Utility via Anomaly Breaks and Stun

C3 Reimu can break Freeze and Paralyze anomalies with her attacks, as well as guarantee a stun on a single enemy with a 3P Focus Shot.

Some Buffs will Freeze Allies

C3 Reimu zealous dedication to gaming leaves her allies in the dust, inflicting Freeze barriers on them alongside other positive buffs. This can be turned around with a team that synergizes with Freeze anomalies instead!

S
Flandre (Lr)

Lr Flandre Scarlet is a Speed-Class Friend who dances her way in with strong Skills with 3 turns of cooldown duration, self-sufficiency, her usage of Blind anomalies to her advantage, and destructive damage potential.

Destructive Dancing Devil’s Damage

Lr Flandre definitely has what it takes to deal great damage when the cards fall into place for her, and a few factors that can help make this possible is her usage of both Slice and Hard Scaling (a lot more of the former), higher damage if her Metal/Fire/Star elemental bullets are effective, and if her Killers land, can destroy her enemies. It may take some external help to reach max stats, but even then, Lr Flandre can hold her own rather well.

Self-Sufficient Soloist

This one of a kind backup dancer has all the important offensive buffs needed to get her going, some of those being on her Skills which all have a 3 Turn Cooldown, being rather convenient for relatively quick usage and having the buffs to stay afloat. These effects include for herself: CRIT ATK and Spirit Power. As for the team, we have: Yin ATK, Agility and Accuracy with more Agility for them when Boosting and some CRIT Accuracy when Grazing, as well as more Spirit Power for the team not just via Spell Card 1 Pre-ATK but also for herself via her Ability to turn any Blind and Freeze anomalies into Spirit Power, demonstrated by Skill 2. We also have some additional debuffing potential on enemies like with Yin DEF and the potential to inflict Blind anomalies, but more on that below…

Backed up by Blinds and Breaks

Inflicting 3 layers of Blind on all enemies, another 2 on Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK and 3 more on her Last Word Pre-ATK, with the same Spell Card 1 and Last Word also being the ticket to Blind Breaking, Lr Flandre does definitely have what it takes to destroy the Barriers of her enemies, whether it’s through her Blind anomalies or her fair mix of Metal, Star and Fire elements

Three Elements of Surprise?

While it’s actually preferred for a Friend to have just 2 different elements with them appearing very frequently, the Metal, Star and Fire elements appearing in Lr Flandre’s kit are decently spread out all things considered, with some attacks favoring one element over others, such as her Last Word being primarily Metal, Fire taking up most of Spell Card 2, and Star being one of two elements getting 3 bullet lines in the rest. In some cases, it might be possible to work with all three effectively, but against enemies with just 1 weakness, plus her Ability to increase effective elemental damage by 25%, it might not be something to dance for 100% of the time.

Playing a Blinder

Of course, some of Lr Flandre’s self-anomaly infliction has spilled over to her allies. Especially with those who are reliant on Accuracy, it’s important to take caution when inflicting them with this anomaly that may damage their Accuracy. Otherwise, there may also be allies there who would love to get Blindsided in this scenario, such as S5 Rin, S5 Utsuho and of course, L1 Flandre too!

Killer Range is Somewhat Taboo

Unfortunately, the main thing holding back Lr Flandre in terms of performance is her Killer range. While ones like mainly Human and Parallel Presence are decent compared to others, it might be hard at times to get the sweet Critical Hits when you need it, especially against enemies that don’t have the tags needed for Lr Flandre to get those CRITs.

Sakuya (E1)

The Legendary Vampire Hunter that is E1 Sakuya Izayoi is a Destroy-Class Friend who is capable of maxing her CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy, greatly increasing her Spirit Power gain, and has access to great Sun and Metal breaks.

Amazing Spirit Power Generation

E1 Sakuya will never be short on Spirit Power, with her Spell Cards generating more of it with every use, while her Skill 2 keeps her fueled from the get go.

Great Sun and Metal Breaks

These two go hand in hand as E1 Sakuya can use the Spirit Power gain that she has with her Skills and Spell Cards to break multiple barriers assuming said foe is weak to Sun and/or Metal. Sakuya’s 3/3 spread of Sun and Metal on both Spell Cards break multiple enemies with ease.

Critically Acclaimed Huntress

May Lord have mercy on the enemies who must face E1 Sakuya’s wrath, as her CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy can easily be maxed out using her Skills, Spell Cards and Ability. While her Killer range is strong, with Youkai and Parallel Presence carrying, her Last Word’s 3P lines have a natural 50% CRIT rate, meaning that with the CRIT buffs she has, E1 Sakuya can still critically damage enemies, especially ones weak to Sun.

Cannot Inflict Anomalies

While E1 Sakuya does have the potential (when fully boosted) to break Burn anomalies with her Focus Shot, Spell Card 1 and her Last Word, with Freeze also being broken via Spell Card 1, it’s a bit unfortunate she can’t back up the aforementioned elemental breaking with anomaly breaking quite as well, but if other teammates bring in those anomalies, our Vampire Hunter will gladly take advantage of such a thing.

Needs Help Raising her Yang ATK

Looks like E1 Sakuya forgot to stock up on Yang ATK (barring her Last Word). While this is something Story Cards and allies can mitigate, if she is out on her own without that support, she isn’t going to be able to truly shine, as with those Yang ATK buffs on top of the above is where we will see her at her best.

Very Limited Support

With Skill 1’s 0.25 Spirit Power, her Ability to give the team quick CRIT ATK when Boosting, and her Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK increasing the team’s CRIT Accuracy. Unfortunately, it’s less to offer to her allies than what other Friends can do to support them.

Yuyuko (L80)

L80 Yuyuko Saigyouji is a Technical-Class Friend who gracefully arrives on the battlefield with a butterfly swarm’s worth of Yang DEF debuffing, decent support, Poison anomalies onto enemies inflicted and broken, and her own Wood Weakness infliction on enemies.

Blossoming Power

Through combined Hard and Slice Scaling, a 30% boost in effective elemental bullets that can be taken advantage of, and constant Yang DEF debuffing, L80 Yuyuko does have what it takes to cut away at her enemies using raw power, which especially with full setup and enemies susceptible to Killers, this will be a rather powerful Boundary for enemies to overcome.

Olive Branch of Support

While the usual team buffs being a bit of CRIT ATK, Spirit Power, Accuracy, Yang DEF and even some Agility are helpful, as well as Yang DEF and Yin DEF debuffs that could be of use to some allies, they woodn’t hold a candle to L80 Yuyuko’s own Wood weakness infliction achieved through Skill 3! Not only can this greatly benefit her Last Word, but also multiple allies that like their Wood elemental bullets, such as F1 Koishi, A7A Reimu, A7B Reimu, B5 Lunasa, H5 Mystia and more!

Bladeless Poison

L80 Yuyuko is also capable of breaking down the Barriers of her enemies with her ways of inflicting and breaking Poison anomalies. With breaking achieved from both Shots, her Spell Card 1 and Last Word, and with inflictions through her Passive 1, Skill 1, Spell Card 1 and Last Word, plus with L80 Yuyuko’s ability to reach 3P off the jump thanks to Skill 2, she can even break 5-6 Poison anomalies instantly!

Spell Cards Woodn’t Capitalize on Wood Weakness Infliction

Due to the fact that both Spell Cards are more Moon-Focused with Wood only appearing in L80 Yuyuko’s Focus Shot and Last Word, if you want to capitalize on this mechanic, you will have to use Skill 3 carefully. This is because it also comes with a 7 Turn Cooldown which isn’t exactly ideal. However, with Skill 3 also entailing Yang DEF and Yin DEF debuffs, with L80 Yuyuko not benefiting from Yin DEF debuffs and other methods of Yang DEF debuffing, there isn’t a whole lot of pressure to use this Skill if the time isn’t right (unless you need that extra bit of debuffing). But needless to say, for L80 Yuyuko herself, this is really to be saved for her Last Word (or any other Friends’ powerful Wood-elemental attacks).

Varying Elemental Branches

As an addition to the above, L80 Yuyuko has 5 elements present in her attacks: Wood, Moon, Water, Earth and Metal. With the limited Wood bullets come Moon dominating both Spell Cards and her Spread Shot, Metal taking up the Yin half of Spell Card 1, and Water and Earth scattered around very slightly, it can be somewhat awkward to work with her elemental distribution, even with her nifty gimmick above

Needs a Time Boundary for Slice Scaling to Blossom

With access to both Hard and Slice Scaling and a 30% boost in effective elements, L80 Yuyuko does have what it takes to blossom with power, and with Yang DEF buffs available for her from more than 1 method as well as from various bullet lines and defensive buffs through anomalies, Agility doesn’t quite get the same treatment. Only granted to the team via Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK as well as appearing even less in bullet lines, L80 Yuyuko might need some help with Agility buffs should she need more help maxing out her damage output.

Lacking in Yang ATK Buffs

While her many Yang DEF debuffs can somewhat mitigate this issue, once Barrier breaking and gauge clearing is in question, those very debuffs can disappear, with L80 Yuyuko’s only way to gain Yang ATK naturally being from her Last Word Pre-ATK. This is something that Story Cards and allies can support her with, such as a familiar L80 Youmu for example.

Quantity over Quality with Killers

Losing the ability to manipulate death seems to have taken a toll on L80 Yuyuko, as she has found herself going the quantity over quality route when it comes to the Killers she has access to. Her large selection of them is mainly carried by her Parallel Presence Killers, so that could be a bit of an issue for her on specific stages.

Kaguya (L80)

L80 Kaguya Houraisan is a Technical-Class Friend who has strong Killers, Hard Scaling, uses Paralyze and Burn anomalies to boost her defensive stats, and most importantly, she pioneers enemies being subjected to a Moon weakness.

Eternally High Damage Potential

L80 Kaguya is just primed for dealing high damage on those that stand in her way. Whether it’s as a result of her strong Killers (Gensokyo, Parallel Presence, God, etc), great Hard Scaling, and the unique potential to ensure her Last Word will be effective against her enemies! In addition, she gets a 33% boost when her elements are effective against her enemies, and on top of it all, her Spirit Power gain is solid thanks to Skill 2 and Spell Card 1, both of her Spell Cards and Last Word will help with Yin ATK preservation.

Exceptional Utility Under The Moon

As alluded to above, L80 Kaguya has what it takes to ensure her Last Word can land effective hits on her enemies, and this is achieved through Skill 3 where she makes her enemies weak to Moon! But it doesn’t end there, as fellow Friends can abuse this whether it’s to strengthen their break potential in their situation, or to just decimate their enemies. Notable Moon-based Friends L80 Kaguya can help with Skill 3: B3 Yorihime, L80 Remilia, A6 Rumia, E9 Remilia, L80 Sakuya, B5 Reisen, A7B Sakuya, B3 Seiran, B3 Ringo, and many more!

Solid Anomaly Potential

When it comes to anomalies, L80 Kaguya is able to inflict Burn anomalies onto her enemies through Skill 3 and Spell Card 2, as well as Passive 1, being able to break 5-6 Burn anomalies with the same Spell Card right away. These breaks are also achieved through her Spread Shot and Last Word. As a bonus, her Spread Shot breaks an enemy’s Freeze anomalies and her Focus Shot can break Paralyze anomalies.

Can’t Fully Capitalize on Moon Weakness with Spell Cards

Since L80 Kaguya’s main Moon bullets are located in her Shots and Last Word, she can’t quite ensure her Spell Cards will be effective against her enemies, similar to the rest. In addition, applying this Skill comes with a 7 turn cooldown, as well as a 2 turn duration on enemies, not to mention this goes away after a full-break, which means that however you do it, definitely think carefully since it’s important to strike while the iron’s hot here.

Elemental Inconsistency

This somewhat connects with the above, but having all kinds of elements scattered in L80 Kaguya’s kit. These include 3 Moon and a mix of Fire, Water and Earth in her Spread Shot, 4 Moon and 2 Wood in her Focus Shot, 4 Sun and 2 Star in her Spell Card 1, 6 lines of Fire in Spell Card 2, and a balanced mix of Moon and Wood in her Last Word. Moon is the most frequent element here, but even then, it’s still potentially a pain to juggle all these elements, but you could still find some strong moments in either Spell Card.

Struggles When it Comes to CRIT ATK

While the CRIT DEF debuffing L80 Kaguya has is helpful, they don’t last forever whether it comes to debuff durations, gauge removal or a new wave. Regardless, having those CRIT ATK buffs will help a lot, especially when it comes to taking advantage of her strong Killers, because all she really has when it comes to these buffs, we just have her Last Word Pre-ATK.

Yuyuko (C3)

C3 Yuyuko Saigyouji is a Destroy-Class Friend who eats away at the competition thanks to her special Party Effective Element mechanic as well as a mastery of Freeze anomalies, team CRIT ATK buffs, a team CRIT ATK II buff, debuffs in CRIT Evasion and Evasion and of course, large damage potential.

Destructive Power One Can’t Stomach

As the first Epic Destroy-Class Friend, C3 Yuyuko’s damage potential is definitely not to be underestimated! Of course, her Killers aren’t the most impressive but with enough CRIT Accuracy, she can ensure she will get some guaranteed CRITs regardless, especially with Elastic if enemies like buffing their ATK stats! She also comes with massive Slice Scaling accompanied by strong Hard Scaling too, but with a naturally high Yang ATK stat at 1980, the Freeze anomalies that give her offensive buffs like Yang ATK, CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy, a 30% increase in resisted elemental damage via Ability and of course her way to give the party a 30% Boost in Effective Elemental Damage! With everything falling into place, this hungry ghost in a swimsuit will feast on the damage inflicted on her enemies!

Swimming in Breaks

With every bullet in C3 Yuyuko’s kit either being Wood or Water, and both having a strong amount each, the elemental focus on both is rather handy for her all things considered. If she can’t use those elements to break enemies’ Barriers due to not being weak to Water/Wood, there are also Freeze anomalies to fall back on. Skill 2 inflicts 2 layers on all, Spell Card 1 Pre-ATK inflicts 3 more on all, and the same applies to her Last Word Pre-ATK, with breaks on all enemies at 2P through Spread Shot, Spell Card 1 and Last Word.

Stunning Summer Spirit

Gaining a whopping 2.50 Spirit Power for herself through Skill 3 is a massive jumpstart for C3 Yuyuko since it’s an easy way for her to access full power at 3P immediately. This can also give her access to denying an enemy their chance to attack via 100% Stun on her Solo-Targeting Spell Card 2 at 3P. The Post-ATK here also allows C3 Yuyuko to recharge well with 1.75 Spirit Power, with Spell Card 1 also giving her team 1.00 Spirit Power. This also helps with stacking up team CRIT ATK boosts thanks to the mix of Skill 1’s 4 Turn duration in team CRIT ATK buffs and constant Boosting via Ability.

Average Killers, But Destroys Regardless

Ironically, the ghost capable of manipulating death doesn’t have the strongest Killers to go with. Should she rely on them, they aren’t the most effective, but there’s more than meets the eye, since being a Destroy-Class Friend means her 3P bullet lines especially will have a higher CRIT Rate. With enough CRIT Accuracy buffs and possibly enemies possibly being vulnerable to all of C3 Yuyuko’s Elastic Bullets, the Killer issue will most likely be heavily mitigated.

Needs Help Hitting the Sweet Spot

The main issue for C3 Yuyuko is her lack of Accuracy buffs whatsoever. While this is mitigated somewhat through the Evasion debuffs at her disposal, this is unfortunately not enough all the time with there being additional issues with that as will be explained below, but regardless, she will need help with Accuracy buffs whether it be from Story Card or from allies such as a certain Half-Human Half-Phantom in a Swimsuit. To maximize her CRIT rate, it doesn’t hurt to have even more CRIT Accuracy buffs, and as some extra food for thought, if you want to get even more out of her Hard and Slice Scaling, it may be worth considering Agility and Yang DEF buffs for her in some way.

Mochiko Chicken Takes Longer to Cook

Of all her delicious Skills, the one that sticks out for its 7 Turn Cooldown, and while it could be justified with a strong 2.50 Spirit Power boost, it also has one of few Evasion debuffs on enemies which while helpful for hitting enemies, it will be tough for C3 Yuyuko to ensure she lands her hits once the Evasion goes, assuming she is still missing some form of Accuracy buff. Again, a certain Half-Human Half-Phantom in a Swimsuit can slash the cooldown rate from 7 to 6 Turns with her own special Skill. If only she wasn’t so reliant on her hardworking servant…

Tenshi (C3)

C3 Tenshi Hinanawi is a Destroy-Class Friend who with her speedy Universe Ring, can potentially land a near-universal amount of CRITs through CRIT buffs/debuffs including CRIT ATK II, as well as maintain strong Spirit Power gain and abundance in the Water element.

Universal Ring of Critical Power

The Universe Ring-bound C3 Tenshi’s mix of strong Killers lead by Gensokyo-Killer, CRIT buffs/debuffs including CRIT ATK II, CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy, lots of Elastic Bullets (if/when enemies have ATK buffs), a high damage potential allows her to really shine when it comes to destroying her enemies, and a high Hard Scaling potential on her Last Word (up to 185%), as well as a damage boost in resisted elements. More on that below!

Eldest Daughter Enjoying Water-Elemental Breaks

C3 Tenshi only has 3 elements to work with, but her main one appearing very commonly is Water! Any enemies who are weak to Water have to worry about both Water breaks and effective damage, and even if our Eldest Daughter has to deal with enemies who resist her elements, mainly Water, she has a 40% boost in resisted elemental damage to back her destructive power up!

Down to Earth or Dead in the Water?

With all the pros about her Water breaks, what if C3 Tenshi needs something to fall back on? Well it seems like both her Earth and Metal elements are taking turns to be the backup element, which may make it a little more difficult to find the right backup elements, although it might veer slightly more towards Metal based on factors like her Last Word. This can be a bit of an issue in the breaking department when it comes to elemental breaking, especially if the target or targets do not have a Water weakness. Speaking of breaks…

Less than Epic Anomalies?

...Compared to fellow Friends from the world of Eternal Summer, C3 Tenshi doesn’t quite bring the anomaly power that we have seen before. This can always be chalked up to trading Paralyze anomalies for sheer power (which C3 Tenshi is fantastic at with all the buffs), but only being able to set off 4 Paralyze anomalies on all enemies off the jump (2 from a Skill, 2 from Spell Card 2/Last Word) isn’t awful at all, but…Heaven knows we’ve seen better ones pitched in.

Universal Lack of Accuracy Buffs

What’s really dragging down C3 Tenshi is her dire lack of Accuracy buffs/Evasion debuffs. Not appearing anywhere in her kit, she will desperately, desperately need support from reliable allies or Story Cards, because what good is all this heavenly and celestial power if it is susceptible to failing to hit its target(s)?

Byakuren (T5)

T5 Byakuren Hijiri is a Speed-Class Friend who rides in with immense Agility and Evasion, great Spirit Power gain, Metal and Sun breaks and a little bit of Poison anomaly breaking.

(Emotional) Skyscraper of Speed and Strength

With the mix of base Yang ATK and Agility (1825 and 1525 respectively) as well as being able to max out her Agility on top of the great Slice Scaling to work with, the mach monk is more than capable of dealing high damage against her foes, especially ones weak to Metal and/or Sun due to her Ability to deal 40% more damage with her effective bullets. She even has Yang ATK and CRIT ATK buffs from Skill 3 to help jumpstart her damage too!

Biker Breaks the Mold

More on T5 Byakuren’s Metal and Sun breaks, especially shown in her Spell Cards and Last Word, there is a rather consistent mix of the two to fall back on to achieve full-break status on foes as those (aside from a little Wood on Spread Shot) are her go-to elements here. On top of that, she has some helpful Poison anomalies to inflict on foes which can also be broken via Spell Card 1 and Last Word, breaking 5-6 of them in 1 go. Paralyze breaking is also snuck in too if there are allies with Paralyze inflictions on enemies.

Superhuman Spirit

When it comes to Spirit Power, T5 Byakuren is certainly not going to struggle with increasing it much, whether it be that a lot of her attacks don’t need to be fully boosted to show their greatness, or by just the sheer amount she can rack up, such as Skill 3’s gigantic 2.25 Spirit Power boost for herself, which is more than enough for a fully boosted attack, and really going above and beyond in that regard (do keep in mind the 7 turn cooldown on that Skill though). She also gains 0.15 Spirit Power via Passive 1 every turn which is always welcome, and lastly, her Spell Card 2 Post-ATK scales with boosts when it comes to Spirit Power. Depending on Boosting, will either grant her 0.50, 0.75, 1.00 or 1.75. Safe to say that T5 Byakuren won’t struggle much with the Spirit Power side of things!

Excessive Evasion

Looking at T5 Byakuren’s kit may be amusing in the sense that the Evasion buffs are so easy to come by. From Skill 1 granting it to her team every turn when it has a 2 Turn duration, to 5 of her Last Word bullet lines having a 75% chance to increase her own Evasion by 2 stages each, it may be a bit excessive, and while this could be helpful in clear content, it’s hard to make use of it elsewhere compared to other valued buffs out there.

A Few Gaps in her Killer Range

While Killers like Human, God and Fairy on their own aren’t the worst ones in the world, there are some Killers out there like Youkai and Gensokyo that would hit even more enemies. That said, if she can hit her enemies with some of those Killers, the sky(scraper) could be the limit as Slice Scaling and an effective element boost help a ton, but so do Killers.

Flandre (E1)

E1 Flandre Scarlet is an Attack-Class Friend with a newfound drive to protect her older sister, going a very long way to deal very high damage, leaving enemies in critical condition.

Amazing Damage, Both via Turn 1 and Peak Output

E1 Flandre's Last Word goes all out; debuffing every target's Yin DEF by 2 levels, increasing her own Yin ATK by 4 levels, and even raising her CRIT ATK by 2 more levels. Her CRIT rate is already high, and combined with Gensokyo Killer bullets, you will see the damage ramp up rapidly very often. With Spirit Power as well as her own Accuracy support, further CRIT buffs, and even more buffs from self-inflicted Freeze and Poison anomalies while setting up, E1 Flandre can end up dealing terrifyingly high damage.

Spirit Power and CRIT Support for the Party

The party-wide CRIT support comes specifically from her Skill 3, granting 3 levels of CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy UP, making for a very immediate boost to any of the party's critical hits. E1 Flandre herself gets even more CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy upon applying Freeze and Poison to herself. While it may seem like E1 Flandre does not boast many buffs, the ones she does provide are rather helpful and the skill cooldowns are rather low to keep constant pressure up.

Decent Star and Water Elemental Access

E1 Flandre has some solid Star and Water breaks, mainly coming from her Spell Card 1 and Last Word. If access to these elements wasn't enough for you, then you can always go for Poison and Freeze anomaly breaks at 2P or 3P of Spell Card 1 respectively. With how high E1 Flandre's damage output is, she doesn't even really need to go for Full Breaks herself, but the ability to do so only makes her better.

Skill 3 is a Double-Edged Sword (Flandre’s Sword?)

While Skill 3 is very good in terms of CRIT support, the buff only lasts a single turn. This is somewhat mitigated by its lower 4 turn cooldown, but it still means that you have to be more precise when optimizing damage while taking full advantage of this Skill in particular. On top of that, be cautious when going about the Freeze anomalies inflicted to the party, as it could mess up their turn. However, this becomes a pro once it is paired with Friends that relish in these anomalies, like her fellow E1 Patchouli for example.

Kokoro (Lr)

Lr Hata no Kokoro is a Destroy-Class Friend with helpful buffs and utility for both herself and the team, breaks via Star element and Blind anomalies and solid CRIT damage potential.

Powerful Poker-Faced Performer

Playing the Destroy-Class Card, Lr Kokoro is most certainly capable of hitting hard with her Spell Cards and Last Word. With a passable Killer range backed up by her natural CRIT potential on her later lines (with enough CRIT Accuracy), this menreiki is able to perform to critical acclaim with her offensive buffs and Slice Scaling, and with self-inflicted Blind anomalies on bullet lines boosting her own Yin ATK, CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy, Lr Kokoro is sure to thrive on the big stage!

Solo Act’s Support and Self-Sufficiency

Lr Kokoro is able to bring a good amount of offensive buffs to the table such as Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, CRIT Accuracy and Spirit Power through her Skills alone, with her Ability providing the team CRIT ATK when Grazing and her Spell Card effects including more of CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy buffs alongside Agility and a lot of Spirit Power for the team after her Last Word. On top of that, Spell Card 2’s Post-ATK grant the team 2 Barriers and on top of a Skill’s self-Bind/Stat Debuff Removal of 2, Spell Card 1’s Post-ATK removes 1 of the team’s Bind/Stat Debuff Removal. With all this as part of Lr Kokoro’s kit, she can definitely perform strongly as a supporter as well as a self-sufficient buffer.

Blinded by the Star of the Show

Flash, bang wallop! With Skill 1 inflicting 3 layers of Blind onto her enemies and Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK also inflicting another 2 layers of it onto them, being able to break 5 of them in 1 turn on her own with this same Spell Card is nothing to overlook when it comes to the masked Star in question. She can also break Blind anomalies with Spell Card 2, Last Word and even her Focus Shot if she wanted. And speaking of Star, Lr Kokoro has a strong amount of Star breaks in her arsenal which can definitely back up her Blind breaks if necessary.

Star of the Show’s Elemental Interference

While the Blind anomaly breaks and strong Star elemental breaks are very good, Lr Kokoro does have to come to terms with her Wood and Water elements clashing a bit, meaning that if a second element is required for this pseudo Backup Dancer to fall back on, the clash between Wood and Water could be an issue, although Spell Card 1 is more Wood-dominant in terms of elements. If the Star and Blind break combo is doing the job just fine however, this may not be too big of an issue.

Slight Inaccuracies on Stage

She might be both self-sufficient and supportive, but there is one slight roadblock in Lr Kokoro’s pursuit to critical acclaim; her Accuracy buffs. Granted, she gains these on various bullet lines in her kit, but in order for them to activate, those specific bullet lines would need to hit, which isn’t always set in stone. This issue is slightly amplified further due to Lr Kokoro being a Destroy-Class Friend with most bullet lines having less than 75% Accuracy, but once she reaps the benefits of a Story Card/ally that can grant her those helpful Accuracy buffs, this issue is safely quelled. To an extent, she might also struggle somewhat with Agility buffs for her Slice scaling outside of her Last Word.

Youmu (C3)

C3 Youmu Konpaku is a Technical-Class Friend who serves up Freeze anomalies, extensive Yang DEF debuffs, and Support via Spirit Power, Yang ATK, Accuracy, CRIT Accuracy, Agility and of course, a Skill that reduces the team’s Skills’ cooldown durations by 1.

Cool, Calm and Collected Cooldown Cutter

Just like her mistress, C3 Youmu comes with a new mechanic that gives the team’s Skill that are currently on cooldown 1 less turn of waiting time! This even applies to C3 Youmu’s other Skills (4 to 3 turns and 5 to 4 turns), but the same Skill 1’s cooldown stays the same. It’s also worth noting that any Friends with Skills that last 1 turn will also be able to abuse this mechanic by using their Skill twice when following a specific order. For example, take C3 Reimu’s Skill 3 which has a 1 Turn Cooldown. When using it, then using C3 Youmu’s Skill 1, you will gain immediate access to this same Skill again in the same turn and will reap the extra benefits from it, making the potential in this mechanic rather versatile, also potentially making all that difference if you need a Skill to be usable a little quicker.

Massive Serving of Freeze Inflictions and Breaks

C3 Youmu is able to inflict Freeze anomalies on enemies via multiple means, extensively so as well. From Skill 3’s 3 Layers of it on all enemies, another 3 Layers on them all with Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK, another 4 on a single enemy with Spell Card 2’s Pre-ATK and 3-4 Layers via Last Word Pre-ATK. It’s probably an understatement how much Freeze inflicting C3 Youmu can do, and that can also apply to her breaking, as all of her attacks can break Freeze anomalies all at 2P! Compared to some other Friends who like their Freeze breaks, it really does seem like C3 Youmu goes above and beyond to break the ice!

Sushi Server’s Support and Yang DEF Debuff

If you count the aforementioned cooldown reduction above as support, then what C3 Youmu has in terms of support is not to be underestimated at all! She also comes with Spirit Power support from Skill 1, Yang ATK support with Skill 2 and Last Word Pre-ATK, Agility support from both Spell Card Pre-ATKs and Accuracy buffs via Boosting, it’s a rather solid handful of support all things considered. However, C3 Youmu is constantly dishing out Yang DEF debuffs via Skill 2 and her Spell Cards to make sure herself and Yang allies can capitalize on it.

Soupy Sushi Struggles

With her Last Word having a clear focus on Metal and her Spell Card 2 being Earth-oriented, and everything else being a mixture of Water, Wood and Fire on top (only 1 Fire bullet line overall), C3 Youmu’s elemental game isn’t quite up there, especially compared with her mistress, although if you can fall back on Freeze breaking, you might be able to manage just fine, although if not, it’s definitely going to be awkward to work around.

Half-Baked Killer Range

While her mistress being a Destroy-Class Friend can get away with it more, this isn’t the same for this C3 Youmu. Having various Killers that don’t quite land CRITs on a large number of enemies is a bit unfortunate sadly. Speaking of CRITs, C3 Youmu also might need help with CRIT ATK buffs should she be able to land them, although this is mitigated with her Passive 2 when attacked, and when she can land CRIT DEF debuffs on various bullet lines and her Last Word Pre-ATK.

Marisa (C3)

C3 Marisa Kirisame is surfing into your lives as a Support-Class Friend that stands firm against all opposition, empowering almost everything under the Gensokyo sun!

Amazing Elemental Breaks

The Magician on Vacation packed a suitcase filled with Star and Water, with features on almost every single line of her attacks. The exception is her Spread Shot, which replaces Water with Earth Breaks instead.

Brings Vast Offensive Buffs for the Team as well as Waves of Spirit Power

Almost anything C3 Marisa does will provide a buff to her team. Using Skills? Using Spell Cards? Even Boosting and Grazing will endow her team with some form of Yang ATK, Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, Accuracy and/or Agility buff. This all comes with a bountiful source of Spirit Power, ensuring her team is ready for fun in the sun all day!

Tanking Potential with Team-wide Barriers and strong Personal HP Recovery

Marisa’s seemingly unstoppable drive to enjoy her holiday comes in the form of incredible HP Recovery from most Anomalies, as well as her attacks. She can also put up multiple sources of Barriers for her entire team, prolonging any session in the water as long as she wants.

Stun + Anomaly Utility is very handy.

C3 Marisa can break Freeze and Paralyze anomalies with her attacks, as well as guarantee a Stun on a single enemy with a 3P Spread Shot.

Personal Damage is Lacking

C3 Marisa unfortunately falls short on her offensive, lacking broad Killers that set her apart from the top of the chaff.

Remilia (Z3)

Z3 Remilia Scarlet is a Heal-Class Friend with vast healing capabilities mainly for herself, strong damage potential, and is able to sprinkle in a bit of anomaly breaking here and there.

Clerical Devil

This variant of Remilia Scarlet is constantly healing, whether it’s for herself or for the team. From her vast amount of Absorb bullets always healing her up, to her Passive 3 constantly healing her HP by 15%, to having 2 Skills that can heal up the team’s HP by 60% each! In addition, she is reliable when it comes to Barrier restoration, Bind Removal for the team on both a Skill and Spell Card, and while her anomaly healing is selfish here, this could be seen as an overall blessing in disguise given the kinds of units that benefit from being inflicted with specific anomalies.

Magical Power

Just like the Magical Girl released before, Z3 Remilia has just as strong of a Killer range, with Soul and Youkai spearheading them all. These two alone are collectively strong and will be guaranteed to CRIT a good chunk of enemies which makes her great for more than just healing. In addition, being able to grant the team healthy amounts of Yin ATK and Yin DEF via means like Skill 3 helps a ton for Yin allies, and on top of that, being able to grant the team immediate Accuracy buffs when Grazing can very well come in handy.

Fire, Moon and Star to Juggle

Z3 Remilia’s breaking potential at times is pretty good, but in other instances can be slightly awkward to work with. Her way of anomaly breaking isn’t bad by any means, but it’s much easier for her to pull this off when focused on a specific enemy, as her Solo-Targeting Spell Card 2 inflicts 2 layers of Burn to all enemies, then 2 layers of Burn to a specific target. In addition, the only way to anomaly break all enemies is her Last Word at 3P. In addition, trying to mix those Moon, Fire and Star breaks can be a pain, and while you can make some use of Fire and Star given their frequent lines on specific attacks, Moon is really lacking here, and in some cases, may have hindered the potential of the other 2 elements.

Graze to Hit?

Z3 Remilia is able to grant the team Accuracy when she Grazes, and while she can keep this up well with how much she can do this, if there comes a situation where she can’t do so (ran out of Grazes or is Graze locked for example), if no Story Cards or support is there, it becomes a pain to make sure the team’s Accuracy is on point.

Critical Lack of CRIT ATK

Despite some of the CRIT DEF debuffs on her foes, Z3 Remilia ultimately misses out on those all-important CRIT ATK buffs that would greatly put emphasis on her strong Killer range and great damage potential, although this is nothing that external support and Story Cards can’t fix, as the heart of the Story Cards can help bring out the best in this magical vampire.

Toyohime (B3)

Toyohime, as the one entrusted by Lady Yagokoro with the Plentiful Temple of Wealth and Equality, does her role as a healer well. However, her role goes beyond plentifully strong heals and barrier restoration, and provides team attack buffs to carry on and defeat the enemy with power befitting the Lunarians. She does every role phenomenally, is useful in a large variety of current content, and will almost certainly stay useful in fights to come.

Plentiful Water and Moon breaks

While B3 Toyohime's elemental breaking can be somewhat of a strange case at times, it is hard to deny her great access to Water and Moon, both of which can be found with 3 each on her second spell and Last Word. A Wood break at 0P of her Focus shot is just icing on the cake at this point.

High T1 damage and potential damage

Both Toyohime's Last Word pre-ATK effects and third skill are able to buff Toyohime's Yang ATK to very high levels, 7 levels UP alone, to be exact. This buff can even be maximized to 10 levels thanks to Grazing! The Spirit Power increase on her third skill, being a 1.50 increase, allows her to get to 2P at turn 1 for major damage. If that wasn't enough, the Hard scaling on her Last Word is insane, topped with the Yang DEF buffs she is able to provide herself.

Tanky due to characteristics and her skills

Every one of Toyohime's skills and even passives has some type of defensive or supportive utility. Her first skill both gives a small 0.25 Spirit Power increase to the party while recovering 70% HP and restoring 2 barrier layers as well. Her second skill is similar in also restoring 70% HP while also differing by buffing everyone's Yang DEF and applying Focus UP to herself to absorb more damage. To sweeten the deal, her third skill's Yang ATK buff is also partywide. Her passives, while the second one is only a 60% chance of occuring, are also helpful in tanking damage, especially when battling Youkai enemies.

Bind cleanse for the team helps bypass mechanics which the stage has

Toyohime has a very unique mechanic on her third skill and third characteristic that dispels either a stat debuff or a Bind, which are debuffs which restrict a character from using a certain action. Obviously, these type of abilities are downright ridiculous in areas such as the Scarlet Devil Tower and even some Main Story boss stages, where the opponents will try to seal some of your actions such as Boost or Graze. Just remember the skill is the one that will help out all allies, while the characterisitc is purely for herself.

Breaks are mediocre against multiple enemies

While Toyohime having elemental bullets on every part of her spells is impressive, her spread is sadly rather impractical when facing multiple opponents. Her first spell has 6 different elements which makes targeting one weakness puzzling, and even her impressive 3 Water plus 3 Moon breaks on her second spell is only Solo-target. At the very least, this spell also inflicts and breaks Poison anomalies if you still need the extra barrier breaking power.

Satori (L80)

L80 Satori is a Destroy-Class Friend who specializes in great barrier breaks, a potentially destructive Last Word, and a bit of additional utility sprinkled in.

Amazing Barrier Break Potential

L80 Satori can inflict both Burn and Poison anomalies and break them via her Shots, 2nd Spell Card, and Last Word. On top of this, every single bullet line here is either Water or Fire, meaning that elemental breaking will definitely be consistent.

Self-Sustainable Satori

L80 Satori is self-sustainable in a way where she can replenish her Barriers and Spirit Power via Spell Card 2, allowing her to take advantage of barrier breaks and potential Graze utility. Her Skills also have a decent duration where they can be used to keep up her buffs with little to no downtime.

Lackluster Spell Card damage, but a Powerful Last Word

Despite being a Destroy-Class character, she cannot carry her CRIT Accuracy enough to do great damage using her Spell Cards. Additionally, her lack of currently relevant Killers also contribute to her Spell Card's damage output. If these Killers do hit however, it can prove to produce great damage, but thankfully, her Last Word has Youkai-Killerwhich will help a ton nonetheless.

Somewhat Lacking in Team Utility and Personal Buffs

L80 Satori’s Skill 1’s support can be helpful, boosting CRIT Accuracy by 4 Stages, Accuracy by 2 Stages and even Spirit Power by 0.75. There are other ways to support the team such as CRIT ATK by Grazing as well as some Last Word buffs. However, outside of some debuff potential like with CRIT DEF, CRIT Evasion and Yang DEF, L80 Satori’s supporting potential leaves some to be desired. In fact, she might need even more Accuracy as a result of some bullet lines having an Accuracy rate of less than 75%, and outside of anomaly buffs, is lacking Yang ATK.

Patchouli (E1)

E1 Patchouli Knowledge is an Attack-Class Friend who boasts a set of powerful tools with damage, anomalies and breaks, with some additional team support on top of that.

Great Damage Output

With an immense range of Killers (such as Gensokyo and Youkai) as well as powerful buffs, E1 Patchouli can dish out a great deal of damage that is sure to make all her enemies quiver.

Strong Utility

With a fair amount of anomalies inflicted upon her enemies, E1 Patchouli also provides a decent amount of Yin ATK up, Yang ATK, Yin DEF, Yang DEF, and Accuracy buffs on her Skills.

Cumbersome Barrier Breaks

Ultimately, E1 Patchouli’s biggest flaw is her barrier breaks, as her lack of focus on a singular or two elements make her relatively inconsistent as a barrier breaker against multiple enemies. Despite this, she can help break barriers through the use of anomalies.

Koishi (C3)

C3 Koishi Komeiji is an Attack-Class Friend who brings welcome offensive support, great Freeze Anomaly utility, and potentially some devastating power.

Strong Anomaly Breaks

While she may have a primary focus on Star elements, C3 Koishi’s barrier breaks are at their best when utilizing anomalies to break. With strong access to Freeze anomalies, she can fully break an enemy with ease on the first turn, assuming they are weak to one of her elements.

Powerful and Versatile Support

One powerful utility tool she has is her ability to provide the party with a large amount of Spirit Power. With her Skill 2 providing the party with 1.20 Spirit Power, she augments this further with her Spell Cards and Last Word providing more power, allowing her teammates to be more liberal with their boosts. On top of this, she goes very far to provide Yang ATK, Agility, CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy, with Yang ATK and CRIT ATK provided every other turn via Skill 3, albeit coming with only a 1T duration.

Disjointed Skills, Limited Killer Range

While C3 Koishi functions as a Yang nuker and accordingly buffs Yang ATK, her DEF DOWN skill debuffs Yin DEF - this allows her to be able to function with Yin teammates, but will be less useful in Yang-oriented teams where she is stronger. This cumulates in her lack of powerful Killers which limits her growth on setup, with of her more reliable Killers being God, Religious, Beast, Older Sister and Youkai Mountain.

A
Sekibanki (C3)

C3 Sekibanki is a Speed-Class Friend who throws down with lots of Spirit Power, multiple means of Yang DEF/CRIT DEF debuffing, Freeze anomaly inflict/break potential and great Slice Scaling with the help of a high 1740 Agility and a Agility II buff.

Speedy Spirit Power Pitcher

C3 Sekibanki has great access to Spirit Power via multiple means, from 2.00 Spirit Power from Skill 1 (with a 4T cooldown), a Passive that gives her 0.40 every turn, her ability that gives her 0.20 Spirit Power when inflicted with a Paralyze anomaly, and both Spell Card Post-ATKs giving 1.40 Spirit Power to herself. While these buffs aren’t for the team, that’s where her Agility and Accuracy buffs in her kit come in. However, her great access to Spirit Power can also benefit the following icebreaker…

Cool Anomaly Breaker

When it comes to inflicting and breaking Freeze anomalies, C3 Sekibanki goes about it with a cool head, inflicting 3 Freeze anomalies on all enemies on her Skill 2 (which has a 2 Turn Cooldown) as well as another 3 Freeze anomalies with Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK. Thanks to the same Spell Card’s Freeze break at 2P as well as the aforementioned great Spirit Power gain. With the potential to break 6 Freeze anomalies right away, you can count on C3 Sekibanki to have a ball throwing down with Freeze anomalies!

Having a Ball with Debuffs

C3 Sekibanki is able to consistently churn out Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs, such as with Skill 2, which has a 2T Cooldown Skill. However, despite those debuffs also lasting 2 turns, Skill 3 can keep those CRIT DEF debuffs lasting longer and her Spell Cards double down further on these debuffs. These will mainly help a lot against enemies without Barriers to break on their last gauge.

Strikeout of Three Elements

On top of the anomaly breaks above, C3 Sekibanki has a good amount of Fire breaks, such as her Spell Card 2 having 6 lines of it, potentially hitting hard on a specific enemy, especially with a Fire weakness or enemies susceptible to certain Killers. She also has some Metal and Sun elements to work with, but with how her Sun elements are distributed, it could potentially hinder her other elements such as Fire or Metal, but it might not be a huge worry in most cases.

Needs a Banki’s Worth of Yang ATK and CRIT ATK Buffs

While C3 Sekibanki’s debuff potential is impressive and in some cases a potential band-aid for the lack of the following, it doesn’t change the fact that it is unfortunate to see C3 Sekibanki heavily lack Yang ATK buffs to get her damage up as well as CRIT ATK buffs, assuming those CRITs land…

Poor Pitch of Power

Speaking of CRIT damage, C3 Sekibanki also has to worry about her average range of Killers and surprisingly, a somewhat underwhelming overall damage output in the grand scheme of things. Her Killer range is mostly carried by Beast and Beast Youkai, as well as Summer and Swimsuit against other C3 enemies so it’s going to be very difficult for her to land guaranteed critical strikes, resulting in a lackluster damage output if those Killers don’t land, although the 55% boost on any resisted elemental damage is fairly helpful

Eiki (B3)

B3 Shiki Eiki, Yamaxanadu is a Debuff-Class Friend who has an even spread of Water and Metal elements, Poison and Blind anomaly inflictions/breaks and of course, debuffs, mainly in the form of Yang DEF, Yin DEF and CRIT DEF.

Passage of Debuffs

It’s expected for a Debuff Class friend, but B3 Eiki brings judgment in the form of Yin DEF, Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffing, and by a potentially extensive amount from Skills and Last Word. Due to her balance of Yin and Yang, B3 Eiki herself benefits from this, but any other friend can take advantage of this large package of debuffs to reap, whether they are Yin, Yang, or want to capitalize on their Killers from CRIT DEF debuffs.

Passage of Breaks

Should an enemy have to face B3 Eiki, they will have to come face to face with her breaking potential, whether it comes from anomalies or elements. Starting with the latter, she inflicts a good chunk of Poison and Blind anomalies, with Poison inflictions on Skill 1 and her Last Word as well as Spell Card 2 entailing Blind inflictions. These can both be broken by her Focus Shot, Spell Card 2 and Last Word. As for elements, it’s very simple, as they are a fair balance of Metal on her Yang lines and Water on her Yin lines, just like clockwork.

Somewhat Lacking Retribution

B3 Eiki is an odd case when it comes to damage potential. On one hand, she can increase her damage from Metal or Water bullet lines by 25% if her bullets hit an enemy that either resists or is weak to the corresponding element of the two above. On another hand, her support is a mixed bag when it comes to how good it can be, because Yang ATK and Yin ATK support on Spell Card 1 as well as minor CRIT ATK (albeit 1 turn) and Spirit Power support on Skill 2 is nothing to sneeze at, but that’s how far the train is willing to travel in that field. On top of that, B3 Eiki will not always be able to capitalize on her CRIT DEF debuffing as her Killers delve more into quantity over quality, with some of her best ones being Undead, Soul, Lunar Capital, Lunarian and Moon Rabbit.

Hecatia (C3)

C3 Hecatia Lapislazuli is a Debuff-Class Friend who specializes in massive chunks of debuffing via means like Yin DEF, Yang DEF and CRIT DEF, breaks via Water and Earth elements and Freeze anomaly utility.

Watermelon Break

C3 Hecatia has very respectable breaking potential, bringing Water and Earth breaks. All of her spells have 3 breaks in both Water and Earth to make an easy 3 breaks for either element as long as Hecatia has Spirit Power, something her second skill gives her a good boost in thanks to 2.00 Spirit Power UP. To top that off, she can even apply many Freeze anomalies with her first skill and follow it up with Freeze breaks on her Focus Shot, First Spell Card, and Last Word. Her Last Word can break Paralyze anomalies as well for good measure.

Insane Yang DEF Debuff Potential

C3 Hecatia’s Yang DEF debuff potential comes from all of her spells, especially her second spell and Last Word, the former in which debuffs every Yin and Yang stat as well. Hecatia’s Skill 3 joins in the crippling as well, allowing C3 Hecatia to very easily total up to 10 levels of Yang DEF DOWN, the maximum debuffed value allowed.

Confusing Killer Distribution

This is a weird one. On paper, when you see C3 Hecatia’s Killers, she has a phenomenal Killers range, due to having the wide-ranged Gensokyo-Killer to work with. That said, you aren’t going to be seeing much mileage out of it due to appearing only once in later lines as opposed to the first and most powerful line. Unless you are fortunate enough to have enemies with tags pertaining to Outside World, Aquatic, Swimsuit or Summer, it will be tedious to be able to truly take advantage of C3 Hecatia's Killers.

Breaking Potential Sometimes Conflicts with Yang DEF Debuffs

C3 Hecatia is all about applying Yang DEF DOWN with some other DEF debuffs. However, when a foe is Fully Broken, all of Hecatia’s Yang DEF debuffs will be removed in favor of the penalty applied on Full Break. While her debuff potential is still great, this debuff removal makes it harder to use Hecatia in certain instances, especially when the situation she is in is all about Full Breaking. Consideration should be taken for debuffs being removed at the end of a wave, when the target is Fully Broken or when the target loses their HP Gauge as well. You do have situations though, where some enemies on their last gauge won’t have any barriers to break, making these concerns less of an issue in this particular situation.

Sagume (B3)

B3 Sagume Kishin is a Support-Class Friend who brings vast and versatile utility, breaking potential and respectable damage output.

Great Breaks via Elements and Anomalies

B3 Sagume's breaking potential is rather insane. All of her spells have good Moon access on them, from the 2 on both Spell Cards to the 3 on her Last Word. Metal is also spread out well on all of her spells, with 2 on Spell Card 1, 4 on Spell Card 2 and 3 on her Last Word. Furthermore, she holds anomaly breaks on some spells: specifically Paralyze breaks on her Spell Card 1, Blind breaks on her Spell Card 1, and both on her Last Word. She can only inflict these anomalies via spells (either in Pre-ATKs or chances during the spell), but the accessibility only makes her easier to synergize well on different teams.

High and Versatile Utility

When it comes to wide utility, B3 Sagume and what she offers might be what you're looking for. Outside of selfish CRIT Accuracy UP on Skill 2, all Skill effects revolve around helping the party. Spirit Power, offensive buffs, defensive buffs, Barriers... she has all of it! Even her Spell Cards join the fun, with Spell Card 1 restoring even more Barriers, Spell Card 2 giving Agility and more Spirit Power, and her Last Word serving as another offensive buff. The vast coverage allows her to work with a variety of other units in the game.

Well-Rounded Damage

B3 Sagume is even capable of dealing very good damage as well. She easily reaches 6 levels of Yang and CRIT ATK UP with due to Skills and her Last Word's Pre-ATK effects, the CRIT buff is also benefited greatly thanks to her Killer coverage, including Human and Youkai.

Slight Issue with Skill 2’s Cooldown Rate

She is very well rounded to the point of not having many glaring flaws, but a grievance to be had is that taking advantage of Skill 2’s 1.00 Spirit Power for the team can only be achieved every 6 turns. This isn’t the worst cooldown rate in the world, but 6 Turns definitely leans toward the longer side of things, especially given that other Ultra Festival Supporters can provide more Spirit Power to the team in less turns.

Satori (S2)

S2 Satori is a Heal-Class Friend full of ways to remove Binds while maintaining both defensive and offensive support as well as strong Earth and Fire breaks, offensive potential and even some other little tricks in her kit.

Great Bind Removal Utility

S2 Satori can remove Binds in her team via her Skill 3 and/or her Spell Card 2. This allows her to be a little more flexible with how she goes about being unbound. If her Skills are locked, she can just use her Spell Card 2 to break free. If her Spell Cards are locked, Skill 3 is right there for the taking.

Tiny Healing Queen

This can also result in S2 Satori being a bit of a tank in certain cases, but nevertheless, she does her role very well! Whether it is in the form of Barrier restoration, HP recovery, Yin DEF UP and more (all of the above for the team) and other lesser means, she does have what it takes to keep the team alive. As a bonus, she also has her fair share of Absorb bullets as well as Focus UP to work with, but do make sure not to let the Focus UP be the fall of our queen here, because she has potential to do a lot of good on the battlefield.

Queen of Fire, Earth and Blind Breaks

As well as great access to Fire, Earth and Blind, S2 Satori is also immune to Burn and has a 100% chance to Stun an enemy via Spell Card 1 at 3P. But for what she can do a lot of, the Earth and Fire elements, especially Fire, appear a whole lot on her kit. Earth appears in 3 bullet lines on both Shots and Spell Card 2, but every single other bullet has Fire (yes, 6 out of 6 lines of Fire for Spell Card 1 and Last Word). As for Blind, she can really trap a specific target in blindness via Skill 2’s 4 Layers of it as well as Spell Card 1’s 2 Layers. Using this same Spell Card, S2 Satori can single handedly break 6 Blind Barriers at 2P.

Killer Queen

S2 Satori’s Killers are not to be underestimated in the slightest. With ones such as Human, Soul, Underworld, Beast, and most importantly, Youkai, you can bet a lot of enemies will be susceptible to our satori’s Killer range. On top of that, her offensive buffs (some selfish, some partywide) include Yin ATK, Yin DEF (via Hard Scaling), Spirit Power, and even some Accuracy as well as her Last Word having Yin DEF debuff potential.

CRIT ATK is Missing

If there is something holding S2 Satori back, it’s her lack of natural CRIT ATK buffs. It’s a shame she can’t capitalize on this as her Killer range is commendable as mentioned above, so Story Cards and other allies should be able to cover this.

Meiling (E1)

E1 Hong Meiling has the ability to incorporate both offense and defense, as she goes from hard to topple, to a Star-studded Last Word with great Killers and Hard Scaling.

Burn anomaly breaks at 2P of first spell, which also inflicts them

E1 Meiling can easily break barriers right away with her first spell by casting 2 layers of Burn to all foes upon activating the spell. This is followed up with a Burn anomaly break at 2P of the attack, giving her very easy breaks to access whenever they are required. She can even break up to 3 barriers if she inflicts more Burn anomalies during the attack, which has a 50% chance to occur.

Last Word packs a punch with Gensokyo-Killer and Hard scaling

Thanks to E1 Meiling’s high Yin DEF buffs, the Yin-only Hard scaling of her Last Word gives her a very easy way to set up and dish out devastating damage. Combined with even more Yin ATK buffs within her kit and access to Gensokyo-Killer and Youkai-Killer bullets, she can easily kick out the invaders when they are done failing to break her defenses.

Insane defensive utility for self and allies

Not only does E1 Meiling heavily buff her own defenses and increase her Barrier count on her spells and skills, but these buffs are given to allies as well! This would already help their survivability tenfold, but our fellow Gatekeeper makes sure to be a responsible tank and buffs her Focus to high levels to ensure nothing goes by her unscathed. Afterwards, she can quickly heal off any heavier hits with her second skill and go right back to defending.

Rainbow-spread of elements hinders specific elemental utility

While every single bullet line on E1 Meiling’s spells has an element on it, these elements are very “rainbow-like” and target many different weaknesses, making it challenging to truly focus on one weakness of an opponent.Thankfully, this isn’t an issue on her Last Word, having 4 Star and 2 Wood.

Alice (Z3)

Z3 Alice Margatroid is a Defense-Class Friend who resists damage from Sun, Moon and Fire, has Burn and Freeze anomaly utility and a strong damage output, both from Hard Scaling and strong Killers.

Helpful Defensive Buffs

It’s expected as a tank, but Z3 Alice does a solid job at providing defensive buffs, most notably Yin DEF and Barriers. Yin DEF can be buffed in multiple ways and can potentially be maxed out with ease, due to a mix of Skills, Spell Cards and even when Boosting. There are a few other ways to help the team defensively, such as Yang DEF, elements and HP Recovery by Skill 2.

Offense is the Best Defense

With the Yin DEF that Z3 Alice has, whether it be her 1850 base Yin DEF or her Hard Scaling, she can bring the damage onto her enemies. On top of that, she can even hit her enemies hard with CRITs frequently, thanks to her Killer range including Youkai, Soul, Devil, Magical Girl, Magician, Kaiju and Machine. She is also self-sufficient with these offensive buffs, with the team Yin ATK buffs on Skill 1, CRIT ATK and Accuracy buffs on bullet lines, and her Last Word having both CRIT ATK and Yin ATK in bullet lines.

Needs to rely on Allies for Defensive Anomaly Buffs

The only guaranteed ways for Z3 Alice to make use of her Ability to turn Freeze and Burn anomalies is either from allies inflicting them to the team, or maybe from enemies doing that instead. However, she does have some bullet lines where Freeze anomalies can be inflicted on herself, but have an 80% chance of doing so, thus making it less reliable from a consistency standpoint.

Elemental Resistance is Dependant on Enemies’ Elements

Being able to tank Sun, Moon and Fire elements as well as grant the team that resistance can be fun, but what if Z3 Alice or her allies are hit with a Water, Wood, Metal, Earth and Star element or even non-elemental attacks? Needless to say that more damage would be taken if the attacks are not Sun, Moon or Fire.

Alice in Pseudo Rainbowland (Zodiac Edition)

Surprisingly enough, this version of Alice doesn’t actually have to juggle a handful of elements like other variants of her. That said, the 3 elements she has (Sun, Moon, Star) aren’t the most consistent among each other in the world. You can get some good usage of Moon and Star, but not so much with Sun unfortunately. This isn’t the most rainbow-y set of elements though, as it seems the most we get from Z3 Alice in Rainbowland comes from her Last Word’s animation!

Remilia (E9)

E9 Remilia Scarlet is a Destroy-Class Friend with great support capabilities for Yin nukers, and destroys her enemies with critical power.

Amazing Support via Mainly Yin ATK

E9 Remilia’s Skills 1 and 3 are great ways to really bring up the team’s Yin ATK, collectively reaching 5 stages with ease. For other tidbits to back this up, we have Skill 3’s other effects that slightly boost CRIT Accuracy and Spirit Power and Spell Card 1’s Yin DEF buffs.

Amazing Damage All Around

As expected for an Ultra Festival threat, E9 Remilia can easily reach 2P on turn 1, heavily increase her preferred attack stat of Yin ATK, and sprinkle in some CRIT support for good measure. If there were any doubts about her damage even after that, simply look to her wide-ranged Gensokyo and Youkai Killer bullets!

Poisonous Vampiric Fate

E9 Remilia is no slouch with Poison and Freeze anomaly breaks. With the ability to inflict many Poison anomalies with her Pre-ATK effects on her Spell Cards, they can potentially be stacked up on a specific enemy for breaking via her Spell Card 2. You can also break some Freeze anomalies on top of Poison if you wanted.

Elemental Breaks are Somewhat Lacking

This is more as a result of E9 Remilia’s kit giving away its age, but the Moon and Fire breaks that do appear leave more to be desired. Part of this is to do with some of the non-elemental bullets appearing, such as on her Spell Card 1, but more often than not, E9 Remilia will rely on damage, Poison anomalies and Yin ATK buffs over her elemental breaking.

Yuuka (H5)

Yuuka’s scientific love for flowers translates into a Technical-Class Friend who weeds out her enemies with ease with powerful killers, potent Blind and Poison mastery and Wood/Star bullets.

Great damage with room to grow

With Yuuka’s wide reaching killers, decent buffs and debuffs, Yuuka can dish out a good amount of damage with options like her 1st Spell Card or her Last Word. Her damage can still improve with more buffs, as well as a future card to come.

Powerful breaks

A spread of 3 Star and 3 Wood on all her Spell Cards make her breaks powerful against enemies who are weak to these. With her 2nd Spell Card, she can also break Poison and Blind anomalies, which improves her already impressive breaks. A unique thing to note is how she inflicts more Poison anomalies to whoever she was targeting which can be useful in staggering enemy breaks.

Anomaly usage is awkward to utilize

While she does gain buffs from Poison and Blind anomalies, Yuuka also has incentive to use up her barriers for accuracy. Thus, her usage of self-inflicted anomalies and grazes can very frequently come in conflict with each other.

Aya (Lr)

Lr Aya Shameimaru is a Technical-Class Friend who leaves her enemies in the dust with her solid team support mostly including Spirit Power, strong damage potential, and her ability to mainly inflict and break Burn barriers.

Pseudo Shikigami’s Speedy Spiritual Support

Mainly found in her Skills, Lr Aya is more than capable of providing the team some helpful buffs in short quick bursts, mainly with Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, Accuracy, and most commonly, Spirit Power. With both Skill 2 and Skill 3 providing 0.55 Spirit Power each, both with a 3 turn cooldown, on top of both Spell Cards’ Post-ATKs entailing a 0.85 Spirit Power increase for the team, this pseudo shikigami is one to watch when it comes to her supportive capabilities, especially in Spirit Power.

A Scoopful of Power

With a 25% increase in bullet power if the element is resisted, a plethora of Yin DEF debuffs, a strong Slice Scaling (especially on Last Word) and a serviceable Killer range including God, Beast, Fairy, Human, Parallel Presence, Tengu and Oni, Lr Aya does have what it takes to deal heavy damage given her Killers land, leaving enemies to feel the wrath of her mighty axe.

Awkward Quartet of Elements

While her ability to deal more damage if said element(s) are resisted by that enemy, unfortunately, having 4 elements to juggle isn’t exactly convenient for Lr Aya. With Earth appearing 4 times on Spell Card 2 and Last Word, Wood and Metal scattered across both Shots and Spell Card 1 (Metal appearing once on Last Word) and Fire slightly appearing on both Spell Cards twice and 1 time on Last Word, there is going to be that layer of awkwardness when it comes to breaking, although it is at least mitigated by her Burn break potential.

Focusing in Plain Sight

Appearing frequently in her bullet lines is a good chunk of Focus DOWN on specific enemies. This is rather niche in terms of damage distribution on enemies, but it may have its uses here and there if there is a specific enemy you want to take more of any succeeding All-Targeting damage. This doesn't do much against just one enemy, but again, this may or may not be taken advantage of from time to time.

Limited Offensive Buffs

Despite her supportive capabilities including Yin ATK as well as having lots of Yin DEF debuffs to work with, Lr Aya’s Yin ATK buff only has 2 Stages of it on Skill 1 which is handy, but can only go so far, especially if said target ends up being fully broken, thus losing all buffs and debuffs. CRIT ATK falls in a sort of similar situation, although not as bad from a selfish standpoint if certain 3P bullets on either Lr Aya’s Focus Shot, Spell Card 1 or Last Word connect, increasing her own CRIT ATK by 2 stages.

Nitori (Lr)

Lr Nitori Kawashiro is a Technical-Class Friend who has constructed a strong and self-sufficient kit including support via Yin ATK, CRIT ATK and Accuracy, Freeze anomaly breaking, Freeze/Paralyze buffs for herself and a strong handful of Killers.

Well Rounded Kappa Kit

When first looking at Lr Nitori, she has what you need in a cohesive kit, from self-sufficiency, to strong team support, to a great Killer range. Self-sufficiency includes her strong Yin ATK and CRIT ATK buffs just from Skills alone (either by conventional means or anomaly buffs on herself), support in the form of more of the above buffs as well as Accuracy (4 Stages from Skill 2 and Spell Card 2 Pre-ATK), and of course, a great handful of Killers including Youkai and Parallel Presence to name a few.

Pseudo Ice Breaker

Having access to 2.00 Spirit Power from Skill 3 off the jump, Skill 1 inflicting 3 layers of Freeze to all enemies and Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK inflicting another 2 layers of it, resulting to at least 5 potential Freeze anomalies inflicted, primed to be broken at 3P turns out rather well for Lr Nitori, and shows she has what it takes for Freeze anomaly breaking and inflicting.

Unfocused Foes

A lot of bullet lines in Lr Nitori’s kit have Focus DOWN debuffs, but they aren’t for Lr Nitori herself, but rather for specific targets, of course being present on any Solo-Targeting attacks. Maybe it’s possible to make good use out of this when it comes to how Lr Nitori or an ally goes about an All-Targeting attack and how the damage is distributed between enemies for optimal purposes, but it’s hard to make use of it all the time.

Cucumbersome Elemental Kappacity

Usually, 2 elements commonly appearing in a Friend’s kit is adequate for one, since having a secondary element to fall back on for consistent breaks there can be helpful. In Lr Nitori’s case, while it’s not the end of the world, there is a mix of Metal, Wood and Water there. Her Focus Shot, Spell Card 1 and Last Word are Metal-Focused, her Spread Shot and Spell Card 2 are Wood-Focused, and Water serves as a lesser element in all of the above.

Skill 3’s 7 Turn Maintenance

It looks like Lr Nitori and Goki will have a tedious time when it comes to waiting for Skill 3 to finish cooling down after usage. The effects are great, but sadly the cooldown duration isn’t, as 7 Turns is a long time that might not even last that long in a good chunk of battles.

Surprisingly Low Max Damage Kappacity

At first, it looks like nothing can go wrong with this version of Nitori Kawashiro, she has anomalies, breaks, support, self-sufficiency, Killers, and…damage? Ironically, this Attack-Class Friend has a lower max damage ceiling compared to some other units, like her fellow Pseudo Shikigami, Lr Aya. It’s possible this won’t be too detrimental in the grand scheme of things, but maybe it could be an issue against enemies with absurdly high HP, similar to what we have seen in Sun EX.

Keine (H5)

H5 Keine Kamishirasawa is a Support-Class Friend who is in the history books as a provider of handy team buffs such as Spirit Power, Yin ATK, CRIT ATK and Barriers.

Supportive Sensei’s Spirit

Wanting future generations to match her capabilities, H5 Keine is full of tips and tricks for her allies to shine. Providing beneficial teamwide buffs such as Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, Barriers, Spirit Power and Accuracy across Skills, Spell Card effects and even her ability does not go unnoticed. On top of that, these Skills have short cooldowns ranging from 3-4 turns, meaning that she can definitely keep these buffs coming in longer fights, which then you’ll notice how useful it is to gain 0.25 Spirit Power every turn via her 3rd Passive.

Hakutaku Flare

Being able to buff her allies is beneficial, but so is being able to provide Burn anomaly utility! Through her Burn inflictions on all her enemies via Skill 3, Second Spell Card’s Pre-ATK, and even whenever she gets inflicted with this anomaly, this can either be used to take advantage of enemy Yin reduction or for H5 Keine to break these anomalies via her Second Spell Card and Last Word, either being accessible at 2 boosts and will work on all enemies. There is also an additional Freeze anomaly break via her First Spell Card at 3P, working on a specific enemy.

Not Quite in her Element

The main elements H5 Keine will want to focus on are Star and Fire, the latter especially being the case in her Last Word which has 4 Fire and 2 Star. That said, there are a few other elements scattered around that she isn’t exactly going to be able to take advantage of, such as Water, Wood, Earth, and Metal.

Lacking a Killer Instinct

While H5 Keine has quite a few Killers to work with, it may be a case of quantity over quality here, as her overall range doesn’t hit a whole lot of enemies. With Human, Moon, Lunar Capital, Bibliophile, Religious and Collector being among the best of the bunch, it’s not the most impressive. That said, her CRIT ATK buffs she gives to her allies could be rather helpful should an ally both require them and be able to connect her Killers.

Reimu (A7A)

A7A Reimu Hakurei is a Technical-Class Friend who takes advantage of Freeze anomalies, Wood Breaks, and great damage potential you’d expect from the Wonderful Shrine Maiden of Paradise.

Powerful Shrine Maiden Spirit

A7A Reimu comes up as a well rounded option if you need to exterminate some annoyances in your way. She has a high Yang ATK of 1870, solid amounts of Spirit Power to work with, buffs in Yang ATK and a bit of CRIT ATK, great Killer range and a 25% boost in power if her elements (mainly Wood) are effective against the enemy. On top of that, she can provide a little support along the way, such as Accuracy, Yang DEF, Spirit Power, Yang ATK and a Barrier.

Fantasy F-F-Freeze?

Despite the weather conditions not in A7A Reimu’s favor, she is very good when it comes to Freeze anomaly utility, such as if it’s inflicting herself with them, and by extension buffing her defensive stats via Ability. However, she can also inflict them upon enemies from Skill 2 or Spell Card 1, she can easily break them when using her Spread Shot, Spell Card 1 and Last Word. On top of that, she can even manage to remove Binds/Stat debuffs after using her Spell Card 1!

Might Need Help With CRIT ATK

Due to how well-rounded A7A Reimu is in terms of her kit, there aren't a whole lot of downsides. However, she doesn’t have a whole lot of CRIT ATK to work with (barring her Last Word), and while she does have a little CRIT DEF debuffing to work with on her Spell Card 2, she will need Story Cards and external support to bring out the absolute best in her potential.

Sakuya (A7B)

A7B Sakuya Izayoi is a Technical-Class Friend that can demonstrate her self-sustainability with Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, Spirit Power and great damage potential.

Self-Sustainable, yet Strong Servant

A7B Sakuya is great at making sure she can provide the important buffs for herself in order to bring out the high numbers against a good chunk of her enemies. With her Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, Spirit Power, CRIT DEF debuffing on enemies and a strong range of Killers to work with, you just can’t go wrong with A7B Sakuya’s kit! It’s also worth noting a few other things, such as Skill 3’s Yang ATK and CRIT ATK buffs are also served to her fellow allies as well as her Ability making those Yang ATK and CRIT ATK buffs even stronger thanks to Freeze and Paralyze anomalies inflicted on her boosting her own offensive stats.

Stunning Anomaly Inflictions on Foes, Maid to be Broken

A7B Sakuya’s anomaly breaking is decent, all things considered. With the Freeze anomalies inflicted on her Skill 2 and her Spell Card 2, she can potentially break a lot of Freeze anomalies (slight RNG on Spell Card 2 is worth keeping in mind). You could also theoretically use her Last Word to break both Paralyze and Freeze anomalies at 3P, meaning that the collective inflictions of both on her foes could result in a Full-Breaking Last Word (or you could just use it for damage, that won’t disappoint you). On another note, she can also Stun an enemy via Spell Card 1 at 3P, a card that also has 4 Moon breaks.

Elemental Breaks are a Little Flawed

This has been an issue with both A7A and A7B Sakuya, but it is what it is. A7B Sakuya’s main element is Moon, which appears frequently, but also has Wood and Metal appear, but not very often, thus not being able to take much advantage of them, so in other words, A7B Sakuya will mainly be focusing on her Moon breaks.

Merlin (A6)

A6 Merlin Prismriver is an Attack-Class Friend who trumps the competition with offensive buffs and debuffs the Yang DEF and CRIT DEF of enemies, while also subjecting an enemy to Poison and Paralyze inflictions/breaks.

Powerful Poltergeist

Enemies that may lock horns with A6 Merlin may find themselves being subjected to high amounts of damage, especially at 3P. From her solid Killer range (most notably Youkai), to generally high damage potential, A6 Merlin is primed for power, as expected from an Attack-Class Friend.

Harmonious Balance of Offense, Support and Debuff

Not only can A6 Merlin be a powerhouse, but she is able to shoehorn in some handy support here and there, such as Spirit Power for the team as well as CRIT ATK, and even quick bursts of Yang ATK. In addition, she can also do her part in debuffing the Yang DEF and CRIT DEF of her competition which can not only benefit herself, but also potentially other allies, mainly Yang ones and/or ones who will hit their Killers.

Dissonance in Elements

Like how a live performance or a piece of music may have clashing instruments that get in the way of the full composition, A6 Merlin has to juggle 3 elements (Fire, Sun and Metal) that are constantly clashing with each other, whether it be in her Shots, Spell Cards or even to a lesser extent, her Last Word. While Fire is arguably the most abundant element here, A6 Merlin doesn’t find herself competing with the best Festival Fire breakers due to the Metal and Sun bullets getting in the way.

One-Track Minded Poltergeist

Another potential inconvenience with breaking is on the anomaly side of things too. While this isn’t an issue if focused on a single enemy, it could be awkward against multiple enemies. This is because 4 layers of Poison are inflicted on a single enemy with Skill 2, and 4 layers of Paralyze are inflicted on a single enemy with Spell Card 2's Pre-ATK while an additional 2 more are inflicted on its bullet lines. While some of Spell Card 1’s bullets lines can inflict Paralyze on all enemies, it’s still awkward to work around regardless, and there is the additional barrier of needing 3P to pull off Poison breaks on Spell Cards or Paralyze breaks on Spell Card 2.

May Struggle Maintaining Yang ATK Buffs

Despite the helpful Yang DEF debuffs in A6 Merlin’s kit, if for whatever reason those aren’t in play or aren’t as effective and she has to rely on Yang ATK buffs, unless she has Story Cards or other allies supporting her, she is going to struggle a lot with them in general. This is because her only ways of gaining it are given to the team by Grazing as well as with her Last Word’s Pre-ATK, and she can give herself a little boost in it with her Spread Shot Bullet lines. Regardless, these aren’t the most ideal ways of gaining it, and they don’t even last long, so definitely keep this in mind.

Lunasa (A6)

A6 Lunasa Prismriver is a Technical-Class Friend who strings along Poison anomaly inflict/break potential, a decent mix of Fire and Moon elements, and a fairly well rounded mix of ways to set up her damage.

Strings of Self-Sufficiency

A6 Lunasa is rather well rounded when it comes to setting up important buffs for herself. From 4 Stages of Yang ATK for herself via Skill 2, to lots of CRIT ATK buffs when Grazing or through a Pre-ATK of Spell Card 1 or Last Word (which all can be granted to the team), to Accuracy buffs for the team, to even Yang DEF buffs for her Hard Scaling. A6 Lunasa’s strings of various effects she can bring to the table make her a very balanced musician and Friend!

Violin Poltergeist’s Power Play

They say it’s the quiet ones to watch out for, and that definitely applies to A6 Lunasa, as her damage potential is rather strong and with the above, she can use that self-sufficiency to help bring out the damage needed, like with strong Hard Scaling on her Last Word as well as strong Killers mainly spearheaded by Youkai and Soul.

Breaks and Encore

A6 Lunasa also has a few other tricks up her sleeve, like with potential Bind Removal on Skill 1, Barrier restoration either for herself or for allies, and benefits from Poison and Paralyze anomalies as they will provide her defensive buffs. Speaking of anomalies, she can inflict 2 layers of Poison on all enemies also through Skill 1, then inflict 2-3 more with Spell Card 1 and break them via the same Spell Card as well as her Last Word, both at 2P, so A6 Lunasa can inflict and break at least 4 Poison anomalies onto her enemies.

Elements Wood Need a Fine-Tune

Fire and Moon are the main elements that A6 Lunasa is working with, and she does a fine job with them. However, you will notice there are little bits of Wood in them too, and she doesn’t quite make much use of them compared with Fire and Moon. In most cases, this isn’t going to hurt a whole lot, however, it is something to note.

RNG in Kit via Multiple Means

Unfortunately, in a game like Touhou LostWord that is geared towards farming, A6’s Lunasa’s uncertainty of 1-2 Bind Removals/Stat Debuffs on Skill 1, the 1-2 Barriers gained for herself via Skill 3 and the amount of Poison anomalies inflicted on her enemies via Spell Card 1 ranging from 2-3 may come as a bit of an issue for some, especially if you plan to use A6 Lunasa for farming. That said, it can still be possible to work around, and in clear content, it’s not going to be a huge factor, but this is worth keeping in mind regardless.

Miyoi (C3)

C3 Miyoi Okunoda is a Technical-Class Friend who debuffs enemy CRIT DEF and Evasion, breaks Freeze Anomalies after inflicting them and supports her Yang Attack teammates.

Long Duration CRIT Buffs and Debuffs

An experience with Miyoi is one to not be forgotten (ironic). She can inflict multiple sources of CRIT DEF and CRIT Evasion debuffs on enemy teams lasting up to 5 turns long. Her allies benefit the same, with Yang ATK and Crit ATK buffs going up to 4 turns long. These long lasting durations give her the flexibility of extending team strategies as needed.

B-B-Brain Freeze

Watch out for that Dr Eirin she’s serving up! Miyoi has multiple sources that inflict Freeze Anomalies on enemies via Skill 1’s inflictions, with her Second Spell Card both inflicting them and breaking them in a single breath.

Unfocused Elements, Odd Killers

Although Water features heavily in her kit, she shares her other bullet lines with Moon and Star, with her Last Word holding all three elements. This lack of focus takes away from her breaking and damage potential, splitting it up with potential resistances that enemies may have. Her killer range also fails to address this, having to rely on Human, Mistress, Aquatic, Swimsuit and Summer Killers which aren't as far reaching as others.

Yuugi (W5)

W5 Yuugi Hoshiguma is a Technical-Class Friend who can lock horns with her enemies thanks to her helpful mix of support and debuffs, while continuously providing herself a Barrier for 3 turns.

Helpful Mix of Support and Debuffing

W5 Yuugi is very capable of providing multiple means for not just herself, but allies to benefit from. Whether it’s the Yin ATK and CRIT ATK buffs for the team, or the Yin DEF, CRIT DEF and Evasion debuffs on all enemies, all of these means achieved by her Skills or Spell Card Pre/Post-ATKs can be rather handy for other allies, especially Yin ones.

Unlimited Barrier Works

What W5 Yuugi is able to do to make her stand out is her Skill 3’s Barrier increase for herself. However, this doesn’t just last for 1 turn which means that instead, W5 Yuugi will gain 1 Barrier every turn for 3 turns. In addition, W5 Yuugi can also provide the team 2 Barriers with Spell Card 2’s Post-ATK, making her a rather useful Barrier provider, both for herself and for allies.

Nio-Oni Sign “Anomalies, Strength, Disorder and Spirits”

The anomalies that W5 Yuugi can work with include Burn/Blind ones inflicted both on herself and on enemies. As for the ones on herself, the offensive buffs are a source of her strength as they can buff her Yin ATK and CRIT ATK even further, which on top of W5 Yuugi’s mastery of Barriers, she can keep these up by inflicting Burn anomalies via a Skill and various bullet lines. As for her enemies, she can inflict Burn anomalies onto enemies, for them to be broken. While we are about to get into some disorder-like territory when it comes to this Nio-oni below, with enough Spirit Power, she can do a lot of Burn breaking as well.

Accuracy Buff vs Evasion Debuff

While Accuracy buffs are welcome and in most cases preferred over, this is replaced with Evasion debuffs via both Skill 1 and Spell Card 2’s Pre-ATK. Should an enemy be fully broken lose a gauge, these Evasion debuffs are removed which may mean she will need support with Accuracy, such as through a certain other Nio-oni Friend.

Heavy Reliance on Effective Elemental Damage

Ironically, the Nio-oni that is notorious for her great physical strength has some issues when it comes to both her elemental distribution and her weak damage output. With her Ability allowing her effective elemental bullets to get a 45% boost, which is a great amount, unfortunately, her main element being Wood finds itself clashing with other elements being Earth, Star and Metal, and if her target or targets don’t have a weakness to Wood, W5 Yuugi’s damage will really fall flat, although a strong Killer range mitigates it a bit. Maybe a certain Relic with Wood Weakness infliction can ensure her damage stays strong…

Kanako (W2)

W2 Kanako Yasaka is a Support-Class Friend who keeps the faith for her team by providing them buffs in Yang ATK, Yang DEF, CRIT ATK, Spirit Power, Barriers and Accuracy, as well as coming with a large amount of Spirit Power gain potential and Wood breaks.

Moriya’s Official Supportive God

W2 Kanako is a Support-Friend through and through, and she comes with a good chunk of helpful ways to benefit them, especially the Yang ones. From Yang ATK, to Yang DEF, to CRIT ATK, to Spirit Power, and to Accuracy, it can really prove useful! On top of that, they can also be long, fruitful buffs that can both last up to 4 turns and can grant up to 4 levels of it! An ally potentially lacking from at least 1 of the above will definitely appreciate the faithful benefits from this Tiny God!

Mountain of Spirit Power

On top of the above, W2 Kanako has access to additional Spirit Power benefits for herself on top of for the team. With Skill 1’s 1.50 Spirit Power and Skill 3’s 1.00 of it, she gets to 3.50P off the jump, with her selfish Skill 1 and supportive Skill 3, that access to 3P and beyond helps a lot, especially since Skill 1 has a 3 Turn Cooldown! However, alongside her aiding further with Spell Card 1’s Post-ATK, her Ability allows her to benefit from Freeze and Paralyze anomalies by gaining 0.20 Spirit Power for every layer of either getting inflicted, which W2 Kanako can do for herself with some of her own bullet lines.

Electrifying Amount of Wood Breaks

W2 Kanako has an exceptionally large amount of Wood breaks to work with, commonly appearing in both Shots and both Spell Cards. With 5 lines of it on her Spread Shot, 4 lines in her Focus Shot, and 6 lines on lines on both Spell Cards 1 and 2. If any enemies are weak to Wood, or you have a certain Relic Ghost with Wood Weakness infliction, the breaks will be coming and damage will be effective!

Wooden Eggs in an Elemental Basket

As amazing as W2 Kanako’s Wood breaks are, should any target, or targets not have a weakness to Wood, there isn’t exactly anything to fall back on in terms of elements (her Last Word has 1 line of Earth, Metal and Water each), although there are some slight ways of inflicting and breaking Paralyze anomalies to back it up.

Tiny by Stature, Tiny by Killing Power

One thing especially holding back W2 Kanako unfortunately is her Killers not quite being super strong in comparison to other Friends. Ones like Human, Beast, Beast Youkai and Fairy are decent and can land on some enemies in key stages, but it’s not as notable of a range as other ones out there. To add to that, her general damage on her Last Word, due to some factors such as lack of Hard Scaling appearing commonly and a lacking boost in elements effective/resisted against enemies, isn't quite as huge as other Ultra Festival Friends out there. But who knows if W2 Kanako will grow up to be a real powerhouse one day!

Yukari (A6)

Yukari Yakumo (Scarlet) is a Speed-Class Friend who breaks boundaries with low cooldowns on her Skills, helpful team Support and some beneficial Sun and Earth breaks.

Boundary of Skills and Cooldown

When using any of A6 Yukari’s 3 Skills, you’ll definitely appreciate their quick cooldown duration with very helpful effects. Skills 1 and 2 only have 3 turns of downtime, with Skill 3 being used every other turn! On top of that, the support across the two Skills include Spirit Power, Agility, Accuracy and even a Barrier every 3 turns! It would have been awesome if the Yang ATK buff on her Skill 2 wasn’t selfish, but good thing her Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK and Grazing makes up for that with their team-wide effects!

Greatness in Power and Breaks

A6 Yukari is just fantastic with what she does when it comes to dealing breaks, whether it be Sun and Earth elements or her handy Poison anomaly utility, especially on her Spell Card 1 where she can both inflict and break them on all enemies. Her Sun and Earth elements also get a 20% boost in power if they are resisted or effective on said enemy. This takes us into her greatness in damage dealing, as A6 Yukari shows those below her how it’s done by showing off her great Killer range (Youkai), slight Yang DEF, Evasion and CRIT DEF debuffs across her Spell Card 2 and Last Word, and with a high Yang ATK stat at 1875, you can expect great things from this Scarlet-themed Sage!

Needs CRIT ATK Buffs

Unfortunately, A6 Yukari does miss out on CRIT ATK in her whole kit. This is mitigated a little with her Last Word’s CRIT DEF debuff, but Story Cards and external support will definitely fix this, and will help take more advantage of her wide Killer range.

Yuuka (A6)

Yuuka Kazami is a healer role character, who is focused around nuking with Sun elements and has some additional utility.

Powerful sun nuke

As befitting of the one who hangs around the Garden of the Sun frequently, Yuuka’s sun breaks, as well as damage potential are all great. Thanks to her large amount of Sun breaks as well as good access to Youkai killer, Yuuka can do extremely well against common enemies.

Good at enabling and breaking barriers

With her skills inflicting anomalies, Yuuka can break both Poison and Burn anomalies. While her spell cards primarily break poison, she can help enable burn breaks due to the in-line effects that her attacks have.

Heavy focus on a singular element

While it can be taken as a strength, too much focus on an element can make her rather cumbersome in more difficult content, and Yuuka has this problem with her focus towards Sun elements, albeit compensated by her killer range.

Low utility

Despite her 3rd skill having powerful effects tied to it with a dispel and 2 party barriers, Yuuka’s utility is not particularly impressive due to the high cooldown on the skill, as well as overall weak supporting ability.

Yuyuko (A6)

A6 Yuyuko Saigyouji is a Heal-Class Friend with Bind removal, Barrier Restoration, a little bit of team support, solid offensive power and can inflict and break Poison on enemies.

Unbound Barriers of Life

Being a Healer, A6 Yuyuko has some tricks to help keep the team healthy, like with HP, Barriers and Bind/Stat Debuff removal all on Skill 3. Usually, we see a Skill give a team 2 Barriers, but this one takes it that step further with it being 3 Barriers instead of 2, and if you need more, there is Spell Card 2 Post-ATK to fall back on, albeit it’s 2 Barriers this time, but it will still help in its own way.

Deadly Damage Potential

Like a lot of the A6 Friends who we don’t jump to think of when it comes to the Scarlet Mist incident like Alice, Yuuka and Yukari, A6 Yuyuko shares the same Killers as them, being Youkai, Scarlet Devil Mansion, Maid, Magician, Devil, Vampire and Undead. Mainly carried by Youkai, these can do some good against a good amount of enemies, especially with enough setup. A6 Yuyuko is also rather self-sufficient with Accuracy, Yang ATK and possibly Yang DEF in some cases.

Night Sakura of Poison Anomalies

A6 Yuyuko is also able to do her part to help out by inflicting and breaking Poison anomalies on her enemies. Right off the jump, she can inflict a specific enemy with 5 Poison anomalies and break them with her Solo Spell Card 1 at 2P (2 layers on all enemies on Skill 1, 3 layers on Spell Card 1 Pre-ATK). An alternative would be to use her Spell Card 2 if 3P is reachable, as it will be able to break 2-4 Poison anomalies on all enemies, depending on who is targeted individually for Poison anomalies. As an additional bonus, her Last Word is capable of breaking Burn, Poison and Freeze anomalies all at 3P.

CRIT ATK was Nether Found

The one thing stopping A6 Yuyuko from thriving in self-sufficiency is her lack of CRIT ATK, which would be so useful to her given her solid Killer range. That said, that is the only thing she is really missing out on if she is looking out for herself, otherwise, her supportive capabilities are fine at best, with Spirit Power on Skill 1 being rather helpful and may struggle with stacking up the team’s Yang ATK and Yang DEF from Grazing and Boosting, but CRIT ATK is ultimately the main issue here.

Skill 3 Takes a While to Blossom

As useful as Skill 3 is, an 8 Turn cooldown is just not something we can just ignore since in most scenarios, we can probably only see this Skill being used once. You aren’t going to want to use it straight away to really make use of those 3 Barriers given to the team, and it is also the only source of Party Bind/Stat Debuff Removal, so it really is a case of “use it wisely” because 8 turns is a long time. It’s like waiting for the Saigyouji Ayakashi to be in full bloom…

Sakuya (A7A)

A7A Sakuya Izayoi is a Speed-Class Friend who perfectly provides priority for the team, grants swift Agility, Yang ATK and Accuracy for the team, keeps her Spirit Power up and enjoys her Metal breaks.

Sakuya’s Spirit

Like some Sakuya variants that came before, A7A Sakuya knows how to keep her Spirit Power up, and this is demonstrated by using her Skill 3 and all her Spell Cards. Her Last Word takes it a step further, also providing 1.00 Spirit Power to the team after it is done. This might be the only way to naturally support via Spirit Power, but her ways of aiding her allies don’t end there.

Maid to Thrive

Whether her team benefits from her buffs or not, A7A Sakuya is also able to do what it takes to make sure her attacks connect. Across her Skills, her team buffs include Yang ATK, Agility, Accuracy and she has a Spell Card that will decrease the Yang DEF of all enemies despite being a Spell Card. for herself though, she can further buff her Yang ATK extensively when Boosting, with her aforementioned Spirit Power helping a lot. Anyone weak to Metal elements will especially feel the pain A7A Sakuya can potentially inflict upon them.

Conjurer of Many Tricks

A7A Sakuya doesn’t just deal damage, as her Skills are actually interesting. Their combination of fairly low cooldowns (3 Turns for Skills 1 and 2, 4 Turns for Skill 3), and being able to use Skill 3 to allow her whole team to go first in their priority bracket. This can also be fun to mess around with, even for whatever allies would also be granted this, but for A7A Sakuya specifically, she can also guarantee a Stun on an enemy via Focus Shot, making for a stunning display of gimmicks to work with, to say the least.

CRIT ATK Hasn’t Maid an Appearance

The main thing holding A7A Sakuya back is her nonexistent CRIT ATK buffs, which as a unit with a great Killer range (most notably Youkai), this is an unfortunate flaw in her kit. It’s not something external support can’t fix, but natural CRIT ATK would have helped A7A Sakuya a lot if it was there.

Let Sakuya Have a Break…

Another thing Sakuya falls short on is her breaking in general. For elements, her Metal breaks are not bad by any means, however, the Moon and Water breaks scattered in her kit are very hard to take advantage of. As for anomalies, her Freeze and Paralyze anomaly utility allows her to benefit from Agility, Accuracy and Evasion buffs, but the way A7A goes about inflicting and breaking anomalies onto enemies falls a little short. Being able to inflict Freeze anomalies on Skill 2, only to be able to break them with her Last Word at 3P, compared to her Spell Card 2 both inflicting and breaking Paralyze anomalies on all enemies could clash with those aforementioned Freeze anomalies, and this isn’t mentioning the slight RNG with the Paralyze inflictions too, potentially posing a problem. All in all, there is definitely a sense of awkwardness in her breaking, but it’s not a be-all or end-all case.

Reisen (B5)

B5 Reisen Udongein Inaba is a Defense-Class Friend who provides a great mix of offense and defense with Hard Scaling benefiting the former and unrivaled tanking capabilities for the latter.

Blinding Breaking Bunny

B5 Reisen's breaking potential is definitely above average due to both Spell Cards having 3 Moon and 3 Star breaks. On top of the consistent Star and Moon distribution, she can also break Blind anomalies via Spell Card 1 and Last Word, but the way those anomalies are applied by B5 Reisen can be achieved only via Spell Card 2.

High Damage via Hard Scaling and Killers

B5 Reisen can both dish out major damage from the start of turn 1 or when setting up, all thanks to her Youkai Killer or crazy Hard scaling on her Last Word. Many elements of her kit, from her skills to buffs from Boosting to spell Pre-ATK effects, contribute toward maximizing her Yin DEF buffs to make her damage go up very heavily. She can also buff her own Yin ATK via Skill 2 and Last Word.

Unbreakable Tank With Defensive Support

All of the elements that increase B5 Reisen's Yin DEF in her kit end up making her reach the cap of 10 levels of Yin DEF UP. However, additional utility comes in the form of the party-wide buffs to both Yin and Yang DEF in her skills, along with a Barrier on Skill 3. Even the Yin ATK debuff on her first spell can be taken advantage of to decrease the damage she takes, further helping her tanking ability. Finally, a shoutout has to be given to her second Passive, which decreases the damage Reisen takes by 75% when at full HP. Thanks to Absorb bullets and the 70% HP heal on her Skill 1, it is very easy to abuse this skill and make her even tankier.

Lacks Offensive Support and CRIT ATK Buffs

It is the unit type she is classified with, but many other powerful Friends at the top have some sort of offensive buff to provide to the entire party. On top of that, B5 Reisen needs external CRIT ATK support to really take advantage of her Killer range, especially Youkai Killer, and even lacks substantial defensive debuffs to indirectly buff party members. Still, her defensive utility and elemental access is so high, she remains to be a great Friend in her own right.

B
Hecatia (L1)

Hecatia Lapislazulil is a Destroy-Class Friend who is simply about devastating damage, especially with her Spell Card 2 and Last Word. She also has what it takes to easily increase her own Spirit Power, Accuracy, Yin ATK, CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy.

Devastating Damage Dealer

Whether it be her Last Word capable of wiping out an enemy, or her Spell Card 2 demonstrating how powerful Spell Cards can be, Hecatia lives up to her reputation quite well. On top of that, she also has that sought after Gensokyo Killer that covers over half of the game’s cast! Her Spell Card 2 has been regarded as another Last Word simply as a result of its deceptively immense power, so just imagine what her Last Word can do to a specific enemy.

Provides Herself the Buffs she Needs to Thrive

Spirit Power, Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, CRIT Accuracy, even Accuracy, Hecatia manages it all! She can buff Yin ATK via Skill 2 and Spell Card 2, CRIT ATK, from Skill 1, CRIT Accuracy from Skill 3 and Last Word, and even her Ability to take Poison anomalies to increase the 3 aforementioned buffs is taken advantage of quite well, also self inflicting Poison via Skill 1. Hecatia’s Ability fun doesn’t end there, because Freeze layers are converted to Spirit Power, which 2 of her Skills grant her a total of +1.40 Spirit Power just from Freeze anomalies (on top of her Spell Card 1’s conventional Spirit Power boost), and she can even boost her Accuracy simply from Boosting as well as from her Last Word. Hecatia can even restore her Barrier count from Skill 3 if she still wants to take advantage of those Poison anomaly buffs. Safe to say, Hecatia has it all figured out, as she can welcome her foes to hell with her power.

Slight Inconsistency in Elements

Hecatia’s break potential, while full of elements, is a little inconsistent with them. From 2 of Moon, Sun and Star on Spell Card 1, to 3 of Moon and Star on Spell Card 2, to 4 Fire and 2 Star on her Last Word. It can be a bit awkward to know if Moon on Spell Card 2 should be the focus, or Fire on her Last Word, as those will get the most mileage damage-wise, but Star does still appear frequently.

Skill 2 Might Leave Friends in the Cold

While Hecatia personally benefits from self-inflicted Freeze anomalies across 2 Skills by turning them into Spirit Power, one of these Skills inflict them to the entire party, which might be a hindrance when it comes to turn order, but if inflicted on other allies who benefit from them could be a great benefit.

Team Buffs are Somewhat Limited

Aside from the CRIT Accuracy on Skill 3 and the Yin ATK on Spell Card 2, Hecatia isn’t able to do too much for the team sadly, but it might be possible to use her Spell Card 2 effectively alongside Yin Friends.

Can’t Inflict or Break Anomalies on Enemies

While her Spell Card 2 has a 35% chance to inflict Burn, Poison and Freeze on bullet lines, that is quite literally all the anomaly action Hecatia will see on her enemies, meaning it’s simply a destructive damage game with Hecatia, simple as that.

Momoyo (L1)

Momoyo Himemushi, is an absolute force to be reckoned with. You can expect nothing less from someone that enjoys combat, and does their best when faced by a strong opponent.

Huge Yin Attack Stats

Being a FES Friend with amazing Yin ATK stats, she can deal lots of damage and has less obstacles for her offensive potential.

Amazing CRIT Accuracy

Reaching -8 CRIT Evasion on her opponents on turn one and having plenty of attacks to reduce it even further makes her able to CRIT a lot.

Amazing access to Metal and Earth

Momoyo takes great advantage of both Metal and Earth in multiple ways, such as her Solo targeting Spell Card that is fully Earth and an All-Targeting Last Word that is fully Metal. Both Shots also pack quite a bit of both elements too.

Access to Poison anomaly infliction and breaking

With her Spread Shot breaking Poison, her Focus Shot inflicting this anomaly, Spell Card 2 inflicting a potential 3 poison layers to every opponent that can be broken with the same Spell Card at 2P, her Ability to reflect any Poison anomalies along the way, and of course, her Last Word breaks poison too! Momoyo is really good with her handling of Poison inflicting and breaks in general.

Accuracy is Somewhat Lacking

As arguably one of the best (if not, the best) L1 Friend in the game, Momoyo has so many strengths, but there is just one problem: Her Accuracy issues. Despite them being accessible in her Focus Shot and Spell Card 2 Bullet Lines, these aren't going to be enough to save her, and she will need to dig deep for Story Cards and external Support to make sure all her bullets land.

Yuuma (L1)

Yuuma Toutetsu is an Attack-Class Friend who devours her enemies with Water and Metal breaks, damage boosting via Yin ATK and CRIT ATK, her Gensokyo Killer and her extensive Agility debuffs.

GOAT of Anomaly Immunity

As of Yuuma’s release, there are now only 2 Friends who cannot be inflicted by any anomalies. However, Yuuma takes it a step further, and naturally as a result of being able to absorb anything, she can absorb all 5 anomalies and turn any of those layers into 0.20 Spirit Power. This makes her a well-rounded pick for teams with allies whose kits include party anomaly infliction, and it gets her Spirit Power up even more.

Killer Taotie

Just like the other 2 Matriarchs that came before, Yuuma is eating well with Gensokyo Killer to take advantage of. All the damage increasing buffs and debuffs she can bring to the table definitely helps make more use of it, and while her personal CRIT ATK buffs are a bit lacking, that’s something that team support and Story Cards can easily fix up, and once they are fixed, those frequent CRITs will be satisfying. On another note, if you somehow cannot hit your enemy with the aforementioned Gensokyo Killer, she also has Animal Realm, Soul, Treasure and Underground to fall back on.

In Her Element, But Anomalies on Enemies are Lukewarm

Yuuma’s vast amount of Water and Metal breaks are not to go unnoticed. Water breaks are found 4 times via Focus Shot, Spell Card 2 and Last Word as well as 3 times via Spell Card 1, and Metal ones can be dug up through Spread Shot 4 times, Spell Card 1 also being 3 times, and Spell Card 2 and Last Word both being 2 times. That said, while the Burn anomalies she can inflict via Skill 2 could possibly help Yuuma as a result of the enemy’s Yin stat reduction, she does struggle with breaking those anomalies outside of Spread Shot and Last Word, although if you’re just using her for damage, this probably won’t be a huge downside.

Ibaraki Douji’s Arm (L1) is a Destroy-class Friend who can rally her party’s Crit while wreaking havoc on the battlefield.

Critically Acclaimed Friend

Ibaraki’s Arm has a knack for singling out enemy weaknesses, with the ability to boost both Crit ACC and Crit ATK for her entire party to dizzying heights. Her own lines feature the powerful Youkai Killer alongside a few others to help her hit broad swathes on Gensokyo’s populace, as well as Explosive bullets that give her a chance of landing crits on enemies with heavy Yin or Yang DEF (bullet line dependant). Keep her stocked with Spirit P and soon you’ll be partying on the smoldering ashes of your enemies’ remains.

Burn Baby Burn

Friends with the ability to both drop and break Anomalies in a single breath are always cherished. Ibaraki’s Arm does this on her Spellcard 1 which also hits ALL enemies, leaving them with much fewer barriers than before.

Needs Yin support, odd Element balancing

Ibaraki’s Arm is very heavily weighted towards landing Crits, with very minor Yin buffs on her end. You will want to fill this gap with allied supports, or Story Cards to keep her Yin ATK levels healthy. Its also hard to pinpoint any particular element for her to break, with some awkward choices in her kit.

Tenshi (A6)

A6 Tenshi Hinanawi is an Attack-Class Friend with the heavenly gifts of a strong Killer range, great Hard Scaling, Freeze anomaly inflicting and breaking and solid self-sufficiency.

Killer Catastrophe in Bhava-Agra ~ Wonderful Power

A6 Tenshi is what one would expect from an Attack-Class Friend. Her Killer range is impressive with Gensokyo Killer as the highlighted Killer, her CRIT ATK buffs are vast with some extending to the party a 33% increase in bullet line power if said bullet line(s) can connect with any target’s weaknesses, great Hard Scaling supported by Yin DEF buffs, and some Yin DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs to soften up enemies for them to be dealt more damage. A6 Tenshi will not disappoint when it comes to pure damage.

Ice Breaker From Above

The Water Web wielder likes her Freeze anomalies, whether it’s onto herself (adding to Yin DEF buffs above) or to enemies, which through Skill 2, Spell Card 1 Pre-ATK and various bullet lines (including the same Spell Card). While her Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK doesn’t seem impressive with just 1 Freeze anomaly in all targets, there are more in her bullet lines to back this up just before the Freeze break is triggered. This takes us to her break potential, with her Spell Card 1 and Last Word breaking Freeze enemies of all enemies at 3P, while her Focus Shot doing the same to a single enemy at 2P. With Skill 2 inflicting 3 layers of Freeze on all enemies, Spell Card 1’s Pre-ATK adding 1 layer to that, and 2 bullet lines inflicting Freeze on all enemies before the break is triggered, 6 Freeze anomaly breaks are possible assuming A6 Tenshi is at 3P when it comes to Spell Card 1.

Selfish Self-Sufficient Celestial

Looking at her kit, A6 Tenshi is more than capable of fending for herself, whether it’s from the vast buffs in Yin DEF and CRIT ATK, or the Spirit Power increases from her Skill 3 and both Spell Card Post-ATKs. With the Spirit Power buffs in question going hand in hand with her Yin ATK buffs when Boosting, A6 Tenshi will have no issues recharging, and she also doesn’t struggle with Accuracy buffs as Skill 3 covers that for her.

Elemental Disarray

If elements become an important factor whether it be for breaking, or for effective damage, her elemental distribution may be awkward to work with. Her Spell Cards primarily consist of Earth and Water (the latters is scattered in other attacks), Fire and Wood appear in her Spread and Focus Shots respectively and her Last Word is primarily Metal. This could be a potentially awkward factor, or no big deal depending on if A6 Tenshi is powerful enough to overcome that situation.

Limited Yin ATK Buffs

Barring the Yin ATK gained from Boosting as well as the Yin DEF buffs achieved through means such as Spell Card 2 Pre-ATK, A6 Tenshi sadly struggles with keeping her Yin ATK intact. Without Story Cards or external support, she has a bit of a difficult time with keeping up her Yin ATK, although her handy Spirit Power gain makes her likely to boost more often, thus buffing Yin ATK more at least for that turn.

Marisa (A7A)

A7A Marisa Kirisame is an Attack-Class Friend who has Star, Water and Fire breaks and can buff her offensive stats such as Yang ATK and CRIT ATK very well.

Flashy Firepower

A7A Marisa is what you’d expect in an attacker, has Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, Accuracy, Spirit Power and a great Killer range (includes Youkai, Soul, Fairy and Winter) to blast away her enemies! While her support has some selfish traits, she proves she can be very self-sufficient when it comes to doing what she set out to do, and if her elements are effective, they even get a 30% boost!

Breaks and Tricks

Speaking of elements, she has a great amount of Star breaks, with Fire and Water bullets laced in. Due to the winter season, that’s not it as her f-f-firepower comes with some Freeze anomaly inflictions and breaks! Her inflictions come in the form of her Skill 2 and her Spell Card 1 and her Freeze breaks are performed via Spell Card 2 and Last Word. She has a few other magic tricks up her sleeve which include healing her own Barrier anomalies, providing the team an extra Barrier from Skill 2, and takes 35% less damage from both Missile and Light bullets thanks to 2 of her Passives!

Yin ATK Buffs go to Waste

A7A Marisa may have stocked up on 1 too many different kinds of firepower. She makes great use of her Yang ATK and CRIT ATK, but her Yin ATK buffs she gives herself with her Skill 3 and Spell Card 1 unfortunately goes to waste. These are also selfish too, so she can’t use these to support any Yin-based allies. With her kit greatly favoring Yang over Yin, these selfish buffs won’t see much use sadly.

Selfish Ordinary Magician

To briefly go over all the ways A7A Marisa can support the team, she has her team Barrier via Skill 2, CRIT ATK from Grazing, Agility thanks to Spell Card 2, and Yang ATK courtesy of her Last Word. Other than CRIT DEF debuff on her Last Word as well as the aforementioned Freeze anomalies, that’s pretty much it, and while the limited support that this magician provides could help out other teammates, you’re most likely bringing her for her self-sustainable firepower.

Reimu (A7B)

A7B Reimu Hakurei is a Speed-Class Friend who breaks the ice with Poison anomaly utility, great power and immense Wood breaks.

Spring in Reimu’s Step

A7B Reimu has some great damage potential when it comes to what Killers she can access, as well as being able to buff Yang ATK, Agility, Accuracy and Spirit Power. She also has a very large amount of Wood bullets to work with too, and on top of that, she can also grant Barriers to the team via Spell Card 2 if necessary.

No Time to Cool Down

Having 2 Skills with a 3 Turn cooldown duration and another Skill with only 2 Turns is definitely very helpful, and with effects such as Agility, Accuracy, Yang ATK, and most importantly, Spirit Power to take advantage of, A7B Reimu will usually be finding herself ready to go when it comes to Spirit Power gain!

Poison Pitfall

A7B Reimu can be very awkward to handle when it goes about her way of using Poison anomalies. With her being capable of inflicting Poison to her allies every 2 turns, it can really hurt any Yang allies she is with. That said, if paired with friends who can benefit from it, this can be a positive thing. Aside from that though, she does have some slight Poison anomaly breaking utility on Spell Card 2.

Struggles with Fundamentals like Support and CRIT ATK

While A7B Reimu does have quite a bit of Agility and Accuracy support to work with, those can only take you so far, especially if they don’t have the longest durations. Her Yang ATK is selfish, and her Spirit Power support is very minimal, but on top of it all, she is completely missing any form of CRIT ATK which would help a lot when hitting Killers (although CRIT DEF debuffing on Spell Card 1 could help out in some situations).

Marisa (A7B)

A7B Marisa Kirisame is a Destroy-Class Friend who loves her firepower in terms of CRIT buffs for herself, CRIT debuffs on enemies, Burn anomalies and lots of Fire breaks.

Critical Spirit

Being able to reach 3P with just her Skill 3 is a great way to jumpstart A7B Marisa in battle, and more natural Spirit Power coming from Spell Card 1 helps a good bit too. On top of that, having the Killer range she does, most notably having Youkai means she will be able to land Critical Hits on a good portion of enemies, and as a Destroy-Class Friend, she has effects that boost her CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy while debuffing the enemies’ CRIT DEF and CRIT Evasion, making these Critical Hits the more impactful.

Flaming Firepower

A7B Marisa has firepower, not just in dealing damage, but with her Fire breaks and her Burn anomalies she can inflict and break! While her main element is Fire, she also has Star and Wood breaks to a much lesser extent, although we won’t see a whole lot of use in them compared to Fire. An enemy can receive 4 layers of Burn via Spell Card 1 and have them broken in the same turn assuming A7B Marisa is at 3P with this attack, and Burn anomalies on all enemies can also be broken via her Last Word.

Needs More Yang ATK Buffs

While A7B Marisa does have Yang ATK to work with via Skill 3, that’s pretty much it for natural Yang ATK buffs she can grant herself. While this is something that other allies and Story Cards can help mitigate, it may be a hindrance to have to bring her Yang ATK buffs up more to get the most out of her damage. On top of that though, she also struggles with Accuracy too, as it’s nowhere to be found for her. Even with the slight Evasion debuffs on bullet lines, she will still need more Accuracy one way or another.

Not Much Support

A7B Marisa can support the team by giving them team-wide CRIT Accuracy via multiple means. Unfortunately, that’s where the support ends if you are not taking into account her CRIT DEF, CRIT Evasion and Evasion debuffs as well as Burn anomalies that she can bring to the table.

Mokou (A8)

A8 Fujiwara no Mokou is a Speed-Class Friend with lots of Fire and Sun breaks, Burn anomalies, Slice Scaling with lots of Agility buffs and some additional immortality-themed utility.

Strong Breaker

A8 Mokou’s distribution of elements is very handy all things considered. With vast Fire and Sun break potential (slightly more on the former), the consistency in her elements will help a lot in capitalizing on any weaknesses to the two elements in question. She also has some slight anomaly breaking to back this up too.

Reach for the Killers, Immortal Range

With Killers such as Youkai, Soul and Human covering a good chunk of foes, A8 Mokou is sure to land many CRITs on a wide range of foes. Backing up those ones though are also some lesser ones, but include Shrine Maiden, Magician, Maid, Half-Human Half-Phantom, Person of Hourai, Sage, Vampire and Ghost, although there is a high chance the aforementioned Youkai, Soul and Human Killers will have already covered those smaller ones. That said though, A8 Mokou is pretty much set to deal a good chunk of damage in most situations, and the strong Killer range solidifies it for her.

Anomaly Action on a Single Foe

If you’re against multiple enemies, anomaly breaking them all isn’t going to be as simple since her only Burn Anomaly inflictions on Skill 3 (4 layers) and Spell Card 2 (3 layers) are both going to be on a single target. While potentially breaking 7 Burn anomalies right off the jump is huge, it’s still unfortunate that A8 Mokou won’t be able to anomaly break multiple foes with ease, as her Freeze and Burn anomaly breaks are relegated to her All-Targeting Spread and Focus Shots respectively.

Eternally Lacking CRIT ATK Buffs

Despite her strong Killer range, A8 Mokou somewhat struggles with capitalizing on this herself, since there are simply no CRIT ATK buffs in her arsenal. While there are some CRIT DEF debuffs on some bullet lines on one of her Shots as well as her Last Word, it’s still rather lackluster in the grand scheme of things. That said, if A8 Mokou gets that CRIT ATK support via other Friends or Story Cards, this problem will be patched up. To an extent, you could also argue her Yin ATK is lacking as well, but not as much as with CRIT ATK.

Junko (B2)

B2 Junko is an Attack-Class Friend who uses versatile anomaly breaks, good team utility, and has amazing damage potential.

Amazing Anomaly Breaks

B2 Junko has a ridiculously high amount of anomaly breaks. Spell Card 1 inflicts Burn and breaks Poison and Burn at 1P and 2P respectively, Spell Card 2 inflicts Paralyze on a target, then breaks Freeze, Paralyze and Blind at 1P, 2P and 3P respectively, then her Last Word breaks them all! On top of this, Skills 1 and 2 subject an enemy to 3 layers of Freeze and Poison respectively and has a Passive that always inflicts an enemy with Blind every turn.

High Damage Potential + Killer Range

B2 Junko carries what you would typically expect in a strong attacker. She has both Yin ATK buffs and Yin DEF debuffs, a fair amount of Hard scaling on her Last Word and an immensely wide Killer range to seal the deal, meaning those CRITs are being landed all day and every day.

Decent Skill Utility

While B2 Junko's focus isn't to buff her allies, she ends up doing well to support them anyway. Skill 3’s buffs are party-wide, providing a good amount of Yin ATK, Accuracy, and even some Spirit Power to all allies. Additionally, the Yin DEF debuffs and anomaly inflictions that B2 Junko applies to foes are indirectly buffs to other Friends as well due to being able to take advantage of the crippled opponents. Just be mindful of their limited turn durations.

Cannot Be Fully Broken in a Conventional Battle

It is even impossible to Full Break B2 Junko! She has no elemental weaknesses and is immune to every anomaly in the game, meaning she just cannot break her own barriers. It is unfortunate that she does not gain buffs from Grazing, as there would be no concern about being Full Broken after using all of her barriers. Do note however that if Junko’s Ability is sealed as a result of specific VS Divergent Spirits Special Rules, she becomes susceptible to being anomaly broken. However, that won’t be an issue much of the time.

Breaking Potential can End up Being Awkward

When it comes down to it, an elephant in the room regarding B2 Junko’s kit is her Spell Cards and their elements just vanishing. There is her Spread Shot with 6 Star Bullet Lines, but outside of that, even her anomaly inflictions could find themselves clashing with each other, especially if you don’t plan them out accordingly.

Lacking CRIT ATK Buffs in Kit

With an incredible Killer range, it’s a shame B2 Junko kit doesn’t take more advantage of those guaranteed CRITs due to her lacking CRIT ATK buffs. And while her Spell Card 1 reduces the CRIT DEF of her enemies a bit, it’s not quite satisfactory enough sadly.

Ringo (B3)

Ringo (B3) a Technical-Class Friend who balances a range of roles, supporting Yang teams, increasing her side’s survivability and dropping heavy Anomalies on both allies and enemies alike.

Major Anomaly Gamer

Ringo drops Paralyze on enemies with two of her Spell Cards, while breaking them with all of them. She can also land Burn with her Focus Shot, with her Last Word breaking those as well.

Stun lock meta

The ever useful guaranteed 3P Stun on a Spread Shot makes Ringo ideal for scenarios where you need to stall for a few turns.

Enables Yang attacking teams

Ringo can boost your team’s Yang ATK and Crit ATK via Skills, Grazing and Spell Cards.

Low defensive synergy

With part of Ringo’s kit dedicated to lowering enemy Yang and Yin ATK, you will likely have to deal with situations where those debuffs get wiped when she, or any of her Friends inadvertently Full Breaks the enemy. This is especially easy to do, with her penchant of dropping and breaking Paralyze barriers on her opponents.

Lacks damage

Ringo’s Last Word suffers the unfortunate side effect of being divided cleanly in half by both Element and bullet type. A minor setback, given that there’s a card that buffs both bullet types at once, though with stronger Story Cards likely to show in future, this may limit her growth potential. Her lack of Killers cements this as well, targeting a very specific niche of enemies only.

Beware team inflicted Anomalies

Ringo’s electrifying personality may not be appreciated by all Friends. Bring along allies who benefit from Paralyze barriers, or be careful with popping Skill 1 in battle, lest someone ends up being stunned mid-turn.

Hecatia (B3)

Hecatia Lapislazuli (B3) is a Support-Class Friend who bolsters attackers of all types, keeping them safe from harm while also exterminating any daring enough to attempt to cross her threshold.

A Gate to Powerful Offensive Buffs

Stored within this form of Hecatia is a bountiful source of buffs that lean towards Yin attackers. She can easily max out party Yin ATK and DEF levels (great for Friends who have Hard scaling) via a combination of Skills, Spell Cards and Graze/Boosts. Slicing Friends also benefit from Agility buffs, and Yang attackers aren’t left behind with her Spell Card 2 providing Yang ATK buffs. Additionally, she fills out team Accuracy and provides a constant source of Spirit P, providing teams the firepower they need to excel.

A Defensive Gatekeeper

Meiling now shares her unique role with Hecatia, who brings defensive buffs and other forms of protection to the table. Asides from giving her team Yin DEF, she can also reduce Moon Damage to the team by 50%, and recover team Barriers. Additionally, Hecatia takes 35% less damage from Youkai enemies; leaving a broad swathe of Gensokyo unable to do more than dent her exterior.

Shockingly Broken

Hecatia breaks Paralyze barriers with frightening efficiency. Spell Card 2 will inflict and break 2 layers of Paralyze on all enemy targets, while her Last Word doubles this, inflicting and breaking 4 whole barriers at once. This is very certain to result in entire teams being Full Broken, leaving them open to retribution from her teammates should any survive the initial hammerfall.

Unfocused Elements

Hecatia struggles with carrying the mantle of her three roles, which materialize as Moon, Star and Sun bullets. This lack of focus means that she’ll be dividing her damage potential between elements that may not be effective against enemies, reducing her total output.

Yorihime (B3)

Yorihime Peace Temple has everything that an outstanding offensive nuke needs: Spirit Power gain, CRIT ATK buffs and CRIT DEF debuffs to back up her Killers, Yang ATK buffs, Accuracy support, and more. Even better is the fact that either most of these buffs are applied to the entire party or the debuffs can be taken advantage of by other Friends. That combined with her large assortment of elemental and anomaly breaks makes Yorihime worthy of the highest tier in the game.

Barrier breaking with elements and Paralyze/Freeze/Poison anomalies

B3 Yorihime holds a pretty varied range of elemental breaks, from the 0P Metal on her Focus shot to her spells. 3 Star breaks on her second spell is impressive, but she also has 3 Fire and Wood breaks on her first spell as well as a fully-Moon Last Word! If that wasn't enough, she can also break Paralyze anomalies with her first spell (an anomaly which she inflicts upon using the spell), Freeze anomalies with her second spell, and Poison anomalies on her Last Word.

Insane damage output on Moon-only Last Word

CRIT Attacker on Large Amount of Cast along with CRIT Support

The Moon-only nature of her Last Word increases the ways she can support the damage of her Last Word with story cards, along with just decimating any foes weak to Moon. Along with the decent Slice scaling on the attack, the bullets have Killers against youkai, humans, and even more to ensure critical hits on a wide variety of the cast. This is where the CRIT DEF debuff of her Last Word and CRIT ATK buff on her third skill come in to optimize her damage even more.

Supports Self and Party with Offensive Buffs and Defensive Debuffs

The party can recieve both the Yang ATK UP from her first skill and the CRIT ATK UP from her third skill, helping increase the damage of allies' Killer bullets or just critical hits in general. On top of that, Yorihime is good great at debuffing the foes, particularly through her second skill, in which many Yang Friends can join in the nuking potential. She even comes with partywide Accuracy support whenever she boosts, making her being at 3P even more powerful.

Lunasa (B5)

B5 Lunasa Prismriver is an Attack-Class Friend with vast Wood and Water breaks, Paralyze anomaly utility, Yang/CRIT support, and wonderful electronic melodies.

Music is Power

Despite her chill and reserved exterior, B5 Lunasa is more than capable of bringing in the necessary Yang ATK buffs for the team as well as both Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs to help allies, mainly Yang based Friends. She also has the Spirit to carry on keeping herself energized via Spirit Power by multiple means (1.20 on Skill 3, 1.40 on Spell Card 1 Post-ATK, 2.00 on Last Word Post-ATK and even 0.40 for the team through Skill 1). On top of that, if her enemies are weak to Wood and Water (mainly the former), those bullets by B5 Lunasa get a 25% boost. She is just destined for international success, even in cyberspace.

Electrifying Performer

B5 Lunasa also enjoys her usage of anomalies, mainly around Paralyze. She can gain 0.20 Spirit Power if inflicted with Burn, but she will have to rely on teammates and in some cases, her enemies to make use of it. Back to Paralyze though, she will enjoy her offensive buffs from this, especially Yang ATK and CRIT ATK. The latter becomes more beneficial given that her only source of CRIT ATK buffing is through her Last Word Pre-ATK (although there are CRIT DEF debuffs like mentioned above). She does also have a bit of Paralyze breaking via a Spell Card and Last Word if you want to do that too.

Somewhat Limited Killer Range

While having Human and Soul Killers are by no means awful, it does seem that she won’t be getting those guaranteed CRITs on all kinds of enemies. Although the aforementioned Killers are backed up by others like Capital, Lunar Capital, Thunder, Engineer, Phantom, Machine and Musician. Make sure you know your enemies’ tags to see if any of B5 Lunasa’s Killers can land for maximum viewer retention.

Mystia (H5)

H5 Mystia Lorelei is a Destroy-Class Friend that specializes in Wood and Star breaks, Anomaly utility via Blind and Paralyze inflicting/breaking, offensive buffs to herself or her team, and debuffing her enemies.

Breakthrough Singer

When it comes to breaks, H5 Mystia works very well with using her Wood and Star breaks to her advantage (slightly more toward the former), as well as Paralyzing and (night-)blinding her enemies, with a way of breaking both with a fully powered Second Spell Card or Last Word. Her Ability also means she gives Paralyze anomalies to whoever inflicts it onto her, which can also be shockingly helpful.

High Voltage Atmosphere

H5 Mystia also has a mix of support and debuff to use to her advantage, such as team CRIT ATK buffs from her Skill 3 and Grazing, as well as Yang ATK and Agility support via Skill 2 and First Spell Card Pre-ATK respectively. As for debuff potential, it could come in handy as she can debuff the CRIT DEF, Yin DEF, Evasion and CRIT Evasion of her enemies.

Full Potential is Extremely Situational

Despite her natural Yin ATK stat at 1905, minor support and some convenient debuffs, H5 Mystia will sometimes need the stars to align perfectly in order to truly shine, because she lacks her own CRIT Accuracy, and to some extent, Yin ATK buffs. On top of that, her Killer range is rather limited (Soul, Lunar Capital, Lunarian and Musician to name a few) which makes her CRIT ATK buffs not always effective and her Ability really drives home how hit or miss she can be when it comes to taking the spotlight. As a Wood and Star elemental user, if these are effective on her target(s), they will be 40% more powerful, but if they are resisted instead, they will deal 15% less damage. Due to the reasons above, you’ll have to be very careful with how you go about using H5 Mystia, especially in terms of enemies, their Tags and Weaknesses.

Rin (S5)

S5 Rin Kaenbyou is a Speed-class Friend who hits fast and heavy, Blinding her opponents while supporting Yin Friends and keeping them safe from harm.

Powerful Yin attacker with Water/Earth, Blind setting and breaking

Rin’s ability to ramp up her Yin ATK and Agility means she can very quickly build up the momentum she needs to wreak havoc on enemy teams, especially when taking into account the Slicing scaling on her Last Word. Healthy element breaks coupled with sources of Blind breaks on almost all her attacks will result in enemy teams very quickly being full broken under her assault.

Good Yin support means her teammates can follow suit while staying guarded

Rin doesn’t have to be the period at the end of your attacking sentence. Feel free to continue the attack with your teammates after providing them with the Yin ATK and Agility they need to crush the enemy. Should battles stretch longer, Rin has several sources of Barrier recovery for her team as well.

Low cooldown on Skill 1 means easy chaining of buffs and constant supply of Spirit P

Rin’s Skill 1 can be refired every 2 Turns, meaning she can reapply Agility and Accuracy buffs to her team constantly, while fuelling them with Spirit P for harder hitting attacks.

Can remove Debuffs or Seals on herself.

Rin’s second Skill doubles up as purification for any pesky Seals or Debuffs landed on her. Especially useful when looking to solo challenging content without needing to also cleanse fellow team mates.

Friendly Burn is a double edged sword

Rin’s 3rd Skill has the side effect of also inflicting Burn on her allies. Consider pairing her with Friends who appreciate this anomaly, such as Utsuho (S5), Reimu (F1) or Megumu.

Lacks powerful Killers

Rin’s spread of Killers are fairly specific, allowing her to perform well on certain groups of enemies but not on others, limiting her damage output.

Flandre (L80)

Flandre is a defense role character, who focuses primarily on Star breaks and protecting the team with guards.

Powerful star breaker

Flandre can deal a lot of Star breaks, not only with her Spell Cards, but also with her Basic Shots. This can enable some potential gimmicks which only Flandre can do, especially with her Basic Shots targeting all enemies.

Defensive capabilities can buy the team extra turns

With her power to outright prevent Star and Moon damage for the party, defense buffs, and abilities that can make any damage taken at full health to a negligible amount, Flandre can absolutely buy your teams some extra turns to complete a challenging fight.

Lackluster damage

One of Flandre’s biggest flaws, ironically, would be her damage output as while her Story Card can compensate for some damage loss, it will never compare to being able to hit common killers like Gensokyo Dweller or Youkai.

Mokou (L80)

L80 Fujiwara no Mokou is a Heal-Class Friend who provides great party utility, elemental breaks, anomaly breaks, and huge Barrier restoration.

Strong and Widely Accessible Breaks

Paired with The Witch of Scarlet Dreams, her Skill 2, and with the right setup, L80 Mokou is able to provide either herself or her team with an anomaly break every turn with her Spell Cards, along with her Spell Card effects providing massive amounts of team utility and enemy debuffs. This is also not even mentioning her insane Fire break potential, with both her Spread Shot and her Last Word having 6 lines of Fire!

Good Variety of Party Buffs

L80 Mokou’s party buffs come from every which-where in her kit. Her Spell Cards provide the team with HP recovery and Yang DEF up, meanwhile her skills and passives allow her even more team HP recovery, even more Yang DEF up, bind and stat debuff dispels, Yang ATK up, and even Accuracy up. Aside from party Spirit P up, it seems there’s almost nothing L80 Mokou can’t bring to the table.

Eternal Firepower

Due to the aforementioned Yang ATK buffs and power L80 Mokou has going for her, she isn’t a pushover if she has to go from protecting the team to going all out. On top of dealing 30% more damage with effective elements (Fire, Moon, Star), and with a decent Killer range (despite Gensokyo not being on Line 1 on Last Word), the immortal human is no pushover if she has to bring the heat.

Eternal Skill Struggles

L80 Mokou’s Skills, while very beneficial, aren’t perfect sadly. Whether it's from a lack of flexibility from Skill 2, or Skill 3 having a long cooldown of 8 turns, you definitely have to be careful when using L80 Mokou’s Skills. As Skill 2 has a multitude of handy effects that you might want to use one effect and not all, which are Yang ATK, 2 Bind Removals and Spirit Power, it might be tough to time everything correctly when it comes to trying to make optimal usage of all 3, and this isn’t even going over if you just want to remove 1 Bind instead of 2.

Kanako (L80)

Kanako Yasaka (L80) is a Technical-Class Friend who expertly wields Anomalies to her benefit and against her opponents before laying down devastating firepower.

Anomalous Faith

L80 Kanako’s mastery of Anomalies is evident in the way she wields elements of the Land and Sky equally. She can break 3 Poison barriers on a single target, and can set up a whopping 6-7 Paralyze breaks on ALL enemies on Turn 1. Her Last Word can break both these Anomalies, adding Burn and Freeze to the mix. Finally, she converts Burn, Freeze and Paralyze into a cornucopia of buffs, making her a great addition to most Anomaly teams.

Mountain of Damage

The Goddess of Wind and Rain can unleash a torrent of damage, with Yang ATK and CRIT ATK buffs that come close to maxing her out. Her Killers are nothing to sneeze at, covering the ever popular Gensokyo tag, while also hitting Gods and Parallel Presences to great effect. This is all even in addition to effective elements getting a 30% Boost!

Divine Support

The Divine L80 Kanako doesn’t necessarily set out to put others before herself, but that doesn’t stop her from successfully providing her allies some beneficial buffs such as CRIT ATK, Yang ATK, Accuracy, Yang DEF, Yin DEF and even some do a little bit of debuffing on enemies via Yang DEF and CRIT DEF.

Elemental Soup

L80 Kanako has a colorful assortment of Elements spread throughout her kit. She hits both Wood and Star on her All-targeting Spell Card 1 while Spell Card 2 focuses entirely on hitting a single target with Earth. Her Last Word carries Wood, Metal and Water, similar to her Spread and Focus Shots. This lack of focus is of smaller consequence due to her ability to break barriers efficiently through Anomalies, but will limit her damage potential when hitting ineffective elements.

Remilia (C3)

C3 Remilia Scarlet is a Defense-Class Friend who can stand strong against Youkai enemies, bring Fire and Moon breaks, Freeze up her enemies and showcases Rank II Yin ATK and Yin DEF.

Cannot Be Thwarted

When it comes to what makes a great tank, it goes without saying you’ll want them to easily take what comes their way (and in some cases, hit back twice as hard). C3 Remilia can do great with that, as she provides Barriers for the team, Focus up for herself, Bind Removal for her subordinates, both Yin and Yang DEF support, and even Yin DEF II on Skill 3. On top of that, she grants 100% Youkai resistance, allowing her team to take 0 damage from them for that turn. If for whatever reason you are unable to Graze, and you have to take a Youkai’s attack head on for that turn, this helps deal with that kind of situation. Do be mindful of anomaly and elemental breaks though, as in C3 Remilia’s case, you just need to worry about Star element and Poison anomalies.

Freezing Fate

Having the access to Fire and Moon elements that she does is always great, but the huge abundance in Freeze utility cannot go unnoticed! Skill 3’s way of giving out 4 Freeze anomalies to all enemies, her Second Spell Card giving an extra 3 layers of it, and ways of breaking them all via the same Spell Card and Last Word can all really go a long way when it comes to potentially full breaking your enemies with ease. With instant access to 3P, this is definitely a fun way for C3 Remilia to break the ice!

Strength in Charisma

In a Touhou LostWord first, C3 Remilia pioneers Yin ATK II via her Last Word as well as normal Yin ATK being achieved via Boosting. With additional methods of CRIT DEF reduction onto her enemies, ways to keep her Spirit Power up and on top of it all, her great Hard Scaling conversion including some bullets reaching 200%, her potential in terms of raw damage could go beyond the moon, maybe all the way up to Saturn in fact!

Limited Rocket Range

As mentioned above, the CRIT DEF utility can definitely come in handy…provided her Killers land, however. She has a large quantity of them, but unfortunately, she is missing the quality that would make them be able to compete with many other powerful friends. Younger Sister, Servant, Swimsuit, Summer, Sun, Aquatic, and a good chunk of location-themed Killers.

Very Lacking in Offensive Support

Aside from Spirit Power support in a Spell Card, C3 Remilia lacks multiple buffs that could prove useful for the team: Accuracy, CRIT ATK, even to some extent, Yin ATK outside of Boosting, making them not last long naturally. The lack of Accuracy in general hurts C3 Remilia due to not always being destined to connect all her bullets.

Flandre (C3)

C3 Flandre Scarlet is a Debuff-Class Friend who brings huge Freeze anomaly utility, raw attack power and of course, a myriad of stat debuffs including Accuracy, Evasion, CRIT Evasion, CRIT DEF, Yin DEF and the elusive Yin DEF II.

Great Debuff Potential

We expect nothing less from a Debuff friend, the stats of her enemies go down a lot, whether it’s something as situational as Accuracy and CRIT Evasion, to the more beneficial Evasion, CRIT DEF, Yin DEF, and most importantly, Skill 3’s Yin DEF II, making C3 Flandre the first friend in the game to use a Rank II debuff! Enemies will definitely have their guard down with this one of a kind vampire preparing to win everyone over.

Style, Sunscreen, Spirit and Support

Surprisingly enough, C3 Flandre has what it takes to give her fellow teammates a leg up with all kinds of buffs, even if some aren’t long-lasting. These can include Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, Agility and Spirit Power, which are all helpful in one way or another. The Spirit Power in question was already abundant for C3 Flandre herself, so having a Skill that gives some out to allies is never a bad thing.

Foes Frozen by Flandre

Keeping cool under the sunlight, C3 Flandre is able to accompany her existing Water and Star breaks with a colossal amount of Freeze anomalies right off the bat, with her third Skill inflicting 5 layers of it on all her enemies. With both her All-Targeting Spell Card and Last Word inflicting 2 layers of Freeze, you’ll find most enemies will end up being fully broken very quickly, just by this icy display. To break these anomalies, look to her Focus Shot, Spell Card and Last Word.

Killers Have Their Limits

C3 Flandre may have all kinds of Killers, but unfortunately, you can’t always promise they will hit a specific enemy. With Older Sister, Mistress, Sun, Swimsuit, Summer and Aquatic, as well as all kinds of location-themed Killers, these still don’t cover as much as ones like Youkai and Gensokyo sadly. If they are able to land, the result will be great, but if not, it might not be the most satisfying time when using Spell Cards or her Last Word.

Seija (A14)

A14 Seija Kijin is a Debuff-Class Friend who turns the tables with her debuffs through Yang DEF and CRIT DEF, with slight support, Poison anomaly inflictions and Specular Bullets across the board for the sake of reversal.

”Weak” Damage Output Shines Through

”Unsurprisingly” enough, A14 Seija is very capable of dealing a very good amount of damage! Part of this is thanks to her strong range of Killers, including Gensokyo and Youkai, which are only two of many others! As for general damage output, she is also on the stronger side in comparison to other Debuff-Class Friends. This Amanojaku has definitely flipped the script as a damage dealing debuffer!

”Expected” Yang Puzzle Piece

Of course, A14 Seija is a Yin-based Friend who benefits from Yin ATK buffs and such. However, in a similar fashion to her L1 variant, all of her bullet lines have Specular Bullets, making her Yin attacks target the enemy’s Yang DEF! Speaking of which, this rebellious reverser’s kit actually helps Yang Friends a lot with not only her Yang DEF debuffing, but with even a team Yang ATK buff, which she doesn’t benefit from herself, but Yang Friends will!

Rebelemental Consistency

Having 2 elements that A14 Seija can make good use of consistently can help a lot, especially since her Poison anomaly breaking potential isn’t the most impressive. With Wood and Star appearing rather frequently in her kit, it’s safe to say A14 Seija wood benefit against enemies weak to these two elements, but even if these are resisted, they still get a 25% boost in damage so she can still be the star when it comes to elemental distribution.

Accuracy/CRIT Accuracy Debuffs are “Miss and Hit”

Of all her debuffs A14 Seija has access to, Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs are the go-to ones. The very situational ones for clear content however, are the Accuracy and CRIT Accuracy debuffs. It’s a lot, lot harder to find a use for these, especially in farming.

”Unlimited” Doses of Anomalies

As alluded to a little earlier, A14 Seija isn’t the best at Poison anomaly breaking, especially against multiple enemies. This is because her ways of inflicting it include through Skill 3 (all enemies) and Spell Card 1’s Post-ATK (single enemy). As for breaking, the only ways to achieve this are through her All-Targeting Focus Shot and Solo-Targeting Spell Card 1, both at 2P. It’s not as impressive as even other Festival Friends’ anomaly breaking potential, but then again, debuffing first, anomalies second.

”High” Amount of Buffs

Whether it’s Accuracy, Yin ATK, Yin DEF or in some cases, CRIT ATK, A14 Seija is definitely lacking in the field of self-sufficiency. However, this is a common theme for other debuffers, albeit in the case of this “selfless” amanojaku, she does have some buffs to work with. Then again, some of those include Yang ATK and Agility which while they are team buffs, doesn’t benefit A14 Seija. Thankfully she does have some bullet lines which help her out in terms of selfish Yin ATK and Yin DEF, and her Skill 3 does help a bit with CRIT ATK. However, the biggest hole to fill is Accuracy, which should be manageable to fix when Story Cards and other team members are involved.

C
Nazrin (L1)

This little commander packs a lot of support in her arsenal, including Yang ATK, Agility, and Spirit Power for the party. Not only does she do a fantastic job at her role, but her elemental breaks for Water and Metal are very plentiful, and for General Friend standards, Nazrin is definitely one of the best.

Generally great access to Metal and Water breaks

Nazrin both has a good spammable elemental break in the form of a 0P Spread shot and good access to elements overall. Her first spell is a generally decent 3 Water breaks to all foes, while her second spell can be 4 Water breaks along with 2 Metal breaks. Her Last Word is also good at elemental breaks, having 4 Metal and 2 Water to help slap any foes weak to either element.

Decent Killers.

Nazrin has access to both Human and Youkai Killers, which covers a good spectrum of Gensokyo under her critical eye (Haha Crit joke).

A ton of support.

Every one of Nazrin's skills has a buff that can assist many kinds of Friends, from Agility on her first skill to Accuracy support on her second skill to Spirit Power and Yang ATK on her third skill. Even her spells can be used for team support, most notably the 0.7 Spirit Power on her first spell and the Yang ATK and Agility teamwide buffs on her Last Word.

Flimsy with low Yang DEF stats.

Even with a character ability that allows herself to increase Yang DEF when boosting, Nazrin's low Yang DEF can be pretty fatal when facing Yang-based opponents, as she isn't really built to tank hits. Try pairing her up with a defensive tank to ensure she survives to be a good assist.

Low Slice scaling.

On the other side of the pendulum, Nazrin suffers from weak Slice scaling, which gimps her overall damage output.

Ichirin (L1)

If Ichirin Kumoi had to enter a fistfight, then she definitely knows what to bring with her: the cloud spirit Unzan! This nyuudou is an excellent offensive tool, not only hitting very hard when using Ichirin’s Last Word, but even bringing her to 3P after enlarging himself! Ichirin supports her ally through CRIT ATK buffs, although these are mainly for herself and not other Friends. At the very least, she has a small amount of teamwide buffs and some elemental breaks to make her a nice and strong Friend on her own merits.

+ 0P Metal on Spread shot
+ Fair balance of Water and Wood breaks on spells
Ichirin’s elemental breaking is overall very strong. Her Spread shot has 0P Metal on it for spamming Metal breaks, while her spells cover two extra elements in the form of Water and Wood. While she does not excel in a single element, the high amount of Water and Wood on her spells makes her a very decent breaker at those two. 

+ Very high CRIT ATK buffing 
- Will somewhat rely on critical hits for great damage
Ichirin is a Destroy-Type Friend, naturally coming with a very hefty amount of CRIT ATK UP on her skills, Last Word, and even when Boosting. However, without very accurate Killer Bullets, little self-Yang ATK buffs, and only one CRIT Accuracy buff, she might need some outside help, either from more buffs from allies or praying to the luck gods, in order to do her maximum potential.

+ Reaches 3P immediately due to third skill
What also helps Ichirin’s damage potential is how she can just reach 3P immediately thanks to the 2.00 Spirit Power found on her third skill. This skill does have an 8-turn cooldown, but the burst-potential this gives Ichirin makes it very hard to pass on.

- Selfish attacker with very little team buffs
Ichirin is one of those Friends who gives a lot to herself (and Unzan), but little to other Friends in the party. Her only buffs for the team are Yang DEF on her first spell and CRIT ATK UP from her Boosts. At the very least, her second spell provides CRIT DEF DOWN to all foes, giving her another indirect CRIT ATK buff to the party.

Narumi (L1)

Narumi Yatadera is a Destroy-Class Friend who uses Earth and Wood breaks while using CRIT and Yang buffs, some CRIT buffs also provided to the team.

Down to Earth Breaker

For a General Friend, Narumi doesn’t hold back with her elemental breaks, especially on her Spell Cards. Both her first and second All-Targeting Spell Cards have 3 Earth and 3 Wood breaks with slightly different distributions, and as for her Last Word, an enemy will be subjected to up to 6 Earth breaks.

Spirit Power of Buddha

Narumi is very solid when it comes to the power she can display, as she provides all the buffs needed to bring the damage. From a little bit of Yang ATK, to CRIT ATK that extends to the team, to self-sufficient Spirit Power, she does her job as a potential powerhouse very well.

Next to no Anomaly Utility

Narumi being very to the point with damage and breaks might have come at the cost of anomaly potential. Only being able to break Burn anomalies via her Last Word at 3P doesn’t quite allow her to work well with allies who use anomalies unfortunately. Then again, Narumi already does a decent job with what she sets out to do, with her 2 elements and possibly high damage potential.

Keiki (L1)

Keiki Haniyasushin is a Technical-Class Friend with lots of Earth breaks accompanied with Star and Poison. She is also rather self sustainable with little bits of team support sprinkled in.

Breaking is a Piece of Cake(y)

While her shots aren’t the most impressive in this regard, her Spell Cards and Last Word are where her elements shine. Keiki is very down to Earth, but the Stars are the limit, as Spell Card 1 has 4 Earth and 2 Star, Spell Card 2 has 3 of each, and her Last Word is all Earth! On top of that, Spell Card 2 is able to both inflict and break Poison on all enemies, with the breaking at 2P. This Spell Card’s effects are scaled with boosts, as the Poison inflicts go from 2 layers at 0P to 3 layers at 3P. This Spell Card could also potentially break any existing Burn anomalies too.

Generally Balanced with Self Sufficiency

Keiki’s kit generally allows her to function reasonably well on her own, and while she doesn’t have CRIT ATK buffs, she does have ways of debuffing the CRIT DEF of enemies (more on CRIT DEF later). Aside from that, she is able to keep up her Yang ATK with relative ease, whether it be her Skill 3, Spell Card 1, or by Grazing. She also brings along Yang DEF for Hard Scaling and Accuracy for ensuring her attacks land.

Has a Decent Handful of Team Support

Back to CRIT DEF, the debuffs that Keiki can dish out through Skill 3 and Spell Card 2 may be beneficial to other allies looking to land CRITs on foes. Aside from that though, she can grant the team Yang DEF via Skill 1, Yin ATK from Skill 3 (albeit 1 turn) and whenever she Grazes, the team will get a quick boost in Yang ATK (again, 1 turn).

Killers Could be Better

It’s not the worst set of Killers in the world, and if they do land, it could contribute to huge damage, especially given her Ability to deal 25% more damage to enemies weak to her elements, but Human, Doll, Statue, Yin-Yang Orb, Engineer, Beast, Bird, Soul and Animal Realm may still struggle to cover a good chunk of the game’s cast. Otherwise, Keiki could still be a very strong damage dealer.

Mike (L1)

Mike shines best as a Yang Support member who provides Accuracy and Spirit P to her team, boosts EVASION and lays down decent Metal cover fire against the enemy.

Teamwide Accuracy and Spirit P support

Mike boosts team Accuracy with her first Spell Card and provides everyone Spirit P with her first skill. A nice little boost to ensure battles run smoother.

Empowers Yang focused teams

Mike’s third skill boosts your team’s Yang ATK and Crit ATK, while her Last Word further boosts team Yang ATK and DEF.

Support falls short of the required amount to hit 2P boosts on Turn 1

At max, Mike can only provide 0.75P up to her entire team. While not unsubstantial, this means teammates will need a little more of a push to hit 2P. This will either come from their own reserves of Spirit P generation, an ally who can give Spirit P to their team, or through hitting the enemy and taking hits on Turn 1.

Sannyo (L1)
Sannyo is a Debuff Friend honing in on her Fire and Wood breaks, Blind and Poison utility and her Yin DEF debuffing capabilities.

Breaking the Mold.

To be in her element, Sannyo only needs Wood and Fire, as she hones in on both of them, especially Fire as her Last Word has 6 Fire breaks. Her anomaly utility is also self-sufficient, finding multiple ways to inflict Blind and Poison breaks onto her enemies and breaking them, mainly with her Second Spell Card at 2P and 3P respectively.

Definitive Debuffer

Of the debuffs that are featured in this yamajorou’s hand include Evasion on her Second Spell Card, Yin ATK scattered across some of her bullet lines, and most importantly, Yin DEF as her ace up her sleeve, which can be found in her third Skill, first Spell Card and her Last Word.

Selfish and Finite Gambler

Aside from Anomalies and Yin DEF debuffing, Sannyo doesn’t provide a whole lot for her teammates to work with. Since she can only buff her own Yin DEF and Accuracy to an extent, she is reliant on external means of providing important buffs to her like Yin ATK and CRIT ATK. Should Sannyo score some CRIT ATK buffs, she doesn’t have the best hand when it comes to Killer range. With some of her more effective targets being Youkai Mountain, Collector and Noble to name a few, Sannyo and her house of cards have a ceiling when it comes to Killers.

Tsukasa (L1)

Tsukasa Kudamaki is a Debuff-Class Friend with Yin DEF debuffs, Moon and Star breaks, anomaly inflicts and breaks, and even deceptively high damage potential.

Whispers of Yin DEF Debuffs

Tsukasa has a few ways of debuffing the Yin DEF of her enemies which can definitely benefit some Yin allies. This is achieved with one of her Skills, a Spell Card and her Last Word, although only her Skill targets all enemies. That said, these are also slightly backed up by a few CRIT DEF debuffs across a few bullet lines here and there.

Deceptively High Damage Potential

If everything works perfectly for Tsukasa, she can do high damage with her Last Word, and even to some extent her Spell Cards. While her Last Word can only hit a single target, it will hit that target extraordinarily hard provided she has a strong Story Card to back her up, most notably (Incident Shrine). On top of that, make sure her Yin ATK and CRIT ATK are stacked up for the chosen target to feel the wrath of not 1, but 75 kuda-gitsunes!

75 Test Tubes’ Worth of Breaks

Despite her position as a General Friend, Tsukasa can find herself with a good chunk of Moon and Star breaks on her Spell Cards, both having 3 of each with different distributions of it, as well as 6 Star Breaks on her Last Word. Her Spell Card 2 can also break 2-3 Blind Barriers that are inflicted in the same Spell Card at 3P, as well as a total of 3 layers of Poison inflicted on an enemy via Last Word, being broken also at 3P, alongside any Blind anomalies.

Struggles to Take Advantage of Agility Debuffs

One of Tsukasa’s go-to debuffs include Agility debuffs, and unfortunately, it’s hard to take advantage of this in a lot of situations, especially compared to the aforementioned Yin DEF debuffs. It could serve as a way to help allies ensure they attack before the enemies, especially with Shots, but ultimately, it’s a hard debuff for even Tsukasa to manipulate.

Killer Range is Middle of the Road

While not having Youkai and Gensokyo Killers (which hit a vast amount of enemies in the game), Tsukasa’s collection of Killers are deceptively competent for what they are. They include Human, Mistress, Collector, Noble, Treasure, Merchant, Kappa, Yamawaro, God, Tengu and Insect. The ones Tsukasa can get the most out of would be Human, Mistress, Collector, Noble and God, covering a decent amount of enemies which may incentivize CRIT ATK buffs even more to help get that damage up. Although speaking of buffs…

Very Limited Buffs as a Whole

The only buffs Tsukasa has are some Agility buffs for the team, Skill 3’s selfish Spirit Power and Accuracy, and some CRIT ATK whenever she Boosts. While Skill 3 gives Tsukasa a bit of self-sustainability, Yin ATK and CRIT ATK buffs are very much left to be desired. However, with those buffs covered, plus assuming she is against an enemy susceptible to any Killers above, she has what it takes to deal high damage. But all in all, Tsukasa’s buffs are limited in general which means that by extension, team support is also very lacking.

Chimata (L1)

Chimata is a strong Yang Attack Friend that supplements her entire team with Yang and Crit buffs while also debuffing the enemy in equal measure.

Provides Accuracy and Spirit P support

Chimata’s third skill increases team Accuracy, while her first and second Spell Cards each boosts Team Spirit P by 0.5. She can also provide herself 1 Spirit P through her second skill, allowing her access to good Turn 1 damage.

Debuffs enemies while buffing allies

Chimata’s Spell Cards operate on a strict give and take policy. Her Spell Cards buffs all allies’ Yang ATK and DEF while simultaneously debuffing the same stats for the enemy team. Her skills add onto this, giving her team more Yang ATK while debuffing enemy Crit DEF and ACC.

Teamwide Blind setting and breaking

Chimata can inflict up to two Blind barriers on all enemies using her second Spell Card, and then break those barriers with a 2P Last Word.

Rainbow elements hurt her breaking capability

Most of Chimata’s attacks operate on a spectrum of elements, meaning she won’t ever break more than one (or two or three) elements on any given enemy, anomaly breaks notwithstanding.

Killers aren’t as far-reaching as other top-tier Friends

Chimata’s killers are focused very specifically towards the Youkai Mountain and the river that flows it, hitting an assortment of Tengus, Kappas and various residents among those areas. Her Human Killer and Moon Related Killer bullets only see use on two lines of her Last Word, giving them very little room to shine through.

Megumu (L1)

As a Speed-class Friend in Touhou Lost Word, Megumu can inflict a decent amount of Star breaks, Blind anomalies, and some evasion down to boot.

Decent buffs with Spell Cards and skills

While her skills don’t provide herself too many buffs on paper, in-line effects on attacks like her 1st Spell Card provide her more buffs to be used properly.

Decent Blind and Star breaks

She can inflict a decent amount of Blind anomalies with her 2nd skill and 2nd Spell Card, whilst also having the ability to break them with her 1st Spell Card. At the same time, she can inflict some decent Star breaks with her 2nd Spell Card and Last Word.

Low damage

Unfortunately, despite her buffs, Megumu struggles to output a great deal of damage with her Yin ATK and lack of relevant killers.

Utility is lacking

One major thing that holds her back is her lack of true utility for the party with her skills. Her main source of utility comes from her Spell Cards which don’t hold too many strong buffs aside from barrier restoration with her 1st Spell Card and Last Word.

Reimu (A6)

Reimu’s a bit of everything - solid All targeting damage, good Spell Cards for Arena, Accuracy support, and good Breaks. She lags a bit behind the highest tier of attackers, but she’s definitely great all the same.

Solid Breaks, including P0 Solo-targeting Wood on her Spread Shot

A6 Reimu is your example of an above-average breaker, covering 2 elements very well. She may have only a 0P Wood break on her Spread shot, but her spells make up a lot of Wood and Sun breaks. This comes from 4 Wood/2 Sun on her first spell, 4 Sun breaks on her second spell, and 3 Wood and Sun breaks on her Last Word.

Very high damage, in farming and hard fights alike

Reimu must have been a score-based player back in Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, since two of her skills provide Spirit Power so that she can reach 2P at turn 1. Her buffs on her skills may be simplisitc, but they are still party-wide in the forms of Yang ATK and Yang DEF UP. Topped with further Yang DEF from her first spell and the great Hard scaling on her Last Word, Reimu can easily reach some great damage numbers. It helps that she has rather decent Killer bullets, specifically Youkai-Killer.

Provides Accuracy support

Accuracy support from Reimu comes in two forms: party-wide Accuracy UP from her third skill and the Evasion debuffs on her second spell. Combined with the other skills that provide team support (especially the short 4 turn cooldown from the second skill), Reimu can definitely support Friends while still being strong in a longer fight.

Doesn’t have quite the scaling of other top tier units for harder fights

This downside mainly comes from the way the rest of the competition naturally has higher stats (Ultra Festival Friends have higher stat counts than Festivals), but Reimu will just naturally not hit as hard as the rest of the top tier competition, let alone if she's by herself. She can still dish out good numbers, but it will be smaller when compared to many Ultra Festival attackers.

Solo Stage Farms: 2-7-1, 3-3-3, 3-6-3, Future Story Card Stages

Marisa (A6)

Featuring very high damage, reasonably solid Breaks, and fantastic support for CRIT & Killer units, this scarlet mist fighting witch is a very potent Friend. About the worst you can say about her is that she can’t hit the highs that the most damaging Friends can, and that CRIT & Killer support is perhaps somewhat narrow.

Extremely damaging and frontloaded All-targeting Last Word

Marisa has a 3-1-1 bullet line spread on her Last Word to make sure enemies feel the pain immediately. On top of that, she can easily raise her own Agility for good Slice values and buff her Yang ATK for overall more damage.

Fantastic CRIT and Killer Support

Marisa doesn't directly help her Friends with teamwide buffs, instead supporting them by heavily crippling the foes' CRIT defensive stats. With a lot of CRIT DEF DOWN and CRIT Evasion DOWN on both her spells, as well as some more CRIT DEF DOWN on her third skill, Friends with great CRIT stats or just good Killer bullets will heavily appreciate the extra damage they'll get while with Marisa.

Doesn’t quite hit the damage levels of other meta units

Without any additional scaling or heavy damage niches, Marisa's damage still doesn't land her on the extreme end of most nukes.

Rumia (A6)

A6 Rumia is a Destroy-Class Friend with CRIT DEF and CRIT Evasion debuffs as well as breaking with Moon and Star as well as inflicting and breaking Blind anomalies on foes.

Lots of CRIT Debuffs

A6 Rumia’s kit is dedicated towards ensuring enemy teams are constantly subjected to CRIT DEF and CRIT Evasion debuffs through various means, helping other Friends take advantage of CRIT damage of their own.

Powerful Blind Anomaly Inflicting and Breaking

Skill 1 and Spell Card 2 inflict 2 layers of Blind on all enemies, leaving foes ripe for Blind Breaks. A6 Rumia achieves this via Focus Shot, Spell Card 2 and Last Word, all at 3P.

Consistent Moon and Star Elements

A6 Rumia is more than capable of connecting her Moon and Star bullets onto her enemies, moreso Moon. While Star still appears a little bit, such as through Spell Card 2, Moon breaks are common in A6 Rumia’s kit, especially demonstrated with her Spell Card 1 having 6 lines of it!

Struggles with Both Selfish and Team Buffs

When it comes to what A6 Rumia can provide for herself, unfortunately there isn’t a lot she can bring naturally. Limited to just team CRIT ATK for the team when Boosting, CRIT Accuracy for herself when Grazing, Yang DEF buffs for the team via Skill 3 and little bits of Accuracy in various Spell Card bullet lines. Ultimately, she will need lots of support with Yin ATK and even some Accuracy, as her only source of Yin ATK is from her Last Word Pre-ATK.

Won’t Capitalize on Killers too Often

Sadly, A6 Rumia won’t always be able to take advantage of her CRIT DEF debuffs she dishes out to her enemies, and this is as a result of her Killers not quite landing on all her enemies. While Human, Fairy and Moon Killers aren’t the worst, they aren’t going to hit as many enemies as Youkai or Gensokyo, and having the extremely niche Killers like Light and Human Village don’t quite help with that, but any humans A6 Rumia is up against that are also weak to Moon will be greatly susceptible to the dusk youkai’s devouring power.

Koakuma (A6)

Very good supportive capabilities

The cute scarlet-haired nameless devil gives it her all as a Support unit to support her party by providing a wide variety of buffs. Her Yin-based support capabilities are above average and can be convenient to have if you want to easily set up offensive buffs for the party. She is also able to support the CRIT and Accuracy department via her Spell Cards, which can prove beneficial most of the time due to how crucial both buffs are in having consistent and high damage outputs. For universal support, she is capable of adding barrier layers and granting high Spirit Power to the party, not to mention that she can easily provide 1.50 Spirit Power UP to the party through her skills alone. Her Skills are also good in terms of cooldowns but not as amazing as other Support units.

Disjointed elemental breaks

Her Spell Cards have some fragmented elements embedded within, which is usually not a good sign. However, her Spell Cards and Last Word’s main elements can be easily accessed at 2.00P so it’s a fair trade perhaps.

Patchouli (A6)

A6 Patchouli Knowledge’s primary role will be to quickly nuke the competition, especially when hitting her Human-Killer bullets on her Last Word. She can pretty easily buff her own Yin ATK via skills and even extend Accuracy, CRIT Accuracy, and Yang ATK buffs to her allies. While her elemental access is very expensive, making it difficult to focus on one element, her spells apply Burn and Poison for either more debuffs or anomaly breaks on the same spells that inflict the anomalies. These factors combined give her good synergy with many teams and make her a very valued Friend.

+ 0P All-target Water on Focus shot
- The rest of her elemental access is very mixed
Patchouli starts off somewhat strong in the elemental front with an All-target 0P Water break on her Focus shot. From there, however, her elemental access just goes all over the place, from Fire and Wood on her first spell to Water and Metal on her second spell to Fire, Earth, Metal, Water, and Wood on her Last Word. It may give her plenty of elements to use, but it makes her impractical to focus on one element for, say, an Element EX Battle Stage.

+ Practical anomaly inflictions and breaks on spells
Patchouli makes up for strange elemental breaks with very useful anomaly breaks. Her first spell inflicts 3 layers of Burn on all foes and can break those anomalies at 2P. Her second spell inflicts 2 layers of Poison on the targeted foe and can break those anomalies at 1P. Being able to cast and immediately break anomalies allows Patchouli to get some easy breaks in. On top of that, if she needs to wait for other Friends to inflict those anomalies after using their own spells, she can self-Charge with her first skill to synergize well with anomaly-inflicting allies.

+ Heavy-damage capability with her Last Word at 3P
- Backloaded Last Word means she needs 3P to do great damage
Patchouli’s heavy damage comes from her Yin-only Last Word, which holds a higher CRIT rate and Human-killer bullets at higher Boosts. When not boosting or hitting those killer bullets and lack the proper CRIT Accuracy, however, her damage will definitely be quite lacking. She can at least build up Spirit Power by herself rather easily with her third skill’s 1.75 increase, although it does have a hefty cooldown. 

+ Teamwide Accuracy and Yang ATK support on skills
- Rather long cooldown on skills
Patchouli holds some rather decent teamwide buffs on her skills, primarily the 2 levels of CRIT Accuracy UP and Yang ATK UP on her first and second skills respectively. She also grants 1 level of Accuracy UP on her second skill, something that is flexible thanks to all of the buffs’ 3-turn durations. However, the main drawback of these skills are their cooldowns. Skill 1 has an average 5-turn cooldown, but Skill 2 has a 6-turn cooldown and Skill 3 has a lengthy 7-turn cooldown. The latter may only be a self-buff, but it still stands that Patchouli can be rather slow if relied on for consistent buffs throughout a battle.

Flandre (A6)

A6 Flandre Scarlet is a Speed-Class Friend who shows the power of an Extra Stage Boss, being focused on Star Breaks, decent Burn break potential and strong damage potential.

Barrier Destroyer via Star Element and Burn Anomaly

A6 Flandre Scarlet go-to element would be Star, and she also has a little bit of Burn anomaly utility to work with. While she needs 3P for her Spell Card 1 and Last Word to break the Burn anomalies as well as 2P for her Focus Shot.

Supporting Capabilities, Mainly for Yin Friends

Thanks to her low cooldowns, A6 Flandre has the ability to support the team with Spirit Power and Yin DEF debuffs, while also providing Yin ATK by boosting herself. She is also able to boost the team’s Agility and Accuracy as well as more debuffs like CRIT DEF via Spell Card 1 and Last Word.

Great Burst of Damage, but Peaks Early

Due to the amount of Yin ATK buffs and Yin DEF debuffs that she can inflict on the enemy on her first turn, A6 Flandre can easily deal a large amount of damage from the get-go. Part of this is also due to her ability to increase damage of bullet lines effective against the enemy by 40% (mainly Star). That said, her limited Killer range (Human, Shrine Maiden, Magician, Incident Resolver, Older Sister) make her damage with setup not as impactful.

Lacks Strong Elements Outside of Star

Her elements, aside from Star, lack focus which can make her tedious to use outside of Star oriented content. It will be very unlikely to be able to take advantage of those scattered elements in the form of Earth, Metal, Wood and Fire.

Lyrica (A6)

A6 Lyrica Prismriver is a Speed-Class Friend with team support via Spirit Power, Agility, Accuracy and Evasion as well as being able to inflict/break Poison anomalies, especially on a specific enemy.

Keys of Support

Accuracy, Agility and Even Spirit Power, A6 Lyrica has what it takes to help out the team in this regard via Skills, Spell Cards and Ability. Accuracy is gifted by Boosting and by using Skill 3, Agility is granted to the team through Skill 1, Grazing and Spell Card 1 Pre-ATK, and Spirit Power for the team is gained via Skill 3 (0.25) and Spell Card 1 Post-ATK (0.85). It’s also worth noting that Skill 3 can be used every other turn so Accuracy buffs will always be there for allies, and that bit of Spirit Power every 2 turns never hurts.

Killers and Yang Buffs

Like her sisters from A6, this version of the Poltergeist Keyboardist has the same solid Killers to land surefire CRITs on a good chunk of enemies: Soul, Youkai, Dream World, Vampire, Undead, Devil, Maid and Magician are the group of Killers that A6 Lyrica can take advantage of. In addition, she can give herself a bit of Yang ATK via Skill 2 and Last Word Pre-ATK as well as debuff the Yang DEF of her enemies also via Last Word Pre-ATK and some Spell Card bullet lines.

Poltergeist Poison and Element of Surprise

Having 3 elements isn’t the easiest thing in the world to juggle, and in A6 Lyrica’s case, she has Earth, Fire and Star to work with. While the Fire element is rather solid all things considered, the elemental breaking potential in Earth and Star clashes a little. In addition, A6 Lyrica will only be able to break all Poison Barriers via Last Word at 3P, and with all enemies subject to being inflicted with Poison via Skill 1 and a single enemy hit with 4 of it (and another via a bullet line) via Solo-Targeting Spell Card 2 which can be broken at 1P. Against a specific enemy, A6 Lyrica is a strong Poison anomaly breaker, but unless you’re using her Last Word for Poison anomaly breaking, things could be awkward if you want to pull this off against multiple enemies, although being able to inflict all enemies with it via Skill 1 could be helpful for allies.

Is Team Evasion Key?

Like some Speed-Class Friends that came before, A6 Lyrica also has some Evasion buffs that the team can benefit from (as well as Accuracy debuffs via Spell Card 2 Pre-ATK), which in clear content could find some use in terms of surviving attacks should Grazing not be available. However, if you want to try farming on a specific stage, this is simply something that isn’t going to do much for A6 Lyrica or any teammates.

Critical Flaw

One thing you may have seen a notable lack of is A6 Lyrica’s absence of CRIT ATK buffs, and even CRIT DEF debuffs. If you want to help her with damage and taking advantage of Killers, definitely consider Story Cards that buff just that. It could be worth slightly buffing Yang ATK a little more while at it, but that’s a far less concern.

Seemingly Low Damage Potential

Even if CRIT ATK is accounted for and Killers are connected, A6 Lyrica struggles with damage output, especially compared to her sisters. For example, her mediocre Slice Scaling, no way of dealing additional damage with elements that are effective/resisted by enemies. That said, it might be possible to clear content just fine if using A6 Lyrica for damage, but it’s not going to be the best, especially if struggling with the aforementioned CRIT ATK issue.

Sunny Milk (A6)

A6 Sunny Milk is a Debuff-Class Friend with vast Sun breaks, helpful Blind breaking, and can debuff the Yang DEF and CRIT DEF of her foes while also Stunning them in their tracks.

Here Comes the Sun

A6 Sunny Milk has a large amount of Sun breaks she can abuse against enemies weak to Sun, mainly demonstrated by her Spell Card 2 with 6 Sun breaks potentially cast on one enemy. To back up this sole element, she can also help a good amount with Blind Breaks, especially since she can inflict 2 layers of Blind to all foes via Skill 1 and Spell Card 1, breaking them all with her Spell Card 1 at 2P, Last Word at 3P or Focus Shot at 1P.

Stunning Fairy

When it comes to Stunning enemies, A6 Sunny Milk does it better than the competition. With an easily accessible Spell Card 2 at 1P to stop a foe in their tracks as well as a Last Word relieving the need to Graze for the turn at 3P, it’s so easy to use this to your advantage.

Sneaky Support Under the Sun

While it’s not her main focus, it is still appreciated, as a small Accuracy buff on Skill 3 (which has a 3 Turn Cooldown Rate) can be the difference to ensuring the team’s attacks land. On top of that, once using her Last Word, the team gets 1.00 Spirit Power, so this could really come in handy if A6 Sunny Milk’s Last Word is used before the final turn.

Generally Struggles in Power

Whether it’s her Killers struggling to kit a wide array of foes or her lack of offensive buffs in general, dealing high damage will be something A6 Sunny Milk will struggle with. However, this does somewhat come with the territory of her being a debuffer, with some rather effective Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs that other allies can definitely capitalize on.

Youmu (A6)

A6 Youmu Konpaku is a Defense-Class Friend with decent defensive support, but with a notable mix of Fire, Water and Metal bullets, Freeze anomaly inflictions on herself and even strong damage potential.

Barriers to Come Around

A6 Youmu can keep gaining Barriers for herself with Skill 2 as well as for her team with Spell Card 1 Post-ATK, both restoring 2 at a time. On top of that, with some of the Focus UP that A6 Youmu has access to, she could use this to her advantage when it comes to taking all the important hits, playing into her role as a Defense-Class Friend. If she has to take some damage, she even has ways of healing up as well, like Absorb in some bullet lines for example.

Offense is the Best Defense

Despite her role, A6 Youmu does have the potential to hit hard when it comes to attacking and dealing damage. From strong Killers to some offensive buffs via Yang ATK to solid Hard Scaling, the potential is very much there, and with the important buffs done to maximize this, the damage will be huge.

Mix of 3 Elements

If you’re looking for A6 Youmu to hone in on a specific element, what would have to be considered is what appears on her Shots, Spell Cards and Last Word. Her Shots have both Water and Metal, her Spell Cards have Water and Fire and her Last Word has Metal and Fire. Maybe in some cases this won’t matter too much, but it could be awkward to juggle these elements around, or in other cases, one might instead focus on her Poison breaking via Spell Card 1.

80% Resistance?

Part of A6 Youmu being a defender includes her ways of providing damage resistances for the party when it comes to specific elements, a bullet type and a certain group of enemies: Moon Element and Slash Bullets from Skill 3 and Moon Element and Scarlet Devil Mansion enemies from Spell Card 2 Post-ATK. This isn’t going to be effective against all kinds of enemies and maybe other defensive buffs could have been there instead, unless you can make good use of it.

Ultimately Struggles with her Role

Despite some of the benefits you can cherry pick when it comes to tanking with A6 Youmu, she is just way too awkward with it. Firstly, for a Defense-Class Friend, her base Yang DEF and base Yin DEF are relatively low at 1275. Secondly, while she has decent damage potential, this may have come at the cost of her defensive capabilities. And thirdly, the defensive buffs she brings are a little lackluster and in some cases selfish, as while her Barrier gain on Skill 2 is handy, it unfortunately isn’t being shared out with the team. When it comes to A6 Youmu’s role, there is a bit of an identity crisis…

Critical Gap in Offensive Buffs

Since A6 Youmu surprisingly likes her offense, we may as well point out her lack of CRIT ATK in her kit, which would help a ton in her damage potential. Despite her CRIT DEF reduction on a Spell Card, a flaw is a flaw, and in addition, if for whatever reason Grazing isn’t an option, it might be a little awkward to solidify those Accuracy buffs for the team too.

Chen (A7)

A7 Chen is a Technical-Class Friend who can gain Spirit Power rather frequently, has great CRIT ATK/CRIT DEF support and can actually hold her own decently well with the help of her low cooldown Skills.

Generally Self-Sustainable

Whether it be her low cooldowns in her Skills as well as her consistent supply of Spirit Power as a result of it, or her decent mix of CRIT ATK buffs and CRIT DEF debuffs as well as even able to maintain any anomaly buffs on herself by being able to gain Barriers via a Spell Card, A7 Chen definitely has what it takes to survive and keep piling on both buffs and debuffs.

Surprisingly Decent in some Areas of Suppawt

Not only does A7 Chen have quick ways to gain Spirit Power, but both Skill 3 and Spell Card 1 grant the team 0.60 and 0.80 Spirit Power respectively! In addition, CRIT ATK buffs can even be be gained through Skill 3 as well as on her Last Word’s Pre-ATK, and in some cases, her debuffing potential in the form of Yin DEF and CRIT DEF debuffs, especially the latter, can definitely be taken advantage of rather well!

Purrplexingly Mixed Elemental Bag

A7 Chen’s lack of focus on specific elements might be a downside in some cases, but can also possibly be taken advantage of via her ability to increase damage resisted by any enemies by 30%. Her Spread Shot has 3 Earth, her Focus Shot has 4 Fire, Spell Card 1 has a whopping 6 lines of Wood, Spell Card 2 has 3 lines of both Water and Metal, and all of the mentioned elements appear again in her Last Word with Earth appearing twice. While the consistency isn’t the greatest here, at least her attacks (barring Last Word) don’t have more than 2 elements, even if varying between 5 different ones. If you’re looking for breaking barriers, A7 Chen’s access to Freeze anomalies can still mitigate any issues from her elemental management.

Skill 3 Freezing the Team. Baka Neko?

This is either a positive or a negative depending on how teammates deal with Freeze anomalies. If they are immune, unaffected by, or benefit from Freeze, this works perfectly. Otherwise, it could be a pain for them to have a chance of their turn order being messed up.

Somewhat Awkward with Accuracy and Yin ATK Buffs

While technically A7 Chen does have her own Accuracy and Yin ATK buffs appearing in her kit, what makes it awkward is that her Accuracy buffs are either available via various bullet lines, or through her Ability to inflict herself with Freeze anomalies (via Skill 3) thus increasing her Accuracy. In terms of Yin ATK, she has them on Spell Card 2 and Last Word Pre-ATKs which make this a little more manageable, not to mention that additional Yin DEF debuff potential. Conveniently enough, a certain kitsune mistress that this bakeneko looks up Supports her greatly when it comes to making up for these buffs!

Yuyuko (A7)

Yuyuko is a great support Friend who fills her team with energy while enabling Yin teams to do their best against tier enemies.

Provides Accuracy and Spirit P support

⅔ of Yuyuko’s Spell Cards provide her teammates Spirit P, while her second Skill gives them even more. Her third Skill boosts team Accuracy, covering their basics for a clean offense.

Powerful Yin support

Yuyuko’s skills and Spell Cards all contribute some measure of Yin ATK, Crit ATK and Yin DEF (useful for Hard scaling). She can further augment these stats by Boosting and Grazing, which increase the party’s Yin DEF and Yin ATK by 1 per level respectively.

Low cooldowns on skills

Yuyuko’s first and third skills both have a 3 turn cooldown, while her second skill has a 4 turn cooldown, allowing her to reapply buffs on her team swiftly.

Access to Poison anomaly infliction and breaking

With her Focus shot being able to break Poison, her Spread shot having access to 2 lines that apply the same anomaly, and her 2nd Spell Card being a potential 3 poison layers to every opponent that can be broken with the same spell card at 2P, and rarely her ability to reflect Poison will get her extra anomaly inflictions, lastly her LW that can break poison, she is able to use the anomaly to her own benefit by lowering her opponents' Yin DEF or by full breaking them.

Low Hard scaling

Yuyuko’s second Spell Card and Last Word all feature some measure of Hard scaling. Unfortunately these numbers are relatively modest, with 2 lines of 20% each on her second Spell Card and 30% on her first line on her Last Word. Her Last Word also has some Agility scaling, though her stats aren’t high enough to make good use of it.

Division of bullet types and elements on Last Word makes it difficult to optimize

Yuyuko’s Last Word is a mix of Water and Wood elements, while her bullet types are divided between Laser and Energy. With no cards available that boost all these traits at once, players will have to decide which elements and bullets they want to focus on improving with Story Cards.

Ran (A7)

Ran Yakumo, coming from the A7 universe, comes and shows her power as one of Yukari’s shikigami. While she may be subservient to the sage, don’t take her lightly, as Ran certainly proves herself worthy as a powerful ally to have. With an array of Metal breaks as well as the ability to provide a good amount of breaks, Ran can support the team through it all.

Great access to Metal breaks primarily with a decent amount of Moon breaks

With Ran’s skills and spell cards helping her generate P easily, Ran has very good access to her barrier breaks. As such, her barrier breaks can come really useful, especially if the enemy is weak to either Moon or Metal.

Useful utility

Thanks to Ran’s skills being on a low cooldown, Ran can even provide the team with 1.8P in 5 turns, which can absolutely help the team in terms of accessing their own breaks or help them augment their damage further. Furthermore, Ran also provides a substantial amount of Yin ATK, Agility, and even some Yin DEF to the party. The only truly bad part about her utility, would be the lack of sustainability on her Yin ATK as she does not extend it without a use of either a story card or Last Word.

Damage is on the lower end

One thing that does hold Ran back is her damage. Thanks to her lower range of killers and lackluster scalings, Ran can’t hit as hard as some of the more modern friends. Beyond that, her elements hold her back from being a powerful farmer in the current relevant story card stages.

Yukari (A7)

Yukari (A7) can farm multiple current Story Card Stages, has a ton of elements and high tier Last Word damage, ranking up there with some UFES. A Well-rounded Friend who fits well in farms as well as CQ.

Powerful teamwide Yin and Accuracy support

Yukari keeps herself strong through many offensive buffs of both types, as well as very good early Hard scaling on her Last Word and even other spells. She can even get up to 2P turn 1 with her third skill to do a lot of immediate damage if needed. To top it off, Yukari has a nice variety of buffs in the form of Accuracy, Yin ATK, and Yin DEF buffs on her spell, and even a barrier restoration on her first spell.

Great overall damage.

Yukari has access to Human, Youkai and Gensokyo Killers, running the full gamut of the realm and almost anyone in it. Saddle her up with Crit ATK buffs and watch the numbers roll.

Very flexible due to ease of supporting.

Not only does Yukari do a lot, but she can do a lot relatively fine on any setup. Despite being a mixed Yin and Yang attacker,she can easily buff both her Yin ATK and Yang ATK and do so well in either that it doesn't matter if she is paired with other Friends. Combined with her varied support as well, and you have a Friend that can serve many purposes in battle.

Unfocused Rainbow elements.

All of Yukari's spells have an element on them, for better and for worse. She gets decent coverage of Fire and Metal on her second spell and Water and Wood on her Last Word, but her first spell is an uncomfortable mix of Star, Water, and Earth. With all of these different elements, Yukari may have an easy way to break many types of barriers, but for challenging quests like Elemental EX Battle Stages, her breaks will feel a lot more limited.

Suwako (A10)

Suwako proves to be the best out of the other A10 Friends, suiting her well for being her source game’s Extra boss. She holds a great front in the Metal-element department and an even greater one when it comes to Spirit Power restoration. On top of that, she holds great finishing power in her fully-metal Last Word and some anomaly breaks on her normal spells.

Able to spam barrier breaks with her Spell Cards and skills generating power.

Suwako might not have a 0P break option, but the Metal breaks on her spell cards are just great. Both of her normal spells have 3 Metal along with 3 of another element, while her Last Word is entirely made up of Metal. On top of that, her first spell can break Freeze anomalies at 3P and her second spell can do the same to Poison anomalies, which she inflicts when using the spell, at 2P. These may sound like hefty Boost values, but Suwako has so much Spirit Power generation on her spells and two of her skills that this is an easy bar to reach..

Good damage potential with her Last Word

A pure Metal Last Word means Suwako will be chasing down exactly one damage type, and excelling at hitting with it. Helps that it also boosts her entire party’s Crit ATK by 3 levels, setting her up for some nice rolling damage.

Okay team utility

Suwako achieves decent team utility from her skills and ability. Her second skill provides partywide Yang ATK UP and her third skill grants the team CRIT ATK UP, something her Last Word provides to the whole team as well. Topped with the CRIT Accuracy UP given to the party everytime Suwako Boosts, something that is easy with her quick Spirit Power gain, Suwako is a decent support option when it comes to offensive buffing.

High damage variance

Suwako has a Yang-only Last Word that has good damage potential after setup. However, this damage will rely a good bit on critical hits, a factor that her Killer bullets are not that great at ensuring on their own. She has secondary effects to increase CRIT chance based on the foe’s stats, but this is still putting faith into the enemy she is facing over guaranteeing great damage by herself.

Reimu (B3)

Reimu is an incredibly good tank, nuker, and breaker for harder fights, having a strong argument for being one of the best Friends in the game for them. Between her Focus UP, high firepower, P0 access to Wood and Sun on basic shots, and incredible self-sustain, she'll stay alive for a long while and blast away your foes. She's merely great instead in shorter fights and for farming purposes, but being merely 'great' at your worst areas isn't a bad deal.

Great Killer bullet types and amazing damage when at full Spirit Power boost

Reimu might be a defensive-heavy Friend, but she is able to bring this back to dealing damage thanks to high Hard scaling, especially on her Last Word. Said Last Word also contains Killer bullets against Youkai, a rather common opponent in Lost Word. Topped off with her high Yang ATK and DEF buff upon using her Last Word and other setup opportunities, this Shaman can easily summon devastating damage.

Fantastic team support, among the best if not the best in keeping a team alive

Just like L1 Reimu, B3 Reimu tries her hardest to be a defensive threat, and her mechanical enhancements only made her better at the job. Her third skill, while having a cooldown of 6 turns, has a long-enduring 3 turns of partywide defensive buffs to ensure that everyone is able to live through the fight. Her second skill, while not healing everyone, is still very good at keeping herself alive due to a 70% heal. Her third characterisitc is even good for this, healing herself by 20% every turn. This combined with her heavy Focus UP helps keep the damage off of the rest of the team, and even lessens it in general.

Really wants accuracy support for consistency

Strangely enough, Reimu has no Accuracy UP in her kit whatsoever, making her need to rely on other Friends or a story card to help ensure her damaging shots even connect in the first place. Fortunately, both of the above downsides can be solved with support, but still hurt her own farming potential.

Merlin (B5)

B5 Merlin Prismriver is a Speed-Class Friend who uses Metal and Water breaks, Burn and Paralyze anomaly utility to power herself up, and some team support via Agility, Accuracy and even Spirit Power.

Eurobeat-esque Team Buffs

B5 Merlin is going so many miles an hour that it’s like she is listening to Eurobeat while providing all her Agility buffs! Skills 1 and 2 add 6 stages, Grazing takes it further and both Spell Card 2 and Last Word can help max it out! On top of that, Skill 2 has a 2 turn cooldown rate, which is less turns than its Agility buff duration. Aside from that though, Skills 2 and 3 last for 4 and 3 turns respectively, she can also do a solid job supporting with Accuracy, and there are even bits of Spirit Power buffs snuck in too.

High-Voltage Streamer

To accompany her common Metal and Water breaks (the former being more common), B5 Merlin has some ways of breaking those barriers by both inflicting and breaking Paralyze anomalies. While her only way of breaking them on all allies is done via Last Word, her other methods can be good when focusing on a specific enemy, especially as her Spell Card 1 can inflict 4 layers of it, then break it after 2 boosts. Aside from just breaking, B5 Merlin also boosts her own Agility, Accuracy and Evasion when inflicted with Paralyze anomalies of her own. She can also increase her own Spirit Power via Burn anomalies too.

Spell Card 1’s Team Burn

This could be good, or it could be bad, but when using this card, it is worth being mindful of if you have any Yin Friends that don’t benefit from Burn anomalies. Otherwise, this is a positive thing for other allies, such as those close to B5 Merlin such as B5 variants of Alice, Medicine and her sister, Lunasa.

Killer Range is a Little Lacking

While you may be able to find enemies susceptible to B5 Merlin’s Killers, such as Human, Soul, Machine, Musician, Thunder and more, these don’t cover a whole bunch of the cast sadly. If you want to capitalize on them though, try and see if your enemies have any of the corresponding tags before bringing her for pure damage.

Needs Donations via Yang ATK and CRIT ATK

While her limited Yang ATK buffs are mitigated by the Yang DEF debuff she can bring to the table, it still might need more of it to thrive. CRIT ATK however, is something that B5 Merlin very much lacks in, aside from her Last Word of course.

Lyrica (B5)

B5 Lyrica Prismriver is a Destroy-Class Friend who boots up Earth and Water breaks, long buff durations, converts Burn and Paralyze anomalies into offensive buffs and can also break the Paralyze anomalies of her foes.

Shocking DJ Breakdown

B5 Lyrica’s Ability allows her to benefit from Burn and Paralyze anomalies, granting her offensive buffs (mainly Yang ATK and CRIT ATK), but not only can she inflict Paralyze anomalies on herself, she can also provide some ways of breaking Paralyze anomalies on all foes, with Spread Shot and Spell Card 2 both achieving this at 2P, with her Last Word at 3P. However, she can only inflict Paralyze via Spell Card 2. That said, B5 Lyrica is consistent with her elemental breaking, using Earth and Water, slightly veering towards Earth.

CRIT Buffs for the Team and More

When it comes to B5 Lyrica’s Skills, being able to grant 4-5 stages of CRIT ATK (3 Turns) and CRIT Accuracy (4 Turns) can be very helpful for allies who need those CRIT buffs. She is also able to provide a little more to the stage such as Skill 2’s 0.40 Spirit Power for the team as well as ways of debuffing the Evasion, CRIT DEF and CRIT Evasion of her enemies. Unfortunately, her Yang ATK buff on Skill 1 is not only 1 stage, but is for herself, but at least it lasts 4 Turns.

Slight Paralyze Infliction to the Team

B5 Lyrica is capable of inflicting a layer of Paralyze on her teammates via Spell Card 1 Post-ATK. If you don’t handle this correctly, you might accidentally cause a Friend or two to miss a turn from it, but this can be a positive thing with allies like B5 Lunasa, B5 Merlin, B3 Hecatia, and more that can benefit from this anomaly infliction.

Heavy RNG in her Kit

No matter how you go about it, it’s tough to dance around the fact that B5 Lyrica has a lot of uncertainty in her buffs and effects she provides. In clear content, this is probably not a big deal, but this may make her a pain to use in farm comps. Examples of RNG in her kit include Skill 2’s Paralyze infliction on herself (3-4) as well as Barriers for the team (1-2), Skill 3’s CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy (both 3-4 Stages), and Spell Card 2’s Paralyze inflict on enemies (3-4). For some, this could be a turn off to not have a number set in stone, but others won’t be worried about it.

Killers are Lacking, but her CRIT Rate…

Like her sisters, B5 Lyrica doesn’t have a particularly impressive Killer range, having Soul, Human, Thunder, Engineer, Musician and others, but what separates her from her sisters partly to do with being a Destroy-Class Friend. Because of her naturally higher CRIT rates on her bullets (especially on her 3P lines; 35% on Spell Cards, 50% on Last Word), as long as she has enough CRIT Accuracy buffs and/or target CRIT Evasion debuffs, maybe B5 Lyrica won’t need Killers to get those sweet Critical Hits after all!

Skill 3’s Tedious Cooldown

8 Turns is quite a long time to wait to use a Skill again, and in a lot of cases, it might only be a one-time usage. While the team’s CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy buffs granted to the team (4-5 stages) is pretty huge, the CRIT ATK buffs lasting 3 turns is a bit disappointing considering that’s her only way to buff the team’s CRIT ATK.

Awkward with Accuracy and Yang ATK Buffs

B5 Lyrica is very odd with how she can buff her own Yang ATK by 1 stage via Skill 1 which sounds awful, but it’s a 4 Turn duration on a Skill with a 4 Turn cooldown rate. However, aside from Last Word buffs and anomaly inflictions on self, that’s it for Yang ATK. On top of that, B5 Lyrica will need some Accuracy buffs, which her bullet lines on her Spell Cards and Last Word can conveniently cover, but she will most likely need some help to make sure her attacks are consistent and even stronger.

Kaguya (B3)

B3 Kaguya Houraisan is a Speed-Class Friend with the potential to inflict great damage, intricately boost her Spirit Power and go as fast as the speed of light.

Potential to Hit Extremely Hard

High Slice Scaling and solid Killers such as Youkai means B3 Kaguya’s Last Word will hit most enemies like a truck. With enough Yang ATK and CRIT ATK, you’ll see those high damage numbers.

Multiple Methods of Spirit Power Gain

Not only does B3 Kaguya gain Spirit Power via Skill 2, she gains 0.20 Spirit Power for every inflicted Paralyze and Blind anomaly onto B3 Kaguya, which can also be achieved via her Spell Card Bullet Lines. On top of that, she also gains 0.25 Spirit Power every turn via her Passive 3.

Kit’s Buffs are Generally Limited

Whether we are accounting for team support, or for selfish buffs, B3 Kaguya is very lacking with sustainability. She uses a lot of team Agility and Evasion buffs as well as reduces the Accuracy of her enemies (outside of Evasion and Yang DEF debuffs here and there), but outside of her Skill 2 and Last Word giving herself Yang ATK, she just doesn’t provide that elsewhere, let alone to this team. She is also desperately missing out on CRIT ATK buffs since they are nowhere to be found.

Komachi (B3)

B3 Komachi Onozuka is a Speed-Class Friend who is your ticket to Fire and Metal breaks, great Blind anomaly utility and a low cooldown duration on Skills.

Can’t Catch a Break?

B3 Komachi does a great job when it comes to her breaking potential, whether it be her healthy mix of Fire and Metal breaks or her abundant Blind inflictions onto her enemies, with potential to break 6 Blind anomalies in 1 turn. Part of that is to do with her capability of reaching 3P by herself via her Skills alone, but it’s very helpful to wipe out these anomalies as fast as they appear!

Ticket to Quick Support

Having a 1 Turn Cooldown on her Skill 1 providing the team 0.25 Spirit Power as well as Evasion and Agility every turn is very welcome. The other Skills have a manageable 4 Turn Cooldown rate too. As for support, she can bring along Agility, in a lot of ways, Yang ATK by Boosting and by using her Spell Card 1, and also debuff the Yang DEF of her enemies with her Spell Card 2.

Awkward Yin Bullet Lines, Niche Killers

Enjoying a Yang ATK at 1900 is certainly respectable, and with a Yin ATK at 1350, seeing that in her Last Word might be very frustrating for one to have to come to terms with when they could be Yang. This is also a common theme in her other attacks. Despite the tremendously high Slice Scaling in her Last Word (5 Lines have 185% Scaling), this is still going to be a pain for somebody like B3 Komachi. In addition, her Killers don’t hit a wide range of enemies despite having a large quantity of them, like Soul, Undead, Lunarian, Lunar Capital and Moon Rabbit.

Kutaka (B3)

B3 Kutaka Niwatari is a Technical-Class Friend with Metal and Wood elements, Burn, Poison and Paralyze anomaly utility and a handful of other helpful tricks for herself and her teammates.

Elemental Breaks and Anomaly Utility

B3 Kutaka has a decent amount of Wood breaks to work with and a greater amount of Metal breaks, such as 6 lines of Metal in her Last Word. On top of that, she does a good amount of things with 3 of the 5 anomalies, such as being able to increase her Accuracy, Agility and Evasion when inflicted with Burn, but can also inflict 4 layers of them onto enemies via Skill 3 and another 2 to all targets via Last Word, and assuming B3 Kutaka is at 2P, she can break these with her Spell Card 2 and her Last Word. Both Paralyze and Poison can be inflicted on himself to provide defensive buffs, and also via 2P, B3 Kutaka can break Poison anomalies on all enemies via Spell Card 1 and Last Word. Keep in mind her Last Word is Solo-Targeting though, but that said, her Burn anomaly breaking potential could be quite good in the best situations.

Clerical Chicken’s Carriage of Support

B3 Kutaka also has delivered some helpful gifts too. While some effects are for herself, others for the whole team can help quite a bit such as Accuracy, Yin ATK, Spirit Power, CRIT Accuracy, Agility and even being able to remove a Bind/Stat Debuff after using her Spell Card 1. The other effects are achieved via Skills and Spell Cards (and Boosting in the case of Yin ATK). B3 Kutaka also has another trick being that she can allow her whole team to attack first within their priority bracket by granting them all Quick on Skill 2, and can use Skill 3 to Debuff Yin DEF and CRIT DEF on all enemies too, which could help some other teammates, especially Yin-Based ones.

Struggles on the side of Damage

Ultimately, B3 Kutaka’s damage is going to struggle at times. Despite her mix of Hard + Slice scaling as well as mix of buffs and debuffs, her Killer range including Soul, Undead, Lunarian, Lunar Capital and Moon Rabbit doesn’t quite cut it all the time. If these Killers land, her Solo-Targeting Last Word will do quite a number on a specific enemy, especially if they are weak to Metal, but otherwise, those aforementioned CRIT DEF debuffs might not be fully capitalized on.

Yuyuko (R2)

R2 Yuyuko Saigyouji makes her appearance as a tiny Speed-Class Friend that cooks up Water breaks and can deal strong damage.

Killers and Slice

R2 Yuyuko has a frontloaded, 3-1-1 Last Word if the need to do immediate damage ever arises. Accompanied with great Slice values on the second half of her attack, as well as CRIT ATK buffs from her self-inflicted Poison anomalies, with enemies susceptible to R2 Yuyuko’s Killers (most notably Youkai), they will most likely have to take a massive beating.

Only way to Break Barriers is Through Water

If R2 Yuyuko is forced to rely on other means of breaking the barriers of her enemies that aren’t Water…yeah, good luck with that. Unfortunately, she can only cook up Water breaks, but at least there is a massive amount of them.

Low Team Utility

Yuyuko's kit may be devastating in terms of damage, but that's all she is really here to do. None of her buffs on her Spell Cards/Skills support the team outside of a small Agility buff on her Skill 1.

Damage Suffers if Forced to Graze

In longer fights, R2 Yuyuko's damage may suffer if she needs to utilize Grazing to stay alive. This is detrimental because of her Agility buffs via Grazing as well as her offensive buffs from Poison anomalies like Yin ATK and CRIT ATK, which will be lower if Yuyuko needs to give up more than one Barrier over a more challenging fight. Without any natural form of Barrier restoration, R2 Yuyuko could be in a bit of a pickle from ti me to ti me.

Youmu (R8)

The Mysterious Sword Master, R8 Youmu Konpaku cuts in as a Speed-Class Friend with high Slice scaling, and a mix of Metal, Fire and Wood breaks.

Slice and Dice

R8 Youmu may not have the highest base Agility Stat at 1150, but her constant Agility buffs and very high Slice scaling will more than make up for that. In addition, her Yin and Yang ATK stats are perfectly balanced, from their 1600 Stat totals, to their fair share of buffs across Skills, Spells and Last Word, making her one of few units able to get away with containing a mix of Yin and Yang in her kit.

Decent Access to Metal, Fire and Wood

Metal, Fire and Wood feature frequently on Youmu’s bullet lines, with Metal naturally being the most common of the 3.

No Anomaly Inflictions to Back up her Spell Cards

With a Spell Card that can break an enemy’s Burn anomalies and another one that can break the Paralyze anomalies of all enemies, it’s a shame R8 Youmu can’t do this all by herself, as she could be forced to rely on help from allies for inflictions.

Ultimate Sel fish Buffer

R8 Youmu is all about buffing her own Agility, Yin ATK and Yang ATK up, all for herself. Unfortunately, this doesn’t do much for her allies, and there are other Ultra Festival Speed-Class Friends that can hit hard while providing more for the team.

Heavily lacking in Spirit Power, Accuracy and CRIT ATK

With no Spirit Power, Accuracy or CRIT ATK to speak of regarding R8 Youmu, she is going to struggle a lot on her own when it comes to keeping her Spirit up, connecting all her slashes, and landing critical hits. Whether it be Story Cards or help from allies, she will most definitely appreciate the helping hand in this form. At least Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 mitigates the Spirit Power issue a little…

Killed by Limited Killer Range

While her mistress has a decent Killer range, unfortunately, R8 Youmu lacking one of those 7 Killers she has made all the difference, as she has Soul, Magician, Undead, Fairy, Martial Artist and Swordswoman, but unlike R2 Yuyuko, no Youkai Killer, and we know that a good chunk of enemies are susceptible to this tag. This alone makes it harder for this vagabond to compete with strong damage dealers, as she won’t be seeing as many CRITs as her mistress.

Utsuho (S5)

S5 Utsuho Reiuji is an Attack-class Friend who can support the team with CRIT buffs, Spirit Power buffs, and Defense debuffs.

Strong skills and pre-attack effects

Utsuho's skills enable her to easily reach 3.1P in 1 Turn while providing the party with CRIT, Accuracy, and YANG ATK buffs. Her Spell Card 1 and Last Word's pre-attack effects also enable her to debuff enemies' defense.

Powerful Breaking Ability

Thanks to her ability to reach 3.1P in 1 Turn and the fact that she can inflict Burn to her enemies, she will have an easier time reaching the full potential of her barrier breaking abilities whether it be through elemental breaking or through anomaly breaking.

Party Burn inflicts can help or hurt

Just like S5 Rin, her 3rd skill has the side effect of inflicting Burn to the party, which is usually unfavorable due to the negative effects it brings. However, this is not a problem if her party is immune to it, and even turns into a boon if they benefit from it.

Lackluster damage

While she has strong skills to boot, her niche Killers and disjointed debuffs resulted in her damage being lower than expected.

Tewi (Y5)

Y5 Tewi is a Heal-Class Friend who can remove Barrier Anomalies, Binds and Debuffs from your party while blessing Yang Allies along the way.

Team Stays Clean, Healthy, and Lucky

For such a debilitating trickster, Y5 Tewi keeps her own team clean, with a 2T cooldown on cleansing team Barrier Anomalies and Healing HP on her 3rd skill. She has multiple other sources of team Healing as well as team Barrier Recovery (albeit only on her Last Word), allowing her to stretch out battles in her favor as long as she needs.

Enemies will Buckle under Anomalies

On the other hand, enemies will fall before Y5 Tewi’s Poison anomalies, as she can clean house up by breaking those in a variety of ways. If you have anyone who can inflict Freeze and/or Paralyze, she can collect that as well, breaking the whole lot through her Last Word, with Paralyze also being broken via Focus Shot.

Dual Source of Bind/Debuff Cleansing

Somewhat unique to Y5 Tewi is her multiple sources of Bind/Debuff Cleansing, split between her Skill 1 and 2. This has a strategic purpose, allowing you to ride out multiple waves of Binds while knocking them all out without having to wait for a Cooldown to end.

Enables Yang Attacking Teams

Finally, it’s possible to debuff the Yang DEF and CRIT DEF of her enemies via Skill 2 and Last Word respectively. Meanwhile, her team support includes Yang ATK, Yang DEF, Agility and Accuracy.

Team Anomaly Cleansing is a Double Edged Sword

With the increasing number of Friends who benefit from Anomalies, Y5 Tewi’s doctoring may have less than the desired effect when paired up with the wrong teammates, such as a certain B5 Mokou she should be familiar with.

Struggles With Damage

Y5 Tewi is a good example of a Heal-Class Friend who excels in, well healing, while falling short in other specialities. Her lack of Killers is compounded by her odd spread of Elements, with Wood being the only one tying them all together. Don’t expect Y5 Tewi to mop up. That job will fall to her teammates who follow up on her tricks.

Too “Focused” on Skill 3?

Whether Y5 Tewi has some kind of ulterior motives or not, Skill 3’s Focus DOWN for Tewi Lasting 3 Turns, yet has a 2 Turn cooldown could be a bit of a predicament for fellow allies should they be put in a position where they are forced to withstand any damage. As a result of Y5 Tewi reducing her own Focus, other allies are going to take more damage than usual. Ways to work around this include Grazing, having those allies in question be tanks, or in relation to its cooldown, just waiting an additional turn so that the Focus reduction doesn’t stack up too much.

Marisa (Z1)

Marisa Kirisame, the Witch of Scarlet Dreams, is an incredibly powerful and versatile unit. With a mixture of a devastatingly powerful All targeting Last Word that deals incredible damage for farming and harder fights alike, two All targeting Spell Cards, an abundance of team support, and Elemental Break access second to none, the Witch of Scarlet Dreams does it all.

Full ALL targeting on Spell Cards

Every spell in her arsenal is All-target to make sure no one feels left out on the Burning or hurting.

Self Charge makes her easy to support

More allies can stack on debuffs with their own Last Words before Marisa sweeps in for a finishing blow.

Also great at supporting others

Marisa provides Evasion DOWN, CRIT Def & Evasion DOWN, and Burn Barriers to support her and her teammates.

Weak Spirit Power generation on her shots

For such a Spirit Power-hungry Friend, not getting much from her basic shots can be somewhat damaging. While her second spell produces Spirit Power as well, you might want to have more boosts before using the spell. On top of that, her first skill only provides 0.75 Spirit Power, meaning she is unable to reach 2P on turn 1 without extra Friend support.

Lack of relevant Killers

Marisa's Killer bullets cover only Incident Resolvers and Scarlet Devil Mansion residents, with her Last Word not even having the luxury of that minimal coverage. This means that she will heavily need to rely on CRIT Accuracy to hopefully land critical hits. Even her own CRIT Accuracy support, on her third skill, only lasts for one turn, making it difficult to fully take advantage of over a long fight.

Alice (L80)

L80 Alice Margatroid is an Attack-Class Friend with a mix of Yin utility and personal offensive power, as well as general support, anomaly utility and helpful debuffs.

Last Word can be Very Powerful

With the Story Card, Sporadically Margaret, L80 Alice deals good damage to all her enemies due to her solid Killer range as well as the powerful boost which her Last Word has. This on top of doing 30% more damage with whatever element can be effective is always convenient too.

Utility is Top Notch

With a mix of Yin ATK up, Accuracy, and Yin DEF down on her skills, L80 Alice can support the team even further with power and barriers on Skill 1, and her Last Word can provide even more buffs and debuffs to support the team! She does hold a bias towards Yin nukers as she lacks Yang buffs for the party, but that’s a small price to pay as Yin nukers can benefit a great deal from her kit.

Inconsistency in Elements and Power

Despite the pros in L80 Alice’s Last Word, it does however struggle with its elemental spread. In fact, there is a general inconsistency with how she goes about her elements outside of Spell Cards. On top of this, having 2 Yang lines despite being a Yin unit whilst struggling with a considerably lower Yang ATK stat isn’t too helpful, even with the Yang Utility L80 Alice does have. These reasons make it more difficult to take advantage of L80 Alice’s high damage peak.

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Cirno (L1)

Cirno serves as something of a budget wild card barrier breaker. Whilst it’s impractical to use for farming bosses due to a 10% failure rate on the second barrier, 90% of the time Cirno will apply 2 Freeze barriers to all foes, which she can then break with her Melting All-target Last Word. This generally won’t be enough to get the job done by itself however, and her kit otherwise is heavily lacking in both utility and damage. However, if you can give her additional Freeze barrier support, she can break up to 4 Freeze barriers on all enemies, which can make her situationally very powerful, but even breaking 2 Freeze barriers is enough to justify bringing her along. Just watch out for Freeze immune enemies.

+ Decent Water breaker
Cirno's Water breaks are nothing to brag about, especially with the access Friends have nowadays, but it's still nothing to scoff at. 3 Water breaks on her second spell and Last Word makes her a somewhat consistent elemental breaker if she has access to the available Spirit Power to burn.

+ Has the ability to cast Freeze anomalies and break them via spell 2 and Last Word
If the Water breaks didn't satisfy you, then try out inflicting 1 or 2 Freeze of anomalies with her first spell. Afterwards, she can break these anomalies through her second spell at 3P or her Last Word at just 1P, the latter being especially good due to targeting all foes. You can also potentially get more Freeze anomalies from spells' bullet lines, but the chance is low.

- Very low damage
Cirno's second skill decreases Yang ATK, the bullet type that her Last Word uses the most. Combined with a lack of any pre-ATK effects from her spells to support her, her damage is really not going anywhere.

- Low utility in the forms of healing, buffs, or debuffs
Cirno just has nothing going for her, preferring to buff and debuff herself with her skills rather than assisting the team. Anomaly casting and breaking is still better than nothing, but she really doesn't offer much outside of this.

Koakuma (L1)

Packing Yin & CRIT DEF DOWN support, a ton of damage herself, and some solid Break potential, Koakuma's name may mean Little Devil, but she's actually extremely strong. A competent farmer and a great unit for harder fights, her only real failings are not being quite as good as the top shelf farmers, not quite doing as much damage as the top shelf attackers, and not being able to support Yang attackers who don't CRIT - but she's still very good.

+ Overall good Break potential
Koakuma's main elemental breaks are purely good, nothing extensively great or bad about them. 3 Fire breaks on all of her spells, along with 3 extra Moons on her Last Word, give her a clear purpose when it comes to elemental breaks with a small niche ability to Moon break on the side.

+ Strong All-targeting Last Word that gets very powerful in longer fights
- Not quite as strong as other top tier attackers
Koakuma's Last Word can actually prove to be pretty strong in extended battles, especially if she is able to unleash all of her debuffs before going all out. Sadly, these numbers are still not enough to really challenge higher-tier nukes or offensive Friends.

+ Team support in the form of Yin & CRIT DEF DOWN
- Only provides DEF DOWN for Yin or CRIT attackers
Yin DEF and CRIT DEF DOWN is a very nice basis to cover, especially if you can do both at the same time decently. With a third skill that debuffs Yin DEF of a single target by 3 levels and combos with a Quick into her Last Word, which debuffs every foe's Yin DEF and CRIT DEF by 2 more levels is a great combination of moves that can support many Friends. Of course, she still lacks any real substansial teamwide buffs, and with only those 2 stats, Yang Friends or Friends who need their stats buffed can feel a bit lacking.

Patchouli (L1)

Patchouli Knowledge’s main claim to fame is her extreme spread of elements - Having access to every element, including the very powerful Sun and Moon elements, means she can break at least two if not three barriers on virtually every enemy in the game. Unfortunately her Sun and Moon element attacks are both single target, and the somewhat awkward distribution of her elements means it may take her a few turns and/or heavy amounts of Power support to accomplish those breaks. Her damage output is also relatively lacking, with little team support outside of elements. Still, her sheer flexibility and elemental access means she's a Friend well worth having.

+ Nearly unparalleled Element access
All of Patchouli's spells are practically a rainbow of elements, showing she perhaps took a page from (or just stole) Alice's books. Her normal spells are well at applying 4 Moon breaks and Sun breaks on her first and second spell respectively. It may be a little less practical to break using her Last Word, as it heavily varies in what elements it has, but Patchouli still stands as a strong elemental breaker, especially for a General Friend.

- Low damage
Patchouli just doesn't have much to her outside of the elements, having only one Yin ATK buff on her third skill, a stat that isn't even mainly used by her Last Word, which already has a low amount of bullets. 

- Requires Spirit Power and Accuracy support
Instead of using her knowledge to help the team, Patchouli will also require outside support from either Friends or story cards to raise her Spirit Power and Accuracy levels in order to do much for the party. She may be a challenge to set up well, but her breaks will make the effort worth it.

Chen (L1)

Due to the extreme inconsistency in her kit, and a high theoretical damage output, one could be forgiven for assuming Chen is an attacker meant for difficult fights. However, with a 3 Stage Accuracy Story Card boosting her All Last Word accuracy to 100% 4/5ths of the time and 90% otherwise, she actually makes for a reasonably powerful event farmer, especially as she doesn’t have to worry about resistances. The main issue for her is difficult fights - all she brings to the table is damage, not even elements, and this combined with her lower stand-alone damage that’s difficult to practically scale leaves her somewhat lacking compared to the competition. If you are willing to pair her up with Support-type Friends, her damage will skyrocket, but for most team compositions she will simply be an average All-target attacker with no elements. 

+ Strong All-target Last Word 
+ Skills provide Spirit Power (and Agility) to further increase Last Words’ power
Chen is all about easily building to her Last Word's powerful strikes, something she can actually do turn 1 thanks to the three 0.75 Spirit Power boosts on her skills allowing her 3P right away! Her Slice values may be rather low, but they still add on to the power of this attack if Agility is buffed heavily enough.

+ Above-average chances of Critical Hits
All of Chen's attacks have a rather higher-than-average chance of inflicting critical hits, 12% on all of her spells to be precise. With the right amount of CRIT ATK and maybe some CRIT Accuracy, Chen can end up doing even more damage than she has ever dreamed of!

- Zero elemental bullets
No elemental bullets means no barrier breaking potential. Even if you want the excuse that not doing elements bypasses elemental resistances, this aspect really doesn't do Chen favors in terms of usage purposes outside of damage.

- Lacking Accuracy without buffs or story cards 
- No supportive buffs or utility outside of Target debuffs
Chen really needs another Friend or story card to boost her Accuracy if she wants a chance to deal any substansial damage, as her own buffs are pitiful. On top of that, her only sense of team utility is the 2 levels of Evasion DOWN on a singular target, which many other Friends can likely pull off at this level of the game.

Lily White (L1)

As a Healer, Lily White provides the bare minimum required to be considered serviceable in the role, restoring 1 barrier to all allies upon using her Last Word, to help them go just the little extra mile to see a fight done. Her damage is otherwise low, she brings no offensive utility, her access to elements is merely acceptable, and her Focus DOWN actively gets her team killed.

+Cheap access to some Wood elements when needed
-Only element outside of Wood is Star, and costs 3P to get 2 bullets
Lily's elemental access is both alright and mediocre at the same time. She has the spammable option of a 0P Wood Focus shot that helps the value of many Friends, but otherwise has almost no elements. the spread of the 2 Star and Wood breaks on her second spell and Last Word respectively are expensive to access, at 3P. With no way to boost her own Spirit Power, getting to these breaks herself is rather unconventional.

+Capable of slightly buffing Party’s Yang DEF
+Numerous HP healing skills and 1 Barrier restoration
Lily is mainly on the supporitve-end, holding two heals on her first and third skills and even an extra one on her second spell. Her first skill has the very situational Barrier status restoration to get rid of anomalies, but at least her Last Word is able to restore one Barrier layer, as limited as it can be to use.

-Very lacking in offensive potential
With a focus on support, Lily provides very little in offensive or even defensive buffs and therefore suffers damage-wise.

-Low value on supportive skills (HP heals are based on the user’s max HP, not the % of each healed Friend)
Her HP heals may be plentiful, but since the %s are coming from her own HP (which is the rather low 5750 when fully upgraded or the decent 6375 upon Fantasy Rebirth), the heals might actually do a lot less than you expect they should.

Yuyuko (L1)

Although she has fallen off rather far from the game's release and cannot farm any significant content, Yuyuko Saigyouji's  All-target Last Word’s damage output is still high, starting off strong at P1 and becoming notably powerful at P3. She also has a great 3 turn accuracy buff, freeing up her Story Card choices, alongside access to the powerful Charge, letting her synergize well with any source of Yang Def down for powerful LW burst turns. Her major flaws are lackluster access to elements, no secondary scaling which leaves her lagging behind the top tiers, and no team support.

+ Powerful Last Word, dealing quite high damage at 1 Power and scaling tremendously at 3.
+ Relatively strong event farmer
Having a 2-2-1 Last Word unlike other 1-1-3 backloaded ones means that Yuyuko can do a good amount of damage right off the bat, helping with event farming and turn 1 damage. Still, with all of her tremendous Yang ATK buffs on skills and spells, Yuyuko can easily set up to do a great amount of damage.

+ Self Charge on Skill 3 means she works well with any supporter
- No utility
Yuyuko is really the one who wants to be supported and does not provide any actual partywide buffs or enemy debuffs for the team to take advantage off. Still, with Charge, Yuyuko can easily wait for other Friends to apply debuffs with their own Last Words before providing a finishing blow.

- Only brings Wood element and lacks many elemental bullets nowadays
Only 2 Wood breaks on each of her spells does not win Yuyuko any awards on the breaking side of things. She is really just here for the raw damage, and if she wants to do even more on a Full Broken target, someone else will have to set that up first.

- Fell off hard with the introduction of many stronger Friends
Yuyuko's damage numbers simply just do not pile up when compared to the modern state of the game. She lacks any significant secondary scaling on her Last Word, as well as no special Killer bullets. When combined with the fact that she lacks in the utility and breaking fields, Yuyuko just does not shape up to where she used to be.

Reisen (L1)

Reisen Udongein Inaba stands out for having access to Moon element attacks, and she can take down the first main story boss at a lower level than anyone else. She also can apply two Paralyze barriers to all enemies, which is nice Accuracy support and can synergize well with Discharge attackers. That’s about all she has going for her - both of her Spell Cards and her Last Word are Solo, her damage is overall rather low, and she brings no utility outside of that.

+ Access to Moon-element attacks
+ Able to capitalize upon certain barrier anomalies with her Spell Cards
Reisen's breaking potential is rather high. Element-wise, she has access to both a 0P Moon break on her focus shot for spamming and a decent selection of 3 Moon breaks on her spells and Last Word. On top of that, however, Reisen can actually anomaly break every type of anomaly! Her first spell breaks Burn and Freeze at 1P as well as Paralyze at 3P, while her second spell breaks Poison and Blind at 3P. It is a shame that Reisen has no way to access most of these elements, but the option is present to help her syergize with more teams.

+ Applies 2 Paralyze anomalies with her Skill 2
2 guaranteed Paralyze anomalies on all foes combined with the potential of breaking those anomalies with her first spell gives Reisen an easy access to some quick and immediate barrier breaks. 

+ Quite a bit of Evasion debuffs
- Low utility
Reisen's skills debuff the CRIT Evasion and CRIT DEF of all foes, and her Last Word can debuff Evasion by 2 levels as well. Sadly, this is all that Reisen provides in terms of teamwide support, and even then the debuffs are lower than preferred.

- Low damage
- All Solo-target Spell Cards
Not only does Reisen hit pretty lightly, but having only Solo-target spells can be unfortunate for many reasons. The main one is that barrier breaking becomes a lot harder, as while her second skill does Paralyze every foe, she can only break those anomalies one at a time - and that's assuming she has enough Spirit Power to access those breaks.

Eirin (L1)

A powerful healer who packs a punch alongside some potent Poison Barriers, Eirin Yagokoro is a great candidate for harder fights. Her ability to farm is somewhat average, healing can be a bit niche, and her Barrier Break ability is rather poor, but she’s overall a powerful Friend anyone would be happy to have. 

+ Last Word can deal a lot of damage if given a turn to set up
- Backloaded Last Word
Eirin's Last Word can deal a lot when set up properly, but it somewhat has to be due to its backloaded nature of a 1-1-3 bullet line spread. Still, thanks to the heavy buffs Eirin provides to herself in both Yin and Yang ATK before using her Last Word, she can easily deal some major damage to help end the fight.

+ Fantastic amount of Healing and Barrier restoration
Eirin has two 30% HP heals on her first and third skills to keep all of her allies in the fight healthy. On top of that, her Last Word grants a single layer of barrier restoration, which can definitely help many Friends survive longer or just obtain more buffs from Grazes. Some Friends may restore more HP or barriers nowadays, but having access to both is still a very strong point.

+ Great Poison Barrier support, for either Anomaly Breaks or supporting Yang Attackers
- Poor Barrier Break potential
Eirin's first, All-target spell card applies 2 layers of Poison anomalies to its targets, with a 60% chance of a third one. This is a very strong way to debuff the enemy's Yang DEF to let Yang nukers do their job or just allow another Friend to step in with Poison anomaly breaks. As for Eirin's own breaking potential, she sadly lacks a lot of elements, only having a few Moon breaks between her spells and Last Word.

- Hard to support due to mixed attacks
Eirin utilizes both Yin and Yang in her spells, which perfectly represents her own balanced nautre, but does little to help her in a practical fight. While she does buff both Yin and Yang on her Last Word, she is otherwise very hard to offensively support, even if you try to buff one stat or the other, as you will always deal less damage than a Friend focusing in one stat.

Kaguya (L1)

Due to her sheer amount of Hard, Kaguya Houraisan punches harder than you might expect from a princess. As a selfish attacker, she’s a rather above average farmer, and a solid candidate for harder fights, thanks to her ability to generate a ton of Spirit P on demand combined with average access to Metal and Fire on top of her highly damaging All targeting Last Word. She’s got no utility on account of being a selfish princess, but what more can you ask for?

+ Average access to two elements, Fire and Metal, as well as Wood on Last Word
Kaguya's breaks are merely average, not totally dominating in one field or another. 3 Metal on her first spell, 3 Fire on her second spell, and 3 Wood on her Last Word if you truly want to waste it for barrier breaks. Warning: you usually do not.

+ Highly damaging All-targeting Last Word with potential on turn 1 and with setup
It may be backloaded, but Kaguya's great Yang DEF buffs allow for some great Hard scaling that makes her Last Word hit very hard, even if it is a mixed attack. With a 1-1-3 spread, you will usually want to reach 3P quickly to take full advantage of every bullet pattern.

+ Gains a lot of Spirit Power
- Kaguya's second Spell Card hurts herself
Not only do her first and second skills give 0.75 Spirit Power each, but both spells provide 1.50 Spirit Power as well! This makes it not only easy to get to that 3P for her Last Word, but it also makes Kaguya very versatile in accessing her other elemental breaks. 

- Selfish attacker with no utility outside of Breaks
Every single buff and spell effect Kaguya performs is for her and her alone. The princess didn't want to play nice today, so all the rest of the team gets is the peformance she wishes to pull off.

Medicine (L1)

One of closest things this game has to a wild card, Medicine Melancholy excels in two areas: boss farming, and difficult fights. Due to her abundance of Poison barriers, and a Last Word with a lot of Toxic on it, she can easily Full Break any enemy who isn’t immune to Poison - of which rarely any exist. Whilst this is the only thing she can do due to her otherwise low damage and lack of any other utility, it’s such a valuable niche that she’s unquestionably an extremely powerful asset.

+ Wonderful Poison breaker, practically able to break almost any opponent
- Useless against enemies immune to Poison, which are rare

Medicine's kit is all about applying heavy Poison anomalies on her skills and going straight for a Full Break with a Toxic Last Word, which breaks any applied Poison anomalies. It is a bit annoying that some skills such as her second skill and spells like her first spell have some randomness to if they apply an extra anomaly or not, but she can still dish out an amazing amount of breaks on average. You'd have to watch out for enemies immune to Poison, and the breaks being on her Last Word means she only gets one shot, but otherwise Medicine is an easy, one-use Full Break.

- Below average elemental breaks
However, Medicine cannot say she's good at elemental breaking. Both of her spells have 2 Wood breaks and her Last Word is only slightly better at 3. Perhaps they can come in clutch on a Wood-weak foe, but Medicine is really only breaking with Poison anomalies, which still isn't a big deal.

+ Quick farmer for early game content
Medicine can very easily farm two early game boss stages: 1-5-4 and 2-7-1. Not only does the latter stage have the extremely popular Witch of Scarlet Dreams farmable story card, but due to getting her as a free Friend early on, Medicine's practical utility never really fades away.

+ Poison anomalies can serve as Yang support
While it may seem like Medicine comes with literally no teamwide support outside of offensive debuffs on foes, her Poison anomalies can also be Yang debuffs for allies. Of course, you would end up doing more damage Full Breaking anyway, but this is just another way that Medicine can fit into a team composition.

- Low Damage
While very heavy in breaking and farming, Medicine still lacks in the damage department. The only reason she does so much damage is because of her Full Breaks, and without that, she doesn't have any kind of offensive buffs of her own to keep damage high.

Solo Story Card Farms: 2-7-1

Shizuha (L1)

Shizuha's a pretty alright supporter. She brings a unique teamwide Spirit Power support, Accuracy support, can apply Paralyze Barriers, and has solid access to Wood and Metal. Unfortunately she's saddled by low overall damage, which is a big detriment in LostWord, but she's overall solid and a boon to have on your side.

+Access to Wood and Metal element attacks
Shizuha has a good elemental spread, with the same spread of 3 Wood on her first spell and 3 Metal on her second spell. Her Last Word is fully elemental, with 4 Metal and 2 Wood. 

+Provides team-wide accuracy support
+Provides team-wide P support
Shizuha's team utility is rather helpful, being one of the only Friends who provide a rather high Spirit Power increase to the entire party, that being 0.80 from her third skill. Sadly, the skill does have a cooldown of 7 turns, but it still is a very useful skill, especially for Friends who lack their own Spirit Power restoration. Otherwise, she can also apply a small Accuracy buff with her second skill and potentially 2 levels of Yin ATK and Yin DEF UP on her second spell.

+Applies Paralyze on her first Spell Card
After her first spell, Shizuha inflicts 2 or 3 Paralyze anomalies on the target. While not really taking advantage of this herself, this can be an easy 3 anomaly breaks from another Friend, or just a chance of stunning a foe.

-Low overall damage, and not much use beyond the above
Shizuha may be able to provide a good amount to a team, but that does not extend to her damage output. With a rather low damage capability, it can be difficult to use her for much else outside of her buffs, which even then her skills have rather slow cooldowns. Perhaps bring her out for the teamwide Spirit Power restoration, and leave it at that.
 

Nitori (L1)

With an overall lackluster kit, bringing no damage and minimal utility to the table, Nitori Kawashiro doesn’t have a lot going for her. She only brings Solo target Water and Metal element Spell Cards with only 1 break a piece at 0 Power, and only 1 more break at P2 and P3. However, she can apply 2 Electrified barriers to all foes, though the second barrier has a 10% failure rate. This grants her some small niche in providing team-wide Accuracy support that bypasses the normal 10 Stage Accuracy limit, which also goes well with Discharge attacks.

+ Access to Water and Metal element attacks
- Low amount of Breaks
Nitori has access to 2 elemental breaks, but sadly it is a low amount. 3 Water breaks on her first spell and 3 Metal breaks on her second spell seem good, but no elements elsewhere makes her breaking potential very below average. Having a No-Element Last Word sometimes helps you in the damage department, as you avoid hitting enemy resistances, but you have to have a good-hitting Last Word in the first place...

+ Provides team-wide accuracy support
Nitori's first Solo-target spell has 2 levels of Evasion DOWN to indirectly serve as accuracy support for the whole party. For some Friends who lack their own accuracy support, this can be rather handy.

+ Applies up to 2 Paralyze Barriers with her Skill 2
Her second skill applies 2 Paralyze anomalies to all opponents, something that can be taken advantage of by other allies that can break those anomalies. Without them, though, their only practicality is the chance to Stun and not much else. However, she can also reflect Paralyze barriers back onto enemies in the right situations.

- Low utility
Not only does Nitori not really buff or help her team, but the debuffs she provides in Accuracy are just rather pointless.

- Very low damage
Nitori only increasing her CRIT ATK by 1 level in her Last Word is as much as you need to know about the low damage that she provides. 
 

Kanako (L1)

Kanako’s main claim to fame is being able to take on the Chapter 3 Act 1 Story Card farming in 4 Turns with the right teammate. Other than that, she’s somewhat reliant on getting a Killer target to farm events, and her ability to tank is somewhat lackluster due to low access to Focus and a lack of team-wide damage mitigation. Her damage is also somewhat low in harder fights unless she hits a Killer target and she needs setup beforehand to match other Solo nukers.

+ First Spell Card provides 1 Spirit Power, which makes Kanako very flexible
- Needs time to setup to compare to other nukers, due to relying on Story Cards to provide Yang ATK UP
Having Spirit Power restoration on your own spells or skills goes a long way in helping prepare your damage for future turns. Unfortunately, she will still need more time to set up greater damage due to lacking Yang ATK UP buffs on her own kit, a rather important feature if you're going for full offense.

+ Last Word deals solid damage if backed by a Killer, of which Kanako has a wide range (Humans, Dwellers of Water, and Gods)
- Kanako deals low damage if she doesn’t hit a Killer target
Human, Gods, and even Water Dwellers are common enough to give Kanako a good nuking niche when being able to set up against these specific foes. Of course, she will likely deal a lot less damage than usual when not facing these targets, unless you have supported her CRIT stats with other Friends or buffs.

- Below average Break access
Especially compared to other Festival Friends, Kanako's elemental reach is pretty low. 2 Water on her first spell, 2 Wood on her second spell, and only 3 Metal on her Last Word. She doesn't have any other breaking potential outside of these lacking breaks, decreasing a bit of her value.

- Fully selfish tank, has no way of keeping her tank alive outside of Focus
- Low Focus values
Everything that Kanako does is for her own benefit, outside of her CRIT ATK debuff which is likely not winning the favor of many allies compared to better debuffs. Even with 2 skills (second and third) that do practically the same thing of buffing both Yin and Yang DEF by 2 levels, Kanako is just lacking as a tank, even when it comes to Focus UP, buffing her value by only 5 levels.

Iku (L1)

Iku Nagae transfers over to LostWord quite well. She is able to apply a multitude of buffs to herself using her skills quickly and deals a ton of AoE damage. In addition, she can also serve as a Water/Wood breaker with very little drawbacks.  She also has incredible farm ability. This makes her an overall S+ Tier Friend.

+P0 Wood/Water breaks on her shots.
Iku has two 0P spammable breaks on her shots just to show off: that being Wood on her Spread shot and Water on her Focus shot. The rest of her spells' elemental breaks may just be rather mediocre, but never underestimate the 6/6 Wood breaks on her Last Word. On a Wood-weak foe, it is practically asking for destruction from this attack.

+Powerful AoE and Yang damage
+Last Word possesses 2 levels of 2 Yang DEF DOWN
Iku has some great early Slice scaling on her Last Word, which gets even better when she heavily buffs her Agility on her spells, skills, and even when inflicting herself with Paralyze, something she does on her second and third skills. If her Energy-only Last Word wasn't enough, then she also debuffs the targets' Yang DEF to help out more of the team.

+Can inflict up to a total of 7 Paralyze Barriers on all foes
-Applies Paralyze barriers to her allies
Paralyze anomalies is Iku's final main theme: being able to apply up to 7 of them after using both of her second spell uses and her third skill. While being unable to break them herself, any Paralyze anomaly breaker will have to owe Iku a favor if she is able to take advantage of it. However, the main cost of these Paralyze-related skills comes in the form of the partywide Paralyze on her third skill. Not everyone wants to be paralyzed, meaning the rest of them will have to waste a barrier layer if they don't want to risk being stunned. Finding a Friend that restores anomalies on barriers will just remove Iku's own buffs from self-Paralyze!

-Weaker in longer fights, where she must spend Barriers to survive and thus cannot benefit from her character ability
If Iku needs to use barriers to defend herself, she gets less layers to play around with her character ability, and therefore less buffs. Good barrier restoration is the main counter for this, but obviously Iku does not have any way to do that by herself.

Solo Stage Farms: 2-7-1, 3-3-3, 3-11-1

Tenshi (L1)

Tenshi Hinanawi brings a lot of damage to the table, and quickly - she doesn't really do much in the way of utility, with only P0 Earth on a Basic Shot being notable, but she hits so hard it's hard to care too much.

+P0 Earth on her Focus Shot
-Breaks are otherwise middling
Tenshi gets a good niche in Earth breaking with her 0P Earth Focus shot. Otherwise, her elements aren't really doing much. A decent 3 Earth breaks on her first spell, yes, but her second spell is just a mix of elements, making it hard to break someone with. She does get a good even mix of Earth and Metal on her Last Word, at least, but that should only be used for the damage.

+Incredible damage output, including an All-targeting Last Word
Tenshi becomes a great general farmer with her Last Word, which just has devastating raw damaging potential. Her Killer bullets may be later on in the attack, but what she gets to start off with, with great Hard scaling, is more than enough to make her great in her offensive role.

-Selfish attacker, brings no utility
And the offensive role is something she will definitely keep, as she does not fit much else. All of her buffs are only for herself, and she doesn't even have a debuff to potentially help out other allies.

Solo Stage Farms: 2-7-1, 3-3-3, Future Story Card Stages

Kisume (L1)

Kisume, hiding in her bucket like always, shows up as a CRIT oriented character. While she may have okay CRIT support and self-sustaining Yin ATK, Kisume does suffer from a lack of Accuracy as well as somewhat inconsistent damage due to the nature of DEST characters.

+ Decent Crit support
Thanks to her skills, ability, and pre-effects on spell cards, Kisume can provide a decent amount of CRIT Accuracy as well as CRIT ATK for the party to use. This can be used to help support CRIT oriented characters. 

+ Decent Fire access
Not only does her Last Word contain a good deal of Fire, but her spell cards can also dish out an okay amount of Fire breaks with both spell cards containing 2 Fire bullets.

- Lacks Accuracy
- Somewhat inconsistent damage output
As with the nature of DEST characters, Kisume does sadly suffer from some inconsistency in her damage output. Not only that, but Kisume has another problem to deal with her having no in-built accuracy in any part of her kit.

 

Yamame (L1)

Yamame Kurodani, an earth spider living in the underworld. She doesn't use her ability to control illness but she still deals big damage, has amazing access to Earth, and is overall a selfish Speed type nuker with great Slice scaling.


Looking into her kit in more detail:
+ Great access to Earth Breaks With a spamable 0p focus shot break, 3 Earth lines at 1p from her 2nd Spell Card, and 6 lines of Earth on her Last Word, she for sure is one of the Friends you think of when you see opponents weak to earth.
+ Self sufficient Agility buffs
+ Good Slice scaling
 
As a Speed unit, the agility buffs benefit her a lot. Being able to provide enough agility buffs independently to get her plentiful Slicing scaling going makes her capable of doing damage without any major help.

-Lack of team utility
Yamame’s kit only contains a bit of team accuracy and agility support, while other units do much more for their team. Making her underwhelming in this regard.
-Poison Break is awkward to use
Needing 3p to poison break with a unit that doesn’t apply the anomaly isn’t very efficient.
-Only limited to Earth breaking and a little poison break
Kind of ironic that one of her strengths causes one of her weaknesses. She cannot break any element other than Earth.

Story Card Stages: 3-3-3, 3-18-3

Parsee (L1)

Parsee’s debuffs are great for any Yin-based team, her element density is high, and her personal damage isn't half bad either. She doesn't have any significant drawbacks while being a solid choice for many teams.

Incredible elemental break potential, including 0P Water and Sun on Solo Shots.

Parsee has an All-Targeting first Spell Card with 4 lines of Sun, while her second Spell Card (Solo-Targeting) has 4 Metal with an additional 2 Sun. She tops this off with her Last Word with 4 Sun and 2 Water, with additional Freeze anomaly break potential at 3P.

Decent Debuff potential with CRIT DEF and Evasion.

Parsee’s various sources of Crit DEF and Evasion debuffs means your teams are always ready to hit hard.

Lack of strong Killers.

Her Killer range consists of just Soul, Fairy, Princess, Noble and Treasure. Hardly all-encompassing. Lean on Crit ACC if you want her to reach her full potential.

Otherwise limited team support.

Even if you count the above enemy debuffs as team support, it’s still rather limited, as the most notable team buffs come in the form of her Ability to grant the team +1 Yin ATK for every Boost performed. Exclude the debuff potential and that’s pretty much it for what she can do for the team. This isn’t all bad as Story Card effects and other teammates are always an option.

Koishi (L1)

Koishi hits extremely hard in fights she's given a chance to set up with her Solo-targeting Last Word, and that's about it. Her team utility is very lacking, and she's an average farmer for Solo friendly stages. Still, if you ever need a single, beefy target dead, or just need Water Breaks, Koishi's your girl. 

+ Slightly above average access to Water breaks
Koishi has decent Water break access, with 3 on all of her spells, being able to Solo-target or All-target based on the spell. She can also do 3 Wood breaks on her Last Word if you really need them.

+ Has a respectably powerful Solo-targeting Last Word that deals tremendous damage if given time to set up. 
- Requires some setup time to get the most out of her
Koishi really needs setup time to do the best with her Last Word, due to it being a backloaded attack that needs 3P when she can only reach 2P on the first turn. Still, she is able to provide a great amount of damage to singular targets once prepared.


- Many of her buffs and debuffs rely on bullet line RNG
- No team utility
Weirdly enough, Koishi's spells do not have any effects before/after using them and instead heavily rely on RNG to apply buffs or debuffs while being active. There are quite a lot of them, but likewise they will need some Spirit Power to access, and that's even considering you get them to activiate in the first place. Koishi's skills and other buffs are self-reliant as well, only giving her utility via enemy debuffing.

Nue (L1)

Nue Houjuu is a powerful Yin Attacker with great break potential among Star, Fire and Water Elements. Not only does her ability allow immunity to Burn, Freeze and Blind but she also gains Spirit P from them upon self infliction. With plentiful access to Yin ATK buffs, this mysterious being should not be taken lightly.

+ 0P Water and Fire on Basic shots
+ Varied elemental access
- Elemental variety is spread out, especially on Last Word
Having two different spammable 0P elements is rather amazing, and Nue pulls through with 0P Water on her spread shot and 0P Fire on her Focus shot. Her spells are varied between the two elements as well, adding in some extra Star for even more potential breaks. While being evenly spread out in elements can make her useful in certain fights where enemies are weak to all of her elements, it also makes her not as impressive at breaking only Fire, Water, or Star. This is especially shown by her rather puzzling spread of elements on her Last Word.

+ Lots of Yin ATK UP and Accuracy UP for herself and also her team
Nue's skills provide Yin ATK UP and Accuracy UP for the entire party, something that Nue heavily grants herself as well to do good damage with her Yin-only spells and Last Word. Her Last Word even decreases all foes' Evasion to make for an effective and indirect Accuracy buff.

+ Immune to Burn, Freeze and Blind and gains Spirit P for being inflicted with them
- Partywide Blind infliction can be detrimental for a lot of teammates
Nue regains Spirit Power via getting inflicted with Burn, Freeze, and Blind, something that can be abused vs. other foes but on herself as well, since every skill she has inflicts those anomalies on herself for easy Spirit Power restoration. Something detrimental though is her third skill, applying a staggering 3 layers of Blind on the whole party. It may be a tasty snack for Nue and only last for a turn on everyone else, but it will definitely hurt everyone's aim if not taken care of on that one turn.

Tojiko (L1)

Tojiko is a selfish Destroy class Friend who requires some support to get going. Give her enough juice and she serves as a powerful nuke and Wood/Moon breaker.

Decent Wood and Moon breaks that hit AoE on up to 4 Spell Cards

Both her first and second Spell Cards hit ALL enemies, dealing 3 Wood and 2 Moon worth of Element damage reach. Her Last Word is a Single Target nuke, landing 3 Wood and 3 Moon breaks on one unlucky opponent.

0P breaks on both Spread and Focus Shots

Tojiko’s Spread and Focus shots can hit Single Target Elements at P0, with the former breaking Wood while the latter breaks Moon. Versatile for long fights!

Requires Accuracy and Spirit P support

Conspicuously absent from her kit are Accuracy and Spirit P boosts, meaning she will require Story Cards to help her boost those stats, or Friends who can support her in that way. Be sure to pack wisely when bringing her into firefights!

Heavily backloaded

With most of her lines locked behind 3P, Tojiko requires a lot of energy for her Lightning to run free.

Selfish attacker with low utility

Big breaks and damage numbers aside, Tojiko has little to offer as a team player, with some minor Crit ACC and Crit ATK for her team to use.

Kokoro (L1)

Hata no Kokoro is a solid, well-rounded healer who is able to dish out some surprisingly, strong damage. In addition, she has 12 Earth Breaks, one of which being a P0 Break on her Focus Shot. She’s an overall strong friend who covers a lot on the table.

+ Amazing Earth breaking capabilities, including a 0P shot break
Kokoro is your definition of a good Earth breaker. Instead of wasting time trying to break a lot of multiple elements at once, Kokoro remains consistent with 3 Earth breaks on both of her spells and 4 more on her Last Word. She even throws in a few Star breaks and a 0P Earth break on her Focus shot for good measure.

+ Solid damage
- Low damage ceiling
With 3 levels of Yin ATK UP upon using her Last Word, Kokoro is able to dish out some decent damage upon using her Last Word. Sadly, without much else to increase her damage, she retains a low damage ceiling, even when being supported.

+ Great healing on spells and skills
- No offensive support
Both Kokoro's second spell and first two skills provide rather moderate healing to give Kokoro many support options. Unfortunately her main barrier restoration, which is on her third skill, is only for herself and not the party. On top of that, none of her Yin ATK buffs can be given to the rest of the team, limiting her utility. Sure, she is meant to be a Support-type Friend, but there are many Friends who are able to at least provide a good amount of offensive support outside of Accuracy buffs.

Benben (L1)

Benben's a simple but kind of weak attacker with some decent Breaks and not much else going for her. 

+ Decent All-targeting Last Word with Fire and Wood breaks
Benben's Last Word has an alright 4 Fire/2 Wood elemental spread on it, along with buffing her Yin ATK before the attack to help it serve a decent beating. Unfortunately, the embarrasingly low Slice scaling does little to help with this damage.

+ Buffs own Yin ATK and debuffs one enemy’s Yin DEF
+ At least 5 levels of Accuracy UP to self
While the Yin ATK buff only comes from her Last Word, she can also debufff a target's Yin DEF by 2 levels via her second spell to help her damage output on that one enemy. Additionally, her second and third skill increase Accuracy to 5 levels so that there is little issue in consistent damage.

- Below average access to elemental breaks
Outside of the arguably decent Last Word coverage, Benben has little to boast about her other elemental coverage, only having 2 Wood on the rest of her spells. Her shots aren't winning any awards either.

- 1/3/1 scaling on 1/2/3 Spirit Power hurts damage output when farming
Since Benben cannot reach 2P on the first turn, she will need at least one turn (unless paired with Spirit Power support from another Friend) to reach decent Last Word damage. She does, at the very least, have tools to buff her own Spirit Power, both from her first spell and first skill.

- Little team support outside of Yin DEF debuffs
The rest of Benben's kit focuses on Agility UP which, as mentioned before, only pitifully increases Slice damage by a slight bit. Otherwise, she is decreasing her own Focus, which can actually harm your team if they aren't into getting targeted!

Yatsuhashi (L1)

Yatsuhashi can do okay damage, brings some lackluster, team buffs, and brings some Wood and Sun Breaks. That's about it. Her kit's very plain and ineffectual.

+ Decent teamwide ATK UP
Yatsuhashi can slightly raise the entire party's Yin and Yang ATK by 1 or 2 levels via her second skill! Too bad this is a 6 turn cooldown skill, but it still is a form of teamwide utility nonetheless. Her Last Word has a similar effect, although it has a higher chance of granted 2 levels, a 30% higher chance for each stat to be exact.

- Below-average breaks
Expensive breaks on basic shots, only 2 Wood breaks on each spell, and 4 Wood/2 Sun on her Last Word gives Yatsuhashi very little in terms of breaking potential. She can definitely break barriers with some Wood given the chance, but it is still very Spirit Power-costly on a Friend with no Spirit Power gain outside of a spell card effect.

- Low damage
With very small offensive buffs and even smaller Slice scaling, Yatsuhashi just doesn't have the ability to dish out much high damage, either on spells or her Last Word. 

Shinmyoumaru is your everyday (though definitely not unimpressive) Yang nuker, doing well in increasing both her own Yang ATK and her party’s through the use of her spells. Along with some Yang DEF buffs to optimize her Hard scaling and accuracy support, Shinmyoumaru does not need much from other Friends to hit hard. However, she does somewhat lack in team utility outside of her Yang support and is rather unimpressive in terms of barrier breaks.

+ 0P Star on Focus shot
- Lacking in elemental breaking on spells
Shinmyoumaru's elemental breakings are best shown with her 0P Star break on her Focus, but not much else spell-wise. It's really just an average mix of Star and Metal. However, the same definitely cannot be said for her fully-Star Last Word, an amazing way to break with Star when needed.

+ Fully Star Last Word hits hard with set up
- Evasion debuff on Last Word is a tad excessive
Shinmyoumaru does usually want 3P to get the most of her Last Word, but thanks to her own buffs, the Last Word can definitely hit really well. On the other hand, the attack debuffs both Evasion and CRIT Evasion by 4 levels, which is a bit extreme and not the most necessary debuff at times.

+ Comes with her own Accuracy support
- Team support mainly on spells instead of skills
Her Evasion debuff still does serve as good accuracy support for the rest of the team, and if that wasn't enough she can give the team 2 levels of Accuracy UP from her third skill. Unfortunately, the rest of her good buffs are on spells, meaning that in a longer fight, Shinmyoumaru's buffs may be less effective once all of her spells are gone.

- Rather fragile; little Yang DEF buffs
Shinmyoumaru can buff Yang DEF on her second spell, but with only 3775 HP and lower defensive stats, you will have to make sure the tiny Friend is able to stand long enough to use her full potential.

Seiran (L1)

Seiran provides you with a below average amount of Moon and Earth breaks and that’s about it. Her debuffs aren’t very helpful, her damage is low, and she just doesn’t really do anything else.

+ Earth and Moon Breaks
This is really all Seiran has going for her, and even then they are pretty below average. 2 Moons on her first spell, 2 Earths on her second spell, and only 3 Earths on the Last Word. At the very least, having a Friend with two elements can be somewhat decent, though her Earth only being on some spells does hurt that strength as well.

- Debuffs aren’t very helpful and have low values
Seiran's debuffs are mainly about hurting the opponents' offensive values, both Yin or Yang or CRIT stats. These, sadly, are not as practical when compared to debuffing defensive values, as these debuffs only decrease the damage you take instead of helping you nuke enemies faster. Even then, the values of her debuffs are pitiful and are not even very spammable.

- Low damage
When focusing on debuffs, Seiran really has no way to buff her own damage, to the point where her Last Word doesn't even buff herself and just keeps aiming for that offensive debuff niche. She can try stunning at 3P of either her second spell or Last Word, but without her own way to gain Spirit Power quickly, good luck doing so efficiently. 

Doremy (L1)

Doremy is a selfish attacker with a powerful All targeting Last Word that does good damage both in short fights, and scales immensely in harder fights. She also provides some Earth and Star breaks, alongside Yang DEF DOWN support. With that said, she's very reliant on landing a Killer in order to do her damage - whilst very wide ranging, there are some targets she doesn't have a Killer against, so watch out for those, as her damage will suffer immensely when she cannot get the automatic critical hits that a Killer provides.

+ P0 Star on a basic shot for spammable Star Breaks
- Otherwise slightly below average breaks
A 0P Star break always has practical purposes thanks to how common Star weaknesses are. However, the dual mix of Earth and Star breaks that Doremy goes for in the rest of her spells make her a rather mediocre elemental breaker outside of spamming.

+ Very damaging All-targeting Last Word both for farming and longer fights
- Very reliant on Killer - whilst it's wide ranging, there's the occasional enemy that slips past it and thus makes her damage plummet
While her first skill's Yang ATK buffs don't go into her Last Word's Yin-only damage, Doremy can more thank make up for it thanks to a wide array of other Yin ATK buffs and an attack filled with Killer bullets, ranging from humans, youkai, and even Lunarians. Of course, when not hitting these Killers on targets such as fairies or gods, Doremy will lack the critical hits to do greater damage. Additionally, she doesn't come with any CRIT ATK buffs to further increase this Killer bullet damage and will need to rely on story cards or other Friends for some.

+ Provides some DEF Down support for Yang teammates
- Self Quick can make her a little harder to support
Doremy may be a selfish attacker, but she can at last apply some Yang DEF DOWN via her second skill, which allows Yang nukes to do some better damage. Outside of that, not only does she have no buffs for her team, but her casting Quick on herself through her third skill can be rather inconvienent if you're trying to debuff the opponent with other Last Words first.

Sagume (L1)

Sagume Kishin is a great Yang attacker support. Featuring an incredible 5 levels of Yang DEF DOWN against all targets in total, combined with some accuracy support, she gives Yang teams effectively half a Full Break - which is more than enough to take down any fight. Otherwise, she’s got great personal damage, and she’s a fine farmer to boot, if limited mostly to event stages and needing 2 or 3 turns to handle single-target stages. .

Great damage in short and long fights alike

Sagume gets good damage off by herself, mainly due to her many Yang DEF debuffs she applies on foes. Otherwise, even with a Last Word with mixed elements, being only composed of Yang and Sharp bullets makes it easy to support for even better damage.p>

Incredible support for Yang attackers

Featuring an incredible 5 levels of Yang DEF DOWN against all targets in total, combined with some accuracy support, she gives Yang teams effectively half a Full Break - which is more than enough to take down any fight.

Good Accuracy Support

Sagume's can debuff Evasion to give indirect accuracy support to her team.

Best Yang DEF DOWN debuff only lasts one turn

You will need to be careful with how you apply your debuffs, or else find a way to extend her duration with other supports.

Slightly lacking break potential

Sagume just has an average breaking potential when it comes to elemental breaks. Her Moon access is decent, with 3 breaks on each spell. Her Last Word also has 3 Moon with 3 Star mixed in, so she's not the worst at breaking; she just has nothing impressive going for her.

Junko (L1)

Junko simply doesn't have a ton to offer by modern unit standards - she's got P0 Water Breaks, a backloaded Solo targeting Last Word, and that's it. She'll get the job done if you give her time, but just don't expect anything amazing.

+ P0 Solo targeting Water Breaks on Spread Shot
- Lackluster Breaks overall
0P Water is good if Junko needs to spam Water breaks, but the rest of her spell elemental bullets are just lacking. Only 2 elements on her spells, with only 3 Star on her Last Word to somewhat make up for it makes for a very below-average breaker.

+ Decently powerful Solo targeting Last Word if given time to setup
- Requires setup to do any damage at all
- Mixed damage makes her hard to support
Junko really needs setup time to get anything done, which can be annoying when others on a team are waiting for her to do her thing. All of her spells are backloaded, and while her first spell provides 1.00 Spirit Power to shorten the wait, the mixed nature of all of her attacks will make it challenging to deal any damage even when Junko prepares all of her buffs.

- No team support
The Yin ATK debuff provided on Junko's second spell is rather pointless for team utility, and all of her skills are for herself only. The only part that potentially is team support is the Charge on her third skill, and only in the sense that she waits for the rest of the team to debuff before attacking herself.

Shion (L1)

Shion's got two jobs: saddle your opponent with a ton of Yin & Yang DEF DOWN and some Burn Barriers, and delete one opponent from existence with a extremely potent Solo Last Word. She's good at hard fights, she's good for farming, the only thing she's not stellar at is that her Break ability is just kinda average. Still, she's so good at everything else it's hard to care, especially since DEF DOWN doesn't work with Full Breaks. 

+Extremely strong Solo-target Last Word that's also frontloaded, making her good for farming and hard fights alike
Shion's Last Word will make sure that a singular foe feels great pain quickly due to its 3-1-1 bullet spread. On top of even more Yin DEF DOWN from casting the attack itself, Shion gets Human-Killer bullets to dish out some nice additional CRIT damage.

+Devastatingly powerful DEF DOWN debuffs
Shion's Last Word isn't the only defense debuff she has, far from it. Her second skill debuffs both defensive types (Yin and Yang), while her second spell and third skill are Evasion debuffs to act as accuracy support for the team if needed. With so many DEF DOWNs, Shion doesn't even need to Full Break the foes for good damage numbers, from either her or her team.

- Breaks are merely average
And good thing she doesn't need Full Break either, as breaking-wise, Shion is just an average Fire breaker. She is definitely good for the job, with 3 Fire breaks on her spells and 4 more on her Last Word, but she won't be doing anything very impressive when breaking the enemy. It may be for the better, as DEF DOWN doesn't work when enemies are Full Broken, giving Shion less use on a team that is just going for breaks.

Aunn (L1)

Aunn Komano is your shining definition of a Support Friend, doing everything in her power to back up the rest of her team. Her skills basically cover everything: offense support, defense support, and accuracy support (at most, she is lacking CRIT support if you really need it). Outside of that, Aunn provides some Wood and Earth breaks on her spells followed up by an impressive Sun-only Last Word for some additional damage if the team utility wasn’t enough for you.

+ Last Word comprised entirely of Sun and Energy bullets
- Doesn’t hit so hard, even with Slice and Hard scaling
Aunn's Last Word is the highlight of her offense; being only Sun and Energy to make it very easy to support via story card. However, this is really Aunn's only major reason for elemental breaks, as her spells are very unimpressive for the matter. And even with that, her Last Word isn't the best for damage.

+ All-around supporter: Accuracy, Yin ATK, and defensive buffs
+ Skills with 4-turn cooldown serve as spammable support
- Lacks a specific buff to excel at
Aunn is great at filling in any gaps for a support: providing Accuracy and Agility on her second skill, Yin ATK on her first skill, and many defensive buffs on her third skill and by Grazing. However, with all of this varied, short-cooldown support, Aunn doesn't really end up buffing one stat that high in particular, meaning she shouldn't be the only replacement for buffing a singular stat someone on the party lacks.

Eika (L1)

Eika Ebisu is a Debuff-Class Friend who can stack up debuffs such as Yin DEF, pull off some Water and Earth Breaks and Freeze her foes.

Stacked Debuffs

Eika’s Skill 3 is very helpful when it comes to Yin DEF and Evasion debuffs. In addition, more Yin DEF debuffs can be achieved by simply using Spell Card 1 (single target) or Last Word (all targets), which can help in terms of damage output for either Eika or for other Yin allies.

Decent Earth and Water Breaks

With both Spell Card 1 and Last Word having 3 lines of Water and Earth, Eika is not too shabby when it comes to her break potential. In addition, Spell Card 2 has 2 of each, and Spread Shot is Water focused whereas Focus Shot is more down to Earth, each having 3 breaks.

Slight Focus Reduction

Eika’s Focus reduction for herself is a bit of a double-edged sword when it comes to allies potentially taking more damage. That said, Grazing can mitigate that, and if it becomes an issue, there are ways around it like Cards/allies with Barrier restoration.

Anomaly Ice-Breaker

When it comes to going about Freeze anomalies, Eika is a weird case. Her only secure ways of Freeze inflictions are through Skill 1, although if against enemies who inflict Freeze, Eika’s Ability inflicts back those same anomalies. Sadly, her Freeze breaks are a bit limited, being just achieved by her Spread Shot and Last Word, but that could be where other allies can jump in and help with that.

Needs Help Stacking Up Buffs

While there are very slight ways Eika can grant buffs, such as Accuracy by Grazing, Yin DEF on Spell Card 2, CRIT ATK on Last Word Pre-ATK, and Yin ATK on the same Last Word’s bullet line, naturally this debuffer will need help with Yin ATK and CRIT ATK, as well as possibly Accuracy and Yin DEF to a lesser extent.

Kutaka (L1)

Kutaka is a through and through healer and barrier restoring Friend. She's got a little bit of other stuff, like Speed support and Melting, but overall not too complicated of a Friend. As such, she's not gonna be blowing apart the battlefield with ridiculous damage or anything like that, so as long as you temper your expectations for nuking or lots of buffs, she does the job she sets out to do.

+0P Wood Focus Shot
+Tons of healing and barrier restore throughout Skills and Spell Cards
This is pretty much what you're here for with using Kutaka in the first place, and she has plenty of it. There's not much else to say.

+Some party wide speed buffs, and personally benefits from Slice scaling
Kutaka can do a little bit of Speed support, and slot into a Speed based team somewhat well. It's nothing crazy, but it's something.

+Immune to poison, freeze and burn
+Spirit Power UP switch-in effect
Still the best general use switch-in effect, and a pleasure to have on anyone.

-Middling damage without speed support
-Weak Yang ATK buffs gimp damage further
Don't go expecting Kutaka's damage to blow you out of the water. You can set up for it to be pretty decent, but you should probably just set up your other Friends instead.

-Weak passive skills
These really don't do much of anything for her. the Spirit P UP one is nice, if it goes off, but you usually can't count on it.

Yachie (L1)

The Matriarch of the Kiketsu Family is a formidable unit with access to Water and Wood breaks, and an ALL Wood Last Word. While Yachie's utility isn't the most impressive thing about her, her Yin ATK boosts and Scaling for Hard and Slice are not to be overlooked.

Powerful Last Word, especially when paired with her best story card.

Yachie is a very unique Last Word nuke due to getting scaling from both Hard and Slice, giving her reasons to buff both Yin DEF (since it is a fully Yin attack) and Agility. Her skills do both of this, and with a Gensokyo-Killer at 2P, Yachie's damage easily hits ridiculous numbers fast.

Very solid Yin DEF and Agility Support

Yachie's second skill is a partywide Yin DEF buff for 2 levels over 3 turns, making her actually decent as a defensive side-support. Both her second spell and first skill serve as Agility buffs for the party, and doing a rather good job at that. She even gets direct offense support via Grazing, which buffs the party's Yin ATK.

Low barrier restoration is problematic, especially when using Graze for Yin ATK

Having 1 barrier restore on her third skill is definitely not a bad thing, but for a Friend who wants to spam Graze for Yin ATK buffs, having to use barriers for reasons such as defending will make her barrier and Graze access more limited than the usual Friend.

Mayumi (L1)

The second in command, Mayumi Joutouguu, bolsters her might as a haniwa soldier by having good access to the Earth and Metal elements. Her Last Word has a 4:2 ratio of Slash to Sharp bullets as well as its Earth to Metal elements, allowing her to be a potent Earth nuker. Mayumi’s team utility is YANG oriented and falls a bit short due to the duration of the buffs from her second skill.

+ P0 Earth on Focus Shot.
+ Decent access to Earth and Metal elements.
Not only does Mayumi have a 0P Earth break on her Focus shot that she can spam, but her spells have an amazing balance of Earth and Metal. She gets 3 Metal and 3 Earth from both of her spells, along with 4 Earth and 2 Metal on her Last Word, making her a solid breaker in both elements.

+ Very good Last Word, especially when paired with her best story card.
+ Can sustain her own Accuracy.
Mayumi holds true as a great Attack-type Friend with a strong Last Word. She can afford to unleash it turn 1 due to getting to 2P from her third skill, and being allowed to set up buffs and more Spirit Power only allows her Last Word to deal even more damage and unleash more Yang-based buffs. Accuracy is also a non-issue for her thanks to her first skill and first spell acting as accuracy support.

+ Decent Yang-oriented support for the team.
- Low turn duration and bad cooldown of Skill 2 gimps her potential to support the team.
Mayumi's second skill is a great Yang support buff for the whole team, both for Yang ATK and Yang DEF. Unfortunately, it has a low endurance of 1-2 turns for the buffs and only cooldowns in 5 turns, meaning it cannot be spammed as much as better support buffs. Still, she can indirectly help Yang nukers via her second spell's Yang DEF debuff on a singular target.

Story Card Farms: 3-3-3, Future Story Card stage
 

Saki (L1)

The steed of Prince Shoutoku serves to provide plentiful barrier breaks and a strong hitting single-targeting Last Word. While her utility may not be the best for most characters to take advantage of, the other aspects of her kit compensate for this downside and help make her useful in nearly any piece of challenging content.

Amazing Elemental access rivaling the best in terms of barrier breaks.

Not only does Saki contain two 0P spammable break options in the form of 0P Wood on her Spread shot and 0P Fire on her Focus shot, but the rest of her spells' breaks are just outright good. Her first spell is 4 breaks of Star and her second spell covers 4 breaks of Wood, with 2 Fire spread out for those two. Saki more than makes up for the firepower with a Fire-only Last Word, solidifying herself as a great elemental breaker.

High Turn 1 damage which can be increased with CRIT support.

Without a backloaded Last Word, Saki's Solo-target damage potential turn 1 is better than other backloaded competitors. Thanks to her Gensokyo-Killer and Human-Killer bullets, however, she can easily rack up even higher numbers with a little bit of CRIT ATK support. It helps that her damage doesn't fully rely on critical hits either, thanks to some decent Slice scaling and other buffs.

Main sources of team utility are locked to her 2nd Spell Card and Last Word.

Saki is mostly a greedy attacker, only buffing her allies via her first skill, which is only 2 levels of Agility UP. Her real utility comes in the form of Evasion debuffs on her second spell and the defensive debuff on her Last Word, which is only for a singular target, somewhat limiting its reach.

Takane (L1)

Takane Yamashiro is a Technical Friend that actually does a lot for the rest of the team as well as herself. While she can buff her own Yang ATK and CRIT ATK to very serviceable levels, she also debuffs all opponents’ Yang DEF and CRIT DEF for a similar outcome for the entire team. Combined with her great Wood breaking and decent Metal/Paralyze breaking as well as great Last Word for damage and Human-killer purposes, Takane is one of the better Yang attackers to bring out to battle, benefitting herself and other Friends.

+ 0P All-target Wood on Focus shot
+ Spells full of Wood and Metal breaks
Takane does really well in combining the forest and mechanics into elemental breaks, starting off with a 0P All-target Wood break on her Focus shot for spammable Wood breaks. Afterwards, she can easily pepper foes with Wood and Metal breaks since her spells are filled with both Wood and Metal, meaning Takane can have utility in stages where either element is a huge boon.

- Can’t really take full advantage of Paralyze anomaly breaks on shots
Takane actually has a second way to break barriers: Paralyze anomaly breaks via 1P of her basic shots. Sadly, Takane lacks real consistent ways to apply Paralyze herself, only doing so on her first skill. Outside of that, she will have to hope on either her character ability to reflect anomalies or her spells to apply Paralyze as well. Or you can just bring along Friends that can apply Paralyze to be more consistent.

+ Sets up good damage all by herself
All of Takane’s skills are practically great for setup damage, buffing her own Yang ATK and CRIT ATK or even just debuffing foes’ defenses. Her Last Word may not have the most optimal story card to increase the damage of its bullet type, but the Human-killers attached to it are sure to catch many common bosses and foes off-guard for devastating damage.

+ Includes partywide offense buffs and enemy debuffs for utility
- Doesn’t fully excel in Yang or CRIT support
Takane holds a good amount of teamwide utility, both in buffs and debuffs. Her second spell gives everyone CRIT ATK, and she can debuff both Yang DEF and CRIT DEF on all foes, the former with her Last Word and the latter with her first skill. Unfortunately, while she is good for these buffs, they are still somewhat lacking, especially when she mainly buffs herself while other Friends can provide a good amount of either Yang or CRIT support more than her.

Misumaru (L1)

Misumaru Tamatsukuri takes full advantage of creating the yin-yang orbs by mixing up Yin and Yang within her attacks. While at times this can hurt the way her Last Word is only Yang, she still comes through as a great Friend in terms of a variety of buffs, debuffs, and barrier breaks via Earth and Star or Blind anomalies. 

+ 0P All-target Earth break on Focus shot
+ Very balanced Earth and Star breaks on spells
Misumaru both has a 0P Earth break on her Focus shot that targets all enemies and spells that have 3 Earth breaks and 3 Star breaks attached to them. This already makes her an ideal breaker for either element, but she goes even further with a Blind anomaly break on her Spread shot and Last Word, something she can get mileage out of after using her second spell that applies 3 layers of Blind.

+ Buffs herself a decent bit for a strong Last Word
- Confused mixed attacker; doesn’t buff Agility for Slice scaling
Misumaru holds a good mix of Yin and Yang buffs to back up her mixed nature, but the way she buffs Yin ATK and Yang ATK on her Last Word, a Yang-only attack, is rather confusing for optimizing damage. She comes with good Hard and Slice scaling to help out her setup damage, but Agility is a stat she can only buff at 2P of Spread shot or randomly during her second spell. She’s definitely not the worst at nuking with her Last Word, but the choices on her kit make her a bit less ideal than other Friends.

+ Variety of Yin, Yang, and CRIT-related buffs and debuffs
- Not so focused on a specific stat to buff
Misumaru is a Technical Friend that buffs both herself and her allies, specifically granting teamwide Yang DEF and Accuracy via her skills. She can even decrease CRIT DEF via her second skill, something that Friends with Killers will easily use to their advantage. Her first skill is also a decent Solo-target option for debuffing both Yin DEF and Yang DEF. The main issue when it comes to her utility is that she does not particularly flourish in one type of stat (Yang DEF? CRIT DEF DOWN? Accuracy?), meaning she usually should not be the main source for a supportive buff.

Toyohime (L1)

As expected of Lunarian nobility, Toyohime is very powerful. She hits incredibly hard in shorter, scales well in longer fights, serves as a useful farmer in both Events and for Chapter 1, 2 Act 2, and 3 Act 1's Story Cards, and completely invalidates any fight that relies on Evasion to provide a challenge. She's entirely a selfish damage dealer and her Barrier Break abilities are unusually abysmal, but those don't really undermine her overwhelming strengths. 

+ Great Turn 1 Damage
+ High set-up damage
+ Yin Only spells are good against Yang-focused enemies
Toyohime is really here for the damage. All of her skills are about optimizing her Yin output and Accuracy to make sure the opponents really feel what they're being hit with. Her spells can play with this buffing theme as well, especially if you are targetting the Human-Killer bullets of her Last Word. She can do good damage right off the bat for Event farming, and can increase that damage even more if she is setting up. Yin attacks can also be synergized with other Yin supporters to catch some bosses off guard.

- Almost no Breaks
Toyohime just has almost no breaks, and it doesn't take long to look over her spells to see why. Her Last Word has the highest amount of elements in her kit, which even then is just 2 Wood and 1 Moon. She's not Full Breaking, and even if she doesn't need to in order to deal high damage, it can be rather inefficient.

- No utility
All Toyohime does is buff herself, not even debuffing the enemies. She is purely here for the damage, and while supporting her can make her do even more, she's not giving anything back in terms of support.

Yorihime (L1)

Watatsuki no Yorihime is here to do one job - hit extremely, extremely hard with her 1-1-3 All targeting Last Word. She has no team utility, her Element access isn't great, she needs time to set up, and she hits so hard none of that matters. Just make sure she has time to set up, both for hard fights and farming. 

+ Incredible damage when properly set up
- Weak Turn 1 damage
This is practically the only reason for using Yorihime: Last Word setup damage. Being a 1-1-3 Last Word already is unfortunate, and Yorihime doesn't have much Spirit Power generation by herself to get to that 3P quickly. At the very least, many of her buffs are meant to be set up to do a devastaing amount of damage once ready, instead of just Full Autoing and trying a Turn 1 nuke. Additionally, the Gensokyo-Killer bullets on 2P and beyond of her Last Word just increase the damage on most foes even further.

+ Varied elemental coverage on Last Word at P3
- No elements on Last Word until P2
Yorihime's elemental coverage is nothing to really care about. However, she does get access to an interesting assortment of elements, specifically Moon, Fire, Water, and Earth, upon being at 3P of her Last Word. Hopefully these elements do more to help her damage rather than end up being resisted by the target...

- Purely selfish attacker
Yorihime is just here for damage set up, she's doing nothing to buff her other allies and with the heavy damage Yorihime is going for, perhaps that is for the better.

Solo Stage Farms: 3-3-3

Kosuzu (L1)

Kosuzu’s main selling point is the Piercing (defense buff ignoring) damage on her Last Word. This makes her an attractive teammate to farm 2-7-1. Do keep in mind that her Farm rating is heavily affected by this - her damage is rather low and she’ll have problems farming Event stages on Lunatic by herself. The Piercing is also not as good as you’d think in most fights too, for reasons covered in her analysis. Outside of that, she packs an average amount of Water and Wood Breaks, alongside some CRIT support, making her overall an above average Friend.

+ Average access to Water and Wood Breaks
Kosuzu's 3 Wood breaks on her first spell, 3 Water breaks on her second spell, and 3 of each on her Last Word is a pretty good spread of elements for elemental breaking.

+ Last Word deals a lot of Piercing damage
- Overall low damage output outside of Piercing shenanigans without heavy setup
Piercing is a special effect that goes through the target's defense, and having this on the first third of Kosuzu's Last Word gives it a small niche in damage dealing. Sadly, without a great amount of Yin ATK buffs for herself, her damage will remain pretty low, especially on the non-Piercing spells.

+ Some CRIT Evasion DOWN Support for teammates
Kosuzu's first spell is a rather impressive 2 or 3 levels of CRIT Evasion DOWN, which can definitely end up helping the rest of a team land more critical hits for better damage. Kosuzu herself focuses a bit on raising CRIT damage, so this can end up being good for herself as well.

- Second Spell Card deals self-damage to Kosuzu
If her second spell connects, Kosuzu will lose some HP and likely put her in a bit of danger. Kosuzu also harms herself on her second and third skills, though the Yang DEF and CRIT Evasion debuffs are less of a concern than more important stats.

Daiyousei (A6)

Daiyousei (A6) is a Debuff Friend who scrambles enemy lines with Yin and Crit Debuffs while inflicting and breaking Freeze and Paralyze anomalies.

”Weights are so passé.”

Once known for her proficiency with dropping the Twitter bird onto a single target for 6 Metal bonks, this prankster has embraced modernity, opting instead to apply Freeze and Paralyze Anomalies onto enemy teams which she can then break with Spell Card 1 or her Last Word. 25% less memey, 150% more efficient!

”Where are you aiming?”

Understanding the value of a funny prank, Daiyousei has diversified her skill set, settling on instead blinding her opponents so hard even Rumia would take notice. Her Spell Card 1, Last Word and Skill 1 drop a combined 9 Levels of Accuracy Down on all enemies for 3 turns, meaning they’ll be fumbling around in the dark long after your Friends are done setting up for their afternoon cup of murder.

Poor damage potential

Daiyousei is a selfless debuffer through and through, devoting every little of her kit to herself. While she is technically able to max out her Yin ATK with sustained Focus Shots and continuous Boosting, players wanting to avoid drawn out battles will find that she otherwise lacks relevant buffs to Accuracy and Crit ATK to really hit home her damage.

Debuffs aren’t all they’re cracked up to be

With no actual team buffs to speak of, players may find themselves starting back at zero when enemy buffs are thrown off, most commonly due to being Full Broken.

Cirno (A6)

Even as way back as her original appearance, Cirno proves that she is stronger than her L1 alternative- but only slightly. She boasts a minimum of 4 Freeze anomalies on all targets in a single turn, as well as a good amount of Yin DEF, CRIT DEF, and Evasion debuffs between her spells and skills. However, there are many detriments to her kit, such as requiring heavy Spirit Power to pull off her Freeze anomaly breaks and other bullet lines but lacking Spirit Power restoration to make up for it. Still, Cirno can definitely have her moments to shine in battle, just not when it comes to farming.

+ 0P All-target Water on spread shot
Cirno's breaking abilities are rather good. When it comes to her elements, she gets 0P Water on her spread shot, as well as a decent mix of Water and Wood on both of her spells. Her Last Word mixes in a bit of Fire as well, which can come in clutch when needed.

+ 4 to 5 easy Freeze anomalies in a single turn
- Freeze anomaly break locked at 3P of a Solo-target spell card
Cirno has an easy combo to inflict 4 to 5 Freeze anoamlies: her first skill's 2 Freezes into her second spell's either 2 or 3 Freezes, both of which will be on all foes. It is nice that Cirno can break these anomalies with her first spell as well, it needs to be at 3P, a feat that can be difficult for her to reach alone. Additionally, it being only Solo-target may mean that Cirno loses out on breaking other Freeze anomalies if she cannot get back to 3P in time.

+ A good amount of debuffs: Yin DEF, CRIT DEF, and Evasion
+ Self-Quick makes her a reliable debuffer before the attack-focused Friends hit
- Last Word and Skill 3 debuffs lasting 1 turn can be annoying
Cirno is mainly a debuffer, shown by the many defensive debuffs she applies via her skills and spells. She can even apply Quick to herself with her second skill in order to apply debuffs with her spells before other Friends attack with spells or Last Words. However, do note how her third skill and Last Word's debuffs only last a single turn, making them hard to retain and take advantage of.

- Needs a lot of Spirit Power to function and just cannot make that herself
No Spirit Power generation makes it hard for Cirno to both hit harder than she can at the start of the fight and access her elemental and anomaly breaks. This really slows Cirno down, something that can prove fatal for much harder fights.

- Damage is underwhelming in general
Even when set up, Cirno just doesn't have the tools to hit heavy damage numbers by herself due to trying to debuff so many stats instead of havily buffing herself.

Meiling (A6)

Hong Meiling (A6) is a Speed-Class Friend specializing in Yin and Crit DEF debuffs while supporting Yin teams with relevant buffs.

Great Wall of China

Meiling has multiple ways of reducing damage, from skills that reduce Wood and Star element bullets by 45% to passives to allow her to take 25% less damage from Humans. She also provides party Barrier recovery through her Spell Card 2.

Swift as a Coursing River

While Meiling works best with Yin teams, she is especially good at ramping up Agility buffs for her Friends. With the right Story Card load out, she can cap team Agility in a single turn, combining buffs from her Last Word, Skill 1 and Grazing, all of which provide Agility.

A Lack of Focus

While Meiling has many ways of reducing damage to herself, she is unable to draw enemy fire as she lacks Focus buffs. Make sure your Friends don’t neglect to graze, especially when not covered by her protective buffs.

A Lack of Damage Potential

While she excels in providing Agility buffs, she is unable to capitalise on them very well, with low Agility scaling on her attacks. She makes up for this with bonus damage from effective Elements, but this is somewhat stymied by her somewhat rainbow coloured bullet lines. Furthermore, she lacks Yin ATK buffs to reach the upper limits of her damage, requiring help from Friends or Story Cards to do so.

Sakuya (A6)

The maid with a hint of scarlet mist has a wide variety of abilities to make herself stick out, primarily from lowering the Yin DEF and Evasion of every opponent or increasing the Yin ATK of herself as well as her allies. Even with a Solo-target Last Word, Sakuya makes up for that with an array of All-target spell cards that have a great amount of Fire and Moon breaks along with basic spread and focus shots that have 0P Metal breaks. 

+ Every spell card bullet is elemental; plentiful Fire, Metal, or Moon breaks
+ P0 All-target Metal break on Spread and Focus shot
When it comes to elemental breaking, Sakuya is quite amazing at it, with 0P Metal on both basic Shots, which are also All-Targeting, and when fully boosted, you can bring out 3 Metal Breaks on her Focus Shot! If that wasn't enough, everything else is elemental! With the first Spell Card having 2 Breaks for Fire, Metal and Moon, 3 Breaks for Fire and Moon on the second Spell Card and a Last Word with 6 out of 6 lines of Fire, this maid's elemental breaking potential is immensely valuable!

+ Support through Yin ATK buffs and Yin DEF/Evasion debuffs
Sakuya also provides some useful support, especially on the Yin side of things. With Skill 3 providing the team 2 Levels of Yin ATK UP and Skill 2 weakening the enemies' Yin DEF by 2 Stages as well as the ability to lower the Evasion of all Targets by up to 2 Stages via second Spell Card, there are definitely ways for teammates, especially the Yin based ones, to benefit from this.

+ Powerful Yin/Fire-only Last Word
- Solo LW Damage does reach a ceiling in comparison to other strong units
With Yin buffs and target debuff potential, with the latter even being present in her Last Word, Sakuya's will do great when it comes to this attack. While this is very good for Solo LW standards, it does miss out on a few things that may have benefited it just a little more, such as Hard/Slice Scaling, which Sakuya does not use at all. As well as this, her Killer range is also somewhat limited, meaning that CRIT potential is lower than other high tier units. However, this is still a very good Last Word, even if it isn't the cream of the crop. 
 

Solo Story Card Farms: 3-6-3

Remilia (A6)

A6 Remilia Scarlet, with her overwhelming might, reveals herself as a Speed type Friend with a strong emphasis towards Burn breaks and the Moon element.

Burn Anomalies to Inflict and Break

A6 Remilia’s 1st Skill, as well as her Spell Cards inflicting a decent amount of Burn, can break a large amount of Barriers on all enemies. You can use her Focus Shot, Spell Card 2 and Last Word to break, with inflictions pulled off via her Spell Card 2 again, as well as her Skill 1 (can be done every other turn).

Decent utility providing Agility, Yin ATK, Yin DEF, and Barriers.

Thanks to her Skills and Spell Cards providing Agility, Yin ATK, Yin DEF, and Barriers, A6 Remilia can support Yin nukers, especially if they have strong Slice Scaling. They may also appreciate the slight Yin DEF and CRIT DEF debuff potential achieved via her Spell Cards 1 and 2 respectively.

Damage Potential is a Mix of Promising and Frustrating

A6 Remilia is a bit of an oddball when it comes to damage. Her high offensive stats (1900 Yin ATK, 1600 Agility) show so much promise right off the bat, and as a Speed-Class Friend, she can really take advantage of her Slice Scaling via her Last Word, but those pros have to clash with the fateful cons: A limited Killer range via Human, Shrine Maiden, Magician, Incident Resolver, Younger Sister as well as an awkward Last Word not being able to slot perfectly with a Story Card due to its mix of Slash and Light bullets may be frustrating to go about if you want to optimize this finicky mistress to her fullest. Quite the mixed bag.

Aside from Moon, Lackluster Sub-Elements

One factor that holds her Barrier breaks from being truly amazing is her Spell Cards having a weird spread of elements aside from Moon that makes her awkward to utilize, making her really only being able to take advantage of Moon, and not so much other ones like Fire, Earth and Water.

Alice (A6)

Alice Margatroid (A6) is a Debuff-Class Friend who weakens her enemies with defensive debuffs, plays with Burn and Paralyze anomalies and showers her foes with a rainbow of elements.

Debuffs and Anomalies

While A6 Alice may be focused on Yang DEF debuffs via Skill 2 and her Last Word, she provides Yin DEF debuffs through her Second Spell Card and Last Word Pre-ATKs. It may seem odd for a Yang unit like this puppeteer, but with some Yin-based allies, this could be of use. Yin allies will also appreciate the slight benefit from A6 Alice inflicting Burn anomalies on her foes, should she opt not to anomaly break.

Puppets and Power

Having a decent range of Killers, with Youkai being the main one here is always convenient, and with the CRIT DEF and CRIT Evasion debuffs in A6 Alice’s kit, she will capitalize on that well. She is also able to use Hard Scaling to her advantage, with it having more of an effect through methods such as her Paralyze anomaly inflicts on herself.

Alice in Rainbowland

Having all kinds of elements in one’s attacks is very hard to work with, especially when the most rainbow-y set of elements we have seen to date resides in A6 Alice’s kit. With her rainbow scheme preventing an element appearing more than once in any of her attacks, her elemental break potential is very much hindered, even mitigations like slight anomaly breaking and resisted elements getting a 25% boost aren’t enough to cover this flaw up.

No Support, Needs Support

As a debuffer, it’s natural that A6 Alice will want to focus on that, but her only way to buff the team is Yang DEF UP, which is especially selfish. On top of that, her buffs she gives herself like Yang ATK, CRIT ATK and to some extent, Yang DEF are very lacking, so she needs some backup that can provide the above to really bring her damage up.

Alice (A7)

Alice Margatroid is a speedy yet strong attacker with fantastic breaks. Watch her decimate Paralyze and Burn Anomalies while piling on rainbow elements. Follow that up with a large amount of Yin ATK UP for more damage, Agility UP and heavy Slice scaling for even more damage, and even a few Yin DEF debuffs on her second spell, and you get a magician who can do almost everything.

Paralyze and Burn anomaly breaks on All-target spell card, which she can inflict herself

Alice can break Paralyze and Burn anomalies via her first spell, which is All-targeting to maximize breaking potential. With the ability to inflict up to 4 of these anomalies on a single target with her second spell, Alice can easily break a lot of barriers by herself and even more with potential team support.

Heavy Yin ATK and Agility buffs for very high damage

Alice is a pure Attack-type Friend, heavily raising both her Yin ATK for amazing Last Word damage as well as Agility to get a good amount of Slice scaling at the start of the attack.

Unfocused Rainbow elements.

The only spell that hits the mark above average is her second spell, with 3 Metal and 3 Earth breaks. Her first spell and Last Word, unfortunately, are rather mixed in many elements and aren't really good at elemental breaks, instead at higher risk of losing damage to elemental resistances.

Low team utility.

Alice’s buffs are mostly for herself. She gives a few of the Yin ATK and Agility buffs to the whole party, but not enough to stand as a worthwhile support.

Youmu (A7)

Youmu is a powerful CRIT and Killer enabler with a potent All targeting Last Word, fantastic for harder fights and solid for event farming.

Good access to Water and Metal Breaks, including P0 All targeting Metal on a Basic Shot

Youmu both breaks Metal at 0P with her Focus shot and does good elemental breaks on her spells. She has 4 Metal and 2 Water on her first spell, with the revese on her second spell (4 Water and 2 Metal). Her Last Word goes for a good mix of Wood and Moon if needed, heavily outpacing her L1 self's Moon access.

High All-targeting damage on Last Word

Just like the L1 Myon, Youmu powers both her Yin ATK and Yang ATK before using her Last Word for major damage. Her damage is a bit backloaded, but if set up with the defensive debuffs of her other spells, then Youmu will definitely show off her sword mastery with flying colors. She even gets a good variety of Killer bullets for good measure.

Fantastic support for CRIT and Killer attackers

Youmu has a great first skill that buffs both CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy of the party to serve as very good CRIT support for Friends who need the accuracy or the attack buff for Killers.

Backloaded damage

Youmu requires heavy Spirit P expenditure to hit a lot of her bullet lines.

Tewi (A8)

A8 Tewi Inaba is a Destroy-Class Friend with CRIT DEF and CRIT Evasion debuffs on enemies as well as usage of Blind anomalies.

Fortunate Killer Range

Having Killers like Human, Youkai, Soul, Shrine Maiden, Sage, Magician, Maid, Half-Human Half-Phantom, Vampire, Ghost and Incident Resolver makes A8 Tewi very likely to land her Critical Hits rather often.

Helpful Debuffs

A8 Tewi is a bit more focused on the debuffing side of things, and we see that in her Skills and Spell Cards with Yin DEF, CRIT DEF, Evasion and CRIT Evasion being debuffed. With the above Killers, those CRIT DEF debuffs will definitely become that bit stronger for A8 Tewi and any other Friends who can land CRITs.

Blindsiding Bunny

Being able to gain offensive buffs via Blind and Paralyze anomalies is a good thing for A8 Tewi. In fact, it’s her only surefire way to grant herself Yin ATK, but Blinding fellow allies with her Skill 3 has its drawbacks if they cannot benefit from it, like being less likely to hit with their attacks. Otherwise, they will appreciate it, like her fellow A8 Reisen for example.

Egg Basket of Elements

A8 Tewi also doesn’t have a very consistent set of elements, as both Shots use Water and Wood, Spell Card 1 has Water and Earth, Spell Card 2 has Earth and Fire and her Last Word Wood and Fire. It’s not the messiest way to go about elements in the world but it could possibly be better. It may also be a bit awkward to go about her Last Word, as it’s half Light and half Laser.

Struggles with Offensive Buffs, mainly Yin ATK

A8 Tewi’s only source of Yin ATK is when she is inflicted by Blind anomalies. While the debuffs she can bring to the table sort of make up for this, like with Yin DEF debuffs, she is otherwise rather lacking in that field. She does have ways of buffing her team’s CRIT Accuracy and CRIT ATK, the former mainly being through a Spell Card and Last Word, but that’s as far as it goes, aside from the uncertain Yin ATK buffs on bullet lines. A8 Tewi will really need some support in Yin ATK, Accuracy, and even some CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy to some extent.

Reisen (A8)

Eternal Reisen fixates herself on her ability that allows her to deal a lot of damage in a very short amount of time to enemies weak against the elements she applies. Because of this, she is very useful for farming and at the same time, harder fights that could make use of her breaks and high damage output.

Breaks at anomalies on P2 of Spell Card 1

Reisen can break any anomaly with her first spell…provide you find a way to inflict them beyond Paralyze and Blind on her kit. Bring other Anomaly inflicting Friends for the ride

Very high damage for both hard levels and farming

Reisen's Last Word damage is simply very good, giving herself 4 levels of Yin ATK UP before beginning and having some great Slice to pair up with her Agility buffs.

Great team-wide Agility buffs

Reisen may not do much teamwide support, but she can at least raise the party's Agility a fair bit with her second spell and third skill. Granted, not everyone might need these buffs, but Friends with Slice scaling that need more Agility will appreciate it.

Doesn’t scale nearly as well as other top tier units for longer fights

While Reisen can easily max out her own Yin ATK, she lacks Crit related buffs to capitalize on. Crit Evasion debuffs will only go so far. Bring some Crit ATK support to keep her doing healthy damage.

Byakuren (A12)

A12 Byakuren Hijiri is an Attack-Class Friend with Yin ATK and CRIT ATK buffs (some through Burn anomalies) and a potentially devastating All-Sun Last Word

Self-Sufficient Offensive Buffs

A12 Byakuren is quite good at stacking up her own Yin ATK, whether it be by conventional methods like from Spell Card 1 or by Burning herself, buffing offensive stats which is executed via Skill 1 and Spell Card 2. This by extension buffs her CRIT ATK, which can already receive the usual buffs Via Skill 3 too.

Decent Spirit Power Gain

With the help of both Skill 2 and Spell Card 2, A12 Byakuren can make it that little bit easier for herself when it comes to hitting her foes with a fully boosted attack, such as her Last Word which needs 3P to really potentially deal high damage.

Inconsistent Elements

Perhaps this is partly due to her Spell Card 2 having no breaking potential, but A12 Byakuren elements that she does use (outside of her 6 Sun Last Word) are messy and inconsistent, such as Spell Card 1’s mix of Sun, Moon and Star, and both Shots having a bit of multiple elements. Maybe you will use her Last Word for enemies weak to Sun, but it’s lackluster compared to many other A-Series Friends. On a somewhat similar note, both her anomaly inflicting and breaking are also rather lackluster, only inflicting them onto enemies via Skill 1 but can only break them via Focus Shot and Last Word, both at 3P.

Killers are a bit Average

While ones like Human, God and Soul are not the worst Killers in the world, they may leave more to be desired, especially because A12 Byakuren won’t be able to cover all kinds of foes. If she does land her Killers, she can show great promise like via her Last Word, but otherwise it will be nothing special.

Not Much Support

A12 Byakuren’s only ways of supporting the team come from Skill 3, which include CRIT ATK and Accuracy for the team, and while these are helpful for what they are, it’s just not much support, plus it only lasts 2 turns for 2 stages.

Eirin (A8)

Eirin Yagokoro from the Eternal Night Incident is still on the defensive, leading her to go all-out in terms of damage and offensive medicine. Instead of healing her allies, you can bet this doctor will steel herself with defensive buffs via applying Poison and Blind on herself while applying the same anomalies on foes to keep them unhealthy. To finish them off, Eirin goes for a Yin-based Last Word filled with Human and Youkai Killers to make sure they will never solve the mystery of Eientei!

+ 0P All-target Moon on Focus shot
- Elemental breaking on spells is a mixed bag
Eirin serves decently on the elemental breaking-side of things thanks to having elements on every bullet line of her spells, as well as targeting all foes with a 0P Moon break on her Focus shot. Unfortunately, a small issue in terms of elements on her spells is that they are evenly split between Moon, Sun, and Star, making it more difficult to single out a target’s elemental weaknesses. Her Last Word is mostly Moon to make up for this, but a bit of Sun and Star still sneak in to make things inconvenient. 

+ Niche in Poison and Blind anomaly breaks
Eirin’s Last Word makes up for the somewhat underwhelming spell breaks by breaking Poison anomalies at 1P and Blind anomalies at 3P. Thanks to her second skill applying many of these on a singular target and her Last Word itself applying Blind to all foes, Eirin can easily pair up with other anomaly inflictors to deal major breaking when hitting hard with her Last Word.

+ Good Yin nuking potential on Last Word thanks to Killers
- Limited Hard scaling and mixed bullets makes her difficult to optimize
Eirin has a great boost on her Last Word thanks to a wider range of Killer Bullets: specifically Human and Youkai. However, while Eirin has many Yin DEF buffs to make the most out of Hard scaling, Eirin somewhat lacks this on her backloaded Last Word anyway. Additionally, the attack is a mix of Laser and Light Bullets, making optimizing the card a bit harder than other, solo-type Last Words.

+ Slight CRIT and Yin support
- Team utility she provides is still on the lower end
Eirin can use her third skill to directly buff allies’ Accuracy and Yin ATK to give her a decent amount of support. Sadly, this is really her only main direct buff, and the Accuracy only lasts 1 turn, making it hard to use to great advantage. At the very least, Eirin specializes in debuffs as well, giving Yin DEF DOWN to a target with her second skill and debuffing all targets’ CRIT DEF with her second spell to give her more indirect buffing opportunity.

Aya (A9)

Flower Aya is very potent in terms of utility and breaking. To be more specific, she provides unseen accuracy support to her team and a solid array of debuffs in addition to 2 Blind anomalies. In terms of breaking she excels due to her P0 break shot and a wide variety of breaks.

Good Turn 1 damage

With a slightly frontloaded Last Word with a bullet scaling of 2-2-1, Aya can definitely deal some good immediate damage, especially when using her third skill to reach 2P immediately.

Plentiful debuffs to Evasion, Accuracy, and Yang DEF

Aya's main role is debuffing, especially in the field of Evasion via her first spell and first skill and CRIT Evasion via her Last Word. Since she gets self-Quick, she can easily apply this CRIT Evasion DOWN before other CRIT-heavy Friends take a shot at the opponents. On top of that, she gets a little defensive debuffing through her third skill, which debuffs all foes' Yang DEF by 2 levels.

Reliant on Killer bullets to deal sufficient damage

Sadly, since a lot of her kit is focused more for slightly debuffing foes rather than heavily buffing herself, Aya's damage will not be the greatest unless you hit her Killers, which are very spread out and may not always hit when you need them the most.

Nitori (A10)

Nitori (Faith) is a self-sufficient Friend with decent Turn 1 damage, Freeze anomaly setting and breaking and minor tanking ability. That’s about as much that can be said for this kappa, who lacks the punch that modern A-Universe Friends have. She’ll get the job done; albeit with a little less punch compared to her peers. 

+ P0 Water Break on Spread Shot

+ Can both set and break Freeze barriers

Nitori is able to apply up to 3 barries of Freeze to one enemy with her second skill, <skill 2>, as well as her Spread and Focus shots on 3P (35% chance). Her second spellcard, Kappa: Spin the Cephalic Plate can then be used to break these at 2P, leaving her target worse for wear, especially when combo-ed with other Freeze applying Friends.

+ Immune to both Burn and Freeze anomalies, is healed by them

Her ability allows her to sit on Freeze and Burn anomalies without suffering from the usual debuffs. In fact, Freeze and Burn anomalies will heal her for 5% for every stack she has!

- Triple Element Last Word dampens her potential burst damage

- Minor team support utility

Her biggest contribution to team synergy is her ability to boost team Yin ATTACK for 3 levels for one turn. The rest of the kit is geared mostly towards making her as strong as she can be; emblematic of the business minded Nitori looking to turn a good profit for herself!

Sanae (A10)

The Sanae from the incident involving the mountain gods fills a very clear role: offensive Speed-type Nuking. With high a Agility stat, Agility buffs, and a heavy Yang ATK stat to coincide with her Yang-only, Slice-heavy Last Word, she will certainly give the foes a run for their money (or faith?). Outside of this, Sanae can provide some Yang ATK and Agility buffs for the party, but her team utility is still low and her elemental breaks can be rather mixed.

Good Slice Scalings

Both of Sanae's offensive stats, Yang ATK and Agility, are high and support her heavy self-buffs for great Last Word damage. The Slice of her Last Word is somewhat lower than other Slice attackers, but what she lacks in quality she makes up for with quantity, or consistency in Slice scaling throughout the entire attack. Her many Agility buffs from skills, spells, and even Grazing help keep this scaling high as well.

Lots of Barrier restore for longer fights, but somewhat squishy

Sanae has two ways to restore her own Barrier layers: a layer restore from her 5-turn cooldown third skill and after using her Last Word. This helps her defenses a slight bit, along with giving her more Graze for Agility buffs, but otherwise Sanae lacks in defense and can end up suffering a lot of pain if she is not careful.

Unfocused team support

Sanae's worthwhile teamwide buffs come in the form of Agility, given from her second spell, first skill and Grazing, and Yang ATK, given from her third skill. She does not help the party in any other way, and her Agility buffs are situational, based on if her allies have Slice scaling of their own or even need the additional levels of Agility UP to properly function.

Kanako (A10)

Kanako (Faith) is a powerhouse, dealing incredible damage and even providing some buffs to CRIT ATK and Yin ATK to the team, as well as debuffing the enemies' CRIT DEF. Her breaks are average, and strong in the Metal department.

+Amazing damage due to self buffs, Hard Scaling and Killer Bullets.
Although she has a back-loaded Last Word in a 1-1-3 bullet line layout, her buffs and a Yin ATK 3 levels UP story card can get her to 10 Yin ATK UP turn one, which utilizes her 1725 max Yin ATK stat incredibly well. Her Hard scaling, which is 60%-80%-100%-0%-0%-100% also mitigates this somewhat, as it utilizes her 1050 Yin DEF stat and buffs. Having various Killers and especially Human-killer, she can usually find a target which will regret having that trait.

+Good metal breaks, decent breaks in general.
Her overall breaks are decent, and her Metal breaks are great, having an All targeting 0P Metal Focus shot, and an All Last Word with 4 Metal breaks throughout. Her second spell card at 2P has 2 Wood breaks which target All as well.

-Team utility is alright, nothing outstanding.
She gives Yin ATK and CRIT ATK buffs and debuffs, making her an excellent partner for a Yin Destroy unit, but she lacks any accuracy support to go alongside this. She can at least cover her own Accuracy with her ability, which raises it when she boosts.

Satori (A11)

A11 Satori Komeiji arrives as a Technical Class Friend who sees herself able to inflict and break Freeze anomalies on opponents, and act as a powerful Yang Friend while helping allies along the way.

Eye-Opening Support

A11 Satori has numerous options for increasing the party's CRIT ATK, Yang ATK, Accuracy, and some Yin ATK while having some minor Barrier support, debuffing her enemies’ Yang DEF, CRIT DEF and CRIT Evasion, and boosting her own Agility. Since A11 Satori is Yang-oriented, she won’t benefit much from those Yin ATK buffs herself, but may still help Yin allies like a certain A11 sister of hers. Regardless, A11 Satori can carry her own weight well enough. As if that wasn't enough...

Guaranteed Stun on Last Word

Available via 3P on her Last Word, it's always nice to have guaranteed top priority access to Stun against all enemies when needed, and A11 Satori is one of the fortunate few to have access to this.

Potentially Good Setup Damage, But Only if Killers Connect…

A11 Satori's Last Word has access to the powerful NAЯAKA card, helping her Last Word that consists entirely of Energy bullets with the first half of bullet lines consisting of Fire Bullets, along with being fully Yang. She has some minor Slice Scaling to back this up, as well as access to the powerful Youkai Killer. However, that Killer is on the secondary lines of her already backloaded Last Word, so A11 Satori may not see high numbers unless her more niche primary Killers can connect. Just something to keep an eye out for if you’re using her Last Word for high damage, but for those Killers to connect, remember the kinds of protagonists she was up against in a certain incident in Former Hell…

Flawed Breaks

A11 Satori's Last Word and shots are mixed Fire/Water, while her All-Targeting Spell Card 2 is a mix of 5 different elements, while her Solo-Targeting Spell Card 1 is Metal/Fire. A11 Satori can set up a decent number of Freeze Anomalies through Skill 3 and Spell Card 2, but her options for breaking them are limited to her Focus Shot at 2P, her Spell Card 1 at 3P, or her Last Word at 3P. And while she has Burn break on her Spread Shot at 1P and Paralyze break on her Last Word at 3P, she can't inflict them herself. None of these options are very ideal for breaking, so she'll likely need some help with those.

Koishi (A11)

While you may not notice her, being wary of Koishi's existence is in your best interest as she’s a Friend that will make your journey much easier with her absolutely massive 1880 Yin ATK, great breaking and damage.

Great damage all around, and almost entirely AoE

Koishi’s output is held in place with her strong core of base stats, accuracy and a mix of buffs and debuffs to Yin ATK/enemy Yin DEF and Agility which scales with her damage.Being fully Yin also makes her easy to support.

Minor Extra Survivability

Koishi gets 1 Barrier regen on her 1st Spell Card, and her Passive Skill recovers 1 Barrier 50% of the time at the start of every turn. Live life long!

Selfish damage dealer

Outside of Accuracy, Evasion, and Agility, and the few AoE Yin DEF downs, she doesn’t support her team with anything big. She’s not bad in this regard, but she certainly gets outdone compared to other units.

Lacks any Crit buffs on her kit

Her Killers aren’t amazing, which means Koishi will need full Crit support to optimize her output.

Miko (A13)

A13 Toyosatomimi no Miko is a Defense-Class Friend with amazing Yang DEF buffs for the team, self-sufficiency for herself offensively, and a desire to defend her honor.

Ten Desires, Ten Stages of Yang DEF for the Team

A13 Miko is more than capable of maxing out the team’s Yang DEF, and this is easily achievable thanks to her Ability to both Boost and Graze to achieve this, as well as Skill 1, Spell Card 2 and her Last Word! Any Yang Friend who benefits from Hard Scaling will appreciate this, and of course, it will help allies take less damage from Yang-based enemies.

Self-Sufficiency in Offense as well as Defense

Despite her role as a defender, A13 Miko still has methods of making sure she can hit hard. While the above can help with Hard Scaling, Skill 3 also jumpstarts her Accuracy and Spirit Power, her Spell Card bullet lines as well as one of their Pre-ATKs are also great for boosting her Yang ATK. Her Last Word is also rather similar, except for the fact the Yang ATK buff via Pre-ATK is for the whole team, with more Yang ATK buffs on its bullet lines.

Breaking Potential is all over the Place

Whether it’s elemental or anomalies, it’s not quite easy to take full advantage of A13 Miko’s elemental access, especially on her Spell Cards. While her Shots and Last Word indicate her key elements are Sun and Water, there is a rainbow theme there, and it’s going to be very awkward against enemies with 1-2 specific elemental weaknesses. On top of that, her anomaly breaking is a little perplexing too, as her only ways of inflicting them are through Spell Card 2, ranging from 1-2 Burn + Paralyze layers per enemy. Unfortunately, she can only break Paralyze via Spread Shot, Burn via Focus Shot, and both through Spell Card 1. This could prove useful in some situations, but it’s not the most impressive display of breaking.

Limited Offensive Support

It’s expected as a result of her role, but A13 Miko doesn’t have much in terms of supporting the team offensively outside of her Yang ATK for her team via Last Word. All she really has is Yang DEF (could go towards Hard Scaling) and some Barriers. One of these missing buffs include CRIT ATK which A13 Miko even lacks for herself, let alone the team. But even if that was covered…

A Small Killer Range’s Starry Sky

...She wouldn’t quite be able to capitalize on that herself, because her only Killers include Soul, Fairy, God, Shrine Maiden, Magician, Swordswoman and Myouren Temple. Your best bets are most likely the first three mentioned, but those guaranteed CRITs aren’t going to be coming as often as some other Friends, but when the right enemies come, make sure to get that CRIT ATK up!

Marisa (B3)

Marisa's simply among the strongest units in the game's history, Possessing superior firepower (in more ways than one), and a ton of support to boot (mainly for Yin and CRIT, and to a lesser extent Yang), she'll obliterate anything in her path, and singlehandedly farm every fight in the game to boot with some manual play.

+ Good Element access, including P0 Fire and Star on her basic shots.
B3 Marisa might not have elemental coverage on every single bullet of her spells, but her coverage is still nevertheless great. Not only does she have 0P access to her main elements, but her Last Word has 4 Star on it, which is great against any enemy weak to the starry element.

+ Incredible damage output.
As expected from Ultra Festivals, Marisa is easily able to serve a damaging meal, starting off strong with 6 levels of Yang ATK UP upon using her Last Word. She can also boost her own Yang ATK and CRIT ATK/CRIT Accuracy with skills to make her damage output good on her spells. Finally, she gives heavy Accuracy buffs to herself to ensure her amazing damage is consistent.

+ Great support for Yin & CRIT attackers, with decent support for Yang attackers.
+ Can put out a lot of Burn Barriers.
Not only are her Yang and CRIT buffs good, but most of them, particurally on her skills, are partywide. This is especially helpful for CRIT-focused attackers as well as helping out Yang attackers a bit. Her Yin support comes from her the great amount of Burn barriers applied by all of her spells, which inflict Yin-based debuffs to anyone inflicted with them. While her Yin and Yang coverage is smaller compared to CRIT support, it still gives her good utility for many team compositions.

- Bad Spirit Power generation on her shots.
Marisa may be able to increase her Spirit Power via all of her skills, but lacking in Spirit Power generation on her shots means that she will eventually have less Spirit Power to work with or will have to rely on a Spirit Power-restoring story card.

- CRIT DEF support is situational.
The CRIT DEF UP from her first skill can help if a certain target is, for example, targeting one of your Friend's own Killer weaknesses, but those situations are still few and far between. If it truly is an issue, you might as well be defending with Grazes anyway.

 

Solo Stage Farms: 2-7-1, 3-3-3, 3-6-3 

Sakuya (B3)

There’s not much to go wrong with using Servant from the Lunar War; as she proves her worth through maxing her Agility UP by herself and following up with heavy Slice damage as well as elementally breaking foes with a 0P Moon shot and more Moon and Metal breaks. She can also give a helpful boost to Agility and Accuracy to other Friends in need, along with applying Freeze barriers on opponents for the chance of Friends to follow-up with anomaly breaks.

+ 0P Moon break on Focus shot
+ Good Moon and Metal breaks on spells
With great access to Moon and Metal across her kit, leaning more toward the former, B3 Sakuya is a very reliable breaker in terms of these elements, with the first Spell Card having 1 Metal at 0P followed by 3 Moon, and the second Spell Card with another 3 Moon, but also with 2 Metal and sealing the deal with 4 Moon and 2 Metal! B3 Sakuya also boasts a Solo-Targeting 0P Moon Focus Shot too, with 2 more Metal available there when boosting, and an All-Targeting Spread Shot with 1 Metal and 2 Moon.

+ Heavy amount of Agility and Accuracy buffs for self and allies
- Teamwide agility buffs limit support potential
B3 Sakuya also has some team support too! She has a large amount of access to Accuracy and Agility buffs for the team, and that seems to be about it for team buffs. While these are some helpful buffs, with Accuracy helping with consistency and Agility maybe helping allies with Slice in their bullets, these buffs, mainly Agility can be excessive due to how often these buffs can be accessed, especially when there isn't much else for B3 Sakuya to bring support-wise.

+ Solo-target Last Word can unleash devastating damage
Among some of the best Solo-Targeting Last Word users with setup, B3 Sakuya will bring a world of pain to the target, supported by high Slice Scaling and potential Killers. As a bonus, if that enemy somehow survives a fully boosted Last Word from B3 Sakuya, they will be Stunned via Impact on Bullet Line 6 (unless they somehow move before B3 Sakuya).

+ Good All-target spells with Freeze anomaly potential
B3 Sakuya's All-Targeting Spell Cards are very powerful, especially for Spell Card standards. Her first Spell Card is a strong card that isn't as reliant on Boosts, while her second Spell Card's potential can be realised with 3 boosts! Both Spell Cards and Last Word have a Post-ATK effect to inflict Freeze anomalies on her enemies, and while she can't break them herself, this can be amazing setup for an ally with Melting bullets.

- Mediocre farming capability
When it comes to Story Card stages, B3 Sakuya just doesn't quite make the cut compared to other units. Event farming isn't as unfortunate depending on the situation, but this isn't too big of a downside overall.

Youmu (B3)

The Lunar War version of Youmu simply does utterly unreal damage in short and hard fights alike, thanks to her dual scaling combined with a 1-2-2 All targeting Last Word and Spirit Power UP on turn 1. She also packs solid teamwide buffs for Yang ATK, Yang DEF, Agility, and Accuracy, and can do some Paralyze infliction for further accuracy support (though it’s not quite enough to use for Breaking purposes).

Great Breaking ability, including P0 Water and Sun on basic shots

B3 Youmu's 0P coverage of Water and Sun is only the base of her great access to these elements. Her first spell boasts 4 Water breaks, her second spell has 3 Sun breaks, and her Last Word tops it off with 4 Sun and 2 Water. Being able to both spam these elements if needed and just dish them out in general makes for a very useful application for many fights.

Utterly incredible damage in both short and hard fights, both on her Last Word and Spell Cards

Both of Youmu's spells increase her own Yang DEF, an attribute that is able to help increase the damage of her spells even more due to some small but useful Hard scaling. Their damage output in general is just great, especially her Last Word due to bulking up her Yang ATK by a staggering 5 levels for a single turn.

Solid teamwide buffs, including Yang DEF, Yang ATK, Agility, Accuracy support

As stated above, Youmu's supportive utility is very varied and especially helpful for Yang-focused Friends. Yang DEF and ATK for the whole party comes from when she Boosts and Grazes respectively. Even more Yang DEF is given to the party through her third skill, and Agility is even given by her first skill, which can help Slice-based Friends. Finally, Accuracy is provided by her second skill to make sure everyone's damage output is more consistent.

Bad Killer bullet types, making CRIT support necessary for maximum damage

Youmu mainly covers soul-like presences or Lunar Capital residents in terms of Killer bullets, generally harming her critical hit output. Without any major CRIT ATK or Accuracy buff access on her own, she needs to rely on other Friends for them. With the buffs she provides back, hopefully it is a rather equal exchange.

Solo Stage Farms: 3-3-3, Future Story Card Stage

Reisen (B3)

Lunar War Soldier, like her Gardener comrade, is a more balanced fighter of the six Lunar War fighters; not outright excelling in one field of combat but instead doing very well in most of them. Reisen can guide everyone well in the front lines of battle.

Very good turn 1 Last Word damage

While not a frontloaded attack, her Last Word can still do heavy damage right off the bat at 2P thanks to an incredible 5 levels of Yang ATK UP upon use. She even gets 5 levels of Yang DEF UP to support the huge Hard scaling on the attack. Furthermore, she debuffs the targets' Evasion to serve as great accuracy support and hit even more bullets. With already good turn 1 damage, her set-up damage only makes her stronger.

Provides good attack and defense support

Many parts of Reisen's kit are able to provide good team utility. Grazing gives the party Yang ATK UP, she can give the party Yin DEF through Boosting or her third skill, and the Evasion debuffs on her spells indirectly serve as accuracy support to everyone. To top things off, she can even restore a barrier via her third skill and heal the party for 25% of her HP through her first skill.

Accuracy debuffs are situational

Reisen's spells and skills obsess a bit over debuffing the opponents' Accuracy. While it can definitely get you through some tight scenarios, the debuffs are definitely not as globally useful as what the rest of her kit boasts.

Mediocre Killers

Reisen's Killer bullets only target Moon-related entities, something that not a lot of Lost Word foes can say they have. In order to optimize her CRIT damage, she will need support in the form of CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy.

Sanae (B3)

Under the codename of Oracle, Sanae boasts great power from her amazing spread of Star and Wood breaks, plentiful debuffs on the enemies’ CRIT DEF and Evasion, and overall general support in the form of offensive buffs and healing. With a passive that heals 20% of her HP every turn, Oracle is a Friend who refuses to fall down until the job is done.

+ 0P Star and Wood breaks on basic shots
Sanae gets two spammable elemental break options in the form of 0P Star on her Spread shot and 0P Wood on her Focus shot. Outside of this, Sanae stands proud as a good elemental breaker, mainly in the Star field due to retaining 3 Star breaks over both of her spells and getting 4 Star/2 Wood on her Last Word.

+ Good Slice scaling values
- Inconsistent damage output due to relying on her own CRIT Accuracy
- Mediocre Killer bullet types
Sanae's damage output is certainly great, as expected from an Ultra Festival Friend, and her high Slice scaling has a good portion to do with it. Sadly, her best damage will have to come out of CRITs, and without good CRIT Accuracy support and good Killer bullets, she won't be seeing super high damage numbers that often.

+Large amounts of healing on Last Word and skills
Sanae stands tall in the support department with plenty of heals spread over her Last Word and second and third skills. Not only is her HP of 6500 already high to take advantage of healing, but her percents are very high to make sure everyone else is fully healed. She even gets her own self-survivabiltiy improved thanks to her third passive, healing herself for 20% every turn and making sure she stands strong. Especially with no elemental weaknesses, it will be hard to take this healer down.

+ Amazing CRIT DEF and Evasion debuffs
Sanae's spells and first skill prioritize in a different type of support: CRIT support. Decreasing all of the foes' CRIT DEF and Evasion will help Sanae get a little more ensurance from her own critical hits, as well as help out allies with their own critical damage and Killer bullets. 

Solo Stage Farms: 2-7-1, 3-3-3

Reisen (B3)

Reisen, as the Peacekeeper of the Capital, shows her power as a supporter to her team. With good access to elements and utility all around, Reisen can help the team out through a variety of ways. Her CRI ACC and CRI ATK support helps critical reliant teams who would like to boost their critical damage.

+ Decent Breakings throughout shots and spells
Reisen may be a victim of a rather varied set of elemental breaks, but she is one of the few examples to do this very well. For once, she gets 0P elemental breaks of both Moon and Fire for two spammable options. All of her spells have 3 Moon on them, with 3 Wood on her first, 3 Earth on her second, and 3 Fire on her third. While she doesn't focus much on the side elements, she remains a very solid Moon breaker for any fight that needs them.

+ Boost Based Teamwide P
+ Good utility throughout with CRIT support and Yang ATK
Reisen has access to a very good variety of buffs, from the Spirit Power gains on her second spell and third skill to many other stat buffs. The particularly good buffs come from her second skill, acting as CRIT support via CRIT ATK UP and CRIT Accuracy UP, and her third skill, serving as Yang ATK UP and normal accuracy support. She can even Boost and Graze for more CRIT support, which many Killer bullet Friends will appreciate for optimal damage. She even adds 2 layers to the party's Barrier via her first spell, giving her defensive utility as well!

- Her 3rd skill, while spammable, has low buff durations
- Her CRIT support, while powerful, can be a bit niche at times
Reisen's third skill faces a problem of the buffs only lasting one turn. Even with a 4 turn cooldown, this is rather short and needs to be planned around. Additionally, CRIT support is great and all, but sometimes the party would rather have normal offensive buffs, especially if a Friend either has their own CRIT support or just doesn't rely on critical hits for damage.

Solo Story Card Farms: 3-3-3, 3-6-3, and E9.

Alice (B5)

B5 Alice Margatroid is a Support-Class Friend who keeps the team going with Spirit Power, Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, Yang DEF and Accuracy buffs.

Very Helpful Support

B5 Alice comes with all kinds of high-tech support to help the team. These include Barriers, Yang DEF, Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, a good amount of Spirit Power, and even Accuracy buffs that can be stacked up! This can be achieved via her Skill 1 which has a cooldown rate (2 turns) lower than the duration of this effect (3 turns) meaning it’s definitely possible to max out this stat if you give this engineer long enough to perfect the team’s aim!

Atelier of Anomalies

There is a lot that B5 Alice can do with Burn and Paralyze anomalies. She could use them to inflict and break barriers on enemies, using them to heal her own HP by 5% as per her ability, or even subject allies to it, which the correct ones will definitely appreciate if they benefit from it. With Spell Cards providing an accessible way to both inflict and break an anomaly at once, you’ll definitely find a benefit in that field.

Double-Edged Anomaly Support

Not only does B5 Alice inflict 2 different kinds of anomalies to her team, but the RNG aspect in them is a pain to work around. 2-3 Layers of Burn and 2-3 Layers of Paralyze, a good chunk of Friends in the game will most likely suffer from at least one of these inflictions, although it might be possible to work around in some situations, and maybe Grazing can help in some cases, but some allies may find it dangerous to be hit by these anomalies, especially if they were to lose their turn as a result of being Stunned from Paralyze._

Limited Killers

B5 Alice generally struggles with dealing damage, as her Killer range isn’t very good (Soul, Lunar Capital, Lunarian, Moon Rabbit, Machine, etc) meaning she can’t capitalize on her CRIT ATK she can build up. That said, having both Hard and Slice scaling to work with, and both being used in her Last Word will help a bit at least.

Alice in Rainbowland (Cyber Edition)

Granted, this Alice variant isn’t the most excessive when it comes to how rainbow-themed her bullet line elements are, especially since there is a clear emphasis towards Metal overall, but even then, she cannot take advantage of that specific element as much as some other units due to other elements getting in the way.

Mokou (B5)

Mokou (B5) is a Defense-Class Friend who boosts her party’s Defense, recovers Barriers and shields them from the ravages of Fire and Sun Elements.

Spreads her Immortality Around

A generous B5 Mokou is a frightening ally to have. Her ability to help her team Graze, heal or almost ignore damage sources is not to be trifled with. Coupled with her multiple sources of Focus UP and additional DEF buffs and healing, Mokou will keep your team healthy for a very long time.

Strong Barrier Breaker

Most of B5 Mokou’s bullet lines feature an element that works on the enemy. Most of these are focused on Fire, with a minor degree in Sun, as well as a smattering of additional elements she’s taken co-curriculum classes for on her Spell Card 2. Speaking of which, B5 Mokou uses this attack to inflict and simultaneously break Burn Anomalies on this attack.

Sky High Damage Potential, but Lacks the Killer Instinct

B5 Mokou benefits from having both a high Yang ATK stat and a high Yang DEF stat she can take great advantage of with her Hard Scaling, such as in her Last Word. With a ton of Yang DEF buffs already on her kit, all you need to do is fill in for her Yang ATK, CRIT ATK and Accuracy before you start seeing those damage numbers rise like a phoenix. However, one thorn in B5 Mokou’s side is her Killer range. Having Killers such as Capital, Kaiju, Lunar Base, Underground Waste Ward, Machine, Magician and Sage may be great against specific enemies, but B5 Mokou can’t make a Killing against the widest range of enemies sadly. That said, her naturally high Yang ATK, Yang DEF and Hard Scaling help a lot, so maybe in some cases, one might not even need B5 Mokou to connect her Killers in order to get the job done, as an enemy being weak to Fire might be all it takes. For the time being, just imagine what she could do with a Max Limit Broken copy of the NAЯAKA Story Card.

Lacking Versatility in Breaking

While B5 Mokou is able to break the Barriers of enemies just fine via all her Fire breaks and her handful of Burn anomalies, that’s all the breaks you can make practical use of in her kit. While she is great with what she has access to, the best you have aside from those are the very few Sun breaks she has, since her Spell Card 2 only has 1 of several elements, and the Freeze break in her Last Word can only be accessed via 3P, not seeing a whole lot of use.

Medicine (B5)

B5 Medicine Melancholy is a Heal-Class Friend with a sky-high HP Stat, solid anomaly utility, and a good chunk of Metal breaks.

H-H-High Healing

B5 Medicine’s high HP being at 10000 (the highest in the game as of her release) means her team will be able to recover their HP very easily via 2 of her Skills. Since the amount of HP healed for the team is dependent on the healer’s HP (in this case, B5 Medicine), in most cases, anyone with considerably lower HP will easily be sure to have full HP again. She also heals anomalies on her team (be careful if they are ones the team benefits from) as well as the team’s Binds/Stat debuffs via Skill 3 and Spell Card 1 in addition to Passive 3 healing her own ones every turn.

Good Chunk of Metal Breaks

With 6 Metal breaks on her Last word and both Spell Cards having 3 layers of Metal, B5 Medicine isn’t bad at all when it comes to this element.

General Breaking Aside from Metal is Lackluster

While the aforementioned Metal breaks are solid, other elements being scattered in her Shots and Spell Cards as well as only being able to break Poison anomalies outside of All-Targeting Focus Shot and Solo-Targeting Last Word really can be a hindrance. You could use all those Poison breaks to further weaken a conventional enemy’s Yang stats for damage output, but that leads us to our other downside…

S-S-Struggles with Damage

A mix of Yin and Yang in her kit hurts B5 Medicine a lot, especially in her Last Word. Despite the Specular Bullets on the Yin lines, her Yang ATK at 1825 compared with her Yin ATK at 825 is a drastic difference, and it leaves you wondering what could have been if her Last Word was purely Yang. That aside, the Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuff on an enemy is huge, and if her Killers land (mainly Human, Lunar Capital and Capital on Line 1), you can still get a good outcome here.

Wriggle (H5)

H5 Wriggle Nightbug is a Speed-Class Friend who is capable of stepping on the gas by buffing the team’s Agility, Evasion, Spirit Power, and brings vast Burn anomaly utility.

Puts the “Fire” in Firefly

H5 Wriggle brings the heat with healthy access to Fire and Star breaks, leaning towards Fire overall. Having access to 3 Fire breaks via Focus Shot and first Spell Card, 4 breaks via 2nd Spell Card and 5 of them found in her Last Word.

Blaze of Glory

Not only can H5 Wriggle buff her Yin ATK normally through Skill 1, but thanks to her ability, she can turn Burn anomaly inflictions on herself into offensive buffs, which means her Yin ATK (and by extension, CRIT ATK) will be buffed even more. By using Skill 1, both Spell Cards and her Last Word, she will have more Yin ATK buffs than meets the eye. Speaking of burning, H5 Wriggle bugs her enemies with Burn anomalies via both Spell Cards, and these anomalies can be broken with her Focus Shot, second Spell Card and Last Word.

Need for Speed

With a high Agility Stat at 1575, high Slice Scaling especially on her Last Word and constant Agility and Evasion buffs, H5 Wriggle likes her fair share of speedy action. Part of the above is achieved through her Skills which happen to have a low cooldown. Skills 1 and 2 may have a 4 Turn cooldown, but Skill 3 has a 1 Turn cooldown, making it usable every turn, and with 0.35 Spirit Power provided on top of its Agility and Evasion buffs, this will certainly have its benefits for H5 Wriggle’s teammates.

Support has its limits

The best of what H5 Wriggle has to offer in terms of teamwide support is in her third Skill. Being able to grant the team a quick burst of Spirit Power, Agility and Evasion every turn is not something to overlook. Unfortunately, the rest of her Support in her kit is just more Agility and Evasion buffs, with the latter not exactly having much of a use for most allies.

Can’t make a Killing

There may be 8 Killers that H5 Wriggle has (including Soul, Martial Artist and Lunar Capital), but their ranges are all very limited, showing an example of quantity over quality. When it comes to raw power, even with the Yin ATK buffs and all the ways to make Agility contribute to it, there are some unavoidable limits when Killers can’t be capitalized on a good portion of the time H5 Wriggle is in battle.

Burns Out Quickly

With no natural access to Barrier restoration, our rider in question will have to Wriggle her way out of some tight situations. If she Grazes, she increases the team’s Agility, but it may come at the cost of a layer of Burn per Graze, minimizing her benefit to self-inflicted Burn anomalies, and despite the extensive Evasion buffs and no Elemental weaknesses, that can only go so far against tougher enemies, forcing her to Graze in some situations.

Doremy (H5)

H5 Doremy Sweet is a Debuff-Class friend who weakens her foes with Yang DEF, CRIT DEF, Yin DEF debuffs as well as wide Blind Anomaly utility.

Eternal Debuff Dream

Being a Debuffer, H5 Doremy demonstrates what she is capable of by weakening the Defense of her enemies, whether it be Yang DEF, CRIT DEF or even Yin DEF, she does it all, and while Yin DEF isn’t going to benefit H5 Doremy specifically, it doesn’t appear as frequently, as it’s just located in her Skill 3. That said, some Yin-based allies could benefit from this. This smug Kaiju is probably aware of this though, as she focuses a lot on Yang DEF and CRIT DEF debuffing, which she will take advantage of a lot more due to them appearing a lot more in her kit.

A Baku of Blindness Never Seen Before

Something H5 Doremy takes great advantage of is Blind anomalies, leaving enemies struggling to escape from it. With Skill 2 targeting all allies, both Spell Cards Blinding either a specific target or all enemies, her 2nd Passive always hitting an enemy every turn, and her Focus Shot bullet lines, enemies will inevitably have to deal with this Baku-Type Kaiju’s Blinding shenanigans. It doesn’t end there though, since she will even inflict these anomalies to whoever inflicts them onto her. Should she want to break them though, she just needs to reach 2P and use either her Spread Shot, First Spell Card or Last Word.

Top Tier Damage is Just a Dream

While extensive debuffs and blind anomaly utility is nothing to sneeze at, when it comes to raw damage, she struggles for a multitude of reasons. Firstly, her Killer range is rather limited, with the aforementioned CRIT DEF debuffs struggling to see full usage from H5 Doremy (maybe other Friends can capitalize on it). Secondly, the buffs she can provide herself are extremely limited, with slight buffs for Yang ATK on Last Word Pre-ATK, 1.50 Spirit Power and Agility. Lastly, despite using both Hard and Slice scaling, with Yang DEF and Agility, as well as low percentages, it’s going to be unlikely to see them make a huge difference.

Next to Zero Team Buffs

It’s not too surprising given H5 Doremy is a debuffer, but with the only team-wide buffs being from her Ability, and with them being Evasion from Boosting and Accuracy from Grazing, this Kaiju heavily being reliant on external support is an understatement. Hopefully that wouldn’t be too much of a nightmare to pull off…

Elemental Inconsistency

H5 Doremy’s strongest elements are Star and Water, with the latter especially being the case for her Last Word. Unfortunately, due to other elements such as Fire, Earth, Wood and Metal being a disturbance in her elemental potential, her Star breaks won’t be too impressive as a result of this. You will especially notice this from her rainbow themed First Spell Card.

Satori (C3)

C3 Satori is a Defense-Class Friend who brings defensive support, additional utility and a rather wide Killer range

Great Survivability for Herself and the Team

C3 Satori has a good deal of Yang DEF and can heal herself with Skill 1. Combined with her 3rd Passive reducing damage significantly at full HP, her Skill 3 outright nullifying damage from Liquid and Water bullets, and more Barrier Restoration, she can survive some brutal hits while helping the team take less damage with her own Focus UP.

Provides Lots of Barriers and DEF UP for her Team

C3 Satori also provides multiple teamwide barriers with Skill 2, her First Spell Card, and Last Word. At the same time, she can also provide more Yin DEF and Yang DEF UP (leans more toward the latter) via Skill 2, Spell Cards, and Last Word.

Awkward Barrier Breaking

One major problem that C3 Satori has would be her elements, or lack of focus on one specific element. With only a handful of Freeze inflicting and breaking via Second Spell Card to help supplement this, Satori fails to effectively strike what she wants to nuke easily.

Lacking Buffs for Herself

Her only source of Yang ATK UP comes from her 3rd Skill, not to mention that she has no source of CRIT ATK to take advantage of her damage. This results in her effective damage being weaker than anticipated without external support, which can be a shame given she actually has a great Killer range that includes Youkai, but that’s where team support could come in handy.

E
Reimu (L1)

A tank with an above-average All Last Word that also scales very well with Power, Reimu Hakurei is one of the best Def Friends in the game. Offensively, on top of her LW, she also has access to the Sun element on a basic shot and unusually high accuracy on all of her attacks. Defensively, her ability to buff her team’s evasion, Yang Def, and Yin Def combine to allow her to circumvent the usual weakness of a tank against All attacks. She isn’t perfect: her damage outside of her Last Word is lacking, and her access to Focus is rather low for a tank, meaning she won’t always intercept Solo attacks. Overall though, she’s a fantastic tank, and a top-tier Friend especially as all players get her for free.

+ Highly spammable 0P Sun on a shot
- Only has access to Sun
0P Sun on her Focus shot may be her only element on her basic shots, but that's all you really need to be good at breaking with shots, since they can easily be spammed over longer fights. Outside of this, though, Reimu has only Sun, and a low amount at that. Her first spell and Last Word at the best with 3 Sun breaks, but her second spell is just pathetic at breaking, having only 1 Sun.

+ Powerful All-target Last Word which scales at 3 Power
- Very low damage outside of Last Word
Reimu's 2-1-2 bullet spread on her Last Word is a little strange compared to frontloaded or backloaded spreads, but that just means Reimu has a lot to build on before she scales to great damage at maximum power. The attack comes with some great Hard scaling, which can be increased via Yang DEF buffs from Boosting or her first and third skills. Reimu can't really do great damage outside of her Last Word, but most Friends don't really need to deal much damage with their spells if the Last Word does all of the work.

+ Powerful defensive utility, having large amounts of Yin & Yang DEF, and Evasion UP on both skills and her passive
- Low Focus for a tank
Reimu has both defensive buffs for herself for the purpose of tanking, but she can even share these with Friends if needed. This helps their own durability, as well as serving as good Hard scaling buffs if any allies need that as well. Unfortunately, even with 2 barriers restored on her third skill, her Focus UPs being only on her first skill and Last Word make her sometimes difficult to properly tank with.

Marisa (L1)

A selfish damage dealer with four All Spell Cards, Marisa Kirisame carries new players hard with her extremely powerful Spell Card, Master Spark. Unfortunately after the early game ends and players begin to Max Limit Break their Friends, Marisa falls off somewhat Her Solo Last Word deals average damage for a Solo LW, she has no utility, and her access to only Star element attacks is merely acceptable. However, still has some uses in a few 3-wave stages and harder fights due to having two rather strong All Spell Cards, and her All access to Star will still be relevant at times in difficult content.

+ First spell deals high All damage for a Spell Card
It may be a simple spell, but Marisa's first spell definitely has potential to do a decent amount of damage. Of course, make sure to set it up first. She may like to brag about her own firepower, but it needs to come from something before being unleashed.

- Mixed Yin and Yang damage makes her hard to scale
Marisa herself only buffs her Yang ATK from her second skill and when Boosting, which is sadly ironic when her Last Word is a mainly Yin attack. Outside forces can be used to buff her own Yin ATK, but don't be expected Marisa to wisen up and buff the correct stat herself.

- Overall low access to elements
Star might be a good element to have, but Marisa is even lacking having any elements, even for lower standards. One break on both of her spells and 2 on her Last Word. She's really not Full Breaking anyone unless she's the final blow.

+ Very powerful early-game
- Falls off hard mid to late-game
All in all, Marisa's value is very high in the early-game, especially considering every player gets her for free. You can invest in her a little bit to do very well through the early Main Story chapters, Unfortunately, this will immediately change both when times get tougher and better Friends are just available to perform the feats that she used to do. 

Marisa is an A-Tier Friend when considering all of her Fantasy Rebirth 2.0 upgrades, specifically her Last Word upgrade. This upgrade nearly quadruples her Last Word's damage, making her once again a very good and fast nuker depending on the situation. However, due to the minor changes with her other 2.0 upgrades and the how lackluster she is at base, she is only E-Tier without the Last Word buffs.

Rumia (L1)

Rumia's a Solo-targeting nuker with some support for teammates who benefit from Blind Barriers being applied to them. It's a bit narrow, but decent support when a unit benefits. Otherwise, she hits single targets hard, and brings some Breaks (including Blind Breaks) along the way.

+Blind anomaly break on All-target Focus Shot
-Below-average access to elemental breaks; rather costly
Rumia having an anomaly break on a basic shot is a lot better than it may sound, since this means that Rumia can actually break anomalies at any time of the fight, as long as she has the proper amount of Spirit Power. It helps that all of her skills are all about applying Blind anomalies, with the first and third going straight for the foes. Unfortunately, this means she ends up being lackluster in the elemental front, with her spells containing a mediocre mix of other elements.

+Decently strong Solo-target Last Word
+Increases Accuracy through self-inflicted Blind barriers
Rumia's Last Word debuffs the target's Yin DEF to help her squeeze out some extra damage, additionally, she can gain her own Accuacy support on the way by applying Blind barriers to herself, ensuring most of the damage goes through. Just be careful of the rest of a team when using her second skill: it applies Blind to everyone, which can easily mess with allies' Accuracy if they don't ignore Blind's penalties.

-Primarily self-buff focused
All of Rumia's buffs are just for herself, which can be similarly seen through the buffs she gains from self-inflicted Blind anomalies. Her Last Word debuff is really the only thing that can count as team utility for the whole party.

Daiyousei (L1)

Daiyousei is unfortunately perhaps the worst healer in the game. The most powerful form of healing is Barrier restoration, which she has no access to. Her second spell card is completely worthless, her Last Word is the weakest in the game and provides no barrier breaks, and her ability to restore HP is the worst of the healers as well. That said, it isn’t all bad - she gives the team some Yang ATK Up, her 3 Power Spread Shot gives 2 All Wood breaks, and at P3 her first spell card gives a whopping six Metal breaks to a single foe. 

+ Unparalleled 6 Metal breaks on first Spell Card
It's pretty ridiculous, but Daiyousei's first (and only damaging) spell card has a full 6 out of 6 Metal breaks on it, making it a crazy tool in Fully Breaking Metal-weak foes. Even if its damage was low (which....it still is), the utility of 6 breaks in one attack is something that the other bottom tiers can't say they have.

+ Very slight heals
- Heals are very weak due to lacking base HP
Daiyousei has a grand total of one skill that heals: her second one. Not only does it only heal 25% of her own HP, her own low HP pool, 4800 at base with full upgrades, provides a very small amount of health to the team. It is a bit better at Fantasy Rebirth thanks to it being 7000 HP instead, but it still won't do a lot in the grand scheme of things.

Well actually, her Last Word also gives a 40% heal but...having an Aid Last Word is an issue in its own right.

+ Provides Yang ATK & DEF UP on a skill
While very minimal, Daiyousei's third skill can grant 1 level of Yang ATK and DEF UP to the whole party, with 50% chance for an additional boost. When she boosts, she also provides the party levels of Yang ATK UP, which can actually support some Yang attackers well. 

- Very low damage
Only two out of the five spells Daiyousei has access to are ones that actually do damage. She just...can't.

Meiling (L1)

Once, Meiling was the weakest friend in the game. Now, she has been buffed to the point of being one of the strongest. For event farming, she's among the strongest candidates, she is also capable of farming chapter 3 act 1 in conjunction with Tewi. For harder fights, she packs amazing damage, good team support, and above average element access, including P0 Earth on her Focus Shot. You can't go wrong with this gatekeeper, and she's absolutely deserving of being called one of LostWord's stronger Friends.

+ Above average Element access, including P0 Earth on a Basic Shot
Meiling's elemental spread on her spells may be considered average by most standards, but the 3 Star on her first spell does a lot to give her more utility due to the usefulness of Star breaks. Additionally, the 0P Earth on her Focus shot gives her a spammable breaking option to make her truly above average.

+ Extremely strong Last Word that scales well into longer fights
- Doesn't quite reach the same levels of damage as the very best attackers
Meiling's Last Word is frontloaded, meaning it has a 3-1-1 bullet spread to give it greater power at 1P. That doesn't mean she doesn't have room to grow at 2P or 3P, as her Last Word has downright wonderful Hard scaling that can be taken advantage of with additional buffs from her own skills or when Boosting. Still, these damage numbers are tamer compared to the hardest hitters, but that doesn't mean Meiling doesn't try her hardest.

+ Good team support
Meiling's support isn't going to win any big awards, but for an offensive Friend they are definitely above average. Her Yin ATK buff on her second skill is both teamwide and lasts 3 turns while having a 4 turn cooldown, allowing her to buff many Friends' over long periods of time. Her Yang DEF buffs upon Boosting are also teamwide, providing some extra Hard scaling for Yang nukes when the time is needed.

Sakuya (L1)

Sakuya Izayoi is a Friend who excels in going as fast as possible. Unfortunately that’s a rather useless and actively detrimental niche in LostWord, as you want your debuffers to go first in difficult fights, and for farming you’ll always go first due to Last Word priority. Due to her low damage, mixed Yin & Yang scaling, and nonexistent utility otherwise, you’re pretty much only bringing Sakuya for her somewhat-lacking access to Metal element attacks.

+ Metal elemental access on two of her spell cards
They are very minimal, but Sakuya can at least do 2 Metal breaks on her second spell and Last Word. It is an alright element if it is needed in the situaton, but otherwise Sakuya is really lacking in elements.

+ Can do OK damage when applied in the right situation
- Generally low damage
- Mixed attack types
In order to optimize her damage, Sakuya really wants to heavily buff her offense and perhaps get some Agility buffs. Sadly, even then her Slice scaling is pitiful and she comes with the additional problem of being a mixed attacker - utilizing both Yin and Yang in her spells and even Last Word. It's not a downright bad thing to have, but without the proper tools to buff yourself, Sakuya can really struggle in the damage department. Still, in the perfect scenario, Sakuya can do some work.

- No utility whatsoever
All of Sakuya's buffs in skills and spells are about helping herself. Pretty ironic for the perfect maid to not be a good team player.

Remilia (L1)

A damage dealer with good Yin DEF Down support and a powerful All Last Word that hits hard at both 1 Power and scales higher at 3 Power, Remilia Scarlet is good at both farming and challenge quests. Her Breaking ability is somewhat below average, but her damage and offensive utility both more than make up for it. 

+ 2 Solo Fire Breaks for 1P from her second Spell Card.
- Only has Fire Breaks, with somewhat below average access to them
Remilia having 2 breaks at 1P is actually rather good for a cheap and quick option to break more barriers than just 1 from a singluar attack. Sadly, this second spell card and her Last Word are her only ways to utilize Fire breaks, making her elemental breaking very mediocre.

+ Powerful All-target Last Word that deals a lot of damage at 1 Power and nearly double at 3 Power
- Deals less damage to secondary targets
Remilia is a case of a backloaded Last Word, having a 1-1-3 bullet line spread, meaning she really wants to build up to 3P to maximize the attack's damage output. Fortunately, especially when utilizing all of her Yin ATK buffs on her spells and skills, Remilia's damage will definitely be worth waiting for.

+ Brings a fair amount of Yin DEF DOWN, especially against a single target
- Still a selfish buffer
Remilia's second skill decreases a target's Yin DEF and Evasion by 2 levels, indirectly helping allies take down that one foe. Outside of another slight Yin DEF debuff from her first spell, though, Remilia's kit is entirely marketed toward buffing herself and not her other comrades.

Letty (L1)

Letty Whiterock is a decent Solo-target Yin nuker who has some Yin DEF buffs and self-inflicted Freeze. Struggling to farm most event stages, she can show her strong side in some harder challenge content. Her identity is a bit muddled, however, and she cannot excel as either a defensive unit or nuker. 

+ Solo-target Yin nuker
- Takes a turn or two to reach full damage potential
Letty can do a decent amount of Yin damage through her Last Word rather quickly thanks to a 2-1-2 spread on the bullet lines and being able to reach 2P turn 1 with her third skill. However, greater damage will have to wait a turn or two, since Accuracy support and one Yin ATK UP is locked behind a spell. And don't expect her horrible Hard scaling to help much either.

+ Some Yin DEF up
+ Self barrier recovery
Letty can pretty consisntently raise her Yin DEF thanks to her second and third skills, both of them providing 2 Yin DEF UP. Her second skill in particular is a very great defensive skill, as it has only a 4 turn cooldown and can even restore one of Letty's barrier layers!

- Does not provide any utility to the rest of the team besides Accuracy DOWN on targets
Letty is another example of a selfish buffer, providing practically nothing for the rest of the team. Even Grazing only provides herself Yin ATK to herself. The only debuff, on her first spell, is a rather useless Accuracy DOWN to one target.

- No Focus UP as a defensive unit
Ironically enough, instead of Letty's issue being having too much Focus UP like worse Defense units, since Letty has actual barrier restoration, she is the Defense Friend who would want Focus UP to block more damage. Since she lacks the ability to keep more of the foes' focus on herself, her value as a Defense Friend is somewhat worse.

Flandre (L1)

Flandre Scarlet is a Friend with a devastatingly powerful Solo Last Word, and some offensive utility as well, but with a lot of caveats. Her Last Word is exceptionally inaccurate and thus requires heavy Accuracy Up support, her Break potential is very lacking, and her support is only against a single target. Additionally, she’s completely unsuited to farming by herself, as even when Solo friendly stages show up again, Flandre’s extremely poor Accuracy means she’ll always have consistency issues. However, keep these caveats in mind, provide her with the support she needs, and she can do some devastating damage in harder fights.

+ Devastatingly powerful Solo Last Word - at max potential.
- Requires 3 Power for maximum potential.
Flandre's Last Word is going to be Flandre's true swan song: she either boosts it heavily and prepares to strike a single target in a devastating combo...or she misses almost everything. The attack is somewhat backloaded at a 1-2-2 spread, usually requiring 3P to maximize damage. Flandre herself focuses on increasing CRIT ATK and CRIT Accuracy while decreasing her defense on her skills to try going out with a bang. And if you are able to pull off the attack, it will definitely feel good!

+ Reasonably solid team support for Yin attackers with 3 Yin DEF Down against a single target.
Flandre's first skill is a very good Yin DEF debuff, to support both the majority of her Last Word's damage and other Yin nukers.

- Poor access to elements
Flandre's only access to elements is 2 Fire breaks on her second spell, which even then are only at 0P and 3P. Flandre is not being kept around for her breaking potential.

- Due to brutally low accuracy, she requires heavy accuracy support.
Half of Flandre's Last Word has an accuracy of 50%, while the other half has a staggering 25%. You need to run Accuracy support with Flandre, because she does not even have any Accuracy buffs of her own to make sure she is more consistent.

Alice (L1)

As a purely support-focused Friend, Alice Margatroid excels at bringing Accuracy and ATK Up support to her allies. Due to her rather low personal damage and complete lack of elemental attacks, and her necessity for turns to setup for farming purposes, she shines more in harder fights where, weaker allies are brought in - unfortunately, powercreep means her worth is primarily with less potent friends, whom lack ATK UP in their kit. Even with a farmable story card built just for her, Alice is really just no more than average.

+ Skill 3 is enough to make her teammates very accurate, with some Yang ATK UP to boot
Alice's third skill is just a great support overall, one that can be taken advantage of by many Friends. Yang ATK UP is always helpful for Yang nukers needing an extra boost, and the 2 levels of Accuracy UP is usually all you need to make most spells a lot more consistent. Her other skills might not be as supportive, but this one is more than enough to make Alice stand out.

+ She also has additional Evasion DOWN , Yin ATK UP, and Yin / Yang DEF DOWN support
- Yin ATK UP, Evasion DOWN , Yin ATK UP, Yin / Yang DEF DOWN support is slow
- Yin / Yang DEF DOWN support is Solo-target, and she can only apply one of them each turn
Evasion DOWN comes from her Last Word, acting as additional accuracy support and means that Alice is usually better attacking first before the rest of the team unleashes their own Last Words. Her other support comes in the form of her spells, which decrease either Yin or Yang DEF. They can be somewhat difficult to take full advantage of due to only targeting singular enemies. As one additional buff, Alice can Boost for Yin ATK and Graze for Yin DEF for the team, but without ways to regain her own Spirit Power, it can be difficult to quickly gain Yin ATK levels.

- No Barrier Break potential at all
All of Alice's bullet lines, on shots, spells, and her Last Words, has no elements or even anomaly breaks. Pretty strange to lack color in her bullets, considering she is the Seven-Colored Puppeteer.

- Low damage output
Without any real offensive buffs or power, Alice just has no room to deal a great amount of damage. 

Lunasa (L1)

Lunasa is simply average - she has an average amount of Break potential (with the noteworthy P0 Water on a basic shot), with a backloaded (and unfortunately mixed) Solo targeting Last Word and decent but not spectacular healing capabilities let down by a lack of Barrier restoration. 

+P0 access to Water on a Basic Shot
0P Water is good whenever the time is needed to spam Water on a Water-weak foe. Lunasa's other breaks on her spells do rather decently, having 3 Wood on her first spell, 3 Water on her second spell, and a mix of 4 Wood/2 Water on her Last Word

+ Backloaded Solo-target nuke with reasonably solid potential damage
+ Can gain some quick Spirit Power UP from her first spell
A backloaded Solo-target Last Word is never a great sign, but Lunasa at least has the ability to mitigate the setup time with 1.00 Spirit Power restoration on her first spell. Her second skill also has 2 levels of Yin ATK UP to help boost her final damage output a bit more.


- Damage is mostly backloaded
- Mixed damage is hard to scale and support
While she can mitigate her Last Word's backloaded nature, the same doesn't really apply when all of her spells have the same backloaded formation. Ironically enough, her Last Word provides 3.00 Spirit Power, which would be great for her spells...if she was still allowed to use them! On top of that, her Last Word and other spells are Yin-focused with a good bit of Yang bullets too, to make optimizing damage more annoying.

-Entirely lacking in offensive support
-Incapable of restoring Barriers, leaving her inferior to other Healers
Lunasa's teamwide utility only extends to healing, which she does at least have a high HP pool (7750) to grant access heals to the rest of the team. However, with her third skill only extending to restoring anomalies and not barrier layers, her use as a healer can be more limited than others.

Merlin (L1)

A solid Solo-targeting frontloaded nuker with strong Yang DEF DOWN & Accuracy support, Merlin's only real flaws are mixed damage (leaving her with a lower ceiling than other Solo nukers), as well as merely average Breaks. 

+ Can apply a decent amount of Freeze Barriers
- Breaks are just average
Merlin gets a good amount of Freeze anomalies via her first skill and second spell, though note the former lasts for only a single turn. Without a way to break these anomalies herself, as well as a medicore mix of Water and Wood on her spells, Merlin isn't that great for Full Breaking foes.

+ Very strong, front-loaded Solo-targeting Last Word
- Can't quite reach the highs of other nukers due to mixed scaling
Thanks to debuffing the foe's Yang DEF from on her Last Word, Merlin does get the chance to do a decent amount of damage, especially considering the attack has a 3-1-1 bullet line spread. Sadly, she cannot buff herself that much to make the attack much more devastating than a good nuke.

+ Solid amount of Yang DEF DOWN to all enemies
+ Strong Accuracy support via Evasion DOWN to all enemies
Merlin makes up for lower damage with a great amount of support, from the Yang DEF DOWN from her second skill to the Evasion DOWN from her third skill acting as good accuracy support for the whole team. With self-Quick on her first skill, she can also end up using her Last Word as a simple extra Yang DEF DOWN to support the damage of other allies.

Lyrica (L1)

Lyrica is a solid enough Support Friend, offering a wide array of supportive capabilities via her Skills and Ability -- however that’s about it. She has an overall poor performance when it comes to breaking and her Solo-targeting Last Word is also nothing special.

 

+ Wide array of buffs
+ Somewhat relevant supportive utility
Lyrica's kit is mainly a grab bag of supportive buffs. From Accuracy on her first spell to Yin and Yang DEF on her first and second skills to offensive buffs on her third skill, she almost covers everything. The main catch of this is that, in trying to buff everything, she ends up not truly buffing one singluar stat a high amount. This is fine if the Friends being supported have their own way of buffing as well, but if not, then Lyrica might not be the best support to primarily rely on.

- Poor breaking capabilities
Lyrica only has 2 Wood breaks on her first spell and 2 Water breaks on her second spell. Her Last Word fares a bit better in a mix of 3 Wood and 3 Water, but she is still below-average when compared to other Friends.

- Weak, Solo-targeting Last Word
- Mixed damage
Even when buffing her Yin ATK a lot upon starting her Last Word, the spell fails to do much damage. This is in part by her buffing the wrong stat: her Last Word is mainly Yang, and yet she buffed Yin! Some Yin is mixed in, but this still means her Last Word ends up performing fairly behind other nukes.

Youmu (L1)

Youmu Konpaku has one job - hit very hard with her All-target Last Word. Her access to elemental attacks is average at best, but she hits super hard and she has access to the potent DEF DOWN in both Yin and Yang flavors. Unfortunately she does have some RNG so it may take a few attempts to make the most of it, but at a 80% chance for a bonus level of each type of DEF DOWN, it's easy to fish for and well worth the effort - and for many fights, even 1 level of each alone will suffice to massively amplify your team's output. 

+ Extremely damaging Last Word both at 1 and 3 Power
+ Last Word brings 1.8 Levels of Yin and Yang DEF Down
- DEF Down is on Last Word, which can make utilizing it awkward
Youmu wants to hit very strong with her Last Word, something she is able to do both early thanks to her buffs on skills and when setting up thanks to greater bullet access at 2P or 3P. It also holds a great debuff of both Yin DEF and Yang DEF on all foes, something that actually supports both damage types on her Last Word, like her Boost and Graze buffs. This can make it somewhat awkward for other Friends to take advantage off, as Youmu needs to unleash her strongest attack before debuffing for her allies.

- Purely a selfish buffer and attacker
Outside of her Last Word debuffs, Youmu does not benefit the party through any other buffs and is just a selfish attacker. Her damage numbers definitely let her be valid in this category, but it is still unfortunate.

- Below average access to Metal and Moon element attacks
Youmu's Moon and Metal access used to be alright when the game was just started. Nowadays? Not really. 2 Metal breaks on her spells is below average, and 3 Moon on her Last Word forces you to use her Last Word for decent Moon breaking potential.

Ran (L1)

Ran Yakumo is a fairly powerful farmer, due to her rather powerful All-target Last Word. When it comes to harder fights, her access to elements is sorely lacking. However, she's still good - her damage is on the higher end of things, albeit with a low ceiling, she has Charge to make her synergize well with debuffers, and she brings powerful team Accuracy support, if somewhat let down by it being on a Spell Card and not a Skill.

+ Powerful All-target Last Word at 1 Power
- Last Word barely scales with Power
Ran's main appeal is definitely the power that can come from her Last Word, due to its frontloaded nature and spread of 3-1-1. Ironically enough, this actually means the attack doesn't gain much from additional Boosts after the first. It doesn't even raise a stat due to boosting, as Ran only gains Yang ATK from Grazes. Still, with all of her Yang ATK buffs and only needed 1P, Ran can be a great damage dealer right off the bat of a fight.

- Only has Earth element on Last Word
Ran's only element, Earth, is on her Last Word. While 4 breaks is alright, you definitely wouldn't want to just use this one-time use spell just for the sake of 4 Earth breaks. 

- Selfish buffer
All of Ran's main buffs are only for herself, with her first spell at least increasing everyone's Accuracy for consistency sake. She does have Charge on her third skill, an attribute which allows her to go last after everyone else's Last Words, which can help if some Friends want to apply debuffs before she continues to nuke.

 

Yukari (L1)

A tank with an All Last Word that starts off weak but scales well with Power and unparalleled access to Barrier recovery, Yukari Yakumo is better at keeping a team alive than any other Friend in the game. She’s not very well suited to farming, due to the lack of punch on her Last Word at 1 Power, and for shorter fights her defensive utility is mostly meaningless. But for any harder fight that goes on for multiple turns, between her team-wide Barrier recovery, Yang DEF Up, and her own personal exceptional access to Focus, Yukari is a tank who can babysit just about any team, buying you valuable turns to ensure victory. She’s no slouch offensively either, packing an All Last Word that deals tremendous damage at 3 Power, as well as slightly above average access to Barrier Breaks.

+ Access to Earth on a Basic Shot at 0 Power
+ All-targeting Spell Card with 2 Earth and Sun Breaks at 3 Power
While it is the only element on her basic shots, Yukari's 0P Earth Focus shot still is a good option for spamming Earth breaks. Outside of that, Yukari has rather average Earth access with a small bonus of Sun, especially on her first spell card.

+ Very solid damage on All Last Word at 3 Power
- Last Word deals low damage at 1 Power
Yukari is another example of a backloaded Last Word with a 1-1-3 spread that really needs that 3P in order to do any substansial damage. Thanks to heavy defensive buffs combined with good Hard scaling, this Last Word can hit rather hard despite Yukari's apparent role as a defensive unit.

+ Unparalleled team-wide Barrier restoration, restoring 2 Barriers every 5 turns team-wide
Barrier restoration helps Friends block devastating attacks easier and even apply some buffs based on character abilities. Yukari just helps everyone do that even more thanks to her third skill, adding 2 more barriers every 5 turns. This even lets Yukari be one of the tanks that isn't hurt by raising her Focus, as she can just restore any barriers she uses to block against fatal strikes.

- Utility is entirely defensive, leaving her somewhat lacking for shorter fights
Of course, when a Friend is mainly there for protection, they might not stand out as much in shorter fights. With Global's bigger emphasis on harder content, however, this has become less of an issue overtime and Yukari's potential has started to shine even more.

Suika (L1)

Suika Ibuki is a remarkably powerful unit - so powerful, in fact, she was Global LostWord’s first S+ Tier Friend. Although, due to the passing of time, she has grown a bit dull. Despite this, she still possesses a tremendous amount of team support - Yin & Yang DEF Down, Yin ATK Up, and Accuracy Up. If that’s not enough, her All Last Word deals fantastic damage at 1 Power, and scales very well with additional Spirit Power. Farming, hard fights, damage, team support - the oni simply can provide nearly anything for the party.

+ Extremely damaging All-targeting Last Word at 1 Power that scales well with additional Spirit Power
Suika is a raw damage dealer, partially thanks to her Last Word, that is both powerful at 1P and gains a lot more power with further boosts. Thanks to heavy defense buffs from her first spell, she can take advantage of pretty good Hard scaling along with the many other boosts she obtains while Grazing and using skills.

+ Graze provides 1 Level of Yin ATK UP for 1 Turn for entire team
+ Second Spell Card provides 3 Levels of Accuracy Up for 3 Turns for Suika’s entire team
+ All-target Last Word inflicts 2 Levels of Yin & Yang DEF Down for 3 Turns
Suika is a Friend with a good variety of team support as well. Each Graze is a level fo Yin ATK UP for the whole party on the turn it is used, her second spell is direct accuracy support when needed, and her Last Word provides 2 levels of defensive stats down for all foes, allowing other attackers to finish the job if needed.

- Very low on focused elemental breaks
Suika has a 0P Fire break on her Spread shot, and the rest of her breaks are just below average. 3 Fire on her second spell isn't terrible, but her Last Word is just a mix of Metal and Moon, something that just doesn't allow Suika to focus on a single element for breaking. 

- Outside of Accuracy buffs, Last Word's debuffs are only team support
Accuracy support is something that many Friends nowadays have on their own, leaving Suika with little substansial party support on certain teams. Her Last Word's debuffs are still servicable, but they're the only thing that will last over a turn due to how her Grazing buffs work.

Wriggle (L1)

Wriggle is a Debuff-Class Friend who inflicts various anomalies on her enemies to sow chaos among their ranks.

Supports Yin teams via debuffs

Wriggle’s various debuffs to enemy Yin DEF, EVASION and Crit EVASION and buffs to team Agility helps Yin attackers shine, especially if their attacks feature Slicing bullets.

Anomalies are her playground

Wriggle inflicts Poison and Burn via Spell Cards, and can reflect Poison and Blind back at opponents. Her Shots and Spell Cards break Poison, Burn and Blind

Lacks Spirit P generation to constantly hit her Anomaly breaks

Two out of three of Wriggle’s Anomaly breaks are locked behind her 3P Spread Shot and Focus Shot. With only one skill giving her 1P every 4 turns, she has to rely on support to hit those levels while maintaining her output each turn.

Mystia (L1)

Mystia Lorelei is here to inflict night-blindness on all of her foes, ranging from decreasing their Accuracy and (the more practical effect) causing actual Blind via anomalies. Once inflicted, she can break these anomalies at 3P of her second spell, which can lead to 5 breaks with proper set up and without even considering her decent elemental coverage! Afterwards, Mystia has a good way to set up a strong Yin Last Word finisher, although she is one of the Friends that unfortunately needs some sort of Spirit Power booster if she wants to set up quickly.

+ 0P All-target Moon on Spread shot and serviceable Moon/Wood on spells
Mystia’s elemental access shines with her 0P All-target Moon break on her Spread shot, something that can easily be spammed to cripple Moon-weak foes. Outside of this, her spells have a low but still good mix of Moon and Wood, mainly topping off at her Last Word’s mix of 3 Wood and 3 Moon.

+ Stacks up Blind anomalies for breaks on 2nd spell
+ Self-Quick allows her to break the Blind anomalies before other Friends attack
Where Mystia truly stands out in terms of breaking is her Blind anomaly break on her second spell. When at 3P, she is able to Solo-target a foe and break any Blind anomaly on them. Not only does the spell itself inflict 3 Blind layers at the start, but her third skill applies 2 more to all foes for a great 5 breaks on non-Blind-immune foes! On top of that, Mystia can apply self-Quick to herself via her second skill to ensure she goes first and even gets an easy Full Break before the other nukes go all-out.

- Lacks Spirit Power restoration to quickly apply breaks to perform strongest attacks
- Blind break is only at 3P of a Solo-target spell
Mystia’s set up time can be…slow without support. Due to not having any Spirit Power restoration on her skills, she really wants a Power Linked ally or Spirit Power story card or else she will take a good amount of time to reach that 3P for anomaly breaking. Even then, it is unfortunate that it only targets one foe, especially when her third skill’s Blind anomalies hit all foes. Without Spirit Power gain of her own, it is basically impossible for her to use both of her second spells to cripple multiple opponents’ barriers.

- Very situational debuffs
Mystia’s best debuff is her Yin DEF DOWN on all foes on her second skill. Otherwise, she really only debuffs foes’ Accuracy and Yin ATK, two offensive stats that really do not have practical application for debuffing unless you are trying to survive a long time in battles and are for some reason lacking an actual Focus tank.

Keine (L1)

Keine is a very good Hard attack support, providing loads of Yang DEF team-wide. In addition, and as a result of her own scaling, Keine's overall damage without much external Yang ATK support matches that of some other S-Tier contenders. 

+ Rather high damage All targeting Last Word that can farm
- Fairly modest top end for damage without Yang ATK support
With rather good Hard scaling to bounce off her good Yang DEF UP access, Keine can do a good amount of damage with her Last Word. It may take a turn to set up, due to being a 1-3-1 spread, but Keine can at least acess the Spirit Power necessary through just using her first spell, giving her 1.00 Spirit Power upon use. Still, without any Yang ATK buffs, Keine's damage ceiling will be pretty low.

+ Extremely high levels of Yang DEF UP support
- Low Focus UP for a tank.
Keine is a Defense-type Friend that delivers through buffing Yang DEF heavily on her second and third skills, 2 levels each to the whole party, to be exact. The teamwide buffs make it so the way Focus UP damages the Focused unit more less devastating, though as a tank Keine lacks this attribute, only having 4 levels UP on her first skill and 3 more levels after using her Last Word. However, it is better to have a little Focus UP rather than overwhelm yourself with more damage than you can muster.

- Element access is below average, unless willing to use Last Word for Breaking.
Defending is likely what Keine will be doing, as her Last Word is her own decent access to 4 Sun breaks, and you won't usually want to only use it for breaks. Her other spells are only a less-than-average 2 Sun breaks each, making her only a back-up option for Sun breaks.

Tewi (L1)

Tewi Inaba is an extremely powerful DEF Down support, with a powerful nuke of a last word to boot. She requires a bit of a careful hand to get the maximum value out of her though, as a lot of her utility comes from skills, which must be carefully used for maximum value. Additionally, whilst she excels at one boss event farms, as well as enabling some main story boss farms, she can struggle with two or three boss stages. Still, those are minor flaws, and any player would be more than happy to have her.

+ Great defensive debuff potential on single targets
+ High damage output against a single target
- Skills require careful use for maximum effectiveness, as they each only affect one target
- Damage on secondary targets is greatly reduced
Tewi's skills are all about bullying singular targets, as both the anomalies she inflicts and the debuffs are only on one foe. The debuffs are still great, especially when it comes to Yin DEF, Yang DEF, and even Evasion, but they will only really work on a singular target and llower her All-target damage on other foes. She at least debuffs everyone's Yang DEF a good amount on her Last Word.

+ Great access to Freeze, Burn, and Poison
All of Tewi's skills inflict 2 layers of an anomaly on a foe, and the best ones in particular are the Burn on her second skill and Poison on her third skill. While anyone with anomaly breaks of the respective anomaly is fine just breaking them, the Burn and Poison can act as secondhand Yin and Yang debuffs respectively, helping both types of attackers.

- Below average elemental access
Nowadays Tewi's elemental access is just low. She is a mixed elemental breaker of Sun and Star with nothing special on her shots and jsut average breaks on her spells. Having the average amount of Sun and Star on spells makes her not great at either, making her not the most suited for dedicated breaking. Due to her anomaly debuffs, though, she at least has reason not to break barriers.
 

Mokou (L1)

Fujiwara no Mokou is a Solo Last Word damage dealer who can provide some decent team support and above average Break potential, as she can both generate and Break Burn Barriers on any opponent not immune to them. Additionally her Spell Cards provide her with a massive amount of Yang ATK Up, allowing Mokou to build up to a extremely potent nuke. However, she has some major flaws - her Spell Cards inflict a ton of self damage (that cannot kill her, but at 1 HP she probably won't survive for long), and are extremely Spirit Power hungry. Additionally, she has rather low turn 1 damage, meaning she can't solo many one wave one boss event stages. Overall though, her strengths are rather solid, and for most fights lasting longer than a single turn, Mokou is a valuable asset.

+ Good access to Burn barriers, which she can Break with her All-targeting Spread shot
- Spread Shot requires 3 Power to Break Burn Barriers
While lacking in terms of a Fire breaker, Mokou more than makes up for it with Burn anoamly breaks. She can apply Burn anomalies with her 4 turn cooldown first skill and then break them at 3P with her Spread shot, giving her a consistent way to break barriers. Unfortunately, this 3P requirement becomes an issue when combined with a lack of self-Spirit Power regeneration and somewhat backloaded spells. Of course, her Last Word gives her Spirit Power....after her spells are already used up.

+ Solo-target Last Word has incredible damage potential, even without team support
- Deals fairly low damage for a Solo attacker without setup time
Its backloaded nature makes it somewhat necessary to set up Mokou's Last Word, but the damage it can deal out makes it more than worth it. Her second skill increases her Yang ATK by 2 levels and decreases a target's Yang DEF by 2 levels to help out in singling out major damage. Her other spells can also boost Yang ATK, but those come with their own issues...

+ 2 levels of Yang DEF DOWN on 1 foe is decent offensive support
While mainly a selfish buffer, the Yang DEF DOWN from her second skill is always good Yang nuking support, especially when Mokou herself isn't enough to finish the job.

- Unusually frail, as both of her Spell Cards consume a lot of HP - will likely require healing support
While her spells do give Yang ATK buffs, Mokou burns herself up upon using them, requiring a good amount of HP to pull them off. This can leave her in a very bad spot if not healed, and the 35% HP restoration of her third skill is really not enough to make her stand through an extended battle.

Aya (L1)

The fastest in Gensokyo, Aya brings a fairly damaging Solo targeting Last Word that can scale well in longer fights to the table, alongside some Wood Breaks and teamwide Accuracy support. She's not particularly strong or weak - just simply average

+ Above average access to Wood breaks on all of her spell cards
All of Aya's spells have 3 Wood breaks on them, making the tengu a good Friend for any job that requires a heavy amount of Wood breaks.

+ Decent Turn 1 Solo-targeting Last Word
Thanks to the slight Yang ATK and Agility buffs from activating her Last Word, Aya can poke a decent amount of damage from using it turn 1. When fully upgraded, her third skill joins the fun as well with a much better 3 levels of Yang ATK UP.  

+ Evasion debuff on all enemies
- Little party utility outside of debuffing enemies; can only buff herself
- Lacking in powerful skills outside of Yang ATK/Agility buff
Aya's second spell targeting all foes for 3 levels of Evasion DOWN is rather impressive accuracy support for an entire team. Sadly, this is where her team utility ends, as she only wants to buff herself and try out a niche gimmick of heavily increasing Focus and dodging using Evasion UP. Not only is this somewhat impractical and risky, but it means that Aya lacks any other great buffing skills and cannot optimize her damage as much as better Friends.

- Low turn count on buffs forces her to choose between Breaks or more damage
Aya's second skill might be spammable with a 1 turn cooldown, but the same can really not be said for her third skill, at a 5 turn cooldown. A shame too, as this is definitely Aya's best bufff via skills. This forces Aya to either cash out all her damage in a single turn or maybe try to stall to be able to nuke once more. If relying purely on Evasion, results will definitely vary.

Yuuka (L1)

Yuuka Kazami does two things for you - she hits extremely hard with her All-targeting Last Word, and she comes packed with a suite of All-targeting Spell Cards for Arena, farming, and mashing through events for Seal Crystal first time clear bonuses. She has no utility to speak of, and her Breaks are rather poor, but she hits hard enough to be valuable all the same. 

+ Very high and front-loaded damage which partially ignores elemental resistances
+ All spells are All-targeting for easy damage spreads
Yuuka can get straight to 3P thanks to her first and third skills, meaning she comes with devastating damage right out of the gate. She can get even more Spirit Power from her second spell, with pairs well with the fact that all of her spells are All-targeting, making Yuuka a very practical pick for multi-target battles. 

- Minimal utility
- Poor Breaks
Yuuka's front-loaded damage is really her main appeal, as otherwise she just doesn't have much to offer. All of her buffs are for herself, with only her Poison anomalies on her second spell being potential Yang DEF debuffs for Yang nukes. She doesn't even get good elemental breaks outside of a spammable 0P Wood break on her Focus shot.

Solo Stage Farms: 2-7-1, 3-3-3
 

Komachi (L1)

Komachi Onozuka’s primary goal is to buff herself to get the most out of her Solo-target Last Word with not much else going for her afterwards. Her elemental breaks are lacking or expensive in Spirit Power to access and the rest of her kit does little to impress in general.

+ Spread shot contains Metal breaks
- Below-average breaking
It is a rather strange thing to compliment, but having an All-target Spread shot with 3 Metal breaks accessible at 1/2/3P respectively is not the worst thing in the world, as definitely has the potential to break multiple enemies. However, the rest of her breaking is just mediocre in spell card standards. 3 Water on her first spell is alright, but only 2 Metal on her second spell and 2 Water and Metal on her Last Word can definitely be better.

+ Self-buffs to Yin ATK and Accuracy
Komachi's third skill is a rather good one, increasing her Yin ATK and Accuracy by 3 levels. It is rather unfortunate that this Accuracy buff is only for one turn, but at the very least she can still self-support herself in terms of Accuracy from Boosting. Being immune to Blind isn't a big deal, but it does help avoid accuracy issues at times. Her Last Word can at least do some decent damage too, with the 2 levels of Yin ATK UP somewhat helping.

- Selfish attacker/buffs
- Little utility
Komachi just doesn't do much outside of these buffs and maybe elemental breaks if you pull them off. She tries her best to buff her own Agility for Slice scaling, but it is very underwhelming. Likewise, the Agility debuffs on foes is pointless, just like raising her own Evasion and lowering Focus on her first skill.

Eiki (L1)

Eiki, as one of the Yama who judges the dead, comes to Lost Word with a decent array of elements and decent damage. While she may lack utility and may not hit as hard as some of the other characters, Eiki can still give her enemies a rough lecture.

+ 0P Fire on Spread Shot
+ Average breaks
Eiki holds a spammable Fire break in the form of her 0P Spread shot while having decent access to both Fire and Sun via her spells. Her Last Word combines the two to have 3 Fire and Sun breaks, making her a serviceable breaker in either category.


- Spellcards need both Yin and Yang to make the most of their damage output.
- Damage, while decent, still doesn’t compare to the top end of nukers
It's not that Eiki's damage itself is bad, but it can be very difficult to fully support her Yin and Yang requirements at the same time. She definitely does a decent bit to buff both offensive stats herself with her second skill, along with a Last Word Yang ATK buff that actually relates to the spell's attack type, but with mediocre Hard scaling, Eiki will remain as one of the more "decent" nukes of Lost Word.

- Little utility to speak of
Eiki's only teamwide buff is on her second spell, which provides Accuracy and Agility to the party, two rather situational buffs. She can also use her first spell to set up Blind anomalies to a singular target, which can potentially lead to a Blind anomaly break from other Friends. However, she really lacks any way to support the teams in terms of buffs.

Story Card farms: 3-3-3*, 3-6-3*
 

Minoriko (L1)

Minoriko brings plenty of healing, Barrier recovery, Barrier Breaks, and a kit of only All targeting Spell Cards (and Last Word). She's got rather low damage, no offensive team support, but her strengths certainly outweigh her flaws. Even without the ability to cast the anomalies she breaks, the correct team set-up will allow for her to easily Full Break multiple opponents at once.

+ Average access to both Metal and Wood
+ Possesses the ability to All-target Paralyze & Poison anomaly Break (Separately)
Minoriko's breaking ability is downright great. While her elements are a little underwhelming, since she goes for a mix of average Metal and Wood breaking on her spells, she makes up for this with an All-target Poison anomaly break on her first spell and an All-target Paralyze anomaly break on her second spell, in addition to her Last Word that can break both anomalies at 1P. While not applying these anomalies by herself, she can easily be paired with other Friends to make great use of Paralyzing and Poisoning alongside breaking. She can even rely on her Focus shot for anomaly breaks if needed, although that is only Solo-target.

- Low damage & mixed scaling
Minoriko is another mixed attacker, and due to focusing more on supportive heals rather than offensive buffs, her damage struggles very hard. Her Last Word doesn't even have a buff, instead going for a straight 100% HP heal from Minoriko to her allies.

+ Solid healing and Barrier recovery support
- Lacks offensive buffs and extended buffs in general
Minoriko has a fair amount of HP heals between her spells and skills, even having 1 layer of barrier restoration on her third skill. Sadly, this skill has an 8 turn cooldown to make it not so practical to rely on for long fights. Other than that, Minoriko doesn't provide much in terms of offense, purely just healing off any damage the team may come across.

Hina (L1)

Even though Hina Kagiyama could not avoid her own misfortune of only having Solo-targeting spell cards, she still has fairly situational use with a Yin-based Last Word and being able to lower the evasion of every opponent. Her second spell card serves as an anomaly breaker for any barriers inflicted with Poison, Paralyze, or Burn, meaning Hina can synergize with quite a good amount of other Friends and still break barriers, even without an impressive element spread.

+ Poison, Paralyze, and Burn anomaly breaks on second spell card
- Lacking in elemental breaks
Hina's elemental access is a very wide mix of random elements, which makes her rather lacking in a specific elemental breaking use. Instead, Hina can excel at anomaly breaks in her second spell, having Poison and Paralyze breaks at 1P and Burn breaks at 2P. The main issue is she has to rely on other Friends applying the anomalies, but due to the way anomaly breaks destroy every layer with the inflicted element, Hina still has high breaking potential.

+ Decent Solo-target Last Word Yin nuke
- Primarily a Solo-attacker
Hina is a goddess surrounded by misfortune, meaning her Last Word can do decent damage as well as have low chances of decimating the opponent's stats, from Yang DEF to defensive CRIT stats. Unfortunately, her reach is limited to only Solo-targets on all of her spells, making it hard for her to spread out the damage in multi-enemy fights.

+ Lowers the Evasion of all enemies
Hina's third skill comes with 3 levels of Evasion DOWN on every foe for a single turn with a 4 turn cooldown. It's great that this debuff is useful, as the rest of hers focus on less practical stats to debuff such as Yin and Yang ATK.

Momiji (L1)

Momiji Inubashiri is focused on increasing her own Focus while decreasing her allies’ so that she can defend everyone with her strong Yin DEF. Sadly she does not bring much else to fights, her defenses do not cover Yang attackers, and her damage output and breaks are pretty low.

+ Good amount of Yin DEF self-buffs
Momiji gets some good Yin DEF buffs in the forms of her second spell and second and third skills. Something to note about her second skill is that while it is 4 levels of Yin DEF UP to the whole party, it only lasts one turn. Still, since its on a 2 turn cooldown, it's a bit easier to fully utilize compared to other low-duration buffs.

+ Evasion debuff on singular targets
Momiji's first spell has the pre-ATK effect of lowering the singular target's Evasion by 2 levels, making for a decent replacement for Accuracy support for both herself and allies.

- Underwhelming Wood breaks
Momiji's breaking potential is very mediocre, with your best bet of elemental breaks coming from the 4 Wood placed on her Last Word. Otherwise, most of the further Wood breaks are too expensive to justify being an efficent method of Full Breaking.

- Low amount of Hard scaling on a low-power Last Word
Momiji's Hard scaling is just pathetic, and it's a shame because it would have helped increase her damage due to her high Yin DEF buffs. For now, though, she just carries an underwhelming Last Word that decreases foes' Yin ATK, in the case you're actually using her for defense purposes.

- Rather specific Defense unit (Yin only + Focus UP can be harmful)
Not only does Momiji cover Yin-defensive bases, but her brutal Focus UP from her first skill and first spell can prove to be fatal at times. Since Focus UP makes it so the buffed target takes even more damage from All-target attacks, defensive Friends without barrier restoration can easily find themselves in a bind. For Momiji, this is both very true and can still be hard to tank everything, especially if the foe is Yang-based.

Sanae (L1)

The best of the healers at launch, Sanae Kochiya’s main selling point is Barrier restoration on a skill. It’s only 1 barrier with a 50% chance of another 1, and on a 8 turn cooldown, but it being on a skill means it doesn’t eat a turn to use. Her healing is also simply better than the other healers, with access to two healing skills. She has simply okay element access otherwise, with a Last Word that would seem theoretically very good for element breaks, but in practice due to how weaknesses are assigned will typically only be 2 breaks on a single target at P3. Her low damage and lack of offensive utility otherwise keeps her firmly as a weaker Friend.

+ Extremely versatile Element access, being able to provide Star, Wood, Earth, Water, and Metal breaks
- Spread of Elements on Last Word is somewhat awkward
Just as it says, Sanae has a good variety of elements under her belt. The most relevant ones are the 3 Star breaks on her first spell, 2 Water breaks on her second spell, and a whole mashup of 2 Wood/Metal/Earth on her Last Word. The triple split may be awkward, particularly when trying not to hit elemental resistances or optimizing damage with a story card, but it still makes Sanae rather versatile in breaking for some scenarios.

+ Exceptionally powerful and flexible healing, alongside Barrier restoration
Sanae does not disappint as the game's first healer. Two of her skills focus purely on heals, with the first skill having a lower 35% HP with a smaller 4 turn cooldown while the third skill is a large 80% heal with its 8 turn cooldown solidifying it as a last resort. Her partywide 1 barrier restoration on her second skill is likewise 8 turns long, but still very useful for many fights.

- Power hungry, her best breaks all require 3P and she has no Spirit Power boosters herself
Every one of Sanae's spells are backloaded, or have a 1-1-3 spread for each of her boosts. This means that she will often require 3P to do the best in temrs of damage or just breaks, something her kit is just not made to do by herself.

- Low damage
- Unsuited for farming
It is natural for the healer of a group to not be the best for hard damage and farming, but Sanae's damage is still less than what would be desired. She doesn't really have many practical Killers on her Last Word, only being effective against Gods.

Suwako (L1)

Suwako Moriya’s here to do three things: curse your enemies with Yin DEF Down, destroy them with a powerful Solo Last Word, and party. Both a capable farmer and a powerful challenge unit, with some Barrier Break potential on the side, she’s a Friend you just can’t go wrong with.

+ Average Break potential
- Spirit Power hungry when attempting to Break
Suwako's breaks in terms of elements are okay, nothing super major. She gets 2 Metal from her first spell, 2 Water and 2 Wood from her second spell, and 2 Earth and 2 Wood on her Last Word. Sadly, all of these spells are backloaded, meaning she will be very desparate for Spirit Power if you really are using her for breaking.

+ Deals high Solo damage both immediately and at 3 Spirit Power
- Needs 3 Spirit Power for full potential
Suwako's immediate damage is alright, but that requirement of getthing 3P for a majoirty of the bullets of her Last Word really does hurt at times. She can get up to 2P turn 1 thanks to her first skill, but the rest of that Spirit Power has to come from another source. At the very least, she can build up her Yin ATK slightly and even hit Human-Killer bullets to deal more damage when eventually unleashing the attack.

+ Fantastic Yin DEF DOWN support
Her second spell is a good Yin DEF DOWN debuff, being 3 turns of 2 or sometimes 3 levels of the debuff. This definitely helps other Yin attackers, especially one who can buff themselves more than Suwako herself.

Yuugi (L1)

Yuugi has two jobs - provide your Killer friends with CRIT ATK UP, and hit a single target hard. In addition, she also provides some decent breaks, including notably All targeting Star at P0 on a basic shot. She doesn't hit as hard as the friends rated above her, and she needs setup time which isn't ideal for Solo attackers, who want to take out a priority target ASAP, but she's solid and will do well in fights where you need one or more of what she brings to the table.

+ P0 Star on a Basic Shot
0P Star breaks gives Yuugi a great spammable elemental option, and that's the main highlight for her elemental breaking. She gets a mix of Earth, Metal, and Star in her other spells, but she does not do exceptionally well in any of them to make not of. Yuugi is mainly here for the damage.

+ High damage on a single target with setup time
- Lackluster farmer, even with Auto-Replay Update
- Requires setup time, which isn't ideal for Solo-targeting attackers
- Can't hit the damage levels that better Solo-targeting attackers can
Yuugi sadly needs the setup time in order to do any substansial damage, and even then the numbers will not compared to some other Solo-target nukes. She has many ways to buff herself, sure, and even a lot of Killers to ensure CRIT damage, but it's just not enough to make her stand out from the rest of the crowd.

+ CRIT support for the party
At the very least, Yuugi's second and third skills hold some partywide CRIT buffs, specifically 2 levels of CRIT ATK on the second and 2 levels of CRIT Accuracy on the third. These buffs can at the very least give her purpose in a team that is focusing harder on the critical hits.

Satori (L1)

Satori Komeiji is essentially defined by her Solo targeting Last Word dealing respectably high damage without much setup. She also brings a slightly above average access to Fire Breaks. The rest of her kit is lacking, and she can't reach the heights that other Solo nukers can in extended fights, so she's essentially average on the whole.

+ Slightly above average access to Fire breaks
Satori gets 3 Fire breaks on all of her spells, and even an additional 3 Earth on her Last Word to make her an alright breaker in Fire with a small bit of breaking utility.

+ Respectable damage turn 1 on a Solo-targeting Last Word
- Somewhat low ceiling on damage
Thanks to an incredible 7 levels of Yang ATK UP, Satori is able to deal a very instant heavy amount of Solo-target damage at the beginning of a fight. In a weird way, this is also slightly a flaw since it means that Satori doesn't have much else to develop more damage, especially considering her Last Word has mixed elements, already making it harder to support with a story card compared to other Last Words.

- No party utility
Satori's debuffs are to ruin a single opponent's offense, which sadly has a lot less usefuless for a party than the satori might think. Even squishier Friends can just Graze damage that would be fatal to them, making offensive debuffs less practical in most situations.

Rin (L1)

A purrfect Friend, Orin may just well be the ultimate in Yin attacker support. Between her abundance of Burn barriers and Yin DEF DOWN, there's no defense she can't kasha off guard. She may be lacking in personal attack power, but you can sharpen her claws with some Story Cards or Friend support to help her cat-ch up to her allies. 

+ Solid Breaks, including P0 Solo targeting Moon on a basic shot
Orin would almost be your typical case of a confused duo-elemental attacker, having a mix of Moon and Fire on her spells, but she more thank makes up for it with her 0P Moon on her Spread shot. On top of that, her Last Word is more focused with 4 Moon and 2 Fire, making for a better focus on what element she's better at breaking.

+ Great levels of Yin DEF DOWN & Burn Barriers
Orin chose some great debuffs to apply on foes, from the Yin DEF DOWN on her Last Word and third skill to the Burn anomalies she inflicts on her second spell, which act as even more Yin DEF DOWN. With these, this cat can easily claw her way into the foes with her own Yin-focused attacks and allow other Friends to dig in too.

- No Accuracy UP
- Low levels of Yin ATK UP
Without Accuracy or Yin ATK UP on her kit, Orin really needs to rely on outside support to do great damage when her elements and debuffs aren't doing everything for her.

Utsuho (L1)

Packing fire power on the level of an atomic bomb, Utsuho Reiuji is an incredibly powerful All targeting Last Word nuker useful both for farming and harder fights, with some party-wide Agility support to boot alongside 0P Sun on a Basic Shot. Her Breaks are otherwise fairly average, but when that's the worst you can say about a Friend, they're unquestionably top tier. 

+ 0P All-targeting Sun Breaks on a Basic Shot
- Overall average Breaks
Okuu gets a 0P Sun break on her Focus shot, but has middling breaks otherwise. She gets the traditional dual mix of Fire and Sun between her spells and Last Word, with neither of them really standing out outside of more Sun on her Last Word.

+Extremely strong All-targeting Last Word, for farming or longer fights alike.
Thanks to Okuu's heavy Slice scaling and just raw buffs an power, her Last Word is the traditional baseline for any good Yang nuke.

+Can provide Yang DEF DOWN on a priority target or two.
+Provides Agility UP for the entire team, though this is of limited use.
Okuu is an offensive Friend with some actual team utility thanks to her second spell, which lowers a target's Yang DEF and CRIT Evasion to help out different teammates. She can also try to buff Agility with her third skill, though this does not really help Friends with no Slice scaling.
 

Kogasa (L1)

With a surprisingly good amount of Water breaks, Kogasa can be very helpful with whittling down the enemy’s barrier count, provided they are weak to Water. That being said, she is somewhat disappointing compared to other recent units, from the lack of Killers she has, to the lack of team utility. There are a few silver linings, like a Last Word with some Paralyze and Blind break potential without even having to boost, as well as some helpful Hard and Slice scaling, but Kogasa is just simply outclassed by a lot of the competition.

+ Great Accessibility to Water Breaks including P0 Water on Spread Shot
Kogasa has a good niche in Water breaking thanks to her 0P Water spam option on her spread shot and the Water present on her spells. She gets 3 Water breaks on both of her normal spells, with all of them available at 2P of her first spell to make her somewhat efficient at the craft.

+ Spirit P gain on both Spell Cards can be helpful
Both of Kogasa's spells give herself 1.00 Spirit Power to allow her to unleash her spells at maximum boosts so that all of her breaks are guaranteed to come out.

+ Potential to break both Paralyze and Blind Anomalies of an Enemy via P0 Last Word.
Kogasa might not be able to inflict these anomalies on her foes, but the ability to break Paralyze and Blind anomalies upon using her Last Word is definitely something she can take adavtage of...if she has Friends on her team that apply those.

- Struggles to make much use of self-inflicted anomalies on her own
Every Paralyze anomaly Kogasa has on herself grants her offensive boosts, while Blind anomalies provide Agility and Accuracy buffs. However, her first and second skills only give her a single layer of either anomaly, meaning that in order to take full advantage of her anomaly immunities, she must rely on allies or enemies to inflict more anomalies on her.

- Killers are almost not present at all
Kogasa may have somewhat decent Hard and Slice scalings on her Last Word, but without any good Killers on the early part of the attack (and a low Critical Hit % in the first place), she will struggle to provide heavy damage by herself.

- No team support
- Overall lacking for modern standards
Kogasa is simply selfish, only buffing her own stats and never even debuffing her opponents to help the rest of her team. This, combined with her general lack of significant upsides and strengths, makes for a Friend who might not have much of a purpose outside of Water breaking.

Murasa (L1)

Minamitsu Murasa is an extremely powerful unit - so powerful in fact that she is one of the better units in the game,. Her ability to ramp up damage and speed as quickly as she does using her skills combined with her good Slice values makes her a force to be reckoned with. She also has very good Barrier breaks and can provide the rest of her allies the same speeds she gives herself using her skills.

+ Plenty of Water breaks.
Murasa holds ground as a good elemental breaker due to her great Water breaks. With a 0P Water Focus shot, several Water breaks on her spells, and 4 Water breaks on her Last Word, she is a definite must for any Water-weak opponents.

+ Remarkable Agility which translates into more damage using her Slice
+ Very strong damage
Murasa obtains a great amont of power from a combination of Yang ATK self-buffs as well as Agility buffs in order to take advantage of Slice scaling. It helps that her Last Word's Slice damage is much higher than average, as well as the self-Freeze anoamlies she inflicts serving as further Agility buffs and even accuracy support.

- Very little supportive utility
- Vulnerable after using skills
Murasa's strengthening buffs may be plentiful, but since all of the ones on her skills last a single turn, it can be difficult to ensure that she retains her solid buffs for long. These buffs are also entirely selfish outside of the Agility buffs on her first and second skills, which even then are situational based on the Friend.

Solo Stage Farms: 3-3-3

Shou (L1)

Shou's a selfish attacker with P0 Sun and a Pagoda Tank here to blast at your enemies. She's not a super great All farmer, though she can be a good Solo farmer on some one- boss stages due to her Human killer. Where she shines is harder fights, bringing a powerful backloaded Last Word to the table.

+ P0 Sun on Basic Shot
Shou has a 0P Sun break on her Focus shot, but that's about all she has for amazing elemental break potential. Her spells and Last Word have a small mix of Metal and Sun if that is what you need in the fight, but is otherwise not that special.

+ Powerful All-targeting Last Word if given time to set up
- Backloaded damage makes her not the best at farming anything but humans.
Shou definitely has the tools to set up her great Last Word damage, thanks to a combination of Yang ATK buffs and Human-Killer bullets. If the latter is inaccessible in the current fight, though, then Shou will have trouble unleashing high damage if not at 3P due to the backloaded nature of her Last Word. She at least has a skill and spell to increase her own Spirit Power for the chance of doing good damage.

+ Self Charge makes her easy to support
- Selfish attacker
Shou is another great attacker with Charge, allowing for herself to wait for ally debuffs before attacking with a hard-hitting spell or Last Word. However, this is all Shou has in terms of teamwork, as all of her other buffs are purely for herself and no one else.

 

Byakuren (L1)

Byakuren Hijiri is a tank who provides an adequate amount of Sun Breaks at 3 for 3 Power on her first Spell Card, some defensive utility to the team, and she can cheese some earlier floors of the Scarlet Devil Tower. Outside of that, her damage is low, she provides no offensive team utility, and she's unfortunately lacking in defensive utility compared to the other tanks.

+ Average amount of Sun on first Spell Card at 0/1/2/3 Breaks for 0/1/2/3 Power
Her only significant form of elemental breaks may only be on her first spell, but it is at least better than many low-tier Friends. Getting up to 3 Sun breaks on one attack does has its uses too, as that just means you can get 3 breaks in one turn, getting you closer to Full Break compared to doing only 1 or 2 breaks.

+ Buffs her team's DEF.
- Low values on DEF Buffs
Byakuren's defensive buffs come in 2 forms: her self-Yang DEF UP on her first spell and a partywide Yin DEF UP on her second skill. The teamwide buff only lasting 2 turns and being 2 levels is less than desirable, but it can definitely help in some situations. Additionally, she can Graze to raise the party's Yang DEF for a single turn when required.

- Low damage
Byakuren just doesn't have the buffs or damage potential to do any substansial damage. For whatever reason, she is a Defense unit with Slice scaling, which while her Agility can be boosted with Boosts, has very little practical application. Funnily enough, her Last Word gives her Spirit Power, which would be good....if she was able to use it for the attack itself!

- No form of teamwide Barrier recovery or Healing
No healing is pretty annoying, especially when many other Defense Friends in the upper echelon come with at least some form of team heals. The same goes for Barrier recovery, but this issue is increased tenfold by the Focus rework. With the Focus UP Byakuren applies to herself, she will only end up taking more damage from All-target attacks and require more Barriers to block fatal attacks, since she cannot heal the damage. Lacking both of these elements hurts her survivablity, something a Defense Friend really doesn't want to put on their resume.

Hatate (L1)

Hatate Himekaidou arrives as quickly as she can on the scene with a great amount of Agility buffs to herself to compliment her Slice bullets, along with an equally impressive amount of Accuracy buffs that can easily be shared with other Friends. She does not really provide much support outside of that, but can still unleash a rather damaging All-target Last Word if set up properly.

+ 8 levels of Agility UP works well with Slice scaling on Last Word
Hatate heavily increases her Agility UP to serve her purpose as a Speed-type Friend, but unfortunately the Slice scaling on her Last Word results in less damage than would be desired. It still is a decent All-target nuke when it is needed, though.

+ Up to 3 levels of party Accuracy support, as well as 2 levels of Evasion DOWN on all foes
- Accuracy support is unnecessary for units who can self-support themselves
Hatate's Last Word provides the Evasion DOWN on all enemies, while her first skill is a single turn of a great 3 levels of Accuracy UP. More than 3 levels of accuracy support is a bit excessive, however, especially if the Friend is able to support Accuracy by themselves already.

- Mediocre, Wood-only breaks
Every spell in Hatate's kit has 3 Wood breaks, which isn't terrible, but just pretty average at this state of the game. She can break Wood-weak enemies when needed, but there are other people better at the job.

- Rather selfish offensive buffer
- Skill buffs come with nasty debuffs
Outside of the Accuracy support and some Agility buffs from her Last Word, Hatate is a selfish buffer who only focuses on herself. Not only that, but all of her skills come at the cost of a major debuff! Her second and third skills may have minor, inconsequential 1 turn debuffs, but the 4 levels of Yin DEF DOWN from her first skill lasts 2 turns and can definitely backfire if Hatate is not careful.

Kyouko (L1)

Kyouko Kasodani excels in providing CRIT support to herself and her allies, bringing valuable assistance to any firefight regardless of the terms. Her kit focuses on boosting her own CRIT while debuffing the enemy team’s CRIT EVASION, leading to a cascading effect that will topple any resistance given the right setup.

+ Easy T1 damage makes her a decent farmer
+ P skills make hitting her Moon and Wood breaks simple
Kyouko can tap into 2P on T1 with her first skill, <strong>Cheerful Greeting</strong>. This, in turn, grants her access to most of her Moon and Wood breaks, lining up the barriers perfectly within her sights for swift breaks.

+ CRIT and Accuracy support helps for setting up big damage
Kyouko’s ability to debuff enemy Evasion and CRIT Evasion through both her Skills and her Spell Cards makes her a great staple to any team looking to focus on building up personal damage. Her first Spell Card, <strong>Echo Sign: Mountain Echo</strong> can debuff CRIT DEF by 1 level for a single enemy, while her second Spell Card, <strong>Great Voice: Charged Cry</strong> debuffs CRIT EVASION for the entire enemy lineup by 1 level. This is further boosted by her Last Word, <strong>Sutra-Chanting Room - Complete Manual</strong> which reduces all enemy Yang DEF and CRIT EVASION by 2 levels. 

- Low personal synergy with anomaly setting and breaking
Kyouko can set Paralysis with her Spread Shot and second Spell Card at 2P and 3P respectively, while her Last Word can break Burn anomalies. Capitalising this will require someone on the team (or the opposing team) to be able to set Burn on their barriers to begin with.

Yoshika (L1)

Yoshika mainly serves as a Yin-based Defense Friend, who might get some good hits in with her Last Word. Unfortunately, outside of a fair amount of Water breaks, she will likely not serve much else to the party, and even endangers her own survivability thanks to the increased All-target damage she takes when heavily increasing her own Focus. 

+ Average Water breaker
3 Water breaks for each spell and 4 Water breaks on her Last Word is rather good compared to many General Friends. This makes Yoshika a very good pick when Water breaking is the first priority of a more difficult fight.

+ Good amount of self-Yin DEF buffs
+ Able to heal off some damage, helpful for a Defense unit
Yoshika's second skill is a partywide 2 levels od Yin DEF UP, with an additional 2 levels of self-Yin DEF levels UP from her third skill. Her Last Word also provides 3 more levels, which can be alright for tanking if truly needed. Her first skill even has a 25% heal to help with the defending at times.

- Unimpressive damage on LW
She might have at least one Yin ATK UP on her first spell's pre-ATK effect, but the damage of Yoshika's Last Word is still rather underwhelming. Even her Hard scaling, bullets that increase based on your defensive stats, is very minimal. 

- Greedy buffer; little team utility
Outside of the buffs from her second skill, Yoshika provides very little team support for the party. Both of her Character Ability attributes are only for herself, and the only thing that can slightly help out a team further is her Focus UP to minimze damage given to other party members.

- Heavy Focus UP can heavily screw over Yoshika’s defenses
And about that Focus UP, it can easily kill Yoshika if not wary. All-target attacks do a lot more damage to those with heavy Focus UP, and Yoshika really doesn't have much to counter this due to a lack of barrier resotation and only one small healing skill. This healing skill, by the way, also increasing her Focus!

Seiga (L1)

Seiga Kaku’s main purpose is to dash around the enemies, constantly debuff their Evasion and Yin DEF, and then circle around her Agility buffs for an All-target Last Word finisher. The backloaded nature of her spells get in the way of this at times, but the low cooldown on her skills and heavy amount of self-Accuracy support make for a rather reliable offensive pick. Also, 6 Star on a single Last Word is still pretty crazy.

+ Decent Earth and Water coverage
Seiga wields a variety of elements, but her best ones are by far the ones contained on her spells. She gets 4 Earth breaks on her first spell, as well as 3 Water breaks on her second spell. If you really need it, there is a Fire break at 1P of her Focus shot, but it is pretty impractical to fully rely on.

+ All-target, Energy and Star-only Last Word
+ Heavy amount of self-Agility UP
A 6/6 Star Last Word is insanely good, both for opponents weak to the element and for supporting with different story cards. The Slice scaling of the attack is pretty low, but Seiga can still squeeze out a decent amout of Agility UP for her second spell and inflicting herself with Poison, with each anomaly inflicted raising her Agility, Evasion, and even Accuracy to help her damage output.

+ Small debuffs on skills that quickly recharge
- Selfish attacker/buffer
Seiga's skills are unique in the way that all of them have cooldowns below 5 turns, with her second skill that lowers all foes' Yin DEF by 2 levels for 1 turn having a 3 turn cooldown. Sadly, outside of an Evasion DOWN from her first skill, all of Seiga's primary buffs are selfish and makes her harder to work with.

- All spells are backloaded (1-1-3)
No self-Spirit Power restoration combined with backloaded spells only means Seiga will require a decent amount of setup time if she is attempting to build up that Spirit Power by herself.

- Risks health of teammates due to Focus DOWN and Poison anomalies
Focus DOWN risks other Friends taking more damage from All-target attacks, while Poison anomalies are inflicted to the entire team by her third skill. While some other Friends may benefit from self-inflicted Poison or just not care, the majority will likely find themselves with a Yang debuff and a major inconvenience.

Futo (L1)

Mononobe no Futo is your example of a good Yang nuker, buffing her own Yang ATK for more damage off of her Last Word as well as Agility for better Slice scaling. Outside of this, though, she somewhat lacks a purpose. She can spam Fire and Earth breaks on her basic shots in extended battles, but otherwise her elemental breaks are low and team utility even lower.

+ 0P Fire and Earth on basic shots
- Mediocre elemental breaks on her spells
Futo has 0P Fire on her Spread shot and 0P Earth on her Focus shot, making her a very good candidate to bring along if these elements need to be spammed on a specific enemy in longer fights. Her spells, however, lack this practicality. Her first spell is an uncanny mix of elements and her second spell is just low in them. Her Last Word is a nice 4 Fire breaks, although it should never really be used just for breaking.

+ Can get good damage off of her Yang-only Last Word
Futo’s damage is overall great, especially when she is allowed to set up. At 3P, her Last Word has the benefits of good Slice scaling as well as being Yang-only and Energy-only to make it simple to set up an optimal combo with. On top of that, she gets up to 6 Yang ATK buffs by herself to make the damage go up even higher.

+ Good amount of Agility buffs from whole kit; helps Slice scaling
- A very selfish buffer that offers little from her team buffs
Futo uses most of her skills and her first spell to raise her Agility, a stat that is mainly good for the Slice scaling on her spell cards but not much else. What doesn’t help is that, because of this focus, Futo loses out on a lot of team utility. Her third skill can buff Accuracy and her second skill can buff Agility, but these buffs might not be needed by many other allies, making her somewhat useless to some teams in terms of support.

- Rather lacking in defensive stats
Without a good HP and defense bulk, Futo will need some support to keep her alive most of the time, either in the form of Yin DEF or Yang DEF buffs or at least some form of barrier restoration. Using barriers for Graze too early may also mess with her Agility buffs she gains from Grazing.

 

Miko (L1)

A strong Solo-targeting burst nuker, the Crown Prince also brings a solid amount of Breaks to the table, alongside All targeting P0 Sun on a Basic Shot, and some Accuracy support. Outside of that though her other primary team support, that being some Yin ATK UP on a Spell Card, is only really useful in the Arena (and does not benefit herself), and she can’t hit quite as hard as the top tier nukers.

+ P0 All-targeting Sun on a Basic Shot
Miko is a mix of Metal and Sun breaks, but with a 0P Sun break on her Spread shot, 3 Sun breaks on her second spell, and a duo-Metal/Sun Last Word, Miko can definitely dish out the elemental breaks when needed, at a decent rate to boot.

+ Great burst damage to singular targets
- Can't hit as hard as the highest tier of attackers
With a second skill that immediately gets her to 3P thanks to a 2.00 Spirit Power boost, Miko is actually great at turn 1, imemdiate damage. When taking advatage of the 2 levels of Yang ATK UP from her first skill as well, Miko can end up doing good damage to a singular target, but still nothing that amazing.

+ Self Charge makes her easy to support
+ Decent amount of teamwide Accuracy and Yin ATK support
- Yin ATK support isn't particularly helpful; Miko doesn't benefit from it herself
Miko has the traditional Charge to make her good at supporting as a nuke, but otherwise Miko has a good amount of Accuracy buffs for the party on skills. But for some reason her third skill buffs her own Yin ATK while her first spell buffs her party's Yin ATK as well. Yin is something Miko never uses on her Last Word, and with such a low teamwide buff, it is rather pointless in that regard as well.

Mamizou (L1)

Featuring extremely high levels of Focus UP, Evasion UP, and Yin DEF UP, Mamizou is the premier anti-Yin tank. Combine this with some rather stellar Breaks, including a P0 solo targeting Earth Break on a spammable basic shot, and the tanuki has plenty of tricks up her (lack of) sleeves to keep those pesky Yin attackers at bay. However, her complete lack of Yang DEF UP as well as a lack of Barrier restorations means that not only is she fairly vulnerable to Yang attackers, but she is also on a harsher time limit against All-targeting attacks than other tanks with Barrier restoration. She also has rather lackluster damage, due to unimpressive Hard scaling, leaving her overall average. 

+ 0P Solo-target Earth Spread shot to spam breaks
Mamizou's elemental access is likely her best at her 0P Earth Spread shot and perhaps her 3 Earth/3 Fire breaks on her Last Word. Otherwise, Mamizou's breaks on her spells are plentiful, but nothing that will make you consider her great in a specific element.

+ Good amount of Yin DEF buffs for herself and the party
- No source of Yang DEF
Mamizou stands tall as a great Yin DEF tank, being able to buff both her own and the rest of the team's Yin DEF by 3 levels with her second skill. Her third skill also helps in raising the team's Yin DEF and even Yin ATK by 2 more levels, making Mamizou a good support. One problem arises in which Mamizou contains no Yang DEF buffs, something that can come back to bite her if she is trying to tank against a Yang-focused enemy.

+ Focus UP emphasis to keep damage off teammates
- Lack of barrier restoration makes Focus UP a gamble against All-target attacks
Mamizou is a tank that heavily boasts Focus UP, with it contained on both of her spells, her skills, and even when she Grazes. This would usually be good, considering Mamizou can even heal 30% of her HP using her third skill, but such extreme Focus UP means she will take devastating damage from All-target attacks, and without a consistent barrier restoration option, Mamizou will struggle hard to survive for very long.

- Spirit Power-hungry for her 1-1-3 spell card spreads
Mamizou contains no Spirit Power restoration effects to help reach the limits of her backloaded spreads, a problem that many mid-tier Friends face, but one that is still a huge issue, especially if you are attempting to Full Break foes.

Wakasagihime’s quiet, level-headed demeanour manifests as a Support-class Friend who is ever at the ready to assist her compatriots in battle.

Decent Water breaks

Delivers decent Water breaks on enemies, with her first and second Spell Cards packing 3 and 4 Water Breaks each. 0P Water on her Focus Shot helps with longer battles.

Enables Yang focused teams

Boosts Accuracy, Yang ATK and Agility through a combination of Spell Cards, Skills, and Graze.

Heals team HP and barriers

Recovers both HP and Barriers for her team via her Support oriented Last Word.

Support Last Word isn’t particularly impressive

There are very few instances where Wakasagihime’s inclusion will outclass an offensive Last Word.

Large cooldowns on skills

Expect to wait between 5-7 turns for her Skills to cooldown; enough time to switch out someone fresh who can finish the job in her stead.

Evasion tanking is iffy at best, especially at low levels.

Evasion isn’t as reliable as solid damage negation.

Sekibanki (L1)

Sekibanki can be described as a glass cannon. She is a good nuker but her HP is extremely low which makes her vulnerable to being wiped out if you are not careful. However, she provides decent Fire elemental breaks which are essential for Challenge Quest.

+ Good set of Fire elements
A 0P FIre break on her Focus shot and 3 Fire breaks on her first spell makes Sekibanki decent at Fire breaking. She also has a mix of elements on her second spell and Last Word, but there are less bullets to truly take advantage of breaking with.

+ Human and Fairy Killer on Last Word
+ All-target Evasion DOWN on Last Word
Not only can Sekibanki hit relatively hard with her All-target Last Word, but Human and Fairy Killers can be good when facing some somewhat common opponents, though without CRIT ATK buffs of her own, other support is needed to access that increased damage better. Additionally, it inflicts Evasion DOWN to all foes to make it a good follow-up tool by other nukes.

- Extremely low HP stats
With an HP Stat of only 3800, you bet that Sekibanki is the definition of a glass cannon. She will need to be very careful with her Grazes or at least be paired up with a defensive/Focus UP tank to make sure she stays alive long enough to be worth it in a fight.

- Lack of team utility
Outside of the Evasion debuff, Sekibanki is a selfish attacker, only buffing Friends' Agility slightly with her first spell. While doing good damage is good, having at least some utility should be considered if you want to be more useful in many harder fights.
 

Solo Stage Farms: 3-6-3 

Kagerou (L1)

Kagerou’s canine traits allow her to fulfil the requirements of being a Speed-class Friend in Touhou Lost Word.

Decent Wood and Moon breaks

Delivers decent Wood and Moon breaks on enemies, with her first and second Spell Cards hitting all enemies with 2/2 Moon/Water Breaks each. Her Last Word hits a single Enemy for 3/3 Moon/Water, leaving her with a 0P Wood on her Focus Shot to finish things off.

Slicing helps with damage boosting

While she has Slicing on all her Spell Cards, this is especially prevalent on her Last Word, with slicing values of 80%/0%/0%/80%/0%/90%, turning it into a bona fide ST Nuke.

Single target Last Word limits her to hitting just one thing hard.

While there’s no knocking ST attacks in general due to enemies being able to put ALL Resist up, her limited targeting slightly dampens her as a general purpose attacker.

Selfish attacker

Kagerou lends very little to team synergy, focusing only on what she can do to the other team, with no real utility outside of breaks and damage.

Evasion tanking is iffy at best, especially at low levels.

Evasion isn’t as reliable as solid damage negation.

Seija (L1)

Seija is mainly on the team for pure damage, setting herself up with Blind anomalies on her skills to heavily increase her offensive stats. With Specular on every single bullet, she will aim to confuse the enemies by attacking their flipped defensive stats, mainly being Yin attacks targeting Yang DEF instead of Yin DEF. Outside of this, Seija doesn’t provide a whole lot for her team (and can even detriment them by giving everyone Blind anomalies), but she still pulls through with decent synergy and Blind anomaly breaks, one even being on a normal shot.

+ 0P Moon break on Spread
- Underwhelming Moon and Fire breaks overall
+ Flash breaks on Spread and first spell; can be used for synergy
Seija leans more toward Moon than Fire, but is still nothing spetacular for elemental breaks. She has a 0P Moon break on her Spread shot and 4 Moon on her Last Word, but the rest of her spells are mediocre. However, her barrier breaks are still good thanks to Blind anomaly breaks on her Spread shot and first spell, the anomaly in particular being applied by her second spell. Seija can be paired with additional Blind anomaly inflictors to make these breaks even better.

+ Last Word can hit hard after setting up from self-Blind buffs
- Requires outside Accuracy support
Seija can cast 4 Blind anomalies on herself with her first and third skill combined, which grant her great offensive buffs instead of the usual downsides of Blind. This would make her Last Word even better than it already is, but without any of her own Accuracy buffs, she will have to hope another Friend gives her some before she risks missing some of her attacks.

- Very low team synergy
- Blind anomalies on team forces team to waste a barrier
Seija is a selfish buffer, and even worse, her third skill applies Blind to the entire party. If the allies do not benefit from being Blinded themselves, than this is practically a negative synergy with Seija.

+ Specular bullets makes her Yin attacks target Yang DEF (more battle-dependent than a strength)
There's a reason why Seija debuffs Yang DEF on her third skill despite mainly using Yin: those Yin bullets will target Yang DEF instead due to every attack being Specular. This can be a benefit for a detriment based on the fight, so you mainly have to plan your team build accordingly. If the enemy has better Yin DEF than Yang DEF, then Seija may actually do some nice damage.

Raiko (L1)

With an ample amount of Slicing and Wood throughout her entire kit and a hefty amount of Yang Attack up without any Story Cards, Raiko can prove to be quite a capable farmer for certain events and stages. However, much like Kaguya, Raiko’s skills and Story Cards do not provide much use for her allies, with the buffs she receives being primarily self-buffs to her speed, accuracy, Spirit P, and Yang Attack.

- Her kit primarily provides Wood and Slicing, making Raiko an incredibly specialized fighter. This means outside of specific stages, she may not be the most prioritized Friend.

- Incredibly selfish Friend, providing almost no buffs to her team. An overwhelming majority of her buffs are self-buffs. 

- Is able to give herself a 1 Spirit P buff with her 2nd Skill when maxed out, allowing for an advantaged turn 1 attack versus other Friends.

Sumireko (L1)

Sumireko attempts to get a footing in the world of Gensokyo with her variety of psychic abilities. This ends up giving her a small mix of Wood and Star elemental breaks, access to Evasion DOWN via spells, and some slightly heavy Yang damage via her Last Word. Her abilities might not be as impressive as most of the cast, but her kit definitely has time to shine.

+ 0P Wood break on Spread Shot
- Breaks on spells are below-average for modern standards
Sumireko’s elemental access mainly shines in her 0P Wood break on her Spread Shot and the 3 Star/3 Wood present on her Last Word. Otherwise, her spells actually have below-average elemental access, with only 2 Star breaks on her first spell and 3 Metal breaks on her second spell. The mix of elementals at least gives her some varied utility in breaking, but it definitely isn’t a heavy amount.

+ Decent amount of Spirit Power UP on kit
- Damage is lacking without heavy buffs or good killers
Sumireko mainly relies on her two high Yang ATK buffs in order to do high damage with her Last Word. Sadly, she has a lot going against her: her Slice values are alright but only on her first two bullet lines, she doesn’t even have many self-Agility buffs to utilize the Slice, and her Gensokyo Killers are on later bullet lines and have less impact on the overall attack. She can definitely work with this and the rest of her kit to nuke foes, but she will face some difficulty doing much beyond that.

+ Solo-target Evasion debuff on spells
- Entirely selfish outside of debuffs
Sumireko’s main team utility is in the form of her second spell, which debuffs the target’s Evasion by 2 levels for 2 turns. This is indirect accuracy support for the entire team, however most viable Friends will have their own way to buff Accuracy or get consistent damage otherwise. Outside of this, Sumireko’s buffs are entirely selfish, which doesn’t help much when she doesn’t do that much heavy damage already.

Ringo (L1)

Ringo has a pretty simple job: provide lots of Yang ATK, Yang DEF, and Agility UP for the party, which makes her excel with weaker teammates and falter with stronger ones. Outside of that, her Solo-targeting Last Word doesn’t hit very hard, and her Break potential is rather lacking. She’s just here to provide buffs and dango.

+ Good access to Yang ATK & DEF UP, plus solid access to Agility UP
Every single skill up Ringo's sleeve is a partywide buff, which is a great help to many teams. Their buffs may be low at times, but she will still be a consistent help if kept alive for a longer fight. Her third skill may last only for a turn, but a 3 turn cooldown just means that the Yang ATK buff will come back sooner than later. Even her first spell and Boosting and Grazing join in Yang-based and defensive buffs.

- Below average Break potential
Ringo only has 2 Moon breaks on her spells at 0P and 3P, while her Last Word is a 0P and 3P 2 Earth breaks as well. 

- Somewhat low damage
Ringo's Last Word is a Yin-only attack, and yet Yin ATK is the one stat that Ringo doesn't really increase! Her damage output overall is underwhelming anywa, going more for support than any offense.

Clownpiece (L1)

Clownpiece has two major jobs - hit hard with a backloaded Solo targeting Last Word, and inflict Blind Barriers on all your foes. She's not really capable of farming relevant story card stages, and she's nothing special, but she's a solid enough unit.

+ P0 access to Solo-targeting Fire on Focus shot
- Lackluster Break ability by herself
A spammable option in the form of a 0P elemental basic shot always helps breaking potential, and Clownpiece has this in the form of Fire on her Focus shot. Unfortunately, the way the rest of her elemental kit is a huge mix of Moon, Sun, and Star makes her somewhat difficult to break foes with unless they really hate those elements.

+ Rather strong backloaded Solo-targeting Last Word
- Requires setup time
1-1-3 spread on a Last Word is never preferred, but it just means that Clownpiece requires a bit of setup before unleashing a stronger attack. This time building up Spirit Power can be combined with boosting her own offense with her second spell.

+ Inflicts a lot of Blind Barriers
- Can buff enemies!
3 layers of Blind anomalies on her second skill is pretty good, especially when it can be followed up by a Friend that has access to Blind anomaly breaks. However, this skill, as well as her first spell, have the ability to make the foes go insane and increase their offensive stats! It is just something you have to play around, but can definitely come back to bite Clownpiece's team in the future.

Joon (L1)

As a unit, Joon Yorigami is a mixed bag that shapes her up to a decent unit overall. Her damage output is just about average, even with her rather selfish buffing. In terms of utility Joon does have a supportive Spell Card that provides some nice buffs to the entire team. These tools, while useful, are outshined in almost every aspect by some other unit out there.

+ Can be used as a Metal Breaker
3 Metal breaks on her first spell and 4 Metal from her Last Word makes Joon a serviceable Metal breaker when the job is needed. Do note however that her Last Word is backloaded and would need 3P to reach 3 of the breaks.

+ Provides team-wide buffs using her second Spell Card
While an Aid spell card might seem annoying at first, the buffs she provide are actually pretty solid. Agility can be used by Slice scaling Friends, CRIT ATK is good for anyone that has nice Killer bullets, and Accuracy support is appreciated by everyone.

- Average damage overall
Joon may have a lot of ways to increase her own Yang ATK, but there's not much else in her kit to make her a heavy Yang nuke. 

- Both offensive Spell Cards are Solo
Solo-targets aren't inheriently bad, but it limits the stages that Joon can try to take on her own, limits the amount of breaks she can apply at once, and just pales in comparison to better All-target Friends.

- Greedy buffer outside of Aid spell
The rest of Joon's buffs are purely for herself. In fact, her first and second skills are the same 2 levels of Yang ATK UP with only a high chance of getting Quick or Charge, applying a very annoying random mechanic while using her. On top of that, having the ability to dispel Binds and debuffs on her third skill is nice, but only having it on herself limits its utility.

Eternity takes on the role of a Support-class Friend here in Touhou Lost Word, helping Yin-focused teams excel with various buffs to power their attacks.

Supports Yin teams via buffs

Eternity keeps her team running via buffs to ACC and Yin ATK. She also buffs Agility as well as Yin and Yang DEF to help with Slicing and Heavy bullets.

Defensive options keep teams going strong

Eternity can recover both Barriers and HP for her teammates, keeping them going through long firefights.

Zero Anomaly Interactions

Where most modern characters can manipulate Anomalies in some way through buffs or breaks, Eternity stands out like a sore thumb with no interactions with Anomalies whatsoever. Her simple nature means you’ll be sticking to your bread and butter when it comes to her.

Lacks offensive power

Element breaks aside, Eternity doesn't contribute very much in the way of damage, due to her lack of notable Killers and Crit enhancements.

Nemuno (L1)

Nemuno's a simple youkai, with simple jobs. Applying 2 Paralyze Barriers to all foes, and hitting one foe hard with a backloaded Solo targeting Last Word. She isn't a very fast farmer, and the backloaded nature of her kit makes her less desirable than the competition, but she'll get the job done.

+ Slightly above average access to Metal Breaks
3 Metal breaks on each of Nemuno's spells makes her good whenever Metal is needed on the table. Her Last Word is also not the worst element-wise, having 3 of both Fire and Wood to work with.

+ Her Solo-target Last Word can hit pretty hard in longer fights
- Damage is backloaded, making her incapable of eliminating priority targets quickly
A 1-1-3 setup is always rather problematic, requiring the Friend to set up before doing their best amount of damage and Nemuno is no different from this problem. At the very least, she has her second spell to restore Spirit Power when the time comes to use her Last Word in a longer fight. She has plently of offensive buffs and even Human-Killer bullets to make sure she does good damage as well

+ One of her skills inflicts 2 Paralyze barriers to all foes, fantastic for Discharge support
- Little team utility outside of Paralyze barriers
While it is a shame she cannot break them herself, 2 Paralyze anomalies on all foes is always good based on the team setup. However, the rest of Nemuno's kit is a purely selfish buffer to make sure her Solo-target Last Word does a decent amount of work. She will help her team in the damage sense, but not much else.

Mai (L1)

As a strong supporter, Mai brings Yang ATK and CRIT ATK UP to her party, alongside an extremely solid amount of Barrier Recovery on her Spell Cards, and spamable Star Breaks on her Spread Shot. She has otherwise somewhat average damage however, and her Barrier restoration is a one-time thing each fight. 

+ P0 Solo-targeting Star on a Basic Shot, with sure-hit to boot
- Average Breaking potential
Mai's 0P Star on her Spread shot stands out as a rather useful 0P element, given the common usefulness of Star in most situations. Sure-Hit also means that the attack will connect no matter what, no accuracy risks required. Otherwise, however, Mai's spells and Last Word just combine to an average amount of Wood and Star. There's nothing entirely wrong with that, but it can be more difficult to Full Break an enemy only weak to one of those elements.

+ Solid offensive support, with good levels of Yang ATK and CRIT ATK UP
Mai's skills are all about dancing hard and supporting the group she is allied with, providing 3 levels of Yang ATK UP on her first skill and 3 levels of CRIT ATK UP on her second skill. Any use of Graze increases CRIT ATK even further for the team, and she can even increase Yang DEF via her third skill and Boosting if needed.

+ Incredible Barrier restoration in shorter fights due to restoring 2 Barriers with a Spell Card
- Barrier restoration being tied to Spell Cards means she runs out of gas in longer fights
Restoring 2 barriers via a post-ATK effect on a spell is just as amazing as it sounds, you get 2 barriers back just for being offensive. Of course, the main drawback of barrier restoration being on a spell means you only get 2 shots of it before you cannot restore any more barriers, unless there's a spell card item in the stage, which is just rare.

- Average, backloaded damage
While she can buff the party heavily, Mai's damage is just not very impressive. Not terrible, but she doesn't do anything to stand out from the crowd on the offensive end.

Satono (L1)

Satono Nishida brings out the mental energy of anyone she dances behind, translating to Yin-focused buffs in the world of Touhou LostWord. She is able to give 3 levels of Yin ATK UP and 6 levels of Yin DEF UP from her kit, which may be lower than other supports but is still a nice help for Yin-based fighters. She also comes with a 0P Fire break on her focus shot and a decent amount of other Fire breaks to make her a decent addition to a team.

+0P Fire Focus shot
Satono is able to spam Fire breaks in extended fights thanks to 0P Fire on her Focus shot. Otherwise, the rest of her spells provide a decent amount of Fire with a side of Star as well, but it's not the most impressive part of her kit, let alone overall.

+Yin ATK and DEF buffs
-Only slight buffs compared to what better Friends can provide
Yin ATK and DEF buffs come from both Satono's third and first skills respectively, with both of them lasting rather long to boot. The main issue with them is that these are the only ways that Satono can provide buffs, in where many other and better Friends have kits more specialized in buffing either themselves or even the entire party.

+Minor amount of Spirit Power and Barrier restoration
Satono can boost the team's Spirit Power by 0.75 with her first spell and even restore 2 barriers with her Last Word, a very good trait for longer fights. Unfortuntely, the barrier restoration being on a Last Word means she only gets to restore barriers once throughout a fight, and she can only do the same for Spirit Power at most twice.

-Solo-target Last Word with mediocre strength
Since Satono does not heavily buff offense, her Last Word damage likewise struggles. She has actually decent Hard scaling, but it still isn't much to truly make her do better.

-CRIT buffs only particularly helps Friends with high CRIT chance
Satono also attempts to debuff foes' CRIT Evasion with her second spell and buff CRIT Accuracy when Grazing and using her second skill, but with very little Killer bullets herself, their utility is heavily based on if the team she is with enjoys CRIT support as well.

Okina (L1)

Okina combines a abundance of Barrier Breaks (especially fire!), CRIT heavy damage, and support for CRIT attackers and units with relevant Killers into one godly package. Do keep in mind her rating is particularly reliant on the farmable 5* Story Card from Chapter 3 Act 2, and she takes a larger than average hit for having to use a different Story Card.

+ Abundance of Barrier Breaks, including P0 Fire on a Basic Shot
+ Star Element is a nice aid in farming event stages with one boss, as Star weakness is relatively common.
0P Fire on Okina's Focus shot is already great, and her 4 Fire breaks on her second spell makes her better at breaking the element. While her Star access is smaller, it is a pretty common weakness of enemies, which can be taken advantage of to squeeze out more damage and breaks.

+ Very high damage potential in longer fights
+ Solid CRIT and Killer support
- Somewhat inconsistent due to CRIT based nature
Okina's damage mainly ends up on if she can hit critical hits, either from Killer bullets or CRIT Accuracy. She has Killer bullets against humans, youkai, and fairies on her Last Word, which is definitely pretty spread-out, but can miss at times. She can at least support other Friends of their own critical hits and damage as well, mainly on her third skill and whenever she Grazes. She can still deal alright damage without the critical hits, but it will be what she is hoping on most of the time.

Urumi (L1)

Urumi Ushizaki (L1) is a Destruction-Class Friend who specialises in both Crit buffs and debuffs.

Crit Supporter

Urumi can help Crit focused friends hit harder with Crit ATK buffs and enemy Eva/Crit Def/Crit Eva debuffs to throw into the mix.

Decent Spread of Elements

Most of Urumi’s bullets will hit one element or another, with the bulk of this going to Earth, Moon or Water. She also does more effective damage to enemies weak to those elements, helping her to stretch her damage a little further.

Weak Utility

The amount of support she has to give isn’t very much, especially when it mostly amounts to Crit buffs. Her Evasion debuffs are fairly short-lived or single target only, and while she can break Poison barriers, she is unable to inflict them herself, leaving her to rely on others to lay the Anomaly.

Lacks Personal Buffs

Urumi needs all the help she can get to raise her damage. Yin ATK and Accuracy support is a requirement on this ushi-oni to help her go the distance.

Kasen (L1)

Kasen Ibaraki is a selfish damage dealer with a Solo Last Word designed around doing one thing: hitting hard. Either hitting pretty hard turn 1, making her a good farmer (if limited to Solo friendly stages), or hitting extremely hard if given prep time. She has no team utility otherwise, and her access to Barrier Breaks is merely average, but if you need a single enemy knocked cold out, there aren’t many who do it better than Kasen.

+ Access to both Water and Earth element on spells
- The number of Element Breaks on her Spell Cards is merely average
Kasen's spell cards and Last Word have the same spread of elemental breaks: one at 0P, one at 1P, and one more at 3P. While the Fire on her Last Word can easily do more damage on Fire-weak foes, the breaks she do are still very average and due to their mixed nautre not very worth using her solely for breaking.

+ Powerful Solo-target Last Word that deals high damage in 1 turn and an incredible amount at 3P
Kasen is all about the self-buffs, increasing both her Yin ATK and Yang ATK to take full advantage of her mixed Yin and Yang spell cards. All of her spells give her good buffs, including some additional CRIT ATK UP to pair well with her Last Word's 20% chance to do critical hits. With good setup, Kasen's damage can easily be fatal.

- Entirely selfish damage dealer with no utility
- Although she doesn’t entirely need support, for the rare fight she does self-Quick can make it tricky to support her.
Of course, when Kasen entirely focuses on supporting herself, that only means she lacks any team utility to support other Friends. Additionally, her self-Quick on her second skill can make her difficult to support with other debuffs on spells or Last Words, but this can at least be worked around with simple planning.

Akyuu (L1)

A somewhat situational unit, Akyuu is usually hard to fit on a team, as the buffs she provides only affect a somewhat small subset of units - CRIT attackers, and attackers with a fight-relevant Killer. However, when she is useful, Akyuu tends to be incredibly powerful, due to the strength of CRIT ATK combined with how hard it can be to get. Additionally, she can also serve as a Chapter 2-7-1 farmer when combined with Toyohime and Kosuzu, though don't expect her to farm any events.

+Provides useful buffs in the form of CRIT ATK, CRIT Accuracy, Yin ATK, and Accuracy UP
Akyuu's first and second skills are very similar, both going for partywide CRIT ATK or CRIT Accuracy buffs respectively, even have the same value of raising it by 1 or 2 levels. Additionally, any Boost provides Yin ATK UP to further help other Friends, as her own Last Word is just Yang-based.

+Can apply Blind barriers
Akyuu's spread shot and first spell have small chances to inflict Blind anomalies, which is meant to combo with Akyuu's second spell's ability to break the same anomalies. Unfortunately, it is not that great due to the random nature of applying these anomalies, but it is still a practical use for breaking.

-Below average Barrier Break potential
Akyuu's spells only have 2 breaks and while her Last Word may have a full spread of elemental bullets, being split between 2 Fire/Wood/Moon is rather inconveinent for breaking, especially on a Solo-target attack.

-Low damage
Akyuu lacks a way to buff her Yang ATK for her Last Word, and Akyuu's own Killer bullets are way too specific to be practical for ensured CRITs. Her CRIT Accuracy is somewhat low as well, even when fully buffed by other parts of her kit.

Sunny Milk (L1)

Sunny Milk is a Friend you bring if you need Sun element attacks, and not much else. Her access to them isn’t great, her Last Word is Solo and deals low damage to boot, her overall damage output is poor, and her gimmick of lowering enemy Accuracy isn’t very useful.

+ Access to a few Sun breaks
Sun breaks are likely your main reason for bringing Sunny Milk, similar to the respective elements of her fairy gang. Her best bet is her Last Word, with 3 Sun breaks, but the other spells can at least try to drop a little Sun as well if needed. Full Breaking is a crucial mechanic for winning fights, so having another Friend to assist in barrier breaks does help.

+ Blind barrier access from a skill (and potentially Focus shot)
Surprisingly, Sunny's Blind anomaly infliction on her first skill is rather spammable due to a 3-turn cooldown. While its debuff of decreasing a foe's Accuracy is not so practical, it can still be taken advantage of by another ally who can break Blind anomalies. 

- Niche debuffs that does little to support a party
Debuffing a enemy team's CRIT Accuracy and normal Accuracy really doesn't do a lot to kill the enemies. Even then, her debuffs have rather small values, so I wouldn't go around trying to dodge all of the enemies bullets anyway. Accuracy and offense debuffs are usually less optimal due to the existence of Graze, which negate all damage already.

- Lacking in damage
Since she focuses so hard on Accuracy debuffs, Sunny does not have much left in terms of buffing her own damage or doing so much on her own anyway.

Luna Child (L1)

Luna Child's primary job is to hit somewhat hard with a Solo Last Word, and her secondary job is to provide you with some okay but decidedly below average access to Moon Breaks. Unfortunately she falls somewhat shy of the real power houses, leaving her in a decidedly average position.

+ Access to Moon breaks
- Not a great amount of Moon breaks
Just like the other Three Fairies of Light, Luna focuses on a specific element, Moon, and only has a few breaks in that category. However, a Last Word with 3 Moon breaks can still do some work if allowed to actually Full Break.

+ Solo-target Last Word can hit somewhat strong
- Damage lags behind other hard-hitters 
Luna's Last Word has a strangley not-terrible(?) amount of Hard scaling, but her damage capability is just a slight bit higher than usual. It will definitely not contend with most other Last Word nukes, but sometimes it's the little things that count.

+ Power Link
Power Link is almost always a universal good thing, as you can easily switch in to give everyone Spirit Power or even just use Luna to swap her out with someone else to give them a good amount of Spirit Power. Sometimes, just switching out can do more than enough in terms of support!

- Low support
The rest of Luna's kit just has mediocre support. She can raise the party's Yin DEF with her third skill, but her other skills just mess with Focus DOWN while very slightly increasing her Yin ATK. Even her Graze ability of raising Yin ATK is selfish.

Packing a slightly below average Solo Last Word, Star Sapphire’s job is to smack one boss a bit shy of hard, and break some barriers along the way. Having one All Star 1 Break Spell Card and one Solo Star 1 Break Spell Card is a useful asset too, due to the general rarity of the Star element for a long time. Still, her damage is overall lackluster, and she brings no utility to the table outside of that, leaving her a still useful but somewhat lacking Friend.

+ Access to Star breaks
- Low amount of breaks overall
Star breaks are commonly valued due to how many enemies can be weak to the element, which naturally makes her access to them very handy. Sadly, there's not a lot of access to them. She gets 2 breaks on her first spell, only 1 on her second spell, and 3 on her Last Word. They can still be planned for and utilized to good effect, but there isn't a lot to go around.

+ Accuracy buffs for self and whole party
- Low support outside of strengths
Star's third skill is her highlight in terms of team utility, giving everyone 3 levels of Accuracy UP. It's a classic assist for any Friend that lacks their own Accuracy support and doesn't want to waste a story card slot to fixing it themselves. The main issue here is that these Accuracy buffs are her main highlight, and when it comes to the further buffs from her spells it gets a bit excessive. She does give 3 levels of CRIT Accuracy on her first spell, but it only lasting for a single turn does harm its usefulness.

- Mediocre Solo-target Last Word
Star's only way of raising her own damage, unless you count the Last Word's pre-ATK effect of CRIT DEF DOWN, is some Yang ATK from Boosting. With only that, it's only natural that her Last Word really won't do much in terms of damage.

Reisen (L1)

Reisen has some potent buffs, unfortunately let down by their 2 Turn durations. Combined with very low personal damage output and no Barrier Break potential, and Reisen just isnt great. 

+ Solid buffing potential, especially for teammates with Hard and/or Slicing scaling
Strangely enough, Reisen has ways to buff defensive and Agility stats to help Friends with secondary scalings. For Hard, her first aid spell card can potentially increase both Yin and Yang DEF by 2 levels, and for Slice she can increase Agility through both Boost and Graze. It is truly dependent on which Friends you are running, but these small buffs can go a long way in boosting other Friends' damage.

- Cannot Barrier Break
Self-explanatory. No elements on attacks, and not even any anomalies to inflict or break.

- Last Word deals no damage
- Low damage overall
More self-explanatory. Her first spell and Last Word are Aids, making them only around for supportive reasons. Her Last Word is also pretty much a joke, at most giving the party a mediocre 50% HP heal and excessive 5 levels of Accuracy UP while totally killing Reisen's defenses. Otherwise, her damaging potential is low due to her rather low buffs.

-Buffs are short, at 2 turns or less each
-Granting the entire party Quick is more of a detriment than a boon
2 turn buffs definitely aren't the end of the world, but with Reisen's grab bag of different buffs, they can be pretty trivial to use at times. Additionally, her first skill making everyone Quick can just make the turn order of who is applying debuffs more confusing, although it can definitely be used to your advantage maybe if you're facing a speedier foe.
 

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