Should You Pull?
Not recommended, unless you’re a Myouren Temple devotee. We go from a pair of Prayers that were quite literally night and day (A6 Rumia, A6 Sunny Milk) to a pair of Prayers that will attempt to outperform each other, but like last week, this pair will have Shared Exchange Points between each other, as well as an Ascending Step-UP starting from 60 God Crystals and ending at 460! This time, instead of the time of a Light VS Darkness theme, it will be a battle of religion between two formidable rivals: A Superhuman with the mastery of Buddhism and a Hermit with the desire to spread Taoism. That said, the subject here will be A12 Byakuren Hijiri, courtesy of the Fantastic Youkai Monk Festival!
Released over a year ago as still the only A12 Friend in the game so far, and switching from Defense to Attack (like how a certain Taoist switches from Attack to Defense), A12 Byakuren is simply all about damage. She is able to benefit from Burn anomalies by using them to increase her own damage output and can even inflict them on herself via a Skill and Spell Card. She can also increase her Yin ATK by normal means by using her Spell Card 1 and Last Word while also doing so via her Focus Shot Bullet Lines. When it comes to getting her Yin ATK up, she certainly doesn’t do a bad job at it, and she does have a little bit of CRIT ATK to work with too, like via Skill 3. Her Last Word of 6 Sun lines, if used in the correct situation could be extremely powerful, but has to be 3P to truly shine. If the enemy is weak to Sun and is susceptible to said Killers, it will be very satisfying.
Unfortunately, it’s not going to be easy make great use of this monk a lot of the time. This is because using her to break any enemy Barriers is going to be extremely tedious outside of her 6 Sun Last Word, whether it be her very inconsistent elements (none on Spell Card 2 as well) or her lack of anomaly breaking outside of Focus Shot and Last Word, which will feel rather lackluster if compared to many other A-Series Friends. On top of that, part of why her Last Word could be powerful because her Killers aren’t anything impressive, although you can probably find some foes who are susceptible to Killers like Human, God and Soul (and to a lesser extent, Shrine Maiden, Magician, Living God, Half-Human Half-Phantom, Religious and Incident Resolver). Outside of her limited Killer range though, she also lacks team support as there are only 2 ways she can bring that, being a little bit of Accuracy and CRIT ATK via Skill 3, and while the little bit of help is appreciated, it’s inferior to many other Festival Friends in the game sadly.
Ultimately, this is not a Prayer worth losing resources over (unless you are an avid Byakuren Hijiri supporter who doesn’t have her yet). That said, because a little Fortune Dust doesn’t hurt, maybe she can still be a new addition for you with just 60 God Crystals (Ascending Step-UP, our beloved)! Ultimately, there are other Prayers out there more deserving of your Seal Crystals, especially if you are focused on meta, like L80 Marisa Kirisame for example! Our friendly Youkai Jesus will understand your decision to conserve your Coins and Seal Crystals!
And with that said, to all the loyal followers of Myouren Temple’s Magical Monk who wish for their Prayers to be fulfilled, best of luck to all of you and hopefully you will seal the deal with the Unsealed Great Magician!
Quick Overview
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.
