Should You Pull? Prayer “Purrfect Bakeneko Festival”

Depends, but maybe it’s worth it to paws and consider. It’s been a long time, but the A7 Yakumo Family is finally here! We had both A7 Yukari and A7 Ran last year, and with A7 Chen finally arriving as we kick off September 2023, we have our purrfect Yakumo trio from A7! Speaking of Purrfect, the Purrfect Bakeneko Festival also comes with an Ascending Step-UP (60 God Crystals on Step 1) as well as 2 Story Cards in the spotlight, 1 new and 1 already existing, but we’ll shou more about that later. For meow, it’s time to go over what this bakeneko pawvides!

The kitten’s kit is a rather interesting one, as there is rather great purrtential here, whether it be from low cooldowns on Skills with rather useful effects, or just being able to hold her own with self-sustainability. Like her L1 self, each Skill provides the same amount of Spirit Power, but it’s not all the same, as while it’s 0.60 on each instead of L1 Chen’s 0.75, these skills have ways that make up for it, having considerably lower cooldowns, and even Skill 3 having a little bit of team suppawt regarding it, which is always a plus. Speaking of which, this is also backed up by Spell Card 1’s Post-ATK having more Spirit Power for the team, which is definitely helpful. A7 Chen’s Skills from 1 to 3’s cooldown durations are 2, 4 and 3 turns in that order, and while the first Skill is rather simple in execution, a quick Spirit Power battery in that Skill is definitely great for her.

Delving more into A7 Chen’s Skills, she can debuff the Yin DEF of her enemies via Skill 2, as well as subject an enemy with 4 layers of Freeze with it. Skill 3 also inflicts the team with Freeze anomalies which is either a good or bad thing depending on what kind of allies she has in the moment. As for how this benefits A7 Chen, she can use Burn and Freeze anomalies to buff her own Agility, Accuracy and Evasion which is important considering her awkwardness with Accuracy in general, even with some Accuracy buffs on some bullet lines. A7 Chen is also slightly awkward with Yin ATK to some extent too, because even with her Yin ATK buffs on Spell Card 2 and Last Word Pre-ATKs, maybe for some, the Yin DEF debuff on Skill 2 might not be enough, but conveniently, a certain fox youkai has what it takes to really provide those necessary buffs that A7 Chen may be missing.

A7 Chen does however have quite a lot of CRIT ATK buffs/CRIT DEF debuffs, some CRIT ATK buffs that benefit herself and some that are good for her team. If she can connect any Killers, that will go a long way for her, and while her Killers aren’t paw by any means, they aren’t the most spectacular. Having Shrine Maiden, Magician, Maid, Incident Resolver, Shikigami, Beast, Beast Youkai, Cat, Human and Youkai Mountain, you can definitely find a good chunk of enemies to take advantage of this on. In addition, even if any enemies resist A7 Chen’s elements, she can boost their power by 30% so they can still be decent in that regard, and with how purrplexing they can be, it can benefit her, especially on her Last Word. It also has 2 Earth bullet lines and the following having 1 bullet line: Fire, Water, Metal and Wood, and with these elements only appearing on just 1 Shot/Spell Card outside of her Last Word, the interesting element here is Wood, as it appears on her All-Targeting Spell Card 1 all 6 times! This could single handedly keep A7 Chen from being bad with elemental breaks, but if not, she can also break multiple Freeze anomalies via any Spell Card or Last Word, which could come in handy in some way.

So now that we have gotten our paws dirty with A7 Chen, it’s time to shou off some Story Cards that accompany this Prayer! First up is a pre-existing 5★ one called Figure of Hourai which has some Technical-exclusive effects, although it’s hard to make A7 Chen specifically make use of them, as they boost the Friend’s CRIT Accuracy and Yang DEF. Next up is a new one called Tiger and Dragon! It’s a 4★ card and has Shou and Meiling here. The effects boost Body and Energy by 25% and 15% respectively, which isn’t amazing, but it’s something.

Needless to say, the spotlight aligns purrfectly in A7 Chen’s favor. This Technical-Class Friend definitely has a solid case for her, and while she isn’t purrfect in terms of her kit, she definitely has some strong aspects of it that are to her advantage, like quickly being able to gain Spirit Power via Skills, as well as decent CRIT access. While it’s slightly difficult for her do outpurrform some fellow Technical Friends like A7A Reimu and A7B Sakuya (sounds familiar?), it’s definitely worth considering giving this feline a chence, even if it’s just as little as 60 God Crystals via Ascending Step-UP. In addition, some may also want to complete their A7 Yakumo collection now that A7 Chen can finally join A7 Ran and A7 Yukari, and A7 Ran can find herself working very well with A7 Chen. Otherwise, if you feel content with the Friends you have and/or are low on Seal Crystals, there will be a next time, please wait warmly until then…

To those who are feeling pawsitive and wish to pick up a beloved bakeneko from this Prayer, best of luck to those who wish to pick up the shikigami’s shikigami, but remember to keep her away from water!