Should You Pull?
Recommended, especially for those who wish to be armed with a strong, speedy Yin Friend. It’s a new month of 2024 being February, and we have a new universe that is the W universe…W5 to be specific! But what kinds of Friends to come our way dwell in this realm? Well one of them we know of is the subject here, being Kasen Ibaraki (Oni Gate Abou Yaksha) as per the Prayer “White Tiger Oni Ultra Festival”. Coming with a descending God Crystal Step-UP (600, Free, 400, Free, 200), as well as the usual returning 5★ and new 4★ Story Cards. So how strong is W5 Kasen really?
Very, very strong! This Speed-Class Friend (we seem to be getting a lot of these now) proves just how fearsome she is as one of the imposing Nio-oni, which translates into her damage output. From high Slice Scaling, to a 45% increase in effective elements, to a very good range of Killers, with the main ones worth noting being Youkai, Soul and Divine Spirit, W5 Kasen is rather reliable with her brute force. But what about the appropriate buffs she needs to hit hard? Her buffs in Yin ATK, CRIT ATK, Agility and Accuracy as well as consistent Spirit Power gain including her Skill 3 consistently giving her 0.75 Spirit Power for 3 Turns are all vast and plentiful, meaning she isn’t so reliant on external support in this regard. What makes these even better is that these are also mostly team buffs! For example, 4 stages of Agility and Yin ATK is nothing to overlook when it comes to her Skill 3.
When it comes to breaking, W5 Kasen can still also pull her own weight by inflicting and breaking Burn anomalies. Outside of additional Spirit Power as a result of self-inflicted Burn/Blind anomalies, she can manage to hammer away at her enemies with Burn anomaly inflictions via Skill 2 and Spell Card 1, that can be broken (as well as Blind) with her Focus Shot, Spell Card 1 and Last Word. However, the only real downside (and it’s not that severe in the grand scheme of things) is that W5 Kasen’s mix of Metal, Earth, Sun and Wood is a bit of a pain to work around. With Earth being the main element in both Spell Cards and Metal being the main one in her Last Word and both Shots as well as Sun and Wood very scattered around, it does somewhat take away from the consistency of Metal and Earth, but ultimately, this isn’t as much of a worry as some Friends that came before, with even more scattered elements.
Another detail worth bringing up is her Last Word’s bullet type distribution (4 lines of Body, 2 lines of Energy). For those who don’t have the Choose an Animal Spirit Story Card, it might be a little difficult to get the most out of that attack, but in that case, a 50% Metal/50% Body card will probably suffice.
However, it’s time to “Stop Right There!” for a moment! This is because in this edition of Story Card Spotlight, we have to go over the brand new 4★ Story Card of the same name and a returning 5★ one, that is Mansion of Memories. This card’s mix of team Yin ATK and a slight Energy Bullet Boost is a rather solid card for W5 Kasen’s Spell Card 2. However, Stop Right There! provides a little 2 stage Agility buff (3T) and a 15% damage reduction from Missile Bullets.
Featured Story Card "Mansion of Memories!"!
Featured Story Card "Stop Right There!"!
With this new variant of Kasen Ibaraki coming straight after the back-to-back Relic Prayers (L80 Yuyuko’s Prayer is still available for one more week), if you have the Divine Paper Dolls or the Seal Crystals (1250) to go for it, you will not be disappointed with this Nio-Oni’s performance! While there is a lot of competition when it comes to Speed-Class Friends as of recent, especially other Ultra Festival ones like T5 Tenshi Hinanawi and B3 Seiran, the subject here can definitely hold her own all things considered. From the amazing self-sufficiency, to great damage potential, to great Killers, to even great offensive support, W5 Kasen Ibaraki is a force to be reckoned with! If L80 versions of Reimu Hakurei or Yuyuko Saigyouji haven’t eaten up your Seal Crystals, assuming you have enough to reach the 250 Exchange Points Mark, you will be set for this Nio-oni to drop the hammer onto her opposition!
So for those who are ready to open the Oni Gates of this Prayer, best of luck to those who are armed with Seal Crystals, and hopefully soon the hammer-wielding Nio-oni will find her way to you!
Quick Overview
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.
