Introduction

Tide is one of those words I hate. Why you might ask? You can blame Mike Shinoda (even though he’s one of my favorite musicians ever). I’m not really dyslexic, but there is just enough there in my off-kilter head that it’s easy to fuck up words like tide and tied without realizing it. This is relevant because in 2005, Mike Shinoda released an album (and one I dearly love) called, “The Rising Tied”. Not Tide. Tied. I didn’t even realize it until like a decade later either. My brain just assumed it was tide and never had reason to question it. One Christmas, I actually dug up my old CDs from my parent’s basement to verify that the internet wasn’t just fucking with me or I wasn’t having some sort of psychotic break of insanity or something. It really is tied. So forgive me if I drop a Zima the Raging Tied in a few spots. It’s only kind of on purpose.

Do you think Zima would listen to Linkin Park / Fort Minor? Kinda feels like she would. It feels like she would definitely have Remember the Name on her gym hype list. Wait, did I go totally off topic again? Two patches in a row. Dammit.

Should You Pull?

No. This is one of those situations where it almost doesn’t matter if Zima the Raging Tide is good or not. The next banner is more powerful and limited, not to mention kicks off a streak of limited banners with little in the way of breaks. You basically have to be a Tragodia to pull in a situation like this, and Zima2 is many things, but she isn’t a Tragodia.

Nevertheless, I will proceed to write several thousand words on the topic, while also trying not to insult half my readership for being lazy¹, so here we go.

Essentially, Zima2 is just too low ceiling. While some people may find what she does to be appealing, it’s an entirely replaceable thing that won’t really elevate what you’re capable of compared to other options. Of course, these are relative statements. As a 6★ in 2026, she’s still far better than many historical and similar units. However, nothing she does is particularly unique either. We have units who do what she does already, or better, and many of them are still upcoming. Ultimately, the decision here isn’t about Zima2 being an AFK-centric unit, but it’s rather about almost everyone else (except Aphrissa) being better, and for several of them, it’s not just a little better either.

Then and related, as with Bellone last patch, we have to discuss how insane the upcoming stretch is after Zima2. If you read the Bellone update, this is basically just a repeat of that, but now we know the Persona 3 collab is super good too. After this banner a long string of limited banners begins, plus the Tragodia rerun, with little in the way of breaks to recover pull funds. Unless you are a spender, you have to disregard BOTH the limited FOMO and power considerations to justify rolling for Zima2. Even if you are absolutely allergic to pressing the red button, there’s not really a good non-waifu reason to pull here.

¹ This and everything mean related to AFK play is a joke. Don’t let me tell you how to play the game. The goal here is instead to show you what you’re giving up for it. You can be lazy if you want, but don’t be both lazy and uninformed.

FAQ

Q: Aren’t you just being a smug sweat when you tell people not to roll for Zima the Raging Tide? Are you telling people not to enjoy what they like, even if it’s AFK gameplay?

A: Certainly not! One thing I have been consistent about in all the years in writing this guide is that you should prioritize fun. However, that’s a subjective thing. If you absolutely love uhh… not actually playing the game (I don’t deny the smug part), then absolutely feel free to roll here. I’ve made many suboptimal roll decisions in my career and regret very few of them!

This is a matter I’ve frequently butted heads with people about over the years, but they tend to see the advice as an insult, for whatever reason. OK, that reason may be because I’ve thrown a few insults in here and there, but it’s all in good fun! Anyway, the point here isn’t that AFK play is bad (cough) or that you shouldn’t make decisions based around how you want to play the game. You absolutely should. However, that’s not advice. People don’t come to these articles for me to tell them “just roll for who you think is the cutest” (it’s the bunnies, Thumpy EX). Ultimately, although Zima2 is a powerful unit and several steps above the older AFK baseline, you’ll get more value out of a couple Kal2 S2, Closure S3, or Angie2 S3 activations than you will out of infinite Zima2 time.

The advice here isn’t “don’t do what you think is fun” or “AFK bad”. It’s “almost every other upcoming banner has way more value”.

Q: Can you discuss Zima the Raging Tied a bit without talking about pull priority or AFK laziness?

A: Yea I should probably do that. This is mostly going to be a rehash of major points covered in the Mastery write-up below, but it’s still worth diversifying the discussion a bit for people who have no idea what I’ve been talking about so far.

Zima2 is primarily a laneholder Guard. You can set her down on any given lane, and often just forget about that lane entirely after. Zima2 is somewhat infamous for her laneholding skill being Auto Activation, meaning it’s entirely hands off, but that’s actually a bit of distraction. Nothing would really change if it was Manual Activation! Instead, it’s more that it has really absurd 2026-tier numbers on it. The skill passive means it triggers very fast (each high tile counts for +1 SP, not just +1 total per attack interval), and the stat bonuses to both her ATK and DEF are massive. It’s not uncommon to see people claim she’s the best AFK unit available, although that I think is completely wrong (Pram2, Hoshi2, Haruka… come on it’s not even close).

Additionally, and unlike many older laneholder types like Thorns, Zima2 also has a powerful “nuke” skill in her S3. She slams her hammer five times for some truly massive DPH, allowing her to do good damage to almost anything that doesn’t have DR, and compressed into an extremely rapid uptime window, on top of a short cooldown. That gives her some lateral use that’s not often found among laneholders.

However, there’s a number of flaws here, even setting aside the upcoming limited FOMO (discussed in the Should You Pull above). Since the power level is so high, laneholder types just aren’t especially valuable. There’s little need in it when the other core roles like DPS and Healing are so absurd. For example, you barely need blockers at all if you’re using someone like Wang or Tragodia, and Kal2 or Haruka will keep even the weakest of blockers up. There’s a ton of units at this power level now too! Additionally, the game is also increasing in complexity. New events have a lot of mechanics, and intentionally hard content (like CC or high difficulty IS) often have mechanics specifically designed around bypassing such “set and forget” strategies. In some IS iterations, Zima2 is an almost useless pick at high difficulty, let alone optimal!

Zima2 also isn’t as “do it all” as people like to make out. She has no sustain, no RES, can’t hit aerial enemies, and only has control on her S3. Of course, what she does do (big DPH, big DEF especially for a Guard), she does great, but she isn’t as universal as some people make her out either.

And finally, although she has an S3 DPS skill she can flex to, it isn’t nearly as high tier as many recent units, despite its massive DPH. You may have come away impressed by the various Patriot clears she does, but Patriot doesn’t actually have all that high of HP. Her S3 actually has a relatively low total damage due to the short uptime, and she does almost nothing during the downtime. The “main” area of damage is also really small compared to the total splash area, and the damage in the splash area is a lot less impressive. It’s the kind of skill that isn’t nearly as good as the highlights make it seem.

The unit I think makes the best comparison here to illustrate the problems is Ulpianus. He’s a similarly bulky Guard with a laneholding skill and a DPS skill. However, you can extend this comparison to see why Zima2 doesn’t hold up quite as well. That DPS skill, his S3, is Ulpianus’s main skill, while the laneholding skill, S2, is just a “bonus” secondary use. He’d be good even if he didn’t have his S2 at all. Meanwhile, Zima2 is the opposite. She’s laneholding first, which just isn’t as valuable, and if she were only her S3, we’d be talking about her as the worst upcoming unit instead. Ulpianus’ bulk is also a lot more “special” than Zima’s is. While her numbers are impressive, she’s really no different bulk-wise than the Defenders we’ve been using since launch.

Now, to close this out, and to reiterate, this is the game in 2026. There’s a lot of “negativity” in this section, but it’s not because Zima2 is bad. If you like her, absolutely roll for her. You won’t regret it (unless FOMO matters to you and you kill your pull stash…). I’m personally super excited to see alters like Zima2 and I hope we get more of them! However, the important fact that comes up so often in these articles, is that unless you get really lucky, or are a real money spender, you can’t get everyone. We all ultimately have to balance what we value in the game, enjoy doing, and are willing to risk. For a lot of people reading this article, the balance just does not fall in Zima2’s favor.

Q: Any thoughts on Zima getting an alter?

A: A couple articles ago with Chen3, I said I didn’t mind alters at all, but would rather see them expand other characters instead of just re-treading the same ground. In fact, I explicitly asked for a Red2 or a Plat2. Funny thing, when I wrote that I actually didn’t think about Zima2 at all when I was writing it, but she is exactly what I like to see. As a launch player who has been primarily in love with the 5★s, I have a particular fondness for Zima so writing all of the above is a bit personally painful!

I’m not shocked that Zima2 is a standard unit while Kal2 is a limited unit. It makes total sense, and if I was in charge, I’d do it too, although it’s still a bit of a bummer. But I hope HG doesn’t take the difference in sales numbers as an indicator. No doubt Kally Wally is much more popular, but there’s so much unexplored ground! HG, if you’re reading this, gimme more units like this!

Q: What’s the deal with Corrosion? Why are people relatively negative on it when the general power trend of new units tends to go up?

A: Corrosion is the newest form of friendly Elemental Injury, introduced through Botani, the 5★ Welfare Ritualist this patch. When triggered, it deals 5,000 Elemental Damage and permanently reduces the enemy DEF by 120. This damage total is the lowest among the forms of Elemental Injury, but it also has the fastest cooldown at only 8 seconds, and many units including Botani further reduce this. This means Corrosion gets applied more frequently, which explains the relatively low numbers, and synergizes with the permanent debuff.

However, in practical terms, this doesn’t end up often being especially useful. There’s really two major problems.

First, and something I’ve frequently mentioned over the last couple years, is that Elemental Injury types don’t stack, and Corrosion is much worse than Nervous Impairment. Those Paralysis stacks put in some serious work in even the toughest fights, so NI is just flat better than the rest (including Burn and Necrosis). This isn’t even a Tragodia specific point anymore either because Cairn is one of the better 5★s out there too, and even Gracebearer’s S1 sees some niche use! This basically means any non-NI unit faces an uphill battle from the start, but the other three then have to compete among themselves, because even if you don’t want to use NI, you can’t effectively use the others together either.

Second, the effect just isn’t that great. It has grown on me slightly since Botani’s release on CN (and no not just because Thumpy is a bunny) because that DEF debuff can stack up on longer or multi-phase fights, but it’s still very situational. In a lot of cases, the Elemental Damage will just kill the enemy before the DEF reduction has any room to take effect.

So Corrosion isn’t bad per se, but it’s just too situational to be generally viable. NI being better locks out most cases. Then you lock out places where straight DPS is better. And even if those both pass, you’re competing between Burn, Necrosis, and regular ol’ True Damage. For Botani and Crackborne (next patch) that’s just far too tall of order to justify raising a 5★, who are hard to justify raising at all these days. Thumpy at least has enough power in her kit to make the discussion interesting (check the lookahead below).

Q: Is Botani any good?

A: For most people, no. The previous question covers the major point for meta-minded players. However, this is one of those weird situations where Botani isn’t exactly bad either. She can trigger Corrosion three times per S2 cycle, which is 15k true-ish damage, plus the debuff. That’s actually pretty solid (so long as you ignore all the rest of the points). In fact, Valarqvin is quite similar and has seen pretty consistent use in 5★, Welfare, and Supporter niches over the years.

However, this is still an extremely situational thing. It’s a bit awkward to call 15k true-ish damage bad, but Botani doesn’t even have any arkrec records of her own since she’s just so similar to Valarqvin and doesn’t stack with Cairn. In a way, she exemplifies the problem with most Elemental Injury. Good in a vacuum, but a lot less good in the context of the rest of the game.

Q: Is Ukusik actually good, or is this more cope from the mediocre 5★s?

A: A bit of both. It depends on your perspective. She is not a particularly good Medic. She’s also very situational and won’t be a regular member of meta-oriented teams, or even a meaningful proportion of niche teams. I’ve said a lot over the years about the sad state of many 5★ Medics, and strictly in terms of her healing output, Ukusik would be no exception.

However, unlike many of those generic and forgettable 5★ Medics, Ukusik has a real and legitimate niche that has some proven, if occasional, value. In an era of bloated stats, it’s relatively rare that group camo like this is actually necessary, but enemies are getting bloated too and 12 seconds of on-demand camo can become a carry against certain mechanics. That’s way more valuable than a large majority of the 5★ roster, especially compared against modern 6★s!

Fortunately, she doesn’t need E2 or Masteries to do it. The situational value could become a very nuanced thing if she required heavy investment. There’d be a lot of hemming and hawing over how useful it actually is versus how much she costs to promote. But since she only really needs E1 SL7 (E2 and M3 only improves her healing and a small cycle time improvement), that decision is quite a bit easier. If you’re newer, don’t worry about her at all, and definitely don’t burn pulls on her. Even the low E1 resources are better spent elsewhere. But if you’re more established and she spooks you later, throwing a few Medic chips her way for occasional use is worth considering.

Q: Any Module thoughts for this patch?

A: Nope. I have even less to say than last time. Modules have become quite the oddity in the game and are now little more than an after thought of the patches. Gone are the days where we all hope old units and archetypes might be elevated! In fact, looking ahead over the next six months, there’s only maybe six that catch my interest to write about, and three of them are IS Modules, and even those aren’t as interesting as they’ve been in the past.

So this may well be the last time I include this question here. Maybe not though since Ep17 and MH2 have those ones that catch my interest. I haven’t decided yet. It is pretty bleak ahead though.

Good luck Mal.

Q: Any early thoughts on the Persona 3 collab?

A: I’ve never played a Persona game, so I have no opinion there. Instead, I look at it purely from the perspective of the units. And… man. I see another limited event with a broken 6★ Specialist and some absolute dogshit 5★s. It matches the general trend of the last year-ish now with the rarity, and it sucks for basically everyone but high meta players. Seriously, we went on a nice streak there of great 5★s, and the sky didn’t fall. No one was skipping limited banners because Mutsumi was great! Yet now it seems like HG isn’t even trying with the rarity. Yukari might be kinda usable, but is still worse than existing buff options, and Aegis is just flat out worse than Skybox. It’s honestly baffling, and it really rubs some salt into the wounds that Makoto is so ridiculously good at the same time. It’s pretty shitty we have another limited Specialist too, but that one at least doesn’t personally affect me as much…

Yes, I’m mad about it.

Masteries

Zima the Raging Tide

Rarity: 6

Zima The Raging Tide

Guard

Earthshaker

MeleeMelee

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

Never Surrender

Auto TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

S-

A

Unstoppable

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S3M3

B+

A-

Zima the Raging Tide is one of those units whose priority will be highly variable, depending on your roster and how you like to play. She has two very different usage scenarios between her S2 (AFK laneholding) and her S3 (wave clearing nuke), but there are considerations with both that ultimately mean a variable priority. Some players will find her S2 to be one of the best skills in the game. Others will never use it at all and instead prefer her S3. And still others won’t find either worth particular attention, which is rather surprising in a 2026 6★!

Her most famous use is as an AFK laneholder with her S2. That’s likely the starting point for a large majority of players as well, despite this guide typically not favoring such skills. However, this is a case where Zima2 is really good at it, while her S3 is comparatively flawed, which tends to make it her best use case regardless. Newer players with weaker rosters will find it especially valuable! It’s a pretty simple skill too, basically being a new-age version of Thorns’ S3, with stats more appropriate to the modern meta of the game. It even has some additional defensive bulk that gives her more DEF than many Defenders. After the second activation, it becomes infinite duration, and you don’t even need to press the button to activate it!

There’s two important things to know before you invest though. First, if you’re unfamiliar with her, you may come away from reading her skill with concerns about her SP cost. After all, 50 SP is a shockingly high cost, infinite or not! The key here is to know that the Talent 1 trigger that’s a part of the skill applies for each high-ground tile, and the tile doesn’t need to be deployable either. Tiles that are just “decoration” to the map generally count, as do map boundaries. The result is her S2 charges extremely fast, despite the cost! More to the point of this guide though, is that infinite duration skills tend to have lower gains over Mastery than others since their multipliers don’t tend to be as high. Mastery only represents a below average 11% improvement to DPS and DEF, and an inconsequential amount of SP cost, due to how fast she charges. Those stats certainly aren’t nothing, especially considering the infinite duration, but it’s also far from essential, and Zima will work pretty well at S2SL7, which suppresses her grades a bit.

Skills like Zima’s S2 also tend to be fairly “low ceiling”. It’s a good skill with a place in the game that will carry many players through a lot of stages, but it will never be a premiere CC or high-risk IS skill. Those cases require a bit more finesse than the set-and-forget raw power of her S2 provides. More Advanced players may not find her S2 to be worth pursuing at all, especially given the relatively low gains! One could be forgiven then for thinking that means her S3 is the Advanced skill instead, and indeed Advanced players probably will use it more, but it unfortunately tends to be a bit flawed which complicates the suggestion.

When using her S3, she slams five times in a row, even if there are no targets. Each slam further increases the power of the next slam, and expands the zone that her Talent 1 aftershocks hit. The result is high DPS and DPH, doled out very rapidly, but this comes at the expense of total damage due to the lower uptime relative to more typical DPS skills. This leads to the first problem. Although these types of skills have value and can be better in some cases, in many situations, they’re inferior to more typical and higher total damage skills. Worse is that most of the damage is only on the primary target, and despite how wide the aftershocks can get, that always remains only in the single tile ahead of her. Outside of that, enemies will generally only be hit by her Trait aftershocks, or worse, just her Talent aftershocks, for far less damage. Then the way her kit is designed also means she doesn’t do much between cycles, so if the enemies can’t be killed in a single cycle, she’s extremely vulnerable.

This all means her S3 is far less effective than the splashy animation may appear. For people with already stacked rosters, neither skill may end up all that appealing. Of course, none of this means her S3 is bad either. Far from it! Strong rapid nukes like this do have a place in the game, it cycles fast, and her range can get pretty ridiculous too, depending on the stage. Not every player has every option available to them, so Zima2’s S3 can still be a high priority consideration for many. Mastery on her S3 is more valuable than her S2 as well. The DPS, and importantly, the DPH, increase by more typical values, and the drop in SP cost is a meaningful improvement.

So there is no one-size fits all answer with Zima. While many modern units have clear recommendations due to their power, or at least have some special uniqueness no one else can fill, Zima doesn’t quite fit into those molds. She has a high base level of power, and for many people she will be simple (do her S2), but just ends up being more replaceable than a large majority of recent gacha 6★s.

The last note with her, pass entirely on her S1. There’s virtually no reason to use it over her other skills. It slightly out DPS’ her S2 on the first activation, but falls far behind after, and if that mattered you’d use her S3 instead.

Ukusik

Rarity: 5

Ukusik

Medic

Chain Medic

RangedRanged

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

'Peekaboo!'

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

None

C

A 5★ Medic is one of the worst rarity/class combinations a unit can be. When it comes to healing, the value problem becomes the driving factor. This is made even worse by how many of them just blend together. But there are 5★ Medics that stand out, and almost universally it’s because they have some sort of special utility attached. Fortunately for this little child soldier, Ukusik has such a utility. While Camouflage/Invisibility isn’t exactly rare these days, the ability to grant it to others still is. Ukusik can grant camo to herself and three other allies (don’t forget the extra bounce from her Talent) which can help mitigate some extremely dangerous mechanics. While she does share this niche with Heavyrain, Ukusik tends to be better at it since she cycles faster, is less range restricted, and isn’t forced into blocking, which disrupts the camo. So as far as the raft of 5★ Medics goes, Ukusik is a rare solid addition with some very legitimate usage!

Don’t rush to invest into her, however, and especially be wary of spending the extra on her Masteries if you don’t know what you’re doing. There’s a few factors at play here. First, while her utility is valuable, it’s extremely situational. On one stage, camo can feel like the best mechanic ever, but on many, it does nothing. This means Ukusik is more of a tool to break out occasionally instead of an every day type of unit. Second, using her ideally is no simple feat. Managing the timing and bounces are not trivial tasks, especially when more straight forward solutions often exist. Last, and more relevant to this guide, her S2 Masteries are simply not necessary to achieve this. In many cases, she will do this camo job just as well at E1 SL7 as she would at E2 S2M3, and the former is much much cheaper!

However, her Masteries aren’t completely useless, although Advanced players are far more likely to appreciate them than Story players. The Camouflage duration does not improve over Mastery, or this discussion would be very different. It remains at 12 seconds starting at SL7. But what does improve is her cycle time, via SP cost, and her healing. On the matter of her healing, it improves by about 50 HPS over Mastery. That’s not an amount that really changes the decisions considering raw healing isn’t why she’s used, but it’s actually a pretty decent improvement. Her healing is otherwise on the weaker side, so any addition is welcome in min-maxed scenarios. On the matter of her SP cost, that’s probably the more important improvement, but even then it only improves by 4 SP. It certainly can matter, but often will not.

This all means that Ukusik isn’t a bad investment, but she is one that leans towards Advanced players who can afford to spend their resources on situational tools rather than roster mainstays. If you’re a Story-centric player, or have a relatively young account, you’re best off avoiding her entirely, at least for now.

Although not Mastery related, a mechanical note worth mentioning is about why she has an HP loss built into her S2. Chain Medics (and most Medics) can’t actually initiate a heal if there is no one under max HP. However, the chain can bounce through full HP units once it is started. This is why Mon3tr has the Reconstruct, so that she can always apply her buff. Similarly, Ukusik’s HP loss means she always applies her camo, even if everyone is at full HP already. It also means she’s more likely to start the chain on herself, ensuring she gets the extra bounce from her Talent, which isn’t always guaranteed.

As for her S1, it’s only really useful if she’s a particular favorite you want to use over other units. The HPS on it is actually pretty decent, as is the cycle time, and the extra bounce can really extend her reach. However, it has no special value, which drops it into the ever growing pool of utility-less 5★ Medics that should otherwise be avoided. The only reason to Master her S1 is because you specifically want her to be on the team, even when her S2 isn’t called for. However, it could have some use for heavy IS players. She is drafted in some strategies, but her S2 isn’t as useful on every stage, so her S1 can be used along the way. But that’s a pretty fringe situation, and most players it applies to don’t need this article’s advice. If you’re unsure, pass on it.

Botani

Rarity: 5

Botani

Supporter

Ritualist

RangedRanged

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

Echoes Through Quietude

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

C-

C

Botani is our latest Ritualist, and those are pretty tough to discuss. There’s about a billion different combinations of factors that have subtle influences on the promotion choices. Botani further complicates matters by being our first introduction to friendly Corrosion damage. So, while this guide rarely takes shortcuts, I’ll make an exception here. If you hadn’t already considered raising Valarqvin, you shouldn’t consider raising Botani. If you already raised Valarqvin, there’s a good chance Botani will be no different in practice, although there’s a good chance you don’t need my advice if you did. And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you can stop reading here. Don’t raise her.

If you are one of the few crazy Doktah’s still reading, I commend you. Welcome to the based club. To start, we first need to discuss Corrosion. This write-up isn’t meant to be a primer on the type, so you can find the mechanical details elsewhere, but it essentially joins Burn and Necrosis in the group of “not as good as NI” types. It does less damage than either, but cycles faster, and Botani can trigger more frequently per cycle than Bobbing or Valarqvin. These three have subtle differences that ultimately end up being entirely situational, but none of them, Botani included, are as good as Cairn! So the first question as to where Botani stacks up against her fellows at the rarity is a big ol’ unhelpful “it depends”. We’re off to a great start.

Next, we get into the value problem that unfortunately permeates almost all 5★ discussion. In Botani’s case, it’s even worse because she can’t stack with the other Ritualists, so that “it depends” hurts even more. However, similar to Standard Bearers, it’s hard to call any of them “bad” either. The exact nuances and details of the differences between them are well beyond the scope of this guide, so you’ll have to do a bit of homework on your own, but the key takeaway is that Botani is similar to the others in her valuation. The Elemental Damage she does doesn’t hold a candle to a meta unit, or even many 5★s, but the true-ish damage it deals and the debuff can still be very valuable in a variety of self-restricted scenarios.

So if you’ve decided that value might be worthwhile for you, Botani’s only Mastery worth special consideration is her S2 which simply does much more in total, in addition to her S1 being flawed. Determining the exact breakpoints with Botani becomes a fool’s errand. In addition to all of the permutations across Ritualists, her ASPD Talent further influences things, even changing within the same skill activation. Even if I were totally confident in the accuracy of all scenarios, communicating them all in this space would basically be impossible! So there is no one complete answer to how valuable Mastery is, however at its most basic, it reduces the number of attacks per burst required against bosses and regular enemies. In most (but not all) scenarios, the total triggers per S2 remains the same, but it does vitally improve vs bosses, in addition to just generally being faster. When it comes to Elemental Injury dealers, more is rarely worse! Yet, even at full investment, the most common scenarios remain at three activations per cycle, a feat she reaches at far lower investment levels, so Mastery isn’t as mandatory as it is on the others either.

As for her S1, it’s simply worse. In no scenario, even at max investment, can she reach a trigger in one activation (at least without some serious buffs). The Corrosion cooldown is also longer than the SP cost, so functionally, it often ends up being three activations instead of two, since one is often wasted during the cooldown. The situation looks even worse against bosses. Her S2 actually has quite a long cooldown, which sounds like it should give some room for her S1 compared to Valarqvin, but these unusual restrictions just mean it doesn’t really make sense. At three (or more) activations, it’s not economical, even against her S2’s 45 SP cost. That said, if you really love Botani, S1M3 is required to reach two activations per burst, so it may be worthwhile to a rare few waifu maximalists.

Pull Priority

September update: Pretty big update this time, with the addition of Angelina2, Thumpy, and Tragodia.

Tragodia and Angelina at Strong Pull shouldn’t be too surprising. They’re both absurd. Thumpy slots in at Lean Skip, but I actually quite like her. I think she’s the second best non-limited after Tragodia, but unfortunately the limiteds are just stacked so it’s hard to justify ranking her higher here. But, she enables a lot of creative finesse, and I could see bumping her higher after Ep17 and the MH collabs.

There is one other thing I want to be very clear about. Tragodia is a non-limited unit. He is extremely powerful and is probably the single best unit on this list still (yes, even against the limited units). However, he is more available than the limiteds (if you’re a spender, just buy him on the paid ticket), and will come right before the Persona 3 collab. It’s up to you how to balance that.

Also, although I rarely make statements ahead of time, Makoto is pretty clearly going to end up a Strong Pull when he gets added next update.

Strong Pull - Kal’tsit·Esperanta (limited), Closure, Angelina the Mellow Wish (limited), Tragodia (rerun)

Lean Pull - Violet Mizutsune Orchid (collab limited), Kirin R Yato (collab limited, rerun)

Lean Skip - Zima the Raging Tide, Thumpy

Strong Skip - Aphrissa

Meta-value 4-5★s: None

Niche-value 4-5★s: None

Pull Priority Blurbs

Kal’tsit·Esperanta - Kal2 is a unit who is more than the sum of her parts. No individual aspect will likely blow you away, and there’s some details in her kit that can cause headaches, but when you combine her strong healing, good range, AoE True Damage, strong control, great survability, and a powerful flex skill, you have a great total package that is valuable in all sorts of gameplay.

Closure - Yet another extremely powerful Vanguard, Closure is the more powerful story-carry of the three. She has some really crazy damage and range, plus an extremely powerful DP skill that should see her viable even in advanced gameplay. The three top Vanguards all have different strengths compared to each other, but Closure is a more than worthy entrant to the competition.

Angelina the Mellow Wish - Angelina’s alter is yet our most recent of an ever growing list of absurdly broken limited units. She’s really fuckin’ good. However, unlike many of them, Angie is quite straightforward. She’s everything that makes Contrail good, but turned up to 11. Crazy good DPS against multiple-targets, and can fly making her functionally immune to most danger and mechanics. She’s not quite a Wang-tier of broken, but is definitely a can’t miss meta unit.

Tragodia - In his release article, I wrote that the design of his kit meant Tragodia was the kind of unit that would be hard to ever powercreep. And so far that looks pretty accurate. While the last year of extreme power has lowered the value of other EX units like Wisadel and even Exu2, Tragodia is still the best or second best unit in the game. His control is incredibly powerful, and multilayered. If you missed him the first time, don’t miss his rerun, unless you plan to buy him on the paid selector or value limited FOMO more.

Orchid2 is a Fast-Redeploy Sniper that ends up being quite flexible. She can be deployed to melee tiles, and has a pretty big range and multiple-targets. Considering that Snipers have tended to struggle in Advanced content, this flexibility has actually given Orchid2 a leg up, especially in IS#7. In some strange (i.e. Advanced) ways, she could actually be the best Sniper! However, that says more about the state of Snipers than it does about Orchid2. Although she’s great, her DPS isn’t as crazy and we’ve gotten used to, and many other upcoming units will be more valuable. Despite that, as a collab unit, you probably don’t want to miss out on her.

Kirin R Yato - In years past, Yato2 has shown the problem with meta units being in collabs. She is by far the best FRD in the game, but was forever locked to new players. FRDs tend to retain some of their value (relatively) even as the power increases and Yato2 is still a top-tier unit. Her DPS has waned a bit, but her utility more than makes up for it still to this day. If you don’t already have her, you probably don’t want to miss your chance to pick her up!

Zima the Raging Tide - She has a very powerful and easy to use AFK skill that will appeal to many people, with a powerful nuke skill to flex to. However, her ceiling is relatively low. There’s a lot of AFK units now so her S2 is nothing new, and she does nothing off-skill when using S3.

Thumpy - Thumpy brings a strong combination of bulk and quality damage, which makes her a pretty decent unit overall. That’s not an especially unique combination, nor is she overwhelmingly good at either, but she also has some very unique shift-esque mechanics that make her both fun and novel, and creative oriented players may find her the most appealing upcoming unit. So she’ll be valuable to some, but in the meta-sense, amid a sea of hyper powerful limiteds, she’ll be a skip for many if you get Angie2 first.

Aphrissa - Aprissa is a decent unit and a creative twist on the Blast Caster archetype. I personally love her kit design! However, the archetype is also innately underpowered. Her S3 has the numbers behind it to keep up, but is still pretty far behind the top Casters, and her other two skills don’t have the numbers, which kills a lot of potential flexibility.

Lookaheads

New this update is Mechanist and the summer banner units. It’s a bit earlier than I generally prefer with them, but by the estimated Ep17 patch, they’ll be a bit later than I prefer and people will be curious about the P3 collab anyway.

Mechanist

As with Raidian, Mechanist is the IS#7 Welfare unit and is raised entirely by playing IS#7. As such, he won’t be graded like other units. In fact, his Masteries are even easier to obtain than Raidian’s are so there’s even less pressure! Still, the skill discussion is useful, so that will still be here.

While his skills are easier to level up than Raidian’s, he’s actually much more restrained. He’s still a good unit, and is especially good in IS#7 (as expected), but isn’t nearly as insane as his IS#6 counterpart. The work tends to split between his S2 and his S3 since they excel at different things. His S2 is his “bulk” skill which is valuable because of how it interacts with his Talent 2. This gives him a rare niche of totally negating multiple big hits, which can situationally make him the best tanking option. However, it has a long downtime and relatively poor damage, so isn’t as effective if the big hit tanking isn’t called for. Meanwhile, his S3 is his primary DPS skill, allowing for long range bombardment for solid damage, and a mini-Ulpianus S3. It’s nothing too crazy though, as far as DPS skills go, especially since the interval can be frustratingly long. Last, his S1 is the least useful skill, however thanks to the Sentinel Defender’s short interval, it cycles pretty fast so can be a decent laneholding skill, despite only having 3 ammo. It definitely makes it more consistent than his other skills, but that’s not useful all that often either. It’s a good thing the Mastery is free!

tl;dr Mechanist won’t be graded since he’s raised through playing IS#7. However, his main skills are split use between S2 and S3, with occasional S1 use.

Angelina the Mellow Wish

Are we tired of limited 6★ Specialists that are incredibly broken yet (this was written before the P3 Collab units were revealed, lmao)? Apparently the playerbase isn’t. Personally, I am completely unshocked that our first 6★ Skyranger is utterly broken. Angelina the Mellow Wish is basically a 6★ Contrail (we don’t talk about Tippi), and Contrail is one of the best 4★s in the game. She (Angelina that is, although this applies to Contrail too) does a ton of damage to multiple targets with good control and fast cycles, all while being totally safe from most damage. Then, because she’s a limited 6★, she gets to do a bunch of other broken stuff too, like ridiculous sustain (8% is absurd), zooming around the map, and ammo combined with the hover gimmick. And it really is kind of that simple. Angie2 really is that good and has a high likelihood of being the next EX-caliber unit. And she doesn’t even have her Module yet!

S3 is her main skill and will be graded S++ for both Story and Advanced. It’s rare I say such things in advance. More than once I’ve had egg on my face from a bad early call, but it’s as clear as it gets here. The ammo mechanic on a Skyranger is incredibly powerful since she’ll just stay floating if needed, or can be turned off early to time the cycles. It also has an incredible DPH. And if the raw power wasn’t enough to justify the grade, she also has strong gains on it too. Meanwhile her S2 is valuable too, but is more situational. It has better control, a faster cycle, and can even have more DPS depending on the number of targets and enemy DEF. On a unit as powerful as Angie2, that’s well worth the M6, although her S3 will be the go to most of the time if resources are tight. Probably pass on her S1. The 60s uptime is the highest among her skills, so it might have some use for the maximalists, but S2 only has a 4 second wind-up and both other skills badly out DPS it, which makes her S1 much more situational.

tl;dr S3 is an easy S++/S++. S2 lower, but well graded, likely A-tier. S1 ungraded waifu-tier.

Thumpy

Compared to her limited roadtrip partner and banner mate, Thumpy is much more restrained. Of course, like everyone within the last year or so, that does not mean bad. Thumpy is, in fact, great, and that’s not just the bunny lover in me coping. However, competing in elements with Tragodia, and after a solid but totally free Defender in Mechanist, puts Thumpy in a tough spot priority-wise. She’s ultimately a bit like Yu. She’s an extremely bulky lane-holder type unit, with a lot of potential creativity for those who enjoy that sort of gameplay.

Thumpy has two very good skills, and the priority between them will depend on what you want out of her. S2 will be her daily driver skill. It cycles far more reliably and will do more damage, on average, since S3 doesn’t actually do more Corrosion beyond the ATK up. The range on it is also very strong, allowing for a lot of flexibility in placement. However, it isn’t incredibly high ceiling, owing in part to Corrosion’s awkwardness relative to the other elemental types. It will be a key high priority skill for anyone who wants to regularly use her, but for those who are extremely meta-minded, S3 will probably be the first target instead. There’s far more to say on it than can fit into a single (supposedly) short lookahead, but suffice to say it’s by far the most unique “shifter” skill we’ve gotten and it opens up all sorts of wild and chaotic strategies. It also happens to make her incredibly bulky and a good debuffer on certain enemies thanks to the extremely high-uptime. However, all of those features are also fairly situational. Pass on her S1. It might have some rare use now and then, but since it’s stuck at a basic Force level, those situations will be far and few between.

I can’t wait to make jokes about Thumpy blowing her glue all over the place.

tl;dr Well graded M6, but not quite as high as many recent 6★s. Both likely in mid-low-S or high-A. Favor S2 for daily use and S3 for unique use.

Jacinta

A great many 5★s have made me sad over the years. I’ve long come to accept the B-team just has no idea what they’re doing and some of the 5★s will simply be bad. Yet, somehow, they find new ways to overcome my acceptance and make me sad all over again. Jacinta feels like a personal insult. I just cannot fathom the logic behind making a gacha unit on a limited banner and member of a good, but dated, archetype with a dominant 4★, worse than a 2.5 year old WELFARE unit of the same rarity and archetype, Wanqing. And that’s just within her own archetype. Matsukiri is also a welfare of the same rarity, and is miles better! And of course this happens when we finally get a full Rim Billiton event! It doesn’t just feel bad, it feels cruel.

Anyway, yes, Jacinta is bad. Standard Bearers are one of those archetypes that are usable no matter what though, and that certainly applies to Jacinta here. She’ll still be decently graded, as all flags are, however, she’s likely to have the lowest grades of all of them. She slightly mixes things up with a longer S2 than the rest, but her numbers are worse in almost all regards, and her utility is nowhere near as good. The one bit of cope here is that her Aerial Sanctuary is actually a respectably high number. That will be an extremely situational thing, but it’s at least within the realm of possibility she’ll be valuable in some specific events here and there.

tl;dr Both skills graded, but under Wanqing (low B or C-tier likely). There are many 4 and 5★ Vanguard skills you should raise ahead of her.

Timeslot

Timeslot is similar to Jacinta in all of the wrong ways. She’s a 5★ in a good archetype, but is worse than the older existing options, including a similar welfare. She’s just a racoon instead of a bunny, so it’s less personally insulting, but it is still pretty depressing. Timeslot at least attempts to build on a new idea, leaning more into the niche of Mech-Accord Casters where they can continue to attack enemies that walk out of their range, which is surprisingly underrepresented (unless you count global range anyway). She even adds a bit of control too. However, her DPS isn’t as good as Rockrock’s and her control isn’t as good as Kjera’s, leaving her in an awkward middle ground. And that’s before even considering the low value of 5★ Casters in the first place. Still, like Jacinta, the archetype is good enough that she’ll still end up graded since they’re natively the best non-6★ DPS Casters. With her S2 anyway. Her S1 is a generic ATK up skill, which is something she oddly shares in common with Rockrock and Kjera, and is just as useless.

tl;dr S2 graded under Kjera (mid-B or C). Avoid S1.