Introduction

I do not have a clever introduction this time. Something about alts maybe? Ice themed event in spring? I dunno. This is a long one though, so let’s just dive in.

As always, you can find the full Mastery guide here. This update is also now available on Sanity;Gone, which you can find here.

Should You Pull

Yes. This is an incredibly strong banner, featuring two great units who have both a high floor and an amazingly high ceiling. It may be tempting to discount a Vanguard and a Phalanx Caster when compared to previous high powered limited banners, but this is Arknights in 2026. Classes and archetypes are barely even suggestions for the 6★s.

For SilverAsh the Reignfrost, he’s basically everything you could ever want out of a Vanguard¹. His blend of bulk, damage, and sustain means he can handle almost all early holds, along with absolutely incredible DP generation, and some really great utility. While DPS forward units will inevitably get powercrept and devalued (hot take, but Wiš’adel isn’t that special anymore), SilverAsh2’s kit is the kind that’s likely to be useful for as long as Vanguards are used at all which makes him an incredibly valuable pull target.

For Pramanix the Prerita, she’s currently the best Caster in the game, at least in my and many other endgame player’s estimation. She’s slightly less special than her brother, but at the same time may be more valuable to more casual players due to just how simple she is and how strong her DPS is. She’s the best AFK unit in the game right now, able to solo a good chunk of the game between her S2 and Talent 1. That’s often a strike against someone in this guide, but Pramanix2 does it so well that her AFK skill is better than a vast majority of active skills. And she still has a high caliber DPS skill to go along with it!

Overall, this is just a great banner. Both units are very powerful, interesting to use, and appealing to a wide variety of playstyles. While powercreep of this level is always a bit worrying, it’s a pretty nice bit of design work overall, and there’s very little reason for anyone to skip this banner.

¹ Ines will be discussed more in the next section, but in relation to this statement, Ines brings things you never knew you wanted out of a Vanguard.

Pull Related FAQ

Q: Should I still pull for SilverAsh2 if I already have Ines?

A: Absolutely yes. They are both amazing units, and differences between them get rather nuanced, which is sort of the point. Vanguards are one of those classes where it can sometimes be a little difficult to appreciate what they do, so if you already have Ines it can be tough to buy the thinking of “yea, I need another one”. But the “subtlety”¹ of Vanguard contribution is also why it’s helpful to have multiple units that go about things in different ways. There will be situations where Ines’s FRD and permanent sentinel are more important, and others where she has no one to generate DP off of. There will be situations where SilverAsh2’s DPS hard carries you, but others where his lack of direct DP or class prioritization ruins your plans. In the end, it’s too situational to truly pick one over the other, and any meta minded roster will get significant use out of both.

That said, this is now one of those situations where I have to be a little careful what I say, lest I give the wrong impression. In the current game, no one is essential. There’s so much power currently available, that individual pieces are more replaceable than they once were. It’s hard for me to use words like “need” with SilverAsh2, because yea, sticking with Ines and Myrtle has worked pretty damn well for the last three years already, and it’s not like we didn’t survive without Ines before that. There is an argument to be made (albeit one I don’t necessarily agree with) that a certain type of player won’t find what SilverAsh2 brings to be valuable if they already have and enjoy Ines.

BUT that does not mean you shouldn’t pull for SilverAsh2 because you have Ines! You absolutely should! A meta roster will have both, and you will absolutely benefit from SilverAsh2 in a big way. The above is more to reassure you (or some future reader) that you aren’t “bricked” if you don’t have him. So, if for some reason you can’t stand his character, get horribly unlucky, are reading this in the future, or some other such reason, you’ll probably be fine without him too. But this statement always applies to any unit so…

¹ Subtlety might not be the right word here. SilverAsh2 is hardly a subtle unit.

Q: If I get SilverAsh2 early, should I continue pulling for Pramanix2?

A: Yes. Pramanix the Prerita is nearly as powerful as her brother, and is often more powerful depending on content and playstyle. I’ve had a similar question in many previous limited banner articles, and it’s actually somewhat rare that both units on a limited banner are a must-have quantity (or at least it used to be), but this is one of them. Pramanix2 is, by most estimations, the best Caster in the game. She is both a comfortable story carry, but also has a crazy high ceiling. She’s not quite as “future proof” as her brother, who is likely to be a top Vanguard meta pick for years, but is still one of the best units currently in the game.

Thaaaaaaat all said, as a standard unit she isn’t quite as ‘can’t miss’ as either Silverash2 or Wang. There’s a long time until Wang’s banner plus the opportunity cost of passing on a highly meta unit (see the next question) so I really wouldn’t suggest skipping Pramanix2 here, but if you find her gameplay to be completely unappealing, and have some other non-meta target in mind like Titi or Nasti, I could at least understand the reasoning. But skip at your own peril.

Q: I’ve heard the Wang/Chen3 banner is also strong. Should I skip this banner to save for that one?

A: No! I’ve seen this question a lot, and you should absolutely NOT skip SA2 just because Wang is strong.

The debate as to which banner is better is actually irrelevant here. Even if you find Wang/Ch’en3 to be the better banner, this banner is still too good to skip. More importantly though, there’s a concept I frequently bring up of “opportunity value”. Basically, since most banners don’t get fully rerun in this game, you lose a lot of value by not pulling on any given introductory banner. In some cases, this can be justified such as if a unit is bad, however it means that if all other things are equal, it makes more sense to pull on the first available. Both upcoming limited banners are incredibly strong, so it really doesn’t make sense to skip SilverAsh2/Pramanix2 in this case.

Further, there’s three months between the banners and everything from now to then is relatively skippable. Even in the worst case scenario for total f2p players, you’ll be able to save a lot of pulls by Wang.

There’s very little upside to skipping this banner in favor of the CNY banner, no matter how strong you think Wang might be.

FAQ and Discussion

Q: Is anyone else in this patch worth raising?

A: I generally like to give each new units at least one FAQ entry, and I still will, but the remaining four units this patch, Astgenne the Lightchaser (welfare), Snow Hunter (5★ Gacha), Hadiya (5★ Red Cert), and Akkord (4★ Red Cert) all have basically the same evaluation. This is a pretty long article already, so I’ll compress it a little bit here for those that don’t want to read all my yapping just to hear the same premise four times.

That basic evaluation is that they’re all decent, but only in niches. None of them have any meta relevance, so if your only interest is peak power, you can safely skip raising any of them. But as said, they’re all pretty decent in different places if they catch your fancy.

If that paragraph sufficiently answered your question, feel free to skip the next four questions!

Q: Is Astgenne the Lightchaser any good?

A: I absolutely love the fact that Astgenne got an alter. In general, I’m in favor of alters since AK has a huge cast, most of which are never heard from again, so the chance for some actual character development is a great thing. I much prefer it on lesser known characters too, so Astgenne and Pramanix are way better than Silvertrash!

Ahem, anyway, that’s probably not what you’re here for. Astgenne2 (as a unit) is mildly funny to me because she’s a pretty classic Decel Binder, but came out at a time when basically every new 6★ barely acknowledges their archetype as a suggestion. She’s one of the very few who actually respects the definitions anymore! Although in this case, it means she also isn’t anywhere near as powerful.

Astgenne2 isn’t a bad unit by any means, but she is far more… restrained, and a lot of her power is the subtle sort. Her damage share is potentially powerful, but hard to appreciate, and her group stall is chaotic and hard to control. In the modern era, she comes nowhere close to competing with any recent non-welfare 6★, nor does she even measure up that well to OGs in her archetype like Suzuran, but is certainly good enough to be viable in niches like Liberi-only or Welfare-only, or even if you just simply think she’s neat.

Q: Is Snow Hunter any good?

A: Above this for Astgenne2, I just wrote how it was the 6★s that ignored what archetypes mean, but amusingly, the 5★s are now getting in on the game as Snow Hunter barely interacts with the Hunter archetype at all. Hunters aren’t even an old archetype! That’s probably a good thing though since archetypes with native drawbacks tend to suffer a bit, but I digress.

Snow Hunter is a pretty decent 5★. She’s not as special as Mutsumi was, but is solid, exemplifying the power of “short-cooldown, Charge-based, Manual Activation” skills. While her total DPS isn’t amazing, she can accurately control the individual shot which makes her a lot better than many other hard hitting 5★ Snipers, then she gets some nice control too. She is still far from a meta consideration, but may be the best unit this patch that isn’t Pramanix2 or SilverAsh2, so can be a pretty viable choice if you like off-meta strategies.

Q: Is Hadiya any good? Is she worth the red certificates?

A: Hadiya is our first (and only, as of this writing) Mercenary. She can spend DP for some additional effects with her skills. That’s a pretty cool concept since DP is such an under utilized resource, and there’s a lot of potential in the archetype! However, in Hadiya’s case, as a 5★ she isn’t particularly special. If you look past the gimmick, she’s otherwise a pretty standard 5★ Guard that doesn’t really do anything besides damage and a small amount of Stun. There’s dozens of this type of unit these days, and Hadiya isn’t even a high-end implementation of it. Then she costs a lot of red certs to obtain too! She’s ultimately a unit who joins a sea of “not bad, but costs way too much for too low of ceiling” types, and a vast majority of players should avoid her.

That said, I think she might be my favorite design this patch and teases some tantalizing possibilities for the future… S++ M6!

Q: Is Akkord any good? Is she worth the red certificates?

A: Akkord is the new 4★ Blast Caster, most notable for her bright blue tigh- err, what was I saying? Ahem, Akkord only has any particular value if you play in the 4★ niche. The options for 4★ AoE Arts damage are shockingly bad, so she has some niche value there by simple virtue of there being so few viable options. However, she does nothing unique, meaning many freely available options will perform better without the red cert cost (and you don’t need one in the first place). She also isn’t good enough to be useful in IS due to her high DP cost and total lack of utility, ultimately meaning Akkord is only really useful in low rarity niches or for waifu reasons.

Q: Will there be a selector tier list this update? Who is worth taking?

A: There won’t be a selector tier list this time. I’ve mentioned this a lot in prior updates, but they take a ton of time. That itself isn’t the problem though. The real problem is the exploding power level has meant such an article is also less valuable. A few years ago when I was regularly doing them, there was a decent bit of nuance after the very top options, but that just isn’t especially true anymore. There’s a huge gap in value between the haves and the have-nots now, which basically means there’s now little difference between a selector tier list and a regular-ol-tier list. And I already happen to help maintain one of those, which you can find here, which makes the time commitment for me less appealing. So if you don’t know who to take, just refer to that. I may still do a selector article now and then just because I like to write, but there wouldn’t be a whole lot of nuance anymore.

Q: Who should I spend the 5★ Mastery ticket from the login event on?

A: This question is mostly here (again) so I can share my sheet which tracks both E2/M3 ticket values and paid pack values. You can find it here and is great for these sorts of questions!

That said, from this patch, Snow Hunter’s S2 is the most expensive and is conveniently the best 5★ skill this patch which makes it a great target if you plan to raise her. Incidentally, it’s one of the most expensive 5★ skills period! However, she isn’t especially meta so if you’re looking for a more general answer, check the sheet out instead.

Q: How is Gnosis’ IS Module? Should I go out of my way to get him for his IS Module?

A: It wasn’t that long ago that the Supporter ticket was the weakest possible ticket. Now it’s one of the best, and Gnosis only adds to the options. Gnosis got a great IS Module, adding solid control, good personal damage, and an incredible amount of Fragile that greatly enhances team output.

I was very high on it when it came out, but that has waned a little. Instead of being absurdly broken, it is “merely” very good. While he’s still solid on his own, he really needs other Kjerag OPs to be great. Fortunately for him, SilverAsh2 and Pramanix2 are both top-tier units, but that still leaves you at the whims of recruitment and none of the other options are especially meta (aside from Steward, who is a freebie). Worse though, most bosses are Freeze immune which is usually the toughest part of high-difficulty runs, and he also takes a lot of micromanagement to really maximize which a lot of people won’t find appealing.

It means Gnosis can be a solid pick from the paid kernel selector ticket or a purchase from the gold cert shop, but he isn’t someone you should pull on a kernel banner for (although, no one is). The kernel banners are just too poor, and upcoming unit banners are far better value, even for IS. He’s also probably not the first of the IS Module units I’d take from the paid selector, but there’s a lot of factors that go into that, so I’ll avoid making a specific general recommendation here.

As for the main guide, Gnosis has gotten an overhaul. I was in the process of the general guide update when this came out on CN, and annoyingly, I finished Gnosis’ new write-up about a week before, meaning his “new” write-up was immediately out of date. In any case, do note that his better skill for IS is S2 rather than S3, which is the opposite of the general suggestion, although you should still M6 him. The new write-up is not included in this article due to space, but can be found over in the main guide here.

Q: How is Ho’olheyak’s IS Module?

A: It’s bad. The problems with Ho’olheyak’s kit are deeply rooted, and the Module really did nothing to help those problems. Most of the direct kit buffs barely improve her personal viability (they’re barely better than her existing Modules). What remains are things largely unrelated to her kit, but worse, just encourage poor play. An extra temporary LP may sound appealing at first glance, but for the expensive 6★ Hope cost, you could just take a good unit and be less likely to leak in the first place. You are far more likely to leak by using her which defeats the value in potentially drafting her!

If you like her and have already raised her, then yea, three mod blocks is nothing. Enjoy it if you want. It’s not like it’s actively detrimental. However, you should not go out of your way to obtain her or spend the resources to promote her because of her IS Module for any meta reason.

As for the main guide, Ho’olheyak is not getting an update. Aside from her Module being subpar, this actually came out on CN while I was in the process of the major guide overhaul, so I just wrote the update into it in advance, and thus no further update is needed. It can be found here.

Q: Any other Module thoughts?

A: Not many, which is disappointing since there’s so many. None of the Modules from this patch are all that interesting except for Gnosis’ IS (discussed above) and Hoshi2’s. The Modules from the Bellone patch on CN are even worse!

As for Hoshi2’s, it’s not even interesting, just really good. She’s a really great unit already, but her Module and upgrades add a ton of damage. Since she’s almost always at her max Tenacity bonus, it’s pretty much just a large straight up DPS increase. For a unit as good as Hoshi2 is, it’s an easy mod3 for any meta minded player, and probably the best single Module ahead of us (depending on what the upcoming 7th anniversary on CN holds for us).

You can of course check Mal’s Module article for the other EN Modules when he posts it, but this is a case where it just doesn’t make a lot of sense for me to waste a lot of space discussing them here. Maybe I can keep this under the Reddit word count for once!

Masteries for Retracing Our Steps

SilverAsh the Reignfrost

Rarity: 6Limited

SilverAsh The Reignfrost

Vanguard

Strategist

MeleeMelee

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

Countergambit

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

S+

S++

Castled King

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S3M3

S+

S+

Pawn Break

Auto TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S1M3

None

C+

SilverAsh the Reignfrost is one of the most powerful units in the game, featuring just about everything you could ever want out of a Vanguard, and more. He generates crazy effective DP, sustains himself, has control, buffs your units, has great DPS, and even retains his OG’s stealth removal for good measure. Generally speaking, he is a very high priority unit and a very strong M6 candidate! However, unusually for a unit of his caliber, he has some unique considerations before you spend your hard earned resources on his Masteries.

More specifically, he’s a situation where a lot of players in most routine situations won’t find an appreciable difference in the outcomes of his two skills. For many meta-caliber M6 units, there’s little choice but to do both skills. However, for SilverAsh2, they are very often interchangeable. To be clear, you should still plan to do both. The flexibility on a unit as strong as this absolutely does matter! However, the nuance between them often matters more in Advanced scenarios, so for less established players, it may make much more sense to focus on the skill that matches your playstyle better, then look towards other high impact promotions before pursuing his other skill. Put another way, you’ll be able to clear almost all regular story stages with either of his skills!

That out of the way, his two main skills, S2 and S3 still behave quite differently even if the outcome in terms of clearing any given stage is often the same. While not universally true, S2 tends to be his main skill since it will usually have the better net results in terms of DP and damage. Over the course of a map, S2 will provide significantly more effective DP and it allows more controlled placement of both his damage and Freeze, since the schwing centers off the deployed unit rather than himself.

However, there’s a few things to note before investing. First, it is mainly damage that improves over Mastery. That can very much matter, and will result in a big difference, but it is dependent on your roster as to how valuable that is. The schwing damage scales on the deployed unit’s current ATK, so the damage increase over Mastery isn’t only against his own damage, which is otherwise on the low side with S2. The Mastery gains will look a lot less impressive if your roster is weaker (although in such a case, you probably have better promotion targets). The only other improvements are largely negligible outside of some pretty extreme scenarios. Second, the skill’s output depends on activating it, which on a 17 SP skill, many people may find tiring over the course of the map. While this guide rarely encourages “lazy” play, the fact his S3 is so similarly valued may mean this is still a valid tie-breaker. Finally, since the skill does not generate any actual DP, the Guard/Sniper/Caster prioritization may cause issues depending on your team comp and what you need out first.

So for many, his S3 may be the more appealing skill, and while his S2 does tend to be the favored overall, his S3 has a ton of ceiling as well, meaning it’s not a bad choice to start with it instead! It has a very high SP cost which is unusual for a Vanguard, but the skill does so much on such a high uptime that you may only need to activate it once. It generates a ton of DP, both over time and in a large initial burst, while also doing a ton of damage that can be shared, and even has some Fragile because why not? The initial burst of DP is especially notable, because if you pay attention to your team comp, it can effectively be 20-30 effective DP on only a 9 second wind-up! It has strong Masteries as well, with an above average gain for DPS thanks to some additional Fragile at S3M3, in addition to the ever important (for Vanguards) DP and initial SP improvements.

Last is his S1. It’s quite a bit more situational, but on a do-it-all meta-caliber unit like SilverAsh2, that can still be a consideration, even if it’s relatively rare. It generates 15 effective DP on only a 10 SP wind-up which is among the best Vanguard ramp-ups, has a great hands-off DP/s rate as well, and the Barrier can be useful on occasion as well. Those aspects make it the sort of skill that a lot of players won’t ever find useful, but for some more Advanced players, SilverAsh2 is a viable M9 consideration! Note that Mastery only affects the SP cost and initial SP. That’s very important for the initial wind-up, but if your only goal is lazy-AFK use (use his S3 instead), the expensive Mastery won’t change much.

Pramanix the Prerita

Rarity: 6

Pramanix The Prerita

Caster

Phalanx Caster

RangedRanged

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

Peaks, Clad in Frost

Auto TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

S++

S++

Towards the Mountains, Bow

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S3M3

A+

S-

Ere Snow, Bells Chime

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S1M3

None

None

Pramanix the Prerita is an incredibly powerful Caster. Her high AoE DPS is the most obvious feature, but just as valuable is the control from her snow field (Talent 1). This is further enhanced by her S2, resulting in one of the best, if not the best AFK skills in the game. But don’t take that to mean she lacks in ceiling! Her AFK skill is so strong that it bucks that trend, but she also has an even higher DPS skill available in the uncommon cases her S2 isn’t enough. It ultimately makes Pramanix2 a strong M6 consideration, although her S2 is so dominant it’s not nearly as necessary as some other highly graded M6 units.

It’s a rare situation in this guide, but the mentioned AFK skill, her S2, is Pramanix2’s primary skill and should be her first Mastery regardless of the type of player you are. Typically, this guide encourages burst skills which tend to have a higher ceiling, but that isn’t the case here. After a relatively long (but worthwhile) wind-up, she can extend her snow field beyond her attack range. This will often result in the entire map being blanketed, doing consistent damage along with a significant snare to basically everyone. Even better, it can “freeze” the bluebox, preventing enemies from leaking until they can destroy it. This can seem like a gimmick at first, but proves to be a powerful additional layer of control, outright neutering some enemies entirely.

If there’s any knock against it in terms of priority, it would be that the Masteries are below average. Her DPS only improves by approximately 8%, which is well below average. However, since it is an infinite duration skill, that can still total up to a lot more damage over the course of the map, and because of this, the lesser gain is also somewhat typical. Along with the additional improvement to wind-up, it is still among the highest priority skills, but this could serve as a tie-breaker in an era when it seems like every new unit has an S++ skill. It’s notable that Mastery does NOT improve the stats of the frozen blue box, nor does her level. Only her elite level (E1/E2) affects that.

While her S2 is a strong skill, it is not completely without flaws, namely a very long wind-up time during which she has nothing but her basic default snow field. Which is still very strong and buys plenty of time for the wind-up. However, this does give some room for her S3 to be viable. Do not take this to mean her S3 is only useful as an alternative though. The DPS on it in an even wider area is remarkable, and even has some additional control and RES-ignore. While it isn’t as game-changing as her S2, it’s still a powerful DPS skill on one of the best Casters, and it happens to have some incredibly strong Masteries too. Since both the +ATK and damage dealt improve and multiply off of each other, Mastery results in a whopping 45% increase to DPS. In fact, at SL7, S3 barely edges out S2M3. That may leave you scratching your head if you watch early highlights or take her for an early spin, but at S3M3, it nearly doubles S2M3 instead, basically making Mastery mandatory if you plan to use it.

However, it is not just DPS that gives S3 its use. It’s not Mastery related as the snow formation speed does not improve over Mastery, but S3’s control is worth a brief discussion to understand its value as well. The enhanced Snow formation speed causes a hefty snare effect, and when combined with her large range and Lure effect, can be a surprising burst of control as well!

To clarify a bit of nuance here, the better Mastery gain on her S3 doesn’t mean you should start with it. While S2 has the worse gains, it is by far the better skill, and even the lower improvement will result in a significant performance improvement.

Last, creative players could consider her S1 as well, but it is much less special. It is unique in its push ability. Most Shifters are restricted to their relatively short range, often just a frontal tile or two, but Pramanix2 can shift anyone in her large (relative to other Shifters) Phalanx range. This results in some Shift shenanigans that only she can do. Unfortunately though, the Shift force does not improve over Mastery, so even that may not make Mastery itself worthwhile, although the skill itself does have some other use from time to time as well.

Astgenne the Lightchaser

Rarity: 6

Astgenne The Lightchaser

Supporter

Decel Binder

RangedRanged

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

Flux Chain

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S3M3

B-

B

Stellar Gravity

Auto TriggerOffensive Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

Breakpoint

B-

B-

Astgenne the Lightchaser is a novel and fun unit with a pretty interesting kit, however as is tradition with most 6★ Welfare units, she isn’t all that special in terms of meta so most people shouldn’t be raising her. Her damage is unimpressive, her control can be unpredictable with poor uptime, and the things that make her kit “interesting” may in fact be frustrating to a lot of players instead. However, she isn’t a bad unit either, and she is useful in a handful of niches, so will still be an appealing promotion for some. If that might apply to you, she also happens to have some pretty valuable Masteries,

She’s the sort of unit where it’s hard to make a definitive suggestion for the skill you should start with since her S2 and S3 do very different things, or if you’re a pessimist, are both flawed in different ways. We have to start somewhere here though, and her S3 is her skill that more people are likely to find useful. With it, she locks on to two targets, which will be Slowed for a 100% uptime (if she has her base DEC-Y Module) and causes them to share some Arts damage. This gives her best DPS, her best range, her more reliable (as in, predictability) control, and her more useful unique feature. Most notably for Mastery, the amount of Arts damage that is shared between the targets improves at S3M3 which can be a strong improvement when paired with other strong Casters on top of her own DPS.

However, her S2 is also a useful skill. It’s much harder to predict, but can result in better and more consistent (as in, total uptime) control. It’s a bit of a mouthful, but basically at S2M3, she’ll target two enemies. Each target is Slowed for a relatively long time, and will each drag three surrounding enemies to them. The primary targets are not shifted by their own trigger, but can be shifted by the other target’s trigger. This can be very chaotic at times, especially with hoards of lighter enemies as they get tossed every which way every few seconds, but it can also be reasonably effective depending on the circumstance. However, it is fairly poor for stalling solo enemies since, as noted, the primary target isn’t shifted unless there is a second target.

Unusually, her S2 is probably the first skill ever to have a breakpoint at all three levels. At S2M1 she gains an additional target, at S2M2 the SP cost drops, and at S2M3 she gains an additional link target. That makes S2 quite valuable for Mastery if you plan to use her at all, however only S2M1 is given special note in the gradebox here, owing to the general value due to her off-meta nature.

Pass on her S1 unless you’re a true maximalist. It doesn’t have any particular defining feature like her other two skills, and the Slow isn’t especially high uptime. However, it does have her highest burst DPS, so it might be distantly useful for the simps.

Snow Hunter

Rarity: 5

Snow Hunter

Sniper

Hunter

RangedRanged

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

Twin Blizzard Bolts

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

B

B+

Snow Hunter is a rather nice addition to the 5★ Sniper lineup. She does good damage thanks to a triple hit (two from S2 plus one from Talent), and can precisely control it thanks to S2’s short cooldown, Manual Activation, and Charge-based nature, which is almost always a potent combination. She even gets a nice bit of on-demand control too since she can stack her two activations to Freeze her target. However, she is still a 5★ so while these features are nice, they don’t measure up to the ever exploding meta. Her damage is nice, but not amazing, and she is stuck on ST. This means she isn’t a general consideration for most people, but she is reasonably solid for those who favor off-meta approaches.

S2 is her main skill, both because it has all of the features that make her good and because her other skill is a stinker. S2 has significantly better damage and that Charge-based Manual Activation nature that is oh so good. It’s also her only skill that can Freeze since S1 otherwise cycles too slow, and even better, it doesn’t use the Hunter’s ammo mechanic, meaning the archetype’s drawback doesn’t hamper her output much. Mastery on it is extremely valuable as well. The damage increase at base is already around a 25% improvement, and even higher versus stationary targets, but the SP cost also drops dramatically which makes a big difference on skills like this.

In comparison, her S1 is… frustrating. Generic Power Strike skills like this are generally poor design in the first place. With only a few exceptions, they’re basically filler for a skill slot that HG couldn’t be bothered with. But Power Strike is especially perplexing on a Hunter like Snow Hunter (boy that sounds weird to say). Even setting aside the damage difference, the Hunter’s ammo mechanic means the Attack Recovery will charge very slowly against consistent pressure. She also loses the benefit of her S2’s special shot, so even the strike itself is reliant on the ammo. Then she also loses her ability to Freeze since the Cold debuff will always wear off before a second layer can be applied. It’s just a very perplexing inclusion when most design lately has been pretty darn good.

However, S1 might have some niche use in IS if you really love using both her and Archetto. Despite the flaws and lazy design of the skill, when paired with Archetto’s IS Module, it actually has stronger DPS than her S2, even if forced to reload constantly. However, without Archetto, it is much worse, and she also loses her Freeze ability unless also paired with Gnosis. Also keep in mind Gnosis benefits both of her skills, so Gnosis’ IS Module doesn’t give her S1 an edge. While the combo with Archetto makes her S1 usable in IS, you’re almost certainly better off using someone else in non-niche situations.

Hadiya

Rarity: 5

Hadiya

Guard

Mercenary

MeleeMelee

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

Blade of the Qarnsayf

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

C+

C+

Enhanced Desert Tactics

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S1M3

None

None

Hadiya is our first Mercenary, an archetype which can spend DP to enhance skill effects. When the option is available, a new indicator appears above her head, and a new button is available next to the skill icon. DP is also required to activate her S2, but not her S1, which is in addition to the optional enhancement effect. It’s a cool concept since DP is an underutilized resource, but in Hadya’s case, she doesn’t actually do much with it. She’s instead yet another Guard with some basic DPS and minimal utility, of which there are now dozens, but she’s additionally tied down by the DP reliance and a super high red cert cost, ultimately resulting in yet another 5★ lost in the middle-tier shuffle that most people shouldn’t bother with, although she is decent enough if she appeals to you.

If that’s you (which is based, her E2 art is amazing), both skills are viable depending on how much you want to use her, but S2 should be the starting point. Rather simply, it has much better DPS (+150% ATK vs +100% ATK) and more targets (3 vs 1). S2 also expands her range, which makes her on-demand Stun quite a bit more useful, so with only a few situational exceptions, it will perform better. Mastery reduces the rather long 20 SP initial wind-up at SL7 to a more manageable 11 SP, so it’s decently valuable if you intend to use her. S1 will of course look appealing if you need DEF, but for an other-wise ST Guard, that isn’t an especially common scenario. However, S2 does require DP just to activate in addition to the equipment cost, which makes it quite costly to use, and outright impossible on some stages. In those cases, you’re likely better off using someone else, but it does mean S1 is a plausible secondary choice if you really want to maximize her use.

Akkord

Rarity: 4

Akkord

Caster

Blast Caster

RangedRanged

Skill

Mastery

Story

Advanced

Explosive Tuning

Manual TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S2M3

None

None

Backbeat Stress

Auto TriggerPer Second Recovery

Mastery

Story

Advanced

S1M3

None

None

Akkord isn’t especially good by the 4★ Caster standards, but she does have some value since her AoE competition is even worse. Blast Casters are just not an especially good archetype without some significant help which can usually only be found at the 6★ rarity. In fact, Akkord has nothing on her kit but damage, ultimately resulting in a poor DPS unit that also costs a lot of red certs. However, as said the existing 4★ AoE Casters are even worse, so she does have some occasional value for the niche players.

In such a case, you’ll likely want to Master both skills. Her only real value is in low-rarity niches, and in those cases, you need everything you can get, which gives value to both of her skills since they fill different roles. S2 will have a higher DPS so will tend to be her primary skill. Mastery represents a fairly large improvement as well since the additional “shockwave” improves at S2M3, although the DPS is still relatively low in either case. S1 meanwhile has lower DPS, but a more consistent application. While such skills aren’t often worthwhile when their DPS is so much lower, S2 has a rather high SP cost by modern standards, which makes S1 a viable alternative. It also has valuable Masteries thanks to an SP drop at S1M2, although it isn’t labeled as a breakpoint here due to its relatively low value as a skill.

Pull Priority

April update: Big update this time. When things are this imbalanced in terms of power, it can make for some tricky priority suggestions, so I’ve been thinking a lot about how to present it. I’m tempted to just swing into the black and white and make everyone Strong Pull or Strong Skip. I don’t think that would be wrong to do, frankly! The gap between the pulls and the skips is about as stark as it’s ever been! However, this is my attempt to retain at least a little balance.

Despite that, I’ve moved Pramanix the Prerita up to Strong Pull. While I don’t think it was a mistake having her in Lean Pull before this, I don’t want to give the wrong impression while her banner is up for people who don’t read deeply into the nuance. And as said above, the gap between her and anyone in the skip section is massive anyway.

I’ve rebalanced the skips entirely. Nasti gets promoted to Lean Skip, while Titi gets demoted. I think I had this one backwards. Call it cope that I really wanted Titi to be good, but she’s just way too situational. Meanwhile, Nasti has gotten two more units she works great with and is an utterly unique tool. She’ll still be very skippable since she’s stuck between two giga-strong banners, but deserves to at least be acknowledged. Bellone slots into Lean Skip, but he’s a bit tricky because his value will depend a lot on your roster. Long established players with lots of options will find him a lot less useful. Necrass also drops down to Strong Skip. She’s rather similar to Bellone in terms of value relative to roster, but Bellone has a bit more ceiling and a bit more shelf life.

Strong Pull: SilverAsh the Reignfrost (limited), Pramanix the Prerita, Wang (limited), Ch’en the Dawnstreak

Lean Pull: None

Lean Skip: Nasti, Bellone

Strong Skip: Thorns the Lodestar (rerun), Titi, Necrass (rerun)

Meta-value 4-5★s: None

Niche-value 4-5★s: Cairn

Pull Priority Blurbs

SilverAsh the Reignfrost - He’ll greatly raise the ceiling of any team he’s on and is the sort who will be tough to powercreep. He does the basic Vanguard job (dog blocking champion) super well already but then doubles it up with really strong damage that scales with your team. He’s just so valuable from top to bottom, and will probably be a meta option for a long long time.

Pramanix the Prerita - She’s the new queen of AFK gaming with plenty of ceiling too. Great damage and a huge Slow field, plus the Phalanx bulk. She’s the best Caster in the game right now, and the only thing keeping her from being higher is that the three units above her are even more absurd.

Wang - He’s been nicknamed Wangsdel and for good reason. He does a ton of damage, anywhere on the map. Don’t be afraid by the fact he’s a Trapmaster either. Since his damage is so good and he gets a ton of traps, he’s stupidly easy to use too. He can solo most of the game, like his sister Ling did long ago, but unlike her, has plenty of ceiling too thanks to a huge chunk of RES-ignore.

Ch’en the Dawnstreak - She hasn’t gotten as much attention as Wang, but I like Ch’en3 almost as much. She scales with enemy HP and her damage automatically toggles between Arts and Physical, depending on what’s better. She also has crazy good range and an abusable gimmick, which gives her both a high floor and a high ceiling.

Nasti - Nasti is a pretty gimmicky unit, but her gimmick is utterly unique and outright breaks some stages, plus she also flexes to a pretty strong SP battery. She has strong synergy with multiple upcoming units too. However, she’s far less straightforward than the higher meta options and is useless on many stages. Some players will find her amazing, but some will absolutely hate her.

Bellone - Bellone has really high ST DPS and strong DEF-shred, meaning he will rip up a lot of stages and enemies. He has a really high floor that will appeal to some people, with just enough high end value to warrant at least a look. However, he is far less versatile than many other DPS units, including several upcoming ones. That makes him tricky to recommend. Older players will already have better options, and newer players will get better value from their pulls saving for the better options.

Titi - She has some pretty strong utility, but ultimately Sleep is one of the weaker forms of control. There’s places she’s great in, but she’s ultimately a bit too situational relative to the other upcoming options, and a bit lackluster if she can’t take advantage of her gimmicks.

Necrass - She’s powerful, but has a much lower ceiling than the other upcoming top dogs. If her summon gets stat-checked, she’s just raw damage, and while her damage is good, it’s not special either. She’s a solid carry sort of unit, but we have a lot of those now with higher ceilings.

Thorns the Lodestar - Thorns2 has some really quality DPS. It’s pretty high, on a huge uptime, huge range, and huge hit count. However, there’s a lot of DPS these days too and while strong, it’s not as strong as a lot of more recent units. His utility is also really clunky which limits his lateral use.

Lookaheads

All lookaheads can be found in their usual spot on the main guide here.

Bellone

The largely negative reception for Bellone is what happens when powercreep gets out of control. Somehow 40-64% DEF shred and crazy ST damage isn’t all that great. However, since this is the game in 2026, that still leaves him as a very solid unit. He’s the sort of unit that will be very easy to use for those who want to use him, and newer players will probably find him more valuable than “gimmicky” units like Titi or Nasti. However, he lacks most of their ceiling, so for many established players, he could be the weakest 6★ ahead of us!

His DEF-shred means he has a relatively high floor of DPS that others can benefit from, and he will do impressive damage against most targets, but it’s mostly ST damage, he’s reliant on RNG for survival, DEF can still be outscaled, and he brings little else to the table. He’ll be a graded M6, but the call between S2 and S3 is relatively tough. S3 has much higher DPS, but the teleporting is quite gimmicky and unreliable. S2 meanwhile has lower DPH and DPS, but better range, multiple targets, and a faster cycle. I currently lean S2 since his S3 is very frustrating to use, and the DPH doesn’t matter as much with his DEF-shred, but that could change by release. Pass S1 which has no value, especially with S2’s rapid cycle.

tl;dr Both S2 and S3 graded, likely in the A-tier, but one could sneak up to a low S.

Ripresa

Ripresa baited me into thinking she was a bunny. Instead, it turns out she’s a horrid goat! At least Surfer had the decency to be a good unit! Ripresa is… much less good. She joins a host of existing 5★ Splash Casters that are actually not terrible, but also pretty far from generally viable. She has some decent DPS, especially if the targets overlap, and a really short cycle. But she’s just 5★ DPS with no utility, and her peak DPS, while good, has some harsh restrictions. Her S2 fireballs can’t target the same enemy multiple times, meaning she needs 3 different targets in her short range to reach that potential, which is oftentimes a tall order, so there’s not any non-niche or non-waifu reason to promote her. If either of those apply to you, S2 is her better skill by quite a bit. It does quite a bit more damage, and the SP costs between her skill are quite similar. Meanwhile her S1 is much less special. The only reason to favor it would be due to the 3-target requirement on her S2, but S1s damage output is far lower, so you probably shouldn’t be using her in the first place if you can’t take advantage of her S2. It’s a waifu only skill.

tl;dr Ungraded or C-tier S2. Pass on S1 unless waifu.