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Module Ratings - Somniloquium Serenum
Ratings and discussion of the Operator Modules introduced in the "Somniloquium Serenum" patch [Arknights]
Mal.io Introduction
Heya all, Mal here with another Modules writeup! This time around is the Ave Mujica collaboration event: Somniloquium Serenum. This patch doesn’t come with any Modules for a whole Branch, just Modules for new Operators and second Modules for existing Operators. However, the collab brings with it a staggering five new units, so we still have a fair amount to talk about!
The new Operators are Sakiko Togawa, Mutsumi Wakaba, Uika Misumi, Umiri Yahata, and Nyamu Yūtenji,. For simplicity’s sake, I will be referring to them by their given names after this point (Sakiko, Mutsumi, etc). Furthermore, Blaze and Virtuosa also received their second Modules.
The new Operators have a shared “Fever” mechanic, a shared gauge that each of them has a method of charging up. Once the gauge fills, activating any one of the Ave Mujica Operator’s skills will forcibly activate the skills of all Ave Mujica Operators for 20 seconds without consuming SP. This mechanic heavily incentivizes you to play them together, as doing so can allow you to chain together all their skills very rapidly and consistently, even when some of them have higher SP costs. A consequence of this mechanic is that most of the Ave Mujica Operators are clearly balanced with this mechanic in mind, being quite good while used alongside their bandmates, and much less impressive without them.
Sakiko and Mutsumi are the primary exceptions, both being incredible performers (for their respective rarities) regardless of whether used alongside their bandmates (though they do still benefit).
Sakiko is a 6★ Lord Guard who has a combination of incredible DPS and very strong DEF/RES-ignore in her kit. She has powerful Physical and Arts damage options depending on her skills, and also provides very impressive support to the rest of the Ave Mujica Operators, but also performs excellently without them. Her Module is downright amazing, hands-down the strongest one I’ve done a write up about. As mentioned, she has strong DEF/RES-ignore, and this Module doubles her DEF-ignore (up to 60%) and increases her RES-ignore by half (up to 30% RES-ignore). The precise DPS increase of this upgrade varies depending on the defensive stats of the target, but it can result in absurd DPS increases especially against beefy targets, the sort where her DPS numbers are likely to matter most anyway. This Module is the most emphatic yes recommendation I have ever given in the history of writing this guide.
Mutsumi is a 5★ Dollkeeper Specialist, and is, for her rarity, also very strong. She combines very good survivability with great DPS and has amassed an impressive number of records since being introduced on the CN server. Unfortunately (or fortunately for your Module Blocks), her Module is fairly underwhelming, leaning far more into her bulk than her DPS, and not improving it enough to make a huge difference in her performance. The Trait upgrade is nice and could be considered a nice value option, but the upgrades are really quite pitiful.
Uika is a 5★ Bard Supporter who is pretty good outside of Ave Mujica, but quite impressive inside that team. Her Module is a bit of a mixed bag, the Bard Trait upgrade is always good, but the impact of the Talent upgrades will be a little inconsistent depending on your use of her. Basically if you’re using all the Ave Mujica Operators, you might not get much use from the Upgrades, but if you’re using some of them with her, then it might be helpful, but if you don’t use any of her bandmates with her, then it goes back to being underwhelming. Overall players who do plan to mix it up with the Ave Mujica Ops will probably want this one but it isn’t quite as much of an easy win as some of the others.
Umiri is a 5★ Ambusher Specialist, and is a decent Operator. She’s quite good, especially when used alongside her bandmates, combining decent damage and crowd control. Luckily for her, she got a pretty decent Module that leans into everything she does, though in general both she and her Module are a little lower priority if you don’t plan to use her with any Ave Mujica Operators.
Nyamu is a 5★ Earthshaker Guard, and is kinda a dud Operator sadly. She can ride the high of her fellow bandmates’ buffs and perform fine when used in an Ave Mujica team but even there she’s really getting carried hard. Her Module doesn’t really change any of this unfortunately. The Trait upgrade is fine I guess but not enough to overcome how not worth building Nyamu is overall, and it won’t do enough to make her feel better to use.
And of course, the existing Operators: Blaze and Virtuosa. Both of these got pretty “meh” Modules in my estimation, and they share the same flaw. They could be good in a vacuum, but they both pale in comparison to the first Modules and seem out of step with the way these Operators are actually used, instead favoring some hypothetical other playstyle, without providing quite enough to make that theoretical playstyle appealing.
Blaze’s Module goes almost all in on survivability, giving her another revive and some damage resistance, but honestly this Module pales in comparison to her first. It does technically give her some DEF-ignore so it’s not entirely defensive focused but the DEF-ignore is substantially weaker than the offensive bonuses her X Module provides. Generally, this second Module just doesn’t fit well with the “AFK laneholder” style of play most people actually use Blaze for.
Virtuosa’s Module is a bit more complicated, but with the same verdict. This Module seems to encourage Virtuosa’s combination gameplay alongside other Necrosis units, improving Necrosis Injury map wide (but who else does a good job applying Necrosis other than Virtuosa?), and improving the burst DPS of Elemental Damage on enemies undergoing Necrosis Burst (typically from a partner such as Nymph). This latter use case is the more interesting one, but ultimately fails to be compelling most of the time due to the competition from Virtuosa’s X Module which substantially speeds up Necrosis Injury, leading to faster (and sometimes multiple) Necrosis Bursts than with this Module. There are niche scenarios where that slower but bigger damage Necrosis could come out ahead, but they are the exception rather than the norm. This Module is probably only for those who have very specific use cases in mind, not for those who want to use Virtuosa on a day to day basis.
Ratings System
This rating system aims to capture both the relative “meta value” of a unit as well as the strength of a Module. My aim is to have the ratings give an at a glance understanding for those just trying to figure out what is “good”, while those already interested in a unit regardless of the meta value of said unit, can read the detailed write-up of each Module to find out if it’s right for them, even if it’s a Module on a relatively low value Operator.
Each Module will be given a rating of [YES], [MAYBE], or [NOT RECOMMENDED] for whether it is worth building, as well as a recommended level to upgrade it to.
For Specialized Modules, ratings are given with the assumption that players are interested in the applicable game mode (for example Integrated Strategies).
Ratings
New Operators
Sakiko Togawa
A Silent Pact
LOR-Y
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Sakiko’s kit has a fair amount of complexity, but little of it matters for her Module. A substantial portion of her strength comes from her DEF/RES-ignore Talent, and this Module upgrades it significantly. As a result this Module is essential.
The Trait upgrade of this Module grants Sakiko +12 ASPD when there are 2 or more enemies within her range. Sakiko’s skills are all Offensive Recovery type, and thus this extra ASPD, when active, can substantially reduce her skill downtime, while also increasing her DPS during skill uptime. It should also be noted that Sakiko’s Talent allows her to “share” range with fellow Ave Mujica Operators as long as their ranges overlap, and this Trait applies to that expanded range.
The Talent upgrade of this Module has two features. First, Sakiko no longer deals reduced damage via ranged attacks while her skills are active, removing the archetypical downside of Lord Guards. This alone results in a substantial damage improvement for Sakiko, as her long range means a great deal of the time she will be dealing damage at range. It should be noted that Sakiko is unusual for obtaining this feature via her Module, rather than from her base kit somewhere. Secondly, her DEF/RES-ignore portion of the Talent is improved. Not only is the magnitude of each stack increased to 5% DEF/2.5% RES (up from 3%/2%) ignored per stack, but also the total number of stacks is increased up to 12 (from 10). This results in a peak DEF/RES-ignore of 60%/30% (up from 30%/20%). This increase is downright enormous, and while the resulting DPS increase varies depending on enemy DEF and RES, against enemies worth worrying about the improvement is generally huge.
Simply put, this Module is one of the largest upgrades of any Module on any Operator in Arknights. There is no meta reason for anyone who builds Sakiko to skip this Module. It should be considered extremely high priority.
Mutsumi Wakaba
New Friends
PUM-Y
Rating
Maybe
Recommended Level
Level 1
Mutsumi is a very powerful 5★ Dollkeeper who is very difficult to kill and has impressive DPS all in one package. Her Module leans substantially more into this first portion of her design. While it certainly does make her beefier, it’s often unnecessary and doesn’t improve her DPS at all (not even a base ATK stat).
The Trait upgrade of this Talent grants Mutsumi’s Substitute an extra 15% HP. This simple upgrade is potentially helpful for Mutsumi surviving in doll form in some dangerous scenarios, but considering how her Talent focuses on reducing the time she spends in it, this upgrade should not be considered essential.
The Talent upgrade of this Module upgrades the DEF buff for both Mutsumi and her Substitute contained in her Talent, up to +26% DEF (from +20%). This upgrade brings her DEF up to 504 from 438 (most of this comes from the Module giving base DEF). This upgrade is fairly underwhelming in practice, despite being a 15% increase. Furthermore, if players are trying to use her tanking oriented S1 (instead of her more commonly used DPS-oriented S2), this buff is substantially diluted by the +DEF% contained within that skill. Players attempting to use Mutsumi in every single stage might notice the fringe cases where the extra bulk matters, but it won’t most of the time.
Overall this Module is fairly underwhelming, despite Mutsumi being one of the more powerful 5★s. It leans extremely hard into Mutsumi’s bulk, without upgrading it enough to matter. The Trait upgrade is a possible “bang for your buck” upgrade for those who plan to use her a fair amount, while the upgrades should be skipped by all but the most dedicated fans.
Uika Misumi
The Meaning of Divination
BAR-X
Rating
Maybe
Recommended Level
Level 3
Uika is a decent Operator with a healthy mix of healing, buffing, and DPS in her kit. Her Module is alright, but has inconsistent value depending on the circumstances, especially whether or not she is being used alongside other Ave Mujica Operators.
The Trait upgrade of this Module grants Uika +8% ATK when there are 2 or more Operators within range. This simple and straightforward upgrade helps Uika do basically everything, heal, buff, and deal damage. Its only downside is the scenarios in which Uika only has one ally in her range, but these are arguably poor use cases for Bards anyway.
The Talent upgrade decreases the interval of her special heal that Uika gets from her Talent. She will heal an ally with the lowest amount of HP within range for 30% of ATK every 3 seconds (reduced from 4). This being on top of Uika’s Bard healing does mean that the total healing improvement isn’t as large as it might immediately seem, but the interval reduction of this special auto-heal lets Uika generate Fever for the Ave Mujica Operators much faster (she generates Fever when healing fellow Ave Mujica Operators). However, this Talent improvement has a major downside. This special heal is only active when Uika is off-skill. When she is on-skill, her actions are all dictated by intervals specified by her two skills. The reduced interval does mean that Uika will be more effective at generating Fever for her bandmates, but contradictorily, more time spent in the Fever mode (when the points are at maximum) means more time Uika will spend on-skill, where this Talent upgrade doesn’t matter. The value of this upgrade will thus vary depending on how much the player is relying on Uika as a Fever generator, if they plan to use teams with already plenty of Fever generation, then this Talent upgrade can be considered fairly unimportant, but if the player plans to use Uika as part of a smaller group of Ave Mujica members then her increased Fever generation can be very impactful.
Overall, this Module’s value highly depends on how invested the player is in using the Ave Mujica Operators together. Outside of that squad, Uika’s value is considerably lower, though she does function as a decent enough Bard even without her bandmates. However her Module, especially the Talent upgrades, are much less useful outside of Ave Mujica teams. It should be noted that one of her bandmates, Sakiko, is an extremely strong Operator and very worth using, so players won’t have to go too far out of their way to justify using Ave Mujica units. All that makes this Module a somewhat murky proposition that players should give consideration to but not necessarily always invest in.
Umiri Yahata
Extra Training
AMB-Y
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Umiri is a decent Operator, an archetypical example of the Ambusher Branch, combining damage and crowd control. It should be noted that she is probably the Ave Mujica Operator of the bunch that is the most reliant on their Fever mechanic, which can get them “free” skill activations when they, as a group, accumulate enough points. So those not planning to use Umiri alongside her bandmates should consider both her and her Module lower priority. All that said, her Module is pretty good, leaning into both her strengths.
The Trait upgrade of this Module gives Umiri 65% Physical/Arts dodge (up from 50%). This is primarily a comfort upgrade, as dedicated players can reset to get all the dodges they need in tight clears, and so instead it just means on average she’ll require less attention when placed in dangerous positions.
The Talent upgrade of this Module improves Umiri’s crowd control Talent, increasing the % chance of Sluggish infliction to 30% (up from 21%). When considered, especially alongside her expanded range and multi-hits, this upgrade can noticeably improve Umiri’s reliability in slowing down enemies.
Lastly, this Module also grants Umiri some ASPD in its base stats. This helps Umiri charge her skill, and makes it more likely that she can get in hits before an enemy leaves her range, especially when considering her Sluggish application, and, of course, it increases her DPS.
Overall this is a fairly simple but effective Module, giving Umiri basically everything she could want. Anyone who plans to build and use Umiri should probably build this Module as well.
Nyamu Yūtenji
A Young Wheat
HAM-X
Rating
Not Recommended
Nyamu is easily the most underwhelming of the Ave Mujica units, being a very underwhelming unit who most players will get little use out of other than those with the desire to field the complete Ave Mujica team. Her Module does far too little to change this state of affairs.
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases the ATK of Nyamu’s attacks by 115% when there are 3 or more enemies within the splash area of her Earthshaker hits. This damage increase is nice but nowhere near enough to make Nyamu’s damage noteworthy.
The Talent upgrade of this Module improves Nyamu’s Fragile infliction, increasing the chance of application per attack to 15% (up from 10%), the magnitude to 12% (up from 8%), and duration to 3s (up from 2s). Frankly, even if this Talent had a 100% chance of activation it would be just “pretty good”, but with a 15% chance of activation it’s a pitiful afterthought that players won’t be able to rely upon.
Players who, for whatever reason, adore Nyamu, will definitely want to pick up her Trait upgrade as it is a pretty noticeable damage upgrade in AoE, but for everyone else, Nyamu and her Module both are probably not worth building.
Second Modules
Blaze
'I'll be right back'
CEN-Y
Rating
Not Recommended
As a Year 1 Operator, Blaze is up against quite steep competition from the newer members of the cast, however more importantly, this second Module of hers is up against strong competition from her first Module. In a vacuum, the features of this Module might seem appealing, but they’re almost always inferior to that of the X Module.
The Trait upgrade of this Module reduces the amount of Physical damage taken by 20% above 50% HP. This is a nice dash of survivability sprinkled on top of Blaze’s kit, slightly marred by an anti-synergistic conditional. Blaze will only be able to really take advantage of this condition when either the incoming damage is very low, or when she’s being healed, and in those scenarios it’s very unlikely she needs the extra defensive utility. There’s only a very narrow set of circumstances where she’ll be taking just the right amount of damage that this damage reduction will keep her alive but she would have died otherwise. The 50% threshold does synergize with the Talent upgrade described in the next section, but the bonus is still just not impactful most of the time.
The Talent upgrade of this Module improves Blaze’s “don’t die” Talent. The first time her HP falls beneath 25% or 50% for the first time, she restores 50% of her HP (once only per threshold) and prevents her HP from falling under 50% for 8 seconds. Additionally, it adds an entirely new feature. When her HP is above 50%, her Attacks will ignore 150 DEF. With this Module this Talent is now fairly jam-packed with features. The extra instance of invulnerability and an extra second of invulnerability to each instance seems impressive at first glance, but to be blunt this Talent is just out of step with how Blaze is actually used in Arknights. On utility or burst damage Operators who are deployed strategically across the map to take out key threats, a Talent like this could be extremely useful, but Blaze’s main role in Arknights for years now has been as a laneholder, typically used in “AFK” type setups. For such a role, this kind of emergency survivability is rarely useful, and even when it is, it’s not often worth the sacrifices given up by not using her other Module. Players might also see the DEF-ignore and assume that’s a significant damage improvement, but sadly it’s fairly underwhelming, especially when compared to the buffs offered by her X Module.
As mentioned before, this Module isn’t terrible in a vacuum, there might even be situations where, compared to her base kit, this Module helps her survive when she otherwise couldn’t. However another way to survive dangerous scenarios (or simply not leak enemies) is to do more damage, and in this respect this Module falls notably behind her X Module. It’s true that this Module gives her a little bit of DEF-ignore, whose condition is supported by the invulnerability, but that DEF-ignore falls significantly behind the plethora of offensive stats her other Module offers (more base ATK, an ATK% multiplier, a +ATK% modifier, and more ASPD). Most importantly, doing more damage is almost always useful in any stage the player might want to use Blaze in, while the extra survivability will only be useful in a handful of stages. Blaze only needs one HP to stay alive, but killing the enemies faster reduces the need for more survivability and healing, and just generally makes maps go more smoothly. This Module offers far too little compared to Blaze’s X Module, outside of Blaze maximalists who need to be able to use her on every stage and are willing to experiment with which Module works better where, this Module should be considered an easy skip.
Virtuosa
'Tuning on the Heart'
RIT-Y
Rating
Not Recommended
Virtuosa kicked off the adventure that is Elemental Damage in Arknights. Prior to her, it was a niche feature with poor applicators, but Virtuosa demonstrated the power of rapid and wide range Necrosis induction. However, being first also has downsides. In the time since then, a variety of other Operators utilizing Elemental Damage have come about, and a majority of them now don’t even use Necrosis. As a result of the way Elemental Damage types conflict with each other, this has significantly hurt Virtuosa’s use cases, and unfortunately this Module doesn’t do anything to change that, generally being inferior to her X Module for the scenarios she’s used in. In theory, this Module is more useful for map wide Necrosis support instead of focused Necrosis Burst application, but the Necrosis Damage units generally prefer to be used together rather than spread out across the map, or if they are used independently, don’t generally rely on this sort of support.
The Trait upgrade of this Module inflicts enemies within Virtuosa’s range with 10% Elemental Fragility. To be clear, what that accomplishes is a 10% amplification of the Elemental Damage (damage done to enemy health bars) once Elemental Burst is inflicted. While this might seem like a win for Virtuosa, the extra Elemental Damage is generally not worth the slower Necrosis Injury giving up her X Module entails. This Module substantially reduces the reliability of inflicting Necrosis Burst in one activation of her S1, and also increases the number of Necrosis Injury ticks needed to induce Necrosis Burst using her S3 (especially against Elites). In most cases, inflicting Necrosis Burst more rapidly is far more valuable than a 10% amplification of the Necrosis damage.
The Talent upgrade of this Module affects her second Talent, changing it to make enemies anywhere on the field take 20% more Necrosis injury, and take an additional 150 Elemental Damage per second during Necrosis Burst. The first effect may sound impressive, but Virtuosa herself is by far the best Necrosis Injury applicator, a 20% increase to a sub-par applicator is generally not particularly noteworthy. The second feature, completely new from this Module, is more impactful, as it, especially together with the Trait upgrade, results in a substantial increase in the baseline Elemental Damage taken by enemies suffering Necrosis Burst. It should also be noted that this extra damage is treated as a separate instance of damage from the normal Necrosis Burst damage, and therefore can be useful for combatting hitcount type enemies.
When Virtuosa is being used against slow or stationary enemies where her Necrosis Injury speed is less impactful, then this Module could be appealing as it noticeably increases the damage of each Necrosis Burst. But in many such scenarios it’s probably also feasible for Virtuosa with her X Module to inflict two instances of Necrosis Burst, so unless this Module also has time to do so, her first can still often come out ahead. More importantly, in more realistic scenarios with multiple, faster moving enemies, the speed of Necrosis Burst application is critical, and the advantages of her first Module start to outshine this one fairly substantially. Simply put, the way Virtuosa is actually used is out of step with what this Module attempts to accomplish. For a more typical Virtuosa usage, such as her S1, this Module is strictly inferior to her first. There might be a few scenarios where maximizing Virtuosa’s S3 damage or synergizing with Nymph S3 is exactly what is needed, and this Module can shine. However in most cases this Module comes out behind Virtuosa’s first. Until players run into those specific scenarios this Module is probably best skipped.