Cantabile

Introduction

Cantabile
VanguardAgent
Rarity: 5 stars
Rarity: 5 stars
Regular Attack
Physical Damage
Position
Melee

Cantabile is an Agent Vanguard capable of quickly generating DP and dealing damage in short bursts with her skills. Her specialty is providing the first DP burst in a stage. Thanks to this she can be extremely valuable in stages with tight openings due to her burst DP generation and low initial DP cost. Cantabile is best used in stages with early rushes of enemies or with a high HP enemy spawning early due to her way of generating DP.

Trait:Has reduced Redeployment Time, can use ranged attacks

Operator Stats

Health
1917
Attack Power
590
Defense
297
Attack Speed
1 sec
Arts Resistance
0%
Block
1
Redeploy Time
35 sec
DP Cost
10
Range
Y1Y2Y3
X1operator cellactive cellactive cell

Note: This branch can attack airborne enemies.

Due to Cantabile’s DP generation being tied to the number of attacks she performs, some players might think that they should keep her at a lower level to allow for more attacks before the enemy dies. Realistically though, you will want to raise her to at least E2, as she greatly benefits from masteries—much more than simply getting in a few more attacks on an enemy. Cantabile can also double as a DPS unit, so purposefully not leveling her strips her of that role. Generally it is advised to simply upgrade Cantabile and put her up against tankier or higher-in-number targets if what you need is pure DP generation.

Strengths

  • One of the fastest sources of initial DP generation if attacking constantly
  • Able to deal significant damage up to medium armor enemies while skills are active
  • Camouflage effect from S2 can protect her from ranged threats, making it easier for her to fulfill her job of dealing damage and generating DP

Weaknesses

  • S1 is a passive on-deployment skill, needing her to be redeployed to continue DP generation; recurring redeployment cost makes this inefficient long-term
  • Weak DPS off-skill

Talents

Protean

ASPD +12 when not blocking an enemy, ATK +12% when blocking an enemy

This talent is built to give a decent increase to DP generation against enemies at range and help dispatch them quicker if they reach her. The extra ATK is more valuable than the ASPD in terms of DPS due to her relatively low base attack; it helps deal with higher DEF enemies.

Skills

Penetrating Gaze

Passive
Initial SP
0
SP Cost
0
Duration
20 sec

After deployment, ATK +100%. Generates 1 DP after each attack

Cantabile's S1 (in optimal conditions) is currently one of the best DP generation tools in the starting moments of a stage, even if it doesn’t hold up beyond the first few activations due to redeployment. Her first deployment with it is best used to generate DP when her cost is the lowest for a fast initial burst, while subsequent deployments leave her open to act as a fast-redeploy assassin. With this skill equipped, she can be frequently repositioned around the map to generate a bit of DP and dispatch enemies from a short range.

Being an on-deployment DP-generation skill, it’s quite valuable to players who don’t own Bagpipe or can’t fit her into a team. Cantabile will be great in situations that benefit from a quick opening, so long as she has targets to hit early on.

Skill Mastery

Recommended Rank
Mastery 3
Priority
Low

The masteries grant her a total of 3-4 extra attacks (and subsequently DP), depending on whether or not she has the talent’s ASPD bonus, significantly increasing its damage and DP output. The low recommendation stems from the fact that, for the purposes of most players, it can be used comfortably at SL7 in general content. There aren't a lot of story or event stages in the game with a powerful early rush that would require Cantabile's strong initial DP burst.

Recommended Skill

Specular Reflection

Per Second RecoveryManual Trigger
Initial SP
20
SP Cost
25
Duration
0 sec

ATK +40%, ASPD +50, gains Camouflage. Generates 1 DP after each attack.
Skill activation grants 18 ammo and the skill ends when all ammo is used (Can manually deactivate skill)

This skill serves a similar role to S1, with some key differences that make it more flexible and allow Cantabile to more easily generate DP. The camouflage protects her from ranged enemy attacks and the lesser ATK buff and higher ASPD allow her to get more hits in on an enemy before they die. S1 may generate more DP than S2 on the first use due to the ammo limitation, but overall DP generation is better for S2 due to Cantabile not strictly needing to be redeployed. She can still serve her fast-redeploy assassin role decently when faced against low to medium armor enemies.

Regardless of masteries, if Cantabile is constantly attacking, the skill will take about 12 seconds to run out of ammo. This means it has faster DP generation than S1, but it’s capped by the ammo in a single cycle. After you’re done setting up, Cantabile can still be used as a fast-redeploy assassin due to the short initial cooldown of the skill, but will be less effective than S1 due to the lower ATK buff.

Skill Mastery

Recommended Rank
Mastery 3
Priority
Medium

Mastery levels are more or less linear in terms of gains in both DP generation and damage, so feel free to stop at any point and upgrade further as needed. M3 is recommended and should be treated with a medium priority if you want to use Cantabile effectively.

Synergy

Bagpipe

6VanguardCharger

Bagpipe’s synergy stems from Cantabile S2 having high initial SP. It works right out of the box, since even a potential 1 Bagpipe reduces the initial cooldown of the skill at SL7 to 2 seconds. When at M2+ the skill can be activated instantly, however if Bagpipe is potential 5 or higher, it’s instantly ready as low as SL7.

ASPD Buffers

ASPD buffs help with Cantabile’s DP generation with both skills. They are a lot more notable with S1 but still help S2’s cycling time. Unfortunately ASPD buffs are rare, and often come with low numbers, however, even these small buffs will help Cantabile. A notable mention is Saileach, who passively buffs the ASPD of allies around her ensign. While the ensign can be moved around with Saileach’s skills, it can be a good strategy to deploy these two next to each other.


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Last updatedJanuary 17, 2023