Kazemaru

Introduction

Kazemaru
SpecialistDollkeeper
Rarity: 5 stars
Rarity: 5 stars
Regular Attack
Physical Damage
Position
Melee

Kazemaru is a Dollkeeper Specialist who trades some Substitute survivability for higher damage potential. Her skills have easy-to-manage HP reductions and fast cycles, and her Substitute is more offensively focused, dealing a burst of Arts damage on deployment. She’s easier to keep alive than her peers and performs well as a permanent blocker on the field.

Trait:Does not retreat upon receiving lethal damage, instead swaps to a <Substitute> (Substitute has 0 Block). Swaps back to the original after 20 seconds

Operator Stats

Health
2372
Attack Power
772
Defense
318
Attack Speed
1.2 sec
Arts Resistance
0%
Block
2
Redeploy Time
70 sec
DP Cost
15
Range
Y1Y2
X1operator cellactive cell

Strengths

  • Trait allows for aggressive placement at little cost
  • S2 offers her an extended range thanks to the Substitute being able to spawn in the eight surrounding tiles
  • Damage output and fast skill cycling allow her to be a good alternative to usual melee DPS operators

Weaknesses

  • Noticeably lower survivability than most other melee DPS units due to HP loss on skills

Talents

From Paper Comes Life

When <Substitute> is summoned, it will deal 270% of its ATK as Arts Damage to enemies in the surrounding 8 tiles

The Substitute attacks with ranged physical attacks in the 8 surrounding tiles (meaning it can attack flying enemies) and has the same stats as Kazemaru herself. The AoE Arts damage when swapping is decent at killing any lesser enemies around her that could otherwise get past her on death, as well as at taking a chunk out of elite enemies. Due to the Subtitute’s 0-block, the only real threats to it are ranged enemies, splash damage, and battlefield statuses.

Skills

Origami Art - Swift Strike

Offensive RecoveryAuto Trigger
Initial SP
0
SP Cost
2
Duration
Infinite

Increases the ATK of the next attack to 350%, and sacrifices 10% of this unit's HP

This skill is best in situations where you need consistent damage; the HP drain is both easy to heal, if you want to sustain her as a traditional blocker, and just enough to frequently swap to her substitute if that’s what you want to use her for. The multiplier allows her to cut through even the highest DEF when it triggers.

Skill Mastery

Recommended Rank
None
Priority
--

The skill performs worse against heavily armored targets than her S2 during skill uptime. While the masteries provide a very large increase to the multiplier, the most notable mastery level is M3 for the SP reduction, which is hard to justify for the vast majority of players.

Recommended Skill

Origami Art - Twin Shadows

Per Second RecoveryManual Trigger
Initial SP
15
SP Cost
20
Duration
20 sec

Immediately sacrifices 50% of this unit's current HP, gaining +120% ATK and summoning a <Substitute> on a surrounding melee tile to assist in combat

The skill starts with a decent amount of initial SP, allowing it to be activated soon after deployment to assassinate any dangerous targets in a forward position before she’s forced to swap. While it’s active, Kazemaru is effective against most enemies even up to high levels of DEF. It can also be used as an on-demand burst source of AoE Arts to clear a tight group of mob enemies or simply to deal damage in remote tiles.

The summoned Substitute isn’t the same as the one she swaps to on death. It cannot attack air units and doesn’t get the Module X Stage 1 multiplier, but still triggers her talent and inherits the skill’s attack modifier (applied before the talent’s multiplier). The summon is placed in one of the 8 surrounding tiles, prioritizing tiles with the enemy closest to the blue box, picking a random tile if no enemies are present. It cannot be deployed if there are no deployable tiles around Kazemaru.

Skill Mastery

Recommended Rank
None
Priority
--

The mastery modifier gains are decent, but the most significant aspect is the shorter initial charge time. It performs its role well enough at Skill Level 7 to make justifying the mastery investment difficult. Still, those wanting to get the most out of her should consider prioritizing this skill, as the gains matter a lot against high-end (>1000) DEF.

Modules

Kazemaru module

An Old Thing

PUM-X

Attack Power
+65
Defense
+40
UpdatedTrait
Instead of retreating when defeated, switch to a <Substitute> (Substitute has 0 Block, but ATK is increased) for 20 seconds before switching back to the original
UPDATEDTalent 1
When <Substitute> is summoned, it will deal 285% of its ATK as Arts Damage to enemies in the surrounding 8 tiles

This module offers increases to the Substitute’s damage with each level—the first stage benefits all Substitute attacks while also granting Kazemaru a good chunk of extra ATK and DEF, helping her dish out more damage and stay on the field more easily. Subsequent upgrades incrementally increase the talent effect’s multiplier.

Recommended Stage
Stage 1
Priority
Low

Stages 2 and 3 don’t do enough to justify the cost. Stage 1 is the most cost-effective because it offers a significant improvement to her damage output everywhere through the stat increase and Substitute multiplier for the lowest cost.


External LinksAceshipPRTS
Last updatedSeptember 24, 2022