JP character impressions (We're back)

Winter Yuni and onwards will have some elemental thoughts included. Older ones will retroactively have these thoughts added.

Phantom Thief Inori Dark

PT.Inori

Pros:

  • Deals big damage
  • Guarantees her own crits and buffs crit damage
  • Boosts Own TP
  • Good positioning, not in front of Kaori (2nd furthest back front line unit, only X.Kurumi is behind her)

Cons:

  • Selfish damage dealer (All buffs are to self)
  • No 6* Stats
  • S2 (350 TP Gain) happens every 6th action in loop

Saren/Akino Duo Fire

Akino/Saren

Pros:

  • Deals good damage
  • Has good skill loop
  • Buffs team physical crit rate and crit damage
  • Deploys healing field
  • Restores own TP for more Burn damage

Cons:

  • UB damage is based on HP (Does less damage at lower HP values)
  • Position might be awkward, but not awful

Pirate Shinobu Water

Pirate Shinobu

Figured it'd be worth explaining, but her SP1 gets used at first to mark all units with her strange debuff system. Every hit increases the amount of marks from this debuff system, to a cap of 15. UB removes 8 marks in exchange for more dmg. S2 removes 3 marks per use and S1 increase marks on an enemy by 2. I don't have her myself at this time, so I can't really be sure of the specifics of this mechanic. Referencing an Eruru video, her S1 technically applies 3 (2 from the skill, 1 from the enemy actually being hit.), whereas her S1 technically only costs 2, since it apples 1 and costs 3 total.
Since her UB hits 6 times total, you only really need 2 stacks on the boss before UB'ing to reach max dmg on it, as the marks are consumed on the final hit.

TL;DR for above : Mark system is simple once explained, but confusing at first glance

Pros:

  • Good single target debuffing (UB - 233 + S1 - 140 at max lvl = 373 p.def down)
  • Able to do damage to lifesteal in comps (Compared to Worker Aoi)
  • Skill loop allows for constant 140 p.def down to be applied
  • P.Def down not affected by how many marks get consumed
  • Restores her own TP by a bit
  • Good positioning for Physical comps (Stands behind Djeeta)

Cons:

  • Mark system requires a bit of setup
  • UB Damage can get gimped if enemy not at 2 stacks when UB'ing
  • Single target DPS/debuffer
  • Less debuffing than W.Aoi (373 vs 642)
  • Extremely low crit rate for an attacking unit (1315 vs 1246 for PT.Inori who gives herself guaranteed crits)
  • Only Shinobu can apply her marks

Pirate Anna Water

Pirate Shinobu

Pros:

  • Able to stack M.Atk and M.Crit dmg buffs on UB
  • Has Aoe Damage and debuff
  • Deals enough damage to lifesteal (If does not get oneshot)

Cons:

  • Front liner (Most likely not tanky enough for T4 tanking)
  • Loses 30% of HP on usage of Skill 2 (Can go up to max of 60% based on M.Atk)
  • Magical debuff value is 142, not great (Could work with Neneka)
  • May operate the same space as P.Yui (Multi-target DPS)
  • Stage Misaki's buff doesn't reach her
  • Requires lots of shields to make work

Camp Yukari Wind

Another Mark-based unit that is good in CB
Camp Yukari

Pros:

  • Does good damage (UB x3 on crits)
  • UB buffs all units P.Atk and Crits rate (If you have 3 of her marks)
  • Restores TP to three units and herself (Two if you have less than 3 marks)
  • S2 Buffs P.Atk of units that get affected (See above)
  • Good loop to give marks and TP buff

Cons:

  • Needs a bit of ramp up time to reach maximum efficiency

Camp Aoi Wind

An Arena specialist that doesn't seem to have a good spot because no CC and meh shield.
Camp Aoi

Pros:

  • Can increase own TP boost
  • Gives decent shield
  • Deals okay damage (better vs squishy targets)

Cons:

  • UB is only damage
  • No good CC for Arena
  • Barrier can get cancelled as it's her first skill

Vampy Dark

Unless the T4/T5 bosses don't somehow kill her or you need TP drain - she's a T3 specialist like Muimi in some cases.
Vampy

Pros:

  • Steals TP from boss
  • Decent attack loop
  • Decent M.atk buff for party
  • Good M.Def debuff in SP form

Cons:

  • Squishy (Probably not fit vs most T5 bosses)
  • Positioning is very far forward
  • Needs to tank in order to keep SP mode (Think of her as magic Muimi)

Swimsuit Hiyori Water

A physical frontline support. She's pretty far back in terms of positioning, but ultimately won't be used over Fes Yuni or Karin unless heals are needed instead of shields.
S.Hiyori

Pros:

  • Good buffs (UB, S1) increase based on targets affected (friendly units)
  • HP regen and instant heal
  • Action speed buff
  • Behind Djeeta

Cons:

  • Does no damage outside of autos
  • No shields to prevent damage
  • Buffs are very short range
  • No TP Gain/restore/regen buff

S.Hiyori

Swimsuit Rei Water

Crit damage monster and provides a buff on a skill that also does damage. If her S2 doesn't crit, you lose out on a lot of damage - Which is the whole point of the character. Probably will see use, but you can borrow her. It might mess with your boss routing though, depending on what units you have.
S.Rei

Pros:

  • Decent skill loop
  • Guaranteed crit damage on UB
  • Buffs own crit damage on S2
  • Buffs skills based on marks gained from UB
  • Buffs all units P.atk with S1 based on # of marks
  • Stands behind Djeeta
  • Buff range is good

Cons:

  • S2 16% damage increase only applies if S2 crits (No guarantee to crit)
  • No 6* stats
  • No way to increase TP given or taken
    S.Rei

Swimsuit Yui Water

A magic-specific support unit that has good buffs and is designed for long fights where she can continually dish out her smaller, but permanent buffs. This unit COULD have some level autism, due to the M.Atk crit damage increase being 1% and 100 TP gain being flat from level 1. That's just a theory, but did not occur during July 2022 CB. This does not mean it cannot happen in the future, so take that with a grain of salt. She can survive as a frontliner, to get even more buffing done. A very nice perma.
S.Yui

Pros:

  • Good in long fights where she can stack permanent buffs, due to skill loop
  • Flat 100 TP restoration
  • Barrier and HP regen are incredibly useful in T4/T5
  • Stands behind Angel Yori (can get taunt applied to S.Yui and eat attacks if she's tanky enough)
  • Buffs apply to all magic units, regardless of range

Cons:

  • Stands in front of NY.Neneka (Potential massive issue in comps and a big reason why level autism might happen)
  • Less effective in shorter fight, don't expect to see her in T1/T2/T3 6p routes
  • Only works with magic units (Ex. P.Kokkoro wouldn't get any TP or buffs due to her being physical)
  • No debuffs

S.Yui

Swimsuit Misogi Fire

Projected to be an Arena changer from a few players, S.Misogi's #1 fastest frontline stun is an important asset during stun wars. While Arena is moving away from this slightly due to the Miyako frontline craze, being able to reposition the backline units is a very powerful tool that can allow for new units to shine in arena - Either again or for the 1st time. The TP Drain and p.def reduction means she could even see usage in TP comps where you need more than just Tamaki TP drain for physical comps. Even if she's 1 Star, she'll still be useful.
S.Misogi

Pros:

  • S2 is an AOE stun and p.def down
  • Fastest stun in the game, see video for examples vs Inori, Mifuyu and Kasumi (https://youtu.be/qZ_G0V0Anxk?t=190)
  • Opening skills are S2 into S1
  • UB pulls furthest backline units closer forward
  • S1 is an AOE TP drain
  • Well-suited to current meta of opening skill dominance

Cons:

  • After initial opening, skill loop is poor
  • No 6* Stats
  • Low damage

S.Misogi

Swimsuit Mimi Water

Physical multi-target damage unit with utility and self buffs, S.Mimi might give Creditta a run for her money in terms of that debuffer slot. Initial trials indicate that as long as she can survive, she'll do massive damage and provide higher debuffs than Creditta. Though she has less team utility, the trade off is definitely worth it in some cases. That being said, Creditta is getting her UE in October, so keep an eye out for that. Here is an example of initial testing from Eruru with a full auto comp on July CB's Lion. https://youtu.be/uh-OGjFhrXM?t=652 - Multi-target units don't get more than 1 boss per month usually, so you may be able to get away with borrowing S.Mimi or simply avoiding that boss all together. This does mean your flexibility is lowered.
S.Mimi

Pros:

  • Huge multi-target damage
  • UB hits all targets, no range issues
  • Fantastic self-buffs on UB , S1 & S2
  • Debuffs on S2, UB
  • TP Boost to self on S1
  • Small party crit up buff

Cons:

  • Less party utility vs Creditta (No team TP regen, heal or shields)
  • S2 has a small range, so may not hit all targets

S.Mimi

Swimsuit Kyouka Water

A magic attacker with some debuffs and can attack multiple targets, S.Kyouka's gimmick is her ability to mark enemies with butterflies with each hit she does, up to a cap of 30 per enemy. These butterfly marks simply increase the amount of damage her skills and UB do. As her damage is split into 3 different calculations, she can theoretically go over soft cap 3 times on her UB & S2, while S1 is just 2 damage calculations. She's more or less a budget S.Kyaru 6 Star, but not as strong - based on initial impressions aside from some subpar FA comps. She'll need some favourable boss fights to muscle out S.Kyaru 6 Star, but it certainly isn't impossible if the stars align.
S.Kyouka

Pros:

  • Brings her own M.Def Down on S1
  • Good damage
  • Able to buff her own M.Atk permanently
  • Good skill loop
  • Extra stats for 6* Kyouka
  • Can break the soft cap on UB fairly easily

Cons:

  • Lacking 6* stats compared to magic competition
  • No utility outside of debuffs
  • Damage needs to ramp up to max 30 Butterfly marks

S.Kyouka

Ames Light

Ames is a pure support character that excels in keeping the team alive and dishing out TP to all members. Normally you'd think of defensive buffs and damage cuts in a negative light, but in Ames' case this could be the key to running Position 1 buffers to greater success. Her kit has a great amount of heals and barriers - Which Karin, Fes.Yuni, ST.Misaki (No healing), P.Kokkoro and S.Kokkoro (No barriers) lack. Her buffs are quite nice, though she is missing debuffs which can potentially hurt her usefulness on the physical side. On the magic side, Neneka offers a good chunk of debuffing on her own, meaning that it is less of a problem. O.Yuki can also work, as he offers an action speed buff. While she does zero damage, the buffs she hands out are incredibly powerful. Early testing has shown good results, so it's possible she'll be another pillar of supports like the ones mentioned above.
Ames

Pros:

  • Good skill loop
  • Barriers for squishier units to frontline
  • Defense buffs and damage cut
  • HP Regen for all units
  • HP restoration for lowest HP unit
  • Medium TP Boost to all team members
  • M.Atk & P.Atk increase to team and self.

Cons:

  • Opening skill rotation does not have TP buff, not great for short fights
  • Applies defensive buffs (this might not be an entirely bad thing, depends on T4/T5 comps)
  • No defense down debuffs vs enemies
  • No crit damage or crit chance increase

Ames

Explorer Maho Wind

Explorer Maho is mostly for buffing multi-target magic teams consistently, while giving them more TP. Her S2 gives TP to all units that are damaged, consuming the "unknown effects' applied by her S2. The issue with her S2 TP mechanic is that if units get damage blocked via barrier, they do not receive the TP from it. S2's base skill only restores 250 TP to Maho herself, meaning that her use in comps with a unit like Ames will be problematic. Given how strong T4/T5 bosses are and E.Maho being geared towards multi-target bosses, she may not see a ton of usage if bosses require barriers. However, her TP restoration is quite high if so, therefore you should be on the lookout for her to be a pretty good perma unit. Borrow-tier at least.

E.Maho

Pros:

  • Nice M.Aatk buff on UB & S1
  • 100 increase on M.Crit chance on S1
  • TP restoration to self for 250 on S2
  • If damage is taken while under the effects of S2, damaged units a small amount of TP

Cons:

  • Low damage
  • Units that don't take damage due to barriers do NOT receive the TP from S2
  • No defensive debuffs to enemies
  • No crit damage increase

E.Maho

Wild Matsuri Fire

A somewhat useful frontline tank, Wild Matsuri is mostly about dealing damage by herself and tanking with permanent p.def buffs and barriers to self. The barrier is important, because she's not necessarily as tanky as an X.Jun on pure stats alone. They also allow her to stay at lower HP for more damage, while preventing death. Mostly just seen as an OF unit, the 2s stun attached to her UB does hurt her quite a bit. She at least performs decently against Wyvern, compared to Goblin so far.

W.Matsuri

Pros:

  • UB deals a good amount of damage
  • Decent P.Def debuff
  • Buffs P.Atk for party on UB

Cons:

  • Stuns self on UB for 2s
  • Has to be at low HP to deal biggest potential damage on UB
  • No way to protect self from magic damage
  • Low utility for team buffs
  • No healing to self

Kaiser Insight Dark

The 2nd Extra unit in the game is clearly an Arena-focuse unit this time. Kaiser's entire kit revolves around fucking over the enemy team by increasing damage taken, removing their buffs, barriers or reducing their damage output and defenses. He shows up a decent amount in Arena solution and defenses, but there's no rush to unlocking him ASAP. His lack of any crowd control is what stops him from running over everything in Arena, luckily. Maybe we'll see him drain targets in CB against mutli-target bosses, but that's a pipe dream for fans of this character.

Kaiser

Pros:

  • Removes all Barriers on UB
  • Removes all stat up effects on UB
  • Steals 100 TP from all targets hit, but only gains 100 TP Total to self on S1
  • Reduces both defenses, both damage types Atk, and both damage type crit damage of all enemies hit by S2
  • Good 1st action skill (S2)
  • Clears barriers, then deals damage

Cons:

  • Squishy
  • Very far forward for a backline unit (Stands in front of Neneka)
  • No CC

Christmas Yori Wind

For a freebie unit, X.Yori actually has a lot going for her at a first glance. Unfortunately, magic teams are very consistent and replacing any of Ames/Neneka/NY.Neneka/Homare/NY.Homare/Pyaru/A.Yori/O.Yuki/Grea & Anne requires some sort of ridiculous standout skill like TP drain + something else. X.Yori does not possess anything like that. She's a good unit to have farmed in anticipation of her UE, but it'd take a lot to break through that magic team exclusive club.

X.Yori

Pros:

  • Big TP restoration (350) with an Action speed buff on S2
  • M.Def Debuff on UB
  • Decent M.Atk buff on S2

Cons:

  • TP restoration & Action speed buff only affects 1 unit
  • Low damage
  • M.Atk buff is not very big on S1

Christmas Akari Wind

X.Akari is what NY.Neneka would be if she traded her TP restoration and heal in for extra damage and had her M.Atk buffs capped based on skill level. She does have a nice perma M.Atk boost on 1st skill, but her TP boost increase being self only means that she lacks the team punch to replace NY.Neneka. There are already great Magic DPS units, so X.Akari needs the right circumstances in order to shine. So far, that hasn't happened and probably won't happen until her UE is released and gives her a way to restore TP to all teammates.

X.Akari

Pros:

  • Perma M.Atk for all units on S2, Self TP Boost buff
  • S2 only used once, allowing for better loop
  • S1 buff increased based on all friendly units' M.Atk
  • Can hit damage cap relatively often

Cons:

  • S1's M.Atk buff is capped out based on skill level
  • No TP Restoration to team/single member
  • NY.Neneka exists
  • No heal to be a true support

Christmas Jun Light

A tank that clearly has the dev team looking at making tanks more valuable. She's pretty much got everything you'd want a tank to do in modern Pincess Connect, aside from just having every single buff and being incredibly broken. You won't always need a tank, but X.Jun has proved twice in a row that when you do, she's an excellent choice. Full self-heal, buffs, TP restoration, self-barrier, the list goes on for reasons why you'd want this unit. At least she's a perma, but most likely will stick around for the future. Her TP restoration is on S1, so look forward to that UE as well.

X.Jun

Pros:

  • P.Def debuff on UB
  • Heals self on UB
  • Buffs closest unit & units near that one (150 range) with P.Crit Rate & TP restoration (80) on S1
  • Gives self barrier and buffs P.Crit damage to all friendly front targets near self (150 range)
  • Excellent positioning (She's right in front of Kaori)

"Cons":

  • Low damage
  • No Act.spd buff
  • Buffs have limitations on range

Grea/Anne Duo Fire

1st CB went well for Grea/Anne, as they dominated the B3 comps with a good comp against B4. The increase to damage based on stacks has been massive, because they can easily reach the damage cap. Combine this with the fact that their UB is split into two damage calculations like Eriko 6 Star and you get 2.2m UBs every so often. This does make them the focus of any comp they are in, but given their strength, that's not a bad thing. This is mostly due to common magic units having buffs attached to their skills/UBs (Ex. Neneka, NY.Neneka, Ames,) that can quickly stack up.
Grea/Anne

Pros:

  • Excellent loop
  • Good positioning (Behind NY.Neneka)
  • Permanent +15 TP Boost to self
  • Huge damage
  • UB damage is split into two damage calculations, bypassing the damage cap
  • Buffs M.Atk for teammates (Within 200 range of Grea/Anne)

"Cons":

  • Requires other units to provide buffs to hit max stacks from S2 quickly (Cap is 40)
  • No Debuffs

New Year's Mitsuki Dark

A somewhat interesting unit that's held back by being being a selfish P.DPS, NY.Mitsuki's focus is increasing the amount Critical Damage received by a unit. The mark system only needs her to use her S1 once to reach full stacks, so it shouldn't be a hindrance unless her 1st action S1 gets cancelled. Unfortunately, her skills are only 12s debuffs and the damage she deals isn't anything special. Unless she gets an amazing UE or we suddenly need to debuff enemies to bosses, she's on the shelf. We also already have Pirate Shinobu, who is getting a UE this year. This further nosedives any chance that she might sneak into a team comp, as P.Shinobu is already niche enough.
NY.Mitsuki

Pros:

  • Can debuff enemies to take 12% extra crit damage (6% from UB, 6% from S1)
  • P.Def debuff
  • UB permanently raises P.Atk & P.Crit rate per UB after having 1 Mark

Cons:

  • No buffs to teammates
  • Damage isn't great compared to lack of applicable utility
  • Competing against units that have better utility, like Djeeta/X.Miyako/Aki&Saren/Piyori/Shefi
  • Increased crit damage taken isn't a great debuff to have

New Year's Misato Light

NY.Misato is a support unit still looking to break through in CB and most likely had her thunder stolen by X.Miyako & Djeeta providing enough TP Gain for physical teams. While she does provide a small amount of TP restoration to all units and does boost TP Gain on UB - She's missing a barrier, which is pretty important for most team comps. Ames' reign is most likely holding back a chance of NY.Misato shining, but we may see her against Rairai if magic doesn't take a massive shit on Rairai again. Keep an eye out for her in the coming months, she's at least got potential in CB. Decent in full auto comps at the very least.

NY.Misato

Pros:

  • Good healing from UB (Heal over time) & S2 (Heals lowest % HP unit)
  • Good P.Atk buffs on UB, S1 & S2
  • P.Crit damage increase on S2
  • TP restoration on S1 (100) to all units
  • TP Boost increase (10) to all physical units

Cons:

  • P.Crit increase is a range based around target
  • No barrier
  • Skill loop starts off with 2 autos
  • M.Def buff isn't great, nor is it useful in most situation

New Year's Homare Fire

A multi-target magic damage dealer that has seen good initial usage. While she's still a bit more selfish overall, her UB having a M.Def debuff that scales with debuff value & damage based on number of targets makes her a prime candidate to be the M.DPS of choice against multi-target bosses. Compared to P.Yui, NY.Homare trades in less TP restoration for a smaller reliance on crits to increase her damage. Her dominance over Jan CB provided a good 1st look into the future. This also makes her a potent threat in Arena, because you're always fighting 5 enemies. This does also make comps mostly revolve around her, but she certainly has the firepower to make it worth it. Just wait for Tri-Rocket, Twin Pigs or Lion to see her start 1-tapping bosses.

NY.Homare

Pros:

  • Restores TP to Self on S1 (225)
  • Debuffs all enemies hit by UB (increased debuff & damage value based on # of targets damaged)
  • Raises own M.Crit damage & M.Crit Rate on S1
  • High damage in fights against multiple targets
  • Additional M.Def Debuff on S2
  • Good skill loop

"Cons":

  • No healing
  • Useless vs single target

Liberator Nozomi Light

Initial impressions show that this alt for Nozomi is probably a home run in CB, maybe P.Arena. The limitation of her skills being physical units only is a bit of a hindrance for B.Arena, though. Her position also messes with the traditional Saren/Ninon positioning( She is between them), but could still replace Saren. As for her comparison with S.Saren, Sex Nozomi's TP gain is slightly less - But it also provides a permanent p.def down debuff on all enemies. Being a limited, she's hard to pass up. Anything that gives TP and has a good UB/skills will get a fair look, just like X.Miyako after she received her UE. Given how low her damage is and the importance of each unit in physical comps, she could get reduce to an OF/T3 specialist like S.Saren. In fights where more healing is needed and Djeeta/X.Miyako provide enough TP gain, she may not have a spot. You may regret not getting this unit.
A final aside, her TP buff actually applies before S.Saren. This results in some back to back UB silliness, as you can see displayed here. https://youtu.be/XDW5v5bHMuY (Go to 7:03 in the video)

Sex.Nozomi

Pros:

  • Large TP buff on S2
  • Permanent debuff to all on S2
  • Good skill loop (S2 is 1st action)
  • Provides p.crit dmg up
  • Good positioning for Physical quad frontliner comps
  • TP boost skill keeps getting handed out at a reduced amount after initial boost
  • UB provided additional Def down

Cons:

  • No healing
  • No shields
  • Low-ish damage to heal self for T4/T5
  • Only useful for physical parties

Liberator Kaya Light

Sex Kaya shares a similar gimmick to her other versions - She does big damage on her first UB, then subsequent ones deal a reduced amount. Her skillset is useful for Arena from initial testing and could be seen in some OF Comps for physical multi-target due to this, but that 2nd part is pure speculation. Pairs well with S.Misogi against Inori lead, as yours S.Misogi will prevent Sex.Kaya from getting stunned (https://youtu.be/yk5TK5Phsj4?t=245). Her performance seems solely based on the initial UB window and cleaning up any weakened units with a follow up UB. The pushback on her UB helps with cleaning up further back units, which is a nice benefit. Good to farm, seems functional at 3* at the very least. With the 250 character orb for free from her event, this is a unit you probably don't want to pass up for P.Arena - Especially as a new player.

Sex.Kaya

Pros:

  • Big UB damage that reaches fairly far back (600 range)
  • S2 TP Boosts before S.Saren or Sex.Nozomi TP boost applies (Her TP boost value is 1000, so she gets a full TP bar)
  • Knocks back units by 300 to set up for next UB
  • S1 helps buff to compensate for lost damage a bit

Cons:

  • UB loses 50% damage after 1st use for all other uses
  • TP Boost on S2 goes down to 200 per usage
  • Needs help clearing tanky characters
  • Reliance on crit to clear units through shields from Ames
  • Countered by S.Misogi

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Liberator Muimi Light

Proven to be a great physical option so far, Liberator Muimi's role is that of a frontline damage dealer that wants to tank hits and lifesteal up. In that respect, she's similar to regular Muimi. Unlike regular Muimi, she gains a stronger debuff when transforming instead of just losing it. Not much to say, aside from the fact that the SP version of her skills have two damage calculations against the soft cap. This is a large reason why she's so good, because her SP form is just SP2 -> SP1 over and over for 15 seconds. She's a limited and will be back in August for her 6 month re-run.

Liberator Muimi

Pros:

  • Good Loop and initial attack pattern
  • SP form is just spamming damage skills for 15s
  • SP form skills have 2 damage calculations against the soft cap,
  • Increases own Action Speed by 80% which can stack with other Action speed buffs
  • Has a good p.def down debuff to one target
  • Buffs own P.Crit Damage, P.Crit Rate and P.Atk

Cons:

  • No Team utility outside of debuff (Buffs are to self, not team)
  • If cannot face tank, is somewhat hampered due to lack of SP form access (Still works decently vs Gobling for example)

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Misora Dark

The latest Prifes unit, Misora is a magic damage unit that has yet to break out, CB wise in a big way. However, her performance in
EX6 is no joke and could be a preview into what we could see, given the proper CB boss conditions. She mainly fills the role of a damage dealer/debuffer, but her buffs are permanent and applied throughout a fight. Unfortunately, her UB and S1 Target the 1st, 2nd & 3rd furthest enemies and this can impact her damage against mutlti-target bosses. The flip side of this is that it means she lacks the inconsistent targeting that an S.Kyouka might have.

Misora

Pros:

  • Large damage on UB and S1 that have 3 different damage calculations against soft cap
  • Conditionally lowers M.Def by a small amount on UB (See cons for condition)
  • Spams S1 in loop constantly after SP1 for consistency
  • Increase M.Crit Damage taken to units damaged by UB
  • S2 Buffs M.Crit Rate for entire party permanently (180s)

Cons:

  • SP buff/Mark only lasts 12s, which is the condition for UB & S1 to apply m.def shred
  • Does not offer any TP restoration or Boost increase

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Cafe Tamaki Wind

A multi-target physical specialist, Cafe Tamaki did very well against the beetle in March. She's a damage/support hybrid that heals, buffs p.atk and restores TP in favour of Crit damage/crti chance buffs, or p.def debuffs. While you can most likely borrow her, she's a perma that had an excellent showing on her first go. Definitely one to keep an eye out for.

Camaki

Pros:

  • Has TP restoration to party and self on S1
  • Deals good damage to mutli-target bosses
  • Buffs physical damage teammates on S2
  • Deploys a field buff with a radius of 150 that buffs P.Atk & restores HP
  • Places buff field after jumping to teammate with highest P.Atk (Cafe Tamaki does not count as a potential jump target)
  • TP boost to self increased based on number of teammates
  • Heals on UB, alongside good damage

"Cons":

  • Small radius on buff field
  • Requires specific P.Atk values to control who she jumps to
  • No p.def debuff skills

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Cafe Monika Wind

No one knows what they were thinking with this character. At first glance, Cafe Monika seems like a decent OF choice due to her debuffs and enormous P.Atk buff on S2. And then you read her skills, realizing that her S2 locks her into a dancing animation for 24 seconds, or until she gets hit 3 times. Just watch this to get an idea of what is being explained, it's really something that has to be observed. Theoretically, you can use Liberator Nozomi or Summer Saren to give her enough TP to cancel her S2 after the massive P.Atk buff is applied, but this sounds better than it actually is. Mostly due to damage cap.

Cafe Monika

Pros:

  • Good p.def debuff on UB & S1
  • Huge P.atk buff on S2
  • TP restoration to self for more UBs
  • P.Def buff to help squishier units in OF comps

Cons:

  • S2 locks her into a dancing animation for 24 seconds
  • S2 restores to only to self
  • Mediocre damage
  • No Crit damage increase
  • Nearly impossible to use in full auto comps, because she won't use UB until after finishing S2 (Unless she's set)

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Noir Shizuru Dark

Noir Shizuru appears to fail at doing her job of protecting your team from CC & physical damage. Purely designed for Arena purposes, her S1 is too slow to avoid the harsh reality of arena meta against a position 1 stunner. However, could see fringe usage against teams that can't stun her initially and use Miyako as their position one. Someone to re-visit when she gets her UE, or needs an Arena meta shift to push her into favour.

Noir Shizuru

Pros:

  • UB buffs P.atk of friendly units based on damage dealt, up to a cap
  • Heals self on UB
  • S2 bind has large range (600)
  • S1 deploys physical barrier and stops friendly units from being CC'd 3 times

Cons:

  • First action (S1) is stopped by common CC units like Inori, Mifuyu & Kasumi
  • Does not protect from MS.Kasumi, Overload Kyaru CC with first action (S1)

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Ranger Kokkoro Wind

Has some really nice buffs, but physical teams have some extremely competitive spots for supports that deal no damage. Even worse, her range is mostly around the backline and will be probably be slotted in with backline physical damage dealers like Cafe.Tamaki & Creditta. Similar to Stage Misaki, just without the TP restoration. Unfortunately, TP restoration is a fairly critical stat on most supports. Maybe check back once her UE comes in and it gives her TP restoration or something of that nature.

Ranger Kokkoro

Pros:

  • Buffs P.Atk, scaling based off of own P.Atk (Up to a cap of 120+120 x Skill Level) on UB
  • Buffs P.Crit rate on UB
  • Buffs P.Crit Dmg & P.Atk (similar functionality to UB) on S1
  • Has HP regen + dual dmg type Barrier on S2

Cons:

  • Short range on all abilities buff (100 near Ranger Kokkoro)
  • Positioned in the backline, between Creditta & Hatsune so won't buff frontline physical attackers like Christina or Djeeta
  • Supports like Ames are magic units, so her buffs don't help that scaling
  • Lacks TP Boost or Restoration buffs
  • Does not have large burst heal
  • Competing against other supports with more utility (Ex. Ames, S.Kokkoro, NY.Misato, Laby)

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Ranger Shiori Wind

Interesting choice to have a backline debuffer that also buffs herself only. If your units are getting fried because they're too far forward and backline targets don't get hit, you may see her pop in to provide a consistent stream of damage and debuffs. She's extremely squishy, so she'll probably need a setup where she won't be hit. A good example of this would actually be the demo that Cygames released to show her off. While she's not going to be dealing huge amounts of damage, having a nice, consistently safe output of debuffs does help full auto comps quite a bit. Keep an eye out for her against fights like Sky Valkyrie in November, most likely paired with Christina. There are certainly opportunities for her to be a borrow tier character.
Ranger Shiori

Pros:

  • Deals good damage on UB & S1
  • Give self TP on S1 & S2
  • Permanently increase P.Crit Damage & P.atk on every S2 usage
  • Good P.Def down on UB & S1

Cons:

  • Low crit chance on base stats
  • No buffs to crit chance, which can make her P.Crit dmg increase meaningless
  • No team buffs
  • Very frail, cannot be used in comps where she gets hit more than once until healed

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Fallen Riri Dark

TL;DR If you're ultra conversative with your gems and hate rolling for permas, wait for training mode before deciding to roll her. But she's a good permanent unit.
Able to summon two "Shadow" versions of herself, Fallen Riri can output a surprising amount of damage and still dish out consistent buffs and debuffs. The individual numbers are not super impressive, but the idea is that them being used x3 is incredibly effective. Somewhat comparable to Neneka in that sense, but missing any sort of TP Boost/restoration in her kit. The most intriguing part of her kit is that she can dodge certain CC, thanks to her SP skill (Misaki 6* curse & Hex do not apply to her, for example.). And also like Neneka, her Shadows can be used to tank autos from bosses. However, these do not spawn far enough to be placed in front of units like Djeeta, or Piyori as examples. Overall, she seems like a solid unit on release. A TP restoration/TP boost buff from her UE could skyrocket her into must have status next year, because anything her S1+ gets, her shadows will also receive.

Fallen Riri

Pros:

  • Deals good damage when both shadows are up, on UB
  • S2 deals good damage (With her shadows dealing a bit less damage)
  • Consistent buff and debuff application
  • Shadows spawn 50 & 100 units in front of her, allowing for some potential front lining duties (compare to Neneka, could be used with position 1 Aki/Saren, or Monika 6*?)
  • Can dodge debuffs/CC with SP skill
  • Good skill loops that also apply to her Shadow

Cons:

  • Low crit chance on base stats
  • No TP-related buffs
  • Lacking shields or healing
  • UB does low damage when not buffed by having two shadows
  • Needs to get her Shadows out ASAP to benefit, meaning she may likely be paired with L.Nozomi exclusively
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Alchemist Karin Dark

Karin's gimmick is that she's a support meant to sustain teammates via heals and defensive buffs, while weakening the enemies with debuffs. Unfortunately, these kinds of buffs aren't typically useful in most scenarios. Even when these are useful, she's possibly going to be subjected to skill level autism due to the way TP Gain is calculated in relation to defensive buffs. (Ex. being A.Yori, Maho, Ames) As she is a welfare unit, she's most likely designed to not be strong. Unless they give her some sort of TP on her UE next year, you probably won't see her. The best you can hope for, is a way for new players to combat massive damage and clear stuff earlier than expected

Alchemist Karin

Pros:

  • HP regen, M.Atk & P.Atk buffs on UB
  • M.Def & P.Def debuff on S1
  • Heal on S2
  • Debuffs hit all enemies in front of Karin (So if Rima is behind her, she won't get hit by the debuffs)

Cons:

  • Skills only apply to units in front of her
  • Has M.Def & P.Def buffs on S2
  • Has M.Atk & P.Aatk debuffs on S1 (Could be considered a Pro for P.Arena)
  • No TP Restoration, Regen or Boost buffs
  • No Shields
  • No action speed buff
  • Strange positioning (Mid, behind Ceremonial Yui & front of H.Rin)
  • No CC to assist in Arena 1st turn
  • Slow 1st action
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Warlock Djeeta Dark

TL;DR Somewhat comparable to NY.Neneka, but with less potency in exchange for targeting all friendlies with S2 buffs instead of only highest M.Atk unit like NY.Neneka. Her positioning is complete ass in a general sense.
If you were to look at her skills individually, they actually look pretty good. Unfortunately, Djeeta's S2 is extremely reliant on her having her Seal active. Without it, her S2 loses half its potency in all aspects except the TP Restoration.
Her TP restoration is 5 less than X.Miyako (75 vs 80), meaning it's certainly not bad. One of the big highlights is that her M.Crit dmg increase can get to 20%, which is 5% higher than NY.Nenenka's across her S1+ & UB (15% to a single target). Her positioning is a large issue, considering that she can't tank at all and stands in front of two common slot 1 units - NY.Neneka & Angel Yori.
Overall, she's not a home-run out of the gate. Magic teams have incredibly steep competition for team slots. The staples of Neneka/NY.Neneka/Ames/ST.Misaki/GreAnne would need a reason to include Warlock Djeeta over any of them. Given that she has TP restoration, this isn't unthinkable - But would require scenarios where you can get away with running less healing/shielding and more offense, or NY.Neneka isn't functional. For the Arena enthusiasts, she most likely is useless.

Warlock Djeeta

Pros:

  • UB buffs self M.atk and adds a Seal (mark) to self, in order to buff S2
  • Good M.Def debuff on S1 that is AOE
  • Good M.Atk, M.Crit Chance & M.Crit Damage increase from S2
  • S2 values are enhanced with Seal active (Values are doubled, aside from the TP restoration)
  • TP restoration to all on S2
  • Stands behind some magic tanks (Monika 6 Star, Noir Kuuka, X.Mahiru)
  • M.Crit rate & Crit dmg increase
  • Pumps out decent damage

Cons:

  • Defensive buffs on both sides
  • Reduces M.Atk of enemies (Most bosses deal physical, so not always relevant)
  • Stands in front of NY.Neneka and Angel Yori
  • Significantly squishier than NY.Neneka (-7013K HP, - 240 P.def & -332M.Def compared to NY.Neneka)
  • S2 is only half effective when applied without her seal buff
  • UB Seal only lasts 18s
  • S1 field only lasts 12s
  • HP Bond stories (Could be a buff for Djeeta 6 Star, probably not.)

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Vikala Dark

TL;DR: Buffer that has invulnerability and TP Boost+Restore but lacks a debuff.

Vikala is a P.dmg buffer that leans heavily into the buffing side, in terms of her skills. TP boost increase and restoration are always an attractive option and the rest of her kit performs well, despite the requirement of the S2 field needing to be active. Her being incredibly skill-reliant means you have less control over when you activate her more powerful skills. This also means that cancelling autos is good, to generate more TP buffs and not skip any S2s.
Her positioning is pretty bad in relation to the meta of Christina 1st position, but that doesn't account for how potentially strong Muimi will be, or other common 1st position units such as Tomo, Djeeta or X.Jun. We can easily see these kinds of comps shift, especially against magic damage - Since Chris does not dodge magic damage.
While Vikala does not have the stats/skills required to be a 1st position unit or the main damage dealer in her comps, she does have invuln to all damage on her UB. This is to combat her incredibly low defensive stats and allow her to simply ignore lethal damage. This also means that she probably won't be too friendly to auto players, as timing a dodge or cancelling one of her autos could be the difference between life or death. Twin Pigs' table flip or Wyvern UB are good examples of when you'd love to just have the damage miss for a squishy teammate.
Overall, unless you need your support to dodge lethal damage every now and again, she may not see too much usage. Some of the test comps out there don't really abuse her invuln, which is what separates her from other TP buffer hybrids such as X.Miyako, Aki/Saren, C.Tamaki,, SA.Tamaki, Laby, Creditta who also do damage in addition to their TP restore. Every slot is precious in a team comp, so units need their entire kit to have big impact if they want to be meta. Probably gonna be a nice piece if you need invulnerability, but physical teams have stiff competition in the support type role. High end of borrow tier, could be must roll with UE in the future. Full auto/SET only players may not enjoy.

Vikala

Pros:

  • UB gives invulnerability for 4s
  • UB gives good conditional P.Atk buff (If field is active)
  • TP restoration, TP Boost & P.Crit dmg increase to units in range by 5% for 12s on S1 (Increased if field is active)
  • Good P.Atk, P.Crit chance buff on S2
  • Field activation on S2 applies a HoT to allies in range
  • Fantastic skill loop & opening pattern
  • Positioned behind some common physical 1st Position units (X.Jun, Muimi 6 Star, Piyori)
  • S2 field reaches all frontline units in the game, up to S.Hatsune (Laby for relevant physical units)

Cons:

  • Extremely squishy, cannot take hits well
  • Low damage (UB is the only damage skill)
  • Skills require field to be active, otherwise they are weakened significantly (50 TP restore vs 100, no TP boost increase)
  • Positioned in front of Christina
  • No P.Def debuff
  • No Action Speed buff
  • Not SET/Auto friendly
  • No barrier

Ceremonial Ilya Wind

TL;DR - At the very least a borrowable unit that will see some usage in CB fights where her bats can stay alive and has a good target to heal. Borrowing does mean you don't get flexible or perfect routing, so be careful.
A magic damage dealer/support hybrid that has a nice bit of buffing thanks to her spawned bat familiars, plus a heal from herself. She has a total of 3 skills (S1, S2 & SP) which are all used in her loop. In addition, her skills have their potency increased by the number of bat familiars she has spawned (maxed at 2). Unlike Neneka's clone, bats do not get replaced when Ilya UBs and they are alive. This means they're a bit awkward to use and will cost Ilya damage if they die, as they only replenish on UB.
The ranges on her bat buffs are a bit strange as well, as they spawn in at 50, 100 range in front of Ilya. This means Ilya, Bat #1 & Bat #2 don't always buff the same units, due to them having the same range. An example is that while Ilya's AS buff reaches Pyaru, her bats actually don't - Meaning Pyaru misses out on on the bat buffs. The bats buffs are fairly important as well, so this can result in some issues when it comes to team building. Another unfortunate result of this spawn range, is that bat #2 actually spawns in front of NY.Neneka, tanking hits if she's 1st position.
Overall, Ceremonial Ilya is a good unit that needs her familiars to maximize her potential. A bit of an awkward unit to handle, due to most bosses having AOE damage that can knock her bats down, forcing her to lose TP restoration and damage. But against bosses that only hit the 1st position unit like a Goblin Great or Madame Electra - Her positioning and heal will allow mid mages to get more usage, if paired with a 1st position tank. N.Kuuka & O.Kuuka could see more usage as bosses allow, but don't be surprised to see them pop up. While there aren't a large selection of mid mages yet, May CB has proven that X.Akari/W.Djeeta have the ability be a strong core to usher in a new era of multi-threat mage comps, compared to the previous style of buffing the shit out of 1 mage for huge damage. Limited sample size of course, but something to keep in mind.

Ceremonial Ilya

Pros:

  • UB deals more damage based on # of bat familiars on the field (Can have a max of 2 at a time, last until death)
  • Bat familiar #1 offers +5 TP boost & M.Atk buff to all units in range
  • Bat familiar #2 offers M.Crit dmg up by 10% & M.Atk buff to all units in range
  • Bat familiars spam skills every 2nd action (Loop is Buff > AA)
  • 55% AS buff increase to units within her range
  • S1 restores TP & does damage (both are increased by # of bat familiars)
  • S2 provides good M.Atk & M.Crit chance buff
  • Heals lowest HP target (aside from self) on SP1, allowing for a more offensive support to be ran
  • Great loop (SP1 > S2 > S1 > AA > S2 > SP1 > S1)
  • Great Opening skills order (S2 -> S1 into Loop)

Cons:

  • Bat buffs only last 6s (can't stack with self more than once, due to expiring quickly)
  • Bat buffs do not reach the same units that Ilya does (Ex. Ilya's AS buff reaches Pyaru, but the bats do not)
  • Only gives TP Restoration to self
  • No shred
  • Bats are squishy, resulting in damage loss when not spawned in if killed
  • Bats spawn in front of NY.Neneka, potentially tanking autos and dying when not desired
  • Bats cannot be replaced from UB if alive, only spawn if dead
  • Awkward to use with other AS buffers like O.Yuki, X.Yori, Monika, etc... (AS Buffs do not stack)

Ceremonial Yuki Wind

TL;DR - Good M.Atk buffer with limited range on buffs, is reliant on buffs to self so he gets to his full potential ASAP. A nice to have in the box, but not a must have perma at all costs unless you must have every unit for flexibility.
A perma Damage/Support hybrid unit that can contribute some damage with UB, his skills are mostly focused around getting marks and increasing the potency of his M.Atk buff and TP restoration up to their cap. Only casting S2 once to apply permanent buffs (M.Def, Barrier) and kick off his mark system is similar to X.Akino. Each mark increases the strength of the buffs from his S1 (M.Atk, TP restoration), up to a cap of 60 marks. He only receives 1 mark per buff received to self, so this means he'll take a little bit to actually get going.
The M.Def perma buff could allow for units that were previously unable to be a 1st position unit, to tank magic damage against things like Madame Electra or an entire party to not get stunned by Griffon. This combined with his UB's lowering of M.Atk is a powerful combo in speciifc situations, just as was seen with Halloween Rin in May 2023 CB vs Boss 3. If a boss does not deal magic damage, this obviously doesn't matter - Which can be a good thing, because it means more consistency and less damage autism from reduced damage dealt.
More of a specific use case when mid mages are good, so with stuff like Warlock Djeeta, Ceremonial Ilya, Christmas Akari and Yori being strong units, he does have targets to buff. He seems moreso designed to snuff out magic damage dealing bosses, but don't be surprised to see him pop up elsewhere with the new mage comps running around. His banner lasts until the 23rd, with training mode releasing on the 22nd - So you can always wait until then before rolling.

Ceremonial Yuki

Pros:

  • UB deals decent damage that is amplified by # of marks (marks also amplify M.Atk debuff and M.Atk increase)
  • Consistent TP Restoration & M.Atk from S1
  • Increases strength of buffs with Marks
  • Good barrier on S2, which is permanent
  • Good skill loop (S2 is one time usage, so loop is S1 > AA >AA > S1 > AA)

Cons:

  • Low crit chance
  • Requires buffs from other sources to hit 60 Marks
  • Ramp up time with buffs, leading to highly backloaded damage comps
  • No M.Def debuffs
  • No M.Atk Crit chance increase
  • Barrier is only applied once
  • Short range, not reaching further than Neneka in the backline

クローチェLight

TL;DR - Hard to suggest with more summer units looming. She's still strong, but I expect a Prifes for 5.5 Anniversary on August 31st. If you can afford to roll for the +200 shards to lessen the burden on your whale tears, then it's a good idea.
A pure physical mutli-target DPS that a stack of 7 batteries after her UB. With her UB giving her a ton of strong buffs for the duration of the fight, it's important to get it up early. Every subsequent UB recharges her batteries back to 7, but doesn't give her additional buffs. The only way for her to lose the perma buffs, if she runs out of batteries. On the 7th action, she'll use her SP3 (Overheat) - Silencing herself for 3s and wiping any status up buffs. In short, the goal for maximum efficiency is to always be in her "Full Charge" mode. When she has 1 battery or right as the text bubble pops up for Overheat, you can UB and cancel it to continue in UB form. Once she starts Overheat, you lose the ability to UB and she will be stripped of the buffs gained from her UB form. Ideally, you simply never want to see this skill happen.
As for her skills, they're mostly just damage with guaranteed crit and x3 damage on crit. She can certainly do a lot of damage, but has some competition against units like P.Rei or Muimi, maybe even S.Mimi with her UE on the horizon. Even if she dominates July & August CB, grabbing her during another prifes is a good option if you're thinking long term. If we continue to see two MT bosses every few months, she'll definitely see usage - But Multi-target attackers are somewhat niche to begin with.

クローチェ

Pros:

  • UB does good damage and provides massive buffs to self (XL P.Atk buff, 300% Action speed buf)
  • UB's AS buff is stackable with other AS buffs
  • UB form skill loop spams SP1 -> SP2
  • S1 Increase damage taken by enemy hit by 8%
  • S2 buff P.Atk & Crit rate
  • SP1 is just S1 with guaranteed crit damage and x3 on crit
  • SP2 is just S2, does damage has guaranteed crit and x3 on crit
  • Large range on all skills

Cons:

  • Requires team to be built around her, similar to Muimi or P.Rei
  • No debuffs
  • Very little team utility (increased crit damage taken from enemies)
  • Needs TP support in order to not lose her buffs
  • While SP3 deals a high amount of damage, it silences her and strips her of her "Full Charge" buff
  • HP EX skill is susceptible to high tier comp autism with defensive buffs (Normally HP stats don't count, until defensive buffs are involved)

Swimsuit Akino Fire

Farm her up to 5* if you want a useful Arena/P.Arena unit that can help you fend off those pesky NY.Homare/Natsune comps that explode your team on 1st action, as her 1st action (S2) applies before their skills land. Her identity is that if there is a magic damage dealing enemy, her P.Atk, M.def buffs and damage have their potency increased. This does mean she could have a potential niche in this new CB meta, where defensive buffs are becoming more valuable. Unfortunately, she lacks any sort of debuff, which would probably solidify her niche as a P.Attacker that keeps buffs going and beefs up your team vs magic damage. The specific requirement of a unit needing to be classified as magic does hurt her a bit on the CB side, considering things like Griffon and Crab are considered physical, but do have magic attacks.
If nothing else, should be very helpful to new players who haven't farmed up S.Chika yet. Since she's a welfare unit, box 5 of the event contains her free character specific growsphere.

S.Akino

Pros:

  • S2 P.Atk & M.Def buff applied on 1st action is very quick (Faster than NY.Homare/Natsune 1st action damage applies)
  • Deals decent damage when fighting against a magic enemy in party
  • Buffs self on UB and S1
  • S2 buff applies faster than Inori & Mifuyu Pos 1 stun
  • S2 buff applies faster than S.Misogi's stun if S.Misogi is Pos 2

Cons:

  • Can get stunned out of her 1st action by S.Misogi 1st pos (Or Pos 2 with NY.Muimi/Rima)
  • UB & S1 buffs only applies to self
  • Massive potential loss against physical enemies
  • No CC
  • No other form of team utility (TP Boost, TP Restore, HP regen, HP Restore, Barriers, etc...)

Swimsuit Neneka Water

TL;DR - Worth a spark from initial impressions
This Neneka has pretty much everything you'd want from a unit, aside from a M.def debuff to enemies. Writing about this would be too long, but all of her skills have large impact. They're basically UBs on their own, it's pretty ridiculous. A lack of M.Def debuff could mean she doesn't become omnipresent as her previous counterparts, but she doesn't even have a UE yet and is still considered a strong unit that will see CB usage. A UE may just toss her into the Neneka/NY.Neneka pantheon of units.

S.Neneka

Pros:

  • UB has two damage calculations (Circumventing damage cap )
  • UB increases M.Atk of all units within 200 range of the highest M.Atk (18s) unit in party and copies their M.Atk
  • S1 gives +5 TP boost & M.Atk buff to all units within 200 range of the highest M.Atk unit in party
  • S1 also creates a 315 radius field around that same target, which gives HP Regen & TP Regen to all units within the field for 12s
  • S2 gives M.Atk, M.Crit Dmg, P.Def & gives Phys barrier to all units within 200 range of the highest M.Atk unit (Lasts 12s)
  • EX+ gives M.Crit chance & M.Atk (Requires 5 star)
  • Excellent position (Catches nearly all important M.Atk units in back/mid line)
  • Very good skill loop (AA > S1 > S2 > AA)

Cons:

  • Lack of M.Def debuff to enemies
  • P.def increase can lead to potential skill autism
  • Low-ish base M.Crit Chance
  • Low-ish base M.Atk

Swimsuit Yukari Water

TL;DR - Physical damage dealer/magic tank focused on buffs and reducing magic damage. As a perma, seems decent but not must have for long-term.
S.Yukari's niche appears to be a tank that helps your team survive magic damage by eating it herself. Her TP and HP restoration is only to her, so she needs to be the one eating up damage. An example of where she might shine, is against Madame Electra - Where she can eat up UBs, buff her M.Def and dish out a healthy amount of UBs due to soaking up damage. Most likely in competition with X.Jun in terms of a tank spot, who has been showing up nearly every CB since her December 2022 release. With S.Yukari not having a debuff, probably won't see her outside of niche usage.

S.Yukari

Pros:

  • High HP value (1k less than N.Kuuka)
  • Good P.Atk buffs in 350 range on S1
  • Restore TP to self
  • Stands in front of Muimi, behind Ruka (Can be a bad thing if meta changes)
  • M.Def buffs while tanking on S1 (Can be a bad thing if meta changes)
  • Magic barrier to assist squishier units to survive on UB

Cons:

  • TP restore only to self
  • UB only buffs self
  • Healing is more focused on self
  • Deals good damage as a 1st position unit
  • HP restore is only to self
  • No P.def debuff
  • No M.Atk debuff
  • M.Def & P.Atk buffs reaches up to P.Kokkoro

Swimsuit Kuuka Water

TL;DR: A tank that can hit multiple targets, while debuffing P.atk & M.Atk of enemies by a set amount, buffs self and restoring HP to self based on missing HP. Decent Arena unit but probably not terribly important.
S.Kuuka could prove to be an annoyance to bypass without the proper setup, as she can buff herself based on missing HP while reducing the offensive stats of enemies. As her UB actually deals damage, not killing her means she'll most likely heal up and be able to punch back. This is most apparent against multi-target magic comps, where she hits back at squishy targets like Natsune, NY.Homare or Yori as examples. For those lacking answers against these teams, she could be a good answer. Since she's a new unit and welfare, farming her to 3* seems to be a good option. Just don't expect her to light the meta on fire. While her niche already has answers - She could help those without those units.

S.Kuuka

Pros:

  • UB heals self, increasing based on missing HP
  • Can actually damage enemies with UB
  • Reduces P.Atk & M.Atk of enemies hit on S1 for 12s
  • Debuffs have large range (750)
  • Restores 150 TP, buffs P.Atk based on missing HP on S2
  • Buffs both defenses of self only on S2 for 12s
  • 4th most forward unit in the game (Stands behind Rima, Miyako & Kuuka)

Cons:

  • Buffs only to self
  • TP restore only to self
  • Low starting damage
  • No CC
  • Cannot punch through tanky units/shield arena comps
  • Does not offer any damage mitigation to teammates
  • Not tanky enough to survive single target nukes as 1st position (Kyouka, Pyaru)
  • First action gets stunned before it comes out

Swimsuit Ranpha Water

TL;DR: Multi-target magic damage dealer/support/buffer unit with TP regeneration. Only missing a debuff, but has fairly strong skills otherwise. Worth a roll if you want to potentially do MT mage comps or clear MT dungeon bosses like EX5/6

Skip the first part including the table if you don't care about autistic explanations about why UBs are amazing or S.Ranpha vs ST.Misaki in general.

Some have compared her to ST.Misaki, but with damage. At a glance, this seems pretty fair as they have similar buffs. S.Ranpha does have better flat values for her buffs, but there are two key factors at play here:

  1. ST.Misaki's M.Crit Rate buff is on her UB instead of a skill

    The reason this is so important, is because UBs give the player control over when they occur, whether it's cancelling a skill or refreshing a buff at the right time. As skill loops and actions are set with only UBs to influence their timings, being able to dish out a steady dose of M.Crit Rate buffs without them falling off. S.Ranpha's M.Crit Rate buff is on her S1 and is only used once per loop, meaning that there are only so many times this skill can be used, in relation to the battle timer. Due to the amount of TP buffs/regen/restoration in the game, UBs happen so frequently that the location of a buff being on a skill vs UB is always an important one to keep in mind.

  2. Her M.Atk buff requires time to ramp up to the cap based on her own M.Atk, but is a higher value once hitting the cap.

    Since S.Ranpha's M.Atk on UB are based on the # of targets, this won't be changing in multi-target fights where the targets do not disappear (Ex. CB bosses) and means the impact from her UB buffs are felt immediately. Most likely more niche than ST.Misaki, due to the simple fact that she can hit her full potential in fights against multiple targets. This is a very important distinction, as S.Ranpha's damage could potentially make up for the fact that she lacks the same M.Atk buff potential. More actions contributing to damage means breaking more often, so more attacks can land during the break period. Of course this is a fine balancing line in your team building, but it's merely theory of course.

  3. ST.Misaki has a UE and S.Ranpha does not.

    For the number values, feel freel to look at this table.
    Stage Misaki Swimsuit Ranpha
    UB - M.Atk (10+10 x S.LVL, then +Self M.Atk Capped at 90+90 x S.LVL) & M.Crit Rate (180), range 100 M.Atk Buff (# of Target) range 150 & Damage (# of targets)
    S1+ - M.Atk (5+5 x S.LVL, then +Self M.Atk Capped at 45+45 x S.LVL) & M.Crit dmg (6%), range 100 S1 - M.Atk Buff (No modifier), M.Crit Rate (700) & M.Crit Damage (10%), range 150
    S2 - 10 TP/s for 12.5s, Barrier only blocks magic damage S2 - 10 TP/s for 10.5s, 15- range, Barrier blocks both damage types, restores HP

Overall, S.Ranpha is a good unit. A good trade-off if your multi-target Mage comps require a bit more punch with good support and TP/HP restoration + barrier. Generally, anything with TP restoration/Boost/Regeneration is worthwhile to look at. Since Multi-target bosses are a gamble on seeing magic or physical usage, it's difficult to say how useful S.Ranpha is. However, she will certainly pop up into comps where there are 3+ targets as a steady damage dealer/buffer. If she does see usage, there is not another unit like her that can pop into her spot, as she's got a unique mix of damage and desirable buffs.
While she won't be replacing Ames in any way at this time, there is a world where you may be able to get away with running S.Ranpha as your only barrier provider if P.Kokkoro's UE breaks the game, like offering all units a 25% damage cut and barrier with TP regen on S1+. This is a MASSIVE "if" scenario, so take it with a grain of salt since we don't have any confirmation it'll happen for 5.5 anni. Just remember how many times you need to borrow Ames. in CB.

S.Ranpha

Pros:

  • Increased damage & M.Atk buff value based on # of targets on UB
  • Deals good damage vs Multiple targets (Ideal scenario is 3+)
  • Large buff to M.Crit chance
  • Buffs reach majority of relevant (Up to A.Yori, reaches all behind her)
  • Good Loop (AA > S2 > S1 > AA > S2)
  • TP & HP regeneration on S2 for 10.5s
  • Barrier from S2 blocks both types of damage

Cons:

  • Only damage dealing ability is UB
  • No M.def shred
  • Buffs only last 12s
  • Only M.Atk is buffed on UB
  • Not efficient vs ST

Swimsuit Shinobu Dark

TL;DR: Damage dealer that has some debuffs and a unique summon that gets invuln to physical for 6s, but with some low values for other aspects. Doesn't seem necessary unless her Skull Dad is needed for tanking.
This unit seems more suited for specific bosses, rather than a general new addition to your roster. With some decent numbers on her skills and UB, she's not got anything super amazing aside from the increase of P.Crit damage at a glance. The idea seems to be allowing her Skull Dad summon to add a tiny bit more punch in terms of debuffs, while being able to invuln himself for a few seconds to physical damage. Otherwise, she seems underwhelming overall.

S.Shinobu

Pros:

  • Invuln on summon to tank otherwise fatal damage potentially
  • P.def shred on S1 and summon's S2
  • Deals decent damage
  • P.Crit damage increase to boss, for all units to take advantage of

Cons:

  • Stands in front of Christina (Could be good in circumstances where Christina cannot tank and skull dad + S.Shinobu can, not very likely)
  • Buffs are only to self on UB and S2
  • Somewhat low shred values compared to damage dealt
  • Underwhelming damage to compete with other units
  • Summon is not tied to UB, meaning it is more difficult to control/manipulate
  • Not incredibly tanky, given how far forward she is

ライラエル Light

TL;DR: New field effect that no other unit has, M.def debuffs, damage, M.atk & M.Crit increase means you want this character.
If you're familiar with the concept of Terrains from Pokemon, her SP will seem somewhat familiar. If not, the short version is that she spawns an electric field that buffs up all M.Atk by 10% and causes all physical units in the fight to take physical damage, every time they take an action. This damage is equal to 1% of the unit's max HP, up to a cap of 99,999. To explain this more clearly, it's specific to the type of damage a unit deals on their autos. If their autos do physical, they'll take damage on every single action. As an additional note, every boss UB counts as two actions from some preliminary testing, while characters only count as one. This includes units that have multiple damage calculations, like Eriko 6* & S.Tamaki.
Even without her electric field, she'd still be a good character that might see some okay usage. However, this unique effect is obviously her selling point and may be a taste of what Cygames has in store for new, special units moving forward. Worth a spark, especially since Prifes is generally a good time to roll. She's a damage dealer/buffer/debuffer that leans more into damage.

ライラエル

Pros:

  • Good damage from UB, skills and electricity field (UB & Skill damage & M.Crit)
  • Damage of all skills are enhanced while Electric Field
  • Fantastic buffs to teammates M.Crit damage (Up to +20% if her electric field is up)
  • Buffs all Magic damage by 10% from SP (Including enemies)
  • Damage and M.def debuff on UB
  • M.Atk buff, M.Def shred & 2 damage calculations on S1
  • TP is given to units damaged
  • Excellent opening skills (SP > S1) and loop (S2, S1, AA, S2, AA, S1)
  • In range of majority of M.Atk buffers (Except possibly Giliya bats)

Cons:

  • No TP related skills (Boost/Retain/Regen)
  • No damage cap circumvention on skills
  • No shields
  • Electric field damage does not hit when magic units attacks
  • Damages all physical units (Including teammates, could be good if split comps ever pop up for extremely niche scenarios)
  • Very frail

Transfer Student Kyaru Fire

TL;DR: Unique mix of action speed to magic units and flat TP restoration to furthest away unit from her is very useful. No other good magic unit has this mix of skills.
More of a support than damage, this version of Kyaru has her dishing out various buffs to teammates, including TP restore. While she's not going to be pumping out huge damage, her buffs are certainly not bad. Might be a borrowable unit, but she's got a very unique slew of buffs. If she does see usage, there won't be a way to replace her in a single team slot.

Transfer Student Kyaru

Pros:

  • UB gives 10K M.Atk & 150 M.Crit chance buffs to all magic units
  • Deals decent damage with S1 & UB
  • Action speed buff on S1 to all magic units
  • TP Restore to all units within 250 range of furthest unit from her
  • P/M.Defensive buffs for running squishier teams on S2
  • Good loop (AA > S1 > AA > S2)

Cons:

  • Low Crit chance
  • No Debuffs to enemy
  • No shields
  • S2 buffs may not reach all party members when targeting the furthest unit from her (O.Kuuka, N.Kuuka, Monika)

Transfer Student Suzuna Light

TL;DR: Archer DPS that requires crits and only buffs archers for the most part. Nice perma, don't be surprised if she appears in November. But not worth a spark, as archers are a bit of a weaker class currently.
Looking at the skills, this unit clearly has some potential. However, Archer classes have a long history of either losing out to backline mages or only specializing in scenarios where you can run backline physical units as your only option. Sticking with Suzuna specifically, she relies heavily upon critting to reach max efficiency. This does also come with ramp up time, but could be worth it in those specific niche scenarios. Will require heavy support to get going, but overall may not be worth for now.
Check back on milestone such as Wankoro, Ranger Shiori getting UEs in March 2024 and maybe 6* Shiori existing. Otherwise, you're relying on Arisa/W.Rino/X.Chika/TS.Aoi and the ones listed above to benefit from her buffs so much that Archers are worth using.

Transfer Student Suzuna

Pros:

  • Deals decent damage overall
  • Buffs P.Crit dmg and P.Atk for 18s on UB
  • UB has a 2nd damage calculation if it crits
  • Buffs P.Atk & P.Crit rate of party permanently on every S1 usage (if the damage crits)
  • S1 restores 200 TP to self
  • S2 provides permanent P.Atk/P.Crit chance, alongside +10 TP Boost & TP to self
  • Good skill patterns
    Opening: S2 > AA > S2
    Loop: S2 > S1 > AA > S1 > AA

Cons:

  • Extremely crit reliant
  • Initial low crit chance
  • No debuffs
  • Requires ramp up in order to hit maximum output efficiency
  • TP restore is only to self
  • Buffs are within very short range
  • Archer positioning for buffs (Reaches up to Arisa)

Salazaria Saren Fire

TL;DR: TP Restoration and and buffing for physical damage means she could enable squishier frontline comps that normally would not survive. Careful on skipping, but not instantly apparent that she's a must-have.

As always, limited units that have TP Restoration are prone to popping up into CBs when you least expect it. Sasaren seems to be no exception to this, as her specialization is to help your units survive physical damage, while standing behind common attackers and buffing them. Shields play a large part in surviving nukes from enemies in this game, so the fact that her S2 provides a P.Def buff and shield is extremely useful. If that isn't enough, she can provide more TP than S.Nozomi on S1 once she UBs 3 times, thanks to the Marks from her UB enhancing the potency of her skills.
Her role seems suited to try and facilitate units like Djeeta/Christina/Muimi to run with an alternative to Ames, if you're facing physical damage specifically and are getting heals from elsewhere. While they aren't the exact same type of unit, the idea is to keep your party alive. Another comparable unit would be S.Nozomi, as she also does give TP and increase physical defense. A lack of shred does mean she may be more niche, but will certainly see some usage in the future. Her S1 is the TP skill, meaning a UE could skyrocket her usage if they give it anything more than damage + TP.
As an aside, a TL maker once said that Djeeta 6* was falling out of the meta a few months ago, but she then swung back in immediately after. Is it possible that Djeeta could see less usage in favour of Sasaren? If this doesn't make sense by reading it, just look at the two units and entertain the idea for a moment.

Salazaria Saren

Pros:

  • Good stats
  • Good Skill loop (S1 > S2 > AA > S1 > AA)
  • Good opening skills (S2 > S1 > AA)
  • Good positioning (Not in front of tanking units like Christina, Muimi)
  • Deals decent damage from S1 & UB with max marks at 3
  • Offers good P.Atk buffs on UB & S2
  • Barrier can protect squishier units from fatal physical damage on S2
  • Restores a high amount of TP to units with S1(starts at 60, goes up to 120 with 3 marks)
  • Buffs reach all key units in mid line
  • Buffs reach all units in front line

Cons:

  • No healing
  • No P.def shred
  • Shields do not block magic damage
  • Defense buff is only to physical defense
  • Buffs don't reach backline units like Creditta or Arisa
  • No increase to P.Crit chance or P.Crit damage

Salazaria Ruka Water

TL;DR: A nice tank option for soaking up physical damage. Not a must-roll, especially as a perma. Will pop into comps where your 1st pos unit needs to survive massive damage.

Saruka is a tank that is more focused on absorbing damage and supplying herself with survivability. This is achieved through stuff like her UB healing her, the Skill 2 taunt/P.Def buff/Phys Barrier/200 TP to self only and her good base stats, If you want a comparable, X.Jun fills a similar role - But instead of having barriers and a taunt, she offers p.atk, p.crit rate & TP to all units within 150 range. Prediction would mostly be that if you need your 1st unit to survive some quick physical damage that only targets the 1st position unit with a barrier, Saruka will shine. There is a world where she can replicate X.Saren's usage on release, where they buff Goblin's attacks to pop any non-tank units. If that does happen, she will be quite valuable. Other bosses could be ones like Orc Chief, Needle Creeper, Mad Bear and Wolf.

For Arena, her skillset seems okay. However, she'd probably just get popped by stuff like Pyaru/TS.Kyaru, etc... Since her buffs and heals are only to self, she might be similar to a physical version of 6* Kuuka. However, this is a stretch.

Salazaria Ruka

Pros:

  • UB has TP drain, TP Boost reduction and heals self
  • Deals okay damage from UB & S1
  • Nice p.def debuff on S1
  • Good HP/Def stats
  • Shields self and adds taunt with S2
  • Gives 200 TP to self on S2
  • Good position (Stands behind H.Kaori, in front of regular Ruka)

Cons:

  • Cannot protect self vs magic damage
  • Quite a few boss skills ignore taunts (Ex. Cyclops boulder toss)
  • Does not offer a lot of damage
  • Does not offer any buffs to teammates (X.Jun offers multiple buffs to teammates, including TP)
  • All buffs are only to self

Fallen Ria Dark

TL;DR: Re-directs damage from lowest HP unit for 8s. Seems decent, but lacking a lot of tools that most units have in favour of a very unique damage re-direction mechanic. Seems like a good unit, but not a perma that needs to be sparked.
Ria's identity is about keeping the lowest HP unit alive by providing healing and re-directing damage to self. For example, her S2 will offer a 30% damage cut in both damage types to herself, while re-directing attacks taken by the lowest HP unit to her and providing an immunity to immobilizing effects (like what Muimi 6* has in UB form) to herself.. The essence of her gameplay is taking damage for a unit, healing it off with UB and dealing damage. Her UB & S1 deal more damage based on the total HP of other units in your party. While not necessarily a tank, she can help absorb damage. This is a long shot, but she could be a good 1st position unit for archers to help with their infamously squishy problem. In comps where you need to protect one unit, she can help facilitate squishier choices. That being said, Ria is lacking a bit in overall utility when compared to units like Saruka, Sasaren, X.Jun, etc... Her gimmick has potential, but without any shields she may run into issues against enemies that deal fatal damage in a single nuke, despite 30% damag reduction.
Fallen Ria

Pros:

  • Good p.def debuff on S1
  • Good skill loop with consistent debuff output (S1 > AA > S1 > S2 > AA > S1)
  • Good damage with party at full HP
  • Immune to certain effects with flying status, like Riri
  • 30% cut in damage to both damage types helps in tandem with S2 re-direction damage
  • Decent positioning (Right behind Yukari, in front of S.Eriko and Monika)
  • Keeps lowest HP unit healed up with S2 while topping self off with UB
  • Good stats to survive fights for her role

Cons:

  • Re-direction is not a taunt (can be a good thing for moments where taunts get ignored)
  • No buffs for teammates in any capacity
  • No TP Boost/restoration increases
  • UB Is just damage and a heal to self
  • No barriers or shields to self
  • Can only offer protecting to a single unit

Fallen Prescia Dark

Good perma support/damage unit with some good crit buffs and TP restoration. Lack of debuff and squishy stats, but can definitely help buff teams. Will shine when units can crit very often. Not a must spark, but will bolster your comp flexibility.
For CB, the idea is to have her buff the P.Crit Chance of nearby teammates by 10% while increasing the crit damage received by enemies damaged by her S1. She's got the flying effect like other Alter Maiden girls, which can protect her from various kinds of damage and CC. With the same TP restoration as X.Miyako and a way to heal, her niche will revolve around wanting more offense in your team and getting debuffs elsewhere. While she lacks a P.Def debuff, the crit buffs she pumps out are quite nice. What's a bit odd, is that her AAs deal magic damage, but her S1 and UB deal physical damage take both M.Crit & P.Crit chance into consideration for this. Not too hindering, but it does mean her AAs are significantly weaker in comps with p.def debuffs.
For arena players, she's an okay pick. The AOE CC on S1 helps as it cannot be mitigated by a barrier/shield, or dodged. She can dodge snares with her flying state. While not spectacular, it does have its uses.
Fallen Prescia

Pros:

  • Increases P.Crit chance on UB, increase based on number of targets to raise
  • Increases P.Crit damage by 2% x number of targets + 1% on UB
  • S1 cannot miss (Bind lands no matter if the unit has a shield/barrier, or the damage is dodged)
  • Flying state allows her to dodge CC and being targeted in most scenarios (including some arena comps)
  • S2 has TP Restoration, HP restoration and P.Crit chance increase to units in range
  • S2 increases Crit damage taken by enemy
  • HP restoration increases based on her M.Atk for S2
  • Flying state allows her to dodge CC and being targeted in most scenarios (can dodge Rairai UB stun, MS.Kasumi snare)
  • AOE bind on S2

Cons:

  • No P.Def debuff
  • Squishy base stats
  • Can be reliant on crits for optimal usage
  • No shields for friendlies or self
  • Does not deal great damage by herself
  • Crit damage buffs are only 12s
  • No stat buffs outside of crit
  • Odd positioning for buffs given current meta units
  • 220 range may not reach Djeeta, Muimi, L.Muimi in most cases, but does reach up to O.Laby.
  • Does not reach most backline archer units, aside from Arisa.

Christmas Pecorine Water

Tanky mage frontliner with TP restoration skill and a debuff on UB. Similar to Monika 6* and Nuuka in comps past, very scary potential for CB. Looks ok for Arena defense, but no CC.
At first glance, X.Peco looks pretty whatever overall. However, her buffs and TP restore reach all the way back to Summer Neneka and Regular Neneka. In addition, this the first magic unit that is a tank, with TP restoration. Comparable to Noire Kuuka, in the sense that she tanks hits and buffs the party. Nuuka provides more offensive buffs and offers more shred, but cannot protect her teammates and only buffs 1 unit. X.Peco's buffs are fully defensive, which means her role is about debuffing the enemy and keeping her teammates alive. In some cases, this does give her more flexibility compared to Nuuka, who needs to be the one tanking every hit, like vs goblin.
X.Peco could be seen against other bosses, as she buffs the defenses of her teammates, can heal the lowest HP target and applies damage cuts to herself. The most important part of this is that her debuff is on UB, because of how much TP magic teams can gain from sources such as W.Djeeta, Giliya, Neneka & S.Neneka. UBs can be used whenever, as opposed to skills which have limited usage over the course of a fight.
A quick thought on Arena, but she could see usage in defense stall teams with all of the defensive buffs and damage cuts she has.
X.Peco

Pros:

  • Pos 1 tank that can eat hits for mage teams
  • Small TP restoration
  • M.def shred on UB
  • Buffs from S1/2 reach all mid mages (Giliya, X.Akari, X.Yori, W.Djeeta, etc...) and S.Neneka, Neneka
  • Good opeining action (TP restoration 1st action)
  • Good skill loop (S2 > AA > S1 > AA > S2 > AA > S1)
  • Defensive reaching multiple units
  • Defensive buffs allow you to run squishier, high damage units

Cons:

  • No offensive buffs (M.Crit chance, M.Crit damage, M.Atk)
  • Buffs do not reach common damage units such as Pyaru, ライラエル
  • Does not contribute much damage
  • No taunt
  • No barriers

Christmas Creditta Light

A physical buffer/debuffer that lowers P.Atk, with some very specific TP restoration conditions and a counter that increases potency for debuffs/. Single target, but seems okay.
With plenty of reasons to want to reduce P.Atk on certain bosses, X.Creditta could see usage. Her UB and S1 have additional branches that inflict additional smaller - but permanent - debuffs to enemies and buffs to friendlies, on first usage only. However, her buffs have quite the limited range of 150 from her position. This means she's reaching all backline units, but not much else. As Shiori has proven to be a force in physical teams, this could open her up in a spot where you need to buffs for your own P.def & P.Atk from the same unit. Her TP on S2 is a bit odd, dishing out restoration of 10 TP/s over 12.5s to units within 150 range, but instantly restoring 100 from the furthest unit away from her. It's possible this was meant to make it not so bad to have her ran with a 1st position that she can't reach with her other buffs,, but that's honestly just 120 TP missing in most scenarios. Could be good in teams where you don't need to run barriers and can survive with defensive buffs and reducing P.Atk of boss. A UE next year might make her more versatile, as her S1 has a lot of good going for it. But the archer meta will be imperative to her success, as she loses out on a lot of utility if units aren't close enough to her to buff.
Maybe could be used in Arena, but seems unlikely.
X.Creditta

Pros:

  • UB provides additional permanent P.Def shred on first usage
  • S1 provides good utility
    P.Atk & P.Def Debuff to enemy, Raises P.Atk & P.Def for party within 150 range of X.Creditta with additiona potency for friendly buffs on first usage
  • S2 has TP restoration for all units within 150 range of her (Reaches up to Riri, all backline units)
    Additional 100 TP for furthest unit from X.Creditta
  • Tankier than the average archer (Roughly 3K+ HP more than Shiori, R.Shiori, Arisa, TS.Suzuna

Cons:

  • No barriers
  • No heals
  • Specific to Physical damage mitigation only
  • Buffs are very short range, does not reach most common frontliners for physical teams
  • Damage isn't impressive
  • Will need to rely on archers continuing to be meta
  • Skill loop is a bit long has has double AA near the end

Rino & Shizuru Light

Mid-line tank that seems to be designed to help out archers. Has a ton of utility in buffs and and impressive damage from themselves with crits and the field off UB and S1, for a tank.
An impressive unit that will soak up good amounts of damage with barriers and natural tanky stats. They provide a good slew of physical damage buffs to a lot of physical units, though some of the very front line girls may miss out depending on who the field gets directed towards. However, running them in a mostly frontline comp doesn't make the most sense when they're designed to soak up damage with barriers and heals to themselves. With a conditional TP restoration as well, Rino & Shizuru have a good reason to be ran with Laby + Archer comps, unless we start seeing more stuff like Wyvern Rider target the furthest away units, requiring this duo to provide a nice, tanky Pos 4/5 option to go alongside Ames or Laby. Being reliant on crit is always a coinflip, as the level of bosses could continue to raise as player levels catch up - Thus reducing crit chance in relation to the current rates. If backline physical comps continue to exist, they will most likely excel.
Arena need not apply, unless you're going for some cheesy stall tactics where they can get shielded, heal themselves and never die. But then again, they have no CC or means to buff defenses to keep surviving.
Rino/Shiori Duo

Pros:

  • UB creates field around nearest enemy, reaching units with 300 range (probably will be Laby/P.Kokkoro/S.Kokkoro) on UB, lasting 18s
  • UB buffs are P.Atk (~8500)& P.Crit Chance (150) for all units within field
  • UB does good damage with crits (x3.5 increase) for tank with two damage calcs and a heal to self
  • S1 has two damage calcs against cap, 75 TP restoration to all targets if field is active
  • S2 provides barrier (field increases potency), conditional p.def debuff, raises P.Crit/P.Atk/P.Crit Dmg of self
  • Provides backline comps with tankier Pos 1 tank unit with high survivability
  • Good skill loop, providing good cancel opportunities with UB if needed

Cons:

  • Massive loss if skills pop without field active (No TP from S1, 2/3 potency loss on shields)
  • Reilant on crit from S1 and UB to deal good damage
  • Most utility buffs are only to self (Healing, barrier, P.Atk & P.Crit damage buffs from S2)
  • Creating field at Laby/P.Kokkoro won't reach most frontline units (does reach up to S.Shinobu, which includes Christina)

New Year's Inori Fire

Arena anti-stun meta unit that looks to try and immnune through 1st action stuns and not much else. But that in itself is rather massive.
If your Arena comp was getting blocked by fast stuns, look no futher than a unit that is designed purely to counter that pesky 1st position stun by granting herself immunity to CC and stunning the 1st position enemy in return. However, this does not work as a counter to MS.Kasumi/Kasumi snares, so keep those in mind. You'll need to run the proper counters like a faster stun and Rima/NY.Muimi, respectively. New Year's Inori is all about making S.Misogi's stun or Tsumugi's kidnap made irrelevant by her. Outside of her anti-meta S2, she's a squishy unit that offers nothing. This means you'd better be making her S2 count, or you're wasting a team slot. But as said above, this particular role is huge in times when it's needed, as she's like Noir Shizuru but conceptually functional on the 1st action, as opposed to working outside of it. Read below for more testing results from interactions.
Be advised, her role is NOT to have the fastest stun. It is to absorb the fastest stuns, then counter with her slower stun.

NY.Inori

Pros:

  • S2 applies a taunt, immunity to CC to self, knocks back and stuns 1st unit
  • S2 application is faster than any Pos 1 stun in the game currently (S.Misogi Pos 1 def with Rima/NY.Muimi lead, Mifuyu, Inori, etc...)
  • S2 catches and dodges Tsumugi 1st action
  • Excellent positioning for her role of using immunity to dodge CC
  • Can dodge multiple CCs during taunt (Ex. Dodges both enemy S.Misogi & Inori stuns)

Cons:

  • UB & S1 are just damage with small buffs to self
  • Squishy, will most likely die after her role is performed
  • Little utility after S2 ends
  • S2 only occurs once every 5 actions
  • Does not provide immunity for other units (If anyone else is in range by an AOE CC, they will still get hit, like a Kasumi snare or enemy Inori 1st action)
  • Enemy Inori + Rima will still your units within 300 range of NY.Inori
  • Enemy Inori + Rima won't stun your S.Misogi if you run your own Rima, but that's already 3 team slots dedicated to mitigating a stun - Thus rendering NY.Inori irrelevant
  • Taunt and stun do not catch MS.Kasumi snare in time (still need to use Rima/NY.Muimi to protect from that)
  • Should NOT be used as a primary stunner (Does not stun Yukari in time to cancel moonlight)
  • Does not dodge damage, just the CC

New Year's Hatsune Light

Mage danage dealer/support that excels against physical enemies. Won't be your main damage source, but pumps out quite a bit for how much utility she has.
Just like her original 6 Star version, New Year's Hatsune is designed to smack physical enemies specifically. However, this time she's moreso about debuffing the P.Atk of enemies while buffing her teammates and doing damage. A rather straightforward unit in the sense that she buffs teammates, deals damage and lowers the P.Atk of the enemy she damages. She also has a barrier that applies only when the nearest enemy is a physical one. So unless we're getting some sort of weird split type bosses with multi-target, this means you'll only ever be using her against physical bosses in CB. Her skills are also quite nice, potentially allowing for comps where you may want a bit less survivability from the likes of Ames' barriers/damage cut/healing, but desire more damage output alongside a smaller barrier. She certainly won't replace Ames, but every team slot is precious and other units providing a mix of damage and survivability eventually adds up to being able to run squishier comps without exploding. Mage teams have a plethora of TP options available to them, so NY.Hatsune may slot in alongside them, if her ability to reduce P.Atk is required.

NY.Hatsune

Pros:

  • UB provides good damage, strong M.Atk buff to all friendly targets and reduces enemy P.Atk (18s)
  • S1 deals damage, reduces enemy M.Def & P.Atk, and increase Crit Dmg received by damaged targets (12s)
  • S2 deals damage, increases party M.Atk and applies a P.dmg barrier to all targets (12s)
  • Buffs do not require a range consideration, apply to all
  • Consistent damage dealer (UB, S1 & S2 all deal damage)
  • Great skill loop (S1 > S2 > AA > S1 > S2)
  • P.Atk reduction allows for squishier comps to be ran
  • Will excel in cases where bosses have mechanics that are based on their own P.Atk value

Cons:

  • Does not perform at peak efficiency when fighting magic enemies
  • Positioned extremely far back, may not catch buffs from mid line mages that have range checks ()
  • No healing
  • No TP Restoration/Regeneration
  • No damage reduction

New Year's Kasumi Light

Multi-target mage/support character that buffs M.Atk for the most part, offering little else.
NY.Kasumi is mostly about dealing damage, healing teammates near her and buffing M.Atk. While she does have TP restoration, it's only 25 and is only for the highest M.Atk unit. These values are buffed based on how many friendly targets there are, meaning this value can go up to 100 TP to a single target. A bit disappointing is that all 3 of her M.Atk buffs have capped values, but the fact still remains that she has 3 skills that do something + M.Atk buff.
Without much else to differentiate herself from the multitude of multi-target mage units that work well together, she seems like a somewhat ineffective character. Unless there is a multi-target boss that requires constant M.Atk buffs to be applied. But TP restoration is never a stat to ignore, perhaps she'll supercharge a really strong multi-target mage in the future. Or some crazy unit like Grea 6 Star comes out of nowhere and requires a heal on UB that can reach her and has a buff that requires quick stacking, like her duo counterpart.
She could see some usage in Arena with H.Misaki comps where you aren't facing Inori, and have Kasumi 6 Star as your lead. That is a bit of a stretch, but crazier things have happened in P.Arena. The value of buffing your M.Atk against units while having a massive M.def shred can certainly win elongated fights.
NY.Kasumi

Pros:

  • UB heals, deals damage and increases M.Atk for friendlies, dmg & buff increased based on # of targets
    Range for heal and M.Atk buff is 250 (Reaches Grea)
  • Up to 100 TP restoration to highest M.Atk unit from S1 + M.Atk
  • Good skill loop (AA > S1 > AA > S2 > AA > S1 > AA > S2)
  • UB, S1 & S2 all buff M.Atk
  • M.Atk buff reaches all units
  • Deals good damage
  • Target calculation is based on friendly targets in total, not within range
    Even if a unit isn't in range for her buffs, they still count towards increase the potency of the skill.

Cons:

  • M.Atk buffs on UB + Skills are capped individually
  • Offers no shields
  • No M.Crit buffs (M.Crit chance or M.Crit Dmg)
  • TP restoration is only to 1 character
  • No debuffs to enemies (M.Def shred, M/P Def reduction, M.Crit dmg taken increase)

Astral Rei Wind

Fastest stun in the game with a knockback on one skill + useful UB & S2 means you'll want to farm her up for Arena.
If you read the S.Misogi writeup, you understand why having a 1st position stun is so important. Astral Rei now has the fastest 1st action stun in the game. This is compared to staples such as S.Misogi, Inori, Mifuyu, Mahiru and Kasumi as Pos 1 leads - Who she beats. Regardless of her being on defense or offense, Ast.Rei will always win the stun wars. Unlike NY.Inori, Astral Rei's UB and S2 are actually fairly impactful. A barrier nullifying both magic and physical damage for units in range and a defense buff in one skill is also quite useful in arena, especially given the rest of her kit. Her UB knocking back is quite nice, adding more utility to her kit. She most likely won't see any CB usage unless stuns become relevant.
Overall, Astral Rei will be very useful in offense due to the nature of needing quick 1st action stuns. NY.Inori may be a good answer to her, depending on how Astral Rei shakes up the meta. Her S1 being the stun means that we are guaranteed an improvement to the skill again, in one year's time. Getting her to 3* is a good idea.

Ast.Rei

Pros:

  • AOE Knockback on UB for damaged units (1000 )
  • Fastest stun on 1st action now (Even beats S.Misogi on defense), with knockback
  • Great opening skills and good loop
  • S1 reduces movement speed
    Opening (S1 > S2)
    Loop (AA > S1 > S2 > AA)
  • S2 Buffs both defenses by 208 for units in range (300)
  • S2 provides barrier for all units within range against both damage types (300)
  • Good positioning to stun (Behind NY.Ruka, in front of Tsumugi)
  • Can deal decent damage to non-tank units

"Cons":

  • Not super tanky for a 1st position unit
  • No TP Drain
  • S1 Stun only hits closest target, so can be played around

Astral Yui Light

Magic Damage dealer that requires barriers for maximum efficiency on buffs. Barrier isn't massive, but does help. Might need a 2nd barrier user in fights that deal more damage.
Works best as a main DPS that can charge 200 TP to self with both her skills, allowing her to UB fairly often. However, her buff on UB and heal on S2 require units to have a barrier applied, in order to apply to the teammates. Her barrier and heal are nice on such a large damage dealer, so she could easily fill multiple roles if units can stay alive with her being the only barrier source. In that same vein, she deals a ton of damage. Many other units now have access to M.def shred like X.Peco, W.Djeeta, Pyaru, etc... So her lacking of one is not as big of a deal, if she makes up for it in other ways. Definitely a dangerous machine gun M.Atk single target unit, but may not be as much of a no brainer as an S.Neneka. Think on par with W.Djeeta, Giliya - If you need to borrow her, the flexibility of your routing is fucked. A lot of her kit depends on the efficiency of her skills and uptime on her barrier, so it's tough to tell at a glance. If her TP was to all, this would be a no brainer.

Ast.Yui

Pros:

  • Deals massive damage
  • Provides buff to self on UB and S1
  • M.Crit and M.Atk buffs on UB with barrier condition
  • Provides healing and barriers on S2
  • Provides M.atk buff to team on S2 with barrier condition
  • Restores TP to self on S1 and S2 for frequent UBs
  • Can fill multiple roles in a team

Cons:

  • No M.def debuff
  • M.Atk buffs are capped
  • Somewhat reliant on barriers being up for maximum efficiency
  • TP restoration is only to self

Astral Hiyori Fire

Support/P.Atk hybrid. Has a good slew of physical buffs, TP restoration, debuffs the enemy P.Atk and P.Def shred. Worth finishing a spark with free rolls.

Astral Hiyori is mostly designed to help your physical team survive against large physical damage by debuffing their P.Atk. With TP restoration, regen, P.Crit damage increase and P.Atk buffs for all, she has a solid role to buff units. However, her damage is a bit lacking and the P.Def shreds she provIdes is quite small. This is most likely due to her having a lot more utility elsewhere and having it on UB. Her role is somewhat similar to Valentine's Shizuru, where they both provide team utility and a smaller amount of the damage. However, Astral Hiyori provides the P.Atk debuff vs Valentine's Shizuru healing. Overall, she's quite a simple character. The lack of a barrier does hurt her a bit, but the amount of TP overall from S2 is worth a look for sure. The fire element does not have too many utility units outside of V.Shizuru, so there will be more opportunities to use her in the future against physical enemies.
It is doubtful that she will have any sort of Arena usage, but does have a P.Crit reduction that can be useful in PvE or Arena. Worth a mention at least.

Ast.Hiyori

Pros:

  • Good skill loop (AA > S1 > S2 > AA > S1 > AA > S2)
  • UB provides P.def shred and buffs
  • Can help survivability vs Physical bosses
  • Gives out a lot of TP with S2 (Restores 50, then regenerates 10 TP/s for 12.5s )
  • Provides P.Crit dmg up
  • UB, S1 & S2 all provide P.Atk up for all targets
  • Buffs do not rely on range, applies to all friendlies

Cons:

  • Low P.Def shred
  • Low damage contribution
  • No heal
  • No Barrier
  • Competing with V.Shizuru for utility spot in a fire team comp
  • Loses efficacy in a team slot against magic enemies

Eris Dark

tl;dr: Roll her unless you enjoy bricking your dark comps until the next prifes, failing at arena, and generally griefing your clan. She's human rights tier.
Eris is on a similar level to Ames, except dark instead of light. She has healing over time, a barrier and 200% action speed for the entire party just with her UB, which makes her especially valuable to dark comps. With her other skills, she raises defenses, heals, restores TP, buffs magic / physical attack and crit, as well as having a unique once-per-battle revive. Her loop is incredible due to a lack of auto-attacks and she's generally the saviour the dark element needed.

Eris

Pros:

  • Frequent 50TP restoration
  • Party-wide action speed buff for 200% action speed (unique within the dark element and thus extremely valuable)
  • A unique once-per-battle revive
  • A lot of healing, both on her S1 and UB
  • Doesn't use auto-attacks, which means that her skill-loop is just S1 -> S2 on repeat
  • Barrier can be timed with her UB
  • Action speed buff can be timed to remove action speed debuffs (like you may know from Monika or Tomo) thanks to the buff being applied with her UB
  • Buffs all attack and defense stats

Cons:

  • Doesn't deal any damage by herself
  • The revive is her fifth action, potentially making it useless in arena depending on your opponent's team as it may not be used before your team is wiped out

Winter Yuni Water

Good physical support with TP boost, action speed increase and every physical buff you could want for a party. No debuffs to enemies though. Good addition to water support cast.

Winter Yuni deals no damage, outside of a joke 5 dmg from her SP skill when she has a stack of her unique mark. Her entire purpose is for buffing physical teams with consistent output of buffs to Physical teams. In that regard, she's unmatched for pure support functionality on a single unit for water specifically. On an overall level, she's a good physical buffer with action speed and the +5 TP boost. Her competition for water are the likes of S.Kokkoro, X.Chika, S.Hiyori, S.Saren for pure physical support options. Of these, S.Kokkoro has the most value and could be used in tandem with her, as she provides the P.Def debuff that Winter Yuni is missing.
Her mark system works similar to Ruu's, where she loses a mark when she takes damage. However, she does not lose marks when she uses her skills, which is where the checks happens. The fact that she gets marks from her UB means they're not going to be on her immediately, but can be refreshed when the player wishes to do so. There are instances where an attack will have one damage calculation against the damage cap, but have multiple instances of checking damage dealt. In these cases, Winter Yuni loses multiple stacks.

Winter Yuni

Pros:

  • Provides P.Atk/P.Crit/P.Crit dmg & Heal to all units on UB
  • S1 provides P.Atk & P.Crit chance buff, and Action speed
    If she has at least 1 Mark, Action Speed goes from 150% to 200%
  • S2 provides P.Atk, P.Crit dmg, a Healing field for 12.5s with a 750 range
    If she has at least 1 Mark, she provides an additiona P.Atk buff and +5 TP Boost to all friendlies
  • SP Skill provides P.Atk, 50 TP to self
    If she has at least 1 Mark, deals 5 damage
  • No AA means she'll spam skills constantly
    (S1 > SP > S1 > S2 > SP)
  • Sturdy defenses to not require healing outside of from self
  • Majority of buffs apply to all friendlies (S1, S2, SP)

Cons:

  • TP restore is only to self
  • Does not deal damage outside of joke portion of SP skill (It deals 5 damage if she has a stack)
  • Loses efficacy on skills if she does not have her marks
  • Loses stacks of her Mark from taking damage (taking 0 dmg with a barrier does not remove a stack)
  • Stacks are removed per damage tick/instance of damage being dealt.
  • Has no barriers
  • Has no debuffs to enemies (Offensive of defensive)
  • Marks cap at 3

Winter Kuroe Water

Decent perma water unit that mainly functions in longer fights to apply stacks for max efficacy and debuffing. Not impressive off element most likely.
This is written after March CB has ended, with some example of comps that work with her. She has a permanent 106 shred from SP and tons of shred across her kit. The issue with her is that her efficacy is tied to the amount of stacks the enemy has on them. Stacks are applied through each instance of an enemy getting hit, either by Kuroe or her allies. The stack thresholds are 33, 66 & 99. Her S1 & S2's improvements are at 33 & 66, while her UB has a further improvement at 99. Her UB is the only skill that removes stacks from enemies, which only removes stacks once the UB hits a target with 99 stacks.
Overall, her skillset is a bit niche. With water not having too many single target p.def shredding units that also deal damage, she will have her place in a roster. If more units are released in this same space, she may not see much usage. CB usage will most likely tie into how well she functions with Christmas Ayane. For Arena, don't even try it.

Winter Kuroe

Pros:

  • Permanent P.Def shred applied at start of fight
  • Lots of shred on S1 & S2 on enemies with 66 or more stacks
  • Very little competition in water for physical shred/damage hybrid units
  • Decent damage on enemies with 66/99 stacks
  • Decent P.Atk buff from S2
  • All 3 skills deal damage (UB, S1 & S2)
  • UB only removes stacks when enemy reaches 99, for faster stacking

Cons:

  • Requires time to reach 99 stacks in order for her UB to reach maximum efficacy
  • Requires time to reach 66 stacks in order for skills to reach maximum efficacy
  • P.Atk buff not too high
  • Offers no other common buffs (P.Crit chance, P.Crit dmg, TP restore, TP regen, healing, barriers)

Commander Makoto Dark

Good Dark physical damage dealer that also buffs self. Not necessarily worth a spark, but good to have in the roster for dark physical. Outside of element, not anything special.
Fairly simple character, buffs herself to do good damage as a Dark, physical damage dealer/debuffer. It's a shame that her buffs only apply to herself, but the 2 damage calculations in combination with her ability to lower P.Atk, she'll certainly have a niche in facilitating more offensive comps and running full dark teams. There have been quite a few physical dark teams to feature in different content, so she does have some competition. Arena seems like a pipe dream. As a limited, she feels a bit underwhelming, but don't be surprised when she does pop up in comps against dark bosses that need P.atk down.

Commander Makoto

Pros:

  • P.Atk debuff to enemy on UB
  • 2nd conditional damage calcs on UB & S1 if target has their P.def lowered
  • 650 TP to self on S2
  • P.Atk & P.Crit rate perma increase on S2
  • Good addition to dark roster for physical (S.Shinobu, Riri, Quria, Prescia, Makoto could all work well with her)
  • Good opening loop (S1 > S2 > AA >S2 >S1)
  • Good positioning

Cons:

  • Selfish DPS outside of the P.Atk debuff to enemy and shred
  • Loop doesn't use S2 more than once every 7th action (S1 > AA > S1 > AA > S1 > AA > S2)
  • No buffs for teammates
  • Outside of elemental advantage, doesn't perform amazing

Commander Eriko Dark

Wait for CB training mode to start before rolling. Excellent Dark, Physical support/damage hybrid that scales with the number of allies, with a cap of 7 allies. Outside of Elemental team, decent option.
The cap basically exists because Riri adds 2 shadows after her UB, which would put your team at 7 units with nothing else. She's built for sex and buffing your physical units, such as Eriko 6 star, Makoto 6 Star, Riri, Prescia, Commander Makoto, S.Shinobu, the list goes on. She should be able to provide enough TP to herself and teammates while dealing a good amount of damage to consider her as part of your team. As indicated by the short list of characters above, her lack of a P.Def debuff to enemies is not necessarily a deal breaker. Especially given that she provides additional defensive buffs to run squishier teams, in combination with Eris' revive. Works really well with Commander Makoto and S.Shinobu.
Something important to note is that she also stands behind Christina 6 Star, meaning if we get a fire/dark boss during CB - She may work very well with her. It is never advised to spark a perma, but Commander Eriko is worth your gems if you've got a huge excess of them. A lot of her shortcomings are covered by other units such as Eris and Makoto, so the con section is a bit nitpicky. Her banner ends on Day 1 of CB, so there's no rush to roll.

Commander Eriko

Pros:

  • UB deals good damage, buffs P.Atk and P.Crit chance based on number of allies
  • S1 deals decent damage and buffs P.Atk, based on number of allies
  • S2 Buffs P.Atk, P.Crit chance, P.Def, M.Def, Gives Eriko 300 TP and other allies 80 TP
  • Stands behind many dark units (Makoto, Commander Makoto,)
  • Excellent Opening skills (S2 > S1)
  • Good Skill Loop (S2 > AA > S1 > AA > S2 > S1 > AA > AA > S1)

Cons:

  • No P.Def shred
  • No P.Crit dmg buff
  • No healing provided to team
  • No Physical/Magic Atk debuffs to enemies
  • No Action speed buffs
  • No Shields

Anemone Wind

TBD.
TBD

Anemone

Pros:

  • TBD

Cons:

  • TBD
Edit
Pub: 15 Apr 2022 19:51 UTC
Edit: 29 Apr 2024 23:09 UTC
Views: 3824