Introduction
Apologies for the delay. Both of us got caught up by the holidays and by KoF's unexpectedly early NA release.
While all the cards in KoF have flashy, striking art, most of them are not that worthwhile. You can tell that GungHo is trying to make cards a bit more interesting and flavorful, giving every card in this machine some kind of side evo (for the five-stars) or pixel evo (for the six-stars). Unfortunately, interesting doesn't always correlate well to usable, and KoF is on the whole a pretty skippable machine. Almost all of the five-star rolls make for pretty useless subs and fairly niche inherits at best. They all have shorter reviews because there's simply not that much to say about them. The six-stars, on the other hand, are actually fairly great overall and have correspondingly deeper analysis, but of course are also fairly excruciating to roll. These factors add up to a highly top-heavy machine, and top-heavy special machines are typically not worth the bait for most players no matter how shiny said bait might be. This is especially true now, when the "best" cards in the game shift more rapidly than ever.
Additionally, do not get fooled by KoF's "no silvers". The gold rolls are not meaningfully better than typical silvers and have comparable rates, while the diamond rates are still 2% or lower each. All of the five-star rolls have extremely poor weighted stat totals; every card has a weighted of around 705, which, for comparison, is poorer than Christmas Hatsume's. This is especially bad in context of today's typical power level; at least Hatsume has the excuse of being a year old. "No silvers" here is effectively just a marketing tool.
All the five-star rolls have a "Second Player Color" or "Third Player Color" ult evo with different awakenings (but keeping the same stat lineup, active skill, etc.). In the reviews below, we'll give some insight into which form might generally be preferred. The six-star rolls all have Pixel forms that are different enough to merit separate analyses entirely.
Card Ratings and Analyses
You can click on a rarity or a card's name to jump to the corresponding section of analysis. The arrow ↑ at the bottom right of each analysis will take you back up here. Please see this page for an explanation of the rating criteria.
The five-star cards all have base and evolved form that differ only by awakenings. In their analyses blow, he base form's awakenings are displayed on the left, and the evolved form's on the right.
Roll data is from Skyozora and based on 5112 rolls at the time of writing.
* denotes substantial or unique (or both) farming usage.
The five-star cards all have base and evolved form that differ only by awakenings. In their analyses blow, he base form's awakenings are displayed on the left, and the evolved form's on the right.
Roll data is from Skyozora and based on 5112 rolls at the time of writing.
Rarity
|
Card
|
Roll %
|
Sub
|
Lead
|
Assist
|
Overall
|
9.82%
|
C
|
C-
|
B+
|
B
| ||
10.29%
|
B*
|
D+
|
C+
|
C
| ||
10.00%
|
C-
|
C+
|
B+
|
B-
| ||
9.68%
|
D+
|
D+
|
B-
|
C-
| ||
9.74%
|
C
|
D+
|
B
|
C
| ||
9.86%
|
B-
|
C
|
B+
|
B
| ||
9.84%
|
C-
|
D+
|
C-
|
C-
| ||
8.82%
|
C
|
C
|
D
|
C-
| ||
9.70%
|
C-
|
C-
|
C+
|
C-
| ||
1.94%
|
S / A+*
|
B / B-
|
A+ / A+
|
S- / A+
| ||
2.15%
|
B+ / B+
|
B+ / A+*
|
B- / B-
|
B+ / A
| ||
2.17%
|
B+ / B+
|
A+ / B
|
D+ / B
|
A / B
| ||
1.88%
|
B / B+
|
B+ / B-
|
C / A-
|
B / B+
| ||
1.92%
|
A- / B+
|
A- / B+
|
C- / B
|
A- / B
| ||
2.19%
|
A+ / B+
|
B- / A-
|
A- / B
|
A / B+
|
Billy Kane [Sub: C | Lead: C- | Assist: B+ | Overall: B]
 |
HP: 3225 | ATK: 1475 | RCV: 260 | WT: 704 | Balance
LS: 1.5x HP for Fire Att.; 3x ATK for clearing each Fire/Water cross. [2.25/729/1]
AS: Removes lock status on Orbs; changes all Orbs to Fire, Water & Wood Orbs. [CD: 9]
        |
Overview. Fairly poor base card, but has a unique and somewhat interesting active. That's pretty much his only selling point, however, and he will typically be relegated to inherit use only.
Sub. As with all these five-star rolls, his mediocre awakening count and poor stat lineup prevent relevant usage in most scenarios. Billy gets a bit of a pass for having average (instead of awful) HP, a decent enough base active, and a fairly uncommon color combination. Still not that great, and lacks special power or usability.
Lead. Billy's multiplier for one cross is absolutely garbage and even the multiplier for two crosses is too low given the orb investment needed. At least his potential subpool is enormous. It's possible to completely ignore the Water cross aspect and pair with one of the Dantalion evos, but even this is just not that good (and Billy's base active doesn't even give Hearts).
Assist. This is the first Fire/Water/Wood tricolor available (a bit of a shame that it's on such an otherwise crappy card) and happens to come with an unlock. Quite unique. Can be used by itself on any team that can use the colors, or notably combined with Sitri to unlock and create a full water board for farming purposes.
Which Form? Neither is very inspiring, as they both lack the components that would make them actually good. The 2nd Player form probably has more generally useful awakenings if you're looking to sub him. On the other hand, the base form has two Time Extends, which is a rare commodity among fire cards if you need it.
King [Sub: B* | Lead: D+ | Assist: C+ | Overall: C]
 |
HP: 3062 | ATK: 1398 | RCV: 356 | WT: 704 | Balance
LS: 1.5x ATK for Water Att.; reduces damage received by 10%; 2.5x ATK when 4 combos, 4x when 7+ combos. [1/36/1, 19% resist]
AS:
   |
Overview. King has one okay use and is terrible at nearly everything else due to her awful stat total and mediocre base active.
Sub. Lacking at everything except killing Attackers. Pretty good at killing Attackers though, as she can take Attacker Killer latents as well for great damage. Do keep in mind that most Attacker cards have some kind of secondary typing that is probably covered by a stronger card overall (Kiri smashes the many Dragon/Attackers, for instance), which does limit King's potential usage cases. Still, as the only card in the game with two Attacker Killers, King carves herself a nice niche.
King is also a great sub if you like to
Lead. The multiplier is pretty unimpressive. Probably okay for new players, but too weak to be of any real use. Most of the subs you could use to make King capable of clearing content would make better leads than her.
Assist. Usable as a delay inherit, but will probably never be your first choice. It's hard to think of a scenario in which you would want precisely this combination of effects over something else, and the cooldown is far too high for only two turns of delay (Eight-Headed Suppression is twice the delay duration for just two extra turns of cooldown).
Which Form? The base double Attacker Killer form is vastly, vastly superior for any purpose you'd reasonably be using King for. Two Skill Boosts on this form is a nice bonus. As far as the other form goes, there are simply superior options for double SBR (see the farmable and also blue Another Justice), and one 7c awakening is simply pathetic damage with King's atrocious Attack stat.
Andy Bogard [Sub: C- | Lead: C+ | Assist: B+ | Overall: B-]
 |
HP: 2703 | ATK: 1908 | RCV: 159 | WT: 704 | Attacker
LS: Board becomes 7x6; 1.5x HP & RCV for Water Att.; 3x ATK for matched Att. when erasing 5 Orbs with 1+ enhanced. [2.25/9/2.25, 7x6 board]
AS:
  |
Overview. The active is a unique four-color board, but the rest of the card is fairly terrible. Even the interesting 7x6 leader skill cannot save him from his bad typing and awful stats.
Sub. These days, it's hard to justify subbing anything with under 3000 or so HP unless there's an exceedingly good reason to do so. For Andy, there isn't an exceedingly good reason to do so, and despite his passable awakenings his stats simply hold him back in content of any significant difficulty.
Lead. 7x6 boards with straightforward activation will never be completely unusable. That said, there's no place currently where Andy's 7x6 board properly shines. This is mostly because there isn't really a combination of playstyle and lead that he properly supports. Combo leads suffer from the sparkle activation; the currently available sparkle leads do not have synergy with Andy; and Sitri -- the only remaining conceivable pairing -- doesn't boost Attacker types. Perhaps in the future, there will be someone to take advantage of what he offers, but he just doesn't fit in right now.
Assist. Reasonably usable. Setting aside the mediocre enhanced orbs component, the board is a unique quad-color (which guarantees at least seven combos on a 6x5 board, often more) with hearts and is suitable for a variety of combo teams, notably light-based Blue Hunter. Definitely Andy's most redeeming quality.
Which Form? They're comparably bad. If you absolutely must use him as a sub, it simply comes down to whether you prefer a Time Extend stick or a second Skill Boost. For newer players, the Time Extends on Andy's base form can be quite a blessing and learning aid.
Chin Gentsai [Sub: D+ | Lead: D+ | Assist: B- | Overall: C-]
 |
HP: 3089 | ATK: 1498 | RCV: 287 | WT: 704 | Balance
LS:
AS: 1.5x time to mov for 1 turn; changes Light, Dark & Poison Orbs to Wood Orbs. [CD: 9]
 |
Kim Kaphwan [Sub: C | Lead: D+ | Assist: B | Overall: C]
 |
HP: 3020 | ATK: 2003 | RCV: 5 | WT: 704 | Attacker
LS:
AS: Add 2 combos for 1 turn; reduce enemies' defense by 50% for 1 turn. [CD: 10]
 |
Overview. Most notable for the +2c active, and not even super notable for that. At least he's better than Chin!
Sub. The Attack stat makes both forms slightly more worthwhile than some of the less useful cards in this machine. If you need a wood TPA card, Kim is a passable option, and does get a mention as an all right Ronove sub if you're newer, want the color coverage, can't afford or finish Ragnarok Dragons, or otherwise want to focus on wood TPAs. The base active is helpful for a cross lead as well. Low stats overall still hold him back significantly.
Lead. Admittedly an okay lead for learning the game, but way too orb hungry to be actually useful or usable beyond that.
Assist. Probably the least impressive +2c active overall, as the secondary effect of a 50% defense break is nearly completely useless. Nonetheless, it is still one of few +2c actives that doesn't change orbs (and therefore can't mess with any board), and is the lowest cooldown +2c released so far. Where the extra cooldown doesn't matter, Cthugha and friends are still typically preferred for much more useful secondary effects, but Kim's active constitutes a viable alternative option.
Which Form? Neither is amazing. If you're subbing this card, you're probably a newer player, so the evolved TPA form is probably slightly easier to take advantage of. Otherwise, both mediocre.
Sub. The Attack stat makes both forms slightly more worthwhile than some of the less useful cards in this machine. If you need a wood TPA card, Kim is a passable option, and does get a mention as an all right Ronove sub if you're newer, want the color coverage, can't afford or finish Ragnarok Dragons, or otherwise want to focus on wood TPAs. The base active is helpful for a cross lead as well. Low stats overall still hold him back significantly.
Lead. Admittedly an okay lead for learning the game, but way too orb hungry to be actually useful or usable beyond that.
Assist. Probably the least impressive +2c active overall, as the secondary effect of a 50% defense break is nearly completely useless. Nonetheless, it is still one of few +2c actives that doesn't change orbs (and therefore can't mess with any board), and is the lowest cooldown +2c released so far. Where the extra cooldown doesn't matter, Cthugha and friends are still typically preferred for much more useful secondary effects, but Kim's active constitutes a viable alternative option.
Which Form? Neither is amazing. If you're subbing this card, you're probably a newer player, so the evolved TPA form is probably slightly easier to take advantage of. Otherwise, both mediocre.
Takuma Sakazaki [Sub: B- | Lead: C | Assist: B+ | Overall: B]
 |
HP: 3825 | ATK: 1610 | RCV: 0 | WT: 704 | Physical
LS: 3x ATK & 25% reduced damage when erasing 6+ connected Light Orbs; 2.5x ATK on the turn a skill is used. [1/56.25/1, 43.75% resist]
AS: Void all damage for 1 turn; 2.5x ATK for Light & Fire Att. for 1 turn. [CD: 20]
   |
Overview. Definitely one of the less trashy five-star rolls, Takuma's nice combination of active and awakenings help distinguish him from the rest of this sea of mediocrity. He's still slightly clunky and held back by his lackluster stat total, but unlike the sea of five-star mediocrity, Takuma is at least worth a second or third look.
Sub. Takuma actually has a reasonable stat distribution, as well as both 7c and Machine Killer in his evolved form, so it's proportionately more disappointing that the other awakenings are rather minimalistic. Still, he fills a bigger and more relevant niche than most of the other five-stars and is worth considering if a light-based Machine Killer card catches your eye. He's plausible (though not standout unless you want the Killer) on most light row teams, including Ameno, DQXQ, and the like.
Lead. The multiplier and shield are fine -- on par with Saria. However, compared to Saria, the lack of RCV multiplier as well as the skill usage clase hold him back significantly. Usable but not very good.
Assist. Takuma's active clocks in at an unbelievably long 20 turns. If you find a way past the absurd cooldown, there's a reasonable amount of utility to be found in this dual duty. Both regular and farming teams can use it to bypass resolve executions of tanky spawns while simultaneously bursting them down, which isn't such a bad deal. The enormous cooldown is still a shame, but at least the active behind it is reasonably okay.
Which Form? The 2nd Player form is far superior. This isn't to say that the base form's 3 SB is bad, but Orpharion is farmable and miles better than Takuma as a 3 SB light card.
Yuri Sakazaki [Sub: C- | Lead: D+ | Assist: C- | Overall: C-]
 |
HP: 2398 | ATK: 1835 | RCV: 294 | WT: 704 | Attacker
LS: 1.5x HP & ATK for Attacker Type; 3x ATK when clearing 6 connected Light Orbs, 4x when 8+ connected. [2.25/36/1]
AS: Removes lock status on Orbs; Reduce enemies' HP by 20%. [CD: 10]
  |
Overall. Below average in just about every way. The awakenings aside from Super FUA are nothing to write home about; the HP stat is just the worst; the active is very, very unimpressive. Super FUA is nice but in our opinion can't really redeem her on the whole.
Sub. Yuri's awful HP prevents her from finding usage on pretty much any team except very early on. It's a shame, since Super FUA isn't very widely distributed and potentially helpful, but any player that's in a position to be utilizing Super FUA will not want to be using a sub with 2.4k base HP. Few plausible use cases.
Lead. Light Attackers are just not as much of a thing as GungHo wishes they were, and this is just not a practical leader skill in any way.
Assist. 20% is far too weak and the unlock effect is not useful in the face of more synergistic and helpful unlock actives, such as base Machine Goemon for farming uses or any orb-changing unlock for non-farming uses. It's at least a (small) step up from the embarrassment that is Christmas Sakuya.
Which Form? Probably make the form with Super FUA, as the other one is too terrible to be worth considering.
Benimaru Nikaido [Sub: C | Lead: C | Assist: D | Overall: C-]
 |
HP: 2654 | ATK: 2045 | RCV: 93 | WT: 705 | Attacker
LS: 2x ATK & RCV when 5+ combos; 3x ATK for matched Att. when erasing 5 Orbs with 1+ enhanced. [1/36/4]
AS: Extend time to move by 2 secs for 5 turns; enhance Light Orbs. [CD: 8]
|
Sub. Benimaru's okay Attack doesn't make up for his awful HP. He does, however, have a form with two TE and two SBR, giving him some level of utility. This could potentially be helpful for new players, as it can be difficult to fit SBR and TE on a team with a limited box and Benimaru does accomplish both in one.
If you are not a newer player who needs these things, Benimaru is easily skippable for better double SBR options. Even Pollux has more HP than he does.
Lead. Disappointingly enough, probably his best strongest quality. Newer players will find some value here in his mostly unconditional leader skill and good RCV multiplier. 36x with sparkles might feel pathetically weak today, but this leader skill is comparable to one of the legacy Arena 1 farmers, old Yomi Dragon. (Both she and Benimaru are horribly outdated today, of course.)
Assist. No. This is twice the cooldown of Reincarnated Venus for just as bad of an active.
Which Form? The evolved form is typically preferable, as this form's awakenings are all helpful and will generally prove more impactful than the base form's three OE. The sole exception would be for a newer player leading with him without other ways to have OE.
Athena Asamiya [Sub: C- | Lead: C- | Assist: C+ | Overall: C-]
 |
HP: 2751 | ATK: 1563 | RCV: 351 | WT: 704 | Balance
LS: 2x ATK & RCV for Light Att.; extends time to move Orbs by 2 secs; 2.5x ATK when Light & Dark attack at once. [1/25/4]
AS: Add 1 combo for 2 turns; reduce damage received by 50% for 2 turns. [CD: 12]
  |
Sub. As with many of these cards, Athena's awful HP holds her back from being truly useful. At least the Devil Killer is nice, though consider that Mito will do nearly as much light damage as Athena despite not being main-attribute light (and Shazel would of course do even more). Both also have more impressive stats overall, so Athena faces stiff competition as a Devil Killer even from cards that appear to be off-color. She isn't that useful for anything else either, sadly.
Lead. Athena's leader skill combines easy activation with plenty of movement time to help ease new players into the game and clear a reasonable chunk of content. As we've already seen from the five-stars though, it's not usable for more established players.
Assist. This active is far too long for what utility it has, though can serve as a passable shield inherit if a better one isn't available.
Which Form? The 2nd Player form is preferred for its Devil Killer, though this preference is largely because the base form doesn't have a real purpose anywhere.
Kyo Kusanagi [Sub: S | Lead: B | Assist: A+ | Overall: S-]
 |
HP: 4939 | ATK: 1968 | RCV: 51 | WT: 904 | Attacker/Physical
LS: 3x ATK, 25% reduced damage when 6+ combos; 3x ATK, 25% reduced damage when 3+ Fire combos. [1/81/1, 68.36% shield]
AS: Changes all Orbs to Fire & Heal Orbs; Fire Orbs more likely to appear by 15% for 2 turns. [CD: 13]
 |
Sub. This card is where the money is, and represents basically everything fire wants rolled into one. Two Time Extends is a godsend for a color that has traditionally suffered from a generalized lack of them. A powerful Devil Killer is also a blessing for a color (arguably the strongest farming color, no less!) that does not have good Devil Killer options. The rest of the awakenings are picture-perfect, representing an excellent blend of firepower and team support. Two Skill Boosts and FUA are really the icing on the cake of an already fantastic setup. (Two SB in particular is quite uncommon in a card that is already this loaded.) Finally, his selection of Killer latents, though not extravagant, does include both Devil (to further stack with his awakening) and Machine, both of which have their uses in late-game content.
Any Fire-based team would love to have Kyo along for the ride. Enra loves him as a sub, as his whole package meshes beautifully with her leader skill. When she comes to NA, Diara will appreciate everything Kyo brings to the table as well. Most archetypes of combo teams could also benefit from Kyo's great overall setup, though the base active might not always be helpful.
The only two possible gripes about Kyo's sub value are the Devil Killer (which can be omitted if desired, as it is the final awakening), which hinders the effectiveness of killing Parvati in Arenas 1-3, and the Attacker/Physical typing, which locks him out of some potential farming usage by negating his sub capability on Dark Metatron teams (though thankfully still allows him to be used on Glavenus Hunter).
Lead. With his powerful shield, Kyo is comparable to a slightly stronger Krishna. However, his activation is way too orb hungry to consistently keep up, requiring nine fire orbs to fully activate and capping at a multiplier that is only reasonably decent. Fun and definitely viable in shorter dungeons, but does not compare to today's finest.
Assist. A highly efficient active packing a huge amount of firepower. This bicolor active is incredibly strong when it's usable, ensuring that the player heals significantly while dropping incredible damage on the enemy. It also synergizes well with Kyo's own FUA awakening, providing both the hearts needed to activate it and the damage needed to burst through a resolve spawn. The skyfall buff is best thought of as a secondary bonus, and has uses in obtaining orbs for the next few floors and in clearing potentially unwanted enemy skyfalls. There is, of course, always RNG present in bicolor actives, but Kyo's active still presents previously unseen utility.
Pixel Kyo Kusanagi [Sub: A+* | Lead: B- | Assist: A+ | Overall: A+]
 |
HP: 4939 | ATK: 1968 | RCV: 51 | WT: 904 | Attacker/Physical
LS: 2x HP & ATK for Attacker Type; Extends time to move Orbs by 2 secs; 3x ATK when 2+ Fire combos. [4/36/1]
AS: Changes all Orbs to Fire, Heal Orbs; other allies' skills charge by 1 turn. [CD: 13]
 |
Overall. For players who own exactly one Kyo, the pixel evolution is a painful decision, as each form is hugely powerful in their own right. As a pixel, he trades some of the base form's stellar awakenings for the significant honor of being only the second pixel in the game with Devil Killer. Strong pixels with relevant killers are in high demand, and Kyo now sits proudly among their ranks. There is, though, a massive opportunity cost in losing the base form's powerful combination of 7c and FUA.
Sub. While Pixel Cloud used to be the premier choice for smashing through powerful damage void Devils such as Azathoth and Hera-Beorc, Pixel Kyo emerges as a powerful contender and alternative option. Just like Cloud, he can take Devil Killer latents to further increase his potential. Kyo's advantage over Cloud in this role is that Kyo's base active substantially supports both himself and his team (whereas Cloud's is relatively poor). Kyo also does not require any kind of attribute change to bypass Hera-Beorc's light absorb (and has attribute advantage by default), which is quite relevant in the dungeons she happens to appear in.
Note that his awakenings other than the VDP and killer are fairly average, and as mentioned the other form is still a better general-purpose sub.
Lead. 4x HP looks pretty good! 36x ATK to Attacke-, uh... it's going to take a lot more to make a truly strong lead. 4x HP can admittedly make up for a lot, and Fire does have some good Attackers, so this isn't totally awful, but it's nowhere near as good as it could be.
Assist. The main and very powerful part of Kyo's active remains unchanged in Pixel form. We both prefer one turn of haste over the skyfall buff as a secondary effect, so in our view this represents a small improvement over base Kyo. Again, an active that synergizes very well with the base card.
Farming. Though Yog and Pixel Cloud still reign supreme in 3P UDR, Pixel Kyo can be a fearsome sub for UDR kill teams led with Glavenus Hunter, Enra, and the like, all of which have their own advantages and disadvantages compared to Yog. In this context, Kyo's powerful active assumes a more supportive role, allowing him to be used to wipe earlier floors; a full fire board such as Machine Goemon is still preferred for the kill shot, though. In a broader farming context, Pixel Kyo is great for possibly avoiding the need for damage enhancing actives versus Devil spawns such as Scarlet or Shuten-Doji.
Terry Bogard [Sub: B+ | Lead: B+ | Assist: B- | Overall: B+]
 |
HP: 4045 | ATK: 2398 | RCV: 60 | WT: 904 | Attacker/Physical
LS:
AS: Reduces Bind Status & Awoken Skill Bind by 3 turns; changes left-most column to Fire, right-most column to Light. [CD: 10]
|
Overall. Terry is a well-rounded card, though he lacks the offensive presence to be a truly top-of-the-line pick. KoF seems to be GungHo's effort to push two TE on fire cards, and Terry fits right in with Kyo and the rest in that function. While the lack of offense is definitely a detriment, his otherwise solid awakenings and respectable stat spread make Terry worthwhile overall, though his pixel form is generally more valuable.
Sub. Terry's lack of meaningful offensive awakenings is a bit disappointing, but he still makes for a relatively solid sub due to the rest of his setup being fairly excellent. With SB, TE, and unbindability, he finds a place on Enra and Mai as well as some more mid-game fire leads. The lack of offensive potential ultimately holds him back, as in addition to the awakenings problem he finds himself unable to take the meaningful God or Dragon Killer latents either.
Lead. Reminiscent of a significantly souped-up Tsubaki. With no sub restrictions, fairly simple activation, and a nice multiplier and shield, this is not a bad leader at all. He still won't be capable of the hardest content due to an inability to stall and no true tank multiplier without activation, and comes with all the normal weaknesses that sparkle leads face, but should be able to take players quite far with the right team setup -- Arena 3 is well within Terry's grasp. His subpool is also rewarding, as fire has the ever-powerful Killer Tsubaki and light has no shortage of 7c cards to take advantage of.
Assist. An okay bind clear active, but nothing special. Worth using if you can take advantage of both of its colors; otherwise fairly skippable. The addition of Awoken Bind Clear doesn't actually add a lot to the active since most relevant Awakening Binds are longer than three turns, and creating orbs while awakenings are bound isn't very helpful. Terra from the Final Fantasy collab is a slightly easier-to-roll version of this with a generally more useful secondary effect as well.
Pixel Terry Bogard [Sub: B+ | Lead: A+* | Assist: B- | Overall: A]
 |
HP: 4045 | ATK: 2398 | RCV: 60 | WT: 904 | Attacker/Physical
LS: 1.5x HP, 3.5x ATK for Fire Att.; 1.5x ATK when clearing 6 connected Fire Orbs, 3x when 9+ connected. [2.25/110.25/1]
AS: Changes left-most column to Fire, right-most column to Light; 2x Time to move Orbs for 1 turn. [CD: 9]
 |
Overall. The preferred form for Terry overall unless you strongly desire a fire sub with TE. Decent pixel sub and a very nice farming leader.
Sub. A respectable pixel sub, bringing much better stats and awakenings on the whole than the farmable options. Nothing complicated aside from that, but a powerful pixel is always nice to have around, and the killer latent selection, though not top-notch, is at least decent.
Lead. Fantastic as a farming lead. The most direct comparison is to Glavenus Hunter, who at first glance is farmable and has Multi-Boost, Dragon Killer, a second Skill Boost, and a higher overall multiplier. What makes Pixel Terry useful in spite of these slight weaknesses?
The first and most obvious answer is that he's a pixel. Having the pixel awakening accessible to both teams on a powerful card greatly simplifies teambuilding. Pixel Terry has another advantage: though his multiplier is lower, the flexibility of the leader skill opens up more diverse teambuilding options. His six-orb activation, though on the weak side, does allow the use of Sado to sweep two lower HP floors with just one active. His sub requirement is also relaxed and can he can use any Fire card, allowing for more diverse sub choices that Glavenus Hunter does not permit. Finally, he is actually on type to pair with Glavenus Hunter if your partner does not have a Terry of their own or if the extra damage from a second pixel is not needed.
In all, quite a nice option to have around. Do note, though, that if you're not farming, this leader skill is not particularly good in regular gameplay.
Assist. This is about as good as the non-pixel active at best. Still usable and decent if you need the columns.
Mai Shiranui [Sub: B+ | Lead: A+ | Assist: D+ | Overall: A]
 |
HP: 3883 | ATK: 1873 | RCV: 426 | WT: 904 | Balance
LS:
AS: Enhanced Orbs more likely to appear by 50% for 5 turns; creates 3 Fire Orbs at random. [CD: 7]
|
Overview. Mai is a well-rounded card with a lot to offer. She has reasonable sub potential with three TPAs (Weld equip can give a fourth for even more damage), and her other awakenings offer great team support. She's even more interesting as a lead, as we'll discuss below.
Sub. TPAs are slightly out of season, but Mai stands out as a reasonably strong option regardless. This is largely due to her supportive awakenings: two Time Extends and two Heart Enhances provide substantial team utility and, taken as a whole, represent a combination that no other card can quite bring to the table. She still doesn't quite reach top-tier sub status due to her middling HP and her focus on TPAs for damage, but does have a lot to offer. The ability to take any Killer latent and the very low CD base for inheritance are both definite plusses (though it's a shame the base active itself is terrible).
Mai can find a nice home on any team that appreciates her combination of offense and team support. Though TPAs are out of the meta, they are still not by any means impossible to incorporate into a combo-focused playstyle, especially on a 7x6 board. Pronging Hearts makes Mai contribute just over 2000 RCV to the team when hypermaxed, granting a nice and practical survivability boost.
Mai can find a nice home on any team that appreciates her combination of offense and team support. Though TPAs are out of the meta, they are still not by any means impossible to incorporate into a combo-focused playstyle, especially on a 7x6 board. Pronging Hearts makes Mai contribute just over 2000 RCV to the team when hypermaxed, granting a nice and practical survivability boost.
Lead. Really, really interesting. Mai's leader skill is most frequently compared to Diablos', though there are some differences, both subtle and overt. Firstly, and importantly, is her unconditional. Whereas Diablos typically has only very limited ways to damage control around spawns without using a Fujin-like active, Mai's unconditional -- combined with the unconditional of whatever she's being paired with -- grants her considerably more flexibility in this area, and makes it much more possible to sneak under the absorb shields of the relevant spawns. Her very slightly lower multiplier is traded for a slightly easier activation condition compared to Diablos, though neither difference is too relevant on the whole. Perhaps the most significant difference is her lack of unbindability, which is not easily compensated for.
Regarding Mai's sub restriction to fire and light, it's very worth noting that while it is definitely more strict than the "anything goes as long as you can combo" of Diablos, it still allows various fantastic options to be utilized since fire and light can be a card's sub-attributes as well. Notably, Awoken Nohime, Awoken Uranus, and Awoken Cronus -- all extremely powerful combo subs -- gain the full benefit of Mai's leader skill. (The usual suspects of Enra, Yuna, Light Ideal, Awoken Tachibana, etc. are obviously fantastic as well.)
Mai also gains value in her extremely low cooldown base active (7 turns, compared to Diablos' unwieldy 24). Though the active itself is subpar, it is easily fast enough to inherit something more useful over. This is of particular benefit when using her as part of a 7x6 swap, allowing her to function as a better eventual sub than Diablos due to the actual plausibility of using an inherited skill.
Ultimately, Mai is probably still weaker than everyone's favorite Massacre Demon; however, she comes within striking distance much sooner than we anticipated any card would (and is ever so slightly easier to roll, if you really want to try for it). Certain leaders such as Kenshin and Enra will absolutely appreciate the new option to play around with as well. She's certainly a formidable option, and a card that you should be happy to roll.
Assist. This is just terrible as an assist. How would this ever be an upgrade to anything else? Sorry, Mai.
Pixel Mai Shiranui [Sub: B+ | Lead: B | Assist: B | Overall: B]
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HP: 3833 | ATK: 1873 | RCV: 426 | WT: 904 | Balance
LS: Board becomes 7x6; 2x ATK for Fire Att.; 2.5x ATK when clearing 6 connected Fire Orbs, 4x when 9+ connected. [1/64/1]
AS: Enhanced Orbs more likely to appear by 50% for 5 turns; changes all Orbs to Fire, Water & Light Orbs. [CD: 12]
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Overall. While her awakenings look unique at first glance, Pixel Mai is the less impressive form. The leader skill is neat but not necessarily useful; everything else combines to make a card that is decent overall but not truly special in any way.
Sub. As mentioned, the awakening mix is... unique, but not actually great for being unique. Still a pixel with a strong statline, but doesn't bring anything special to the table.
Lead. Pixel Mai's leader skill seems neat at first glance, but is not as good as it looks. From a farming perspective, the lower multiplier compared to cards like Glavenus Hunter is actually not entirely compensated by the 7x6 board. Furthermore, 7x6 boards tend to increase skyfall combos (unless paired with a no skyfall lead), which is also not desirable for farming. For non-farming purposes this is decently usable, but both the orb hunger and the impracticality of playing rows on 7x6 can get in the way of actual usability. (Trust us on this one. 7x6 rows are pretty un-fun.)
More than anything else, this leader skill is simply unnecessary and impractical. Still, she gets a passable rating due to the utility of 7x6 boards in general, the leader skill's numerical relevance, and a good theoretical subpool.
Assist. Not great, but at least better than the base form. This is a fairly unique board (shared only with Superman) with a relatively unimpressive secondary effect. The cooldown is, in our opinion, slightly too long for what it is, but there's nothing to be done about that. Note that this board can combo with both Wedding Akechi for 2/3 enhanced light and Sanada for 2/3 enhanced fire, giving it good flexibility.
Ryo Sakazaki [Sub: B | Lead: B+ | Assist: C | Overall: B]
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HP: 3912 | ATK: 2570 | RCV: 0 | WT: 905 | Attacker/Physical
LS: 3x ATK, 25% reduced damage when 4+ colors attack at once; 3x ATK & 25% reduced damage when erasing 6+ connected Light Orbs. [1/81/1, 68.36% shield]
AS: No skyfall combos for 1 turn; changes top row to Light Orbs. [CD: 5]
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Overall. Probably the least impressive six-star overall, due to having a wonky stat spread and light rows being a slightly dated archetype. Still, not totally awful in the uses that he has.
Sub. Ryo covers colors that tend to be relevant on light row teams, while providing nice awakenings and a short, synergistic base active. It's a shame that the Attack stat is so unbalancing, as this undermines the characteristic even damage of row teams, one of the only advantages they have over other archetypes today. It's even more of a shame that this comes at the expense of HP, giving him only average bulk at best. Despite all this, three rows and two Time Extends are enough to secure him a spot where applicable. Ryo isn't game-changing, but he's a solid enough choice if light rows do happen to be your jam.
Lead. Reminiscent of DQXQ, with the luxury of having a difficult color covered already by the lead. The tankiness granted by fully activating the leader skill is substantial, and the color component is low enough multiplier that it can plausibly be used to stall with a slightly weaker shield. The damage multiplier is rather low, but to solve that he can be paired with DQXQ herself for a reasonable 1/144/1 and 43.75% shield overall. Not especially great in end-game content, but good enough for Arenas for sure.
Assist. Mediocre. Row making is typically used for farming, and light hasn't had a relevant farming use for quite a while. As far as a non-farming active goes, no skyfall is a neat touch but the active is still too weak to actually be worth assisting onto something else.
Pixel Ryo Sakazaki [Sub: B+ | Lead: B- | Assist: A- | Overall: B+]
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HP: 3912 | ATK: 2570 | RCV: 0 | WT: 905 | Attacker/Physical
LS: 1.5x HP, 3x ATK for Attacker Type; 2.5x ATK when clearing 6 connected Light Orbs, 4x when 9+ connected. [2.25/144/1]
AS:
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Overall. In a color already flooded with pixels, Ryo doesn't bring anything new or special to the table. Nonetheless, he's still a perfectly fine option for players who happened to roll him and missed out on the Final Fantasy ones.
Sub. Decidedly better than the other form, as his Attack stat can be put to good use with VDP. He keeps his three rows in this form as well, which is a great help to team damage on all-out kill boards. The ability to take Devil Killer latents accentuates this usage. His base active does guarantee enough orbs to create a 3x3 box with, but may prove awkward to actually make in practice, so be aware of that. Though Ryo might not have anything special over the other light pixels from Final Fantasy, he can still hold his own as a hard-hitting pixel sub.
Lead. Seems okay until you realize that light Attackers is actually pretty restrictive and any team you can make will end up with an absolutely awful RCV stat. It's not numerically bad and the theoretical subpool is okay, but ultimately ends up just being too impractical for most players.
Assist. A nice step up from the non-pixel's active, and reminiscent of a light Sado. Unfortunately, since red is the premier farming color and light is, well, not, Sado is still miles more applicable than this. This is further solidified by Sado being a silver and far easier to roll than Ryo.
That said, an active like this is still extremely powerful. It can, for instance, be used as a very controlled means of orb generation for Ameno and Kirin teams, or as a combo maker for farming teams. Additionally, something like Zeus Verse could use an active like this and save orbs to sweep up to four entire floors. Finally, it is precisely the introduction of actives like this that helped to make red farming as great as it is today, and it's actives like this that might one day make light row farming viable too. We do not rate actives based on pure speculation, but it would be careless not to note the potential here.
Iori Yagami [Sub: A- | Lead: A- | Assist: C- | Overall: A-]
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HP: 4093 | ATK: 2088 | RCV: 284 | WT: 904 | Attacker/Devil
LS: 4x ATK, 25% reduced damage when 4+ colors attack at once; 5x ATK for matched Att. when erasing 5 Orbs with 1+ enhanced. [1/400/1, 43.75% shield]
AS: Change All Orbs to Fire, Water, Wood, Light & Dark Orbs; enhances all Orbs. [CD: 13]
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Overall. Iori is an interesting and nuanced card, combining a powerful leader skill with some nice sub potential due to his Rainbow Haste awakening. 13 turns is the shortest cooldown on a Rainbow Haste card that we've seen to date, and so Iori could be used in both lead and sub positions to charge valuable, high-impact actives much more quickly than ever before, especially on 7x6. Iori (Fujin), while appearing to be an intimidating 32 turns, can theoretically be up in as little as 16 and in practice can typically be up at around the same time that Fujin would be if she were subbed directly. In context of an actual dungeon, this means that you could, for instance, use Iori (Fujin) on Sopdet in Arena 3 and only require a small amount of stalling for Fujin to be back up for Hera Dragon.
Sub. As outlined above, Iori's Rainbow Haste awakening gives him some nice flexibility and value. Sadly, many rainbow teams cannot use an Attacker/Devil card, which somewhat constrains his usage. Multiplayer further diminishes his sub capabilities, as the potential usage cases of his increased recharge speed are somewhat undermined by how slowly sub actives charge in coop.
Still, the Rainbow Haste awakening is an interesting enough mechanic that it may be worth teambuilding around even for non-rainbow teams, and Iori's unique role as the fastest card with the awakening does earn him a mention. For instance, Iori (Fujin) could be subbed on a specifically designed Kamimusubi team to enable a player with only one Fujin to clear Arena 3 more conveniently. Combo teams, which are typically color agnostic, may be able to reap similar rewards.
His other awakenings and stat lineup are nothing extraordinary, but at the very least you would not be ashamed to sub him. (Too bad the same can't be said about these five-stars.)
Lead. Extremely solid numerically, with a massive reward for hitting both activation conditions. Iori is probably the most powerful sparkle lead available at the moment, as his damage is phenomenal and completely blows away today's next best sparkle leaders. His subpool is unrestricted and there are many powerful dark cards to take advantage of. Unbindability is a great bonus and further relaxes teambuilding considerations. Potential subs include Awoken Nohime, Reincarnated Yomi, Nees, Leona (described below), Eschamali, Yomi Dragon, Zaerog Infinity, the upcoming Awoken Akechi, and more. Kamimusubi gets a shoutout for covering the most difficult off-color and providing FUA on top of that.
If you are truly having trouble covering green with any reasonable sub (nobody really wants to use Corpse Wyrm, after all), consider pairing Iori with Diablos for the 7x6 board and easy wood coverage.
Iori's lack of tank multipliers is slightly off-putting, but fortunately activating the shield by itself is straightforward and not overly damaging, making it feasible to tank hits and stall. He suffers slightly in Arena-level content due to not being able to damage control quite as efficiently as one might desire. Knowing your damage, proper teambuilding, and one Fujin can get around most of these barriers. Looking to harder content, Iori would function best in Alt. Arena with a truly synergistic 7x6 pairing, though PAD does not have one at the present time. Awoken Nohime is a decent enough option and swaps into an excellent sub as well. On the whole, he's capable of essentially all content but not necessarily convenient to run in it, making for a fun and strange yet still powerful lead.
Assist. A very mediocre board on a far too long cooldown. Usable to enhance all orbs before using another board changer if you have nothing better. Mostly skip.
Pixel Iori Yagami [Sub: B+ | Lead: B+ | Assist: B | Overall: B]
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HP: 4093 | ATK: 2088 | RCV: 284 | WT: 904 | Attacker/Devil
LS: 1.5x HP, 2.5x ATK for Attacker & Devil Type; 3.5x ATK when Dark & Fire attack at once. [2.25/76.56/1]
AS:
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Overall. Simpler than his non-pixel form. There's no Rainbow Haste awakening to play around with; instead, he gets the honor of being the only pixel card with a 7c awakening. Though this seems like a strange combination, it does help him pull his weight when a 3x3 box isn't being matched -- something that is exceptionally uncommon among all the other pixel cards that exist today. This isn't enough of a bonus to push him significantly upwards in rating (especially in context of his otherwise minimalistic awakenings) but is certainly neat enough to be worth mentioning.
Sub. Outside of certain JP-exclusive dungeons, there are no Attacker spawns that benefit significantly from being smashed with a pixel, greatly decreasing this killer's value at the present time (again, we do not rate based on pure speculation on what GungHo might release in the future). The ability to take God Killer latents is a nice boost to usability. The 7c awakening is also previously unseen on pixel cards, but is actually quite appreciated, as described above. Pixel Iori's sub usage ends up being fairly straightforward.
Just be careful of that Attacker Killer in Arena 2/3.
Lead. There's something to be said for leading with Pixel Iori and subbing cards like Reincarnated Haku and Awoken Uranus, and the damage multiplier is good enough, but with a base active that can break activation and sort of an oddball awakening setup you're probably better off just leading Dark Athena in most cases. Without inheriting a damage-boosting active, his multiplier is also typically not enough to make adequate use of his own pixel awakening either. Finally, his base active does not complement his leader skill at all, and can often eat up the fire orbs that you need to activate. This is not a weak leader, but is certainly a bit more clunky than players might prefer.
Assist. This has value as an inherit for setting up non-dark pixels (ex. Machine Goemon into Pixel Iori will give enough orbs to separate out a 3x3 of fire and make a fire row). If you are in desperate need of a way to make a dark 3x3, this active will also supply almost all of the orbs required for that (though the practicality of already having one dark orb on the board can of course vary contextually).
As an actual assist for dark teams, it suffers from a disproportionately long cooldown for an active that's of average impact. Not weak, but not necessarily worthwhile.
Leona Heidern [Sub: A+ | Lead: B- | Assist: A- | Overall: A]
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HP: 3761 | ATK: 2065 | RCV: 348 | WT: 905 | Attacker/Devil
LS: 3x ATK, 25% reduced damage when 3+ colors attack at once; 3x ATK & 25% reduced damage received when matching 5 Heal orbs in a cross formation. [1/81/1, 68.36% shield]
AS: Voids enemy damage absorbs for 1 turn; 3x ATK for Attacker & Devil Type for 1 turn. [CD: 25]
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Overview. Incredible power and utility all rolled into one. Throw damage control to the wind; care not about the typically long cooldown of Fujin-style actives; atomize your enemies with Leona's magnificent selection of killers.
Sub. Aten aside, Leona is the second card in the game to feature four different Killer awakenings (after Baldin, with five), and all against extremely relevant types. She herself deals 27x damage against traditionally problematic spawns such as Nerva, and gets 9x against tons of relevant enemies. Further, she is capable of being latented against Gods and Devils, becoming a force of nature against multi-type God or Devil spawns. These perks are mostly relevant in content beyond Arena 3, as these same killers totally ruin any sense of damage control there.
GungHo seems to have anticipated this problem, though, and to slightly mitigate it, they've given Leona an awesome tool: a Fujin-like active on a base with the Rainbow Haste awakening. This makes her the fastest possible Fujin base. Given reasonable assumptions about SB, a Fujin active can be ready in as little as 9-10 turns in solo play, and back up in 13. Even in multiplayer, which would typically dampen the accelerated recharge, the power of simply being the fastest is undeniable. This is particularly helpful in Alt. Arena, where players can encounter Sopdet a few floors after Starling and having a fast Fujin active makes this sequence of spawns that much safer and easier. If you can plan your team out well enough to use her in Arena 3, you will likely feel this benefit as well.
Despite these great positives, Leona isn't without her weaknesses. She is dead weight against most damage voiding spawns of these types, who cannot simply be Fujin'd away. Additionally, Attacker/Devil has trouble fitting into some rainbow teams, so players looking to get the most out of her may be forced to build combo teams around her Rainbow Haste (which is in turn slightly mitigated by the fact of most combo teams being color agnostic).
Lead. There's very little benefit to leading with Leona instead of defensive Ronove, who simply outclasses her (to say nothing of Rei Myr, who blows her out of the water completely). Leona is usable if one does not have Ronove, but not very impressive.
Assist. This is probably the worst Fujin-style active to inherit onto something else. That's not to say it's bad, since Fujin plus a hefty spike for these types is a nifty combination. However, the cooldown is simply massive, the spike might not be relevant at all (since you're typically inheriting this for the absorb void), and the magnitude of the damage enhance is unnecessary against most things the absorb void would apply to. Still, a Fujin active is a Fujin active, and if it ends up not being used it could double as a reasonable spike for a boss floor. On the whole, not too bad if you can stomach the sky-high cooldown.
Pixel Leona Heidern [Sub: B+ | Lead: A- | Assist: B | Overall: B+]
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HP: 3761 | ATK: 2065 | RCV: 348 | WT: 905 | Attacker/Devil
LS: 3.5x ATK, 25% reduced damage when 3+ colors attack at once; 2.5x ATK when clearing 6 connected Dark Orbs, 4x when 9 connected. [1/196/1, 43.75% shield]
AS:
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Overview. Probably less strong on the whole than her non-pixel form, though she is a considerably better lead (and, we would argue, probably the best dark row lead today). For VDP usage, she still doesn't quite stand up to Sephiroth (though she does have slightly more unique awakenings, notably double SBR). If you do not have a Fujin-style active, the opportunity cost of evolving Leona into her pixel form and losing access to her base form's Fujin active can be substantial, and so it is recommended that such players avoid this form.
Sub. As mentioned before, Leona falters as a pixel compared to the powerful Sephiroth and the only reason she might be preferred over him is her double SBR. Like all the pixels above except Kyo, though, she's still solid and quite usable in the absence of the better option.
Lead. This is the last place we expected to find a truly decent dark row lead. Though Leona doesn't seem to have any tank multiplier, the three-color shield activation is quite reasonable to stall with and is unlikely to knock spawns into danger zones. When you're actually killing something, her multiplier for one row with three-color activation is a solid 76.56x, and for the majority of content (ex. Arenas 1-3) this is more than enough to sweep floors. Leona is in a fairly good place to take advantage of the abundance of great dark row subs, both current and upcoming. Just make sure you actually cover all colors and don't accidentally lock yourself out of activation by using double color converting actives.
The only gripes with this lead are a lack of non-VDP offensive awakenings on the lead itself and the awkwardness of using her base active, as all three of the non-Heart colors are needed for activation. A strong heart breaking active (such as Persephone) is the best way to combo the base into something more reliable and more useful. (Note that Eschamali cannot be used for this, as she will break activation by removing wood orbs.)
On the whole, given that she's a row lead in today's combo-focused scene, she doesn't do badly at all.
Assist. A four-color board with Hearts is nice for combo teams (four-color boards guarantee at least seven combos, usually more). The damage boost is often unnecessary and adds a bunch to the cooldown, but can be useful sometimes for blasting through tougher spawns and bosses. An active like Awoken Nohime, if you don't need the damage boost, is still often preferred for its stronger defensive utility paired with comparable offensive utility. This isn't bad at all, though.
Summary
As you can see, this is a pretty standard collab REM -- the five-stars are uniformly terrible, while the significantly rarer six-stars are varying degrees of good. If the machine weren't so top-heavy, it would be far more worth rolling.
If you're feeling lucky, you can roll a few times, as the higher end cards are truly quite powerful. Just don't say we didn't warn you that the five-stars are almost entirely junk rolls. Be wise with your stones! Just because the six-stars are good doesn't mean that they are worth chasing.
If you're feeling lucky, you can roll a few times, as the higher end cards are truly quite powerful. Just don't say we didn't warn you that the five-stars are almost entirely junk rolls. Be wise with your stones! Just because the six-stars are good doesn't mean that they are worth chasing.
Thanks for your analysis! I've enjoyed all of your posts thus far and look forward to the future!
ReplyDeleteWhat are your thoughts on Omega Rugal? His leader skill actually seems usable, surprisingly enough.
Glad you enjoyed our thoughts of this collab!
DeleteOmega Rugal is a great farmable. His leader skill is most certainly usable, and solid for early to mid-late game players who for some reason lack in good leaders/reroll from a godfest. Those who are dedicated to their starting dark box should request for Aizen friends as Omega pairs very nicely with him.
Perhaps the greatest part about Omega is his pixel form: packed with all the awakenings that a REM card usually has for pixels and can even take in god killer latents. One could just farm Pixel Lilith but she is in no way up to par with Omega Rugal for stats and awakenings at all. He definitely serves as a replacement for the unfortunate folks that did not pull a good rare dark pixel for god killers(e.g. Pixel Sephiroth).