Arknights: New Operator Spotlight - Suzuran

Suzuran is a new 6★ Slower Supporter in Arknights Global, putting her in the same archetype as top-tier Supporter Angelina. Can such a tiny fox fill such big shoes? Is Suzuran worth it? Let’s take a closer look and find out.

Suzuran is a 6★ Supporter and a member of the Slower archetype. Units of this archetype deal Arts damage with their regular attacks and inflict a Slow debuff on enemies they attack. For more details on her stats, Skills, Talents, and more, take a look at her Operator page.

Little Miss Suzuran has several particular strengths. She excels at Slowing multiple targets, and her E2 Talent inflicts Fragile on Slowed enemies within her attack range (increasing the damage they take). Her Slow keeps enemies within the attack range of your Operators for a longer time, and her Fragile debuff causes your Operators to deal more damage to these enemies. The combination of these abilities makes Suzuran an amazing damage amplifier for the rest of your squad.

• Suzuran is a great utility unit for pretty much any squad. Slowing and Fragile-ing enemies in one fell swoop can enhance just about any strategy.
• Suzuran combines especially well with other Supporter Operators due to her E1 Talent, Skill Aura – Supporter, which increases SP recovery for all Supporter Operators while Suzuran is deployed. Need more buffs from Sora, debuffs from Pramanix, or explosions from Mayer? Suzuran’s your girl.
• Use Suzuran’s S2, Childhood Frolic, on stages with a constant stream of incoming enemies. Once Childhood Frolic charges, Suzuran gains a permanent ATK buff and the ability to attack multiple enemies at once, Slowing and Fragile-ing them all at once.

• Foxfire Haze, Suzuran’s S3, gives your team a big helping hand to get them through an especially nasty wave. Suzuran stops attacking during this Skill, but in return, she generates a host of potent effects:
  • All enemies within her attack range are Slowed, instantly applying her Fragile effect.
  • The power of her Fragile debuff is greatly increased, causing your Operators to deal even more damage to afflicted enemies.
  • All allies within her attack range are constantly healed over the duration.
  • Finally, Suzuran’s attack range increases, spreading these benefits over an even wider area than usual.

• Suzuran’s SP-generating Skill Aura – Supporter does NOT stack with similar effects, such as Ptilopsis’ Skill Aura Talent. Only the strongest effect will be applied.
• Suzuran’s Fragile debuff does NOT stack with similar effects, such as Pramanix’s Weakening Talent. Only the strongest effect will be applied. (On the other hand, it DOES stack with different damage-amplification effects, i.e., Saria’s S3.) 
• Suzuran cannot benefit from her own Fragile effect unless another Operator is inflicting Slow. Her Fragile only lasts while the enemy is Slowed, and the Slow has a shorter duration than Suzuran’s attack interval.
• Suzuran’s personal damage output is not very high. She has a low ATK stat and her Skills offer relatively small ATK buffs. Her kit is geared to enhance the damage of her allies rather than dealing damage herself.
• Suzuran’s S1 is her biggest source of direct single-target damage, but because it triggers automatically, it’s not very reliable, despite its decent uptime.
• Suzuran’s S2 and S3 have fairly high SP costs, but because Suzuran benefits from her own Skill Aura – Supporter, she charges them faster than you might think. (This applies to her S1 as well, if you choose to use it for whatever reason.)
• The attack range increase on Suzuran’s S3 is very helpful, but it can also backfire on you. Be careful not to deploy Suzuran on a grid where the increased range causes her to Slow enemies outside of the attack ranges of your other Operators. That would be a terrible waste of a very powerful Skill!

Let’s get to the question you’ve all been waiting for: how does Suzuran compare to the existing 6★ Supporter in Arknights, the Slowdown Queen herself, Angelina?

As Slower Supporters, both Suzuran and Angelina inflict Slow with their regular attacks. They also both have Skills that allow them to attack and Slow multiple targets. Both can also heal other Operators, although the method is different (Angelina grants passive regen to all allies when she does not have a Skill active; Suzuran actively heals allies within her range when using her S3).

Both Operators offer a lot of additional utility beyond just Slowing enemies.

Angelina has the following utility:

• Increased ASPD for all allies
• Passive regeneration for all allies as long as Angelina does not have a Skill active (one of the few ways to heal Operators like Hellagur, Utage, and Vulcan)
• Caster-level Arts DPS
• Nigh-permanent Slow on a single target while S2 is active
• Ability to reduce enemy weight (S3), which synergizes incredibly well with Push/ Pull Operators

Suzuran has the following utility:

• Increased SP gain for other Supporters (including herself)
• Fragile debuff amplifies team dps
• More consistent Slowing than Angelina (she only stops attacking during her S3, and while her S3 is active, she’s Slowing everything within her range anyway)
• Stronger direct healing than Angelina within her attack range (S3)
• Suzuran’s S3 has a slightly larger attack range than Angelina’s S3

Angelina’s biggest weakness is that equipping her S2 or S3 causes her to stop attacking while her Skill is not active. Mistiming Angelina’s Skill usage can lead to situations where Angelina stops contributing right when you need her most.

Suzuran’s biggest weakness is that her own DPS is fairly low; she relies on her team to deal damage for her. Angelina is able to destroy an entire wave of enemies on her own. Suzuran does not have this capability.

No. Angelina is basically a Supporter-Caster hybrid, with ridiculous damage potential to go along with her teamwide utility. Suzuran is a Debuffer-Slower hybrid, combining Angelina’s Slowing power with Pramanix’s damage amplification. Despite being 6★ units of the same archetype, these two are not interchangeable.

It’s almost impossible to say because these two Operators serve such different purposes on the battlefield. If your squad needs more direct damage from a single Operator, Angelina is probably the better option, and it’s also worth noting that some of her utility is more unique. Global ASPD buffs and regeneration are very rare in Arknights, and so far Angelina is still the only Operator who can reduce enemy weight. Angelina also fills a very special niche in Challenge and Contingency Contract content, where she can bring the Arts damage of a Caster to stages where Casters are banned.

On the other hand, Suzuran is more consistent than Angelina and can affect a wider area with her S3. Her ability to amplify your team’s damage can also result in much more teamwide DPS than Angelina if you have a lot of heavy-hitting Operators like SilverAsh and Eyjafjalla.

If you have to pick just one between Suzuran and Angelina, Angelina is probably the better option. However, let’s be honest: these two are made to work together. Angelina’s additional Slowing coverage grants more Weakening from Suzuran, and Suzuran’s Skill Aura greatly reduces Angelina’s non-Skill downtime—her biggest weakness.

Suzuran is one of the strongest utility units in Arknights. She isn’t a replacement for Angelina, but that’s because a lot of Angelina’s value comes from her damage, while Suzuran is more of a “support” unit. It’s almost impossible to think of a team that can’t benefit from Suzuran’s phenomenal damage amplification, and that makes her a top-notch Operator in our books (to say nothing of our hearts).

If you’re pulling for Suzuran, then we at GamePress wish you nine tails’ worth of good luck!