Standard Banner: Rosa & Ifrit
The new Standard Banner features the following Operators:
Featured Operators:
| Rarity | Operator |
| 6★ |  Rosa - Heavyweight Sniper
 Ifrit - Ifrit the Burninator
|
| 5★ |  Sesa - AoE Sniper
 Swire - Support Guard
 Zima - Skill-DP-Recovery Vanguard
|
- Based on previous patterns, it is likely but not 100% certain that the Operators for purchase in the Distinction store will be Ifrit and Swire.
- 6★ Rate-Ups have a 50% chance of appearing when pulling a 6★
- 5★ Rate-Ups have a 50% chance of appearing when pulling a 5★
Should You Pull?
Probably not.
Half of these units are situational (Rosa, Ifrit, Zima) and the other half are underpowered (Sesa, Swire). Unless one of these units is your husbando/ waifu, there’s little reason to spend resources here… and even if you are attached to one of these units, it might be better to wait for a more-generally-powerful banner before you pull for them.
That being said, there’s nothing wrong with doing Headhunt x1 on this banner until you pull a 5★ or higher Operator, since one is guaranteed in the first 10 rolls.
Quick Overview
+ Prioritizes heavy enemies and is able to ignore a large portion of DEF when attacking enemies above a certain weight class
+ S2 attacks multiple targets and lasts for a long time, giving her great sustained DPS
+ S3 charges very quickly, does great burst damage, and Binds multiple enemies for several seconds
= Wide and unique attack range, but the “blind spot” directly around her can be troublesome
- Much less effective on enemies that are too lightweight to trigger her Talent
- Slow attack speed reduces her overall DPS
Burninator (unique AoE Caster)
+ Deals colossal AoE Arts DPS in a very unique “straight line” attack range
+ Debuffs the defensive stats of enemies, helping your entire team burn them down even faster
+ Her S2’s DEF debuff and her S3’s RES debuff are flat stat reductions, which are VERY powerful
+ Good uptime on her Skills
- Usual AoE Caster limitations: high DP cost, slow attack speed
- Unique attack range makes it hard to position her effectively on some maps
- S3 cannot damage flying enemies
+ Usual archetype strengths: huge attack range, attacks deal splash damage
+ Increases the Physical damage dealt to all blocked enemies on the field from all Operators (Talent)
+ One of the few Operators who can debuff enemy ASPD (S2), which is a great way to reduce enemy DPS
= Handsome husbando with some fascinating lore
- Usual archetype weaknesses: high DP cost, slow ASPD, reduced effectiveness against single targets or high-DEF targets, needs to be promoted to E2 for maximum attack range
- Notably lower DPS than fellow AoE Sniper Meteorite; inferior version of W, whom many Doctors pulled for heavily (because she is a limited Operator)
+ Longer attack range than most Guards, allowing her to attack from behind other Operators (but she can’t hit aerial enemies, so watch out for that)
+ Buffs ATK of all nearby melee Operators; soups up her buffs using her Skills
+ Can Block-2, attacks quickly, and has a low DP cost compared to other Guards
= High DEF but low HP
- Without heavy investment, her Skills have very short durations (and her S2 takes forever to charge)
- Her Talent only buffs melee units, but placing several melee units within her range can be difficult on some maps
+ Terrific synergy with other Vanguards, between E2 Talent (Vanguard DP cost -1) and S2 (buffs all Vanguards and gives them +1 DP when killing an enemy)
+ Very durable; high DEF and HP for a Vanguard (and boosts her own DEF with S2)
- S2 is very strong, but it has a short duration with a long cooldown
- Low ATK
Rosa
Rosa noticed how much trouble other Snipers were having with high-DEF targets, and she decided she was going to do something about that. Her solution was her Talent, Bone Piercer, which allows Rosa to ignore a large percentage of her target’s DEF as long as her target is above a certain weight class. Combined with her S2, it allows for sustained multi-target damage; combined with her S3, it becomes a burst of painful, long-lasting crowd-control. But no matter what, it makes Rosa a force to be reckoned with.
Many high-DEF enemies are also heavy, and many Contingency Contract effects involve increasing the weight of nasty enemies so they’re harder to push away with Specialists. Rosa is perfectly built to take advantage of these factors, giving her an easily identifiable niche on the battlefield. Outside of her niche, however, she loses her luster; due to low ASPD, her damage is unimpressive if she isn’t taking advantage of Bone Piercer. At least her S3’s crowd control is useful against any enemy composition, giving her some much-needed flexibility.
I don’t recommend pulling for Rosa, but she’s well worth raising if you pull her.
Ifrit
Ifrit has a unique attack range, heavy AoE Arts damage, and very strong DEF and RES debuffs, making her a potent addition to a team. However, her straight-line attack range makes her tricky to deploy well on some stages; furthermore, being an AoE Caster means she suffers from a high DP cost and a slow attack speed.
The slow attack speed in particular is a big issue because it sharply decreases her DPS. She works around this better than most AoE Casters due to her strong Skills, but she needs to have a good deployment spot on the stage to make this worthwhile. This makes her somewhat situational, especially for a 6* unit.
I don’t recommend pulling for Ifrit, but she’s well worth raising if you pull her.
Sesa
Sesa is one of those units who looks fine in a vacuum. He’s a pretty textbook example of his archetype: he benefits from a massive attack range and high base ATK, but he suffers from his high DP cost and slow ASPD. He’s great for wiping out hordes of weak enemies that might otherwise overrun your defenses, and he even brings some tasty utility to the team with his S2, which adds an ASPD debuff to his attacks for the duration. Debuffing ASPD is a great way to reduce enemy damage output, especially since it stacks with ATK debuffs like Shamare’s Cursed Doll.
The problem is that Sesa is part of a relatively weak archetype that still manages to have two Operators who are much stronger than he is. Fellow 5* Meteorite has higher DPS thanks to her crit chance Talent, and her S1 expands the radius of her splash damage, which makes her better at the whole “AoE” thing. Meanwhile, 6* AoE Sniper W is hugely popular and also a limited unit, meaning lots of Doctors pulled on her when given the chance. As a 6*, she is of course stronger than Sesa, which means any Doctor who successfully pulled W probably doesn’t have much reason to pull for Sesa now.
If AoE Snipers as an archetype were more widely used, there would be a compelling argument for raising Sesa in addition to Meteorite and/or W. However, since AoE Snipers are a fairly niche group in the first place, it’s hard to justify raising Sesa if you already have one of his superiors.
I don’t recommend pulling for Sesa.
Swire
Swire is both fierce and fabulous, but unfortunately she’s also a little flawed. Though her Talent offers a nice ATK buff to nearby melee allies, and while her Skills increase the power of this Talent into quite a sizable boost, the buff isn’t usually enough to compensate for Swire’s own low DPS. In cases where you really need to maximize the melee damage in a particular area, Swire can be useful, and her long attack range allows her to contribute from behind the units she wants to buff. However, in most cases, you’d probably be better off fielding another DPS unit instead of relying on Swire’s buffs.
It also doesn’t help that she’s been on multiple banners recently. Come on, Yostar! If you’re going to keep giving us Swire banners, the least you can do is buff her a little bit!
I don’t recommend pulling for Swire.
Zima
Zima is a strong Operator, but her power is a little more niche than Vanguards like Texas or Myrtle. Zima’s big selling point is the way she multiplies the power of other Vanguards. Her E2 Talent reduces their DP cost, helping you set up quickly at the start of a fight, and her S2 is a massive buffet of buffs (a buff-et, if you will!) that increases the ATK, DEF, and DP generation of all allied Vanguards.
When used alongside other Vanguards, Zima’s potency can add up to become quite astounding. However, when only one Vanguard is needed or her buffs can’t be fully taken advantage of, then Zima can be quickly outclassed.
I don’t recommend pulling for Zima, but she’s worth raising if you like using multiple Vanguards as your frontline (she’s not necessary if you’re only using Vanguards for their DP generation).
