Arknights: Rosmontis in-depth gameplay analysis

Heya, recent limited banner gave us two new awesome units, one is an unkillable tank that can also kill, and the other is a fan-favorite kitty of the Rhode Island’s Elite Operator team that is also a weapon of mass destruction. I’ll be talking a lot more in-depth about the Elite Operator in this post. Be warned though, I’m going full detail here, even the trivial ones. Say hello to our new limited 6* sniper, Rosmontis.

Rosmontis (I’ll be shortening her name to Ros from now on) is a new and unique kind of sniper in this game so far. In fact, she’s so unique that she can’t damage aerial units entirely, as a sniper! Well, if she can’t attack air, then surely her ground attack must be amazing, right? She is compensated by having all her attacks hitting in an AoE, and each of her attacks hitting twice, with the second attack being slightly weaker. With either a massive attack stunning enemies in its wake, or attacking two blocked targets at once, she is sure to annihilate groups of enemies, leaving behind none but the highest of DEF and unblockables (and drones).

Despite being a new archetype – officially called Flinger – her ATK is still somewhat in line with some operators of old. Her attacks deal AoE damage, but her base ATK isn’t quite up to the average attack of Artilleryman Snipers. Rather, it's much more comparable to the Spreadshooter Snipers, which to be fair, are also AoE.

The same goes for her attack rate, where she can attack once every 2.1 seconds. The Spreadshooters attack once every 2.3 seconds, while the AoE Snipers attack once every 2.8 seconds. It again, is much more inline with Spreadshooter than Artilleryman. And the similarity doesn't end here.

The offensive stats may be similar to a different existing archetype, but Ros’ defensive stats are a thing of both beauty and confusion. Her HP is one of the highest of all snipers, or heck, of all ranged units, losing only to Spreadshooters (again), Phalanx Casters, Abjurer Supporters, Geek Specialists, and Tomimi (who’s cheating with +HP trust stat).

But wait, there’s more. Her DEF stat is the second highest of any ranged unit losing only to Lin even without trait, boosted by a DEF increase from her trust. Of course Phalanx with their trait up (or modⲬ) would beat her though.

Still not enough? She also has 10 base RES, which is increased to 15 after E2. There’s no other sniper with RES except for Blue Poison who only has 5, so Ros (and future Flingers) has a surprising amount of survivability against arts damage.

Those three defensive stats make her one of the tankiest ranged units in this game, and unlike Phalanx her defensive stats aren’t affected by whether or not she is using her skill.

Her cost is also a surprising one. It’s relatively cheap compared to most other AoE units in this game, at 23 DP base, and 25 from E1 onward. It is most likely a compensation for her lack of drone fighting capability which will be discussed soon. The cost is still fairly high though, just relatively cheaper than the other AoE units.

Her range is the funny one and is a source of many people's confusion regarding her archetype (back on her release days that is, you may have guessed this guide was edited). She has the exact same range as the Deadeye Snipers.

And at the risk of beating a dead horse (if you have read my other guides that is), I love the large range of these snipers. With this range, they can be placed a bit further than other and yet still able to contribute, or closer to the frontline and cover a massive area. Ros have better defensive stats than the other Deadeyes so she does the large covering better, as she’s less afraid of retaliation. This is quite important for her skillset later on.

Attacks deal two instances of physical damage to ground enemies in a small area. The second instance deal 50% of normal ATK.

Every time Ros attacks, she deals damage in an area twice. As stated, the second hit only deals 50% of normal ATK, which is bad because it is still affected by enemy’s DEF, which is just a flat reduction. Granted, it still does more damage compare to other operators that deal just 1 hit per attack, but given her base attack and the fact that it deals only half of it for the second instance means that it rarely adds up to a lot, and relies on her skills to do anything significant to any non-trash mob. This also means that if she has high ATK, half of it will still be able to overpower higher DEF, so ATK on Ros is quite critical to make the most use of this second hit, which is what her skills are going to do.

There’s a rather unclear thing from the description, but this is a very important thing about Ros that I have been casually mentioning a few times already: she cannot hit drones, at all. There were a few confusions regarding her drone-fighting capability, since most people just assume that as a ranged unit, she can attack drones, which is a fair assumption. Sadly, to bear repeat, as a tradeoff for both her gameplay and lore reason (which is a rare thing in this game), she cannot hit drones.

It’s kinda similar to what the Dualstrike Guard has, since they also deal 2 hits per attack (except their 2nd hit still does 100% ATK), and both hits are affected by enemy’s DEF. I brought up Dualstrike Guard because, just like them, only the first hit count for their Offensive Recovery skill. (No Chongyue is just cheating)

The radius of her attack is 0.9 tile, both the actual hit and the shockwave. Despite that number, she can actually hit enemies that are spaced 1 tile apart (kinda). This is mostly because enemies have a hitbox that are large enough to bridge that gap.

If a targeted enemy dies while she is throwing out her attack, the attack is wasted completely. It doesn’t even deal the splash damage like an AoE sniper would (if the targeted enemy dies while an AoE’s sniper projectile is midair, it will still do damage in the AoE). The attack is just gone, and Ros will have to wait another 2.1s to attack again. At least, it still counts as an attack for her Offensive Recovery skill, but it’s a shame that overkill can be bad for her.

Useless infos: Ros has 4 tactical equipments behind her, labeled from 1 to 4. Her deploy animation is her riding the equipment #2 into battle. She uses the number 3 and 4 to attack normally. They are thrown in turn. The number 3 equipment was thrown in a way that you can see the number 3, but the number 4 on the other equipment can’t be seen because it is slanted. I warned you that it's useless.

Available at E1 – Attacks ignore 90 DEF

At E2, DEF ignored increases to 160.

This talent is pretty much the same as Executor’s, but it's much more critical on Ros. The 2nd hit of her attack can also ignore DEF through this talent, and as said, with how little ATK it can do normally, 90/160 DEF ignored is more effective. Essentially, it’s more important to her aftershock than her primary hit.

It is still just a flat DEF ignore though, so against enemies with even higher DEF than her ATK + 160 (or 95% of that amount), it still does nothing for her. Which, with Ros having only 748 ATK at max level and potential 1, means that the limit is about 862 DEF, or 920 with her second talent below. There are quite many enemies with this high DEF, so it’s not that great for Ros normally. And for her aftershock, that dropped to 507.3 DEF, an amount that is pretty standard from chapter 6 onward.

Luckily, that’s just her base stats, as she still has her skills which can increase her damage output, so it’s not all bad.

How this ignore DEF works with other forms of DEF reduction is that

1. First they apply any flat reduction debuff and multiples of these stack additively (i.e. Meteorite’s S2 and Ifrit’s S2)

2. Then they apply any % reduction and multiples of these stack multiplicatively (i.e. Pramanix’s S2 and Shamare’s S2)

3. Then they apply the flat DEF ignore from Ros. This is actually pretty good because she can then completely ignore an enemy’s DEF if they got lowered to just 160 DEF, which is actually a fairly hard thing to do on elites and bosses and such.

4. Then finally they apply %DEF ignore. Only Irene as of this guide's update has both flat ignore and % ignore though.

Available at E2 – Stable Esthesia: When deployed, grants +8% ATK to this unit and a random deployed Caster operator.

This talent is weird.

At first, I thought that it works similarly to Exusiai’s talent, that buff herself and a random ally, albeit just caster. Given the writing of the talent, it also feels like it only works if the caster is deployed before Ros. But it’s not.

It actually works like this.

• When Ros is deployed, if there is a Caster on the field as well, then both Ros and that Caster get +8% ATK.

• If there is no Caster, Ros also loses the buff on herself, and when you deploy a new Caster, they both gain the buff again.

• If there are 2 or more Casters on the field when you deploy Ros, then the caster selection for the buff is random.

• If the buffed Caster then leave the field, but there is still a different caster around, Ros still has the buff, but no other Caster get it, even if you deploy new one. Only when no more Casters are on the field, then the whole process repeat.

Video proof

So it’s not like Exusiai or Rosa where they just permanently get an ATK boost from their talent. Ros’ second talent is dependent on the existence of another Caster, similar to Schwarz’s talent to another sniper (without modⲬ).

There is a very slight visual effect that will tell if the buff is running, and which caster get it. But I’m not sure if it’s my eyes’ fault or it’s just that subtle.

Well, that should be it for her talents, let’s move on to what make her really good (or at least potentially good).

Always available – Extrasensory: When this Operator is assigned to a Factory, for every 1 operator in the Dormitories, Perception Information +1. Additionally, every 1 point of Perception Information is converted into 1 point of Chain of Thoughts.

Psychokinesis: When this Operator is assigned to a Factory, for every 2 points of Chain of Thoughts, productivity +1%.

Upgrade at E2 – Psychokinesis → Manifestation of Consciousness: for every 1 point of Chain of Thoughts, productivity +1%.

I’m not sure if I want to talk in detail about this base skill. This post will tell you more about the effective total possible with Ros. Checks PeterYR for more depth infos like rotation or something like that. Ros can get a maximum of 90% factory speed with just her alone, and then you can add up to 2 more members in that factory.

The next attack deals an additional hit equal to 120% of ATK as Arts damage

instant cast, 3 SP cost, 0 initial SP

Offensive Recovery, auto activation.

M3 gives 180% Arts damage, 2 SP cost, everything else unchanged.

Ros is the second Sniper that can directly deal arts damage. The first one being Shirayuki with her S2. There are Blue Poison and Aosta who can deal DoT Arts damage, but it rarely adds up to a strong amount unless you have time (BP can only beat Durin’s arts dps with S1M3 if there are 2 enemies or effective against that particular IW enemy; and Aosta, while having decent arts DoT, is Aosta). 

Even if you’re a sniper-only player, you have more than enough answer to high DEF enemies, especially the Close-Range Sniper, or if their DEF are not absurdly high, then Ros’ S3 can also deal with them. The arts damage just need too long to trigger because it's every 3rd (4th) hit, which is pretty long.

Unlike what happen to Bibeak's S1 where the damage increase applies to both hit of her attack, this skill is just an additional hit, and therefore will not get an aftershock. She will also deal the normal physical damage with her attack, without any additional ATK.

Not really. It’s a decent cover to Ros’ weakness of really high DEF enemies, and it hits in an AoE. The AoE is small, however, and her attack rate is slow enough to not make it consistent enough to be amazing. If you need arts damage, might as well use a caster anyway, which is partly why she has that second talent. If you need arts damage from a sniper, you bring Schwarz, Pozy, or Typhon and overpower their DEF instead.

Technically, if she’s your only AoE Arts damage dealer because you hate Lava, and you’re up against really high DEF enemies somehow, then go ahead. Otherwise, don’t bother, because her other 2 skills are just more amazing. 

Attack interval increases (+50% base interval), ATK +30%, splash area expands, each attack causes 2 additional shockwaves, enemies hit by the attack and the shockwaves has 20% chance each to be stunned for 1.1 seconds

36 seconds duration, 34 SP cost, 20 initial SP

 Auto Recovery, manual activation.

M3 gives ATK +55%, and stuns for 1.5 seconds, 30 SP cost, 40 seconds duration.

Let’s go through each effect one by one. The first one is an extra 1.05 second to her attack interval, bumping it up to 3.15 seconds (actually 3.16 cuz they have to round to the nearest frame of 95, which is 3.166 in 30FPS context). This make her attack rate mad slow, and is slower than most AoE damage dealers.

What she gets in return are fairly good though, first she gets some attack boosts, which as stated from the Trait section, increases her effectiveness by a lot, and make sure that her aftershock can do something more than some minimum damage… Except the effect is not that huge, at least compare to her S3.

Then the area of effect of her trait is increased significantly. Before, it was 0.9 tile, now it’s 1.5 tiles radius. Meteorite S1 radius is still larger (2 tiles), but the VFX is similar. For additional comparisons, Dusk S1/S3 is 1.7 tiles radius, and Skyfire S2 is 1.7 tiles.

A side effect of this is that it also delays her attack massively. That is, from the moment Ros decided to attack someone, to the time when the attack actually lands, takes about 1 second long, the same as an AoE Caster. This doesn’t affect her attack interval of 3.15s since it’s just attack windup.

Another side effect of this is that Ros no longer move her attack along with the enemy she’s targeting. Instead, like Skyfire S2, it locks on the enemy’s location when she first aimed at them. This means that if the target is fast enough, they can actually escape her attack, because again, the attack is also delayed. It’s even worse because the aftershocks are also delayed after the initial attack, which allow them even more times to escape the rest of her damage. But on the other hand, it also allows enough time for more enemies to go into that range, so there are both sides to this coin.

The real benefit of this skills lies in the next 2 effects. It also gives her 2 additional shockwaves. This means another 2 hits of 50% of her new ATK (because she got extra ATK from the skill as well). The time between the shockwave remains the same, so the time from the first hit to the final 4th hit is actually a noticeably long time. In combination with the delayed attack, it’s very easy for enemies to walk into the area at the 3rd or 4th hit.

The amount of hits benefits the most for the last effect, which I considered the central effect of this skill. Each attack and shockwaves now have a 20% chance to stun for a duration. That’s 4 hits of 20% chance to stun, totaling to 59.04% chance to stun per attack (a fail chance of 80% 4 times → 40.96% chance to not stun → 59.04% chance to have at least 1 stun). Multiple stuns don’t stack of course, so it’s just 1.1s or 1.5s from the last hit that trigger the stun.

Once you see the little circle area, the skill will hit, even if Ros is retreated or defeated.

I consider this skill not for the mass area of damage, but the mass area of stun.

It’s a good skill if you consider it more as a Crowd Control skill, because the damage is awful (before even comparing to her third skill). There are few other units that can mass stun in an area with each attack for a long duration like this. Skyfire S2M3 can also do it, with 100% chance to stun for 1s, but at an attack interval of 4.9 seconds, plus, well, it’s Skyfire.

Since the large area of attack means she has a higher chance to hit more enemies, in practice she may have a better performance than you’d expect compared to her third skill because of its restriction. Or better than you’d expect from the skill itself.

Most of the times, if you need the stun, chances are, you’re better off killing them faster. If you need to stop them from approaching your units, then the stun is still unreliable enough to break your plan. If you need to mass clear an area, then a dedicated AoE damage dealer is better. But if you want both somehow, and that you don't have W, then go ahead.

It also matters for a fact that, while her third skill will have higher DPS (which I’ll be getting into soon), it also has drawbacks that might just annoy you enough to use this skill instead, at least for general content.

Since it’s a short-ish cooldown, long duration skill, it’s great for a couple of large waves that are spaced apart enough. In fact, after using this skill for a while, I found that it’s pretty comparable role-wise to Schwarz’s S2: Schwarz’s S3 is preferable most of the time, but when its drawback becomes unbearable, you go to her S2. Now both of those skills are DPS skills, so it’s not a 100% fair comparison. But in the same vein, Ros’ S2 is great to use when you can’t feasibly use her S3, or just don’t want to bother with it.

I don’t recommend mastering this skill unless you’re dedicated to her, but it’s worth keeping the large area crowd-control of this skill in mind and change your approach accordingly when her S3 doesn’t work as well as you can manage, or when her S3 no longer work due to how the game has evolved.

Speaking of…

Immediately deploys 2 tactical equipments on deployable ground tiles inside attack range, attack interval reduced (-50% of base interval), ATK +40%, attacks 2 targets at once, and only attacks blocked enemies.

Tactical Equipments: On deployment, stun enemies in a small area for 2.5 seconds, and reduce DEF of enemies blocked by it by -160. 

27 seconds duration, 74 SP cost, 35 initial SP, Auto recovery, manual activation.

M3 gives ATK +75%, 60 SP cost, 30 seconds duration.

Tactical Equipment stuns for 3 seconds on deploy.

Oh boy, if you think her S2 has a lot of details…

Let’s start from the tactical equipments that she spawns.

1. Tactical Equipments

I'll call them "wall" from now to save space.

The things have 5000 HP at any level. Its DEF, however, does scale according to Ros’ level, starting from 468 DEF at E2 level 1 (which is the minimum level to have the walls to begin with), to 520 DEF at E2 level 90. This DEF isn’t affected by skill level, and function basically like a summon that scale with level. The wall have 0 RES.

Unlike the summons from a summoner, these walls CANNOT be healed at all, not even from regeneration like Perfumer or Angelina’s talent, which does heal summons. Given the above DEF and RES stats, the walls are more susceptible to damage than you’d think. But 5000 HP is still massive though.

The spawn locations for the 2 walls are basically the normal target priority. It goes something like this

• 1 wall will land on the enemy with the least path left to blue box, and the other on the second least path left. This will ignore enemies that are on the same tile because 2 walls can’t coexist in 1 tile and just move other enemies up the priority list.

• If that closest enemy is on a tile that can’t be deployed, whether it’s banned or someone else is on it, then the whole priority just shifts up, to 2nd and 3rd unit, and so on.

• If there are no more available tiles on any enemy, then it shifts to a random adjacent tile of the target, going back to the normal priority.

• If there are no enemy, or enemies are only on 1 tile, the wall(s) will spawn randomly in her range.

• If there are no available tiles at all, then no walls are spawned, but her S3 will still run.

• It can be spawn on unblockable enemies if available, but since they can't be block, Ros won't do much. The wall can still stun them.

• Speaking of stun, just like Beeswax’s S2, the walls can be stunned.

It’s pretty much close to what Beeswax’s S2 or W’s S2 does. Unlike Beeswax’s S2 though, the tactical equipment only blocks 2, not 3. Like Beexwax’s S2, it also stuns on deployment (same duration at M3 even). But unlike it, the stun area is abysmal. It pretty much can only stun enemies on the same tile it’s on, see below.

I believe, the stun radius is exactly the same as the blocking radius, so literally only enemies that would be blocked by the wall will be stunned by it. The blocking radius is √2/2 (don't ask for more details just know this).

Do remember that enemies blocked by the walls have their DEF reduce by 160. This also works for other physical allies too since it’s a debuff, so it’s a form of support in conjunction with the stun on deployment. However, if an enemy is already blocked by an ally and she drops the wall on them, they’ll get the stun, but they won’t magically be blocked by it afterward, unless you have a shifter or something.

The wall that is targeted by ranged enemies should be the one that target the enemy with least path left.

More useless info: S1 always uses equipment #3 to attack. S2 uses both #3 and #4 to attack at once, and S3 uses all four, #1 and #2 to block, and still #3 and #4 to attack. I don’t have a guaranteed proof, but I think the #1 is the one that ranged enemies will target (i.e. the one that block closest enemy).

2. The actual skill's effect

Ros now gains a larger % ATK boost, which up her effectiveness massively, especially with M3. Now she can actually hurt high DEF units, especially if they are blocked by the wall. Even more considering…

Her attack interval is cut by half, down to 1.05s, same as a Pioneer (though again it's 1.066s). Now with her new high attack, an aftershock that can actually hurt, and a similar attack interval to an AA sniper, her DPS skyrocket. Especially with…

She can target 2 enemies at once. And both of her attacks still retain the AoE and aftershock. That means if both targets are close enough, each will actually be attacked twice, and as a result, basically quadruple her damage output compare to just 1 enemy. This skill at level 7 already outdamage her S2M3 with just 1 target that isn’t even blocked by the wall, further reinforce my statement that S2 is mainly for large area stun or for the convenience.

Since both of her attacks still does the normal AoE, she can still hurt unblocked enemies, just not able to target them directly. Her AoE is still only 0.9 tile, but that’s already decent enough.

Her attacks prioritise enemies that are blocked by the wall, regardless if there are closer enemies that are being blocked. This can be good or bad, depends on the threat of the closer one. This way, her damage output will be maximized when possible, because of the DEF reduction. As a result of that priority, as soon as the equipment spawns and blocks, she also attacks them at the same time, making the most use of the stun duration, also explain why spawning it on top of enemies have way too much visual effects.

For deleting enemy, mass swarms of enemies, up to roughly 1000 DEF enemies. 

Pay the utmost importance to when to use the skill. Ros can only attack blocked enemies when this skill is up, and it spawns 2 additional walls if possible. This combination lead to the fact that she will spend a decent amount of time if the wave of enemies is far apart enough to make her spend the duration doing nothing, or just simply because the wall target/randomize to a location near the edge of her range and block enemies from even entering her range.

The latter is extremely easy to avoid though, if you can work with her massive range and the target priority for the walls. If you place her to cover a large portion of the area that the enemy will go through, whether it’s multi lanes or a funnel, the best way to use the skill then is to plan for a deployment in the middle of her range, or the end of the direction the enemies is going.

Remember the targeting priority, it’s easier to aim the location for both walls than you’d think. And sometimes, you only need 1 wall. This is important because if a wall is blocking the enemies from entering her range, then you can just retreat it. If you’re not familiar with the skill yet, it’s better to start small and focus on 1 wall, then slowly advance further. Or start with just Defenders first, then start experimenting with the wall to slowly learn the skill.

The actual big reason to pay important to this skill is the timing. It has a relatively short duration compare to its cooldown (especially at SL7), so if she spends a majority of the time just wait for an enemy to be blocked in her range, you might have been better off using her S2. Unless of course it doesn’t even matter which skill she uses because you’ve already outscale the content, which is mostly just older story contents, as sad as it seems.

If anyone ever tried to tell you that her S3 is hard to use, they are correct. But if anyone tried to tell you that her S3 is hard to use because the wall placement can block enemies outside of her range, they are idiots and barely used the skill for a few times. 

After years passed, the restrictive conditions reared its ugly head in. For a while, the enemies' designs became more and more about bypassing block (all IS#2 bosses, Materialist Antagonist, Degenbrecher, Sui, Andoain, Kreide, Dorothy and whatever the boss is in DV...), so Ros can't even properly use S3 on them. And then afterward, they decided that they want to make blocking effective again with The Last Steam Knight, and the weak puppy in Il Siracusano,... But those bosses also hurts a lot without proper defensive stats or block rotation, something that the walls can't do. It has 5000 HP, but having 500 DEF and being unhealable means it will be ground down fast and you can't replace it. So you have to use better tank to replace the wall, which defeats the one of the purpose of the skill, and makes it a generic burst DPS skill with a condition.

Which leads to the next point: Enemy statscreep. As the game progress, of course the enemy has to be harder and harder. This reflects in their relative HP, DEF, and RES stats getting higher on average compared to events and stories made in year 1. Didn't I say something about how Ros is reliant on overpowering DEF to deal decent damage? So yea, she slowly become unable to make use of her S3, which is inarguably her best skill, which led to her downfall. Her S2 doesn't have damage, and the control is inconsistent, plus bosses tends to be stun-immune. She is relegated to mobs cleaner, a role that I don't think you critically need. Her S3 can still be good against elites as they still tends to be blockable, but elites spawn as a faster rate than her S3 cycle.

As I just said, it is still her best skill though. It just lost its glory through times and enemies' design.

BOM–Ⲭ: 'Notes'

• Stage 1:

HP +175

ATK +55

Trait upgraded: Attacks deal three instances of physical damage to ground enemies in a small area. The last 2 instances deal 50% of normal ATK. {upgraded from 2 instances}

Analysis: more 50% shock to deal no damage to decent DEF enemies. At least, the module gives her more ATK, which she really needs. If she does overpower DEF, she can do a decent more amount of damage. Her S2 also gets extra chance to stun, from ~59% to ~67%. That is fairly consistent now. Against a horde of weak mobs, she can mow through them easily. Though like I said, mowing weak mobs isn't exactly unique or critically important. Each of her S3 attacks now hits 3 times though, which, if both of her attacks overlap, can do decent chunk of damage.

• Stage 2: (Stat boosts do not stack, only replace)

HP +250

ATK +65

Talent upgraded: Armament of Annihilation: Attacks ignore 190 DEF {from 160}

• Stage 3:

HP +275

ATK +75

Talent upgraded: Armament of Annihilation: Attacks ignore 220 DEF {from 190}

Analysis: Honestly it's a fairly small increase. It's really only helping her second and third hit because the damage is low so it needs all the DEF ignore it can get. The +ATK is fairly decent, but for the price of a mod3, it's a really big investment for not that big of an improvement.

If you have seen somewhere about a Stainless Suzuran combo with Ros, it's not as great as it sounds. The combo is basically placing 2 Stainless S3 Devices in range of Ros' 2 attacks against 2 enemies, and both of her attacks can hit both Devices, effectively triggering both Devices every attack interval of 1.06 seconds. With Suzu debuff, this combo has the highest theoretical damage combo in the game. Theoretically. In practice it's extremely hard to set up and most of the time Ros will only be able to hit 1 enemy and/or 1 device. Don't even bother with the full damage setup. As for the half damage setup, which is far easier to do, if you enjoy it you are free to do it. The extra instances of damage from her mod1 help with the Stainless combo a decent amount.

• S1 deals arts damage, but the “arts” part is not the main reason to use this skill. If you need AoE arts damage because of groups of really high DEF enemies, even Lava can get close enough as DPS without her skill. In turn, it’s the combination of the constant AoE DPS (mostly at S1M3), massive range, and Ros’ own chonky stats with less DP cost than any decent AoE Casters (haha “decent AoE Casters”) that is the main draw. I also said it before, if you’re a sniper-only player somehow, even the Heavyshooter Snipers provide better answer to high DEF, or just simply her own S3M3 if the wave of high DEF enemies are scarce.

• S2 is mainly used for the stun. The damage can be nice, and it does have potential to perform better than her S3 because of the larger area and longer duration + shorter cooldown. But when you are facing more dangerous threat, even just a few of them, even if they have low enough DEF and this skill is M3, it won’t help you as much as S3 can (like say in M8-8 when there's a flood of tough units). And…

• The DPS for S3 is absurd, even on a single target. The only thing holding it back is the “only target blocked enemies”. If you can learn how to place the wall correctly, you can even do amazing things with it. You have to put massive considerations to use it. M3 is absolutely important for the reduced SP cost and longer duration, but also more ATK, as she always needs more ATK to let her aftershock overpower DEF, especially on a skill that can only deal damage.

The thing is, the choice for skills depends on her allies. You are never going to have Ros as the sole DPS of the team (if you do, you have to already know what to do). If you have SA or Surtr or the other delete button, 1 more delete button might be unnecessary. But if you already have the cornerstones or AoE crowd control, 1 more constant AoE damage or crowd control might also be unnecessary. It’s all about fitting everything together as a team, and not what’s better in a vacuum.

My favorite ally for Ros are W or Sesa, since both amplify physical damage and the condition to activate their talent are all accessible with Rosmontis. Especially Sesa, who amplifies physical damage taken (Final Damage Multiplier sadly, which calculates after DEF) to blocked enemies. Guess who can only attack blocked enemies when her skill is up?

W and Ros' S2 in combination is much more hilarious. Enemies that are stunned in W’s range take more physical damage as well (also Final Damage Multiplier), including the attack that trigger the stun. But their S2 together means the AoE crowd control potential is massive. Granted, that’s a combination of two limited unit so…

Be careful with other slowers/crowd controllers when using her S3. It's pretty self explanatory that stopping enemies from being blocked would hurt her more than help. The slight exception is Suzuran. She might have a massive area slow, but also a massive damage amplifier, so if you just want this particular enemy or 2 to disappear now, both of their S3 can work miraculously. But you might also just use another less complicated AoE burst with Suzu.

As for Mastery priority, S3 all the way first and foremost. You may say “well I don’t use her S3 that much in normal stages”. Then I’ll say, “sure you can use S2 in normal stages since S3 is much harder to use, but is that really warrant an M3 when you should be able to clear them normally already? And if you are struggling in stories content, the resources that are spent to S2M3 are worth more put into a different op entirely that can help you clear more stages”. In the end though, you do you. I can’t pretend I know how to spend resources efficiently when I have these.

That should be it for the little Elite Operator kitty I guess. I want to cover basically every details I can find about her. Some may have been useless, but there are a few hidden details that I think can be useful, especially for placing walls. Anyway, for those that have her, how do you find Rosmontis? I certainly like her kit, if nothing else.

Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time.