Introduction
Hello yet again. Suddenly we have gone from over a month of nothing to rapid fire events. It's not a bad thing to have content, but did it have to be over the holidays? At least this one is short and easy!
This article specifically covers the new units from the Interlocking Competition - Hymnoi Wisdom event, You can find the full version of the guide here, or on the banner below which covers all of the other noteworthy masteries in the game
FAQ and Banner Discussion
Q: Should I pull?
A: Not for Pallas, though the G5 is a great play for newer accounts. Unfortunately, Pallas is true to her archetype. Which is to say, she's not very good. With the limited banners we know of coming very shortly, it takes a lot more than what she is to justify pulling heavily here outside of personal desire.
Very peculiarly there's no other new units here as well. I won't speculate on why that is, but it isn't necessarily a bad thing either since two of the better 5★s are here instead. If you don't have Specter or Red, then pulling the G5 here is fantastic value. Pushing more to grab Specter is reasonable too. Normally I would hesitate to suggest chasing a 5★ since pity is so valuable and Pallas is so mediocre, but the best upcoming units, except for Saileach (only mandatory for high risk players) are on limited banners, so you aren't actually losing too much pity-wise.
Still though, knowing that Ch’alter is likely next (who has a very strong 5★ guard in La Pluma on the banner), it’s difficult to suggest more than the G5 here.
Q: Is Pallas that bad? I see some popular content creators touting her.
A: To be blunt, I have no idea where the love for her as a unit is coming from (speaking purely about meta here). Certainly she isn’t awful and has some impressive numbers as a standalone unit, but she is still a poor approximation of the various roles people are attempting to shoehorn her into. Despite the praise from some big names, she generally rates at the bottom in community polls and has never made a meaningful high risk CC appearance.
Pallas suffers from a poorly designed archetype. Somehow in almost two years, HG learned nothing about why Swire is bad, and those issues continue here. Her buff is too restrictive and difficult to actually make use of. And even when you actually manage to apply it where you want, the impact is just not all that impressive compared to other options like Warfarin, Skadi, or Aak.
Her saving grace though is that she has pretty decent stats, and her improvement over Swire is that her skills actually significantly enhance that combat capability, similar to Whislash but better. Pallas is quite a solid combatant! But even still, that combat ability is heavily contingent on some strict requirements which make many of the broad comps to better units that crop up, suspect at best. In all, you end up with a unit that can be impressive on paper, yet is rarely impressive in practice, especially in the glut of current powerful options.
Q: Does Pallas' upcoming module change anything?
A: Not really, no. It reinforces the baseline conclusion of her, which is that her buff is mostly useless, but still makes a passable standalone guard. Her module makes her better as a combat unit. But it doesn't elevate her to another level of good and there's just so many good options these days that there's little value remaining in that.
Interlocking Cometition [Hymnoi Wisdom] - From the Spark
Pallas
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S3M3 | B | C+ |
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S2M3 | C | |
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S1M3 | C |
As I discovered in feedback to the PL unit lookahead, Pallas has some quite ardent defenders. However, with respect to them, she is still a lower tier unit and the grades here reflect that. Certainly she is still viable. Please do not let me discourage you from raising her if she appeals to you! But for a vast majority of players, both story and advanced, investment here is an expensive luxury.
I personally favor S3. It has better single target DPS than S2, and does so against 2 more targets, with the enhanced benefit of her buff support (limited as it is). The mastery gains on S3M3 vs S2M3 are also quite similar, keeping the edge with S3.
S2 is actually an interesting skill that makes for some nice highlights. The high stun chance on her relatively low attack interval can be quite good for interrupting slow attack interval enemies like golems or Grudgebearers. However, it really does not need mastery to fill that role. Since S3 is the better combat skill, the main benefit to mastery is in uptime and stun chance (though the stun chance is already fairly high at SL7). The usage though is quite niche and often inferior to other options which makes it a very tough justification for the cost of 6★ masteries. I hesitate to call it a breakpoint, but M2 has significantly more value than M3. It is still a waifu only mastery, but bringing her up to S2M2 and stopping there is a reasonable consideration.
Last is S1 which has many strong supporters. I am not one of them and I was not even sure I wanted to grade it at all, but I will attempt to give it a fair shake. At S1M3 (post module) she has a similar single target DPS to Thorns and she does so without Thorns' wind up which is at least an interesting option. However the comparison to Thorns ends there and there are so many good options these days that it's a tough consideration. She lacks Thorns' range and her DPS is conditional on the enemies being unblocked by her and her 80% HP threshold, which are severe detriments to her overall viability as a cornerstone. As soon as she begins to block, her DPS takes a precipitous decline which is a severe detriment to her value. It's a decent option for those who specifically want to use Pallas in their team, but I wouldn't suggest it for anyone else.
Specter
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S2M3 | S | S+ |
Please note that Specter is not a new operator but is a shared rateup on the banner, so her information is included here for reference.
Specter's S2 is the strongest 5★ mastery in the game. It massively increases her damage and is required to effectively use her for helidrop immortality. Even despite her popular higher rarity counterpart, Specter continues to be one of the best units in the game, and S2M3 is a big reason why. Nothing else can do what Specter's S2 does and it absolutely should be maximized.
Projekt Red
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S2M2 | B- | B+ |
Please note that Projekt Red is not a new operator but is a shared rateup on the banner, so her information is included here for reference.
Red's damage has never been all that impressive and her general value is in her S2 stun bomb. Masteries do give that stun a good extension, however the stun scales with each mastery level which makes it very reasonable to stop at M2. M3 is a very expensive luxury. S1 can be an option if you're particularly fond of her, but even before Phantom, there just isn't much value there.
The Grading System
Story vs Advanced
There are very few absolute answers when it comes to prioritizing upgrades. A major determining factor is what exactly your goals are. Now, there are actually many more types of players than these two, but the most obvious delineation as far as which masteries to think about comes down to the type of content you're most interested in clearing. If you only find value in first time story clears and risk 18 CC, then your goals will be different for someone looking to reach high-risk (25+) in CC.
Story - A story player is a player who is only interest in rewarded content. This means all normal stages and challenge modes (without added personal challenges), risk 8 on CC daily stages, and risk 18 on CC permanent stages
Advanced - An advanced player here is any player interested in non-reward topics such as higher risk CC and more min-maxed gameplay or specialty clears.
A note on the topic of the Advanced grades is that these grades should not be taken as specific advice for a specific CC. There may be an occasional specific note to provide some context or example, but the intention here is to be more general than a particular event and prioritize skills that will be broadly useful in multiple scenarios. A skill appearing once in a high-risk CC is not enough for inclusion here as CCs tend to lend themselves to niche scenarios that can't really be planned for. Further still, Advanced grades encompass all min/maxed gameplay and do not, strictly speaking, have to be about CCs.
The Grades
S - These skills are the cream of the crop. They are skills that everyone with the unit should do and give a high priority to. Units with S tier skills get an outsized value from them, either because the skill is incredibly powerful or because it changes how the unit is used.
A - These skills are powerful skills that most players who have the unit should do. These are among the most powerful skills in the game, but less overtly overpowered than the S-tier skills.
B - These skills are reasonably powerful and worthy of consideration, but have a factor which hold them back. The impact may be relatively small for the cost, the unit may not be especially powerful already, the unit may not fit well into the meta, or there may be a better version available, among other examples.
C - These skills are strong enough to be noted, but should only be done by the most end game of players with nothing else to do. There's value in them, but in the end of the day, most players will have something better to be doing.
Breakpoint - Not a true grade, but a designator given to an M1 that gives an unusually large benefit. In most cases, these should be prioritized immediately after the E2, thanks to their low cost and high value. Note that there are many M2 and M3 breakpoints but they are not considered breakpoints for this purpose as the cost is much more expensive. Also note that some breakpoints on valueless skills are excluded as well.
Please remember all rankings here are considered independent of E2 priority, but do consider overall unit strength. And most important, these grades should be treated as guidelines rather than absolute requirements.
Mastery Look Ahead
Please note that the new Kjerag units have only just been released. As I write this, people haven't even M3'd any of them yet! Below are just my snap judgments on them and the opinions could very easily change. They look like a quite good set of units though!
A quick note, Honeyberry and Pudding DO NOT replace Ethan and Breeze. They are added to the red cert shop in addition rather than as a replacement. You can still buy Ethan and Breeze even after the new units come in so don't worry about rushing!
| Dossoles Holiday | ||
| Ch'en the Hellalame | Gacha Limited | Anyone who tells you Ch'alter isn't the most broken unit in the game is wrong. Only Surtr even compares. S3 is the new best mastery in the game, overtaking TSS, simply because of how ludicrously overpowered Ch'alter is. |
| Mizuki | Gacha | Waifu (heh) only. Similar to Kirara, he doesn't play to the strengths of the archtype, and though his damage is better, it's still really subpar, especially for the rarity. Both S3 and S2 are options, though it can be hard to separate the advantages among the mediocre performance. However no one should bother unless they personally favor him. |
| La Pluma | Gacha | S++ cuteness but also a really really good unit. Potential M6. S2 is the better choice for its high burst shredding and her mastery gains are some of the biggest in the game, but S1 is a solid pseudo-cornerstone sustain. She is sure to be amazing in the upcoming IS#2. |
| Tequila | Welfare | A good boy with good damage. S2 is a mini-SilverAsh you get for free, with a faster cycle time. Unfortunately both his E2 and mastery gains are really small for the cost which lowers the priority a bit. He's actually fine to leave at E1 max. S1 looks like a dud. |
| Chapter 9 - Stormwatch | ||
| Saileach | Gacha | Saileach is a unique unit balance-wise. She has the biggest gap in priority between story and advanced players of any unit out there. She is essentially mandatory for advanced players, but a very expensive luxury for story players who will find Myrtle and Elysium more than sufficient. S3 will be her best skill for both and likely the only suggestion for story players. Advanced players will likely want to at least M6 her though, and maybe M9, with S3M3 > S1M3 >> S2M3. |
| Mulberry | Gacha | Not only is she the new sustained HPS queen, but elemental damage has been a big mechanic of late, further increasing her value. S1 mastery is key to how good she is and will be the highest graded pure healing skill in the game. However it will still be a mid-priority luxury overall. |
| Roberta | Gacha | THE NEXT LOUD NOISES UNIT. She had an interesting potential with her shields, but Nearl creeps that potential already. She was already going to have low-ish grades, but they took another hit with our look ahead benefit. |
| Pinus Sylvestris | ||
| Ashlock | Gacha | A surprisingly impressive 5★. Still probably not enough for meta players but S2M3 has some really really solid damage and an abusable range that can get around some stage mechanics. |
| Fartooth | Gacha | Fartooth has a really cool niche, but is subpar outside of it. She rates pretty poorly overall since there's always better damage options unless you can take advantage of her range. And her biggest competition, Schwarz, already has good range. She isn't necessarily bad, but is entirely a luxury unit. S3 is the better skill. S2 is just too hard to reliably make use of. |
| Near Light | ||
| Pudding | Red Cert Shop | The Pinecone of her archtype. She isn't necessarily better than Leizi or Passenger, but she shows the strengths of the archtype in a much lower cost package with better general purpose viability. Both skills and masteries are decent with S1 better for control and S2 significantly better for damage. |
| Honeyberry | Red Cert Shop | A good healer, however Mulberry is better and for now you don't need two environmental damage healers. Probably not worth the 600 cert cost for most people. Both skills are viable, but S2 masteries are relatively anemic gains, so S1 is probably the better choice. |
| Wildmane | Welfare | Continues the streak of pretty good and interesting free units. S2 is her best skill since S1 just doesn't do enough damage and there are better helidrop Vanguard skills. S2 gives a real nice stall, but mastery gains are pretty small (no force upgrade) so it will probably be a low-graded luxury, if it's graded at all. |
| Corroserum | Gacha | He's decent, but Ifrit is miles better and his niche over her (silence) is tiny and not very good. S1 has better damage but the gap between him and Ifrit is so huge he's unlikely to be graded. |
| Flametail | Gacha | I had previously said she was disappointing, which to be clear reflected a bit of my own preference as someone who was looking forward to Flametail for a long time. To give a more fair shake, she is perfectly functional with a solid niche and decent DPS, but her uptime is so criminally short against an already small dodge niche that she'll have a hard time finding a consistent role that isn't covered better by someone else. Outside of her low-uptime dodge niche, Saga is significantly better if a 2-block Vanguard is required. S3 will be the better mastery and will be integral to making good use of her. S2, though a decent skill, has relatively worse gains. |
| Nearl the Radiant Knight | Gacha Limited | Nearl isn't "nearl"y as busted as previous limiteds, though she's still extremely good. Meta-wise S2 will likely be the go to skill, though S3 will be the better general purpose skill. Both will be highly graded, though not quite top tier. Her S1 will be a nice consideration too, but probably left to waifu only. |
| Break the Ice | ||
| Kjera | Welfare | Looks to be a very solid caster option for weaker teams especially, though it'll need some time to gauge just exactly how good she is. S2 is the obvious mastery choice here, though the gains are a touch anemic. |
| Aurora | Gacha | She's unlikely to be anything special because of her archtype. I do however like her potential as an interesting fun unit with her absolutely ridiculous per hit potential and shorter SP cost than Eune. S2 will be the go to most likely. |
| Gnosis | Gacha | Extremely good looking unit. He'll be at least Suzuran tier and possibly higher. It's hard right now to tell if S2 or S3 will be better, but S2 has the bigger mastery gains and will be more important to its usage, while S3 has fairly weak mastery gains. A worthwhile M6 either way though and he competes with Saileach for one of the few non-limited good OPs lately. |
