Introduction
Finally, a new banner! The time between new banners is unfortunately increasing, and this has been one of the bigger ones. 41 days in fact, which is the longest gap if my math and records check out (Rosmontis to Mountain was 39)! Fortunately this is an interesting one to discuss!
I will likely be on vacation when this guide goes public, so I may not be as quick to reply to comments as I normally am. Fingers crossed I didn't make any major errors!
This article specifically covers the new units from the Episode 9 [Stormwatch] 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: That... is a very tough question. This might actually be the hardest banner ever to answer that question on and the answer will very much depend on the sort of player you are. To put it as simply as possible, this banner is good and it wouldn't be a mistake to pull. All of the units on it are good which is a rarity itself. However the overall gains are marginal to a majority of players. Saileach is not a required unit outside of high risk CC, and Mulberry is not significantly better than the later coming (and free) Honeyberry. In terms of gains for your resources, a lot of players should actually consider not pulling here. There will be players who pull and invest here and be disappointed at the returns. Read on the next several questions for a deeper dive into the nuance of it all!
Q: Why wouldn't I want to pull for Saileach? I thought Flagbearers were one of the best archtypes in the game?
A: Flagbearers *are* one of the best archtypes in the game, and that's the reason Saileach's costs versus benefits are much lower than other 6*s. Myrtle and Elysium are two of the best units in the game and thus the difference between them and Saileach is much lower than it is in many cases with the meta 6*s. For example the jump from Nearl to Saria, or from Reed to Bagpipe is far greater than it is from even Myrtle to Saileach. Given she has an intensely high promotion and mastery costs as well, it heavily shifts the costs vs benefits in a way no other 6* has had before.
To be very clear, Saileach is a very good unit. She brings a ton of really good utility in addition to DP gen that is more than sufficient for a majority of stages. The question here is not if Saileach is good, but is if she is good enough over Myrtle and Elysium to justify all the associated costs of both pulls and resources.
Mind you this entire discussion revolves around Story type players. For Advanced players she is much more mandatory in the CC experience. Whereas in most story stages she becomes overkill, she is often irreplaceable as the risk levels increase given how the game currently plays. Virtually every CC at a high level involves DP down tags and limited deploy size. Saileach doesn't even power creep Myrtle and Elysium here as she is yet another valuable option through the deploy rotations to keep the map going.
Similar to story, her impact is muted in IS which will again hurt her value to a lot of players. Although certainly not an awful pick, the high hope cost just doesn't bring as much value as someone like Bagpipe who is more impactful, or Myrtle who is cheaper. Even a strong Pioneer like Saga or Flametail is frequently the better choice given how the mode plays, and there are not many scenarios in the mode where Myrtle isn't sufficient DP generation on her own.
Q: Assuming I do pull and raise Saileach, who does she replace, Myrtle or Elysium?
A: Neither, which again dives into the nuance of the archtype. In a high risk CC scenario you are probably running all 3, plus Bagpipe, and maybe even Texas. In an everyday story scenario, it would depend on your goals. The min-maxed answer depends on the circumstances of the stage and what exactly you're trying to do. For example, Myrtle has a slightly faster ramp up when starting DP is tight thanks to her lower cost. Elysium might bring more benefits with his talents since many of the most powerful units in the game are snipers. The permutations of combinations you could run, including with Pioneer Vanguards, are worthy of a very lengthy post all on their own!
Q: Suppose I've decided not to pull for Saileach. Should I still pull for Mulberry? I've heard she's quite good.
A: Probably not. Mulberry is indeed good, but chasing 5*s can get very expensive, and we know thanks to our benefit of futuresight that Mulberry is not the only option for her role. We know that another Wandering Medic in Honeyberry will be coming soon who is potentially just as good if not superior, and has the big advantage of being available in the red cert shop like Breeze is now instead of the gacha. Although most people seem to prefer Mulberry over Honeyberry, the differences between them are quite nuanced. In my opinion one is not meaningfully better than the other, though they are better at different things. Given that chasing Mulberry can potentially get quite expensive, it's difficult to justify much beyond the G5 knowing a free alternative that is just as good is on the near horizon.
Keep in mind that Honeyberry's cost is not as steep as it appears. Although 600 red certs is a lot, it comes out to only about 7 OP worth of sanity which is barely 2 pulls worth. If you have ever spent OP on pulls, then the cost is easy to justify. The pulls spent to potentially chase Mulberry are much more expensive.
Q: Should I build a Wandering Medic? Who is better, Honeyberry or Mulberry?
A: You should probably build one, yes. Of course there is always the Arknights caveat that no one is ever truly necessary outside of high risk CC. There are plenty of solutions out there that don't require either of the berries. That said, a Wandering Medic is a valuable tool to have. Elemental damage has been very common lately, appearing in nearly every recent event and even being a strong component in CC#8. In addition, both berries are quite strong standard medics as well with expanded ranges, making at least one a very strong addition to any team. As always with support type units though, good DPS is the more important upgrade.
Which is better does not have a clear cut answer. It's a topic that again could justify its own article, and this one is already long so I'll attempt to keep it brief. Mulberry tends to be the stronger normal medic with a significantly higher ST HPS. Plus her S2 has the highest ST elemental healing. However Honeyberry has the better elemental healing in general by a fairly large degree. She also spreads her healing out more, and has a very strong HPS herself.
Personally, if I were forced to pick only one, I'd take Mulberry since she is such a strong normal medic as well, but that is mostly a matter of preference. The gap between them is tiny so honestly, take the one you think is cuter.
You can find an excellent summary here by Boelthor over on reddit going into depth on why Honeyberry is a deceptively good choice!
Q: When is the IS#2 Mastery update coming?
A: Soon, I hope. Life gets pretty busy for me as summer approaches so my goal is to get it out in early to mid April before that summer rush kicks in. I'm still not 100% sure how I want to approach things yet. There's a lot of nuance to things since some units have very different values in IS#2 and I don't want to turn the guide into an IS tier list either. However the units on this banner are influential in the mode so I've decided to give a grading trial run at least. Please let me know what you think either down below in the comments or over on Reddit and Twitter.
Episode 9 [Stormwatch] - Saileach on the Hill
Saileach
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S3M3 | S- | S+ | S- |
 |
S1M3 | None | A | None |
 |
S2M3 | None | B+ | C- |
Saileach has the biggest gulf in priorities between Story and Advanced players.
In all cases, S3 is her best skill. It brings valuable utility on a very short cooldown along with decent DP generation. The 20s downtime on her weakening effect is a unique aspect to her that has lots of broad application. Mastery is quite valuable here. In addition to the all-important "first activation" times with all Flagbearer's, she gains a significant increase in utility effectiveness as well.
After that though, things get more nuanced. The DP generation on S3 is actually fairly poor relative to other Flagbearer skills which gives room for her other skills to shine. Her S1 is identical to Elysium's S1. It also has among the most expensive M3 material cost in the game so far. For most players this means it's something to avoid, especially if you haven't already found a reason to do Elysium's S1 masteries. Outside of high-risk CC and certain memes, the intensity of DP generation that her S1 brings in addition to the other Flagbearers is never necessary. Your resources are better spent elsewhere. But for players who do care about pushing risk, her S1 is essential, often being chosen over her S3 to maximize DP generation among small deploy limit rotations where her S3 is just too slow.
Her S2 is a similar case. It gets mixed into high risk CC only slightly less than S1 does. The DP gen on it is only slightly worse than her S1 (and significantly better than S3) so it can be the better choice when DP pressure is high, but with a little bit of flexibility. For story players though it is again an expensive thing for fringe usage at best and relatively small gains. If you haven't found a reason to use Myrtle's S2 before, you probably won't find any reason to use Saileach's S2 either.
With an eye towards IS, her S3 is still king, though Saileach is only a modest pick herself thanks to a high Hope cost. If you wanted to do a second mastery after S3, then S2 would be the goal. Like story mode, the extra DP generation on S1 just isn't necessary and you'd be better off taking Myrtle for less Hope anyway. Meanwhile S2 can provide a valuable healing utility that can oftentimes be in short supply. Even then though, the less expensive Myrtle tends to be the better choice for emergency healing given the lesser costs involved, both in Hope and in materials
Mulberry
 |
S1M1 | Breakpoint | ||
|
|
S1M3 | A- | B- | A |
 |
S2M2 | A- | B+ | A+ |
Mulberry's S1 has incredibly valuable masteries. At the very least take the breakpoint at M1 which provides a huge boost at a very low cost. It greatly increases how often the skill is available for activation as well as stacking charges during downtime. That's a reasonable stopping point if you don't intend to use her that often, but the availability increases even further at M3 to nearly 75% of her heals under constant pressure! This gives her the highest consistent and conditionless healing per second in the game (others still do better with burst) in addition to strong elemental healing. It is her better skill purely as a medic for when elemental healing tends to be of secondary concern, and given her wider than normal range, that tends to be more valuable than pure healing skills typically are.
S2 has grades slightly higher than similar medic skills due to the fact that it is only really worth going to the less expensive M2. The M3 gains are just too small to justify the cost for any reason other than completionism. However the M2 is a very valuable gain. The prevention here is what gives her an edge over Honeyberry as an elemental healer who otherwise has better raw elemental healing numbers.
Her advanced grades are fairly low. Raw healing is just not a big factor in how the game tends to be played at a high level. CC#8 even features very dangerous elemental damage yet neither her or Honeyberry has seen extensive use beyond risk 18. For IS though she is incredibly valuable. Both Mulberry and Honeyberry are the top picks there thanks to the range, high healing per second, and elemental healing, and masteries are important for their effectiveness.
Roberta
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S2M3 | None | ||
Roberta is a useful unit in a variety of meme comps and her damage shields have some abusable potentiel. Overall though, most players will get limited use out of her. If you are the sort reading this guide looking for practical advice, you should probably not raise her at all. That said if you were looking to do a mastery on her for fun, S2 is her go to skill for the device refreshes, though the gains on it are relatively small. S2 remains the choice even for those advanced meme sorts of comps as there just isn't a lot of value in treating her as a weak melee unit.
She has a niche in IS since she can be inexpensively taken with a Supporter ticket as an additional blocker. However mastery is not really necessary, nor is she impactful enough to raise solely for that purpose.
Liskarm
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S1M3 | C | B+ |
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S2M3 | C | C |
Please note that Liskarm is not a new operator but is a shared rateup on the banner, so her information is included here for reference. Roguelike grades are not yet included for Liskarm, but she has no masteries that are especially relevant to the roguelike.
Liskarm is a slightly peculiar unit. She is a very valuable and very meta unit, yet a majority of that comes from her talent and not her skills. Even in advanced high risk situations she is usually sufficient at SL7 with masteries only adding some level of comfort or flexibility. In this regard, both of her skills are viable options depending on what is needed more: defense to take pressure off or supplemental DPS.
For purely story players, neither is a necessary mastery and, in fact, you may find the gains to be quite lackluster for the cost. Advanced players will want to favor S1 though, since the enemies she needs to take hits from in high risk CC scenarios are frequently the hardest hitting in the game.
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
Big update this time! Lots of exciting units ahead. The Laterano event units are not yet included here as they are not even fully announced as I write this.
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!
| 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 | I’ve previously said that Mulberry was better, but that’s something I’ll have to backtrack on a little bit. There’s been a lot of debate recently comparing the two and as I wrote in the FAQ above, there’s a lot of nuance between them. Like Mulberry, she is a potential M6 candidate. Thanks to a quirk in medic’s animations, her S1M3 allows her to activate it every other attack instead of every third which is very valuable. Her S2 is the better burst skill of course, but the gains on it are small which will keep her S2 grades low compared to Mulberry. |
| 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 | My opinion on him has dropped as much as my opinion on Flametail has increased. His DPS is too low and his niche too narrow to bother with outside of personal desire. Masteries would be a matter of preference here since neither will be graded. S1 has better damage but S2 plays to his niche better (small as it is). I would lean towards S2. |
| Flametail | Gacha | My opinion on Flametail has improved quite a bit since initial release, although she's still a mid-tier unit overall. Her uptime is still painfully short, but her rapid cycle time, high survivability, and high damage gives her more long-term staying power than the other Pioneers. Her S3 masteries will be quite important for her role, so it is likely to end up being one of the highest rated Pioneer masteries (since Saga's S3 mastery gains are unimpressive). However we live in the meta of Flagpipe and cheap cornerstone guards which will limit her meta value, though she is the most popular Pioneer in recent CC clears. Pass on S2. It's a decent enough skill with an interesting niche, but inferior to S3 most of the time and with much worse mastery 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 | Don't be fooled by her low base attack. She joins Click as one of the very few good low rarity casters. She is marginally better than Click, though it's a bit tough to say if she's worth the extra cost, especially with how valuable the low cost Click is in IS#2. Either way, 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 and reliance on other freezers. 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. Don't be tricked by her recent CC appearance with S1 (unless you're aiming for max risk). It's a niche scenario unlikely to arise again. |
| Gnosis | Gacha | A more DPS oriented version of Suzuran with shorter cooldowns on his control. However he is dependent on units not being freeze immune and has comparatively poor uptime, which keeps Suzuran the preference at high risk CC. However he is frequently the better choice in story scenarios and the roguelike mode. Both S2 and S3 are important masteries for his functionality. S2 especially has very important masteries. |
| Crimson Solitare | ||
| Shalem | Welfare | He has high enough damage in an interesting niche to be a viable consideration, however he is ultimately nothing too special either which leaves him mostly as a unit of personal desire. S2 is the best mastery choice here. |
| Who is Real Rerun | ||
| Nine-Colored Deer | Welfare | Her gorgeous art aside, 9CD is not a very good unit. Abjurer's are a very weak archtype and she doesn't have a meaningful niche like Quercus does (or frankly even Tsukinogi, as small as that niche is). Her main value is in her base skill which doesn't even require E2 to use, so she just isn't worth raising outside of personal desire. |
| Invitation to Wine | ||
| Kroos the Keen Glint | Welfare | Alter Kroos is one of the best welfares we have ever gotten, and maybe the best in terms of broad applicability. She gives stiff competition to the existing set of 5* AA snipers, GreyThroat especially, though they all hold varying niches over her still. I personally think she is the best option among them with her high DPS, high total damage, built in crowd control, and camouflage utility that will remain long term relevant. Admittedly though that is a fairly controversial opinion and subject to a lot of debate. Like the other three though, the strength of the 6* options drastically limits her meta value so her main value will be for newer players who lack better options. S2 is her better skill for general purpose and has better mastery gains, but those with meta teams will likely find more value in S1 which has a stronger niche versus the higher rarity options. |
| Blacknight | Gacha | A long awaited higher rarity Beanstalk. And she does not disappoint. She requires a bit more finesse than the more bruteforce-ish Beanstalk, but brings good utility with a very high ceiling as a reward for the effort. Both of her skills are viable and will be graded, though S2 is the better choice overall. Mastery on it is a mixed bag however with an important increase to duration but modest gains elsewhere. |
| Lee | Gacha | Lee is one of those units that's really hard to rank. He has a lot of flexibility and utility and is capable of doing some really impressive things. But his archetype will always keep him out of the meta, and his most impressive showcases tend to be against content that has easier solutions. A lot of players will find him simply not worth the effort despite his potential. He is worth raising and using, especially if you're willing to put in some brain power, but he is not a "can't miss" sort of unit either. Both S2 and S3 are good skills, but perhaps unpopularly, I think S2 is his best mastery. S3 just does not need mastery to do what it does (no force upgrade), while mastery on S2 is quite important to his overall damage output. That said though a lot of people will prefer his S3 so the best mastery here mostly depends on how you intend to use him. |
| Ling | Gacha Limited | Oh what to say about Ling. Entire articles can be written on her, and surely will be. I'll keep it short here (for now). Ling is functionally a cornerstone unit (similar to Thorns or Mountain). She is so powerful that most people no longer consider Ling clears when it comes to "low OP clear records". She bucks the idea that summoners are for "big-brained" players only. The dragons have such high stats that even the worst of players can solo most of the game with her. Yet like most cornerstones, she can feel like unnecessary overkill after a certain point. S3 is by far her standout skill and will be among the highest priority masteries. S2 will be graded as well, though it is significantly lower priority than S3 is. |
| A Light Spark in Darkness | ||
| Quercus | Gacha | Unlike the other abjurers, Quercus actually has a pretty decent and useful niche in her S2 SP charging. It's still a bit of a gimmick though, and isn't usually worth giving up the team slot for. There's also an interesting question of if it's best to leave her at E1 Level 1 and pass on mastery which will affect her overall priority as well. |
| Goldenglow | Gacha | Our long awaited pink doggo (I know) is here at last and our patience is rewarded by a very solid caster. She doesn't surpass Eyja, especially in a CC context, but she pretty cleanly beats out Ceobe in all but a few niche circumstances. Her S3 is probably the highest priority option since her lack of an overriding targeting priority on a global range skill is a unique and very powerful niche. It deserves special note in the context of the upcoming roguelike mode where it is a tremendously valuable skill and plays well with commonly used relics. However her S1 is her highest DPS skill with very valuable mastery gains and the better choice when the global range is unnecessary. Her S2 is a decent skill, but is the odd one out for mastery consideration. It's niche is far smaller than S1 and S3 and the mastery gains on it are pretty bad. It's a safe skip unless waifu. |
