Quercus

Quercus has only recently been signed on as a Rhodes Island Operator, but she’s had years of contact with the organization. She has been regularly providing Rhodes Island with supplies of herbs and baked goods, and she recognizes many Operators by name, as well as their usual orders of preserved fruits or flower cakes. Don’t think for a moment that she’s a soft-hearted pushover, however. Not only has she been manipulating other Operators into lodging her own complaints about the Rhodes Island air quality (as she’s used to fresh, clean forest air) but she’s fighting on the battlefield as a 5* Abjurer Supporter, healing allies and generating SP so they can use their Skills more often.

Like other Abjurer Supporters, Quercus is a ranged unit whose attacks usually inflict Arts damage. However, she switches over to healing allies while either of her Skills are active. Also like other Abjurer Supporters, Quercus’ Talent—Forest Sanctuary—grants the Shelter effect (reduces incoming Physical and Arts damage) to allies within her attack range. Unlike some Abjurer Supporters, Forest Sanctuary applies to allies who are above a certain HP threshold, rather than below a certain HP threshold. This synergizes well with her ability to heal allies and means that the effect should blunt at least one attack per ally (though the power of the effect is not very strong, to compensate for its relative ease of use).

In order to heal allies, Quercus must activate a Skill. Her S1, Earth’s Benevolence, is a permanent Skill with a comparatively short charge time that can be turned off at will. Its effect is simple: it boosts Quercus’ ATK and activates her Trait, transforming her from a weak Arts DPS unit to a surprisingly responsive Medic. Because Abjurers have a much faster attack interval than Medics, Quercus has very good HPS with Earth’s Benevolence. However, she lacks the utility that the best Medics bring to the table. For utility, turn instead to the Echo of Life S2, which increases Quercus’ ASPD and causes her to restore 1 SP to every ally she heals. SP generation is very powerful—anything that allows you to use your best Skills more often tends to be!—and Quercus is an interesting source of the effect.

Before you try to have Quercus feed SP to Mudrock, there are some caveats to keep in mind. Most importantly, Echo of Life only applies SP upon successfully healing an ally. For a start, this means allies who can’t be healed (like Mudrock) cannot receive SP from the Skill. But it also means that allies who are at full health cannot receive SP either. This makes it difficult for Quercus to give SP to allies between enemy waves, and it can also make it tricky to give SP to ranged Operators (who are usually deployed so they won’t take damage) or other niche cases (i.e., Stalker Specialists, who have Block-0 and low aggro). On the other hand, she can be a pretty funny trick on poison mist maps or with Operators that damage themselves….

Without Echo of Life’s SP generation, Quercus doesn’t have much to offer beyond decent HPS and a weak Shelter effect. However, if you can leverage Echo of Life correctly, Quercus is somewhat like a Fire Emblem Dancer unit: she isn’t much on her own, but she allows your best units to act more often. Feed SP into a unit like SilverAsh, Fiammetta, or Gavial the Invincible and you may find yourself joining the legion of Quercus’ loyal customers.