April 29

New Banners

Neko Matsuri event banner (rerun)

Gagarin mysterious banner

Recommendation For Newly Starting Players

Reroll for Neko or Urd, both are good.

Simple Rerolling (Don't start with limited units): Same process as always (Link to guide)

Advanced Rerolling (Start with at least 1 limited unit): Use the Advanced Rerolling guide (Link) 

Recommendation For Regular Players

2.5th Anniversary is either in 2 or 4 weeks. Two current possibilities:

If they're exactly on time, it's going to be in 2 weeks (next event). Will feature the usual stuff plus Chrono Aoi debut.

If they decide to shove in Mero first, it'll be her event next, then anniversary with Chrono Aoi debut.

Either way, not a good time to pull anything. Neko will be in the anniversary limited combo banner so you can get her then. Skip all banners until the anniversary.

Gagarin is most likely not worth pulling.

New Event

Elite Mode

Neno (Boss)

She has 35% evasion, and will counter if she evades an attack.

Recommended Strategy

Anastasia is extremely good here. Recommend borrowing one.

If you find that the stage is very difficult, try this:

1. Borrow Anastasia.

2. Clear waves 1 and 2 saving all souls (estrogen).

3. In wave 3, use a non-water element unit with DEF Down to Def break Neno AFTER SHE GETS HER FIRST TURN.

4. After the DEF Down lands, continuously soulburn Anas' S1 to attack Neno as many times as you can.

5. Neno should be at half HP or less. You can win at that point

For a more conventional clear: anyone with base accuracy will excel, including Akaoni, Aubrynn, Abyss, and even Mitsuki (just be mindful of the cooldown).

Blue element units can act as bait, and Petra fit with counter set and an off-turn healing bond (Raf bond, self bond, or Saika bond) is particularly good as your frontline.

Event Shop

Featured 5*: Runiata

Runi is not useful. Skip or buy for the rainbow value.

Not new unit: Neko Matsuri

E7: Benimaru

I'm taking this opportunity to update her information to the new expanded format.

Neko is a counteropener and nuker who is designed for one purpose only: Countering extra turn openers.

When an enemy generates an extra turn, Neko's passive activates. She will become immune to all debuffs, gain +50% base accuracy, and push herself. After doing so, she can use S3, which is a strong single target nuke, followed by an AOE extra attack.

Her only viable game plan is to be drafted against an extra turn generating opener (there's a ton of them: Bunrica, Heidi, Berrica, Mitsuki, Ith, Lucia...), steal the next turn after activating S2, then wipe the enemy team before they can actually follow through with their strategy.

Strengths

High versatility for a counteropener: She's used quite often especially in Guild War, mostly because a lot of extra turn openers are currently meta, but still useful.

Base accuracy: Allows her to counter evasion units like Julia paired with extra turn openers. Also allows her to guarantee hits against water element units.

Useful attack order: S3 is a single target attack that can paint DEF Down. This is then followed by an AOE. If someone is protected by Aoi, using S3 on her can kill Aoi and whoever she is protecting in one go if the conditions are right. Otherwise, S3 can be aimed at high-priority units to ensure kills.

Weaknesses

One-dimensional and passive skillset: A weakness shared by most counteropeners but a weakness nonetheless. Neko is used in exactly one scenario and nowhere else. She does not have the agency nor initiative to be used on her own with no regards to the enemy team's lineup. She is entirely reliant on the enemy team doing a certain thing.

Zero followup potential: Neko MUST KILL on her very first S3 and secure a win or else she does not work. She immediately runs out of steam after spending her skills. She cannot sustain herself to wait around for the next cooldown either.

High gear requirement: Sounds counterintuitive but it is true. She requires top-notch DPS gear with low or no speed to ensure maximum damage and secure kills reliably.

Build Guide

Destruction + Crit/Pen. Maximum ATK, maximum CDMG, 100% crit rate, dump all other stats.

Some amount of speed is not harmful, and EHR can help paint DEF Down on tanks, but they aren't necessary.

New Unit: Gagarin

E7: Lone Crescent Bellona, but nerfed

Yes you heard that right. She got nerfed while coming here.

Gagarin is a counter-fighter and a brawler, in some ways similar to Seaside Noclyn but also different in other ways.

All of Gagarin's attacks are guaranteed to crit, and she stacks an ATK buff every time she attacks, up to 50%.

Similar to SSN, Gagarin stacks Focus when allies are attacked, and after 5 attacks, fires an AOE. She also self-cleanses one debuff when using this skill, just like SSN.

However, Gagarin lacks all debuffs, has injury on her attacks, and self-pushes with S2, which puts higher emphasis on tempo and damage.

Overall she's currently not very exciting, and should be skipped.

Strengths

Can counter anything: Unlike most counter-fighters who can't counter a counter, followup, or flank, Gagarin only cares about the number of times her allies are attacked.

Can be built tanky: As a warrior with fairly high base HP and zero need to build for crit rate, Gagarin can afford to invest into some HP to improve her durability.

Scaling threat: She stacks an ATK buff on herself, and her S3 self-buffs, making her a more dangerous threat the longer the match goes on.

Weaknesses

NERFED: This is the big catch. She was supposed to have 15% base evasion for every living ally, totaling 45% in Arena and 30% in Guild War. She lost this for some reason and now is just a weird sidegrade of SSN. Her S3 also could have had the ability to grant Vigor to all allies on a kill, but she instead got injury on her attacks.

No particular niche: She doesn't really have any place to shine at the moment. She is outclassed by existing options in every possible application. We will see how the early adopters slot her into the meta but it's going to be a tough battle making her work.

Low multipliers: According to preliminary reports from early adopters her damage is disappointing. That makes her even less useful.

Build Guide

Can be built several ways, placing focus on damage, tank, or even resistance. Theorycrafting data on her is limited at the moment due to the radically different skillset making a lot of existing E7 info inapplicable.

Other News

Bond Shop Refresh

Rubi bond (Pristine): Must buy for anyone who owns Rubi.

Urd bond (Dom): Not a very popular bond, but still useful nonetheless. Consider buying if you have a surplus of shards.

Neno bond (Candid): #1 Best In Slot bond for multiple Vangs, usually counter-fighters and brawlers but also damage dealers in general. Highly recommend having at least two separate copies. Make one maxed (+30) copy if you can afford it.

Ariel bond (Pleasure): Usually used to catch people off guard in Guild War. Requires +30 max upgrade to be usable, not recommended unless you actually need it.

3★ Popularity Poll

This event is rigged. Datamining has uncovered that Lana will be getting an alt version, Resolute Lana, a 5★ light unit with the skills of Maid Chloe. (Link to Wiki) Expect her to place first in the event regardless of who people actually vote for.

The event gives you free energy though, so overall it is a good thing still.