Overall Pull Priority#
| Tier | Units |
|---|---|
| Strong Pull | Wang (limited), Ch’en the Dawnstreak, Closure |
| Lean Pull | Kal’tsit·Esperanta (limited) |
| Lean Skip | Zima the Raging Tide, Bellone |
| Strong Skip | Titi, Necrass (rerun) |
| Meta-value 4-5★s | None |
| Niche-value 4-5★s | None |
A few important notes regarding this list:
- This list is relative value for the next six months. Almost all modern units are good enough to pull for in an absolute sense. Rather, this list is intended to help allocate pull resources for maximum return. A low ranking here does NOT mean the unit is bad, it means they’re less valuable than other upcoming units.
- Units are listed in expected release order. Order within a tier does NOT imply priority.
- Non-solo rate-up and non-limited banners such as Joint Operation, Orienteering, or Standard/Kernel banners should generally NOT be pulled on. They are not on this list because they often differ between the servers, but they also almost always give lower value than new units or reruns. On rare occasions they may be worth pulling on, however those are the exception and impossible to predict for a list like this. JO/JA banners are especially dangerous. Pull with extreme caution!
- Welfare 6★s are not included since they do not need to be pulled for. They should always be obtained to max potential for future gold certs. See the lookaheads below for if they are worth raising.
- The bar to be included in the 4-5★ section is extremely high. This does not mean most upcoming ones are bad, but the power ceiling is currently so extreme that very few are ever worth pulling for.
- I don’t mind you posting this list elsewhere, but please credit it and please please PLEASE include these footnotes. Posting just the list out of context gets all sorts of weird responses.
June update: New this update, Closure and Kal2 make their debuts. Closure is an easy Strong Pull, but Kal2 actually isn’t quite as insane as you might expect. Of course, being a limited means for most people she’ll be a Strong Pull anyway, although I’m personally ranking her slightly lower here. Zima2 also gets kicked down to Lean Skip. A lot of people really like her, but I have a tough time seeing the value compared to the clear top-dogs due to her relatively low ceiling. However, she could creep back up after Wang if the general power trend continues down.
Orchid2 for the MH collab will be added next update, but since I know many people will be curious, initial impressions aren’t that great. She’s not bad at all, and I personally really like her (love FRDs) but the FRD tax means her skill impact isn’t as good as some recent units. She’ll probably be a Lean Pull, but if she wasn’t a true collab limited, could potentially slip to Lean Skip. The Yato2 rerun will probably be a Strong Pull, although I’m undecided where she balances compared to Orchid2.
Pull Priority Blurbs#
Wang
He’s been nicknamed Wangsdel and for good reason. He does a ton of damage, anywhere on the map. Don’t be afraid by the fact he’s a Trapmaster either. Since his damage is so good, and he gets a ton of traps, he’s stupidly easy to use too. He can solo most of the game, like his sister Ling did long ago, but unlike her, has plenty of ceiling too thanks to a huge chunk of RES-ignore. He is easily the best unit ahead of us, and may be the best unit in the game.
Ch’en the Dawnstreak
She hasn’t gotten as much attention as Wang, but I like Ch’en3 almost as much. She scales with enemy HP and her damage automatically toggles between Arts and Physical, depending on what’s better. She also has crazy good range and an abusable gimmick, which gives her both a high floor and a high ceiling.
Closure
Yet another extremely powerful Vanguard, Closure is the more powerful story-carry of the three. She has some really crazy damage and range, plus an extremely powerful DP skill that should see her viable even in advanced gameplay. The three top Vanguards all have different strengths compared to each other, but Closure is a more than worthy entrant to the competition.
Kal’tsit·Esperanta
Kal2 isn’t quite as powerful as we’ve come to expect, but she is still very good. She has AoE True Damage, with great control and healing, in addition to a potentially broken redeployment skill she can flex to. However, no single item (like her damage or healing) is really a top-dog among recent 6★s, so if you ignore the fact she’s a limited, she’s not as necessary as even her non-limited banner mate.
Zima the Raging Tide
She has a very powerful and easy to use AFK skill that will appeal to many people, with a powerful nuke skill to flex to. However, her ceiling is relatively low. There’s a lot of AFK units now so her S2 is nothing new, and she does nothing off-skill when using S3.
Bellone
Bellone has really high ST DPS and strong DEF-shred, meaning he will rip up a lot of stages and enemies. He has a really high floor that will appeal to some people, with just enough high end value to warrant at least a look. However, he is far less versatile than many other DPS units, including several upcoming ones. That makes him tricky to recommend. Older players will already have better options, and newer players will get better value from their pulls saving for the better options.
Titi
She has some pretty strong utility, but ultimately Sleep is one of the weaker forms of control. There’s places she’s great in, but she’s ultimately a bit too situational relative to the other upcoming options, and a bit lackluster if she can’t take advantage of her gimmicks.
Necrass
She’s a powerful general unit, but has a much lower ceiling than the other upcoming top dogs. If her summon gets stat-checked, she’s just raw damage, and while her damage is good, it’s not special either. She’s a solid carry sort of unit, but we have a lot of those now with higher ceilings.
Unit & Masteries Lookaheads#
First of a Thousand Autumns#
Estimated Release: July
Wang#
6★ · Gacha Limited
Wang is an incredibly powerful unit. He’s the sort of unit that I find is a bit tough to write about, because he’s actually kinda simple despite a rather wordy kit. Put down traps, do a fuck ton of damage. And if being a Trapmaster scares you, don’t worry because he’s super easy to use. You don’t have to think about planning like you have to with Dorothy, because he’s got a million traps! Just keep throwing them down until the map is dead. He’s got a ton of RES-ignore too, so unlike a lot of map-solo-carry types, he also has a high ceiling. He can even place traps under enemies, and on undeployable tiles, and his traps hit aerial enemies! He really is as good as people say, and I have trouble even digging for con to balance this write-up out.
S3 is his main skill and will be an easy S++ grade. In addition to a ton of damage, it’s the skill that gives him all those traps to use, giving it both a low skill requirement and a high ceiling. It also has his biggest range and removes a lot of those pesky map restrictions. Don’t sleep on S2 though. It’s a bit more like a typical Trapmaster skill, but does more damage per mine, with control. While it may not have as many traps as S3, it generates 2 per activation so is still very forgiving compared to his fellow Trapmasters. Last, his S1 is notable but will probably be ungraded. It does even more damage than S2, but without the range and AoE benefit, which will make it much more situational and require more planning.
tl;dr S3 is an S++ skill > S2 is a lower-S or high-A-tier. Probably pass on S1.
Ch’en the Dawnstreak#
6★ · Gacha
Wang is getting most of the attention this patch, but setting aside the whole alter-alter thing, I’m a big fan of Ch’en the Dawnstreak. While she is primarily just raw damage, something I just got done criticizing Sakiko for, she is so abusable against some of the biggest HP bloat in the game that I think I like her just as much as Wang. Hopefully I don’t regret this take, but the fact her damage can toggle between what’s best, scales with enemy HP, and comes in an often abusable form (the dragon) means that Ch’en3 has a good chance of being a DPS mainstay for a long long time. For Masteries, S3, which has all that, is the clear winner and will likely be an S++ graded skill. S2 will also be graded, but probably lower than many people expect. It does less damage and the jumping is mostly an unpredictable gimmick that will cause many more headaches than it solves. It’s mostly a finesse skill for Youtube clips, and will rarely outperform S3. S1 will be ungraded and likely a pass for anyone but waifu-lovers. It does good damage, but Silence is fairly common now (and of questionable value) and S3 is better (dead enemies are better than silenced enemies) so there’s not a lot of places for it to shine.
tl;dr S3 is an S++ skill. S2 is secondary, but probably a low A or B-tier skill. S1 ungraded and probably a pass.
Taraxacum#
5★ · Gacha
After a long streak of pretty damn good 5★s, Ju and Taraxacum sadly spoil things, which is a bit surprising given how things have gone both in terms of power and quality of design. In Taraxacum’s case, I’m not really sure what the goal was. HG has been pushing the floating theme for a while now, but with how the game is designed, it’s unlikely to ever be a required concept (why would they want to make 95% of the roster unusable in a gacha game?), let alone on a mediocre 5★ Medic. Even within the flying gimmick he isn’t particularly good, although it might come in handy in rare circumstances in a few niches. He’s the sort of unit that’s tough to even make a clear recommendation since both skills are pretty mediocre. S1 has a higher primary HPS and the longer uptime may prove useful with the take-off gimmick, while S2 can handle multiples better without getting distracted by RNG and has a better cycle. Pick your poison, if you bother at all.
tl;dr Ungraded, but both could be options. Probably lean S2.
Ju#
5★ · Welfare
After a long streak of pretty damn good 5★s, Ju and Taraxacum sadly spoil things, which is a bit surprising given how things have gone both in terms of power and quality of design. In Ju’s case, he’s perplexingly undertuned with a perplexing hamstring and mostly useless utility. HP threshold skills are never good, but Ju doesn’t even do good damage to complement him. Totter and Toddifons will both outperform him most of the time, even in less than ideal circumstances! Then there’s the Critically Wounded aspect which isn’t bad per se, but has pretty low value on a slow attacking high-DP unit. Just big question marks all around. What a waste of a cool design and great lore! He’ll be ungraded, but strongly favor his S2 if you choose to raise him anyway. S1 is stuck with the killer targeting threshold, and has negligible gains, so there’s little reason to consider it.
tl;dr Ungraded, but S2 if you raise him. Skip S1.
Crossing#
Estimated Release: August
Bellone#
6★ · Gacha
The largely negative reception for Bellone is what happens when powercreep gets out of control. Somehow 40-64% DEF shred and crazy ST damage isn’t all that great. However, since this is the game in 2026, that still leaves him as a very solid unit. He’s the sort of unit that will be very easy to use for those who want to use him, and newer players will probably find him more valuable than “gimmicky” units like Titi or Nasti. However, he lacks most of their ceiling, so for many established players, he could be the weakest 6★ ahead of us!
His DEF-shred means he has a relatively high floor of DPS that others can benefit from, and he will do impressive damage against most targets, but it’s mostly ST damage, he’s reliant on RNG for survival, DEF can still be outscaled, and he brings little else to the table. He’ll be a graded M6, but the call between S2 and S3 is relatively tough. S3 has much higher DPS, but the teleporting is quite gimmicky and unreliable. S2 meanwhile has lower DPH and DPS, but better range, multiple targets, and a faster cycle. I currently lean S2 since his S3 is very frustrating to use, and the DPH doesn’t matter as much with his DEF-shred, but that could change by release. Pass S1 which has no value, especially with S2’s rapid cycle.
tl;dr Both S2 and S3 graded, likely in the A-tier, but one could sneak up to a low S.
Ripresa#
5★ · Gacha
Ripresa baited me into thinking she was a bunny. Instead, it turns out she’s a horrid goat! At least Surfer had the decency to be a good unit! Ripresa is… much less good. She joins a host of existing 5★ Splash Casters that are actually not terrible, but also pretty far from generally viable. She has some decent DPS, especially if the targets overlap, and a really short cycle. But she’s just 5★ DPS with no utility, and her peak DPS, while good, has some harsh restrictions. Her S2 fireballs can’t target the same enemy multiple times, meaning she needs 3 different targets in her short range to reach that potential, which is oftentimes a tall order, so there’s not any non-niche or non-waifu reason to promote her. If either of those apply to you, S2 is her better skill by quite a bit. It does quite a bit more damage, and the SP costs between her skill are quite similar. Meanwhile her S1 is much less special. The only reason to favor it would be due to the 3-target requirement on her S2, but S1s damage output is far lower, so you probably shouldn’t be using her in the first place if you can’t take advantage of her S2. It’s a waifu only skill.
tl;dr Ungraded or C-tier S2. Pass on S1 unless waifu.
People, A People#
Estimated Release: September
Zima the Raging Tide#
6★ · Gacha
Oh Zima. Do I love you because you’re the kind of alter that I love to see? Or do I hate you because your main value is raising the bar on braindead gameplay? In any case, it’s getting a lot harder to write these lookaheads. There’s a lot more nuance to these units than there used to be. There hasn’t been a “bad” 6★ in a couple years now, and it’s really difficult to convey the nuance in a paragraph or two. In Zima2’s case, she’s a strong unit, but with a relatively low ceiling. Her S2 charges shockingly fast, and gives her some pretty insane stats, with an always-on DEF higher than most Defenders. You don’t even have to press the button to activate it either! I guess HG knows what AFK players really want. Then she has a highlight reel nuke skill too with her S3 for some flexible wave clearing use.
However, these ultimately mean she has a pretty low ceiling. Well, relative to the modern 6★s anyway. Her S3 nuke looks impressive due to its crazy DPH, and many people will remember her killing Patriot in a single-cycle. However, its total damage is on the low side, so even with its relatively low SP cost, it feels unimpressive in tougher content. Worse, she does very little off skill, often leaving her very exposed. These sorts of one-use nukes just don’t have the value they used to (looking at you Degenbrecher). Meanwhile, while her S2 is a great and fast charging AFK skill, it’s still just an AFK skill and we have a ton of those now. Zima is definitely far from a bad unit, but she’s likely to be graded a bit lower than some people might expect. There are a number of people out there that view her as a top-tier unit, but my view of her is much more restrained.
tl;dr S2 > S3. Both will be on the high end of grades, but a bit off the top. S2 likely mid-low S and S3 likely low-S or high-A.
Укусик / Ukusik#
5★ · Gacha
I love how HG drips in a child now and then. No, not for that reason you sicko. I love it because it’s a nice reminder every now and then about how truly fucked Terra is. Anyway, Ukusik is a pretty neat unit for the creative type players. She’s not the first unit who can provide an on-demand Camouflage, but the existing options are much less effective at it than she is. Heavyrain has a really restrictive range, and natively being a blocker reduces her effectiveness at the role. Despite those flaws, Heavyrain has seen decent niche usage over the years, so I’m pretty optimistic about Ukusik! However, that’s pretty far from a meta consideration, especially since there are just so many already decent Medics who do the healing job much better. Further, she doesn’t need anything beyond E1 to do that job since the camo duration doesn’t change after SL7, so the extra promotions are only for some extra healing that isn’t her key value, and some cycling/initial SP improvements that most people will never notice.
tl;dr S2 is a good skill and will be graded, but lower than its value due to the gains not mattering for her primary purpose. Only look towards S1 if you really want to use her over other options since it is only a basic healing skill.
Ботани / Botani#
5★ · Welfare
Botani is our first source of friendly Corrosion. First, Corrosion itself ends up being relatively weak compared to the other elements. It does less damage per burst, seemingly with the intent of faster cycling. That isn’t bad, but ends up meaning most things will die before the debuff comes into play, and in an era of the game where there’s so much crazy DPS, that just isn’t overly special. Botani herself though ends up being a sidegrade to Valarqvin, who does already see some use in non-6★ niches, so she’s not exactly bad, although certainly not a meta consideration. Botani can trigger Corrosion three times per S2 activation, which gives her greater damage than Valarqvin per activation (15k vs 12k) on top of the debuff, plus her longer range. However, Botani cycles far worse and without the control benefits Valarqvin has, and often loses her damage advantage against bosses. If you aren’t the sort of player who has already raised and gotten use out of Valarqvin, Botani will be no different, especially with insanely meta and incompatible units like Tragodia and Yu out there, but she may have some use for a few players or if you just happen to like her.
tl;dr S2 low-C grade, similar to Valarqvin. Pass on S1. The SP cost is shorter than the Corrosion cooldown, so she wastes activations and it’s slower than it might appear. It could have some value for the true extremists though.
Episode 17 - Critical Phase Transition#
Estimated Release: October
Kal’tsit· Esperanta#
6★ · Limited Gacha
Boy, I have some things to say about Kal coming back already. The game in general has had a problem with stakes for a while now, and even though her return was known immediately, it still makes me roll my eyes that it happened so quickly. So much for drama! That should make a nice story rant when the time comes.
In any case, Kal2 is a bit more muted than the recent wave of insane 6★s. That isn’t to say she’s bad, of course. Far from it! She is a very comfortable unit to use, and probably the best Medic we currently have. However, it’s a bit surprising given her story relevance that she is a little clunkier to use and not quite as bloated as you might expect.
There’s some interesting nuance to her skills, but unlike Closure, her best Mastery is clearly S2. There’s a mechanical clunkiness to it where shots can be wasted or spent where you don’t want them, but the numbers are high enough that it rarely matters. In the end it’s still a good amount of AoE True Damage, a long Slow, and a lot of healing. However, it does pay the damage tax by being True Damage so isn’t quite as crazy as we’re used to, so will likely be graded a bit off the top-tier (but still high S).
Meanwhile, her S3 is an extremely powerful skill, but it’s much more situational. It won’t be necessary or viable in a lot of situations, and requires some thought to use. More important for the guide though, the Mastery gains on it don’t really matter for its main use. They aren’t nothing, and they will definitely matter in Advanced situations, but for a lot of players, Mastery will be a luxury.
tl;dr S2 (mid to high-S) > S3 (lower than the value of the skill, probably low-A or B). Pass on S1, although it may have some use if Take-Off ever becomes a more necessary mechanic.
Closure#
6★ · Gacha
Closure is the most powerful unit in this patch (in my opinion anyway), and I think she’s one of the most interesting to discuss in quite a while. In addition to the comparison to the already existing extremely powerful Vanguards, there’s an interesting debate around her skills, with valid considerations in either direction! It makes her quite fun to think and write about. Alas, I am limited on space here!
For the comp to Ines and SA2, I’ll be very brief (for now) and say that I think Closure is the much better “daily driver”. Her downsides don’t matter as much in typical story stages and her DPS is quite a bit higher. For Advanced content though, I think the other two pull out ahead, although Closure will still have the potential for some great value there as well. It’s actually a pretty nice bit of design work that all three manage to be top-tier while being good at very different things.
For her skills, there’s two lines of thinking between her S2 and S3. One camp (the more populous one) favors her S2 which can practically dump out your entire roster in the first few seconds of a stage. The DP refund aspect makes the effective DP generation truly insane. However, it’s restricted to the 3x3 square around her drone which I think is more limiting than people realize. The other camp (the one I’m in) favors her S3 which has some great DPS (not even “for a Vanguard”, it’s just great!) on top of some really powerful and flexible range. However, that’s less about what Vanguards are typically used for.
Of course, the simple solution to this is “just do both”. Both are going to be high S-tier graded skills. However, if you can only afford one, it’s largely a philosophical question.
tl;dr S2 and S3 both high S-tier grades. I favor S3, but many favor S2. Plan to do both in either case. Pass on her S1 which just isn’t as valuable as her other skills.
Crackborne#
5★ · Gacha
I like her visual design, but compared to the evolution from Philae to Cairn, Crackborne feels pretty uninspired. She’s really just Philae but with weaker damage in exchange for a faster trigger and cycle. She doesn’t have Philae’s delay between pulses, which results in the faster trigger, and she can begin recycling her SP immediately since the effect is treated as a “buff” (rather than skill uptime). However, the damage difference is large (5k on Corrosion versus 12k on Necrosis) and triggering it means she loses her bulk, so this is a trade-off that doesn’t often work well. Corrosion also doesn’t synergize with her role as a Defender at all. For an already niche 5★, being a sidegrade (at best) to a red cert OP isn’t great. However, it is still AoE true-ish damage on a relatively fast cycle, so she is still usable, and should still end up graded.
tl;dr S2 graded, but under Philae’s S2. S1 ungraded and is a waifu only skill since Philae’s S1 is also better and also ungraded.
Vij / Viy / Вий#
6★ · Welfare
Vij (or maybe Viy, idk) continues the recent trend of 6★ Welfares which are not exactly bad, but aren’t really special either. He’s fine and functional if you like him, but expensive, and doesn’t do anything unique that can’t be found elsewhere already. In Vij’s case he just does damage, but doesn’t even do it as well as Ebenholz, so one has to wonder why he even exists as he is at all. I dislike his design too because his kit has a ton of words for what’s basically just damage! This all means he’ll be relatively low graded, likely a bit below Sankta Miksaparato and Astgenne the Lightchaser who at least have some niche value. Generally, his S3 will be his main skill since it does quite a bit more overall damage, but his S2 has better ST damage which will make it worth pursuing if you really want to use him. However, the damage isn’t impressive enough to be a general consideration.
tl;dr S3 (likely low-B) > S2 (likely mid-C). Pass on S1.