IsabellaInformation and Guide

Isabella is an A-level Graveborn Support who enhances her companion each time they receive buffs from other sources, making her a true babysitter-type support.

“Grimoire Pact” passively designates the frontmost ally as Isabella's companion and records a spell note each time the said companion receives a stat-boosting buff from allies other than Isabella, up to 3 stacks per stat. The affected stats include ATK, ATK SPD, Haste, Phy DEF, Magic DEF, and Vitality. At Supreme+, when the companion receives a buff of at least 15% to ATK, Phys DEF, or Magic DEF and/or a buff of at least 15 to ATK SPD, Haste, Vitality, she gains another stack of spell notes. When the ability is actively cast, the companion gains ATK, Haste, and additional stats based on the accumulated spell note stacks Isabella has recorded for each stat. 

“Lingering Grace” mostly serves as a healing skill for her companion; if the companion is crowd-controlled for 5s, Isabella automatically casts Hexward, making them immune to Control effects for a short duration. Additionally, if an enemy hero inflicts significant damage on her companion, their ATK is reduced for 5 seconds.

Her buffs are further enhanced by her Hero Focus, which grants her an increase in her Assistance stat value. This stat allows Isabella to extend the duration of her buffs. At max Hero Focus, Isabella gains 50% duration time on all buffs, including Grimoire Pact's active effect and Hexward's unaffected state.

At Mythic+, Isabella gains “Retributive Echo.” Each time she casts her Ultimate to empower her companion, she also debuffs the enemy hero who has dealt them the most damage. This skill reduces the enemy’s stats based on Isabella's current spell note stacks, lowering the same stats she has recorded. The debuff lasts for 8 seconds and is initially 80% effective, increasing up to 100% as her EX Weapon is leveled. At EX+10, every time Isabella uses her Ultimate, she restores Energy based on the number of spell note types currently at maximum stacks.

Performance in Various Game Modes:

• Story and AFK stages – Isabella doesn't provide much in this mode, as her single-ally supporting style rarely becomes a priority or focus when progressing through Stages. The most successful AFK Stage teams generally require support for multiple DPS units with an element of stall potential to allow for extended damage dealing against enemies with an excessive HP deficit.

• Dream Realm – While Isabella has found a niche role in Nocturne Judicator due to her buffing of a frontmost hero, her performance on other bosses remains lackluster. Since her kit is designed to support a single frontline hero, ideal placement can be difficult, as this removes the possibility of utilizing her buff with other Supports for buff stacking (i.e., a unit cannot be buffed in Elijah and Lailah’s Stellar Bond while also receiving Isabella’s buff). This greatly limits her overall versatility and relevance.

• PVP – The path to Isabella's first Ultimate is a slow one, making it common for her to be burst down or lose her companion before she can build momentum. However, if she successfully casts her first Ultimate and begins generating extra Energy through her EX+10 passive, her subsequent Ultimates come much faster. While not entirely unusable, Isabella will require careful consideration when choosing which companion to babysit and whether dedicating your strategy of single-ally support will be effective enough to win compared to the potential of another team setup.

Conclusion

Isabella is a support with potential, but has found herself released at a time when buffing multiple allies or stacking multiple buffs on a single ally holds more value than buffing a single ally, whose placement restriction makes it too difficult to stack other buffs on that same unit.

If you truly want to use Isabella, she doesn't work well at low copies, meaning you'll need to invest a minimum of Mythic+ EX+10 to enable faster Grimoire Pact loops, and/or Supreme+ for quicker spell note stacking.