29/12 Global Patch Notes
Maintenance schedule: 29th of December, 2022 16:00 ~ 18:30 (UTC+9)
For the full patch notes, go to the official site: Patch Notes and Shop Updates.
Summary of the update
New event - Vice President’s Holidays!
New character - Awakened Amy
New character - Lara Yaeger
New character - Dracasia
New operator - Serina Crew
New character - Awakened Amy
Amy the Bringer of Whale Tears - that should have been her name. Her confusion ability broke the PVP balance and pushed the KR community to review bomb the game. Still, Nexon quickly responded and she received a rework - while the confusion mechanic was removed, she gained instant death instead which is another broken mechanic, but for sure a lesser evil compared to confusion.
Since her power lies in her on-deploy ability, if you use her on auto-battle mode, she will be just another damage dealer. And for 6 cost there are way better employees you can use instead. She's also not that used in the endgame. Her damage is still good though and if you're forced to manual some stages, she will be a good addition to the team, but only that.
After her rework, her rating fell quite a lot, but now after Awakened Mina was buffed and gained Perfect Evasion, she's back in the meta. The Surefire effect on her special allows maker her a perfect counter to Perfect Evasion and because the developers seem to be slapping the buff on a lot of new units, she might become a must pick soon.
Still, keep it in mind that against other enemies, her strength lies in her on-deploy ability, but if you miss it or time her deploy wrong, you've basically wasted 6 cost for nothing.
Ratings
PVE - B
PVP (SEA) - SS
PVP (Global) - SSS
Should you pull?
Only if you're into PVP - for PVE she's a skip.
New character - Lara Yaeger
She's a 4 cost tower that's similar to ATAC-130, but while the mech patrols the sky, she drives around the battlefield with a huge smile on her face, evading all incoming attacks.
Her uses in PVE are rather limited because she's doesn't help the team in any way, and in PVP she fills the role of an anti-rush specialist. While for some time, she was a meta unit, with the release of Tower Xiao, her popularity has fallen quite a bit.
Ratings
PVE - C
PVP (SEA) - C
PVP (Global) - D
Should you pull?
Nope. Avoid at all cost.
New character - Dracasia
Dracasia is a unique Striker that focuses on the nearest target and keeps attacking it until it dies. Her quite high HP (over 50k ungeared) combined with regaining HP back on attack allows her to stick to her target and make sure that it dies before she does. Whenever the target moves away (like ASY or Ministra jumping back), she will use her special to jump toward them instantly and continue her onslaught of attacks. Which comes in handy in PVP modes.
Still, the tracking mechanic is quite useless in PVE, where in most cases, people just auto-play, so she will focus on the nearest target which in most cases will be a tank.
Considering that she often fights in Silenced state, the ASPD gear with defensive stats seems like the best choice.
Ratings
PVE - C
PVP (SEA) - B
PVP (Global) - B
Should you pull?
Honestly, while she seems fun to use in PVP, she's still underwhelming there, so skip her.
New operator - Serina Crew
While the recent changes that made Operator skills undispellable made Serina weaker, she's still commonly used to counter Replacer King and other characters that rely on buffs to shine.
