KethosBuild and Guide

Kethos is a Reason Affinity Bruiser/Control Animus that inflicts high HP-based damage in both Single Target & AoE scenarios, with having access to powerful Control abilities.

Skill 1

Kethos’ first skill consists of two parts, one active and one passive effect. The Active is a simple 1-hit attack that deals damage based on Kethos’ max HP, with a decent chance to transfer 1-2 of his Debuffs to his target.

His Passive, Bloodrite, grants him a stack of a unique Buff called [Congel] whenever an enemy actively uses a Skill. Upon reaching 4-3 stacks, based on skill level, Kethos “steals” the turn of the next enemy Animus that would play, preventing them from playing, resetting their Turn Meter, and immediately starting Kethos’ turn instead.

Once [Congel] triggers, no stacks can be obtained for the next 3 turns and Bloodrite similarly enters a 3-turn CD.

Reducing the number of stacks required to trigger Congel is extremely important, so bringing this skill to level 5 takes the highest priority, especially for PVP.

Skill 2

S2 is a powerful AoE that hits each enemy once and has a 50% base chance of increasing the enemies’ Animus and Shell Skill CDs by 1 turn, which improves to a 100% chance if Kethos’ max HP is higher than the target. On top of that, this skill has a 75-100% chance of reducing his own Animus and Shell CDs by 1 turn.

Given the sheer power of this skill and its long CD, getting it to level 5 has a high priority for mid to long fights. On the other hand, if you’re using Kethos in a burst strategy or for short fights, then the skill is fine at level 2 (pure damage) or level 3 (most efficient stopping point). 

Skill 3

If Skill 1’s Passive can control a Single Target by stealing their turn and Skill 2 can disable all enemies’ skills by putting them on CD, Skill 3 is akin to a death sentence for a Single Target. Kethos hits the target 3 times, each dealing a good amount of damage based on his own max HP, and every hit comes with a special debilitating effect: 

• 1st hit removes 2/all Buffs from the target (once leveled up) with a 100% base chance.

• 2nd hit applies a 2-3 turn [DEF-] with a 100% base chance. 

• 3rd hit comes with a 100% base chance to Steal 50-100% of the enemy’s Turn Meter.

With all that, on a 4-turn CD, that he can reduce on his own with S2 and by stealing 2 turns from the enemy team in quick succession, this skill is yet another terrifying tool to an already scary arsenal.

This skill’s priority heavily depends on your strategy. An AoE Burst setup has no need for this skill, although level 4 can guarantee a kill on most fragile enemies with an S3>S2 combo. For mid/long fights where Kethos is used as a proper CC unit, level 5 is extremely important to ensure he can cycle his whole kit as many times as possible. In the end, Kethos is one of those Animuses where every Skill level matters, and you always stand to gain by raising his Skills to the max. 

PVE

In PVE, Kethos struggles to find a spot in any relevant content due to the very low damage ceiling of HP-based Animuses. His Debuffs and Controls aren’t enough to push past this weakness, especially with the big pool of options available when it comes to Debuffs/Dispels, while his Controls tend not to land on most Bosses in the game.

PVP

Kethos tells another story in PVP, where his presence in a player’s roster is enough to force the opponent into rethinking their strategy. With extremely heavy targeted and untargeted Controls, as well as the big damage potential that he can achieve while gearing as a speedy bruiser, Kethos is a force to be reckoned with. His ability to play 2 turns in a row on T1 while deleting a squishy target and controlling the enemy team is top-notch and the Bloodrite passive can, by itself, cripple an enemy so badly that the fight can sometimes be over before they even get to play once.

Whether as a second Dealer in Cleave or as a multi-purpose Animus in more Control-heavy setups, Kethos poses a real threat. Keep in mind, however, that he’s by nature very slow, has no natural protection from Controls and Debuffs, unless he spends a turn using S1 to transfer his Debuffs. Increasing Kethos’ CDs can give you a bit more time to breathe and controlling him before he gets to steal your turn can make him waste his passive without having to disable it with the likes of Celince.

Lastly, and far from being the easiest option, Kethos is naturally weak to Animuses with more max HP than him, which may be relevant in specific metas where you can field a team mostly composed of extremely durable Animuses.

Conclusion

Kethos is a PVP beast, where his Control+Damage heavy kit makes him nearly unstoppable if the opponent doesn’t plan for him. On the contrary, his kit offers very little in PVE as HP-based damage doesn’t scale well enough and better options are readily available for CCs and Debuffs.