SantikBuild and Guide

Santik is a Reason Affinity Support/Sustain hybrid, who revolves around critical strikes, both to heal and when it comes to his buffs.

Skill 1

Santik’s S1 is a single-target attack that can purify 1 debuff from the ally with the most debuffs, or 2 debuffs at once if his attack crits.

His passive, Frenzy Beat, is also tied to his S1 and has the potential to massively buff the damage output of his entire team. The first time an ally crits during a turn applies a stack of [Frenzy Beat] on each teammate, passively increasing the team’s CRIT Dmg by up to 5% per stack, capping at 20 stacks. This passive also provides Santik his main Healing tool, as any CRIT triggered by your team heals the attacking Animus by 20% of the Damage dealt, with no CD.

Stacks can also be obtained with counters during enemy turns, as those are also accounted for, and they do not “spend” your counterattacker’s stack once they take their own turn.

With the final upgrade boosting the potential Cdmg of each stack, leveling this skill to 5 is essential to fully realize Santik’s potential in mid to long-term battles.

Skill 2

The S2 is a potentially devastating AoE that can apply multiple crippling debuffs and negative effects. Each target hit has a 45% chance of seeing their CDs and their Shell’s CDs increased by 1 turn, on top of a 65% chance to inflict 2 turns of [CRIT Rate-] and [Eff ACC-], both exceptional tools at disrupting the enemy’s game plan.

Given how important this skill is to control the rhythm, getting it to level 4 is crucial, and level 5 should strongly be considered as long as you’re using your Santik outside of Burst setups.

Skill 3

Blastaemon, Santik’s S3, is surprisingly sweet despite a name you’d associate with your underground headbanger! Santik purifies 3 debuffs from each member of your team, before applying 2 turns of [CRIT Rate+] and [CRIT Dmg+] to all of them. After that, Santik grants himself an extra turn to really blast the enemies out of sync!

Without lvl4, the extra turn is not guaranteed, and so getting it there is the very first thing you should do. Strongly consider lvl5 once again if you expect your fights (and most importantly your Santik), to carry on past the first 3 or so turns.

PVE

Santik definitely earns his time under the spotlight, the S3 and S1 by themselves already being massive steroids for all CRIT-based compositions. ACC- is also very much welcome to limit the noise from debuff spammers, both during wave-type fights or against bosses. CRIT Rate- synergizes well with Santik’s style of Sustain, as he offers no defensive utility whatsoever, and the scariest thing that can happen is a huge hit or two that would take down your DPS.

Do keep in mind that, by nature, Santik does not work well with Debuffers and other Supports who sport very little personal DPS, as they won’t receive much Healing in the rare eventuality that they’d crit in the first place. In the same way, Santik is going to struggle a lot to keep himself alive as his damage remains low even if he crits. For these reasons, and thanks to his very potent offensive utility, it’s pretty easy and often important to pair Santik with a more Defensive Sustain who can ensure the team will remain in top form. 

PVP

In PVP, Santik is a high-risk, high-reward performer. His ability to massively purify the team before chaining with a potential full team cripple can instantly swing fights in your favor. He also pairs extremely well with nearly all damage dealers, regardless of their Main Stat scaling.

He is not without downsides, however, as he requires heavy fine-tuning and his S2 can be resisted; this missed note often becomes the first step of his team’s downfall. 

While most nukers don’t need the extra amp he’s got to offer, the same cannot be said for most AoE attackers and Bruisers, with their extra attacks or frequent counters, as those not only benefit from the initial CRIT buffs from S3, but their ability to quickly ramp up the Frenzy Beat lets them heavily capitalize on it with little to no need for other offensive utility but the one Santik provides. He also pairs well with the likes of Heinrich, who can further enhance CRIT stats through his debuffs.

His main concern comes from nukers who can quickly dispatch him, or fine-tuned teams relying on immunity to shrug off his S2 and focus on his teammates.

Conclusion

Santik is a fresh take on the offensive Support/Healer hybrid, with a very high offensive utility under the right conditions. His S3+S2 combo makes him excellent in PVP, and Frenzy beat can elevate the damage of any DPS to new heights in PVE while turning the average but constant damage of bruisers into an oppressive firepower in PVP, so long as you give them the time. 

His main downside is the inability to heal anyone who doesn’t have a solid crit-based DPS, which definitely needs to be accounted for when building your teams.