NiaBuild and Guide

Nia is a DEX AOE Striker that applies and scales her multipliers off her Dust Cloud debuffs.

• Passive: Ignition Burst - Nia’s attacks apply a stack of Dust Cloud on enemies. Nia can consume a stack and deal 200% ATK damage to the enemy every 2 seconds. (Dust Cloud procs can apply Critical Hits)

• S1:  Flame Scourge - Nia attacks all enemies around her in a 4.5m AOE radius, dealing 300% ATK Damage and applying a 220% ATK shield (12 seconds) to herself. If a Burn DoT is active, apply <Carbonisation>, increasing Burn Damage by 30% (12 seconds)

• S2: Flame Nest - Nia attacks the nearest enemy, dealing 340% ATK Damage. Consumes up to 3 Dust Cloud stacks to deal additional 200% damage per stack (940% damage total).

• Main: Flame Devourer - Deals 550% Damage to all enemies in a 7m arc AOE. Consumes up to 10 Dust Cloud stacks to deal additional 200% damage per stack (2550% damage total)

• Ultimate: Ignition Path - Nia deals 800% to all Enemies, applying Max Stacks of Dust Cloud and gains <Frenzy> - deals additional 60% Damage.

• Artifact Skill: Ignition Jet - Nia gains ATK and Crit Rate for each stack of Burn (up to 5 stacks). Nia applies a stack of Dust Cloud every 6/ 4 seconds a Burn DoT is active on an enemy,

• Pattern: S1 > NA > S2 > NA > Repeat

Review:

Nia’s release marks Eversoul’s 2.5th Anniversary and its 4th Demon Soul release, and Nia has a lot to live up to. She makes a great start with her incredible damage potential. Notable is the whopping 2,550% AOE multiplier (even higher than CLinzy’s 1953% ultimate) on her main, and coupled with her Ultimate, Nia can suddenly dump a ton of AOE damage onto enemies within a short period of time. Her Dust Cloud mechanic also gives her a lot of free damage, and since these hits can hit, her sustained DPS is also very high if you can build a ton of stocks, either through her attacks or her artifact skill. 

Nia also comes packing a small Burn package, accumulating stacks of Dust Cloud on the enemy for every 6 seconds of active Burn time. Paired with Nia’s insane damage potential from consuming these stacks, Nia serves as a crowning jewel for any Burn oriented comp. As such, she pairs up mechanically well against the Dark Knight Raid and Gaiah Raid, and will do well against the Behemoth World boss. Her raw damage potential also allows her to potentially slot in and contribute well in most raid content, but she won’t necessarily be best-in-slot.

However, raw damage is all that Nia brings to the table. She has little to no Party Utility (besides a Burn Damage amp) and is a glass cannon. Without sufficient party support and protection, Nia can suddenly vaporise if an enemy so much as looks at her. With her Demon typing (making her harder to ascend) and want for a burn oriented comp, it is difficult to recommend Nia to new players.

Investment

Being a melee DPS, players will want to get her to Origin Ascension with Legendary+ Artifact at least. Improvements in either will give a significant boost to her personal DPS and some additional bulk to play with.

Team Comps and Synergies

Nia is largely self sufficient even without her Ultimate, but she pairs well with units that can apply high burn uptime:

• Rose (Prominence): Insanely high burn uptime with easy heals, DMG amp and a HP% + ATK% buff.

• Catherine (Radiance): Decent burn uptime with shields, ATK/ DEF buffs and strong debuffs that Nia can capitalize on.

Nia also appreciates units that can keep her alive while she charges up the proverbial nuke - Eve, Daphne, Chloe, and Yuria are all the usual suspects in that regard.

Conclusion

There’s a lot to appreciate about Nia, from her design to raw damage potential, but it will take quite a bit of polishing to unearth these things.  With her general squishiness and lack of party utility, it is generally difficult to recommend Nia to new players.  With Mephistopheles (Dawn) (CMephi) releasing alongside Nia for a week, players who do not have CMephi or are just starting off may want to consider focusing on CMephi first before coming back to Nia.