[LCD OSIR Team] Ishmael

With the release of the new Intervalo, the expansion of the blade lineage team has occurred with the addition of Ishmael and new Meursault E.G.O. With it, Mentor finally became less dependent on his blade lineage allies and became a perfect addition to his new teammate. Let’s look into her kit. 

Starting off with her 4 unique status:

• Mook Workshop - Ye - Mainly used to activate S3-2. By itself, this effect provides up to 1 Dmg Up at 10 stacks, up to 3 Haste at 15 stacks, and makes you lose clash with clashable guards. This effect is needed for her second passive, which makes her use s2-2 one clashable guard’s clash lose while she has three Haste. 

• Bearing of a Salsu - Gives Offense Level based on stacks, 2 Poise Potency on hit. This status can go up to 3 stacks and loses one upon Blade Lineage ally death. Pretty ironic when she doesn’t even count as a Salsu.

• Swordplay of the Homeland - Upon reaching a certain Poise Potency, for skill 1 and 2, they get coin power. For skill 3 they get a massive damage buff based on the number of coins.

• Dokkaebi Arms - 15% damage reduction, Haste on skill use (max 2), and Poise Count upon expiring (combat end).

Next are her passives; she has three. Fret not, all of them are quite short and straightforward. First passive makes Ishmael use her S3-2 and S2-2. For S3-2, you need 15 stacks of her Mook workshop - Ye effect. 

For her 2nd passive, she gets a unique buff upon entering the battlefield Bearing of Salsu, with the stack count depending on the number of Blade Lineage allies on the field (max 3). On top of that, she has an analogue of the “In memoriam” passive of the Blade Lineage Meursault. If 3 allies die, she gets Swordplay of the Homeland without her mentor and generates some extra Poise. 

Her 3rd passive that requires 3 Pride resonance gives her Dokkaebi Arms effect and heals some SP for Blade Lineage allies based on Pride resonance. On top of that, if there is an ally below 50% HP, she gets Assist Defense. Lastly, on skill end, she gains her Mook Workshop - Ye stacks based on Poise on self, which is the main source of her stacks. 

Now for the skills:

• Skill 1 - Rending Arts - base roll 11 - max roll 13 - clash 16 - on reuse 19/with Swordplay - max roll - 15 - clash 18 - on reuse 21 - Without Swordplay, it is a bit lackluster skill 1 that has decent damage on reuse, while this unit has Haste and her dokkaebi arms effect. However, with Swordplay of the Homeland, this becomes one of the strongest, if not the strongest, skill 1 in the game. 

• Skill 2 - Acupuncture - base roll 15 - max roll 18 - clash 22 - on reuse 23/with Swordplay - max roll 21 - clash 25 - on reuse 27 - Yet again, quite an average skill 2 without Swordplay of the Homeland, but with it it turns into a monster that outdamages most of S2’s in the game. 

• Skill 2-2 - To Claim Their Bones - base roll 13/with Swordplay 15 - an extra skill that can be activated twice for every clashable guard clash loss. Aside from decent damage that this skill provides, its main value is in the Slash Fragility infliction, making it an amazing setup tool.\

• Skill 3 - Lucent Rippling Flame - base roll 17 - max roll 25 - while yes, Swordplay of the Homeland does not increase the rolls of skill 3, it sure does increase its damage by a significant amount. Either way, this skill is just average s3 even with Swordplay of the Homeland, but its main role is to set up slash fragility and provide some extra stacks of Mook Workshop - Ye. 

• Skill 3-2 - Even the Balance -  Lucent Rippling Flame - base roll 17 - on reuse 20 - A free skill 3 that is basically activated every 2-3 turns. Insane damage because of 5 coins that this skill gets at 5 Haste. 

• Defense 1 - I’ll Light the Path Forward - base roll 13 - minimal clash 8 - generates some Poise and provides an Assist Defense mechanic without the ally at >50% HP. Basically needed for “To Claim Their Bones” lite.

• Defense 2 - Observing the Stones on the Board - base roll 13 - minimal clash 8 - an Assist Defense skill that heals SP to the assisted ally and is needed for another “To Claim Their Bones” lite.

To conclude her skill set, she is very dependent on having the Swordplay of the homeland effect, because with it, she is quite a strong unit that outmatches every HoS apprentice ID. She still cannot compete with nursefathers in terms of raw strength. Even then, she is still quite useful due to slash fragility infliction on her s2-2 and s3. Her resource printing capabilities are also quite strong, because with her guard, she can print 4-5 resources in 1 turn. 

ID/Team Synergy:

• [Blade Lineage Mentor] Meursault - Her only reliable source of Swordplay of the Homeland. With E.G.O., he turns into quite a compatible unit with modern standards.

• [Blade of the House of Spiders] Ryoshu - HoS Ryoshu's teambuilding restriction clashes with BL Ish, as both share a similar sin and damage type niche. Bringing BL Ish means weaker HoS Ryoshu