[The House of Spiders: The Ring Apprentice] Faust

The House of Spiders: The Ring Apprentice Faust is a Charge-based Bleed Identity who REALLY wants to be fielded alongside The House of Spiders: The Ring Nursefather Hong Lu for maximum efficiency, in a similar fashion to Full Stop Duo.

First, she has a total of 5 unique statuses:

• Corpus Ingredients is a unique Charge that works the same way as a normal Charge does.

• Iron Maiden is the state she will be in during the first few turns, giving Aggro, Protection, Defense Level Up and Shield. Lastly, when Ring Faust is hit, it deals damage to attackers and inflicts 2 Bleed Count for each skill with a maximum of 6 Bleed Count each turn. This state allows her to sponge some hits with low consequences for the first few turns, especially when Sanity is not at maxed yet.

• Artwork: Fascia, obtained upon spending 10 Corpus Ingredients, allows her to switch state and gain bonuses, up to 2 Base Power, additional +1 Potency and Count for Bleed infliction and 10% damage. These buffs are based on Corpus Ingredients Potency.

• The Self Unbound - Flow State is the state she will be in most of the time, gaining higher Speed and dealing more damage against enemies with lower speed.

• Somatic Frission-inspiring Melody is a status currently unique to Ring Nursefather Hong Lu, giving Speed, 1 Clash Power and 10% damage to every ID with “The Ring” tag.

Next, she has 3 passives. To summarize, the first and second are always active and do as follows: 

• Gain Corpus Ingredients based on allies with “The Ring” tag multiplied by 2, with a max of 10.

• Gives 5 Corpus Ingredients if Ring Faust dealt HP or Shield damage, with an additional 3 Corpus Ingredients on kill. Her main way of obtaining Charge, aside from Skill 2.

• Gains Corpus Ingredients Potency every 10 Corpus Ingredients consumed cumulatively, giving Artwork: Fascia when Potency is at 2 or higher

• Makes all of her skills count as Charge (mainly relevant for MD).

• Starts the battle with Iron Maiden state, switching to The Self Unbound - Flow State upon gaining Artwork: Fascia.

• A free get out of Stagger card.

Now for the third passive, “Inspired by Critique”, requiring 4 Lust Owned: 

• Doubles the buff gained from Somatic Frission-inspiring Melody.

• Heal 4 SP if the attack skill inflicted a debuff on the attack end (2 times per turn). If Ring Faust is at max SP, she gains 1 Slash Damage Up instead.

Now, while the effect of The Self Unbound - Flow State says to obtain a new set of skills, technically, all Faust skills change, but effects remain 90% mostly the same and rolls will also stay the same, as the buff Artwork: Fascia will cover the loss of Clash Power with its own Base Power buff. Skills in The Self Unbound - Flow State will do more damage (especially Skill 3) and provide Faust with Haste. Which is why the skill overview will cover both versions of the skill in a much more “compact” way.

• Skill 1 - Butcher - Ribs - 2 Coins - Min Roll 11 - Max Roll 16 - An all right skill that, in its “Flow State”, does quite an amazing damage, even as far as Skill 1 goes, on top of being Bleed Count Neutral.

• Skill 2 - Fascia Hungers / Time for Your Meal, Fascia - Min Roll 16 - Max Roll 22 (23 in Clash) - Decent skill in Iron Maiden state, does great damage in The Self Unbound - Flow State and gains Bleed Count neutrality. This is also the only skill that generates Corpus Ingredients.

• Skill 3 - Repressed Flesh / Liberation of the Repressed Flesh - Min Roll 16 - Max Roll 21 (23 in Flow State) - In Iron Maiden State it does an all right damage for a Skill 3 but in The Self Unbound - Flow State its damage goes way, way up, gaining up to +2 ATK Weight based on Corpus Ingredient and unlike the upgrades on Skill 1 and Skill 2 which only gives Faust Haste as an bonus effect, this one also now gives her 1 Slash DMG Up next turn. And while Ring Hong Lu is present, this skill gets a free +6 Offense Level Up for a bit more damage.

Ring Faust has access to 3 defensive skills. Guard in Iron Maiden state and Evade + Clashable Counter in The Self Unbound - Flow State.

• Guard - Exhibition Arrangements - Min and Max Roll 14 - Iron Maiden state exclusive Skill that on Clash Win, inflicts +2 Bleed Count and does up to 30 damage Pierce damage based on Bleed Potency on attacker.

• Evade - The Exhibition Begins - Min and Max Roll 14 - The Self Unbound - Flow State exclusive Skill that gives Faust “Assist Defense” which enables Clashable Counter, Haste and inflict Binds against the attacker on evade. Both Evade and Counter, when used properly, can result in Ring Faust generating 2 Lust resources in a turn.

• Clashable Counter - No Acts of Vandalism Allowed. - Min Roll 12 - Max Roll 16 (17 in Clash) - Assist Defense skill that does all right damage and is Bleed Count Neutral. This counter can be used to consume Corpus Ingredients, allowing for a faster ramp-up compared to just using Skill 1.

Overall, Ring Faust is an exceptional Damage Dealer who can help provide a stable Bleed Count while dishing out damage. However, once she loses her Iron Maiden state, there is a downtime in her efficiency, which lasts for 3-4 turns before you gain maximum Artwork: Fascia buffs. During this state, she lacks the status infliction of the Iron Maiden state and damage is not scaled to the fullest because of low Corpus Ingredient potency. She definitely wants Ring Nursefather Hong Lu, to be also present during the fight to make the most out of her kit. 

Fun fact, she is the first Identity who has all types of defensive skills in their kit.

Notable ID/Team Synergy:

• Bleed: Stable bleed count and heavily benefits from it, as her Skill rolls will be much higher.

• The House of Spiders: The Ring Nursefather Hong Lu: Ring Faust benefits from her nursefather through the form of Offense Level Up and Somatic Frission-inspiring Melody.