Ark Ranger BlackInformation and Guide

Foreword

In the grim dark future of Ark Ranger, there will be no Foreword.

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Ark Ranger Black (hereafter called Black) is a kicking heroine who delivers praiseworthy damage against singular Iron (Wind-weak) targets. Capable of forced Transformation through Burst and natural one through parts, she excels against all types of Wind-weak bosses, regardless of the presence of parts, contrary to what her kit may suggest. This is because most of her damage is within Burst, similar to SW’s.

Another characteristic of Black is her excessive personal buffs. Possessing a high amount of ATK▲ and Sustained DMG▲, she barely scales with external amplification, which can be observed by comparing her damage to MiharaBC’s in a similar support setup and with similar investments. Optimal buffing is still possible—Damage Taken (Blanc + Rouge, SRosanna, SWHA) and Crit setups (MirandaTr, ZweiTr, Mint, Prika) work wonders. You can also pair her with an additional DPS that benefits from her specific teamwide Sustained DMG▲ buff, such as SSakura or Mana, but this may not be cost-efficient for those who have reset them or not built them at all. This rigidity reduces her team-building flexibility in SR and demands having dedicated supports built first before consideration of using her.

Due to this problem, and due to the highly competitive landscape of Wind DPS (Liberalio + SBS and AsukaW, for example), unless you don’t have those units, Black is only realistically used for Wind-weak SR (and UR only if you double-hit). She has no Neutral coverage since she has neither burst gen nor damage as an off-burst (one of the reasons why MiharaBC remains relevant to this date). Even for Beginners who lack Bossing characters, it’s better to wait for versatile Neutral DPS than to build her. Avoid jumping to conclusions when analyzing tests because Black is one of those DPS who have a high damage ceiling but a low entry; she scales with ELE, ATK, and CRIT DMG.

Should I pull or mileage this unit?

Based on our analysis above, we recommend Black only to competitive Wind-weak SR players. Since she is not Limited and will enter Wishlist, and since Summer is drawing near with the rerun of SDoro + SElegg and the arrival of potentially 2 strong new units, all other players are advised to save. Competitive players who don’t have Custom Module reserves should also skip.

Should I get dupes?

Black has a towering amount of self-ATK buff. Objectively, she scales nicely with dupes. However, since dupes are just 2% stat boosts, they don’t matter to the majority of the playerbase. Thus, the answer is No, but if you have built her or are already planning to, get additional dupes from Wishlist.

Kit Analysis

Heavenly Ranger Kick of Pain

Black deals damage mainly through Burst, which triggers forced Transformation (or extends it if it’s already active) and provides gigantic buffs. When activated, the enemy with the highest final Max HP will receive immense Sustained DMG.

• In Mobbing, this is usually the stage target, allowing Black to snipe it as long as she can stay alive for 10s and especially if it is Wind-weak. Outside the boss wave, it can shut down elites, but be careful, some Raptures block it completely until their gimmick is entertained (e.g. Glasses).

• In Bossing, this is always the boss, so small mobs don’t risk misdirecting it.

• In PvP, this can be a game-changer. For example, Moran usually has the highest Max HP. This powerful single-target attack can shut her down if she is unprotected. In other times, it can target Noise and Rumani, who have Max HP▲, and Defenders such as Anis: Star, Cindy, and XMaiden. Units receiving Blanc’s Indomitability will likely have the highest Max HP too.

This damage is non-transferrable, which means that, once the enemy with the highest final Max HP is killed, it won’t “transfer” to another enemy. This can be important to know for PvP or Mobbing where the recipient is a smidge from dying.

As long as Transformation is active, she also deals AoE damage against all enemies on the screen. The strength of this one is only 17.2% of the big one, but it can be devastating during Burst.

• In Mobbing and Bossing, this helps handle the annoying small critters that sometimes force you to aim at them, costing damage.

• In PvP, this applies AoE pressure during Burst, which complements the big one well. The damage can be fatal for Iron Nikkes. Due to it being continuous instead of Instant, it can still be powered through by strong continuous healers (such as HelmTr).

Parts: Do They Matter?

In short, no. Black doesn’t really care about Parts! This is because most of her damage is within Burst, which triggers forced Transformation. However, it still does have a minuscule damage impact. How does the enemy having Parts affect her?

• In Mobbing, some mobs sport parts. This is Black’s delicacy because her Sustained DMG triggered by Transformation outside Burst will generate burst gen if there are many enemies. It may also be enough for killing mobs, especially inside the other Full Burst, with her innate 156% ATK▲ buff.

• In Bossing, her damage outside Burst will be reduced, but this is no big deal in the grand scheme of things. In fact, there is actually one hidden benefit to this:

  • If Ranger is not Transformed outside Burst, she will not steal MirandaTr’s guaranteed crit buff in the off rotation, allowing units such as SSakura, Ada, or SWHA to pick it up, which can lead to increased team damage!

  • Still, to maximize her, you would want bosses to have Parts. The edge scenario above only applies to MirandaTr teams. We are only asserting that Parts don’t matter to her as much as you think.

• In PvP, it has no bearing. The match is decided during Burst.

Too Many Buffs!

Black has enormous self buffs! Her ATK▲ and Sustained DMG▲ are so much that buffing her can feel toxic. Due to diminishing returns, it is smarter to buff her with Damage Taken▲ or Crit instead. ATK DMG▲ can be fine because it still raw-buffs Basic Attack (her BA almost has no buff in the ATK DMG category), but ATK▲ is never bad.

Her ideal supports are therefore:

• Miranda (Treasure) : Guaranteed Crit with high Crit DMG▲ value. The AFK strat works for Black under one caveat, which we discuss in the next section. Strongest variant but the gap against other setups narrows if the boss is within Effective Range or has core.

• Zwei (Treasure) + Mint : Guaranteed Crit with less built-in Crit DMG, thus reliant on Crit DMG OL, but compensated by Black’s being able to shoot without pause. This comes at the expense of the other B3 having no buffs in odd rotations. Black Bursts second.

• Mint + Prika : Lower on paper compared to Zwei + Mint but might be higher in practice if no Crit DMG OL. In this comp, you just shoot, no interruption. Black Bursts second.

• Rosanna: Chic Ocean : Best overall B2 choice with Damage Taken, personal damage, and ATK▲, especially if SSakura is in team because she likes ATK▲. It allows for stronger CDR (ones with 7.48s). If she is not built (Burst is not at least Lv. 10), go for Blanc instead.

• Blanc + Rouge : The slightly weaker but cheaper choice recommended for everyone. No personal damage but high healing and stronger Damage Taken▲. You are forced to use Rouge, which doesn’t have the most optimal CDR (not 7.48s).

The AFK Strat

One optimal way to play Black is by pairing her with MirandaTr. This may not be the best 5-team setup for Wind-weak SR since Nayuta also wants guaranteed crit, but it is good to know, especially if your Nayuta can’t do that.

Every time Black lands 30 normal attack(s), which take 2.5s, she gains 59.6% Sustained DMG▲ buff for 5s. You should have probably realized by now that doing the AFK strat would deactivate this, but is it really significant?

• Reasoning 1: 60% Sustained DMG▲ is small in contrast to the 272.93% cumulative pool. Losing it results in less damage lost than the one gained from guaranteed crits.

• Reasoning 2: if you time the activation properly, it bleeds into Burst, giving you 5s of maximum buffs. This half efficiency is enough to make it less detrimental.

With proper activation timing, MirandaTr + Blanc/SRos (Blanc needs Rouge) make for Black’s highest damage team. It may not be easy to pull off, but it might just be life-saving. In her off rotation, you will want to shoot with Black all the way till her next Burst, keeping the Sustained DMG▲ activation timing in mind. That means there are only 7 interrupts that you need to make with low error severity (you can miss 1 second, and it won’t be dramatic).

Weaker teams such as Zwei Mint or Mint Prika can be entertained if you don’t want to optimize the timings or you want to run Nayuta crit, which might be more optimal for a 5-team setup.

Tier List & Usage Analysis

Campaign: S

Black’s kit is heavily biased toward Bossing, but that doesn’t mean she can’t mob. Thanks to her powerful single-target pressure during Burst, alongside her massive 156% ATK▲, she can effectively snipe stage targets and elites, especially if they are Wind-weak. The fact that it targets the highest final Max HP reduces its chance to mishit. She also has modest AoE that can help with annoying critters. There are also mobs that spawn parts, such as Shielders and the worm-like ones. Destroying them grants her an extra benefit of additional damage and burst gen outside Burst.

Compared to NeonVE, NeonVE is more reliable due to her higher burst gen and damage in both her Burst and the other B3’s Burst. Black, unless one of the mobs has Parts, will only have damage during her Burst accompanied with terrible burst gen. Because of this, NeonVE is better than her—thus her higher SS rank.

Compared to XDiesel, Black is more reliable due to her having higher innate ATK▲ buff, important for offsetting stat penalty. XDiesel’s Damage Taken and unmissable targeting are not enough to compensate for this. Not only that, XDiesel’s big single-target attack only works for the stage target, not elites.

In Tetra Tower, Black can replace BMilk or Alice, though these two are generally better outside Bossing. 

Bossing: S

Black is a vital unit for Wind-weak SR, and if you don’t have SBS or Liberalio, she suddenly becomes important for UR and General Bossing. In terms of usefulness, she is similar to SW in a way that they’re not really Neutral DPS but are still essential in their elements. This is what convinces us she is S-tier at best—investing in her is important but also optional at the same time, depending on whether you want to rank in Wind-weak SR.

As explained earlier, she imposes restrictions on what supports she wants due to the diluted nature of her kit, which is a bigger problem than most people imagine. However, at the same time, this enables her not to compete over popular supports, such as Anis: Star and Crown. To fully benefit from this double-edged trait, you will need to build MirandaTr (with Blanc/SRosanna), ZweiTr (with Mint), or Mint + Prika. If none of these are possible, you will be forced to use her with already taken supports, such as Maids, significantly compromising your 5-team damage.

PvP: A

Black’s main strengths are her predictable single-target attack and humble AoE on top of it. Her single-target is 83% of Liberalio’s nuke every second and her AoE is 14.7% of that (25.4% of Anis: Star’s continuous damage per sec or 30% of ReiT’s nuke). As Max HP can be inferred from class and skills, it is possible to use her as a counter against builds that have a “tank”. She is also one of the better units to give Indomitability to. Wielding an AR and having continuous AoE damage, she can easily win Indomitability War (a phenomenon where two Indom-ed units fight it out with each other; whoever kills first wins, usually the one with the faster weapon fire rate). Combined with Ada, as long as you can fulfill the burst gen requirement, she can target the Indom-ed unit with her single-target attack and heal a lot every second.

However, those are not to be accompanied with dismissible drawbacks—being Wind and having no burst gen pose a significant problem. Wielding an AR, her burst gen is so low that she needs batteries, such as HelmTr, to compensate for it. She also feeds Jackal comps, potentially advancing them to an earlier RL threshold. Her being Wind also creates positioning problems especially on Defense. As she is weak to TVesti, who has early pressure, placing her in P1-P3 is risky. Similarly, on Attack, she becomes unwieldy against TVesti comps as you are forced to place her in P4-P5. Because these drawbacks are major, we believe she doesn’t deserve the S tier.

Another more minor drawback is the fact that her “affects the target with the highest final Max HP” can be taunted, which can trip people over if they want to use her as a counter in a specific build. For example, you might be tempted to use Black to shut down Moran, but if that Moran is protected by Noah, Noah will eat her gigantic attack instead, leaving her with no means to defeat Moran.

Investments

Gear Investments

Given Black’s preference for Crit setups, Black scales with 3 types of OL lines nicely:

• ELE: The most basic, self-explanatory choice. Since Black will only be relevant for Wind-weak SR and UR at most, it provides the most damage boost.

• Crit DMG: If Black is paired with MirandaTr or ZweiTr + Mint, Crit DMG is the second best line. It provides a noticeable damage boost and can be considered essential with Zwei + Mint.

• ATK: In MirandaTr or ZweiTr + Mint setups, ATK is not as influential as Crit DMG due to dilution. However, it still provides a noticeable damage boost.

The comprehensive setup would be 4× ELE, 4× Crit DMG, 4× ATK, but this can be overly expensive for a filler unit. We recommend “early exit”. Aim for the best configuration at the cheapest possible cost.

Skill Investments

Black is mostly reliant on S1 and Burst as they provide the highest personal damage boost. However, S2 is not less important if you pair her with SRosanna and SSakura as it contributes to their damage.

• Skill 1: 10

  • Gives ATK and Sustained DMG buffs to self.

  • Battery charge value remains constant.

• Skill 2: 7~10

  • Less important than the other two for personal single-target damage.

  • Boosts AoE damage; important for Mobbing and PvP.

  • If paired with other units that benefit from the second component of this skill, this skill becomes as important as the other two.

• Burst Skill: 10

  • The biggest contributor to damage.

  • Increases Sustained DMG coefficient and gives an enormous Sustained DMG buff.

  • Battery charge value remains constant.

Cube Investments

In PvE, despite Black’s reliance on Sustained DMG, Basic Attacks are still a considerable source of damage, making Resilience and Bastion the best overall choice. When bosses have Parts, she can benefit from Destruction. This is because her BA don’t have much buff in the Attack Damage category. However, if the level of Destruction Cube is lower by at least 1 ELE threshold, use Resilience/Bastion, whichever is higher instead.

In PvP, survivability is key. Due to her disadvantageous element, it might be wiser to equip Tempering, but this is often not necessary on Attack because you can see if she is actively threatened. Instead, choose Resilience or Bastion, whichever is higher level. In Indomitability comps, make sure she is not reloading when Indomitability is about to end, as this means she will likely lose Indom War.

Doll Investments

Black’s massive self-ATK buffs make her one of the best recipients for Doll. SR 5 is mandatory, and SR 15 should be highly considered. This applies to both PvE and PvP.