Emma: Tactical UpgradeInformation and Guide

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Certainly we can. Emma: Tactical Upgrade (referred to as TEmma for the remainder of this guide) is a capable B1 unit albeit with tons of restrictions; one of which requires her to pair with Eunhwa: Tactical Upgrade (TEunhwa). This is compulsory because TEunhwa activates many of her skills. As a result, a lot of the suggestions we give will assume TEmma and TEunhwa being used together. TVesti is not mandatory because TVesti is the one dependent on TEmma & TEunhwa, not the other way around. With that said, we can consider TEmma & TEunhwa a duo (although TEunhwa can live without TEmma, just with a worse skillset). TEmma & TEunhwa together provide a great number of buffs: 40% caster's ATK, 62% True DMG buff, ~35% Damage Taken, and some bonus Explosive DMG buffs as well as Crit (only for Absolute squad).

As generic buffers, they are not bad - but there are not many units that can optimally benefit from their True DMG buffs, which makes them less ideal than a well-selected combination of B1 + B2 (such as Liter + SRos or Miranda + SRos for Sustained DMG dealers). They also don't have CDR, forcing you to run an off-burst CDR unit and deploy a maximum of 2 B3 units (since there is no B3 CDR unit at the time of writing). They are therefore similar to Tia-Naga in terms of team-building restrictions. As True DMG buffers, they're one of the best. Think about it; who can beat a permanent 62% True DMG buff? Maybe FrimaT, but these duo bring more to the table (healing, etc). As long as you understand the limitations of running a duo, you are good to go.

But, wait! We don't have a lot of units that rely solely on True DMG. Only TVesti as of now, but we do not expect TVesti to be superb in all formats either. How about LaplaceTr & Ein? They are good B3 flexes for this team against their respective elements, but they're not strong enough for managing Neutral because a substantial portion of their damage is still Non-True, and their DPS is not "broken" either. As a result, this team lacks versatility in Neutral—due to the lack of "highly suitable" B3s. If we get a super B3 True DMG DPS in the future, the fate of this team may change.

Should I pull for her?

We believe this team has potential in SR, UR, and Campaign. In Raids, we are not sure if this team presents themselves as an admissible candidate for elements other than Fire, although they can be good (alternatives) against Electric & Iron (due to Ein & LaplaceTr). If the boss has high DEF, they might also be a good choice. Outside Raids, their usage is much more limited - they can be used as alternatives, but we don't think they will topple any records outside of the NEXT Fire-weak raid boss. This is because using this team forbids you from using Crown, who is the best B2 (unless you don't need CDR). That's not a problem in Elysion Tower, though.

That said, before you press the trigger, we want to remind you one last time that she needs TEunhwa minimum. They don't need TVesti and are still "acceptable" generic buffers without them (good for beginners), but you need TVesti to make the most out of them. Hence, we do not recommend getting one of them if you are not planning to get all of them. We also recommend waiting for our TVesti's review before you make up your mind, because without her, all suggestions are still stipulations. That is 2 weeks from now.

For now, our final verdict on whether or not to pull Emma: Tactical Upgrade is NO*. We only recommend pulling them if you intend to try-hard in Solo Raids, especially the upcoming Fire-Weak SR boss: Ziz, where this trio is expected to perform at a high level. 

The 3rd Anniversary is also looming (2.5 months from now), and SU said we'll get another original IP collab this year, so if you are short on gems and are not a spender, saving is the way to go. Judging from SU's new Nikke Profiles, we might even get triple banners. Double Pilgrim banner is already a given according to their trends. However, do not blame us if the duo/trio suddenly becomes meta because we have no idea whether ShiftUp will release a broken True DMG DPS, which might make this team MUCH more attractive. Such is not a reliable prediction—our reviews are based on more concrete things; they are true now but may not be in the future.

As with our previous summaries, we also want to let you know that mileaging this trio should be avoided at all costs unless all of them are your waifu(s). You also don't need dupes. Getting copies of three units at the same time is unreasonably expensive.

(*Subject to change depending on TEunhwa and TVesti performance on release and unexpected synergies if any)

Kit Analysis

Skill 1 - Environmental Setup

Upon entering battle, and every 30s, Emma sets up the environment to her team's advantage. For the next 10s, all enemies (including those that spawn during this period) take 3.9% Damage Taken▲ and allies recover 2.32% of caster's final Max HP/s for 10 seconds.

• This skill's base values are very weak, and the long recurring interval (30s) makes it even weaker.

• However, when paired with TEunhwa, the recurring interval is shortened to 10s, making it a passable permanent buff/debuff. Allies will continually heal throughout the battle, and effects like Crown's S2 and Asuka's S1 can be triggered repetitively (every 10s).

• Environment Setup is also boosted by TEmma's Burst Skill, which doubles the Damage Taken▲ and grants HP Potency▲ temporarily if it is active for 10s (but does not reset its timer). Without TEunhwa, it is almost impossible to time the Burst Skill optimally due to Burst Skill and S1 operating on different rhythms.

If TEunhwa is not in the team, TEmma will be debuffed with Exposure—forcing her to taunt all enemies continuously. Most of the time, this is a bad thing to have because Emma's lack of personal survival skills will only accelerate her death. Despite that, with good i-framing execution, you can use this debuff to your advantage. Not all attacks can be evaded, however, and it's very difficult to manage attack(s) if there are too many—which is usually the case in mobbing stages.

Skill 2

Emma administers protocol orders to her teammates. As long as she is alive, all allies are affected with LT Formation. This battle formation boosts the Critical DMG of allies from the Absolute squad (Vesti, Emma, Eunhwa) by 23.51% as well as the Projectile Explosion DMG of all allies by 2.32% continuously.

• This Critical DMG part is quite noteworthy—and pairs well with the Critical Rate buff particularly from TEunhwa. However, it only applies to Absolute squad members only, which means the other B3 and the FLEX unit will not enjoy it. Without TEunhwa, it is garbage.

• The Projectile Explosion DMG is rather weak. Not only is the value small, but its applicability is low. It only affects Explosive types of damage, such as the one from Rapi: Red Hood's Attachment and regular RL attacks. For these attacks, it functions as ATK DMG▲, but it only affects the base multiplier itself (excludes additional skill damage from landing attacks, etc). That said, stacked Explosion DMG buffs can still make a notable damage improvement.

If Emma is affected by AS Formation from TEunhwa, she applies a number of notable buffs to all allies and self:

• True DMG▲ 30.97% continuously — insane if paired with units with a high True DMG proportion and output. TVesti is the first that comes to mind, but Ein & LaplaceTr are not too far behind.

• Projectile Explosion DMG ▲3.09% — read the explanation in the previous paragraph.

• Exposure (from S1) is disabled continuously — this stops Emma from unnecessarily taunting and dying.

• Environment Setup's recurring interval ▼20 sec — making it a permanent buff/debuff instead of just fleeting 1/3. Timing with Burst Skill is no longer a concern.

Burst Skill

Emma grants all teammates 40% caster's ATK▲ and temporarily enhances Environment Setup (if it is active) for 10s, doubling its Damage Taken▲ and additionally granting HP potency. This skill:

• Is pretty good even without Environment Setup present because 40% caster's ATK (slightly more than 33.33% in Attacker's stat in equal investments) is huge. It's similar to Liter's but lasts for 10 seconds and has half its value. She can be treated like a stronger N102.

• That said, there is not much incentive for running her solo due to taunt possibly killing her and not having CDR. Still a good alternative for beginners lacking units.

• With TEunhwa, you can now consider the second part of skill—if Environment Setup is active, Burst Skill will enhance its effect for 10s. The reason we shouldn't consider this without TEunhwa is because S1 cycles every 30 sec., while this skill cycles every ≤20 sec. (variable due to CDR being a common usage). Their different rhythm means every other cycle will be guaranteed not to benefit from it, and unless your rotations are on average 5 sec. apart (≥15 seconds), the Burst Skill will trigger before S1 reapplies, and you'll miss the doubled debuff.

• Unfortunately, lengthening your rotations on purpose for the sake of catching the perfect timing is not ideal. That's why we don't recommend doing it, and you should just pair TEmma with TEunhwa. Otherwise, TEmma is just an upgraded N102 with permanent Attract + small healing here and there. I mean, an upgraded N102 is pretty good, but late-game users will find that completely useless. There needs to be other perks the unit can give—and for Emma, that requires the presence of TEunhwa.

Tier List & Usage Analysis

Campaign

This rating on Campaign assumes pairing with TEunhwa (and TVesti/Ein to some extent, which are good Campaign units). We also included non-duo/trio rating down below.

TEmma (+ TEunhwa) is basically a duo that functions similar to Tia Naga but is only optimal with True DMG units (although they are still decent generic buffers too, just like Tia Naga with non-core hitter DPS). Their most prominent weakness is that they force you to run an off-burst CDR that won't use their Burst Skill at all (unlike with Tia because of her re-enter). Thankfully, this is not a problem if you use CDR units that don't scale with Burst Skill that much like Siren or DWife (note you cannot use RRH B1 because Emma is B1), or Volume, Dolla for an inferior option. SHelm also works against Iron-weak bosses.

But, there is one other problem that this duo faces—the lack of "omega broken" True DMG DPS as we discussed earlier on. Currently, there are a lot of bruteforcer Campaign units that can benefit from Naga's Core DMG: Alice, Red Hood, Rapipi, etc. This makes integrating the high-school duo easier, especially since all enemies in Campaign basically have core.

On the other hand, while you obviously can pair TEunhwa + TEmma with non-True DMG DPS, they shine best with True DMG DPS, which we don't have a lot of flexibility with: only Ein, LaplaceTr, and TVesti come to mind. This is still good, though, because Ein is a strong high-deficit Electric mobber, Laplace is also decent for Campaign and we believe that TVesti will be too as Fire. And since True DMG is goated in high deficits, they might actually be good. If in the future, SU releases a strong bruteforcer True DMG DPS, TEmma + TEunhwa might start being used more. For now, you can either run this duo w/ 2 true/elemental DPS or a combination of TVesti/Ein with an elemental DPS.

We received a lot of requests to include TEmma's rating without TEunhwa, so let us answer it. We initially wanted to place her in B for Low Deficit and in C for High Deficit, but we decided to give her B on both because the characters in C are just straight unusable. Let us explain why she was initially split between the two different deficit brackets.

First of all, in Low Deficit, you can get away easily by stalling or just bruteforcing through everything. Secondly, the enemies don't hurt as much as in High Deficit — so Emma's taunt can actually be used to your advantage to redirect Raptures' projectile attacks (not always but on some stages). Since they are no longer one shot, you also have more forgiveness with mistakes. Lastly, TEmma still provides a notable ATK▲ (equal to Liter's but twice longer and at half value), and we all know all ATK▲ are good for Campaign.

She can also serve like a better Ludmilla. There are some tricks with Ludmilla + Blanc that we have seen being used in the past, where Ludmilla would tank all the damage for the team while she is indomitable, and the team would live through an onslaught of damage being dealt by mobs/bosses. The same theory can be applied with Emma, but since Emma provides offensive buffs, she is a better option for such situations.

Now, why is she so bad in High Deficit? Well, TEmma's taunt without invulnerability or self-sustaining/protection skills will mean speedy death. You also can't abuse the tried-and-true Crown + MastM or Crown + HelmTr off-burst combination since you ideally want a CDR flex (unless you can work without it). TEmma is also an MG user, so her burst gen is low—you will need to compensate for that with other unit(s). That said, you can make her work, just that it requires a lot of technical knowledge and optimized gameplay, and not all stages allow you to do that. She is simply not an ideal unit to use alone.

Bossing

TEmma + TEunhwa take a step back here in Bossing because of their lower compatibility with the current B3 roster. We wanted to place them in A, but they are still quite good generic buffers even without True DMG DPS, so we settled with S. They may not be the best duo, but if you lack other units, you can use them for Neutral just fine.

TEmma + TEunhwa's impact on bossing will depend on 3 different things: whether there is a True DMG DPS available (for that element, especially); whether the boss has high DEF or you are under high stat penalty; and in Raid, whether a potential optimal team can be created despite the team's restrictions of needing an off-burst CDR.

Let's talk about the first one. If the boss is Fire-weak, obviously the duo (with TVesti) is going to be very good. All of them are Fire too. If you are asking what other B3 is good, then buffers like Rei/HelmTr/Maxwell or generic DPS are not a bad choice. Hell, you can cope with Ein or LaplaceTr too if you want. Outside Fire, we can actually still see some presence in Iron-weak and mainly Electric-weak (both in Raids only). Electric has Ein, a proven Electric True DMG DPS, and Iron has LaplaceTr. That said, LaplaceTr isn't that good, so Iron-weak has less usage prospects. Having said all these, if in the future, ShiftUp releases a broken True DMG DPS that murders bosses even in Neutral, TEunhwa + TEmma might see more usage.

Let's talk about the second one. TEmma + TEunhwa's main buffs are their True DMG▲, so logically they are paired with True DMG DPS (even TEunhwa is a lite True DMG DPS). This can only mean one thing—they have a niche somewhat, and in that niche, they may beat the other duo options. That niche is that boss having high DEF such as Ziz (Ch. 40 Boss) or later phases SR Museum (or you being under stat penalty so much that the boss feels like it has high DEF). In these situations, True DMG ≈ ATK buff, so basically everyone gets free ATK buff equal to how much DEF the boss has. The more DEF, the more buff, which is good! That said, does this make this team (+ Ein) better against Mirror Container than Crown? Probably not.

Last but not least, the team-building limitations. Now, TEmma + TEunhwa is a B1 + B2 duo (similar to Tia Naga) that requires both of them Bursting. This means: you ideally shouldn't use B1 CDRs that also want to Burst (e.g. Liter), and you are restricted to 2 B3 + CDR comp, which means no Crown or MastM. Now, you still have several optimal CDR options like Siren, Volume, DWife, Dolla, Sakura, Rouge, and SHelm, but we know Dolla is not that good anymore because her max. CDR value is too low for the fast-paced battles in 2025 (still a good alternative, though, esp. if you need a Wind QTE clearer, and might be used, who knows?). The rest have pros and cons that can make them better than the others (except Volume, who will just be a statue). For example, SHelm is a notable choice against Iron-weak, but it's better to funnel her into a more performant team. Most of the time, though, you just pick whatever's unused.

In conclusion, TEmma + TEunhwa is a great duo. They may not be better than Tia Naga against bosses with cores paired with units who deal a lot of core damage. They may not provide ammo refunds like Blanc Noir. They may prevent you from using your CDR's or FLEX's Burst Skill (i.e. no pairing them with Tove). However, despite their lack of versatility, their supportive impact cap is higher thanks to their True DMG▲. Combined with their Damage Taken▲ and endless healing, they can either be a safe or the best bossing choice. Do be warned they will work with some comps/units but not others.

PvP

This rating mostly assumes TEmma used alone, but duo/trio comps are also taken into account. This is because running duo/trio in PvP is not possible at all times, but it has to be included for fair evaluation.

Ok, TEmma sucks at PvP. She has low burst gen and she taunts (and likely dies before she can use Burst Skill; which is bad but can be utilized to trigger Rosanna's sac). Two things that can redeem her are her Damage Taken▲ (but, what is this horrible 3.9% value) and ATK▲ (acceptable). But, that requires two things: she must be the leftmost B1 (to trigger Burst) and she mustn't die from taunting. That will be very challenging to achieve and is not mathematically possible in all match-ups. Despite us not rating her good in PvP, it is possible that you find a way of utilizing Emma's taunt other than for triggering Rosanna's sac, such as to deflect enemies temporarily, but that's more like a niche that works only for you. Note that you cannot protect TEmma with Biscuit because TEmma is a Supporter. 

Now, how about TEmma with TEunhwa at least (and TVesti for the brevity of it)? To begin, TVesti is probably a good PvP unit. She has decent burst gen and powerful basic attacks with increased range. If buffed, her Burst Skill AoE can also eliminate unprotected targets. The thing is, in PvP, she does not need TEmma & TEunhwa, although they can provide immediate True DMG & Damage Taken buffs/debuffs that amplify Vesti's BA even before Burst Chain.

The problem with running TEmma & TEunhwa is first and foremost the lack of burst gen—one MG + one SR is not a good start. You can technically make it work by running 2 Clip RLs/HelmTr, but that assumes you don't need any frontline/backline protection. Second of all, TEmma + TEunhwa are only very effective for True DMG DPS. If you are pairing them with generic B3, then RH B1 is almost always the better choice. What does this mean? Well, TEmma + TEunhwa are only logically usable if your strategy to winning is killing the enemy P1/P2/P3 ASAP so that they can't Burst, and only TVesti can apply that much True DMG pressure in the first few seconds. With this team, TEmma + TEunhwa don't even need to Burst because their True DMG▲ is what makes you win. Note that both must remain alive when TVesti lands her shots.

A good example would be X X TVesti TEmma TEunhwa against Noah Noise Cindy XMaiden Rumani. Here, TVesti immediately eats TEmma's and TEunhwa's instant buffs/debuffs to amplify her first 4 basic attacks, dealing HUGE damage to enemy's Noah, Noise, and Cindy in <3 RL. Since she is Fire, she also deals extra damage to Noah. If Noah dies before the enemy team can Burst, then their Burst Chain is interrupted, and you can kill them with ease. We know that the opposing team here is awful, but we are only using it as an example. You can perceive TVesti as LaplaceTr against Wind units (Noah, SBS, Blanc, Siren, etc) and has slightly better damage and can be buffed from the first second immediately by her partners. 

Investments

Before we start this section, we want to remind you that, if you want to start investing in TEmma, that means you agree to the terms & conditions that you MUST invest in TEunhwa (and TVesti as well probably), otherwise your investments will not have good returns. If you are not prepared to invest in all of them, then do not build any of them at all (or better yet, don't pull them).

Gear Investments

One of TEmma's core skills is increasing the team's ATK by a large amount of caster's base ATK. This means gear levels, cube levels, and Doll levels are important. As for OL, TEmma doesn't inherently need anything, but if you want some personal damage out of her (+ she's using MG anyway, so her raw damage is not that bad), then aim for ELE, ATK, and Max Ammo, like you would do with other MG users. That said, we don't recommend doing this—save your rocks instead. You still want to OL her gear and level it up for the ATK stat, though.

• Essential: -

• Ideal: 4x ELE, 4x ATK, 4x Max Ammo

• Passable: -

• Priority: Low

Skill Investments

TEmma needs investments in all skills. S1 gives Damage Taken▲, which is nice despite its low value because it's undiluted. S2 has good values but is only beneficial for True DMG DPS, Explosion DPS, and/or Absolute squad members. Surprisingly, her Burst is extremely worth it because it is the least dependent out of all skills. Study our summary below:

• Skill 1: 4~10

  • Damage Taken is always welcome because it's a rare debuff and therefore isn't as diluted as other buff/debuff categories. They can be interpreted as pure multipliers.

  • However, it is diluted by TEunhwa's Damage Taken▲ (technically).

  • Yet, it is almost completely useless if TEmma is not paired with TEunhwa.

  • Therefore, leave this at 4 if you're not pairing her with TEunhwa. With TEunhwa, 7+ is recommended.

• Skill 2: 4~10

  • Explosion DMG = ATK DMG buff but for Explosive damage only. Does not affect Skill DMG as True DMG.

  • Critical DMG is only for Absolute Squad members.

  • S1 interval reduction does NOT scale with level.

  • If TEunhwa is deployed (and TEmma + TEunhwa are paired with True DMG DPS such as TVesti), Level 7+ is recommended, otherwise leave this skill at 3-4 for the CP increase.

• Burst Skill: 7~10

  • ATK buff works even if TEmma is not paired with TEunhwa, making this skill her only universal skill.

  • ATK buff helps negate stat penalty at higher deficits (although her main team is mostly True DMG DPS).

  • S1 scaling does NOT scale with level.

  • Recommend at least Level 7+ regardless of pairing, but is she even worth being used if you're not using TEunhwa (& TVesti)?

  • Prioritize maxing this skill because her primary comp doesn't have a lot of ATK buffs (unless OL-supplied), so the multiplier is quite free.

Cube Investments

As an MG user, unless there is a Reload Speed buffer, Bastion is always the first choice. Resilience is good if there is a Reload Speed buffer. That said, her primary comp will likely not feature any Reload Speed buffer. Other considerations include higher cube levels. If your Resilience is Lv. 15, and your Bastion is Lv. 7, and the enemy is Fire-weak, then the higher Elemental DMG and ATK stat from Resilience Lv. 15 will likely outweigh Bastion's benefits. 

Doll Investments

TEmma scales on Doll quite well because she gives 40% of caster's ATK as buff, and Doll levels increase ATK stat substantially and fairly (same for all classes). We recommend at least R 0 → R 15 → SR 5 at least if you are serious about using her. Competitive players can choose to go SR 15.