Snow White: Heavy ArmsInformation and Guide

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

SWHA is an amazing bossing and PvP unit with mobbing as her side dish. She has overwhelming personal damage that isn't too diluted to scale. She has basic attack & skill damage. Her basic attacks can Pierce and deal extra damage to Parts, whereas her skill damage is mostly Sequential Attacks. She also performs screenwipe every ~1.2s, but it is weak, so its effectiveness against mobs is limited. Against projectiles, however, it is enough.

SWHA's gameplay revolves around Lock On. Lock On is a status effect that designates targets as targeted. She can apply this by charging, and whenever she releases a Full Charge, Locked On targets will be attacked immediately by Sequential Attacks.

Together with her screenwipe + Sequential Attacks, SWHA can accumulate tons of hits and therefrom burst gen in several seconds. In combination with her permanent Damage Taken debuff, she can be a powerful supportive DPS + battery in both PvE and PvP.

We expect SWHA to be meta for Water-weak SR, UR, and Generic Bossing and may see use in Neutral SR. If you lack the BiS Elemental DPS in any content, SWHA can be slotted in as an alternative. In PvP, SWHA is basically Emilia v2 but better in most parts, so she doesn't have competition. She will be meta for a long time.

Should I pull or mileage her?

She is a must get, regardless of whether you are competitive or not or whether you’re a veteran or a beginner. SWHA’s impact radiates throughout the game and is one of the units with the highest return on investment. Missing a Pilgrim also may spell a hard time obtaining her in the future, so there is no reason not to get her if you can, but there are some things you should know:

• If you lack a lot of BiS Elemental DPS that you will use SWHA in Neutral, she is a must get.

• If you care about Water-weak SR, UR, or Generic Bossing, she is a must get because she raises the bar for Singular Team damage.

• If you are a competitive PvP player, get her or risk losing your advantage and position.

• If you are a beginner and don't have RRH, prioritize Rapi: Red Hood first.

  • The reason is that RRH has better mobbing performance and covers 2 elements. RRH can also be a B1. If you don’t have Siren, RRH B1 is the second best B1.

  • However, for Neutral Bossing (esp. if the enemy is coreless), for burst gen, and for PvP, SWHA outvalues RRH. That said, if you are not planning to use mileage (probably because you don’t have enough), you can pull in SWHA’s banner and see if RRH spooks you (because RRH is in SWHA’s banner but not the other way around).

  • Ultimately, you are the one to make the decision. You can go for SWHA first before RRH.

• If you are a beginner and have RRH, get SWHA first, then the Step Up banner.

  • Pulling in the Step Up banner, which only costs 6,600 gems, can get you:

    • MastM: An awesome B2 support unit that is meta everywhere, except PvP. BiS. Very high value. Must get.

    • TVesti: A great mobber & PvP unit, allowing you to gain a competitive advantage in PvP to net more gems, but her Bossing performance feels lackluster.

    • Anyone else (preferably meta and has Treasure) you plan to 'Break the 160 Wall' with, ideally one that is not available through Silver Mileage or Bonus Recruit.

    • Anyone you miss who is vital to your team/roster.

If you skip SWHA, do know the risks:

• Weaker Water-weak SR, UR, and Generic Bossing performance for however long you don't have SWHA

• Potentially weaker Neutral performance in SR or in other content if you lack the BiS Elemental DPS

• Less gem income in PvP if not owning her results in you losing 1 or more prize brackets

• Not having SWHA for no one knows how long

For everyone, try to spend the least amount of gems possible on either SWHA's or Rapi: Red Hood's banner because they have only a 1% chance of giving you the featured unit. Mileage them whenever possible. These banners don't have rebates. We discourage using them to accumulate mileage (you should have done that during the Anniversary).

Should I get dupes?

We should reiterate: dupes are not necessary for a unit to perform! They don’t unlock new skills like in most other gacha games. You only get a stat boost (and some wallpaper & avatar cosmetics). That said, no one’s stopping you from using SWHA to Break the 160 Wall if you are a spender or are feeling lucky.

SWHA has 120% self-ATK buff and broad presence (in PvP too!), which means dupes are valuable, but we only recommend getting dupes to people who are competitive in Water-weak SR/UR or in PvP or are spenders. In PvP, dupes can help boost CP & survivability, as well as her damage, ensuring her AoE thoroughly cleans the plate.

Compared to Rapi: Red Hood, dupes of RRH are more valuable in PvE due to her double elements and better mobbing (CP is important to negate deficit), but she has less PvP presence.

Kit Analysis

Snow White has two components of damage: basic attack & skill damage. Her skill damage is dictated mostly by Skill 1 through Lock On. Lock On is a special status effect that SWHA applies to enemies while charging. Locked On targets are immediately bombarded with Sequential Attacks when she releases the Full Charge that applies those Lock-On(s).

Cycle:

SWHA Charging → Every 0.2s Whilst Charging, Lock On a Target → Release Full Charge to Inflict Basic Attack & Launch Sequential Attacks

When outside her Burst (outside Seven Dwarves Fully Active status), SWHA can lock on up to 5 targets at once. Then, 5 Sequential Attacks are launched against 1~5 different targets. If there is 1 target, that target will eat all the attacks. Otherwise, they are distributed evenly in the same order as the Lock On is applied, cycling back to the first target after the last target is hit. Unlike with other Sequential Attacks, taunts cannot change this order!

Since Sequential Attacks and screen wipes also generate burst gen like Normal Attacks, SWHA can accumulate many hits at once. Each hit generates 2.8% burst energy. Against a single boss, a total of 7 hits can be gained with every Full Charge, generating a total of 19.6% * 2 = 39.2% burst energy. In PvP, the total is 12 hits, generating a total of 33.6% burst energy. That is an unparalleled amount of burst gen!

For up to 2 times after she Bursts (in Seven Dwarves Fully Active Status), SWHA can additionally lock on up to +10 targets (hence 15). This also increases the number of Sequential Attacks launched to 15, greatly increasing her damage against single targets at the cost of increased Charge Time. The Charge Time increase is significant, from 1.2s to 3.2s. In exchange, she additionally boosts the damage of her Sequential Attacks by ▲158.4% (ATK DMG). Her Full Charge attacks will also enjoy 528% Charge Damage▲ (making it 778%).

If SWHA is already charging before Burst is activated, the charging progress is transferred. Since the default Charge Time is 1.2s, the Charge Time could be filled 0~1.2s out of 3.2s. This is important to know for PvP as, under most circumstances, SWHA’s first shot will be blocked (fully or partially) by Noah’s immunity.

It is important to note that SWHA also infuses her basic attacks with Pierce. She also gives herself Parts Damage▲. However, since most of SWHA's damage is from skills, these will go unnoticed most of the time, although they can contribute in some situations (and can definitely be observed in Solo Raid where every drop of damage matters). That said, if there is a part or a pierceable spot (for double or even triple hits), hit them with SWHA!

Pierce also increases burst gen in PvE and PvP. Even if the impact is small, make it a habit!

Every time SWHA releases a Full Charge, she also deals minor damage to everything on the screen. This can hit projectiles and mobs, but the damage is very low. It might take a few triggers to kill anything. But, together with her Burst, which also deals damage to all projectiles on screen, they can be powerful assistive tools in clearing projectiles, allowing you to keep firing at the enemy's weak spots without worry. This is even more true since they can repeat every 1.2s!

Throughout battle, SWHA buffs herself with ATK▲ 120.76% semi-permanently and ATK DMG▲ 84.48% additionally during Burst. Gauging the values of the buffs, SWHA will still be able to scale with both equally well, and therefore, she can be paired with anyone. Her favorite status effect will still be Damage Taken▲, but did you realize she also applies Damage Taken? This makes her not only a DPS but a strong supportive ally as well, like XDiesel! The value is quite small, but it can definitely make a difference and will incentivize players to partner her up with stronger DPS in Solo Raid.

SWHA’s ATK DMG is only during her Burst, but her off-burst damage isn’t bad. This means she scales with ATK DMG better than ATK!

As a final reminder, SWHA's Charge Speed is fixed. This makes her unable to benefit from Charge Speed effects, from other units and from OL. While this limits her damage potential (and scalability in PvP), it also makes her immune to the Charge Speed▼ debuff that shows up from time to time in Union Raid.

Tier List & Usage Analysis

Campaign: SS

Most of SWHA's damage is from Sequential Attacks, which cannot pierce or scale against multiple targets. This makes it more effective against single targets, but it's still not bad for mobbing because the distribution can prevent overflow.

However, this is where her major problem lies—she does not have considerable focused/funneled single-target damage. When the boss wave comes, you cannot make her land all her Sequential Attacks on the boss only. They will scatter and hit other mobs that you probably don't want to shoot at, even worse if they are Glasses (mobs with hitcount shield). If she is not the best at dealing with many mobs because her AoE is not true AoE, and if she is also not the best at single target (with adds), then what gives? Thankfully, she just deals a lot of damage, so this is not a problem until very, very high deficit (say, >40%).

SWHA can be a competent Campaign/Tower pusher since she gives herself substantial self-ATK. She can also inflict decent damage to the whole screen every 1.2s, which can help exterminate critters and projectiles. This is even more true if it's Water-weak. She also has amazing burst gen that we don't need to elaborate on again.

Note that, when you try SWHA in Campaign at an extremely high deficit (>40%), she will show as dealing a lot of damage on the result screen, but damage is not everything. It's whether that damage is impactful. If you deal tons of damage but can't clear the stage, what is the point? This is why she’s not SSS.

Bossing: SSS

Oh, a controversial tier—let us explain why we decided on this tier.

First of all, let's talk about damage. We are not going to talk about SHWA’s elemental performance because, if she is already strong enough in Neutral, it would be self-explanatory that she will be the BiS for Water-weak. SWHA just hits… hard. A lot of damage tests have shown this. Not only is she able to compete with RRH/MiharaBC on core, but she also beats them in non-core. Actually, she is the strongest non-core DPS in Neutral (in most cases)! When it comes to flexing in as a B3 (if you need a Neutral DPS for certain reasons), SWHA will be your first choice. Sure, the scalability of RRH and SWHA differ a bit. SWHA has more self-ATK buff and zero ATK DMG buff in her off burst, but at the end of the day, as long as the team makes sense, both of them can be slotted in anywhere. Just make sure the supports suit them & the other DPS you’re using. 

Now, let's talk about value. Damage is not enough. What other values does this unit bring to the team? One of SWHA's magnetic qualities is her immense burst gen. You have probably seen this being showcased in PvP, but it's also the same case for Bossing. If you don't know yet, attacks against Stage Targets (including Bosses) generate double burst energy. This means SWHA generates 2.8% * 2 * 7 = 39.2% burst energy per Full Charge. That goes even higher than HelmTr's. This is important to know because (when deployed together with HelmTr/Liberalio) she allows for such fast rotations that you can benefit from Liter's higher peak CDR even without Grave.

There is also Damage Taken. Before you say anything, 4.2% is NOT small. If you are a competitive player who tries to clear content as soon as they can or chases a high rank in Solo Raid, you will notice how impactful this Damage Taken is. Most people who conduct damage tests of SWHA vs other units didn't realize that they have been making the mistake of inflating the other units' impact and devaluing SWHA's. To properly evaluate SWHA's impact, you need to take -4.2% (3.8% w/ Siren) damage off ALL other units but SWHA and add that to SWHA's damage. That's SWHA's *real* impact. You don't have to take it off SWHA's because the Damage Taken is in her kit—it's her value!

Ok, let's not talk about all the wonders, shall we? There is one weakness to SWHA. That is when the boss starts spawning so many *tanky* mobs that those mobs take her damage away from the boss too much. This will leave an observable impact on her damage. However, if you use someone like Siren or other units to clear the mobs for her, the damage loss will not be as high. It will be minuscule. Not only that, if the mobs are weak, SWHA's screenwipe will take care of it. In fact, despite this weakness, SWHA remains the BiS B3 for Harvester AI!

To conclude, SWHA just has too much to give. She is BiS for Water-weak SR, UR, and Generic Bossing content. She is also one of the best Neutral units and may even see use in Solo Raid outside her element. In fact, her DPS is so strong that she beats XLud as a DPS-Support hybrid in most comps (note that SWHA also gives Damage Taken, but it’s weaker). She also indirectly powercreeps Siren B1 in some comps by making RRH B1 better because burst gen from Siren is no longer needed (and Siren doesn’t like Sniper Rifles). If you are a beginner who lacks Elemental DPS, you can use her to brute force plenty of bossing content. Neutral Queen alongside Rapipi, has ridiculous burst gen, has Damage Taken, and isn't as greedy as MiharaBC. She is a must build.

PvP: SSS

SWHA's main battleground—her titanic burst gen is coveted here. As mentioned in Kit Analysis, SWHA accrues 2.8% × 12 burst energy every 1.2s++ in PvP, which makes her the most lucrative battery unit. Additionally, when Burst is used, SWHA begins attacking all hostile Nikkes with ferocity. Thanks to 3.2s Charge Time delaying her attack, she has the chance to wait out Noah's immune and only land her hits after it drops, like Emilia does! Even if the first gets blocked, the second shot will take care of everything. Sequential Attacks also don't suffer from Taunt and therefore cannot be blocked by Biscuit, making them a super tool.

Although we said that, SWHA can totally be used without Burst. In this case, she will primarily be a battery, but she can still apply Damage Taken and deal backup damage to all enemies. Her Sequential Attacks will be weaker, true, but over 10s, we are expecting ~1,168% with 120% base ATK × 1.5 hitting all enemies (except in the presence of decoys). That's a lot of continuous and delayed AoE damage! Our off-burst HelmTr cannot do this!

Overall, SWHA will be indispensable for PvP. Her only weaknesses are that her Charge Time is fixed (so no accelerating burst gen with Charge Speed OL) and that she is Water, so she takes extra damage from Electric Nikkes. Be careful with that! In exchange, she deals additional damage to TVesti, who is a meta PvP character too. Her delayed AoE also means she can be countered by instant AoE; if you're using her as your primary B3, you need to anticipate this. To summarize, we can say she is Emilia v2, perfect for those who didn't get her during collab (or joined after).

Investments

Gear Investments

SWHA is like every other DPS. She mainly wants ELE, then ATK. Even with 120% self-ATK, it's never diluted enough to make ATK OL obsolete. ELE will be more important for PvE due to her presence being mostly in Water-weak, whereas ATK will be more important in PvP because we cannot decide the elements most of the time. If you use her in Neutral PvE, ATK becomes important too.

Max Ammo can be useful for ensuring your SWHA doesn’t reload during the burst generation period. Some teams may feature SWHA as the only battery in the team, and her reloading outside Full Burst means a cycle stalled, resulting in fatal loss of damage.

Charge Speed is useless because her Charge Time is fixed. It is not detrimental, however, so their presence can be a CP boost.

• Ideal: 4× ELE, 4× ATK

• Filler: 1× Max Ammo, 3~4× Crit Rate, 3~4× Crit DMG

• Priority: Meta

• Note: Prioritize ELE if you plan to use her for Water-weak content. Prioritize ATK if you plan to use her primarily in PvP & Neutral PvE. Max Ammo can help ensure she doesn’t reload during Full Burst or choke your burst generation.

Skill Investments

SWHA scales on all skills, but mostly on S1 & S2. In PvE, Burst is less important because the only upgrade that matters from it is the ATK DMG and the ATK DMG is only within her Burst (+ it’s diluted by the Sequential ATK DMG buff from S2 and other support buffs, which are very common). That said, for a unit so powerful, what’s stopping you from just 10/10/10 her? She deserves it. Don’t half-build units. You want their best performance. Build them thoroughly and use them to brute force things.

• Skill 1: 10

  • Increases Sequential Attack’s multipliers, SWHA’s main source of damage.

  • Increases Damage Taken & improves team damage.

• Skill 2: 10

  • Increases self buffs.

  • Buffs are important for everything.

• Burst Skill: 7~10

  • Increases ATK DMG and Burst Wipe damage.

  • Less important than S1 & S2 in PvE.

  • In PvP, because you don’t normally use ATK DMG-buffer B2, maxing Burst is important for guaranteeing a wipe! Not only that, her damage in-burst is what matters.

Cube Investments

Cube selections for SWHA can be more complex. They are dependent on how much Max Ammo she has, what team she is in, and whether the enemy has Parts. But, in short:

• When deployed in Reload Speed comps or you have no Max Ammo, use Resilience.

• Bastion can be an equal alternative if you have 10 or more Ammo and no one in the team provides Reload Speed.

• Sometimes, an uptime boost can be overpowered by Pierce Cube or Parts Damage Cube (Destruction).

• This is especially true if your Max Ammo is very high or these cubes' levels are equal to Resilience/Bastion. Note that both ELE and ATK stats matter.

• However, some of SWHA's damage (skill damage) cannot Pierce or Parts Hit, and the ATK DMG/Parts DMG category may be too diluted from self and supports' buffs.

• Do your own test against a specific boss to find which one works best in your situation.

In PvP, if Bursting, SWHA can already keep firing until the end of Full Burst with 0× Max Ammo. No need for uptime Cubes. If not Bursting, she needs 2× Max Ammo without Bastion and 1× with it. However, it is much better to use Quantum to boost burst gen to faster tiers if needed or Tempering (or its worse counterpart Vigor) to boost survivability. No, don’t try Adjutant—her Charge Speed is fixed.

Doll Investments

SR 15 is warranted for someone broken like her. Good Water-weak control + Neutral coverage. If your RRH is already SR 15, then there is no reason why SHWA doesn’t get hers yet. Not only does SHWA benefit from Doll’s Weapon Skill better, but she also has a higher personal ATK buff. Not to mention, Doll is also essential in PvP because of Damage Reduction.