Raven Guide & Review

If evil, why hot? We need not say more about her appearance, especially with that Midsummer Alice skin. Simply a great character design — we must give credit where credit is due. Raven’s banner introduced us to a bountiful number of bugs and two consequent cancellations of Solo Raids. Since her release, she has managed to substantially increase her own damage thanks to bug fixes and has also helped us find some game-breaking bugs, which help increase other units’ damage by up to 50%!

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Raven is an outstanding Iron unit with a strong presence in Raids and Bossing. She has her weaknesses, yes, but her strengths are enough to carry her over the line of being considered a meta unit by today’s standards. She has stellar bossing performance thanks to her broken DoT effects, which are complemented by a moderate amount of self-ATK and Sustained DMG buffs. Her Campaign performance is not the best as she suffers from stacking issues like most stack-dependent units do, but she has a mini-wipe built in her Burst that might help. Finally, in PvP, Raven may not be of use, but she may still be used as a filler burst gen unit by newer players.

Based on our analysis, we are expecting to see her being used for a long time in Iron-weak Raids, both Solo and Union Raids, with her being one of the better DPS for maxing content like Anomaly Interception Ultra. She also has a strong neutral presence and can be used outside her respective element if necessary (which might be the case for beginners or even intermediate players, or even some late game players). Her impact should skyrocket when she is pitted against bosses with regular part spawning since destruction of parts activates her core buffs which help her off-burst DPS immensely. The good news is we have quite a few bosses that regularly spawn parts, so Raven can take advantage of that—Ultra being one of them. Note that she can still destroy bosses with minimal to no parts!

Now, Raven, especially against bosses with parts, also has the luxury of positional flexibility. As an off-burst B3, she already has almost all the buffs she needs to deal damage. This is thanks to her S2 providing Sustained DMG▲ upon parts destruction, but Raven can also do in-burst for MORE damage.

Tip

Raven’s Burst Skill AoE deals damage to parts, which might make you think it is more impactful against enemies with parts, but what's actually true is the opposite — it's actually more impactful when the enemy doesn't have parts. Why? You see, if the enemy doesn't have parts, S2 won't activate at all, which makes the damage hike from Burst Skill much higher than when S2 is also active at the same time.

Should I get this unit?

Definitely yes! We believe in Raven, and think she has a brighter future than Eve and a better kit at that... Raven ticks all the boxes for a DPS, and she competes with the best DPS in the game. Raven will be a staple for a long time, so if you miss her, prepare to get bricked, especially in Iron-weak Raids. And we are saying this with full conviction. She may not be a great unit for campaign, so if that’s your thing, we understand. Regardless, we highly recommend pulling her due to her strength in bossing.

Do you want dupes? Yes, sure, why not, but only if you are knowledgeable about the game and know how to utilize her kit to gain a top score in Solo Raid (or other bossing content). Everyone else who is just borderline competitive or casual should not need dupes.

Gold mileage worthy? More than Eve for sure and with a similar reasoning. We usually only advise using Mileage for 1% units, but 2% collab units aren't too bad if you happen to run out of gems. Well, do know that NieR Collab is returning on July 3rd! Although, to be fair, NieR units are not as important in terms of meta as Raven is.

Skill 1 - More Sustained Damage!

■ Activates when performing Full Charge attacks. Affects 1 enemy unit nearest to the crosshair.

Deals 68.46% of final ATK as sustained damage every 1 sec, stacks up to 10 time(s) and lasts for 5 sec.

■ Activates when entering Full Burst. Affects self.

ATK ▲ 47.52% of caster's ATK for 10 sec.

When Raven lands a full charge, she applies a stack of Sustained DMG/DoT effect on one target closest to her crosshair (which includes targets off-screen/in QTE phase), dealing 68.46% damage per second. This can stack up to 10, which amounts to 684.60% damage per second.

This is a huge multiplier and is comparable to most offensive multipliers from meta DPS. Even better, it is semi-permanent and will not disappear unless Raven stops full-charging or switches target. Discerning eyes will also notice that this multiplier is higher than most people think because it is active all the time (in Raven's Full Burst, in other's Full Bursts, and in off-burst).

However, you should note the short duration (5 sec.), which may require babysitting in some situations, such as when the enemy jumps or goes off-screen (for QTE). During this, auto will not continue firing Raven, which means you will have to manual and fire her yourself before that 5 sec. ends, otherwise you will have to restart from 0 stack, losing a major portion of damage.

After the recent bugfix, Raven's DoT ticks normally every 1 second, regardless of Raven's action to the enemy. This means manualing/canceling animation will not do anything to it. You also don't have to worry about getting Charge Speed or holding attacks/counting DoT ticks anymore. Since it is no longer reliant on Raven's basic attacks, Charge Speed and Max Ammo now have little to no impact on this skill’s damage. You should not aim for these OLs when rerolling her gear.

The second part is an ATK boost that affects self for 10s when entering Full Burst. This is a basic common skill that ShiftUp has been implementing to elevate a single Nikke's damage. Specifically for Raven, the amount is 47.52% at max level, which is not high but also not low either. This conveniently makes her a not-so-dependent DPS for most game modes, including Campaign, but she still scales well with supports. ATK is something that she still wants, and it's far from dilution. You can expect a noticeable damage improvement by pairing her with ATK buffers (but, she also scales well with other types of buffs).

Skill 2 - Parts DMG, What For?

■ Activates when entering battle. Affects self.

Vital Attack: Damage to Parts ▲ 21.12% for 5 sec.

■ Activates when entering Full Burst. Affects self.

Vital Attack: Damage to Parts ▲ 21.12% for 5 sec.

■ Activates when an ally or self destroys an enemy's part. Affects self if self is not in A.N.Mode status.

Single Point Attack: Sustained damage▲ 47.32% for 15 sec.

Removes Vital Attack.

Upon entering battle, Raven immediately grants herself increased Parts DMG. While it is not a negative effect, it is discordant with the rest of her kit that revolves around Sustained DMG, because guess what, Parts DMG does not buff Sustained DMG! This means it only buffs Raven's basic attacks, which are a minor share of her damage. It also lasts for 5 seconds only! Despite the short duration, at the very least, this effect returns at the start of every Full Burst for 5 seconds.

If it's not useful for Raven's damage, what is it good for, then? Two things. Firstly, it serves as a catalyst for the second part of this skill that activates on the destruction of an enemy part. And secondly, it buffs her special Burst Skill damage (a nuke that also hits parts, wow!). For now, let's talk about the first one.

Back to the topic, whenever an enemy part is destroyed, Raven obtains 47.32% Sustained DMG▲ for 15 sec. whilst losing Vital Attack (the Parts DMG buff earlier). Now, there are two things you need to know about this skill.

First of all, it lasts 15 sec., which is good. You don't have to trigger it over and over again. As long as the enemy spawns new parts regularly, it will have decent uptime. However, this effect disappears and does not reactivate if Raven is under the effect of her Burst Skill (described as A.N. Mode status). In this status, Raven gains nearly double the amount of Skill 2's Sustained DMG (if both are at equal levels) for 10 secs. Its higher multiplier means Raven will deal more damage for that 10 sec. compared to relying on Skill 2 only, but what happens after that? You will need to retrigger the Skill 2, which means there is value to part stalling. Learn the best strategy for each boss to maximize her damage!

Finally, we would like to mention that Skill 2's activation is reliant on parts destruction but Burst Skill's isn't. This means that against enemies without parts, using Burst Skill is a guaranteed damage increase, and you don't have to worry about the trade-off with Skill 2.

Similarly, relying on Skill 2 only (if you use Raven as an off-burst) is also a valid strategy. Raven will deal overall less damage, but you can use the skills of other B3 to greater effect. One example team is Siren (Little Mermaid), Crown, RRH, RH, and Raven. Note that this strategy only works with enemies that spawn parts regularly because you need the S2 effects. Yes, we understand Raven doesn't get Crown's effects in that example team.

Burst Skill - Deal More Damage Temporarily

■ Affects all enemies (including parts).

Deals 492.3% of final ATK as Burst Skill damage.

■ Affects self.

A.N. Mode:

Effect 1: Removes Single Point Attack.

Effect 2: Sustained damage▲ 89.44% for 10 sec.

Raven inflicts AoE damage, dealing damage to all enemies (incl. parts). This is a mini screenwipe that can help with killing small Raptures and/or killing parts. It's also usable in PvP. However, you shouldn't over-rely on it.

The star of the show is actually the second part of this skill, where Raven gains a huge amount of Sustained DMG▲ for 10s (that's nearly double the amount of S2's buff). Upon obtaining this buff, her S2's buff, if active, will deactivate immediately and cannot reactivate when the Burst buff is still active. During this period, Raven's damage will increase tremendously, especially if S2 was inactive because the enemy has no parts (damage difference thus becomes higher).

Since Burst Skill affects only Sustained DMG DPS, you should use it only once the enemy has lots of DoT stacks. This means ideally you should avoid using her Burst Skill at the beginning. She should burst second (so the DoT stacks are maxed first), unless your personal testing shows that bursting first in your configuration/team composition yields more team damage.

You can also run Raven without Burst Skill (off-burst), if that’s the better option, especially if you can maintain her S2 uptime (boss must have parts).

Campaign (LD) - B | Campaign (HD) - C

Raven is not the best unit to use in Campaign. Her lack of intense AoE damage weakens her compatibility significantly. She does have a mini-wipe that can help, and her burst gen value is decent, but she does not have the capability to handle a large number of tanky enemies at once, which is something required at higher deficits. This is because her damage comes from stacking DoT debuffs (like Mihara: BC), and the stack can only be applied to one enemy at a time + no transfer mechanics. In other words, she dominates single targets but does not translate that dominance when against multiple enemies.

That said, she might still be able to be used on stages that feature a raid boss, aka one enemy with tons of health but the rest don't, especially if they are Iron-weak. Not to mention, Raven has an inherent ATK buff, which can counterbalance stat deficit.

Overall, we do not recommend using Raven in Campaign, since there are better units that may be used which can give you an easier time progressing to the next stage. Since she is also not usable for any Manufacturer Tribe Tower stages, it is probably best to let her stick to her strengths, i.e. Bossing.

Bossing - SSS

This mode is what Raven is all about. This is where Raven excels. Raven handles single targets comfortably with her simple skill conditions and convenient debuff stacking method. She can be slotted in any team and hit any boss, and will deal a consistent amount of damage (though she's better at those with parts, and is especially one of the best when against Iron-weak bosses). As an unfussy DPS, Raven is a nice-to-have unit for everyone.

Adding to the last statement, Raven can be an in-burst or off-burst B3 depending on boss configuration and team setups, which adds to her flexibility. However, if the boss does not have parts, you may want to keep her as an in-burst B3 as her Burst will make a huge damage difference with her Sustained DMG▲ buff going from 0% to 89.44% instantly. The difference is smaller when the boss has parts because her S2's Single Point Attack will activate and is half of A.N. Mode's strength, and they cannot overlap.

That said, depending on the same boss configurations, Raven can suddenly turn from being one of the best DPS into a relatively weaker one. When the enemy doesn't have parts or core, Raven can comfortably compete with the likes of Rapi: Red Hood and even match her damage. You should be able to see this if both are equally invested.

However, it is a totally different question when the enemy has core or pierce parts. Now, Rapi: Red Hood’s damage increases thanks to them, and so does the damage of other Nikkes like Red Hood, Snow White, and even Maxwell. Raven, on the other hand, stays stable. But, this stability decreases her damage relative to those Nikkes that scale.

All in all, Raven is overall a good DPS. In our current tier list revision, we are placing her in SSS tier due to her potential in the current Raid meta that rarely has core/pierce parts, parallel to Wasuka (Asuka: WILLE). However, we are expecting to revise our tier list soon and drop some units from SSS to SS, SS to S, S to A, and so on to make room in the higher tier and create more distinction between the current SSS units. With that new tier list, we are looking to demote Wasuka and Raven to SS tier because Cinderella and Rapi: Red Hood deserve their own special tiers for being such reliable units with advantages to team-building.

PVP - C

Raven in PvP is just too slow in every single important major aspect. Her burst generation as an RL is slow and, because of that, it is only equal to that of a non-Clip SG (e.g. Guilty). Her DoT also needs time to stack and deal damage. Since time is of utmost importance in PvP and battles often finish quite fast (i.e. within 1 FB), Raven is not an ideal unit to use for PvP, but may still be used as a filler RL unit.

If you still want to use her, though, we can describe her as a pseudo-DPS unit with good single-target damage and some AoE damage. As a single-target damager, she can pressure P1 (esp. Electric), such as Noise or Moran, with her continually mounting DoT stacks. She can be an in-burst or off-burst B3 in this case. If you want her AoE, you will need to use her Burst Skill. The damage isn't much, however, but it still deals damage, and it also increases her DoT damage.

In PvP, due to Raven’s very slow attacks, there is a reason for obtaining 1× Max Ammo OL if you are planning to use her there. This is not a serious issue in PvE, where you can wait. But, in PvP, where everything is fast-paced, the faster the better. Her slow nature also means she may be better paired with staller teams, so she can compound her stacks first.

Note that stacks don't transfer to other enemies upon death, which means Raven’s DoT will most of the time only be influential on durable enemies.

Gear Investments

Raven wants ELE and ATK lines above all. You may want one Max Ammo (with more than 58.5% value [3.51+ including rounding up]) so that she may stack up to 10 on her Skill 1 before reloading, maximizing her DPS at the start of battle. However, this is not important at all, and you can wait (esp. in PvE; in PvP, you shouldn't wait). Plus, reload speed buffers will make it less significant. Instead, you can get CRT lines as additional damage multipliers. And, before you ask, no, you don't need Charge Speed.

• Essential: -
• Ideal: 4× ELE, 4× ATK
• Passable: CRIT RATE, CRIT DMG, 1× Max Ammo
• Priority: High (Late Game)

Skill Investments

Raven’s main use will be in UR and SR, which have bloated stats, especially in Hard Mode. This means Raven will need to be well invested skill-wise to be able to deal good damage versus them. Raven’s S1 plays a pivotal role on how much damage she deals.

• Skill 1: 10
• This skill is Raven’s bread, butter, and knife. This skill is the source of her sustained damage.
• Max this skill out ASAP because it contains her Sustained DMG multiplier and it also features a potent ATK buff.
• Skill 2: 5/7/10
• This skill is only effective if the boss has parts, hence only upgrade it if the boss you are going up against has some.
• If the boss has regenerating parts (e.g. Providence or Modernia), it is ideal to max out this skill, but you may leave it at 7 since it is a niche skill (arguable, since most Iron-weak bosses do have parts).
• Upgrading it when going up against a boss with parts will tremendously improve Raven’s off-burst damage,
• We recommend starting at 5, which is not that expensive compared to 4.
• Burst Skill:7~10
• Less important to upgrade compared to Skill 1, but may be of higher priority than Skill 2.
• Highest sustained damage buff in the game as of Raven’s release. Ideally, max out this skill if you are using her as in-burst.
• Her burst also gives a small AoE, which can assist not only in killing small raptures but also in destroying boss parts.
• If using Raven as off-burst B3, upgrading Burst Skill is technically useless, however.
• As explained earlier in summary, Burst Skill is more impactful when fighting bosses with no parts, but this doesn't mean you should only use it when the boss doesn't have parts.

Suggested Progression Path

 

PVE Investment

PVP Investment

Priority

Raven

PVE investment

4/4/4 → 7/4/4 → 10/5/7 (→ 10/10/10)

PVP investment

4/4/4 (→ 10/4/10)

Priority

Meta (Late Game)

Cube Investments

She does not require any specific cubes to work. If you are confused, just use Resilience cube, especially if Raven is being used with allies who can buff reload speed. There is another merit to this, and that is helping Raven maintain 10 DoT stacks even after reloads. You don't need it, but it gives more leeway.

Bastion Cube is a good alternative, and Destruction cube may be used if the boss she is going up against has plenty of parts for her to deal damage on.

Note that, against Iron-weak bosses, you should benefit more from a higher-leveled Cube due to Elemental buff. If your Bastion is 15, and Resilience is 7, then take Bastion any day.

Doll Investments

R0 or even SR0 is a no-brainer if you do not want to spend much time building her. Otherwise, the ideal way to upgrade Raven’s doll is:

Start with an R0 Doll and upgrade it to R15. Swap it with an SR5, which should be highly considered given her potential as an Iron DPS unit. SR 15 is a fine choice as well since she may be useful for future bosses.

Check out Teams Tab on her Profile for teams for various PVE and PVP content.