Scarlet: Black Shadow guide & review

Scarlet: Black Shadow banner will be available: 1/1 ~ 1/18 04:59 (UTC+9)

A legendary warrior of the past, one of the few living remnants weathering the indiscriminate tribulation in the ancient times, Scarlet has emerged as her once ruthless form—Scarlet: Black Shadow. Her current appearance is a tad deceptive; who would expect a drunken girl was once a fighter who knew no forgiveness? Whispers of her now inanimate comrades rang in her head as she stepped into a world disconcertingly familiar.

Scarlet: Black Shadow (SBS) is an elegant swordmaster who launches well-timed attacks to unleash multiple strikes in quick succession, each dealing significant damage to one or more enemies. Every strike is identified by a different phase, and in each phase the nature of this offensive ability would be distinct. Do note that these strikescannot core-hit but can crit.

While her insidious attacks necessitate an unavoidable tiny delay at the end of each hit (0.23s), her fire rate can be compared to the default attack speed of Shotguns (SG), estimated to be around 0.73s per shot. This also means that she is auto-friendly, yay! It is, however, possible to shorten the interval between each attack by providing Charge Speed buffs, whether through OL or by pairing with other units (especially Alice), effectively accelerating the cycle. Unfortunately, this also comes with a drawback: her basic attack virtually has no range (500 for default RL radius; 50 for SBS).

Before we dive deep into her intricacies, let's scratch the surface first:

Skill 1

■ Activates on Full charge. Effects change according to number of attacks. Each phase does not stack.

Three attacks: Affects the enemy with the lowest defense.

Deals 250.47% of final ATK as additional damage.

Six attacks: Affects all enemies within attack range.

Deals 500% of final ATK as distributed damage.

Nine attacks: Affects all enemies.

Deals 750.47% of final ATK as distributed damage.

This part of SBS is technically not an actual component of her skillset but rather constitutes her basic mechanics. It sets the baseline DPS output of SBS and her skill multipliers. Basically, this is where the phases of SBS are described. In short, every 3 attacks when not in her Burst Skill, SBS triggers a phase change and activates the effect of that new phase, whether it be dealing additional damage or poking all enemies with distributed damage. During Burst Skill, she can trigger this every 1 attack instead of 3, allowing her to repeatedly activate the phase change and dealing bonus damage.

Skill 2

■ Activates when entering Full burst. Affects Self.

Max ammo Capacity increased by 60% for 10 seconds.

Reload 100% of magazine.

Successful attacks start with an ultracareful preparation. SBS fulfills this quote from Sun Tzu, God of War, by entitling herself to increased max ammo and a clean refill of her magazine at the start of every Full Burst. This is something that other common units have missed but allows SBS to rightfully stand on the podium. SBS is probably one of the few units that can guarantee that she neverreloads in an entire run, which leads to a consistent damage output and a notable QoL improvement, especially due to its synergy with Burst Skill and Skill 1.

Burst

■ Affects self

Changes Full charge attack count required for Skill to 1 time/2 times/3 times for 10 seconds.

ATK ▲ 115.12% for 10 sec.

Charge damage ▲ 150.12% for 10 sec.

Packed with tons of power, her Burst Skill allows SBS to triple her wrath. Upon activation, for the following 10 seconds, the number of attacks required to prompt the phase change in Skill 1 is reduced to one. Instead of needing 3 attacks to trigger each phase, she can immediately trigger the next one in one hit. In other words, if she activates her Burst Skill just after Phase 2 is triggered, her next cleave will immediately trigger Phase 3 and so on.

A significant ATK buff and a twofold Charge Damage amplification are also granted alongside this, turning her into a ravaging storm. This is where most of her DPS is located, so taking full advantage of her Burst Skill will allow you to appreciate her true strength. Luckily, unlike Alice, she is quite independent in this regard as she can accomplish this by ensuring a full magazine at the start of each Full Burst thanks to her Skill 2, which extends the cap even!

Campaign, Tower, and Simulation:

SBS is not as versatile as the other B3 DPS for Campaign and Tower because of her inherent lack of stable AoE DPS. She does damage all enemies, but the more enemies there are, the less damage each of them takes. This is unfortunate as usually, in campaign, you want to kill the mobs as quickly as possible before they can even retaliate. That said, she is still powerful when addressing enemies in low quantities. This is because her Burst Skill is equipped with an insane ATK buff comparable to the original Scarlet.

In Late Story, you would notice that she deals tons of damage, surpassing other DPS B3. Well, that's true, but it will get you nowhere with extreme high CP deficit (32%+). Why is that? Well, as you enter endgame content, enemies will hit very hard, which can potentially one-shot your units. The only way you can prevent that from happening is to kill them first. But, SBS is actually terrible at this because, while her Distributed Damage does amount to a huge sum (can be seen when game is paused), her attacks are killing no one in time as the damage is spread. This buys enough time for the enemy to annihilate your team prior to death. Dealing tons of damage is fruitless if she is not able to neutralize the threats immediately. Compare this to Alice or Red Hood that can quickly pick off targets one by one, especially the Sniper Raptures in the distance. However, SBS may be able to kill enemies in time against Iron enemies due to elemental advantage.

Oh, and let's not talk about how Modernia's AoE damage isn't dependent on how many enemies are there in its range. The damage is fixed. This allows Modernia to clear a group of 5 raptures and a group of 20 raptures in the same time. Now, is there any reason to pick SBS over Modernia if we only care about the overtime AoE damage? Modernia's is just more consistent and lasts longer too. Not only that, Modernia has a powerful ST damage outside Burst, while SBS's damage will fall off sharply after 10s.

Pilgrim Tower

Quite interestingly, she may act as a substitute in Pilgrim Tower. With a similar reasoning as stated previously, she may see more use here due to the fact that there are only a handful of options for B3, especially when it comes to bosses where healing is needed.

Bossing/Raids

Indispensable, irreplaceable, immovable. We can safely say that SBS is, if not the best, one of the most destructive DPS deployable to the battlefield. She provides herself with enough Max Ammo not to rely on anyone, enough ATK to not be useless, and a huge preference for raw damage multipliers in her kit. She can manage all bosses with ease, whether they have parts or a core, and her damage is simply reliable and consistent.

SBS is convenient, and that is especially true when you have to deal with a certain boss gimmick, such as the boss spawning mobs with high DEF and low HP, as seen against Mother Whale and soon Solo Raid Material H. The Distributed Damage will finish all of them instantly as only the boss's DEF matters, not the mobs.

PVP

The fact that SBS's AoE damage materializes as Distributed Damage may be objectionable for PvP as the value would be too low if divided by five. Her Burst generation is also on the low side and inconsistent as whiffing often occurs. However, SBS has proven to offer delicacies that would undoubtedly outweigh these spoiled pieces of meat.

She may not exhibit the highest AoE damage (that would be Scarlet) nor the highest ST damage (that would be Alice/Red Hood), but the pressure she applies while inflicting moderate ST and AoE damage at the same time is too impactful to ignore. Oh, don't forget that she also refills her magazine at the start of Full Burst, guaranteeing her independence. In fact, her major AoE in Phase 3 is also more deadly the fewer enemies there are remaining in the battle! This makes finishing off leftover units a frivolous task.

Nonetheless, she has a direct counter — Sakura — and can be blocked and hard-countered by Biscuit + Defender. Since her Skill 1 has Distributed Damage, and if you remember from 2B, when it hits an immune Nikke (immunity is something Biscuit provides to defenders), she will do 1 damage to everyone even with the 3rd part of her Skill 1, which cuts her damage and will most likely lead to a loss for SBS.

Gear Investments

SBS is finicky when it comes to gear because she already has adequate ammo to inflict remarkable damage, which devalues Max Ammo OL. But, for Quality of Life and some versatility, we suggest you get 1 Ammo roll on her. Now, what should I obtain for my beloved gladiator? ATK is never a bad line, so that's one. Elemental DMG is also useful, especially for the upcoming Solo Raid! so that's also a yes. Last but not least, Charge Speed and Charge Damage. Charge Speed is preferred over Charge Damage, especially in high amounts, is preferred because it also amplifies the damage from Skill 1 as well as enables SBS to potentially land one or two more shots during Burst. CRIT Rate & CRIT DMG are decent bonus lines for increasing SBS's overall damage, especially her Skill 1.

There are some breakpoints for Charge Speed that you should try to aim for with her. These assume that SBS is paired with Alice, with Alice Skill 1 being level 10:

• 0%: 17 hits during Burst
• 4.9%: 18 hits during Burst (try to get this from one charge speed roll alone)
• 11%: 19 hits during Burst (this will usually need 3 charge speed rolls, and is a lower priority unless you are aiming to perfect her)

Skill Investments

• Skill 1: 10
• No breakpoint because each level only contributes to more damage. You want to maximize this as fast as possible as it amounts to slightly over half of SBS's damage (more if the enemy has no core).

• Skill 2: 4/6/7
• There are several breakpoints here. First of all, the reload percentage reaches its peak at Level 7 at 100%. At level 4-6, this would be 60%. Meanwhile, the Max Ammo increases by 2.2% per level. Since this increase is microscopic, there appears to be no worthwhile return beyond Level 7 because, in base form, the actual Max Ammo increase remains stagnant above Level 6, earning her 5 more Max Ammo from this skill instead of 4. To summarize:
• Level 4: +4 Max Ammo & 60% Reload
• Level 6: +5 Max Ammo & 60% Reload
• Level 7: +5 Max Ammo & 100% Reload
• Ideally, you want this to be at Level 7, so she can fit in all teams. However, you can get away with Level 5 or 6 instead of 7 if SBS if coupled with Bastion 7 + a high-level Noir S2 and/or Liter S1, which is most likely her best team at the moment. We also want to emphasize that if Skill 2 is less than 7: Noir must be placed to the left of SBS, so SBS's refund benefits from Noir! (You will have to manually use Bursts in this case.)
• If you are running out on resources, consider leaving this at Level 4 or 6 and testing it out before committing to investing further. If you ever see her reload outside Burst, you may choose to level it to 7. Level 7 will indeed guarantee a no-reload run. However, most of her damage is situated inside Burst, so is that small damage increase meaningful to you? Only you can answer.
• Burst: 10
• Likewise, any skill that contains a lot of ATK buffs and scales well warrants maximum investments. This is also the case for SBS. She deserves everything you've got because she is the epitome of calamity itself.

Cube Investments

The most economical option is Bastion. While Onslaught is theoretically the best cube for SBS when it comes to pure damage, it is very niché and does not pair well with most other units. Thus, you will be better off using Bastion for the increased stats and elemental damage bonus. Besides that, when coupled with Alice, SBS will shoot faster. In order for her to last until the next Full Burst without reloading even once, you usually need to rely on Bastion (and 1 or more Max Ammo OL lines). This should result in more damage provided versus Onslaught. Regardless, you may benefit from Adjutant more if you have a low charge speed roll and want to reach a certain breakpoint (as stated in Gear Investment).

Note that the case above doesn't convert well for PvP as there she is bound to reload before entering Full Burst if she doesn't have Max Ammo OL, in which case Resilience is a better option than Bastion. Since she gains Max Ammo from Skill 2 (and reloads fully just as Full Burst begins), it is unnecessary to equip Bastion to make full use of her devastating Burst Skill. Bastion would only be a good choice if Alice were also in the team, but that's usually questionable in PvP to bring a low-regen Nikke just to boost damage slightly.

Since she is the most powerful unit in the game, you should also pair her with the best support, which is ironically Alice. Why is that? Well, Alice's Skill 1 buff is actually taken from Alice's caster speed, which if normalized to SBS's, it would be 5x more effective! This translates to over 20% undiluted total damage increase.

Team #1 - God Bossing Team

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

The supreme team of 2024. SBS enjoys increased Max Ammo & refill, consistent damage taken, constant healing, and a strong Charge Speed buff from Alice. SBS can potentially fire non-stop in this team and should reach her ceiling.

Team #2 - Bunniless God Bossing Team

Burst 1

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

If Bunniless, consider using Tia Naga instead. This time, however, SBS cannot fully enjoy Naga's buff due to the fact that her Skill 1 damage cannot core-hit. Thus, it wastes Tiga's supportive potential.

Team #3 - General Non-Bunny/Non-Tiga Team

Burst 1

Burst 2

B2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Flex

Flex

You can use her as a replacement for the current B3s you are running in Campaign. If you are missing Liter, we highly recommend getting her through the current Guaranteed SSR Box from the on-going Step Up Banner. Ideally, you want to have heals so make sure either B2 or Flex is a healer that can help you survive. If a healer is not needed for a stage, you can choose an offensive support or utility like Centi for B2 along with Maxwell/Privaty or Noir for Flex.

Look forward to our PvP update later this month, where we will add more about Quiry, Redhood, xMica and Scarlet: Black Shadow, and improve upon our current team examples and meta Nikke examples! Even so, below are several team examples you can adopt with SBS, especially when attacking:

Team #1 - God SBS Team

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 1

Burst 1

This God SBS team can defeat the God Scarlet variant, depending on who has the more invested unit. If anyone has a low investment Scarlet, they are in trouble against SBS's wipes, which repeat every several seconds. This allows SBS to inflict gradual damage and outDPS Scarlet's damage. There are other teams with similar ideas that you can construct. This is a strong setup for Rookie Arena in both attack and defence. Point to Note: "Noise Noah Scarlet Rapunzel Jackal" is known as the God Comp in PvP due to it's high win-rate. There are some small variants you can try out which include: SBS, redhood, Alice or SAnis over Scarlet. Centi, Anis, or Biscuit over Rapunzel, but to relatively weaker effect.

Team #2 - Impenetrable Fortress Team

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 2

This impenetrable fortress team features a tank P1 unit paired with Biscuit and Rapunzel, making it hard to break through. This team revolves around stalling and making sure SBS can output all she has within her 10s Burst.

Team #3 - More Damage Please Team

Burst 2

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 1

This team involves using RH and/or Alice to buff SBS's damage further, which is great for dealing with teams with extremely high durability. Noah and Jackal also ensure that the team last a while at the start of Full Burst for SBS to deal significant damage. This is possibly a setup for SP Arena, but be careful since it uses two out of 3 your major Burst Gen Units.

If you read this guide and reach this point still with this question, then perhaps you should reread the guide again. Jokes aside, yes, you should definitely get her. In fact, if possible, also acquire a few copies for higher stats, but this is just a lifestyle choice more than a requirement. Mileage her if you have to. SBS is one of the best bossing units at the moment. Period. We would also recommend getting Modernia if your gems allow you to, as her banner is up right now as well, if you lack her. We won't play favorites here since we believe both units are a must-have for one's account, and both are worth Golden Mileage. If you can only go for one, we recommend flipping a coin!