Should you pull Ezio Auditore?

Ezio is a flexible Damage Dealer that is able to slot into a lot of different teams. We recommend pulling for him if:

• You are a New Player.
• You need either a very strong Follow-Up, Ultimate or Poison Carry.
• You like Assassin’s Creed.
• You can’t handle the FOMO of a character that likely will never be available again due to Collab reasons.

Big one so get ready.

Ezio is a 6-star Assassin of the Star Afflatus. His focus is on a new [Assassination] mechanic that allows him to trigger +Final DMG Bonus for every 100 Crit Tech difference between him and his target. He is an incredibly flexible character, being able to switch between 3 Archetypes and 9 playstyles total with his unique weapon mechanic.

Let’s talk about said system first. Upon unlocking Ezio you will be able to pick between a Primary and Secondary weapon (you can switch them at any time before entering a combat stage by going to his profile). The Primary weapon will define Ezio’s Archetype and the Secondary will provide additional effects. As a general rule of thumb, follow this list:

• Venetian Falchion: Follow-Up Attack
• Condotierro War Hammer: Ultimate
• Captain’s Sword: Poison
• Channeled Cinquedea: General
• Butcher Knife: Single-Target
• Sultan’s Knife: Multi-Target

To understand how these weapons alter his kit. Let’s look at it without them for a base template.

First of all, Ezio does not have any Moxie and instead uses Synchronization. He gains this whenever he triggers an [Assassination], when riposting with his [Counter] or after defeating an enemy. Note that Synchronization gain is pretty slow unless you’re running him on a War Hammer build. The moment you hit 100% Synchronization, at the start of the next turn, he will auto-cast his Ultimate.

His Insights are primarily about the [Eyes Caught] and [Fighting Experience] statuses. That first one is a debuff that will simply force enemies to pick Ezio as their primary target for attacks while that latter effect is his [Counter]. He takes reduced damage while in said state and reduces incoming damage further if enemies are affected by [Eyes Caught]. Though if he drops below a percentage of HP anyway he will gain [Shadowstalk] for even more DMG Reduction and a burst of extra Crit DMG.

In addition, whenever he triggers an [Assassination] he gains [Apprentice Assassin] until it’s stacked 8 times, transforming into [Master Assassin]. This basically gives him a second [Assassination] effect but with a different Final DMG Bonus (this stacks with the normal [Assassination] effect). If there is another Assassination character on the team, he will grant [Master Assassin] to the entire team at a reduced potency.

“Work in the Dark” is a single-target damage tool that counts as an [Assassination]. It’s simple, effective, and most subject to change based on your equipped weapons.

“Serve the Light” is a self-counter that inflicts [Eyes Caught] on the enemy with the most queued Attack Incantations and puts Ezio in the [Fighting Experience] state. While in this, he will riposte attackers with a strong single-target attack that also counts as an [Assassination]. This will be the main way to trigger most of his Insight effects.

“Branding of Faith” will force you to select 1 target and then hit them with either “Arrow of Faith” or “Edge of Faith” 3 times (or more depending on your equipped weapons). The Edge is for when the target is above 50% HP, and Arrow is for when the target is below 50% HP. It will then finish off with “Death Be Not Unkind”, a big Reality DMG nuke. All of these attacks also count as [Assassination]s.

With that out of the way, we can cover his weapons. Most of them just require a bit of reading so we’ll explain the most important effects and the way they change his playstyle.

Venetian Falchion: Is probably his best Primary and focuses on FUAs. With this, his Skill 1 inflicts [Assassin’s Mark], which is a debuff that triggers a FUA with Skill 1 if an ally that is not Ezio hits them in some way (so buff or healing cards won’t work). The Secondary weapons here all serve to support his in some way, boosting FUA DMG and either granting Ezio: Crit conversion (100%), making him FUA with Skill 1 if an enemy dies (like Lucy FUA) or extending the duration of his [Counter] by an extra turn while inflicting the taunt effect on all enemies.

Condotierro War Hammer: Focuses on his Ultimate. It grants an extra [Assassination]-like Final DMG Bonus to every cast. In addition, when allies cast Ultimates he gains Synchronization and a stack of [Eagle’s Guidance] with each stack giving him an additional Arrow/Edge cast during his next Ult. His Secondary weapons here provide extra Ultimate Might and also: Synchronization at the start of the turn, Ultimate DMG Bonus and Synchronization if there is only 1 enemy or Synchronization whenever an enemy dies.

Captain’s Sword: A bit of a meme but focuses on Poison. It grants him extra Synchronization and causes all of his attacks to inflict a stack of [Poison] on their target. In addition, attacking an enemy deals extra Genesis DMG based on the amount of [Poison] stacks on them like Jessica, but the multipliers are unknown so good luck with that. In addition, [Assassination] changes from granting Final DMG Bonus to just dealing even more Genesis DMG. His Secondary weapons here generally provide additional Genesis DMG and also provide: 1 more [Poison] stack on attack, 2 more [Poison] stacks on attack if there’s only 1 enemy, or spreading [Poison] stacks from killed enemies to their allies.

Overall, Ezio’s flexibility is unmatched. Especially given how Archetype-oriented the game has become in recent times this splashability of his is incredibly attractive for both new players or veteran players looking to pivot their roster into other team comps. Due to his Crit Tech being a whopping 1106 at max level he’ll also easily hit 83% Crit Rate at R10 by himself, with 3+ different ways of getting massive amounts of extra Final DMG Bonus and high amounts of Crit DMG and DMG Reduction he is incredibly self-sufficient.

In our opinion Venetian Falchion will probably be his best weapon set. If played right it can set up a good amount of very hard-hitting FUAs with either straight damage, FUAs on kill or extra ripostes. It’ll also be the easiest weapon set to support with a varied number of team options like Liang Yue, 37, Flutterpage, Fatutu. It’s an interesting way to play and does ask a team that doesn’t mind active casts, but the output more than makes up for the trouble of doing the rotation right.

War Hammer is interesting, since it's focused on his Ultimate, but in this he struggles with being a Star unit. All good Ultimate teammates (Melania, Moldir, Pickles) do not match well on the Afflatus front; he also doesn’t use Moxie which makes Melania and Recoleta less effective. When matched up with someone like Melania(E) and Hissabeth he’ll do fantastic damage, but it does make his teambuilding somewhat limited (and his Synchronization generation without Ultimate-spamming characters is genuinely a struggle).

Captain’s Sword is very entertaining. It turns him into a Genesis DMG monster that can apply a surprising amount of [Poison] and deal a LOT of Genesis DMG with his [Assassination] procs; note that his Genesis DMG can Crit like 37 and Ezra’s at certain [Poison] thresholds. He’ll probably be a good swap-in for Willow if you’re tired of or don’t have her unlocked, though you’d probably run something closer to Ezio / Tuesday/ Jessica(E2) / Sotheby mostly. It’s fine as a weapon, but the lack of Genesis Crit does hurt his overall output.

Gameplay

What in the world is going on with the Collab characters.

It is very good. End of sentence.

It’s not broken good, you’re not going to hit Nautika levels of damage unless you’re specifically running him in the AC event (he gets a really big DMG Bonus for simply existing) but it is good enough that I’d say I’m pleasantly surprised!

Venetian Falchion is a really interesting way of setting up damage. Inflicting [Assassin’s Mark] to pop with allies and trigger FUAs that either deal: massive amounts of extra damage, trigger a very long cycle of on-kill FUAs or make him effectively invincible with ripostes is genuinely the most amount of fun with a FUA character that I’ve had since Liang Yue in 2.5. Every FUA also deals way more damage than whatever feels balanced, trust me. Did I mention his Skill 1 (the thing he FUAs with most often) has a stupid high Reality DMG scaling (basically the highest basic incan modifier in the game)?

War Hammer is… guhhh. Let me preface this by saying that I am incredibly biased against this weapon specifically because I HATE the way his Ultimate works. He auto-casts it not the moment he hits 100%, but at the start of the turn after. This means that you’ll have to make sure that you stick all the buffs that you want on him preemptively on the turn before and assume that you will hit max Synch during the turn so that you can make sure that he has the wanted bonuses when he casts it. When you pull it off? Absolute cinema, you easily triple the damage output of his Ultimate. Don’t pull it off? It still does amazing damage but you’ll just feel really bad about it.

Captain’s Sword is my baby. I have a weakness for DoT teams and was really bummed when Willow kind of just, converts all your [Poison] stacks into her [Hag’s Bane]. This issue is no longer! Every attack with this weapon will inflict stacks and also deal extra Genesis DMG scaling with the count (though not having a modifier for this is the funniest thing ever, alright Bluepoch keep your secrets). It’s definitely more limited than the other two weapons in terms of teambuilding, but it has a lot of potential for future content.

Pros & Cons

Ezio is complete at P0.

His Portraits are generally just damage bonuses, the only notable ones being his P2 and P5 for upgrading his weapon effects. However, P1 is recommended for being easy to get with a substantial benefit.

It boosts the bonus gained from [Master Assassin] considerably which is quite a massive boost to his overall damage output.

P2 is not a big buff. They’re incredibly small number changes and though he gets an extra [Assassin’s Mark] stack on Venetian Falchion, it’s not worth potentially losing Kassandra or Nautika funds for.

P5, rather, is his best option as it greatly increases all the effects on his weapons. Still, even with how generous the banner is in terms of Portraits for the AC Collab, P5 is not mandatory to deal good damage and thus we can’t recommend trying to go for it unless you specifically want to (it’s really good).

Depending on his weapon set, he has varied amounts of synergy with a lot of different characters.

Venetian Falchion: Liang Yue, Flutterpage, Fatutu, Argus.

Condotierro War Hammer: Melania, Hissabeth, Getian.

Captain’s Sword: Tuesday, Jessica, Sotheby, Kakania.

Here’s a short FAQ that we’ve gathered from testing Ezio.

• Q: How does Anjo Nala function with Ezio?
• A: Casting his skills does not grant Anjo any Moxie. She also cannot force him to cast his Ultimate with hers and she’ll skip straight ahead to her own.
• Q: How do [Assassination]s and [Master Assassin] stack?
• A: Multiplicatively. For the non-math nerds among us this means that getting [Master Assassin] a much bigger damage spike than it seems and it’s the reason that Portrait 1 is worth pulling for.
• Q: What is the Added Genesis DMG * Poison Stack scaling on Captain’s Sword?
• A: We wish we knew.
• Q: How does [Seal] interact with Ezio’s Ultimate?
• A: The debuff prevents it from triggering but it does not reset his Synchronization, at the start of the turn after [Seal] wears off he’ll trigger it as normal.
• Q: Does Ezio’s Ultimate trigger before or after “at the start of the turn” effects?
• A: Hard to test but from what we’ve seen his Ultimate triggers at the same time as other “at the start of the turn” effects (meaning you’ll catch things like Mercuria’s buffs from [Cosmic Energy] without much issue).
• Q: Do Edge/Arrow count as individual procs or is the whole Ult one attack?
• A: Similar to Nautika, his entire Ultimate counts as one thing.

Stray Off the Path

Luxurious Leisure

Falling for a Sweet Phenomenon

• As the Bell Tolls (Signature) - it's not visible above as we don't have it added in the DB yet,
• Stray off the Path (Generally Good, Venetian Falchion)
• Luxurious Leisure (Generally Good, War Hammer)
• Falling for a Sweet Phenomenon (Generally Good, Captain’s Sword)

Resonances

Code: BfQkOAUqAygSNAE9ACYhNEAqQidFRWA7UkVU

Resonance Pattern

Aspirational (Recommended)

A few suggestions are listed below. 3-People teams are highlighted, with the 4th slot added at the side to provide a 4-P variation of the same team or even insights on possible variations of the 3-P team.

Standard Teams

Take A Shot Whenever He Says Addio[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Lopera
• Ezio Build: VF-BK, VF-SK (Venetian Falchion + Butcher Knife or Sultan’s Knife)
• Euphorias: None
• This team is all about enhancing Venetian Falchion’s tendency for S1 Follow-Up Attacks. With VF equipped, your active S1 casts will apply [Assassin’s Mark] which allies can proc by actively attacking the affected target. This triggers a FUA from Ezio, which can snowball into a series of attacks if you’re running Butcher Knife or be extra active damage if you’re running him on Sultan’s Knife.
• Flutterpage is here for obvious reasons, her [Gust] Forcefield greatly enhances the damage output of FUAs (which this team does a lot of, especially Ezio) and her [Continuous Action I] is a great benefit to any casting-heavy team. Lopera here is a very flexible pick; her Crit Rate conversion is powerful and her very sticky [Incantation Bullet] will provide a constant source of offensive support that is especially strong in FUA teams. She can additionally be replaced by Mercuria for a smoother starting rotation with minimal damage loss, Argus if you’re fighting exclusively 1 target or some other general Support.
• Fatutu is here as the queen of Healers in FUA teams, her [Spirit Shell] ramps FUA damage very consistently and she is able to keep max stacks applied with [Shell Beacon] if you’re running her in a high-frequency attack team.
• The starting rotation is simple:
• Turn 1: Ezio S2 → Flutterpage S2 → Fatutu S2 → Lopera S2
• This sets up Ezio’s [Counter] which will immediately start helping with stacking [Gust]. It also puts down [Continuous Action I] for the second round, sets up a bit of early defense with [Shared Shells, Shared Fate] and prepares Lopera’s channel to make up for the lacking Moxie she starts with.
• Turn 2: Ezio S1 → (Ezio S2 →) Lopera S1 → Flutterpage S1 → Any Flutterpage Skill → Free Space
• Depending on if you’re running Sultan’s Knife or not you use the free space to reactivate Ezio’s [Counter], the S1 here is to set up [Assassin’s Mark]. The Lopera S1 here triggers the [Mark] but also gives her the needed Moxie to Ult via her Insights. The double Flutterpage cast is to give her the Moxie to Ult as well next turn.
• Turn 3: Lopera Ult → Lopera S2 → Ezio S1 → Flutterpage Ult
• You lose the Lopera channel here which sucks, so you’ll set the Array and reset the channel. The Ezio S1 here again is to [Mark] an opponent and then going into Flutterpage Ult to set up max [Gust].
• Turn 4: Ezio S1 → Fatutu S1 or Ult → Lopera S1 → Ezio S2
• Ezio S1 to place a second [Mark] then either Fatutu S1 or Ult (depending on if you have it or not) to trigger the first [Mark] and Lopera S1 to give Ezio [Incantation Bullet] and trigger the second [Mark]. Then reset Ezio [Counter] if need be to continue stacking [Gust] and trigger FUAs.
• That’s a basic rotation if you’re running this team exactly, but the specifics may differ on who you decide to put down around him or if you have his P2 (for the extra [Assassin’s Mark] stack). Now if you’re running Sultan’s Knife your Ezio S2 will last 2 turns at base, so there’s no need to recast it every other turn as shown above which gives you more space to work towards guaranteeing Flutterpage or Fatutu Ults.

Welcome To The Streets[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Hissabeth
• Ezio Build: WH-CC (War Hammer + Channeled Cinquedea)
• Euphorias: Melania, Vila
• This team is centered around the Condotierro War Hammer and casting “Branding of Faith” as often as possible. With WH equipped, every time an ally casts an Ultimate, Ezio gains Synchronization and a stack of [Eagle’s Guidance]. Upon casting Ult himself, he consumes all stacks of it and gains extra “Edge/Arrow of Faith” attacks (up to 6 extra) which all add to his Ultimate’s total damage output. You’re taking Channeled Cinquedea as secondary here for the consistent extra boost to Synchronization but you can technically swap it out based on what kind of stage you’re running it on.
• Melania(E) here is obvious, her [Fixed Plan] massively increases Ultimate Might/C.RATE/C.DMG and her frequent Ultimate casts help stack [Eagle’s Guidance]. Hissabeth is even better at this. Once stacked with [Serpentine Scales] and “Hiss!” generation has started ramping; she'll be casting 3 Ultimates per round. On top of that, at that stage, she is only using 1 AP which allows Melania to Ult more. She’s also the flex spot here and can be traded for units like Getian(E), Lopera, Mercuria, Argus and maybe Recoleta.
• Vila(E) is also pretty flexible here but sounds promising. Her ability to have more [Song of Passion]s going at the same time is nice for a frequent caster like Melania (and/or other allies) and her auto-cast heals should be able to keep the team relatively safe with minimal heals. Another good slot would be Medicine Pocket(E), who’s become a staple general Healer for their fantastic Crit debuffs and AFK healing/shielding.
• Your starting rotation here won’t really be concerned with Ezio, he’ll do his thing. The primary problem here is setting up both Melania’s [Fixed Plan] as quickly as possible while running the Hissabeth rotation at the same time to get her to AP+ territory as soon as possible. Most of your first three rounds will be dedicated to this. To do this properly, you mostly want to set up [Passion Drain] via Melania, Ult with her as quickly as possible and do a standard Hissabeth rotation at the same time.
• Hissabeth Rotation:
• Cast or merge S2 until you generate 6 stacks of it (so one 3-star “Hiss!” and one 2-star “Hiss!”).
• Now you swap between All “Hiss!” → S2 and All “Hiss!” → Ultimate every turn.
• This can be awkwardly sped up by letting Hissabeth take your [Passion Drain] stacks with S1 but that leaves Melania with a very slow rotation who has the more important supportive arsenal. Vila can actually help more so in this with her own Versatile card while her [Song of Passion] can run on Ezio + Melania or Hissabeth depending on who you’re using; Vila is definitely not mandatory here though.

Genesis Style - Magic Number Jutsu[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Jessica
• Ezio Build: CS-CC or CS-BK (Captain’s Sword + Channeled Cinquedea or Butcher Knife)
• Euphorias: Jessica(E2), Sotheby
• With Captain’s Sword you turn Ezio into a [Poison] oriented Damage Dealer. The main pull here comes from the fact that his attacks deal extra Genesis DMG scaling with the amount of stacks on his target, though how much it scales is unknown. Despite this, his damage does spike at certain thresholds of stack count, even granting him the ability to Crit his Genesis DMG at some point. To facilitate this, you want as many stacks of [Poison] as you can get, which is why we go with either Channeled Cinquedea or Butcher Knife depending on the situation.
• Tuesday is here for obvious reasons. If you’re making a [Poison] team, you’re not doing it without her. Her application is high, she has additional C.RATE and Genesis DMG debuffs and her Array allows [Poison] to stick around for much longer, helping with Ezio’s scaling. Jessica(E2) is here also. Her AFK [Poison] application and triggers synergize well with Ezio’s scaling and Tuesday’s application/Array. She is semi-flexible as you can trade her out for Kakania or more niche units like Isolde or trading into a JBabel setup (though the latter two options are only in dire situations).
• Sotheby is here for extra [Poison] application, though she’s definitely not the must with Tuesday + Jessica(E2). You can technically trade her out for any Sustain such as Medicine Pocket(E) or Fatutu but expect lower Genesis DMG from Ezio.
• The starting rotation is the simplest of the teams: Just get the Tuesday Array fast and start spamming.