Should you pull Ezra Theodore?

Ezra is another addition to the growing list of Star Afflatus characters that work great in Crit teams. His support for it, alongside his Moxie, Eureka, and shield generation, makes him extremely versatile. He is especially worth pulling for if you’re planning to use 37. He, however, does require some setup and has a learning curve.

Ezra Theodore is the first playable Human character in Reverse: 1999.

As a researcher from the LaPlace Australian Branch, his main interest is the study and application of fungi, but his work goes beyond that. Being raised in a family of gentle scholars who always taught him to be kind and help anyone in need, no matter Human or Arcanist, Ezra has always shown interest and curiosity towards Arcanists and the Arcanum in general.

On good days, he's attentive and quick to notice the needs of others, sometimes being overbearing on his willingness to help, which may cause clashes and misunderstandings. On a bad day, Ezra's demeanor is excessively pessimistic, thoughtful and insensitive enough to cause disaster, such was the case in one of LaPlace's "Friendly Tea Parties", where Ezra's attempt to unite the researchers ended up backfiring. Thankfully, he's easy enough to get back on a good side. All that is needed is the mention of mushrooms and the young researcher's eyes quickly lit up.

Combat Role: Support

Ezra is a support who can provide shields, various buffs, moxie, and Eureka to allies and himself. What you’ll likely notice instantly about Ezra’s kit is that he loses health on all of his skills, which might make you wonder, how do we even keep him alive? Well, his Insight III does provide healing depending on how many mushrooms are on the field, 8% each per mushroom. And every single one of his skills and ultimate will plant a mushroom that grows every round. Essentially, the way it works is once it is “planted” from using his skill or ultimate, it’ll grow once every round and mature after growing 3 rounds and depending on if you’re growing a [Honey Fungus] or [Ghost Fungus] it will inflict either [Vulnerability] (Damage Reduction) or [Discernment] (which is Crit DMG+ 40%) to all allies. He can speed up cycling simply by using his skills. Mushrooms will be vital in keeping Ezra alive and applying the various buffs.

Looking more directly into what his skills do, “Protection to the Body” is pretty much his only means of doing damage, it’s a mass attack whose most of which its dmg comes from the Genesis DMG portion of it rather than the actual attack. Ezra’s other skill “Stimulus to the Mind” is a mass shield buff (which unfortunately lasts one round) that plants a [Ghost Fungus]. He can lose up to 15% of his current health on both of these skills. His ultimate, “Compassion All-Round” is a mass buff that grants 1 moxie and Eureka to all allies and also plants the maximum amount of [Honey Fungus] possible while maturing all mushrooms. The moxie gained from his ultimate alongside the Eureka generation, makes this a very useful ultimate that can benefit various teams.

Ezra as already mentioned does generate Eureka from his ultimate, the other way to generate Eureka would be from his Insight I giving him Eureka when entering battle. Eureka is useful for his kit in multitudes of ways, with Insight I, he can consume 2 to grow any Mushroom if the maximum amount of the corresponding mushroom is planted. And with Insight III, if the maximum amount of mushrooms are planted and the mushroom corresponding to the skill is not present, 2 Eureka will be consumed to increase his Moxie by 1. This means that if you focus on planting [Ghost Fungus] when you use his Ultimate, you should be able to give Ezra fairly consistent Moxie gain.

Overall, Ezra can be a bit hard to learn and a bit AP greedy just due to him needing to set up his mushrooms, but he works very well in his role as a Sustain/Support to provide CRIT buffs, moxie, and Eureka for the team if you can figure him out.

Pros & Cons

His Portrays aren’t needed and pulling for them isn’t recommended because he’s a 6 star, but if you were to pull, aiming for Portray 2 is a good idea as it reduces his health loss and strengthens Honey Fungus’s effect.

Ezra has several great pairings you can consider. Regulus is a great partner who supports the crit team, and she’s not AP greedy at all, since you're rewarded for skipping her turns.

37 is a great partner for her as he’s able to provide Eureka and Moxie, and again, help with crit damage. His shields could also help keep her alive.

Ezra works well in pretty much any Crit-Oriented team, as well as Star teams in general. [Discernment] is a rare kind of buff whose +Crit DMG can benefit characters like Lilya, Blonney, Charlie, as well as the already mentioned 37 and Regulus. In cases like Lilya's in particular, it brings her to a new DMG ceiling since she can't convert her excess Crit. Rate into Crit. DMG.

Star Afflatus characters and Crit-oriented characters are also notorious for being squishy, in which case Ezra helps alleviate the issue with his shields. This becomes even more relevant when dealing with stages that reduce the amount of healing received. Ezra also synergizes well with other supports like 6, Tooth Fairy, and An-An Lee, providing an all-around protection and buff coverage for whatever carry you are using.

Here are the best Psychubes you can use on Ezra Theodore:

Beyond Wonderland

Her Second Life

• Beyond Wonderland increases his max HP, heal rate, and his own Crit. Rate by up to 21% at level 5. A good mix of everything to help him survive and do more damage.
• Her Second Life - Ezra will be wanting to use Ultimate quite a bit and providing extra healing along with it from this Pscyhube will allow Ezra to play more of a dedicated sustain role.

Level 7

On lower levels (R7), it's more important to focus on HP and survival in general, as Ezra's shields scale with his HP and he won't be doing much else.

Level 9

Starting on R9, the focus begins to shift to a balance between Crit and HP, allowing Ezra to contribute with damage, on top of his standard role.

Level 10

Standard Teams

Math and Research [GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• Versatile team whose Genesis DMG from 37 and the use of "Balance, Please" from 6 enables tackling most types of enemies.
• The combo of 6 and Ezra enables a ridiculous amount of buffs and debuffs, covering all the bases, from regen to shields, not to mention all the damage potential. Ezra also shines here as his ultimate allows for 37 and 6 to cycle their kits faster

Rockstar and Nerds [GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• This team brings Regulus' critical DMG to the next level, and it's very easy to manage.

Soaring Mushrooms [GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• Lilya and Eagle can reach consistent 100% Crit. Rate or their attacks or Ultimate, but are held back by their lack of Crit. Rate to Crit. DMG conversion in the case of the former, and their propensity to being one-shot killed for both. Ezra helps preventing that with his shields, as well as boosting their damage with his debuff and buff
• Tooth Fairy can be replaced by any other healer.

Raid Teams

Ezra can be added on the fourth slot of any team who has high crit-characters or squishy characters. He's tanky enough to survive even in Beast teams (despite that not being ideal), enabling his use alongside the likes of Melania and Spathodea, and when it comes to 4-P content, shields are always welcome.

Jiu and Pals

Carry

Carry / Support

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• Thanks to Jiu Niangzi follow-up attacks, she can essentially allow 37 to consistently activate her Insight 1 to gain Eureka. Jiu Niangzi also deals a tremendous amount of damage.
• Ezra is a good fit in this team as well, again to help with Eureka gain, but his Moxie gain and especially Crit buffs are perfect for this team.
• Tooth Fairy might feel like she’s not needed since Ezra is here, but his shields only last for one turn, and for a raid, you likely need a more dedicated healer. Additionally, Tooth Fairy also provides good crit debuffs.

Advanced Research

Carry

Support

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• This is an advanced form of the 3-P team suggestion. TF joins here to increase survivability as well as 37's Crit. Rate Potential.

Eureka Full Speed

Carry

Carry / Support

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• Similar to the 3 people team version except more DMG both from Lilya and 37, plus faster Eureka cycling.