Resonance SolsticeNicolaBuild and Guide

Nicola is an Electro DPS who utilizes [Guns] and [Drones]. She’s one of the first hyper carries in the game, being able to buff herself to dish high amounts of damage at impressive speed when fully built. It is recommended always to use her in the Leader position, as her Ultimate card is costly (8). At the same time, its cooldown is very easy to reduce through the fight, allowing Nicola to spam it every couple of seconds. She synergizes best with Electro teams and teams that can buff or cycle through Red cards. For those who enjoy her playstyle or Electro teams, Awakening 2 is a good investment. It makes Nicola shoot with both pistols, adding exponential damage output, especially if you take into consideration that her first card, [Electro Jolt], can increase her [Basic Attack] by up to +100%.

Playstyle and Key Mechanics

Nicola is all about buffing her [Basic Attack] in every way possible. She can spam her cards and Ultimate swiftly, and, as if that wasn’t enough, she additionally deploys drones to have additional sources of damage output, as if her multiple guns firing at full speed weren’t enough. Her playstyle is relatively simple and doesn’t have many unique mechanics. Nicola revolves around two simple concepts:

• Electrify: All her skills have a 20% chance to trigger [Lightning], with each [Lightning] dealing “1 hit damage”. The damage from each hit is calculated based on its source, as specified in each card. For instance, if the source of Lightning is Nicola’s [Basic Attack], then it’s 200% per hit. If the source is [Electro Jolt], then the source is 1800% per hit, and so on. The biggest example of this being taken to the maximum is on Nicola’s Ultimate, when she buffs her  [Basic Attack] even further, while at the same time she triggers all [Electro Jolt] and [Rage Bolt] cards, both from the Deck and Discard piles. [Electrify] can trigger additional times through the use of certain buffs and equipment. In those cases, when the source isn’t a specific card, the “1 hit damage” uses the base damage formula instead, without the skill multiplier:

  • DMG = ATK * (1 + Differentiation) * (1 + DMG Boost) * (1 + Final Boost) * (1 + Attribute Stats).

• Penetrate: Nicola’s basic attacks and skills can penetrate through enemies, which means that, despite being primarily a single-target character, her attacks can still hit as many enemies as there are directly behind her main target, thus increasing her output even more.

• Drone: Every time Nicola uses [Rage Bolt], she summons [606], a [Drone] that deals 2 hits of 600% DMG per second that can trigger [Electrify]. The [Drone] lasts 6 seconds, but its duration can be extended through certain buffs and equipment. Nicola can have up to three [606] [Drones] summoned at any given time.

Investment

Nicola works fine without dupes, but if you wish to invest, her best cost-benefit is her A2. Like almost every character, however, ‘the more, the merrier’, with each dupe impacting her output to a different degree or way:

• Awakening 1 — Buffs Nicola’s ATK by up to +60% every time an ally inflicts [Electrify]. This cements her synergy as being nearly exclusive to Electro teams or teams that can consistently apply [Electrify]. It also increases Nicola’s own [Electrify] trigger rate by 10%, greatly benefiting her output due to how her skills work (see section above).

• Awakening 2 — A straightforward buff that doubles Nicola’s [Basic Attack]. Considering that she can buff her [Basic Attack] DMG and Speed by up to 100% (or 200% during Ultimate), not counting other buff sources or equipment, you don’t need to think much to realize how heavily this impacts her performance, thus being her best Awakening.

• Awakening 4 — Relatively small buff to Nicola’s output. [Thunder], which is basically 3 hits of [Lightning], only triggers every 30 inflictions of that status, not being all that noticeable. The meat of this dupe is actually the 6 seconds of ATK +150 buff, which can be significant when escalated with everything else going on in Nicola’s kit and her spam of Ultimates.

• Awakening 5 — Nicola’s Awakening 5 may seem great on paper, but considering that most of it only triggers when Nicola is the only one surviving on the field, it becomes nearly useless. Nicola herself is very squishy, and if she’s the only one surviving, something already went very wrong. The silver lining comes from the first part of this Awakening, which can buff Nicola’s Final DMG by up to +50% based on her trigger rate of [Electrify]. This means that you get at least a base buff of +30% Final DMG. 

Resonance

• Resonance 1 — Increases [Basic Attack] speed up to +100%. Also activates Nicola’s Profession Skill, which gives Max train speed +5km/h.

• Resonance 2 — The amount of [Rage Bolt] cards in the deck is increased by 1. This is a significant upgrade, as it increases the consistency of card usage and empowers Nicola’s Ultimate.

• Resonance 4 — Increases the attack speed of the drone by 50%, which means more damage and more opportunities to trigger [Electrify].

• Resonance 5 — An essential Resonance, it enables Nicola’s [Basic Attack] to trigger [Electrify]. Since she has one of the fastest Attack Speed (even more so with her A2) and much of her kit revolves around triggering the effects of [Electrify], the power spike when reaching this Resonance node is the most noticeable.

Synergies

❗ ❗ ❗ The Synergies mentioned here are merely samples. Taking their core mechanics as an example, you can use many other characters as replacements or other synergies. ❗ ❗ ❗ 

• Caroline - Nicola’s best friend in terms of Synergy. Caroline provides everything Nicola could ever want and more: [Magnetize] doubles the chance of the target getting inflicted by [Electrify], buffs all allies, making all their attacks have a chance to trigger [Electrify], has Card Draw that prioritizes cards with [Electrify] and increases the damage of all Electro effects coming from the Leader. Last, but not least, makes [Electrify] recover cost every time it is triggered. Legend says Caroline still follows Nicola around in the CN server to this day.

• Stella - Much like Nayuta, Stella is always useful to have around. Her role is simple: speed up Card Draw and lower card cost. To someone who loves spamming her attacks as fast as possible, adding Stella to Nicola’s team is a no-brainer.

• Yejue - Yejue is almost like a “lite” version of Caroline. Much like the former, she can help with Card Draw, prioritizing [Electrify] cards. She’s one of the best at triggering that status, which in turn feeds the ATK buff that Nicola receives from her Awakening 1. Aside from that, her unique [Boltrain] Ultimate makes all [Electrify] in the field trigger one more time.

• Tara - Tara is a sub-DPS who specializes in drawing Red cards. If you don’t have Nayuta or Stella, she’s a good pick for deck cycling, as all Nicola cards are Red. Furthermore, Tara’s A2 makes the next Red card played deal 30% more damage, while her A5 permanently buffs Red cards with +20% DMG. Considering that it’s very easy and cheap to get an R unit like Tara fully awakened, she may be worth considering.

Gear and Affixes

Some examples of overall good equipment choices for Nicola. For specific picks, please check the respective teams.

Weapons:

• UR 2nd Phase Transition: Whenever the wearer uses a 3-cost or lower card with [Electrify], the chance to [Electrify] the target increases by 2%. This effect stacks.

• SSR Spectral Breaker: Deals 15% more Electro DMG.

• SSR Ball Lightning: Whenever the wearer's skill card is played, it unleashes a ball of lightning that [Penetrates] enemies, dealing damage once each time it hits enemies in its path and inflicting [Electrify] on them.

• SSR Extended Timeline: Increases wearer's [Basic Attack] Speed by 25%. This effect stacks.

• SSR Prohibited Crafts: [Basic Attack] deals 25% more damage.

• SR Thunder Coil MK 1: Have an 8% better chance to [Electrify] the target. This effect stacks.

• SR Viscera Collector MK 0: Using [Leader Skill] restores 0.4 Cost. This effect stacks.

• R A77 Space Pistol: Playing own Red card increases [Basic Attack] Speed by 5%, up to a maximum of 100%.

• R Gardener Multi-Tool: Playing a Red card increases ATK by 0.5%. This effect stacks.

• R Mass Projector: Using [Leader Skill] increases ATK by 1.5%. This effect stacks.

Armor:

• UR Phase Space Entry: Whenever a unit (allies and enemies alike) triggers [Electrify], restores 0.4% of their Max HP..

• UR Lucid Dream Fiber: Wearer's Red cards heal the wearer for 2% of the damage dealt.

• SSR Simulated Stars: Using [Leader Skill] restores 5% HP. This effect stacks.

• SR Resonance Fiber: When own skill card is used, restores 2% of Max HP.

Accessory:

• SSR Monopole Magnet Drone: Own [Drone] lasts for 2 seconds longer. This effect stacks.

• SR PCS Command Drone: Using [Leader Skill] summons a support [Drone].

• R Portable AED: +15% DMG from [Electrify], [Lightning], [Thunder], and [Bolt] caused by oneself, can be stacked.

Affixes

• Using [Leader Skill] restores 0.2/0.3 Cost. This effect stacks.

• Using [Leader Skill] restores 2/3% of own Max HP. This effect stacks.

• Using a [Drone] card increases the wearer's ATK by 0.1/0.3%. This effect stacks.

• Own [Drone] lasts for 1 second longer. This effect stacks.

• Using [Leader Skill] increases own ATK by 0.5/1%. This effect stacks.

• Increases own ATK by 1/3%. This effect stacks.

• Increases [Basic Attack] Speed by 5/15%. This effect stacks.

• [Basic Attack] deals 5/15% more damage. This effect stacks.

• Increases all own trigger rates by 1/5%. This effect stacks.

• Playing a Red card increases own ATK by 0.2/0.5%. This effect stacks.

• [Electrify], [Lightning], [Thunder], and [Bolt] deal 5/10% more Lightning DMG. This effect stacks.

• Increases final DMG dealt by 2/5%. This effect stacks.

• Restores 0.01/0.02 Cost per second. This effect stacks.