CurianInformation and Guide

Summary

Curian is a backline damage dealer DPS monster who provides extremely high DPS for his cost, while also providing some of the highest burst damage in the game. He is an easy fit into teams and finds widespread use across almost all content in the game, and especially finds value in late game PVE game modes where he can best flex his massive damage.

Curian’s singular focus on dealing damage extends beyond his slew of damage self-buffs and into his team “utility”. His passive resets allied Wardens’ empowered basics on special skill casts. When used together, Curian can push the team’s total burst damage to absurd heights.

PVE Review

Curian’s high damage output is appreciated everywhere. Similar to Awakened Rosaria (ARosaria), he excels in single target situations, making him a strong option for boss content (e.g. Raids, Guild Coop, Dimension Trimming, Danger Close). 

It is worth noting that Curian out-damages ARosaria, the other ASSR sniper backline damage dealer, by a decent margin. Compared to ARosaria, Curian sees more use in the late game PVE game modes. To elaborate on the above, Curian is strong in all three raids (Britra, Inhibitor, Kraken), he is strong against both Consortium bosses (Worm, Gigas), he sees use in Danger Close, and he is relevant in Dimension Trimming.

PVP Review

Curian is one of the strongest PVP damage dealers in the game, capable of outputting absurd amounts of damage from incredible range. 

Curian’s stats are incredibly over-tuned compared to other sniper damage dealers. He was initially released as a glass-cannon backline damage dealer who sacrificed survivability for damage, resulting in complaints from the community because he was exceptionally squishy for a 6 DP ASSR to the point where it was too easy to misplay and get him killed. As a result, his defensive stats were grossly overbuffed so that he, a backline sniper, now has almost the same defensive stats as Serapel, a frontline tank.

Curian confers certain positioning advantages to your team. His passive grants himself a temporary 50% range extension on deployment, which can be heavily abused to force a bad positioning from the opponent. Because Curian out-damages and out-ranges all other backline units in the game, opponents are forced to deploy a frontline tank, which gets themselves camped* by Curian. Additionally, Curian’s ultimate repositions himself at the back of the map, keeping him relatively safe throughout the game. This is highly valued, as snipers do not come with any tools to reposition themselves. Curian can be tricky to lock down when his ultimate resets any efforts to drag him out of position.

*Camping is a community term used in positioning. See also: https://www.prydwen.gg/counter-side/guides/rta-concepts

Curian synergizes extremely well with the soldier ship Matador. Matador grants an ATK% buff to ally soldiers based on missing %max HP. Due to how tanky Curian is, he can actually capitalize on the buff without getting himself killed. People typically play Curian in soldier comps to maximize Matador’s value. Curian may also be played as a traditional backline damage dealer in counter comps, though his viability depends heavily on the bans/ ups for the week. Without Matador, Curian may struggle to compete with other ASSR backline damage dealers for a slot on the team. When assessed as a standalone backline carry, there are stronger characters who create more value in the long run. Curian-soldiers is soldiers’ strongest comp, but Curian-counters is not counters’ strongest comp. 

Curian’s high damage output, his absurd range, and his post-buff defensive stats can make him very frustrating to play against. However, he is susceptible to:

• Traditional soldier counters: Curian-soldier comps have advantages over traditional soldier comps, but they are still at their core soldier comps and are susceptible to many of the same countermeasures. Notably, Lily’s combination of damage and sleep simultaneously chip away at Curian’s health while also stalling the soldier backline with sleep debuffs. 

• Stacking defenders: As a sniper, Curian is inherently bad at dealing with defenders. Soldier comps are known for vaporizing defenders, but their anti-defender damage dealers are all very squishy and fragile. Running defender-heavy stall comps and bringing something to kill the anti-defenders is a great way to stall out Curian’s team.

• Backline access: As mentioned above, Lily is one of the better ways to counter Curian. However, other backline access tools will also work. Given Curian’s base stats and his range, it can be difficult to actually kill him. However, with enough setup it is still possible to kill Curian with some consistency.

• Skill haste debuffs: On top of the passive anti-soldier DMG% buff, New Ohio’s silence can hamper Curian’s ability to deal damage. Curian’s special into enhanced basic is a large chunk of his damage and messing with the cooldowns can greatly impact his performance. 

• Redirecting Curian’s Ult: Curian’s ultimate can be redirected by the usual suspects (Gremory, Kang, Raphaela, etc.) to avoid the damage entirely.

Curian does not have many direct counters, but as he is mainly found in soldier comps, countering the team archetype is generally enough to neutralize him too.