[Kurokumo Clan Captain] Ishmael NEW!

Kurokumo Ishmael is the unlikely savior of the Kurokumo Team, and her effectiveness in buffing all Kurokumo units is so good, enough to be better than the Blade Lineage Team in some aspects. Be it building up extremely high amounts of Bleed to proc all at once, or turning every single skill played by a Kurokumo unit into Negative Coins but better.

To begin this review, we will go over Kurokumo Ishmael’s Passive, “Gathering Dark Clouds.”

At 3+ Lust Resonance, gains Dark Cloud Blade which gives Ishmael 1 Slash Power and inflict 1 Bleed On Hit with Slash Skills on Combat Start. Additionally, apply 1 Dark Cloud to Kurokumo Clan Identities adjacent to this unit on the Dashboard, which converts all of their Base Attack Skill Coins used this turn to Unbreakable Coins, prevents damage from Staggering those units until the end of their Skills, and inflict +1 more of Bleed effects. Additionally, if they lose the clash, they’ll gain 3 Final Power, which amplifies the Unbreakable Coin Counter damage. If you reach 4+ Lust Resonance, Dark Cloud will be applied to all Kurokumo Clan allies.

Already, this makes every prior criticism about Kurokumo IDs being bad at Clashing go null, as with the combined power of both Unbreakable Coins and Final Power from Dark Cloud, you still gain the benefits of amplified Bleed infliction and debuffs from the other Kurokumo Clan members, with the added effect that they cannot stagger until after their skill ends, completely nullifying the consequence of losing a clash in the first place.

That being said, let’s go over her skills.

• Skill 1, Clean Up - 2 Coin Skill - Base Roll 11, Conditionals Met - 15. This skill does +30% more damage for every type of negative effect on the target, for a maximum of 30%.

• Skill 2, Sharpened Blade - 2 Coin Skill - Base Roll 16, Conditionals Met - 20. This skill is Ishmael’s main utility for the Kurokumo Team, applying Damage Up to other allied Kurokumo units. The slash fragility also turns into normal fragility if there are 6+ other Kurokumo IDs.

• Skill 3, Ink Over - 3 Coin Skill - Base Roll 17, Conditionals Met - 23. Ishmael will gain 2 Slash Power Up when this skill kills a target. This skill also activates Bleed on the target 3 times.

• Defensive Skill, Scattering Slash - 1 Coin Skill - Base Roll 14. Outside of being an evade, its main purpose is to activate lust resonance passives and buff up Kurokumo Heathcliff's counter

Kurokumo Ishmael also has one final trick up her sleeve, where she has the Battle Ready Passive. This passive activates where when a Kurokumo Clan ally dies, she gains 1 Slash Power Up for the rest of the Encounter. When 3 or more Kurokumo Clan allies are defeated, she will then gain Battle Ready for the rest of the Encounter. This effect will add +1 Bleed Potency and Count inflicted with this unit’s Skill or Coin effects, and Gain 1 Slash Power Up and 3 Slash DMG Up for the rest of the encounter.

While some allies don’t benefit too much from Kurokumo Ishmael’s bonuses, the vast majority of them are greatly amplified by their capabilities, making them arguably stronger than Blade Lineage with this unit alone.

Notable Team/ID Synergies

• Kurokumo Hong Lu - Because of Dark Cloud, Kurokumo Hong Lu now has the strongest Bleed infliction in the game with his S3. Applying a very hefty 10 Bleed Potency with his S2 alone. Also because Kurokumo Ishmael procs Bleed Count thrice with her S3, Cloud Cutter can always stay active even through Rodion’s Sanguine Desire.

• Kurokumo Ryoshu - Because of Dark Cloud, Kurokumo Ryoshu now has the means to let Bleed stay and stack faster, with 4 Count on S2 and 5 Count on S3.

• Kurokumo Heathcliff - Kurokumo Ishmael’s presence on the field makes his counter, Rules of the Backstreets, a lot stronger by converting all of his skills into Unbreakable Coins and gaining Final Power +4 upon Clash Lose.

Notable E.G.O Synergies - None