Arcana: Fortune MateInformation and Guide

ShiftUp is not letting us rest again this time, are they? This time, we get a solid addition to our core SG team. How does Arcana work, and how much impact does owning her give? How meta is she? Let's study together just like in the minigame!

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Altcana, or ArcanaFM, is a mainstay SG buffer with dependable ATK and ATK DMG buffs. ATK DMG is a rarity in most SG comps, given Tove's big ATK buffs, making it precious. They have a simple activation requirement, but it is gated by Tove, so she is less effective without Tove in team. That said, unless there's a niche B2 such as OG Arcana or Nayuta taking over, ArcanaFM is the best general and non-specialized B2 for SG Team.

We can see that ArcanaFM will easily be relevant for Fire-weak and Water-weak SR, with potential use in Wind-weak SR if we get a good standalone Wind SG B3 (or if SG team doesn’t get power-creeped). Her presence in Iron-weak SR can be overshadowed by Nayuta because Nayuta's buffs last longer, but she is still a very competent buffer. If healing and constant screen wipes are not needed, and ArcanaFM is invested, she can beat Nayuta. In Electric-weak, she is trounced by OG Arcana if you have Isabel. Note that ArcanaFM is strong, and you can still use her in all 5 elements despite there being a better choice. But, that strength is locked behind only working for SGs.

She is not Clip SG, btw.

Should I pull or mileage this unit?

If you care about SR and have SG Team built, especially ToveTr and DrakeTr (and Doropity), then YES! You should get her. She will improve your damage in minimum 2 elements and up to 4 elements (5 if you don't have Arcana OG-Isabel). 

However, given that SG Team is a late-game comp only relevant for SR, this prospect may not be enticing to everyone, especially beginners or intermediate players. Therefore, you can choose to skip her if you are not planning to build an SG Team anytime soon. This might be a good idea as well if you're short on gems as the 3.5th Half Anniversary is coming near (end of April / start of May). 3.5 years already, huh. Time flies..

Should I get dupes?

ArcanaFM has respectable damage, comparable to DrakeTr, and therefore can be considered a half DPS (1/2 DPS). She also gives the team 39% caster's ATK buff, and she is an Attacker. Therefore, she evidently scales with dupes, and given her relevance in multiple elements, it might be a good idea to obtain dupes if you are a competitive veteran swimming in gems.

Other players, such as beginners and non-competitive veterans, should NOT obtain dupes from Advanced Banner. You can get them from Ordinary once she enters Wishlist. Yes, she will enter Wishlist.

Kit Analysis

Rotation Basics

ArcanaFM's rotation is pretty simple. When she Bursts, she gains Making Memories, a buff that allows her to trigger effects by shooting normally. She also buffs every SG in the team (except herself) with +55% ATK DMG for 10s. Making Memories ends whenever Full Burst ends, so it can be extended definitely (and indefinitely) by delaying Full Burst, not triggering Full Burst at all (not that you should do this), or extending it with BSoda.

When Making Memories is active, her basic attacks trigger special effects in a cycle, similar to SBS's. During a cycle:

• The 2nd shot refills her ammo by +6.

• The 4th shot gains her a stack of Happy Memories, which increases pellet count by +1 (useless most of the time except for breaking hitcount projectiles), up to +3.

  • It also activates the second part of S1, giving her a stack of Snapshots of Youth, increasing her normal attack damage multiplier by +10% (multiplicative), up to +30%.

• The 6th shot obtains her a stack of Precious Memories, giving +2.49% ATK, up to +7.47%.

After the 6th shot, the cycle repeats, i.e. she will recover ammo after the next 2 shots. Therefore:

• Ammo refill: 2nd, 8th, 14th, 20th, …

• Happy Memories: 4th, 10th, 16th, …

• Precious Memories: 6th, 12th, 18th, ...

When Full Burst ends, all stacks of Snapshots of Youth and Precious Memories disappear alongside Making Memories. In exchange, all SGs in the team will gain 13% ATK × Precious Memories stack count for 15 seconds.

Key Inferences

ArcanaFM's ATK and ATK DMG buffs are what makes her powerful, thus maintaining their uptime and strength is important. To do that, we need to Burst with her all the time and ensure she gets 3 stacks of Precious Memories always.

This is easily achievable with ToveTr, boosting her ATK SPD to 2.1/s, which allows her to trigger Precious Memories 3x and Ammo Refund 4x. Without ToveTr, though, there is an issue. At 1.5/s, you cannot reach the 3rd Precious Memories trigger. There are three ways to fix this:

• The first one is you don't bother with it at all. Not having 3 stacks of PM only cuts a small slice of her ATK buff, so just take the loss.

• The second option is to delay the Full Burst to get a little more time shooting, but at 1.5/s, you are basically lengthening your rotations by +2s each, which is not ideal and will cost you damage throughout 3 minutes due to reduced FB.

• The third option is to whip out BSoda because she extends Full Burst and guarantees you get the 3rd stack.

Anyhow, none of these are ideal solutions. The only ideal solution is to build Tove (and thereafter ToveTr). She is literally the best B1 in the game but limited to SGs only. We can therefore say that ToveTr has a higher build priority compared to ArcanaFM and that building ArcanaFM without ToveTr is less profitable.

We also want to mention that ArcanaFM refills +6 ammo every 6 shots during Burst, and her Burst Skill reloads +2 ammo instantly. This makes her not need Max Ammo lines. You are always guaranteed to have her shooting forever during Burst. If ArcanaFM is in reload animation upon using Burst, manual and cancel the reload prematurely by shooting.

Additionally, if you equip Bastion, she will actually recharge ammo throughout Burst, capping her magazine and preventing her from reloading outside Burst.

Another of ArcanaFM's abilities is screen wipe. Especially with Tove, her screen wipe can help eliminate mobs and projectiles. It is not as frequent as Nayuta's, but against some bosses, her screen wipe can help improve damage by allowing you not to manually shoot at the projectiles.

Tier List & Usage Analysis

Campaign: B

It's hard to rate her higher because she only works for SGs, and SGs are not particularly good at long range or penetrating terrain. However, her buffs for SGs are good enough, and she has a wipe that can help clear the screen, so we are placing her in the same rank as ToveTr — B.

Bossing: S

Her usefulness sits below Tove (because she needs Tove for maximum performance), but she is as crucial as Tove. If not for her limited synergy with SGs, she would have been ranked higher.

In short, ArcanaFM is SG's new best non-specialized B2 buffer. Non-specialized means she doesn't offer healing nor niche empowerment like OG Arcana does. When no specialized B2 is required, ArcanaFM is easily the best B2 for SGs, evident in Fire-weak and Water-weak. In Iron-weak, she competes with Nayuta. Nayuta offers healing and stable long-range damage, as well as more frequent screen wipes, whereas ArcanaFM buffs the team better (thus more team damage unless Nayuta's niches are desired). In Wind-weak, her presence is unclear because there is no carry B3 Wind SG yet. You will probably go with Blanc Rouge or completely bench SGs. That said, you can still run ToveTr ArcanaFM Doropity Noir DrakeTr/CDR if you want.

Where does XBrid go in Fire-weak SR? XBrid is a generic B2 support that works not only for SGs. She will join your MirandaTr-MiharaBC comp or buff your XDiesel as she needs ATK and Damage Taken and loathes ATK DMG. Or, you can run ToveTr ArcanaFM DrakeTr BSoda XBrid, which is stronger than both SDoro-XBrid/ArcanaFM variants!

PvP: B

Again, she only works for SGs, which is a big disadvantage. At least, she is a Shotgun and can therefore pressure P1/P5. Her Burst can also deal considerable damage if buffed and it crits. Because of that, we are placing her in the same tier as ToveTr — B.

Note that her ATK buff activates late in PvP because it’s after Full Burst + buffs only work for SGs.

Investments

Gear Investments

As a baseline support, ArcanaFM only needs ATK stat, so that means OL-ing her Helmet, Gloves, and Vest and leveling them up without rerolling their lines at all. However, she is a decent half DPS, so building her might be a good idea if there's a Fire-weak SR soon (if you are competitive there) and if you're done with other higher priorities (MiharaBC, XDiesel, etc). For DPS, aim for ELE ×4 mainly since SG Team already has a lot of ATK, then ATK ×4 for a modest damage boost. ATK also works for Neutral, but ELE doesn't—and ArcanaFM has presence across 2-5 elements. If you are trying to conserve, aim for ELE only and move on.

She doesn't need Max Ammo if you use Bastion. If you use Destruction, Max Ammo has value, but it's not worth the extra rocks.

For the bonus lines, Crit DMG > Crit Rate just because she + Tove have accrued plenty of Crit Rate.

• Ideal: 4× ELE, 4× ATK

• Filler: 4× Crit Damage, 4× Crit Rate, 4× Hit Rate

• Priority: 6

• Note: Support only needs gear level; no need to reroll lines. For DPS, aim for ELE mainly since SG Team already has a lot of ATK, but ATK is still good because she has presence across 2-5 elements. You don't need Max Ammo.

Skill Investments

ArcanaFM wants S1 & S2 as a Support, and all of them as a DPS. Because ArcanaFM is primarily a Support, invest in S1 & S2 first before Burst.

• Skill 1: 10

  • Increases the amount of ATK buff given to team.

• Skill 2: 10

  • Increases the amount of ATK DMG given to team, which has a higher impact compared to ATK because of less dilution.

  • Higher priority than S1 but level them together.

• Burst Skill: 4~10

  • Only for personal DPS.

  • Can be left at 4 as a starter, especially if she's not DPS-built.

  • Upgrade to 7 if your Blue Manuals overflow, and upgrade to 10 if you are a whale who is serious at damage minmaxing in Fire-weak or Neutral SR.

Cube Investments

Bastion is her go-to cube as it allows her to refill ammo throughout Burst. However, Destruction is better against bosses with respawning parts that have a lot of uptime. Notwithstanding these suggestions, use your highest level cube. If Resilience level is far above Bastion, use Resilience instead for base ATK stat.

Doll Investments

SG Doll Weapon Skill increases Normal Damage Multiplier, which is good for all SGs, including ArcanaFM. Not only that, it gives base ATK stat, which strengthens ArcanaFM's buff. This makes her one of the best Doll SR 15 recipients.