D: Killer Wife guide & review

Normally an executioner and now taking a different role, D: Killer Wife, with her newfound glamor, comes to surprise us with a dark tale full of moral dilemma and ethically questionable moments. An eyewitness to fate's shadowy whims, D: Killer Wife is yet another support unit to add to everyone's roster. She offers a unique buff that strengthens the team's Pierce Damage, alongside a substantial Cooldown Reduction that complements the other minor offensive buffs granted via Burst Skill.

Our first impression is that D: Killer Wife is adequately powerful thanks to her CDR buff alone. In NIKKE, having at least one CDR in team allows you to enjoy 3 (4 if fast enough) more Full Bursts attainable in a single 3-minute run. This leads to a considerable increase in damage output. D: Killer Wife also grants Pierce Damage, which belongs to the same rarely diluted group of Attack Damage and Part Damage, that empowers any attacks tagged with Pierce (regardless of whether there is any surface to pierce). This makes D: Killer Wife a great pair for any Sniper Rifle wielder possessing Pierce. Let's not forget that she belongs to Elysion too (finally, ShiftUp)!

Unfortunately, she is not flawless. Thanks to her gimmicky Burst Skill, she may be a tad situational. Units are required to hit a part to gain Core Damage. This means against bosses without parts or without core, or against mobs, this component is worthless.

Skill 1

■ Activates when attacking with Full Charge for 3 time(s). Affects self.

Gain Pierce for 1 round.

■ Activates when entering Full Burst. Affects all allies with a Sniper Rifle.

Pierce Damage ▲ 13.55% for 10 sec.

• Pierce on self should help with burst generation but is negligible.
• Pierce Damage is an offensive buff that belongs to the group of Attack Damage and Parts Damage.
• This buff only applies to Nikkes who wield Sniper Rifles by default. Ideal for Red Hood and Alice and not applicable on Snow White. Good on Maxwell.

Skill 2

■ Activates when attacking with Full Charge for 8 time(s). Affects all allies.

Cooldown of Burst Skill ▼ 7 sec.

■ Activates when attacking with Full Charge for 5 time(s). Affects all allies.

Attack damage ▲ 5.06% for 10 sec.

• The most prominent part of her kit thanks to the CDR and perpetual Attack Damage buff.
• CDR scales with level and should activate roughly once per rotation with 8 base ammo (obtainable via OL and/or Cube). More in Investment Advice.
• Unlike Liter's, Volume's, or Dolla's, the CDR immediately reaches maximum potential at the start of the battle. This is one huge advantage.
• Eight Full Charge on AUTO costs 22 frames + charge time, resulting in a base interval of 1.367s between shots. Perfect animation interruption on MANUAL can save 11 frames per shot.
• Normally, it takes around 11 secs to proc the CDR with unlimited ammo. Otherwise, add 2.367s for one reload (13.367s aggregated).
• Attack Damage refreshes every 5 Full Charge(s) and lasts for 10 seconds. Since the time taken to do 5 Full Charge(s) is always less than 10 seconds, even when a reload is necessary, this buff can be considered as permanent.

Burst

■ Affects the enemy nearest to the crosshair.

Deals 269.28% of final ATK as additional damage.

Inflicts Wipe Out on the target for 10 sec.

■ Activates when allies' normal attack hits a certain area of the target afflicted with Wipe Out. Affects allies.

Buff takes effect depending on the area hit.

Allies that hit parts: Damage dealt when attacking core ▲ 16.26% for 10 sec.

Allies that hit the body: ATK ▲ 12.19% of caster's ATK for 10 sec.

• Inflicts the debuff Wipe Out to the enemy nearest to the crosshair. Be careful when using her on AUTO against a wave of enemies.
• Allies that attack the affected enemy's part gains a 10s Core Damage buff, which does NOT refresh and can only be activated again AFTER the buff expires.
• For example, if the buff is received at the 9th second, then the buff will extend to the 19th second. And, if you are already in the next Full Burst thanks to CDR, you can trigger the buff again after the current one ends.
• Allies that attack the affected enemy's body gains a caster's ATK buff that operates similarly.
• The Core Damage and ATK buffs are independent, which means both can be triggered at once or one after the other. Triggering one does not prevent the other one from triggering.
• These buffs and their corresponding timers are individual. Every unit is treated independently.

Campaign

A viable alternative to Liter, Dorothy, or Volume. CDR is good for campaign when you need to rotate faster depending on how the stage goes. Buffs can be very limiting as some do not apply universally, but she performs exceptionally well in Sniper Rifle teams.

Elysion Tower

Might find a spot if CDR is urgently needed. The issue is right now Elysion has barely any burst gen outside Vesti. Other battery units exhibit poor performance, sadly. Regardless, she is one of the only two SSR B1 in Elysion tower with a 20s CD. Therefore, D:Wife can be used effectively to progress in Elysion Tower if the setups favor her over Miranda (which should be yes in most cases).

Raids

She supersedes Volume in Union Raid and is here to stay in Solo Raid for a very long time. CDR is too useful to be left out, especially if the unit can also enhance meta DPS.

Simulation Overclock

No one knows what will be the next restrictions, but having a 20s B1 CDR Sniper Rifle may help navigate certain weapon restrictions.

PVP

D:Wife is not meta for PvP. She is a PvE unit. She may have some use in niche setups due to the fact that her CDR is not dependent on Full Burst, but overall you should avoid using D:Wife on PvP.

Gear Investments

First of all, D:Wife needs to have at least 8 ammo per rotation to avoid double reloads, which adds an unnecessary 2s choke. To make S2 triggers more uniform and reliable, you may opt to get Max Ammo lines. One should be enough, as it only requires a constant number of 8 Full Charge(s) per trigger. Still, if you are short on rocks, try to live without OL, as those extra few seconds of waiting will probably do no harm. In fact, with Wingman Cube level 7, you may not need to OL her at all, except if you want to increase her base ATK for buffing purposes. In this case, you want to prioritize her Helmet first, then Armor/Gloves as usual.

Skill Investments

• Skill 1: 4-10
• Pierce Damage is free TDM for everyone with SR and Pierce. Since this group is rarely diluted, expect a nearly raw improvement. There is no breakpoint. You can sleep on this and upgrade beyond 7 later if desired in the future.
• In the formula, if no other ATK DMG or Parts Damage buffs are present, 10% Pierce Damage will amount to a 10% damage output increase.

• Skill 2: 7-10
• Higher CDR is almost always necessary, as most of the time, rotations are fast when there is an SR unit in team. You can start with lower levels like 4 and try her out. If you feel choked, upgrade. Also, this skill gives Attack Damage permanently to everyone, so free TDM too and universal at that.
• Burst: 4-7
• Gimmicky, but you should be able to obtain some sort of value against most bosses with core and parts. ATK buff is always guaranteed at least. Core Damage is also a nice damage amplification. The problem is the values are quite low.
• For reference, a 10% Core Damage increase buff translates to a maximum of 5% damage boost when hitting cores. This value decreases with Full Burst, Critical, and Damage Distance bonuses.

Cube Investments

With a minimum of one Max Ammo line, Resilience is best in helping make S2 triggers more uniform. Bastion can be used as an alternative if slots are full or if you have tons of Max Ammo. With no Max Ammo lines, however, you can select Wingman (min. level 7). Not 7 yet? Use Resilience for now.

Team #1

Burst 1

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

A familiar team with D instead of Liter. Here, D buffs Alice considerably and still somewhat empowers SBS. Nevertheless, D's buffs will be slightly diluted here. If Liter's presence with Bunnies is preferred, then this is what works best.

Team #2

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

B3

FLEX can be Alice, Maxwell, or other B3. This is another team featuring D. You should probably try some teams out and see which combinations offer the most damage.

Team #3

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

One of the new Elysion Tower flagship teams. D replaces Miranda. Marciana or Helm can be used for healing, S.Helm can be used for extra CDR to make up for Vesti's short 5-second bursts. Privaty and Vesti are general picks for any stage. Choose your final Burst 3 according to the situation.

Yes. One copy is enough, but we believe she is a must have for seasoned commanders and beginners alike. TOP META SUPPORT.

Perhaps you have a question that sounds like — what about exchanging Golden Mileage for her? Unless you really care about Raids (especially the Solo version), we discourage such interchange, especially if you already own Dorothy, Liter, and/or other CDR units. If she is to be your first/second CDR unit, we strongly encourage considering this proposition, but keep the next paragraph in mind.

Coupons are extremely valuable, and you don't want to miss out on the upcoming good DPS, which will probably have a bigger influence on your account. Half anniversary is only around the corner! If you decide to tread the path of skipping, make sure to wishlist D:Wife.