Flora Guide & Review

To tend to a garden is to nurture one's mind. Meet Flora, the Ark cutest horticulturist and anthophile, a support B2 character who can continually heal the team as well as protect them with individual shields. The magic of tranquility also allows Flora to refresh the buff stacks of Electric allies and buff the team's True Damage.

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Flora is cute, but in battle, her cuteness clashes with what is needed most: aggression. She is not a strong unit but also not a weak unit. She is a survivalist, a situational healer that can be put in team whenever the relevant situation arises. She is similar to Rapunzel, BunnyAlice, or SMary in nature, in the way that they are not ubiquitous (at least in PvE context) and that she can be used off-burst. However, this means she is not a meta unit at all. This might change once we get overpowered pure True Damage B3, but for now that is not the case.

That being said, Flora's continuous healing is a unique quality that other healers do not have. Not to mention, she can also generate shields for the team should adjacent allies drop in HP below a certain threshold, which can be forced by non-restoring Max HP buffs. This creative gimmick has intrigued us into exploring some interesting synergies with her, and while we did find plenty, none of them was really game-breaking. This also applies to Flora's ability to increase the stack count of buffs of all Electric units in the team. Nevertheless, Grave, PrivM (+/- Tove), and Exia(★) showed the most promising interactions.

In terms of offense, Flora's offensive support is limited to True Damage. She has two skills that can buff the team's True Damage. However, activating them can be cumbersome as they require intentional HP loss, waiting for 40s cooldown, or the application of MAX HP buffs. While this works in conjunction with the continuous heal we mentioned earlier, it is not consistent.

Last but not least, PvP — she can probably fit in some stall comps, especially alongside units whose HP can continually dip below 90% and rise back up (such as Noise/Rapunzel). She can buff the team's True Damage too, so Ein's or Laplace's attacks can hurt more, but nothing too surprising. Her weakness is the usual same as other MG units: low burst generation and counterable by Jackal/Scarlet. Do note that her continuous heal does not spam-trigger Nero's ability.

Should I pull this unit?

The answer is NO, unless you like her design. Currently, she is not meta enough to warrant pulling (might change in the future). Anniv has just squeezed most of us dry, and soon we will be faced with limited Christmas units (perhaps with reruns of old units) as well as a likely broken unit on New Year. Unless you have overflowing gems, saving is your best bet.

If you do like her cute design, however, the writer thinks she is the cutest Nikke that ever exists (very subjective). If you think the same way, then you can pull her.

We are not to be held responsible for any bad decisions caused by you going down the waifu path.

Petunia

■ Activates at the start of battle only if self survives. Affects self and 2 allies on both sides.

Recovers 1% of caster's final Max HP every Sec continuously.

HP restored ▲ 4% continuously, stacks up to 5 time(s).

■ Activates after landing 100 normal attack(s). Effects all Electric Code allies.

Stack count of buffs ▲ 1.

Flora continuously heals units beside her in proportion to her Max HP. This is a buff tied to Flora that is active as long as Flora is alive and is not a skill. The heals are considered one heal instance, so they do not trigger Crown's nor Nero's passive over and over. Since it is a buff, it is also removable by the likes of Rosanna in the same way as she removes Jackal's Damage Share.

Positioning is Key

The fact that Flora's continuous healing is not teamwide makes unit positioning very important. It is also a big letdown since most PvE content outside Solo Raid has no predictable targeting.

Note that Nero is technically not right beside her so she doesn’t have the heal although nothing is in P4.

She also grants HP restoration buff to them, which can stack up to 5 times, but unless there are stack refreshers in the team, it will be stuck in 1 stack. Thankfully, the second part of her Skill 1, which allows her to increase the buff stack count of all Electric allies, fixes this. The problem is it only affects Electric units, so not much hope for other elements (not like the effect is game-changing in the first place).

Her stack refresh allows for some interesting interactions with certain other Electric units, some meaningful ones listed below:

• 
  Rosanna - Rosanna gains ATK buff every time an ally or an opposing Nikke dies. After ATK buff is gained, Flora can stack this up, giving her up to 220% ATK buff just by existing. However, both being 40s makes it impossible to optimally run in PvE. Unless you are recording for content, for example “Flora + Rosanna FREE Alteisen Clear”, then there is no point in pairing them together.
• 
  Privaty: Unkind Maid - Privaty: Unkind Maid possesses a stackable buff that she cannot stack on her own and needs assistance from Tove and/or Leona. With Flora (assuming she has enough Max Ammo to keep shooting consistently), then PrivM can technically keep her S2 ATK buff stacks forever even without their help. Not only that, Tove's Burst ATK buffs are also independent on each unit, which means they can be refreshed and extended by stack refreshers, but their max stack is still capped by Tove's S1 real-time stacks.
• 
  Exia [Treasure] - Flora can help Exia(★) stack her Hacking Code faster and more effortlessly (no longer need to Full-Charge to maintain stacks) and also speed up the acquisition of her supportive ATK buffs on teammates.
• 
  Cinderella - Allows her to stack Beauty faster, increasing her damage. Cinderella also helps trigger Flora's S2 True Damage Buff for the first few seconds of the game (more on that later).
• 
  Harran - Once Harran gets a kill, Flora can indefinitely sustain her ATK buff.

Iris

■ Activates when the HP of one of the allies on both sides is lower than 90%. Affects all allies.

Generates a Shield with 10.22% of the caster's final Max HP for 10 sec.

■ Activates when the HP of one of the allies on both sides reaches Max HP. Affects all allies.

True Damage▲ 30.97% for 5 sec.

This skill has two components: Shield and True Damage buff. Let's talk about Shield first.

• Shield: Whenever an ally adjacent to Flora drops below 90% in HP, Flora erects Individual Shields for all allies. Individual Shields mean they are not shared and therefore can also trigger Naga's and Asuka's passives. The shield HP is low, but it can be useful for blocking single high-damaging attacks, and since it can be spammed, it might make for some ridiculous shield comps. To reactivate the shield, the units' HP must be restored to above 90% (and they have to drop in HP again).

• True Damage: Whenever an ally next to Flora reaches Max HP, Flora temporarily converts the excess energy and grants all teammates True Damage buff for 5 seconds. The True Damage buff is quite big, but the activation requirement is a hassle. Why is that? Well, if your units never drop in HP, then this buff would never trigger as they get stuck in Max HP. Yes, her continuous healing does not make everyone get True Damage permanently if they are always at Max HP.

However, there are two other ways of triggering this buff too — Max HP without restoring HP, and Max HP with HP restoration! Non-restoring Max HP will temporarily reduce the percentage of a unit's HP before returning it back to 100% (as long as they are not wounded), triggering the buff as soon as it expires. Meanwhile, restoring Max HP buffs immediately triggers this buff if the corresponding unit is at 100% HP. However, the MAX HP must expire first before you trigger it again, otherwise True Damage won't be refreshed. Noise and Frima are good examples who can do this.

Secret Garden

■ Affects all allies.

Recovers 10.45% of caster's final Max HP as HP.

True Damage ▲ 42.39% for 10 sec.

This skill is quite useless because it has a 40s CD, but the True Damage buff might be worth it if you line it up with the Burst Skill of a True Damage dealer. However, it is still weak, and Flora is better run as an off-burst unless you know that using her Burst Skill will lead to more damage. If the other B2 simply has a stronger Burst Skill effect, then totally avoid using hers. The heal is minor too, but we guess it can save lives? By the way, it is the only skill that allows her to heal the team.

Burst CD

Her being 40s forces her to be run alongside another B2. This may or may not be a problem, and it's NOT always a bad thing (i.e. Biscuit was meta in Solo Raid before). In fact, we believe she works better as an off-burst unit like Naga, Rapunzel, BunnyAlice, or SMary. However, the problem is: if there are better units to be added, why her? Any specific reason why she is better than the other options?

Campaign (LD) - C | Campaign (HD) - D

Likely used as an off-burst healer/shielder (primarily with True Damage DPS) or for instant second rotation strat (with Red Hood, same as with Naga) — for example, RH → Crown → B3, then RH → Flora → Other B3. Nothing too special, but she can help the team stay alive like Rapunzel and Bunny Alice does.

What makes her better is that her shield can block high-damaging non-piercing attacks that would otherwise be lethal. The shield can also allow Naga to activate her core damage buff, which is a very good thing if you don't have access to Crown or Tia.

Problem is, can you safely trigger it against enemies who oneshot your comps? Do you want to RNG the enemies hitting the Nikke(s) next to her too? She can't also spam-trigger Crown's passive, while these other healers can.

To conclude, limited usage, probably handy for beginners, but will be dumped immediately upon getting a better survival-focused B2 unit.

Bossing - B

Likely used as an off-burst healer/shielder (primarily with True Damage DPS), or as a complement for another 40s B2 (such as Biscuit). However, her offensive impact is still overshadowed by Naga and in some cases Bunny Alice thanks to her Max Ammo▲ and Instant Reload.

Flora’s synergy with certain units such as PrivM (which has been a key unit in Solo Raids for a while) may make her a better choice in some situations, but it is unlikely that it will be meta. You can still use it if you cannot afford to make the better teams.

PVP - D

Very limited usage as a True Damage buffer or as a sustainer in stall comps. Pairing her with Noise, Rapunzel, or Emma may make for some interesting shield-spam comps, but she does not really break the meta. Her True Damage buff, on the other hand, is quite big if we can trigger her S2 and Burst Skill, but that would require some ingenious placements. Can also help stack Rosanna's or Scarlet's ATK buff, but be careful as her fire rate is limited (30/s). Counterable by Scarlet and Jackal and has low burst gen. Also be reminded that her continuous heal only counts as one heal instance for Nero.

Gear Investments

Upprading and leveling up Flora's Vest, Helmet, and Boots increase her base HP and allow her to heal the team more efficiently. Giving her Max Ammo OL will ensure she can trigger her stack refresh much more consistently (if that is not needed in your comp, you do not need it). If you want her to deal some extra chip damage, aim for additional ELE & ATK lines.

• Essential:
• Ideal: 4× Max Ammo, 4× ELE, 4× ATK
• Passable:
• Priority: Low

Skill Investments

Flora's skills need not be upgraded as they are quite good enough at base level.

• Skill 1: 1~4
• Upgrade for increased HP restoration buff but mainly for CP padding.
• Skill 2: 1~10
• Upgrade only for True Damage purposes. If needed, we recommend leaving it at 4 and most 7, but 10 is the limit.
• Burst Skill: 1~10
• Flora is more likely to be run as an off-burst, but in some cases, her Burst Skill might be more desirable. If needed, we recommend leaving it at 4 and at most 7, but 10 is the limit.

Suggested Progression Path

 

PVE Investment

PVP Investment

Priority

Flora

PVE investment

1/1/1 → 4/4/4 → 4/7/7

PVP investment

1/1/1 → 4/4/4 → 4/7/7

Priority

Low

Cube Investments

In Reload Speed comp, use Resilience. Otherwise, use Bastion. You can use Vigor and Healing Cube(s) to boost her healing.

Team #1: The True Damage Squad

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 2

It lacks CDR, yes. It also fixes your rotation to max 9 Full burst. But it provides a lot of true damage buff to Laplace and Ein. For your record, this team gives 141.01% /170.84% true damage buff during Clay/Flora’s burst.

Team #2: Permanent S2 True Damage

Burst 2

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst 3

This team abuses Grave's HP loss in Burst Skill and Flora's continuous heal to keep triggering Flora's S2 True Damage buff. Any B1 CDR that does not have unit dependency can be used, like Volume but not Dorothy. Use Grave's Burst Skill only.

Team #3: Auto ExiaTr Finally Possible?

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst Flex

Flex

Exia(★) normally needs manual gameplay to work, but Flora allows her to be run auto and allows her to stack personal and team buffs faster as well. Flora can also keep the team healthy. Flora's Burst Skill can be used here, in conjunction with your True Damage B3, to provide more damage as the other B2 CDR Burst Skills are rather weak.

Team #4: PrivM Permanent Buffs

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 2

You can use any other B2/B3 in place of Leona/B.Soda

This team utilizes Flora's stack refresh to maintain PrivM's buffs permanently, including the one she has herself and the one that Tove has (from her Burst Skill, which gives independent ATK buff to teammates). Flora needs to have Max Ammo for this team to be effective as she needs to shoot to trigger the stack refresh, but the problem is that investing in this comp is just a waste of resources because it is rather pointless (still weaker than other variants too).

Team #1: This Seems to Exist in Every Guide

Burst 3

Burst Flex

Burst 2

Burst 2

Burst 1

This team is just an example of what you can do with Flora as a B2 buffer. Noise's Max HP will instantly trigger Flora's S2. Do note that if you use Anis for faster Full Burst, put Flora to her left, so Flora's Burst gets used instead.

Team #2: Stall Comp?

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst Flex

Burst 3

Burst 1

This team just heals a lot and stalls, withstanding as much attack as possible and winning through sheer sustaining. Highly counterable.