Guillotine: Winter Slayer Guide & Review

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

XGuillo is a sufficient damage dealer, but in 2024, just "sufficient" is not enough. She has a comprehensive kit — full of ATK, Elemental DMG, and ATK DMG — making it seem as if she were complete. But, behind her huge numbers lies a deceivingly low multiplier. What's the point of a multitude of gigantic buffs if she is not dealing any damage in the first place?

XGuillo's kit lacks true character. She as a DPS is mediocre but she as a support is also mediocre — something that falls between the lines of "not weak enough to be dumped" but also "not strong enough to be worth pulling or developing". She, alongside SMary, is one of the only few units who can increase Water allies' Elemental DMG. She can also grant them ATK & ATK DMG, but that is the farthest she can go. A part of it is locked behind Burst Skill, which means to benefit from it, you may have to waste another teammate's crucial Burst Skill. While Elemental DMG is a valuable buff, we do not have any hyper-carry Water DPS who can make use of it yet.

This restricts XGuillo to just one or at most two regions of the game, one being against Harvester in Anomaly Interception and the other being in Water-weak Raid as an auxiliary DPS and support in Team 3/4. The former is overshadowed by the field-tested XLud + XQuency + Naga combo that has already proven to reach S9. The latter is something hypothetical but the chance is medium-high. Her usage should rise with the release of a powerful Water DPS who can make use of her buffs.

Now, outside these PvE contents, she is utterly useless, not because she is bad, but because she is outclassed by a ton of other units. She is fine as an alternative but don't expect greatness from someone who needs at least 25 seconds to fully stack up her ATK. Short battles are not her forte. This includes PvP, where she is illusionary. Zero impact, meaningless buffs, and the fact that enemies don't have core in PvP collapses her ratings.

Should I pull this unit?

Probably not. If you are an F2P or someone who is short on resources, you can freely skip this unit. Even if the next DPS is a Water Pilgrim with insanely broken skills, there must be other ways to support them without needing XGuillo. XGuillo will also rerun next year in the same season, so if you like the character, you can save up beforehand. But, right now, what's important is having enough funds for the New Year Nikke.

If you are a tryhard Solo Raider, then the answer changes to yes. XGuillo might not be your ordinary shimmery unit. She exists and she is useful for what she is made for. Her niche skills might allow her to stay relevant in Water-weak Raids for a long time, especially once we get a strong Water unit. Will that be on New Year? Who knows?

But, if you want to be mindful, you can wait until the kit for the New Year unit is revealed, then re-decide whether you want to get XGuillo. We don't usually recommend this because we want to maximize profit by using the unit in their respective raid, but this time it's different, since the element favors xMaiden instead of xGuillo..

Dupes are not necessary for a weak unit like her, and using mileage is discouraged. However, you may MLB her if you try hard for Solo Raids.

Guillotine: Winter Slayer's kit revolves around gaining EXP, leveling up, and unlocking buffs for herself and Water allies. To gain EXP, she will need to land shots, and the rate is doubled when hitting cores. Every time she levels up, she also strengthens her Burst Skill, allowing her to deal slightly more damage for each level obtained. Her level caps at 11, after which she is no more than a sitting duck.

XGuillo wields an ordinary AR that deals 13.65% damage per shot, and likewise, shoots 12 times per second in 60 FPS and 10 times per second in 30 FPS. This means she will take at least ~25 seconds of infinite shooting to reach maximum level. There is nothing special about her weapon except for the fact that she reloads pretty fast (@ 1s).

Why Must Her Level Be Capped?

■ Activates every time EXP stacks 10. Affects self.

Hero Level Up: Reaches a maximum of Level 11.

Hero Level Up Reward: Reloads 10.26%.

Hero Level Up Reward: Recovers 2.44% of caster's final Max HP

■ Activates when Hero levels up. Affects all Water Code allies.

Damage as strong element ▲ 1.16% * Hero Level continuously.

ATK ▲ 0.91% of caster's ATK * Hero Level continuously.

Whenever XGuillo gains 10 EXP stacks, she advances a level and unlocks additional buffs for her and her teammates. She starts at Level 1 and grows to a maximum of Level 11. Every time she levels up, she:

• Reloads 10.26% of max ammo: The more XGuillo fires, the higher her uptime, increasing output and accelerating level gain. Synergizes with Max Ammo and Bastion really well and potentially allows for infinite shooting when hitting a core.
• Recovers 2.44% of her Max HP: The more XGuillo shoots, the more she heals herself. A built-in self-heal vital for surviving longer fights. Having regular self-heal, as seen in Asuka & Alice, allows for some adventurous comps.

Additionally, as soon as XGuillo levels up at least once, she will start buffing Water code allies, including herself, with:

• Elemental DMG▲ equal to 1.16% × Hero Level (max. 12.76%): Pretty good value; slightly stronger than half an average ELE DMG OL roll. The benefit will be more felt if XGuillo is paired with a stronger Water DPS.
• ATK▲ equal to 0.91% of caster's ATK × Hero Level (max. 10.01%): Decent value since she is an Attacker, and it's permanent. A good generic damage buff for applicable units. Nothing special, however.

We Just Hope There is a Core

■ Activates after landing 6 normal attack(s) without hitting the core. Affects self.

EXP: ATK ▲ 1.81%, stacks up to 100 time(s) continuously.

■ Activates when hitting the Core for 3 time(s). Affects self.

EXP: ATK ▲ 1.81%, stacks up to 100 time(s) continuously.

■ Activates when Hero Level is 2 or above. Affects self.

Damage as strong element ▲ 7.46% continuously.

Every time XGuillo lands either 6 shots outside a core or 3 shots on a core (independent of each other), she gains 1 EXP stack, up to 100 times. Each grants her ATK▲ 1.81%, peaking at 181%▲ with 100 stacks. Stacks denote her level:

• 0 Stacks: Level 1
• 10 Stacks: Level 2
• 20 Stacks: Level 3
• And so on...

Do note that the EXP stacks for core hits and non-core hits are shared; it's just that there are two ways of stacking them. Hitting a core accumulates EXP 2× faster, so always aim at the core!

The big numbers are deceiving. While it is good for pushing high-deficit due to the ATK-DEF formula, XGuillo just doesn't have damage. Her basic attack multiplier is weak, and her Burst Skill is hilarious and just does not have enough impact (negligible burst damage). Much worse, this also means she doesn’t scale that well with ATK buffs, which are the most common, and that means she scales weaker with OL compared to regular units!

Bunny Alice's Time?

Stack refreshers allow XGuillo to obtain EXP and level up faster, reaching maximum buffs earlier, but it's not worth it because she can stack it fast enough herself and Bunny Alice is a slot pressure.

Additionally, whenever XGuillo is Level 2 or higher, she will continually buff herself with Elemental DMG▲ 7.46%. Pretty meh value, but when combined with S1, that is one free built-in Elemental DMG for her. But, isn't her support skill what makes her worthwhile?

A Gift to All Water Code Allies

■ Affects all Water Code allies.

Attack Damage ▲ 10.14% for 10 sec.

Damage as strong element ▲ 18.75% for 10 sec.

■ Affects 1 enemy unit(s) with the highest Max HP.

Deals continuous damage equal to 20.87% of the final ATK * Hero Level every sec for 10 sec.

XGuillo’s Burst Skill temporarily enhances the ATK Damage and ELE DMG of all Water code allies, including herself, and launches a series of attacks at one enemy with the Highest Max HP over 10 seconds. This nuke is a major source of xGuillotine’s overall damage. The strength of this nuke depends on the Hero Level stacks, which means that xGuillotine purely is a Bossing unit, since all of her DPS sources take time to ramp up to their max potential.

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

xGuillotine has severe problems when it comes to Campaign-type stages. We can shorten the major problems down to 3 distinct points, and they apply to both Low Deficit and High Deficit gameplay. First and foremost, xGuillotine’s DPS output is too low. Not only does she requires a lot of time for her self buffs and team buffs to stack up (almost 1 minute to fully stack up these buffs), but even after she fully stacks these buffs, she is unable to compete with meta Single Target DPS such as xLudmilla, Quency:EQ, Cinderella, etc. She is simply a worse damage dealer than them.

Her second major problem lies in the fact that she has no AoE damage, at all. She cannot pierce, she cannot deal splash damage since she wields an AR, not an RL, and she does not possess any AoE Burst or Skills at all. This is honestly a huge let-down for Campaign, since it prefers

Finally, her team buffs have a bunch of problems. Firstly, they are locked only for Water Code units. Secondly, half of those buffs are ‘Elemental Damage’ buffs, so they only apply 1/5th of the time (actually, the statistics are even worse for this since Water Weak mob stages are the least seen mob stages in Campaign). Furthermore, not only are these buffs of low value, but they also take a long while to fully stack, so for 2/3rds of the fight you are actually getting weaker buffs than what was advertised. Not only that, but half of these buffs come during her own Burst! This is bad since DPS units usually deal damage during their own Bursts.

While these ele buffs are appreciated on boss stages, they are quite disappointing for Campaign most of the time. Only a handful of useful Water Code DPS exist in Campaign anyways, namely xLudmilla, Emilia, Phantom and Quency:EQ. None of them are insanely good Campaign units like Red Hood or Alice, who can win stages by themselves. This further makes xGuillotine a less usable unit.

As for her use, we feel that it is heavily restricted to Elysion Tower only in the overall meta, probably as a direct replacement to her normal version if anything. Guillotine is a single target DPS unit as well, but she requires low HP to work. In the overall tryhard meta, Guillotine should still be better than xGuillotine. For casual gameplay, however, we can see xGuillotine being a suitable replacement, even as an off-burst unit.

Bossing - A

This is the only place which allows xGuillotine to shine without much complaints. When it comes to her DPS, it can rival Scarlet directly since she is essentially an equal DPS to her. However, this considers Scarlet outside of her optimal team (without S.Anis). Hence, xGuillotine is, in reality, a worse DPS than Scarlet on neutral element, and hence cannot be considered a meta DPS unit, but a tier lower than that.

In her own element however, she is able to beat Scarlet and a few other DPS units. Due to some extremely strong releases recently (such as Cinderella), you might think that her spot is in trouble. However, she still is usable as a team 5 unit on her own Raid. The best comparison of her is to 2B, who also comes around and gives a cameo everytime a Fire Raid pops up. Similarly, xGuillotine is expected to be used on Water Weak Raids.

Her best use is alongside Water Code units, since you want to maximise the use of her kit. We recommend using her alongside xLudmilla or Quency:EQ, since both of them still deal decent damage outside of their Burst as well. This synergizes well with xGuillotine’s buffs, since half of them are provided during xGuillo’s own Burst.

PVP - D

xGuillotine provides no special addition in PvP. She has minimal burst generation, her DPS output is too low (inside and outside of burst), since her buffs take too long to stack. Even if they were to stack, xGuillo would at best be a single target DPS, which are not highly appreciated in PvP. To top it all off, xGuillo is a water element unit. In a field dominated by electric element units, she will not be able to fare well, or essentially survive, at all. We highly recommend not using xGuillotine in PvP.

Gear Investments

While XGuillo already has too much ATK, there is really nothing better than ELE, ATK, and Max Ammo, the standards of DPS OL. Hit Rate is useful as it allows XGuillo to land more core shots but the gain is still negligible. Moreover, there are certain imaginary breakpoints that you can achieve with Max Ammo to maximize the return value from S1’s Instant Reload. So, here we go:

• Essential:
• Ideal: 4× ELE, 2× Max Ammo, 4× ATK
• Passable: 2× Hit Rate, 2× Max Ammo
• Priority: Low (PvE)

Skill Investments

Before we explain, we would like to remind you the xGuillotine is a low priority unit to invest into. We recommend this investment only to those players who are focusing on getting super high scores in Solo Raid, or to those who are fans of xGuillotine.

• Skill 1: 4/7/10
• All of Guillotine’s skills provide damage buffs. This skill specifically provides both self buffs and team buffs. If xGuillo does not have good OL gear lines, she is more of a support. In this case, upgrade this skill before Skill 2.
• Skill 2: 4/7/10
• This skill specifically provides self buffs for xGuillotine. This skill is of a lower priority to upgrade compared to Skill 1 but only if xGuillo does not have good OL gear lines. If she does have good OL lines (2-3 ele line and 2-3 atk lines), then this skill is of higher priority to upgrade compared to Skill 1.
• Burst Skill: 4/7/10
• This is both a supportive skill as well as self buff skill. Upgrade this as high priority if you plan to use xGuillo alongside water units, since it provides both a high damage nuke as well as team buffs.

Suggested Progression Path

 

PVE Investment

PVP Investment

Priority

Guillotine: Winter Slayer

PVE investment

1/1/1 → 4/4/4 → 7/7/7 (→ 10/10/10)

PVP investment

1/1/1 → 4/4/4 → 7/7/7 (→ 10/10/10)

Priority

Low

Cube Investments

XGuillo best uses Bastion outside Reload Speed comps, but when there is a Reload Speed buffer in the team, Resilience is the most optimal choice.

Doll Investments

Currently, XGuillo does not have too much PvE presence and is also nonexistent in PvP to warrant doll-ing her beyond SR 0 or at most SR 5.

Team #1: Water Showdown

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 2

Possibly the strongest team for Harvester, but may depend on your investments! Previously, the strongest team was considered to be this same team but with Quency: Escape Queen over xGuillo. However, this team can be expected to give a similar performance, if not a better one. xLudmilla is the major DPS for this boss, so buffing her seems to be the correct play in order to get stage 7 on this boss. However, keep in mind that, over time, you can get Quency:EQ’s dupes through wishlisting her. XGuillotine is a limited unit, so you will have to get her dupes right now if you want to aim for getting your title. This team can be considered BiS for Water Bosses with a core, with the Quency:EQ version giving similar performance compared to this team.

Team #2: A Crumb in Raids

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

A team 5 example for Solo Raids. Not the best but definitely not the worst. In the current meta, we are left with a few units to use to make a team 5 for Solo Raids on Water Weak Solo Raids, which will essentially be filled with S~A tier DPS units. Quency:EQ, xGuillotine and Phantom fit the criteria very well here.

Team #3: Smile alongside the Smiling Bunny

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

A way to have the Water DPS units that stack their buffs get their stacks faster. A team for Water Weak Bosses. B.Alice increases stacks for xGuillo, Phantom and Quency:EQ. While this is not a meta team, this is a very comfortable and casual team that aims to increase the DPS of these DPS B3 units.

Team #4: A Tower that refuses to get Meta DPS

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

An Elysion Tower team for xGuillotiine. xGuillotine takes her time to stack up, but will buff Phantom’s attacks during her own Burst!