Mana Guide & Review

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

A fair unit, not broken in the sense that she deals a lot of damage, but in the sense that she shifts the meta by shuffling the current meta comps a bit. To start, she has several unique abilities, such as auto-revive that does not require using Burst Skill, continuous team healing that can trigger Crown's and Nero's passives, and charge speed boost to the unit with the longest charging time. This makes her niche but very versatile in that niche. For example, if we are talking about PvE, her charge speed is useful for SBS, and in PvP, her healing and revive can make for some artistic stall comps.

In terms of damage, it is not impressive, but decent enough to be relevant against Wind-weak bosses, pairing together with SBS and potentially replacing Alice for mobile users or those who cannot fast-tap Alice. We are not sure yet if she will have hidden synergy with the Wind collab units (speculative) coming up next. She can be used in teams that need continuous healing or revive, replacing Rapunzel and especially with Crown in team. Furthermore, her role as a B3 allows for a 1-1-3 setup, offering you the choice of using her as an in-burst or as an off-burst DPS/support.

Lastly, her PvP potential is huge. In the past, the only unit who was able to continuously heal Nero was Rapunzel. With her, this changed. Mana actually does a similar job as Rapunzel does when it comes to activating Nero's passive. Not only that, you can pair her together, and Mana's charge speed boost will allow Rapunzel to heal faster too! There is a lot of creative setups you can come up with here, such as triple sacs with Rosanna, etc. Surprise us with your inventions!

Should I pull this unit?

Good question. Honestly, yes. There are lots of things that you can do with her, in bed and outside bed. However, you might want to be wary that, while she does free Alice from the captives of SBS, it can be hard to justify whether it is worth the slot. This answer will change depending on what element the raid is, what mechanics the boss will have, and so on. Still, raiders had better keep one copy on hand in case she is used.

From a PvP perspective, the answer becomes more positive. This is the only game mode where her burst damage is impactful, and the only game mode where her healing will be game-changing, and the only game mode where revives are OPAF. It is the only unit in-game that can revive anyone without Bursting and with 96% HP too! Fighting units who snipe your DPS? No problemo. Your tank dies? No problemo. Yeah, she does not even need to Burst herself. In fact, she might fare better as an off-burst B3.

Nevertheless, if you are a beginner or short on gems, the solution becomes more complicated. It is generally a good idea to have units such as her in your roster for security, but saying she is more valuable than whatever units are coming up next, especially EVA 2 units, is not an easy question to answer. Sure, you can wait until her banner is about to end, but we are not even certain if the collab will be next season or the patch after that. You have to decide this one, chief. We advise you read the entire guide before you make up your mind.

And no, she is not worth mileage nor dupes. Save those gems and ticket(s) for broken units, seasonal units, and above all Pilgrims.

Mana wields an Assault Rifle that takes 1.67s to reload, which is quite long but compensated with increased base burst gen, and deals 15.07% damage per shot, which is also higher than standard AR but damage ratio is still far from ideal. She generates ~0.25 energy per shot, and if S2 is fully maxed and active, then ~0.426 per shot. This makes her the fourth highest burst gen AR character after Scarlet, Grave, and Asuka.

Skill 1

■ Activates at the start of the battle. Affects self.

Metal y: ATK ▲ 58.08% continuously. Activates once per battle.

■ Activates when in Metal y status after landing 10 normal attacks. Affects all allies.

Recovers 2.04% of caster's final Max HP.

■ Activates if the caster is in Metal y status when an ally is out of action. Affects 1 incapacitated ally unit(s) with the highest ATK (except caster).

Resurrect with 96% HP.

■ Activates when an ally is out of action. Affects self.

Removes Metal y.

Mana grants herself Metal γ, a buff that grants her increased ATK and the ability to revive a fallen ally once per battle by consuming it. As long as this buff is present (and not removed by extraordinary means like Rosanna's dispel), she will also continually heal all allies every 10 shots (~0.83s in PvE or ~1s in PvP). Note that an Attacker's HP is lower than that of Defender or Supporter, so the perceived effect would be weaker than if it were cast by the other two roles.

We Lowkey Expected This From Flora

Each instance of healing counts as a separate recovery effect. This allows her to stack Nero's passive, activate Crown's passive, trigger Asuka's ATK buff, and any other skills that rely on "recovery taking place”.

There is one problem with this Metal γ, though, and that is after it is consumed to revive a fallen unit, Mana no longer enjoys her ATK buff, nor does she heal the team. Unless you have a special utilization for revive that brings more good than harm, this scenario is to be avoided in PvE content as it significantly affects her damage (even as an off-burst support because every drop of damage matters). However, do keep in mind that her base damage ratios are not particularly impressive, so losing the buff may not be as detrimental as it initially seems.

To be fully clear, 58.08% ATK buff is not a joke and it is of the highest virtue to preserve it for as long as possible, especially if she is one of the primary B3. With careful planning and mitigation strategies, you can avoid the death of any unit (not always but strive for it).

Additionally, the revival prioritizes units with the highest ATK. In the event multiple units die at the same time, the one with the highest ATK will be revived. The revival is also instant.

Skill 2

■ Activates at the start of the battle. Affects self.

Metal o: Burst Gauge filling speed ▲ 70.4% continuously.

■ Activates when entering Full Burst in Metal o status. Affects self.

Attack Damage ▲ 21.12% for 10 sec.

ATK ▲ 63.36% for 10 sec.

Removes Metal O.

■ Activates when entering Full Burst. Affects I ally unit(s) with the longest basic Charge Time.

Charge Time ▼ 0.18 sec for 10 sec.

■ Activates if the caster has cast Burst Skill before Full Burst ends. Affects self.

Metal o: Burst Gauge filling speed ▲ 70.4% continuously.

Upon entering battle, Mana gives herself Metal σ, a buff that increases her burst gen by XX% and that can be consumed upon entering Full Burst to increase her ATK and Attack Damage. It can only be replenished by using her Burst Skill (recovered at the end of that Full Burst). This means she will lose Metal σ after the first Full Burst and will not regain it back if used as an off-burst B3.

Image credits to discord users: cnydo and kelvinpizza

Now to what makes her powerful: Charge Time reduction, to the ally with the highest base charge time. SBS (Scarlet: Black Shadow) is the only character who benefits from this the most, but it is applicable to any character, including Alice, who desperately needs those 2 Charge Speed OLs to reach 100% breakpoint.

Taste the Instantaneous

Beginners without access to good OL can combine Rental Alice, which has 10/10/10 skills, and Mana to obtain 100% Charge Speed. A temporary solution for the time being until you can get your hand on advanced gear. More info on Skill Investments.

Why is Scarlet: Black Shadow her best pairing? Well, that is because her Charge Time is already so low that 0.18s is 60% of it! What this means is that SBS will need 60% less time to Full Charge, dealing more damage and activating her S1 more often. Great! As for other units, they can still benefit from this 0.18s reduction, but since most have a charge time of between 1-1.5s, the time reduction is only about 12-18%.

Note that if you use Scarlet: Black Shadow, make sure no one else in the team has a higher base Charge Time, including Alice, Red Hood, Rapunzel, DWife, Rouge, or anyone that has Charge, literally.

Additionally, Mana gains increased burst gen from 0.25 per shot up to 0.426 per shot when Metal σ is active, but it's more of a PvP thing if any. This is likely to compensate for the fact that, if you use her to buff certain key units, you cannot add other RL/SRs as they will steal her buff. This often comes at the cost of not having utility units to spam with for burst gen.

Burst Skill

■ Affects self.

Sustained Damage ▲ 52.8% for 10 sec.

■ Affects 1 enemy unit(s) nearest to the crosshair.

Deals 396% of final ATK as sustained damage every 1 sec for 10 sec

Strong sustained damage but hindered by the lack of notable offensive buffs (except for when she has Metal σ, which has awkward acquirement conditions). She also gains ▲ Sustained Damage 52.8%, which is quite insane but also diluted by other effects related to Damage Amplification. In total, she deals just shy of 4000% (+2000% from Sustained Damage buff) to one enemy, which is not bad in today's standards, but it's not really destructive by any means.

That being said, 58.08% ATK is not mediocre, but you will need more than that nowadays, so even with Metal γ, you are bound to treat her to some ATK OL and ELE.

Campaign (LD) - A | Campaign (HD) - A

As a B3, she fails to deliver the DPS you need to clear the stage. But, as a non-burst healer, she’s definitely better than average. She can also trigger Crown’s S2 passive over and over (until she loses Metal γ, of course). Think of her as Rapunzel 2.0 who provides a charge speed buff to one ally. With her charge speed buff, she assists SBS in dealing more damage.

However, to buff SBS means you cannot add another SR or RL unit. Otherwise, Mana will instead provide the charge speed buff to them. As a result, you are prevented from using burst gen units like Red Hood. Therefore, Mana’s ideal usage might just be alongside Alice. She can remove Alice’s charge speed requirement from OL gear, which is a good thing for players who do not have enough resources to make an ideal Alice, and allow beginners to experience her greatness early on. This is still niche, nevertheless, and Mana is more strictly a healer only for Campaign.

Bossing - S

While it is true she doesn't offer much in terms of personal damage, her noble profession as SBS's slave is something to admire. Without SBS, her impact is not so strong, so that is what carries her to S rank—that niche role where she is only replaceable by Alice, and not every time can she do that. Sometimes, it's better to let Alice go to join other teams. We also don't know yet if they will release new Wind units that can also synergize with Mana (we have a collab to look forward to). Mana also comes with revive, which is useful situationally, and can also speed up other units other than SBS albeit with much lesser impact. She can also continually heal the team, allowing them to survive longer boss fights. She can also fill as an off-burst B3 if her supportive buffs are desired. She also holds a special role for beginners, who don't have Alice built and only have access to rental Alice. A properly built Mana can allow them to reach 100% Charge Speed on Rental Alice.

A short tldr would be that Mana is expected to perform well in Wind Weak Raids and is also one of the top units to use versus Kraken. You can stage 9 with the SBS-Mana combo on Kraken’s Anomaly Interception!

PVP - SS

Mana’s main involvement in PvP revolves around her revival skill. With decent burst gen, instantaneous revive and constant healing, she can fit in some stall teams. Her revive can also counteract assassins/wipers in some way (against Rosanna too, but only if there are 2 other Attackers or units with more ATK). Literally Rapunzel 2.0 but this time she does not even need to burst! To recap some general knowledge about PvP, there are 3 important points for building a good PvP team:

• Protect your Position 1 Nikke.
• Protect your DPS.
• Have enough burst generation.

Mana, if used as an off burst unit (just put her in P4/P5), can fulfill the first requirement easily, acting like a pseudo-alternative to Biscuit. If used in some unique ways, she may also fulfill the second requirement. And to top it all off, her burst gen is not outright terrible! Hence, she is a very strong unit to use in Arena, and can definitely see use in SP Arena. However, she can be a bit niche. We will talk more about her actual use cases below in PVP Team Comps.

Gear Investments

Mana scales best with ATK & ELE. If you want to build her offense, aim for these, or just don't build her at all if you only care about her supportive effects.

• Essential:
• Ideal: 4× ELE, 4× ATK
• Passable:
• Priority: Medium

Skill Investments

Mana's S2 is the most important part of her skillset. It is what obtains her a spot in the meta. Focus on upgrading that first, and only care about S1 and Burst leveling for damage.

• Skill 1: 4~7
• Increased team healing and personal offense.
• Skill 2: 7-10
• Higher levels = higher charge speed bonus. It is not that important unless you pair her with SBS/Alice or other Charge Speed sensitive characters.
• When pairing with SBS, every level suddenly becomes more valuable. Level this high enough to make her relevant and comparable to Alice.
• When pairing with Alice (10/x/10) without Charge Speed OL and outside help aside from Mana, Level 5 will grant Alice 100% Charge Speed.
• Burst Skill:4~7
• Strictly for personal damage. Might as well ignore if you plan to leave her unbuilt or use her off-burst.

Suggested Progression Path

 

PVE Investment

PVP Investment

Priority

Mana

PVE investment

1/1/1 → 4/4/4 → 4/7/7 (→ 7/10/7)

PVP investment

1/1/1 → 4/4/4 → 7/4/4

Priority

Medium

Cube Investments

Resilience or Bastion would probably be her best bet in PvE for that increased normal attack uptime. Use whichever cube has a higher level.

Meanwhile, in PvP, she can make use of Tempering, Healing, and Vigor cube pretty well.

Doll Investments

She is not worth too much doll investment seeing we just got a new batch of treasures. Prioritize meta or prevalent DPS units that have big damage or scale well with CP padding (PvP/Campaign units). SR 0 or R 5 → SR 5 then dip immediately.

Team #1: Windbringer

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst Flex

Flex (Non SR/RL)

Burst 3

A typical team against Wind-weak stages. This is just a variation of the old Alice - SBS team. Mana can act here as a non-burst B3 healer, or she can burst herself too because her damage can pack quite a punch against Wind-weak enemies. Nevertheless, her kit excels against single targets so Bursting with her on mob stages may not be the most ideal. Noir and S.Sakura are the top choices for FLEX.

Team #2: Alice Funnel

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

Let's just say you want a fixed team for Alice, and you don't have charge speed lines on Alice (like Rental Alice), what can you do? Well, good news. Mana can solve that issue!

Mana not only provides pure healing to this team, but also provides Alice with enough Charge Speed to reach 100% (assuming 10/x/10 on Alice, as well as Mana skill 2). Hence, this allows us to get 4× Ammo, 4× ATK and 4× ELE on our Alice! Just imagine how many bullets she can fire with Bastion Cube equipped, not to mention Liter and Grave also give Max Ammo. Furthermore, if an extra buffer is desired, Rei and Maxwell can boost Alice’s damage dealt. Or, you can just slap a second DPS like Asuka (which also buffs her). D:KW is also a good alternative to Liter as she can buff Alice’s Pierce Damage.

A Second Life

Burst Flex

Flex

Burst Flex

Flex

Burst Flex

Flex

Burst 3

Burst Flex

Flex

Mana allows your tanks or DPS to have a second life, which means they can die and be revived with up to 96% HP. This is useful for when your Biscuit is already occupied by other teams. Counterable by Rosanna, who can dispel her Metal γ. Example team: Blanc Scarlet Rumani Mana Centi (Scarlet and Blanc position swappable).

Mana can also pair with B3 SBS, replacing Alice in this setup. The team SBS Blanc Centi Mana Jackal, for example, is an upgraded variant with better defense and speed.

The Ultimate Stall

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 1

Burst 3

This team utilizes Damage Reduction to its maximum potential by combining units who can trigger Nero's passive and benefit from her "payback". In this 3 RL comp, HelmTr, Rapunzel, and Mana continually heal the team while enjoying up to ~75% damage reduction buffs (dependent on investments, doll, and cube), whereas Moran and Nero tank for them. Nero can also gain ≥100% damage reduction here at maximum investments, meaning she will not take any damage at all for 10s after Full Burst! Not to mention, you are well-equipped with double revives, two Full Burst possibilities, charge speed bonus, and 10s lifesteal. That is some insane defense right there.

Counterable by Scarlet stall teams or swift 2 RL teams involving Blanc + Rosanna to dispel Mana and counteract Damage Taken. Variants of this team include repositioning some units to let Rapunzel be the first B1 or to let Nero be the main tanker. Do note that Moran's Attract activates first, so she will be the one taunting primary attacks and Nero the secondary attacks as decoy (for SAnis's Ray, etc).

Double/Triple Sacrifice

Burst Flex

Flex

Burst 2

B2

Burst 3

B3

Burst 1

Burst 3

In this composition, we place focus on our Rosanna and pray that she can disrupt the enemy comp by assassinating their key units. This comp requires you to have much higher sync than your opponent because it may come with massive CP reduction (if you plan to sacrifice unleveled units for better consistency). The idea of this comp is to let your P1 unit die, and then get revived, and then die again (and additionally sacrifice another unit, which can be Mana herself or another unit — the former requires putting Mana in exposed positions like P2), which will grant Rosanna 2 or 3 stacks of ATK and make her fill the burst bar by up to ~36.5% per death. Hell, this team might even B1 in 1 RL!

Counterable by opposing Rosanna, who can also abuse your units’ deaths to generate Burst energy for them, essentially rivaling your team’s speed.

Credit to SunburntVampire on Discord for coming up with this idea.