Mari Makinami Illustrious Guide & Review

Crown, Naga, Blanc, Summer Rosanna—recently, we have been flooded with so many good B2 we struggle to deploy them all. And, who would have thought we would be given another choice? Meet Mari, an operative in bewitching pink, a support unit who can enhance the team's Pierce DMG and ATK DMG. Her fantastic buffing capabilities will leave you speechless.

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Mari is an exceptional generalist with the potential to thrive even further in the right teams. Her main role is empowering units with Pierce capabilities, such as Red Hood, Maxwell, Snow White, Laplace, Asuka, and Alice, to name a few. With them, she reaches her maximum buffing potential, and she can even beat Crown in terms of raw damage buffing in certain teams.

However, Crown increases the team's survivability and gives Reload Speed, which are what makes Crown extremely powerful and dependable, whereas Mari is just a full-time damage buffer (like S. Rosanna). We explicitly state this because some units, like Alice, benefit more from the increased Reload Speed despite Mari's theoretically bigger numbers. But, nothing stops us from using them together should we want to utilize Mari's Pierce DMG as well as Crown's divine buffs at the same time, but in this case we do waste one of their Burst Skills. Do note that she can only buff the team's Pierce DMG if she can regularly hit any core. In PvP or against bosses like Crystal Chamber, you are locked out.

What is amazing about Mari is her compatibility with many different units and teams, including those with the most ridiculous quirks. Even in cases when her signature Pierce DMG is underutilized, she already outperforms many other offensive buffers. That is because ATK and ATK DMG are both universal buffs, and the values are high enough to surpass the likes of Summer Rosanna and Blanc & Noir (unless dilution is in play).

We believe she will be useful in Raids, easing some burden off Crown & Tia Naga and allowing you to maximize the potential of leftover DPS in your ensemble. Another feasible deployment location is in Anomaly Interception against Ultra where she serves as an equal or worse alternative to Summer Helm. If you happen to have no access to Crown, for example, you can also use Mari for literally any content. She allows the adoption of 1-1-3 formation, whereas Tia & Naga and the Bunny duo restrict you to 2 Main DPS setups. She can be a bit situational, though, since her lack of survivability buffs may lead to slot pressure, but let's not judge too early, shall we?

Should I pull this unit?

Given that she is a limited collab unit, pulling for at least one copy is advised. In terms of raw offensive buffing in Pierce teams, she stands on the summit. She is also an awesome generalist, and players without a decent B2 buffer will likely benefit from getting her. She can replace your Dolla in Campaign, for instance.

Now, is she still worth pulling for people with an already diverse roster? Well, YES. In fact, you will need her to deal maximum damage in Raids. It is not a choice but rather a requirement. Not only that, her presence will allow you to experiment with different team compositions. We are mainly interested in assessing her integrability when joined by Red Hood, Maxwell, Snow White or even Laplace(Treasure) in situations. Even having her as a situational pick against some bosses is enough a reason for veterans. Also, get one for future-proofing purposes. Who knows ShiftUp will release some broken Pierce characters in the future?

As for dupes, Mari is a buffer. Her caster's ATK buff has 50% uptime and is not major enough to warrant extra copies, especially seeing that anniversary is coming soon and that tere is a chance that ShiftUp will toy with us by releasing an OP unit just before then (like Tia & Naga).

Therefore, unless you want her MLB lobby screen, we believe one copy is enough. Dupes will help if you want to min-max her damage to the fullest. If you are competitive in Solo Raids, you may splurge on her banner. In PvP, her small nuke may come into play versus some teams, and the extra CP boost will help make incorporating her more seamless.

Mari's winding in-game name is a real mouthful, but so are her buffs. She buffs Pierce DMG better than other units, and that is her niche. She also periodically grants herself Pierce, which can be useful for triggering her S1 buff if the enemy's core is behind shields or inside a boss's body. Are the sights of Water Alteisen, SR Gravedigger, Chatterbox's Head, and Kraken's Main Body reminiscent to you? Pierce is also useful for speeding up the team's burst generation speed at times.

As a generalist buffer, she provides allies with ATK buffs and a highly appreciated ATK DMG buff. All of these combined make her a highly usable unit in all game modes, occasionally being part of the top tier meta, especially in Solo Raids. The only thing she lacks to compete with the very top buffers are survivability skills.

A Piercer's Best Friend

■ Activates when landing an attack with Full Charge. Affects all allies.

Damage dealt to Shield ▲ 100.09% for 3 sec.

(It only affects the damage dealt to the shield, not to the Rapture itself)

■ Activates when hitting the target's core. Affects all allies.

Pierce Damage ▲ 40.99% for 10 sec.

In contrast to Asuka's and Rei's personal shieldbreaking aptitude, Mari takes a slightly different route by boosting the team's shieldbreaking capacity instead. To distribute this buff, you will need to full-charge your shot. As we explained in Asuka's review, this gimmick is useful for breaking barriers/shields in Campaign and against particular bosses. For Raids, generally, you want to split your resources such that no team is bottlenecked. While it may be hard to split up Rei and Asuka due to their strong synergy together, Mari can easily offer another team her shield-breaking capability!

The second component of Mari's S1 is a high value, virtually permanent "Pierce Damage ▲" buff. The condition to activate this buff is that a core needs to exist, and Mari needs to hit it, hence the 100% uptime. We have seen a similar buff before on D:Wife, Diesel (Treasure), and more recently on Zwei. None of them can compare to the values being provided by Mari for this buff. This is where Mari gives herself a niche in which she excels.

Pierce DPS such as Red Hood, Snow White, Maxwell, Alice, Asuka and LaplaceTr can make full use of Mari's Pierce DMG buff. As you can see, these are some reputable names. Most of these Nikkes are considered the best in business when it comes to dealing Pierce damage! We will talk more about team-building and synergy with these units in the Usage Analysis section below.

It's Futile to Hide Your Core

■ Affects self.

Gain Pierce for 5 sec.

ATK ▲ 30.78% for 5 sec.

■ Affects all allies.

ATK ▲ 30.78% of caster's ATK for 5 sec.

Every 10 seconds, Mari will gain the ability to Pierce for 5 seconds. As a result, she will be able to hunt down hidden or protected cores to activate her Skill 1 or generate higher burst energy in PvE if not in Full Burst. She also provides herself an offensive ~30% caster's ATK buff and additionally provides the same value ATK buff to the entire team. In other words, Mari herself gains 2× the ATK buff she gives the team. Together with her Pierce Damage buff, at least within these 5-second windows, Mari will perhaps be able to deal some bonus damage!

ATK buffs are usually more prone to dilution and are more effective on units without too much ATK buff. There are only a few Piercers who does not exhibit this trait, namely Snow White or LaplaceTr, but that does not mean it is useless for the likes of Red Hood or Asuka. It still boosts their damage.

Let's Make Her More Universal

■ Affects all enemies.

Deals 639. 36% of final ATK as damage.

■ Affects all allies.

Attack damage ▲ 40.99% for 10 sec.

The first part of her Burst Skill is a complementary nuke that deals decent damage, but the damage varies depending on whether she has the ATK buffs from S2.

Since Mari is not a damage dealer, do not expect her to one-shot mobs in Campaign, especially not when her S2 is inactive. You can, however, combine hers with other wipes to fulfill the remaining damage. You are more likely to engage this in PvP alongside Scarlet and Rosanna. That being said, while her wipe can help annihilate critters, we believe it is designed more for clearing those annoying projectiles hostiles randomly hurl.

The second part of this skill is Mari's her highlight. The jobs of the famous Blanc & Noir, Rosanna: Chic Ocean, and Rem are put into question as Mari eclipses them with a generic 'Attack Damage ▲' buff. The value of this buff matches the value of the Pierce Damage buff in S1, and both of them together make Mari a superior damage buffer for Pierce DPS than Crown. This 1-to-1 comparison disregards Crown's Reload Speed & Survivability Skills and the fact that the choice for the fifth unit is consequently more restrictive for Mari.

Beware of Dilution!

'Attack Damage ▲' and 'Pierce Damage ▲' are additive buffs to each other, so beware of dilution with Asuka's ATK DMG and Dorothy's Part Damage (which is also additive to these Damage ▲ buffs). These buffs, however, are multiplicative to other brackets such as ATK, Damage Taken, etc., and are hence more efficient for units whose teams and kits are usually filled with these other buffs.

Regardless, Mari's numbers are so massive that even with dilution, she might still be stronger than the most efficient options if minmaxing is unnecessary (such as outside Raids). Even Asuka deals more damage with Mari than with Blanc or S. Rosanna.

Campaign (LD) - SS | Campaign (HD) - SS

Strong buffs + strong synergy with the very best units in the market (Alice, Red Hood, Asuka) make her a stellar pick in Campaign. The problem is her position in B2 is overshadowed by the dignified Crown. Crown offers much more than just damage. Her taunt + Immunity, alongside Reload Speed, come in clutch so many times. If you do not have Crown, Mari is often a good alternative, rivalling Tia + Naga in that sense with a different focus and different weaknesses.

What about replacing Naga in Crown + Naga comps? That highly depends. Naga's healing can perpetuate Crown's S2 ATK DMG and expedite her taunting. Naga also buffs the team's Core Damage considerably and keeps the team healthy. Meanwhile, Mari buffs the team's ATK and Pierce Damage. Against enemies without a persistent core or sports many hitboxes, Mari's offense is theoretically better, but under other circumstances, Naga is better, both offensively and defensively.

Note that Core Damage only buffs the damage against the core but not other parts, assuming you hit multiple at once. An example of a deployment site where Mari is likely better is against Ultra in Anomaly Interception. Endgame players who already have too much damage against the boss's core can make better use of Mari or SHelm by overkilling the core and parts and hitting its body at the same time.

In both Bossing and Campaign, the direct competitions to Mari are Blanc & Noir and S. Rosanna, who both provide an undiluted Damage Taken Debuff compared to Mari's possibly diluted ATK, ATK DMG, and Pierce DMG buffs. When non-pierce DPS units are being used, both of them can come close to Mari in usability depending on the dilution of buffs on the units. However, when Pierce units are being used, this conclusion will shift.

For units such as Modernia, Blanc & Noir can prove to be better, but remember you are forced to bring Noir (which is considered slot pressure in today's era). If you want to use another B3, let's say in Asuka + Rei + Modernia comp, Blanc & Noir is out of the question. Your top choice would be Crown, and then Mari will come right after her. However, Mari does not have survivability skills, unlike Blanc + Noir and Crown. You get one, you lose one.

In summary, Mari is more useful for beginners who have no access to Crown's heavenly blessings.

Boss (Solo) - SS | Boss (Adds) - SS

In Campaign, we only need one team. However, against bosses, we are expected to deploy up to 5 teams. As the number of teams increases, Mari has dramatically increased chances of being used and possibly benches S. Rosanna out of rotation who requires regular destruction of parts for her ATK buff.

Her possible synergy with Snow White (and Maxwell) deserves a spotlight mention, since she can also perhaps bench Yulha and break the long-lasting day one SW-Yulha relationship. If a B1-CDR unit is used, there is possibly no need to even bench Yulha since now the need for Dolla vanishes for the team. Also, her intermittent ATK buffs are more effective on Burst Units like her and Maxwell, as we explained in Kit Analysis.

Snow White is not the only units worth mentioning here. We have seen both Red Hood and Maxwell relegated into S. Rosanna teams in the past couple Solo Raids. While S. Rosanna still remains the ideal buffer for S. Sakura, against elements other than Iron, she will likely not see prevalent use.

Another possible pairing here is of LaplaceTr. When it comes to Iron-Weak raids, she might need a team to fit into and Mari can perform this task better than other B2s. LaplaceTr also will not need to have her own proprietary buffer and can fit right into the meta alongside Red Hood or Maxwell.

Even in Union Raids, the possibility of Mari being used in Team 3 is very realistic. With Tia + Naga and Crown monopolizing the top two teams, the competition for the third best team becomes extremely fierce. Blanc & Noir, S. Rosanna, and Tove with her SGs show up from time to time. However with Mari in play, the leftover Pierce units can definitely enjoy higher buffs with her. Don't forget, for higher sync players, Mari is an absolute all-rounder of a unit. The third slot does not need to be a healer and can be an extra DPS or support for the team, making Mari undoubtedly better than both the Bunny Duo AND S. Rosanna!

Even better, it is possible to use Mari as an off-burst support! While you do lose the benefits of her Burst Skill, her Pierce DMG + ATK buffs are insane. We explained this briefly in the Campaign section above, where she can partner with Crown against Ultra.

Also, let's not forget that she also strengthens the team's shieldbreaking capacity! A niche effect, but when its time comes, you will be delighted!

PVP - S

At first glance, Mari is a simple generic buffer who can be used for strengthening AoE nukers such as Scarlet, PrivM, etc. She is a direct sidegrade to Crown and S. Rosanna in PvP in this sense and is probably better since she does not feed the opponent Jackal or Scarlet.

However, a bonus advantage that she possesses over her 'competition' is that she has an AoE nuke herself in her Burst. She can assist the snowballing potency of other wipers/nukers to confirm their kills, especially against weaker AoE blocks of Bay and Moran. She can effectively be considered as a hard counter to Bay's AoE block since she is able to remove Bay's cover before the actual strong AoE hits! To achieve this feat vs a Bay team, you would need to burst slower otherwise Bay will be able to delay her cover redirect enough so that Mari doesn't hit it. Hence, Mari is considered a good unit to use in PvP, but in the overall meta she is a highly situational unit. You either need super fast 2RL teams for her, or situationally slower teams. All of this makes it feel like Mari is more of an attacking side unit than a defensive side unit.

Do note that Mari's Pierce DMG buff does not activate in PvP!

Gear Investments

The main purpose of OL-ing Mari's gear is to increase her base attack stat through upgrades and levels. This will improve her S2's buffing potency. The gain is rather minute, so that is your decision whether 4 Custom Modules + EXP Materials are worth the difference.

Rerolling her lines, on the other hand, is another question because her DPS is not exactly impressive, but better lines also result in more damage. Her DPS is more important for Campaign and PvP wiping, but also be mindful of CP padding. One Max Ammo for spamming quick shots helps with smoother burst rotations.

• Essential:
• Ideal: 1× Max Ammo, 4× ATK, 4× ELE
• Passable: 3× Max Ammo
• Priority: Low

Skill Investments

• Skill 1: 7~10
• High-value Pierce DMG buff. Regular scaling.
• Skill 2: 4~7
• Less valuable than the other two because the value is comparatively smaller and it only has 50% uptime. Also prone to ATK dilution, resulting in less perceived gain.
• Burst Skill: 7~10
• Hefty ATK DMG that is universal and thunderous. A game-changing ability. Regular scaling except on the wipe multiplier (1.76×).

Suggested Progression Path

 

PVE Investment

PVP Investment

Priority

Mari Makinami Illustrious

PVE investment

4/4/4 → 7/4/7 → 10/7/10 (→ 10/10/10)

PVP investment

4/4/4 → 1/1/4 → 4/4/7 (→ 4/4/10)

Priority

High

Cube Investments

We usually recommend Resilience Cube for Sniper Rifles because the shorter reload helps with smoother quick shots for burst gen. This is more true if you don't have any Max Ammo OL. Meanwhile, Bastion Cube technically allows her to shoot more shots over 3 minutes.

Team #1: Snow White + Miranda Variation

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 2

In this version, Snow White bursts first and easily gets her final extra 7th burst off, compared to the rush you have to deal with in the SW-Yulha combo. Delaying the first burst to get both Mari's and Dolla's ATK buffs is a valid strategy to min-max damage. S. Helm substitutes Dolla against Iron-Weak for even more damage! Mari and Helm provide enough burst gen for the team.

Team #2: Snow White + B1 CDR Variation

Burst 1

B1-CDR

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

If you straight up just want to maximize base damage and feel like ditching Miranda's ~40% ATK buff and CRIT buffs is fine, this team is the way to go. Complete with Yulha's huge ATK buffs and clutch damage share, Mari's insane overall buffs, and Helm's heal. This team has EVERYTHING Snow White dreams of! All she awaits now is an Iron-Weak boss or a boss with enough pierce-able spots. It's time for "Seven Dwarves: I" to deal deathly damage to the boss! Snow White is possibly and probably the best pairing for Mari in the current meta.

Team #3: The Normal Pierce Team

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst Flex

Flex

This team has everything: 2 strong DPS who scale stupidly hard with Mari's buffs, a CDR, a B2 buffer, and one more slot reserved for healing/protection or off-burst DPS/support. If you use Privaty and Dorothy instead of D here, you can have a budget Crown Naga team. Asuka may also fit in but will be less effective compared to the above mentioned units. It is also worth mentioning that Alice is a better fit with Crown and is even better fitted alongside her best buddy, Scarlet: Black Shadow, who needs her Charge Speed to drastically increase her already insane DPS. Hence, we might not see Alice together with Mari unless it is in Campaign and you do not have Crown or Tia-Naga.

Since it is possible to use Mari as an off-burst buffer, you can also insert Crown here and use Crown's Burst Skill instead. This strategy might be effective against Ultra, where you need to reach Stage 4 before or right upon destroying the boss's first core (time gated).

Team #4: Crownless Asuka + Alice

Burst 1

B1-CDR

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst Flex

Flex

As the title suggests, if you do not have Crown, then Asuka + Alice can make a great combination for Fire Weak Solo Bosses. Asuka buffs Alice's Core Damage, and Mari pushes her further. May not be ideal in Raids since we are most likely coupling Alice with SBS, but everywhere else, this team can be used with peace. Tia + Naga should be better against Wind enemies, though, due to the fact that you want Individual Shield to trigger Asuka's Elemental DMG.

3RL Nuke

Burst 3

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 1

Mari is used as a simple damage buffer for nukes. Scarlet or Rei can be replaced by any fast nuker DPS. RH is used as a B1 unit to buff both Mari's and the nuker's AoE. The special assist from Mari comes when she uses her Burst Skill!