Rapi: Red Hood & Review

Shiftup writers: "How much trauma do you want for Rapi's past?"

Shiftup CEO: "Y E S".

An utterly heart wrenching start to her life, but an upwards spiral to her life ever since she met Red Hood. As a century passes, she herself is now Red Hood, an ideal she has always wanted to achieve. It's time to dive deep into her skills to see if she can match up in skills to the all time legend and current best unit in the game!

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

New year, new beginning. Rapi: Red Hood is the culmination of one's long lost dreams and journey, the pinnacle of a maiden's growth, and a testament to hope and strength. Rapi: Red Hood is a DPS/support character that imitates Red Hood and changes how teams work in unimaginable ways. Her Burst Skill can be used in Stage I and III depending on what the team needs, and not only that, she also deals bonus elemental damage to Wind and Electric enemies at the same time thanks to her inheriting Red Hood's power.

As a B1 CDR, she is a direct replacement to Liter in some compositions, allowing for faster rotations, more overall team damage, and increased damage output. She does not have the bells and whistles Liter has (~80% ATK buff), nor does she provide survivability bonuses such as cover repair. However, her personal damage is not something to underestimate. Even as B1, her damage rivals some of the highest B3 DPS. While she might lower the team's damage a tiny bit, she compensates for it with her own damage that is probably tens of times the difference. Furthermore, her instant CDR comes clutch in many situations where one cannot keep full-charging (DWife/Rouge), giving her a slight advantage in high-deficit campaigns. In bossing, this CDR also helps the team rotate faster and squeeze in one more Full Burst at the very end.

As a B3 DPS, she is a harbinger of death. Explosive AoE damage, intense single-target damage, and burst damage all in one. No, unlike Alice with her savage 10s of "fully charged basic attacks that pierce and slaughter everything they touch", Rapi: Red Hood maintains a more ladylike demeanor with her more consistent output. Her damage does spike during her Burst, but she can still be used in off-burst position and still be incredible too. She excels in both bossing and mobbing thanks to MG's perfect accuracy, which significantly boosts her damage. However, be careful when using her in Campaign with Red Hood B1. If you don't bring another B1 like Liter/DWife, she will be forced to become B1 because Red Hood is not registered as a B1 unit.

Overall, in terms of usage, she excels best in bossing. Her duality as an Iron and Fire DPS makes her more economical to build as she covers two bases at the same time. Currently, when it comes to Anomaly Interception, she has allowed more players to reach S9 in Indivilia and has proven capable of replacing Liter in Harvester/Kraken and Maxwell in Ultra. That's some presence there. In Union and Solo Raid, she can handle two elements, allowing players to come up with more variants of three-team combinations.

In Campaign, she can be used as either a B1 or a B3. She can replace DWife in 2 B1 comps and become a B3 in B1-Crown-Naga-B3-B3 comps or RHB1-B1-Crown-B3-B3. Meanwhile, her performance in PvP is not astonishing. She has promising continuous AoE damage in Burst, able to hit all 5 enemies at the same time with her S2 explosion. She also deals bonus damage to Electric units, which pervade PvP like crickets. However, she is counterable by Rosanna, Jackal, and Scarlet; has no burst gen; and may be a liability more often than a tool on defense. Good attacking unit, nevertheless.

Oh, and one more thing, she is very FPS dependent, like other MG users. If you experience FPS drops or low FPS too often, she will feel awful to use.

Should I pull this unit?

Absolutely. A legendary unit that shifts the meta in her favor. Rapi is an extremely reliable jack of all trades. In fact, her value is much higher than any other DPS Pilgrims out there with her two elemental advantages. One unit for two elements means you get twice the value of your investments. That's some bargain. Both beginners and veterans would benefit from having her, and not having her will likely place your account at a high risk of being permanently disadvantaged.

How about dupes? As aforementioned, investments in her yield twice the value than usual. And since people will invest a lot in her equipment, she is likely to have tons of CP as well. What does this mean? While she might not be the perfect choice for all stages in high-deficit Campaign, the CP padding might make stages easier as that is basically equivalent to increasing the ATK of all units. There is also service in increased stat for other content.

She is worth the mileage. MLB is advised if you have surplus resources but be mindful of the upcoming EVA 2 collab in February, which will likely be of the Wind element as the Christmas stream shows that Unknown Object is now yellow in color and therefore Iron (hypothetical).

Rapi has a unique talent that allows her to transform into a B1 or B3 unit depending on the team.

• As a B1 unit, she is more of a support unit with low-maintenance CDR that deals a substantial amount of personal damage on the side.
• As a B3 unit, her full DPS potential is unleashed, and she becomes an untamable beast, dealing over 2x more damage.

To Damage or To Damage

■ Activates at the start of battle and at the end of Full Burst.

Effects differ according to squad formation. Activates only the corresponding

Affects self if there are no Burst Stage I allies.

Combat Assist: Changes to Burst phase 1 continuously.

Affects self if there are Burst Stage 1 allies.

Removes Combat Assist.

■ Affects all allies if in Combat Assist status when entering Full Burst.

Cooldown of Burst Skill ▼ 7.48 sec.

Attack Damage ▲ 8.02% for 10 sec.

■ Affects self if not in Combat Assist status when entering Full Burst.

ATK ▲ 95.04% for 10 sec.

Damage to interruption Parts ▲ 48% for 10 sec.

Depending on whether the team needs B1, Rapi: Red Hood changes her form to accommodate the team.

• If there is no Burst Stage I unit in the team, she gains the status effect Combat Assist, with which she can buff the team's ATK DMG and gives CDR upon entering Full Burst.
• If there is a Burst Stage I unit, she will stay as a B3 unit and not obtain Combat Assist. She does not buff the team but provides herself with a significant amount of ATK for 10s upon entering Full Burst.

This condition is checked at the start of battle and at the end of every Full Burst, allowing her to replace your B1 shall they perish in battle.

Now, let's talk about the buffs themselves:

• In B1 form, the ▼7.48 sec. CDR Rapi gives as B1 is huge and instant, comparable to Rouge and DWife but without the prerequisite of having to Full Charge 8 times. This is an important thing to note in Campaign—where in high deficit units must sometimes remain in cover to dodge attacks—and against bosses where faster rotations are feasible (such as against Indivilia/Ultra in Anomaly). Those 0.5s time saved each Full Burst will rack up, and by the end of a battle, allow you to trigger one more Full Burst(s) or at least benefit from longer final Full Burst.
• Her ATK DMG ▲8.02% and ATK ▲18.01% of caster's ATK may not seem a lot when compared to other CDR units in their peak form (DWife's pierce damage buff for snipers is stronger, etc), but they are universal and easy to use. What makes her ridiculous, though, is the fact that she still deals damage even as a support B1. While her weaker buffs may result in weaker damage from the team, she easily compensates for that with her personal DPS.
• In B3 form, Rapi's personal DPS is greatly enhanced thanks to the ▲95.04% ATK. She also gains access to her B3 Skill, which deals a medium amount of burst damage and temporarily reduces the number of shots needed to trigger explosives by half. Alongside the increased projectile attachment damage bonus, this takes her personal damage up a notch.

Low Risk, High Reward

■ Activates at the start of battle. Affects self.

Applies damage as strong element to Electric Code enemies continuously.

Projectile attachment damage ▲ 150.72% continuously.

Projectile explosion damage ▲ 100.6% continuously.

■ Activates after 120 normal attack(s).Affects self.

Attachable Projectiles Effect: Launches attachable projectiles that attach to hit locations.

When entering Full Burst, the projectiles explode.

Projectile attachment damage: Deals 88.11% of final ATK as damage.

Projectile explosion damage: Deals 88.11% of final ATK as damage.

Max Ammunition Capacity: 1 round(s).

Rapi, inheriting the power of Red Hood, gains her core element and deals bonus damage to both Wind and Electric enemies at the same time. This makes her a trustworthy DPS in twice the number of situations and saves you the cost of upgrading a secondary DPS. Being able to harass bosses like Ultra and Indivilia in Anomaly Interception makes her an efficient unit to build for beginners and resource-conscious late-gamers.

This skill also stores all the multipliers of her explosives, which the game calls projectiles. Projectile attachment damage ▲ and Projectile explosion damage ▲ are considered part of the Attack Damage group in formula.

What are projectiles?

Projectiles are basically Rapi: Red Hood's secondary mode of attack that is launched every 60~120 landed basic attacks (1~2 sec. @ 60 FPS; longer if lower FPS). Launched projectiles deal damage upon impact (can core hit, can crit) and stick to enemies (or explode immediately on certain surfaces). Upon entering Full Burst and throughout Full Burst, these explosives spontaneously combust, dealing AoE damage (cannot corehit, can crit). This AoE damage can hit multiple enemies or parts.

According to our math, projectiles constitute half of her damage as B3 and slightly less as B1. You want to make sure that this skill is highly leveled, so her damage can be maximized.

How Large is Too Large?

When used in Stage I: Squad Support Action Style

■ Affects self.

Cooldown of Burst Skill ▼ 20 sec.

Explosion Radius ▲ 100.62% for 10 sec.

■ Affects all allies.

ATK ▲ 18.01% of caster's ATK for 10 sec.

When used in Stage 3: High-Mobility Close-Range Combat Weapon

■ Affects the enemy nearest to the crosshair.

Deals 2808% of final ATK as additional damage.

■ Affects self.

Explosion Radius ▲ 100.62% for 10 sec.

Projectile attachment damage ▲ 421.2% for 10 sec.

Skill 2: attachable projectiles trigger count condition▼ 60 times for 10 sec.

Based on the form determined by S1, Rapi: Red Hood can use either her B1 Skill or B3 Skill but not at the same time (unlike Red Hood). Her B1 skill is more supportive, whereas her B3 skill is more for herself.

B1 Form: More ATK for the Team

Rapi temporarily enhances the team's ATK based on her own ATK, which means the buff is as effective on Defenders as it is on Attackers. ATK ▲18.01% is not that big but it's easily felt nonetheless. Additionally, if she uses B1 Skill, she also reduces her own CD by -20s. This allows her to continue using B1 every rotation (unlike RH that is locked to 40s).

B3 Form: More DMG for Herself

Rapi deals a considerable amount of instant damage to the enemy closest to her crosshair, then massively boosts her projectile attachment damage. She also launches projectiles twice as often as the number of shots required is cut by half (from 120 → 60, 2s → 1s @ 60FPS). This greatly increases the damage she deals from S2, but it does not affect her raw basic attack damage.Therefore, the effectiveness of this skill is dependent on the investments of S2.

In both forms, Rapi's Burst Skill temporarily expands the range of her projectile explosions, allowing them to reach more enemies/parts and even accidentally destroying terrain, which can be a good thing or a bad thing. For example, it allows her to reach Mirror Container's Glass Slipper, which is probably not a good thing because she is unlikely to destroy them in one shot, making her clunky to use against it (you can cover, however). Terrain is also useful for burst generation in Campaign. If all environmental objects are destroyed, then recharging Burst Energy can become more difficult. On the contrary, this skill allows her explosions to hit all enemies in PvP at the same time. It also helps the team clear flying rocks against Harvester AI.

Campaign (LD) B1/B3 - SSS/SSS | Campaign (HD) B1/B3 - SSS/SSS

Rapi in their B1 and B3 forms have different uses in campaign and can be considered meta replacements to old units. Best unit in Elysion Tower.

As a B1, she can go either solo or with another B1 like Red Hood, providing ATK & ATK DMG buffs for the team and contributing some personal damage. She pairs well with the likes of Crown as she does not enjoy her ▲95.04% ATK whilst having Combat Assist. But, what makes her special is her instant CDR, which is more convenient than DWife's. It does not require 8 Full Charge(s) to trigger, so even if your team is fully in cover for the whole Full Burst, your next rotation still won't be stalled. The downside? Well, DWife can trigger her CDR multiple times over one rotation, and this in some cases can allow for faster clears with mob stalling strategy. DWife's ATK DMG + Pierce DMG (+ core damage) combined is also still stronger than Rapi's buffs for piercer snipers overall. However, Rapi's prowess comes from her self DPS. Alongside Crown, she is buffed every burst rotation and hence is still able to deal MEGA damage. She is just too good! You can 2-1-2 comp with Red Hood as the main B1 and her as the secondary B1, or you can run a 1-1-3 comp.

As a B3, Rapi is just your regular ol' wave clearing unit—well, mostly single target—that can quickly decimate enemies in her Burst. She can pair RH, Asuka, Rei, Alice, or Mod, literally anyone that would conform to the stage design better. The only problem is that she cannot be in a RHB1-B2-B3-B3-B3 comp as that will force her into B1, so the only choice to run her in a 1-1-3 comp is with DWife or Liter. However, nowadays, people have shifted into a 2-1-2 comp or 1-2-2 comp depending on whether Naga or CDR is more needed for a stage. Making the shift from 1-1-3 should not be a huge problem for anyone.

Realistically speaking, Rapi will fit into ANY team. She does have special synergy though due to her being Fire. In both forms, Rapi has excellent synergy with Asuka and Rei, which are good units in Campaign, as well as a wide range of applicability thanks to her double element shticks. She can integrate into many teams and provide them what they need. For example, in Iron stages, you can do Liter Crown RH Rapi Naga, and in Fire, you can do RH-B1 Crown Rapi Alice Naga. Glasses' hitcount shield is a problem for your team? Slot her in. She can directly replace Modernia! A straight powercreep to Modernia in all senses. Just in general she will perform insanely well as a B3 unit in MOST campaign stages, since more than half of them are either Iron or Fire-weak (Fire being most common while Iron being just a little less common than Electric-weak).

Additionally, since people will be investing a lot in her, she will naturally have higher CP than the other CDRs. Even if they were theoretically better choices in some situations, the CP padding provided by Rapi is more likely going to have more impact.

Do note that she lacks one thing—burst gen—so make sure to pair her with units that give them. Another problem is the fact that her projectile explosions destroy terrain, making it hard for you to utilize them for burst gen.

Bossing B1/B3 - SSS/SSS

Both forms of Rapi deserve SSS in the Bossing category as well due to her stellar performance, but likewise, there are pros & cons of using her versus other units.

Let's talk about her B1 first. Against some bosses and in some comps, she has proven to edge out Liter in terms of total team damage thanks to her personal damage output and instant CDR. The instant CDR helps a lot in securing more time for the final Full Burst or giving you one more Full Burst, which will notably grant more damage than just outright buffing. The problem? She is fully offensive, and she does not provide the team any survivability bonuses (except for the fact that she helps clear dangerous projectiles and mobs nearby). There is no cover repair like Liter's or healing like Rouge's. You need to make good use of your resources to make sure your team lasts a full run.

Rapi in her B3 form is an absolute menace. She just deals a lot of damage, rivaling Alice. Not only that, she does that to two elements, Wind and Electric. She is like Alice and Red Hood amalgamated into one, a perfect combination for newer players who do not have access to materials necessary for upgrading both. Even though her damage would spike with the presence of core, since a substantial sum of her damage is from skill damage, her damage is quite stable and she still fares well against core-less enemies, unlike Red Hood. Her explosions can also cleave, hitting multiple parts at the same time, effectively doubling or tripling the damage or even more depending on how many parts are hit.

Since Rapi is considered a Fire AND an Iron unit, she can deal damage to enemies even behind Electric shields and destroy Electric QTEs meant for Iron units. This allows her to handle Ultra and Indivilia for people without an extensive roster. However, as mentioned earlier, she lacks burst gen, so make sure not to desiccate your team by not having any burst gen unit at all. For instance, Liter Crown Asuka Rapi Naga is slow, but Liter Crown Rapi Alice Naga is fast because Alice is a good generator. You can also use Grave to compensate in low-burst gen teams.

PVP B1/B3 - C/A

C for Champions, A for Arena. We probably mention champions arena more than the number of discussions Shift Up has had for it. Anyways, back to the review. First of all, let's just start with the elephant in the room. Rapi has no burst gen, feeds the enemy team immensely, and while you may think her ST damage is high, PVP has a unique trait: 30 FPS! It means Rapi will shoot 50% slower no matter how strong your device is, therefore this lowers her potential damage by at least 50% too. At least she still has decent AoE during her Burst if she is used as a B3, therefore opening up some interesting cheese. She is able to hit all 5 units of she Bursts and can kill the enemy team faster than the likes of Emilia if the enemy team has little survivability. She is an attack oriented Nikke, and very weak on the defending side due to her feed and lack of burst gen. That’s her B3’s PVP review. As for B1, the question you should be asking is, “Why would I even use her as B1 in PvP?”. Just don't use her ideally, she's more-so a replacement of you have a bare-bone roster. Her only real team is as a B3 alongside Blanc if Blanc is able to burst before RRH dies.

Gear Investments

Rapi is an MG unit, so what she needs most is Max Ammo, followed by ELE & ATK like most DPS do. At least 3× Max Ammo for smooth rotations and ensuring she can fire 600 shots in one Full Burst + 300 extra outside FB, with Resilience + Crown (strat: reload before every Full Burst). Outside Reload Speed comps, she might need 4× + Bastion to last 2 rotations without reloading. That aside, she technically gains twice the value of Elemental DMG thanks to her double element gimmick.

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

Skill Investments

Rapi scales well with investments and is worth instant 10/10/10. There are no actual breakpoints, but if we were to create one, then 7/7/7 → 10/10/10 with no specific ordering. All skills are important, but some may be less critical depending on how you want to use her primarily. Scaling wise, Skill 2 has the highest scaling, followed by Burst Skill, then Skill 1. Supports can focus on S1 and Burst Skill, while DPS should focus on everything.

• Skill 1: 10
• This skill stores all the ATK buff she has and the amount of CDR/ATK DMG she grants in Full Burst. Level increases allow for faster rotations, but the increased CDR may be useless if you are not rotating fast enough anyway. ATK buff is good but it's also diluted by external buffs and OL. Lower than regular 1.69x scaling, sitting at 1.4× for CDR and 1.6× for buffs.
• Skill 2: 10
• Where her skill damage multipliers lie. It also contains buffs that also enhance its own attacks, so double the value, making upgrading this skill of a higher priority. More important when dealing with enemies without core because her basic attack will have less impact. This skill warrants the most upgrades because the scaling is 1.60/1.69 × 1.77 = ~2.832×/2.99× (albeit dilution from outside buffs), but it only affects her personal damage and not team buff.
• Burst Skill:10
• The scaling for B1 ATK buff gain is huge, but the scaling for Burst DMG and attachment DMG buff are even bigger. Upgrades also increase explosion range (which is more important for DPS than for support).

Suggested Progression Path

 

PVE Investment

PVP Investment

Priority

Rapi: Red Hood

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

Meta

Cube Investments

In Reload Speed comps (with Crown), Resilience is the better choice. Make sure to reload before entering Full Burst to ensure 10s of continuous shooting. Note that Crown's reload buff lingers for 5s after ending Full Burst. Otherwise, Bastion is likely the better choice but make sure to do some testing to see which works best for your team, rotation, and investments.

Doll Investments

Due to her prevalence in PvE content, SR 15 is warranted, but MG does not benefit much from MG dolls' weapon-exclusive skill. Nevertheless, SR 15 doll still gives a lot of CP to lower penalty in CP-oriented contents, and more ATK never hurts.

Team #1: Iron Man Team

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 2

This team is very strong to deal against Iron weak, for example Ultra in A.I mode or Stormbringer/Material H in Campaign. You can both buff Rapi and gain burst gen using Red Hood, and Liter + S.Helm will allow you to reach no CDR faster instead of waiting at least 2 Full Burst rotations. May we use this team anywhere else? Yes, because they are so versatile (use Naga instead of S.Helm in that case)

Team #2: Fe-Male Team

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst 3

B3

Burst 2

A variation of Iron man team, but this time Rapi will play as B1. This team is used when you want to make use of your other Iron DPS, be it either Laplace (Treasure), Maxwell or Soda: Twinkling Bunny

Team #3: Firefighter

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

You can go full fire here and have Rei to protect the team with her op shield, or relying on Liter and her cover repairing trait. Asuka or Rei can buff Modernia + Rapi and still deal good damage themselves.

Team #4: Anti Nvidia

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 2

With the release of Rapi, Indivilla is no longer that difficult anymore. As a B1, she allows faster rotation and still deals a lot of damage to the boss. Because you are running Rapi as B1, this team still relies on Alice doing the heavy work, with Asuka as both buffer + damage dealer.

Team #5: Dual B1 with Red Hood

Burst 1

Burst 1

Burst 3

B3

Burst 3

B3

Burst 2

Both Red Hood(s) working together! Dual B1 has been a popular alternative in high-deficit campaigns when extra core damage from Naga is not necessary. It allows you to benefit from Red Hood’s huge chunk of ATK as well as Rapipi’s ATK DMG/CDR every rotation. In this team, Rapi replaces the usual Liter/DWife and acts as a secondary DPS for the team while buffing both your B3 choices simultaneously. Although Rapipi doesn’t get her own ATK buff here, she eats RH’s and Crown’s ATK buff (and if you bring Asuka and Rei, their buffs too). She can also help the team break hitcount shields and projectiles (like Glasses’).

Team #6: Generic B1

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

B3

Burst 3

B3

Burst Flex

Flex

Rapi: Red Hood can be said equivalent to Liter or better in some comps thanks to her ATK DMG and instant CDR. Crown here is just a placeholder, and you can definitely use other options like Grave. The FLEX can be Naga if the enemy has core, etc. In this team, Rapi acts as a secondary DPS and buffer that buffs the two B3 DPS you bring. For example, against Harvester in AI, you can use Rapi Crown XLud QuencyEQ Naga. Against Kraken in AI, you can use Rapi Crown SBS Alice Naga. Or perhaps you want to be the first (probably not) to clear Mirror Container Hard Campaign with Rapi Crown Cindy Ein SAnis. There are many variations of this team. Experiment which B1 works best for you, but don’t forsake survivability completely.

Zombie Rapi

Burst 3

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 1

Burst 2

This is a 3 RL zombie Rapi which revolves around heavy buffing Rapi and hoping she can kill everything before Indomitable runs out. Most of the time, Rapi can trigger her S2 5 times, and unless you are fighting heavily stall team (Noah + Noise)

Stall Team

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst 3

Burst 2

Burst 2

The stall comp featuring Noah + Noise. Problem is, without buffer, Rapi will deal pretty lame damage herself due to the nature of PVP Mode (locked 30 FPS), hence it won’t be as good as Anis: Sparkling Summer or Scarlet: Black Shadow version.