Rei Ayanami Guide & Review

Scarlet is everyone's favorite and all, but let us introduce you to Rei Ayanami, a tenderhearted heroine who is here to steal Scarlet's job. She can flatten the planet with her tactical nuke, while dealing some extra damage on the side through basic attacks which is also higher than Scarlet's. Rei can also empower other Fire Code allies, granting them ATK and ATK DMG from time to time, as well as providing Individual Shield.

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Rei has a balanced kit that leans more toward the supportive side rather than the offensive. You can say she is a Support disguised as an Attacker. She offers ATK buff to all Fire Code allies upon entering Full Burst, which is neat. Since this is based on caster's ATK, and Rei is an Attacker herself, there is no conversion cost unless you intentionally leave her underdeveloped. Her Burst Skill also greatly enhances the ATK DMG of all Fire Code allies for 10s.

While all seems gold, there are some slight shortcomings that Rei suffers from that limit her compatibility in Raids. It is likely by design to prevent her from becoming too versatile. The game achieves this by ensuring that she only synergizes well with one kind of DPS: those with Fire Code. While this may look like a bad thing since Rei's supporting ability is crucial to what we have rated her, the benefit is that the current roster of Fire DPS is actually pretty insane! Modernia and Asuka are the number one choices to pair alongside Rei. Alice, not so much, but that is because their playstyle is different (Rei's ATK DMG comes during her own Burst Rotation, and Alice does not deal much damage in that period).

Now that we have talked about her kit in general, let us talk about usability. In Raids, Rei's presence is able to push the already broken Asuka and Modernia further. The trio can definitely be considered as either the best or the second best combination against Wind enemies, and this is even more true if the boss is weak to Pierce. Not only that, this team also works quite well against non-Wind bosses too! The reason is that Asuka complements Rei and Modernia very well, and Rei also complements both very well. They have a reciprocal relationship. Rei might be a niche support unit that only works with certain Fire DPS, but in exchange her buffs are incredibly strong, and the allies she buffs are at the top of the food chain.

Additionally, in Campaign, her wipe, which is just as strong as OG Scarlet's, will be able to help you pass difficult wall stages requiring instant AoE. Modernia, Alice, and Asuka, who are also staples for Campaign, will also benefit from her presence. And finally, if that wasn't enough, thanks to her wipe, you can also formulate new teams with her in PvP!

Should I pull this unit?

Certainly. She has a solid role against Wind bosses and makes running Triple Fire comp with Asuka and Modernia more realistic, even against other elements. In fact, her buffs are reliable since they do not rely on the existence of a persistent core like Asuka's. Rei will also certainly bring QoL improvements to your campaign pushing and allow you to experience a wider variety of teams in Raids and PvP. She is limited too, so do not miss out on the opportunity to cash in!

As for Gold Ticket usage, which a lot of people have been asking, only use Gold Ticket(s) if you have at least 400 Mileage. Always keep 200 in store for the upcoming anniversary in 2 months!

Rei is an Attacker unit with lots of supportive buffs making her more of a Support/DPS hybrid. While she does deal more single-target damage than Scarlet, her role is more of a support & semi-DPS in Raids. In Campaign and PvP, she can be a major DPS thanks to her huge AoE nuke.

Rei Ayanami has a decent basic attack multiplier to begin with, and that's thanks to her wielding an MG. However, her kit does not have many buffs, especially those reserved for herself. She does have that situational Elemental DMG on top of an extra damage factor, but the value for the latter is infinitesimal. You can even assume that her multiplier is as raw as it can be—basic attacks + bonus from every 100 shots. Still, meager amount of buffs means that she should scale pretty well with external buffs.

Let Her Cook

■ Activates after 100 normal attack(s). Affects self.

Damage as strong element ▲ 30.23% for 3 sec.

■ Activates after landing 100 normal attack(s). Affects the enemy within attack range nearest to the crosshair.

Deals 112.37% of final ATK as damage.

Rei's Skill 1 grants her a nearly permanent Elemental DMG buff that temporarily deactivates whenever she reloads. That is because it lasts for 3 seconds, and her reload takes 2.5 + 0.367 seconds. In other words, every time she reloads, the first 100 hits thereafter would be raw. This means, without any Max Ammo buffs, the Elemental DMG only applies to 66.7% of her total shots.

Rei also deals an additional amount of skill damage every 100 shots, but this value is fairly small. It does contribute to her DPS, but it cannot core hit. It is around 20.1% of the amount of DMG she would deal through 100 basic attacks, assuming there is no core.

Tasting the Food

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

Damage dealt to Shield 700.5% continuously

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

■ Activates when entering Burst stage 3. Affects all Fire Code allies.

ATK ▲ 25.03% of caster's ATK for 10 sec.

Just like Asuka, Rei can also deal extra damage to Shield. 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 team resources such that no team is bottlenecked. However, whether it is ideal to separate Asuka and Rei for minmaxing in the next Raid is something we are to find out.

Rei also increases the ATK of Fire Code allies upon entering Burst Stage 3 for 10s. The value is based on caster's ATK, but since Rei is an Attacker, there is no conversion cost happening unless you leave her underdeveloped intentionally. As usual, ATK buffs such as this one are more impactful toward units that do not have too much ATK themselves. Modernia is a good example, having less than 30% ATK in her kit. Rei also benefits from this very ability too, but since Rei does not have high enough base multiplier as delinated in the previous section, then her output will still be minuscule.

Serving the Food Unfairly

■ Affects all Fire Code allies.

Creates a Shield equal to 13.44% of the caster's final Max HP for 10 sec.

Attack damage ▲ 48.02% for 10 sec.

■ Affects all enemies.

Deals 990.2% of final ATK as damage.

Rei's Burst Skill constructs a temporary Individual Shield and momentarily increases the ATK DMG of Fire Code allies for 10s. While this looks impressive on paper, do note that the enhancement is applied during Rei's Burst Rotation, which means Nikke(s) who do not have a stable damage output cannot make full use of this ability. One example is Alice, whose damage is concentrated in her Burst Skill. On the other hand, Nikke(s) like Modernia and partially Asuka should have no problem utilizing this buff.

Rei's Burst Skill also features a screen wipe which can eliminate multiple mobs and projectiles at once. Impactful particularly in Campaign where she can compensate her lack of ATK buff with Liter, Crown, or Red Hood B1. This will become more evident against Wind mobs as her damage will multiply against them. Dealing with bosses that often launch projectiles or spawn mobs will never be this convenient.

• 
  Alice - Rei's synergy with Alice is not that good. That is because Rei's ATK DMG comes from her Burst Skill, but Alice's DMG is all in her Burst Skill. This means there is zero overlap between Alice's peak DPS period and Rei's buff duration. The ATK buff still applies, though.
• 
  Asuka Shikinami Langley - Great but imperfect. Asuka already has too much ATK buff, but more is always appreciated. Similar to Alice, Asuka's main DPS window is during her own Burst, but unlike the bunny girl, she still deals some damage outside (40%). Rei focuses on boosting this "outside" damage and is amazing at that. But, while this is fine, do note that Rei's Shield also activates only during her own rotation, so without any other Individual Shielder, Asuka will NOT enjoy her own Elemental DMG buff during her main DPS window. That being said, Asuka also buffs Rei's Core Damage, making their relationship mutualistic.
• 
  Modernia - Excellent. Modernia is a stable damage dealer who does not need to use Burst Skill. Her damage is consistent 24/7. Because of that, she can fully utilize Rei's ATK DMG buff. Modernia's kit also does not have a lot of ATK, so Rei's ATK buff will mean a lot to her.

Tier List Adjustments

With new units coming out, the tier list needs to be adjusted again to prevent overcrowding in some ranks. We performed this in advance of Rei's review release. Some units have been promoted or demoted to highlight gaps between performance better. Affected Tier List(s): Story, Boss. As usual, interpret ratings in relation to other units in the same tier.

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

Rei's primary role in Campaign is AoE Nuke, so she functions similar to Scarlet, and in fact they have similar auto-attack damage. One advantage she has, though, is that she does not delete herself. On the contrary, Rei does not have as much ATK buff, so she is more prone to stat penalty, but Crown + Liter can help mitigate that. If you are looking for a decent MG DPS who can help you push through Chapter 19 and 20 (infested with hitcount Raptures), then Guillotine Rei can be a good alternative. Even outside these chapters, wipers in general are competent for handling a large number of mobs.

She thrives in the presence of other Fire DPS since she is more of a support. She buffs the ATK and ATK DMG of Fire Code allies and shield them from otherwise fatal attacks. This will help combat stat penalty and make the team's overall DMG more tangible. If a new player is complaining about how hard it is to get Scarlet to help them push through the early stages, consider rolling Rei! In Low Deficit, Rei's lack of ATK buff will not matter much. She still suffers the same fate as Scarlet against super High Deficit—her nuke can be short of killing anything, but at least it is still better than nothing since it leaves all enemy units with barely any HP.

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

Average personal DPS, falling behind most meta DPS, but her buffs are priceless for certain Fire DPS (Asuka & Modernia). Wipe is handy for projectile & mob clearing, and she can help shatter shields faster so that your other Nikke(s) can continue inflicting damage. Shield is useful for protecting Fire Code allies from one-hit attacks (and reduce the frequency of going to cover, which leads to damage loss). She also has built-in Elemental DMG that slightly improves her damage toward Wind bosses.

PVP - SS

Her performance in PvP is solely dictated by her nuke. Amongst all of the B3 nukers, hers is one of the highest. Rei does not lose any buffs when revived by XAnne (Scarlet loses ATK buffs, etc). In fact, she gains ATK afterward. What hinders her is the fact that she wields an MG, which has low burst generation and also feeds into Scarlet & Jackal. You will need to offset the loss of speed with batteries, such as Jackal or even Rosanna (Sacrifice). Therefore, due to her easily counterable nature, Rei is suited to Attacking more than Defending, but is still a very strong choice for defense sacrifice strats due to the fact that she keeps her buff when revived.

Gear Investments

Rei's OL improves her DPS but not her supportive capability (except from the increased base stats from higher level equipment). She does not have a jaw-dropping damage output, and she is not that meta-evolving. Exercise caution when making investments as the return may be smaller than you think. You may be unsatisfied. We recommend not spending too many rocks on her.

She scales best with Max Ammo OL, just like any MG. You can alternatively aim for more ATK/ELE to ramp her DPS up. Her kit does not have a lot of ATK and not a single percent when S2 is inactive, making ATK a good generalist's choice. And finally, ELE is still the same powerful but situational buff.

As usual, she is a decent Campaign and PvP candidate, and therefore CP padding is a valid tech. Aim for multiple lines, at the higher levels if possible, even if they do not contribute to her DPS at all. For example, if you get 3× Level 11 Lines, with the Line 3 being Max Ammo, you might want to consider stopping.

• Essential: 3× Max Ammo
• Ideal: 4× Attack, 4× Elemental Damage, 1× Max Ammo
• Passable: -
• Priority: High

Skill Investments

• Skill 1: 4~10
• A self-steroid (personal DMG boost). You can upgrade it if you have spare skill books or stop at 4 for a more economic approach. Higher value when fighting Wind enemies. Normal scaling.
• Skill 2: 7~10
• This skill provides buffs for both herself and Fire Code allies. ATK buff is nice and all, so we recommend getting it to at least 7, but 10 would be the end goal. The scaling is average, though, and the return may not be immediately felt. It is a fairly small boost anyways.
• Burst Skill: 7~10
• This skill works in both PvE and PvP. In Campaign, her main duty is to fully wipe the screen clean. In High Deficit, mobs are tanky, and usually a higher percentage is needed to exterminate them. In this case, higher investments are justifiable. The same thing also applies to PvP, but this time, instead of stat penalty, you will be facing Max HP boosts, Damage Reduction, etc.

Suggested Progression Path

 

PVE Investment

PVP Investment

Priority

Rei Ayanami

PVE investment

4/4/7 → 7/7/7 → 7/10/10 (→ 10/10/10)

PVP investment

4/4/7 → 4/7/10

Priority

High

Cube Investments

Bastion has the edge over Resilience on MGs. But, if you pair Rei with Reload Speed buffers like Crown or Privaty, then Resilience works just fine. As long as her reload is shorter than 0.6s (76% reload), she will not have to wind up.

Team #1: Bunny Power

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

Ammo Support is crucial to some units in game, and the OG Bunny Duo of Blanc and Noir is the best way to achieve this. Noir's Max Ammo buffs suit all of these 3 units: Rei, Modernia, and especially Asuka. If you lack Max Ammo rolls, using Bunnies is a viable strat. Rei also supports Modernia & Asuka well.

Team #2: Dream Modernia Team

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

This will help Modernia shine. Both Asuka and Rei need to activate their respective Burst Skill(s) to achieve peak supportive power. Meanwhile, the only Fire unit currently that should not use Burst Skill is Modernia. This makes her the most ideal third DPS for this team. Modernia does not have too much ATK buff her in her kit, so she will definitely benefit from Rei's. Modernia also scales very well with Rei's ATK DMG and Asuka's Core DMG. Strong for Campaign and Bossing too! You can also choose to use RH B1 as an alternative in Campaign, and even use Alice over Asuka if you're willing to put your fingers to the test.

While Crown is the best buffer, the dilution of ATK DMG is a bit too high, and she might be better paired with other units. In case of this, S. Rosanna would be a viable alternative, due to providing an undiluted Damage Taken debuff.

Team #3: That Dolla/SHelm Team

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst 3

A healer with a B2 CDR is some standard P4-P5 configuration. When against Iron-weak bosses, using SHelm in this team might prove feasible. Pepper can continuously heal the team and activate Asuka's ATK buff, whereas Zwei can repair cover and buff Asuka (with Pierce DMG). SMary is also an alternative. Still, Soda as a Fire MG Unit might be the better choice here since she benefits from Asuka's & Rei's supportive buffs. She also heals the team and triggers Asuka's ATK buff!

However, you will mainly use this team for bosses whose element are not Wind and where you need to break Elemental QTE.

Team #4: More Healing Please

Burst 1

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 3

Burst Flex

An alternative to the Summer Rosanna variant if more healing is needed and if Dolla/SHelm are worse options. Mainly for bosses whose element are not Wind and where you need to break Elemental QTE.

A Fistful of Nuke

Burst 3

Burst 2

Burst 2

Burst 3

Burst 1

A basic nuking team featuring Rei. Nothing special here. Most of you have already understood the thought process behind Jackal + XAnne/Blanc teams. Good for Attacking, not so much for Defending but usable. Here is a showcase of this team. https://x.com/USANIKU_NIKU/status/1828926135679496456?t=DAIK1Nr0bP5r-ecWsqc09w

Crucify Her

Burst 3

Burst Flex

ClipSG

Burst 2

Burst 1

Burst Flex

ClipSG

The typical Sacrifice P1 team that utilizes Rosanna's S2 to charge a massive amount of Burst Energy instantly through the death of opposing and friendly allies. In this example, Rei is sacrificed, and XAnne revives her. After that, Rei gains ATK buff from S2 and ATK DMG from Burst Skill before purging those who challenge her.