Foreword
The partner in crime of Naga, Tia comes swooping down with magnificence as she explodes her enemies into ashes with her lizardry (buttons, I mean). She boasts a unique kit as a B1 Defender, which is already uncommon per se, that can help the team withstand more attacks and output more damage. With a noteworthy boost to Attack DMG, an occasional screen-wide taunt, frequent cover repairs, and the ability to erect Independent Shields for everyone in the team, Tia can ensure that her team remain a serious threat even with fewer DPS. To be more specific, she comes with an inherent drawback—you are forced to run a 2-1-2 formation.
Kit Analysis
Tia comes equipped with a rich kit, both offensively and defensively. We are looking at:
Skill 1
Her Skill 1, which provides an immense ATK Damage buff (which is superior to ordinary ATK buffs). The uptime can be considered permanent if you pair her with certain units, especially Naga. Otherwise, without any other cover repair in team, it will only be 10s from the moment Burst Skill is activated.
ATK Damage is a separate multiplier in the damage formula and belong to the same bracket as Parts Damage. This means it is not as diluted as ATK buffs and will noticeably multiply your damage!
The CD part is tricky as you need to maintain two stacks at all time, which increase when cover is repaired. The problem is she only repairs cover on Burst, usually every 14~17s with CDR units, while the buff duration is only 12s! This means she should ideally be paired with units that can increment stacks (Pepper or Rupee) or units that can repair cover (Liter, Cocoa, Naga). Note that Liter's and Cocoa's cover repairs trigger every 15s, which means bad timings are bound to happen (or even worse, Tia isn't the target for that cover repair). All in all, Naga just makes activation of Tia's buffs much more simpler.
Cover MAX HP boost from her Skill 2 is NOT counted as cover repair. Be warned!
Skill 2
Her Skill 2, which is all about boosting her survivability. The first part is a screen-wide taunt in tandem with a brief Cover MAX HP increase. This looks too good to be true until you realize that, in some stages, the MAX HP increase may not be enough to counterbalance the damage taken. This shouldn't be a major problem against bosses, especially if the skill level and base MAX HP are high enough. You can also use her to divert missiles away from key units and i-frame them. Like usual, every time this MAX HP is triggered (provided that it expires first), it will "regenerate" cover HP. The regeneration is dependent on her MAX HP.
Since Tia's taunt is triggered every 5 shots, you can manual her to dodge unwanted big chunks of damage, decide when to taunt and when not to, and even reach near-perfect activation tempo if necessary (with uncharged shots). This technique is important in campaign pushing where mobs can quickly obliterate cover. Remember, the buff must first expire before being reactivated, else the cover regeneration won't happen.
The second part is a cover repair tied to using Burst Skill, as explained when discussing Skill 1. The repair value scales up with higher base MAX HP, so make sure to raise her HP as much as needed. She also gains a brief lifesteal, which is actually trivial in short terms unless paired with units that grant profuse ATK buffs, like Liter and Naga. However, it can still make a difference in longer fights given that she is not taking too much damage.
Naga is a special case here as she provides ATK buffs based on caster's ATK, which is more beneficial in Tia's case. This is the same case as with XRupee and SAnis, who synergize with each other well. Defenders naturally have much lower offensive stats.
Burst
Her Burst, which grants a substantial shield to self and weaker shields to everyone else. These shields are Independent, which means every unit enjoys their own shield (unlike the one provided by Centi or Poli). The shields might look weak, but it can be used to absorb powerful one-shot attacks. That aside, the actual purpose of these shields is to trigger Naga's "when applying shield" skills, which currently has no reliable method of activation. When she and Naga are paired, you are guaranteed to activate Naga's monumental buffs all the time!
Not only that, the additional Re-Enter Burst I trait will also allow your team to benefit from an additional supportive buff of your choosing. Ideally, you would want it to be a CDR unit like Liter, Volume, or Dorothy. Mix and match your units in Raids and accumulate a huge number of buffs for your DPS every full burst. There is a minor drawback however, since the Re-Enter Burst I has a small delay which means you cannot spam the burst button, if you wanted to that.
Pairing Tia and Naga together forces you to run a 2-1-2 formation, so you can only bring 2 DPS. This limits flexibility when it comes to team composition as not many units can benefit from precision buffs like Core Damage.
Also, please remember that: without cover, Tia cannot activate most of her buffs properly. This means you must pay close attention to her cover HP at all times!
Usage
Tia and Naga are a solid duo, and they will be seeing a lot of use in Raids and Campaign. However, Tia straight up has some a major downside of using her—her taunt, which might pose a survival risk. She may require meticulous micromanagement and manual gameplay from time to time, which may discourage pairing her with other manual-heavy Nikkes like Alice. However, this does not mean they can't be paired. We will keep this point in mind as we delve deeper into her use. This restriction can prove to be rather serious at times.
Tia and Naga together can provide more buffs than any other pair that is present currently in-game. Even in non-ideal conditions for this Tiga (Tia and Naga) pair, at similar investments with Blanc and Noir, they will approximately provide equal buffs to the team when comparing both teams. At ideal conditions, they edge over the Bunny Pair (Blanc and Noir) by ~25% more!
CAMPAIGN
Tia and Naga unlock a variety of team compositions and styles, in which you can focus more on dealing damage and denying enemy attacks with the help of Tia's taunt and shield. They are more difficult to play but can be rewarding. Some playtesting shows that they can allow you to clear stages you normally can't with Centi or Blanc Noir.
A couple of perks they have over them are:
- Firstly, due to Tia being RL, she can provide better burst generation for the team that is less dependent on enemy distance.
- Secondly, the Tiga pair provides buffs to the team, while the main source of damage in Bunny Pair is debuffs on enemies. The reason why buffs are better than debuffs in campaign is that these debuffs are applied only to the current wave of raptures. If the current wave dies and the next one starts, or some raptures have delayed spawns in the current wave, these new enemies will not have the debuffs applied to them, and hence damage output can be severely impacted.
Which also obviously comes with some disadvantages:
- Tia's constant taunt, which can cause her to be quite annoying to use. This can either seriously increase the skill requirement needed to beat a stage, or make it impossible for Tia to survive against waves of raptures. Hence, the Bunny Pair or Centi may just be the easier alternative for casual players. Against Laser Raptures, Tia can lose her shield if she gets shot even once, rendering her skill 1's Attack Damage Buff useless.
- Another disadvantage is that the Bunny Pair has significantly higher healing, due to Blanc's teamwide and almost constant heals, in contrast to to Naga's focused healing every 5 shots. This is an extremely prevalent problem that Tia-Naga pair faces against Gas Raptures that constantly deal AoE damage, even through cover.
To circumvent these drawbacks, normally you should try to kill raptures faster than they can kill you. This holds extremely true when pushing hard mode in campaign where the CP deficit can absolutely crush players as their Nikkes can get one-shot. However, Tia and Naga counterbalance this by offering relevant offensive buffs with high uptime that can be used to your advantage with certain key units like Alice, Modernia, Scarlet or A2 to quickly finish off the waves of enemy raptures. Furthermore, delaying Tia's taunt with careful manual use can do wonders in a stage for your survivability, as it can spread damage taken across your team.
Here's a trick (not a secret): towards the end of some stages, a lot of times you might be able to just let Tia die and taunt the damage away from your main DPS, who can focus on the Stage Target in order to clear the stage, which is all that matters.
UNION RAID
Being the second inseparable pair after Blanc & Noir who can provide more offensive buffs than them while being more restrictive, Tia & Naga are expected to see tons of usage in Union Raids, if not permanent. Tia & Naga will be used more against bosses with cores. Against Solo Bosses such as those in Union Raid, Tia and Naga will shine bright. Outperforming the Bunny Pair in offensive support, they will also provide some extra survivability to teams, and will absolutely crush non-wall bosses (usually the 1st, 2nd and 4th boss in a Union Raid). They will also prove to be an excellent choice against Nihilister, which has been a struggle for players due to the lack of cover heal skills (previous choices used to be Liter, Biscuit, and Cocoa).
Remember that Tia and Naga pair needs another B1 CDR unit to be paired with her due to re-entering Burst 1 stage. Hence, the team comp is restricted to a 2-1-2 setup, which means Modernia, the best option to get core hit buffs on, is essentially nerfed for this team in bossing since her ideal is a 1-1-3 setup where she does not burst.
SOLO RAID
Tia & Naga's main battlefield is Solo Raid. Like in Union Raid, Tia & Naga will easily be in one of your top teams alongside your best DPS to help them survive and dish out immense damage within 3 minutes. They are still usable against bosses with no core, despite not being able to reach maximum performance. Quite flexible and allows effortless runs without retrying. In the on-going Modernia Solo Raid, Tia has proven herself to be quite the utility to have. Her shield is the ultimate counter to Modernia's lasers, her Attack Damage buff is almost always there, and she's always ready to help Naga activate her skills. The Tiga Pair has seen massive use, and all these teams were seen doing high damage. They aren't going anywhere soon, hopefully.
Uniquely, there have also been cases in top scores where Tia was separated from Naga, while Naga was used as a buffer/healer for another team. This might be partly due to the fact that Naga and Guillotine have clashing kits (heals), but at the same time Tia's taunt is similar to Noise's, which is something Guillotine desires.
PVP
Tia is, well, just average in PvP. She offers nothing special to break the meta, but you can use her in some specific teams. Her taunt at 5 RL can be disheartening, taking a long time to set in, while the added delay from Re-Enter Burst I will slow your team down. Shield is also kind of useless as it does not block wipes. Nevertheless, she can create some interesting formations with double B1, if you place her in P1 alongside Biscuit. As a B1 defender, she can utilize Biscuit's S2 and also allow you to use other B2 skills. The extra damage from Skill 1 might be something worth looking into as well.
MISSILIS TOWER
Tia & Naga pair may be the best units in Missilis Tower, similar to what Blanc & Noir may provide to Tetra Tower. The damage boost is hefty, and they allow you to enjoy heals without bringing an extra healer like Pepper. Since you will also invest heavily in this pair (thus higher CP), they will also decrease the severity of stage penalty.
Investments
Gear Investments
Tia does not need Overload to perform, but increasing her base HP will allow her to survive more easily as her shield amount, cover MAX HP bonus, and cover recovery on Burst are all dependent on it. We highly recommend OL-ing her Body Armor for the highest boost of HP. The Overload lines are not important, but prioritize MAX AMMO for more frequent S2 activation on Auto. Alternatively, you can also aim for CHARGE SPEED. If you run out of rocks, it may be better not to reroll the lines and just enjoy the increased base HP.
Body Armor provides the highest boost to HP, followed by Head and Boots. If you want to attain the highest possible increase, consider upgrading those too after maxing out the Body Armor. However, it is not really necessary.
Skill Investments
For smoother rotations, we highly recommend having her Skill 1 at minimum 7. This will increase the CD reduction to -13s/stack. Beyond that, level up if you want more damage boost as the independent multiplier is really valuable. As for Skill 2 and Burst, upgrades are not absolutely necessary, but they will allow Tia to survive and maintain cover longer. We recommend starting with 3 for the least amount of Blue books or 4-5 if you want to spend a bit more.
Start with 7/3/3, then 10/x/x. Upgrade to 7-10/4-5/4-5 if necessary to boost your team survivability. You can also choose to do this by upgrading her Body Armor instead and save some Skill/Burst Manuals.
Cube Investments
For best performance, she is best paired with Resilience cube. Bastion can be used as an alternative and would be comparable to Resilience once her base ammo reaches 10 (from Overload).
Team Compositions
You might want to always couple her with Naga, as she is the only unit in-game capable of reliably activating the "shield" parts of Naga's skills. There is rarely any reason to separate them at least for now, except in cases where some skills clash or Naga is needed in other teams. Note that it is possible to run Tia alone, and Naga can be used in other teams despite not being able to trigger her skills as often. There is also a Snow White one-shot tech, in which you try to deal as much damage as possible within one Burst rotation. New tech may appear in the future, but here are some general teams we could think about:
Team #1
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Perhaps the most basic and recommended formation for Tia Naga. You can fill this team with any DPS you want, from Alice Privaty/Maxwell to SAnis Scarlet. It's quite flexible, but to which extent each team profits from the buffs varies from one to another. Try experimenting which DPS would work best for you while also considering the other teams (in Raids).
Team #2
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If Naga isn't in party, Rupee is a great choice. Rupee can elso easily maintain Tia's S1 stacks given that she keeps shooting and hitting her shots. Normally, you only use this team if you don't have Naga, if you plan to use Naga in other teams, or if there is a clash of kits (Guillotine's Skill 2 vs Naga's healing).
Team #3
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No Rupee? This is one of your best alternatives. Pepper will allow Tia to reach 2 stacks of CDR every time she bursts.
Team #4
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Perhaps you don't need the second stack of her S1, in which case it is fine to run without Pepper or Rupee, especially in slow teams (low burst generation). Volume or Liter alone can reduce up to 8 seconds of CD. If Tia's S1 is at least level 7, this results in a minimum of 19s CD after the third rotation.
Team #5
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The one-shot tech that relies on overfeeding SW with buffs as she lands a single brutal shot on the opponent. Good for rapidly clearing Special Interception. Requires investments to work.
Should You Pull
Should you pull? Yes!
Tia is an excellent support! A unique addition to the Meta, and the second nikke with the Re-Enter Burst I Stage skill. Although she has some problems, in the usual conditions we face in Nikke she will thrive and prove to be the best against anyone else! She seems to be an excellent addition to the roster, especially in Missilis Tribe Tower, and provides additional options to use in Union and Solo Raids. Just remember that she does need to be paired with Naga to prove herself as the ultimate support. The Tiga (Tia+Naga) pair is now, without doubt, one of the meta teams for Raids, chalking up our prediction from Naga's Review to be true!
If you are an F2P, we recommend getting one copy, and then wishlist her dupes if you want any. Since you will be able to wishlist her after Tia's Banner ends, we also urge you not to blindly spark her with golden tickets, unless if you already got Naga withing 10-30 pulls, and have already spent 80-90 tickets trying to get her. Any case apart from this one, we do not recommend sparking Tia with your golden mileage tickets. Anniversary is coming, so prepare in advance.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Provides a unique Attack Damage buff, which is rarely diluted and usually stands as an independent multiplier.
- Grants Independent Shield every burst cycle, which allows the team to evade dangerous attacks over and over.
- Self-sustainable thanks to multiple recovery skills (cover + lifesteal), alongside taunts to divert attacks away from key units.
- Unique Re-Enter Burst Stage I trait.
- Assists her major pair, Naga, to activate the dominant parts of her skills with ease.
- Can provide above average burst generation in Campaign due to her being an RL; less sensitive to enemy distance.
Cons
- Her constant taunt may be a blessing or a curse; it may be a threat to her existence.
- If her cover is destroyed, she loses the Attack Damage buff permanently.
- Can be a manual-heavy Nikke depending on the stage.
- Limited flexibility as her best pair is Naga, who provides Tia with the best sustain through her constant taunt. Less versatile than Bunnies in general.
- You're forced to run a 2-1-2 formation due to her Re-Enter Burst Stage I skill.
- With Naga being her best pair, she only optimally works with units that can hit cores all the time.