Should you pull Brimley?

Realistically, you’ll get Brimley while pulling for Flutterpage. People who don’t want Flutterpage should not pull on her banner just for Brimley because 1) pulling for 5-stars in this game sucks, and 2) Brimley works better with Flutterpage anyway. If you get them both, you can certainly give Brimley a shot:

• He enables any character to do follow-up attacks.
• He offers pretty good support for FUA characters by granting ATK% buffs and extra actions.
• He cleanses debuffs.
• He reduces Reality DEF with his ultimate.

Note: This guide uses his unofficial translation, as the official localization was not available at the time of writing.

Brimley’s kit revolves around his unique buff, [Let’s Ride]. Here’s a quick rundown on how it works:

• When other allies perform extra actions or Brimley casts his attack skill [Keep Movin’!], Brimley gains [Equestrianism].
• If he has 3 or more [Equestrianism] when he casts [Keep Movin’!], he depletes all [Equestrianism] stacks and the ally with the [Let’s Ride] status casts their Skill 2 at incantation rank 1 as an extra action.
• When he casts his Ultimate [Let’s Go, Mate!], the ally with the [Let’s Ride] status casts their Skill 1 at incantation rank 1 as an extra action.

His Insight I allows [Saddle Up!] (the buff card that applies [Let’s Ride]) to cleanse 2 random [Stats Down], [Neg Status], and [Control] from the target, much like how 6’s does. It’s single-target and [Let’s Ride] lasts 2 rounds, so you might still need to bring an AoE cleanser like Vila or 2.4’s Fatutu in status-heavy stages (like Gold in the Cave).

As mentioned above, his Insight III gives him [Equestrianism] when allies perform extra actions. It also gives him +1 Moxie each time the ally under [Let’s Ride] performs 3 actions each round.

His Skill 1 [Keep Movin’!] does OK damage but mostly exists to proc the extra action. Keep in mind that he will use all stacks of [Equestrianism], so plan to use his attack when his [Equestrianism] is at 2 stacks.

His Skill 2 [Saddle Up!] applies [Let’s Ride] to one ally; at higher ranks it also grants [Equestrianism]. Note that only one [Let’s Ride] effect may exist at one time. In addition to granting extra actions, [Let’s Ride] also increases the target’s ATK by 5% of Brimley’s ATK.

His Ultimate [Let’s Go, Mate!] deals decent Mental damage to all enemies and reduces Reality DEF by 20% for 3 turns. To trigger both the Moxie and [Equestrianism] Insight III passives, you’ll want your DPS under [Let’s Ride] to cast 2 incantations and 1 FUA per turn.

Pros & Cons

Brimley is complete at P0 and his portraits actually don’t offer much.

P1, P2, and P4 only increase his damage. P3 is notable because it allows his buff to cleanse 1 more debuff per cast. P5 increases his ATK buff to 8% of his ATK. Out of all of these, I’d say P5 is the best. P3 is nice in case you can’t run a cleanser, but most of your healers (Tooth Fairy, Vila, and 2.4’s Fatutu) can cleanse anyway so the extra cleanse isn’t that important. On the other hand, P5 actually impacts his buffing capability, which is the main reason you’ll want to use him.

Brimley’s Insight III gives him great synergy with frequent FUA characters like Flutterpage and Lucy. Flutterpage is a perfect buff target because while she’s in her channel state, she casts a bunch of FUA every turn for no AP, allowing Brimley to gain Moxie and [Equestrianism] for free. Most importantly, Brimley allows a channeling Flutterpage to cast her Skill 2 for +AP each turn, which she usually cannot do without Tuning. She and Lucy are also Reality characters who can benefit from his Reality DEF shred. Lucy is more AP-hungry than Flutterpage and only gets consistent FUA in stages with lots of small mobs, but she makes for a great DPS for Brimley to buff.

Lilya after her Euphoria buff is also a great consideration, especially since her Euphoria upgrade lets her perform another FUA if her Skill 2 crits. This gives her 2 more chances to gain [Enthusiasm] per Brimley-triggered-FUA (if both hits crit).

Anjo Nala is another good candidate with lots of FUA, but she doesn’t benefit from Brimley’s Reality DEF shred. On the bright side, Brimley will make Anjo Nala cast her channel more often to cast [Angel’s Temptation] more frequently.

37 is also a Mental DMG dealer but she does appreciate having as much FUA in her team as possible. Brimley’s ATK% buff also translates to more Genesis DMG, though you’d probably want to run it on Flutterpage in the same team as 37 in that case.

Notable synergies include:

Flutterpage

Lucy

Lilya

Anjo Nala

37

Anti-Synergies:

Brimley notably does not work with J because his buff cleanses J’s [Burn].

Here are the best Psychubes you can use on Brimley:

Her Second Life

Long Night Talk

Brave New World

His Bounden Duty

In the Shadow

“Her Second Life” works well for Brimley because of its ATK% substat, which directly translates to his ATK buff. The extra healing is a decent upside but you should probably run a real sustain on the team.

“Long Night Talk” is a great option for Brimley in long fights because it gives ATK% each time he buffs. At Amplification 5, it offers even more ATK% (12.5%) than ATK substat psychubes (10%). He doesn’t have a way to natively trigger the DMG Dealt buff, though.

As always, “Brave New World” and “His Bounden Duty” are fine options especially if you already have them built.

A hyper-specific but kinda expensive option is “In the Shadow,” which actually works really well with his kit. It grants 10% ATK over three buffs and gives him 12% DMG Reduction in total. The only caveat is that 5* psychube stats are never ideal.

Resonances

Resonance Pattern

Hyper - ATK (Recommended)

Equanimity - Generalized

Brimley’s buff scales off of ATK so Hyper is the best option here. If you want more survivability, try Delirament.

A A few suggestions are listed below. 3-People teams are highlighted, with the 4th slot added at the side to provide a 4-P variation of the same team or even insights on possible variations of the 3-P team.

Standard Teams

I Only Play New Characters[CN]

Damage Dealer

Sub DPS

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: 37, Anjo Nala, Jiu Niangzi, Lilya (Euphoria), Lucy
• Flutterpage’s frequent FUAs make retrieving [Spirit Shells] a cinch, keeping the team alive.
• Fatutu’s FUAs and Brimley’s triggered FUAs help to keep up Flutterpage’s [Gust] stacks.
• Brimley allows Flutterpage to cast her Skill 2 for +1 AP even while she’s channeling.
• Fatutu can cleanse 1 debuff from all allies through her Skill 1 and FUA, while Brimley can do more extensive cleansing through his single-target buff.
• This comp is pretty AP-positive, so feel free to throw in a more AP-hungry DPS as your main carry in the 4th slot.

A Torrent of Small Tricks[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Sub DPS

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: 37, Anjo Nala, Kakania
• Brimley allows Lilya to FUA even more often. With [Aerial Maneuvers] buffed to also FUA, Brimley can let Lilya stack up [Enthusiasm] even faster for very little AP.
• As a Reality DPS, Lilya benefits from Brimley’s Reality DEF shred.
• Funnily enough, Brimley’s Mental DMG designation is a benefit here, since his presence lets Vila gain 1 extra Moxie when entering battle due to her Insight I.
• Brimley’s spot cleansing can help in debuff-heavy stages to tide the team over between Vila’s ultimates.
• With how many FUAs Lilya is putting out, 37 makes a great 4th slot as an AFK sub-DPS. Anjo Nala also works well as Lilya’s Moxie regeneration will help Anjo Nala ult more often. In high pressure scenarios, Kakania is a reliable pick who works well with Vila.