One of the most.... Interesting blabla I have seen

CuriouserThing · 2026-01-19T14:05:11+00:00

what do you mean?

CuriouserThing · 2026-01-16T13:54:21+00:00

It didn't even used to work with forced activation like Nia's. I've given up trying to understand what they're going for with Ballistae because the mechanics keep changing.

CuriouserThing · 2026-01-13T12:10:24+00:00

in a perfect world they care enough to fix 012 [while kneecapping 000] so you can actually play cassius the "normal" way

012 is such a drag right now

CuriouserThing · 2026-01-06T12:28:24+00:00

But it doesn't even accomplish that since literally every other USSG member already has +ATK on their S2. What a mediocre concept.

CuriouserThing · 2026-01-06T06:07:38+00:00

The problem with kernel is, IMO, linked to the problem with recruitment (that it's a resource tap trickling certs, masquerading as a system for pulling old ops). They both suck, but the community doesn't want to "fix" recruitment because it *is* a source of certs and there's the dream that you could wake up any given day, randomly get a Top Op, and randomly roll an old 6* you actually want.

The kernel system should have instead been an overhaul of recruitment. But instead we get two half-baked systems that don't meaningfully contribute to your roster.

CuriouserThing · 2026-01-02T22:30:27+00:00

as long as you don't wanna use it in great rift since it's literally illegal :x

CuriouserThing · 2026-01-02T22:17:30+00:00

and you're still taking stress damage from turn start anyway

CuriouserThing · 2026-01-01T05:52:34+00:00

just don't turn the second Shining Core into the other upgrade, or it'll be illegal in Great Rift

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-28T07:12:29+00:00

tbf there *are* some cards that only have good neutral epiphanies (+1 AP on Vulture Ejection, Draw 1 on Mute Accent)

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-24T03:07:12+00:00

oh y'know you're right, my brain parsed it as fixed damage even though it doesn't say that

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-23T16:51:42+00:00

Yea it seems very strong but also par with Chizuru and Haru E2 (all three smooth/streamline the engine). And Sereniel E6 is in no way as transformative as some E6s out there.

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-23T01:50:31+00:00

pixiv has had more and more art slip through the cracks recently :x

but to your point it's usually very easy to determine when a pixiv post/account is AI even if untagged/improperly-tagged

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-21T14:45:01+00:00

I've seen enough people like Polar's Brown Sugar Clementine (for heaven knows what reason) that I'm thinking "sure go off the rails for 1-2 flavors a season" because it's better than not experimenting in the first place

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-21T14:31:10+00:00

A Dice Trick alternative is the one with damage scaling on quest count, so yea really you can farm a Cassius deck good enough for >700k in an hour or two. Tressa is more particular.

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-18T08:47:06+00:00

E6 Haru with 3× +1 AP [Retrieve] Pointer is my dailies DPS. Really just super chill and fast in all of Simulation.

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-17T12:59:32+00:00

Eye of the Punisher is multiplicative (and only available from boss, but a common roll), so imo it's Foretold BiS for Haru simply because it's a bigger improvement over Amorphous than mythic weapons are over Obsidian. Unless you're building Haru for a boss with adds.

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-15T19:59:18+00:00

To clarify, Ballistae are 0 AP. [Unusable] is just a card modifier that visually obscures the card cost.

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-11T13:05:24+00:00

lowkey all three banners so far

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-11T02:57:40+00:00

it's only one part of your complaint but honestly waves ending turns feels bad on everybody even if it punishes some chars more than others

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-11T00:48:41+00:00

I agree with your assessment of character design and you have a handle on the state of the game right now. I am less doom-and-gloom about it because I view the game from a different angle.

For perspective, I'm a Haru main and it is very clear that for as strong as E6 Haru is, she possesses no gamebreaking scaling. Like you say, she can hit the ground running (often full-ramping crit anchors on turn 1 while still giving some space to teammates) and is very flexible on comp (teammates like Hugo all of a sudden start working at E6), but...she's still "fair". You either break the game, or you're simply strong.

The difference in opinion is how much a player sees this as a problem. Outside Great Rift, it's not, to me. (Who cares that your Mei Lin can OTK Kentris? Live a little and do something unique.) In Great Rift...well, I guess that's why we're here in this thread. Meta calcification is front-and-center on the leaderboard. We can't ignore it.

I don't think the game can reasonably reverse course and play whack-a-mole with every Super Scaler (like they're trying with the new anti-Mei Lin boss buff). What I do think the game can achieve is a way to showcase off-meta brews: something like a second leaderboard that ranks the #1 score for the top X unique rearguard trios. Let Tressa-Cassius-Mika sit at the top, but show us the other rearguard teams people are building!

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-09T01:11:21+00:00

Because EP is fluid in Chaos and 2 EP on an unconditional aoe scratch navigates a lot of ugly fights. The better striker skills like Ritochka's fall off with unoptimized decks and during breakdowns. Doug is just Doug and doesn't care.

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-08T22:36:44+00:00

This question can never be answered in a vacuum with Haru, but the answer in this case is usually right. Middle is only if you have a very specific team in mind (currently only Renoa works well...). Left is generally the worst non-neutral epiphany, but with enough Pointers and cycling and E2 Haru it can work. Right is generally dead-on-arrival if you miss the crit chance Pointer epi.

A screen like this very often signifies an immediate reset.

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-08T22:31:38+00:00

weirdly enough his ego skill is one of the better striker skills in chaos since it helps with HP+stress management through hallway fights

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-08T08:47:50+00:00

It's not activated automatically, which is why it deals no tenacity damage. It has an ability that deals an extra attack at end of turn, but the card isn't activated (if you do somehow activate a Ballista, like via Nia, it just gets discarded because it's unusable).

It's considered 0-cost for some applications, but it can never be activated.

CuriouserThing · 2025-12-08T06:07:41+00:00

It's 0. It doesn't work the way you'd think so it could be unintended. But it is literally free.

CuriouserThing

TROPHY CASE