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Module Ratings - Ato
Ratings and discussion of the Operator Modules introduced in the "Ato" patch [Arknights]
Mal.io Introduction
Heya all! Mal here with another Modules writeup. This time around it’s the Ato patch. This patch brings with it Modules for the Primal Casters, a couple Modules for new Operators, one second Module for an existing Operator, and a couple Specialized Modules.
First of all, the Primal Casters all got the same Module branch. The Module’s Trait upgrade leans into their role as Elemental Damage dealers when placed alongside an Elemental Burst applicator, such as a Ritualist or Primal Defender. Unfortunately, that role has been somewhat contentious, as many players understandably question whether the payoff is worth these two unit combinations. This hearkens to the typical dilemma of support-oriented Operators, how often would you be better off simply deploying two DPS units instead of one DPS and one support unit? These Modules attempt to help Primal casters by improving the “payoff” of using them alongside their preferred partners.
In Nymph’s case, she gets a significant damage increase to her S3 use alongside Virtuosa, helping make that combination stand out against its competition. Her Talent upgrade also helps her S2 use as well (which performs without needing Virtuosa), allowing it to proc Necrosis Burst against trash in AoE (dependent on enemy RES), as well as alleviating the requirements of her ATK stacking Talent, changing its condition from enemies being in her range to any enemy on the map undergoing Necrosis Burst.
Blaze Alter’s Module is a little bit more iffy. While it does improve her S3 burst damage by a comparable amount, and also improves her Talent’s extra “pop” of damage on enemies undergoing Burn Burst (anywhere on the map), this Module does nothing to improve her solo performance (unlike Nymph). Blaze’s S2 (her “solo” option to be used without a Burn applicator) is still just as underwhelming, and her S3, when not paired with a Burn applicator, is more or less the same as before.
The 5★ Primal Casters on the other hand are pretty much all easy skips, unfortunately. HG never did seem to figure out how to balance them to make them worth using. Two-unit combinations are already difficult to justify, and HG seemed reluctant to give them an impressive enough payoff at the lower rarities to justify all the hassle. They can all inflict Elemental Burst by themselves using their S1, but do a pretty bad job of it, getting even worse with enemy RES. Their Modules all benefit their playstyle of playing them alongside an Elemental Burst applicator instead, and even though they get theoretically impressive gains on their S2 burst damage, they’re all still not worth using. You’ll barely notice the difference between using Virtuosa solo and using Virtuosa + Diamante, and the alternative applicators for him (such as Valarqvin) have significantly reduced power budgets compared to the 6★s. Unfortunately, these lower rarity combinations do not result in a performance greater than the sum of its parts.
The same goes for Warmy and Yu, Warmy and Bobbing, and Miss.Christine and Tragodia. If you were already using them to begin with then you’ll notice the improvements, but in my eyes they’re all pretty cope options before and after their Modules. Apologies if all their write ups sound the same, but I feel like they really do all fall neatly into the same boat.
As for new Operators, this patch brings with it Haruka and Kichisei’s Modules.
Haruka is the new 6★ Abjurer, and generally, she raises the ceiling for healing in a very easy to use and AFK-friendly package. However, as you’ll hear me say time and time again, healing in general is usually optional, and even when it is necessary, having more is rarely better than having just enough. What this means is that the “strong” healers are usually more of a tool to compensate for imperfect play, rather than enablers of better strategies. I’m sure some will disagree, but based on this assumption, despite being far better than her predecessors, Haruka isn’t that game breaking of a unit. As to her Module, it’s fairly underwhelming. The Trait upgrade lets her get an extra target (three targets during her S2 instead of two), but it’s honestly not necessary. For the vast majority of cases, two targets is already plenty. It’s a comfort option on an Operator whose kit already is pretty appealing for a “comfy” style of play, so I won’t claim it’s without any merit. Her Talent upgrades on the other hand are pretty bad, some extra RNG SP here and there to her target, even with the RNG in players favor, it requires very specific situations for the SP generation to be significant.
Kichisei on the other hand is a complete failure of an Operator. HG seems determined to make the 5★ Spreadshooters bad, and Kichisei is simply the latest in that trend. She follows much the same pattern as Executor; terrible skill cycles that have nowhere near enough payoff to justify the headache. Her Module is similarly bad. She does get the decent Trait upgrade, but the Talent upgrade leans into the already awful parts of her kit. Her Talent at base has an annoying condition, and this upgrade simply increases the “reward”, but by far too small an amount to make it worth the effort. Even if you insist on building and using Kichisei, probably stop at Mod 1.
Chalter got a second Module this patch. The meta of Arknights may have moved past her over the years, but she was strong enough to begin with that she’s still pretty good anyway these days. This Module does a pretty good job of upgrading her to a more competitive state compared to the current meta without quite launching her back up top again. It removes two of her big flaws, her high DP cost is reduced, and her weird water terrain Talent gets completely fixed and buffed, all this results in a pretty substantial gain over her first Module, and an even larger gain over no Module. If you already have her first, I’d say this is one of the rare second Modules that might still be worth investing in if you have any interest in using Chalter.
Lastly, we got two Specialized Modules. One IS Module for Swire Alter, and the second ever RA Module for Pepe.
Swire’s IS Module is pretty good, but runs up against the problem of how absolutely stacked the Specialist ticket is in IS. This Module really does make Swire pretty busted, and I’m sure she will generate plenty of highlight reel worthy performances now and then, but like it or not, they absolutely did retain the archetypical Merchant quality of “boom and bust”, and her performance can fluctuate wildly. Meanwhile, her competition in Specialist tickets is steep with units like Exu2 or Mizuki who perform consistently well and have high ceilings. But, it is a Specialized Module, and as such is dirt cheap to build… Assuming you have Swire built.
As for Pepe… I had some difficulty writing this one. Mostly because I’m running up against the criteria I came up with. For these guides, I decided that I will write about Specialized Modules assuming that players are interested in the corresponding game mode. However for all intents and purposes, RA seems like an abandoned game mode? In fact, that HG has released this Module (and the Eunectes one) are pretty much the only possible pieces of evidence to the contrary. The last update RA2 received in CN was in October of 2024, and as of the time of writing there’s no word on a possible RA3, which means a year and change with radio silence on RA, and even if they announced RA3 the day after I publish this writeup, that means at least 6 months out from the Global server. Given that RA isn’t really particularly well suited to “replayability” in my opinion, that means that most players who are interested in it have already cleared it and are done playing it.
However, I’m going to stick to my guns and rate Pepe’s Module assuming you are interested, whether that’s because you’re a newer player, were just slacking on clearing out some of the last shops, or you’re in the future and RA3 just released. Given those conditions, this is actually a pretty impressive Module, it gives Pepe some really great utility as a resource gatherer, making her, in my opinion, the only Operator actually worth using instead of the machines (based on the RA2 meta anyway). Furthermore, she gets some fun combat utility as well, letting her Earthshaker AoE damage be distributed out to all Guard Operators. Lastly, unlike say, Swire, in my opinion Pepe is a strong enough Operator in the game outside RA to be worth recommending investment in.
Ratings System
This rating system aims to capture both the relative “meta value” of a unit as well as the strength of a Module. My aim is to have the ratings give an at a glance understanding for those just trying to figure out what is “good”, while those already interested in a unit regardless of the meta value of said unit, can read the detailed write-up of each Module to find out if it’s right for them, even if it’s a Module on a relatively low value Operator.
Each Module will be given a rating of [YES], [MAYBE], or [NOT RECOMMENDED] for whether it is worth building, as well as a recommended level to upgrade it to.
For Specialized Modules, ratings are given with the assumption that players are interested in the applicable game mode (for example Integrated Strategies).
Ratings
Primal Casters
Nymph
'Aspiration'
PRI-X
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Nymph was once one of the premiere crowd control options, but the expansion of different forms of Elemental damage has resulted in the devaluing of whoever isn’t the latest hotness, and as a result Nymph isn’t as easy of a choice anymore. However, Nymph stands out from the rest of the Primal Casters in her ability to be more than just a mediocre Caster without her preferred partner, and this Module improves her performance in both modes (using S3 with a partner, and using S2 without one).
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases Nymph’s ATK to 110% against enemies currently undergoing Elemental Burst. This is a substantial damage improvement when she is using S3 against enemies undergoing Necrosis Burst (usually accomplished by pairing her with Virtuosa). The damage improvement is nice but not quite as noticeable for S2 use, as enemies are not undergoing Necrosis Burst for all of Nymph’s damage.
The Talent upgrade of this Module modifies Nymph’s ATK stacking Talent. Firstly, at Module level 3, it increases the ATK bonus to +3% per stack (up from 2%). Secondly, at Module level 2, the condition is loosened to only require an enemy undergo Necrosis Burst somewhere on the field, not just inside Nymph’s range. This significantly alleviates a problem Nymph has with her preferred partner, Virtuosa, who often procs Necrosis Burst outside of Nymph’s range. The increase in the stack value and the condition results in this Talent having both a higher ceiling and more forgiving setup. Upon reaching 10 stacks, she also now gains +12 ASPD, which is a decent (albeit diluted) improvement to her S3 DPS. Unlike the stacking ATK however, this has no impact on Nymph’s S2 gameplay.
Furthermore, this Module grants Nymph +80 base ATK at Module level 3. This ATK, combined with the Talent improvement’s upgrade to her stacks, allows Nymph’s S2 to hit a notable breakpoint. The extra ATK (when her Talent is fully stacked) allows Nymph’s S2 to proc Necrosis burst against Normal/Elite enemies that aren’t the primary target of the cast, as the Necrosis Injury applied just by the AoE is now >1000. This is only the case against enemies with very low RES (<6 RES), but they are common enough, unlike Bosses, who in theory can also be inflicted with Necrosis burst with only one cast of S2 (with them as the primary target), but that also stops being the case at around 6 RES. Still, being able to inflict Necrosis Burst to secondary targets with her S2’s AoE significantly improves Nymph’s ability to use it to clear trash. These bonuses also affect other RES breakpoints to apply Necrosis Burst (from 44 RES up to 53 RES on a normal enemy, or for 2 hits on a Boss), and with 50 RES being a common statline, this isn’t as marginal of an improvement as it might initially sound.
Overall this is an excellent Module that helps breathe some new life back into Nymph. It substantially improves her S3 ceiling performance when paired with her partner, Virtuosa, and it improves her ability to clear trash using her S2. Furthermore, it gives her some extra ease of use when using either skill. Nymph still suffers from the competing Elemental Damage types situation, but this Module helps her catch up a significant amount even if it doesn’t make her the top pick.
Blaze the Igniting Spark
The Fervent Longing
PRI-X
Rating
Maybe
Recommended Level
Level 3
The expansion of different forms of Elemental damage has resulted in the devaluing of whoever isn’t the latest hotness, and as a result Blaze Alter is often squeezed out of squads due to a conflicting Elemental damage type. However, Burn teams are a popular solution to various stages, and this Module helps Blaze Alter be a competitive choice for inclusion in those teams. On the other hand, it does little to help her be more competitive when not part of a larger Burn team.
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases Blaze’s ATK to 110% against enemies currently undergoing Elemental Burst. This is a substantial damage improvement for Blaze’s intended Burn team gameplay using her S3. Unfortunately, it doesn’t do much to help S2 be more competitive, as its clunkiness means that enemies are not under Burn Burst the majority of the time. Furthermore, this damage increase only applies to S3 when Burn Burst is triggered, meaning not during solo Blaze use.
The Talent upgrade of this Module improves Blaze’s Burn Bust Talent. Whenever an enemy (anywhere on the map) triggers Burn Burst, she immediately deals 420% of ATK (up from 350%) as Elemental Damage to that enemy and recovers 15% of her Max HP (up from 12%), furthermore, she gains +10% ATK for 10 seconds. This is a substantial improvement, this Talent allows Blaze to fit into the typical Burn team by greatly increasing the “pop” damage of Burn Burst anywhere on the map. The increase in self-healing is less meaningful, while the extra ATK% fluctuates in value depending on whether Blaze is in or out of skill (much less valuable during her S3).
Overall this Module rewards players for including Blaze as part of a larger Burn team, probably including Yu and one or more other Arts damage dealers to proc Burn Burst. Blaze’s own DPS for S3 increases by a substantial amount (over 25%), and her ability to “support” the other teammates via increasing the magnitude of each Burn Burst “pop” is notable as well. Unfortunately, this Module does very little to help Blaze function on her own. Her S3 damage when not paired with a Burn Burst trigger is barely improved at all, and her S2’s Burn Burst breakpoints are largely unchanged. This Module is truly quite good for players who wish to include Blaze as part of a larger Burn damage team, but those who are more concerned with Blaze as an all-around unit, it doesn’t do much to change her situation.
Diamante
Ordinary Stones
PRI-X
Rating
Not Recommended
The expansion of different forms of Elemental damage has resulted in the devaluing of whoever isn’t the latest hotness, which leads to the lower rarity Primal Casters often having even less of a niche than they might have otherwise had due to the weaknesses of their rarity. Unlike their higher rarity counterparts, who at least have very impressive performance when paired with their Ritualist/other partners, the 5★ Primal Casters’ performance is fairly unimpressive even when paired with the optimal partners, and further unlike their 6★ counterparts, they tend to be extremely poor at triggering Elemental Burst on targets by themselves. Unfortunately, Diamante’s Module leans into the former of these two niches, and doesn’t do enough to make him worth bringing as part of a Necrosis team.
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases Diamante’s ATK to 110% against enemies currently undergoing Elemental Burst. This can result in a damage improvement when using his S2 alongside a Necrosis trigger, but Diamante’s damage overall is still fairly underwhelming despite a theoretically impressive percent improvement.
The Talent upgrade of this Module increases the magnitude of Diamante’s ATK bonus while enemies in his range are undergoing Necrosis Burst up to +23% (up from 18%). This, combined with the Trait, and Module ATK stats, results in Diamante getting up to a 26% increase in total damage on his S2.
It should be noted that this Module doesn’t noticeably improve Diamante’s ability to inflict Necrosis Burst by himself using his S1. The breakpoints are still very unfavorable for him and the resulting damage is not worthwhile.
Overall, while the gains from this Module are theoretically large, Diamante simply doesn’t justify his place in the squad before and after these upgrades. Even the 6★ Primal Casters sometimes have difficulty justifying their use from a meta perspective due to their teambuilding constraints, so units like Diamante simply have no shot. For those who really like him and insist on bringing him to stages one way or another, this Module does in fact significantly improve his damage (on S2, with a Necrosis trigger), but for the typical player this Module is an easy skip.
Warmy
A Warmy Gift
PRI-X
Rating
Not Recommended
The expansion of different forms of Elemental damage has resulted in the devaluing of whoever isn’t the latest hotness, which leads to the lower rarity Primal Casters often having even less of a niche than they might have otherwise had due to the weaknesses of their rarity. Unlike their higher rarity counterparts, who at least have very impressive performance when paired with their Ritualist/other partners, the 5★ Primal Casters’ performance is fairly unimpressive even when paired with the optimal partners, and further unlike their 6★ counterparts, they tend to be extremely poor at triggering Elemental Burst on targets by themselves. Unfortunately, Warmy’s Module leans into the former of these two niches, and doesn’t do enough to make her worth bringing as part of a Burn team.
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases Warmy’s ATK to 110% against enemies currently undergoing Elemental Burst. This can result in a damage improvement when using her S2 alongside a Burn trigger, but Warmy’s damage overall is still fairly underwhelming despite a theoretically impressive percent improvement.
The Talent upgrade of this Module increases the value of Warmy’s Burn “pop” buff, when enemies in her Attack Range trigger Burn Burst, they take 350% of her ATK as Elemental damage (up from 300%). This Talent helps Warmy contribute damage when enemies undergo Burn Burst, but she struggles to trigger Burn Burst by herself (using S1) and even the increased value of this Talent and her S2 damage (about 21% more total damage than pre-Module) are still not enough to justify her inclusion in most cases.
It should be noted that this Module doesn’t noticeably improve Warmy’s ability to inflict Burn Burst by herself using S1. She needs nearly half her skill duration to inflict Burn Burst on one single non-Boss target with 0 RES, and this gets even more unfavorable when considering Bosses or enemies with more RES. Warmy should not be considered a Burn trigger unit before or after her Module.
Overall, while the peak DPS gains from this Module are theoretically large, Warmy just doesn’t justify her place in the squad before and after these upgrades. Even the 6★ Primal Casters sometimes have difficulty justifying their use from a meta perspective due to their teambuilding constraints, so units like Warmy simply have no shot. For those who really like her and insist on bringing her to stages one way or another, this Module does in fact significantly improve her damage (on S2, with a Burn trigger), but for the typical player this Module is an easy skip.
Miss.Christine
The 'Black' Vending Machine
PRI-X
Rating
Not Recommended
The expansion of different forms of Elemental damage has resulted in the devaluing of whoever isn’t the latest hotness, which leads to the lower rarity Primal Casters often having even less of a niche than they might have otherwise had due to the weaknesses of their rarity. Unlike their higher rarity counterparts, who at least have very impressive performance when paired with their Ritualist/other partners, the 5★ Primal Casters’ performance is fairly unimpressive even when paired with the optimal partners, and further unlike their 6★ counterparts, they tend to be extremely poor at triggering Elemental Burst on targets by themselves. Unfortunately, Miss.Christine’s Module leans into the former of these two niches, and doesn’t do enough to make her worth bringing as part of a Nervous Impairment (NI) team.
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases Miss.Christine’s ATK to 110% against enemies currently undergoing Elemental Burst. This can result in a damage improvement when using her S2 alongside a NI trigger, but Miss.Christine’s damage overall is still fairly underwhelming despite a theoretically impressive percent improvement.
The Talent upgrade of this Module does two things, first it gives her an extra ATK multiplier of 120% against enemies with Paralysis. Secondly, it increases the multiplier on her Paralysis trigger damage, up to 140% from 120% when an enemy in her Attack Range triggers Paralysis. The former of these two, combined with the Trait upgrade and Module ATK bonus, increases Miss.Christine’s S2 damage by a substantial amount, up to a potential 45% more total skill damage! But it should be noted that this is conditional and relies on the presence of Paralysis stacks, which will be used up faster or slower depending on the Attack Intervals of affected enemies. Furthermore, it should be noted that even 1.45x Miss.Christine’s total damage is not very impressive compared to the damage her preferred partner, Tragodia, does on his own.
It should be noted that this Module doesn’t noticeably improve Miss.Christine’s ability to inflict NI Burst by herself using S1. Her breakpoints for triggering NI burst are still very unfavorable, especially when accounting for enemy RES.
Overall, while the peak DPS gains from this Module are theoretically large, Miss.Christine just doesn’t justify her place in the squad before and after these upgrades. Even the 6★ Primal Casters sometimes have difficulty justifying their use from a meta perspective due to their teambuilding constraints, so units like Miss.Christine simply have no shot. For those who really love The Cat and insist on bringing her to stages one way or another, this Module does in fact significantly improve her damage (on S2, with a NI trigger), but for the typical player this Module is an easy skip.
New Operators
Haruka
The Belated Memorial
BLS-Y
Rating
Maybe
Recommended Level
Level 1
Haruka is a very powerful Abjurer Supporter, which is another way of saying she’s a good Medic despite not being in the Medic Class. Her biggest weakness on the other hand is that healing is optional in most of the game, and even when it is useful, there’s usually no benefit to more healing. As a result, despite the fact that her Module does, in fact, increase her ceiling performance, it’s largely optional.
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases Haruka’s target count on and off skill, meaning when off-skill she attacks two enemies (irrelevant, her damage is not noteworthy), and when she is on-skill, she heals two targets. This upgrade is deceptively less useful than it might initially seem, primarily because of Haruka’s S2 – her main skill. Haruka’s S2 already increases her target count by 1, and while that does mean that this Module results in her healing three targets during S2, three target healing is vastly less critical than two target healing. In most parts of the game, if more than two targets urgently need healing at once, something is going wrong and the strategy should be reconsidered. On the other hand, a great deal of Haruka’s appeal is her ease of use and “AFK-friendly” nature, so something like this upgrade might be appealing for many players already building Haruka.
The Talent upgrade of this Module improves Haruka’s Talent 2, and adds a feature such that every time one of her Bubbles break, the Bubble’s target has a 20% chance to recover 1 SP. This Talent has two downsides, first of all, the inherent RNG of this Talent makes it unreliable, while resetting is possible, much of Haruka’s appeal is in her ease of use, so this guide will consider that less relevant in her case. Second of all, the Bubbles need to be popped repeatedly for significant amounts of SP to be generated, so it takes both a conducive stage and good RNG for her to be an effective SP battery.
Overall, this Module simply does far too little for Haruka’s main niche, which is extremely powerful mitigation and healing with immense ease of use. The Trait upgrade might be worth considering for players who want Haruka to allow them to turn off their brain in more parts of the game, but the value oriented player who is willing to optimize will probably find little use from it. The Talent upgrades should probably be avoided in general.
Kichisei
A Suspicious Pamphlet
RPR-X
Rating
Not Recommended
Just use Pinecone Kichisei is the latest in the long line of underwhelming 5★ Spreadshooter Snipers. The main appeal of the Branch is the ability to deal high DPH in a “true AoE”. Kichisei does this, but with all the usual trademark downsides that HG insists on including for the 5★ members of this Branch. High DP cost, atrocious skill cycling, and not enough going on anywhere in her kit to justify those downsides. This Module does nowhere near enough to compensate for all these flaws.
The Trait upgrade of this Module increases the Spreadshooter Trait bonus up to 160% from the default 150%. This increase does help Kichisei’s DPH, and if someone is insisting on using her, this upgrade is the biggest “value for investment”.
The Talent upgrade of this Module improves Kichisei’s stacking Talent buff, both the magnitude of each stack (+8% Damage Dealt, up from 6%), and the number of stacks (4, up from 3). However, to be clear, the way this Talent works is that each of these stacks is obtained when a specific enemy type is defeated, not simply a number of any enemy. This means that on a map with only two enemy types, Kichisei can only get two stacks of this Talent. While there are plenty of maps where this Talent can be taken advantage of to the fullest, it’s a surprisingly strict condition for such a mediocre buff (a maximum of +32% Damage Dealt at full stacks). Furthermore, recall that Damage Dealt is post-DEF damage amplification, meaning it lives or dies by whether or not Kichisei can punch through enemy DEF.
Overall this Module does nothing to help Kichisei merit the attention of most players. Her kit has substantial flaws with inadequate payoff for putting up with them. This Module doesn’t address the flaws at all, and barely improves the payoff. As a result it should be considered an easy skip.
Second Modules
Ch’en the Holungday
The Last Day of Holiday
RPR-Y
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Chalter, despite not being the game-breaking unit she once was, still remains a fairly powerful unit, and this Module gives her a substantial improvement that helps her avoid getting left behind by the latest and greatest units.
The Trait upgrade of this Module reduces Chalter’s DP cost by 8. Very short and simple, this improvement substantially shrinks one of Chalter’s main downsides by allowing her cost to be much less of a burden. She can be deployed much earlier in a stage, or eliminate the need to bring a Vanguard.
The Talent upgrade of this Module alleviates yet another one of Chalter’s weaknesses, by changing her historically useless water terrain Talent to include her attack range as water tiles during her skills. Effectively, this results in that Talent being an “on-skill” buff rather than a terrain dependent one. Furthermore, the buff itself is improved. WIthout water terrain (AKA off-skill), Chalter gets +15% ATK (completely new from this Module), and +12 ASPD (up from +8), and with water terrain (AKA on-skill), Chalter gets +28% ATK (completely new from this Module) and +20 ASPD (up from +12). This upgrade results in approximately 25% more DPH than with no Module, and 13% more DPH than with Chalter’s X Module. Furthermore, the extra ASPD speeds up skill cycling. Also a fun little note, because this Talent upgrade technically changes her skill range into water terrain, it also is a Ceylon buff (she’s still not worth bringing).
Overall, this Module is almost strictly superior to Chalter’s first Module, and a massive upgrade from no Module. The only area in which her X Module has an advantage is off-skill damage, everywhere else this new Y Module is a significant upgrade. While it’s true that this Module doesn’t bring Chalter back up to the absolute top of the meta, it’s a noteworthy upgrade to a unit who was still pretty decent before this Module.
Specialized Modules
Swire the Elegant Wit
Swire the Elegant Wit's Badge
ISW-A
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
Swire Alter is the latest to receive an IS Specialized Module, and unlike most of the previous ones, this one is just pretty good instead of outstanding. Some of that is just a matter of the ceiling growing overall, and some of that has to do with the highly competitive Specialist tickets. Specialized Modules inherently require a focus on IS meta, and even though this Module is quite good, there are simply so many other Specialists who are also incredibly strong in IS.
The Trait upgrade of this Module (In IS) reduces Swire’s DP cost and DP Consumption by 30%. Furthermore, it makes it so that the ally with the shortest Redeployment Time will have it reduced by 2 seconds for each 1 DP Swire consumes. This Trait, when abused, allows Swire to enable some very powerful rapid deployment strategies, though it should be noted that this capability is often bottlenecked by Swire’s own DP drain.
The Talent upgrade of this Module gives Swire the additional effect, (in IS) her Coin limit is increased by 5, and she gains 1 additional Coin and 3 ATK stacks each time DP is consumed by her Trait (every 3 seconds). Furthermore, for each Originium Ingot owned, the ATK stack limit increases by 1, up to 60 times. This Talent upgrade massively buffs Swire’s damage, especially when players manage to stack large numbers of Ingots in a run. However, the nature of Swire’s skills means that her strength will fluctuate massively depending on her current number of Coins, which take time to accumulate. Her S3 can perform impressive nuke activations but it spends all Swire’s Coins. Her S2 uses the Coins more consistently but also doesn’t let her accumulate as many. Her S1 is an impressive healing skill but doesn’t make use of her immense stat buffs obtained through the Module.
All told, this Module certainly makes Swire Alter significantly more competitive, albeit in an already crowded IS ticket. For players who already have Swire Alter built, this Module is a no-brainer with its incredibly low cost, however it does raise the question: Is this Module good enough to make Swire Alter worth building for those who don’t already? And to that…. Probably not.
Pepe
Pepe's Specialized Badge
RA-A
Rating
Yes
Recommended Level
Level 3
This Module is the second of the Reclamation Algorithm Specialized Modules. It gives Pepe two roles. First of all, Pepe herself significantly improves her capability as a resource gatherer, and secondly it expands upon her role as a Guard support unit, allowing her to spread shockwaves around all Guard Operators on the map. This results in her becoming an instrumental Operator in Reclamation Algorithm, and offers players a compelling alternative to the resource gathering machines they unlock in the later game that normally make gathering using Operators obsolete.
The Trait upgrade of this Module (in RA) reduces Pepe’s Redeployment Time by 90% when she’s carrying resources. By default, her Redeployment Time is 70 seconds, but when this Trait activates, it becomes 7 seconds. This allows Pepe to repeatedly be deployed around the map to gather resources.
The Talent upgrade of this Module (in RA) does three things. Firstly, when Pepe is deployed, all Treasure Chests on the map are revealed. Secondly, when Pepe attacks, all deployed Guard Operators get Earthshaker AoEs worth 50% of her ATK as Physical damage around them. Third, when Pepe’s target is a resource, her attacks create aftershocks dealing 50% AoE Physical damage around all connected resources (up to 10 targets). This Talent upgrade does so much. The Treasure chest reveal is nice, but not game changing, but the other two upgrades allow Pepe to be a crazy map wide damage dealer, as well as further upgrading her ability to gather resources in tandem with the Trait upgrade.
Overall, this Module makes Pepe a much more valuable Operator in RA, and any player who is interested in that gamemode should absolutely invest in this Module for its low cost and high returns, further, Pepe is a decent enough Operator outside of RA that investment in her isn’t a waste elsewhere.