Delta: Ninja ThiefInformation and Guide

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Delta: Ninja Thief is a ninja who offers a little speck of utility here and there. While she has no major use cases, she still leaves a footprint—albeit not a particularly influential one for most players, but we'll discuss them.

To start, she is a 40s Water B2 that wields MG. She has two modes: Taunter Mode and Healer Mode. In Taunter Mode, Delta attracts all enemies, continuously taunting them and regularly refreshing her shield. In Healer Mode, Delta becomes a healer, recovering the whole team's HP every 4s based on her attack damage. In both modes, she also applies a small amount of Damage Taken debuff that improves the team's offense.

In Taunter Mode, Delta has one niche use of being an instant taunter and a taunter with a shield. This means two things. In PvE, Delta can be used to protect the team from deadly one-shot attacks from bosses like Cocytus. Delta is similar to Centi in the sense that she can shield her allies, helping them avoid taking damage, but she has one advantage: she applies the Damage Taken debuff, so at least she's still slightly more useful. That said, her 40s CD prevents her from being a solo B2, which is also a horrible drawback. Do mind her low burst gen too.

Meanwhile, in PvP, Delta can be positioned as a P1/P5 unit with Biscuit to exploit Immunity and provide immediate protection from the whole enemy team. Worried about Siren in P4 stunning your Noise in P1? Whine no more. The problem with this is that she needs to be in a team with no Defenders, which is almost never achievable in PvP. And as an MG, she has no burst gen and has high feed.

Now, let's get to her Healer Mode. In this mode, Delta is akin to Bunny Alice (with worse healing and as B2) or Rem. However, unlike Bunny Alice, who provides ammo support, Delta instead provides Damage Taken support, which can be better on units that already have diluted ATK/ATK DMG. You can run something like Siren Crown Rapipi Rei Delta, for example, but this means Delta would contend with other off-burst units (XLud is her real rival; she provides Damage Taken & good personal damage but no healing). If you need healing, though, Delta could be one of the better options, but there are other solutions you can explore first.

Where can I expect her to use her?

In cases where off-burst healing/taunting is needed (similar to BAlice's use cases), but you don't want to lose damage. This usually narrows down to two teams: Crown Delta (in which Delta can also trigger Crown's S2, similar to BAlice) & Grave Delta (but her,e ammo support can be better than Damage Taken). This can include other teams, too, like SRos if you want to stretch it. Ultimately, this calls for a 1-2-2 comp, but sometimes in Nikke, the solution may be to just avoid using healers entirely (through Shields, upgrading Dolls for Damage Reduction, etc) or use Helm B3 or Ada.

Delta might also be used in cases where you don't want HelmTr and Crown to go together. Currently, we run something like Siren Crown Rapipi XLud MastM in Fire-weak SR, but if ShiftUp releases some broken Distributed DMG dealer, then Maids will go together and we will run Siren Crown Rapipi X HelmTr instead. But what if we didn't want HelmTr there? Well, Delta can replace her.

Delta might also have other use cases mentioned above, although this wouldn't be evidently viable. For instance, being able to break Water QTEs is a nice bonus, and her ability to act as an off-burst healer + damage buffer in any team is a plus point for her.

Should I pull her?

No. With the Anniversary looming, and even if the Anniversary weren't looming, there should be no reason to pull. Since her use cases are mostly hypothetical, it's better to skip. She may be usable (in those very edge cases), but she is unlikely to be used. Of course, we see those two big reasons to pull for her as well, so if you’re waifu over meta, then feel free to spend a couple of pulls on her to gather some mileage for the upcoming Anniversary Pilgrims. 

Do keep in mind that we are about to enter the hard cycle of meta units again as the Anniversary approaches us. Double Pilgrim Anni, Double Limited Christmas, New Year Pilgrim, Maids in February (maybe), as well as Collab in March (maybe). Saving is still our recommendation for every player as far as Delta is concerned.

Kit Analysis

Skill 1

Whenever the team enters Full Burst, regardless of whether Delta uses Burst Skill in that rotation, Delta applies a Damage Taken debuff on all enemies, making them take +12% more damage for 15s.

• Triggers on every rotation.

• Long durations mean it is permanent with CDR.

• Small but influential for units with diluted ATK/ATK DMG, like Rapi: Red Hood.

• Not particularly effective for mobbing, as it doesn't apply to new mobs that spawn.

If Delta also uses Burst Skill in that rotation, Delta will apply an additional +8% Damage Taken (totaling 20%) for 10 seconds. This is great for Burst attacks, but the gain is very small. Question yourself whether it's worth it to use Delta's Burst over the other B2's Burst, like Crown's. In most cases, the answer is no, unless it's a Distributed Damage dealer.

Delta also buffs herself, gaining 15.04% ATK for the same duration. This buff is minuscule because Delta doesn't have damage, but this may be important for ensuring she heals enough via S2.

Skill 2

This skill defines whether Delta will be in Taunter Mode or Healer Mode at the start of the battle:

• To be in Taunter Mode, there must be 0 other Defenders in the squad.

• To be in Healer Mode, there must be at least 1 other Defender in the squad.

Modes cannot switch mid-fight, unlike Rapipi, who can switch to B1 if your B1 dies.

Delta serves two different purposes depending on whether she is in Taunter or Healer Mode. In Taunter Mode, she continuously taunts enemies and protects herself with a shield, whereas in Healer Mode, she continuously heals herself and the team.

In Taunter Mode, Delta instantly taunts all enemies at the start of battle (and future enemies that spawn) and generates a shield to protect herself. She refreshes this shield every 200 basic attacks (~3.33s of continuous shooting @ 60 FPS), and its strength can be enhanced temporarily by using Burst Skill.

• It can be useful as an F0 (frame zero) taunt in PvP, especially when paired with Biscuit, but you need to make sure there is no other Defender, which can be annoying.

• Can be useful against bosses/mobs that unleash powerful but blockable one-shot attacks like Cocytus.

In Healer Mode, Delta continuously heals herself through lifesteal (11.22% of damage dealt). Additionally, every 4s, she heals the whole team through Ninjutsu IFAK (an accumulation system similar to Trony's), with a maximum pooled damage dealt of 165.28% of Delta's final ATK—around 5% of an Attacker's HP, assuming equal investments. Unlike Rem's, whose pool is divided across units, Delta's total is granted to all units equally.

• Good enough healing to survive a few AoE attacks. Most recent bosses in SR usually don't require healers because Cover's HP▲ + Damage Reduction from Dolls is often enough. However, this may not be permanent if ShiftUp decides otherwise.

• Since it triggers every 4s, it can permanently trigger Crown's S2, buffing the whole team's damage. The only other unit that does this while providing a direct damage buff is HelmTr.

Burst Skill

For 10s, Delta increases the whole team's ATK by 15% of her base ATK stat (which, unfortunately, is very low because she is a Defender) and their Distributed Damage by 20%.

• 15% of a Defender's stat is around 12% of a Supporter's stat or 10% of an Attacker's stat, assuming equal investments.

• Distributed Damage▲, since it belongs to the Damage Taken category, can be a nice buff for Distributed Damage, but not all units deal this.

Additionally, depending on whether Delta is in Defender or Healer Mode, she gains special effects:

• If Delta is in Taunter Mode, shields generated during Burst will be 20.13% stronger. Realistically, this is pointless.

• If Delta is in Healer Mode, the max accumulated amount during Ninjutsu IFAK is increased by 20.13%. This will be pointless in most cases, but it does vividly boost her healing.

All in all, Delta's Burst Skill is mostly useless. You should not use it unless the other B2's Burst Skill is worse, or if Distributed Damage is concerned.

Tier List

Campaign (LD): A | Campaign (HD): A

Delta has some niche uses in Campaign, including but not limited to protecting the team from blockable one-shot attacks (shields rebuild quickly) or healing the team (to trigger Crown's S2). However, her low burst gen makes her unwieldy, and her 40s CD makes her unable to go solo (which is a bad thing in Campaign for the type of kit she has). Still, her "permanent" Damage Taken, albeit not applying to new enemies that spawn until the skill is reactivated, is a good addition. She can also work with Crown, which gives her a massive advantage versus other off-burst options!

Just mind the fact that in High Deficit (and Low Deficit too), Delta in Taunter Mode will rely a lot on her shield to survive. Learn how to i-frame and prioritize eliminating key targets to avoid overwhelming her.

Bossing: B

This is a hard placement because the gap between C and B in our tier list is very large. While she wouldn't be normally used like the units in B tier (vs. Leona, Dolla), she is not as unsalvageable as those in C. Delta still has a situational use that might be adopted by a top player.

Like we explained in the summary, Delta's use is very situational. She will only see use cases when "we want to avoid doing something because there is something else that is more optimal" or when healers are needed (like how we used Bunny Alice before). That means she is not a core unit; missing her is fine. Even when she is needed, and you don't have her, you will only take a slight hit. Unless you are chasing the Top 10 in SR, there will be more economic options.

Does that mean you can't use her outside those situational cases? Not really. Well, if you don't have a complete set, then perhaps Delta as an off-burst (or alternate Burst) isn't so bad, especially if you desperately need healing/taunting. Obviously, there are potentially better off-burst units if you don't need healing, like Maxwell, HelmTr, XLudmilla, and Ada Wong. However, not everyone has access to those, especially since most of them are limited units.

Note that for Delta to heal, there must be another Defender in the squad, which is not feasible in most cases. Delta can still protect the team by taunting, but taunting doesn't protect the team from AoE, which goes against a healer's purpose.

PvP: C

We are placing her in C because her kit is similar to Ludmilla's (which also requires Biscuit to survive).

Delta in PvP is only useful in her Taunter Mode. This is because what you need from her is the taunt. One advantage that she has over other taunters is that it triggers instantly and affects all enemies, which can be useful for redirecting F0 (frame zero) attacks. Combine that with Biscuit, and she might survive a barrage of iron and steel. She also applies Damage Taken on Full Burst, which is a nice boost.

The problem is that she wields MG (hence feeds; bad for defending), has low burst gen (innate to MGs), and requires no other Defenders in the squad. In reality, Defenders pervade PvP, so do you think deploying Delta is a good idea? Not at all. Plus, her Shield can actually accelerate the enemy's RL burst gen if they "splash" it—a problem with Treasure Poli too.

Well, Delta is a cope unit. Top players will not use her at all, but we are including her here for objective sake. You can still use her as a beginner (if you have Biscuit) if you want. We think she is comparable to Diesel. Diesel has better survivability and team flexibility, but doesn't offer off-burst taunting or instant taunt.

Investments

Gear Investments

Delta, as an off-burst support, doesn't really need anything. Her caster's ATK is locked behind Burst. But if you do use her Burst, then gear level becomes more important. Mandatory? No, not for a niche unit like her. I don't think there is a reason to overload her at all unless you use her in Campaign, which arguably needs more shield refresh (and therefore more Max Ammo OL).

• Essential: -

• Ideal: -

• Passable: 4× Max Ammo, 4× ELE, 4× ATK

• Priority: Low

• Notes: Overload is not needed. Overload only if you use her Burst and desperately need the extra ATK stat from levels, or require her healing to trigger more via Max Ammo OL.

Skill Investments

One benefit that Delta offers compared to other off-burst(s) is her offensive Damage Taken debuff. This means S1 will be the most important. If you use her Burst, then Burst Skill should be leveled too. Otherwise, only upgrade S2/Burst if you need CP padding or more healing.

Cube Investments

Together with Crown, Resilience is the best cube, but Bastion cube is the best otherwise. Situationally, against bosses with durable parts, Destruction may be better. Prioritize higher-level cubes against enemies of the countered element and/or if you use Burst Skill for the base ATK stat.

In PvP, the Tempering cube can be considered.

Doll Investments

As a taunter, Delta needs Damage Reduction and potentially Cover HP▲ to survive in PvE and PvP. Dolls also give a slight base ATK boost, which can be useful if you use her Burst, since Dolls' stat is the same across all roles, which is good for equalizing.

That said, she is not worth Doll-ing. If you want to use her without Burst, SR 0 (instantly) is fine. If you use her Burst, maybe there's a reason to SR 5, but it's still probably not worth it.