Drake (Treasure)Information and Guide

Drake is back — a self-proclaimed villain, chaos lover, and the queen of mild inconvenience. She says she’s evil, but the worst thing she’s done this time is give the SG team a brand new fresh-from-the-oven package of some seriously strong buffs… which, of course, means now we all have to deal with their RNG-filled madness since they are even more meta than before. Not exactly world-ending — but definitely a kind of mischief that would fall in her area of expertise.

Can you give a brief summary about her changes?

Significant improvements! Especially in the support department. Drake has become a competent DPS and support unit with her Treasure, allowing her to deal respectable damage herself while also boosting her teammates' DMG (but only if they are Shotguns). Her Treasure grants her the ability to boost Shotgun allies' ATK and Max Ammo upon entering Full Burst as well as deal additional damage every 5 shots. Not only that, she now has a nuke — a whopping ~3,010% of final ATK as damage in a small area. Then, she grants herself a huge amount of ATK DMG for 10s. What more can you wish for?

Like all other Shotgun units in Shotgun team specifically, they are often outshone by other teams in content outside Raids, but when it comes to Raids, their performance is simply unmatched. The reason is that they have their own proprietary supports and do not fight over them unlike with Maids or Crown. This makes them a staple, something that all Solo Raiders must build to reach the highest level. And with Drake, their limits are pushed even higher.

Hence, our verdict is that she is an excellent unit for Solo Raids, as well as PvP to some extent like other Clip Shotguns. Although she (and the other shotgun units) are usable outside them, especially in Union Raids (as "fodder team for last hits since attempt is recovered"), they are often picked last in favor of units with higher peaks due to insanely high investment requirements by the unique Tove SG team.

Should I get her Favorite Item?

Yes! Especially if you already have her at 2★ (one of the requirements for Treasure). Her impact in Solo Raids is very real, and unless ShiftUp toys with us by releasing new Shotgun units that fill their elements better, Drake remains a top pick not only in Fire but across multiple elements. For players without a complete roster or who don't want to invest in PvP, obtaining Drake's Treasure will also allow you to use her in your PvP squad, improving your overall CP and strengthening your attack/defense. Two-in-one-investments for everybody!

Worth chasing dupes from Mileage Shop? Probably yes but save if you are already getting a decent rank. Only get those dupes if you are using her in the right team and you think that some extra damage can net you the rank you want. She has her role... and her place. She will die someday but won't be replaced soon.

Worth 200 Gold Mileage? Nah, not really. They are too valuable. Save them for limited/anniversary units. Try to luck her out of Ordinary Banner (or maybe Molds).

Usage Analysis and Tier List

Campaign (LD) - B | Campaign (HD) - B

Drake's Treasure does not offer much improvement as a DPS in Campaign. Long-range engagements are not particularly suited to shotguns. They lack consistent damage and the burst gen needed to cycle fast (due to low hit rate). Thankfully, Drake has a redeeming passive trait that allows her to boost the team's Hit Rate and ATK and a new S2 effect that helps improve her damage consistency. Her stronger nuke often comes handy too. Sadly, the changes are still not enough to push her back to meta when it comes to Campaign, but they do make her quite usable for Missilis Tribe Tower, if need be.

Her inconsistency is much more pronounced in higher deficits where it's kill or be killed. Unless you are pairing her with other shotguns, which by itself is already a less optimal play, there is no reason for deploying her. Sure, she can be a good buffer filler, but why not use Maxwell or Rei Ayanami instead? High accuracy weapons are more effective in Campaign.

Bossing - SS

Meta, in the sense that she has her spot as a generic support for SG Team alongside or replacing Bunny Soda (depending on element) and as a key DPS against Fire-Weak. She can also replace BiS units if you don't have them built. For example, in the Raid against Massive Object Q, a perfectly built Guilty + Noir would edge out Drake + Noir. However, who builds Guilty just for one single Raid? If you can just go with Drake + Noir and save months of resources while taking only a small damage loss, your account will be in a much healthier state!

You will see Drake being used a lot in multiple Solo Raids across multiple elements as long as ShiftUp doesn't do anything to powercreep her/make SGs ineffective by making the boss unsuitable for them. In Union Raids, you can use her alongside other SGs as a fodder team to take down a boss with low HP, saving your key units for when you have to consume your real attempts.

PVP - S

We mentioned earlier that Drake's nuke is counterable, and that's true, you won't get a lot of mileage out of her in the highest ranks. However, for beginners competing against others with incomplete rosters, that nuke can be mega useful. That aside, Drake offers 3 distinct benefits that other units don't:

• Burst Gen: Clip SGs have always had good burst gen despite being counterable by Scarlet/Jackal. Even then, Drake still manages to push that limit a bit further thanks to her Skill 2, giving an extra tick of burst gen!

• Good Consistent Damage: Shotguns have always been known for good damage inside and outside Full Burst. They can start pressuring immediately from the first second of the battle. On Attack, she can be used to gun down unprotected P1 fast (which can break a defense team's Burst Chain), and on defense, to pressure P5 especially if Wind due to elemental advantage. Full SG teams have been used situationally to counter vulnerable team compositions. Since she is Fire, units like Noah are susceptible to dying against an invested Drake.

• ATK Buff: Drake's S1 boosts the whole team's ATK. On top of it being more effective on SGs, ATK buff is never bad, and you should not refuse "more" damage.

Important Note: Notwithstanding all the good things above, you need to know that by unlocking Drake's Improved S1 (Phase 1), you will no longer be able to pair Drake with our loved, adorable, chubby, Twinkle Tri Star, Anis: Sparkling Summer (if she is Bursting) because SAnis doesn't want Max Ammo. This can be a huge drawback and disables the usage of certain teams permanently.

With this in mind, we decided to place her in S, equal to Noir, which also has her own distinct advantages. They are not meta in the sense that, without them, you will be bulldozed — but rather, situational picks for the right occasion.

Kit Analysis

Skill 1

Phase 1 - This skill unlocks after you have attached an appropriate SR 15 Doll + completed all the prerequisites.

Her Treasure increases the amount of Hit Rate▲ given to all allies upon entering Full Burst and grants additional ATK▲ and Max Ammo▲, which is an absolute game changer.

• The Hit Rate▲ is rather trivial for non-SG units, but for SG units and especially when they are stacked with other Hit Rate buffs, the more prominent their effect becomes. After a certain %, all shots will become a laser beam, meaning that Shotguns will have the same accuracy as MG, but you don't have to reach that point. In fact, getting AR-like hit accuracy is sufficient.

• The ATK▲ is an absolute game changer because ATK is always a good buff, regardless of how diluted it is (and that applies to other offensive buff types too). With more damage from your BSoda, Noir, Leona, or maybe the next new SG, you can rest assured that she will change your team for the good.

• The Max Ammo▲ has a much lesser impact compared to the ATK▲, but that's because most people look for Max Ammo▲ OLs and use Tove anyway. It also doesn't recharge ammo automatically. However, it still gives increased uptime, which boosts damage, especially with PrivM (if your reload timing is perfect).

### Watch Out For Placements!

Pairing Drake Treasure with Noir or Bunny Alice can be revolutionary. They reload the team's ammo depending on how much Max Ammo they have, which synergizes with Drake's Max Ammo▲. To benefit from this, place Drake anywhere on the left side of Noir/Bunny Alice because skills that trigger at the same time will activate from left to right.

Skill 2

Phase 2 - This skill unlocks after you have collected 50 matching Favorite Item(s) material.

Drake's old Skill 2 was meh. Luckily, it received an upgrade, though it is still not as big as Skill 1 and Burst Skill. Whenever Drake lands 5 normal attacks, she deals ~201% of final ATK as additional damage to the enemy with the lowest remaining HP. With each normal attack dealing a maximum of 214.3% if each pellet hits ignoring core, the 201% is no more than just 18-19% of her normal attacks' damage. Hey, that's still a decent buff!

One good thing about this S2 is that it still triggers regardless of how many pellets hit. Thus, in long range battles where Drake simply cannot reach the target, S2 will likely deal more damage than her basic attacks.

Burst Skill

Phase 3 - This skill unlocks after you have collected another 110 matching Favorite Item(s) material.

Incoming tactical nuke! Drake's Burst Skill now deals a whopping ~3,010% of final ATK as additional damage in a small area (note: you can miss [and AI loves missing], so you might want to manually aim this one). That's a lot, way more than Guillotine's (discounting S2 effect). In Raid, this is often equal to more or less a dozen basic attacks (~8 seconds), depending on whether the enemy has core.

Do note that it is NOT affected by 0.5× Full Burst Multiplier, 0.3× Damage Distance, and the buffs in the second part of this skill.

In PvP, while single-target Burst Skills are often less favored than wipes due to their tauntable nature, they can still be useful, especially if they target the NIKKE with the highest ATK (see: HelmTr). However, Drake's doesn't do that. Instead, it aims at whoever she's shooting, which can be cheesed with immune/indomitability. So, it's a good nuke and definitely can change the tide of the match but counterable.

Investments

Gear Investments

Since she is a DPS or sub-DPS, you will want to full OL her. Like other DPS, gear level is also important, but only upgrade those that give ATK growth.

As for the lines, go for Elemental Damage, ATK, and Max Ammo first. Elemental allows her to leave a stronger impact on Fire-Weak Raids (focus on ELE if you are solely preparing for that), ATK allows her to universally deal more damage, and Max Ammo (ideally at least 1) allows her to shoot more, thus increasing overall output. You don't need that much Max Ammo because you are pairing her with Tove. Critical Rate and Damage are also good for low accuracy weapons and synergize well with her usual CRIT-based squad. Hit Rate allows her to land more pellets and core shots, which may improve damage. You don't need 12/12, though — manage your resources well.

• Essential: -

• Ideal: Max Ammo ×1, ELE ×4, ATK ×4.

• Passable: Max Ammo ×3, CRIT Rate ×3, CRIT DMG ×3, Hit Rate ×3

• Priority: High

Skill Investments

Drake scales pretty well on certain skills, but you don't need to full-send on her. It is tempting and is definitely something necessary at the highest level, but you might get more mileage by saving them for your other units.

• Skill 1: 7~10

  • Gives a huge ATK and considerable Hit Rate buff to all Shotgun allies. You definitely want those. High priority.

• Skill 2: 4~7

  • More damage from Drake. We don't really see much incentive in upgrading this skill beyond 7, but feel free to upgrade to 10 to squeeze out the last bits of damage.

• Burst Skill:4/7/10

  • Only important if you are using her Burst Skill — and especially if the run you're replicating uses it. Otherwise, leave at 1 or 3~4 for CP padding.

  • Improves nuke damage and follow-up damage after Burst, maybe valuable in PvE and PvP.

  • Too expensive to upgrade beyond 7. However, if you have extra materials that you do not have need for, you want to max out this skill as well. Useless if she is not Bursting, however.

Cube Investments

Bastion generally pairs best with Shotgun units due to synergy with Tove, Noir, and Bunny Alice (if applicable). It also helps ensure they are able to shoot an entire Full Burst.

A close-second alternative and sometimes not even inferior depending on team investments and composition. Might be better if your Resilience has a significantly higher level compared to Bastion.

If there are boss parts, and they last a long time (e.g. Crystal Chamber), Drake can make use of the Destruction Cube to enhance her DPS capabilities.

Doll Investments

You will SR 15 her anyways to unlock her Favorite Item. :)