ManaInformation and Guide

Character
Introduction

Mana is a SSR rarity Burst
3
character from the Attacker class, who wields a Assault Rifle
Assault Rifle
weapon and belongs to the Wind
Wind
element. She's part of the Missilis
Missilis
faction.

Mana not only oversees research into new technologies at M.M.R, but also assumes responsibility as the person in charge. Many consider her a role model due to her excellent work skills and straightforward approach to matters.

To learn more about Mana check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.

To learn more about Mana check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.

Profile

Review

Investment tips

Teams

Profile

Skills
Normal Attack

Normal Attack

Assault Rifle

Mode: Normal

Ammo: 60

Reload: 1.67s

■ Affects Target(s).

Deals 15.07% of ATK as damage.

Deals 200% damage when attacking core.

Skill 1

Metal y

Passive

Cooldown: -

■ Activates at the start of the battle. Affects self.

Metal y: ATK ▲ 58.08% continuously. Activates once per battle.

■ Activates when in Metal y status after landing 10 normal attacks. Affects all allies.

Recovers 2.04% of caster's final Max HP.

■ Activates if the caster is in Metal y status when an ally is out of action. Affects 1 incapacitated ally unit(s) with the highest ATK (except caster).

Resurrect with 96% HP.

■ Activates when an ally is out of action. Affects self.

Removes Metal y.

Skill 2

Metal o

Passive

Cooldown: -

■ Activates at the start of the battle. Affects self.

Metal o: Burst Gauge filling speed ▲ 70.4% continuously.

■ Activates when entering Full Burst in Metal o status. Affects self.

Attack Damage ▲ 21.12% for 10 sec.

ATK ▲ 63.36% for 10 sec.

Removes Metal O.

■ Activates when entering Full Burst. Affects I ally unit(s) with the longest basic Charge Time.

Charge Time ▼ 0.18 sec for 10 sec.

■ Activates if the caster has cast Burst Skill before Full Burst ends. Affects self.

Metal o: Burst Gauge filling speed ▲ 70.4% continuously.

Burst

Fatal Error!

Active

Cooldown: 40s

■ Affects self.

Sustained Damage ▲ 52.8% for 10 sec.

■ Affects l enemy unit(s) nearest to the crosshair.

Deals 396% of final ATK as sustained damage every 1 sec for 10 sec

Specialties
Buffer
Revive
Voice Actors
ENG
-
JPN
-
KR
-
Gallery

Review

Review
Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

A fair unit, not broken in the sense that she deals a lot of damage, but in the sense that she shifts the meta by shuffling the current meta comps a bit. To start, she has several unique abilities, such as auto-revive that does not require using Burst Skill, continuous team healing that can trigger Crown's and Nero's passives, and charge speed boost to the unit with the longest charging time. This makes her niche but very versatile in that niche. For example, if we are talking about PvE, her charge speed is useful for SBS, and in PvP, her healing and revive can make for some artistic stall comps.

In terms of damage, it is not impressive, but decent enough to be relevant against Wind-weak bosses, pairing together with SBS and potentially replacing Alice for mobile users or those who cannot fast-tap Alice. We are not sure yet if she will have hidden synergy with the Wind collab units (speculative) coming up next. She can be used in teams that need continuous healing or revive, replacing Rapunzel and especially with Crown in team. Furthermore, her role as a B3 allows for a 1-1-3 setup, offering you the choice of using her as an in-burst or as an off-burst DPS/support.

Lastly, her PvP potential is huge. In the past, the only unit who was able to continuously heal Nero was Rapunzel. With her, this changed. Mana actually does a similar job as Rapunzel does when it comes to activating Nero's passive. Not only that, you can pair her together, and Mana's charge speed boost will allow Rapunzel to heal faster too! There is a lot of creative setups you can come up with here, such as triple sacs with Rosanna, etc. Surprise us with your inventions!

Should I pull this unit?

Good question. Honestly, yes. There are lots of things that you can do with her, in bed and outside bed. However, you might want to be wary that, while she does free Alice from the captives of SBS, it can be hard to justify whether it is worth the slot. This answer will change depending on what element the raid is, what mechanics the boss will have, and so on. Still, raiders had better keep one copy on hand in case she is used.

From a PvP perspective, the answer becomes more positive. This is the only game mode where her burst damage is impactful, and the only game mode where her healing will be game-changing, and the only game mode where revives are OPAF. It is the only unit in-game that can revive anyone without Bursting and with 96% HP too! Fighting units who snipe your DPS? No problemo. Your tank dies? No problemo. Yeah, she does not even need to Burst herself. In fact, she might fare better as an off-burst B3.

Nevertheless, if you are a beginner or short on gems, the solution becomes more complicated. It is generally a good idea to have units such as her in your roster for security, but saying she is more valuable than whatever units are coming up next, especially EVA 2 units, is not an easy question to answer. Sure, you can wait until her banner is about to end, but we are not even certain if the collab will be next season or the patch after that. You have to decide this one, chief. We advise you read the entire guide before you make up your mind.

And no, she is not worth mileage nor dupes. Save those gems and ticket(s) for broken units, seasonal units, and above all Pilgrims.

Usage Analysis and Tier List

Campaign (LD) - A | Campaign (HD) - A

As a B3, she fails to deliver the DPS you need to clear the stage. But, as a non-burst healer, she’s definitely better than average. She can also trigger Crown’s S2 passive over and over (until she loses Metal γ, of course). Think of her as Rapunzel 2.0 who provides a charge speed buff to one ally. With her charge speed buff, she assists SBS in dealing more damage.

However, to buff SBS means you cannot add another SR or RL unit. Otherwise, Mana will instead provide the charge speed buff to them. As a result, you are prevented from using burst gen units like Red Hood. Therefore, Mana’s ideal usage might just be alongside Alice. She can remove Alice’s charge speed requirement from OL gear, which is a good thing for players who do not have enough resources to make an ideal Alice, and allow beginners to experience her greatness early on. This is still niche, nevertheless, and Mana is more strictly a healer only for Campaign.

Bossing - S

While it is true she doesn't offer much in terms of personal damage, her noble profession as SBS's slave is something to admire. Without SBS, her impact is not so strong, so that is what carries her to S rank—that niche role where she is only replaceable by Alice, and not every time can she do that. Sometimes, it's better to let Alice go to join other teams. We also don't know yet if they will release new Wind units that can also synergize with Mana (we have a collab to look forward to). Mana also comes with revive, which is useful situationally, and can also speed up other units other than SBS albeit with much lesser impact. She can also continually heal the team, allowing them to survive longer boss fights. She can also fill as an off-burst B3 if her supportive buffs are desired. She also holds a special role for beginners, who don't have Alice built and only have access to rental Alice. A properly built Mana can allow them to reach 100% Charge Speed on Rental Alice.

A short tldr would be that Mana is expected to perform well in Wind Weak Raids and is also one of the top units to use versus Kraken. You can stage 9 with the SBS-Mana combo on Kraken’s Anomaly Interception!

PVP - SS

Mana’s main involvement in PvP revolves around her revival skill. With decent burst gen, instantaneous revive and constant healing, she can fit in some stall teams. Her revive can also counteract assassins/wipers in some way (against Rosanna too, but only if there are 2 other Attackers or units with more ATK). Literally Rapunzel 2.0 but this time she does not even need to burst! To recap some general knowledge about PvP, there are 3 important points for building a good PvP team:

  • Protect your Position 1 Nikke.

  • Protect your DPS.

  • Have enough burst generation.

Mana, if used as an off burst unit (just put her in P4/P5), can fulfill the first requirement easily, acting like a pseudo-alternative to Biscuit. If used in some unique ways, she may also fulfill the second requirement. And to top it all off, her burst gen is not outright terrible! Hence, she is a very strong unit to use in Arena, and can definitely see use in SP Arena. However, she can be a bit niche. We will talk more about her actual use cases below in PVP Team Comps.

Kit Analysis

Mana wields an Assault Rifle that takes 1.67s to reload, which is quite long but compensated with increased base burst gen, and deals 15.07% damage per shot, which is also higher than standard AR but damage ratio is still far from ideal. She generates ~0.25 energy per shot, and if S2 is fully maxed and active, then ~0.426 per shot. This makes her the fourth highest burst gen AR character after Scarlet, Grave, and Asuka.

Skill 1

Mana grants herself Metal γ, a buff that grants her increased ATK and the ability to revive a fallen ally once per battle by consuming it. As long as this buff is present (and not removed by extraordinary means like Rosanna's dispel), she will also continually heal all allies every 10 shots (~0.83s in PvE or ~1s in PvP). Note that an Attacker's HP is lower than that of Defender or Supporter, so the perceived effect would be weaker than if it were cast by the other two roles.

### We Lowkey Expected This From Flora

Each instance of healing counts as a separate recovery effect. This allows her to stack Nero's passive, activate Crown's passive, trigger Asuka's ATK buff, and any other skills that rely on "recovery taking place”.

There is one problem with this Metal γ, though, and that is after it is consumed to revive a fallen unit, Mana no longer enjoys her ATK buff, nor does she heal the team. Unless you have a special utilization for revive that brings more good than harm, this scenario is to be avoided in PvE content as it significantly affects her damage (even as an off-burst support because every drop of damage matters). However, do keep in mind that her base damage ratios are not particularly impressive, so losing the buff may not be as detrimental as it initially seems.

To be fully clear, 58.08% ATK buff is not a joke and it is of the highest virtue to preserve it for as long as possible, especially if she is one of the primary B3. With careful planning and mitigation strategies, you can avoid the death of any unit (not always but strive for it).

Additionally, the revival prioritizes units with the highest ATK. In the event multiple units die at the same time, the one with the highest ATK will be revived. The revival is also instant.

Skill 2

Upon entering battle, Mana gives herself Metal σ, a buff that increases her burst gen by XX% and that can be consumed upon entering Full Burst to increase her ATK and Attack Damage. It can only be replenished by using her Burst Skill (recovered at the end of that Full Burst). This means she will lose Metal σ after the first Full Burst and will not regain it back if used as an off-burst B3.

Metal σ buffs affect her Burst Skill's damage because sustained damage uses live ATK value. And yes, if you think her kit is weird in the sense that, outside the first rotation, her Metal σ buff is only active within the other B3's Full Burst, you are correct! In fact, we wonder if this was an oversight by ShiftUp. Basically, the Metal σ buff will not overlap with her Burst Skill's activation except on the first rotation or if you Burst only with her.

Image credits to discord users: cnydo and kelvinpizza

Now to what makes her powerful: Charge Time reduction, to the ally with the highest base charge time. SBS (Scarlet: Black Shadow) is the only character who benefits from this the most, but it is applicable to any character, including Alice, who desperately needs those 2 Charge Speed OLs to reach 100% breakpoint.

### Taste the Instantaneous

Beginners without access to good OL can combine Rental Alice, which has 10/10/10 skills, and Mana to obtain 100% Charge Speed. A temporary solution for the time being until you can get your hand on advanced gear. More info on Skill Investments.

Why is Scarlet: Black Shadow her best pairing? Well, that is because her Charge Time is already so low that 0.18s is 60% of it! What this means is that SBS will need 60% less time to Full Charge, dealing more damage and activating her S1 more often. Great! As for other units, they can still benefit from this 0.18s reduction, but since most have a charge time of between 1-1.5s, the time reduction is only about 12-18%.

Note that if you use Scarlet: Black Shadow, make sure no one else in the team has a higher base Charge Time, including Alice, Red Hood, Rapunzel, DWife, Rouge, or anyone that has Charge, literally.

If two or more units have the same base charge time, whoever is leftmost is prioritized.

Additionally, Mana gains increased burst gen from 0.25 per shot up to 0.426 per shot when Metal σ is active, but it's more of a PvP thing if any. This is likely to compensate for the fact that, if you use her to buff certain key units, you cannot add other RL/SRs as they will steal her buff. This often comes at the cost of not having utility units to spam with for burst gen.

Burst Skill

Strong sustained damage but hindered by the lack of notable offensive buffs (except for when she has Metal σ, which has awkward acquirement conditions). She also gains ▲ Sustained Damage 52.8%, which is quite insane but also diluted by other effects related to Damage Amplification. In total, she deals just shy of 4000% (+2000% from Sustained Damage buff) to one enemy, which is not bad in today's standards, but it's not really destructive by any means.

Sustained Damage uses live ATK value, which updates dynamically. Hence, it benefits from Metal σ and external buffs such as Maxwell's and Helm's, and obviously Metal γ unless deactivated (or dispelled).

That being said, 58.08% ATK is not mediocre, but you will need more than that nowadays, so even with Metal γ, you are bound to treat her to some ATK OL and ELE.

Investments

Gear Investments

Mana scales best with ATK & ELE. If you want to build her offense, aim for these, or just don't build her at all if you only care about her supportive effects.

  • Essential:

  • Ideal: 4× ELE, 4× ATK

  • Passable:

  • Priority: Medium

Skill Investments

Mana's S2 is the most important part of her skillset. It is what obtains her a spot in the meta. Focus on upgrading that first, and only care about S1 and Burst leveling for damage.

  • Skill 1: 4~7

    • Increased team healing and personal offense.

  • Skill 2: 7-10

    • Higher levels = higher charge speed bonus. It is not that important unless you pair her with SBS/Alice or other Charge Speed sensitive characters.

    • When pairing with SBS, every level suddenly becomes more valuable. Level this high enough to make her relevant and comparable to Alice.

    • When pairing with Alice (10/x/10) without Charge Speed OL and outside help aside from Mana, Level 5 will grant Alice 100% Charge Speed.

  • Burst Skill:4~7

    • Strictly for personal damage. Might as well ignore if you plan to leave her unbuilt or use her off-burst.

Cube Investments

Resilience or Bastion would probably be her best bet in PvE for that increased normal attack uptime. Use whichever cube has a higher level.

Meanwhile, in PvP, she can make use of Tempering, Healing, and Vigor cube pretty well.

Doll Investments

She is not worth too much doll investment seeing we just got a new batch of treasures. Prioritize meta or prevalent DPS units that have big damage or scale well with CP padding (PvP/Campaign units). SR 0 or R 5 → SR 5 then dip immediately.

Review
Pros

  • Finally saves Alice from being SBS’s permanent slave.

  • Instantaneous revival without bursting required.

  • Decent healing over time and can activate Nero’s and Crown’s passive ability.

  • Mama Mia… that MLB lobby screen panty shot!

Cons

  • Her kits are very lackluster as a buffer in PVE.

  • Her own damage is mediocre and only optimal against a single target.

  • Her S2 self-buff is weird; she has it on other-burst rotations if used as primary B3, which means it does not buff her nuke damage.

  • Her S2 self buffs are irrelevant if she is used as an off-burst unit.

  • Special Mention: Jien is hotter than Syuen!

Ratings
A

Story (low deficit)

A

Story (high deficit)

A

Bossing

S

PVP

Investment Tips

Skill Investment

Here's the explanation for all the numbers and colors used in the guide:

  • 10/5/7 means upgrading Skill 1 to lvl 10, Skill 2 to lvl 5, and Burst Skill to lvl 7,
  • Yellow means the immediate investment when u get the unit. There are 3 reasons for this:
    • If the unit is Meta or High Priority, it will have a starting investment of more than 1/1/1 (such as 4/4/4) depending on what the unit provides.
    • If the unit is Medium or Low Priority, 1/1/1 will be mentioned, meaning no immediate investment is required, and you can invest in this character if you need to use it according to the priority listed.
    • If we deem that a unit does not have usable skills to be meta for any gamemode, no investment will be mentioned.
  • Blue means minimum investment to take advantage of the Nikke's skills. There are 2 reasons for this:
    • Sometimes, minimum investments are breakpoints such as for Noir or SAnis.
    • Sometimes, minimum investments are just the ideal way to progress to upgrade that unit, before moving on to Recommended and High.
  • Red means recommended investment for F2P players,
  • Purple means maximum recommended investment, in order to get the best out of the unit. You should only try to reach these investments if you have a surplus of Skill Books leftover.

More info:

  • The skill investment list below features a lot of Level 4 and 7 because they are easier to understand. Any higher levels will cost a new type of resource.
  • However, you may choose to upgrade to Level 5 if you need a stronger effect instead of 4, as the increase in Blue Manual cost from Level 4 to 5 is still low. The leap only starts from Level 6 onward.
  • There is also a leap from Level 3 to 4, so if you want to save a tiny bit of Blue Manuals, then leave at 3 instead of 4.
Gear Investment

This Overload (OL) Recommendations and Priority guide unravels in detail everything you need about a character in terms of priority, overload targets (effects), and order of acquisition, alongside some notes to explain our thinking process.

For OL targets and order of acquisition, we decided to divide the target effects into several categories.

  • Essential: With all gear combined, your unit must have the roll(s) prescribed as a minimum requirement. Example: Charge Speed on Alice. You cannot compromise on these rolls.
  • Ideal: These rolls will improve your unit's performance significantly. Aim for 2 lines of Essential/Ideal per gear for maximum performance and the best Return on Investment (ROI). If you get 3, you are lucky. You can choose to only have 1 as well to save materials. Example: Elemental Damage on Scarlet.
  • Passable: Low-priority line that has either limited value or the impact is not as strong as other rolls. Should this show up as a bonus together with a better line, you can choose to keep them. Example: Charge Speed on Red Hood.

Overload effects are ordered by importance from Left to Right, which means anything on the left provides more value than the right. Effects that belong to the same group generate too similar an impact to make a difference (and are sometimes interchangeable). Try to follow this order as faithfully as possible for maximum mileage.

Additional tips:

  • Priority (PvE/PvP) isn't necessarily lower than Priority (Universal), which has no tag/label. It just indicates that this unit performs only in select types of content.
  • If a suggested effect has the number ×2 next to it, that means you should get the effect on at least 2 gear. The same idea applies to other numbers.
  • Focus on obtaining Essential(s) then you can start worrying about optimizing your rolls. Units require these to function, and the impact is too massive to ignore.
  • If a unit has no Essential(s), that means their performance is not that dependent on OL, but they can still benefit from good effects.
  • Remember that this is just a recommendation list, and attaining perfection is impossible. You will have to make some compromise, pick whichever rolls you desire the most, and conserve as much material as possible.
Cube Investment
PVE
  • Bastion Cube

    Bastion Cube

  • Wingman Cube

    Vigor Cube

  • Wingman Cube

    Healing Cube

  • Destruction Cube

    Destruction Cube

PVP

Resilience or Bastion would probably be her best bet in PvE for that increased normal attack uptime. Use whichever cube has a higher level. Meanwhile, in PvP, she can make use of Tempering, Healing, and Vigor cube pretty well.

Teams

Teams
Team 33

Mana's new science funnel

Mode: Union / Solo Raids || Element: Wind

Characters
Grave
Liter
Scarlet: Black Shadow
flex
Mana
About the team

A typical team against Wind-weak stages. This is just a variation of the old Alice - Scarlet Black Shadow team. Mana can act here as a non-Burst B3 healer, or she can Burst herself too because her damage can pack quite a punch against Wind-weak enemies. Nevertheless, her kit excels against single targets so Bursting with her on mob stages may not be the most ideal. Noir and Sakura: Bloom in Summer are the top choices for FLEX. Do not use an SR or RL unit in FLEX spot.

Substitutions

-

Team 34

Alice Funnel

Mode: Campaign || Element: All

Characters
Liter
Crown
Alice
B3
Mana
About the team

Let's just say you want a fixed team for Alice, and you don't have charge speed lines on Alice (like Rental Alice), what can you do? Well, good news. Mana can solve that issue!
Mana not only provides pure healing to this team, but also provides Alice with enough Charge Speed to reach 100% (assuming 10/x/10 on Alice, as well as Mana skill 2). Hence, this allows us to get 4× Ammo, 4× ATK and 4× ELE on our Alice! Just imagine how many bullets she can Fire with Bastion Cube equipped, not to mention Liter and Grave also give Max Ammo. Furthermore, if an extra buffer is desired, Rei and Maxwell can boost Alice’s damage dealt. Or, you can just slap a second DPS like Asuka (which also buffs her). D:KW is also a good alternative to Liter as she can buff Alice’s Pierce Damage.

Substitutions

D: Killer Wife can replace Liter

Team 35

Main B3 Mana

Mode: Union / Solo Raids || Element: Wind

Characters
Liter
Grave
Sakura: Bloom in Summer
Mana
Ludmilla: Winter Owner
About the team

Popular choice team for Wind weak raids.

Substitutions

Red Hood B1 can replace Ludmilla: Winter Owner.

Team 36

Electric Team Wind Activator

Mode: Union / Solo Raids || Element: Wind

Characters
Cinderella
Rouge
Mana
Mari Makinami Illustrious
Maiden: Ice Rose
About the team

Also a popular choice for Raids. She can heal and provide support in the form of being the Wind element unit to clear elemental QTEs in Solo Raids quite often.

Substitutions

Anis: Sparkling Summer can replace Maiden: Ice Rose

Team 60

The Ultimate Stall

Mode: PVP || Element: All

Characters
Moran
Nero
Helm (Treasure)
Rapunzel
Mana
About the team

This team utilizes Damage Reduction to its maximum potential by combining units who can trigger Nero's passive and benefit from her "payback". In this 3 RL comp, Helm (Treasure)r, Rapunzel, and Mana continually heal the team while enjoying up to ~75% damage reduction buffs (dependent on investments, doll, and cube), whereas Moran and Nero tank for them. Nero can also gain ≥100% damage reduction here at maximum investments, meaning she will not take any damage at all for 10s after Full Burst! Not to mention, you are well-equipped with double revives, two Full Burst possibilities, charge speed bonus, and 10s lifesteal. That is some insane defense right there.
Counterable by Scarlet stall teams or Snow Whiteift 2 RL teams involving Blanc + Rosanna to dispel Mana and counteract Damage Taken. Variants of this team include repositioning some units to let Rapunzel be the first B1 or to let Nero be the main tanker. Do note that Moran's Attract activates first, so she will be the one taunting primary attacks and Nero the secondary attacks as decoy (for Anis: Sparkling Summer's Ray, etc).

Substitutions

-