Milk: Blooming BunnyInformation and Guide

Can you give a brief summary about this unit?

Milk: Blooming Bunny is a shy girl capable of dealing continuous Pierce Damage through basic attacks with occasional Distributed Damage on the side. Her main strength relies upon Milk shooting as many bullets as possible, as all her damage comes from basic attack's raw multiplier. This means she is distance dependent, core dependent, Max Ammo dependent, and "skill" dependent all at the same time. While these may seem daunting, Milk bears some of the greatest firepower the world has ever seen. And for the Iron division, that's great news to be heard. In short, the (better) (Iron) Alice!

BMilk's performance is dependent on her quality of investments. In terms of OL, she is as demanding as units like RRH, Doropity, or even Alice (but without Charge Speed). This means you need 10/10/10 ideally, followed by 2~3× Max Ammo OL minimum + 4× ELE + 4× ATK. There are no skill breakpoints, but each level contributes a large amount of value that missing one level means significant loss of damage. She also needs heavy manual gameplay (comparable to Alice and with a similar playstyle as Trony and ExiaTr). You will need to "spam click" a lot at minimal charge. If you are not ready to do that, investing in her may not be a good idea. Think of Alice but with a more deliberate manual despite less clicking.

Where can I expect her to be used?

Basically everywhere, except PvP. She can be used in any Iron-weak content (not really in Neutral, although she is extremely usable given the right situations; it's just there are better units like RapiRH or TVesti for mobbing, etc). This is thanks to her having a permanent pierce despite her awkward Embarrassment mechanics.

In Campaign specifically, her Pierce + Burst's damage spike will help a lot in clearing tougher enemies + clustered enemies, just like you would with Alice or Asuka. She is most comparable here to Red Hood since both are Iron and compete with each other for the "spot". However, Red Hood is far more convenient—while theoretically she has less damage, she has better burst gen and a strong B1 skill; she also doesn't suffer from weird mechanics like Embarrassment, which do not allow for a constant damage output. Because of these, Milk serves as an alternative rather than a direct replacement for the majority of the playerbase, sometimes superior and sometimes better. That said, if you don't have RRH, you can definitely use them together, and even if you have RRH, there may be unorthodox teams like Siren Crown RRH BMilk + off-burst B1 RH.

Let's talk about Tetra Tower, which is also a subset of Campaign. Here, there is no Red Hood to compete with, and her competitors are XLudmilla, SAnis, and Bready. In this case, BMilk outright trumps them all. She is one of the best Tetra Tower pushers currently, so if that's important to you, pulling her may be a good idea. Together with the Pierce-buffer Ade/healing Blanc/ammo-support Noir (or Damage Taken XLud) & a fellow piercer (Alice), BMilk reigns as a "second Alice".

In Bossing, Milk's performance will depend on investments and whether you are ready to manual her or not. On auto, she should deal slightly less damage than Red Hood, but on manual, she can reach 75-80% Rapipi! What does this mean? A long-lasting spot in Iron-weak Raids and a potential spot as a BiS DPS in maxing Iron content! It's pretty self-explanatory how BMilk will be useful in Iron-weak Raids, especially now that we have 3 Pierce-focused supports (Grave, Mari, Ade). Outside Raids, she can serve as a direct replacement over Red Hood or Raven (if you don't have them). For example, against Ultra Anomaly Interception, you can run Siren Crown RRH BMilk MastM. BMilk having Pierce allows you to break the boss's core just like you would with RH.

In PvP, BMilk sucks because she is heavily dependent on manual gameplay and is mostly a single-target character. However, she can still trigger her Pierce and therefore deal "massive damage" to P1/P5 (only if she is Bursting). She also has a small amount of Distributed Damage. Don't be fooled by her small percentages; she has 117.64% Pierce DMG▲ and 220% ATK▲!

Should I get her?

To preface, if you are low on gems, no, because the next event might be RE collab. Otherwise, continue reading:

If you are a competitive player and you are willing to manual to maximize performance, then YES, like Ade. She is a powerful Iron DPS that has 75-80% of RRH's damage. That doesn't mean she is as good as her, but she's a 2% unit, and we don't really have a lot of good carry Iron DPS (last was Raven, which you may not have if you skipped collab; hopefully not). That secures a spot in Iron SR and potentially UR. You can also use her to push Tetra Tower and "recover" some of the gems you spent on pulling her. You can also use her in Campaign if you want; we can finally run something like Siren Crown RRH BMilk with RH B1, which was not an option before since RH had to B3.

But, hang on, remember that we said "if you are willing to manual"? Yes, that's because she is just Red Hood-level without a manual, which is not that amazing by modern meta standards! While we encourage people to pull her, if you insist on playing auto only, then you can choose to skip her in favor of units releasing in October (RE collab) and November (Pilgrims/Over-specs). Dumping 10/10/10 + hundreds of rocks on BMilk just to play her on auto = a waste of resources.

Beginners can also skip because BMilk is invest-dependent (that doesn't change that she is good and will improve your team, though). You may be more drawn to the SAnis, BAde, or October/November units, which can be limited (if they're collabs) or hard to get outside banners (1%). That said, try to build 400 Golden Mileage before November. You can also wait until the kits of the next banners are released, but you won't be able to use BMilk for Solo Raid.

Should I get dupes? Maybe. Milk has 220% ATK, which makes her final ATK more affected by her own ATK stat than others'. The only surefire way of increasing self ATK stat is through dupes (direct 2~2.2% per piece + bond). However, since she is a 2% that will enter Ordinary, we don't advise getting dupes for small spenders + F2P. Just put her on the Wishlist.

Should I mileage her? No. Save it for 1% units. If your gems are dry at the moment, it's likely that your resources are as well and you cannot properly invest in Milk. Uninvested BMilk = useless. Don't even think of pulling her if you’re in this situation.

Kit Analysis

Milk is a basic attack-focused character, which means she is dependent on: whether enemy has core, whether enemy is within optimal range, and whether enemy benefits Pierce. Additionally, Milk's damage comes from "overloading buffs", which means scaling her will be harder than scaling someone like MiharaBC. While this is a negative trait, it's also a positive trait in a way that she's self-dependent. Her damage does not waver much as supports change. This makes her, who also coincidentally has a lot of ATK buff, a good unit for Campaign and Tower, where there is deficit.

Skill 1

Every time Milk performs a Full Charge, she gains 6 seconds of Pierce.

• The triggering shot doesn't have Pierce; only the shots after that do.

• Permanent if you leave her on auto.

• However, letting AI control an SR who relies on basic attack damage and does not require continuous Full Charge(s) means loss of damage.

• Except for triggering the Pierce once every 6 seconds, ideally, all her other shots must be quick charges (spam taps).

When Milk performs a Full Charge then holds it for an additional 0.5s (1.5s Hold) and she is neither in the Embarrassment state nor immune to it (Burst Skill's effect), she will gain Embarrassment and trigger a sequence of actions.

Firstly, she will undo that Full Charge and immediately reload, dealing Distributed Damage to all enemies instead. This reload lasts 3 seconds and cannot be shortened by any means (fixed). In exchange, after reload ends, Milk gains ATK▲118.7% for 40 sec (and Pierce Damage▲64.7% from S2).

• The benefit of getting Embarrassment greatly outweighs the forced reload/annoyance. We are talking about the buff, not the Distributed Damage.

• You only need to trigger this once every 40s at most, but since you will be using her Burst Skill anyway (which will clear it), you only need to trigger it after every Milk's Full Burst + once at the start if Milk bursts second.

• ATK▲ disappears when Milk uses Burst because it's tied to Embarrassment. This also includes S2's Pierce Damage▲, which is also triggered upon gaining Embarrassment. But, don't worry—her Burst buffs are stronger!

Tip: If you need burst gen more than damage (i.e. you don't have other units that can provide burst gen), at the start of the battle and after every Milk's Full Burst, consider spam-tapping her before triggering Embarrassment.

Tip 2: Although they are displayed as debuffs, Force Reload and Slow Reload can’t be removed by any means except dying, of course. You can’t even fill Milk with ammo here (using Siren, Noir for example).

Skill 2

When in Embarrassment status, Milk gains Pierce Damage▲64.7%.

• Pretty self-explanatory.

• Triggered by S1 but separated, so you are forced to invest in both skills.

When Milk bursts, she gains the status Overconfident, Huh?! for 10s. On top of the effects listed in Burst Skill, she also deals continuous Distributed Damage to all enemies every 2s for 10s (5 triggers).

• Not the major part of her damage, but its contribution becomes relatively bigger when the enemy doesn't have core, isn't within optimal range, or doesn't benefit Pierce.

• The actual goal of this skill is to help assist in clearing mobs against Boss (adds), especially if they have hitcount HP. Think of Dorothy vs Mother Whale. Isn't this skill just a replica of Doro's S2?

• Affected by the huge ATK▲ from Burst Skill, which is great.

Burst Skill

Gains Overconfident, Huh?! for 10s, during which the Embarrassment status is cleared and cannot be triggered. All its buffs will be replaced with a stronger version as listed in the Burst Skill: Pierce Damage▲117.64% & ATK▲220% for 10s. Milk also continuously launches Distributed Damage via S2.

• Milk's peak damage window. Utilize this window to deal as much damage as possible by maximizing her number of attacks.

• How to maximize damage: Full Charge to gain Pierce from S1 → Spam Tap until Pierce is about to end → Retrigger Pierce → Repeat until over.

• Ideally, the Full Charge shot is released within Pierce window, but this is not mandatory because this may require a reload within that 6s Pierce duration, which prevents you from fully taking advantage of it.

• Be careful of reloads messing with rhythm. Hence, we recommend a minimum of 2× Max Ammo OL and ideally 3× for convenient gameplay.

• There is merit to spamming as many shots as possible before Burst is over, even if that means going off rhythm. This is because Burst lasts 10s, and each cycle lasts 6s. You will have to either shorten the cycles or funnel into one cycle.

• It is better to prep a Full Charge before entering Full Burst, so you can immediately release it as Milk's Burst begins and follow it up with spam taps.

Tier List & Usage Analysis

Campaign (LD): SS | Campaign (HD): SS

I know, we have been promoting Milk as 2025 Alice and therefore she should be the same tier as her, right? Wrong! Well, the thing is, that Embarrassment status from Milk is a nuisance in Campaign. Boss's attacks are much more manageable than a barrage of random attacks in a mob stage. This inconvenience + lack of capability of being a slave to SBS puts her one tier below Alice in High Deficit. For Low Deficit, we are keeping her at maximum SS because she requires deliberate manual gameplay. People who are in Low Deficit tend to avoid manual gameplay; that's also why Alice is SS there.

That said, Milk is still a useful Iron mobber, especially against Electric mobs. RH is probably the closest to her given their same element. However, RH has that one-time B1 (if used as B3) and higher burst gen, which translate to convenience. She also doesn't need Max Ammo (well, one is good) and is just plug-and-play. On the other hand, Milk may have a higher damage ceiling, but she is packed with inconveniences. If you can cope with those, Milk can surely be a good alternative B3 for Iron-weak mobbing. You can pair her with RH B3 (if you don't have RRH B3 or use RRH as B1) or reassign RH as B1 for "more damage".

In Tetra Tower, BMilk is technically one of the best mobbers right now, seeing the lack of competition there. Pair her (and Alice) with BAde for higher damage ceiling or Blanc for more healing + Rouge + Noir (for ammo)/XLud (for Damage Taken).

Bossing: SS

This fits in well with our tier list. BMilk is a strong Iron bosser, and despite her inconveniences, she still has a higher damage ceiling than RH. Since RH is a staple for Iron-weak SR/UR/Anomaly Intercept, we can be sure that BMilk will be used more than her, at least by top players who can manual well. Compared to X unit, she is:

• Red Hood: Milk has better damage but is more inconvenient to use. A manual Milk is stronger than RH but an auto Milk is weaker than her. RH has better burst gen and is basically plug-and-play. Milk is more invest-demanding and manual intensive.

• Raven: Raven has similar damage on core vs BMilk, but Raven is not dependent on core or optimal range, making her more versatile. BMilk's damage, however, can scale if a boss benefits Pierce. Raven doesn't have burst gen. Raven is auto-friendly. Raven ideally bursts second, while BMilk ideally bursts first (to avoid having to go through Embarrassment).

• Rapi: Red Hood: BMilk is around 75% of her on average on core (both are dependent on core & optimal range), 80% at peak, and 70% if poor manual. Auto Milk is not comparable to RRH (very bad). Both RRH & Milk are Max Ammo OL-dependent. They require similar investments, but RRH just has a better value due to her impact.

• Alice: Assuming on Neutral, Alice has slightly worse damage alone but better scalability. At ~70-80% ATK DMG, she beats BMilk during Burst but not off-burst (BMilk has better off-burst damage). In most cases, BMilk still has better damage than Alice. Alice can be a slave to SBS, but BMilk is just an independent Piercer. Alice therefore still holds a higher value, especially if you have SBS.

We do not expect BMilk to be used in Neutral (we are in elemental meta), unless the boss somehow greatly benefits Pierce (e.g. Ultra). This has almost never been the case, however. If anything, it's sometimes a use-case for her in Union Raids (such as the recent UR with Iron-Weak Material H).

PvP: C

BMilk offers nothing except some "frontline pressure" and AoE Distributed Damage on Burst. Since she doesn't trigger Embarrassment on PvP, Bursting with her is mandatory, otherwise she is a sitting duck. BMilk doesn't have damage outside Burst, but while in her Burst, her basic attacks hit very hard, and her Distributed Damage helps deal minor damage to all enemies.

Investments

Gear Investments

No Max Ammo OL = dead. Yes, she is as greedy as Alice when it comes to it. BMilk requires heavy and deliberate manual gameplay to reach her damage peak, where we can consider her meta. This means Max Ammo, ELE, and ATK will be your main targets. ATK is diluted, but it's still her third best line.

• Solo Raid: Since BMilk is expected to be used only in Iron-weak, ELE has a much higher value than ATK. Prioriy goes as 2× Max Ammo ≈ 4× ELE > 1× Max Ammo >= 4× ATK.

• Tetra Tower: We cannot expect every stage to be Iron-weak, so ELE ≈ ATK. The priority therefore goes as 2× Max Ammo > 4× ELE >= 4× ATK ≈ further Max Ammo lines.

If you do both, just mix the two above and find the middleground.

• Essential: 3× Max Ammo

• Ideal: 4× ELE, 4× ATK, 1× Max Ammo

• Passable: Crit DMG, Crit Rate

• Priority: Meta

Note: Different game modes have slightly different priorities. Check the full guide.

Skill Investments

Leveling up Burst improves her damage during Burst. Leveling up S1 & S2 primarily improves damage outside Burst, and they go hand in hand (multiplicative relationship). Since Burst Skill contributes a larger amount of damage than off-burst, Burst Skill technically has a slightly higher priority. However, S2 also has Distributed Damage for Burst Skill. S2's impact outside Burst is also weaker than S1, making S1 important too. Due to their having different roles, all skills should be upgraded equally, with a bit more edge toward Burst Skill (Burst Skill >= S2 = S1).

Subjective take: BMilk is not worth malding over with unless you 10/10/10 her (very serious about investing and manualing her). Hence, our Skill recommendations this time are:

• Skill 1: 10

• Skill 2: 10

• Burst Skill: 10

All 3 just contribute a lot to her damage.

Cube Investments

Resilience is always the most reliable cube for ammo-hungry Nikkes, but sometimes Bastion could be better for pursuing certain breakpoints (if those exist for your Max Ammo OL% and your comp). Destruction can be used if ammo is not a problem and the boss has a lot of permanent parts or parts you struggle to break normally. Pierce can be used if ammo is not a problem and the boss doesn't have permanent parts or high uptime on pierce. Remember, ELE DMG% matters more than cube choice if the element is correct.

Doll Investments

Due to her having 220% ATK▲, we think SR 15 to increase base ATK stat is pretty warranted, although that would be expensive. You can settle with R 15 → SR 5, but I think you should still SR 15 because it also gives CP for Tetra Tower.