Should you pull Marsha?

• Yes
• Yes
• Are you building the Lingering Glow team (Beryl, Isolde, Lorentz Butterfly…)?

The first new Sustain unit in a while, Marsha forms the basis of 3.X healers/shielders very well.

Her kit is not that difficult, also because we’ve sort of seen it before. Marsha is similar to Kiperina in a lot of ways; but she edges out in most cases due to Kiperina’s focus on Impromptu whereas Marsha is only ‘sort of’ tied to Lingering Glow (she is a much more general sustain).

At the time of writing this, Marsha is considered the best sustain in the game. Let’s take a look at her in detail:

Her “Insight: Humanitarian Aid” provides the basis for her kit. At Insight 1, Marsha applies [Shield]s regularly through her [Frontline Care] stacks, which allow her to auto-cast “Burden Unspoken” whenever an ally is attacked. She also provides DMG Reduction to allies with her [Shield]. On top of this, she dispels [Control] statuses from allies and grants them [Pardon], which makes them immune to the first [Control] effect that would hit them. In addition, [Morning Prayer] will improve the team’s [Lingering Glow] generation, increase the max [Burn] stacks on enemies, and grant a bit of Crit DMG to allies.

At Insight 3, she starts stacking her own Crit Rate and DMG with [Pain’s Recompense], inflict Mass [Burn] at the start of the round and starts cycling her Moxie. She gains +1 upon entering combat, and whenever she lands a Crit or consumes [Frontline Care] after that.

[Frontline Care] functions very similarly to Ms. NewBabel’s Euphoria, triggering when an ally is hit to cast “Burden Unspoken”. Which is a simple [Shield] application that also dispels one random debuff from allies. If the target already has a shield (from say, her combat entry) their values stack. The important thing here is that she also extends the duration of the existing shield to 3 rounds. This circumvents the problem that a lot of shielders face: having to reapply their shields when the duration is over.

The rest of her kit is pretty simple.

“Virtue of Restraint” is a single-target attack that inflicts [Burn] and grants Marsha a stack of [Pain’s Recompense].

Her Ultimate, “Advice to the Violent", is an interesting one. It deals damage to all enemies, inflicts stacks of [Burn], grants Marsha [Pain’s Recompense] and then converts all stacks of it into [Discipline Forged] for all allies. This grants them a large amount of Crit Rate, Crit DMG and Incantation Might.

Marsha is an incredibly strong sustain. Shielders in general are valued higher than healers in end-game content due to enemy damage often scaling into one-hit territory there, and outside of Impromptu, Marsha is the one unit with consistent and high-value shields that she can also extend the duration of (meaning that she essentially applies an infinite shield so long as they aren’t destroyed during the round).

On top of her shield value and consistency, her ability to cleanse all manner of debuffs and even grant partial immunity to [Control] is incredibly strong. In addition, her other buffs including +DMG Reduction, +Crit Rate, +Crit DMG and +Incantation Might are all of great import, keeping both your team safe while providing a large amount of offensive buffing.

The reason she can be used outside of the Lingering Glow archetype is because her kit isn’t all that limited to its gimmick. The only exclusive effect she has is [Morning Prayer], which increases [Lingering Glow] accumulation, max [Burn] stacks on enemies and grants up to +10% Crit DMG to allies. These effects either only support the archetype, or are small enough to where losing out on them for her powerful sustain and buffs is okay.

Gameplay

As a sustain, Marsha doesn’t require much thinking. Like Kiperina, most of her value is given to her without using any AP. She will naturally accumulate Moxie through her Insight 3, so she naturally builds towards her Ultimate buffs, and her shielding comes entirely AFK.

In Lingering Glow teams, you’ll occasionally want to cast “Virtue of Restraint” to inflict extra [Burn], generate [Pain’s Recompense] and build to her Ultimate faster in order to line it up with Beryl’s burst turns. In addition, her active cast “Burden Unspoken” can be used to clutch out high incoming damage due to it’s increased shield value and cleanse.

Pros & Cons

Marsha is complete at Portrait 0.

Vertical investment is not recommended. Sustainers usually aren’t the driving force behind damage or an archetype gimmick, and Marsha’s Portraits are the same. If you are adamant about vertical investment.

• Portrait 1 directly buffs the first Ultimate cycle, and her Ultimate buffs.
• Portrait 5 is the only one we recommend going for. It increases [Lingering Glow] generation and further increases her Ultimate buffs.

Marsha synergizes with Lingering Glow allies, but is an amazing general sustain.

Singleness of HeartNew 3.3

Long Night Talk

Family Mentor

Shadows in the Subconscious3.2

• Singleness of Heart (Marsha Sig): Reduces enemy DMG Dealt and increases teamwide Crit DMG after casting Ultimate. BiS when you have a decent [Burn] application.
• Long Night Talk (Spathodea Sig): Increases personal DMG Dealt and increases [Shield] size due to ATK stacking.
• Family Mentor (Moldir Sig): Utilizes the stacking teamwide Crit DMG buff for better offensive buffing.
• Shadows in the Subconscious (Isolde Sig): Fundamentally worse than the options above but can be used (if it’s not on Isolde) to buff ally Crit DMG.

Resonances

Pattern (Equibalance): ADRENBUoVCoEQAFCAkQA8CQ8YDxQOCI5IEEwSEI

A few suggestions are listed below. 3-People teams are highlighted, with the 4th slot added at the side to provide a 4-P variation of the same team or even insights on possible variations of the 3-P team.

Standard Teams

Lingering Glow[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Sub-DPS/Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Flutterpage
• Euphorias: Isolde
• The primary composition for the Lingering Glow archetype. Naturally, it is focused on generating as much [Lingering Glow] stacks as possible to scale the various effects of the team.
• Beryl is the spearhead Carry here, though Spathodea(E) is also noted to be a Carry for this archetype. To cycle her Ultimate and steadily generate [Halo], Beryl wants a team that doesn’t have to cast a lot. Luckily, between Isolde, Marsha and (most likely Lorentz Butterfly when she releases) they won’t be spending too much AP. This gives Beryl the necessary casts to cycle her Ultimate every 2 rounds and optimize her output.
• Isolde is here for obvious reasons. With her Euphoria her debuffs now scale into the current meta, and after completing her [Finale] cycle she doesn’t really require any AP due to most of her damage output coming from “Intermezzo” casts. The addition of [Appoggiatura] to her kit, the problem of her buffs being layered instead of duration-based has also been solved, meaning she is a lot better at amping the team’s long cast cycles.
• Flutterpage is also a no-brainer. About 85% of the team’s damage output comes from “Intermezzo” (Isolde) and “Destined Doom” (Beryl) casts, which are all Follow-Up Attacks. Her massive DMG Dealt boosts and guaranteed Crits for Follow-Up Attacks naturally work here. TO NOTE: Lorentz Butterfly (3.6) is likely meant as a replacement for Flutterpage in the Lingering Glow team, make sure that you keep your eyes on this update and see if Lorentz proves herself to be superior to the nuclear child.
• Marsha here fits perfectly. Extra [Lingering Glow] generation, completely AFK sustain, extra offensive buffs and even some defensive buffing to cover Beryl’s fragile behind.
• Optional picks here are (though weaker):
• Beryl → Spathodea(E), tentatively as a non-Limited Carry option.
• Flutterpage → Lorentz Butterfly, tentatively as a second tailor-made [Lingering Glow] Support next to Isolde(E).
• Flutterpage → Mercuria(E), for the AFK offensive buffs and [Upgrade] utility.
• Flutterpage → Lopera, for the additional [Burn] and Crit amp.
• Marsha → Fatutu, for the [Spirit Shell] debuff (though weaker sustain).