Should you pull Recoleta?

Yes. As per patch 2.8, Recoleta is an S+ carry and unlikely to lose her relevance any time soon.

On top of her impressive damage numbers, she has a set of unique utilities in the form of her ultimate cheat card (“Flood of Fiction”) and the ability to reliably inflict [Passion Drain] on enemies. The former allows the ally with the most moxie to cast their ultimate with no AP cost, and recovering up to 5 Moxie afterwards. Imagine getting a free P2 to your Liang Yue, or seamlessly keeping Arrays up without a sweat, the possibilities this card brings are near endless. On the other hand, the latter, falls on the ‘Moxie Manipulation’ niche. This niche has proved its worth since patch 1.1, and consists on denying enemy ultimates while charging your own by stealing their Moxie. Taking this history and possibilities into consideration, it’s easy to conclude that Recoleta is a great addition to any account.

Recoleta is a very straightforward character. Simply focus on using her ultimate as much as possible. Her two basic incantations are both good, but for different reasons.

Her attack Incantation, “Literary Imagery” will grant her stacks of [Monomythic Narrative] or [Ensemble Narrative], which will then make her Ultimate stronger. Thus making her Incantation slightly more prioritized when playing Recoleta as your main carry.

Her debuff card, “Metaphysical Conceit”, inflicts [Passion Drain]. This debuff grants Moxie to anyone who attacks the afflicted target, with -1 stack per attack. Unlike most Incantations, the rank in which this one is used doesn't really matter; The amount of stacks don't increase with rank, and most of Recoleta's damage comes from her Ultimate or her “Literary Imagery” skill. When comparing multipliers, “Metaphysical Conceit”’s feeble 100~250% Reality DMG becomes less relevant than keeping up as many stacks of [Passion Drain] as possible.

“Maze of Visceral Realism” is a powerful Mass ultimate with a base 900% DMG to the main target and 450% to the others. What makes its numbers impressive, however, is the fact that Recoleta will convert the amount of Moxie spent into additional Ultimate Might. At Insight III, Recoleta has a unique passive that extends her Moxie by 5, and if at least 5 additional Moxie are consumed, the bonus Ultimate Might granted to this attack is doubled. This means a bonus of up to +30% Ultimate Might or, if Tuesday is in the team (or if you're playing a mode that allows for further Moxie saving), this bonus can get up to +60%, not counting the bonuses from however many stacks of the Narrative buffs you have: up to +1000% from Monomythic, and +500% from Ensemble (All numbers at P0).

Needless to say, if Recoleta is your main carry, try to save at least the extra five Moxie before using her Ultimate if you can. If you're using her as a catalyst to facilitate Ultimate cycling in other teams, however, you should spam her Ultimate with the minimum amount and as often as possible. The reason behind this advice is the fact that Recoleta grants +1 Moxie to the ally with the lowest Moxie every time she uses an ultimate, as well as generating one “Flood of Fiction” card if she has at least 10 stacks of her [Narrative] buffs added.

“Flood of Fiction” is another key part of Recoleta's kit. At Insight III, she generates one card when entering battle, and another every time she uses an ultimate while having at least 20 stacks of her Narrative buffs. What makes this Versatile-type card so great, is that it allows the character with the most Moxie on the team to cast their ultimate instantly, with no AP cost, and recovers all the Moxie they had afterwards (up to 5), thus earning the nickname of “ultimate cheat card”. It's no surprise that “Flood of Fiction” is a game changer no matter the team Recoleta is in or her role. It essentially turns her into a rather reliable Ult spammer, or the catalyst that will take any other Ult-based teams to the next level, be it Windsong, Liang Yue, Poison, Burn, Anjo Nala, etc. You name the team and this wandering knight of literature will come to its aid.

Pros & Cons

Recoleta works fine at Portray 0, not relying much on her portrays to do what she’s already good at.

For those wanting to boost things further, her best cost-benefit is her P1, which allows Recoleta to stack two “Flood of Fiction” cards after casting her ultimate.

Recoleta has a surprising amount of synergies. As a main carry, she benefits from any characters who can boost her ultimate in any way, with Critical supports being also welcome. Euphoria!Melania is also a name worth mentioning as having perfect synergy with her, making them the core of the Moxie manipulation niche.

Her other main approach is as a catalyst for ultimates. “Flood of Fiction” and [Passion Drain] will make your life much easier in any team that requires ultimate cycling. Windsong teams, Liang Yue teams, Poison teams, Burn teams, Anjo Nala teams, she can cover it all. Don’t be afraid to mix and match options and find your favorite gameplay style, much like someone finding their favorite novel genre.

Here are the best Psychubes you can use on Recoleta:

The Final Roll2.6

Rehearsal of Dreams2.5

Another Story

“The Final Roll” is Recoleta's signature Psychube and the easiest BiS for her; hands down. If you have the resources and plan on using Recoleta as one of your main DPS, it's very worth considering getting this Psychube to Max Amplification. The maximum Ultimate Might bonus increases from up to 12% to up to 24%, while the Critical DMG increases from up to 16% to up to 32%, a sizable amount especially when paired up with Recoleta's naturally high Ultimate multipliers.

“Rehearsal of Dreams” and “Another Story” are secondary options that focus on increasing Recoleta's Ultimate Might and overall DMG dealt, while forgoing CRIT. Not the ideal choice, but still good choices until you can build “The Final Roll” if you happen to already have them built.

Resonances

Code: AfQkJ0UpBToEOkQ8ADwQQCBCIUQjJEErQC1R

Resonance Pattern

Elucidation (Ultimate Might / Critical Rate / ATK)

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

Infinite Bladeworks Aurafarming[GLB]

Damage Dealer

DPS

Support

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Fatutu
• Melania is Euphoria Version.
• The standard hypercarry Recoleta setup. Splits AP between Recoleta and Melania to upkeep [Passion Drain] and quickly stack [Fixed Plan] on all allies. Facilitated by Lopera who due to Recoleta's Ult cheating only needs to spend 1 AP per Array cycle and Fatutu with permanent uptime on [Shell Beacon] providing massive amounts of passive healing. Lopera can be traded for Pickles(E), Hissabeth or even Name Day to support the Mineral and/or Ultimate niche in various ways .

The Wandering Knight and the Pet Army[GLB]

Damage Dealer

DPS

Support

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Ms. Newbabel (E)
• Pickles is Euphoria version.
• Another approach to Recoleta as the main carry, if you want to shake things up a little. Place Pickles (E) behind Recoleta, in order to grant her a myriad of buffs. In this team, Liang Yue can ult in the first round even at P0, thanks to “Flood of Fiction”. Focus on the right (red) side of the spelldock, as the incantations there will get a bonus rank up. With this, you can enjoy extra attacks from Liang Yue and Ms.Newbabel, who is also in charge of keeping the team alive by consistently placing shields that also passively buff Critical Rate.

Don Quixote de Latin America[GLB]

Damage Dealer

DPS

Support

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Sotheby (Euphoria)
• Everyone is delusional. Let’s be real here, this team only exists so you can have Tuesday overstacking Moxie on a character who already has extra Max Moxie, consequently getting more Moxie bonuses on your Moxie-based ultimate because you like Moxie. Jokes aside, this team is a proof of concept of using Recoleta as an enabler for quick Ultimate cycling, even outside her usual niche. As already explained in the review and synergy section, the same way this team works, (be it prioritizing Recoleta or the other DPS as the main carry), you can bring the wandering knight to any Ult-based team.

Absolute Literature[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Support

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Any Healer/Shielder
• This budget team is perfect for when you want to write some heavy replies to your enemies while feeling like your hand is a gif of a pen on fire. Very simple and straightforward, with many buffs provided by both Sonetto and Name Day, with the additional spotlight being Name Day’s buff from his own Ult. This allows allies to cast Ultimates without costing AP, thus leaving more room for incantations to further boost the round’s damage while already charging the next wave of Ultimates.