Should You Pull? (TLDR)
The short answer is yes, you probably should pull for her. Vila is a very strong pure survival/support character who will benefit almost any team she’s in. She can buff damage, provide Moxie, give Eureka, and, of course, heal. She’s easy to use and will be a valuable character for a long time.
Lore
Though often mistaken for a young woman with a peculiar skin ailment, those with even a little knowledge of arcanum can see that Vila is of Rusalka bloodline, a divergent branch of merfolk.
The Rusalki traditionally distanced themselves from humans, only starting to intersect with human society around the mid-20th century. Vila is the crystallization of this intersection, a child of water with mostly human characteristics.
She often returns to the waves, spending hour upon hour weaving a watery “fish tail” for herself.
Review
Vila is a 6-star Arcanist of the Plant Afflatus. She’s an excellent all-around support who can heal, purify negative statuses, generate Moxie, and provide significant damage buffs through her critical support skills, making her one of the most versatile supports in the game. When you look at her skills, you’ll notice she is the first Arcanist we’ve received who has no attack incantation and instead focuses entirely on the support role.
Starting with her ultimate, it provides a status that her Insight and other skills will reference. Her ultimate is a powerful mass buff that dispels all negative effects from allies, enhances preexisting effects generated by her other skills, and grants the crucial status [Rusalka] to Vila.
[Rusalka] is a vital status that buffs Vila’s incantations and provides her Insights with extra abilities.
Her first skill, “Beating Heart,” is a single-target buff that, while beneficial for everyone, is more geared toward Mental DMG support. This skill provides [Song of Generosity] which greatly increases Critical Rate and Critical DMG, with an additional focus on Mental DMG characters, it lasts for two rounds. It also provides [Power Burst], a simple 25% DMG boost. When she is in [Rusalka] status, this ability becomes even more powerful, as she will apply [Song of Passion] instead. This buffed version of the song provides extra DMG to the holder depending on the rank of the incantation they cast.
Vila’s other skill, “Wordless Song,” is a simple single-target heal that also provides sturdiness and which again receives a buff if she is in [Rusalka] status. The buffed version additionally recovers HP to the ally with the lowest HP percentage (similar to Yenisei’s “Words of Water”).
In line with her moveset, her Insights are also focused on support. Her Insight gives her Moxie when she enters battle, and the amount she gains is increased by one for every Mental DMG ally on her team, up to 2. If she’s in [Rusalka] status at the start of any round, she’ll also gain a [Precast] Versatile incantation “Song of Inspiration”. It can be used without any AP cost, and grants Moxie +1 and Eureka +1 to one ally of choice. Her Insight III is another great passive and further demonstrates how AP-friendly she is. If she hasn’t cast anything, allies will simply receive free healing, and that value increases even more with [Rusalka].
Vila is the first character in the game who doesn’t attack at all. While that might seem a downside, it works quite well for her and makes her a great match in AP-greedy setups. She is a great healer, similar to Tooth Fairy in some ways, except she’s more focused on single-target. Her active and passive healing are effective, she has a mass purification skill, and she is a great match for any mental or crit-based allies. She even provides Eureka. While being a jack-of-all-trades is typically not ideal in other cases, as it’s too spread out, Vila excels in everything she does, making her one of the best supports in the game so far.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- She can heal, provide CRIT support, generate Moxie and Eureka. She is a highly versatile support character who can enhance any team, especially with Mental DMG characters who receive extra buffs. An easy fit in most teams.
- She has passive healing, and her lack of attacking makes her great when paired with AP-greedy allies.
- With [Rusalka], she further boosts the effectiveness of her support abilities.
Cons
- While not too much of a drawback, she doesn’t attack at all, so if you need someone who can deal damage, she is not the right choice.
- Her skill buffs are all single-target, which may be limiting if you require team-wide buffs.
- Reliant on her Ultimate for fully making use of her kit.
Portrays
Vila works fine at P0. Since she is a 6-star character, pulling for extra copies of her is generally not recommended unless you plan to pull out the wallet.
Great Synergies
Vila is flexible as every team can benefit from a healer, but you should try to pair her with Mental DMG characters and those that rely on CRIT. Charlie, for example, is a great option for this. She deals high damage and meets the criteria to fully benefit from Vila. Additionally, Vila's focus on single targets is beneficial as it allows you to manage her health (this applies to any character with health-based abilities). In general, she’ll partner just fine with any Mental DMG characters. Marcus, Windsong, etc, etc. With how strong she is, she can also even work with weaker characters than you probably own like Matilda.
Notable synergies include:
Future notable synergies:
Psychubes
Here are the best Psychubes you can use on Vila:
Resonance
Level 7
Level 9
Level 10
Teams
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
We Plant, We Stan [GLB]
Damage Dealer
Support
Sustain
TEAM EXPLANATION
- 4th slot options: Druvis-III
- I just wanted to show you a team composition for a full Plant Afflatus setup. There are many options, but I picked some that work well together. You might consider adding someone not Plant like 6 to this team for additional debuffs, but overall this team should perform effectively. Vila supports everyone here with her Mental DMG abilities and healing. Marcus is a strong boss killer who deals significant damage through her abilities. With the other supports in this team, she’ll perform exceptionally well. Avgust provides additional damage buffs and support. If you need more options, you could also consider Druvis as an alternative damage dealer.
Charlie is in these lists kind of often ain’t she?[GLB]
Damage Dealer
Support
Sustain
TEAM EXPLANATION
Charlie may not be one of the top damage dealers anymore, but she fits very well in a team with Vila. First, she is quite squishy, but you need her to maintain a certain amount of health at all times. Vila can manage this with her single-target heal, which means you don’t need your heals to affect Charlie unless necessary. Vila's Mental DMG and crit support complement Charlie well. Yenisei is a good addition if you want Charlie to stay alive even longer, especially if you're finding her too squishy with just Vila. Alternatively, you can always add another support or sub DPS. There are almost infinite options for this, like 6, Regulus, and others.
Free + Low Rarities Only[GLB]
Damage Dealer
Support
Sustain
TEAM EXPLANATION
So, if you've pulled Vila but somehow only have free characters, she can still work for you. Free units aren't necessarily bad; however, in Matilda's case, she might be outclassed by other characters. Still, that doesn’t mean she’s unusable. Vila can support her just as she would in any other team. You should be able to progress well with this setup. Sonetto’s abilities are useful in most scenarios and also contribute to extra survivability. Although she doesn't fit perfectly as she is a Reality DMG character, she is still usable. Additionally, you have lower rarity units like Twins Sleep, which can provide extra Crit Support.