[ Guide ] Alchemy Stars: Should you pull for the Dragon Maid cast? First Impressions

The Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid cast are split into two gacha banners in their Alchemy Stars collab, and it’s time to decide if you should be going for either of them.

First thing to note, the banners themselves:

• Good vs Evil: Tohru, Lucoa
• Eternal Order: Kanna, Elma

If you’re going to pull for their Alchemy Stars versions, be sure you know which Dragon Maid banner you’re gunning for. Comparisons will be made against the character’s class and other 6-stars with similar roles in their respective element.

THE 6-STARS

TOHRU

CLASS

As a 6-star Sniper in Fire, she does not have that much competition. Jona has a 1 turn downtime at minimum to enter her stance for its associated benefits, and Frostfire is not necessarily someone everyone will have to start due to her extensive recruitment process. If Frostfire is unable to kill enemies with her skill, she can’t spam it. Tohru arguably offers much more reliable damage with quite the respectable range and knockback to boot.

5-star Leona would prefer more Red tiles and a Burn enabler for maximum potential. 4-star Nails prefers low HP playstyle, leaving fellow 4-star Chandra left to compare against, and Tohru is the clear winner with her larger reach.

ELEMENT

• Charon: Offers tile reset and knockback on skill. Has diagonal attack with some defense piercing. Should work well in tandem to cluster enemies for splash damage and increase combo count.
• Uriel: Offers tile reset and Burn debuff. Has arguably larger potential chain combo reach, but Tohru’s overall ability could be worth swapping Uriel out.
• Sinsa: Large skill AOE, reduces enemy defense, has diagonal attack. Should work well in tandem to get more damage out from Tohru’s chain combo demerit.
• Gram: Has Teleport, and buffs his own attack with his stacking mechanic, and self heal. Low cooldown means the need for Tohru’s range is less important.

VERDICT

Worthwhile if you need a replacement for a lower rarity DPS unit. Probably not to be used as Captain to maximize Combo count.

KANNA

CLASS

A 6-star Sniper in Thunder, Kanna is up against Wrath and Luke. On damage potential alone, she should be able to beat out Wrath, who has a 3 turn cooldown on her stance and would prefer to have Ammo for bigger numbers. Luke leans closer to damage over time and has lowered damage on his chain combo, making up for his increased damage multiplier on a marked target. Kanna brings knockback and can increase her damage if you can spam skills, making for a straightforward kit.

For 5-stars, there’s Vivian, Mia and Schwartz. Vivian is a little of an odd dragon herself, and her Chain Combo effect doesn’t add to the skill spam. Mia has a map wide effect, but her damage scaling requires on-kill with her skill, so can be highly fluctuating. Schwartz has a map wide skill and quite reliable (and decently tanky). If you want more range, you could take out Schwartz.

4-stars have Kafka and Hachi & Gin. Kafka’s skill has a low cooldown to add to Kanna’s charges, though her damage will be dependent on Yellow tiles. Hachi & Gin could work well with Kanna, with her knockback letting Gin’s grenade travel through the enemies for some combos.

ELEMENT

• Michael: Offers mobility and deals extra damage with her stacking mechanic. Mobility reduces the need for Kanna’s range.
• Eve: Ramps up slower than Kanna, but has no stacks to lose. Could pair well with Kanna if enemies can get clustered together.
• Revy: Loses damage on skill, but can make up for it with her Dauntless Heart stacks that are not lost. Can attack diagonally. Could pair well with Kanna if only for the easy clustering for her column targetting.
• Requiem: If you have her, her skill is map wide and has the potential to hit outside her range at 30% chance. If you need more reliable range hitters, then maybe replace her with Kanna.

VERDICT

Maybe. If you can easily spam skills, then Kanna’s damage potential could never be an issue, but apart from her range, you might not really need her.

THE 5-STARS

You have a little more leeway in the 5-stars due to being able to get one of them for free during the event.

LUCOA

CLASS

Forest Supporters include Odi, Louise and Naroxel in the 5-star category. Odi provides Poison and Slow in a cluster to Lucoa’s conditional Slow. Louise’s role is pretty much relegated to only Chain Combo fireworks. Naroxel provides mobility in her Teleport. Lucoa is honestly really stacked – looks and skill wise – since what does the Slow matter if she can help everyone else murder them with Mortality Marks that DON’T disappear?

Uriel is presently the sole 4-star Supporter, and her role is dedicated healer.

ELEMENT

With only so few Supporters, the others that come across as “utility” would be Converters, and that would hardly be a fair comparison. The following will look at Aurorians with stack mechanics but are no means suggesting that she will 100% replace them due to their differing roles:

• Paloma: DPS. Barbed Mark stacks only affect self. Can be lost.
• Cuscuta: DPS. Dismember stacks only affect self.
• Dawn: DPS. Event character. Mark is consumed to heal based on damage dealt.
• Wendy: Teleporter. Mark only affects self.

VERDICT

YES. Mortality Marks getting applied before damage can only mean good things in terms of enemy death.

ELMA

CLASS

Elma has tough competition as a Water Detonator. 6-stars include Sharona, Bethel and Regal. Sharona has a Teleport on top of her damage potential, Bethel is just stupid, and Regal is not necessarily someone everyone will have, but is nonetheless good at dishing damage. Her directional skill is one thing, it also gets lowered damage.

Fellow 5-star Water Detonator Corax offers Teleport for more utility. There’s 4-star Jane who can mark enemies to increase Water Aurorian attack and potentially spam her skill. 4-star Kuma & Pengy can make Blue tiles on the side.

Further, her damage is increased, but only if her HP is full. That may not be difficult to do, but it’s not the best.

ELEMENT

• Carleen: Teleport, conversion, knockback and damage.
• Fleur: Easily spammable, focused damage. Not replacable.
• Allura: Has stacks to increase own damage, has DEF ignoring damage.
• Constantine: Can buff Water allies if there’s only one enemy. If you’ve been using him as DPS, Elma can replace him for more reliable damage.

VERDICT

No. Only get her if you like her, or for the collection. Meta wise, Water is simply too crowded for Elma to find a slot. Maybe beginner friendly.

FAFNIR

Available for free with the Alchemy Stars and Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid collaboration.

CLASS

For 6-stars, we have Carleen, Bethlehem and Sariel. His purely utility 1 turn (!) cooldown skill converts non-Blue tiles at the enemy’s feet, wow, self-synergy! His equipment will let him deal damage on skill use! Amazing!

Barton’s is at base a longer cooldown version of Carleen’s, while Kleken converts Green without targetting. Among his fellow 4-stars, Tweety has a little more utility thanks to her Teleport, while Ms. Blanc adds on a team ATK buff if her HP is kept high. Michenny’s reset is not reliable for Blue, so alas.

ELEMENT

When it comes to easily spammable skills, he’s competing against the likes of Fleur and Bethel, both of whom are 6-star DPS and can hardly be considered a fair comparison in terms of raw numbers.

VERDICT

Raise him! Just do it! I wouldn’t rely on him as your only Converter though.

Out of the Dragon Maid cast, it would seem that Kanna and Elma have gotten the shorter end of the stick for their Alchemy Stars incarnations. However, if you like either of them, feel free to ignore the recommendations and pull for them regardless.

The event will be starting soon, so be sure to get those Lumambers ready! If you’re new, check out our general tips to help progress through the game.

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Alchemy Stars

Publisher: Tencent

Developer: TOURDOG Studio

Release Date: 2021-06-17

Android, iOS

As ancient forces collide, harness the power of the Light to save the world from darkness! A revolutionary RPG that pushes the genre to new heights of strategy and suspense presented by Tencent Games and Tourdog Studio

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