Alright, listen up, fellow operative! I’ve been around the block a few times, and I gotta tell ya, Katya – Dawnwing is quite the powerhouse if you’re willing to put in the time and resources.

After conquering her fear of guns, Katya visits the Yggdrasil supply room and acquires both a swimsuit and an assault rifle. This transformative action has led to a new, dynamic version of Katya, whose abilities are as striking as one would anticipate. She demonstrates an impressive performance, but this great power comes at a significant expense. It’s not inexpensive.

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Abilities

Standard Skill

Katya dashes in the target direction and summons a Crystal Vane (which we’ll just call Crystals going forward). During this dash, you can recast the skill (or hold the button down) to dash again and summon two more Crystals. Crystals self-destruct to deal AoE splash damage when summoned if there are nearby enemies, but not the ones summoned by the skill recast. With neuronics, that self-destructing Crystal will respawn if the detonation kills an enemy, which is nice.

In addition to their primary role, crystals also serve another purpose during gameplay with Katya. As she moves on the field alongside active crystals and engages enemies, she gradually accumulates charges over time and upon enemy engagement. Once enough charges are amassed, up to six active crystals simultaneously discharge a laser beam at the designated target, consuming some of them in the process. This is your primary source of damage and it packs quite a punch. At any given moment, up to twelve crystals can be activated, and for maximum damage output, it’s best to ensure you have at least six active crystals.

Support Skill

Katya’s supportive ability is often seen as a standard additional skill for damage-dealing operatives, offering slight damage and inflicting a status (Freeze in this case). It could prove useful when you lack a Freeze source, but generally speaking, it’s not particularly remarkable. Katya would rather be the center of attention at a pool party instead.

Ultimate Skill

Jumping straight into Katya’s ultimate move, there’s a massive single blast of damage followed by her crystal lasers, giving an effect similar to having fully charged her standard skill multiple times. Imagine it like a gang of six crystals wearing trench coats. Essentially, this ability functions as a shortcut for firing off a crystal laser barrage without the need to charge one up individually. However, keep in mind that each hit is still distinct and happens sequentially, so be careful not to push a boss beyond its health threshold if you’re aiming to defeat it with the collective impact from the crystals.

Deiwos Passive

After completing our swim, we arrive at Katya’s Deiwos, a place where having active Crystals offers you a free attack bonus. This might seem too good to be true, but it’s just like the endless supply of burgers at the poolside grill. However, even with Crystals, the advantage is capped at six per instance.

Assessment

In this scenario, there’s not much room for criticism when looking at things objectively. The damage is skillfully executed, and the versatility of Katya’s Crystals allows her to excel in both mobbing and boss fights. Keep firing your Crystals repeatedly, aim at the enemy, and witness the destruction as they are decimated once your Crystals build up charge. Periodically replenish your Crystal supply, and you’ll be well-prepared to rule any potential water battle.

At Katya’s summer pool party, there are some clouds scattered in the sky. Keeping an adequate supply of Crystals during lengthy fights can be tedious, and those with limited spatial perception or susceptibility to motion sickness might not appreciate being pushed into a highly mobile playstyle. Since the gameplay is so dependent on Crystals, you’ll experience breaks in damage output as you frantically press the E key to recharge them quickly. However, the significant burst damage it provides mostly makes up for these interruptions.

From my perspective as an enthusiast, Katya certainly creates a stir, diving headfirst into the DPS pool with her competent and flamboyant style for those seeking an entertaining operative to command. However, if you’re on the hunt for a top-tier carry to guide you through challenges such as Neural Sim, things might get a bit tricky. If you’ve got a pile of gacha pulls just waiting to be used, you’re in luck!

Manifests

Instead of focusing on whether Katya’s manifests are good or not, it’s more about the quantity you should aim for. The ideal number would be as many as you can afford without risking account deactivation or bankruptcy. Unlike other characters whose manifests may offer mixed utility, all of Katya’s serve a singular purpose – increasing numbers. Therefore, discussions about her manifests are primarily about their quality, as they are beneficial to have. Upgrading a freshly drawn Katya to a fully manifested one nearly doubles your damage output. Among the DPS characters released in modern Snowbreak history (from Cherno to Enigma and beyond), this is the largest raw damage increase yet.

Logistics

Katya is likely to consistently prefer utilizing the top-notch logistics set she introduced, tailored specifically for her, Vector Squad. Notably, it enhances her damage output, but there’s nothing particularly notable about it except that Seasun unfairly imprisoned Melina in a logistics detention.

As a dedicated Damage Per Second (DPS) player, I find Katya’s abilities don’t greatly benefit from stats like Critical Damage, and her cooldowns are manageable without needing Skill Haste. Additionally, she boasts a decent Deiwos passive, making Attack and Alignment Index the most valuable stats to focus on. The rest of the stats seem less crucial. Frankly, there’s not much more to discuss about Katya. I humbly request the developers consider Melina as a playable character soon.

See the supplementary material for a logistics calculator to help you optimize your loadout.

Weapons

It appears that Seasun’s approach to designing DPS weapons has become quite predictable. The free event weapons receive multiple damage increase perks to make them viable, while premium gacha weapons offer the sought-after %Damage Taken effect, outperforming their free counterparts significantly. Perhaps they’ve learned from the Siris incident. Katya’s weapon selection follows this pattern, with her gacha weapon offering a 30% improvement at Tier 1 and nearly 70% at Tier 2, which is among the highest for any recent DPS release. Upgrading to even Tier 1 of her gacha weapon provides a substantial boost, similar to the enhancement you get from her first two manifestations. It would be wise to roll for this weapon before attempting to collect Katya duplicates.

There really is no reason to use any weapon that isn’t either Katya’s shop gun or gacha weapon, but here’s a chart of all the extra-cope options in case you were curious:

Should You Pull?

This question has two different answers depending on how much you care about sweating in this game. And how much money you have, I guess.

If you find her gameplay enjoyable during the trial rounds, by all means, continue playing! She’s highly capable and can help navigate most challenges the game presents.

However, if your goal is to have a character compete for the highest positions in Neural Sim, be prepared for costs to escalate significantly.

It was previously noted that Katya’s top attributes are ATK and Alignment Index; however, it appears that money is actually the factor she scales with the most significantly. Among contemporary DPS operatives, Katya experiences a substantial increase when fully optimized, outperforming others by quite a considerable margin. A Katya who has been “whaled out” (maxed out) can deal more than triple the damage compared to one operating under resource constraints, whereas Cherno, the second-highest performer, only reaches approximately 300% of the base damage level.

Let’s delve into the topic of Cherno and Katya’s progression. It’s worth noting that Cherno’s rapid development is largely due to the extraordinary power of her gacha weapon. This is evident when we compare Katya’s damage boost from manifests with shop weapons, as well as the significant disparity in M0 performance among Cherno’s weapon options. Acquiring a weapon through rolling tends to be more affordable (or less time-consuming) than advancing five manifest levels, considering the lower pity threshold on weapon banners. Moreover, Cherno obtains most of her damage increase from manifests 2 and 4, allowing for the possibility to bypass the pricier manifest 5 or even just settle at manifest 2, still retaining the majority of her potential damage output. On the other hand, Katya’s growth is more gradual, necessitating continued investment until she reaches maximum level or the costs become prohibitive.

Despite this, Katya’s performance doesn’t particularly stand out when compared to the current Big 3 of Cherno – Enigma, Siris – Ksana, and Lyfe – Infinite Sight. Her damage at base just isn’t that amazing, and she only really becomes competitive with the Big 3 at around M3T2 (all of whom come online with a lot less investment). That’s a big ask unless you’ve got cash to burn or you’ve been saving up for a long time.

Without a shadow of a doubt, Katya – Dawnwing is capable of producing remarkable results. However, it’s important to note that she demands more resources compared to similar alternatives. If financial constraints are a concern, then perhaps another option would suit you better.

Supplementary Material

Link

Features weapon computations, growth rate estimations for manifests, and an optimized calculator for logistics.

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2024-10-26 16:31