Games

Katya – Rhapsody – New Gun, Old Tricks

BBG News

Gather round, children, let me tell you all a story.

In the initial phase of Snowbreak, damage was scarce and acquiring ultimate abilities required effort. The Jotun Tunnel was challenging, and players defeated Neural Simulation bosses by dancing around them for a full 20 minutes. This harsh environment, where anything not destroyed by Yao – Winter Solstice was a struggle, had its share of hardships. However, Seasun bestowed upon us a blessing in the form of Chenxing – Ethereal Cloud. Her strong, sustained damage and ability to dismantle complex bosses like Hela and the Ni-Mechs made her an essential character for more than six months. It wasn’t until the emergence of Katya – Blue Bolt as a successful contender that Chenxing began to lose her throne as the top choice for sustained damage. Although Chenxing remained useful against complex enemies, Katya took over to rule as the undisputed champion of sustained damage.

Certainly, in today’s landscape, Chenxing – Ethereal Cloud and Katya – Blue Bolt are nearing retirement, overshadowed by newer options. The reason I’m sharing this with you is that, surprisingly enough, Chenxing has taken the lead again, wielding her bow in the Jade Arc exosuit. And here comes Katya, debuting her Rhapsody exosuit, eager to claim a position at the top. Could history repeat itself in this contemporary rematch? Let’s see what unfolds.

Jump to cheat sheet

A Brief Primer on Gatling Guns

Just as our initial encounter with Katya, she has introduced a novel piece of equipment at Snowbreak – this time it’s a Gatling gun. I seem to recall her expressing reservations about guns during our first meeting, but who am I to judge? Moving on, the six-barreled device that Katya wields needs 0.6 seconds to warm up before it can unleash a torrent of fire, which is more video game fantasy than reality. However, once activated, it spins at an astonishing 1800 rounds per minute, nearly triple the standard firing rate for in-game assault rifles. This constant rate of fire translates directly into increased ballistic damage instead of faster rates of fire being boosted.

It’s quite ironic that this weapon behaves oppositely to the original crossbow regarding critical hits; while crossbows never crit, gatling guns guarantee a critical hit on every shot. However, this is compensated by having extremely low base critical hit damage, making critical rate logic stats even less useful than they usually are (which we’ll discuss further later). In summary, it’s a powerful weapon category, ideal for serving as your main source of damage.

Abilities

Standard Skill

Enhancing the barrage of bullets from Katya’s Gatling gun is her built-in skill. This creates a Dimensional Barrier in front of her, and any shots that penetrate this barrier will promptly trigger one of the two cannons on either side of the screen to fire back, with a maximum frequency of once every 0.2 seconds. The damage from these returned shots is amplified by (hipfire) Ballistic Damage bonuses, but they cannot crit, and in practice, they contribute up to half of your total DPS at best. However, any damage is better than no damage, so it’s still a valuable asset. Opinions may vary, but this feature definitely adds to her overall strength.

The Dimensional Barrier has some hidden abilities. After being penetrated 30 times, it can level up, twice at most. Leveling up once just makes the barrier bigger, but level it again to Phase 3 and you’ll notice a boost in power. This upgrade not only increases the size of the barrier, but also empowers shots that pass through it and hit an enemy, granting Katya a 30% Ballistic Damage bonus. With neuronics, this not only provides immediate ammo refunds – 30 bullets upon entering Phase 3 and 7 more each time a cannon fires – but also reduces the need for reloading by a significant amount, or even eliminates it altogether. Neuronics also grant Katya resistance to crowd control and reduce the damage she takes while the barrier is active, allowing her to act fearlessly regardless of what the enemies might threaten.

The perks come at a price; each one depletes 0.7 units of energy every 0.1 seconds. This equates to approximately seven seconds of activated protection time, although this doesn’t take into account her machine gun’s potential impact on the duration. We’ll delve deeper into that later. The skill description suggests that activating the barrier depletes Katya’s energy reserves, but it seems more accurate to say that her energy regeneration is halted (or temporarily set to 0) while the skill is activated. However, translations can sometimes be tricky with Seasun. Rest assured, once the skill concludes and the barrier disappears, your energy reserves will be replenished, up to a maximum of 50 units if you reach Phase 3.

If you find yourself frequently collaborating with Katya on a project, it’s beneficial to hone this particular skill since it will come in handy more times than not. In case you need to change your position, merely regenerate this ability, and the barrier will reappear at your new spot.

One last point, Katya possesses an additional resource meter called “Temporal Factor.” This can be thought of as jet fuel, enabling her to fly instead of run when she has some available. However, it’s not like actual flight; she only hovers a few centimeters above the ground. The effect is more like hovering than soaring through the air.

To put it simply, Seasun’s boosted speed makes it quicker than regular running, and during combat, your S-Energy will regenerate swiftly if you don’t have a shield active. This allows you to use Katya’s standard skill (or dodge through it) to eliminate the S-Energy and then reposition yourself, all while charging up your S-Energy bar as you dash towards your next firing spot. Upon entering combat, you receive additional jet fuel, and dodging further enhances this fuel supply to keep you moving at high speed. Although it’s an interesting addition, many players feel that it would have been more appropriate if they had incorporated this feature into Katya’s Deiwos passive instead of her already extensive standard skill.

Support Skill

Katya’s assistance ability causes Frost damage to an opponent and keeps them suspended in mid-air by firing numerous bullets at them, causing ongoing Frost damage. This resembles Mauxir – Shadow Ka’s support skill in a simplified way, as it lacks the amplification and reduction of damage, and it’s also ineffective against bosses. Still, well done!

Ultimate Skill

Instead of focusing on individual adversaries which can become monotonous, Katya keeps a stockpile of additional firepower handy to manage large groups. With her special ability, she ascends majestically skyward (this time, gracefully) and unveils four cannons, each type being unique.

  • Shardstorm Cannons deal Frost damage to up to ten enemies every 0.2s
  • Razorhail Cannons deal Frost damage to up to ten enemies every 0.35s, dealing a bit more damage than the Shardstorm Cannons to balance out the slightly lower fire rate.

Just like her Dimensional Barrier cannons, this damage functions as regular, hip-fired projectile harm, which takes advantage of various ballistic enhancements. Furthermore, it doesn’t deal critical hits, much like the original. Given its wide area of effect against multiple enemies, the per-target DPS may not be exceptionally high. However, it remains an exceptional tool for crowd control – and a budget-friendly one at that.

Using Neuronics, you get one free activation every ten minutes. Each enemy you shoot reduces the cost of subsequent uses, with the fourth enemy making it completely free. Plus, each enemy you eliminate extends the barrage’s duration by two seconds (up to a maximum of seven seconds), so you can maintain the air support as long as there are targets to destroy. Moreover, thanks to Heimdall IFF systems, you won’t have to concern yourself about friendly fire, a detail that your British teammates will undoubtedly appreciate.

Deiwos Passive

When Katya wields a Frost weapon, her ability to effectively use all weapons in the game improves by 8%. This compatibility stat is similar to a skill damage ratio for shooting. To give you an idea, the base compatibility of all gatling guns is 12.85%. Adding 8% to that increases her damage potential by nearly half! If this isn’t clear yet, it’s almost doubling her damage output.

Additionally, her attack power increases according to the level of her Alignment Index. While this effect is not insignificant, it seems like the developers add this feature haphazardly to Seasun’s characters nowadays, as if they feel compelled to give Alignment Index some kind of function.

Assessment

Accompanying Katya into battle, she truly embodies the spirit of her initial Blue Bolt persona. Station yourself, engage your regular ability, and unleash it to the fullest. While this is still effective, an improvement has been made as you now possess a superior skill that can obliterate multiple screens of enemies when dealing with large groups. However, even firing conventionally is thrilling – truly, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as mowing down row after row of adversaries with a minigun.

In the meantime, it’s clear that Chenxing, her main competition, has experienced a broader transformation, morphing into a fearsome Damage Per Second (DPS) threat for today’s era. Upon closer inspection, it’s not just her appearance that mirrors Blue Bolt; their similarities run much deeper as well.

Weapons

Regarding damage enhancement, Katya’s signature weapon, Cobalt Cyclone, outperforms the free Infinite Chronos in terms of base statistics and offers a more concentrated benefit from the %DMG Taken buff. However, it’s the additional ways they influence her DPS that make things intriguing.

These two weapons offer an S-Energy return after every six shots, which in turn lessens the expense associated with Katya’s regular ability. This advantage grants more frequent use of the skill and reduces the need for repeated recasting and gatling gun reactivation. Though six shots might appear peculiarly precise, remember that gatling guns discharge at 1800 rounds per minute, equating to 30 shots each second, and 6 every 0.2 seconds. Handily enough, the S-Energy cost of Katya’s Dimensional Barrier adjusts every 0.1 seconds, allowing for comparison between the cost per second and refund per second, subtracting the two to determine the net S-Energy drain. Of course, the high-end option will provide a superior S-Energy replenishment: Cobalt Cyclone restores 0.5 S-Energy every six shots compared to Infinite Chronos’ 0.3. Therefore, if all your shots connect, Infinite Chronos offers nine seconds of skill availability while Cobalt Cyclone provides slightly over eleven seconds of active time.

Don’t forget to buy at least one version of the store’s standard gun and enhance it to level 50 for its unique accessory, as this specific upgrade is exclusive to the shop.

Manifests

Generally speaking, the rate at which Katya’s investments in Manifestation are returning is quite linear, and this growth is actually lower than what most contemporary DPS operatives typically achieve.

There are a few quirks to note here:

  • Manifest 2’s Frost DMG buff is for the entire team, not just Katya. Is Seasun planning on giving us a Frost sub-DPS soon? Tess, perhaps?
  • Katya’s Manifest 5 effect has an extra conditional ATK boost that requires a second Frost operative in the party. Assuming that the upcoming Tess – Rhapsody isn’t Frost as well (Seasun, you cannot possibly be so incompetent as to fumble this, please), you’re kinda stuck using Acacia – Kaguya if you want to access that bonus boost while still bringing an actually useful support.
  • The only new buff that Katya’s manifests provide is a DEF pen buff at M3 – every other manifest adds on to buffs she already has, which, combined with a pretty underwhelming M4 skill upgrade, explains her relatively weak investment scaling.

Logistics

By this point, you ought to be familiar with the routine. Given that Katya’s assigned logistics group, Prism Squad, stands out as the superior option without much contest, let’s skip any further discussion and delve straight into the specific details or substats.

In the game Snowbreak, Katya has three useful statistics: ATK for higher damage, Alignment Index which can be converted into ATK, and crit damage. However, gatling guns have a low base crit damage of only 10%, meaning they deal an additional 10% damage when they critically strike. In Snowbreak, buffs to crit damage increase the base damage rather than the total damage of the hit. For instance, a 50% crit damage boost on a weapon with a 30% base crit damage increases it to 45%, but on a weapon with only 10% base crit damage, the increase is minimal, up to just 15%. As a result, gatling guns with such low base crit damage make it inefficient to enhance Katya’s damage through crit damage buffs. In fact, even a single average roll of Alignment Index can surpass the impact of a perfect crit damage roll on all three relevant statistics in this setup! It’s better than nothing, but it falls short compared to the highly sought-after ATK and Alignment Index stats.

Check out the additional resources for detailed weapon and logistics setup comparisons along with a tool that can assist you in fine-tuning your equipment selection.

Team Building

Regardless of Katya’s impressive firepower, her performance can be even more effective if given additional support to boost her damage output. Additionally, it’s crucial to consider who will handle the large amount of ammunition she consumes. Since Katya primarily deals damage through shooting, Ballistic supports are generally suitable for her. However, there are subtleties to this pairing that need to be considered.

As a fellow enthusiast, I can’t help but express my excitement about the impending release of Tess – Phantasia! Unfortunately, it’s not available just yet, but mark your calendars for next week, where we’ll delve deeper into this intriguing title. Stay tuned!

While it might seem appealing to pair Fenny – Starshine with Katya as fire team partners, this choice may not yield the best results. Starshine, in comparison to other Ballistic supports, tends to have lower potential for damage buffing. Her true worth lies in her ability to reduce or eliminate the need for reloading, which is less beneficial when Katya’s standard skill already excels at providing ammo for firing. Therefore, an alternative partner might be more advantageous.

Regarding other characters, Yao – Nightglow encounters problems with her critical damage boosts since the low inherent critical damage of gatling guns limits their effectiveness. However, she excels in other aspects to maintain a decent overall performance. Since you’re aiming to stay in one place and fire continuously, Mauxir – Shadow Ka’s ability to summon a stationary target offers utility beyond just damage buffing, making the gameplay more enjoyable overall. Katya can partner effectively with supports like Acacia – Kaguya and Vidya – Celestial Swan (with Acacia being particularly valuable for M5 players due to her Frost element). Lastly, Eatchel – The Cub’s attack buffs are always appreciated.

As a gamer, I can’t help but appreciate the punch that budget support picks like Fritia – Little Sunshine and Siris – The Goldfish pack. With Fritia, you can unleash an astonishing 300 shots during its buff duration, each one boosted by the Aptitude buff for maximum damage. On top of that, it uses Amarna Squad’s effects for additional bonuses.

Siris works in a similar way, allowing me to erect a second defensive barrier and enjoy another Aptitude effect to ramp up my turret play even further. However, Fritia is more effective due to these extra buffs. And let’s not forget Acacia – Redacted, the perfect tool for slowing down enemies so I can riddle them with bullets!

Should You Pull?

Let me be upfront with you, friend. We’ve been chatting for approximately nine minutes (based on typical reading pace), so I thought it best to lay my cards on the table. As a man, certain desires naturally arise within me. Katya, as it turns out, excels in fulfilling those needs. I’m referring to the intense relief that accompanies pulling the trigger of a Gatling gun and burying adversaries under a torrent of lead.

Sure thing!

“Hey there, I just wanted to let you know that it’s completely understandable and I’m guessing many other men probably feel the same way. Let’s keep our conversation comfortable and relaxed.

Setting humor aside for now – I frequently remark that fun is a matter of personal taste, but seriously, isn’t there some level of pleasure you derive from using the massive firepower that only a Gatling gun can offer? No? Alright then, let’s shift our conversation towards its competitive edge in gameplay.

Katya demonstrates impressive performance when it comes to Damage Per Second (DPS), often equaling or exceeding competitors such as Bubu – The Geomancer and Lyfe – Infinite Sight. However, at the moment, a character named Chenxing – Jade Arc currently presents an obstacle for Katya to reach the top of the podium. To clarify, Chenxing, even six months after her debut, continues to control the game’s meta with her capacity to inflict excessive burst damage, which is a capability that Katya lacks significantly.

Upon re-examining Katya’s combat stats, we notice a recurring problem. Unlike many contemporary DPS operatives, Katya derives damage primarily from a limited variety of buffs. This means she accumulates large amounts of a few specific buffs, such as %Attack and %Damage. Due to the law of diminishing returns, this makes it harder for her to capitalize on additional buffs supplied by support operatives. Moreover, because these two types of buffs are usually the strongest that supports can offer, Katya – Rhapsody often receives some of the smallest damage boosts. Here’s hoping the upcoming Tess – Phantasia offers significant improvements in this regard!

As a gamer, I’ve noticed that when it comes to Ballistic DPS operatives, Katya’s buffing compatibility isn’t exactly top-notch. In fact, her performance seems to lag significantly behind other operatives like Chenxing – Jade Arc. It’s almost as if her buffing capabilities align more with older operatives such as Lyfe – Infinite Sight or even her original Blue Bolt variant, rather than the newer DPS operatives such as Bubu – The Geomancer.

Even in instances where both Katya and Chenxing struggle to deliver, like with Fenny – Starshine due to their weapon types being too new for Starshine’s M1 to offer special buffs, Chenxing still manages to outperform Katya, albeit by a smaller margin given their weaker mechanical kit synergy.

This “buffing gap” is a major factor in explaining why, even in pure DPS matches, Chenxing consistently surpasses Katya during rematches.

In a game like Snowbreak, where teams frequently need two damage dealers (DPS), coming in second isn’t too shabby. Katya is an excellent choice who brings a six-barreled power that will benefit you greatly. While she may not fully live up to the hype of the anniversary unit in terms of substance, she certainly delivers on spectacle. Moreover, Katya still has potential similar to Tess – Phantasia’s secrets remain undiscovered. Will she provide the final push needed to make Katya a true powerhouse, or will Chenxing maintain her position at the top? Only time will tell, so keep an eye out for updates.

Supplementary Material

Link to spreadsheet

Offers weapon and growth rate estimations, compares operational synergies, and includes a tool for logistics optimization.

Cheat Sheet

Read More

2025-07-20 04:02

Previous post Jason Momoa steps out with his kids Nakoa-Wolf and Lola in rare red carpet moment since split from Lisa Bonet
Next post EUR USD PREDICTION