Difference between revisions of "Wakan Tanka/Strategy"

It’s odd that a character has superior range as the common version compared to his 5☆, {{Weapon|Blow}} has always been an attack range with clear strengths and downsides, and this is no exception. {{Transient icon|Wakan Tanka}} certainly has defensive momentum through LB1’s {{Status effect|回避}} every level, which should be (and will probably always be due to attack range) approached to its maximum the moment he gets it. LB2 is great, {{Status effect|加速}}+CP Up serves as a steady way to steroid CP into your allies quickly, with a great effect range to boot and the buff lasting for a while, he also gets Acceleration’s benefit on Default, helping with his own CP partially. LB3 greatly varies between versions, 3☆ doesn’t affect him, but it still serves as a great offensive buff to whoever you want, it being a fairly uncommon buff can easily stack with other common offensive buffs is a very welcome trait. 5☆ however, applies this to himself as well, paired with CP Up pumps his own CP for his rather nice Charge, being currently the only Charge in the game known to apply {{Status effect|CT+}} to allies, a very good offensive buff that should be approached the moment its applied. All in all, he’s a very offensive support and unit, generally pushing his allies’ offense to greater extents.

{{Companion icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5|variant=Fashionista}} is a jack of all trades who is prized for his ability to perform multiple roles without needing to move. As an offensive bruiser, he has incredibly high damage potential, sporting the ability to do over 200k damage by himself thanks to the combination of {{Status effect|CT}}, {{Status effect|CT+}}, and {{Status effect|熱情}}. As a tank, he has access to {{Attribute|WORLD}} typing, {{Status effect|守護}}, {{Status effect|回避}}, and {{Status effect|弱体無効}} making himself a veritable wall in certain situations. As a mixed support, he both offensively and defensively bolsters his teammates by extending buffs such as Crit, Ardor, Glint, and Protection to allies. Finally, he has access to niche abilities like enemy attraction, blowback immunity, and a CP-charging CS which can come in handy in the right situation/team. The main issue with using Fashionista Wakan Tanka is his somewhat limited range as a {{Weapon|Thrust}} unit, but he otherwise makes a fantastic addition to almost all teams due to his numerous abilities which do not require him to move at all.

+ Default {{Status effect|加速}}, along with other similar effects quickly fill up his CP, this extends quite well to his allies along with a CP Up effect through LB2.

+ LB3 as 3☆ shares a fairly uncommon offensive buff {{Status effect|剛力}} that can easily stack with other common offensive buffs, which also applies to him as 5☆.

+ Even at raw effect, Charge bestows {{Status effect|CT+}}, which equals a fully leveled offensive buff. Consider slotting him as leader due to {{Status effect|CT+}} being short-lived.

+ Access to {{Status effect|CT+}} and {{Status effect|CT}} on phase start makes for incredible damage potential

+ {{Status effect|守護}} + {{Attribute|WORLD}} typing makes him very tanky to most enemies, also has phase start {{Status effect|回避}}

+ Can bestow {{Status effect|閃き}}, {{Status effect|熱情}}, {{Status effect|CT}} to allies

+ Mostly immune to debuffs from turn start {{Status effect|弱体無効}}

{{Companion icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5}} has a rather straightforward kit so there isn't too much to say here. Move him horizontally adjacent to allies who you want to buff with {{Status effect|剛力}} and CP charge. Along with {{Companion icon|Gunzo|rarity=5|variant=Valentine}}, Wakan Tanka sports the highest on-move CP charging of +20CP with {{Status effect|加速}} also giving a +8CP at the end of the turn. Nominally, this would mean 4 turns to fully charge any unit's CP but in practice, it usually takes 2-3 turns due to other sources of CP such as hitting enemies, teammates' skills, ARs, etc. Thus, Wakan Tanka is a very effective CP charger of the moving variety and offensive buffer.

What gives Wakan Tanka's set complexity however is his increased vertical movement. In large maps, Wakan Tanka can be used to effectively kite enemies by shuffling around units in the frontline while hiding and CP charging his teammates in the backline. Furthermore, since his CP charging applies to himself (unlike Valentine Gunzo), he can also effectively time the activation of his CS such that his other teammates can benefit from the {{Status effect|CT+}} it bestows. This is one of the silver linings of the restriction that Wakan Tanka has to be horizontally adjacent to his allies to CP charge them; it allows him to control the pace more effectively. At SALV 1, Brawn and Crit+ together give an effective 2.3 * 2.5 = 5.75 multiplier. When timed right and with the right teammates, this can be a devastating combination.

To give an example of how {{Companion icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5|variant=Fashionista}} operates as a bruiser, let's consider first the potential burst damage Fashionista Wakan Tanka is able to achieve on the first turn of phase one. With both {{Status effect|CT}} and {{Status effect|CT+}} activating, Fashionista Wakan Tanka deals 4347 * 4.0 * 5.0 = 86940 damage per square. It's immense and can easily cut through elemental resistances from {{Attribute|AETHER}} and the like. If considering a different phase where Fashionista Wakan Tanka has bestowed {{Status effect|熱情}} on himself by means of his LB3, this damage becomes 86940 * 2.4 = 208656 damage per square. It's an incredibly high damage potential from self buffs which do not depend on moving at all. Even in the cases where Crit fails to activate, the damage/square are still a respectable 21735 and 52614 respectively. This damage is sufficient for clearing almost all mobs in the game.  

Obviously, such expectations are rather optimistic since they are only possible on phase start. For a more nuanced viewpoint, let's consider a fully seeded Fashionista Wakan Tanka attacking two enemies. There is a 40% chance that he will activate Crit when attacking the front enemy and a 0.6 * 0.4 = 24% chance that he will miss on the first enemy and crit on the second one. When Fashionista Wakan Tanka crits, he does 17388 damage per square as compared to the usual 4347. This gives us an overall expected value of 9563.4 damage on the first enemy and an expected value of 12693.24 damage on the second enemy. With Ardor up from his LB3, these values become 22952.16 and 30463.776 respectively while his minimum damage per square is a respectable 10432.8. On the other hand if {{Status effect|閃き}} is up instead (and not Ardor), these values are 10867.5 and 14127.75 respectively. It should be noted that if the goal is for Crit to proc at all, Glint effectively raises the chance of success from 64% to 75% in this case. The overall point is that Fashionista Wakan Tanka does a considerable amount of damage as can be seen from the expected value, and having just one offensive buff pushed his damage above 10k per square.

Let's consider Fashionista Wakan Tanka's effective HP with his elemental resistance as a {{Attribute|WORLD}} unit. When fully seeded, his HP is 8885 and combined with {{Status effect|守護}} and his elemental resistance, his effective HP becomes 39489. This is a rather common scenario since Fashionista Wakan Tanka resists the main three elements with the addition of {{Attribute|VALIANT}} in the mix as well. Overall, this demonstrates how he's an effective tank just from his LB1.

Since this version of {{Transient icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5}} occupies a CP battery/offensive buffer role, seeding Wakan Tanka for the usage of these forms should have low priority. Skill seeding him is nice in order to guarantee {{Status effect|回避}} from his LB1, but it's not essential. The main draw of Wakan Tanka here is his LB3 which is already guaranteed so skill seeding can be held off here until needed. As ☆5 Wakan Tanka is a blow unit, seeding his ATK stat will roughly translate to the same amount of damage increase so it's recommended to seed this first if seeding regular Wakan Tanka at all.  

Due to the proc rates of his skills, it's highly recommended to skill seed {{Transient icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5|variant=Fashionista}} to guarantee some of his buffs which include {{Status effect|CT+}} from his LB2 and {{Status effect|回避}} from his LB3. Furthermore, skill seeds will increase his ability to bestow {{Status effect|CT}} to allies and the periodic {{Status effect|閃き}} and {{Status effect|熱情}} from his LB3.  

As a CP battery, {{Companion icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5}} pairs nicely with any unit with good charge skills. Consider using units such as {{Companion icon|Typhon|rarity=5|variant=Make Sail}}, {{Companion icon|Tangaroa|rarity=5|variant=Canaan}}, and {{Companion icon|Gyumao|rarity=5}} due to their access to All-range charge skills. Other nice charge skills to look out for include those that bestow {{Status effect|回避}} or {{Status effect|根性}} to allies, which {{Companion icon|Seth|rarity=4}} and {{Companion icon|Zao|rarity=5|variant=Gendarme}} do respectively.  

{{Status effect|剛力}} is one of the best offensive buffs in the game, and many units do not have access to it. Since Brawn will instantly beef up your team, long ranged units who already have decent damage are prime candidates here. There are obviously many possible units to use, and some examples include {{Companion icon|Thunderbird|rarity=4}}, {{Companion icon|Surtr|rarity=4|variant=Valentine}}, {{Companion icon|Chernobog|rarity=5|variant=Beachside}}, and {{Companion icon|Sanatkumara|rarity=5}}.

Despite the many roles which {{Companion icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5|variant=Fashionista}} performs, he does not provide any sort of healing so he'll ideally be paired with healers to improve the team's sustainability. Since Fashionista Wakan Tanka's {{Status effect|守護}} buff applies to allies adjacent to him, the healer would ideally have a healing range which extends diagonally so that allies may receive both healing and Protection from Fashionista Wakan Tanka. Examples of such healers include {{Companion icon|Chernobog|rarity=5|variant=Beachside}} and {{Companion icon|Tetsuya|rarity=4|variant=Christmas}} due to their healing skills mainly targeting the frontline.  

Due to Fashionista Wakan Tanka not needing to move to bestow {{Status effect|守護}} to allies, he can be paired with defensive buffers who provide other buffs such as {{Status effect|頑強}} typically by moving in order to make the team tankier than it already is. Examples of such defensive buffers include {{Companion icon|Aizen|rarity=5}}, {{Companion icon|Shino|rarity=5|variant=Valentine}}, and {{Companion icon|Marchosias|rarity=4}}. As stated before in the section concerning healers, it's recommended that such defensive buffs extend beyond adjacent squares for maximum coverage.

Without either {{Status effect|CT+}}, {{Status effect|CT}}, or {{Status effect|熱情}} up on Fashionista Wakan Tanka, his damage drops by a fair amount, making it preferable that he has a teammate which can offensively buff him in a way besides Ardor. Due to his LB3 having somewhat shaky procs however, an extra source of Ardor would not be a complete waste either. Furthermore, due to Fashionista Wakan Tanka giving Ardor to his allies via his default skill and his LB3, allies with access to a different offensive buff would benefit the most. There are obviously many units which fall into this category, but the Band units are notable for bestowing {{Status effect|集中}} which is particularly useful in maximizing Fashionista Wakan Tanka's phase start burst damage.

While Fashionista Wakan Tanka already has an innate method of attracting enemies through his default skill, this sometimes isn't enough since he might be in the wrong column to pull units when the phase starts. For this reason, units such as {{Companion icon|Surtr|rarity=4|variant=Valentine}}, {{Companion icon|Arachne|rarity=4}}, and {{Companion icon|Dagon|rarity=5}} might be helpful.  

Due to Fashionista Wakan Tanka having slight CP battery tendencies through {{Status effect|熱情}} and his CS, it's recommended to bring units who have good charge skills as opposed to units who have lackluster ones. Note that the reduced range of Fashionista Wakan Tanka's CS may also be undesirable, so charge skills which increase allies' CP may not be ideal either in this case.  

Incredibly nifty for {{Companion icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5|variant=Fashionista}}. Being able to pierce through Evasion is useful in the situations which call for it, and the occasional Combo buff is welcomed when it occurs.

Debuffs such as {{Status effect|恐怖}} are the bane of CP batteries like {{Companion icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5}} who need to move to be effective. Even the most minor CP draining debuff can prevent teammates from activating their CS, and the bulk of Wakan Tanka's CP charging comes from moving. Other debuffs which reduce damage like {{Status effect|呪い}} and skill locking ones such as  {{Status effect|束縛}} also pose numerous issues to Wakan Tanka's effectiveness.

The {{Attribute|WORLD}} typing of {{Companion icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5|variant=Fashionista}} is largely responsible for the descriptions of him as a tank, and {{Attribute|INFERNAL}} enemies invalidate this to an extent. Fashionista Wakan Tanka can still score in some solid damage due to the combination of {{Status effect|CT+}} and {{Status effect|CT}}, but otherwise it's a bit rough for him.  

While Fashionista Wakan Tanka is largely immune to debuffs thanks to {{Status effect|弱体無効}} from his LB2, multiple debuffs are becoming increasingly common in quests such as dungeons and challenge quests. Skill activation debuffs such as {{Status effect|妨害}} can be annoying since Fashionista Wakan Tanka's damage relies quite a bit on his ability to {{Status effect|CT}} and obviously skill-locking effects like {{Status effect|束縛}} are a pain to deal with if they somehow slip through.  

This team builds upon the {{Transient icon|Wakan Tanka|rarity=5|variant=Fashionista}} and {{Transient icon|Chernobog|rarity=5|variant=Beachside}} core to bolster defense to extreme levels. Wakan Tanka and Chernobog have fantastic synergy with Chernobog being one of the best healers in the game and both units supplying Ardor for the other's benefit. By themselves, they are already a formidable duo with access to defensive buffs such as {{Status effect|守護}} and {{Status effect|聖油}}. The addition of {{Transient icon|Arachne|rarity=4}} and {{Transient icon|Marchosias|rarity=4}} only increases such potential by adding defensive buffs {{Status effect|頑強}} and {{Status effect|防御強化}} to the mix. Furthermore, the two units apply {{Status effect|呪い}} and {{Status effect|幻惑}} which also reduce damage.  

Formation-wise, Wakan Tanka and Marchosias should be in the frontline while Chernobog and Arachne hide behind them in a defensive setup. Marchosias should be constantly moved to set up formations and his LB3 [[Tough-Winged Griffon+]] is ideal for such herding while bestowing Tenacity. For a more offensive albeit riskier formation, Marchosias can be moved in such a way to move Wakan Tanka in the backline such that he is between Chernobog and Arachne in order to bestow {{Status effect|CT}} to both of them. Similarly from there, an even more riskier formation can be created by moving these three units to the frontline so that Wakan Tanka procs his Crit more reliably.

Due to this team's explicit focus on defense, this team is best suited for situations where such longevity is desired such as long CQs. This team can be crippled by debuffs such as {{Status effect|束縛}} or if Marchosias receives {{Status effect|恐怖}} so these issues should be mitigated by having Wakan Tanka or Chernobog attack due to their access to {{Status effect|弱体無効}} or chancing on Arachne giving {{Status effect|S封印}}. Furthermore, having Wakan Tanka's CS available removes his access to Protection so careful attention should be paid to either use it quickly, have Marchosias to compensate, or control CP charging carefully as a preventative measure.