As usual, Global ratings are my own opinions relative to other character or TMs available at the time this is written (effectively, rating on a curve where a 10/10 unit is the best, or tied with the best, at this exact moment -- not forever), with Japanese ratings coming from altema.jp and are based on the characters current max rarity in Japan. Japanese TM ratings are on a scale from: Unranked, A, S, SS, to SSS.

CERIUS:

Rarity: 3★ to 6★

Global Party Rating: 6/10

Cerius is a green mage (support) with fine weapon options (dagger, staff, axe, whip, mace) especially considering she has no abilities which scale with her stats and a good armor options (hat, helm, clothing, light armor, robe)

Passively she brings 30% MP and Auto-Refresh (Recover MP (5%) per turn during battle) which, by the way, is normally reserved for 5★ base units.

All of her spells or abilities are buffs. She is the only character to bring bar-element-ga tier resistance buffs in the form of Barblizzaga, Barthundaga, and Barfiraga (3 Turn AOE 70% resist buff to their respective element) which are upgrades to the bar-element-ra line of spells (3 Turn AOE 50% resist buff to their respective element.) Do keep in mind how accessible the bar-element-ra spells are from crafting or Carbuncle but using bar-element-gas will result in you taking 40% less elemental damage from the respective element than if you were using a bar-element-ra. She also brings Heart of Light (3 Turn AOE 50% Dark Resist and Petrify Immunity) which is useful on any dark damage or petrify heavy encounter, but is likely most desired for the petrify immunity in Arena.

Her other main buff is Protectga (3 Turn AOE 40% DEF) but as usual this won't stack with Cheer or Embolden.

She also brings a handful of low-tier debuffs and buffs which you likely already have better coverage for including Deshell, Deprotect (both inferior to Full Break), Protect, Shell, Bravery, and Faith (these four being inferior to, and not stacking with, Cheer and Focus.)

Finally she has DUAL CAST! Oh wait, she has very little reason to use it unless she has several elemental resists you're trying to keep up. She has no offensive or healing spells, nor can she equip any (other than via Esper) making dual cast far less exciting than it may have sounded.

Her Limit Burst is a 3 Turn AOE resist all elements by 25% to 49% (depending on rank) which is.... (assuming you don't grind LB on her -- because you shouldn't) almost as good as Cloud of Darkness' ability Omni-Veil... not to mention if you're bringing Cerius it's likely a Fire/Lightning/Ice heavy fight so she's already got your covered by her bar-element-ga spell. Not great.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): Global Exclusive 6★ Form

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Miracle Shoes- 2/10

Accessory - Auto-Protect/Shell/Regen

Protect and Shell won't stack with Cheer/Focus/Protectga/Shellga so it will likely just be overwritten in your party and even if the healing from Regen mattered (and it really doesn't) there are better accessories with Regen like Angel Ring (but don't use that either.)

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): Unranked

Why would you want Cerius?: If you're sick of being petrified in Arena or want to have access to her Bar-element-gas for possible future encounters she has some niche uses but if you're looking for a permanent party member look elsewhere for your support.

What do we expect for Cerius in the future?: Cerius has received Ability Enhancements in Japan but they are based on her 5★ max form there so it's unknown if there will be changes to them before bringing them to Global. Marie should release "somewhat" soon on Global and, outside of Petrify resist, does everything Cerius does but better and with more additional tools -- but she is a 5★ base so it's likely unfair to compare her to this 3★ base but life isn't fair -- deal with it.

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MEDIUS:

Rarity: 3★ to 6★

Global Party Rating: 7/10

Medius is a physical damage character with decent ATK (146 ATK 20% with a gun equipped), awful weapon options (thrown, guns) and a good equipment selection (hat, clothing, light armor -- not a lot of variety but all he needs)

Passively he brings 20% HP, 40% critical rate, Auto-Limit (increase LB gauge by 1 each turn), and finally, for no good fucking reason, Draw Attacks (increase likeliness of being targeted by 50%.)

Offensively (I'll only be covering the highlights here as Medius has lots of filler abilities) he brings Blazing Glory (Single Target 180% Physical Damage with ignore 30% DEF -- normalized to 257%), Hyper Fire (Random Target 2-5 Hit, 80% per hit, physical damage -- which means the average damage would be 280% but it can be as low as 160% or as high as 400%), and for AOE he brings both Auto Bowgun (AOE 130% Physical Attack) and Multiburst (AOE 100% Physical Attack with 100% Critical Chance) -- if Auto Bowgun can crit it's better, if not Multiburst is.

His limit burst is a 270% to 390% (depending on rank) AOE physical attack.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): Global Exclusive 6★ Form

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Growth Egg - 5/10

Accessory - Increase EXP by 50%

The value of this is highly subjective. It provides no direct combat benefits and effectively is only a time savings if you level character frequently via explorations. If, like me, you're only leveling characters at this point when Cactuars are available then this is completely useless. If you are constantly running explorations to level characters (or lapis refreshes on the EXP Vortex) you will value this more highly, but I still personally do not think it is worth the resources to acquire this. Do note that I can make combat recommendations but not good recommendations on how you value your time so if you think this would assist your playstyle don't let me low rating deter you. You can also stack two of them.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): Unranked

Why would you want Medius?: If you have the gun(s) to back him up and need a 6★ physical attacker he's capable of good single target, and decent AOE damage (at least until draw attacks gets him murdered.) Oh fair warning: Medius' attack animation is disgustingly long, so you'll also need the patience to use him.

What do we expect for Medius in the future?: Medius has received Ability Enhancements in Japan but they are based on his 5★ max form there so it's unknown if there will be changes to them before bringing them to Global. Medius can barely hold his own against other 6★ characters on Global today so he's unlikely to be a long standing member of your team.

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SANTA ROSELIA:

Rarity: 4★ to 6★

Global Party Rating: 8/10

Santa Roselia is a healer with good SPR (152 SPR 20%), slightly more weapon options than the average healer (staff, harp, mace) even if you'll just use staff, and a better than average selection of equipment (light shield, hat, clothing, robe -- light shield being the standout addition)

Passively, Santa Roselia brings 40% HP, Heart of Conviction (renamed version of Auto-Limit), Blessed Heart (Counter attacks (40%) with Resilience: Cure status ailments and increase all elemental resistance (100%) for 2 turns to self) and Divine Grace (Counter attacks (30%) with Heal Back: 60% chance to use Heal Self: Heal (500HP, 3x) to self / 40% chance to use Mass Heal: Heal (500HP, 3x) to all allies.) Her two counter passives make her sturdier than the average healer but as, ideally, your tank (or stupid Draw-Attacks Medius) will be taking the hits instead of her neither are game-changing.

As for white magic, she brings essentially everything but a rez. She has Dispel. She can cure every status ailment between Esuna, Stona, and Cleanse. She has every 'normal' heal but Cure (Regen, Cura, Curaga, Curaja.)

For support, Santa Roselia brings Entrust -- allowing her to give her LB bar to another character.

Her Limit Burst is a AOE 1200 HP 2x-3.2x modifier (depending on rank) heal and AOE increase SPR by 30% -- the SPR buff will only matter if you lack Focus, Shellga, or Cecil's LB.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): GLOBAL EXCLUSIVE

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Pure Heart - 6/10

Materia - 15% HP/MP, 20% SPR

A good TM to put on your healer (it covers just about everything they can want stats-wise) but just not nearly as impactful as other TMs are likely to be.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): GLOBAL EXCLUSIVE

Why would you want Santa Roselia?: If you don't have Refia, there likely aren't a lot of 6★ capable healers coming out in the next while. Next on the list should be Luka (4★ base) followed by Rem (5★ base) and then nothing noteworthy for a pretty long time until Y'shtola and then 6★ Tilith (the order could of course be changed for Global and/or other Global Exclusives could be added). While I'm not sure I would advise pulling specifically for Santa Roselia, she is a fully capable healer, especially if you have Raise elsewhere in your party and don't need Cheer (or better) on your healer.

What do we expect for Santa Roselia in the future?: As a Global Exclusive, who knows if she'll ever receive Ability Enhancements (but I wouldn't hold my breath) but over time she'll be stronger 6★ healer than White Witch Fina, but not many others.

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WHITE KNIGHT NOEL:

Rarity: 5★ to 6★

Global Party Rating: 9/10

White Knight Noel is a tank / mage with decent MAG (136 MAG 10% 15% with a rod equipped, 30% with a robe equipped), good enough weapon options for his niche (rod, staff, mace), and any type of equipment in the game.

As a tank he brings Steel (Self 1 Turn 75% damage taken reduction), 30% chance to be targeted, Bring it on (Self 3 Turn 80% chance to be targeted and 50% physical damage reduction.)

As a mage he brings Ice Blast (Single Target 160% ice magic damage and decrease ice resistance by 30%), Gale Blast (Single Target 160% wind magic damage and decrease wind resistance by 30%), Glacial Wave (AOE 210% ice magic damage and 30% chance to paralyze all enemies), Blizzaga (AOE 180% ice magic damage) and Aeroga (AOE 180% wind magic damage.)

Passive he brings 30% HP, 10% MP, immunity to petrify and silence, stat increases depending on gear including:

• Rod: 15% MAG (listed in MAG summary above)
• Robe: 30% MAG (listed in MAG summary above)
• Light or Heavy Shield: 15% DEF
• Light or Heavy Armor: 30% DEF

And finally he passively brings Winter Palisade which is a 40% chance to counter magic attacks with:

• 30% chance to use Ice Blast (Single Target 160% ice magic damage and decrease ice resistance by 30%)
• 30% chance to use Blizzaga (AOE 180% ice magic damage)
• 20% chance to use Glacial Wave (AOE 210% ice magic damage and 30% chance to paralyze all enemies)
• 20% chance to use Sub Zero: Single Target 200% ice magic damage with 100% paralyze chance and 3 turn reduce ice resistance by 50%

His Limit Burst is an AOE 3 Turn DEF/MAG 50% to 74% (depending on rank) and AOE recover 30 MP.

Japanese Character Rating (altema.jp): GLOBAL EXCLUSIVE

Global Trust Mastery Rating: Ice Rosetta- 8/10

Accessory - 50 DEF / 50 MAG / 25% Ice Resist

On all current global mages except a max MAG pot'd Exdeath this is the highest MAG accessory in the game (at max MAG pot, Vanille's TM is a dramatic 1 MAG higher.) The DEF isn't the most exciting stat on a standard mage but this TM is obviously intended to be used on White Knight Noel to assist in his hybrid tank/mage play-style.

Japanese TM Rating (altema.jp): GLOBAL EXCLUSIVE

Why would you want White Knight Noel?: Do you need a 6★ tank? WKN fulfills that role better than Snow, but not as well as Cecil. Unlike Cecil (or other cover tanks) there's no negating AOE physical attacks by covering characters, no self damage reduction from magic damage (which, admittedly, Cecil needs to be covering from a physical attack to get), a worse Limit Burst for most teams, and trades healing and green magic access (for abilities like bar-element-ras) for more damage than the other two 6★ tanks. As a mage, even if you give him Dual Cast, he's not capable of the same damage as an Exdeath unless the target is already weak to ice (or more heavily weak to wind.) White Knight Noel is capable of lowering ice Resistance (or wind, but not as strongly) but without any decent ice based weapons or other ice based characters it's not the most exciting element to have an imperil for

What do we expect for White Knight Noel in the future?: As a Global Exclusive, who knows if he'll ever receive Ability Enhancements (but I wouldn't hold my breath) but in most situations he'll be inferior to Cecil or, in the future, 6★ Warrior of Light.

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SHOULD YOU PULL?: Situationally, but likely no. None of these units stand out as must haves, but they aren't nearly as bad as that Halloween banner and are all 6★ capable. Cerius should never be a permanent party member but in the right situation her 70% resist spells could trivialize some encounters, Medius is a 'decent' 6★ if you can handle his equipment limitations (and that attack animation) but he'll just be a temporary party member until you get someone better, Santa Roselia is a fully capable of being your main healer but lacks the bells and whistles of characters like Refia (no Cheer, or rez), and White Knight Noel is a not-quite-Cecil level tank, but is also a 5★ base and therefore insanely rare (and my heart would break a little getting a rainbow this week instead of Noctis last week.)

MERRY CHRISTMAS!