Hi guys, welcome to the latest New Unit Analysis! Today is probably a long awaited day for most of you since it's time to finish off this current batch with Kikuri, a much anticipated release.

We'll be seeing how Kikuri compares to the rest of her dark friends as well as how she fares in the current metagame and also later down the track in the future.

Let's get started shall we?

Disclaimer: As always, I try to keep these as objective as possible, but they're ultimately my opinion and yours may differ. Please read them with an open mind and a view to make your own decisions. :>

Death Idol Kikuri vs. Lira, Lunaris, Alice, Lemia

Kikuri's Stats:

Lord: HP 6055 ATK 1933 DEF 1651 REC 1720

Max Imp Bonuses: HP 750 ATK 300 DEF 300 REC 300

LS: 50% boost to damage of all dark units and BB gauge fill rate increased slightly (BB fill rate 20%)

Hit count: 12 (drop check count 2/hit)

BB: 13 hit multiple target Dark elemental damage and chance to inflict Curse (34BC to fill, Curse 45%, damage modifier 250%)

SBB: 15 hit multiple target powerful Dark elemental damage and chance to inflict Curse (54BC to fill Curse 70%, damage modifier 460%)

• Kikuri's back to throw the world into a sea of blood with a vengeance! A victim of a Leader skill mistranslation with Sefia, she was cast into the shadows early on in her Japanese BF career but here in Global she may just find some time to shine... or er... skulk? Her stats are fantastic with big numbers all round. Her DEF is probably the stat where she's a tiny bit shaky but even that's fantastic at the moment, and still solidly average to slightly above average later on. Her Leader skill as mentioned before, was mistranslated and she was dismissed in JPBF because of it but upon revealing the fact that her supplementary effect is a 1.2x BB fill rate increase instead of a 1BC/turn regen, she's become a heck of a lot more attractive as a mono-dark leader, particularly in the Arena. She probably has the best Dark Leader skill in the game. That's probably her greatest addition to her repertoire, but she also gained a few other things too. Her hit count has always been fairly excellent and it improves even further while maintaining her great, condensed attack animation. Her BB has always been known to hit hard, and that's the case still, sporting a few more hits and a large damage multiplier and the semi-useful Curse effect but a fairly slow fill rate, her SBB, perhaps disappointingly doesn't introduce anything new, just a couple of extra hits and an even larger damage multiplier making Kikuri a purely offensive unit with very little support capabilities.

• First up is Lira who currently does not have her 6* evolution, but should receive one in fairly short order. Compared to the half-blood, Kikuri has better HP ( 855), ATK ( 365), DEF ( 85) and REC ( 155). As you can see, Kikuri wins in every domain and by quite significant margins, which isn't surprising considering 5* Kikuri was about on par with 5* Lira and one has evolved while the other has not yet. Lira will have to wait for her evolution before she can begin to compete in stats. Comparing their hit counts, Kikuri again wins by a large margin, exactly doubling Lira's 6 hits and having a much better attack animation for sparking. Comparing their BBs, of course Lira is an Arena focused unit and she indeed performs best in that setting with her very quick filling BC (15BC to fill), but her relatively weak damage multiplier (sufficient for Arena though) outside the Arena and her lack of additional effect makes her a suboptimal choice elsewhere at this point in time while Kikuri's strong multiplier allows her to hold her own on any squad. In addition, Kikuri's a fantastic Arena leader, particularly when paired with other Kikuri or Lira herself enabling Lira to fill her BB gauge after a single turn quite consistently provided the team has at least an average hit count. All in all, Lira can't really compete as a 5* unit at the moment except in the Arena where her stat deficiencies aren't as obvious but Kikuri has considerable use there too and is definitely the better unit at this point in time overall.

• Next up is Lunaris, the last of our 5* unit analyses today. Compared to the spear wielding Guardian, Kikuri has better HP ( 730), ATK ( 95) and REC ( 470) and equivalent DEF ( 1). As you can see, despite being a formidable 5* unit, Lunaris still doesn't really come close to beating Kikuri in her higher evolution with the large HP advantage and considerable REC advantage sealing the deal. The fact that she comes close to equalling in ATK and basically equals Kikuri in DEF is impressive and foreshadows the power of her evolved form but at the moment, Kikuri's the winner in stats. Kikuri also wins in hit count with 12 hits vs Lunaris' 8. Comparing their BBs, Lunaris boasts a faster fill rate (24BC vs. 34BC) and the weakness debuff while Kikuri has more hits, a better damage multiplier and Curse to her name. Weakness and Curse are probably roughly on par, but I personally prefer the latter since it's potentially quite helpful if it lands at just the right time on a boss. Neither are particularly impressive statuses though to be fair. All in all, Kikuri probably wins the BB comparison since her larger damage multiplier and extra hits as well as her access to her even more powerful SBB probably trump Lunaris' BC requirement advantage. Kikuri also importantly has the much better Leader Skill and while Lunaris catches up in pretty much all the other areas of this comparison when she evolves, her Leader Skill will still be inferior to Kikuri's so KKR is definitely lording that one over the Guardian's head.

• Our first 6* unit today is Alice. Compared to the psychotic scythe wielder, Kikuri has better HP ( 1000) and DEF ( 320) but less ATK (-20) and REC (-335). The difference in bulk here is ridiculous, 1k HP is pretty much an insurmountable gap let alone with 320 DEF attached to it. To top it off, functionally, Kikuri hits basically just as hard as Alice since 20 ATK is negligible and the REC difference while large on paper isn't going to impact in-game all that much due to the fact that most of it is overkill on Alice's part and Kikuri's 1.7k REC stat is very solid. Kikuri definitely has the better stats. Kikuri also has the better hit count and attack animation with 12 hits vs. Alice's 7 to further widen the gap. In addition, Alice's BB doesn't have any additional effect, only having raw damage and doesn't fill substantially faster than Kikuri's (30BC vs. 34BC) so Kikuri wins there as well. Alice's one saving grace is that she's Dark's only healer with her SBB restoring HP to all allies which gives her a unique, if minor niche. Unfortunately since her heal is questionably sustainable on a non-BB spam team and she's outclassed on BB-spam teams, I don't think this niche outweighs the many other advantages Kikuri brings to the table (including a better leader skill) so I'm going to give this one to Kikuri overall. If you want a pure dark healer than obviously you're going to look towards Alice, but otherwise, Kikuri's definitely my choice.

• Lastly we have Lemia, previously the most recent 6* Dark unit. Compared to the Necromancer turned insane, Kikuri has better HP ( 380), ATK ( 335) and DEF ( 50) but less REC (-80). As you can see, Lemia's statistical dominance was very short lived with Kikuri absolutely outstripping her for the title of best stats in a dark unit. She wins in every respect except REC where she only loses by negligible amounts and while Lemia has a solid hit count of 9, Kikuri beats her in this regard as well with her 12 hits and excellent attack animation. Comparing their BBs, Lemia can inflict poison which is probably more useful than Curse overall if it lands but Kikuri has a better hit count and a much better damage multiplier to make up the difference. Lemia's SBB is as mentioned in her analysis a bit of a mystery in how it actually works but it's also potentially a very potent status inflictor. However all of this is pretty much meaningless outside of niche situations where Lemia's statuses might come in handy because Kikuri's raw stats and hit count and basically everything else blow Lemia out of the water. Kikuri's definitely the better unit overall.

• So Kikuri's awesome. She was awesome when she was first released and she's awesome now after her 6* evolution as well. Prior to her actual Leader Skill being elucidated, I would have told you guys that her time to shine was quite limited but that's not quite the case anymore as you'll be seeing in the next section. Without a doubt, Kikuri is a fantastic dark unit.

Kikuri: Indepth Look

• Phenomenal stats. That's never really been up for debate for Kikuri. Her stats are great and remain competitive even when future units are released. Some of the more recent Japanese units have her beat, obviously, but she's still extremely viable even in the JPBF environment statistically.

• Phenomenal hit count. Peerless amongst dark units and top tier across all elements, only really beaten by the likes of Douglas, Rickel and Serin. She'll definitely be a BC and HC generating asset to any team she's attached to.

• Her Leader Skill was her biggest gain with this evolution which what makes her story in JPBF so sad since it was missed by a lot of non-Japanese speaking players. The 1.2x BB fill rate supplementary effect is pretty much the best supplementary effect a mono-boosting unit could ask for. It outclasses pretty much every other supplementary effect to date (though there are probably situations where 10% HP 10% DEF/REC might suit better - not that many though).

• Her Leader Skill makes her THE best mono-dark leader in the game, and this continues indefinitely since no one else has a leader skill like hers. Even Lunaris' 65% damage boost (which isn't even that amazing anyway) doesn't beat her in the leader position so her niche in the future is rock solid.

• She's also the best Arena leader for mono-dark as well, unsurprisingly and is probably one of the strongest arena leaders in the game overall with the right team composition (other Kikuris and Liras), so really just a fantastic unit all round.

• Her biggest let down is probably her lack of support options outside her Leader Skill. Her BB and SBB aren't really all that impressive in the grand scheme of things. They have decent hit counts and REALLY nice damage multipliers, but their fill rate is pretty slow and Curse is just... not that good of a status. The damage they dish out is pretty impressive though. It's basically GG if Kikuri unleashes her BB in the Arena.

• I'll also mention here that she probably beats out Grah as a regular squad member if you're looking for a dark unit representative since she has better overall stats, and a better hit count. The only reason you'd be looking to use Grah over her outside the Leader position is for Grah's Light/Dark attribute buff. Thought I'd throw this in to pre-empt the 'Why no Grah comparison' questions. :P

• Kikuri functions really well on pretty much any team. She's obviously at her best as a mono-dark leader, but her strong stats and raw power make her pretty easy to slot in as filler if nothing else on pretty much any squad. She's very easy to use. She's particularly a great candidate for crit teams at the moment though as one of the damage dealing units since she has a fantastic damage multiplier.

• In terms of future prospects, Lunaris and Zephyr will be her main competitors as members for a mono-dark team. Both probably sport overall better stats than Kikuri and unique buffs on their SBBs for dark that make them invaluable and shoe ins for at least one spot each. If you had asked me a couple of weeks ago, I'd have said that Kikuri was pretty much obsoleted by those two (still good, but outclassed overall) but with Kikuri's unique Leader Skill, that's not quite true since Kikuri's still the best mono-dark leader in the game even with those two around.

• Further on, in the more distant future, Kaja is probably a stronger unit than her overall and Lily Matah might give her some strife as a BB-spam unit for mono-dark teams but she's honestly in pretty good stead for the future. Especially since those two units are pretty far away for Global.

• Kikuri is just a really great unit at the moment, and I wouldn't put too much stock into the rumours that she'll be absolutely outclassed by Lunaris and Zephyr since I don't think they're particularly true and probably remnants of opinions that existed before people really knew what her Leader Skill was. Perhaps I'm overstating how good it is but I don't think it's a stretch to say that it gives her a really solid niche to sit in in the future, at least if you're planning to run mono-dark.

Typing Discussion

• As always, the most important thing to note here is that if typing is the only thing holding you back from using a unit, you should definitely just go ahead and use them. Please don't discard units because their typing isn't 'optimal'.

• Anima's probably Kikuri's best typing. As a unit without support capabilities, being able to preserve her ATK stat to make the most out of her large damage multipliers is really cool and she's definitely got enough REC to handle the penalty. She reaches 6.8k HP with this typing which is great and her REC is still solid at 1533. Anima's an excellent Arena typing to boot!

• Guardian's up next for non-Arena play. Her DEF is probably her only really 'middling' stat and Guardian makes her quite bulky with 1.8k DEF and her ATK is still respectable at 1.75k. Extra bulk is always useful for harder content. :>

• Lord next, she's got very solid natural stat distribution.

• I like Breaker for her next. Her DEF is still okay at 1.4k though starting to edge on the low side while her ATK reaches a fantastic 2.1k meaning her BB/SBB will DEFINITELY hurt. This typing is moved up drastically in my ranking system in the Arena where it's probably the best typing for pretty much any unit, KKR being no exception. I also really like this typing for crit teams if that's the way you want to use Kikuri.

• Finally Oracle is still a good typing on her. She's still left with 5.7k HP which isn't bad but the REC gain is probably unnecessary so she's not really getting much out of the typing.

And that's it guys! Hope you enjoyed it. There might also be a little bonus comparison in the comments section, so I'd definitely check that out if I were you! ;>

As always, I welcome your comments/criticims/encouragements. Please drop an upvote if you enjoyed the read, I'd appreciate the support a whole bunch. <3

Until next time!

Links to previous Analyses