Hey guys, welcome to the latest New Unit Analysis! Today we'll be having a look at Zellha, the latest Light unit to receive their 6* evolution.

We'll be having a look at how she compares to units with similar BC generation potentials, similar leader skills and other light units before having a look at how she does in the current metagame and her future prospects.

Let's get started!

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. :>

Ruin Goddess Zellha vs. Sefia Phee, Douglas, Luther

Zellha's stats:

Lord: HP 6040 ATK 1851 DEF 1703 REC 1896

Max imp bonuses: HP 750 ATK 300 DEF 300 REC 300

LS: Reduction in BC required to use BB (BB cost -20%)

Hit count: 8 (drop check count 2/hit)

BB: 12 hit single target Light attack and chance to inflict Injury and Weak (15BC to fill, Injury 80%, Weak 80%, damage modifier 450%)

SBB: 30 hit multiple target Light attack and chance to inflict Injury and Weak (48BC to fill, Injury 60%, Weak 60%, damage modifier 350%)

• Well balanced stats, but with nothing that really stands out. Her HP is solid and her DEF is too. Her ATK is good too, but with many units coming out boasting 1900 ATK stats, she starts to fall about just a tad. Don't get me wrong, 1850 ATK is still absolutely solid at the moment though. Her REC is obviously more than adequate. Her Imp bonuses are average across the board, so not much to comment on there. Her Leader skill is currently unique to her and Phee but will soon also be in possession of a few other units in the next batch. It's a variation of a BB-spam leader skill. It's not quite as potent ad Ares' Excelsior on its own but it has its own unique properties which make it quite effective. Her normal attack is pretty middling with 16 total drop checks. Her BB is single target with no buffs but the ability to inflict two status effects at quite high probability. Weak is nigh useless, but Injury is very good. She also comes equipped with a low fill rate and a pretty decent damage modifier making this a good choice for single target fights. Her SBB is another story though, 30 hits and multiple target is no joke no matter how you look at it. It's a tad disappointing that she doesn't have a useful buff like Luther and Douglas, but Injury is still a pretty good status. The damage modifier isn't that impressive and probably most pressingly her attack animation for this attack is split into 2 halves making it difficult to spark with.

• First up for comparison today is Sefia. Compared to Ms. Octoblade, Zellha has better HP ( 40) and REC ( 455) but less ATK (-230) and DEF (-80). These two units have pretty much equivalent bulk, the difference between their tankiness is pretty much negligible. Sefia has a moderate damage advantage but Zellha's sustainability is definitely better. However, Sefia ends up being able to patch her REC up very nicely with Imps with her above average REC Imp cap of 420 and while she loses a few stats in ATK and DEF, she probably still just edges Zellha out overall. They're basically dead even though after imps. Comparing their BBs/SBBs, neither of these units is able to buff the party but both are able to inflict some nice statuses, with Sefia and her 70% Paralysis rate vs. Zellha's Injury and Weakness chance. In addition, Sefia has better damage modifiers on her multiple target options with 460% on her SBB trumping Zellha's 350%. However Zellha's got a huge BC generation lead with her 30 drop checks on her SBB doubling the amount Sefia has on hers. That alone makes Zellha a better supporting unit and probably outweighs the extra damage Sefia brings to the table (particularly because Zellha can almost emulate that damage output against a single target with her BB anyway). Overall, Sefia's still good as a mono-light Leader, but otherwise I'd definitely be looking to take Zellha over her.

• Secondly today is Phee. Compared to the watery misanthropist, Zellha has better HP ( 65) and ATK ( 130) but less DEF (-155) and REC (-155). Pretty similar stats, on the whole. Zellha probably just edges Phee out mostly because of her ATK advantage, but again, not a huge difference between these two units statistically at all. They both carry the Supreme Ruler's Magic LS, making them good choices for leading BB-spam teams. Of these two, because Zellhas has her superior drop check count on SBB, she's more suited than Phee for leading questing BB-spam teams, but Phee's a better arena leader due to her having a multiple target BB. Looking at their BB/SBBs in more details, neither unit is dealing particularly good damage with Phee held back by her low base ATK and Zellha by her low damage modifier. Phee offers pseudo-healing support with her various HC drop rate augmenting buffs while Zellha offers some nice status inflictions and her ever useful 30 drop checks on SBB. Overall, if you need some healing support, Phee's definitely the unit of choice but for all other purposes, you'll probably want Zellha's drop check count.

• Third unit today is Douglas. Compared to the former king of BB-spam, Zellha has better stats in every category: HP ( 40), ATK ( 375), DEF ( 15), REC ( 560). While these two units have pretty comparable bulk, there's no contest statistically otherwise, Zellha wins overall. Comparing their BBs/SBBs, both these units have multiple target, 30 drop check count SBBs and the same damage modifier ( 350%), though this means Zellha does significantly more damage due to her higher base ATK. Their fill counts are negligibly different as well (Douglas needs 47BC for his SBB, while Zellha needs 48BC). That's where the similarities end though. Under her belt, Zellha has the ability to inflict Injury and Weakness with pretty good probability if the enemy is susceptible and also has the better offensive element since Light goes unresisted. Meanwhile, Douglas can fill the role of spark buffer thus substantially increasing the damage output of the whole party while also freeing up the spark buffing unit slot for another unit which is a significant advantage on his part and has a much better attack animation for sparking. In addition, Douglas has that weird 'not a nerf' 50% BC drop rate buff which means he generates more BC than Zellha on average despite having the same total drop check count. Overall, because of his spark damage buff, better attack animation and better BC generation, I don't think Zellha directly outclasses Douglas at all despite her far superior stats, particularly during events such as, say, Frontier Hunter. She's not worse either, obviously, but I'd consider her a very good side-grade more than an upgrade over Douglas.

• Finally we have Luther. Compared to her fellow fallen God, Zellha has better HP ( 20) and REC ( 180) but less ATK (-330) and DEF (-15). These two units have basically equivalent bulk, but if you compare their ATK power, basically Luther is stronger than Zellha by almost the same amount as Zellha was stronger than Douglas... which is significant. The REC advantage Zellha has over Luther is inconsequential since Luther's REC is very adequate. Comparing their BBs, they're basically identical, with the same damage modifier and fill rate except Zellha inflict Injury and Weakness while Luther inflicts Paralysis and weakness. Which one you prefer is up to you, but because Luther also does more damage due to his better base ATK, I'll have to give it to him overall. Comparing their SBBs, Zellha really fails to deliver in comparison to her batchmate. Luther has a better fill rate (45BC vs. 48BC), a better damage modifier ( 400% vs. 350%), better base ATK, a better auxillary effect (a Spark buff, even a 50% one is probably better than Injury/Weakness) and a better attack animation. Zellha only really has her light element and her paltry extra 2 drop checks in comparison. Overall, it's very clear that unfortunately Zellha falls short of her batch mate, Luther. She's still very good though.

• Don't get me wrong, losing to Luther hardly makes Zellha a bad unit, she's very good, a unit with multiple target 30 drop checks on an SBB will never be anything less than great, really so she's definitely solid.

Zellha: Indepth Look

• Good, solid stats and stat distribution. That's about all there is to say about Zellha's stats.

• There's no particular stat that stands out in any way so she's not going to be winning any stat prizes any time soon and her ATK is bordering on being SLIGHTLY low for the future metagame, but she's definitely a good all-rounder.

• Her Leader skill is pretty interesting. It's the same as Phee's so you can read her analysis for more information about it, but it's basically a variation of a BB-spam type leader skill.

• On it's own, it's not as powerful as Ares' Excelsior, but it is pretty sufficient for most BB-spam teams. In addition it has a few properties that Ares' Excelsior does not.

• It synergises very well with flat BC filling buffs like Lilly Matahs, Lodin's or Zelnite's since it reduces the number of BC required to fill your BB gauge, the proportion of your BB gauge filled by these buffs becomes larger with Zellha's LS which does not happen with Ares' Excelsior.

• It's not as dependent as Ares' Excelsior on the number of enemies present. Obviously the more enemies there are, the easier it'll be still, but unlike Ares' Excelsior, its potency isn't really affected when there's only one enemy left since it's independent of BC generation.

• It's actually a pretty good Arena leader skill though like the other pure BB-spam leader skills, its fatal flaw is that you don't get a damage bonus out of it which is pretty significant but Zellha does do well in the Arena as a leader.

• Her single target BB holds her back a bit though so Phee might be the better choice if you want to use this leader skill.

• Her normal attack is pretty mediocre. 16 total drop checks isn't the worst there is (it's actually better than Douglas', slightly) but it's not particularly good either (it loses to Luther's).

• Her BB inflicts Injury and Weakness with a high probability, is quick filling and has a pretty decent damage modifier making it a solid choice for dealing damage to a single target. She doesn't really have the ATK necessary to really take advantage of that 450% modifier though unfortunately.

• Her real merit comes from her SBB which has 30 total drop checks and is multiple target. No matter what you think about Zellha, that's always going to be good.

• It's a bit disappointing that she has no party supporting buff and her damage modifier is low, and honestly, her attack animation could be better, but it's still 30 hits and multiple target. Injury is a good status too so she's really helpful when the enemy is susceptible to it.

• Her attack animation is particularly disappointing, she'd be a lot better if her SBB was easier to spark with since then she'd be pretty nice in FH where Douglas might be too weak and Luther might be too strong but if you can't spark with her, that point is moot. (Don't let that discourage you from using her in FH though, she's still very good there).

• Her main problem is that she was released in the same batch as Luther, really. And he just kind of unfairly beats her overall in pretty much every respect (and is then in turn beaten by Elza... seriously, the power creep is real) so there's little reason to use her over him unless you like her.

• On paper it might seem better to run multiples of Zellha's than Luther's particularly if you already have a spark buffer, but in practice, probably still no because Luther's attack animation is way better.

• Zellha is still perfectly fantastic for BB-spam teams though, so don't write her off. In addition, being a light unit, she's obviously a shoe in for Light BB-spam teams as well which is pretty nice.

• Light BB-spam is a legit team archetype since there are a lot of good Light units suitable for BB-spam and it's an unresisted element, in fact Mono-light crit spam is possible too with Maxwell in the picture. Zellha is perfect with her 30 hit SBB to be used alongside the likes of Maxwell and Hogar (who is also a hard hitter and ATK buffer). Sodis is a great choice for his excellent spark buff and Light ATK buff as well. Zellha herself is a good leader or for a little bit of extra oomph, you can run Sefia. Maxwell is of course the leader of choice for a mono-light crit team.

• In addition, despite what I said earlier, I probably would take Zellha into FH over Luther because I'm pretty sure Luther's damage output is too high to maximise scores properly and Injuring a few of the enemies will ease survivability a lot. Everywhere else, he wins though.

• Currently her main competition is Luther who probably beats her in her main niche, and Douglas who probably doesn't outright beat her but gives her some competition. In the future, Elza just runs a train over everyone, and Maxwell will as well. Way in the future, there's also Cardes and his own Endless to compete for a spot as well. But even still, Zellha still remains if not the optimal choice, still a solid option.

• Zellha is a text book example of probably outclassed, but still excellent. If you like her design, use her, she won't disappoint. You don't have to run optimal set ups for everything. Use your favourite units. :>

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'.

• Zellha has high enough REC that Anima is a very good status for her. Everyone loves HP!

• I think Breaker is really viable on Zellha. One of her problems is that the damage she deals is way inferior to Luther's so this typing helps narrow the gap somewhat and she's got high enough DEF that the hit to that stat probably won't impact her survivability that much.

• Natural stat distribution is fine, so Lord is a solid typing.

• I like Guardian, but her ATK hits around 1650 with this typing which is definitely below average and the DEF boost doesn't even make her as bulky as Anima does. However, lowering her ATK might actually make her a better FH unit, so there's that.

• Finally Oracle, she has no need for REC and no one likes losing HP. Still perfectly useable.

That's it guys, hope that was helpful!

As always, I welcome your comments/criticims/encouragements. If you found that useful, please drop an upvote on your way out, I'd really appreciate the support. <3

Until next time!

Links to previous Analyses