Hey guys, welcome to the Latest New Unit Analysis! Today we'll be having a look at Ulkina, the latest Fire unit to be released in 6* form.

We'll be having a look at how she fares against fellow status protection/healing units before seeing how she fits into 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. :>

Fire Goddess Ulkina vs. Melchio, Lunaris, Exvehl, Altri

Ulkina's stats:

Lord: HP 5955 ATK 1991 DEF 1902 REC 2000

Max imp bonuses: HP 750 ATK 400 DEF 200 REC 300

LS: Reduction in BB gauge fill cost and 25% boost to ATK of all units (BB gauge cost -15%)

Hit count: 9 (drop check count 2/hit)

BB: Restore HP and cure all status ailments to all allies (18BC to fill)

SBB: 17 hit multiple target Fire Damage, removes status ailments and negates them for 3 turns (42BC to fill, damage modifier 450%)

• Very nice stats overall, particularly for a unit with a defensive focus. HP doesn't quite make it to 6k but it gets close so that's fine, ATK is just shy of 2k which is great too. DEF is very high at 1.9k and REC is obviously more than sufficient. Ulkina doesn't dazzle in any particular stat but she's definitely doing well overall. Her imp bonuses sacrifice a bit of DEF for ATK which is honestly probably a good tradeoff. Ulkina actually hits surprisingly hard for a defensive unit. Her Leader skill is pretty nice for BB-spam teams and is actually quite cool in the arena but the ATK component is mostly useless elsewhere. Her normal attack is average. Her BB is very notable in that it is the fastest pure heal in the entire game at 18BC. That's not hugely different from 20BC but it could be the difference between life and death in a few rare circumstances. Her SBB loses the healing component, but becomes a harder hitting version of Exvehl's SBB with slightly worse BC generation. Ulkina is a very versatile unit with a focus on status prevention/removal.

• Our first unit up for comparison today is Melchio. Compared to the Destroyer with 10 wings, Ulkina has better HP ( 445), ATK ( 220), DEF ( 90) and REC ( 190). So yeah, that's every stat. Ulkina definitely outstrips Melchio in every domain statistically. Comparing their BBs/SBBs. As a pure status affliction preventing unit, Ulkina outstrips Melchio by a fair margin. Her SBB does more damage (damage modifier 450% vs. 300%, higher base ATK), has slightly better BC generation (17 drop checks vs. 15) and most importantly, purges status ailments as she protects you from them. Melchio has a better SBB fill rate (30BC vs. Ulkina's 42BC) and his multi-elemental SBB as well as his light attribute buff to bring to the table so he's not totally outclassed however. In general, Ulkina's going to be your better unit, since she's not only the better status preventer, she also fills in the role of dedicated healer very well however there are certain circumstances Melchio does better in. Firstly his multi-elemental SBB racks up a lot of points in Frontier Hunter, so he's probably going to be the better unit to take there. His Light attribute buff is also obviously useful against Dark type enemies so he's someone to consider if you need both the Light element AND status prevention in a fight (you can just run Grah Ulkina though). Finally there are a few glitches that he can take advantage of such as the Lilly Matah Glitch (where Melchio's SBB triggers Lilly Matah's LS) and the fact that his SBB is the only one in the game that works with Maxwell's Leader Skill (He gets the bonus elemental damage against every element except Light). I wouldn't get too comfortable using these strategies because they may be patched out in the future (if they haven't already. Otherwise, Ulkina's definitely the better unit overall.

• Lunaris is next up today. Compared to the shadow manipulator, Ulkina has better HP ( 50) and REC ( 525), but less ATK (-170) and DEF (-45). These two units have pretty much identical bulk, but Lunaris hits harder. Ulkina's REC is a lot better though so that narrows the gap a little. However after you consider imps, Ulkina catches up in ATK almost entirely (she's -10 off) and Lunaris bridges the REC gap considerably too so after imps both units are probably about on par statistically. Which is a pretty nice achievement for Lunaris who is a fairly old unit. Comparing their SBBs, Ulkina has a slightly better damage modifier ( 450% vs. Lunaris' 430%), a better fill rate (43BC vs. Lunaris' 52BC) and slightly better BC generation (17 drop checks vs. Lunaris' 15). So even before considering anything else Ulkina's slightly better in every way except for the fact that she's not a dark type unit. However the biggest difference between the two is that Lunaris does not cure status until the end of her attack animation, which means that you can not spark with her if you need her to cleanse status from your party. Ulkina clears status instantly which is much better. In addition, Lunaris' BB is pretty mediocre (barring the Arena) while Ulkina's BB is one of the best heals in the game, so she's got added versatility as well. Overall Ulkina definitely shows that she was 100% on track to becoming one of the 12 guardians.

• Exvehl is third today. Compared to the divine beast, Ulkina has better ATK ( 25) and DEF ( 125), but less HP (-30) and REC (-160). After imps, Ulkina becomes significantly better on the offensive spectrum with 225 ATK but loses out slightly defensively with -75 DEF. This is a tradeoff in Ulkina's favour though and she ends up winning the statistical comparison since they still have comparable bulk but Ulkina wins offensively. Comparing their BBs/SBBs, these two are very similar units. Both units cure and prevent status instantly with their SBBs. Ulkina hits a bit harder due to her better base ATK and better damage modifier ( 450% vs. 400%) but has worse BC generation (24 drop checks from Exvehl vs. 17 from Ulkina) and worse SBB fill rate (43BC vs. 40BC). The latter is slightly more significant than it sounds since Tilith can't fill Ulkina without some additional help from 0 while Exvehl can be filled, negligible outside of Tilith teams though. However Ulkina's BB is far superior to Exvehl's BB. There are very few occasions where you would deign to use Exvehl's BB, you're usually much better off just waiting to fill his SBB instead while Ulkina's BB opens up a whole new role for her as a very good healer, making her the more versatile unit. Overall, Exvehl's better on Tilith based teams and useful if you need his extra BC generation to maintain infinite SBB on a BB-spam team, but otherwise Ulkina is definitely the better unit on grounds of her versatility.

• Finally the last unit today is Altri. Compared to the multi-faceted continent, Ulkina has better ATK ( 690), DEF ( 195) and REC ( 680), losing only in HP (-125). With her DEF advantage closing the gap in bulk considerably, Ulkina definitely comes out on top statistically. This comparison is valid mostly because of Ulkina's BB which is a status purging heal, like Altri's own. Altri has long been regarded as one of the best healers in the game, however it may surprise you to know that Ulkina's BB is actually just outright superior to Altri's own. They are exactly identical (same heal potency) except that Altri's BB costs 20BC to fill while Ulkina's costs 18BC. This makes Ulkina a fantastic option as the main healer on any squad. Using Ulkina means that you can use her as a very effective healer if need be and in situations when you don't need a healer, you can use her SBB to do very acceptable damage. In any fight that doesn't require Altri's SBB, Ulkina is superior in every way. Altri's SBB however does have its uses, with units having very large HP pools nowadays and bosses doing large amounts of damage, sometimes BB heals don't quite cut it in dire situations and the added potency of Altri's SBB can make a difference. In addition, Ulkina is unable to bestow the status prevention buff and heal at the same time so against bosses that frequently inflict crippling statuses and deal large amounts of damage in the one turn, you may find yourself wishing you had Altri's SBB on hand. Personally I feel the circumstances that Ulkina wouldn't be able to do Altri's job effectively are pretty few and far between in reality so I think she's definitely a fantastic alternative. For truly difficult fights, you might still want to opt for the good ol' reliable Tree, but I think Ulkina's versatility really makes her fantastic.

• A fantastic unit. She's a healer, damage dealer, status preventer hybrid but unlike most hybrids she brings the best of the bunch together. A very strong jack of all trades type unit.

Ulkina: Indepth Look

• Very well balanced stats. Does she wow anywhere in particular? Not really, is she solid in every area? Yeah.

• Her imp bonus caps are nice, she has an above average ATK cap which means that with max imps she's actually quite strong in that department. She sacrifices some DEF to do it, but with the way DEF scales, it's probably a good trade. She's plenty bulky even without imps, to be honest.

• Her Leader Skill reduces the BB gauge fill cost, similar to Zellha/Phee/Kuda. It's not bad at all for BB-spam teams, though she has lower potency compared to her comrades so ideally you'd opt for one of the other variations of this leader skill instead. Her 25% ATK bonus is theoretically meant to compensate for this, but in reality, it's basically useless.

• She makes a great Arena leader though... if it wasn't for the fact that due to her non-offensive BB she's a terrible arena unit herself and the fact that you don't actually need a BB-gauge manipulating leader anymore if you have the right units/spheres.

• Basically, she has an okay leader skill, but I don't think you'll be seeing a lot of her in the leader position.

• Her BB is a heal. It is in fact the best BB heal available in the game. The heal formula is 2300-2600 0.225*REC which is exactly the same as Altri's heal formula for his BB. However Ulkina's BB only costs 18BC to fill while basically every other healer in the game needs 20BC to fill their BB gauge which makes her outright better.

• Admittedly, it's not by a large margin since 2BC is basically nothing, however it's a bit more significant on healers since having your heal up can be a matter of life or death so there may be times where Ulkina's heal is up and ready whereas Altri's heal may not be.

• Her SBB is basically exactly the same as Exvehl's except it's a different element and sacrifices some BC generation for some more power. Status prevention is a very important factor in some higher end contents so Ulkina is definitely relevant to the metagame.

• As you can see, Ulkina is a hybrid unit, like much of the rest of the unit in her batch. Unlike most hybrids, she does it really well though.

• Her Heal is on her BB and has a very low fill cost while remaining very potent. This means that unlike say, Dean, Ulkina is actually a very competent healer. She can actually be relied upon as a true healer for a squad, rather than a pseudo-healer in basically all situations.

• Unlike other true healers though, she can also switch to a more offensive, damage dealing role at any time healing isn't necessary. This means she's suitable on any type of squad. General questing squads generally don't need healers that only slow them down but Ulkina's an exception because her SBB is a pretty powerful MT attack, for instance.

• And no matter how you use her, Ulkina obviously maintains her ability to cure status at all times.

• Ulkina's strong point is her versatility, she not only fills the role of status preventer, she also does very good damage and fills the role of Healer at the same time.

• Her shortcomings are minor in comparison to her strengths. She cannot heal and bestow the status prevention buff at the same time. This is a feat only achieveable by Altri, and only on his SBB. The situations where this would be necessary are fairly uncommon and can definitely be circumvented, however.

• She can't quite match the potency in healing provided by othe pure healers since she doesn't have an SBB heal. I don't think it's a common situation that an SBB heal would be necessary even in the toughest of fights. I haven't experienced it myself but it's something to consider.

• ...and that's basically it. Compared to Exvehl, she does generate less BC on her SBB, but for most BB-spam teams, I don't think the difference between 17 drop checks and 24 drop checks will make any difference at all unless you're really skimming the line in terms of BC generation.

• Exvehl's and Altri are probably her closest competitors at the moment and as elaborated in their comparisons, she almost obseletes both but they both have a few situations up their sleeve where they might be more optimal. Otherwise she's probably the best status preventer in the game.

• As for future prospects? Well, there's less and less to consider now that we're almost caught up to JPBF in terms of units, but currently there's no one else upcoming that can compete. Ulkina's going to be cream of the crop for a little while.

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'.

• A healer with an offensive role, Anima gives the best balance of survivability and offense so this is probably her best typing.

• I like Lord second for her personally just because she values both defensive AND offensive stats but you can argue for either of the next 2 types to be here instead. It really doesn't matter.

• Breaker third for me, ATK just pays more dividends than DEF does overall.

• Guardian's still great though, a healer with better defensive stats is always nice.

• Finally Oracle since no unit needs more REC. Still very useable. Please do not ask me if your Oracle Ulkina is useable. Because I've said it is here. It is. It is useable. It is. It's useable. :<

That's it guys! Hope you enjoyed the read. Something to do during downtime. :>

As always, I welcome your comments/criticims/encouragements. Please drop an upvote if you found this useful, I'd appreciate the support. <3

Until next time!

Links to previous Analyses