Aobozu

Aobozu (previously Blue Monk) – 青坊主

Stat Rating

Max Stat

Soul

Position 2/4/6: ATK/ATK/Crit % or Crit DMG or SPD/RES/HP

Discussion:

Aobozu’s Soul choice is a bit of a mixed bag in that his passive is clearly a support skill while his special attack is offensive (also works against passive lol).  Here are the Souls that can work with him:

Shadow – Many people would be surprised as to why an attacking Soul with Aobozu’s petty ATK.  Turns out he’s an effective attacker in the right setups.  More on that later.  Shadow fits well with Aobozu since, if he were to attack, his skill works best at the beginning of the fight.  Claws also work if you are preparing for a long fight although not as recommended as Shadow.

Fortune Cat – If you were to use him as support, Fortune Cat is one of the few options for Aobozu.  As a support, all he can offer is to increase Effect RES.  While this is monotone, it could be helpful with control effects being so commonplace in PvP.  Though Aobozu doesn’t have any special synergy with any of the Souls so your general support Souls would work on him.  Fortune Cat is a great Soul if you are not sure what to use.  Aobozu is fast so he can make good use of Fortune Cat.

In an attacking role, Aobozu would naturally need ATK and Crit %.  Try to aim to for Crit DMG in substats to maximize damage.  Of course, if you have a super high-quality set, using Crit DMG at position 6 is ideal.

As a support role, I would use SPD on him to get the maximum use out of Fortune Cat.  Effect RES is good to have against the first couple attacks from Hannya to keep passive intact.  HP is the natural choice for Aobozu with S rank HP to increase survivability.

Rating

Divine Greatness

Fortification

Peaceful Heart

Sample Team

Kamaitachi, Shouzu, Aobozu, Ebisu, Vampira, with Yao Bikuni

To start off, Aobozu needs Ushi no Toki to be useful.  This is due to his skills to deal damage to summoned units.  By himself, his pitiful ATK barely makes a dent on enemies.  By attacking the straw doll, the damage doubles and Aobozu now suddenly has the highest damage in the game.  A classic story of from zero to hero.  The trick is in finding the situation to use it.

The key is to stack Aobozu with damage buff and the straw doll with DEF debuff to maximize damage.

PvP

Since Aobozu needs Ushi no Toki to be an attacker, he would most likely take a support role in PvP instead.  This should prove to be effective against many of the control teams currently in Duel.  This is especially true for turtle teams to drag the fight out.  In the long run, Aobozu can stack so many layers of Effect RES such that enemies essentially has no chance to land a status effect, no matter how high the Effect HIT.

Soul

Believe it or not, Soul is probably Aobozu’s biggest use.  Using Aobozu, Ushi no Toki, and another good AOE DPS can take out Orochi in Soul 10.  It’s also one of the fastest ways to do the runs.  The good thing is if you have a good Shadow set lying around, Aobozu can function at G5.  Not that many DPS can say that about themselves.

PVE

Aobozu can do quite a bit of damage partnering up with Ushi no Toki.  With Ushi’s prominence in many PvE contents, Aobozu should make quite a few appearances here and there.  The key is, of course, to partner up with Ushi no Toki

Shikigami Comparison

Aoandon – Aoadnon draws some similarities to Aobozu as they both have an underwhelming ATK yet can serve as an attacker, and that they both has a one-hit AOE attack.  More importantly, they both use Shadow as their attacking Soul.  Shadow Aoandon is used to suppress enemies early on.  Although she may not be able to take out enemy Shikigamis in the first shot, taking away orbs can sometimes be more devastating.  Without the ability to take away orbs, Shadow Aobozu is purely for damage.  For that, he’ll always need to carry Ushi no Toki around.  Without Ushi, there is simply not enough meaningful damage or effect on the enemy.  I would say Aoandon is more for PvP while Aobozu is PvE focused.

 Kamaitachi – While it is hard to connect Kamaitachi and Aobozu, they have one thing in common: the ability to cast Effect RES buff on allies.  Known for his ability to speed up teammates, Kamaitachi can also increase Effect RES as he pulls the team.  Although the buff was only 20%, it is usually enough to disrupt under-leveled controls who try to inflict status on the first turn.  Aobozu is a bit different.  He cannot speed up allies which is hard to compare to Kamaitachi in terms of the ability to support.  Though he can buff much more Effect RES than Kamaitachi.  Aobozu’s buff is passive so is much less prone to status effects.  He also needs teammates to be inflicted with status effects to really increase the buff.  In that sense, I would say he’s better against strong controls during long fights.  However, it’s really unfair to compare Aobozu to one of the best support unit in the game.

Acquisition

Wanted Quest

Verdict

Farming (2.0/5.0)

He lacks the ATK to carry fodders at higher level contents so I wouldn’t use him.  If you are new to the game, he can be used temporarily under you get someone better.

Duel/Raid (3.5/5.0)

His ability to buff Effect RES is unmatched.  However, there isn’t much other use other than that.  Many of the support Souls would work on him.  He also does not need to use skill as a support role so could be a good option for teams not using orb generators.  To be a DPS means Ushi no Toki needs to be in the team as well, which is a bit of a waste using two spot on the team for one DPS.

Boss Battles (3.5/5.0)

With the right set up, he does insane damage.  We are talking one shot Kraken.  To do that, you’ll need to use Red Imp, Shadow Ushi, Attack Buffers, etc.  He’s less effective with stronger Bosses though,

Soul (3.5/5.0)

I suggest people to try out G5 Aobozu on Soul 10 runs.  Even at G5, he does quite a bit of damage with Ushi no Toki.  Of course, not as prominent as G6.  I would rank him higher but he couldn’t run Soul 10 by himself since his true damage lies with Ushi and therefore not AOE.  You’ll need a good AOE DPS from your partners to help you get to Orochi.

Overall, I like Aobozu in this current state of the game where control units are dominating.  He does not need skill level ups to be effective and is very functional as G5.  I would say he’s more for the counter teams to go against the faster control teams.  One note to mention is that with such a high Effect RES, I would say Dice Sprite would be a good choice for the DPS in the team.