Ichimokuren

Ichimokuren (release May 9th) – 一目连

Stat Rating

Max Stat

Soul

Position 2/4/6: SPD/HP/Crit %

Discussion:

Ichimokuren is a pure defender for the team.  With Soul choice, I would emphasize increasing his shield so the whole team can benefit.

Sea Sprite is one of the top choices here because this Soul makes great use of Ichimokuren’s ultra high HP.  Having this Soul is very effective to shield against the first wave of damage based controls.  Afterward, Ichimokuren would have cast shields on the team, therefore render these types of CCs useless.

Jizo is very much the go-to choice for defensive supports.  This soul increases HP as well so it’s the perfect synergy for Ichimokuren.  Though in high-level Duel, players would know to avoid triggering Jizo Statue.

Having two skills that consume 3 orbs each, Ichimokuren consumes a lot of orbs.  This is a problem as the fight drags on and the action sequence is changed.  Fortune Cat would be a solution here but this also means you are further restricted in terms of Soul choices, especially when sub stats are taking into account.

In terms of stats, there can be some variety.  One thing is for sure though: Ichimokuren needs high HP.  So at least one of the primary attributes needs to be HP.  The rest depends on situations.

At the early stage, having all HP would make you almost invincible since other players would not be able to break the shield easily.

At mid to late game, you would want to consider adding SPD, Effect RES, and Crit to the mix.  For whatever reason, his shield actually takes Crit % and Crit Dmg into effect.  This is more for a G6 Ichimokuren since you do not want to sacrifice HP for other stats too early.

Rating

Wind Amulet: Damage

Wind Amulet: Protect

Wind God’s Blessing

Sample Team

Ichimokuren is a highly efficient defensive support and is perfect in keeping DPS alive at the verge of death.  This makes him the perfect partner for Vampira.  Vampira can comfortably stay in near-death condition with his shield.

In here though, we are not using Scarlet Vampira since Scarlet needs damage to trigger so it’s counter-intuitive to Ichmokuren’s shield.  Rather, I would like to introduce the less popular Dice Sprite for Vampira.  Dice Sprite is harder to obtain and less used than Scarlet in most situation, but this Soul is a nice surprise against control teams, which is popular in high-level PvP.  Vampira needs high Effect RES in this case.  Shouzu is used nonetheless to avoid Vampira being taking out by the ST DPSs.  Another candidate DPS is Kuro which also thrive in low HP.

Momo is there as an insurance to revive Vampira when necessary.  I would almost argue you don’t build Crit for Momo so she won’t recover HP to Vampira by accident.  As the sole orb provider, Zashiki needs to be fast.  He should be faster than Ichimokuren to ensure enough orb for shields.  Having Vampira in this team helps with the orb situation since she does not consume orbs to attack.  Ame Onna can replace Zashiki when you are up against Samurai X but this means you really need to watch out orb usage.  Kaguya would be a key partner to Ichimokuren when she is released.

PvP

Ichimokuren is used in counter/turtle teams.  He’s really a waste in fast teams.  He’s a really good counter to the popular double puller team.  Orb usage would be a problem for him so he may not be very popular until Kaguya release

Soul

He is useful in getting through high-level Souls with his shields.  Of course, you don’t want to use him on Soul 10 runs and Sougenbi since he’s slow, but he is an option to get through these stages if you don’t have a good enough team.

PVE

He’s very useful in hard contents against Bosses, especially in Secret Zones.  Even if you don’t play PvP, his PvE usefulness alone is well worth summoning for him.

Shikigami Comparison

Koi – Koi’s shield is almost the same as Ichimokuren’s.  Both shields are AOE based on the caster’s max HP and last 2 turns.  Koi’s shield is a bit less effective due to the lower HP and fewer upgrade.  She also has the ability to control by casting Bubble Trap, whereas Ichimokuren is mainly a defensive support.  Koi is at a disadvantage due to her being an R: most people would not hesitate to make an SSR G6 but less so for an R.

Shiro – Shiro is the latest shield bearer in Onmyoji.  His shield is different than Ichimokuren’s and Koi’s.  Shiro’s shield blocks any single damage for 1 turn.  The advantage is that it doesn’t matter how much the damage is.  The disadvantage is that it can only block that one hit.  In reality, Ichimokuren’s shield is close to being able to block any damage when he’s at G6 anyways.  In this regard, I would say Shiro is quite underwhelming compared to his SSR counterpart.  The good thing is that Shiro is effective at G4 and without a skill up so he is very suitable for the early game.  Ichimokuren needs some investment for him to take over as the number defensive support in the game.

Acquisition

Wanted Quest

Verdict

He’s known for being a demanding orb consumer so many players would be reluctant to use him until Kaguya arrives.  His build should be focused on SPD, especially if you want to counter speed teams, HP and Crit.  Focusing on HP should be the priority.  Crit is also important since his shield takes Crit % and Crit DMG into account.

One thing to note is that when his Wind Shield: Protect breaks, the AOE damage actually takes the ally’s Crit and Soul effects into account so the damage is potentially very high.

Farming (0.0/5.0)

I wouldn’t use him to farm at all.  While he can potentially deal AOE damage when his shield breaks but the fodders cannot break his shield.

Duel/Raid (4.0/5.0)

I would expect him to make quite a bit of appearance in Duels simply because of his ability to counter fast attacking teams and certain controls.  With shields up, damage based control Souls such as Mimic is powerless.  He’s vulnerable to some controls so you may want to address this by Soul or team set up.  He’s one of the top contenders in 2400+ duel.

Boss Battles (4.5/5.0)

Compared to Duel, Ichimokuren is easier to build here.  The reason is most Bosses now are attack oriented and less emphasized on control.  This is perfect for Ichimokuren since he can stack HP and watch the Bosses attack in futile.  With him, you should have no trouble autorun Totem.

Soul (3.0/5.0)

On one hand, I won’t use him on S10 but on the other, he’s capable to do so.  Ichimokuren would give you the option to unlock high-level Soul stages if you have not already done so.  I would still stick with running 3 DPS with friends/guildmates.

Ichimokuren would be one of the SSRs that I personally would try to get just because I like defensive teams.  With him, though, there is no rush to build him up since he’s quite demanding in terms of Grade and Soul.  Other units, such as Momo or Ubume, would provide much better progression early on and those should be prioritized first.  He’s more like a late-game Shikigami.