Kaguya

Kaguya (Release May 30, 2018) – 辉夜姬

Stat Rating

Max Stat

Soul

Position 2/4/6: HP/Effect RES of HP/HP or Crit %

Discussion:

Kaguya’s role is to provide orbs and she’s the best in Onmyoji.  Therefore, our goal is to make sure she can keep doing her role.  There are quite a few of support Souls that suits her and we’ll look at a few below:

Soul Edge – I used this Soul on her in the CN server and it was my one of my favourite since it complements her so well in many cases.  For one, Soul Edge has HP bonus for Kaguya, who has S ranked HP.  For another, Soul Edge blocks enemies’ attacks for allies which matches Kaguya’s passive to gain orb when taken damage.  Overall, a Soul Edge Kaguya increases the team’s survivability and orb supply.  Two birds one stone.

Tree Nymph – This Soul is very powerful in PvP especially to orb heavy enemies.  This Soul increases Kaguya’s DEF and thus increases her survivability.  Other than that, it doesn’t have much synergy with Kaguya but rather it’s more for overall team benefit by decreasing enemy orb supply.

Sea Sprite – With Kaguya’s DEF buff, Sea Sprite’s shield actually gets a convenient upgrade.  This is especially useful in Realm Raid where most enemies run Dual Puller team.  The downside is that this Soul’s benefit is only for the first turn so the overall benefit is not as prominent as Soul Edge or Tree Nymph over a long fight.  In many fights, however, surviving the first round is so important so Sea Sprites is definitely an excellent option.  If you aim to be competitive in Tier 8 Duel, I would suggest G6 Sea Sprite Kaguya to mitigate some crazy damages.

Azure Basan/Fortune Cat – Depending on your team setup you may need either of these two but overall I consider them redundant in the face of Kaguya since her skills pretty much guarantee a steady orb supply.  Azure Basan ensures the team has enough orbs in the first round and lacking orbs, in the beginning, is often a problem with Kaguya.  I find it hard to argue for Fortune Cat though since 1) Kaguya is usually too slow to trigger Fortune Cat often enough, and 2) once the battle gets going, Kaguya should be able to keep the orb supply going without Fortune Cat.

Kaguya should without a doubt focus on HP to ensure her survival.  Another good stat to invest in is Effect RES to avoid the loss of orb supply against control teams.

There are also setups that focus on offensive stats because since Kaguya is very tanking by nature, giving her attacking stats can surprise enemies and act as DPS as the fight drags on.  I don’t really recommend this since you’ll need very high-quality Souls to pull it off.

Sea Sprite Kaguya could consider switching Pos 4 Effect RES for HP and Pos 6 HP to Crit/Crit DMG, doing so will increase the shields massively.  If you have some top quality souls and good SPD, Kaguya can even serve as DPS by using ATK/ATK/Crit %.  Sea Sprite does not have to be too sturdy to defend against Higanbana and having an additional DPS increases the chance of ending the fight after round 1.

Rating

Horai Branch

Fire Rat

Dragon Jewel

Sample Team

Kamaitachi, Yamausagi, Ubume, Kaguya, Susabi, with Seimei

Shouzu, Ichimokuren, Momo, Kaguya, Kuro, with Kagura

Kaguya excels in many team setups.  Essentially, whenever you would use Zashiki, Kaguya can somehow fill in or even do better.  By switching around Soul setups, she works in both fast and slow teams.  An example would be double puller team with Susabi.  Although powerful, Susabi isn’t used too often due to his orb demands.  Zashiki’s orb supply just isn’t enough for this type of setup.  This is when Kaguya comes in.  She has the ability to provide orbs whenever an ally acts so by placing Susabi the last to act, you may even have 8 orbs for him.  To do this, you’ll need to ensure your orb supplies in the first round with Souls.  That means including Azure Basan on Yamausagi.

Other uses for Kaguya include working closely with Ebisu to ensure orb supply.  Ebisu can use Soul Edge since he has a similar mechanism to generate orbs as Kaguya.  Kaguya can use other Souls like Sea Sprite or Tree Nymph.  Other than mitigating the minor risk of Kaguya not generating enough orbs, Ebisu has many other practical use as well.

Ichimokuren is another Shikigami that works well with Kaguya.  He needs a lot of orbs, which Kaguya can provide.  In addition, his Effect RES buff is stackable with Kaguya’s.  This is same for Kamaitachi’s Effect RES.  Kamaitachi also triggers Kaguya’s orb generation as he acts often.

The key thought to consider on whether to use Kaguya is to see if you really need the orbs.  If not, then you are really just wasting a Shikigami space.  In some cases, Zashiki is more effective due to his consistency.  In addition, Soul choice can also affect how your team performs.  If you are trying to put the pressure on early in the fight, then Azure Basan Kaguya maybe a better choice than say Tree Nymph.

PvP

Kaguya is very popular in PvP teams whenever an orb generator is needed.  The simple reason is that she is a direct upgrade to the popular Zashiki.  Unless you work with counter teams, orb supply is popular the most important topic, especially since Global is not as diversified as CN.  Say you run a Hannya/Samurai X control team.  Both these guys would spend 5 orbs combined each round and we are not even counting accelerators and other DPS yet.  While the first round should be fine when the action sequence is calculated, it would become more problematic as the fight goes on and the order is messed up.  Having Kaguya would mitigate that problem since there is a chance to generate orbs whenever an ally acts.

Soul

With Azure Basan I think she should be able to fulfill Zashiki’s role.   Though, you’ll probably want the accelerator to use Fortune Cat in this case.  Still, consistency is an issue and there is a risk of failing the first round if you are unlucky.

PVE

In PvE, Kaguya is the default choice for many hard fights.  She’s actually not too hard to build for PvE since G5 is good enough.  Kaguya is probably the most used Shikigami for those who have her.  Note that she is not exactly desired in all situations.  She has slow animation so you don’t want to use her if you are impatient and not need her.  She is not as consistent as Zashiki where the fights only last one or two rounds so be cautious for Netherworld Gate, Demon Seal, and Encounters.

Shikigami Comparison

Ebisu – Ebisu and Kaguya’s roles actually does not overlap too much.  The only things they have in common is the mechanism to generate orbs upon receiving damage and having high HP.  Other than that, they have different utilities.  Ebisu is a healer with a function to dispel debuffs while Kaguya can enhance DEF and Effect RES.  In this sense, I would think Ebisu can better support the team.  Of course, when you compare orb generation, Ebisu is nowhere close to Kaguya.  For this fact alone, Kaguya will be much more popular.

Oitsuki – Oitsuki’s orb generating mechanism is a bit unconventional in that she has the ability to move the orb bar rather than generating orb itself.  This mechanism requires the team to act and generate orbs.  While the mechanics is simple, the challenge is the need to max her skills for her to function well.  In this regard, Kaguya has the advantage of being more usable from the get-go.  At max skill, they are on par in terms of usefulness.  Oitsuki is preferred by fast teams while Kaguya is more used in slower counter/turtle teams.  Because of Kaguya’s nature to increase team survivability, you’ll find her more useful in difficult situations.

Acquisition

Wanted Quest

Verdict

Farming (0.0/5.0)

You wouldn’t use her to carry fodders for the same reason you don’t use Zashiki to carry.  They just suck in this category.

Duel/Raid (4.75/5.0)

Other than the teams that don’t need too much orbs, Kaguya can really be seen everywhere.  With different Souls, she can fit in different teams.  If you need action in the first round, consider Azure Basan.  If you are not fast enough, maybe Sea Sprite would be a good idea.  Of course, different set ups has different focuses on stats.  Overall, you’ll see her quite often in high level PvP.

Boss Battles (5.0/5.0)

With Boss fights, there really is no better choice.  Boss fights are expected to last so you’ll need a steady orb supply.  In addition, Kaguya has high survivability herself as well as being able to increase survivability of the team.  This is something that Zashiki cannot provide.

Soul (4.0/5.0)

Either Kaguya or Zashiki works for Soul runs.  Zashiki is just as capable but he needs have adequate SPD in auto runs to have enough orb supply.  Kaguya with Azure Basan should provide enough orbs especially if there is Fortune Cat with the accelerator.  Zashiki has faster animation so I would still prefer Zashiki.

Kaguya is probably the most used SSR.  Other SSRs may have their preferred use here and there but for Kaguya, there is limited situations where you don’t use her.  If you want to increase your overall team strength, there really isn’t a better option than her.  Going forward, there will be new Shikigami releases or modification that changes the meta, though I don’t see Kaguya’s usefulness decrease any time soon.  If anything, she’ll only become more useful.  She has been, and continue to be, one of the top rated Shikigamis since her release so if you are lucky enough to get her, pour all your resource into her and don’t look back.