Soukaku stands out as an A-Rank Melee Ice Support Agent, celebrated for her versatile skill set centered around enhancing both her own capabilities and her team’s overall damage output. While her buffs benefit allies of all types, Ice-based characters particularly thrive under her support, positioning her as a potent all-rounder or a highly specialized team cornerstone.
At the heart of Soukaku’s gameplay lies the strategic generation and utilization of “Vortex Stacks,” a unique resource intrinsic to her kit. These stacks are crucial for amplifying her Signature ability, Fly the Flag (also known as Special Attack: Rally! within her skill descriptions). Activating Fly the Flag with Vortex Stacks significantly boosts her personal combat effectiveness and team-wide buffing potential, making it a primary objective in any combat scenario.
Despite her primary role as a support unit, Soukaku boasts respectable personal damage when properly geared and developed. With access to multiple Mindscapes, she can even transition into a viable DPS role, showcasing her adaptability and hidden damage potential.
Let’s delve into a detailed skill analysis, beginning with her most pivotal ability, Fly the Flag. This ability is recurrent throughout her kit, accessible through various means while maintaining consistent core functionality. Upon activation, Soukaku plants her flag into the ground, unleashing an Ice Storm. This action grants her an Attack buff via her Core Passive and instantly triggers a Quick Assist for the next teammate in the turn order. Numerous Passives and attacks synergize with Fly the Flag, which we will explore further. First, here are all the methods to activate Fly the Flag:
- Press and Hold the Special Attack button.
- Press and Hold Special Attack after executing EX Special Attack: Fanning Mosquitoes.
- Press and Hold Special Attack after Assist Follow-Up: Sweeping Strike.
- Automatically triggered as part of Chain Attack: Pudding Slash.
- Automatically triggered as part of Ultimate: Jumbo Pudding Slash.
Before activating Fly the Flag, prioritize accumulating 3 Vortex Stacks (only 2 are needed if activating via Chain Attack or Ultimate) to unlock the full potential of her Passive Abilities. Her Core Passive is particularly impactful: “When Soukaku uses Fly the Flag, her ATK is increased by 20%, up to a cap of 500. Consuming 3 stacks of Vortex during Fly the Flag doubles this bonus to 1000.” This substantial self-buff can be transferred to an ally through a Quick Assist or Chain Attack, providing a significant damage surge. It’s important to note that a Quick Assist will buff the ally immediately following Soukaku in the turn order, while a Chain Attack allows you to buff any character by simply continuing the chain with them after Soukaku’s turn.
Her Additional Ability focuses on specialization, enhancing Ice Damage by 20% for 22 seconds upon consuming 3 Vortex Stacks. This bonus is automatically applied when consuming 3 stacks, but its primary impact is on her personal damage output unless she is part of an Ice-centric team composition.
As highlighted, maximizing Soukaku’s kit effectiveness hinges on frequent execution of 3 Vortex Stack infused Fly the Flags. Efficiently building and spending Vortex Stacks becomes paramount. Let’s examine her kit in detail to understand how to achieve this.
Soukaku’s Basic Attacks come in two variations: a Physical damage form and her Frosted Banner form. The Frosted Banner form is accessible only after consuming 3 Vortex Stacks. While neither form is typically utilized when playing her as a Support, understanding them is crucial if you aim to build her as a DPS.
The Physical damage variant features low damage multipliers and is generally not recommended for use. Conversely, Frosted Banner attacks boast high damage multipliers but are limited by charges per Frosted Banner state—6 attacks, or 12 with Mindscape 6. If you intend to deal damage outside of her support rotation, gaining and maintaining her Frosted Banner state is essential to leverage these high multipliers.
Her un-enhanced Special Attacks are not generally useful, but her energy-consuming enhanced EX Special Attack is highly valuable. Her EX Special Attack is comprised of two parts: Fanning Mosquitoes and Rally! (Fly the Flag). Fanning Mosquitoes unleashes an Air Current, dealing respectable damage and inflicting Ice Anomaly at the cost of 30 Energy per cast. It can be used up to 3 times consecutively and grants her a Vortex Stack with each cast. Additionally, during the attack, she benefits from 40% damage reduction and increased Anti-Interrupt level. Notably, she always concludes this attack with an overhead smash, regardless of the number of casts, unless the Special Attack button is held down at the end of the combo. This EX Special Attack is the most efficient way to generate Vortex Stacks, and depending on your Soukaku playstyle, executing 2-3 uses is advisable. For optimized early combat setup in modes like Shiyu Defense, you can even cast the Fanning Mosquitoes portion before enemies fully spawn, saving valuable time building Vortex Stacks for the initial Fly the Flag activation in the thick of battle.
Her Assists are akin to those of other Melee Agents, providing useful Daze, damage, and Anomaly application. However, her Assist Follow-Ups possess the unique ability to trigger Fly the Flag, making them a valuable tool to mitigate buff downtime and lessen reliance on lengthy EX Special Attack sequences, Chain Attacks, or her Ultimate.
Her Chain Attack delivers moderate damage and Daze, while also crucially generating a Vortex Stack, a feature typically exclusive to her EX Special Attack and Ultimate at baseline. This means that if she has accumulated 2 Vortex Stacks, she can secure the third via Chain Attack to activate a fully powered Fly the Flag alongside all its associated buffs. This makes her Chain Attack one of the most efficient methods to grant the significant 1000 Attack boost to her teammates. Keeping this in mind, a commonly employed combo when playing Soukaku as Support is as follows:
- EX Special Attack: Cooling Bento (Generates 1 Vortex Stack).
- EX Special Attack: Cooling Bento (Generates 1 Vortex Stack).
- Chain Attack: Pudding Slash (Generates 1 Vortex Stack and immediately consumes all 3).
- Team Mate Quick Assist (to transfer the ATK buff).
When executing this combo, it’s most effective to briefly remain on the field to perform two EX Special Attacks, then switch to other teammates until Soukaku’s Chain Attack becomes available.
Soukaku excels in both Ice-centric teams and general team compositions due to her universal Attack buff. Her gameplay primarily revolves around adept Vortex Stack management and maximizing the impact of her Fly the Flag ability. Mastering Soukaku involves understanding her skill rotations, timing her EX Special Attacks effectively, and fully leveraging her Quick Assists. Whether deployed as a Support or a DPS, Soukaku offers exceptional utility, significantly elevating her team’s overall performance when played with skill and strategy.
