RTS: Rabbit, Mischief & Goddess

With VermillionOcean busy, I figured I'd at least give some of my thoughts on more recent batches of spirits. Note that my standards are different from his, meaning that my ratings will not match his, either. However, I have loosely based my methodology off of his, so there will be similarities in presentation. Please excuse my horrible formatting. You may click a spirit's icon to visit their page for more details. Note that these are my opinions, and I don't speak for everyone, so you are welcome to disagree with me.

Update (May 9, 2015) - If the recent history of Quiz is going to be a pattern, I'm willing to bet that this event will rerun. Thusly, I'm updating the review.

Litha[]

Litha was the first free SS rank spirit. She was never that great upon introduction - with 2k HP and ATK, there are S rank spirits stronger than her. One can make a strong argument that since this is the case, she's actually inferior to S rank spirits, since it takes more investment to max out her level. With the power creep being so rampant, things have only gotten worse. Her 20% AS booster isn't bad, but it's outclassed by current standards, and her 20% revive SS is also rather mediocre. The advent of newer spirits since her event have rendered her essentially obsolete. Nonetheless, she does have some utility, which I will discuss.

Questing[]

I'm going to start by getting the good news out of the way. Revivers are rather underrated - a 2-reviver deck, using Litha, can beat Asmodeus. So with the right deck and some good strategy, she can be viable even end-game. Some might disagree, but I think that people should always consider the possibility of doing stupid but fun things like that. Now, with the good news done, let's get to the ugly bits. Litha is essentially dependent on having healers as teammates, since she has no way of recovering HP by herself. In addition, her 20% water revive is bested by both Alf and Sheryl's 30% water revives, and even summer!Loretta's 20% revive all (and Loretta herself isn't terribly amazing). Not to mention that all of the aforementioned spirits are also AS healers, which makes them more desirable for questing to begin with. If you subscribe to the offensive metagame, or you just prefer having a hard hitting reviver, we now have Tsukumo, who completely trashes Litha in virtually every respect. Only 500 people have her though, so she's rather less accessible. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that as a reviver, Litha is pretty meh. Outside of her revive, her only use for questing is to kill things faster, but she's also pretty bad at that. 20% booster is nothing to write home about, now that 30% boosters have become more common. If nothing else, Litha has some use as a helper (people love revive helpers), but I doubt that many people will want to lead with her, and again, there are better revivers. The fact that Litha is a free spirit would be considered a plus back in her day, but nowadays, there are free spirits that are comparable but easier to get, or superior while not really being harder to get.

Tournament[]

Litha is a valid but uncompelling option for tourneys. That 20% boost is outclassed, and her SS is entirely useless. Even Sakuya, considered outdated today, is a better option than her. The biggest respite is that water is still relatively lacking in high-firepower options when compared to fire and thunder, so her competition isn't as fierce. Use Litha if you're strapped for options, but you can do better than her.

Hidden powers[]

Her hidden powers are actually not too bad, with a panel up and stat boosts for the team. While kinda outdated, the panel up and team boost do make her a little better for tourneys. Unfortunately, they don't save her from mediocrity and don't significantly improve my opinion of her. Since Litha is very easy to replace, I also doubt that many people will want to use their ether bottles on her.

Alternatives[]

Alf has comparable stats, an AS heal of 11%, and a stronger revive of 30%, making him a more attractive option as a team leader/helper.
Sheryl is similar to Alf, but has better stats and a combo AS heal of 15%. Unfortunately, her DC is very high.
Tsukumo is a 7-combo 80% booster with a 30% revive, and if you unlock all her hidden powers, a 60% chance of surviving a fatal attack, which makes her a much better reviver. Provided that her 7-combo isn't too much for you, she completely trashes Litha for questing. However, Litha will generally do better in tournaments, since Tsukumo's 7-combo is hard to use there.
While outdated, Sakuya has the same 20% boost to water, slightly higher ATK, and a 7 TTC nuke, making her purely offensive and therefore better for tourneys. Her nuke is also good for killing things faster.
Jasecks is a weaker Sakuya with the same 20% boost. He's also ridiculously easy to get and is a free spirit.
Tiel is a souped-up version of Sakuya, with a 30% boost and stronger nuke. She's kind of uncommon, but if you have her, by all means use her.
Zygmunt is similar to Tiel, but with better hidden powers (including +300 team attack). His SS is a 4 iTTC emblem, which has utility for both questing and tournaments. Lastly, he's a permanent invoke and is thus quite easy to get. For cases where you don't need to revive, he destroys Litha.
Muse has the same firepower as Litha, but is much tankier, and her turn delay is generally going to be more useful than Litha's revive. She is a bit uncommon, being a bazaar invoke.
Frey is a turn delayer similar to Muse. Her AS is rather inflexible, but her firepower is much higher and her hidden powers make Litha's look like junk. She's also a permanent invoke.

The verdict[]

Poor Litha. Upon her introduction, she was a rather middling spirit, being neither here nor there. The power creep has absolutely not helped with this at all. A mediocre offensive AS combined with a mediocre defensive SS make her an unattractive option, and for an overall reward, she's quite disappointing. Still, if you want a reviver, she's not unusable (remember, 2-reviver Asmodeus deck!), and she can do tourneys if she has to. Just be aware that she is easily replaced by other spirits.

Veronica[]

Veronica was really bad to begin with, even by the standards of a 2-star quest reward, and remains so today. Absorb is widely regarded as one of the worst answer skills and poison isn't very useful. Veronica is further crippled by her low stats and the short duration of her special skill. Her poison deals 1000 damage per turn, which is actually decent as far as poison goes, but the short duration of 3 turns makes it almost unusable. Lastly, her hidden powers are garbage, so she isn't even good for suicide fodder.

Questing[]

Absorb can be useful for questing if you don't have a durable enough team. After all, it potentially heals more than the average AS healer, and if your stats are good enough or the quest is easy enough, you'll be regaining more health than the boss can dish out. I remember when I was short of thunder healers and Stella helped save my ass a few times. Unfortunately, Veronica has neither the ATK nor HP of Stella and can be expected to get killed very quickly by stronger bosses. On top of that, her special skill won't last long enough to do much of anything.

Tournaments[]

Absorb and poison are both useless for tournaments, and Veronica is therefore also useless for tournaments, so I will not bother with this.

Hidden powers[]

All of these are worthless. The attack increases don't do much since her attack is low to begin with, and you're probably going to be using her poison for the boss, so a TTC reduction is pointless.

Alternatives[]

Pretty much any water spirit that doesn't suck.

The verdict[]

She's bad. Moving on.

Barbra[]

Barbra is one of those spirits that's not bad for newbs, but can very easily be replaced. It doesn't look like anyone has tested her AS multiplier, so I'm going to assume that it's along the lines of a 60% boost, which means that her effective attack would be just under 3.1k. Don't quote me on this; if someone knows better than I do, go ahead and correct me. This is nothing special, but it's not outright terrible, either. Her SS is also pretty meh, taking 11 turns only to last 1.

Questing[]

Barbra's HP of about 1.77k is too low to be effective for harder quests, though she's quite sufficient for easier ones. Once you get up to 4 and 5-star quests, you will start running into bosses capable of one-shotting her, though there are easier 4-star quests in which she will do fine. Her SS can be used to springboard nukes, but otherwise, it doesn't last long enough to make any meaningful impact.

Tournaments[]

For lower ranks, Barbra should do fine, and if you're really strapped for options, you could use her as filler for a Rank 15 deck. However, 3.1k ATK is pretty uncompetitive at that point and it's probably better to invest in other spirits. That 11 TTC also means that you'll either be done with the tournament before her SS charges, or you'll be left trailing in the dust.

Hidden powers[]

The initial TTC reduction is pointless since you're probably going to save her SS for the boss, by which point it should have charged up anyway. It also doesn't prevent it from taking 11 turns to charge the second time. The 200 extra ATK increase only raises her eATK to 3.25k, which is still nothing special, and the 100 extra HP don't make her HP high enough to be compelling. The 30% chance to survive lethal attacks is interesting, but too unreliable to make much of a difference.

Alternatives[]

Greed has an eATK of over 4k, much more HP, and his SS is a 3 turn delay, which makes him more useful for questing.
Yukka has an eATK of 4.6k without hidden powers and her 5 TTC nuke makes her much more attractive for tournaments.
Arle has an eATK of over 5k (and that's not counting her SS form) and her 6 TTC emblem has more utility, making her a better tournament spirit. Slayer can be iffy sometimes, but it's usable.
Akari is a 30% team booster with an SS team boost of another 40%. Unlike Barbra, her SS charge can be brought down low enough to actually do something in a tournament, and her firepower is just way better. She's pretty uncommon, though.
In general, a lot of other hard-hitting fire spirits will do better than Barbra.

The verdict[]

A really medicore spirit, but not bad if you're strapped for options. Beggars can't be choosers, after all.

Ingrit[]

Ingrit was a pretty middling hard hitter upon introduction, and the power creep made things worse. Her eATK is only 3k and her HP is just under 1.6k, both of which are too low to make her very compelling. While her SS does have some utility as a 7 TTC water emblem, there are definitely better emblemers out there. The divided attack does compensate a little for her low eATK, since it's more efficient than pounding a weakened opponent at full force, but it doesn't change the fact that she's not very good. This is even worse when you consider that she's a 4* reward, since most people who can clear a 4* quest will already have better spirits than her. Her DC is also much too high for what she's worth. Still, she's a half-decent tournament spirit.

Questing[]

As mentioned earlier, Ingrit's HP of <1.6k is very low - almost anemic, in fact, for questing. It's pretty much on the edge of glass cannon territory. She'll do fine for easier quests; however, later bosses can easily kill her in one powerful hit. As an emblemer, she isn't useless, but she's pretty average in this respect.

Tournaments[]

Ingrit is actually not too terrible here since 3k eATK is usable for Ranks 13 and 14; however, there are much better options, and if you were able to beat her quest, it's possible that you're already past Rank 14. The main issue is her restrictive DC of 42, but if you can clear a 4* quest, you probably have enough DC to afford her. At the very least, she can serve as a cleanup hitter, eliminating those scraps of fodder with only a few HP left. Her 7 TTC emblem isn't too terrible either, although if you can finish Ranks 13 and 14 quickly enough, you might not ever get to use it. While you can do worse than Ingrit, she is very easily replaced.

Hidden powers[]

If you can get all of her ATK increases unlocked, Ingrit's eATK rises to a bit under 3.7k and she gains a water panel up. The TTC reduction is actually kinda useful for tourneys, since it reduces her emblem to 6 turns, which should be active by the time you're at the boss. Lastly, her DC drops to 40, which is still too expensive, but I guess it's a little better than before. Do keep in mind that even with all her hidden powers unlocked, she's still weaker than a number of non-unlocked hard hitters, so you're still investing in a very mediocre spirit.

Alternatives[]

Itsuki is also free and has similar skills, but is better in literally every way - lower DC, more HP, a faster emblem, stronger eATK, and better hidden powers. He completely destroys Ingrit.
Summer!Itsuki has even more firepower and even better hidden powers than his normal counterpart.
Riel, while not having very good hidden powers, has a titanic eATK that simply swamps Ingrit's. Her emblem is faster on top of that.
Zygmunt is a 30% team booster with stupendous hidden powers. He's like a summer!Itsuki on steroids and is among the best offensive water emblemers out there. While not free, he's a permanent invoke, so he's not too hard to get.
ny!Ruchille is a 7-combo 80% booster, making her the most powerful offensive water emblemer in the entire game. She's super rare, though, and isn't very good at tournaments.
Kutlea has much higher eATK of a bit under 3.8k, and that's without any hidden powers unlocked. Like Ingrit, her SS may be a bit slow for Ranks 13 and 14.
Hazuki makes a better cleanup hitter due to her higher eATK of 4.9k and will do much better for Rank 17. She's also more efficient than Ingrit due to dealing 4 hits instead of 3. However, she does have a combo requirement.

The verdict[]

Another mediocre spirit, but if you're strapped for options, she'll do fine for tournaments.

Riner[]

And finally, we're at the 5* reward! Unfortunately, while his stats are good, he's nothing special. Divided trimagic is still useful for cleanup, but now has to contend with split attackers for a slot on the team. In addition, his multiplier of 2x (meaning an eATK of 4.7k) is outclassed today, and he faces stiff competition from the undivided trimagicians (which effectively have a 3x multiplier or so against three targets). On top of that, the fact that he's a combo attacker puts him in competition with other combo attackers, some of which are more compelling alternatives than him. Lastly, Riner's DC of 43 is much too high, though if you can clear a 5* quest, you probably have the max DC to afford him. I guess if you have nothing else, he's okay, but you will probably want to replace him at some point.

Questing[]

Trimagicians are good for lower level quests since they can steamroll the fodder rounds like they're nothing. For harder quests, Riner will have a hard time fitting in. His HP is beefy enough to survive the stronger bosses, but his only utility there is to kill things faster, and there are much better spirits for that, especially in the current metagame.

Tournaments[]

Riner will do okay here as a cleanup hitter, serving a similar role to Ingrit. For Rank 12, he'll be extremely strong. However, almost every other thunder spirit is also good for Rank 12, and if you have him, you're probably well past Rank 12. Rank 16 is where thunder becomes useful again, and here, Riner faces stiff competition, even from outdated spirits such as Ayfa. His SS, which increases the power of all thunder allies, can be useful, but at 9 TTC, it's too slow - the required finishing time to place in Rank 16 is already 9 turns. You could do worse, but he's definitely outclassed, and the power creep hasn't helped.

Hidden powers[]

Unlocked, Riner's eATK rises to 5.3k and his DC falls to 41. This is decent, but it's rather aged. His SS will also drop to 8 TTC, which is a bit better for Rank 16, and the panel up is certainly welcome. If you pair him with a TTC shaver like Pawa, he becomes more viable, if not ideal, and can be used to help springboard nukes. It still doesn't make him amazing, though.

Alternatives[]

Undivided trimagicians such as Dogma and Coppol have higher eATK without the drawback of a combo, though their attack diminishes against fewer opponents.
Thunder AS boosters have become increasingly common nowadays, and they're much more versatile than divided trimagicians. Fasaar is a notable, easily-obtained example with a 20% booster, which actually means that he has a similar effective multiplier to Riner of 2.0x, or +100% ATK (20% times the 5 team members). On top of that, his DC is only 23. Need I say more?
Lumie is a combo split attacker with superior effective attack and an SS team booster of 40%, with faster iTTC. She's pretty rare, but if you have her, she's way better than Riner at Rank 16.
Ayfa, while outdated, is a combo attacker with similar eATK and a similar SS; however, her SS has a lower TTC and she isn't a trimagician. Top that off with a lower DC, and you have a better all-around spirit in general.
Mayvis is a divided trimagician with less attack, but doesn't require a combo and is significantly cheaper. Her 7 TTC nuke is also more useful for Rank 16 than Riner's 9 TTC team attack boost.
The new combo undivided trimagicians such as Dietrich could be the final nail in the coffin for spirits like Riner. With similar combo requirements but far higher effective attack, their damage scaling goes through the roof. However, they're very rare at this time.

The verdict[]

He's not bad if you have nothing better, but isn't hard to replace.

My thoughts on this event[]

This event kinda sucks.