Mash Kyrielight

[JP]
Mashu is perhaps one of the best supports units ingame, when taking into consideration what she’s capable of and how little it costs to achieve her full potential. It’s hard to imagine Mashu falling off from relevance, as she excels the best in a role that has great use in most fights, if not all.

[NA]
Mashu isn’t quite at full potential yet in NA, but her quality is somewhat there. She isn’t as reliable or as sturdy as she is in the JP server, but most of her functions are already implemented ingame and is fully usable, even without her final ascension.

• Being able to take neutral against everything makes her quite sturdy
• Is able to buff defense very well
• NP also grants a very good ATK buff
• 3rd skill allows her to use her NP back-to-back
• A taunt and a an invulnerability skill that allows her to target others shield her allies even further
• Her cost in battle and in skill leveling is very little

• Full potential is locked with story’s progression (NA)
• Her star absorption can sometimes get in the way as she might steal stars from the damage dealer

Mashu is all about defense. Her entire kit is dedicated to giving your team as much defense as possible, and she does this splendidly. There are a few notable reasons as to why Mashu is such an effective defender, and these would be:

• She deals and takes neutral damage to everyone
  As a support this is very useful--- it means that she’s applicable to almost any fight, regardless of the enemy’s class, including Berserkers. With her DEF ups in consideration, she would be very sturdy against enemies, enabling her to stay around for a long amount of time.
  
  
• Her DEF ups can stack up to amazing amounts
  Mashu is able to semi-spam her NP with her 3rd skill, which improves her NP gain by a ridiculous amount for a turn. With just one NP and her 1st skill she’s able to stack her DEF ups to at least 50%, and with two of her NPs she would be able to give 80% DEF up. Considering this, it’s not that hard to block an AoE NP completely, as long as one has another member to fill in the extra 20% needed for a full 100% DEF up.
  
  
• Her battle cost is 0 and her skill costs are on par with 3's
  The fact that Mashu costs so little to invest in makes her such an effective support unit in terms of cost efficiency. She’s able to give out a lot in return for very little, and the role she excels in is useful at almost any point in the game, too.

The idea here is to support Mashu’s ability to use her NP as much as possible. Since her NP is what provides the most DEF up, having it up constantly would benefit your team’s survival. As such, CEs that boost her NP gain or Arts cards would be the best.

Along the same idea as NP gain up CEs, Mashu would also have easier access to her NP with CEs that provide charge her NP gauge per turn.

Mashu’s NP grants a 30% increase in DEF to all allies and reduces all incoming damage by 100. It also provides a 30% ATK up to all allies except herself. It’s pretty straightforward as a supportive NP, and the fact that it’s Arts means that it can also be used for Arts chains or as the first card in a Brave chain to recharge her gauge. The ATK up doesn’t apply to Mashu, but it’s very valuable in supporting your damager with it’s great scaling.

Reduces damage taken by all party members (3 turns).
[Overcharge] Increase party's defense (3turns).

Unlocked after Chapter 17 (4/5).

Reduces damage taken by all party members (3 turns).
Increase party's attack damage by 30% except self for 3 turns.
[Overcharge] Increase party's defense (3turns).

Transient Wall of Snowflakes / Cooldown: 7-5
Increase DEF of all allies (3 turns)
Reduce incoming damage (1 turn)

A great skill that has a good and short downtime. This skill can be stacked with Mashu’s NP to improve your defense further, or be used during times her NP isn’t available yet. The damage reduction is also nice to minimize damage at least for 1 hit, and it can also be used to further cut down damage in case one’s DEF ups haven’t stacked up to 100% yet.

Obscurant Wall of Chalk / Cooldown: 9-7
Apply Invulnerable (1 turn)
Increase NP Gauge

As a targetable skill, this skill gains a lot of merits in how it’s used. A 20% charge to an ally is a useful feature overall, and the added invul can help in a pinch. The only downside to this would be it’s long cooldown, which means that one may have to use it carefully at times.

Shield of Rousing Resolution / Cooldown: 8-6
Apply Taunt to self (1 turn)
Increase NP Gain (1 turn)

While the taunt is useful, the real point of this skill is the increase in NP gain. At level 10 it grants Mashu a 400% increase in NP gain, which lets her charge her NP almost immediately upon use. Using the skill on a NPAA brave chain would allow Mashu to fully charge her NP (sometimes going beyond 100%). The taunt is also useful against enemy ST NPs, as she can block it with her invul skill as well.

Skill Priority: 3/1/2

Available from the start.
Increases party's defense for 3 turns.

Clear King of Kings Ozymandias stage 1/3 in Camelot.
Increases party's defense for 3 turns.
Reduce damage taken by 2000 (1 hit).

Available from the start.
Grants one ally invincibility for 1 turn.
Charges their NP gauge.

Unlocks after 2nd Ascension
Draws attention of all enemies to self for 1 turn.
Increases own NP generation rate for 1 turn.

Mashu comes with a QAABB deck, which allows her to charge her NP well enough and deal some decent damage on the side to help your team’s DPT. Her hitcounts aren’t anything amazing, but her base gain is enough to allow her to gain NP well enough.

Rashoumon event (Ibaraki Douji event)

Murder at the Kogetsukan

Inheritance of Glory