Next Unite and Fight is set for January 22nd and will be Water advantage. Let’s go over once again what you should work on in the meantime.
Weapons
To start, we’ll cover the weapons you should have available for this UnF.
General
This first section will cover weapons that are equally useful for Omega and Optimus.
General
| Summon | Priority | Notes |
|---|---|---|
1 Wand of Charmtide | ★★★★★ | |
1 Staff of Renunciation | ★★★★★ | |
1 Staff of Repudiation | ★★★★★ | Only required for Varuna |
1 Ultima Staff | ★★★★★ | |
1 Ultima Gun or 1 Ultima Sword | ★★★★★ | |
1 Altruism-Soul Staff | ★★★★★ | |
1 Gateway-Star Sword | ★★★★★ | Celestial Gun is better once that releases. |
1 Worldscathing Leon | ★★★★★ | |
Worldvexing Angelos | ★★★★★ | |
1 Reflection of The Moon | ★★★★★ | Doubly important to get Haase FLB. |
1 Worldbreaking Tauros | ★★★★☆ | |
1 Norden Labrys | ★★★☆☆ | |
1 Xuanwu Shellfists | ★★★☆☆ | |
1 Worldstorming Aetos | ★★★☆☆ | |
1 Judgment of Torrential Tides | ★★★☆☆ | |
1 Draconic Buster | ★★★☆☆ | |
1 Rise of Justice | ★★☆☆☆ | |
1 Xuanwu Mace Malus | ★☆☆☆☆ | Generally phased out but good if you lack the better cap up sources. |
The most basic thing you should have leveled is your opus as that will be your mainstay for all grids. Level 200 is the baseline due to gaining the incredibly important 3rd skill slot. 210 is a minor upgrade in general but is a great boost for Manadiver
setups thanks to the added stackable ATK and DEF up. 230 is the most important transcendance level as it adds boostable damage amp to the opus. 250 is a minor upgrade to the skills but the upgrade to an unworldly CA will is great for Manadiver setups if you can afford it. But getting it to 230 is by far the most important.
When it comes to Ultima weapons, the most useful ones are Ultima Staff and Ultima Gun. The former pairs with the many strong staff characters in Water as well as Manadiver. The latter is for Relic Buster and Soldier bursts. Additionally, it works well for any strats using Gwynne
. For RB, Ultima Sword can work if you can’t afford to make Gun, but for Soldier or Gwynne you will really want it.
Next up, for World weapons, you’ll want the typical main two of Worldscathing Leon and Worldvexing Angelos as both can match well with Water teams. Worldbreaking Tauros is also reccomended thanks to it matching Haaselia
and her many skill damage instances.
Moving onto celestial weapons, Altruism-Soul Staff hits the most characters that Water can use, especially for FA. Gateway-Star Sword will be the choice for Relic Buster setups. The Gun Celestial will release this UnF and should be prioritized for RB and Soldier as it will be the best for both.
As for NWF weapons, Reflection of The Moon is beyond essential. This is in big part to it being neccesary for Haaselia who will dominate across UnF. Additionally, with her Full Moon buff, the weapon itself provides 50% unique ATK and 30% cap up on top of its existing mods and 5% cap.
Draconic Buster and its upgrade Judgment of Torrential Tides will both be great defensive investments for FA especially if you wish to tackle the higher NM fights or have weaker characters in general.
The Viking CCW Norden Labrys is also a strong investment for OTK. This is thanks to its 3rd skill casting Banahogg
2-hit superior Elemental damage to a foe (Damage cap: ~370,000 per hit).
Inflict DEF Lowered (25%, 180s).
If main or auxiliary weapon is a sabre: Boost to number of hits (2 times).
If main or auxiliary weapon is an axe: Also inflict status DEF Down (25%, 180s).
to activate at the end of a turn where 40 or more hits dealt. Banahogg is a very large skill damage nuke making it a lot easier to pull of an OTK.
Gold Moon
| Summon | Priority | Notes |
|---|---|---|
0-1 Hraesvelgr | ★★★★★ | |
0-1 Shishio | ★★★☆☆ |
As for Gold Moon weapons for Water, the main one to consider is Hraesvelgr. The weapon is generally considered to be five grands in one weapon. This is thanks to it granting MC 30% normal amp and 4 hit flurry as well as providing the team 100k supp, and 10% cap up. The main drawback is that it has a 100% hit to multi attack rate which needs to be compensated for. It will be widespread for NM150, NM200, and NM250 duos for both Leviathan and Varuna. And this includes FA for the former two as well as their are many FA setups that can compensate the MA down.
As for bullets, the typical configuartion is 5 Belial (Anagenesis) or 5 Beezlebub (Chaos Legion) and 1 SUBHL (Genesis Nova) bullet. Overall, The belial bullets are stronger for UnF thanks to their higher attack mod. 5 Bubs bullets are typically for cases where you wouldn’t call Bubs. But with UnF setups you’ll always want to call bubs anyways so the higher ATK bullet wins out. If you have 5 Bubs bullets and don’t want to farm Belial ones, you’ll be mostly fine.
Shishio is basically a premium version of a Kaneshige that offers a strong upgrade for CA setups. This makes it pretty strong for NM250 setups and BIS for any Kengo CA setups. Kengo NM250 will probably still be slower than Hrae 200 solos and 250 duos so I would hestitate heavily to buy it for UnF until it is known for sure.
Leviathan
To start, let us cover the weapons needed for Leviathan grids.
General
| Summon | Priority | Notes |
|---|---|---|
4 Leviathan Gaze Mare | ★★★★★ | 4 required for Extremity |
2 Leviathan Cranium Mare | ★★★★★ | |
3 ATK, 3-4 DEF Schrodinger | ★★★★☆ | For FA and NM250 |
2-3 Tyros Zither | ★★★★☆ | |
3 Ancient Auberon | ★★★☆☆ | |
2 Wamdus’s Cnidocyte | ★★★☆☆ | |
1-2 Leviathan Blade Mare | ★★★☆☆ | |
1 Bow of Sigurd | ★★★☆☆ | |
1 ATK Lagrange Mk II | ★★☆☆☆ | |
4 ATK Schrodinger Mk II | ★★☆☆☆ | |
2 ATK Esna | ★☆☆☆☆ | |
2 Colomba | ☆☆☆☆☆ | Only if can’t do Revans. |
Like most other elements at this point, the core of Omega grids are its M3 exalto weapon. In this case, that would be Leviathan Gaze Mare. Four of these will cover all your needs from OTK to burst to FA. 4 is also needed for Super Lucilius Keys for burst setups.
The other M3 weapons will also be useful. Particularly Leviathan Cranium Mare with its Stamina III mod is an excellent damage slot and will be used in many burst and OTK setups. Get two to be prepared. On the other hand, Leviathan Blade Mare is a great defensive weapon for FA thanks to its medium HP and healing cap up mods as well as having medium TA which is always a plus. 1 should generally be enough but you can uncap a second if you want to be fully prepared.
The older crit grids for water can still be farmed for if you need some extra options. Particulary, it would be good for EX+ and NM90 thanks to the supplmental damage from Wamdus’s Cnidocyte. 2 Cnidocytes and 3 Ancient Auberons will cover most cases. If you don’t have M3 access, go for a 4th aub as well.
CA setups will see plenty of use for NM250. For that, going for 3 ATK and 3-4 DEF Schrodingers if possible would ideal to be fully prepared. Ideally, the ATK copies should be MKII. Prioritze DEF Schrodingers first for FA. Additionally, you will want the boostable CA damage and cap weapon Tyros Zither for more CA output options. 2 will be more than enough. Go for 3 for OTK especially if you can’t do Revans yet.
A couple of EX+/NM90 specific investments to look for is having 4 ATK Schrodinger Mk IIs and an ATK Lagrange Mk II. A MK2 Schrodinger is an excellent unboosted mod slot that will be ideal for any Kaguya x Kaguya setup. Lagrange on the other hand is the go to mainhand for any tag team setups.
Premium Upgrades
| Summon | Priority | Notes |
|---|---|---|
1-2 Gospel of Water and Sky | ★★★★★ |
For premium upgrade options, Gospel of Water and Sky is your highest priority thanks to the unconditional 50 supp which will completely free you from Crit grids even with a single copy. They are an excellent boost and its a highly reccomended to get one not just for the supp and cap up they provide but also for coming with Gabriel
who will be a strong pick for burst, FA, and as a backline in general.
Varuna
Varuna grids will likely see major changes before UnF with the probable release of its Exalto weapon. As a result, Water grids will change around a bunch to accomadate them. So keep that in mind when considering if you should transition. If you don’t think you’ll be able to get 2 Exalto weapons, make sure you develop your Leviathan options.
| Summon | Priority | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2-3 Exalto Weapons | ★★★★★ | |
2 SKILL Taisai Spirit Bow | ★★★★★ | |
2 Galilei’s Insight | ★★★★★ | |
2 Calamitous Aquashades | ★★★★☆ | |
| 2 Gospel of Water and Skys | ★★★★☆ | |
| 2 Wamdus’s Cnidocyte | ★★★★☆ | |
2 Knight of Ice | ★★★☆☆ | |
1-2 ATK Murgleises or Blue Spheres | ★★★☆☆ | |
| 2 ATK, 2 DEF Schrodinger | ★★☆☆☆ | For FA and NM250 |
1 Fimbul | ★★☆☆☆ | |
| 3 Calamitous Aquashades | ★☆☆☆☆ | |
1 Blue Lightning | ★☆☆☆☆ |
Based on the existing Exalto Grands, Water is most likely to have Big Crit amp with its weapon. This would pair extremely well with Water’s multiple Crit Grands. Having two Taisai Spirit Bows and 2 Galilei’s Insights ready should cover all cases if the Exalto itself doesn’t have crit. It will also be the go to for FA or manadiver setups even if Exalto.
The weapon that will be most affected by the existance of an Exalto are Calamitous Aquashades. For boosted burst setups, they will pretty much phased out. That said, they will likely retain use in any unboosted setups that may present themselves. Additionally, they are strong for both FA setups and NM250 CA mashing if that’s worth doing this time thanks to the HP and defense they provide.
When it comes to supplmental weapons, there are three main ways water has access to it. Like many other weapons, it has its 50k supp and 7% damage cap weapon Gospel of Water and Sky. Then there is the farmable 50 supp on crits Wamdus’s Cnidocyte. And last is the gold moon weapon Hraesvelgr which provides 100k supp and 10% cap when mainhand. With any soldier or relic buster setups using Hrae, the other two aren’t needed. For non Soldier/RB setups, it is a bit of a battle between the others. Cnidocyte has the advantage of having 20% crit per copy reducing the number of other crit weapons needed. Gospel’s main advantage is having the 7% cap up. Generally, Cnidocytes have the advantage for Crit setups which are presently the go to for any boostable setup.
Knight of Ice is water’s boostable skill cap and supplmental damage weapon. They will be great for skill based FA setups and pair excellently with Haaselia.
Last up, there are some notable damage mods. There are two ATK grands in Murgleis and Blue Sphere. Having 1-2 of either will be good to be prepared. Fimbuls and their premium upgrade Blue Lightning both offer HP to help boost Aquashades along with Stamina for a another type of mod in the grids that would use them.
Who to Farm?
Next up, we’ll go over the Eternals and Evokers for the element that you should consider farming for.
Haaselia
If you don’t have Haaselia at FLB already, hard prioritize her before UnF. She is a top tier support with a wide variety of buffs available. Those buffs heavily revolves around her Full Moon buff she gains now on swap in. During full moon she provides teamwide 40% bonus damage. It doesn’t stack with Falsehood, but since its much stronger that frees you to use other keys like Extremity. During Full Moon, her Tears of Lunacy buff provides 100/20 DATA, 20% bonus damage that stacks with anything, and 10% damage cap up. Additionally Full Moon activates her evoker weapon Reflection of The Moon for 30% cap up and 50% unique ATK to team. And to add more to this, her skill 4, which you should get, deals a 4 hit skill damage on ally multi attacks for tons of free skill damage.
Her sole downside is requiring a swap in, but once she is in she will instantly be a major boost any burst or FA setup.
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa
saw plenty of use in NM200 FA setups last year thanks to her frequent dispels that reset on CA. She will likely be solid again for NM200 for that same reason. Her FLB is not a major priority especially compared to Haase but she might be useful if you can afford it. Her skill 4 is very optional and can be skipped.
Feower
While there are positives I can say for Feower
, I’ll keep it brief and say he has some solid FA potential but if you have the strong FA options of Water you’ll never use him. The main reason I want to shout him out is that he will be recieving buffs soon from Tales of Eternals. So maybe those will pan out and he could be useful even with stronger characters.
Anre
Similar to Feower, Anre
depends heavily on his Tales of Eternals buffs. Right now, he is not worth it for anyone really. His main use in prior UnFs was for NM95 bursts thanks to the one turn assassin on Fleeting Spark
Gain Substitute (1T) and Counters on Dodge (3 times, 3T).
Level 95:
Also gain Fleeting Spark (280%, Multiplier: Assassin, 1T)
. But with NM95 being heavily deemphasized, he won’t be used.
What to Suptix?
In this section, we will go over the Special Suprise Draw Set that will occur before UnF to discuss any characters or summons that may be useful.
High Priority
Characters that are a strong reccomendation to get.
Erika
Erika
is a must have in long form Water burst setups thanks to synergy with existing Relic Buster
and Soldier
. Particularly, she provides another round of normal attacks from a targeted ally, in this case MC, which is great for making the most of damage turns. She can also provide 100/20 crit, keen, and 15% amp for more damage output. She will be widespread in NM150 and NM200.
Zeta (Water)
Zeta (Water)
is an outdated attacker that still brings a lot of value thanks to her guarenteed TA and 10% echoes on ally TA. Those echoes stack with basically everything in water making her an excellent 0B buffer. And her skills offer some solid damage output if you need to push a bit more.
Her best use now a days is as the best OTK unit in Water. For CA setups she offers an Unworldly CA with a skill nuke after it. She does have reduced charge gain so you will need to keep that in mind to make sure she can reach 100% by time she CAs. For normal attack setups, the prementioned TA and passive echoes makes her invaluable.
Medium Priority
Characters that fill some strong niches.
Gwynne
Gwynne pairs a 1-4 turn assassin with spammable instant normal attacks for a high damage per turn potential. On top of that, she also has access to double strike. Last year she was pretty widespread among NM150 burst setups thanks to her spammable damage and likely she will still be useful again especially if you lack the stronger, limited characters.
She is also a solid OTK unit offering GTA and 50% bonus damage at 0 buttons.
Anne
Anne
is an amazing teamwide defensive buffer with her skill 1 Anti-Collision Spell
All allies gain DEF Up (100%, 3T) and Armored (30%, 3T).
(All allies gain DEF Boosted (Stackable) (10% per Spirit lvl upon cast (75% Max)) based on Spirit (Anne) (Multiplier: Perpetuity) lvl.)
Level 90:
All allies also gain 40% Fire Cut (1T).
providing 100% DEF up, 70/30 armored, and stackable DEF up for 3T as well as a 1T fire cut. This also casts on her CA which also dispels and provides teamwide dispel cancel. The main drawback to her CA is she can only use at 200% bar, but much of her kit makes it easier to reach that either through bar gain or instant attacks. All around she’s a great defensive option for FA that could see use in NM200 and NM250.
Low Priority
Good characters that may be replacements for stronger characters or fill too niche a niche that you could work around for not having them.
Macula Marius
Macula Marius’s
recent rebalance offered her a much needed glow up. While she does need time to fully build Glaciate on the enemy, once that is up she deals tons of skill damage and useful debuffs on the enemy. She also provides a bunch of healing via her skill 2 and CA. Her passive provides 2% (10% max) skill cap per crest even from backline which is another solid plus.
Yodarha
Yodarha (SSR)
is a solid FA damage dealer particularly thanks to his Triple Shrouds. They are consumed by normal attacks and CA and are restored every 4 turns or via his skill 3. On those 4th turns, he also gains a one hit assassin. While he has shrouds, he has GTA, 30% perp attack, and 40% increased dodge rate which can activate his on dodge passive for a plain damage instance and buff removal. He also carries double strike, delay on CA, and sub + dodge all for a well arounded mix of damage and utlity.
Yngwie
Yngwie
, specifically in his Style Yngwie (Legend of Bravado and Revelry)
, can deal a lot of skill damage per turn with two red skills, a skill reset, and instant recast and on top of that he frequently gets his skills back. This makes him great for pushing lots of damage per turn. The main drawback is that he’s on the slower side, but is a great FA option for filling out weaker character rosters.
One major thing to note is that his Style is locked behind his event Full Metal Man VII: The Last Mission. Since this has not be rerun since 2022 nor was added to side stories, if you didn’t do it before, then Yngwie is not worth using.
What to Spark?
For this section, we’ll go over characters found in either Flash Gala or Legend Festival. This won’t go over any 3% banners because I do not trust them. Additionally, this won’t list characters who solely exist for their weapons.
Payila
Payila
is simply put the best unit in water at the moment for all content from OTK to burst to FA to HL. I could go into why she’s so great, but any quick glance at her kit says everything you need to know. She will be core to UnF and anyone without her will be gapped. There is one banner with Payila left this year. If you didn’t get her yet, it will be your last chance til 2026.
Gabriel
Gabriel is Water’s 20% boost to weapon skills character. In addition to this useful passive, she is also a great frontliner thanks to her teamwide 20% bonus damage and 50% TA up. Also after every four ally TAs, she will a large 2 hit skill damage nuke and dispel that is both a great damage source for OTK and an excellent source of frequent dispels for FA. On top of being a great Unit, she comes with Water’s 50k supp and 7% cap weapon Gospel of Water and Sky which pushes her value even further.
Europa
Europa
is an excellent defensive and offensive unit that is great for both mitigating a ton of damage tanks via 50% fire damage lowered, buff removal immunity, and heals as well as for dishing out strong skill and normal attack damage. Additionally, her CA buff provides 50% TA to party for more consistent damage output. Expect her to see plenty of use in FA setups for NM200 and NM250.
Vajra
Vajra
was the former queen of all CA setups in water. If you look at any CA NM200 setups from the past two years she was all over. New characters in the last year have really challenged her throne and she may not be as widespread compared to CA setups in the past. But with that said she is still amazing for it thanks to her teamwide buffs, frequent CAs, and dispels on CA. She is a very strong NM250 candidate especially if it has annoying buffs that need to be quickly removed.
Poseidon
Poseidon
is a character that does a little bit of a lot making him useful in a variety of places. He has a passive 3 hit flurry which makes him a top tier OTK choice. Outside that, he is used for CA setups. Particularly, he works well for manual CA setups thanks to his skill 2 Ruler of the Sea
150% Water damage to all foes (Damage cap: ~340,000).
All allies gain ATK Boosted (Stackable) (5% (30% Max), Multiplier: Unique Stackable), DEF Boosted (Stackable) (5% (30% Max)), and Charge Bar (20%).
(Consumes all Tide Father lvls. Boost to activations based on number consumed [Max: 10 times].)
being able to full restore everyone’s charge bars. He can also help prevent any nasty debuffs that NM250 may bring.
Manatura
Another thing to farm for are the various Manatura that might see use.
The main three are from left to right the Leviathan Mino, the Ouroboros Mino, and the Dark Rapture Simulacrum. There are the primary three for most uses with Manadiver. All three use the same mechanic of dealing skill damage on normal attacks when MC has at least 1 crest at the cost of 30% charge bar.
Leviathan is the most basic and easiest to obtain especially since it can be traded for. It deals a 6 hit skill damage instance. And it also inflicts a debuff called Submerged with is used by the support passive to give MC 10% bonus damage.
Ouroboros is a very strong upgrade thanks to its 6 hit nuke hitting harder and support passive that provides 30k teamwide supplemental damage with an additional 5k supp per crest. The main drawback is the way to obtain it is from the Alchemy Lab where it costs a hefty 30k points. This cost is pretty significant for anyone who hasn’t extensively bar farmed before.
Lastly, the Dark Rapture Simulacrum is a side grade to the Ouroboros one. It deals a single large skill damage instance that also inflicts amplified damage taken. And its support passive provides MC with 30% perp ATK, 25/25 DATA, 10% cap, and +10 hostlity to MC at the cost of 10% HP per turn. In many cases for burst setups, this can slightly edge out over Ouroboros, but for any FA setup that lasts a significant number of turns, the HP cost can often prove to much.
Unlike the others, the Agastia Simulacrum is a very specialized one focus on setups where the MC will charge attack. The support passive grants the MC 9% (90% max) CA damage, and 3% (30%) max CA cap per buff on MC. And when MC has 12 or more buffs, it deals a massive 10 hit skill damage nuke that can easily deal over 9m damage in OTK setups. Combine this from the skill damage it inflicts on attack for over 10m additional damage after CA.
Upcoming Changes
Right now its a bit hard to predict all that will be coming up as there isn’t too much news right now. A big reason for that is because of…
Winter Stream
It is almost time for Granblue Fes 2024 which is set for December 21st and 22nd. This big event comes with tons of announcements and December as a whole features a bunch of new updates as a result. Right now all we can do is speculate what could release like maybe a new class or raid. Tune into the stream or the stream coverage at @granblue_en for the info once it drops.
“Tales of Eternals”
Announced for December already is an event like Tales of Arcarum but focused on the Eternals. While there are more details for it to be announced, they have announced their will be a new boost system that will buff the eternals. The first two eternals announced are Anre and Feower . With both being water, they may get something to make them notable for the upcoming UnF.
New Characters and Summons
Before UnF, there will be three flash galas and two legfests. Two of these banners will contain new Holiday characters and two will have grands. Additionally, we will get the next Zodiac (who shouldn’t be water) as well as a potential new meta summon.
3 responses to “Water UnF 2025 Preparation Guide”
I have some questions:
1. Is Schrödinger not needed for varuna grid?
2. Can you explain the bullets required for Hraesvelgr?
Updated to address both.
1. They can be used for NM250. I think two each would be more than enough. You can also get the 4 ATK 20 for Kag x Kag OTK if you wish to go that route over a faster one.
2. 5 Belial or Bubs Bullets and 1 SUBHL
Not looking forward to the bullet farming hell