First let’s cover the highest priority characters released last year. These two made the most substaintial impact in the last year and are very important to have around.

Ilsa Yukata

Ilsa (Yukata) packs both strong normal attacks thanks to her split autos pairing well with supplemental damage as well as her strong teamwide buffs including 100/20 crit, 15% cap, and 20% echoes. For longer bursts, her skill 3 Diva Satanica Increase number of times caster does an attack this turn based on number of Diuturna (Max: Quadruple Strike (1T)). gains higher value. Every time an ally dies her skills reset and she gains a stack that increases that skill 3 from double strike to tri strike to quad strike.

She is dark’s current top character for burst and a great damage source in FA too.

Vania Yukata

Vania (Yukata) is another attacker supporter hybrid. For the support side she has 20% echoes, 15% cap up, 50% TA, and 100% debuff resistance for five turns. The skill also provides drain which ties into her passive that casts at the end of the turn her skill 1 Reaping Wings 800% Wind damage to a foe (Damage cap: ~820,000).
Remove 1 buff.
Inflict Delay (Drain) (Accuracy: 200%). If successful, gain ATK Sharply Boosted (50%, 1 times, Multiplier: Assassin, 1T). to both dispel and delay the foe and gain a 1 hit assassin on successful delay. This results in her being able to have 6 turns of one hit assassin in a row. She also carries Wind’s Can’t Attack skill which is excellent for nullifying triggers in annoying Nightmare fights.

All around she’s one of the best burst and FA characters wind has available.

Noa (Holiday)

Noa (Holiday) is a hard content character particularly being one of the best for Lucilius Zero. He provides up to 100% defense, 100% debuff resistance, 1k refresh, and 20% reduced damage to the team. The drawback of this is he has to use his skill 2 Familia Feliz / Familia Jubilosa a second time for the full effect and at a 12 turn cooldown it is slow even with coodown reduction on CA. For Zero, qilin is often used as a support summon with him so the skill 2 can be recast right away. Also once built up, he can provide 1 turn unchallanged, 100% bar, 50% CA damage and 10% CA cap to team.

Vira (Valentine)

Vira (Valentine) is a great sub all tank geared towards hard content. She has a 3/7 uptime on her sub all and coverts damage to wind and caps it to 5k on top of the defense bonuses it provides. Every time she CAs she resets her skill 1 Cage of Light 500% Fire damage to all foes (Damage cap: ~630,000).Inflict Delay (Accuracy: 100%) and Divine Jail (Accuracy: 90%, 1T). which both delays and prevents charge diamonds from filling. The latter tends to miss on harder raids but it is helpful when it lands.

She presently sees use in Hexa and Lucilius Zero.

Scathacha (Valentine)

Scathacha (Valentine)’s recent rebalance made her one of the best FA slots for last NM200. This is thanks to having strong team wide heals and being able to clear 1-2 debuffs on enemy specials. She is also a solid dispel source with her CA on. She provides 30% echoes and 30% wind damage resistance to allies with shield. The shield she provides is 5k which won’t last long against NM200 but can push out a bit more damage for the turn or two its up. And when she dips into the red, she’ll do a one time full HP restore to the team.

Medusa (Summer)

Medusa (Summer) is an excellent FA support character providing both strong teamwide defensive tools as well as frequent dispels thanks to her passive which casts skill damage and a dispel when she doesn’t take damage. Her main downside is her slow ramp up time needing to avoid damage for five turns in order to gain that end of turn nuke. But for longer FAs its a non issue. Generally now for her dispel utility she’s replaced by Grand Zeta but still overall a great option for longer FA sessions.

Lucio (Summer)

Lucio (Summer) is burst character who has remained relevant since his release. This is not only due to both providing 20% echoes to team and 90% echo to one ally, but also the GTA he provides to one person being highly valuable for both Exo Antaeus and Hraesvelgr setups

Helel ben Shalem (Summer)

Helel ben Shalem (Summer) provides lots of strong tools for hard content with her CA providing both dispel and delay, having spammable stackable debufffs, lowering cooldowns, and being the bearer of Can’t Act for the element. She has not left teams for hard content since her release and due to everything she provides its unlikely she’ll leave without a major change.

Outside hard content, she’s great in normal kengo teams as well thanks to her having CA reactivation whenever the enemy has 10 deuffs.

Vikala (Halloween)

Vikala (Halloween) is a sklill damage support character providing up to 30% stackable skill cap as well 50k skill supp when her field is up. She also provides a boinus 3 hit skill damage and healing after every three skill presses. She’s all around great for FA setups with a skill damage focus. The main drawback is that skill damage teams are only optimal for NM200, but if you lack the stronger FA setups for other content they are a great choice instead.

Cassius (Valentine)

Cassius (Valentine) is skill damage attacker capable of firing off multiple nukes in a row. HIs main usage is the dispel on his skill 1 Mirage Sign 8-hit, 100% Water damage to random foes (Damage cap: ~67,500 per hit).
Remove 1 buff from all foes. that resets on enemy special. For the buff heavy NM200 fights he is one of the better dispel options available in FA.

Catura (Holiday)

Catura (Holiday) provides four turns of double strike to herself and MC. With how much water leans into burst setups with high MC damage, this carries a lot of impact. Last GW, she was a very strong choice for NM95. Her main drawback is that all she provides is the double strike. Her echo while good does not stack with Lucio and Lucio overall is more important due to his ability to provide GTA to MC. Still she sees a fair amount of use for Soldier setups thanks to what she provides.

Clarisse (Summer)

Clarisse (Summer) is most notable for her skill 3 Atomic Condensation 888,888 Plain damage to all foes.
Inflict Elemental Condensation 5 (Accuracy: 200%, 5T) and Gravity (Accuracy: 100%, 180s). which converts any boss to fire. This allows all water seraphic boosts to activate for a massive damage increase. Despite this, she is on the niche side overall as the primary off element bursts don’t run her due to her own low damage without any additional button presses as well as the Hrae setups used for bar farming benefit more from more echoes and supp damage. She is still useful for FAing certain content though and her utility may see increased use in the future.

Illnott (Summer)

Illnott (Summer) is a great support character thanks to providing 4 turns of 100% TA, 30% echoes at the cost of 100% charge via her skill 2 Roaring Crew All allies gain TA Up (100%, 4T) and Bonus Earth DMG (30%, 4T).
Inflict Shorted (4T) on all allies.
(Consumes 100% of all allies’ charge bars.) as well being able to cap defense down on her skill 3. She sees use both in GW as well as for Diaspora.

She has also gained more usability with the release of Uriel who can help provide the charge bar she needs to activate her skill 2.

Cucouroux (Halloween)

Cucouroux (Halloween) is the hit count queen of earth having both split autos as well as 6 hit nukes after autos via her skill Spread Shot 6-hit, 100% Earth damage to random foes (Damage cap: ~60,000 per hit).
Inflict Debuff Resistance Lowered (Stackable) (10% (30% Max), Accuracy: 100%, 180s) and Earth Lowered (Stackable) (10% (30% Max), Accuracy: 100%, 180s) on all foes.
Gain Covering Fire (3T). . This makes her excellent for tearing through V2 hit count triggers particullarly Diaspora where she reigns. Her skill is also copyable by Caim for even more potential hitcounts. Her split autos make her a go to as well for OTK or a 0 button slot for NM95.

Helel ben Shalem (Holiday)

Helel ben Shalem (Holiday) is a CA focused hard content character with strong usage in Lucilius Zero. After two CAs, all her debuff skills activate twice as well as her CA. This makes her excellent for dispels. Her skill 3 Langelaan Field is a two turn full hostility with 99% reflect. During these turns she can’t normal attack, but that plays into her passive that gives her 100% charge when she doesn’t attack and coverts her CA to unworldly. She will also activate her skill Doro Legion after for another dispel chance.

Anthuria (Holiday)

Anthuria (Holiday) provides MC with 4 turns of double strike. This has resulted in her seeing use each GW so far since her release. Top setups with Hrunting won’t use her, but for others that much double strike is hard to pass up for burst strats. She was also one of the original characters used to Lucilius Hard FA thanks to her ability to make herself and MC basically immortal through dodging as long as they CA that turn.

Vikala (Summer)

Vikala (Summer) provides teamwide double both via her skill 2 Yintopian Bounty Other Earth allies gain Double Strike (1T).
Self-inflict C.A. Sealed (Can’t be removed) (3T). and her CA. While she doesn’t offer much for buffs which limits her overall usage, she was used a lot for NM200 last year as well as sees plenty of usage in Diaspora thanks to Caim’s ability to let her use her teamwide double strike twice.

Narmaya (Holiday)

Narmaya (Holiday) was for a long time Earth’s strongest attacker pairing a massive two turn 80% echo with a one turn assassin and all sub. Now a days she’s mostly regulated to shorter bursts being the best assassin option for NM95. She can also see usage in Diaspora burst setups depending on the characters one has available. Naru’s age will likely mean she’ll fully be replaced eventually but for now she still has enough firepower to stick around for longer.

Pholia (Yukata)

Pholia (Yukata) is an excellent short term burst characters thanks to her ability to provide teamwide GTA, a one hit assassin, and prevent enemy special attacks all on one button. She saw lots of use for NM95 and NM150 last year and has usage in Nekomancer burst teams presently. Next year she will probably see use again or at least make weaker setups a lot nicer.

Dante (Halloween)

Dante (Halloween) is the Earth enjoyer’s character with his main use being the 10% echoes to all ally TAs he provides. This will more than likely make him a top slot for next Earth GW for NM95 and OTK. He is also quite good for Diaspora. Normally, his stacks would be difficult to built up. However since Diaspora does not attack while repair mode is up he easily reaches max stacks and can deal great damage with his skill 1 Shadow Cats .

Vania (Yukata)

Vania (Yukata) is another attacker supporter hybrid. For the support side she has 20% echoes, 15% cap up, 50% TA, and 100% debuff resistance for five turns. The skill also provides which ties into her passive that casts at the end of the turn her skill 1 Reaping Wings 800% Wind damage to a foe (Damage cap: ~820,000).
Remove 1 buff.
Inflict Delay (Drain) (Accuracy: 200%). If successful, gain ATK Sharply Boosted (50%, 1 times, Multiplier: Assassin, 1T). to both dispel and delay the foe and gain a 1 hit assassin on successful delay. This results in her being able to have 6 turns of one hit assassin in a row. She also carries Wind’s Can’t Attack skill which is excellent for nullifying triggers in annoying Nightmare fights.

All around she’s one of the best burst characters and FA characters wind has available.

Grimnir (Valentine)

Grimnir (Valentine) is the strongest 0B attacker for OTK and NM95 bursts thanks to his split autos pairing well with supplemental damage. He is also great for FA setups especially against any V2 boss that requires skill damage to cancel omens due to him using a damage skill every turn.

Aliza (Summer)

Aliza (Summer) is a key character for wind skill mash teams thanks to her frequet counter damage and ability to tank through triggers. Last year she saw use for NM200 and presently sees use in Siegfried as well.

Shion (Summer)

The main draw of Shion (Summer) is her autocasting her skill Fuji’s Slash 500% Wind damage to all foes (Damage cap: ~635,000).
Remove 1 buff.
Inflict ATK Lowered (Stackable) (10% (40% Max), 180s).
(When caster’s charge bar is 50% or higher: Activates twice.) on enemy special which is both great for OTK as well as the dispel or double dispel when she has 50% charge being great against buff heavy bosses. In particular, she is one of the best characters for FAing Siegfried in order to quickly strip the frequent and obnoxious buffs it gets.

Lich (Halloween)

Lich (Halloween) is another wind skill damage character. She provides both frequest dispels and delays making her great for a fight like Siegfried that asks for both. She’s also a great FA character in general thanks to those and her debuffs.

Anila (Summer)

Anila (Summer) is a buffer for burst setups that is used primarily for her 10% passive echo to all ally TAs. As a result, she’s used a lot when cutting buttons from setups since she can provide a lot without doing anything. Her main downside is not having any passive TA buffs but that can be remedied with Tiamat (Summer).

She also has targetable 30% superior element bonus damage as well. Beyond its ability to push a bit more damage on Wind bursts, the skill actually works off element and the echo stacks with almost everything. In particular, last Water GW had her as a core character for NM200 bursting in order to push out even more damage with Hraesvelgr

Korwa (Summer)

Korwa (Summer) is the older queen of burst along with Narmaya. The release of Vampy as well as Spartan FLB has reduced her usage in burst setups but she’s still a very strong option thanks to her having a targetable double strike and 50% cap up. Also, her skill 2 Soie Elegante Grant a Wind ally Magnifique (100% DEF Up / 30% reduced DMG taken / 100% Debuff Resistance Up).
(Consumes 3 Fil (Summer).) is an excellent source of defense for hard content.

Light is the next GW up and two of its main burst characters are seasonals. And more than that they are Halloween characters which is one of the hardest banners to spark. If you are missing particularly Mugen, it would be a great idea to get him.

Mugen (Halloween)

Mugen (Halloween) is presently the highest value suptix for burst thanks to his incredibly strong teamwide buffs on Song of Sweetmeats All Light allies gain Light ATK Up (30%, 5T), Critical Hit Rate Boosted (20%, 5T), DMG Cap Boosted (15%, 5T), and DMG Amplified (20%, 5T).(Inflict Max HP Lowered (Stackable / Can’t be removed) (30% (90% Max)) on target allies.) as well as synergy with Nehan with his Bonus Damage passive. He also gained higher value with the release of Efes] thanks to the 100% crit he provides activating the crit amp.

Florence (Halloween)

Florence (Halloween) has typically been the third member for relic buster comps thanks to her ability place a turn wide assassin on MC. For the average player this burst will be the safest option for Nightmare fights if a bit on the slow side. Ura setups also use her as well. That said she is the most likely member to be kicked from light burst depending on the situation.

Aglovale (Valentine)

Aglovale (Valentine) provides a lot of skill damage as well as solid teamwide buffs. While he is slow compared to other options, he’s great for hard content to push out lots of damage in a turn for either hit count omens or damage ones. In particular for Hexa and Super Faa he can easily clear 2m damage instance omens with just his own skill damage. He’s also a great option for FA as well.

Seruel (Summer)

Seruel (Summer) is a charge bar spammer excellent for CA focused comps like in Agastia. He also provides up to 50% stackable CA cap as well as dispel cancel and veil.

Illnott (Holiday)

Illnott (Holiday) is another FA oriented skill damage character. In her case, she does skill nukes every time someone uses normal attack after pressing a red skill. The more skills pressed, the higher her passive stacks, and the more hits the nuke does. She’ll likely be a great option for later NM FAs.

Yurius (Summer)

Yurius (Summer) is another FA character that will likely be one of the best slots for the upcoming NM200. He provides stackables every turn with at 10% charge, healing, debuff clear, a double dispel, and plenty of skill damage.

Dark doesn’t have many seasonals worth suptixing but the ones that are definitely make an impact.

Ilsa (Yukata)

Ilsa (Yukata) packs both strong normal attacks thanks to her split autos pairing well with supplemental damage as well as her strong teamwide buffs including 100/20 crit, 15% cap, and 20% echoes. For longer bursts, her skill 3 Diva Satanica Increase number of times caster does an attack this turn based on number of Diuturna (Max: Quadruple Strike (1T)). gains higher value. Every time an ally dies her skills reset and she gains a stack that increases that skill 3 from double strike to tri strike to quad strike.

She is dark’s current top character for burst and a great damage source in FA too.

Meg (Summer)

Meg (Summer) is another normal attack focused burst character. She has particularly seen an increase in usage with Cidala (Valentine) comps. Since Cidala needs the Chain of Temptation to function properly, the echo Meg supplies makes up for the lack of Falsehood.

She’s also a solid FA pick though weaker than most other options.

Magisa (Summer)

Magisa (Summer) is a skill nuke presser. She is capable of pushing a lot of skill damage and hit counts in a turn thanks to two strong nukes and the ability to reset her skills. She mostly sees use either in FA or as an option for Lucilius Zero for the same reasons as V.Aglovale though she lacks the ability to easily hit 2m skill damage instances.

Anthuria (Yukata)

Anthuria (Yukata) is a hostility based dodge tank that heals and clears a debuff on dodge. She also packs very helpful teamwide buffs including echoes based on hype, 50% DEF, 30/15 TA, 10% CA cap up, uplifted, and veil. As well she is able to tank non AoE omens for the team via her skill Setting the Tempo Gain Other Self (Times) (2 times). . In all her recent tuneup has made her a lot stronger and because of that she’s been seen usage in Super Faa in the Rising Force setups. If you plan to run it particularly as Celeste I would consider her a prime pick to consider.

Seasonal summons are also another option.

Belial (Summer)

Belial (Summer) is a great summon in many ways and has no elemental dependency either.

The first are the counters help push a bit more damage out in burst setups and particurly OTK. The call is also provides a random selection of powerful buffs. The best of these is the 3 turns of 15% echoes as many elements lack multi turn echo summons and this is one of the only potential ways to get it.

He is additionally a core summon for wind due to the supplemental damage debuff from the sub aura activating Katzelia’s reverse passive ATK up.

Sleepyhead (Summer)

Sleepyhead (Summer) provides 100%/50% armored and veil as a sub aura to dark characters. This greatly improves dark’s survivability in burst setups particuarly against harder hitting raids like Cosmos or NM200. The Veil is also crucial for Akasha bursting to be able to avoid the instant kill at 55%.

Cerberus (Summer)

Cerberus (Summer) is the best echo summon available for fire for NM150 and up due to it providing 3 turns of 20% echo. The Sub Aura is generally ignorable as is the HP cut from the call but the echoes more than make up for it for those very invested in fire or don’t want to deal with S.Belial echo RNG.

Mandrake (Summer)

Mandrake (Summer) grants 30% strength to earth allies at battle start. This adds a lot for burst setups making it a great way to push additional damage. The call also delivers 7 debuffs at FLB making it a great for cancelling annoying debuff count omens like in Diaspora.