The release of the new Summer Festa fatecore Iris not only brought an obvious counter to the domination of the First Guardians in the PvP scene, but also shifted another hero to the front of the line as a popular pick, the fated hero and story antagonist Shufraken.

While already a sought after unit due to being one of the first heroes with a gold fatecore, his usage previously fell short as the damage over time effect from his passive was hard countered by First Guardians. Now with the unique ability from Iris to remove shields and apply a defense debuff, Shufraken’s potential as a multiple target finisher has truly shined. Let’s take a look at the current meta team and why this new frontline has been so successful against it.

The golden trio backline team

The “Golden Trio” as many have called them, is the backline team of Bathory, First Guardian Fatecore Rera, and Forgotten Past Fatecore Annie. The Forgotten Past Fatecore Bathory is often used as well for those lucky enough to pull her.

These three heroes are the clear favorites for anyone looking to climb the PVP ladder and rank in the top 50. There’s popularity stems from their unique skill sets and synergy as an AOE/multi-target nuke team. Let’s take a look at what makes them the best backline in the game for competitive content.

Bathory - The unique ability of her passive and providing the Tranquil mark is the sole reason she is an essential unit in the current PVP meta. Tranquil essentially gives your entire team a second life as it prevents death for one turn. The only condition is that her attack must be higher than all other units on the team, which is fairly easy given her high base attack as an innate damage dealer. The fact that she has one of the highest AOE burst skills is icing on the cake.

Marinehawk Fatecore Rera - Strong single target sniping ability with active skill 1, huge AOE burst capability with active skill 2, and the unique Guardian Star ability from her fatecore passive makes Rera the best damage dealer in the game, hands down. Coupled with the fact that her skills and passive synergize with Bathory’s tranquil mark make her even more deadly. Her passive allows her to move first for a potential first turn snipe to take out an enemy’s key unit. It also provides her with extra sustainability if she is marked with tranquil by restoring her health completely when tranquil is removed. The fact that her skills do insane damage and also debuff the enemy by decreasing their accuracy and evasion only solidify her position as the number one attack type unit in the game currently. Add the First Guardian innate passive, she provides not only damage but sustainability to your entire backline. 

Wandering Flamemaster Fatecore Annie - After her recent Reverse Core buff, Annie’s passive now provides the Burning Soul mark providing the fastest unit on the team, Rera, damage immunity and a 300% increase in critical hit rate for 2 turns, and 3 mana every round. Given the synergy with Rera, there’s no explanation needed as to why she is essential to this backline. 

The current frontline defense

The frontline wall of Garff or Fatecore Garff and First Guardian Fatecore Anastasia are key to the current meta given their abilities to keep the backline alive as long as possible. Let's take a look at their abilities and why they are the top choice for a frontline PVP team.

Garff - His ability to provide Protect to the ally with the lowest HP typically means he will provide the extra defensive layer to FC Annie. As FC Annie is usually targeted first due to her synergy with FC Rera, with Garff in the frontline she can potentially withstand a first turn snipe due to Garff’s protect ability and high HP. In addition, with his unique passive ability providing the Command mark he increases all allies HP and defense by 20% which significantly improves the defensive capacity of the First Guardian dragon scale shield. Lastly, being one of the three fated units with Breath Mana, he provides permanent mana to his frontline partner, typically FC Anastasia.

Ignite Fatecore Anastasia - The ability to heal, cleanse, and single-target nuke is what makes FC Anastasia the ideal support hero. Add the First Guardian passive and she essentially becomes a second tank with her ability to barrier herself and others in the frontline with the stackable dragon scale shield. Given her healing ability is a burst skill, the more mana she’s given due to her synergy with Garff’s and Bathory’s Breath of Mana ability, the larger her healing capacity.  

The new front line finishers

Since the release of the gold Fatecore Iris, high ranking players have had great success with the Iris/Shufraken frontline to utilize her Wet Fog passive and Shufrakens Fear of the Abyss mark as an AOE final hit.

Why does this work so well? Her passive revived the previous AOE meta that dominated PVP prior to the release of the First Guardian as it nullifies the dragon scale shield that has become a huge barrier to overcome when attacking a team. In addition, given the whole backline meta consists of all AOE burst damage dealers, Shufraken’s passive provides the best setup for an AOE burst in the second round.

To explain the mechanics in greater detail:

• On the first turn FC Rera uses her active 1 to snipe an opposing backline unit.
• Assuming the opposing team has a Bathory, Rera’s attack removes the Tranquil mark and leaves her target with less than 10% HP.
• This triggers Fear of the Abyss from Shufraken dealing damage to the entire backline and killing Rera’s target.
• Assuming the opposition has a First Guardian in the backline, the damage from Shufraken’s Fear of the Abyss activates the dragon scale shield.
• FC Iris’ passive ability Wet Fog is then triggered and the entire opposing backline’s dragon scale barrier is removed and their defense is decreased.
• As the opposing team now has a defense debuff applied to their entire backline, you can now AOE with Annie/Bathory to wipe the remaining backline units and then followup with the same scenario on the opposing frontline.

While this new frontline has had success at high ranks, it is very offense heavy and does leave your team exposed to a potential wipe if you do not deal enough damage to activate Shufraken’s passive on the first round. While it is trending as another meta team to utilize, it does not provide the same safety that a FC Anastasia and Garff frontline can provide.

In addition, it doesn't fare well in Squad battles as it has no form of sustainment against 3 consecutive teams. Hopefully, this overview of the current meta has provided you with enough insight into the two possible teams you focus on building. It’s always a surprise to see how new units impact the meta, and this current trend is no disappointment.   

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