Table of Contents
Overview
- B2 Iron RL Supporter with a focus on buffing, with stronger buffs every second Burst.
- Wants to be the sole B2 to be Bursting, or else she won’t have access to her stronger buff.
- Her wide spread of buffs to give make her excellent for funnel team compositions, where one DPS is the main focus at the expense of the other DPS units.
- Her standard buffs are average for the B2 slot nowadays, making her a weak buffer for regular teams if you already have the more standard options available.
- Since she only gives away a wider variety of buffs on even Bursts if played properly on her own, one B3 unit will be ‘neglected’ and have weaker buffs normally.
- Massively upgraded by Prika. This will be discussed in Prika’s article, as she is very mediocre on her own, unlike Mint.
Should You Pull?
Mint is pretty good at what she does. Her buff on Burst which happens regardless of Burst cycle is acceptable, and her bigger buffs for Even burst cycles onwards is a nice mix of buffs that any ally can make use of. However, only certain units and team compositions can make the best use of the buffs Mint can give away; critical buffs are nice, but without some other source of criticals, whether rate, or damage, they are unreliable as a DPS up.
Unlike any other buffer as well, Mint doesn’t buff equally. She will have a weaker buff upon using Burst for the first time in combat, and every other burst afterwards, focusing primarily on healing during this time. Her bursts in between will include more buffs, meaning B3 units bursting alongside Mint in these burst cycles will have a DPS advantage over the B3 units bursting during her healing stance.
However, with Prika, Mint becomes one of the best buffers in the game. The two of them combine themselves to provide the best overall buffs to the majority of DPS units; however, this does require getting both of them. Mint is a niche funnel buffer on her own, while Prika is comparatively useless on her own if she’s not buffing Mint.
Similar to the schoolgirls, Tia and Naga, and unlike the maids Mast and Anchor, Mint and Prika are reliant on one another to boost each other a ton. While Mint has buffs that work on their own, they are just so massively improved by Prika. For that reason, if you are going to pull on the banners, it will either be for Mint, both, or none of them.
Mint can at least, work out well on her own to an extent. Getting both of them is the optimal thing to do, since they’re undoubtedly going to be meta, but it is a lot of pulls to potentially commit. It’s acceptable to go for neither if you lack the resources for it, and instead save/wishlist. While they outperform solo B2 buffer units when combined (besides Nayuta and Crown), it does require getting both. If you miss out on getting Mint before her banner ends, there’s almost no reason to go for Prika.
Newbie/Incomplete Box Section
Mint is a B2 Iron RL Supporter that has a unique ‘stance’ mechanic to keep in mind. Making the most of it allows Mint to be a better buffer than her competition, but only in very specific team compositions and circumstances.
Buff comparison with Mint vs. other B2 contemporaries.
Mint
- Attack Damage: +30.02% for 10 sec. when Bursting
- Max Ammunition Capacity: +40% for 10 sec. when Bursting
- Critical Damage: +45.05% for 10 sec. when Bursting.
- Caster ATK: +45.02% for 3 sec. with every Full Charge when Singing
- Critical Rate: +19.94% for 10 sec. when Singing.
- Projectile Explosion Damage: +50% for 10 sec. when Singing.
- Pierce Damage: +32.72% for 10 sec. when Singing.
- Healing: +1.8% of caster’s final Max HP/s for 3 sec with every Full Charge when Dancing
Ade: Agent Bunny
- Caster ATK: +15.2% for 5 sec when releasing a Full Charge attack (effectively permanent)
- Pierce Damage: +18.36% for 5 sec. when releasing a Full Charge attack (effectively permanent)
+10.13% for 10 sec. when using Burst. - Attack Damage: 55.04% for 10 sec. when using Burst.
Grave
- Attack Damage: +48.2% for 10 sec. when using Burst
- Pierce Damage: +39.98% for 10 sec. when using Burst
+48.4% when in her unique reload (mutually exclusive with her Burst buff)
Crown
- Caster ATK: +64.51% for 15 sec. when entering Full Burst (effectively permanent with enough Burst gen)
- Reloading Speed: 44.35% for 15 sec. when entering Full Burst (effectively permanent)
- Attack Damage: 20.99% for 7 sec. when receiving a heal effect.
36.24% when using Burst for 15 sec. (effectively permanent)
Crust
- Caster ATK: +10% when in Maillard Status permanently
+20% when entering Full Burst when in Maillard Status for 10 sec. - Attack Damage: +20% when using Burst for 10 sec.
- Distributed Damage: +60% when using Burst for 10 sec. when in Maillard Status.
She has a wide spread of buffs compared to most other Support units, but since one of her most consistent buffs, Attack Damage, is lower in exchange for (somewhat) unreliable and weaker Critical Rate and Critical Damage buffs, on top of most of the buffs being active only when she is Singing results in Mint not necessarily being good for every team.
While she can work like a standard buffer, given she has buffs anyone can use, since she only provides all her DPS buffs when Singing, it results in one DPS usually being screwed out of having good DPS throughout the fight normally. Since Full Burst with their Burst active is typically the best time for a DPS to perform, her DPS buffs coming online half the time means one won’t have them.
For general team compositions where both DPS units perform equally, or close to one another, this makes Mint a direct downgrade. However, in situations where one DPS vastly outperforms the other, and optimally, where the secondary B3 unit exists to buff the primary DPS unit, Mint can be an excellent choice for such team setups.
When combined with Prika, Mint will always be Singing after following Prika’s special effects, which is great. However, it does require having Prika; Mint on her own will only effectively buff one DPS unit. With Prika, she’ll buff both, and their buffs will combine to be at the top.
Basic Information
- Skill 1: Here I Go!
- Skill 2: Fantastic Performance!
- Burst: Let’s Sing Together!
- Cooldown: 20s
- Rarity: SSR
- Burst: II
- Weapon: RL
- Class: Supporter
- Element: Iron
- Manufacturer: Tetra
- Squad: T. T. Star
- Weapon Name: Coyly Star
Skill Overview
Due to how important they are to her function, it’s better to bring up how certain parts of her skills work right away, since understanding them right now makes it easier to read the rest of her skillset.
Only one Assigned Part is applied according to Mint's current status.
Status 1: If in the Assigned Part: Dancing status, Mint gains Assigned Part: Singing.
This effect is continuous and cannot be removed.
Status 2: If not in the Assigned Part: Dancing status, Mint gains Assigned Part: Dancing.
This effect is continuous and cannot be removed.
Activates when entering Burst Stage 3 while not in Sing Along status. Affects self.
Cancels Assigned Part: Singing.
Cancels Assigned Part: Dancing.
The first part of Burst states that if Mint is in the Dancing status, she will gain Singing Status.
If she is not in Dancing status, she will gain the Dancing status. This means that Mint, by default, starts at no state. Upon using Burst the first time in combat, she will gain the Dancing status.
Upon using the next Burst, she will instead switch to Singing. Remember, if she is not Dancing, she will enter Dancing status upon using Burst again. Since Singing is not Dancing, this means she will alternate between the two statuses upon every consecutive Burst.
The first part of Skill 2 states that if she enters Burst Stage 3, without her Sing Along buff from using Burst, she will stop being in either Singing or Dancing status. Considering that a significant part of her DPS buffs originate from her Singing status, and she enters Singing status when using Burst after Dancing, that means she MUST be the B2 to use Burst all consecutive times, otherwise, every Burst will always be of her initiating Dancing, and never going to Singing status.
Only one status can be active at a time, and she will alternate between the two, starting with Dancing upon using Burst for the first time. She will then proceed to switch to Singing status if she gets to Burst again uninterrupted. Every Burst afterwards will cause her to alternate between the two stances, assuming she always gets to use Burst.
NOTE: With Prika, Mint will always be Singing, thanks to her unique Burst effect, which will be explored in Prika’s article.
Skill 1: Here I Go!
Activates when attacking with Full Charge while in Assigned Part: Singing status.
Affects all allies.
Singing Effect: ATK ▲ 45.02% of the caster’s ATK for 3 sec.
Activates when attacking with Full Charge while in Assigned Part: Dancing status.
Affects all allies.
Dancing Effect: Constantly recovers 1.8% of the caster’s final Max HP every 1 sec for 3 sec.
If Mint performs a Full Charge attack while in Singing status, she will provide the whole team with a substantial caster ATK buff for 3 sec. If Mint performs a Full Charge attack while in Dancing status, she will instead heal all allies for 1.8% of her max HP every second for 3 sec. Due to her base charge time being 1 sec., and base reload time is 2 sec., this means that Mint can effectively have 100% uptime on either effect if she can reduce her Charge Time or Reload Time, as lowering either, especially Reload Speed, results in being able to keep up with the 3 sec. duration of either buff.
As was noted above, Mint will enter Dancing status when she uses Burst the first time. The second time she gets to use her Burst with no other regular B2 getting in the way, she will switch to Singing. Every Burst mint performs afterwards will have her alternate between the two ‘stances’. Since this means that the caster ATK buff is given when Mint uses Burst at even intervals, this means that the DPS unit she intends to buff up should Burst alongside her at even Burst intervals.
Skill 2: Fantastic Performance!
Activates when entering Burst Stage 3 while not in Sing Along status. Affects self.
Cancels Assigned Part: Singing.
Cancels Assigned Part: Dancing.
Activates when entering Burst Stage 3 while in Assigned Part: Singing status.
Affects all allies.
Critical Rate ▲ 19.94% for 10 sec.
Projectile Explosion Damage ▲ 50% for 10 sec.
Pierce Damage ▲ 32.72% for 10 sec.
If Mint does not use her Burst and the team enters Burst Stage 3 (the burst before Full Burst activates), she will lose either Singing or Dancing status. If Mint uses her Burst to enter Burst Stage 3, and is also in Singing Status, she will give the whole team a big Critical Rate buff, big Projectile Explosion Damage and a nice Pierce Damage buff.
Combined with the caster ATK buff from Skill 1 exclusive to Singing, this provides a major advantage to the DPS unit that Bursts with Mint when she enters Singing status, since none of these buffs will apply when she is Dancing.
Burst: Let’s Sing Together!
Cooldown: 20 seconds.
Affects self.
Only one Assigned Part is applied according to Mint’s current status.
Status 1: If in the Assigned Part: Dancing status, Mint gains Assigned Part: Singing.
This effect is continuous and cannot be removed.
Status 2: If not in the Assigned Part: Dancing status, Mint gains Assigned Part: Dancing.
This effect is continuous and cannot be removed.
Affects all allies.
Sing Along: Attack Damage ▲ 30.02% for 10 sec.
Max Ammunition Capacity ▲ 40% for 10 sec.
Critical Damage ▲ 45.05% for 10 sec.
As stated earlier, if Mint is not Dancing, she will gain the Dancing status when using Burst, which will have her heal with every Full Charge attack. If she is already Dancing, she will switch to Singing, which gives substantial DPS buffs from both S1 and S2. Alongside those buffs, she will also give some Attack Damage, Max Ammo and Critical Damage. It should be noted that the Max Ammo buff does not come with a corresponding magazine refill, meaning it doesn’t do anything for Nikkes that don’t reload mid-Burst.
While these effects occur at all times, since they are tied to her Burst and not her Singing status, since Singing also provides a large amount of buffs, this means that the B3 unit that Bursts with Mint when she Dances will see a substantial DPS down, as they can’t make use of her full buffset. For this reason, Mint should optimally be considered for certain ‘funnel’ team compositions, where everyone focuses on supporting one main DPS unit, including the other DPS units.
It should be noted that for the purposes of the Damage Formula, Projectile Explosion Damage and Pierce Damage are part of the same category as Attack Damage. If a unit already gives themselves Attack Damage from self-buffs, they can end up being less effective, since stacking buffs of the same modifier result in lower efficiency.
Even though Mint has a nice mix of buff modifiers to give while Singing, due to Critical Damage being dependent on the damage itself rolling a Critical Hit, on top of Critical Damage already competing with other modifiers before other buffs are considered, makes these Critical buffs less consistent on their own compared to her other buffs, at least on their own.
When combined with other Critical Chance/Damage modifiers, they can be incredibly powerful, though meta/viable ones in today’s day and age are uncommon for the time being. Since Mint has valuable Critical modifiers, which are very rare, Mint has future potential for units that have less need for more Attack Damage modifiers, such as because they give so much of it to themselves, such as Liberalio, Neon: Vision Eye or to an extent, Rapi: Red Hood.
Campaign
Mint on her own is a pretty mediocre Campaign unit; she will only buff one unit optimally, while the other gets very little. In high deficit settings where everyone has to output as much as possible in order to survive, Mint’s heal doesn’t mean much, immediate power doesn’t kick in until the second Burst, and Mint will alternate between a DPS buff and a lesser DPS buff with every Burst.
Combined with Prika, Mint and Prika combine to become good Campaign buffer units. Their total buff power is incredible, even higher than Crown, especially if they’re buffing RLs or Nikkes with Pierce, and the healing Prika provides gives the team plenty of survivability in skirmishes. The one downside to using idols is that the initial burst of combat is weak, because Prika has to burst first to enable Mint to become a meta buffer.
Since this first burst does very little for team DPS, whether Mint is solo or not, if you’re in a campaign situation where you have to get rid of enemies fast at the start of combat, then you may want to use a different B2 buffer with more immediate buff power to help get rid of enemies.
Arena
Mint is not very good for Arena. Her initial buff for DPS is pretty mediocre, her heal won’t save anyone from high pressure and burst damage, and her Burst gen is average. There’s also no good reason to combine her with Prika in PvP, as it would take way too long to set up in PvP settings, where most combat is decided by the first burst.
Special Interception | Union Raid | Solo Raid
Thanks to how her kit works, alongside her synergy with Prika, she can be played in one of two ways in raid settings. The main way, is of course, sending her out with Prika to be a good general support buffer, with a preference for units with Pierce or Rocket Launcher units, as they have bonus buffs for those damage types specifically, Pierce Damage and Projectile Explosion Damage, respectively.
While they aren’t required to buff such units to do well, using them alongside both Mint and Prika is still more optimal, as it’s a damage increase that other units won’t have access to, similar to how the combination of Mast: Romantic Maid and Anchor: Innocent Maid would prefer to buff units with Distributed Damage, but it’s not necessary.
The second way to use Mint, especially in solo raid is with specific carry units and support units that benefit from her ‘funnel’ kit. Even though it is not as good as playing with Prika, there are certain team combinations where the damage is being overwhelmingly dealt by one unit. Using Mint without Prika also unlocks more potential team combinations, as there is now a slot free to be used by another support.
Playing like this is only recommended if you know what you’re doing, since by default, Mint’s buffs are inherently worse without Prika, as they are only big DPS buffs half the time, meaning the secondary DPS suffers on their own.
NOTE: Since Mint only enters Singing when she uses Burst second and she is on her own, the unit that is meant to deal DPS should Burst second instead.
Strengths
- A wide spread of buffs to give out to allies compared to other B2 units.
- None of the buffs given out are of low value, nor do they have low numbers.
- Can be played on her own or with Prika, each team composition with their own pros and cons, giving her a degree of flexibility.
- When combined with Prika, the buffs the two provide have the highest general DPS up to the majority of allies, not taking into account ammo management.
- Wide variety of buffs allow her to be more efficient in how she buffs, especially when combined with other buffing units in the team.
Weaknesses
- A major part of her DPS buffs are only active half the time if she is by herself; Prika is required to make them effectively permanent.
- Regardless of whether she is played on her own or with Prika, the bulk of DPS buffs will strictly kick in on the second Burst; in an intense Campaign combat situation where the first burst matters a lot, this can be a major downside.
- Mint’s Max Ammunition buff is somewhat useless or even detrimental; since it doesn’t come with a magazine refill, it does nothing for allies mid-Burst time unless they reload partway through Burst time. It is an active detriment for allies reliant on Last Bullet mechanics, such as Anis: Sparkling Summer.
- While her buffs don’t have low numbers, none of them are also particularly high aside from Pierce Damage and Projectile Explosion Damage when combined with Attack Damage (same damage category), making her a jack-of-all-trades, master of none without Prika.
Rating
| Category | Rating |
|---|---|
| Overall | SS |
| Story | S |
| Bosses | SS |
| Arena | B |
NOTE: These PvE ratings are when she is combined with Prika. Without Prika, she can only be used with specific setups to end up optimal, and her grade would more accurately be represented as:
Overall – A
Story – B
Bosses – A
Recommended Cubes
Due to her S1 buff only lasting 3 seconds, her weapon by default can’t maintain the buff on autoplay without a source of charge speed or reload speed, with a 2 second reload and a 1 second charge time, whenever Mint reloads. Resilience cube on its own addresses the issue.
Doll Priority
Even though she is a support with no DPS capability, she has a high caster ATK scaling on the S1 attack buff, at 45% caster ATK when max rank. Since Dolls give out a high amount of raw ATK, while it doesn’t necessarily benefit her, it definitely benefits the DPS units once she gives them the S1 caster ATK buff.
For this reason, I would recommend at minimum having her equipped with an SR Doll at Stage 5.
Expected Skill Priority
| Nikke | Budget Skill Investments | Recommended Skill Investments | Skill Priority | Notes | Investment Priority |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mint | Skill 1: 4 Skill 2: 7 Burst: 7 | Skill 1: 7 Skill 2: 10 Burst: 7 | S1 < S2 | Skill 1 is where her caster ATK buff originates from, Recommended to max once you have a doll max and/or some spare bodies, thanks to its above average scaling. Skill 2 is where half of her DPS buffs come from, especially the critical rate. Burst is where another part of her buffs come from. However, the ammo is mostly useless, the Attack Damage is inferior compared to standard B2 buffers and the Critical Damage buff is weak on its own, making the buffs from Burst less effective to level. Recommended to max if using alongside Prika. | High |
This is a high quality, well written post, thank you Izzy!