Modernia Early Analysis

Through live server testing, we have been able to confirm or disprove several assumptions about Modernia’s kit. I apologize for any miscommunication or misinformation from my pre-release analysis.

If there are any unfamiliar words or terms in this guide please refer to the Glossary.

Skills

Mechanics

Burst N+1

Modernia’s burst deals N(2.24% + Skill 1(3.05%)) + 2.24% damage (at level 10), where N = the number of enemies within range. This is because there are actually two parts to her burst: an instance of damage directly on the aim reticle, and auto-aim damage that deals damage to all enemies within range.

The direct aim damage CAN hit boss parts and interruption circles, but does NOT stack with skill 1. The auto-aim damage DOES stack with skill 1 but CANNOT hit boss parts nor interruption circles. Auto-aim damage will always target the enemies’ cores, if there are any within range. However, if the enemy core is a boss part (e.g. Modernia, ), it will not be targeted. Please note the direct aim damage is in fact additional burst damage and NOT her normal attack, which does NOT stack with her burst.

This means that against a single target, she will deal 7.53% ATK per hit. This is still lower than the 10.76% ATK per hit that she can do without burst, but not as big of a DPS loss as we had feared.

Burst Bullet Pathing

Despite the curved pathing that displays on-screen, Modernia’s burst bullets path directly toward their target(s). This means she CANNOT bypass shield enemies.

Machine-Gun (MG)

As a machine-gun weapon type, Modernia has a couple quirks that are not present in other weapon types.

When MG first begin to empty their ammo, their RoF and hit rate is quite low. As they continue firing, their RoF and hit rate increase on every shot, maxing out after 42 shots. It takes just over 2 seconds for MG to finish this wind up mechanic. After 42 shots, MG have by far the fastest RoF and hit rate of any weapon in the game. The increased hit rate allows MG to core hit at a higher rate than other weapons.

Unfortunately Modernia’s Skill 1 reduces her max ammo on each stack, maxing out at 25.2% which reduces her ammo from 300 to 224. Having to reload more often is already a DPS loss, but as a MG she suffers more due to having to ramp up her RoF and hit rate each reload. This means max ammo buffs have great synergy with Modernia.

Harmony Cube: Assault, Resilience, Bastion, Wingsman

Since Modernia’s Skill 2 triggers when Modernia has an active hit rate buff, this includes the Assault Cube which acts as a hit rate buff. With the Assault Cube, Modernia is able to have permanent up time on the Skill 2 attack buff after the first 200 hits. This is obviously a strong interaction.

However, when playing Modernia in a team with fast burst rotations or other sources of hit rate, then it may actually result in higher DPS to equip reload or ammo cubes. Wingsman > Resilience > Bastion is recommended for Modernia in teams where she already has a high up time on Skill 2.

Energy Generation

We have recently confirmed that ALL units are able to generate energy from skill damage. Since this is confirmed to be the case for all units, this is likely intended and not a bug as previously thought. Stay tuned for the full update on our Burst Gauge Generation Guide.

Burst Gauge Generation

Modernia is able to generate burst energy from her Skill 1. This means that Modernia generates energy twice as fast as regular MG, putting her comfortably near the top of the burst energy generation tier list. She is still slower than clip SG at close range and RL on manual, but in general content she is actually the best energy support after Harran.

Unfortunately due to being a MG, her energy generation in the first couple seconds of battle is much lower. This makes her weaker as an energy support in situations where the first burst must be generated ASAP, such as Arena or against the boss Modernia.

Modernia averages at an impressive 37 seconds to fill the burst energy bar (vs 0 range), which is 270.3 energy generated per second. Full burst gauge is 10,000 energy.

Unit Name	Average Time to Full Energy (Seconds)	Average Energy Per Second (Auto, 0 Range)
Harran	16.0	625.0
Drake	19.4	516.5
Modernia	37.0	270.3
Centi	47.4	210.8
Anis	48.9	204.6
Rupee	59.0	169.5
Liter	63.5	157.5
Diesel	75.1	133.1

Performance

Wave Clear

We had expected Modernia to have strong wave clear, and she definitely has not disappointed. Her burst AoE is actually much wider than the displayed reticle suggests. In some testings, Modernia could even out-damage Harran, whom until this point was the undisputed best wave clearer. This is very impressive results.

Modernia performs best when used to clear multiple consecutive waves. Consecutive waves can often be a very difficult problem to solve for players, but Modernia’s large AoE and 15 second burst & full burst time duration almost feels like a cheat code in these situations. She is especially strong in Base Defence stages. Since normally clearing multiple waves at once involves delaying burst or stunning enemies with Privaty to kill them later, consecutive waves in Base Defence can cause a lot of progress loss towards victory. Modernia’s burst instead allows for consecutive waves to be cleared instantly for a full 15 seconds, saving valuable time.

However, Modernia is not as strong at high CP deficit (15+k deficit) stat penalties. If she is unable to quickly kill off waves of dangerous enemies, her value goes down as a wave clearer. Instant high damage AoE bursts are preferred over Modernia’s lower damage over time burst in such cases.

Boss Battles

We have not yet been able to test Modernia against every boss on the live server. For a more accurate review, please wait for a future update on her Interception rating.

Due to her burst AoE not working on boss parts, Modernia loses DPS when using burst against bosses. However, the DPS loss is not as great as we had originally feared thanks to the additional instance of direct damage. As it can also hit boss parts and interruption circles, she is actually a viable option even against ST bosses without waves.

It is also possible to use Modernia as a sub rather than a B3 to avoid the DPS loss from using her burst against ST. As her base damage on her normal attacks is strong, she can be a good option for players that lack DPS and do not require utility in their sub slot. In some accounts she was able to outperform meta offensive supports such as Drake and Helm for overall team DPS gain.

Modernia’s burst is great for clearing destructible projectiles (e.g. Blacksmith, Modernia, Land Eater). If you already have enough DPS to clear the boss but are struggling to survive against heavy damage projectiles, Modernia as a B3 can be a good survivability option as well.

Arena

Unfortunately, Modernia does not look especially strong in Arena.

Despite her high energy generation on average, as a MG Modernia’s RoF in the first couple seconds is much lower, lowering her energy generation for the first burst. This is very damning in Arena where first burst advantage can decide the victor. Modernia generates 1100 energy in the first 5 seconds, which is above average, but still only a third of what clip shotguns can generate.

Modernia’s burst hits the units on either side of her target in Arena, similar to RL AoE. This makes her burst generally weaker than pure AoE burst units such as Privaty, Scarlet, and Harran. However, if you are lacking the stronger meta units, then she can be a good option.

As arena targeting is reset whenever the target goes into cover, and Modernia has unlimited ammo during burst, this means that Modernia will not go into cover to reset any aggro on her for the full 15 seconds. This makes her very vulnerable to being focused and dying during her burst.

Due to Modernia’s bust being very high RoF with low damage multipliers, she is easily countered by common Arena units with skills that trigger upon being hit (e.g. Scarlet, Emma, Diesel). For this reason I do not recommend using Modernia in a defence team as the B3.

Bugs & Issues

FPS Issue

Like all other MG, Modernia suffers from RoF being tied to FPS. When FPS is below 35, Modernia is not able to stack her skill 1. FPS must be at or above 36 in order for Modernia to be able to stack her skill 1. Note that any RoF loss from low FPS affects both her DPS and energy generation. Players may also notice an FPS drop during Modernia’s burst, similar to Laplace burst, or even just during full burst mode.

While an announcement in November had stated a “bug fix for screen shake and FPS affecting DPS”, unfortunately the December 8 patch only fixed the screen shake issue and did not fix RoF being tied to FPS. We do not know when or if this will ever be changed.

Players that are encountering this issue are recommended to not control Modernia directly (as Modernia’s animations can lower FPS) and lower all in-game graphics settings to mitigate FPS loss as much as possible.

Performance Comparison by Device

Below is a DPS comparison by device. Source (KR).

These tests were done in shooting range on with Liter, Centi, and Modernia. “High Settings” and “Low Settings” refer to the emulator settings, NOT in-game settings.

Damage by Device

Modernia Damage	Ipad Pro 10.5″	Iphone 8	Galaxy Note 10+	LDPlayer High Settings	LDPlayer Low Settings
Highest	8,810,847	7,795,194	7,573,018	6,506,337	6,083,916
Average	8,603,141	7,186,321	7,112,291	6,184,539	5,752,194
Lowest	8,248,646	6,508,923	6,472,305	5,801,024	5,140,719

DPS Comparison by Device

Device	Highest	Average	Lowest
Ipad Pro 10.5″	100.00%	100.00%	100.00%
Iphone 8	88.47%	83.53%	78.91%
Galaxy Note 10+	85.95%	82.67%	78.47%
LDPlayer High Settings	73.84%	71.89%	70.33%
LDPlayer Low Settings	69.05%	66.86%	62.32%

In short, IOS devices seem to provide the best performance for Modernia, with Android slightly behind. Emulators have the worst performance, at -30% to -40% the DPS of IOS devices. IOS devices newer than the Ipad Pro 10.5″ reportedly have even higher performance.

Possible Visual Bugs

Modernia’s burst displays damage numbers when she is not the selected character.

When Modernia uses burst but does not attack, Attack_Point is set to 99 until she begins to attack.

It is unclear if these features are intended.

TL;DR

Modernia is a highly recommended pull for anyone that lacks strong DPS units.

• She is very strong in any content that requires wave clear (Campaign, Simulation Room, etc)
  • She is not as strong at high CP deficits (15+k)
• She can be decent in boss battles
  • She is a good survivability option against bosses with destructible projectiles
  • She can be a good sub DPS if utility is not required
• She has good average energy generation
  • Not as strong as current meta energy support options, but still well above average
• Unimpressive in Arena
  • Mediocre performance in Arena overall
  • Easily countered if played on Defence
• FPS Issue
  • She is unable to stack her Skill 1 when FPS is below 35
  • Her performance varies by device. She has poor performance on emulators (30~40% DPS difference compared to newer IOS devices)
• She is a Pilgrim
  • It will be very difficult to obtain her without a rate up
  • Her rate up is only 1%, which may not be enticing for F2P players
  • If you do not have any Pilgrim units, pulling Modernia will allow you to enter the Pilgrim Tribe Tower and start receiving its rewards (gems, Pilgrim molds)
• You may want to save for future characters (Viper, Jackal, Cocoa).

Temporary Rating

This is a temporary rating, and will be updated to a more accurate rating after further testing and review. All updates will be made on the main Tier List.

Category	Rating
Overall	9.1
Wave	10
Wave Boss	10
Interception	9
Arena	7.5