Character Guide — Rafina

Rafina is a Physical Water DPS who comes with plenty of utility. She can double as a support and DPS.
ATK220
HP3509
DEF10%
CR10%
CDMG50%
Base Stats [Level 100]

Rafina is a Physical Water DPS who comes with plenty of utility. She can double as a support and DPS.

Check out my other Character Guides:

Strengths and Weaknesses

Rafina is a solid DPS.
Game Club's physical vulnerability makes Rafina a buffer for DPS costumes with special scalings, such as Android Queen Lecliss and The Void Granhildr.

Her lower-than-average base ATK makes her damage ceiling somewhat lower than Sylvia's.
Steel Engine's utility is not really good.

Costumes

Rafina currently has 3 costumes, each of which bring good damage and some utility. Steel Engine comes with a dispel for defensive buffs, Code Name A comes with chains and DEF shred, and Game Club comes with a physical vulnerability debuff.

Steel Engine

Skip

Mechanical Dive
SP ◆ 4 — CD ● 5 Turns
Deal Physical DMG based off of 275% of ATK. Remove Barrier Effect on target.

Skill Potential 1
DMG +65%

Skill Potential 2
Range Upgrade

Skill Potential 3
Cooldown -2 Turns

+1+2+3+4+5
Physical DMGPhysical DMGSPPhysical DMGPhysical DMG
275% ▸ 370%370% ▸ 460%4 ▸ 3460% ▸ 545%545% ▸ 625%
Costume Designs

Steel Engine is recruitable in the pub's rotating pool.

This costume has really solid DMG, but the utility is not really good. She can remove energy guard and damage reduction buffs, but because this is a single hit skill, her dispel only applies after she deals damage. This means that Steel Engine itself cannot benefit from this dispel, not to mention that her limited dispel pales compared to true dispels from units like Schera and Eleaneer.

Skill potentials 2 and 3 are nice QoLs that make this costume easier to use.

Key Upgrades: Skill Potential 2, 3, Design +3, DMG upgrades are nice to have.

Code Name A

Skip

Machina Call
SP ◆ 5 — CD ● 5 Turns
Attack 5 Times, each attack deals Physical DMG based off of 40% of ATK. Decrease DEF by 50% for 4 turns.

Skill Potential 1
DMG +15%

Skill Potential 2
DMG +15%

Skill Potential 3
SP Cost -1

+1+2+3+4+5
Physical DMGPhysical DMGSP CostPhysical DMGPhysical DMG
40% ▸ 60%60% ▸ 75%5 ▸ 475% ▸ 90%90% ▸ 100%
Costume Designs

Code Name A's shred is very nice to have, but her pattern is a bit hard to utilize since it is a skip . The chain utility is also pretty nice.

Skill potential 3 (or +3) puts her SP cost in line most other shred abilities.

Key Upgrades: Skill Potential 3, Design +3, DMG upgrades are nice to have.

Game Club

Skip

Cyber Ninja, Deploy!
SP ◆ 5 — CD ● 5 Turns
Attack 3 Times, each attack deals Physical DMG based off of 70% of ATK. The targets' incoming Physical DMG is increased by 50% for 4 turns.

Skill Potential 1
DMG +15%

Skill Potential 2
DMG +15%

Skill Potential 3
SP Cost -1

+1+2+3+4+5
SP CostPhysical VulnerabilityPhysical DMGPhysical VulnerabilityPhysical DMG
5 ▸ 450% ▸ 75%70% ▸ 90%75% ▸ 100%90% ▸ 110%
Costume Designs

This skill is really good, allowing Rafina to become an amplifier for your physical teams, while also doubling as a DPS when paired with her other costumes. On top of that, Rafina is capable of amplifying units that ATK buffers cannot—units with special scalings such as Android Queen Lecliss, The Void Granhildr, and some of the Gray costumes. This costume also has solid DMG, since the debuff is applied after the first hit, meaning that her second and third hits are amplified by the debuff.

Downsides to this costume compared to ATK buffers are that there are enemy formations that are not easily hit by even a pattern, and the fact that this debuff does not have 100% uptime.

Keep in mind however that vulnerability debuffs stack additively, so fiends in Fiend Hunt who self-apply this debuff can diminish Rafina's effective amplification.

Key Upgrades: Skill Potential 3, Design +2 and +4, DMG upgrades are nice.

Building Rafina

Rafina has slightly different gear depending on whether you're using her in PvP or PvE.

E.P.G
Exclusive Stat — 67 ATK
Correct Main Stats — ATK% + ATK%
This exclusive weapon is a decent boost to Rafina's DMG, but it is definitely not necessary.

Bond Potential

Several bond nodes are locked behind a skill potential.

ATK80
DEF5%
Water DMG30%
Steel Engine
HP28.4%
ATK52%
DEF5%
Code Name A
HP%62.4%
ATK22
DEF8.4%
Game Club

Steel Engine is Rafina's best bond potential for PvE content, whether she is being used against fire enemies or not.

For PvP, you can either use Code Name A or Game Club, depending on whether you prioritize DMG or survivability.

Optimal Build [PvE]

or

Substat Spread — 6 ATK% + 9 CDMG substats

Use full DEF gear or full MRES gear depending on the enemies you're facing. If you do not have her exclusive gear, her best gloves are Prime Authority.

Optimal Build [PvP]

or

Substat Spread — 8 CR + 7 CDMG substats

Rafina would rather have ATK% + CR on her EX here, but it's not worth gimping her PvE build for that, so use a Rebellion unless you happen to have a second copy of her EX. Rafina wants to reliably crit on Steel Engine, so she needs 100 crit rate for PvP.