Costume Guide – Android Queen Lecliss

Pros

• Extremely high HP and durability
• Energy guard synergizes well with her high HP stats
• Counterattack damage is very decent: e.g. at +5 skill level and 20,000 HP, she counterattacks for 7,000 physical damage per hit
• She has two defensive skills that can be cycled. Since both Killer Doll and Android Queen skills last for 4 turns at +5, it is possible to stack their buffs.

Cons

• No taunt on the Android Queen ability
• Weak to fire-type attackers (e.g. Alec)
• Buffs can be removed by Schera/Eleaneer
• Really needs her exclusive gear to reach her full tanking potential

Deep Dive on Tanking

First of all, Lecliss with her exclusive gear has the highest HP potential in the game. With a full gear set, Lecliss can comfortably exceed 20,000 HP. Here's how she compares against other units with tanky stats or defensive abilities:

Note that Rou and Andrew have not been considered in this analysis as they are "luck based" dodge skills rather than stat based (i.e. stats are less important for their tanking ability).

Note also that, athough Teresse ties with Lecliss on her base HP stat, Teresse comes nowhere near Lecliss's HP after taking into account the bonus stats from Lecliss's UR gear.

Right now, the three best tanks in the game (excluding "luck based" tanks like Rou) are Lecliss, Seir and Glacia. Each of them have the trifecta of high base HP, an exclusive gear with defensive bonus stats, and costume skills that improve survivability. Generally speaking, having any one of the three "tank queens" will be enough to meet your tanking needs for most content. However, each of these tank units have their own unique advantages for certain kinds of battles.

For battles against magic enemies, Glacia has the advantage, due to her high M.RES on her base stats and exclusive gear. Glacia also has the cheapest taunt in the game. Her drawback is that her HP is not as high as Seir or Lecliss, and that she currently only has a single defensive skill instead of two. In the current PVP meta, Glacia has some additional advantages due to the fact that there are very few Wind element attackers and many Fire element attackers.

For long battles where endurance is required, Seir has the advantage due to her self-heal and SP charging abilities. Her stats and defensive abilities are comparable to Lecliss, though overall not quite as good (slightly lower base HP, no base DEF, and slightly lower damage reduction). Seir's biggest drawback compared to Lecliss and Glacia is that she cannot taunt.

On the other hand, Lecliss is the tank that has it all. Lecliss can taunt, she can energy guard, she can reduce damage, and she can counterattack. Lecliss's taunt is more reliable than Glacia's (because Glacia's taunt disappears when she revives and she also has a longer cooldown). Of the three "tank queens", Lecliss is also the only one who can actually do any meaningful damage with her Android Queen counterattack skill. This makes her overall the most versatile tank of the three (except where fire-type attackers are concerned).

Lecliss for PvE

For PVE, tank units like Lecliss currently have a niche role.

Firstly, for the most part, you can get through almost all of story without any tanks at all. It's only when you start getting into Hard and Very Hard mode for the later story chapters that tanks start to become relevant.

Secondly, once you do start to need tanks for end-game content, BD2 is very generous because you can get an excellent tank for free: Andrew. Andrew is a 4* tank who can both taunt and dodge, and when he dodges he avoids 100% of the enemy damage (regardless of how strong the attack is). Even though his dodge is luck-based, with most PVE content you can simply try again if you get unlucky on the dodge. Therefore, since Andrew is easily accessible for free, it is not really necessary to have a tank like Lecliss for most PVE content. Most of the time, Andrew is enough to protect your team.

Android Queen Lecliss has two niches in PVE content. One niche is where you need the highest HP to survive. An example was the recent dark fiend boss, who did high fixed-type damage. Another niche is where your enemy has multi-hit attacks that can repeatedly trigger Lecliss's counterattack ability. An example is the upcoming water fiend boss, which has a final attack that hits 8 times.

Lecliss for PvP

In PVE, Lecliss remains one of the best tanks due to her insanely high HP. She can often absorb multiple skill attacks and protects your key attackers. Due to the ongoing popularity of Schera, Lecliss's defensive skills are not always reliable, but can be game changing if the skill buffs are not removed.

Other than buff removal, her biggest weakness is fire type units, which are unfortunately popular in the current meta.

Conclusion

Lecliss shines because of her top tier defensive stats. To make the most of Lecliss, you need to have her exclusive gear, as it makes a huge difference to her survivability and her energy guard skill. If you are lucky enough to have her exclusive gear, then having at least 1 copy of Lecliss is very good for PVP. Without her exclusive gear, her utility drops dramatically. I would not recommend pulling for her unless you have her exclusive gear.

Even though her counterattack and energy guard obviously get a lot better as her costume level goes up, Android Queen Lecliss works fine with a single copy and multiple copies are not "must have".