Official Patch Notes

Exclusive Weapon

Base stats (Lv 100)	Max stats (after engraving and awakening)

Overview

Hikage for PVE

Chain stacking

Hikage is extremely unique in that her skill hits 12 times. By comparison, most skills hit between 1-3 times, and skills with 5 hits are generally considered high hit count.

There are only 3 other characters with costume skills that can deal more than 5 hits: Robin Hood Zenith (who hits a single target 6 times), Empress of the Ocean Rubia (who hits an area 6 times), and Curse Celia (who hits an area 7 times).

Celia is considered the queen of chain stacking, because she has access to the Masquerade Bunny (limited) costume which doubles the chain stacks on Celia's own skills. This allows Celia to cycle costumes from Bunny -> Curse -> Descendant for 6 hits -> 14 hits -> 10 hits.

Celia is still considered the best all-round chain stacker because Celia hits in a large 3x3 AOE on all her skills. For single targets however, Hikage at +4 and above is best as she deals a consistent 12 hits per turn, which on average is actually more than Celia (and for less SP cost).

Chain stacking is important because you get 10% extra damage to the next hit for every chain stack. Hikage therefore effectively amplifies damage against the target. If Hikage goes first, the next hit from your next ally will do +120% bonus damage from the chain stacks.

What's more, Hikage pairs perfectly with PWB.Refi, who doubles chain stacks. PWB.Refi's buff gives Hikage an insane 24 chain stacks, which significantly boosts both Hikage's own damage and the damage of your other team members against the enemy target.

Own damage

In addition, Hikage's own damage is insanely high. At +5 full potential, she deals 12x90%, which totals 1,674% after including chain damage. Hikage has a good base ATK stat of 352 (which is considered normal for 5-star attackers), but she has a high crit damage base stat of 100% (which is higher than the normal 50%). This makes Hikage a single target deleter, especially when buffed to have a high crit rate. Although she can only hit one enemy with her skill, she hits very very hard.

Game modes

With her very high hit count, Hikage is perfect for Last Night, where you rely mainly on chain stacks for damage amplification. For any players that have not yet reached the 110m damage mark, having even just 1 copy of Hikage with PWB.Refi will significantly increase your total damage output.

Hikage is also very good for tough boss fights in PVE battles where you need concentrated single target damage. In Tower of Salvation, it's worth having her in your roster to help clear boss floors too.

As for fiend hunts and guild raids, she can be effective against bosses with few weak points, or one particular weak point that takes significantly more damage. However if the boss has 3 or more weak points with roughly equal vulnerability, then other AOE attackers will generally fare better.

Hikage's weapon

There's one more really important thing to consider before investing in Hikage: HER UNIQUE GEAR IS LIMITED.

If you want to truly max out Hikage's attack power, not only do you have to get her to +5 before the limited banner runs out, you also need to get a copy of her unique gear, which increases her C.DMG by 90% on the bonus stat. If you miss getting it on the limited weapon banner, you lose your shot at that extra 90% C.DMG forever.

That's a very big investment cost to go for both the costume and the weapon, so choose wisely before committing.

Hikage for PVP

A consistent single target deleter is not bad in PVP, but in the current meta, a 3 SP costume that kills a single unit at a time may not be enough to find a foothold in the competitive scene.

Probably the best comparison for PVP performance is Natures Claw Rou, who can quite consistently wipe out even tough tanks with her high HP based damage and 20% DEF shred, if geared for crit and crit damage. Nature's Claw Rou also costs 3 SP at full potential, but has the added bonus of granting a strong evasion effect which greatly increases her survivability. Even though this is very strong (and arguably more reliable than Hikage in PVP thanks to the DEF shred), Nature's Claw Rou rarely sees play as an opening move, and is generally played as a finisher that comes after Red Hat and/or White Cat, both of which have a lower SP cost.

Hikage on the other hand does not have the utility of Rou's other costumes, and has no low cost opener. Hikage also has poorer survivability, with only 1911 base HP and no base DEF or M.RES. She is therefore unlikely to be popular enough to see play in the high-tier competitive scene.

Conclusion

Given her unique 12 hit skill, it is recommended that you get at least 1 copy for her incredible chain stacking ability. At +1, her SP cost reduces. At +4, her cooldown is removed and she can continually use her skill every turn.

As both the costume and the weapon are limited, budget carefully before committing to the investment!