Character Guide - Schicksal's Imperative

Everything you need to know about Theresa's new battlesuit, a QUA type Lightning Chained Blades user.

Introduction

[Schicksal’s Imperative] (ScI) Thelema is the new battlesuit debuting in Version 7.7. She is an S-Rank QUA Type Lightning DPS, and uses the Chained Blades. In this guide, I will be going through her kit, suitable team compositions, rotations, equipment, and more. 

Character Mechanics

Stress Meter

Don’t Wanna Work

ScI has up to 600 Stress in battle. In her Don’t Wanna Work form, she accumulates Stress through various attacks:

• Her Basic ATK Sequence restores 75 Stress through the 1st and 2nd attack, and 150 on the 3rd.

  

  
  

• Her Weapon Active restores 300 Stress on hit.

  

  
  

• Her Plunge ATK restores 150 Stress on hit.

Once ScI has accumulated 600 Stress, she can hold ATK on the ground or in midair to perform one of two Combo ATKs, Sleep Helper or Message Blocking, respectively. This also causes her to enter the Let Me Leave Work! form. 

Let Me Leave Work!

In this form, ScI has access to new moves. By attacking in midair, she can perform a 2 Sequence Basic ATK that relieves 150 Stress on each attack. Additionally, mashing the ATK button after performing the 2nd sequence extends the attack and relieves up to 300 Stress. 

Once ScI’s Stress has been completely relieved, she casts Work Is Over Alarm and returns to the Don’t Wanna Work form. Holding ATK while in the Let Me Leave Work! form relieves all Stress and performs Work Is Over Alarm prematurely.

ScI’s Weapon Active also changes. When tapped, it performs Stress Transfer, inflicting Substitute Mark on the first enemy it hits for 15 seconds. Substitute Mark grants a Total DMG Bonus to ScI when present, and is removed upon casting Work Is Over Alarm to grant SP and HP regeneration. 

Ultimate

ScI’s ULT puts her into the Break Time state, while retaining any Stress she has accumulated. She can stay in this state for up to 16 seconds, restoring 200 HP per second while being invincible. While in this state, other characters can be switched in and her puppets will attack automatically. During the animation, time is stopped.

After 5 seconds have passed, tapping ScI’s avatar will make her cast Work Done in Dreams, inflicting Collapse on all enemies once and regaining 300 Stress. If she has not been switched out, tapping ULT does the same thing. During the animation, time is stopped. If 16 seconds have passed, ScI will automatically perform Work Done in Dreams. 

Astral Ring: World Star

ScI is protected by the Astral Ring Specialization: World Star. When activating Astral Ring Specialization: World Star, she enters the Let Me Leave Work! form, gains 6 Quantum Mech Energy, her puppets transform into Domain Resonance Marks, and receives various buffs. 

Mashing ATK performs a 3 Sequence ATK combo that consumes 1 Quantum Mech Energy per hit. Each ATK will also trigger a Resonance ATK. Once 5 Quantum Mech Energy have been consumed, tapping ATK will cause ScI to cast Work Is Over Alarm, which consumes the last Quantum Mech Energy and triggers Resonance ATK.

ScI’s ULT is also replaced by a special ULT that inflicts Collapse once on all enemies. 

Astral Ring: Wheel of Destiny

ScI is able to support Valkyries protected by Astral Ring Specialization: Wheel of Destiny. Valkyries protected by Wheel of Destiny can trigger ScI’s Phantom support attack, performing Shadow Star Attack and granting them 11 seconds of Rondo in the Shadows.

Equipment

Weapon

This is the signature weapon of ScI, Vacation Notice: Emergency Overtime. It has various teamwide buffs as well as some individual ones for her. This weapon provides ScI with a lot more utility due to the increased Stress generation from the weapon’s passive. Since the Chained Blades weapon was only recently introduced, ScI’s alternative weapon options are extremely limited, and the next best option is significantly worse. As such, it is strongly recommended to pull for her weapon. In summary, her weapon has:

• Increased Stress gain from QTE or Work Done in Dreams

• +32% Total DMG Bonus to wielder

• +22% Lightning DMG Bonus to wielder’s Resonance attacks

• +8% Elemental DMG Taken by enemies

• +18% Total DMG Taken by enemies

• +18% Total DMG for Resonance attacks

• +12% Total DMG for Shadow Star Attacks

• +20% Elemental and Physical DMG teamwide bonus

• A shield that can inflict Collapse

• 7 additional Paralyze Trauma for QTE and Work Done in Dreams

The weapon also has a Synergy skill, which will be covered below.

Weapon and Synergy Level Comparison

Shown above are results derived from a single rotation with the loadout shown in the graphic. First, I will go through the Synergy skills of both weapons shown in the test results.

Vacation Notice: Emergency Overtime – Enemies suffer a Total DMG Taken debuff from the team that is also an independent multiplier. As an independent multiplier, it boosts damage considerably more than a regular multiplier. ScI herself enjoys another Lightning DMG Bonus independent multiplier, making this Synergy Skill a noticeable boost to the team’s overall damage. 

Banquet Rose: Faux Crown – Like Vacation Notice’s Total DMG Taken debuff, it is an independent multiplier. However, it is also an exclusive multiplier, and with Thelema also using Banquet Rose in this team, it effectively makes the buff useless, since it cannot stack. The rest of the Synergy Skill is exclusive to Thelema only, making the entire Synergy Skill provide nothing for the team. The only advantage it has over Phantom Seafarer is that it provides more ATK. However, realistically, no one would make a second Banquet Rose: Faux Crown instead of upgrading the Synergy Level for their Thelema. 

Phantom Seafarer – Wielder gains a Total DMG bonus and gets more Total DMG in Stellar Outburst. These are regular multipliers, and will not be nearly as valuable as Vacation Notice’s Synergy skill.

As you can see, there is a sizeable difference in damage between ScI’s signature weapon and both Banquet Rose and the Foundry weapon, though it isn’t as wide a gap as some of the other Part 2 Valkyries’ options were.

Is it worth pulling for Synergy Level 3? Not really. Synergy Level 1 will be able to take you all the way to Nirvana, and it may even be possible to achieve Myriad with it. The only thing upgrading the Synergy Level will do is increase your damage; there’s no increased utility like bonus initial SP or SP reduction on it. It’s much more worthwhile to save your crystals for future releases. However, I still strongly recommend pulling for Synergy 1.

Stigmata

Signature Set - Day After Day

This is the signature stigmata set of ScI. It is far and away her best option, and with it being craftable, there is no reason for you not to get it. A placeholder set that can be used while waiting for the materials to craft the stigs is Handel TMB, but if you don’t have it, don’t bother crafting it, as it’ll be much faster to craft this immediately instead.

Required Materials for Crafting

These are the materials needed to craft the full Day After Day stigmata set. Note that there is an extremely low chance you will ever need to craft all 3 stigs, since pulling for the weapon will likely get you one or more.

Recommended Teams

ScI’s best team consists of Senadina and Thelema as supports, and has the highest damage potential due to their strong supporting buffs and Resonance abilities. 

ScI can also function as a support for Senadina, and outperforms Thelema as the Resonance trigger.

Interestingly, ScI’s kit has support capabilities for Part 1 Lightning Valkyries, and works best with Lunar Vow. 

Rotations

Theresa DPS Rotation

Astral Ring Rotation

As a Valkyrie protected by World Star, ScI’s rotation involves other teammates taking field time as well. Her playstyle revolves around entering her “Let Me Leave Work!” state to relieve Stress and deal damage. In Stellar Outburst, her teammates take the field to trigger Resonance, similar to Senadina.

Below is a video example of the rotation.

Non-Astral Ring Rotation

Here is an example of a rotation you can carry out during Stellar Outburst’s downtime. It should be able to regenerate enough Astral Ring Intensity by the time it ends so you can cast Stellar Outburst again. However, this may not always be the case. Players may have to make use of Thelema’s weapon passive that grants additional Intensity on evasion.

Below is a video example of the rotation, including the end of the Stellar Outburst rotation to show how much Astral Ring Intensity is regenerated.

Senadina DPS (Theresa Support) Rotation

ScI’s inputs as a support isn’t very complicated, and she doesn’t change the inputs of her other teammates either. Players who have been using Senadina for a while will have no problems with this rotation.

Below is a video example of the rotation.

Lunar Vow DPS (Theresa Support) Rotation

LV’s rotation remains incredibly simple even with the addition of ScI. If players have Cosmic Expression, they can replace Golden Diva with her if they require more damage over a longer rotation.

Below is a video example of the rotation.

Should I pull?

ScI is first and foremost a QUA DPS. QUA, IMG and SD type DPS units are special in that their element type isn’t very significant, since they are mostly used to fight bosses of their corresponding type due to the special mechanics they have to combat said bosses. QUA as a type is rather niche, and probably the most niche out of the three. Looking at past QUA type DPS units – Susannah, Vill-V, and Veliona – none of them have seen much use due to QUA Bosses being run very rarely. (Of course, Susannah still has her Bleed DMG niche, but Lunar Vow has that too.) 

It can be argued that ScI can also be used as a Lightning DPS. However, there are Part 2 alternatives that arguably have better value. Senadina is an incredible support for Wheel of Destiny, outshining ScI in every WoD team. ScI may have use in a Senadina or Lunar Vow team as a support, but both teams have alternatives who still perform very well.

ScI is still very strong in her niche, and will doubtlessly outperform every other option in it. However, I would advise players to wait for news regarding later patches before deciding on pulling. Depending on how many crystals players have stocked up, as well as future news from CN beta, ScI could very well be worth the pull.

Conclusion

In conclusion, ScI is a strong QUA type DPS with support capabilities for World Star and Wheel of Destiny. While there may be better options for players to spend their crystals on, ScI will definitely benefit players who require a Valkyrie for QUA type content.

Thank you for reading my guide! I hope it helped you learn more about ScI. If I made any mistakes, please let me know by messaging @cayjunn on Discord and I will rectify them as soon as possible. I will also try my best to answer any questions you may have!