The latest awakened apocalypse patch has introduced much novelty to the PVP meta by buffing the stats on many of Counterside’s older ASSR units. The game is new and exciting now and we are going to share our thoughts on the changes in order of who gained and lost the most.

Final Phase Sigma

PvP Rating: A -> SSS(+)

The radical change to Sigma’s base stats have enabled her to perform as a strong self-sufficient frontline bruiser where previously she was a glass cannon.

This significant boost to survivability has opened new gearing options to explore Tank CDR and even full Tank sets now that Sigma has the baseline stats to support a playstyle as a proper frontline unit.

Of note, the ~70% effective HP buff combined with high base evasion has strong self-synergy with her Terrabrain 3% HP/ sec healing buff to significantly boost the amount of healing she received. The only way to kill Sigma consistently is Healing Reflux debuff, which is available either through Awakened Seo Yoon’s Divine Slash or through Momo operator ability.

With the drastic increase in Sigma’s tank stats, she can now fully realize her kit as a frontline damage dealer with massive damage potential in her ultimate skill. It is worth noting that she isn’t tied to mech comp anymore, so don’t make a mistake of running her with subpar mech units. 

Iron Knight Curian

PvP Rating: SS -> SSS

Almost the biggest winner of the patch, Curian now does even more damage (which was never his problem) and has Serapel’s defensive statline. This boost makes him basically immune to backline hate damage, letting him survive crits from BIS gear rearm Elizabeth without investing into survivability at all.

With those changes Curian is no longer tied to the soldier team. If you want a high DPS sniper that can survive pretty much anything your opponent can thrown at him just add Curian to your team.

Gargantua Maria Antonov

PvP Rating: A -> SS (borderline SSS)

Delta Seven just can’t stop winning. 

Following a series of iterative buffs to Maria’s kit, BSide has finally bestowed Maria cost reduction and evasion buffs.

Combined with her high DPS and frankly absurd utility on her Dimensional Warfare skill, Maria is now the best general use ranger, with her only competition for the spot being rearm Gaeun. 

Stormbringer Jake Walker

PvP Rating: S -> SS 

Jake’s buffs to HP and DEF translate into ~40% more effective HP, skyrocketing him back into relevance where previously he was only chosen over rearm defenders for the utility in his kit.

Jake’s HP buffs have not changed how he is fundamentally played, though his Tank CDR build has gotten significantly stronger now. 

Jake’s “mech statcheck” comp is now no longer paradoxically a mech-favored matchup (excluding other factors ie. ships, other available units). His increased max HP pool means Jake can comfortably tank the damage with his increased shield size and increased healing from healers.

Jake is tanky enough to survive and thrive in an increasingly hostile frontline damage environment. 

Mech is in shambles.

Solar Codex Yuna Springfield

PvP Rating: S -> SS

Like many other frontliners Yuna gets significantly tankier this update. Before changes snipers could deal with yuna in seconds, now she can take those hits for a lot longer. This combined with her % based true damage aura and meta shifting to high cost frontline makes Yuna a really solid offtank, so if you always wanted to play your vanilla Serapel Yuna team – now is a good time. Just be warned that against Sigma you might as well try other units in your hand.

Six Wings Na Yubin

PvP Rating: S -> SS

Another unit that got a batch of defensive buffs he frankly didn’t need. His utility (barrier reflux, global skill haste debuff and passive backline disruption potential) is still as strong as ever, even stronger in the context of meta shifts. Maestra Nequitia is barely playable because no ban Na Yubin is now good enough to be a consideration for every team.

Singularity Shin Jia

PvP rating: S -> SS

Gets HP buff, benefits from the slow meta. Ajia continues to perform her role admirably, now with more survivability. Not much to say here to be perfectly honest.

Replacer Queen

PvP rating: S -> SS

Small buffs all over the board, but she feels roughly in the same spot as before relative to competition. Her ultimate damage increased, so she now wipes backline with her ultimate even more consistently.

Hilde: Siegfried Type

PvP Rating: A -> S

Hilde-shaped brick got 20% better. But it’s not just that. Her HIT stat is now so high that she can push a lot of frontliners consistently with all of her abilities. Even when opponents are above the sure fire threshold it only takes one failed evasion check for her to forever disrupt positioning, because this unit isn’t dying with new and improved statline. Hilde isn’t on the level of AJake/ANYB, but she is very strong and can randomly win you games.

Yoo Mina: Fenrir Type

PvP rating: S (no change)

Yoo Mina is still the same, but is now a lot more consistent. Now actually wipes enemy backliners if she gets deployed on them and her damage is still as absurd as ever. Mina’s main problem now is that Curian is so overstated that even if she gets right on top of just auto attacking Curian, he is often capable of almost killing her by himself. This limits her viability in the current meta.

Arhat Joo Shiyoon

PvP rating: A->S

AJSY has received a series of stat buffs synergistic with his kit. 

His changes are solid and actually helped him a lot. Be aware that AJSY is a real threat now.

Altergressive Seo Yoon

PvP rating: A->S

Now does 4-cost DPS instead of 3-cost, which wouldn’t be enough to make her go up a tier normally. 

There are two approaches to maintaining the frontline: deploying a new frontline tank with 100% HP, or dropping a healer. 

With the early release of Rearm Chinatsu and sweeping buffs to ASSR max HP, healing is quickly becoming the vastly superior alternative. With access to stronger healers and ASSR frontline units receiving more healing, 

ASY’s PVP rating shift represents a radical change in Global meta brought by increased effectiveness of frontline sustainability through healing.

Integral Ministra

PvP rating: SS -> S

Significant attack buff, but she is just worse Awakened Maria in current state. It’s way harder to get crosses against awakened units and her frontline damage is still low, so she isn’t doing much.

Six Wings Lee Jisoo

PvP rating: A (no change)

Got absolutely nothing from this patch, for the same reasons ASY’s rating rose Jisoo’s stay the same. When your units gets healing and enemies do not, sooner or later you will grind them out of the game.

Apex Predator Evolved One

PvP rating: SS -> A

Got 56% tankier. This doesn’t change a single matchup. E1 already struggled to kill awakened backline and new buffed ones? They live through the ultimate way too easily. E1 team does not have enough damage to burn through the buffed awakened frontline. You do not have team slots nor cost to run more damage to help that. Previously bad AJake and AYuna matchups got way worse and it’s not just them. It’s a miserable time to be an Evolved-One player.

Units that were Indirectly affected

Cold Case Horizon

PvP Rating: SSS -> SS

Jake is now so much better and the matchup was already miserable to play before changes. Na Yubin will finally be able to tank her for longer than 5 seconds. Curian will delete this unit from existence. Horizon was already a little overrated before and now her team is just way less oppressive.

Replacer King

PvP Rating: SSS -> SS

Competition is now so much stronger. King already struggled to perform on the highest end of the ladder, but now with the rest of the competition being buffed it’s easier enemies to stall him out with frontliners and healers. As soon as Blue Bridge soldiers are deal you are out of juice and mostly play for timeout ship chip damage victory, which isn’t going to be easy. Still, don’t underestimate Replacer King, he is still a menace.

Ace of Wings Lee Sooyeon

PvP rating: SSS -> SS

With awakened backline being the go to DPS after patch her anti-air utility is less relevant. As a simple backline DPS her impact isn’t really that great for her cost, even if her survivability is quite high. Air privileges are a thing, but she is not an auto include tier anymore.

Amy Firstwing

PvP Rating: SS -> S

Most awakened backliners can be built to have more evasion that what Amy can consistently drag, have backstep mechanics, are immune to hitstun or have some other way to survive her ETB. Outside of the pull this unit isn’t that great for her cost. With ETB having lower impact, would you really spend 6 for Amy?

Maestra Nequita

PvP rating: S (no change)

While Maestra wasn’t directly affected by the changes, buffs to her hardest counter (Awakened Na Yubin) hit her hard. It feels miserable to play Maestra every time he is free, because while before playing ANYB was generally a hit to your other matchups now he is actually good. Outside of the Yubin problem, Maestra feels even stronger, so her rating stays the same.

Every non-awakened unit in the game

It’s really not a good time to play normal units. Most backline SSR DPS units feel way worse when compared to shiny units like AMaria and RQueen. Unless your unit is a frontline tank, healing support, high utility backline, or strong disruptor it just doesn’t feel worth it to spend DP on them. We will see how the situation develops, but right now? Awakened Fiesta it is.

Tier list changes

On top of the changes above, we also drastically changed the ratings of non-awakened characters in the Global PVP Tier List! Check the updated tier list to find them all.

SSS tier changes:

ASigma: A -> SSS+ (we don’t have this tier so just SSS)
Curian: SS -> SSS
Thunderbolt: SSS -> S
RGaeun: SSS -> SS
RKing: SSS -> SS
RAlex: SSS -> SS
ALSY: SSS -> SS
AHori: SSS -> SS

SS tier changes:

Wardens: SS -> S
RTitan: SS -> S
Spira: SS -> S
Ministra: SS -> S
Lumis: SS -> S
Ifrit: SS -> A
Evolved-1: SS -> A
Eins&Zwei: SS -> S
Amy Fristwing: SS -> S
ANYB: S -> SS
Harim, AJia: S -> SS
AYuna: S -> SS
RQueen: S -> SS
AMaria: A -> SS
RMiya: A -> SS
Serapel: S -> SS

S tier changes:

AHilde: A -> S
ASY: A -> S
AjSY: A -> S
RSorim: S -> A
REste: S -> B
Machine Collecctor: S -> A
Lee Yuri: S -> A
Lara Jaeger: S -> A
KXL: S -> A
Grendel: S -> A
ASwordFighters: S -> A
OAR: S -> A

A Tier Changes:

Shena: B -> A
Woodpecker: A -> C
Sparrows: A -> C
Kyle: A -> C
Ingrid: A -> C
Kanade: A -> C
Overflow: A -> B
Christina: A -> B
AdminShields: A -> B
Atroopers: A -> C
TXL: A -> C

Other tiers:

Lulu: B -> D
ATAC Gunship: C -> B
ACH-4: C -> B
Adamant Sniper: C -> D
Reaper: B -> D
Mone: B => C
Este: B -> C
Karin: B -> C