Ramona – Prydwen Pre-Release Review

Good evening! Everyone has waited with bated breath for the new 3.5 patch and its basis in the Mexican “Día de los Muertos”. In this, we are introduced to two very interesting characters: Lorentz Butterfly and Ramona. Today we’ll focus on the curious little exorcist, a lot of predictions went around regarding her archetype, but she ended up with Poison as her primary.

The translations are from @/ChunxiRavenclaw on the Official Discord and @/yatagarasu_meru on Twitter.

The usual disclaimers apply: we don’t have modifiers just yet, nor specific details regarding some parts of their kit, so we can’t say for sure if Ramona is good. ALWAYS take preliminary kit reviews with a grain of salt, no matter from what source it is (even ours).

Afflatus: Plant
Role: Carry / Sub Carry
Tags: Poison, EA

Insight: Clear Shadows
Precognition | At the start of the round, Ramona consumes all [Exorcism Request]. Based on the number of stacks consumed, grant [Possessed] to a number of allied Incantations.

1. At the start of the round, Ramona gains [Exorcism Request]. Upon entering combat or when enemies enter combat, Ramona inflicts [Poison] on enemies.
2. Upon entering combat, increase ATK.
3. Upon entering combat, Ramona gains Moxie. Every round, when she casts “Target the Stubborn” for the first time, gain Moxie. Based on the number of defeated enemies in one round, at the start of the next round, inflict [Exorcism Potion] on all enemies.

• [Possessed]: When allies cast [Possessed] Incantations, Ramona casts “Target the Stubborn”.
• [Target the Stubborn]: Mass attack. Deals Mental DMG to all enemies. Inflicts [Poison]. After attacking, inflicts [Exorcism Potion]. This counts as a Follow-Up Attack.
• [Exorcism Potion]: At the end of the round, depending on the stacks of [Exorcism Potion], resolve additional stacks of [Poison] without decreasing their duration.

Incantation 1: Instant Exorcism
Mass debuff. Deals Mental DMG to 2 enemies. Inflicts [Poison]. After attacking, gain [Exorcism Request].

Incantation 2: Spirits, Keep Away
1-target debuff. Deals Mental DMG. Inflicts [Poison]. Resolve 1 round of [Poison] at a certain percentage of normal [Poison] DMG. This doesn’t decrease the duration of [Poison].

Ultimate: Let Both Worlds Rest In Peace
Mass attack. Deals Mental DMG to all enemies. Convert a certain number of [Poison] stacks on targets into [Soul Solvent] and gain [Efficient Exorcism].

[Soul Solvent]: Is considered [Poison]. The longer it remains, the higher the DMG when resolved. At the end of its duration, it deals additional Genesis DMG.

[Efficient Exorcism]: At the start of the round, generate a [Possessed] preparation Incantation “Spirits, Keep Away”.

Review

Not… quite what people were expecting, I think. Not even I got it right, though I was at least on-the-money about her archetype. Between Plantpromptu, Upgrade and Poison, the latter one was the most likely of the three due to the focus on [Poison] during this patch. Additionally, 3.5 has made a habit of faking out the community with their character design (looking at Lorentz Butterfly). So let’s see what Ramona has to offer.

This kit feels… like something we’ve encountered before. If she reminds you of Willow, just with a FUA added to her kit and a focus on Mass DMG, you would be right. [Soul Solvent] is effectively a better version of [Hag’s Bane] that is okay with dropping off due to its ending burst. “Spirits, Keep Away” is also effectively “Hag’s Gratitude” but with a more guaranteed skill cycle due to the Preparation effect on Ramona’s Ultimate.

Unlike, Willow, she doesn’t have the [Poison] convert attached to a basic Incantation. This is likely because Ramona doesn’t need to cast as much, as her FUA already gives her Moxie and she doesn’t have that cycling requirement for an Ultimate channel like Willow does. But comparing the two isn’t entirely fair to Ramona, she does have a few unique things that make her stand out as a Poison unit.

Primarily, Ramona is great at inflicting [Poison] horizontally. Between “Instant Exorcism” and “Target the Stubborn”, there is a clear focus on spreading out [Poison] across multiple enemies, then targeting one enemy to blow up with “Spirits, Keep Away”. In addition, her Insight hints at a playstyle that is focused on clearing weaker mobs to spread additional [Poison] onto your main target, something that could be interesting in certain Mane’s Bulletin bosses and especially more multi-enemy stages.

From a game design stand-point, I like Ramona a tad more than I did her Phase 1 predecessor. Her kit is a bit simpler, with a lack of gimmicks outside of her [Possessed] status, and even though she doesn’t carry the versatility of Lorentz Butterfly’s “Dynamic Systems Are Unpredictable”, Ramona has a kit that is reminiscent of the more restrained design of the game’s direct competitors. This lends itself to being prone to carving out its own spot in the meta in due time.

Would I have liked her to be a bit more distinct from Willow? Sure. I’m not saying that Ramona is the peak of character design, but her ideal game-state is very different from her single-target counterpart (even if her damage output will likely put her on par if not above Willow even in those situations, but that’s a different discussion entirely).

I’m mainly interested in seeing how her “Target the Stubborn” interacts with the team. For example, I have this chill down my spine that whispers to me that Flutterpage will weasel her way into her team next to Tuesday. The Follow-Up Attacks will charge the Forcefield and the hydrogen baby is able to boost Genesis DMG Dealt, after all. On the other hand, I can also see Ramona being a very viable (if not straight up BiS) in what is currently Jessica’s slot in certain Poison teams (such as Ezio or Willow).

I’m not sure if there’s an anti-synergy between her and the witch, since they both want to convert [Poison] into other things, but for that we’ll have to wait and see.

My general verdict is: I’m surprised, pleasantly in some ways, but secretly I would’ve liked to see a bit more done to push her away from Willow’s design space (I could’ve seen Ramona’s kit as a Willow Euphoria, for example). I do think they balanced the things they added well (the FUA, spread and rewrite gimmick), but in Ramona’s case I feel there is a bit more room to experiment with those qualities.

Predicted Tier: S or S+ (Sub) Carry – Leaning towards S for personal tiering (but it’s always difficult with numbers-oriented kits for damage dealers), and I’m not confident that she’ll push Poison as an archetype beyond S either. This is due to the team lacking one very important quality: a tailored sustain. The viable options in terms of survival (outside of the usual suspect: Marsha) are limited to either Vila (who only interacts well with the archetype on the basis of her Moxie gain for Willow and Mental DMG boost) or Sotheby (whom is an incredibly precarious pick at the moment). Not having a solid sustain will neck a ramping team like Poison, as it’s entire win condition is to deal significant damage steadily over the course of a fight. If you die quick, you might as well just run Brume/Anjo/Charon/Fatutu and blow up your target before they can deal enough damage to erase you first.

Another thing to make note of is that, due to the lack of gimmicks in Ramona’s kit, she will be a bit dependent on her numbers being good. If you’ve read my Reddit post about Lorentz Butterfly you will know why kits like that usually aren’t very future proof: numbers are easy to creep, niches/gimmicks aren’t. This is the one of the reasons that Carries like Lilya, Jiu Niangzi and Windsong fluctuat(ed) heavily within the meta.