Dragon Emperors

Hevijak is a bulky backline CC/Support unit with 50% Shield Pierce. He has great HP, sitting at 76.5k with Resistance to and 50% chance to Knockback Aku and Red. The rest of his stats range from mediocre to bad, such as his 4.8k DPS at 440 range, 3 KBs, 5400 cost, 141s cooldown, 3s foreswing, 8.3s attack rate and 12 speed.

Hevijak's main strengths come from his performance against Aku enemies. With his Resistant ability, Hevijak has a good 306k effective HP against Aku enemies (and 382k vs Red with treasures), allowing him to survive for a long time against bosses like Empress and Jagando. With around 100k effective endurance, he can also sometimes tank enemies who have reached him for long enough to hit them back. Shield Pierce is the single most important ability for an anti-Aku as their huge shields cannot be reliably destroyed with raw DPS, and you cannot CC them until the shield is down either. His Knockback ability can gain ground against tanky Akus and turn the tide of battle. 50% chance of Shield Pierce is better than non-Uber options such as Aku Researcher and Li'l Macho Legs by a long shot, and his bulk allows him to survive long enough to usually land a hit with it. With a standing range of 440, Hevijak comfortably outranges relevant Aku enemies like Le'Behemoth and Fallen Bear which his competitors may struggle against.

Hevijak's main weaknesses come from his poor performance as a specialist in his anti-Red niche as well as a generalist. Dishing out a non-guaranteed KB at best every ~8 seconds rarely provides adequate control. Red is just generally an oversaturated niche where you will almost always have a better option than this. Knockback can even be detrimental in some stages. Against Shielded Akus, you rely on his Shield Pierce to proc in order for his KB to work, as it has no effect while the Shield is up, and there is only a 25% chance of both on the same hit. 50% chance of Shield Piercing can also, with some bad luck, leave you with no meaningful progress even after several hits. His generalist value is also terrible with mostly average or bad base stats across the board. His base DPS is painfully underwhelming for his range and is outclassed even by Non Gacha options, never mind other ubers. His long cooldown does not help matters in any of his uses, nor does his undesirably long foreswing which causes him to miss attacks. He's also expensive to summon, like most Dragon Emperors.

Overall, Hevijak heavily lacks in both the backliner generalist department due to insufficient stats, and in the Red CC department due to being outperformed by most alternatives. His value in the meta is solely found in Aku enemies. His value in the Aku meta is currently as good as it gets, despite only a 50% Shield Pierce, due to a lack of better alternatives even amongst Ubers.

Relentless Gladios is a decent backline attacker and anti-Traitless Support unit. In True Form, Gladios has a 100% chance to KB Traitless enemies, as well as a 100% chance to proc Slow for 5 seconds. He has a large amount of HP in True Form (122.4k) with 3 KBs, 4 Speed, and costs 5625. His DPS is 4800 at 440 range and has a 2s foreswing. In Evolved Form, he has less bulk and only 50% proc chance, but can still largely be used the same way with just more RNG involved. His cooldown is 154.53s.

Gladios core strength is his anti-Traitless ability, which has a Slow uptime of 54% and a Knockback every 9 seconds. As the list of Traitless enemies features a plethora of bosses or melee threats you will want to keep your distance from, such as Manic Eraser, R. Ost and Kory, Gladios's uncommon capability to hold back these threats lets him shine in a good number of situations. As a generalist Backliner, Gladios's average offensive capability is made up for by his very high HP, which give him good survivability and allow him to fully utilize his damage knockbacks even in late-game stages, letting him be used a better Crazed Bahamut/pre-TF Ururun for most of early to mid-game.

Gladios weaknesses begin with the standard high cost and long recharge of Dragon Emperors, along with a long-ish foreswing and a sluggish speed. When compared to no gacha anti-Traitless CC options, such as Glass and Tourist, Gladios will fail in scenarios where the player's backline is at constant risk, such as Kappy and Uril, without special setups. To further worsen his case, anti-Traitless super backline units such as Cyberpunk and Sniper the Deadeye can often perform similarly well, but safer. Gladios's Area KB + Slow at 100% chance also makes him undesirable on stages with enemy backliners where he can cause your units to suicide, or “Mizli Syndrome”. As a generalist, Gladios has just average DPS, being replaceable by Awakened Ururun in late-game once she is unlocked.

Overall, Gladios is a useful early-to-mid game Uber who works well at controlling Traitless enemies, and offers sufficient generalist potential throughout mid-game. As the player advances through the game and unlocks more reliable generalists and anti-Traitless CC options such as advent drops, Gladios ends up retired as he has neither amazing abilities or stats to stand out above his competitors.

Ganglion is a powerful midrange LD Rusher with unusually high durability for such a unit. He stands at 300 range but hits between 200 and 550 with 5100 base DPS and 40 Speed. His already quite decent 68k HP and 4 KBs in First/Evolved Form increases to 102k base HP with 6 KBs in True Form. On top of all this he is Strong against Aliens and Zombies. He has Zombie Killer as an auxiliary ability to further advance his anti-Zombie performance. He has a cost of 5400 and his cooldown is 130s.

Ganglion's main strength is his outstanding raw stats. His base LD DPS is already quite significant in general use, and his 9000 effective DPS against Aliens and Zombies is on par with the best general LD attackers in the game. Furthermore, with his combination of high speed, high durability (255k effective HP) and lower-end standing range, he is very effective at infiltrating blindspots and countering enemy LD attackers, such as in No Return flights where he can easily bypass Dolphina's LD and snipe the Master A. His massive health pool helps him perform all of these roles, and lets him often make full use of all 6 of his knockbacks to stay on the field a long time and sustain pressure on the enemies.

Unfortunately, such extreme power does not come without flaws to balance it out. His attack cycle is long, and his nearly 3 second foreswing both can cause him to suffer in accuracy, and runs a moderate risk of interruption by enemy attacks. Despite the high HP his also high KB count, while having its advantages too, rules out the option of tanking any significant onslaught in general use (18k endurance). He also bears the signature high cost of Dragon Emperors, and with a relatively long cooldown, you can't afford to let him die too early to get your money's worth from him. His low standing range also comes with downsides, mostly in the form of requiring a firm stepping stone to land hits on longer-ranged threats such as Cadaver Bears.

With all of these factors considered, we can see that Ganglion is a mixture of strengths and weaknesses. You cannot throw him at any stage and dominate, but need to carefully match him to enemies and setups which favor his strengths and do not overly exploit his weaknesses. His general use will fall off in the later game as it becomes harder to find an ideal situation to use him in even with the considerable improvement that hypermax grants him, but his immense stats against Aliens and Zombies will keep him relevant in those niches until deep into end game. Ganglion will be a very valuable addition to the arsenal of the majority of players, and generously reward those who learn to use him well, functioning as something of a bulky D'artanyan for two traits.

Dioramos is a decent backline Tanker of 410 range. His core abilities are to KB and Slow Angels at a 100% proc chance for 4 to 4.8 seconds depending on treasures. Additionally, he also breaks barriers with 100% chance. Offensively, Dioramos sports 59.5k Damage at a 9.4 seconds attack rate, resulting in 6300 DPS. Defensively, he has Slow Immunity, 231k HP and 2 KBs. Lastly, his speed, cost and recharge time are 4, 6600 and 157 seconds, respectively. It's not recommended to use Dioramos before his TF, as his stats are much worse. His most notable talent is Strengthen by 50% when at half HP or lower, triggering on his last KB.

For a Backliner, Dioramos has great general HP paired with a low number of KBs, netting him superior endurance to most other Ubers. This allows him to stand for a good while underneath the fire of long range or wave enemies, such as Sunfish Jones or Kory, without losing ground. Against Angels, his high range allows him to assault enemies such as Winged Pigge, Sleipnir and Chickful A which lower ranged Rare/Super Rare CC units can't tackle effectively, and regain ground while disabling any Angel frontliner for some time. To further empower his offense, after unlocking talents, a strengthened Dioramos has 9450 general DPS, much higher than standard Uber Backliners.

His primary weakness lies in his long foreswing, which can often bring him to miss against low endurance foes (plentiful in the Angel trait especially) or be interrupted by enemies with the KB ability. Against lower ranged Angel enemies, meanwhile, Dioramos's ~50% Slow uptime is easily outclassed by talented Sanzo's stackability. As a Tanker, lack of Resistance abilities means Dioramos will still get shredded by high DPS foes that reach him even with his impressive base HP. This is further complicated by his sky-high cost and long recharge, making his role more akin to a bulky Backliner rather than a proper Tanker. His standing range is a little on the low side for a Backliner, and is almost at midrange standards, and allows enemies to push to him more readily and start to chip away his health. Lastly, his slow speed means he takes a long time to reach the frontlines and start to do his job, and after a KB or Warp he can be out of action for a while and/or lose ground. To make the most of Dioramos, a heavy NP investment is needed and even then he is far from great.

In the end, although Dioramos is a slow Backliner in both movement and attack rate, his high stats, mainly his high HP, are hard to replace and benefit very well from catseye upgrades, bringing him to 367.2k HP and 10k DPS at Lv 50. His bulkiness in fact is the reason he can work on stages where common Backliners would fail due to the pressure of long ranged foes, most notably The Belated Priest, where he can exploit M. Osts KBs and survive for a good while, not caring about being Slowed. Against Angels, he can provide a decent counter thanks to his ability + high stats and cover foes which Sanzo can not, but is otherwise outclassed on ability quality alone. Lastly, his Barrier Breaker usage is limited to Youcan, as Kitty of Liberty and Golfer already do the job well enough in general.

Raiden is a decent anti-Red Backliner with 68k base HP, 6000 base DPS, and 415 range in True Form. Raiden also boasts a 100% KB proc against Reds, 3 knockbacks, a 2 minute Cooldown, and a decent 15 Speed.

With a guaranteed KB proc, Raiden can juggle menacing melee Red units like JK Bun Buns, Shy Boys, Bores, and Berserkories along with its great effective 11k DPS. Thanks to a good effective 170k HP and resulting 57k endurance, Raiden can also power through some attacks with its decent endurance. Outside of the Red niche, Raiden has serviceable stats to work as a generalist as long as its short 415 range for a Backliner doesn't matter against the enemies of the stage.

Unfortunately, Raiden still suffers from multiple weaknesses. For one, its cooldown is rather long for its mediocre range. His range is on the low end for a Backliner and this gives less room for error if the frontline falters, and while his KB count is okay, it doesn’t grant the greatest survivability. This is offset by its quick time between attacks and good effective HP against Reds, but means it performs underwhelmingly against other traits. With his guaranteed Knockback, there is always the chance that Raiden pushes your entire army into the enemy backliner's range and gets you killed, but thankfully this is rare against Red enemies.

Overall, Raiden remains a decent Uber to have against most Red enemies with pure stats and consistent CC procs. It can do an adequate job fulfilling both the damage and CC rolled into a single unit. While Raiden has okay generalist stats, it falls short in stages where its 415 range could really handicap its potential. Nothing about its stats make Raiden stand out from other ubers save for its less than 450 range. Despite these shortcomings, Raiden remains one of the stronger Ubers, especially from the Dragon Emperors set.

Kamukura is a decent backline Uber and anti-Red Crowd Control unit. His main ability is a 50% proc chance for each of his CC abilities, with Knockback and a 5 to 6s Slow (depending on ItF fruit treasures) to Red enemies. Outside of this ability, he has 85k HP with 3 knockbacks, 5200 DPS with a 8.1s attack rate, sits at 475 range, has a cost of 6150, and a cooldown of 151s. Through his talents, he can gain the Resistance ability but this costs too much NP for too little effect in most cases. Pre-True Form, he has worse HP, range, and attack speed, offering DPS comparable to Crazed Bahamut and Ururun Wolf, so he's generally only used in True Form outside of early game.

Kamukura is effective at controlling frontline Red enemies. With a 75% chance of causing at least one debuff every 8 or so seconds, he excels against strong melee Reds like J.K. Bun Bun, Bore, and Berserkory. Kamukura's attack speed and proc chance are high enough to do this job without leading to Mizli Syndrome too often. For a generalist, he also boasts very high HP, and while other Backliners may die before using all of their knockbacks in late-game stages, Kamukura will almost always be able to reposition twice. His above average range further enhances his survivability, letting him stay out of danger when a typical 450-range Bahamut clone might be taking hits.

Unfortunately, Kamukura's niche is not very valuable past the mid-game; the enemies he does best against can be effectively stalled by non-Uber options like Enchantress and iCat. Additionally, while his HP and range are both very good for a Backliner, his DPS is nothing special, and many players will replace him with other Backliners that can put out more damage by the late-game, notably Awakened Ururun. These two factors mean that Kamukura declines in use by late-game. In general, his long foreswing leads to him missing attacks and thus not being the most reliable source of either DPS or CC. Kamukura also has a high price so when his weaknesses are a problem, they're an expensive one.

Overall, Kamukura is a useful early-to-mid game Uber who works well at controlling some threatening Red enemies early on, and offers solid generalist potential towards the middle of the game. However, as Backliner-oriented stages become rarer in the late-game, other high-DPS Backliners become accessible, and you have plentiful other options to counter the common Reds, Kamukura does fall off considerably. An old unit with abilities that are mostly irrelevant to the current meta, while fine for the mid game, he is mostly lacking and replaceable by the late game.

Vars is a backline attacker with 5500 DPS at 460 range, and 77k HP with 3 KBs. On top of this he has a 50% chance to inflict each of Knockback and a 5s Slow on Black enemies, and with talents can target Relic too. He costs 5610 to deploy and has a 145s Cooldown.

Vars's general strengths are his high stats, most importantly high standing range that allows him to outrange enemies like Le'boin variants, Sloth, and Master A; good DPS that provides a consistent stream of damage during the battle; and good survivability with his high HP and respectable KB count that ensures he survives for a substantial amount of time. All of these traits create a strong generalist Backliner that can be brought almost anywhere. His CC role, especially against Relics, is also reliable, with a 75% chance to inflict at least one proc. Combined with his fast attack rate, this easily controls many dangerous Relics such as Othom, M. Ost, and Relic Bun Bun.

Vars's first main flaw is his anti-Black niche. Since many units, including Vars himself can KB the majority of Blacks through damage alone, Vars's CC ability is not effective against these enemies. Stronger Blacks such as Dark Otter and Razorback are more easily dealt with using Bomber for CC, so Vars is also ineffective vs those enemies, rendering his anti-Black niche lackluster except against Le'Noir, who he can counter well. A final shortcoming of Vars's CC is that it can cause "Mizli Syndrome", where Vars KBs a frontliner into a backliner's range, causing many of your cats to walk forward and die. While this does not happen often with Vars, it can still leave him undesirable on stages such as Heron's Call and Mince Hill. Finally, a minor weakness Vars has is his high cost, making him a subpar choice for cash tight stages.

As a strong generalist for early and midgame, and an exceptional role in late game Relic stages, Vars is a relevant uber who has many uses throughout the game. Particularly his anti-Relic CC role is especially valuable as it is a very rare niche to find. Outside of his niches however, Vars's role is rather generic and equally filled by more accessible units like Ururun. In conclusion, despite his general role being semi-replaceable by no-gacha units, his niche as Relic CC is extremely valuable and he will be a good addition to your roster in late game.

Megidora is a decent backline attacker and anti-Floating CC with Slow and Knockback against Floating, both with a 50% proc rate. In True Form, God Emperor Megidora has 82k HP with 3 KBs, 6200 DPS, 20 Speed and 425 range. He also has 5700 cost and a 151s Cooldown. Before True Form, his stats are a little worse and his range is lower, making him mostly unimpressive outside of the early game. He has access to a level 3 Wave Attack talent with 15% chance to trigger at max level.

Megidora is a decent generalist. He has a decent amount of HP, ensuring he will use all of his repositions, and solid DPS for his range class. His fast attack rate ensures that he can handle enemy spam better and that your run will not be affected as heavily by missed attacks (unlike those of Crazed Bahamut and other slow Nukers). As for his CC ability, he works well enough as a counter to Bun Bun variants. His wave talent also expands his general use to include some high damage piercing power if you want it, though you will likely not invest NP in this over more important talents.

Despite being a decent generalist, sadly that's all he offers. His anti-Floating niche can be easily outclassed by Rares and Super Rares such as Sanzo, Octo, Cameraman etc. Knockback is also typically not a desirable ability, as many Floating-oriented stages contain a backline attacker that you want to not hastily push too hard against, else your cats get wiped out, or “Mizli Syndrome”. His lower-end range by backliner standards combined with his moderate movement speed, also expose him to more risk than slower or higher ranged alternatives.

In conclusion, Megidora is a decent generalist, and if you get him in the early game he will be very nice against Bun Buns until your Rare/Super Rare anti-Floatings are ready to go, but that’s all he is. Given this state of affairs he naturally drops in relevance in the late game, where Awakened Ururun clearly outclasses him as a generalist for the occasions when you lack a specialist for a given situation.

God Emperor Sodom is an underwhelming anti-Floating CC midrange Tanker, with 118k base HP and 2 KBs. He has a range of 415, 6100 DPS, 4 Speed, and a 2 minute Cooldown. His abilities include Resistant and KB (100% chance) to his targeted traits. His talents give him access to Target Relic, Curse Immunity, and a 30% chance to Weaken for 4 seconds by 50%. He has a high cost like his brethren, at 6450, one of the largest in the game, as well as a 12s attack cycle and 2s of foreswing.

Sodom's strengths lie in a significant 591k effective HP against Floating with full treasures and 473k effective HP against Relics. He can effectively tank enemies like Loris, Pigeon de Sable, Othom, Bun Bun family, and others nicely. His KB immunity can allow Sodom to become an impenetrable wall against M. Ost, which allows for effective stalling. His slow speed can help stack him with his respectable recharge on slow paced stages. His range lets him outrange most common Floating enemies. Combined with his support abilities, although very inconsistent, he can deal with a majority of Floating enemies. He shines in stages with lure strats, where his speed isn't holding him back.

Sodom faces many weaknesses: sluggish speed, unreasonably high cost, long TBA, limited usage, and a long foreswing. His speed can make him too slow to reach the frontline effectively, and his large range means he is awkward as a tank even when he does, unable to protect most of your other cats and acting as little more than a wall to buy time when enemies do break through. His KB Immunity is a double edged sword, causing him to lose chances to reposition when he’s not tanking but acting as a backline damager. Relics are usually paired with backliners, so KB is often counterproductive against them. He can miss frequently due to his foreswing, which, combined with his long TBA, can hurt a lot. For Sodom to be viable in Relic stages, he requires his talents to work properly, at a heavy NP cost. His somewhat low base HP stat can lead to him getting easily shredded by enemies outside his targeted traits, and his high cooldown means he can’t afford this weakness.

Sodom's meta value is very niche and limited. He can perform great against Relics on some occasions with his tanking capabilities, but they require his talents and support. Even then, he's nothing extraordinary against them. He can obliterate Floating-only stages as a wall when paired with meatshields and support (such as Octopus). However, since his base HP is quite low, he gets steamrolled when enemies outside his target traits are added into the mix, making Sodom an under average general Tanker. His CC is usually too inconsistent to be helpful, and his DPS for his range is nothing too special.

High Lord Babel or Babel the Darkflame is a poor midrange Tanker with 255k base HP, 2 KBs, and 7100 DPS, as well as 390 range, 6750 cost and 158s CD. Babel has Insane Resistance against Red and Floating enemies as his main ability.

Babel has an absurdly high 1.79M effective HP vs Red and Floating lets him defend against various enemies that can shred regular meatshield-based defences, such rapid attacks from Brollow spam or Professor A, and wave attackers like Pigeon de Sables or Berserkory. Babel's insane amount of HP makes it so he can tank with little to no additional support in most cases. While Babel's durability is his main attraction, and his DPS is nothing too special for a midranger, his damage per hit is very high, able to sometimes deplete multiple enemy knockbacks in a single blow or outright one shot them. This is again particularly nice on Brollows to stop them rebounding. In addition to that, his immunity to Freeze and Slow helps in stages with Henry, Croakley, Queen B., and other enemies with such threatening debuffs.

While High Lord Babel's health is outstanding, he has many flaws such as his poor attack cycle, range class, speed, cost and lack of late game use. First, Babel has a 12 second attack frequency which, while longer desirable for a Midranger, isn't fatal on its own. However, Babel's foreswing is also rather long, comparable to Crazed Bahamut who is notorious for missing his targets. These synergize dangerously, such that each attack missed is a severe loss of damage output. Secondly, his range, while too low to be a general backline nuker, is also too high for a Tanker as other midrange units will just walk past Babel so he can't protect them. His somewhat low speed adds to both of these problems, making him sometimes not reach the frontline in time to work even in situations where he could in theory. Babel’s cost is also one of the highest in the game, making him difficult to afford to send out and painful to lose when things go badly. Lastly, Babel's usage falls off dramatically in late game due to swarms of enemies with ever-higher levels of collective DPS that most tanks, Babel included, struggle to withstand for a meaningful amount of time. Abilities like Curse and Toxic also become more common and bypass his Insane Resistance.

While Babel's incredible effective HP against his traits makes him situationally useful and gives him some noteworthy matchups, his many flaws make him a below average unit in general. Most of his compatible stages are in the midgame, and just as easily handled with Rare and Super Rare alternatives such as Octopus and Roe, then in the later stages of the game he does not work against trickier enemies like Othom, Gobble, or Lowkey. Overall, he is a disappointing unit that shows high stats alone cannot make a unit good.