User blog comment:Crimson Storm Mich/Future Units Preview v2/@comment-26336535-20161217175231/@comment-26336535-20161218011434

Consto, I have seen 2 instances where sparks killed me, the Six Pillars GGC, and... some other time. I don't remember it, but I'm pretty sure there was one other time I died to sparks. Besides those two times, sparks have never been a problem for me. So, from personal experience, spark resistance is almost useless. If you think you need spark resistance, sure, but I don't find it helpful. From my PoV, that's 40 sp used on something I will need once or twice that I could have spent on making Shera tankier, or well, pretty much any other enhancement. I think they're all more useful than spark resistance.

Staccato, you can't call heal on attack irrelevant or useless. It's an additional heal; you might as well call burst healers useless. If you're up against stat-down content, a heal that isn't based on REC is extremely helpful. If you're calling it irrelevant because of the numbers, yeah 3-6% of damage 50% of the time sounds like a little, but in actual use, it's surprisingly helpful. Magress' heal from his attacks can bring anyone it proccs on from red to full almost every turn. In content where HC is null or reduced, any other forms of healing are welcome, and if it ends up splitting the reduced number HC to a smaller number of units, it's some more utility. If you're talking who's a better mitigator between the pseudo-healing DEF buffing Magress and the spark blanket ATK buffing Shera, Magress clearly offers a lot more protection.

As for Lara, yeah, not top tier since two turn mitigation pretty much brings everyone up, but that doesn't mean Lara sucks. Most veteran players don't need another mitigator when they already have two turn mitigators, so they don't need Lara to mitigate. However, if you were to use her to mitigate, she still offers a lot more utility than Shera. Plus, I still haven't encountered content I couldn't beat without two turn mitigation, so it's not necessary at all. It definitely helps though.

I agree about Shera's niche, she offers a bit of offensive utility in her spark-blanket nature and ATK buff, but as you say, that doesn't help her be a mitigator, especially when you already have other, sometimes stronger, ATK buffers and other spark blankets. Sure, more spark blankets don't hurt, but that doesn't seem like much of a reason to use her over Krantz. And about Krantz's leader skill, it clearly doesn't suck. The standard stat boosts are literally right there, strong as hell, and he gives BC per turn in there too, which is a solid buff. Sure, Felice has better BB buffs on her LS, but Krantz's buffs work too, and he gives a higher stat buff. The 5 element requirement is not that much of a problem, especially since you have the mitigator spot (and maybe the healer spot as well) of your squad already full.

I'm not saying Shera's garbage, she's still good. She just doesn't really stand out. I'll still be using her, but if I need more protection (as one tends to do in later content), I'm looking at my Krantz, Magress, and Elimo OE. The only utility she offers other than her spark blanket is either very subpar, common, or straight up useless most of the time.