User blog:Linathan/Unit Spotlight: Knight of Holy Light Ark

Summary
Is this the first time we’ve had a unit with that many words in its name? I’m more than surprised to see all of that fit in the UI box.

Seeing how Ark finally found and saved his lover, how well do they perform together? Are you somewhat surprised how the unit is still called Ark and not Ark & Ilia? Sorta gets to me. Maybe Fei & Fang got me back then.

Leader Skill
Score: 10/10

Ark’s Leader Skill is practically the reason why players can beat most content in the game without much trouble compared to not using him at all. Here’s a good bit of why.

Ark boosts all stats by 50%, which is one of the highest stat boosts in the game. It’s very solid parameter boost that isn’t seen on a lot of units.

Ark adds some solid Spark utility, including the 100% Spark boost and the BC drop rate. Spark damage allows the squad to deal some extra damage. Provided that your squad can spark well, this 100% Spark boost can mean a lot, especially along with the increased BC drop rate you get for sparking as well.

Next comes the reason why Laberd was such a good lead during his time. Laberd’s Leader Skill is brought back to a free unit like Ark. Essentially, a unit takes 5000 damage and receives a 20% mitigation buff that is stackable with normal mitigation. This is such an overpowered buff that most ultimate attacks become survivable thanks to this buff. It’s quite easy to utilize as well and it may activate during a buff-wipe if your units take enough damage and if the buff-wipe occurs before the enemy animation starts.

Brave Burst
Score: 9/10

Ark's BB utilizes the average 370% seen on most Omni units. This BB will still be very high damage thanks to Ark’s damage modifier being higher than the standard norm for BB damage modifiers: 280%.

This BB becomes quite a great emergency BB to use if your squad’s BB gauges are lacking fills. First off, this BB grants a +2 hit count buff along with a 150% Atk buff. Assuming no other buffs were applied beforehand, this is a 650% boost to normal attack damage. Ark is currently one of two units (Soleil is the other) that give a +2 hit count buff and with Ark providing a variety of unique buffs, this buff suits him very well.

Ark also heals the squad and removes status ailments. A neat feature of Ark is that he becomes a healer, which is something that he did not have in his 7* form. This heal is quite large for a BB and it’s actually the same amount on SBB as well, making this super efficient to use.

Super Brave Burst
Score: 9/10

Ark's SBB utilizes a base 200% damage modifier with an additional 7% for every 1% HP remaining. Since the average SBB modifier is 500%, Ark’s HP only needs to be at least 43% remaining to maintain over the average, which is quite a huge range.

Ark adds some interesting buffs, including the 20% OD fill rate buff and the 3000 HP Light barrier.

The 20% OD fill rate offers a bigger portion of the OD gauge filled than the normal amount. The difference between having this and not having it is that this effect has a bigger effect in long-lasting battles, most notably Mildran’s Karna Masta (despite not having this version of Ark in your first attempt) and Genius’ Challenge.

The barrier also adds in another factor of tankiness. This allows units to take less damage from attacks other than Dark attacks which will break the barrier faster. Given Ark’s Leader Skill mitigation buff, you’ll relieve lots of damage this way.

Ark’s SBB also inherits the healing and the 150% Atk buff from his BB. You also have the choice of having his SBB healing status ailments to replicate the similar effect from his BB and ultimately prevent BB/SBB juggling.

Ultimate Brave Burst
Score: 10/10

Ark's UBB utilizes the average 1500% damage modifier seen on most Omni units. This UBB will still be very high damage thanks to Izuna’s damage modifier being higher than the standard norm for BB damage modifiers: 1000%.

Because Ark’s UBB happens to provide a great amount of damage utility, here are some numbers to dazzle your brain.

Ark’s UBB (not enhanced)
 * Spark boost: 250% from UBB / 150% base = +166.67% damage
 * BB Atk boost: 600% from UBB / 600% average SBB modifier (100% base + 500% average) = +100% damage
 * Total damage: 5.33333x damage

Avant’s UBB
 * Spark boost: 250% from UBB / 150% base = +166.67% damage
 * BB Atk boost: 500% from UBB / 600% average SBB modifier (100% base + 500% average) = +83.33% damage
 * Critical boost: +300% from UBB / 150% base = +200% damage
 * Total damage: 2.6667 x 1.8333 x 3 = 14.66658333x damage
 * Total damage (without crit): 2.6667 x 3 = 4.88886111x damage

Ark’s UBB beats Avant’s in terms of non-crit damage utility, which is most prevalent in hard content. In many cases, you’ll probably be using Ark’s UBB over Avant’s due to this. It’s also considering the fact that Ark’s UBB carries the 75% mitigation buff, which is absolutely amazing. Not only is Ark not a mitigator with his BB/SBB, Ark can also use this UBB to freely stack with a BB/SBB mitigator on the same turn with ease.

Extra Skill
Score: 8/10

There wouldn’t be any reason why you’re not equipping Ark with Oracle Bangles other than that you don’t have it for whatever reason. This sphere and this Extra Skill adds quite a huge stat boost for Ark to become versatile, strong, and tanky.

Ark gets the nice 2-3 BB-on-hit and the 20% chance of recovering 25% damage as HP. Both of these are nice to utilize when on tight situations where Ark will need his SBB for extra utility and if Ark is trying to live a few hits or two.

Arena
Score: 9/10

Ark has a 40 BC normal attack Drop Check, which is a pretty high Drop Check to use in the game. Type 3 AI is also not too shabby considering its high proc rate of BB/SBB.

Ark isn’t necessarily a game-changing unit in Colosseum. Yes, his Leader Skill provides the 20% mitigation, but that isn’t necessarily a proper way to counter Mifune, especially with the fact that Mifune can just one-shot units out of the blue and be done on his merrily way. This 20% mitigation buff only activates upon taking 5000 damage while living.

Other than that, Ark is really just a damage dealer with the utility he provides. There’s nothing more about him other than that he gains great BB gauge momentum from his Extra Skill. Even then, his BC costs are still quite heavy in Arena.

Stats
Score: 9/10

Very, very solid stats. Ark’s Atk is very top-notch while his other stats are around average.

In terms of typing, my type preference for Ark is…

This unit is only available as a Lord type.

Due to the release of the Mystery Frog in Brave Frontier RPG, my type preference for Rugal is...

Anima > Breaker = Guardian > Lord > Oracle

Usefulness
Score: 10/10.

As mentioned in prior sections, Ark is one of the leads that helped so many players clear so much hard content in the game. This is mainly thanks to his 50% all stats boost and the 20% mitigation that units get upon taking 5000 damage.

On top of that, Ark is one of the very few units that provide both critical and elemental null buffs and rainbow elemental buffs. Utilizing these in hard content will help to reduce RNG-intensive factors that your units would otherwise die from.

If you’ve read any recent guide on a certain content after Omni Ark’s release, you’d probably see Ark’s name on the list of recommended leaders. It’s with Ark’s wide variety of buffs that he provides that make him so flexible and versatile to use. It’s also considering he’s very accessible and everyone is bound to get him thanks to him being a quest reward. Karna Masta is tough, but once you beat him, this wonderful unit will be in your hands.

SP Enhancements
Score: 10/10

See SP Enhancement Options: Knight of Holy Light Ark (Will be released later today! I know this has been requested the most!)

There’s no disputing it. Ark being the first unit to provide both crit null and elemental null is absolutely a blessing coming from even a free unit like Ark himself. However, this leaves Ark with some very good choices to take along with some very hard choices to make. Ark is one of the only Omni units in the game that can provide all elements to attacks with the SP option unlocked. Doing this will sacrifice all potential factors that units would otherwise die from if crit and elemental null didn’t exist on Ark.

Because there can only one Ark on each account, the player will have to make some important choices upon deciding SP options.

Sphere Recommendations

 * Oracle Bangles & Growth Device
 * Oracle Bangles & Projection Device
 * Oracle Bangles & Schism Orb
 * Oracle Bangles & Sacrilege Orb

Conclusion
Total Score: 9.3/10

Ugh, that buff duration bug was a pain in the butt to deal with. Can’t you believe it actually took Gumi one whole month to fix? Soooo… who actually beat Karna Masta during the buff duration bug? I did! I didn’t!

Comment below on what you think of Ark! What’s your SP enhancement build? How do you use Ark in your squads? Leave a comment below!

Check out my list of analyses in [http://bravefrontierglobal.wikia.com/wiki/User_blog:Linathan/Spotlights:_Table_of_Contents! Spotlights: Table of Contents!]

Check out my other Unit Spotlights:
 * Soul Reaver Laberd
 * Godly Command Izuna
 * Void Pasha Ensa-Taya
 * Celestial Wings Lara