(sorry for the late review, was out camping during the long weekend then got busy running a work conference so hadn’t had time to sit down at my computer to type all of this)
tl;dr: Mari is a limited-time collab unit who is a decent pick for PvP. She is a B2 buffer who also adds in a mini AoE nuke, the only B2 AoE nuker currently available. She is an upgrade to Crown but side-grade to Blanc and XAnne who are also B2 buffers but offer different support utilities (instead of the mini AoE nuke). She is, however, >!canonically!< best girl, so you should roll for her anyway.
Mari is a limited-time collab unit that is part of the Nikke x Evangelion collab (other new units are dumb Asuka, dead fish Rei, and drunk Misato). She is a B2 sniper rifle support who acts as a team buffer, as well as serving a double role of adding in a mini AoE nuke. Her S1 skill doesn’t do anything in PvP (since shields don’t really do much and Nikke don’t have core) and her S2 doesn’t apply til 10s in, at which the fight is more or less already decided, so Mari’s value lies solely in her burst.
The mini AoE nuke aspect of her burst hits the opposing team for a respectable 639.36%. While this isn’t crazy like Pepper’s 1237.5% or Rosanna’s 1310.4% (+561.6%), keep in mind that 1) this mini AoE nuke includes her own self buff, and 2) this mini AoE nuke includes any buffs that come from B1 burst. In addition, Mari is currently the ONLY unit whose B2 burst contributes decent AoE damage (vs Centi’s 145.46% AoE nuke for example). In cases where your B3 doesn’t do enough damage to secure a kill (due to investment issues or general damage reduction from Tempering Cube or purple dolls), Mari’s bonus AoE damage can help make that crucial difference. One small thing you should keep in mind though is that Mari’s mini AoE nuke happens prior to your B3’s AoE nuke. This has a couple implications. Against Kilo or Bay, this can help break their shield/cover early, distrupting their strat. But against Noise, it is entirely possible that the enemy team receives a Noise B1 heal tick between the landing of Mari’s mini AoE nuke and your B3’s AoE nuke, and this extra heal tick can negate a lot of the damage added by Mari. In this case, just make sure you have a solid B1 so that your B3 AoE nuke is able to secure that 1-shot even without counting in Mari’s extra damage.
The buff aspect of her burst grants the team a +40.99% atk dmg buff, which is better than Crown’s (36.24%). Note that the atk dmg buff is different from atk buff as it acts as a separate multiplier. Whether or not its better or worse than XAnne’s +77.22% atk buff or Blanc’s 39.26% damage taken debuff will depend on what other buffs your team has (e.g. you will have to do the math), but generally that’s more in min-maxing territory. One other thing to keep in mind is that as a SR, she has less burst gen than XAnne but more burst gen Blanc. Same Jackal feed as XAnne but less feed than Blanc. With that said, XAnne offers utility in the form of a heal and a (potential) rez, while Blanc offers utility in the form of an invuln buff. So the ultimate choice of which of the three to choose will really depend more on your team comp/strategy and what you want from your B2 (extra damage, heal/rez, or invuln buff).
With all that said, Mari is a limited collab unit and also best girl >!(canonically too, watch the movie, “Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time”)!<, so you should roll at least one copy of her regardless
>> Keripo’s PvP tier list rating: A+ <<
Originally posted on Reddit