Good rotations this run. Megaman's damage is not great but not as bad as people think.

BURAITO CHEISAAAAAAAAAA

As a fire unit, Sarisse has always been high tier. Thanks to bow's high hitcount, Sarisse's kit makes it easy to stack buffs with high uptime. This enables her to spam 1615% S1s at all times from a safe distance. However, the obscenely high HP/DPS checks in mHMS have pushed her out of the meta. Without defensive prints, she cannot survive. With defensive prints, she cannot deal enough damage. The answer? Brute force using defensive buffs. With a combo of Emma, hLowen, Skill Prep, and a shitload of HP augments, Sarisse's effective HP is almost doubled. Sarisse can just barely enter mHMS with full offensive prints. And not just any prints - with Dear Diary, easily the most powerful print thus far. With full stacks of Resilient Offense, this print singlehandedly makes Chelsea and Sarisse the best fire DPS in the game. Here's how to prep and play Sarisse.



Composition

Full disclosure. To play Sarisse in this endgame fight, you will have to max almost everything. This comp does not exist in pubs. You will have to use Discord or a similar platform to organize runs. Here are some guidelines.

Sarisse [dl adv="gala_sarisse"]

50 nodes - 100 HP augs

MUB HDT2 Valkyrie's Fire [dl w="valkyries_fire"] - 10 HP augs

Forest Bonds [dl wp="forest_bonds"] and Dear Diary [dl wp="dear_diary"] - 160 HP augs

Konohana Sakuya [dl d="sakuya"]* or Cerberus/Agni [dl d="cerberus"][dl d="agni"] - 10 HP augs

35/35 altars, 35/35 dojos, 30 fire facility, 16 fire fafnir

Now that augments are farmable, just max them when possible. The fight is unforgiving so take whatever leeway you can.

*Konohana Sakuya is highly preferred and produces 8% higher DPS than Cerberus/Agni. This might not seem like a ton, but remember that an MUB HDT2 is 10% stronger than a 0UB HDT2. The difference becomes more pronounced in a DPS/DPS/buffer/healer comp.

Emma [dl adv="emma"]

49+ nodes and enough HP to survive.

0UB HDT1 recommended but less is clearable.

Chocolatiers [dl wp="the_chocolatiers"] and Halidom Grooms [dl wp="halidom_grooms"] - recommended, must have enough Skill Prep and/or Force Charge to use S2 before the opening blast.

From Whence He Comes [dl wp="from_whence_he_comes"] and Castle Cheer Corps [dl wp="castle_cheer_corps"] - alternative, basically anything with enough Skill Prep.

Arctos [dl d="arctos"] recommended to stun second Gales, otherwise any dragon is fine.

Halloween Lowen [dl adv="h_lowen"]

45+ nodes and enough HP and Recovery Potency to heal Sarisse and survive - unmaxed coability or Rose Prince hLowen should use Phoenix.

0UB HDT1 recommended but less is clearable

First print must be 25% prep of some sort, New World Escort [dl wp="new_world_escort"] recommended for heal potency, From Whence He Comes [dl wp="from_whence_he_comes"] can be used for extra regen tick, but immediate heal.

Second print is flexible, Give Me Your Wounded [dl wp="give_me_your_wounded"] and Study Rabbits [dl wp="study_rabbits"] are useful for heal potency and The Rose Prince [dl wp="the_rose_prince"] prevents stun up to 3 times, allowing for an easier opener.

High Brunhilda [dl d="high_brunhilda"] recommended, but use Phoenix [dl d="phoenix"] should the healing be insufficient.

In comps without close range DPS (axe, sword, dagger) hLowen can increase DPS uptime by hosting and baiting. This is very easy compared to melee DPS baiting since hLowen doesn't have to worry about DPS.

Opening rotation example from Nowi4DL

Start

S2, S1

Get stunned and chill for 10 seconds

Run to the center circle and attack 4 times

Run top left with rest of team to avoid Storm Strike

Hit to retarget and FS for S1

Run into circle and S1 before the blast

Hit like 4 times to get S2

Run outside of range of your ally (in our setup I went bottom right)

S2 before the chaser hits





Flexible DPS

This can range from the optimal Rena [dl adv="rena"] to the meme Mega Man. Emma/hLowen means you can run almost anything, but ranged DPS that aren't Sarisse will likely need Flash of Genius. Here's the Mega Man setup from the video above.

Mega Man [dl adv="mega_man"]

50 nodes - 100 HP augs, a lot is needed to survive.

0UB HDT2 - if a main DPS does not have an HDT2, tell them to come back later.

Flash of Genius [dl wp="flash_of_genius"] and Dear Diary [dl wp="dear_diary"] - 200 HP augs - Resilient Offense gets max stacks 30 seconds into mHMS which is similar to Elegant Escort [dl wp="elegant_escort"] in practice.

Cerberus/Agni [dl d="cerberus"][dl d="agni"] - Mega Man does not use Skill Damage so use your best Strength dragon.



Playstyle

As Sarisse, your job is to pump out high, safe, and consistent damage. If you drop combo, don't worry too much. Maximizing S1 will produce more damage than sacrificing skill uptime to maintain combo. Dear Diary and hLowen means you have six permanent buffs already.

S1

As Sarisse, there are four combos to charge S1, your main source of damage. These require maxed coability and Forest Bonds. Don't use Resounding Rendition just because it has all your augs. Don't use Valiant Crown either - Striking Haste is more important to have flexible combos.

C4 FS roll C4

Your bread and butter. This is a flexible combo with high hitcount that works from all ranges. Use the roll to reposition early as needed while FS maintains your combo. If HMS moves and your FS won't land, you can FS in the direction he moves and at least one of the hits will land, granting full SP. After the second C4, there is the option to FS then fire S1 before it lands. This pre-charges SP for the next S1 but rarely changes anything.

C4 FS roll FS roll FS

Great alternative for when you need to move a lot or a C4 would miss because HMS is using 3way/8way. You can mix it up depending on the moves HMS is doing. For example, say HMS uses 8way into backflap or 3way into charge. You can spam FS roll to move into the safe zone, let the move end, then roll forward and C4 S1. The S1 will follow the backflap/charge.

C5 C4

Technically faster than C4 FS roll C4 by 0.1 seconds. This is a good beginner combo for someone unfamiliar with the fight. The cone area it covers can be good for when HMS moves. However, it produces lower hitcount and requires being close to land all hits of C5. Don't expect to use this a lot if you have some bow experience. C4 C5 also produces skills decently faster than C4 C4 FS if your combo gets interrupted. If you don't use Forest Bonds, this is your only combo.

FS roll FS roll FS roll FS roll FS

Something of a meme. HMS moves too much to spam FS so much. This is handy when your team backs away during Rending Blast. If you want to build SP without being close and dropping a Storm Strike on HMS, use this. FS is great in general if you need to move a lot.

S2

Nothing special to say here. Use the strength buff when it's up, ideally right after Chaser hits. A good Rena will have S1 S2 S1 around then. There's no need to save the defense buff for the second Stack/Chaser, but I save it on the off chance hLowen and Emma both don't have defense buffs. Just make sure your second or third strength buff lands on Break.

S3

Nothing here either. The move is slow and doesn't produce much combo or damage. Just use it when it's up and won't miss. Try to save it for golems. Not using S3 is still a 5% DPS loss so don't neglect it. It's a very good iframe if spit baits are looking iffy.





General Tips and Strategy

If HMS has not started a move, just use S1/S3 if they're up. With the exception of S3 into Storm Strike, the move will end before you can get hit and you can react.

Stay away from the top edges of the map if you can help it. Gales spawn there pretty quickly.

Stick to the center of the map. This keeps you safe from properly baited spits and Gales. Don't get trapped between HMS and a wall or 8way will kill you.

During Chasers, don't go far out of your way to adjust to teammates. You are slow and deal the bulk of damage. Stand at range and teammates can easily adjust to you.

2-2.5 roll lengths from Storm Strike is a safe distance - watch your teammates in case they drop theirs too close.

Learn to dodge Gales.

Misc

hLowen POV with pretty meh DPS but still clears sub 4min. Watch hLowen's opener if you want to play him.

Here's a 'scuffed' Sarisse POV to showcase more mechanics from someone who just built her.

Emma POV of a decent speedrun. 2:30 is very possible.

Afterword

I love Sarisse. I stayed up for 8hrs on mHBH release to clear and build her HDT2 asap. So I was pretty upset when her damage turned out to be unviably low. Even my Sarisse brother N4D had given up and resorted to Emma. So I memed a little - if only Sarisse had 650 more HP, she could run in a burn comp. On October 22nd 2019 at 2:27 PM PST, my life changed forever. With this knowledge, we were able to clear within three hours. And Sarisse comps have only improved. I don't expect this to become a meta comp, but it provides a comfy alternative to the Ramona/Rena/Emma/Verica meta. So I'm pretty happy. I wanted to write some thanks but it got too long and mushy. So thank you to everyone.