Reverse: 1999 - Isolde Guide + Analysis of Kit

Isolde is a powerful Sub-DPSwho can do decent damage while being AP friendly. The following is an analysis of her kit and a guide on how to use her, basically.

Isolde’s Kit

i1: After enter, gains a status that can be upgraded. the base status, Prelude makes all allies get 3 stacks of preignition, which means allies would give enemies 3 stacks of burn after attack, and it happens once per turn for each ally. After round end, the burns would be divided by half. The result of this division would give Isolde Heat Stacks and when this reaches 15, Isolde enters Interlude which does the same thing as prelude, only that Isolde now casts Intermezzo a mass follow up attack which deals 50% reality DMG to all and for every burn an enemy has, deals additional 10% DMG (max 300%). Intermezzo is triggered at the end of each round if the enemy with the most burns have 6 or higher burns on them.

i2: 5% ATK Increase, nothing special

i3: When having 40 or more Heat Stacks, enter Finale. Finale will do everything Prelude and Interlude does. However, Finale also makes your Intermezzo deal 65% reality DMG instead of 50%, and gives all allies Power burst (Rousing Morale but 25% DMG increase instead) at the start of the round.

Skill 1: Twirling Melody

Isolde deals 150%/225%/300% ATK Reality DMG to two enemies, as well as applying 2 burns to each one. When in Interlude, gains a 30% penetration rate bonus. When in Finale, the effect increases to 50%.

Skill 2: Desired Freedom

Isolde Shreds 25%/35%/50% Critical DEF and 20%(25% when the target have burn) Reality DEF to all enemy units.

Ultimate: Choke on blood

Isolde sings, and applies 5 stacks of burn to all enemies. She would apply even more burn(5) to the target you had chosen. She then would give all allies a stack of Rousing Morale(50% DMG increase, one time use). After that, she would cast Intermezzo(a mass follow up attack which deals 50% reality DMG to all and for every burn an enemy has, deals additional 10% DMG(max 300%)). This Intermezzo would then enjoy an additional 15% Incantation Might for every burn over-applied(the max stacks of burn is 30, thus, the maximum Incantation Might gained is 150%.)

Overview of Kit

Isolde is an extremely good Sub-DPS, mainly catered toward Reality Damage dealers who deal Crit-Focused Damage. Isolde overall contains multifaceted buffs and debuffs-In essence, 3 stacks of preignition to all allies at the start of each round, 1 stack of Power Burst to all allies at the start of each round(Finale), 1 stack of Rousing Morale to all allies after using Ultimate, 25/35/50% CRIT DEF Shred, 20%(25% with burn) Reality DEF Shred, and sizable personal damage due to relatively high multipliers on Debuff skill and a hefty Penetration boost, with Interlude being fairly easy to achieve.

Teammates

Isolde is a very versatile unit, with her being able to work with almost all Reality Damage Dealers. However, the following will only list her most significant synergies:

DPS

Spathodea – Isolde is a clear match to Spathodea. Spathodea can replenish Heat Stacks for Isolde extremely quickly, meanwhile Isolde can buff Spathodea’s damage, with her rousing morale being especially good on Spathodea as she does sizable damage from her Ultimate. Additionally, Spathodea is mainly a DPS catered towards Single-Target situations, as none of her kit is multi-targeted, with Isolde assisting in that, as all of her damage is multi-targeted, also her being AP friendly contributes a lot to Spathodea’s AP Intensive Playstyle.

Jiu Niangzi – Isolde is the offensive option for Jiu compared to 6 who is the more defensive option. Isolde is able to provide 4 unique buffs to Jiu’s meter at Finale, 3 each turn without Ultimate, and 2 each turn without Finale and Ultimate.(Prelude/Interlude/Finale, Preignition, Power Burst through Finale, and Rousing Morale through Ultimate.) Isolde also assists Jiu Niangzi in that she buffs Reality as a whole heavily, with the CRIT and DEF Shred.

Jessica – This is specifically worth a mention, as Isolde allows her to bring Blasphemer of Night without bringing Sotheby, who, admittedly, is a mid healer overall. Jessica can now bring Tooth Fairy, who yields higher damage output overall.

All Reality DPSes – Really, this doesn’t need much explanation. Isolde just give a lot of DEF Shred and DMG Bonus in general.

All DPSes – Although most mental DPS would not gain benefit from Isolde’s Reality DEF shred, objectively speaking most of the mental debuffers are shit/mid(Shamane, Babyblue, Twins Sleep), so Isolde can still buff mental units, just not as good as she buffs reality.

Sub-DPS/Supports

37 – Isolde buffs 37, with her CRIT Shred being able to be enjoyed by her, along with her providing 37 with reliably one Eureka per round after the former had entered Interlude.

Getian – Isolde also assists Getian, as in her Reality DEF Shred can stack with Getian’s Bone Reading Status. Those two together are also able to provide the ability of any DPS equipping Blasphemer of Night, with Bone Reading and Burn being the two NEG Statuses. Additionally, Getian can perform a mass follow up attack, maximizing the worth of Preignition.

Ulu – She makes Isolde able to stack more quickly, but that’s it. She is a pretty mid/bad support in general, so I won’t recommend even bringing her.

Healers

Tooth Fairy – Tooth Fairy buffs CRIT Damage, Isolde does CRIT Damage. Pretty Self-Explanatory. However, keep in mind that Isolde’s debuff card will overlap with her Baby Tooth CRIT DEF decrease.

Medicine Pocket – With Isolde, Medicine Pocket’s DEBUFF card actually became more relevant. Before Isolde, most prevalent Sub-DPSes’ Debuff card provide a DMG taken increase, but Isolde does not feature that in her kit.

Portraits Analysis and Pulling Recommendations

P1, P3, P5: Allows Isolde to do higher damage using Intermezzo. Pretty Self-Explanatory.
P2: Reduces Isolde’s Heat Stack requirements for Finale and Interlude.
P4: Increases Isolde’s Debuff Card Damage.

Overall, again, Isolde is an amazing unit at P0, so there is little need to chase portraits, especially if you are a F2P or a Low Spender.

P1, P3, and P5 have an around ~15% increase to Isolde’s personal damage,
P2 is not recommended to pull, as in Isolde herself have pretty quick speed in generating heat stacks.
P4 is mid overall, only generating a ~5% damage increase.

Overall, if you would want to pull for her portraits, stopping at 1, 3, or 5 is the way to go.

Psychubes Recommendations

Isolde basically only has 2 6 Star Psychube choices: Either Knock on the Door, her signature Psychube, or Blasphemer of the Night. The two psychubes yield similar results if one could trigger the DMG increase of BoN. Overall, if you have a teammate that could trigger BoN, such as Getian, it is recommended overall as Knock on the Door is a quite niche psychube mainly only used by Isolde.

Alternative Options include Yearning Desire, and, as a last resort, Balance, Please. Yearning Desire is easily triggered by Isolde, as her burn satisfies the condition needed. Balance, Please is extremely not recommended, as firstly it requires a lack of Afflatus Advantage, additionally, it buffs Ultimate Might, with which none of Isolde’s damage comes from it.

Character Comparison

Bkornblume – In very simple words, Isolde is merely a better version of her. However, there is much more than that when you go in depth. Isolde buffs more, however lacks the control and the insanely high multipliers(800% in P5) which Bkorn have on her ult. Isolde’s debuff card does have lower raw damage increase than Bkorn’s, but she made it up through her less AP heavy steady damage output and her various buffs through Ultimate and Finale.

Shamane – Shamane is still technically better than Isolde in Mental comps, but even that is more overshadowed in Longer Fights with Finale and Rousing Morale. He also deals less damage overall than Isolde.

Resonance

Below are the resonance sheets for R5-R15. Isolde’s Resonance are divided into three main branches: ATK/DMG Bonus for use before R10, Crit, and Survivability.