In defense of Cerydra

So ever since Cerydras kit got revealed (and frankly even before that bc of beta) I've seen a lot of takes on Cerydra and lets be honest, most of them were pretty negative. And while I understand where this sentiment comes from I also feel like it's important to clarify that Cerydra is not a "bad" or "useless" as a lot of ppl believe she is. A niche pick, yes, but niche supports can make a lot of difference in their respective team archetypes.

Firstly lets analyze her buffs and compare to other limited Harmony characters. Assuming E0S1 as baseline she provides:

1. around 1200 flat ATK (45% more if you consider atk boots)
2. 20 speed
3. 10% res pen and 72% skill crit dmg only on coup de main
4. 54% skill bonus dmg

Just to draw a comparison, E0S1 Robin buffs are: 1. around 1200 flat ATK 2. 74% bonus dmg 3. 20~45% crit dmg (or FuA crit dmg)

As we can see, her buffs are numerically pretty close to Robin. In fact, Cerydra can get even more value due to allowing ATK% boots on the DPS!

Still, I think we can all agree that utility nowadays is what define the identity of harmony characters. For example, Sunday wouldn't be nearly as strong as he is if his kit didn't pack consistent action advance, cleanse, energy gain AND SP positivity even if his numerical buffs were still there. So now lets go over a comparison between Cerydra and Robin in terms of utility.

Cerydra: 1. Duplicates skill every once in a while 2. SP positive 3. Cleanses debuffs

Robin: 1. 100% teamwide action advance. that's pretty much it. well, it's a fairly strong, maybe borderline broken utility. so not that bad overall

Now you'd ask me why use Robin as the comparison? Simply because she's the character most ppl who ARE pulling Cerydra will replace. Or in other words, Cerydra takes Robins slot on specific teams.

Again, there's no denying that her kit is very niche. That is a fact, she only benefits 2 characters (3 ig if you consider Archer) out of our entire current roster while supports like Tribbie or Robin herself had an impact on the majority of the teams in the game since their release. BUT think of it this way: by pulling Cerydra, you're effectively freeing up Robin for your other teams (which might be even more relevant in the future with 3-team content being added soon) without having to feel terrible for... well... not having Robin.

You could also argue that she's bad bc as a niche unit she won't have any value with future dps, but that's just guessing games. In reality we'll never know what Hoyo has in mind. I doubt they were thinking about break meta when they developed Ruan Mei, since her kit doesn't get fully utilized there, but even still she ended up being best in slot anyway. Even Sparkle came back to the meta once Hoyo remembered she existed and released a DPS with actual synergy. Who knows, maybe Cerydra might even be best in slot for the upcoming planet mechanics just like Sunday was for Amphoreus. My guess is as good as yours.