"Anyone here? Heard from one of your guys that I can make a comfy living here! Something about free lodging and food, with plenty of free time left over... Hm? This area is for staff only? Don't be like that! You make it sound like I don't belong here!"

Overview

"A knife, a life; weapons are the basis for society."

Whew, Nian. The infamous freeloader of Rhodes Island, who spends her time getting people to play mahjong with her, or making movies. Nian is a core defender, our 10th one released as well as our first limited operator, which gave her access to a bit of a unique skill. As a normal, core defender she doesn't have any special effects, so let's get into it, shall we?

Stats

"Huh? What good do you think this stuff's gonna do me? Skills like these are only useful to people who value them."

Offensive Stats: Nian has the 6th highest ATK of all defenders, and is one of the 6 defenders that exceeds 600 attack. A lot of 6's. While her attack is on the higher end, her attack interval lowers her DPS a bit, bringing it onto the same level of around Hoshiguma when considered in a vacuum without skills.

Defensive Stats: Ignoring talents, Nian has the highest DEF of all defenders, coupled with a very high HP stat, being the third highest of all defenders. This makes Nian one of the best units for tanking physical damage while skills are offline. However, Nian doesn't have any RES, meaning she relies on team support to face that. HP tanking can only go so far.

Cost: Nian, being a defender, has a high cost that increases each promotion. At E0, she has a 19 cost. When promoted to E1, her cost increases to 21, and then 23 at E2. This makes deploying her an investment. However, her cost is on par with the higher rarity defenders, so it's nothing too severe.

Range

"My sword's gonna cleave your bodies and your values apart."

As a normal defender, Nian's range does not change. It is simply the tile she stands on, and the tile directly infront of her.

Trait

"When 'tis a choice of life and death, why shouldst thou lay down thy arms?"

Blocks 3 enemies. Simple, effective.

Talent

"That lame look of yours is grinding my gears... Here, have a toy to lighten up. You're busy with work? Who cares about some boring-ass work? Just one thing: don't lose sight of this little doll, or else it'll vanish in a blink of an eye."

Available at E1:

Tectonic Armour: When this unit is in the squad, all Defenders gain +8% Max HP. This talent does exactly what it says, increases max HP of all Defenders. Since it's "all Defenders," it includes Nian, which increases her HP even further. At E2, the HP buff is increases to +16%.

Available at E2:

Clairvoyance: When deployed, this unit gains 3 shields (each shield can block 1 instance of damage) This talent gives Nian 3 instances to negate damage on deployment, and are refreshed if you redeploy her. This allows her to safely tank anything three times, but is very frontloaded, and will break upon any hit, even chip damage from the poison air in some maps. Due to this talent, Nian has a reputation of "6* Gravel." It's difficult to utilize this talent when Nian is your core defender, but if using her as a swap/addition when a powerful enemy decides to approach your defensive line instead of standing there menacingly, it's a good tool for her.

Skills

"Mind if I do some redecorating in here?"

RIIC Skills:

Always available:

Rare Metal Identification: When this Operator is assigned to the Workshop to process elite material, the production rate of byproduct increases by 100%

Reckless: When this Operator is assigned to the Workshop to process elite materials, increases the Morale consumed by all corresponding formulas by +2

Numbers wise.....Nian's talents are a 100% byproduct rate increase, which is a nice 20% for all elite mats. On the other hand, she increases the morale cost by 2.....which makes the mathematical percentage worse than the 75% increases such as Perfumer's or Myrrh's. Cool in the short run if you're lucky, worse in the long run. Not that it stops me from using her to make all of my mats so I can one day achieve the legendary 300% trust.

Tin Burning {Auto Recovery, Manual Trigger}

"My body burns at over 1,400 degrees!"

Skill Description: Increases ATK and DEF by a set amount, and change damage type to Arts

Stats at level 7: Def +55%, ATK +30%, change damage type to arts {30 SP, 10 initial, 26 second duration}

Stats at M3: Def +70%, Atk +45%, change damage type to arts {30 SP, 10 initial, 30 second duration}

More Info: This is....surprisingly a good skill? It's a consistent, 50% uptime defense buff at M3, and will almost always increase Nian's DPS barring times enemies have the Res to reduce Nian's arts damage even through the attack buff. There's nothing else to say about it, except that it's good for surviving constant medium difficulty waves, and offering your team a consistent source of arts damage.

Copper Seal {Auto Recovery, Manual Trigger}

"You dare strike my shield with your spear? That's gonna end with you in pieces!"

Skill Description: Stops attacking, increases DEF, block, and upon receiving enemy attacks, reflect damage equal to a percentage of unit's ATK as arts damage and silence.

Stats at level 7: Def +100%, Block +1, damage reflect is equal to 70% of Nian's ATK as arts damage, and silence enemy for 3 seconds{50 SP, 31 Initial, 32 second duration}

Stats at M3: Def +130%, Block +1, damage reflect is equal to 90% Nian's ATK as arts damage, and silence enemy for 5 seconds{50 SP, 35 Initial, 35 second duration}

More Info: This skill is Nian's skill for high pressure waves/bosses. A 130% DEF buff is massive, bringing Nian's almost 800 DEF to over 1830. Almost on par with Eunectes' defense with S3 active. This allows Nian to shrug off most physical threats in the game provided she has healing support. While you still need to wait 15 seconds to use this skill after deployment, her talent helps her survive a few hits. The block increase helps her against waves with a large number of fodder units, and ties in with the damage reflection. However, against a boss, both of these aspects don't make too much of a difference because most bosses attack too slowly, so damage is lost. In addition, the silence can more or less be treated as flavour text for any enemy which isn't an exploding slug.

Iron Defense {Auto Recovery, Manual Trigger}

"O virtuous King, who can lead our army if not you?"

Skill Description: Increase operator's ATK, and grant allies in range the following buffs: Increase DEF, block, and grants status resistance (Reduces duration of cold, freeze, and stun effects by 50%)

Stats at level 7: Atk +80%, Ally's DEF +50%, Block +1, Status Res for full duration.{85 SP, 56 Initial, 40 second duration)

Stats at M3: ATK +120%, Ally's DEF +80%, Block +1, Status Res for full duration {85 SP, 70 Initial, 45 second duration}

Whew, this is Nian's "Signature" Skill, so to speak. As packed as it may look, it's surprisingly simple, at least, to someone who used Nian as his core defender since she came out. Maybe I'm just used to it. Who knows? Anyways, Nian pretty much superpowers her physical DPS, more than doubling her attack for the duration of the skill, turning her into a guard. However, the main aspect of the skill is how it buffs allies. Firstly, the chonky AoE DEF buff. It's not as strong as Shining's, but it's close to that level. It helps her team survive physical threats, which is great. However, it doesn't work on Nian herself, meaning that she still needs some help with higher pressure waves.

Now, the part which TRULY makes Nian unique, the Block +1. As of now, this is the only skill which grants an AoE block increase. However, it's a double-edge sword. The block indirectly increases the DPS of operators that attack based on block count from anywhere between 25-50%, but can also screw over other operators such as Ethan and Manticore, or cause your units to block enemies that you don't want them to block, such as getting a squishy to block an avenger. Yikes. The status resist is a nice bonus, and has direct synergy with someone like Whisperain who applies a regeneration buff based on the status resist buff. While you won't see it come into play often, in maps such as the entirety of Chapter 6, you will feel the difference it makes. The SP cost is massive, but due to the long duration, it's a pretty balanced skill.

​

That's a big range. Like damn that's big.

Conclusion

"People are like tools; you can classify 'em. And you, you're an interesting one. Or should I say 'unusual'? I could forge you a good sword, but since you ain't gonna swing it, let alone fight in the first place, it'd just be a waste of metal."

For being a limited unit, Nian is a great operator, and is surprisingly balanced. The main thing which warrants her being limited is that she is only operator EN able to increase the block count of other operators(No idea if CN has a new OP that can do that yet), and being one of the few who can give status resistance to other operators. This makes her an amazing asset in situations where you can make use of any of her niches, but simply a below average 6* core operator in most other situations, with an amazing ability to tank attacks quickly after deployment with her Clairvoyance shields as well as high initial SP. Nian's skills really want masteries to shine, but the only one which is unique enough to warrant her getting the mats over other core defenders is Skill 3. If you're just looking for a core defender, she's not really worth pulling for in her upcoming rerun. However, if you want a really fun way to buff up your AoE guards, help operators survive Aak, and an overall really good supportive defender, she's a great addition to your roster.^(Or just use mine, don't mind the shameless plug........one day I'll M9 her, mark my words.)

Credits:Gamepress for S7 values and range screenshots.