Coming to Arknights and joining Reed the Flame Shadow in her featured banner is the snarky Harmonie, sidekick to the vindictive villainess Mandragora.
Harmonie was initially introduced in Episode 09 of Arknights’s Main Theme as an antagonist and is now an envoy of the Duke of Wellington stationed in Rhodes Island. She will play a role in the ‘What the Firelight Casts’ Side Story event.
Class and Archetype
Harmonie is a 5★ Mystic Caster, or at times called a Charge Caster colloquially.
These Casters attacks in a special pattern of 2×3 tiles with a 1-tile extension up front ahead of them, rendering them unable to hit enemies in their sides. One unique aspect of a Mystic Caster is the ability to “charge up” their attacks, thus their informal name. Whenever there’s no enemies around, Mystic Caster will store up their attacks. They can store up to 3 attacks and unleash them all when an enemy finally comes into range.
Due to the way their mechanic works, Mystic Caster can deal a tremendous amount of damage in a single hit and may instantly defeat some high HP enemies but in exchange they have much slower attack speed.
Talent
Harmonie has one talent and that is Unexpected Arrives which increases her damage against enemies currently being blocked. This particular talent is what defines Harmonie as an operator and synergizes with her Skills.
Skills
Her Skill 1 is called Lithe Steps, a common ability all Mystic Casters share. The ability alters attack range to cover 4 tiles ahead of them. In addition, also reduces their attack intervals in exchange of reduced damage dealt. This Skill helps Harmonie to focus her attacks on a single lane which makes focusing offense onto a target easier.
Her Skill 2, A Disastrous Drowning, causes Harmonie to only focus on attacking blocked enemies with increased attack speed. When the skill is active, Harmonie’s also spawns a pool of water that deals Arts damage periodically to foes within and slows them. This ability synergies with her Trait and Talent, amplifying her Arts damage through stalling enemies.
Harmonie also has an unlockable MSC-X Module that grants her the capability to store a fourth attack as well as increasing her ATK and RES. When upgraded, the Module also bolsters the damage increase from her Talent against blocked enemies.
Final Thoughts
Harmonie is indeed a solid Mystic Caster with perhaps one of the highest ATK of all Casters.
Her Skill 2, Lithe Steps, as described earlier provides Harmonie with an easier way to focus her damage onto a specified target. However, because Lithe Steps narrows Harmonie attacks into a single frontal lane, it requires precise planning to be used effectively. Her regular attack damage is also reduced slightly as a trade-off.
Her Skill 3, A Disastrous Drowning, on the other hand is a natural synergy with her Talent. The stalling effect the water pool provides allows Harmonie to store up her attacks before enemies could arrive to a melee operator to be blocked, enabling Harmonie to unleash her burst.
Overall, Harmonie excels at what she specializes in but may not fit in all scenarios. Her specialty is about dealing burst damage to blocked enemies, so she naturally synergizes with operators with high defenses.
She is an operator that requires trials and errors, and unblockable enemies are a hard counter against her. She also suffers from the usual Mystic Casters’ weaknesses, possessing slow attack speed and tendency to waste stored up attacks on wrong targets. That being said, Harmonie may be easier to utilize than other characters of her archetype due to her straightforward kit.