After causing immense destruction with her avant-garde weapons, Melanite hopped into Arknights as a playable Operator in the new Side Story Event, Lone Trail.
A Columbian arms manufacturer employed Melanite as a senior weapon tester, but she terminated her contract after realizing she was Infected. Now she seeks asylum on Rhodes Island, looking for treatment while serving as a field operator.
Class & Archetype
Melanite is a 5★ Heavyshooter Sniper, an archetype known for their highly accurate point-blank nuking capabilities.
These Snipers possess high ATK with a short range of 2×3 tiles with a 1-tile extension up front. While at Elite 1, they will have a 3×3 tiles attack range, in exchange for a rather average attack speed and DP cost. The DP cost also increases with each promotion.
That said, Heavyshooter Snipers generally have abilities that allow them to unleash powerful shots to enemies in the frontal lane.
Talents
Elite 1 Talent – Calibrating Parameters
As a 5★ Operator, Melanite only has a single Talent, and said passive ability is unlocked upon promoting to Elite 1. Titled Calibrating Parameters, the Talent improves Melanite’s damage output whenever Skills are active, however, only from the second Skill activation onwards.
Skills
Generally, Melanite’s Skills focus on enhancing her damage potential, granting her the ability to inflict pain onto enemies at a more consistent rate. All Skill values will be the maximum possible numbers of maxed Level 7 and Mastery 3.
Skill 1 – Saturated Pulse
The first Skill, Saturated Pulse, is a straightforward ability that buffs up Melanite’s ATK by 180% at Level 7 Mastery 3, as well as increasing her attack interval by 0.8 seconds. The ability lasts for 30 seconds with a 40 SP cost.
Skill 2 – Critical Burst
Her Skill 2, Critical Burst, causes Melanite to shoot out a charged piercing blast from her railgun, traveling over a range of 4 tiles in front of her and dealing up to 500% Physical damage to enemies that came in contact with the projectile.
The Physical damage output decays as the projectile travels, down to a minimum of 180% damage. With a SP cost of 15, this Skill can be stored 2 charges at Level 7.
Final Thoughts
Judging from her kit, Melanite isn’t necessarily a bad Operator, but she offers less value compared to other Heavyshooter Snipers available in the game.
Part of the reason is that she is not an easy Operator to use well and relies heavily on proper positioning. Meanwhile, other Heavyshooter Snipers who share the same rarity with Melanite such as Provence or Andreana, can dish out more effective damage compared to her. Despite that, she does have a niche, though extremely content-dependent.
All in all, Melanite is not exactly an Operator you would want to pull, but you may encounter her frequently as she spooks you when attempting to roll for better units such as the much-desired limited Muelsyse.
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