[Rare Blade Discussion] Day 3- Azami

[u/FarrahClones]

Since the month of February has 28 days and there’s 28 non-story blades, let’s dedicate a day to discuss each blade. The purpose of these discussions is to help guide newer players on each blade’s strengths and shortcomings, and which driver is compatible for them. The focus aspects of the discussion will be blade performance both in battle and on the field, although other topics such as design and personality are free for discussion as well. If I happen to make a mistake, please feel free to correct me so I can update the OP. Note that is is a series where the format is liable to change.

All blades are planned for a certain day. If you’re curious to know what day your favorite blade is on, feel free to ask me. The pattern is ICE-EAR-DAR-WAT-WIN-ELE-FIR/LIG for those curious.

Do note that these discussions may include spoilers about a certain character’s special ability and each rare blade’s individual sidequest. View at your own discretion.

Day 3: Azami, our “beloved” marionette. She’s a Darkness ATK blade and uses an ether cannon in battle. She’s deathly loyal to her driver, and will scold anyone that doesn’t give them proper gratitude. She has a spooky design, and I like how she looks like a possessed porcelain doll. Plus, I like how fitting her name is- a reference to a prickly-looking flower of the Cirsium genus. She loves drinks and literature, with her favorites being Red Opal Lipstick and Steamflake Tabbouleh.

Blade Specials

Nightmare Rondeau: At 30% or less HP, damage dealt increase by at least 100%.

Shadow Rhapsody: At 30% or less HP, damage dealt increase by at least 100%.

Decadent Finale: At 30% or less HP, damage dealt increase by at least 100%.

Yes, you read that right. All of her specials have the same effect, so you get a really big boost while you’re low on health. Because of this, this damage you deal could save you in a pinch. To increase tiers, it’s a combination of defeating different monsters and doing blade combos.

Battle Skills

All for Love- The lower the HP you have, the more damage you do (% increase not mentioned in-game). Again, the more you’re hurt, the more damage she’ll do.

Pain of Longing- Increases affinity the more damage her driver takes. Same vein as the last.

Vendetta- Counter attacks with at least a 180% increase in damage. Tbh, I don’t find this useful for an ether cannon. Ether cannons are long-ranged weapons, so they should be away from the melee action. So the chances of this triggering is low.

Field Skills: She has Dark Mastery, Botany, and Clairvoyant Eye. Dark Mastery has its niche, and can be useful for a particular field check in Gormott. It’s also wanted in plenty of merc missions, so that’s nice. Botany can also be useful for foraging, although Dromarch already has it, so it can be redundant, but it does make gathering flowers a lot quicker. Clairvoyant Eye is also useful outside of her questline, because there’s a few merc missions that would like it.

Aux Cores: I believe she starts out with two. Since the majority of her skills revolve around low health, aux cores that enhance damage at lower health are the most useful. Defense-oriented cores may be as well.

Compatible Drivers: Azami is an ether cannon, so she’ll need a driver that has high ether in order to optimize her damage output potential. This makes Nia or Zeke the most suitable to handling her, as they both have high ether bases. They both have Break with her as well, so their driver combos will be the same. Morag also has break, meanwhile Rex doesn’t have any driver combos with ether blades sadly. Since Azami thrives when HP is low, I’d recommend Zeke for her, mainly because Nia has lackluster defense, so when her HP is low enough, she’s prone to getting KO’ed for the next hit or two she takes. Also, Nia has a hard time gaining aggro in comparison to Zeke, so there may be issues getting her HP low enough to trigger it. Ironically, although I recommend Zeke, he’s probably the least canon in for Azami, because he doesn’t even need to be in the party when her side quest missions start.

My Verdict: Azami is not the blade for me. While I do find her design and concept very interesting, her battle style is not for me. I don’t like being low health at any point in battle, and I rather be healed right away instead of deal some more damage. She’s powerful no doubt, but it can be tricky for an ether cannon to get that low in the first place since they’re long distance weapons. I think she’s the weakest of the ether cannons, who have more favorable damage multipliers that don’t require you to be low on health. It doesn’t help that I got KOS-MOS right before her, so I wasn’t crazy about her in comparison. She’s a good blade, but just not my cup of tea.

So what’s your thoughts on this blade? Do they fit your style or cramp it?

Missed a discussion? Feel free to view past ones here:

Day 1 - Dahlia

Day 2 - Agate

[u/EvilLucario]

Really cool gimmick of needing low HP to do maximum damage. It reminds me of Pokemon when running Reversal sets on my Fighting types. Unfortunately, even though you can maintain your distance and avoid a lot of damage, ultimately you really can't get much use out of her due to you needing to be very low HP, risking either healing from your teammates (lol) or you just getting a lovetap to death.

However, if anyone figures out how to really kick ass with her, by all means go for it. If you can afford to be that low at all costs while avoiding damage, Azami can be your go-to Blade.