The Pequod Captain Ishmael 000 Review : Welcome aboard, greenhorn!

[David Bowie Sensei]

So this week has faired quite a bit with Captain Ishmael making the scene. An ID focused on Res and supporting her crew. But you better not steal her mark!

Sanity : Kill Stealing is a thing
So not often do I need to talk about Sanity in a review but Ishmael changes up the boat on how she gains and loses sanity so its good to talk about it before we even more to the basics. So as the title suggests, Ishmael is all about getting kills, always gaining SP on a kill. Normally a ID gains 10 SP when killing a higher level unit, but not only does Captain Ishmael gain 15 SP instead on said kill, but any kill even low levelled means 10 SP gained.
This is quite good for Chapter fights or low end MD3 and such. So getting her sanity up by kills is a sort after thing.
Meanwhile she also stays true to Ahab logic in that she gains 10 SP when an ally dies instead of losing it. This can mean in rare cases of bad luck Captain Ishmael will keep her Sanity going. Now she can in even rarer cases allow a unit to be "Sacrificed" so that she can keep her SP up for a better clash or to gain back from an EGO use, but its going to be tricky to pull off.
Now all of this sounds great but like bonuses we have a hard negative to counter her decent SP gain.
When an ally gets a kill on a higher unit higher than this ID, she suffers a -5 SP lose. To this ID, its her kill that got stolen [Though her special S2 effect will not make her lose SP]. She group kills with other allies, could result in low Sanity resulting in what would be a winning clash, turned dirty. So its good to keep in mind who can get a kill, on what turn and why isn't it Ishmael? [No joke, her passive and S3 can gain your group a fair bit on kill.]

The Pequod Captain Ishmael 000 : Speed 4-7, Defensive level -3, Max Health at 40 = 160
So this is weird ID, she's a support ID that is also a damage dealer. Her -3 Defensive level, while having +3 offensive across her skills shows that she is meant to try and hit hard. Though her abilities are themed for support. S1 is about tanking, S2 is about aggression and S3 is all about getting the kill. Her theme of doing this is Res and A-Res. A quick recap that means how many of one Sin you use while A-Res is how many you have connected together on the dashboard. Her sweet spot for this is low at +4 Res apart from her S3 that can be +6 which means you will be good to match her with Ids that share a colour/Sin type.
Her speed is on the second highest range and though that is normally a good thing, her Uptie 4 will suggest being speedy doesn't work out as well.
Meanwhile her Resistances are a mixed bag. As I always harper on, Resistance to pierce is good, but fatal to blunt is bad. She should not be taking hits as a support but her bad defensive levels should suggest leaving her out on bad blunt clashes.
Its also important to point out all her attack skills are piercing, meaning she also sits nicely with her crew, certain EGOs and Pierce teams.

Sin Affinities/EGO : S1 Envy, S2 Pride, S3 Wrath and Defend (Pride)
So the sins on paper look good. She has fuels each of her EGOs but is unable to self fuel any, normally lacking one type. Oddly her crew can't even help her out, but it does not mean to say her sins are bad for it.
First which feels like a no brainer is her Waw EGO Blind Obsession, which she just needs some Gloom ID to to help take off. As a support ID a strong support EGO fits well, hand in hand for causing trouble. Though charge is useless, the Pierce effects, SP gain and Poise count shockingly does well for not only herself, but the crew you most likely will run with her. The only downside once again is the Haste effecting part of her Uptie 4.
Ardor Blossom Star is next on the list as a good EGO but needs a Lust ID to get it off the ground. Its a strong clasher and can help her a bit on a one of her many sub theme, though its mostly used for its Raise stagger threshold and damage, than its burn.
Lastly, though needing more EGO types which can be rough, I do wish to talk about Capote. In most cases its outclassed by her other TETH EGO, I feel it keen to note that it can be a rather good EGO to set up when it comes to her killing and staggering nature of her S3. Having a passive of doing 20% more damage against 30% or lower enemies can matter quite a lot when seeking out kill and her setting up wrath damage up and on her flip side, wrath fragile could mean 40% more damage on top of her S3 gimmick, which is quite a lot. So if you have some sloth to fuel this EGO it may not be a bad shout to keep it in mind.

Passive - Hour of the Hunt
As a flat extra passive goes, it does a nice job. 10% more damage against Lake Entities. So mermaid and Pallidified, though I am unsure if it effects Pequod Town units, due to weird classification as being Pequod rather than Mermaid. Factor in finding them for testing being a bit longer to seek. Though we do also have cases for N Sinclair where certain Robots don't count for his S3.

Passive- Captain of the Pequod : 3x Pride Res
So downside right from the get go with not only this being an on kill, but also a Res matter passive, meaning setup depending on your team could be a smudge bit harder to do.
While I am normally not keen on On Kill passives, this one does sit nicely doing more than just a simple power up or charge gain. Like most on kills do. So to start she gains Heated Gas Harpoon next turn, a buff that makes her heads hit inflict 1 burn. Then she heals another least SP ally for 7 SP, while if its her crew
make that 12 SP. As kill passives go, SP heals are good while a small bit of fixed damage is never bad. But the Whale in the room is that this is a Res Pride ability, meaning if you know she's going to get the kill, you better hope your team can make the Res, otherwise no SP gain or heated Harpoon for you.
(Here we begin with how strong of an Uptie 4 this unit has. They all seem little at first, but show strong, like with this passive buff. To start with, ditch that Heated Harpoon for an Overheated Harpoon. This instead does 1 burn Potency on any hit, so no chance misses. Next she gains 4 Poise and 2 Poise count, meaning even with no Poise and only one skill, she will have a 20% chance next turn of crit on a attack. Then she heals 2 instead of one other ally and they gain 4 Poise, which if they go after her or use Poise, can help them greatly. Then if she SP healed her crew, they also gain pierce power up next turn (Max Once). As her crew only does piercing and care for Poise, this is a pure win for running two easy includes in her team. A very huge upgrade for what is a kill passive)

Support Passive - Captain's Orders : 3x Pride Res
Once again an on kill that needs Res, makes it tricky to fit into a team. Though even just a simple 2 Poise gain is normally going to be better than most of her support passives do. Only one of her passives does need to jump through mega hopes and this hope only really needs 3 pride to trigger, is a safer option than half health. Though any non Poise ID will rather you run them, than an effect that does nothing, outside of a second skill slot when the first killed.
(Uptie 4 makes a good difference in value just due to what seems like a simple increase. 2 count. 2 Count means Ids that lack Poise will at least get this working next turn, while Poise ID will love the extra hit and boost giving by this effect. Once again a winner on the uptie 4 side of things.

Defensive Skill - Do Not Fear : Defend (Pride) , Base 10, Coin power +4 aka (10-14)
It is odd that this aggressive ID has a defend as its defensive option and while SP gain is nice, a flaw for this unit (and its uptie 4) starts to show. Heal 3 SP to two allies adjacent is a rough sell. If she's too fast, this defend will heal one ally for 3 SP and that's it. Same with her being too slow [though with a 4-7 that is less likely]. You really should not need to time your defend based on speed, when its suppose to be used to block a bad clash.
(and no uptie 4 granting it 5 rather than 3 does not fix this issue, though if she has a second skill slot, this can be useful for getting Pride Res)

S1 - To Me! : Envy Pierce, Offensive level +3, Base 3, 2 Coins with +4, aka (3-11)
As coins go, this is rather on the basic, average skill 1 power range, a simple 2 bleed Potency on her second coin. Nice enough.
Then you get to her on Use and boy its a read. This on use tanks up another ally who has the highest Max health by granting them aggro next turn to their left most skill slot equal to your highest Res. And if you have +4 A-Res it also gets 1 Protection so they take -10% less damage next turn too. While the Aggro may be a nothing burger, in unfocused fights, the protection is amazing making what should be your tankiest ID that much harder to kill. Though this is slightly offset by extra skill uses on the same turn not triggering, and her being unable to buff herself is annoying for those who wish to solo.
(This uptie 4 allows a dumb gimmick build in which you only S1 with section 4 Zwei and they love you for it. Jokes aside, this effect is good. On combat start granting 2 defence level up to the allies adjacent to her on the dashboard. This is pretty much a 6% damage reduction to each ally, which can be the difference between stagger or death. But once again you can lose out, if she's the fastest and the slowest. Oh and Base power up 1 is very good, 4-12 is great for a S1)

S2 - Pursue Them to the End! : Pride Pierce, Offensive level +3, Base 4, 3 Coins with +4, aka (4-16)
You want more skills in a fight? Well if you don't mind an extra S1, this is the skill for you.
It rolls decent. Inflicts 1 bleed and 1 burn, for a bit of simple fixed damage. And then allows one ally to hit hard.
The On Use grants a rather strong effect; Assist Attack.
[Mini Section - Assist Attack
So whenever Captain Ishmael hit a target with one of your skills, afterwards the ally with Assist will attack with an unopposed S1. This does also mean, if you have more skill slots, each attack will get this Assist attack trigger, but only one ally on the rightmost gets this effect so no stacking Assist Attacks. Its also keen to know, if she is the slowest it will check the second slowest ally for this effect. ]
Though this is a 15% per Res for the highest Res. So 3 Res means a 45% chance to apply it. So this effect can just straight not trigger. More Res means higher chance.
But you can still though, grant the ally on a +4 A-Res grant 1 Damage Up to it, while a +4 Pride A-Res gives a Pride Power Up, most likely making the ally better at clashes and deals more damage.
Without A-Res this can be a bad skill effect wise, but with A-Res and Assist Attack going on, its quite a strong effect.
(And this effect can be busted even more with Uptie 4. 1 more bleed, 1 more Damage Up and 1 more Pride Power Up. Factor in a 20% chance over a 15% means 5 of a Sin means 100% chance to trigger, making Res and A-Res even more keen to have for this ID.
But that's not all! Combat start granting 3 Offense Level Up to allies adjacent, means +9 damage and +1 clashing power. Which is amazing, even if it only hits 1 ally as it will hit the boosted ally.
So perfect world the ally gets +29% damage, an extra +2 power on Pride attacks and an extra S1, which can help clear up a kill.
All in all the most busted part of her Uptie 4 by far)

S3 - Harpoon of Obsession : Wrath Pierce, Offensive level +3, Base 4, 4 Coins with +3, aka (4-16)
This is her skill that doesn't need Res to be good. Its a strong skill made to try and stagger or kill her target and knows it. First we have a "blood hunt" passive, where the more damage the unit targeted the more damage. 0.2% per 1% missing. You won't ever reach 20%, as 100% missing health is dead, but 50% health meaning a 1 Damage Up is nothing to scoff at. Once again the coins are rather lack luster in a Bleed count of 1 on coin 2, a Bleed 2 Potency on coin 3 and a Burn Count of 1. Its rather bad, as a 3/1 Bleed is not good compared to a 2/2 Bleed and a Burn count of 1 means this ID is not helping out the burn being around inside of getting burn on them before [say a heated harpoon or an EGO passive?].
Still the coins are not what we are here for. The After attack is where its at. If you stagger a target, lowest HP unit, gain 2 Poise, 4 Poise Count and heals 10 HP. This by itself is rather good, but it also checks your Res for the amount of allies healed and Poised. 1+ (Highest A-Res/2). So if you have a 3 Res Chain thats 2 allies, 4 Res will get you 3, with her ability calling a Max of 4 allies, a A-Res of 6+. [Though to note, the Poise is only up to 2 allies] So a group heal on stagger, along side a decent amount of Poise gain.
Still this on Stagger/kill is a strong support effect.
(Uptie 4 turns it up a notch, 0.3% damage Up, though small adds up. 15% Damage Up when the target is at 50% Heath is 5% on its Uptie 3 state.
It also adds a Bleed Coin Power Boost for every 5 bleed. So either a 4-20 or a 4-24. More power also means higher chance of getting the stagger/kill trigger. While this is tricky on its own, her Crew can help her easily as they are proper bleed themed. Still your less likely to get this by herself

[So had to remove a bit of this, turns out I didn't notice her S3 was Healing rather than gaining her SP. Unsure if this is a bug or bad translation. meanwhile after a bit of research the max to meant Poise so Uptie 4 allows more of the allies to gain the Poise and Count. Its still strong by all means.]

More in the next Comment

[David Bowie Sensei]

Team Comp/ Good Ids
It may also be good to start off by saying, adding Lust, Gloom or Sloth into your team, would be a decent Idea. As its the Sin Colours she needs to fuel all of her EGO, you most likely will only need one ID with a S1 or S2 with the colour to help move things along but it good to note.
So right off the bat, her Pequod Crew I keep talking about fit well into most of her theme, them being Poise focused, Bleed Ids with both Envy and Pride [Funny enough their S1s are Pride for that powerful Assist Attack].
Other strong Ids are those that have decent S1 due to her S2s gimmick. Things like Deci Rodion strong hitting punches, a safe way of gaining Self Tremor Count for Boat Sinclair or maybe a quick Inflict 3 Paralysis from Kurokumo Ryoshu, to line up an easy clash win. Though some may break your team comp, it can be a good idea to run someone that can use an extra S1, as it could change how the next clash stands.
Though she doesn't really do bleed, she can find a home in the team, due to each of her skills pulling off bleed, while low amounts, in a team that can add up nicely (while S3 can make the most of it) Quite a few Bleed Ids also have Envy or Pride to help out of Res and A-Res, so adding bleeders are not a bad shout.
Running a Focused Sin group such as Envy or Pride might also be a good option, as you want to get A-Res as much as you can and more Ids that share the Sin/Colour the better.
Now you could run her on Burn team, but she is not suited as such and lui Ishmael would most likely fit a whole lot better into that group as the burn on this ID is very lackluster.
For a group Comp I worked with, which I enjoyed using was a Pride Focused team that could also use Poise well. Mostly Bleed, but with a small bit of burn.
Bullet Outis
Kurokumo Ryoshu
Cinq Sinclair
Pequod Heathcliff
Pequod Yi Sang
And Captain Ishmael.
The team is most focused on making Pride A-Res per turn, but does have issues making fuelling EGO well with the lack of Sloth.
This is by no means a great Comp, but this is just an example of what you could bring to make the most of her kit, rather than the whole.

Final Thoughts : 8/10
As it stands she is a good support and can be a heavy hitter but her main issue is really the poor amount Bleed and Burn gain from both Potency and Count, while Res can be strong, needing that 4+ A-Res can be a tad tricky when one ID lets you down and breaks the chain. Her gimmicks are cool, but you do need some focus [and more likely her Crew] when placing her on a team.
(Her Uptie 4 just does so much its hard to ignore how good it is. Ever skill or passive gets something that makes her stronger or sharper. You won't often see her Uptie 3 if you have a team for her, as you will want her Uptie 4 as soon as you can for not only her self, but your team.)

[Iggy the Unwise]

I wonder, will it be possible to abuse her in burn team. Mainly with the Bullet Outis and dark flame.

[Joshua Kurayami]

Meh, the ID is just gimmicky for the sake of being gimmicky. You need at least 4 dark blues and 4 dark purples on your team, which isn't hard to do considering the entire season is filled with them, but you're either stuck relying on RNG to get that bonus (if you only have 4 purple and 4 dark blue) or you have to bring in more IDs that fit in with the envy/pride theme like Grip Faust for better luck.

On top of that, a chunk of those IDs come with wrath (Peq Heathcliff, Peq Ishmael, Mid Don.. eh, might as well toss in Gun Outis), so, yeah, in Mirror it's fine to use it since there are ego gifts, but in places like RR3, it's definitely going to stink when you're trying to get enough EGO resources to get AoE or heals.

[DEMOPLS]

Originally posted by Iggy the Unwise:

I wonder, will it be possible to abuse her in burn team. Mainly with the Bullet Outis and dark flame.

No. Ishmael Liu Assoc.iation - S.outhern Branch, Sec.tion 4 Fixer for Status Effects Burn.

[DEMOPLS]

Originally posted by Joshua Kurayami:

Meh, the ID is just gimmicky for the sake of being gimmicky. You need at least 4 dark blues and 4 dark purples on your team, which isn't hard to do considering the entire season is filled with them, but you're either stuck relying on RNG to get that bonus (if you only have 4 purple and 4 dark blue) or you have to bring in more IDs that fit in with the envy/pride theme like Grip Faust for better luck.

On top of that, a chunk of those IDs come with wrath (Peq Heathcliff, Peq Ishmael, Mid Don.. eh, might as well toss in Gun Outis), so, yeah, in Mirror it's fine to use it since there are ego gifts, but in places like RR3, it's definitely going to stink when you're trying to get enough EGO resources to get AoE or heals.

Main synergy is with pride, not envy. Its not hard to get 5 pride resonance with IDs like W Ryoshu, Magic Bullet Outis, Preg, Pequod Heathcliff and Cinq Sinclair because they have pride S2s.

[DEMOPLS]

Alternatively, you can give her 2 slots to proc assist attack twice

[Minh]

Originally posted by DEMOPLS:

Originally posted by Iggy the Unwise:

I wonder, will it be possible to abuse her in burn team. Mainly with the Bullet Outis and dark flame.

No. Ishmael Liu Assoc.iation - S.outhern Branch, Sec.tion 4 Fixer for Status Effects Burn.

No. No.

[teamol]

Originally posted by Iggy the Unwise:

I wonder, will it be possible to abuse her in burn team. Mainly with the Bullet Outis and dark flame.

Tried it earlier tonight, Outis S1 is really strong but the burn team itself is just too weak for now. We really need alternatives for the Liu boys. Team already falls weak on floor 4.

[Iggy the Unwise]

Originally posted by teamol:

Originally posted by Iggy the Unwise:

I wonder, will it be possible to abuse her in burn team. Mainly with the Bullet Outis and dark flame.

Tried it earlier tonight, Outis S1 is really strong but the burn team itself is just too weak for now. We really need alternatives for the Liu boys. Team already falls weak on floor 4.

Yeah, we need some other pride skill burn id.

[DEMOPLS]

Originally posted by Iggy the Unwise:

Originally posted by teamol:

Tried it earlier tonight, Outis S1 is really strong but the burn team itself is just too weak for now. We really need alternatives for the Liu boys. Team already falls weak on floor 4.

Yeah, we need some other burn id.

fixed it

[David Bowie Sensei]

Originally posted by teamol:

Originally posted by Iggy the Unwise:

I wonder, will it be possible to abuse her in burn team. Mainly with the Bullet Outis and dark flame.

Tried it earlier tonight, Outis S1 is really strong but the burn team itself is just too weak for now. We really need alternatives for the Liu boys. Team already falls weak on floor 4.

Yeah the lui boys just are nice but we should really get more burn ID outside of them.
Bullet Outis was a good start. But all I want is more.

[DEMOPLS]

Originally posted by David Bowie Sensei:

Originally posted by teamol:

Tried it earlier tonight, Outis S1 is really strong but the burn team itself is just too weak for now. We really need alternatives for the Liu boys. Team already falls weak on floor 4.

Yeah the lui boys just are nice but we should really get more burn ID outside of them.
Bullet Outis was a good start. But all I want is more.

i hope we get higher sections, the guandos were cool

[Aria Kawa]

What would be a good team for the captain besides of Yi and Heath?
Those three produce too much envy, which characters would be the best ones to get more sloth and gloom while having a good sinergy?

[DEMOPLS]

Originally posted by Aria Kawa:

What would be a good team for the captain besides of Yi and Heath?
Those three produce too much envy, which characters would be the best ones to get more sloth and gloom while having a good sinergy?

Preg has sloth, pride and gloom

[Ekimmak]

Originally posted by Aria Kawa:

What would be a good team for the captain besides of Yi and Heath?
Those three produce too much envy, which characters would be the best ones to get more sloth and gloom while having a good sinergy?

You could give her Cinq Association, for a focus on pierce, or The Middle, since they also like making resonance chains.
I tried her out in my Pride Luxcavation team, and it turns out she gets along with KK Ryoshu and N Faust. KK Ryoshu will stick down a paralyse before she actually clashes, which is fantastic, while N Faust gets extra opportunities to put down a nail and bleed. KK Rodion didn't really care, but it would give extra gloom if she got the assist attack.