This begs the question: is she good? The answer: Yes! Sort of. It depends. Carleen’s usefulness increases and she gets more Breakthroughs (BT). At BT2 (No dupes), Carleen is usable, but nothing special. At BT3 (one dupe), she becomes significantly more useful. At BT6 (4 dupes), she’s one of the best Water Aurorians in the game. Without that, though, there are better options.
Active Skill: Piercing Veils
Carleen’s Active Skill, Piercing Veils, is her main selling point. It teleports your team to the selected tile, and Converts the rest of the column to Blue tiles. It knocks enemies back and does damage as well, but that’s more of a bonus than anything. It might not seem like much, but the skill itself is really strong. A global teleport is one of the strongest effects in the game – and Carleen’s comes with a Conversion effect as well. The column Conversion, when paired with the knockback effect, puts your team in the perfect position to deal as much damage as possible. As strong as this skill is, though, it has its problems. The biggest problem is its 4-turn cooldown. It might not seem too bad. But a 4 turn CD is rather high, which means that Carleen cannot be used as a team’s only Converter. Secondly, this skill is not Pre-emptive, meaning that Carleen won’t be doing much for the first 4 turns of a stage. These issues can be fixed via Breakthroughs. Carleen’s third Breakthrough lowers Piercing Veils’ cooldown to 3, and her 6th and final Breakthrough makes it Pre-emptive, meaning it can be used on turn 1. BT3 makes Carleen a much better unit overall, and BT6 grants her some of the best role compression in the game. A teleport and Conversion on the same skill is very strong, but unfortunately its consistency relies on her Breakthroughs- which are rare and expensive.
Chain Combo: Ice Storm
Carleen’s Chain Combo (CC) is super simple. After connecting 2/8/13 tiles, Carleen deals damage in an area around herself. The area hit increases with each step up, and the damage increases slightly at 13. The multiplier itself competes with some Detonators’ CCs, but Carleen’s much lower attack means she’ll be doing much less damage. There’s not much else to say. The damage is alright, but it’s not Carleen’s job to deal damage anyways.
Equipment Skill: Ruthless Ice
Despite the above, Carleen’s 3rd skill is all about damage. It might seem complicated, but Carleen’s equipment increases her attack as Blue tiles are used, up to 10%. It also gives her normal attacks a Pierce effect, dealing 40% damage behind the first enemy hit. It lets Carleen do decent damage to multi-tile enemies while not affecting her utility. It’s a solid Equipment, if a bit mismatched.
So Is Carleen Worth Using?
It depends. Carleen is definitely a good unit, but unless you have her BT3 (or even BT6), you can probably find better options. Still, though, she offers a lot in a single unit. So there will be times you need her. She doesn’t do much damage, but a column Conversion and a teleport in a single skill is very powerful.
