Iskenderun of the Sea

Another new release, and one the reviewer clearly rates. He notes the lore sideways first: players who got through Part 2 will remember Nerissa, the one who went around with Mingming, and this is that character reimagined as a sea god — Iskenderun dies early enough in the story that she never appears in Genesis War 2 herself. (0:01, 0:32, 1:02)

Will of the Blue Sea is a two-state loop

She starts with Blessing of the Blue Sea, a shield worth up to 40% of Max HP. When that shield is removed she gains Condensed Will instead: movement and up to +60% attack, and — the important clause — using a skill that doesn't target an enemy or an installation lets her attack or cast again.

Condensed Will lasts one turn; when it expires she heals and the shield comes back. So the loop is: break your own shield, spend the extra action, take the shield back next turn.

"Doesn't target" is looser than it sounds. A directional skill like Chain Spear picks a direction, not a target, so it qualifies — as do Armor of Punishment+1 more → and Gale Strike+3 more →. (1:02, 1:32, 2:03, 2:34, 3:05)

He also found a hard counter, and demonstrates it: the shield is removable and Condensed Will is not. Take an Atomic Blast and the shield is stripped, which correctly grants Condensed Will — but Atomic Blast also blocks buff acquisition, so when the Will expires the shield never returns, and without a shield to break there's no way back into the loop. For the rest of that match the passive is simply gone. (3:05, 3:35, 4:05)

Class: Thalassak by default, Ocean Templar as a healer slot

Aqualance is the lower version of Thalassak, so the choice is between two.

Ocean Templar shields allies within 3 tiles at the end of their turn while she holds a shield — which means she has to move first — and when her own shield breaks it heals everyone within 3 tiles and clears a debuff each. He reads it as the healer-flavoured option, worth taking if she's filling a healer slot.

Thalassak is +30% attack, -20% damage taken while shielded, and +20% damage taken for enemies within 3 tiles. Combined with the exclusive weapon's critical-damage reduction, he reports fully built copies surviving Silver despite the attribute matchup, and surviving after the shield is stripped. He expects most players here. (4:05, 4:35, 5:05, 5:36, 6:08)

Surge Sphere and the electric partner

Surge Sphere deals 130% and applies Ionization, and if she has a shield it also hits one ring around the target for 50% more with Ionization, leaves an Ionization Zone on a 50% chance — and consumes a shield, which is exactly how you start the passive loop deliberately.

Ionization cuts Electric Resistance by 80%, and the oddity he points out is that Iskenderun has no electric skills at all. So the artifact is a partner: he lists Roberto de Medici's lightning skills, Clausewitz's Thunder Mare, Veramode of Conspiracy's ultimate, and Ophelia Buckingham's Lightning Meteor. Smear Ionization with Surge Sphere, then drop an electric area attack on top. (6:08, 6:38, 7:09, 7:39, 8:09)

Tide Barrier shields an ally for 100% of spell power and resistance, gives them movement, and raises the magic damage they deal — so it goes on the mage who is about to fire that electric skill. (8:09, 8:41)

Mingming Sanctuary is the reason to field her

A zone for two turns with Ionization Zones scattered inside it, and the clause that matters: an ally inside the zone attacked by an enemy outside it takes 50% less damage.

He goes straight to the current metagame — the Empress Christina defence deck that opens with a turn-one ultimate. Against that, the Sanctuary roughly halves the opening, and he expects it to make those decks much harder to run.

He is precise about how it resolves, having tested it: the reduction applies only when the attack comes from outside into the zone. An enemy that walks inside and attacks takes no penalty, and it isn't a ranged-only effect — a melee attack from outside the boundary is reduced too. (9:11, 9:41, 10:12)

The ultimate

Mingming Wave offers Burst or Rush. Burst is the knockback version — a 3×6 area, everything pushed 2 tiles, Stunned if it hits a wall. Rush heals allies and shoves them 2 tiles in the direction cast, which can be forward or backward depending on where you stand. He has nothing much to say about it. (10:44, 11:14)

Gear

He runs Envoy of the Storm with Scorpion of the Underworld, but treats it as taste — attack matters here, so a full Envoy set is reasonable too. Health matters as well, so he expects at least one of those two sets in any build, and notes that Black Crow, the usual default, doesn't get used on her. Accessory: Ancient Hero's Ring. (11:14, 11:44, 12:14)

The weapon

Mingming Penetra gives attack and Max HP, cuts critical hit chance and critical damage taken by 30% against attackers above 70% HP, and then switches modes in real time: holding a shield raises healing and shields given by 60%; without a shield it gives +30% attack instead. He stresses that the switch is live — it flips the moment the shield appears or breaks.

His verdict: yes, take it, at minimum one copy, and 6★ if you can. The critical-damage reduction is the reason. (12:14, 12:44)

Runes

Chaos with Ultimate, and specifically Ultimate in slot 5, which raises healing and shields given — she generates a lot of shields. Something like Chaos/Chaos/Ultimate/Chaos/Ultimate/Chaos. (13:16, 13:46)

Manifestation

The first stage adds 1 TP whenever Condensed Will lapses back into the shield. Stage 4 takes movement to +2. Stages 6 and 8 take that TP refund to 2.

Since Surge Sphere breaks her own shield on demand, that's a deliberate, repeatable TP engine: break the shield, wait a turn, take the shield and the TP back. (13:46, 14:18, 14:49)

Artifacts

Attribute Overload+8 more → is unremarkable, and Peak Condition+12 more → is largely redundant because the weapon already carries critical-damage-taken reduction — which is his general complaint here, that the artifacts don't line up with the weapon.

The Unfinished Crest is her own: shields received +30%, and after taking critical damage she gains a shield worth up to 60% of attack, once per turn, with buff-removal immunity attached. He notes it sits awkwardly against a weapon whose job is to stop her being crit in the first place — but also that it's an unremovable buff, so it still fires under Atomic Blast, which is the one thing that otherwise shuts her down. He expects nearly everyone to run it. (14:49, 15:20, 15:52, 16:22)

Verdict

On attack: Ionization with Surge Sphere, then an electric area attack from Ophelia Buckingham or Roberto de Medici. On defence: she fills a healer slot while still hitting hard enough not to be ignored.

But the thing he keeps returning to is Mingming Sanctuary shutting down a turn-one ultimate deck, which he thinks justifies her on its own. He closes half-joking that he doesn't look forward to meeting a fully manifested one in a guild battle. (16:22, 16:52, 17:24)