Mastering Ludmilla: Winter Owner's Water DPS in NIKKE

With the arrival of the second Christmas event in NIKKE, we were introduced to Ludmilla: Winter Owner, also known as X-Ludmilla, a character that has quickly become a top-tier unit in water element teams.

Unlike her original version, X-Ludmilla shines in NIKKE challenges due to her minigun power and water code specialization.

This guide dives into optimizing X-Ludmilla’s kit for maximum combat efficiency.

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Mastering Xmas Ludmilla: Best Builds and Team Compositions

Skill Breakdown and Leveling Priorities

Normal Attack: Rapid-Fire Onslaught

X-Ludmilla wields a minigun with a substantial ammo capacity of 300 rounds, dealing 5.86% ATK as damage per hit, with a 200% damage increase when targeting an enemy's core.

Her normal attack allows for continuous damage, making her particularly effective against single targets.

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Skill 1: The Queen's Gaze

After landing 60 normal attacks, this passive increases the damage taken by the target by 12.56% for 3 seconds and deals an additional 158.43% of final ATK as damage.

Simultaneously, it reloads 20 rounds into Ludmilla's minigun.

This skill is crucial for amplifying team damage output against key targets, especially bosses.

The ammo reload feature ensures Ludmilla maintains her assault, minimizing downtime.

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Skill 2: Snowstorm

Triggering upon hitting an enemy's core 60 times, Snowstorm deals 109.64% of final ATK as additional damage.

At the start of Full Burst, it also grants a 14.6% critical rate increase for 3 seconds.

Although its passive damage boost is valuable, the critical rate increase's limited impact on overall DPS renders this skill a lower priority.

Its utility lies in the potential for burst damage during focused attacks, especially against core targets.

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Burst: Guiding Lantern

Activates a significant ATK boost of 62.54% and a reloading speed increase of 67.2% for 10 and 20 seconds, respectively.

Guiding Lantern is crucial for maximizing Ludmilla's damage during critical phases of combat.

The attack boost significantly enhances her DPS, while the increased reloading speed ensures her minigun is ready for action with minimal delay.

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Leveling Priority

Skill 1: The Queen's Gaze

This skill significantly enhances X-Ludmilla’s damage output by applying a damage taken debuff to the target and providing her with an ammo reload mechanism.

Given the rapid-fire nature of miniguns, being able to continuously apply this debuff while effectively managing ammo supply is critical for maintaining high DPS.

Prioritizing this skill ensures that you can maximize the uptime of the damage taken debuff on enemies, which is invaluable for both solo and team play.

Additionally, the increased ammo reload with each level helps sustain Ludmilla’s barrage, making this skill a top priority for upgrades.

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Burst: Guiding Lantern

Guiding Lantern is pivotal in amplifying X-Ludmilla’s damage during critical moments.

The substantial attack boost, coupled with a significant reload speed increase, ensures that Ludmilla can unleash her full firepower with minimal interruption.

Leveling up this skill enhances Ludmilla’s burst damage and operational efficiency, particularly in long battles or against high-priority targets where her sustained DPS can make a difference.

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Skill 2: Snowstorm

While Snowstorm offers additional damage and a crit rate boost, its overall impact on X-Ludmilla’s performance is less compared to her first skill.

The crit rate boost, due to the general mechanics of crit in NIKKE, offers a marginal increase in DPS.

Given its secondary role in Ludmilla’s kit, this skill can be deprioritized in favor of others.

Investing in it once primary skills have been maximized offers incremental benefits, particularly if you're focusing on min-maxing Ludmilla’s DPS output.

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Optimal Harmony Cubes

Bastion Cube

The Bastion Cube is ideal for X-Ludmilla due to its ability to refund ammunition, which synergizes well with her high ammo consumption.

This cube ensures she can maintain her rapid-fire assault for longer periods without the need to reload frequently.

With X-Ludmilla's Skill 1 providing an ammo reload mechanism, the Bastion Cube further enhances her sustainability in combat, allowing her to exploit her damage taken debuff more effectively.

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Resilience Cube

Offers a significant boost to reload speed, which is beneficial for minimizing downtime between X-Ludmilla's firing sessions.

The quicker she can reload, the faster she returns to applying pressure on her targets.

This cube is particularly useful in situations where X-Ludmilla might be forced to reload during critical combat moments.

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Gearing X-Ludmilla

Overload Gear Strategy

Maximize Ammo Capacity

X-Ludmilla benefits immensely from increased ammo capacity.

This allows her to leverage her rapid-fire capability for extended periods, minimizing reload interruptions and maximizing her uptime in combat.

Prioritize overload lines that boost max ammo to ensure she can maintain her barrage longer, enhancing her DPS especially in long battles.

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Boost Attack Power

Directly increasing X-Ludmilla's attack power amplifies the damage output of each bullet.

Given the high rate of fire of her minigun, even slight increases in attack power can significantly boost overall DPS.

Focus on overload lines that offer attack boosts to take full advantage of her sustained fire capabilities.

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Enhance Elemental Damage

As a water code DPS, X-Ludmilla shines against enemies weak to water.

Overload lines that enhance water elemental damage can elevate her performance in raids and boss battles, making her an invaluable asset in water-favorable scenarios.

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Critical Rate and Damage

While not as high a priority as ammo capacity or attack power, improving X-Ludmilla's critical rate and damage can provide an increase in her peak damage potential.

Given her ability to consistently hit targets, boosting her crit stats can lead to significant DPS spikes during critical hits.

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Crafting the Ultimate Team

The Bunny Plus Liter Core: A Solid Foundation

This team setup revolves around the synergistic support provided by the Bunny units and Liter.

The Bunnies offer defense and ammo buffs, crucial for X-Ludmilla’s sustained fire capability, while Liter contributes with cover repair and cooldown reduction (CDR), ensuring Ludmilla's skills are readily available.

The combination of more ammo and enhanced damage taken debuffs significantly boosts X-Ludmilla's effectiveness in combat.

This setup enables her to maintain a high DPS output while benefiting from improved survivability and skill uptime.

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Tia/Naga Comp: Elemental Synergy

If you're looking to exploit elemental weaknesses, pairing X-Ludmilla with Tia and Naga offers a compelling strategy.

This comp emphasizes elemental damage bonuses and attack ups, designed to enhance Ludmilla’s water code advantage.

This setup assumes the target has a core vulnerable to Ludmilla’s attacks, making it an ideal choice for bosses or enemies where core targeting can lead to increased damage output.

However, its effectiveness may vary depending on the enemy's core accessibility and Ludmilla's ability to maintain consistent fire.

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Summer Mary: Future-Proof Support

Summer Mary emerges as a valuable ally for X-Ludmilla, providing strong elemental bonuses and attack ups.

This pairing is especially strong in battles where water element damage is crucial, further amplifying Ludmilla’s DPS against those targets.

Incorporating a CDR unit alongside Summer Mary ensures that X-Ludmilla can frequently use her skills, maintaining her damage output and debuff application.

As the game’s roster expands, Summer Mary’s role as a support for water code units like Ludmilla is expected to grow in relevance.

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Sub DPS Allies: Maximizing Damage

Despite her charge speed buff not directly benefiting X-Ludmilla's minigun mechanics, Maxwell offers a substantial attack boost upon Full Burst, enhancing Ludmilla’s overall damage.

This makes Maxwell a worthy sub DPS ally, contributing to the team’s firepower.

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Using X-Ludmilla in Combat

Mastering the Minigun Mechanics

X-Ludmilla's minigun allows for a continuous stream of bullets, making her ideal for long battles.

Keep her firing as much as possible to take advantage of her damage output and the debuffing effects of her Skill 1, The Queen's Gaze.

With her Skill 1 providing an ammo reload mechanism, it's crucial to monitor her ammo count to ensure she can keep up her barrage without unnecessary reload interruptions.

Use her burst skill, Guiding Lantern, for a significant attack boost and to enhance reloading speed when needed.

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Exploiting the Damage Taken Debuff

Focus on enemies that pose the greatest threat or have vulnerabilities to water damage.

X-Ludmilla’s ability to apply a damage taken debuff makes her excellent at softening up tough targets for her and her teammates.

Aim to maintain the debuff on priority targets consistently. The increased damage taken by affected enemies can significantly speed up combat encounters, especially against bosses or high-HP enemies.

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Strategic Burst Skill Use

Activate Guiding Lantern during critical phases of combat to maximize its benefits.

Whether it’s to quickly bring down a powerful enemy or to sustain damage output during a boss’s vulnerable phase, the timing of this skill can be crucial.

Although X-Ludmilla benefits from enhanced reloading speed under her burst, consider the state of her ammo before activating it.

Maximizing time spent firing rather than reloading during the burst’s effect is essential for optimal DPS.

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Final Thoughts on Ludmilla: Winter Owner

Ludmilla: Winter Owner gets her place in NIKKE as a top-tier water code DPS, a role that had been remarkably vacant.

Her basic yet effective kit, combined with the strategic usage of skills and appropriate team support, enables her to excel in combat scenarios designed to her strengths.

While she may not have the complexity of other characters, her straightforward effectiveness and role fulfillment make her a solid addition to any team, especially those lacking in water DPS capabilities.