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Even after having a 5v5 plant and diffuse as the main game mode, Strinova works quite differently compared to its counterparts in gaming since you have to shoot enemies with quite a few bullets to defeat them, which makes the focus less on the stealth gameplay and more on the general strategy.
Related
A handy guide on how you can play Lawine, one of the Initiator Agents in Strinova.
This also makes weapons like shotguns a lot more viable, with multiple superstrings having it as their primary weapon. Eika is one such character, and while you can change her weapon to deal damage long-range, you won’t get nearly enough value out of it if you do that.
Eika Abilities, Explained
Shotgun characters usually require some help getting close to the enemy, and Eika’s abilities are perfect for that:
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Purgatory (Skill) |
Eika throws a spherical cage in front of her, and enemies in this wall take damage whenever they walk in or out of it. Her shotgun can also deal burn damage to enemies inside this cage, and the wall damage increases if she consumes heat. |
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Sol Battery (Passive) |
You gain heat every time you hit an enemy, and once the bar is full, Eika deals higher damage to stringified enemies. She can also use this bar of heat to boost her abilities. |
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Firestorm (Ultimate) |
When this ability is ready, you can throw up to three projectiles in the same round. Upon impact, these projectiles create a storm that causes the enemies to force glide and deal damage. Consuming heat increases the storm’s area and highlights the affected enemies. |
Once you use a stack of your Ultimate, you’ll lose it in the next round regardless if you use the rest or not.
Best Eika Loadout
Eika’s primary weapon, Wildfire, is an integral part of her loadout, and it acts as a close-range shotgun by default. However, if you choose the single-shot mode in her core section of the string energy network, you can use it as a DMR for long range, though it doesn’t deal enough damage to make that worth it.
Instead of that, you can use Athena as the secondary weapon to deal decent long-range damage as long as you can hit your shots. Alternatively, you can also use the Ninjato or Ignis to deal the final hit to an enemy close to you in case your bullets in the main weapon run out.
Of course, you can also do that with Athena, making it the best secondary weapon choice for her overall.
As for tactical items, Eika works the best with a flashbang and a windstorm grenade. The former lets her get close to an enemy and defeat them without even taking damage, while the latter essentially acts as a charge of her Ultimate without the burn damage. You can also use a smoke grenade instead of the windstorm one.
Coming to Eika’s string energy network, her Flame of Life awaken ability is undoubtedly the best as it lets you gain some HP based on the heat you consume, which can be crucial for a short-range character like her. Of course, if you have a good healer on your team, you can instead go for Encroaching Cage. Apart from the ability, here are some important upgrades for her:
- Increase bullets in core
- Reduced cooldown for purgatory
- Sprint speed for functions
- Magazine capacity for ammo
Tips To Play Eika
Even after getting her loadout right and understanding her skills, you might find Eika a little hard to use. However, these tips will help make her feel a lot easier to play:
- Know what you’re up against. Various setup agents can single-handedly counter Eika by preventing entry like Michele. If she’s on the enemy team, it’s important to figure out the site she’s on and go to the opposite one.
- Try to single out the enemies you’re fighting. If you’re in a 1v1, there’s hardly any enemy that can win against you.
- The projectile of Eika’s Ultimate is quite slow, and the enemies can easily dodge it if you use it from far away. Instead, try using it in close quarters, and using it in a low ceiling area is even better as this makes it harder for enemies to escape.
