Sygna Suit Blue - One Year Later
Did you guys know? Despite two years of powercreep, SS Blue’s still the best support. Just ask Reddit, the bastion of truth.
If the intro wasn’t clear in its facetiousness, I do not respect SS Blue.
When I pulled on the Kantrio banner, SS Leaf was the primary target, who did receive 3/5. SS Blue and SS Red hit 2/5 each, so they were imperfect, and this...probably explains a lot about my opinions on them. We’ll get to Red, but SS Blue had an unbelievable amount of hype coming in.
SS Blue’s reputation is being functionally unkillable. Massive defensive profile, X Def All, Force Field 4 to buff special defense 50% of the time when attacking, and two passive means of healing, one when taking damage, and one when dealing damage. The big facet that made him unkillable was Safety Net. When he uses his sync, everyone on the team gains Endurance. This was a huge component of SS Blue’s ability to keep a team alive.
The other reputation was buffing every stat. Pep Rally on trainer move means he buffs speed and crit. X Def All is defense, Force Field is Special Defense, and Team Shout can buff attack or special attack or both. As a result, SS Blue is able to buff every single stat over time, something only base Leaf can compete with. And here’s where I get mean.
At 2/5, SS Blue really reveals where his problems are. With only one of his two possible healing effects, that 30% activation rate really hinders his ability to heal up. Force Field 4′s 50/50 also means you’re not always getting the special defense you need. Team Shout is incredibly inconsistent for helping any ally buff their attacking stats, because you’re not guaranteed to get the offensive stat you want. Worst of all, without 2/5, SS Blue can’t even cap crit, because he doesn’t have MPR on his trainer move.
I’d also argue that his hype back then is absolutely baffling to me, because...man, everything in the CS meta was about ruthless efficiency. You want capped offensive stats on your EX Striker to explode a stage, and SS Blue cannot do that at all. Moreover, despite high bulk, the high offensive parameters still smash right through him. He worked better with long-term matches, but his inconsistent healing was begging for ultimate failure. To say nothing of the fact that, for Stall, that lack of consistency was almost assured to fail, without someone like SS Leaf backing him up with real healing. And you know who else could buff everything to stall, but was infinitely more consistent with healing? Leaf. A general pool unit. SS Blue felt like a disaster. He was fine, but nowhere near the level promised.
In fact, I’d be willing to argue that, for the CS meta, there was virtually no reason to use him after we got SC Jasmine. SC Jasmine got Safety Net too, but was nearly capping offensive stats in three moves, while supplying Gradual Healing for some assured survival, capping special defense, and potentially debuffing special defense of the foe. What did SS Blue do by comparison? Physical defense, and arguably better gauge control. He just never once appealed over Jasmine.
The first time I started to seriously respect SS Blue was when Gauntlet dropped. With the lower power threshold, his massive defensive stats and ability to rapidly buff defense of the team really started to shine...right up until you ran straight into the 30% rate for minor healing. With only one of those passives, SS Blue, legitimately, failed about as often as he succeeded. Moreover, Gauntlet requires the concept of partnering your best supports with your worse attackers, but SS Blue never felt like he could handle it. His best comps, and his constant showcases, always involved either incredibly self-sufficient offensive units who barely needed help to begin with, or other units with healing, neither of which you want to combine with someone who’s supposed to be a really good support.
When the Victory Road tutorial dropped, and we were given a chance to pick one of the Kantrio, SS Blue was the obvious choice. I didn’t need SS Leaf, and...look, we’ll get to SS Red, so SS Blue made the most sense. Because now, I could get his full range of healing. Finally, I had full grid...and boy do I feel like he can’t quite get the things he wants. He requires MPR on both trainer moves, while Natural Remedy and Quick Cure are essential for certain moves. You take both healing moves...now do you get Impervious, Wise Entry 2, or Pep Rally? Or Adrenaline, I suppose. That’d be a great pick, but giving up the rest? Wise Entry is nice to keep him alive quickly, but is pretty easily skipped. Pep Rally is great, and apparently move gauge acceleration scales with speed, so it’s super useful as a combination. But Impervious blocks the frequent defensive stat reductions that occur against things like Entei and Azelf. Making those kinds of decisions is pretty rough, and it doesn’t feel so much like options as much as giving up certain major tools for others.
But I will give credit where it’s due: when he has both healing abilities, SS Blue feels drastically different. Especially since the 3/5 skill is when he takes damage as opposed to making an attack. When his healing is on par, his ridiculous bulk definitely carries its weight. He really is one of the most capable options to sustain through a match with both.
Most of the time, anyway. I’ve absolutely had him fail too many rolls in a row and lose allies. If he fails MPR on his trainer move it’s almost definitely a reset. He can just keep failing on Team Shout and can’t just help anyone. He can deal damage, but in those scenarios often needs someone else with pop healing to prevent devastation.
SS Blue is...weird for me to talk about. I feel like he has always been severely over-hyped, and I’d be willing to bet actual money that a huge reason for this is that everyone and their dog got the Kantrio to 3/5, immediately EX’d them, and then assumed this was a baseline default performance. It is not. SS Blue without EX does not tank nearly as well as advertised. SS Blue without 3/5 does not have anywhere near the healing needed. 1/5 SS Blue is actively disappointing because he can’t cap crit, or really do anything at all.
In terms of changes, SS Blue is even weirder, because like...for a support, you’d look at what teams they enable, and whether certain offensive threats worked better or worse with them, right? And yeah, you can, but SS Blue never had a specific set. In one interpretation, this is because he’s good enough to support a wide host of options. In my critical interpretation, it’s because SS Blue doesn’t enable anything worth talking about. He works best with the units that are excellent at self-setup, and don’t need assistance with damage, just the defense to survive. And I think there are plenty of units that can do that. If you want to make people mad, Summer Hilda can do that. SS Blue really hasn’t changed at all, or enabled anything particularly new. He’s the same as ever, while plenty of new supports are coming in with life-changing role compression for some of the bottom of the barrel strikers. So you’ll forgive me if I find the take of SS Blue being the best support, or even top tier anymore, completely laughable in the current meta.
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Unit Teambuilding - Sygna Suit Blue
Okay, this is actually the last one, right? Please, I just want to see my wife again...
General Overview
In the half anniversary of the first year, SS Red dropped and broke the game in half. For the full year anniversary, SS Blue and SS Leaf joined him, completing Kantrio, one of the most dominant team structures the game would have for the next like year and a half. Among them, SS Blue was widely considered the biggest reason for this, because his tanking stats are huge, and he doesn't take much damage. Though it should be noted, a lot of the skills he does have, came from fan complaints. Initially, no one liked his kit, so DeNA, for the first and only time, buffed the kit like a month later, likely due to poor sales. It was this buffed iteration that people flocked to.
And man, it sucks. I'm sorry, SS Blue was never that good. Bulk is all well and good, but only in so much as you can sustain. Blue's sustain requires like 20 energy, and is two 30% chances to get a gradual healing tier recover for the team. It's inconsistent and not that much, so he can be bowled over without EX investment, and without 3/5 he barely heals. But everyone had him 3/5 EX because he was such a wall of the time, so no one really felt his limitations. But I felt them. I felt them for ages. And he never caught up to what other supports could do. He's always felt behind in my book, even as others would say stupid shit like SS Kris is worse than him. Which is. Just adorable.
So I'm pleased to say that he, too, is plagued by "is technically free and thus must be kept from power." Blue gained Fierce/Grand Entry 1 for a guaranteed +2 to offensive stats for the team, Freevenge 4, Team Rain Coat for Rain teams only, Status Immunity as a buffed Natural Remedy, and First Aid 4. Which is some relatively neat stuff. Oh, but uh. Grid energy. See, to function, Blue needs his two stacks of passive healing. He needs MPR on his trainer move or he can't cap crit, and ideally you have Pep Rally to avoid being super slow. Which leaves no room for more than one of these skills, and that's after dropping the old standbys of Quick Cure, Natural Remedy, and Impervious. Getting First Aid is assured healing, at the cost of a lot of safety against things like status and debuffs. Which...maybe that's a good trade. Not all stages use status or debuff stats. But it highlights how competitive his grid is, and how little room he had to grow.
I maintain that Blue is what he's always been: fine. He's a decent defensive tank with inconsistent offense buffing, inconsistent healing, and a few new tools for flexibility. He remains fine. As long as he is at least 3/5.
EX and Move Level
Most supports kinda need 3/5, but you can be flexible. Blue cannot. 2/5 is the barest minimum you can get away with. Without it, no crit capping, and no healing at all. He sucks royally. But even 2/5 often lets you down. It wasn't until I had EX and 3/5 that Blue started to perform a job.
Team 1: SS Blue, SS Red, SS Leaf
I have to start with this because it highlights what people mean when they say Blue is so good. Blue works as a good support...to pairs who don't need anything, and pairs who can heal. SS Red can self-buff all his offensive stats. Blue is allowed to just roll badly on Team Shout, because all Red needed was bulk and a tank to absorb hits. SS Leaf has Potion and Gradual Healing for the team, and that's what Blue needs to be consistent. What I'm saying is that the rest of the team was carrying Blue all along, and specifically that Leaf was doing it. Potion support carries Blue, and defensive debuffing carries Red without his Sun.
Team 2: SS Blue, Alder, SC Ingo
I admittedly have a lot of trouble considering Blue optimal for things, but let's talk about this. Blue's Trainer Move gives gauge acceleration and +1 crit. Ideally, he is able to hold them until the acceleration runs out, but often needs to spend for the crit. Dire Hit+ users offset this. Blue's ensured X Def All also offsets detriments like Alder's trainer move, which otherwise gives just what he needs.
Team 3: SS Blue, Oleana, Emma
Let's talk about one other thing Blue has now. You ever notice how a lot of pairs have very effective 1MP self-setup, but their offensive stat only goes to +4? This is where those entry skills come in. Blue tops off a +4 to a +6 by selecting the relevant offensive stat. With Pep Rally on his trainer move, which also supplies the gauge acceleration, he can facilitate a dual strike comp like this one.
Final Thoughts
I think a big problem with Blue is that, with only crit rate as a consistent angle, he really struggles to teambuild specifically with. He can slot into a lot of possible options, but very rarely is he optimal, because you can't control for Team Shout. And as the meta develops to allow everyone to self-buff crit, Blue's one main consistency gets less and less valuable. He thrives off of being slightly too bulky to take out easily, and hoping for good luck along the way as a match continues. And I...don't really respect that. I never have. SS Blue just never felt that great, and honestly, he doesn't add much now.
I will concede, with meta developments offering a lot of options that hit +4 but not +6, the entry skills are a pretty hilarious boost to utility. But I also have to note that SS Blue has always been like this, too. He supports top meta performers, but very rarely has what it takes to carry a lower tier. Every showcase of how good SS Blue is, winds up being a showcase of how good an offensive unit his partner is. Blue, despite being defensive, is carried by his team, rather than the other way around. And in my over two years playing, across EX and non, and every move level he has...that's never once changed.
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