FINALLY A GOOD DAGGER UNIT?! - Legendary Shez (M) Review

So, we're getting male Shez as this month's Legendary unit which what I've expected earlier. Alternatively, for a red slot, this could have been someone else like Diamant and Itsuki, yet I've heard that people have been requesting a legendary alt for Shez in a long time, as his female counterpart received one first.

He's a red dagger unit this time, which makes him the fourth Wind Legendary in a row being red, and that he's a player phase unit. So, without further ado, let's jump right into his kit and see if he truly stands out as the best dagger we've got, because dagger units are suffering nowadays.

Legendary Shez (M)

Dual Sword:

• Slaying
• Unconditional Brave
• Dagger 7
• Inflicts Dull-All On Foes Within 3R & 3C (Max: 12) =  No. Of Combat Instances On Current Turn × 4

Grants the following to unit at start of combat, if unit's HP ≥ 25%:

• Omni+X (Max: 14) = 5 + No. Of Foes Within 3R & 3C × 3
• 30% Brave First-Hit DR
• Tempo

His weapon feels like an improvement from his female counterpart, yet somewhat a trade off at the same time. He missing out Special Acceleration every time he hits, making it harder to trigger Lethality. As a result, he's meant to run low cooldown Specials, and thankfully we have Ruptured Sky to cover it up. 

He also doesn't have a Spd check in any of his effects, which is great considering we have many Spd-based units who can't make use of everything due to the Spd creep. Besides, having built-in Tempo is very important because it prevents delaying his Special from triggering.

There's an interesting effect in his weapon, which inflicts all stats on his foes depending on the number of combat instances. What it basically means is that his foes within Shez's range would lose their stats every time someone enters combat: it can be either one of your allies or your enemies, including Shez himself. Bear in mind that these stat penalties will be countered on each independent phase.

Shadow Slide:

• Aerial Maneuvers Effect

After ally's combat, grants the following:

• WOM 4
• PASS

If unit is within 3 spaces of an ally:

• Inflicts Dull-All -5 On Foe
• True DMG = 20% Of Unit's Spd
• 50% DR-Piercing
• 7 Flat Brave First-Hit DR

He doesn't have an all-weapon effectiveness, which makes me glad as IS has made a mistake by giving it to his female version, and she ruined Rokkr Sieges back in the day. 

What really makes him insane is that he has built-in WOM 4 & Pass effects, and they both trigger after his ally's combat, instead of an HP condition. These are very strong effects, and he could be a viable candidate for Galeforce strategies because of this. At the same time, it really makes me worried because he can easily run Emblem Celica's ring, the unit I really despise the most, and how absurd it would be as this Shez is essentially Emblem Celica junior with his ridiculous warping. That's crazy!

Outside of that, his nuking capabilities are as decent as today's nukes.

Pulse Smog

During combat, inflicts the following:

• Spd/Def-3
• Guard
• Scowl

Inflicts the following on foe and other foes within 3 spaces after combat:

• Atk-7
• Guard
• Special Cooldown Count+1

I've anticipated a Tier 4 version of Pulse Smoke to come out, and we finally got one! It essentially turns off Emblem Ike's Great Aether from the Scowl effect, but functions similarly because it increases the Special Cooldown Count of his foes after combat. According to the datamine, it's restricted to only dagger units, which is such a scam and I feel very disappointed for having such a niche fodder.

Lastly, he has Atk/Spd Finish 4 which is already dated, yet it is interchangeable with some better skills.

In general, Shez is a very amazing ranged nuke who's fun to use because of his insane warping ability. He's going to be a menace in all PvP modes, especially in Aether Raids & Arena for scoring. As I mentioned earlier, he can Warp after your initiator has entered combat, and you don't have to worry about Gatekeeper's anti-warp effect anymore. Obviously, he's going to be potent in Defense teams too, where he can simply jump in as long as one of his frontliners survives. In this case, he would synergize really well with Brave Felix who's a Galeforce initiator, and that he take down an extra unit for some overkill power.

Returning Units & Color Share

Red is obviously the only best choice to pull from, with Emblem Ike still reigning supreme as well as Rearmed Lumera, who's his best friend for her outstanding Divine Vein support. In fact, having the Rearmed privilege means that she can duplicate Laguz Friend if you somehow manage to get a duplicate of Ike.

Meanwhile, we've come to Green which is fine, since it has two Legendary units from different seasons, although both of these units are way past their prime on release. Nergal on the other hand, turns out to be really insane for his Essence Drain support, not to mention his excellent fodder. After all, him being on the same banner with Emblem Ike is definitely the cream of the crop as he's the best candidate to have Laguz Friend 4!

Blue has Freyr, who is your mandatory Defense Mythic for Anima season, and let's be real: Elimine won't ever get a good refine next year, because she's not getting away from her war crimes back in her day.  Unfortunately, he's color sharing with 2 mediocre Offense Mythics, one of which is Ratatoskr, who's finally making her first rerun after her 8 month shadow ban and sadly, it's too late for her to be worth merging for: she's not good of a melee nuke, nor a support unit. The same goes for Nerþuz as well.

Finally, colorless has undoubtedly the weakest lineup, with Arval & Yukimura getting outclassed by so many better nuke options. However, Arlen is the exception to this, because he has one of the best fodder we've ever gotten for a normal pool unit, with C Bonus Doubler and Atk/Res Tempo 4.

Final Thoughts + Will I Summon?

Despite Red being stacked in terms of value, I don't think Shez is a must summon, as he might age poorly when his nuking prowess gets outshone by future releases. For now, I would give him credit for his warping ability alone. Given that almost everyone has a copy of Emblem Ike, I think it's safe to skip this banner unless if you're interested in merging up any of these units, or duplicating Laguz Friend 4 via Lumera.

Personally, I'm definitely going to spend orbs on this one, because I need a few more copies of Emblem Ike, who's currently at +2. Speaking of which, looks like he's coming back in December based on the schedule, so I have some time to plan out my spendings. Whereas for Shez, he's color sharing with yet another mediocre Mythic being Kvasir, followed by possibly Niðhöggr as the new Mythic unit to conclude Book 8. Go get him now if you want to as the red pool's value for this month is way better.

Let me know if you're interested in Legendary Shez (M), and as always, be sure to save your orbs from getting snatched by Shez's insane teleportation!