Karasu Tengu
Karasu Tengu is a samurai class DPS, meaning that he’s a melee attacker; he’s also considered a damage-oriented tank.
Passives and traits
His passive trait Purification Wings deals percentage damage based on the enemy’s max HP, which makes him effective against tanks. He’s a good choice if your team lacks a tank counter.
His other passive is Wiry Feathers, which reduces the amount of basic attack damage that he takes from other heroes. As a melee attacker who gets close to the enemy, this is important—it gives him a chance to run away from enemies while taking reduced damage.
Active abilities
His first ability, Nightmare Crow, is a good way to escape a bad situation. It deals damage in a line away from him and slows those hit by 40% for three seconds. If you’re low on health and an enemy is chasing you, you can use Nightmare Crow at them to slow them and give you an opportunity to escape.
Blade of Justice is a good finishing move. Karasu Tengu jumps toward an enemy and deals damage, giving him more mobility than usual. If an enemy is low on health and trying to escape, this is a good way to catch them before they run too far. However, be sure you don’t accidentally leap in range to a or a cluster of enemies—this move can backfire if you take too much damage or try to target more than one enemy at a time.
His ultimate ability Deadly Flock is excellent for burst damage, despite its high cooldown. Use it when several nearby enemies are near death: it will gain power for each enemy killed in a small area during its duration. It lasts 15 seconds, giving you plenty of time to identify and take out priority targets like healers.
Hakuro
Hakuro is a marksman DPS, so she’s a ranged damage dealer that helps the most when supported by allies. She brings some light mobility and heavy damage to any team.
Trait
Her passive trait Perfect Shot increases her range as she levels, allowing her to deal high damage from afar. This does mean that she’s more of a glass cannon: she can do a lot of damage and has ways to escape, but if caught, she’s fragile and won’t last long.
Active abilities
Her active ability Swift can also help her escape: she can’t attack, but her movement speed increases by 20% (more for each level she gains), allowing her to get away from enemies. Her critical rate is also increased by 15% for when she begins attacking again.
Her second active ability, Scatter, is a spray of arrows that damages any enemy that’s hit. It’s good for fighting in a group. If your allies are in a team fight, hang back and use Scatter to send in a field of arrows, taking advantage of the chaos.
Mind’s Eye is good for focusing a single enemy, particularly tanks. For 8 seconds following its cast, basic attacks deal percentage magic damage against enemy shikigami. This is a good ability for taking out frontline tanks during a team fight: again, hang back and use Mind’s Eye to help your teammates destroy the enemy’s tank shikigamis.
Her ultimate ability Non-Self fires an arrow that deals heavy physical damage to all targets in a line and knocks them back; each time an enemy is hit, the arrow’s damage is reduced. Its power in a team fight is twofold. First, if fired into a cluster of enemies, it deals a lot of damage to all of them. Second, its knockback helps separate enemies, allowing Hakuro and her allies to focus on important targets with less interference and chaos.
Yuki Onna
Yuki Onna is a mage, meaning that she deals primarily ranged magic damage. Her primary fortes lie in area damage and slows, two useful additions to a team, but she’s not without a defensive measure.
Passive and trait
Her passive trait Dusk Snows plays off of some of her other abilities: she deals an extra 10% magic damage to enemies that are slowed. She’s best paired with other shikigami that slow enemies with their attacks, though she can do plenty of slowing herself.
Her other passive is Snow Maiden, a stack shield. When she uses an ability, she gains a Snowflake. After gaining 3 Snowflakes, she gains a shield that explodes and deals damage after it absorbs a small amount of damage. The explosion also immobilizes enemies, meaning that if she’s surrounded when her shield breaks, she has a second to escape.
Though it’s best not to position her to where she could be attacked from multiple sides, Snow Maiden gives her a chance to survive if the team’s backline is broken.
Active abilities
Her first ability, Marshmallow, helps in situations where there are clusters of enemies. She throws a snowball that deals magic damage to enemies it hits. After it hits a shikigami or travels its maximum distance, it explodes and deals area magic damage. This allows her to target one enemy for high damage and have some splash damage applied to other enemies.
Frost Breath works well with her passive Dusk Snows. She sends forth cold air that knocks back enemies, deals some magic damage, and slows them by 35% for 1.5 seconds. This can be used to push melee enemies out of range; Yuki Onna can then turn around and take advantage of her passive to deal addition damage while they’re slowed. If you’ve got an enemy on your tail, particularly a melee enemy, it’s quite useful.
White Out is her ultimate ability. It creates a blizzard at a given position that attacks enemies in range 5 times. Each attack deals magic damage and slows enemies by 30%; enemies that are hit 3 times are frozen for 1.5 seconds. This helps with crowd control in team fights: casting White Out in a chaotic fight situation deals additional damage and allows her teammates to pick off shikigami that become frozen.
Umibozu
Umibozu is a hybrid tank/support who has abilities to keep himself alive and control enemies. He’s good at healing himself on the front line and absorbing damage that would otherwise affect other shikigami.
He’s best used in conjunction with other teammates; he doesn’t do enough damage on his own to take down enemy shikigami, but he is able to heal and bolster himself.
Trait
His passive trait Big Catch allows him to gather fish that heal him for a percentage each time he uses an ability that deals damage to a shikigami, which enables him to sustain himself on the front line.
Active abilities
His first skill, called Sashimi Snack, allows him to recover HP and grants him armor and magic resist for 5 seconds afterward for some self-sustain outside of his trait.
His second ability, Waterspout, creates a waterspout at a given position that deals magic damage after a brief delay and knocks the enemy up for 1 second. This helps to immobilize a single enemy, giving the rest of your team a shikigami to focus on.
Deadly Surge creates three waves that deal magic damage to enemies that are hit and slows them by 30% for 2 seconds. The slow effect prevents enemies from escaping as effectively, letting teammates get the jump on shikigami that are hit.
His ultimate ability is Tsunami, which again sends out three waves in a given direction. Each one does a high amount of magic damage, knocks back enemies, and slows all enemies who are hit by 30%. This allows Umibozu to effectively control the areas of the map which Tsunami pass through, forcing enemies to move to avoid them and making them easy targets for allies. A great teamfight ability.
General gameplay tips
When working with a team, communication is key! Let teammates know before the match what lane you’ll be working in, and pay attention to their shikigami choices so that you can shore up any weaknesses. You’ll generally want at least one tank and support in your composition in order to protect your damage dealers.
Unlike in some other MOBAs, your shikigami will not attack automatically. Be sure to tap the large attack button to initiate combat when you run up to an enemy.
If you’re having trouble surviving in lane, fight neutral enemies within the jungle to get some XP. Be careful, though. You’re an easy target for enemy shikigamis when you’re fighting in the jungle.
Take advantage of grassy areas along the lanes on each map. Standing in them renders you invisible, meaning that enemies can’t see you unless they walk into the grass with you. You can wait until an enemy walks by, then get the jump on them, giving you an advantage.
Don’t try to take a tower without allied minions nearby. Tower shots do a significant amount of damage and make it easy for enemies to finish you off if they find you. If there are minions with you while you’re in the tower’s attack range, the tower will attack the minions first, allowing you to attack the tower without taking damage.
There are many more shikigami besides these, and they vary greatly in difficulty level. After mastering some of the easier ones and finding your play style, it would be helpful to learn some of the harder heroes so that you have a variety of heroes to choose from in battles. Good luck out there!
