Aak

General overview

Aak is most famous for his buffs (that require his target to survive being shot 15 times... but that's not important right now). He comes with other caveats, too: a medic is required if you want him to stay on the field, and sometimes his targeting priority requires ridiculous positioning to get him to shoot the person you actually need him to shoot. That being said, his buffs are among the most potent in the game, so players who can figure him out will be greatly rewarded. It's also worth noting his DPS and crowd control are nothing to sneeze at, either. He is massively overkill for general gameplay, so casual players probably won't see the point in raising him, but he’s an invaluable addition to an advanced player's roster.

E2? He requires maximum investment to do his job well, so keep that in mind before building him. If you just want to mess around with him on occasion, you're better off finding him in supports unless you have nothing better to do with your resources.

Game modes

CC is Aak's playground, especially if you're doing high-/max-risk clears. If you're a particularly resourceful player, you might be able to find a way to slot him in as DPS/crowd control to save team slots. He's more finicky than Warfarin or Skadi alter, so he won't be a good fit for every contract combination. In the right circumstances, however, he can replace a DPS unit and then some.

Talents

Talent 1 - Drug Cocktail Administration

E1 Each attack will randomly trigger one of the following effects: Restores own HP by 14%, that attack deals 140% damage, slow the enemy for 1.2 seconds, or stun the enemy for 0.8 seconds

E2 Each attack will randomly trigger one of the following effects: Restores own HP by 15%, that attack deals 150% damage, slow the enemy for 1.4 seconds, or stun the enemy for 1 second

On average, about half of his hits will be crowd control, and with pretty good duration. His healing shots only proc a quarter of the time, so even if he's attacking constantly, there's still a chance he'll die without external healing.

Talent 2 - Pharmaceutical Diffusion

E2 Increases healing effects on this unit by 20% (+5%)

A useful talent for a unit that is constantly dying. This bonus also applies to his healing hits from talent 1.

Skills

Skill 1 - Rapid Fire

Skill effect: ASPD +70/100

Overview: Aak's talent, along with his surprisingly good attack, make this skill more potent than it might look on paper. If you want to use Aak for DPS, keep in mind that his skill 3 buffs his ASPD less than this skill does, but it also buffs his attack. Skill 3 generally has better performance for raw damage, but if you care about crowd control more, use skill 1.

Skill 2 - Type γ Stimpack

Skill effect: Attacks an ally within range (prioritizes allies directly in front of this unit) 15 times with 500 ATK, then increases max HP and DEF of self and that unit by +50%/80% for the remaining duration of the skill

Note: Total damage is 7500 physical damage and can be mitigated by standard techniques (e.g. defense, dodge, shields)

Overview: Using this skill on a defender or guard will give them an extremely high boost in survivability. Defenders in particular will become very hard to kill. If you're looking for an easy-to-use defense buff, this is not it (Shining gives a flat DEF buff to all allies in her range in addition to +60% DEF at S3LV7 or +100% DEF with S3M3). However, it is worth noting that it's one of the few skills that buffs ally HP.

M3? The gains are great, but this skill is more than enough for most players even at level 7.

Skill 3 - Durian-Flavored Stimpack

Skill effect: Attacks an ally within range (prioritizes allies directly in front of this unit) 15 times with 500 ATK, then increases ATK by +35%/50% and ASPD by +35/50 of self and that unit for the remaining duration of the skill

Note: As with skill 2, total damage is 7500 physical damage and can be mitigated by standard techniques (e.g. defense, dodge, shields). The ASPD buff corresponds to an increase in ASPD by that percentage.

Overview: Skill 3 is Aak's flagship skill, for good reason: the buffs it provides are incredibly powerful. It works out of the box with most (if not all) melee units, but ranged units will typically need pretty heavy defensive support to survive the initial damage input. You'll also need to consider positioning carefully if you want more than one unit in his range. Enjoy watching the world burn once you get everything figured out, though!

As is the case with most buffs, casual players probably won't have many reasons to use this skill, but high-risk CC players will likely get a lot of mileage out of it.

M3? The +15% attack between level 7 and M3 doesn't seem like a lot, but there's also a corresponding increase in ASPD, which does a lot more than it sounds like on paper. Another less obvious effect is that you only have to wait 5 seconds for his first skill use, which is extremely helpful if you plan on using him as a helidrop. M3 is well worth it, but I would recommend building more general-purpose buffers and debuffers (Suzuran, Saria, Pramanix, etc) first if you have them.