Introduction

Sarasvati is the one of the newest monster to be released that is capable of achieving 100x ATK. However, what sets her apart from the other high multiplier leads is the ease in which she can hit skyhigh numbers along with being able to stack water rows  and a permenant skyfall buff. Sarasvati perfectly fits the term Glass-Cannon as she lacks any defensive multiplier and can have issues stalling along with being quite orb hungry. However, if you can overcome these shortcomings while being choosy with which dungeons you tackle with her, you will be greatly rewarded. If you wish to read a comparison with You Yu, please read HERE.

Video Commentary

Discussing the new Leader Skill and Awakenings

Just keep in mind that video is based on her old leader skill and awakenings.

Sarasvati at a glance

Sarasvati

God / Healer / Physical
3,815 HP / 1,300 ATK / 608 RCV
844 Total
    

Active Skill:
2     (except from Water)
3 turns +15% water skyfall buff
6 turn CD

Leader Skill:
2x ATK for Water attribute. 2.5x ATK with 2 water combos. 5x at 3 combos.
100x ATK

Sample gameplay

As a change from my normal sample gameplay videos, I actually own her and can publish my own clears.

Legendary Sea of Stars before leader skill buff:

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Arena 1 coop with myself. There is no sound due to copyright problems when lifting from my stream:

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You can also do your own research by using the search term 聖徳の麗女神・サラスヴァティ

Pros:

• 100x ATK while stacking rows 
• With 12 water orbs, can essentially kill any boss in the game
• “Low” skill cap for 100x activation (but hard to play, sounds counter intuitive)
• 9 water orbs = 100x ATK
• Ample time to move orbs with 2 time extends  per leader
• 100% uptime on skyfall buff if max skilled
• Sub flexibility as you mostly need orb changers
• Fun playstyle
• Tonnes of damage
• Viable alternative to You Yu 
• Excels in short dungeons with high damage requirements
• Is beautiful and my favourite colour
• There is a majestic bird in the background

Cons:

• Definition of a glass cannon due to no HP/RCV multiplier
• Very orb hungry – difficult to kill floors with under 9 water orbs
• Team requires heavy skill up investment on subs and leaders
• Some issues with damage control and stalling
• Sometimes will require an active to sweep a floor
• Struggles in longer dungeons (eg. Arena) due to difficulty stalling or dungeons with strange mechanics

Scaling leader skill breakdown

Old Sarasvati  Scaling Leader Skill
#  orbs	5	6	7	8	9	10
	1 C 5 link 2.25x	2 C 6.25x or 1 C 1  4x	2 C 1 6.25x	2 C 5 link 14.06x	2 C 1 25x	2 C 1 1 25x
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
#  orbs	11	12	13	14	15	16
	3 C 5 link 56.25x	3 C 1  100x	3 C 1  1  100x	3 C 1  2  100x	3 C 2  100x	3 C 2  1  100x

New Sarasvati  Scaling Leader Skill
#  orbs	3	4	5	6	7	8
	1 C 4x	1 C 1  4x	1 C 1 4x	2 C 25x	2 C 1 25x	2 C 2  25x
—	—	—	—	—	—	—
#  orbs	9	10	11	12	13	14
	3 C 100x	3 C 1 100x	3 C 2  100x	3 C 1  100x	3 C 1  1  100x	3 C 1  2  100x

As you can see, the new Sarasvati Leader Skill allows for both better damage control as you no longer require a row to trigger a higher multiplier along with being able to achieve 25x with only 6 water orbs present. Furthermore, you will be able to utilize TPA subs, but should still pursue rows for optimal damage as your damage does not change at higher amounts of water orbs.

Despite the changes, you will still require at least 9 orbs to kill the majority of floors as most bosses still have millions of HP. However, she essentially blows things out of the water once 12 orbs are on the board. This can be frustrating as you will require an active to kill most bosses and once you do, you will over kill them. To complicate matters further, you will have difficulty stalling if you wish to conserve actives as you need to hoard lots of water orbs while trying to clear as much as you can AND praying the skyfalls do not match water. A lot has to go right to allow you to save actives and you also have to be able to survive the incoming attacks.

What dungeons should I be using Sarasvati in?

The simplest answer is short dungeons with no bizarre mechanics (damage absorptions, delays, preemptives, etc.) that also have high damage requirements. If you play in coop, you gain access to 8 sub actives which essentially means you can obliterate 8 floors of bosses without fear of stalling. Granted no high-end dungeon will be that simple, but this is where Sarasvati shines brightest.

I have played Sarasvati quite a bit since her release (which should hopefully give me greater clarity when writing this article) and I found playing Arena 1 to be quite challenging because of the length (and randomness) of the dungeon. It is very difficult to try and hoard 12 water orbs while surviving boss mechanics and praying the skyfall buff does not simply cause lots of water to match itself. I have cleared Arena 1 several times off stream and did it once again on stream to help showcase my strategies. The Arena run starts around 15:50:

https://player.twitch.tv/?video=v85712999Watch live video from MantasticPAD on www.twitch.tv

I highly encourage you to check out my stream once in a while as I try my best to explain my thought process and when live, I do not lose the audio due to copyright infringement.

In summation, I will most likely be using Sarasvati when I require spectacular burst damage and I can liberally use actives.

What awakenings do I prioritize?

Due to the nature of Sarasvati’s new leader skill, you are able to pursue a wider array of awakenings. Your maximum damage is still the same and rows are going to be the strongest overall. In addition, enhanced water orbs  have wonderful synergy with your skyfall buff and are helpful when matching 9 water orbs as 3 unique combos for 100x. TPA  can now be pursued and will have modest benefit as you will be able to achieve 100x and still fit in connect 4 orbs.

Advice using Sarasvati’s active

The most important aspect of Sarasvati teams is having both leaders max skilled to better take advantage of the permanent skyfall buff. However, there may be times where you wish to not use the active and instead defer the usage for after using a full board changer to help “correct” it by spawning two more water orbs.

When facing bosses with damage absorption mechanics, it is best to not have your skyfall buff active as it can unexpectedly cause unwanted damage and remove all the progress you had made.

Team Building Options

Due to my recommendation of bringing Sarasvati into shorter dungeons with fewer mechanics, your sub priority should be orb changers that have a more impactful active. By this, I mean actives that change specific orbs and not spawn a small number randomly as you require at least 9 to kill most floors. You should bring utility as needed; however, if you find yourself having to sacrifice too many sub slots for utility, it may be best to rethink using Sarasvati for that dungeon.

Higher tier subs:

• Blue Sonia is an incredibly powerful sub who brings valuable awakenings, full board changer, and a huge amount of HP.  Awakenings wise, Blue Sonia has the conventional rows and orb enhances; however, she also has the recover bind  (albeit not bind immune nor able to produce hearts) which can be used to help alleviate sub constraints as you may not need to bring a dedicated bind clearer. In addition, the full board changer produces water and dark orbs and should be able to produce at least 12 water orbs the majority of the time which is enough to sweep most content. Just remember you can use Sarasvati’s active to produce 2 additional water orbs.
• Ryune is your best option for a tri-colour board changer as she produces hearts, provides haste, and has numerous combo potentials for 2/3 water boards.  Great combo options include every heart breaker and Hatsume . The ability to generate hearts is invaluable as there will be times you need to heal and deal damage. Even though she is missing an ultimate evolution, she is still very powerful.
• Andromeda is almost always a staple water sub due to her power and versatility she offers. She is able to produce water and enhanced heal orbs and this can be vital to dealing lethal damage and restoring health. In addition, she also has the recover bind  awakening that can be used to clear binds from your other cards provided she herself is not bound.
• Gabriel is often neglected as a sub choice; however, he has great potential and can be used in a similar fashion as Andromeda. Granted his awakenings are less ideal (mostly due to the auto heal ), but is a great substitute if your box is lacking her. I would always want to run at least 1 water/heart maker on Sarasvati teams to help mitigate preemptive damage.
•    Hermes in any form is an amazingly powerful sub. However, due to the skyfall mechanic from Sarasvati and the already superb damage output, B/D and Awoken are less ideal as their stats are heavily skewed towards attack (which is kind of redundant). Thus, B/L is somewhat the winner as their stats are heavily weighted towards HP due to their physical typing. Regardless, their active almost guarantees 12+ water orbs for explosive damage.
• Beach Eschamali is simply amazing even without the presence of any water rows . Granted her cooldown is longer than Hermes, she at least is able to convert jammer and poison into water which can be helpful under the right circumstances. The skyfall component goes largely to waste, but her ability to flood the board with water orbs enables her to be used interchangeably with Hermes.

Viable subs:

• Summer Urd is another fantastic board changer that is nearly on par with Ryune. The main reason I place her lower is for the expected ultimate evolution for Ryune and no haste. Summer Urd can combo beautifully with Andromeda or any heart breaker.
•  Mori will be receiving a new and very powerful evolution that will grant him 4 rows and Fantastic artwork. However, I would still prefer to run Blonia over him due to her more diverse awakenings. The two turns of haste is nice, but whether or not that will help in a short dungeon (more valuable in solo play) depends on your other subs. The haste is more valuable in a longer dungeon where you are expected to use actives more than once.
•  Water Valkyrie provides a powerful and fast 5-turn heart break than can be combo-ed with various board changers. She may not add much utility, but her quick charging active can save you. Only downside is that she removes hearts and prevents healing and dealing damage at the same time.
• Nut is another fast changer who provides a guaranteed 5 water spawn in the leftmost column. This can be good and bad as it may not produce enough water orbs as you may already have existing water there already. On the upside, it can be used in conjunction with board changers to help “fix” them.
• Hatsume provides a dark to water orb change on a 5-turn cooldown. This is better than a heart breaker as you are able to heal and deal damage (and can combo with Ryune). Their killer awakenings are wonderful, but somewhat overkill on Sarasvati teams. Main drawback is her low base stats.
• Sharon is like Nut in that they spawn water orbs in a fixed location; however, they produce a guaranteed water row at the bottom. This is nice as it instantly guarantees a row activation; however, when saving/pooling orbs, most players tend to do so at the bottom of the board and this negates that. Like Hatsume, their killer awakenings are nice, but somewhat overkill.
• Sadalmelik haunts my dream as I managed to pull 4 of them in the recent Godfest. Regardless, they are another Sharon-style row maker; however, they spawn their orbs at the top-most row and provide a single turn of haste for an additional 3 turns of cooldown. By spawning at the top, you are better able to store water orbs and successfully deal spectacular damage. One interesting point for Sadalmelik is their bind immunity and recover bind  awakening.
• Scheat has less value on Sarasvati teams due the modest benefit of TPA awakenings. Furthermore, the skyfall mechanic goes largely to waste. At least their active does convert jammers and poison, but you are probably better off running Hermes due to the shorter cooldown and synergistic awakenings.
•  Skuld is another tri-colour board changer; however, her viability is lower as she cannot make use of as many orb changers to produce a 2/3 water board. Yes, she does spawn hearts which would allow for heartbreakers. Unfortunately, she cannot use Hermes as you will be removing your wood orbs and end up with a full board of water.
• Karin can produce water, wood, and dark orbs; however, she does not produce heart orbs and the nature of tri-colour board changers is more likely to not produce the required 12+ to deal lethal damage. I would only run her if you did not have any other board changer option or have a combo to produce a 2/3 water board.
•   Orochi and Sun Quan deserve mentioning as their on-colour typing allows you to better take advantage of the delay their active offers.

SUB
Single orb changers:
Double orb changers:
Orb/damage enhance:
Full board changers:
Bind clearing:
Damage mitigation:
Gravity:
Delay:
Niche:
Orb changer combos:	+         +        +         +        +       +       +
Sample teams:

Sample teams

When team building Sarasvati, you need to take into consideration the dungeon mechanics, where/how long you can stall, and whether this is coop or solo play. In coop, you are able to take advantage of 4 additional actives while being able to more easily fullfil your SBR requirements. Below is some teams that I have been able to create:

   
Mantastic’s bread and butter team

    
Fantastic can drop Orochi for another Hermes as needed

Those two teams were able to successfully clear Arena 1 and Legendary Sea of Stars. Key was having orb changers who would help guarantee 12+ water orbs to sweep each floor.

Skill Inheritance

One of the defining features of Sarasvati is her permenant skyfall buff. By taking this away, you will most likely be compromising your ability t have a steadier flow water orbs present. With that being said, actives such as Scheat , Awoken Hermes , and Beach Eschamali  all provide the skyfall buff with a double orb change component.

Sarasvati	2     (except from Water) 3 turns +15% water skyfall buff 6 turn CD
Inheritance Options
Damage Enhance	You do not need. Match more water orbs
True Damage / Poison
Board Changer
Damage mitigation
Delay
Orb Changers
Bind Clear	Leaders are not bind immune

What you choose to use will depend on the cards you have at your disposal along with the requirements of the dungeon. I highly recommend you read my Skill Inheritance: Advanced Strategies article as it will provide you with a wealth of information on how to make the most of your actives.

Latent Awakening set-up

Outside of a single rainbow resist (as a means to survive 100% gravities by having 1% of each colour), latents are not too important for Sarasvati teams as you are gunning for the glass cannon playstyle. Health and recovery are viable options due to her high base stats, but you have ample flexibility.

The viability of skill delay resists  latents has diminished through skill inheritance as you are able to protect yourself by using the additional cooldown timer as a “shield” against delays. However, many players may still find the need to protect their inherited skill and could benefit from the now farmable skill delay latents.

If you are doing coop, your survivability dramatically increases as you benefit from the health of your partner’s subs. This also allows you to bring more actives and acts as a pseudo protection against skill delay as bosses can only delay one team at a time.

Badge System options

If you decide to play Sarasvati in solo mode, you are now able to choose from a wide variety of badges to augment your gameplay. For a full article that explains each benefit in greater detail, please read my guide HERE.

For Sarasvati, I would recommend the Recovery badge in most scenarios. The Recovery badge provides the best value as it has the most impact on your survivability.

Conclusion:

Sarasvati is a new and amazing glass cannon leader who excels in short dungeons with lower mechanics. Her ability to deal burst damage with 9 water orbs is rivaled by few, but her survivability and consistency is tested in longer dungeons or those with wonky abilities.

You should not be using her for every dungeon, but instead reserve her for special situations where you need to hit massive damage that your other teams struggle to achieve.

Overall, Sarasvati is fun and exciting to play and is worth the investment as she can clear plenty of content and adds a fresh twist on orb matching.

Happy Puzzling!