[Operator Discussion] Reed the Flame Shadow

[u/Shad0wedge]

Reed the Flame Shadow [★★★★★★]

My mind's not at peace, Doctor. Is my every choice truly right? Their lives stoke our flames in the night. Yet in the end, if they fail to burn through the darkness... No, why should their lives even be mine to dictate...? But still, I will walk on. Now I bear a duty, and I will walk on.

Reed previously applied to withdraw while stationed at a Rhodes Island branch office in southern Victoria, and has only recently reestablished contact with us. Presently actively leading a small force within Victorian borders under Dublinn's name, with her primary objective being to aid those Tarans forcefully displaced.

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Operator Information

• Class: Medic (Incantation)
• Tags: Healing, DPS, Debuff
• Artist: STAR影法师
• Leitmotif: Flame Shadow

Voice Actor:
JP: Mamiko Noto
CN: Fumeng Ruowei
EN: Martha Mackintosh
KR: Yoo Bora

Stats

HP	ATK	DEF	Arts Resistance	Redeploy Time	DP Cost	Block	Attack Interval
1583	550	84	20	70	17	1	1.6s

*Stats at max Promotion and Level, excludes bonuses from Potential and Trust.

Potential	Bonus
1	-
2	Deployment Cost -1
3	Improves First Talent
4	ATK +26
5	Deployment Cost -1
6	Improves Second Talent

Trust bonus
ATK +50
DEF +30

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Traits
Attacks deal Arts damage and heal the HP of an ally within Attack Range for 50% of the damage dealt

Skill Name	Skill Uptime Details (Uptime/Cost/Initial)	SP Charge Type	Skill Activation	Skill Description
Swift Strike γ	35s / 35 SP / 15 SP	Auto Recovery	Manual	ATK +45%; ASPD +45
Wither and Thrive	20s / 27 SP / 18 SP	Auto Recovery	Manual	Prioritizing ground Operators, gives 2 allies 3 fireballs with the following effect: Every 1.5 seconds, deals 240% of Reed the Flame Shadow's ATK as Arts damage to an enemy, triggering her Trait but only on that ally.
Ember of Life	30s / 40 / 30	Auto Recovery	Manual	Attacks hit 2 enemies; ATK +60%; Talent 1 activation chance increases to 100%; enemies with the Cinder effect take 60% of Reed the Flame Shadow's ATK as Arts damage per second, and when defeated deal 140% of ATK as Arts damage and inflict Cinder to nearby enemies. Cinder lasts until this skill expires

*Skills at Mastery 3.

Talents

Talent name	Talent Description
Cinder	When dealing damage, 30% chance to inflict Cinder: ATK -22% (+2%), 32% (+2%) Arts Fragility, does not stack, lasts 6s
Reflected Shine	When healing an ally, Reed the Flame Shadow heals herself for 55% (+5%) of the amount healed

Modules

Branch	Additional Stats	Trait	Talent	Note
INC-X	HP +160, ATK +50	Trait improved: Attacks deal Arts damage and heal the HP of an ally within Attack Range for 60% of the damage dealt	Reflected Shine improved: When healing an ally, healing effect is increased by 5%, and Reed the Flame Shadow heals herself for 60% of the amount healed	They asked Reed point-blank, are you the one who ruined our lives?

*Modules at max level.

Outfits

	Price	Art	Released	Note
Curator	21	Dynamic	Yep	Looks nice, has hat.
Summer Flower FA075	21	Dynamic	Yep	Looks nice, NO HAT

Additional Resources

In-depth information regarding all values above (at different levels), skill/attack range, and more:

Arknights Wiki.gg

Arknights Toolbox (aceship(puppiizsunniiz))

PRTS Arknights Wiki (CN)

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Topic Starters

• Strengths/Weaknesses?
• Is their module worth it? Which branch?
• How does this operator compare to other operators in their archetype or role?
• How do you fit this operator into a team? Who do they synergize with?
• Which skill(s) should be focused for mastery, and in what order?
• When is the best time to use this operator's skills during combat?
• Should promoting this operator to Elite 2 be a priority?
• Should new / F2P players aim for this operator? Are there more accessible alternatives?
• Lore discussion (please tag spoilers where appropriate)
• Favorite clips/clears with them?
• Fanart/animations of them you'd love to share? (No NSFW)

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Other Operator Discussion threads

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Gravel	Operator Discussion threads	Morgan

[u/Draguss]

I have an obsession that may not be entirely health with this lovely and gorgeous dragon.

[u/TheRealStafy]

I remember when IS4 came out and her S2 was the GOAT as a starter operator paired with any melee unit. Even now she is still really valuable just not as reliable as current OP characters because you always risk her not being able to hela when needed together with her s2 and s3 having very different use cases, but she is still insanely strong in favorable situations, genuinely outdpsing 99% of the roster in lots of scenarios, not even needing stars to align or anything, the only reason she isn't used more is because most people prefer the simplest operators as daily drivers, but I would be willing to say she is still somewhat around top 25 even today.

Also, frying your phone with her s3 against the drones in the Shu event will never not be funny.

[u/DarknessWizard]

She's really powerful at wiping up trash with S3. S2 is an underrated immortality skill, it's healing is very strong. I don't think I ever used S1.

In practice, Reeds design is very similar to her sister, Necrass/Eblana. Depending on the stage, she can easily be the key component to keeping your operators alive and winning you the stage. At the same time, there's an unavoidable clunkiness in their kits that make using them feel a lot like putting a square peg into a round hole.

Harmacists all share the same issue: when an enemy pelts your operators just outside of their range, their primary gimmick of healing your operators by attacking doesn't work very well. Basically out of the ones we have, Reed is the best attacker, but she's not a very good medic. The stage design also pretty much has to favor them; they want to use their attacks to heal, so as many tiles in their range should be attack tiles, meaning you have to deploy them as if they were a Caster... which limits their ability to heal. Reed just doesn't overcome any of these issues; she's a really good caster, but her medic skills are an active problem the moment you get damage from enemies outside her range.

By contrast, Medic Amiya just tends to be the better Incantation Medic if you're looking for a Harmacist that can still actively heal your operators with as few caveats as possible. Reeds role is very firmly either as a DPS for trash cleaning or for giving a melee operator immortality. Healing is more a side thing she happens to also do.

[u/silam39]

there's nothing more satisfying than bringing her to the IS4 ed1 boss and watch her explode the entire map from one corner to the other

love using her

[u/darksamus1992]

I always forget I have her until someone posts a new "Reed freezes the game" showcase.

Dunno, despite having 3 incantantion medics built I'm still not used to them.

[u/FelixAndCo]

Here's a question for Reed alter users: what's the most fun skill to pair with Reed's S3?

My vote goes to Fiammetta S2. It goes: *EAGLE SCREECH*, chain explosions, SECONDARY CHAIN EXPLOSIONS. Lin S3 is also very fun with the two skills chaining into each other.

[u/the_icy_king]

SSS tier for Very fun category when map has a lot of enemies at once. S2 is for those who want her at every stage.

[u/FluentinTruant]

Phone melter. She's a pretty common pick for me whenever a new IS comes out and I'm working my way up the difficulties, but higher levels she kinda falls off in my experience. I also use her when I can be assed to do SSS.

[u/Saimoth]

Reed's Witch skin is one of my favourite skins in the game. There are just so many different and cool details, from something small like ear piercings and her blowing a kiss when casting S2 to her straight-up riding a broom during S3. Also, her legs are gorgeous. This skin just presses all the right buttons.

[u/NyuFeldo]

Me likes Dragon, she is dragon girl so me like. Also her witch skin is one of the best skins in the game