The first time I wrote an article on an operative on this site, it was for Clarina - Crimson Moon back in v3.1, who was both a lovely character and pretty strong.
I started that article by lamenting how few purely-ballistic operatives we had been getting recently, and how Bubu - The Geomancer was the only one in a long while.
I have mentioned Bubu in several other of the more-recent articles as well, most notably for Mia - Starchaser, as Mia's gameplay is almost identical to Bubu - The Geomancer's.
And here we are yet again, discussing Bubu, although this time not just in passing or as preface, as the adorkable diviner has gone and gotten herself a new exosuit.
Bubu - Specular Soul is interesting for several reasons.
First and most obviously, Bubu uses Dual SMGs - previously a weapon type exclusive to Lyfe - Infinite Sight.
Snowbreak has several weapon types that are[/were] only used by a single operative
Crossbow Katya - Blue Bolt
Dual SMG Lyfe - Infinite Sight
Bow Chenxing - Jade Arc
Gatling Gun Katya - Rhapsody
Given that there are only nine weapon types in the entire game, having four of them be restricted to a single operative each means that any operative using those four weapon types does stand out.
Similarly, Specular Soul being the first operative to use a weapon that was previously limited to a single operative does also make her unique.
Does this mean we'll see operatives in the near future using a crossbow, a bow, a Gatling gun, or perhaps more Dual-SMG operatives?
I have no idea, but I hope so.
Even if we don't, that Seasun is considering these less-used weapon types for new operatives is still a good thing for the game.
Whilst a new Dual-SMG operative is quite surprising, that it is Bubu who is getting a new operative variant isn't overly surprising, as Bubu has been one of the most popular characters introduced recently, and she is very well liked, and for good reason.
How does Specular Soul work?
These days every new operative seems to require reading even longer skill descriptions than the last one, and Bubu is no exception...
The TL:DR is that just like Lyfe - Infinite Sight, Bubu's shots charge a gauge in the centre of her screen.
When that gauge is full, you can use Bubu's standard skill to shoot a supercharge shot that deals much higher damage and gives her 1 Crystal.
When Bubu has 4 Crystals (technically at least 2, but you'd never want to use it at anything except 4) you use her ult.
Once in her ult form, you spam Bubu's standard skill to use the Crystals to shoot the same shots as her standard skill did previously, except with some extra damage, and with no cooldown or charging. Much like Mia - Starchaser, Bubu's ult is just 8 slightly stronger versions of the shots that she normally deals when not in her ult.
...except Bubu has to press her standard skill button each time she fires, unlike Mia who just auto-fired them all.
and Bubu cartwheel's around whilst firing, whereas Mia remained stationary.
When all of her Crystals have been used, Bubu automatically does a large AoE blast in front of her, and exits her ult, with the blast doing more damage based upon how many special shots you landed - although since they all have auto-lock-on and normally overcap, you should max this extra damage every time.
The blast does good damage, but if there isn't an enemy in front of Bubu then it won't hit anything, so Bubu wants to stay at short-medium range.
Specular Soul really does feel like a mix of Lyfe IS, Mia, and Bubu's original form - there doesn't feel like there's anything new here, only various bits of older operatives stitched together to form a new way of playing with the old parts.
...which is fine.
Much Like Mia last patch, I think it's fine to use existing mechanics to make new characters - not every operative needs their own unique gimmick, and I do like Bubu - she feels like she uses the parts she has been assembled from very well, and I think she feels like a more "complete" operative than both Lyfe IS and Mia - her kit feels like it all fits together better, without the massive discrepancy that was Lyfe IS' ult or Mia's standard skill.
Bubu's Flaws, and The AoE Problem
Bubu's most obvious QoL flaw is that during her ult, you have to click her standard skill each time.
This does get tedious quite fast, and I'd much rather Bubu unloaded continuously like Mia does, rather than me having to click repeatedly.
Beyond that, Bubu only has one major flaw:
If her standard skill isn't charged yet, then using it will just do an AoE blast in front of Bubu.
I put this on its own because mechanically it is its own thing - the blast doesn't charge her Crystals/ult, they don't reload her magazine, they don't buff her, they don't debuff...
You could remove this from Bubu - Specular Souls kit and her damage rotation would remain completely unchanged.
This can make Bubu feel somewhat clunky, and does mean that you can't just spam her standard skill to instantly use her standard skill to get a Crystal as soon as it's charged.
Not being able to spam her skill after she's charged does make her non-ult gameplay feel very similar to Lyfe IS', albeit the penalty for using the skill early feels higher with Bubu than it did with Lyfe IS, as Lyfe IS just did a quick dodge, whereas Bubu does a longer AoE attack that keeps her stationary.
This part of Bubu's kit feels clunky, and tacked on.
Given that Bubu's 5* weapon is called Auspice Cinders, before she was released and all we had were the names and images, I thought Bubu was a Thermal-damage character.
Cinders could be a fun reference to how she is no longer a thermal-damage operative, but it makes me wonder if she was originally a thermal-damage operative and had to be changed at some point during development for some reason, and the old weapon name remained... and what other parts of her design were done quickly.
Single-Target vs AoE damage
In previous articles I have lamented how the newest operative had a mostly single-target damage rotation, with some form of AoE damage clumsily crowbarred in:
For example Mia - Starchaser had her standard skill, which doesn't charge her ult at all, and hence doesn't affect her normal damage rotation at all.
Or take Fenny - Pureheart, who had her RMB attack, which doesn't charge her ult at all, and hence doesn't affect her normal damage rotation at all.
and now we have Bubu, who has her standard skill, which doesn't charge her ult at all, and hence doesn't affect her normal damage rotation at all.
(Bubu's standard skill only doesn't charge her ult if you use it whilst uncharged, but mechanically Bubu does still have the exact same problem as Mia and Fenny.)
You could argue that two is a coincidence, but three definitely feels like a pattern.
Is this a big problem for Bubu?
In practice, no, actually, and you can just ignore it during combat, as you never need to use her standard skill while uncharged, but I feel you could streamline Bubu's gameplay quite a bit if she didn't have her uncharged standard skill attack, which would make her both more fun to play and easier to learn.
Getting the timing wrong and using her standard skill before it is charged and Bubu doing an AoE attack that I don't want her to do - it does feel pretty frustrating.
If you take a trip down memory lane, then along the way you'll find Yao - Winter Solstice happily napping on a sofa somewhere.
Winter Solstice used to be both the queen of clearing content and the queen of... content (I've heard that "Yao's cake animation" was the term).
Winter Solstice dealt insanely high damage per-shot, which allowed her to be uncontested as the highest-dps operative for a while, and by-far the fastest way of clearing bosses.
That was a long time ago though, and for most people Winter Solstice barely even registers as existing at all in the meta, as she has no ability to deal AoE damage at all, and her single-target dps has been eclipsed by...
*checks notes*
Everybody.
Whilst Yao used to be good at single-target, she has since been eclipsed at that, and her lack of AoE means she's not good for the groups of mobs you find in general content.
All new operatives having good single-target damage whilst also having good AoE feels like Seasun ensuring that they'll always be good for general content, even if they get eclipsed by other newer operatives who have better single-target damage and thus work better in endgame content.
Whilst the goal is admirable and I don't have a problem with it, the problem is that the way that new operatives have had AoE damage added to them feels clunky.
SCZ has very little endgame content (just Neural Simulation and Supreme Battleground, really), but for that endgame content you really only want single-target damage.
As such, newer operatives being designed around being useful for endgame content, and thus having good single-target damage, makes sense.
Again though - the problem is not that they have AoE capabilities, it's that the way that newer operatives have gotten AoE damage feels clunky and awkward, and that it feels as if the reason for that is that they were designed for single-target damage first, and then had AoE added on to them as an afterthought, without being designed with having AoE damage in mind from the beginning, which would allow the devs to integrate her AoE damage with the rest of her kit properly.
If anything, Bubu might be a[nother] sign that we need more endgame content for Snowbreak, so that operatives can be designed for either single-target or AoE dps, and new operatives don't always feel the need to always have both of them.
Then again, more repeatable endgame content is something that the SCZ community has been clamouring for for quite a while now, so only time will tell.
Heck, just opening up the 2nd Neural Sim boss to be random again, adding a 3rd Neural Sim boss, or making Supreme Battleground permanent would be fantastic.
(or ideally all three...)
So how does Bubu actually perform?
Bubu performs very roughly in the same ballpark as other modern dps operatives.
She deals less damage than the current queen of dps: Chenxing - Jade Arc, and this is good - we already have a lot of operatives that the meta just never uses due to how weak they are, so Bubu not pushing the needle even further is a good thing - The game really doesn't want or need yet more powercreep.
This is... excellent.
To quote myself from my previous article on Mia:
"The requirement for any new character in a gacha game is that they look good, they're fun to play, they're not useless, and they don't break the game."
In that regard Bubu is a well balanced new operative:
She looks good
She's can be pretty fun to play
She is very good at one thing (single-target dps)
She doesn't break the game
So I'd say that Bubu is balanced, yes.
So what's the Chaos-damage meta now?
In terms of the games previous 5* Chaos-damage dps operatives:
Fritia - Turbo is still good, and is an entirely ballistic damage operative, but Turbo is basically useless for endgame content (and quite a bit of regular content as well to be honest...) if you don't have her 5* weapon, as she can't sustain her damage rotation without it, leading to her having quite terrible dps, which immediately disqualifies Turbo for contention in the meta for a lot of people simply because they don't have her 5* weapon.
Cherno - Enigma hasn't held up overly well against the games powercreep - especially against mobile enemies where she still fares terribly.
It's also been a very long time since she was on-banner, so even quite experienced players might not have her, or at least her logistics or 5* weapon, limiting her performance.
She still does fine against relatively static enemies, but she isn't as strong as Nerida, Fritia, or Specular Soul.
Haru - Raikou wasn't a strong operative, and could also struggle against highly mobile or airborne enemies, and was mostly fine only by the virtue of the game giving us a lot of investment for her (I.e. 5* weapon at T2 and all of her Auctus Drives), but at high investment Raikou simply can't compete with Nerida or Fritia.
Nerida - Styx Envoy is certainly good - she's pretty normal by current dps standards, meaning that Nerida has had something of a monopoly on the Chaos-damage meta for a while simply because there aren't any many modern Chaos-damage operatives to challenge her.
Nerida's competition for "best chaos dps" has thus been one mediocre dps that's basically useless against moving enemies, one strong dps that's only viable if you have her 5* weapon - which most people don't, and a weak operative only given consideration by the fact the game gave us a ton of investment for her for free.
I.e. If you didn't have Turbo's 5* weapon, then Nerida was your highest-dps chaos-damage operative by a large margin.
Bubu - Specular Soul is a great chaos dps pretty much automatically, simply by virtue of how weak the competition is.
Skill, Hybrid, and Ballistic chaos dps
If you want Chaos Skill damage exclusively, then you still want Nerida - Styx Envoy [and although not as good, Cherno - Enigma still does ok against stationary targets].
Bubu does deal some Skill Damage, but it's a low enough percentage of her damage that if you actually need chaos skill damage then Nerida still reigns supreme.
For a hybrid (ballistic + skill) chaos dps, Bubu outclasses Enigma, dealing better dps, being better against mobile enemies, whilst also needing less spool up time before she starts dealing good dps. Enigma is still respectable as a chaos hybrid dps, but she's in a tier below Bubu.
If you want Chaos ballistic damage, then Fritia - Turbo [with her 5* weapon] and Bubu - Specular Soul are basically your two options.
Fritia obviously has vastly better mobility and range than Bubu does.
Ballistic dps: Bubu vs Fritia
When Bubu originally released, she had 252% Weapon Compatibility, which was about the same as what Fritia - Turbo deals with her Standard Skill (245%), but Bubu has since been buffed to 420%.
Fritia has an average RoF of around 0.7 shots per second, and thus a base dps of around 170%.
Doing the maths for Bubu, she has a base dps of around 625%.
Bubu does guarantee crits on most of her damage, but Fritia automatically targets weakspots with her standard skill (i.e. the one we all always use), meaning she essentially always crits anyway, as hits against weakspots always crit.
Factoring in Bubu's paltry 30% crit dmg value increases her dps to around 730%.
Fritia has a 100% Crit DMG value, so her dps goes up to around 350%.
These are... not even remotely similar.
Bubu does out-dps Fritia, and by enough that even if you care about ballistic damage only, Bubu is still the better choice over Fritia.
Fritia does gain more from crit mods (notably Yao- Nightglow, but also from logistics mods) that Bubu doesn't, but that isn't enough to close the gap, and Bubu is the stronger dps.
That Fritia gains a lot more from Crit DMG Amplifier, deals a higher percentage of ballistic damage, and makes better use of crit mods like Yao's mean that it is possible in some extremely niche situations for Fritia to match Bubu, but those situations will be very few and far between.
Overall, Bubu is the best chaos ballistic dps in the game.
Bubu also has the advantage that she works even without her 5* weapon, whereas Fritia does not.
Getting 5* signature weapons in Snowbreak has always been astronomically difficult, and is in my opinion one of the games major weaknesses, and for most players that alone means that even ignoring dps Bubu will be the games best chaos ballistic dps by-far.
Vidya - Celestial Swan still reigns absolutely supreme as the games best support by a vast margin, and this gives Bubu the same problem that other non-Electric ballistic dps operatives have:
Yao - Nightglow is the best [non-Vidya] ballistic support, but continuously deals Electric damage, meaning she can't be used with Celestial Swan unless the dps also deals Electric damage - which Bubu doesn't.
Snowbreak doesn't really have many other strong ballistic supports though - Fenny - Starshine is still good, and Bubu's big magazines means she can use Fenny's buffs well, but Bubu deals enough skill damage that Fenny isn't ideal, and Starshine is generally a worse ballistic support than Nightglow anyway.
In fact, other than Vidya and Eatchel, no support works perfectly with Bubu, well except Marian - Queen of Pain, who does work very well with Bubu, although she's still a 4*.
This means you generally just use Vidya if you can, or Yao if not, and then just fill up the third spot with whoever you have that works best with the first support - Fenny - Starshine, Eatchel - The Cub, or even Marian - Queen of Pain.
Mauxir - Shadow Ka is a pretty good Chaos-damage operative that primarily buffs ballistic damage, and whilst not overly strong these days she does work well with Bubu + Vidya.
This means that unlike Starchaser, Pureheart, or Clarina, Bubu doesn't really have two perfect ideal supports, and if in the future we do get a chaos ballistic support, they will likely be Bubu's next best support after Vidya.
Now that Mauxir - Lotus has actually released I can add on a section here for her.
Last patch we saw Mia - Starchaser and Haru - Raikou, who were the first dual-operative release pair to not be one dps and one support who were designed to work together.
Bubu - Specular Soul and Mauxir - Lotus are now the second such pair - Mauxir is not a chaos support designed to work with Bubu.
Mauxir is a summoner who has her summoned units literally deal all of her damage for her.
Both Lotus and her summoned units deal Frost-damage.
Lotus' support skill summons some Aux Units to deal damage, and when used off-field Lotus' ult skill just swaps Lotus in to buff her summoned units.
This means Lotus can't buff Bubu's dps at all - Lotus can deal some ok dps with her support skill, but if Lotus is used as a support then she can't actually do anything that buffs the dps of your main dps operative.
As such, all of the above I wrote about Bubu is still true - Lotus does not change Bubu at all, as Lotus is not a support for her.
Bubu deals strong single-target damage in a good-looking package, with relatively weak mobility, and with mediocre teambuilding options.
Like Mia last patch, I think Bubu is a good new operative - no powercreep, has her own unique playstyle, good at endgame content whilst being decent at general gameplay.
She does have some flaws though - mobility, some clunkyness to her kit, weak AoE capabilities, and some teambuilding problems, although all of these are either minor issues or problems that other new operatives have also had as well.
I don't see me liking Specular Soul as much as I did The Geomancer, but I think Bubu's done alright with her new form.