The Champion Arena in Goddess of Victory: NIKKE has quietly slipped into its 18th season. While the community is busy obsessing over rediscovering niche units and experimenting with fresh team compositions, we have to address the elephant in the room: stagnation. Despite a constant influx of new units, the pick rates for the old guard remain stubbornly fixed.

Champion Arena Top 64 Challenger Squad NIKKE Pick Rates

※ Based on data from 320 squads belonging to top 64 challengers between 4 December and 17 December.
※ Please note that the grouping for each season varies.

Entering the 18th season, the Champion Arena meta has hit a wall. The list of units every high-ranking player insists on—Jackal, Noah, Biscuit, Scarlet, and Helm—hasn't budged in ages. You could call these 'essential,' but that’s just a polite way of saying there’s nothing else worth using. Aside from Nayuta and Liberellio, almost every other unit is stuck wallowing with a pick rate below 50%.

A few brave souls tried the latest unit, Soline: Frost Ticket, but they failed to break into the top 8. Newcomers like Rapunzel: Pure Grace and Zwei feel more like experimental filler than meta-shakers. Meanwhile, Nero’s pick rate has taken a nosedive. Once a reliable partner for Mast, her relevance is evaporating in the face of better options like Bay, Poli, and Nayuta.

The Winter 2025 limited units, Diesel: Winter Sweets (hereafter 'Winter Diesel') and Brid: Silent Track (hereafter 'Winter Brid'), will be eligible for the 19th season. With the community still arguing over their viability, we shall see if they finally bring a gust of fresh air to the Champion Arena.

Let's take a look at the squad from one of our top 8 finishers, PoopkiPoopki, who is running what many consider the 'standard' meta right now: 'Mast + Emilia', 'Shotgun + Nayuta', 'Vesti: Tactical Up + Favorite Item Laplace', 'Scarlet + Trony', and 'Mihara: Bonding Chain + Cinderella'.

Their run to the top 8 saw a record of 'WWWLW - WLWWL - WWLLW'. Interestingly, the Mast deck was the only one to remain undefeated, while others suffered one or two losses. The Scarlet deck, specifically, struggled against the likes of Cinderella and the 'Nero + Mast' combo. Even a tier-1 staple like Scarlet has clear hard counters; units that can stall with invincibility, massive self-healing, and 'Indomitable' buffs are simply too much for her burst damage to overcome.

Success in the Champion Arena isn't just about the right squad—it’s about the luck of the draw. Use these decks as a guide, but remember to adjust your order based on the specific meta trends of your group.

Solo Raid Meta Analysis

Who is best suited for the multi-part boss, Alteisen?

The 'Alteisen' Solo Raid kicked off on 11 December, featuring a boss weak to Burning code. With its multi-part mechanism and ability to regenerate, the fight practically begs for shotguns and rocket launchers—perfect for our new limited units, Winter Diesel and Winter Brid. We also expect units with specific part-targeting skills to have a field day.

The top-tier contenders include Rapi: Red Hood, Vesti: Tactical Up, and A2. All are Burning code users with the right weapon types to make short work of Alteisen. A small caveat: A2 was part of the NieR: Automata collaboration, so players who joined during the 3rd anniversary are unfortunately out of luck. If you have the full roster, you're looking at a high score.

NIKKE News

Brid: Silent Track Pickup Starts

The second limited winter unit, Winter Brid, is now available. She is a Burst 2, Burning code, Support-type shotgun user who inflicts a debuff increasing damage taken from Wind code enemies. In our brief testing against Burning-weak targets, she pumped out damage comparable to a main DPS. The general consensus is to at least pull a copy, so keep that in mind if you're chasing high scores.

User Poll - What's the highest score you've reached in the mini-game?

We ran a poll on which limited unit to prioritize, and the result was a three-way tie between Winter Diesel, Winter Brid, and Maiden: Ice Rose. Limited units are always a 'now or never' deal, which likely drove the results. Plus, Winter Diesel and Maiden: Ice Rose have already proven their worth. 'New units' came in 4th, referring specifically to our winter arrivals.

The 2007 Japanese flash game 'Fruits Box'—the so-called 'Apple Game'—saw a sudden surge in popularity early in 2025. Keeping with the trends, Goddess of Victory: NIKKE integrated it as a mini-game. The community boards are currently flooded with guides and users bragging about their high scores. How are you faring in the game? Cast your vote, and we'll reveal the results in next week's Meca Ranking.