Look, let's be honest, the Champion Arena Beta Season 39 promotion matches for Goddess of Victory: NIKKE are done and dusted, and the Champion Showdown is currently underway. Since landing on the scene, Laplace: Ultimate Hero (let's call the character Wind Laplace) has steadily been climbing the ranks in the Champion Arena, whilst Tactical Up Nikkes, alongside Flora with her favourite item, are maintaining a solid 20% pick rate. Naturally, with Wind Laplace dominating the meta, a few clever rankers are cooking up some counter-squads to put a stop to the madness.

Champion Arena Top 64 Ranker Squad Nikke Pick Rates

▲ Based on a total of 320 squad entries from the Top 64 rankers of Champion Arena Season 39. Image courtesy of KookminTree.
Do bear in mind that the aggregation groups shift every single season, mate.

Wind Laplace's usage keeps creeping up in the Champion Arena. The winning ticket seems to be stacking launcher-type Nikkes like Centi to rapidly juice up the Burst gauge. Because Wind Laplace is absolute menace right now, certain rankers are even drafting in Sakura to shave down that pesky wind-code damage.

On top of that, electric-code counter Dorothy--wait, no, let's stick strictly to the text--electric-code counter Label has made a cheeky comeback.While Scarlet's pick rate is sliding down a bit, Cinderella and Neon: Visionary (hereinafter Neo Neon) are seeing more play, which definitely looks like a defensive measure against the chaos. Scarlet might not be the mandatory pick she used to be, but a Scarlet team backed by Product 23 is still kicking, refusing to give up the ghost.

Neo Neon, paired up with Vesti: Tactical Up (let's call the character Tacti-Vesti), has smashed past a 90% pick rate. It is not just Tacti-Vesti, mind you; Eunwha: Tactical Up and Emma: Tactical Up are also seeing their numbers climb. You see, the full 'Tactical Squad' using all three Nikkes is becoming a common sight in the Champion Arena. To squeeze every drop of damage out of this setup, Favourite Item Flora and Mast are pulling heavy shifts. Interestingly enough, a handful of players swapped Mast out for Mast: Romantic Maid (hereinafter Maid Mast). At first, the director thought someone just fat-fingered the roster, but it is probably an ongoing experiment keeping Maid Mast's specific buffs in mind.

Honeytteok, who finished this aggregation group's run in the Round of 16, happened to be one of those rankers running Maid Mast. The squad featured Maid Mast - Tacti-Vesti - Favourite Item Flora - Scarlet - Favourite Item Rosanna. That said, the match history for this particular lineup was pure tragedy, dropping every single match from the Top 64 down to the Round of 16.

Squads two and three, however, carried the weight, sweeping every single match from the Top 64 to the Round of 16. We are looking at Anis: Star - Blanc - Anis: Sparkling Summer - Biscuit - Cinderella, alongside Nayuta - Favourite Item Helm - Snow White: Heavy Arms - Emilia - Favourite Item牡丹. The former leaned heavily into electric code, while the latter was built around Nayuta. Anis: Star acted as the main dealer for the electric squad. Tossing in Anis: Sparkling Summer boosted the electric-code allies' preferential code damage, while Cinderella held down the sub-dealer spot. With Biscuit tossing out invincibility buffs to all defensive allies, both Cinderella and Anis: Star probably enjoyed an absurdly comfy level of survivability.

Normally, a Nayuta squad brings along Red Hood to crank up Nayuta's damage output, but Honeytteok opted for Favourite Item Botan instead. They also drafted in Emilia rather than Liberelrio. While Botan's buff numbers pale in comparison to what Red Hood brings to the table--meaning Nayuta's raw damage takes a slight hit--the developer likely made this call just to fire off that Burst gauge a fraction of a second faster.

Meta Analysis

Looking Ahead at 2026 Bunny Girl Nikkes

Guilty: Mighty Bunny and Sin: Swift Bunny failed to shake up the arena environment, finding work exclusively in water-code weak Solo Raids. Specifically, the character duo is expected to shine brightest in water-code weak Solo Raids where enemy defence stats are through the roof. To actually run these Nikkes properly, you need Favourite Item Flora alongside Lycoris Recoil collaboration character Takina Inoue. Naturally, for newcomers or veterans who missed the collaboration boat, putting them to work is a proper headache.

Even though the Solo Raid has wrapped up, the recruitment banner is still lingering, leaving plenty of players scratching their heads. Seasoned veterans are giving a unified piece of advice: 'If you are a newcomer, hoard your resources for the upcoming 4th anniversary.' Even among veteran players, unless you are gunning for the top 3% in Solo Raids, there is zero reason to burn through Advanced Recruitment Tickets and Jewels right now.

If you absolutely must scratch that gacha itch, the community recommends throwing your tickets at the returning Ludmila: Winter Owner (hereinafter Winter Ludmila). Once this rerun concludes, Winter Ludmila is a limited-time Nikke with no guaranteed return in sight. Their baseline performance is brilliant, making them a staple pick for water-code weak content and the Tetra manufacturer tower. Maiden: Ice Rose is no slouch either. Seeing play in both PvE and PvP, newcomers would do well to at least grab a baseline copy. If you are still sweating over your recruitment choices, drop a line on Blabla or the official lounge. The community is generally lovely enough to help you sort it out.

Nikke Issues

Is the Next New Nikke Bringing a Halloween Theme?

As the bunny girl story event wraps up on October 8, a brand-new story event is lined up to kick off. Details are still under wraps, leaving the community to wildly speculate about who is walking through the door next. Much like how the reveal of Bunny Girl Flora as September's monthly pass costume tipped everyone off to a bunny event, players are currently reading the tea leaves of the October monthly pass costume to guess the upcoming theme.

The star of this month's pass costume is Crust, dressed up in a pumpkin-themed outfit fit for Halloween. Naturally, the prevailing theory is that the next story event is going full spooky season. Exact details regarding the new Nikke will likely drop over the weekend on the official lounge, so let's sit back and see if the community's crystal ball got it right. Best of luck with your pulls, mate.