Skia is a Lakshana character with the best Gas Arc bonus. This is where he shines in combat. No, he’s not a top solo player who can tear anyone apart one-on-one. But with the right team and gear, Skia becomes a real threat. Especially when you’ve managed to fully awaken him with free spins. And that happens often.
Table of Contents
Skia in NTE: Why It’s One of the Best A-Ranks
Neverness to Everness has an eclectic roster. Everyone brings something different to the table, and even free players can put together killer combos. Skia isn’t technically given away for free, but the chances of getting him from free spins are very high. Therefore, most new players get him early on—and that’s great news.
Why? Skia is one of the best A-Ranks, if not the best. With the right build, he punches well above his weight. Seriously, don’t neglect him. With him, even the most difficult anomalies cease to be a problem. He becomes a reliable, almost dominant teammate.
The Best Skia Build: Critical Damage and the Right Build
This is both easy and challenging: Skia thrives on critical hits. This means your build must boost both critical hit chance and critical damage. Without this, he won’t get going. He also needs teammates to cover his weak points—he’s not a destructive machine on his own, like some S-ranks.
But when he gets going, he’s truly fun to play. You can practically feel the gas arcs revving up. Don’t expect miracles solo, but in a team, Skia will repay the investment a hundredfold.
All of Skia’s abilities and mechanics in Neverness to Everness
Skia from Neverness to Everness is a character who thrives on shadows and gas arcs. His kit revolves around Lakshana (his primary damage type), his constant summoning of “Fanged Lunge,” and crowd control via slow. Let’s take this one at a time.
Skia’s Basic Attack and Passive Skills
His standard five-hit combo, “Arresting Art,” deals damage with Lakshana and simultaneously summons the very same Fanged Lunge from the shadows. The beast will autonomously pursue up to three nearby targets. A nice mechanic: the passive “Fanged Lunge” works like this: entities break out, latch onto enemies, strike, and then return to Skia. The cycle is complete.
He also has a falling attack, “Territory Control.” Skia collapses from above, dealing damage. Falling from a great height? The damage can increase to 100%. A small thing, but a nice touch.
Skia’s Counterattack and Main Skill
Perfected the dodge? Then, “Pen to Paper” allows you to use “Arresting Art” for a powerful AoE attack. It also deals damage to Lakshana, plus it significantly reduces the interrupt meter on enemies. This means it’ll be easier to knock down defenses.
Her main skill is “Shadow Dog Pursuit.” Skia dives into her shadow, activating the “Tailed” state. Afterward, she deals an AoE attack. For each enemy hit, the shadow splits into three Fanged Lunges, triggering “Shadow Dog Brawl.”
What does this mean? In “Tailed,” shadows no longer disappear after taking damage—they remain attached to enemies and continue to function. “Brawl” allows Skia to slide along the ground or walls through the shadow, temporarily ignoring some attacks, while the Fanged Lunge itself hits multiple times.
Skia’s Ultimate and Support Skills
The ultimate ability, “Flock,” expands the shadow in all directions, dealing a wide AoE attack with Lakshana. Then, all the shadows collapse into a single point, dealing three waves of damage. Bonus: increased damage for Fanged Lash. A serious boost.
Among the support skills, we highlight “Arrest Warrant”—a persistent shadow pounces on the target and deals an area-of-effect damage. “Suppression” works with the “Remora” effect (slowing the target’s movement and attack speed). If Fanged Lash hits an enemy who already has Remora, an additional layer is applied.
And “Detainment”: after using “Flock,” Fanged Lash’s damage is increased by 10%. Yes, this also applies to encounters in Shadowhound Brawl mode.
The Best Arc and Console for Skia: A Complete Guide
Now on to the build. Without it, even such a flexible character won’t shine.
The Optimal Arc for Skia
The best Arc is “Good Boy’s Big Adventure.” It provides an 18% boost to Skia’s charge efficiency. After using his ultimate, the entire team’s attack is increased by 10% for 20 seconds. And if enemies are controlled by his ultimate, an additional 6%. Plus, the Arc itself increases attack by 45%. Pretty impressive.
The secondary option is “Watch Your Heads!” It increases Skia’s attack by 10%. If targets are affected by “Remora” and “Stain,” then after using the Misdirection skill, Lakshana’s damage is increased by 10% for 15 seconds. The Arc also provides a 40% boost to critical damage.
The Best Console Cartridge for Skia
Here, the choice is almost obvious: “Street Boxer.”
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2-Item Bonus (Epic): Lakshana Skia’s damage is increased by 10%.
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4-Item Bonus (Legendary): Critical Chance is increased by 14%.
If the target is afflicted with Remora or Stain, it’s increased by an additional 14% for 20 seconds.
Common Mistakes in Skia’s Build That Reduce DPS
Even with top-tier items, Skia can easily become an inconsistent damage dealer if you build the character “head-on.” This build relies heavily on proper cycles, statuses, and timing, not just raw numbers. This is especially true in the endgame, where any imbalance instantly reduces overall DPS.
Balancing Crit Chance and Crit Damage in the Build
The most common problem is that players focus on massive crit damage, forgetting about the stability of their procs. The resulting numbers look good, but the actual damage fluctuates between rotations. For a comfortable gameplay, the following values should be used as a guide:
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Crit Chance: 60–75%, taking into account Street Fighter buffs and team bonuses;
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Crit Damage: approximately 140–220%.
Below 50% crit chance, the build begins to crumble. Fanged Lunge procs inconsistently, and the ultimate, Swarm, loses its main damage peak. Focusing solely on crit damage only works in ideal conditions and with a full stack of buffs.
Skia’s Speed and Energy: Why These Are Key Stats
Skia doesn’t perform well without speed. She’s not a character who stands still and mashes buttons on cooldown. If Speed is too low, the hero falls out of rotation and can’t enter Shadowhound Pursuit in time. A comfortable minimum is around 120-130 Speed. Below that, pauses and tempo loss begin.
It’s a similar situation with Energy. Without regeneration or teammates providing “batteries,” the ultimate constantly slips 1-2 cycles ahead. And this is critical. You lose Tails, reset your Shadow stacks, and ruin all your burst damage.
Error with Attack Scaling in the Endgame
Many continue to stack ATK% because the numbers actually increase faster in the early stages. But closer to late-game content, this approach becomes less effective. Skia is much more effective through:
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Crit multipliers;
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Fanged Lash buffs;
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Lakshana damage bonuses;
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Awakening and set synergies.
A pure attack without additional buffs yields significantly worse overall DPS, especially during long fights and against high-level targets.
Remora and Stain: Why These Statuses Are Essential
Many people make mistakes here, even during the team selection stage. They choose “universal” supports and miss out on key synergies. Without Remora and Stain:
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the crit chance bonus from the 4-set is not activated;
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the damage of the Misdirection skill is reduced;
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synergies with Cheese and Nunnally are less effective.
This is why specialized status applicators are almost mandatory for Skia. In most builds, this is the cornerstone of the mechanics, not an “optional synergy.”
Lost damage windows and errors in Skia’s rotation
Even a good build won’t save you if your rotation is out of sync. Skia is very sensitive to skill order. Typical mistakes include:
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entering combat without a perfect dodge;
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using your ultimate outside of the “Tailed” state;
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using “Pack” early without accumulated targets;
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Loss of the “Pen to Paper” window.
As a result, AoE damage drops sharply, and some buffs don’t have time to activate. The optimal cycle is: Dodge → Arresting Art → Shadow Hound Pursuit → Targeting → Pack. This sequence allows you to maintain a stable burst and not lose your shadow buffs.
Table of Skia build errors and how to fix them
Best teammates and team compositions for Skia in NTE
Skia is a hero whose combat potential is revealed through the constant effects of Remora and Stain. This means you need damage-dealing spellcasters like Lakshana and Psyche in your team. This not only speeds up Esper cycles but also allows you to fully utilize all of Skia’s abilities.
By the way, Nunally is a great partner here. Add Cheese and Juyuan to her, and you get a triple cycle. Your damage output will skyrocket. Seriously.
Best Build:
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Skia
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Cheese
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Fadia
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Nunally
F2P Team Build for Skia without Donation
If you don’t want to spend money, the same tactic works, but with Esper Zero, Haniel, and Mint. Haniel also hits with Psyche, and Mint and Esper Zero create the foundation for a triple cycle. The overall damage output will be slightly lower, but it’s still enough to get the most out of Skia’s abilities. The hero will shine even in such a situation. It’s proven.
Free build:
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Skia
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Esper Zero
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Haniel
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Mint
Skia’s Awakening: Effects and Leveling Priorities
We’ve sorted out the team. Now let’s look at how to unlock Skia through Awakening and Resonance. As a reminder, the character isn’t free, but at the start, he often drops out of the bonuses given for starting and during events. So leveling him up to level six is a very realistic goal. Below are all the effects. Next, we’ll decide in what order to unlock them.
All effects of Skia’s Awakening
Skia’s Resonance: 3rd and 6th Awakenings
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3rd Awakening — “Cubic Survival Guide”: +1 skill level for “Arresting Art,” “Pack,” and “Shadowhound Pursuit.”
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6th Awakening — “Employee of the Month”: The target’s damage resistance to Lakshana is reduced by 2% for each Fang Lash (up to 6%).
Skia’s Awakening Effect Upgrade Priority
Duplicates are now relatively easy to obtain thanks to free spins. Things will get tougher later, so take advantage of this.
1. “Calm Face”
This is the basics. It buffs Fanged Lunges during Shadowhound Pursuit. This is the key skill for entering combat and racking up damage. Take it first—it’s the most effective.
2. “Resolution” (Shadow State)
Also an upgrade to Shadowhound Pursuit, but this time through the “Tailed” state. It boosts Fanged Lunges again. Without these two upgrades, Skia can’t reach full speed.
3. “Resolution” (Single Target)
A direct damage boost to single targets. Ideal for bosses. There are plenty of them in the game, so grabbing this effect early will yield a good profit in the first few fights. Don’t delay.
4. “Evidence Elimination”
A general damage boost to Fanged Lunges. Works best when Skia already has decent gear. But when paired with the previous effects, it provides an instant boost.
5. “Social Contract”
By this point, “Fanged Lunges” is already at max stats. This effect adds crowd control: the target’s speed is reduced by 20% for each attached shadow. You circle the enemy and finish them off.
6. “Law & Order”
Pumping “Shadowhound’s Pursuit” through crit and interrupt protection. If you’re building a crit-focused build, you can swap it with “Decision.” But in the basic build, save it for last—it adds the finishing touch to your damage with a good team and gear.
See further: Guide to Raising Hunter Level from 1 to 50
