Farmable Monster Analysis: Amitaka

The Takaoka Collab actually has some pretty nice farmable monsters. The most notable being Amberjack, but Amitaka is also quite good. His Hero/Archangel-esque orb change is quite good and his awakenings are surprisingly good for a farmable. Perhaps the best part is that his skill up fodder is a consistent drop from the dungeon; and even better you don’t need to evo it first. While heavy IAP-ers have better options in Perseus and Michael, this is a great chance for those lacking such an orb change to get one.

Obviously, Not a Leader

Well, let’s just get this out of the way: Amitaka has a very poor auto-heal leader skill. It may have been a passable leader skill back in the day when auto-heals were useful for zombie teams and healer girls were still hard to come by, but there’s obviously little use for it nowadays.

How Does He Compare to REM Sub Options?

Amitaka’s closest REM corollaries are Perseus and Michael. Amitaka stacks up surprisingly well. Considering his active skill, skill boost, row and auto-heal, he’s basically Michael without the skill bind resist and heart enhance. Sure, he’s missing about 140 weighted stats — most notably having a very poor sub-1,000 ATK — but for an old, farmable monster that’s to be expected. He’s further behind Perseus, but most of that is utility and not core functionality. Comparing so well with REM offerings is saying a lot, so if you need to plug a hole in one of your wood teams, Amitaka is a fine choice.

Orb Change Interactions

Amitaka interacts favorably with Cauchemar, resulting in a 2/3 wood and 1/3 heart board which is great for Parvati teams. He also interacts well with heartbreakers like Cu Chulainn, resulting in a 2/3 wood, 1/6 water, 1/6 light board. What makes it even better is that all the aforementioned monsters are farmable. These farmable synergies are a big advantage for wood and increases Amitaka’s value further.

The Cost of Skill Ups

Perhaps what makes Amitaka the most attractive is the ease and low cost of skilling him up. He only needs five skill ups and his fodder is a guaranteed drop. If you farm Takaoka Legend or Master on 2x drop bonus, it will take about 1,000 or 1,250 stamina to skill him up, depending on the current skill up bonus. This can be difficult to accomplish with natural stamina depending on the event length, but it looks like we’re getting it for five days (9/25-9/29) this time so it should be more than doable. You can also use this opportunity to pick up a few Amberjack skill ups who is also an extremely good farmable monster.

Healing Is Valuable

From an endgame perspective, with so many preemptive strikes and bosses that can’t be easily one-shot (read: perseverance and damage absorb) the ability to heal reliably is essential to progress. Granted, if you’re in the endgame you’re unlikely to use something like Amitaka since you have better options. However, even if you confine his use to the mid- and late-game where a farmable mob would see most use, the healing is still valuable as you’re unlikely to be able to one-shot everything and will inevitably take damage.

Okay, So What Teams?

Wood Row Teams

Amitaka doesn’t shine on row teams, but that’s mainly because wood row teams are unimpressive and he doesn’t work well with the ones that are passable. Without Gon, Perseus and the upcoming Ishida Mitsunari are the best that wood has to offer. Amitaka is good on Perseus, but his active skill is redundant. He doesn’t interact well with Ishida, either, creating a 1/3 wood, 2/3 heart board.

However, just because he has a row doesn’t limit him to being on row teams. His orb change is still his most valuable asset and a skill boost is always valuable.

Heart-Based Teams

Parvati has always been unfortunate in that Perseus and Michael were row-based and she’d rather go TPAs. Well, Amitaka isn’t going to help there, but he can do a decent job filling in until you get something better. One thing Amitaka does have over Perseus here is that his orb change doesn’t clash with Parvati’s.

I’d assume very few people would want to use Kaede as a leader, even fewer have her and those that do have better sub options, but Amitaka has a place here as well, enabling the activation of Kaede’s cross shield.

Going Farmable (Almost)

Amitaka is indeed god type. Jord does come with a row herself. His auto-heal also goes along with GOdin’s own. I don’t know why you’d run Jord outside of the novelty, but Amitaka is certainly a great fit. Sadly, their orb changes clash entirely.

Is That It?

Admittedly, Amitaka doesn’t exactly fulfill any specific roles so the amount of teams he’s particularly useful on are limited. That being said, he can be an asset to any wood team he qualifies for that also matches orbs.

Conclusion

Unlike Amberjack who has the specific and valuable role on Lakshmi teams of converting Karin boards, Amitaka doesn’t have nearly such a critical role. He’s best at plugging holes on wood teams since his orb change is universally good. I definitely think it’s worth the stamina to obtain him and skill him up, especially if you’re looking for a quality, farmable wood sub.