Ulsos the Dark Star guide: skills, build and team roles
Overview
Ulsos the Dark Star is an Epic Dark Tank from the Nocturna Faction in Invokers: Titan Legacy. He makes a priority enemy easier to damage and less dangerous in return. His Ultimate can weaken a target's defences, increase the damage it takes, reduce its ATK and slow its Combo Attacks. That frees your other Invokers to concentrate on damage, healing or the Boss's mechanics. He's most interesting when your team needs several offensive and defensive debuffs from one Invoker.
He's a Tank, but not a typical one. Ulsos has a personal Shield and durable stats, but no Taunt, team heal or team Shield, and he can't make an enemy stop attacking a vulnerable ally.
Fully Awakened and before Gear, Ulsos has 327 ATK, 1,039 DEF and 10,108 HP. ATK, DEF and HP all come in about average for a Tank. His high DEF makes a durable build natural, although his damage scales from ATK as well as DEF.
Skills To Prioritize
Condemn to Dusk is the reason to invest in Ulsos. Its four hits place DEF Down, Weaken, ATK Down and Combo SPD Down in turn. Level 7 reaches 60% ATK Down for 17 seconds, a big cut against attacks that scale from the affected ATK. Level 9 reaches 25% Weaken for 17 seconds. At Level 10, DEF Down is 40% for 14 seconds. Max Level raises it to 50% for 17 seconds, so all four debuffs last the same time. The cooldown is 15 seconds at Level 1 and zero from Level 2. The Mana cost falls to 800 by Level 4 and stays there. That makes Mana the limit on how often he can cast it, so it doesn't mean continuous uptime or instant repeat casts. Be wary of interruptions, resistance and target changes, as they can stop the full sequence.
Fall of Night places RES Down in an eight-metre semicircle in front of Ulsos. At Level 10, the reduction is 70% for 11 seconds. Max Level extends it to 13 seconds and lowers the base cooldown from 22 to 20 seconds. That's a big cut to RES and a useful setup for your team, though it doesn't guarantee that every later debuff lands, and Ulsos needs Accuracy to place it in the first place.
Umbral Dawn attacks twice, and each hit tries to transfer a random debuff from Ulsos to the enemy. The transferred debuff lasts 2.5 seconds longer at Level 10, or three seconds longer at Max Level. That lets him turn some of the debuffs on him back on the enemy, but it isn't a group cleanse and it can't move effects that can't be transferred. If Ulsos has no transferable debuff, that part of the Skill has nothing to move.
Dark Star turns damage into a personal Shield. It reaches 60% of damage dealt for 12 seconds at Level 10, then 70% for 14 seconds at Max Level. A stronger hit improves both his pressure and his protection, and effects that severely limit his damage limit the Shield too. Don't work it out as a fixed percentage of Ulsos's HP.
If you want Ulsos to set up one dangerous target, prioritize Condemn to Dusk, as Max Level lifts DEF Down to 50% and brings all four debuffs to 17 seconds. If you want him to help your whole team land its debuffs, consider upgrading Fall of Night first, as its RES Down reaches 70% at Level 10.
Build And Team Support
Ulsos places debuffs and is a Tank, so build DEF first, then HP, then RES, with Accuracy on his Chestplate and as much Accuracy after that as the build allows. Get RES up to about 300 for Bosses and higher for Arena. Condemn to Dusk is the reason to field him, so put Mana Gen on his Talisman: with no cooldown after Level 2, Mana is what limits how often he casts it.
To land his debuffs more consistently, equip Accuracy Relics. For more durability, equip Defense or Health Relics. To cast Condemn to Dusk more often, equip Mana Relics.
Bring damage dealers who can make use of DEF Down and Weaken, plus a healer and AoE damage, as Ulsos has no team heal and his broad RES Down attack is a setup tool, not wave clearing.
Arena, Bosses And Spires
In Arena, Ulsos suits a team that wants to get its debuffs on before concentrating damage on one threat. RES Down helps the setup, and the Ultimate gives that target several reasons to fall faster. He isn't a replacement for immediate crowd control, as none of the four Ultimate debuffs stops all of an enemy's actions. Protect your team for as long as it takes to place them.
In the Dark Spire, he gives you a durable front line and debuff support, but your team still needs AoE damage and recovery. Prioritize him when your roster lacks these debuffs. If another established Support already places the same effects, doubling up may reduce what you gain from investing.
Against Dark Omnissi, Combo SPD Down disables her Active Skill reflection. Ulsos places that effect for 17 seconds at developed levels, but it comes with the fourth hit of the Ultimate, so protecting him and timing the hit matter. Don't assume the reflection is off before that hit lands.
Against Galvos, who rewards debuffs, Condemn to Dusk's four debuffs give your team plenty to work with. ATK Down won't reduce every Galvos attack, as some mechanics use the target's ATK, so don't rely on it there.
Against Sorgott, DEF Down and Weaken from Condemn to Dusk raise your team's damage.
Awaken
Awakening boosts an Invoker's stats significantly. Bonuses from Relics, Accessories, the Trophy Room, Tactics and Titan leader bonuses apply to base stats and Awakening stats alike, so unlocking the Awakening nodes is critical to maximise Ulsos's potential.
Unlocking each Titan node at Star 2, 4 and 6 adds a second to Titan Invokation, taking the total from 12 seconds to 15.
Review the Awakening guide for more detail.
