Model Leader

"Flood the stadium and make it our ocean!"

**Model Leader** is a Water, Diamond Annie variant.

**LIQUID COURAGE**

## Tips and Tricks

### Role & Strategy

* Model Leader is a defensive support fighter with a Signature Ability that clears all the team's DEBUFFS and grants them ARMOR every once in a while. Additionally, she gains permanent AUTO-BLOCK every time she loses a certain amount of health, making it difficult to start long chains of combos against her without getting blocked.

* Model Leader's first Signature Ability makes her a fearsome defender and one of the best defensive support fighters in the game. The ability to clear all teammate DEBUFFS allows them to overcome common offensive strategies such as BLEED, CURSE, and HEX which can make it difficult to take down the whole team within the time limit. Thus, it is important for players to use OUTTAKES and eliminate Model Leader first before defeating the rest of her team.
	+ Her second Signature Ability gives her permanent stacks of AUTO-BLOCK as she loses health. This won't be very influential if the player can eliminate her in a single combo, but with her ARMOR and generally high health, this won't always be possible, and she becomes much more of a problem in those situations. At low health, five permanent stacks make it difficult to do full combos or even start combos against her in the first place, making throws or unblockable Blockbusters the only reliable combo starters as they can't be blocked. Because of this, characters with good combo routes starting with their throws fare better against her. Fukua, Parasoul and especially Annie are good examples of this.

* The best way to counter Model Leader is to inflict HEX through fighters such as Heart of Darkness or Red Velvet, rendering her vulnerable without any Signature Ability to rely on. Furthermore, characters with a relatively low number of hits but that can still land more than 5 hits (ideally 6-8 hits) such as Parasoul and Cerebella are recommended to deal significant amount of damage while bypassing BLUE SHIFT and Model Leader's AUTO-BLOCK. Due to AUTO-BLOCK only working when the opponent is standing on the ground, it may be beneficial to keep them in the air as much as possible during combos.
	+ Another option is DOOM, as it tends to be unremovable, bypassing Model Leader's debuff removal. Plus, it will kill her instantly upon expiration with no regard for ARMOR or AUTO-BLOCK, making her durability a non-factor. Notable DOOM users include Wind Stalker, Stage Fright and Xenomorph.

* **Marquee Ability**: As a defensive fighter, BLUE SHIFT is the recommended Marquee Ability for Model Leader to increase her durability and force opponents to use longer combos to deal damage. This synergizes very well with Model Leader's own secondary Signature Ability that gives permanent AUTO-BLOCK, making it difficult to properly finish a combo without getting blocked.

* **Stat Investment**: Like most defensive fighters, Model Leader will greatly benefit from investment in HP and Defense to significantly increase her defensive capabilities and increase her durability in a fight. Meter Gain is also recommended to quickly charge up blockbusters when hit to punish opponents with an unblockable Tier 3 blockbuster. Resistance can be a nice addition to resist common DEBUFFS such as CURSE or ARMOR BREAK and especially to resist HEX which can render her vulnerable.

### Rift Battles

* Model Leader is a fearsome defender in Rift Battles due to her inherent synergy with Frost Armor, that significantly boosts her defensive attributes. Common strategies in dealing with Frost Armor often involve DEBUFFS such as BLEED, CURSE, HEX and ARMOR BREAK, which can all be removed via Model Leader's first Signature Ability (unless she herself is HEXED).

* When paired up with durable defenders such as Heavy Metal, Brain Freeze and Blue Screen, players can find it increasingly difficult to defeat Model Leader and her teammates in the allocated amount of time. Other catalysts such as Auto-Immune, Hexy Time and Curse of Knowledge can also be very useful to significantly cripple the player's offense.

### Trivia

* This variant is a reference to Nessa, one of the Gym Leaders in *Pokémon Sword & Shield* from the *Pokémon* franchise with its caption being a direct quote from the character.

* This variant's name refers to the fact that Nessa is both a Gym *Leader* and a successful *model* within the game.

### Gallery

Fighter Reveal- Annie - MODEL LEADER - Skullgirls Mobile