Nian/Overview

Nian is a 6★ Protector Defender who specializes in Defense and Support, and are only available from the Festival limited headhunting banners starting from *Earthborn Metals;* she will never be available from any other banners. Being limited headhunting banners, the "pity" system from other banners are not carried over to the Festival banners, which tracks the pity system separately. To compensate that, Nian has a 70% chance in *Earthborn Metals* and 30% in other Festival banners afterward to be the 6★ Operator that appears in a pull, and can also be purchased at the Certificate Store from the rerun of *Earthborn Metals* for 300 File:Headhunting Data Contract icon.png.

As a Protector Defender, Nian can block up to three enemies and has high HP and DEF, allowing her to last longer than other Operators. Similar to Hoshiguma, Nian has an attack range of one tile in front of her, like that of most melee Operators, and a surprisingly good ATK, balanced with her DEF.

Nian's skills turn her into a literal immovable object capable of withstanding all sorts of physical punishment while at the same time allows her to retaliate better than other tank Defenders could, with one also significantly improving the defensive capabilities of her allies:

* The first skill, **Tin Burning**, buffs Nian's ATK and DEF with the latter being higher than the former, and causes her attacks to deal Arts damage instead of Physical while active, which improves her DPS especially against enemies with high DEF in a similar vein to Arts Protector Defenders.
* The second skill, **Copper Seal**, stops Nian from attacking but buffs her DEF, increases her block count by one, and silences enemies who attacked her in addition to dealing Arts damage equal to a portion of her ATK towards them while active.
* The third skill, **Iron Defense**, significantly buffs Nian's ATK and buffs the DEF of friendly units in the surrounding tiles with a 3-tile extension to all directions, as well as increasing their block count by one and applying Status Resistance on them while active; do note however, that the last three effects *do not apply to Nian herself*. Iron Defense is one of the best defensive support skills not only because of the significant DEF buff which improve Operators' survivability by a sizeable margin, but also the Status Resistance and increased block count it bestows; when Iron Defense is combined with Cuora's Shell Defense or Vulcan's Guardian Mode, they will be able to block five enemies and their DEF are boosted further to near-invincible levels. The same can also be said with Centurion Guards, where the increased block count allows them to attack four enemies simultaneously (at Elite 2). However, Iron Defense does not synergize well with Ambusher Specialists since it will give them a block count of one, which allows melee enemies to attack them.

Nian's first talent, **Tectonic Armor**, buffs the maximum HP of all Defenders while she is in the squad, improving their already great survivability further. Her second talent, **Clairvoyance**, grants Nian three layers of Shields in each and every deployment, which can be useful to withstand attacks from super-buffed enemies in Contingency Contract that could at times knocks out most, if not all, Operators in one hit and allows her to act as a makeshift, stronger version of Gravel.

Nian has two Operator Modules:

* Her PRO-X Module, **The Array of Chaos**, increases Nian's DEF by 20% when blocking enemies in addition to increasing her HP, ATK (from Stage 2), and DEF; once upgraded, Nian's ATK and DEF is increased, and she gains some SP when a Clairvoyance Shield is expended.
* Her PRO-Y Module, **"Don't Disturb"**, allows Nian to block four enemies in addition to increasing her maximum HP, ATK, and DEF; once upgraded, Tectonic Armor's HP buff is increased and it buffs Nian's HP further as well as increasing the healing she receives for every Defender deployed, up to a limit.

Nian's first base skill, **Rare Metal Identification**, *doubles* the byproduct rate of upgrade material processing when she is assigned to the Workshop, but her second base skill **Reckless** increases the morale drained whenever an upgrade material is processed by 2.

Overall, Nian is one of the best Protector Defenders. Her extreme rarity is counteracted by her indomitable defense that allows her to withstand any sort of attacks, even those which can easily bring down the sturdiest of Operators. Truly an irresistible force to be reckoned with.

* Good, balanced ATK and DEF
* Tin Burning causes attacks to deal Arts damage, useful against enemies with high DEF and/or low RES
* Copper Seal improves defensive capabilities and inflicts Arts damage to attackers as well as silencing them
* Tectonic Armor increases the maximum HP of all Defenders in the squad, making it very useful on Defender-heavy squads
* Iron Defense is among the best defensive support skills which also buffs Nian's ATK
* Clairvoyance gives Nian three layers of Shields every time she is deployed
* High DP cost
* Copper Seal stops Nian from attacking
* Iron Defense's block and DEF buff, and Status Resistance *does not affect Nian herself*, and the block increase can be detrimental for Ambusher Specialists since it allows melee enemies to attack them
* Clairvoyance's Shields can be easily wasted when facing multiple weak enemies or those with low attack interval, and against damage-over-time effects