Impackt: Cherry Blossoms

And the Tier 12 packs begin

Blueprints

I mean it has a pre-craft but that pre-craft only costs 1 leather when mastered/ascended so it barely feels worth noting. A potentially better option for your levelling heroes over Sultan’s due to the value of extra health.

From a crafting perspective

Slightly cheaper than the baseline Tier 12 magician hat the Sakura Eboshi is also polite by having its Ether reduction as a mastery milestone instead of an ascension one. I’ll level with you people it’s a bit early to give a precise “yes/no” for crafting until we’ve had a bit more time to play with the new ascensions and stuff but as it stands, yeah pretty fair craft..

From a meta perspective

Although the Air affinity has limited use (spellblades are the only ones who can take advantage at the moment) the health this hat offers makes it a great contender for best-in-slot. For geomancers it’d be better to keep with the Ice Queen’s Summer Hat for affinity purposes if needed but outside of that, swap to using this.

Fun fact: the first Tier 11 seasonal pack also offered a Magician Hat that increased health.

Scenarios you should consider using Sakura Eboshi

• You’re not a geomancer or you’re a geomancer who has enough affinity gear already.
• You’d like your blue-types to live longer (and with the elemental barrier mechanic fights are going to be longer now.)

Scenarios you should consider not using Sakura Eboshi

• You’re a Geomancer who loves affinity gear.
• You’re not that fussed if your caster dies in 1 less hit.

Decorations

Avatar Items

Superior Pack

Blueprints

From a crafting perspective

With ascensions the Ether cost can be lowered to 25 meaning the Sakura Infusion is on the low side for a rare resource cost which is welcome. The use of 6 Spooky scary skeletons Ectoplasm does raise the craft cost a lot, though it can be lowered to 4 via a mix of mastery and ascension.

It would have been preferable for it to be one milestone dropping that by 2 and then giving an oil reduction but hey it’s pretty good still and maybe Jeremie has finally got over his Precious Shell obsession.

From a meta perspective

Whilst it sits at lower attack than what was previously considered the best medicine (Super Snack Pack) the Sakura Infusion takes over. The difference in health between the two is significant and with the new Elemental Barrier mechanic we’re going to see more prolonged engagements (as the first few turns will be spent breaking said barrier) which brings more value to having a hero live longer than squeezing out a drop more damage.

The air affinity is unfortunate as again we’re looking at only spellblades being able to take advantage of it at the moment. Whilst we should keep in mind affinity is based on flavour first then function (which is why we have a dark element gun for example) a case could have been made for Earth here which would have been of great use to more classes.

Scenarios you should consider using Sakura Infusion

• You’d like to keep your herb users up-to-date in the latest hot items.
• You’re not relying on an affinity-item in that spot (for example, geomancer may prefer Seltzer Surprise for a herb choice.)

Scenarios you should consider not using Sakura Infusion

• Whilst it’s an upgrade, don’t rush to replace if you’re already using Super Snack Pack.
• You’d like your herb users a bit on the squishier side for a few extra drops of attack.

From a crafting perspective

Unusual for a cloak in that it calls for Ether instead of Jewels (ether is the more traditional pairing) the Sakura Cloak offers a reasonable option for your leather crafting slots. Sort of.

The use of Magma Core is (at the time of this review cause this will change over time) a bit annoying due to their cost – if you’re unable to obtain it yourself the cost of crafting this cloak isn’t going to be pretty.

From a meta perspective

Sakura Cloak is the second premium cloak to be released and it is an excellent item. The sheer survival increase it offers over any other item in that spot makes it a wonderful addition to any cloak users wardrobe and the Air affinity can be utilised by more than one class (including Warden who is basically in love with this.)

Definitely an item that’ll be sticking around for a long time* and worth investing in

*subject to the whims of Kabam Jeremie of course.

Wallpaper/Flooring

Summary

• Sakura Tabi is a way to make your flip-flops look fancy
• Sakura Eboshi is a pretty great Magician Hat and is a promising sign for Tier 12 pack items.
• We have a new best-in-slot Herbal Medicine with the Sakura Infusion.
• The Sakura Cloak is incredibly cool.
• Decorate your shop and yourself ready for the Cherry Blossom giveaway this week.

Final Score

Mega Pack: 8/10
Superior Pack: 9.5/10

“Why is a .5 score Rei?”

It’s a 9 at current market prices, a 10 if/when Magma Cores go down in cost.