Anex

This isn't by me, it's by x1372. All credit goes to him.

Anex is a primary ranged fighter who has a similar role to Yoshiro as part of a team. Depending on her item, she can either take the role of a primary finisher or a long ranged damage dealer. Her defense is nothing special, given the rarity of running into multiplicative light attacks, but its enough to allow her to survive and end up in her innate's killing range often enough.

Anex has a bit of everything for her offensive game. Power toss sees very little use, but can often force the opponent into a guessing game where the opponent must risk either taking that hit or an intercept. In addition, Boomerang Chakkra allows for practically guaranteed damage, allowing you to completely skip the aforementioned guessing game and deal some damage regardless. Between those two and her intercept key, when brought in at far against a low energy opponent she has both a "safe" option for when she's winning and a high risk high reward setup for when she needs to shake things up.

At close, Anex doesn't fare so well. Chakkra slash deals low damage, but has a very useful proc. A loss of 4 speed means that Anex WILL go first next turn if she uses the move again (ignoring one absurd exception). Additionally, if she switches out or dies, her teammate will benefit from at least one turn of its effect. This means that just because you're facing down close range specialist doesn't mean that you should immediately switch, because if you slash and they intercept you're back in the driver's seat.

Anex also has Enchant Blade, a true wildcard. Unlike Helene's equivalent, Anex is better off enchanted against everyone except Vanessa Voss. This allows her to completely change around many matchups and be even scarier at far with a 33 damage light hits-fleeing attack. While enchant is often not the best answer, its a worthwhile option when you aren't sure what the opponent will do.

Anex's innate is also a critical factor in matches. When her damage goes up, she can kill very easily and deliver parting shots worth sacrificing her for. It also multiplies with the effect of enchant, allowing even chakkra slash to turn into a massive 42 damage bomb.

Anex is best served by one of two items. With the Valkyrie's Charm, she is an excellent finisher. With a 7 speed hits fleeing attack at far and a 9 speed chakkra slash, she can almost always finish off a low health opponent without taking damage. It also allows her better use of her innate, making sure that she gets that powered up final shot.

The other of her best options is the Sharpening Stone. With a 25% chance to crit every attack, it it increases Anex's damage significantly. This effect multiplies through her innate and enchant blade, allowing absurd damage when the stars align. This item can turn Anex into a wrecking ball, crushing many opponents before they get themselves started.

Anex's matchups are considerably less relevant than most characters, due to her "finisher" nature. However, it is noteworthy that she tends to have the advantage against every other primary ranged character. In these cases, Anex has the advantage in close range, due to her Chakkra slash being more powerful than anything they can do at close. However, if they push far into her power toss, they're begging for death.

While anex may not technically "win" match-ups with many characters, she has two advantages against even those who do. Her high speed, especially with a Valk charm, means that she will not go down without dealing some damage. In her worst situation, stuck at close, she also drastically weakens the opponent for her teammates by lowering their speed as she dies. Because of these, it is often difficult for opponents to predict Anex properly, as she has good reasons both to stay put and to switch at low health/energy.

For team building, Anex is a character who can play good backup to virtually anyone. She's a primary long range character who isn't completely crippled by being at close range. When the opponent is down to a single character, having a 100% accurate attack (boomerang chakkra) is very useful. Having a hits fleeing attack, especially with the Valk charm, gives her many options. She has strong options for both safe and risky situations, allowing her to safely complete a win or take a stab at shaking things up to avoid a loss. Anex additionally works well with teammates that have slow powerful close-range moves. Because of the debuff that her Chakkra slash applies, she can slow most opponents enough that for at least one turn ALL of their moves can be beaten by hypnotic stare, or that spectral choke will be too fast for open palm to stop, or give your benched 10 HP juju a legitimate shot of landing a touch of doom. She also works especially well with teammates with a long range "bomb" attack, such as a Scrolled Yoshiro. When one goes far, the opponent can never know if he's setting up the other or resting for his or her own attack. Also noteworthy is that with an Anex and Yoshiro pairing, you can have a speedy hits fleeing attack at either range, drastically limiting the usefulness of any low HP characters on your opponent's bench.

With the 1.9 update, Anex found her ability to be a team player, and is solid enough to be part of virtually any deck.