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The best thing about two-star characters inUmamusume: Pretty Derbyis that they’re easy to acquire with just a few summons, and you can raise them to three and even five stars once you get enough fragments. Air Groove is one such two-star character, and quite a phenomenal one at that.
Apart from getting a stat boost after reaching three stars, Air Groove also gets a brand-new outfit, which is arguably one of the best designs in the game. However, if you want to use her for PvP modes like Team Trial, you’ll have to understand her strengths and build her according to them.
Late (A)
End (G)
Before you can use Air Groove in races against other players or in race events, you first have togo through the career mode with her and get a certain rank. Your overall rank by the end of your career generally tells you how strong your character is, with the aim being at least an A+ in the endgame. However, it’s possible to cheat the system to get this rank.
As you can see above, Air Groovehas an A rating on the Pace Chaser and Late Surgerstyles with Medium as her preferred distance. She also has a B rating on the Mile distance, which can easily be turned into an A at the start of the run using certain Legacies. However, some of these ratings can be a little misleading.
It’s recommended to never try to build characters that havebelow a B rating on their distance and stylesince they don’t perform well.
Air Groove has a unique skill that increases hervelocity when she crosses another runner towards the back on the final corner. This tells you everything you need to know about her preferred distance and style in the following ways:
With that in mind, Air Groove works the best when her build isinclined to the Late Surger and Medium types. Moreover, her career has most of the races as medium in the last two years, which fits in perfectly with this build.
8
800-900
3
400-500
5
500-600
2
300-400
Even at three stars, you’ll find out that Air Groove’s base stats are quite low. Herhighest base stat is Wit, followed closely by Speed and Guts, and her Stamina and Power are the lowest. All her stats are below 100 at the start, which essentially means that you’ll have to do quite a lot of work with her career.
This is mainly because she doesn’t have a lot of races,which means that you get a bunch of turns to upgrade your stats. Ideally, you’d want over 800 Speed by the end of her career, and it’d be even better if you could get past 1,000. However, it’s also important to have a lot of Stamina since you’re building her for Medium distance.
Your high Speed and Power won’t make a differenceif she doesn’t have the Stamina to overtakewhen she needs it.
Since she’s a Late Surger, there’s a high chance that youmight get blocked by other racersif you’re not positioned well. Gut helps with that as it improves your positioning. Finally,at least 300 Wit is important if you want her to activate her skills in timeduring PvP.
Air Groove Legacy Recommendations
Thankfully, Air Groove has synergistic capabilities with a ton of other racers since her affinity is a circle with them. While deciding on a Legacy,you generally want to have two circle affinities with a character. Outside of that, the main stats to focus with Air Groove’s Legacy are Speed, Stamina, and Guts.
Legacy essentiallygives you a bunch of these stats at the start of the career, and then triggers an inspiration two more times. These inspirations give you random stats based on the Sparks triggered, which is why it’s important to have good parent Legacies to have endgame characters.
Air Groove Best Skills
If you’ve done a few races in Umamusume: Pretty Derby already, you might understand that thestat recommendations mentioned above are extremely difficult to reach. While you slowly learn minmaxing your run andget higher overall stats, you’ll still have to make some compromises, and that’s where skills come in.
There are plenty of skills in the game, andeach one increases your stats when a certain condition is met. Thankfully, Late Surgers like Air Groove have no shortage of abilities to use:
Description
Straightaway Recovery
Stamina skills are the most important for Air Groove, and this is one of the best as itrecovers your stamina when you’re on a straight, which is a big portion of each race.
Iron Will
This ability is perfect for a Late Surger since your way ahead will commonly be blocked, and you canregenerate your Stamina with this skillwhen that happens.
Relax
This is a simple skill thatgives you Stamina in the late-race, which is perfect for her since that’s where she shines.
Corner Adept
As mentioned above, Air Groove’s unique skill activates on the final corner, andthis ability stacks with thatto give her even more power.
Straightaway Adept/Late Surger Straightaways
These abilities increase yourvelocity when you’re on a straight, and are great to have on Air Groove.
Fast & Furious
Finally, this skill gives you extrapower in the middle of the race, preparing you for the final part.
Air Groove Best Support Cards
Before entering the career mode with any character, you first have to select a deck of Support Cards to use with them. Once you level up these cards during the run,they can trigger friendship training to give you extra stats. These cards can also trigger various hints that reduce the cost of certain skills.
With Air Groove, you generallywant to use three Speed, one Stamina, and two Guts cards. However, you can move around the deck a little by swapping a Guts card with Wit or Power. Here are some of the best cards to use with her:
Super Creek (Piece of Mind)
Stamina
Since a Stamina card is a staple for Air Groove’s build, Super Creek is your best choice as this is the most meta card with great Stamina skills andhigh efficiency of increasing your Stamina gain.
Special Week (The Setting Sun and Rising Stars)
Speed
This card has some great general abilities and someLate Surger-specific ones like Late Surger Savvy, which improves your overall races as a Late Surger.
El Condor Pasa (Champion’s Passion)
Power
If you want to use a Power card with Air Groove, this is a great choice as ithas a bunch of effects with high Specialty Priority. It also gives you many Medium and Late Surger skills.
Matikanetannhauser (Just Keep Going)
Guts
This card can be acquired for free through the Brand New Friends event, and itgives her a ton of good Late Surger and Stamina abilities.
Winning Ticket (BNWinner!)
Another phenomenal Guts card for Air Groove with a bunch of Late Surger skillsboth from random events and upgrade hits.
