A guide to building the best tank character in the game, Shirogane Noel, and getting the Tank Class Achievement in the process!
Playstyle
Regular Stage Mode runs I tend to end the run with over 600 Max HP, and because Noel scales her damage up the more health she has you end up hitting hard, especially for a tank focused build. This also makes it the perfect build to run for the “Tank Class” Achievement that requires having over 500 Max HP in one run.
This guide will show you the best way to use Noel to deal damage by taking damage, gain ATK % by increasing your health, and heal back any health lost from taking damage very quickly.
Noel’s Base Abilities
Noel’s attack is a melee, so it works best with weapons and items that work while you are close to enemies. Her Max Level upgrade for her weapon makes it so that a cross is dropped on the field with every swing, and the size of the cross is increased by 1% for every 5 max HP, so her weapon has synergy with tank builds.
Noel’s special makes her invulnerable for 10 seconds and increases all of her weapon sizes by 25%, as well as making targets at point blank range receive 300% damage and a knockback. This also has synergy with being close to enemies and works great as a way to boost your damage and get out of a tight situation with the invulnerability.
Muscle makes it so that every 30 seconds Noel takes 10-60% less damage, increasing with each upgrade and with weapon size bonuses.
Knight’s Dance fills a gauge as you move around, and when it fully fills Noel gets a zone around her that deals 50-150% of her damage stat at baseline, and it increases by 3% damage for every 10 Max HP. This ability only works when you are close to enemies and gets stronger as you get more health, making it perfect for a tank build.
Gyudon makes it so that Noel gains +3 Max HP and heals 15% HP every 30 seconds. It also increases Noel’s damage by 1-3% for every 20 Max HP she has. Due to this skill increasing her Max HP every 30 seconds its important to get this skill as quickly as possible. This skill is yet another reason that Noel can prioritise tankiness throughout a run, as the tankier she is the more damage she will gain from Gyudon.
Before Your Run
Heal Potion is the best Support Item for this build. Alternatively you can take Projectile Shield to make certain boss fights even easier or Quick Dash if you just want some extra mobility.
Food items can be cooked at the Cooking Cauldron in Holo House. They provide useful bonuses for your run.
Calamari Set is the best Food to bring in with you as it provides the most Max HP.
The Pufferfish Meal Set is a good alternative to the Calamari Set, especially if you want to maximize your attacks.
Tempura isn’t the best choice for this build but it isn’t bad either, especially for a more damage focused build. It also has a very low crafting cost making it craftable for new players.
Unagi Don is not as good as the top 2 Foods but its a more cost efficient alternative to them both.
Just take the best prism you have unlocked, they are made at Ckia’s Forge in Holo House. They require some grinding to make but they provide a very useful damage reduction for the early game.
Weapons and Collabs
Wamy Water is one of the best weapons to get for this build. If you decide to take it you do NOT want to turn it into a collab weapon. Once you have it at max level it has knockback and stun, and because you want to get items that increase Noel’s attack size it will end up hitting a huge area.
Spider Cooking should be taken every run but ideally you want to turn it into a Collab weapon because it can create the best Collabs in the game for this build, including the Super Collab Jingisukan.
Elite Cooking itself isnt great, but it turns into the best Super Collab in the game for this build, Jingisukan, so its one of the best choices based on that. Id recommend getting Elite cooking after some other stuff as it can’t be made into Jingisukan until level 50 when you can get the Golden Hammer.
Black Plague works amazing with this build as it works when enemies get close to you and will spread to enemies far away dealing tons of damage. It also has a chance to instantly defeat enemies on hit.
BL Fujoshi creates a constant circle of damage around Noel making it synergize well with her melee playstyle.
Absolute Wall is a great option for this build because it adds to the overall tankiness, having a chance to destroy projectiles is really beneficial, and it does a strong knockback and damage in a constant circle around you making it another synergistic Collab for melee builds.
Rap Dog is always a good option because it increases damage taken by 20% for any enemies hit by it and will hit enemies close by as well as at range.
MiKorone is an alternative to Rap Dog, but it isnt quite as good. It will hit enemies on the screen at random and it does decent damage, but you lose out on the overall damage bonus from Rap Dog.
Eldritch Horror is only good because it increases the tankiness of the build by giving a 5% lifesteal for each enemy defeated by it. Unfortunately, because it uses Spider Cooking and EN’s Curse you will no longer be able to make the Jingisukan Super Collab or the Black Plague Collab, which are both much better. Due to that conflict I don’t recommend taking Eldritch Horror if you want to maximise the build.
Blood Lust works well if you decide to take Eldritch Horror instead of Black Plague and Jingisukan because Blood Lust can be obtained in the same run as Eldritch Horror, but I definitely do not recommend taking Eldritch Horror over Black Plague or Blood Lust over BL Fujoshi. You have to choose between Black Plague, Jingisukan and BL Fujoshi OR Eldritch Horror and Blood Lust.
Jingisukan is the only super collab you should go for with this build. It does a extra healing and increases your Max HP by 100, which will further buff your tankiness and damage. I would recommend going for this every run with this set up but you can’t make it until level 50 so there isn’t any point in rushing it.
The Ideal Weapon and Collabs to take would be Wamy Water, Black Plague, Rap Dog, BL Fujoshi, Absolute Wall and Elite Cooking until level 50 when you can make it into Jingisukan.
Items
Breastplate is the best item to get for this build, and should be prioritised every run. It reduces damage taken by 25%, adding to your tankiness, but it also has a 50-70% chance to deal 200-300% damage to enemies when you get hit. Your playstyle with this build should revolve around taking damage to activate this item. If you get the Super Breastplate item from a holozon box it has even more damage and damage reduction, a higher chance to retaliate, and reflects the damage to all enemies within 60px instead of just the attacker. This makes the Super Breastplate the best item in the game for this playstyle byfar, but it is very rare for it to drop.
Just Bandage is another essential item for this build that I would recommend prioritising every run. It increases your Max HP by 10-30 and it also makes it so you heal 80-100% of any damage you take at a rate of 10% every 3 seconds after getting hit.
Piki Piki Piman is another essential item you will want to get every run. It increases your Max HP by 15-25 and makes it so that for every 4-6 points of Max HP you have, you gain 1% main weapon and special attack damage. Not only does this increase tankiness, it also has perfect synergy with Noel’s skills.
Knightly Milk is the final essential item I would prioritise getting every run. It has good synergy with this build as it increases your attack size and knockback effects, which benefits Noel’s Muscle skill to further increase your damage reduction. It also just makes attacking feel way better. If you get lucky and get Super Knightly Milk from a holozon box it does even more attack radius and knockback increase, and the super version also gives you an extra 20 Max HP which is great for this build.
Uber Sheep is not the best item on its own, but because it is required to make the Jingisukan Super Collab, it is one of the best items to get for this build. Again, Super Collabs can’t be made until level 50 so there isn’t much of a point in making this one of the first items you get, but it does still give a bit of extra healing early game if you decide to take it early so you have it for later.
Full Meal is the best optional item for this build. Having double all healing just works so well for this playstyle due to all of the healing skills and items we take, Just Bandage, Gyudon, Jingisukan, Life Steal Stamp, Heal Potion, etc. Unfortunately, Full Meal is one of the rarer item drops so you can’t reliably get it every run.
Body Pillow is a good item for this build, the big reason being the 10% damage reduction it gives you but the 15-35 HP shield is also a minor bonus. Super Body Pillow is one of the weaker viable Super Items because the shield will never persist long enough to do healing if you are playing the build properly, but the extra 5% damage reduction from the Super version is nice.
Headphones might seem like they would be really amazing for a tank build but it actually isn’t that great here due to it conflicting with breastplate. If you get lucky and get Super Headphones from a holozon box then it works fantastic because of the chance to heal 10% HP when getting hit but otherwise I wouldn’t prioritise this item.
Ninja Headband works okay with this build but it’s not a priority. The speed increase is nice but the main reason you would take it is the 5-15% increased melee damage.
Study Glasses is always a decent item for every build as it allows you to level up way more over the course of the run and provides a slight damage increase for each level after you pick it up. It’s only ever worth taking if you take it right at the start of the run.
Raven Feather is an okay item but only if you get it within the first minute of the run so you can maximise the amount of damage it gives you. It has the most value in endless mode where you can get to super late-game. Although it’s an option I wouldn’t recommend it over some of the above choices, especially in Stage Mode.
Corporation Pin is one of the weaker choices so I wouldn’t recommend taking it unless you are trying to maximise your attack area. The 2-3% increase to attack radius is pretty minimal to be taking up an entire item slot.
The Ideal Item setup would be Breastplate, Just Bandage, Piki Piki Piman, Knightly Milk, Full Meal, and Uber Sheep until level 50 when you can make it into Jingisukan (which then takes up a weapon slot). After you make Jingisukan the sixth item is ideally Ninja Headband or Body Pillow but it can be any of the above options. If Full Meal won’t drop then you can also replace that with any of the above options, although it is a pretty big loss.
Stat Ups
The Stat Up Priority for this build is as follows:
1. Max HP Up
2. Haste Up
3. ATK Up
4. SPD Up
5. Crit Up
6. Pick Up Range Up
- Max HP Up is the obvious priority due to it not only making you tankier but also increasing your damage with this build. Prioritise this over Weapon and Item upgrades if it shows up.
- Haste is the second best as it increases the attack rate of all your weapons.
- ATK Up is the third best, increasing all of your damage.
- SPD Up is the fourth best choice, though all it does is make it feel a bit smoother to run around.
- Crit Up / Pick Up Range Up are not super useful for our build so they aren’t worth taking most of the time.
Stamps
The Life Steal Stamp is the best stamp for this build by far, allowing you to heal continuously as you run around tanking hits.
The Size Up Stamp works really fantastic with this build due to it having synergy with Noel’s Muscle Skill, turning the extra attack radius into bonus damage reduction. It also just feels great to have bigger attacks.
The Weaken Stamp is a great due to it reducing enemies damage dealt to you and making enemies take more damage from you. This stamp makes you even tankier and gives you a bit of bonus damage too!
The Haste Up Stamp is fantastic for most builds, faster attacks just feel great.
The Bomb Stamp works alright with this build as it adds a chance to chain a decent bit of extra damage to other enemies on kills, but its weaker than Haste Up Stamp.
ATK Up Stamp is another alternative that works fine, but it’s one of the weaker choices as it only buffs your main attack.
You want to go for Life Steal Stamp and Size Up Stamp every run with this build, Weaken Stamp or Haste Up Stamp is the ideal third but any of the alternatives work fine.