Mai/Playstyle Tips

In-Game Tips

 * Use Pattern Collection as soon as it goes off cooldown.
 * With a high number of Pattern stacks and sturdy Clothes gear, you will be unstoppable.

General
Mai is able to increase her defense value with her skills. With Haute Couture she can enhance her armor value by an additional 70% based on the maximum value of her body armor. While her combat skill, Pattern Collection she can collect stacks to enhance her armor with. Each hit with Pattern Collection grants her 2 stacks which is 2 points of additional defense for armor.

Mai boasts a high base defense and average attack stat. She is stable to contest around early game to craft gears. She excels around the middle and later phase of the game where she can enhance with her accumulated stacks. It is recommended to use Pattern Collection whenever it is available, and to sometimes be aggressive and going out of your way to chase noise in order to use it.

Mai's stats scaling is average. Her defense stat at level 18 is surprisingly low, but as long as you have a good body armor and many stacks, then her defense will be very high.

Abilities
Mai Pattern Collection is a Combat Skill that gives her "Pattern Stacks" on hit, it doesn't give any extra damage when hit but it recovers 5% of max stamina and if your armor has been enhanced to the max, then the skill also recovers 5% of max HP. This means she can get free stamina gain from fighting each 30 seconds. It's very convenient considering Mai's stamina pool is average. She can recover it easily.

Meanwhile, Haute Couture is a Field Skill that enhances her currently worn body armor. The bonus enhancement applied depends on the number of stacks, but it won't enhance for more than 70% of the body armor defense value. This skill buff will persist the whole game and might be able to be used by enemies if Mai died and the body armor is taken by the killer. Also if you use this skill twice the first enhancement will be overwritten by the new one. It is recommended to use it whenever it's available and you have more stacks compared to the last time you used it. This will ensure that your body armor's defense value will always be climbing up instead of sitting at a certain value, and after many Pattern Collection later it suddenly boosts up once.