You’re in the final stretch of a Grade Tier race. Your girl is pushing hard, the stamina bar looks decent, and then it happens. A purple icon flashes. Your speed drops. Your horse girl looks like she just hit an invisible wall of molasses. If you’ve spent any time in the Uma Musume: Pretty Derby competitive scene, you know that specific dread. That was Sharp Gaze, or Surudoi Manazashi, and it’s one of the most polarizing debuff skills in the entire game meta.
Most players just see it as a "mean look." Honestly, it’s a bit more psychological than that. In the context of the game's mechanics, Sharp Gaze represents a tactical intimidation factor that targets the lead runners. It isn't just flavor text; it’s a calculated strike against the stamina of your opponents.
What Sharp Gaze Actually Does to the Field
Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way first because there's a lot of misinformation about how "vision" skills work in this game. Sharp Gaze is a "Debuff" type skill. Specifically, it targets Uma Musume that are in the "Leading" or "Front" positions during the middle leg of the race.
When it triggers, it reduces the stamina of those frontrunners. It’s not a massive chunk—we aren't talking about a "Maverick" level disaster—but in a game where races are won by centimeters, that slight drain is huge. It forces the affected girl to consume more energy to maintain her pace. If she was already riding the edge of her stamina limit for a Long or Medium distance race, Sharp Gaze is the nudge that sends her into a "spurt" failure.
The Trigger Conditions
It isn't random. For Sharp Gaze Uma Musume builds to work, you need to be in the back.
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- Distance: Usually triggers in the middle of the race.
- Position: The user must be in the "Betweener" (Sashi) or "Chaser" (Oikomi) role.
- Target: It only hits the girls in the front.
If you're running a Chaser like Gold Ship and you’ve equipped Sharp Gaze, you're basically lobbing a stamina-draining grenade at the Mihono Bourbons and Silence Suzukas of the world. It’s a classic "control" move.
Why "Nice Nature" is the Queen of the Stare
You can't talk about Sharp Gaze without talking about Nice Nature. She is the undisputed face of the "Gaze" meta. In the early days of the Japanese server—and continuing into the global competitive cycles—Nice Nature became the go-to "Debuff Bot."
Why? Because her awakening talent naturally includes Sharp Gaze and its upgraded gold version, Gaze of Fascination (Miwaku no Manazashi).
Building a "Debuff Nature" is a rite of passage. You aren't building her to win the race. You're building her to make sure nobody else wins easily. It’s a selfless, somewhat chaotic way to play. You load her up with Sharp Gaze, Stamina Greed, and maybe some Speed Eater. You're basically creating a black hole of stats in the middle of the pack.
I've seen Room Matches where three different players brought a Sharp Gaze user. The frontrunners were basically walking by the time they hit the final corner. It was a bloodbath.
The Strategic Math: Is it Worth the Skill Points?
Is it always good? No. That’s the nuance.
In a Short distance race (Sprint), Sharp Gaze is basically useless. The race ends too fast for stamina drain to matter. Everyone has enough "tank" to finish a 1200m dash even with a debuff. However, once you move into the 2400m+ range—think the Arima Kinen or the Tenno Sho (Spring)—Sharp Gaze becomes a nightmare.
In Long distances, stamina is everything.
Pros of Running Sharp Gaze:
- Low Cost: Usually fairly cheap in terms of Skill Points (SP).
- Team Synergy: If you have one "Ace" runner and one "Debuffer," the debuffer clears the path for your Ace to overtake the exhausted leaders.
- Consistency: Unlike some skills that require specific lane positioning, "Gaze" skills have a wide horizontal range.
Cons to Consider:
- Zero Self-Benefit: It doesn't make your girl faster.
- Meta Dependence: If the current meta favors Chasers, Sharp Gaze hits... nobody. It only targets those ahead of you.
- The "Better" Gold Version: Often, players prefer to save points for the Gold version, which has a significantly higher drain coefficient.
How to Counter the Sharp Gaze Uma Musume Meta
If you're tired of your Lead runners getting glared into submission, you have options. The most obvious is Stamina Overkill. Top-tier players don't just build enough stamina to finish the race; they build a "buffer." If a race requires 800 Stamina, they aim for 950. This buffer exists specifically to soak up debuffs like Sharp Gaze without dropping out of the "Last Spurt" calculation.
Another counter? Healing skills. Blue skills like Maestro of the Arc or Clear Sky act as an immediate antidote. The moment Sharp Gaze drains your tank, a well-timed heal refills it. It’s a constant arms race between the "Glaring" debuffers and the "Recovering" runners.
Common Misconceptions About the Skill
A lot of people think Sharp Gaze lowers Speed. It doesn't.
It lowers Stamina. The result is a lower speed because when a girl runs out of stamina, she can't maintain her maximum pace. It’s a secondary effect. Understanding this distinction is vital for training. If you think it’s a speed debuff, you might try to counter it with "Green" speed skills. That won't help. You need more "Blue" stamina or better guts (Guts/根性) to resist the depletion.
Also, some players believe it only hits the person directly in front of you. Actually, the "Gaze" family of skills has a vision cone. It hits multiple targets within that field of view. It’s an AOE (Area of Effect) debuff. That’s what makes it so terrifying in a packed Lead group.
Actionable Steps for Your Next Training Session
If you want to start utilizing or defending against this, here is how you handle the next 15 minutes of your gameplay:
- Check your Support Cards: Look for cards that provide the "Sharp Gaze" hint. SSR Super Creek is great for stamina, but if you're looking for debuffs, look at cards like SR Marvelous Sunday or specific Nice Nature cards.
- Audit your Ace: If your favorite Lead runner keeps losing in the final 200m, check the replay. If you see the purple Sharp Gaze icon on her, you need to go back to the training gym and pump her Stamina stat up by at least 100 points or grab an extra gold recovery skill.
- Build a Specialist: Try training a "Debuff Betweener" specifically for Team Stadium. Don't worry about her Rank (A, S, or higher). Just focus on Int (Intelligence/賢さ) so her skills actually trigger, and load her with every "Gaze" and "Hesitation" skill you can find.
Ultimately, Sharp Gaze is about control. It’s about forcing the fastest girls on the track to play by your rules. It might feel "cheap" when it happens to you, but mastering the timing and positioning of these stares is what separates the casual trainers from the Champions Meeting winners.
Next time you see those purple eyes flash on the screen, don't panic—just make sure you've built a girl tough enough to stare back.