The Game
Versions
Pick whatever region is closest to your own for ping or active lobbies. Co-op was murdered,
so outside of the group minigames, ping means nothing. Simple option is to install off of google
play or the app store; if you want to play on computer, NA/EU/SEA have PC ports, there's a STEAM
client, or you can download the apk directly.
PC Client
Supposedly, the Steam version client sucks balls. Also, unless you have a beast of a recent
phone, you're better off playing on PC in general - it seems like damage registration is rigged
to the frame rate, and if your phone stutters, you can completely drop whole instances of
damage.
If you don't want to use kb and mouse, you can use x360ce to rig a cheap DI gamepad to xinput
without buying a snoy or m$ remote.
DL Hub: https://honkaiimpact3.mihoyo.com/global/en-us/download
EU supposedly has the easiest mid-rank PvE endgame due to low pop,
but gl finding co-op lobbies. Also, play SEA if you want to
uncle-bad-touch the early valks. Unfortunately, Uncle Pooh
has put his fingers in the cunny hunny jar, and we're now seeing
some of the CN censorship trickle out to the other versions.
Rerolling
Don't.
If you're a masochist, there are guides on youtube, it involves cycling guest accounts and playing
the first chapter til you have 600-800 crystals. The new beginner banner is split-rate for HoRb and HoFi,
both are meta (while HoRb is a nigh mandatory support if you don't have HoS, HoFi is a pure DPS, and
is already getting old - p. sure geared FoV beats her on neutral. Since Part 2 is out, you're probably better
off going for Astral Ring compatible valks instead.) Remember that the beginner banner guarantee
DOES NOT CARRY OVER - when it finishes, if you didn't get your S-rank, you're fucked.
Characters
There are three different character rarities in the game: B, A, and S. These are roughly
similar to other games R/SR/SSRs. There is also a rock-paper-scissors type matchup, but
the ingame tutorial will explain. New characters can be acquired either by farming stages
for fragments or by rolling the gacha. Some S-rank characters can also be farmed by playing
the endgame boss time-attack known as memorial, but it's more of a marathon than a sprint.
General rule of thumb for the farmable S-rank suits is they need SS-tier or higher to actually
become good.
With the way the game is currently going full fotm with the powercreep and S-rank releases,
if you can roll a new DPS S-rank on release, you're probably set for 6-8 months (depending
on Mihoyo's weather choices - early game, you can just fling shit at the wall, later, you'll need
proper supports built,) but the era when you could get 2+ years of service out of a DPS is
long gone.
With Part 2 and the Astral Ring system, all Part 1 valks will most likely be phased out due to the
party resonance between pt2 units. Co-op was also completely removed from the game, so
imo there's no reason at all to spend resources building powercrept units.
This section is intended more as a list of the available characters and the abbreviations
commonly used to refer to them, to cut down on the spam of "Hey, what does X mean?"
If you need a tardlist, use the most recent CN one.
Kiana
B-valks
White Comet (WC)
Weak. Like, really weak. Mostly useless, but saw a little use
in memorial due to her on-dodge SP battery and time
fracture.
A-valks
Valkyrie Ranger (VR/VD)
Weaker gatherer. Semi-useless to start, then becomes a decent
burst damage dealer with her augment, Void Drifter (hence the VR/VD)
Divine Prayer (DP)
Healer/physical supporter. Provides benched impair, which lowers
enemy physical defense every few seconds. Mostly used in memorial
these days, as her ultimate slows down the clock and can be used to
apply Thunder Kikaku debuffs for lightning teams - also heals, but
that's utterly worthless right now. Losing even this niche due to the
advent of drawn-out SSS memorial bosses.
S-valks
Knight Moonbeam (KMB) / Dorm / Farmable (AW) / Egg 1
Useful for her on-demand timefracture and leader skill. Gets a good farmable support
pistol for physical teams. Mostly useful for triple phys memorial due to HoS also having
a forceable time fracture.
Herrscher of the Void (HoV) / Dorm / Farmable (AL)
Original bullshit imba powercreep, hard countered by a bad case of crabs in endgame
abyss. Lawdy, she dead - Boobnya takes her weather since she's bio ranged. Was finally
put into the memorial shop, but she costs AL, and will take forever to farm given that
she's an awakened suit.
Herrscher of Flamescion (HoF) / Limited
Gee, Kiana, MiHoYo lets you have two Herrscher suits? New fire psy dps suit, incorporates
some of APHO's aerial combos. Definitely needs her PRI, can get by with Lee from G3
bounty for stigs. Heavily powercreeps Blood Rose, and has very high base damage output.
Insta-kick in co-op due to you fuckers high juggling the boss. Pressed by HoFi.
Herrscher of Finality (HoFi) / Limited
Gay sex with cores on. Probably the last tuna suit we'll see for a while, since dawei is pushing
into 'part 2'. Tied heavily to the kompu 12/12 team, but she can work as solo fire. Heavily
weapon locked - you might be able to cope with HoF's PRI, but it'll suck. There's also a fair
jump from her 3pc to even a 2p mixed set, so she's p. expensive. Very, very solid slot in for
all fire weathers outside of QUA.
Mei
B-valks
Crimson Impulse (CI)
Useless. First character you get from the tutorial gacha.
Isn't it sad, Mei?
A-valks
Valkyrie Bladestrike (VB/SFM/SF Mei)
Bad, but gets better with her augment, Striker Fulminata (SFM/SF Mei).
Base VB sucks, since she knocks back enemies, but doesn't chase, roots while
attacking, but can't dodge. Striker Fulminata is much better, good chase,
fast attacks, mostly used in co-op for her massive SP-battery skill.
Very mob-killer oriented, and very dead as a proper DPS.
Shadow Dash (SD/DS)
Bad, but was your only option for blue physical damage early on. Got an
augment in 4.2 to Danzai Spectramancer, physical semi-support with
vastly improved dps. Might still be able to swing as dps in Agony and
below - maybe.
S-valks
Lighting Empress (LE) / Dorm / Farmable (AW) / Egg 1
Great leader skill, was a great lightning supporter (replaced by Fischl/FR,) needed SS for
secondary damage dealer use. Had a moment as a primo dps unit with her endgame PRI
sword, but was quickly replaced by HotF (who was replaced by HoT/Mobius). Isn't it sad, Mei?
Herrscher of Thunder (HoT) / Dorm
Finally a Mei suit that isn't a bit of a joke or relegated to support. Splits the elec niche with
Mobius/Aponia (assuming you have 7TR.) Really wants the KoC. Wants the Seven
Thunders divine key, it reworks her ult to stop the buff clock during the cinematic. Don't
even bother rolling for Benares anymore, 7TR was paired with Zhenyi on its first banner,
and 2-3pc Handel is also good. Toilet status with LV Luna's release, S0 beats SSS HoT.
Herrscher of Origin (HoO) / Limited (free in 6.4)
Thanks to the chinks for rioting about the recent wave of back-to-back-to-back S-ranks,
we finally got an IMG primary DPS unit for 'free'. Also had a 50% refund gear banner in 6.4
(they never rerun these sort of release promotions,) so all everyone needed was
her weapon and 2pc since we also got a pick-a-stigma box - in exchange for this
largess, they baited people to pull for S2, since it's a fair bit stronger than usual, and if
you're new and missing the various lightning team permutations, S2 covers everything
except QUA (consider that everyone else got her free and all her gear at a hefty discount
before deciding to pull.) Sadly, she's p. mash heavy - it's so bad they put a hand-holding ring
around her weapon and dodge so you don't miss it while having an epileptic fit on the attack button.
Khorosho, Raiden.
Bronya
B-valks
Valkyrie Chariot (VC)
Best of the B-ranks, solid single target damage dealer with a fast
dodge cooldown. Ultimate has the big succ, great for gathering
wayward enemies for your dps to slaughter. Could have been great
with Elysia, if only Holmes/Paganini didn't run off of the [B] piece.
A-valks
Snowy Sniper (SS)
Was once a meta damage dealer, but no longer. Now, she's only used for
the damage malus on her ultimate.
Yamabuki Armor (YA/DK)
Very useful, was meta before for her shield, and her augment, Drive
Kometa (DK) is still useful for her melee physical damage buffs and
gathering ultimate. Team SP + t-frac on shield block. Get her to SS-rank
minimum. Still used sometimes, but HoS+SA/Carole/Griseo have pushed her out.
Wolf's Dawn (WD)
Awakened form of YA, shares some skills, but needs an increased number of
fragments to unlock. Shield provides off-field elemental damage boost. Flat
damage boosts suck, though, since all the newer dps kits are so stacked, you
need unique modifiers for the multiplicative boost. Don't bother with SSS
either, the suction on ultimate is crap.
Haxxor Bunny (HB) / Bronie
Ice elemental support, comes with Zhuge-style non-switching qte/ult,
gather and time frac on dodge. Like Zhuge, really wants either her motif weapon
or Boobnya's cannon (Pardo's PRI delinks her ult cooldown from the motif cooldown,
so either wait a few seconds before dropping the qte+ult or just switch to Falcon Flare.)
Seems like new A-ranks being mainly supports for new S-ranks is going to be a
trend. Replaced in all but SeX teams.
S-valks
Dimension Breaker (DB) / Dorm / Farmable (AW) / Egg 1
Was a mandatory supporter...4 years ago. Can be fun, but isn't important to have
these days.
Black Nucleus (BN) / Dorm / Farmable (AW)
Also known as Xenodark Bronya. First real whale-only character that was added to the
game, was used long ago for single-shotting Memorial bosses at SS-SSS rank. Casual play
only at S-rank, even with full gear.
Herrscher of Reason (HoR) / Dorm / Farmable (AL)
Was the benchmark for ice valks. Needs her cannon at minimum, but will also need 2pc
Welt/3pc Ana in endgame. Slightly less imba than release due to current abyss
boss selections. Given out for free in v5.3, mostly replaced by Boobnya. gets a pick-up
with a new divine key and new G4 Willows set (so don't bother with rolling either KoR or
Welt.)
Silverwing: N-EX (Hagnya/Boobnya) / Limited
First of the "Hahaha, fuck you" releases, replaced all prior ice units, since we never got
mech+ice weathers till recently. Kills SeX within 8mo of release, holy shit. Pour one out for
the Seele fags. Came with a "generous" fomo banner that wanted you to drop 150 pulls
for her full gear - can apparently get away with just the weapon + [T]+[B] if you have
Welt [M] for near fullset performance.
Herrscher of Truth (HoTr/Shin-Bronya) / Limited
Sidegrade AE/Fischl replacement that requires 3-4/4 to compete with either in fire/lightning.
Mainly intended for the 3 S-rank 12/12 kompu team (kompu weather fucking sucks, but
is still doable without the whale squad.) Already potentially on the way out, too, given that
Mihoyo is moving towards type-exclusive supports (Sushang/Luna) and away from generalists
like HoTr and AE.
Himeko
B-valks
Battle Storm (BS)
Abbreviation is apt. Useless without specific gear, and then
only useful as a sword carrier, not a dps.
A-valks
Valkyrie Triumph (VT)
Bad. Was meant to be a hybrid healer/physical supporter with her ultimate,
but lags behind badly. Ultimate also costs way too damn much.
Scarlet Fusion (SF)
Rhythm games, ahoy. Mixed electric/physical damage, bad.
Arctic Kriegmesser (AK)
Alt name: Polar Warblade. Ice melee, subpar. Has some use as a filler
character to carry debuffing greatswords. Passive skill can add some
damage vs frozen/slowed enemies - bosses are usually immune. Disable
her QTE and learn to dodge-cancel the switch skill.
S-valks
Blood Rose (BR) / Dorm / Farmable (AW) / Egg 2
Strong single target fire DPS masochist. Needs SS-rank, but has fallen off alot
lately. Learn to turn off her ult after two/three windmill sequences. Got a strong
buff with the release of Surtr PRI, but is heavily powercreeped by HoF. Can
use Aslaug + BD as support.
Vermilion Knight (VK) / Dorm / Farmable (AW)
Fire AOE with lots of I-frames. Had an abyss weather all her own - haven't seen Rita
lately in abyss, though (apparently, DA stomps on her toes in this niche.) Good for
dealing with memorial HoV - needs An Utu for starting SP. Mostly used as a BD/Turganev
bot these days. With Fire Rita/Sirin, all Himeko suits are now dead as DPS.
Yae
A-valks
Gyakushinn Miko (Miko)
Was once a decent early physical damage dealer. Awakened-type character,
but you'll be flush with her frags by playing Open World. Dead as dps.
Flame Sakitama (FS)
Only A-rank fire-type creature unit, so get used to her. Awakened, can only be
acquired through open world missions or by spending asterite. Needs SS
to be useful, but her spool-up is too fucking slow. Only used now as a
Ruinous Sakura wielder, and even that's been taken in most comps by Raven
or Salvation of Sakura.
Darkbolt Jounin (DJ) / Kasumi
Middling creature lightning elemental - needs SS, double Typhoons (or support
Typhoon + DoS,) and LE - with everything, she's p. good. Was excellent at killing
Clocc boi with a paralyze nuke build, but Mihoyo reworked the boss to shill
Zhenyi FR/Aponia instead, so mostly dead these days.
S-valks
Goushinnso Memento (GM/Meme) / Dorm / Farmable (AW) / Egg 2
Ice bunny. Great when the game came out, got worse, got buffed, got an endgame weapon,
still generally worse than HoR (who is also generally worse than Boobnya.) Needs SS-rank or
you'll never have enough burst charges. All her endgame gear is now "farmable".
Theresa
A-valks
Valkyrie Pledge (VP)
Worlds Cutest. Primarily a Judah carrier (5 star lightning cross), demoted to
low grade supporter endgame with specific gear. All Theresa's are very cross
reliant. Split damage dealer, so build for phys/tdm if using her in co-op.
Sakuno Rondo (SR)
Finally got a buff as of 4.7, letting her turn off her ult instead of having it
completely burn through her SP. This, plus her new sakura judah PRI makes
her...a support bitch for Rimestar. I mad.
Luna Kindred (LK) / Luna
Smashes enemies with a giant axe. Unfortunately merely decent, not
fantastic - Bio Phys is a tough niche for everyone other than chink birds.
Easy to rank up through open world rewards.
Starlight Astrologos (SA) / Zhuge
Cannon wife (bigamy is a man's romance.) First off-field QTE unit, super useful with varied
on-hit support stigs (JST/Newt B, etc.) Wants either her Zither or TP's Hekate PRI. Mandatory
phys support if you only have short duration on-hit buff stigs (Newton/PP Mei/etc.)
Second line now due to Griseo and Carole.Tertiary choice due to Prommy.
S-valks
Violet Executer (VE/TP) / Dorm / Farmable (AW)
Cutest eviscerator. Sucked for the longest time, got a core augment (Twilight Paladin).
Excellent ST-mecha physical dps. Needs SS-rank, core 5. Eats Jizo and DXY alive in
memorial/abyss. With Hekate PRI and SSS-rank, she still does well enough vs bosses
that mihoyo went out of their way to trash her (extra adds w/boss Aponia) to push
Hare (newfags need not apply - SSS rank would take the better part of a year to grind.)
Celestial Hymn (CH) / Dorm / Farmable (AL)
Critical physical supporter, especially with her endgame PRI weapon. Impair and succ
on ultimate, impair on switch, and a number of damage passives. Made farmable in 4.6,
and displaced by HoS/HoRb as mandatory.
Lunar Vow: Crimson Love (LV) / Luna (Terihag/Hagriri) / Limited
Damn, what a monkey's paw - we finally get another Teri suit after all these years, and
fanchuan decides to indulge in his age-progression fetish (Hagseo next patch, too.) Strong
dps/support, PSY lightning bleed? (wtf?) For all the grousing, she's snappy to play (outside of
missing QTE and having to self charge her eviscerators,) and has a long breach buit into her kit.
Hits fast, so Judah is a not-terrible single-target option for her, but a lot of her support value
is tied up in her T+B stigs. First unit where the elemental damage affixes on stig aren't a DPS loss.
All Teris are both best girls and cannon wives (AU versions of the same girl aren't cheating - fite me)
Fu Hua
A-valks
Valkyrie Accipiter (VA/HotF)
Shield debuff support base, when augmented becomes the fourth best lightning
damager in the game as Hawk of the Fog (HotF). Only elec choice if you're missing
HoT/Mobius/Luna. Base VA has some use against abyss Kasumi and her fat shield.
Night Squire (NS)
West Taiwan China numba-wan. Was the best ST-bio physical
damage dealer 'til she was replaced by her tulpa, works well with F2P gear.
S-valks
Phoenix (PX) / Dorm / Farmable (AW) / Egg 2
Was a critical elemental supporter (supplanted in 3.7 by AE, but still the only farmable
general ele support.) Needs SS-rank, and with the recent releases of element-focused
A-rank supports, far, far less necessary.
Shadow Knight (SK) / Dorm / Farmable (AL)
Ora ora that used to solo Red Lotus abyss. Has endgame gloves, but isn't super critical
to have. Nice lead skill, though. Dead and buried thanks to Mobius' release.
Azure Empyrea (AE) / Dorm / Farmable (AL)
Ink Fu Hua. Gathers and applies elemental breach, the power-creep version of
Phoenix for big dick elemental damage. No SP pack drops though, so PX still has her
uses. Needs Nebs at minimum for self SP gain. Semi-mandatory endgame due to enemy
stat inflation needing more multipliers. Margrave is available in foundry, but it seems like
the new trend is using 2x elemental specific (if not valk specific,) supports going forwards.
Was finally made farmable, but the price is too fucking high.
Herrscher of Sentience (HoS/Shiki-chan) / Chuu Hua / Dorm
Neo Night Squire (i.e. OP), on the heels of another Bio Phys - was intended to be a CH
powercreep, actually powercrept all Bio Phys DPS. Multi-weapon user, so tons of new
and flashy animations. Free gather, forced t-frac on dodge + team sp, impair, and high
damage make her the current best Bio Phys. Wants her gloves, but not necessarily
her stigmata (Sirin A/Dirac/Dirac work for dps, and Gluttony/Mei PP/Newton work for
support, but you'll want full swords vs mobs/bosses with adds/dps with extended damage
windows.) Put in 6.4 battle pass, so either she's getting creeped soon, or we're getting
a 7TR-style DK to replace her motif gloves. Powercrept as phys support by HoRb Seele,
but they decided to release a new DK for her, so currently, brick HoS is still the only workable
bio phys dps unit.
Fenghuang of Vicissitude (FoV) / Limited
New fried chicky, and dear god, she sucks without her gear. No alternate gloves worth a
damn, so either get her weapon or use her as a bridge ornament (they tied her weapon
inextricably to her skills - no other weapon actives function, only her motif works.) Sadly,
they also made her a dps only, unlike Hagriri who can moonlight as a support - all she
needed was to be able to apply her ele breach and she would have been a good support option.
Comparatively, everyone who got a free Gold Saint Dudu a few patches ago has SS DA, and
S0 FoV with G4 stigs and cope PRI gloves is noticably worse. Last valk before part 2, so she
might turn into a complete turkey with the Astral Ring system.
Kallen
A-valks
Imayoh Ritual (IR)
Awakened unit, mecha ST-melee physical with some I-frames. Old and busted.
If you're getting instakilled in Elysian Realm, know that IR's I-frames aren't real
I-frames - she just moves her hitbox upwards, out of reach of most enemies. Clock
fucker can instakill you due to being so tall.
Sundenjaeger (SJ)
Another awakened mecha kallen, ranged physical this time. Not too useful, since
she's a field-hog, and most of the damage in this game comes from switching and
applying your supporter's debuffs - better now with SA's off-field support and the
changes to her sustained impair. Dead as a dps outside of co-op.
S-valks
Sixth Serenade (6S) / Dorm / Farmable (AW)
Painful to rank up, but only good against trash mobs. Tranquil PRI didn't save
her from the dustbin (the gather is nice tho.) Utterly dead.
Rita
A-valks
Umbral Rose (UR)
Was a solid psychic melee physical dps, utterly replaced by FT/Elysia. All Ritas need their
gacha weapons.
Phantom Iron (PI)
Attempt at a mixed dps/supporter. Can be used with WD to support a lazy
elemental solo team. Really dead as a support these days.
S-valks
Argent Knight Artemis (AKA) / Farmable (AW) / Dorm
Ara ara and tits. Solid damage output and constantly freezes enemies, but has no time-
fracture, so falls behind in time-attack stages like memorial. Must have her scythe -
doubly so now, since Skadi PRI covers her SP problems. Was finally made farmable -
years after any value was squeezed out of her.
Fallen Rosemary (FR) / Farmable (AW+AL) / Dorm
Quantum lightning semi-support type. Similar function to BD+JST, but better for more
drawn out fights. Due to being farmable, needs SS-rank minimum. Gear and frags were
readily available before 4.6 through battlepass or by spending resonators. Needs the scythe.
Rejiggered by her PRI and Zhenyi into a decent QUA DPS unit - crept by Susannah.
Spina Astrea (SpA) / Limited (partial upgrade available from Elysian Realm)
The "generous" second S-rank of patch 5.5 - only has AKA as an abyss boss rn. Crystal sink
unless you don't have HoF+Mobius, and probably will be spending event bait into the future
for rank up chips. If you're a newfag, you should skip her for HoFiSirin - even at SS-rank
she feels a little too close to S-rank HoFiS1 Sirin to recommend. Dead with the release of Sirin -
she's both horribly expensive and still worse in comparison. Rita Rossweisse pleases old men
for B-chips.
Seele
A-valks
Swallowtail Phantasm (SP)
Only A-rank physical quantum type in the game, get used to playing her. Usability
maxes out at SS-rank. Needs SN's PRI scythe at higher ranks, (why would you
pull on an S-rank gear supply for an S-rank you don't have?) but is old and dead
especially since Susannah is phys (bleed) quantum and much newer. Cute butt got Xinnie'd.
S-valks
Stygian Nymph (SN) / Farmable (AL) / Dorm
Was a do-all semi-powercreep character. AOE as light seele, ST as dark seele. Released just
after Twilight Paladin (do you see a pattern here?) Needs her scythe and full Allan Poe,
but is neutral to most enemies, so could brute force almost any low temp +phys abyss weather
with proper team composition. Old and dead outside of collection autism.
Starchasm Nyx (SeX/SX/Nyx/etc.) / SEELE / Dorm
Sidegrade ice to HoR/AKA - if you don't have either, she can fill both their roles; less
useful if you already have both geared, though. Might be important in the future if
abyss gets spammed with linked mobs. Motif stigs are available in foundry.
Got pushed out of most of her ice weathers (but not quantum Tonatiuh)
by Boobnya, victim of the new, high speed powercreep.
Herrscher of Rebirth (HoRb) / Limited
Replacement for Senti (HoS) as phys supporter, and MPE as psy phys dps, Deereele is a
new mixed phys main support/psy dps. Motif stig wise, she's another B-locked
valk, but since she's a herrscher, you can move Senti's set over to her to patch the gap.
As far as DPS usage, you still need a second impair source, so HoS still has value.
Durandal
A-valks
Valkyrie Gloria (VG)
First elemental quantum type, middling DPS and shockingly has good early gear in the foundry.
Jingwei [M] / Kitten Fun [T]+[B] are perfect early for her, and Endothermic VF is one of the few
red core weapon you can spend cores upgrading without feeling too cheated. Can also share
VK's old/new set. Used to hang with DA against Rimeshit in Red Lotus, but widespread HoF
ownership pushes her out. Sieg Goose.
S-valks
Bright Knight Excelcius (BKE) / Farmable (AL) / Dorm
AOE Physical mecha DPS, but hogs the field, so needs SA and full Dante/Dirac/
Zorro for the 3pc impair effect to be comparable to TP/SN (unless you have her new fast
rotation/nuke lance + HoS.) Can skip boss phases by spiking them. Favored child of MiHoYo's
balance coomers - if she starts dropping, they shoehorn something in to prop her back up.
Replaced in her mech phys niche by Hare (Dreamweaver).
Dea Anchora (DA) / Limited
<insert Saint Seiya reference here> Memorial/abyss stomper for rimestar. Fire Bio, but
gets squeezed by HoF on psy due to the latter's high dps. Whalebait, like BKE - demands
a 4/4 full set, everything else is a 25-40% drop off. Got a new SSS Memorial boss recently
(ice pig). Utterly dumpstered by 4/4 geared FoV.
Palatinus Equinox (PE) / Limited
First DPS IMG, dual mode, with a bs way to chip IMG seeds without removing
the outer HP layer (make problem, sell solution.) Less stig locked compared to
previous Dudu suits - as long as you get the lance, there are a few mixed foundry
sets that should work. Depending on your server, you might be able to skip
if you have kitted HoF/gobbo/Pardo teams. With HoO and HoFi, unless they
release an ele resist IMG boss, you can safely skip. You just know.
Elysia
S-valks
Miss Pink Elf (MPE) / Farmable (AW+AL)
Knife-ear replacement for FT in Abyss. Stigs are available in the foundry for the
masochistic, but weapon is gacha only. Recently came out and her exclusive weather
is rare, fotm'd due to farmability - good generalist choice if you have a HoS/Griseo
setup. Don't trust the goblin. Dead if you have HoRb, 0/4 HoRb is too close to 4/4
SSS MPE to make it worth wasting resources.
Herrscher of Human: Ego (HoH/HoHE) / Limited
Kaworu turned up to 11. SP hungry giga stacy and newest Herrscher in a long ignored
niche (psy ice - no, 6s doesn't count.) Needs her bow, but can use Welt or next patch's
G4 ice. Given the number of 4/4 in abyss, abandon your cycle points if you can't get her.
Orbited hard by all the other flamechasers.
Griseo
A-valks
Starry Impression / Loliseo
New physical bleed supporter with battery skills, replaces SA in all comps that can
rotate. Splits physical with Carole, so use Carole vs fat shields and Griseo vs shieldless.
Replaced by Prommy in physical outside of Bleed comps, incrementally crept by herself in phys bleed.
Stigwise, if you don't get Cezanne B, don't bother (it's a fancy-pants extendable Newton,)
just use Margrave from the foundry. You'll want her weapon, but you can replace with
Hekate as a cope weapon (can also sub in on ignite weather with SoS.) ToT
Cosmic Expression / Hagseo
Flameshitters sent their loli out into the wide universe unchaperoned without shoes and she
came back with space AIDS. The first S(t)D type (kek), Hagseo is a bleed focused support compared
to Loliseo who splits bleed/physical. As far as support, right now, she's an incremental upgrade
to Eden/Loliseo, and a filler dps vs SD types until Senadina in part 2 (somehow I doubt we'll see
phys weak SD boss stages after Senadina gets released.)
Others (Single Suits)
A-valks
Blueberry Blitz (BB) / Lilya
Perfect guard. Fun, but Void Drifter steps on her toes. Sometimes misses her
perfect ultimate due to knockback/low posture. Needs Swan Lake to support MC/can
sort-of substitute with Aural Judgement and DXY [M] on qte rotation. Makes excellent
use of Sleeper's Dream PRI, and is great as a BD carrier against Houdou.
Blazing Hope / Asuka Shikinami / Latelets BTFO
Bio Phys with extra shield crack, similar to NS, but with added lance control skills.
Available only during 4.5, no frags are available after the Evangelion collab, so
if you don't have her, be btfo forever - like Reifags.
Prinzessin der Verurteilung (Fischl/Fish) / Definitely not Amy
Specialist support for lightning; unlike Zhuge and Bronie, needs to be fielded to
apply debuffs. First bow wielder in the game, and unlike the EVA collab, is
permanently available in the asterite and pin shop. Procs lighning vulnerability,
so LE is p. much a battery at this point. Wants her stigs more than her bow.
Midnight Absinthe (Raven) / Natasha Cioara
First IMG type, serves as another bow wielding (fire) support unit. Instakills those fucking
puppet seeds at HP<20%. Trades off with Sakura Judah PRI as support, but SS-rank w/fullset
is better than Sakura PRI + Turganev. Garbage as a main dps, and her SP regen is bad (more
an issue due to fighting with AE for regen time,) so make certain you can seal the deal with
only two ults. Short, stacked, and the ass is fat. Replaced by Ai-Hag due to team sp regen
and consistent gather.
Sweet 'n' Spicy / Carole
Mech phys shield breaker support with lofting attacks - partially replaces SA (at higher
ranks, Carole is pretty self sustaining, while SA needs time to farm up her tornado.) As
far as her gear goes, it's probably Pag M > Kissy Pillow = Pag B (++if you have M) > Pag T,
since she can use Shuijing/Beethoven and Nebs/DoS PRI, and Pag M's team shield break
is unique. Cute now, gorilla mode in 10 years. Unless we get fat shield aerial bosses, Prommy
makes her deader than a corner dealer in Detroit - sucks, since she barely had any time to
shine, due to there only being a handful of break bosses since her release, and Griseo + Pag M
did fine for those, and everything else. Can still do a janky duo-DPS team with Prom+Senti.
Reverist Calico / Pardofelis
Ice support specialist, replaces AE for ice. Comes with a new weapon type, so you really want
her chakram at the least (given that she's PRI on release) - [B] stig also gives teamwide
SP gain. Has a gather,and drops a summon when leaving the field, so you can use
JST/Newt as tolerable filler. Can work as both a general support on most teams, provided
enemies are susceptible to freeze and you have 2pc Bastet - also works as a fill-in ice DPS with
fullset. A cat is fine, too. Replaced as second ice support by Kira.
Golden Diva / Eden
Drunk cake lightning supporter, provides significantly better SP recovery vs AE. The real coup
here are the G4 Handel stigs, they work for almost all lightning DPS units (especially poverty
Mobius.) Wants her flintlocks, but you can povertyfag with the Fenghuang Pinions - the main
rub is the 2.5 sec delay on first cast, so you have to have Eden first on your rotation, and split
the second activation for after her ult (hint: it's painful, and it sucks in comparison.)
Chrono Navi / Ai-chan (Ai-Hag)
The long awaited fire SP support, which is...slightly disappointing. Mecha fire/ignite support
with gather and light team sp regen (this alone makes her better than Raven,) but definitely
not a fire Pardo. Gearwise, if you already have Pardo's chakram and Turg [T+B], you can just
ignore her banner - her stigs are 3pc or go home. Really wants to QTE in, charging her bar
manually is physically painful.
Valkyrie Quicksand / Susannah (Sus2)
QUA phys, with the first rhythm game mechanic since SF, she's good, but unlike other A-rank
DPS fill-ins, she's expensive to build supports for - the main problem is her damage type: unlike
other physical dealers, she deals a "totally not new damage type" where her damage is
converted to bleed - this means every buff on your supports that helps with crit rate or crit
damage is utterly useless to her. Can sub out her stigs for Drac/Dirac/Dirac or Shuijing,
but since she's the first physical chakram dps, she really needs her weapon (or Pardo's, lol.)
Terminal Aide 0017 / Prometheus (Prommy/Botnya)
IMG phys supporter, kit is built as a mix of Drive Kometa and Carole. Gauntlet user, and
replaces both Carole as shieldbreak support and Griseo as a general physical support
(shifting Griseo to primarily bleed phys support.) Gear is half off on the release patch,
plus it counts for full towards the current spending event, so everyone is going to have
her full geared in abyss. Also deals stun (a blast from the past) on some of her moves,
so there might be a stun bar boss in the future. Has a short 5sec impair on combo, but
unless we get a quick dump phys DPS, this seems to be mainly for her own usage.
Rewatched due to balljoints - Desu > Teabitch.
Sugary Starburst / Shigure Kira
Tonedeaf hag idol, replacement for Pardo, has the same non-entry QTE skill as
Bronie and Zhuge, and has baked in team SP when she QTEs. Motif stigs are locked
around the B-piece, but she can use 2pc Bastet or Turg as well as Eden's guns, so
if you already have older gear, you can just shuffle it around. Niggurath is hotter.
S-valks
Molotov Cherry (MC/FT/FTD) / Rozaliya / Dorm / Farmable (AW)
Was bad, did the fusion dance with Lilya, is now one of the stronger physical DPS units
as Fervent Tempo Delta (FT/FTD.) Can do quick, high damage rotations, and Michel [T+B] /
Ekat/Marco [M] work well and are farmable. Really wants her PRI for forced activation of her
ult. On memorial duty with Elysia's release, and falling fast due to the new push for abyss-tier
tanky bosses in SSS memorial.
Infinite Ouroboros / Mobius / Limited
She is evil, a driven bitch. New hebi-hebe that replaces SK, and possibly all mecha on
non +phys -ele abyss floors. Cross user, and drops another summon on combo attack,
so dust off those Otto [B]'s. Works with Judah against single targets, but is SP
starved without her free cast PRI and either Linnaeus or Handel. Definitely getting
pressure these days with 7TR HoT/HoO.
Disciplinary Perdition / Aponia / Limited
Mommyfag lightning unit, and the first DPS that hangs out on the field while doing
support rotations. Seems like she reuses K_komi's animations from that other game.
Similar damage to Boobnya on neutral - since they share type, you can pick either.
Tied at the hip to Eden to enable during her turret phase.
Helical Contraption / Vill-V / Limited
Big titty skitzo with dual turret gameplay. Fire QUA, so there is no real competition
in her niche, since VG was always half-bad due to SP issues. On the flipside, FR is
still a good QUA DPS, and Ai-chan, while helpful (pre-Ai with AE/Raven, you could ult
roughly twice before you just sat with your dick in your hand due to no SP,) doesn't make
her absurdly better than a cracked out lightning team. Sent out to die right before
Herrscher of Elf (fuck back-to-back S-ranks.) Replaced as a generic QUA DPS by
Susannah.
Jade Knight / Li Sushang (Sus) / Farmable (AW+AL)
Replacement for HB in most ice teams, brings back elemental breach, but has some
asshole design choices (ranged-only ice team buff on combo) that harm her performance
with DPS Pardo and AKA. Essentially ice HoS, usable as a DPS on mech ice weather
if you skipped Elly. Can use Turg if you already have [T+B] (or Margrave [T+B] w/Jing
Shengtan / Margrave 3pc,) and Nebs for the team buffs (you'd want her motif gloves
as DPS though.) Her kit has integrated shield-break bonuses, so you'll get hardlocked
score-wise vs ice without her.
Dreamweaver / Hare (Mistletain Schariac/Skinwalker) / Limited
New mech phys DPS notCecilia to replace BKE and TP. Uses a new weapon type (likely to become
more frequent as they try to keep players from stat-sticking with their older PRIs,) so you
either get her weapon or just skip entirely and use the foundry javelin and Elysia set w/Dante M.
Sucks for Sieg that his wife gets shipped with another straight girl, but w/e.
Miracle Magical Girl / Sirin / Farmable
Sirinfags won, Queenfags lost. Farmable mecha fire for ignite shill weathers with a farmable
G4 fire motif set - her chakram/scissors are a massive chunk of her damage, so roll for them
and farm the rest. Replaces SpA due to both cheapness and a better upwards ceiling.
Sirin Did Nothing Wrong
Note: Just because a character isn't a do-all or fantastic dps, doesn't mean they have no uses - if you look around, you can
find some funky team comps that work p. well for almost anything. Except CI Mei.
ELFs
Driver of chinknadian rage quits, ELFs are essentially a pared down support skill repackaged as a gacha
onahole. Yes, they do damage; No, you won't really notice outside of their active skill. This section is split
into the F2P and P2W versions - P2W section assumes 2* max (e.g. a lucky ELF pull.) IMO, unique mechanical
shit is more important on ELFs than just "big number goes up".
ELF gacha cap to pity is 100 pulls at roughly half cost, so 15k crystals for a single guaranteed P2W ELF. Rate
is the same 1.5% as with S-rank battlesuits, and pity carries over. Duplicates give 105 frags, and upgrade
costs are 100 for 3 star and 150 for 4 star (so 2 dupes and 40 extra frags for a maxed ELF.)
Ignore the P2W ELFs - the buffs are minimal (~5-10%) compared to even a single motif stigmata or weapon.
This is endgame minmax autistic whale shit. The newer ELFs with the switch cooldown reduction (Klein/Blade
Durandal/Elf Elysia) are a little more important if you mald in Memorial.
Getting replaced in part 2 with the Astral Ring / AstralOps system - while the ELFs are functional across p1/2
units, as time goes on and more Astral-compatible characters are released, they're going to fall off hard.
If you're a newfag, better to focus on AstralOp over ELF, if at all.
F2P ELFs
Jingwei's Wings
The first ELF you get in game, this is the gradual easing into the concept.
Pure healer type, slap the button, get a chunk of health back - very useful
in co-op, bleeding abyss, or mecha fire abyss to extend BR's health pool
for more Surtr PRI procs. Relatively cheap and convenient, so grind her out.
Blood Embrace
More expensive to upgrade than Jingwei, Blood Embrace is the F2P damage
ELF. Focuses on breaking shields, so useful physical comps or as a slot filler.
Unlike Jingwei, you will notice the damage spike if you can time the axe to
drop during a double Newt proc. Good for physical comps due to the way
shields cut phys damage.
P2W ELFs
Selune's Elegy
Ice damage ELF, ult locks enemies and does rime trauma, useful when dealing
with Huodou's phase switch. The extra ice damage taken is only 5% before 4 star
so she's mainly for adding some extra dps + freeze trauma during your BD/Newt
window. The convenience at 2 star is really minimal vs BB/HB w/Crusher.
Book of Fuxi
Probably the most useful out of the early P2W ELFs at 2 star - Fuxi is quite
good in generic elemental teams. Good elemental damage taken on ult, which
locks enemies inside to prevent any bs scattering while applying debuffs/dealing
damage. Also force triggers fire QTEs and gives a minor buff to the same.
Probably the most useful early p2w ELF at 2 star (Durandelf/ELFysia/Kiana are better
in general, outside of the lockdown,) since her area lock is a better Judah that
enemies normally can't teleport out of.
Tesla ZERO
Physical support and sub-sub-dps. Gives some extra physical damage to the team,
and her ult can bleed, which is what makes Darkstar/Holmes work. The problem is that
if you don't have Darkstar/Holmes, she really does nothing at 2 stars - 3 star has a
heavy attack and added physical vuln, but at that point, you could have pulled an S-rank.
Kit was gored due to being released with a spending event that let you exchange enough
frags to get 3 star if you pulled her first. 2-press ult for mechanical cheese.
Bella
Primarily for lightning teams, Bella is an electric support for minmaxing HoT teams -
since you want to front with HoT instead of AE, she gives a slightly higher multiplier
vs Fuxi's on ult. I'd say it's a wash at 2 star, but Fuxi has more broad usage. Dead to
Tuna ELF.
Water's Edge
Suction support ELF for ice teams - much better ice damage taken than Fuxi on
ult. Unlike Bella with HoT, Water's Edge at 2 star is significantly better for HoR fronted
teams than Fuxi. Bronie (HB) has suction on dodge, so even in HB/BD teams, not
mandatory. Also, ELFysia directly steals her niche as an ice gatherer. Given for free
in 6.5.
Sirin
Combination of Fuxi and Jingwei for fire types, bunk at 2 star, since Fuxi already
has a similar immobilization and Jingwei already heals enough to sustain BR
between rotations. Takes off heavily at 3 star, though, doubling the fire vuln
compared to Fuxi (was a spending event ELF, so go figure.) Dead to Tuna ELF.
Klein
Lightning support ELF, also has a mechanic that shaves 8 sec off switch
timers for super fast rotation - this really comes into its own at 3 star with the
ability to force lightning QTEs like Fuxi does with fire. 2021 Anniversary spending
event let you get enough frags to 3 star so long as you pulled her first. Probably
better to just get the Tuna ELF if you want a 'cheap' lightning support ELF.
Blade Durandal
Physical support ELF with suction ability - not super important due to all the CC
available from HoS/Carole's gloves/Zhuge. At least she gets all her utility at 2 star -
rank ups are just damage wankery. 3 lines and Durandelf already has more of a
personality. Replaced by Project Bunny, so don't pull for her anymore, but if you
have her, keep using her, unless you're a dumb whale.
Elf Elysia
Ice support with succ - essentially the same as the durandelf, but for ice. The
gather, debuff, and cooldown reduction are available out the gate, so she
works fully at 2 star.
Kiana
Universal element support Tuna ELF with succ, ult is a dual-element switching type
to take advantage of elemental damage taken debuffs from your valks. Out the
gate and good to go at 2 star, Fuxi is finally replaced (all the new suits with 2-3
QTE conditions make the forced fire QTE less desirable than before.)
Project Bunny
I guess we're truly into wave 4 of ELF creep. PB is an incremental upgrade from the
Dudu ELF, basically the same but with a faster (and thus more frequent) ult application
and better numbers. If you already have the dabber, you can skip, otherwise, PB's the
new physical main ELF.
Gear
Too much to list, but to be brief, all characters can be equipped with four types of gear: 1 weapon,
and 3 stigmata pieces ([T]op, [M]iddle, [B]ottom) When a character is released, they generally get a
bespoke set of equipment designed for them. Until later releases powercreep them, this gear is usually
the absolute best choice for them - at the very least, their motif weapons are nearly mandatory. You
can mix and match if you don't have a character's full set, but you lose out on the set-completion synergy
bonuses. Essentially, read the stigmata texts in the ingame encyclopedia, and look for similar effects on
farmable gear. Cross-link to a quick overview of the gear you can grind for: https://rentry.co/8r6bv
Part 2 changed how banners work, now you only need to get the weapon - all part 2 stigs can be forged.
They also added a whalebait, making it so you can combine two duplicates of the same weapon for added
buffs.
Crystals
The jewish lifeblood of the game. General income breakdown is roughly as follows:
(assumes post-lv 81 account - mihoyo'll push you there pretty fast these days.)
So, assuming post-81 Agony 3 retention and buying the monthly card and battle pass,
average income is ~10.5k/4wk. This isn't counting events or first clear
stage bonuses. F2Pers get about ~7.5k/4wk with agony 3 retention. Note that
this doesn't include event, stage, or seasonal rewards, so the numbers can end
up much higher.
If you have any intention to spend real money, monthly card is better compared
to just topping up if you need crystals (e.g. for upcoming pyramid costumes.) Card
gives 330 on purchase, with a similar cost to the 330 pack, but also gives 60/day for
30 days, with a 500 crystal drop every 15 days logged in. If you miss a day of login,
you will lose that second 500 crystal, so keep that in mind. You can also stack passes
if you need the initial 330 for a last second roll, but multiple passes only add to the
length of active time on your pass - you still only get 60/day.
Battle pass is the other low spending option, coming in three flavors, F2P, Knight
(Minnow), and Paladin (Whale). These passes give assorted items, crystals, and a
special currency (Lucion,) that can be used to purchase specific older gacha gear.
If you need a specific piece of gear that is currently on pass, it's always cheaper to
snipe with BP than trying to roll for it.
Lucion currently has a 4 patch cycle for hoarding and use, then a patch of grace at
the end for usage and limited conversion (8x) of the next cycle's color to the previous
color. This was obviously implemented to fuck with F2Ps, and keep them from getting
more than two items per cycle before losing it all at autoconvert, so keep an eye on
what's in the shop, and make certain you'll have enough to get what you want before
the grace period.
Monthly Card/Battle Pass Notes
With the increasing rate of suit/stig releases, and JewHoYo's current trend of creeping
(or at least subdividing roles) every six months, 15 pulls per patch with mocard isn't
going to be enough to even put a small dent in the costs given the rapid S-rank release
rate (if you want an upcoming pyramid skin though, go for it - 15$ is far more reasonable
that the 100 they normally cost.) BP is still good value if you actually need one of the
stigs/weapons/suits on offer, though.
Spending
Part 2
Part 2 is here, and as time goes on, Astral Ring units will become more and more
important. If you're a newfag, do yourself a favor and use your early gems to
get the Senadina team cheap. As long as you can get Sena, her weapon, and
Helia's weapon, you can grind whatever stigs you still need from their motif sets.
Adding in free Coralie, you get a lighting DPS, lightning support, and fire support
fully geared on the cheap.
Save your fucking gems starting out. It costs 28,000 to guarantee a new S-rank,
and while the guarantee carries over to the next banner (read the fucking small print
on the supply rules - e.g. EXPA/expansion only carry over the pity to S-rank, the internal
pity to A-rank resets when the banner rotates,) you'll have a far better time if you have
the newest powercreep. Later in the game (lv 80+,) you can be a bit profligate, but
without a solid base, it's going to suck.
When starting out, you will be baited with a reduced pity on the dorm gacha (25-
pulls for an S-rank, 2x.) While this looks good, it never goes away, and most of the
dorm suits are absolute crap these days. Only use the dorm cards you get when
doing your start-dash missions and as a monthly reward.
Land of wishes also exists in the bonus tab, letting you pick an old S-rank for a (roughly)
fixed sum of crystals. While it might seem like a good idea, these suits are mostly crap.
Note that while the LoW description implies you can get the egg early in the pool, it only
enters the pool within the last 10 pulls (so 90/100 on LoW1 and 70/80 on LoW2.) If you
really want to do LoW, remember to only do it after you get your two 25-pull dorm
valks - S-rank duplicates only give back 30-frags, while a new S-rank is worth 100 frags.
Note: To get Egg 2, you have to first clear Egg 1, so keep that in mind when deciding if it's worth it.
Valks Available in Land of Wishes
LoW 1 Egg
Knight Moonbeam / KMB
On call dodge, which is nice. Semi-useful with PRI Railguns,
but you'll have time to farm her before lv. 81.
Lightning Empress / LE
Big starting battery, best choice early-on. Support value outside the
battery has dropped thanks to Fish.
Dimension Breaker / DB
Avoid, unless you are going for Egg 2 and have both KMB and LE.
LoW 2 Egg
Blood Rose / BR
Single target fire dps, but needs SS-rank and PRI Surtr. Avoid unless you get
PX from dorm. Dead with HoF's release.
Goshinnso Memento / GM
Workable with her ice stick, shit without it. Needs SS-rank/Schro T/full Ana to do
damage. Avoid unless you don't want to use HoR.
Phoenix / PX
Was a no brainer, but now with all the specific element A-rank supports
available, less important. You'd be better off getting AE/HoTr instead.
With the current state of powercreep, IMO you should focus on getting a good NEW main DPS fully geared, then
some general support stigmatas (Turganev T+B are currently the most useful generics, grind them out, starting with
B) and farming fragments for whichever A-rank support works with your shiny new DPS. With how fast JewHoYo is
ramping the powercreep/char replacement rate, multi-use stigs/valks are a must.
Try to restrain your dumber whale urges, unless you just want a reason to shit up the thread at eos.
Gacha Odds
Probably best to note here that the odds JewHoYo gives for the stig gacha are almost certainly lies.
While they say that the odds are ~14%, that's per 10 pulls (incl. guarantee,) not per pull, so the real
per pull odds are much, much lower outside of the 10 pull guarantee - i.e. don't expect to regularly
get more than one rare stig/weapon drop per ten pulls.
Conversely, I'm almost certain that the valkyrie gacha is more generous than they let on. After years
of getting early S-ranks, I'm near certain that it's a 10% chance at the 10 pull guarantee to get the
S-rank on offer, unlike their other games, where you get dick-all until soft pity.
The part 2 banner odds are supposed to be fixed, will take a few patches to see.
Endgame
Abyss, Memorial, and Elysian Realm are the PvE endgame modes - most of your crystals will come
from Abyss and Elysian Realm after you deplete the story stages, and all of your S-rank farming is
done in memorial. Learn to cruise Youtube/Bilibili for whales flexing on Memorial bosses and try
to mimic with what you have. Search for "崩坏3" to find chinese tryhards - you can infer alot by
watching their memorial/abyss runs - just remember that depending on the damage windows, it
might not translate 1:1 to worse gear.
As far as Youtube talking heads, Wyverein is probably the most consistently informative as far as
what alternative stig sets work on upcoming suits.
When you get enough red stigmata resonators (from salvaging duplicate gacha/foundry stigmatas)
try to get at least one each of Pool Party Mei [M] and Newton [B] from the stigmata exchange. While
Mihoyo's been trying to phase them out for a while, they are still two of the better general use
support pieces, and can be used almost anywhere. Turganev was also added to the grindable pool,
so work towards a T+B 2pc (start with B, T is worthless without it.)
Don't get sucked in to the idea that you need just one more piece of equipment to be good. This
game needs a deep roster of gear for the endgame, blowing out for one piece of gear is moronic.
Remember that this is a gacha game - if you get too locked on one thing, you get right fucked for
over focusing. Watch the chat messages for the general state of the rng seed - if you see nothing Fuckers removed the info stream so prng can
but offrates, you're probably going to get fucked.
fuck your ass.
-
Notes
Links are in the thread header - use them.
Don't feed the schizos
You will be thrown into the endgame unprepared, you will lose points, and you will be happy
Shit changes fast these days, so always get multiple opinions.
Split rate ups are the devil.
Stop fucking rezzing with crystals.
60fps law, damage numbers off.
Join an armada (play the Sim Battle, you lazy faggots.)
Do your fucking cadet missions.
You Lost, see line 1.