The Final VERDICT on Himeko Nova - Best Teams and Investments! — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00With Himiko Novas beta wrapping up, it's
2. 0:02time for us to take one last look at her
3. 0:03kit and how she ended up. Did she make
4. 0:05it out of the beta alive? What is her
5. 0:06general power level relative to other
6. 0:08DPS's? What are her best teams? What is
7. 0:10the final verdict on Himiko Nova? Well,
8. 0:13that's what we're going to discuss
9. 0:14today. I have a video covering how
10. 0:15Himiko Novas kit works and while this
11. 0:17was made during the V1 of her beta cycle
12. 0:20and thus many of the numbers from that
13. 0:22video have all changed, the general
14. 0:23function of her kit has remained the
15. 0:25same. So, you can check out that video
16. 0:26for a more in-depth explanation of her
17. 0:28kit. To keep things short, Himiko Novas
18. 0:30play style revolves around her assist
19. 0:32skills, an extra button that she gives
20. 0:33to every character on the team, very
21. 0:35similar to the extra button we can use
22. 0:37during weekly boss fights, such as
23. 0:38summoning the train against Sunday or
24. 0:40summoning Hyacinth against Aquila. Any
25. 0:42ally can trigger the assist skill on
26. 0:43their turn. Albeit, you only get one use
27. 0:45of the assist skill before Himiko needs
28. 0:47to take a turn to refresh it and the
29. 0:49assist skill will consume the active
30. 0:50character's turn unless the character is
31. 0:52an Astral Express teammate, wherein they
32. 0:53instead get an extra turn after using
33. 0:55the assist skill. Himiko's assist skill
34. 0:57summons her giant robot to do big damage
35. 0:59and this is where the majority of her
36. 1:01damage comes from, aside from her
37. 1:02ultimate, which is another big nuke of
38. 1:04damage from the robot. Himiko Nova
39. 1:06really benefits from pairing up with
40. 1:07Astral Express teammates and the
41. 1:08benefits she gets changes depending on
42. 1:11which of them she teams up with. Welt,
43. 1:12the March's and original Himiko will
44. 1:15trigger Himiko's Decimation Mode, which
45. 1:16mainly focuses on buffing her assist
46. 1:18skill damage and buffing the team's crit
47. 1:19damage, while the rest of the Astral
48. 1:21Express crew, like Sunday, the
49. 1:22Trailblazers and the Dan Hengs will
50. 1:24trigger Himiko's Verdict Mode, which
51. 1:26mainly focuses on buffing her ultimate
52. 1:28damage. All of Himiko's team building
53. 1:30will revolve around selecting which of
54. 1:31her modes you want to play her in and
55. 1:33which teammates you want to trigger her
56. 1:34assist skills. Since only one teammate
57. 1:36can trigger an assist skill before
58. 1:37Himiko needs to take a turn to refresh
59. 1:39this usage. Decimation is inherently
60. 1:41dependent on having multiple enemies on
61. 1:43the field since it depends on the total
62. 1:45enemy hit count in order to trigger her
63. 1:47extra assist skills from her Decimation
64. 1:48Mode. Because of this, anytime you're in
65. 1:50a strictly single target scenario, for
66. 1:52example, against regular Sam, you're
67. 1:54almost always going to default to
68. 1:56playing Verdict instead. But, what do
69. 1:57her Decimation and Verdict teams look
70. 1:59like? For starters, let's go over the
71. 2:01different possible options in a Himiko
72. 2:02Nova team and what they're all offering.
73. 2:04Himiko Nova herself is obviously going
74. 2:06to be the main DPS of her own team.
75. 2:08While she does bring a bit of team
76. 2:10buffing, you would hardly ever use her
77. 2:11as anything other than a hypercarry.
78. 2:13Then, there's the sustain option that is
79. 2:15also not changing outside of niche
80. 2:16sustain-less scenarios. Himiko's two
81. 2:18main sustain options will be Dan Heng PT
82. 2:21or Huohuo, both of whom have been
83. 2:22obtainable for free at different points.
84. 2:24And both of whom have their own specific
85. 2:26teammate synergies that can make them
86. 2:28more valuable than the other. So, let's
87. 2:29go over those other teammates before we
88. 2:31come back to the sustain discussion.
89. 2:32First off, Himiko Nova will almost
90. 2:34always want one other Astral Express
91. 2:36teammate even if Dan Heng PT is on the
92. 2:38team. Due to the limited options, the
93. 2:40only ones that really stand out as being
94. 2:42powerful enough hypercarry supports are
95. 2:43Sunday, RMC, and Welt. Sunday brings
96. 2:46consistent action advancing at the
97. 2:48expense of underwhelming damage
98. 2:49amplification. RMC brings solid buffing
99. 2:52through true damage and memetic hacks to
100. 2:53help charge Decimation if need be at the
101. 2:55expense of less reliable action
102. 2:57advances. And Welt just brings really
103. 2:59strong general buffs at the expense of
104. 3:01no action advance whatsoever. Each of
105. 3:03them are strong in their own right, and
106. 3:05the way you pick between these three is
107. 3:06sort of dependent on who your last
108. 3:08support slot is and the enemies you're
109. 3:10fighting. So, who are our options for
110. 3:12the last support slot and how do they
111. 3:14help us round out the rest of the team?
112. 3:15First off, all of the characters in the
113. 3:17Astral Express teammate slot can
114. 3:19actually also go in this last support
115. 3:21slot, meaning you can just mix and match
116. 3:22between the trio of Welt, Sunday, and
117. 3:24RMC in order to make a team. This isn't
118. 3:26going to be the best team, but it
119. 3:28technically is an option. Outside of
120. 3:30Sunday and RMC, I would never run these
121. 3:32two together because Sunday burns
122. 3:34through RMC's true damage buff turns so
123. 3:36fast, and the action advances can be a
124. 3:38bit unreliable. However, generally your
125. 3:40best options for this last teammate slot
126. 3:42is going to be between Sparkle and
127. 3:44Martenax Blade. Despite not being Astral
128. 3:46Express members, Sparkle and Martenax
129. 3:48Blade are just generally strong enough
130. 3:49characters to brute force their way onto
131. 3:51the Himiko team due to having such high
132. 3:53buffing potential. Not to mention
133. 3:55Sparkle's action advance and Misha's
134. 3:56Blade's high hit count to stack
135. 3:58Decimation just leads to these two
136. 4:00characters having a lot of extra utility
137. 4:02for Himiko as well. Thus, generally, I
138. 4:04would recommend your Himiko Nova team to
139. 4:06look like this. Himiko Nova, one of the
140. 4:08Astral Express supports of your
141. 4:09choosing. We'll talk about who excels
142. 4:11where in a second. One of the non-Astral
143. 4:13Express supports between Sparkle and
144. 4:14Blade. And then lastly, your sustain
145. 4:16choice between Dan Heng PT and Huohuo.
146. 4:19Huohuo is only noticeably better than
147. 4:20Dan Heng specifically if you're using
148. 4:22Misha's Blade since Blade obviously
149. 4:24requires healing that Dan Heng cannot
150. 4:26provide. So, in a sense, you could say
151. 4:28the choice between Dan Heng and Huohuo
152. 4:29is intrinsically tied to the Sparkle and
153. 4:31Blade slot respectively. And your
154. 4:33pairings in the third and fourth slot of
155. 4:35the team will almost always go hand in
156. 4:37hand. Yes, you can absolutely use other
157. 4:39characters in this final slot if you
158. 4:41require Sparkle and Blade on other
159. 4:42teams, which is understandable given how
160. 4:44many characters want these two nowadays,
161. 4:46or if you don't have either of them. But
162. 4:48just know that other variations will be
163. 4:49generally worse at equal investment. Dan
164. 4:51Heng PT and Huohuo are also a lot more
165. 4:53interchangeable in teams without Sparkle
166. 4:55or Misha's Blade. So, let's go over the
167. 4:58synergy between the different Astral
168. 4:59Express members and their non-Express
169. 5:01pairings. First up is the obvious Welt
170. 5:03and Blade duo. This team plays as solo
171. 5:05Decimation since you're forced to bring
172. 5:07Huohuo with Misha's Blade and thus you
173. 5:09have no way of triggering Verdict. But
174. 5:10that's okay. The powerful buffs between
175. 5:12Welt and Misha's Blade are enough to
176. 5:14make up for the loss of Verdict. The
177. 5:16defense shred stacking between these two
178. 5:17is really strong and you actually reach
179. 5:19100% defense shred if you add on Himiko
180. 5:21Nova's light cone. On top of this, Welt
181. 5:23activates the additional ultimate damage
182. 5:25buff from Misha's Blade's double
183. 5:26Nihility trace, furthering his buffing
184. 5:28potential and really rounding out the
185. 5:29synergy between these two for Himiko
186. 5:31Nova. Now, it should be noted that Welt
187. 5:34does have a pretty hefty power spike
188. 5:35when he's E4. And without his E4, he is
189. 5:38going to fall behind a lot of these
190. 5:39other teams. Welt's debuffs are strong
191. 5:41prior to E4 still, but he's just not
192. 5:43bringing enough to really make make
193. 5:45worth it compared to Sunday and RMC
194. 5:47having action advances. Not to mention
195. 5:48if your Welt doesn't have E2, his energy
196. 5:51can also be a bit rough. Welt's main
197. 5:52extra utility outside of his buffing
198. 5:54comes from his ability to enable
199. 5:56sustain-less runs to be a lot safer due
200. 5:58to action delaying enemies. But if
201. 5:59you're always going to be running a
202. 6:00sustain anyway, that extra utility from
203. 6:03Welt isn't really being used and can
204. 6:05often times even be a detriment due to
205. 6:07no longer allowing the team to get hit
206. 6:08for energy or for Welt to next blade to
207. 6:10get hit for charge or stalling on enemy
208. 6:12mechanics for too long or etc. You can
209. 6:14see why Welt's action delay can be
210. 6:16problematic if not being used for
211. 6:18sustain-less clears. Again, Welt is
212. 6:20still good, especially at E4, but there
213. 6:23has been this narrative that Himeko
214. 6:24heavily relies on an E4 Welt in order to
215. 6:27perform well and that just isn't true at
216. 6:29all. Even when Welt is E4, there are
217. 6:31still other characters that are capable
218. 6:32of replacing him. Now, in this team
219. 6:34specifically when pairing up with Welt
220. 6:36to next blade, Welt and blade synergy
221. 6:38with each other is part of what makes it
222. 6:39really shine. So, it's not going to
223. 6:41perform as well if you replace Welt with
224. 6:43RMC or Sunday here. Unless you also
225. 6:45replace Welt to next blade. In that
226. 6:47sense, I would say Welt to next blade is
227. 6:48mainly tied to Welt, aka blade is mainly
228. 6:51just a decimation teammate for Himeko.
229. 6:53You can play Welt with Sparkle as
230. 6:55another decimation team and this team
231. 6:57also allows you to use Dan Hung to
232. 6:58enable verdict as well, but there just
233. 7:00isn't as much natural synergy between
234. 7:02Sparkle and Welt. The team will still
235. 7:04perform fine, of course. Naturally, if
236. 7:06you replace Welt with RMC or Sunday,
237. 7:08then the team is going to end up being a
238. 7:09solo verdict team since Welt is the
239. 7:11literal only worthwhile teammate for
240. 7:13triggering the decimation state for
241. 7:14Himeko. Like I said earlier, if you're
242. 7:16going to play RMC or Sunday, then you'll
243. 7:18generally replace Welt to next blade
244. 7:20with Sparkle in the last team slot
245. 7:21instead. Just like with solo decimation,
246. 7:23running a solo verdict team is still
247. 7:25worth the loss of the decimation state
248. 7:27just because the character synergies are
249. 7:28strong enough. The constant and
250. 7:30consistent action advances between
251. 7:31Sparkle and Sunday or RMC gives the team
252. 7:34a lot of constant turns and constant
253. 7:35assist skills. So long as you have Dan
254. 7:37Hung PT on the team to help consume the
255. 7:39assist skills given how many turns
256. 7:41Himeko is going to be The Sparkle and
257. 7:42Sunday pairing really doesn't need any
258. 7:44introduction for being a standard
259. 7:46hypercarry setup. And they especially
260. 7:47felt like the best go-to baseline team
261. 7:49for Himiko Nova, unless you're in a
262. 7:51matchup that specifically favors the
263. 7:52Welt and Bronya and Blade Decimation
264. 7:54team instead. For most people,
265. 7:56especially at lower investment, I would
266. 7:57expect this team to be their best
267. 7:59performing team based on my own testing.
268. 8:01So, in general, we have the Decimation
269. 8:03team and the Verdict teams separated
270. 8:05depending on enemy matchup. Again,
271. 8:07technically you can mix and match the
272. 8:09Astral Express teammates instead in
273. 8:10order to activate both Decimation and
274. 8:12Verdict, but the synergies between these
275. 8:14characters is just a little too
276. 8:15underwhelming despite the fact that you
277. 8:17would think that having the ability to
278. 8:18switch between Decimation and Verdict
279. 8:20states would be her best playstyle. It
280. 8:22really does feel like it should be, but
281. 8:24as of right now, that just isn't the
282. 8:25case outside of sustainless setups. I
283. 8:27will give an honorable mention to March
284. 8:297th the Hunt for being capable of
285. 8:31enabling some funny stuff with Himiko in
286. 8:32certain matchups and in sustainless
287. 8:34teams, especially when Himiko is E2, but
288. 8:36realistically nobody is playing this, so
289. 8:39I don't want to muddy up the waters of
290. 8:40this video by going into it too much.
291. 8:42The generalist support slot of Blade and
292. 8:44Sparkle can also be taken up by other
293. 8:46generalist supports like Tri Bi or even
294. 8:48Сереdra, who especially gets better with
295. 8:50Himiko when Himiko is E2, since Сереdra
296. 8:52can duplicate an assist skill, but
297. 8:54they're just generally not better than
298. 8:55other options when Himiko is E0. So, in
299. 8:58essence, Himiko's teams will look
300. 9:00something like this with the ability to
301. 9:01mix and match supports depending on who
302. 9:03you have available and what the matchup
303. 9:05is going to be. In terms of performance,
304. 9:06she's generally going to do best with
305. 9:08solo Decimation, so Welt with Blade
306. 9:11against AoE matchups, or you'll run
307. 9:12Sparkle Sunday for solo Verdict. Again,
308. 9:14mix and match supports as required
309. 9:16depending on what you have available.
310. 9:18Himiko is generally a pretty flexible
311. 9:20character. Now, let's address the
312. 9:22elephant in the room. Himiko's best
313. 9:23teammate is actually herself. She is
314. 9:26very similar to Finna on in that if you
315. 9:28want to maximize your Himiko team, the
316. 9:29most important thing is to vertically
317. 9:31invest into Himiko herself rather than
318. 9:33focusing on getting any specific
319. 9:35teammates for her. Partially due to her
320. 9:37ability to already utilize free or
321. 9:39accessible supports. Himiko's E1
322. 9:41increases the maximum amount of assist
323. 9:43skills she can trigger, as well as
324. 9:44reducing the requirement to trigger said
325. 9:46assist skills. And her E2 allows
326. 9:48teammates aside from Astral Express
327. 9:49teammates to also get extra turns when
328. 9:51triggering her assist skills, while also
329. 9:53just massively buffing her damage and
330. 9:54giving her teammates an extra use of her
331. 9:56assist skill. The way these early
332. 9:58Eidolons completely warp the way Himiko
333. 10:00feels to play, smoothing out her assist
334. 10:02skill rotations and buffing her damage,
335. 10:04makes them incredibly powerful for her.
336. 10:06On top of this, Himiko's signature light
337. 10:08cone is also one of the largest stat
338. 10:09sticks we've ever had in the game for
339. 10:11any single character, giving a total of
340. 10:1332% defense shred, 60% damage bonus for
341. 10:15her entire kit, high base attack, and as
342. 10:17if that wasn't enough, it also provides
343. 10:19more energy on her assist skills to
344. 10:21smooth and out her rotation. Himiko's
345. 10:22vertical investments are so powerful.
346. 10:25This, of course, has gotten her many
347. 10:26comparisons to Finon, who is notorious
348. 10:28for being reliant on his E2 and to a
349. 10:30lesser degree his S1. So, is Himiko an
350. 10:33E2 merchant like Finon? Well, don't
351. 10:36think of Himiko as being the same as
352. 10:37current Finon in terms of her reliance
353. 10:39on her E2 in order to perform. Himiko
354. 10:41does not need her E2 in order to perform
355. 10:44well, on release at least. Himiko's base
356. 10:46kit is strong enough that you don't have
357. 10:48to feel pressured to vertically invest
358. 10:49into her if you aren't able to. But, her
359. 10:52E2 and S1 are massive power spikes, and
360. 10:54if she does eventually end up falling
361. 10:56off, I can definitely see a world where
362. 10:57she becomes similar to Finon due to how
363. 10:59much of a high priority her E2 and S1
364. 11:01are for her compared to any of her
365. 11:03teammates. This is also due to Himiko
366. 11:05likely not getting many other teammates
367. 11:07in the near future. There is a chance
368. 11:09some future characters can buff Himiko,
369. 11:10such as the upcoming Robin or
370. 11:12potentially even a Sunday Nova Flare,
371. 11:13but none of these things are guaranteed.
372. 11:15And thus, Himiko ends up in a similar
373. 11:17situation as Finon, where the best way
374. 11:19to build a Himiko team is to rely on
375. 11:21Himiko herself and her own vertical
376. 11:22investments. So, how do you vertically
377. 11:25invest into Himiko? She is, once again,
378. 11:28very similar to Finon. If you can reach
379. 11:29Himiko's E2, then you rush straight
380. 11:32there. However, if you can only get one
381. 11:34extra cost for Himiko between her E1 or
382. 11:36her S1, and you won't be able to make it
383. 11:38all the way to her E2, then just go for
384. 11:39her S1 instead. Himiko's E1 is not bad
385. 11:42by any means. In fact, it's a lot better
386. 11:44than most other DPS E1s. It's just that
387. 11:46her S1 is very strong and doesn't have
388. 11:48very many alternatives. The one
389. 11:50exception to this would be if you have
390. 11:52the Herta's light cone, which isn't
391. 11:53necessarily all that close to Himiko's
392. 11:55S1, but Herta's signature light cone is
393. 11:57good enough to where you can go for
394. 11:58Himiko's E1 instead of Himiko's S1 if
395. 12:00you have Herta's light cone, especially
396. 12:02since you are then one step closer
397. 12:04towards Himiko's E2. So, in terms of
398. 12:06Himiko's team building, you can refer to
399. 12:08the guide from earlier. But in terms of
400. 12:09Himiko investment, the best way to build
401. 12:11a Himiko team is to always bet on Himiko
402. 12:14herself. Again, if you can't invest
403. 12:15further into Himiko beyond E0, don't
404. 12:17worry, she will perform perfectly fine
405. 12:19on release. And then you can always
406. 12:21worry about getting her vertical
407. 12:22investment break points on her rerun if
408. 12:24she does start to struggle, similarly to
409. 12:26how Finana did. So don't feel the need
410. 12:27to rush to vertically invest in her
411. 12:29right away on her first banner if you
412. 12:30want to save pulls. Now, how does Himiko
413. 12:33Nova compare to other current DPSs? She
414. 12:35is arguably going to be the best DPS in
415. 12:37the game on her release, definitively in
416. 12:39the top three. So I don't think you need
417. 12:40to worry about her power level when she
418. 12:42releases. My main concern with Himiko is
419. 12:44the potential lack of supports. This
420. 12:46wouldn't be an issue if we didn't know
421. 12:47about future upcoming characters, but we
422. 12:49do know that Robin is coming out as a
423. 12:51buff for Remembrance teams, Aventurine
424. 12:53is coming out as a buff for either
425. 12:55Elation teams or Follow-up Attack teams,
426. 12:57which are already competing with Himiko
427. 12:58with just Ashblazing and Blade. And then
428. 13:00Pearl and Nihility will also be coming
429. 13:02out eventually, presumably for Elation
430. 13:03teams. So we know all the other main
431. 13:06relevant team archetypes competing with
432. 13:08Himiko are for sure going to get
433. 13:09upgrades, whereas Himiko doesn't seem to
434. 13:11have any new character releases on the
435. 13:13horizon. This doesn't mean Himiko is
436. 13:15going to start falling behind the other
437. 13:16teams necessarily. This just means she
438. 13:18might become more reliant on her own
439. 13:20vertical investments, just like Finana
440. 13:22did, if she gets no new teammates while
441. 13:24all the other teams do get new
442. 13:25teammates, which we already discussed
443. 13:26before. So, just be mindful of that in
444. 13:28the future. Besides, it isn't
445. 13:30necessarily bad for him to go to have
446. 13:31very powerful vertical investments in
447. 13:33place of having new teammates released
448. 13:35for her, especially for people who are
449. 13:36just really big fans of Himiko and would
450. 13:38prefer to just invest into her own
451. 13:40Eidolons over anything else. All in all,
452. 13:42my final verdict on Himiko Nova is that
453. 13:44on release, she's going to be a very
454. 13:46strong character. And if you are pulling
455. 13:48for her, you'll be pretty happy with her
456. 13:49performance. She has a variety of
457. 13:51different teammates that she can mix and
458. 13:52match between for similar results. And a
459. 13:54lot of these teammates are either very
460. 13:55accessible or very generally supports
461. 13:58that a lot of accounts have anyway.
462. 13:59Meaning the chances of your account
463. 14:01having a team for Himiko is pretty
464. 14:02likely, leaving ample room for you to
465. 14:04focus on her own vertical investments,
466. 14:06which is the main way to invest into
467. 14:07Himiko teams to begin with. I think
468. 14:09Himiko fans will be pretty happy with
469. 14:11the treatment Himiko has gotten both in
470. 14:12terms of gameplay and story presence.
471. 14:14She absolutely feels like the Finality
472. 14:16of Plan Arcadia in every sense, which is
473. 14:18the comparison you absolutely want. And
474. 14:20it's very fitting that this treatment
475. 14:21would go to none other than our mother
476. 14:23of the Astral Express, who has been by
477. 14:25our side since day one. But, what are
478. 14:26your opinions on Himiko Nova and how she
479. 14:28turned out? Do you have any strong
480. 14:29opinions on her comparisons to Finality,
481. 14:31especially with her Eidolons being the
482. 14:33best and potentially the only real way
483. 14:35to invest further into her teams? Which
484. 14:36teammates are you planning on using with
485. 14:38her? If you're pulling for her, let me
486. 14:39know in the comments below. And if you
487. 14:41need any further advice on her team
488. 14:42building or investment path, ask away
489. 14:44and I'll do my best to answer. While
490. 14:45you're at it, like the video if you
491. 14:47found it helpful or enjoyable at all.
492. 14:48There will definitely be more HSR
493. 14:50content coming, especially for the
494. 14:51upcoming characters of Robin and
495. 14:53Aventurine. I plan to do a lot of
496. 14:55content covering Aventurine especially.
497. 14:57So, be sure to subscribe to the channel
498. 14:58so you don't miss out on that. Thank you
499. 15:00so much for watching. And with all of
500. 15:01that said, until next time.