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Honkai: Star Rail: Robin guide – best relics, teams, and light cones

Posted on 14 de May de 202416 de May de 2024 by watchgamesystem.com

Robin is a Physical support character from The Harmony. She increases all allies’ ATK, scaling based on her ATK, and CRIT DMG. While in Concerto state, her ultimate, she becomes unable to act, but becomes immune to Crowd Control and advances all allies’ actions, besides dealing additional Physical damage to enemies after every ally attack. Robin regenerates energy after allies’ attacks and, using her technique, at the start of each wave. This helps to ensure a consistent use of her ultimate.

Moveset

The numbers below consider the character to be at max traces without Eidolons.

Basic ATK – Wingflip White Noise | Single Target: Deals Physical DMG equal to 100% of Robin’s ATK to a single target enemy.

Skill – Pinion’s Aria | Support: Increase DMG dealt by all allies by 50%, lasting for 3 turn(s). This duration decreases by 1 at the start of Robin’s every turn.

The 3-turn duration should be enough to use the ultimate multiple times with 1 skill activation in some cases. A good build should allow a consistent Skill > Basic > Basic > Ult.

Talent – Tonal Resonance | Support: Increase all allies’ CRIT DMG by 20%. Moreover, after allies attack enemy targets, Robin additionally regenerates 2 Energy for herself.

This talent makes Robin especially good on teams with follow-up attacks since the more attacks, the easier it is to reach her ultimate.

Ultimate – Vox Harmonique, Opus Cosmique | Support | 160 energy cost: Robin enters the Concerto state and makes all other allies immediately take action.

When in the Concerto state, increase all allies’ ATK by 22.8% of Robin’s ATK plus 200. Moreover, after every attack by allies, Robin deals Additional Physical DMG equal to 120% of her ATK 1 time, with a fixed CRIT Rate for this damage set at 100% and fixed CRIT DMG set at 150%.

When in the Concerto state, Robin is immune to Crowd Control debuffs, and cannot enter her turn or take action until Concerto state ends.

A Concerto countdown appears on the Action Order bar. When the countdown’s turn begins, Robin exits the Concerto state and immediately takes action. The countdown has its own fixed SPD of 90.

The main point of Robin`s kit. You usually want to use Concerto after your allies finish acting since it advances their actions. While in Concerto, Robin doesn’t act until it ends. That means her skill turn countdown will not go down while her ultimate is active, allowing for multiple ultimate usages with a single skill activation if wanted. In most battles, when changing waves, the Action Order is reset, which means that Concerto will go back to the beginning of the Action Order allowing for prolonged use. Since Robin wants to be in Concerto as much as possible and has a considerable energy cost, the best position for her is in the middle of the team, specifically next to your sustain character if they have a way to attract attacks, such as Gepard’s Light Cone effects, which increases the chance of the wearer being attacked. This way, AOE attacks will also hit Robin, regenerating more energy.

Technique – Overture of Inebriation | Support: After using Technique, creates a dimension around the character that lasts for 15 seconds. Enemies within this dimension will not attack Robin and will follow Robin while the dimension is active. After entering battle while the dimension is active, Robin regenerates 5 Energy at the start of each wave. Only 1 dimension created by allies can exist at the same time.

While testing, I didn`t see usage for the enemies following Robin part, however, the 5 energy at the start of each wave is nice, another way to help reach Concerto. The only other characters with a dimension as their technique are Welt and Himeko, not present in Robin’s best teams, but I would prioritize Robin’s dimension anyway.

Major Traces

A2 – Coloratura Cadenza: When the battle begins, this character’s action is Advanced Forward by 25%.

This major trace is extremely important. It allows you to run ATK% boots on Robin for better support on all of her skills and she will still be the first to act on the fight, allowing for a skill usage before the ultimate. I tested a 105 SPD Robin with ATK% boots and she was always my first character to act. However, you will need 120 SPD to get access to the full Planar Ornament Buffs.

A4 – Impromptu Flourish: While the Concerto state is active, the CRIT DMG dealt when all allies launch follow-up attacks increases by 25%.

This trace locks her full potential on a follow-up team, which is the team that synergizes with her the best, however limiting mechanics are not great, but most characters in Honkai: Star Rail have mechanics like this. That being said, the rest of her kit compensates the 25% CIRT DMG you will lose for running her on other teams.

A6 – Sequential Passage: When using Skill, additionally regenerates 5 Energy.

A simple trace to reach the ultimate faster.

Eidolons

E1 – Land of Smiles: While the Concerto state is active, all allies’ All-Type RES PEN increases by 24%

This Eidolon makes all allies do more elemental damage. It’s an extremely high percentage. For comparison, Ruan Mei’s ultimate, at LvL 12, gives 27% All-Type RES PEN. A very good Eidolon.

E2 – Afternoon Tea For Two: While the Concerto state is active, all allies’ SPD increases by 16%. The Talent’s Energy Regeneration effect additionally increases by 1.

Another great Eidolon. More SPD for allies means more actions during Concerto, which converts to more damage and more energy for Robin. Also, it increases her talent’s energy regeneration from allies’ attacks by one, increasing even more this Eidolon value.

E3 – Inverted Tuning: Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.

E4 – Raindrop Key: When using the Ultimate, dispels Crowd Control debuffs from all allies. While Robin is in the Concerto state, increases the Effect RES of all allies by 50%.

One more to the list. While testing, I found myself in situations where I wished Robin could dispel Crowd Control debuffs, and there it is. Also, the 50% Effect RES fits perfectly with Aventurine, the best sustain unit to be used with her, and also gives 50% Effect RES through his talent.

E5 – Lonestar’s Lament: Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10. Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.

E6 – Moonless Midnight: While the Concerto state is active, the CRIT DMG of the Additional Physical DMG caused by the Ultimate increases by 450%. The effect of Moonless Midnight can trigger up to 8 time(s). And the trigger count resets each time the Ultimate is used.

To wrap it up, another incredible Eidolon. The Physical damage dealt by Robin’s ultimate is 120%. This Eidolon increases the additional Physical damage by 450%. That means the damage will now be 570%. Almost 5 times the normal damage up to 8 times for ultimate.

Light Cones

Flowing Nightglow \| The Harmony

Every time any ally attacks, the wearer gains 1 stack of Cantillation. Each stack of Cantillation increases the wearer’s Energy Regeneration Rate by 3/3.5/4/4.5/5%, stacking up to 5 times. When the wearer uses their Ultimate, removes Cantillation and gains Cadenza. Cadenza increases the Wearer’s ATK by 48/60/72/84/96% and all allies’ DMG dealt by 24/28/32/36/40%, lasting for 1 turn(s).

Robin’s Signature Ligh Cone and her best option, giving energy restoration and increasing ATK and allied DMG upon using the ultimate, besides having an above-average ATK stat.

But the Battle Isn’t Over \| The Harmony

Increases the wearer’s Energy Regeneration Rate by 10/12/14/16/18% and regenerates 1 Skill Point when the wearer casts their Ultimate on an ally. This effect can be triggered after every 2 uses of the wearer’s Ultimate. When the wearer uses their Skill, the next ally taking action (except the wearer) deals 30/35/40/45/50% more DMG for 1 turn(s).

Bronya’s Signature Light Cone. Provides more energy restoration and 1 skill point when using the ultimate. However, it doesn’t give any ATK and only buffs the next ally after using the skill. Besides, it gives less ATK and more HP in terms of stats.

For Tomorrow’s Journey \| The Harmony

Increases the wearer’s ATK by 16/20/24/28/32%. After the wearer uses their Ultimate, increases their DMG dealt by 18/21/24/27/30%, lasting for 1 turn.

Offers overall considerably less damage than Robin’s Signature and no energy restoration, however, it’s a viable F2P option, providing ATK, teamwide buffs, and ATK stat comparable to Bronya’s Signature.

Carve the Moon, Weave the Clouds \| The Harmony

At the start of the battle and whenever the wearer’s turn begins, one of the following effects is applied randomly: All allies’ ATK increases by 10/12.5/15/17.5/20%, all allies’ CRIT DMG increases by 12/15/18/21/24%, or all allies’ Energy Regeneration Rate increases by 6/7.5/9/10.5/12%. The applied effect cannot be identical to the last effect applied, and will replace the previous effect. The applied effect will be removed when the wearer has been knocked down. Effects of the similar type cannot be stacked.

One of the last case scenario options. It has potential, giving energy restoration, ATK, and CRIT DMG to the team, however, the fact that it’s RNG-based makes it unreliable. However, all three stats can be good in the correct situation for Robin and her team.

Meshing Cogs \| The Harmony

After the wearer uses attacks or gets hit, additionally regenerates 4/5/6/7/8 Energy. This effect can only be triggered 1 time per turn.

A more reliable option than Carve the Moon, Weave the Clouds, generating energy every time Robin attacks and gets hit, however, being a 3-star Ligh Cone, it provides fewer base stats.

Relics

2-Piece Effect	Increases Physical DMG by 10%.
4-Piece Effect	After the wearer attacks or is hit, their ATK increases by 5% for the rest of the battle. This effect can stack up to 5 time(s).

The best set for Robin when fully stacked. It gives 25% ATK and 10% Physical Damage, surpassing all other options. However, you need to either, attack or get hit 5 times with Robin. Now, in a good run, you will attack little with her, which leaves us with getting hit. Depending on who you are fighting against that can be easier or harder. From my testing, it seems harder than it actually is. I tested it on MoC and got the 5 stacks easily every time, it’s just a matter of positioning your Robin correctly.

Musketeer of Wild Wheat 2-Piece Effect	ATK increases by 12%.
Prisoner in Deep Confinement 2-Piece Effect	Increases ATK by 12%.

24% ATK increase. Great overall for Robin’s scaling.

2-Piece Effect	ATK increases by 12%.
4-Piece Effect	The wearer’s SPD increases by 6% and Basic ATK DMG increases by 10%.

An option if you want to run ATK% boots and your Robin is not acting first or not reaching 120 SPD for the Planar Ornament buffs, or if you want a higher speed Robin.

Musketeer of Wild Wheat 2-Piece Effect	ATK increases by 12%.
Messenger Traversing Hackerspace 2-Piece Effect	Increases SPD by 6%.

Gives basically the same as a full Musketeer of Wild Wheat, but this option can be used if you have better substats.

Planar Ornaments

Space Sealing Station

Increases the wearer’s ATK by 12%. When the wearer’s SPD reaches 120 or higher, the wearer’s ATK increases by an extra 12%.

A pure offensive option, providing 24% extra ATK. Though You will have to use SPD% boots or be lucky on your substats.

Fleet of the Ageless

Increases the wearer’s Max HP by 12%. When the wearer’s SPD reaches 120 or higher, all allies’ ATK increases by 8%.

A more defensive option that gives a teamwide buff. The SPD% boots also apply.



Increases wearer’s Energy Regeneration Rate by 5%. Increases DMG for all other allies with the same DMG Type as the wearer by 10%.

A niche option. Gives energy regeneration, however, it buffs only Physical DMG allies which are not very common, especially not in Robin’s best teams.

Firmament Frontline: Glamoth

Increases the wearer’s ATK by 12%. When the wearer’s SPD is equal to or higher than 135/160, the wearer deals 12%/18% more DMG.

The set that gives the most damage. However, I find it quite difficult to reach such high speeds and Robin doesn’t need to be so fast.

Broken Keel

Increases the wearer’s Effect RES by 10%. When the wearer’s Effect RES is at 30% or higher, all allies’ CRIT DMG increases by 10%.

The worst option. I would only use this if I had Robin’s E4, which gives 50% Effect RES upon casting the ultimate, so you don’t need to build her around that. However, if you have her at such a high Eidolon I would try to get something better.

Relic Stats

As for the relic stats, you will want an ATK% body, ATK%/Physical DMG Planar Sphere, and an Energy Regen Link Rope. For boots, if you have 120 SPD without boots, the best option is to go ATK%, else go SPD%. This is because all of her best Planar Ornaments require 120 SPD. The substats you are looking for are ATK% > SPD > HP% = DEF%.

Teams

Follow-up attack team

Robin’s best team. Here, she will see easier ult activations and the most Concerto damage, thanks to all allies performing follow-up attacks. Besides, this team is very tanky, since Aventurine’s follow-up is reached easily, shielding the whole team and allowing Robin to safely take hits.

DOT team

Robin can replace Ruan Mei on the DOT team, utilizing HuoHuo’s energy regeneration and Kafka’s follow-up attacks. Unfortunately, I don’t have a DOT team to showcase here.

Acheron Nihility team

Robin can replace one of the Nihility units on this team, especially if you have Acheron at E2. However, since there are no follow-up attacks, the difference in Concerto damage is noticeable. This is more of an option if you don’t have Silver Wolf or Black Swan for the original team or have Robin at a high Eidolon since she will compensate for some flaws.

Robin is definitely a top-tier support, one of the pillars of the follow-up team. It’s hard to compare with other top-tier supports since they fulfill different roles, but I find it insane that she has a part of Ruan Mei’s ultimate on her E1. Robin is a good option and worth pulling if you can build a follow-up or DOT team (especially with Kafka and HuoHuo at least). If not, she will perform worse. That does not mean she is bad in other conditions. Support with turn manipulation is always a good mechanic, especially for the whole team, you will just not see her full potential. Robin is not Eidolon dependent. She can perform greatly at E0, however, her kit gets significantly better at E6, so, if you plan to E6 someone, I would consider it, of course, provided you have the teams to utilize her.

Honkai: Star Rail – Aventurine guide – the best sustain unit

Posted on 13 de May de 202414 de May de 2024 by watchgamesystem.com

Aventurine is an Imaginary sustain character from The Preservation. Although he is a tank, Aventurine can output great amounts of damage thanks to his follow-up attacks, high-damaging ultimate, and DEF scaling. Aventurine shields the whole team through his skill, technique, follow-up attack, Effect Res, and Debuffs enemies.

Moveset

The numbers below consider the character to be at max traces without Eidolons.

Basic ATK – Straight Bet | Single Target: Deals Imaginary DMG equal to 100% of Aventurine’s DEF to a single target enemy.

A simple single-target attack that scales with Aventurine’s DEF. If you have Aventurine at E2, his Basic ATK reduces target’s All-Type RES by 12% for 3 turn(s), a great support effect for allies who rely on debuffs.

Skill – Cornerstone Deluxe | Defense: Provides all allies with a Fortified Wager shield that can block DMG equal to 24% of Aventurine’s DEF plus 320, lasting for 3 turn(s). When repeatedly gaining Fortified Wager, the Shield effect can stack, up to 200% of the Shield provided by the current Skill.

The Fortified Wager shield scales with 24% Aventurine`s DEF plus a flat amount that increases with the Skill trace level. The shield can be stacked, but Aventurine’s kit makes it so that this skill doesn’t necessarily need to be spammed through his Talent, Ultimate, and Technique, making him an SP-positive unit. That means he will generate SP points for the team.

Talent – Shot Loaded Right | Bounce: The Effect RES increases by 50% for a single ally with Fortified Wager. And when this allied character gets attacked, Aventurine gains 1 point of Blind Bet. When Aventurine has Fortified Wager, he can resist Crowd Control debuffs. This effect can trigger again after 2 turn(s). Aventurine additionally gains 1 point(s) of Blind Bet after getting attacked. Upon reaching 7 points of Blind Bet, Aventurine consumes the 7 points to launch a 7-hit follow-up attack, with each hit dealing Imaginary DMG equal to 25% of Aventurine’s DEF to a single random enemy. Blind Bet is capped at 10 points.

When a character protected by Fortified Wager gets attacked, Aventurine gains 1 stack of Blind Bet. If Aventurine is shielded by Fortified Wager and is attacked, he gets two stacks of Blind Bet. Upon reaching 7 stacks he will launch a follow-up attack that bounces on all enemies dealing 25% of Aventurine`s DEF. If your whole team gets hit while shielded, you can get multiple points of Blind Bet, surpassing 7 and capping at 10. After unlocking Major Trace A6, Aventurine gains 1 stack of Blind Bet for each follow-up attack performed by an ally with Fortified Wager, triggering up to 3 times. After performing Aventurine`s follow-up, at 7 stacks, he provides Fortified Wager to the team. Besides that, his talent also increases by 50% allied Effect RES and makes it so that Aventurine can`t take Crowd Control debuffs from time to time, a powerful effect.

Ultimate – Roulette Shark | Single Target | 110 Energy: Randomly gains 1 to 7 points of Blind Bet. Then inflicts Unnerved on a single target enemy, lasting for 3 turn(s). And deals Imaginary DMG equal to 270% of Aventurine’s DEF to the single target enemy. When an ally hits an Unnerved enemy target, the CRIT DMG dealt increases by 15%.

Aventurine`s ultimate deals a good amount of damage, and synergizes greatly with his talent, giving him Blind Bet stacks, enabling more follow-up attacks, which convert into more damage, more break damage, and more shield. The Unnerved debuff makes Aventurine even more universal, allowing him to support CRIT-based DPS characters.

Technique – The Red or the Black | Defense:

After using the Technique, 1 of the following effects will be granted:

There is a chance for DEF to increase by 24%.

There is a high chance for DEF to increase by 36%.

There is a small chance for DEF to increase by 60%.

When this Technique is used repeatedly, the acquired effect with the highest buff value is retained. When the next battle starts, increases all allies’ DEF by the corresponding value, lasting for 3 turn(s).

Aventurine`s Technique makes it so that, depending on the difficulty of the fight and your luck on the roll, you don’t even need to use his Skill.

Major Traces

A2 – Leverage: For every 100 of Aventurine’s DEF that exceeds 1600, increases his own CRIT Rate by 2%, up to a maximum increase of 48%.

Leverage makes you want at least 4000 DEF on your Aventurine to cap the CRIT Rate increase at 48%. This is great since he will be an incredible tank, dealing good damage with his ultimate and follow-ups.

A4 – Hot Hand: When battle starts, grants all allies a Fortified Wager shield, whose Shield effect is equal to 100% of the one provided by the Skill, lasting for 3 turn(s).

More base shield without needing to use a skill and applies Fortified Wager.

A6 – Bingo!: After an ally with Fortified Wager launches a follow-up attack, Aventurine accumulates 1 Blind Bet point. This effect can trigger up to 3 time(s). And its trigger count resets at the start of Aventurine’s turn. After Aventurine launches his Talent’s follow-up attack, provides all allies with a Fortified Wager that can block DMG equal to 7.2% of Aventurine’s DEF plus 96, and additionally grants a Fortified Wager that can block DMG equal to 7.2% of Aventurine’s DEF plus 96 to the ally with the lowest Shield effect, lasting for 3 turns.

Eidolons

E1 – Prisoner’s Dilemma: Increases CRIT DMG by 20% for allies with Fortified Wager. After using the Ultimate, provides all allies with a Fortified Wager shield, whose Shield effect is equal to 100% of the one provided by the Skill, lasting for 3 turn(s).

Gives an upgrade to the supporting role of Aventurine, with CRIT DMG for allies, especially DPS and himself. Also gives more shield upon using the ultimate. It’s an impactful Eidolon, in my opinion.

E2 – Bounded Rationality: When using Basic ATK, reduces the target’s All-Type RES by 12% for 3 turn(s).

A relevant effect, since you will be using Aventurine`s Basic ATK a lot, after all, he already gives shield through many other means. However, being a single target, the reduction is not significant per se, besides applying a debuff for characters that need it, such as Acheron and Dr. Ratio.

E3 – Droprate Maxing: Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.

E4 – Unexpected Hanging Paradox: When triggering his Talent’s follow-up attack, first increases Aventurine’s DEF by 40% for 2 turn(s), and additionally increases the Hits Per Action for his talent’s follow-up attack by 3.

Unexpected Hanging Paradox gives a good amount of defense for Aventurine while also increasing the hit amount of his follow-up attack, which increases the damage dealt and energy restoration. However, I don’t think this is relevant. The damage increase is nice, but, although he does good damage, that’s not Aventurine’s main role on the team. The energy restoration isn’t much and he already has a fast energy restoration. Besides that, Aventurine doesn’t need more defense, the ones who can get caught are the rest of the team.

E5 – Ambiguity Aversion: Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.

E6 – Stag Hunt Game: For every ally with a Shield, the DMG dealt by Aventurine increases by 50%, up to a maximum of 150%.

As I said for E4, more damage is nice, but that’s not Aventurine’s main role. I wouldn’t risk much for this E6.

Light Cones

Inherently Unjust Destiny \| 5-star – The Preservation

Increases the wearer’s DEF by 40/46/52/58/64%. When the wearer provides a Shield to an ally, the wearer’s CRIT DMG increases by 40/46/52/58/64%, lasting for 2 turn(s). When the wearer’s follow-up attack hits an enemy target, there is a 100/115/130/145/160% base chance to increase the DMG taken by the attacked enemy target by 10/11.5/13/14.5/16%, lasting for 2 turn(s).

Aventurine’s signature Light Cone, and his best option. Provides everything he wants: DEF, CRIT DMG when shielding allies and increases damage taken by enemies when they receive a follow-up attack by the wearer, supporting himself and damaging allies, besides another debuff for characters such as Ratio and Acheron.

Moment of Victory \| 5-star – The Preservation

Increases the wearer’s DEF by 24%/30%/36%/42%/48% and Effect Hit Rate by 20%/25%/30%/35%/40%. Increases the chance for the wearer to be attacked by enemies. When the wearer is attacked, increase their DEF by an additional 24%/30%/36%/42%/48% until the end of the wearer’s turn.

Gepard’s signature Light Cone. Provide less unconditional Defense than Aventurine’s, besides not giving CRIT DMG. However, it increases the chance of the wearer being attacked, which is great, since Aventurine gets 2 stacks of Blind Bet when attacked. Besides, this Light Cone gives more defense when the wearer is attacked.

Concert for Two \| 4-star – The Preservation

Increases the wearer’s DEF by 16/20/24/28/32%. For every on-field character that has a Shield, the DMG dealt by the wearer increases by 4/5/6/7/8%.

A 4-star option. Although it gives way fewer stats than the 5-star ones, it still has good stats for Aventurine, being unconditional Defense and DMG increase for every shielded ally on the field, which should always be up on a team with Aventurine.

Destiny’s Threads Forewoven \| 4-star – The Preservation

Increases the wearer’s Effect RES by 12/14/16/18/20%. For every 100 of DEF the wearer has, increases the DMG dealt by 0.8/0.9/1/1.1/1.2% to a max increase of 32/36/40/44/48%.

Although Aventurine technically doesn’t need Effect RES, thanks to his talent, this Cone can be used for its DMG increase, which synergizes with Aventurine’s A2, increasing damage based on base Defense, while also being an F2P option, allowing for easier access to its full potential.

Day One of My New Life \| 4-star – The Preservation

Increases the wearer’s DEF by 16/18/20/22/24%. After entering battle, increases DMG RES of all allies by 8/9/10/11/12%. Effects of the same type cannot stack.

This Light Cone gives less Defense to Aventurine himself and sacrifices Damage but can be used as a team buff option.

Trend of the Universal Market \| 4-star – The Preservation

Increases the wearer’s DEF by 16/20/24/28/32%. When the wearer is attacked, there is a 100/105/110/115/120% base chance to Burn the enemy. For each turn, the wearer deals DoT that is equal to 40/50/60/70/80% of the wearer’s DEF for 2 turn(s).

This option is exclusively used on DOT/Nihility teams, especially with Acheron, to enable her ultimate faster.

Relics

2-Piece Effect	Increases DEF by 15%.
4-Piece Effect	Increases the max DMG that can be absorbed by the shield created by the wearer by 20%.

The best relic set for Aventurine, increasing his DEF and shield efficiency.

Knight of Purity Palace 2-Piece Effect	Increases DEF by 15%.
The Ashblazing Grand Duke 2-Piece Effect	Increases the DMG dealt by follow-up attacks by 20%.

You can opt for this relic combo for a more aggressive build, sacrificing the shield buff from Knight of Purity Palace for 20% follow-up attack damage.

The Ashblazing Grand Duke 2-Piece Effect	Increases the DMG dealt by follow-up attacks by 20%.
Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters 2-Piece Effect	Increases DMG dealt to enemies with debuffs by 12%

An offensive build that sacrifices DEF for more offense, with 20% to follow-up attack DMG and increased DMG to debuffed enemies. Since this build only uses 2 Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters, the enemy only needs 1 debuff to activate the effects. That being the case, Aventurine’s ultimate alone already fulfills the role.

2-Piece Effect	Increases DMG dealt to enemies with debuff by 12%.
4-Piece Effect	Increases CRIT Rate by 4%. The wearer deals 8%/12% increased CRIT DMG to enemies with at least 2/3 debuffs. After the wearer inflicts a debuff on enemy targets, the aforementioned effects increase by 100%, lasting for 1 turn.

The whole Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters set. The best option is using it on a Nihility team to easily get permanent access to 3 debuffs and get the set’s full potential. This option becomes more viable if you have both Aventurine’s E2 and Signature Lightcone. He will also apply debuffs on his Basic ATK and follow-up attack.

Planar Ornaments

Inert Salsotto

Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer’s current CRIT Rate reaches 50% or higher, the wearer’s Ultimate and follow-up attack DMG increases by 15%.

Aventurine triggers this effect by default, through his traces and the CRIT RATE given by the Planar Ornament. Aventurine’s Major Trace A2 increases his CRIT RATE based on Defense, providing a 48% CRIT RATE plus 8% from the Planar Ornament already triggers the DMG increase. Besides that, this passive synergizes greatly with Aventurine’s kit, which constantly uses follow-up attacks and ultimates.

Broken Keel

Increases the wearer’s Effect RES by 10%. When the wearer’s Effect RES is at 30% or higher, all allies’ CRIT DMG increases by 10%.

Effect RES is a good stat, but one Aventurine doesn’t need. Because of that, you will probably need to adjust your relics to reach the 30% minimum to use this Planar Ornament. The upside is the support of CRIT DMG which is taken advantage of by Aventurine and the team’s DPS.

Penacony, Land of the Dreams

Increases wearer’s Energy Regeneration Rate by 5%. Increases DMG for all other allies with the same DMG Type as the wearer by 10%.

Penacony, Land of the Dreams provides a better stat than Broken Keel since Aventurine wants to use his ultimate as much as possible, but a worse buff, given it only buffs characters with the same DMG Type as the wearer. Although Imaginary has received buffs, a mono Imaginary team is not viable.

Fleet of the Ageless

Increases the wearer’s Max HP by 12%. When the wearer’s SPD reaches 120 or higher, all allies’ ATK increases by 8%.

A more universal option than Broken Keel. If you have SPD boots on Aventurine, you can easily reach the 120 minimum and get an overall ATK increase for the whole team.

Belobog of the Architects

Increases the wearer’s DEF by 15%. When the wearer’s Effect Hit Rate is 50% or higher, the wearer gains an extra 15% DEF.

The worst option of all. Effect Hit Rate is not a necessary stat on Aventurine. You will only use this if there is no other option for the 15% DEF. You will most likely never see the other 15%.

Relic Stats

As for the relic stats, you will want a DEF% body, planar sphere, and link rope. If your Aventurine already has a 4k DEF minimum, you can opt for a CRIT DMG body and/or Imaginary DMG planar sphere for more damage. For the boots, you usually go for SPD, unless you are struggling to get 4k DEF or are running a more damage-focused relic set, then you can go DEF% boots. For the substats, DEF is the priority until the 4k minimum, then SPD, CRIT DMG, and CRIT RATE have all equal relevance, being a matter of necessity and preference. From my experience, Aventurine doesn’t need SPD, since most of what he does is passive, from his ultimate, and follow-up attacks.

Teams

Follow-up attack team

The new follow-up team. Synergizes greatly with Aventurine, providing follow-up damage support from Robin, and plenty of follow-up attacks to generate stacks of Blind Bet. Dr. Ratio being an Imaginary DPS also allows for more variety on Aventurine builds. Also, both of them can obliterate Imaginary enemies’ toughness with Ratio’s ultimate and Aventurine’s follow-up attacks.

Acheron Nihility team

The Acheron team, but Aventurine replaces Fu Xuan/Gepard. He provides great survivability and can inflict debuffs via his ultimate, SIgnature Light Cone and E2, buffing Acheron greatly.

Imbibitor Lunae team

The classic Imbibitor Lunae team, with Aventurine replacing Luocha. Aventurine serves Luocha’s role of keeping the team alive with low SP cost while also providing damage. Besides that, his ultimate makes his opponent take more CRIT DMG, which is great for Imbibitor Luane, an Imaginary CRIT DPS. With this setup, you have to manage Aventurine’s skill usage more, since he has no follow-up attacks besides his own to generate Blind Bet Stacks.

Overall, Aventurine is such a good sustain unit that he can fulfill his role successfully on any team making him a valuable character, especially for F2P players, who pull occasionally.

Conclusion

Aventurine is currently the best sustain unit in the game, providing shield, debuff, support, damage, and being an SP-positive tank, a complete character. That being the case, he becomes a valuable character, especially for Free-to-Play players, since he will see extensive use. With the addition of his E2 and Signature Light Cone, he inflicts even more debuffs, helping debuff dependant characters like Acheron and Dr. Ratio who are part of two of his best teams. Alongside Robin, he enabled the existence of the follow-up attack team, which wasn’t really a team until now. Sadly, his banner is gone, but Aventurine is a must-have on anyone’s account.

Shadow of the Depth Review

Posted on 23 de April de 202431 de May de 2024 by watchgamesystem.com

Shadow of the Depth is a roguelike action hack-and-slash game developed and published by ChillyRoom. As always, for transparency, I want to say that I received a key for this game. This however will not influence in any way my review. It is also important to say that the version I played is a preview alpha version, that being the case, the bugs I mention here can be fixed in the Early Access release, some things can change, and things that are incomplete or missing can be added in the launch version.

The things the developers confirmed to change in the release version are:

Refine Nightmare difficulty
Better BGM
Include an introduction for every character
Game completion cutscene
More passive skills
Better help manual

That being said, I will now share my experience.

Gameplay

Shadow of the Depth has a top-down view, and, as the roguelike genre requires, the levels are generated randomly. Each time you die you start from 1-1 and advance towards new levels and regions. At the end of each dungeon, you face a boss. Each dungeon, at least in the version I played has 3 levels. So for example, at 1-3 end you fight a boss to reach 2-1.

The game has 5 unique characters, which is already great, since 5 characters means 5 different playstyles, thus adding more replayability. Every character can attack, dash, consume mana, charge attacks, use an Ultimate, and possess 3 weapon abilities available, depending on the weapon you have at hand. Also, every character can find each other’s weapons in the dungeon and use them as a secondary attack/skill (this is an unlockable perk). Every character however has a unique skill exclusive to them, besides having exclusive abilities, an exclusive main weapon, and different stats.

Arthur is a melee fighter with high defense, but lower speed. He uses a sword and shield, that being the case, he has the block skill, which consumes mana to block enemy attacks

Arya is an assassin with dual daggers, with high damage and survivability. Her unique skills allow her to spin her dagger while attacking if the player keeps pressing the skill button.

Stephaine is a sorcerer that attacks from long range using a magic orb, however, she has a slower dash and low survivability. Her unique skill allows her to charge mana.

Phyllis is an archer, she has a limited amount of arrows and has to stop attacking to reload. Her unique skill allows her to summon animals to help in combat.

Ginzo is a swordsman that wields a katana. His unique skill allows him to counter enemy attacks and projectiles.

It is also worth mentioning that each character has many different combo routes that you can unlock. They work by pausing your attack string at certain moments and then attacking again. I didn’t use this much since I found it to be too slow, but I played mostly with Ginzo, maybe this is more useful for ranged characters.

Another important thing is that your dashes/evasive give you I-frames (Invincibility Frames), which means you can dash into attacks and not take damage, maintaining pressure on the enemy.

Exploration

As I mentioned before the levels are randomly generated. The players also spawn with a random main weapon for their chosen character. For example, if they choose Phyllis, they will spawn wielding a bow with random stats, a random weapon skill, that, in Phyllis’s case, can summon a bear, a wolf, or two eagles, and also random passives that are too many to mention.

Then, the player will find enemies, chests that can drop new weapons, support weapons (other characters’ main weapons), and mana and health potions. It is also possible to find shops that can sell passives, Dragon Hearts, that increase the player’s base health, and weapons. There are also teleport points around the map that you can teleport back to at any moment.

The main “objective” of the exploration is to find a door with green flames around it. That door leads you to the next level. If the door has red flames, usually it means you are about to face a boss.

Runes are one thing you will find during your explorations, especially after boss fights. They can be equipped before starting the playthrough and give you unique effects like taking less damage from bosses, increasing health, increasing attack, and more. There are three slots with different shapes. You can only equip one rune of each shape.

When finishing a run or dying you will gain exp to level up, unlock more characters, gain diamonds, which allow you to buy runes, and gain talent points.

Talent points can unlock many permanent upgrades for all characters, such as increased base damage, increased base health, unlock more combos, and more.

Graphics and design

Shadow of The Depth has a unique design and well-made effects. The characters’ animations are also great and fluid.

What really caught my attention was the hand-drawn visuals, especially the character design. Each character has a great design and looks unique. It is a thing that must be appreciated, especially in the AI era, where generic AI art is becoming more and more common. The only thing I could say is that I wish there were more eye-catching skills, maybe in the ultimates. They are not bad, but it would be great to see something more with the game’s art style

The game also features introductions cutscenes for some characters at the moment, but, as I stated before, the developers plan to add a cutscene to all the characters before launching to the public.

Bugs

I only faced one bug that I can remember. It happens when changing scenarios after loading, your character, for some reason, gains insane movement speed and stays like this unless you quit and load again. Fortunately, the game has an auto-save feature, so this bug doesn’t cause much trouble. I expect this to be solved by the game’s launch.

Conclusion

Shadow of the Depth has a good variety of unique characters, plus the weapons, passives, and runes systems I mentioned above allow the players to create different kinds of builds for different playstyles and add replayability. Other than that, the game is difficult, and, from my experience, in an addicting way. It has 3 difficulties Normal, Hard and Nightmare. Just the Normal difficulty is already hard.

Shadow of the Depth is a fun roguelike with a great variety of characters, good progression, and an amazing art style. The game will only launch in Early Access, and I expect the game’s content to grow even more.

Lunar Axe Review

Posted on 21 de April de 202421 de April de 2024 by watchgamesystem.com

Lunar Axe is a point-and-click, puzzle and mystery game, with horror elements. It is based on Brazil’s history and real locations, and through the game, you can find collectibles that unlock references in the main menu so you can read and learn more about what inspired the game. The game is already available for PC. The version I am reviewing is for consoles, PS5 specifically. That version was released on April 18.

Gameplay

The game is from the point-and-click genre, so you control a mouse pointer with the console controller and look for things to interact in the scenario, puzzles to solve, or new places to go.

This game has no repeated puzzles. Every puzzle you do is unique to the situation you are facing. One thing that I must add is that some puzzles felt like a reach to me or just didn’t make much sense. I won’t mention them here not to give out spoilers but, besides that, the other puzzles were cool.

Lunar Axe has 3 buildings for you to explore. You can access them through a map you get after finishing the first building/level. There is however one major flaw. After picking up the map, the building you just finished is highlighted as one of the options to be selected as the next step. If you select it, you will be forced to do level 1 again for no reason. The game should, at least, warn about this fact if you pick the same level.

At the end of the game, there is a boss fight, which works through quick-time events. However, the fight doesn’t work very well, since if you only press the buttons as they appear on the screen, you will fail and get damaged. You need to predict the button and press it as soon as the prompt appears on screen, which is not hard, since the buttons are not random, but that can be frustrating, especially in the first tries. It’s worth mentioning that this game has different difficulties, and I played on Hard. This can be the reason why the boss fight was like this, but either way, it doesn’t make sense.

Graphics and sound

Lunar Axe’s design appears to be handmade art, and all the scenarios and images are well done and detailed.

The final boss fight especially caught my attention, since, being point and click, most of the game is static and the boss fight features a fully animated boss and weapon for your character, both with great design.

The game’s horror elements stay more in the sound and design fields. The game has eerie music playing in each scenario, which causes a sensation of discomfort and mystery. Also, the game features some scenes with ghosts, distorted screen effects, and weird noises. However, there are other focuses.

Narrative

Lunar Axe has a narrative based on real historical facts of Brazil and creates its own narrative. In the game you must gather three scattered pieces of the Lunar Axe to defeat a beast that was asleep underground and now, after centuries, has reawakened, and only the Axe can defeat it.

Longevity and Replayability

Lunar Axe is short. You can beat it in less than two hours easily, considering you don’t get stuck in any puzzle. Technically you can replay it to gather collectibles to unlock references and know more about the game, but there is not much.

That being said, it is a good and enjoyable short game. It’s not rushed and being short makes sure that everything you do is interesting and not forcibly long. It is a matter of what you seek in a video game.

Conclusion

Lunar Axe combines good puzzles, a good narrative, and a good point-and-click experience. If you are a puzzle enthusiast that seeks extremely complex and challenging puzzles maybe this game isn’t for you. The same can be said for someone looking for a deep and diverse history. But the game gathers the elements well and will be a good experience for almost anyone.

Gladiator’s Arena Review

Posted on 18 de April de 202418 de April de 2024 by watchgamesystem.com

Gladiator’s Arena, developed and published by Afil Games is an indie top-down arena shooter rogue-lite where you play as a gladiator in an arena and defeat enemies that come in waves. Its base game loop is similar and probably inspired by Vampire Survivours. I want, in benefit of transparency, to start this review by stating that I got an early review key for the game. This however will not influence in any way my analysis. I would like to thank the developers/publisher.

Gameplay

Weapons

You start the game by choosing between 7 different weapons, such as a sword, bow, crossbow, lance, and more. From the start, you only have a sword and a shield. To unlock more you need to reach certain feats in-game, for example, defeating 100 enemies without being hit. Then you are put in an arena where enemies start coming from every side in waves.

Upgrade System

Like other games from the genre, there is an Upgrade System. Every time you kill an enemy you gain coins. When the wave reaches the end, you will be able to choose between three upgrades to buy. I don’t know exactly what triggers it, but sometimes the store will allow you to reroll. I think the game should be more clear about that.

In the main menu, it is also possible to purchase new upgrades to appear at the store.

Enemies

There is a good variety of enemies. Most of them are just the same with a new design and more hp, but others introduce new challenges to the game. Certain enemies can: dash, run faster, deploy other enemies, and throw projectiles. However there are no bosses, and every enemy gets two/three shot in the mid-late game.

Abilities

At the end of some waves, in the same stores where you buy upgrades, you will be able to buy Abilities instead. There are only passive abilities. Some of them do damage, while others are scalable, like giving the player 0.1 attack speed until a max of 3.

Gameplay conclusion:

Gladiator’s Arena can be fun when experiencing it for the first time, however, it is lacking in some important gaming aspects that make the experience less enjoyable.

The game has 7 weapons but none of them really make a difference. Some have more range, others have more attack speed, but none add new experiences to the game. You don’t feel like testing a new weapon because, in the end, it is the same as the weapon you are already using. Besides they are far too easy to unlock. I unlock almost all the weapons, missing two in my second run, without even trying.

The game also has only one character and one map, losing the chance to add a bit of progression and the playthrough seems endless. At least I played until wave 50, which took something like half an hour or more and nothing special happened.

The enemies are added progressively as the waves advance, and while enemies have new designs, as I said before, most of them are redesigns of the old ones with more hp. Now, to be fair, some enemies do some things differently as mentioned above, but even then I feel like the challenge is too easy. In the late game your money basically never goes down, you have all the abilities and there is nothing for you to do.

The upgrades are also a bit lackluster. While Vampire Survivours and many other games of the same genre have upgrades that add new weapons, visual effects, sounds, etc. this game’s upgrades are usually just stats, so you don’t feel you just purchased an upgrade. The abilities are more similar to the above-mentioned game’s upgrades, but there are extremely few of them.

To sum it all up, the game doesn’t encourage the player to continue replaying, which is crucial for these kinds of games, since there isn’t a progression system. Vampire Survivours, for example, encourages the player to keep replaying by unlocking new maps, new characters, and new secrets.

You can unlock new things in Gladiator’s Arena, but they are few, don’t really matter and, in the end, the game, aside from being easy, doesn’t have an ending or goal whatsoever, which is a shame, in my opinion

Graphics and sound

The game has a minimalist, pixelated design, which is fine. In my opinion, especially these top-down rogue-lite/roguelike games have more liberty when choosing the game’s design style, which is great.

The sound is pretty generic, all the enemies’ deaths have the same sound, which is fairly common since they are all “normal” enemies, and weapons also have the same sound, changing only between melee and ranged.

The background music appears to be short and loops over and over, nothing memorable really.

Conclusion

This game uses a good genre and concept, but does it poorly with little content and an almost non-existent progression system. This is the type of game you will play for 30 minutes and never touch again.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 Review

Posted on 4 de April de 20244 de April de 2024 by watchgamesystem.com

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an open-world action RPG developed and published by Capcom, a sequel to Dragon’s Dogma. The game is set in a fantasy-themed world parallel to the first game. Besides its controversial launch, with lots of microtransactions, running at 30 fps on consoles, and being unplayable on PC for some people, Dragon’s Dogma 2 reached above 200,000 active players on Steam.

I want to start this review by saying that I played on PlayStation 5 and went through the game as a Thief. I wanted to test the other vocations, but if I did that this review would take too long, so all I will say about gameplay is from the perspective of a Thief. Also, I did not play Dragon’s Dogma (2012), but I will not consider that a problem, since in an interview with GamesRadar, DD2’s director, Hideaki Itsuno, said that the game was designed with new players in mind.

Core concepts

On Dragon’s Dogma’s 2 you create your own character, the “Arisen”, an important figure in the game’s world. The Arisen is supported by 3 Pawns, beings that can travel between worlds. The player has a Main Pawn, which is also created by the player, and can hire two more. They interact with the party and the player, although the phrases are very limited.

Pawns are AI-controlled but are also the way the game introduces multiplayer since you can hire Pawns from other players. They will do things for you, such as spot treasure chests and interest points, grab materials around the world, and fight. Said things can be done by any Pawn, but along the game, you may get a Specialization Item, that allows your Pawn to do more specific things, such as use healing items on the party, organize the party’s inventories, and more.

Gameplay

Combat

When you start the game you can choose between 4 vocations: Archer, Fighter, Mage, and Thief, more can be unlocked throughout the game. Each vocation has a little difference in playstyle, but from my experience, I would say it varies more between melee and ranged.

The combat is what you would expect from an action RPG. You are walking, and enemies appear, you fight them, earn exp, grab items, and continue your journey, I don’t have anything to call attention to at a normal combat. However, this game differentiates itself during fights with big monsters. They have weak spots you can hit and deal more damage. That is the strong point of ranged vocations. Dragon’s Dogma has a great mechanic that more games should have, that being you can climb your enemy, in a Shadow Of the Colossus style, to hit their weak spots which highlights these fights. Climbing your enemy is a thing a melee fighter will do.

Now, one thing that bothers me is that normal/small enemies don’t take hit-stun, at least from a Thief’s attacks, allowing them to simply destroy you in the middle of your “combo”. If you hit them several times they will take a step back, but is nowhere near close to the hit-stun you take from receiving a single attack. I think that would not be a problem if at least every melee class had a way to parry or perfect dodge enemy attacks, otherwise, the combat gets ugly.

Pawn AI

Traveling with the Pawns is definitely an experience. The cool part is that they “remember” other worlds, and when you pass through an area where they have already found a chest or collectible they will ask your permission to guide you there. A very interesting and unique mechanic, I had never seen before. They can even guide you on a quest if they have the experience.

Now the bad part is that, at least on my playthrough, in everything else, they are kind of stupid. When your character runs out of stamina or takes an attack and falls to the ground and needs help from the Pawns they sometimes just stand there, they throw themselves in front of enemy attacks and I have lost count of how much time I spent reviving them in combat. Sometimes they just get stuck somewhere on the map and I have to either respawn the Main Pawn in the nearest Riftstone or, if it’s a hired Pawn, find a new one.

Camera

I separated a section just for the camera because it bothered me throughout the game, and I will explain why. Dragons Dogma 2 has a third-person view, which is common for all kinds of games. When you fight in narrow areas such as caves, for example, the chance of you ending in a corner and the camera just ruining your life is high. Another scenario is when you are climbing monsters, the camera follows the monster’s movements, and when the enemy gets angry and starts slamming the ground, shaking, and running into the wall, you just don’t know where you are anymore. This can be just me but it’s something I experienced multiple times, and is difficult to represent in words.

Exploration

The exploration is fine, nothing out of the ordinary. There are two types of treasure chests, the normal ones, and the special ones. The special sometimes really rewards you for finding them, giving you gear, or rare items. Now the normal ones could be a bit more worthwhile, during my playthrough I only opened the ones that were in the way, I didn’t even bother to go after them.

I think it’s safe to say you pass most of the time on Dragon’s Dogma 2 walking. Sure, you do quests here and there, and they usually are excellent, but the distance between the cities is big. There is a carriage system that is technically fast travel between some cities, but time passes during the travel and there is a chance the carriage be attacked, and if it’s nighttime, good luck, you will go walking.

I don’t think that the walking is necessarily bad, it certainly adds to the game’s immersion, but, in my opinion, it gets boring, down the line. After all, there isn’t really anything to do. You can fight enemies, but they are all the same, you can find caves and ruins but they are rarely worth the time.

There is a real fast travel system, but for that, you have to activate Portcrystals, a type of stone pillar, in the place you want to teleport first. These can be placed there by default, or found and placed by the player. Then use a Ferrystone, another ultra-rare item, every time you want to teleport. To be honest, I only found 2 default Portcrystals and 1 had one Portcrystals in my inventory.

The way the game handles quest receiving is good. While you are walking around the city an NPC with a quest will stop you, or, if you pass by, follow you to talk about the quest. I imagine this can be annoying depending on the situation, but it allows the player to hardly miss a quest and maintain immersion by not having to put exclamation points or something of the type on NPC’s heads.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 quests are usually fun and interesting. Sometimes they give you choices, and different manners to proceed, remembering Baldur’s Gate 3, although some quests lack these important factors. One type of quest the game introduces early is timed quests. Although they also add to the immersion, the player can sometimes be impeded from completing the mission on time for factors out of their control. This doesn’t seem to be a problem in this game though, since, from my experience, the time seems to be generous.

Graphics and sound

Dragon’s Dogma 2 has Dynamic 4k resolution on consoles, but unfortunately runs at 30 fps. The game textures and animations are great. The only real complaint I have is the fps, especially in a game where the combat can be fast-paced and contain multiple or giant enemies. When big monsters such as dragons launch big attacks you can feel the game struggling.

The sound design is fine. Nothing caught my attention for good or for bad. The same can be said for the music. It’s what you would expect from an action, fantasy medieval-looking RPG.

I played the game on Japanese dub, so I don’t know if the same applies to English, but one thing that is straight-up lazy is the fact that, on character creation, there are multiple voices for you to choose from, but in reality, there is only one for each personality type and the rest are the same voices edited with higher or lower pitch. I would expect more from such a big developer.

Narrative

The game’s story is good, it starts interesting with a touch of mystery and unknown as you, along with your character, discover more about the world. I think the narrative destroys too early the mystery behind the Arisen and the story feels kind of rushed. Side-quests can interact with/help main quests, and the main quests in the beginning are creative, fun and make a lot of sense. However, the game ended abruptly in my opinion. Lots of things left to explain, characters practically unused. Even the villain just appears and dies, just like that. I don’t know if that is because I don’t have played the first game, if that is the case, please do let me know.

As I have said before, the side quests sometimes provide you with items necessary for main quests, besides developing and even introducing new main characters which encourages the player to do them.

Longevity and replayability

I finished Dragon’s Dogma with 30 hours, and believe me, I didn’t rush. I think the number is low for an open-world RPG today. If you take Persona 5 for example, it isn’t even open world and I had a save with 250 hours, it has just more content, to be honest.

The game has a new game+, but I don’t really feel like playing all that again, after all, as I said, there is a lot of walking ahead of you. There is the option to start the new game with a new class and test every class, but I don’t think there is enough difference in combat to be worth it.

Conclusion

Baldur’s Gate 3 set a new ceiling in the gaming industry, especially RPGs with similar ambiance. If you want a parameter, that is my 10. Dragon’s Dogma 2 remembers Baldur’s Gate in many aspects but doesn’t get near that level of liberty, game design, and content. I think Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a good game if you like action RPGs it’s really immersive and has an interesting narrative, but the performance problems, flaws, and game design choices I mentioned above put a weight on the experience.

Final Note

Honkai: Star Rail: Acheron guide and review. Is she worth summoning?

Posted on 29 de March de 202430 de March de 2024 by watchgamesystem.com

Introduction: how Acheron works

Acheron is a Lightning DPS from The Nihilithy. As is common from characters of this path, she works based on debuffing the enemy. Acheron doesn’t have Energy for her Ultimate like the other characters, instead, her Ultimate bar has nine charges, that are filled with points of Slashed Dream. Each time Acheron uses her skill or an enemy is debuffed in her presence, the enemy receives a stack of Crimson Knot and Acheron receives a point of Slashed Dream. If an ally debuffs multiple enemies, the enemy with the most Crimson Knots will receive the stack. When Slashed Dream reaches 9 points, the Ultimate can be activated. During the Ultimate, the enemies’ Toughness is reduced, regardless of Weakness Types, as well as All-Type RES by 20%, lasting until the end of the Ultimate. The Ultimate consumes all the Crimson Knot stacks to deal Lightning damage, however, if an enemy is killed with Crimson Knot stacks remaining, the Knots will be transferred to the next enemy with the most stacks. It’s a lot of text, but in practice, it’s really simple.

One thing really interesting about Acheron is her Technique: she one-shots every enemy besides bosses. This on places like MOC doesn’t matter, but it speeds up Simulated Universe and Overworld exploration. Now even if Acheron doesn’t one-shot the enemy, she still deals Lightning DMG equal to 200% of Acheron’s ATK to all enemies, reduces the Toughness of all enemies irrespective of Weakness Types, and after using the Ultimate, she gains 1 point of Slashed Dream and inflicts 1 stack of Crimson Knot on a single random enemy. In my opinion, this is one of the most complete Techniques in the game.

Relics

I would like to start this section by pointing out that, unfortunately, I don’t have access to Honkai: Star Rail’s test servers, so I can’t provide detailed numbers by myself. For that purpose, I will be using numbers from Prydwen Institute to base my argument.

Stats

For stats on your relic pieces, you will want:

Body: CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG
Feet: ATK%/Speed (Depends on your build)

Relic Sets

Acheron being a debuffer DPS character makes her benefit the most from Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters Relic Set:

2-Piece Effect	Increases DMG dealt to enemies with debuff by 12%.
4-Piece Effect	Increases CRIT Rate by 4%. The wearer deals 8%/12% increased CRIT DMG to enemies with at least 2/3 debuffs. After the wearer inflicts a debuff on enemy targets, the aforementioned effects increase by 100%, lasting for 1 turn(s).

This is the best relic set if you can keep the 3 debuffs active at all times, which is a must with Acheron anyway, so I don’t see any reason to not use this. Other options are:

2-Piece Effect	Increases Lightning DMG by 10%.
4-Piece Effect	When the wearer uses their Skill, increases the wearer’s ATK by 20% for 1 turn(s).

Increases her lightning damage and increases ATK after using the skill, which is common on Acheron.

2-Piece Effect	ATK increases by 10%.
4-Piece Effect	The wearer’s SPD increases by 6% and Basic ATK DMG increases by 10%.

Increases ATK and SPD which is good, but Acheron doesn’t gain anything from using her basic attack. I would only use this as a last-case scenario.

Planar Ornaments

Stats

For the stats on your Planar Ornament, you will want:

Planar Sphere: ATK%
Link Rope: ATK%

Planar Ornament sets

As I’m going to mention later, Acheron has a Trace that increases her DMG based on how many Nihility characters are on the team besides her up to 2 characters. That being the case, she benefits the most from Izumo Gensei and Takama Divine Realm Planar Ornament:

Increases the wearer’s ATK by 12%. When entering battle, if at least one other ally follows the same Path as the wearer, then the wearer’s CRIT Rate increases by 12%.

This increases her ATK and CRIT Rate, which is good for any DPS character, and Acheron is always going to need at least one Nihility character by her side, even with eidolons. Other options are:

Increases the wearer’s ATK by 12%. When the wearer’s SPD reaches 120 or higher, the wearer’s ATK increases by an extra 12%.

ATK increase based on SPD. Usually, it’s good to have high speed on your characters

Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer’s current CRIT Rate reaches 50% or higher, the wearer’s Ultimate and follow-up attack DMG increases by 15%.

You will need to build Acheron’s CRIT Rate anyway, and most of her damage comes from the Ultimate.

Substats

For Substats, the overall priority is: SPD > CRIT Rate = CRIT DMG > ATK%

Light Cones

As with every 5 stars in the game, Acheron’s best Light Cone is Along the Passing Shore, her signature Light Cone:

Increases the wearer’s CRIT DMG by 36/42/48/54/60%. When the wearer hits an enemy target, inflicts Mirage Fizzle on the enemy, lasting for 1 turn. Each time the wearer attacks, this effect can only trigger 1 time on each target. The wearer deals 24/28/32/36/40% increased DMG to targets afflicted with Mirage Fizzle, and the DMG dealt by the wearer’s Ultimate additionally increases by 24/28/32/36/40%.

This Light Cone gives a significant boost, as it gives everything Acheron needs: CRIT DMG, increased damage, another debuff/affliction, and Ultimate DMG. One thing that makes a huge difference is that with this Cone, Acheron now gets two stacks of Shattered Dream per use of her skill, as she is now also applying Mirage Fizzle. This speeds up her game loop, making reaching the Ultimate faster.

Increases the wearer’s Effect Hit Rate by 24/28/32/36/40%. When the wearer deals DMG to an enemy that currently has 3 or more debuffs, increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 12/14/16/18/20%. After the wearer uses their Basic ATK, Skill, or Ultimate, there is a 100% base chance to implant Aether Code on a random hit target that does not yet have it. Targets with Aether Code receive 12/14/16/18/20% increased DMG for 1 turn.

Assumes debuffs at all times. The second best option for Acheron. It also applies a debuff, Aether Code, which allows Acheron to gain 2 stacks of Shattered Dream. However, this Light Cone provides significantly less damage multipliers.

For every debuff the target enemy has, the DMG dealt by the wearer increases by 12/15/18/21/24%, stacking up to 3 time(s). This effect also applies to DoT.

Assumes debuffs at all times. Best non-five-star Light Cone, but only really a viable option if you lack any of the above, since gaining only one stack per hit is a huge loss in comparison.

Increases the Break Effect dealt by the wearer by 16/20/24/28/32%, and increases their DMG to enemies afflicted with Shock or Wind Shear by 16/20/24/28/32%. This also applies to DoT.

A Free to Play option. Too restrictive and significantly behind other options.

Best teams

This team works by building speed and Energy regen on Silver Wolf and Pela to farm Acheron’s ultimate as fast as possible and debuff the enemies in the process. Fu Xuan is an excellent character. She does everything: tanks, heals, and buffs the team. If you don’t have her you can use Gepard and I believe Aventurine will work as well in the future.

If you have Acheron at Eidolon 2, this team is the better option compared to the first. At E2 Acheron no longer needs two Nihility allies, but only 1, and that role Is fulfilled by Black Swan with her DOT, which works as a debuff for Acheron and also deals great damage. Hanabi provides buffs to the team and the Skill Point management. You can change Black Swan for Silver Wolf or Pela and Fu Xuan for Gepard or other sustain.

This is the old DOT team, but instead of bringing another DOT or support you bring Acheron. She synergies greatly with the team, gaining stacks from both Black Swan and Kafka, and also has access to her double Nihility bonus. Fu Xuan can be replaced by Gepard or another sustain.

Eidolons

Acheron’s most important Eidolons are E1 and E2. Eidolon 1 increases CRIT Rate by 18% when dealing DMG to debuffed enemies. Enemies will always be debuffed against a team that contains Acheron, and an 18% increase in Crit Rate is significant in my opinion.

Eidolon 2 is perhaps de most important one. It gives Acheron 1 stack of Slashed Dream and one enemy a stack of Crimson Knot at the start of her turn, which already is good. Furthermore, it allows Acheron to reach the full damage of her “The Abyss” trace with only one Nihility ally on the team, allowing the player to be more flexible on team building. Now if you plan on playing a team like Acheron/Kafka/Black Swan this part doesn’t matter.

Eidolon 6 is also interesting because it increases the All-Type RES PEN for the Ultimate DMG dealt by Acheron by 20%. It also turns all the damage Acheron does to Ultimate DMG, reducing the enemies’ toughness regardless of Weakness Types. While this is good, I, unfortunately, don’t have a way to test this in practice, and on paper, it seems to me a long way to get to E6 for a not-so-significant buff.

Should you summon?

Acheron is one of the most hyped characters in the game, and probably anyone who planned to pull for her already did, but if you are in doubt there are some things to consider.

If you still don’t have a DPS character Acheron is a good option, since there are plenty of F2P Nihility options for building a team with her, such as Sampo, Guinaifen, and Pela, although, besides Pela, they are not the best options.

If you have Silver Wolf, you should consider pulling for Acheron, since the two of them, together with Pela can form a great team. If you have Black Swan with Kafka, I would say that Acheron is a must-pull. The Black Swan/Kafka combo is already incredible Acheron only adds to the team. If you only have Black Swan you can still do a team with a support, especially Hanabi, or use another Nihility like Pela.

Now if you already have some DPS characters and/or desn’t have any of the 5-star Nihility characters mentioned above, you won’t benefit as much. Aventurine, which will come next banner, can be a good addition to Acheron’s team, but will not replace any of the main units. Of course, if you like the character or her design you should do what you want. No new character in this game is so bad for your account that it is unusable.