Who should YOU pull in Version 4.4? An analysis
Hey everyone. I was bored so I decided to make a hopefully comprehensive post regarding the value of all 11 upcoming banners for a variety of accounts. The hope is that anyone who is confused or hesitant on what they should pull will be able to work it out after reading this. If this ends up helping anyone at all, it'll be worth it. There will be a TLDR at the end.
First thing's first: *If you like a character and/or want a character, pull them.* I know this sounds cliche but it's true. Any character can clear with the right investment. Even if that means wheelchairing them, EVERY character is capable of getting a full star clear. If you want that character to be the main dps/irreplaceable team member, thats a little more tricky. But even if your favourite character isnt viable even at E2S1 with premium supports, they will still be crushing MOC 10 and 11. You dont need to be crushing MOC 12 as well nor do you need to do AA.
Got it? Good. Everyone still reading should either be here because they dont have a specific preference or because they care about how good these characters are (or they wanna learn about their kits/playstyles, which I will be going over). I will address each unit one by one and go over their strength, versatility, vertical investment and future potential and overall pull value. At the end, I will rank them from least to most worth your pulls. Without further ado:
HIMEKO-NOVA
Himeko-Nova is a Fire/Erudition main dps. Her specialty is a new mechanic called Assist Skills, which essentially allows Himeko to attack on an ally's turn, giving up their action. However, if the ally is an Express member (all 3 forms of March, all 3 forms of Dan Heng, all 4 forms of Trailblazer, Sunday, Himeko and Welt), they will not consume their own turn and will instead grant Himeko a buff.
Himeko-Nova has two modes: Verdict (Dan Heng, Trailblazer, Sunday) which can be considered her "Ultimate" mode. It allows her to launch a free Assist Skill every other ally ultimate while also giving her own ultimate a damage boost. The other mode is Decimation (March, Himeko, Welt) which can be considered her "Skill" mode. It boosts ally crit damage and Skill crit damage and she gets a free Assist Skill every 9 enemies attacked.
In terms of power, Himeko-Nova is up there as one of, if not the, strongest damage dealers in the game right now. But she is not perfect. For starters, whilst being tied to one/two of 13 different characters doesn't seem bad, Himeko-Nova does not have very good synergy with the majority of her Express member allies. Really, there are only 4 "real" options. Remembrance MC, Sunday and Dan Heng Permansor Terrae (for Verdict) and Welt (for Decimation). It doesn't really matter which playstyle you go for, as both are extremely good, but the important thing to note here is that she has 4 allies, not 13.
Of these 4 allies, only one is truly free, being RMC. Welt can be found on the standard banner or the 50/50 loss pool, and he is a good unit at E0 and E2, but really he wants his E4 to be considered great. Dan Heng Permansor Terrae was given for free back in 3.6, but that period has since ended. Sunday, meanwhile, reran not too long ago but his value in the meta recently has been low, so I wouldn't be surprised if many people skipped him.
Beyond Express Members, Himeko also works well with Tribbie (generalist buffer with specialty in AOE and high attack frequency AOE FUAs synergises well with Decimation), Cerydra (a little gimmicky but her ability to duplicate Assist Skills is absolutely viable), Mortenax (By far her best non-Express partner), Sparkle (great overall buffs) and other such general options. So even if you don't have every single Express option, you can always build a Verdict team with just RMC at your core.
Himeko-Nova has very strong vertical investment. Her lightcone provides a massive 32% def shred, which is on par with how much def shred some entire Nihility supports provide, and then some.
I would say her S1 is a bit better than her E1 but her E1 is also busted. It allows the extra Decimation/Verdict Assist Skill to be triggered an additional time between Himeko ults (which isnt gonna cap, most likely. Just adds a safety net to eliminate wastage for QOL). Furthermore, her E1 reduces the required Verdict ults to trigger the extra Assist Skill from two to one, and the required Decimation enemies attacked to trigger the extra Assist Skill from 9 to 6. In summary, her E1 gives her significantly more Assist Skills. More actions = more damage and also more synergy with units like Mortenax and Cerydra.
Himeko-Nova's E2 is somehow even stronger. It allows her Assist Skill to be triggered by allies twice between Himeko's actions instead of once. So beforehand, you would trigger one Assist Skill on Himeko's turn and then one of her three allies will trigger the second one. But with E2, you get three instead of two (basically three skills for the cost of two). It makes each Skill do 30% more damage (undiluted, final damage buff). And it allows any character to gain the extra turn from launching Himeko's Assist Skill, not just Express Members. This E2 makes her a lot more universal. You still need an Express Member on the team to trigger her Verdict/Decimation mode, but now the rest of the team can be whoever and spams Assist Skills more frequently.
E2S1 Himeko-Nova is a crazy strong vertical investment. It's a tempting one, too, as so many of her teammates are cheap or free. Himeko-Nova is comparable to Phainon in that sense. She will last very very long time if you get her E2S1. So if she's your favourite character and if you can afford her, I would 100% consider investing into her.
Overall I think S1 > E1 > E2 is the investment route but it becomes E1 > E2 > S1 if you have The Herta's signature lightcone, as that is a very viable, though worse, alternative.
She is absolutely still a viable dps at E0S0 because Erudition has a lot of good options, but now we gotta address her future potential. Erudition units historically have... not aged well. Our most recent three are Anaxa, The Herta and Rappa. Rappa and The Therta have fallen off hard. The Herta is objectively bottom 3 Version 3 dps' in the game. Rappa is the worst of the three Break dps' in the current meta. (Anaxa doesnt even count as an Erudition tbh). But both were initially just like Himeko-Nova. Dominant and by far the best overall dps/dps of their archetype. Himeko-Nova has decent bounce multipliers in her kit, but she already is not considered exceptional in single target. It is a very real concern to be worried about her following a similar path to The Herta, ESPECIALLY since she likely isn't getting new Express member teammates. Outside of a likely Sunday Novaflare, Himeko-Nova will be only buffed through the 3rd or 4th slot. Not the end of the world, but Therta also has potential buffs through those same slots and they just arent happening.
I am of the opinion that, if you want to pull and use Himeko-Nova, you should do it now. If you wait for her rerun, she is probably already gonna be reaching the limits of her E0 lifespan (like how The Herta reran before Phainon dropped, and then alongside Evernight who negated her). Pulling her E0S0 probably wont be smart in 4.7 or beyond. Getting her E0S0 now and pulling her verticals in 4.7 and beyond probably is smart. Its impossible to predict the future perfectly, and Himeko has the advantage of being a main push that will likely get more dedicated supports/buffs. But IF that doesn't happen, which is a real possibility, I think she will be an E2 merchant before the end of Version 4. If Phainon was the same with bounce damage, she will be the same with primarily AOE. So if you intend to E2S1 her eventually, go ahead and pull. If you just want her E0S0/E0S1, it might be now or never.
RIN TOHSAKA
Rin is a Quantum/Erudition unit who hopefully wont take as long to talk about. She stacks Gem Energy, gaining it whenever skill points are recovered or consumed, and it works a lot like Evernight's Memoria. The more you have, the more you can consume and convert into damage. Rin also provides a handful of teamwide buffs along with some great Archer-specific buffs. She exists primarily as an Archer sub-dps but her main dps potential should not be discredited.
The Archer team is Archer/Rin/Sparkle/Sustain or flex. I'll talk more about this later with Archer, but to keep it short, Archer *can* survive without Rin right now but he will very quickly become a middling dps. Rin brings him back to the pinnacle. If you are an Archer player that wants to keep using Archer, pull Rin. She is absolutely worth it on this team. She gives great buffs and SP recovery while handling AOE situations too.
The Rin main-dps team is Rin/Sparkle/Cerydra/sustain-flex. The idea here is that Sparkle gives you a ton of SP fluctuations to generate Gem Energy, meanwhile Cerydra allows you to fire off two attacks without needing to stack up Gem Energy twice. This has obvious benefits. This is a genuinely good team and a lot of people are underrating it. If you like Rin but dont want Archer/dont wanna use her as a sub-dps, strongly consider this team.
The weakness of Rin has probably already shown itself. She isnt flexible. You either run her as a main-dps, in which case she needs Sparkle and wants Cerydra, or you run her tied to Archer and his team. If neither are an option for you, Rin may not be a good pick up. No Sparkle is a big hit for both teams.
Rin's verticals are pretty okay but nothing crazy. Her sig provides some good overall buffing and is considered the stopping point for sub-dps Rin. Her E1 is a mini in-built Cerydra by snapshotting the Gem Energy she consumes in an attack and allowing her to use that same amount next Skill, regardless of how much she is at. This eidolon is extremely high value for her main-dps team. Her E2 is a flat 30% final damage to all Skills on the team, which is decent for Archer but probably not worth all those pulls.
S1 > E1 > E2 for sub-dps Rin but E1 >= S1 >> E2 for main dps Rin. Overall, her lightcone is most valuable but if you do wanna vertically invest you can get a pretty good unit.
Rin's weaknesses: As a sub-dps she does no damage. She doesnt get Sparkle's Skill buff. She also cant afford to actually use her Skill because it consumes SP that Archer needs. So you just build her purely as a support, with enough speed to match Sparkle. Not inherently bad, but it means calling her a "sub-dps" is generous unless you have like her E1 (and you should get S1 first, so this only applies to E1S1 Rin). Her main source of damage is a bounce attack. This means she wont be as effective in AOE as in single target, much like Anaxa. Overall, I think she is a good main dps, but not as good as Himeko-Nova or even some other Planarcadia dps'. As an Archer support, though, she is a generational upgrade and borderline a must pull. Her verticals are not needed. She will remain as Archer's BiS for the rest of her lifespan.
GILGAMESH
Gilgamesh is a Lightning/Destruction main dps/Saber sub-dps. You've probably heard a lot about how useless he is and how he was gutted etc etc. And you wouldn't necessarily be wrong. But how good (or bad) did he really end up?
Gilgamesh's gimmick is that he provides buffs to units with high max energy costs, along with pretty good self buffs and a nuclear bounce ultimate. His Skill does okay damage but his Ult is among the strongest in the game. He gains Interest every time an ally attacks or ults, and each stack gives him 10% speed, stacking until he takes a turn, at which point it resets to 0.
As a Saber sub-dps, much like Rin for Archer, Gilgamesh is by far BiS. But things arent quite that clean. You see, Archer was already a good dps, and Rin makes him great. But Saber is a bad dps. Gilgamesh only makes her... good. Maybe great as of now but not for long. That is not really good enough. He has a joint follow up with her that gives her a ton of energy and an action advance (EDIT: NO ACTION ADVANCE, THAT WAS ONLY IN BETA) whilst also doubling the power of her next ultimate. Thats good... but only triggers once every 8 Saber or Gil actions. This is not frequent enough.
If you like Saber and want to use her, Gilgamesh is still a must pull because current Saber is borderline unusable but we'll address that later.
Main DPS Gilgamesh took the biggest hit in beta because his own attack frequency was reduced so much, leading to less synergy with Blade and Ashveil. The team is still usable and absolutely the route for main DPS Gilgamesh if you wanna go that way, but its still meh.
Gilgamesh's lightcone is mid, so dont be too worried if you cant spend 200 pulls in 4.4. You can slap anything on him. Aeon or sm. His E1 is pretty good for his sub-dps teams and triple-dps Blade and Ashveil squad because it lets him provide def ignore to his entire team. Also gives him a solid attack buff. His E2 helps him out with Interest gain, but a % based speed boost has diminishing returns at high levels so I wouldn't call it great. E1S0 is probably his stopping point. Maybe E1S1. This poor vertical investment potential is part of why I dont think Gilgamesh will survive very long.
If Gilgamesh is your favourite unit, enough investment will make him work. But for meta players, know that this requires a lot more investment than any other team would need. I would recommend E2 Mortenax if you want Gilgamesh to last into V5.
He is, however, free. I will dedicate a section near the end to who you should pick between Archer and Gilgamesh.
Overall, I think he is an okay unit to pick up. He is worth it, necessary actually, if you wanna run Saber. He is meh outside of that team. But you can make him work if you're willing to try.
SABER
Not a new unit but Saber (Wind/Destruction) is one of the banners that will be intriguing people. Of course, if you like her, pull her. If not...
...honestly don't bother. Saber was pretty good on release but Gilgamesh is her first real teammate barring Cyrene that she's gotten since. I am of the opinion that Saber is the worst V3 dps, down there with Therta who at least can still handle Pure Fiction to an acceptable degree. But slander aside, Saber's gimmick here is that she stacks Core Resonance via her own actions and ally ults, exchanging Core Resonance for energy so she can use her nuclear ult.
If you dont have Gilgamesh, dont bother pulling Saber. He may not be great, but he is needed if you dont want her to be 2.x level. If you do get Gilgamesh, it is strongly advised to run him with Saber regardless, so the two are kinda tied together in that sense. Other good teammates for Saber are Tribbie and Robin, but especially RMC and Mortenax. If you have the latter two available as well as Gilgamesh, Saber will be hitting on par with lower end 4.x damage dealers or upper end 3.x units. Cant really complain about that. The issue is opportunity cost. Is it really worth going for Saber when she probably isnt getting another buff for a year? The team just isnt that strong.
Saber has solid early verticals in a good E1 and S1. After that, though, you push straight to E6 or drop it entirely. Recently E1 has lost value, so I would always suggest S1 > E1.
Overall, Saber is a dps that needs a fair bit to be on the level of the others, and we all know she isnt gonna stay this "good" for long. This makes her a low priority in my opinion.
ARCHER
Archer is a Quantum/Hunt character that was given for free in 3.4 and is being offered for free again (but again, we'll discuss that later). His gimmick is that his turn doesnt end when he uses his Skill, and he can use it up to 5 times in one turn, but the cost is that each Skill costs two Skill points.
Archer needs Sparkle. He has become less dependant on her with his E1 + Rin, but its kinda cope. You really really want Sparkle. If you dont have her, I would consider either skipping or waiting until you do have her (his banner will be here a while anyway). As said in the Rin section, Archer is currently still an S tier DPS without her, but he needs her to take him to S+ and beyond. So if you do get Archer, it is highly recommended to at some point (even months later) get a copy of Rin. Thats gonna be your core trio. Archer/Rin/Sparkle.
For vertical investment, Archer's S1 isnt worth pulling. Its a good option but Ashveil's sig supposedly works better on him (I'm a little skeptical but its such a widespread take that I doubt everyone else is wrong) and even Swordplay or Cruising is not that far behind his signature. Archer's E1 (restores 2SP when he uses his third consecutive skill) used to be a phenomenonal eidolon but the introduction of Rin has made it lose value because he can already consistently fire off 5 skills. Its a bit redundant now. Still nice to have if you already own it/if theres no opportunity cost. I just wouldnt pull. Archer's E2 is therefore the highest value of the three, but its hardly broken for E2 standards. It implants Quantum weakness on one target and lowers their Quantum RES. Can be really good with Genius but, especially against already Quantum weak enemies, its just okay.
Imo you go E1 > E2 > S1 but honestly you can make big Archer work at E0S0 as long as you have his teammates. Sparkle or even DHPT eidolons are way more important.
I think Archer is a really good dps to pick up IF you already have Sparkle, but if you dont have her he drops to like 2.x level. So Sparkle REALLY is the key. Good news is that she's due a rerun. She reran in 4.0 last, alongside Sparxie, Evernight and Cerydra (all of whom are rerunning this patch) so I wouldn't be surprised to see a 4.5 or 4.6 Sparkle rerun. If you wanna hold out until then to grab Archer, that could be a play (the free offer should still last till then).
SPARXIE
Sparxie is a Fire/Elation dps/sub-dps that mainly exists on two teams. Her hypercarry squad of Sparxie/Yaoguang/Sparkle/Huohuo or her sub-dps role in Silver9/Sparxie/Yaoguang/Huohuo.
As you can see, Yaoguang is highly recommended if you wanna run Sparxie in general, as she works far better than EMC does. As a main dps, Sparxie consumes so many SP that you really do want a Sparkle with you. As a sub-dps, Sparxie is the best Punchline generator in the game which earns her a valuable spot on Silver9s team. But she isnt the most important member of the team. That would be Yaoguang. If you dont like Sparxie, I dont think there is much reason to pull her. If and when the Elation sustain drops, theres a good chance Sparxie's Punchline generation wont be as vital for Silver9, making her even more replaceable.
Sparxie's weakness is mostly competition. Between Silver Wolf and Evanescia, getting an Elation main dps means skipping Sparxie or delegating her to a useful but hardly necessary sub-dps role. If you are a Silver9 player, though, dont mistake this to mean that Sparxie is bad. I would still recommend at least considering her for the team. After all, Elation scales with Elation. My main point here is that Sparxie is in a nice spot where her fans can absolutely pull her to great success, because she is good, whereas her haters dont need to pull her, because she isnt necessary.
Sparxie has a good lightcone and a great E2 (extra turn after an Aha Instant). The latter is amazing for E2 Silver9 especially. So if you own Silver9 and want her to be hitting new levels of power, consider E2 Sparxie. Still would get her lightcone first, though.
S1 > E1 > E2. But the battle pass lc would make her sig a low priority.
EVERNIGHT
Evernight is an Ice/Remembrance dps/sub-dps (we arent even done with our sub-dps hybrids yet) that serves as a main dps with RMC and Cyrene or a sub-dps for Castorice.
For Castorice, Evernight is phenomenal. She grants so much crit damage to the entire team, a lot of Newbud generation for Castorice and significant personal damage (unlike most sub-dps', every time Evernight attacks you know shes gonna hit hard).
As a main dps, Evernight can make do as long as she has RMC with her. Cyrene is the perfect third slot and very much recommended too. This trio is able to clear so much content together even without vertical investment.
That being said, Evernight has among the best three verticals in the entire game. His S1 gives herself a smoother ult rotation and provides great buffs for the entire team's memosprites. Her E1 is just as amazing, giving a final damage boost of up to 50% if there are less enemies left on the field, fixing MonoRem's worst matchup in single-target. Her E2 takes her already good DPS potential and cranks it up with one of the most amazing E2s in the game, doubling the length of her Enhanced state and massively increasing her Memoria generation to let her fire off nukes after nukes after nukes.
You really cant go wrong with how you invest. E1 = S1 is a very valid take. Personally I like E1 because it gets you closer to E2, so my path of choice is E1 > E2 > S1 but again you genuinely cant go wrong. If you own Evernight and wanna make her great, get dupes. E2S1 Evernight is one of the best dps/sub-dps hybrids in the game.
Her weaknesses? I guess her single target matchup isnt great, but her E1 and the fact that shes paired with either DPS Cyrene or Castorice means that the *team* she's on doesnt struggle with it. I guess being tied to RMC also makes her hard to recommend if you already use EMC for Elation or HMC for Break. But she can still work. I think she is the best (not necessarily strongest, but best) DPS in V3.
DAN HENG: PERMANSOR TERRAE
DHPT is a Physical/Preservation unit and one of the top two sustains in the game, along with Hyacine. Hyacine is for HP scalers and DHPT is for attack scalers, broadly speaking.
His shields are by far the strongest in the game and this makes his teammates the hardest to kill. Endgame modes now require three teams to fully complete and unfortunately for 0 cyclers and sweats (only talking to radical ones, not understanding ones. If you're reading this far I'm assuming you're an understanding one), we dont like sustainless. That means we kinda... need DHPT. After him and Hyacine your next best sustains are like... Huohuo and Aventurine/Lingsha/Gallagher. These really arent quite as reliable as you'd like. All of the above are prone to still letting teammates die apart from Aventurine, who we will discuss later.
My point is that having a sustain is really helpful for most accounts, and there are like two good ones in the game right now (three if we count Huohuo but I consider her a semi-sustain because my god she lets people die too easily). For that reason, DHPT is a high value pull that you wont regret unless you only have HP scalers. But do keep in mind that future sustains are likely on their way. So if you wanna wait to see the 4.x sustain powercreep, thats also a valid move.
For vertical investment, DHPT's E1 turns him into a neat buffer that prints SP. His S1 gives him way more comfort in both building (he has no good 4 star lightcone options, so you usually go for an off path high attack one or the battle pass) and in-battle healing. His E2 turns him into an AOE sub-dps which can be really helpful for units like Archer and Anaxa who struggle in full AOE. All are great.
Imo E1 > E2 > S1 because, as handy as his S1 is, I would rather run E2 with an off-path lightcone than E1S1. If you have his E0S0, I do recommend pulling dupes.
For future potential, I dont see DHPT falling off any time soon. He's only getting more partners in recent patches and the only reason he may have felt underwhelming on release is because he dropped in Amphoreus, the HP-scaling patch. Now that we're back with attack scalers, DHPT is far superior to Hyacine as a sustain. SP positive and undying.
ANAXA
Anaxa is a Wind/Erudition dps/sub-dps who really doesnt function as an Erudition unit. He uses Bounce attacks, which makes him meh in AOE and great in single target, like a Hunt unit.
His gimmick is weakness implanting and the ability to duplicate his own skill. He is either ran as a Herta sub-dps or as a hypercarry.
Starting with the former, I would not recommend pulling Anaxa for The Herta. While he may seem like the best option, the truth is that he doesnt provide much for her. He somewhat shores up her weakness outside of AOE (not really) but The Herta is so bad in those areas anyway that there's no point even trying to patch that hole. As for AOE, Anaxa isnt great there and Therta has better options... like mini Herta. Mini Herta in Pure Fiction is a better sub-dps than Anaxa. He just isnt great at his job. Even if you're a big Therta fan, I would go for a lot of other things before Anaxa.
As for his main-dps team, he is pretty strong but also quite limiting. You see, there used to be a take that Anaxa was the most flexible dps in the game. That was true at the time but isnt anymore. The thing is that Anaxa is not that strong on his own. But paired with Cyrene and Cerydra, he becomes a very powerful dps, great for 0 cycles. The issue is that he cant really substitute either of them. You ideally need both Cyrene and Cerydra if you want dps Anaxa to be viable. As for all those 3 cost 0 cycles, I doubt the average player can replicate such optimisation.
So is Anaxa bad? No. But I do think he is overrated and taken out of context a lot.
His verticals arent great. E1 gives him some def shred which can be helpful if you reach 100%. S1 helps him with damage and energy but is comparable to The Herta's lightcone for him. I would either leave him at E0S0 or his E0S1. E1S1 or E6S1 if you really like him, but in that case your funds should be going to E1 Cerydra or E2 Cyrene or E2 DHPT. I cant recommend investing in Anaxa himself if you wanna make him stronger.
Overall I don't think Anaxa is a bad pick at all. But I do think new players gotta watch out because he has a lot of propaganda in his favour. I like glazing Anaxa, but if you dont have his BiS team, he arguably drops to Mydei or Aglaea level. This is me talking as someone who owns a Cerydra-less Anaxa and feels he is pretty relative to a slightly more invested Mydei.
CERYDRA
Cerydra is a Wind/Harmony unit that has been brought up a couple times already. Her gimmick is that she can duplicate Skills. She specialises with attack-scaling skill-based dps', and ideally ones who either basic/skill more frequently than they take turns OR those who have an Enhanced Skill that they usually would never be able to use twice in a row.
With that in mind, allow me to list some units. Phainon. Anaxa. (Insert long gap). Himeko-Nova. Rin. Seele. Mydei. Welt. Archer. Mortenax-Blade. If you own one of the damage dealers I mentioned, keep reading. If you did not, you can stop here. Cerydra just does not have many partners right now. Now then, if you own a dps who was mentioned before the long pause, Cerydra is highly recommended for them because she makes a night and day difference for them. If the DPS you own was mentioned after the long pause, Cerydra is far from a complete game changer but she is an important (or at least a helpful) member to add to their team. That said, I wouldn't pull Cerydra purely for a DPS after the pause. Most of them aside from maybe Seele have competitive alternatives.
Cerydra has a good E1 and a good S1. The S1 gives her a ton of attack, boosts skill damage of her dps and also recovers a skill point whenever she uses her ult, which is handy because it allows her to skill spam. Her E1, meanwhile, gives def ignore to the main target, scaling up in Peerage, which stacks really well on some of her best teams and so is a great damage amp. (It also restores 2 energy per skill which in real terms means extra Coreflame for Phainon).
Imo E1 > S1 but I totally get if you'd rather the comfort of S1.
Overall, while Cerydra is limited in how many units she can support, she is potent and borderline irreplaceable for the ones she works best with. I imagine this will hold true whenever a future dps comes out that works with her. Now that we're out of the HP-scaling Amphoreus members, a single-target attack buffer will probably be in higher demand. But dont pull just for that. Thats a theory, not a confirmation. Pull if you like her or if you can use her. Do not pull in anticipation of a future dps that may not exist.
AVENTURINE
Aventurine is an Imaginary/Preservation unit and the only unit here that is as old as 2.x. Does this mean he's useless?
Well, no. Nothing is actually wrong with Aventurine in my opinion. His shields arent as comfy as they used to be but thats nothing his eidolons cant fix. As a sustain, he sustains. He fell off in the HP meta but the main reason he didnt have a resurgence is because of one name. DHPT.
DHPT is just better Aventurine. I'm sorry but its true. Better shielding, synergy with Sunday, better amp, stronger hits. The only advantage Aventurine really has is attack frequency under the condition that enemies attack fast.
But maybe you dont like DHPT and you love Aventurine. Are you cooked? Not even close. Aventurine's S1 provides debuffs and greater shielding potency. Aventurine's E1 does something similar and provides additional shields. Get both and I really doubt anyone is dying under his watch. And isnt that his job? Keeping the team alive? Sure, an E1S1 DHPT would be a ton stronger in buffing and shielding, but this is a sustain. Not a Harmony. I think investing in Aventurine is a fine decision if thats what you want. Even if its suboptimal and objectively poor for meta reasons, it will work. Can't really ask for much more.
THE VERDICT
I said I would rank all 11 of the units from least to most worth pulling. So here's my take with a minor description as to why. This list does not account for favourites. Its a "as a meta player, what is the least to most smart thing I can pull for?" There are certain assumptions being made for some rankings, and those will be mentioned.
- Aventurine.
I did say he wasn't a bad choice if you liked him, but if you're indifferent then there's literally zero reason to pull him over his better version in DHPT.
- Saber.
I don't think Saber is that bad but she's inflexible and dependant on another unit being released this version. If you have no Saber or Gilgamesh, I would never recommend starting that team now.
- Gilgamesh.
Similar situation to Saber. The main reason I put Gilgamesh above is because he at least has the option to be played without Saber, but the opposite isnt true. Gilgamesh without Saber > Saber without Gilgamesh.
- Anaxa.
Regardless of whether you own Anaxa or not, I think this ranking is fair. His dupes are not great if you do already own him (plus Cerydra exists, devaluing them even more), and if you don't own him, he is the oldest dps on the list. You generally dont wanna pull for such old units if you don't need them. There are multiple better newer damage dealers on banner.
- Archer.
You'll notice that this list does value damage dealers less than supports. That's because, if you need a brand new dps, you would usually go for one that just came out. Archer is a year old. If you dont have him, now probably isnt the time to spend jades and pull him. If you do have him, his dupes arent super great anymore. Same situation as Anaxa. He is even less valuable for dupes now that Rin exists.
- Cerydra.
This was a tough placement but I think that Cerydra fits around here in the middle. She is a support and therefore has more value than the damage dealers below her. But even as a support, I can't place her higher because she doesn't have many amazing teams right now outside of Phainon (pull her if you have Phainon btw. But prioritise his E2).
- Rin Tohsaka.
I'm putting Rin here under the assumption that you already own an Archer. If you dont, her ranking drops down, below Cerydra's. But if you do, she is a high value game changer. Thats what puts her in my top 5.
- Sparxie.
Sparxie is a pretty new dps compared to some of the others on the list. That places her above Archer and Anaxa. She is comparable to Rin in that she is a big amp if you are a Silver9 player, and thats the assumption we make here. If you arent, and you dont own Sparxie, no real reason to pull her now when there's a better main dps. But if you do own her or play Silver9, she and her dupes are strong.
- Evernight.
Might be a bit controversial to put Evernight above Sparxie but I think she's more f2p friendly if you are looking for a main dps. As for her sub-dps ability and her eidolons, I believe she exceeds Sparxie as a sub-dps. In a direct head to head, Evernight is probably weaker (though I'm pretty sure they are more or less relative with Evernight having an edge) but for comfort and flexibility, Sparxie wants both Sparkle and Yaoguang whereas Evernight only needs RMC (free) and she likes Cyrene.
- Himeko-Nova
I said earlier that I'm sceptical about her future potential. But right now, there is no confusion to be had. Himeko-Nova is a broken unit and she is the strongest option for new players or even existing players that want a new dps. She's going to last a while at E0 but as long as you try for her dupes on her rerun, she will last months upon months as a top level dps on your account. I think everyone can make use of her.
- DHPT
Dan Heng Permansor Terrae beats Himeko out for one simple reason. He's a sustain, and those are rare. If you dont care about sustains (0 cyclers/sustainless players), you can toss him down with Aventurine. But I think most low-mid level players are facing a situation where they don't have 3 sustains because only 2 are good. One of those is DHPT. Even if a new sustain drops, DHPT will be third place at worst which still puts him on a team in every endgame rotation. Sometimes I wonder how screwed my account would be if I didn't get him for free. Hyacine would be my only good sustain. I'd be dying all the time in endgame. I think the lack of competition for a role that IS important is what makes DHPT (and his amazing dupes) the highest value unit of patch 4.4.
Now lets quickly address the elephant in the room. All of this was assuming you had to pull every unit. But one is free. Either Archer or Gilgamesh. Who should you get? Objectively speaking, its hard to justify Gilgamesh over Archer. BUT i think if you already own an Archer, you would still rather get Gilgamesh than his E1.
Nearly a year ago, Saber was a very low value unit. Now she's performing in the upper end of Version 3 units. No one saw that coming. So even though Gilgamesh may seem like a brick right now, there is always the possibility that he gets a teammate or team that revives him. I think that possibility alone, along with collection value, is enough to make me believe that Gilgamesh is better than Archer's redundant E1. But still, pull who you want.
I tried to stay mostly objective in all of this. But I definitely littered some of my own opinions in and I hope that didn't offend anyone. If it did, please stay respectful in the comments. I'm a human, and I'm sure a lot of what I said may be inaccurate or out of context and I think thats great because it opens up discussion and more discussion means more people are getting helped.
My goal is to help, so if anyone has further questions, perhaps about their own account or specific situations, feel free to ask! I'll gladly give a personalised response.
Thank you for reading. I hope I helped one person.