Firefly Support Build Guide (Shia, Minova, and Jinglin Main)
Hi everyone ! I've been busy working on a guide for Firefly and just got finished putting it together~ it was a fun guide to work on !! While Firefly's current build is a bit... restricted, she can work with a lot of different main Trekkers... some which were completely unexpected! Anyway, let's get into it :3
Video Version
Complete Firefly Guide - Lux Team, Potentials, and Emblems (16:19)
Kit Intro
Firefly works a bit differently than other Versatiles, in that she remains on field as a DPS for an extended amount of time, instead of just casting her skill and then disappearing. When on-field, she uses a combination of flying sword attacks that deal skill damage, as well as melee slashes that deal auto attack damage, with her two builds each focusing on enhancing one of these aspects. Below is a table outlining the main differences between the two builds:
| Comparison Point | Build 1 (Flying Sword) | Build 2 (Giant Sword) |
|---|---|---|
| Damage Type | Skill | Auto |
| Mark Requirement | Lucent | Thunderbolt |
| Team Support* | Up to 20% Lux DMG Taken | Up to 40% Lux DMG Taken |
*requires specific type of mark
Notice each of these builds are made to function with a certain type of main Trekker; specifically, her first build requires proccing of the Lucent effect, while the second requires Thunderbolt. Thunderbolt is the current mark type that is procced by every other Lux versatile and vanguard Trekker, while Lucent is a new effect that currently only Firefly procs - which is to say, that build 1 cannot be utilized to its full potential with current units; it is likely that this will synergize with a future Lux vanguard. At least this makes our job easy this time; we’ll focus on her second build: the autoattack build!
Team Options
So, what team options does Firefly have? Since her core potentials restrict her to an all-Lux team, the best choice is to run Shia as main, and Tilia as support. But, what if you don’t have Shia? Your next best options would be either Minova main, or… Jinglin?
Yup, this 4-star actually packs quite a punch as a mark DPS, and best of all, doesn’t need any investment into her skills (mark damage ONLY scales with your Trekker's rank), making her a very decent low-cost choice. Unlike Gerie, since she already has mark damage built into her kit, she is also not super dependent on Mark DMG Emblems (though, they're still nice to get of course). Before we dive into potentials, there’s something important we need to talk about…
Firefly's damage...
...isn’t all that hot. Compared to other Versatiles, it leaves a bit to be desired. As such, you’ll find that her personal damage potentials rank quite a bit lower in terms of their overall value. Note that for a dual DPS comps - particularly, with Minova - potential priorities can be skewed one way or another depending on your investment in each character; for example, if your Minova has better talents or emblems, her personal damage potentials would be more important, and vise versa.
Shia Main
| Build | Code |
|---|---|
| Standard Build (Snow Rabbit) | AAAAmwAAAHMAAABrzbADAgAwCkNsAMwWAGAC |
| Hybrid Build (for smaller targets) | AAAAmwAAAHMAAABrXbADEgAwCkFsAMwWAGAC |
Shia Potentials
Shia’s build is very similar to that covered in the original guide for her. Take the Snow Rabbit cores on her - Phantom Step Radiance and Rimecrystal Edge. On slimmer bosses where it is very unrealistic to hit most of Shia's basic attack, Phantom Step Radiance can be swapped out for Astral Pirouette - in this case, you’ll want one point in Lunar Combo. For reference, the breakpoint for these two builds is around the 50-60% accuracy point (this sounds really low, but Shia's basic attack 1 has a huge spread and starts behind her, so on something like the current Boss Blitz, you may find better results with the hybrid build).
Glacial Dash, Subzero Dominion, and Rimeheart Pulse make up her main build; afterwards, Rabbit’s Beam should be taken, as well as one point in Hare’s Pursuit for QOL.
Firefly Potentials
On Firefly, we’re locked into build 2 - so, take Radiance Blade: Blazing Edge and Pursuing Slash as cores. Domain of Purity and Luminous Onslaught are her two most powerful buffing potentials, with Cosmic Brilliance being a lower priority. One point in Blade of Falling Petals keeps her on field for a little longer, which slightly helps your Luminous Onslaught & Domain of Purity uptime. Radiant Ripple and Blade Flash are considerations for Firefly’s personal damage, but these are not a high priority at all in contrast to all the other options.
Tilia Potentials
For Tilia, take Holy Inscription and Renewed Spectrum. Enemy Counter is a high priority as a source of Lux Damage Taken, which this comp severely lacks. If you have Mark Damage emblems, Blinding Beam can be powerful; otherwise, it’s not really worth it. Brilliant Relay and Trick Boost are the next priorities, and finally, Knight’s Seal and Knight’s Oath: Courage. While the latter two don’t provide as much of an overall boost, making sure to at least have one point in Knight’s Seal is important for energy gain, particularly for F2Ps using the Cataclysm disc (ramps up with ultimate casts).
Minova Main
Okay, but what if you don’t want to bother with the handbreaking gameplay that is Shia? Let’s first look at Minova.
| Build | Code |
|---|---|
| Minova Dual DPS | AAAAhAAAAHMAAABro4Y5BAAwBsMMAMw2AGAC |
On Minova, you’ll want to run Ultimatum and Board Tricks as cores. More Than Just Pretty and Unyielding Strength are her two most powerful potentials, with the former being a debuff and the latter being for her personal damage. One point in both Light Burn & Ashwind Rhythm are very important, as they reduce her skill cooldown and give her auto attack speed, respectively - however, further investment in them isn’t worth much at all. Radiant Glow is a powerful potential that is also spectacular for AOE, and finally, Home Court Advantage and Starlit Sky can be taken for a bit more damage.
Note that since Minova’s mark proc rate is very low, Luminous Onslaught on Firefly is not a priority. Because Minova and Firefly both have reasonable damage contribution, there’s also less weight on potentials such as Tilia’s Brilliant Relay, which only buff the main trekker.
Jinglin Main
No Minova? No problem! Jinglin can pump out a good amount of damage on her own, even if she can’t really support Firefly directly.
| Build | Code |
|---|---|
| Jinglin Mark DPS | AAAAdQAAAHMAAABroAABDYowBsMsAM2QAGAC |
On Jinglin, take Energy Storage: Bind and Channel as cores. Conductor Conversion is her most important potential by a long shot, granting over 400% mark damage. Leakage Protection is the next priority after that, allowing her ult to proc marks as its up, which is very important as Jinglin herself can only proc one mark per 4s otherwise. Heavenly Kirin further amps this burst potential by giving her a huge attack buff during her ultimate. Lastly, Auspicious Spirit and one point in Lord of Beasts can be considered for a little more damage.
Gameplay Tips
Let’s talk gameplay! Firefly doesn’t really have any super important timing to cover with her skill usage, as you just want to throw her on-field as much as possible. Her ultimate does reset her skill cooldown, so that can be used to bridge downtime. Let’s instead quickly go over a crash course over the various mains you can play her with.
Shia Dash Canceling
Shia's gameplay hasn't changed from before. You want to use her first basic attack, and then cancel it by dashing, then holding dash until the moment you start sprinting, and then letting go, in order to use your first basic attack again. Here's a copy paste visual from the original Shia guide for how to perform that:
https://i.redd.it/141qsabqlg2h1.gif
Minova Rotation
For Minova, you want to maintain the debuff from her basic attacks, weaving in her skill when possible. The ideal rotation is:
- Basic Attack x5
- Skill 1
- Skill 2 (Dodge cancel after 1 hit)
- Basic Attack x5
- Skill 3 (Dodge cancel after impact)
Regarding her basic attack - there is a distinctive "ding" sound when starting her 5th basic - note that you need to wait until the swing after hearing the cue before the debuff is locked in.
With Ultimatum, your skill is a 3-part combo - but, only the first and last parts do reasonable damage. That’s why we dodge cancel the 2nd skill - but, make sure to still get at least one hit in to get the mark proc.
A demonstration of the dodge cancels on the 3-part combo.
Jinglin
Lastly, Jinglin! So one annoying thing about one of her core potentials is that it makes you automatically exhaust all your skill charges (this potential is still very much core though as it reduces the skill cooldown). You don’t want to do this, as you’ll miss out on mark procs. As such, it’s good practice to dodge in between skill uses.
Dodge canceling Jinglin's skill to prevent it from auto-firing all charges.
There’s not really much else to her gameplay! When it’s time to ult, you can save your skill charges, as your ultimate will be covering your mark procs during the time it’s up. Technically, the ult only procs marks every 2 seconds for some reason (for a total of 5 procs), and it should be possible to squeeze in a mark in between hits, but it's very impractical to do so.
Team Damage Comparisons
Disclaimer: take these values with a grain of salt. The actual performance in practice may vary depending on your investment (talents, emblems, etc) into each character, what discs you have, and seasonal buffs.
So, how do these team options compare? Here are some team damage calculations between the 3. Note that these calculations use T0 for all characters, including 4*s, as well as no emblems.
While Shia is on another level, the damage output that Minova and even Jinglin can provide is definitely very viable, especially when you have their talents. Speaking of which…
Talents
Let’s talk about Firefly’s talents. These all offer fairly generic increases to her personal damage, with her T1 and T3 also benefitting the team’s damage via a DMG Taken debuff. The graph below shows the values in a Shia team.
Because Firefly’s damage isn’t too impressive when stacked up against Shia, the team’s damage doesn’t change by much on talents that only buff her own personal damage.
Best Emblems
What about emblems? These are her Emblem values in a Shia team.
Note that in these emblem calculations, we are assuming you get all 5 of Firefly’s relevant potentials, instead of the 3 you’d focus on normally in a Shia team, as to get a proper evaluation on stat values when you’re focusing on Firefly for damage (e.g. auto damage would be a lot more diluted by Blade Flash).
The usual suspects - PEN, Crit Rate, and Support Skill +3, remain the highest priorities on the 70 and 80 Emblems, respectively. Auto Attack damage has decent value as well, followed by Lux and Skill Damage. For the 90 emblem, these are the team buffing values of her 3 relevant potentials. The values for Radiant Ripple and Blade Flash are presented as personal damage values. Note that how this translates into team damage depends on who you’re running with - in an optimal Shia team, Firefly’s damage share is estimated to be just shy of 25%, to put things into perspective.
Best Discs
Last but not least, let’s cover discs!
Calculation Update! From this guide onward, the disc calculations will no longer be isolated - that is, instead of calculating in an empty setup with no discs, there will be blank effect stat stick event discs, with the number of on and off-element discs set according to the number of F2P discs available at the time.
We’ll start by looking at discs in the Shia team. In a standard 80 potential build where we are focusing more on Shia’s damage, Firefly’s limited disc can look a bit questionable. While it does offer Auto DMG taken, that’s just about the only useful thing it has. The rest of its effects are either for Versatile trekkers only, or just… weak. Shia’s disc remains a powerful choice, but notably, Sparkling Moment (Cataclysm) is actually very competitive here. Prayer Beneath Light, the Finale disc, is strong on paper, but will require deliberately taking hits to proc some of its effects. The new Event Disc, Seed Alike, is the Temu version of her sig, and isn’t really that great.
When running either Minova or Jinglin as main, things change by quite a bit. Since I'm lazy, here's the Excel version.
Because they’re both versatile, both Firefly’s signature and event disc get significantly more value as they’ll have full uptime on your main slot.
Speaking of which, the individual sheets on the damage calculator will each have the tables containing the emblem and disc calculations, alongside a collection of builds! Older character pages may not be fully updated, but moving forward I’ll be keeping these pages as up-to-date as possible! You can check that out here: Stella Sora Damage Calculator.
Wrap-Up
Anyways, that’s it for this Firefly guide! While her personal damage potential may not be on the same level as other Versatiles, and one of her builds is made for an unreleased character, she is unironically… pretty versatile? I mean this in the sense that she has a diverse arrangement of potential mains who can all work very well with her, from obvious choices like Shia to underrated picks like Jinglin. Of course, she’s also super cute! I’m very curious to see how her other build will shape out once that becomes a thing. Until next time - bye bye !