It's the trinity of healing affixes in one. I tried to slog through it a bit but it's genuinely unbearable. Like you thought they are finally dead nu-uh.
Then the healing bots show up and I immediately quitted kek
For context, I always try to max out Grail bond for potential free rewards even without maining it for the run (this one supposed to be 4 shield Durian Phainon).
This time though it offers two choices that are equally bad (one that strip you all gears and the other requires Saber to be top dps else you get +4 gold per exp purchase). And since there's no option to cancel I have to stick with one and brick the run lol.
Joking aside it's still a good bond that worth trying out like 95% of the time. This is just hilariously bad luck case that happens like once in a blue moon.
Note that I care very little about Rin kit outside of surface details like being a support for Archer (a comp I don't really use) so I didn't really bother to learn about it.
So yeah, having a blast with it. She basically chain nukes everything to oblivion lol. Perfect with Cheap Taste modifier too.
Apparently it's a new 5th level spell from Arcane Unleashed. Available to Cleric, Warlock, Wizard.
So on one hand, okay-ish damage and debuff. I also like the fact that you can arrange the squares and since they are difficult terrain it could work great as crowd control / trap. Also great flavor for Warlock (me).
On the other hand, not sure how I feel about str save, and no half damage which kinda sucks compared to say Spirit Guardian. Also doesn't sound like it works against flying enemies either.
All of this from a single ult lol.
This hasn't accounted
If you have the investment that gives 2 gold tickets on plane 2 and it spawns him there's a good chance you kinda just instant win from there. Not having other DPS? Just make him the carry on his own.
Welt may be a bum in story but he sure makes it up in CW.
Beyond Endurance and Permanent Trauma. Perfect chance to go 4 shield.
Then it drops 2 AoE emblem so pretty much no reason to not go DPS Gepard.
DHPT probably better here even though Aven gives a lot more shields due to fu spam. Mostly cause Sunday refuses to target Gepard.
An extra shield emblem to move Sunday up and 3* Gepard can probably push 150b
For those who don't know, AE Emblem allows Himeko to copy bonds beyond the original members. This allows some interesting combination that couldn't be done normally (though keep in mind she can only copy school bonds and not faction bonds). Also the train now gives xp, which is busted. You may try to rush 4 AE just to farm xp if possible.
Aven FuA + Shield combo
This allows reaching 5 FuA + 2 shield without putting in bricks like Feixiao (trial version, I mean. Since she's really poorly built). 2 shield is also mega huge, since it allows shield stacking while also giving free amp. Durian on Aven to copy basically allow you to comfortably tank everything while also access to good counter damage. Easily my favorite combo.
Anyway if you have a well built Fei with Eagle, you can consider chasing 7 fua bond instead with an emblem. Either that or Moze investment which is broken as hell.
JQ DoT/Debuff
Because new DoT run both JQ and MBlade who are debuff this allows to push it further. You may even slap Acheron instead though it may need some different team tuning. Can push 6 DoT with an emblem.
Ring of Life copy allows comfy sustain while Banner gives you access to CC immune if you really need it.
Anyway this team DPS almost solely comes off-field, which is an advantage against some debuffs like delay / cc. JQ can also heal from off field attacks so less scary against Self Defense.
Sparxie Skill Point + Elation
I used to play SP + Elation a lot pre 4.4 but the removal of SP on Yao Guang hurts. This kinda brings it back / access to 6 skill point without Emblem while also have 3 Elation to trigger big Aha and buff Sparxie further.
Try to avoid 3* Himeko cause she has really high base str and can steal Cery buff.
Tribbie AoE + Quantum mega amp
Because Quantum especially at 5 bond gives stupid amount of amp, and AoE also gives some amp through free lucky crit and extra dummy for damage share (especially if you have Trib E1) and Trib has access to both. Whoo boy.
The problem with AoE is while being a really strong bond, the units themselves are kinda really ass outside of Trib, and this allows we to get around it.
Anyway the DPS can be a bunch of option here. Can be Himeko herself, SW is surprisingly okay DPS if you have her built, or Gepard for funny slam nuke. Seriously don't be surprised when he drops like 20b slam out of nowhere.
Jingliu main DPS + Debuff/Bloodflame.
Honestly JL DPS is kinda neat now after the buff. Being off field makes it hard for main dps though because a lot of buffs don't reach there (ie RMC advance/buff or Cery), so Debuff is a good option because it gives big true damage amp for attackers and the chars themselves also come with various vuln/def shred etc.
Also get 3 Wolf for extra lucky crit buff why not.
Sunday is not really needed but he can allow 4 AE bond + can beatified first off field slot + damage buff. Cyrene is another option that can buff off field.
Also you can force Privilege gears on Blade so that Himeko can copy him. Privilege banner x2 is like 48% party lucky crit which is quite insane on top of Welt buff and wolf hunt buff.
NEED BEYOND ENDURANCE TO WORK
-Anyway, due to the nature of Bloodflame it's heavily recommended to have some of the units because boy it sure makes differences for them (ie Mydei e1 and Hyacine e1)
-Early game and pre Cyrene you go with Mydei on field / carry instead.
-IPC armory is recommended to get the ideal items, Hyacine and Blade especially. This to maximize the amount of healing and %hp amp for the team which account into Hyacine damage. More Ring of Life the better. Also if no gold bag then can go Fist of Fury or Pun Generator for lucky crit.
-JL with boots to help speed up the drain which trigger Hyacine healing. Also she buffs crit damage now and kinda does decent damage to slog through early games.
-Cas is there mostly for bond and to spam dragon which attacks and advance enemies then explode to heal and repeat (also give RMC and Cyrene charges)
-Sparkle and Swan are filler slot. Mine are e2 and e1 so they capping def shred and also add res down for Hyacine. Otherwise you can choose some other ampers like base Silver Wolf or Trib.
Anyway, by the time you somewhat assemble the team nothing the enemies do matter due to having 30k+ hp with infinite healing left and right. It's not really the fastest nor most efficient way to clear but it's funny / good powertripping if you want something different.
If you have E2 Sparxie she's still the best for SW! And don't worry there's no way she will get replaced at that point!
Like just a brief look and I was kinda already grabbed by the world. The path system is super interesting and it's clear they author spent a lot of time to produce something like that.
With that said, the donghua was a bit hard for me to consume because they are so damn extra in everything. Even a small divination scene looks like some god like events.
I think I reached the skeleton guy past and the whole thing felt like a fever trip for me. Even just a normal tracing / reading involves opening a gate of skulls with all blood and soul flying and such.
Should I bother to continue? Or should I go with a different format? And even then I can tell they probably cut a shit tons of stuff.
Need sustain/counter team? Himeko is the best for it at the moment. Even if you run Phainon you would run her with March off field.
Energy? Among the best way to play her DPS for me personally. Prefer it over Aglaea.
Elation? Well she can copy EMC so yeah. Same for debuff.
FUA? Technically she can copy the bond if there's an AE emblem. Slap it on Aven to enjoy double shield + fu combo, and she has both the buff and frequency to work with it.
Skill Point Himeko is also technically possible as well. It's probably the least exiciting one, but it can work just throw DHIL off field cause bum ass
It's no longer Currency War, it's Himeko War now. Technically Welt and MBlade too but let's ignore the elephants in the room
As mentioned before I like using Himeko as support (massive damage buff on/off fields, flexible bond synergies, AE buffing etc) and her equipment copy is another way for it.
Anyway using aura items is a good way to juice the team. Weapon Master gives 50% str here (and since i have privilege it becomes 100%, which is *a lot*)
Banner is obviously another option for lucky crit and CC immune / depends on your preference. Armors stacking for mitigation also nice (especially if it's the 20% miti needed to cancel out debuff affix).
Sometime you can tell something is off about Planarcadia but the more things go the more it's clear to me that the incident must have done a massive chain reaction damage to this arc.
Most blatant case is Yao Guang being the first released Elation, without her own team or anyone to support. It was pretty clear that Sparxie was supposed to come first. Also still no real sustain until Pearl who was probably pushed way back.
Also Ampho has the excuses of having 8-hours story each patch to not make events, Planar has like 4-hour story yet still no events / mostly random idle where you spam 'click recommendation number goes up'
Barely any reasons to get attached to the characters also. SW who? Eva lol. And Nihilux still has done nothing but being vague. Even this patch the collab somehow gives me more enjoyment than Himeko long awaited story arc.
And I think both SW and Himeko aren't look good either / probably the two worst selling main push? It's looking grim out there.
Honestly FU isn't really unplayable or anything but I wouldn't say it's the best performing bond either.
Anyway the bond is mostly expensive to play because it needs a lot of items (unless you manage to roll the smart dice investment and slap it on everyone) while being vulnerable to many debuffs like Self Defense and Endurence. Also one of the key chars is Topaz and she's too late to show up while trial Fei is horribly built.
Ashveil is the real savior of the bond but his GR variants is probably far better anyway.
With that said it sure is fun and satisfying once you hit the RNG / when the entire team jumps on someone.
Like this bond is just absolutely horrible in every way now that Grail bond is a thing with faster rewards and better units.
People make fun of Bloodflame and understandly so but at least the units themselves are decent. Mydei is a fully competent DPS that can also work as pseudo tank while being CC immune, has revive and doesn't consume SP. Hyacine is also a great healer. New JL does solid damage while giving buffs, and the addition of MBlade also great for the bond.
Meanwhile playing Cosmic at high WC just makes me want to smash my face against the table.
So depends on your starting investment and situation you can use Grail to cheat out some resources especially the unique gears because they give powerful effects while being able to equip on anyone. The first one I got HP swap to gold so I started with 80 gold and reached level 6 immediately and put in DoT like usual then the rest Grail bonds to fill their requirements. Managed to get the Crown for JL and just snowball perfect clear from there.
Even for cases nothing major shows up there are some easy Wish can be filled instantly for free rewards like the 3rd pic.
4th pic is another run where I managed to cheat Avalon for my Acheron. Avalon condition is rather simple (3 combats with no one down, you don't even need to perfect clear. Also works on Reward nodes) while giving really powerful effect.
So yeah it's always worth to check out the Grail wishes to see what they offer when you have the chance even without planning to run Grail units.
This is an upcoming event in 4.5, but seeing the trend I wouldn't be surprised if it makes it to endgame eventually. How else MHY gonna pressure us and make more $$$ hm?
Also the fact they run out of sustain and having to put in freaking Lingsha is 😭😭😭
So not only JQ gets changed into DoT for better DoT synergies and early game, but MBlade debut gives even extra synergies for it due to various reasons:
Also unlike Luocha who can only from on field allies attacking, JQ actually can heal from off field. This makes huge difference cause your entire party can get stun'd + Tv'd and you still get healed from off field allies like MBlade, Trib and Kafka etc.
As for those who struggle with DoT,
Of course investment matters / my Swan is E1S1 and my JQ also has cone and fully geared so maybe it doesn't work out as well for others without, but still this is the general framework and should function well for WC40 at least.
Okay maybe not only but it sure feels that way when you only used to play mainstream gacha ones
Anyway BE is one of my most hatred affix unless I abuse Mydei, now it's kinda just free with how strong counter comp becomes.
Otherwise just press auto and watch enemies die basically.
