u/jamieaka
▲ 183 r/NicoleReeyn_Mains_GI
Hey guys, I got early access to test Nicole and she is amazing!
Hey guys I'm jamie, TC/speedrunner/guidemaker and I think you guys are going to love playing her. I managed to try out a lot of things, hard to cover it all on reddit but I made a youtube video if you were interested! link to yt video
a few things I can say here:
Nicole was designed to not synergise with many of the current strongest teams (for example Zibai, Nefer, Flins, Mavuika, Skirk, Mualani). However, this allowed her to ironically let her niche cast a fairly wide net. Just because someone isn’t elevating the very best teams right now doesn’t mean they aren’t elevating a ton just below them and even potentially more in the future.
How useful is a teamwide ATK buffer?
◆ Bennett is technically a single target ATK buffer. However many older off-field damage dealers were able to cheat and also get his buffs teamwide due to the “snapshotting” mechanic. However most modern characters aren’t able to utilise snapshotting.
◆ Some off-field damage dealers like Durin, Emilie, Fischl (with certain rotations), Xingqiu are even currently still often played with Bennett despite not being able to fully utilise his ATK buff. As Bennett was still strong for the team overall
◆ In these situations you're now going to see a big damage increase for already solid teams with Nicole's guaranteed team ATK buff.
How useful is a shielder version of Bennett?
◆ Now this is where it gets interesting, cause I was curious myself. So I looked at a lot of characters who you may often play with Bennett. Then I thought, in an ideal scenario, would you want their sustain to be a healer or shielder?
this is just a rough example - feel free to debate a few but it's not really the point
◆ The results were very telling. Almost every character actually prefers a shielder if you have a choice. The reality is, unless your team literally needs a healer for a mechanic (like furinas buff requirement, enemy requiring healing), shielding is just a better way of sustaining. Take no damage + no interruption > Take damage then heal it back up.
So what did we learn? As long as her damage increases are comparable, she could potentially be better than Bennett in every way.
So does she buff less than Bennett?
Purely looking at her Skill vs Bennett’s Burst, then even in her ideal condition she can be buffing way less than Bennett. 900 ATK vs over 1200 ATK.
However, Bennett doesn’t buff much more than that (besides his C6 for Pyro characters). That’s all he really does. But once you add Nicole’s Burst coordinated attacks, she can actually buff as much or even more than Bennett. And that’s not even factoring in her buffing the whole team.
In fact I was calcing Nicole as potentially buffing Klee’s personal damage by 8-12% over Bennett. Once you include the full team picture, it’s an even bigger increase.
However, it is clear her Hexerei passive gives several advantages to hexerei teams, discouraging you from playing her in every team. Looking at less optimal conditions, her buffing can drop.
u/jamieaka — 7 days ago
▲ 80 r/KleeMains
I got to test Nicole with Klee! (early access guide)
I have been maining Klee since 1.0 and created guides on her for years. Klee has now received more buffs with Nicole and the Celestial Gift artifact set. Note: until she is fully released, content is subject to change.
some topics I cover
✔ Why Nicole is so good for Klee (buffs, shield, energy generation)
✔ How much of a DPS increase Nicole and the new set Celestial Gift are
✔ Secret Klee technique to increase your damage by over 2%
✔ Team recommendations
u/jamieaka — 7 days ago
▲ 1.3k r/Genshin_Impact
I tested Nicole.. here's what I found out!
Hey guys I'm jamie, TC/speedrunner/guidemaker I managed to get Early Access to Nicole, and I'm constantly on reddit so I thought you may be wondering a few things which I could potentially answer! If I missed any stuff feel free to ask
>
with that said.. let's dive into all the details!
full youtube vid link if you wanted to watch
NICOLE BASIC ANALYSIS
★ New core support for Hexerei teams + potentially core for multi damage dealer, ATK scaling teams. Think of her like a more Nichely designed Bennett but with higher potential.
◆ Shielder
◆ Teamwide ATK buffer
◆ Co-ordinated attacks
Note: She is fairly reliant on being played alongside at least 1 other Hexerei teammate in order to unlock Hexerei passives.
THE META ANALYSIS
Nicole was designed to not synergise with many of the current strongest teams (for example Zibai, Nefer, Flins, Mavuika, Skirk, Mualani). However, this allowed her to ironically let her niche cast a fairly wide net. Just because someone isn’t elevating the very best teams right now doesn’t mean they aren’t elevating a ton just below them and even potentially more in the future. Before diving into her mechanics, I wanted to dive into some important questions..
How useful is a teamwide ATK buffer?
◆ Bennett is technically a single target ATK buffer. However many older off-field damage dealers were able to cheat and also get his buffs teamwide due to the “snapshotting” mechanic. However most modern characters aren’t able to utilise snapshotting.
◆ Some off-field damage dealers like Durin, Emilie, Fischl (with certain rotations), Xingqiu are even currently still often played with Bennett despite not being able to fully utilise his ATK buff. As Bennett was still strong for the team overall
◆ In these situations you're now going to see a big damage increase for already solid teams with Nicole's guaranteed team ATK buff.
How useful is a shielder version of Bennett?
◆ Now this is where it gets interesting, cause I was curious myself. So I looked at a lot of characters who you may often play with Bennett. Then I thought, in an ideal scenario, would you want their sustain to be a healer or shielder?
this is just a rough example - feel free to debate a few but it's not really the point
◆ The results were very telling. Almost every character actually prefers a shielder if you have a choice. The reality is, unless your team literally needs a healer for a mechanic (like furinas buff requirement, enemy requiring healing), shielding is just a better way of sustaining. Take no damage + no interruption > Take damage then heal it back up.
So what did we learn? As long as her damage increases are comparable, she could potentially be better than Bennett in every way. But is it comparable? Let’s go over the kit
NICOLE KIT SUMMARY
★ ATK scaling. ATK increases her buffs and shield strength
★ Gameplay: Skill creates shield and provides ATK buffs. Skill also creates high amounts of Pyro particles. Burst is optional but provides co-ordinated damage. Damage is modest for non Hexerei focused teams (hence optional), but significant in Hexerei focused teams
TLDR; Switch to Nicole > Skill (+ Burst) > Switch teammate
◆Skill: creates shield and provides ATK buffs.
How strong is her shield?
Shield strength is comparable to Zhongli. Just like Zhongli who is generally built through full sending as much HP as possible (for 40k-50k HP total), Nicole is built by full sending ATK (for 3.5k to 4k+ ATK). This rewards them.
Interestingly, Ineffa has virtually identical base shield multipliers to Nicole. However, players normally build Ineffa not just with ATK but other stats like CRIT too. Hence, your Nicole could be close to doubling Ineffa’s ATK in practice so her shield will be way stronger.
Just crunching numbers on my Ineffa’s shield vs Nicole’s shield.
Importantly, we must acknowledge that Ineffa is known for having a very decent Shield, so this is just putting into perspective how nice Nicole’s sustain is.
How strong is her shield’s ATK buff?
ATK buff is split into 2 sources.
- The base source using 15% of Nicole’s total ATK, with a cap at 4000. Therefore 600 total ATK buff at cap (at Talent level 10). Through my testing, Nicole’s own buff does not increase her buff, but other team ATK buffs will count (Noblesse, ToTM, Pyro RES, Weapons etc.). Her signature weapon and other 5* weapons can get you to 4000 ATK pre-buffs.
- 300 extra ATK is given via her Talent. Therefore a total cap of 600 + 300 = 900 (at Talent level 10). However this 300 has some conditions. It is immediately given to Hexerei teammates, but non-Hexerei characters have to wait 3s on field before receiving the buff. You can tell your character received this extra buff as the shield will do a sort of pulsing animation.
◆Burst: activates her co-ordinated attacks, adding 4 additional damage hits alongside her shields buff.
The damage of these coordinated attacks is based on the on field characters ATK, CRIT, DMG bonus.
This Burst damage is also split into 2 sources. The base source multiplier is 180% of the on field character’s ATK 4 times, and her talent adds an extra 300% multiplier of Nicole's own attack for Hexerei teammates.
So does she buff less than Bennett?
Purely looking at her Skill vs Bennett’s Burst, then even in her ideal condition she can be buffing way less than Bennett. 900 ATK vs over 1200 ATK.
However, Bennett doesn’t buff much more than that (besides his C6 for Pyro characters). That’s all he really does. But once you add Nicole’s Burst coordinated attacks, she can actually buff as much or even more than Bennett. And that’s not even factoring in her buffing the whole team.
In fact I was calcing Nicole as potentially buffing Klee’s personal damage by 8-12% over Bennett. Once you include the full team picture, it’s an even bigger increase.
However, it is clear her Hexerei passive gives several advantages to hexerei teams, discouraging you from playing her in every team. Looking at less optimal conditions, her buffing can drop.
HOW TO BUILD NICOLE
◆ ATK and ER are effectively the only useful stats on her. Ignore CRIT
◆ Energy recharge recommendation depends on the team (some teams her Burst is even optional). I found 160-190% ER to be a solid general recommendation.
MY BUILD EXAMPLE
WEAPON OPTIONS
You're looking for weapons with ATK
★ Angelos' Heptades. In one Klee team example I calced (short for calculation by the way) this weapon about 9% team DPS improvement. Provides significant ATK and energy generation to Nicole. Also gives a team DMG buff: 26% for on fielder, 13% for Hexerei off-fielders.
5 star alternative: Memory of Dust (omg), Skyward Atlas
★ 4 star weapons: TTDS (it’s actually a 3*), Oathsworn Eye (if you are a vet)
★ general recommended budget weapon: TTDS (3 star)
Powerful and budget option. Can actually provide more ATK than non-sig options when switching in. However it has huge flaws:
- ATK buff not teamwide
- Most modern teams rotate faster than it’s 20s cooldown. Creating downtime
- Weaker ATK means weaker Nicole shield
- Nicole is a powerful battery. You want to switch into her to battery your team which creates practical issues with rotationally inflexible weapons like TTDS.
ARTIFACT SET
Almost always one option, which is the new Hexerei support set, Celestial Gift
When equipped by a Hexerei character in a team with at least 2 Hexerei characters, it provides 40% DMG bonus to the wearers element and the on-fielders element.
The rare times where Nicole shouldn’t be the one using this is when you’re playing a Pyro DPS (which clashes with Nicole), and you can give it to another Hexerei off-fielder instead like Mona or Fischl.
TEAMS (Watch the full video for even more teams)
Venti + Prune/Faruzan + Nicole + Durin
New premium Venti team. I personally preferred Prune due to her frontloaded Anemo energy generation to help jumpstart Venti in Stygian Onslaught. Her buffs and damage are also not too shabby. She can also get very close to Faruzan’s buffs at C6. Pick whoever you have at C6.
Klee + Nicole + Fischl + Chevreuse
New premium Klee team (although new Stygian bosses favour Mono Pyro, Vape, and Melt teams more). What I’ve learned is Nicole is very flexible with klee and doesn't necessarily compete with Bennett or Durin. you can play her with Durin and also replace Durin. My rough calcs were putting Nicole at over 9% more DPS than Durin, before factoring in her shield QoL.
Mona + Nicole + Durin + Buffer
As someone who’s played a ton of Mona since she was buffed, I’ve tested all the sustain options and none of them come close to Nicole. She perfectly bridges the gap to comfortably buff the whole team. I previously used to use Xilonen over Citlali, and even reached 130k DPS in the DPS dummy. I’m excited to see what Nicole will increase my team too.
P.S I have tried Furina and Sucrose over Albedo. Albedo is just really cracked in Hexerei teams. Maybe now with Nicole he will be suboptimal but I will have to wait until the official server releases to confirm.
BONUS NON HEXEREI TEAMS
Xiao/Wanderer + Faruzan/Prune + Nicole + Durin
Yes I’m like 80% sure Nicole+Durin is now BIS for both Xiao and Wanderer (Durin was already very competitive before). I couldn’t manage to clear Fearless with my testing conditions but it should be possible.
Hu Tao + Nicole + Xingqiu/Yelan + Buffer
This is very interesting because thanks to Nicole’s teamwide ATK buffs, it gives Xingqiu a much needed advantage over Yelan. Nicole’s shield without healing is also very nice for Hu Tao to go back to her natural habits, albeit you may need to look for a new artifact set. Last slot I had a few ideas like Mona, Sucrose, Fischl.
Kinich + Emilie + Nicole + Durin
This team was shown off in the preview livestream. Funnily enough, despite not being Hexerei characters, Kinich and Emilie get almost perfect support from Nicole. Previously, it was very difficult to funnel enough buffs into them, especially Emilie. Nicole is also one of the few synergistic Hexerei characters allowing Durin to activate his Hexerei passives for even more bonuses. Nicole is also great QoL for Kinich compared to Bennett’s circle or Iansan’s scuff.
Again.. There’s many more teams I go over in my full video. I’m running out of space..
THANKS FOR READING AND HOPEFULLY THIS WAS HELPFUL!
by jamie
u/jamieaka — 7 days ago