Topic: Honkai Star Rail

@Shigurui kinda crazy how there's only 2 premium preservation units so far with the 2nd one just barely out. And if you didn't get gepard during beginner banner you're basically stuck with mc/march

@z0d15g0d same tbh. He looks fun but I really don't like single target characters

@Judal27 I suppose the reality is at most we don't actually need more than 2 preservation units right now, and may not unless they create a 3/4 team mode in future. And in truth we can often substitute one of those for an Abundance instead (Luocha, HuoHuo etc.) meaning most players can get by with just one Abundance character and have almost all situations covered.

Crucially they aren't often limited to specific team comps or enemy weaknesses, unlike many Harmony or DPS paths characters, meaning there just isn't a need for as many with different skills sets.

It will be interesting to see how they alter this in future, what buffs they give them to make them stand out or fit in specific team comps. E.g. Adventurine is good regardless but better on FUA teams.

@themightyant it's true but I feel like that sorta goes for harmony and abundance too especially harmony. Where outside of sparkle they mainly revolve around buffing your dmg. Even if they all do a specific thing different from each other. You really only need 2 of who ever you get and you're set.

Eventually they'll all start getting redundant. Like genshin lol. It just became a collect a thon for me 😝

@Judal27 I kinda get what you mean but (until Acheron) I often used 3-4 Harmony supports in MoC. Additionally most buff damage in different ways (ATK, DMG, CR or CD) or offer other benefits like restoring energy or promoting your DPS' turn, which means they work better with some characters than others. Preservation seems far more universal.

I suppose they will lean even more into hybrid Preservation characters that offer some of what the other paths do, much in the same way they do with Abundance (Huo Huo is a buffer and energy restorer too, Gallagher increases Break etc.) but it's unlikely to ever be too extreme or they would be OP.

EDIT: One thing I like about Genshin is that they haven't power crept that much. In fact many of the early great characters are still great and many got a second wind with Dendro and got stronger. Yes perhaps some of the newer characters are perhaps the very best but a Bennett, Xianling, Xingxiu + X "National" team is still hard to beat.. and those are all just Day 1 4-stars. They can STILL beat all the content in the game.

@themightyant I do agree preservation does seem overall more universal yet at the same time the 'offer other benefits' still somehow applies to them anyway lol. Avent debuffing and having a fua, fuxuan healing etc. Either way yea they're gonna give them things other paths already do to make them stand out without just making them super op compared to older units

As for genshin, isn't that because they still haven't really updated the abyss at all much since the beginning of the game outside of a few buffs that benefit a new character a little more? The story hasn't really ever had much of a challenge at least not the way honkai did with that absurdly op aventurine boss fight. Seriously that was a boss fight 😆

@Shigurui Lol can't believe I ignored such an obvious solution. MC fire has been in so many of my lineups I didn't even consider taking their kit. Seeing as I will be going for Fu Xuan also might as well.

Anyone finish the TB mission yet?

@Shigurui Yeah far too much dialogue for my liking and with little substance. I'm guessing they just wanted to get it all out of the way for 2.3. Oof I didn't think Genshin was like that.

@Shigurui I agree. I really needed a skip function. As I play on PC both the mouse and spacebar act as the action button so I'm double-tapping just to get there that extra millisecond faster.

@z0d15g0d @Shigurui I started the new story content but was bored by the nauseating dialogue, especially Boothill and the dreamscape kid, and checked out for now. I'm sure it gets better and I will play it soon but playing other games for now. Overwritten doesn't begin to describe it.

@Shigurui I haven't looked at mods yet I assumed Hoyo were like Nintendo and pretty much banned any kind of modding. Good shout I'll check them out as outfit changes should be the norm in this type of game lol.
@themightyant Yup this was the longest it took me to get through any of the updates.

@z0d15g0d There are mods, but also plenty of reports of mods getting players accounts banned, hence not worth it at all imho.

@Shigurui Like HSR I think Genshin's writing was better at the beginning but as time has gone on it has got more and more long winded. I assume because they want their content to last as long as possible with each release, so a scene that could be said and done in 2 minutes takes 10 - 20 instead. Not a fan that HSR seems to be following suit.

@Shigurui All the detective stuff was tedious, not least that it wasn't a puzzle and often didn't follow logic, I might have enjoyed it was a good detective mini-game. But again it seemed specifically designed to eat up TIME. It's one thing I've really appreciated about HSR so far, while it absolutely is a time-sink compared to Genshin it hasn't taken the piss. I hope it's a one off and not a sign of things to come.

As for HSR I finally decided to stop farming the Pioneer of Dead Waters domain for Acheron and Jingliu. I don't have the best pieces even after a solid month including the 3x bonus week... but I can't be arsed anymore. I'm going to build some other characters I got like Clara and upgrade some light cones.

@Shigurui @themightyant Looks like we all stopped Pioneer farming around the same time lol. Universal consensus of having enough of mostly trash rolls. I've gone back to farming Streetwise. Looking to make my Clara an even better beast now I have Robin who gives guaranteed crit hits.

@z0d15g0d SNAP! Also farming streetwise for Clara, but it's early days.

Also realised I can guarantee Fu Xuan now even if I lose the 50:50 (which I almost certainly will. lol), i'm around 40-50 into pity but have 110 wishes worth of stellar jade plus 19 gold passes. I will be starting to pre-farm for her next week. Would be nice to win the 50:50 and have some left over to get another character... but with my 5-star luck it's unlikely!

Not sure who I will aim for next after FX, will depend on who would most fit my account, I still need a top tier Fire, Wind and Physical DPS to cover all elements, so perhaps Firefly if she's good; and a top tier healer like Huo Huo or Luocha.

After that I guess it's about expanding out to different playstyles like DoT and FUA. (Black Swan, Kafka, Topaz, Adventurine) and any new characters they bring. Is Jade going to completely stomp Seele as a multi-target Quantum Erudition DPS?

I might also save for Acheron's lightcone on rerun too. I don't usually do signature lightcones but Acheron has just completely changed the meta and her LC is completely OP in always giving her 2 stacks every turn.

Who excites you coming up?

@themightyant Haha nice! Looks like Clara is back in fashion. I just tried her against Star Crusher VI and she absolutely demolished it. With Robin every counter did enhanced crit hits even though my CR is only 33% and CD is 132%. Lots of farming to do but those 2 together are pretty deadly.

I got Gepard trying to pull for Topaz so I'm guaranteed for FX which is excellent. Now I will have decent options for preservation with Aventurine, Gepard and FX. In the future there may release relics that benefit TB fire as they're the only one with taunt in the game if I'm correct.

I'm hoping Firefly is good also as the only passable fire DPS character I have is Himeko E2.

I hope Jade does stomp on Seele as after all those months of farming for her I barely use her now as single target gets you nowhere in the current state of the game.
This became glaringly obvious when I tried to fight MoC 12 Aventurine. If your character can't hit all the dice to get the highest score you end up in an endless loop of the stacked buff getting cleansed before it activates. Using that mechanic is the only way to do actual damage on his final HP bar as Jingliu's ult only chipped 1%. I was on him till there were only 2 turns left and I gave up (rage quit).

@z0d15g0d Agree single target isn't currently always the best but I still find Seele, and particular Mono-quantum with Silver wolf, invaluable for clearing MoC on stages where I don't have the right element DPS. Obviously this will reduce as I get DPS for each element, but it's been a lifesaver. I wouldn't have 36 starred the last 2 MoC's without her. And there are still plenty of single target enemies she works well with too. Especially if flanked by mobs who can be killed to use her talent. I still think there's a place for her, but her star is sinking.

The main trouble is Acheron does more damage in many single target scenarios AND, obviously, multi-target. She's broken the game meta for BOTH and it will be hard for them not to power creep every other DPS now. Which i'm usually not a fan of.

@z0d15g0d Fire TB is pretty strong for Acheron in that Taunt counts as a debuff (1 stack for Acheron) and if you equip Trend of the Universal Market LC you will gain another stack every time TB is hit and applies burn. You do need to build with a high EHR for Taunt to reliably proc. (67% pretty much guarantees it, but lower will hit reliably, especially with multiple targets). Downside is you skip a healer / proper sustain, but it's good enough for a lot of content and getting multiple stacks for Acheron is pretty awesome.

EDIT: What's most scary about Acheron is that any future Nihility character that adds a debuff (likely all of them) will be a decent team member for her, and any character that applies a debuff might work with her. I think she will only get stronger.

Can't say the same for me, I'll be stuck in the pioneer mines for a while yet cause apparently it's a really good set for ratio. And I got spooked by welt in my 1st 10 pull into Robin's banner and it seems he uses it too

But I can't really complain this time cause I've actually been getting really lucky with relics lately. To the point where my acheron is now 4.1k atk, 121 spd, 61% CR, and 181% CD. Just need some eidolons and superimposes now

@themightyant I did use (TB fire) with UM but once I got Aventurine I transferred that to him instead. He's a much better all rounder as TB shields don't do anything against high damage AOE. Aventurine also increases the whole party's effect RES by 50% with his talent which prevents a lot of the peskier debuffs. His ult also gives her 15% CD. I do miss Acheron getting her ult quicker though.
I do wish I pushed for her E2 as needing 2 additional Nihility that aren't Kafka or Swan is a tight rope in most high level activities.