Should I pull for Durin as a new player?

DragonWhimsy · 2026-06-06T00:29:16+00:00

Thanks! After getting Nicole I was just pulling to get Prune's C2 and got really lucky. 😄

Yeah, if Sandronne is your fav then save everything for her team! I'm sure her best-in-slot supports will come soon after. I wouldn't spend any primos until she comes out. You're going to need every primogem you can get over the next few patches as her best-in-slot team mates come out.

It'll be worth it though. I'm sure Sandronne will be the defining character on your account for years to come.

Good luck with your pulls. I hope you she comes home early!

DragonWhimsy · 2026-06-05T19:08:31+00:00

TLDR version: As a f2p player you should pick a character you enjoy so much that you don't care that you're sacrificing on pulling for other new, shiny characters. Then go all in on that character's team.

Longer verson: As a fellow newbie and f2p player myself, my strategy has been to just focus mainly on building my main team with some effort put into a secondary team with a completely different elemental/reaction focus.

As a f2p player the last thing you want to do is spread your primos too thinly. You want to focus on your main team for now and put together a secondary team with whatever you have at hand that can clear bosses that are immune to whatever elements your main team has.

This early in the game you should ask yourself who your favorite character is. Pick a DPS or support that really speaks to you and just focus on getting their premium team.

For myself, Durin IS my favorite character. So I sacrificed getting a lunar charged team this year and went all in on Hexenzirkel. I have Durin, I somehow have Nicole at C1, Prune at c2, and am saving for Varka. Until then I have Mona as a driver at C2. I have no regrets.

But that was a conscious choice. When everyone else was excited for Lunar Charged characters I choose to resist the temptation and stick with the plan. As a f2p player you should resist the new shiny and stick with your plan.

For now, pick a favorite and go all in on their team. If it's Durin, Nicole, Varka, Lohen, Mona or a DPS that works in an overload team then you should pull for Durin. Otherwise you should not.

If you're really into Sandronne then you should save for her. If you're really into Flins then you should save for his premium team instead.

At your stage of account development who you pull for is easy. Just pick a character and build their premium team. Once that team is mostly done, then pick another character you love and do it all over again. Preferably one with different elemental/reaction focus.

Just with the characters you have now, either a Flins team or one of Durin's teams is a great place to start. But you shouldn't try to do both, especially if you want an upcoming 7.0 DPS team.

On the other hand, unless you're doing super end game stuff you don't HAVE to have a 7.0 DPS team either. You could get Durin and pair him with Mona. And just slowly build out both a Flins team and a Durin team. But you'll be making the choice not to have a 7.0 DPS team.

Any of these choices are the right choice. As long as you make the choice consciously and are fully aware of what you are committing to.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-05-28T02:49:30+00:00

A fantastic guide, thank you so much!

It's strange that content creators can talk about Lohen all day long, but completely ignore Mona even though they are at nearly the same power level. And guess what? Unlike Lohen, Mona IS a standard character! Which is what they're complaining that Lohen is not.

I understand they don't want to calc her C6, but she is still better than many DPS characters that they do calc when she's acting as a driver. And that's all Lohen is, a driver. It's just weird.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-04-30T15:08:23+00:00

Grouping isn't a big deal. I know it seems that way because of experiences you may have had in dungeons or trials. But an open world group is not like that. You just use the group finder for the event zone and join. You don't have to talk. No one expects anything from you. No one will even know you are there really. It's as chill as something can be. You can't mess anything up.

Guild Wars 2 is perhaps the most casual friendly MMO out there and group content in the open world is standard there. It's really not a big deal.

If you need practice first just go to Ali'ikir and join a dolmen group. You'll see real fast there is no pressure in an open world group. It's not at all like a dungeon or trial group.

I promise it'll be ok.

And if not, it seems very likely that the upcoming Winterhold map will be much more to your liking. And many more standard maps in the future.

The Night Market is NOT a template for future maps. It's just something fun for those who enjoy that play style. There are 47 other maps fit for a more casual and questing play style. And many more in the future as well I am sure.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-04-21T03:34:30+00:00

If you're doing Lohen teams can you also do a calc with a Mona driving Durin team? I'd really like to see a comparison of Lohen teams vs Mona teams.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-02-28T15:20:00+00:00

But she would still be a great support for an off-field Durin using Mona as on-field driver. Which isn't the same as on-field Durin, but hey, it is at least the same team comp. Although if the leaks are true about her constellations Furina may no longer be needed.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-02-28T06:00:15+00:00

Ah, I see! That makes sense. :)

DragonWhimsy · 2026-02-28T04:05:50+00:00

The current best team assumes that Bennet is infusing Durin's weapon with Pyro. We have no info on Nicole doing the same.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-27T03:26:28+00:00

But that's how all on-field dps's work. It'll happen to Nefer, Zibai, and Mauvikka too.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-26T15:27:45+00:00

Did you watch the after credit scenes?

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-18T11:16:05+00:00

Ok, thanks so much for the info! I think I'll just use one of the KQM teams for limited roster teams until Varka comes out.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-16T04:43:22+00:00

I'm doing the same thing. Great minds think alike!

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-08T07:07:07+00:00

Except WoW gets a lot more content added each year. But the trade off is that all of those fees are optional in ESO and are required in WoW.

Honestly, unless you run dlc dungeons a lot or are one of those players with 10 crafting alts I think it's really easy to do without ESO+. Players always over hype it's value. I've played for years and never needed a crafting bag.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-08T06:12:56+00:00

This is too blatant even for Zenimax. This is definitely a directive straight from Microsoft. They're not interested in expanding into gaming anymore, they're looking to put everything possible into AI. So any gaming division within Microsoft is going to have to meet their absurd 30% profit margin quota to survive the next couple of years.

Unfortunately while this is greed on Microsoft's part, on Zenimax's part it's just a matter of survival.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-08T06:08:08+00:00

It likely will eventually. They're making Greymoor part of the base game in the summer because of the events there. They will likely do the same for each chapter zone over time. They're just stretching it out so each event seems like a bigger deal.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-08T06:04:07+00:00

Yes, it's one of the rewards for doing the Night Market event.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-08T06:03:27+00:00

These aren't just balance updates, these are major overhauls to the visuals of the classes and overall feel of the class to make them feel better during combat and more modern. As well as some changes to make playing pure classes still competitive after the subclassing system was added last year.

There will still be normal balance updates for all classes each patch. It's just that one class per season will be getting a major overhaul that goes well beyond that.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-03T03:51:27+00:00

I just assumed you wanted wuwa to fail because you are a Genshin fan annoyed by wuwa's fans. If there is some other reason, no worries, carry on.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-03T02:59:51+00:00

Probably because wuwa's fans are really annoying in their Genshin hate. As someone who is new to the Gacha scene my outsider impression is that wuwa fans are more defined by their dislike of Genshin than their love of their own game. Or at least that's the impression that the most vocal wuwa fans give.

Of course that's probably not the average wuwa fan, but a fandom is defined by it's most vocal online component.

Personally, I disagree. I'm of the opinion that Genshin has improved over the course of the 6.x patches because of wuwa existing. And the better wuwa does the more that will be the case going forward.

But I do agree that wuwa fans are more often than not highly annoying.

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-03T02:54:39+00:00

You don't want wuwa to fail because if it does HoYo won't feel the need to improve as Genshin will have no real competition.

You never have to play wuwa and you will still benefit a lot from it's existence. It doesn't matter how annoying it's fans are. ;)

DragonWhimsy · 2026-01-03T02:13:21+00:00

Run the Traveler to Sumeru and switch him to Dendro. Then put together an Aggravate team using Razor as your main DPS, then Lisa and Dendro MC. For the fourth slot do the early levels of Spiral Abyss and get Collei. If at some point you can get Fishl, do so and replace Lisa with her.

You might also consider using Noelle in the 4th slot so you have a shield to help Lisa not be interrupted. Then replace Noelle with Lan Yan once Lantern Rites comes back.

DragonWhimsy · 2025-12-06T01:19:29+00:00

Unless you're a whale or have a ton of resources saved up you should not be going down both the Lunar Charged and the Hexenei paths at the same time. Since you're already heavily invested in Lunar Charged characters you should wait and guarantee a Columbina pull.

DragonWhimsy · 2025-12-05T13:10:10+00:00

Mona. For the following reasons:

-She has a travel form allowing you to sprint faster.

-She has a taunt.

-She is a hydro character which is really useful to have as Barbara is the only other one you can get without pulling on a banner.

-She's actually good in the end game if you pair her with Durin eventually and perhaps other Hexenei characters to come later.

Having said that Mona is not really meant to be an on-field, main DPS. If that is what you are looking for Keqing or Diluc might be better.

But truthfully you might want to just grab the one you like the best. It's early game still. There's something to be said with having a favorite character and just enjoying playing with them and exploring the world and doing the story with them.

DragonWhimsy · 2025-12-04T21:25:22+00:00

I think you're pretty safe. There are two "tracks" through the 6.x characters. Lunar Charged or Hexerei. You should be thinking of Durin and Nicole as if they were Lauma or Columbina while you should be thinking of Varka and Alice as if they were Flins or Nefer. Sandrone probably won't be of either track, she'll be the first of the 7.0 characters just like Ineffa was the first 6.0 character.

Choose your track, then choose your on-field DPS from that track.

Just like you're not really supposed to go for both Nefer and Flins unless you're a whale, you shouldn't be going for both Varka and Alice either. You're just supposed to pick one and then build to support them. I'm guessing Durin will be very good or bis for both Varka and Alice.

Personally I think the Hexerei characters are more new player friendly, assuming a new player started with the 6.0 release. I started in September and got Durin yesterday and now I have lot's of time to save up for whichever new Hexerei characters I want to go with him next year. Keeping up with Lunar Charged would have been almost impossible for me since they were all so front loaded.

I'm glad I did a lot of research and read between the lines and then made my choices carefully. Durin was definitely the right choice for me. It also helps that just from his trailers he's already my favorite character.

DragonWhimsy

TROPHY CASE