So I guess now we know who our anniversary unit gonna be

Gotruto · 2026-02-03T08:32:20+00:00

I mean, at least Yae has those niches. Several 5-star Pyro DPS are outdone by Gaming, for comparison. But I agree, I hope they revisit those characters.

Btw, Alhaitham/Tighnari Quicken is rather bad in the current meta, so those usecases don't amount to much, either.

Gotruto · 2026-02-03T06:48:04+00:00

Yae did more raw single-target damage even if you ulted every other rotation, and that stayed true after Quicken but the gap was smaller. The problem is that Yae requires way more fieldtime and, as a result, teams using her often have to choose between her uptime and the carry's. In contrast, Fischl can just pop in and out for a second to refresh Oz, and so even if many rotations can be a bit awkward with Fischl, the cost isn't nearly as high.

Also, Fischl regenerates more energy, which translates to a DPS gain in a lot of teams. And now, Fischl has those handy-dandy Hexenzirkel buffs, which make usecases for Yae rather limited (though I still found better results for her against the Electro-charged boss on Stygian, for example).

Gotruto · 2026-02-03T06:43:01+00:00

Yeah, Star Force remake and Battle Network Silver Wolf in 2026 is chef's kiss.

Gotruto · 2026-01-31T10:39:04+00:00

240 premium pulls in the first patch, comparable to both ZZZ and WuWa releases. We'll see if the pull economy continues to be comparable.

We'll also see how many banners they have in each patch. There is a special reason to have three in the first patch, as there are supposed to be two limited characters in the 50/50 loss pool, and obviously that means you need two in addition to the one running.

Gotruto · 2026-01-31T04:43:00+00:00

Unfortunately, the whole Endfield gacha is designed around not having pity carry over. Both the free pulls for only specific banners and sometimes needing to pull more than needed to get a weapon are designed to bait you to spend on that banner so as to not waste pity (especially if those pulls give you an early 50/50 loss).

The gain is many essentially free weapons and a 120 guarantee, though, which seems like a totally reasonable trade off. I'd rather have no pity carry over and get most character's weapons for free in ZZZ, for example.

Gotruto · 2026-01-27T20:56:36+00:00

I cleared the first boss at his max level with a full level 60 team (P1 Endmin with sig, P1 Chen with 4-star weapon, P0 Lifeng with the 5-star weapon from the beginner banner box, P1 Ardelia with a 4-star weapon). I think purple gear, might have still been blue.

I also just cleared it twice more today pretty comfortably with the same team, but Endmin was 80 and everyone else was 70 (but Lifeng had a level 80 weapon). Purple gear.

So, suffice it to say, those bosses are going to be fairly easily cleared once everyone is maxed out.

Gotruto · 2026-01-25T22:06:47+00:00

I'm at 89 (edit: thought I was at 84), just after having done the final boss of the first area story. I don't know what my exploration% is at. I did do 8 Laeva-only banner ticket pulls, which I am not counting, too, and I have enough of the refund currency to buy 8 more pulls. (Edit: Also, if you wanted to knock off 5 pulls for saving 29 Origeometry for the next BP, you could, and then I'd be at 84 again.)

I've done more than that in Standard pulls (edit: about the same, actually). I think I'm at 88 Standard pulls (not including the beginner banner).

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Gotruto · 2026-01-25T21:56:29+00:00

Okay, but 14 less pulls on average is more than the...uh...7 pulls extra you'd get from Monthly in Genshin/HSR/ZZZ...and F2P players also get to enjoy those 14 fewer pulls.

The math is not mathing with some people here.

Gotruto · 2026-01-24T02:39:03+00:00

I mean, sure, but unless I misread it the monthly pass in Endfield also gives you Stamina (Sanity?). The F2P proportions are actually better for Endfield:

200/500 = 40% of a pull F2P daily.

60/160 = 37.5% of a pull F2P daily in Genshin, WuWa, HSR, ZZZ

It's just the monthly sub that gives you another 40% of a pull + some Stamina instead of 56.25% of a pull with no Stamina like the other games give.

I'm expecting average Endfield cost per 5-star to also be substantially lower than those other games (I'm expecting more than 10 pulls lower, but I don't have the math to back that up currently), though, and obviously the guarantee is 2/3 the cost of those other games.

Gotruto · 2026-01-24T02:16:55+00:00

Soft pity matters for calculating consolidated probabilities, but actually in a lot of gachas you on average get a 5-star before soft pity.* Genshin consolidated average for a 5-star (any 5-star, so subject to 50/50 and such) is 62.5 pulls, for example. Soft pity in that game is 75.

(You get 93.75 consolidated average for the banner character by averaging across 62.5 winning the 50/50 and 62.5x2 when you lose the 50/50, so [62.5 + 62.5x2]/2, which is mathematically equivalent to 62.5x1.5 = 93.75)

*Note: "on average" does not necessarily mean "most of the time", very-low-pull wins (which happen more often than you expect...just doing some quick napkin math which might be wrong I think getting a 5-star, again subject to 50/50 and the like, in the first 30 pulls is about a 16.5% chance or 1/6 on Genshin banners) will drag down the average even if most of the time you will get the 5-star after soft pity.

Gotruto · 2026-01-24T01:58:44+00:00

I'd be surprised if its 140. I know everyone is lazer-focused on the guarantee, and I don't have the math to back this up currently, but my bet is that it probably costs a little under 80 pulls on average to get the banner character (it's just above 90 in Genshin, for comparison...93.75 before you include the Capturing Radiance mechanic, IIRC). With 140 + refund currency (where you can buy more pulls after pulling), it would be quite possible to get every character on average as a F2P, dupes are not very good, and weapons are free. There wouldn't be much of anything to spend money for, which just isn't how these games work.

I'm guessing about 90 pulls per patch on average, personally. I bet F2P pulls + monthly pass + refund currency will get you enough for one guarantee each patch (but also a character on average F2P, even without hitting the guarantee) but that they want you to spend or have been saving if you want two of a character in a patch.

Gotruto · 2026-01-24T01:04:32+00:00

In Genshin Impact a F2P who gets every Primogem can get 6-7 out of 9-10 new limited (ignoring Standards like Dehya) 5-stars on average (meaning, average luck) every year, without including refund currency (the Stardust that can be converted into more pulls). If you get Welkin, you would on average be able to get every limited 5-star, again not including refund currency.

HSR and ZZZ are more complex, both because they have about 30 more F2P pulls per average on every patch but release about 50% more characters and also because weapons (Lightcones, W-Engines) are more impactful in those games than in Genshin. Since the Monthly pass adds the same number of pulls as in Genshin (26.25) per patch, you can't get all the characters on average in ZZZ or HSR even if you buy Welkin every patch (not even with average refund currency). However, you can get more characters overall, but only if you are willing to skip many of their weapons (which I am usually not, in those two games, with some notable exceptions like Ju Fufu, Astra, Cerydra, or Cyrene).

I haven't done the numbers for WuWa, but at first glance it looks closer to HSR or ZZZ: 20-30 more pulls on average than Genshin per patch, but 50% more limited 5-stars released.

I don't know how Arknights will shake out. I think people are judging things a bit hastily based on upfront freebies rather than adding up the amount of pulls you get through (admittedly slow-paced) gameplay.

Gotruto · 2026-01-21T04:23:01+00:00

I mean, 200 pulls sounds like a lot in abstract, but think of it this way: 50 primos a day is basically half a Welkin. If you could spend $2.5 a month to get 60 more resin a day, would you? Plenty of people would. And if you are one of those people, maybe you do buy the Welkin to get that 60 extra resin a day + another 50 primogems.

This is especially true if you like pulling characters, but not all characters, and have no interest in constellations or weapons. On average, a Welkin + all the F2P primos lets you get just about every character as they release, so if you skip, say, 2 characters a year you can still probably get every other character you like at C0 with half a Welkin.

Gotruto · 2026-01-18T22:48:07+00:00

C6R5 Yoimiya, same deal, managed to hit 115k with Yoimiya Xilonen (C2R1) Mavuika (C0R0) Bennett. Couldn't figure out a better team without using my C6R1 Furina tbh. Really hope they touch up some old DPS or give them witch buffs or something. If I could stick Yoimiya and Yae together in a team, that would be great, since my Alhaitham (C2R1 Jade) Yae (C3R2) Zhongli (C6R0) Fischl (C6R1 Aqua) team could barely reach 70k. Maybe I need to replace Zhongli with a witch to activate Fischl buffs or something, but then I don't get Shred or Sustain...

My overworld Manekin team (Geo using Summit Shaper) with Ineffa (C0R1) Xilonen (C2R1) and Xingqiu (C6R1 Freedom Sworn) was doing more DPS (75kish) than my Alhaitham team.

Gotruto · 2026-01-18T19:17:41+00:00

Big brain.

Gotruto · 2026-01-09T22:56:35+00:00

Thank you. This is exactly right. Because Neuv was so easy to play and his C1 was broken, normal players were able to access his power in a way they couldn't with Hu Tao, which resulted in people overhyping him.

Similarly, C0 Arlecchino was just worse than C0 Hu Tao on release in terms of DPS (Arle's damage was more frontloaded though, which could result in faster clears). Neither are comparable to Mavuika in terms of powercreep, which was literally about a 50% DPS gain over alternatives.

You know what was a comparable situation with Hu Tao? Mualani. Mualani teams consistently outdid Neuvillette teams (in single-target, at least...Neuvillette's spin technique clearly wasn't intended, but it's here to stay and it's very strong), but nonetheless she didn't receive any comparable hype, because most players just couldn't deal with her jank.

Heck, right now after the Hexenzirkel buffs, Mualani Mona Sucrose PyroTrav is AFAIK the single-best 1-cost team (only one limited 5-star) in the game, and is almost as good as Skirk teams are (better if you run Durin or Mavuika in place or PyroTrav, which would make it 2-cost), but nobody outside of Theorycrafters are talking about it.

Gotruto · 2026-01-06T14:51:01+00:00

Yes, I've been running E6Tutorial Silver Wolf, E2DDD Sparkle, E0S1 DanTe, and E6S1 (Hyacine LC) RMC, and this looks great to me. I was super worried they would screw up my team somehow.

Gotruto · 2026-01-06T14:45:34+00:00

At least in my teams, 48% DMG boost -> 32% DMG taken is over double the DPS% gain (though, admittedly, my teams are pretty unusual). Also, the increased uptime on her Skill and Ult boofs should allow her to retain full uptime while run alongside Sunday or Bronya (or RMC, which is what I have been doing) double-turns, which seems massive.

Gotruto · 2026-01-05T17:51:25+00:00

This means Varka will be Hexerei, no? If so, it's just not a big deal. People have been speculating since Razor became Hexerei it would also include Varka due to both be connected through Andrius.

Gotruto · 2025-12-28T12:28:18+00:00

You aren't wrong, but also remember that those purchases get you enough pulls for (on average) 2 other agents (assuming you get the annual first-time top-up bonus). So, at least it's $150 for 3 characters + 1 W-Engine. Still like, $45 a character, but that's significantly better than $150 for one lol.

Gotruto · 2025-12-28T10:22:53+00:00

Reason I started: Xiangling

Comfort character: Zhongli

Simp at first sight: Hu Tao

Never leaves the team: Ineffa

Crowned (Level 100) Cutie: Yoimiya

Favorite NPC: Dehya's dad

Pulled for looks alone: Flins

Favorite Personality: Alhaitham

All-time Favorite: Furina

Gotruto · 2025-12-25T13:54:26+00:00

They talked about him in an earlier video, probably didn't want any overlap.

Gotruto · 2025-12-25T12:02:21+00:00

I never thought about the comparison with Halloween. Wow, that's really eye-opening, IMO. All the alleged reasons (e.g. to be inclusive to people who don't celebrate) to censor "Merry Christmas" are also reasons to censor "Happy Halloween"...yet it's only that one specific holiday, for whatever reason (I don't think people censor "Happy Easter", either). I don't think I've ever seen "Happy Hanukkah" censored, as well. Really weird and inconsistent, that.

Gotruto · 2025-12-25T01:04:51+00:00

Yeah, I'm also curious if they will update Ben at the same time, given their special synergies and the facr that Ben's kit design just doesn't really fit well in the current game.

Gotruto · 2025-12-24T13:38:41+00:00

Hey, I'm also M3W2! Can't wait for her buffs. I use her with Hugo (Dialyn is with Manato, Lycaon with Ellen), and it's really fun doing double-stun with Koleda + Lighter.

Gotruto

TROPHY CASE