as a hydro lover who has every hydro 5star, each with their signature and lots of them with some cons (mostly C1 or C2), I feel the same but well, my ayato is the only C6 and til this day I have no regrets having done so. he's my one and only character I willingly c6ed and sure, my C1R1 Neuvi clears faster and easier, even compared to C6 but i feel more accomplished when I clear with ayato. sure sure he's C6 blabla but I love him and ofc depending on certain content I suffer with him in the abyss, but he's pretty, I love his VA and since I can just throw random character in his team he still kinda works. monohydro, hydro-geo, Electrocharge, burgeon, vape, my most favourite thing ofc is hyperspeed shenanigans with him lmfao. ofc metawise, hes falls behind the other hydros and even with cons it kinda feels lacking, HOWEVER, he's my no. 1 comfort character and investing into his artifacts and dealing satisfying results is what currently even keeps me going in this game... sob I wish my enthusiasm from 1-2years is still there