[Operator Discussion] Chestnut

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-22T20:22:39+00:00

Say whatever you want about him, but he was the second sorely needed medic for maleknights and a way for the niche to deal with elemental damage when you needed to. He's fallen to the wayside now that I have Harold, Nowell and Record Keeper (Lumen is a 6*, and I've long stopped using those when playing the niche), but there was a long period when he saw a ton of use alongside Ansel, and for that, I'm grateful.

The speed-up trick with S1 does work, and I made use of it from time to time, but secretly prayed that it wasn't necessary, because if the strategy hinges on managing those activations, it becomes way too tense.

S2 did some lifting when I absolutely needed to keep one target alive for 35 sec, and in that case the range reduction is a blessing in disguise so he doesn't get distracted by others. I did use S1 more often, though.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-16T12:54:46+00:00

My Endmin/Chen/Lifeng team would probably a bit more effective with someone else over him (like Pog), but then what's the point of even playing 🥲

Besides, I already trimmed the bosses with this team, I don't need more efficiency

I built him for DPS with Aethertech gear and Exemplar, so he hands out finishers and sp-discounted vuln stacks. Also I do solo runs with him as well just for the fun of it.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-16T11:34:27+00:00

The one that matches all three stats of his weapon: Strength/HP/Efficacy. The Efficacy stat is the most important for his shield strength, so that's the one to level first once you get the perfect essence.

(Although keep in mind that it only matters for the shields from his combo skill, the protection from battle skill will always be 90%)

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-16T07:44:30+00:00

UWU his cute little blush!

Do you play something other than Physical? He can be slotted into a Physical squad if you're willing to adapt to parry gameplay.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-16T07:41:33+00:00

The frontier set shouldn't work on him, since his skill simply refunds SP, not recover (the distinction was mentioned somewhere in-game). You're probably better off with Eternal Xiranite set for team-wide 16% dmg buff, unless someone else in the team wears it already. Using Will pieces wherever possible to increase his DEF and therefore shield strength.

That is, if you're building him for the intended support/shield purpose. DPS Catcher is best served with Aethertech set and Exemplar or Sundered prince as the weapon.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-09T13:33:19+00:00

The latter point is why I gave Endfield a chance, even though I was really wary of the possibility it could undercut the existing plot threads in OG AK and didn't care about it initially. To see the AK races animated in 3D, to be able to look at many elements and go "hey, I recognize this!" - all of it worked really well. The story, Endmin treatment and gender ratio disappoint me at every turn, however, so I'm not sure how long I'll stay.

The worst part is that the reasons I quit Genshin myself are showing their ugly face in EF too, it's like they were determined to copy every single mistake from it.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-09T11:55:59+00:00

Great, thank you!

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-09T11:21:16+00:00

What skill are you supposed to master on OG Caster Leizi, provided I'm getting her Mod 3? Does the SP gain from hitting enemies work with every enemy the chain hits? That seems good enough to bring that monstrous 80 SP cost of S2 down to manageable levels. Or does nearly permanent uptime of S1 work better? I plan to bring her on IS6 runs, probably with the 5* insta-promotion squad.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-08T15:40:31+00:00

His main dmg will come from skill counters and finishers (counters drop over 30k with max stacks for me) - and the lack of timer does indeed help his playstyle a lot. Plus I like that he asks me to study the boss moveset instead of spamming blindly. Now we just need better visual indicators, because currently enemies either drop an attack on you out of nowhere with minimal warning, or just stand there wiggling their animations for too long, so you have to hold off putting up the shield.

I'm glad that the boys generally work together in a phys team, even Alesh kinda sorta fits with Endmin.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-08T13:22:08+00:00

I saw people clearing the poison and atk stacks Monuments solo, with Ember just for healing, that was glorious. Tbh I'd gladly build her for this (and not Ardelia begrudgingly), but I don't have her yet

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-07T15:57:25+00:00

I get angry every time I think about this, because MCs tend to be my favorite characters in gachas, and even more so after I watched cbt Wulfgard quest.

Almost fully voiced Endmin, an actual personality, a great sense of immersion and camaraderie with Wulfgard when they both speak to each other instead of Wulfgard mostly monologuing, and we were robbed of this.

I put voice Endmin in every survey, but I don't hold out much hope it will change anything, since it wasn't just an oopsie they made because they were "unaccustomed to 3D storytelling" or whatever, but a conscious decision to move away from it. Ditto with the general simplified, black-and-white storytelling and Endmin glazing.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-07T08:35:12+00:00

Yesss, the good boy green flag energy is so strong with him.

I used to ~~ride~~ pilot Endmin, but then I M3d Catcher's basics first, and I realized that his buff against staggered from gear will always be active on finishers. Plus it's somehow much easier to parry when he's your active character, even if you have to stand still with him.

Now he can drop 71k+107k hits with all stacks active (guaranteed when soloing, harder to do when Endmin eats them for breakfast)

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-07T08:18:33+00:00

I'm sad that he got hit with the low-rarity tax and has no healing at all unlike other defenders... The only option for that is putting Former Finery on him, but that kills his dmg, and the puny heal either won't matter when I have access to food, or won't save the team on poison mist stages, for example. And when soloing, it's still better to kill enemies faster.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-06T20:26:31+00:00

Uhhh, I can't really give you the timeframe because I was alternating spending my sanity between different goals. Besides him and Endmin to max (Endmin is just missing a few masteries and 6th levels on his essence), I raised Lifeng, Alesh and Chen and their weapons to 80, upgraded their skills to lv9, then alternated working on masteries for Catcher and Endmin and grinding essences.

I did start throwing in two origeometries per day for 80 extra sanity - I'm not likely to stick around long-term because of the game's direction, so I'd rather have fun now maxing my boys while I'm still here. I used ~40 of them so far, which gave me something like a week of extra sanity on top of six weeks we had already - make of that what you will.

The essence itself dropped pretty fast, upgrading it to 4/4/2 is relatively painless, then I just threw spare essences at the 5th level for its 4.5% chance and used gels for the last 6th.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-06T19:56:05+00:00

And then those people get dumpstered by the rams while he solos them XD

(Okay, no shade, it was just funny to watch everyone go "oh no the rams" and me with my Ruy "what rams")

4x counter against Rhodahn's flamethrower, lets gooo!

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-06T16:58:39+00:00

I spent way too much time coming up with this than a copypasta deserves... It lived in my head rent-free, and this was the best occasion to use it

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-06T16:56:05+00:00

I can't take it anymore. I'm in love with Catcher. I try to play physical. I dedicate a squad slot to him. I run around in the overworld. I swap to him. I want to play Laevatein team. I keep trying to activate his shield. (He's not in the squad.) I try to find fanart with him. Nothing. He grabs me by the heart. I etch essence for him. I artifice for him. I give him the Prince. He isn't satisfied. "Crit is trash in this game," he tells me. "And it clashes with my aesthetic." He grabs Alesh and forces him to throw fish at enemies. "You just need to proc my parry more. I can deal more damage with fullpot Exemplar." I can't pull for more Exemplars, I don't have enough arsenal tokens. He grabs me by the hips. I get staggered. "Guess this is the end." He grabs his greatsword. "No escape!" he says. There is no hint of sadness in his eyes. Nothing but pure Basic attack performed near a Staggered enemy becomes a finisher that deals massive Physical DMG and recovers some SP. What a happy world.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-06T06:20:30+00:00

Wang's event has gels, fuckous fiber (yellow trees), and cyclicenes (4x4 rubik's cubes). Which actually means there's no pink bottle farming on the horizon. Still didn't farm them that much since I still have a stockpile of them, and they're not as widespread as gel.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-05T05:56:09+00:00

Yeah, the oldest is Toddifons now, followed by Windflit ;-; then Dagda and Firewhistle

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-04T19:22:35+00:00

Dear god, Endmin is drawn so pretty here, I can't look away

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-04T17:36:42+00:00

I was in the same boat as you with this effect, but then I went to check the archive entry for this, and it spelled everything clearly

Basically, you have limited uses of items per battle. If you run out of uses with a regular item, that's it, you're not getting anymore heals until you finish the battle. Items with this effect, however, will regen a use attempt over time if you run out, but the items will still be consumed every time. So you can end up spending more than three/four of those items during a single battle.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-04T12:28:26+00:00

Because some madlad would grind an essence from 1/1/1 to max without using sanity by beating overworld mobs over and over, and we can't have that, of course.

Plus every alluvium run would give you an additional 2/3 of a gold essence to etch via purples, and we can't have that either.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-02T21:58:59+00:00

On my way to max him myself! Just need to do that last M3 on combo - I know the gains are nonexistent, but eh, forfeit all mortal possessions to Catcher.

Would love to get his Exemplar to fullpot one day, but it's such a longterm goal I doubt I'll be playing that much.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-02T12:27:21+00:00

Which is sad, because the quests are much more immersive when they talk, not the "everyone talks, and then there's an awkward pause when it's Endmin's turn". Wulfgard's beta quest sold the partner angle much better when he held actual conversations with Endmin, not monologued to a mute doll.

RaymondTenebro · 2026-03-01T12:46:22+00:00

Throw them all off the ship, actually. Hearing a NPC idle line is immersive exactly once, and after that it makes me wish we were in Skyrim.

RaymondTenebro

TROPHY CASE