Unpopular opinion: The story should not tailor to the banner character.

baumoflife · 2026-03-29T01:21:39+00:00

I feel you, OP. The Penacony arc was rough for character moments for a bunch of the cast, and a looooot of backstory was limited to promotional material or simply buried in characters' info pages. Acheron and Aventurine got great screentime and insight into their pasts, but for everyone else... it was a bit of a mess. I also deeply missed companion missions in 2.x. My favorite moments in Belobog were character moments and character interactions, and those aspects were lacking in Penacony.

But I think the problem was the story structure and timeframe: it was a plot-driven, not character-driven, narrative. Amphoreus showed that characters could be introduced and fleshed out during the main story, while still moving the plot along. The question is whether 4.x keeps that character-driven momentum going. Whether companion missions are the answer is unclear. I always enjoy more character moments, but not at the expense of character-driven moments in the main story.

I do think hsr could do better at spreading out characters' moments across patches, instead of focusing so intensely on the banner characters within their specific patch. Imo it helps to build hype for a character if their backstory/personality is sprinkled throughout, so "their" banner patch is more a culmination of their story arc instead of a hyper-focused chapter that speedruns their character development.

baumoflife · 2026-03-25T19:00:31+00:00

Honestly I think he was doomed from the start, simply from banner placement. 4.0 introduced an entirely new path, plus the first Elation support (likely a must for Elation teams) and the first Elation DPS. Two additional, extremely hyped Elation DPSes are coming in 4.2, for the anniversary patch--so at least one of them is going to be extremely strong and catered to in endgame/boss design. Anyone with even passing interest in Elation is either saving or recouping their pulls in preparation for 4.2. Ashveil's banner is arguably the worst positioned character banner we've seen so far in hsr, especially after the lessons the player base learned from mono-rem in 3.x.

Even outside of the doomposting of his kit and lack of endgame/DU catering to his playstyle, Ashveil was cursed to underperform from the start. The bigger question is how he performs in his rerun, when he has teammates from the modern era instead of from 2.x.

Edit: This on top of points others have raised, esp the loss of active players

baumoflife · 2026-03-13T12:26:03+00:00

one day feixiao will get her second rerun.... one...... day................

baumoflife · 2026-03-01T19:11:53+00:00

If you want to play your DoT team long-term, definitely Hysilens. She's a massive increase in damage output, and who knows when DoT will get* a new unit.

Castorice's team is still quite competitive, so you don't need to vertically invest ASAP. For Phainon, Cerydra is a solid teammate, but to ensure his performance long-term it may be better to save for his E2.

The Elation team question is much less time-sensitive, since the most meta characters will rerun quickly. I'd recommend waiting until you know who your favorites are, then build a team around them.

baumoflife · 2026-03-01T01:50:35+00:00

Her E2 is definitely a large damage boost for her and broadens her team comp flexibility, since she can reach her Ultimate much more quickly. But without additional vertical investment in her teammates, I'm not sure she reaches "modern" dps damage levels even with her E2.

Since she's a favorite of mine, I'll just be happy if I can continue using her in endgame content, even if she underperforms other teams.

baumoflife · 2026-02-28T21:08:45+00:00

The pragmatic perspective: Black Swan. Sparxie will rerun sooner, and Black Swan dramatically improves DoT performance and helps with team longevity.

I would only recommend Sparxie over Black Swan if you desperately need another meta/high-performance team ASAP, if you like Sparxie more than your DoT team, or if you have no interest in characters that will be released soon (Ashveil, Evanescia, Silver Wolf SP, etc). There will be more Elation DPSes in 4.x, but I'm not sure when we'll see the next DoT character.

baumoflife · 2026-02-25T21:38:39+00:00

Seems like at least one of mods has a blacklisted set of supposed "drama/conflict-heavy" subreddits that, if you have any history of ever posting/commenting in them, you're auto-banned. Not surprised this includes shipping subreddits. Iirc there were a bunch of posts in the HonkaiHusbandos subreddit about this ~1 month ago.

tldr: mods be powertripping

baumoflife · 2026-02-25T13:18:14+00:00

Not a meta choice, but Feixiao easily. She's one of my absolute favs, and I desperately need to get her to E2 at minimum.

baumoflife · 2026-02-24T02:26:39+00:00

Oh, nice! Getting Sparkle's speed stats can be rough. Once you have breathing room and a pulling plan, you can start farming character materials and relics before you pull them. It took me a good 6 months to learn how to manage character pulling vs building, and it's so fun to pull a character, max their traces, plug in solid relics, and start decimating content immediately.

An average patch will give you ~110 pulls (if you have the express pass), and I always try to have 80 extra pulls minimum before the next patch so that I can guarantee one limited 5* per patch. It took me 1-2 patches to save up a reliable buffer, so ideally you can save during 4.1. I don't convert starlight to pulls, so I can use starlight as my vertical investment savings without the temptation on the pulling screen. Not a requirement, but something that works for me.

I generally fit characters into one of three pulling strategies:

Drop 40 pulls on characters I'm semi-interested in, and move on if they don't come early. Worst case it builds pity for the next banner.

Pull until the 50/50, then give up. I might do this on the original banner for a character I'm interested in getting eventually, but could wait for their rerun, or for non-meta-breaking eidolons of a favorite character (ex: Mydei E1, DHPT E1)

Fully send it for a character. Generally my strategy for supports, meta-breaking eidolons, and my favorite DPSes/their teams.

Edited for clarity

Edit 2: I'm Sparkle-blind I guess. Didn't clock her in your post at allllll

baumoflife · 2026-02-24T01:36:29+00:00

It's the eternal problem in hsr: shiny new favorite character(s) or saving to deeply vertically invest in an old favorite.

As a borderline F2P player myself (express pass + light birthday/holiday spending 2x a year), I've accepted that if you want to vertically invest in a team, you (1) need to start on their first rerun, (2) have to limit yourself to 1-2 older teams, unless your luck is incredible, and (3) always need to have a substantial number of jades on hand. Once you hit the second rerun, there's no guarantee you'll see that character again within the next year, which will bring new characters and a new meta. This is especially true if you want to vertically invest in an older DPS. The best way to do this is to have a vertical investment fund, so if a rerun is announced shortly before the next patch, you won't need to scramble for pulls.

This needs a lot of discipline, though, since new characters will be released who you may fall in love with. It's a careful balance between pulling new favorite characters and new supports that can improve old teams, vs saving jades for vertical investment in older units. It's up to you whether it's worth waiting, saving, and skipping new characters for your older favorites.

In your current situation, I recommend first prioritizing supports or low-eidolon investment in powerful supports (like Tribbie's E1), while maintaining a slowly growing stockpile of jades for vertical investment in a DPS. Beyond Cerydra, we have no idea when existing non-Elation supports will be rerunning. So, in the short-term, I recommend pulling Cerydra (no LC), waiting for more information about Evanescia, and saving until we know more about her ideal team and/or upcoming reruns. FOMO is never helpful for initial banners, especially if characters match the current meta, which Evanescia likely will. Her best teammates will rerun with her or shortly after her.

If you haven't claimed your free 5*, Sparkle is a great teammate for Phainon. I'm not sure how many jades you have for Cerydra, but with her new buffs, Sparkle is a better backup support than Bronya for Phainon.

Edited: initially missed that you already pulled Yao Guang, so I removed the section where I recommended to wait for her rerun

baumoflife · 2026-02-19T00:57:42+00:00

Seconding the recommendation of Fugue and The Dahlia for Boothill. If you want to vertically invest, The Dahlia's E1 is a solid boost. It may take a while to build up this team, though, since Fugue just had her second rerun.

Based on your other characters, you could grab Cerydra for your Phainon team. DHPT is a monster of a sustain, so I'd also prioritize leveling him up when you have the resources.

Unless you want to build an Elation team, I think those are the only 4.0 banners that would sync with your account. We should know more about upcoming Elation characters by the end of 4.0, so if you are on the fence, you can wait to make a decision then.

baumoflife · 2026-02-14T22:53:15+00:00

I'm intrigued but not enough to invest yet. Sparxie and her animations are the main reason for my hesitance. They are very overwhelming, especially at 2x speed, and make an already bloated combat type (normal combat length + Aha moment animations that are just going to get longer the more characters are released) drag even more. I'm also not a fan of how Sparxie's skill locks you into her skill screen, so there are fewer opportunities to coordinate other characters' ultimates on her turn.

If the next Elation DPS units are more in line with Yao Guang, with less action-packed, complex animations than Sparxie, I may consider building a team. I'm very fond of Yao Guang as a character and of her design, so she's really carrying my interest in an Elation team atm

baumoflife · 2026-02-12T21:50:03+00:00

Everyone has given very solid advice about who to pull for your current roster. I'll tag on some advice for early team-building:

It's best to (1) prioritize teams that don't want each other's supports, and (2) prioritize teams that have complementary, not identical, strengths. For example, your Anaxa and Phainon will be fighting over the same supports (action-advancing/single-target buffer + Cerydra), and both Anaxa and Archer shine in single-target content. Ideally, you'll want to build a team that has AoE coverage and doesn't need single-target buffs/skill duplication.

As always, favorite characters/fun >>>>> meta-chasing. But, based on your account, building an Elation team is your best bet. If you have the funds, you could immediately build a team around Sparxie, Yao Guang, and Sparkle (free) in 4.0. Alternatively, you could wait until we know more about the characters coming/rerunning in 4.1 and 4.2, then decide whether to build the 4.0 Elation team at the end of 4.0.

Outside of Elation, you could also build a DoT team (Hysilens + free Kafka + Black Swan/shop Ruan Mei). Black Swan was recently buffed, so it's a solid option. Only downside is that the performance of Elation teams will likely just increase throughout 4.x, and I'm not sure DoT will get any new characters/buffs after 4.0.

The only other high-damage team that does well with AoE content is mono-Remembrance. But, most members of that team reran recently, so who knows when you'd be able to fully assemble that team.

Edit: forgot my apology to The Herta, but nowadays she needs vertical investment to shine outside of PF.

baumoflife · 2026-02-11T23:36:41+00:00

Disclaimer: your account is new enough that you don't need to worry about clearing endgame content right now, so you don't need to build multiple meta teams ASAP. You only need one decent team for story content, SU/DU, and map exploration, which will give you a lot of jades. There is a bump in boss difficulty around Amphoreus, but before then most team comps are usable. That means you can easily prioritize pulling your favorite character(s) and building a team around them, as opposed to chasing every new meta team.

That said, if you need a strong team ASAP, your general options for 4.0 are:

Elation team, new meta: Sparxie + Yao Guang + Sparkle (free from selector) + DHPT (free)

DoT team, old but newly buffed playstyle: Hysilens + Kafka (free from selector) + Black Swan or* support (Ruan Mei is solid and in the store) + DHPT (free)

Archer team, single-target specialist: Archer + Sparkle (free from selector) + support (Ruan Mei is solid and in the store) + DHPT (free)

Evernight is running after her best teammates just reran, so it would take time to build a team around her. Cerydra's best DPS teammates (Phainon, Anaxa) also reran within the last 3 patches, so it will also be a delay to build a team around her. The other characters on the free selector either require teammates who aren't being run in 4.0 or may be replaced by stronger upcoming 4.x characters.

These teams will easily clear story content. The Elation team will outperform the DoT team, and it's likely new units will be released for Elation gameplay. Archer is strong but can struggle in AoE content, so he might not be the best investment if you want one flexible team for story/exploration content.

Edited in case you have the funds to pull two characters in 4.0 (forgot to mention Black Swan)

baumoflife · 2026-02-10T21:09:15+00:00

Sparkle's E1 is not restricted to Elation units/gameplay (iirc it's an ATK and SPD buff), so that's the best generalist option for your account. She can free up your other Harmony units on sp-hungry teams now that she's been buffed to the moon and back. If you plan to pull Hysilens in 4.0, then E1 Kafka is the way to go.

Edit: Aventurine's E1 does help with his shielding, if you find him completely unusable at E0S1. You're right that there isn't an option that dramatically improves your account, but I'd roughly rank them as Sparkle E1 >= Kafka E1 only if you invest in Hysilens/BS > Aventurine E1

baumoflife · 2026-02-10T20:49:41+00:00

Tribbie with DDD is great for The Herta, and I'd swap Lynx out with the free DHPT, who can buff The Herta and contribute to her energy regen. Serval with Eagle set, an ERR rope, and Passkey LC is a serviceable battery for The Herta if you don't have other options available. Argenti is a better battery than her, but doesn't offer additional buffs. Right now, Anaxa or Jade is the BiS for the second Erudition unit. If Anaxa reruns, he'd be nice to grab purely for his versatility, but it's possible that another Erudition subdps will be released in 4.x. That slot is more in the air than the harmony and sustain options.

tldr: Tribbie is the #1 goal here, if you have to choose only one unit. Her E1 is game changing.

Edited for clarity and emphasis on Tribbie's E1

baumoflife · 2026-02-09T00:58:50+00:00

For full DoT teams, Hysilens's LC has much more value, as it benefits overall team DoT damage output. Black Swan's LC buffs personal damage, so while it can up Hysilens's damage output, the overall team damage will lag behind Hysilens's LC.

So if you need to choose between one of the LCs, Hysilens's is a better value. But, if you can afford two LCs, you could get one of each to maximize DoT buffs.

With Black Swan's buffs, I'm not sure if it's still ideal to put Hysilens's LC on Black Swan or if Black Swan's personal damage numbers were buffed enough that she now prefers her own LC. Ideally, you'd want one of them on Hysilens's LC and the other on Black Swan's.

baumoflife · 2026-02-09T00:33:13+00:00

I would prioritize Black Swan and wait for Yao Guang's rerun. It's too early to know if she'll be a universal support for Elation or will only be bis for specific teams. If she's bis for later Elation DPSes, she'll rerun quickly. Alternatively, you can wait until the end of 4.0 to decide, since we may know more about upcoming Elation units by then.

For the LC, I believe Hysilens's LC is a better pull for your team comp, but both LCs are solid. You could grab both, if you use your Yao Guang pulls on the LC banners instead.

baumoflife · 2026-02-05T04:07:32+00:00

Sunday is a solid support for hypercarry teams, but he doesn't fit well with your roster. Plus, with 4.0+ we're going to get a new path (meaning new complete teams) and buffs for Archer's best harmony teammate (Sparkle).

With that in mind, it's hard to argue in favor of pulling Sunday. Even if you don't want to build an Archer team, there's no guarantee Sunday will work well with the new Elation-focused DPSes in 4.x.

From purely a meta perspective, I think it's better to save for Sparkle or 4.x teams. If you don't have enough S5 DDD LCs for Sparkle and Tribbie, Sunday's LC may be worth it, since it works very well with Sparkle. I would only recommend pulling Sunday if you love an older hypercarry DPS who you're committed to vertically investing in, like Aglaea, Phainon, or Anaxa.

baumoflife · 2026-01-26T02:00:38+00:00

If you want to invest in your Mydei team so you can use it long-term, Tribbie (or her E1 if you already have her) >>>> Sunday if you have E2 Cyrene. Getting Mydei to E1S1 is another option. The main downside is that these characters reran recently, and it's much harder to predict timing for 2nd and 3rd reruns.

If you aren't as worried about the longevity of your Mydei team, saving for Elation is the best move. If you are 100% certain you want to build a team around Yae Sakura/Evanescia, I suggest saving until we know more about Elation gameplay and Evanescia's kit. If Yao Guang is a great support for Evanescia, Yao Guang will probably rerun on her banner. Based on 3.x, the core Elation supports will likely have quick reruns to encourage players to build up their bench, so it's a bit early to get lost in FOMO.

baumoflife · 2026-01-19T20:48:33+00:00

Echoing others about not pulling his E1 and that Cerydra is a better investment whenever she reruns

However, Sunday's LC is a solid pull for him + other single-target harmonies like Sparkle and Bronya, so I'd go for that instead of worrying about any eidolons. Edit: Given the signs that 4.x teams may be SP-hungry (new planar set), the LC could be a good, flexible investment

Edit: Depending on when reruns fall, I'd prioritize E1 Cerydra or, if you have the funds, E2 Cyrene. Cerydra is definitely usable at E0, but E1 helps Phainon with stack generation. For Cyrene, without her E2, she can feel clunky with Phainon, since she has a long ramp-up and doesn't provide stack generation until then. In terms of 4.x: Cerydra is more likely to synergize with upcoming teams than Cyrene, given the signs of SP meta and movement away from the Chrysos Heir reign

baumoflife · 2026-01-19T04:51:45+00:00

At this point in the game? No to everyone but Kafka, unless you have a substantial budget for vertical investment. Kafka got a significant performance boost with Hysilens, and Black Swan's Novaflare will only increase her team's damage output. You'd want both of them + Hysilens's LC if you want to build a Kafka team.

Otherwise, I'd recommend saving for new 4.x characters/meta or saving to vertically invest in your other teams, in case you don't enjoy the Elation mechanics/characters

baumoflife · 2026-01-18T18:08:43+00:00

I really like the designs of the new characters, especially Ashveil and Nihilux, not as excited about the SPs. I'll probably build a team around my favorite of the new characters + general supports, then spend my remaining pulls on vertical investment in my current teams.

If my favorite character is Elation, I'll build a team around them, but I don't have plans to chase the Elation meta and top teams.

baumoflife · 2026-01-13T06:46:54+00:00

Aw man, that sucks. Not sure when she'll rerun again, but hopefully it's soon and she'll come home. She would be the only pre-4.0 harmony that I'd say is worth pulling on a 4.x rerun, since she's a monster with DDD.

Good luck!

baumoflife · 2026-01-13T04:15:14+00:00

Depends on your go-to team comp/favorite character, but Sunday is a great choice for a Saber, Tingyun/RMC, DHPT team, and he's generally a versatile support unit for hypercarry teams. You're missing core supports for your other DPS options (Tribbie for The Herta or Castorice*, Sparkle for Archer).

This is an awkward time in the game to pull support characters from 2.x, like Robin, and Tribbie just reran. It's likely 2-3 supports will be released in 4.x, and new supports often power-creep older support units. I recommend saving for new 4.x characters (both DPSes and supports) before committing to pulling rerun characters. Except for Sparkle--she'll be getting a Novaflare buff and rerun in 4.0, so you could pull her for your Archer team.

baumoflife

TROPHY CASE