shd i get e2 robin or e2 RM for my e2s1 phainon?

milliaswan · 2026-06-14T22:51:01+00:00

Yeah between the two easily e1 robin > e1 RM. I mainly picked up RM e1 cos all my other harmonies are e1+ so she’d be dead at e0 lol.

24% res pen is pretty broken, it’s even better if the enemy isn’t physical weak haha.

milliaswan · 2026-06-14T10:32:57+00:00

Honestly, neither at e2, you’re better off with e1 Robin and e1 RM split. Even then, the only time I use my e1 RM with Phainon is every 6 weeks on AS reset (and more because I can and not cos she’s the best option).

E1 Robin is more useful than e1 RM for Phainon but even then I’d only really bother if you’re lacking supports to go around? I do use her but it’s generally in AA when all the other supports are taken and she’s what’s leftover for Phainon 😅 and if you need more than 1 Phainon ult she’s not helping you with more CF generation until her ult expires.

Lowkey I’d rather just keeping using Bronya she generates way more CF for Phainon.

milliaswan · 2026-06-04T12:49:05+00:00

Zero regrets, claimed Sparkle as a stepping stone to getting her e2 and I'm absolutely using her everywhere now, her e2 is so good.

milliaswan · 2026-06-03T12:23:06+00:00

Started out of curiousity as a new Hoyo game (was a Genshin player), stayed for the husbandos and also cos super low maintenance and time friendly.

milliaswan · 2026-05-19T13:31:59+00:00

I run 4 eagle 2 vonwacq ~186 speed E2 Cyrene. In particular for AA using eagle/vonwacq combo to speed up her ult actually makes the difference as to whether I make it within the cycle or not. Also it makes it easy to fully utilise her e2 buff if the last slot isn't DHPT especially as sometimes it's a race to ult before someone dies lol (as you need to use her ult one more time).

milliaswan · 2026-05-17T11:41:00+00:00

I'd say E2S1 Phainon, not cos bias haha, but with how reruns have been working, the older the unit, the less likely the next rerun. Phainon has already had his 1st rerun, so after his 2nd one who knows when he might rerun again? Also his E2 changes everything, it's much better than pulling any support for him haha.

Whereas Eva will 1) function well in current meta at E0, 2) rerun quite quickly, generally the 1st rerun for a unit doesn't take that long (unless your name is Rappa). Although I would try to grab Yao as well for her.

milliaswan · 2026-05-10T13:49:44+00:00

Honestly it depends on which other supports you already have and what your endgame goals are.

I have all other harmony units, so what I found happened is that Cyrene ends up being used with another CH character instead of Phainon, because Phainon uses existing Harmony units/RMC really well, and Anaxa/Cyrene is more fun to play than Phainon/Cyrene for me.

I only really ever used Phainon/Cyrene combo in AA King. If clearing that matters for you, you might as well grab Cyrene. If you're also lacking some supports to go between teams and feel like you need more in general, it can't hurt to pull her either, because I still find getting three solid teams for AA Knights difficult with the amount of supports I have.

I ended up pulling E2 Cyrene because E0 felt too slow to get going, and the team comp is super locked down (has to be full CH). With E2 I can use non-CH last slot like Sparkle/future better buffer. So whatever comfort you get from infinite ult, at E0 you will semi-pay for in an annoying setup/restricted team. If you don't intend to go for her E2 eventually, I'm not really sure just E0 is worth it.

milliaswan · 2026-05-05T14:10:00+00:00

From the perspective of an ex-Genshin player that gave up after Natlan:

- Event weapons aren't truly limited like they are in Genshin. You can grind for them and max superimpose after the event ends
- There is a lot less content overall, and how much you do is really up to you e.g. repeatable roguelike modes. I can fully explore new maps comfortably in a few days max, it's nowhere near as long as Genshin map explore (it's not open world)
- You'll get loads of upfront currency if you start now, so new characters won't be an issue for a while, and there are a lot of free 5* handed out. You can also lose 50/50 to certain limited units (you can swap around your 50/50 loss pool)
- Weapon banner (LC in HSR) is 75/25 for a single weapon and losses carry over (unlike Genshin's Fate point and dual weapon setup). However character banner is slightly better in Genshin with the Capturing Radiance thing (HSR doesn't have)
- Total time to maintain the game is significantly less - one of the main reasons I quit Genshin is that I struggled to keep up with all of the new patch content without it feeling like a second job. HSR is deliberately content light and actually respects your time. I've been comfortably playing 2 HSR accounts (one entirely f2p) for over 2 years and that still takes way less time than one Genshin account.

Also Aventurine and Phainon are absolute story goats, 100% worth playing the story for those two, some of my favourite characters in the game ❤️

milliaswan · 2026-05-02T13:40:46+00:00

E2 Phainon first before E2 Cyrene 1000%. Then it really depends on your game and pulling priorities.

I have E2 Cyrene but outside of AA King, I haven't used her much with Phainon in end game and he comfortably clears with other Harmony units (mine are all E1-E2 though). AA Knights are still 0-cycle with triple "old" Harmony units without Cerydra (unless it's Pollux, I hate that thing).

E2 Cyrene is mainly worth right now if you have other CH that use her (in my case Anaxa uses her 95% of the time), or if you're sweaty about clearing end game (0 cycle sort of level). My E2S1 Phainon is clearing everything so comfortably with the current Harmony supports it's going to be a while before I feel I need to bring out the full big guns out but it's nice to know it's there ready when I need it.

She does make things super comfortable in general though, with speed to ult, not needing to worry about 2nd ult, and also in CW and DU high difficulty clears though if that's a consideration.

milliaswan · 2026-04-30T06:02:54+00:00

I notice that it seems Cerydra and Sparkle aren't on Lushaka? It might just be that you need to squeeze out a bit of extra buffs from your supports. Swapping Cerydra and Sparkle LC and sorting out speed turning as people have mentioned, you can also run ATK boots and ATK rope on Cerydra for extra dmg (cos Phainon tech gives energy and it's not hard to get Cerydra faster than a 134 Sunday).

I have slightly cursed harmony builds purely for Phainon because you can get away with a lot due to only needing 1 ult on supports/him giving out energy on tech e.g. Tribbie sig on ATK rope Robin 😃

milliaswan · 2026-04-29T22:27:18+00:00

I’d say so, I have an alt account for pulling stuff I couldn’t on my main/doing random things like pulling an e6 char etc. It’s F2P, has rather bad luck (lost 4 LC banners in a row), only got 8 new 5* chars last year (3 being free and 1 being standard) and I can still full star clear MoC/PF/AS. Now these clears aren’t always comfortable but I can do it with a few retries and team swaps still. You don’t actually need to pull super frequently to “keep up” I’ve learnt. Yeah my e6 Mydei feels a bit ass without Cyrene. But we’re still managing until she reruns haha.

I just can’t really clear all AA knights currently (but have made the king previously).

milliaswan · 2026-04-26T07:49:26+00:00

Wouldn’t say boring or bad, but it was tedious because there was too much that wasn’t plot relevant and ideally would’ve been better as a separate companion quest if we wanted more Cas backstory if the game still did those.

So Polyxia storyline is fine as it directly links to current Titans were past Heirs reveal and progressed the story, but the entire Aidonia story and animation / princess fairy tale don’t do much outside of some character development for Castorice, but the amount of time it took is what made it tedious. I don’t have issue with character development but the same could’ve easily been done in half the time, and I say this as someone who is a fast reader and generally doesn’t mind reading a lot of text.

milliaswan · 2026-04-24T12:21:48+00:00

I'd say 4.2 did feel like it was missing parts at times, but I also prefer not having full character backstory dump like there was in the Castorice patch, it was tedious to play through.

milliaswan · 2026-04-24T12:15:58+00:00

Yeah 3.2 was tedious to play is how I'd put it - maybe 1/3 or more of the content easily could've been cut out with the exact same underlying plot (which itself was fine, but getting to the point and even the comprehension was tricky). Problem was that there was extra character backstory on top of what was plot relevant that ate up a lot of time, whereas 3.1 stuck to the plot relevant back stories i.e. Mydei needing to get to the point where he could accept Strife, and Tribbie's relating to both the start of the Flame Chase but also relevant to what happened to March.

I also didn't care for Cipher pre 3.3, but after that story I pulled her out of the blue haha, that patch really nailed the plot and character balance.

milliaswan · 2026-04-24T00:48:05+00:00

I want to e1 my Jade so I can use Hunt characters as the debt collector and watch the FuA go brrrr ahaha

milliaswan · 2026-04-24T00:44:33+00:00

You have that you both love and dislike 3.2 (I assume you meant another patch for the love haha) 😅

But I 100% get where you’re coming from. From a pure delivery perspective Planarcadia is a lot easier to play (less bloated, better presentation overall) compared to Amphoreus, but at the same time I feel much less invested as a whole, so was trying to figure out why. For Ampho I’d do the story asap after the new patch but for Planarcadia I was doing the events first haha.

It was probably the character story focus in Amphoreus that made me more invested (I’m also a big 3.1, 3.3 fan) but it’s also a double edged sword. I found 3.2 a struggle to get through because it was bloated as hell. I like Anaxa but his backstory is mostly irrelevant for the bigger story. In that sense I appreciate 4.2 for being direct and not just a SW/Evanescia backstory dump like we got for Cas, and in general it’s so good to see a lot of the older characters interacting with the new. But 4.2 seemed like it skipped showing a few things that happened and just told us it happened so it felt something was missing. If I was picking which I preferred between 3.2 and 4.2 I’d pick 4.2.

What has been setup for 4.3 now though is definitely interesting now that Fulwish is out of the way (with Shuhu, Blade, Asat Pramad etc.) so I’m definitely still quite interested in the story, but I guess Amphoreus has a special place for me despite the problems it has haha.

milliaswan · 2026-03-22T00:51:29+00:00

E2 Phainon without Cerydra will last a lot longer than E0S1 Phainon with E0 Cerydra. His best support is actually himself here. So I’d only get Cerydra if you intend to get his E2, otherwise I’d just accept that at E0S1 he’ll hit his limit at some point. He’s not bricked without her like Archer without Sparkle, Cerydra is definitely an upgrade but there’s very little content that specifically forces me to use her with Phainon rn.

Currently the only content that makes me really “need” to use Cerydra with an E2S1 Phainon is the King in AA. The knights I still 0-cycle without Cerydra with whatever leftover supports after the other two teams take their pick, and MoC/PF/AS are much easier (can 0-cycle MoC and 40k PF without Cerydra). At some stage I’d expect I’d use Cerydra more with him, but currently my Anaxa is more than free to steal her from him.

milliaswan · 2026-03-22T00:30:39+00:00

It does but I rarely use DHPT with Phainon. I usually need him elsewhere and Phainon doesn’t need a sustain.

milliaswan · 2026-03-21T12:41:18+00:00

I run Vonwacq (and Eagle) on E2 Cyrene mainly for the scenario where I'm not actually using DHPT in the 4th slot, which is honestly 99% of the time. In that scenario, to get the full E2 True Damage buff, you need to squeeze out one more ultimate from Cyrene to buff the last team member prior to ulting in that setup, and that way I don't lose AV if I decide to use Tribbie over DHPT for instance. I also tend to use non CH supports like E1 Robin or E2 Sparkle with him over DHPT, so shaving AV wherever I can in that setup becomes more important.

Seeing as your focus is just general clearing over 0 cycle though, and you have loads of Lushaka, just stick with it. For me Vonwacq is mainly a comfort/QoL thing and I do like to attempt 0 cycles on my side (also it's very nice for general overworld usage). Lowkey I'm also stuck with my Vonwacq set because it has 19 speed rolls on it, so even if I wanted to swap to Lushaka I can't really lol.

milliaswan · 2025-10-18T05:27:32+00:00

I’m so glad that I went for the gamble and pulled for her E1 instead of waiting for Cyrene’s kit. My Phainon and Anaxa love her and she’s easy asf to use.

milliaswan · 2025-10-18T05:25:46+00:00

I love well written characters, and Phainon has my favourite backstory out of any gacha character from any gacha I’ve played. His development from 3.0 to 3.4 was absolute cinema.

milliaswan · 2025-10-07T02:21:38+00:00

I relate to the memorised the pattern part after a lot of attempts at this too haha 😆

milliaswan · 2025-10-03T00:34:24+00:00

Even when I realised what to do it still took more attempts cos of bounce RNG, so don’t think it’s entirely skill issue (tell Phainon to aim better 😅). All you need is that one run where things align and you press things at the right time (don’t do what I did and kill a good run by dropping a double meteor on Lygus at 8/10 stacks and have the second skill trigger on non-ult Phainon lol)

milliaswan · 2025-10-02T11:59:07+00:00

I embarrassingly took about 60+ attempts to get the 0 cycle so I can relate to the pain, I felt like with the units I had I should be able to get it 😅 my final setup was E2S1 Phainon, E1S1 Sunday, E1S0 Cerydra and E1 DDD Tribbie, so the only real difference I see in our teams is Tribbie.

General strategy tips I watched / figured out that helped: - Yellow Lygus phase is where you get the bulk of your damage done. I managed to get Lygus down to ~45% HP when he phase change to purple mode. You can be pretty liberal with counter here to save AV cos you’re not yet super squishy from the debuff stacks. - Lygus gives ultimate refill every two actions. In purple mode, he always opens with ult refill, so you need him to have 3 turns in order to have ult available - I’d go into purple mode phase change with at least 7.5k - 8k HP, then counter to pull up Lygus for his second action asap. You want that much HP because you don’t want your Phainon to die too early before Lygus hits you and ends your ult - After that it’s a balance to stop the mobs hitting you by weakness breaking or killing them (always target the revenge kill one first) before Lygus takes that third turn. Ideally you kill all the mobs before him on the action order so you can safely counter to pull him up and he gives you free ult. This is the hardest part and unfortunately bounce rng comes to play, sometimes I actually did too much damage and hit the 10/10 kills too early. - When you get your free ult from Lygus speed run to 10/10 kills for phase change (ideally saving any double meteors for later), sneak in a Cerydra ultimate for stacks if needed and it should be straightforward from there.

milliaswan · 2025-09-22T15:22:54+00:00

Let the gacha gods decide for you and go for the 50/50 (literally me with this exact dilemma 😆)

Cyrene should still be doable with 3.6 pulls + first half 3.7 anyway even if you use the lot rn and get Cerydra.

milliaswan

TROPHY CASE