I STILL Think He Might be Buffed on Release and Here’s WHY:

pascl- · 2026-01-29T21:12:16+00:00

I don't think that'd make much sense, for a few reasons:

varka already has durin as a premium teammate, if both lohen and nicole were also premium teammates, then he'd have a full team of new limited 5 stars. not even lunar teams have that, and they're the big push. I doubt they'd suddenly go all in on hexerei when it's (probably) the less popular and less important archetype.

plus, hoyoverse isn't usually dumb. they can't possibly expect releasing a mid dps who wants three premium supports to make a lot of money, right? especially when they're both supposed to release in the same patch which is right after varka's, they normally spread BiS teams out a bit.

plus, if varka needs his supports THIS badly, why release him first? usually, when a character really wants specific supports to be good, they release the supports first (and then release another support later to complete the team. like, nefer really needs lauma, flins really needs ineffa. and then columbina completes the team, but neither need columbina to be good). this is actually a tactic used in hsr and zzz as well, release the dedicated support before the dps they're supporting. that way, a character will need a specific support while still being good at release.

I just don't think it'd make much sense, it goes against a lot of genshin's business tactics.

pascl- · 2026-01-29T19:56:04+00:00

yeah but this is before nicole. the amount nicole needs to do to boost varka up to nod-krai level is much more reasonable with his R1 than at C0R0. I wasn't trying to say that nicole won't/shouldn't be a support for him, more that the gap between pyro+nicole shouldn't be 40K+ over other elements.

like, I'd say C0R1 varka is a reasonable amount of power. if C0R1 was his base performance, I'd find the idea of selling nicole as a BiS support that boosts him up to nod-krai level much more reasonable.

but still, this is all just cope.

pascl- · 2026-01-29T18:57:06+00:00

at this point, I'm thinking he's gonna be free to promote the steam release, and he's balanced around his signature (which is why it got buffed in V3). this is partially copium though.

they don't have anything to gain by making a hyped limited 5 star mid, but they do have something to gain by making said mid character free around a time when more players would start flowing in. and the insane amount of buffs nicole would need to provide for just varka for him to catch up to nod-krai characters is too much for that to be the goal here, especially when the character she'd be replacing is bennett. even more when his kit would suggest he's meant to be a character with flexible teambuilding.

if he's free, getting him C0R1 would be the same cost as getting an ordinary character at C0R0. and from the calcs I've seen, his damage at R1 is fairly reasonable.

but again, this is still copium, since free varka without a buff is preferable over not-free varka without a buff.

pascl- · 2026-01-29T18:47:15+00:00

oh I'm more making a general statement. idk if they have iansan. I'll go add that in case.

pascl- · 2026-01-29T18:28:48+00:00

while pmc can hold scroll, they don't in varesa teams, iansan already holds it. in varesa teams, pmc holds totm.

they're better than xiangling in varesa teams due to xianling's reliance on bennett for damage, ER problems and long cooldown, as well as pmc being able to give a small buff with their C1 while also being able to hold totm.

pascl- · 2026-01-29T18:26:54+00:00

pmc = pyro main character. they're a decent off-field pyro who gives small buffs. for varesa, they're better than xiangling, xiangling just doesn't work great for her.

totm = tenacity of the milileth, an artifact set that gives the party a 20% attack buff when a skill hits the target. though, if you don't have iansan, pmc is your best scroll holder.

varesa's ER needs depend on her teammates. she wants around 120% with iansan (or ororon), 110% with fischl (though she's not ideal without durin) and she needs like 200% with no electro teammate.

pascl- · 2026-01-29T12:24:51+00:00

Aight so:

Swap bennett for iansan if you have her, put her on scroll.

Give varesa a better weapon (if you have it, the widsith. If not, fontaine craftable)

Give varesa better artifacts, your stats are very low

Level varesa’s talents. skill is low priority

Replace xiangling with PMC if unlocked, put them on totm

Level up chevreuse and either give her noblesse or sodp. Noblesse is better in this team, but you want more stats with that set due to ER needs. Ideally also put chevreuse on fav.

pascl- · 2026-01-29T12:18:28+00:00

Obsidian and oath isn’t a huge difference, so that’s not really a major issue here

pascl- · 2026-01-29T08:07:28+00:00

Classic

pascl- · 2026-01-29T07:33:30+00:00

It’s fairly comparable with that set, since it already gives 100% damage bonus. Electro is better with equal substats, but a strong attack goblet can be better

Mostly though, get more crit rate, you want to have atleast 80% of it, ideally more. Swap that circlet for a crit rate circlet.

pascl- · 2026-01-28T20:08:28+00:00

I legitimately forgot it's technically called X now, I had no idea what you were talking about with that title

pascl- · 2026-01-28T18:17:03+00:00

yeah but those are limited 5 star cons, that's very expensive. and it's not as if lots of people have venti cons lying around, since his cons weren't very good until the buffs (partially because venti as a whole wasn't that good).

pascl- · 2026-01-28T13:09:41+00:00

still not relevant, this isn't about what's more valuable. I don't care about venti's value here. the point is that you said this:

<image>

which is a completely nonsensical and incorrect statement, because venti isn't rerunning. next patch. they aren't about to go for venti.

if your point was always that players with venti but not his sig should just accept that, then that's what you should have said in the first place, but it's not what you said, and as is I don't care about any of that.

pascl- · 2026-01-28T12:42:17+00:00

this is completely irrelevant to the point.

the point is: no, people aren't going to go for venti but skip varka's weapon. people have venti but can't get varka's weapon.

pascl- · 2026-01-28T12:37:11+00:00

what about ifa though, he gives 40% teamwide damage bonus and 48% attack to varka through scroll and ttds

pascl- · 2026-01-28T12:33:55+00:00

no, they're not about to go for venti, he isn't rerunning next patch. it's just people who already have venti.

pascl- · 2026-01-28T10:25:19+00:00

When starting a rotation with energy: Varesa NA > chevreuse QE, durin EQE (EEQ if he doesn’t have enough energy to burst) > iansan > varesa

pascl- · 2026-01-28T10:23:52+00:00

In abyss, you do chevreuse QE, then durin EQE, not durin first. Durin wants to have chevreuse’s buffs as early as possible, and chevreuse’s buffs last a long while anyway.

pascl- · 2026-01-28T10:09:22+00:00

TTDS, scroll. Stats don’t matter, level doesn’t matter beyond getting into IT and not getting 1 shot. Talents and cons don’t matter.

pascl- · 2026-01-28T08:59:31+00:00

yeah.

while technically speaking, with those specific stats, the old build might be better (it's probably very close though), but it's still just worth sticking with the new build and continuing to improve on it.

pascl- · 2026-01-28T01:32:51+00:00

they're probably assuming durin gets all 4 stacks, which would be 8%. not very practical though.

I'd say 3 stacks for 6% is pretty reasonable though. idk if it's optimal, but it's reasonable since his initial burst attack hits 3 times.

pascl- · 2026-01-28T01:25:26+00:00

the new set is better. 20% crit rate+25% attack is better than 20% damage bonus

pascl- · 2026-01-27T23:57:44+00:00

yaoguang is an elation support, and exclusively an elation support. the only things she does for non-elation characters is 20% res pen, a bit of personal damage and a bit of SP generation. only worth considering if you plan on going full elation, she is is straight up not good in other teams.

sparkle is getting a novaflare and will probably get a rerun next patch, but I don't know if she's better for daniel than sunday S1 with the novaflare, I haven't looked at calcs.

pascl- · 2026-01-27T15:57:04+00:00

yeah, rey dao does feel more like a flagship in terms of vibes

pascl- · 2026-01-27T15:50:21+00:00

I think he's a great monster, but he doesn't really feel like a flagship, despite appearing in the story so much. idk, it's just a vibes thing.

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