#but NONE of the sub stats are good

[inimitablereel]

tags from @adorablecrab #also hxz calls him xiao jiu ye on UN at least one time#(and I think about it constantly) #and I think xiuxiu calls him xiao hua gege there too

I still have the (kind of garbage uncommented messy) code I wrote to do this including the bit where I was searching for what I thought might be a possible name so let's do this

for all of these word clouds I was matching on the following list of names:

"Xie Yuchen", "Boss Xie","Xie Yuhua","Xiao Hua", "Big Hua", "Xiao Xiejiu", "little Xie Nine", "little Xie Jiu", "head of the Xie family", "Master Hua", "A Hua", "Da Hua", "Xie Xiao Hua", "Master Hua'er", "Xie Yu Chen","Xie Zi","Xie Ziyang", "Jie Yuhua", "little Xie", "Brother Hua", "Xie Yu Hua","Young Master Xie", "Master Xie", "little flower"

Looking now through the UN subtitles for anything that matches 'hua', 'yuchen', 'yuhua', 'xie', 'pink', 'jiu', 'nine', '9', 'flower', or 'little', I've definitely also missed:

Master Xiao Jiu (9 times lol, looked up a couple of them and it seems like various people he was interrogating about the Mystic Nine call him this?)

Xiao Jiu (this is an interesting subtitling choice for a line that was actually in English! It's QDK saying "you and Nine don't need to be like this" to HXZ. It's only in there a single time.)

Mr. Xie (4 times, looks like this is a thing people who work for him who aren't HXZ call him)

Just Hua (pretty sure this was only in the song. you know, the one that goes pingxie tiesanjiao heihua. so I'm not sure this counts as a full nickname)

Xiao Xie (just once, this is Huo Nainai of course)

Of course, all of this is in english and is specifically about subtitlers translation choices! In particular I definitely also remember that Xiao Hua gege and it sure is not in those subtitles as far as I can find - there's not very many places where "brother" gets used in the subs at all, and while it wasn't so few that I want to pull them all up in an episode, none of them contextually seem like they'd be about Xiao Hua.

My main takeaway here is my code for this was not very good and choosing to deal with 4 different sets of translation choices made it messier. I did think about doing stats on the chinese subtitle files to have less of this be so translation dependent EDIT apparently a year ago I did download all 36 episodes of chinese subtitles like a madlad. I do not know chinese so I'd probably need help making sure I'm not missing a zillion names but I can see if gege is in those subs.... will reblog with results if they're interesting

What do people call Xie Yuchen?

books

Ultimate Note

Lost Tomb 2 (Explore with the Note)

Lost Tomb 2.2 (Heavenly Palace in the Clouds)

numbers under the cut

With all of these, I manually searched for nicknames containing "Xie" or "Hua", so it's possible I missed some that I didn't spot or are different than expected. Once I'd built that list of names, I've just been running a script to search for them. That means there could be some mistakes where the name comes up but it's about someone else (e.g. little Xie COULD be Wu Xie or Xie Lianhuan, not Xie Yuchen), though I did try to look for outliers. Also, everything is obviously based on someone's translation choices and how much subtitles are even including the nuances of naming - I'm getting the impression that they were fairly detailed so thanks to whoever subtitled these.

If there's some other nicknames you know are used, I can get rerun this script pretty easily (also didn't run other shows/the heihua movie because I don't have subs for it downloaded, but it'd be pretty fast to do if people are curious)

Books:

I pulled these from the Merebear epubs, so this is missing some sidestories etc that aren't in epubs yet. [ETA worth noting that even though this is a mtl, merebear doesn't always 1:1 translate names, so this like everything else is extremely dependent on tl choices]

Xiao Hua:1231 Xie Yuchen:591 Boss Xie:63 Master Hua:60 Pink Shirt: 36 (all in Volume 7 before Wu Xie learns his name lol) Xie Yuhua:18 (written once as jie yuhua) Big Hua:4 (written once as da hua) Xiao Xiejiu:2 little Xie Nine:1 (this might actually just be a footnote translation of Xiao Xiejiu) head of the Xie family:3 A Hua:3 (Pangzi, Xiao Hua doesn't like it) Xie Xiao Hua:1 (also Pangzi) little Xie:10 (didn't make it into my wordcloud oops - probably NOT Xie Lianhuan because I skipped the volumes that don't have Xiao Hua in them, but I didn't check) (no Xie just) Yuchen: 1 (Li Cu apparently)

Bonus: in stories from the rain village Wu Xie makes up a story about "three heroes" which has a character who's "Official Xie"

Ultimate Note:

Just the 36 main episodes, I don't have a separate subtitle file for the extra

Xiao Hua:103 head of the Xie family:1 Master Hua:12 Master Hua'er:86 (this is what Hei Xiazi calls him most of the time) Xie Yu Chen:6 (UN subtitles decided that was two words?)

Lost Tomb 2:

Xie Yuchen:11 Xie Yuhua:13 (split fairly evenly between Xie and Jie - this is all around the arc with his family) head of the Xie family:2 Master Hua:23 Xie Zi:12 (Huo Nainai calls him this) little Xie:7 (Pangzi but not to Xiao Hua's face - this is an overcount because at least 2 of them are actually Xie Lianhuan) Brother Hua:5 (Pretty sure this is Xiuxiu)

Lost Tomb 2.2: I was planning on combining this with lt2 but it is notably different

Xie Yuchen:20 head of the Xie family:1 Master Hua:45 Xie Zi:12

[oneknightstand-if]

i feel like you may have answered this before and so sorry if you have but in your opinion where on the top/switch/bottom (or dom/vers/sub) range do the ros fall? do they have specific preferences or are they mostly malleable and it depends on the mc?

I know I answered something similar before, but I can't find it (damn you sucky Tumblr search!) as it doesn't appear to be in the oks-ROs tag for some reason. I even explicitly remember calling out Arthur's thing where he's always expected to be dominant than the MC flipping the script on him would be appreciated for a change *grumble grumble grumble*

Anyway, overall, they've got their preferences, but none of them are so selfish to not take into account MC's preferences as well. You may end up having to wrestle some of them over who gets to be dominant for the night though.

Merlin: A literal incubus. Any way you want it, any time you want it, any where you want it, just feed them already!

Adrian: ....he's a bit more aggressive than may be apparent at first look. Definitely one to take MC's comfort/preferences into high account, however.

Arthur: As mentioned before, he's pretty much always expected to be dominant in politics, in battle, in bed too. So MC trying to flip that on him would really amuse him.

Percy: Pretty submissive here. He's a demisexual with a long trigger point so aggressive horniness is really not his thing.

4̷0̴4̶ ̷E̴r̷r̸o̷r̸ ̸N̴o̶t̴ ̴F̷o̴u̷n̷d̶: Have you really raised your stats high enough for this, MC?

Cassandra: .......she's probably the most dominant one out of this entire lot, that's including the full-blooded fae and eldritch abominations, goodluck MC.

Gwen: Switch. Would start out more sweet & submissive, until she starts getting really comfortable with the MC.

Vivian: Good luck trying to dominate a full-blooded fae, MC. Although I suppose she'd be pretty used to topping from the bottom too.

Lorelei: Very dominant in normal life, but if you've reached this point with her, she would've let her walls down around the MC... so switch, depending on MC's preferences.

Broderick: You know how I mentioned about wrestling for dominance on a nightly bases? Yeah, that's him.

[stars-n-spice]

Meet the Baddies Batch!

I had this super dumb idea to give all the Batchers significant others (aside from Tech, since he already has Phee) and the lovely @urlocaldust gave me the idea to call them the 'Baddies Batch' after telling me that she dubbed the 'Bad Batch' the 'Bad Baddies.' And they're a bunch of baddies, so why not?

I want to make art and maybe even fics with them and their adventures because I think they could get into a lot of trouble with and without their partners.

I mean, you've got a bounty hunter, a pirate, a mercenary, a Jedi, and a medic. What could possibly go wrong?

Also, of course, Phee doesn't belong to me but the other four characters do!

Anyways, introductions!

Starting off, we've got Jung-Myn Yun! Hunter's selectively mute Jedi whom he's in a queerplatonic relationship with (Hunter's an oriented aroace in this AU). If anyone has a brain cell in the group, it's going to be him and he's desperately in need of a break. No amount of Jedi training could've prepared them for dealing with this crew and the Batch's shenanigans but he makes do! Of course, they've got loads of trauma from Order 66 and the sub-sequential aftermath, but you'll never catch them opening up about it.

Still working out how the two would come to meet, but I'm thinking it's really a chance meeting where they just happen to cross paths. Call it the Force or what you will. Or maybe Omega got lost in a marketplace and stumbled upon Jung. Who knows? All that matters is they make a good team and take care of each other's luscious hair.

Stats: Name: Jung-Myn Yun Species: Jedi Human (?) Age: 27 Pronouns: He/They Sexuality: MLM Ace Height: 6'1 Enneagram Number: 9W1 Occupation: None (lmao)

Second up, we've got Viram Cossa! Echo's lovely aspiring Mikkian medic who keeps the squad together but won't hesitate to kill a bitch. The other individual with the brain cell, Viram is the voice of reason and makes sure to keep everyone safe and healthy because the Force knows the kind of trouble they all get up to. She keeps everyone in check physically and mentally, making sure everyone gets the rest they seem to forget they need (her included).

Viram meets Echo through Chuchi! She and the Senator are friends and when Chuchi starts helping out the clones after the fall of the Republic, Viram helps alongside her as a medic. They have somewhat of a slow burn, as they want to focus more so on their efforts and jobs than a relationship but every now and then that composure slips. Nothing is going to stop them from judging people though. Absolutely nothing.

Stats: Name: Viram Cossa Species: Mikkian Age: 25 Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Demisexual Height: 5'2 Enneagram Number: 2W1 Occupation: Medic

Third up is Khea Nultez! Wrecker's fiery Mandalorian who is somehow even more reckless than all of the Batch combined. The designated demolitions expert of the squad, Khea's stubborn personality keeps them on their toes and surprisingly gets them out of trouble as much as it gets them into trouble. Her charm and sharp wit are as effective as her WESTARs and she is not exempt from the Mandalorian gene of adopting anything and everything that is in need of a home.

Khea ran a repair shop on Ord Mantell and one day Wrecker was sent to get supplies and ended up falling in love instead. Something about short brunettes with moles on their faces really got him. However, Khea is super stubborn, self-destructive, and way too wary, so it takes a while for her to open up to Wrecker. But it's so over for her once she finally admits to her feelings and realizes Wrecker doesn't have any underlying intentions with her. It's so over.

Stats: Name: Khea Nultez Species: Chandarlian + Mandalorian Age: 25 Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Pansexual Height: 5'4 Enneagram Number: 6W7 Occupation: Bounty Hunter/Mechanic

Next up, is, of course, the amazing and wonderful Phee Genoa, who I think doesn't need an introduction. The pilot of the group with a ship big enough for all of them, she gets the squad into trouble more often times than not, but always manages to get them out of it in the process. She's usually the one to start up shit (and Khea follows) but she's always there to save her squad or the Bad Batch when things turn for the worst.

We all know how they meet :) I will never not get over her introduction scene.

Stats: Name: Phee Genoa Species: Human Age: N/A Pronouns: She/Her Sexuality: Bisexual Height: N/A Enneagram Number: 8W7 Occupation: Pirate Liberator of Ancient Wonders

Last but not least is Tay'kaa Marr! Crosshair's snarky Chagrian mercenary boyfriend who is a saint for putting up with Crosshair's shit. He's as happy to join in on shit as much as he is to stir shit up, and boy does he love to stir the pot. He's a snarky, competitive son of a bitch who loves to tease, but the moment you say anything remotely bad about Crosshair, you better watch yourself. While not as good as a marksman as his boyfriend, he still has great aim and is the team's designated sharpshooter.

Working out the details on their initial meeting, but I'm leaning towards the classic 'meeting at the bar/club' trope. Tay probably challenges Crosshair to darts or something, thinking he can beat him and when Crosshair completely mercies Tay, Tay is both incredibly frustrated at the fact of someone being better than him while also being incredibly interested. Things just go from there and you'll never be able to tell if they actually like each other or not (they do, they just got a weird way of showing it).

Stats: Name: Tay'kaa Marr Species: Chagrian Age: 28 Pronouns: He/Him Sexuality: Bisexual Height: 6'5 (not counting lethorns) Enneagram Number: 3W2 Occupation: Mercenary

And that wraps it up!

And when you put the Bad Batch and the Baddies Batch together you get:

It's really stupid, I know, but they are my sillies and I love them so much.

I'll be tagging stuff with just the significant others as: baddies batch

And things that include the Bad Batch as: silly squad

Is this ridiculous? Yes, perhaps, but it's fun :D

[wynterrolls]

˳༄꠶ BLACK SWAN | Honkai: Star Rail TL;DR Build

Role: DoT DPS

Relic Set (More options below the cut)

4pc Prisoner in Deep Confinement

Planar Ornament Set

Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise

Firmament Frontline: Glamoth (More efficient to farm)

Space Sealing Station

Main Stats

Head = HP

Glove = ATK

Body = Effect Hit Rate (EHR) or ATK%

Boots = Speed or ATK%

Orb = Wind DMG% or ATK%

Rope = ATK%

Sub Stats

EHR

ATK% or ATK

SPD

Endgame Stats to aim:

Needed EHR = 120% EHR

Minimum Total ATK = 3000

Speed Options: no SPD (if slow BS); 134+ to 145+ SPD (if using Ruan Mei or SPD buffers); 155+ (if fast BS)

Black Swan Rotation

Assuming your BS doesn’t get hit by enemies:

Using ATK% rope: 4x Skill > Ultimate (4 turn ultimate)

Using ATK% rope: 3x Skill + 2x Basic > Ultimate (5 turn ultimate)

Using Tutorial LC: 3x Skill > Ultimate (3 turn ultimate)

Light Cones

To know the damage difference between each light cone, check the tables below the cut.

Reforged Remembrance 5★

Good Night Sleep Well 4★

Incessant Rain 5★

It's Showtime 4★

Eyes of the Prey 4★

Fermata 4★ [S5]

Before the Tutorial Mission Starts 4★ [S5]

— Black Swan Kit TL;DR —

All Basic Attack, Skill, and Ultimate deal Wind DMG on enemies.

Arcana = deals Wind DMG and Wind DoT damage at start of enemy turn

Arcana stack = increase DoT dmg%; max of 50 stacks; resets at enemy turn

Basic Attack: Chance to apply an Arcana Stack for each DoT on enemy.

Skill: Chance to apply DEF shred and Arcana stack.

Ultimate: Applies Epiphany on all enemies for 2 turns.

Epiphany = more DoT dmg% and Arcana effects are considered as Wind Shear, Bleed, Burn, and Shock; Arcana stacks don’t reset as long as Epiphany is on enemy.

Talent: when enemies enter battle, applies DoT; each DoT enemy gets, chance to get Arcana stack

If 3+ Arcana stacks = chance to apply Arcana stacks on adjacent targets

If 7+ Arcana stacks = DEF ignore on target and adjacent targets

Technique: chance to apply Arcana stacks on target at start of battle

— How to Play Black Swan in Simplified Form —

Black Swan can’t detonate any DoTs. Her DoT damage depends on enemy speed = backloaded damage. Her kit revolves entirely around increasing the damage enemies take from DoTs at beginning of their turns, by increasing the Arcana stacks on them.

She needs another DoT unit to apply DoTs on enemy and to trigger DoTs outside of enemies’ turns (e.g. Kafka, E4 Sampo, E6 Luka, or Guinaifen’s ultimate). This is possible when Epiphany is on enemies, since her Arcana stacks can also be triggered by other DoT units.

Black Swan Gameplay in Razor Language:

Other DoT units take turns before BS, they apply DoT on enemy

BS takes turn to use skill or basic attack

Enemy gets Arcana stacks from DoTs and DEF shred (if used skill)

Enemy turn starts, DoT DMG and Arcana gets triggered; Arcana stacks reset.

Profit. ( •_•)👍

Black Swan using Ultimate: Use Black Swan’s ultimate first before her DoT allies detonate their own DoT DMG (e.g. using their Ultimate).

— Pulling Priority: E1 > S1 > E2 —

* Calcs from iSUMMON = Increase from E0S0 (Solo DMG calc):

E0S1 = 15.64%

E1S0 = 31.25%

E1S1 = 51.78%

* Calcs from Hunterkee = Increase from E0S0 (Team DMG calc):

E0S1 = 7.71%

E1S0 = 23.27%

E2S0 = 2.28%

— Trace Priority: Talent > ATK/EHR/Wind DMG > Others —

* Calcs from Gladius’s Build Guide:

Ascensions first to unlock the trace nodes below

Talent = 7.65%

ATK / EHR / Wind = 3.05%

Skill = 1.88%

Ultimate = 1.86%

Basics = 1.57%

— Theoretical Simulation Calcs —

Relic Set Comparison Difference

From Hunterkee: None.

From Bonk:

From GuobaCertified:

Planar Ornament Set Comparison Difference

From Hunterkee:

From Bonk:

From GuobaCertified:

Light Cone Comparison Difference

From Hunterkee:

From Bonk:

From GuobaCertified:

Theoretical Consensus:

Their calcs are mostly focused in stacking speed on their units.

In Hunterkee’s calcs, the speed ranges from 147 to 163 spd, where the healer is the fastest, while depending on the team comp, Guinaifen is the slowest.

The speed ranges from 153 to 162 spd in Bonk’s calcs, where Kafka and the healer are the slowest, while Ruan Mei is the fastest.

In GuobaCertified’s simulations, the speed ranges from 163 to 168 spd, where Ruan Mei is the fastest, while Kafka is the slowest.

Amongst the three calcs, Hunterkee’s is closer to home because that’s mostly the speed range that F2Ps and low-spender players can achieve for their character builds. GuobaCertified’s, however, looks something you’d only see in whale builds or minmax builds. In all 3 simulations, Black Swan’s speed is somewhere in the middle.

— Does she need Kafka? —

BS could work without Kafka, but BS needs another unit that would trigger her DoTs outside the enemies’ turns. BS loses a lot of damage if her damage only relies on enemies’ turns, with no one to detonate her DoTs outside their turns.

— How much boost does Black Swan bring to Kafka DoT teams? —

From Hunterkee’s calcs, Black Swan brings about 19% boost against single-target enemy and 33% boost on AoE.

— ATK% or SPD on boots? —

Slow BS = ATK% boots

Fast BS = SPD boots

BS in Pure Fiction = SPD boots

Reasoning:

MoC has a limit of 10 cycles for you to defeat the enemies. Whether you use ATK% or SPD boots on her, Black Swan needs time to gain stacks to deal more DoT damage on enemies’ turn start.

However, Pure Fiction needs you to clear the enemies at faster rate. This means you need to clear out the first 5, before the next 5 could spawn in. This is where SPD boots would be more advantageous for her to act more turns before the enemies.

Also, SPD boots if you need to reach the SPD threshold for Glamoth set.

NOTE: There’s this discussion about building Fast BS, Slow BS, and “Classical SPD” BS. “Classical SPD” BS means her having 134 SPD. The post is written by u/L0wpriority here and a counterargument was posted by u/guobacertified here. To know what goes on in their talks, better check those links instead.

However, for me, I’d say to build your BS’s SPD according to what her allies’ SPD are. I’ve linked below some showcase for BS teams and the team order of each. I also explained how those teams are formed and worked together in the Practical Consensus below.

— ATK% or Wind DMG% on orb? —

Wind DMG% orb if no Ruan Mei; ATK% orb if Ruan Mei is in team. Difference is minimal.

Damage difference:

From Hunterkee’s calcs: 0.06%

From Guoba’s: 1.48%-2.75%

— Black Swan Team Showcase in Practice —

NOTE: Team Order = Highest SPD (Fastest) to Lowest SPD (Slowest)

Black Swan + Kafka + Ruan Mei

Fast Black Swan + Slow Kafka DoT team – sample showcase done by Ikatsu here. [Team order: Ruan Mei > Black Swan > Kafka > Lynx]

Slow Black Swan + Fast Kafka DoT team – sample showcase done by Dreamy here. [Team order: Ruan Mei > Tingyun > Kafka > Black Swan]

Black Swan Triple DoT team in Pure Fiction – sample showcase done by Ikatsu here. [Team order: Kafka > Ruan Mei > Sampo > Black Swan]

Black Swan without Kafka using other DoT allies

Black Swan + Guinaifen DoT team – sample showcase done by Moon here. [Team order: Asta > Guinaifen > Ruan Mei > Black Swan]

Black Swan + Sampo DoT team – sample showcase done by Ikatsu here. [Team order: Ruan Mei > Black Swan > Sampo > Lynx]

Black Swan + Luka DoT team – sample showcase done by Lv.999 Silverwolf here. [Team order: Huohuo > Luka > Silverwolf > Black Swan]

Black Swan without Ruan Mei using other SPD buffers

Black Swan F2P team - sample showcase done by Ikatsu here. [Team order: Guinaifen > Asta > Black Swan > Lynx]

Black Swan with Asta as SPD support – sample showcase done by Moon here. [Team order: Asta > Fu Xuan > Black Swan > Sampo]

Black Swan Hypercarry

Black Swan Hypercarry team – sample showcase done by Ikatsu here. [Team order: Ruan Mei > Tingyun > Black Swan > Lynx]

E1S1 Black Swan Hypercarry team – sample showcase done by Sleepy here. [Team order: Tingyun > Ruan Mei > Hanya > Black Swan]

Black Swan as Debuffer

Black Swan as debuffer for Dr. Ratio team – this could work if you use BS for her DEF shred only (and you have Ruan Mei in your team); sample showcase done by Rehoo and EdenPlays.

E1 Black Swan as debuffer for Jing Yuan team – E1 Black Swan is like 5* Pela (but with RES reduce instead of DEF shred) for fire, lightning, physical, and wind; sample showcase done by Sleepy here.

Black Swan as debuffer for Blade team – not sure if BS in this showcase is E0 or E1, but BS acts as debuffer for him regardless; sample showcase done by Exodus here.

Black Swan using Freeze Mechanics

Black Swan Freeze team – sample showcase done by Hyrion here. [Team order: Luocha > Pela > Ruan Mei > Black Swan]

Practical Consensus:

In teams with Ruan Mei, Black Swan speed in team showcase mostly ranges from 134 to 140+, while her teammates are ranging from 129 to 153 spd. Sustains are mostly either the slowest or fastest in the team. Other DoT allies are positioned either before or after Black Swan.

Ruan Mei is mostly used in Black Swan teams. This could be explained by Ruan Mei’s talent where she could reduce the SPD needed by Black Swan. With the enemies having 158 spd and reducing to 154 spd due to break, instead of needing 155 spd for Black Swan, she could settle with 145 spd instead.

Asta is used as alternative for Ruan Mei in F2P teams because she could increase the SPD of allies with her ultimate. Both Ruan Mei and Asta are positioned before Black Swan.

But, if no Ruan Mei in team, Black Swan is mostly built with slow build, with her DoT allies stacking as much DoTs as possible for her Arcana stacks. If BS is built with fast build (e.g having 155+ spd), this could alleviate the SP usage of the team because she could opt to use Basics instead.

Black Swan DMG relies on enemy turns, thus avoid using slow debuffs and imprisonment on enemies in her teams. However, she could utilize freeze mechanic and Ruan Mei’s break delay because despite freezing the enemies, the enemies still take their turn before being pushed back to take another later turn. This means that the enemies get two DoT turn triggers after getting frozen.

Some teams are quirky, but eh, it doesn’t matter. As long as their team could 3-star the stage, why make a problem out of it?

— Sample Black Swan Builds for Reference —

Fast Black Swan Build by u/-lightningstr1ike-

Fast Black Swan and Slow Kafka Builds by u/Mozaary

Sources

Black Swan Build Guide by Moon

Black Swan Build Guide by SevyPlays

Black Swan Build Guide by Braxophone

Black Swan Build Guide by Gladius

Black Swan Build Guide by GuobaCertified

Black Swan E1 vs S1 Analysis Video by iSUMMON

Black Swan’s Calculations by Hunterkee

Black Swan’s Calculations by Bonk

Black Swan Light Cone and Relic Comparison by Guoba Certified and Kygen

Black Swan E1 vs S1 Analysis Sheet by iSUMMON

2.0 Banner Warp Advice and Insights [Credits: @.regnum771 (Victor Charlie), @kuratine (Houseplant - EN), @soul_fish (Soul Fish), @1orange (1orange), @darkangel]

Black Swan Team Variations by Ikatsu

Zero Speed Swan and 200 Speed Kafka by Dreamy

Black Swan and Guinaifen Team Showcase by Moon

Black Swan and Luka Team Showcase by Lv.999 Silverwolf

Black Swan and Dr. Ratio Team Showcase by Rehoo

Black Swan with Dr. Ratio and Pela Team Showcase by EdenPlays

Black Swan with Asta and Sampo Team Showcase by Moon

Black Swan Freeze Team Showcase by Hyrion

E1S1 Black Swan Hypercarry Team Showcase by Sleepy

E1 Black Swan and Jing Yuan Team Showcase by Sleepy

Black Swan and Blade Team Showcase by Exodus

Fast Black Swan Build Showcase by u/-lightningstr1ke

Fast Black Swan and Slow Kafka Build Showcase by u/Mozaary

Fast BS, Slow BS, and Classical SPD BS Discussion by u/L0wpriority

Counterargument post on Fast BS, Slow BS, and Classical SPD BS Discussion by u/guobacertified

Uploaded on Patch 2.0

➥ Back to my HSR masterlist.

Author’s Note:

I compiled this guide because I don’t understand the talks about Black Swan kit whenever I would go lurk around in HSR-focused servers. Also, I needed something to convince myself that my F2P self can’t afford her for my DoT team. 😂

Update Log

02/10/2024 - Uploaded this post.

02/11/2024 – Added Moon’s BS + Asta team, Hyrion’s BS Freeze team, and Ikatsu’s BS Triple DoT team in Team showcase part; added Asta and freeze mechanic explanation in Practical Consensus part; added Gladius’s Build Guide in sources; added Trace priority; added the discussion links for Fast BS, Slow BS, and Classical SPD BS in ATK% or SPD on boots? part

02/13/2024 – Added classification in Team Showcase in Practice; added Sleepy’s BS Hypercarry team and BS + Jingyuan team in Team Showcase part; rephrased recommended SPD in Endgame stats; added ATK% in Body main stat

02/14/2024 – Added Exodus’s BS + Blade team in Team showcase part

02/23/2024 - Replaced the line dividers

02/29/2024 – Added GuobaCertified's and iSUMMON's video links in Sources

[stelliferousduo]

;;ooc: For the New Year, I will be reviewing all of my current Genshin builds & how I want to improve them in the upcoming year.

This is a very long post so buckle up! I currently have 27 characters geared up and ready to go which is way too many, I am aware. I should really start investing more in a few select units but I love the Genshin cast so much, I want to use them. T ^ T There's still so many other units I want to build too but I'm all out of artifacts haha.

Of course, we have to kick things off with my girl herself!

Right now, I have an 'all-purpose' build on her with balanced ATK%, EM, CRIT and ER% stats.

As much as I would love to have a cracked 4P BiS for each separate element, I simply have not had the time nor resin to do so while also giving some love and attention to my other characters. T ^ T

I do have her skill and burst talents leveled to at least 10-11 for all elements, with Dendro MC having the highest investment because it is the element I use the most.

In terms of which elements I use - from most to least - it would be: Dendro, Electro, Geo, Hydro, Anemo. All of them are used as sub DPS characters aside from Hydro - who has no off field abilities so she is a vape DPS instead.

Goals: First and foremost, I really want to get Jade Cutter for her. This does mean I will have to change her sands to an ER% one and her circlet to a crit DMG one, so it will require some additional farming, unfortunately. I do have a pretty good off set ER% sands but no emblem crit DMG circlets.

My precious boy is finally on a 4P vermillion set! He is definitely high investment and without Xianyun, he does not hit those crazy numbers yet but I hope she will have a rerun in either 5.4 or 5.5 so I can give his damage another boost.

Goals: I would like to get a sands with a bit higher crit DMG and perhaps some ER on there as well. The one Lumine has an off-piece right now is pretty good, but that would require an on-set crit DMG circlet with a decent amount of ER%. The circlet he has right now has a bunch of ER% rolls and that's exactly what this build needed since I don't have his C1 or a triple anemo team to boost the particle generation.

The second little meow meow is here! He got a 5* weapon quite recently when I pulled Lost Prayer from standard banner. His build does not rank very high on Akasha but I enjoy using them. In overworld, I prefer Wanderer over Xiao because he's not reliant on his burst to do 90% of his damage.

Goals: Getting a 4P desert pavillion is obviously the dream but I don't know if that will happen this year haha. A goblet with both crit stats or a flower with some atk% and higher crit DMG would be nice. I might go back to strongboxing some VV next year so perhaps he'll get an upgrade there!

This man is the GOAT. His crit DMG is on the lower side for an obsidian codex build but this is what works for me now since I don't have a crit rate weapon on him. The damage he does in a classic burning team with a F2P craftable weapon (albeit R5) is honestly pretty insane. He has saved me the past 3 abyss cycles and I have not regretted pulling him at all.

Goals: A crit DMG circlet is the ultimate goal. This would require either more crit rate stats on his other artifacts or switching back to Serpent Spine for his weapon. Although I'm not even sure if it would translate to more damage since the Earth Shaker passive is really good on him. Perhaps I will pull for his signature on his rerun, we'll see...

Alhaitham you are hot af but you're also one of the hardest characters to build...This man needs EM, crit and ER% and he ascends with NONE OF THOSE. I do have other builds with higher CV but then his ER is barely existent so I had to find a balance. I think a bit more CR and maybe some less CD might get me better results but I have switched around artifacts on this man so many times, I just cannot anymore. T ^ T Gilded Dreams has to be my most unlucky artifact set ever...

Goals: I would love to get his CR up to 70~75% while maintaining at least 300 EM and 150-160% crit DMG. I tried to pull for his signature but lost to Skyward Harp, unfortunately. If I do end up getting Jade Cutter from chronicled, I might sometimes put it on him so I can focus more on crit DMG with his artifacts.

Mualani is a character I was super excited about getting because I loved everything about her: design, vibes, idle animations, etc. Hydro is one of my favorite elements too. At first her playstyle was really fun because in Natlan, she can keep surfing almost endlessly. ...But then I began playing her in Abyss or outside of Natlan and suddenly I had to actually stack her hits quickly or her skill would end with me only getting 1 or 2 skary bites off. I am a skill issue player and I suck at playing her, so she has been benched for the past month or so. I really hope I can get better at playing her one day because her damage potential is insane. She has hit the highest numbers on my account ever with over 300k in Abyss.

Goals: Her build is super solid as is, but a bit more EM won't hurt. Her crit DMG is quite inflated so I wouldn't mind sacrifying some of that for more HP%, EM and a teeny bit more crit rate.

My very first 4* from standard and the only Pyro DPS on my account to this day. Hu Tao? Nah. Lyney? Nope. Arle? Nu-uh. I have a C2 Diluc collecting dust because Yanfei is my girl! She might not be as strong as 5* units, but I love her attack combos and always have a blast playing her!

I recently changed her build from 4P Wanderer's to 2P 2P because Tighnari needed some of her pieces. At first I thought it would be a downgrade but the boost in ER% and crit DMG makes it so she actually hits harder.

Goals: A flower and feather from Wanderer's Troupe with similar stats as my current 2P MH so I can get her back on a 4P would be nice. A bit more crit rate wouldn't hurt either. She does get a 15% increase when targets are below 50% HP, which is nice against chonky bosses but doesn't do as much against overworld mobs which die very quickly anyway.

I used to have this boy on 2P WT and 2P Deepwood but by yoinking some pieces from Yanfei, he's now on a 4P Wanderer's Troupe! I feel the difference more with him than I do with Yanfei, so I think it was worth it.

My biggest struggle with Tighnari is that I can never fit Nahida on his teams, so I end up having to run Zhongli on deepwood instead. Perhaps in the future I will build my Kirara to fill the role of shielder + deepwood holder instead. For off-field electro, my only options are Fischl and Kuki but Kuki isn't great for ranged combat and Oz is single target, so I need Kazuha for grouping & spreading the electro aura to the other enemies.

Goals: Higher crit DMG and for Hoyo to make an electro shielder with off field electro application lol.

My electro queen and the first 5* I pulled from standard banner! She was my main for the longest time alongside Yanfei. I have been purchasing Wolf-Fang from the BP forever so she doesn't have to share with Alhaitham lol. Again, I might sometimes run her on Jade Cutter went I get it from the Chronicled Wish.

Goals: Her pieces are honestly kind of garbage but her crit DMG ascension + crit rate weapon make up for a lot. I do have a flower with higher CV but I need this one for the EM - which is already very low for an aggravate comp. I'm forced to run her with double dendro + Nahida to get about 250 extra EM.

The Pyro Archon - BOUKEN DA BOUKEN! I swap around his circlet and weapon quite a bit depending on what my team needs. Favonius with crit rate circlet when I need particles, Sapwood for the bigger attack buffs and healing bonus circlet when I run him as a solo healer with Furina. He never gets all of the fanfare stacks but usually the atk buff he provides is more valuable than getting full fanfare.

Also yes, I activated his C6 and have not regretted it at all. I actually like playing around with it at times.

Goals: I would love to get more personal damage out of Bennett as he can actually hit really hard with his burst when running a Pyro DMG goblet and crit circlet. I just haven't really invested enough in Noblesse to have the right pieces for that.

I did not get Xingqiu until quite a few months into playing the game and even when I did, I did not build him right away because I hate his original design lol. Now that he has a skin, it's gotten much more comfortable for me to play him because I actually enjoy looking at him. His build is pretty average but he does what I need him to do - apply a whole bunch of Hydro and enable reactions such as vape, hyperbloom, etc.

He is insanely strong and while his design might not be my personal favorite, it would be a huge loss not to use him in a lot of my teams.

Goals: Level his talents to 1/12/12 and maybe get a bit more CV on him. Other than that, he does his job just fine as is.

I have a love-hate relationship with this girl right here. I know she's supposed to be AMAZING but my build on her is pretty mid and I also really struggle with Oz uptime...In AoE content in particular, she feels quite clunky when you don't have a grouper like Kazuha around.

Goals: Get a better crit rate circlet or an on-set atk%/EM sands which will allow me to use an off-set crit rate circlet.

Do not fear, Yaoyao is here! Using her as a typical healer did not do much for my account nor did I enjoy playing her that way, so instead I slapped my unused MH set and spare Deathmatch on her. I also have a spare PJWS but Deathmatch gives more CR so it works better with my current pieces.

Goals: Get a flower with crit rate on it. The one I had on her previously was given to my Yanfei, so I had to change my build a little. Yaoyao is not top priority - of course - but I'll have to farm the MH/GT domain anyway for Fischl and Albedo so if I get an upgrade for her along the way, I won't complain.

Zhongli also has two builds: the first focuses more on his personal damage as a burst sub DPS. The second one is specifically for teams with a Dendro DPS, either Kinich with Bennett/Xiangling or Tighnari with Fischl/Kazuha.

Zhongli is the second limited 5* character I pulled and while he is never the highest DPS option for a team, he is so comfortable for a skill issue player such as myself, I can not imagine how I would play this game without him.

Goals: I think I want to eventually change his sub DPS build to 2P Noblesse / 2P Tenacity for the 20% HP. I generally run him with. Bennett on teams which benefit from the atk% boost, so the 4P is a bit overkill. It's just that right now, I have better DPS pieces for Noblesse than for Tenacity.

Probably the easiest character to build on my entire account because I already had a 4P VV with EM main stats ready before I pulled him. (Thank you Strongbox for that EM goblet!) Even with lower crit stats, he still does amazing and his grouping is so much fun when taking on smaller mobs in the overworld. Just like Zhongli, I cannot imagine an account without him. I skipped on C1 Xiao to have a guaranteed for this boy and I do not regret it at all.

Goals: A feather with EM and a flower with more EM would be nice. Or more ER on my sands/circlet which could allow me to run an EM weapon instead. Although Fav is so good for team-wide particles, I think it's more worth it than hitting the 1000 EM on him.

The other Pyro Archon, Xiangling! Even though she's on banners every other patch, she's never on the ones I wish on so this girl is stuck at C0, unfortunately. Maybe I can get a copy or two from the Chronicled Wish banner because I would love to have her C4. Her build is pretty good but without C4, her damage output is just a lot less, unfortunately. T ^ T

Goals: Cons, please...Also maybe a bit more ER% and EM without sacrificing too much crit.

Remember when I said Gilded Dreams is my unluckiest artifact set? When it comes to Alhaitham pieces - it is - but Kuki pieces? Oh boy the game loves giving me those HP% and EM rolls. Just look at those feather and flower! I have her on a 5P Gilded now because I don't have a single off-piece which is better lol.

Goals: An EM goblet with HP% is the only thing which could improve this right now. It's very low priority though because her heals are pretty decent even now.

Kaeya is a character which I was not originally going to build but I had these artifacts leftover and figured: why not. It's not a great build but he's mostly there to enable melt reactions.

Goals: I would like to give him a proper build and improve his pieces. Especially the goblet is not great but it's the only Cryo DMG goblet I have leveled on my entire account whoops.

The best character in the whole game, anyone? Seriously Furina is so good - both her personal damage and her support capabilities. When I use her in the overworld, I can just sit around for the most part and let her little animals take care of the easy mobs.

Goals: Get a bit more ER. I sometimes have to switch her to fav, especially in teams where she's the only Hydro character. Other than that I'm very happy with her build!

My first limited 5* and the character I started playing the game for. I love soft pastel girls and Kokomi fit the bill perfectly! Even though she cannot crit, her mono hydro team with Xingqiu, Kazuha and Furina is so comfy to play and I have actually cleared the Abyss with it as well.

Goals: None at the moment! I do have a lot of wasted crit rolls on her pieces so I might eventually farm a second Ocean-Hued Clam set. Then I can potentally transfer some of these pieces over to a character like Qiqi or Charlotte who can benefit from the crit stats more. I should probably level her weapon to 90 as well haha.

Nahida my beautiful radish baby!! I am so sorry that I had to skip you in 4.4 but my guaranteed Xiao was waiting for me. When I got her and Kuki on her latest banner, it instantly boosted my account by giving me access to some very strong hyperbloom teams. I can slot her and Kuki on basically every team and it works great!!

I have another build with almost 100 EM but way less crit rate so I actually prefer this one. Especially since I generally run her with a 1000 EM Kuki so she still gets the full buff with her burst!

Goals: Perhaps a bit more ER on the goblet or some more EM on the flower/feather. Crit rate on the sands or crit DMG on the circlet would be nice too but none of those are priority.

This is barely a build but I do use him in some double Geo comps so I decided to put him here. Not having his 'signature' from the limited event hurts me every day. Harbinger is a great weapon but it does mean he is attached to Zhongli's hip or I have to swap off him very quickly.

Goals: Where do I even begin? I want to do a complete overhaul of his build. Either a new 4P Golden Troupe with better substats, or I might aim for a 2P husk 2P GT or even 4P husk instead. I am also considering leveling the new Natlan DEF% sword for him. It all depends on the main stats/substats I can get on my artifacts.

My Faruzan is basically just there to buff Xiao/Wanderer, which is why her pieces are very scuffed. I just tried to get enough ER and some crit rate to proc the favonius weapon. Which is a shame because her personal damage at C6 is nothing to scoff at either.

Goals: I want to get more Tenacity pieces so I can give her a proper build with a nice 1:2 crit rate (60/120 would be ideal) without sacrificing ER. A bit more atk% would be nice too. Lastly, I want to get her final acension and max out her burst level talent for optimal buffs.

I don't use my Jean super often, but sometimes her team-wide healing is very nice alongside Furina. I got her from Noelle's banner when I just started playing so I honestly should give her more love, but I've build too many units, it's hard to give all of them attention.

Goals: I think having a 4P VV set might be better on her so she can also res shred when I'm playing any team with reactions. I also want to get a bit more crit DMG and atk on her.

Layla's shield is THICC and that is all I need from her. If I ever get her C6, I might build her for damage too but right now her shield and normal attack buffs are all I need. I love her design so it's a shame I can't play her on field, but she's still quite useful to me in melt or freeze teams.

Goals: Right now I'm happy with her even though she does not crit. Her shield is almost as strong as Zhongli's and the fact that she does have some decent Cryo application is nice when I use her with Yanfei.

This character threw me off guard with his personality so much. I thought he was gonna be an edgy/cold boy but he's such a precious ray of sunshine!! I am so glad I managed to get her on one yolo 10-pull. His build is something I threw together quite quickly so he's hard-carried by his weapon but I love using him in taser and even hyperbloom teams!

Goals: I want to switch him over to Chain-breaker so I don't have to keep on swapping Skyward Harp between him and Tighnari. This means I will have to get a better 4P Scroll set on him so that's a top priority for now.

Last but not least, we have everyone's favorite housewife - Thoma! I got C6 while wishing for Kinich and this is pretty much the only team I use him on right now - hence the 4P deepwood on him. He doesn't do much damage on his own but he enables Kinich to do big PP damage and that's honestly what I want from him the most.

Goals: His HP% is quite low because he's only level 70 for now. I would like to get him up to 80/90. I generally run Zhongli on my Kinich teams as well (giving him Layla's tenacity set) so the weaker shield is not that big of an issue. I maybe want to play around with Burgeon Thoma too, but that would require getting FLOP pieces.

[transformersandturtles]

I don't know if I'm an idiot or what but can anyone help me with the final boss of the Season of the Cryomancer invasion? Every tutorial I look for either uses Omni-Man or is already after you beat Sub-Zero and unlock either new relics of talismans that I don't have access too and I'm struggling hardcore. Other tutorials also say to get a pink potion, but none of the shops I have access to sell potions, only keys, ambush protection, talismans, etc. 😭

I didn't do my best with dispersing stat points cause I didn't think much about it, I haven't played any invasions or story mode for the other MK games so I'm like very new to all this. I'm trying to use Liu Kang as he has the best/highest stats for attack and health 💀 (Scorpion, Reptile, and Shang Tsung are my other best characters that have good stats cause I used them a lot)

[hetalia-club]

H-ESPN Pregame Rundown: Tsunami Titans vs. Freedom Fighters

Stats Page

*Taps my papers on my desk*

1940's Radio Announcer Voice:

"Good evening, sports fans! Welcome to today's highlight of a highly anticipated matchup between the Tsunami Titans from Tokyo and the Freedom Fighters from New York City. This game promises to be a thrilling showdown, showcasing some of the finest talent in the Hetalia Baseball League.

I tell ya' Its looking like a fine day for baseball. It's supposed to be a nice over cast day tomorrow in Tokyo, a high of eighty four with a bit of rain in the morning. The humidity will be something the home team is used to dealing with, hopefully our visiting team get's a good nights rest in preparation for the big game on Sunday.

Sunday Night's game is set to be a clash of titans, quite literally! On one side, we have the disciplined and tactically astute Tsunami Titans, led by Japan. Known for their precision and strategic play, they excel in both offense and defense. The combination of Japan's pitching and Spain's power at the plate makes them a formidable force.

On the other side, the Freedom Fighters bring raw power and speed to the game. America's high-velocity pitching and Italy's finesse make for an interesting dynamic. With America's unmatched fastball and Italy's deceptive pitches, the Titans' batters will have their work cut out for them.

Without further ado, let's get into our player highlights for this evening.

Hitting it off with the Titans from Tokyo. Man I tell ya' this team has some skill. what they lack in power hitters they make up for in good fundamentals, and solid baseball. There's a couple players we want you to keep a close eye on in Sunday's game.

Certainly first we went to take a good look at Japan, The people of this city love Japan. When he steps up to the plate the crowd goes wild, with good reason to! Japan (#08) - The Tsunami: Leading the charge for the Titans is none other than Japan, also known as 'The Tsunami.' Don't let his stature fool you, folks; this guy is a tidal wave of power and speed. The fans have a special chant for him, and the energy in the stadium goes through the roof every time he steps up to the plate. His curveball is a thing of beauty, baffling batters left and right. He has the highest strikeouts in the league and it shows. Let’s just hope he’s well rested and on his A game because that arm will be crucial in warding off the heavy hitters on the opposing team.

Next up we think you should keep an eye on, Spain

Spain (#12) - Matador: Here comes the heavy hitter, Spain, affectionately known as 'Matador.' This guy hits like a bull, folks, and he's just as impatient. With nearing 30 home runs this season, he's a force to be reckoned with. Watch out, pitchers; he'll take you down a few pegs in a heartbeat. Let's just hope he can keep his cool out there!"

You know who's another fan favorite? Number 1, Prussia. Heh, you know funny story about this player, he actually gave himself his own nickname. Just started calling himself that and it stuck!

Prussia (#01) - Teutonic Titan: "Shortstop Prussia, or the 'Teutonic Titan' as he likes to call himself, brings a whole lot of swagger to the field. He's all about confidence and skill, making those tough plays look routine."

We'll round off our highlights of The Titans with, the first baseman and sub in pitcher, Canada.

Canada (#24): First baseman Canada is a dual-threat, stepping in to pitch when Japan needs a breather. Known for his fastball and pinpoint accuracy, he's the epitome of control on the mound. This guy is real quiet in team interviews but he makes waves on the field

Now let's take a more in depth look at our visiting team for tomorrow evening. The Freedom Fighters led by America. Speaking of America let's start off our highlights real with the Team Captain himself.

America (#01) - The Show: Leading the Freedom Fighters is America, aptly nicknamed 'The Show.' Always in the spotlight, regarded as the best player in the league, America is a power pitcher with a fastball that could scorch the batter's box, and I'm pretty sure I have seen that ball smoke a time or two! He loves the spotlight, and boy, the spot light sure does love him! If he makes contact with that ball it's going, going, GONE! Sayonara, Tokyo and on it's way back to the States with a first class ticket. You know it's a bit of a shame we won't get to see him in action in his home Stadium, tomorrow night. His walk on music always gets the fans on their feet. Whenever he hits a homer in his home Stadium they play an eagle scream over the oud speaker, The crowd goes wild!

Next we want to bring your attention over to the quickest player in the league.

Italy (#11) - Ferrari: Center fielder Italy, or 'Ferrari' as they call him, brings incredible speed to the game. I tell ya' folks watching this guy zip around the bases is something to see! His top speed was clocked at 30 mph, phew! It’s no wonder why he's earned his nickname with his quick feet. When he takes over pitching duties, his finesse and control make him a tough opponent. His slow ball and left hook are formidable.

You know his brother is on this team as well and instead of being hot footed this guy is a hot head if I've ever seen one!

Romano (#16) - Mouth: First baseman Romano, also known as 'Mouth,' just got back from a suspension for fighting a ref when he disagreed with a call at first base, the ref called out and well Romano, punched him out! Was insane to see! He turned the baseball diamond into the octagon. Provoking batters is his specialty, likes to get in their heads. You know this guy, you either love him or you hate him, and the fans of this team seem to love him! They put some of his insults onto t-shirts. I can't say what they say on a live broadcast, but you can check them out for yourself in the gift shop at the big game on Sunday.

Lastly let's take an up-close look at the not so Short-Shortstop

Denmark (#69): Shortstop Denmark brings a dynamic energy to the field. His quick reflexes and strong arm make him a key player in the infield. His long legs give him a good reach, I swear one time I witnessed this guy catch a ball 10 ft in the air, was an Air Bud type jump the world moved in slow motion. If they hit a ball his way it's bye-bye batter and back to the dug out. It will for sure be an area they want to avoid hitting to.

Man I tell ya' this team sure has some heavy hitters. It's going to be a hell of a match up for sure!

Now let's talk strategy for the game,

Pitching Duel: Expect a fascinating duel between Japan's curveball and America's fastball. Both pitchers are fan favorites and have the ability to control the game's pace. Key to Victory for the Tsunami Titans: Utilizing Japan's tactical pitching and leveraging Spain's power hitting. If Japan can keep the Freedom Fighters' batters off balance and Spain can capitalize on scoring opportunities, they have a strong chance. Key to Victory for the Freedom Fighters: America's dominance on the mound and Italy's speed. If America can overpower the Titans' lineup and Italy can create havoc on the bases, they might just edge out the Titans. The skills on both sides are so evenly matched, it's anyone's game!

Well that's all the pre-game analysis we have for you, we'll see you all tomorrow in Tokyo for the face off. This is Hetalia-Club, signing off!

[animebookworm16]

Based on a bunch of fics I used to see about the Greek Gods from PJO having to go to a mortal highschool.

As much as I love the concept, they’re all immortal beings that have been adults for most of forever... not a single one aside from maybe Apollo and Hermes would be able to convincingly pass as teenagers.

Instead I think it would be hilarious if they had to be teachers.

Ares - Gym teacher, the sports teams have never done so well, or been so terrified.

Athena - Math, somehow she can make every word problem relate back to fighting, and the students love it.

Hepheastus - History and Shop, it’s not that the school doesn’t have enough teachers for both classes, it’s that someone tried to tell Hepheastus that and got challenged to a duel using a sword he’d made in Shop class.

Dionysus - Lunch, origonally, he was going to be the Human Growth and Development teacher but then everyone remembered that he worked best around children only when extremely intoxicated (and was prone to driving them mad when not) so it was decided that having to deal with kids for only one hour of the day was probably best.

Hades and Hestia - Home Economics, no one was surprised when Hestia wanted the position, but Demeter was furious when Hades also signed up. 

Demeter - Agriculture, half of her students are convinced that she can telepathically commuincate with her plants, the other half are convinced she’s never grown a plant a day in her life.

Aphrodite - School Councillor, after Dionysus, she was going to teach Human Growth and Development, but then they all remembered what happened the last time she was left alone with a group of teenagers and decided it was probably best it didn’t happen again.

Apollo - Choir, Band, Theater, and Art - Now you might be asking yourself, ‘wouldn’t someone have tried to stop him?’ The answer is yes. Yes someone did try and stop him from running four classes, but tried is about as far as it went. In fact all four more or less got combined into one giant four hour class, and none of the other teachers can figure out how. (It’s also a wide spread rumor that occasionally, he’ll sub in for the Creative Writing teacher, and then be the school nurse for the day. But these are all rumors and no one has any proof)

Artemis - Languages, does she cheat and use her godly powers to know every language? Surprisingly no. Because of how often she’s traveling the world, and all of her hunters, she’s naturally picked up several languages.

Hermes - Statistics, while he did have to fight Athena for it, all the students agree that he’s awesome to have as a teacher, mostly because he teaches them some really cool tricks along with the lessons. And while Stats is his main class, it isn’t unusal to see him subbing in for any number of other classes as well.

Hera - Human Growth and Development, the moment Zeus tried to volunteer for the posistion, everyone unanimously voted for Hera to teach it. Both so that they didn’t have any mini Zeus’s running around, but also so that she didn’t fry any new mothers and children. It’s also because she is genuinely good at it.

Poseidon - Swim Coach and Secondary Gym, Ares was pissed that Poseidon took a sports team, and that he managed to weedle his way into a Gym teacher role, but had to let it go, because it’s water and no one is better in the water than Poseidon.

Zeus - Science, everyone else said that if he could come up with a scientific way to explain throwing lightning he could choose a different subject, so the students have been learing a lot about the weather and how to potentially harness it for their own uses like little future movie villains.

[prismatic-glow]

daily genshin advice 1/6 - let's talk about split-scaling and the strongbox!

Hello everybody! I was a bit out of ideas earlier but I feel very motivated to post after seeing what ya'll suggested!! So today, I'll be talking about split-scaling characters and the artifact strongbox! Let's begin

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥

┌── ⋆⋅daily discussion: split-scaling⋅⋆ ──┐

You might have noticed that some characters have multiple scalings between their abilities or sometimes multiple within each one! Today I'll be talking about why this is sometimes a problem and why it's sometimes a great thing!

Let's look at some examples

Albedo's skill scales off of DEF but his burst scales off of ATK

Dehya's burst and skill deal damage based on both her HP and her ATK

Dori's damage scales off of ATK but her healing scales off of HP

Thoma's shield scales off of HP but his damage scales off of ATK

Nahida's skill deals damage based on both her EM and her ATK

Now, why is this often bad?

Well, investing in multiple stats means none of them will be optimal. You can't max out both your HP and your ATK.

But what you can do is choose a stat. Pick 1 role that a character will occupy and invest in the stat that helps you with that. Is your Thoma a shielder or a Sub-DPS? Is Dori a healer or for off-field damage?

But, there are cases where split scaling is good

Let's look at Nahida and Alhaitham, both of whom deal damage based off of ATK and EM.

Both of these characters are Dendro and usually have an Electro character in their team. Electro allows for Spread which increases damage based on EM. Now, both Nahida and Alhaitham prefer building EM.

So, why is split scaling good in this case? Because both stats increase their damage, having a secondary stat they scale off of (attack) just acts as an extra bonus! Unlike DEF or HP rolls, ATK rolls on these characters are actually helpful even if they aren't the main stat being built

┌── ⋆⋅daily advice: artifact strongbox⋅⋆ ──┐

In path 3.0 the strongbox got a MASSIVE buff. It went from having 4 sets to having 14! And in 4.0, it got 8 new sets! The strongbox is great because it allows you to basically farm 3 sets at once. 2 from whatever domain you're in and a third from foddering your bad pieces! In my opinion, the current strongbox system really complements the path Genshin has taken with its artifact farming

In the past 2 and kinda 3 regions, we've seen "main domains" with sets that almost every character from that region wants and then a few extra domains for more niche sets. This new pattern means that you can farm the main set for a region and then strongbox for any other set you want

I think the artifacts that best fit this system are:

Husk of Opulent Dreams

Ocean-Hued Clam

Vermillion Hereafter

Echoes of an Offering

These fit the strongbox the best imo because they are rather niche so its a bit of a waste of resin to famr them, especially if the other set is useless for your account

with that out of the way, let's talk about the best sets to strongbox!!

╰┈➤ Emblem. Emblem is just an insanely broken set that a TON of characters use. Off the top of my head, I can think of 5 different characters who use it

╰┈➤ Tenacity of the Millileth. One of my favorite sets so I'm a bit biased. Tenacity is just so nice to have around because a few characters like it and its not that good to farm. It's living in a domain with bloodstained chivalry which like, nobody uses off the top of my head

╰┈➤ Viridescent Venerer. A set that literally every Anemo support uses. Not great to farm because it's with Maiden but definitely strongbox for a set or two if you don't have one!

╰┈➤ Noblesse Oblige. One of the OG strongbox sets but so so many characters can run it. Noblesse turns anybody into a support

╰┈➤ Honorable mention: Thundering Fury. Previously a pretty bad set but after dendro became quite strong! Not that good to farm because the set it comes with, thundersoother isn't used by anyone anymore

┌── ⋆⋅did you know?⋅⋆ ──┐

The wind created by Qiqi's idle animation can be used to gather enemy drops together

┌── ⋆⋅daily update: building Candace⋅⋆ ──┐

Right before this I posted an update and overall thoughts on Candace. I haven't made progress since yesterday on her so if you want my current thoughts, check out this post

That's all for today, cya tomorrow!! Remember to stay hydrated!

[redwineconversation]

SK Brann - Olympique Lyonnais Postgame Thoughts

TL:dr version: Lyon played badly and the ref was worse.

I'm annoyed because honestly, the draw was deserved in that Lyon did not play well at all. The passing was sloppy, the entirety of the midfield was atrocious, and Lyon, who is usually so good at keeping their composure, kept losing their cool.

It's easy to blame the sloppiness on exhaustion and I think it was definitely a factor. They've played a lot of games and there's been a lot of travel and it is mentally and physically exhausting to meet Lyon's demands / expectations week after week. I will gladly concede that argument.

I also don't think it justifies in its entirety just how bad the passing was. And it was from players you'd honestly expect better from. I expect van de Donk to, well, not send a ball straight out of play when none of her teammates were within 20 meters of her. I expect M'Bock, arguably one of the best center backs in the world, to not head towards her own goal with such precision that if it was not Endler in goal, Lyon would have conceded an own goal. I expect Gilles, a talented center back growing into herself, to be able to clear the ball.

I expect those things and I believe those expectations are reasonable.

Without Endler being Endler I genuinely think we would have lost that game. The plus side is it means we have the old Endler back, which is a good thing. I just am not in love with the fact we have to revive her. Now, again, I will concede there were circumstances - half the starting backline was missing (Renard and Bacha), and Lyon's left side was, well, what it was.

Carpenter crossed accurately, proving that Christmas miracles do actually happen. My lifelong dream of seeing Carpenter cross accurately having finally come true, I also want to give credit where credit is due, and say she was one of the better players for Lyon, up there with Hegerberg and Endler.

Lyon's midfield was bad even before Horan got a red card for having snarked "my fucking knee" (???). Damaris was invisible, I genuinely forgot Dabritz had been subbed on until I looked at the stats, van de Donk was off as well. But part of that comes from the referee not calling any fouls on Lyon but having the whistle already in her mouth if a Lyon player breathed in the general vicinity of a Brann player. I think Horan lost it because of the non-calls and the frustration over the physicality. van de Donk, I will concede was tired. Damaris overwhelmed.

They still should have done better.

It's hard to say whether Lyon would have won if they had 11 players on the field. I think Brann was roughing Lyon up and I think they would have probably equalized anyway - the ref probably would have made sure of that. But it's hard to say for sure, and we will never know what could have been. That's sports, but it's still unfair.

It's hard to emphasize, too, just how bad the referee was. I understand that it is easy to get overwhelmed in games especially when there is a hostile crowd. But if a referee can't cope with that kind of situation then they shouldn't be in charge of a UWCL game in the first place. Also, while I am not expecting a referee to be perfectly bilingual, they should at the very least understand that "my fucking knee" is neither an insult to the opposing player nor to the referee themself.

It wasn't just the linguistic barrier. The fouls committed by Brann players were overly physical and went unsanctioned. Morroni's yellow card, for example, came as a result of her first foul and there was no warning. Hora. gets sent off for saying "my fucking knee". That Lyon finished with 10 players on the field and not 8 or 9 - there were moments when I was convinced Gilles was going to be sent off - is an absolute miracle.

It was a bad game and while Lyon is qualified, a win would have assured first place in the group. Now we have to wait a bit longer. That's annoying.

But this will have pissed Lyon off, and a vexed, vengeful Lyon is sometimes just what the competition needs. This team needs their feelings hurt and something to get pissed off about. The referee in this game gave them exactly that.

We'll still have to wait and see what becomes of it. First there is the winter break, which for these players is so desperately needed. The schedule for January promises to be brutal with Lyon playing every 4-5 days for a month straight.

But they will come back, rested and vexed, and we'll see what the color of their eyes look like. That, if nothing else, is something worth looking forward to.

[inktheory3]

TF2 succeeds in supporting a vast variety of different ways to play the same character through sidegrading. For example, let's consider the Scout. The default Scattergun produces a shower of pellets at close range, letting you run up, blast someone (not killing them usually, but softening them up), and then get the hell out of dodge. The Force-A-Nature has far fewer shots that deal much more damage, and a massive recoil that lets you jump. The Shortstop has fewer pellets but far tighter bullet spread, letting you keep distance from enemies so they can't annihilate you. You may wonder why I'm talking about TF2 when this is a Splatoon blog. Well. The game has been in development for a long time, long enough that there is a casual and professional scene, but none of the classes are really stuck in a specific meta. Every class has at least a few ways to play it that is fun. Is there any way to configure Splatoon's gear to have this possible as well?

This is a really interesting question!

Apologies about not responding sooner, I was busy with the Splatfest (#teamdarkchocolate4ever!!!). But now that I'm free (in my uni class) I can provide a response.

Full disclosure, I have very limited knowledge on TF2. From an outside perspective, though, it seems very difficult to translate this idea to Splatoon.

In TF2 there are only 9 characters. Disregarding their abilities and weapons, they all have different stats; health, speed, hitboxes etc. I think this is the key difference between TF2 and Splatoon. Inklings/Octolings all have the exact same stats no matter what weapon you use, the only exception being speed. Instead of having 9 base classes that you can customise to your liking, you instead have 1 base that you customise with gear abilities and ~60 main weapons and ~40 sub and special weapons, all of which function the same no matter what combination you choose.

Now, that isn't to say Splatoon's system is perfect.

I do think that the gear and weapon systems in Splatoon have good concepts behind them, but just fail to hit the mark. I already talked about how I would update the weapon system, (and I will talk about how I would update individual main weapons, as I already spoke about updating subs and specials) so why not dedicate this ask to talking about gear abilities.

Abilities, Explained:

In Splatoon you have 12 gear ability slots. Each piece of gear has 1 main slot and 3 sub slots, and you can wear 1 piece of headgear, clothing and shoes each, adding up to 12.

There are currently 12 main abilities and 14 regular abilities.

Regular abilities are basic. They effect your characters stats, making you run faster, swim faster, more ink efficient, respawn faster, charge your special faster, and so on.

They have an ability power score, a regular ability on a sub slot has 3 AP, and a regular ability on a main slot has 10 AP. Meaning an individual piece of gear has 19 AP worth of slots, and a whole build has 57.

My problem with regular abilities is simple. They don't really do a lot.

In most competitive builds, you want a spread of a lot of useful abilities, but this leaves you with less individual AP of each ability. Having 10 Swim Speed AP is an increase, but it really isn't noticeable. An enemy can still track you in the ink just fine. It helps but it doesn't give you a sense of power. Maxing out your AP of a certain ability doesn't do that much either. 57 AP of special charge up reduces the time taken for a full charge by around a second.

It's a similar problem to most modern RPGs. Yes sure, equipping this armour will give you 5% poison resistance and 20 more defence, but what do those numbers even mean? Yes technically it is better than your previous gear, but you'll be able to clear the game just fine without it and the vast majority of players wouldn't even notice if they accidentally unequipped it.

I see the same issue with Splatoon's regular abilities. Yes, you know what every ability does in a broad sense, and you can have a sense of which builds outperform others. But you don't feel the difference. You don't see your enemies build and understand innately that your inkling has different capabilities than them and that their gear enables a wildly different playstyle. Abilities give minor advantages, and there's no power fantasy in using a coveted gear set. Using the Hydra Splatling makes you feel like a powerful juggernaut. Using the Carbon Roller Deco makes you feel like an assassin, a looming threat. But you don't feel anything using different gear sets.

Lets put that thought aside for a second and talk about Main Abilities. Main abilities are exclusive, (ninja squid and respawn punisher are only found on clothing, meaning you can only equip one and not the other on a build) and they generally aren't raw stat buffs like Regular abilities.

They can be split into 3 categories:

Passive abilities (adds a new layer to your character, adding effects to your actions): Ninja Squid, Respawn Punisher, Tenacity, Haunt, Thermal Ink, Object Shredder, Stealth Jump

Active Abilities (adds new actions for your character to utilise): Drop Roller

Conditional Abilities (gives you flat AP of regular abilities when meeting certain conditions): Comeback, Last-Ditch Effort, Opening Gambit

Ability Doubler doesn't fit into a category because it is completely useless. doubling 3 sub slots gives you 18 AP, when having any other regular ability in the main slot would give you 19 AP.

In my opinion, Conditional Abilities should be removed from the game. Main abilities should not buff stats that regular abilities buff, they should change your playstyle! Regular abilities already don't change your playstyle, they only slightly buff the default playstyle for a weapon, and Conditional Abilities just do the same.

Second, Passive Abilities can be great, but they can also be bad when they encourage negative play. Ninja Squid allows you to play stealthily, Stealth Jump allows you to get into the action and play agressively, and Object Shredder allows you proactively deny enemy subs and specials. The other 3 are all based around respawn timers and getting splatted. They all encourage players sitting around staring at their death screen, and don't actually encourage a new playstyle.

Finally, Active abilities can also be great, if the Devs expand on them. Drop Roller requires you to tilt your stick to dodge roll when coming out of a super jump. It's a novel concept and fun when you execute it correctly, but it's completely outclassed by its cousin Stealth Jump (primarily because the developers haven't realised that active abilities need to be more powerful than passives because they require you to be constantly aware of when and how to use them effectively. Or they're just too scared to buff Drop Roller).

I envision Splatoon having 12 main abilities, 6 active and 6 passive. But I won't be going into detail about them in this post.

Playstyle Changing Abilities:

Ninja Squid and Drop Roller are cool and all, but they weren't exactly what you were talking about.

The Force-A-Nature doesn't make scout invisible while swimming (though it would be funny). It changes how his weapon functions!

I really do think this is a cool mechanic in games, but it doesn't translate 1:1 in Splatoon. For example, slightly increasing The Splash-O-Matics range and shot spread doesn't make it a different variant of the Splash, it makes it an N-ZAP. Changing how the weapon looks doesn't apply either, because that's already in the game to allow different weapon kits (and still applies under the Starfish Class System I talked about in my last post).

But we absolutely still can give weapons different attributes, we just have to be very careful about how we do it. So I'm going to overhaul an important part of Splatoon based on an inspiration from 1 ask.

You should recall the Starfish Class System, sorting sub and special weapons into 1 of 5 categories, POWER, ENGAGE, SCOUT, CONTROL and SUPPORT. Initially, I didn't think I could apply this to main weapons. There are far too many to sort evenly, and they don't really fit neatly into 1 category. Most main weapons have attributes that fit into all 5 classes!

Every weapon can somewhat fit into all 5 classes, but what if they could spec into a specific class. Lets imagine that aside from Main and Sub abilities, every gear set had 1 Key ability that gives a new attribute to the main weapon. Of course, there would be 5 Key abilities for every weapon, one for each Class in the SCS.

I couldn't possibly explain (hell I haven't even come up with any yet) every attribute for every main weapon in one post. But I'll leave you with an unfinished example.

Splattershot Jr.: POWER: The Splattershot Jr does 4 extra damage on every hit (28 => 32) [note: This is still a 4 shot kill, as dramatic damage increases can be problematic]

ENGAGE: The Splattershot Jr. has its shot spread decreased massively while the aiming crosshair is directly on an enemy.

SCOUT: Enemies damaged by the Splattershot Jr. can be spotted through walls.

CONTROL: Enemies damaged by the Splattershot Jr., while still nearby, take damage over time.

SUPPORT: Allies recover health and lose status effects faster while standing or swimming in ink painted by the Splattershot Jr.

So, what did you think?

[dwnwndrlnd]

@┊BASICS! . . . ៸៸៹ ࿐.

STAGE NAME: Hao

BIRTHNAME: Wu Haojun

BIRTHDATE: 17th of December, 1998

DIMENSION: Evergreen Dimension

HOMETOWN: Dongguan, Guangdong, China

ETHNICITY: Chinese

NATIONALITY: Chinese

LANGUAGES: Mandarin // Korean

@┊SOCIALS! . . . ៸៸៹ ࿐.

INSTAGRAM || wuhaojunnie

PRIV. INSTAGRAM || darkprinceyju

TWITTER || wuhaojunnie

TIKTOK || - none -

@┊CAREER! . . . ៸៸៹ ࿐.

AGENCY: ColorCover Entertainment

CAREER: Idol

TRAINING TIME: 2017-2020 (3 yrs)

POSITION: Dancer, Center, Vocalist, Sub Rapper

TITLE: Prince of Thorns

@┊PERSONALITY! . . . ៸៸៹ ࿐.

Extrovert

Playful

Hot-Headed

Energetic

Trickster

@┊FAMILY & RELATIONSHIP STATS! . . . ៸៸៹ ࿐.

FAMILY || ????

SEXUALITY || Bisexual

PRONOUNS || He/Him

RELATIONSHIP STATUS || Single

@┊FUN FACTS! . . . ៸៸៹ ࿐.

According to his profile on the company's website, Hao is from the Evergreen Dimension

Each member has an obsidian stone that had brought them over to the real world. Hao's obsidian stone is ink obsidian

His title is the Prince of Thorns

Hao is good friends with URi of BREVKERS and Haneul of KITSCH (@urnineteenskitsch)

He's a former members of the company's EL!TE Project, a project boy group that silently disbanded in early 2020

Hao says his closest friend within the group is Leewon because they came from the same dimension

[comfortlesshurt]

August 2024 Stats Update

Hoarded some more data this month, fellas! I had a few overnight trips, so there were some days I couldn't get data, but it shouldn't be a big deal. This is all for funsies.

Discussion of AO3/FFN stats under the cut if you want to avoid! If it really bothers you, block the #stats update tag.

Main goal: VLD word count greater than Spider-Man. Current progress: 48,364/100,258 (48.24%) Not too worried on this one since I have a LOT drafted that should start posting in 2025.

Time period: July 31st, 2024 to September 2nd, 2024

I missed getting data this weekend, so I went through the 2nd of September.

AO3

I broke 12k kudos near the end of the month, so that's cool to me! I missed it this month, but I'm also gunning for 250k hits.

Published word count delta: +5,287 across one new work and one existing works (basic edits on that one)

Work subscriptions delta: +4

New hits: 3,310

New kudos: 179

Comments delta: +21

Works bookmarks delta: +38

User subscriptions delta: -3 (I suspect the updates every other day for my Augusnippets fic finally scared away some Spider-Man subscribers. Sorry, old friends! Also, technically it's -4 because one of those subscriptions was my own side account to help me confirm I'm running my experiments as expected later.)

FFN

Background info: this month, FFN finally fixed its email alerts, so I was surprised to see not many people leave after getting spam updated on every fic I've posted this year.

User favs delta: +3

User alerts delta: -1

Published word count delta: +4,938 (A bit more words to add TWs to a fic, but still less because I edited an old fic on AO3 and haven't updated it on FFN yet.)

New profile views: 37

New reviews: 1

New story views: 888

C2 delta: 0

Story favs delta: +8

Story alerts delta: +3

Single-Point AO3 Data: September 1st, 2024

Newer Fic Achievements

I'm happy with all of these! I know VLD isn't super popular anymore, so it's surprising to see such good conversion rates on these. All of these are top 10% for hits/day and kudos/day, but I don't think that's significant since they're all posted so recently and the other fics are being dragged down by 2000+ days since publishing.

5 Times Lance Doesn't Matter: still holding a top 10% comment and bookmark conversion rate.

Smiling 'cause you're used to it: top 10% of comment and subs and top 10% of conversion rates for subs, comments, and bookmarks.

Chemicals, chemicals in my brain: top 10% for subs and bookmark conversion.

Nowhere to call home: top 10% of comments, top 10% for subs and comment conversion. Top 10% for number of AO3 tags used. Honorable mention for getting bookmarked multiple times and they're ALL private bookmarks. (This one is a shameful one to enjoy, apparently!)

Top 10% by...

Comments:

5 Times Peter Struggled with Spider Metabolism

Nowhere to call home

5 Times Lance Doesn't Matter

Whump Bingo

We are the reckless

None of the other stats really changed since last month, so I won't add 'em here this time!

Skipping the all-time stats as well because those don't change as much in the span of a month! I'm thinking those are more worth checking out every three months, so we'll check again at the end of October maybe.

Experimental Phase

I wanted to get some base control data before I moved on to this stage, but as of now, I've got about 90 recent days of standard data (posting as I typically would). Now, it's time to design experiments, but I'm going for a single-blind situation, so you won't see exactly what I'm testing until I'm done testing to avoid skewing results!

Overall, not a super exciting month as far as stats! But that's okay because it was a great writing month. Hopefully I'll have something more interesting to report at the next stats update!

[the-firebird69]

This particular Hulk is Red Hulk and it is Frank Castle his wife looks like him but more like a woman and has different strengths her legs are gigantic and long and can break just about anything . And yeah his friend says legs that are not really that long but they're longer than this. They're almost 5050 it looks a little odd when they're big no it looks perfect. At this height our sun would look like this his hands would be smaller and be human his head would be bigger and he would be terrified and he could do with the Hulk does for the most part especially if it was a little juiced little radiation in juice and he could that's just about the same but the halts are usually not in this kind of condition hulk Earth are not Hulk Earth or not we have a version of Hulk that's unstoppable it's not comparable but at this size our son could pick up probably a full size regular attack submarine and none of you can do anything like that and thusly he could carry a huge blaster and those way probably 1/8 so he could wield it

Thor Freya

no way no way i have to see it have to

brad

and he is fun about it uses the werstlers image who looks like sabertooth and im small ahahah pans out ok you could not see this is fun maotivates me to see it and to bea him now ay and spice need it now now

brad again

we do this nee dit too

becka tired of these shits making fun of me and you trump suck cant do shit now

nor can you we die ok and fight

trump

wow need it to see him big. and six four ok good nuff huge and powerful stronger than us and me too im a giant. wow

mac daddy

it is in increments and your up there me too but no cant do it close no nobody is. that is huge wieghts ok

and i can at my height in shape sawuat two thousand but big. like colossus yes.

bill

me toono way need to see it. wow

preston

need it now no but do

jstin

and shit no way no way heard him yelling lisfting swa he was verry strong but this is off the charts and ok big an ok. hahah lol huge muslces and fun to be near a freidn and wont hurt us nope never does. true we are weak as hell. britlte even

jenna

good we do this now

Jen M. now too need it in me the love of it now need it

Olympus

he says yeh im kinda glum but upbeat he helps me saves me loves the songs. reminds him of me of loving me yes. good

Jen M again i take the name and leave themm wihtout one and good yes it is

you dont have to no you do and we shall see they will strike and not miss and stuf fand ok im out

trump

you re toast you whimp

Zues

and fun we got bacck at him for the trash bag weight loss and ok we jambed it to them they missed it ok mykids go to my asss no dont know why ahahahahah same race and shit no your not me but ok diferent topic

Hera

aanand ahahahah ken is prego no it is jason hmm

biill

we see it need it wow

me too i will compete did not do well before and he did beat tons there at the gym tthey started to work out yes

ken

good

mac daddy

we shall see

macs

Olympus

we have stats and are near or better no near and yeh not so big young still. and wow. we ck and see it none can lift a sub. lol and make it a sandwich we have a deal no no stop it hahaah lol

Brock

Olympus

[tzekkaz]

unboxing: 8th Army vehicles

Today's unboxing is a number of vehicles I got for Christmas, they are all part of one of two 8th Army projects I am working on, these are for the 1942 British armoured brigade from Campaign: the Western Desert book, a copy of Tank Wars is also needed. I am unboxing the following:

Crusader Mk I/II tank

Flying Standard Tilly

Chevrolet CMP 15CWT truck

Bedford OY 3-ton lorry 

Crusader Mk I/II tank

The Crusader tank primarily saw action with British and Commonwealth forces in the Western Desert. They were particularly suited for the kind of mobile warfare that became prevalent in the desert, thanks to their speed and agility. It had a 2-pdr gun in the turret and co-axial machine gun in the hull. The 2-pdr was eventually replaced by a 6-pdr gun.

The kit is a metal/resin hybrid kit and includes damage markers, an order dice and stat cards

The kit looks nice and, assuming none of the resin parts are warped at all, relatively easy to assemble.

Flying standard Tilly

The Flying Standard Tilly or to give it its correct name, the Flying Standard 10 was used by British and Commonwealth troops in the Western Desert.

Another resin and metal hybrid kit, this kit did not come with an additional stuff and looks like the resin will need a little cleaning up. The kit will have to be painted in sub assemblies as the driver needs to be placed in the cab.

Chevrolet CMP 15cwt truck

The Canadian Military Pattern Chevrolet truck saw service extensively with British and Commonwealth troops in the Western Desert and beyond. The cab has a sloping windscreen to reduce glare and the chance of it giving away the trucks position.

The kit is yet another hybrid kit, resin and metal components. The comes with Vehicle damage markers and stat cards.

This kit is probably my favourite of all of them, I love the atheistics of the Chevrolet.

Bedford OY 3 ton lorry

The Bedford was quite ubiquitous covering numerous roles in the British and Commonwealth forces, it saw service throughout the second World War in many different theatres.

Yet another hybrid kit. Looks fairly easy to assemble. The kit was missing two wheels but an email to Warlord Games quickly rectified this and they, rather quickly, sent me the missing wheels.

The kits all look good and I am looking forward to assembling them and painting them. They will all make welcome additions to my 1942 armoured brigade. 

[a-la-campanella]

HSR Personal Stats

Only one of the couple hundred thousand accounts made in the first hour of launch. I spent a little under an hour waiting to re-download the game after realizing I could switch dubs (initially download with English dub, but I play with Chinese dub). Those were simpler times.

The bulk of these hours come from the fact my characters tend to be poorly built, and I scattered my resources too wide early-game. I had 10 different 5 star characters by Version 1.2, barely three months into the game, and was trying to build everyone at once. (This wasn't really a case of gacha luck - most of my friends had a similar number of 5 star characters around the same time I did, and none of us are big spenders/most of us are f2p.) The time I spend in battles against enemies is at least twice as long compared to someone who builds their characters efficiently.

...besides, I added another hundred hours at least from this month alone grinding away in Simulated Universe. I'm not having a good time. TL;DR: wasted time and resources.

If I have any advice for others (you can ignore this if you spend money on the game — the field isn't leveled between us): meta does matter. If you want to be able to clear main story content and/or obtain combat-based event rewards, you want to be playing strong units and supports. Have at least one good team (or two if you care about Memory of Chaos). I struggled fighting the Swarm King because my team sucked and my characters are weak, and that's a mob you have to fight to progress in the story. It's not that hard to get okay characters if you're hyper-investing one at a time with them, so I would suggest doing that.

I adore Yanqing as a character and I'm happy to have him with maxed out traces at lvl 80, but his numbers aren't high enough for me to say he's worth generally playing. I'm thinking of subbing in with a mono-quantum or Seele hyper-carry team... I have enough fuel to sit through a few hours of relic farming. Here's to hoping they all roll crit (fat chance; my luck is horrendous), then whatever is leftover can go to Fu Xuan.