#they are also all on-field DPSes

[pigeon-noises]

Got to thinking about the similarities my 3 favorite characters in Genshin share

[flamechasr]

7, 20, 23?

7. who is your least favorite character?

i don't hate anyone ! i mean this with my whole heart. even with like dori she's just kind of a (rolls eyes) character for me. i also kinda grew to tolerate eula at some point even though she's still a (rolls eyes) too. i used to mildly dislike miko but she's ok now, and baizhu who is more of a bwehh type for personal reasons. but again i think everyone is fine and very lovely i love teyvat >w<

20. who is the most useful character in your opinion?

there's zhongli, still the best shielder since 1.1, great for everything, can fit into most teams, if you have him you won't have to worry about taking damage especially if you're bad at dodging. if not zhongli then you should at least pick another shielder to build, like diona is great especially with cryo dpses. some of the higher investment 4*s like bennett, xingqiu, xiangling, fischl - everyone else has their own kind of niche but you can never go wrong with raising these four, at least bennett if no one else. he's a double healer and buffer which will do you well especially in endgame content. xingqiu as an off-field hydro applicator who deals a lot of damage when built well (yelan is better in this role but i believe c6 xingqiu can definitely compare to her). xiangling is actually a beast as one of the standing burst pyro dpses who works in the national comp with bennett and xingqiu. and then fischl as a well-rounded off field electro dps and battery to pair with your hydro or dendro dpses ! speaking of dendro nahida is just really great, and i believe shinobu has also become a top pick as electro support in dendro teams since she heals, but probably otherwise fischl is better since fischl can deal significant damage. funnily enough with the introduction of dendro, it seems like most people have been using raiden shogun less as a hypercarry and more as an electro enabler in dendro teams, but i remember raiden national being a really good comp too. there's also the category of anemo ccs like sucrose, kazuha, venti - i don't think venti is very good nowadays but kazuha is definitely up there being one of the best and sucrose is basically budget kazuha. for main dpses it's extremely volatile, like in my time the top 3 were ayaka, hu tao, and ganyu, but i think ganyu has fallen off. hu tao and ayaka are still great though in pyro and cryo respectively, and according to my qpp neuvillette is the number 1 dps right now especially with fontaine rolling out a new hydro meta. navia is also very good in terms of pure damage but she's like way different from her geo friends. and thenn i believe for dendro the top pick is alhaitham. i'm not saying that out of bias at all i'm pretty sure he is HSJDHS. electro and anemo are a bit obsolete at this moment in terms of dps since electro is mostly used to pair for dendro and anemo just can't beat the support element allegations. xiao fell off a long time ago and apparently wanderer wasn't very good either. but i do think these two have a fun playstyle and as long as you have fun yknow!

23. bow, sword, polearm, claymore or catalyst?

my favorite is polearm followed by sword! i looove spamming fast attacks. my favorites have always been those like zhongli, rosaria, xiao, thoma, cyno, and then sword of course being aya - i also enjoy bow but i kind of have skill issue with them... i think because i play tighnari a lot on my qpp's account and he does have a fun playstyle to me !

[riplever]

Chiluc Ride OR Die

I am back with another round-up report of a ducking fantastic Floor 11 all-star run.

This time I had chiluc in the same team. Because after literal days of playing 12-3 on repeat to see how close I could get to the 1-star requirement (spoilers: I don't), I've learnt afresh that Tartar needs a sub-DPS to deal on-field damage when he's cooling down.

Why is the graphic featuring Bennett and Kazuha in a post with chiluc in the title? Because they're the real MVPs.

What's up:

- Had to modify my Bennett's sub-DPS build to a healer-focused one, using a HP crown instead of his usual Crit crown. And it had to be the crown that swapped, because I don't have a Noblesse HP cup to replace his drippy Pyro DMG one

- Everyone's past the Lvl 80 cap. I did this for Benny and Kazuha out of love, but Diluc HAD to be taken past Lvl 80. I know people like to brag about sticking with 80/80 at world level 8, but that's so much more frustration than it's worth, especially if they're the on-field DPS. Mobile player struggles maybe?

- This comp in this Spiral Abyss phase of 11-3 has redefined the meaning Team Volatile, because these two DPSes are naturally squishy and the corrosion mechanic is working overtime to kill everyone. Whenever Benny's precious burst is ready, I find myself spending several seconds STANDING on it just to regenerate HP

- And this is why Kazuha is integral to this Floor 11 run

Strat:

Kazuha needs to grab the Cryo mage before her shield forms. He needs to grab the Pyro agent before he sticks us with his knives. The Electro mage... Well she's easier to manage. And when they're all sucked up Tartar takes the floor and whips them, the DMG multiplies with Riptide & proximity, his burst pops (and I presumably hit the 145k, didn't see it when it happened as usual!!!), they're still taking forever to die so Diluc hits them with his bird, Benny absorbs some energy, Kazuha's curtain helps deal the last of damages ... and then we need time to heal. Thankfully, Kazuha's skill is so OP that it gives me the leeway to grab the next batch of Fatui even after spending a few precious seconds not attacking.

Other notes:

- This team is ride OR die. By which I mean if the strat is not executed with perfect timing, I die. I distinctively remember this happening with a different floor 11 clear in the past, also with Tartar doing the DPS heavy-lifting. I'm starting to feel like this is an inherent trait of playing as Tartaglia

- When I have everything timed perfectly (CC-ing + burst stacking + healing time) this floor clears out so fast it's like whiplash

- I cushioned my Floor 11 all-star attempts by stuffing my original DPSes (Beidou, Kaeya and Keqing) in Team 2 with best healer Jean. That team is so comfortable I could even afford the costly mistake of letting Keqing die against the first Geovishap

- I can't steal even a single star from this Floor 12-3 and I actually tried so many times. Team 1 is Royal, which is the Golden Boys + Electro Girls. The fastest they've done is clear chamber 1 in 30s; their average is 45 seconds. Their bursts pop and regenerate in a chain. For Team 2 I've tried Team Vicious (didn't work), I've swapped Jean for Kaeya as sub-DPS for Tartar (didn't work; not enough Crit Rate for Kaeya), and I've also swapped Jean for Diluc as sub-DPS for Tartar (didn't work, slow movement speed and high death rate). The Perpetual Mechanical Array has a ton of time-wasting iFrames as both a whole and as its component parts ON TOP of its 2.2 mil HP... what fuck

- I also only found out after all my effort that PMA has elemental resistance. Which explains why Tartar could break burst records with Floor 11 runs but not through the Floor 12 ones

- Tartar's still been topping previous Strongest Single Strike records 10k a time with each new phase. We've had 103k, and then 119k, and then 128k, and now 145k. We still have plenty of leeway to continue optimizing this value since his talent level is only 8, for one. AND the PMA's resistance screwed up my testing of the 100 EM (and 1.9k ATK) artifact

- That being said the single dopest strike by Tartar might already be set in stone. It occurred through the Hyakunin Ikki event, where paired with Kazuha, and Hydro DMG + EM buffs, he hit a 184k without my notice. To be honest I don't know if I'll ever be able to top this in my Spiral runs...

- Maybe I'll try a Kazuha + Jean + Diluc + Tartar comp next time to have more robust healing on hand. It's just so time-consuming to test strats against the PMA because of all the work it requires to get through 12-1 and 12-2

- There's no real reason behind their odd level numbers other than how everyone is fine as is. I would have liked to keep Tartar at 89 because I like the number, but I wanted to push his ATK stat into 2k

- I like the corrosion mechanic, it's actually a fun and interesting challenge

- If anything this proves that one can make chiluc get along with the right supports... which is a no-brainer. All teams need legendary supports. The real test is can they hold up as a two-person team? Without a healer? Without Albedo and Kazuha's AOE damage? Without chugging down a ton of food? That remains to be seen...

[ubercharge]

dave hi!! what is your honest opinion on mercy players? many youtubers, streamers, and people on the forums seem to hate her so much. i really don't see the problem with her tbh. people always say she gets carried but how is that true when she's the one in battle healing y'all 🤔 people make remarks about me playing her when i have to heal but i'm not even a one trick? i can play dva, winston, reaper, lucio, zen, and zarya as well. why can't people just be grateful that mercy players will heal?

reasons people don’t like mercy generally involve/have to do with:

1. mercy OTPs. being a one trick anything can result in problems when you have to play another hero/switch off that hero in comp

2. the above, but refusing to switch off. don’t even get me started on all the mercys i’ve faced/played with who kept playing mercy even when she kept getting picked off by the enemy being half flankers gunning for her in particula

3. the above, pertaining to mercy’s lack of transferable technical skills. y’know how any widow main almost always also plays tracer or mccree? or some other hitscan? widow requires (at least some) good hitscan aim, so a person who’s good at widow can probably play other hitscans well.

mercy’s primary way of helping the team involves holding m1/m2 with minimal aim required. while it IS important for any healer main, especially mercys, to pay attention to positioning and to have good gamesense, being a good mercy doesn’t mean you have to have good aim (but that’s good too, so you can gun down flankers and whatever. it’s just not a requirement of successfully playing mercy - hence the accusations of mercys being ‘carried’; they’re not usually the ones who HAVE to frag to aid the team)

4. mercy inherently being a high risk/high reward pick. a mercy with bad posi/gamesense is painful to play with. yes, the team has to keep their eye on her, but if she can’t also help to protect herself and doesn’t know when she has to be hiding or on the field, that fucks the team over when they need rez, because having mercy in a (or the) heal slot means you won’t have a defensive support ult (luci/zen) to use in a teamfight.

5. the above, but when she’s on the enemy team. rez is an extremely influential ability on the outcome of the game when used correctly. a single clutch rez can gamesave a match and turn the tide of the fight, or even the entire round, in your team’s favour. so when your team can’t pick the enemy mercy off, it can be annoying to have your ult combos tossed aside by a single rez.

6. she is a priority target, which means you absolutely have to protect her, and she doesn’t have the same type of sustain/self-defence as the other healers. if she’s on the enemy team, you have to go after her either before/the first in a fight, or during it or she’ll rez. and this can be annoying when your DPSes don’t understand they have to ult her and not the fucking orisa because she can rez the orisa.

7. i guess some people also have a problem with entitlement complaining about every single death and placing the fault on the team. you’re not a good mercy if you think all your deaths are 100% certainly your team’s fault. a good mercy knows enough about positioning and has the gamesense to stay alive by being in the right place and to be alive in crucial moments so she can pull off a clutch rez.

there ARE oftentimes problems with the team just not looking out for mercy at all and overall being rude and inconsiderate, but it’s important to know that this is not the case for every death.

mercy has a good healrate, pretty decent mobility including sometimes having vertical mobility, and an ult that can change the tide of a match. being able to tank heal and heal quickly are part of what make her so powerful. qp is a whatever zone, but if people are complaining about mercy in comp just for being mercy, that’s not a valid complaint. yeah she’s annoying, but that doesn’t make her a bad pick.

if they’re complaining about the enemy mercy, that means she’s doing a good job (and maybe your team’s DPSes need to focus her more). if they’re complaining about the team’s mercy, maybe you’re getting rolled, maybe they’re not protecting her, maybe her positioning and timing are bad. picking healer is good, but that doesn’t automatically make the person a boon to the team simply because you can be a bad healer, just like how you can be a bad tank or DPS.

tl;dr: mercy has her merits and when played effectively can be devastating and the single biggest bane to the enemy team, but while she has excellent HPS and an absurd ult, she needs good positioning and gamesense to be effective to the fullest. and though she needs those things, she doesn’t need high technical skill meaning she doesn’t need to land/secure kills to be played well like ana or widow or genji or whatever. this means she’s both easier to play and has to rely on her teammates to secure kills, but it doesn’t mean she’s a bad pick and can in fact be a very good pick.