(4.7) Furina Rerun
Version 4.7 Phase 2
5-star: Furina
4-stars: Gaming, Rosaria and Noelle
TLDR - This might be one of the most hyped reruns we’ve had in a while since it seems many players slept on Furina originally but she’s now back. Unfortunatly, the 4-star lineup with her isn’t what you’d ideally want to see (still no Kaveh). However, Furina makes this worth it on it’s own in my opinion. She is easily one of the strongest supports in the game and can turn mediocre teams into one that are actually quite good. The healer limitation on her teams can be a restraint but it’s worth it most of the time. Gaming is a respectable on-field pyro DPS though he wants his constellations to be worth using. He works well with Furina as well so it’s not awful that they are here together. Rosaria is a one of the better options for off-field cryo application but since none of the teams featuring cryo damage are really doing to great currently, she’s not that high value. Noelle is a strange character for a number of reasons but she’s a bit difficult to use, reliant on her C6 and even her best team isn’t all that good. Everyone does get a garanteed Noelle from the beginner wish as well.
Overall, you’re pulling on this banner for Furina. She’s one of the best characters in the game due to her overall buffing strength as well as how flexible her teams are. She is easily a massive improvement to any account that doesn’t have her, much more so than any of the other 5-stars in either phase of version 4.7 and also is more desirable than what’s been leaked to be coming in 4.8. I find it difficult to think that anyone will regret pulling for her even if you’re only healer is Barbara.
Furina - Hydro sword character
Role: Off-field hydro DPS and support
Teams: Near enough anything but hyperbloom, bloom or vaporise are best for her
Cons: C1 makes her buff have a better starting point, C2 makes her buff stack faster and increases her HP and C6 allows her to be used as an on-fielder
Artifact set: 4pc Golden Troupe or 4pc Marechaussee Hunter (only at C6 and when you play her on-field)
Weapons: Splendor of Tranquil Waters (Best), Festering Desire (Event), Fleuve Cendre Ferryman (Fishing), Favonius Sword (4-star option)
Pull value (good, ok, bad) - Good
This is it boys. She’s back! I’m not even going to beat around the bush. You should pull for Furina. She’s great and I’m not just talking about her design or character. Furina does two things: first is that she provides good off-field hydro damage with her skill. Second is that she provides a large team-wide buff to all damage done based on how much your team’s HP has fluctuated. This means she’s a damage dealer and buffer all rolled into one which is nice. Both sides are strong as well so you’re not really sacrificing much by using her. You can also switch her stance by using a charged attack and while in her other stance, her skill will heal the on-field character every 2 seconds. While this healing is respectable, it only applies to the on-field character and also gives less stacks for her burst than compared to her damage stance. This means that in senarios like abyss where DPS matters, you’ll be using her damage stance. If you need to switch to her healing stance, something has gone wrong, either in terms of your gameplay or your team comp. The other downside that Furina has is her hydro application in her damage stance (the healing stance doesn’t apply hydro at all). While her little friends do nice damage for an off-fielder, you can’t control what they attack meaning you can get a situation where they all decide to attack something different and that will mean the amount of hydro applied to whatever you currently care about might be inadequate. It’s also not consistent application as each friend has their own rules about application in addition to the standard internal cooldown rules. In practice, it’s fine if you’re only fighting one enemy but it can get a bit messy if there is more than one. The end result is that you’ll often want to run another source of hydro application alongside her.
As far as what teams you can play Furina on, the answer is honestly just about anything. The buff she gives from her burst is significant enough that most teams would love to have it. Her hydro application will get in the way on some teams however. She works best on teams who value her hydro application however like vaporise, bloom, hyperbloom or freeze teams. These are teams where you can run a second hydro unit and it be useful for the whole team instead of just Furina. Another hydro character will activate the hydro resonance, increasing your teams HP (Furina’s damage scales with HP) and will also generate hydro particles for Furina, lowering her ER requirements. Furina also works very well with on-fielders that can hurt and heal themselves since they will increase the size of her buff faster. The notable characters here will be Lyney, Neuvillette, Wriothesley and Gaming. Another aspect of Furina that needs to be accounted for in her teams is that you should have a healer. Furina’s skill drains the whole team’s HP which sounds really bad but it’s the only reliable way to stack the damage boosts from her burst. Therefore, having a teamwide healer will allow you to keep the buff fully charged better. Healers who only heal the on-field character are not really sufficent for this but rather you need large amounts of team-wide healing. Some options include Jean, Barbara, Noelle (technically), Sayu, Dori, Mika, Yao Yao, Baizhu, Charlotte, Xianyun and Seigwinne. Be aware that a number of the “weaker” healers here will need to be running dedicated healing builds to be good enough and can find themselves in the territory of having energy issues. Jean or Xianyun tends to be the preffered option for Vaporise teams as they can also use the Viridecent Venerer set to give that important resistance reduction. Sayu is generally worse than those 5-star options. Yao Yao or Baizhu are the options for the bloom/hyperbloom teams since they can both heal and apply dendro. Charlotte can be used on Freeze teams while both Noelle and Dori only really work in their own super specific teams where they are on-fielders. There are more options for Seigwinne discussed in her article for this phase. Barbara is the option you use when you’ve got nothing else since her hydro application is quite poor but her healing is more than enough to allow Furina to function at her best. Mika is in a similar boat with his cryo application and wants an on-fielder who does normal attacks to get the full effect of his burst.
Another reason that many players have been excited about Furina’s rerun is because it is an oppertunity for them to get constellations for her. The short version is that all of her constellations are good thought to varying degrees. Her C1 makes her buff better and starts it at a higher point. Her C2 makes the buff stack 2.5x faster and also boosts Furina’s own HP if you start overcapping it, which further increases her damage. The C4 gives you energy back over a rotation which lowers her ER needs though they don’t tend to be that extreme in the first place. She isn’t Faruzan. The C6 allows her to be used as an on-fielder since her normal attacks get a large buff and a hydro infusion. All of these constellations tend to be preferable to her weapon, the Splendor of Tranquil Waters. This sword is ideal for maxing her damage though it doesn’t have any ER on it which can make a little troublesome as you’ll need better artifacts to compensate. The old event weapon, Festering Desire, or Fontaine’s fishing weapon, Fleuve Cendre Ferryman, are the goto options in this case since they give a good amount of ER while boosting her damage. Favonious sword is an option if you’re still struggling to meet her ER needs though this might only be an issue with poor artifacts in teams where she is the only hydro character. In this case, it might just be better to alter your rotation slightly so the Furina can catch her own particles.
Overall, Furina is very good and you should pull for her. There isn’t really such thing as a must-pull in this game since you can clear abyss with somwhat mediocre teams if they’re built right though the new abyss refresh is testing this point. It’s rough. This is where great characters like Furina are resources it would be great to have. It also gives you a reason to use some of those healers that don’t see much play otherwise.
Gaming - Pyro claymore character
Role: On-field pyro DPS
Teams: Vaporise or melt. Burgeon is also an option
Cons: C1 gives him healing during his burst which is quite important, C2 is an attack boost on overflowing healing, C6 increases his crit values significantly
Artifact set: 4pc Marechaussee Hunter or 4pc Crimson Witch of Flames, 4pc Flower of Paradise Lost (burgeon)
Weapons: Beacon of the Reed Sea (5-star option), Serpents spine (Battle pass), Ultimate Overlord's Mega Magic Sword (Event), Tidal Shadow (Craftable)
Pull value (good, ok, bad) - Ok
First things first. For any new players reading this, his name is pronounced Ga-ming, not the word it actually spells in english. They probably should have anglosied it better. I mention this because you might not hear it’s pronunciation ingame anymore since the event that introduced him is over.
Anyway, onto what people are actually here for. Gaming is an on-field pyro damage dealer who uses his own special plunge attacks. This does give him a niche though he does face competition from Diluc’s pludge teams (courtesy of Xianyun and C6 Bennet) but Gaming is much less restrictive in this regard. The best way to play him, like most other on-field pyro DPS tends to be to run him in a vape team. Since Gaming’s pyro application is only when he plunges which is every couple of seconds during his burst, this means he will be vaporising all his damage which is nice. He also has time to weave in 1 or 2 normal attacks between plunges so using the likes of Xingqiu or Yelan works great. He will also synergise with Furina well since he hurts himself every time he plunges and he will need a healer if he’s at C0 so that all works out. All in all, a team of Gaming/Yelan/Furina/Xianyun will work great with Xingqiu or Jean being possible replacement options. A more budget frendly version might be Gaming/Xingqiu/Barbara/Lynette though Barbara becomes a little redundant if Gaming is C1+ since her hydro application is bad. You could use Seigwinne here if you get her since her hydro application is better. Gaming/Furina/Barbara/Lynette can also work but be aware that your hydro application is rather poor outside of single target scenarios. Melt is also an option with Rosaria or Kaeya as the cryo applicator but you’ll run into the same problem all melt comps do which is that they just tend to be worse versions of vaporise. The last option to talk about is burgeon. I think it’s worse in general that the vaporise options but if you need to deal with large groups of enemies where AoE damage is valuble then it has a place. Gaming/Xingqiu/Nahida/Baizhu is the standard where Xingqiu could be replaced by Yelan and Baizhu could be replaced by Yao Yao. Furina is unlikely to provide enough hydro in these teams, especially since this team is more for AoE content. Its also worth stating that you might have better results in the standard Thoma burgeon teams as well especially since you can on-field someone who isn’t a claymore user and therefore attacks faster to get better use out of Xingqiu. Vaporise will tend to be the best overall option baring in mind everything I’ve written here.
Gaming’s C1 is a pretty important constellation because it heals him for 15% of his HP every time his Suanni Man Chai comes back to him, resetting his skill cooldown. Using the skill will consume 15% HP so this is a big deal as the burst will basically kill Gaming otherwise. The C2 gives an attack boost when he overflows from healing. You need an outside source of healing for this to trigger but 20% attack is a nice boost. The C4 gives energy everytime he hits with a plunge which is nice and makes him a bit easier to build though he doesn’t really need the extra energy in my experience. The C6 gives 20% crit rate and 40% crit damage on the plunges which is a big deal and is a significant increase to his damage output so is worth getting if you use him. Gaming has a few different weapon options as most of the 5-star stat sticks can be used by him, particularly Beacon of the Reed Sea or Redhorn Stonethresher though the battle pass weapon Serpents spine will be competitive since Gaming isn’t getting the full benefit out of these weapons. The recent event weapon, Ultimate Overlord's Mega Magic Sword, is decent on him as it just gives a lot of attack when fully charged. Tidal Shadow is a more consistent weapon for everyone however since his C1 will trigger the passive easily and it gives an extra 48% attack at R5.
Overall, Gaming is a reasonable on-field pyro DPS. He kinda sucks without his C1 because he just kills himself and even then, he will set the grass on fire often in the overworld which is annoying. Running a healer with him is still recommended but a lot less neccessary at C1. His true damage potential needs his C6 however since it’s a pretty significant damage spike. Like most of the other on-field pyro damage dealers, his best teams tend to be vaporise which suits him well because of how his damage works.
Rosaria - Cryo polearm character
Role: Off-field cryo DPS
Teams: Melt or freeze mainly. Physical (superconduct) teams are also possible
Cons: C2 increases the duration of her burst, C6 gives her another use on physical teams
Artifact set: 4pc Blizzard Strayer (freeze), 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate or 4pc Noblesse Oblige
Weapons: Primordial Jade Wing Spear (5-star option), Deathmatch (Battle Pass), The Catch (Fishing), Favonius Lance (4-star option)
Pull value (good, ok, bad) - Ok
I often think of Rosaria as the best off-field cryo damage dealer in Genshin but then I also remember that’s not a great achievement and is also part of what contributes to cryo reactions (in general) being thought of as “bad”. There are three different cryo reactions you can build around: freeze, melt and superconduct. freeze has the problem its been suffering from for ages now which is that there are many enemies in the game that can’t be frozen making the reaction worthless in lots of content. Melt is basically the same thing as vaporise but tends to be worse because cryo is harder to apply than hydro. It doesn’t help that, on the whole, the on-field cryo options are worse than their hydro counterparts. Lastly, superconduct is basically a meme. Eula is the best physical DPS we’ve got and she struggles. This leaves us in a very funny spot where I have to wonder why anyone who cares about the meta would play a cryo team that isn’t some hyperfridge shennanigans? I hope cryo gets something soon to make their teams worth playing again. With the right support, I’m sure you could force mono-cryo into existance. Anyway, I hope we don’t have to wait until version 6.0 for that to happen. In the mean time, I’ve got a character to review.
Rosaria’s main competition comes from Kaeya (and sometimes Shenhe but that’s a different issue). As to which of them is better tends to depend on the team since Rosaria applies cryo via her burst which creates a small AoE that hits every enemy inside it periodically. Kaeya’s burst circles the active character, applying cryo if an enemy is close enough which isn’t always ideal. Persoanlly, I think Rosaria is better in more situations but I hate Kaeya’s burst but it is often better for more mobile enemies. Viability question aside, you can easily play Rosaria in melt, freeze or superconduct (physical) teams. Melt is the most flexible where you’ll use [pyro on-fielder]/Rosaria/Bennet/[anemo VV user]. You could also try and fit in Shenhe to increase Rosaria’s damage but might be at the expense of Bennet or means you need to on-field Rosaria which isn’t ideal. Either way, these tend to be the best melt teams on-field pyro users can have. Rosaria can struggle a little more to find a place in freeze since she tends to find herself competing with Shenhe for the second cyro slot which doesn’t tend to go well for her. Shenhe is a pretty rare character however since she doesn’t get rerun that often and isn’t considered particularly meta since freeze isn’t doing too hot right now (pun intended). A team will often be Ayaka/Rosaria/Xingqiu/Kazuha but you could also use Ayaka/Rosaria/Furina/Jean. The Wriothesley variants will just swap him in for Ayaka. Superconduct teams will look like Eula/Rosaria/[electro]/Mika but Rosaria is the most replaceable character in this lineup. Near enough anything can be used as the electro option though Raiden Shogun is the best set-and-forget option. I’ll note here that Rosaria offer very little to this team besides the crit rate buff unless she has her C6 and that Shenhe or even Bennet will be more useful.
Rosaria has a couple of important constellations for various teams. The C1 is only relevant if you’re trying to on-field her in some weird comp. The C2 however increases the duration of her burst from 8s to 12s which is a huge deal since her burst is where all her off-field cryo application comes from. The C4 makes crits with her skill regenerate some energy. It’s not amazing but it can be somewhat helpful. The C6 gives the burst a physical resistance shred debuff which makes it useful for Eula teams. It’s not helping anyone else though except if you’re doing some normal attacks with Ayaka on a freeze team but even then, it’ll be a very minor increase. Rosaria’s weapon choices tend to be quite strightforward, She wants crit rate because of the ascension passive giving a max of 15% crit rate to the team based on Rosaria’s own crit rate. This means she tends to want to crit rate weapon like Primordial Jade Wing Spear or Deathmatch but if energy is an issue then The Catch can be the better choice even if it means losing out on some crit rate. The buff activating is dependant on her burst and she’s got next to nothing to offer otherwise so energy is honestly more important. Favonius Lance is a nuclear option if you can’t get the ER substats you need but can get the crit rate since it’s a weapon that needs you to crit to activate it’s passive anyway.
Overall, Rosaria isn’t a bad character but suffers to a certain extent due to being cryo. If she was a different element however, I’m not sure she’d see that much more play. The AoE on her burst being as small as it is really sucks. You can look at pyro which has more off-field problems but at least the one pyro off-fielder is Xiangling. This ultimatly means that most of Rosaria’s teams are pretty mid at best and while they work, I can’t help but think you’d just be better off playing something else most of the time, assuming you’ve got the characters for it of course.
Noelle - Geo claymore character
Role: On-field geo DPS (technically) and shielder/healer
Teams: Mono-geo or “Noelle” teams
Cons: C1 turns the healing chance on her skill into a guaranteed one, C6 is a massive damage increase meaning that she actually becomes playable
Artifact set: 4pc Husk of Opulent Dreams or 4pc Ocean-Hued Clam
Weapons: Redhorn Stonethresher (5-star option), Serpent Spine (Battle Pass), Whiteblind (Craftable)
Pull value (good, ok, bad) - Bad
Noelle is a very odd character for a number of reasons. First is the fact that everyone should have her at C0 since you are guaranteed to get her on the beginner wish. The second (and more important reason) is that she is sort of trying to be a support that wants to stay on-field which is an odd combination. This means that as a Noelle player, you need to choose if you want her shield or her healing since you don’t really get both; Noelle needs to use normal attacks while her shield is up to trigger her healing. She’s also capable of outputting a surprising amount of geo damage if built correctly as well which is where the concept of Noelle teams come from. Unfortunatly, these teams tend to look rather poor in the face of actual geo damage dealers like Itto and Navia but she can compete to some extent, especially with Furina. The standard Noelle team these days will consist of Noelle/Furina/Gorou/flex with options like Yun Jin, Bennet, Albedo or Yelan being usable in the flex slot though there are other choices that can fit as well. In this team, Noelle will build into as much defence as possible which then is converted into attack by her burst and she goes to town. Because her her skill will heal the team on hits with her normal attacks and you’ve built lots of defence, it’s enough to off-set the HP drain coming from Furina which means you don’t need to run an actual healer. As I said, the damage output of this team is a bit lackluster compared to a decent Itto team but the surviability is pretty good. While Furina is replaceable with another of the flex options, the damage loss is pretty significant such that the team will probably struggle to clear any modern abyss at which point Noelle is a bit of a dead weight character. The other thing I’ve not mentioned yet is that all this that has came before is assuming you’ve got Noelle’s C6 so lets have a closer look at those.
Noelle’s C1 makes it so that her heal on normal attack is actually guaranteed instead of a 60% chance. She is pretty awful at C0. The C2 buffs your charged attacks but using a “spin-to-win” type playstyle is nothing more than a meme. The C4 makes it such that your shield will explode dealing damage to nearby enemies when it runs outs or is destroyed. This niche and unexciting at best. The C6 however increases her attack during her burst by an extra 50% of her defence. This is a massive boost to her damage and is what makes Noelle even somewhat in the same league as geo damage dealers like Itto. It’s such a big deal that her viability is pretty dependant on her having this constellation as far as I’m concerned. Her weapon choice is pretty simple. Since she’s a defence scaler like Itto, she can use his weapon (Redhorn Stonethresher) well but if you don’t have that then Serpent Spine is the obvious choice since crit and claymores doesn’t tend to go together. Whiteblind is the f2p option since it has a defense stat and also boosts attack and defence on normal attacks. Nothing else is worth looking at.
Overall, Noelle is a niche character to say the least. When you put it like this “Noelle needs her C6 and Furina to be considered even somewhat viable”, I don’t think you can say that Noelle is a good character. Needing specific supports is never a good sign but then I add on top of that that she also wants C6 Gorou and another very in demand character for her flex slot, you know you’ve got a character out here that demands a lot from you but doesn’t really give that much back. At least her teams are not a complete meme since Furina now exists. Noelle is easily the 4-star you don’t want to be pulling from this banner.