UID: 17601070 [SEA]

[5.5 BETA] Palatinus Equinox Quick Review

Hello captains! Excelsior07 is here and in this opportunity I would like to do a short and quick review about the new battlesuit in 5.5, Palatinus Equinox.

INTRODUCTION

Palatinus Equinox (PE) is Durandal’s S-rank Imaginary (IMG) type battlesuit, soul awakened form of Dea Anchora (DA). As of 5.5, PE is the second IMG battlesuit in Honkai Impact 3 following the previous Raven’s Midnight Absinthe (MA) debut in 5.2, but the difference between them is their role. While MA is a fire support, PE is a physical damage dealer. This makes PE become the first IMG DPS in the entire game.

PLAYSTYLE

The main aspect of PE is that she can switch into two forms, Guardian and Knight forms. PE can switch forms without SP or cooldown limitations. Therefore, captains can use whatever form you need and switch form later without worrying about running out of SP or waiting for any cooldown. To switch forms between Guardian and Knight forms, just tap ultimate button.

 PE switching forms

In Guardian form, PE uses lance and shield. She has 4 sequences during basic attack. By using her shield, she can stay idle and shielding herself, or she can also use the shield to ram into enemy. When PE shield counters enemies attack or rams into enemies, she will trigger ultimate evasion skill which is a time fracture and instantly fill her kinetic bar. If the kinetic bar is full, hold attack button to consume kinetic and do a charge attack.

PE basic (Guardian)

PE evasion skill (Guardian)

PE charge (Guardian)

In Knight form, she will turn her armor into a horse named Krishna. When her kinetic bar is full, Krishna can run faster and while running, tap evade button to jump and stomp. With full kinetic, she can use the lance to thrust toward enemy. This will consume her kinetic bar. As soon as her kinetic bar is emptied or the attack button is released, she will launch one final slash to deal big damage. Her ultimate evasion skill in Knight form can also be auto triggered by simply pressing the evade button. Same as Guardian form, ultimate evasion skill in Knight form triggers time fracture and fill kinetic bar as well.

PE basic (Knight)

PE stomp

PE evasion skill (Knight)

PE charge (Knight)

PE ultimate can be used at 100 SP. To use her ultimate, hold ultimate button. Her ultimate animation can stop timer so this will be useful for scoring in Abyss or Memorial Arena.

PE ulti animation

Additionally, if her ultimate hits IMG enemies Nihilus Shell, 150% of the damage will be transferred into Nihilus Seed (core). Let's take HoD Minion as example, If your damage is enough, you can entirely skip transition between phase 1 and phase 2.

PE IMG mechanism

Last but not least, there is a mechanism which can only be used if PE is equipped with her signature weapon, Midnight Eclipse, or its PRI-ARM, Midnight Ataegina. PE can use her lance weapon skill in Guardian form to shoot enemies 3 times in a row before reloading. In addition, the lance shooting mechanic can also be used in the last sequence basic attack as well as the last sequence of charge attack. While in Knight form, the lance weapon skill will simply do a throw attack.

PE gunlance

PE basic gunlance

PE charge gunlance

PE throw

LINEUP

PE is better suited with Herrscher of Sentience (HoS) and Sweet and Spicy (SnS). HoS applies impair to enemy to reduce their DEF against physical damage which can also trigger SnS QTE, while SnS breaks shield faster and can buff teams via her ultimate when she is S-ranked. SnS team buffs and shieldbreak ability can be bigger if she is equipped with her signature Miracle Kissy Pillow and Paganini stigmata.

PE lineup example

EQUIPMENTS

PE equipments are the lance Midnight Eclipse or Midnight Ataegina (PRI) and Bianka Theatre stigmata. While having 2 pieces of her stigma is good, it’s more recommended to have all 3 pieces to make PE stronger. Captains should also take into account that Bianka Theatre can ONLY be used by PE since the 2 pieces buff has “Palatinus Equinox equip bonus” limitation and the 3 pieces buff enhancing the 2 pieces buff.

PE signature lance

PE signature stigmata

If captains wish to use PE properly, it’s very recommended to get her signature lance at least, since her lance has special mechanic related to her gameplay that no other lances have. Otherwise, use whatever lance that has high attack and buff related to physical. Meanwhile for stigma alternatives, captains can use any physical damage stigmata that involves the usage of basic/charge/ultimate evasion/retaliation, for example, Elysia, Kafka, Dante, or Columbus.

PE alternative lance 1

PE alternative lance 2

PE alternative stigmata 1

PE alternative stigmata 2

PE alternative stigmata 3

CONCLUSION

Here comes the real question. Should you pull Palatinus Equinox? Palatinus Equinox is indeed a strong and solid physical DPS battlesuit. Her ability to deal high damage without relying on ultimate makes her even better. Palatinus Equinox is obviously the answer to deal with IMG type enemies easier because PE is the only IMG DPS available right now, so she is actually important to have since there could be more IMG enemies coming in the future. If captains is a casual player or not-so-tryhard player or waifu collector, then it’s up to you to pull PE or not. However, for competitive usage, I personally wouldn't recommend getting PE without getting HoS and at least PE signature lance first.

As I mentioned before, PE has a lance shooting mechanic that can only be done with her signature lance, Midnight Eclipse/Midnight Ataegina. No other lances, even the divine key Abyss Flower, can do that. As for the stigmata, there are alternatives if you don’t have Bianka Theatre and some of them are even craftable like Elysia or Kafka. Meanwhile, captain also should not pull PE before having HoS first. HoS is one of the essential valkyrie to get first in the current meta because of her capability to not only support the physical team, but also to “support” herself as a DPS at least until captains get a better physical DPS.

That’s all for my Palatinus Equinox Quick Review and sorry if there are some info that I miss to include here. I hope this article can help captains to understand about Palatinus Equinox and decide whether you should prioritize on getting her or instead getting other stuffs first. Excelsior07 is out and have a nice day, captains!