UID: 17601070 [SEA]

[5.8 BETA] Seven Thunders of Retribution: Narukami Quick Review

Hello captains! Excelsior07 is here and in this article I would like to do a quick review about the new divine key which is expected to come in version 5.8, Seven Thunders of Retribution: Narukami. To make it simpler, in this article let's call it as 7T Narukami.

TABLES OF CONTENTS

1. INTRODUCTION

2. SKILL DESCRIPTION AND OVERVIEW

3. DIVINE KEY TUNING

4. SKILL COMPARISON WITH DOMAIN OF SANCTION (DoS)

5. DPS TEST

6. USER AND LINEUP RECOMMENDATION

7. HOW TO GET

8. CONCLUSION

INTRODUCTION

Herrscher of Thunder is PSY lightning DPS valkyrie. She is (or at least, she was) one of the top lightning DPS in meta both in abyss and memorial arena for the last two years. She was released in version 4.1 in 2020. However, her abyss performance became declining as the abyss disturbance rise higher and the introduction of time stop mechanic when casting ultimate for newer S-rank starting from Herrscher of Sentience’s release back in version 4.6. As an older valkyrie Herrscher of Thunder had been struggling of competing in higher tier of abyss, because she actually needs rank up to compete with newer valkyrie and what make it worse is that Herrscher of Thunder doesn't have the time stop mechanism, which means she'll lose points as well as support buffs duration because of ultimate animation. She had tough competitions against newer valkyries such as the fellow PSY type Herrscher but with different damage type, Herrscher of Flamescion, as well as Mobius (Infinite Ouroboros) the MECH type lightning DPS who can score higher even in Herrscher of Thunder own boss, Bright Knight: Excelsis. Another boss for her, Husk Nihilus had disappeared for a long time and when it reappears, there is already another lightning DPS valkyrie that becomes the top pick to deal with the clock boi, which is the new BIO lightning DPS, Aponia (Disciplinary Perdition).

But it seems a glimpse of hope has shine for Herrscher of Thunder’s enjoyers (including me) out there, since the arrival of Chapter 29 where a divine key in form of a blade, Seven Thunders of Retribution (yes, the same divine key that is currently in possession of Raven but with different form) in one of the scene in that chapter. And here we are, embracing the arrival of the 3rd divine key, Key of Judgment, Seven Thunders of Retribution as a playable weapon specially made for Herrscher of Thunder.

Indeed, Herrscher of Thunder isn’t the first valkyrie to get a new divine key weapon that replace the signature (there are Vermilion Knight: Eclipse with Might of An-Utu and Bright Knight: Excelsis with Abyss Flower), but she is THE FIRST HERRSCHER who get a brand new weapon. A Herrscher, wielding a weapon that was made from a Herrscher core, so interesting.

With that being said, let’s learn about the new divine key weapon, Seven Thunders of Retribution, as well as its skills, mechanic, and how good it is compared to her current weapon, Domain of Sanction, and whether captains should get it or not.

SKILL DESCRIPTION AND OVERVIEW

Stats (level 65):

ATK: 452 | CRT: 11

Description:

A Divine Key made from the core of the 3rd Herrscher, the Herrscher of Thunder. A certain expert implemented the jackpot system that allows it to change its structure based on the wielder and surroundings. Naru, or Rumble, is the name given to its blade form. While the number of the Divine Key is dictated by the number of the Herrscher and not the time of production, the 3rd Divine Key is in fact one of Helixcraft's earliest creations. "I can't bear looking back on my teenage inventions. Of all the 7 forms, only the slingshot and the lipstick still hold up today."

Active - Narukami Divinity

[SP: 0][CD: 15s] Channel the Honkai energy in the Divine Key to slash out an X-shaped beam and detonate it with lightning in a burst of dimensional beams, dealing 400.0% × 2 + 100.0% × 4 ATK of Lightning DMG in total. The first hit inflicts 10 Paralyze Trauma. Wielder is invincible while casting the weapon active and regains 10 SP. Herrscher of Thunder equip bonus: Can use the weapon active in burst mode to deal 400.0% + 100% × 4 ATK of Lightning DMG. She is invincible and has Ultimate Evasion Skill triggered while casting the weapon active. After casting the weapon active, she can immediately cast Finisher, which extends Ultimate CD by 11s. On hit, 2 kinds of weapon actives inflict a 15s Narukami's Mark.

(Active skill animation when 7T Narukami is equipped on Herrscher of Thunder)

(Active skill animation when 7T Narukami is equipped on Darkbolt Jonin)

Active skill overview:

- 7T Narukami active skill deals a total of 1200% ATK of lightning DMG. It deals X shaped slash with additional slashes afterward. 7T Narukami active skill is kind of AoE since unlike Domain of Sanction (DoS) that hits enemies in front of wielder, 7T Narukami can also hit enemies who are in wielder’s both sides and rear. The additional slashes can also help in reducing hit count shield.

- 7T Narukami inflicts 10 Paralyze Trauma just like DoS, but 7T Narukami has another advantage which is 10 SP recover. The sp recover is obviously a big advantage compared to DoS, since it helps the wielder to gather more sp to cast ultimate faster. Additionally, the active skill doesn't even have to hit enemies to recover SP for the wielder, unlike Abyss Flower's active skill which has to hit enemies to recover SP.

- When 7T Narukami is used by HoT, she is now able to cast active skill during burst mode. Kurikara would use the giant sword to slash at enemies and deals thunderbolt AoE attacks afterward. Ultimate evasion skill is also triggered after using active skill. After using active skill, HoT can immediately cast finisher but at the cost of her ultimate CD extended by 11s. This ultimate CD extension looks like a kind of big disadvantage, but actually if captains do a full rotation afterward, HoT ultimate would be ready the moment she switches in again.

- Active skill during both non-burst and burst mode applies Narukami's Mark to enemies.

(Active skill animation in HoT burst mode)

Passive 1 - Forfeiture

Wielder deals 45.0% bonus Total DMG to enemies of weaker types. Casting Ultimate refreshes weapon skill CD (CD: 10s). Herrscher of Thunder equip bonus: During the 2-sequence Ultimate, all skill timers and stage timers are paused. She gains 200 Herrscher Charge on every entry (CD: 10s). If she casts the weapon active in burst mode and Finisher before exit, the dragon will remain on the field as a summoned entity and bombard enemies in mid-air. She retains Herrscher form while the dragon is present. The dragon gains up to 600 of her current Herrscher Charge, and its bombardment consumes 200% Herrscher Charge and deals 70% DMG compared to her. The dragon disappears if it loses all energy, has been on the field for 10s, or she casts Ultimate again.

(Kurikara stays on field to bombard enemies)

Passive 1 overview:

- While DoS grants universal 20% Total DMG after using weapon skill, 7T Narukami grants 45% Total DMG BUT ONLY against enemy of weaker type. For example, if HoT uses 7T Narukami against MECH type, she gets 45% Total DMG buff. The buff won’t be activated if used against neutral enemies (PSY/QUA/IMG/typeless) and stronger type (BIO). It means HoT will lose a huge of total dmg buff if it’s not used against MECH type.

- In my opinion, the type countering mechanism is one of the controversial adjustment that Hoyoverse decided to put into 7T. It makes 7T Narukami looks weaker compared to DoS against neutral enemies, but we will see how it performs against neutral enemies later.

- When 7T Narukami is used by HoT, she restores 200 Herrscher charge immediately after her entry, with a cooldown of 10s. For comparison, DoS needs active skill to restores 200 Herrscher charge.

- After casting ultimate, wielder can use weapon skill again (CD 10s).

(Example of active skill CD reset after ultimate when equipped on Darkbolt Jonin)

- Here comes the biggest selling point of 7T Narukami for HoT. HoT CAN NOW STOP TIMER DURING BOTH ULTIMATE AND FINISHER. Say goodbye to “OMG imagine losing points because of ultimate animation” and “oh no I just entered burst mode and my support buff duration is already over.”

- After casting active skill in burst mode and immediately cast finisher, Kurikara will stay on field to assist HoT by bombarding enemies.

- While Kurikara is on field, HoT stays in Herrscher form. This means any buffs related to Herrscher form can be triggered, for example the buff from Benares: Awakening stigmata.

- Kurikara gains up to 600 of HoT's Herrscher charge, which means the more Herrscher charge she has before finisher, the longer Kurikara will stay on field. Kurikara consumes 200% of the charge and deals 70% of HoT DMG. While Kurikara's bombard damage is lower, that shouldn't be a problem because there is still HoT who can attack enemy together with Kurikara.

- Kurikara will leave field if her energy runs out, reaches 10s time limit, or HoT casts ultimate.

Passive 2 - Inverse

In non-burst mode, wielder's Lightning DMG increases by 35.0%. Herrscher of Thunder equip bonus: When the dragon loses all energy or reaches the time limit, it will dive on enemies dealing 100.0% ATK of Lightning DMG. When the dragon is present, every Shinzan Strike makes the dive deal additional 300.0% ATK of Lightning DMG (capped at 2*300.0%).

Passive 2 overview:

- 7T Narukami grants the wielder 35% Lightning DMG IN NON-BURST MODE. Compared to DoS, it grants unconditional 45% Lightning DMG and for HoT, she deals 20% lightning dmg against enemies with Narukami's Mark.

- Aside from the slightly lower buff compared to DoS, 7T Narukami only gives Lightning DMG buff in non-burst mode. This is kind of interesting. With the non-burst mode restriction, it means that HoT is forced not to stay in burst mode for a long time because if she continues attacking in burst mode, she will lose 35% Lightning DMG buff. Of course captains can still do bombardment but only if captains can make sure that the DMG is enough to kill enemy (or just do the bombard when enemies HP is low). Otherwise, captains should immediately cast HoT's finisher after using weapon skill, then attacking in non-burst mode together with Kurikara.

- Before Kurikara leaves the field, she will dive into enemies to deal 100% ATK of Lightning DMG. HoT's Shinzan Strike will enhance Kurikara's dive DMG by 300% with the max stacks of 2. It means with 2 Shinzan Strikes, Kurikara's dive DMG will be 700%. Think of it like Bright Knight: Excelsis doing retaliation during burst mode to enhance Abyss Flower's finisher (max 2 stacks).

- Unfortunately, 2 Shinzan Strikes are only possible if captains have SSS HoT because her SSS skill, Takamagahara, allows HoT to fill Herrscher charge faster after Shinzan Strike. Therefore, outside of Elysian Realm where one of HoT's Signets of Ego grants her 2 Herrscher charge bars, captains with HoT below SSS rank can only do 1 Shinzan Strike and Kurikara's dive DMG will be 400%.

(SSS skill that enables faster Herrscher charge restoration after Shinzan Strike)

DIVINE KEY TUNING

(DIvine Concierge now includes Key of Judgment)

Just like any other divine key, captains need to tune Seven Thunders of Retribution in order to add it into divine key slot. In version 5.8, there will be a new slot in Divine Concierge, Key of Judgment, consisting of only Seven Thunders of Retribution. Tune it and enjoy the permanent +10 ATK for all of your valkyries. Captains can tune it regardless of the weapon level but remember that if captains want to craft its PRI-ARM form, the weapon has to be tuned first.

(Seven Thunders of Retribution is the only weapon in Key of Judgment. Energy Boost gives +10 ATK)

Since Seven Thunders of Retribution is a divine key, there is actually passive 3 that is related to co-op raid exclusive buff. However, the description isn't included in the beta test. Wait for the live server to be fixed.

SKILL COMPARISON WITH DOMAIN OF SANCTION (DoS)

(side by side comparison between 7T Narukami and DoS)

DPS TEST

In this section, I will show results from my DPS test on 7T Narukami and compared it with DoS.

PREPARATION

(Lineup for testing)

Lineup: Golden Diva - Prinzessin der Verurteilung - Herrscher of Thunder (GD PV HoT). GD Lead. Both GD and PV are SSS-rank, HoT is S2-rank.

Equipments:

- GD: Echo of Paradise + Handel TMB

- PV: Mitternacht Waltz + Wang Zhenyi TMB

- HoT: Seven Thunders of Retribution: Narukami / Domain of Sanction (TEST SUBJECT) + Benares: Awakening TMB

Others:

- Myriad emblem (+6 ATK, 2.5% physical and elemental)

- Divine key gene limit on

- Divine key ATK stats +114

- All stigmatas have 23 23 ATK affix

- No ELF

Rotation:

7T Narukami

1st rotation: PV ult > wp skill > qte > GD qte + wp skill > ulti > combo > HoT qte > wp skill > combo (shinzan) > ult > wp skill > finisher > basic + combo until full bar > combo (shinzan)

2nd rotation: switch to PV > PV ult > wp skill > qte > GD qte + wp skill > ulti > combo > HoT qte > basic seq 4 until full bar > wp skill > combo (shinzan) > ult > wp skill > finisher > basic + combo until full bar > combo (shinzan)

DoS

1st rotation: PV ult > wp skill > qte > GD qte + wp skill > ulti > combo > HoT qte > wp skill > combo (shinzan) > ult > evade + bombard until empty bar > basic until full bar > finisher > wp skill > combo (shinzan)

2nd rotation: PV qte > ult > wp skill > qte > GD qte + wp skill > ulti > combo > HoT qte > basic seq 4 until full bar > wp skill > combo (shinzan) > ult > evade + bombard until empty bar > basic until full bar > finisher > wp skill > combo (shinzan)

The test is done by running 1 rotation and 2 rotations against PSY and MECH enemies. For 1 rotation test, only use the 1st rotation of each weapons.

RESULTS

(Test result against PSY type enemies)

Against PSY type enemies, 7T Narukami and DoS have a very slight difference in terms of DPS. In 1 rotation test, 7T Narukami is slightly below DoS (23104 DMG gap). DoS wins in 1 rotation test against PSY type. However, in 2 rotations test 7T Narukami wins over DoS, again, with a very small gap (49064 DMG gap). We can see that despite of HoT losing a big portion of buff because of 7T Narukami's type countering restriction, she still can deal damage with a small difference compared to DoS.

(Test result against MECH type enemies)

7T Narukami shines brightly on DPS test against MECH type enemies. Thanks to the huge Total DMG buff against weaker type, 7T Narukami wins in both rotations against DoS with a huge gap. In 1 rotation test, the gap is 835000. While in 2 rotations test, the gap is 2009832.

Overall, 7T Narukami 3 - 1 DoS. 7T Narukami can still perform well against enemies with no type advantage despite of losing Total DMG buff from passive 1. Please be reminded that since this is only a DPS test, the result (score) in real battle either in abyss or memorial arena may differ. Especially with the time stop mechanism during ultimate and finisher which is important in the current meta.

USER AND LINEUP RECOMMENDATION

(7T Narukami's best user)

Herrscher of Thunder is without any doubt, the best valkyrie to wield 7T Narukami. 7T Narukami is made specially for HoT, because of so many benefits she can get (time stop, Kurikara assist, etc). The type countering mechanism will make HoT become a MECH specialist, best against lightning abyss bosses Bright Knight: Excelsis (she also gets SSS version in Memorial Arena) and new boss in 5.8, RPC-6626 (it's the big drone that appears in Snowwolf co-op raid). Expect her to also be excellent against other MECH enemies that don't have lightning resist or immunity. Beside the MECH enemies, she will still do good against same type bosses like Husk Nihilus and Li Sushang but expect her score to be lower than the newer Aponia.

("How about me, captain?")

Don't worry, Darkbolt Jonin can actually wield 7T Narukami. Not only one, but two Narukamis! Well, she is dual wielding blade valkyrie after all. DJ can get benefit from 10 SP recover after using active skill, and she can use active skill again after ultimate. DJ can enjoy Total DMG buff against PSY type and also can fully use Lightning DMG buff because DJ doesn't have burst mode at all. With 7T Narukami, DJ can be an alternative against Nihilus and Sushang but don't expect a really high score.

(Recommended supports)

Eden (Golden Diva) and Fischl (Prinzessin der Verurteilung) is the recommended support for the current lightning team. Eden is a paralyze specialist and she provides team Total DMG, SP recovery, as well as Lightning DMG taken and Total DMG taken debuffs for enemy. Meanwhile Fischl has high hit count, can self trigger QTE (hit enemies with weapon skill then tap basic) that also grants Lightning Vulnerability debuff, and boosts team Lightning DMG by ultimate. Additionally, if she's equipped with Cerulean Flare, can also provides SP bag for team. And don't forget about their signature stigmatas, Handel and Zhenyi which are great lightning support stigmatas.

(Other supports)

Azure Empyrea and Fallen Rosemary are still here as the other options of support. Both AE and FR have gather which is useful for mobbing, but AE has more powerful gather compared to FR. AE can apply Elemental Breach debuff to enemies and provide SP regen for on field valkyrie. FR has runes that provides buff for herself, applies Lightning DMG taken debuff to enemy and gives team Lightning DMG buff as well as SP regen. She can also buff team Elemental DMG via charged ATK. FR has a nuke ultimate in which she also doubles as sub DPS. Also, Iris of Helheim, PRI-ARM form of FR signature weapon allows her to stop timer during ultimate as well as her ultimate can hit enemies faster. AE or FR can also be teamed up with either Eden or Fischl to support the team.

HOW TO GET

In version 5.8, captains can get Seven Thunders of Retribution by pulling in the Schicksal Arsenal supply. Captains are guaranteed to get Seven Thunders of Retribution within 50 pulls. 1 pull costs 280 crystals, so captains should prepare at least 14000 crystals to get Seven Thunders of Retribution. As in CN, Seven Thunders of Retribution comes with Prinzessin der Verurteilung’s signature equipments, Mitternacht Waltz and Wang Zhenyi. Expect it to be more or less the same in GLB/SEA. Wishing well is also available in that supply.

(Schicksal Arsenal 7T + Mitternacht + Zhenyi banner in CN server)

CONCLUSION

Seven Thunders of Retribution is a quality of life update for Herrscher of Thunder. This weapon should make HoT becomes relevant again, at least she can reclaim her intended boss which was stolen by Mobius and additionally she gets a new boss which is RPC. Although 7T has type countering and non burst restrictions, as well as ultimate cooldown extension after using active skill in burst mode, this weapon is still good and balanced for competitive. After all, there are still HoT time stop during both ultimate and finisher as well as permanent +10 ATK stats, which become the main values of this weapon for HoT. And don't forget that we still have 10 SP recover, refresh active skill after ultimate, HoT active skill during burst which is cool, faster access to finisher, and of course, Kurikara's bombardment and dive. 7T is indeed a decent upgrade against neutral enemies, BUT IT BECOMES A HUGE UPGRADE against countered enemies.

So, the question is "Should I pull it or not?"

Seven Thunders of Retribution is a must have for captains who have HoT (and happened to only have HoT as well build lightning DPS, perhaps?) and want to play HoT competitively in higher tier of Abyss or captains want to use HoT in aim higher score in Memorial Arena. However if captains think that Domain of Sanction is enough for now (or if captains have a well build Mobius or Aponia or both) and decides to skip 7T for later on, then it’s fine. Just be reminded that if captains are going to use HoT, the time stop mechanic on 7T will be very useful to save captains score in Abyss or Memorial Arena from reducing due to ultimate animation and HoT can also keep up with buff duration from Zhenyi, AE elemental breach etc. Captains who don't have HoT can skip 7T and proritize on getting other stuffs (for example, Griseo's gears which is also expected to come in version 5.8) and get it later for the permanent +10 ATK.

Ok captains, that's all for my review about Seven Thunders of Retribution. Hopefully after reading this article, captains will have a better understanding about Seven Thunders of Retribution and captains can decide whether captains should pull it or not. Good luck for everyone who want to get Seven Thunders of Retribution! Excelsior07 is out and have a nice day, captains!