This is the guide for S-rank Fire Kiana [HERRSCHER OF FLAMESCION].
The overview, lineup and conclusion section has been updated for version 6.0
This article also has a Youtube video version (outdated compared to this article)
✦ TABLE OF CONTENT
- Overview
- Rank-up Skills
- Skill Overview
- How to Play
- Equipment
- Team
- Gameplay Examples
- Conclusion
✦ OVERVIEW
✦ SKILL OVERVIEW
Herrscher of Flamescion has a lot of unique mechanics so I’ll take my time showing them all. If you already played her tutorial stages and understand her skills, you may skip to the next section.
✦ GROUND AND AERIAL ATTACK✦
Herrscher of Flamescion has a unique aerial attack mechanic. To go airborne, just tap Ult ****on (which also knocks weak enemies airborne)
Which one is better? Ground or aerial attack?
- Aerial attacks are faster! Aerial Herrscher Combo also summons a space core to gather enemies.
- Her playstyle also kinda forces you to go airborne. When you enter via QTE, you are airborne. When you use Herrscher Ground Combo ATK, you go airborne~
Basically, stay in the air, Kiana~
✦HERRSCHER FORM✦
Use Combo ATK to consume 15% HP, trigger 2.5s Time Fracture and enter Herrscher Form for 11.5s.
During Herrscher form
✦ Gain 20%(S0) / 25%(S1) Total DMG and 15%(S0) / 18%(S1) Elemental Breach
✦ Basic and Combo ATK are greatly enhanced.
✦ Combo ATK deal 50% bonus DMG to shield, useful against enemies like Kasumi.
✦ Consume 1-6% HP per second
Most of Flamescion damage output comes from Basic, Combo and Ultimate during Herrscher Form.
LOW HP 
Herrscher Form costs a lot of HP. Activation consumes 15% HP and then it consumes 1-6% HP/s. You won't die from this effect since the cost is a percentage of your CURRENT HP, but your HP will be very low.
✦BARRIER✦
Flamescion has a barrier with 60% of her max HP.
✦ This barrier prevents incoming damage from hitting your HP, including indirect damage such as Abyss bleed.
✦ Staying at low HP is good! When your HP is below 60%, you deal 35% more Fire DMG! You also activate Himeko stigma effect!
✦ Barrier also gives 10% Total DMG
✦ All heal will go to the barrier instead of your normal HP (except heal from Ultimate). Basically, THIS BARRIER IS YOUR NEW HP! Your regular HP bar is just an expendable meter for Herrscher Form and Combo ATK
Gif shows bleed damage affecting shield instead of HP
“What should I do if the barrier breaks?”
It will appear again after a few seconds. Or… just restart the stage.
✦HEAT METER✦
Every time Kiana uses Combo ATK, Kiana gains Heat, which gradually reduces over time. She can only use Combo ATK again once all heat is gone. Basically, Heat acts like a cooldown for Combo ATK.
OVERHEAT
When Herrscher form ends, HoF enters an Overheat state where Heat depletes at a much slower rate. Now is a good time to switch out.
✦ULTIMATE✦
Ultimate deals a powerful slash dealing 2150% Fire DMG and heals Flamescion if her HP is low.
- This attack pauses buff, debuff and stage timer! A big deal in the late game.
- Using Ultimate during Herrscher mode will end it and you will enter Overheat. So you should use Ultimate as your finishing blow.
✦QTE✦
Flamescion QTE deal 1050% Fire DMG and restore 4 SP.
✦ The con**tion is Ignited or Airborne enemy.
✦ Flamescion has a special third QTE con**tion. When an enemy is hit by charge, combo or weapon skill by two teammates, trigger Flamescion QTE and boost team Fire DMG +10% for 15s.
✦ EVASION ✦
Evasion skill tri***** 4s global Time Fracture. Flamescion can trigger evasion skill on demand, similar to Knight Moonbeam.
In Herrscher Form, evasion skill applies 5 Ember Brand stack. What's Ember Brand? Let's find out~
✦EMBER BRAND✦
Ember Brand is a debuff that can be applied on enemies by Flamescion Basic ATK, Combo ATK, evasion skill and teammate Combo/Charge ATK.
What does Ember Brand do? 
✦ Enemies receive 2.5% more damage from Flamescion. THIS IS A PERMANENT, INDEPENDENT MULTIPLIER. Every time Ember detonates, the debuff increases by another 2.5%, maxes out at 20% more damage received.
✦ Ember inflicted during Herrscher Form deals 5% ATK Fire DMG over time. Damage increases with each stack, up to 10 stacks.
✦ Some Flamescion actions will detonate Ember to deal 120% Fire DMG. There are five ways to detonate Ember, as shown below.
Don't mind too much about Ember Brand. It applies naturally when you play Flamescion.
✦LEAD SKILL✦
Lastly, Flamescion leader skill gives the whole team up to 50 starting SP and 34% bonus Elemental DMG.
✦ In MA, it allows Blood Dance and Nebulous/Chaos Duality to be cast at the start of the battle.
(Also allows HoF to be support.... but don't do that!)
✦ The starting SP does not apply in Abyss, as usual.
✦ HOW TO PLAY HERRSCHER OF FLAMESCION
You now know what Flamescion skills do, but how do they all work together?
Let me show you a standard rotation example:
Start with applying support buffs. AE ultimate > Rondo cross drop > Flamescion QTE > Combo > Weapon Skill > Evasion > Basic ATK until Heat depletes > Combo > Basic ATK until Heat depletes > Combo > Ultimate
This rotation is a little long. In real battles, HoF can kill bosses with a shorter sequence.
Adjust it accordingly~
If your supports are using short buff stigma like Jin Shengtan and NewtonB, you want to resort to a fast rotation, for example:
AE combo > Blood Dance > Flamescion QTE > Combo > Weapon Skill > Basic ATK until Heat depletes > Combo > 1 full Basic, then rotate again
✦ EQUIPMENT
✦ TEAM
Herrscher of Flamescion, Azure Empyrea, Raven
The standard team. Azure Empyrea provides Elemental Breach, while Raven provides fire buff and debuff.
Herrscher of Flamescion, Azure Empyrea, Pardofelis Reverist Calico
This team provides faster sp recovery, and can be better than Raven support in certain situations.
✦ HOF GAMEPLAY EXAMPLE
This gear comparison video shows HoF vs Hephaestus boss with various gear combinations
VS Abyss Kasumi, Heimdal and MHT-3B Nirvana 375D
✦ RECOMMENDED ELF
Sirin is the winner in the ELF dps wars. Sirin also has ignite (trigger Flamescion QTE), shield break and heal.
If you're competitive, you still need Book of Fuxi for some QTE strats.
Beginner question: Do I need Sirin ELF?
Answer: No. ELF is expensive and should be the last thing you pull. Get your Flamescion her gears, pull the S-rank supports, get their gears too. And then you pull Sirin. Or just stick with Blood Embrace, or Jingwei if you need heal.
✦ CONCLUSION
Although Herrscher of Flamescion is technically still a great Fire DPS as a valk, she has lost her spot in meta due to various reasons:
- HoF bosses rarely appear, and she only has a few top scores left: FIRE HEIMDAL and FIRE MHT3B in Abyss
- Fire team is not in a very good state compared to other elements due to lacking new support. Other elements have received new, more powerful supports over the year: Lightning has Eden, Ice has Felis and Sushang, Physical has Carole and Griseo, while Fire only got Raven, who takes a while to recover sp for Ultimate.
- Plus, currently, it’s ice season for the new ice Herrscher - HERRSCHER OF HUMAN
FOR THESE REASONS, CURRENTLY, IT IS NOT RECOMMENDED TO PULL HERRSCHER OF FLAMESCION AND HER GEARS.
