This guide aims to teach the basics of handling the Valkyrie. The ability to tackle higher difficulties depend on your personal loadouts and acquired advantages at present.
Core Playstyle
Ultimate -> Gotamashi Edges. Easily demolishes enemy lines in one burst. A strong gather, or positioning is important. As her power hinges on her burst, she has one starting opportunity to decimate her enemies quickly. Failing that, she would have to tediously recover her SP before another burst, and so on. Unless she secures a source of SP early, this tedium cannot be avoided.
Usage Difficulty
Handling: Very Easy
- She plays exactly the same way as the default, by repeating the evade follow-up attack. If anything, her offense ability is superbly upgraded.
Power Ramping
- Requires the second signet (Current) to maximise efficient discharge of her gauge reserves, which also multiplicatively boosts her damage output.
Power Drought Situation(s)
- Mei's mode of attack is not dependent on the Ultimate, but can be boosted. Getting continuous SP is difficult as she cannot regain any on her own during Burst Mode.
- The other one you manufacture yourself, is getting the Ultimate-boosting signet and not having enough SP to support its consumption rate.
Equipment
Note: For those not concerned with SP support, the Talwar can be swapped out for 3rd Sacred Relic, a power-focused blade with no weapon active.
Special Adjustments
Exclusive Signets
[Current -> Karma -> Idea] -> Zanshin / Thunder
Her best damage bursts come from Current first and then Karma combined, unleashing a maximum devastating chain of 12 Edges with great frequency. After which, defensive players can pick Zanshin while offensive players can pick Thunder. Due to the unique modifer which lets now Blade Flurry recover EM Reserve, Gotamashi Edges can be fired with greater frequency.
- Picking Current first enables a smoother and natural attack cycle, by recharging EM Reserve and discharging them all. Taking Karma first turns Mei into a bunny hopper trying to discharge Gotamashi Edges 2-4 times.
- Pay attention to the number of enemies on the field. The initial slashes charge EM Reserve based on number of enemies hit. ER typically has 3 enemies at once, so you can discharge a great number of Edges without going through the full combo. Take advantage of this fact to maximise your damage output. This advantage drops once you have a single enemy left.
- This is also why the "Idea" signet exists. Early re-entry into Burst gives you back 4 charges + Total Dmg boost, making it a powerful signet to have late game when SP support has stabilised.
Idea requires serious SP support or else it can't be used. Theoretically - Mei must have at least 152/160 SP to be able to reuse the Ultimate just once. The more passive SP regen you have, the lower the required SP value becomes (Remember, you can't gain SP through attacks during a burst). The Ultimate immediately uses 20SP and drains 8SP/s, totalling 100SP in 10 seconds burst.
- EM Reserve gain still counts even with a full stack, so you can continue fighting normally and gain Zanshin & Thunder activations. A good reason to have a gather support is because she recovers EM Reserve faster with more enemies hit, and it benefits her to unleash all the Edges in enemy clusters for maximum efficiency. In the early game, the first Ultimate is important as she has to start from 0 SP for the next burst.
- Her first attack regains EM Reverse based on number of enemies hit, typically being 3 per wave now. If you have a gather with you, take advantage of this to quickly unleash more barrages of Gotamashi Edge, than trying to max out the reserve or end the combo.
Using Thorn Crown
1) Current + Karma
- A compulsory setup for Striker Fulminata. This grants her maximized power output with Gotamashi Edges, but locks you out of the continuous power boost from Idea. Doing this, the high SP-regen criteria is removed as you no longer need to keep up, and just need enough SP regen for another Ultimate burst every 10 seconds.
Signets
Priorities
Key Signets - Deliverance
Sub Signets - Gold, Bodhi, Discipline, Setsuna
Mei's straightforward attack pattern makes it easy to determine what signets you need.
Core Contributions
Deliverance (II) - (Bonus: Burst)
- Grants permanence to the buffs once acquired. Potent source of SP for her Ultimate. Considerably the most stable source of power for Mei.
Setsuna (II)
- Opportunistic Core to take advantage of her Evasion movements.
Gold (I) - (Bonus: Paralyse)
- Best applied with high SP regen, having Thunder Symphony also greatly helps with the focused damage from Lightning of Aria.
Bodhi (II) - (Bonus: Fast Atk)
- Best applied when both Current and Karma signets are acquired, as her hit count greatly rises with the large bursts of Gotamashi Edges.
Discipline (II)
- Useful for SP support and Ultimate Dmg boost. Further utility depends on your choices.
Any Questions? Go ahead and write in the comments below too. Thanks for reading!
