If there’s anything to know about me, it’s that I’m a proud Nihility main in Honkai: Star Rail, with my particular favorite being the DoT playstyle. After all this time? Always. Needless to say, Kafka’s Novaflare enhancement left me completely stoked for possibilities for my favorite archetype going forward.
The increased amount and power of DoT detonations, the extra 100% Attack for 75% EHR, an almost Harmony-level buff in and of itself, Eidolon buffs… And then my thinking turned to a very specific direction. With Kafka fulfilling the role of a pseudo-Harmony (after all, you can’t spell “harmony” without “HARM”), what if– surely it won’t? Is triple DoT an actual possibility?
Of course, first it would require HoYoverse to release another limited DoT unit, the DoT society’s one yearly claim to fame and attempt to crawl out of T2. But I have all the faith in Hysilens – Golden Blood boon, new DoT planars, her being Nihility… She will save the DoT society!
So, with Kafka’s buff available on the media server and no one around to stop me, I’ve decided to try out what it feels like to play triple DoT in the current economy. The results were… mixed. Let’s take a quick dive into Nihility together!
First things first, in case you don’t follow the game too closely, here’s a very quick overview of Kafka’s buffs:
- Skill can cause DoT detonation on all three attacked targets;
- Follow-up attack trigger count increased to 2, and the FUAs can cause DoTs to detonate on the target as well;
- All ally attacks trigger FUAs, not just Basics;
- When an allied target’s (included Kafka herself) EHR is 75% or above, their Attack is increased by 100%;
- E1 adjustment – instead of being triggered by FUA, the 30% DoT vulnerability is triggered by any attack by Kafka, increasing its consistency across the board;
- E2 buff – While Kafka is in the field, DoT damage dealt by all allies increases by 33% (was 25%).
Now you can play Kafka as a sub-DPS (the usual, 4 piece Prisoner + Glamoth / Revelry, Patience is All You Need / Good Night and Sleep Well) or build her as a complete support. While I personally abhor the Eagle of Twilight Line set and wish to never set my eyes on that cursed Cavern again, I cannot deny the effectiveness of 4 piece Eagle + Lushaka + Before the Tutorial Mission Starts LC.
Regardless, you should absolutely reach 75% EHR to take advantage of her own trace, and try to make her as fast as possible. With Glamoth, you’re looking at 160+ speed to use it to maximum. With Revelry, it requires 3,600 Attack for full potential while also trying to maximize Speed. Finally, the Eagle-Lushaka build simply allows you to prioritize Speed and Energy Regeneration Rate.
With Tutorial, Lushaka and Eagle, Kafka can get her Ult up disgustingly fast (provided you have Black Swan or some other way to reduce DEF and activate the extra energy from the LC). Yes, the damage will suffer, but the consistency will make up for it. Note that if you are a lucky E4 owner, you don’t have to sacrifice the damage potential of the signature for the energy of Tutorial: the Eidolon’s effect makes it so extra Erosion DoT from LC makes up for it.
So, what does triple DoT offer? More consistent Arcana applications for Black Swan, going up to 50 stacks multiple times a battle, bigger detonations for Kafka, some satisfying 20k DoT ticks on enemy turn.
What are the drawbacks? There are really only two. One, there are currently only two limited DoT units, Kafka and Black Swan. Sure, you can slot in Guinaifen or Sampo, which is exactly what I’d done for my little test, but the experience is still quite subpar.
Two, and this is the big one: it will be a messy, bloody war for SP. That is, this is specifically the three DoT setup drawbacks, there are plenty more to the archetype altogether – you can check out my complaining, I mean, article over here for the rest.
Here’s the quick overview of why and how it becomes messy:
You want to skill on Kafka’s every turn since not skilling = losing damage from detonations, and also losing energy -> slowing down Ults and FUA recharge = losing even more damage. And with her ideally being 160+ speed, she will be skilling and consuming a lot of SP.
Black Swan should skill at least periodically to keep up DEF reduction and any Light Cone effects she might have (especially if you use Jiaoqiu’s signature LC on her). While running slow Black Swan allows for better damage by focusing on her Attack over Speed stats, for the triple DoT I had more success with keeping my sanity with at least 135+ speed Swan, potentially more.
Now, your third slot. Sustain-wise, the answer is pretty obvious: Huohuo. At base, it is healing and survivability, extra energy, attack and increased crowd-control. At E1, it also adds Speed and extra SP generation by giving her Skill an increased duration. The ol’ reliable Gallagher with QPQ also works wonders: less survivability, more SP, and energy if you go with Quid Pro Quo.
Finally, you could potentially use Hyacine or Aventurine, but the DoT comp cannot make use of their buffs, instead reducing them to simple healing-shielding-SP-generating dummies.
If you decide to go sustain-less and bring a buffer or debuffer instead, it becomes even more interesting. Jiaoqiu (especially E2), Tribbie, Ruan Mei, Robin, Cipher and Silver Wolf all work, even if you have to activate galaxy brain to juggle buffs, debuffs, SP, and stay alive while doing so.
Throw in your typical battle hazard like Svarog pushing back your Huohuo right when you needed SP from her Basic, or better yet grabbing Kafka with the hand, Black Swan getting frozen by Cocolia before managing to use her Ult and losing all the Arcana stacks in the process, and so on, and you’d never get bored. Or sane.
Here’s a big question sign, however: your third DoT, potentially Hysilens. In the worst case scenario, we’ll have another Kafka, that is needing to Skill every turn or, mercifully, every other turn.
But what if HoYoverse continues the Amphoreus trend of making an SP-neutral or even positive damage dealer? It certainly won’t be the first: Aglaea, Mydei and Castorice are all SP-friendly, and so are Blade and Jingliu after their buff. What then? Surely the triple dot will become the go-to, I yell as I’m being dragged into the white room.
DoT more than any other archetype benefits from having multiple damage dealers in the comp due to the way the mechanics interact with each other. The closest comparison would be Feixiao – March / Moze / Topaz – Sustain/Support, with three characters of one path bonding together, or the usual Acheron – Nihility – Nihility party. In comparison, Kafka has now taken over Topaz’s job for the DoT as the amplifier.
Just by the virtue of DoT-application, any potential new character would boost both Kafka’s and Black Swan damage through detonations/Arcana stacking, while also bringing their own hopefully not-negligible damage.
However, some things would make it easier to integrate:
Something I’ve harped about enough up above: SP-neutrality or positivity. Being able to skill every other turn (or even less) or not consuming SP outright Castorice-style would go a long way to make a new unit easier to add to the existing DoT Core.
Bonus from Effect Hit Rate – let’s face it, EHR is simply the arbitrary tax you have to pay for being a cool Nihility unit. After all, you don’t have to build, say, Effect RES when you’re buffing your party with Harmony to avoid the skill not applying, do you? One way or another, a debuffer and/or a DoT unit has to build enough EHR, and with Kafka’s new trace it basically requires you to reach 75%. Might as well have something good come out of it, like Black Swan and Silver Wolf additionally receiving a certain percent of Attack or damage from their respective EHR.
Some kind of interaction with other DoT – either characters, or the effects themselves. Think back to Feixiao, the pinnacle of Follow-Up Attack gameplay, and Acheron, the queen of debuffs and the not-DoT part of Nihility. Both incentivize playing into their Path’s and archetype’s gimmicks. Frequent attacks and endless FUAs with Feixiao, stacking debuffs both to charge up Acheron and increase its damage in one swoop for the Emanator of IX.
A similar thing can be said about The Herta, not only requiring another Erudition, but also naturally receiving a bonus from their AoE attacks. I am not a character kit designer, so I am sure HoYoverse can come up with something more interesting than a similar “gets a stack when allies’ DoTs deal damage, use Ult to consume the stacks and Do The Thing”, but that’s already a good start regardless.
Additionally, the DoT archetype needs a Toughness nuke of some sort. With the DoT effects themselves not affecting Toughness bar, it can take forever to break a fat boss like Svarog, let alone the sheer annoyance that is Hoolay. In the triple DoT comp, Ruan Mei will likely be leaving the party which will only exacerbate the problem with breaking.
More DoT units – not just damage dealers, but supports and sustains. It has been over two years, but the DoT archetype is still poaching characters from other playstyles due to the lack of dedicated heroes.
Ruan Mei, Huohuo, Robin, Jiaoqiu (with especially dedicated mad lads and lasses pulling for E2), and many others have been roped into the company of Kafka and Black Swan with no real alternatives. Not a single one interacts with DoTs specifically, and only their general use allows for it to work in the end.
What kind of effects can be centered but not limited to DoT? Disclaimer about not being a character designer still stands, but the likes of “While the Ability is active, being attacked by Ultimate, Follow-Up Attack or DoT restores X amount of Energy and/or Health” lines – both based on the Nihility blessings in DU but limited by a number of turns. Alternatively, pushing enemies’ actions forward to feel the pain of the DoT while simultaneously providing some thick defense/HP buffs, Phainon-style?
Do I actually expect an upcoming DoT unit to feature even a part of it? Not even close. Am I going to continue playing Dotcheron and triple DoT when available? Absolutely, but without the Eagle set. Peace was never an option. In the grim darkness of Star Rail’s gacha, there is only Nihility.
