Originally uploaded to Bilibili.tv
How come this Meropide banner season didn't come packaged with a Fontaine event? You have the former Archon, the warden and the prison nurse all here. Last time you had the spy and chief officer of the police force. You'd think it'd only make sense. That said I think we'll get that in v5.5. After the Natlan Archon Quest something big happened that affects their whole world. We already saw what happened in Liyue in v5.3 and recently what happened in Inazuma. So we still need Fontaine, Mondstadt and Sumeru and I think Sumeru will be last. So v5.5 should be either of the two European nations.
Anyway Charlotte, Chongyun and Mika aren't exactly popular characters. Considering we have characters like Ganyu, Ayaka and now Citlali these guys just don't quite do as much. There's also Layla, Rosaria and Diona. Charlotte's thing is more for how you can walk around in first person camera mode as her. Well at least because she's a Catalyst Character her Cryo application is consistent compared to say Mika. Mika is something like the Faruzan, Sara or Gorou for Cryo characters. It's great if you want to boost your more powerful character's damage but otherwise there's no reason to have them on the team. Finally I'd say the best of these guys is Chongyun. He's not exactly that useful but his attacks hit hard and he used to be a popular character back in the early days of the game.
As for the 5 stars, Wriothesley's been a long time coming and it may have been too long. He's a short-range Cryo Catalyst Character who has that health drain mechanic like most Fontaine characters. Mostly it comes down to a combo of using his skill followed by a bunch of normal attacks and then a Charged Attack to recover the lost HP. However his enhanced attacks require him to be over half his health while the healing Charged Attack only takes effect if he's below 60% health and it is not going to be easy to keep him at this very tiny sliver of health range. Furina on the other hand is such a different story. As the Hydro Archon she is the best in slot for her element. She is the game's best healer and simultaneously you can switch over to her default stance which is incredible Hydro damage that doesn't even require her to be on the field meaning you can switch her out right away. A combo of Furina and Yae Miko has been one of my favorite options ever since her release. The base Electro-Charged damage is high enough thanks to both of these Archons while the then brand new Golden Troupe Artifact Set further boosts their abilities. On top of that these two just happen to be two parts of the three you need for the game's most damaging reaction, Hyperbloom so all you need now is a Dendro character. I prefer Alhaitham but you can plug in any one you want because these two will provide you more than enough Hydro and Electro to get your Hyperblooms going.
The previous banner with Mizuki and Sigewinne wasn't all that spectacular. Mizuki might be new but she'll be free eventually and Sigewinne isn't that great. This time though Furina is definitely the major selling point. If you don't have her I would recommend going for her.
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