A fundamental skill to learn when beginning to play includes mastering how to properly form teams in Honkai Impact 3rd.
There is no one size fits all approach to effectively take on all the content present in the experience. This is why so many different characters exist. To perform well in specific scenarios, you must have various strategies and Valkyrie setups to clear the harder content.
The Holy Trinity
In massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs), the typical setup for dungeon and raid encounters is to have a group composed of at least 1 tank, 1 healer, and 1 or more damage dealers (DPS). It does NOT work this way in Honkai Impact 3rd.
Rather, the general approach for Honkai Impact 3rd demands a trinity party composed of 1 main damage dealer and 2 supports. As you can only have a single Valkyrie on the field at any given time, it’s a complete waste to place 3 damage dealers on a single team. Instead, it’s far more efficient to have 1 Valkyrie appointed as DPS with the other 2 able to actively improve the abilities of the damage dealer to slay enemies faster.
The main ways in which supports aid the damage dealer include:
- Buffs for the DPS
- Debuffs on the enemy
- Increasing the efficiency and ease by which the DPS can slay enemies
Buffs for the DPS
Several Valkyries are armed with skills designed to directly improve (buff) the team’s overall damage output. Examples include Phoenix, Drive Kometa (with augmented Yamabuki Armor), and Celestial Hymn.
Debuffs on the Enemy
Several Valkyries are armed with skills designed to reduce the performance of the enemy and make them take additional damage. Examples include Phoenix, Divine Prayer, and Lightning Empress.
Other Support Functions
Valkyries not only buff the team’s damage, but they also offer many other critical support functions, such as:
- Gathering up enemies
- Providing extra SP across the team
- Apply status ailments
- Time fracture
- Trigger conditions for QTE
- Leader skills (e.g., Shadow Knight, Herrscher of the Void)
- Ultimate skills against quantum-types
Team Setups
Ideally, your Honkai Impact 3rd teams and setups should be aligned with different types of content. This guide will cover the 3 main content types available, including:
- Abyss (Dirac Sea & Q-Singularis)
- Story/Chronicles
- Memorial Arena
Abyss (Dirac Sea & Q-Singularis)
When faced up against multiple mobs of enemies in the Abyss, you need to have a Valkyrie capable of gathering. Without this, the enemies will likely scatter all over the map and require single-target damage to score kills. By mopping up the mobs, AoE damage can be performed to all of them at the same time.
Several Valkyries are armed with skills designed to gather enemies. Examples include Drive Kometa, Celestial Hymn, and Valkyrie Chariot.
While you mop up, it also helps to bring support characters that are able to inflict AoE debuffs and buff the main damage dealer. Examples of Valkyries include Phoenix and Snowy Sniper.
In the Abyss, you will constantly be switching to supports to debuff and gather enemies, then burst them down with your main damage dealer to efficiently clear them.
Boss fights, however, may require you to change up your team. For instance, you no longer need gathering abilities when facing a single big enemy. Instead, your supports should be optimized around providing strong buffs across the team and debuffing the enemy.
Memorial Arena
The boss fights that take place in the Memorial Arena are comparable to the Abyss, but the key difference is that the global time fracture makes everything move at 30% normal speed.
As such, the player’s score is determined by how much time remains on the clock after killing the boss. For this challenge, your team needs to be optimized around the mechanic of time fracture.
Story/Chronicles
The formation of chronicle and story missions is the simplest of all to create. Base your team setup around one that will allow you to easily clear all three objectives for crystals.
