Happy new year and welcome to the first meta report of 2025! Snowbreak had a pretty good end to 2024 with the well-received release of Bubu - The Geomancer, so things are looking up as Seasun prepares to go into the major double-operative release v2.5 update. The track record of double releases has been pretty good, with the majority of these operatives finding strong success in the meta. So before we go into what could very well be another round of powercreep, let’s take stock of where the Snowbreak meta stands as the game enters a new year.

DPS Check

2024 was a pretty eventful year for DPS operatives, with almost a complete changing of the guard at the top. Old powerhouses like Yao - Winter Solstice, Chenxing - Ethereal Cloud, and Katya - Blue Bolt saw themselves overthrown by a new generation of damage dealers that were on a whole other level:

Lyfe - Infinite Sight

The darling of Snowbreak’s first anniversary event, Lyfe has held onto her top spot remarkably well. Being able to play as a ballistic-heavy DPS has given her the benefit of not having to compete for supports as much with the rest of the meta picks, who are overwhelmingly skill damage-based. At the same time, she can also take advantage of skill damage supports, allowing for unmatched team building flexibility. This lets her have an extremely high meta presence, often having nearly free reign over one of the Sim bosses in any given rotation.

Katya - Dawnwing

Showing up during last year’s summer event, Katya made a big splash as she very quickly started pushing out other skill DPS operatives. She does require a bit of investment to use, but is still well worth the price tag as the current last word in for skill damage output.

Siris - Ksana

One of the first of the “second generation” of DPS operatives, Siris was once a staple pick for her ability to produce sky-high burst damage numbers. However, that damage comes at the cost of a bit of setup as Siris charges her ult both figuratively and literally. While this wasn’t an issue in the past, it’s now something that can’t be overlooked as newer, faster DPS options have become available. Siris being dependent on her ult stacks to deal damage means that she can’t “cheat out” faster damage rotations by abusing Tess - The Magician the same way that other skill damage operatives like Katya - Dawnwing and Cherno - Enigma can, leaving her well behind the pace. She still finds occasional use against very specific bosses, but with even pi, her own boss, getting stolen from her by Katya - Dawnwing, it’s clear that her time at the top is a thing of the past for now.

Cherno - Enigma

Though nobody knew it at the time, Cherno’s release kicked off the DPS paradigm shift that led to where we are today. Like her fellow first-mover Siris - Ksana, Cherno has seen her once-reign-of-terror encroached on by the summery skill damage demon that is Katya - Dawnwing, but has held up better with her faster damage rotations. Her glory days have faded somewhat as a result, but Cherno still finds enough use to take a solid third place on the podium.

Bubu - The Geomancer

Sneaking in as the last release of 2024, Bubu is a bit of a wildcard. Being a ballistic DPS, she also avoids the bulk of the support turf wars that plague the skill DPS pool, but at the same time comes into direct conflict with Lyfe - Infinite Sight for her preferred supports. But even with that said, being one of only two competitive second-gen ballistic DPS options (apologies to Fritia - Turbo, but it’s just not meant to be) gives Bubu the same beneficial position that Lyfe is in. Whether this will hold ends up largely depending on the upcoming Hearts in Harmony half-anniversary update, with Chenxing - Jade Arc looking to make her mark on the meta. If she’s successful, it could mean Bubu dropping to third on the ballistic damage totem pole - and potentially stuck on the outside looking in.

The Holdouts

As for the DPS operatives of yesteryear, they’ll take any win they can get at this point. Thanks to the ammo-hosing potential provided by Fenny - Starshine, Chenxing - Ethereal Cloud is still exceptionally good at melting down either of the two Helas while being a rogue threat on Lament of Yehrus. Likewise, Fenny - Coronet pops in every now and then when parts break is needed, while also occasionally sniping away a particularly squishy boss.

Yao - Winter Solstice, however, is not doing a lot of sniping, or really anything these days. She simply takes too long to access the damage spike gated behind her ult, and even then her damage output isn’t as stellar as it once was. Katya - Blue Bolt is in a similar boat as the numbers she puts out just aren’t big enough to keep up. It’s a sad state of affairs for these two once-meta darlings, and one with no easy fix outside of direct buffs. Maybe someday.

Support Ticket

While the DPS side of the meta underwent a minor revolution, things have been decidedly more chill over in the support roster. Snowbreak still doesn’t really have a fully fleshed-out lineup of premium supports, which means every SSR support released since Acacia - Kaguya all the way back at the game’s launch has become at least a somewhat regular sight in the Sim arena.

Well, except one. And no, it’s not Eatchel - The Cub, who, might I remind you, is actually a quite competent attack buffer when properly invested. It’s instead Marian - Riptide, who continues to be directly overshadowed by Enya - Exuvia. That’s not to say that she hasn’t found her footing, but her main claim to fame has ended up being a parts (and Fiend pillar) breaker specifically for skill damage operatives, which is quite a niche, well, niche. But Enya isn’t always available, which means that you’ll still occasionally bring her for more general use and in the process bail her out of a much less favourable grading. Regardless of this, the fact remains that Marian is a bit of a one-trick pony that’s dependent on the current boss rotation and crutches on her weapon type much more than a support really should.

Given the previously-mentioned tight support pool, I don’t expect the upcoming support Yao - Nightglow to usurp anyone in particular. Rather, given her apparent role as a ballistic support, she’ll likely be relieving pressure on the very-overworked Fenny - Starshine, who has been doing quite frankly unhealthy amounts of overtime. I’m sure she would appreciate the occasional break.

Tier List Changes

Not much changes as Bubu doesn’t shake up the meta too much. It does sort of feel like the calm before the storm as the upcoming Hearts in Harmony update’s dual-operative release inevitably leaves a much bigger impact.

You can find the full tier list here.

Bubu - The Geomancer rated at T0.5

Bubu’s made a very strong positive impression, but it still feels too soon to be putting her in Tier 0. I’m giving her some more time to earn a potential promotion.