View the full tier list update history here, and the latest meta report here.

According to all known aspects of the Snowbreak meta, there is no way that Enya - Tempest should be able to be competitive. Her base damage ratios are too small to get her AoE-focused abilities to do respectable damage. Enya, of course, is a top-tier DPS operative anyways because she doesn't care what silly tier list editors think is impossible.

Jokes aside - Enya's base damage ratios aren't very impressive, but when given the tools to supercharge her ult with supports like Tess - The Magician, those relatively unimpressive numbers quickly scale up to very scary levels. Combined with her Deiwos passive that further amps up her damage in single-target boss fights, Enya accomplishes the seemingly unthinkable task of matching the ridiculous burst potential of the already-absurd Chenxing - Jade Arc. Of course, this is almost always a one-time burst of damage, but when it hits as hard as it does, you often don't find yourself needing much followup.

So this is a bit of a confusing shift for Chenxing, but it'll make more sense when I explain it. At lower investment levels, Chenxing is about competitive with the rest of the (former) Tier 0 DPS roster, as her burst potential still comes with a relatively lengthy preparation period as she sticks in arrows. But once she reaches M1T2 levels of power, the required amount of pincushioning decreases to a point that her setup becomes less of an issue, enabling unrivalled burst damage potential such that she basically pushes her less-invested self down a tier. This leaves her placement in Tier 0 as a class of one two, with only Enya - Tempest being able to keep up.

The dominance of Chenxing - Jade Arc, a technically-Hybrid-but-more-Ballistic DPS operative, has pushed the entire legacy DPS roster down a notch, and with it many of Enya's best Skill DPS pairings. Making matters worse, all of these Skill DPS operatives - Katya - Dawnwing, Cherno - Enigma, and Siris - Ksana - have been preferring to use Tess - The Magician instead to get their damage buffs while also speeding up their damage rotations. And even with her other self Enya - Tempest arriving as a truly competitive Skill DPS, the lack of shooting in her playstyle means that Exuvia has a hard time building support skill charges to apply the full strength of her damage buffs. Ironic.

As a result, Enya's base capabilities no longer make the cut for top tier, requiring higher investment levels (M2T2) to remain a consistently compelling support pick.

Finally.

I'll be completely honest with you - I've never liked the fact that I had Riptide in Tier 0 ever since she was added there. In my opinion, she was completely undeserving of the rating and only made it in off of the strength of Skill DPS operatives like Katya - Dawnwing, combined with the dearth of Skill support options to go with them. But with much of the Skill DPS roster getting pushed down and shifting support preferences to the point that even Enya - Exuvia has a hard time earning her keep, Riptide also being kicked out of Tier 0 is all but an inevitability.

Pay no mind to the demotion of her rating, that's just the same downward shift that every existing DPS operative got hit by in the wake of the releases of Chenxing - Jade Arc and Enya - Tempest.

Rather, the really interesting thing here is her new high investment rating. Feeding Fritia signature weapon dupes and more Manifests don't fix any of her core problems, but they do make number go up well enough to give Turbo a sizable spread of bosses that she's at least decently competent at, and keep her from falling behind on the treadmill of powercreep.

Chenxing - Jade Arc and Enya - Tempest, and their consequences, have been disastrous for the Snowbreak DPS meta. Who would have thought that being able to one-shot nearly every boss in the game ridiculously quickly would create a massive power gap?

It's all so tiring.

20/02/2025

Yao is a much-needed Ballistic specialist to rival even the ever-in-demand Fenny - Starshine. While her utility doesn’t quite compare to Fenny’s ability to remove the need to reload, she makes up for it with incredibly potent support buffs to Attack, critical hit, and Ballistic Damage, exactly the three stats that a Ballistic DPS operative wants. Yao is famously not a fan of overtime, but it seems that she’s going to be working some long hours in the Neural Simulation arena and beyond.

Hey, remember all those high expectations people had for Chenxing? Well, she’s more than lived up to them. She’s really got it all - strong damage, a flexible damage rotation, and more burst damage than you can shake an arrow at. Her Ultimate Skill bypassing damage reduction effects also means that she gets to cheese bosses like the Ni-Type Mechs and Njall without relying on Mauxir - Shadow Ka, much to the detriment of the other DPS operative who can do that (more on this later). 

She’s not perfect, of course. Her damage rotation does take some time to set up and execute, which means that less burdened operatives like Lyfe - Infinite Sight and Bubu - The Geomancer can steal squishy bosses from right under her, and she really does not like having to hit breakable parts. But if she gets enough time to get going, there’s almost nobody that can keep up.

Oh, how the mighty fall. The original meta-breaker that kicked Snowbreak’s powercreep into high gear and brought us to where we are today has finally received a taste of her own medicine.

Cherno has had her sustained DPS output shown up by many more modern DPS operatives, and her massive burst capabilities have become much less special as well. While she can still output a very fast first pop thanks to Tess - The Magician, the squishy bosses that she’s able to do this to are also easy prey for other competition that burst out of the gate just as fast, but are able to keep it up while Cherno has to slowly prepare followup bursts. Even her unique damage reduction bypass has had its spotlight stolen by Chenxing - Jade Arc, who manages to produce even bigger numbers with her arrow pull.

Bubu has passed her trial by fire to earn a spot at the top. Concerns about her DPS uptime have mostly been dispelled because as it turns out, if you do enough damage the fight tends to end before your special damage juice runs out. And with Yao - Nightglow being a perfect pairing for Bubu, she gets even more time on the clock to tell fortunes and plug enemies with fiery lead.

Surprisingly enough, it’s Cherno’s 4★ variant that’s on the upswing recently, as squishy bosses like Njall - Hardened and Katya - Frostcap give Cherno a high-value use case in delaying their invulnerability triggers long enough to finish them off. She’s still not as versatile as the GOAT Slow support that is Acacia - Redacted, but Cherno having access to Alloy Truth sweetens the deal and makes a compelling case for a promotion.