Character Guide - Ba-Dum! Fiery Wishing Star
Everything you need to know about this year's Spring Festival Messenger and her trusty companion.
Introduction
Hello, captains! [Ba-Dum! Fiery Wishing Star] (FWS) Kiana is the new battlesuit debuting in Version 8.1. She is an S-Rank SD Type Fire DPS, and uses the Pistols. In this guide, I will be going through her kit, suitable team compositions, rotations, equipment, and more.
Character Mechanics
Astral Ring: Law of Ascension
Kiana is protected by the latest Astral Ring Specialisation, Law of Ascension. This means that her playstyle as a DPS revolves around both normal and enhanced QTEs, rotating in and out of the field in a quickswap fashion. When Kiana enters Stellar Outburst, the game will slow down and you can pick between selecting her and eligible team members.
Picking Kiana lets her cast her Stellar Shift attack, dealing a huge amount of Fire DMG and temporarily enhancing her.
Fortune Meter
Kiana can gain Fortune through her Basic ATKs and Ultimate Evasion, which is shown on the bar above her HP.
Kiana can also gain Fortune faster in the Merriment state, which she enters upon using Stellar Shift or triggering her QTE.
Immaculate Duet
When the Fortune meter is maxed, she can consume all accumulated Fortune to cast a special Weapon Skill called Immaculate Duet.
Passion Mark
Kiana can inflict the Passion Mark on enemies by using her Weapon Skill, Combo or Basic ATK, or upon entering through her QTE. This mark detonates when enemies are hit with Immaculate Duet, inflicting Fire DMG on marked opponents.
DMG Link
Kiana can also link up to 6 enemies with Stellar Shift, Immaculate Duet or Weapon Skill, forcing them to share any damage dealt by her or her teammates.
Stardust Flash and SD Enemy Max HP Loss
Immaculate Duet and her normal Weapon Skill trigger Stardust Flash, instantly collecting any Stardust Fragments on the field.
Both attacks can also immediately reduce the Max HP of Stardust enemies once per phase on hit.
Astral Ring: World Star
Kiana has the Domain Resonance tag, and is able to support Valkyries protected by Astral Ring Specialization: World Star. During Stellar Outburst, her Fortune meter is replaced with 6 Quantum Mech Energy. Tapping [ATK] will consume 1 stack to perform a Basic ATK and trigger Resonance. When she has 2 Quantum Mech Energy left, she performs Immaculate Duet, consuming the last 2 stacks and triggering Resonance.
Astral Ring: ???
Similar to Deepspace Anchor: First Light (Senadina) in v7.3 before the introduction of Astral Ring: Wheel of Destiny, Kiana has a locked skill meant for an Astral Ring Specialization that will be introduced in the future. At the moment, nothing is known about this Astral Ring Specialisation. It is expected that there will be more Valkyries being introduced with this special tag before it is fully revealed. Please be patient, Captains!
Equipment
Weapon
This is Kiana’s signature weapon, Fortuitous Red: Dreams Come True. It has strong personal buffs and a few decent teamwide buffs, enhancing many parts of Kiana’s kit like her Passion Mark and Stellar Shift. It also provides her with faster rotations due to the 1.5s timestop her Stellar Shift now has with the weapon equipped. All these buffs means that missing out on her weapon will make her suffer a sizable damage loss, so I highly recommend pulling for it if you plan to get her. In summary, her weapon gives the following:
Personal Buffs:
1.5s of Time-Frozen Domain after Stellar Shift
An additional 400% ATK Multiplier on Stellar Shift
The ability to inflict a second Passion Mark on an enemy if it’s the only one on the field
20% Total DMG Bonus
65% Fire DMG Bonus
12% Fire DMG Taken by enemies
20% Total DMG Bonus for Basic ATKs during Merriment
25% Total DMG Taken by enemies from Stellar Shift
Teamwide Buffs:
20% Total DMG Bonus
38% Elemental DMG Bonus to Resonance attacks
Weapon and Synergy Level Comparison
Shown above are results derived from a single rotation with the loadout shown in the graphic. First, I will go through the Synergy skills of any weapons shown in the test results that have it.
Fortuitous Red: Dreams Come True - [Enemies take +2%/4%/6% Total DMG from the character on the field (independent, exclusive). Fiery Wishing Star Equip Bonus: The wielder gains +2%/4%/6% Fire DMG Bonus (independent, exclusive).]
Kiana’s signature weapon has a decent independent multiplier that buffs the Valkyrie on the field, making it useful in both DPS and support scenarios. It also has a secondary effect giving Kiana an additional independent multiplier, which is nice for her personal damage. (Note: Independent multipliers are calculated separately from normal DMG Bonus and DMG Taken buffs, so they’re undiluted and more potent!)
Waxing Moon: Incipience - [Total DMG +5%/10%/15%. Herrscher of Finality Equip Bonus: All team members gain Total DMG +5%/10%/15%.]
By comparison, this synergy skill is incredibly weak, not to mention the second half of it is entirely useless for FWS. The lack of independent multipliers means that it doesn’t increase damage nearly as much as Fortuitous Red would.
This is the damage difference between all three Synergy levels of the weapon, as well as some potential alternative options for Kiana. While the gap isn’t as big as some Valkyries with and without their signature equipment, there’s still a sizable difference between Fortuitous Red and any alternative weapons. Moreover, this comparison doesn’t take into account her signature weapon’s Time Stop effect, which effectively shortens the amount of time rotations take with it. This will result in the DPS gap being even bigger than the raw damage gap, meaning other weapons will fall behind even further as more rotations are performed.
Stigmata
Signature Set - Happy Days Ahead
Stigmata wise, there aren’t really many options to consider other than her signature set. She’s very reliant on the entire set since a lot of its buffs are locked behind the 3 piece bonus. More specifically, the status effect [Let’s Have Fun!] unlocks a big portion of the set’s buffs, and the only way to apply it is with the 3pc effect unlocked.
Required Materials for Crafting
These are the materials needed to craft the full Happy Days Ahead stigmata set. Note that there is an extremely low chance you will ever need to craft all 3 stigs, since pulling for the weapon will likely get you one or more.
Recommended Teams
As a Law of Ascension Valkyrie, Kiana relies on Heavenly Shift teammates to support her. Against Stardust type bosses, running [Lone Planetfarer] and [Jovial Deception: Shadowdimmer] is the most optimal, and using [Thousand-Faced Maestro: Cameo!] will perform better on non Stardust type enemies. Other options like [Reign Solaris] for scenarios requiring shield breaking capabilities work too.
Since the Law of Ascension specialisation relies a lot on other units dealing damage as well, not having 2 supports with Heavenly Shift in Kiana’s team significantly weakens overall damage output and makes rotations feel more clunky. While this restriction will be less prominent as newer Valkyries with the tag are released, it means players without the necessary supports will have to struggle with using her as a DPS for a pretty good while.
Like I mentioned before, Kiana can also support World Star Valkyries, so she’ll be able to fit into most teams featuring them.
Rotations
FWS TFM LP
Kiana’s rotations are generally quite straightforward, making use of QTEs to deal damage and charge Fortune up faster by attacking while Merriment is active. It’s important to note that this as well as any rotation examples for Law of Ascension Valkyries are simply suggestions, and can vary differently depending on the enemy you’re fighting or the Abyss tier you’re in.
Below is a video example of the rotation.
FWS JDS LP
This rotation is similar to the one shown before, but is meant for dealing with SD type enemies in a more effective manner. Songque’s Combo ATK mostly serves to trigger Stardust Detonation and Stellar Drain, so if the enemy is already in Consolidated state and you have enough Astral Ring Intensity, you can consider skipping it to save time.
Below is a video example of the rotation.
Law of Ascension: Things to Note
While Kiana’s rotations are pretty simple, there are some things to keep in mind. The first is regarding premium AstralOPs. Since the rotation examples were using Dreamseeker who doesn’t have any extra initial Astral Ring Intensity at the start of the battle, Vita’s Combo ATK was required to restore more Astral Ring Intensity to Stellar Outburst. If you’re using an AstralOP that provides Kiana’s team with additional initial Astral Ring Intensity like Serapeum or Theresa, you can skip out on it and ULT immediately after her enhanced Basic ATK 4 to save time.
Speaking of Theresa, she changes Kiana’s rotations slightly. Since she gives the leader of any Law of Ascension team a second Stellar Shift, when Kiana re-enters the field, her signature weapon’s Time-Frozen Domain will trigger a second time. Since the weapon’s time stop effect is removed on ULT, it’s recommended to delay using it until you’ve finished carrying out the 4 Basic ATK sequence to fill up the Fortune meter to maximise the length that Time-Frozen Domain is active. Other than that, Theresa doesn’t really change rotations.
Lastly, when using Vita as a support, it’s recommended to rotate her in second after casting Stellar Outburst. If she were to be rotated in first, she would refresh her buffs too early and they won’t be active during the second half of the rotation in Astral Ring Charging, where the team is building up Intensity to Stellar Outburst again. Law of Ascension teams still do a lot of damage in Astral Ring Charging, so missing out on buffs will matter a lot.
World Star Support
Kiana’s role in World Star teams is very simple. During Astral Ring Charging, since her Fortune meter maxes out on her QTE, all she needs to do is cast Immaculate Duet and leave. Her job is even simpler in Stellar Outburst - triggering Resonance Attacks, ULTing, and rotating out.
Below is a video example of the rotation.
Should I pull?
While Kiana did see some major nerfs during her testing in the CN beta, I still believe she is very strong. As this year’s Chinese New Year Valkyrie, I believe she will see a lot of use for quite a while. Her bosses aren’t restricted to just the Stardust niche, and her capability as a World Star support is incredible - she’s one of the fastest units in terms of triggering Resonance attacks. She also has the locked skill meant for the future Astral Ring Specialisation, so that’s something to consider too. Since her release comes with a ton of free pulls because of the Chinese New Year events, I don’t really see a reason to skip her.
Of course, I don’t think anyone should feel forced to pull for her, but if you do, she’ll definitely be a strong addition to your roster.
Conclusion
In conclusion, Kiana is a strong addition to any account’s roster, being able to cover both the Stardust and Fire type niches well. With unique abilities such as being able to reduce the max HP of Stardust enemies, as well as her strength as a support, I have no doubt she will be relevant for the foreseeable future.
Thank you for reading my guide! I hope it helped you learn more about Kiana. If I made any mistakes, please let me know and I will rectify them as soon as possible. I will also try my best to answer any questions in the comments!