Decision Making - Why I Don't Recommend The Starter Supply
Why is this beginner banner not the good investment it seems to be?
Disclaimer: This is written from a strictly meta perspective. Players are free to pull whoever they want.
Introduction
So you’re new to the game and less than an hour in, you are presented with a seemingly worthwhile banner featuring 2 S-Rank Valkyries and an enticing 30% off your first 10 pull. Most beginners would understandably assume that this supply should be the one they pull on, considering it’s quite literally named the Starter Supply. They may think the Valkyries featured on this banner are there because they are powerful and can help provide them with a smooth transition into Exalted, or the endgame. Unfortunately, this cannot be further from the truth, and this supply is one of the worst investments a beginner can make. In this guide, I’ll be explaining why.
Why the Starter Supply is Bad
Unfortunately, there isn’t a lot of things I can discuss without mentioning the Valkyries currently on the Starter Supply, which has been known to change quite a few times over the years, from Herrscher of Thunder and Azure Empyrea, to Herrscher of Flamescion and Sentience, then Herrscher of Humanity/Palatinus Equinox, Herrscher of Finality/Rebirth, and currently Herrscher of Rebirth and Lunar Vow: Crimson Love. Thus, this section will be a general explanation of why the supply is bad, and following sections will address the flaws with the Valkyries themselves. When the supply’s featured Valkyries change, this article will be updated accordingly.
Generally has old Valkyries
Whenever Valkyries are introduced into the Starter Supply, they will be at least a few, if not several, patches old. Meta-wise, backpulling, or pulling older Valkyries, is strongly advised against, as players are recommended to look toward future releases to ensure they won’t fall behind even more. While the Starter Supply may have Valkyries still relevant in gamemodes like Superstring Dimension and Memorial Arena, this does not immediately mean they are still worth pulling. For example, Herrscher of Humanity is still the best PSY Ice DPS option, but that does not make her worth the tens of thousands of crystals needed to fully gear her.
The 50/50 Chance
While this isn’t as big of an issue as people may make it seem, since 50/50 losers can just restart and keep rerolling until they win the 50/50, it’s still a pretty big downside. Again, players can just wait for the Expansion Supply of the Valkyrie they’re aiming for to come around, and if they’re unable to get the Valkyrie, at least the pity counter will carry over.
Still has Part 1 Rates (Gear)
All Valkyries released after Part 2 will have their stigmatas craftable and their weapon guaranteed in 60 pulls, reducing the worst case scenario for a fully geared Valkyrie to drop drastically from 200 to 60. At the time of writing, the Valkyries in the Starter Supply are both from before Part 2, and thus gearing them will remain as expensive as it would be normally.
Why the Starter Supply Valks are Bad
Updated v7.6 LV/HoRB Banner (3/8/2024)
Lunar Vow: Crimson Love (LV)
LV is (at the time of writing) still a strong bruteforce option against multiple Abyss weathers, and an incredible Memorial Arena Valkyrie due to the amount of Time Fracture she has in her kit. However, there are several reasons why pulling her is a bad idea.
Like all DPS units, LV is incredibly reliant on her gear. With her unique status as a Lightning Bleed DPS, there aren’t many alternative gear options available, let alone any accessible to newer players. Moreover, as a Part 1 Valkyrie, her gear is significantly more expensive, taking a total of 200 pulls to guarantee instead of a Part 2 Valkyrie’s 60 pulls.
Moreover, while LV can technically be used as a support unit, there aren’t any Valkyries for her to support. She is the strongest Part 1 Lightning DPS, and any Part 2 Lightning Valkyries would likely much rather make use of the Astral Ring system. This effectively makes her support capabilities useless. In addition, LV is considerably old. She released in October 2023, and bosses she does well on have been run less and less with her shill period being over.
Lastly, it’s not just LV who’s expensive — her supports who need gearing aren’t cheap either. It would cost an average of 120k Crystals to kit out LV, CE, and HTR, while a newer P2 team with significantly more coverage and more strength would take much less. Don’t pull her, the crystals spent on her would be much better spent going towards something else more beneficial.
Herrscher of Rebirth (HoRB)
While HoRB is a great Impair applier and a strong support for Physical, there are multiple reasons why investing in her is a terrible idea.
The first issue is that she needs her gear. Her scythe is very important, and her closest thing to a cope stig set is SSwords, which new players will not have. As a P1 Valk, backpulling said gear will be extremely expensive, and frankly not worth doing over investing in new releases.
Secondly, HoRB won't do much without a Phys DPS to support. She does have a DPS mode, but DPS HoRB lost almost all her bosses to other valks and she needs HoS to support her anyway since her Impair is lost once she changes to DPS form.
The third issue is P1 Physical teams aren't very relevant right now, and are incredibly expensive. There is no need to invest in a valk for a niche that isn't being heavily shilled. Before 7.6, people were saying Physical may come back in a future patch with the release of a new P2 Phys DPS, but that brings us to the fourth issue-
The new Astral Ring system has shown it can disregard the need for a dedicated Impair applier by just putting it in the new Phys valk's kit or another valk that works with them. The sole example is Jovial Deception: Shadowdimmer with an Impair effect on her signature Stigmata set, but I doubt she will be the exception. Of course, even if that happens players can easily clear content without HoRB, or without investing in Phys at all really. Even if they luck out and pull HoS from dorm, they'll still have no Phys DPS to support.
Lastly, and this is just my personal gripe, but S0 HoRB feels really terrible and the lack of QoL which is locked behind S2 makes me want to cry. HoRB is still good as a fully geared valk for the players who already have her, but she just isn't worth investing into anymore. Don't pull for her, the crystals used will be much better invested into new releases.
What should I pull for instead?
This is highly subjective and I’d have to update this article pretty much every patch if I were to cover it in this article. Some general advice would be to stockpile as many crystals as you can. With the introduction of Part 2’s new gacha system, it looks to me like skipping releases will be less of a necessity, but saving never hurts. Never go for older Valkyries, keep yourself updated on new ones, and pray to the RNG gods. Well, that last one probably won’t help, but you never know.
Conclusion
Thanks for reading my guide. I’ve seen quite a few people online pushing for new players to spend on the Starter Supply, so I hope this has convinced you to see that it isn’t the good investment it appears to be. However, HI3 is still a game - if you like the Valkyries and don’t particularly care for the game’s competitive side, feel free to disregard this completely.
Cayjunn is a Honkai Impact 3rd guide maker and a member of the Hyperion Team. He can be found on Discord as @cayjunn, or on Twitter at https://twitter.com/cayjunn1.