It’s not as a simple as it seems when looking at the 1.1 banners and this is the best time to investigate the whole situation with these 5 considerations.

1. Debuff Dilemma

Let’s first talk about Silver Wolf and the current state of the game when it comes to buffing versus debuffing. Basically, we’ve got 2 staple buffers in the game that are used almost by everyone who wants to clear Memory of Chaos, and that’s Bronya with Tingyun.

Now, during the livestream, it was made pretty clear that Silver Wolf can apply debuffs in several ways. Her skill can literally make an enemy gain a new elemental weakness they don’t have. For example, if you have a Physical team mate and the enemy doesn’t have a Physical Weakness, after Silver Wolf uses the skill and attacks, they now have a Physical Weakness.

The other big debuff comes from her ultimate. It’s a single target attack that has a chance to reduce the enemy’s DEF. And finally, any of Silver Wolf’s attacks can debuff an enemy with either ATK, DEF or SPD reduction.

So, a lot of negative effects you can apply to enemies. But the thing is assuming her purpose is to let another hyper carry utilize those debuffs, since that’s how we are building the teams for now, there’s actually a chance this plan might not work out.

You see, you probably noticed enemies resisting debuffs from time to time, and that’s not an ideal situation compared to Tingyun or Bronya. Their buffs work 100% of the time. They will never miss and you can carry out your plans without assuming failure at some point, whereas with Silver Wolf. Even if we assume she has a high base chance to apply these debuffs, they can still be resisted.

I mean, it’s no secret Welt and Pela sees less play in Memory of Chaos. Even if Welt is really good at reducing enemy speed, but the simple fact is that buffers always work compared to debuffers. You’re basically you’re gambling with each of their debuffs. So, it’s not a really fair playing field.

And I know I am comparing Harmony against Nihility characters here. But at the end of the day, all of these characters are here to serve the support role for the team. Still, don’t get me wrong. I am not saying Silver Wolf will be bad, however I do think you will definitely want to approach her with a different mindset than you’re used to.

I am, of course, talking about Effect Hit Rate stat, which has been neglected since the game’s launch. You can even spot it sometimes showing up on the Body Relic pieces. And now that HoYoverse has revealed the free 4-Star Nihility Light Cone, we can also see at 1st Superimposition it boosts Effect Hit Rate by 24% and that’s not a coincidence. This might become an important stat for her, which, of course, means sacrificing other offensive stats, lowering her overall damage. But in exchange, you get a better guarantee at applying those debuffs.

How true this is going to be, we will only find out after her release. But it’s important to remember that as amazing as her kit sounds for improving the team’s overall damage, especially for a hyper carry damage dealer. Her debuffs can still be resisted and we might need Effect Hit Rate to fix this problem, which is not something we need to care about when using Bronya, Tingyun or even Yukong, who is the new upcoming Imaginary buffer. But this shouldn’t discourage you from pulling for her, but instead, give you an idea of what to expect from her and how you can prepare for this situation if needed.

2. Healer Scarcity

Right now, you cannot clear Memory of Chaos without having 2 healers. I can already raise all characters to level 80 and the last stage still delivers a ton of damage that you won’t survive without having a healer on each team.

This is where Luocha comes into the picture. He is the new upcoming imaginary healer, and he has a couple of interesting ways to keep the team alive. However, I won’t go too much into details about how he works since we already saw his kit during the live stream and instead, I want to talk about his pull value.

First of all, there’s a lot of you who don’t have a Bailu. We can see from this poll my viewers voted on, only 30% of you have Bailu and are without her. You cannot complete Memory of Chaos as of now. The good news is, I know a way to get Bailu. That is you can purchase an Honkai Star Rail Account with 5-Star Bailu directly on this website. Some players may think that we still have a 5-star selector. So, you could get Bailu from there, right?

Unfortunately, even after a month has passed, almost 90% of players are still not even close to reaching the 300 summons you need to do on the standard banner, which means you are literally left at the mercy of losing a 50/50 and getting Bailu sooner. So, this brings me to the Luocha situation.

You can get him from the upcoming featured banner. And this way, you can have 2 healers. But I am not sure if it’s worth pulling for him if you don’t care about Memory of Chaos. Sure, you can get a good amount of bi-weekly rewards by doing this challenge. But I don’t want to recommend pulling for him, if you don’t enjoy his playstyle or design, or at least you want to pull for someone else.

Eventually, you will be able to raise 2 teams after a few months and clear this challenge, although we know for a fact that 1.2 also won’t have new healers. So again, you need to decide for yourself if you value getting a 2nd healer if you don’t have Bailu.

Also, when you lose a 50/50, you might still get her. And the thing is – at least in Closed Beta Test, all of Luocha’s heals scaled with ATK, which on paper sounds amazing, since he can be an offensive healer as we already saw his ultimate deals with AoE damage. But also remember, he will not be as tanky as Natasha or Bailu. Because that HP not only helps with heals but also improves their max health, which helps a lot when it comes to surviving the final stages of Memory of Chaos.

And you need your healers to be tanky and prioritize keeping the DPS alive. This especially becomes true in the last stage here, where the incoming enemy damage becomes insane. Still, Luocha having damage potential is going to be amazing for late game stages, when everyone is at max level and can withstand enemy damage. So, think of him having good late game potential, especially if it turns out his ultimate deals decent damage as well.

But regardless of the situation, it’s pretty clear that currently, if you want to clear Memory of Chaos, it’s a bit of an unfair playing field since you need a healer on both teams and Luocha can help with that if you don’t have Bailu.

3. Four-Star Eidolons

Probably, the most surprising thing about the 1.1 livestream is that Hoyoverse actually revealed all 4-Star characters that we can pull for – something you won’t see happen until a few days before the banners go live, if you play Genshin.

What’s interesting is that 5 of these 4-Stars are F2P. It’s been confirmed we will get Yukong for free in 1.2 update, so that leaves with Pela, who needs to be obtained from the gacha. But seeing so many people pull for Seele, most of you probably ended up with her as well, which leaves us with the question of who’s Eidolons is worth pulling for.

And the truth is – most of these characters have decent Eidolons and only two of them have serious upgrades but they are pretty hard to get. If you’re going to pull on the Silver Wolf banner, then Asta’s 4th and 6th eidolons are huge improvements for her. Her whole schtick is that she can boost everyone’s ATK with her charging stacks and also improve the speed with her Ultimate.

The problem is that she loses charging stacks rapidly when she takes her turn. But E6 fixes this problem by a lot, now helping you maintain the ATK buff for the team consistently, while E4 helps her with Energy Issues she has by allowing her to obtain 15% ER when she has 2 charging stacks. Both of these eidolons work well together and you will already notice a major upgrade when she gets to E4.

Now, the second character who sees a massive performance increase with Eidolons is Qingque. But there’s a catch. While her eidolons are all decent, the best one is E6, which is not an easy goal to achieve. Her biggest issue is that she eats up those skill points like nothing when she’s fishing for those 4 of a kind tiles and E6 gets rid of this problem almost entirely.

But is it realistic you will be able to get Eidolon 6 QQ and E4 or E6 Asta? Not really, especially because pulling for 4-Star is just not a great way to spend Jades. So instead, if you decide to go for either Silver Wolf or Luocha, keep in mind that there are 2 characters who get great power boosts with their Eidolons, but they aren’t easy to get.

Still, most of these characters get quite better even with the first or second eidolon unlocked. And it’s a good idea to plan around this and come to a conclusion on which banner you want to pull for.

4. Relying On CBT

If you follow Star Rail’s drip marketing, then you know Kafka, Blade and Luka are the next characters coming in 1.2 update.

While we don’t know much about Luka, we do have some gameplay footage of Kafka and Blade from previous Closed Beta Tests. However, if there’s one thing we learned from this game, then it would be the fact we shouldn’t rely on CBT info and expect to see the characters have the same stats or functionality.

Even Jing Yuan sort of got nerfed compared to his CBT performance and Silver Wolf didn’t look the same as she had before. So, I really recommend just waiting for the official livestream that happens during the 2nd phase of every update, to get actual info that helps you with making a decision. But no matter how she turns out, I am still pulling for Kafka, regardless.

Also Read: A Brief Overview Of Upcoming Honkai Star Rail 1.1 Update - Five New Features

5. Banner Showdown

As a final note, when it comes to comparing the Silver Wolf banner against Luocha’s, the most important thing to consider would be the actual 5-Star and then to see if any of the 4-Stars or their Eidolons seem worthwhile to you.

The game right now is obviously skewed towards having 2 healers, but only if you care about Memory of Chaos. However, as time goes on, more healers will come out, so while grabbing Luocha in 1.1 (if you don’t have Bailu) can be a great way to start clearing Memory of Chaos.

We also don’t know what the next cycle is going to be like. Maybe Hoyoverse will change the enemy lineups and who knows. Maybe shielding will become more impactful or DPS is going to have an even greater importance, or perhaps debuffing will become super valuable for the next Memory Turbulence buff.

Either way, I hope you pull for a character that you want to get. Most importantly, please be mindful of your spending. Don’t put yourself into a bad financial situation over some fictional characters.