Hissabeth Pre-Release Review

Good afternoon! Brace yourselves, because this is the one you’ve been eagerly awaiting—a mysterious, yet loud as hell character who values her privacy like it’s a treasure. Hissabeth, who is currently getting her PhD in serving at slayversity! A true mother enigma, let’s dive into the review.

The translations are from @/ChunxiRavenclaw on the Official Discord.

The usual disclaimers apply: we don’t have modifiers just yet, nor specific details regarding some parts of their kit, so we can’t say for sure if Hissabeth is good. ALWAYS take preliminary kit reviews with a grain of salt, no matter from what source it is (even ours).

Kit Details

Afflatus: Plant
Role: Damage Dealer
Tags: Ultimate, Moxie, Genesis DMG

Insight: The Snake of Questions

1. Upon entering combat, gain [Snake Nest]. At the start of the round, if carrying [Snake Nest], generate “Hiss!”. “Hiss!” and “Zero Dimension Explosion Simulation” (Ultimate) do not count towards the hand limit.
   • “Hiss!”: 1-target attack. Deals Mental DMG. Inflicts [Asbestos Scales] and grants the caster Moxie. This attack is considered an Ultimate and does not consume AP.
2. Upon entering combat, DMG Dealt increased.
3. When Hissabeth attacks enemies affected by [Asbestos Scales], inflicts [Rigidity] and gain Moxie.
   • [Asbestos Scales]: At the end of the round the carrier takes Genesis DMG. This DMG can Crit and benefits from Ultimate Might. After triggering, consume this status and grant Hissabeth [Snake Nest]. If the carrier dies, [Asbestos Scales] is transferred to the ally with the highest ATK.

Abilities:

Incantation 1: Self-Devourer
Mass attack. Deals Mental DMG to 2 enemies. Deals additional Mental DMG to enemies affected by [Asbestos Scales].

Incantation 2: Without Beginning and End
Self buff. Consumes [Snake Nest]. At the end of the round, generate “Hiss!”. If there is not enough [Snake Nest], gain Moxie instead.

Ultimate: Zero Dimension Explosion Simulation
Mass attack. Deals Mental DMG to all enemies. Increases the DMG Taken by [Asbestos Scales] this round; then recover all [Asbestos Scales] and gain “Hiss!”.

Kit Review

So what’s up with Hissabeth exactly?

• First of all, I don’t think [Petrify] will be a huge factor in her kit. I think it’ll end up more consistent than the other units like Jessica(E), Druvis and Satsuki, but [Control] in general is not great due to Control RES. Once units release that are able to reduce Control RES or bypass it (which only White Rum can right now??) we can talk about the viability of her [Rigidity] application.
• The most important thing here is the bounce of [Asbestos Scales] to [Snake Nest]. Let’s see:
  • If you’re carrying [Snake Nest] (any amount most likely) you generate “Hiss!” at the start of the round, a single-target attack that counts as an Ultimate and inflicts [Asbestos Scales].
  • [Asbestos Scales] is a Genesis DMG damage-over-time effect that also benefits from Ultimate Might, then grants Hissabeth [Snake Nest] when its done ticking.
  • Both casting “Hiss!” and hitting enemies affected by [Asbestos Scales] grants Hissabeth Moxie.
  • You can generate multiple stacks of [Snake Nest] through Insight [Snake Nest] -> “Hiss!” -> [Asbestos Scales] -> [Snake Nest].
• [Snake Nest] can then be kept to generate “Hiss!” and also as fuel for “Without Beginning and End” to perhaps generate additional casts of “Hiss!” or cycle “Zero Dimension Explosion Simulation”. This depends on how much you are able to stack the buff (if at all).
• The point then becomes to stick multiple stacks of [Asbestos Scales] across enemies, generate Moxie for “Zero Dimension Explosion Simulation” which in turn increases the DMG Dealt of [Asbestos Scales] for a round of burst damage before you repeat the cycle through the “Hiss!” it generates.

In this sense, Hissabeth is actually closer to Willow than she is Noire (as many people have made the latter comparison). The point I see being made here is to individually inflict [Asbestos Scales] through “Hiss!” and then explode it with “Zero Dimension Explosion Simulation”.

The amount of Moxie generation in her kit is likely due to the standard duration for damage-over-time effects being 2-3 rounds. I’m predicting 3 rounds (at least) for [Asbestos Scales] here with maybe Portraits increasing the duration to give more leeway in the rotation. If not, you’ll likely be casting “Hiss!” for 3 rounds on every available enemy then bursting the debuff on the last round of the first inflicted instance using her Ultimate.

Since “Hiss!” and “Zero Dimension Explosion Simulation” do not consume an AP slot she’ll likely be a lot more forgiving than Willow in terms of cycling her skills and Ultimate which might be the point of her kit (to provide a more AP-friendly Genesis DMG based Damage Dealer since Willow is freakishly difficult to play correctly with Tuesday).

To further distance her from Noire, I believe their teams will vary wildly compared to each other. Noire has a very strict requirement for her Ultimate rotation. She wants two things: one being a big selection of [Neg Status]es to draw from and two being able to stack [Genius Insight] to optimize the chances of her casting 2-3 Ultimates in a row. On the other hand, while both definitely benefit from Melania(E), I feel like Recoleta is a much more functional Sub-Carry for Hissabeth than for Noire. Recoleta outright benefits from allies gaining Moxie quickly and has [Passion Drain] to further help Hissabeth get to her own Ultimate.

To illustrate for those who are confused: Recoleta is officially a Sub Carry. She grants easy access to Moxie through [Passion Drain] and makes cycling a team’s Ultimates infinitely more easily by directly granting Moxie as well as cheating out allied Ultimates. The reason why she is in the Damage Dealer category presently is because she deals so much damage that there is little reason not to put her there (think Bkornblume P5 in 1.0 or Isolde during her release in 1.7 but on steroids). This does not help Noire one bit, who will likely end up casting Ultimates way before she can properly stack [Genius Insight] for her recasts. Hissabeth, on the other hand, only has the restriction of [Asbestos Scales] applications that she needs to worry about and, if “Hiss!” can be generated multiple times per turn, means she can easily cycle that between Ultimate casts.

Another option I foresee here is someone like Lopera, whose [Ritual Bullet] and easy Array cycling end up helping Hissabeth (especially if, like other Plant units, she struggles with low Crit stats) considerably as most of her damage benefits from Ultimate Might (though I doubt [Asbestos Scales] can trigger the buff, at least “Hiss!” and Ultimate can).

Plus, depending on how “Hiss!” works, Hissabeth will have a really easy time stacking Luxurious Leisure, one of the better Ultimate based Psychubes.

Conclusion

Estimated Rating: S / Damage Dealer. Looking beyond the [Petrify] part, being able to cycle her Ultimate this fast while joined by Recoleta/Lopera/Melania(E) can realistically only be a huge benefit. On the other hand, when characters are “easy to play”, Bluepoch has a tendency to curb their direct power in favor of keeping units with stricter gameplay styles (Windsong and Willow) at the top, plus there’s a very real chance that Recoleta outdamages her as an Ultimate Carry due to numbers.

I don’t see her being as strict as Willow in terms of teambuilding and rotations so she gets points for that, but beyond that I wonder if she’ll be able to match either the premier Genesis DMG Carry (Willow) or the Ultimate Carry (Recoleta) in output, or if she ends up falling short of that coveted S+ tier.

The perceived Pros are as follows:

• Extremely quick and independent Ultimate cycling.
• Does not consume AP with either of her primary tools (“Hiss!” and Ultimate).
• Almost her entire kit benefits off of Ultimate Might buffs.
• Mix of high Mental and Genesis DMG means very few enemies can resist her output.

The perceived Cons are as follows:

• Split between being a Genesis DMG and Ultimate Carry makes her fall short of both Willow and Recoleta in their respective departments.
• Not paying attention to [Snake Nest] can potentially screw up the cycling irrevocably.

Team Concepts

• Standard Hissabeth: Lopera / Hissabeth / Melania(E) / Medicine Pocket(E)
• Cycling Hissabeth: Hissabeth / Recoleta / Melania(E) / Medicine Pocket(E)
• Cycling 2 Hissabeth: Hissabeth / Anjo Nala (Hissabeth) / Melania(E) / Fatutu
• Control Hissabeth: Hissabeth / Tuesday / An-An Lee(E) / Ms NewBabel(E)