Akekuri Guide and Best Build

Kit Intro

Akekuri is a 4-star, Heat, Sword Support who excels at SP generation, generating a huge amount through her Ultimate and even more thanks to her low cooldown Combo Skill. Outside SP generation, she also has a small number of buffs that can be situationally powerful, as well as some excellent supportive weapon and gear pieces. She also has the ability to apply Heat Infliction to multiple targets at once with her Battle Skill.

With all that said, the main reason you’re likely to bring Akekuri to the team is her bursty SP generation, much of which is tied to her Ultimate. It costs a lot of energy but also does a lot for the team. Using it grants the team close to 100 SP, applies a very short ATK% boost, and also grants Link, boosting the damage of the team's next Battle Skill or Ultimate. All that in one makes for a pretty darn stacked ability, but that’s not where the support stops. Akekuri’s Combo Skill also offers great support on a very short cooldown, alongside having an easy-to-satisfy trigger that only requires an enemy’s Stagger bar to reach a Stagger node or become fully Staggered. Using the Combo Skill after optimizing Akekuri’s talents provides a solid amount of SP, given how frequently it can be used in some encounters.

Outside of that, her Battle Skill can also be a reason to include her in some teams, thanks to the fact that it applies its Heat Infliction in a cone instead of against a single target. For characters like Laevatain who absorb Heat off multiple targets, this can be a stand-out reason to include and use Akekuri’s Heat generation over others.

Last but not least, due to some of her talents encouraging suboptimal damage stats, her kit being split between Physical and Heat, and her lack of a damaging Ultimate, she’s not going to be winning and DPS awards. Luckily, her team's focused capabilities and fantastic supportive gear and weapon choices allow her to position herself as a competent Amplifier and resource specialist, making up for that.

Ultimate

Akekuri’s Ultimate is the focal point of her kit and is responsible for a large amount of her total SP generation as well as all of her buffs. Its activation cost is a huge 120 energy (108 with Potential 4), much higher than average when compared to other operators. It’s a steep cost considering she doesn’t gain any other sources of energy outside the norm in her kit. However, this just makes it all the more important when you choose to use it. 

Using it causes Akekuri to channel fireworks for a very short period, firing with each volley, granting the team a chunk of SP. During the brief window she’s firing, she’ll grant the team Link, which should be consumed to empower your team's highest priority Ultimate or Battle Skill. All in all, Akekuri channeling lasts only around 2–3 seconds, so you’ll want to activate the Ultimate right before the abilities you want to buff.

Potentials:

• Potential 3: Grants the whole team an ATK% boost while Akekuri is channeling fireworks, but just like her Link buff, only until she finishes.

• Potential 5: Upgrades the Link granted by Ultimate causing it to now linger for 5s after the fireworks end making when you can use this ultimate much more flexible and forgiving. Although you’ll still want to time it right if you want to take advantage of the potential 3.

Combo

Compared to her Ultimate, Akekuri’s Combo Skill is far simpler and is incredibly accessible thanks to its short cooldown. Triggering it is also very easy and happens whenever an enemy becomes Staggered, or in the case of bosses, when they reach a Stagger node as well. 

Using it deals some Physical damage, Stagger, and recovers a chunk of SP, which can be boosted further by talents. All up, this combo is simple, effective, easy to use, and generic enough that it’s useful in any team, just like Akekuri’s ultimate.

Note: This ability’s SP generation is split into two hits, which is a relevant benefit for some weapons.

Battle Skill

Akekuri’s Battle Skill is also incredibly simple. Using it deals Heat damage, Stagger, and Infliction in a small cone in front of her, that’s it. The one thing that makes this ability notable is the fact that it applies AoE Infliction, which is something that can be valuable to certain operators like Laevatain.

Talents

Akekuri’s talents are both key to her kit, and without them, she wouldn’t be nearly as strong. Her first talent, Cheer for Victor,y enhances the SP recovery of her Combo Skill based on how much Intellect she has. For every 10 Intellect the SP recovered by her Combo is increased by 1.5% up to a maximum of cap of 75%, hitting this cap and maxing out the effect requires a huge 500 Intellect. The extra SP from the Combo is always helpful, but investment into Intellect should always be balanced alongside using optimal supportive sets and weapons to maximize performance

Akekuri’s other talent is Staying in the Zone, which adds a new effect to her Ultimate. On use, Akekuri’s Ultimate will now also grant the team Link, boosting the next Battle Skill or Ultimate used by a significant amount. Considering Link is its own unique effect, this talent alone becomes one of Akekuri’s most powerful supportive tools.

Note: Before P5 Link will only remain active while Akekuri is within her Ultimate animation and launching Fire Works; if it’s not used during that time, it will be wasted.

Potentials:

• Potential 5: Directly solves the issue above and causes Link to linger for 5 seconds after Akekuri’s Ultimate ends, significantly expanding the time you have to use it on the Ultimate or Battle Skill you want.

Gameplay

Playing Akekuri is simple, but timing her Ultimate at the right time to take advantage of Link, the extra SP, and the very short ATK% buff is crucial to getting the most out of her.

• Use Combo Skill whenever available to generate energy and SP,

• If you need it, use Akekuri’s Battle Skill for heat Infliction as required,

• Time Akekuri’s Ultimate before your most impactful Ultimate or Battle Skill so it benefits from Link. Ideally, this is at the same time as concentrating your other major damage cooldowns during Akekuri’s ATK% boost. Lastly, ensure the SP generated by the ultimate isn’t wasted by overcapping.