Avywenna Guide and Best Build

Kit Intro

Avywenna is a 5-star, Electric, Polearm Striker, whose gameplan revolves around deploying multiple "Thunderlances" out to the field and then retrieving them, dealing a high amount of damage in a very short period.

Using her Combo Skill has her set 3 Thunderlances, whereas her Ultimate sets 1 "Thunderlance EX" - a stronger variant. By default, these linger for 30 seconds, but her P2 increases it to 50 seconds, opening up more flexible rotations as a result.

It's on using her Battle Skill that all Thunderlances are returned at once, piercing enemies in their path as they travel back to Avywenna. This adds another dimension to her gameplay, being positioning; since Thunderlances will always take a straight path, if they happen to be set-up in opposite directions, only those that are placed behind an enemy relative to Avywenna will hit.

Being attentive to both where Thunderlances have been deployed and one's own positioning becomes important, as bad situational awareness can significantly tank her damage. 

Said damage also comes very quickly. Although going through multiple Combo Skills to set-up Thunderlances can be time consuming, Avywenna is often able to retrieve 6 (if at P0) to 12 (if at P2+) of them, in addition to a Thunderlance EX from her Ultimate with a single Battle Skill use, making for screenshot-worthy moments.

Talents

Avywenna's rotations are heavily dependent on her Talents:

“Expedited Delivery” gives her 4 Ultimate Energy on both thrown and returned Thunderlances that hit enemies, being further enhanced to 6 Ultimate Energy at P1. Working around this Talent is key to Avywenna's rotations, as each and every Thunderlance will trigger this passive.

Note: Hitting multiple enemies will not increase the amount of Ultimate Energy generated. The gain is capped to once per Thunderlance hit.

“Tactful Approach” enhances Avywenna's Ultimate to apply 10% Electric Susceptibility to enemies hit for 10 seconds. This means that to maximise both her damage and that of her team (e.g. Finishers and Ultimates from sub-damage dealers), it's desirable to use this early in a burst period.

Combo

"Thunderlance: Strike" is Avywenna's Combo Skill, and it forms the bread and butter of her rotations. As previously mentioned, using it deploys 3 Thunderlances, and with it having a cooldown of 13 seconds (12 seconds at M3), it can be used frequently.

Note: Unlike most Combo Skills, this has no passive Ultimate Energy generation. It only provides Ultimate Energy via Expedited Delivery, and although it deploys 3 Thunderlances, it only has 1 instance of damage!

Its trigger condition is only that enemies have either an Electric Infliction or Electrification when a Final Strike connects, making it easy to sustain.

At P0, it's possible to have up to 9 Thunderlances set-up at once, but doing so can be quite difficult:

• Combo Skill 1 used at 0 seconds | 3 Thunderlances | 30 seconds to expiry

• Combo Skill 2 used at 13 seconds | 6 Thunderlances | 17 seconds to expiry

• Combo Skill 3 used at 26 seconds | 9 Thunderlances | 4 seconds to expiry

Timestop does apply to them, so in "real time" they can last longer, but between this and Ultimate Energy gain rates, it is often better to return Thunderlances after 2 Combo Skill uses rather than 3, as time constraints are strict.

With P2, 12 Thunderlance rotations open up:

• Combo Skill 1 used at 0 seconds | 3 Thunderlances | 50 seconds to expiry

• Combo Skill 2 used at 13 seconds | 6 Thunderlances | 37 seconds to expiry

• Combo Skill 3 used at 26 seconds | 9 Thunderlances | 24 seconds to expiry

• Combo Skill 4 used at 39 seconds | 12 Thunderlances | 11 seconds to expiry

As with P0 though, Ultimate Energy gain rates can make this unfeasible, with a return happening after 1 Combo Skill use, then again after 3 when buffs/debuffs/staggers are set-up.

Depending on the encounter, this may or may not align with staggers. Purposefully delaying attacks so that all Thunderlances can be set-up is a viable (and at many times optimal) approach to rotations.

Ultimate

"Thunderlance: Final Shock" is Avywenna's Ultimate, deploying a single Thunderlance EX on field. It costs 100 Ultimate Energy (85 at P4) and it's around x2.5 stronger than a regular Thunderlance, both in its raw damage when fired and on return.

It has a cooldown of 10 seconds, which does turn out to be relevant, as the Ultimate Energy generation from Expedited Delivery means that at high enough Potentials or with sufficient Ultimate Gain Efficiency, it's possible for her to Ultimate, Battle Skill, and then have Ultimate up again immediately after.

Don't forget that it is enhanced by the Tactful Approach Talent, applying 10% Electric Susceptibility for 10 seconds on hit! As this is also a Thunderlance, it benefits from Expedited Delivery, recovering some of the Ultimate Energy spent on hit and return.

Battle Skill

"Thunderlance: Interdiction" is Avywenna's Battle Skill and comprises 2 parts: return and strike. As soon as the skill is used, all Thunderlances on field will fly back to Avywenna, and at the same time she will perform a slash with her polearm to strike enemies in front.

Although these are 2 distinct attacks, the 6.5 Ultimate Energy generation from hitting a Battle Skill is triggered so long as any of these hit an enemy. Even if the strike itself misses, so long as a Thunderlance has dealt damage, both Expedited Delivery and the 6.5 Battle Skill Ultimate Energy gain will trigger.

Thunderlances return to Avywenna and not the controlled Operator. If Avywenna is not the currently controlled Operator, she will always teleport/appear right beside the currently targeted enemy when the Battle Skill is used, but she may be slightly offset to the sides - keep this in mind when positioning for retrievals.

If a Thunderlance EX has been deployed, then on return it will also apply an Electric Infliction.

Note: All damage upon Thunderlance return is determined exclusively by the Battle Skill. Deploying a Thunderlance scales with its skill (Combo, Ultimate) but retrieving them is Battle Skill damage, meaning that both regular and EX Thunderlances can benefit from Battle Skill damage bonuses and buffs like Link!

Basic Attack

"Thunderlance: Blitz" is Avywenna's Basic Attack, and it's by far and away the weakest part of her kit. Despite being an Electric Operator, all of its hits - including the Finisher - are Physical, meaning that it tends to not benefit from Arts and Electric buffs that are common in her teams.

The Final Strike in particular can be unwieldy, as it locks on at the moment of her leap. Any slight movement by enemies means the thrust can miss. Having Avywenna as the controlled Operator can make setting up Thunderlances easier, but as it means having to go through her Basic Attack sequences, it is best done sparingly.

It does have a use case, as other Operators may frequently interrupt their own sequences with Battle Skills, partially delaying them, so although it isn’t optimal, there is reason to sometimes be on Avywenna over others. So long as stagger Finishers are always done by an Operator that deals Electric DMG, the total damage difference is negligible. 

Energy

Avywenna has some variance in her rotations depending on investment Ultimate Energy thresholds vary.

It's safe to expect around 6 to 7 Battle Skill uses over the course of 4 Avywenna Combo Skills. Up to 8 can be done either by delaying rotations or with Vanguards who have SP recovery on their Battle Skills and with assistance from stagger Finishers.

This supplies 39 | 45.5 | 52 Ultimate Energy to Avywenna, with the rest coming exclusively from Expedited Delivery, owing to her Combo Skill's lack of independent generation.

As a result, Potentials make a big difference to what is actually needed.

At P0, even with 7 Battle Skills and recalling her Thunderlances after 2 Combo Skills, Avywenna would need 16.96% Ultimate Gain Efficiency to have enough for her Ultimate again after the second set of 2 Combo Skills.

Even a fully artificed Armor (e.g. Bonekrusha Poncho) provides only 16% Ultimate Gain Efficiency. This means either Avywenna needs to run some kind of Ultimate Gain Efficiency on another piece (likely Gloves), or rotations need to support 8 Battle Skill uses.

Using Vanguards who provide SP recovery on Battle Skills makes this a lot easier, being a preferred option at this level of investment.

Note: Do not forget that SP used from return does not generate Ultimate Energy, only SP used from recovery.

With P1, she gets +2 Ultimate Energy gain to Expedited Delivery, allowing for Avywenna to get enough for it even with only 6 Battle Skills, assuming a negligible amount of Ultimate Gain Efficiency.

It's to the extent that, assuming 7 Battle Skills and an artificed Armor, Thunderlances can be recalled after only 1 Combo Skill, with up to 9 able to stay on field on time for a full burst.

As noted in the Combo Skill section however, the timing for that is very tight, meaning that sticking with a 2+2 split (2 Combo Skills, 1 Battle Skill, 2 Combo Skills, 1 Battle Skill) setup is more realistic.

With P2, the extended Thunderlance duration makes a 1+3 split far easier to manage, becoming the optimal rotation.

Then at P4, the reduced Ultimate Energy cost makes 8 Battle Skills once again be ideal. With only 85 Ultimate Energy required, it's possible to have 12 Thunderlances out on the field, with no Avywenna Battle Skills needed.

Tailor your rotations to a given team and encounter to maximise damage in burst periods.

There is another Ultimate Energy set of breakpoints for Avywenna. All of the above is only applicable to the first rotation, as her Battle Skill recall would give her an ample boost of Ultimate Energy for the second rotation onwards.

This can at times allow for enough generation to use 2 Ultimates in a single stagger period at P4 (do be mindful of its cooldown however).

At P0, back-to-back Ultimates are unrealistic and wouldn’t be feasible.

At P1, even with returning 10 Thunderlances total (9 from 3 Combo Skills and 1 from Ultimate), Avywenna is still left short.

Potential 1:

Potential 4:

At P4+, 14 Thunderlances (12 from 4 Combo Skills and 1 from Ultimate) would be more than enough to completely fill up in Ultimate Energy.

If doing a 1+3 split at this investment, using one teammate Battle Skill after Avywenna's would be enough to meet the breakpoint with any Ultimate Gain Efficiency piece.

Gameplay

Avywenna's gameplay is simple in theory: loop Final Strikes, deploy Thunderlances with Combo Skills and Ultimate, then recall them with a Battle Skill.

• Apply an Electric Infliction - ensure this or Electrification is up for Final Strikes when Avywenna's Combo Skill cooldown is up;

• Combo Skill 1;

• Combo Skill 2;

• Battle Skill;

• Combo Skill 1;

• Combo Skill 2;

• Ultimate;

• Battle Skill.

As outlined in the energy section, there are multiple variations to this. Instead of 2+2 splits in Combo Skills, it's possible to do 1+3, or even 4 Combo Skills with no Battle Skill until after Ultimate depending on Potentials and gear. Adjust as needed, as Avywenna will have Ultimate Energy to spare after the first rotation.

In practice though, it does demand a fair bit of planning and adaptation. One needs to be aware of both Thunderlance and enemy positions, aim to trigger Combo Skills on cooldown to maximise uptime (even if it means delaying Final Strikes at times), and above all, ensure that all buffs/debuffs are stacked before using her Battle Skill.

Since the majority of her damage comes in a very short period, this isn't too cumbersome to do as short buff/debuff durations can be worked around, but given how burst oriented Avywenna is, it's ideal to sync everything up for the stagger period so as to benefit from its unique multiplier. 

When doing so however, don't forget to swap out of her to another Operator for Finishers, owing to the Physical DMG nature of Avywenna's Basic Attacks.

Make sure to align team skills to support her when the time comes, then repeat.

Note: The Electric Infliction from Thunderlance EX's retrieval can do more harm than good at times. If it triggers an Electrification reaction, it may overwrite that of other Operators that are built for Arts Intensity, so be careful with enemy Inflictions.