Rossi Guide and Best Build

Rossi is a 6-star, Physical, Sword Guard who shines as a damage dealer, having a heavy emphasis on critical hits. Her core mechanic revolves around converting Arts Inflictions into Vulnerability stacks, all the while doing plenty of Physical and Heat DMG to tear enemies down.

Emphasis on "and", as despite being a Physical Operator, Rossi works with split damage types. Most of her attacks deal Physical DMG, but the harder-hitting parts of her kit are Arts-based. This hybrid approach to combat is reflected in her class more generally as well.

Although she is a Guard, her kit is somewhat akin to that of a Striker's. As is typical for Guards, Rossi can build statuses quickly, with both her Combo and Battle Skill able to supply Vulnerability stacks for the team. She's unique from others however, in that she builds more Vulnerability when consuming Arts Inflictions, and her Talents become more potent against Combusted enemies.

As a result, despite being a Physical Operator, Rossi needs at least one team member to apply Arts Inflictions to enemies. Not only to sustain her Vulnerability stack build, but for her damage as a whole, as both her skill multipliers and buffs rely on it.

Combo

"Moment of Blazing Shadow" is Rossi's Combo Skill, and it’s triggered only when an enemy has both Vulnerability and Arts Infliction stacks on them at the same time.

It's a 2-part skill: the first sequence deals middling amounts of Physical DMG, but it then leads to a second prompt which the player needs to activate at the right time. Rossi will always transition to the second part, which applies 1 instance of Lift and buffs Rossi's Critical Rate and Critical DMG for 15s. Unlike most other Combo Skills, it generates 20 Ultimate energy (10 from each sequence).

If, however, the second sequence is timed perfectly, then it will build an additional stack of Vulnerability on top.

The more Arts Inflictions are present, the harder the skill will hit, but keep in mind that this scaling element is for damage purposes only. Rossi will at most only ever build 2 Vulnerability stacks with one cast: 1 from the second sequence, and another from perfect timing!

Note: Vulnerability only builds if the second sequence consumes Arts Inflictions. If Arts is cleared after the first sequence but before the second (such as with a reaction), then there will be no Vulnerability applied!

It has a decently short cooldown - 15s before M3 - which matches the duration of its buff, but depending on the team it may be difficult to trigger on demand owing to general SP economy. This means that in practice, unloading Rossi's damage shortly after is often for the best.

Battle Skill

"Crimson Shadow" is one such skill. Like her Combo Skill, it has 2 parts: by default, it will deal Physical DMG and apply Lift, but if Rossi hits a target that already has a Vulnerability stack, then she unleashes a set of "Wolven Ambrage" that deal Heat DMG. This Wolven Ambrage also generates an additional 10 energy for Rossi alone, making for a total of 16.5 when SP consumption is factored in.

This second strike deals 50% more damage than the first and 3 times as much stagger, so SP spent on it is best done when Vulnerability stacks are already built to trigger Wolven Ambrage, but there may be circumstances where it’s worth using it for the first stack (such as to maximise Pogranichik’s Fervent Morale).

Talents

"Nicks and Scratches" is the first of her Talents, and it triggers only when the Wolven Ambrage follow-up from her Battle Skill lands, applying "Razor Clawmark" to targets for 25s.

It functions as a DoT, with a multiplier of 30% ATK p/s, with each tick doing Physical DMG. On top of this damage gain, it also increases the target's Physical and Heat DMG taken by 12%, being a very valuable multiplier.

Note: The DoT scales with Rossi's ATK, but the buff is universal: every team member that deals Physical or Heat DMG also benefits from it.

"Seething Blood" is Rossi's second Talent, and a driving force behind why critical hits are so valuable for her. Against Clawmarked enemies, whenever a skill deals Critical DMG, it triggers a 24% ATK hit and restores some of Rossi's HP, getting a x1.5 multiplier against Combusted targets.

There is no internal cooldown for the damage and heal effect, so multi-hit skills can quickly stack up on multiple triggers.

Ultimate

"'Razorclaw' Ambuscade" is Rossi's Ultimate, and it comprises a barrage of multiple weaker hits, which then end with a 2-sequence slash that applies Heat Infliction, all doing Heat DMG. 

As far as damage goes, it's easily Rossi's strongest ability, as it has an additional effect that makes all of its hits gain a Critical DMG Boost.

While it does have a steep cost of 110 Ultimate energy, rotations tend to revolve around stacking as many buffs/debuffs as possible for it, being both a powerful nuke and the best way to trigger Seething Blood’s effect.

Basic Attack

"Seething Wolfblood" is Rossi's Basic Attack string. It is decently fast, and there is an animation cancel point halfway during its fourth sequence, but it offers only a minimal timesave. Rossi will perform a dash forwards on her Final Strike, making it easy to hit even against mobile enemies, but otherwise it’s a rather unremarkable skill.

As it deals Physical DMG, it benefits from buffs like Breach, but on the flipside means that it falls short on a team that has Electrification for example. 

Given Rossi’s long Combo Skill cast, it’d be ideal to not on-field her and have other Operators be controlled instead, but as her signature weapon needs Critical DMG ticks to build stacks, staying on Rossi and swapping out for skills would work best if using it.

Energy

Rossi’s energy demands may seem steep at first, considering her 110 Ultimate energy cost, but in practice she doesn’t need all that much.

Rotations are likely to follow a 2-cycle template: trigger Rossi’s Combo Skill and Battle Skill twice, then Ultimate after.

Since her Combo Skill generates 20 energy and her Battle Skill generates 16.5 (if Wolven Ambrage is triggered), 2 sets of each puts Rossi at 73 energy. With 4 teammate Battle Skills being used, this would leave her at 99 energy, more than enough for her Ultimate cast with only a single, un-artificed armor piece.

More important than Rossi’s energy management is that of her allies, as some may be more demanding than others to have Ultimates aligned with Rossi’s own, so try to work team builds around a planned rotation to maximise efficiency. 

Gameplay

Rossi has a tremendous number of Operators she can work with, but while the specifics on how her rotations work differ, there's a general order of skills and status build-up that most will adhere to:

• Apply Vulnerability and Infliction to a target.

• Use Rossi's Combo Skill with Perfect Timing to consume the Infliction, build a further 2 Vulnerability stacks and self-buff.

• Use Rossi's Battle Skill to build a 4th Vulnerability stack and apply Razor Clawmark.

• Apply Combustion, as well as any ally buffs/debuffs.

• (Optional) Consume the Vulnerability stacks built with Crush or Breach.

• Use Rossi's Ultimate.

Don't forget that because her Combo Skill buffs are rather short, it's important that any subsequent skills - be it a Battle Skill or Ultimate - follow shortly. Delaying too much can risk the buff falling off. 

While her Battle Skill casts quickly, her Combo doesn’t, so even if Rossi is primarily the controlled Operator, it’s best to try and swap out of her prior to Combo Skill use so as to not lose out on Final Strikes in a rotation.

On 0 energy starts, the Apply Statuses → Combo Skill → Battle Skill → Consume Vulnerability flowchart can be repeated to afford Rossi and the team enough time to stagger and build resources.

As Rossi's Ultimate is quite fast, there's usually plenty of time to get Finishers before or after it, but whether Rossi or another Operator's Finisher is used (for Arts DMG) depends on the team.

After the Ultimate burst, make use of the Heat Infliction that Rossi builds to condense further rotations (or to set-up reactions/ally triggers), starting the cycle over again. Consuming Vulnerability stacks is optional as Rossi herself doesn't need it - which makes pure Arts teams be viable - but it's a good opportunity to work with other Physical Operators that can either support (Breach) or fill a sub-DPS role (Crush).