Should you pull Hissabeth?

Hissabeth is a solid unit you can pull for if:

• You like her
• You like French people
• You want an AP-positive sub-DPS for your Ultimate-based team
• You enjoy damage-over-time effects
• You enjoy Petrifying enemies

Unfortunately, her release comes at an inopportune time and she’s got a lot going against her:

• Meta-minded players likely pulled for Recoleta in 2.6
• Players investing into Impromptu teams just got Aleph and need Kiperina
• 2.8 is an anniversary patch with a very powerful limited DPS
• 2.8 also gives away a free P5 Buddy Fairchild, who is basically Hissabeth-lite (AP-positive, Plant afflatus, Ultimate teammate)

Hissabeth’s kit revolves around her eight snakes. These snakes can manifest as stacks of [Snake’s Den] on Hissabeth, stacks of [Serpentine Scales] on the enemy, or [Hiss!] incantations in the Spelldock—no matter what, there will always be eight in total.

• When the battle begins, all 8 of her snakes start as [Snake’s Den] stacks.
• At the start of the round, 1 [Snake’s Den] automatically converts into a rank 1 [Hiss!] incantation.
• Her buff incantation [Infinite Recursion] converts 2 [Snake’s Den] into two rank 1 [Hiss!] incantations that are added to the Spelldock at the end of the player’s turn.
• Each rank 1 [Hiss!] incantation inflicts 1 stack of [Serpentine Scales].
• When [Serpentine Scales] deals damage to the enemy at the end of the round, each stack converts back into 1 [Snake’s Den].

[Serpentine Scales] is a damage-over-time debuff. Notably, its Genesis Damage scales off of Ultimate Might and can crit. It’s a Special status—not a Negative Status—and cannot be dispelled. [Hiss!] is a Versatile incantation that doesn’t count against the incantation draw limit (hand size), is considered an Ultimate, and doesn’t cost any AP to cast. [Snake’s Den] doesn’t have any additional effects while on Hissabeth, so you’re incentivized to keep them in circulation as [Serpentine Scales] stacks and [Hiss!] incantations as much as possible.

Hissabeth’s attack incantation is a mass attack that deals more damage against enemies affected by [Serpentine Scales]. As mentioned above, her buff converts [Snake’s Den] into [Hiss!] incantations. Her Ultimate [Experimental Rocketry] doesn’t count against the incantation draw limit, makes [Serpentine Scales] deal more damage this turn, and converts all [Serpentine Scales] into [Hiss!] at the end of the round.

All of Hissabeth’s control capabilities lie in her Insight III effect, which inflicts [Rigidity] and grants 1 Moxie when Hissabeth attacks an enemy under the effects of [Serpentine Scales].

Pros & Cons

Hissabeth’s early portraits provide the most value, but as always, they aren’t necessary. P1 decreases her setup time considerably by converting [Snake’s Den] to [Hiss!] twice at the start of the turn. P2 allows Hissabeth to apply 2 [Rigidity] per turn for easy [Petrify].

Euphoria Melania is a no-brainer. Hissabeth’s [Hiss!] incantations can benefit from Melania’s Ultimate Might, Crit Rate, and Crit DMG buffs—the [Passion Drain] and excess Moxie storage are just the cherry on top.

As a Mental DMG dealer who can cast high-rank [Hiss!] incantations very consistently, Hissabeth synergizes very well with Vila’s buff. Her [Rigidity] application also takes the pressure off of Vila, whose healing capabilities have begun to show their age.

Noire and Hissabeth work great together in dual DPS comps. Noire’s [Spotlight] can apply even more [Rigidity] (though it prioritizes effects that haven’t been applied yet).

Euphoria Druvis III offers a slew of damage buffs to Plant afflatus characters through [Circle of Life]. She also opens up new teammate possibilities in Reality Plant characters like Argus, Euphoria Jessica, and 2.8’s Buddy Fairchild by preventing them from dispelling [Petrify].

As her banner-mate, Name Day is a pretty good support option for Hissabeth. Her frequent Ultimates allow him to gain Moxie very quickly, and his [Ceremonious] buff helps her deal more damage. The main appeal of his ultimate is its ability to allow teammates to cast Ultimates for no AP, which Hissabeth basically already does, so it’s a bit redundant. It’s great for their other teammates, though. Lastly, his Mineral afflatus is a bit awkward because you want to bring Hissabeth against Star enemies; he doesn’t do much personal damage so the afflatus advantage isn’t an issue, but taking effective damage all the time makes him a lot squishier.

Honorable mentions:

• Recoleta has the same afflatus problem as Name Day, except you actually care about her damage. Bringing either her or Hissabeth against enemies they are strong against means the other character will always take extra damage. While these two synergize alright, you’re better off running Hissabeth + Noire and Pickles + Recoleta.
• Since [Hiss!] takes no AP, Hissabeth can grant Liang Yue a lot of Peace Talons for free every turn. NOTE: Hissabeth’s [Hiss!] incantations and [Serpentine Scales] effects are NOT affected by Liang Yue’s Red/Green Zones; if you run Liang Yue with Hissabeth, Hissabeth doesn’t get much out of their partnership.
• Poor Shamane. Hissabeth’s frequent Ultimates allow him to stack up [Rippling Energy] very quickly, but Shamane can’t really keep up with the better supports you could be running instead.

Here are the best Psychubes you can use on Hissabeth:

Never-Ending Q&A

Luxurious Leisure

Brave New World

Hissabeth’s signature psychube is obviously good for her: 10% ATK, 12% Ultimate Might, and 18% Crit DMG at amplification 0 is very good. She’s the only character who can use it, though.

With [Hiss!], Hissabeth can get to maximum Luxurious Leisure stacks in two turns. The Ultimate Might substat is great because it also applies to her [Serpentine Scales] damage.

Brave New World is a great budget option that you likely already have built. Hissabeth can activate its passive constantly to great effect.

Resonances

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Resonance Pattern

Elucidation - Ultimate Might (Recommended)

A few suggestions are listed below. 3-People teams are highlighted, with the 4th slot added at the side to provide a 4-P variation of the same team or even insights on possible variations of the 3-P team.

Standard Teams

Hissabeth DPS Core[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Sub-DPS

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Name Day, Noire, Kakania, Loggerhead, Buddy Fairchild (2.8)
• Melania is Euphoria Version.
• Very standard Hissabeth comp.
• As an Ultimate-based character, Hissabeth benefits greatly from Euphoria Melania’s supportive capabilities.
• As a Mental DMG character who casts rank 2 incantations frequently, Hissabeth also synergizes with Vila very well.
• 4th slot is very flexible; both another support or another DPS would work fine.

Pure Plant Petrification[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Sustain

Support

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Argus, Jessica (E), Satsuki, Bkornblume (E)
• Sotheby, Druvis III are Euphoria version.
• Mono Plant comp with a lot of [Petrify] synergy.
• Druvis ensures that Sotheby doesn’t dispel [Petrify] while also buffing the whole team with [Circle of Life]’s DMG Bonus, ATK, and PEN Rate against [Petrified] enemies.
• Druvis also allows you to run Argus or Bkornblume (E) without fear of dispelling [Petrify].

DoT[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Sub-DPS

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Yenisei, Tooth Fairy, Vila
• Sotheby is Euphoria Version.
• This team can AFK Reveries 400-1 with Primitive Urge at P0 with Yenisei as an extra sustain.
• Hissabeth’s frequent [Rigidity] application procs Tuesday’s extra [Poison] application.
• Tuesday’s Genesis DMG Taken debuff allows [Serpentine Scales] to deal more damage.