Should You Pull? (TLDR):
Rhiannon is a highly flexible Beast Support that simultaneously adheres to all currently available archetypes. With her generalist toolkit, she is focused on amplifying allied damage output with universal (de)buffs like ATK/HP Bonus, DMG Bonus and Crit DEF Reduction. This package is tied together with the utility of being able to go completely AP-free and even granting Extra Turns to the team.
Consider Pulling IF:
You have teams/archetypes that are missing a Support.
You want a universally applicable offensive Support.
You are a new player.
Consider Skipping IF:
You exclusively play Poison or Lingering Glow and will never touch another archetype.
[Universal Fit] allows her to slot into any team and benefit from archetype-specific buffs.
“Chirping Chorus” alongside natural Moxie gen makes her go completely AP-free permanently.
Provides a variety of rare offensive buffs like ATK Bonus and Afflatus Advantage Bonus.
Extra Turn breaks the action economy allowing a full rotation of additional actions.
Lacks any kind of teamwide Crit Rate Bonus.
Can ‘only’ Extra Turn roughly 1-2 times in the average stage.
Gameplay & Mechanics
Gameplay
It’s difficult to pin down the focus of Rhiannon’s kit as it is designed to be as widely applicable as possible. If categorized, you can split her game plan into roughly two ‘spheres’: her quality-of-life utility and her offensive support.
The former supports the latter, and is also the primary reason why Rhiannon is considered so versatile, so let’s start with that:
Her Ultimate grants all of her Basic Incantations [Aegis] for 4 rounds, granting them extra effects. The key factor is its last part: Her Incantations cost no AP to use while this is active.
This allows her to bypass the action economy completely, easily cycling her Ultimate to upkeep this effect while making sure that she doesn’t get in the way of your other casters.
The only time Rhiannon requires any AP is when she has to get to her first Ultimate, but with the Moxie gained from her Insights, you can guarantee a Turn 2 Ultimate and go from there.
That’s where the second half of her kit comes in:
[Rapport] is a stackable Forcefield similar to [Cosmic Energy] that grants all allies an Afflatus DMG Bonus. Stacks of this are generated by consuming [Attunement].
Rhiannon gets 2 stacks of [Attunement] per round to use how she pleases. Consuming [Attunement] grants stacks of [Rapport] but also feeds energy into [Raptor Kinship].
When [Raptor Kinship] hits 100%, Rhiannon can enter [Sensory Bond] aka she gets to trigger her Extra Turn effect.
Her loop can be summarized as follows:
Hit Ultimate as soon as possible.
Cast at least 1-2+ Rhiannon basics per round to consume [Attunement].
[Attunement] feeds into [Rapport] and [Raptor Kinship].
More [Rapport] means stronger buffs and debuff.
Hit [Sensory Bond] when it’s available and convenient to get an Extra Turn.
Synergies
The only reason why Rhiannon isn’t listed in every Synergy section is that it’s completely redundant. She excels at generically strong offensive (de)buffing, and this is supplemented by the versatility of going permanently AP-free on top of having access to the occasional Extra Turn, which can be used to either set up for massive damage or get out of sticky situations.
To accentuate the irony, Rhiannon gets access to a ‘permanent buff’ called [Universal Fit] that causes her to be considered part of the [Lingering Glow], [Bloodtithe], [Dynamo], [Impromptu] and [Conduit] archetypes (and will likely update for future archetypes). This allows her to count towards and benefit from archetype-specific buffs such as the ones from Lorentz Butterfly or Enigma.
Thus, it is much more conducive to talk about instances in which you don’t want to use Rhiannon:
A lot of Rhiannon’s kit is focused on buffing allies, so archetypes that deal damage indirectly (with effects rather than attacks) such as Poison don’t really benefit from her supportive toolkit beyond her quality of life. In these instances, consider if the team is banking on having an AP-free Support and if not, there are probably better options.
Rhiannon excels at filling the gaps in teams that don’t have an established Best in Slot roster or those with ‘weak links’ in their composition. However, she is usually only marginally better (roughly 30%) than these options, as while she has [Universal Fit], she doesn’t actually add to the core game plans of most archetypes (ex., she can’t funnel [Dynamo] nor inflict [Burn]). Teams that are considered ‘complete’, such as Lingering Glow, will usually not require her aid.
That said, that doesn’t mean that she cannot be considered Best In Slot for some teams, as she definitely is. Ultimately, it’s up to you to weigh your options.
Example Teams
Build
Psychubes
The Soft Rain of Yesterday , her own Signature. Stacks its effects pretty effortlessly on her and grants a decent teamwide DMG Bonus and Crit DMG Bonus. You will probably use this most often.
Family Mentor , Moldir’s Signature. It’s teamwide Crit DMG Bonus effect takes a bit longer to fully stack, especially in teams that don’t consume Moxie all that often, but once stacked it provides a bigger bonus. Usually not worth running over her own, but may come in handy in certain teams.
Resonance
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Recommended Pattern: Equanimity
Rhiannon is not designed to deal damage, so focus on survivability. Her mediocre Crit Tech gives her a below average Crit Rate stat, and she doesn’t have any Crit Rate buffing natively. In addition, the only thing in her kit with a strong multiplier is her [Feast Call], which she only casts on Extra Turns (a niche that doesn’t show up often enough to make her damage output relevant).
Portraits
Rhiannon is complete at Portrait 0. That said, as she is a Limited unit, some players may be more eager to invest in vertical progression.
Portrait 2 and 5 are the only relevant breakpoints. These speed up the rate at which you get [Raptor Kinship] which lets you generate Extra Turns faster. At Portrait 5, you can get an Extra Turn immediately upon entering combat.