Should You Pull Boreas?

Boreas is the first advanced Support added to the game, and also a staple to most future endgame team comps and strats. The reason for this is his ability to reduce Elemental Resistance to Ice, Water and Lightning (mainly Ice). He grants high amounts of CRIT Rate to his allies and shields to save them from mechanics that otherwise would kill most Echomancers with one hit. He is often used alongside Freda, either in tandem or alternating between one another for a maximum of buff potential.

Boreas is a unique healer who focuses on giving shields to his allies instead of directly healing them. This can guarantee that your team will survive certain attacks and mechanics that otherwise would instantly kill them, but it may be tricky to manage in the long run without proper investment on Boreas' skills.

Every 10 seconds, he'll passively apply his [Cryo Contract] shield on all allies. This shield is very distinctive, as it scales both with Boreas' HP and the damage he takes, making him a suitable Echomancer to have at the frontline, unlike most Supports. His first skill, “Cryonic Calculations”, works as a 'panic button', by instantly applying a larger shield on all allies and healing them if their HP is below 100%. However, it only has 4 uses.

“Full Encryption”, the second skill”, grants 50% Crit Rate to an allied Echomancer and 100% Crit Rate to all summons, turning Boreas into the best friend of every summoner. It also applies [Arctic Test], which allows allied Echomancers to unleash AoE Ice DMG attacks. Do take note that “Full Encryption” only affects one target, and you have to manually select the target (figure below). Otherwise, the buff will only go to Boreas. For this reason, he’s mainly suited for teams who focus on a single hyper-carry, such as Cen Ying and Feng Qingxue.

His Seed skill, “Sub-Zero Protocol” can act both as another panic button or burst window opener, as it applies everything Boreas does all at once. Much like “Full Encryption”, this one also has a special condition to be fulfilled: it will only grant the [Arctic Test] buff to Water, Lightning, or Ice Echomancers. This is important to keep in mind since “Full Encryption” has a very limited use amount of 3, which means that when it comes to the Summoner Team, Boreas will be at his best in shorter battles, such as Simultaneous Raid. For longer content like the challenge version of Synced Return, try to favor teams with one of the three listed elements when bringing him.

As a final addendum, it's worth mentioning that thanks to [Cryo Contract] and [Arctic Test], Boreas enables many possibilities of combos with Memory Traces that require a shield, as well as enabling more Elemental Reaction possibilities to many characters.

Pros & Cons

Dupes

Boreas can offer a complete experience without dupes. In fact, for most teams, his dupes aren't needed at all. However, both his first and third dupe can significantly benefit teams who rely on Ice DMG or Ice Elemental Reactions. If you plan to invest on those teams in particular, his dupes are recommended. Otherwise, it's an easy pass.

General Tips

• Boreas works better with teams who rely heavily on Auto-attacks (or summons' attacks), as most of his buffs will directly affect the allied Echomancer's next attack or trigger more often with higher ASPD. For this reason, he's often paired with Begonia.
• Boreas is particularly powerful in Wet environments, where his [Arctic Test] buff and “Sub-Zero Protocol” ultimate can instantly and steadily create Ice zones without the need of a Water zone.

Skill Upgrade Priority

• The skill 1 “Cryonic Calculations” is recommended as priority. Being an unorthodox healer, the bonus granted to Shield and Healing by leveling this skill is necessary to allow Boreas to act as the only healer in the party.

NOTE: Remember you can mix and match Echomancers among all suggestions and alternate options, adjusting based on who you have available.

Team 1

Leader: Cen Ying

THE NEW SUMMONER TEAM

Cen Ying

DPS

Luke

DPS

Yuqi

Tank

Boreas

Support

The new summoner team benefits greatly from Boreas’ +100% CRIT Rate buff to summons. Furthermore, content like Deep Abyss Nexus and Shriek Party Joint Training already come with plenty of Water Zones for Yuqi to trigger “My Vision is Clear!”. If that’s not the case, try bringing Furay & Furney or another Water Zone character to lay down the field before switching in to Luke.

Back-up Options:

Freda

Mars

Furay & Furney

Sambheka

Core Nexus Skills: Getting the Groove, Seed Overload, Life Harvest, Targeted Strike

Memory Traces

• 

  Lucky Find
• 

  Beneath The Deception
• 

  Born From Ashes
• 

  Racing Night
• 

  My Vision Is Clear!
• 

  Into The Fantasy

Alternative Memory Traces:

• 

  Happy Hours
• 

  Behind The Curtains
• 

  Dusk Radiance
• 

  Codename Diversity

Team 2

Leader: Ivana

ETERNAL WINTER

Ivana

Main-DPS

Begonia

Sub-DPS

Sambheka

Elemental Reaction

Boreas

Support

This team focuses on relentless crowd-control alongside stacking many buffs and debuffs both from its character kits and Memory Traces. You can also swap either Begonia or Sambheka for Cyros and turn it into a Melt team. It’s important to fill as many of your backup slots with Square Echomancers (Bulwarks, Vanguards, Strikers), and swap then in and out whenever possible in order to take maximum advantage of the Nexus Skill “Life Anthem”. This skill can greatly increase Ivana’s MST and consequently her overall damage output.

Back-up Options:

Cyros

Lorelle

Mo Hongxiu

Freda

Longqing

Core Nexus Skills: Strength Works Miracles, Life Anthem, Seed Overload

Memory Traces

• 

  Lucky Find
• 

  Starlit Memories
• 

  Born From Ashes
• 

  Dawn
• 

  Company
• 

  Into The Fantasy

Alternative Memory Traces:

• 

  Happy Hours
• 

  Emptiness
• 

  Behind The Curtains
• 

  Dusk Radiance
• 

  Karma
• 

  Hello, Visier
• 

  Lightchaser
• 

  Nightmare

Team 3

Leader: Cyros

ELEMENTAL FEAST

Cyros

Main-DPS

Baili Tusu

Sub-DPS

Skylar

Sub-DPS

Boreas

Support

This team has the insane capability of quickly triggering several elemental reactions in quick succession. With Boreas in the team, the previous weakness of the Fire Team not working so well in Wet environment is turned into a strength. In Wet environments, Boreas and his buffs can consistently create Ice zones without the need of a Water zone previously placed. However, Cyros can consistently place Fire zones as usual, thus enabling combos of Melt, Explosion, and Electrolysis with the help of Skylar.

Back-up Options to switch either Baili Tusu or Skylar include:

Ivana

Lydia

Hassel

Freda

Core Nexus Skills: Strength Works Miracles, Seed Chard, Seed Overload, Life Harvest

Memory Traces

• 

  Emptiness
• 

  Lucky Find
• 

  Company
• 

  Into The Fantasy
• 

  Born From Ashes
• 

  Lightchaser

Alternative Memory Traces:

• 

  Happy Hours
• 

  Dusk Radiance
• 

  Into A Paper Crane
• 

  Karma
• 

  Beneath The Deception
• 

  Lawful Cage

Feng QingxueCN

Feng Qingxue is Boreas best duo to Boreas when it comes to burst damage. With the highest damage ceiling in the game per single hit. Feng Qingxue also can take maximum advantage of Boreas’ Ice Res shred, buffs and, furthermore, both her weapons are considered summons, guaranteeing her the sweet 100% CRIT Rate bonus from Boreas.

TheaCN

Both Thea and (much) later Lynn, are the next step in Melt teams, offering great synergy.

ElpisCN

Elpis, especially with Dupe 1, brings any team with herself and Boreas to the next level of burst damage through sheer amounts of ATK buffs, CD reduction, Elemental Res shred and DR shred.

MidasCN

Similarly to Thea and Lynn, Midas also marks a “next step” in team comps. In his case, he becomes the centerpiece of the Summoner Team down the road.