Should you pull Windsong?

We don’t usually say yes or no outright, but in this case most likely yes. Windsong is widely considered the best single-target burst character almost since her release. Among the top-ranked damage dealers, Windsong places as the counterpart to Lucy, and together (for now) they beat out all the other Carry characters. Luckily, unlike Lucy (and Jiu Niangzi), Windsong is not a limited character, and will be added to the standard pool in patch 2.1.

Ley Lines. They are beautiful, mysterious and full of grace - at least in the eyes of Windsong. She has worked on Ley line theory, including independent research, theoretical practice, writing scientific papers, participating in academic panels, and even using it as a compass to find stray cats and dogs… Unfortunately, most of these efforts had little effect. In the eyes of most people, Windsong is just a dreamer, a delusional and even a pathetic person who advocates for a pseudo-science.

Windsong’s ley line studies have taken her to many places. She has taken many bad jobs with poor payment, but no matter how bad the bread is, it has allowed her to persevere.

Coming to Rayashki, she gained a small but eager audience. Here, for the first time, someone took her discoveries seriously. For the first time, someone encouraged her ideals, and for the first time, someone was willing to run with her in the endless unknown. Finally, her studies were no longer a personal fantasy, but a tangible reality.

Windsong is a 6-star Arcanist of the Star Afflatus. She is an incredibly high burst damage Crit oriented character.

Her main Incantation is technically "Rehabilitation", it's what you'll attempt to stack in your hand and it's individual casts are what her Ultimate, "Long Long Journey", casts all at once. This Incantation's damage is increased through the spending of [Eureka], gained though casting her Incantations.

Her other Incantation, "Practicability" is used to generate "Rehabilitation", as it grants Windsong stacks of [Preparation - Windsong] that are consumed at the start of the round to generate an amount of her cards. Not only that, when "Long Long Journey" is cast, all "Practicability" Incantations in hand are transformed into "Rehabilitation" ones, further increasing her fuel.

As told before, "Long Long Journey", casts all "Rehabilitation" Incantations in your hand at once. However, first it applies [Confusion] to the target, then it grants [Eureka] to Windsong and prevents [Eureka] from being consumed that turn, and for every stack of [Eureka] Windsong gains a stack of [Measure] (also granted by her Insights whenever an ally crits or inflicts [Confusion]) that increases her Crit Rate and DMG.

Gameplay

• Pull "Rehabilitation" Incantations
• Ultimate
• ????
• Everything's dead

Oversimplified as that sequence is, that is pretty much what happens. Of course, there is nuance to this; I'd argue that Windsong is probably one of the hardest characters to play when compared to her peers. To make the most of her, you need to think about your card management, maximize the cards generated through [Preparation] and slowly build your hand to consist of as much Rank 3 "Rehabilitation" Incantations as possible to unleash with "Long Long Journey".

But that's all you have to pay attention to. Her self-applied [Confusion] and the stacks of [Measure] she gains, on top of her other Insights, all but guarantee that she at least critically strikes most of her attacks, and unlike Spathodea, she doesn't have to actively interact with her own kit to maximize her Crit Rate. This is great because it opens up a lot of options in terms Supports to pair her with: Vila is of course great for her Moxie/Eureka and Crit buffs but other characters like 6, Necrologist, 37, Voyager, Twins Sleep, and later on with Semmelweis, Mercuria and Kakania, there are very few characters she doesn't play nice with.

And that's because she is ultimately a very simple gal. She hits Ult, things die. The difficulty lies not in the mechanics of her kit but the player optimization of it, and with the new Tuning releasing with the patch 1.9 anniversary even that part is dumbed down, earning her her top spot among the damage dealers.

Pros & Cons

Windsong works fine at P0.

Windsong’s Portraits are all very viable, but they’re not necessary. The only Portrait we don’t recommend aiming for is her second one, as she already gets so many stats that P2 doesn’t really matter. When looking at Portraits for Windsong, look at the ones that increase the damage of “Rehabilitation” since that’s what “Long Long Journey” will spam.

While Windsong has no strict “gimmick” besides Crit, she prefers supports that don’t require a lot of set-up due to requiring a lot of preparation herself.

Notable synergies include:

6

Vila

Tooth Fairy

37

Future notable synergies:

Kakania

Here are the best Psychubes you can use on Windsong:

Another Story

For Rehabilitation

Outside the City

Blasphemer of Night

Another Story (30-turn setups), For Rehabilitation (5-turn setups), Blasphemer of Night (if proccable)

Level 7

Level 9

Level 10

Standard Teams

Global Standard: Underpaid School Staff [GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• Windsong excels at setting up her cards to do incredibly high amounts of burst damage through consuming those with her Ultimate. In addition, she has very good Crit stats which allows her to benefit from Crit supports like Tooth Fairy and Vila, who can boost Crit Rate/DMG while also having access to passive healing that doesn’t impede on Windsong’s setup.
• On the other hand, in 3-man settings, Windsong may struggle with AP and thus prefers either Supports who can leave Windsong to do what she wants or Supports that can help with generating high ranked cards.
• 37 and Regulus fall in the former category; technically Regulus only has to act every other turn while on the other hand, 37’s gimmick is her FUA, so she can be left to fend for herself as well. In the latter category we find 6 and An-An Lee. The wise old twink is the most common pick, giving access to easy and powerful buffs (such as +Incantation Might!) while also providing [Incantation Empowerment I] when his Eureka is stacked. An-An Lee does something similar (though you need Tuning for it) while also providing some defensive coverage (the [Daze] debuff and -DMG Dealt) to help Windsong keep safe during her set-up.

Global Raid: On A Long Journey[GLB]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Necrologist
• Windsong excels at setting up her cards to do incredibly high amounts of burst damage through consuming those with her Ultimate. In addition, she has very good Crit stats which allows her to benefit from Crit supports like Vila, who can boost Crit Rate/DMG while also having access to passive healing that doesn’t impede on Windsong’s setup.
• In terms of Support, there are many options. The most popular combination is 6 + Necrologist, as 6 provides good buffs from his [Duty] Incantation (preferably +Pen Rate or +Incan Might) on top of also granting access to targeted [Incantation Empowerment I] to help Windsong with upgrading Cards. Necrologist on the other hand is there simply to provide that massive +40-50% DMG Bonus from her Ultimate, since Windsong doesn’t need that much Crit support from allies.
• Voyager and 37 are options here too. Voyager is a phenomenal [Confusion] applier (helping Windsong with her [Measure] mechanic) and has access to some pretty amazing crowd control, while 37 of course does very funny things off of a well prepared Windsong Ultimate (all Windsong’s “Rehabilitation” casts under [Mapping] count as FUA).
• Yenisei is also to be considered for this team if you feel like it is too flimsy and to have another self-upgrader on the team for Tuning.

CN Standard: Underpaid School Staff [CN]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• 4th slot options: Kakania
• The holy grail of single-target teams. Windsong excels at setting up her cards to do incredibly high amounts of burst damage through consuming those with her Ultimate. In addition, she has very good Crit stats which allows her to benefit from Crit supports like Vila, who can boost Crit Rate/DMG while also having access to passive healing that doesn’t impede on Windsong’s setup.
• The optimal set-up here would be to take 6 (or Mercuria if at least P1) + Kakania and Vila, though any of the options are viable. Why? Because 6 provides very consistent buffing and [Incantation Empowerment I] which can speed up the set-up process (Mercuria has a bunch of amazing offensive buffs but she’s extremely hard to play as you’ll have to track 2 rounds in advance to upkeep her [Cosmic Energy] or you’ll lose all your relevant buffs). Kakania is used because she has a similar ramping playstyle to Windsong (which ends up resulting in 2 massive bursts of damage, one from Windsong and one from Kakania) while also providing an amazing ATK buff with [Solace].
• The two other options here are 37, who is still somewhat relevant but definitely no longer considered for the team if not at P2+ due to her lacking kit. Barbara is an interesting play again if you’re using Semmelweis (check CN Standard Team) or simply as a 5-star alternative to someone like 6, as she can transform her own cards into allied cards with [Dream Visitor]. Is she good? In a Raid setting probably not, but it is an option.

CN Raid: Hydrogen Bomb vs Baby Raid [CN]

Damage Dealer

Support

Sustain

TEAM EXPLANATION

• Windsong excels at setting up her cards to do incredibly high amounts of burst damage through consuming those with her Ultimate. In addition, she has very good Crit stats which allows her to benefit from Crit supports like Vila, who can boost Crit Rate/DMG while also having access to passive healing that doesn’t impede on Windsong’s setup.
• In 3-man settings, Windsong prefers Supports that don’t really need to act to maximize their full potential. Semmelweis and Mercuria are good examples of this, either providing increasing DMG Bonus and Crit buffs through passively applied effects or a single incantation while Mercuria can AFK for the most part and still provide most of her buffs. Note that Semmelweis is a very risky pick due to the HP Drain she applies to allies. 6 is here for extra reliable buffing and [Incantation Empowerment I].
• Vila is of course the obvious pick, but Kakania and Barbara are interesting options. Kakania provides a great ATK buff with [Solace], which Windsong benefits from greatly as she gets a lot of Crit stats on her own, while Barabara has the unique feature of transforming her own cards into those of allies with [Dream Visitor]. In addition, her hyper consistent shielding and passive healing allow her to make Semmelweis teams a bit more manageable.