Should You Pull?
If you are a Meiling fan and/or like her MV, go for it! Otherwise, probably better to sleep on this Prayer. Things may be going swimmingly for a certain Swimsuit Celestial, but while it is sticking around until the end of this month, the gates will be well and truly open for L80 Hong (be the change)! Being our 4th Meiling variant that is available until April 5th who will be unleashing the dragon within against those who stand in her way, is this Prayer a snoozer and a loser, or a change of pace and a gate-crasher?
Well this Technical-Class Friend has her fair share of support for the team, which is arguably her strongest feat as a Relic. She comes with the usual kinds of support all over her kit, being useful to any kind of Friend, most importantly the Yang-based ones. These include Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, Spirit Power, Agility, Accuracy, CRIT Accuracy and Barriers, but the more outstanding support lies in her Skill 3 having a Yang ATK II buff lasting 4 turns as well as a team increase in resisted damage. The former lasting a while can be used in a rather flexible way, especially considering Rank II buffs are immune to buff removal, and the latter is similar to this Skill except it’s on the resisted side instead of effective!
L80 Meiling also comes with some other tricks up her sleeve, such as her solid Burn anomaly handling, whether it’s on enemies or on herself. Inflicting 3 layers of them on all enemies with a Skill, then a further 2 on a Spell Card/Last Word, she can do some good in the Burn breaking department, but she can also increase her offensive stats from her self-inflicted Burn anomalies which never hurts. She also manages to sneak in a 100% Stun on her Solo Focus Shot which paired with her 1500 Agility, could come in handy from time to time.
However, when it comes to the positive side of L80 Meiling’s kit, the gates start to close up here unfortunately. From the messy elemental distribution, to her Killers being average at best and her damage output being on the weaker side for Relic standards, L80 Meiling does suffer in this regard. In terms of elements, having up to 4 different bullet lines with Star in them, yet having a Story Card that boosts Star by 50% on top of her Last Word having a mix of Body (lines 1-2) and Sharp (lines 3-6 with this same Story Card not boosting Body bullets is extremely unfortunate. So much so, that she can’t even fully capitalize on her Story Card. Maybe a future Story Card that boosts Star, Sharp and Body will, ahem, be the change that this Last Word needs to shine, but for now, it’s a difficult mess. However, if this does happen in the future, there is still the Killer issue to deal with. Not only are they average with Soul and God being the best ones here, but the duo for Killers being Parallel Presence and Mastermind (LW) that are a given for Relic Friends appear much less than usual. L80 Meiling can dream big, but it’s a shame a change isn’t gonna come…
As for Story Card Spotlight, we have a returning one featuring in this Prayer which is How Irrational…, boosting Yang ATK by +3 Stages (2T) as well as slightly boosting Sharp and Wood bullets by 20% and 15% respectively. This is a solid pick for somebody like L80 Meiling with her Spell Card 1, and it has a great Yang ATK stat stick too, but at the core it is a reliable way to increase one’s Yang ATK.
Featured Story Card "How Irrational..."!
So is it true that this Prayer should be slept on more than say, L80 Kasen Ibaraki who came last month? With a heavy heart, that is a yes. If you are a loyal Meiling fan and/or like her MV and such, by all means go for her if you have at least 1750 Seal Crystals! That said, on the other side of things, L80 Hong Meiling is probably on the weaker side of Relics. Maybe she can outperform somebody like L80 Alice Margatroid, but there isn’t much of a change beyond that. Another factor worth taking into account is that we don’t know what to expect during the countdown to the 3 Year Anniversary which is on May 11th. We don’t know what will arrive in less than 2 months now, but what we do know is that the more Seal Crystals in advance, the better! With this in mind, spending up to 1750 Seal Crystals for somebody like L80 Meiling who despite her helpful Yang ATK II and resisted damage boost for the team, ends up falling short and isn’t the best investment compared to those who came before, as other 2024 examples of stronger Relics include the very useful L80 Reimu Hakurei and L80 Kasen Ibaraki.
So if you aren’t sleeping on this Prayer and want your very own Gatekeeper to be the change you need, best of luck to those who are going forth and hopefully she makes your acquaintance before the gates to this Prayer close up on April 5th!
Quick Overview
L80 Hong Meiling is a Technical-Class Friend looking to change things up with her team support (including Yang ATK II and Resisted Damage boost), Burn Anomaly breaking and somewhat of a mixed approach to her kit.
Contagious Dragon Energy of Resistance
It’s handy for L80 Meiling to have not one, but two kinds of special ways to support the team from Skill 3, inflicting a long-lasting Yang ATK II buff for the team (which lasts 4 turns) and a 30% damage increase in resisted damage, helping allies when going all out in their attacks and happen to have resisted bullets, and the Yang ATK II buff can be very flexible too with its longer turn duration, given various situations that may arise.
Gates of Support Opening Up
L80 Meiling is also able to grant all kinds of useful traditional support, including Yang ATK, CRIT ATK, Agility, Spirit Power, Accuracy, CRIT Accuracy and Barriers. On top of the above support, this handful of buffs can make this Gatekeeper rather compatible with all kinds of Friends, especially the Yang-Based ones.
Be the Anomaly
Being able to break 5 Burn anomalies on all her enemies off the jump is a solid feat. L80 Meiling achieves this via a mix of Skill 3 and either her Spell Card 2 or Last Word. She can also benefit from anomaly buffs via Burn or Freeze anomalies in the form of offensive buffs for herself, and should anyone inflict Paralyze anomalies onto her, she will gain more Spirit Power.
Awkward Accuracy
While L80 Meiling isn’t short on team Accuracy buffs, the way she goes about them can be a little awkward to work around. Her only form of extended Accuracy buffs come in her Last Word Pre-ATK, with any additional ones achieved from Grazing. Outside of her Last Word, it might help her to have some kind of support via Story Cards or an allies’ support, unless she can pull off multiple Grazes.
Rainbow Sign of Many Elements
Despite having a Story Card that boosts Star elemental bullets by 50%, only 4 Star bullet lines appear in L80 Meiling’s entire kit (two in her Spell Card 2, two in her Last Word). Meanwhile, she does have a solid amount of Fire in both her Spell Cards (4 in both), but there are all kinds of elements scattered around her kit resulting in quite the inconsistency. Having to juggle Metal, Water, Wood, Moon and Earth in her kit as well as the rest is quite the ordeal, making elemental breaking more difficult.
Gated by Weak Killing Power
From a very average range of Killers to work with, and with the Parallel Presence/Mastermind (LW) Killers being less frequent here, L80 Meiling will really struggle when it comes to landing those guaranteed CRITs. Among the best ones to work with here are Soul and God, but even with any Killers landing, L80 Meiling doesn’t have the best damage output compared to her competition, and a big part of this at the moment comes down to her Story Card (boosts Star and Sharp) not quite giving that full boost to her Last Word due to its very awkward bullet lines in Body and Sharp. But will therebe a change one day in the form of a Story Card that boosts Star, Body and Sharp at the same time?
