Fontaine Grind Update #2
I’ve finally gotten myself up to 83 pulls and I’m pretty sure that by the time 3.8 comes to a close, I’ll be at 100. So we’ll see where the count is once Furina’s banner rolls around, but it will definitely be over 200.
Still debating if I’ll try risking some pulls on the weapon banner for her signature weapon. Out of all the Archons I own, only Ei has her signature weapon so it would be nice to do the same for the rest of the Archons I own/plan to (at least on my main account, sorry Zhongli on my America account lol).
According to one leaker, Furina should be releasing during patch 4.2 (and she has no choice to come home, I have the guarantee. Finally Keqing, you haunting me between accounts has done something good for me) and Clorinde is still unknown.
But it’s my preference she doesn’t release until after Furina since it gives me time to replenish how many primogems it’ll take me to get Furina and focus those pulls on getting Clorinde. And like I said before, I’m grabbing the free Lynette in 4.0. The Traveler is going to be using Fontaine’s Pneuma mechanic and Lynette will be using Ousia, so it’ll be good to grab two free units with the core mechanics of the new region.
So I’m starting up the grind for artifacts to make the journey a bit less irksome for when the characters get here.
To start with Lynette, I’m going to be using the 4pc Viridescent.
The 2pc Anemo DMG Bonus is nice but I really want the 4pc’s ability to decrease elemental resistance to the swirled element by 40% considering how Lynette’s burst works.
And due to her elemental skill’s cooldown being, presently, 12 seconds, I’ll be slapping onto her one of my Sacrificial Swords. A solid classic that never disappoints and I have two to spare that are at R5 each.
I’m likely going to have Lynette be in my initial Fontaine team with my Hydro Traveler. For starters, she’ll be my first Fontaine character and she’ll use the Ousia mechanic, so my first team is going to be centered around getting used to the Fontaine mechanics of Pneuma and Ousia and the enemies using them.
As for the other two characters, to fill in the slot... I’m thinking Candace and Kirara OR Mona and Kirara. I’ll try out both Candace and Mona and see which character I like using the most in the comp.
Anyway onto Clorinde, my Electro sword queen.
I’m also pre-grinding artifacts for Clorinde as well. One of her concepts included Mista and the Sex Pistols from JJBA (hilarious when Kaeya’s JP voice actor is Mista and Diluc’s JP voice actor is Giorno), which I hope they go with because that would make her kit so much fun. I’ll be going with 2pc Severed, 2pc Thundering Fury and I’m using an Electro Damage Wanderer’s Troupe goblet for the off-piece.
For weapons, I’ll see what I can give her once the leaks from actually beta testing her comes out since we don’t really have any hints from pre-existing characters like the Traveler to get a gist as to what she’ll be able to do, I’m going for a couple general options.
Sacrificial and it’s elemental skill reset is always a classic solid choice.
Favonius Sword... as a nod to when we thought Clorinde, then Captain R, was going to be from Mondstadt lol. And the particle regeneration would be pretty decent for her with what little we know about her anyway since it could help with Burst upkeep.
And the Flute. The 1=200% ATK DMG from the Chord skill at R5 actually sounds really nice and I currently have a Flute at R5 despite it only being leveled up to lvl 60.
Typically for 5*s I don’t go for their signature weapons unless I really and I mean REALLY like the character and don’t have any characters I’m trying to pull for afterwards. So I’m probably not going to get her signature weapon, if anything I’ll be putting those savings into getting Nahida and maybe even Cyno’s.
Team comps for Clorinde that I have in mind? None so far, I have to wait to see what she can do and see the state of my future present characters’ friendship levels. If I really like a character, synergy be damned they will be on a team of characters I really like OR on a team full of characters I want to get to max friendship. We’ll see how it works for her but if you look at her Vision in the Fontaine teaser, she has an Ousia Vision so we’ll see if that also attributes to any comps I have for her.
As for Furina, who I’m hoping will be the only Fontaine character who can use both Pneuma and Ousia, I’m going to use one of the upcoming 4.0 artifacts for her, the 4pc Marechaussee Hunter (looking forward to the lore from that set) and I’ll be using an HP Heart of Depth goblet for (but if possible, I’d like an HP% Sand and a Hydro DMG goblet).
The 2pc Marechaussee increases Normal and Charged Attack DMG +15% and the 4pc set, the buff is: When current HP changes, CRIT Rate will be increased by 11% for 5s. Max 3 stacks. I’m using this set going off of the Hydro Traveler’s kit. The Traveler kit’s are always essentially watered down versions of the respective Archon’s depending on the element.
During the hold version of their elemental skill, when the Traveler's HP is higher than 50%, they will continuously lose HP and cause Dewdrop DMG to increase based on their HP. So Furina’s kit will definitely be involving HP drain in some way and currently, with how it works in the current beta, any kind of HP change will give a CRIT Rate increase. Depending on how her HP drain works, I’ll probably pair her up in a team comp with Kokomi or Yaoyao.
Weapon-wise, we know she is going to be a sword user and since it is pretty up in the air on whether or not I’ll be using her signature in the first place, I’m looking at other options.
First is the Black Sword (currently on my physical Traveler, my preference since he can switch through all the elements). My honest-to-Archon reason for wanting to possibly put this sword on Furina is because of the name of the weapon’s skill: Justice. It’s called Justice and she’s the God of Justice, I’ve got no excuse otherwise lmao. But uh, yeah I guess the Increases DMG dealt by Normal and Charged Attacks by 20%. Additionally, regenerates 60% of ATK as HP when Normal and Charged Attacks score a CRIT Hit. This effect can occur once every 5s. is pretty nice for Furina too.
Another option I’m looking at is Finale of the Deep, one of the upcoming Fontaine forgeable weapons. The name of the skill? No idea yet, but the skill itself is When using an Elemental Skill, ATK will be increased by 12% for 12s, and a Bond of Life worth 25% of Max HP will be granted. This effect can be triggered once every 10s. When the Bond of Life is cleared, a maximum of 150 ATK will be gained based on 2.4% of the Bond for 12s. Bond of Life: Absorbs healing for the character based on its base value, and clears after healing equal to this value is obtained. Which I think is fairly decent for Furina and it’d be fun to experiment with how the Bond of Life works using one of my healers.
The only thing really turning me off from it is the fact that we have to farm hand guards to level them up and any seasoned player by now knows how stingy the fucking Nobushi are with their drops.
My plan 3 sword that I’m considering is the Primordial Jade Cutter, one of the few 5* swords I already own which I got from fucking around on the standard banner. Protector's Virtue grants HP increased by 20%. Additionally, provides an ATK Bonus based on 1.2% of the wielder's Max HP. Something that will definitely be useful for Furina considering what her kit will look like based on what we’re seeing with Hydro Traveler and with how important HP is to Hydro as an element overall.
So glad Hydro’s Elemental Resonance changed because before 3.0, Soothing Water was just a Healing Bonus (and resistance against Pyro)... when Barbara and Kokomi were the only 2 healers for the element. (And I guess Xingqiu on a lesser scale with one of his passives) =.= Thank you 3.0 for that change, you will always be famous.
And finally, her signature sword that we have no idea what it can do but I do know it looks great on her so I’m considering getting it (at some point). The blues are absolutely magnificent, only the best for the color that has been my favorite since I was a toddler. But regardless of the skill it will have, it will obviously be something that benefits Furina as her signature so whatever it is I will consider when making my pulls.
Team comp-wise, I definitely want her paired with a healer. Kokomi is one of my best girls and definitely my best healer, has been since 2.1 so it’s always first instinct to put her on a team but I do want to give my other healers a shot to get to max friendship.
So I’ve got two comps in mind. For a Bloom comp:
Furina
Yaoyao
Candace
Collei
And for a Hyperbloom comp:
Furina
Shinobu
Candace
Collei
I might even try putting her in a comp with Nilou whenever I get her on her next rerun. But a special 3-person team comp I’d like to do is just putting Ei, Nahida and Furina on a team and seeing what they can do together.
And that summarizes just about my current progress/where I’m at in terms of team comp ideas for the Fontaine characters I’ll be first-gen using. Sorry everyone else that interests me, you’ll have to be grabbed by chance of being a 4* on the banners I’m rolling on or during a rerun. I want to get Lyney and Freminet at some point since it will complete the sibling trio and the Trevail duo.
Wriothesley is going onto standard (may he not get the Dehya treatment) so I will see him... at some point. See you eventually, Jotaro/Erwin.
Neuvillette is pretty and going to be a male Hydro catalyst unless something changes and his lore potential makes me want to pull for him. Bro might be actually be the Hydro Dragon?? It makes me sad because I wanted that to be Kokomi but if he is, I hope his lore is pretty damn good. We’ll see how I feel after his story quest. Ayato’s story quest being boring, in my subjective opinion, made me not pull for him the first time with no regrets. I ended up getting him later on his rerun for a sibling comp though.
I MIGHT eventually grab Charlotte since she is supposed to our first Cryo catalyst and I’m plenty interested in The Steambird.
Navia is pretty but I don’t use Geo often (nor do I use Pyro often, so LOL for Lyney I guess) so IDK if I’ll be getting her.
And we will have to see about everyone else. Hope the grind is going great for everybody else, may we win all of our 50/50s.
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Space Camp [Part Five: Who Has a Secret Identity Anyway?] ! [Canvan]
In which Candace’s secret identity gets revealed...[takes place: August 1st, 2022]
@vanecessary-conditions
[tw -- bullying, panic attack]
CANDACE:
Once a week, all the interns from the various subprograms gathered in the auditorium (because yeah, fancy NASA science centers had auditoriums) to listen to employees from different branches of NASA talk about their journeys to success. It was fun and interesting. Candace liked it because sometimes, the people had really untraditional trajectories and it always made her feel a little better. Like the archivist that they had today talked about how she’d been a librarian before applying for the job at NASA, not even knowing they had archival positions. Candace hadn’t known that either and while she really would prefer to work in the astronomy department, it was nice to know there might be other options.
She was feeling bouncy and chipper as she made her way to the cafeteria with the rest of the hoard of interns. Her eyes scanned over the tops of everyone’s head, looking for Vanessa, but she couldn’t find her. Instead, she thought she felt someone looking at her. She turned to look over her shoulders and one of the girls from her program--Brittney--dropped her gaze and the person she was with glanced away suddenly.
Candace felt her face heat and she moved forwards quickly. Getting her lunch and looking again for Vanessa. She found her seated with all her engineering friends. People that Candace still didn’t know how to fit in with, but--it was better than eating alone. Even though she still sat a few seats away from Vanessa and it felt like she was alone anyway.
“Hey, Candy right?”
Candace glanced up at the girl with green hair who appeared in front of her. She wasn’t someone Candace recognized. “Uh--yeah?”
“Ohmygod. Could I, like, get your autograph?”
“What?” Candace blinked owlishly. This was not at all how she had envisioned someone asking for her autograph for the first time. Mostly because she had no idea why it was happening.
“You run CaNDyPoP101, don’t you? I love your songs! The one about the shark was on my Spotify wrapped last year.”
Candace felt as if the entire room had suddenly shrunk down. Her breath caught in her chest. All of Pacifica’s techniques for calming down felt very far away.
“I--” she didn’t know what to say. Deny it! her brain screamed at her, but she’d forgotten how to talk.
VANESSA:
Vanessa heard the whispers before she knew what was going on. It was hard not to. Everyone in the cafeteria seemed to be whispering about the same thing and even though Vanessa was trying to have a conversation with Blake and Jess about their respective cartoon sexual awakenings, all she could hear was people whispering about some YouTuber.
Did you know she’s actually CaNDyPoP101?!
I can’t believe we’ve been working with a celebrity!
Oh my gosh, do you think I could get her to collab on something with me?
Pfft, no wonder she got into the program even though she can’t even adjust a telescope.
Vanessa rolled her eyes and said something snarky to Blake. In the corner of her gaze, she saw Candace, just a couple of tables away. She thought about getting up and saying hi. They’d come to the auditorium separately, because they were in different programs, and because of that, they left separately. And if this had been a few weeks ago, Vanessa would’ve flagged her over after the talk. But she wasn’t sure what was going on.
They’d more or less silently made up after whatever weird fight, even though neither of them had actually acknowledged it. Vanessa showed up one afternoon with Candace’s Taco Bell order and the two of them silently watched an episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race. But that didn’t mean they hung out when they weren’t in their apartment. Vanessa had her friends and Candace… well, Vanessa wasn’t sure what she was up to, but she was sure Candace had friends. Candace was the type of person to always have friends. People flocked to her, because she was just so smiley and bright and —
And yeah, of course someone was talking to her now. Why wouldn’t they be?
“I’m going to ask Candace if she wants to sit with us,” Vanessa said to her friends abruptly. She stood up and walked over to where Candace was sitting and it was only then that she noticed something seemed… off about Candace. Her face was pale and the reagents around her felt like tight, sharp spikes.
“Uh, did I interrupt something?” Vanessa asked, completely aware that she was interrupting something.
CANDACE:
Candace was still panicking internally, the dominoes falling into place. Someone knew she was CaNDyPoP101. Everyone knew she was CaNDyPoP101. When she had first written the songs and started CaNDyPoP101, she had kept her identity secret because stranger danger on the internet and she didn’t want things to blow up just because she was Lindana’s daughter. She wanted to go viral because people liked her songs.
It had taken a year for that to happen. She had been 17, just about to turn 18 and the song was about plankton of all things. 3 million views later, and catching a friend downloading the song into their iPhone and Candace was glad she’d kept her identity a secret from everyone but Stacy, her best friend in Danville. The last thing she had wanted was to be labeled as a nerd.
And now, she didn’t want anyone to know because they would think she was a fake. Not serious enough. CaNDyPoP101 were pop songs about science anyway. No real scientist would take it seriously.
“What?” Candace blinked owlishly, jerking in Vanessa’s direction. Her nails were digging into her skin. “Uh—“
“No, but if you want an autograph you have to wait, I asked first,” the green haired person said.
“That’s my—roommate,” Candace blurted, her face bright red.
“What’s going on?” Brittney popped up with a pleasant smile on her perfectly pink lips.
“I was asking Candy for her autograph,” the green-haired person said.
“Oh. Why? I mean, the songs are pretty good I guess but, like, they’re super basic. They don’t have any real science,” Brittney said. “Which, I totally get why you do it that way, Candace.”
Candace said nothing.
VANESSA:
It took Vanessa a second to figure out what the hell was going on.
And then it all clicked.
Candace was CaNDyPoP101?! Like, that internet person who kept popping up everywhere? Who Vanessa couldn’t escape and at first she’d found the songs kinda annoying, but then they became a guilty pleasure, and okay, maybe she had the Solar System one memorized now?
“They’re catchy songs, Brittany,” snapped Vanessa. She didn’t know why but she suddenly felt defensive of Candace. Maybe it was because Candace looked like she was shrinking in her seat, like the flurry of anxious reagents around her was swallowing her whole. It almost reminded her of when she’d found Candace in the bathroom —
Okay, not quite that bad. Not bad enough that Candace was gonna kiss her, at least.
Still, though —
“I’d like to see you do better. Especially since your singing voice sounds like a cat in heat. Your rendition of “Oops! I Did It Again” at intern karaoke keeps me up at night.”
Brittney blinked.
“I was just saying the songs aren’t that deep, that’s all. That’s probably smarter, though. Makes them really popular with people who want to seem smarter.”
CANDACE:
Candance couldn’t believe this was happening. She had been so careful. Not even her brothers or parents knew that she was CaNDyPoP101. It had just been something silly she’d started just for fun and it had snowballed into something so big. She didn’t want people to know because she liked the anonymity. People got weird about pseudofamous people. Take her mom for example.
“Yeah!” the green-haired girl said, glancing at Brittney and then crossing her arms at Vanessa. “There isn’t anything wrong with basic. That’s why they’re so catchy.”
“Hey, Candy, isn’t your mom, like, famous? Did she show the songs to producers she knows?”
Candace’s face went bright red. Brittney would only know that if she had Googled her family. Or stalked Candace’s Instagram. It wasn’t that Candace hid that her mom was late 80s pop sensation Lindana, but--she didn’t really talk about it either. For the same reason that she didn’t tell people that she was CaNDyPoP101. Because people would think she hadn’t done it on her own. Because she probably hadn’t…
Candace was so deep in her whirlpool in her anxiety, she hardly even noticed Vanessa was, like, hardcore defending her. She just kind of nodded at Brittney.
“Gosh, that is so cool. No wonder you got into the program. Have you written a song about NASA? You totally should. I am sure they’d love to put it on the social media accounts.”
VANESSA:
Something felt off about this whole exchange.
Namely, Candace’s friends or whatever were being really fucking rude. Oh, no, not like blatantly rude. They were doing the thing that Vanessa hated, which was making rude things sound like nice things, when really they were just being absolutely bitchy. Vanessa preferred people being rude to her face and if they had mean things to say, they should just say them without making themselves feel better.
“Are you trying to say that Candace only got into the program because of these songs?” asked Vanessa outright, because she could not deal with these stupid little passive aggressive digs any more.
Brittany or Brittney or whatever her name was blinked.
“What? I never said that — are you saying that?”
“Don’t give me that bullshit,” snapped Vanessa. “You know what you’re saying.”
“I mean, I’m just saying that it makes sense that someone mega popular would get into the program —”
“If that was the case, wouldn’t our bosses be making a big deal about it? Like, making us take more pics and putting Candace in them? Literally, why would they hide this? They’d be putting her on the front page of the website and making her do a collab for the telescope!”
CANDACE:
Brittany was totally implying that she only got into the program because of her stupid singing blog. Which Candace already knew. She had a feeling ever since she’d gotten the acceptance. Nothing else made sense. What? Candace got accepted because she had taken a few voluntary science classes? Fat chance.
She felt ready to cry, her throat was totally closing up and it was hard to breathe. The plastic fork that she’d been holding started to cut into her skin, though the pain kept her sort of grounded, so she didn’t just start fucking sobbing in the middle of the cafeteria. There were already enough people looking at them and whispering.
Her brain was fuzzy white noise. The only thing that cut through was Vanessa’s voice, sharp as a knife. Candace blinked and her head turned towards the other girl.
“Well, they don’t want to make it seem like they’re playing favorites, but we’ve definitely included her in the social media internship,” Brittney scoffed.
Candace reached out with the hand that wasn’t holding the plastic fork and grabbed Vanessa’s wrist. “Can we just--go?” she rasped, her lip wobbling.
“Ohmigod, I am so sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you!” said the green-haired girl.
Brittney just rolled her eyes. “She’s just trying to get attention. You know she went to school for acting, right?”
VANESSA:
Without even realizing what she was doing, Vanessa looped an arm around Candace’s shoulder, dragging her close. Candace was still sitting, so that meant that her head kinda hit against Vanessa’s hip. It was a bit awkward, but Vanessa wanted to hold Candace, put herself between Candace and these bitches.
Part of her wanted to yell — to make fun of Brittney’s stupid glittery phone case or the BTS pin on her bag. Part of her wanted to make some dig about Brittney’s own major, but to be honest, Vanessa didn’t know much about Brittney or what she was studying in school. But the biggest part of her —
Well, she just wanted to get Candace out of there.
“If she wanted to get attention,” Vanessa snapped, “then she would’ve told us all the first day.” She tilted her head at Brittney and narrowed her eyes. “Wow,” she drew out the word long, smacking her lips together. “You’re really not very smart, are you?”
She helped Candace up and with an arm around her waist, Vanessa pulled her away from the ogling crowd.
CANDACE:
Vanessa pulled her up.
Candace was glad. Her legs were asleep. She stumbled as she got her legs untangled from the cafeteria bench. Reaching over, she grabbed her bag but abandoned her food. Her breath was ragged. She was pretty sure that Vanessa could hear her, which was embarrassing, but she couldn’t think about that. She needed to think about something else.
The walk from the cafeteria into the hallway felt incredibly long. She needed to do something before she collapsed.
Look for five things. Everyone staring at her. Vanessa’s shoe had an aglet missing. The black of her pants didn’t match the black of her shirt. The fact with every step she took, Candace could see a sliver of her pale ankle. Her black nail polish was chipped, Candace could see it from where Vanessa still had her arm around her waist.
She could feel Vanessa’s arm around her; her and was kind of sweaty. She could feel Vanessa’s hair tickling her cheek. Feel her breath on her ear. Feel her body jostling against the other girl’s. Feel her breath on her ear.
She could hear Vanessa’s breath. She could hear people murmuring as they passed by. The sound of forks scraping at plates.
She could smell the cafeteria food--pizza. She could smell Vanessa. She smelled like her horrible cheap perfume she used to spray everywhere. She smelled like sweat and her vanilla shampoo. And a bit sharp like oil which must’ve gotten on her clothes at some point.
They stepped into the hallway.
Candace’s heart rate had calmed down a bit and she didn’t think she was gonna spiral into a full on panic (or, at least, that she had drawn herself back from one), but when she blinked she was crying. She pulled away from Vanessa and stepped across the hall.
“Sorry,” she sniffled. “No one was supposed to--” Her lip wobbled. She felt pathetic. “No one was supposed to find out.”
VANESSA:
“I don’t know why they’re being so weird about it,” said Vanessa, because, well, that was exactly how she felt. She leaned on the wall, arms crossed over her chest, slumped down a little bit. “So you’re secretly responsible for some really catchy songs? So what?
It did put a lot in perspective for Vanessa, though. Like, how Candace had actually been interested in science and space and stuff before this internship and just hadn’t told anyone before. That made more sense than her waking up one day and suddenly deciding that theater wasn’t her thing anymore.
She looked at Candace now, quietly flicking her eyes across the hallway. The frantic storm of reagents around Candace was still there, though now that they had left the cafeteria, it had thinned out some.
“Look, if you’re worried about what Brittney said, don’t be,” said Vanessa. “You have better grades than me! So, maybe they did take a chance on you — but great scientists can come from anywhere, you know? Like, Hedy Lemar! She was an actress and an inventor. So, really Brittney’s being, like, super anti-feminist if she’s dismissing you for doing theater.”
Vanessa was rambling. Rambling to fill the silence, because Candace was sniffling and Vanessa didn’t want her to sniffle.
She reached a foot to nudge Candace on the shin.
“My three words of wisdom: fuck the haters.”
CANDACE:
That was Vanessa for you.
Fuck the haters.
She had always been like that and it had always annoyed Candace. She had, also, always sort of admired it. Half her irritation came from…jealousy? Something like that. Candace wished it was that easy for her. That she could just say fuck the haters and do whatever she wanted, not caring what others thought of her. But Candace couldn’t do that, because she grew up with a mom who was obsessed with the five seconds of fame she’d gotten over twenty years ago. And a brother who made it his mission to upstager her at every turn. Candace had always been criticized for seeking attention. Which was what it felt like to her. Doing things against the grain. It was attention grabbing. Attention seeking.
Still, the advice made a watery smile come to her lips.
Everyone is crazy.
“Yeah, easy for you to say,” Candace finally said with a little scoff, but there wasn’t any heat behind the words. There was another moment of silence. “Er, thanks for, uh--sticking up for me.” She reached up to rub at the tear tracks on her face, trying not to smear her makeup as she did so. “You didn’t have to do that. I’m, uh, gonna go clean up in the bathroom but…” she took a shaky breath and glanced up at Vanessa from beneath her lashes. She crossed her arm over her chest, grasping at her elbow.
“Do you think it’s okay if I eat my lunch with you?”
VANESSA:
“Oh yeah!” It came out a little too enthusiastically. Vanessa tore her gaze away from Candace and shrugged. “I mean, if you don’t mind an animated discussion about which cartoon characters were our sexual awakenings.”
She got the feeling that Candace didn’t really like her friends, which was, like, valid. They were very different from Candace’s friends back in Swynlake, who were all, like, very normal (and also … incredibly straight? What was up with that? Well, Vanessa got some #bisexual vibes from Rose, but maybe that was wishful thinking on her part).
“I mean, hopefully they paused the conversation for me.” She snorted a little and then leaned onto the wall, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her baggy pants, before adding, “And, uh, no problem. You don’t have to make a big deal about it or anything.”
Her cheeks burned a little and she looked at the floor, kicking an imaginary something on the ground.
“I’ll, uh, wait for you out here,” she said. “Don’t take too long. I’m hungry.”
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