Phase Strike Guide
By Angus.
- Phase Strike is the only set you need to farm.
- Universal 15% buff.
- Elemental Set is NOT 5% more damage.
- Extra elemental pieces are wasted stamina.
Phase Strike Good
Phase strike is an attachment set with the effect:
- Deal 15% increased damage to enemies with phase element debuffs.
Phase element debuffs are ubiquitous, in any properly built team you don’t even need to think about it. In practice it’s as close to a universal 15% damage modifier as you can get.
Because it’s so universal, you can put it on every single unit and perform at 90%+ dps efficiency. While farming for your dps, extra pieces can filter down to every other unit as needed. By dumping 100% of your attachment stamina into Phase Strike™ you ensure that by endgame all your useful drops will be able to be utilized.
This spares you from all RNG other than the substat drops. Every single usable piece can go on a unit. Just emphasizing that because it really is the main point.
Note: This set is also called “anomalous strike” from before the global release.
This is HS.50. Please take a second to appreciate her.
Phase Element Debuffs
Phase Elemental damage comes in 5 types: Burn, Freeze, Hydro, Electric, Corrosion. A Phase Element Debuff is any debuff which references one of these elements in the final line.
- Physical is “elemental” but has no associated elemental debuffs.
If you are ever unsure, a successful attack will show the proc at the top right of the screen: Here Sharkry used her S1 which applies overburn before the attack.
Elemental Debuffs
The corresponding element is listed at the end of the debuff description.
Not Elemental
Pretty straightforward. There is no reference to [elemental type] debuff anywhere, so it will not proc phase strike.
Other Sets
Before getting into other sets, there is one thing important to keep in mind. Any other set you farm is not going to be universal. Regardless of any conditional cases where another set is better, it is objectively less stamina efficient to farm anything other than phase strike.
Damage Profiles
This is the common misconception: Phase Strike is a 15% buff to all damage, and Elemental Sets are a 20% buff applied to all damage of a single type.
- That’s a 5% difference! So Elemental is better right?
Well no, it (usually) comes out to a ~3% increase due to how the damage formula works. But that requires a lot of considerations and specific calculations.
So let’s assume the damage formula doesn’t exist for a second and consider the profile of damage applied by a unit.
This is a simple table showing an important fact: Even in this unfounded and biased best case scenario, elemental damage sets only do more damage if over 75% of all damage that unit deals is of that element.
What does this mean? Put simply; Even if you farm for a character where an elemental set is a damage increase, stamina is wasted.
Consider the following scenario:
Ullrid is my primary dps, and she deals 100% physical damage so she gets the maximum possible return from an elemental set. I want to maximize her damage since she is my primary dps, so I dump 100% of my stamina into attachments to get a good set.
- If I farmed phase strike, every single piece that dropped will be able to go on another blade or rifle user. 100% of my stamina is used effectively.
- If I farmed ballistic boost, then get two good pieces in the same slot. Or a good piece for a sniper: That attachment is a dps loss and will be scrapped for phase strike because it’s not on Ullrid. So I’ve wasted my stamina. And not only have I wasted my stamina, I now need to spend even more for a phase strike set on my other blades or any rifles.
Even for Nemesis, using each skill once is 260% atk value physical and 170% corrosion. That’s only 60% of the damage profile! And it gets even worse if you kill the boss with sk2 -> ult.
Notes / Examples
Standing in water applies damp: This procs phase strike. Tile-debuffs can work differently in terms of when they apply, ensure the debuff is actually going to be applied before attacking.
Sharkry S1 applies overburn prior to hit: Phase Strike triggers
Cold snap is applied AFTER the hit on Lotta skill so we’d need to attack again.
Using ult to apply cold snap: no proc.
Remaining enemy is frozen after Lotta ult.
Attacking the remaining enemy with basic attack procs phase strike! Freeze is both elemental and movement.
Lotta attacks with basic after conductivity is applied: Phase Strike Procs.
Attacking paralyzed unit (conductivity removed) procs Phase strike.
Properly testing flammable requires 1T for overburn to wear off from Ksenia Sk1. Procs Phase Strike.