TheaBuild and Guide

The queen of Yama is the embodiment of a Tactician. She has all the tools needed to control the battlefield and makes superb use of them: Memory Trace enabler, fire zone applier, healing, anti-air, area denial, damage, she has it all and more. Despite this packed kit, Thea can be a bit more advanced in terms of gameplay when compared to other Echomancers. Do keep it in mind to know what to expect and to get the hang of her kit. For a timing mage like Thea, time is of the essence for mastering her skills. Once you get there, she can be an efficient and fun addition to a wide spectrum of teams, ranging from fire-centric to Revival speedrun or Diamond.

Tier list comment

Thea's own output is acceptable. When her skills are released, they can record the current HP of her allies and rewind time to save the team in moments of crisis. With her on the field, players don't even need to bring a healer. Of course, Thea's ability is more than that. She can reduce fire resistance and generate fire zones, as well as intercept airborne units that are the most troublesome for the fire team.

Thea’s main selling point is her unique ability to ‘reverse time’, allowing for many advanced strategies against burst mechanics or even making the team near immortal when she’s paired with a dedicated healer. This makes Thea a desirable character to have in your roster from high-end depths of the Nexus to 300% challenges.

She records her current HP at the beginning of the battle, one of the many ‘fail-safes’ to ensure that when reversing time, she and her allies will always be healed in a way or another. She also has five summons called “Berhnu’s Shadows” who circle her at all times, damaging enemies who try to approach the zone established by her first skill (“Sunshade”) and enabling synergy with the likes of Boreas for Melt and Summoner teams. Another important thing to note about Thea’s summons is that they stun enemies on hit and Reduce enemy’s Fire Resistance by 30% for 10 seconds. This is huge for fire-centric teams, and demands smart positioning of Thea to make the most of it.

“Sunshade” is an anti-air skill with infinite uses. It starts with a radius of 600, and you can alternate between its two modes as many times as you want, adapting to the situation. The first mode, “Scatter”, expands the radius to 800. In this mode, the Berhnu’s Shadows will take longer to fly around the full circle, consequently lowering the damage per second. On the other hand, it means that Thea can stay in a safer position or even “guard” other sides of the map from where enemies may come while your team focuses on the frontline. The second mode, “Converge”, reduces the radius to 400, allowing for a faster cycling of the shadowy birds. Consequently, this allows for more damage and more pressure, but places Thea closer to the line of fire.

“Immortal Spirit” is Thea’s second skill and her main source of healing. It has five uses, and both a Passive and Active effect. The passive effect ‘reverts’ Thea’s HP to its previous state every ten seconds, never going below its current percentage, thus creating a form of self-sustain. The active use affects all allied Echomancers except herself, recording their HP and granting them [Spirit Form]. [Spirit Form] is considered a [Stealth] status, and can trigger skills such as the ones from “Curiosity of a Hailinian”. At the end of the [Spirit Form], Thea’s allies are healed. If their HP drop below 50% while the status is active, the effect is immediately cancelled and the Echomancer will have their HP restored.

With a duration of 10 seconds, it’s important to keep an eye for the timer of the skill, marked by a small icon at the skill bar. While this skill is amazing on paper, placing your entire frontline under it may be dangerous, as the enemies will ignore them and go straight to your Terminal. However, this can also be a fantastic tool for squishy teams with a lot of crowd control, like the Diamond-centric team.

“Divine Might” is Thea’s Seed skill. It is similar in effect to “Immortal Spirit”, by recording the HP of all allied Echomancers and healing them when the skill resolves. “Divine Might” lasts 30 seconds, and during this state, Thea not only deals more damage, but will also inflict a Soul Chain on enemies hit by her basic attacks. A maximum of 6 Soul Chains can exist at the same time, and the first two applied will create Fire Zones. It is possible to recast “Divine Might” before the timer ends, dealing a massive AoE damage that is increased by 20% for each active Soul Chain. Much like her skill 2, Thea’s ultimate also requires attention for its timing.

• Dupes

  • Thea doesn’t need any dupes. If you wish to invest a little extra, her best cost-benefit is her first dupe, which grants a great QoL trait in the form of a passive that makes her Seed skill charge faster. Her third dupe gives her 25% extra damage while in “Divine Might” status. This is also an interesting dupe as Thea doesn’t lose the buffs she gets from her ultimate even if it’s resolved early.

• General Tips

  • Make sure to alternate the two modes of “Sunshade” in order to guarantee that the enemies are being hit with the Fire RES shred. In most cases, this will be Thea’s priority as one of her main utilities alongside the HP recovery.

  • Speaking of HP Recovery, “Immortal Spirit” increases Thea’s DR by 35%. While it should be used sparingly, it can be a panic button and a life-saver for Thea herself, especially if she’s paired with another healer.

  • For speedruns, “Immortal Spirit” is a great source of early burst and fast Inspire stack charge if you’re using “Curiosity of a Hailinian”, as it triggers both its main skill (for Inspire, ATK and ATK SPD buffs).

  • “Danger Alert” is one of the best Nexus skills to bring with Thea, especially for Fire-centric teams. It can be obtained from “In-Between Time”, “Blending In” and “Remaining Friends”. After being triggered by Thea, it will increase the ATK SPD and ATK of all other Echomancers of the same element (aka Fire).

• Skill Upgrade Priority

  • Thea’s skill 2, “Immortal Spirit” doesn’t improve its recovery capabilities upon gaining levels. Skill 1, “Sunshade” is the priority pick here, for sustained damage over time. However, “Immortal Spirit” is still worth investing in for its burst potential against aerial enemies.