Rabbit's Reviews #316: Hephaestion (4* Pretender)

Half a year after the class was introduced, we get our second Pretender. Case Files’ Faker was probably the most obvious pick for the class, so it makes some degree of sense that we would get her so early. Like Oberon before her, she compensates for what is at its core not a fantastic class with an all-around great kit. Hephaestion competes effectively with the top-end ST Riders, while also functioning as a strong stand-in for ST Sabers, Archers, and Lancers. Furthermore, even for players who have favored options in these classes already, Hephaestion comes with a whopping 120% battery, which gives her contexts in which she’s still potentially the best option available. Where Hephaestion falls short, it is in that she faces stiff competition all-around—there is no shortage of strong ST Arts units, and having any of Vlad/Galatea/Astraea limits the appeal of… basically anyone else—but she does a lot of unique and interesting things that give her a place even relative to the top-tier options.

At the time of writing, there are no other SR Pretenders to compare Hephaestion to, but relative to SRs in general, she has a decently offense-focused stat spread, with mid-high attack and modest HP. As an Arts unit with only one Quick, active star gen is not her strength. Her NP gain, though, is just about the standard relative to her deck. Having standard NP gain values is especially noteworthy given Hephaestion’s hefty battery—Servants are often penalized for having a lot of in-kit charge, so the fact that Hephaestion does not suffer from this is great. She also has a great mix of passives on top of this: most notably Territory Creation EX, for more effective NP gain and higher effective damage, and ???, which gives a permanent passive NP damage buff. She also has Independent Action, for a little more damage when she happens to crit, and a unique passive in Disguise Creation, which makes Hephaestion a little less likely to be crit and a little more likely to execute crits. For appends, Mana Loading is probably the best pick, although Hephaestion’s massive battery makes it a little less important than usual. Hephaestion is also a rare case where Append 3 is likely better than Append 1, as Append 3 gives Hephaestion bonus damage against Lancers—in a damage bracket she doesn’t get access to otherwise, at that—which helps her compete against the loaded pool that is ST Arts Sabers. Append 1 is decent, by virtue of slightly increases Hephaestion’s effective damage and NP gain, but Hephaestion’s Extra is just okay and most of her damage will come from NPs anyway, so this won’t be a huge deal in practice.

Ascension Materials

Stage	Cost	Materials
2	50,000	x8 Proof of Hero Open Proof of Hero configuration options x8 Void's Dust Open Void's Dust configuration options
3	150,000	x8 Meteor Horseshoe Open Meteor Horseshoe configuration options x8 Forbidden Page Open Forbidden Page configuration options
4	500,000	x8 Eternal Gear Open Eternal Gear configuration options x8 Shell of Reminiscence Open Shell of Reminiscence configuration options
Max	1,500,000	x8 Scarab of Wisdom Open Scarab of Wisdom configuration options x8 Mysterious Divine Wine Open Mysterious Divine Wine configuration options

Skill Enhancement Materials

Level	Cost	Materials
1 → 2	100,000	x8 Proof of Hero Open Proof of Hero configuration options
2 → 3	200,000	x8 Void's Dust Open Void's Dust configuration options
3 → 4	600,000	x10 Meteor Horseshoe Open Meteor Horseshoe configuration options
4 → 5	800,000	x10 Forbidden Page Open Forbidden Page configuration options
5 → 6	2,000,000	x10 Shell of Reminiscence Open Shell of Reminiscence configuration options
6 → 7	2,500,000	x12 Primordial Lanugo Open Primordial Lanugo configuration options
7 → 8	5,000,000	x12 Mysterious Divine Wine Open Mysterious Divine Wine configuration options
8 → 9	6,000,000	x12 Egg of Truth Open Egg of Truth configuration options
9 → 10	10,000,000	x1 Crystallized Lore Open Crystallized Lore configuration options

Append Skill Materials

Level	Cost	Materials
1 → 2	100000	x8 Evil Bone Open Evil Bone configuration options
2 → 3	200000	x8 Phoenix Feather Open Phoenix Feather configuration options
3 → 4	600000	x10 Tearstone of Blood Open Tearstone of Blood configuration options
4 → 5	800000	x10 Fool's Chain Open Fool's Chain configuration options
5 → 6	2000000	x10 Lamp of Evil-Sealing Open Lamp of Evil-Sealing configuration options
6 → 7	2500000	x12 Heart of the Foreign God Open Heart of the Foreign God configuration options
7 → 8	5000000	x12 Divine Pulse Spirit Orb Open Divine Pulse Spirit Orb configuration options
8 → 9	6000000	x12 Vision Scales Open Vision Scales configuration options
9 → 10	10000000	x1 Crystallized Lore Open Crystallized Lore configuration options

Pretenders are like Avengers and Foreigners in that they take no pieces or gems and instead ask for a different material at each skill level. Hephaestion’s mat asks are super friendly, by-and-large, which is nice given her status as a spookable SR. The only Lostbelt mats she needs for skills are eggs, at level 9, and her append requirements are similarly forgiving. She should be an easy Servant to max if you get her.

Hephaestion’s skillset is great, but she’s also notable in that her skill scaling has relatively little impact on her effectiveness—even if you can’t fully max her out, she’ll still perform quite well. Recommended skill order is 2>1>3, though note that you have almost all of skill 2’s value at level 8, so once it hits that level, I would recommend using using lores on the other two skills before finishing out skill 2.

If using Hephaestion as a Rider, you need to win within 3 turns, have ways to stall or cycle cooldowns, or have a plan for getting rid of Hephaestion when her skills run out. Double Castoria is the optimal shell for Hephaestion, as in the case of any Arts Servant, but the ideal third support depends on which of those three goals you are aiming for.

Tackling these options in reverse order, Oberon provides a convenient way to solve Hephaestion’s cooldown problems. End of the Dream pairs nicely with Hephaestion’s innate NP damage buffs and also lets her taunt until she dies once her skills wear off (which is fitting lorewise as well). With an Oberon setup, your loop is effectively guaranteed. Turn 1, you use all Castoria skills and Hephaestion’s taunt. Hephaestion will refund more than 30% off her NP alone, so on turn 2 you can swap Oberon in and use his batteries to let Hephaestion NP again (also using the plug suit’s stun if you’re worried about Hephaestion dying early). Turn 3, Hephaestion uses her own battery and Oberon uses End of the Dream. Ideally Hephaestion has taken some damage already thanks to her own taunt, so it should not take long for her to die while under the effects of End of the Dream. This lets a secondary DPS switch in to finish out the fight.

If you want Hephaestion to stick around while fighting Casters, Cooldown Reduction is extremely valuable, and as such, Tamamo is a great pick. You can start with a Tamamo/Hephaestion/Castoria front line and swap Castoria for a second Castoria after using the first Castoria’s skills. Your goals in this team are to let Hephaestion loop her NP while her buffs are up, and to prioritize spamming Tamamo’s NP whenever possible. This team is a little less durable than some other Castoria setups, but the idea here is that Hephaestion will be outputting damage quickly enough to close out the fight before you start losing units to incidental damage. Hephaestion’s taunt helps with this, as she can use it fairly liberally, between the cooldown reduction and the healing Tamamo provides.

For pure blitz strategies, Tamamo is sill probably the best pick for a third support, as she brings a huge amount of extra damage and Hephaestion will have no trouble looping even without the extra batteries. Anyone who provides substantial levels of extra damage can work well for this, though. Your goal in this context is to give Hephaestion as much damage ampage as you possibly can so that Hephaestion can kill any Casters before her class advantage buff runs out.

When fighting non-Cavalry enemies, Hephaestion can afford to play a little more conventionally. Reines’s new NP buff makes her a great partner for Hephaestion, for instance. A Reines/Hephaestion/Castoria team focuses on setting up Reines -> Hephaestion -> Castoria NP chain every three turns. Reines’s new overcharge buff ups Hephaestion’s own NP damage boost on overcharge while also adding to the stability Castoria provides. Reines also grants a partywide NP gain effect in addition to her batteries, helping the whole team to leverage their good cards to refill their NPs in time to do the whole thing again. It’s effectively an Arts-centric alternative to Himiko/Castoria Buster teams, and all three Servants involved play nicely with one another. Hephaestion can even use her taunt to protect a support if Reines or Castoria happens to get focus-fired.

On a less optimal level, Arts has plenty of alternative support options, and Hephaestion is flexible enough that she can work well with whichever supports you happen to have. Mash’s defense buffs and/or targeted invuln will pair well with Hephaestion’s taunt, for instance. Mozart provides good buffs for cheap and Barti is a decent partner while fighting Casters specifically. Santa Martha also brings a ton of extra damage against Divine enemies specifically, and alternative gacha supports like Lanling and Sherlock will work well also.

Hephaestion has such an easy time looping there’s no real reason to run a starting NP gauge CE. The Black Grail is generally going to be the best option for Hephaestion, since she wants to output damage as quickly as possible, but other good buff-focused CEs, like Formal Craft and Mark on a Smiling Face, will also be good picks.

Crit damage CCs on Hephaestion’s Busters can be a good choice for helping Hephaestion’s Buster buffs have a bit more of an impact. If you go this route, consider putting star gen CCs on Hephaestion’s Quick and Arts cards to make crit access a little easier.

Hephaestion is a great ST unit and grails are more plentiful than ever before. Extra levels will let her compete more effectively against class-specific ST units, so especially if you haven’t committed to grailing Vlad, Galatea, or Astraea, Hephaestion is a great pick for a few grails.

Hephaestion is an excellent ST unit. At base, she deals low-end SSR-level damage, gets full class advantage against Casters, gets bonus damage against a few other classes, and has a 120% battery on top of that. She has some tough competition in the ST field, and that does hold her back a bit, but her massive battery means she still has use cases even when competing with generally-stronger Servants. The icing on the cake here is that as a non-limited Servant, she’s decently likely to spook eventually, so even if you don’t plan to pull for her, she’s an exciting potential pull on any given future banner.

Overall: 9/10
Single-Target DPS: 9/10
AoE DPS: N/A
Survivability: 3/10
Offensive Utility: N/A
Defensive Utility: 5/10
Farming Usefulness: 9/10
Conquering: 10/10?