Cartethyia is a 5-star Aero-element D.P.S. resonator who scales entirely with maximum H.P.; her damage multipliers use H.P. percent. This unique scaling means you should prioritize H.P. and critical stats in her build.
Cartethyia’s best weapon is Defier’s Thorn—her five-star signature sword. This weapon’s substat provides a massive 72.2% H.P. at max level, perfectly complementing her HP-scaling damage. Its effect further boosts her survivability and damage: 12% Maximum H.P., plus after 15 seconds it lets her ignore 8% of enemy defense; additionally, if the target has greater than or equal to 2 stacks of Aero Erosion, they take 20% increased damage. Defier’s Thorn lacks Crit stats, but its huge H.P. bonus makes it best-in-slot for Cartethyia’s D.P.S. output.
If you are not going for her signature sword, you have a couple of options:
Brant’s signature sword, Unflickering Valor, provides 77% energy regeneration, 8% critical rate, and 24% basic attack damage bonus for a limited time.
The 4-star sword, Overture, provides 51.8% energy regeneration and 16 concerto energy.
The 3-star sword, Sword of Voyager, provides 32.3% energy regeneration and restores 12 resonance energy.
The 3-star Guardian Sword is a budget option that provides a 30.3% H.P. substat. At max refinement level 5, it increases her Resonance Skill damage bonus by 24%. The sizable H.P. stat makes it a solid, cheap choice for Cartethyia.
Hopefully there are new four-star H.P. scaling swords for Cartethyia in the future.
The best echo set for Cartethyia is the Windward Pilgrimage echo set. This new set introduced in patch 2.4 is tailor-made for her kit. Its set bonuses are built around Aero damage and Aero Erosion debuffs: Its 2-piece effect increases Aero damage by 10%. Its 5-piece effect states that when you hit a target afflicted with Aero Erosion, you gain 10% Critical Rate and 30% Aero Damage for 10 seconds.
Cartethyia constantly applies Aero Erosion with her attacks, so she triggers this 5-set bonus easily. The result is a big increase to her damage output: more crit and elemental damage.
The Reminiscence: Fleurdelys Echo is the recommended Main Echo for Cartethyia’s build. This is the signature 4-cost echo of the Windward Pilgrimage set. Its active effect summons the Windcleaver to deal multiple hits of Aero damage, and it provides a permanent 10% Aero Damage Bonus to the holder. Notably, if the resonator is Rover: Aero or Cartethyia, it grants an additional 10% Aero Damage, totaling 20% from this echo. Equipping this in Cartethyia’s main echo slot gives her a significant damage buff and an extra attack skill—use it on cooldown, preferably right before her burst, for extra damage.
While farming a Windward Pilgrimage set, you can combine older Aero sets for a decent substitute; for example, a 2-piece Gusts of Welkin and a 2-piece Sierra Gale hybrid. Both Welkin and Sierra Gale give 10% Aero Damage for their 2-piece set effects, so together you get 20% Aero Damage. This setup still buffs Cartethyia’s Aero damage nicely. You would use a strong main echo, such as Reminiscence: Fleurdelys, to round it out.
Best Echo Main Stats:
Because Cartethyia’s damage scales with her maximum H.P., you should choose echo main stats that maximize HP and critical stats.
For Cartethyia’s 4-cost Echo pieces, use Critical Rate percent or Critical Damage percent as the main stat. These higher-cost echoes have larger main stat values, so picking Crit here greatly increases her D.P.S. potential to make sure her big HP-based damage can crit reliably and hit hard. If running two 4-cost echoes, one with each critical rate on one and critical damage on the other is ideal for a balanced crit ratio.
For Cartethyia’s 1-cost Echo pieces, use H.P. percent as the main stat. Low-cost echoes can roll substantial H.P. percent and even flat H.P. bonuses, which directly boost Cartethyia’s damage.
Best Echo Substats:
When optimizing echo substats, Crit and H.P. are king for Cartethyia.
Critical Rate and Critical Damage are the highest priority. Stack Critical Rate and Critical Damage substats wherever possible. Aim for a balanced Crit ratio so that Cartethyia’s attacks can frequently crit and take full advantage of her high damage multipliers. These stats greatly amplify her D.P.S. since her base damage is high—crits will multiply that.
H.P. percent is her secondary priority. After crit stats, look for H.P. percent in substats. Every bit of extra H.P. percent increases her total H.P. pool, which in turn raises the damage of all her skills. This adds up significantly with her H.P. multipliers. Flat H.P. substats are okay too, but H.P. percent yields bigger gains.
A bit of energy regeneration percent can be situationally useful to reach her resonance liberation faster, but it’s not as crucial unless you find her energy generation lacking.
Recommended Endgame Stats:
To maximize Cartethyia’s endgame performance, you should aim for the following stat targets once fully built.
Maximum H.P.: As high as possible—more than thirty thousand HP is a reasonable endgame goal with her signature weapon and echo set. With Cartethyia’s kit, more H.P. equals more damage. Using her signature echo setup and H.P. percent echoes, her H.P. can reach very high values.
Critical rate of around 50 percent to 70 percent. Try to get at least around 50 percent critical rate so that a majority of Cartethyia’s attacks will crit. With the Windward Pilgrimage 5-set bonus giving a 10% critical rate on proc and potential team buffs, reaching around 60 percent to 70 percent effective crit rate is feasible. This ensures her big hits, like Resonance Liberation, are more consistently critical hits for huge damage.
Critical Damage: Aim for 100 percent to 150 percent Critical Damage or higher. Like most D.P.S., Cartethyia benefits from a roughly 1:2 ratio of critical rate to critical damage. For instance, an endgame D.P.S. build might have around 40% critical rate and around 80% critical damage from echoes as a baseline, and you’ll push beyond that with better echoes. Cartethyia can achieve high critical damage, especially if you invest in crit sub-stats and consider her Sequence Node 1 that adds additional critical damage percent. The higher her Critical Damage, the more reward for each critical hit.
Energy Regeneration: Not as important, but around 20% Energy regeneration can help ensure her resonance liberation is ready when needed each rotation. This is more of a quality-of-life stat—her core damage comes from H.P. and crit. If you find her gaining energy comfortably through combos and team support, you can deprioritize this. Otherwise, a small amount of energy regeneration percent, such as one substat line or an echo effect, can smooth out her resonance liberation uptime.
Skill Leveling Priority:
The level-up priority for maximizing her damage output is as follows:
Resonance Liberation has the highest priority. This is her ultimate ability, the transformation Blade of Howling Squall finisher. It delivers her most powerful burst damage, so maximize this first for maximum H.P.-scaling damage. Every level greatly boosts her finisher’s damage.
Forte Circuit has the second-highest priority. It’s another major damage source on a short cooldown, so it should be leveled alongside Resonance Liberation. Upgrading it increases her sustained D.P.S. during her burst window.
Resonance Skill has the third-highest priority. Her Resonance Skill is useful for damage and generating Sword Shadows or Aero Erosion stacks. It’s a mid-priority for leveling—important, but its damage is lower than her ultimate and forte combo.
Basic Attack has the fourth-highest priority. Cartethyia’s basic attack string contributes solid damage, especially the fourth hit, which summons a Sword Shadow, and you’ll use it frequently in rotations.
Intro Skill has the lowest priority. Cartethyia’s Intro skill has the least impact on D.P.S. It’s mainly used to set up combos or minor utility. You can leave this for last, allocating your skill upgrade resources here only after maximizing the more impactful skills above.
Best Teams:
Cartethyia shines in team comps that capitalize on Aero Erosion stacks and support her H.P.-scaling damage. Here are some optimal endgame team setups:
- Aero Erosion Core: Cartethyia, Ciaccona, and Aero Rover.
Cartethyia, the Main D.P.S., is complemented by Ciaccona and Aero Rover in this team. The goal is to stack Aero Erosion on enemies and buff Cartethyia’s damage.
Ciaccona is an Aero element support who can apply Aero Erosion stacks very easily with her kit. She effectively pre-loads enemies with the debuff that Cartethyia needs.
Aero Rover provides team support by increasing the maximum stack limit of Aero Erosion on enemies. This means enemies can sustain more stacks, up to 5, for Cartethyia to exploit. Rover can also dish out some extra Aero damage and generate energy.
This composition allows Cartethyia to consistently build up maximum Aero Erosion stacks on the enemy before unleashing her Resonance Liberation. Remember that Cartethyia’s Resonance Liberation consumes all Aero Erosion stacks on the target and increases the target’s damage taken for each stack removed. With Ciaccona and Rover, you ensure the enemy has 5 stacks right as Cartethyia uses her finisher, resulting in massive amplified damage. In essence, Ciaccona and Rover maximize Cartethyia’s passive debuff synergy, making this her highest D.P.S. team. Both Ciaccona and Aero Rover also provide additional damage and utility, but their primary role here is enabling Cartethyia’s H.P.-scaling Resonance Liberation.
- Alternative Erosion Team without Ciaccona: Cartethyia, Phoebe, and Aero Rover.
If you lack Ciaccona, Phoebe can serve as a viable alternative to enable Cartethyia’s Aero Erosion mechanic. Phoebe can apply Spectro Frazzle to enemies, and then Aero Rover’s Resonance Skill can convert Spectro Frazzle into Aero Erosion stacks on those enemies. With this Phoebe and Rover combo, you effectively generate Aero Erosion stacks even without Ciaccona. The rotation would involve Phoebe marking enemies with her debuff, then Rover turning those into Aero Erosion, and finally Cartethyia capitalizing on the stacked Erosion with her attacks. This team ensures Cartethyia still gets the needed debuff synergy: Phoebe sets them up, Rover converts and boosts them, and Cartethyia knocks them down. It’s a slightly more involved setup, but an effective alternative for maintaining Cartethyia’s damage potential if you don’t have Ciaccona. Phoebe also brings some team utility and damage of her own, being a Spectro support.
- Hypercarry Variation: Cartethyia, Ciaccona, and Shorekeeper; or Cartethyia, Aero Rover, and Shorekeeper.
This setup focuses on Cartethyia as the sole carry with two supports. Shorekeeper is a Spectro-element support who provides powerful buffs and team healing. In this team, you still have Ciaccona supplying Aero Erosion and extra damage, while Shorekeeper keeps Cartethyia buffed and healthy with heals, damage mitigation, and even additional damage buffs. This allows Cartethyia to stay on the field longer and safely dish out damage during her Resonance Liberation window, effectively hyper-carrying the team. Shorekeeper’s presence ensures Cartethyia can maintain high H.P., which is important for her damage, and continue attacking without interruption.
If you don’t have Ciaccona, an alternative hypercarry comp is Cartethyia, Aero Rover, and Shorekeeper. In this variant, Rover fills in to provide the Aero Erosion application via his Resonance Skill, converting other debuffs to Aero Erosion or his own attacks and some damage, while Shorekeeper again handles support duties. You lose Ciaccona’s direct Aero D.P.S., but Cartethyia can still fully stack Aero Erosion through Rover’s support. Essentially, Rover and Shorekeeper form a double-support shell, enabling Cartethyia to output as much damage as possible. This comp is very safe due to Shorekeeper’s protection and lets Cartethyia freely spam her abilities.
I go over a guide to Lupa next.
