Hiyuki Wuthering Waves Build Guide

Quick Verdict

Build Hiyuki if you like her and you are ready to build her team. She is a DPS, so personal preference matters more here than it would for a universal support. If Hiyuki is a character you want to play, she is worth pulling.

At release, Lynae is Hiyuki's best Sub-DPS, with Chisa as the strongest current third slot. Chisa does not give a huge universal buff by herself and she does not always move Team DPS rankings dramatically, but she has become easier to justify because she now works with more than one important DPS: Hiyuki, Aemeath Fusion Burst teams, and Cartethyia teams.

The Lucilla direction is not fully clear yet. Lucilla is expected to increase the value of Hiyuki's Glacio Chafe-related hits, while Lynae is currently excellent for Hiyuki's Liberation-heavy release team. Because of that, Hiyuki's Liberation damage may drop if Lucilla replaces Lynae or changes the buff profile, but the team can still become worth switching to if the Glacio Chafe and Glacio Bite gains are high enough.

At S0, Hiyuki is already a complete main DPS. She does not need sequences to function. For low spenders, S0 is enough. If you want vertical investment, S2 is the first realistic stopping point because it is both a damage spike and a comfort spike. S6 is a whale ceiling, and it may gain more value if future Glacio Chafe support, especially Lucilla, performs as expected.

How Hiyuki Works

Hiyuki is a Glacio Liberation main DPS. She wants field time, proper buffs, and a clean rotation. Her Outro can amplify Glacio damage for other nearby Resonators against targets affected by Glacio Chafe, but her current value is still mainly as the team's primary damage dealer.

Her kit moves between Present Self and Foreclaimed Self. In Present Self, she builds Dedication and prepares her stronger form. Heavy Frost Splinter consumes 300 Dedication and enables Foreclaiming: Inward Vision, which moves her into Foreclaimed Self. In Foreclaimed Self, her Basic Attacks are treated as Resonance Liberation damage, her Skill changes into Jade Cleave and Petalfall, and the rotation builds toward Iai attacks, Bitterfrost, and Blade Liberation.

Standard rotation, about 11.67 seconds of Hiyuki field time:

Intro > Basic 3 > Arrows > Liberation > Basic 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 > Skill > Skill > Dash > Iai > Iai > Iai > Heavy > Echo > Liberation

Cleaner way to understand it:

Intro > Basic 3 > Heavy Frost Splinter > Inward Vision > Foreclaimed combo > double Skill > Dash > Iai x3 > Heavy Bitterfrost > Echo > Blade Liberation

The exact input timing can change slightly depending on team swaps and the fight, but the goal stays the same: enter Foreclaimed Self smoothly, land the Iai sequence, convert the resources through Bitterfrost, and finish with Blade Liberation under the right buffs. Her rotation is not extremely hard after practice, but it is structured. If the resource flow is interrupted, her real damage drops.

Blade Liberation stack management:

Hiyuki's final Liberation is Foreclaiming: Blade Liberation. The stack that increases its damage is Snowforged Blade, and Heavy Attack - Bitterfrost: Foreclaimed Self (the Forte heavy) gives 1 Snowforged Blade. At S0, Hiyuki usually reaches the first final Liberation with 2 Snowforged Blade stacks: 1 from starting the fight through Ephemeral Realm, and 1 from the Forte heavy.

You can tap the final Liberation without holding it, and if Hiyuki has fewer than 3 Snowforged Blade stacks, she will not consume them. This lets you carry 2 stacks into the second rotation, then gain the third from the next Forte heavy. That can create a bigger single Blade Liberation number, but it is mostly for testing or seeing high numbers, not the best practical Team DPS route. Remember that clicking the liberation while having 3 stacks will consume all the 3 even without holding the liberation.

For real rotations, it is usually better to divide Snowforged Blade across two rotations instead of forcing a 3-stack Blade Liberation in one rotation. Even if Hiyuki has sequences that let her start the first rotation with 3 stacks, holding Blade Liberation long enough to consume 2 out of 3 is usually better than consuming all 3. The next Forte heavy gives 1 more stack, so the second rotation can reach 2 stacks again. This is generally better than using 3 stacks in the first rotation and leaving the second rotation with only 1.

4 Iai rotation, long fun route:

Skill > Basic 3 > Swap > Hold Basic (For Basic 3 to Fill the Forte) > Arrows > Echo > Liberation > Swap > Intro > Basic 1, 2, 3 > Dash > Basic 1, 2, 3 > Tune Break > Basic 3 > Hold Skill > Basic Iai > Skill > Basic 1, 2, 3 > Heavy Attack (parry) > Dodge > Basic Iai > Basic Iai > Basic Iai > Final Heavy Attack (Forte) > Liberation > Outro

Credit goes to Kennzor for this rotation.

This route is harder and longer. If you count the opening quick swaps and the extra hits after Intro, it can go past 15 seconds and even reach around 17 seconds. Chisa quick swaps can help cover part of that time, but this rotation is mostly a fun route, not the normal Team DPS route.

It also depends more on the fight. The Tune Break hit can change the flow: if the boss's ready Tune Break window disappears before Hiyuki reaches it, the route can break or force a different hit pattern. If it lines up well, you can fit the extra hit, but that is not consistent enough to treat it as the main recommendation.

The fourth Iai does not mean a fourth strong damage chunk. Hiyuki has a maximum of 3 Frostharden Iai points. Each Basic Attack - Iai can consume 1 point to apply 3 stacks of Glacio Chafe and build Whiteout Bitterfrost; after those 3 points are spent, the extra Iai is mostly a weaker hit without the same Glacio Chafe and Glacio Bite value behind it.

Build Priorities

Hiyuki's tested damage profile is heavily Liberation-focused:

• Resonance Liberation: 81.77%
• Glacio Bite: 7.00%
• Glacio Chafe: 4.76%
• Resonance Skill: 3.77%
• Tune Break: 1.28%
• Echo Skill: 0.98%
• Basic Attack: 0.44%

Do not build or judge Hiyuki like a Basic Attack carry. Even though she performs Basic strings during the rotation, most of her meaningful damage is treated as Resonance Liberation damage or Glacio Chafe/Bite damage.

Sub-stat priority: Crit Rate, Crit DMG, ATK%, Resonance Liberation DMG Bonus, and enough Energy Regen to keep the rotation stable.

Build targets:

Her best weapon is Frostburn, her signature Sword. At R1, it gives Crit Rate, ATK, Glacio damage amplification after applying Glacio Chafe, Resonance Liberation DEF Ignore, and Glacio Chafe damage amplification while the wielder is active. The gap is large: current page comparisons put Frostburn setups around the 98-100% range, while Emerald of Genesis setups are around 76-78%.

Mid alternatives include Emerald of Genesis, Blazing Brilliance, Red Spring, Emerald Sentence, Feather Edge, and Fables of Wisdom. However, if your account does not have Lynae or a proper Hiyuki team, solve the team problem before rushing Frostburn. Frostburn is strong, but Hiyuki's team core matters first. In general, i always recommend getting the DPS's weapon unless you are using Phoebe as a DPS and you have the Stringmaster weapons or if you have Iuno's weapon for Iuno and Augusta with the Verdant Summit which is ok.

Her best Echo set is Wishes of Quiet Snowfall. Use Crit DMG or Crit Rate on Cost 4, Glacio DMG or ATK on both Cost 3 slots, and ATK on both Cost 1 slots. The current comparison is very close between Glacio/ATK at 100.00%, Glacio/Glacio at 99.82%, and ATK/ATK at 98.40%, so sub-stat quality can decide the better build.

At S6, Cost 4 ATK becomes worth considering. The sequence damage chart shows regular S6 at 296 and S6 with Cost 4 ATK at 299, so ATK is slightly better because S6 already gives Hiyuki a huge amount of Crit DMG. The gain is real, but it is small. If you already have a strong Crit DMG Cost 4, do not force yourself to build another ATK Cost 4 unless it is easy for you or the ATK piece has clearly better sub-stats.

The set matters in two different ways:

• When Hiyuki uses it: the 2-piece gives 10% Glacio DMG. The 5-piece gives another 10% Glacio DMG after inflicting Glacio Chafe and grants Snowfall. If Hiyuki deals Resonance Liberation damage while Snowfall is active, Snowfall is removed and she gains 25% Crit Rate for 6 seconds, extendable up to 30 seconds through Liberation damage.
• When Lucilla uses it for Hiyuki: if Lucilla can trigger Snowfall and then use Outro, the 5-piece removes Snowfall and gives the incoming Resonator 25% Glacio DMG Bonus for 15 seconds. This is the important future-support route for Hiyuki. Only one Snowfall removal route can trigger each time, so the set is either used for the wearer's Crit Rate route or for the incoming Glacio buff route.

Best Teams & Account Value

Hiyuki's best teams are built around her as the main DPS with Lynae as the current release core. This is the main reason her account value is narrower than a generic DPS. She is strong when the team is right.

Sequence Value

Hiyuki is complete at S0. Her base kit already gives her Present Self, Foreclaimed Self, Glacio Chafe application, Glacio Bite value, Iai attacks, Bitterfrost, and Blade Liberation.

• S1: Comfort and damage. It increases her Liberation-state Basic and Mid-air Attack damage by 120%. More importantly, Basic Attack - Foreclaimed Self Stage 3 gets increased range and a pull effect, while Stage 4 and Stage 5 become immune to interruption. it would be much better if the Basic 1, 2, and 3 are also immune because they are the main key hits for her. Stage 3, 4, and 5 already apply Glacio Chafe after Inward Vision, and S1 makes Stage 1 and Stage 2 apply Glacio Chafe as well. Useful for smoother combos and more consistent Chafe, but not required.
• S2: The first major stopping point. It increases Iai damage by 125% and upgrades Ephemeral Realm. Instead of starting with only 1 Snowforged Blade after the out-of-combat setup, Hiyuki can start with 3 Snowforged Blade, which is the maximum, but this mainly matters for the first rotation. It also restores 3 Frostharden Iai while in Foreclaimed Self, resets 2 charges of Jade Cleave, and adds 50 Frostheart to the next 2 Jade Cleave or Petalfall casts. In practice, this is why the first rotation can reach the full Forte flow from the two Skills without needing extra filler hits. Later rotations still need the normal hits flow (depends on your rotation).
• S3: A major personal damage upgrade. Hiyuki gains an extra Snow Rust stack after a Resonator joins the team or Hiyuki is revived, up to 1 stack from this source. This makes her Snow Rust passive easier to activate without needing as many teammates who apply Glacio Chafe. It also increases Heavy Attack - Frost Splinter: Present Self and Heavy Attack - Bitterfrost: Foreclaimed Self by 160%, and raises the extra Glacio Bite hit from the second Snow Rust stack from 102% to 488%.
• S4: A team luxury node. After Hiyuki uses Resonance Skill - Present Self, Jade Cleave, or Petalfall, all nearby teammates deal 20% more damage for 30 seconds. Jade Cleave and Petalfall also restore 18% of Hiyuki's Max HP. Good, but not a main stopping point by itself.
• S5: A personal Skill damage node. It increases Resonance Skill - Present Self, Jade Cleave, and Petalfall damage by 80%. Useful, but less important than S2, S3, or S6.
• S6: Her whale ceiling. It gives 500% Crit DMG to Foreclaiming: Inward Vision and Foreclaiming: Blade Liberation. At 2 Snow Rust stacks, the extra Glacio Bite hit can trigger when any teammate applies Glacio Chafe, not only when Hiyuki applies it, and Hiyuki gains another 40% Crit DMG. At 3 Snow Rust stacks, targets take 25% more Glacio Bite damage. Strong, especially with future Glacio Chafe support, but not needed for normal players.

Pull Value