Anaxa and what he brings to the table
I've seen a lot of talk around here about him being a "sidegrade" to what we have, and I'd like to (attempt) to clear up a few things. We'll start with why people are saying this, and what they're missing.
- "He isn't that great into AoE."
This one is actually fairly true. Here's the thing tho... does she need help in AoE? Her erudition partner is a body to meet a requirement while she carries them. There are varying levels of how good a character is at this, but tbh they all get the job done because Herta is turbo-mega op here. What would a character better at this than what we have give her? Negative cycles? That would be a waste of a pull. If you look at Prydwen calculations (I know it isn't the gospel, but it's a convenient estimation so roll with it), Herta does about 70% of Feixiao's ST damage e0 to e0. 70%. As an erudition vs a HUNT character. That's actually crazy. What's the problem here though? Stacks and access to ult. Little Herta will give next to no stacks when she only FUAs once per wave. Jade e0 cannot get her FUA in any type of timely manner without multiple enemies on the field, which also restricts her already prohibitively costly ult. Argenti loses energy when enemies aren't entering the field. Serval is... Serval, I guess. She'll do what she does, but as with any of these characters, with fewer enemies on the field she will not provide nearly as much energy to Herta as she does in AoE. These characters (other than Jade) are also thoroughly missing another aspect: doing any type of damage or providing any buffing.
- "He does no damage."
If I ran Jade on windset with an ERR rope and then bemoaned her lack of damage, would you not point and laugh at me? If not, that's nice of you, but you should. That would be moronic. If you look at 90% of these "showcases", this is exactly what these players are doing. They are neutering his damage for an ERR rope (which btw does nothing with his sig, which they're running anyway) and windset. These people are literally randoms with access to a private server, they have no credentials for theorycrafting or gameplay (clearly). These showcases are also in full AoE, where Therta will dominate no matter who you put in her team, so the value he brings is not obvious; you could put a slice of moldy bread in that slot and she would win if you slapped the "erudition" tag on it. Anaxa currently has 60% per hit of skill, which hits 5 times. That is 300%. He does this twice for 600%. For reference, Feixiao's ult is 700%. Now, is he going to do Feixiao ult damage every turn? No, he doesn't have her level of self-buffs (she gives herself 48% atk and 36% CD). However, Feixiao also does not implant every weakness. She does not give her team ANY buffs. Herta buffs him with 80% CD, he gives her 30% damage, stacks, energy, and he does fairly significant damage, especially into content that isn't AoE shill. Even if it is AoE shill, his smart targeting on bounce to hit every target makes it so he doesn't fall far from other erudition in stacks/energy regen for Herta, where she can blast the mobs into next week and then they can both focus the elite. Also notice that Herta has next to no toughness reduction, and one of the three game modes is heavily based on breaking the enemy. Obviously, there are oftentimes mechanics that can help with this, but those will not always favor her
- "E2 does more"
Cool, that's 3 limited characters vs 1. That also doesn't change the fact that her current erudition partners will become anchors on her once her shill period is over. Her e2 is good enough to potentially cover these weaknesses pretty well, so hey, nice, your investment has paid off pretty well and it's great that this is an option. Some people prefer having a whole other character that can be played in different teams, and having that be another approach is a GOOD THING. You can't unglue your Therta eidolons and have two Therta teams, you can however shift Anaxa around and use him in various ways.
- "Tribbie is more important."
Not wrong, really, though it depends on what you have on your account a bit. They're clearly all meant to be run together, so this is hoyo greed at its finest. Prioritizing Tribbie is not the wrong move, but this isn't about Tribbie vs Anaxa, this is Anaxa vs current erudition options. Anaxa isn't the Robin to Therta's Feixiao, he is the Topaz/March/Moze. Tribbie is the Robin, although Robin herself can be a pretty solid substitute in the same way that Tribbie can now be for Feixiao.
- "Just run another team"
Okay, yeah, obviously this is an option, but not everyone has infinity pulls for every dps/archetype, and also not everyone wants to retire their DPS the second the meta shifts and only dust them off occasionally for niche scenarios. I can use my FRAT team in the current AoE meta because I invested into them. Are they the best here? No. Are they unusable and collecting dust? No, which is great because that would feel like shit. I don't personally consider "retire your character and move on" as a great argument in a "mains" subreddit, but whatever lol
For max investment, I would probably put it like this: Herta e2 > Tribbie e1 > Anaxa IN THAT ORDER. If you have Herta e0 and don't plan on eidolons, I think it's closer to Herta > Tribbie >= Anaxa depending on what you have on your account (Robin tbh) and where hoyo goes with the game in terms of target number. LCs it's Herta > Anaxa >= Tribbie most likely. Herta e2 being so good does not make Anaxa bad. Does it make choosing what you want to do and how you want to invest more complex? Yes. He's not her JQ, and that's a good thing because that's honestly a pretty trash design strat for both Acheron and JQ. Therta being able to be unshackled more at e2 is a good thing, but once again her erudition partner can and will likely become a brick in different content and even at e2 he will be an upgrade for her in many situations. Will you need it? Probably not for a while, especially if you also get Tribbie e1, but why do you want to NEED someone? They are not bad or unworthy of a pull because you don't NEED them, especially if you've pulled the equivalent of 5 premium characters packaged into 2.
TL;DR: Anaxa shores up Therta's weakness in non-AoE and AS with damage, weakness breaking, and better stack/energy regen than her current erudition partners. He is not the Robin to Feixiao, he is the Topaz, except we do not have any eruditions that equate to March Hunt/Moze. He is better than Topaz to Fei in the sense that Topaz does not help Fei in AoE to nearly the same degree that Anaxa can help Therta in ST. Therta has many ways to invest into her, he is one of them, and if you want to truly maximize her long-term, he is likely an important piece unless they change him DRASTICALLY over the course of the beta.
** This is not about if he needs buffs. I do not know that; I am not hoyo and I do not have access to all of the data or what they are planning for the game going forward. I only have access to logic and showcases made by randoms, most of which seem like borderline sabotage at this point. Everything I'm saying here currently only applies to v1. If you respond to this in bad faith because you are illiterate and/or want to be incendiary, save us both the time and just don't.
*** Jade e1 is an option, and a pretty good one for fewer targets. She doesn't have buffing like he does and her synergy with Tribbie isn't as good with her expensive AF ult, but she's good. Once again having this option does not make Anaxa bad. That extra copy of Jade could be a copy of him, and you can run Jade and Anaxa as a different comp together (or 3x eru comp shenanigans), which is pretty cool imo.