In Honkai: Star RailMoze is a 4-star Electric-type character who follows the Path of the Hunt. The mysterious Shadow Guardian from Yaoqing Xianzhou's skills are closely related to the use and enhancement of bonus attacks. In this guide, you can learn more about the best cones, relics, and units for this hero.
Main Features of Moze
How to Get Moze
Moze first appeared in the banner in the first half of patch 5.1, along with Feixiao and three reruns of other heroines. After the version ends, it will be possible to obtain it from other types of Jumps.
Motze Stat Progression
As you level up, Motze's base stats will increase as follows.
| Level | Attack Power | Defense | HP | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 82 | 48 | 110 | 111 |
| 20 | 159 | 94 | 215 | 111 |
| 40 | 159 | 180 | 414 | 111 |
| 60 | 453 | 266 | 613 | 111 |
| 80 | 600 | 353 | 811 | 111 |
Also at all levels Motse has standard values of 5% and 50% critical hit chance and critical damage respectively. His chance of being attacked by an enemy is 75 units, and to activate the ult, you will need to accumulate 120 energy.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Motse
Motse's gameplay has the following positive aspects:
- Has a fairly high base attack for an epic character.
- Suitable for most squads that rely on bonus attack damage.
- Applies two debuffs to enemies, which is important for equipment and some allies.
- All hits significantly reduce enemy durability, which will help to quickly transfer them to a weakened state.
- Absolutely neutral in skill point consumption: Motse does not generate them, but very quickly restores those spent.
- Motse's greatest benefit comes from early eidolons. You won't have to make many additional jumps to collect the most necessary boosts.
- He is not present on the field for most of the battle, which has a positive effect on his survivability.
- He can become a more budget-friendly analogue of the legendary Topaz.
But it is also necessary to talk about some disadvantages:
- Due to the peculiarities of the Path of the Hunt and the Sacrifice mechanics, it works extremely ineffectively against crowds of enemies.
- It has a rather narrow functionality, because of which it ends up locked in squads that rely on the damage of bonus attacks, which significantly reduces the versatility of Motze.
- Moze is still an epic character. To get enough damage from him, you will have to pick the best available gear for him.
- Moze's functionality is more focused on buffing the team's damage, but there are very few Path of the Hunt cones that would buff the wearer's allies, which makes it somewhat difficult to pick the perfect weapon for him.
- Has fairly low base HP and defense. This is usually not a problem, but if an enemy uses a particularly strong attack when Moze is not in the Absence state, the hero can suffer quite a lot.
Moze's Abilities
As part of the basic attack Blade Throw, Moze deals electrical damage to one enemy equal to 50-130% of his attack power, reduces their durability by 30, and restores 20 energy.
Explanation: rather weak attacks, which with a properly constructed rotation will not even be used by Moze.
When using the skill Attack of Nimble Feathers, Moze deals 75-187.5% damage, applies the Sacrifice status to one and receives 9 stacks of talent. If the shadow guardian is the only one of all allies on the field who is able to fight, then he cannot activate this skill. The ability reduces the tenacity of monsters by 60 units and restores 30 energy.
Explanation: The skill, in addition to dealing small damage, is used by Motse to enter a special state in which he can use his bonus attacks from the talent. It is also worth noting that the Sacrifice status is negative for the enemy, which can be useful for activating some ally skills and equipment buffs.
Ultimate Piercing Shadows, Hidden Blades, which costs 120 energy, deals 162-324% electrical damage to one enemy and removes 90 units of their durability. After activating it, the hero will make a bonus attack described in the talent on the same target or, if they die, on a random enemy.
Explanation: is another important source of damage for Moze. Due to the subsequent bonus attack and the effect of the hero's passive footprints, it is necessary to use the ultimate only on an enemy with the Sacrifice status.
When the Sacrifice appears on the field, the talent Fast Flight of the Feather Blade takes effect, which has the following features:
- Moze is inflicted with the Absence status effect.
- Each time an ally hits the Sacrifice, it deals additional Electricity damage equal to 15-37.5% of Moze's attack power.
- The number of stacks received by the skill is reduced by 1 for each ally's hit on the Victim. For every 3 stacks consumed, Moze activates a bonus attack that deals 80-200% of attack power as lightning damage to that enemy.
- When the number of stacks reaches 0, the Victim status is removed and Moze exits the Absence state. It is worth noting that the talent's bonus attacks do not consume stacks.
Explanation: Bonus attacks are the core of Moze's damage. After activating the skill, he will have time to use this skill three times when allies hit the Victim 3, 6, and 9 times. It is worth noting that the stack also consumes Moze's own ultimate, but not the bonus attack that follows it.
If the Victim leaves the battlefield before the Absence state ends, it will be interrupted early and Motse will return to the squad. In a situation where an ally kills an enemy with a blow that was supposed to be followed by a Shadow Guardian bonus attack, the stack is removed, but no attack occurs.
The Hidden Wings technique makes Motse invisible for 20 seconds. During this time, he cannot be detected by enemies. If you start a battle while in this state, the hero's damage will increase by 30% for 2 turns.
Motse's Footprints
In the image below, you can see Moze's additional footprints, which increase his attack power, critical damage, and HP.
It's worth explaining the effects of his passive footprints in a little more detail:
- Since Moze only consumes a skill point when he inflicts Sacrifice, A2 will only trigger once for each period of Absence, thus replenishing the AP spent on activating the skill.
- The action advancement into each new wave from A4 also triggers at the start of the battle, which, if properly balanced, will allow Moze to go first, inflict Sacrifice, and disappear, giving way to his allies.
- Since the Ultimate is also considered a bonus attack from A6, it will be affected by buffs that buff both types of attacks. This trail also places another debuff on the Victim, which increases the damage it takes. Thus, it turns out that there will be two negative effects on the enemy with the Victim status, the source of which is Moze.
Moze's Eidolons
Each copy of Moze received will give the hero and his allies additional buffs.
- Oath – at the beginning of the battle, Moze restores 20 energy. When the additional damage from the talent is triggered, 2 energy is restored for allies' attacks on the Victim.
- Punishment – Increases critical damage dealt to the Victim by 40% for Motse himself and his allies.
- Pursuit – Increases the level of the ult and talent by 2. Their maximum level is 15.
- Camouflage – After activating the ultimate, Motse's damage increases by 30% for 2 turns.
- Deception – Increases the skill level by 2 and the basic attack by 1. Maximum levels are 15 and 10, respectively.
- Devotion – Increases the bonus attack multiplier from the talent by 25%.
The best eidolon for Motze is the second one, as it provides a significant increase in damage to the Victim, which increases the hero's support potential. E4 and E6 also provide a good bonus to damage, but only for the shadow guardian himself. E1 will be useful in those squads where frequent attacks on enemies are important, for example, in a pair with Feixiao.
How to play as Motze
State of Absence
Before describing Moze's gameplay, it's worth talking a little more about his special ability to go into a state of Absence, which he will remain in as long as there is a Victim on the field.
- After using the skill, Moze literally leaves the battlefield, appearing only to use his bonus attacks or ultimate. He disappears from the action bar and does not take turns. He will return to his allies only after all stacks of the talent are used up.
- When the Absence state ends, Moze will appear on the Action Gauge as if his turn had just ended, but with the advancement from his Bonus Trace.
- Since Moze is absent from the field in this state, enemies cannot damage him or hit him with any attacks.
- However, characters that use their skills directly on allies will not be able to reach Moze. Examples of such skills include the action advance from Sparkle or the shield from Aventurine.
- At the same time, bonuses that are applied to the buffer itself or the battlefield will be applied to it, for example, this is how the skill and ultimate of Ruan Mei work.
- If you want to use some ability, including on Motse, then you should wait until he appears on the field again to choose Sacrifice. Moreover, if this is a skill, and not an ultimate, then you will have to balance the speed in such a way that the buffer moves before the shadow guard, whose turn will advance by 20% after the end of Absence.
- Moze's turns actually end when he chooses a Victim. Bonus attacks and the skill following the exit from the Absence state are considered one turn.
- For the reason stated above, Moze has buffs that are based on turn frequency for quite a long time. To ensure that the shadow guardian takes the bonus with him into Absence, the buff must either last for at least two turns or be applied when it is Moze's turn to take action and use the skill. Even though his turn ends after this, the buff will continue until the next Sacrifice selection.
Gameplay
If you decide to take Motze to your party, you should remember the following points:
- It is better to take him into battles against single strong opponents, rather than crowds of small ones.
- If you don't need to use any higher priority attacking technique, such as the main damage dealer, then start the battle from Moze's invisibility state.
- On Moze's first turn, use the skill to select the Victim, which should be the most powerful enemy on the field.
- Use Moze's ultimate exclusively on the Victim to get a buff for bonus attacks.
- Allies should concentrate their attacks on the Victim to activate Moze's talent more often.
- Every time Moze enters the field, he must re-select Sacrifice. Make sure to have at least one skill point left for it so that the Shadow Guardian does not have to waste time on a basic attack.
Best Builds for Moze
Best Light Cones
Overall, Motse has a fairly wide selection of both legendary and epic weapons. You can give him any available option that increases crits, attack power, or damage of the wearer's bonus attacks. But cones will look especially good on him, as they also give buffs to the entire squad. Below, we will look at several suitable examples.
| Name and rarity | Characteristics | Ability |
|---|---|---|
Anxiety and Bliss (5 stars) | HP: 48–1058 Attack Power: 26–582 Defense: 21–463 | Increases critical hit rate by 18–30%. Bonus attacks deal 30-50% more damage and apply a special status to enemies that stacks up to two times and increases critical damage taken by 12-20%. Signa Topaz synergizes well with Motse's abilities, as it provides buffs to both the wearer and his units. Shadow Guardian activates all stacks of the passive quite quickly, significantly increasing the damage of all his allies. |
Baptism of Pure Thought (5 stars) | HP: 43–953 Attack Power: 26–582 Defense: 24–529 | Increases critical damage by 20–32%. Increases critical damage dealt to an enemy by an additional 8–12% for each debuff present on them. The bonus stacks three times. When using the ult, a status is applied to the target that increases damage dealt by 36–60% and allows the bonus attack to ignore 24–40% of the enemy's defense. The effect lasts for two turns. The best option if you want to maximize Moze's own damage, especially since he can independently apply two debuffs to the target. However, the role of the Shadow Guardian is not so much to deal damage, but to buff his allies. Suitable if you do not have any more priority carrier or a suitable support cone. |
Fencing (4 stars) | HP: 43–952 Attack Power: 21–476 Defense: 15–330 | When attacking the same enemy in succession, damage for each subsequent hit increases by 8–16% and can stack up to five times. Since Motse's gameplay is focused on constantly attacking a single target, he will quickly gain all the stacks. And given that stacks for this cone can be obtained from Jumps at any time, the wearer will easily receive the maximum possible attack bonus. |
Cruise across the galaxy (5 stars) | HP: 43–952 Attack power: 24–529 Defense: 21–463 | Increases critical hit chance by 8-16%. Provides an additional 8-16% to critical chance in battles with enemies whose health is equal to or below 50%. After defeating an enemy, the wearer's attack power increases by 20-40% for 2 turns. A good budget option sold in the Virtual Universe. The attack bonus can be obtained quite quickly, and due to the peculiarities of the Absence state, it will also last for quite a long time. The only drawback is the requirement for the enemy's HP, which will not allow you to maintain critical chance at one stable level. |
Only Silence Remains (4 Stars) | HP: 43–952 Attack Power: 21–476 Defense: 15–330 | Increases attack power by 16–32%. If there are no more than two enemies on the field, the critical strike chance increases by 12–24%. Another available option. Since Moze is most effective in boss fights, activating the passive completely is not difficult. |
The Only Winner (4 Stars) | HP: 42-953 Attack Power: 22-476 Defense: 15-331 | Increases attack power by 12-20%. For each critical hit, increases the wearer's critical damage by 8-12%. The bonus can be stacked up to 4 times and lasts until the end of the hero's turn. This weapon can be purchased in the Light Cone Passage. Since Motse mainly acts in the Absence state, rarely making new turns, the critical damage buff will easily have time to stack several times. |
Best Relics
Among the cave relics of Motze, those that increase outgoing damage depending on the weakening of enemies or increase the damage of bonus attacks are suitable.
| Name | Bonuses | Advantages |
|---|---|---|
Discoverer of Dead Waters | Part 2: damage to enemies with debuff increases by 12%. 4 parts: critical hit chance increases by 4%. Critical hit damage to an enemy with 2/3 debuffs increases by 8/12%. When the wearer himself applies a weakening, this bonus increases by 100% for 1 turn. | Motse himself applies two debuffs to enemies. If you can add another weakening to them, the set will work at full capacity, giving a noticeable increase in the character's damage. In addition, the additional bonus will be active as long as the character is not on the field. |
Burning to Ash Duke | 2 parts: damage bonus attacks increased by 20%. 4 pieces: For each hit of the bonus attack on the enemy, the wearer's attack power increases by 6%. The effect stacks up to 8 times, lasts 3 turns, and ends after the next bonus attack is activated. | This full set is only a couple of percent inferior to the previous one in effectiveness. Motse's bonus hits consist of several hits, thanks to which he will easily collect several stacks to increase the strength indicator, which is also important for skill damage and ultimate. |
The Burning Duke
The Discoverer of Dead Waters
Sizzling Thunder Band | 2 pieces: damage bonus attacks increased by 20%. 2 pieces: damage to enemies with debuff increased by 12%. 2 pieces: increases electric damage by 10%. | In the absence of good full sets, various combinations of them will do. You can also add a set that gives a bonus to elemental electric damage. |
Among the planar decorations from the Virtual Universe, you should strive for the following sets.
Duran Wolf Dynasty
| Name | Bonuses | Benefits |
|---|---|---|
| 2 parts: When an ally activates a bonus attack, the wearer gains 1 stack, each of which increases the damage of his own bonus attack by 5%. Upon reaching the maximum 5 stacks, his critical damage will increase by 25%. | In squads that most closely match Motse's skills, he will always have allies who use bonus attacks with him. This means that the shadow guardian will easily receive all the rather high buffs offered by the set. | |
Izumo World and Takama Kingdom | 2 parts: Increases attack power by 12%. If the wearer's Path matches any ally, then their critical hit chance increases by 12%. | If you do not have the previous set with suitable stats, then you can consider this option. Most of Motse's squads will have other Hunt characters, meaning he will immediately receive all the bonuses from the set. |
Frozen Salsotto | 2 parts: increases critical hit chance by 8%. When this stat is at least 50%, the damage of the wearer's bonus attack and ultimate increases by 15%. | Very close in effectiveness to the previous set. An undoubted advantage is that its buffs, when assembled correctly, work without squad formation conditions. |
The following stats should be looked for in different items:
- Body: Crit. chance or Crit. damage in a ratio of 1:2.
- Legs: Attack power%.
- Sphere: Electric damage.
- Connecting rope: Attack power%/energy recovery (only allowed in squads where it is important for the character to hit more often, such as with Feixiao).
- Additional stats: Speed → Crits → Attack power%.
It's worth talking a little more about the additional speed. It is needed so that Motse acts first at the very beginning of the battle, and also so that you don't have to wait long for his turn after returning from the Absence state. In most squads with a classic allied build, the Shadow Guardian's base speed should be enough, taking into account the additional trace for the action advancement, but it is still better to test it in practice specifically with your team and, if necessary, increase this stat to a value of about 120-125 units.
Best Teams for Moze
Moze is usually a secondary damage dealer in a team. To fully utilize his abilities, he should be paired with heroes whose damage is based on bonus attacks, preferably representatives of the Way of the Hunt. Also, due to the Absence mechanic, he pairs well with allies who need to be hit to deal their own damage, such as Clara or Yunli. Below we will look at several suitable options.
| Main DD | Sub DD | Sub DD/Support | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
Feixiao |
Mojie |
Robin |
Aventurine |
Doctor Ratio |
Mojie |
Robin (Tingyun) |
Hoho (Aventurine) |
Feixiao |
Mojie |
Topaz (March 7 Hunt) |
Aventurine |
March 7 Hunt |
Motse |
Yukun |
Lynx |
Yunli (Clara) |
Motze |
Tingyun (Robin) |
Hoho |
Feixiao |
Mojie |
Sparkle |
Gallagher |
Motze Leveling Up
How to Upgrade Abilities (What to Level Up First)
The images below show how many resources you'll need to spend to fully level up Motze's basic attack and skill/ultimate/talent.
- Hunting Bullets of varying rarity are a reward for completing the corresponding sepal in the Scorched Sands Qualifying Site from “Uslada”.
- Mechanical parts are dropped by enchanted inventions, including those found in the Virtual Universe.
- Soul Feathers can be obtained from Echoes of War: Battlefield of the Inner Beast.
- To obtain missing items, use the Synthesis Machine or make a purchase at the Pom-Pom Shop with Everlasting Ash.
The first thing you should improve from all of Moze's skills is the talent, since most of the hero's damage depends on it. Then upgrade the ultimate, and then the skill. Basic attacks can be ignored, since the shadow guard does not use them in his usual gameplay.
How to Elevate Moze
To reach the maximum level, you will have to elevate Moze several times. To do this, you will need the following materials:
- Ascension (level 30): Credits x3200 and Artificial Mechanical Component x4;
- Ascension (level 40): Credits x6400 and Artificial Mechanical Component x8;
- Ascension (level 50): Credits x12800, Mechanical Cylinder Wheel x5 and Beast Coffin Nail x2;
- Ascension (level 60): Credits x32000, Mechanical Cylinder Wheel x8 and Beast Coffin Nail x5;
- Ascension (level 70): Credits x64000, Mechanical Heart of Chaos x5 and Beast Coffin Nail x15;
- Ascension (level 80): Credits x128000, Mechanical Heart of Chaos x7 and Beast Coffin Nail x28.
Beast Coffin Nail is a reward for completing the Stagnant Shadow in the House of Shackles.
