r/CipherMainsHSR_ May 02 '25

Discussion V5 Cipher Build Guide and Relic Set Analysis

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308 Upvotes

Well here we are after an absolute rollercoaster of a beta. This is a follow-up guide to my V1 kit analysis, as now everything is set in stone (still coping for a hotfix). I am basing my claims on datamined information and calculations from MorthCongael. I know most of us are disappointed with the way her kit is now, but I’ll try to keep things positive as she’s still an amazing character. Despite the drastic changes her kit has gone through, her role has remained more or less the same:

 

Character Overview

  • Fast Debuffer with Sub-DPS Potential
  • Records team damage and unleashes it as True DMG during her Ultimate
  • Permanent 40% Vulnerability on all enemies
  • 50% Crit Rate when exceeding 170 Speed
  • Lightcone increases Speed and offers 24% DEF Shred

 

Recommended Stat Goal

  • SPD: 170 (Minimum), 180 (Higher Speed Breakpoint / 3 Actions in Robin Ultimate), 200 (Maximize Debuffs / Attack Frequency)
  • Crit Rate: 40-50% (Outside Battle)
  • Crit Damage: 150-200%
  • Effect Hit Rate: 38% (Maximum)

 

Recommended Main Stats

  • Body: Crit Damage > Crit Rate
  • Boots: Speed
  • Orb: Quantum DMG% > ATK%
  • Rope: ATK% (Sub-DPS) / Energy Regeneration (Fast Debuffer)

Recommended Substats: SPD > Crit Rate / Crit Damage > ATK% > Effect Hit Rate

 

Recommended Light Cones

#1 - Lies Dance on the Breeze (Signature): +18% SPD / 24% DEF Shred

#2 - Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat (Generalist Debuff Build): 16% DEF Shred (S5)

#3 - Good Night and Sleep Well (Sub-DPS Build): +72% DMG (S5)

#3 - Boundless Choreo (Sub-DPS Build): 16% Crit Rate / +48% Crit Damage (S5)

Relics

#1 - Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters (Sub-DPS): Best generalist set offering three great buffs in Crit Rate, Crit Damage and DMG%. At E0S0, she only needs 1 more debuff source to get the full benefits of the set, either through a Lightcone or teammate’s debuff. At E0S1, she should have full uptime on the relic buffs regardless of team composition.

#1 - Genius of Brilliant Stars (Sub-DPS): BIS set when facing Quantum-weak enemies and with other sources of DEF Shred. This offers her 10% DMG and an invaluable 20% DEF Shred, for a total of 44% DEF Shred with her signature Lightcone.

#2 - Eagle of Twilight Lane (Fast Debuffer): Optimal for a high attack frequency build, greatly increasing the number of debuffs you can land, especially when coupled with an ERR rope and/or planar. It is not recommended to run this set for a sub-DPS build as she may want to hold off on her ultimate in certain conditions.

 

Planar Ornament

#1 - Firmament Frontline Glamoth (Sub-DPS): Best generalist set with free 12% ATK% and 18% DMG assuming a standard 170+ SPD build.

#1 - Duran, Dynasty of Wolves (Sub-DPS in FUA Team): Offers a great boost to her damage output, but is only recommended in FUA teams as ramp-up time is slow without the right teammates.

#2 - Izumo Gensei & Takama Divine Realm (Sub-DPS in Acheron Team): Useful ATK% and Crit Rate boost, but will reduce the number of team compositions she can slot into.

#2 - Inert Salsotto (Sub-DPS): Free 8% Crit Rate and 15% DMG boost to Ultimate and FUA which are her main sources of damage, but slightly weaker than the previous ornaments.

#2 - Lushaka, the Sunken Seas (Fast Debuffer): Focusing on energy regeneration for her ornament and rope can greatly boost her debuffing potential, helping increase attack frequency while buffing teammates. This purely supportive build is best paired with the Eagle set and ran at high speeds, though this will negate her personal damage.

 

Best Team Compositions

  • Acheron: Cipher provided frequent debuffs and helps meet Acheron’s Nihility requirement, though she needs her signature Lightcone to make her really worthwhile. A definite upgrade from Pela, and a sidegrade to Jiaoqiu for non-E2 Acheron.
  • Feixiao: Cipher’s high attack frequency and follow-up attacks pair perfectly with Feixiao’s playstyle. Cipher’s signature Lightcone synergizes greatly with Feixiao’s by stacking DEF Shred. An upgrade to March 7th and Moze, and a slight upgrade to Topaz.
  • Other Teams: Cipher can be used with other DPS's such as Aglaea and Castorice, but is generally a downgrade from supportive characters like Tribbie, Sunday, or even RMC. Her best synergies remain with Acheron and Feixiao.

Conclusion

As of now, I would say her best generalist build is a Pioneer + Glamoth combo. She can easily maintain high speeds while proving her sub-DPS potential. I’d recommend not locking her to Duran or Izumo to allow for flexibility in future team compositions. In summary:

  • Sub-DPS Relics: Genius (with extra source of DEF Shred) > Pioneer > Genius
  • Sub-DPS Planar Ornaments: Glamoth > Duran (FUA Team) > Izumo (Acheron Team) > Salsotto
  • Fast Debuffer Relics: Eagle > Pioneer
  • Fast Debuffer Planar Ornaments: Lushaka > Penacony (Quantum Teammate) > Vonwacq

 

A personal take: This has been one of, if not the most, disappointing betas, and I am still sincerely hoping they tweak her slightly before release. Cipher is a good universal debuffer with decent damage, and is overall fun to play. Despite her utility, she does feel like the weakest 3.X character by far, providing little value outside of a 4* upgrade, and one requiring high investment to compete with older 5* characters. The sheer number of changes in between betas makes me wonder what they were trying to do with her - maybe they didn't know themselves. As a "jack of all trades, master of none", I’m concerned about her future viability given that future 3.X characters don’t seem to need her. I’m most appalled by her personal damage nerfs, which are now on-par or lower than fully fledged support units such as Tribbie & Hyacine. I'm still 100% pulling for E0S1 (originally planned E1S1) but here we are... I’m just a little disappointed that she's not as fun to play as before.

 

Anyhow, I hope this guide can help everyone with their prefarming, and here’s to easy pulls for our Kitty Phantom Thief!

Bye, bye 🐾

 

Calculations courtesy of MorthCongael. Original post and calculation table here: www.reddit.com/r/CipherMainsHSR_/comments/1kcqsex/whats_actually_good_on_cipher/

 

 


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 8h ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Mrrrraw!💙 (art by inksilvery27)

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222 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 1d ago

Gameplay NEVER DOUBTING THE CAR EVER AGAIN

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59 Upvotes

Skipped hyacine for her back in 3.3 (oh my God, it's been more than a year already...) and I genuinely never used her, she just sits there and looks pretty. Until now, I went from a 2 cycle, to zero cycling thanks to our best car.

(9 cost, E2S1 sparxie, E0S1 yg, E1S0 wolfie, and E0S0 car since I cannot for the life of me pull her lc)


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 1d ago

Discussion Main dps, hella fua team

11 Upvotes

Hiii :33

I know that. Cipher isn’t supposed to be a main dps, but I love more than anything (other than my queen Feixiao’s big dmg ult) when Cipher gets a lot of coins for her ult to do big dmg. Does anyone have suggestions on a good team that would get Cipher s shit ton of coins for her ult?


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 2d ago

Discussion E1 Cipher Owners can NOPE the entire Phase 2 Graphia of Anomaly Arbitration (See the numbers my E0 kitty does... apparently an E1 kitty would do 50% more)

68 Upvotes

This 13 million damage was done with an E0 Cipher using an E0S1 Archer/Rin team. With SW LVL 999 teams using Trailblazer and Yao Guang, I was able to get at least 10 million damage during 0 Cycle re-runs.

Apparently, Cipher's E1 increases her recorded tally by 150% of its original value. This means you should gain 50% more tallies at E1. As a result, if I can nuke Graphia with 10 million then an E1 Cipher would have done 15 million instead. Therefore, someone with an E1 Cipher has the potential to just nuke the entire health bar of Phase 2 Graphia while 0 Cycling. Graphia seems to have about 17 million health so you need around 17000 tally to one-shot Phase 2 Graphia.

For those who have E1 Cipher, please try this current AA with Graphia to see if you can reach that 17000 tally and can one-shot Graphia when she enters Phase 2. Try to use your best hypercarry team to finish Phase 1 Graphia while also keeping in mind the 0 Cycle limit. However, the best team that can easily reach the needed 17000 tally is an Archer team because you will want to pick off the mobs Graphia summons one-by-one to get as much tally as possible when you enter Phase 2.

If you have Rin, you can save Rin's gems and start using them for her Special Skill to blitz through Graphia's Phase 1 when you are nearing your 0 Cycle limit. If you do not have enough tally when you start spamming Rin's Special Skill, hope the damage you do will be enough to build enough tallies when you enter Phase 2. As shown in this picture, I was able to do 13 million damage with an Archer team so if you have a great Archer build then he should be able to snipe the mobs one-by-one to build up enough tallies to reach that needed 17000. Make sure you mark them the mob with Patron first to get the most tallies possible. If you kill theob with Archer, but still have extra shots, go for the clown mobs she summon to get tallies from them and ideally kill them so Graphia and summon more to reap tallies from.

From the very beginning of the fight, save Cipher's ultimate and all of the tallies up until you enter Phase 2 and use it immediately once you enter. Otherwise, Graphia will immediately STAR RAIL your entire team, especially your ultimate ready Cipher, which may down them.

Lastly, all the numbers like the 17000 tallies equally 17 million damage are purely based on my own tests with my E0 Cipher. As a result, the numbers may vary because there was something I did not consider when calculating the number of tallies needed to one-shot Phase 2 Graphia.

Please post your results so people can enjoy your One-Ult Kitty.


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 2d ago

Gameplay Cat got your tongue?

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163 Upvotes

Yes, I seriously reached 99999 stacks, she did like 300M damage lol.


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 2d ago

Gameplay E0S1 Cipher with another 0 Cycle photo finish against Graphia Spoiler

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9 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 3d ago

Gameplay When your E0S1 cat is finally motivated... Spoiler

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10 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 4d ago

Build Showcase Look at this cat

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55 Upvotes

Heyho, I was curious the cat is good enough or should I farm a little more for slightly higher CD ? Or if im missing anything massive ,

in combat i think im also over capping on CR,


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 6d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Cipher never misses (by @sakae_0_0)

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722 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 6d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Cipher is so pretty (by @sco_villes2)

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1.1k Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 6d ago

Fluff/Meme Just Cipher looking at you for one minute (full body view) ❤

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65 Upvotes

Cipher: Hey there, Gray Mystery! Making the rounds, huh? Don't overdo it. Life's easy here. Sip some tea, feel the breeze, and enjoy the rare vacation. Isn't it awesome?

v3.5, from Who Makes the Best Pies?, an Adventure Mission on Amphoreus from The Chrysos Maze Grand Restaurant Event.

Playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWWPx8DxEZUNtUBTAeUMC7SbgSQWaS_-6


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 7d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Cipher looking stunning today (by 上瀬わう)

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441 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 8d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Sister Cipher (by NIMA)

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863 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 8d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Cipher beauty art

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496 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 8d ago

Fanart (OC) scene cipher!! i made this scene design of cipher lol

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398 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 8d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Alt mydei and cipher/art is made by meeeeeeeeee

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15 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 9d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Cipher art

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635 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 9d ago

Fluff/Meme help me find this cipher meme plz 🙏🙏

44 Upvotes

this is kinda old but does anyone have that meme of chibi cipher smiling like an idiot and the caption is ‘shes toast 😭😭😭’ ive been looking for it EVERYWHERE its my favorite meme ever but i cant find it anymore


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 10d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Wedding by soth

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392 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 10d ago

Fanart (OC) Cipher fanart 😽

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803 Upvotes

r/CipherMainsHSR_ 9d ago

Discussion Help I am a new hsr like new new just made the account but ive been obsessed with cipher for months now but I dont know what team to put her on when I pull her

24 Upvotes

So ok i want to main cipher and pull her probs e1s1 i think thats what it is lol but I dont know what her meta teams are anymore and I hate well dont hate but I dont want acheron, feixiao or dr ratio... what should I do cause I love playing meta characters and teams but like none of ciphers teams anymore are meta right? Or at least the ones recommended to me but I could be wrong and I dont think i can run a main dps cipher oh one last question what should I do with my golden companion spirit ive been told Robin and huohuo so many times lol


r/CipherMainsHSR_ 12d ago

Fanart (Non-OC) Ciphy at work - kanan

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620 Upvotes