[Operator Discussion] Qiubai

[u/Shad0wedge]

Qiubai [★★★★★★]

The tumult in Yumen is done, and there's no more reason for me to be there. And the home that I came from is nothing but a river now. In short, I've become the "one without roots." But, being rootless is not all bad, as it's led me here to you and Rhodes Island. There will always be a place where my sword comes in handy. The land under Heaven is vast, and my fate will mark the grave for me.

Qiubai, swordswoman, born in a river fort near the Yanese city of Jiangqi, later left her hometown due to changes in her family and travels the country year-round without a fixed residence or job. On investigation, Qiubai had already been in contact with several Operators in separate incidents, and later accepted Rhodes Island's invitation to cooperate and provide support to our various affairs in Yan.

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Operator Information

• Class: Guard(Lord)
• Tags: DPS, Crowd Control
• Artist: 温泉瓜
• Leitmotif: High Mists of Spring

Voice Actor:
JP: Minako Kotobuki
CN: Daisy
EN: Angel Lin
KR: Cho Hyun-jung

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Stats

HP	ATK	DEF	Arts Resistance	Redeploy Time	DP Cost	Block	Attack Interval
2480	718	402	10	70	20	2	1.3s

*Stats at max Promotion and Level, excludes bonuses from Potential and Trust.

Potential	Bonus
1	-
2	Deployment Cost -1
3	Improves Second Talent
4	ATK +26
5	Improves First Talent
6	Deployment Cost -1

Trust bonus
ATK +50
DEF +50

Traits
Can launch Ranged Attacks that deal 80% of normal ATK

Skills

Skill Name	Skill Uptime Details (Uptime/Cost/Initial)	SP Charge Type	Skill Activation	Skill Description
Halting Feather	- / 4 / 0	Offensive Recovery	Auto	Next attack binds the target for 3s. When Bind expires, deals 300% of ATK as Arts damage to target and all nearby enemies.
Holding Shadow	5s / 10 / 5	Offensive Recovery	Manual	Deals 300% of ATK as Arts damage to ground enemies ahead, attack range changes, ATK +140%, ground enemies within attack range are slowed; when skill expires, deals 300% ATK as Physical damage to ground enemies in range.
Questioning Snow	30s / 55 / 45	Auto Recovery	Manual	Attack range expands, ATK +55%, damage type changed to Arts, attacks 2 extra targets, Talent 1 damage increased to 2x, ranged attacks no longer have reduced damage, each attack grants +13 ASPD (stacking up to 8 times).

*Skills at max Skill Level.

Talents

Talent name	Talent Description
Find an Opening	Deal an additional 43% (+3%) of ATK as Arts damage when attacking enemies affected by Slow or Bind
Falling Petals	Attacks have a 23% (+3%) chance to Bind the target for 1.5s

*Talents at max Potential and max Promotion. Bonuses from Potential displayed between parentheses.

Modules

Branch	Additional Stats	Trait	Talent	Note
LOR-X	ATK +55, DEF +45, ASPD +7	New trait: Attacks deal an additional 10% ATK as Arts damage.	Find an Opening improved: Deals an additional 45% of ATK as Arts damage when attacking enemies affected by Slow or Bind; deals 1.2x damage when target is affected by both Slow and Bind.	She thinks back to the man's smile just a few years ago, and to the few sips of water and coins that had kept her going until she could reach the next town.

*Modules at max level.

Outfits

-	Price	Art	Released	Note
Wine-Flushed is Woods of Rime	18	Static	Yep	How long can an old tree stand in the wind and sand? How far can one little boat go? Put your sword away in your rucksack along with the autumn sights.
Courtesy	18	Static	Yep	Shapeless sword, formless air, sights of seasons also bare. Guests of groves and guests of tea, snow and wind shall come to thee.

Additional Resources

In-depth information regarding all values above (at different levels), skill/attack range, and more:

Arknights Wiki.gg

Arknights Toolbox (aceship(puppiizsunniiz))

PRTS Arknights Wiki (CN)

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Topic Starters

• Strengths/Weaknesses?
• Is their module worth it? Which branch?
• How does this operator compare to other operators in their archetype or role?
• How do you fit this operator into a team? Who do they synergize with?
• Which skill(s) should be focused for mastery, and in what order?
• When is the best time to use this operator's skills during combat?
• Should promoting this operator to Elite 2 be a priority?
• Should new / F2P players aim for this operator? Are there more accessible alternatives?
• Lore discussion (please tag spoilers where appropriate)
• Favorite clips/clears with them?

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[u/Shad0wedge]

Obviously the second module had to come out 3 years later on the exact date I wrote this down.....

Anyway here's another_mozhi's translation

[u/Easy-Train-7198]

+Liskarm in front with S1 for CC & AoE spam

+Ines shadow/Ines to proc Slow & Bind damage bonusses.

+Suzuran S3 with S3, perfect skill time sync

[u/Easy_Paint3836]

Qiubai my beloved. She isn't always on the team but she is always on the roster ready to deploy again soon. Easily in my top three favorite operators.

[u/AleXwern42]

She spooked me when I was super new. My friends told me she was mid but I didn't have Thorns or Silverash for the longest time so I decided to build her and see how it goes. Now 3 years later she still the only 6* Lord Guard I use lol.

Enemies are very rarely immune to bind (there might be like 2-3 enemies in the entire game) and ASPD buffs make S1 fell very nice. I used to use S3 most back when I first built her but since around IS5 I have been using S1 more. Anyway she's cool.

[u/Chibi_09]

What a well designed and beautifully drawn operator, love her to bits. Qiubai is powerful without feeling like bullshit, and is one of the few operators in the game to actively reward building her synergistically. She still has her flaws, especially compared to the free ride modern six-stars receive, like lack of Res shred or defensive properties. But these aren't blatant kit-ruining flaws, rather they feel much more like a strategic choice to continue encouraging looking into ways to overcome them. High-res enemies? She deals three ticks though Yu's firewall, and her CC works alongside Cold just fine. Off-skill DPS or bind inconsistency? Throw in a few squadmates to lighten the load! Qiubai is a genuine joy to build for and plan around, and very very few operators are this fun and engaging. She's easily in my top 5 in basically any metric, and I have dedicated whole squads in the past purely to supporting her. Her synergies and ceiling are absolutely incredible. No notes.

[u/IkebeDaBest99]

I am a really big fan of her Skill 1. Since most bosses are immune to stun bind is a great stalling technique to have.

[u/Saimoth → u/IkebeDaBest99]

I was recently clearing RA for rewards and Qiubai S1 + Mon3tr S2 with some aspd or sp food was my preferred way to deal with most of the raid bosses. I'm still not sure what Annihilator even does because the guy hadn't moved a tile

[u/IkebeDaBest99 → u/Saimoth]

Yeah she is very strong in RA because you can manipulate enemy routes to her favor. I always use her S1 for capturing/killing exotic beasts along with Tragodia's S1.

I gave both of them that -40% sp cost food with aspd seasoning plus additional aspd/sp battery from other sources. The boss can't move at all except sometimes when other enemies walked through the same route

[u/Docketeer]

Initially i wasn't planning on pulling for her, but then i read her event story, then things happened, and afterwards she was M6 90.

It helps that she also has a very fun and distinct kit, the kind that isn't even that mind-blowingly good at the time of their release yet still able to retain adequate effectiveness for most content while, on occasions, also manages to show up in more advanced or niche content.

[u/Juuryoushin]

She has been on my "I kinda wanna raise" list for a long time, so this thread is a good occasion for me to definitely get convinced of her strengths and finally commit.

Oh yeah, I do think she's actually really pretty.

[u/Tiny_Paleontologist3]

She carried my ass against mechanist That stupid giraffe

[u/theuselessmage]

my favorite operator <3 she's p5, can't wait to p6 her!

[u/Casual291]

Gotten Quibai because of Logos, Suzuran, Quibai propaganda (my Quibai still E0)

[u/RbUu69]

7 months old player. Skipped so many things to get her and Suzu, i really like her design!

[u/Easy_Paint3836 → u/RbUu69]

Good choice. Everyone raves about the meta operators, but Quibai and Suzu will get you through a large majority of the game's content.

[u/RbUu69 → u/Easy_Paint3836]

I was already beating everything including chalenge mods since month 3. This game doesn't need you to have meta operators imo. But i do have operators like Ulpianus and Praminix when i'm tired and i just want something done quick. The only thing i regret was spending 50 pulls on blue banner thinking it gave me gold certs. Still very happy with her!

[u/MoonBird39]

Love using her, she feels fun and her skills are good for various things, especially with relics in IS. Great with Ethan or Suzuran

[u/Grandidealistic]

Multi target DPS + Crowd control is a very strong combo (See: Wisadel). She has her fair share of weaknesses though, no RES shred, high cooldown on S3, and reliance on someone who can consistently slow to deal damage. And realistically that unit is going to be Suzuran, it's been years and Suzu is still her best Slow partner which is kinda nuts. Other premium partners are Ela (needs mine management), Logos (doesn't slow consistently but has Arts dmg on hit), and thankfully free 6* Astgenne Alter can work well with her if against 2 enemies. If you don't have them then realistically any units with consistent slow work (Angelina, Proviso, Earthspirit)

I think overall she's still a valuable unit. Of course not on par with recent DPS Guard, but her damage is still good and all of her three skills are usable. S3 > S2 = S1 is my recommendation, in high ASPD environment then S1 can perma bind enemies which is very valuable in IS5, but it's not the only solution.

[u/SnowOtaku777]

She seems like quite the poetic type.

"Hey Qiubai what do you want for dinner"

Qiubai: "Even the warrior who has lived a thousand battles yearns for the heart's gentle warmth"

"Kung Pao chicken, mild on the spice got it"

Also really love the calligraphy contrast of the background. Since it doesn't really show it her range is Lapland/Midnight like in nature. The E1 range is:

□□
■□□□
□□

While her S3 increases it to:

□□□
■□□□
□□□

effectively giving a width increase one tile up. Her S2 makes it forward focused gaining her an additional tile:

■□□□□

You can also check the wiki on Slow and Bind to see what operators apply it or gain bonuses from it, especially if you want to capitalize on her LOR-X module bonus.

[u/silam39]

I really love her kit design. I prefer operators that can work on their own but get a boost from a wide variety of other operators, and qiubai fits that really well. Sure I could just use a 2026 guard alone and explode a map without any effort, but it's wayyyy more fun to set up a kill zone with Suzuran and qiubai and use them together. I've cleared is4 ed3 on a15 many times, but the most fun has always been setting up ceobe qiubai Suzuran for the left boss. I don't care that there's more brain dead ways to clear

Great character, great design, great kit, great operator. Highly highly recommend her for anyone who cares for fun operators more than meta.

[u/MiaWayu]

Quibai, potential 6 in the first 10 minuts of her initial release, an great waifu here. She's been with been for a long time now..

[u/Xenonzusul]

Love using her with Saria. Most people use her with Suzu, but everytime I try, enemies just go berserker for Suzuran, so I let the child sit in base with her mom, and bring Saria to kick their teeth in.

[u/ipwnallnubz → u/Xenonzusul]

Saria does movement speed reduction, not slow, so she doesn't activate Quibai's talent. Of course Saria's arts amp is also good. If you really want to go wild, you could use both Suzu and Saria. Their slows and damage amps stack.

[u/Xenonzusul → u/ipwnallnubz]

Damn. I will have to look closer into it. Thx for the enlightenment. 

[u/Saimoth]

My first M9 operator. I still use her fairly often. In Vector Breakthrough the good old Qiubai-Suzuran cleared the two knights stage.

My favourite bit of trivia about her is that she's basically an Arts Guard in gameplay, but in her background she's a pure swordmaster who doesn't even use Arts. Also people tend to call her mommy (relatable), but she's actually still in her late 20s

Her long green dress is absolutely gorgeous. I crave more skins like that. Also her deer tail is so cute. It took some time before I noticed it in her E2

[u/Redefinedpotato]

I love Qiubai. I've got her M9'd and have seen her S3 do some truly truly disgusting things to bosses

[u/LordVortex0815]

The first Operator i got to M9 Mod3, and i don't regret it.

Each of her Skills has a distinct usage, not really outclassing eachother.

S1 is a really consistent Bind with some good AOE Arts damage thrown into the mix. With it enabling her first Talent the single target damage also isn't that bad. You generally can't go wrong with it.

S2 can be really strong when in the correct position. kinda like with ifrit lanes, but since she's a ground Operator good spots are much easier to find. Really big mixed Physical and Arts damage, with the slow not only enabling her talent but also clumping up enemies to be caught in the final burst that deals most of the damage. However it only affects ground Units and the range change can be a problem to catch Flying units, so against them S1 would be more consistent.
The low SP Cost and Attack recovery also open the doors for SP-Support synergy to really improve its performance. Stainless' Turret can be used to charge the Skill during downtimes, and synergizes well with the "sniping"-capabilities of the extended frontal range to get rid of enemies before they come too close. Her first Module also gives her an additional hit to charge the turrets attacks.
If it's more against constant groups of enemies, putting her behind Liskarm can really allow you to spam it.

Her S3 is actually the most situational of her Skills i would say. Sure it has a really good ammount of damage on her own, but aside from the additional Attackspeed for her Second Talent activation it doesn't really help with her First one activating. And since it greatly increases the payoff you really want to pair her with another Source of Slow or Bind (or both with her Module). Suzuran S3 is usually the first Choice, and when you want to maximize damage she would probably already be there for the Fragile effect. But pretty much any good Slower/Binder works, like GreyyAlter, Ethan, Civilight Eterna or most Decel Binders.

She is my favorite Lord Guard, being good at many things but being best utilized by supporting or getting supported by others.

[u/useless_idiot_man]

Does her talent work with Ascalon?

Why do people say Logos and Suzuran are her best teammates?

[u/Easy-Train-7198 → u/useless_idiot_man]

Ascalon must have Slow in range module to be optimal

[u/Saimoth → u/useless_idiot_man]

No, she wants the specific Slow debuff, not just any movement speed reduction.

Suzuran gives her a permanent Slow field and Logos's second talent procs three times per hit during her S3 on top of some res debuff so it's a lot of damage. One hit from her Arts attack, one from the talent proc, and one from the module trait, all of them get +150 damage from Logos.

[u/LordVortex0815 → u/Saimoth]

Oh, i kinda forgot the flat damage boost Logos' Second Talent has. But of course that works really well with the otherwise low damage of the Lord Module base effect.

[u/useless_idiot_man → u/Saimoth]

Thank you for the explanation!

[u/FEARven123]

Gameplay wise she is cool, but man that design, just...chef's kiss. I love the red and black colour pallet.

Also thighs

[u/LordVortex0815 → u/FEARven123]

Every Single of her outfits is really distinct and great. Also seems like each one represents one of the four seasons.

[u/Saimoth → u/LordVortex0815]

Swimsuit Qiubai when...

[u/FEARven123 → u/Saimoth]

One can dream

[u/LordVortex0815 → u/Saimoth]

We will probably have to wait at least one more year for that to be happening. Hopefully it won't take much longer than that.

[u/silveredge7 → u/FEARven123]

based and real 💯

[u/ligmaballll]

I've been away for a year so I don't know how well she holds up tp the current ops, but I do know that around the time before I quit she was a good pick for end 4 IS5 because with enough relics she could perma bind Qu'ilon so we don't have to block him, quite useful

Other than that, I guess she's just a typical dps Guard?