Reverse: 1999 Guide | Windsong

Windsong is a Powerhouse when it comes to single-target DPS. She has a very unique playstyle, where she can hoard a large number of incantations in her hand and then unleash them all at once with her ultimate. She also has a mechanic that would make Lylia very jealous, where her skill 1 converts excess critical rate into critical damage.

Kit Overview

Windsong’s kit might seem complicated at first glance, but it's actually quite manageable once you understand the basics. Let's break it down into a few key sections, starting with her Eureka mechanic. Both of her skills grants 1 Eureka while her ultimate grants 2. If you have at least two Eurekas, her skill 1 will consume them to increase his multiplier and convert excessive crit rate into crit damage.

You don't actually have to stress too much about the cost of those two Eurekas because most of the time, you will only use her skill one through her ultimate. Her ultimate first applies one confusion to the enemy Target and grants her the Mapping buff for the turn.

Then it converts all her skill 2 into skill 1 of the same ranks before unleashing all of them at the enemy, with each skill used counting as a follow-up attack. While Mapping is active, her skill no longer costs any Eureka, and any excess Eureka she generates is converted into measure.

Measure is the second key part of her kit. It's a stacking buff that grants her a 3% critical rate and critical damage per stack, up to 15 Stacks lasting for 2 turns. Windsong can also gain Measure Stack when Confusion is applied to an enemy or whenever she or an ally lands a critical hit. In practice, most of these Measure stacks will effectively convert into 6% critical damage when paired with crit support like Villa.

Measure generation

Now, the way the measure is generated can get a bit tricky. Let's say an attack applied 2 stacks of Confusion and also a critical strike; then Windsong would gain 3 stacks of Measure, 2 from the confusion and 1 from a critical hit. If Tooth fairy’s healing crits, it also grants Windsong a stack of Measure. Additionally, characters who can crit with Genesis generate 2 Measure stacks instead of 1 when their skill crits.

Preparation – Windsong

The third and the most crucial aspect of Windsong’s kit, which dictates her rotation, is Preparation-Windsong.  There are two ways to gain Preparation-Windsong: through her skill 2 or her ultimate. This mechanic is essential for maintaining her rotation and works differently from the Preparation effect seen with Spathodea.

Preparation- Windsong first grants her a pre-cast of skill 1, and if she doesn't have skill 2 in hand, she will also be granted a pre-cast of skill 2. This ensures that Windsong always has skill 2 ready, providing her with Incredible rotation stability. What's more, Preparation-Windsong can be stacked. Her skill two grants 2 stacks at rank 2 and 3 stacks at rank 3.

For those who are unfamiliar with pre-cast, it's essentially a temporary version of a skill that must be used within the turn that is granted. If not used, the pre-cast skill will be discarded. Additionally, it won't be refreshed when you use the tuning skill. A pre-cast card will lose its pre-cast property if it's fused with another card.

How to play Windsong

Let's break it down. Windsong’s gameplay revolves around loading up as many cards in her hand as possible and stacking buff before using her ultimate. She doesn't follow a strict rotation, but there are two key things to focus on. Use her skill 2 every turn to ensure her rotation continues smoothly. And keep as many pre-cast versions of her skill 1 as possible by fusing them in order to maximize the damage to her ultimate.

There are a few ways to optimize Windsong’s stacking. When you don't have skill 1 to fuse with her pre-cast card, you can always use the tuning skill to generate a special card to fuse. Another thing is if you manage to get 2 stacks of Preparation-Windsong, it will give you two skill 1s, and they will basically auto-fuse the next turn.

You can take advantage of this mechanic by using her skill two before casting her ultimate, as long as you have enough action points. Since her ultimate also gives you an extra stack of Preparation-Windsong, doing this will give you 2 stacks for the next turn. Although you might be sacrificing a rank 1 skill from being thrown out doing her ultimate, I still think this is totally worth doing.

After the new tuning was introduced in 1.9, the whole process became much easier. The first tuning skill lets you consume the rightmost incantation for cost, which speeds up your rotation significantly. The second tuning skill allows you to generate a pre-cast version of both skill 1 and skill 2 of a selected character. This is especially useful when you find yourself in a situation where you can't naturally keep up the skill you just got in hand.

The great thing about this is that both the precast from Preparation-Windsong and the tuning skill will drop on the left side of your hand, so they'll naturally fuse together. Plus, since you also get a skill 2, it practically guarantees that you have two skill 1s ready for the next turn, which will fuse together on their own.

Portrait and Psychube Choices

Windsong’s portraits are definitely powerful, though none of them directly impact her rotations. When it comes to Psychube choices, I actually wouldn't recommend going for Windsong’s Signature. Surprisingly, Jiu Niangzi’s Psychube is stronger than her signature when fully stacked. And this effect is not that hard to stack with the right Windsong rotation.

At A5, Jiu’s Psychube gives up to 50% critical damage and 28% critical rate, which is pretty wild. If you can consistently keep Blasphemer of Night active, it can also outperform her signature Psychube. Plus, since she's probably not going to be on the same team as Jessica or Jia, you can save some of those precious Psychube materials for other uses this time around.

Best Teams

If you really want to get the most out of Windsong, choosing the right teammate is crucial. For secondary support or sub-DPS, I highly recommend 37. The Synergy between them is absolutely fantastic.

First off, 37 has a pretty stable critical rate, especially if you got her portrait 1. Since her skill deals Genesis damage, she's one of the best characters for stacking Measure for Windsong. Plus, she can also dish out some decent damage while Windsong is gearing up for her ultimate.

Another great thing is that every attack Windsong throws out with her ultimate counts as a follow-up attack, which means she can quickly generate Eureka for 37. WIA also gets a huge boost from damage bonuses, so characters like Necrologist, An-An Lee, or Pickles are great choices to pair with her. They don’t have to do much- just up their buffs with Windsong’s ultimate, and you’re good to go.

Coverage isn't really a big deal with Windsong. 6 is another solid option. While he doesn't offer the big damage bonuses that other support might, he does cover Incantation Might, which helps boost Windsong’s ultimate damage. He also provides an incantation rank-up buff, which further enhances her ultimate. So even without the huge damage bonuses, 6 can still be a great support for her.

When it comes to healers, Windsong works well with both Tooth Fairy and Vila. But if you have Villa, she's definitely the better choice. Villa can give Windsong a massive boost in critical rate and critical damage whenever you need it.

On top of that, Vila’s ultimate boosted buff directly increased the incantations multiplier based on its rank. Since Windsong will typically have a good number of Rank 2 or even Rank 3 spells lined up when she uses her ultimate, having Vila’s enhanced buff with Windsong’s ultimate can lead to some absolutely insane damage.

Also, check out our Reverse: 1999 review and other guides below.

• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Mercuria
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Kakania
• Reverse: 1999 Guide | Lucy