Aloy is considered one of my favourite characters in all media. She’s an authorized badass within the Horizon collection, with crossover appearances in numerous different video games. Certainly one of these crossovers is Genshin Affect, the place Aloy is taken into account one of many worst playable characters within the roster.
So, what occurs once you determine to fundamental an objectively dangerous character in a character-based RPG like Genshin? I’ve undoubtedly gone by way of some Aloy-induced levels of grief due to my determination. Plenty of negotiating that selection, too, however as they are saying, the place there’s a will, there’s a means, proper?
Aloy arrived in Teyvat on September 1, 2021, for PlayStation customers. Since I didn’t have a PlayStation, I compelled my good friend to log into my account on his console to say her. Once I bought my account again, there she was. Anime-fied, however undoubtedly nonetheless Aloy. She even had her personal particular Imaginative and prescient form.
As a theorycrafter, I instantly checked out her equipment. To my delight, Aloy may deploy bombs that seemed similar to the Freeze Bombs in Horizon Zero Daybreak. She additionally had a novel Coil stacking mechanic whereby she may infuse her Regular Assaults with Cryo harm.
That’s the place the excellent news ended. Aloy’s Ability had a punishingly lengthy cooldown, and there was one other lengthy wait between when she may acquire Coil stacks. With out sacrificing her harm with Sacrificial Bow, it was practically not possible to persistently achieve her Cryo infusion, rendering this a part of her equipment nearly non-functional.
Curiously, Aloy’s Burst had a a lot shorter cooldown in comparison with her Ability. Perhaps the optimum play was to disregard Aloy’s Coil mechanics and simply spam her Burst? I hunkered all the way down to attempt to make it work.
Stage 1: Denial
I modified Aloy’s construct many times in an effort to make her useful. Freeze Aloy didn’t have the constant harm to compete with different Cryo choices. Mono Cryo Aloy made extra environment friendly use of teammates, however didn’t repair Aloy herself. Reverse Soften Aloy resulted within the greatest numbers, however a lot of the group’s general harm got here from Xiangling or Rosaria.
I even created detailed spreadsheets to attempt to simulate Aloy’s harm in numerous groups with completely different builds. The numbers have been all the time abysmal.
There’s no means HoYoverse launched a personality this dysfunctional, proper? Each character in Genshin Affect is viable. I have to be doing one thing fallacious.
Stage 2: Anger
I turned to my Genshin mates on Discord, who had largely reached the identical conclusion. We commiserated on how horrible Aloy’s equipment was. She could have been a free character, however she deserved higher than this. After some personal bitching and letting off steam, I turned once more towards discovering an answer.
Stage 3: Bargaining
At this level, I threw all of my fancy spreadsheets into the trash. There was no swish strategy to play Aloy. Greater numbers needed to come from stronger gear alone.
I stole my Skyward Harp from Fischl and gave it to Aloy. I pulled for Shenhe to spice up Aloy’s Cryo harm. Absolutely, a 5-star weapon and 5-star assist would make Aloy’s harm price it.
It didn’t matter that Fischl was an precise meta unit who would make higher use of the weapon. It didn’t matter that I spent worthwhile Primogems pulling for a devoted assist character. I used to be the loopy Aloy woman pouring every thing she had right into a horrible character.
Stage 4: Despair
Alas, it was to no avail. It doesn’t matter what I did, Aloy simply was less than par. Her groups may clear the Spiral Abyss, however they struggled to realize the complete 36 stars.
And so, sadly, I benched my Aloy. For months, she sat unused, gathering mud. As a substitute, I went to work on ending my extremely laborious playthrough of Horizon Zero Daybreak. Genshin Aloy was only a unhappy shadow of Horizon Aloy.
Stage 5: Acceptance
Over the course of the subsequent a number of updates, HoYoverse continued to launch highly effective new characters in Genshin Affect. The introduction of Dendro shook up the meta in unpredictable methods. There have been now a lot of alternative ways to construct highly effective groups, and it turned simpler than ever to clear the Spiral Abyss.
Earlier than even beginning an Abyss run, I already knew that my Raiden Nationwide, Nilou Bloom, and Ganyu Freeze groups have been as much as the duty. I needed a problem.
It turned out one of many solely challenges left was doing a full away from Abyss with Aloy.
Aloy is not benched. It takes her longer to clear tough content material, however I don’t care anymore. It makes me completely satisfied to see my favourite online game character residing her finest life as an adventurer in Teyvat.
As an added bonus, Aloy is among the solely feminine characters in Genshin Affect who wears correct pants. If I’m going to discover the rugged open world of Teyvat, I don’t need my character carrying a night gown and heels. Aloy appears like she belongs within the untamed wilds.
The co-op expertise has been surprisingly healthful, too. It’s been years since Aloy was distributed to gamers, so having her in any respect has grow to be one thing of a flex. I’ve by no means gotten a detrimental response from different gamers relating to Aloy’s harm. Most individuals are simply excited to see a uncommon character.
Aloy is a lesson in taking part in what you like, not what’s meta. I’ve lengthy uninstalled Horizon Zero Daybreak to create space for different video games, however seeing Aloy in Genshin Affect makes it really feel like she by no means left my laborious drive.
Nonetheless, I can’t wait to begin shredding machines in Horizon Forbidden West in relation to PC. Aloy deserved higher.
Extra Tales by Christine Choi