Hotori Build Guide

Increases Cosmos DMG by 10% for each Type III Module equipped.

Hotori’s Ultimate stops time for everything except Blossom, which keeps dealing damage, so she’s the best support for Blossom teams. Aside from that, her Skill records three skills cast by allies - one per ally, and repeats them during her Ultimate. So Hotori fits perfectly with characters who have a very important effect on skill cast. Finally, she can record and replicate support skills instead.

Max Zero Charged Team

Jiuyuan, Hotori, Zero, Hathor

The way Hotori repeats skill casts means she can replicate Zero skill for double Esper Meter refills. If you align all characters' skills right after Hotori skill, she repeats Hathor skill (normal version not hold), and grants her two extra feathers. Then repeat Jiuyuan's skill, for extra Bullets towards her Charged Attack

All repeated skills generate Esper Meter and Ultimate Energy for each character, so the team ramps up pretty fast. The team also proc Charged pretty easy, resulting in faster rotation for Hotori. And considering she freezes the timer during her Ultimate, the Hotori version of this team clears faster than any non-Hotori version.

Max Nanally Blossom Team 

Nanally, Jiuyuan, Hotori, Zero

With two Anima and two Cosmos, added to the double cast of Zero skill, this team procs Blossom nonstop. To the point that Cycle Intensity becomes the best stat for Zero and sometimes Hotori herself to maximize Blossom damage.

Nanally takes more field as the main carry. Hotori records Nanally’s skill, repeating it, but not repeating Nanally’s buff. So don’t be afraid of switching from Zero (with full Esper Meter) to Nanally, which records Nanally’s support skill instead of skill. There’s no waste here.

This is potentially the highest DPS team in the game at version 1.0

Chiz Hyper Carry Team

Premium: Chiz, Hotori, Jiuyuan, Hathor

F2P: Chiz, Hotori, Mint, Skia

Chiz’s Skill has three charges which she spam after using her Ultimate. Hotori can record only one charge, so make sure you record Hathor and Jiuyuan skills first before switching to Chiz. 

In Beyond the Rail stages where enemies have Cosmos weakness, this team shines, because both Chiz and Hotori are Cosmos DPS. It's an especially good team against Bosses in the second half of Beyond the Rail mode.

If Jiuyuan is taken by another team, consider using Mint. And replace Hathor with Skia if unavailable.

• Limited BiS: Marching Beyond Time
• Paid Alternative: The Rain That Shook the World
• F2P Alternative: Hethereau's Keeper (Max wanted boss),
• Early F2P: The Forgotten

Marching Beyond Time is Hotori’s Limited weapon, which works best with her in the majority of situations. With high Base ATK, Crit Rate, ATK%, and a conditional Ultimate Crit DMG buff for Hotori, based on recorded skill count. And another Def Ignore buff if she records 3 allies skills or support skills. If you skipped Nanally’s signature weapon, getting Hotori's would be easy, even for F2P. However, if you pull for several limited banner Arcs, it becomes expensive.

The Rain That Shook the World the World comes from a $3 starter pack, and is considered a decent alternative if you already bought this pack. It increases Crit Rate, Cosmos DMG, and Cycle Intensity. But it's not worth going out of your way for, as there are more alternatives.

Hethereau's Keeper is the best F2P weapon for Hotori, but it drops from the hardest boss in the game. The Police Boss spawns when a player gets 4 star wanted level from committing crimes in overworld. The boss is level 99 and one- or two-shot most characters, so most players need to reach a higher level before challenging it. This weapon is worth the struggle, as its DPS on Hotori comes very close to her signature weapon. And summons a cool little officer that attacks enemies alongside the player, and scales with the character's own DPS stats.

In the early game, before getting any S-Class weapon, use The Forgotten

• Cartridge: Lost Radiance (S)
• Cartridge Main Stat: Cosmos DMG% (general build) / Cycle Intensity (Blossom build)
• Substats: Crit Rate / Crit Damage / DMG% / ATK% (or Cycle Intensity for Blossom build)

Lost Radiance is Hotori's best-in-slot cartridge for all scenarios, as she’s a support who builds like a DPS. It provides Cosmos DMG and Def Ignore after casting Ultimate, which is when all Hotori’s damage occurs.

Console bonus gives Hotori 10% Cosmos DMG with every Type III module, and Lost Radiance set requires 2x Type III modules. So you can stack a total of four Type III modules for 40% Cosmos DMG. That's a strong DPS multiplier for the direct damage portion of Hotori's kit.

For Main Stat, there are two builds. General build, which suits most teams, prefers Cosmos DMG. And a pure Blossom build (with Nanally), is better with Cycle Intensity, which scales all reactions DPS including Blossom

The ideal substats are Crit Rate, Crit Damage, and DMG%. For the fourth stat, on the General build it’s ATK%, and on Blossom build it’s Cycle Intensity.

Ultimate > Everything Else 

All of Hotori’s damage counts as Ultimate damage, even the ten attacks after casting Ultimate which appear as Normal Attacks, they are Ultimate damage, not Basic Attacks. So level Ultimate the most, and ignore everything else if you want.

While Hotori’s kit is complicated, her playstyle is surprisingly straightforward.

Hotori’s Simple Rotation

• Always start with Hotori’s Skill
• Switch to your next ally
• Cast all three allies’ skills
• Hotori records all skills cast within 5 seconds of her own skill cast
• Allies’ Ultimates don’t interfere with the rotation, cast them at will
• Wait until Hotori Ultimate is ready
• Switch back to Hotori and cast Ultimate, she causes a time stop
• All recorded skills automatically repeats
• Follow up with 10 Ultimate Normal Attacks
• After time stop ends, spend 10 seconds on your main DPS while Hotori regenerates energy

How Hotori’s kit works

Hotori has a max of 120 Ultimate energy, which appears as a time resource. It generates over time on its own, at a rate of 6 energy per second. Hotori’s own skill and Ultimate doesn’t regenerate her Ultimate Energy faster, but the Charged reaction helps regenerate it faster.

Hotori’s skill doesn’t have a cooldown, but requires 60 energy to cast. That way, Hotori has to wait 10 seconds after finishing her Ultimate to recover enough energy to cast her skill, and wait a total of 20 seconds between each Ultimate. (The time stop period not included)

During her time stop, all allies' cooldown are paused, allies and enemies are frozen, and she can’t switch out. The only exception is Blossom buds, which keep firing and hitting enemies. 

If the enemy is inflicted with Remora and gets hit by Blossom during time stop, Charged is triggered, but it doesn’t regenerate energy. Despite that, outside the time stop, Charged works normally. So the best way to maximize both energy generation and DPS is to renew Blossom more often and use more Anima and Cosmos allies.

Special interactions

• Hotori’s signature Arc requires recording full 3 skills within 5 seconds to trigger the Def Ignore bonus.
• • If an ally’s skill is on cooldown, you miss
  • If an ally’s skill takes too long and 5 seconds ends, you miss. (e.g: Hathor’s hold skill)
  • Some skills are recorded instantly at the start of animation (Jiuyuan), while others are recorded at the very end of animation (Hathor). So if you cancel the skill animation, you miss.
• Hotori repeats the basic version of any recorded skill. So Daffodill’s enhanced skill repeats as normal, not enhanced. The same for Hathor’s and Sakiri’s hold versions.
• Some character skills have special conditions to trigger special buffs, such as Nanally’s Crit DMG buff after using a skill which requires Nanally to be on-field. So repeating Nanally’s skill doesn’t trigger her buff.

Hotori released in version 1.0 second half, on May 13, 2026