Starlight - Billy Best Builds, Teams, Guide & Review

Starlight - Billy joins as an S-Rank Physical Rupture Agent, living up in full to the class identity. He has:

• An on-field counter that's used to build his unique resource.
• Mechanics relating to draining and spending HP.
• Heavy hitting Ultimates and EX Specials that make up the brunt of his damage.

While Billy isn't re-inventing the wheel or introducing any fancy new mechanics, there is a fair bit to him, with multiple skill variations that make him a responsive and adaptable character.

Unique Mechanic & Gameplan

Billy has a Determination gauge underneath his portrait in combat. This has a cap of 120 and most of his attacks build it, with the exception of his enhanced Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight, which consumes it.

It uses up 100 Determination to cast and deals heavy damage, being integral to Billy's combos and even the occasional out-of-stun burst.

Although all other attacks build gauge, Billy also regenerates it passively and some skils get extra bonuses. One of which is Billy's Cool Wheelie.

It has no resource cost and he gets this automatically after using Drive Suppression.

This Special is a bike ride attack that consumes HP on use, but in turn Billy has some skills - like Basics and Dodge Counters - that can regen his HP.

Drive Suppression's main use is that it's the only way to access  Cool Wheelie. It also works as a counter, and parrying enemies with it shortcuts to  Cool Wheelie faster.

The crux of his gameplay loop revolves around these 2 skills. Spend HP on Drive Suppression and land  Cool Wheelies to deal damage and build gauge.

Use some of his other attacks to regenerate his HP so as to sustain frequent use.

Then, when Stun arrives, unload his Adrenaline  EXs, Chain Attacks, Ultimates and the enhanced Basic to dish out as much damage as possible.

Core Passive & Additional Ability

Core Passive

As is standard for Rupture Agents, Billy scales off Sheer Force - converted off HP - ignores all enemy DEF, and uses Adrenaline instead of Energy.

His Core Passive also provides:

• 60 Adrenaline on entering the battlefied.
• 90% CRIT DMG for 45s after using Drive Suppression.
• 50% DMG reduction to Billy when under 25% HP.

The HP threshold in question is important, as Drive Suppression can only be used while above it. It costs 16% HP, but if under 25%, he is locked out of the skill entirely.

To heal, Billy needs to land:

• His regular Basic Attack: Knight's Technique.
• A regular Dodge Counter: Duel King, when triggered off a Perfect Dodge.
• His Adrenaline-consuming EXs.

Weaving in skills that recover HP so as to sustain constant Drive Suppression & Cool Wheelie usage is part of his gameplan.

Additional Ability

As part of his Additional Ability, activated on having Stun, Defence or Support teammates, whenever Billy lands:

• Cool Wheelie
• The 4th hit of his regular Basic
• Chain Attack
• Ultimate

He gets 1 stack Starlight, capped at 2 and lasting 45s. Each stack buffs Billy's:

• EX Specials
• Enhanced Basic
• Chain Attack
• Ultimate

By 20% per stack, so 40% total. Conveniently, these are all of his most damaging skills, so it applies to all of his burst.

Specials

Billy has 5 Specials in total, and managing them is key to getting the most out of him:

• His regular Special, Drive Suppression.
• The Cool Wheelie that follows it.
• An Adrenaline EX, High-Traction Wheels.
• An alternate Adrenaline EX, Rocking Foootwork.
• A follow-up Special, Run Wild.

Drive Suppression

Much of its behaviour has been covered in previous sections, but in short:

• It drains 16% of Billy's Max HP on use, and can only be used if at over 25% HP.
• It has disappointing multipliers, but is used to trigger his Core Passive's 90% CRIT buff and...
• ...will lead to Cool Wheelie if taken to completion.

With the skill having a counter property that can shorcut to Cool Wheelie faster if Billy is hit during cast.

Cool Wheelie

This is the bread and butter of Billy's kit. It has an exceptionally high Determination build - at over 10 per cast - deals a surprisingly high amount of damage for the time and resources that it consumes, and it's used to sustain his Additional Ability and set buffs, like from Yunkui Tales' 4-piece effect.

The result is that it sees frequent use as both the primary way for Billy to generate Determination, and even as a filler in combos if short in Adrenaline.

It's only ever cast as an automatic follow-up from a Drive Suppression start, so although it has no cost of its own, it's use is tied to Billy's HP consumption.

Adrenaline EXs

Tapping Special will always lead to Drive Suppression, but holding it when at over 60 Adrenaline leads to High-Traction Wheels, a bike slam that deals a lot of damage.

If the button is pressed after Cool Wheelie however, and there's enough Adrenaline in stock, it leads to the alternate variant, Rocking Footwork, a series of shots that hits even harder.

It's a little slower, so it doesn't see as much use, but if Cool Wheelie is being used in a burst, it's often worth going to it rather than waiting to raw-cast the regular variant.

Both of these skills' primary purpose is to deal damage and to heal Billy quickly, as both have the highest HP recovery effect out of his skills.

Saving up the resources to unload 2 of these in every stun is ideal.

Run Wild

Whenever Billy fails to take a Drive Suppression to completion or does it in full and casts  Cool Wheelie, he will always end with Run Wild, a weak twirl and bike throw.

There isn't much explicit point to this skill, as it functions as a sort of extended recovery animation that is more of a hindrance than a boon.

It can shortcut to his regular Dodge Counter after use, but as it is not being done so off a Perfect Dodge, yields no healing or extra Determination build; a sort of consolation prize.

While this skill has no animation lock for the latter part of its cast and can be interrupted by other skills, the alternate Adrenaline EX is the only way to skip it entirely, which can matter for certain unconvetional combos where resources are in short supply.

Dodges

Billy has 2 different Dodge Counters:

• The regular variant, Duel King.
• And an alternate variant, Afterfire Spin.

The regular Dodge Counter, Duel King is the only one that can heal Billy. While this won't happen if done after Run Wild, Perfect Dodges make it not only restore a lot of HP when used, it also lets Billy shortcut into the last hit of his regular Basic string.

The alternate Dodge Counter, Afterfire Spin, has no healing associated with it, but has stronger multipliers. It can only be used during Drive Suppression, as by pressing a side directional input during it, Billy will drift on his bike.

If he's hit while drifting, instead of going into a counter and shortcutting to Cool Wheelie, he'll use Afterfire Spin first, which itself always leads to Cool Wheelie after cast.

This then offers a different way to get to Cool Wheelie that yields more damage, daze and resources, but in turn takes a little longer to cast in full.

Billy's Dash Attack is never really used, but holding the Dodge button has him ride his bike as an alternate enhanced Dash, being far faster than most other characters' regular movement.

Basics

He also has 2 sets of Basic Attacks:

• A regular Basic, Knight's Technique
• The enhanced Basic, Starlight Retribution.

Regular Basic String

His regular Basic is a 4-part string and all hits heal him a little, but its multipliers are unremarkable, with the entire Basic string doing less damage than a single Cool Wheelie, and barely generating any more Determination than it.

It is, however, the most accessible way for Billy to recover HP. It isn't possible to spam Cool Wheelies owing to the Drive Suppression HP cost, so if enemies aren't attacking (for Dodge Counters) and Adrenaline is being reserved for stun, it's the only way for him to self-heal.

There is also one unique benefit to it: when using the Drive Suppression Special after Basic 4, its HP consumption is halved, making it the ideal place to use the skill.

Enhanced Basic Attack

As previously mentioned, it costs 100 Determination to use, and it deals a lot of damage, being second only to Billy's Ultimate in terms of multipliers. In it, he'll ride around his bike while striking enemies, then go into a beam exhaust to finish things off.

With so many different ways to build gauge, it's even possible to squeeze in multiple uses of it in a combo... but in practice 1.5 uses of it is more realistic.

Although it may hit hard, it has a very long animation to match, which means the second part of the attack can land out of stun. It has roughly a 55:45 damage split though, in favour of the first part, so getting 2 of them in while the exhaust overspills is good enough.

Assists

Billy's Assists are rather unremarkable when it comes to multipliers, but his Defensive Assist stands out for also being able to generate Determination, making one of the primary ways to build it in combat.

This applies even to "chain" parries: so if you happen to block multiple attacks back-to-back, it generates Determination for every hit.

As for his Quick Assist, it's middling, but it's rarely ever used; if Billy is over 25% HP, it's automatically replaced by Drive Suppression, with a 5 second cooldown.

Chain & Ultimate

Both skills have very long animations, but make up for it with strong multipliers.

The Chain Attack in particular is Billy's greatest single source of Determination, and in large part as to why it can be possible to get in multiple enhanced Basics in a single stun.

 Ultimate has no unique characteristics, being used only for its damage, but it has respectable Determination build-up values and yields very flashy finishes.

Determination Build Values

The table below has a list of all Billy's skills that generate Determination, and how much is built by every hit.

Note that this is the gain that comes from landing a skill in full. It is possible for some to be interrupted and not yield the full value.

1. Core Passive | EX Special | Ultimate
2. Basic Attack
3. Dodge
4. Assist

As always Core Passive is important: while the Base ATK isn't as relevant, owing to Billy being Rupture, the CRIT Rate on odd nodes and the 90% in CRIT DMG it provides is going to make a difference.

Unfortunately, since Billy's damage is spread out across his Specials, Basics and Ultimate, so too is it important to level all of them. A slight priority is given to Specials and Ultimate, as they're going to make up a greater proportion of his damage than Basic.

Dodge would follow after, as the alternate Dodge Counter can be helpful on the fights Billy tends to run in (e.g. Thrall), with Assist last.

Billy is an unfortunate situation as most alternatives for Rupture Agents aren't particularly good. While he can make do with other S-Rank Signatures as filler, the lack of damage can hurt his routes as they may demand parts/minions to be killed quickly.

Starlight Rider Faceplate

Starlight Rider Faceplate (P1) provides:

• 30% HP
• Up to 20% Physical Sheer DMG or 30s after using Specials
• 20% CRIT Rate

It's a rather straightforward Rupture Signature offering, being similar to Kraken's Cradle or Wrathful Vajra, but with a slight bump on its Sheer DMG. It needs no real management, as its stacks are built naturally, and even Special: Run Wild casts count for it.

What it does, is it gives plenty of damage: enough to quickly kill Sobek on Thrall, break Defiler's Blade, or just outright burst enemies down, being significantly better than all other options.

Average DA score on release: 65,000

Other Options

Qingming Birdcage and Wrathful Vajra are both useful stat sticks, with S-Rank tier HP % mainstats and a 20% unconditional CRIT Rate bonus. Given how loaded Billy is on CRIT DMG, it's a perfect combo, and would lead to the highest scores outside of his Signature, being around 11-12% worse in performance.

Average DA score on release: 58,000

Cauldron of Clarity is the ideal A-Rank pick, as Billy isn't too saturated on DMG % bonuses, can maintain full stacks of it consistently, and both the HP % mainstat and the CRIT Rate it offers is especially helpful.

Grill O'Wisp could be used, but it demands careful management. It's possible to use Drive Suppression before every Adrenaline EX, and Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight can also interrupt it, but this not only hurts combos owing to taking longer with skills, it also makes maintaining HP much harder, so it isn't recommended for most.

Puzzle Sphere can be sustained without issue, but the ATK % mainstat scales badly for Ruptures - and for Billy specifically - its bonus effect is even worse, as it provides CRIT DMG, something that he's already massively saturated in. It is the one craftable pick though, so it's a serviceable holdover if others aren't available.

Average DA score on release: 53,000

Stats

D6 - HP %

D5 - Physical DMG Bonus

HP % isn't flexed here as Billy is not sufficiently saturated in Physical DMG for it to come close in performance, having only the 40% from his Additional Ability as a self-buff.

D4 - CRIT Rate | CRIT DMG | HP % (only in exceptional circumstances)

CRIT Rate is always the priority until maxed, as Billy is highly saturated on CRIT DMG. When the difference between a CRIT succeeding or failing is more than 200%, making sure every attack CRITs is important.

This saturation can be a problem however, as the 90% in CRIT DMG that Billy gets from his Core Passive, on top of bonuses from his teammates, like Dialyn with King of the Summit and Yesterday Calls or Lucia with Darkbreaker, lower the comparative value of the stat.

These alone aren't enough to justify an HP % D4, but Billy specifically tends to be run against Thrall and Defiler, 2 bosses which have CRIT DMG increasing mechanics.

In a neutral environment, CRIT DMG will always outperform HP %, however when certain enemies are combined with endgame buffs that further increase the stat, HP % may pull out ahead.

If maxed out on CRIT Rate, prioritise a CRIT DMG over HP %, but be aware that a well rolled HP % Drive Disc can be competitive in the right circumstances.

Drive Discs

4-piece is Yunkui Tales, being the de facto Rupture set.

Billy can maintain this easily with his Cool Wheelie, and in most fights maintaining it is of no concern.

On Thrall and Defiler however, owing to their long Miasma Shield phases, the buff can drop off if not actively maintained, so be sure to work around the conditional nature of this Drive Disc's 4-piece effect when the encounter calls for it.

2-piece is Woodpecker Electro until maxed out on CRIT Rate as priority. Otherwise:

• White Water Ballad | Fanged Metal
• Branch & Blade Song

Are both equally viable. Due to Billy's CRIT DMG being saturated, the DMG % 2-piece effect is about even with 6 CRIT DMG rolls, and becomes better with more rolls.

As many buffs have generic DMG % bonuses given however, CRIT DMG can still pull out ahead. The result is that either set effect will do, with whatever has more substats likely to win out.

Billy is, unfortunately, rather restricted in his team options. He can follow a generic shell of:

Starlight - Billy | Stunner | Support or Defender

And do fine, however Lucia and especially Dialyn's presence can have a greater impact on his performance than any single W-Engine or Mindscape.

Dialyn

Dialyn synergises exceptionally well with Billy. She:

• Is a Physical Agent, which means weakness matching on the same bosses as Billy, being critical to pushing sub-minute Shiyu kills and 4-stun routes on Thrall and Defiler.
• Has an Ultimate conversion mechanic, and with Billy's Ultimate being by far and away his strongest skill, this is a significant increase to combo damage.
• Extends Stun durations, being especially important considering the long animations on all of Billy's primary damage skills.

A Dialyn team may be scoring 65,000 on release, whereas a Ju Fufu might struggle with the low 50,000s.

Lucia

Lucia is also a strong pick, but mostly for generic issues. While her Ultimate: Charge, Great Armor! can help with managing HP on Billy on certain fights - like during Thrall's Miasma Shield phase - it's a minor quality of life at best.

Her real value comes from the absurdly strong buffs she provides through Darkbreaker and Dreamer's Nursery Rhyme, as well as Dreamlit Hearth if available.

Other Stunners

Ju Fufu is a good alternative, as she buffs Ultimates and Chain Attacks, which are a big part of Billy's damage and the extra Decibels she supplies mean that in theory, Billy could get 4 Decibel Ultimates in every Deadly Assault run.

Her lacklustre Daze however, means they are unlikely to all land in stun, as managing 4-stuns on the bosses Billy tends to run in is not really feasible.

Trigger can work as well, but be aware that neither her Additional Ability nor Spectral Gaze work with Billy. Considering that he has non-negligible out-of-stun damage and Stun DMG Multiplier is a broadly unsaturated buff, she can do fine, but tends to be limited to 3-stuns in Deadly Assault.

She would ideally have Ice-Jade Teapot equipped, as without it, her buff value isn't all that impressive.

Qingyi can outperform Trigger in fights where a quick stun is needed or if she can be the difference to making 4-stuns, like on Defiler. The steep Stun DMG Multiplier bonus she offers is very strong, but balancing out both her and Billy's on-field needs can be difficult.

Pulchra has great synergy with Billy:

• She has matching elemental weakness, which helps make up for her general low Daze build in other teams.
• Billy's Drive Suppression is both cast automatically upon a Quick Assist and has all of its hits be Heavy Attacks, leading to immediate activation of Hunter's Gait after Pulchra's Assist Follow-Ups or EX Specials.

Unfortunately, her Daze is still very lacking and her buff value falls far behind that of limited Stunners, even if the actual gameplay interaction between her and Billy is good.

Other Supports/Defenders

Pan Yinhu is the go-to alternative if Lucia is not available, being behind only her in terms of buff value to Rupture Agents.

The Bunny in Wonderland set is easily triggered and sustained on the fights that Billy tends to run in, and Pan's Ultimate is marginally helpful to HP management, but all in all he's really there for the numbers.

Astra Yao can also work. Her constant Quick Assists can be either good or bad depending on how they're used, as it gives Billy easy transitions into Drive Suppression off other teammates but can drain his HP quickly.

Her Chain conversion mechanic isn't too useful for Billy, as Dialyn's Ultimate conversion takes up enough time as is, and with other Stunners, the lack of Stun duration extension makes it difficult to slot in.

As she buffs less than Pan, she's likely only worth using if he is not at M6 or if Astra has Mindscapes herself.

Mindscape 1

Heroic Entrance provides:

• 60 additional Adrenaline upon entering the battlefield
• 18% Physical RES Ignore to Billy after landing an EX Special for 45s

This Mindscape is about on par - and can sometimes be even better - than traditional M1 supports, like those from Astra Yao or Lucia.

Although the RES Ignore only applies to Billy instead of the whole team, he's often doing at least 95% of total damage. That remaining 5% that goes unbuffed is more than made up by using up the additional 60 Adrenaline he gets from this Mindscape on an EX.

While it doesn't offer additional benefits (like Decibels from Lucia's M1), from a raw damage standpoint, it's very competitive.

Mindscape 2

Wasteland Automaton provides:

• 50% DMG Bonus to:
• • Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight
  • EX Special Attack: Cool Wheelie
  • Ultimate: Starlight Knight Flying Kick
• Turbocharged stacks, capped at 1, which yield instant casts of Cool Wheelie and buffs its CRIT DMG by 50%, being built by:
• • EX Special Attack: Rocking Footwork
  • EX Special Attack: High-Traction Wheels
  • Hitting a Stunned enemy with Special Attack: Drive Suppression

This Mindscape effectively gives Billy instant Cool Wheelies for his stuns and increases the value of landing both it and multiple full enhanced Basics in combos.

The faster cast and higher DMG means that it can be better to sacrifice 1 Adrenaline EX in stun:

• Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight
• Ultimate: Starlight Knight Flying Kick
• EX Special: High-Traction Wheels
• Chain Attack: Knight's Swagger
• EX Special: Cool Wheelie
• Ultimate: Starlight Knight Flying Kick
• Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight

Is guaranteed to land both enhanced Basics in the stun period, all the while only needing to expend 60 Adrenaline for a combo, both improving Billy's damage output and making for much easier routing.

Mindscape 4

Flames of Justice provides:

• Up to 16% CRIT DMG after using Special Attack: Drive Suppression
• Automatic healing if Billy is not the active character and under 35% HP

This is a stepping stone Mindscape, as although its CRIT DMG bonus is welcome, Billy's steep saturation on the stat means it can amount to a 3 - 5% increase in damage at most.

The healing effect is also laughably slow, and not all that practical to use as it demands Billy to be inactive.

Having any sort of damage in an M4 is a welcome surprise, so it's a nice to have on the way to M6.

Minsdscape 6

Starlight Knight provides:

• An 18% Sheer DMG bonus to:
• • Ultimate: Starlight Knight Flying Kick
  • Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight
• Brilliant Starlight stacks, capped at 6, of which can be generated by landing:
• • 4th hit of  Basic Attack: Knight's Technique
  • EX Special Attack: Cool Wheelie
  • Chain Attack: Knight's Swagger
• Brilliant Starlight stacks can be consumed (up to 2 per skill instance) to trigger an instance of 100% Sheer Force per stack by landing:
• • Ultimate: Starlight Knight Flying Kick
  • Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight

It's a verbose Mindscape, which amounts to a general Sheer DMG buff to Billy's 2 hardest hitting skills (which doubles down on M2's condensed combos to fit 2 enhanced Basics in stun) and grants some additional damage ticks.

The Sheer DMG bonus alone is likely to yield a near 7% increase in Billy's damage, while the Sheer Force stacks can help pad things further.

It's possible to get up to 8 ticks per stun with Dialyn, as Billy will recover some stacks during a combo, making for an 800% increase in damage multiplier for every stun.

Realistically it won't always be 8 ticks; not every combo has double Ultimates or lands 2 full enhanced Basics in, but even still it's a decent value add.

Combos

Billy's Combos follow a shell of:

• Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight
• Chain Attack: Knight's Swagger
• EX Special: High-Traction Wheels
• Chain Attack: Knight's Swagger
• Ultimate: Starlight Knight Flying Kick
• EX Special: High-Traction Wheels
• Basic Attack: Full-Throttle Starlight (x0.545)

The second enhanced Basic will not land in full in a standard 12s stun duration enemy without the help of stun extensions, but as the first part of the attack deals more damage than the second, getting 1.5 uses of it in a combo is sufficient.

Some characters can provide stun extensions, like Dialyn, but when doing combos with her, replacing either the 1st or 2nd Chains with an Ultimate conversion is best. The time taken for Billy's Ultimate however, mean that in practice the combo works the same way.

If lacking in the resources to get 2 uses of an Adrenaline EX, make use of Cool Wheelie after the 2nd Chain Attack, then cancel its animation with an Ultimate instead. This takes about the same time and still deals respectable damage while only demanding 60 Adrenaline for the whole combo.

As Cool Wheelie also generates a lot of Determination, this variation can be used if low on points to fit in an enhanced Basic.

Assist Priority

When using a Defensive Assist, Billy can bypass the Assist Follow-Up entirely and go straight into an enhanced Basic.

Pressing and holding the Basic button early on will not lead to an Assist Follow-Up owing to the animation lock. As soon as its over however, the enhanced Basic takes priority if the button remained held until the end of the Defensive Assist.

This is useful to not waste time on skills if stun has started while Billy was being hit, like when setting up for a fast turnaround on Thrall's Miasma Shield parry.