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Honkai Impact 3rdrecently released the newest S-Rank battlesuit, Lunar Vow: Crimson Love. For the sake of this guide, the battlesuit’s name will be shortened to just Lunar Vow. Lunar Vow is the first battlesuit for fan-favorite character Theresa Apocalypse since Starlit Astrologos in 2020. As is the case with every Theresa battlesuit, Lunar Vow’s weapon type is a cross. This Theresa, however, alsohappens to be a vampire, and her actual attack animations use a large chainsaw.
Lunar Vow is a PSY-type battlesuit that deals lightning damage and inflicts bleed trauma. This is an unusual typing combination that hasn’t been seen in the game since Shadow Knight in 2018, and as such, it has to be built around in unique ways. The vast majority of the damage that Lunar Vow inflicts is bleed trauma, which, for players unaware, can not crit and does not count as ranged or melee damage. The lack of crit changes what weaponry and stigmata can be used for Lunar Vow, and bleed being considered an indirect damage type makes it not viable under certain abyss andElysian Realmweathers.
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This guide will cover Lunar Vow’s kit and the weapons and stigmata that benefit her. While this guide will not cover how Lunar Vow works in the Elysian Realm game mode specifically,click here for a separate guide on exactly that!
Understanding Lunar Vow: Crimson Love’s Kit
Lunar Vow’s standard attack pattern is relatively easy to pull off and remember. Lunar Vow begins by using three normal attacks followed by a held normal attack, which will restore herbiting markmeter. Once the biting mark meter is full, Lunar Vow will once again normal attack to initiate her combo attack, which deals lightning damage and restores her SP.
After the normal attack rotation has been pulled off, tapping Lunar Vow’s weapon active (with a full biting mark meter) will enter her into a frenzy state. While in a frenzy state, players should keep spamming Lunar Vow’s weapon active to continuously slash with her chainsaw. This will result in biting mark being consumed and Lunar Vow becoming faster and dealing both lightning damage and bleed trauma with each slash of her chainsaw.
Outside of her normal attack combo, biting mark can also be refilled by holding her weapon active when not already in a frenzy state. The frenzy state will end after depleting the biting mark meter, but can be prematurely ended by holding weapon active.
Once the weapon active combo above has been completed, Lunar Vow will cast her special attack automatically. This attack deals lightning damage and, for the sake of buffs, will count as both a combo attack and weapon damage. When it is ready, Lunar Vow can use her ultimate ability. Lunar Vow’s ultimate ability can be tapped, in which case it will slash repeatedly while also making her invincible and triggering “time-frozen domain.” The ultimate ability can also be held instead, which will speed Lunar Vow up and increase the damage dealt per slash.
Lunar Vow: Crimson Love Weapon Guide
As with mostHonkai Impact 3rdcharacters, Lunar Vow requires her signature weapon to perform to the best of her abilities. That being said, there are a few alternatives should players fail to get her signature, though she will not be performing at peak.
The signature weapon for Lunar Vow is called Bloodied Casket and can be gotten from her rate-up gear focus supply. Once gotten, players are going to want to upgrade Bloodied Casket to its PRI-ARM form, which is called Bloodied Casket: Tough Love. This weapon generates an effect calledBlood Moon Horizonwhen used, which increases the lightning damage of the affected characters. Characters under the effect ofblood moonhorizon will also gain the “bite” effect when dealing bleed damage, which increases total damage from bleed.
When equipped on Lunar Vow specifically, Bloodied Casket: Tough Love will summon a bat when Lunar Vow enters frenzy mode. This summoned bat will follow the current character and trigger the effects of theblood moonhorizon. Finally, the weapon has a passive that increases the total damage from combo attacks, and even more so for Lunar Vow specifically.
Basilisk’s Image: Deathshroud
If players are unable to attain Bloodied Casket: Tough Love, the second-best weapon to use would be the signature weapon of Infinite Ouroboros: Basilisk’s Image: Deathshroud. Similar to Lunar Vow’s signature weapon, this cross generates an effect calledSerpent Domain.When under the effects of the serpent domain, characters will have increased lightning damage, increased combo attack damage, faster movement speed, and reduced amount of damage taken. Enemies under the effect of the domain will have their movement speed reduced and will take increased damage.
Elysian Astra: Heart’s Color
The remaining two weapon options for Lunar Vow are Elysian Astra: Heart’s Color and Oath of Judah. These two weapons are both similarly viable, but Elysian Astra wins out in damage output and ease of attaining. Oath of Judah can be attained for free from a co-op raid, but players would have to wait until the correct raid is available and also attempt to find other players in this game mode, which is mostly dead and will be removed inHonkai Impact 3rd’sbig Part 2 update in 2024.
When used, Elysian Astra: Heart’s Color will deal physical damage and bleed damage to nearby enemies, as well as mark them with a damage-over-time attack. The weapon also increases combo attack, ultimate attack damage, physical damage (which Lunar Vow doesnotdo), and bleed damage. Hitting a bleeding enemy with the weapon equipped also deals physical damage to the enemy.
Lunar Vow: Crimson Love Stigmata Guide
As is the case with her weapon, Lunar Vow will benefit greatly if players are able toattain her signature stigmata set. Lunar Vow’s signature set is called theSweet Dreamsset and features images of Kallen, Luna (Theresa), and Himeko asleep in various scenarios. This stigmata set can only be attained from Lunar Vow’s rate-up gear banner, but they should be prioritized over duplicates of Lunar Vow. The table below will cover the various effects of these stigmata as well as the overarching set bonuses for having multiple or all of them equipped.
Effect
Himeko: Sweet Dreams (T)
Increases lightning damage for Lunar Vow and increases lightning damage for the whole team upon using a weapon skill.
Luna: Sweet Dreams (M)
Increases total damage for Lunar Vow and increases lightning damage for Lunar Vow upon dealing bleed damage.
Kallen: Sweet Dreams (B)
Upon dealing 10 instances of bleed damage, the team will gain the “Nocturnal Chiroptera” effect, increasing lightning damage.
Before Dawn (2-piece set bonus)
Increases Lunar Vow’s total damage. If under the effect of “Nocturnal Chiroptera,” all enemies take more lightning damage.
Post-Nightfall (3-piece set bonus)
Increases the total damage of the team. If under the effect of “Nocturnal Chiroptera,” Lunar Vow recovers SP and deals additional lightning damage.
Alternative Stigmata for Lunar Vow: Crimson Love
If players were unable to get all or some of the Sweet Dreams set, there may still be feasible alternatives that won’t provide too much of a damage loss. Most of the alternatives are also only available in the gacha, though, so players would have to rely on already owning them or attempting to gacha them on a rerun banner. Below is a table discussing the various alternative sets, who they are initially for, and where to attain them.
Linnaeus
Much like how her weapon is the second-best for Lunar Vow, Infinite Ouroboros' stigmata set is also the second-best stigmata set for Lunar Vow. Linnaeus can only be attained from the gacha and provides lightning damage and summoned entity damage.
Handel
Handel is a craftable G4 set that belongs to Eden, who coincidentally is one of the best support units for Lunar Vow. Unfortunately, this means that unless players are willing to craft duplicates, Handel is going to be better served being put on Eden instead of Lunar Vow, as Eden is likely to be in the team. The set heavily buffs lightning damage.
Zeno
The Zeno set belongs to the previous holder of the lightning meta, Aponia (Disciplinary Perdition). The set buffs total damage, lightning damage, and combo attacks and also provides SP regeneration. The Zeno stigmata set can only be achieved via gacha.
Elysian Legacy
The Elysian Legacy set is a good set that buffs total damage and attack speed and provides some additional survivability. Players who have played consistently throughout 2023 are also likely to have this set, as it was provided for free via story achievements. Unfortunately, if players miss this set during the story, it is no longer attainable.
Ishikawa Goemon
Ishikawa Goemon is a craftable G3 set that provides both lightning and total damage buffs while also providing survivability and interruption resistance. While this set will perform adequately on Lunar Vow, it is recommended that players put in the extra grind to craft Handel instead.
Honkai Impact 3rdis out now on Mobile and PC.
