[Guide] Arknights – Should You Pull For Ho’olheyak

Snake lady Ho’olheyak has now slithered her way into the global server of Arknights during the Lone Trail event as the latest Caster Operator.

Ho’olheyak is the president of the Columbian Astrological Research Association and a member of the Maylander Historical Association. Being some of the last Kukulkans, Ho’olheyak has a goal of bringing back the “true form” of her race, the ability to harness the power of the sky without lifespans being reduced.

Class & Archetype

Ho’olheyak is a 6★ Operator part of the Core Caster family, a common archetype that excels in Arts DPS. Sometimes colloquially known as Single-Target Caster, Ho’olheyak shares the same archetype as other popular characters like Amiya and Eyjafjalla.

In general, Core Caster deals Arts damage to a single target at a time with moderate ATK, however, Ho’olheyak also specializes in Crowd-Control.

Talents

Elite 1 Talent – Inherited End

Ho’olheyak’s first Talent is Inherited End, a passive that increases the damage of her attacks against aerial enemies by 20% and inflicts a temporary Silence on them, disabling them from using their special abilities for 3 seconds.

Knowing the capability of Silence, it is a debuff that can help ease your burden in certain stages especially some powerful Drone types.

Elite 2 Talent – Bygone Wings

For her Elite 2 Talent, Bygone Wings, Ho’olheyak causes all enemies whose HP is over 80% within attack range to become Weightless, lowering their weight for Push Stroker and Hookmaster Specialists to mess with the foes’ placement easier and potentially knocking them down.

Since she is one of the few Operators that can unleash the Weightless effect onto enemies without the reliant of skill activation, she will be favorable for stages that require such mechanic. Despite that, due to the high HP threshold requirement, she is often relegated to a more advanced situation

Skills 

Generally, Ho’olheyak’s Skills focuses on bolstering her damage potential whilst inflicting crowd control effects such as Levitating to enemies and leaving them helpless. All Skill values will be the maximum possible numbers of maxed Level 7 and Mastery 3.

Skill 1 – Progressive Moisturization

Ho’olheyak’s first Skill, In Search of Reason, causes her next attack to target one more additional target and deal up to 300% Arts damage upon Skill Charged.

If there is no additional enemy for Ho’olheyak to target, the primary enemy hit her attack will then be Levitated for 4 seconds, disabling their movement. This ability can hold up to 3 Charges from Level 7 onwards.

Levitate, as implied, is a form of crowd control that disabled the affected enemies’ movement and forcing them airborne, causing them to be treated as aerial foes. Since few enemies are immune to it, Levitate became one of the strongest forms of control and Ho’olheyak is the only few Operators with such ability. That said, she is only semi-consistent at applying it.

Skill 2 – Meandering Stars

For her second Skill, Meandering Stars, Ho’olheyak will unleash a series of attacks onto random enemies within her attack range, barraging them with 9 projectiles that deals a low Arts damage of 45% but has a small 15% chance to momentarily Levitate the targets.

While the damage can be decent especially given the shorter cycle time compared to other Skills, the heavily reliant on RNG means it causes inconsistent results.

Skill 3 – Well-Read Ravings

Other other hand, Ho’olheyak’s third skill, Well-Read Ravings, has several effects that alter the way she attacks. Upon activation, her attack range is extended to 3×5 tiles, the same as that of Artilleryman Snipers, but also increases her Attack Interval, thus slower ASPD.

Additionally, her attacks will now launch whirlwinds, dealing Arts damage proportional to distance traveled and maxing out after 3 tiles, ranging from 280% to the maximum of 420%. When the whirlwind struck the first enemy, Levitates it for 2.2 seconds.

This skill grants her a consistent way to apply Levitate effect onto an enemy, while also having extended range. Although the whirlwinds look like they would hit enemies in an AoE, they are actually single target, thus it is vital to position her well to maximize what the ability can offer.

Final Thoughts

Unfortunately, despite the earlier fanfare of her reveal and her spike in popularity, Ho’olheyak suffer from a niche skill set and made her a rather off-meta unit in most scenarios of Arknights.

Her ability to send enemies flying through Levitate can be good as very few enemies are immune to it, however, she does not apply the effect rather consistently unless it is through her Skill 3. Even so, her Skill 3 only Levitate enemies for 2.2 seconds and has a much slower attack speed to do so, meaning that she could only temporarily slow enemies.

For a 6★ Operator, she also suffer with rather underwhelming damage output. Considered the amoung of downside, Ho’olheyak is not a recommended Operator to pull for unless you have a thing for her slithering features.

For more Arknights content such as Operator guides and the latest news, be sure to check them out here at GamerBraves.

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Arknights Global

Publisher: Yostar Inc

Developer: Hypergryph

Release Date: 2020-01-16

Android, iOS

Take on the role of a key member of Rhodes Island, a pharmaceutical company that fights both a deadly infection and the unrest it leaves in its wake. Together with your leader Amiya, you’ll recruit Operators, train them, then assign them to various operations to protect the innocent and resist those who would thrust the world into turmoil. Your tactics will determine the future of Rhodes Island. Fight for the Dawn!

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