Patch 3.2 is here, and with it comes Castorice, the Shadow of Death. She is “destined” to take the Coreflame of Death from the titan Thanatos. As a result, she carries the cursed Touch of Death. All living things wither away and die if they come into contact with her. Despite this affliction, she is still a warm, kind-hearted person. She had a twin named Polyxia, meaning she is a reference to the Gemini twins from Greek mythology, Castor and Pollux.
How Castorice Works
Is it a Bird? Is it a Plane? No. It’s a DRAGON!
The first thing to note about Castorice is that she doesn’t build Energy. Instead, her Ultimate is powered by something called “Newbud”. For every 1 point of HP lost by all allies, Castorice gains 1 point of “Newbud”. When “Newbud” reaches its maximum limit, she can use her Ultimate, which summons a dragon named Netherwing.
Netherwing is the bulk of Castorice’s gameplay. It has 3 Attacks (a claw swipe, a breath weapon, and a self-destruct explosion), provides a debuff to all enemies, provides a buff to all allies, can perform a Joint Attack with Castorice when she uses her Skill, Heal allies when it leaves the Field, and it can provide DMG mitigation for characters that are about to die. It really does do it all.
United They Stand, Divided They Fall
Almost all of Castorice’s party utility is tied up with her dragon, meaning that to use her correctly, you have to optimize its uptime. The dragon will disappear (explode) after it has either taken three turns or dropped below 25% HP.
The breath weapon (Breath Scorches the Shadow) can be used multiple times but will drain 25% of Netherwing’s HP each time you use it. This means you can keep using ad infinitum so long as the dragon’s HP holds out. Managing how much HP you drain will be critical in maximizing the DMG output of both Netherwing and Castorice.
First of Her Kind
There is one other aspect of her kit that’s worth referencing. Castorice is the first character with a global passive. Basically, if you own her, she will prevent your characters from dying. This is a 1 time per battle occurrence.
When one character dies, they instead enter the “Mooncocoon” state, which delays death and allows the character to continue as normal. If they are healed or shielded before the start of the next turn, they will survive. If not, they will die. This can apply to multiple characters if they all die at the same time (Big AoE attacks).
The thing that makes this a global passive is that Castorice does not need to be in your party for this effect to activate. You just have to own her.
What to Build on Castorice
HP, CRIT Rate, and CRIT DMG are her primary Stats (she uses HP as her DMG Stat). Whether or not you should give her SPD depends on what Relics you choose to go with. She is a Quantum character, so make sure to give her a Quantum DMG Orb.
For Light Cones, her personal one (Make Farewells More Beautiful) is the best option. Suppose you can’t get it/don’t want to. Then go with the Remembrance Light Cone from the Herta Shop (Memory’s Curtain Never Falls). For a 4-Star option, Sweat Now, Cry Less from the Battle Pass is the best choice.
Which Cavern Relic to choose is a bit tricky. Longevous Disciple, Poet of Mourning Collapse, and Genius of Brilliant Stars all have their virtues. The game does suggest Poet, though. As for Planar Ornaments, the only set that’s worth it is Bone Collection’s Serene Demesne.
Who Does Castorice Synergy With
Mydei and Blade. They want to lose HP, and Castorice likes to take HP. It’s a win-win. Tribbie is a good Support for her as well since they both need high HP, and Tribbie can increase her own HP based on the combined Health of the party. Arlan can also work with her, as she can lower his HP for him.
You will need a good Healer to play Castorice effectively. Luocha, Lingsha, and HuoHuo are the best options right now. Lynx and Gallagher are good 4-Star Healing options as well. You may even need to bring two of them.
Do not bring Sunday. I mean, you can if you really want to, but he doesn’t synergize with her well. She has no Energy, and you don’t necessarily want to speed up Netherwing’s turns because that limits how much time the other members of the party get to utilize the dragon’s debuff. If you want a Turn Advancer, go for Bronya or Remembrance Trailblazer instead.
