The Hero Backup Stick Season 8 is here!

12 Sep 2021 5am to 7 Nov 2021 5am

TLDR:
Purple stick: CANNOT get Lv200, base max of Lv160 (slightly higher if you complete first day weekly cap).
You will need to buy 20-40+ levels with funds to get to Lv200 – if you have double funds recharge then this will be slightly cheaper than the orange stick.

Orange stick: Able to hit Lv200 quite easily as long as you finish most of the quests every week.

Things to Note:

• I’m comparing the latest HBU model (which started from #5 – Boros) with the old one (where you can ‘reroll’ quests to blue/purple), so some of the info below are meant to address the changes.
• You now cannot hit Lv200 with basic backup stick due to the XP caps
  • Weekly cap for Weekly quests is 650, Weekly cap for Daily quests is 1350. Total weekly XP cap is 2000 (20 levels). So basically in 8 weeks, you can get 8×20 = 160 levels at the base
  • First day (usually Sun) you can spam quests to clear for that weekly cap
  • You cannot reset the weekly quests to a different quality. Green will always be green now.
  • If you buy the stick, you get extra quests – 1 green, 1 blue and 1 purple.
  • The uncompleted quest points will be carried over to the following week, so you can continue grinding then if you couldn’t play much this week (You will see your weekly limit increase).
• You can save the wristbands as they will carry over the next season, and you can exchange them for other LSSR shards or even KS!
• You can only get Lv200 by hitting most of the daily/weekly quests limits (see calculation below) + you need to either buy the Expensive backup stick OR buy the rest of the levels with funds
• If you decide to buy the stick nearing the end, you will still be able to get all the rewards retroactively. Just note that you might not hit lv200 (since the paid stick gives you extra weekly quests which you would have missed out on) so you might need to top up a few extra levels.
• You don’t have to hit lv200 (although I strongly recommend you do if you’re buying since all the good rewards are there). You can hit maybe Lv160-180, and then get the rest of the LSSR shards via exchanging bracelets to hit 80 shards to fuse.

REWARDS

The rewards are quite lackluster and nothing special. The LC speed rune is only 33, and at Lv200 we don’t have any costumes or character figures, unlike the previous ones with Chut Thai Fubuki. HOWEVER, you do get a Class S2 badge at lv150 so that’s not too bad. S2 can be used for himself, or ATT.

• Drive Knight (DK) shards (total 80 over 200 lvls)
• DK figurine
• DK badge
• SPD 33 LC Rune (lv199)
• Class S2 badge (lv150)
• SSR wristbands, which is a currency for you to exchange LSSR shards and awaken materials

WORTH IT?

I’m just going to talk about DK solely and not the other rewards, so do note that the HBU stick still includes a lot of other perks and rewards. If you don’t mind spending on the game, HBU is always the best bang for your money in terms of all the rewards that you will get.

TLDR: If you’re a low spender and you don’t mind to continue spending on the game, sure why not. It’s ‘cheap’ for an LSSR if you want to put it this way. But cheap for a game? Not really, you could buy New World for $39USD for example.

DK’S KIT

Role: Sub-DPS / Ult dmg reduction support
Type: Hi-Tech / Hero (Class S2)
Meta Duration: Maybe about 4-6 months assuming you get him in Nov. If you plan to use him as your Hi-Tech for Bomb core until CE V2 comes out.

ABILITIES

Basic: Single target 130% ATK as dmg
Ultimate: (no need energy) 120% row ATK. Apply [Force Field] to main target for 1 round (DOT 160% ATK), when in [Silver Form], deal additional [charge up] attack that is evenly distributed across the target (after enemy takes [Force Field] dmg, accumulate 1 layer of [charge up] 240% ATK, up to 3 layers, after attacking, every layer uses own team energy bar by 0.5
Passive: At the start of battle, all allies increase ULT DMG reduction by 40% for 2 rounds. Drive Knight permanently receives 50% less dmg for non-crit dmg, and permanently reduce its speed by 90%. When the enemy is hit by [Force Field] dmg, Drive Knight transforms into Silver Form.
*SSR Amai unable to boost Drive Knight SPD. Force Field DMG can come from Awakened Tatsu.

Ultra-Ultimate:
Row Atk 120% > 150%
DoT dmg 160% > 220%
Forcefield dmg 240% > 330%
Extreme-Passive:
Ult dmg reduction 40% > 45%
Self-dmg reduction for non-crit 50% > 55%
5P Passive:
Ult dmg reduction > 50%
Lasts for > 3 rounds
Self-dmg reduction for non-crit > 65%

GEAR

Suggested gear:

Since his speed is crap, just focus ATK% for attack build, or HP% if tank build.

Recommended set is Gunner/Prisoner/Primal
Broken set is fine if you don’t have the required pieces.

Buff Gear:

Hero ATK – ATK% x3
Hi-Tech ATK – ATK
S-Class ATK – ATK / Dmg Rate%

For more details/variations, check out Lance’s video below.

Update on his Ult usage:
Although the ult is free to use at base level, he uses energy for dealing charge up damage. Each layer of charge consumes 500 power (1 energy=1000 power), and can stack up to 4 layers (equal to 2k power or 2 energy). This means that he will consume the energy upfront for the next round. Hence for the next round your total energy will be reduced by 2. His charge depends on force field, each force field trigger (explosion) provides one charge, so 4 charges will equate to 4 force field triggers.

Example if ATT triggers 3 force fields, DK will get 3 charges, which means 1.5k power (1.5 energy used upfront), so hence at the 2nd round you will only get 6-1.5= 4.5 energy (without including the talent by charwcter) since DK consumes it.

Also, his charge damage is evenly distributed to the row, eg 1320/3=440. So if there are 2 units in the row it’s 1320/2=660% per unit. And charge dmg cannot crit. (Credits to Lorenzo from Lance Cult)

Credits to Lance and Dumbledore for info

Pros:

• ‘Free’ ult is always good, doesn’t cost energy
• Ult damage quite high with the right conditions
• Similar to Alloy, provides allies Ult Dmg reduction by 40% for 2 rounds
• He himself is quite tanky, with a permanent 50% dmg reduction for non-crit dmg
• Synergizes well for Bomb core in the Hi-Tech slot, together with ATT.
• Good for cleaning up the front row when he moves last with full charge
• In the backup stick so it’s ‘relatively cheap’ to pull him

Cons:

• Dealing charge up damage will consume certain amounts of energy, so ult won’t be exactly free.
• He is super slow, will always be SPD6 usually. So for him to work, he needs a minimum amount of HP in order not to die early, otherwise he will just die before doing anything. With Bomb core, this should not be an issue.
• Doesn’t do so well against crit units, especially if not using Bomb core.
• Requires synergy with other units for maximum damage, eg need force field from ATT/AVM. Low DPS if you don’t have any force field synergy
• His row dmg ult can be easily countered by putting one unyielding in front, such as WDM
• Not super critical for Hi-Tech slot in Bomb core, can still use CE, Genus or Lightning Genji
• It costs money so for those F2Ps who wanted to get him for whatever reason using BTs will now have to reconsider
• Since he is in HBU (as opposed to a normal LSSR banner), you will only get him in Nov if you don’t buy levels to accelerate, hence his meta is slightly shorter since you can’t immediately use him when Bomb debuts

GUIDE FOR BACKUP STICK

Credits to Mikha, inactive, Lance, BosAyam, and myself.

IF THERE’S ANY WRONG CALCULATIONS DO LET ME KNOW.

IF YOU BUY CHEAP BACKUP STICK

For low/mid spender Exp daily limit

Total cost of diamonds weekly : 4795 gems (with stamina and vitality bought per week)

• Stam and Vit Cost for the above:
  • Total of stamina and vitality bought per week: 2415 diamonds
    • Stamina spend for per day : 0 25 25 50 50
    • Vitality spend for per day : 35 65 95
  • Vit breakdown
    • Talent needed to get the max exp per week – 800 vit
    • Total vitality used : 1400 to 1600 vitality
    • CC Normal needed to get the max XP per week
      • Solo CC – 800 vit
      • Team CC – 600 vit

• Total XP (Daily quests) = 10,800 (1350 x 8 weeks)
• Total XP (Weekly quests) = 5200 (650 x 8 weeks)
  • So doing the above you already get Lv160. (16000 = 10,800+5200)
• First day try to get 1000 XP (10 lvls)
• Total Levels = 170+ lvls
• Top up to hit Lv 200 – about 150 funds = USD $21, or $11+ if you have double funds

IF YOU BUY EXPENSIVE BACKUP STICK

Total cost of diamonds weekly : 2665 gems (with stamina and vitality bought per week)

• Stam and Vit Cost for the above:
  • Total of stamina and vitality bought per week: 2415 diamonds
    • Stamina spend for per day : 0 25 25 50 50
    • Vitality spend for per day : 35 65 95
  • Vit breakdown
    • Talent needed to get the max exp per week – 800 vit
    • Total vitality used : 1400 to 1600 vitality
    • CC Normal needed to get the max XP per week
      • Solo CC – 800 vit
      • Team CC – 600 vit

• Total XP (Daily quests) = 9800 (1225 x 8 weeks)
• Total XP (Weekly quests) = 5200 (650 x 8 weeks)
  • So doing the above you already get Lv150. (15000 = 9800+5200)
• First day try to get 1000 XP (10 lvls)
• Total Levels = 160
• Plus your 40 levels from purchase = Lv 200

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