"Star Shine" - Strategy & Discussion

[Kevin Pepino]

(I know it's several months after her release but I wanted to discuss her, and for some reason there wasn't a thread lol)

STAR SHINE (Light Diamond Annie)​

"How about a little sunshine to brighten up your day?"

The palette is a reference to Star Butterfly from Star VS The Forces Of Evil.
The quote is a reference to Sonic R "Can you feel the sunshine? Does it brighten up your day?"

SIGNATURE ABILITY: Butterfly Effect
SA1: Gain IMMUNITY and BLESSING every 30/25/20 seconds after facing the same opponent. Both effects are removed if the opponent TAGS OUT or dies.
SA2: Gain permanent PRECISION after 60/45/30 seconds as the active fighter. PRECISION is removed when TAGGING OUT.

TRAILER:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1329937157868359682

Star Shine is potentially one of the most valuable offense units for Rift Battles in my opinion. I cannot stress enough how incredibly powerful permanent Precision is as a tool to bring down most of the defenders on the vast majority of the meta defenders, such as Immoral Fiber and Plot Twisted to name a few. Couple that fact with special moves such as Re-Entry, that grants Enrage if the last hit is a crit, and Destruction Pillar, which deals additional damage also on crit, and the output is some very heavy damage outputs.

Being an attacker, she desires Attack, Piercing and Meter Gain. Special Cooldown and Crit Damage are very recommended so you can increase the frequency of the use of Destruction Pillars and the total damage output from Precision hits. She shares stats with that of Risky Ginger, leaving her with a total of 11.8k base Atk and 71.1k base HP at max level and max skill tree investment. Therefore, she can deal good damage while being able to take a few hits, plus the bonus of self recovery with Sagan Beam.



Of course walking around with that much power would naturally prove itself OP, that's why the 30 second mark was implemented, so that it wasn't an instant win button. Moreover, you'll have to stick with her for either the entire fight or at least a significant part of it, which would have to predominate the early and mid match. And while Hex doesn't stop her from getting the permanent Precision, Curse most certainly will; on that end I advise to be as careful as possible should you carry her on a Rift node that has Curse of Knowledge in it and requires a Precision user.

One move I think should also be a fit on Star Shine is a Tag-Out. For one it helps out to keep the least desirable match-ups on the back while trying to force the most desirable one (i.e. tag out a front runner Dread Locks and hope Last Hope is the one to come out next), but also she has great synergy with Sketchy. Back to the Curse of Knowledge argument, good timing of tag-out usage can naturally prevent the opponent from gaining any buff itself. She can alternatively use the Immunity from tagging in to prevent Curse for a few seconds. [Here's a display of the tag-out dynamic.]

You may have noticed I haven't mentioned the SA1 a whole lot, and only focused on the permanent Precision. That's because to be honest it's not very good. While the buffs themselves aren't bad, they will only be present depending on the opponent's presence in the field (and also your own). So if you go for a tag-out heavy gameplay, you won't see too much of it in action. Not to mention if the enemy dies they also get removed. It's really only a small life saver in case the battle dragged for long enough and you screwed up midway. Nevertheless, given the large amount of applications of the SA2, I don't think the SA1 needs to be that outstanding.

In conclusion, if you manage to get your hands on Star Shine (as soon as she gets released next patch let's hope) be sure to invest in her. She can easily go against the vast majority of the meta with good skill and strategizing.

 

[Hall☆weenQueen]

View attachment 12783
(I know it's several months after her release but I wanted to discuss her, and for some reason there wasn't a thread lol)

STAR SHINE (Light Diamond Annie)​

"How about a little sunshine to brighten up your day?"

The palette is a reference to Star Butterfly from Star VS The Forces Of Evil.
The quote is a reference to Sonic R "Can you feel the sunshine? Does it brighten up your day?"

SIGNATURE ABILITY: Butterfly Effect
SA1: Gain IMMUNITY and BLESSING every 30/25/20 seconds after facing the same opponent. Both effects are removed if the opponent TAGS OUT or dies.
SA2: Gain permanent PRECISION after 60/45/30 seconds as the active fighter. PRECISION is removed when TAGGING OUT.

TRAILER:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1329937157868359682

Star Shine is potentially one of the most valuable offense units for Rift Battles in my opinion. I cannot stress enough how incredibly powerful permanent Precision is as a tool to bring down most of the defenders on the vast majority of the meta defenders, such as Immoral Fiber and Plot Twisted to name a few. Couple that fact with special moves such as Re-Entry, that grants Enrage if the last hit is a crit, and Destruction Pillar, which deals additional damage also on crit, and the output is some very heavy damage outputs.

Being an attacker, she desires Attack, Piercing and Meter Gain. Special Cooldown and Crit Damage are very recommended so you can increase the frequency of the use of Destruction Pillars and the total damage output from Precision hits. She shares stats with that of Risky Ginger, leaving her with a total of 11.8k base Atk and 71.1k base HP at max level and max skill tree investment. Therefore, she can deal good damage while being able to take a few hits, plus the bonus of self recovery with Sagan Beam.

View attachment 12784

Of course walking around with that much power would naturally prove itself OP, that's why the 30 second mark was implemented, so that it wasn't an instant win button. Moreover, you'll have to stick with her for either the entire fight or at least a significant part of it, which would have to predominate the early and mid match. And while Hex doesn't stop her from getting the permanent Precision, Curse most certainly will; on that end I advise to be as careful as possible should you carry her on a Rift node that has Curse of Knowledge in it and requires a Precision user.

One move I think should also be a fit on Star Shine is a Tag-Out. For one it helps out to keep the least desirable match-ups on the back while trying to force the most desirable one (i.e. tag out a front runner Dread Locks and hope Last Hope is the one to come out next), but also she has great synergy with Sketchy. Back to the Curse of Knowledge argument, good timing of tag-out usage can naturally prevent the opponent from gaining any buff itself. She can alternatively use the Immunity from tagging in to prevent Curse for a few seconds. [Here's a display of the tag-out dynamic.]

You may have noticed I haven't mentioned the SA1 a whole lot, and only focused on the permanent Precision. That's because to be honest it's not very good. While the buffs themselves aren't bad, they will only be present depending on the opponent's presence in the field (and also your own). So if you go for a tag-out heavy gameplay, you won't see too much of it in action. Not to mention if the enemy dies they also get removed. It's really only a small life saver in case the battle dragged for long enough and you screwed up midway. Nevertheless, given the large amount of applications of the SA2, I don't think the SA1 needs to be that outstanding.

In conclusion, if you manage to get your hands on Star Shine (as soon as she gets released next patch let's hope) be sure to invest in her. She can easily go against the vast majority of the meta with good skill and strategizing.

Wonderful guide! I actually managed to get her from the Frosted Relic but haven't been to sure about investing in her. I'm really not much of a rifter so what are other good uses for her?

 

[Kevin Pepino]

Wonderful guide! I actually managed to get her from the Frosted Relic but haven't been to sure about investing in her. I'm really not much of a rifter so what are other good uses for her?

She also proves very practical in prize fights, since most of, if not all, the same positives from Rift apply, like the Destruction Pillar extra damage. Unlike Rift, gaining the perma Precision is much easier since there aren't many Curse based defenders (unless you count Squigly and Eliza's burst)

 

[Dusty00]

Does pairing her with Surgeon General work? I imagine immunity will kick in after 30s to erase all curse on her, making sure she gains that broken permanent precision.

Edit: never mind, too early to think straight. Pretty sure curse will prevent SG buffs from applying if she’s already cursed. Good thing Annie doesn’t have immunity taunt otherwise she’s broken.

 

[Kevin Pepino]

Does pairing her with Surgeon General work? I imagine immunity will kick in after 30s to erase all curse on her, making sure she gains that broken permanent precision.

To secure gaining the precision she does help out yeah. One strategy to stay as clear as possible of Curse of Knowledge I considered was:

>Have SG as the front runner.
>Once 10-15 seconds (2:50 - 2:45 mark) passed, tag in Shine while gaining immunity from Sketchy.
>Make sure to tag out the opponent after 2:40, as an extra CoK check
>At 2:30, SG's Immunity will kick in, guaranteeing the perma precision being gained around 2:20 - 2:15

On a similar note, the tag out gameplay is further encouraged so that Shine and SG immunities don't interfere with each other.

 

[Hall☆weenQueen]

Just to ensure I understand her SA correctly, after 30 seconds as the active fighter she gains permanent precision for the rest of the fight? No matter who tags in later or if she tags out afterwords?
Also, wouldn't that make her vulnerable against critical hit punishes like MA painwheel?

 

[Kevin Pepino]

Just to ensure I understand her SA correctly, after 30 seconds as the active fighter she gains permanent precision for the rest of the fight? No matter who tags in later or if she tags out afterwords?
Also, wouldn't that make her vulnerable against critical hit punishes like MA painwheel?

The precision gets removed if she tags out or gets tagged out by the enemy, but remains unaffected by enemy tag outs. Therefore you could outtake the front runner 10 seconds in and still get precision at second 30.

Also no, she isn't a very good match-up against painwheels due to the nature of the MAs. At the same time there really isn't one that really requires Precision to combat effectively (even though Grim Fan and Twisted Mettle do get countered by it, but I digress).

 

[Hall☆weenQueen]

The precision gets removed if she tags out or gets tagged out by the enemy, but remains unaffected by enemy tag outs. Therefore you could outtake the front runner 10 seconds in and still get precision at second 30.

Also no, she isn't a very good match-up against painwheels due to the nature of the MAs. At the same time there really isn't one that really requires Precision to combat effectively (even though Grim Fan and Twisted Mettle do get countered by it, but I digress).

Thanks! So if shes tagged out, does the count down start again at 30 or wherever it was when she tagged out?

 

[Lililira]

Thanks! So if shes tagged out, does the count down start again at 30 or wherever it was when she tagged out?

It starts at 30 again, at least from what I can tell.

I have her fully marquee'd, and I'm testing her out against various fighters to see how she works. So far I'm pretty happy with my investment, since her SA2 is super useful, even if her SA1 rarely comes into play since she has enough power to KO most of the defensive fighters I send her out against before the 20 second mark. (Maybe it's supposed to be a defensive SA?)

So here's a quick rundown of what cases her Permanent Precision works on:
- Fighters whose SA's activate on their death ( Killjoy, Plot Twisted, etc )
- Fighters whose SA's activate on an unblocked hit ( Resonant Evil, etc )
- Fighters whose SA's activate on losing specific portions of health ( MnF, Model Leader, etc )

However, it doesn't work in these cases:
- On blocked hits, since you can't crit if they're blocking and Precision's SA blocking secondary ability only applies if the hit crits
- Fighters whose SA's activate on a perfect block ( Ageless Wonder, Feathered Edges )
- Auto-Blocked hits
- Grabs, since grabs can't crit, Precision doesn't apply, meaning all grabs will still activate defender's SAs
- With her BB3 ( It counts as a grab, so Precision doesn't apply )
- Backline Supports whose SAs activate when the active fighter takes damage / dies ( Graveyard Shift )
- Preventing Painwheel's Marquee ( Maybe this goes without saying, but Precision counts as a Crit and only blocks SAs, not Marquees, so every single hit will activate PW's Marquee. Load Star Shine up with Piercing to eat through the Armor, or just don't use her if you suspect the PW has the damage reflect Marquee. )

All of this in confirmed through my own playtesting, though there's a few more cases I need to check, like if her Star Power projectiles can crit on a blocking opponent. I also feel like I need to double check her against MnF, and also check Dread Locks.


Most effective playstyle is probably based around using the least amount of grabs / hits on block as possible, so I'd recommend a moveset *avoiding* Annie's Guard Break moves (since they encourage you to attack blocking opponents, which goes against her SA2), and maybe even her BB3 since it's a grab move.

 

[Hall☆weenQueen]

It starts at 30 again, at least from what I can tell.

I have her fully marquee'd, and I'm testing her out against various fighters to see how she works. So far I'm pretty happy with my investment, since her SA2 is super useful, even if her SA1 rarely comes into play since she has enough power to KO most of the defensive fighters I send her out against before the 20 second mark. (Maybe it's supposed to be a defensive SA?)

So here's a quick rundown of what cases her Permanent Precision works on:
- Fighters whose SA's activate on their death ( Killjoy, Plot Twisted, etc )
- Fighters whose SA's activate on an unblocked hit ( Resonant Evil, etc )
- Fighters whose SA's activate on losing specific portions of health ( MnF, Model Leader, etc )

However, it doesn't work in these cases:
- On blocked hits, since you can't crit if they're blocking and Precision's SA blocking secondary ability only applies if the hit crits
- Fighters whose SA's activate on a perfect block ( Ageless Wonder, Feathered Edges )
- Auto-Blocked hits
- Grabs, since grabs can't crit, Precision doesn't apply, meaning all grabs will still activate defender's SAs
- With her BB3 ( It counts as a grab, so Precision doesn't apply )
- Backline Supports whose SAs activate when the active fighter takes damage / dies ( Graveyard Shift )
- Preventing Painwheel's Marquee ( Maybe this goes without saying, but Precision counts as a Crit and only blocks SAs, not Marquees, so every single hit will activate PW's Marquee. Load Star Shine up with Piercing to eat through the Armor, or just don't use her if you suspect the PW has the damage reflect Marquee. )

All of this in confirmed through my own playtesting, though there's a few more cases I need to check, like if her Star Power projectiles can crit on a blocking opponent. I also feel like I need to double check her against MnF, and also check Dread Locks.


Most effective playstyle is probably based around using the least amount of grabs / hits on block as possible, so I'd recommend a moveset *avoiding* Annie's Guard Break moves (since they encourage you to attack blocking opponents, which goes against her SA2), and maybe even her BB3 since it's a grab move.

Thanks Lililira! I'd be curious to see how she fares against Dread myself, though I usually just bring a bleed converter against her.

She definitely seems like an interesting fighter for sure, I'll have to invest in her once I have the resources lol
It's too bad that her grabs can trigger SAs though because one fatal error in a fight can really make or break your victory. If she accidentally triggered an SA it could mean the death of her.

There does seem to be some defensive fighters she isn't well equipped against either like those that gain buffs by just existing (like Vaporwave, Overclocked, and probably Head Hunter in her case) so she isn't as versatile as say.. Silent Kill, but that precision to nullify like TaF, Model Leader, or other tough defenders really goes a long way.

And I guess you shouldn't worry about being BB3d with her since her attack is so high right?

 

[Lililira]

If y'all don't mind, I'm just going to keep a running list of which variants the perma-precision does and does not work against, since there are a few outlier cases where I feel like it *should* work where it actually doesn't.

Doesn't work against:
- Splitting Image's regen / immunity SA
- Killjoy's backline SA that grants perma-regen to the frontline fighter if they're at a disadvantage