Erudition
Ice5★Released: 14/01/2025 · v3.0 “The writers from the Intelligentsia Guild wanted to give me an extra title. Something like “Herta Prime” to separate me from my puppets. How banal. Are the puppets not “me” as well? So, I gave them a suggestion: if they dared to write that, then I would call myself THE Herta. It’s short, simple, straight to the point, and elegant.”
The Herta is an Ice Erudition DPS whose attacks start on one target and spread out to the whole field. Everything revolves around her Ultimate: after using it she takes action right away and gains Inspiration, which turns her Skill into an Enhanced Skill that hits harder the more Interpretation stacks the main target has. She performs very well in all endgame content, especially against big groups of enemies, so she is well worth pulling.
She suits you best if you already have, or plan to get, another Erudition character like Anaxa or Jade, since she only reaches her full power when the team has 2 or more Erudition characters. If you already own plenty of limited Erudition characters, The Herta is not a must-pull, but she is still worth it because she pairs so well with them.
Build The Herta like a normal CRIT DPS: ATK, CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG. With 2 Erudition characters on the team, her Message From Beyond the Veil Trace already gives every ally 80% CRIT DMG, so put CRIT Rate first.
Into the Unreachable Veil
Best
Today Is Another Peaceful Day
Great
Night on the Milky Way
Great
Geniuses' Repose
Great
Eternal Calculus
Good
For the Body, take CRIT Rate over CRIT DMG, because with 2 Erudition characters on the team she already gets 80% CRIT DMG. For the Feet, SPD and ATK% are equally good, so pick based on the SPD breakpoint you are aiming for. Ice DMG Boost is the standard Planar Sphere, with ATK% behind it. For the Link Rope, ATK% is slightly better than or equal to Energy Regeneration Rate.
Only get enough SPD to reach the breakpoint you want, then put everything into CRIT. CRIT Rate comes before CRIT DMG.
Her Skill and Ultimate deal most of her damage, and her Talent decides how much extra damage each Interpretation stack adds, so level all three early. Leveling the Talent first or right after the other two both work. Her Basic ATK is nothing special, so leave it for last.
Message From Beyond the Veil matters most: with 2 or more Erudition characters on the team, it gives all allies 80% CRIT DMG and lets your teammates apply extra Interpretation stacks. Aloofly Honest lets allies apply Interpretation and regenerates Energy for The Herta, while Starved Landscape of Vacua boosts her Ultimate DMG through Answer stacks. Both are well worth unlocking, and either order is fine.
E1 is very strong: her Enhanced Skill also counts 50% of the Interpretation stacks on whichever target has the most among the main target and adjacent targets, so she only needs 32 stacks to get the full Ice DMG bonus from Interpretation, and the reset leaves 15 stacks instead of 1. E2 gives her 1 extra Inspiration stack after using her Ultimate, so she can use her Enhanced Skill twice, and each Enhanced Skill also advances her next action by 35%. E6 is very strong too, adding 20% Ice RES PEN and making her Ultimate much stronger the fewer enemies there are on the field.
Anaxa is the best second Erudition character: he keeps hitting the whole field, so The Herta's Energy and Interpretation stacks fill up very fast, and he also gives the whole team a 50% DMG boost. Tribbie buffs the team with RES PEN and DMG taken, buffs that are not watered down by The Herta's own buffs, and she restores Energy for The Herta. Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae shields the team, gives an ATK buff, and attacks in an AoE together with his Souldragon to apply even more Interpretation.
A good pick if you keep running out of Skill Points. Sparkle restores Skill Points for the team and advances The Herta's action so she gets more turns. Anaxa covers the second Erudition slot and can apply an Ice Weakness to any enemy, and his frequent attacks steadily charge her Interpretation stacks and Ultimate. Dan Heng • Permansor Terrae handles shields and gives her an ATK buff.
For players who do not have any other limited characters yet. Serval (or Herta) is an Erudition character, so the team still has 2 Erudition characters. Give that Erudition character the Passkey Light Cone and an Energy Regeneration Rate rope so they can use their Ultimate over and over and keep applying Interpretation. Trailblazer (Remembrance) uses the memosprite Mem to advance The Herta's action and make her deal extra True DMG.
Her best Erudition partner. His Skill hits all enemies and goes off twice every turn, and together with his AoE Ultimate that gives The Herta a huge amount of Energy. On top of that, he raises the whole team's DMG by 50%, gives every enemy all 7 Weaknesses, and still pulls his weight in single-target fights.
One of the Erudition characters who builds her Interpretation stacks and Energy most consistently. Jade's Skill gives The Herta 30 SPD, and Jade herself deals respectable damage, especially in Pure Fiction.
An alternative to Jade in modes with weak or constantly respawning enemies, like Pure Fiction. Keep in mind that Herta's Follow-up ATK only counts once for Interpretation stacks and Energy, however many spins she chains together.
Works when played normally, or you can build her as a dedicated Interpretation and Energy generator with the Passkey Light Cone and the Eagle of Twilight Line set so she spams her Ultimate, at the cost of most of Serval's own damage.
Tribbie's RES PEN and DMG taken increase are not watered down like other buffs, because The Herta rarely gets these from her own kit or gear. Tribbie is also the best support for feeding her Energy, and the extra damage from Tribbie's Ultimate works very well with a team that keeps hitting lots of enemies.
Gives plenty of CRIT buffs and a steady flow of Energy. Sunday's buff scales off his own CRIT DMG, so the 80% CRIT DMG The Herta gives the team gets passed right back to her. Keep in mind this pair uses a lot of Skill Points if neither has their signature Light Cone.
Buffs the whole team, so both The Herta and her Erudition partner get stronger. Robin also advances the whole team's action, and every extra action gives The Herta more Energy and Interpretation stacks, which means more Ultimates.
The Trailblazer's Ultimate and the memosprite Mem both attack in an AoE, which applies Interpretation and regenerates Energy for The Herta. In return, The Herta's high Energy regeneration charges Mem faster, and Mem then gives her CRIT buffs, action advance and extra True DMG.
A standard sustain pick for teams that scale off ATK. He puts strong shields on the whole team and buffs one teammate's ATK. His Ultimate hits all enemies and also has his Souldragon follow up with 2 more AoE hits, so Interpretation piles up easily.
He shields the team, attacks every turn, has a damaging Ultimate, and his Follow-up ATK hits all enemies. Every hit he lands gives The Herta more Interpretation stacks and Energy.
Enemies get 1 stack of Interpretation when they enter battle, and at the start of each wave 25 stacks go onto a random enemy, prioritizing Elite enemies or higher. After that, your teammates' attacks keep adding more, up to 42 stacks. When The Herta uses her Enhanced Skill, the more stacks the main target has, the higher the DMG multiplier, and with 2 or more Erudition characters on the team the bonus per stack is doubled. After the attack, the main target's Interpretation resets to 1 stack. If an enemy is defeated or leaves the battle, its stacks move to another enemy, prioritizing Elite enemies and above.
Her Ultimate, Told Ya! Magic Happens, costs 220 Energy. It rearranges the Interpretation stacks on all enemies, moving more of them onto Elite enemies and above, deals Ice DMG to all enemies and raises her ATK for 3 turns. Then The Herta takes action right away and gains 1 stack of Inspiration, which turns her Skill into Hear Me Out. The plan is simple: use the Ultimate to clear the small enemies, then hit the big one with the Enhanced Skill. Her Starved Landscape of Vacua Trace gives her 1 stack of Answer for every Interpretation stack applied to enemies, up to 99 stacks, and each stack raises her Ultimate's DMG multiplier by 1%.
Thanks to her Aloofly Honest Trace, every attack from an ally regenerates 3 Energy for The Herta for each enemy hit, counting up to 5 targets. With 2 Erudition characters, each attack counts as hitting at least 3 targets, so that is at least 9 Energy, and each attack also applies 1 extra Interpretation stack to the enemy with the most stacks among those hit, and 2 more stacks if the attacker is an Erudition character. That is why you want teammates who attack often, hit in an AoE, or attack outside their own turn.
Her Technique starts the next battle with 60% extra ATK for The Herta, lasting 2 turns. In the overworld, if the map still has Basic Treasures, it marks up to 3 of them, which is handy for collecting chests. In Simulated Universe and Divergent Universe, entering battle with her Technique deals True DMG equal to 99% of Max HP to enemies below Elite level and 30% of Max HP to Elite enemies and above.
Deals Ice DMG equal to 140% of The Herta’s ATK to one designated enemy.
Deals Ice DMG equal to 88% of The Herta’s ATK to one designated enemy, and inflicts 1 stack(s) of “Interpretation.” Deals Ice DMG equal to 88% of The Herta’s ATK to the targets hit by this instance of Skill and their respective adjacent targets. This effect can repeat 2 times.
Rearranges the numbers of “Interpretation” stacks on all enemies, prioritizing the transfer of the higher numbers of “Interpretation” stacks to Elite-level targets and above. Then, deals Ice DMG equal to 250% of The Herta’s ATK to all enemies. When using Ultimate, increases The Herta’s ATK by 100%, lasting for 3 turn(s). After the use, The Herta immediately takes action and gains 1 stack of “Inspiration.” “Inspiration” can stack up to 4 time(s). While having “Inspiration,” enhances Skill to “Hear Me Out.”
When enemy targets enter combat, The Herta inflicts 1 stack of “Interpretation” on them. At the start of each wave, applies 25 stack(s) of “Interpretation” to a random enemy target, prioritizing Elite-level targets and above. When the Enhanced Skill’s primary target has “Interpretation,” the multiplier for the DMG dealt increases, with each stack granting an increase of 10.0%/5.0% on the primary target/other targets respectively. If 2 or more characters follow the Path of Erudition in the team, each stack grants an additional increase of 10.0%/5.0% on the primary target/other targets respectively. “Interpretation” can stack up to 42 time(s). When using the Enhanced Skill, resets the number of “Interpretation” stacks on the primary target to 1. After the enemy target leaves the field or gets defeated by any unit, “Interpretation” will be transferred, prioritizing the transfer to Elite-level targets and above.
After using Technique, increases The Herta’s ATK by 60% at the start of the next battle, lasting for 2 turn(s).
If there are Basic Treasures in this current map, using Technique can mark up to 3 Basic Treasures’ locations.
After entering battle by using Technique in Simulated Universe or Divergent Universe, at the start of each wave, deals True DMG to enemy targets lower than Elite-level by an amount equal to 99% of the targets’ Max HP, and deals True DMG to enemy targets at Elite-level and above by an amount equal to 30% of the targets’ Max HP.
When the Enhanced Skill calculates the number of “Interpretation” stacks, additionally counts 50% of the number of “Interpretation” stacks on the 1 target with the most stacks among the primary target and adjacent targets. When “Interpretation” is reset by using the Enhanced Skill, its stack number is reset to 15 instead.
After The Herta enters combat or uses Ultimate, additionally gains 1 “Inspiration” stack. After using Enhanced Skill, advances The Herta’s next action by 35%.
Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
The SPD of Erudition characters in the team increases by 12%.
Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.
The Herta’s Ice RES PEN increases by 20%. When the number of enemy targets on the field is (≥3)/2/1, Ultimate’s DMG multiplier increases by 140%/250%/400% respectively.
The Herta is an AoE damage dealer who fights with her Enhanced Skill. While she is on the field, attacks from her allies can place a special mark on enemies, and the more stacks of that mark there are, the higher the damage The Herta deals. During exploration, The Herta’s Technique can mark the location of Common Loot on the map.
Zenless Zone Zero
