Table of Contents
Finally, Project Moon remembers that Burn is also a status effect that exists and deserves love too. Now we get a new Burn Identity in the form of Liu Section 5 Hong Lu. Let’s examine and see if he can be fitted in to make Burn shine.
Skills Review
Warm UpSkill 1: Warm Up’s base power isn’t anything to write home about, starting at a measly 3, but it has two coins to work with, each giving +4 power per heads flip.
The second coin of this skill has an on hit effect of inflicting 1 Burn. The skill itself also has an on use effect of healing Hong Lu for 3 SP.
As a clashing skill, it’s not particularly noteworthy until Liu Hong Lu is at higher SP levels, making it a more consistent skill when it comes to winning clashes. As a skill to inflict Burn, it’s not really that good either, inflicting a measly one Burn for its second coin only.
Overall, a decent clashing skill at higher SP levels and a nice Gloom generator, but not that good as a Burn inflictor.
Flowing FlameSkill 1: Flowing Flame’s base power is much stronger in comparison to Liu Hong Lu’s skill 1, starting at 6, but with weaker flips, as it only gives +2 power per heads flip.
Like his first skill, this skill also has two coins to go through. This makes it reliable when at low SP if needing good base power for winning clashes, but not as reliable as Warm Up in higher SP levels.
This skill has two on hit effects. The first coin inflicts 1 Burn, but inflicts an additional 1 Burn if the target already has Burn. (This means it does not count the Burn inflicted by the skill itself)
The second coin inflicts 1 Burn Count, increasing the number of turns Burn remains active. In addition, it inflicts more Burn Count depending on Liu Hong Lu’s current SP: 1 additional Burn Count at 30+ SP, and 2 additional Burn Counts at 45+ SP.
Crimson Blaze FistSkill 3: This skill’s base power is just slightly weaker than that of Liu Hong Lu’s skill 2, starting off at 5. It has two coins to go through and a whopping +6 is added per heads flip, making it quite powerful if all flips hit heads.
The skill has two different on hit effects.
The first coin inflicts 1 Burn, while also inflicting 1 Burn Count if the target already has Burn. Like the first coin of Liu Hong Lu’s skill 2, it does not count the Burn inflicted by the skill itself.
The second coin depends on the target’s current Burn Count: If the target has 6 or more Burn Count, their Stagger Threshold is raised by 30% of the damage dealt by this skill. In addition, the skill heals Hong Lu’s SP by 6 if the coin hits heads.
In terms of clashing, this skill is a decent choice but becomes a monster at high SP levels thanks to the power each heads flip gives it. As a Burn inflictor, the skill is much better at inflicting Burn Count (aka, making Burn last longer) rather than inflicting a lot of Burn, and it shows when the second coin relies on the target having 6 or more Burn Count for its additional effect to trigger.
Defense (Guard): A Guard skill with a base power of 8 with +5 added if the single coin flips heads. Nothing outstanding worth mentioning.
Passive (Flaring Up~, 4 Owned Wrath): “At 30+ SP, inflict +1 Burn Count with the effects of attack skills/coins.”
A great passive for Burn teams, as it increases the Burn Count that one can inflict with skills that inflict Burn.
Getting 4 owned Wrath is actually not that much of an issue, as you will want to be running the other 2 Liu Identities for a Burn-centric team anyways, all of which are packing Wrath skills of their own.
Support (Isn’t it Warm?, 4 Owned Wrath): “1 ally with the highest SP inflicts +1 Burn Count with the effects of their attack skills/coins.”
It’s essentially the same as the passive, but it chooses an ally with the highest SP instead. Even the sin cost is the same. However, the game currently has so few Burn Identities that if you want to use a team that focuses on Burn, you really need to bring Liu Hong Lu in.
Theoretically speaking, this Support Passive works really well on Burn teams, but we will need more Identities that focus on Burn before we can see how well it truly shines.
Strengths
- Decent clasher, especially since all of his skills have two coins, especially his Skill 3
- Has numerous skills to increase the Burn Count of enemies.
- Easily able to gain SP, thanks to his skill effects.
- Gloom and Lust generator. Great for assisting in spamming Faust’s [Fluid Sac] if needed.
- Passive and Support Passive support Burn-centric teams.
- His first Identity that can sustain his own Base EGO, [Land of Illusion].
Weaknesses
- Terrible at making Burn potent on his own and requires support from other Burn Identities.
- Personal passive might become difficult to activate against enemies that have potent Sinking/SP damage.
- Not that great on a team that isn't built for Burn.
Potential Sinner Synergies
Meursault - Liu Section 6,Gregor - Liu Section 6Analysis
Burn is currently severely underutilized. With Liu Hong Lu joining in the mix, we currently have a total of 3 dedicated Burn Identities. Some other Identities like Ryoshu and Ishmael have Burn EGOs, but are unable to fully take advantage of its effects due to having no Burn Identities to call their own.
With that out of the way, let’s look at Hong Lu himself. In terms of clash prowess, he’s pretty decent. Two coins on all skills means he gets another chance to save himself if gets a bad roll on one. His skill 3 is especially potent, and does near-EGO damage when it manages to flip heads for both coins. This pairs up well with the fact that he’s really good at getting his SP up fast, thanks to his SP-increasing skill effects.
But how about the Liu specialty, Burn? Well, he’s good at keeping whatever Burn enemies already have active and ensuring that they stay there for as long as possible. But as an inflictor of Burn potency himself? He’s terrible at it.
Yup, since he specializes in maintaining Burn, this means that someone else actually has to be really good at inflicting Burn in the first place. Like, say, Liu Gregor. In fact, Liu Gregor is probably the best Identity Liu Hong Lu can synergize with, since Hong Lu can put out the Burn Count, while Gregor puts out the Burn potency.
Conclusion? Not really good as a Burn inflictor on his own. In a Burn-focused team though? Potentially a core requirement in making it work really well. Right now, we only have two other Burn Identities that Hong Lu can support, but in the future when we get more, Hong Lu has the potential to go from decent to brilliant.
As of now though, he’s an okay Burn support to the Burn Identities that we currently do have. You want to run him with them though, because he underperforms everywhere else otherwise.
