Misha Guide

Updated for Version 2.0

Note that the information given may change if new discoveries are made. More extensive testing is in progress.

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Introduction

Hailing from the Land of Dreams, Misha is our first 4-Star Destruction character from Penacony and one of the more unique characters in Honkai: Star Rail. Don’t let his unassuming stature or role as the Bellboy of the Reverie Hotel fool you. When it comes to battle, Misha has a powerful toolset and potent synergies that carve out a one-of-a-kind playstyle. Even for accounts with a number of powerful, well invested characters, Misha offers immense value, transcending his 4-Star rarity to find his place amongst the stars and the Astral Express.

Infographics

Damage Dealer

Credits: euphorysm (Design), AnemoneMeer (Content)

Sustain

Credits: euphorysm (Design), AnemoneMeer (Content)

Character Overview

Misha is rather unique among Destruction characters, existing as equal parts Destruction and Nihility. His kit revolves around his Ultimate and its potential for both exceptional damage and, more importantly, high Freeze chance. This Freeze chance is what gives Misha his unique role and power, as Frozen enemies are incapable of dealing damage, and without taking damage, there is little need for defensive units. For players willing to take the risk, Misha can be played as a pseudo-sustain who relies on Freeze in place of traditional methods such as Shields and healing.

For those unwilling to take the plunge into the Nanook-approved playstyle of eschewing defense in favor of pure destructive power, Misha remains no slouch. His Ultimate will charge up based on ally SP usage as well as his own, gaining both additional Energy and additional hits. This allows Misha to be played as a secondary damage dealer in a number of teams, or as a primary damage dealer like other Destruction characters.

Playstyles

Damage Dealer

Simple to play, and Misha’s default role. Coupled with his powerful Ultimate, Misha’s ability to generate Energy from his allies’ use of SP allows him to be run alongside another damage dealer in teams that use AoE buffs, or as a team’s primary source of damage. With Eidolons, Misha serves as an AoE debuffer as well, further improving his efficiency when run alongside other damage dealers. 

As a 4-Star unit, he does not quite measure up to the power of more rare and powerful 5-Star units, but his additional utility and supportive elements allow him to retain value as a supportive damage dealer even after acquiring more powerful characters.

Pseudo-Sustain

The more unhinged way of using Misha. Playing Misha as a pseudo-sustain takes full advantage of every facet of his kit and is the optimal way to play Misha in endgame content.

With the correct teammates, Misha is an important component in teams that rely on denying enemies actions instead of attempting to survive their attacks. Thanks to his many chances to Freeze per Ultimate, even the most steadfast of foes will usually succumb. When combined with other abilities to deny and delay actions, Misha ensures that enemies will enter cryogenic sleep, and never wake again.

Playing Misha as a pseudo-sustain is reliant upon having another character to aid in controlling foes. While Misha’s Ultimate is extremely effective against a single target, capable of rolling so many Freeze chances that even some Bosses will find themselves stopped in their tracks, the lower base chance of hits after the first reduces Misha’s ability to control groups of foes. As such, while effective in Simulated Universe and Memory of Chaos, a pseudo-sustain Misha may not be effective in Pure Fiction or other modes with a constant supply of additional enemies.

The primary advantage of playing Misha in this role is that while he will need to build some Effect Hit Rate, his kit does not lack for damage. If you can get away with using Misha in place of a traditional Sustain character, you will almost certainly see faster battles.

Because we cannot control enemies forever, Misha’s teams benefit heavily from investing in his teammates as well as himself. The faster you can clear battles, the less risk there is of a Freeze being resisted and the less attrition you will take from what few attacks the enemies do manage to perform.

How to play Pseudo-Sustain Misha

Playing a pseudo-sustain Misha is not the same as playing a true sustain character. You cannot survive forever. Instead, the goal is to delay enemies long enough that they are defeated before they defeat you. Freeze alone is not sufficient for this, but works well in tandem with other sources of control. For example, by opening fights with Welt’s Technique, enemies will begin the battle delayed by Imprisonment. Welt’s Skill additionally applies Slow, further delaying enemies. Applying Freeze from Misha before this Imprisonment wears off, and then using Welt’s Ultimate to apply more Imprisonment, while potentially also inflicting Weakness Break results in multiple layers of action denial that enemies must overcome before they can take their first or second turn. By this time, you have hopefully acquired the Energy to reapply these delays.

This will not last forever, and enemies will eventually break free, even if only temporarily. In ideal circumstances, they will be defeated before this happens, but particularly hardy foes will survive long enough to see their first turn. If an enemy that takes multiple actions is about to break free and take a turn, it is best to hold resources until their turn starts, endure their first action, and then immediately Freeze them once more before their second action begins. This will preserve your Freeze for an entire turn while denying the enemy subsequent actions on their turn.

When playing a pseudo-sustain Misha, you are in a race against time. Without traditional methods of enduring damage, any damage you take cannot be healed. Fortunately, Misha’s personal damage is significant regardless of build. While prolonged battles are dangerous for you, you deal more damage to end fights quicker. Dead enemies do not deal damage, and your goal is to stall them long enough to kill them before they become a problem, not to survive forever.

Traces

Note: Trace levels shown are 1/10/12 (Basic ATK 1/6/7).

Trace Priority

Damage Dealer

Misha is defined by his Ultimate, and should prioritize leveling it. His Talent is important for better Energy generation, and is of equal or slightly less priority based on whether the additional levels will save a turn on using his Ultimate.

Misha’s Skill and Basic ATK are both important for dealing damage, but their priority is based on the SP needs of the team.

Pseudo-Sustain

Misha’s Ultimate and Talent are the core reasons to play Misha in place of a traditional sustain unit, and maintaining Freeze uptime is important. As this playstyle prioritizes Misha’s role as a source of Freeze and not as a damage dealer, his Basic ATK may be slightly more valuable and more frequently used than his Skill; however, this is based entirely on how much SP can be dedicated to Misha.

Eidolons

Builds

Damage Dealer

Misha’s default build, and the build that less-experienced players should aim for. Of Misha’s builds, it is easier to build him as a damage dealer and allows for easier teambuilding.

Playing Misha as a damage dealer is effective at all stages of the game, but puts more pressure on his stats. As a 4-Star character, he may require additional Relic farming in order to keep up with 5-Star characters.

Light Cones

Brighter Than the Sun	While it is expensive to roll for a 5-Star Light Cone for a 4-Star character, Brighter Than the Sun is unquestionably Misha’s Best-in-Slot option. The additional Energy Regeneration Rate can even allow for 3-turn rotations of Skill-Basic-Basic, or even Basic-Basic-Basic based on your team’s ability to expend SP.
On the Fall of an Aeon	Free from Herta’s Store and an effective stat stick in general. Having a Bounce Ultimate makes it relatively easy for Misha to inflict Weakness Break, allowing him to fully benefit from On the Fall of an Aeon as long as enemies have Ice Weakness.
Indelible Promise	Indelible Promise offers a large amount of CRIT Rate, helping to take full advantage of Misha’s bonus CRIT DMG on his Ultimate. The large amount of Break Effect on this Light Cone is nice, and Misha does not struggle to inflict Weakness Break, but Ice-Type characters do not tend to scale well with Break Effect.
The Moles Welcome You	On the Fall of an Aeon lite, The Moles Welcome You offers a large amount of unconditional ATK.
Shattered Home	Barely worth considering, but the best of Misha’s 3-Star options.

Relics

Relic Sets

4-Pc Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters	Freeze counts as a debuff for activating this set, and with Eidolons, so does Misha’s E2 DEF Reduction. As Misha applies his debuffs before dealing damage, this means that any enemy with Weakness Break or a single external debuff on them will fully activate this set if Misha’s second Eidolon activates. Unless your team has no debuffing besides Misha, this set significantly eclipses all other options, as 12% DMG, 8% CRIT Rate, and 24% CRIT DMG is extremely significant.
4-Pc Hunter of Glacial Forest	While notably worse than 4-Pc Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters, Hunter of Glacial Forest is less reliant on allies also having the ability to apply debuffs.
2-Pc Combinations	While the above sets are strictly better, Misha has a number of 2-Pc combinations that improve his damage output. These options include Hunter of Glacial Forest, Musketeer of Wild Wheat, Prisoner in Deep Confinement, and Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters.

Planar Ornaments

Inert Salsotto	The 8% CRIT Rate helps Misha to take advantage of his 30% CRIT DMG Bonus Ability. With a CRIT Rate Body and all of his Traces leveled, Misha has enough CRIT Rate even before substats to activate Inert Salsotto’s secondary effect.
Space Sealing Station	Easy to activate, 24% ATK helps to balance Misha’s stats.
Penacony: Land of the Dreams	Even small amounts of ERR can affect how many Skill Points Misha’s allies need to expend in order to give him his Ultimate a turn sooner. Penacony: Land of the Dreams gives an unconditional 5% ERR while buffing Ice-Type allies. Do not run Penacony: Land of the Dreams unless the primary damage dealer is also Ice-Type and your rotation expends sufficient SP to take advantage of the additional ERR.
Sprightly Vonwacq	Less powerful than Penacony: Land of the Dreams, as it does not increase party damage and Misha does not need to act before allies. The 5% ERR still influences how much SP Misha’s allies need to spend to get him his Ultimate a turn sooner, so it still has an impact.

Stats

Body	Boots	Sphere	Rope
CRIT	SPD or ATK	Ice DMG	ATK

Substats

CRIT ≥ ATK = SPD

SPD vs ATK Boots

Misha’s damage is mostly in his Ultimate, and with his Talent allowing him to gain additional Energy from allies consuming Skill Points, Misha can opt for ATK Boots if he has plenty of SPD from substats. SPD Boots are generally the default option, but ATK Boots are not unwanted, particularly if they have large amounts of SPD from substats and he can expect allies to use Skills frequently.

Pseudo-Sustain

Misha’s Relic needs as a Sustain character are easy to meet, but playing Misha as a Sustain is far more limiting in terms of teammates. While Misha’s damage potential in this role is decreased due to the need for additional Effect Hit Rate, his Ultimate’s high scaling still allows him to do quite notable damage.

Light Cones

While Misha’s Relic Set, Planar Ornament, and stat priority recommendations change for the Sustain build, his Light Cone recommendations do not. See the Damage Dealer build for Misha’s best Light Cones.

Relics

Relic Sets

4-Pc Eagle of Twilight Line	Taking more actions directly translates to more Energy, which means more Freezes. Of the various Relic sets that offer more actions, Eagle of Twilight Line has the largest impact.
4-Pc Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters	Freeze counts as a debuff for activating this set, and with Eidolons, so does Misha’s DEF Reduction. As Misha applies his debuffs before dealing damage, this means that any enemy with a single debuff on them will fully activate this set if Misha’s second Eidolon activates. This is the only purely damage-focused set you should consider for Sustain Misha in the long-term, as it offers notably more than any other option.
+ 2-Pc Messenger Traversing Hackerspace + 2-Pc Flex	More SPD means more actions, which means faster Ultimates, which means more Freezes. 2-Pc Messenger can be paired with any of the following for similar results: Hunter of Glacial Forest, Musketeer of Wild Wheat, Prisoner in Deep Confinement, and Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters.
4-Pc Musketeer of Wild Wheat	A viable filler set, as it gives SPD and ATK and is available from Echo of War. Sufficiently good substats can make it viable, but should be upgraded to a better option when possible.

Planar Ornaments

Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise	Offering 1% more ATK than Space Sealing Station, the main selling point of Pan-Cosmic is the additional 10% Effect Hit Rate.
Sprightly Vonwacq	Sprightly Vonwacq allows Misha to act earlier in fights than he normally would, directly leading to earlier Freezes. The 5% Energy Regeneration Rate also opens up more efficient rotations in some teams.
Inert Salsotto	Misha can struggle to get enough CRIT Rate to justify his CRIT DMG Bonus Ability when built as a Sustain. Coupled with 4-Pc Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters, Inert Salsotto’s 50% CRIT Rate requirement is achievable with good substats.
Space Sealing Station	Strictly worse than Pan-Cosmic Commercial Enterprise at high Effect Hit Rate, but not to such an extent that substats cannot make up the difference.
Penacony: Land of the Dreams	Penacony: Land of the Dreams offers additional Energy Regeneration Rate, potentially reducing the amount of SP allies must expend to give Misha his Ultimate. When running another Ice-Type damage dealer, the additional damage from Penacony: Land of the Dreams is useful. Do not run this set if the additional Energy Regeneration Rate will not impact your rotations.

Stats

Body	Boots	Sphere	Rope
Effect Hit Rate	SPD	Ice DMG	Energy Regeneration Rate

Substats

SPD ≥ Effect Hit Rate > CRIT Rate ≥ ATK% ≥ CRIT DMG

Effect Hit Rate vs SPD

Misha’s chance to Freeze will never truly be guaranteed against enemies with Freeze RES, though he can get very close. more SPD allows you to use Misha’s Ultimate more often, while more Effect Hit Rate makes each Ultimate more likely to Freeze heavily resistant enemies.

If you are willing to gamble and reset for better RNG, SPD is better. If not, they are about equal.

CRIT DMG vs ATK%

Misha, particularly with his A6 Bonus Ability and the 4-Pc Pioneer Diver of Dead Waters set, can easily end up with 100% or more CRIT DMG before substats. Without any ATK% main stats from Relics, ATK becomes more valuable than CRIT DMG until his stats are balanced.

ATK Rope

When equipped with the Light Cone Brighter Than the Sun, some rotations allow for an ATK Rope. While rolling for a 5-Star Light Cone for Misha is expensive and not recommended, it does allow for an ATK Rope instead of an ERR Rope, which leads to much greater damage potential.

Energy Breakpoints

Freeze Probabilities

The tables in this section show the likelihood of Misha Freezing a single enemy that is hit a given number of times by his Ultimate. For the probabilities shown here, it is assumed that the first hit of Misha’s Ultimate hits the enemy. With his A2 Bonus Ability unlocked, the first hit of Misha’s Ultimate has a much higher chance to Freeze than every other hit, which means it’s important to target the enemy you most want Frozen with the initial hit.

The Effect Hit Rate (EHR) values in these tables are relatively conservative in order to show how reliable Misha’s Freeze is without expressly farming for large amounts of Effect Hit Rate. For players who are uncomfortable with randomness, going above the EHR values given is a viable option, but will reduce Misha’s damage output. Reaching 150% or higher Effect Hit Rate can be achieved with reasonable investment.

Note that since Misha gains 60% Effect Hit Rate during his Ultimate from his A4 Bonus Ability, it is assumed to be the baseline.

Character Comparisons

Welt

Welt is Misha’s closest comparison, with both characters bringing a mixture of disabling enemies and dealing damage. Both also possess Bounce-type attacks in their kit. In many ways, Misha can be seen as 4-Star Welt, or vice versa. Where they differ is that Misha has superior single-target control, while Welt is more effective at controlling groups.

Misha’s Ultimate provides a randomly-targeting rain of Freeze chances, with a 100% base chance on the first hit and a 20% base chance on subsequent hits. Welt’s Ultimate provides a single 100% base chance to Imprison every enemy. Against a single enemy and assuming equal Imprisonment and Freeze RES, Misha clearly has the advantage, thanks to his many chances to Freeze. Even against many enemies, Misha has the same or better chances of Freezing the initial target of his Ultimate – but since subsequent hits have a much lower Freeze chance and Welt’s Ultimate has an equally high chance to Imprison all enemies, Welt achieves more consistent delays against all enemies.

To learn more about Welt, check out the Welt Guide.

Notable Synergies

Controllers

Welt	Welt offers nearly everything that Misha could want in an ally, offering a Vulnerability multiplier, two Slow debuffs, and significant Action Delay via Imprisonment, all while serving as the primary damage dealer. Together, the duo can drag enemies into the icy depths of the Action Order, imprisoning them in unmelting ice. Together, the two can apply such significant delays to enemy actions that the enemies may not get their next action before Misha and Welt are ready to delay them again — or they may even be defeated before acting at all. When possible, Welt should be the one to trigger Weakness Break, as the Imprisonment effect from an Imaginary Weakness Break applies additional Slow and Action Delay, while the Freeze effect from an Ice Weakness Break does not stack with Misha’s own Freeze.
Ruan Mei	While Ruan Mei is more reliant on enemies having a Weakness for the party to exploit, and sufficient Toughness damage to exploit it effectively, there is no denying the sheer amount she can aid in delaying enemy actions, all while amplifying Misha’s damage output. Enemies recover from Freeze before they attempt to recover from Weakness Break, allowing Misha more time to regain his Ultimate before they can act again.
March 7th	With access to both Shields and AoE Freezes, March 7th offers both traditional Sustain methods and further control over enemy actions. While it may seem like overkill to have two units capable of AoE Freezes on the same team, Misha and March 7th can alternate their Ultimates in sequence to ensure enemies almost never get to act.

Damage Dealers

DoT Characters	Frozen enemies gain a 50% Action Advance on the turn they recover. This means that the next instance of DoT damage will tick twice as quickly. By constantly re-Freezing enemies, Misha significantly increases the damage enemies take from DoT.
Black Swan	Black Swan and Misha make for a powerful duo, particularly for Sustain Misha. Between the faster ticking of DoT’s on Frozen enemies, the sheer volume of DEF Reduction available between them, and the incredible AoE damage potential of Black Swan, it is unlikely that you will need any additional help keeping the party alive. Once Black Swan’s DoT effects begin spreading, it is unlikely that anything will be alive long enough to act.
Qingque	You’re already gambling with Misha’s Ultimate — why not gamble some more? While dependent on some randomness, Qingque has the ability to expend multiple Skill Points in a turn, triggering Misha’s Talent many times.

Other Characters

Bronya	Action Advances from Bronya’s Skill both expend SP and immediately give another character the chance to use more SP, allowing Misha to trigger his Talent multiple times.
Huohuo	One of the few sources of external Energy that Misha can take advantage of when played as a Secondary Damage Dealer. Huohuo also tends to use her Skill more than other Abundance units, helping to fuel Misha in multiple ways.
Pela	With her ability to grant additional Effect Hit Rate with her A4 Bonus Ability, Pela is extremely impactful to Misha’s game plan. DEF Reduction is stronger the closer it gets to 100%, and combining Pela’s Ultimate, the Light Cone Resolution Shines as Pearls of Sweat, the Relic set Genius of Brilliant Stars, and Misha’s 2nd Eidolon gives exactly 90-100% DEF Reduction against enemies, depending on whether they have Quantum Weakness.

Notable Anti-Synergies

Blade	Blade relies on losing HP in order to build up his Charge stacks and deal more damage with his Ultimate, and Frozen enemies can’t attack allies. Furthermore, he neither generates nor expends Skill Points on the majority of his turns.
Arlan	Arlan has no means to expend Skill Points, and therefore has no way to stack Misha’s Talent. Attempting to play Misha in a Sustain role is even more risky as a result of this and Arlan’s penchant for expending his own HP.

Special Considerations

Dr. Ratio

While Misha is capable of providing one debuff, or two debuffs with his 2nd Eidolon, Freeze grants enemies a 50% Action Advance upon thawing. This can lead to debuffs dropping off sooner than expected and potentially reducing Dr. Ratio’s damage, or even his odds of successfully triggering his Talent. While there is potential for problems here, if they are accounted for and built around properly, Dr. Ratio and Misha make for extremely effective teammates.

Teams

Primary Damage Dealer

Misha’s Ultimate has the potential for heavy damage, particularly against lone enemies, and funneling resources into him can help him get it sooner and make it hit harder. When played as a primary damage dealer, Misha plays like most damage dealers, using both his Skill and Ultimate as often as possible.

Example Teams

Misha-Bronya

Misha’s Ultimate, when buffed by Bronya’s Skill and Ultimate, deals impressive damage and can occasionally make one question Misha’s 4-Star status, but his Skill being nothing special quickly snaps one back to reality. Still, the sight of six digit damage numbers from falling luggage does lead to some comedy.

Secondary Damage Dealer

Misha’s mixture of debilitation and damage output allows him to fill the hybrid role of both exploiting and giving additional damage increases to the party, while also helping to lessen the burden on Sustain characters.

Example Teams

Dr. Ratio

A standard Misha team that makes use of the debuffs applied by both Misha and Pela to enable Dr. Ratio’s Talent. Misha’s E2 is a significant upgrade to this team’s performance, enabling three debuffs to be applied to enemies from Misha and Pela’s Ultimates. Misha has the SP to aggressively use his Skill to generate more Energy for faster Ultimates, allowing for a 3-turn or even 2-turn rotation.

Pseudo-Sustain

Risky but exceptionally powerful, running Misha and another pseudo-sustain unit in place of a traditional sustain unit allows for all four party slots to be dedicated to damage output, while keeping the team alive long enough to win the fight. Dead enemies deal no damage, and Frozen enemies also deal no damage. This is the optimal way to play Misha, and he will perform exceptionally well in this role.

While playing without a traditional Sustain unit may be scary, the teams listed here possess more than enough ability to Delay enemy actions. Riskier teams than the ones below are possible and potentially even more powerful.

Example Teams

Jarilo’s Revenge

The gold standard of Sustain Misha teams, stacking debilitation and SPD buffing to such an extent that enemies find themselves buried in an endless winter. Welt and Asta serve as the SP burners in this team, with Misha and Ruan Mei serving to provide the team’s SP. Asta and Ruan Mei together allow everyone to reach very high SPD, with faster turns leading to faster Ultimates and thus a feedback loop of enemy debilitation. Asta should be played in an Aggressive playstyle with Meshing Cogs or Memories of the Past in order to ensure maximum Ultimate uptime.

Due to the sheer amount of Action Delay available in this team from bringing three characters with different means to deny enemies actions, Misha may not even particularly need Effect Hit Rate investment. Simply bringing an Effect Hit Rate Body on Misha should be sufficient, and may even be substituted for a CRIT Body if you are comfortable with lower odds of Freeze.

We recommend listening to Frozen March when playing this team. It will not make your Freezes more accurate, but you are already playing as the villain of the Belobog arc by picking this team, so you might as well take that to its logical conclusion. Just be careful of flaming lances.

Welt-Ratio

While slightly less able to maintain perpetual winter without Asta’s Ultimate, adding Dr. Ratio balances out the AoE and Bounce damage from Welt and Misha with his own exceptionally high single-target damage. Welt and Misha provide more than enough debuffs for Dr. Ratio’s Talent, and Ruan Mei reaches her maximum potential, buffing three damage dealers at once.

Welt-Pela

A less expensive iteration of the first team. Combining Pela with the Misha/Welt/Asta core increases the odds of Freeze and Imprison successfully landing. Otherwise, it operates exactly the same, with Welt and Asta consuming SP to fuel Misha’s Ultimate. A little slower, a little weaker, but still plenty capable of controlling enemies to the point of forgoing traditional Sustain.

DoT

A more balanced team that brings March 7th into the fold to offer traditional Sustain alongside more Freezes. As Frozen enemies recover faster, and thus suffer from DoT damage more rapidly, Guinaifen and Kafka deal significantly increased damage.

Credits

References

Misha Energy & Freeze Chance Calculator by Soul Fish

Changelog

• 07 February 2023 – Published for v2.0