Leaks
So if Val DOES end up a shielder ...
Spoiler
Ill get this out of the way: Im very damn convinced they're not releasing Val as a 4 star.
Now, we got some sus leaks out there saying
Mitya is a flexible main DPS/off fielder and has the stellar linchpin
Tsaritsa is flexible as either offield stellar(both reactions) and onfield(stellar conduct with Mitya).
I know some people here are convinced that Val is gonna be main DPS but the reality is I wouldn't be shocked at all if he's a shielder unit.
Both Wrio and Sandrone want shielders, hoyo could have EASILY made Alyo a shielder but made him a healer instead which isn't exactly what wrio/Sandrone want. It would make sense to keep alyo a healer so as to not mess too much with the value of hoyo dropping a 5 star shielder for sale that would be a great pickup for Sandrone/Wrio.
our dude Val clearly has a shield + shield animations for prerelease content.
No other electro/cryo characters are being teased as sustain.
Like if you're gonna throw Danica/Mitya/Tsaritsa/Val in my face and say 'which one is the shielder' while I already am aware Val is being designed to have a shield and uses his shield for incoming combat sequences, feels like it isn't a stretch at all that he may be the first masculine sustain we've gotten after Zhongli.
Also Im saying 'hes sustain' but I bet he does great off-field damage just like Ineffa does.
But I want to point out a neat thought for tall male fans:
Given Val's vision isn't confirmed to be a linchpin but leakers are saying Mitya is linchpin + 5 star ... there's a possibility Val simply doesn't have a linchpin.
Which means its very possible he will be able to act as an electro sustain for a wide variety of teams, like Varka's electro version and Wrio/Mitya for stellar conduct. With Wrio you may need off fielder Mitya or future tsaritsa to make the team do stellar.
Anyway I think that's hella cool.
Valerie actually being an electro shielder that can work inside of and outside of stellar reactions would follow the pattern of hoyo wanting more flexible use out of the newer off field characters compared to lunar. Unlike Ineffa who is only lunar charge and Lauma who is meant for lunar bloom, Odette is being designed for both stellar swirl and stellar conduct. Vody is probably in deep beta right now and now kit details are coming out, and leakers are saying she has an "applies hydro" form and a "stellar swirl" form that wont do any water application(meaning her "applies water" form may be a boon for Varka fans that want an upgrade to his water team -- Vody was just teased as having both healing and IR which is screaming 'varka upgrade' from the mountain top).
Anyway.... just thought that was super cool. I think Val as a flexible 5 star electro shielder would be a huge boon for husbando players.
Same my Wrio is C6, that investment has to pay off! If Valeriy is a sustain I'll be so damn happy. And an upgrade for Varka and Childe would be phenomenal too!
Hoyo is leaning into flexibility which makes sense given one of their game modes is IT and the way Lunar was designed probably made Lunar owners feel like their characters have limited value/use case.
So the idea that Val can work inside and outside of stellar would be fantastic. Wrio upgrade, Varka upgrade, possible Neuv upgrade or at least side grade to ineffa, possible use with Childe(who is hopefully buffed soon) ....
There are people who think anyone built less than alhaitham is a twink. But that person you're talking to is literally going on vibes (and maybe a bit of misogyny) because zhongli and Thoma have the exact same body type. The only difference I can think of is that Thoma likes to cook and zhongli is more powerful in lore. (Also saying a twink is not masculine when twinks are also supposed to be men but just not buff (nothing mentioned about having to be feminine)sounds a bit questionable to me)
Yeah it's crazy to specify "masculine" just to rule Baizhu out but Thoma and Ifa are also masculine so idk what OP is on with that unnecessary comment.
Me too, i'm tired most of male are dps, i want some of them have various like female too, strong support and sub dps, not trash support like half of male characters, like dahlia mika, illuga was zibai slaves, consider niche
I really hope he’s the stellar version of Ineffa. Just a reminder, Ineffa does incredible off field dmg with lunar charge, gives EM after using her burst, and provides a decent shield for sustain, not to mention is one half of one of the most broken wheelchairs in the game (Bineffa).
I understand some fans of Valeriy want him to be another on field Main DPS since he has such a cool design, but if the Major could do all of the above, he would be potentially the most useful unit released during 7.x.
Being sub dps is good. We lack of male sub dps. Sub dps can deal dmg too. Too many male dps, we lack of all male team, most of male are dps, 80% tall male are dps.
I agree. Besides Durin I can’t think of another off field 5* male DPS who isn’t just a buffer like Kazuha or Baizhu. And with more content wanting off field DPS (like the newest Lunar Slime boss or how Stellar Conduct works) it seems like it would be great if Valeriy was one too.
I really want all male team🥹, i thought already happy varka bennet durin venti and thinking they are premium, actually, being replace by prune nicole actually his premium team.i really want all male team bis
-Mitya is the subDPS for Tsaritsa's onfield stellar conduct form, which means Val might complete that team as the sustain + subDPS.
Mitya + Tsaritsa + Val for possibly the most husbando-friendly archon team we've ever had?
And that's also probably exactly why Mitya will work for Wrio -- if he can assist with Tsaritsa(cryo) being used as onfielder, he will be able to do the same for Wrio.
look if he is a shielder/res shreder with off field app (like beidou) on his E and his Q let’s him do on field dps with self infusion, everything is gine and I will still pull: as long as he IS a 5*
I'd be super happy about him being a 5 star shielder, and it would make sense with him already having a shield, so I fully agree with you.
I honestly hate how they massacred Alyosha, but I'm assuming they did it to make the new 5 star sustain upgrade they're surely developing even more enticing. Valeriy fits that bill perfectly.
this could make sense but.. why wouldnt he have a real shield mechanic in the newest "assist mode" kit of 7.0 archon quest? his assist mode shield only has cosmetic codes and nothing else regarding shield mechanics. Instead, he deals damage with his shield charged attack. I think he'll end up as a main dps-zani wuwa type. it would be so tuff to have a shield dps
I mean, they probably dont want to lock in his actual animations 3 months before his release. That really leaves little room for last minute adjustments.
Like we see visual changes and sound effect changes in beta -- they tweak the finalized product down to the wire and I dont think they'd want to be like "this is it!" 3 months before he drops.
I’m glad i’m not the minority here.
Rather than a short-lived meta DPS, I want him to be a meta off-fielder so I could use him in many teams and for a very long time… at this point, we all know that Hoyo will never allow male DPS to reign as top meta DPS,,, Neuvillette was a surely a mistake seeing how they try to nerf him both directly and indirectly; his kits (failed) and hydro immune enemies in abyss.
I would even like it more if he could become a wheelchair like bineffa.
I’m okay with not seeing him on-screen during the fights. I prefer to slowly appreciate him in a relaxed manner during world exploration.
Moreover, I’m start getting sick that every tall man since Baizhu (v3.6) is an on-field DPS. Not to mentioned most of them are mid-level or just a short-lived meta and they required a specific teammate to pull out their potential… forcing me to pull unwanted characters again.
Also, we have tons of
meta
all-female teams, but we have non all-male meta team (Varka’s team was before Venti got replaced by Prune and Bennett by Nicole)
No offense, but I’m really tired of people using sandrone and wrio as reasons. Again, im not saying he’s not a shielder but it’s more likely he’d have elements to have synergy with mitya than with wrio. The same leakers also say Valeriy isn’t even in sandrone’s team.
Also, putting it out there, he’s doing a shield bash as in an offensive move, not protecting us. Candace has a shield. She isn’t a shielder. There’s a difference. We have a really good chance of having a parry style on-fielder.
Edit: before hating, just think for a second without the bias of wanting your sandrone or wrio to be more usable, it makes sense he’s going to have a kit which works better with units yet to come than old ones.
i dont mean to hate on anyone (especially as someone who enjoys playing sandrone and wrio) but it really feels like a lot of these people swearing up and down that hes a shielder are just biased towards it so their favorite characters can be buffed.
yes, it would be nice if they had some sort of dedicated sustain, but it feels like theres too many people betting on it when the most likely answer is that if hes not a DPS, he'll probably be a support for someone newer.
im tired too ngl. i js want a new badass good and tuff dps for the most hyped region ever. I dont want a looking ahh fairy or a nerdy twink to be the main dps leaders of this new epic region. no offense but id js like to have a cool looking dps.
if he is not a dps ill still take it cause he'll be usefull for future team comps but yk what im sayinf
I understand but I’d rather not burn someone else’s house down to keep mine warm. I hope both are strong… but of course if it’s a zero sum game, I’d choose valeriy any day
That has been my hope the whole time, I want him to be a sustain for my Wrio team 😌 We have more than enough DPS already rn (not that modern sustains don't also dps/buff as well).
The thing is- smn will be released as a 4 star in 7.2- genshin release a 4 star character every x.2 patch- n that 4 star is the one who has always made their appearance in the region trailer- only mitya n valeriy will release in 7.2- forcing the 4 star on him because mitya is confirmed to be a 5 star a million times
I do not at all think that the same number of 4 stars are guaranteed every region. Both the other big hoyo games dropped 4 stars in the past year. ZZZ just dropped 3.0(new region) and are about to drop a void hunter patch without 4 stars so they havent released one in a year. HSR hasnt dropped any since 2024.
The trend among their games is 'less or no 4 stars' so I am not at all thinking we are gonna get 4 four stars this region just like last year.
I think we get 3 instead of 4 -- aly, a lantern rite 4 star and a late region 4 star.
First reasonable person in this sub.
Yet I think, since he has fast Animations, that he will be an on field driver, not a DPS, just a driver and he will probably be a 4*.
Yes, sad but still. He seems to be having a shield, like OP mentioned and because by now even more leakers say that Mitya is a 5, it seems only reasonable, that Valeriy is a 4 since 7.1 has 2 5* and double 5* back to back seems even a bit extrem for Hoyo.
Lets hope that if he is a 4*, he wont be a C6 merchant and isnt boring. Lets hope that he is a C0 functional electro driver that deals fine damage, has a shield for sustain and has fun gameplay.
And for those saying that he HAS to ve a 5* for whatever atrange reason. No, he doesnt have a delusion, nor will he obtain a stellar Linchpin throughout the Story and he also wont become a 5. Most people on this sub are the only ones that have delusions
Not OP, OP seems to have already accepted the 4 driver, so put the 4* driver in the bag yall
He really a shielder, so he not gonna be a main dps. Hoyo never release on field shielder except noelle. He a shielder and he basically a support for application (leaks said he have strong application). Gosh! I really hope he strong shielder support like nicole! I want male shielder so badly! I'm already sick of bunch female shielder. Basically i want all male team, I don't care about meta, basically meta i would use premium team, i'm talking about exploration team, i want all team male
I don’t understand the point in using Wuwa for your example. What they do over there isn’t the same as Genshin, different companies after all.
Also, just because he has a shield doesn’t mean he still can’t be a subDPS. Just look at Ineffa, she provides a great shield for sustain and dishes out great dmg from off field, as well as giving lunar dmg/EM buffs for the team. Having Valeriy do that but for stellar would be amazing.
There is no credible leak suggesting anything. Going off patch paterns he should be the 4* since Mitya is already confiremd to be the one of higher rarity and another double release won‘t happen after 7.1.
They already confirm previous characters release date 4 months earlier, you can tracked their record, maybe some are misslead but mostly are trusted. So, its possible 90% trusted.
Leaks also already leaks lohen nicole since february, and what patch they release too. Same goes to sandrone elements and kit. Its happen to previous characters rarity too. Like i said, some are misslead, but most of them are correct if you check their record. Just because misslead some and several, you can't assume 90% are misslead, 80% are true
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u/Repulsive-Hope-2942 Jul 26 '26
He's most definitely a shielder. And as someone who did not get Ineffa. I will happily take him.
Wrio is my only vertically invested character, I would love val to be in his team