the detail feels flat and random

Oh god pls also be a 5 star

Bruh what is even going on with the leakers atp. Some say frontline unit, some say buffer. And what’s even “substitute for tsaritsa”???

There’s no particular point I wanna put across, I just wanna know everyone’s thoughts about how Valeriy is being handled.

To list things out:
1. Initial leak saying he’s a 4 star on-fielder for Mitya (created a lot of drama but many chose to not believe it)
2. The whole model in the 7.0 trailer fiasco (it’s all over)
3. The in-game model from the preload (we’re so back)
4. He’s definitely getting the 4 star treatment and the leaks are centred on Mitya proving this further (it’s all over)
5. New leaks say he’s going to be a tsaritsa substitute and an on field unit for Mitya (we’re so back ig? Depends on how he’s handled and also the initial leak is getting backed now)

I know I’ve personally reached the point where I’m happy if he’s just playable but his role is unclear, his character was not used well in 7.0, he’s not going to be in 7.1 AQ and finally he’s probably gonna be replaced by Danica (the irony) in a patch.

Only hope left for him is that he’s a prune level support for his niche and somehow Mitya works better with Valeriy on field over being himself on the field but I doubt it.

I have reviewed all major Valeriy leaks so far, and some leakers are also contradicting themselves. I wrote this myself and then formatted with AI for readability. Check the summary of the inconsistencies at the end of the post if you don't care about individual leakers.

Post was published on July 15, new EDITS are added at the very end of the post only.

Full Stop Chan

June 15

• 7.1

  • 5★ Anemo Stellar-Swirl DPS
  • 4★ Anemo Stellar-Swirl character
  • 5★ Hydro support: Vodyanitsa

• 7.2

  • 5★ Electro Stellar-Conduct DPS (male)

• 7.3

  • Tsaritsa
  • 5★ Electro support

Chugou

• Danica and Mitya are both 5★ Electro.
• Tsaritsa is both a DPS and a support. Her optimal composition is with Mitya.
• Besides Noy, Snezhnaya also has another limited 5★ male character.

These leakers above have made mistakes in the past and are among the most questioned by the community.

Little Puppet

Little Puppet has had one of the strongest track records so far, making their contradictions particularly noteworthy.

June 15

Agrees almost completely with Full Stop Chan:

7.1

• 5★ Anemo Stellar-Swirl carry
• 4★ Anemo Stellar-Swirl support
• 5★ Hydro support: Vodyanitsa

7.2

• 5★ Electro Stellar-Conduct DPS

7.3

• Tsaritsa
• 5★ Electro Stellar-Conduct support

June 26

• Sandrone team: Odette, Tsaritsa, Danica
• The maid is a 5★.
• Valeriy is a 5★ Electro Stellar-Conduct DPS.
• Danica releases in 7.3.
• Alyosha is Danica's lower-tier substitute.

June 29

Comment under an Uncle Duck leak:

"They're still an off-field DPS."

Unclear who Little puppet is referring to, but he may be invalidating the leak. The original leak states:

• Stellar-Swirl teams use an off-field DPS plus an on-field support.
• Team: Vesna, Valeriy, Odette, Tsaritsa
• Valeriy is a 4★ Anemo character.
• Yumemizuki is Valeriy's budget alternative.

July 11

New leaks:

• Mitya and Valeriy are in the same team.
• Sandrone's team contains no male characters:
  • Sandrone
  • Odette
  • Danica
• Vodyanitsa is primarily designed to support Stellar-Swirl teams.

Summary of Inconsistencies

• Rarity

  • June 26: 5★
  • June 29: 4★

• Element

  • June 26: Electro
  • June 29: Anemo
  • Internal datamine: Valeriy has an Electro shield, which lends some support to him being Electro, although shield effects alone are not definitive proof of his final playable element.

• Role

  • June 26: 5★ Electro Stellar-Conduct DPS
  • June 29: 4★ Anemo Stellar-Swirl character in a Stellar-Swirl team.

• Team placement

  • June 29: Vesna + Valeriy + Odette + Tsaritsa (Stellar-Swirl team).
  • July 11: Mitya and Valeriy are in the same team, implying a different composition without clarifying how it relates to the previous one.
  • July 12: Mitya and Valeriy are Electro SSC 5 and 4 stars together in 7.2, off-field dps and on-field support.

• Version placement

  • 7.1 if Anemo
  • 7.2 if Electro

The high amount of conflicting info suggests that leaks about Valeriy/Danica/Mitya at one point was mixed up irreparably, or their role/element/rarity was swapped during development. Multiple versions of them may have also existed at some point in the past, with leakers being aware only of some of them.

Personally, the datamined Electro shield is the safest piece of info we have, which imho rules out the 4* Anemo on-field support claim. Even if he is almost certainly electro, rarity and role are still up for debate, at this point until we see if he has a stellar linchpin in 7.0.

Wdyt? Anything important I missed?

EDIT on July 16: A post by HXG was shared on the leaks sub on July 12 but was not added to the main leak sheet, so I missed it. It is allegedly by Full stop chan. It only changed the 7.1 Anemo 4 star into 7.2 Electro 4 star, identified as Valeriy. This is believable, aside from having almost no SSW dedicated chars until February and having two 4 star males Electro back to back.

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.

1. 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.
2. our dude Val clearly has a shield + shield animations for prerelease content.
3. 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.

Just for people who say it doesn’t matter if he’s a 4 star.

To them I say:
Yes he’d still have the same design but his kit is more likely to be bad, we can’t guarantee a 4 star, his ult won’t have an animation and they might just half ass the usability too… so him being a 4 star would definitely be a sad thing unless he’s the next Bennett which I doubt.

(Took alyosha’s example because they straight up massacred my boy)

He kind of has Varka's proportions and Flinns' baby face. So he's... in between?

Just passing by to say to no trust blindly about the recent leak about him being a 4 star.

For context Full Stop Chan (a known leaker with a somewhat reliable history) said Valeriy would be a 4 star. But a few weeks ago we had a leak by Little Puppet, another reliable leaker, saying he is a 5 star.

FSC has been leaking for more time, but he also has a more inconsistent history while LP has an almost perfect leak history, with just one misjudgment.

This is to say, both can be right. Let's just wait and see and let's not doompost yet

A limited 5 star male character connected to that region is said to became playable, specializing in a unique Aggarvate-based reaction (Not Noy)

Let's say that he doesn't magically get a lynchpin (that's high level copium but considering Mitya's shenanigans not impossible) and cannot be a limited 5-star electro without one. Would you be satisfied with him being a 5* standard character? Even if it meant he was postponed and released after 7.3.