Background
Mona is a 5-star Hydro character that uses a catalyst in battle. She first appears to greet the player near Liyue and asks the player to help her retrieve her teacher’s box in exchange for reading your fate. Mona currently resides in Mondstadt, when she learns the truth of her teacher’s youth and wishes to avoid meeting them again.
Mona’s passion is the art of astrology, which she learned from her master. She combines the art of hydromancy and astrology to look at a person’s fate. Her readings are super accurate and Mona takes a lot of pride in her art. She uses all her Mora to fund any astrology materials she might need. As a result, she is usually out of Mora and can’t accord to buy simple stuff like food and shelter.
Fun Fact: Mona is aware that the traveler is from another world.
Mona Skill Talents
Mona is most known for her burst, which grants the team increased damage against enemies affected by her Omen effect. She can also be used as a Main DPS with the use of her charged attack. Her alternative sprinting allows her to move freely across the battlefield and apply Hydro to the enemies.
Mona’s normal attack, Ripple of Fate, deals up to 4 splashes of Hydro DMG on the enemy. Her charged attack will deal Hydro AoE DMG after a short casting time in exchange for some stamina. On her third attack, Mona will teleport backwards, but can also teleport forward if there is no space behind her. Mona’s 4th attack will deal the most damage, with the 1st attack dealing the least.
Her elemental skill, Mirror Reflection of Doom, creates an illusory Phantom of Fate. This Phantom will taunt enemies, deal Hydro DMG over time to nearby enemies, and explode when its duration is over. It will deal damage 4 times over its duration, 1 every second, before exploding. Players can also hold down the skill button to move backward before summoning a Phantom. It has a 12-second cooldown, and only 1 Phantom can exist at a time. Mona’s main use for her skill will be to use its taunt to attract enemies within its range for its explosion. It is also great at applying Hydro to enemies around it.
Mona’s elemental burst, Stellaris Phantasm, will trigger the Illusory Bubble in a large field to trap enemies in a bubble and apply the Omen effect to them. No damage will be dealt when Mona first casts her burst. The duration of the bubble and Omen scales with the talent level. The size of the enemies that can be trapped is scaled from Mona’s level. Any damage caused to the bubble will cause it to pop. Enemies affected by the Omen will take increased damage, and the effect can range up to 5 seconds if the talent is fully maxed out. Mona’s burst requires 60 energy and has a 15-second cooldown, which isn’t too high, allowing her to use it consistently in battle. When the bubble is active, enemies will be marked with a starry marking, while they will have a purple mark when affected by the Omen. Mona’s burst is a great support skill that allows characters to deal increased damage, especially if they can trigger the Vaporize reaction after her burst is cast.
Mona has an alternative sprint called Illusory Torrent. When Mona sprints, she will cloak herself in water and allow her to move around the overworld. This sprint can be used to travel over water and can also apply Hydro to enemies when Mona reappears near them. This sprint is a great ability to apply Hydro to enemies and quickly move across the battlefield. Mona can enter and exit out of this form as long as she has stamina.
In co-op, Mona will mainly use her burst to trap enemies and allow her teammates to deal more damage to the team. She can also deal damage herself with her normal attack and apply Hydro to enemies.
Mona Passive Talents
Mona’s passive allows her to refund weapon ascension materials, create a Phantom with her sprint, and boost her Hydro DMG with her Energy Recharge stat.
Mona’s passive talent, Principium of Astrology, allows her to refund the crafting materials for weapon ascension when she is used to create them. This will allow you to save on resources for ascending your weapons and also has a 1/4 chance to trigger.
Her first ascension talent, Come ‘n’ Get Me, Hag!, allows Mona to create a Phantom after she uses her alternative sprint for 2 seconds. This Phantom is similar to the one created from her elemental skill, but will deal less damage when it explodes and only lasts for 2 seconds. This talent allows Mona to taunt the enemy and deal damage by entering in your sprint form for 2 seconds.
Mona’s fourth ascension talent, Waterborne Destiny, boosts Her Hydro DMG by 20% of her Energy Recharge stat. There is no limit to this talent, so the higher her Energy Recharge stat, the higher the Hydro DMG Bonus. You should aim for around 200% Energy Recharge, which will give Mona a +40% Hydro DMG Bonus. This talent is great for increasing Mona’s DPS, but it is important to note that trying to aim for a higher Energy Recharge stat of higher than 200% will sacrifice other stat gains.
Mona gets an Energy Recharge bonus based on her ascension rank, which will help boost the Hydro DMG bonus of her ascension 4 talent.
| Principium of Astrology Unlocked Automatically When Mona crafts Weapon Ascension Materials, she has a 25% chance to refund a portion of the crafting materials used. |
| Come ‘n’ Get Me, Hag! Unlocked at Ascension 1 After she has used Illusory Torrent for 2s, if there are any enemies nearby, Mona will automatically create a Phantom. A Phantom created in this manner lasts for 2s, and its explosion DMG is equal to 50% of Mirror Reflection of Doom. |
| Waterborne Destiny Unlocked at Ascension 4 Increases Mona’s Hydro DMG Bonus by a degree equivalent to 20% of her Energy Recharge rate. |
Mona Constellations
Mona’s constellation has a mixture of support abilities by increasing the reaction damage and Crit Rate of her teammates, while also boosting Mona’s damage.
Mona’s first constellation, Prophecy of Submersion, increases the power of a character’s Hydro reaction for 8 seconds after hitting an enemy affected by her elemental burst, allowing it to deal more damage. Enemies are also frozen for a longer duration. This is a great support talent that allows other characters to deal increased reaction damage.
At C2: Lunar Chain, a charged attack will have the chance to trigger after Mona uses her normal attack to hit an enemy. This can only occur every 5 seconds, but will increase Mona’s overall DPS. This charged attack does not consume stamina.
C4: Prophecy of Oblivion is another support skill, but can also be used by Mona herself. This constellation increases the Crit Rate against enemies affected by her elemental burst. This will allow your other characters to land more critical hits on the enemies while the Omen is active.
At C6: Rhetorics of Calamitas, Mona gains increased charged attack damage when she enters her sprint form. This buff is increased by +60% for each second she moves within that form and can have a max of +180% increase. To fully benefit from this buff, you will want to travel for 2 seconds after entering your sprint form. Its effects will only last for 8 seconds. This constellation works great for a DPS Mona!
| Constellation Levels | Effects |
|---|---|
| C1: Prophecy of Submersion | The effects of Hydro-related Elemental Reactions are enhanced for 8s after a character hits an enemy affected by an Omen: Electro-Charged DMG is increased by 15%. Vaporize DMG is increased by 15%. Hydro Swirl DMG is increased by 15%. The duration for which enemies are Frozen is increased by 15%. |
| C2: Lunar Chain | When a Normal Attack hits, there is a 20% chance that it will be automatically followed by a Charged Attack. This effect can only occur once every 5s. |
| C3: Restless Revolution | Increases the Level of Stellaris Phantasm by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C4: Prophecy of Oblivion | When a character attacks an enemy affected by the Omen status effect, their CRIT Rate is increased by 15%. |
| C5: Mockery of Fortuna | Increase the Level of Mirror Reflection of Doom by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| C6: Rhetorics of Calamitas | Upon entering Illusory Torrent, Mona gain a 60% increase to the DMG her next Charged Attack per second of movement. A maximum DMG Bonus of 180% can be achieved in this manner. The effect lasts for no more than 8s. |
Recommended Builds
Support Build
Mona’s burst works as a great support talent for her teammates to deal increased damage against the enemy. As a support, she will need to manage the uptime of her burst to buff the attack of the team. After using her burst, you will want to switch to your Main DPS to deal damage.
This build for Mona will be focused on a frozen team. Both Mona and Xingqiu will apply Hydro to the enemy. Xingqiu can also provide healing and reduce the damage taken with his Rain Swords. He can be replaced with another character like Bennett or Diona to activate the Cryo resonance. Ganyu has a range-wide burst that can deal damage to the enemy and keep them frozen with her Hydro supports. She can be replaced with Ayaka as your Main DPS. Kazuha’s burst can easily spread Hydro or Cryo to enemies and can also increase the team’s elemental damage when he Swirls with another element. He can be replaced with another support character.
Mona’s recommended weapon is either the 3-star Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers or the 4-star Favonius Codex. Although it is a 3-star weapon, the Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers allows Mona to increase the ATK of any character she switches to for 10 seconds, allowing her to increase your Main DPS’s damage. The Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers can also work as an early game weapon for Mona. While the Favonius Codex will provide Mona with more Energy Recharge and allow her to provide energy for the entire party when she lands a critical hit.
Mona can also make use of the Hakushin Ring, which provides her a passive gain in Energy Recharge. However, its passive requires an Electro user on the team to gain the full benefits of the elemental damage bonus once an Electro reaction is triggered.
The 4-star Wine and Song can also be used to increase Energy Recharge and provide a boost to her attack and movement speed, depending on the number of characters from Mondstadt on the team. You will want a full team of Mondtadt characters to fully benefit from this weapon.
The craftable Prototype Amber is another viable weapon for a support Mona, allowing her to gain more energy and heal the team when she uses her burst.
For Mona’s artifact set, you will want to equip her with a 4-piece Noblesse Oblige to increase her elemental burst damage and provide the team with an ATK buff after using her burst. You can also use the 4-piece Tenacity of the Millelith. The 2-piece bonus increases Mona’s HP, which she doesn’t need, but the 4-piece allows her elemental skill to buff the attack of nearby party members when it damages an enemy.
In the early game use the 4-piece Instructor to raise Mona’s Elemental Mastery boost and allow her to buff the EM of the team after using her elemental skill.
Mona’s artifact stats:
- Sands: Energy Recharge%
- Goblet: Hydro DMG Bonus% or ATK%
- Circlet: Crit Rate%
As a support, Mona won’t need to focus on her own damage. Look for Energy Recharge, Crit Rate, and ATK% in her sub-stats.
Main DPS
As a Main DPS, Mona will want to focus on building up her normal attack and burst talent. Her charged attack will be her main damage dealer, aside from her elemental burst to further increase her damage.
For Mona’s team composition, you will want to build on the vaporize reaction to deal increased damage against the enemy. Both Xiangling and Bennett will be in charge of supplying Pyro for reactions. Bennett can also buff the team’s attack and heal them. Sucrose will increase the team’s reaction damage. You can switch up the party remembers, depending on if you want to go with an Electro-charge or freeze team. Mona will also benefit from having a shield creator on the team due to her low defenses and health.
Mona’s main weapon is the 5-star Skyward Altas to increase her attack and elemental damage. This weapon will also summon a cloud to deal additional damage to enemies. Other 5-star weapons like the Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds and Memory of Dust will also work for a DPS Mona build.
As a DPS, The Widsith is another great option for Mona. This weapon increases Mona’s Crit DMG and provides her a random buff in Elemental Mastery, Base ATK, or Elemental DMG when she enters the field. This buff will last for 10 seconds and has a cooldown of 30 seconds. Mona can also make use of the 4-star Solar Pearl from the battle pass to increase her Crit Rate. This weapon will increase her elemental burst and skill damage after using her normal attack, and her normal attack damage after using her burst or skill.
For more reaction damage, use the craftable Mappa Mare to boost Mona’s Elemental Mastery and her elemental damage after she triggers a reaction.
Other great options are the 4-star Dodoco Tales, Eye of Perception, and Blackcliff Amulet!
For Mona’s artifact set, use the 4-piece Heart of Depth to increase her Hydro DMG and normal and charged attack after using her elemental skill. You also have the option of the 4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate if you want to simply increase the damage of her burst. The 4-piece Wanderer’s Troupe can also work to increase her Elemental Mastery and charged attack damage.
Mona’s artifact stats:
- Sands: ATK%
- Goblet: Hydro DMG Bonus%
- Circlet: Crit Rate% or Crit DMG%
Look for sub-stats in ATK%, Crit Rate, or Crit DMG. Energy Recharge can be great to use Mona’s burst more often. EM is also good to increase her reaction damage.
Recommended Party Members
Kazuha can increase the elemental damage of the team and easily spread Hydro or Cryo to enemies with his burst.
Xingqiu can heal the team and apply Hydro to enemies. He can be replaced with another support character.
Ganyu is a great Cryo DPS with a wide range burst that can damage enemies and apply Cryo to them
Xiangling is a powerful Pyro sub-DPS with the use of her burst. Her elemental skill can also provide a buff to a character’s ATK by picking up the pepper.
Bennett can heal and provide a buff to the team with his burst. His elemental skill is also great for gaining energy due to its short cooldown.
Sucrose will increase the reaction damage of the team by sharing her Elemental Mastery.
| Advantages | Disadvantages |
|---|---|
| Burst increases the damage dealt to enemies | She will have to manage her stamina if using her charged attack, as she needs to stamina for her sprint form |
| Increased Hydro DMG based on Energy Recharge | Low HP |
| Alternative sprint can apply Hydro to enemies and move across the water | Low DEF |
Conclusion
Mona has many uses in combat from taunting the enemy, trapping them, and increasing the damage dealt to them. Her alternative sprint allows her to apply Hydro to enemies and easily move throughout the battlefield. She is an overall great support character that can also be used as a Main DPS.
What do you think of Mona? Is there anything I missed? Let us know in the comments below! You can also reach out through our Twitter or my Discord handle Seyfrid#2589.
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The Informal Gamer 