Usually, 2-3 Hydro units are enough for an account. If your two Spiral Abyss teams already have enough Hydro units, then there’s no need to pull for another. For instance, if you already have Xingqiu and Mona for each team, you don’t need another Hydro unit. Kokomi is an upgrade to some teams (like freeze and soup teams), but she’s never a must-pull. Instead, she’ll perform well if you have her – but you’re not missing out on anything if you don’t. Note: This is based on meta only. If you like Kokomi regardless of her power level, don’t let this stop you from pulling her.
Pros & Cons
Kokomi Strengths
Most of Kokomi’s gameplay consists of her casting her skill (the deployable jellyfish) and then going off-field. She also uses her burst to lengthen the jellyfish’s on-field duration. That’s about it. She has no complicated attack combos — just make sure her jellyfish is always on-field. Additionally, this jellyfish provides strong healing to your active character. Even if your characters take damage, Kokomi can quickly heal them — thus making her teams very comfortable to play. Kokomi has good and consistent off-field Hydro application. She doesn’t consume much field time, so she’s a great option for most teams that need a Hydro unit. In freeze teams, she can easily maintain the freeze status across a decent AOE. In taser teams, her Hydro can constantly enable and trigger electro-charged reactions. In vaporize teams, she can keep up with some Pyro units, like Yoimiya. This lets her enable vaporize reactions for most of their attacks. However, she can struggle to keep up with units that apply a lot of Pyro like Klee and Yanfei. Still, she’s viable in a lot of teams. Kokomi is a perfectly functional unit even at low investment. Simply stacking HP and some Energy Recharge is enough to make her a strong healer. She essentially has a high investment floor but also a low ceiling. So min-maxed investment isn’t significant.
Kokomi Weaknesses
In meta teams, her roles are as an off-field support and healer. Still, much of her kit and signature weapon suggests the role of an on-field DPS — but she simply doesn’t deal enough personal damage to become a DPS. The 4-piece Ocean Hued Clam is a significant buff to her damage, but she’s still outperformed by most DPS units. But if you play her entirely as a support, this weakness is irrelevant. Although she fits into a lot of teams, she’s rarely the best option. If you can forgo having a healer and prefer dealing more damage, most Hydro units will outperform Kokomi. This is why she’s a great pull for casual players but less recommended for min-maxers – it’s easy to overlook her strengths if you don’t need her healing.
Are Kokomi’s Constellations Worth It?
Kokomi’s constellations generally aren’t recommended. She’s already a great unit at C0. But if you insist on pulling constellations, C1 is the most optimal place to stop. Aside from C1, she has no significant utility or damage upgrades that can justify pulling for any more constellations. Instead, it’s much more efficient to pull for units that synergize well with Kokomi — like Ayaka and Ganyu. But if you still intend on pulling for constellations, here’s a closer look at each one.
C1: At Water’s Edge
During her burst, Kokomi deals an additional attack during her last normal attack. It deals 30% of her max HP. This is a decent damage gain, and it increases her Hydro application. C1 is mainly beneficial for vaporize teams. It lets her better keep up with Pyro units. For most players, this is a good place to stop pulling for constellations.
C2: The Clouds Like Waves Rippling
Kokomi gains healing bonuses with regards to characters with 50% or below HP. This provides more healing – it’s basically overkill against most content. Its effects also only trigger with characters with 50% or below HP. This will rarely happen simply because Kokomi’s strong heals won’t allow it.
C3: The Moon, A Ship O’er the Seas
Increases her elemental burst talent level by 3. It directly buffs her damage and healing but not by a lot.
C4: The Moon Overlooks the Waters
During Kokomi’s burst, her normal attack speed is increased by 10% and restores 0.8 energy. This is mainly a quality-of-life constellation that decreases her energy requirements. The attack speed is also useful for performing more normal attacks — aka more damage.
C5: All Streams Flow to the Sea
Increases her elemental skill talent by 3. This buffs her skill’s damage and healing increase, but it’s insignificant. Her skill’s damage doesn’t contribute a lot to her total DPS, so damage gain is minimal. Plus, with her C2, she already excessively heals anyway.
C6: Sango Isshin
During Kokomi’s burst she gains 40% Hydro damage bonus after her normal or charged attacks heal a character with 80% or more HP. Kokomi’s strong healing makes this very easy to proc – it can easily reach 100% uptime. 40% Hydro damage is simply a significant damage buff.
Prototype Amber vs R5 Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (TTDS)
These two perform close to each other but for different roles. Prototype Amber is better for a DPS build, while TTDS is much better in support builds. But a DPS build is rarely recommended, so TTDS is very often the better option. Still, either works well. Here’s a deeper comparison between the two to help you decide:
Is R5 Oathsworn Eye Good for Kokomi?
Oathsworn Eye is a free 4-star catalyst released during Kokomi’s first rerun. Although its appearance suggests synergy with Kokomi, it’s not recommended. It does work, but there are far better options. For damage, Everlasting Moonglow and Prototype Amber are Kokomi’s best options. For healing and buffing, R5 Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers (TTDS) will always be the best option.
