Nue of the Shadow Weapon Guide by Reinbex  

In version 4.3, a new Katana has been released alongside all the powerhouse PRI-ARMs weapons. While late, the Nue of the Shadow has finally arrived.

Table of Contents

1. Weapon Intro
2. Skill Review
3. Comparison
4. Recommendation
5. Conclusion

Weapon Intro

5★ ATK: 291; CRIT: 19 

A katana forged by the World Serpent for Raiden Mei. When swung, it cries like the nue, the legendary beast that can tell good from evil, breaking the hearts of the villains.

Weapon Skills

★ Stats below are all Lv.50 figures.

Zaizan of Guilt
[SP: 4] [CD: 20] Unleash a quick forward slash to deal 700% ATK of Physical DMG and boost team Crit Rate by 10.0% and Crit DMG by 15.0% for 9s. Effect cannot stack, but can be refreshed by Shadow Dash's Ultimate on hit when this weapon is equipped by her.

Fearsome Weeping
Combo ATK and Ultimate deal 25.0% bonus Crit DMG. Upon entry or evasion skill activation, wielder takes 20.0% less Physical DMG for 9s. Can stack.

 

Skill Review

For this guide, “Danzai Spectramancer” and “Shadow Dash” will be abbreviated as “DS” and SD” respectively.

Zaizan of Guilt
Provides a decent Crit Rate & Crit DMG buffs for team for 9s . 

Upsides:

1. It can support the entire team. Zaizan of Guilt is good for supporting Physical Teams. With the need for longer lasting buffs, having a weapon skill that increases the team's DMG output is good. It provides the necessary bonuses to support all Physical DPS valkyries who need a long lasting support effect. 
2. It costs almost little to no SP to activate and Shadow Dash's ultimate also refreshes its buff effects. It's very easy to apply and reapply the buffs of Zaizan of Guilt.

Downsides:

1. The buffs effects are too lackluster. Crit rate and Crit DMG buffs are good and all, however, the max it can provide for the team are 10% and 15% respectively. It can be argued whether having decent support buffs is worthwhile compared to more potent ones in exchange for longer durations of effect.
2. Despite the effects lasting for 9s, it can be argued that 9s is not long enough to consider this weapon's subpar support effects. Other long-lasting supports released in the game last for much longer and/or are more potent in their respective fields. Unfortunately, that is not Nue of the Shadow. Do keep in mind that the effects can be refreshed with Shadow Dash's ultimate, but that would only force the user to rotate out the DPS to re-apply the effects. This not only lessens the amount of up-time for the DPS, but Danzai Spectramancer, Shadow Dash's new Augmented Form, has support effects that last for twice as long as Zaizan of Guilt's buffs. DS does not really need to come out until her built-in support effects wear off.

Fearsome Weeping
Provides wielder with some Crit DMG buff and Physical DMG intake-Reduction bonuses.

1. Because this weapon is designed to support and that its weapon's active skill has a small cast time, the wielder will be discouraged from staying out for too long.
2. But for mainly dealing DMG, it's also a decent weapon to use due to the buffs it provides. The wielder can make use of both skills of Nue of the Shadow to dish out some decent Physical DMG. Katana wielders are known for their combo ATKs but as of currently, there are no powerful enough Physical-DMG dealing Katana valkyries that can keep up with the meta. So it's discouraged to use Nue of the Shadow, and by extension, consider Fearsome Weeping for DPS-purposes.

 

Comparison to other Weapons

With the support nature of Nue of the Shadow in mind, we will be comparing the team's DMG performance between katana weapons of similar natures. At the time of writing, the only other weapon viable for comparison is Fairy Sword Silven. 

 

Some factors will be fixed:

• The Physical DMG DPS with Charged ATKs and with the need for longer up-times for best DMG output performance will be Bright Knight: Excelsis (BKE) and Swallowtail Phantasm (SP).

• BKE's team will consist of DS with Gustav TM + Newton B and Starlit Astrologos (SA) with her signature gears.

• SP's team will consist of DS with Shuijing full-set and Drive Kometa (DK) with Briareus EX and Gustav TM + Newton B.

• Entire team will have maxed out gears and ranks, DPS will have their signature gears, and SA will have max stacks prior to the tests.

• All tests will be conducted against Wendy and only last for one DPS's burst-ult duration.

 

 

Test Results

Posted above are the four tests results for each of the respective teams. Each picture is labeled as such and the final Total DMG outputs are marked with red boxes. It can be observed that teams with Nue of the Shadow outperform teams with Fairy Sword Silven definitely. Nue of the Shadow clearly is the better support Katana (at least when it comes to Physical teams since Fairy Sword provides TDM, which can also support Elemental DMG). During testing, I also had to make sure the enemy was within the Fairy Sword's support AOE. While that wasn't too difficult, given its large range, it's something to keep in mind when there exist enemies who do not stay in one place for long. In any case, Nue of the Shadow teams outdo Fairy Sword Silven teams by about 100K-300K worth of DMG. It's clear as day that Nue of the Shadow is better than Fairy Sword Silven!

 

Recommended For

Danzai Spectramancer

Liebig

If it isn't obvious by now, Nue of the Shadow is made for Danzai Spectramancer. Its cheap sp-cost does not conflict with DS's ability to passively gain sp and meter when switched out. They synergize well with the need to cast weapon skill, use QTE or combo ATK, and cast ultimate as well. DS can support Physical teams better with Nue of the Shadow and Liebig. At the time of writing, Liebig has not been confirmed for v4.3. However, below is a reminder for the effects that this set entails. Below is a video featuring Nue of the Shadow in Exalted Abyss.

Liebig(T): Triggering Ultimate Evasion or Ultimate skill boosts Physical DMG by 25% for 4s. Can be stacked. Team restores 150 HP when attacking enemies in Warhaunt. CD: 5s.
Liebig(M): Ultimate Evasion skill CD is reduced by 20%. Team deals 12% bonus Physical DMG to enemies in Warhaunt.
Liebig(B):  Basic, Charged, and Combo ATKs deal 25% bonus Physical DMG. Combo and Charged ATKs inflict Warhaunt on all enemies (unique effect, cannot stack) and make them take 12% bonus Total DMG for 15s. CD: 20s.
2 pieces: The host gain 12% Crit Rate. When the bottom piece of this stigma set triggers Warhaunt, if there is only 1 enemy present, the enemy takes 9% more Physical DMG; if there is 2 or more enemies present, the enemies take 12% more Physical DMG.
3 pieces: Removes the CD of Warhaunt triggered by the bottom piece of this set and reduces Total DMG taken by the team by 10%. When it's equipped by Shadow Dash, she deals 25% bonus Total DMG and her Ultimate inflicts Warhaunt on enemies hit.

Bright Knight: Excelsis vs Jizo and Spider Girl - 3743 - 326 Disturbance RL

 

And

Lightning Empress

Tesla Band T + Beethoven M + Ogier B

Lightning Empress can easily support Physical teams that need sp really soon. However, that comes at the cost of an interactive support valkyrie and any Physical DMG, Crit Rate, and/or Crit DMG boost from a leader skill. However, with Nue of the Shadow, LE can simply cast her weapon skill and stay in the back for she has already done her part. Below is a video featuring Nue of the Shadow in Exalted Memorial Arena.

 

Bright Knight: Excelsis vs Jizo - 31093

 

Closing thoughts

The Nue of the Shadow is, at first glance, a seemingly lackluster weapon. There are too little valkyries who can best wield it and it can only do so much with its own effects. However, for the limited scenarios that it can have an appearance in, it actually does a pretty good job at it. It's a rather versatile and easy to use support weapon. Mihoyo is continuing its trend of promoting the playstyle of long-lasting fighters so it's a good choice to invest in this weapon if you come across it. It's likely to have a higher place in the meta when Liebig releases in the future.

You've reached the end of this Weapon guide! I hope you enjoyed reading this guide! If you wish to visit me, my discord ID is Reinbex #1347. My Armada's ID (NA) is 1019 and Discord link is https://discord.gg/bVBRkF4. If you have any questions or just want to visit, don't hesitate to say hi!

Credits to @Aepuru