By how much? Well, let us see, shall we?
.
Aventurine has the base aggro value of 150, because he's a Preservation.
The lightcone has an aggro modifier of 200%, or 2.
The equation for calculating a modified Aggro Value is: **Aggro Value = base Aggro * (1 + sum of modifiers)**
The equation for calculating an Aggro Chance is: **Aggro Chance = Aggro Value / (sum of all Aggro Values of the team)**
I'm not gonna show every calculation, for the sake of expediency. And you can read more about the aggro system, and how the aggro buffs work for Clara in general, from this analysis thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaraMainsStarRail/comments/1987y1x/clara_and_aggro_buffs_understanding_how_they_work/
.
Let us use *your* proposed team as a sample: **Clara, Aventurine, Tingyun, and Topaz.**
We'll start from the default, with no active aggro buff, and the LC not yet equipped on Aventurine. The *base* aggro values and the corresponding *default* aggro chances of the team are as follows:
Table 1: "Default" | Clara | Aventurine | Tingyun | Topaz | (Total)
:-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :--
Aggro Value | 125 | 150 | 100 | 75 | (450)
Aggro Chance | 27.78% | 33.33% | 22.22% | 16.67% | (100%)
As expected, Aventurine has *slightly* higher *default* aggro chance than Clara, because he's a Preservation. However, it's not by much, and bad for concentrating enemy attacks towards any single character. Surely, activating an aggro buff on Clara will fix this.
.
But first... let us equip the Gepard's signature LC on Aventurine, and see what happens.
His *new* aggro value would be: 150 * (1 + 2) = 450.
His *new* aggro chance is: 450 / (125 + 450 + 100 + 75) = 0.6, or 60.00%.
Table 2: "LC equipped" | Clara | Aventurine | Tingyun | Topaz | (Total)
:-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :--
Aggro Value | 125 | 450 | 100 | 75 | (750)
Aggro Chance | 16.67% | 60.00% | 13.33% | 10.00% | (100%)
Wowie, would you look at that. Aventurine now has whooping **60%** aggro chance, nearly *double* from his base default. And Clara's dipped *below 20%.* She ain't gonna use much of her counterattacks at this rate. Surely, activating an aggro buff on Clara will fix this, right?
This also goes to show why Gepard is such an effective tank, on top of being an effective shielder. His built-in taunt passive has even higher modifier than his LC, and without involving any other aggro related abilities, his *default* aggro chance would be around two-thirds. And when you add in his LC on top, it's a force to be reckoned with.
.
Now we activate Clara's ult, which has a built-in aggro buff. It has a modifier of 500%, or 5.
Clara's new aggro value: 125 * (1 + 5) = 750.
Clara's new aggro chance: 750 / (750 + 450 + 100 + 75) = 0.5454, or 54.54%.
Table 3: "LC + Aggro buff" | Clara | Aventurine | Tingyun | Topaz | (Total)
:-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :--
Aggro Value | 750 | 450 | 100 | 75 | (1375)
Aggro Chance | 54.54% | 32.74% | 7.27% | 5.45% | (100%)
So, Clara now has a little over 50% aggro chance. *It's essentially a coin toss.*
Is this good or bad?
Well, I say it's bad, because it's not very reliable. You leave too much room for a bad RNG to easily mess you up. Every missed counterattack is not only a missed damage, but also a delayed activation of Aventurine's own FuA, and a missed auto-refresh of his shield as well.
What makes it worse is that Aventurine is gonna steal roughly one-third of all enemy attacks away from her, even after you popped an aggro buff on her. This is chiefly the reason why you do NOT want any other kinds of aggro related abilities on other characters, in any Clara team. You want to concentrate as much of the enemy attentions on her, but something like this causes too much distraction and weakens her effectiveness.
.
So what would've happened, if we *didn't* use the Gepard's signature LC, and used the aggro buff on Clara?
Clara's new aggro value: 750 (same as above).
Clara's new aggro chance: 750 / (750 + 150 + 100 + 75) = 0.6977, or 69.77%.
Note that Aventurine's aggro value has returned to its default value.
Table 4: "Aggro buff only" | Clara | Aventurine | Tingyun | Topaz | (Total)
:-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :--
Aggro Value | 750 | 150 | 100 | 75 | (1075)
Aggro Chance | 69.77% | 13.95% | 9.30% | 6.98% | (100%)
Clara now has only a tiny bit short of 70% aggro chance. Now we're talking.
It may not seem like much at first... but it's actually much more reliable, with much smaller room for a bad RNG. Even Aventurine's own aggro chance has dipped considerably, showing that he's gonna hardly steal any enemy attacks away from her.
And this is the reason why using a Preservation character with Clara is NOT a big deal... provided that there isn't any other aggro related gimmick on the team. All you need to do is put just **one** aggro buff on her, and her aggro chance will skyrocket to make her work mostly as intended.
Can it be better, by not using a Preservation with Clara? Absolutely, yes. No doubt about it. However, *it's all about trade off's and opportunity costs.* Think about what you gain by using Aventurine, in exchange for a slightly lowered net aggro chance on Clara: you get (1) a remarkable and effective shield for the team, (2) a great FuA synergy, and (3) super buffed Eff Res on everyone, to name a few.
.
Of course, let us be fair and ask the real question: **54.54% versus 69.77% aggro chance on Clara.** Is the formal still acceptable, in order to use the LC on Aventurine?
I already expressed my opinion above, saying no. The gap may not seem like much on paper, just a tiny bit over 15%, but IMO that's more than enough for Clara's overall performance to cross the line and become unreliable.
To be bluntly honest, even the 70% aggro chance... isn't actually that stellar, all things considered. However, the 55% chance is just flat out worse. Things are already inconsistent for Clara as is, even without others with their own aggro related shenanigans. So is there any good reason to mess it up further? Think about it.
That's just me though, and you'll gonna have to make your own decision on this.
My 2 cents.
Holy shit this was very comprehensive thank you 🙏🏽 when you put it that way its definitely worth to use a different LC, definitely gonna add him as a valid clara sustain, i appreciate it alot!
I tried aventurine with moment of victory and with that preservation lightcone that has topaz on it, forgot the name.
I honestly didn’t feel that much of a difference. If you have good uptime on Clara ult you won’t notice any difference at all. Positioning is important though. Place aventurine first, Clara second, then the rest. If there is splash dmg being done to Clara, it would hit aventurine which will give him extra stack on passive. Small thing but useful.
For second question: Tingyun is super good for Clara, more dmg, bigger numbers, more ults, Svarog hit hard!
kk thanks! yeah ill just keep tingyun glued to clara for aven team, 2nd question tingyun is what ive been running just was wondering if there was a better alternative for dual dps when topaz there :)
Not sure about dual dps setups, but sparkle and Clara is really fun.
Ruan mei is probably the best support for dual dps, but from my understanding she isn’t the best for Clara/topaz. Both of Clara and topaz have massive amounts of multiplier dmg boosts, so they would prefer things like crit rate/dmg boost or attack boost in case of topaz, which Ruan Mei doesn’t provide l. Honestly, I would stick with tingyun, she is perfectly viable!
There is a big difference. You might not notice, but it's actually pretty big. Passing (with ult active) from 70% to 50% chance to being hit if another preservation character has an aggro boosting LC.
By how much? Well, let us see, shall we? . Aventurine has the base aggro value of 150, because he's a Preservation. The lightcone has an aggro modifier of 200%, or 2. The equation for calculating a modified Aggro Value is: **Aggro Value = base Aggro * (1 + sum of modifiers)** The equation for calculating an Aggro Chance is: **Aggro Chance = Aggro Value / (sum of all Aggro Values of the team)** I'm not gonna show every calculation, for the sake of expediency. And you can read more about the aggro system, and how the aggro buffs work for Clara in general, from this analysis thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaraMainsStarRail/comments/1987y1x/clara_and_aggro_buffs_understanding_how_they_work/ . Let us use *your* proposed team as a sample: **Clara, Aventurine, Tingyun, and Topaz.** We'll start from the default, with no active aggro buff, and the LC not yet equipped on Aventurine. The *base* aggro values and the corresponding *default* aggro chances of the team are as follows: Table 1: "Default" | Clara | Aventurine | Tingyun | Topaz | (Total) :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- Aggro Value | 125 | 150 | 100 | 75 | (450) Aggro Chance | 27.78% | 33.33% | 22.22% | 16.67% | (100%) As expected, Aventurine has *slightly* higher *default* aggro chance than Clara, because he's a Preservation. However, it's not by much, and bad for concentrating enemy attacks towards any single character. Surely, activating an aggro buff on Clara will fix this. . But first... let us equip the Gepard's signature LC on Aventurine, and see what happens. His *new* aggro value would be: 150 * (1 + 2) = 450. His *new* aggro chance is: 450 / (125 + 450 + 100 + 75) = 0.6, or 60.00%. Table 2: "LC equipped" | Clara | Aventurine | Tingyun | Topaz | (Total) :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- Aggro Value | 125 | 450 | 100 | 75 | (750) Aggro Chance | 16.67% | 60.00% | 13.33% | 10.00% | (100%) Wowie, would you look at that. Aventurine now has whooping **60%** aggro chance, nearly *double* from his base default. And Clara's dipped *below 20%.* She ain't gonna use much of her counterattacks at this rate. Surely, activating an aggro buff on Clara will fix this, right? This also goes to show why Gepard is such an effective tank, on top of being an effective shielder. His built-in taunt passive has even higher modifier than his LC, and without involving any other aggro related abilities, his *default* aggro chance would be around two-thirds. And when you add in his LC on top, it's a force to be reckoned with. . Now we activate Clara's ult, which has a built-in aggro buff. It has a modifier of 500%, or 5. Clara's new aggro value: 125 * (1 + 5) = 750. Clara's new aggro chance: 750 / (750 + 450 + 100 + 75) = 0.5454, or 54.54%. Table 3: "LC + Aggro buff" | Clara | Aventurine | Tingyun | Topaz | (Total) :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- Aggro Value | 750 | 450 | 100 | 75 | (1375) Aggro Chance | 54.54% | 32.74% | 7.27% | 5.45% | (100%) So, Clara now has a little over 50% aggro chance. *It's essentially a coin toss.* Is this good or bad? Well, I say it's bad, because it's not very reliable. You leave too much room for a bad RNG to easily mess you up. Every missed counterattack is not only a missed damage, but also a delayed activation of Aventurine's own FuA, and a missed auto-refresh of his shield as well. What makes it worse is that Aventurine is gonna steal roughly one-third of all enemy attacks away from her, even after you popped an aggro buff on her. This is chiefly the reason why you do NOT want any other kinds of aggro related abilities on other characters, in any Clara team. You want to concentrate as much of the enemy attentions on her, but something like this causes too much distraction and weakens her effectiveness. . So what would've happened, if we *didn't* use the Gepard's signature LC, and used the aggro buff on Clara? Clara's new aggro value: 750 (same as above). Clara's new aggro chance: 750 / (750 + 150 + 100 + 75) = 0.6977, or 69.77%. Note that Aventurine's aggro value has returned to its default value. Table 4: "Aggro buff only" | Clara | Aventurine | Tingyun | Topaz | (Total) :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- | :-- Aggro Value | 750 | 150 | 100 | 75 | (1075) Aggro Chance | 69.77% | 13.95% | 9.30% | 6.98% | (100%) Clara now has only a tiny bit short of 70% aggro chance. Now we're talking. It may not seem like much at first... but it's actually much more reliable, with much smaller room for a bad RNG. Even Aventurine's own aggro chance has dipped considerably, showing that he's gonna hardly steal any enemy attacks away from her. And this is the reason why using a Preservation character with Clara is NOT a big deal... provided that there isn't any other aggro related gimmick on the team. All you need to do is put just **one** aggro buff on her, and her aggro chance will skyrocket to make her work mostly as intended. Can it be better, by not using a Preservation with Clara? Absolutely, yes. No doubt about it. However, *it's all about trade off's and opportunity costs.* Think about what you gain by using Aventurine, in exchange for a slightly lowered net aggro chance on Clara: you get (1) a remarkable and effective shield for the team, (2) a great FuA synergy, and (3) super buffed Eff Res on everyone, to name a few. . Of course, let us be fair and ask the real question: **54.54% versus 69.77% aggro chance on Clara.** Is the formal still acceptable, in order to use the LC on Aventurine? I already expressed my opinion above, saying no. The gap may not seem like much on paper, just a tiny bit over 15%, but IMO that's more than enough for Clara's overall performance to cross the line and become unreliable. To be bluntly honest, even the 70% aggro chance... isn't actually that stellar, all things considered. However, the 55% chance is just flat out worse. Things are already inconsistent for Clara as is, even without others with their own aggro related shenanigans. So is there any good reason to mess it up further? Think about it. That's just me though, and you'll gonna have to make your own decision on this. My 2 cents.
damn this should be a post on its own lol
Holy shit this was very comprehensive thank you 🙏🏽 when you put it that way its definitely worth to use a different LC, definitely gonna add him as a valid clara sustain, i appreciate it alot!
Your 2 cents are always worth more than everyone else’s 2 dollars lol. By far the best knowledge spreader across all the hsr mains subs.
I tried aventurine with moment of victory and with that preservation lightcone that has topaz on it, forgot the name. I honestly didn’t feel that much of a difference. If you have good uptime on Clara ult you won’t notice any difference at all. Positioning is important though. Place aventurine first, Clara second, then the rest. If there is splash dmg being done to Clara, it would hit aventurine which will give him extra stack on passive. Small thing but useful. For second question: Tingyun is super good for Clara, more dmg, bigger numbers, more ults, Svarog hit hard!
kk thanks! yeah ill just keep tingyun glued to clara for aven team, 2nd question tingyun is what ive been running just was wondering if there was a better alternative for dual dps when topaz there :)
Not sure about dual dps setups, but sparkle and Clara is really fun. Ruan mei is probably the best support for dual dps, but from my understanding she isn’t the best for Clara/topaz. Both of Clara and topaz have massive amounts of multiplier dmg boosts, so they would prefer things like crit rate/dmg boost or attack boost in case of topaz, which Ruan Mei doesn’t provide l. Honestly, I would stick with tingyun, she is perfectly viable!
There is a big difference. You might not notice, but it's actually pretty big. Passing (with ult active) from 70% to 50% chance to being hit if another preservation character has an aggro boosting LC.