Argent Waves Hwayoung

Argent Waves Hwayoung is an Ice Thief whose single-target basic attack strips one buff off its target. Her real engine is a passive that fires whenever an ally uses a non-attack skill: she leaps at the enemy with the highest Defense, ignores half of that Defense, pushes her own Combat Readiness by 20%, and takes an extra turn if she's holding vigor. Her cooldown skill is her only area attack, hitting all enemies while shoving the back-row ally's Combat Readiness up 50% and granting herself vigor for two turns to feed the extra-turn loop. She is an opener and turn-cycle accelerator who punishes defensive, buff-stacking targets rather than a true cleaver.

Counters

• Buff-stacking and shield-heavy enemies — Her basic attack dispels a buff every hit, so units that lean on layered attack/defense buffs, barriers, or damage-reduction effects to stay alive lose those protections before she or her team commits to the kill.
• High-Defense tanks and bruisers — Her passive auto-targets the enemy with the highest Defense and penetrates 50% of it, so the beefy frontliner meant to soak damage instead becomes the one she leaps onto and cuts straight through.
• Slower defensive teams that want to stall — She opens fast, pushes her own and the back-row ally's Combat Readiness, and chains extra turns off vigor, so passive teams trying to set up get overrun before their plan comes online.
• Targets relying on near-untouchable states — Because she removes a buff on contact, enemies leaning on invincibility, immortality, or damage-reduction buffs can have that crutch stripped, opening them up to follow-up damage.

counterMonarch of the Sword Iseria57%counterShepherd of the Dark Diene53%counterIvana58%

Countered by

• Enemy buff strippers and dispel — She depends on holding Vigor to chain extra turns. Vigor can not be dispelled or stolen, so the way to break the loop is anti-heal (it stops her refreshing Vigor) or simply out-speeding and bursting her before it snowballs.
• Buff-duration shorteners — Her vigor only lasts two turns from her cooldown skill, so effects that shorten buff duration shave off the window she needs to keep generating extra turns.
• Cooldown and rotation dependence — Her only area hit is on a 5-turn cooldown and her best burst comes from the passive on a 3-turn timer that needs an ally to use a non-attack skill first; deny that trigger or race her early and her output drops to a single-target basic.
• Unbuffed, low-Defense threats — Her dispel finds nothing to remove against enemies running no buffs, and her passive ignores low-Defense glass cannons by always seeking the highest-Defense target, so a fast naked nuker simply outpaces her setup.

counterLone Wolf Peira53%counterSetsuka43%counterRuele of Light67%counterTori55%counterSpirit Eye Celine47%Notos60%Zio60%Frieren59%Briar Witch Iseria57%New Moon Luna57%Kawerik56%Tactical Archetype Coli63%

Who counters Argent Waves Hwayoung? — full guide ›