Crimson Frequency Team Guide — NTE
Crimson Frequency
Neverness to Everness team guide for Crimson Frequency: composition, Esper reactions, key synergies, rotation tips, pros and cons, and substitutes.
Crimson Frequency
Crimson Feast with Linko in the Anima slot instead of a healer. She trades the sustain for the only Hexed enhancement in the game, an on-demand Synced Strike in whichever element the fight wants, and an 8% Esper Ability RES cut in that same element. Zankou reads all of it directly, because most of her kit is already Follow-up Attack damage.
Incantation
Chaos
Anima
Team Composition
Nightmare Waltz, Moonfall, every Soulcross and Bloodfeast Reverie all count as Follow-up Attack DMG, which is the exact damage type Linko's passive and the Hexed payout amplify.
Completes Hexed on the swap and raises what it pays out, fires Zankou's Synced Strike on demand through Full-Frequency Pulse, and cuts 8% Incantation RES for 12s each time she does.
Substitutes
Covers the same Anima slot with healing and ATK buffs instead of the Hexed enhancement. The version to run when the team has no other sustain.
Completes Scorch and adds Nightmare DoT ticks, which Silent Sunset turns back into Scorch stacks. Build her stacks in Melee Stance, then switch to Ranged before handing the field over.
Substitutes
The free-to-play Chaos anchor, and the one the A1 Linko rotation is built around. Keeps Scorch online and adds Break-cap reduction.
The attack buff Linko wants on the board before she goes in, and the second Incantation unit that keeps Hexed available. Can I Eat This? amplifies every active DoT by 25% per type while Scorch is live.
Esper Reactions
Duo Cycles
Incantation
Chaos
Upon triggering Esper Cycle, inflicts Scorch on the target for 15s, dealing DoT.
Resonance
Moderate Mischief
Scorch Enhancement: Inflicts another instance of Scorch with the same effect as the existing one when a Power Word is generated on a target affected by Scorch.
Can I Eat This?
Scorch Enhancement: Increases DoT taken by the target by 25% for each type of DoT effect while in Scorch state, up to 100%.
Temperance
Scorch Enhancement: Applies one of three random debuffs whenever Scorch is inflicted on a target: -20% ATK, -10% Esper Resistance, or +10% Break Efficiency, lasting for 15s. The same effect cannot stack.
Silent Sunset
Scorch Enhancement: Scorch can be stacked up to 3 times. For each DoT effect allies inflict on a target afflicted with Scorch, Zankou inflicts 1 stack of Scorch on them, replacing the DMG, type, and duration of existing Scorch on the target with those of the newly inflicted effect. Scorch inflicted by this effect cannot trigger it again.
Triggered by: Zankou → Lacrimosa or Lacrimosa → Zankou swap
In this team: Applies Scorch for 15s. Zankou's Silent Sunset raises the cap to 3 stacks and re-applies a stack for every DoT an ally lands on the target.
Anima
Incantation
Deals an additional instance of follow-up attack DMG to the target equal to 20% of Anima or Incantation DMG taken within 12s after triggering Esper Cycle.
Resonance
Weakness Radar
Hexed Enhancement: Increases the base DMG of additional Follow-up Attacks from Hexed to 30% while Linko is on the team. Targets affected by Hexed take 10% more Follow-up Attack DMG.
Triggered by: Linko → Sakiri or Linko → Zankou swap
In this team: Deals an extra instance of Follow-up Attack DMG from the Anima or Incantation damage taken in the last 12s. Linko's Weakness Radar raises that instance to 30% and makes the Hexed target take 10% more Follow-up Attack DMG from everyone.
Why It Works
Zankou pays out through two separate channels, and this line-up feeds both from one rotation. Scorch handles the DoT half, exactly as it does in Crimson Feast. The difference is the other half: Hexed returns recent Anima and Incantation damage as Follow-up Attack DMG, Zankou routes an unusual share of her kit through that damage type, and Linko is the only character who raises what Hexed pays. On top of that, every Synced Strike she fires is itself Follow-up Attack damage in the element of the ally who fired it, and drops that element's Esper Ability RES by 8% for 12 seconds.
Key Synergies
Weakness Radar on a Follow-up Attack carry
Hexed's extra instance rises to 30% while Linko is on the team, and anything under Hexed takes 10% more Follow-up Attack damage from everyone. Both numbers land on the part of Zankou's kit that was already her largest.
Full-Frequency Pulse into Zankou
Picking Zankou in the wheel fires her Synced Strike in Incantation, amplified by Linko's stored Modulation and scaled off Linko's own stats and Spectral Cross's level. Precision Tuning then cuts 8% Incantation RES for the next 12 seconds.
The Resonance Field on a swap-heavy rotation
While the field stands, every Support Skill the team casts counts as a Synced Strike: Follow-up Attack damage in that character's element, carrying the RES cut with it. A rotation that swaps constantly turns each swap into another amplified hit.
Rotation Tips
-
1
Open on Zankou and hold her Skill for the Flickering Shadow stacks
-
2
Swap to Lacrimosa, build her Nightmare stacks and switch to Ranged Stance
-
3
Swap to Sakiri and run her full kit, so the attack buff is up before Linko goes in
-
4
Swap to Linko and run her full kit, picking Zankou in the Full-Frequency Pulse wheel
-
5
Return to Lacrimosa for ten Nightmare stacks and her Ultimate
-
6
Close on Zankou and run her combo out; the Scorch from the opening swap has been ticking the whole time
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Runs Scorch and Hexed in the same rotation, and Linko is the only unit that makes the Hexed half hit harder
- Neither her selection wheel nor Oversync consumes time, so the extra damage costs the carry no field uptime
- Precision Tuning stacks across elements, so the Synced Strike and the swap both leave a RES cut behind
- Daffodill covers the Chaos slot without breaking the line-up, keeping Zankou as the only limited 5★ damage dealer besides Linko
Cons
- No healer in the composition — the Anima slot is spending its sustain on the Hexed enhancement
- Linko wants full damage-dealer investment for the Synced Strikes to be worth firing, so the team asks for two built units rather than one
- At A0 her Synced Strike cannot trigger Cycle effects, which is what would otherwise keep Scorch and Hexed up permanently
- Only Lacrimosa and Daffodill can trigger Scorch, so the Chaos slot still has no third option