People may have been very happy with Raiden Shogun over the past couple of weeks, but there's a new 5-Star character in town that can turn wallets upside down. Her name is Sangonomiya Kokomi, who leads the Sangonomiya Resistance against the forces of Baal. She is an intelligent and resourceful military advisor, and her leadership skills are great enough to pose a strong resistance against the enormous military of the Shogun. Behind her gentle and charming front, lies a very calculating individual, who always seems to have everything within her grasp.

Sangonomiya Kokomi is a 5-Star Catalyst-wielding Hydro character, whose role could either be a vital, supportive healer, or a potent main DPS. Able to conform within these two distant archetypes is quite a rare feat and is what makes her such an interesting and versatile character. With the right weapons and artifacts, she can serve as a swiss-army-knife kind of a support, able to provide ATK boosts, healing, and Elemental reactions at the same time. With the right team composition, she can fulfill the role of a hard-hitting main DPS, who can deal massive numbers, and even enable freeze to trivialize a lot of fights.

Abilities Overview

Kurage’s Oath is Kokomi’s Elemental Skill. Kokomi summons a Bake-Kuragi that deals periodic Hydro DMG to enemies and heals active characters around it. The healing amount is based on Kokomi’s HP, while the damage is based on her ATK. Choosing which stat to focus on is vital for optimizing Kokomi’s role, as either the healer or the DPS.

Nereid’s Ascension is Kokomi’s Elemental Burst. Kokomi deals massive Hydro DMG around her, and robes herself with the Ceremonial Garment for 10 seconds, which enhances her overall capabilities. After donning the Ceremonial Garment, Kokomi’s attack DMG is increased based on her HP, Bake-Kurage’s damage is increased, and her attacks also heal all party members. During this time, her resistance to interruption is increased, and she gains the ability to walk on water.

This Elemental Burst is the whole motherlode of Kokomi’s kit, and the thing that makes her DPS potential viable in difficult content. Despite one of her talents disabling her ability to deal Critical damage, she can deal enough damage to rival other DPS characters. The best part is that she's practically unkillable and unflinchable during her burst, as long as she keeps attacking.

Passive Talents Overview

Tamanooya’s Casket is Kokomi’s first passive talent. If Kokomi’s own Bake-Kuragi is active on the field when she casts Nereid’s Ascension, the Bake-Kurage’s duration will be refreshed. This is a great mechanic to keep her turret up at all times, especially for a DPS Kokomi. 

Song of Pearls is Kokomi’s second passive talent. During the Ceremonial Garment’s duration, Kokomi’s bonus attack damage from her HP will further be increased based on 15% of her Healing bonus. This is a good talent that allows another multiplying factor on Kokomi’s damage. This allows the possibility of using a Healing Bonus% circlet to further increase her DPS, while also maximizing healing.

Princess of Watatsumi is Kokomi’s third passive talent. When Kokomi is in the party, all party members’ swimming Stamina consumption is reduced by 20%. This is nice to have if you’re a fan of swimming. Although it’s not really practical, since it’s more convenient to just walk on frozen water, or dash over it with Mona or Ayaka.

Flawless Strategy is Kokomi’s final passive talent. Kokomi gets a 25% Healing bonus, in exchange for 100% reduction in Crit Rate. In a sense, this is Kokomi’s power limiter. Without this, Kokomi will undoubtedly be the strongest character in the whole game. We don’t know why this is a “talent” in the first place, but this ultimately shapes how Kokomi is built. The 25% healing bonus is a great stat to have along with the Song of Pearls talent, which contributes to her overall DPS.

Best Weapon Choices for Kokomi

Everlasting Moonglow – The weapon tailor-made for Kokomi. It provides a lot of HP, a bit of Healing Bonus, and increases Kokomi’s Normal Attack DMG by 1% of her max HP. It additionally restores energy per hit for the character, after using an Elemental Burst. This catalyst might not be useful for a lot of catalyst users, but it provides everything that Kokomi needs, both for her support and carry roles. 

Prototype Amber – You’d never expect to see this weapon featured, but here it is. This is her ideal 4-star weapon, as it’s the only 4-star catalyst that provides HP. It has the added bonus of providing a good amount of energy after casting a Burst, which supplements her Burst’s high energy cost of 70. At max refinement, this weapon generates 18 energy for Kokomi, which effectively reduces her energy cost down to a very low 52 energy.

Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers – Perfect for a Swiss Army knife support. It’s very cheap, provides a lot of HP, and allows her to massively boost a carry’s ATK by up to 48%. You should consider upgrading one in case Kokomi needs to perform the pure support role.

Best Artifact Sets for Kokomi

Heart of Depth (4-piece) – The definitive set for DPS Kokomi. Aside from increasing her Hydro DMG, it also increases her attack damage by 30% after casting Kurage’s Oath. Kokomi needs as many multipliers as possible, since she’s basically losing out by not having crits, and this set is perfect for her damage output. The ideal stats to find are HP% for the sands, Hydro DMG% for the goblet, and Healing Bonus% for the circlet.

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Tenacity of the Millelith (4-piece) – This set makes Kokomi an ATK-boosting beast when paired with the Thrilling Tales catalyst. Its 4-piece passive increases everyone’s ATK by 20% as long as the Bake-Kuragi is hitting something, and its 2-piece passive also helps a lot by providing Kokomi more HP.

Best Team Composition for the Pearl of Wisdom

Freeze-Melt-Vape  – This team includes Kokomi and three extremely strong Sub-DPS characters, which makes this comp extremely potent. With the addition of Xingqiu, Xiangling, and Ganyu, each of these characters are able to deal massive off-field numbers, while Kokomi enables them with her Hydro application. 

Thanks to a lot of Hydro applications, Xiangling’s Pyronado is guaranteed to Vape every time it hits. It can also sometimes Melt for higher numbers if Ganyu manages to Freeze the enemies. With a bit of ER built into Xiangling and Ganyu, it’s possible to have a good rotation without losing a lot of time generating more energy.

Swiss Army Knife – 4ToM and Thrilling Tales makes Kokomi a near-universal support that can fit in a lot of good teams. Though Mona’s Omen is still preferred for Morgana Ganyu, and Kokomi’s healing might be undesirable for Hu Tao, Kokomi is a great alternative that you can always consider. Since Xingqiu is often highly contested in a lot of meta teams, Kokomi gets the opportunity to fill for teams who can’t afford to have Xingqiu.

Kokomi is a character that players will have a hard time ignoring, mostly due to her great versatility. When built properly, she can faceroll content with ease, while also able to support her whole team thanks to her unmatched sustain. Sangonomiya Kokomi comes out on September 21, 2021, and will be available all throughout until October 21, 2021.