Freminet

Freminet

4★CryoClaymoreMain Damage

TL;DR

Freminet's Skill turns into a finisher for ten seconds after you press it, so the character is press Skill, press Skill again straight away, repeat. Don't swing in between. His Burst resets that cooldown and then knocks 70% off it, which is how you get a run of finishers instead of one every ten seconds.

Rotation

  1. Skill (E), then Skill (E) again immediately. The second press is the finisher and it's the hit you care about.
  2. Burst (Q). It resets the Skill cooldown on the spot and cuts it by 70% for the next 10 seconds.
  3. Spend those 10 seconds pressing Skill (E) in pairs, as often as it comes back. Four or five finishers is a normal count.
  4. Swap off, or carry on in pairs at the full cooldown if nobody else needs the field.

Abilities

Skill (E) The first press is an upward thrust for Cryo damage that starts his 10 second timer. The second press is the finisher, which cancels the timer. 10 second cooldown. Firing the finisher before the pressure fills takes another second off it. The thrust also drops a piercing thorn, no more than once every 9 seconds.
Burst (Q) 60 Energy, 15 second cooldown. Area Cryo damage and a reset on the Skill cooldown. For the next 10 seconds that cooldown is 70% shorter, his Normal Attacks build pressure faster and the frost coming off them does double damage. It also stops him getting knocked around. All of it cancels the moment he leaves the field.
Normal Attacks Only worth swinging during his timer, where each one adds a pressure level and throws off Cryo damage that counts as Skill damage. On the Cryo build that pressure is the last thing you want, so mostly you don't swing at all.
His pressure Runs from 0 to 4 and only moves when he swings during the timer. The finisher changes with it: Cryo at 0, Cryo mixed with Physical from 1 to 3, pure Physical at 4.

The one mechanic to understand

Fire the finisher at zero pressure.

The middle of that pressure range is the worst place to be, because your artifacts and your team are set up for Cryo damage or for Physical damage and never for a half and half hit. That leaves two ways to play him. Fire at 0 every single time, never swinging in between. That gets you a Cryo finisher every few seconds off a straightforward Cryo build. The other way is filling the bar to 4 with Normal Attacks first for a much bigger pure Physical hit, which is slower, wants a different artifact set and falls apart against anything with Physical resistance. Take the first one until you have a reason not to.

What actually matters

The two or three real decisions. Everything else is noise.

  • Not swinging between the two presses. Every Normal Attack pushes the pressure up a level, so the fastest way to ruin the loop is to play him like an ordinary claymore user. Press Skill, press Skill.
  • Energy Recharge. His Burst is what makes the loop fast and it costs 60. Roughly 160% if he's your only Cryo character. C2 gives him Energy back on every finisher, which cuts that a long way.
  • Hydro on the team. His passive gives the finisher 40% more damage for 5 seconds after he Shatters something. Shatter needs a frozen enemy, which needs Hydro alongside his Cryo.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Attack and Crit, with Energy Recharge substats until the Burst comes back on time. Prototype Archaic is craftable and does the job as a plain stat stick.
Artifacts 4-piece Golden Troupe. Nearly everything he deals is counted as Skill damage, the frost off his Normal Attacks included. Take 4-piece Blizzard Strayer instead in a team that keeps things frozen, where the free Crit Rate beats the Skill bonus.
Main stats Attack sands, Cryo goblet, Crit circlet. Energy Recharge sands while the Burst isn't coming back every rotation.

Works well with

HydroElectro

Hydro to freeze things so he can Shatter them. Electro if you'd rather Superconduct and go down the Physical route. His C4 and C6 both pay out on Frozen, Shatter or Superconduct, so either direction feeds them.

Don't bother

  • The middle pressure levels. Nothing in the game wants a half Cryo, half Physical hit.
  • Holding the Charged Attack. It spins, it eats your whole stamina bar and his damage isn't there.
  • Building for both damage types. Pick Cryo or Physical and gear for that one.
  • Waiting on the Burst before you start. The Skill loop runs on its own cooldown, the Burst only makes it faster.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Freminet on KeqingMains.