People often say that experience matters wherever you go. Being a victim of a relentless job hunt without any success can be harsh. Even if you have skills, you need to present relevant experience to apply for positions, and eventually, after joining, you can start climbing the ranks.
However, there have been instances when young candidates showed immense potential and outclassed experienced individuals. Something like this is definitely rare to witness, but nothing is impossible if you put your soul into your craft.
Mika is a prime example of a talented individual who joined the ranks of the Knights of Favonius at a young age. Despite being younger than his fellow comrades, Mika outshines veterans with his honed skills.Â
Mika’s preparedness impressed the likes of Grand Master Varka and earned the praise of high-ranking officials of the Knights of the Favonius.
It’s surprising that Hoyoverse immediately drip-marketed his character and launched his promotional banner without teasing his character for an extended period as they did with Baizhu.
Indeed, an aspiring cartographer who aims to map every inch of Teyvat is an amazing addition to the character roster. Without further ado, let’s learn about Mika’s abilities, best team compositions, and tips in our Genshin Impact Mika guide.
Young, Yet Capable
Mika doesn’t have much screen time in the game, but how he was featured blew my mind. Just a few minutes of interaction answered a lot of questions regarding the Knights of Favonius but also raised some brand-new ones.
As I reached the Knights of Favonius headquarters, I saw a young boy beside Jean who iterated Grand Master Varka’s letter to the Knights. It could be seen that Mika was very shy and, at times, hesitated to speak clearly.
Don’t be deceived by his demeanor. He may look like an immature young lad, but he aspires to be Mondstadt’s professional cartographer and has been hand-picked by Grand Master Varka and survived Kaeya’s tough challenges.
Grand Master Varka’s letter mentioned running into Fatui Harbinger, The Captain, who happened to be surveying the same area with his team of elite soldiers. Everyone could feel his presence.
His deep blue eyes behind the silhouette set fear in some Knights’ hearts. Had it not for the Grand Master, things might have turned out worse for the expedition team.
Not a lot of people are aware of Mika’s contributions to the maps of Teyvat. He’s spent years mapping the surrounding terrain and intricately marks important locations on his maps.
Being friends with Klee did give him a headache, as her bombs would usually change the terrain. But those minor irritations aside, he’s done a stellar job giving the traveler a handy map to bounce around Teyvat.
It felt like a bummer not to be able to interact much with Mika as he had to leave immediately after iterating the letter. Nonetheless, Mika is a reliable younger sibling who cares for his alcoholic brother.
By now, you must have met Huffman in the game. There is a stark contrast between these two brothers’ personalities. One is a responsible Knight working in the premier units of the Knights of Favonius.
Ascension Materials
Mika’s ascension stat, HP, helps him to become a bit tanky to counter enemy attacks. You can build Mika with more health to maximize his healing.
To ascend Mika to level 90, you need to gather the following materials from the overworld:
- Pseudo-Stamens x 46
- Shivada Jade Sliver x 1
- Shivada Jade Fragment x 9
- Shivada Jade Chunk x 9
- Shivada Jade Gemstone x 6
- Wolfhook x 168
- Recruit’s Insignia x 18
- Sergeant’s Insignia x 30
- Lieutenant’s Insignia x 36
- Mora x 420,000
You can obtain Pseudo-Stamens from the Setekh Wenut in the Desert area of Sumeru. The creature has unique attack patterns. You need to have a character to trigger the Swirl reaction during its transformation phase.
If you are scared of the creature, you can refer to our Setekh Wenut guide to read some tips to slay it. As for Shivada ascension materials, you can fight the Cryo Regisvine to obtain the materials.
Other weekly and normal bosses drop Shivada ascension materials, but they are more formidable; the Cryo Regisvine is easier to defeat than those enemies.
Talent Materials
To raise Mika’s talent to the highest level, you have to collect the following materials:
- Mora x 1,652,500
- Recruit’s Insignia x 6
- Sergeant’s Insignia x 22
- Lieutenant’s Insignia x 31
- Teachings of Ballad x 3
- Guide to Ballad x 21
- Philosophies of Ballad x 38
- Crown of Insight x 1
- Mirror of Mushin x 6
You can obtain the Mirror of Mushin talent material from Scaramouche’s weekly boss. I occasionally co-op with randoms to defeat the boss because some of his attacks can instantly kill your characters.
Head over to our Scaramouche Boss guide to read vital information about the boss and learn strategies to easily beat it. You should level up Mika’s Elemental skill, and Elemental burst to benefit from the attack speed buff and healing.
Combat Talents
Normal Attack: Spear of Favonius – Arrow’s Passage
Normal attack:Â Mika can strike up to 5 times with his spear and crossbow.
Charged attack:Â After consuming a specific amount of stamina, Mika dashes forward to strike the enemies along the way.
Plunging attack:Â A usual attack where Mika dives from mid-air to hit the enemies on the ground to deal area-wide damage.
There’s no use in leveling up Mika’s normal attacks, as they don’t have good scalings, and even if you want to use him as a Physical damage dealer, there are better options.
Elemental Skill: Starfrost Swirl
Switching to his crossbow to attack, Mika buffs all the nearby team members with Soulwind. The Soulwind state enables an increased attack speed for the buffed party members depending on the tapped or held version of the skill.
Tap version:Â Mika shoots are Flowfrost Arrow to deal Cryo damage to the enemies. The unique arrow can pierce through the enemies and can hit multiple enemies.
Hold version:Â Mika switches to his crossbow’s aiming mode, where he can lock his shot onto an enemy and fire a Rimestar Flare to deal Cryo damage. The Rimestar Flare rises before the explosion and divides itself into multiple shards that may home to a maximum of three nearby enemies to deal Cryo damage.
It doesn’t matter whether you use the hold or tap versions because the effects will be the same. I use the hold version of the Elemental skill as I can lock onto an enemy, and the flare will automatically home to nearby enemies.
I tried using the tap version, which pierces through the enemies but found it to be inconsistent. You won’t find enemies sitting like a duck in a line.
It’s very hard to get the maximum buff from the tap version, and that’s why the hold version wins the battle. Note that the same enemy can’t be hit twice with the Elemental skill in the hold version.
Once you do that, the Ascension passives will become effective and increase your active character’s Physical damage bonus and Normal attack speed. With Rimestar Flare, you can hit up to three extra enemies and buff the Physical damage bonus by 10 % for each enemy hit.
Elemental Burst: Skyfeather Song
Mika unleashes his ability to grant the Eagleplume state to his nearby team members. He regenerates the health of all nearby team members. The healing scales off his maximum health.
Eagleplume State
The characters affected by the Eagleplume buff can regenerate their health based on Mika’s maximum health by making normal attacks on the enemies. The healing tick is a bit long for the characters with this method.
The Elemental burst is really weak. Mika’s elemental burst provides team-wide healing on cast and grants periodic healing to an on-field character every 2.5 seconds. Now, here’s the thing. Mika’s Elemental burst neither applies Cryo nor deals Cryo damage.
Ascension Passive: Suppressive Barrage
The characters will obtain a Detecter effect if they are affected by the Soulwind state caused by the Elemental skill, Starfrost Swirl. It will increase their Physical damage bonus on the field depending on the number of Detector stacks under the following conditions:
- Each additional enemy will generate one Detector stack when hit by the Flowfrost Arrow.
- One Detector stack will be generated when a Rimestar shard hits an opponent. The effect can be triggered only once per shard.
You can stack a maximum of three Detector stacks in the Soulwind state. If you recast the Elemental skill, Starfrost Swirl, the pre-existing Detector stacks, and Soulwind state’s effects are reset.
Mika will buff your active character’s Physical damage by 10 % for each enemy hit by his Elemental skill.
Usually, the said Detector stacks that you will gain from the Ascension passive, Suppressive Barrage, will last until Mika’s Elemental skill expires. Once you unlock his constellations, the maximum limit of Detector stacks to five.
Ascension Passive: Topographical Mapping
The Soulwind grants an active character a Detector stack from Suppressive Barrage if they are affected by both Skyfeather Song’s Eagleplume and Starfrost Swirl’s Soulwind at once and perform a critical hit with their attacks.
Only one Detector stack can be obtained via this method during an instance of Soulwind. You need to unlock the Suppressive Barrage to benefit from this passive, and the maximum number of stacks via Soulwind is also increased by one.
A really good passive that increases the number of Detector stacks you can have to four from three. To get the Detector stack on Mika, your active character has to make a critical hit during Mika’s Elemental skill and burst. Both of his abilities have to be active for you to gain an extra stack.
Utility Passive: Demarcation
With Mika in your party, you can see the location of Mondstadt’s local specialties on your mini-map.
Constellations
C1:Factor Confluence
The healing interval of Skyfeather Song’s Eagleplume state can be decreased with Starfrost Swirl’s Soulwind state. The percentage decrease in the interval between instances is proportional to Soulwind’s attack speed increase.
A quality-of-life change to Mika’s kit that helps to decrease the healing tick’s time. Not a massive change to his kit, but still a noteworthy constellation to have on him.
C2:Companion’s Ingress
When Elemental Skill, Starfrost Swirl’s Flowfrost arrow, or Rimestar arrow hits an enemy, one Detector stack will be generated from the Ascension passive, Suppressive Barrage. You have to unlock the Ascension passive, Suppressive Barrage, first to benefit from this constellation.
Basically, now you can get Detector stacks even if there are fewer enemies in front of you, more like an addition to the Ascension passive, Suppressive Barrage. Every time you hit the enemy with the Elemental skill, you are guaranteed an additional stack with this constellation.
C3:Reconnaissance Experience
A standard constellation for Mika that increases the level of Skyfeather Song by three with a maximum cap of fifteen. The constellation increases his healing output.
C4:Sunfrost Encomium
Mika will regenerate 3 units of Energy when his Skyfeather Song’s Eagleplume state heals team members. With one use of the Skyfeather Song, you can restore the Energy five times during the Eagleplume state.
Once Mika’s Elemental skill hits an enemy, he generates four energy particles that you can either consume or funnel to another character.
With this constellation, Mika’s Energy recharge requirements are lowered, and you can have more flexible rotations or funnel his Elemental skill’s energy particles without worrying about his burst’s downtime.
C5: Signal Arrow
A standard constellation for Mika that increases the level of Starfrost Swirl by three with a maximum limit of fifteen. Another standard filler constellation that doesn’t buff Mika that much. A minor increase to the attack speed buff.
C6: Companion’s Counsel
The limit for the maximum number of Detector stacks increases by one. Now you can obtain an extra stack in Starfrost Swirl’s Soulwind.
To utilize the constellation effectively, you have to unlock the Ascension passive, Suppressive Barrage. Additionally, the Physical CRIT damage increases by 60 % for active characters affected by the Soulwind.
To utilize Mika’s full potential, the last constellation is necessary. After unlocking this constellation, the maximum number of Detector stacks increases to five. Additionally, your active Physical DPS character gets a 60 % CRIT damage boost.
Artifacts
Noblesse Oblige
2-piece set bonus: An equipping character’s Elemental burst damage increases by 20 %
4-piece set bonus: All the characters in your party get a 20 % attack bonus for 12 seconds after the equipping character uses their Elemental burst. The 4-piece set bonus cannot stack.
The Noblesse Oblige is a default set for supporting characters whose abilities benefit the entire team. Sometimes, you don’t want to maximize a character’s personal damage but build them to give buffs to the party.
The Noblesse Oblige is a perfect fit for those characters. You can use Mika with the Noblesse Oblige artifact set to give your party members a 20 % attack bonus.
Ocean-Hued Clam
2-piece set bonus: The equipping character’s healing bonus increases by 15 %
4-piece set bonus: A Sea-Dyed foam accumulates the healing done by the character, including overflow healing, without taking Elemental Mastery, character level, and Reaction damage bonuses into account.
The Sea-Dyed foam lasts 3 seconds and damages nearby enemies for 90 % of accumulated healing. With a maximum cap of 30,000 HP, only one Sea-Dyed foam can exist and be formed every 3.5 seconds. The 4-piece set bonus can persist even if the equipping character is off the field.
The artifact set is a unique set that deals Physical damage to nearby enemies. In my opinion, this set is the best set for Physical damage teams.
You already are dealing Physical damage with your main damage dealer, and with a healer who deals Physical off-field damage, you can achieve the maximum Physical damage possible in a team rotation. To use this artifact set most, I highly recommend stacking health on Mika to boost his healing potential.
Other Combinations
You can equip Mika with the Exile artifact set if you are on a low Adventure rank. The 2-piece set bonus grants a 20 % Energy recharge bonus to Mika, and the 4-piece set bonus helps to generate 2 units of Enerfy for other team members every 2 seconds for 6 seconds after Mika uses his Elemental burst.
Though the effect cannot stack, the set balances Mika’s Energy recharge requirements and induces flexibility in team rotations.
Besides that, I highly recommend switching to a 2-piece, 2-piece combination on Mika’s artifact set if you don’t have any good 4-piece set options.
You can go with 2-piece set bonuses that provide stats like Energy recharge or Health bonus. Besides the Noblesse Oblige and the Ocean-Hued Clam, there aren’t many good 4-piece artifacts sets on Mika.
Artifact Attributes
There’s no better Polearm than the Favonius lance to equip Mika to reduce his field time. You can trigger the passive to generate Energy particles and either consume them or funnel them to another character.
With the Favonius lance, you can go with Energy recharge or HP % on Sands, HP % on the Circlet, and CRIT rate or HP or Healing Bonus on the Circlet. You need some CRIT rate to trigger the Favonius lance’s passive; otherwise, Energy particles won’t be generated.
As for a general build, you should have at least two HP % main stats on artifacts and decent Energy recharge to refresh Mika’s Elemental burst. I don’t suggest building him in a DPS-oriented role because most of his skills are best suited in a supporting role.
However, if you still want to build him as a Physical damage dealer, then use ATK % on Sands, Physical damage bonus on the Goblet, and CRIT rate or CRIT damage on the Circlet. That way, you can deal optimal Physical damage to the enemies.
Weapons
Mika’s best weapons are the ones with the main stats: HP or Energy recharge. I strongly advise against using Polearms that feature ATK %, CRIT rate %, or CRIT damage % unless you are hell-bent on using Mika as a Physical damage dealer.
The following polearms are really great on Mika, and you can definitely use them in most of the team compositions possible in the game:
- Favonius Lance
- Prototype Starglitter
- Engulfing Lightning
- Skyward Spine
- The Catch
- Black Tassel
The Favonius lance is the premier pick for Mika because the weapon passive helps to generate Energy particles after a critical hit on an enemy. You can either funnel those particles.
Besides the Favonius lance, other potential weapons are there to fill the stats. If you have an Energy recharge Sands, you can smash the Prototype Starglitter to increase Mika’s overall Energy recharge.
Team Compositions:Â Mono Cryo
Mika Cryo Anemo Flex
A Mono Cryo team focuses on dealing as much Cryo damage as possible. Mika, indeed, is a Physical DPS support. However, you can still use him in a Mono Cryo team. Though this might not be the most efficient team out there, that’s why we would utilize his healing capabilities.
Mika’s Physical damage bonus has no place in a Mono Cryo damage team, but you can equip him with HP artifacts and plenty of Energy recharge to utilize his healing potential. He can heal your on-field character and provide them heals according to their normal attacks.
Characters like Kamisato Ayaka, whose normal attacks are infused with Cryo after the alternate sprint, can benefit from Mika’s heals. A good team can include Kamisato Ayaka, Shenhe, Mika, and Kaedehara Kazuha, where you get a Cryo damage bonus from Kaedehara Kazuha’s skills.
There aren’t many variations to Mono Cryo teams, and you have to equip a complete HP to build on Mika with the Favonius lance to give him some energy recharge.
Support:Â Mika Flex Flex Flex
Mika’s best teams required a Physical damage dealer to utilize his Physical damage buff. The more enemies you target with your Elemental skill, the more the Physical damage bonus will be.
You can use characters like Eula, Razor, Rosaria, Zhongli, or Fischl. Now, with these team compositions, it does matter which weapons you are using on these characters.
Eula is an amazing Physical Cryo hypercarry character who can deal massive Physical damage with her Elemental burst. You can accumulate Grimheart stacks, unleash her Elemental burst and obliterate enemies in a massive area with her Claymore.
During Mika’s buffs, she can gain an attack speed bonus, but the bonus isn’t that great. You might be able to land only a few hits more on the enemies and have to redo the rotation once the buff wears out.
On top of that, you need an Electro unit to trigger the Superconduct reaction. Mika’s Cryo application isn’t that great, as he only applies the Cryo element on enemies with his Elemental skill.
His Elemental burst is incapable of applying Cryo on enemies. So it’s better to go with a double resonance setup with two Cryo characters and two Electro characters. You will benefit from both Electro and Cryo resonance.
For characters like Rosaria and Zhongli, who can equip the Crescent Pike, you can pop up Mika’s abilities to boost their Physical damage bonus. Zhongli’s shield can shred enemies’ Physical resistance up to an extent and protect you from enemies’ heavy hits.
Cryo characters like Diona, Kaeya, and Layla can provide you with shields, heals, and off-field Cryo application that can be useful to trigger the Superconduct reaction. The Superconduct reaction deals an area-of-effect Cryo damage and reduces enemies’ Physical resistance by 40 % for 12 seconds.
Finally, you can use Electro characters like the Raiden Shogun, Fischl, Kuki Shinobu, Keqing, or Razor to trigger the Superconduct reaction. The Raiden Shogun can help recharge Eula’s Elemental burst with her burst and help in performing flexible team rotations.
Besides that, Razor, Keqing, and Fischl can be used as Physical damage dealers with niche weapons that provide a Physical damage bonus stat.
Fast Attacks:Â Mika Flex Flex Flex
Mika’s attack speed bonus can be put to use with characters who rely on their normal attacks. There aren’t many characters who can synergize well with Mika. Wanderer, Kamisato Ayato, Yoimiya, and a few Catalyst users can utilize the attack speed bonus to deal more damage.
Once you buff their Normal attacks, you can land a few more hits on enemies. However, you may need to invest more in their supporting characters.
Mika can barely provide any Cryo application, so he’s pretty much useless in Melt team compositions with Yoimiya. You need to have extra supporting characters to support your main damage dealer.
Genshin Impact Mika Guide: FAQs
Question: How Good is Mika as a Healer?
Answer:Â Mika’s healing at his burst cast is decent; after his elemental burst, your active character can be healed after periodic intervals.
It’s unfair to compare him with the likes of Sangonomiya Kokomi, Bennett, or Jean, as their abilities have different uses in certain team compositions. In Mika’s case, he excels in Physical damage team compositions where Eula, Rosaria, or Razor act as main damage dealers.
Question: Is Physical Damage the Meta?
Answer:Â Physical damage teams are good against enemies with low Physical resistance. Most Fatui or Abyss enemies have less Physical resistance, and you can easily chip their health with a few attacks. However, you need extra characters in your team to destroy their elemental shields.
Question: Which Free-to-play Weapon do You Think is Good for Mika?
Answer:Â The Favonius lance is the best weapon to equip Mika with. You can consume the particles with Mika or funnel them to another character to fill their Elemental burst. I highly recommend refining the weapon as it will help you to achieve an efficient team rotation.
Cartographer to the Stars
Before the introduction of Eula, elemental damage teams rocked the meta. Vaporize and Melt reactions dominated the battlefield, and people didn’t care much about Physical damage at all.
However, Eula’s insane one-shot damage would eventually turn the tide, leaving everyone in awe. Being a Physical hyper carry, she can clear Abyss chambers faster than some elemental damage teams and requires good supporting characters.
Mika can fulfill a dedicated supporting role for any Physical damage team and provide healing and Physical damage bonus.
I highly recommend checking our Eula and Razor guides to dig deeper into their kits and devise new attack combos. As for Mika, I’m sure he will be an expert Cartographer one day and map out the entirety of Teyvat.
His spatial awareness, critical thinking, and decision-making skills are on par with other members of the expedition team, and works as a unit with the entire battalion. He avoids being the center of attention and doesn’t take on tasks that could hinder the expedition team’s progress.
With that said, I hope to see you use Mika in various team compositions and clear the Spiral abyss chambers before your friends. As always, thanks for reading Genshin Chronicle!
Besides writing about his favourite games, Himanshu prefers to keep himself up-to-date with the latest happenings in the financial world, watching anime, cooking and listening to music from all around the world.
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