Game Mechanics: Rule of Thumb
By Amadeus • January 1, 2026
TL;DR of HI3 is to clear the fastest, and this does not mean the highest damage dealt. Clearing enemies’ specific mechanics don’t require damage, they require knowledge. This is why there is no single best team in HI3 against all bosses.
The purpose of this guide is to provide you the basic and advanced mechanics required to clear faster, even without the best teams.
Basic Mechanics: Type and Element
In Honkai Impact 3, valkyries are divided to 4 Elements and 6 Types. Each valkyrie has exactly 1 Element and 1 Type and these affect her niche.
Type and Type Chart
Below is the relationship of 6 Honkai Impact 3 valkyrie and boss types, by Hyperion Ai-Chan. Solid lines mean said type counters the other with increased damage, and dashed line means said type is countered with decreased damage.
Aside from the 6 types, few enemies in Honkai Impact has no type. There is no damage increase nor decrease against these bosses in general.
You can view a valkyrie type from her info card. It is the attribute to the right of her level.
To effectively combat enemies, deploy the right DPS type against the enemies.
Element Type
Next is damage element. There are 4 elements in Honkai Impact 3.
- Physical
- Fire
- Ice
- Lightning
The last 3 elements are often collectively called Elemental DMG, and Physical DMG stands alone as it has very different DMG calculation from the rest of the three.
- ONLY Physical DMG is capable of dealing Critical DMG. Please, please note this!
- Impair debuff is only useful for Physical DMG. Aside from these, what you need to think of about Element Type is specific boss resistance or immunity. Resistance means reduced DMG, while Immunity means 0 DMG.
You can view a valkyrie element from her info card. It is the attribute to the right of her type.
Now, I’ve shown you the valkyrie info card twice, and surely you’ve noticed that there are more than 2 attributes, right? Correct, Honkai Impact 3 isn’t this simple, and those attributes portray a valkyrie’s traits. But this is how this guide will help you.
Advanced Mechanics and Valkyrie Traits
Along with exactly 1 type and 1 element, each valkyrie has more traits against specific mechanics. Be as DPS or support facing a boss that has, say, Hitcount Shields, you can rely on valkyries with Fast ATK to shred Hitcount Shields easily.
Below is the list of special mechanics, best traits and which valkyries are the best to face them. Once you’ve understand which valk has strength to tackle which mechanics, you just need your best DPS that doesn’t get countered by type or element, then either that DPS or a support that can manage the mechanics.
Shields make bosses take less DMG, but once their shields are broken, bosses tend to take more DMG and might even be stunned for a while. Everyone can deal general Shield DMG, but take dps or supports with bonus Shield DMG for faster shieldbreaking.
Some shields are element specific, meaning can only be dealt with specific element.
List of valkyries that have Shield DMG bonus (click the chibis to access their respective guide):
Like shields, hitcount shields make bosses take less DMG or is meant to be a transition phase to next boss phase. Take dps or supports with Fast ATK to shred hitcount shields faster. Some valkyries can shred hitcount shields fast despite not having Fast ATK tags.
List of valkyries that have Fast ATK trait (click the chibis to access their respective guide):
Some boss stages are filled with multiple mobs. Valkyries with gathering ability can pull mobs, hit them in one go, and make mob stages easier to clear. But few others take even further with DMG Link ability, where mobs around attacked mobs can receive DMG indirectly.
List of valkyries that have DMG Link (click the chibis to access their respective guide):
List of valkyries that can Gather:
Some bosses have HP Coagulation mechanic that prevents valkyries from dealing normal DMG. To bypass HP Coagulation and deal subsequent normal DMG, valkyries have to either comply with separate mechanics, evade, or deal HP Loss DMG.
List of valkyries that can inflict HP Loss to combat HP Coagulation (click the chibis to access their respective valkyrie guide):
Status Trauma
Many valkyries inflict one of status traumas. Many bosses also require one of status traumas to make clearing them easier. I’ll break them one by one.
Fully paralyzed bosses can’t move for few seconds. Some valks previously not dealing paralyze trauma can, when they’re supports of some valks (Helia PAWS)
List of valkyries that can inflict Paralyze trauma (click the chibis to access their respective guide):
Like paralyze, fully stunned bosses can’t move for few seconds.
List of valkyries that can inflict Stun trauma (click the chibis to access their respective guide):
Fully freeze bosses can’t move for few seconds, and they’re visibly frozen in field. Some valks previously not dealing freeze trauma can, when they’re supports of some valks (Elysia HLE)
List of valkyries that can inflict Freeze trauma (click the chibis to access their respective guide):
Ignited boss takes continuous burn DMG per second until they’re free of Ignite status. Some valkyries deal exclusively Ignite DMG.
List of valkyries that can inflict Ignite trauma (click the chibis to access their respective guide):
Ignited boss takes continuous DMG per second until they’re free of Ignite status. Some valkyries deal exclusively Bleed DMG.
List of valkyries that can inflict Bleed trauma (click the chibis to access their respective guide):
Hidden Tech
Aside from mechanics related to attributes and boss mechanics, valkyries may have further techs named Hidden Tech. These are invented by HI3 fans and Devs don’t usually reveal these techs. Hidden Tech allow people to save more time. This is especially useful for speedrunning bosses and are legal to exploit.
You can watch list of Hidden Techs here.