Freminet FAQ

Credits:

• .athene. - Lead, Calcs: Constellations, Writing: Combos, Team Building
• snowclipsed - Co-lead, Calcs: Weapons, Writing: ER Requirement, Weapons
• teacupp.co - Author, Calcs
• sirvaughan - Framecounting
• fianwens - Writing Verification
• natc - Calculations Verification

For all Freminet Calcs you can reference: Freminet Mastersheet by .athene., snowy and teacupp.co

Pre-TC is volatile and, as always, perpetually subject to change until release (and sometimes later!). Please note that these are theoretical suggestions. Everything described in this FAQ is a good faith analysis based on the little information about the character’s kit that we know. Team calcs, additionally, are not established yet, and as with everything in TC, the content in this FAQ should be taken with a grain of salt.

Character Overview

Authored by teacupp.co

Freminet is a 4-star Cryo, Pneuma-aligned, on-field Claymore DPS whose unique A4 passive allows him to amplify his Skill’s Cryo and Physical damage with the help of the Shatter reaction. His kit opens up novel and viable team compositions that were once considered suboptimal due to Claymores’ heavy attacks dismissing most of the benefits of Freeze teams. Freminet can be played to maximize either his Physical or his Cryo damage, with each playstyle changing his preferred equipment, teams, and combos, all of which will be discussed in the following sections.

Talents

Authored by teacupp.co

Leveling Priority: Skill > Normal Attack > Burst

Analysis

Freminet’s Skill comprises the majority of his damage, and should be the first leveling priority. Normal Attacks are mostly used to increase his Skill’s Shattering Pressure damage, but because they are interwoven so often between Skill uses, they end up comprising a significant amount of his damage. Freminet’s Burst is solely used for its Subnautical Hunter status, which does not improve with Talent levels.

Talent Overview

Normal Attack - Flowing Eddies

A standard set of Normal Attacks that are mainly used in conjunction with his Skill to boost the damage of Shattering Pressure.

Elemental Skill - Pressurized Floe

The star of Freminet’s kit. Pressurized Floe deals coordinated Cryo attacks and increases the Pressure level of Pers Time to boost the damage of his final attack, Shattering Pressure.

Casting Freminet’s Skill will cause a pressure bar to appear over his right shoulder, and his next four Normal Attacks will each be followed by a single coordinated Cryo attack. After first casting his Skill, the Pressure level of Pers Time will be at zero. For each Normal Attack he performs, the Pressure level increases by one.

Shattering Pressure is one of the biggest aspects of Freminet’s kit, and is tied closely to Pers Time’s Pressure level. It can be triggered either by completing four Normal Attacks or by activating his Skill again, which will end his Skill state early. When Shattering Pressure is triggered, it will deal Cryo damage, Physical damage, or a combination of the two. At Level 0, Shattering Pressure deals exclusively Cryo damage. As the Pressure level of Pers Timer increases, the amount of Cryo damage dealt decreases while the amount of Physical damage dealt increases. When it reaches Level 4 Shattering Pressure, the highest level, it deals purely Physical damage and ends his Skill state.

Freminet’s Skill also introduces the new Arkhe alignment type, Pneuma, in the form of Spiritbreath Thorns. The intermittent Thorn damage will deal Cryo damage and release Pneuma energy to induce mekas’ emergency states. Freminet can also use his Skill to interact with the other Arkhe alignment type, Ousia, to solve overworld puzzles in Fontaine.

Elemental Burst - Shadowhunter’s Ambush

Casting Freminet’s Burst will reset his Skill’s cooldown, and for the Burst’s 10s duration, will send him into the Subnautical Hunter mode. During this state, Freminet’s Skill cooldown time is reduced by 70% and the damage of his Skill’s Cryo coordinated attacks is doubled. For every Normal Attack performed under both his Skill and Burst states, the Pressure level will increase by 2, allowing Freminet to reach Level 4 Shattering Pressure with only two Normal Attacks instead of the usual four. Paired with his Burst’s Skill CD reduction, Freminet will be able to reach Level 4 Shattering Pressure more frequently.

A1 Passive - Saturation Deep Dive

Freminet’s A1 passive further shortens his Skill cooldown so long as he performs a Shattering Pressure lower than Level 4. This allows Freminet to churn out more instances of Shattering Pressure, and is a crucial boost to his Cryo playstyle.

A4 Passive - Parallel Condensers

Freminet’s A4 is what makes his kit and playstyle completely different from any other in the game. It actively encourages players to pair him with an off-field Hydro applicator to make the most of the Shatter reaction, which has formerly been seen as a downside to having Claymore characters in Freeze teams. Now, Shatter provides a sizable DMG boost to Freminet’s Skill and introduces new, viable team compositions.

Utility Passive - Deepwater Navigation

A helpful Stamina passive to make Fontaine’s underwater exploration more enjoyable.

Constellations

Authored by teacupp.co

Constellation 1 - Dreams of the Seething Deep

• The CRIT Rate of Pressurized Floe: Shattering Pressure will be increased by 15%.

Although most of Freminet’s damage comes from his Skill, his C1’s CRIT buff only affects Shattering Pressure specifically, and doesn’t affect other parts of his kit such as his Normal Attack damage, Shatter damage, and other Skill damage. Still, the extra CRIT is appreciated.

Physical Team DPS Increase from C0: 3.97% Cryo Team DPS Increase from C0: 3.50%

Rating: 2/5

Constellation 2 - Penguins and the Land of Plenty

• Unleashing Pressurized Floe: Shattering Pressure will restore 2 Energy to Freminet. If a Pressure Level 4 Shattering Pressure is unleashed, this will restore 3 Energy.

Alleviates Freminet’s ER requirements and allows him to be built more offensively. This Constellation is slightly more beneficial for his Physical playstyle, since his Burst combos include more instances of Level 4 Shattering Pressure. His Cryo playstyle, however, can fit more Skill casts, which makes the Energy generation difference between the two playstyles nearly negligible.

Physical Team DPS Increase from C0: 9.92% | Physical Team DPS Increase from C1: 5.72% Cryo Team DPS Increase from C0: 8.73% | Cryo Team DPS Increase from C1: 5.05%

Rating: 2/5

Constellation 3 - Song of the Eddies and Bleached Sands

• Increases the Level of Normal Attack: Flowing Eddies by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15._

This is the first time a 4-star character’s Constellation 3 increases the level of their Normal Attacks — which says something about how integral they are to Freminet’s kit. Normal Attacks are frequently and prominently used to build his Pressure levels, and so this Constellation provides a welcome boost to his damage. Freminet’s C3 benefits his Physical playstyle more than his Cryo one since he interweaves more Normal Attacks in his Burst combos.

Physical Team DPS Increase from C0: 17.78% | Physical Team DPS Increase from C2: 7.15% Cryo Team DPS Increase from C0: 10.15% | Cryo Team DPS Increase from C2: 1.31%

Rating: 2.5/5 (Physical); 1/5 (Cryo)

Constellation 4 - Dance of the Snowy Moon and Flute

• When Freminet triggers Frozen, Shatter, or Superconduct against opponents, his ATK will be increased by 9% for 6s. Max 2 stacks. This can be triggered once every 0.3s.

As most of Freminet’s teams allows him to trigger any or all of these reactions consistently, his C4 essentially provides him with an additional 18% ATK with a high uptime.

Physical Team DPS Increase from C0: 24.38% | Physical Team DPS Increase from C3: 5.61% Cryo Team DPS Increase from C0: 14.89% | Cryo Team DPS Increase from C3: 4.30%

Rating: 2/5

Constellation 5 - Nights of Hearth and Happiness

• Increases the Level of Pressurized Floe by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15._

A very strong and valuable upgrade to his Skill, Freminet’s C5 is one of his better Constellations. In comparison to his C3, Freminet’s Cryo playstyle benefits much more from this Skill boost rather than his Physical playstyle since his Cryo Burst combo is more focused on dishing out multiple Level 0 Shattering Pressures.

Physical Team DPS Increase from C0: 34.00% | Physical Team DPS Increase from C4: 7.73% Cryo Team DPS Increase from C0: 27.74% | Cryo Team DPS Increase from C4: 11.18%

Rating: 3/5 (Physical); 3.5/5 (Cryo)

Constellation 6 - Moment of Waking and Resolve

• When Freminet triggers Frozen, Shatter, or Superconduct against opponents, his CRIT DMG will be increased by 12% for 6s. Max 3 stacks. This can be triggered once every 0.3s.

Freminet’s best Constellation. Freminet’s C6 basically gives him a very consistent and powerful 36% CRIT DMG increase, except this time, the CRIT buff provides a much more significant boost to Freminet’s damage.

Physical Team DPS Increase from C0: 49.28% | Physical Team DPS Increase from C5: 11.41% Cryo Team DPS Increase from C0: 37.95% | Cryo Team DPS Increase from C5: 8.00%

Rating: 3.5/5

Combos

Authored by Athena

Freminet’s kit opens up the possibility for different playstyles. With this, the amount of combo variations that can be executed also increases. For this FAQ, however, only the combos that are performed during Freminet’s Burst state will be discussed. Note that more testing is needed to determine specific optimal combos for Freminet, but they all aim to maximize the Physical/Cryo MVs.

For his Physical playstyle, EN2E is by far the most optimal combo to reach Level 4 Shattering Pressure while maximizing the Physical MVs. You can weave a N1 in between the combos to fill the downtime of his Skill and continue to deal Physical damage.

As for his Cryo playstyle, N1EE will suffice to dish out as much Cryo DMG as possible without having too much cooldown time between his Skill casts by interweaving Normal Attacks in between.

Note that upon casting Freminet’s Skill, it is recommended to cast his Burst immediately after so as to maximize its CD reset.

ER Requirements

Authored by snowclipsed

All values below assume a 21-second rotation with one Favonius proc

Each additional Favonius proc lowers the ER requirement by ~10 – 20%. Freminet’s C2 reduces ER by ~ 20% for the Cryo playstyle and ~25% for the Physical playstyle

Energy requirements will vary based on your team and rotation. For a more accurate estimate, please use the Energy Recharge calculator linked here.

Artifacts

Authored by teacupp.co

TLDR

Freminet can be built for either Physical or Cryo damage, which will affect both his playstyle and teams. He prefers an ADC build. Building Freminet with full EM artifacts is not recommended since he does not boost Shatter damage, nor does Shatter deal significant damage. Freminet simply uses Shatter as a means to amplify his Cryo and/or Physical damage.

For Freminet's Physical build, 4pc Pale Flame pulls far ahead of its competition. Freminet has good uptime on its set effect because of his frequent Skill usages. For Freminet's Cryo build, 4pc Blizzard Strayer is similarly far better than other options due to its set effect's CRIT increase. However, the 2-piece sets listed in this section perform decently enough, especially if they have great substats, and can serve as good transitional pieces until a full 4-piece set is acquired.

It is not recommended to farm the 4.0 Fontaine artifact domain specifically for Freminet, as he does not perform spectacularly on those sets. Only consider using the new artifact sets on Freminet if you obtain them while farming for other characters who utilize those sets much better. Otherwise, it is much more efficient to farm the Pale Flame and Blizzard Strayer domain for him.

Artifacts Stats

Sands: ATK% > ER Goblet: Physical/Cryo DMG% Circlet: CRIT

Substats: ER (Until ER Reqs) > CRIT > ATK

Artifacts Sets

Physical

4PC Pale Flame

4pc Pale Flame is by far the best set for Physical Freminet. With his Burst combo’s frequent Skill casts, Freminet is able to maintain uptime on PF’s 4pc set effect and retain its ATK% and Physical DMG% buffs.

2PC Physical + 2PC ER/Physical/ATK

Any of these 2pc combos perform slightly worse than 4pc Pale Flame, but are much easier to obtain and farm than a full PF set. These should serve as decent transitional artifacts should you wish to farm for a full PF set. 2pc EoSF is only a viable option over 2pc PF if there is a lack of ER substats and if it provides him with decent CRIT substats. Although building Freminet with 2pc EM has some potential should the pieces have decent substats, it is not recommended to build him with EM artifacts as his kit does not buff Shatter damage and only relies on it to boost his Cryo and Physical damage.

Cryo

4PC Blizzard Strayer

4pc Blizzard Strayer outmatches other sets for Cryo Freminet because of its valuable 20% CRIT increase when fighting against enemies affected by Cryo. Unfortunately, due to his Shatter-based kit, he cannot make use of the additional 20% CRIT Rate buff against Frozen enemies.

2PC Cryo + 2PC ER/ATK

Should a 4pc BS set be unavailable, combinations of 2pc Cryo with ER and ATK-based sets works as adequate substitutes. Similar to his Physical build, pairing 2pc Cryo with 2pc ER is only recommended if the other options lack ER substats and if it provides decent CRIT substats. That being said, 2pc ER’s value still diminishes as Cryo Freminet usually needs less ER to begin with.

4PC Golden Troupe

Since Freminet casts his Skill more often in his Cryo playstyle, 4pc Golden Troupe becomes a viable option for its massive 45% Elemental Skill DMG boost. However, as Freminet has no off-field damage potential, he cannot make full use of the 4pc set effect’s additional 25% Skill DMG.

As Freminet can only use Golden Troupe on his Cryo build and cannot make good use of Marechaussee Hunter, it is not recommended to farm 4pc GT specifically for Freminet, since Blizzard Strayer performs better for his Cryo build anyway. 4pc GT only becomes a resin-efficient pick for Freminet if you are already farming the domain for other characters who can fully maximize its set’s effects.

Weapons

Authored by snowclipsed

Recommended

Skyward Pride

General BiS for Physical Freminet before C2 — provides ER, DMG% increase, and 8 Physical damage instances that also get buffed by Superconduct.

Serpent Spine

A Battle Pass-locked weapon that is the general BiS for the Cryo playstyle, and serves as a CRIT stat stick for both Physical and Cryo playstyles. If you can maintain stacks even with the long field time, the damage output can even outclass some 5* options.

Alternatives

Song of Broken Pines

Amazing weapon when on a Physical build. Its ATK buff and Normal ATK SPD increase boost his Normal Attack damage and allows him to gain Pressure levels slightly quicker. However, with the Skill CD reduction only available in Burst form, the Bonus ATK SPD hardly increases the combo speed by a large amount.

Beacon of the Reed Sea

Mainly a CRIT stat stick as Freminet cannot make good use of its passive.

Snow-Tombed Starsilver

A good free-to-play option. The Dragonspine claymore is mainly a stat stick for its Physical DMG Bonus secondary stat. Though Freminet does make great use of its passive, Starsilver’s passive isn’t very amazing to begin with.

Prototype Archaic

Another craftable option. Can be utilized by both Physical and Cryo playstyles.

Skyrider Greatsword

Minimum requirement. Can be obtained from Liyue’s chests.

Team Building

Authored by Athena

Physical

Freminet | Hydro | Electro | Cryo/Flex

Freminet’s standard team. He wants an off-field Hydro unit to trigger the Frozen reaction for him to Shatter for his A4 passive, and an off-field Electro unit to trigger Superconduct and decrease enemies’ Physical RES. A Cryo battery is usually recommended to make sure Freminet can consistently cast his Burst without having to build too much Energy Recharge; however, you can also slot in a non-Cryo flex unit if your team has sufficient Energy generation.

Teammates:

• Hydro Options: Xingqiu / Yelan / Kokomi / Barbara

• Electro Options: Fischl / Yae / Raiden / Beidou / Shinobu

• Cryo Options: Mika / Shenhe / Layla / Rosaria / Kaeya

• Flex Options: Bennett (pre-C6) / Zhongli / Any Electro or Hydro

Cryo

Freminet | Shenhe | Hydro | Anemo

A unique way to play Freminet, this archetype makes use of his Burst’s Skill CD reduction to spam Pressurized Floe and deal multiple instances of Level 0 Shattering Pressure. Usually you want to play up to 3 Cryo characters, but with how Freminet’s kit interacts with Frozen and Shatter, an off-field Hydro applicator is much appreciated to boost Freminet’s personal damage. The last slot should still be an Anemo character to make full use of the 4pc VV effect.

Freminet only benefits from his A4 passive if he himself triggers Shatter, so make sure to place any abilities that can Shatter (i.e. Zhongli’s pillar) away from enemies so as to avoid other units stealing Freminet’s Shatters.

Teammates:

• Anemo Options: Kazuha / Jean / Sayu

• Hydro Flex Options: Xingqiu / Yelan / Kokomi / Barbara

• Cryo Flex Options: Layla / Rosaria / Kaeya / Chongyun

Reverse Melt

Freminet | Bennett | Xiangling/Anemo | Flex

At the time of writing, Freminet as a Reverse Melt carry is lackluster compared to the two other playstyles due to the shared ICD within his Elemental Skill. It is also hard to keep a consistent Pyro Aura on the enemies to Reverse Melt as many hits as possible, therefore it will not be discussed thoroughly in this FAQ.

Freminet vs Eula

Authored by Athena

Both Freminet and Eula are Cryo Claymore units and have kits that lean towards Physical damage; despite that, they still have some key differences you may want to consider.

Eula:

• Being a 5-star unit, Eula has higher base stats and a higher potential damage output. However, she is more difficult to obtain due to her being a limited 5-star character.
• Most of Eula’s DPS comes from her powerful, backloaded Burst.
• Eula only has a single viable build that focuses on maximizing her Physical damage.
• Eula’s optimal combos may be harder to remember and execute, especially if you want to maximize her Burst damage.
• Eula’s teams mainly need an Electro unit to trigger Superconduct and Cryo batteries/buffers.

Freminet:

• Freminet has lower base stats as a 4-star unit, so although he is easier to obtain, his potential damage output is lower than Eula’s.
• Freminet deals more stable, consistent damage throughout a rotation.
• Freminet has some playstyle versatility, as he can be built for either Cryo or Physical damage.
• Freminet has comparably easier combos where he either repeatedly uses his Normal Attacks or his Skill.
• Freminet wants an off-field Hydro applicator for Shatter, and either needs an Electro unit to trigger Superconduct and/or an Anemo unit to enable the 4pc VV set effect.