Qiqi 6.7 Buff: From 0 to 4 Particles

The 7-Month-Old Stale Data

Before today, Qiqi's data in ER QuickCalc showed particles_avg: 0. The entry was created December 17, 2025, and had never been updated. Every ER calculation for Qiqi — for over 6 months — was working with the assumption that Herald of Frost generated zero particles.

The git diff tells the story clearly:

  // Qiqi skills.json — commit 1864ae3 (2026-07-01)
  
  // ❌ Before (stale since Dec 2025):
  "particles_avg": 0,
  "hits_per_cast": 1,
  "particle_trigger": "ON_CAST",
  "particle_generation": "INSTANT"

  // ✅ After (6.7 buff):
  "particles_avg": 4,
  "hits_per_cast": 7,
  "particle_trigger": "ON_HIT",
  "particle_generation": "PERIODIC"

Four fields changed: particle count (0→4), hits per cast (1→7), trigger condition (ON_CAST→ON_HIT), and generation type (INSTANT→PERIODIC). This wasn't a minor tweak — it was a complete mechanic rewrite.

What the 6.7 Buff Actually Does

Herald of Frost now performs a coordinated attack every 2.2 seconds when the active character hits an enemy. Each coordinated attack generates 1 Cryo particle. Over the skill's 15s duration, that's approximately 4 particles per cast.

Metric	Before (6.6)	After (6.7)
Particles per cast	0	4
Skill cooldown	30s	15s (via A4)
Skill duration	15s	15s
Generation type	INSTANT (0)	PERIODIC (4 over time)
Hits per cast	1	7 (coordinated attacks)
A4 passive	Did not exist	New: Sacred Divination

The A4 Passive: Sacred Divination

One important nuance: the skill's base cooldown is still 30 seconds. The reduction to 15s comes from a brand new A4 passive that was added in 6.7:

  "talent_tier": "A4",
  "talent_name": "Sacred Divination",
  "description": "Reduces Herald of Frost skill cooldown from 30s to 15s."

This passive didn't exist before 6.7. With it active, Qiqi achieves permanent skill uptime: 15s duration with 15s cooldown, meaning continuous coordinated attacks generating particles every 2.2s.

The C1 Fix: Double-Counting Bug

Qiqi's C1 (Ascetics of Frost) had another issue: the effect was modeled as two separate entries — one for talisman-marked enemies and one for unmarked — and the engine summed them independently. Result: the calculator thought Qiqi gained ~32 flat energy per rotation from C1, when the real value is closer to ~14 energy.

The fix combined both effects into one entry with a single window_seconds: 15 and max_triggers_per_window: 7:

  "flat_energy": 2,
  "condition_kind": "CUSTOM",
  "window_seconds": 15,
  "max_triggers_per_window": 7,
  "notes": "~7 coordinated attacks per 15s cycle vs talisman-marked enemies.
             Total C1 energy = 2 x ~7 = ~14 per 15s cycle."

The Stellar Field buff adds +6 Energy on unmarked hits (ICD 6s), but that's calculated separately — the C1 itself now correctly gives ~14 energy per 15s window.

The Hidden Pipeline Bug

Even after fixing Qiqi's data files, there was a second problem: the data loading priority. On the client, elemental_skills.json is checked first, and if a character is found there, the engine never falls back to perchar-data.json.

Qiqi's entry in elemental_skills.json still had particles_avg: 0 — it hadn't been regenerated after the per-character data fix. The fix required:

1. Update src/data/characters/qiqi/skills.json with new particle values
2. Regenerate src/data/engine/elemental_skills.json (build step)
3. Add { cache: 'no-cache' } to fetch calls — prevents browser from serving stale JSON after re-deploy
4. Fix the particle_generation default from || 'AVERAGE' (invalid type) to ?? 'INSTANT'

What This Means for Your Qiqi Build

Qiqi's ER requirements drop significantly with the 6.7 buff. Where she previously needed sky-high ER to fund her 80-cost burst, she now generates 4 Cryo particles per 15s cycle with permanent uptime.

For a standard Qiqi team (Qiqi + off-field Cryo battery):

• Before 6.7 (0 particles): Relied entirely on teammates for energy — often needed 200%+ ER to burst consistently
• After 6.7 (4 particles, perm uptime): Self-sufficient generation — expect ER requirements around 160-180% depending on team
• With Stellar Field + C1: Additional ~14-20 flat energy per rotation — can drop to ~150% ER or less

Use ER QuickCalc to get your exact Qiqi ER target with your specific team and equipment.

Lessons Learned

This fix highlighted a data pipeline vulnerability: when per-character data is updated, the compiled elemental_skills.json must be regenerated too. We've added this to our build checklist, and the npm run build:data step now catches these sync issues automatically.

If you've been using ER QuickCalc for Qiqi before today, your saved builds will now show a lower ER recommendation. That's not a bug — that's the 7-month-old stale data finally being corrected.