Unseen Snare

Chisa can mark a red triangle on enemies. This is the Unseen Snare. Its function is that whenever an enemy with this mark takes any damage, Chisa will add one stack of Havoc Bane to it.

It can add one stack every 2 seconds. Each stack reduces the enemy’s DEF by 2%. Without Chisa’s Outro Skill, the maximum is 3 stacks.

So, the first thing to do in every battle is to apply this mark to enemies.

There are four methods to apply the mark, but you only need to remember the two most common and effective ones:

Locking On: Chisa will directly apply the mark when she locks onto any enemy.

Resonance Skill: This skill has a very large area of effect, so it’s almost impossible to miss.

Chisa’s Forte Circuit

Chisa’s Forte Circuit follows a conventional design: charge the bar in the normal state, and consume energy in the enhanced state. Charging methods include Basic Attacks, Resonance Liberation, and Intro Skill.

Let’s start with normal state attacks. Chisa’s Basic Attack is described in the skill info as having two segments, but I recommend thinking of it as five segments.

The first and second segments are straightforward. The third segment involves a small dash forward. The fourth segment sees her open her large scissors, briefly charge, then snap them forward to “cut”, simultaneously providing healing to the entire team. If you continue pressing the attack button, Chisa will perform an S-shaped backstep. These five segments connected together can be considered one complete Basic Attack combo.

The third, fourth, and fifth segments have some special properties. The third segment can be chained after the Resonance Skill. Since the Resonance Skill can be used in the air, using the third Basic Attack segment after an aerial Resonance Skill will first connect into a special plunging attack, followed by the big scissor cut.

This big scissor cut has an additional effect: if you do not touch the attack button during the animation, Chisa will charge slowly before cutting. However, if you keep pressing the attack button, you will hear a distinct sound as Chisa revs the chainsaw engine, dealing an instance of extra damage and immediately executing the cut. Triggering this effect makes the action much faster.

Generally, when performing a full Basic Attack combo, you will be pressing the attack button continuously, so this effect is almost always triggered without needing special attention.

This is why I recommend simply remembering Chisa’s Basic Attack combo as five segments.

This big scissor cut doesn’t group enemies but has a strong knockback effect.

The fifth segment, besides its knockback, has another special effect: during the backstep, Chisa has dodge frames. If she is hit during this time, she will automatically trigger a dodge.

Chisa’s Heavy Attack makes her leap into the air, and you can tap the attack button to chain into the special plunging attack.

If you hold the attack button in the air, Chisa will perform a special Heavy Attack—another scissor snap—and then chain into the special plunging attack.

If this special Heavy Attack is interrupted, whether actively or passively, you can hold the attack button again before landing to perform the special Heavy Attack once more. This means you can potentially cut twice.

After the special plunging attack, you can continue into the big scissor cut.

Chisa’s Dodge Counter is also special. Besides the normal dodge counter, if you continue holding the dodge button after a dodge, Chisa will perform a move similar to her Resonance Skill, which can then be chained into the third Basic Attack segment.

Among her normal state attack designs, the most commonly used is either pressing the Basic Attack button for the full five-segment combo, or starting with the Resonance Skill and then chaining from the third Basic Attack segment.

Chisa’s Resonance Liberation

After you finish a full Basic Attack combo, the Forte Circuit Energy will be nearly full. Using her Resonance Liberation at this point will completely fill the Forte Circuit Energy. Besides dealing damage and providing a large heal, Chisa’s Resonance Liberation has another effect: for the next 15 seconds, it increases the damage multiplier of Chisa’s enhanced basic attacks by 120%, and this effect persists even if she is switched out.

Therefore, Chisa’s Resonance Liberation is an indispensable step that connects the normal state and the enhanced state. Remember to always use her Resonance Liberation before entering the enhanced state.

Chisa’s Enhanced Resonance Skill

Once the Forte Circuit Energy is full, the Resonance Skill icon lights up and changes to a chainsaw icon.

We can tap or hold to use this skill, causing Chisa to enter Chainsaw Mode.

After entering this mode, Chisa will pull nearby enemies marked with the Unseen Snare towards her—the range is quite large. Notice the distinct red lines pulling the enemies. If you forgot to apply the mark, this Enhanced Resonance Skill will automatically apply it upon activation.

As for the “stasis” mentioned in the skill description, it only occurs briefly at the very moment the chainsaw starts.

If you hold the Resonance Skill, Chisa will maintain this action, continuously sawing and gradually expanding the pull range. Notice how after holding for a while, another enemy is pulled in.

In actual combat, since this enhanced skill deals Resonance Skill damage, not Chisa’s primary Resonance Liberation damage, we don’t need to deliberately hold it to complete the full damage. In most cases, a tap is sufficient. Only if some enemies are particularly far away should you hold it a bit longer to pull them in.

Another difference between tap and hold is their derivatives. The skill description isn’t very clear. If you tap the skill, regardless of whether you then hold or mash the attack button, it will chain into the second segment of the Enhanced Basic Attack.

If you hold the skill and then mash the attack button, it will chain into the first segment of the Enhanced Basic Attack. However, if you pre-input a hold command on the attack button during the hold, it will chain into the second segment of the Enhanced Basic Attack.

Chainsaw Mode

After entering the enhanced state, Chisa’s Forte Circuit bar lights up, and her Basic Attacks change to three segments of Enhanced Basic Attacks.

The first segment is straightforward. However, the second and third segments also have special tap and hold mechanics.

Tapping the second segment shows Chisa sawing for a bit before swinging the chainsaw backward. This backward swing is the Discordance mentioned in the skill description. The damage is actually quite low, but it also possesses dodge frames.

If you hold attack button buring the second segment, Chisa will continuously consume the Forte Circuit Bar while sawing the enemy. Letting go mid-animation or dodging backward will also trigger the Discordance. But if you hold it all the way until it finishes, it will directly chain into the third Enhanced Basic Attack segment.

The third segment works similarly. Tapping it, or letting go mid-hold, will perform an action similar to Discordance called Falltone, though this one has no dodge frames.

After performing this Falltone, or after holding the third segment all the way through, Chisa’s next attack will be her leaping up to perform the Chainsaw Mode finisher. This deals relatively high damage, applies a very substantial shield to the entire team, and grants 45 Concerto Energy. Therefore, this finisher is indispensable for Chisa’s rotation.

The Forte Circuit Energy consumed by the previous Enhanced Basic Attacks increases this finisher’s multiplier—by 2.58% per point consumed, up to a maximum of 258%.

When this finisher is used, regardless of whether the Circuit Bar is fully depleted, it is immediately emptied. After the finisher, she exits Chainsaw Mode.

In practice, you typically tap the Enhanced Skill to enter Chainsaw Mode, then hold the attack button until Chisa performs the finisher.

To optimize further, you only need to hold one of the second or third Enhanced Basic Attack segments. For example, hold the second segment + tap the third segment. Since Chisa’s entire sequence can be time-consuming, we selectively sacrifice a small portion of her personal damage to achieve higher overall team DPS.

For bosses, it’s recommended to hold the second segment, because holding the second segment consumes more Circuit Energy than holding the third segment, resulting in higher finisher damage.

In AoE scenarios, I recommend holding the third segment. This is because the second segment has a strong knockback effect. If you hold it, you will push enemies far away. Even though the finisher can kill the small enemies, running back to their spawn point also wastes time.

So, choose whether to hold the second or third segment based on these two situations.

Chisa’s Rotation

Now that we’ve covered the normal and Chainsaw state moves, let’s connect them. First, for a cold start (No concerto energy) :
Chisa starts by directly using her normal Resonance Skill, then keeps using Basic Attacks until she uses the big scissor cut (4th segment). When you see Chisa perform the backstep (5th segment), you can directly use an Echo Skill + Resonance Liberation.

The reason is that without this backstep, using the Resonance Liberation would leave the Circuit Energy slightly short, but completing the backstep causes a slight overflow. So, when you see the backstep animation, the timing is perfect.

Chisa’s signature Echo Skill has its own independent animation, so we use it before the RL and use the RL to cancel its animation.

After the RL animation ends, immediately use the Enhanced Resonance Skill (tap) + hold the attack button for the second Enhanced Basic Attack segment. When you see Chisa jump, switch to tapping for the third segment, then connect into the finisher. This should fill the Concerto Energy.

For a hot start (entering via Intro Skill):
Chisa enters via Intro Skill, then uses normal Resonance Skill + Echo Skill + Resonance Liberation. Then, keep using Basic Attacks until the Circuit Energy is full. Then, tap to use the Enhanced Skill, followed by holding the second segment, then tapping the third segment, and finally executing the finisher.

Another interesting point: normally, after the RL, you can only chain into the second Basic Attack segment. However, if you use the normal Resonance Skill before the RL, you can chain into the third Basic Attack segment, just like after the normal Resonance Skill.

Chisa’s Outro Skill

Chisa’s Outro Skill provides a 20-second buff to the entire team with two effects:

During this time, when a team character hits an enemy, it increases the maximum stack count of all Negative Statuses on that enemy by 3, and the maximum stack count of Electro Rage by 3. This lasts for 15 seconds. This effect itself does not stack, but it can stack with other max stack increase buffs, like Rover (Havoc)’s Outro effect.

It allows team characters to gain the “Havoc Thread” effect when they apply a Negative Status or deal Negative Status damage to an enemy. Havoc Thread grants 18% DEF Ignore against enemies marked with Unseen Snare, also lasting 15 seconds.

For example, Ciaccona applying Aero Erosion, Phoebe applying Spectral Frazzle, Cartethyia dealing Aero Erosion damage, or Zani dealing Spectral Frazzle damage can all trigger this effect.

The actual maximum possible duration for these buffs can reach 35 seconds. Because Chisa’s Outro provides a 20-second window, and even if you trigger the effect at the 20th second, you still gain a new 15-second buff for the “+3 max stacks” and “18% DEF Ignore.”

Chisa’s Inherent Skill

Some might ask: since these buffs require the enemy to be marked, what about in multi-wave scenarios?

Chisa’s Inherent Skills provide a partial solution:

Inherent 1: When any character kills an enemy with the Unseen Snare mark, it immediately resets the cooldown of Chisa’s normal Resonance Skill, allowing her to apply the mark again.

Inherent 2: Allows Chisa to apply marks without being on-field. If a character with the Havoc Thread effect kills a marked enemy, then for the next 3 seconds, whenever that character deals any damage (note: not limited to Negative Status damage) to an enemy, the off-field Chisa will directly apply the mark to that enemy.

Therefore, the 18% DEF Ignore from the Outro effect can be considered permanent even in multi-wave content. However, the maximum 12% DEF reduction from stacking Havoc Bane cannot be carried over between waves.

Lifethread – Jetstream & Chainsaw Fever

Having covered skills and the Outro effect, let’s look at the secondary bar on Chisa’s Forte Circuit. You might have noticed it earlier: besides the main charging bar on top, there’s a yellow bar below that sometimes turns blue during certain skills. This is called Lifethread – Jetstream.

When Chisa triggers this blue bar, she can consume 50 points to perform a special dodge. If you hold the dodge button, she can glide forward a short distance. This entire animation has dodge frames and can pull enemies marked with Unseen Snare towards

How to trigger the special dodge? There are several ways:

Best scenario: When knocked into the air, you can directly trigger the special dodge. However, you cannot follow it with a dodge counter (unlike Shorekeeper).

If Chisa uses a Heavy Attack to leap up, or uses a Resonance Skill or the third Basic Attack segment in the air, she can perform the special dodge before landing.

The most unique method: During the continuous Basic Attack combo, when you perform the backstep (5th segment), if you dodge forward, you can trigger the special dodge. Dodging in other directions will not work.

In Chainsaw Mode, the special dodge is unavailable. The secondary bar turns red, becoming Chainsaw Fever. Think of it as engine inertia. It doesn’t do much by itself, but if Chisa doesn’t deal damage for a certain period, this “heat” will dissipate. If it completely depletes, the chainsaw engine “stalls,” and any unused Circuit Energy begins to rapidly drain. If you deal damage again before the energy fully drains, you can restart the chainsaw.