hard to understand how to build

[eristacrat]

It looks straight forward, but the "battle power" confuses me though when changing it manually. The recommend formation is always the highest. but its not always the best i assume, ie. "recommendation". how do i actually build in this game, ignoring the battle rating?

[VertVentus]

Ignore Battle Power, build towards Attack and/or Cooldown.
The treasures to reduce cooldown (Red Hare, Matsukaze) are very strong if you get another cooldown reduction for 0 seconds to spam Heavy 2 or 3.
Skill (combo extensions, barrier damage), Wisdom (Musou Gauge), Charm (Assemble Gauge) are your more important Emblems compared to Strength, Speed, and the sixth stat. You can loop Musou into Assemble or vice versa for invincibility, assuming you get the Formations that nullify damage taken. I think it was Wisdom that increases the count number of summoned heroes and Charm that reduces cooldown by 50%, for stronger summons and Assemble damage.
Build around Unique Tactics. What traits do your Player Hero have? What single element are you trying to stack? Higher damage output means less shield gauges to chip through.

• Status Infliction 100% = Xun Yu (Wei), Lu Xun (Wu), Zhuge Liang (Shu & +50% Attribute ATK), Zhong Hui (Talent), Kanebi Kuroda (Toyotomi & +50% Attribute ATK), Kunoichi (Sanada), Masayuki Sanada (Strategist)
  
• Fire Unique Tactics = Dong Zhuo (+30% Flame Attack VS Barriers), Tadakatsu Honda (+200% Burn Damage), Yukimura Sanada (+100% Flame Attack)
  
• Ice Unique Tactics = Yue Jin (+30% Ice Attack VS Barriers), Cao Pi (+100% Ice Attack), Mitsunari Ishida (+200% Frozen Duration)
  
• Wind Unique Tactics = Zhang Fei (+100% VS Disorient), Ma Chao (+100% Wind Attack)
  
• Bolt Unique Tactics = Lu Bu (+200% Bolt Attack)
  
• Slay Unique Tactics = Gan Ning (+100% Slay Attack), Guan Ping (+30% Slay Attack VS Barriers)
  
• Xiahou Dun (Wei), Cao Cao (Wei)
  
• Zhang Liao (Brave General), Ujiyasu Hojo (Brave General)
  
• Sun Ce (Wu), Sun Quan (Wu), Daqiao (Sun Ce), Xiaoqiao (Zhou Yu),
  
• Liu Bei (himself, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu)
  
• Pang Tong (Shu)
  
• Xu Shu (Strategist)
  
• Sima Shi (Jin)
  
• Wang Yuanji (Talent)
  
• Diaochan (Lu Bu)
  
• Lu Lingqi (Lu Bu Army)
  
• Meng Huo (Meng Huo, Zhurong)
  
• Nobunaga Oda (Oda), Mitsuhide Akechi (Oda)
  
• Toyotomi (Hanbei Takenaka)
  
• Ieyasu Tokugawa (Tokugawa)
  
• Kai (Flower of War), Sophie (Flower of War)
  
• Shingen Takeda (Takeda)
  
• Kanetsugu Naoe (Uesugi & Toyotomi)
  
• Nobuyuki Sanada (Takeda & Sanada)
  
• Magoichi Saika (Master Gunnter)
  
• Yumia (Independent)

[⭕TheSodaman]

I tend to get verbose and I apologize.

Decide what emblems serve as a baseline to your preferred playstyle, what character you're using, what you currently have, what you have room for, and what you think you can reasonably acquire by the end of the run.

For me, as a baseline to my playstyle, that's:
* Vigor 1 to interrupt telegraphs,
* Speed 1 for invulnerability frames for evasion,
* Skill 8 to access a character's moveset if it's not a Summon build or if I'm exploring a character's moveset

Deciding if you want to build around the character's hero traits, their emblems, a relic you just picked up, a mono element of your choosing, or seeing where high Battle Power takes you. There's room to do multiple sometimes.

Let's say I have a character that has Independent, Brave General, and Attack +50% versus Burn targets.

I have some options to lean into Brave General, keeping eye out for heroes like Zhang Liao (Attack up for Brave Generals) and Ujiyasu Hojo (Attack up for Brave Generals versus barriers). If my elements don't line up, might just go for a formation with creates a barrier. If I end up summoning Brave Generals, then maybe even Katsuie Shibata (reduces Brave General summon cooldown) so that all the Brave Generals I'm summoning are hitting harder, hitting barriers harder, and showing up more often as I fight.

Lean into Flame with Yukimura Sanada (Flame Attack up) and Dong Zhuo (Flame Attack up versus barriers). I may end up recruiting heroes with Flame summons and seek out formations that provide more Attack or Defense with Flame emblems.

Lean into the Burn such as Zhou Yu (Burn creates an explosion that causes Burn), Sun Jian (attacking an enemy with Burn causes an explosion), Ling Tong (slightly charge Musou Gauge attacking enemy with Burn), Tadakatsu Honda (Burn damage up), etc. And if I do find myself with a lot of Wu characters (and I probably will, I could tap into Lu Xun so that all my Wu summons are guaranteed to afflict Burn. And then at least, I can alternate my attacks and summons to ensure I have a longer Burn uptime while benefitting from that Attack +50% vs. Burn.

If I come across a horse relic, this can also lend itself to a Summon build with high enough Charm to Quick Summon from the 1st or 2nd slot regularly without a cooldown on reusing the summon.

But specific to this above example, this is Zhu Rong with a unique weapon. So she could also benefit from Meng Huo for Attack +100% for Meng Huo/Zhu Rong and also Yumia for +50% Attack for Independent, though this latter one is a detour on the elements.