[incomplete translation] Long Yao Musician guide, by 星尘QAQ

Updated* 2023-12-18, last modified 2023-12-26

translated by Xom from https://www.taptap.cn/moment/485907520393578715

*I get the impression that an earlier version of this guide existed on QQ (I am not on QQ)

I. Preface

The game takes place in a fantasy world called Yi Xian Palace. Here, those chosen by the Sword Spirit are granted Yi Xian Cards, to guide the power of ludic enlightenment. You take a mysterious role known as "Long Yao Musician", and in your matches, encounter fellow Daoists of diverse temperaments and unique abilities. By continuously adjusting your deck, seize on opponents' weaknesses and protect your own Destiny total. At the same time, gradually uncover the truth of the shattering of the Heavenly Path.

Cough cough, I trust that many fellow Daoists have been charmed by Long Yao's gentle and cultured nature, or else caught sight of that pair of slender jade feet [EMOTE]. Thus, I decided to embark together with Long Yao on the path of cultivation, but in playing, I always felt not quite as strong as other characters, easily losing all the way and being eliminated mid-match. I don't know if everyone else had this kind of experience? Let me share what I've learned of Long Yao Musician, in hopes of making your path of cultivation easier and increasing your enjoyment of the delights of Yi Xian and of Musician [EMOTE].

(This is an introductory guide, intended for players who haven't played Long Yao Musician, to speed up the learning of the basics. Some parts may be long-winded; if short on time, skim sections III, IV, and VII.)

As usual, a Record screenshot. With Legendary Immortal Fate cards this season, it feels a bit harder for Long Yao Musician.

II. Basic concepts

Before the guide proper, I'll first describe some basic concepts, so that everyone can better understand the content following.

1. Cultivation

Cultivation increases by 2 each round. Absorbing or merging yields 1 cultivation, so one card equals one cultivation. To break through to each phase (realm) requires a certain amount of cultivation (9/21/36/55). At the same time, in battle, the player with higher cultivation goes first; in case of a tie, it's random.

2. Delaying breakthrough

Delaying breakthrough means choosing not to break through despite having enough cultivation, and instead staying in the earlier phase. Usually it's for the sake of finding specific card(s), because whenever you break through, there are more cards in your card pool, and the probability of drawing any one specific card becomes smaller.

3. Exchanging

Originally posted by Card pool mechanics:

Each player has their own pool. There are 8 copies of each card, except only 6 copies of Incarnation cards. Absorbing or exchanging a card doesn't return it to the pool. Exchanging a card also causes two copies of the same card to be deleted from the pool.

III. Oft-seen final builds

Long Yao Musician has two oft-seen final builds: Sword Formation and Spirit Sword. New players can start by ignoring Spirit Sword; a basic grasp of Sword Formation should be enough to easily gain rank points. When Sword Formation has its DEF beaten down early, it becomes hard to deal enough damage, so against some burst-damage decks, Sword Formation has a hard time. Whereas, Spirit Sword is well-suited to cover this shortcoming of Sword Formation, allowing Long Yao Musician to easily answer the vast majority of decks.

Most common Illusion Tune Sword Formation

This deck is the most oft-used Sword Formation arrangement. It's relatively easy to assemble, and deals damage on turns four and five. As long as they don't beat down all your DEF, it's very easy to kill on turn five. But against decks that deal burst damage on turns two, three, four, like Hexagram Thunders, you likely won't be able to stack up DEF and deal enough damage.

Apparition Confusion Sword Formation

The difference between this deck and the previous deck is the addition of Apparition Confusion, to counter decks that attack with relatively many hits. You won't have to worry about how much DEF you'll have left for Mirror Flower; Apparition Confusion alone can do a lot of damage. Your DEF ensures you won't get blitz-killed in four turns. If the opponent hasn't died to Apparition Confusion, the turn five Mirror Flower should be approximately lethal.

Predicament Sword Formation

This deck deploys Predicament for Immortals, which prevents both players from Chasing. If the opponent has upgraded Chase cards, and if your own Rule Sky / Chain Sword Formation are lacking, you can consider Predicament for Immortals. You lose one turn playing Predicament for Immortals and your opponent loses multiple turns. You might also delay your opponent's big damage, resulting in bigger Mirror Flower.

2. Spirit Sword

least quality required four-move Spirit Sword

This deck is the Spirit Sword deck that's the easiest to assemble a four-turn kill with. Without Rule Sky Sword Formation and with Inspiration Sword, Flying Spirit Shade Sword, and Dharma Spirit Sword all lv.1, and 7 Qi, it's 108 damage; with those three cards all lv.2, and 5 Qi, it's 107 damage. In the screenshot, Rule Sky Sword Formation adds DEF and Chases, and it can also defend against Cide; you can decide according to situation whether to deploy it and in what position.

Predicament Spirit Sword

Since Spirit Sword doesn't necessarily rely on Chase, when against Chase-reliant decks, you can restrict the opponent's Chase using Predicament for Immortals. The thing to be careful of is that Predicament Spirit Sword relatively fears Cide; skilled Heptastar players are likely to deploy Cide against you if you played Predicament Spirit Sword in the previous round, in which situation you can consider switching to playing your Chase cards.

Three-move Spirit Sword—Inspiration + Dragon Roam + Dharma

Three-move Spirit Sword—Egret + Dharma

Three-move Spirit Sword has two versions relatively oft-seen: one is Inspiration + Dragon Roam + Dharma, and the other is Egret + Dharma. The high and low end of the former are slightly higher than that of the latter, because when Qi is less than the damage of Inspiration Sword, the damage of Inspiration + Dragon Roam can be approximately regarded as that of an Egret of one upgrade level higher; each point of Qi is 3/4/5 damage. Since Long Yao Musician must pick Coral Sword, Egret + Dharma uses the two Ignore DEF exactly, so you don't have to worry about DEF; it has a better matchup against DEF-stacking decks. Three-move Spirit Sword's requirements are somewhat high; usually it only comes together after Round 15. With Egret + Dharma all lv.2, it's 13 Qi, 118 damage. Also, with lv.max Dharma, 15 Qi is 110 damage, so three-move Spirit Sword also becomes possible by using the first two turns to add Qi, but this is relatively hard to assemble [EMOTE].

This concludes the section on oft-seen final builds [EMOTE]; there are many other lineups I frequently deploy that I didn't list, because they're all just variations of the above, only with adjustments according to the situation in each round.

Though I've given these lineups for reference, it doesn't mean the arrangement is optimal. Being able to adjust according to the situation in each round is what's most important; though the default is simple and easy, it's not conducive to skill development, and is missing some of the fun of counterplay. Later I may add a section at the end to share my experience of actual battles, which may help everyone to better make the adjustments in actual practice [EMOTE].

IV. Core cards

Sword Formation core cards:

• Earth Tune
• Illusion Tune
• Mirror Flower Sword Formation
• Moon Water Sword Formation
• Rule Sky Sword Formation
• Chain Sword Formation

Earth Tune adds the most DEF of any single card, and can be placed between Rule Sky Sword Formation and Chain Sword Formation. [Commentary on other cards not yet translated.]

Spirit Sword core cards:

• Sky Spirit Tune
• Inspiration Sword
• Egret Spirit Sword
• Chord In Tune
• Flying Spirit Shade Sword
• Cloud Sword - Dragon Roam
• Dharma Spirit Sword

[Commentary not yet translated.]

V. Immortal Fate choices

VI. Daoist Rhyme Omen

[Summary: Only reserve Moon Water Sword Formation, Rule Sky Sword Formation, or Dharma Spirit Sword.]

VII. Transit plan

[Summary: Exchange in Foundation phase in search of lv.2 Illusion Tune; keep Kindness Tune. Form-Intention Sword, Earth Evil Sword, and Giant Whale Spirit Sword are also notably useful. In Immortality, exchange or not according to the situation.]

VIII. Actual battles

IX. Conclusion