Guide
How the kit works
Hold Special Attack: Return to Ashes - Sacrifice to charge, consume up to 10% of Max HP and gain 100 Blazing Heart. This HP cost cannot take Manato below 30% of Max HP. Release to slash; the slash is enhanced if he is hit during the skill or charges long enough. Defensive Assist: Lone Shadow - Mountain Stand is another entry point, granting 75 Blazing Heart while parrying an attack.
At 75 Blazing Heart, Core Passive: Mighty Molten Edge puts Manato into Molten Edge. The state drains 3.3 Blazing Heart per second and ends when it runs out. During it, use Basic Attack: Blazing Wind - Misty Slash for up to four Fire slashes. Activating it above 30% HP consumes 3.5% of Max HP. When that HP is consumed, the attack gains 50% CRIT DMG and 100% Adrenaline Generation Rate.
With enough Adrenaline in Molten Edge, use EX Special Attack: Return to Ashes - Fall (Special). It deals Fire DMG, restores 33% of Max HP and makes Manato invulnerable during the attack. After a Defensive Assist, Assist Follow-Up: Lone Shadow - Breaking Fang can add up to seven extra slashes through repeated presses. Its consecutive slashes consume HP while he is above 30%, gaining the same CRIT DMG and Adrenaline Generation Rate bonuses when HP is consumed.
With a Support or Stun teammate, Additional Ability: Rekindled Heart grants four Remnant Flame stacks from Chain Attack: Blazing Eruption and eight from Ultimate: Musou Aratama. Stacks last 60 seconds and can reach 20. Enhanced Basic Attacks and consecutive Assist Follow-Up slashes consume a stack to restore 2% of Max HP when he is below full health.
Build and why
Use four pieces of Yunkui Tales. Its two-piece HP bonus feeds Sheer Force, while its four-piece effect grants CRIT Rate after an EX Special Attack, Chain Attack or Ultimate. At three stacks, it also gives 10% Sheer DMG. For the two remaining slots, Woodpecker Electro gives 8% CRIT Rate. Inferno Metal is another option with 10% Fire DMG from two pieces; its four-piece CRIT Rate effect requires hitting a Burning enemy. Branch & Blade Song is also suggested for its two-piece CRIT DMG.
Choose CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG on disc 4, Fire DMG Bonus or Percent HP on disc 5, and Percent HP on disc 6. For substats, look for CRIT Rate first, then CRIT DMG and Percent HP. Max HP increases Sheer Force, so HP supports his damage as well as his health pool.
Grill O'Wisp is the first weapon choice: it increases Fire DMG and gives CRIT Rate for five seconds when HP decreases. Wrathful Vajra is another option, with CRIT Rate and stacking Fire Sheer DMG after an EX Special Attack. Qingming Birdcage gives CRIT Rate, though its Ether bonuses do not improve Manato's Fire DMG.
Leveling priority
Follow the game's order: Core Passive: Mighty Molten Edge first, then the Basic Attack category, Assist, Special Attack, Chain Attack and Dodge. The passive defines how Manato gains Sheer Force and enters Molten Edge. Basic Attacks and Assist attacks follow because they are part of his HP-consuming offense. Special Attack comes next, followed by his Chain Attack and Dodge skills.
For ascension to the maximum level, you need 800,000 Denny, 4 Basic Rupture Certification Seal, 32 Advanced Rupture Certification Seal and 30 Arbiter Certification Seal. Maxing all skills takes 2,905,000 Denny, 25 Basic Burn Chip, 75 Advanced Burn Chip, 250 Specialized Burn Chip, 5 Hamster Cage Pass, 9 Crimson Miasma Spike and 60 Higher Dimensional Data: Corrupted Dreamsteel.
Mindscapes worth it
Day & Night, Kitchen & Love is worth considering for damage and access to Assist Follow-Ups. In Molten Edge, it ignores 8% of the target's Fire RES. It also lets Manato trigger an Assist Follow-Up after he is hit during either version of Return to Ashes.
Beyond Dreams of the Past adds another route to Blazing Heart: when Special Attack: Return to Ashes hits a Stunned enemy, Manato gains 75 Blazing Heart and four Remnant Flame stacks, and can launch an Assist Follow-Up. That Remnant Flame gain has a 20-second cooldown. Assist Follow-Up hits also build Fire DMG for eight seconds, up to 15%.
Drifter's Rules of Survival is a useful earlier option: tallied HP loss increases Basic Attack and Assist Follow-Up Fire DMG, up to 20%. Childhood Oath offers Max HP and protection from a fatal hit during the two Return to Ashes skills. Enter the Realm of Urban Legends and Lone Shadow Returns to the Pack add skill levels rather than new mechanics; you can pass on pursuing them if those levels are not your goal.
Teams
Bring a Support or Stun character to activate Additional Ability: Rekindled Heart. Its Remnant Flame healing gives Manato more room to use his HP-consuming attacks. There is no element requirement for this ability.
Manato gives the team on-field Fire damage and can parry with his Defensive Assist, which also inflicts Daze. Plan his field time around building Blazing Heart and spending Molten Edge rather than switching away as soon as it starts.
Common mistakes
Do not ignore HP just because Manato can heal. The held special cannot consume HP below 30%, but his enhanced Basic Attack and consecutive Assist Follow-Up slashes spend HP when he is above that threshold. Use the EX Special Attack's heal when available, and keep Remnant Flame stacks in mind.
Do not expect the two Return to Ashes heals to trigger independently. Being hit during either skill lets its slash restore 20% of missing HP, but the heals share a 20-second cooldown. Also, outside Molten Edge, Basic Attack: Blazing Wind Slash normally deals Physical DMG; time the extra presses during each slash to trigger Scorchwind and deal increased Fire DMG.
Finally, do not build only for ATK. His Fire damage uses Sheer Force, and Max HP increases that stat. Balance Percent HP with CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG instead.
