Serval: Guide, Skills, Builds, Teams & More
Serval is a 4-star Lightning Erudition character that has been available since the beginning of the game. For a while, Serval was somewhat forgotten due to better options being released. With the release of The Herta in patch 3.0, Serval becomes a very viable partner for her thanks to her high-frequency AoE attack.
Serval HSR Kit Overview (Trace Level 10)
Serval’s Skill Set
As one of the launch 4-star characters, Serval’s skillset is quite basic. Most of Serval’s kits will interact with the “Shock” state, which is essentially a Lightning Damage over Time debuff that she inflicts.
Her skill – Lightning Flash is a Blast-type attack that has a 80% base chance to inflict Shock on all enemies that she hits, and enemies will take Lightning DoT damage equal to 104% of Serval’s Attack while shocked.
Her first major trace – Rock n’ Roll will further improve the base chance of her skill to inflict Shock by another 20%.
Whenever Serval attacks, she will deal an additional attack equal to 72% of her Attack to all enemies that are already Shocked, thanks to her Talent – Galvanic Chords.
Generally, Serval can trigger this with just her Basic Attack on any enemies that are already Shocked, giving her a pretty decent Skill Point economy. Shock can also be inflicted via her Technique, which, upon usage, immediately enters the battle and inflicts Shock on all enemies.
Serval’s main selling point is her incredibly low-energy Ultimate – Here Comes the Mechanical Fever. At 100 Energy, this Ultimate is a relatively weak AoE attack that deals 180% of her Attack to all enemies and extends the “Shock” state on them by 2 turns. Combined with her second Eidolon – Encore!, which gives her 4 Energy back every time she triggers her Talent effect, this Ultimate becomes very spammable.
The remaining parts of her kits are quite unnoticeable. Her second trace – String Vibration gives her an extra 15 Energy at the start of the battle to access her Ultimate quickly. Her third trace – Qualitative Shift grants her an unassuming 20% boost to her Attack for 2 turns upon defeating an enemy.
Overall, on her own, despite her base identity as a Crit-scaling Damage Dealer, Serval is heavily outdated as a main Damage Dealer, as her base Multiplier Value is very poor compared to modern units. Such is the fate of most launch 4-star characters as more characters are released.
However, Serval does get a surprising resurgence when The Herta was released. As an Erudition unit with an exceptionally high AoE attack frequency, Serval can be built to be a very efficient sub-DPS unit that can quickly charge The Herta’s Ultimate and Inspiration stacks. In this role, she does have several competitors, such as Herta, Jade, and Anaxa, but this still gives her much bigger meta relevance than she has had at any point in the game.
Serval HSR Core Skills
Basic Attack – Roaring Thunderclap: Deals Lightning DMG equal to 100% of Serval’s ATK to one designated enemy.
Skill – Lightning Flash: Deals Lightning DMG equal to 140% of Serval’s ATK to one designated enemy and Lightning DMG equal to 60% of Serval’s ATK to enemies adjacent to it, with a 80% base chance for enemies hit to become Shocked for 2 turn(s).
While Shocked, enemies take Lightning DoT equal to 104% of Serval’s ATK at the beginning of each turn.
Ultimate – Here Comes the Mechanical Fever: Deals Lightning DMG equal to 180% of Serval’s ATK to all enemies. Enemies already Shocked will extend the duration of their Shock state by 2 turn(s).
Talent – Galvanic Chordse: After Serval attacks, deals Lightning Additional DMG equal to 72% of Serval’s ATK to all Shocked enemies.
Technique – Good Night, Belobog: Immediately attacks the enemy. After entering battle, deals Lightning DMG equal to 50% of Serval’s ATK to a random enemy, with a 100% base chance for all enemies to become Shocked for 3 turn(s).
While Shocked, enemies will take Lightning DoT equal to 50% of Serval’s ATK at the beginning of each turn.
Serval HSR Traces
Rock ‘n’ Roll: When using skill, increases the base chance for the attacked enemy target to become Shocked by 20%.
String Vibration: At the start of the battle, immediately regenerates 15 Energy.
Qualitative Shift: Upon defeating an enemy, ATK is increased by 20% for 2 turn(s).
Serval HSR Eidolons
- Echo Chamber: Basic ATK deals Lightning DMG equal to 60% of Basic ATK DMG to a random target adjacent to the target enemy.
- Encore!: Every time Serval’s Talent is triggered to deal Additional DMG, she regenerates 4 Energy.
- Listen, the Heartbeat of the Gears: Skill Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Basic ATK Lv. +1, up to a maximum of Lv. 10.
- Make Some Noise!: Ultimate has a 100% base chance to apply Shock to any enemies not currently Shocked. This Shock has the same effects as the one applied by Skill.
- Belobog’s Loudest Roar!: Ultimate Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15. Talent Lv. +2, up to a maximum of Lv. 15.
- This Song Rocks to Heaven!: Serval deals 30% more DMG to Shocked enemies.
Eidolon Priority
As stated above, Serval’s E2 is her primary engine behind her Ultimate spammability. The remaining Eidolons are very low impact, outside of maybe her E4, which lets her immediately inflict Shock to all enemies with her first Ultimate to kickstart her gameplay loop.
As a 4 Star character, her Eidolons will also come naturally from playing/pulling, so there is no need to consider getting any of them at the cost of resources.
- Eidolon 1: Very Low
- Eidolon 2: Very High
- Eidolon 4: Low
- Eidolon 6: Very Low
Serval HSR Build Guide Overview
Light Cones
- Eternal Calculus
- A Dream Scented in Wheat
- After the Charmony Fall
- Make the World Clamor
- Passkey
Main Stats
- Body: Crit Rate / Crit Damage
- Feet: Speed
- Orb: Attack% / Lightning Damage%
- Rope: Attack% / Energy Regeneration Rate
Relics
- Scholar Lost in Erudition
- Eagle of Twilight Line
Planar Set
- Izumo Gensei and Takama Divine Realm
- Inert Salsotto
- Firmament Frontline: Glamoth
- Sprightly Vonwaq / Lushaka, the Sunken Seas
HSR Serval Light Cones
Premium Options
A Dream Scented in Wheat: Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 12% / 14% / 16% / 18% / 20%. The Ultimate DMG and Follow-up ATK DMG dealt by the wearer increase by 24% / 28% / 32% / 36% / 40%.
This is a great Light Cone option to improve Serval’s damage output, either as a main Damage Dealer or sub Damage Dealer, as it gives great and unconditional boosts.
Into the Unreachable Veil: Increases the wearer’s Break Effect by 28% / 35% / 42% / 49% / 56%. After the wearer uses Ultimate, increases SPD by 8% / 10% / 12% / 14% / 16%, lasting for 2 turn(s).
With how often Serval spams her Ultimate, this Light Cone basically gives her a permanent Speed boost, which can be quite valuable when she is used as a battery for The Herta.
Make the World Clamor: The wearer regenerates 20 / 23 / 26 / 29 / 32 Energy immediately upon entering battle, and increases DMG dealt by the wearer’s Ultimate by 32% / 40% / 48% / 56% / 64%.
A lot of Serval’s damage comes from her Ultimate, and the extra starting energy helps her kickstart her Ultimate spam faster.
F2P Options
Eternal Calculus: Increases the wearer’s ATK by 8% / 9% / 10% / 11% / 12%. After using an attack, for each enemy target hit, additionally increases ATK by 4% / 5% / 6% / 7% / 8%. This effect can stack up to 5 times and last until the next attack. If there are 3 or more enemy targets hit, this unit’s SPD increases by 8% / 10% / 12% / 14% / 16%, lasting for 1 turn(s).
This is one of Serval’s best F2P statistics, as it gives both Speed and Attack, stats that Serval appreciates.
Passkey: After the wearer uses their Skill, additionally regenerates 8 / 9 / 10 / 11 / 12 Energy. This effect cannot be repeatedly triggered in a single turn.
Passkey is surprisingly Serval’s best option for generating as many stacks as possible for The Herta. This, however, will require her to frequently use her Skill, which can be a problem if the team is somewhat tight in terms of SP generation.
HSR Serval Main Stats
- Body: Crit Rate / Crit Damage
- Feet: Speed
- Orb: Attack% / Lightning Damage%
- Rope: Attack% / Energy Regeneration Rate
HSR Serval Sub Stats
- Speed
- Crit Rate / Crit Damage
- Attack
Even though her Multiplier Value is quite mediocre, getting some Crit stats onto Serval will still yield some notable damage increase for the team. Crit Rate / Crit Damage chest will be her best-in-slot options, with Speed boot to make her act as often as possible. For Orb, both Attack% and Lightning Damage% are viable. For Rope, hypercarry Serval will want Attack% Rope, while Sub-DPS Serval in The Herta team will prefer Energy Regeneration Rate% to for more frequent Ultimate.
Main Stats Goal & Speedtuning:
- Goal: 134+ / 160+ for Speed, highly dependent on team setups.
Generally, Serval will want to be built as fast as possible, as the more often she moves, the more energy she will regenerate from her E2 to spam her Ultimate. For hypercarry, players can opt to either run a -1 Speed setup with units like Sunday or Bronya, or run Attack boot with wheelchair units like Sparkle.
HSR Serval Relics
Option A
Scholar Lost in Erudition
- 2-Pc: Increases CRIT Rate by 8%.
- 4-Pc: Increases Damage dealt by Skill and Ultimate by 20%. After using Ultimate, additionally increases the Damage dealt by the next Skill by 25%.
This set is one of the best DPS sets in the game for any units that rely on their Ultimate and Skill for damage, and Serval is no exception.
Option B
Eagle of Twilight Line
- 2-Pc: Increases Wind Damage by 10%.
- 4-Pc: After the wearer uses their Ultimate, their action is Advanced Forward by 25%.
For raw stacking ability in the Herta team, this set would be the best option to maximize Serval’s number of actions, considering how often Serval can use her Ultimate.
HSR Serval Planar Sets
Izumo Gensei and Takama Divine Realm
- 2-Pc: Increases the wearer’s ATK by 12%. When entering battle, if at least one teammate follows the same Path as the wearer, then the wearer’s CRIT Rate increases by 12%.
This set gives a lot of raw stats, but on the condition that Serval must be used with another Erudition character like The Herta or Jade.
Inert Salsotto
- 2-Pc: Increases the wearer’s CRIT Rate by 8%. When the wearer’s current CRIT Rate reaches 50% or higher, the DMG dealt by the wearer’s Ultimate and Follow-Up ATK increases by 15%.
Since a lot of her damage comes from her Ultimates, Inert Salsotto is a natural choice to boost her overall contribution.
Firmament Frontline: Glamoth
- 2-Pc: Increases the wearer’s ATK by 12%. When the wearer’s SPD is equal to or higher than 135/160, the wearer deals 12%/18% more DMG.
Serval is often built to be very fast, so it is not hard for her to get the full effect of Glamoth.
Sprightly Vonwaq / Lushaka, the Sunken Sea
Both of these sets provide valuable extra Energy Regeneration & supportive effects that make them attractive for Serval builds that purely focus on supporting The Herta.
HSR Serval Teammates
Serval can be played as both a hyper carry and a sub-DPS. She is best used as a stack generator for The Herta, as her Multiplier Value is quite low compared to modern hypercarry units.
Main DPS
The Herta: The Herta requires another Erudition character as her teammates, preferably one that does not use a lot of SP, and deals AoE damage often to charge her Ultimate. Serval fulfills both conditions with a very spammable Ultimate and SP positivity. The Herta in turn also boost Serval’s damage, albeit not enough to make her exceptional compared to options like Anaxa, Herta, or Jade.
Sub DPS
Jade: Jade can work as a Sub-DPS to Serval hyper carry, as Jade benefits a lot from a main Damage Dealer that can attack often, while also buffing Serval in return.
Harmony/Nihility
Tribbie: Tribbie is the quintessential buffer for an AoE Dual DPS team. AoE DPS – Tribbie – The Herta is a potent team that synergizes well together, all boosting each other’s damage.
Robin: Robin’s teamwide buffs and extra action make her a fantastic Serval’s teammate in either a hyper carry or dual DPS setup.
Sunday / Remembrance Trailblazer / Sparkle: All three of these units are great Action Advance Supports for hypercarry that Serval can utilize when played as a main Damage Dealer.
Sustain
Huohuo: Huohuo provides both Energy and Attack boost, two fantastic effects that most of Serval’s best teammates like Sunday, Robin, and The Herta highly appreciate.
Hyacine: Hyacine is the premium healer for The Herta’s AoE team. Hyacine consumes SP quite often, which means she will benefit from an SP generator like Serval in the team as well.
HSR Serval Teams
The Herta Team
Serval Hypercarry Team
HSR Serval Pull Value and Conclusion
As of the moment, Serval’s sole purpose is to be an alternative battery unit for The Herta, especially for players who do not have premium options like Anaxa or Jade. Compared to 4-star Herta, Serval is a bit more active and generates more stacks, but generally lags behind in terms of damage output, especially in modes with a lot of fodder enemies like Pure Fiction.
Nonetheless, Serval is a very cheap investment that can come in quite handy for any The Herta users, and can be completely skipped outside of such circumstances.
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