A VV Hu Tao team is Amber’s only meta team, and she’s not easily replaceable here. This is a really powerful team where Amber acts as Hu Tao’s support. This is thanks to her burst’s Pyro application and ability to proc the Elegy for the End’s passive. Still, this is a pretty niche team that needs Elegy for the End (a limited 5-star bow) and stricter rotations – it’s a bit more expensive and quite challenging to play. So if you don’t plan on using Amber with Hu Tao, there’s absolutely no meta reason to use her. Of course, this is based on meta only. If you like Amber regardless of her power level, don’t let this stop you from playing her.
Pros & Cons
Strengths
Amber’s greatest strength is pretty simple: she works great with Hu Tao. In a VV Hu Tao team, Amber actively pulls her weight by buffing the entire team. This includes proccing the Elegy for the End passive and 4pc. Instructor/Noblesse Oblige set. Plus she solves a very common issue found in Hu Tao teams. Hu Tao can’t effectively apply Pyro before her skill and burst. This is because switching characters during her skill ends her Pyro infusion, while casting her burst outside of her skill is simply a damage loss. But there needs to be a Pyro aura on the opponent so that the Anemo unit can swirl Pyro. Amber’s easy access to Pyro application from both her charged attacks and burst makes her a perfect candidate for solving this issue. And by swirling Pyro, the Anemo unit can effectively buff Hu Tao’s Pyro damage through the 4pc. Viridescent Venerer set (4VV). 4VV passive decreases the opponent’s elemental resistance to the swirled element. Amber’s burst has really quick Pyro application. It can effectively apply up to 7 instances of Pyro within 2 seconds. This is especially useful for shield-breaking, especially against Cryo shields.
Weaknesses
Amber deals underwhelming damage in all her abilities. She definitely has a lot of DPS playstyle options – namely, as a Burst DPS, Physical DPS, and Main DPS. However, her damage output significantly falls behind other DPS units that fill the same role. Because of this, a DPS Amber build is never recommended. There are much better DPS units with higher DPS outputs and less clunky playstyles. Aside from being a DPS, Amber is also a viable support – but she does lack a lot of utility. Her main supporting abilities come from her weapon (Elegy for the End) and artifact sets (4pc. Instructor/Noblesse Oblige) – that’s mostly it. Her skill’s taunt is also a form of utility, but it’s generally unreliable. It has a very small AOE for taunting opponents. Plus it’s pretty common for it to just not work entirely. Additionally, one of Amber’s utilities is locked behind her 6th constellation – which is harder to obtain than most character constellations. Amber is a standard character. This means that you can only get her constellations from the standard banner or from the Starglitter Exchange Shop once every 6 months. Basically, her constellations are harder to obtain. Plus a good chunk of her utility and extra abilities are locked behind constellations – thus making it more difficult to upgrade her.
Are Amber’s Constellations Good?
Amber has good constellations that serve as quality-of-life, utility, and damage buffs. So it’s highly recommended to get her constellations if you’re especially fond of playing Amber. Meta-wise, her constellations are still worth getting only because this brings you closer to C6. This provides an additional buffing utility that benefits Hu Tao. Otherwise, Amber’s constellations are never worth getting if you don’t really play her. There isn’t a constellation that significantly buffs her as a character – they mainly just make her better at what she already does.
C1: One Arrow to Rule Them All
Fires 2 arrows per aimed shot. The second arrow deals 20% of the first arrow’s damage. This is only relevant for a DPS build that uses Amber’s charged attacks. In this scenario, it’s a sizable damage gain.
C2: Bunny Triggered
Hitting Baron Bunny’s foot with a fully-charged attack manually detonates it. The explosion triggered through manual detonation deals 200% additional damage. This is a great constellation for a DPS Amber – it provides a big increase in damage. C2 is also often used for damage showcases where Baron Bunny can deal one massive instance of damage upon manual detonation.
C3: It Burns
Increases her elemental burst talent level by 3. This directly buffs her burst damage by a small margin. It’s an overall nice constellation to have for a DPS Amber.
C4: It’s Not Just Any Doll…
Decreases her skill cooldown by 20% and adds 1 additional skill charge. This retroactively makes C2 an even better constellation. This is also a big damage gain for DPS Amber.
C5: It’s Baron Bunny!
Increases her elemental skill talent level by 3. This buffs the damage multipliers of Baron Bunny’s explosion. It also retroactively buffs her C2 and C4 – it’s a good constellation.
C6: Wildfire
Amber’s burst increases all party members’ movement speed and ATK by 15% for 10s. As a support, this is Amber’s best constellation. It effectively lets Hu Tao perform more attack combos and directly deal more damage.
