HSR's 4 Team Archetypes: Crit, Break, Follow-Up, DoT — How Each One Works
30-second summary: HSR has 4 common team archetypes, sorted by HOW damage is dealt rather than by Element or Path. Crit: a main DPS scaling off Crit Rate/Crit DMG, the simplest and most consistent. Break/Super Break: stacking Break Effect to drain enemy Toughness and deal Break damage tied to Element, entirely separate from ATK.
Follow-Up Attack (FUA): a character auto-attacks outside its own turn when triggered by teammates, independent of Speed turn order. DoT (Damage over Time): applying effects like Burn/Shock/Bleed and letting them tick damage every turn without needing a complex combo. Knowing which archetype a team is running determines which Relics and main stats to chase, instead of diluting power with a mismatched mix. (official in-game figures.)
Crit: the simplest, most consistent archetype to start with
A Crit team revolves around a main DPS dealing big hits scaled off Crit Rate and Crit DMG — the higher these two stats climb (via Relics, Light Cones, teammate buffs), the more consistently average damage per hit rises, with no complex setup required. This is the easiest archetype for new players to understand since it doesn't depend on secondary mechanics (Break, Follow-Up triggers, etc.) — just a hard-hitting Destruction/Hunt/Erudition-type DPS with a support team providing buffs/shields/healing clears most early-to-mid game content.
Break / Super Break: damage decoupled from ATK
Every enemy has a Toughness bar — hitting its Weakness Element drains it, and it hits zero the enemy gets Broken (staggered, taking one instance of Break damage tied to whichever Element broke it). A Break team optimizes Break Effect instead of ATK/Crit, since Break damage uses its own formula that's largely independent of a character's ATK. Super Break is the advanced variant: apply DoT effects first to stack an extra amplified layer of Break damage on top when the break lands — works well when the team already has a DPS inflicting debuffs.
This archetype is strong partly because it sidesteps normal dodge/damage-reduction mechanics that bosses use against regular hits (those mostly don't apply to Break damage).
Follow-Up Attack: hits outside the turn order, less Speed-dependent
Some characters (usually Hunt or Nihility Path) automatically fire off an extra attack the instant a trigger condition happens — a teammate attacking, an enemy getting debuffed, or an enemy's own turn starting — without waiting for their own turn based on Speed. Since Follow-Up hits fire regardless of turn order, this archetype cares less about grinding extremely high Speed on one character, and instead needs teammates who trigger frequently (many small hits, constant debuffs) to maximize how many Follow-Ups go off in a fight.
DoT: apply the effect, then let it tick on its own
A DoT team applies time-based damage debuffs (Burn from Fire, Shock from Lightning, Bleed from Physical, Wind Shear from Wind, and so on) onto enemies, and those effects then tick damage steadily every turn without needing further direct attacks. The upside is less complex per-turn setup and steady damage throughout a fight, even if the main DPS gets crowd-controlled or misses a turn; the downside is it takes several turns for the effects to reach peak damage, making it weaker on stages with very short turn limits compared to a Crit or Break team's instant burst.
FAQ
How do I know which archetype a character belongs to?
Read the character's skills and Traces closely: buffs to Crit Rate/Crit DMG mean Crit, buffs to Break Effect or bonus damage on breaking Toughness mean Break, wording about an extra attack outside the turn means Follow-Up, and inflicting Burn/Shock/Bleed/Wind Shear over several turns means DoT. A character can sometimes belong to more than one archetype at once.
Can I mix multiple archetypes in one team?
You can, but it's usually weaker than committing fully to one archetype, since the Relics/stats optimized for one (say, Break Effect) usually don't help another (say, Crit) — mixing tends to leave neither archetype hitting its optimal damage threshold. The more common approach is letting one archetype be the main damage axis, with the rest of the team purely supporting (buffs/shields/healing) rather than trying to carry damage via a different archetype.
Which archetype is easiest for a new player?
Crit is usually the easiest since the mechanic is intuitive (hit harder as two stats go up) and doesn't require understanding extra sub-rules like Break or Follow-Up. It's a good archetype to start with before branching into Break or DoT once you're comfortable with the game's rhythm and have the right characters/Relics.
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