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Overview
Aalto is a 4★ gunslinger of the Aero element, released as part of the version 1.0 roster of characters during the simpler times when a Forte Circuit description didn’t take four paragraphs of text and a PhD in Kurology to decipher what it does. He is introduced alongside

Starting off with Aalto’s Resonance Skill, Shift Trick spawns a Mist Avatar decoy that draws enemy aggression towards itself for 8 seconds. Funnily enough, it’s not the decoy that is the source of the taunt effect, but rather Aalto himself at the moment of casting the skill, meaning at great enough distance, the Mist Avatar can fail to provoke the enemies. This is usually only a concern in the overworld though, as the Tower of Adversity arena is generally too small and enemies appear too close for it to happen by accident.
Shift Trick will also spawn an instance of Mist (Basic Attack 4 also spawns one, but with a shorter duration), which can then be interacted with via his Forte. Whenever Aalto’s shots pass through Mist, Aalto gains a stack of Mist Drop, holding up to 6 of them at a time. The shots only count when hitting a living entity, however, so hitting boxes won’t grant any stacks.
Passing through the Mist with a dash or dodge turns Aalto into a cloud of mist for up to two seconds and causes his Mist Drop stacks to be rapidly consumed over one second. Upon leaving his mist form, Aalto will release a Mist Bullet for every stack consumed. Those are the same projectiles as the ones released by his Resonance Skill, though these ones take their damage multiplier from his Forte Circuit node instead.
What the game does not tell you, however, is that each attack in the chain only counts once per Mist for the purpose of gathering the stacks, meaning that you cannot abuse his Forte with mid-air attacks. Bummer. But in return, Basic Attack 5 gathers two stacks instead, so one chain is still enough to fill his Forte bar. Additionally, the game doesn’t list it anywhere, but Mist created with Shift Trick lasts 4 seconds - half of the duration of Mist Avatar.
Next, the Resonance Liberation. Upon cast, (besides dealing damage of course) Aalto generates the Gate of Quandary in front of himself for 10 seconds - a moderately wide wall of fog that increases the damage of attacks passing through it. In practice, this amounts to just conditionally increasing Aalto’s ATK bonus by 10%, but free damage is free damage.
Contrary to what logic and the
Finally, there are two things that need a special mention. Firstly, Aalto’s Inherent Skills. To say they are almost worthless is putting it lightly, as they offer extremely little combat benefit since pistoleers generally don’t use their charged attacks (Perfect Performance) and stamina management tends to be of little issue (Mid-Game Break) as long as you’re not dashing like a maniac.
Secondly, Aalto’s Resonance Chain sequences. While they’re generally different flavours of “whatever,” Resonance 3 stands as a highlight of the chain, being able to single-handedly boost Aalto’s damage output by up to 77% (!). This doesn’t always prove better than just buffing your main DPS harder by effects such as
Aalto has been dealt a bad hand to play, but it’s not entirely the issue of his kit design. Part of the reason seemingly everyone tends to write him off is also
Pros
- Fairly decent damage output for a 4★ character
- Moderately quick and low-nonsense ability rotation
- Strong Outro that, like all generic Element Amplify effects, will continue to be useful regardless of supported character’s gimmick
- Uniquely features a taunt ability that, while a little clunky, offers some extra survivability to the team
Cons
- Limited roster of characters he can effectively support as of version 1.4
- Inherent Skills about as useful as a DVD rewinder
- Needs Resonance 3 to really start popping off
Aalto Rotations
Rotations should always be taken with a grain of salt. Enemies are NOT sandbags and WILL ATTACK YOU. Several factors such as Parries, Dodge Counters, and being knocked back will affect how you approach the rest of your rotation.
Forte Circuit Loop
This is Aalto’s primary skill rotation, used in the sub-DPS role. When executing it, it’s important to allow for all Mist Drops generated by his Forte to be consumed, as cancelling the dash too early will result in less Concerto Energy generated and a delay before you can swap Aalto out. A slightly less important (but still worth the mention) is Aalto’s position after dashing the Mist he generates. After dashing through, remember to loop back to not pass through his Gate of Quandary and miss out on the damage buff.
• Intro • Resonance Liberation • Resonance Skill • Basic Attack 1 • Basic Attack 2 • Basic Attack 3 • Basic Attack 4 • Basic Attack 5 • Dash through the Mist • Basic Attack 3 • Basic Attack 4 • Basic Attack 5 • Echo (Impermanence Heron) • Outro |
Parry Windows
As a pistoleer, Aalto is unable to parry with any of his attacks or skills. Note that a successful dodge will chain into Basic Attack 5.
Character Synergies
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There are only so many ways to say “dealing damage is good, dealing more damage is better”. All three premier supports will boost Aalto’s damage output in slightly different ways when put in the same team together with her. | ||
Buffs | ||
Everyone: • 15% Team-wide All DMG Amplify • Rejuvenating Glow and Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... Verina: • 20% Team-wide ATK Bonus Shorekeeper: • 5%~12.5% Team-wide Crit Rate Bonus • 10%~25% Team-wide Crit DMG Bonus • Stagger breakout Baizhi: • 15% Team-wide ATK Bonus |
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The less obvious choice of a support target, primarily because Jianxin usually isn’t cast in the main DPS role. Even so, Aalto’s Aero DMG Amplify effect won’t be wasted on her as at the end of the day, all of her attacks are still of Aero element. | ||
Buffs | ||
• Gather • Shields • 38% Resonance Liberation DMG Amplify |
Team Comps
As sub-DPS
As main DPS
Skill Priority
- Basic Attack
- Resonance Skill
- Forte Circuit
- Resonance Liberation
- Intro Skill
Aalto’s damage contribution is unusually evenly split between his Basic Attack, Resonance Skill and Forte Circuit, with each node contributing about a quarter of the rotation’s total damage. However, this changes upon reaching Resonance 3, which scales directly from the damage dealt by Aalto’s basic attacks and can dramatically boost Aalto’s damage output. As such, the Basic Attack node should take priority over the Resonance Skill and Forte Circuit.
Weapons
Aalto’s weapon choices look about the same as they did in version 1.0, with
In the 4★ department, things are rather stale.
If none of these options are available,
Weapon Name | Comparison | Notes |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 100% | The generic 5★ handguns quite unsurprisingly find themselves at the top of the game for Aalto and all other pistoleers in the game as of version 1.4 due to being the only 5★ pistols in the game. High base ATK, crit rate secondary stat, some energy regen and attack bonus for the next character swapped in - everything a sub-DPS would want in a compact, ice-blue package. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 81.68% (Rank 5: 84.43%) | The single best choice for a budget stat stick pair of pistols in the game, featuring high base ATK that’s further increased by their secondary stat and active effect. The extra Resonance Energy provided with the latter also helps maintain team rotation consistency. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 78.14% ~ 81.30% (Rank 5: 78.72% ~ 85.02%) | A curious case of pistols that require multiple dodges to harness their full benefit. In practice, this means delaying the rotation for a rather small benefit before reaching rank 5. Better used as a stat stick if Relativistic Jet is unavailable. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 78.06% (Rank 5: 81.22%) | A fancier set of handguns exclusive to the battlepass. A decently strong alternative to the other listed handguns, although as far as Aalto is concerned, not scaling with ranks as well as one would wish them to. Good enough as stat sticks, but not much more. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 76.92% (Rank 5: 77.17%) | Another flavour of stat stick, this time featuring an active bonus with ramp-up time long enough to catch Aalto leaving just as it kicks in. Not a great choice for a sub-DPS job overall, but they certainly look fancy. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 70.50% | Reasonable alternative if no other offensive options are available. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 69.65% (Rank 5: 71.98%) | A pretty good set of pistols that for Aalto specifically are just Pistols of Night in a different colour due to buffing only his Resonance Skill damage with their active skill. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 67.35% | Undying Flame Lite. Same active bonus, 3★ rarity, less base stats and wooden finish. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 65.79% | An overall terrible pair of handguns that in practice end up making you play without an active effect while also providing much less ATK than Pistols of Night. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 64.68% | Handguns so sad and bottom-of-the-barrel that even their active skill’s name lies to you, as the journey to the nearest recycle bin is pretty short. About 50 base ATK short of being serviceable. Best fed to a better weapon and forgotten about. |
Loading... If you see this for too long, please disable AdBlock and try to reload the page... | 59.84% | A utility-focused pair of handguns that enable faster rotations for certain characters by granting them more Concerto energy. At rank 2 and above, they cut one basic attack from Aalto’s ability rotation, which isn’t enough to make a substantial enough difference to justify annihilating his individual damage contribution. |
Echoes
Sonata effects
Set Effect | Comparison | Notes |
Moonlit Clouds 5p | N/A | The primary choice of an active set for Aalto, used to buff the main DPS units on Outro with extra ATK. Impossible to stack with itself if multiple characters are using it. |
Sierra Gale 5p | N/A | The less orthodox set for when you really want to have Aalto be the main DPS of the team. Provides a hefty amount of Aero% damage bonus tied to Aalto using his Intro, which equals to about a 23.26% individual damage increase at the cost of consciously handicapping your team. |
Active Echo Recommendation
Moonlit Clouds:
Moonlit Clouds:
Moonlit Clouds:
Sierra Gale:
Main stats
Cost | Stat |
4 | Critical Rate % / Critical DMG % |
3 | Aero % / Energy Regen % |
3 | Aero % |
1 | ATK % |
1 | ATK % |
When selecting your 4-Cost Echo main stat, be mindful of your equipped weapon’s secondary stat. Pistols with innate critical chance bonus will prefer Critical DMG%, while the rest will prefer Critical Rate%.
For 3-Cost Echoes, the preferable setup for Aalto, regardless of the weapon used, is that of double Aero%, in major part due to relative overabundance of ATK% buffs from other sources. While he can use Aero% + ER% instead, it should be treated mainly as a placeholder set so as to not compromise his damage output more than necessary.
Sub stats priority
Sub Stat Priority |
Energy Regeneration (until 40%) > Crit Rate = Crit DMG > ATK% > Flat ATK > Basic Attack DMG > Resonance Skill DMG = Resonance Liberation DMG |
Although 40% Energy Regeneration bonus should more than suffice, if your team composition has Aalto lag with his Resonance Liberation, you may prefer to increase the bonus to 50% or higher.