Natlan v1 Tester Review 

New Natlan monster

Some people might say getting hit by the Natlan monsters doesn’t hurt, but when I got hit, it was really painful.

There's a separate testing domain from the Spiral Abyss where you can encounter many new monsters at Abyss-level difficulty, and they all hit extremely hard. 

I'd test to Kinich using Baizhu or Dehya, and also compare him with Alhaitham. 

When I took Alhaitham in, he got obliterated by the Yumkasaur Mountain Lord's breath attack in one shot, which is made me laugh. 

I can't remember the exact name, but there’s this blue animal-like monster that can one-shot high HP characters with Zhongli’s shield if you don’t counter pattern.

New Natlan Map

Since I’ve played a lot of console games, the new map feels very familiar. 

It’s not boring, but rather comforting in it's familiarity. 

The cliffs are extremely high, probably because you can use Sauri to hook onto them. 

I transformed and fell into the water, but found out that Sauri can't swim and died right away. 

Luckily, you revert to your character when Sauri dies, so it’s not a big deal.

Mualani

From my experience, even at C0R1, Mualani can sometimes deliver damage comparable to a C2 Arlecchino. 

Players who haven’t invested much might still be surprised by her damage with a forge weapon from Natlan.

It’s reminiscent of when I first saw C0 Navia’s damage. 

However, despite the visible high damage, I often felt she was weaker than expected. 

For instance, against single bosses, it takes too long to stack her buffs. 

If a boss attack cancels Mualani's resistance, the Nightsoul gauge depletes, and you’re left using only one Shark Missile before the next cycle.

Mualani shines against groups of 3 to 5 enemies, but if they aren’t close together, it takes a long time to build up stacks. 

Kazuha can group enemies to help with this, but without someone to gather enemies or if they are too far apart, it can be tedious.

The visual effects and motion are new and fresh, but the overall fun is subjective. 

Testing server issues might affect the experience, but once sound effects are added, especially for the Shark Missile, it should enhance the fun.

There are some control issues and bugs. If you get hit while on the shark, you can get stuck in the ground until you die. 

Auto-aim can also be problematic. If you’re trying to target a specific enemy, the closest one might get hit instead.

Mualani is specialized for vaporize reactions. 

Her skills almost scream for it, and while she’s good as a mono hydro team, but not using vaporize feels like a waste. 

You can pair her with Kazuha, Xiangling, and Bennett but Bennett's buffs doesn't mean much when you paired with these guys but it's not a big deal and she's still a strong

However, don’t think of Mualani as a hydro unit for breaking fire shields or specific boss patterns. 

For example, to bring down the new monster, Qucusaur Tyrant you need to break its pyro shield, which Malani isn’t great at, 

so you’ll probably need Furina and Yelan in the team as well. 

Her basic attacks aren't reliable for breaking fire shields either.

For field exploration, she’s okay, but if you have C1 Yelan, there’s no need to pull her specifically for that. 

Kinich, on the other hand, offers a unique position for field Exploration.

Kinich

At C0R1, Kinich’s damage is decent but personally not satisfying. 

It feels like the supporting characters are doing a lot of the work. Mualani never made me feel that way. 

Kinich team's clear times are fast, and the damage looks good, but I still question if the sub-DPS characters are carrying the team? 

In a burning team, you might wonder if Emily is essential? 

She’s nice to have, but you can handle with Nahida or Baizhu.

For a smooth experience, you'll need to use two dendro characters. 

While Furina works well in a burning team, it's frustrating not to have a perfect pyro sub-DPS. 

Could Mavuika fill this role?

Adding Bennett to the team raises questions. 

He works fine against stationary enemies, but seeing Consecrated Beast in Abyss 12-floor makes me wonder. 

Single targets are great, grouped enemies are good, but spread-out enemies are not.

For field use, Kinich can ascend high places easily in open spaces but struggles in confined areas where the hook might miss. 

The long press for aim defaults to moving forward, making it tough to ascend narrow spaces. 

Using the hook to climb small ledges is particularly difficult. However, E can be activated mid-air, and this works outside of Natlan too.