Last updated: August 9, 2026 · NTE combat mechanics
NTE has six esper elements and eight esper effects. Six of those effects fire between two neighbouring elements; the last two need three elements on the team. Which pair produces which effect is settled knowledge, and our interactive Esper Cycle reaction wheel covers it.
What no guide covers is the arithmetic. Five of the eight effects deal or amplify damage, and every one of them scales off a stat most players treat as a rounding error. Below is what each effect is actually worth.
BlossomScales with CI
ScorchScales with CI
NovaScales with CI
StainScales with CIHexedScales with CIRemoraNo CI scalingCharge and Discord need three elements and neither scales with Cycle Intensity.
The Cycle Intensity Multiplier
One multiplier drives Blossom, Scorch and Nova alike. It is linear, it does not taper, and it is the single highest-leverage stat for a cycle-damage team.
Cycle Intensity multiplier = 1 + (Cycle Intensity ÷ 600)
Cycle Intensity comes from console main stats and sub stats.
| Cycle Intensity | Multiplier | Damage gain |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1.00 | — |
| 108 | 1.18 | +18% |
| 144 | 1.24 | +24% |
| 162 | 1.27 | +27% |
| 300 | 1.50 | +50% |
| 360 | 1.60 | +60% |
Note what this multiplier does not touch: Remora, Charge and Discord are unaffected by Cycle Intensity entirely. Stain and Hexed scale on a different curve, covered further down.
Who Is the Triggerer
This is the part every other guide gets wrong or skips. Adjacency decides which reaction fires. A separate rule decides whose numbers it uses, and it is neither "the higher level" nor "the higher Cycle Intensity".
Triggerer = higher of (level multiplier × Cycle Intensity multiplier)
Applies to Blossom, Scorch and Nova. Stain and Hexed resolve differently.
The level multiplier is the effect's base damage at that character's level. Worked through:
Zero at level 80 with 144 Cycle Intensity, against Jiuyuan at level 70 with 360 Cycle Intensity:
- Zero: 9,000 × 1.24 = 11,160
- Jiuyuan: 7,000 × 1.60 = 11,200 ← triggerer
Ten levels behind, Jiuyuan still wins on Cycle Intensity. Raise Zero to 162 Cycle Intensity and his product becomes 11,430, which flips it back. If the two products tie, the character being switched in is the triggerer.
This matters well beyond bragging rights. The triggerer supplies the damage element, the crit damage, and any defence or resistance ignore. A Blossom triggered by Zero running the Lost Radiance 4-piece carries his 25% defence ignore into every Vita Pistil for the 20 seconds after his Ultimate.
Blossom
Vita Pistils deal damage of the triggerer's element. Zero triggering means Cosmos damage; Jiuyuan triggering means Anima damage, against the same enemy from the same swap.
Blossom triggering in NTE, with the Vita Pistil damage number on screen
Vita Pistil damage = level multiplier × CI multiplier × DEF multiplier × RES multiplier
| Effect | Base at Lv.80 | Damage type |
|---|---|---|
| Blossom per Vita Pistil | 9,000 | Triggerer's element |
| Scorch per damage instance | 2,700 | Triggerer's element |
| Nova per detonation | 45,000 | Mental, always |
A level 80 triggerer with 300 Cycle Intensity therefore starts from 13,500 per Pistil before defence and resistance. For the practical rotation that keeps Blossom firing, Raddish has a dedicated breakdown in NTE Perfect Blossom Rotation Guide.
Scorch
Scorch runs for 15 seconds and is the only esper cycle effect that is a damage-over-time effect. That earns it a crit multiplier the others do not have.
Scorch applied to an enemy in NTE
Scorch damage = level multiplier × CI multiplier × crit multiplier × DEF × RES
Like every DOT in NTE, Scorch has a fixed 50% CRIT Rate. The CRIT DMG it uses is the triggerer's. A triggerer with 150% CRIT DMG gives an average crit multiplier of 1.75; one with 100% gives 1.5. Adding CRIT Rate to a Scorch triggerer does nothing for the Scorch itself.
Why guides tell you to keep Cycle Intensity off Sakiri.
In a Lacrimosa and Sakiri pairing, you want Lacrimosa to win the triggerer check. Her Diabolos 4-piece ignores 12% of enemy Chaos resistance, rising to 24% for 20 seconds after she triggers a Nova or Scorch reaction. That resistance ignore only reaches Scorch if Lacrimosa is the triggerer, and it is worth more than anything Sakiri gains by winning the check herself.
If Sakiri is on the team, her Scorch enhancement applies as an independent multiplier: 1.25 at base, rising by 0.25 for each additional type of DOT effect on the target, capped at 2.
Reapplying Scorch to a target already burning does not stack it. The new application replaces the old one and refreshes the duration. From the Version 1.3 livestream, Zankou's Scorch enhancement appears to let Scorch stack while she is on the team, which would be a substantial change to how the effect is valued.
Nova
Nova always deals Mental damage, whoever triggers it, and Mental damage bonus from consoles does not apply to it. Mental damage ignores enemy defence outright, so the defence multiplier drops out of the formula entirely.
Nova detonating on an enemy in NTE
Nova damage = level multiplier × CI multiplier × RES multiplier
No defence term: Mental damage ignores enemy DEF.
At level 80 the base is 45,000 per detonation, the largest single number of any esper effect. Nova lasts 5 seconds before it goes off.
Reapplying Nova depends on the triggerer.
- · Different triggerer: both instances run at once and detonate on their own timers.
- · Same triggerer: the earlier Nova detonates immediately when the new one lands.
Stain
Stain does not deal damage. For 12 seconds it raises the Lakshana and Psyche damage enemies take, starting at 20% more, as an independent multiplier of 1.2. Cycle Intensity pushes it higher on a curve that flattens rather than a straight line.
Stain applied to an enemy in NTE
Stain multiplier = 1.2 × [ 1 + (0.2 × CI) ÷ (CI + 180) ]
Asymptotic: the multiplier approaches 1.44 and never reaches it.
With 108 Cycle Intensity the multiplier is 1.29, so enemies take 29% more of that damage type. The game's own tooltip shows 7.5% for the same character, which confuses people constantly. Both are right: 1.29 ÷ 1.2 = 1.075, so the tooltip is reporting the gain relative to the 1.2 base, not the total.
Stain picks its triggerer differently. Blossom, Scorch and Nova lock the triggerer at the moment of activation. Stain does not: for its whole duration, the triggerer is whoever is currently dealing damage, and their Cycle Intensity only moves their own damage type. Stack Cycle Intensity on a Psyche support in a Lakshana carry team and the carry's damage does not move at all.
Hexed
Hexed follow-up damage triggering in NTE
Hexed is Stain's cousin, and the difference is worth understanding. Stain increases the damage number you already deal. Hexed adds a separate follow-up hit worth 20% of the original at base, on Anima and Incantation damage, for 12 seconds.
It scales with the triggerer's Cycle Intensity, and it inherits Stain's triggerer rule exactly: whoever is dealing the damage at that instant is the triggerer, and their Cycle Intensity only affects their own damage type.
The practical consequence is the same as Stain's. In an Anima carry team, Cycle Intensity belongs on the carry, not on the Incantation partner.
Remora, Charge and Discord
The three effects that deal no damage. None of them scales with Cycle Intensity, which makes them the cheapest effects in the game to run and the easiest to build around.
Remora
Remora slowing an enemy in NTE
Cuts enemy attack and movement speed. The reduction is fixed, decays over time, and returns less each time it is reapplied, so passives that spam it (Skia's, for instance) hit diminishing returns fast. Treat Remora as a key that opens Charge and certain passives, not as a damage lever.
Charge
Needs three elements, and the trigger condition is stricter than it looks: Vita Pistils have to hit an enemy that is currently affected by Remora. Both windows must overlap, so if either has lapsed nothing fires. Against enemies that spawn in waves this is unreliable by design, because Remora leaves with the enemies that die.
Discord
Discord triggering off Scorch and Nova in NTE
Needs a target carrying both Scorch and Nova. Since Scorch lasts 15 seconds and Nova only 5, apply Scorch first and you get a comfortable window to land Nova inside it.
Discord deducts a percentage of the target's Break bar, and that percentage genuinely varies between Overworld, Beyond the Rails and individual enemies, so no single figure is honest. Daffodill on the team increases the deduction, most likely because her Discord enhancement lowers the enemy's maximum Break value. The key point: Discord does not raise the Break damage you deal once the white bar is empty, it shortens the time to empty it. The more Break damage your team already produces, the more Discord is worth.
What This Means for Your Build
- Cycle Intensity is linear on Blossom, Scorch and Nova. Every 6 points is 1% more reaction damage, with no soft cap.
- Put Cycle Intensity where the reaction should resolve. Winning the triggerer check hands that character's element, CRIT DMG and resistance ignore to the effect.
- For Stain and Hexed, Cycle Intensity belongs on your damage dealer, never the support. It only ever moves the holder's own damage type.
- CRIT Rate does nothing for Scorch. Its 50% is fixed; only the triggerer's CRIT DMG moves the number.
- Skip Cycle Intensity entirely on a Remora, Charge or Discord enabler. Those three ignore the stat.
Which characters can trigger each reaction is on our every character that can trigger each reaction page.
Full Video Breakdown
Raddish walks through every formula on screen, including the full level multiplier tables from level 1 to 80 that are too large to print here.
Video by Beware the Raddish
Part 1 of the series covers how damage is calculated in NTE overall, plus DOT, Break and Mental damage, all of which this article assumes: How Damage is Calculated in NTE.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does Cycle Intensity increase esper cycle damage in NTE?
For Blossom, Scorch and Nova, the Cycle Intensity multiplier is 1 + (Cycle Intensity / 600). At 300 Cycle Intensity the multiplier is 1.5, so the effect deals 50% more damage. At 360 it is 1.6. Cycle Intensity has no effect at all on Remora, Charge or Discord.
Which character is the triggerer of an esper cycle?
For Blossom, Scorch and Nova, multiply each character's level multiplier by their Cycle Intensity multiplier. The higher product is the triggerer, and the reaction then uses that character's element, crit damage and defence-ignore effects. It is not simply the higher level, nor simply the higher Cycle Intensity. If the two products are equal, the character being switched in is the triggerer.
How much damage does Blossom do in NTE?
At character level 80 the base damage per Vita Pistil is 9,000, before the Cycle Intensity multiplier, defence and resistance are applied. A triggerer at level 80 with 300 Cycle Intensity therefore starts from 13,500 per Pistil.
Does Scorch crit in NTE?
Yes. Scorch is the only esper cycle effect that is a damage-over-time effect, and like every DOT in NTE it uses a fixed 50% CRIT Rate. The crit damage value it uses is the triggerer's, so a triggerer with 150% CRIT DMG gives Scorch an average crit multiplier of 1.75.
Does stacking Cycle Intensity on a support increase Stain damage?
Not for your carry. Stain and Hexed resolve differently from the other effects: the triggerer is whoever is dealing damage at that moment, and their Cycle Intensity only affects their own damage type. Putting Cycle Intensity on a Psyche support in a Lakshana team does nothing for the Lakshana damage the carry deals.
What does Discord actually do?
Discord deducts a percentage of the target's Break bar. The exact percentage varies by enemy and by game mode, so there is no single value. It does not increase the Break damage you deal once the white bar is empty; it shortens the time it takes to empty it, which makes it worth more the more Break damage your team already does.