Complete Hotori Guide for Neverness to Everness: Builds, Arcs, Consoles, Teams and Awakening Priority

A powerful ultimate attack, time stop, and a boost to the team’s overall damage output, Hotori is definitely not your run-of-the-mill character. This S-rank Cosmos user from Neverness to Everness is both a buffer and a powerful unit. Yes, she won’t appear in the Scarborough Fair banner right away—you’ll encounter her first in the story. But once you do, be prepared to navigate arcs, consoles, and team synergies.

How to get Hotori in Neverness to Everness and the banner release date?

She’s the fearless leader of the Eibon Antiques store. Hotori appears in the game quite frequently, but becomes playable only after Nunally’s debut banner is replaced with the Misty Tipsy Style banner—as part of the same Scarborough Fair mechanic. Finally, you’ll have another powerful Cosmos user on your team. And there’s a catch.

Overview of Hotori’s combat mechanics and character development basics

On the battlefield, Hotori uses Solid-type arcs. Her main strength is buffing her allies and dealing massive bursts of damage through combat skills. As she levels up, additional multipliers are unlocked. The biggest gains come from Misdirection and her Ultimate. The latter can stop time—while enemies freeze, you continue to methodically destroy them. What’s not to love about her support?

By the way, get ready to farm banners. Hotori’s chances aren’t exactly easy, but with luck, she’ll pay off handsomely.

A detailed breakdown of Hotori’s abilities and skill rotation

Let’s start with the basics. Her basic attack, Misty Moon Style, consists of five consecutive slashes with her katana umbrella, each dealing Cosmos damage. But that’s not the point. Hotori gains an Unclosed Clock on the battlefield—its hand slowly spins clockwise, accumulating energy. It can store up to 120 energy. Hold down your basic attack? Get a forward dash with an area-of-effect strike (4 Cosmos damage). And if you attack in the air and dive down, the damage increases to 200% depending on the height of the fall. Yes, the higher, the more painful.

The skill “Repetition of the Present” consumes 60 Clock energy and activates if it has at least 60. It deals 7 Cosmos damage in an area. And here’s where the fun begins: for the next 5 seconds, Hotori records her allies’ support and redirection skills (up to 3 instances per use, no more than once per character). While recording, the clock hand rewinds. If the recording ends early, the rewind continues for a fixed amount.

The ultimate ability, “Tide of Peace,” is what all this was all about. Fully charged clock → 10 points of Cosmos area damage, draws a katana from the umbrella handle, and switches attack modes. Time slows almost to a standstill, and switching characters is impossible. However, Hotori removes all negative time control effects from herself and becomes immune to them. Plays all previously recorded attacks (one at a time, then clears the recording). While time is stopped, the clock hand rewinds, and katana strikes build a combo—each successive strike is stronger. Ten combos—and the final blow.

The support skill “Shopkeeper’s Authority” is simpler: throws an umbrella, dealing one point of Cosmos area damage. But there are also some upgrades:

• Ghost Orchid Crest — “Flower” prevents “Vita Bud” attacks from being stopped while time is stopped.
• All Treasures Under the Sky — the ultimate’s final damage multiplier is increased by 100%.

Seriously, without these upgrades the ult loses a lot of its potential.

How to choose the best free weapon for Hotori?

Which golden weapon should I choose for Hotori?

“March Beyond Time” is a definite top pick. It grants +16% attack. Using Misdirection sends the user into the Wasteland and clears the current Void Time. While there, allies gain a stack of Void Time (maximum 3 charges) each time they use Misdirection or a Support Skill. Activated your Ultimate in the Wasteland? Exit and burn all your stacks: your Ultimate’s critical damage is increased by 24%, plus an additional 8% for each stack. With three stacks, you also get a 12% defense penalty for 3 seconds.

The best budget arc for F2P players

“Forgotten” is simpler, but still effective: when the owner’s HP is above 50%, attack is increased by 20%; when below, defense is increased by 20%. It’s not the most elegant option, but it’ll do if you’re short on resources.

The optimal console and the best modules for the build

Cartridge: “Lost Radiance”

• 2 epic items → +10% Cosmos damage
• 4 legendary items → ignore 25% of enemy defense for 20 seconds after the owner’s ultimate

For modules, take Cosmos’ damage boost, critical chance, and critical damage. Everything else is unimportant.

The best squad builds and character synergies with Hotori

The strongest squad is Blossom with Cosmos and Anima

Here, everything is built on the combination of Cosmos and Anima damage—this is how you launch those “Vita Buds” at enemies. The build turned out to be reliable. It’s based on Esper Zero (your protagonist, who consistently hits Cosmos in any situation). Add Nunally (if you picked her up at the previous Scarborough Fair banner) and Juyuan (available from a permanent banner or a free S-rank pick). It’s a solid combination. Typically, Hotori serves as a buffer here, but with skill upgrades, she can also dish out damage.

Rupture Build for Quick Shield Breakdown

Do you prefer a tactic that involves quickly pushing enemies? Then the Rupture build is your choice. Daffodil is the key figure. At Hotori’s debut (May 2026), she’s the only Chaos damage user in the game. Sakiri brings up Incantation and provides support for the team. And Aurelia is the main damage dealer on the field. The entire team works to break through the enemy’s defenses as quickly as possible, and then Hotori finishes off vulnerable targets with her ultimate. The synergy is vicious, if you think about it.

An effective free team for beginners

Spent all your Annulites on knocking out Hotori and have no more left for normal Espers? It happens. Take Esper Zero (direct Cosmos damage), Mint (provides Anima damage to cover the Blossom mechanic), and Aurelia as a versatile soldier—she’ll provide backup while your main damage dealer rests. It’s far from top-tier, but for a free build, it’s a viable option. By the way, most guides put Hotori as a pure support, but don’t jump to conclusions. If you level up her skills to enhance Misdirection and her ultimate, she’ll also dish out decent damage. It all comes down to what characters you already have in your roster and how well they work with her Cosmos mechanic.

Hotori’s Awakening Leveling Priority and Resonance Effects

Hotori is an S-rank character with a limited banner in NTE. Getting her full Resonance (all six awakenings) is difficult—the banners disappear and return indefinitely. So, prioritizing her leveling is a matter of survival and damage output. Let’s dot the i’s.

Awakening Flourish for Maximizing Ultimate Attack Damage

Grants Hotori +12% damage during Time Stop for each recorded attack from a Support or Misdirection skill. A maximum of three recordings results in a total of 36%.

Hotori’s Ultimate is her primary damage dealer, and it hits during Time Stop. So, it’s the number one awakening without a doubt.
Additionally, Time Stop is Hotori’s key mechanic. The more often you trigger it through Supports and Misdirections, the higher the numbers.

Awakening All-Seeing for quickly killing bosses

When Hotori is on the field and there’s only one enemy, the entire team gains +15% damage to that target. This effect only ends if Hotori is defeated.

In boss fights, she’s a true asset. Even without her own damage output, she turns the team into a single-target killing machine. Second priority.

Awakening Distant Memories for a consistent buff

+20% damage to Hotori during Time Stop. Unconditional, no notes—usually 20%. Less than Blossoming at three stacks, but more consistent. Useful when you haven’t yet ramped up your rotation. Comes third.

Awakening Time Drains for completely ignoring defense

Hotori ignores 30% of the target’s defense during Time Stop. Essentially, this is another attack multiplier. Especially valuable against thick mobs and bosses with high armor. Fourth tier.

Awakening: Scattered Relics for rapid energy regeneration

Grants +10 energy to Unclosed Hours for each enemy killed by your team (up to 3 times per cycle). The counter resets when you activate Tide of Peace.

Only works against packs of enemies—useless against bosses. Accumulated bonuses do not carry over to the next fight. So this is a situational skill, a fifth priority.

Awakening: Fleeting Glance for flexible rotation

After using Replay Now and completing the recording, it returns the spent energy. Cooldown: 60 seconds.
Too slow for everyday use. Good when you already have all the other awakenings and want flexibility. Last on the list.

Is Resonance 3 and 6 worth leveling

At the third awakening (Shattered Eternity), the skills Misty Moon Style, Replay Now, and Tide of Peace are increased by one.
At level six (“Supreme Treasure of Clear Understanding”), the entire team gains a 10% attack bonus while Hotori is alive. This is a luxury for donators.

Unlock order (briefly):

Flourish → All-Seeing → Distant Memories → Time Takes Away → Scattered Relics → Fleeting Glance.
Level up wisely, and your Hotori will take out any boss in the NTE. Even if there are no more banners for six months.

What role does Hotori play in the current metagame?

Forcing this hero into the rigid confines of one specific class is a frankly weak idea. She’s a model hybrid. Her damage math is built on a clever rotation: first, the skill “Repetition of the Present” locks in your damage, and then the “Tide of Peace” phase viciously splashes it into your opponents’ faces. In squads, she acts as an excellent buffer through “Bloom,” while simultaneously infusing solid damage into her target. If you build a team around “Rupture,” she becomes a brutal finisher (especially after Daffodil has already broken through her vulnerability bar). Considering her a pure support is fundamentally wrong.

How to choose the best free weapon for Hotori?

The golden signature weapon “March Beyond Time” covers all your gear needs. It’s a definite winner. But what if you don’t have any spare parts? Feel free to take the purple “Forgotten” arc. At health above 50%, it consistently provides a 20% attack damage buff. It’s not ideal, to be honest, but it’s more than enough to clear the vast majority of activities. You won’t experience any critical drops.

How to properly build Hotori for endgame content?

For comfortable farming in high-level content, two copies of the character are essential. The first awakening (Flourishing) breaks the basic limits: with three copies, you gain a bonus of up to +36% damage during the stop time. This is a real game-changer. The second constellation (All-Seeing) turns Hotori into the ultimate tool for destroying tough bosses, giving the team a +15% single-target buff. Knocked out these two? There’s no point in further wasting resources on Resonance; the heroine is working at her maximum.

Why can’t Hotori be used in auto-battle mode?

No. The AI ​​completely misunderstands timing. Your allies will start using Misdirection at completely random moments, ignoring Hotori’s own synchronization. As a result, the ultimate will be wasted. Without the necessary stacks, the lion’s share of the damage from the final blow simply goes down the drain. For a lazy grind, pick any straightforward damage dealer. This character only reveals her potential under manual control.

Stat Priority and Ideal Parameters for Hotori’s Modules

Many newbies complain about weak stats, although the secret lies in the simple critical strike chance. If this stat drops below 60%, the final blows of the ultimate begin to fall catastrophically short.
We prioritize stats as follows:

• Crit. Damage (aim for 200–220%)
• Critical Chance (keep it at 70–80%)
• Cosmos Damage (maximize across all available slots)
• Attack (make up any leftovers if you’re unlucky with procs)

Is it worth spending resources on getting Hotori without a donation?

Spending hard-earned resources only makes sense if you have a solid foundation. Is your roster already gathering dust with Esper Zero? Did you find Nunnally or Jiyuan to complete the “Bloom” synergy? If so, don’t hesitate to spin the banner. The character’s entire logic is tied to the Vita Buds mechanic. Without the combination of Cosmos and Anima, it simply won’t activate, cutting off half of your team’s effectiveness. If you don’t have the necessary heroes on your account, it’s best to hide your Annulites until the next S-rank release.

Why does Hotori’s ultimate deal so little damage

The numbers on the screen don’t match what streamers are showing? Review the main rotation errors. First, you could have used the ultimate without pre-registering (the system simply has nothing to copy). Secondly, your allies didn’t have time to use Redirection before the start of “Rising Tide of Peace,” leaving your stacks at zero. And thirdly, and most annoyingly, you didn’t upgrade to the “All Treasures Under Heaven” upgrade. Without this talent, the final explosion loses its juicy 100% damage multiplier. Check these three points before you go rebuild your modules.

Learn more: How to Add Friends & Play Co-op — Complete Guide.