Ye Mingming:

• has three character-specific cards
• uses a unique debuff "Styx" [TL note: previously transliterated as "Ming"; one of my friends suggested translating it as "Darkness"]
• converts debuffs to Physique
• Gone Crazy makes 5 Physique right off the bat
• Crash Fist - Stygian Night increases ATK on Crash Fists

These make her adept at all three of Duan Xuan's main archetypes: debuff, Realm-Killing Palms, and Crash Fist. However, her actual performance on the ladder has not been as strong as we imagined. It seems that she can play everything, but the upper limit is not particularly high, which makes it difficult to rank up.

As the top-ranked Ye Mingming in May, let me share my humble opinions, and I welcome everyone to comment and discuss.

Elixirist is the side job I choose. Early on, it's strong in battle; and in Incarnation, Ice Spirit Guard Elixir and Enlightenment Elixir are excellent. In Meditation and Foundation, play what you draw and don't exchange; rely on Duan Xuan Meditation-phase cards' big numbers and on your Speed bonus on even-numbered rounds. Roll down on Virtuoso, looking for midgame strength and also catching up on Physique. Don't exchange at all in Immortality, and try to save cards to exchange upon breaking through to Incarnation, transforming at once. The final build is mono-debuff, or Crash Footwork Realm-Killing Palms. Crash Fist only when you get a lot of those cards and the deck is suitable, or when your Fate Branch is related, because it's not good at getting first place; it's vulnerable to Guard Up.

To a first approximation, it's OK to simply choose all of her character-specific Immortal Fates.

Must-pick. Equivalent to +3 starting HP, and Exorcism Elixir can make an additional HP+3. At Virtuoso, combo with Gone Crazy to make Physique; at Immortality, counts as a debuff for Stygian Night; at Incarnation, combo with Soul Cleaving to apply Styx to the opponent. In some cases, you can choose Mark of Dark Heart instead, to easily trigger Elusive Footwork, but Entering Styx is still best.

Must-pick. Gone Crazy is core to Ye Mingming's strength. Thanks to this card, we don't have to worry about Physique during Meditation and Foundation. We can catch up in three rounds of Virtuoso. In Immortality, we can race the opponent in two rounds, and build physique once. It's also a core card for Realm-Killing Palms, and a counter card against debuffs. There's no reason not to choose it (unless you're playing Physique-less Crash Fist). However, there's also a great inconsistency due to the randomness; in Virtuoso, you might gain two stacks of Wound or Decrease ATK, and in Incarnation, Entangled, causing you to lose instead of win. Therefore, take care in the use and positioning of this card.

Pretty much must-pick. Core to Crash Fist, Realm-Killing Palms; strong transitional card for debuff. Very high priority, unless in a match in which you will definitely play debuff and at Virtuoso you found neither Crash Footwork nor Crash Fists; otherwise, it's must-pick.

Must-pick for Crash Fist. For Realm-Killing Palms, debuff, consider the situation; usually pick Stygian Moonlight. Only when low on Destiny, choose Recuperate, or when competing on Cultivation is critical, choose Cultivation. In all other situations, I recommend Stygian Moonlight.

On Round 1, if the cards are truly too poor, you can exchange. (Normally, this is when your qi is not smooth, all generators or all consumers.) Otherwise, don't exchange.

Since we don't strongly require Physique, we can use the Duan Xuan Meditation-phase cards' big numbers to beat most other opponents who don't exchange in Meditation. In Round 1, we can absorb our hand to contend to go first, and in Round 2, we always go first; this also increases our winrate in Meditation.

Round 1 example:

1. Exercise Fist
2. Crash Fist - Block
3. Crash Fist - Poke

Round 3 example:

1. Fundamental Elixir
2. lv.2 Youthful Vigor
3. Crash Fist - Bounce
4. Earth Spirit Elixir
5. Crash Fist - Poke

Round 4 example:

1. Crash Fist - Poke
2. Crash Fist - Blitz
3. Mountain Falling
4. Earth Spirit Elixir
5. Rakshasa Pouncing
6. Strong Force

Some points to take note of:

1. lv.1 Gather Force and Vigorous Force are very weak, try not to play them; lv.2 are playable.
2. Rakshasa Pouncing and Sky-Piercing Claw are good; don't be afraid of the Internal Injury / Wound.
3. If the situation permits, you can build a little Physique, so that you can get HP from Entering Styx when you get it.

Same plan as Meditation transit, play what you're dealt. Some specific cards to pay attention to:

1. Exorcism Elixir: For you, it's DEF+8 HP+3, good numbers, good for transit.
2. Detect-Horse Palms: On Round 3, since you didn't build Physique, you can absorb it to contend to go first. If it's Round 4, hold on to it.
3. Magnanimous Righteousness: Good qi card; in Virtuoso, strong combo with Double Trouble.
4. Ghost Howling: Good for transit; in endgame, core for debuff. It's playable, but if you don't have qi, you need not hold on to it.
5. Crash Fist - Blitz: Counter card against DEF; if many Five Elements, Lu Jianxin, Mu Yifeng, must keep.

The Virtuoso rolldown and transit is central to the build.

On Round 5, break through by Cultivation, get Gone Crazy, and start catching up on Physique. The cards worth keeping are:

1. Detect-Horse Palms, lv.2 Mountain-Cleaving Palms
2. Magnanimous Righteousness etc. qi cards
3. lv.2 Earth Spirit Elixir, lv.2 Small Recover Elixir, Exorcism Elixir

Roll while holding on to at least one qi card.

On Round 5, we're short on cards, it's hard to win, but the opponent is usually relatively weak; it's a good opportunity to catch up on Physique, so it's best to play some defensive cards, and try not to play Cost HP cards. The ideal is to find Bearing the Load; with Tiger Pouncing, you can definitely make it to the second cycle and make a lot of Physique, and you can win with the second play of Tiger Pouncing.

On Round 6, roll down for battle strength. If you made an excellent amount of Physique, you can exchange the defensive cards you used in Round 5; otherwise, keep them. Duan Xuan Virtuoso-phase cards all have good numbers; if you get them, you can play them; if you play them, you can win.

Individually, the best cards:

• Tiger Pouncing (Note that it's best to play Gone Crazy + Bearing the Load + Tiger Pouncing; with just Gone Crazy, it's not guaranteed to cost 0 qi, due to the randomness.)
• Windward Palms (Play as many as you find; core card for battle strength.)
• Double Trouble (can be played in front of Gone Crazy to add Physique. In Immortality, can be relied on to kill quickly while forgoing Physique-building. Lategame, can gain Internal Injury to trigger Elusive Footwork. A very important card.)
• Crash Footwork (Core of core. With Crash Footwork, Stygian Night is must-pick, very strong, more detail in Immortality section.)
• Crash Fist - Subdue Dragon (combo with Crash Footwork and Windward Palms, Double Trouble; without Crash Footwork, you can play Blitz, Truncate, or similar.)
• Crash Fist - Truncate (Divine card of Virtuoso-phase, transferring Styx gives you 3 HP and loses the opponent 3 HP; two triggers is a total bonus value of 12.)
• Bearing the Load (Big number when played after Gone Crazy, great defense and Physique card.)

On Round 8, we'd like to have Crash Footwork, Gone Crazy, Tiger Pouncing, Subdue Dragon, Double Trouble, Windward Palms (merge Double Trouble, try not to merge Windward Palms).

Overall, deploy whatever's strong.

Round 5 example:

1. Gone Crazy
2. lv.2 Earth Spirit Elixir
3. Crash Fist - Truncate
4. lv.max Crash Fist - Bounce
5. Windward Palms
6. (Normal Attack)
7. (Normal Attack)

Round 5 example:

1. Gone Crazy
2. lv.2 Exorcism Elixir
3. Windward Palms
4. Mountain-Cleaving Palms
5. Magnanimous Righteousness
6. Ghost Howling
7. (Normal Attack)

Round 7 example:

1. Gone Crazy
2. lv.2 Crash Footwork
3. Crash Fist - Subdue Dragon
4. Double Trouble
5. lv.2 Crash Fist - Truncate
6. Windward Palms
7. Mighty Force
8. (Normal Attack)

On Round 8, break through, ideally by Physique. If not enough Physique, break through by Cultivation, you can still win with empty slots. Unless you have a ton of exchanges, don't exchange at all in Immortality. In Virtuoso, contend to go first instead of holding cards. On Round 8, you can absorb to contend; starting on Round 9, hold cards and accept going second.

Immortality-phase transit deck with Stygian Night: Stygian Night + Crash Footwork + Gone Crazy + Tiger Pouncing + Subdue Dragon + Windward Palms (six-turn kill; among the damage cards, you can make substitutions with the previously discussed cards)

If no Crash Footwork and relatively few Crash Fist cards (fewer than three copies among Subdue Dragon, Truncate, and Blitz), you can choose something other than Stygian Night, for battle strength or Cultivation.

Round 8 example:

1. Crash Fist - Stygian Night
2. lv.2 Crash Footwork
3. Gone Crazy
4. Tiger Pouncing
5. Crash Fist - Subdue Dragon
6. lv.2 Windward Palms
7. lv.2 Ghost Howling
8. lv.2 Crash Fist - Entangle

Round 8 example:

1. Crash Fist - Stygian Night
2. Gone Crazy
3. lv.2 Crash Footwork
4. lv.2 Crash Fist - Subdue Dragon
5. Windward Palms
6. Windward Palms
7. lv.2 Ghost Howling
8. Bearing the Load

Physique-less turn-five kill example (Round 9? 10?):

1. Crash Fist - Stygian Night
2. lv.2 Crash Footwork
3. Double Trouble
4. lv.2 Subdue Dragon
5. lv.2 Windward Palms
6. lv.2 Ghost Howling
7. Gone Crazy
8. Crash Fist - Truncate

Immortality transit is the critical stage that determines whether we reach Incarnation smoothly. We can kill most opponents in six moves. Against certain Immortality-phase gods of war, we require other counter cards.


Cloud Spirit Sword Sect:

Cat Sword etc. Sword Intent builds: Usually turn 4/5 burst. Move your defensive cards up: Bearing the Load, Detect-Horse Palms, etc.; if you can survive, you win.

Mu Yifeng, Elixir DEF Lu Jianxin: Hard to beat in Immortality. Hold on to Crash Fist - Blitz, Ghost Howling, and you have a chance. But if their quality is high, there's pretty much no chance.

Heptastar Pavilion:

Wu Ce: Star Power Wu Ce is countered similarly to Cat Sword; usually it's a turn-six kill, high burst but not enough damage afterward. According to their deck, if you judge that you can survive, play Bearing the Load etc. defensive cards; if you can't survive the burst, play Stygian Night + Crash Footwork + Double Trouble (a must) + Windward Palms etc. high-damage cards to kill on turn five, forgoing Physique; catch up next round.

Jiang Ximing: Similar to the above Wu Ce, but his damage is relatively even, and relatively low. Without Astral Move - Fly, it's hard for him to kill us in six moves, with our healing; our standard six-move kill suffices. If he has Fly, we need to speed up to turn five.

Tan Shuyan Formation Master: Tan Shuyan Formation Master is relatively weak in Immortality. If they have a lot of Extremely Suspicious, you can move Gone Crazy later, and play your damage earlier.

Yan Chen Within Reach: You can choose not to play Gone Crazy Stygian Night first, hold on to Exorcism Elixir to survive Within Reach, then attack afterward to win.

Five Elements:

Wu Xingzhi: Pretty much unbeatable, no matter whether it's World Smash, or Elixir Wood. The best answer is to go first and kill in five moves, but you'll get blocked by Dust / Cliff; if you encounter it, you'll pretty much lose Destiny for sure.

Mu Hu: Against Dust / Cliff, line up Bearing the Load or Detect-Horse Palms etc. low-damage cards against it, or use Blitz to Smash DEF. If Metal tiger, you need to use DEF to block Metal Spirit - Sharp, then attack.

Du Lingyuan: If low on quality, you can attack directly and win. If Fragrant, Iron Bone, etc. then try to dodge Iron Bone with your attacks.

Duan Xuan:

Tu Kui: Usually has defensive cards and is hard to kill quickly, so move qi consumers back, because we only have the consumption card Crash Footwork making qi. Try to move your attacks around to avoid his blocking.

Mirror match: Who goes first, wins.

On Round 12, break through to Incarnation. It's a critical round. We've saved our exchanges, and now we can expend them all in one round. At the same time, we need to determine whether to go debuff, Realm-Killing Palms, or Crash Fist. Go with whatever you get more cards for.

Example final build:

1. Stygian Moonlight
2. Crash Fist - Stygian Night
3. lv.2 Crane Footwork
4. Crash Fist - Blink
5. Crash Footwork
6. Gone Crazy
7. lv.2 Crash Fist - Subdue Dragon
8. lv.2 Realm-Killing Palms

[TL: The example depicts, starting with 86/91 Physique on Round 18 and gaining 10 Physique, a 23/36 chance to deal 108 damage in four turns. (There's a 11 in 36 chance to gain at least 1 Decrease ATK, and 1 in 36 chance to gain 2 Weakened, and a 1 in 36 chance to gain 2 Entangled.)]

The core plan is to use a lot of Agility to quickly cycle into Realm-Killing Palms twice, killing on turn seven and gaining HP on the way. It can counter DEF Sword, Force of Water, Tan Shuyan Formation Master etc. long-battle decks.

The advantage of this deck is that it's easy to assemble, functioning on only one copy of Realm-Killing Palms. All Agility cards are interchangeable, Styx Agility, Blink, Crane Footwork, Exercise Soul, etc.; Soul Seizing here [sic] is mainly to heal in order to cycle, and could also be Exercise Marrow. [TL: I think it's probably referring to an example seven-turn kill, but the example isn't there.]

The disadvantage is that in mid-Incarnation, it's hard to beat decks that use DEF or Weakened, so you need to learn some variations:

1. Instead of Realm-Killing Palms + Soul Seizing, play Subdue Dragon + Realm-Killing Palms. When lv.2, it can kill on turn four against opponents who don't defend.
2. Instead of Realm-Killing Palms + Soul Seizing, play Inch Force + Soul Cleaving. It's less damage, and requires lv.2 Crash Footwork for qi, but use it against opponents who apply Weakened or other debuff.
3. Sideline Gone Crazy and play Shura Roar in slot two, and in slots seven and eight, play Inch Force + Soul Cleaving. Before 100 Physique, this is more damage in the first cycle than Realm-Killing Palms, and doesn't suffer from Weakened. But since you gain Internal Injury, the opponent, going first, may kill you first in four turns, so you can use it against turn-five kill decks.

Play more variations according to circumstances~

Debuff is Ye Mingming's strongest endgame. Compared to Xiao Bu Musician, Ye Mingming's damage is higher due to her stacks of Styx, which also get applied by Soul Cleaving; against Guard Up, applying Styx eats one stack of Guard Up. Since we're Elixirist, we also have Ice Spirit Guard Elixir to counter the Weakened-resistant Crash Fist or the high-burst Dharma Spirit Sword. In the debuff mirror match, the possibility of Gone Crazy + Realm-Killing Palms makes us advantaged in the guessing games. So if you want to get first place, debuff is undoubtedly the best choice.



The disadvantage of debuff is that it requires all of its pieces to be strong. If Shura Roar doesn't come, you can use Elusive Footwork + Double Trouble, but it's significantly worse. If Soul Cleaving doesn't come, or if not enough copies, then you pretty much can't play debuff.

Crash Fist is the lower end for us.

Since we don't exchange in Immortality, it's not too suitable for Crash Fist, but in case you get a lot of it on Round 12, and you don't get other stuff, Crash Fist is also not bad transitionally.

Example:

1. lv.max Majestic Qi
2. Surging Waves
3. Gather Intense Force
4. lv.2 Crash Fist - Subdue Dragon
5. Crash Fist - Shocked
6. Crash Fist - Continue
7. lv.2 Crash Fist - Inch Force
8. Soul Seizing

Our end goal is to play debuff; once you have all the pieces, Crash Fist can retire.

Fulu Sword: Realm-Killing Palms and Debuff both can counter it. Realm-Killing Palms can do seven-turn kill while adding HP. Debuff can do Entangled into double Soul Cleaving. In later rounds, with Realm-Killing Palms, take care to do damage on turn three, to defend against Moon Water + Mirror Flower.

Cat Sword: Debuff is best; Rule Sky + Chain is a bit difficult for Realm-Killing Palms. Using Debuff, turn three poison, turn four-five Guard Up Elixir or Soul Seizing.

Lu Jianxin Elixir DEF: If Debuff, in mid-Incarnation, do Entangled into double Soul Cleaving; late, use Guard Up Elixir to defend against Dharma Spirit Sword. Against Egret, don't use Realm-Killing Palms; if no Egret, you can do the seven-turn kill.

Painter Cloud Sword: Debuff is pretty much a sure win, Entangled into double Soul Cleaving. Realm-Killing Palms is pretty much a sure loss.

Unrestrained Sword: Use Styx Agility and double Soul Cleaving to apply 4 Decrease ATK as quickly as possible. Try not to play Gone Crazy, lest you gain Wound from it.

Cloud multi-hit: Entangled into double Soul Cleaving. Bearing the Load can block Flying Spirit Shade Sword.

Long Yao Musician: Unfavorable matchup, best to have Force Crash Fist; to use Debuff requires high quality, and turn-three Shura Roar to dodge Ruptsprite.

Polaris: Against all versions of Polaris, try not to use Realm-Killing Palms, which is very vulnerable to Cide and Weakened. Best is to use Debuff while keeping a Realm-Killing Palms deck in hand; having been shown Debuff, the opponent pretty much won't deploy Weakened, so then you can steal the round with the Realm-Killing Palms four-turn kill.

Wu Ce Post-Action: Wu Ce Post-Action with Divination is hard to beat; against Drag Moon In Sea + HHH, you need turn-two Soul Seizing, followed by Entangled Soul Cleaving etc., and the specifics also depend on the opponent's sequencing. At the same time, you need to defend against the possibility of turns two+four Cide.

Tan Shuyan Formation Master: Favorable matchup, whether Debuff or Realm-Killing Palms, Tan can only use HHH-Echo, and without lv.2 Only Traces pretty much can't win. If Realm-Killing Palms has enough quality, then turn-four kill; else Entangled into double Soul Cleaving.

Tan Shuyan Fortune-teller: Realm-Killing Palms is best. If the opponent's quality is not too high, you can seven-turn kill.

Yan Chen Fortune-teller Within Reach: A difficult matchup, since Ye Mingming applies debuff to herself; Yan Chen can easily kill in four moves, or even in three. So you need to guess right with Guard Up Elixir against Within Reach, or play Elusive Footwork, Soul Seizing, and use Ghost Howling + Soul Cleaving to Weaken Within Reach. Since he can downgrade your cards, you're unlikely to make 30 Agility; you need to calculate correctly the sequencing and qi amount.

Yan Chen Star Power Fury Thunders: Before you have 30 Agility, you need to use Entangled on Fury Thunder; once you have 30 Agility, Weakened + Soul Cleaving suffices.

Hexagram Formacide: High-quality Formacide is hard to beat; whether Debuff or Realm-Killing Palms, the four-turn-kill Hexagram Formacide is hard to beat. Best is Realm-Killing Palms four-turn kill; we can survive their burst with the HP added by Stygian Moonlight and Gone Crazy.

World Smash: Very difficult matchup. Judge according to the opponent's deck, if it's full Chase cycle, do Entangled into double Soul Cleaving; if it's double World Smash, do turn-two Guard Up Elixir; if they use Guard Up Elixir or Iron Bone, do Realm-Killing Palms cycling. If both players are high-quality, fight their standard full Chase with Styx Agility + Shura Roar + Crane Footwork + Soul Cleaving + Soul Seizing + Soul Cleaving + Ghost Howling [sic], or with Entangled into double Soul Cleaving plus turn-six Guard Elixir to block the second cycle World Smash.

Elixir Wood: High-quality Realm-Killing Palms can turn-four kill, otherwise Weaken + Soul Cleaving.

Mono-Water: Depends on the opponent's quality. Best is Force Crash Fist, or Realm-Killing Palms cycling.

Hua Qinrui: Realm-Killing Palms is best, Hua Qinrui can't kill quickly, Realm-Killing Palms going first is pretty much a sure win.

Overcome with each other: Debuff is best, Entangled into double Soul Cleaving.

Nangong Sheng: Pretty much the same as Overcome, but note that against Nangong Sheng, you can turn-two Soul Seizing to avoid failing to heal and getting killed quickly.

Mu Hu Metal: You absolutely need Guard Elixir to block Giant Tripod, otherwise it's very hard to win.

Mu Hu Earth: Entangled into double Soul Cleaving. If Realm-Killing Palms, you need double Realm-Killing Palms, with the less upgraded one first and the more upgraded one second.

Tu Kui Realm-Killing Palms: Before fully assembled, use Realm-Killing Palms cycling; afterward, use Debuff, but your expected winrate is relatively low; best to win before fully assembled.

Crash Fist: Best is Debuff and Guard Elixir. With enough quality, you can do Realm-Killing Palms turn-four kill.

Xiao Bu Debuff: Favorable matchup, with Styx, Gone Crazy, and Guard Up. Whether you're Debuff, or Gone Crazy followed by Realm-Killing Palms, you're advantaged in the guessing games. The most important thing to take note of is to play around Ruptsprite.

Relatively good: Concentration Mind, Mastery of Palms, Mastery of Soul, Omen of Soul, Omen of Realm-Killing, Pact of Breakthrough [sic], etc.

Esoteric of Soul (Toxin Immunity and Eerie Melody Buries Soul) is must-pick, because finding Toxin Immunity early is extremely strong, capable of preserving your Destiny to Incarnation. Esoteric of Soul (Strength Driven Mad and Break Cocoon) and Esoteric of Crash Fist (Crash Fist - Double) are relatively weaker; they have the high end, but you might not draw it. Esoteric of Herbal Bath feels like a trap, I don't recommend it.

Let me discuss one Fate Branch I think is very strong: Fate of Dark Heart

Having chosen it, exchange in Meditation for Physique cards; get 8 Physique, then break through and choose Mark of Dark Heart, which will trigger Fate of Dark Heart to reduce Physique by 8 and gain 2 Cultivation. At Virtuoso, choose Mark of Dark Heart again. Thereafter, stop building Physique. Exchange a little in Virtuoso for strength. Roll down on Immortality for Crash Fist. Choose Cultivation at Incarnation. This is stronger in Immortality than the usual Crash Fist build. It reliably goes first. The ability to get first place is weak; the ability to gain rank points is extremely strong.