By
Cedric Pabriga,Triforce,Jen Rothery,+27 more
updated
Xingqiu is Liyue’s novelist, known across several nations of Teyvat. He also happens to be one of the most practical 4-star characters in Genshin Impact, making him a staple in Spiral Abyss teams. This guide to the best Genshin Impact Xingqiu build will explain the best weapons, artifact sets, constellations, and team compositions for Xingqiu.
| Xingqiu | |
|---|---|
| Rarity: | ★★★★ |
| Element: | Hydro |
| Weapon: | Sword |
Table of Contents:
- How to Get Xingqiu
- Xingqiu Gameplay Overview
- Xingqiu Talents and Attack Combos
- Xingqiu Constellation Analysis
- Xingqiu's Best Weapons
- Xingqiu's Best Artifacts
- Xingqiu's Best Teams
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How to Get Xingqiu in Genshin Impact
Xingqiu is available on all banners at a low drop rate, but can also be acquired through Paimon’s Bargains and is occasionally on rate-up banners as a featured 4-star character.
Genshin Xingqiu Gameplay Overview
- Element: Hydro
- Weapon: Sword
- Rarity: 4-star
Xingqiu is an off-field DPS who deals most of his damage through his Burst. His field time is minimal, maxing out at around 3-4 seconds, depending on weapon, but he offers an enormous amount of damage and support for that low time investment. He is frequently compared to the extremely popular limited 5-star unit, Yelan, due to their overlap in roles. Xingqiu shines in his ability to maintain a Hydro aura on an enemy while also dealing respectable damage so teammates can trigger powerful Hydro-based reactions like Vaporize and Hyperbloom.
For more information on elemental reactions, check out the comprehensive guide here. It's strongly recommended for this guide.
After acquiring all constellations, Xingqiu, frankly, is comparable to and often better than even 5-star characters due to his damage output, exceptional Hydro application, damage reduction, interruption resistance buffs on your active party member, and minor healing. A skilled player can often forgo a healer entirely in favor of Xingqiu and perhaps a shielder if there are survivability issues. Xingqiu’s healing is not exceptional, but it’s just enough to run through the Abyss.
His build is fairly standard; while he does value HP% for his utility, most of his damage comes from ATK% and CRIT stats. He works exceptionally well with standard banner 4-star weapons, making gearing him quite easy, but also has a high damage ceiling if you are lucky enough to get his best 5-star weapons. Xingqiu is best-suited for single-target fights, but can be used to moderate success in AoE circ*mstances as well.
With a 70-cost Burst, Xingqiu has high energy needs, but his best artifact set, the Emblem of Severed Fate, gains value from having high Energy Recharge. 190%-260% Energy Recharge is where you want to be, depending on team composition. With more Hydro characters, you can get away with lower energy needs. Luckily, his best 4-star options are Energy Recharge weapons that add bonus particles, so building such a high amount of recharge is much easier compared to other characters. At C6, these needs drop by around 30-40%, depending on circ*mstances.
Xingqiu is the best option for a Hydro unit in many of the best teams in the game, and your account will undeniably be better with a C6 Xingqiu. Nearly every Pyro on-field DPS benefits from his support and damage. He is a high-priority, highly flexible unit that you should acquire and max out as soon as possible.
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Stats Worth Consideration
- Energy Recharge: 190%-260%
- ATK% and Hydro DMG%: For maximizing damage.
- CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG: For maximizing damage.
For any character devoted to building damage, it is important to prioritize a 1-to-2 ratio between CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG. 1-3 ratios, while they may give dopamine through bigger Crit numbers, is actually less damage overall. Aim for 75;150 in most cases!
Genshin Xingqiu Talents and Attack Combos
Your talent-levelling priority should be Burst > Skill > Normal Attack.
Normal Attack: Guhua Style
Xingqiu’s Normal Attack talent is not used at basically any point in his popular teams. The only time you should be using Normal Attacks with Xingqiu is if you have no other characters to Normal Attack with that would trigger his Rain Swords from his Burst.
Elemental Skill: Guhua Sword: Fatal Rainscreen
Xingqiu’s Skill is quite simple: it deals two instances of Hydro damage that have high multipliers. While you can reach very satisfying numbers using his Skill on Pyro-afflicted enemies, you normally don’t want Xingqiu to be the trigger for elemental reactions, but instead the aura. Nevertheless, this talent is worth your investment.
The skill also adds an additional effect: three swords made of Hydro energy will revolve around the active character, which can break on being hit. When these swords are broken, some of the damage will be reduced based on a set value depending on talent level plus 20% of Xingqiu’s Hydro DMG Bonus, and the character will be healed a miniscule amount based on Xingqiu’s Max HP. A particularly valued bonus is that simply standing next to an enemy while the orbitals are active can apply Hydro to enemies, enabling more reactions. Furthermore, the orbitals provide some interruption resistance on your active character so you can finish their attack combos without being knocked around by enemies.
Elemental Burst: Guhua Sword: Raincutter
Now, let’s talk about Xingqiu's Burst. The Burst is the bread-and-butter of his kit, and his performance is directly proportional to how much investment is given to make sure his Burst is available as often as possible.
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Activating the Burst will also summon the orbitals from his Skill, but the main appeal of the Burst is his coordinated attacks with the active character’s Normal Attacks. Once per second, a Normal Attack will trigger multiple Hydro swords to rain down on a single enemy. With a 15-second duration and a 20-second cooldown, you have 75% uptime, which is not bad at all considering every rotation spends a few seconds setting up. With constellations, this talent becomes even stronger and more efficient at consistently applying Hydro auras to enemies.
It cannot be understated that focusing on Xingqiu’s Burst reliability is the best and probably only correct way to play Xingqiu.
Xingqiu Passives
Next, come his passives.
- His first ascension passive allows for the modest healing on his orbiting rain swords: 6% of Max HP for each sword broken.
- Xingqiu's fourth ascension passive grants 20% Hydro DMG to himself unconditionally.
- Finally, his exploration passive allows a 25% chance to refund materials when crafting talent books.
Xingqiu’s field time before C6 is brief and simple. Simply use his Skill, then Burst, and swap to the next character.
Genshin Xingqiu Constellation Analysis
Xingqiu is a good character at C0, but surpasses several 5-star characters in performance when he has all of his constellations. Grabbing all six should be a high priority for your account, no matter who you are.
| Constellation Name | Abbreviated In-Game Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| C1. The Scent Remained | Increases the number of orbiting rain swords (i.e. not the swords that rain down from his Burst) from 3 to 4. | This does not change how Xingqiu is played, nor does it increase his damage, but it does provide extra utility in the form of damage reduction, interruption resistance, and minor healing, which are all fairly valuable boons. |
| C2. Rainbows Above the Azure Sky | Extends Burst duration by 3s (15s->18s). Decreases Hydro RES of enemies hit by Burst by 15% for 4s. | In ideal circ*mstances, the duration extension increases Xingqiu’s Burst damage by 20%, but this is even better when you factor in decreased Hydro RES. Resistance shredding is a rare debuff usually reserved for Anemo characters, so even a number that appears as small as 15% is a great value. One of his best constellations. |
| C3. Weaver of Verses | Increase Burst talent level by 3. | The Burst talent level is the most important part of Xingqiu’s kit, but C3 and C5 of kits are rarely exceptional. For Xingqiu, C3 is much more useful than C5. |
| C4. Evilsoother | During Xingqiu’s Burst, his Skill damage is increased by 50%. | A decent increase to damage, but the effort to change your attack patterns usually isn’t worth this boost. You get more damage out of him long-term if you just focus on his Burst and use his Skill for energy generation. |
| C5. Embrace of Rain | Increases Skill talent level by 3. | Nothing special to see here. |
| C6. Hence, Call Them My Own Verses | Every third Burst wave regenerates three energy for Xingqiu and fires extra Rain Swords. | The best constellation. The description in-game doesn’t say much, but normally Xingqiu fires 2 or 3 Rain Swords per wave of his Burst. Every third wave will now fire two additional rain swords, which helps with Hydro application. Most characters have standard internal cooldown on their application, which is an application of the element every 3 hits or 2.5 seconds, whichever comes first. When firing more than three swords, you’re guaranteed extra application to make sure the enemy maintains Hydro aura, allowing other characters to profit from it. It is also, of course, good for his damage. Energy recharge requirements drop around 30-40% at C6, allowing you to focus more on your damage stats. |
Genshin Xingqiu's Best Weapons
Xingqiu’s weapon needs are somewhat unsurprising. He wants CRIT weapons the most, followed by Energy Recharge weapons. ATK% weapons usually fall far behind. Xingqiu has solid weapon choices at every budget level, so you won’t need to worry too much about pulling 5-star weapons just so he’s playable.
| Weapon Name | Abbreviated In-Game Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Primordial Jade-Cutter 44.1% CRIT Rate | HP increased by 20%. Additionally, provides an ATK Bonus based on 1.2% of the wielder's Max HP. | Unconditional Best-in-Slot The Jade-Cutter has been released close to the beginning of Genshin Impact and still has never been powercrept. It is flexible and reliable on most characters that care about their CRIT stats. It’s no surprise it places highly here, especially since Xingqiu benefits from its HP% boost. Other CRIT 5-stars fall behind, and you are probably better off with one of the 4-star options than a non-CRIT, non-Recharge 5-star sword. |
| Wolf-Fang (R5) 27.6% CRIT Rate | DMG dealt by Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst is increased by 32%. When an Elemental Skill hits an opponent, its CRIT Rate will be increased by 4%. When an Elemental Burst hits an opponent, its CRIT Rate will be increased by 4%. Both of these effects last 10s separately, have 4 max stacks, and can be triggered once every 0.1s. | Battle Pass Option Both Battle Pass weapons are good for Xingqiu, but Wolf-Fang has proven itself to be more reliable due to its CRIT Rate rivaling some 5-star weapons and offering a sizeable ATK buff. |
| Sacrificial Sword (R4+) 61.3% Energy Recharge | Elemental Skill hits have an 80% (R5) chance to refresh the Skill’s cooldown. Can occur once every 16s (R5) | Tied for Best 4-Star Gacha Weapon Refinements are absolutely mandatory on this weapon, otherwise, the cooldown on the weapon passive will forcibly extend your rotations and may prevent you from getting the energy you need. That said, this is an exceptional way to satisfy Xingqiu’s high energy requirements. Keep in mind, though, that using his Skill twice may also extend your rotation. Even a 1s rotation extension lowers a team’s overall DPS, so be careful. Most of the time, this won’t be an issue. On the bright side, Xingqiu’s Skill hits twice, so you have double the odds of refreshing your Skill’s cooldown, making it closer to 90’s in percentages. |
| Favonius Sword (R5) 61.3% Energy Recharge | CRIT hits have a 60-100% (R1-R5) chance of generating five neutral energy particles. | Tied for Best 4-Star Gacha Weapon With the exact same stats as Sacrificial Sword, Favonius Sword benefits the entire team. Sacrificial Sword is better if you are also generating particles for other Hydro characters. The dependence on CRIT hits is nothing to worry about, since you should be building lots of CRIT Rate on your Xingqiu anyways. Remember that Xingqiu’s Skill hits twice, so the odds of CRIT-ting with just the Skill press is quite high. |
| Fleuve Cendre Ferryman (R5) 45.9% Energy Recharge | Elemental Skill CRIT Rate +16%. Energy Recharge +32% for 5s after using Elemental Skill. | Free Option: Time to Fish in Fontaine! While fishing may be boring to some, many of the weapons that can only be acquired through fishing are quite useful. The Skill CRIT Rate boost is nice, but the further Energy Recharge boost is what makes this weapon worthwhile, usually allowing you to forsake an Energy Recharge Sands of Eon for an ATK% one. |
| Amenoma Kageuchi 55.1% ATK | Once per 5s, a Skill use will grant the weapon a stack (max 3, each lasts 30s). Using the equipped character’s Burst will consume all stacks to regenerate 6-12 (R1-R5) energy for each stack consumed. | Craftable Option: For Those Who Hate Fishing You’ll only get one stack with Xingqiu, but at R5, that’s still 12/70 of his energy requirement, which helps reduce energy requirements. |
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Genshin Xingqiu's Best Artifacts
- Sands – ER% (until needs are satisfied), ATK% (if energy needs are already met)
- Goblet – Hydro DMG Bonus
- Circlet – CRIT Rate/DMG
Xingqiu’s has only one truly good choice for a 4pc set to improve his damage, and that’s the 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate set. If you care more about using him in supportive roles, and no one has Noblesse Oblige in the team, it’s passable on Xingqiu, though the worst for his damage.
| Artifact Set Name | Abbreviated In-Game Description | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 4pc Emblem of Severed Fate | 2pc: Energy Recharge +20% 4pc: Burst DMG +25% or Energy Recharge, maxing out at a 75% total DMG Bonus | Overall Best Xingqiu is energy hungry, and this artifact set both provides Energy Recharge and rewards high Energy Recharge builds with a boatload of Burst damage bonus. You’re usually getting around 50% Burst DMG bonus, which is remarkable. |
| 4pc Noblesse Oblige | 2pc: Burst DMG +20% 4pc: After Bursting, the team gains 20% ATK for 12s. This effect cannot stack. | Secondary Option This is more of a last resort set for Xingqiu, and generally not recommended. Noblesse Oblige is a support set, and Xingqiu is more geared towards dealing damage and offering passive utility rather than focusing on utility. Nevertheless, if no team member has Noblesse Oblige equipped yet, it’ll do. |
Genshin Xingqiu's Best Teams
Xingqiu is so flexible that he is a star member of almost every Hydro-based elemental reaction team possible, and even carves out a niche unique to him in the form of Double Hydro teams.
There are many potential teammates, so for a full assessment of who can be paired with Xingqiu most efficiently, please scroll to the bottom of this guide.
Double Hydro
When paired with Yelan, the two have so much overlap that the combined power between the two eerily similar units that their damage alone can carry teams. Yelan offers a ramping buff that increases over time to the active character and deals massive damage with her Burst that also has its own coordinated attacks with Normal Attacks. Xingqiu offers defensive utility and can shred Hydro RES, buffing his own and Yelan’s damage.
When these two are paired with an Anemo character to further shred enemy Hydro resistance, a Double Hydro team doesn’t even need a fourth party member to clear the hardest floors of the abyss, but it’s recommended to use a Pyro character. Double Hydro can be factored into any team that also utilizes Xingqiu and has an open team slot, allowing for many combinations.
Additionally, Hydro Resonance from having two Hydro characters on a team increases HP by 25%, adding a much-desired boost to HP-scaling characters.REMEMBER: both Xingqiu and Yelan’s Bursts rely on the active character using Normal Attacks. Make sure your on-field DPS is good with Normal Attacks. If no one is available, anyone can take the field and use regular normal attacks; the damage from both Bursts combined is that good!
| Guide Character | Yelan | Anemo or Flex | On-Field Flex |
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Hyperbloom
Xingqiu’s orbital swords plus his Burst swords allow for plenty of Hydro application that could help create Bloom reactions. With a reliable Electro trigger for reactions who builds solely Elemental Mastery, Hyperbloom is by far the easiest team to clear Spiral Abyss with. It is also very F2P friendly even if you don’t have the best Dendro character for the team, Nahida.
Hyperbloom is yet another team that doesn’t even require a fourth character to get the job done, so you can always slap Yelan in to combine this team with the Double Hydro concept, or another Dendro character for extra application.
| Guide Character | Dendro | Electro EM Trigger | Basically Anyone |
Vaporize
Xingqiu is easily the best Hydro support for on-field Pyro DPS characters like Hu Tao, Yoimiya, or Diluc (and others), due to his exceptional ability to guarantee a Pyro character’s ability to trigger Vaporize reactions, especially after constellations.
The team composition is simple. Once you have an on-field Pyro DPS and Xingqiu together, throw any two teammates that either contribute a lot of damage to team DPS or help maximize the Pyro DPS’s damage.
Since you’ll often have a flex slot, you can always add Yelan to the team to incorporate the Double Hydro combination for even more damage.
| Guide Character | On-Field Pyro | Off-Field DPS/Support | Off-Field DPS/Support |
Electro-Charged (“Taser”)
This team consists of Xingqiu, an Electro character, an Anemo character, and a flex slot. With many hits from Electro and Hydro together, you create damage-over-time (DoT) effects on enemies. Anemo characters group enemies together while shredding elemental resistances, amplifying the damage of both elements.
This team offers suffers from a lack of defensive utility, but it makes up for it with excellent crowd-control. It is also a very F2P friendly team that will work in all stages of the game, and guess what? There’s a slot open for Yelan if you find it beneficial.
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| Guide Character | Anemo | Electro | Flex |
Xiangling Teams (“National”)
Another of the strongest teams in the game, and F2P friendly too! This team focuses on amplifying Xiangling’s damage with Bennett, an Anemo character, and a Hydro character to take advantage of the total lack of ICD (internal cooldown) on her Pyro application, allowing her to vaporize every hit of her Burst if there is enough Hydro application.
Xingqiu is the best F2P option here, but isn’t necessarily the ultimate choice here. However, this team is more than capable of clearing Spiral Abyss, and is often the best possible team for doing so.
I’m sure you’re tired of hearing this by now, but seriously, if you don’t have a good Anemo character, Yelan fits well here to create a double resonance team.
| Guide Character | Anemo or Flex | Xiangling | Bennett' |
Freeze
A generally underappreciated team playstyle since it has been phased out by multiple bosses in high-difficulty Spiral Abyss floors. Basically, it works by keeping enemies immobile, grouping them with an Anemo character, and then using a Cryo DPS with 4pc Blizzard Strayer equipped, which grants 40% CRIT Rate against Frozen enemies. Boss enemies cannot be frozen, unfortunately, but this is an excellent choice against mobs of enemies.
| Guide Character | Anemo | Cryo | Hydro or Cryo |
Specific Teammate Choices
| Options | |||
| Character Name | Notes | Character Name | Notes |
| Bennett | Support / Healer or On-Field DPS
| Hu Tao | On-Field Pyro DPS
|
| Diluc | On-Field Pyro DPS
| Yoimiya | On-Field Pyro DPS
|
| Yelan | Off-Field DPS
| Yanfei | On-Field Pyro DPS
|
| Zhongli | Geo Shielder
| Sucrose | Anemo Support/On-Field Driver
|
| Kazuha | Anemo Support
| Xiangling | On-Field Pyro DPS
|
| Fischl | Off-Field Electro DPS
| Kuki Shinobu | Off-Field Electro Healer/Hyperbloom Trigger
|
| Nahida | Off-Field Dendro Support
| Dendro Traveler | Off-Field Dendro Support
|
Up Next: Xinyan Guide - Best Builds and Tips
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