Xiao, one of the most popular anemo characters in Genshin Impact, is coming back with the release of Version 2.7 at the end of this month. He’s an excellent DPS pick on his own thanks to his transformation attacks and high base stats. While he performs best with an awesome team comp by his side, you’ll want to focus on improving Xiao’s build if you want him to stop pulling his punches.
He’s hyper focused on one thing and one thing only: dealing huge amounts of damage. There’s not much else you can do with Xiao aside from letting him loose on the field, but that’s all he really needs to do anyway. Our best Xiao build helps you do just that, with suggestions for weapons, artifacts, and f2p options too if you’ve not gonna many primo gems spare.
What is the best Xiao weapon in Genshin Impact?
The Primordial Jade Winged Spear is made for Xiao and has its own rerun in this update’s weapon banner. It has one of the highest attack stats of any polearm and a secondary stat that boosts the user’s critical hit rate. Best of all for Xiao is the passive skill, Eagle Spear of Justice.
Landing an attack increases the user’s attack stat by 3.2% for six seconds, and it stacks seven times. The stacking is slightly uneven, though, since the maximum damage increase with seven stacks is 12%.
Skyward Spine is a good alternative. It has the same attack stat, boosts Energy Recharge, and increases both normal attack speed and critical hit rate. Some have also found good results with the Staff of Homa, which boosts attack based on the user’s HP, so that’s always an option if you have a spare one laying round.
ULTIMATE XIAO GUIDE! Best Xiao Build – Artifacts, Weapons, Teams & Showcase | Genshin Impact
What is the best Xiao team comp in Genshin Impact?
Xiao and Venti looking over the ocean in Genshin Impact.
With the right backup, Xiao can be truly fearsome as your main damage carry.
Our picks for Xiao’s best team all revolve around keeping him in his transformed state for as long as possible, as well as using key characters able to best enhance his damage through elemental reactions.
Main DPS: Xiao
Sub DPS: Xiangling
Battery: Sucrose
Support: Bennet
Xiangling is a great sub DPS due to their elemental skill acting as a brilliant avenue for near-constant pyro application. Paired with Xiao’s attacks, you’ll be causing the swirl elemental reaction more often than not, which is a nice way of keeping enemies’ health sizzling away. The real benefit of bringing Xiangling comes due to the elemental resonance she provides, which we’ll touch on later, but as a standalone source of DPS you can pull out every now and again, she’s a good pick!
As for a battery character, Sucrose is excellent. Another Anemo character, and therefore providing the anemo elemental resonance alongside Xiao, you’ll be able to generate a whirlwind of elemental energy that can keep Xiao in their transformed state for longer.
Finally we have Bennet, who can heal the team thanks to their own elemental skill thus filling the role of healer. However, paired with Xiangling, you also gain the pyro elemental resonance, boosting attack damage to your team. This combination of the anemo and pyro elemental resonance effects allows Xiao to truly stand out as an excellent primary source of damage.
Genshin Impact Xiao best Supports
5) Bennett
Bennett is the game’s best Support hands down, but works even better with Xiao. Bennett’s Elemental Burst buffs the attack of and heals characters within its field, two things Xiao wants. Xiao’s own Elemental Burst ticks away his health, and having a reliable way of healing can make Xiao feel more comfortable to play.
4) Albedo
The synergy of Albedo’s off-field damage with Xiao is simple, but elegant. Albedo’s Elemental Skill leaves behind a field centered around a flower that deals Geo damage whenever an enemy inside the field is hit. While you won’t be Crystallizing the Anemo attacks, the coordinated strikes will generate Particles to fuel Xiao’s Burst.
3) Traveler (Anemo/Electro)
Anemo Traveler is one of the only ways to debuff Anemo Resistance to enemies. Their Elemental Burst creates a large tornado that traps smaller enemies together while decreasing their Anemo Resistance. Once they’re gathered, Xiao can make quick work of them. Larger enemies can’t be pushed, but they’ll still have their Anemo Resistance shredded.
2) Sucrose
Sucrose has a key role for Xiao: she provides a steady stream of Anemo Particles to fuel his Elemental Burst. Her Passive Talents that buff Elemental Mastery can also prove useful when Xiao triggers Swirl reactions. Most importantly, Sucrose is a Catalyst user who can hold Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers. This is a three-star Weapon that can be easily refined. At Refinement 5, it gives a massive 48% Attack buff for 10 seconds to the character that Sucrose switches into.
1) Zhongli
Xiao has a unique role as an on-field Anemo DPS. Normally, Anemo is a support for other elements. There’s not many ways to buff Anemo, as you can’t Swirl itself. With Zhongli’s Jade Shield on, it lowers the resistance of nearby enemies to the active character’s Element.
BEST GENSHIN IMPACT XIAO DPS BUILD
Xiao’s playstyle is inherently risky as Bane of All Evil constantly drains his health while he wears the Yaksha mask. To combat this, Xiao’s high mobility allows him to easily dodge attacks with his elemental skill, Lemniscatic Wind Cycling. Not only can you avoid taking damage with this ability, the Dissolution Eon – Heaven Fall passive talent allows you to turn Lemniscatic Wind Cycling into an offensive ability.
When Bane of All Evil is active, you should be aiming to spam the plunging attack version of Whirlwind Thrust. Be sure to perform the attack at the apex of Xiao’s jump as this ability scales depending on how high up Xiao is. When Xiao is paired with another Anemo character, his increased energy recharge rate allows him to continuously use his elemental abilities, further increasing his damage output.
The best weapon for Xiao is the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear which has a high crit rate and deals bonus damage after every hit. The Vortex Vanquisher can also be considered if you have a shield character in your party like Zhongli as this weapon increases shield strength by 20%. As for four star weapons, Deathmatch is a viable alternative to these five star polearms as its effect grants an attack and defence bonus depending on the number of enemies Xiao is up against.
Xiao’s best Genshin Impact artifacts are a combination of the two-piece Gladiator’s Finale set and the Viridescent Venerer set. Using the two-piece Gladiator’s Finale increases Xiao’s attack by a whopping 18%, and the Viridescent Venerer set provides a 15% damage bonus to all Anemo attacks. This is very useful when using Bane of All Evil as both of these artifact sets synergise to deal the highest amount of damage possible.
Xiao works best as a carry DPS – he should be active on the field as often as possible. The best team composition for Xiao ensures he has ample healing and protective shields at all times.
The best four-star Polearms for Xiao are Deathmatch and Blackcliff Pole. Deathmatch comes with the premium Battle Pass, and offers Crit Rate as a sub-stat. It gives an Attack and Defense buff when there are more than two enemies around you, and gets stronger when there’s only one.
In terms of attack speed, Xiao surpasses Diluc, as Claymore wielding characters have slower attacking speed compared to other weapon carriers. Polearm users can dish out multiple hits per second, whereas claymore users are usually slower because of the heavy weapon mechanism.
Otherwise, they’ll find Xiao incapable of regaining his Elemental Burst. Therefore, if players are aiming for simplicity, then Ganyu is the easier character. But if they’re aiming for more action in battle and a bit more challenge, then Xiao would be more satisfying to play.
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