Genshin Impact: The Best Xiao Build Options for You to Play

 

Xiao is a new playable character in Genshin Impact . We'll tell you how you can deal a lot of damage with the new Anemo-DD.

This is Xiao : Even if Xiao looks like a young man, don't let his looks fool you. The enlightened adept is several thousand years old and is the last of the 5 yaksha warriors who protected Liyue from demons. 

Xiao is a calm and withdrawn character. But he's also very direct and always gets to the point. He takes his duties to Liyue and his contract with Rex Lapis very seriously. 

In combat, Xiao uses spears as weapons and his element is anemo. 

Xiao - A selfish anemo DD

Xiao is a pure anemo DD. He has no skills that could support the group, but his damage output and mobility are really high.

In our guide we show you which equipment you need for a killer Xiao, which alternatives there are and which characters it harmonizes best with.

In this guide we have compiled recommendations for you from various sources such as YouTube, game8 or Genshin.gg.

What you need to know about Xiao

The normal 6-step combo from Xiao is very fast and thanks to the wide AOE damage of the individual blows, you can easily take down smaller groups of opponents with it. Also, the damage scaling of its charged attack is quite high for how fast it can be executed. 

Unlike other characters in Genshin Impact, Xiao takes no damage when he makes a jump attack, no matter what height he is jumping from. 

Xiao's Signature  Ability: Double Wind Turbine is an excellent ability whether it's raw damage or mobility. If you have received Xiao fresh, the double wind turbine has 2 charges that you can use one after the other. 

With this, Xiao races across the battlefield and deals anemo damage to all targets in his way. It can also be done in the air, which can also be very useful when exploring for example. 

Xiao's Ultimate Skill: Eviction is a double-edged sword. Xiao puts on his yaksha mask, which converts his attacks into anemo damage and allows him to jump much higher. It also increases the radius of its AOEs and increases its attack damage.  

The anemo damage cannot be overwritten by other elements. At the same time, Xiao continuously loses his HP as long as his ult ability is active. The ability ends when Xiao leaves the battlefield.

You can see what Xiao's skills look like in action here:  

Xiao's Talents:  When it comes to talents, Xiao is one of the most expensive characters to develop. All three of his passive talents are very useful and give him a high damage boost. 

It is therefore advisable to first bring all 3 talents to level 5 as a piracy. Then you can focus on his normal attack first and then on the double wind turbine because they offer a higher boost than the burst. 

Xiao's constellation:  In the constellation of Xiao, the first stage directly offers a comparatively cheap and powerful option to increase the damage. It gives the Double Wind Turbine special ability a third charge that you can use in combat. 

But if you want to get the maximum out of Xiao, you can't avoid level 6 of your constellation. It gives a new effect to Xiao's ultimate ability. Whenever you have the Ulti active and catch 2 or more opponents with one attack, you will get a free charge for your double wind turbine. 

The right weapons for Xiao

Xiao uses a spear as a weapon in battle. We'll show you the best weapons for the character and also introduce alternatives that are less rare and do not require the use of real money. 

The weapons in this list are all at refinement level 1. So you can expand and improve them even further to get more damage out with Xiao. 

In general, Xiao has the rule that weapons with pure damage boost for physical attacks are less useful for him. For maximum damage, you'll want to use Xiao's special attack and ulti as often as possible, and your damage is pure anemo. 

Therefore, weapons with elemental energy restoration, ATK or crit damage are better suited to him than pure physical damage. 

Best weapon:  The top weapon for Xiao is his signature weapon, Primeval Jade Spear. This legendary spear increases your chances of critical hits by + 4.8% and increases your damage by 3.2% for 6 seconds. 

The damage boost increases with every hit and can be built up to 12%. The basic attack value of the spear is 48. 

Best Free2Play Alternative: If you don't want to throw money into the gacha machine to fish for the legendary spear, then your best alternative is the star sickle prototype. The spear increases damage by up to 16% every time Xiao uses his double wind turbine. 

The spear can be made relatively easily by the blacksmith. You need for it 

• Unprocessed polearm of the north
• 50 chunks of crystal
• 50 chunks of white iron

Further alternatives (partially Free2Play suitable) :

If you have the following spears, they are also suitable for a Xiao build:

• Skyward Spine
• Blackcliff Pole (currently not in the in-game shop)
• Deathmatch
• Vortex Vanquisher

The right artifacts for Xiao

Xiao's damage output revolves around his special ability as well as his ultimate skill. Since both deal Anemo damage, artifacts that only give him a physical damage boost make little sense on Xiao. 

The best artifact combination for Xiao is therefore made up of two sets:

• 2 parts from the “Greenish Shadow” set: + 15% anemo damage bonus
• 2 pieces from the “Bow of the Gladiator” set: + 18% ATK

This set combination affects every aspect of Xiao's abilities and is the best choice if you want to get the most out of his skills. 

The priority for the individual parts should be distributed as follows:

• ATK% on the hourglass
• Anemo damage or ATK% on the chalice
• ATK%, crit probability or energy recharge on the helmet

ATK%, critical damage and elemental energy restoration are important for the sub-stats.

There are these alternatives: If you are missing certain parts from the sets recommended above, you can use the following alternatives:

• 4 pieces of the “Inverted Meteor” set: Shield strength + 35% and + 40% for normal and charged attacks while a shield is active
• 4 parts of the “Bow of the Gladiator” set: + 18% ATK and + 35% attack damage for normal attacks by sword, great sword and spear users

Unfortunately, the 4 bonuses of the two sets did not affect Xiao's jump attacks, which are very important for his damage output. They are still a good substitute until you have the right artifacts collected. 

This is how you play Xiao properly

YouTuber Zy0x has introduced the new character Xiao in his video. From 3:00 p.m. onwards you can see how Xiao shreds his way through the winding abyss and how great his damage is: 

These characters harmonize with Xiao : If you have decided to add Xiao to your group, he will undoubtedly be your main DD there. However, he is a very selfish DD who wants to stay on the battlefield as long as possible in order to cause a lot of damage.

The rest of the group should be made up of characters who can support Xiao with his damage escalation:

• Anemo characters like Jean, Venti or sucrose are good “anemo batteries” that supply Xiao with energy. An additional anemo character in the group also gives you the “impetuous wind” buff
• Characters who can heal Xiao or give him shields to reduce his HP loss and increase his uptime on the battlefield are also very strong. These include Zhongli, Albedo, Bennet or Xinyan, which also harmonize well with the burst.

What do you think of that? Have you already received and tried Xiao? What combinations and armor do you think are best for him? Give us your feedback in the comments.