Raiden Build Guide (Patch 4.3)

Raiden character card

Raiden National

Raiden

Emblem of Severed Fate (4)
EoSF FlowerEoSF FeatherEoSF SandEoSF GobletEoSF Circlet

Sands - Energy Recharge / ATK
Goblet - Electro DMG
Circlet - Crit Rate / DMG
  1. Burst (Q)
  2. Skill (E)
  1. Crit Rate / DMG
  2. ATK%
  3. Energy Recharge
  1. Engulfing Lightning (5✩)
  2. Staff of Homa (5✩)
  3. Primordial Jade Winged-Spear (5✩)
  4. Wavebreaker’s Fin R5 (4✩)
  5. The Catch R5 (4✩)
  6. Deathmatch (4✩)

RaidenXingqiuXianglingBennett

Raiden Hypercarry & DPS

Raiden functions as an main DPS character that deals the majority of her damage from her Elemental Burst while also helping her team regenerate their energy. Raiden’s Elemental Burst (Q) damage increase base on the number of Resolve stacks she has to a maximum of 60 stacks. Resolve stacks increase if Raiden’s party members uses their Elemental Burst or they gain energy particles (Raiden 1st passive talent).

Her Elemental Skill (E) is pretty straightforward by doing a coordinated attack when an enemy takes damage and also buffing character’s burst damage base on their burst energy requirement.

Raiden’s Ascension Passives

Raiden’s 1st passive talent helps her gain 2 Resolve stacks whenever party members gain energy particles. The talent is pretty self explanatory but isn’t significant towards her personal DPS.

…each proc effectively increases Raiden’s personal DPS output by 1.3%.

KeqingMains Raiden Guide

One of the biggest confusion with building Raiden’s comes from her 2nd passive talent as each 1% above 100% Energy Recharge that Raiden Shogun possesses grants her:

  • 0.6% greater Energy restoration from her Burst
  • 0.4% Electro DMG Bonus.

ATK% vs ER

There have been a lot of calculations and testing that had been done to see the difference between an ATK% vs ER stats at different ER values and how it affects Raiden’s DPS. To summarize everything, if you don’t have the Engulfing Lightning on her, then an ATK% will be better. If your Raiden do have the Engulfing Lightning then ER is roughly equivalent to ATK%.

Building Raiden DPS & Hypercarry

Electro DPS Raiden would be like every other DPS character where you’ll prioritize Crit Rate / DMG above anything else. The only difference is that Energy Recharge is now equally if not more important than ATK% depending on if your Raiden has the Engulfing Lightning (5✩).

For her talent, her Burst (Q) will be top priority as that is her main source of damage. This applies even more so if you’re running a Hypercarry Raiden.

Artifact set

Emblem of Severed Fate FlowerEmblem of Severed Fate (4)

The Emblem set is Raiden’s best endgame artifact period. This set should technically be the only set Raiden uses as it is practically made for her. The differences to other options are huge so don’t go for other sets unless you absolutely have no choice.

The 2 piece (+20% ER) helps alleviate Raiden’s high Burst requirement while the 4 piece (Increases Elemental Burst DMG by 25% of Energy Recharge) helps boost her damage based on her total ER.

Noblesse Oblige FlowerThundering Fury FlowerEmblem of Severed Fate FlowerGladiator's Finale Flower
Emblem of Severed Fate (2)
Noblesse Oblige (2)
Thundering Fury (2)
18% ATK set (2)

If you don’t have an EoSF set then any 2 piece combination of these are a decent option for Raiden. Each of combination serve to help increase her Burst DMG, Electro DMG or give more energy for her. They serve mainly as a placeholder until you have a full EoSF.

Tenacity of the Millelith FlowerTenacity of the Millelith (4)

Tenacity set on Raiden primarily acts as a low investment support oriented option. Raiden is an excellent ToTM holder since her Elemental Skill has 100% uptime and procs very easily.

Do note that if your Raiden is equipping this set, then she will sacrifice her personal damage and be relegated to a support role.

Weapon

Engulfing Lightning (5✩)

Engulfing Lightning is universally the best weapon for Raiden regardless if you’re building her for Hypercarry, sub DPS or support.

Her signature polearm helps boost user’s ATK based on their ER and also provide an ER boost after using their Burst. Its pretty much built for Raiden’s since she’ll stay on field doing her Normal Attacks after her Q since she would be in Musou Isshin state.


Staff of Homa (5✩)
Primordial Jade Winged-Spear (5✩)
Staff of the Scarlet Sands (5✩)

All these are great 5-star option for Raiden as it provides huge damage as they were built for a DPS user. Homa and Jade Winged-Spear both provide an unconditional passive that Raiden can use. As for Scarlet Sands, it is not recommended to build EM for this weapon as her other offensive stats still outclass it.

The Catch (4✩)

The Catch is the best ‘F2P’ weapon for Raiden as she benefits greatly from its passive where it boost the DMG and Crit Rate of a user’s Burst.

The only drawback is that you’ll need to do a lot of fishing in order to obtain an R5 version of this weapon.

Deathmatch (4✩)

At high refinements Deathmatch becomes a very competitive option, especially in single-target situations. R1 Deathmatch falls slightly below R5 The Catch but overtakes it at R5. The only caveat is that it is a BP weapon so you’ll need to spend money to max its refinements.

Wavebreaker’s Fin (4✩)

Wavebreaker should only be equipped by Raiden if you have it at R5. Wavebreaker’s value will be highly variable depending on its refinement. With high refinements, it surpasses every 4-star option and puts it slightly below Homa.

However at R1, it isn’t really worth using as its damage is lower than R1 Deathmatch.

Talent

C0-C6

Burst (Q) > Skill (E)

Raiden’s Burst (Q) is the most defining part of her kit as it dishes out a huge front load damage and puts her in Musou Isshin state. While in this state, all her Normal Attacks are considered as Burst damage hence upgrading her NA talent won’t affect its damage. No surprise, this talent will be your top priority over everything else. Raiden’s Skill (E) would come second as it provides a bit of off-field damage from her.

Main stat and substat

Sand: Energy Recharge / ATK%
Goblet: Electro DMG / ATK%
Circlet: Crit Rate / DMG

  1. Crit Rate / DMG
  2. ATK%
  3. Energy Recharge

Goblet Electro DMG vs ATK%: Electro goblet will always be the favorable choice in most situation. Only consider ATK goblet if you don’t have an Electro goblet with better substats or if your Raiden team is running without any supports that can provide ATK% buffs (Kujou Sara or Bennett).
Sand ATK% vs ER: ATK% sands will be the preferred choice for her personal damage in most scenarios. ER% Sands is better than ATK% when paired with Engulfing Lightning.

Energy Recharge Requirements

  • Raiden with Engulfing Lightning: 270%
  • Hypercarry Raiden (Sara & Bennett): 270%
  • Raiden with The Catch: ~220%
  • Lowest to Burst every rotation : ~200%

Without Engulfing Lightning (5✩), Raiden should has at least has 200% ER as its the minimal break-point to get her Burst every rotation. Ideally it should be around ~220% but no more than 250% ER as anything above that is a DPS loss for her.

With Engulfing Lightning (5✩), Raiden should aim for no more than 270% ER as she gains another extra 30% ER from the weapon’s passive once she Burst. This is important because it puts her at 300% ER during Burst which is the cap for Burst DMG bonus from the Emblem of Severed Fate set. A Hypercarry Raiden running with Kujou Sara and Bennett will also have similar 270% ER as her ideal stat.

Constellation

C2 > C1

Raiden’s best and most impactful constellation is her C2. If you’re building a Hypercarry Raiden, this is pretty much a must have to hit those huge numbers. On its own, the DEF Ignore equates to around 43% increased damage for hits affected by it (anything during her Burst).

DEF Shred, unlike RES Shred, does get better the more you stack it, but Raiden’s C2 is not exactly DEF Shred. It’s considered DEF Ignore which interacts with the enemy DEF modifier after other sources of DEF Shred are factored in.

Increase the Resolve stacks gain meaning better Quality of Life (QoL) improvement for Raiden as its easier to hit those max stacks. More Resolve stacks means more damage so in a way its a QoL improvement and slight DPS increase.

Raiden’s Combo

Start your rotation with Raiden’s E to amplify your party member’s burst damage. Raiden’s best combo is shown below; *NA = Normal Attack, CA = Charged Attack

E -> Q -> 4NA + CA (2 times) -> 2NA + CA

Recommended combo

E -> Q -> 3NA + CA (3 times) -> 1NA + CA

Optimal combo

The recommended combo provides more room for error and offers slightly better AoE while the optimal combo provides slightly higher damage

Raiden Hyperbloom

Raiden Hyperbloom

Raiden

Flower of Paradise Lost (4)
Paradise FlowerParadise FeatherParadise SandParadise GobletParadise Circlet

Sands - Elemental Mastery
Goblet - Elemental Mastery
Circlet - Elemental Mastery
  1. Max lvl to 90
  1. Elemental Mastery
  2. Energy Recharge
  3. ATK%
  1. Dragon's Bane (4✩)
  2. Moonpiercer (4✩)
  3. Kitain Cross Spear (4✩)

Raiden Hyperbloom
RaidenXingqiuNahidaDendro MC

Similar to a Hyperbloom Kuki Shinobu, you’ll wanna concentrate on stacking up as many Elemental Mastery as you can. Nothing else matters, so when it comes to choosing which artifact set, stats and weapon, it should all be to boost her EM as high as possible. Even talent level does not matter!

The reason why Raiden work so well in Hyperbloom is due to how her E works. Because her E procs in AOE and right after an enemy is damaged, it means that Raiden can easily trigger the Dendro seeds on the ground. On top of that her E has a 100% uptime meaning that you don’t have to worry about downtime when running her in a Hyperbloom comp.

Artifact set

Flower of Paradise Lost (4)

The Flower of Paradise set is the best artifact if you’re running a character that wants to be the trigger in a Bloom, Hyperbloom, and Burgeon and Raiden Hyperbloom is no exception. This set was practically made to make Dendro’s Bloom reaction competitive meta wise.

Gilded Dreams FlowerGilded Dreams (4)

As long as Raiden is the only Electro character in the Hyperbloom team, she should have 230EM buff with this set putting it behind the Flower of Paradise Lost (4) by small margin in terms of DPS.

Gilded Dreams FlowerWanderers Troupe Flower
Gilded Dreams (2)
Wanderer’s Troupe (2)

Both set would give an unconditional 160EM to Raiden. Usable for Hyperbloom but only recommended if you don’t have the other two sets.

Weapon

Dragon’s Bane (4✩)

For Hyperbloom, Dragon’s Bane has the highest Elemental Mastery stat at 221EM making it the best polearm even as a 4-stars option. Until we have a 5-star polearm with EM as its secondary stat, this would be your best weapon for any Elemental Reaction focused polearm user.

Moonpiercer (4✩)

A good EM stat polearm at 110EM putting it near identical with Kitain Cross Spear (4✩).

Kitain Cross Spear (4✩)

A good EM stat polearm at 110EM putting it near identical with Moonpiercer (4✩).

Talent

C0-C6

Max Raiden to Lvl90 > Eveything else

Hyperbloom which is under the subset of Transformative Reactions has a base damage that is influence by the type of reaction, Elemental Mastery, and character level. Hence when it comes to talent leveling, nothing else matters as it doesn’t affect the Hyperbloom damage at all! The only thing you can control is Raiden’s character level, so make sure her level is maxed out.

Main stat and substat

Sand: Elemental Mastery
Goblet: Elemental Mastery
Circlet: Elemental Mastery

  1. Elemental Mastery
  2. Energy Recharge
  3. ATK%

Hyperbloom which is under the subset of Transformative Reactions has a base damage that is influence by the type of reaction, Elemental Mastery, and character level. Hence when it comes to main stat and substat, you only want to stack up on EM. Anything else is redundant as it doesn’t affect the Hyperbloom damage.

Energy Recharge Requirements

Hyperbloom Raiden has no energy requirements because her Skill (E) has 100% uptime. Since this is the primary way you’ll be triggering the Dendro cores, putting ER instead of EM into her stats would mean DPS loss.

Constellation

For Hyperbloom Raiden, non of her constellations affect Hyperbloom damage so they aren’t needed at all.