Xiao Build Guide (Patch 4.4)
| HyperDPS Xiao | |
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Vermillion Hereafter (4) |
Sands - ATK |
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New Hypercarry Xiao |
Xiao’s Role and Skills
Xiao is a hypercarry DPS that revolves around spamming plunge attacks inside his Burst window. His Burst (Q) gives Normal Attacks Anemo infusion, a bigger AOE and a increase of jump height. Once you’ve activated Xiao’s Q, his most optimal attack is to spam plunge attack due to its high damage and AOE. With a 90 energy cost and the majority of his damage inside his Burst window, he’ll need an Anemo battery in his team.
His Elemental Skill (E) gives him 2 Anemo dashes but it does not generate particles while his Burst is active. Hence its recommended to pre-funnel Anemo particles to himself by using both E dashes then immediately activating his Q. This means he would be half way through the burst animation before the particles reach him, this way Xiao starts off his Burst with a portion of its energy gauge already filled.
Do note that if you spam attack too early after jumping Xiao would do a low plunge instead of a high plunge. Thus it is recommended to go for a slightly late high plunge instead of risking losing DPS by accidentally hitting a low plunge.
Artifact set
Vermillion Hereafter (4)
The Vermillion set is easily Xiao’s best artifact since his HP depletion during his Burst allows him to activate the full effects of the 4-piece. The ATK buff also is also one of the few ATK sources that lasts until the end of Xiao’s Burst duration.
Marechaussee Hunter (4)
The 4-piece effect has great synergy with Xiao’s HP loss, allowing him to reach max stacks of 36% CRIT Rate by his 3rd plunge. This set has particular synergy with Xianyun compsdue to her Flat DMG scaling on CRIT and Vortex Vanquisher balancing out its stats.
Desert Pavilion Chronicle (4)
The Desert Pavilion is technically a good set on Xiao however it requires an initial Charged Attack to gain the 40% DMG Bonus on Plunge. This means that Xiao’s plunge combo would be altered to slot in Charged Attacks periodically.
In single target scenario, it can out-damage Vermillion but for multi target scenario the DPS loss from having a Charged Attack inside Xiao’s Plunge combo causes it to fall behind the rest.
15% Anemo DMG set (2)
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18% ATK set (2)
Emblem of Severed Fate (2)
A decent option if you don’t have any of the other full sets. Each combo either boosts Xiao’s damage or help in his energy problems hence prioritize whichever that you’ll need.
Weapon
Primordial Jade Winged-Spear (5✩)
The PJWS is Xiao’s signature and best weapon due to its offensive stat and passive that directly benefits Xiao. A huge Base ATK and Crit Rate stat makes hitting high plunge damage easier. As for its passive, if you use NA cancels between plunges, it helps stack the passive faster.
Staff of Homa (5✩)
Homa comes with huge offensive stat and passive ATK buff that universally benefits anyone. Its whopping 66% Crit DMG stat also helps balance out the Crit Rate from Xiao’s ascension making it easier to build him optimally.
It is not recommend to build Xiao for the additional ATK buff from Homa’s passive whenever his HP is <50% as it would restrict his team comp too much for little gains.
Vortex Vanquisher (5✩)
Calamity Queller (5✩)
In general both of these weapon perform similarly in which they boost Xiao’s ATK. They fall behind the other option due to lack of Crit stats and passive that doesn’t benefit Xiao much.
Calamity Queller: This weapon has a really high Base ATK, which means it benefits more from ATK% buffs
Vortex: In teams with fewer ATK Buffs such as from Bennett / TTDS this weapon will perform slightly better than Calamity Queller
Deathmatch (4✩)
Lithic Spear (4✩)
Both Deathmarch and Lithic would be Xiao best 4-star weapon as they both give a good offensive stats for him.
Talent
C0-C5
Normal Attack (NA) > Burst (Q) > Skill (E)
C6
Skill (E) = Normal Attack (NA) > Burst (Q)
Xiao’s play-style is pretty much a spam plunge bot hence you’ll wanna prioritize his Normal Attack first since it has the most significant upgrade on Plunge damage. Although technically upgrading his Q also increases his Plunge damage, the change is not significant enough compared to NA. Think of his Q mainly as a way to provide infusion to his Normal and Plunge.
At C6, Xiao technically would wanna focus more on his E since his C6 allows him to spam E without cooldown. However, it is conditional and will become inactive in single-target scenarios. Hence, it is better to raise both his E and NA equally.
Main stat and substat
Sand: ATK%
Goblet: Anemo DMG%
Circlet: Crit Rate / DMG
- Energy Recharge
- Crit Rate / DMG
- ATK%
In terms of artifact stats, Xiao follows a very basic DPS build where you’ll wanna focus on Crit Rate / DMG and then ATK%. However, make sure he has enough ER to reliably Burst every rotation or else it doesn’t matter. If he can’t Burst during his rotation, then its pretty much a huge DPS loss.
Energy Recharge Requirements
- No Anemo Battery: ~140%
- Favonius user in Team: ~130%
- 1 Anemo Battery: ~120%
- C6 Faruzan & Xianyun: ~100%
Currently the best battery for Xiao is C6 Faruzan as she can proc her Pressurized Collapse (E) while her Burst is active. This is huge because in addition to the 40% Crit DMG from Faruzan’s C6, she can also generate Anemo particles for Xiao off-field when her Burst is active through proccing her Pressurized Collapse (E).
Constellation
Xiao does not have any Constellation that are substantial enough to recommend rolling for. In fact, most of his Constellations are inconsequential to his play-style and personal damage as they focus on small Quality of Life (QoL) improvements.
This is probably due to early Hoyoverse having a different mindset on how character’s Constellations are designed in the early days of Genshin. As oppose to today’s huge damage spike and play-style change when you go deeper into a character Constellation.
Xiao’s Combo
Skill (E) -> Skill (E) -> Burst (Q) -> Plunge Combo
Xiao’s Optimal Skill Rotation
Plunge -> Normal Attack -> Charged Attack -> Plunge
Xiao Combo On Single Target
Plunge -> Normal Attack -> Plunge
Xiao Combo On Multiple Targets