Hydro is a highly contested element that’s at the core of most meta teams, like freeze and vaporize. Xingqiu is basically a unit that can fulfill the Hydro needs of almost every team. And aside from his great Hydro application, he has many other useful abilities like damage reduction, resistance to interruption, and micro-healing. He’s just an overall great unit that’s thankfully a 4-star – so he’s much easier to get than 5-star units. Plus, Xingqiu is basically always useful. It’s highly encouraged for players to build him, and he will unlock a lot of team options for your account.
Pros & Cons
Xingqiu Strengths
Xingqiu currently has the quickest off-field Hydro application in-game – especially in single-target. This is thanks to his Rain Swords orbitals and attacks that both periodically apply Hydro. Xingqiu’s Rain Swords apply Hydro every 2.5s, while its attacks apply Hydro every ~1s. These basically let him consistently enable Hydro-related reactions. Apart from his supporting abilities, Xingqiu deals significantly high personal damage. Each Sword Rain attack of his burst has an 86.84% multiplier at talent level 8. At C0, his burst can trigger up to 37 Rain Sword attacks. This is basically 3213.08% worth of damage over the course of his 15-second burst. And this just gets better with constellations. At C2, Xingqiu can trigger up to 45 Rain Sword attacks. At C6, he can trigger up to 60 Rain Sword attacks. Plus, his C3 even lets you level this talent up to 13 – each Rain Sword has a 115.33% damage multiplier at this level. Aside from dealing strong personal damage, Xingqiu also provides defensive utilities for the team. This mainly includes his skill’s micro-healing, resistance to interruption, and damage reduction.
Xingqiu’s passive provides micro-healing to the active character when a Rain Sword shatters or expires. His skill increases the active character’s resistance to interruption. This skill’s Rain Swords also reduces the amount of damage taken by the active character. This damage reduction is further increased by 20% of his Hydro damage bonus.
His defensive abilities significantly increase a team’s survivability – even if it’s often not noticeable. They’re also the reason why healer-less teams with Xingqiu feel a lot more comfortable to play than those without him. Xingqiu does scale well with investment, but he’s useful even at low investment. This is especially true for teams where he doesn’t deal a significant portion of damage – he’s mostly just there to apply Hydro and increase team survivability. A great example of this is for Hu Tao teams. Simply building enough Energy Recharge is enough to make Xingqiu a functional teammate for Hu Tao. It’s highly encouraged to further invest in him, but he’s still viable at minimal investment.
Xingqiu Weaknesses
Xingqiu has an expensive 80-energy cost burst. Most of his damage and Hydro application comes from his burst, so it’s very important to charge it every single rotation – and this would mean building enough Energy Recharge (ER). Xingqiu does generate a lot of energy particles from his skill, but this is often not enough. It’s still highly recommended to build around 200%+ ER on him. For late-game players, this is generally easy to achieve – just use an ER weapon, sands, or artifact set. But for early and mid-game players, reaching this ER requirement is more difficult. 5-star artifacts and higher weapon levels are still gated, so there’s no significant source of ER.
Are Xingqiu’s Constellations Good?
They’re great! Xingqiu is already a powerful unit at C0, but his constellations further buff him beyond that. Xingqiu’s cons are mainly quality-of-life or direct damage buffs – all of which he appreciates. The most notable ones are his C2, C3, and C6. So, if his constellations from the Starglitter Exchange Shop unlock any of these – they’re definitely worth buying. But you’ll also get his constellations naturally while playing the game. He’s even been given as a free character over multiple patch events already. And if you’re thinking about buying or pulling more of his constellations, here’s a closer look at each one to help you decide.
C1: The Scent Remained
Increases his maximum Rain Swords by 1. It’s not his best constellation, but it’s still quite useful. C1 mainly serves as a quality-of-life buff that increases his micro-healing and survivability.
C2: Rainbow Upon the Azure Sky
Extends his burst duration by 3s. And upon hitting an opponent with his sword rain attacks, it decreases their Hydro resistance by 15% for 4s. C2 basically increases his off-field Hydro application uptime while significantly buffing his damage. And when paired with other Hydro teammates, he also buffs their damage through the resistance shred.
C3: Weaver of Verses
Increases his elemental burst talent level by 3. Most of Xingqiu’s damage comes from his elemental burst. C3 basically increases its damage multipliers – aka a sizable damage buff.
C4: Evilsoother
During Xingqiu’s burst, the damage dealt by his skill is increased by 50%. This 50% damage increase is multiplicative, so it’s a really big buff. It’s enough to encourage you to level his elemental skill and cast it during his burst.
C5: Embrace of Rain
Increases his elemental skill talent level by 3. This retroactively makes his C4 even better. C5 is not Xingqiu’s best constellation, but it’s still a decent damage increase.
C6: Hence, Call Them My Own Verses
Activating 2 burst rain attacks greatly enhances the third rain attack. On hit, the third rain attack also generates 3 energy for Xingqiu. This is Xingqiu’s most powerful constellation. At C0-C5, his burst’s attack pattern only deals alternating 2-3 hits per wave. This first wave deals 2 hits, and the second wave deals 3 hits. With C6, Xingqiu gains a third wave which deals 5 hits. This effectively increases his off-field Hydro application and damage even more. Plus, the energy refund is greatly appreciated. It lets you run slightly less Energy Recharge and focus on damage-related stats instead.
