Updated for Version 3.3
Written (with love) by: [TF Mahamatra] Noir#1966, Raru Kyouwa#0677, and mina#4448
Art by: Nekol
“…Really, can’t a girl sport her own style without being looked at like she’s some weird creature outta who-knows-where?”
-About Xinyan: Frightening
Table of Contents
Intro and Overview
Hello, and welcome to the Official Xinyan Guide! This guide was made from the bottom of our hearts to inform players who intend on building Liyue’s favorite rockstar.
Xinyan has a very unique kit that gives her a wide variety of playstyles for every kind of player. We hope that by the end of this guide you’ll have learned everything you need to start your new journey with the Rock ‘n’ Roll queen herself.
TL;DR
Character Breakdown
Xinyan, being a 4-star character, has her own unique upsides and downsides that all players should keep in mind when building her.
Pros
- High front-loaded damage, with no need for CRIT-fishing after C2+.
- Relatively low field time requirements.
- Provides shields while being mainly a damage dealer.
- Can serve as a good Pyro battery.
- Strong Pyro application.
Cons
- Optimal teams require Bennett for batterying and buffing.
- Reliant on staying within fields such as Bennett’s or Rosaria’s Bursts.
- Short range on both her Charged Attacks and Burst/Skill AoE.
- Mid to high ER requirements due to long Skill CD.
- Pyro application is tied to her Shield
- Reliant on C2 for optimal performance.
Misconceptions
Xinyan’s unique kit has led to several misconceptions about her performance. While there are valid criticisms regarding her kit, some arguments used to discredit her are born from inaccurate beliefs that we will address in this section:
Common Misconception 1: “She can’t utilize Superconduct because she is Pyro.”
While it is true that being a Pyro unit means that she can’t proc Superconduct herself, her usual Physical team compositions take this into consideration by pairing her with characters that can trigger it. Additionally, Xinyan doesn’t need to trigger Superconduct while on-field because Superconduct lasts 12 seconds, which is longer than Xinyan’s optimal 5-10 second DPS window. Being a Pyro unit also gives her easy access to Pyro Resonance, which increases the entire team’s ATK by 25%.
However, Xinyan being Pyro does mean that Physical Xinyan teams want both an Electro and a Cryo unit, thus limiting team flexibility.
Common Misconception 2: “Her split-scaling damage hurts her DPS.”
Xinyan’s kit is not split between ATK and DEF scaling: her abilities scale purely on ATK, with added DEF scaling at Constellation 6. Since her damage scales on ATK, you don’t lose out on any damage by building ATK instead of DEF. Instead, you lose out on shield HP. Likewise, as a support, by building her for DEF instead of ATK, you won’t lose out on any shield HP, only on damage (which you shouldn’t be looking for when building her as a shield support anyway).
She does have split scaling between Physical and Pyro damage. Despite this, her split damage is usually not a concern due to her playstyles predominantly focusing on optimizing only one damage type.
Common Misconception 3: “Her shield is weak.”
It is true that Xinyan’s shield isn’t as strong as the shields of certain other characters in the game, in terms of effective shield HP and uptime. A reference for the relative value of various characters’ shield strengths can be found here. However, if you are building Xinyan as a Support, you can still get her shield to over 10k effective HP, which can be sufficient for protecting your on-field character.
Furthermore, when building Xinyan as an on-field DPS, she should only stay on-field for around 5-7 seconds in optimal rotations (excluding the invincibility frames during her Burst animation). This means that her shield is only vulnerable for those 5-7 seconds, and in many scenarios, Xinyan’s shield will be sufficient to protect her from getting interrupted during her Normal/Charged Attacks.
Talents
Normal Attack: Dance on Fire
Description
Normal Attack:
Perform up to 4 consecutive strikes.
Charged Attack:
Drains Stamina over time to perform continuous spinning Attacks against all nearby opponents. At the end of the sequence, perform a more powerful slash.
Max duration: 5s
Plunging Attack:
Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
As an on-field DPS, Xinyan’s Normal and/or Charged Attack are usually her main sources of damage. Her Charged Attack allows her to deal high-scaling damage 10-11 times in a short time span.
For Support Xinyan, her Normal Attack Talent can be ignored.
Elemental Skill: Sweeping Fervor
Description
Xinyan brandishes her instrument, dealing Pyro DMG on nearby opponents, forming a shield made out of her audience’s passion.
The shield’s DMG Absorption scales based on Xinyan’s DEF and on the number of opponents hit.
- Hitting 0–1 opponents grants Shield Level 1: Ad Lib.
- Hitting 2 opponents grants Shield Level 2: Lead-In.
- Hitting 3 or more opponents grants Shield Level 3: Rave, which will also deal intermittent Pyro DMG to nearby opponents.
The shield has the following special properties:
- When unleashed, it infuses Xinyan with Pyro.
- It has 250% DMG Absorption effectiveness against Pyro
Xinyan’s Elemental Skill is an integral part of her kit. It provides her with a constant source of Pyro application and a shield. In a Pyro DPS Xinyan build, her Skill deals a significant amount of damage. In non-Pyro builds, its value changes from providing straight damage to primarily providing utility (i.e. survivability, Interruption Resistance, her A4 buff and her C4, if available).
Her shield is also unique in that, every time you swap characters while shielded, the active character will gain a Pyro aura. This can be an excellent tool for cleansing Leyline Disorders, or for enabling Elemental Absorption with Anemo units.
Note that for C2+ Xinyan, using her Skill after her Burst against a single target will override the Level 3 Shield with the lower-level Shield generated by her Skill, which is undesirable.
Elemental Burst: Riff Revolution
Description
Strumming rapidly, Xinyan launches nearby opponents and deals Physical DMG to them, hyping up the crowd.
The sheer intensity of the atmosphere will cause explosions that deal Pyro DMG to nearby opponents.
Xinyan’s Elemental Burst is a crucial part of her kit, allowing her to deal high front-loaded damage. Its damage becomes more significant once you have unlocked her C2.
Ascension 1 Passive: The Show Goes On, Even Without an Audience
Description
Decreases the number of opponents Sweeping Fervor must hit to trigger each level of shielding.
- Shield Level 2: Lead-In requirement reduced to 1 opponent hit.
- Shield Level 3: Rave requirement reduced to 2 opponents hit or more.
This Passive is quite useful, reducing the amount of enemies needed to reach Shield Level 3.
Ascension 4 Passive: Now That’s Rock N Roll!
Description
Characters shielded by Sweeping Fervor deal 15% increased Physical DMG.
When playing Xinyan as a Physical DPS or enabler of such characters, this Passive becomes very useful. However, Xinyan’s shield is not exceptionally strong and may break easily, especially when she is built as a Physical DPS, which can lead to low uptime on this Passive.
Utility Passive: A Rad Recipe
Description
When a Perfect Cooking is achieved on a DEF-boosting dish, Xinyan has a 12% chance to obtain double the product.
Standard cooking Passive.
Talent Priority
Physical Xinyan: Normal Attack ≥ Elemental Burst ≥ Elemental Skill
Pyro Xinyan: Normal Attack ≥ Elemental Skill ≥ Elemental Burst
Support Xinyan: Elemental Skill only (Burst optional for extra damage)
Constellations
Constellation 1: Fatal Acceleration
Description
Upon scoring a CRIT Hit, increases ATK SPD of Xinyan’s Normal and Charged Attacks by 12% for 5s.
Can only occur once every 5s.
As she is a Claymore user, Xinyan’s attacks can feel slow and sluggish. The 12% Attack Speed from Constellation 1 helps mitigate this. However, Xinyan won’t actually attack 12% faster because of hitlag mechanics, which reduce the effectiveness of Attack Speed buffs. Attack Speed buffs are also less beneficial for Claymore users specifically because Claymores generate more hitlag than other weapon types. Nonetheless, you should still feel the quality of life improvement of this Constellation.
DPS Increase:
Pyro and Phys: ~5%
Cumulative Increase: 5%
Constellation 2: Impromptu Opening
Description
Riff Revolution’s Physical DMG has its CRIT Rate increased by 100%, and will form a shield at Shield Level 3: Rave when cast.
Xinyan’s best Constellation, guaranteeing that the Physical part of her Elemental Burst will score a CRIT hit every single time. This Constellation also ensures that her Burst always triggers her Constellation 1. Note that the shield created via this Constellation will still scale off the Talent Levels for her Skill, so make sure you level both her Skill and her Burst.
DPS Increase:
Phys: 8% | Cumulative: 13%
Pyro: 15% | Cumulative: 20%
Constellation 3: Double-Stop
Description
Increases the Level of Sweeping Fervor by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Simple and effective Constellation—increasing her Talent Level by 3 gives a sizable increase to its damage and her shield’s strength.
DPS Increase:
Phys: 1% | Cumulative: 15%
Pyro: 4% | Cumulative: 25%
Constellation 4: Wildfire Rhythm
Description
Sweeping Fervor’s swing DMG decreases the opponent’s Physical RES by 15% for 12s.
Excellent Constellation, improving both her own damage and support utility.
DPS Increase:
Phys: 5% | Cumulative: 21%
Pyro: 1% | Cumulative: 27%
Constellation 5: Screamin’ for an Encore
Description
Increases the Level of Riff Revolution by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Simple and effective, just like her Constellation 3. More Talent Levels is more damage.
DPS Increase:
Phys: 6% | Cumulative: 28%
Pyro: 5% | Cumulative: 34%
Constellation 6: Rockin’ in a Flaming World
Description
Decreases the Stamina Consumption of Xinyan’s Charged Attacks by 30%. Additionally, Xinyan’s Charged Attacks gain an ATK Bonus equal to 50% of her DEF.
Xinyan’s second-best Constellation. This Constellation opens the door for more build flexibility, as well as providing a huge quality of life improvement in the form of a 30% reduction in CA Stamina Consumption.
The wording on this Constellation is a bit misleading as it implies that only her Charged Attacks get the bonus. This is not the case. Instead, it works by translating 50% of your current DEF into a straight ATK bonus while you’re in your Charged Attack animation. Since Xinyan’s Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst apply instances of Damage over Time that can hit during her Charged Attack animation, they can benefit from the ATK buff. This ATK buff will also increase the damage of passives from weapons such as Skyward Pride and Snow-Tombed Starsilver.
The main downside of this Constellation is that the buff only activates while in the Charged Attack animation, meaning that at this Constellation level, Normal Attack-heavy compositions start losing some relative value. While that doesn’t mean they can’t be used, it does make Xinyan’s gameplay lean even more into a Charged Attack carry style.
DPS Increase:
Phys: 8% | Cumulative: 38%
Pyro: 8% | Cumulative: 45%
Playstyles
Art by: shirakawafel
“Well, where should we start? …Eh, guess we’ll start with rock ‘n’ roll.”
–More About Xinyan: I
Xinyan has three main playstyles: Physical DPS, Pyro DPS, and Support.
Physical DPS
Xinyan’s standard playstyle involves using her as an on-field Physical DPS, focusing on her Physical damage from her Elemental Burst and Normal/Charged Attacks. A Physical Xinyan team will aim to maximize her Physical damage through various means, but the usual option is Superconduct via Electro and Cryo supports.
Note that this video is merely demonstrating an example rotation; the video has C6 Bennett, who is incompatible with Physical Xinyan
Pyro DPS
Xinyan can also be played as a Pyro DPS by utilizing Bennett’s Constellation 6 to convert her Normal/Charged Attacks into Pyro damage. This helps mitigate her Physical-Pyro split scaling, allowing you to optimize for and take advantage of the Pyro damage scaling from her Skill and Burst. Additionally, this playstyle opens up a larger variety of team options, as there are far more ways to build a team around Pyro damage than Physical damage. A few ways you can elevate her damage with this playstyle include Kazuha’s Ascension 4, 4pc Viridescent Venerer, Xiangling’s C1 and C6, and 4pc Archaic Petra.
Note that it is not recommended to activate Constellation 6 on your Bennett specifically for Pyro DPS Xinyan. Rather, this playstyle is a way to play her if you already have Bennett at Constellation 6. The same Xinyan teams are viable without Bennett at Constellation 6, using a “hybrid” playstyle instead, focusing on both her Physical and Pyro damage. However, they will simply have a lower ceiling without Bennett’s Constellation 6. Activating Bennett’s Constellation 6 will lock you out of playing many of Xinyan’s Physical teams (and affects other characters like Physical Razor, Eula and Keqing), so don’t activate it unless you are 100% sure you want to play Pyro Xinyan.
Support
As a Support, Xinyan primarily provides the on-field DPS with a shield, and sometimes a consistent source of Pyro aura. She can also provide extra sources of utility through the Tenacity of the Millelith set, her excellent Shield-breaking capabilities, her Pyro battery capability, and in some cases, her Physical DMG% buff and RES Shred.
Combos
TL;DR: Pyro Xinyan will always want to do Charged Attacks, while Physical Xinyan has more options depending on the situation.
Pyro Xinyan
Pyro Xinyan wants to start with her Elemental Skill and follow up with her Elemental Burst. This allows her Burst to be buffed by her A4 and C4, and allows Xinyan to pre-funnel her own particles. With C2, using Skill before Burst also ensures that you always overwrite a potentially lower level Shield from Skill with the Level 3 Shield from Burst.
After using her Skill and Burst, Pyro Xinyan post-C6 will want to spam Charged Attacks as much as possible. This is because she only gets her C6 Attack buff during her CA animation, and it applies to all of her damage, including her Burst and Skill Pyro DoT.
Physical Xinyan
Similarly, Physical Xinyan wants to start with her Elemental Skill and follow up with her Elemental Burst, thus buffing her Burst with her A4 and C4 and pre-funneling her particles. Again, using her Skill before her Burst ensures that you overwrite a potentially lower-level Shield from Skill with the Level 3 Shield from Burst.
After using her Skill and Burst, Physical Xinyan has many combo options depending on the situation.
Glossary:
C: Charged Attack (10 spins + 1 final slash)
N: Normal Attack
Nx: Normal Attack x amount of times
D: Dash
This is the best combo for damage, even before C6, simply because Xinyan’s Charged Attack has high talent scaling and decent AoE. However, it eats through your Stamina and can be easily interrupted without a dedicated shielder. Its AoE damage output still makes it worth using in multi-target.
This combo finds a good balance between ease of use, Stamina consumption, and DPS. This combo uses the least Stamina, which provides more opportunities to use Stamina to dodge attacks and prevent her shield from being broken.
While this combo doesn’t deal the highest DPS, it allows Xinyan to dodge more and preserve her shield to maintain its Pyro DoT. This string can be used against enemies who are especially aggressive and can easily burn through your shield.
Artifacts
Art by: YunYang
“Now that’s how life should be like! Lose the red tape, and live free!”
–About Us: Kindred Spirits
Xinyan’s recommended artifacts vary significantly depending on her playstyle and team composition. This section provides a general reference for artifact set comparisons between Physical DPS and Pyro DPS Xinyan. For full details on assumptions used for these calculations, please refer to the sheets linked in the Resources section.
For specific comparisons using the artifacts you own, we recommend using Genshin Optimizer.
Artifact Sets
(Common assumptions: Lv 90 C6 9/12/12 Xinyan, R1 Serpent Spine and R1 Blackcliff. KQM standards. Other assumptions are specified below.)
Physical Xinyan
Assumptions: 160% ER requirement, ATK% / Phys% / CRIT, C5 Bennett with Prototype Rancour and 4NO, C6 Rosaria and 4ToM Fischl; Superconduct. Combo: E Q CA N2.
| Artifact Set | % of 2PF 2BSC (R1 Serpent Spine) | % of 2PF 2BSC (R1 Blackcliff) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
4 Pale Flame | 100.97%(assumes dynamic stacks) | 100.39%(assumes dynamic stacks) | This set suffers from 2 flaws that make it fall slightly short of being the uncontested BiS for Xinyan. Firstly, because the second part of the 4pc passive has a delay from when the Skill hits and the buff activates, Xinyan’s Burst at C2+ doesn’t fully benefit from the 4pc set bonus. Secondly, before C2, Xinyan can’t activate the full 4pc set bonus without hitting at least 2 enemies, as she needs a Level 3 Shield to get 2 hits of her Skill. This also means either delaying your rotation by 2 seconds while waiting for the full 4pc set bonus, or buffing Xinyan’s combo only partially. Overall, this set’s conditional nature makes it potentially inconsistent as it requires having her shield up to gain and maintain stacks. |
2 Pale Flame (PF) & 2 Bloodstained Chivalry (BSC) | 100% | 100% | Unconditionally strong set for Physical Xinyan. This set combination provides her with a hefty Physical DMG Bonus without the conditions of the 4pc Physical sets. |
2 PF/BSC & 2 ATK% | 95.74% | 94.24% | A combination of a 2pc Physical set and 2pc ATK% set has a lower ceiling than a combination of the Physical sets, but is much easier to acquire. |
2 Emblem of Severed Fate (Emblem) & 2 PF/BSC | 94.85% | 92.90% | This set combination helps reach Physical Xinyan’s relatively high Energy requirements with the 2pc Emblem bonus. This may free up space to build more offensive substats instead of ER. However, this set combination loses value when you use an ER weapon like Skyward Pride or if you have extra ER substat rolls that lead you to overshoot your ER requirement. |
2 PF/BSC & 2 Noblesse Oblige | 94.75% | 93.96% | This set combination can be Resin-efficient to farm, as BSC and Noblesse are available from the same Domain. |
2 Husk of Opulent Dreams & 2 PF/BSC | 93.43% | 92.04% | Husk of Opulent Dreams provides Xinyan with DEF%, which increases her overall damage via her C6 and makes her shield stronger. Thus, although this artifact set combination has a lower damage ceiling than the above sets, it provides more survivability. |
4 Retracing Bolide | 92.49% | 91.22% | This set provides some utility in making Xinyan’s shield stronger, but the overall value of its damage buff is lower than the above-mentioned sets. Additionally, this set loses value in rotations where you perform a lower amount of Normal/Charged Attacks, since it does not buff Xinyan’s other damage sources. |
4 Bloodstained Chivalry | 91.63% (no passive) | 90.31% (no passive) | Calculated without the 4pc set bonus. Due to the highly conditional nature of the 4pc bonus, this set is not worth using over the mixed set alternatives above. |
Various 2pc combinations | 89.68% – 90.74% | 86.23% – 87.95% | Other 2pc artifact combinations of Emblem, Noblesse and ATK% sets can perform similarly. See the calcs linked in the Resources section for reference.The strength of a combination set depends on the quality of your substats, so we recommend using Genshin Optimizer to find your best set. |
Pyro Xinyan
(Assumptions: 129% ER requirement, ATK% / Pyro% / CRIT, C6 Bennett with Prototype Rancour and 4NO, C0 Kazuha and C6 Xiangling. Combo E Q C N1)
| Artifact Set | % of 2PF 2BSC (R1 Serpent Spine) | % of 2PF 2BSC (R1 Blackcliff) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
4 Lavawalker | 100%(assumes 100% uptime) | 100%(assumes 100% uptime) | Lavawalker holds its ground as Pyro Xinyan’s BiS. In Pyro Xinyan teams with C6 Bennett, it’s easy to achieve high uptime on this set’s 4pc buff. Additionally, this set can be obtained when farming Crimson Witch for other Pyro DPS units. The minor downside of this set is that it is somewhat less flexible than other options, as it does not perform well against enemies with innate auras. |
2 Emblem of Severed Fate & 2 Crimson Witch of Flames | 96.94% | 95.23% | The advantage of mixed Emblem sets is that the 2pc bonus largely fulfills Pyro Xinyan’s relatively low Energy requirements and allows you to focus on getting offensive substats instead. |
2 Emblem of Severed Fate & 2 ATK% | 95.68% | 93% | The 2pc Emblem bonus satisfies most of Pyro Xinyan’s relatively low Energy requirements. In addition, you will naturally obtain ATK% sets while farming bosses / the Shimenawa Domain. |
| Various 2pc combinations | 92.75% – 94.57% | 90.96% – 92.96% | Other 2pc artifact combinations of Crimson Witch, ATK% and/or Noblesse Oblige sets perform similarly. See the calcs linked in the Resources section for reference. The strength of a combination set depends on the quality of your substats, so we recommend using Genshin Optimizer to find your best set. |
| 4 Retracing Bolide | 92.82% | 91.76% | This set gives Xinyan Shield Strength so that she has more survivability while on-field. Since it lets her shield last longer, it’s also a great way to keep your Skill DoT up for maximum Pyro Xinyan damage. Since this set only buffs your Normal and Charged Attacks, it will lose value in rotations where you perform a lower amount of Normal/Charged Attacks. |
4 Crimson Witch of Flames | 92.81% | 91.75% | Calculated assuming Xinyan is triggering no reactions. The effectiveness of this artifact set depends partially on which team Xinyan is put on. In teams where Xinyan doesn’t cause reactions, the Pyro reaction bonuses don’t apply and this set simply becomes a 22.5% Pyro DMG Bonus set, as Xinyan can only realistically obtain 1 stack. In teams where Xinyan does trigger reactions, the 4pc set bonus provides some additional value by increasing her reaction damage. However, since Pyro Xinyan typically has strong Pyro application which makes her more suited to an enabler role (rather than being the one to trigger reactions), this set is generally worse than 4pc Lavawalker and would be better served on more reaction-based units. |
2 Husk of Opulent Dreams & 2 Crimson Witch | 92.64% | 91.19% | This set has fairly underwhelming performance, but the 2pc Husk DEF% bonus provides some additional survivability and makes her shield stronger, which can increase uptime on one of Pyro Xinyan’s main damage sources, her Skill’s Pyro pulses. |
Main Stats
Sands: ATK%/DEF%/ER%
You should only use ER Sands if it’s necessary to reach the ER requirements for Bursting every rotation. This is more applicable to Physical Xinyan, who tends to have higher ER requirements in such teams compared to, for example, Mono Pyro teams.
If ER requirements have been met, ATK% Sands is her best option for personal DMG for both Pyro and Physical DPS Xinyan.
However, at C6, a second option that provides a little more value aside from straight damage is DEF%. At C6, DEF% Sands decreases Xinyan’s DPS by about 8% compared to ATK% Sands, but it significantly increases her Shield’s DMG absorption. This has the twofold effect of improving Xinyan’s overall survivability and also potentially leading to increased damage, because higher shield uptime may mean more pulses of her Pyro DoT. Thus, both ATK% and DEF% Sands are viable options, depending on whether you value offensive or defensive capability more.
(Note that a DEF% Sands should only be considered in a rotation where you are using Xinyan’s Charged Attacks, as her Constellation 6 does not apply to Normal Attacks or Physical Burst damage.)
Goblet: Physical DMG% / Pyro DMG%
Plain and simple. Use a Physical Goblet if you’re using her as a Physical DPS, and a Pyro Goblet if you’re using her as a Pyro DPS.
Circlet: CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG
Choosing between using a CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG Circlet depends on both your weapon and your Constellation.
Post Constellation 2, Physical Xinyan wants to shift her CRIT Ratio to 1:3 rather than a typical 1:2 split. This is due to the guaranteed CRIT Hit on her Burst from her C2, increasing the value of CRIT DMG in comparison to CRIT Rate. If you’re using Xinyan in a rotation where she primarily uses her Burst, then a CRIT DMG Circlet will always be better.
On the other hand, since C2 only works on her Burst’s Physical DMG, Pyro Xinyan will still want a typical 1:2 CRIT ratio. Choose whichever Circlet gets you closer to your playstyle and Constellation’s desired ratio.
Sub Stats
For substats, priorities are as follows:
- Energy Recharge. You should build enough ER to Burst every rotation.
- CRIT DMG = CRIT Rate. As mentioned earlier, Physical Xinyan wants to aim for a 1:3 ratio, or focus heavily on CRIT DMG if primarily using her Burst.
- ATK%. As Xinyan has ATK% Ascension and the effect of her Constellation 6, ATK% substats are less of a priority for her than CRIT. However, they are still welcome.
- DEF%. DEF% as a substat is not something to actively look out for, but after hitting C6, it becomes a nice bonus for general damage output in addition to a stronger shield.
- Flat ATK/DEF. Less desirable than percent rolls but still provide value.
- Elemental Mastery. Neither Physical nor Pyro Xinyan will want to seek EM through substats. However, it isn’t a completely dead stat, as in some teams Xinyan may trigger a few reactions.
ER Requirements
| Scenario | ER Requirements |
|---|---|
| Solo Pyro | 200% – 230%+ |
| Double Pyro | 160% – 190% |
| Triple Pyro | 130% – 160%+ |
| Double Pyro, with Venti | 120% – 140% |
| Triple Pyro, with Venti | 100% – 120% |
| Solo Pyro, with Raiden | 130% – 150%+ |
| Double Pyro, with Raiden | 100% – 130% |
Favonius weapons typically lower Xinyan’s ER requirements by around 20% per passive proc.
To determine more precise ER requirements for your specific team, use the Energy Recharge Calculator.
Weapons
Physical Xinyan
Assumptions: 2PF+2BSC, 160% ER requirement, ATK% / Phys% / CRIT, C5 Bennett with Prototype Rancour and 4NO, C6 Rosaria and 4ToM Fischl; Superconduct. Combo: E Q CA N2.
| Weapon | % of Sealord |
|---|---|
| Redhorn Stonethresher R1 | 128.27% |
| Serpent Spine R5 (5 stacks) | 122.03% |
| Skyward Pride R1 (8 vacuum blades) | 118.02% |
| The Unforged R1 (shielded; dynamic stacks) | 115.67% |
| Serpent Spine R1 (5 stacks) | 111.92% |
| Song of Broken Pines R1 (with passive) | 110.65% |
| Song of Broken Pines R1 (without passive) | 107.75% |
| Prototype Archaic R5 (1 proc) | 106.17% |
| Wolf’s Gravestone R1 (without passive) | 104.09% |
| Blackcliff Slasher R5 (1 stack) | 102.88% |
| Snow-Tombed Starsilver R5 (1 proc; no Cryo on enemy) | 101.64% |
| Akuoumaru R5 (240 burst cost) | 101.31% |
| Luxurious Sea-Lord R5 | 100.00% |
| Blackcliff Slasher R1 (1 stack) | 99.99% |
| Snow-Tombed Starsilver R1 (1 proc; no Cryo on enemy) | 99.68% |
| Prototype Archaic R1 (1 proc) | 98.90% |
| Lithic Blade R5 (1 stack) | 97.29% |
| Blackcliff Slasher (0 stacks) | 97.09% |
| Akuoumaru R1 (240 burst cost) | 96.13% |
| Lithic Blade R1 (1 stack) | 94.11% |
| Whiteblind R5 (dynamic stacks) | 92.14% |
| Whiteblind R1 (dynamic stacks) | 88.64% |
Pyro Xinyan
Assumptions: 4pc Lavawalker, 129% ER requirement, ATK% / Pyro% / CRIT, C6 Bennett with Prototype Rancour and 4NO, C0 Kazuha and C6 Xiangling. Combo E Q CA N1.
| Weapon | % of Sealord |
|---|---|
| Serpent Spine R5 (5 stacks) | 127.86% |
| Redhorn Stonethresher R1 | 125.95% |
| Serpent Spine R1 (5 stacks) | 118.33% |
| Wolf’s Gravestone R1 (with passive) | 117.69% |
| The Unforged R1 (dynamic passive uptime) | 110.60% |
| Blackcliff Slasher R5 (1 stack) | 109.88% |
| Skyward Pride R1 (8 vacuum blades) | 109.44% |
| Lithic Blade R5 (2 stacks) | 108.91% |
| Song of Broken Pines R1 (passive up after 4 CAs) | 108.84% |
| Wolf’s Gravestone R1 (without passive) | 108.40% |
| Song of Broken Pines R1 (without passive) | 106.78% |
| Blackcliff Slasher R1 (1 stack) | 106.55% |
| Akuoumaru R5 (260 burst cost) | 105.21% |
| Blackcliff Slasher (0 stacks) | 103.59% |
| Prototype Archaic R5 (1 proc) | 103.17% |
| Lithic Blade R1 (2 stacks) | 101.34% |
| Luxurious Sea-Lord R5 | 100.00% |
| Akuoumaru R1 (260 burst cost) | 100.00% |
| Prototype Archaic R1 (1 proc) | 99.45% |
| Royal Greatsword R5 | 98.84% |
| Royal Greatsword R1 | 97.31% |
| Whiteblind R5 (dynamic stacks) | 96.90% |
| Snow-Tombed Starsilver R5 (1 proc; no Cryo on enemy) | 94.96% |
| Snow-Tombed Starsilver R1 (1 proc; no Cryo on enemy) | 94.00% |
| Whiteblind R1 (dynamic stacks) | 93.42% |
Full details can be found in the calculations linked in the Resources section.
| Weapon | Description |
|---|---|
 Redhorn Stonethresher | Redhorn is Physical Xinyan’s BiS, and performs on par with R5 Serpent Spine for Pyro Xinyan. Notably, it is much more consistent than Serpent Spine due to not having stacking mechanics. Additionally, while Serpent Spine makes Xinyan’s shield take more damage, Redhorn makes her shield stronger with its 28% DEF passive. The 88.4% CRIT DMG Redhorn provides also makes it much easier to achieve Physical Xinyan’s desired 1:3 CRIT Ratio. And on top of that, Redhorn is a total dripstick on Xinyan. |
 Serpent Spine | Serpent Spine, especially at R5, is an incredibly strong weapon on Xinyan if you can maintain max stacks on it. Xinyan having her own shield makes maintaining stacks more feasible, since shields getting hit does not subtract stacks. However, Serpent Spine’s passive does make its wielder take increased damage, which also increases the damage taken by shields. Admittedly, getting refinements on Serpent Spine costs both money and the opportunity cost of getting alternative Battle Pass weapons. Nevertheless, the weapon competes with Redhorn for Xinyan’s BiS. |
 Skyward Pride | Skyward Pride is a strong option for Physical Xinyan, and also performs quite well on Pyro Xinyan. Xinyan is one of the few characters in the game that can make this weapon truly shine. The Energy Recharge it provides makes building Xinyan easier, particularly for Physical Xinyan who has quite high ER requirements. Since the weapon’s Vacuum Blades deal Physical damage, Pride has more value in Physical builds than Pyro builds, but it is still valuable for both. Note that the less Energy Recharge Xinyan needs in your specific team, the less value this weapon has. |
 Wolf’s Gravestone | Wolf’s Gravestone is an effective weapon, providing 69.6% ATK on top of its good Base Attack. With the passive up, it provides a further 40% ATK buff to the entire team. However, in practice, the uptime on this passive will not be great, as it only lasts 12 seconds on a 30 second cooldown and can only be triggered on enemies below 30% HP. Despite that, Wolf’s Gravestone is still an excellent weapon. |
 Song of Broken Pines | Behind its wall of text lies this weapon’s very powerful abilities. Even without stacks, the weapon is already a hefty stat stick. Once fully stacked, Song of Broken Pines will provide a 20% ATK buff to the entire team. Although this is a smaller ATK buff than what Wolf’s Gravestone provides, the uptime on Song of Broken Pines’ buff is much better, lasting for 12 seconds on a 20 second cooldown, compared to Wolf’s Gravestone’s 30 second cooldown. As a side note, the 12% Attack Speed buff is not particularly valuable for Xinyan, since she wants to spam CAs in her max damage rotations and Attack Speed snapshots on Claymore spinning CAs. This means that if you get the weapon buff after Xinyan starts her CAs, the buff won’t be utilized. Additionally, even in rotations with more NAs, hitlag makes the Attack Speed buff effect fairly negligible. |
 The Unforged | Calculated assuming that Xinyan can maintain her shield throughout her combo. The Unforged provides personal ATK buffs for Xinyan on par with Wolf’s Gravestone. However, The Unforged differs in that its passive doesn’t apply to Xinyan’s teammates, and that it’s locked behind Xinyan’s shield uptime. To help with shield uptime, the weapon does provide 20% Shield Strength. The Unforged is a solid weapon for Xinyan if you do not have any other 5-star Claymores. |
 Akuoumaru | This weapon provides good value even at low refinements, due to providing a DMG% Bonus to her Elemental Burst based on team Burst Cost. This, alongside its ATK% main stat, buffs both Physical and Pyro Xinyan and scales amazingly with extra refinements and team combinations. Xinyan herself doesn’t have a very high cost Burst, but if stacked with units of similar cost, you’re looking at around a 30% Burst DMG buff. |
 Prototype Archaic | Prototype Archaic performs well at high refinements and is F2P accessible. |
 Luxurious Sea-Lord | The based fish. This is a solid F2P option for both Physical and Pyro Xinyan. |
 Blackcliff Slasher | A decent stat stick; this weapon sadly falls behind its full potential due to its difficulty at accumulating stacks. Still, at 0 stacks, the CRIT DMG it provides is not insignificant. Buying this weapon is not the best use of your Starglitter. |
 Lithic Blade | In a team with multiple characters from Liyue, this weapon becomes really powerful, with Xinyan already counting as a Liyue character herself. However, you don’t want to shoehorn additional Liyue characters into your team for the sake of this weapon’s passive, as the damage increase from Lithic Blade will not offset the damage loss from creating a subpar team. It is recommended to only use this weapon in teams that already have at least two characters from Liyue. |
 Snow-Tombed Starsilver | Although this is a decent early game option, especially for Physical Xinyan, it is not worth using billets to refine this weapon over Prototype Archaic. |
 Whiteblind | While Whiteblind does make Xinyan’s shield substantially stronger, Prototype Archaic is a much better option to craft with billets. |
Team Compositions
Art by: K.K.Tofus
Choosing between using Physical or Pyro Xinyan usually comes down to whether or not you have Bennett’s Constellation 6 activated. However, she does have teambuilding flexibility beyond that. As previously mentioned, Xinyan’s preferred teammates will change depending on if you are playing Physical or Pyro Xinyan.
Physical / Superconduct
Physical Xinyan teams typically focus on utilizing the Superconduct reaction to increase Xinyan’s damage via its 40% Physical RES Shred. In these teams, Xinyan is also able to double up as a Pyro enabler, providing a Pyro aura for the Cryo unit to Melt off of, or sometimes for the Electro unit to get a few Overloads. This results in a team with circular synergy where every unit is providing value to every other unit on the team.
Bennett
 Bennett | Bennett is the premier support for Xinyan, providing Pyro Resonance, healing, and decent capacities as a Pyro battery. Using him is highly recommended, as he reduces Xinyan’s ER requirements and significantly boosts her and her team’s damage. |
Electro Flex
 Fischl | Fischl is the most recommended Electro unit for this slot. With Oz, she provides a source of consistent, high-damaging Electro application that also helps alleviate Energy requirements, even for non-Electro units. She is also able to use the 4pc Tenacity of the Millileth set, increasing both team damage and Xinyan’s Shield Strength. Being able to do all this with very short field time allows for smooth rotations. |
 Yae Miko | Yae functions similarly to Fischl, providing constant off-field Electro damage and being able to use 4pc Tenacity. She falls short though, due to her higher field time requirements, lower Energy production, inability to snapshot Bennett’s buff, and inability to use her Burst every rotation without massive Energy requirements and/or rotation extension. When she can use her Burst, however, she provides a secondary source of high frontloaded damage in addition to Xinyan’s Burst. |
 Raiden Shogun | Raiden synergizes greatly with Xinyan. Her Skill provides a buff to the entire team’s Burst DMG%, while producing a good amount of particles with 100% uptime. Her Burst also batteries the team even further, allowing for lower team Energy requirements without the need for funneling. Due to Xinyan’s own flexible and short field time requirements, she and Raiden are able to function well together in a dual carry team setup with two sources of high frontloaded damage on their Bursts. The main downside to using Raiden with Xinyan is that Raiden is a highly contested unit and might be desired for your other team. |
Cryo Flex
 Rosaria | Rosaria is the most ideal Cryo unit for this team, providing constant Cryo application for Superconduct, high off-field damage, team CRIT Rate, and Physical RES Shred at C6. Rosaria’s lack of ICD on her Burst also means she can trigger many Melts. |
 Kaeya | Kaeya’s decent Cryo application with his Burst lands him as a good choice for this role. However, he falls short compared to Rosaria as he does not provide any other buffs. His Burst also doesn’t last as long as Rosaria’s and has standard ICD, limiting Melt chances. The advantage he does offer over Rosaria is that his Burst moves with you, which can be valuable in certain situations, such as against highly mobile enemies. |
 Ganyu | Ganyu’s strengths come in the form of a built-in taunt and constant off-field Cryo application. Her taunt can be useful for distracting enemies from Xinyan, allowing Xinyan’s shield to last longer. However, although Ganyu can serve in a support role, she may be better off in her own dedicated team. |
Example Teams
Xinyan, Bennett, Fischl, and Rosaria
As previously discussed, the focus of this team is to increase everyone’s damage through all the buffs provided by Bennett, Rosaria, and Fischl, while also utilizing Xinyan’s Pyro application to allow Rosaria to Melt some of her damage.
Example Rotation: Rosaria Skill > Bennett Skill+Burst > Fischl Skill/Burst > Rosaria Burst > Xinyan Skill+Burst+CA > Bennet Skill > Xinyan N2
Xinyan, Bennett, Raiden, and Rosaria
This team shifts the focus from Xinyan being on-field with her Charged Attacks to focusing more on her Burst damage. Instead, Raiden is primarily on the field here to get the full benefit of her Burst’s battery power, while still getting good uptime on the buffs from Bennett and Rosaria.
Typically, teams with a heavy focus on frontloaded Burst damage rely heavily on their Bursts critting, but with Xinyan’s C2 and Rosaria’s CRIT Rate buff, this issue is significantly alleviated.
Rosaria still gets a respectable amount of Melts here and is able to do even more damage thanks to Raiden’s Burst DMG% buff and batterying. With all three of these units doing good damage together, the team has both high frontloaded damage and good sustained damage.
Example Rotation 1: Raiden Skill > Rosaria Skill > Bennett Skill+Burst > Rosaria Burst > Xinyan Skill+Burst+NA2 > Raiden Burst+ 3N3C
Example Rotation 2: Raiden Skill > Rosaria Skill > Bennett Skill+Burst > Rosaria Burst+Skill > Xinyan Skill+Burst+CA > Raiden Burst+3N3C
Mono Pyro
Bennett’s C6 is mandatory for this team. It allows Xinyan to turn her Normal/Charged Attacks into Pyro damage, thus consolidating her into a Pyro DPS. This allows her to benefit from options not available to Physical, including, but not limited to, the Viridescent Verener set and Kazuha.
The core of this team is typically Xinyan, Bennett, an Anemo unit, and an off-field DPS flex slot.
Bennett (C6) | Bennett still provides all the same value here that he does for Physical Xinyan (excellent battery and buffer), but for this team it is mandatory to have him at C6 in order to make Xinyan a true Pyro DPS. In addition to providing Xinyan with a Pyro Infusion, this Constellation also provides her with a 15% Pyro DMG buff. Note that this Constellation can’t be toggled off, so if you activate it, you will lock yourself out of Physical teams. |
 Kaedehara Kazuha | Kazuha is invaluable to the Mono Pyro team archetype. He provides excellent damage and crowd control, along with a strong DMG Bonus buff through his A4. |
 Venti | Although he doesn’t provide any direct buffs, Venti provides value here through his excellent crowd control and Energy refund mechanic. Do note that Xinyan can’t hit small enemies affected by Venti’s Burst, so it should be used early in the rotation to time the enemies falling down with Xinyan’s field time. |
 Sucrose | Sucrose doesn’t have as much damage or crowd control compared to Kazuha and Venti, but she is able to buff Pyro DMG% at Constellation 6 as well as hold Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers for a 48% ATK buff. Her EM buff, however, is wasted, unless using a Cryo unit to Reverse Melt. |
 Jean | Since this team is already using Bennett, Jean will be able to deal decent off-field damage with the “Sunfire” interaction between her and Bennett’s Bursts. However, Sunfire isn’t useful in this team; there is no Electro or Hydro for her to react off of, and this team does not need her extra Pyro application. |
 Xiangling | Xiangling is the best buddy you can have when pairing Xinyan with a third Pyro unit. She provides high off-field damage and buffs both at C1 and at C6. She is also one of the only sources of off-field Pyro particles available. |
Kazuha / Venti | Mono Pyro Xinyan teams with two Anemo units excel at dealing damage through AoE Swirls and crowd control. Since Viridescent Venerer doesn’t stack, the second unit can choose to utilize either 4pc Viridescent just for the 60% Swirl DMG Bonus, mixed 2pc+2pc EM sets, or 4pc Gilded Dreams. Kazuha and Venti are the kings of crowd control in this category. Kazuha also provides a high amount of Pyro DMG Bonus with his Ascension 4 Passive, hitting 40% if he has 1k EM. All of the perks Kazuha provides, plus the powerful crowd control of Venti’s Burst and his Ascension 4 Passive lowering ER% requirements, means that this team makes Xinyan’s life easier. Do note that rotations usually need to start with Venti’s Burst so that it isn’t active when Xinyan is on-field. |
Example Teams
Xinyan, Bennett, Kazuha, and Xiangling
This team performs well thanks to the myriad of buffs and debuffs this team brings, allowing Xinyan, Xiangling, and Kazuha to all deal high damage.
Example Rotation: Bennett Skill > Kazuha Burst > Bennett Burst > Kazuha tap Skill > Xiangling Burst+Skill > Xinyan Skill+Burst+Charged Attack > Kazuha Tap Skill > Bennett Skill > Xinyan Normal Attack
Melt / Reverse Melt
Melt/Reverse Melt teams are made to capitalize on the high amount of Pyro application Xinyan can output while under the effects of Bennett’s C6. She applies enough Pyro for another Cryo Off-Field DPS to Reverse Melt, which means this team is reaction-heavy, as opposed to Xinyan’s Physical and Mono Pyro teams.
Bennett (C6) | In Melt teams, Bennett’s C6 helps Xinyan output enough Pyro aura to enable consistent Melts by Cryo DPS units. |
Rosaria | Rosaria provides strong off-field Cryo damage and a CRIT Rate share, and she can battery another Cryo character. Example Team Demonstration Video |
Kaeya | Kaeya performs the same role as Rosaria, but he lacks the CRIT Rate buff and is restricted by his standard ICD and shorter Burst duration. However, both of these issues can be somewhat alleviated with his C2 and C6, if you have them. |
Xiangling | Xiangling provides considerable raw off-field AoE damage when paired with Bennett, and can boost Xinyan’s Pyro damage through her C1 Pyro RES Shred and C6 Pyro DMG Bonus. |
 Anemo | An Anemo unit can hold 4pc VV in order to provide RES Shred for Xinyan and/or the Cryo DPS. However, note that efficiently VVing both Cryo and Pyro may be difficult to achieve consistently, and you may have to settle for only shredding one or the other. Kazuha and Venti are good options in this Flex slot for similar reasons as described in the Mono Pyro section above. Notably, Sucrose gains additional value in a Melt team compared to a Mono Pyro team due to her EM buff amplifying Melt damage. |
 Shenhe | Shenhe provides a large amount of buffs for the team, including up to 15% Cryo RES Shred, 15% Burst DMG Bonus, and 15% Cryo DMG Bonus. Shenhe also contributes her own damage, provides Cryo particles and can significantly boost the Cryo DPS unit’s damage through her Icy Quill mechanic. Moreover, she can use 4pc Noblesse Oblige so that Bennett can use 4pc Instructor to amplify the team’s Melt reaction damage. |
 Diona | Diona is an accessible 4-star option who can be an excellent battery for the Cryo DPS (especially with Favonius Warbow or Sacrificial Bow). Diona also provides a sizable EM buff at C6 and can also hold Elegy for the End to provide an additional EM buff. Cryo DPS units such as Rosaria and Kaeya can snapshot these EM buffs to amplify their Reverse Melt damage. However, Diona’s healing and shielding is redundant in a team with both Bennett and Xinyan. |
 Second Cryo DPS | Kaeya, Rosaria or Ganyu can be used as a secondary Cryo DPS and battery. Rosaria provides a CRIT Rate buff and Ganyu provides a Cryo DMG Bonus that can be snapshotted by the other Cryo DPS unit. |
Double Geo
Double Geo Xinyan teams are unique in that they will work for both Pyro and Physical Xinyan. Double Geo teams provide value to Xinyan through Geo Resonance, increasing her DMG% and Shield Strength, as well as the various types of buffs that different Geo units can provide. For Pyro Xinyan specifically, a Geo unit is also able to provide a 35% DMG buff via the Archaic Petra set.
Bennett | Bennett is still used here for all the same reasons as before. |
  Albedo + Gorou | Gorou’s DEF buffs work with Xinyan by increasing the survivability of her shield, while also increasing the ATK gained from her Constellation 6. Albedo can utilize the buffs from Gorou for his own damage as well. |
 Zhongli + Albedo | This pair provides Xinyan with a lot of comfort. Zhongli offers buffs in the form of consistent access to Geo Resonance through his powerful shield and RES Shred, while Albedo provides strong off-field damage with minimal field time. |
 Zhongli + Geo Traveler | This team can use the synergistic duo of Zhongli and Geo Traveler, who can pull off their “microwave” combo with Geo Traveler’s Burst + Zhongli’s Skill. They will both also provide buffs for Xinyan’s damage, with Zhongli’s RES Shred and Geo Traveler’s CRIT Rate buff. |
Support Xinyan
Below is a list of characters that Xinyan can pair with as a Support.
 Hu Tao (Hu Tao Guide) | Xinyan provides a shield for Hu Tao and enables Pyro Resonance, all without any healing that would interfere with Hu Tao’s Ascension 4 Passive. Xinyan’s Pyro application also enables Viridescent Venerer setups to shred Pyro RES. Xinyan’s Burst has a 60 Energy Cost, which may make her ER% requirements more manageable than alternative Pyro shielders (i.e. pre-C4 Thoma or C4 Yanfei). Xinyan can also contribute to team DPS with her Burst. These qualities make Xinyan a viable support for Hu Tao. |
 Itto (Itto Guide) | With Itto, Xinyan can provide a shield while focusing more on her Burst damage, due to Itto already having very high Defense, and Gorou’s DEF buff making her shield stronger. Xinyan in this team also provides excellent shield breaking utility, which can be valuable for Geo teams, as well as a constant source of Pyro aura for Crystallize. |
 Klee (Klee Guide) | With Klee, Xinyan allows you to play a full Mono Pyro team, adding much appreciated Interruption Resistance with her shield and functioning as an additional Pyro battery, allowing the entire team to run lower Energy Recharge. |
 Ganyu (Ganyu Guide) | For Melt Ganyu, Xinyan’s shield can allow Ganyu to safely use her Charged Shots, while helping provide Pyro aura for Melts (note that Ganyu will need to be at close range for this) and functioning as a battery for Xiangling. Note that Xinyan may not be the ideal choice for Melt Ganyu, but she is an option. |
 Eula (Eula Guide) | For Physical damage dealers such as Eula, Xinyan provides shielding, Physical DMG buff, and Physical RES Shred (C4+). |
 Razor / Fischl (Razor Guide / Fischl Quick Guide) | Xinyan offers the same benefits of shielding, Physical DMG buff, and Physical RES Shred to Razor and Fischl. Moreover, with Razor and Fischl, Xinyan is also able to deal Overload damage with her shield, giving her more off-field DPS capacity. Note: with Melee characters such as Razor, using Xinyan for Overload can be risky due to Overload knocking enemies out of reach, thus causing you to constantly chase enemies. Depending on the enemies, it may be ideal to use Xinyan’s Skill after her Burst, to overwrite the Level 3 Shield with the Level 2 Shield and remove the Pyro DoT. Against enemies that Overload doesn’t knock back, however, this is no concern. |
  Sucrose / Kazuha (Kazuha Guide / Sucrose Guide) | For Sucrose and Kazuha in Taser/Overload teams, Xinyan is able to provide, in addition to shielding, a constant source of off-field Overload damage. With Kazuha specifically, the self-Pyro aura from Xinyan’s shield will also guarantee that his Burst absorbs Pyro, which is crucial for his own Overloads. Since these teams value EM, Xinyan can also hold the 4-piece Instructor set for additional utility, though this comes at the cost of a weaker shield due to lower 4-star set stat volume. Note that in these teams you may also want a good balance of both DEF and EM, so that Xinyan’s Overloads do more damage. |
Example Teams
Known Bugs with Xinyan’s Kit
Xinyan may be one of the most bugged characters in the game, with her Skill and Burst each having different bugs associated with them.
Elemental Skill
There is currently a bug with Xinyan’s Elemental Skill in which sometimes Shield Level 3: Rave will not be generated even if you hit enough enemies with it. This bug is believed to be caused by lag and usually does not occur with good connection.
However, this bug loses relevancy when playing at C2 or above. C2 bypasses the bug, making it so that activating her Elemental Burst will always create a Level 3 Shield.
Elemental Burst
There is a bug with her Elemental Burst where sometimes when you cast it, it will not consume any Energy and will not go on cooldown, allowing you to cast it again. When this occurs, you can do silly amounts of damage. However, there is no currently known way to consistently get this to occur (and if there was, Mihoyo would patch it anyway).
Regarding Dendro
With the introduction of the Dendro Element in Patch 3.0, you may be wondering how it affects Xinyan and her team options. Dendro has added two Pyro reactions: Burning and Burgeon. As of Patch 3.1, neither of these reactions are recommended for Xinyan.
Burning’s damage is not great and hard to build around due to inconsistent ownership.
Burgeon, despite being a powerful reaction, has limited synergy with Xinyan. It deals self-damage, significantly weakening Xinyan’s shield. Breaking her shield removes Xinyan’s only source of frequent Pyro application for triggering Burgeon. Additionally, adjusting Xinyan’s build to strengthen her shield with additional DEF stats would necessarily lower her available EM stat, limiting Xinyan’s overall Burgeon damage.
In addition to neither of the Dendro-Pyro reactions synergizing with Xinyan, the current roster of Dendro characters also do not have any meaningful synergy with Xinyan.
While Dendro may not be recommended to use with Xinyan as of Patch 3.1, this may change in the future once the game introduces new Dendro units and supports for these two reactions.
Conclusion
Art by: K.K.Tofus
When played proficiently, Xinyan is able to perform as a powerful on-field 4-star DPS, or as a solid support. Having good use as both a DPS and support makes her a versatile and valuable unit to have. We hope this guide helped you develop a new understanding of her and helped you decide on the right Xinyan team for you!
It is entirely possible that there are synergies and team comps for Xinyan that haven’t been discovered yet. If you discover any that you believe deserve to be in this guide, please feel free to reach out to [TF Mahamatra] Noir#1966 on Discord and I will be more than happy to look further into it with you!
Resources
Phys Xinyan Calcs by Kaleamaranth#6687
Pyro Xinyan Calcs by SirDerpyHerp#7903
Shield calculation sheet by Naraan#2204
KeqingMains Theorycrafting Library Xinyan page
Credits
Authors: [TF Mahamatra] Noir#1966, Raru Kyouwa#0677 and mina#4448
Calcs: Kaleamaranth#6687, SirDerpyHerp#7903 and [TF Mahamatra] Noir#1966
Special thanks for TC and editing contributions: sexyeboy69#2687, Rare Possum#0511, Leah, Akane#0926, Sew#2409, idkanonymized#4166, TheGaminSeshion#1648 and everyone else who helped make this guide possible!