Genshin Impact’s Thoma is a four-star pyro polearm wielder who assists his allies by offering them a shield, buffs, and even imbuing their weapons with pyro. So let’s take a look at how to make the most of this adorable house husbando with his best build, weapons, artifacts, and more.
To find out how Thoma ranks, check out our Genshin Impact tier list. We also have articles that outline exactly what you can expect from the upcoming Genshin Impact update and the next Genshin Impact banner.
Here’s everything in our Genshin Impact Thoma build:
What’s the best Genshin Impact Thoma build?
| Best weapon | Favonius Lance |
| Weapon substitutes |
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| Best artifact set | The Instructor |
| Artifact substitutes |
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| Main stats |
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| Sub stats |
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Thoma is a four-star pyro polearm wielder capable of shielding his team with his skill and burst, while also setting his enemies ablaze, shredding their defenses. He’s quite situational, but currently has the second strongest shield at max stacks, and offers great stagger resistance. He’s pretty cost-effective, requiring low investment and less resin to build than other characters.
Thoma’s best weapon is Favonius Lance, and his best artifact set is The Instructor. He has extremely high energy recharge requirements, so you need to prioritize boosting that before any other stats. Beyond that, he requires plenty of HP in a shield support role, and requires some crit rate if he’s wielding Favonius Lance.
When leveling up Thoma’s stats, you should prioritize his elemental skill, then his elemental burst – though both are valuable, so it’s best to upgrade them both as quickly as possible. His normal attacks are unimportant and deal very little damage, so only level them up after his skill and burst if you really want to.
It’s a good idea to get Thoma to level 90 if possible, especially if you’re using him in a burgeon (pyro and dendro reaction) team.
Upcoming characters: find out more about the next Genshin Impact banner
How to use Thoma
In combat, Thoma’s two biggest assets are his shield and his ability to imbue ally attacks with pyro without overriding their own elemental damage.
Thoma’s shield is strong at base value, but you can strengthen it further through his elemental burst. During his burst, every time you trigger Fiery Collapse, you summon a new Blazing Barrier shield. The new shield’s damage absorption stacks with the existing shield, making it much stronger.
If you manage to pull this off around six to seven times during Thoma’s burst, his Blazing Barrier shield becomes stronger than Genshin Impact’s Diona‘s.
As such, you should always use his skill and burst together, then switch to your main DPS character and use their normal attacks to strengthen the Blazing Barrier as much as possible.
What’s the best weapon for Thoma?
Due to Thoma’s desperate need for energy recharge, we recommend equipping him with any weapons that boost that stat. Engulfing Lightning is a great choice for Thoma in elemental interaction teams, due to it having both energy recharge and elemental mastery, but is more often better used on Genshin Impact’s Raiden or Genshin Impact’s Xiangling.
Alternatively, Favonius Lance is a great choice for helping Thoma meet his energy recharge requirements, but you need a lot of crit rate to trigger its passive reliably. If you’ve got a spare Skyward Spine, this also works to boost his energy recharge, but offers little else.
Outside of the above, the Catch is the best free to play option, but, like Engulfing Lightning, is highly contested by other characters. A good alternative is Kitain Cross Spear, which falls behind in its general buffs, but is far more affordable for a niche character like Thoma.
| Weapon | Effect | How to obtain |
| Engulfing Lightning | Base stat: energy recharge Skill: increases attack by 28% of energy recharge over the base 100%. You can gain a maximum bonus of 80% attack in this way. Also gain 30% energy recharge for 12 seconds after using an elemental burst |
Gacha |
| Favonius Lance | Base stat: energy recharge Skill: crit hits have a 60% chance to generate a small amount of elemental particles, which regenerate six energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12 seconds |
Gacha |
| Skyward Spine | Base stat: energy recharge Skill: increases crit rate by 8% and increases normal attack speed by 12%. Additionally, normal and charged attacks hits on opponents have a 50% chance to trigger a vacuum blade that deals 40% of attack as damage in a small AoE. This effect can occur no more than once every two seconds |
Gacha |
| The Catch | Base stat: energy recharge Skill: increases elemental burst damage by 16% and elemental burst critical rate by 6% |
Purchase from Kujirai Momji of the Inazuma Fishing Association |
| Kitain Cross Spear | Base stat: elemental mastery Skill: increases elemental skill damage by 6%. After your elemental skill hits an opponent, your character loses three energy but regenerates three energy every two seconds for the next six seconds. This effect can occur once every ten seconds. Can trigger even when the equipping character is not on the field |
Forge via blacksmith |
What are the best artifacts for Thoma?
If you plan to use Thoma on a melt or vaporize team, a four piece set of The Instructor is a good choice, due to its high elemental mastery. However, it’s not without its caveats. Instructor costs him his shield strength, doesn’t offer energy recharge, and the crit rate he requires for Favonius Lance’s passive.
Alternatively, if no one else has a set of Noblesse Oblige on the team, then it’s a good option for Thoma. Just ensure that you only use this if Thoma has enough energy recharge to burst regularly.
A really strong set combines two Tenacity of the Milelith with two Emblem of Severed Fate, providing him with energy recharge and HP% for his shield, though it can cost quite a bit of resin to get this set with all the sub-stats you need.
| Artifact set | Effect | How to obtain |
| The Instructor | Two equipped: elemental mastery +80 Four equipped: increases all party members’ elemental mastery upon triggering an elemental reaction by 120 for eight seconds |
Overworld rewards |
| Noblesse Oblige | Two equipped: elemental burst damage +20% Four equipped: increases all party members’ attack by 20% for 12 seconds after using an elemental burst. This effect cannot stack |
Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern domain, Minlin, Mt. Aozang |
| Emblem of Severed Fate | Two equipped: energy recharge increases by 20% Four equipped: elemental burst damage increases by 25% of Thoma’s energy recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus damage can be obtained in this way |
Momiji-Dyed Court domain on Yashiori Island, Inazuma |
| Tenacity of the Millelith | Two equipped: HP increases by 20% Four equipped: when an elemental skill hits an enemy, the attack of nearby party members is increased by 20% and their shield strength is increased by 30% for three seconds. This can be triggered once every 0.5 seconds. It can still be triggered even when Thoma is not on the field |
Ridge Watch domain on Bishui Plain, Liyue |
Stat recommendations
Your priority should be getting Thoma to at least 200-250% energy recharge above anything else.
Main stats:
- Sands: energy recharge
- Goblet: HP%
- Circlet: HP% or crit rate (crit rate is important here if you’re using Favonius Lance)
Sub stats:
- Energy recharge
- Crit rate (if using Favonius Lance)
- HP%
- HP
What are the best Genshin Impact Thoma team comps?
As a shielder and buffer, Thoma can fit into many groups that benefit from pyro interactions. That includes vaporize and reverse vape teams, melt teams, soup teams, and more.
While you can play Thoma as an on-field pyro DPS in burgeon and overload teams or as a physical DPS in a difficult-to-build superconduct team, there are so few shielders in the game that we personally feel it’s a loss not to focus on maximising his unique abilities.
Here are a few of our favourite Thoma team comps where he can make the most of his shields, supporting capabilities, and elemental application.
Keep in mind that there’s plenty of room for substitutions in these team comps, especially if the characters are capable of filling a similar role. For example, you can swap Yelan for Xingqiu, Kazuha for Sucrose, Xiao for Wanderer, etc. Click on the character icons below to take a look at their full build guide.
| First character slot | Second character slot | Third character slot | Fourth character slot |
 Hu Tao |
 Yelan |
 Thoma |
 Kazuha |
 Yoimiya |
 Xingqiu |
Thoma |
 Sucrose |
 Xiao |
 Faruzan |
Thoma |
 Bennett |
 Cyno |
 Fischl |
 Nahida |
Thoma |
 Itto |
 Gorou |
 Albedo |
Thoma |
What are Genshin Impact Thoma’s skills?
Here are all of Thoma’s skills and talents.
Active skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Normal attack: Swiftshatter Spear | Normal: perform up to four consecutive spear strikes Charged: consume stamina to lunge forward, dealing damage to enemies alon the way Plunge: plunge from mid-air to strike the ground, damaging enemies along the way and dealing AoE damage on impact |
| Elemental skill: Blazing Blessing | Thoma launches forward with his polearm and delivers a flying kick that deals AoE pyro damage, while also summoning a Blazing Barrier. When Thoma casts Blazing Blessing, his elemental skill applies pyro to himself. Blazing Barrier: pyro damage is absorbed 250% more effectively. When a new Blazing Barrier is obtained, the remaining absorption of an existing barrier stacks, and the duration is refreshed |
| Elemental burst: Crimson Ooyoroi | Thoma spins his polearm, dealing AoE pyro damage and weaving himself into a Scorching Ooyoroi. Scorching Ooyoroi: While Scorching Ooyoroi is in effect, the active character’s normal attacks trigger Fiery Collapse, this deals AoE pyro damage and summons a Blazing Barrier. Fiery Collapse can trigger once every one second. Except for the amount of damage they can absorb, the Blazing Barriers created in this way are identical to those created by Blazing Blessing. If Thoma falls, the effects of Scorching Ooyoroi are cleared |
Passive skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Imbricated Armor | When you obtain or refresh a Blazing Barrier, your shield strength will increase by 5% for six seconds. You can trigger this once every 0.35 seconds |
| Flaming Assault | Damage dealt by Crimson Ooyoroi’s Fiery Collapse is increased by 2.2% of Thoma’s Max HP |
| Snap and Swing | When you successfully fish in Inazuma, Thoma’s help grants a 20% chance of scoring a double catch |
What are Genshin Impact Thoma’s constellations?
You need to use one Stella Fortuna for each constellation you activate. You obtain these when you receive a duplicate Thoma from a wish. Here are all of Thoma’s constellations and their bonuses.
| Constellation | Effect |
| C1: A Comrade’s Duty | When a character other than Thoma that’s protected by his Blazing Barrier is attacked, Thoma’s Blazing Blessing and Crimson Ooyoroi cooldown is decreased by three seconds. This can be triggered once every 20 seconds |
| C2: A Subordinate’s Skills | Crimson Ooyoroi’s duration is increased by three seconds |
| C3: Fortified Resolve | Increases the level of Blazing Blessing by three |
| C4: Long-Term Planning | After using Crimson Ooyoroi, 15 energy is restored to Thoma |
| C5: Raging Wildfire | Increases the level of Crimson Ooyoroi by three |
| C6: Burning Heart | When a Blazing Barrier is obtained or refreshed, the damage dealt by all party members’ normal, charged, and plunging attacks is increased by 15% for six seconds |
What are Genshin Impact Thoma’s ascension materials?
Here’s everything you need in order to fully ascend Thoma.
| Required level | Mora | Materials |
| 20 | 20,000 | One agnidus agate sliver, three treasure hoarder insignia, three fluorescent fungus |
| 40 | 40,000 | Three agnidus agate fragment, 15 treasure hoarder insignia, two smoldering pearl, ten fluorescent fungus |
| 50 | 60,000 | Six agnidus agate fragment, 12 silver raven insignia, four smoldering pearl, 20 fluorescent fungus |
| 60 | 80,000 | Three agnidus agate chunk, 18 silver raven insignia, eight smoldering pearl, 30 fluorescent fungus |
| 70 | 100,000 | Six agnidus agate chunk, 12 golden raven insignia, 12 smoldering pearl, 45 fluorescent fungus |
| 80 | 120,000 | Six agnidus agate gemstone, 24 golden raven insignia, 20 smoldering pearl, 60 fluorescent fungus |
Here’s where to get each of Thoma’s ascension materials:
- Agnidus agate – drops from normal and weekly bosses
- Treasure hoarder / silver raven / golden raven insignias – drops from treasure hunter enemies
- Fluorescent fungus – gathered in the wild on Tsurumi Island, most commonly around the roots of trees
- Smoldering pearl – drops from the pyro hypostasis normal boss in Kannazuka, Inazuma
What are Genshin Impact Thoma’s talent materials?
You can upgrade Thoma’s normal attack, elemental skill, and elemental burst each to level ten. Here are all the materials you need to get one of his talents to max level.
| Level | Mora | Materials |
| Two | 12.5k | Six treasure hoarder insignia, three teachings of transience |
| Three | 17.5k | Three silver raven insignia, two guide to transience |
| Four | 25k | Four silver raven insignia, four guide to transience |
| Five | 30k | Six silver raven insignia, six guide to transience |
| Six | 37.5k | Nine silver raven insignia, nine guide to transience |
| Seven | 120k | Four golden raven insignia, four philosophies of transience, one hellfire butterfly |
| Eight | 260k | Six golden raven insignia, six philosophies of transience, one hellfire butterfly |
| Nine | 450k | Nine golden raven insignia, 12 philosophies of transience, two hellfire butterfly |
| Ten | 700k | 12 golden raven insignia, 16 philosophies of transience, two hellfire butterfly, one crown of insight |
Here’s where to find all of Thoma’s talent materials:
- Treasure hoarder / silver raven / golden raven insignias – drops from treasure hunter enemies
- Transience talent books – rewards from the Violet Court domain on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays
- Hellfire butterfly – drops from the La Signora weekly boss in Inazuma
Talent Priority
When leveling up Thoma’s talents, we recommend prioritizing them in the following order:
- Elemental skill > elemental burst >> normal attack
Thoma’s normal attack damage is negligible and you rarely need to use them in battle. Therefore you don’t need to worry about leveling them up unless you really want to – but only after getting his skill and burst to max level first.
And that’s all we’ve got on Genshin Impact’s Thoma. For more Hoyo fun, check out our Honkai Star Rail tier list, Honkai Star Rail codes, Honkai Star Rail events, and Honkai Star Rail update guides.