Our Genshin Impact Xinyan build guide will tell you exactly which weapons and artifacts are best when you use the claymore-wielding pyro character in both a sub-DPS and main DPS role. We also outline what each of her skills does, let you know exactly what items you need in order to ascend her to the max level, and which other characters compliment her.
If you’re feeling out of the loop on the comings and goings of Teyvat, check out our Genshin Impact next banner and Genshin Impact update guides. Finally, if you’re unsure which characters to use, head over to our Genshin Impact tier list for assistance.
The best Genshin Impact Xinyan build
Xinyan has been pretty underrated for some time now, but thanks to a lot of hard work from the dedicated fans over on r/XinyanMains and the awesome information they’ve put into the A Guide to Liyue’s Rockstar Google doc, we’ve found she can make a great sub-dps and main DPS if you invest enough into her.
Below, you can find Genshin Impact Xinyan builds for both roles, that can make this rockin’, riffin’, butt-kickin’ queen a force to be reckoned with on the right team.
Is Genshin Xinyan any good?
This fiery rockstar is a bit of an odd one, and has some unique scaling. While she has certain drawbacks, such as clunky attack animations and a reliance on getting multiple constellations to make the most of her, with enough investment she can be a real asset to any team needing a boost to their physical burst damage.
So, while we don’t really recommend using Xinyan at C0, from C2 onwards she has the potential to be one of the strongest burst damage dealers in the game.
One of the biggest issues with getting the perfect Xinyan build is her split-scaling. Essentially, while her shield scales based on her defence, her burst scales off attack. This means you have to choose between building her with a passable shield and mediocre burst damage, or high burst damage and a pretty useless shield. For most circumstances, it’s best to go with the latter. Her defence scaling isn’t really worthwhile, whereas with the right attack-focused build, she can dish out some super strong damage.
What’s the best Genshin Xinyan build for sub-DPS?
When building Xinyan as a sub-DPS, it’s important to focus on energy recharge and strong physical damage, so you can whip her out and hit as hard as possible with her elemental burst, then pop her away while she recharges.
Genshin Xinyan artifacts for sub-DPS
Picking artifacts for Xinyan is an interesting one. Using a combination of Bloodstained Chivalry and Pale Flame gives a massive boost to her physical damage. You can also use either two Pale Flame or two Bloodstained Chivalry along with two Gladiator’s Finale, which gives you +18% attack – but only choose this if the stats and sub-stats of the pieces are better.
Alternatively, you can go with Emblem of Severed Fate for high energy recharge, or Noblesse Oblige for a team-wide attack buff, though these trade out some hefty damage for utility.
| Artifact set | Effect | How to get |
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|
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| Four Emblem of Severed Fate | Two equipped: energy recharge +20% Four equipped: increases elemental burst damage by 25% of energy recharge. You can obtain a maximum of 75% bonus damage in this way |
Momiji-Dyed Court domain on Yashiori Island in Inazuma |
| Four 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 in Minlin, Mt. Aozang, or from the Noblesse Oblige Artifact Strongbox |
Artifact stat and sub-stat priorities
Here are the stats you should prioritise when picking artifacts for a sub-DPS Xinyan. Don’t worry about crit rate after you have her at C2, as this constellation guarantees that Xinyan’s elemental burst will always crit.
- Attack and Attack%
- Energy Recharge
- Crit Damage
- Physical Damage (on your Goblet of Eonothem)
Genshin Xinyan best weapon for sub-DPS
Wolf’s Gravestone is a great choice here, as with the amount of attack it gives you, you can forgo physical damage on your goblet and replace it with energy recharge. Alternatively, the energy recharge given by both Skyward Pride and Sacrificial Greatsword, plus their handy skills, give some great utility to her kit.
Blackcliff Slasher is also good for boosting your crit damage, and is easy to get from the shop in exchange for starglitter. Or, if you’ve not snagged any of the above weapons yet, the three-star Skyrider Greatsword is a more common gacha drop, and gives a decent increase to your damage.
| Weapon | Effect and skill | How to obtain |
| Wolf’s Gravestone | Bonus effect: +10.8% attack Skill: increases attack by 20%. On hit, attacks against enemies with less than 30% HP increases all party members’ attack by 40% for 12 seconds. Can only occur once every 30 seconds |
Gacha |
| Skyward Pride | Bonus effect: +8% energy recharge Skill: increases all damage by 8%. After you use Xinyan’s elemental burst, normal, or charged attack, you create a vacuum blade on hit that deals 80% of attack as damage to enemies along its path. Lasts for 20 seconds or eight vacuum blades |
Gacha |
| Sacrificial Greatsword | Bonus effect: +6.7% energy recharge Skill: after damaging an opponent with Xinyan’s elemental skill, the skill has a 40% chance to end its own cooldown. Can only occur once every 30 seconds |
Gacha |
| Blackcliff Slasher | Bonus effect: +12% crit damage Skill: after defeating an enemy, Xinyan’s attack is increased by 12% for 30 seconds. This effect has a maximum of three stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others |
Starglitter Exchange |
| Skyrider Greatsword | Bonus effect: +9.6% physical damage Skill: On hit, normal or charged attacks increase attack by 10% for six seconds. Max four stacks, and can occur only once every 0.5 seconds |
Gacha |
Play for Free! What’s the best Genshin Xinyan build for DPS?
If you want to use Xinyan as a DPS, you need to focus on boosting attack as much as possible, while also maintaining a good balance between crit rate and crit damage. While energy recharge is still important, you want to prioritise ensuring she can dish out plenty of damage across the board.
Genshin Xinyan artifacts for DPS
As with the sub-dps build, combining two Pale Flame with two Bloodstained Chivalry gives Xinyan a huge burst in physical attack damage. You can also still swap out two Pale Flame or Bloodstained Chivalry in exchange for two Gladiator’s Finale, if they have better stats.
Alternatively, you can use a full set of Pale Flame or Retracing Bolide, but as her pyro pulses and shield aren’t the most consistent, you won’t get the most out of their skills, so it’s best to go for the first option if you can.
| Artifact set | Effect | How to get |
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|
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| Four Pale Flame | Two equipped: physical damage +25% Four equipped: increases attack by 9% for seven seconds when an elemental skill hits an opponent. This effect stacks up to two times, and you can trigger it once every 0.3 seconds. Once two stacks are reached, the two-set effect is doubled |
Ridge Watch domain on Bishui Plain, Liyue |
| Four Retracing Bolide | Two equipped: shield strength +35% Four equipped: while protected by a shield, gain an additional 40% normal and charged attack damage |
Domain of Guyun in Sea of Clouds, Guyun Stone Forest |
Artifact stat and sub-stat priorities
As mentioned above, ensuring your Xinyan is a strong main DPS hinges on upping her attack as much as possible, while also maintaining a decent balance between crit rate and crit damage. Energy recharge isn’t as important as it is in the sub-dps build, but it’s still helpful. Here are the stats you should prioritise.
- Attack and Attack%
- Crit Damage
- Crit rate
- Energy Recharge
- Physical Damage
Genshin Xinyan best weapon for DPS
When it comes to DPS weapons for Xinyan, Wolf’s Gravestone and Song of Broken Pines are about on par with each other. Their damage output is pretty close, but Song of Broken Pines’ skill is easier to trigger, making it just a touch more handy. Skyward Pride is still great for its energy recharge, and really helps Xinyan’s burst damage potential, and at higher ranks it becomes even more powerful.
Serpent Spine is a great choice if you have the battle pass and are yet to get your paws on the five-stars, as Xinyan is one of the few characters who, in theory, can make full use of its stacks – though she may need another shielder to make the most of its passive due to her shield’s low durability.
Once again, Blackcliff Slasher is a decent choice for upping your crit damage, and at max stacks can even beat out Serpent Spine when it comes to damage. Prototype Archaic, which you can craft via the blacksmith, also offers some great, consistent damage, and is easy enough to craft.
| Weapon | Effect and skill | How to obtain |
| Song of Broken Pines | Bonus effect: +4.5% physical damage Skill: increases Xinyan’s attack. When her normal or charged attacks hit opponents, she gains a Sigil of Whispers (once every 0.3 seconds). When you reach four sigils, all of them are consumed and all nearby party members will get increased normal attack speed and attack for 12 seconds. Once this triggers, you gain no sigils for 20 seconds. Buffs of the same type don’t stack |
Gacha |
| Wolf’s Gravestone | Bonus effect: +10.8% attack Skill: increases attack by 20%. On hit, attacks against enemies with less than 30% HP increases all party members’ attack by 40% for 12 seconds. Can only occur once every 30 seconds |
Gacha |
| Skyward Pride | Bonus effect: +8% energy recharge Skill: increases all damage by 8%. After you use Xinyan’s elemental burst, normal, or charged attack, you create a vacuum blade on hit that deals 80% of attack as damage to enemies along its path. Lasts for 20 seconds or eight vacuum blades |
Gacha |
| Serpent Spine | Bonus effect: +6% crit rate Skill: every four seconds Xinyan is on the field, she deals 6% more damage and takes 3% more damage. This effect has a maximum of five stacks and isn’t reset if she leaves the field, but is reduced by one stack when she takes damage |
Battlepass reward |
| Blackcliff Slasher | Bonus effect: +12% crit damage Skill: after defeating an enemy, Xinyan’s attack is increased by 12% for 30 seconds. This effect has a maximum of three stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others |
Starglitter Exchange |
| Prototype Archaic | Bonus effect: +6% attack Skill: on hit, normal or charged attacks have a 50% chance to deal an additional 240% attack damage to enemies in a small AoE. Can only occur once every 15 seconds |
Forged via blacksmith |
What are Genshin Xinyan’s abilities?
Here are Xinyan’s abilities (or talents) and what they do. In order to level them up, you need to use violet grass, Treasure Hoarder Insignias, and Books of Gold from Taishan Mansion. At higher levels, her talents require Tusks of Monoceros Caeli from the weekly Childe boss. We recommend prioritising increasing the level of her Riff Revolution ability first, as it offers the highest burst damage potential.
Active skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| Dance on Fire | Performs up to four consecutive strikes |
| Dance on Fire (charged) | Slowly drains stamina to perform a spinning attack. At the end of the attack, she performs a slash |
| Dance on Fire (plunging) | Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground, dealing AoE damage on impact |
| Sweeping Fervor | Deals AoE pyro damage and forms a shield. The shield’s damage absorption scales to Xinyan’s defence and the number of enemies hit.
When the shield is unleashed, Xinyan is infused with pyro. The shield also has 250% pyro damage absorption |
| Riff Revolution | Launches nearby enemies, dealing physical damage and causing explosions that deal AoE pyro damage |
Passive skills:
| Skill | Effect |
| “The Show Goes On, Even Without an Audience…” | The number of enemies you must hit to activate Sweeping Fervor’s shields is decreased.
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| “…Now That’s Rock ‘N’ Roll!” | Characters shielded by Sweeping Fervor get a 15% damage increase |
| A Rad Recipe | When pulling off a perfect cook on a defence-boosting dish, Xinyan has a 12% chance to obtain double the product |
What are Xinyan’s constellations?
To level up Xinyan’s constellations, you need to receive her as a duplicate when making a wish. C2 is important for increasing her crit rate and making her shield more viable, and with both C2 and C4 she has the potential to become one of the highest burst characters in the game.
As mentioned above, she’s a very constellation-dependant character in general, with only her C6 feeling a little lack-lustre. Therefore, it’s important to get as many constellations for her as possible if you want her to be a valuable unit in your team. As she’s a four-star unit who’s also available on the normal banner in addition to the occasional rate-up banner, this isn’t too difficult – with a little bit of luck from the RNG gods, of course!
Here’s every bonus you receive from Xinyan’s constellations.
| Constellation | Effect |
| Fatal Acceleration | Critical hits increase the attack speed of Xinyan’s normal and charged attacks by 12% for five seconds. This can only occur once every five seconds |
| Impromptu Opening | Riff Revolution’s physical damage crit rate is increased by 100%. It will also form a shield at Shield Level three: Rave when cast |
| Double Stop | Increases the level of Sweeping Fervor by three |
| Wildfire Rhythm | The swing damage of Sweeping Fervor decreases the enemy’s physical resistance by 15% for 12 seconds |
| Screaming for Encore | Increases the level of Riff Revolution by three |
| Rocking in Flaming | The stamina consumption of charged attacks is decreased by 30%. Xinyan’s charged attack also gains an attack bonus equal to 50% of her defence |
What are Genshin Xinyan’s ascension materials?
You need a lot Violetgrass in order to ascend Xinyan. We recommend searching around the mountain area near Mingyun Village to build up a good stock. You can also buy it from Wangshu Inn and the Bubu Pharmacy in Liyue.
| Required level | Mora | Materials |
| 20 | 20,000 | One Agnidus Agate Sliver, three Violetgrass, three Treasure Hoarder Insignia |
| 40 | 40,000 | Three Agnidus Agate Fragment, two Everflame Seed, ten Violetgrass, 15 Treasure Hoarder Insignia |
| 50 | 60,000 | Six Agnidus Agate Fragment, four Everflame Seed, 20 Violetgrass, 12 Silver Raven Insignia |
| 60 | 80,000 | Three Agnidus Agate Chunk, eight Everflame Seed, 30 Violetgrass, 18 Silver Raven Insignia |
| 70 | 100,000 | Six Agnidus Agate Chunk, 12 Everflame Seed, 45 Violetgrass, 12 Golden Raven Insignia |
| 80 | 120,000 | Six Agnidus Agate Gemstone, 20 Everflame Seed, 60 Violetgrass, 24 Golden Raven Insignia |
What are Genshin Xinyan’s talent level up materials?
Here are all the talent level-up materials you need to turn one of Xinyan’s talents up to ten.
| Level | Mora | Materials |
| Two | 12,500 | Six Treasure Hoarder Insignia, three Teachings of Gold |
| Three | 17,500 | Three Silver Raven Insignia, two Guide to Gold |
| Four | 25,000 | Four Silver Raven Insignia, four Guide to Gold |
| Five | 30,000 | Six Silver Raven Insignia, six Guide to Gold |
| Six | 37,500 | Nine Silver Raven Insignia, nine Guide to Gold |
| Seven | 120,000 | Four Golden Raven Insignia, four Philosophies of Gold, one Tusk of Monoceros Caeli |
| Eight | 260,000 | Six Golden Raven Insignia, six Philosophies of Gold, one Tusk of Monoceros Caeli |
| Nine | 450,000 | Nine Golden Raven Insignia, 12 Philosophies of Gold, two Tusk of Monoceros Caeli |
| Ten | 700,000 | 12 Golden Raven Insignia, 16 Philosophies of Gold, two Tusk of Monoceros Caeli, one Crown of Insight |
What are the best Genshin Xinyan teams?
Picking the best team for Xinyan depends on how you want to use her. Fitting her into the right comp can be a bit tricky, due to her weird status as a physical pyro damage dealer. Here are some recommendations for characters to team her up with, and why they work with Xinyan.
- Genshin Impact’s Zhongli – arguably the best shield in the game, Zhongli can make up for Xinyan’s weak shielding abilities, and has the potential to offer high burst damage in her down-time
- Genshin Impact’s Bennett – Bennett activates pyro resonance alongside Xinyan, as well as offering heals and a hefty attack buff when built properly
- Genshin Impact’s Noelle – like Zhongli, Noelle’s shield can make up for what Xinyan lacks. At C6, she also makes a great DPS when burst characters are taking a moment to recharge
- Genshin Impact’s Fischl – one of the best batteries in Genshin Impact, Fischl generates plenty of energy particles while also providing consistent off-field electro damage for overload reactions
- Genshin Impact’s Diona – once again, Diona’s shield can help Xinyan while also offering decent healing. Of course, their abilities can also cause melt interactions, but due to their inconsistent elemental application, they aren’t something to rely on
- Genshin Impact’s Kazuha or Genshin Impact’s Sucrose – both of these offer abilities that group enemies together, apply plenty of anemo damage, and increase the damage of the whole team
- Genshin Impact’s Xingqiu – offers additional damage, helps the durability of Xinyan’s shield, and his hydro helps with some great elemental interactions
- Genshin Impact’s Raiden Shogun – another awesome battery, Raiden deals great damage while also enhancing her team’s burst damage, which obviously aids our burst-reliant rockstar significantly
In short, when building a team for Xinyan it all depends on how you want to use her. She is a pretty versatile burst character, that can benefit from multiple set-ups. Just keep in mind that she’s a bit tricky when it comes to superconduct builds, as her pyro application can mess them up – but as long as you make sure to only whip her out when you’ve already triggered superconduct, she can make the most of the resulting 12-second damage window without overriding the interaction.
That’s it for our Genshin Impact Xinyan guide. Once again, a massive thank you to the hard working fans over at r/XinyanMains and the creator of the Google doc (NyxCrab#1954 on the Xinyan Discord) who helped us look at this rockin’ and rollin’ pyro queen in a new light.
If you’re low on mora and primogems, take a look at our Genshin Impact codes list for some freebies.
