A short summary of his best weapons in descending order:

Primordial Jade Winged-SpearStaff of HomaCalamity QuellerVortex VanquisherLithic SpearDeathmatchBlackcliff PoleFavonius Lance

A short summary of ideal artifact sets:

2-piece Viridescenet Venerer (Anemo DMG Bonus +15%)2-piece Gladiator’s Finale (ATK +18%)2-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence (ATK +18%)

A short summary of the ideal artifact stats:

Sands of Eon: ATK%Goblet of Eonothem: Anemo% or ATK%Circlet of Logos: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG

This guide will concisely cover these topics to make sense for new Xiao mains (both F2P and P2W).

F2P and P2W Xiao builds in Genshin Impact

F2P and P2W players will have access to the same artifacts, leading the main difference to be their choice of weaponry. Genshin Impact is a gacha game, so anybody can pull a 5-star weapon.

However, hoping to C5 a 5-star weapon is something that only P2W players can hope to do. Likewise, F2P players cannot obtain paid Battle Pass weapons.

Ideal F2P weapons

F2P players can technically obtain any non-Battlepass weapon, but the following is a list of weapons they can easily C5:

Blackcliff PoleFavonius Lance

Blackcliff Pole comes from Paimon’s Bargains and is the most F2P-friendly weapon on this shortlist. As it has CRIT DMG as its substat, Xiao mains should build CRIT Rate on their artifacts.

Favonius Lance is good if the player wants Xiao to act as a battery or if they want to spam his Elemental Burst as frequently as possible.

Ideal P2W weapons

P2W players can use any of the F2P options, but they also have some rarer weapons they may wish to use instead:

Primordial Jade Winged-SpearStaff of HomaCalamity QuellerVortex VanquisherLithic SpearDeathmatch

Both Primordial Jade Winged-Spear and Staff of Homa stand out as his best weapons. The former is better for general usage, while the latter needs specific team support to prevent him from constantly going above 50% HP, but it can deal more CRIT DMG.

Although Xiao doesn’t have an innate shield, some of his best teammates have one. Thus, their shields can help make Vortex Vanquisher’s ATK boost even stronger.

Calamity Queller is a great 5-star Polearm that synergizes nicely with Xiao’s kit, but both it and Vortex Vanquisher focus too much on ATK over a CRIT stat.

Lithic Spear has the potential to deal the highest damage out of all of Xiao’s 4-star weapons. However, it requires players to have an entire team of characters from Liyue, limiting Xiao’s team compositions (some great characters like Bennett aren’t from Liyue).

Deathmatch is only available from the paid Battle Pass, meaning it’s the only weapon here that true F2P players can never obtain. That said, it has CRIT Rate as its substat, and it’s easy to use.

Best artifacts

Travelers don’t have to get a 4-piece artifact set, especially since a few 2-piece artifact sets work well with his kit. The main sets to consider are:

Viridescent VenererGladiator’s FinaleShimenawa’s Reminiscence

A 4-piece Viridescent Venerer is a niche option, as it means that he would be supporting another character’s primary damage more than his own. Hence, a 2-piece set of this and either of the other two options is ideal.

A 2-piece Viridiscent Venerer will buff his Anemo DMG by 15%, while the other two will share a 2-piece effect of +18% ATK.

766 votes