This post is up to date with Version 3.2 Phase 2
Yae Miko is a 5-Star Electro Catalyst character from Inazuma. She can only be obtained via the “Everbloom Violet” event banner. Primarily, she serves as an Off Field DPS for her team.
Base Kit
Yae mainly fights with her Elemental Skill, Yakan Evocation: Sesshou Sakura. This Talent has Yae dash and then spawn a Sesshou Sakura. The totem acts as a turret, periodically dealing Electro DMG to one nearby opponent, even when Yae is off field. Yae has three charges to her Skill and is therefore able to have up to three Sesshou Sakuras on the field. If placed within range of each other, the totems can connect to one another and increase their multiplier up by one tier for each totem connected, the highest tier for a C0 Yae naturally being 3.
The Sesshou Sakuras have a lot of flexibility to them. Whereas Fischl excels in single target scenarios and Beidou is more suited for group encounters, Yae can perform well in both. In single target scenarios, Yae essentially attacks her opponent three times with all three Sesshou Sakuras on the field. In group encounters, you’re left more at the mercy of the auto-targeting mechanic (and it frankly would be nice if you could select a target) but each totem typically picks their own target. While you will need to be mindful of where you place them, the turrets otherwise cover quite a lot of ground and they can attack enemies at a good distance. Their range also applies vertically, being capable of hitting enemies on higher elevations. If you do need to reposition the Sesshou Sakuras, this is also a non-issue as each turret lasts for 14 seconds and cools down within 4. It is therefore very easy for Yae to maintain her potentially large reach on the field and/or adapt accordingly as fight progresses as well as keep her turrets operating at optimal capacity.
That all said, I’m not terribly fond of the setup demanded by Yae’s Elemental Skill. While it is ideally just a handful of seconds to place all three Sesshou Sakuras on the field, it nevertheless takes longer compared to other Sub DPS units who simply need to cast a Talent one time before handing the field over to someone else. Ideally, you want the turrets placed in a triangular formation to cover the most amount of ground but this can be easier said than done in the thick of battle. If a new totem is placed too closely to an existing one, the latter will be destroyed and you will be forced to wait 4 seconds to finish setting up the desired trifecta. Most detrimental is the fact that Yae has no I-Frames to her Skill animation. If she gets hit while casting, she’ll most likely get interrupted and she will need to stay on the field even longer. This is of course assuming Yae doesn’t outright die in the process. All of this is tolerable but it can become annoying and even risky, especially in the Spiral Abyss.
Another caveat to note with Yae’s Elemental Skill is that it is incapable of snapshotting buffs. It cannot retain buffs for its entire duration, independent from a buff’s own duration. To play devil’s advocate, this decision does makes sense given the DMG levels of Yae’s Skill. Since multipliers can vary depending on the number of Sesshou Sakurs on the field, it wouldn’t be practical for them to snapshot a buff. Even so, this does make it harder to optimize Yae’s DPS outside of the raw stats of her build. It also puts a slight limit on what buffs Yae can use. Buffs contained within an AoE such as Bennett’s Inspiration Field are more or less off the table for Yae as they require her to stay on the field and within the AoE.
When Yae uses her Elemental Burst, Great Secret Art: Tenko Kenshin, she’ll call forth a lightning bolt onto the ground, dealing AoE Electro DMG. Any Sesshou Sakura on the field will then be sacrificed and transformed into a Tenko Thunderbolt, allowing Yae’s Burst to deal AoE DMG up to an additional three times. The latter attack makes up the bulk of Yae’s Elemental Burst DMG, not just because it can be executed three times but also because it actually has a higher multiplier than the initial hit. For optimal nuking, you have to cast Yae’s Burst with all three Sesshou Sakuras on the field.
Elemental Bursts requiring and sacrificing an Elemental Skill for extra DMG is not a new concept. Genshin has precedence with this way back in launch with Ningguang. In Yae’s case however, this mechanic is a lot more awkward. Since Yae’s Elemental Skill is her main source of DMG, as opposed to her basic attacks and Burst like it is with Ningguang, sacrificing it will result in some downtime. It also creates an issue regarding Yae’s field time. It already takes a handful of seconds to summon three Sesshou Sakuras. With the ult sacrificing them for extra DMG, Yae is forced to stay on the field even longer to set them up. Yae’s A1 passive somewhat addresses this in that it resets the cooldown for all three of her Elemental Skill charges after nuking with her Burst. I’ll give miHoYo credit for not making us wait 12 seconds for all three charges to be off cooldown and allow us to immediately set everything back up. Even so, it doesn’t change the fact that you need to take the time to set things up again. Personally, I think what miHoYo should’ve done is simply have the Sesshou Sakuras’s durations reset after Yae casts her Burst, be it by default or via her A1 passive. Maybe that’d be cheap and that’s why the devs didn’t opt for it but it would make Yae’s Burst a lot smoother to execute.
Another and arguably bigger issue with Yae’s Elemental Burst is her high Energy needs. The ult costs an asinine 90 Energy, the highest cost currently in the game. To make matters worse, Yae isn’t terribly good at supplying herself with Energy. Her Elemental Skill generates 1 Electro particle per hit and for whatever reason, this gain is shared between all three Sesshou Sakuras so Yae essentially gains 1 particle every three hits. Both things considered, Yae is extremely needy for Energy. To reliably use Yae’s Burst every rotation, you’ll want to pair her with another Electro unit who can act as her battery. Building Energy Recharge (ER) on Yae also helps but you’ll want to be careful with doing that as it will weaken her Elemental Skill.
When Yae gains her A4 passive, every point of her Elemental Mastery (EM) increases her Elemental Skill DMG by 0.15%. Retroactively, this passive makes a lot of sense with the formal introduction of Dendro.With Elemental Mastery, she’ll not only gain increased Skill DMG but also Electro DMG Bonus when Aggravate is triggered, therefore making her Skill a lot stronger. That said, stacking EM isn’t as effective for other Elemental Reactions as it is with Aggravate and an argument can be made that Yae can’t reap the benefits too well due to her kit’s Internal Cooldown (ICD). It is also worth noting that banking on this passive does squat for Yae’s Elemental Burst other than a stronger Reaction proc or two so ATK is arguably still the better stat to build on her. Evidently, miHoyo may have realized this caveat as later characters with a similar passive such as Tighnari and Cyno have their EM increase the DMG of the two strongest parts of their kits, as opposed to just one. If nothing else, this passive means that Yae’s EM won’t go to complete waste when Reactions aren’t utilized, be it by her or your entire team.
Constellations
- C1 – Grants Yae 8 Energy for each Tenko Thunderbolt her Elemental Burst triggers. Note that you actually don’t need the Thunderbolts to hit, you just need to have them on the field. With all three Thunderbolts triggered, Yae gains 24 free Energy and effectively lowers her Cost from 90 to a much more tolerable 66. Having this Constellation makes Yae less needy for Energy Recharge and/or a teammate who can act as her battery.
- C2 – Changes the Sesshou Sakuras’ default DMG Level to 2, increases the cap to Level 4, and increases the turrets’ range by 60%. The Level cap increase is a permanent spike to Yae’s DPS. Depending on the turrets’ positioning and the size of a domain, they can potentially cover the entire space.
- C3 – Adds three Levels to Yae’s Elemental Skill.
- C4 – Provides 20% Electro DMG Bonus for 5 seconds to Yae’s teammates when the Sesshou Sakura(s) hits an opponent. Given the low cooldown of her Elemental Skill, Yae pretty much has this buff active at all times. Obviously, this is also useful for other Electro characters in the team.
- C5 – Adds three Levels to Yae’s Elemental Burst.
- C6 – Allows the Sesshou Sakuras to ignore 60% of an enemy’s DEF; easily Yae’s strongest and best Constellation.
As is always the case for 5-Star characters, you should only consider going after their Constellations if you have the money to burn. That said, I must admit that Yae has a very strong set of upgrades and each Constellation is a solid stopping point for your pulls.
Weapons
The following list of weapons begins with Yae’s 5-Star Signature Weapon, followed by other recommendations of descending rarity and in alphabetical order. Stats provided in the parentheses are assuming the respective weapon is at Lv. 90. If mentioned, Elemental Mastery and Energy Recharge are abbreviated as EM and ER.
- Kagura Verity (5-Star | 608 ATK | 66.2% CRIT DMG) – Yae’s Signature Weapon; increases the wielder’s Elemental Skill DMG by 12%, up to 3 times, and for 16 seconds after they cast their Elemental Skill. When all 3 stacks are obtained, the wielder gains a 12% DMG Bonus for all Elements. I don’t have the Kagura’s Verity so I can’t personally attest to its strength but it is widely agreed to be a very strong weapon for Yae. Given the nature of her Skill, she should have little problem in gaining and maintaining the max 3 stacks of the Catalyst’s passive.
- Skyward Atlas (5-Star | 674 ATK | 33.1% ATK) – In addition to the large amount of ATK, Skyward also provides Yae with Elemental DMG Bonus. You usually won’t get the Atlas’s cloud to spawn unless you use Yae on field but you also won’t miss out on having it since it deals Physical DMG.
- Favonius Codex (4-Star | 510 ATK | 45.9% ER) – Can generate neutral particles when the wielder lands a CRIT. Combined with the ER, this is a solid option to address Yae’s Energy needs. You do need Yae to be on field in order for the passive to proc though you do have a small window for that when Yae casts her Elemental Burst and recasts all three Sesshou Sakuras while the Tenko Thunderbolts rain down.
- Hakushin Ring (4-Star | 565 ATK | 30.6% ER) – A F2P-friendly option obtained via Forging. The passive can buff the Elemental DMG Bonus of Yae’s teammates when an Electro reaction is triggered but this only procs if Yae is on the field and is the trigger. In general, this is largely an ER stat stick for Yae.
- Mappa Mare (4-Star | 565 ATK | 110 EM) – Another craftable Yae can use. The passive increases Elemental DMG Bonus up to two times when the wielder triggers an Elemental reaction. Like Hakushin Ring, the Mappa Mare requires Yae to be on the field and be the one to trigger a reaction in order for the passive to proc. Once again, this is largely a stat stick.
- Oathsworn Eye (4-Star | 565 ATK | 27.6% ATK) – Yae’s (and also Kokomi’s) Event Weapon from Version 2.5 (don’t mind the Kokomi/Watatsumi aesthetic); provides a 10 second Energy Recharge buff after the wielder casts their Elemental Skill. With her Skill’s low cooldown and multiple charges, Yae can pretty much have this buff at all times. At R5, the Oathsworn Eye resolves almost all of Yae’s Energy needs.
- Wandering Evenstar (4-Star | 510 ATK | 165 EM) – Buffs the wielder’s ATK by a percentage of their EM Teammates also receive 30% of this buff. Equipping this Catalyst will allow Yae to build both ATK and EM and it’ll turn her into an ATK buffer for her team.
- The Widsith (4-Star | 510 ATK | 55.1% CRIT DMG) – Randomly buffs ATK, Elemental DMG Bonus, or Elemental Mastery for 10 seconds and by a large amount at R5. All three buffs are useful for Yae though with a lengthy 30 second cooldown, it can be difficult trying to sync the passive with your rotation. Nevertheless, the Widsith is one of Yae’s strongest 4-Star options because of how powerful its buff can be and the fact that it’s a 4-Star weapon with CRIT DMG.
Artifacts
- Gilded Dreams (4) – The closest thing to a tailored set for Yae. The 2-Piece Bonus is 80 Elemental Mastery. When Yae triggers an Elemental Reaction, the 4-Piece Bonus gives her an 8 second ATK buff for every Electro teammate and an 8 second EM buff for every character of any element other than Electro. Getting both ATK and EM would be great for Yae’s Elemental Skill and Reaction DMG. That said, you need Yae to trigger a Reaction, which is up to chance due to the randomness of her Skill.
- ATK% Set (2)/Thundering Fury (2) – The standard Element plus scaling 2-Piece combo. Normally, I wouldn’t list 2-Piece combos as it’s the obvious thing to do when you’re struggling to get pieces for a 4-Piece build. For some characters, you are better off in the long run to keep farming for a full set. In Yae’s case however, this 2-Piece combo merits a recommendation as it remains competitive due to their lack of caveats. Thundering Fury is a lot more tolerable to farm now that it’s an option in the Strongbox system. The best ATK set to farm is Shimenawa’s Reminiscence as it’s paired with Emblem of Severed Fate, one of the best and most desired sets in the game.
- Elemental Mastery Set (2)/Thundering Fury (2) – Another 2-Piece combo to consider. Since Gilded Dreams is an EM set, you could use that with Thundering Fury (2) until you get a full set of the former. Again, Thundering Fury is a Strongbox option so you don’t necessarily need to use Resin for both it and Gilded Dreams.
Ideally, Yae wants an Electro DMG Goblet and a CRIT Circlet. The choice between CRIT Rate and CRIT DMG for the Circlet depends on other aspects of Yae’s build. For example, if Yae has Kagura’s Verity and you’re getting a lot more CRIT DMG as sub stats, a CRIT Rate Circlet will do her well to balance out her CRIT ratio. Regardless of the Circlet, Yae gains 19.2% CRIT Rate from Ascensions so you have some leeway in building that stat. For the Sands, its main stat can be ATK%, Elemental Mastery, or Energy Recharge. Go with the one your build needs the most and/or what has the best sub-stats. Sub stats to look for are ATK%, CRIT, Elemental Mastery, and Energy Recharge.
Synergy
With the formal introduction of Dendro in Version 3.0, Aggravate is the de facto Elemental Reaction for Yae to use. Not only is it a strong reaction, it also makes the best use of Yae’s A4 passive. That said, there currently isn’t a lot of Dendro characters to work with, let alone obtain. Aside from Aggravate, you can use Yae for Mono Electro and other reactions related to the Element to good effect. The only exception is Superconduct as it’s more for Physical DPS. Yae can enable it but other Electro Sub DPS characters are better for the role, if only because they require less work to use in a Physical DMG team’s rotation. As such, I won’t suggest any teammates in that department. As mentioned earlier in this post, you should also consider pairing Yae with another Electro character who can act as her battery.
Elemental Resonance that directly benefits Yae are Electro (increased particle generation), Pyro (increased ATK), Dendro (increased Elemental Mastery), and Geo (increased DMG and Shield Strength).
As a disclaimer, the following list of recommended teammates and example teams is not necessarily a comprehensive one. Also, the example teams may include characters that are not included in the recommendations as they arguably synergize more with someone else on the team and less so with Yae.
Anemo:
- Venti (5-Star) – Provides crowd control and can wield Viridescent Venerer (4) to debuff enemy Electro RES. How useful Venti is will depend on whether or not his Elemental Burst can group enemies in. His Burst can lift enemies up in the air but this isn’t much of an issue for Yae due to the verticality of her Elemental Skill. Also appealing is the fact that Venti can restore 15 Energy to his teammates when his Burst absorbs an Element and finishes its duration.
- Shikanoin Heizou (4-Star) – A potential driver. Since he’s an Anemo Catalyst character and he wants to proc Swirl to build stacks for his Elemental Skill, Heizou can wield Viridescent Venerer (4) like the other Anemo characters mentioned here and debuff enemy Electro RES. Landing a hit with Heizou’s Skill will give his teammates 80 Elemental Mastery for 10 seconds.
- Sucrose (4-Star) – Serves the same role as Venti. Both of Sucrose’s Ascension passives buff Elemental Mastery, with her A4 increasing the stat by the hundreds if you have the right build. Since she is a Catalyst user, Sucrose can act as a driver.
Dendro:
- Nahida (5-Star) – Currently the best Dendro enabler in the game. With a low cooldown and long range on her Elemental Skill, Nahida works really well with Yae’s kit and the two allow for very straightforward and flexible gameplay. Nahida’s A1 passive can buff Elemental Mastery though this is only active for your active character so if you want it on Yae, you’d need to keep her on the field. While primarily a support unit, Nahida can be your driver, if only because she is a Catalyst user.
- Traveler (Dendro) (5-Star) – Your F2P alternative to Nahida and a pretty respectable Sub DPS in their own right. While infusing the Traveler’s Elemental Burst with Electro will give it faster ATK SPD, you may want to consider infusing with Hydro instead. This will give the Burst increased AoE, allowing it to cover more of the same ground as Yae’s turrets.
Geo:
- Zhongli (5-Star) – The strongest shielder in the game; allows Yae to cast her Talents unperturbed. Casting the Jade Shield also debuffs enemy RES for all Elements, including Electro.
Electro:
- Raiden Shogun (5-Star) – EiMiko ship aside, Raiden and Yae work very well together. The flat Energy and Electro particles that Raiden provides with her Talents is invaluable to Yae. Pairing these two together is also the one time where Yae’s Energy cost works in your favor as it’ll give Raiden the most amount of Resolve Stacks needed to stack her Elemental Burst DMG Bonus.
- Fischl (4-Star) – Having Fischl in the same team as Yae may sound redundant but while Fischl does perform the same role, she is also very good at generating particles. If you don’t have Raiden or you’re using her for something else, Fischl is your second best choice as Yae’s battery.
- Kujou Sara (4-Star) – Sara and Yae are tricky to use together due to the brief duration of the former’s ATK buff and the latter’s inability to snapshot. Sara is also pretty bad at generating Energy so you may need to run a Mono Electro team with Raiden or Fischl. At C2, Sara becomes a more viable support for Yae as she can now buff Yae’s ATK twice in a row with proper juggling.
Hydro:
- Sangonomiya Kokomi (5-Star) – Provides some of the most potent healing in the game and can wield both Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers and Tenacity of the Millelith (4) to buff her teammates, including Yae. Kokomi’s Bake-Kurage ignores Internal Cooldown, making it great for Electro-Charged and Hyperbloom. The only caveat about using her as a support with Yae is that you may need a crowd control unit to keep enemies within the range of both Yae’s turrets and Kokomi’s jellyfish. Alternatively, Kokomi can enhance her attacks with her Elemental Burst and act as a driver.
- Barbara (4-Star) – F2P-friendly healer; can also wield Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers.
Pyro:
- Xiangling (4-Star) – The best and only Pyro Sub DPS worth using. You’ll usually need to pair Xiangling with Bennett (the best and only Pyro battery worth using) to address her Energy needs.
Example Teams:
| Yae Miko | Fischl | Xiangling | Bennett |
| Yae Miko | Raiden Shogun | Kujou Sara | Bennett |
| Yae Miko | Nahida | Sangonomiya Kokomi | Fischl |
Closing Words
As a unit, I’m frankly not that fond of Yae and I say this as someone who simps for her and has her at C6. I just don’t like the work and time her Elemental Skill demands. And while I personally have her at C1, Yae is generally obnoxious when it comes to Energy. That said, she is a very strong character (she does have 5-Star scaling after all). Her Skill is mostly unrivaled in terms of flexibility and range. Her Elemental Burst makes for an effective nuke when used alongside her Skill. I will also just say that Yae’s kit makes more sense now than it did when she released in Version 2.5, due to the 3.0 formally adding Dendro and how well Yae works with Aggravate.
Thanks for reading!
This post was originally published on February 26, 2022
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