This post is up to date with Version 3.4 Phase 1
Xiangling is a 4-Star Pyro Polearm character from Liyue. In addition to the gacha, she can be obtained for free via the “People’s Choice” event, which requires you to clear Floor 3 Chamber 3 of the Spiral Abyss. She can also be obtained with Masterless Starglitter in “Paimon’s Bargains” during the months of January and July. Primarily, Xiangling serves as an Off Field DPS for her team.
Base Kit
When Xiangling casts her Elemental Skill, Guoba Attack, she summons her panda companion, Guoba, to attack enemies with Pyro DMG. Guoba attacks a total of 4 times, every 1.5 seconds, and stays on the field even when Xiangling switches places with a teammate. Guoba has the ability to snapshot. In other words, he retains whatever Xiangling’s stats are upon being summoned, independent of the durations of any buffs Xiangling has at the time. With Xiangling’s A4 passive, Guoba will leave behind a pepper icon that can be picked up for a 10% ATK buff to your active character. However, since you have to take the time to pick it up, it’s usually enjoyed incidentally rather than deliberately.
While Guoba can be a strong turret, he is also a pretty unreliable one. While some characters such as Fischl and Yae can reposition their turrets, Xiangling cannot do the same with Guoba. You plop the panda on the ground and he’ll stay on that spot until he’s done, making it fairly easy for enemies to move out of his range. This problem persists even after getting Xiangling’s A1 passive, which extends Guoba’s range by 20%. Your active character can push Guoba but due to movement physics and Guoba being fat, it’s awkward to do and impractical during combat.
The best solution for Guoba is to place him next to a taunt. Doing so will keep enemies in place and make them much easier targets for the panda to attack. Unfortunately, this is kind of a premium solution as the best taunts belong to 5-Star characters such as Mona and Ganyu. If you’re F2P, your only option is Amber and that requires using Amber so it’s not worth considering. Other than that, you just have to try your best with sticking close to Guoba and pray that his fiery breath will hit something.
The real reason to use Xiangling is her Elemental Burst, Pyronado. After striking three times with her Polearm, Xiangling launches a spinning disc of fire that’ll orbit around your active character and deal Pyro DMG to any enemies in its path for 10 seconds. The disc/DoT doesn’t have the highest multiplier out there (156.8% at Lv. 6) but it is greatly compensated by its wide range and frequency. It can attack multiple enemies at once and attack each of them every orbit. Furthermore, the ult ignores Internal Cooldown and is capable of Snapshotting. In other words, it applies Pyro and/or triggers its related Elemental Reactions every single time it hits and like Guoba, it will retain buffs even when they expire for Xiangling. Because of these factors, Xiangling has one of the best ults in the game.
The only downside to Pyronado is its high Energy cost of 80, making Xiangling hungry for Energy. Guoba technically provides a good amount of Pyro particles, 4 in total, but he generates them one at a time and only does so when he manages to hit an enemy each time. As a result, Xiangling generally needs Energy Recharge and a battery support in her team in order to reliably cast her Elemental Burst every rotation.
Constellations
- C1 – Gives Guoba the ability to debuff enemy Pyro RES by 15% and for 6 seconds. It’s useful but good luck getting Guoba to hit something.
- C2 – Gives Xiangling’s fifth and final Normal Attack the ability to inflict Implode on an enemy. After a few seconds, this effect will explode and deal Pyro DMG. This is a very irrelevant Constellation. Off field, Xiangling will rarely use her Normal Attacks. On the off chance that you do use Xiangling on field, it’s better to animation cancel at her fourth and penultimate Normal Attack as executing the last one causes a knockback effect.
- C3 – Adds three Levels to Xiangling’s Elemental Burst
- C4 – Increases the duration of Xiangling’s Elemental Burst by 40% or 4 seconds. It’s more uptime and it’s more opportunities to hit something. It is easily Xiangling’s best Constellation.
- C5 – Adds three Levels to Xiangling’s Elemental Skill.
- C6 – Provides 15% Pyro DMG Bonus throughout the duration of Xiangling’s Elemental Burst. This is an odd Constellation as without a Pyro On Field DPS, it really only benefits Xiangling. However, the DoT of Xiangling’s Burst can’t snapshot this buff. Guoba can but that’s a moot point considering this is Guoba we’re talking about here.
As always, 4-Star Constellations are a complete gamble so pull at your own discretion. Bear in mind also that Xiangling’s Constellations can be obtained over time via Paimon’s Bargains. Besides C0 and C6, a solid stopping point for Xiangling is C4.
Weapons
The following list of weapons is largely organized by descending rarity and alphabetical order. Stats provided in the parentheses are assuming the respective weapon is at Lv. 90.
- Engulfing Lightning (5-Star | 608 ATK | 55.1% Energy Recharge) – Increases the wielder’s ATK by a percentage of their Energy Recharge over the base 100%. In addition to having Energy Recharge as its second stat, the Engulfing Lightning gives its wielder even more of the stat for 12 seconds after they cast their Elemental Burst. Equipping this weapon on Xiangling will allow her to comfortably build fully into Energy Recharge without losing out on building ATK. That said, the Engulfing Lightning is the Raiden Shogun’s Signature Weapon and she obviously wants this weapon as well.
- Skyward Spine (5-Star | 674 ATK | 36.8% Energy Recharge) – One of Genshin’s standard 5-Star Polearms. This is largely a stat stick for Xiangling, providing her with a high Base ATK, a good amount of Energy Recharge, and a small amount of CRIT Rate (the latter of which is provided via the passive). The rest of the passive is irrelevant for Xiangling, however.
- “The Catch” (4-Star | 510 ATK | 45.9% Energy Recharge) – Obtained via fishing. Honestly, it’s the only reason you’ll ever tolerate Genshin’s godawful fishing mini-game. The passive provides an Elemental Burst DMG Bonus and Burst CRIT Rate, making the weapon Xiangling’s best 4-Star option. Once you’re done fishing, “The Catch” automatically goes to her. An exception is if you have the Raiden Shogun, in which the weapon goes to her instead.
- Deathmatch (4-Star | 454 ATK | 36.8% CRIT Rate) – Requires the purchase of the Battle Pass; increases the wielder’s ATK and DEF depending on the number of opponents near them. While the buff varies, it is more or less permanent. The fact that this is a 4-Star weapon with CRIT Rate (and a pretty good amount of that too boot) is also worth considering.
- Dragon’s Bane (4-Star | 454 ATK | 221 Elemental Mastery) – Deals increased DMG against opponents affected by Hydro or Pyro; recommended for Vaporize team comps only.
- Favonius Lance (4-Star | 565 ATK | 30.6% Energy Recharge) – Has a percent chance to generate neutral particles with a CRIT. If you have “The Catch” on someone else, this is a solid option for Xiangling. The tricky part is that the passive only procs if the wielder is on field. Ideally, you want it to proc when Xiangling performs the three initial spin attacks of Pyronado.
- Missive Windspear (4-Star | 510 ATK | 41.3% ATK) – Version 3.1’s Event Weapon. Within 10 seconds of triggering an Elemental Reaction, the Windspear will puff its user’s ATK and Elemental Mastery. So long as Xiangling is the trigger, this weapon can be pretty strong in her hands.
Artifacts
Set(s):
- Emblem of Severed Fate (4) – Energy Recharge set; provides Elemental Burst DMG Bonus in proportion to 25% of the former stat. Since much of Xiangling’s DPS is concentrated in her Burst, this set is perfect for her. A lot of other characters in Genshin want Emblem of Severed Fate and this set is farmable alongside Shimenawa’s Reminiscence (another useful set) so any Genshin player ought to farm this set in general.
Stats:
- Sands: ATK% or Energy Recharge
- Goblet: Pyro DMG Bonus
- Circlet: CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
- Sub Stats: ATK%, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, Elemental Mastery, and Energy Recharge
Energy Recharge is preferable over ATK% as the Sands’ main stat though it can be overkill when you factor in sub stats and team composition so try to have a solid ATK% Sands just in case. If you have Bennett and the Raiden Shogun on the team, you can comfortably run Xiangling with an ATK% Sands.
Xiangling generally wants CRIT Rate for her Circlet. If she has a R5 “Catch” and sub stats provided around 48-58% CRIT Rate, you can comfortably give her a CRIT DMG Circlet.
Synergy
Xiangling excels in Melt and Vaporize comps, both of which happen to be two of the strongest Elemental Reactions in the meta. Overloaded isn’t recommended as its knockback effect can be detrimental to the accuracy of Xiangling’s Elemental Burst. However, there are a couple of team comps where Overloaded is fine. The same goes for Burning and Burgeon. Burning isn’t very strong and due to the lack of Internal Cooldown on her Burst, Xiangling is actually not that reliable at triggering Burgeon.
Elemental Resonances that benefit Xiangling are Cryo (15% CRIT Rate against enemies affected by Cryo/Frozen), Electro (extra particle generation), Geo (15% Shield Strength and 15% more DMG while protected by a shield), and Pyro (25% ATK).
As a disclaimer, the following lists 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 Xiangling.
Recommended Teammates:
- Bennett (4-Star | Pyro) – Bennett is more or less essential to a Xiangling team. In general, he’s a popular support due to his Elemental Burst providing healing and an ATK buff simultaneously. Both of these are of course useful for Xiangling, especially since her Elemental Talents can snapshot buffs. Bennett is also the choice for a Pyro battery as the tap version of his Elemental Skill has a low cooldown and can generate 2 Pyro particles every time it hits an enemy. If you’re brave enough to have Bennett at C6, the Pyro Infusion provided by the Constellation enables Xiangling to fight as an On Field DPS. This post will not go over that in great detail but a lot of the usual go-tos are recommended (i.e. Xingqiu for Vaporize, Fischl for Overloaded, etc.).
- Ganyu (5-Star | Cryo) – Ganyu and Xiangling are one of the very few pairs who can make good use of Melt. The synergy is a little weird as Xiangling’s Elemental Burst forces Ganyu to fight more at close range and therefore demand the need of a shielder on the team. Ideally, Ganyu is the trigger for Melt but ownership can get murky as other parts of her and Xiangling’s kits ignore Internal Cooldown. Despite these quirks, you’re bound to dish a lot of DMG with these two characters together.
- Raiden Shogun (5-Star | Electro) – Raiden is an extremely synergistic teammate for Xiangling. Her Elemental Skill provides Elemental Burst DMG Bonus while it’s active. Her Burst provides free Energy for her teammates. While Overloaded isn’t very good, the risk of triggering it is worth it thanks to Raiden’s high DPS. She also has decent range with her sword attacks, making the reaction more practical in her case.
- Rosaria (4-Star | Cryo) – Rosaria’s Elemental Burst ignores Internal Cooldown, making it ideal for Melt procs. Obviously, it’s not as strong as Ganyu’s Charged Attack but it being an entirely off field Talent does allow for more flexible gameplay. The only caveat is it’s stationary so you need to keep enemies close to it.
- Sangonomiya Kokomi (5-Star | Hydro) – In general, Kokomi is a valuable asset due to her potent healing and access to Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers and Tenacity of the Millelith (4). She’s useful to many characters in the game, including Xiangling. That said, there is a specific bit of synergy that includes Guoba and Kokomi’s Bake-Kurage. More on that in a bit.
- Sucrose (4-Star | Anemo) – Sucrose’s Ascension Talents provide Elemental Mastery buffs that Xiangling can use to augment her Elemental Reaction DMG. Additionally, Sucrose provides crowd control and has access to Viridescent Venerer (4), allowing her to debuff enemy Pyro RES for Xiangling.
- Tartaglia (5-Star | Hydro) – As a closed ranged Hydro fighter, Tartaglia is a solid driver for Xiangling. The only thing you need to be mindful of is Tartaglia’s Elemental Skill cooldown. Stay too long in Melee Stance and Tartaglia has a lot of downtime to contend with. If the two are used together, Xiangling is usually the trigger for Vaporize procs.
Examples Teams:
| Raiden Shogun | Xiangling | Xingqiu | Bennett |
| Ganyu | Xiangling | Zhongli | Bennett |
| Sangonomiya Kokomi | Fischl | Xiangling | Sucrose |
Closing Words
Xiangling is unironically one of Genshin Impact‘s best playable characters. Even with her unreliable Elemental Skill and her high Energy needs, her Elemental Burst is simply way too good to pass up and it alone makes her a valuable asset in any team involving Pyro. While Genshin continues to add more characters and more team comp potential, Xiangling remains a popular choice in the meta and she has yet to show any signs of slowing down.
This post was originally published on August 25, 2021
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