Genshin Impact – Yaoyao Guide & Review

This post is up to date with Version 3.4 Phase 1

---

Yaoyao is a 4-Star Dendro Polearm character from Liyue. Primarily, she serves as Genshin Impact‘s most adorable character (fight me) and a support for her team.

Base Kit

Yaoyao primarily assists with her Elemental Skill, Raphanus Sky Cluster, which has her summon her rabbit-like device/companion, Yuegui in Throwing Mode. Normally, you’ll press the Skill button to summon Yuegui in front of Yaoyao though you can hold the button manually aim where you want to throw the rabbit. Once on the field, Yuegui spends 10 seconds throwing out White Jade Radishes that explode and deal Dendro DMG upon making contact with you or your opponents or when 5 seconds have expired. If it makes contact with you, it’ll also heal you based on Yaoyao’s Max HP. Particle generation is on a 1.5 second internal cooldown though each radish is capable of generating 1 particle, giving Yaoyao a total of 5 by the time Yuegui leaves the field.

Depending on your current HP, Yuegui will behave differently. If your active character’s HP is above 70%, Yuegui will prioritize throwing radishes at an opponent (or somewhere random if there’s no opponent at all). If your character’s HP is equal to or less than 70%, Yuegui will prioritize healing that character. In co-op, Yuegui prioritizes healing whichever player has the lowest HP. Players are also limited to only summoning two Yueguis at a time.

Yuegui makes for a good source of healing. Admittedly, its multipliers are quite low, lower than Barbara’s and Shinobu’s, though this is somewhat justified as Yuegui throws radishes every second. It also has a solid uptime, lasting 10 seconds against a 15 second cooldown, with the radishes themselves having an independent duration of 5 seconds. Further augmenting Yaoyao’s innate Elemental Skill healing is her A4 passive, which heals your active character by 0.8% of Yaoyao’s Max HP every second for 5 seconds after coming in contact with a White Jade Radish. So long as Yaoyao is properly built, her Skill ought to heal for a good amount.

As to be expected, Yuegui isn’t terribly strong. The White Jade Radish has an extremely low DMG multiplier (41.89% at Lv. 6). Despite this, the radish is still a solid source of Dendro application thanks to the fast rate at which Yuegui chucks them. Something to note is that this attack does favor melee characters over ranged ones. While Yuegui can throw its radishes pretty far in the field, the radius of the radishes’ explosion is a lot smaller than the Talent description would have you believe. Fighting up close would therefore be preferred as the explosion will be more likely to hit something and apply Dendro should Yuegui prioritize firing the radishes at you in order to heal your active character.

When Yaoyao casts her Elemental Burst, Moonjade Descent, she enters the Adeptal Legacy state. While in this state, she summons up to three clones of Yuegui in Jumping Mode. This version of Yuegui behaves similarly to the Throwing Mode version though it boasts higher DMG and healing multipliers. Aside from cloning Yuegui, Yaoyao’s Burst innately gives her 15% Movement SPD and 50% Dendro RES. With her A1 passive, Yaoyao can also throw White Jade Radishes onto nearby opponents herself every 0.6 seconds while she dashes, sprints, and jumps. If Yaoyao leaves the field or (heaven forbid) dies, all the aforementioned effects and all remaining Yueguis will automatically disappear.

Yaoyao’s Elemental Burst is quite odd in that it makes her a bit selfish for field time. I do say “a bit” as the effects of the Burst only last for 5 seconds against a 20 second cooldown but even with uptime that short, keeping Yaoyao on the field can impede on your rotation. Adding onto the odd nature of Yaoyao’s Burst is her A1 passive as it more or less encourages her to do anything but attack. Because of the selfish mechanic, you’ll generally treat Yaoyao’s Burst as a last resort for when you’re in a serious bind. This also lessens the need of building Energy Recharge on Yaoyao though some amount is still recommended as her Burst does come with a high cost of 80 Energy.

Constellations

• C1 – Gives characters 15% Dendro DMG Bonus for 8 seconds and 15 Stamina when they are within the AoE of the White Jade Radish’s explosion. Note that the Stamina refund can only be triggered every 5 seconds. While situational and niche, this buff is useful for Dendro characters such as Nahida.
• C2 – Restores 3 Energy to Yaoyao whenever a White Jade Radish damages an enemy while Yaoyao’s Elemental Burst is active. This refund can occur once every 0.8 seconds so assuming Yaoyao stays on the field for the full 5 second duration of her Burst, she can gain 18 Energy. Even if you use Yaoyao’s Burst every other rotation, it is very nice to have it essentially cost 62 Energy instead of 80. It makes the ult more obtainable and it can let you get away with having low Energy Recharge in Yaoyao’s build.
• C3 – Adds three Levels to Yaoyao’s Elemental Skill.
• C4 – Increases Yaoyao’s Elemental Mastery by 0.3% of her Max HP for 8 seconds after she casts her Elemental Skill or Elemental Burst. This can come in handy when Yaoyao is the trigger for Elemental Mastery and it saves her the trouble building the stat and instead focus more on her healing. Something to note that is the buff caps at 120 Elemental Mastery. To reach this, Yaoyao would need 40,000 HP. As daunting as that may sound, this isn’t too difficult to achieve as Yaoyao has high Base HP, gains HP% as she ascends, and she ought to stack HP for her healing anyway.
• C5 – Adds three Levels to Yaoyao’s Elemental Burst.
• C6 – For every 2 White Jade Radishes Yuegui throws out in Throwing Mode, it will throw a Mega Radish that explodes in a larger AoE, dealing more DMG and restoring more HP than the average radish. Note that this does trigger Yaoyao’s A4 passive, C1, and C4. Having this greatly improves Yaoyao’s healing and Dendro application.

As always, 4-Star Constellations are a complete gamble so pull at your own discretion. Yaoyao already feels sufficient at C0 though if you are to pull for her Constellations, any one of them is a good stopping point.

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.

• Favonius Lance (4-Star | 565 ATK | 30.6% Energy Recharge) – Has a percent chance to generate neutral particles with a CRIT. If you want to address Yaoyao’s Energy needs, this is a great option. Bear in mind however that you will need a solid CRIT Rate on Yaoyao and for a healer, that can mean foregoing a Healing Bonus Circlet for one with CRIT Rate as the main stat.
• Black Tassel (3-Star | 354 ATK | 46.9% HP) – While the bonus DMG against Slimes is situational, the Black Tassel is still to this day the only Polearm with HP% as its second stat. By default, it is recommended as a stat stick for Yaoyao’s healing.

Artifacts

Set(s):

• Deepwood Memories (4) – Dendro DMG set; gives the wielder’s Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst the ability to debuff enemy Dendro RES by 30% and for 8 seconds. The latter effect can be triggered off field. Deepwood Memories is pretty much mandatory for teams involving Dendro. Yaoyao being a support unit makes her an easy candidate to wield this set. That said, you only need one character with this set equipped.
• Maiden Beloved (4) – Healing Bonus set; provides the wielder with Incoming Healing Bonus whenever they cast their Elemental Skill or Elemental Burst. While often an unpopular set, Maiden Beloved is worth using if Yaoyao’s team uses Bloom as the increased healing can make a difference in surviving the self DMG caused by the reaction.
• Tenacity of the Millelith (4) – HP set; buffs the entire team’s ATK by 20% and Shield Strength by 30% for 3 seconds when the wielder’s Elemental Skill hits an opponent. It’s a great option for Yaoyao’s healing and it makes her a more versatile support. The only caveat I can think of is that triggering the 4-Piece effect might get inconsistent if Yuegui prioritizes healing your active character.

Stats:

• Sands: Energy Recharge of HP%
• Goblet: HP%
• Circlet: Healing Bonus
• Sub-Stats: ATK%, CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, Elemental Mastery, Energy Recharge, HP%

Only go with an Energy Recharge Sands if you’re using Yaoyao’s Elemental Burst every rotation. If wielding the Favonius Lance, you may need to opt for a CRIT Rate Circlet so that Yaoyao can proc the weapon’s passive. Otherwise, stick with Healing Bonus as the Circlet’s main stat.

Synergy

Being a Dendro character, Yaoyao naturally wants to be in teams that’ll utilize her Element for Elemental Reaction such as Catalyze and Bloom. While Dendro doesn’t interact with Cryo, you can fit Yaoyao in a Frozen team as Dendro won’t cause enemies to unfreeze and you can get Bloom off of frozen enemies.

Elemental Resonances that benefit Yaoyao are Dendro (increased Elemental Mastery; more so if Dendro-related reactions are triggered), Electro (extra particle generation), Hydro (25% Max HP), 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 Yaoyao.

Recommended Teammates:

• Cyno (5-Star | Electro) – Recommended for a Aggravate or Hyperbloom comp.
• Keqing (5-Star | Electro) – Same situation as Cyno.
• Nilou (5-Star | Hydro) – Prior to Version 3.4, a Nilou Bloom team’s only option for healing was Hydro characters such as Barbara and Sangonomiya Kokomi. With the addition of Yaoyao, Nilou now has a lot more flexibility for her team comp. That said, Yaoyao’s Elemental Skill healing might not be potent enough for any driver besides Nilou in surviving the potentially deadly self DMG Nilou can cause with her Bloom modifiers. This makes Nilou’s team the one time where you’ll want Yaoyao to cast her Elemental Burst. It’s also where it starts to make sense that Yaoyao gains Dendro RES when her Burst is active.
• Raiden Shogun (5-Star | Electro) – Same situation as Cyno and Keqing. In Raiden’s case, you may want to make sure that Yaoyao can cast her Elemental Burst every rotation as her 80 Energy cost will give Raiden some of the most Resolve stacks a teammate can give her.
• Sangonomiya Kokomi (5-Star | Hydro) – Recommended for a Hyperbloom or Nilou Bloom comp. Having Kokomi and Yaoyao together in a Nilou Bloom team may sound redundant given that they’re both healers and Kokomi has much more potent healing. That said, you’d be surprised just how much self harm Nilou causes for her team…
• Tartaglia (5-Star | Hydro) – Same situation as Kokomi. Once again, Yaoyao being a Dendro healer enables Nilou to forego the second Hydro slot for someone more offensive such as Tartaglia.
• Yae Miko (5-Star | Electro) – Same situation as the other Electro characters mentioned on the list.

Example Teams:

Keqing

Fischl

Nahida

Yaoyao

Nilou

Sagonomiya Kokomi

Nahida

Yaoyao

Raiden Shogun

Yae Miko

Nahida

Yaoyao

Closing Words

Yaoyao is currently one of the best 4-Star characters from Genshin Impact‘s 3.0 era. Her being a Dendro healer improves the flexibility of many team comps that have been established by players in the past four 3.0 patches. And as a healer, Yaoyao herself performs quite well in the role. The only thing that’s baffling about her kit is the selfish nature of her brief Elemental Burst. About the only time it seems to make sense is when you need a meat shield for Nilou’s team. Otherwise, it’s at odds with the quickswap nature of Yaoyao’s Elemental Skill.