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Before all the flashy DPS characters started appearing, Razor was one of the top dogs (along with Diluc) during the Genshin Impact infancy phase. He has since paled in comparison thanks to the steady power creep, but with this Razor Genshin Impact guide, it’s time to get Razor up to speed with some of the latest heavy hitters.
After all, Razor is one of the most unique characters in the Genshin Impact lore, being literally raised by wolves. Plus, his name is cool. If you give him some quality love for his artifacts, weapons, and skills, you might just be able to teach this old dog some new tricks.
The Best Artifacts for Razor
Dealing mostly Physical damage, Razor needs more dedicated artifact sets such as the Pale Flame set, which you can farm in Ridge Watch located in the mountains that connect Mondstadt to Liyue.
Despite dealing respectable amounts of Electro damage, Razor’s main mode of damage in combat is still Physical.
Pale Flame
The Pale Flame artifact set has the following bonuses:
- 2-Piece Bonus – Physical DMG Bonus +25%
- 4-Piece Bonus – When an Elemental Skill hits an opponent, ATK is increased by 9% for 7s. This effect stacks up to 2 times and can be triggered once every 0.3s. Once 2 stacks are reached, the 2-set effect is increased by 100%.
For Razor, it might be somewhat difficult to keep both stacks of the 4-piece bonus active all the time, especially if you’re not using his Elemental Burst all the time (which happens in overworld encounters) but keeping it active all the time is still viable.
This is Razor’s best damage boost though it’s understandable if you don’t want to attain the 4-piece bonus since you have to keep weaving in some Elemental Skills in order to activate the benefits. This can disrupt Razor’s rather simple play style.
In such cases, you can also mix and match Pale Flame with a 2-piece Bloodstained Chivalry set, as it also has the same 2-piece bonus as the Pale Flame set.
Bloodstained Chivalry
You can farm the Bloodstained Chivalry set in the Clear Pool and Mountain Cavern domain in Mt. Aocang, Liyue. It has the following bonuses:
- 2-Piece Bonus – Physical DMG Bonus +25%
- 4-Piece Bonus – After defeating an opponent, increases Charged Attack DMG by 50% and reduces its Stamina cost to 0 for 10s. Also triggers with wild animals such as boars, squirrels and frogs.
The 4-piece bonus is negligible and not useless for Razor. So this set is just for pairing it with another 2-piece Pale Flame.
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You’ll lose out a bit of damage compared to constantly keeping the 4-piece Pale Flame set bonus, but it’s easier to play Razor with this setup since you don’t have to worry about Elemental Skill activation.
Artifact Stats to Prioritize
Razor is pretty standard as far as DPS characters go. He’s a hypercarry and selfish DPS, so you want to give him the full offensive suit.
That means ATK, CRIT, and more of those two. Here’s the priority list from most to least important:
- Physical DMG (Goblet)
- CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG (Circlet and substats)
- ATK % (Sands and substats)
- ATK (substats)
- Energy Recharge (substats)
For Razor, you don’t really need an exceedingly high CRIT Rate since he attacks too often. Anything slightly above 60 percent CRIT Rate is decent enough (higher is still better). You can focus on CRIT DMG for the most part, but a 1:2 ratio is still the ideal setup.
As for substats, just try to aim for full ATK. A bit of Energy Recharge is great though not particularly necessary since Razor can regenerate his own Energy well enough.
Best Weapons for Razor
Razor doesn’t come with his own signature weapon since he’s just a 4-star character, but he shares the same best-in-slot gear with Eula. That means you give him the Song of Broken Pines if you have it (or if Eula doesn’t need it).
Here are the stats for Song of Broken Pines:
- Song of Broken Pines (Physical DMG Bonus) – Increases ATK by 16%, and when Normal or Charged Attacks hit opponents, the character gains a Sigil of Whispers. This effect can be triggered once every 0.3s. When you possess four Sigils of Whispers, all of them will be consumed, and all nearby party members will obtain the “Millennial Movement: Banner-Hymn” effect for 12s. “Millennial Movement: Banner-Hymn” increases Normal ATK SPD by 12% and increases ATK by 20%. Once this effect is triggered, you will not gain Sigils of Whispers for 20s. Of the many effects of the “Millennial Movement,” buffs of the same type will not stack.
It’s great, but it’s understandable or even wise if you don’t have it since you opted for a more universal weapon for all your claymore users. In that case, here are some 5-star alternatives:
- Wolf’s Gravestone (ATK) – Increases ATK by 20%. On hit, attacks against opponents with less than 30% HP increase all party members’ ATK by 40% for 12s. Can only occur once every 30s.
Those ATK boosts are massive and something Razor will enjoy wholeheartedly while ripping and tearing through enemies. However, it’s not really ideal for bursting down bosses. Still, it’s quite a match for Song of Broken Pines in terms of damage output.
- The Unforged (ATK) – Increases Shield Strength by 20%. Scoring hits on opponents increases ATK by 4% for 8s. Max 5 stacks. Can only occur once every 0.3s. While protected by a shield, this ATK increase effect is increased by 100%.
You’ll need a shield generator if you have this for Razor and some tolerance for weird weapon design since this thing looks like a giant mango popsicle.
Not everyone is blessed with these shiny claymores, so if you’re a budget player with not many wishes to spend, then you can opt for some budget options.
Budget Alternatives
You can work towards most of these weapons, and some of them are even guaranteed once you’ve reached a certain milestone.
Of course, they can’t really match the performance of those 5-star weapons above, but at least they’re more attainable.
- Serpent Spine (CRIT Rate) – Every 4s a character is on the field, they will deal 6% more DMG and take 3% more DMG. This effect has a maximum of 5 stacks and will not be reset if the character leaves the field but will be reduced by 1 stack when the character takes DMG.
You will need to fork out $10 to get this one after finishing the Battle Pass track. It is worth it, however, as most Battle Pass weapons are good investments, with some coming close to a 5-star weapon’s damage.
If you want something free, then consider this one which is obtainable through a questline and a lengthy reward track:
- Snow-Tombed Starsilver (Physical DMG Bonus) – Hitting an opponent with Normal and Charged Attacks has a 60% chance of forming and dropping an Everfrost Icicle above them, dealing AoE DMG equal to 80% of ATK. Opponents affected by Cryo are instead dealt DMG equal to 200% of ATK. Can only occur once every 10s.
You’ll mostly be using it for its Physical DMG Bonus stat. The effect is somewhat handy for creating a primer for a Superconduct Elemental Reaction since that’s useful for reducing Physical RES for all enemies caught in the reaction radius.
- Prototype Archaic (ATK) – On hit, Normal or Charged Attacks have a 50% chance to deal an additional 240% ATK DMG to opponents within a small AoE. Can only occur once every 15s.
Meanwhile, the Prototype Archaic is handy for giving Razor a bit of area damage which he’s sorely lacking. You can craft this one, provided you have some spare billets for it.
Skill Priorities for Razor
For Razor’s play style and rotation, you basically just build up his Elemental Burst energy and then unleash it once it’s ready. After that, just attack everything on sight while occasionally weaving in some Elemental Skills during attacks. If you have the Pale Flame set, you will need to be more consistent with your Elemental Skills.
Regardless, Razor’s talents are expensive to upgrade, and here’s what you need to prioritize first in order to make the most out of him:
- Steel Fang (Normal Attack) – Performs up to 4 consecutive strikes (normal). Drains Stamina over time to perform continuous spinning attacks against all nearby opponents. At the end of the sequence, performs a more powerful slash (charged).
- Lightning Fang (Elemental Burst) – Summons the Wolf Within, which deals Electro DMG to all nearby opponents. This clears all of Razor’s Electro Sigils, which will be converted into Elemental Energy for him. The Wolf Within will fight alongside Razor for the skill’s duration.
- Claw and Thunder (Elemental Skill) – Hunts his prey using the techniques taught to him by his master and his lupical. Has Press and Hold variant.
It’s surprising, but most of Razor’s damage actually comes from his Normal Attacks while under his Elemental Burst. What you’ll mostly want from the Burst is the ATK SPD Bonus and the supplemental damage (which is Electro, sadly).
Razor Team Comp
Razor being a selfish hypercarry means that his whole party will need to support whatever he’s doing on the field.
With that in mind, the following characters have the best synergy with him and can help him wolf down hard against his enemies.
- Raiden Shogun (if you want near-100 percent Burst uptime)
- Qiqi (great for introducing Superconduct procs, and healing)
- Zhongli (shield and enemy debuff)
- Diona (for Superconduct, shield, and healing)
- Nahida (Hyperbloom Razor is impressive and feels fresh)
- Bennett (further increases Razor’s damage, C6 variant can help with elemental Razor setups with Overload procs)
- Xiangling (for Overload damage)
- Xingqiu (great for elemental Razor setups and incremental damage)
- Yun Jin (can further increase Razor’s ATK SPD)
Apart from a Physical Razor build, there’s also an elemental build that needs more investment though in the long run, can deal better damage. But if you’re just starting out with Razor, it’s better to stick to his Physical damage teams.
Regardless, following this Razor Genshin Impact guide can help you in either setup.
