Thoma Genshin Impact Guide for Artifacts, Weapons, and Skills

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Who says nice guys finish last? Meet Thoma, Genshin Impact’s friendly and approachable ‘Protector from Afar’. Well-known for being a ‘fixer’ in Inazuma, Thoma is the type of guy that helps everyone out and ensures that any issue is resolved both quickly and peacefully. His personality garners him a powerful network of connections that could easily set anyone up for success and yet he does not use it for his personal gain. 

Originally born and raised in Mondstadt, Thoma found his calling as the responsible housekeeper to the Kamisato Clan. His loyalty and righteousness shines through his Pyro vision which he uses to defend the rights and interests of his lieges and the Yashiro Commission.

With flames that burn with the intention to protect, he can shield his allies constantly with the use of his talents. This Genshin Impact guide will help you determine the right artifacts and weapons that will empower Thoma’s abilities to its fullest potential.

The Best Artifacts for Thoma

Noblesse Oblige

Noblesse Oblige gives out these bonuses:

• 2-Piece Bonus – Elemental Burst DMG +20%
• 4-Piece Bonus – Using an Elemental Burst increases all party members’ ATK by 20% for 12s. This effect cannot stack.

Thoma’s kit of providing shields and off-field Pyro application benefits from artifacts that can further enhance his supportive capabilities. While Thoma’s Elemental Burst damage is underwhelming even with the bonus from the 2-Piece effect of Noblesse Oblige, the partywide ATK% increase that it grants makes it a viable pick nonetheless as you’d often switch to your main DPS after Thoma’s Burst.

Flower of Paradise Lost

The Flower of Paradise Lost grants the following effects:

• 2 Piece Bonus – Increases Elemental Mastery by 80.
• 4 Piece Bonus – The equipping character’s Bloom, Hyperbloom, and Burgeon reaction DMG are increased by 40%. Additionally, after the equipping character triggers Bloom, Hyperbloom, or Burgeon, they will gain another 25% bonus to the effect mentioned prior. Each stack of this lasts 10s. Max 4 stacks simultaneously. This effect can only be triggered once per second. The character who equips this can still trigger its effects when not on the field.

The introduction of the new Dendro reactions revitalized Thoma’s usefulness in team compositions. Burgeon is not as popular as Hyperbloom due to the way your team is just as vulnerable as your enemies to the Burgeon explosion damage but this is what makes Thoma shine. Not only does his Burst allow his allies to trigger Burgeon reactions but they can also do it with no worries due to his shield absorbing the damage of the Burgeon explosions. Flowers of Paradise Lost with its additional Elemental Mastery just synergizes perfectly for his role in such teams.

Artifact Stats to Prioritize

This fixer needs the right artifacts to do his job properly:

1. HP%
2. Elemental Mastery
3. Energy Recharge
4. Pyro DMG
5. CRIT

Thoma generally wants a good amount of HP%, Elemental Mastery, and Energy Recharge as they all affect his Talents effectiveness dramatically. HP% provides him with greater scaling for his shields. Elemental Mastery helps his elemental reaction’s damage output. Energy Recharge is crucial for him to have in order to have constant access to his Burst’s utility. You can usually just focus on having HP% or Elemental Mastery as his main stats and leaving Energy Recharge as a must have for substats as you can fix Thoma’s Energy Recharge problems with his weapon choice.

For those who wants to fan the flames of Thoma’s personal damage, they can opt for a Pyro DMG Goblet. Using CRIT artifacts on him is good in some situations such as using a high refinement Favonius Lance to provide his team with additional energy.

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Best Weapons for Thoma

Thoma’s a pretty humble guy but if you want to deck him out with some of the best premium polearms available, these would be our picks for the ones that synergizes with him best:

• Engulfing Lightning (Energy Recharge) – ATK increased by 28% of Energy Recharge over the base 100%. You can gain a maximum bonus of 80% ATK. Gain 30% Energy Recharge for 12s after using an Elemental Burst.

It is one of the best Energy Recharge polearms for Thoma. You’ll mostly likely just pick it for its Energy Recharge passive but the ATK increase is a welcome addition. And for those who just want a weapon that looks fashionable on their characters, the purple polearm’s Inazuman aesthetic matches well with his reds.

• Skyward Spine (Energy Recharge) – Increases CRIT Rate by 8% and increases Normal ATK SPD by 12%. Additionally, Normal and Charged Attacks hits on opponents have a 50% chance to trigger a vacuum blade that deals 40% of ATK as DMG in a small AoE. This effect can occur no more than once every 2s.

The Skyward Spine is another great option for players who want to use an Energy Recharge polearm. Its weapon passive gives Thoma an additional source of damage for when he attacks as well as a little bit of CRIT Rate. Due to its availability in the Standard Wish banner, players won’t have to wait for its rerun to get their own copy of it.

• Vortex Vanquisher (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%.

Zhongli’s complementary weapon is unique to other premium polearms due to its shield strengthening passive which Thoma’s shields would greatly benefit from. It also has a stacking effect that would grant him additional ATK which can also double whenever he is shielded.

Budget Alternatives

4-Star weapons might not have the better stats and crazy effects that their higher rarity counterparts have but they can still be very powerful due to easier access towards their refinements. Consider the following polearms for this dutiful housekeeper:

• Kitain Cross Spear (Elemental Mastery) – Increases Elemental Skill DMG by 6%. After Elemental Skill hits an opponent, the character loses 3 Energy but regenerates 3 Energy every 2s for the next 6s. This effect can occur once every 10s. Can be triggered even when the character is not on the field.

The Kitain Cross Spear is one of the most budget friendly options due to being a craftable weapon. Players would need to complete the Orobashi’s Legacy: Part V mission to get its weapon diagram. Its secondary stat of Elemental Mastery, along with its energy passive, makes it a great pick for Thoma in reaction based teams like Vaporize, Melt, or Burgeon.

• Favonius Lance (Energy Recharge) – CRIT Hits have a 60% chance to generate a small amount of Elemental Particles, which will regenerate 6 Energy for the character. Can only occur once every 12s.

The Favonius weapon series consists of extremely useful weapons for supportive characters that rely on casting their Elemental Burst. Their weapon passives grants a lot of Energy Particles for the team upon doing a critical hit. While it does require some investment towards having enough CRIT Rate to properly make use of the passive, it is certainly worth it as it can cut down the team’s overall energy needs significantly.

• Moonpiercer (Elemental Mastery) – After triggering Burning, Quicken, Aggravate, Spread, Bloom, Hyperbloom, or Burgeon, a Leaf of Revival will be created around the character for a maximum of 10s. When picked up, the Leaf will grant the character 16% ATK for 12s. Only 1 Leaf can be generated this way every 20s. This effect can still be triggered if the character is not on the field.

Another great craftable polearm, this time hailing from the Sumeru weapon series. Like the Kitain Cross Spear, it has a secondary stat of Elemental Mastery but this polearm focuses on amplifying Dendro based reactions like Burgeon. The weapon also has a secondary passive that grants an ATK increase to Thoma’s allies upon picking up a Leaf of Revival.

Skill Priorities for Thoma

Leveling Talents require a lot of Talent materials and Mora. Knowing which Talents to level up will give you more bang for your buck. For Thoma, prioritize maxing his skills in this order:

1. Crimson Ooyoroi (Elemental Burst) – Thoma spins his polearm, dealing AoE Pyro DMG and activating Scorching Ooyoroi. While this is in effect, the active character’s Normal Attacks will trigger Fiery Collapse, dealing AoE Pyro DMG and summoning a Blazing Barrier which is a shield identical to the ones created by his Skill. If Thoma falls, the effects of Scorching Ooyoroi will be cleared.

2. Blazing Blessing (Elemental Skill) – Thoma delivers a flame-filled flying kick that deals AoE Pyro DMG and summons a defensive Blazing Barrier. He also applies Pyro on himself upon casting. The DMG Absorption of the Blazing Barrier scales off Thoma’s Max HP and will not exceed a certain percentage of his Max HP. When a new Blazing Barrier is obtained, the remaining DMG Absorption of an existing Blazing Barrier will stack and its duration will be refreshed.

3. Swiftshatter Spear (Normal Attack) – Thoma performs up to 4 consecutive spear strikes (Normal Attack). Consuming a certain amount of Stamina causes him to lunge forward, dealing damage to opponents along the way (Charged Attack).

Most of Thoma’s gameplay is geared towards effectively using his Blazing Barrier and refreshing it constantly either with his Elemental Skill or Burst. That is why both his Burst and Skill share about the same amount of priority with his Burst edging out just slightly due to its additional increases in its damage. Though Thoma’s Normal Attack string has some fantastic animations, you won’t find yourself using it as often if you play him as a support which makes it a safe bet to level last.

Thoma Team Comp

Thoma is not only a reliable housekeeper to the Kamisato Clan but he can also be a reliable shielder for your team. This affable helper works well with these characters: 

• Kamisato Ayato (His liege. His Hydro application can react with Thoma’s Pyro for Vaporize.)
• Xingqiu (Another great Hydro applier for Burgeon and Vaporize teams)
• Nahida (The best Dendro enabler. Gives Thoma access to Burning and Burgeon)
• Collei (A Free to Play dendro enabler for Burning and Burgeon)
• Shikanoin Heizou (Like Zuko, Thoma can turn this airbender into a firebender)
• Sucrose (Provides crowd control, elemental resistance shred and Elemental Mastery)
• Albedo (Off-field damage, Elemental Mastery boost in his passive, and Crystallize)
• Diona (Cryo healer, shielder, and enabler that can give Elemental Mastery. For Melt teams)

Thoma’s already great as a shielder but you’ll want to use him on a reaction-based team to make him doubly useful with the role compression he provides. He might not be part of any meta team composition but that doesn’t mean that unpopular 4-Star picks like him are unusable. If anything, players can find uses for him in creative team compositions that can be just as powerful and more importantly, fun and exciting to play.