Now that Genshin Impact has been around for a couple of years, there have been a lot of changes to the game and its gameplay mechanics, particularly with the addition of Dendro and the shift to specialized team compositions that revolve around quickswap but center on one character.
That said, some things just don’t change and that’s the National Team, a meta team composition consisting of Xinqiu, Xiangling, Bennett, and Chongyun. While Chongyun has long since been swapped for more powerful characters, Xiangling remains a staple since most of the team’s damage comes from her Pyronado.
Here’s how you can get the most out of your Xiangling.
Xiangling 101: An Overview of Wanmin Restaurant’s Celebrity Chef
Xiangling is a Pyro element polearm character we exclusively meet from her story quest. Sometime after the Monstadt archon quests, we meet her outside of the city where she is introduced as a famous chef from Liyue. Xiangling’s experimental recipes and strange choice of ingredients made her popular among food enthusiasts all over Teyvat. In fact, when your Traveler arrives in Liyue, they’ll run into two tourists from Monstadt who came to sample Xiangling’s food.
As the chef of Wanmin Restaurant, she’s known in Chihu Rock for her bright personality and her passion for cuisine and culinary experimentation, though these experiments tend to destroy the restaurant’s woks. Her burning passion for the culinary arts eventually earned her a Pyro vision that she now uses for cooking and for keeping monsters at bay while she explores the world with Guoba in search of new ingredients.
Thankfully for us, the best chef in Liyue is willing to join our adventures and bring the following skills to the table:
- Off-field Pyro Application: Xiangling’s Pyronado, the elemental burst, creates a swirling circle of flames that revolves around the active party member as they move on the battlefield. Combined with a Cryo or Hydro character, this can give you access to the two powerful reactions: Melt and Vaporize.
- Damage Buff: While not a highlight of Xiangling’s kit, her passive talent Beware, It’s Super Hot! does increase your character’s Attack stat by 10% for 10 seconds if they pick up the chili that Guoba leaves after he disappears from the field.
- Pyro Resistance Reduction: At C1, Xiangling’s Guoba can reduce the Pyro resistance of enemies hit by its flames by 15% for 6 seconds.
What Are Xiangling’s Talents, Priority Talents, and Stat Priorities?
Damage is the name of the game for Xiangling’s talents that all work towards helping your team boost their damage or boost her damage. Notably, this makes her viable as both an on-field and off-field character however her capabilities for providing off-field damage make her great for using off-field while another character who can trigger Vaporize does the rest.
Xiangling Genshin Impact Active Talents
Xiangling’s three active talents are Dough Fu, Guoba Attack, and Pyronado which you can level up to Level 10 with the appropriate resources and the event-locked item Crown of Insight. Since she’s a 4-star, it’s possible to easily get her constellations from limited-time banners or the Starglitter shop. These can let you boost her levels up to 13.
- Dough Fu (Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack): Xiangling performs up to five consecutive spear strikes. At C2, the last string of her Normal Attack sequence adds an Implode status to the opponent for 2 seconds, after which it will detonate and deal 75% of Xiangling’s attack as AoE Pyro damage.
- Guoba Attack (Elemental Skill): Guoba comes onto the field and continuously breathes fire at opponents.
- Pyronado (Elemental Burst): Creates a swirling Pyro AoE around Xinagling that moves with the active character, remaining on the field even if Xiangling isn’t.
Xiangling Genshin Impact Passive Talents
Xiangling’s passive talents also revolve around damage though they share her damage boosting capabilities with her team either directly or through food buffs.
- Crossfire: Increases the flame range of Guoba by 20%.
- Beware! It’s Super Hot: When Guoba’s effect ends, he leaves a chili pepper that boost’s the active character’s Attack by 10% for 10 seconds if they pick it up.
- Chef de Cuisione: Xiangling has a 12% chance to get double the amount of food from cooking a dish if she cooks the dish perfectly.
Xiangling’s Genshin Impact Talent Priority and Stat Priority
Xiangling’s most important talent is Pyronado as it is the main source of her damage because it has no Internal Cooldown (ICD). In Genshin, ICD refers to how long it takes for a character to “apply” their element which in Xiangling’s case is nada, zero, zilch. This means that you can always trigger Vaporize and Melt with Xiangling. This is why she is often paired with Childe who applies Hydro so fast that he needs Xiangling to “Vape” each hit.
As for her stat priority, aside from the Attack she clearly needs, you need to focus on upping her Energy Recharge as Xiangling can barely regenerate her own energy for an 80 energy cost burst. Xiangling’s energy problems can be remedied with Energy Recharge artifacts and weapons.
What Weapons Should Xiangling Have?
This is where things get tricky since Xiangling has the most viable weapon options out of any character in the game. Full stop. Her kit’s flexibility and reliance on reactions means that she can get value out of all the substats and passives that each weapon provides. The only real bad weapons for Xiangling would be Black Tassel and Crescent Pike, though even Crescent Pike’s passive boosts Attack.
Here are a few of the polearms worth paying attention to:
- Engulfing Lightning: Engulfing Lightning is a 5-star weapon with high base attack, has an Energy Recharge substat, and a passive that increases your Attack by 28% of Energy Recharge over the base 100%.
- Staff of the Scarlet Sands: This new 5-star weapon has a Crit Rate substat and a passive that boosts Xiangling’s Attack based on her Elemental Mastery. When her skill hits opponents, she can gain 28% of her Elemental Mastery as more bonus Attack.
- The Catch: This 4-star weapon is one of the best all-around choices right after Engulfing Lightning as it has an Energy Recharge substat and a passive that increases Elemental Burst damage and Elemental Burst Crit Rate.
- Prototype Starglitter: Another 4-star weapon with Energy Recharge as a substat. it s passive increases Normal and Charged attack damage after she uses an Elemental Skill.
- Missive Windspear: A 4-star limited-time event weapon, the Missive Windspear has an attack substat and a passive that boosts Attack by 24% and Elemental Mastery by 96 after a reaction uis triggered.
- Dragon’s Bane: A 4-star with an Elemental Mastery substat, Dragon’s Bane increases damage dealt to enemies that are affected by Pyro or Hydro.
- Favonius Lance: Another Energy Recharge susbtat spear that lets you regain energy from each Critical hit.
- Kitain Cross Spear: A craftable 4-star weapon that has an Elemental Mastery substat that increases Elemental Skill damage and lets your character regenerate energy gradually over time.
What Artifacts Should I Use for Xiangling?
There are two main considerations when choosing Xiangling’s artifact set. The first is her massive energy problems given her limited means of gaining energy versus how big her burst cost is. The second is to do with her drawing most of her damage from her burst. Only one artifact set fixes both and that’s Emblem of Severed Fate though a number of feasible alternatives exist.
- Emblem of Severed Fate: The 2-piece set grants 20% additional Energy Recharge while the 4-piece set increases Elemental Burst DMG by 25% of Energy Recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus DMG can be obtained in this way.
- Crimson Witch of Flames: The 2-piece set gives you a 16% Pyro damage bonus and the 4-piece set increasesOverloaded and Burning, and Burgeon DMG by 40%. It also increases Vaporize and Melt DMG by 15%. Using an Elemental Skill increases the 2-Piece Set Bonus by 50% of its starting value for 10s. Max 3 stacks.
- Noblesse Oblige: Noblesse Oblige can be partnered with other artifact sets or used on its own. Its 2-piece set grants 20% additional Elemental Burst damage while the 4-piece set increases all party members’ Attack when the party uses an Elemental Burst.
- Gladiator’s Finale, Vermillion Hereafter, Echoes of an Offering: Useful for their 2-piece bonus that gives an additional 18% Attack to Xiangling.
Team Compositions for Xiangling: Elements, Roles, and More
Xiangling easily slots into any team that can make use of a reaction with Pyro. Her common team members include Childe as they can keep up with each other when it comes to Vaporizing as well as Raiden Shogun who can provide her with enough Energy Recharge to keep her burst up. Her classic National Team co-members, Xingqiu, Chongyun, and Bennet, also make wonderful team members for a meta composition that rocks the Abyss on a shoestring budget.