Azhdaha, the Sealed Lord of Vishaps, is the largest and oldest Geovishap, a dragon-like creature in Genshin Impact. He was introduced in the 1.5 update as a weekly boss in the Beneath the Dragon-Queller trounce domain.
You can only unlock his domain, Beneath the Dragon-Queller, after completing Zhongli’s story quest titled “No Mere Stone,” which is the Act II of Historia Antiqua Chapter. This story includes Azhdaha’s relationship with the Geo Archon and their history in Teyvat.
Battle Mechanics
In addition to having Geo as its element, this boss can also absorb the power of other elements. At around 70% HP remaining, Azhdaha will start absorbing different elements, and a special mechanic also takes effect from this part of the battle.
The elements that Azhdaha is going to absorb are indicated at the door to his domain. Two seals can be found, and the color of each one represents a certain element. The absorbed elements changed every week.
A player will continuously take an elemental DMG when hit by the attack of the absorbed element unless that character is protected by a shield.
This mechanic highlights the use of elemental shields, and although not specifically required, having Geo characters and the ones that create shields can make a big difference in the battle against this dragon.
3 Phases
The battle against the Lord of Vishaps has three phases where he would change and use different elements to enhance his attacks.
First Phase: Geo State
In its early state, Azhdaha’s attacks will do Geo and Physical damage. During this time, he will also have high resistance to Geo attacks.
Second Phase: First Element Absorption
When Azhdaha’s HP is reduced to around 70%, he will start absorbing the first element. The first absorbed element will always be Pyro or Hydro and will be infused into his legs.
Third Phase: Second Element Absorption
At around 40% remaining HP, Azhadaha will absorb the second element, which is either Cryo or Electro. This second absorbed element will be infused into his tail and the scales on his back.
Absorbing elements will enhance this Vishap’s attacks and convert them to whatever elements are currently infused with him. He will also have increased elemental resistance to the elements that he has absorbed.
This means that it will be better if you use characters with elements that are strong against the absorbed element to have higher damage output. Or just use elements that are not the same as what he is assigned to absorb for that week.
Attacks
Burrowing and Tremors
At the early part of the battle, Azhdaha will crawl underground and randomly attack you. During this time, rocks will also fall from the cave’s ceiling. Markings will appear on the ground to indicate where these rocks will fall.
Although you can see where the monster is moving to, indicated by a moving cloud of dust, you cannot attack it, but it can still damage you when you are near it.
Move away or dodge the dust cloud and the ground marks just before the rocks fall to avoid getting hit.
Single Leg Stomp
Using one of either front or hind legs, Azhdaha will do a single stomp that will be followed by three ground tremors causing Geo damage. The AOE of this attack is small, so you can try to dodge the first shock and move away to avoid the other two damages.
Pyro – when infused with Pyro, this attack will become a single flaming ground shock followed by small fiery project tiles that will fall off Azhdaha’s leg.
Hydro – when infused with Hydro, the shock waves caused by the stomp will be converted to Hydro and will also come with gushes of water.
Alternating Two-Leg Stomp Combo
Azhdaha will do alternating stomps with left and right legs five times. He will lift his front legs for the sixth stomp to do a stomp that carries out a wider AOE attack with higher damage than that first five stomps.
This attack is usually a transition to the next phase.
In the first phase, this attack deals Geo damage, but after absorbing either Pyro or Hydro, the damage dealt by this move will be converted to that element.
Start running away when he lifts both legs on either left or right. This animation indicates the start of the combo.
Climbing Zhongli’s Geo stele or riding a wind current created by Venti’s elemental skill is also a way to avoid getting hit by this combo.
Body Slam
Azhdaha will harshly move his body sideways to deal physical damage to anyone in that direction. There is a short animation as preparation for this move, which will be your cue to dodge.
After the second element absorption, this attack will be converted to either Cryo or Electro. Its AOE will also be slightly increased due to the element explosion upon impact.
Jumping Slam
Despite its size, this dragon can actually hop high and land with great impact to cause a huge AOE damage. The impact will create two subsequent ground explosions, with the second one having a larger area of effect.
Pyro – when infused with Pyro, the shock waves will become fire explosions followed by small fireballs that will fall from Azhdaha’s front legs.
Hydro – When infused with Hydro, two successive bursts of water will be created and followed by rushes of water sent in adjacent directions.
Properly timing your dodges will be a huge surviving factor against this attack. Azhdaha’s jumping animation will be your signal to prepare to evade.
Scale Projectiles
Azhdaha will jerk his back to send some of his scales as projectiles. These things will stay on the field for a second and then explode to deal Geo damage.
The elemental conversion of this attack will follow the second absorbed element, which is the one infused in Azhdaha’s tail. It will either be Cryo or Electro.
Cryo – when the tail’s element is Cryo, the projectiles sent will cause shards of ice from the cave’s ceiling to fall on certain areas.
Electro – when Electro is the infused element, purple markings on the floor will indicate where the projectiles will fall. The tricky part is that the scale hits the marked area; it will then send out electric shocks that make a simple dodge ineffective.
One way to avoid damage is to dash into the projectile landing area since the Electro shocks will hit away.
Tail Bash
The Lord of Vishap will lift his tail for around 2 seconds and then slam it on the ground. This creates a small earth explosion around the tail, dealing Geo damage to anyone nearby.
Cryo – if Cryo is absorbed in the tail, large ice spikes will be created when the tail hits the ground. A second wave of these spikes will be created when Azhdaha lifts his tail from the ground.
Electro – if the infused element is Electro, a shock with a wider AOE will be produced as the tail slams.
Dodging and keeping proper distance is key to avoiding getting hit by this move.
Tail Sweep
Azhadaha will do a 360 degrees turn to swing his tail and do a sweeping attack.
Cryo – when infused with Cryo, the sweeping move will do Cryo damage and includes a burst of Cryo dust for a wider AOE. A small Cryosphere with spikes will also be left on the area, which will explode after a few seconds.
Electro – if Electro is the infused element, the attack will deal Electro damage and send small Electro balls for additional damage.
Head Blow
A move where the enemy slams its head on the ground to create a small AOE earthquake in front of him and deal Geo damage.
When Pyro or Hydro is absorbed, the AOE area will be converted to that element and send a blow of fire or a gush of water to where he is facing.
Tusk Ram
Similar to how a bull attacks, Azhdaha will rush forward and do a tossing action with his horn. Anyone in the way will be sent flying.
In the second and third phase, this move will deal damage based on the element that was absorbed on Azhdaha’s scales.
Absorbed Element Special Attacks
Aside from the element-enhanced attacks, Azhadaha will also have additional elemental attacks that deal further damage. When hitting players that do not have shields on, those players will be marked and will continue to take damage to that element.
Dragon’s Roar
Azhdaha will scream to summon elemental bodies to deal damage to the surroundings.
Pyro – fiery rocks will fall like meteors and leave an area flaming for a certain time.
Markings on the floor will indicate where these meteor-like objects will hit, so look out for it and move away.
Hydro – summons water orbs that rotate and move around the entire battle area, orbiting Azhdaha.
These orbs will be in two rows, covering the entire area that even keeping a great distance will not save you from getting hit. Keep an eye on these things and adjust your position to avoid them.
Branch of the Dragon-Queller
Azhadaha submerges himself with only his tail showing, making it look like a small tree. This will manipulate energy of the currently absorbed element to summon continuous damage for a certain time.
Cryo Branch – markings will appear on the area surrounding the tree where Cryo spikes will poke out from the ground. There is a very short interval before the spikes emerge where the marks appear, so make sure to move away quickly.
Electro Branch – ray-shaped markings will appear on the floor to indicate where lightning will strike. One part will have no marking, which is the safe area where lightning will not strike. Look out for that clear area and stand there.
While in this state, the tail can be attacked; however, elemental attacks will swarm closer to it, making close-ranged attacks too risky.
Another tip is to stay away from the tail and wait for the elemental attack surge to stop and for Azhdaha to emerge above ground.
Cryo Sphere
Azhdaha will swirl his tail to summon a large spiky Cryo sphere. This thing will revolve above him and will send ice missiles to anyone it detects.
Electro Orbs
The dragon will conjure Electro orbs above him for this attack and send them towards you one by one.
Keeping distance to have a proper view of the orbs will allow you to see when one is coming your way. This will make it easier to dodge.
When the battle takes a little too long, Azhdaha will start attacking using both elements that he has absorbed. This will make the fight more challenging because, aside from getting marked and taking continuous elemental damage, elemental reactions can be triggered by the dragon’s attacks.
