Genshin Impact: Xinyan Guide

Liyue Harbor’s Rock ‘n’ Roll pioneer who wields a Pyro Vision and is always ready to deliver a fiery performance. Just like how she describes her music style, players also have mixed feelings towards Xinyan.

She has been around for quite a while but was only highlighted in the Genshin Impact’s 2.2 update. She is one of the main characters in the event titled Labyrinth Warriors where players can get her for free.

This is not the first time though because she was one of the characters that players can choose to get from the “Stand by Me” event during the Lantern Rite Festival.

Not having an in-game story event was just one of the reasons that Xinyan did not get as many fans. The other would be her kit, which can be confusing to a lot of players.

Build and Team Role

Since there are only a few characters that can create shields, Xinyan is commonly to only play this role. However, she can do Pyro attacks and can boost her or the party’s Physical damage. This makes it a bit confusing to most people because you have to consider three different stats to increase all of these.

The key to building Xinyan is to first identify what role you want her to be in your team. Despite being seen as a shielder, she can be a team’s carry and also play some other role.

Shielder and Damage Booster

Xinyan’s elemental skill hits opponents with a Pyro attack and then creates a shield. The characters who have this shield on will have their Physical damage increased by 15%.

This shield also has three versions or levels which will be triggered depending on the number of opponents that were hit when casting this skill. The 3^rd level will allow the shield to deal intermittent Pyro damage.

This means that you need to make sure there are at least 2 opponents for this shield to be maximized.

The damage absorption of this shield scales off of Xinyan’s defense. So as a shielder she needs high DEF to have a strong shield.

Although the shield can last up to 12 seconds, it might break before that duration ends. With a cool-down time of 18 seconds, this shield is not easy to spam and her role as a shielder will not be that good.

Carry or DPS

The main damage dealer is probably the best role for Xinyan. Her elemental burst will do a separate Pyro and Physical damages and the latter will have a critical rate of 100%. This can be boosted with the Physical damage bonus that her shield gives. She will also do a lot of normal attacks as a carry, which also benefits from the shield’s bonus.

For this role, focusing on Physical damage should be the route. This will also boost the damage of Xinyan’s elemental burst because its main damage is Physical.

Melt Proc

For this build, Xinyan needs to have a Cryo character in her party and a lot of Elemental Mastery. Melt is the elemental reaction that happens when Pyro comes in contact with Cryo and vice versa. This damage mainly scales with Elemental Mastery and Cryo should be applied to the target first.

Xinyan will trigger the Melt with either her elemental skill so she has to have enough elemental mastery, critical rate, and critical damage to maximize this role.

Burst Type

Similar to a Carry or DPS Xinyan, this role will also require Physical damage but you can also do high critical damage.

This is due to the fact that the Physical damage of Xinyan’s elemental burst has a critical rate of 100%. Meaning, if you only need her to cast the elemental burst, you can ignore her critical rate and focus on critical damage with enough Physical damage.

Weapons

Whiteblind

For a shielder build, this is a really good weapon because the secondary stat is DEF. It can be obtained by simply crafting it with the blacksmiths.

Song of Broken Pines, The Unforged, and Wolf’s Gravestone

For the damage-dealing builds, any 5-star claymore is easily a good choice but the Song of Broken Pines is the best one.

Its secondary stat is Physical damage bonus which is a perfect match to Xinyan’s damage boosts and attack style.

The Unforge has a refinement bonus that further increases the wielder’s ATK if they are protected by a shield. This bonus can be triggered by Xinyan’s elemental skill.

The Wolf’s Gravestone is, of course, the most versatile 5-star claymore in the game and will still work well with Xinyan.

Snow-Tombed Starsilver, Prototype Archaic, Lithic Blade, Blackcliff Slasher, and Serpent Spine

In the Dragonspine promo video trailer, Xinyan was shown wielding the Snow-Tombed Starsilver, and based on the weapon’s stats, it is not just for aesthetics. It has a secondary stat of Physical DMG bonus and can be obtained by crafting, making it an easy choice.

The Prototype Archaic is also a craftable weapon with a secondary stat of ATK bonus.

While Lithic Blade can only be obtained from a limited-time weapon banner, this 4-star weapon can also be a good choice. Since she is from Liyue, Xinyan can activate the refinement effect of the Lithic Blade by simply wielding it.

The Blackcliff Slasher is also a good weapon for a burst-type Xinyan. Its secondary stat is critical damage and since Xinyan’s elemental burst has a 100% CRIT Rate, adding more Crit DMG will boost the overall output of the talent.

Serpent Spine is a Battle Pass weapon, which means you need to spend real money to get this. Its secondary stat is a critical rate bonus which is good if you need more of it. Besides, the ideal critical rate is at least 70% for more consistent critical hits.

Artifacts

For Carry or DPS Type

For a carry build, these are the suggested artifacts.

4-Piece Gladiator’s Finale

This set will boost Xinyan’s normal attack damage.

2-Piece Bloodstained Chivalry and 2-Piece Pale Flame

This will further increase Xinyan’s Physical DMG, which is the output of her normal and charged attacks.

For Melt Proc Type

These are the suggested artifacts for a Melt proc Xinyan.

2-Piece Crimson Witch of Flames and 2-Piece Wanderer’s Troupe

This will increase the Pyro damage and gives a bonus of 80 elemental mastery points. The latter will increase Xinyan’s Melt damage.

4-Piece Crimson Witch of Flames

Aside from increasing her Pyro damage, this set will also increase the damage of all Pyro-related elemental reactions. This means an increase in Melt damage.