Yelan is a mysterious member of Liyue’s Ministry of Civil Affairs, but no records are documented in the Ministry’s list. Most people who are supposed to be her colleagues have never heard of her.
This mysterious lady acts as a special intelligence officer who reports directly to Ningguang. Although to her, it is all about making good on her end of a deal, like honoring a certain pact.
Yelan spends much of her time in The Chasm, often staring into the darkness deep below. She can help but feel attracted to it as if something inexplicably ominous has been summoning her to The Chasm. Perhaps it is because her ancestors once fought against a great cataclysm, with one meeting his end and the other who survived going insane.
How to Get Yelan
Yelan is a 5-star character that can only be obtained by making wishes on a time-limited Character Wish Banner. This banner will only feature a special 5-star character if that character is involved in the game’s current contents, like story quests and events.
If Yelan is currently featured on the Character Wish Banner, you will have a chance to do a test run of the character and see if you like her play style.
Please see our guide here to learn more about acquiring characters in Genshin Impact.
Team Role and Party Composition
Main Damage-Dealer or DPS Character
Yelan can easily be either a main DPS or a sub DPS character. The first role means she will be active on the field, and you will only switch with other characters in the team to provide buffs and supporting damage. Main DPS or not, Yelan shines with her elemental burst and elemental skills, but it does not mean that increasing the damage of her normal attacks is a bad idea.
Sub-DPS or Off-Field DPS Character
As a sub DPS or off-field DPS, Yelan can work well with DPS characters with play styles mainly centered on normal attacks. This is because Yelan’s elemental burst can only be triggered with such an attack. Some of the characters Yelan can support include Raiden Shogun, Kamisato Ayaka, Keqing, Aloy, Yanfei, Yun Jin, and more.
Support Characters for Yelan
Defensive Support
Shielders or makers like Zhongli, Noelle, Diona, Thoma, and Xinyan work well with Yelan. Zhongli, Diona, and Thoma can benefit from Yelan’s Constellation Level 4, which increases the entire party’s HP, increasing the damage absorption of their shields.
Geo shields from Zhongli and Noelle are more consistent against all elements. Still, Diona’s can increase the character’s movement speed and freeze opponents when combined with Yelan’s elemental attacks.
Aside from providing shields for Yelan, Diona can immobilize enemies with the Frozen elemental reaction using her elemental skill and burst. Not to mention Diona is also a healer, making her excellent support for Yelan.
Thoma’s shield is more effective against Pyro attacks, and his elemental burst will deal with Pyro attacks the same way Yelan’s Exquisite Throw is triggered. Since the two elements are Pyro and Hydro, the Vaporize elemental reaction can be triggered.
Xinyan may also increase the damage of Yelan’s normal attacks because Xinyan’s shield can increase the physical damage to its protected character. However, this will not be a highly recommended pair because it will be unlikely that you will focus on Yelan’s normal attacks rather than spamming her elemental skill and elemental burst.
Damage Support
The damage-boosting support character for Yelan can be Rosaria, thanks to her passive talent Shadow Samaritan. This talent increases the party members’ Critical Rate by 15% of Rosaria’s Critical Rate whenever she uses her elemental burst.
Support characters that buff ATK do not do much for Yelan because of the damage of her elemental skill and burst scales off her HP.
Damage support or off-field DPS characters who work well with Yelan are Xingqiu, Beidou, and Fischl with her Oz. These characters can throw elemental attacks synchronous to Yelan’s exquisite Throw. You can use these three with Yelan for a burst-type Electro-Charged elemental reaction team.
Having Xingqiu in Yelan’s party can also work like a battery to help her with collecting enough energy to use her elemental burst. Although Yelan’s elemental burst only needs 70 energy, her elemental skill’s long cool-down time will not make it easy to gather Hydro energy particles.
Talents and Play Styles
Combat Talents
Normal Attack: Stealthy Bowshot
This talent allows Yelan to perform up to 4 consecutive shots with her bow. When the button is held or if the Aimed Shot mode is toggled, Yelan can do a more precise hit with increased damage. While aiming, flowing water will accumulate on the arrowhead to prepare a fully charged torrential arrow that will deal Hydro damage.
After 5 seconds out of combat, meaning not being attacked or detected by any opponent, Yelan will enter a Breakthrough state, indicated by the bracelet around her right wrist.
Breakthrough will cause her next charged attack to decrease its charge time by 80%. Once charged, the shot fired will be a Breakthrough Barb, which will deal with an AOE Hydro damage based on Yelan’s maximum HP.
When the button for this talent is pressed mid-air, Yelan will perform a plunging attack by firing off a shower of arrows downwards and then falling to strike the ground. This will deal AOE damage upon impact.
Elemental Skill: Lingering Lifeline
This talent lets Yelan fire off a Lifeline, allowing her to hurry, entangle, and mark opponents along its path. The Lifeline will explode and deal Hydro damage to the marked opponents when the rapid movement ends. The damage dealt will be based on Yelan’s Max HP.
Using this talent can be done by tapping or holding down the button. Yelan will swiftly move a certain distance forward and instantly end the movement when tapped. When the skill button is held down, Yelan will engage in a continuous, swift movement, during which her resistance to the interruption is increased. You can control this rapid movement to mark all existing opponents and end it by pressing the skill button again.
When it explodes, each opponent marked by the Lifeline grants Yelan a 34% chance to reset the Breakthrough state. This allows her to shoot Breakthrough Barb even while in combat, bypassing the original condition required by the state.
Elemental Burst: Depth-Clarion Dice
Using Yelan’s elemental burst will instantly deal Hydro damage to the opponents near her and then create an Exquisite Throw in the form of a Hydro dice, which will aid her in battle.
Exquisite Throw will follow the active character, initiate a coordinated attack under certain circumstances, and deal Hydro damage based on Yelan’s maximum HP. The coordinated attack can occur once every second when the active character uses a normal attack and when Yelan’s Lifeline explodes and hits opponents.
Whether Yelan is the main DPS or support, Exquisite Throw works similarly. After casting Yelan’s elemental burst, the active character should continuously throw normal attacks until Exquisite Throw disappears to maximize it.
Passive Talents
Turn Control
This passive talent increases Yelan’s max HP by a certain percentage depending on how many elemental types are present in her party. This means that Yelan’s party members should be of the element that is unique to them.
With only one element present in the party, Yelan’s max HP will be increased by 6%. Two elements will give a 12% increase, 18% HP increase with three elements, and a 30% HP bonus when four elements are present at the party.
Adapt With Ease
With this passive talent unlocked, so long as Exquisite Throw is in play, the active character will deal 1% more damage. The damage bonus will increase by a further 3.5% every second with a maximum bonus of 50%.
This talent enhances the damage the active character deals, which means that this buff can also be given to your other characters in the party. This also makes Yelan a good sub or off-field DPS.
Utility Passive: Necessary Calculation
Yelan’s utility passive is used for character expeditions in Liyue. When she is dispatched to do the task in the said region for 20 hours, you will gain 20% more of the chosen reward.
Constellation: Umbrabilis Orchis
Constellation Level 1: Enter the Plotters
Yelan’s constellation level gives one additional charge to her elemental skill Lingering Lifeline, allowing her to use it two consecutive times without waiting for the first use to complete its cool-down time.
This somehow helps with how fast Yelan gathers enough Hydro energy particles and has her elemental burst ready.
Constellation Level 2: Taking All-Comers
Taking All-Comers, her second constellation level enhances the Exquisite Throw created by Yelan’s elemental burst talent.
With this constellation unlocked, when Exquisite Throw conducts a coordinated attack, it will fire an additional water arrow that will deal Hydro damage, which is 14% of Yelan’s max HP. This additional attack can be triggered once every 1.8 seconds.
Constellation Level 3: Beware the Trickster’s Dice
This constellation level increases Yelan’s elemental burst and upgrades its maximum level from 10 to 15.
Constellation Level 4: Bait-and-Switch
Bait-and-Switch will be activated when Yelan’s fourth constellation level is unlocked. The constellation effect is that for every opponent marked by Lifeline when it explodes, the max HP of all party members will be increased by 10% for 25 seconds.
A maximum of 40% max HP increase can be attained in this manner.
Constellation Level 5: Dealer’s Sleight
Unlocking this constellation level will increase the level of Yelan’s elemental skill and upgrade its maximum level to 15 from its original 10.
Constellation Level 6: Winner Takes All
Yelan’s sixth constellation level will enhance her normal attack after using her elemental burst. After doing so, Yelan will enter the Mastermind state for 20 seconds and be cleared after she fires five arrows.
While in the Mastermind state, Yelan’s normal attacks will be converted to deal special Breakthrough Barbs. These will have similar abilities to the normal Breakthrough Barbs and are considered charged attacks. These special Breakthrough Barbs will damage 156% of its normal versions.
After casting her elemental burst to make at least five normal attacks, this final constellation level will have you keep Yelan on the field.
How to Build Yelan
Yelan is a damage dealer or a DPS character, and a single build can work for both the main DPS and a sub or off-field DPS type.
Ideal Build: Elemental Skill and Elemental Burst Type
For this build, you can almost ignore her ATK stat, which will only reflect on the damage of her normal, charged, and plunging attacks.
The order of stat to prioritize for Yelan should be in this order: Hydro > HP > Critical > Energy Recharge.
Since Yelan’s playstyle focuses on spamming her elemental skill and bursts, it is best to boost her Hydro damage. You can use a Goblet of Eonothem with Hydro Damage Bonus as its main stat.
The damage of Yelan’s elemental skill, elemental burst, Exquisite Throw, and her Breakthrough Barb all scales off of her max HP. This means that the more HP she has, the higher the damage of the mentioned attacks; thus, HP is the next stat to consider for Yelan. A maximum HP of around 35,000 to 40,000 is recommended.
Critical Rate and Critical Damage increase the output of damage-dealing characters, including Yelan. Lucky enough, her hidden ascension stat is Critical Rate, which makes it easy to reach the ideal amount of at least 75% for consistent critical hits. Critical damage can be built as much as you can as long as you have a decent amount of all other stats.
Finally, Energy Recharge should not be neglected for Yelan, especially because she shines when her elemental burst is active. Although the energy requirement for Depth-Clarion Dice is only 70, her elemental skill’s 10 seconds cool-down time prevents it from being spammed. In effect, it will take a while for her to gather Hydro energy particles.
You can increase Yelan’s Energy Recharge by equipping her with a Sands of Eon as its main stat or a bow with the Energy Recharge as its secondary stat.
Decent Build: Normal Attack and Skill Hybrid Type
Although not recommended, this build is decent enough for your Yelan to dish out enough damage during combat and is still useful for those yet to farm artifacts. This build is for a main DPS play style where many normal attacks are involved.
You can increase Yelan’s ATK for this type to have decent normal, charged, and plunging attack damage, but it will only have minimal effect on her elemental skill and burst damage.
Weapon: Bow
The bow is Yelan’s weapon, and the ones you need to equip her should have Critical Rate, Critical Damage, or Energy Recharge as its secondary stat. The latter is highly recommended if Yelan has low energy recharge, no other Hydro character in her party lineup, or if constellation level 1 is not unlocked.
5-Star Bows
Aqua Simulacra
This 5-star bow is Yelan’s best-in-slot (BiS) bow designed to fit her kit and play styles.
Aqua Simulacra’s secondary stat is Critical Damage, which allows you to focus on Critical Rate for artifacts. Its passive effect—The Cleansing Form—increases the weapon user’s HP, and if opponents are nearby, the character’s damage will also be increased. The damage increase bonus will also take effect even if the user of this bow is not on the field.
The way the damage increase bonus of Aqua Simulacra is activated makes it the best weapon for Yelan, even if she is just a sub or an off-field DPS for your team.
Skyward Harp
This is perhaps the most versatile 5-star bow in the game, and it is a permanent item, which means you can get it in both the standard and weapon event banners regardless if it is featured or not.
Skyward Harp has the highest base ATK among all available bows in the game with a secondary stat of Critical rate. The passive effect grants a boost in Critical damage, and hits to an opponent have a chance to inflict a small AOE attack that deals Physical damage.
These stat bonuses are fairly balanced and will make it easy for you to build and get good damage output for any DPS bow character.
Polar Star
This time-limited 5-star bow has Critical Rate as its secondary stat and a passive that will increase the damage of Yelan’s elemental skill and burst.
Using this bow, any attack from Yelan that hits an opponent will grant her a stack of Ashen Nightstar, which increases ATK. A maximum of 4 stacks can be gained, and each stack will last 10 seconds.
Although the ATK buff does not significantly affect Yelan’s elemental skill and elemental burst, the weapon’s secondary stat and instant passive effect are still very useful.
Elegy for the End
This weapon has an energy recharge as its secondary stat bonus, making it a good choice for Yelan if her way of generating elemental energy particles is through her elemental skill.
The passive effect of this bow will only increase the user’s Elemental Mastery and ATK, which are not that significant to Yelan’s kit and play style.
Thundering Pulse
Another 5-star bow that can only be obtained when featured in the weapon banner is the Thundering Pulse. This one will greatly boost Yelan’s Critical damage with its secondary stat.
The weapon’s passive effect grants an increase of 40% to Yelan’s ATK, and she will gain a stack of Thunder Seal, which increases the damage of her normal attacks. If Yelan deals damage to opponents using her normal attack and elemental skill, or if her energy is less than 100%, he will gain another stack of Thunder Seal.
Despite having the same secondary stat as Yelan’s BiS weapon, Yelan’s ideal play style will not benefit from the passive effect of Thundering Pulse.
4-Star Bows
The Viridescent Hunt and Blackcliff Warbow
If you are focusing on Yelan’s overall damage output, especially if she is the main DPS character in the team, these two weapons are really good choices.
The Viridescent Hunt has a Critical Rate as its secondary stat. Its passive effect called Verdant Wind grants a 50% chance to generate a Cyclone whenever a normal and charged attack hits an opponent. The Cyclone will continuously attract surrounding opponents and will deal physical damage to these opponents.
With Blackcliff Warbow’s Critical Damage secondary stat, you can focus on building Yelan’s Critical Rate with her artifacts. This bow’s passive called Press the Advantage will increase her ATK after Yelan defeats an opponent. This effect is good in situations where multiple weaker opponents are present.
However, ATK will not significantly affect Yelan’s overall damage output because her powerful attacks’ damage scales off her max HP.
Fading Twilight
This is an event-exclusive bow, meaning you can only get it as a reward of the Perilous Trail during the 2.7 game content update.
If you get this bow, you can have Yelan equip it and help make up for the energy recharge she needs, thanks to its secondary stat.
The passive effect of this bow is called Radiance of the Deeps, and it has three states: Evengleam, Afterglow, and Dawnblaze. Each state increases the damage of the bow user to a certain percentage, and this weapon switches to a different state every 7 seconds, even if the character is not on the field.
Radiance of the Deeps will also switch states when an attack from the character using this bow hits an opponent.
This 4-star event bow is good for an off-field DPS due to how the passive effect of this bow works.
Sacrificial Bow and Favonius Warbow
These are the two 4-star bows that have Energy Recharge as its secondary stat.
The Sacrificial Bow has a passive effect that will give you more chances to use Yelan’s elemental skill. Because when Lingering Lifeline’s explosion hits an opponent, the bow will give it a chance to reset its cool down.
The Favonius Warbow, on the other hand, will quickly fill Yelan’s energy meter and have her elemental burst ready in no time.
Artifacts for Yelan
4-Piece Artifact Sets
Emblem of Severed Fate
The 2-piece set of this artifact gives a bonus of 20% Energy Recharge, and if four pieces are equipped, the elemental burst damage of the character will be increased by 25% of the character’s Energy Recharge. A maximum of 75% bonus damage can be obtained in this manner.
This means that with the 4-piece set of Emblem of Severed Fate equipped, the higher the character’s energy recharge, the higher the damage of their elemental burst.
A full 4-piece set works well for Yelan because she needs a boost to her Energy Recharge and her play style involves spamming her elemental burst.
Combined 2-Piece Artifact Sets
Noblesse Oblige
The 2-piece Noblesse Oblige artifact set grants a 20% increase to the character’s elemental burst damage.
This makes a good 2-piece set for Yelan since she spams her elemental burst.
Heart of Depth
The 2-piece Heart of Depth artifact set will give the user a 15% Hydro damage bonus.
Yelan uses the Hydro element, and her attacks deal Hydro damage, making elemental damage boost a good option for artifacts.
The tenacity of the Millelith
The Tenacity of the Millelith increases the user’s HP by 20% if at least two pieces are equipped.
Since the damage of Yelan’s elemental skill, elemental burst, Exquisite Throw, and Breakthrough Barbs is based on her max HP, the 20% bonus that this artifact gives will greatly affect her damage output.
The 2-piece sets of Emblem of Severed Fate, Noblesse Oblige, Heart of Depth, and Tenacity of the Millelith can be combined and matched, and Yelan will still have a good damage output.
Artifact Parts’ Main Stat
The order of what stat to priority for Yelan should be like this:
Hydro Damage Bonus > Critical Rate (at least 75%) > HP (around 40k) > Critical Damage > Energy Recharge
You can get a lot of Hydro Damage from a Goblet of Eonothem with Hydro Damage Bonus as its main stat. You can choose to have Critical Rate and Critical Damage on the Circlet of Logos, depending on the amount you need for Yelan.
Either HP or Energy Recharge can be on the Sands of Eon, whichever you need most for your Yelan. Focusing on building HP and ignoring all other stats is easy. Still, it will not maximize Yelan’s potential as a DPS character because all other factors calculating her damage will be neglected.
Character Ascension
Yelan can be ascended to 6 phases to reach the maximum character level of 90. Passive talents and special ascension stats will also be unlocked when she ascends to certain phases.
Ascension Materials for Yelan
Mora: 420,000
Mora is Genshin Impact’s main currency unit. It is accepted in all the nations of Teyvat and is also used to upgrade weapons, artifacts, talents, and character levels.
Runic Fang: 46
This monster loot is an item that the Ruin Serpent exclusively drops. This mechanical piece, with ominous runes carved on it, is the “fang” with which the mysterious, snake-like machine of old dug into the mountains’ depths.
This mechanic part can be obtained by defeating the Ruin Serpent in its underground lair in The Serpent’s Cave in the northwestern part of The Chasm: Underground Mines.
Starconch: 168
A Starconch is an empty seashell brought ashore by the tides, and if you hold it close to your ear, you will hear the longing calls of the sea. This Liyue local specialty is commonly found on the beaches of Liyue, especially around Yaoguang Shoal and Guyun Stone Forest, and along the shores of Dragonspine.
Varunada Lazurite
These mineral crystals can be obtained from boss enemies manipulating the Hydro element—Boss enemies such as the Hydro Hypostasis, Oceanid, Tartaglia, Childe, and Azhdaha.
You can also get these from quest and commission rewards by crafting them using the ones with lower rarity levels.
You will need 1 Varunada Lazurite Sliver, 9 Varunada Lazurite Fragments, 9 Varunada Lazurite Chunks, and 6 Varunada Lazurite Gemstones.
Fatui Insignias
These are insignias worn by Fatui members, and their varying shapes and color will help identify the rank of those members and distinguish them from one another.
You can obtain these insignias by defeating Fatui Skirmishers, Agents, and Electro Cicin Mages. It can also be purchased from Paimon’s Bargains shop in exchange for Masterless Stardusts. Insignia’s with higher rarity can also be crafted using those with lower rarity.
The amount needed for each is as follows: Recruit’s Insignia: 18; Sergeant’s Insignia: 30; Lieutenant’s Insignia: 36.
Ascension Phases
Ascension Phase 1
This first ascension will be done after the character reaches level 20, and they cannot proceed to the next level without ascending to the next phase. The character level cap will be increased to 40, and Yelan’s first passive talent, Turn Control, will be unlocked.
Materials: Mora – 20,000; Varunada Lazurite Sliver – 1; Starconch– 3; Recruit’s Insignia – 3
Unlocked Talent: Turn Control (1st Passive Talent)
Ascension Phase 2
Ascension Phase 2 can be reached at character level 40 and will increase the character level cap to 50. After this ascension, the character’s talents can be upgraded or leveled up. Yelan will also unlock a special ascension stat on this phase: the Critical Rate Bonus of 4.8%.
Materials: Mora – 40,000; Varunada Lazurite Fragments – 3; Starconch– 10; Recruit’s Insignia – 15; Juvenile Jade – 2;
Unlocked Special Stat: 4.8% Critical Rate Bonus
Unlocked Feature: Allows leveling combat talents from 1 to 2
Ascension Phase 3
After reaching level 50, Yelan can ascend to ascension phase 3, increasing her character level cap to 60. The 3rd ascension phase will also double the Critical Rate Bonus special stat from 4.8% to 9.6%. Additionally, Yelan’s combat talents can increase to level 4.
Materials: Mora – 60,000; Varunada Lazurite Fragments – 6; Starconch– 20; Sergeant’s Insignia – 12; Juvenile Jade – 4;
Unlocked Stat: Critical Rate Bonus increased from 4.8% to 9.6%
Unlocked Feature: Allows leveling combat talents from 2 to 4
Ascension Phase 4
At level 60, you can ascend Yelan to ascension phase 4 and upgrade her character level cap to 70. After ascending, you will unlock her second Passive Talent, Adapt With Ease, and all her Combat Talents can be leveled up to 6.
Materials: Mora – 80,000; Varunada Lazurite Chunks – 3; Starconch– 30; Sergeant’s Insignia – 18; Juvenile Jade – 8;
Unlocked Feature: Allows leveling combat talents from 4 to 6
Unlocked Talent: Adapt With Ease (2nd Passive Talent)
Ascension Phase 5
The 5th ascension phase can be reached when Yelan is at level 70, and ascending will increase her character level cap to 80. Her special ascension stat, Critical Rate Bonus, will be increased to 14.4% at this phase. Yelan’s combat talents will also upgrade their level cap from 6 to 8.
Materials: Mora – 100,000; Varunada Lazurite Chunks – 6; Starconch– 45; Lieutenant’s Insignia– 12; Juvenile Jade – 12;
Unlocked Stat: Critical Rate Bonus increased from 9.6% to 14.4%
Unlocked Feature: Allows leveling combat talents from 6 to 8
Ascension Phase 6
Yelan’s final ascension phase is at level 80, and it will increase her character level cap to 90. Her special ascension stat, the Critical Rate Bonus, will be increased to 19.2%, and her Combat Talents can now be upgraded to the maximum level of 10.
Materials: Mora – 120,000; Varunada Lazurite Gemstones – 6; Starconch– 60; Lieutenant’s Insignia – 24; Juvenile Jade – 20;
Unlocked Stat: Critical Rate Bonus increased from 14.4% to 19.2%
Unlocked Feature: Allows leveling combat talents from 8 to 10
Talent Level-Up Materials for Yelan
Building a character includes increasing the level of their combat talents, and each level will require certain items as materials for the leveling up process.
Aside from Mora and Slime excretions, leveling up Yelan’s combat talents will also need a few Gilded Scales.
Gilded Scale
A Gilded Scale is a fragment of the armor of a dragon king. It was created when gold and obsidian embedded themselves into flesh and blood of the said dragon after years of countless generations. You can obtain a few of these when you defeat Azhdaha in the Beneath the Dragon-Queller Trounce Domain.
Talent Level Book: Prosperity
The talent books you will need for Yelan to master his combat capabilities are the ones of the “Prosperity” series, which you can obtain from the Taishan Mansion Domain of Mastery: Altar of Flames in Jueyun Karst, Liyue.
These books include the Teachings of Prosperity, Guide to Prosperity, and the Philosophies of Prosperity. The last two can be crafted using the crafting bench in the town.
Crown of Insight
Leveling a combat talent up from level 9 to 10 will need a Crown of Insight, a special item that can only be obtained as a reward from the game’s events.
Mora: 1,652,500;
Recruit’s Insignia: 6;
Sergeant’s Insignia: 22;
Lieutenant’s Insignia: 31;
Teachings of Prosperity: 3;
Guide to Prosperity: 21;
Philosophies of Prosperity: 38;
Gilded Scale: 6;
Crown of Insight: 1;
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