Should You Pull For Xiao In Genshin Impact?

Summary

• Xiao is an Anemo DPS with high damage potential but requires Faruzan for full potential.
• His playstyle revolves around Plunge Attacks which may knock back enemies, hindering grouping.
• Xiao continuously loses health during his Elemental Burst and can struggle with flying enemies.

One of Genshin Impact‘s legendary Yaksha, Xiao is a warrior who has lived through centuries and seen the greatest wars in Teyvat. Alongside Liyue’s Archon, Xiao is one of the strongest characters in the region, being more akin to a living myth than a person to be befriended.

His legendary status can be seen in his gameplay as he dashes across the battlefield and rains down a barrage of plunges from the sky using his spear. However, if you want to make full use of the strength held by this tragic demon of war, here are some things to know before pulling Xiao!

8

Xiao Is An Anemo DPS

Xiao Is The Main Source Of Damage In His Teams

Anemo isn’t usually considered a DPS element, with most Anemo characters opting for support roles instead. This makes sense, as Anemo units cannot make use of the same damage-multiplying reactions such as Melt and Vaporize that other strong hypercarries have access to.

However, Xiao makes up for this by having extremely high damage values. Even without his attacks being buffed by reactions, a well-built Xiao can keep up with other strong teams, especially in AOE scenarios where his Plunge Attacks can deal damage to multiple enemies at once.

7

Xiao Needs C6 Faruzan

She Enables Xiao’s Full Potential

Xiao has the potential to be one of the best DPS units in Genshin Impact. Unfortunately, this potential is locked behind having access to a different character entirely, that being Faruzan. Faruzan is the premier support for Anemo units, buffing their damage to absurd levels.

However, even this damage buff isn’t completely enough to keep up with characters released later, such as Arlecchino. What Xiao needs to deal the same amount of damage as the best Hu Tao team is Faruzan’s sixth constellation, rather than his own constellations or signature weapon.

6

Xiao Can Dodge Many Enemy Attacks

He’ll Usually Be Too Far Up To Get Hit

You’ll face all kinds of foes in Teyvat during your time in Genshin Impact. Where some choose to shoot projectiles at you, others may instead crash their monstrous tails down on you. To deal with such obstacles, you have to position yourself properly and utilize your immune frames to ensure you stay alive.

When facing enemies with large hitboxes, Xiao can struggle to land his Plunge Attacks and may end up getting stuck.

If you’re Xiao, you can pretty much disregard all of this, though. Your enhanced jump height during your Elemental Burst lets you avoid most incoming attacks, letting Xiao be safer than others, despite not being tanky.

5

Xiao Is Always Low On Health

He Continuously Loses Health During His Burst

Xiao is a person cursed with karmic debt from his time fighting wars and having to commit violent acts. This inner turmoil is constantly eating up at him. In gameplay, this makes Xiao continuously lose HP during his Elemental Burst’s uptime.

Since Xiao is always losing HP, this makes him squishier than other characters. For this reason, pairing Xiao up with a form of defensive utility is recommended. This can be in the form of shielders, such as Zhongli, or healers, such as Bennett.

4

Xiao Cannot Use The Viridescent Venerer

He’s Not A Support

The Viridescent Venerer is one of Genshin Impact’s best artifacts, coming with the condition that only Anemo characters can use it. If you’re new to the game and want to get Xiao, you may mistakenly assume the set is Xiao’s best in-slot as well. The truth, however, is quite different.

This only applies to Viridescent Venerer’s 4-piece effect. Xiao can still use the Anemo DMG Bonus from the two-piece.

Viridescent Venerer is a supportive set that buffs the damage of the element Swirled by Anemo, not Anemo itself. This makes it useless for Xiao’s personal damage since even a two-piece combination of ATK sets will yield better results than a four-piece Viridescent Venerer so long as you’re using Xiao as a hypercarry.

3

Xiao’s Playstyle Revolves Around Plunge Attacks

He Has A Unique Playstyle

Most Genshin Impact characters have fairly straightforward playstyles. Some use their Elemental Skills and Bursts to cause damage, whereas some use a combination of their Normal and Charged Attacks to do so. Xiao is a very niche character in that all his damage is tied to his Plunge Attacks.

Due to this, not knowing how to use your Plunges effectively can cut off Xiao’s DPS by half. This means that Xiao can’t make use of many great supports, such as Xingqiu or Yelan, making him fit better with characters like Xiangling that deal their off-field damage without any trigger.

2

Xiao Can Struggle With Flying Enemies

His Plunge Attacks Don’t Have A Lot Of Height

The foes you face in Genshin Impact aren’t tied to the ground, and you’ll often see monsters taking flight and using this height advantage to overwhelm you. Most melee characters suffer when dealing with ones like the Specters who can fly up high in the air, going out of your range. However, Xiao can struggle with anyone even a bit off the ground, such as those caught in Venti’s buff.

This isn’t a case that you’ll see too often, but it’s still something to keep in mind. In the case that you have no other character on your team that can defeat these enemies or knock them down, you can utilize a combination of Xiao’s heightened jump and his Elemental Skill to try and deal damage to said enemies.

1

Xiao’s Plunges Knock Back Enemies

This May Make Grouping Difficult

Xiao is a character who works best in AOE due to the large radius his enhanced Plunge Attacks have. An added advantage of his Plunges is the stagger effect they inflict on enemies, knocking them back. This both helps you reposition and interrupt their skills and attacks, stopping them from hitting you.

As useful as this seems, though, this can also work against Xiao in AOE. If you mess up your hits, you can throw enemies away from each other, making your next Plunge Attack not hit the ones knocked further away.