Klee DPS Build Guide | Genshin Impact Version 4.2

This is Maygi’s complete guide to Klee, teaching you how to play, build and master this 5-star Pyro character! The guide has been posted and updated with permission, and you can always find the original document here.

Last Update June 2, 2021: Added Dodoco Tales.
R5 Solar Pearl > R5 Dodoco Tales > Low refined Solar Pearl

Hi everyone! I’ve recently been having a ton of fun with Klee and have created a number of posts regarding maths and stuff for what gear to use on her, and since then I’ve gotten a bunch of questions of how to build and play her and whatnot. So, I figured I’d throw together a guide for it!

There’s still a lot of things that can be expanded on, but I think this should be a helpful resource for people picking up Klee and wanting to learn how to optimize her! If there are things that need correction or if you have additional comments, please DM me at Maygi#4987 on Discord!

Playstyles

There are many ways that Klee can be played in a party to fulfill different roles – here are just a few of them!

Main DPS

Klee will be on the field for a majority of the time, dealing a large amount of normal/charged attack combos in addition to her skills. Her passive will help her generate energy for the whole party as she uses charged attacks, so she’ll swap out every now and then to receive buffs, healing, and elemental reaction setups from her other teammates skills and bursts!

Burst DPS (quick swap)

This is the most lore-accurate way for Klee to be played.

She’s in solitary confinement most of the time, but when she does swap in, she causes all sorts of mayhem! Typically built with burst-oriented gear such as The Widsith, she unloads two charges of her E for some massive damage on top of her Elemental Burst!

Support

Klee isn’t as suitable for support compared to other pyro support characters such as Xiangling and Bennett, due to the nature of her burst only being active when she is on the field. Unlike those two, Klee needs to be on the field for a good amount of time to be useful to the party. She cannot set up consistent elemental reactions in the same way that the aforementioned characters do. A “Support Klee” is pretty much a burst DPS Klee, and no way you would pull for Klee if you didn’t want her to be making huge explosions, right?

Skill Overview

Before we dive into things, here’s a brief overview for skills and their damage values to use as a reference!

Skill Levelling Priority

You can adjust this to your playstyle, but in general, I would recommend:

Basic Attack > Sparks ‘n’ Splash > Jumpy Dumpty

When you get past talent level 6, Rings of boreas become the bottleneck. As such, I’d do:

Basic attack to 8
Sparks ‘n’ Splash to 8
Basic attack to 10
Jumpy Dumpty to 8
Sparks ‘n’ Splash to 10
Jumpy Dumpty to 10

Constellations

These really don’t matter, right? Right? -nervously stares at wallet-

Constellation	Description
1 – Chained Reactions	Attacks and Skills have a 25% chance to summon one round of Sparks ‘n’ Splash, dealing 120% of its normal damage.
2 – Explosive Frags	Being hit by Jumpy Dumpty’s mines decrease DEF by 23% for 10s.
3 – Exquisite Compound	Raises the level of Jumpy Dumpty by 3. Maximum level is 15.
4 – Sparkly explosion	When Klee leaves the field during Sparks ‘n’ Splash, deal 555% damage as AoE Pyro DMG. It is possible to get all 5 rounds of damage if you swap at the very end (e.g. when Spark and Splash CD is ~5.2 seconds left).
5 – Nova Burst	Raises the level of Sparks ‘n’ Splash by 3. Maximum level is 15.
6 – Blazing Delight	While under the effects of Sparks ‘n’ Splash, other members of the party (except Klee) continuously regenerate 3 energy every 3 seconds. When Sparks ‘n’ Splash is used, all party members gain 10% Pyro DMG for 25s.

Weapons

Now that we know a bit about what her skills do, what weapons/artifact builds are ideal for her?

All of these options and recommendations are based on some extensive math, and are sorted, for the most part, in the order they are recommended in (assuming all similar refinement). Curious on the numbers? Check out the Math section.

Image	Weapon Name	Passive (R5 in paren)	Notes
	Skyward Atlas	Increases Elemental DMG by 12% (24%). Normal Attack hits have a 50% chance to earn the favor of the clouds, which actively seek out nearby enemies to attack for 15s, dealing 160% (320%) ATK DMG. Can only occur once every 30s.	Highest DPS option for general purpose use. Not only does this boast the highest base stat for catalysts, but also has free stats from passive, and a bonus cloud to do DPS on top of that.
	Memory of Dust	Increases ATK by 4% (8%) when hitting enemies (max stacks: 5). 0.3s cooldown between stacks.ATK increase doubled when shielded.	Higher raw numbers than Skyward, but difficult to build around due to immense saturation of ATK % (basically, you’d need almost all crit/critdmg subs as opposed to attack).
	Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds	Increases movement speed by 10%. Increases Elemental DMG by 8% (16%) for every 4s of combat, up to 32% (64%). Average Ele DMG Values (R1):8s: 4%12s: 8%16s: 12%20s: 16%24s: 19.2%	Strong main stat, but the passive is situational as in most cases, you will be switching out before it gets a chance to ramp up a lot. (16 seconds before the Elemental DMG average value is the same as Skyward Atlas’s passive) Godly for 4P co-op, however.
	The Widsith	When you switch to this character, gain either an Attack, Elemental DMG, or Elemental Mastery buff for 10s. (CD: 30s) Attack: 60% (120%)Elemental DMG: 48% (96%)Elemental Mastery: 240 (480)	Incredible burst that works very well with Klee. Not too far behind other 4* options outside of the burst window, either. Note: Yes, you can totally use The Widsith on Klee as Main DPS.
	Solar Pearl(BP Weapon)	Gain a 20% (40%) Elemental Skill/Burst damage buff for 6s when using a Normal Attack, and a 20% (40%) Normal Attack damage buff for 6s when damaging an enemy an Elemental Skill/Burst.	Doesn’t buff charged attacks at all, which are a decent portion of Klee’s damage. Still useful for the easy-to-maintain 20% buff on normal/skill/burst, though.
	Dodoco Tales	Gain a 16% (32%) Charged Attack damage buff for 6s when using a normal attack, and an 8% (16%) Attack buff for 6s when using a Charged Attack.	Easy to R5. A very strong weapon for those who don’t have Widsith or Solar Pearl R5.
	Royal Grimoire	Increases Critical Rate on-hit by 8% (16%), up to 5 times, resetting when a critical hit is scored.	Very strong with low crit rate substats, but falls off as you get more. Refinements offer a very minor boost.
	Eye of Perception	Deals a bonus 240% (360%) damage attack that bounces up to 4 times every 12 (8) seconds.	Abysmal base attack, but very high main stat to make up for it. Passive can hit the same target multiple times.

Summary

Note: Gacha/BP weapons are considered as R1. Rankings may vary with refinements!

5*: Skyward Atlas ~= Memory of Dust > Lost Prayer

Lost Prayer is good for coop

4*: Widsith R5 (burst) ~= Solar Pearl R5 (sustained dmg) >

Dodoco R5 >
Widsith R1 ~= Solar Pearl R1 >
Mappa Mare R5 >
Eye of Perception >
Frostbearer >
Royal Grimoire (only suitable for early game) >
Mappa Mare R1 >
Anything else

Why is Lost Prayer not BiS?

BiS really depends on what your artifact substats are, because it can vary a lot. The critical rate on Lost Prayer has very high value and makes achieving a balanced stat spread easier early on. However, in very late-game builds, desired substat spread is weighted very heavily towards crit rate/dmg and not attack even on a book like Lost Prayer which has crit base, meaning in the grand scheme of things, it may not make gearing “easier” after all.

Here are some example high-end* optimal artifact stat spreads for 5* books (not total stats):

Skyward Atlas: ~80% Crit, ~160% Crit DMG
Lost Prayer: ~12% ATK, ~60% Crit, ~180% Crit DMG
Memory of Dust: ~80% Crit, ~160% Crit DMG

*30 substat rolls out of a possible 38

Moreover, its passive fails to be realized in most scenarios, as you will not be waiting for it to ramp up in order to use your burst (your burst will snapshot your stats at the start of the case, meaning most of the time it will never see the full potential, or even enjoy any, of Lost Prayer’s passive). Skills and buffs from your other characters typically last around 10-15 seconds, so you want to frontload your burst, not save it for the end.

Artifacts

Let’s dive into artifacts sets and which ones to use for Klee!

Recommended Sets

Crimson Witch of Flames (2) + Gladiator’s Finale* (2) – General-purpose DPS. Can’t go wrong.

Crimson Witch of Flames (4) – Acceptable choice for a Klee using The Widsith

Klee has bad uptime of the 4-piece buff, but when using Widsith, her damage is heavily weighted towards a 10 second burst window every 30 seconds, so she’ll be able to get stacks of the buff during that to increase its effectiveness

Other Sets

Lavawalker (4) – Strong but situational (see notes)

Gladiator’s Finale* (2) + Blood-soaked (2) – Early game general-purpose. Blood-soaked (Berserker) can’t be 5* so it’s not as optimal, but the set is still comparable in strength to other 2-piece options.

Wanderer’s Troupe (4) – Suboptimal

While charged attacks can be a significant portion of your damage, in general, it’s better to just go for raw stats through Crimson Witch.
- Remember that the 35% Charged Attack damage bonus is not a separate modifier; it goes into the same modifier as Pyro damage
Still not recommended

Noblesse Oblige – Don’t use this. Klee’s burst is strong, but it’s not over 50% of your total damage output so you’d get more overall damage using 2 piece Crimson Witch or Gladiator.

*or any ATK % 2-piece set

Set Details

Artifact Main Stat Optimization

In every scenario, you will run ATK % Sands, and Pyro % Goblet. The Circlet varies depending on your substats, as well as your choice of weapon. To generalize the stat breakdowns:

If you are using a critical damage weapon or attack % weapon, use a Crit Rate Circlet

Otherwise, if you have >45% Critical Rate, use a Crit Damage Circlet

Otherwise, just use an ATK % Circlet.

Of course, these numbers may fluctuate depending on your substats. In general, you want around a 2x ratio between your Crit Rate and Crit Damage. For example, if you have 60% Crit Rate, you want around 120% Crit Damage. Please use my Artifact Optimizer Spreadsheet to put in your specific stats to calculate which mainstat is ideal for your circlet!

An example of the Artifact Optimizer sheet. As you can see, at 45% Critical

Rate, the Effective Attack values of the Attack and Crit DMG options become similar.

Artifact Substats

What substats are the best? Well, I would say, beggars can’t be choosers (we’re all victims of RNG and our seemingly-perfect pieces rolling into flat defense at the most inopportune moments), but, in general, you are trying to balance out your stats. You want around 2x Crit Dmg : Crit Rate ratio. Very end-game builds revolve around reaching values of ~80-90% Crit Chance and 160-180% Crit Damage, with only very few attack % lines in there.

In general…

If you are using a Critical Rate weapon, Critical Damage subs have the most value.
If you are using a Critical Damage weapon, Critical Rate subs have the most value.
If you are using an ATK % weapon, Critical Rate subs have the most value.
If you are using an Elemental Mastery weapon, Attack % or Critical Rate subs are ideal.

All in all, the substat values can come pretty close, so even if you have an ATK % weapon, I’m sure you can be happy with rolling ATK % subs – AS LONG AS IT’S NOT FLAT STATS, RIGHT?

Elemental Mastery?

What’s the value of Elemental Mastery on Klee? This really depends on your team comp and/or what you’re fighting (it’s amazing against Ice/Water slimes, that’s for sure!). It’s a stat that’s nice to have, but not prioritize, as reaction damage (everything except Vaporize/Melt which are multipliers) falls off as you become more geared (reaction damage only scales with EM + level), and it can be difficult for Klee to capitalize on Vaporize/Melt procs when her burst is active.

Energy Recharge?

Especially if you let her DPS for the duration of her burst, Klee typically generates energy for another burst before the cooldown is up. I wouldn’t bother with energy recharge on her.

Synergies

Giving the right party setup to Klee will really help her shine. Below are a few examples of notable chars to include in a party with her…

Notes

Any Pyro character, for +25% ATK pyro resonance

Bennett doubles as both a healer and powerful buffer
Xiangling can offer some buffs/debuffs, though her constantly-ticking abilities may make it difficult to capitalize on landing Vaporize/Melt from Hydro/Cryo that you are applying
Diluc can function as a main DPS while Klee focuses on burst
Hu Tao can also accompany a Widsith Klee well by taking turns to DPS, and provides a much-needed critical rate buff

Anemo MC / Jean, to group up and force mines onto the enemy

Clean up Klee’s mess!

Venti, to suck mobs together so they take the full force of the AOE PYRO DAMAGE

Venti’s burst does not move Klee’s mines for whatever reason

Sucrose, for EM buffs on top of typical anemo debuffs (Ele DMG at C6)

She can also hold a copy of Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers to buff Klee up even further!

Fischl/Lisa/Beidou, for easy overload procs

Note that overload will knock away smaller mobs, which may reduce DPS

Cryo skills will not tick often enough to allow you to get Melt hits in regularly without holding back on DPS, so cryo members are only for their utility

If you are using Ganyu as support DPS with her Q, Klee can enable Ganyu’s burst to take multiple melt procs, though the damage of this is not too significant
Klee can increase the damage of Rosaria’s Q by a decent amount by enabling her to take melt procs

Barbara/Xingqiu/Mona, to enable vaporize

Klee naturally needs to be close-range to land a lot of her damage, so it’ll be easy to apply the element from these character’s skills that require close range!
If Xingqiu is C6, you can rotate between Normal x2 + Charged, Normal x2 + Charged, Normal x1 + Charged, and maintain vaporize on charged attacks even when using skills with a C1 Klee.

Animation Cancelling

There are plenty of little tricks you can use to optimize how fast you can pump out your damage and keep up with ragdoll enemies!

Basic Attack

Recommended: Attack while holding directional key

Buttons to hold: Any directional key

When to click: See GIF (timing is precise)

Situational: Attack and jump

Buttons to hold: Whatever direction you want to move

Notes: This is useful when you need to move, but slightly slower than the above method

Basic -> Charge Attack

Input: Double click and hold

Buttons to hold: NO directional key

When to click: Immediately after laser fires

Charge Attack

Input: Click and hold

Buttons to hold: Doesn’t matter

When to click: Immediately after laser fires

Situational: Attack and jump

Buttons to hold: Whatever direction you want to move

Jump Cancelling

Jump cancelling has the same timing as clicking in place, except you jump instead of click. This is dangerous (you can’t dodge while jumping), but the advantage is that you can reposition your character, so this is useful when mobs are getting knocked back by your charge attack (you can do charge -> jump towards them -> charge -> jump towards them -> etc).

Forward auto >

Jump auto >

Jump double auto*

*remember that 2nd auto deals less damage than the first

Jump charge < Charge click in place

Elemental Burst to Cancel

You can use your Elemental Burst to instantly cancel an animation. Just make sure you don’t cast it too soon before the attack comes out.

Ugly Math

Math references for weapon calculations! The values shown in the columns are Effective Attack values. These calculations were done with math similar to the artifact spreadsheet through a program that simulates the perfect substat spreads with 10, 20, or 30 total substat rolls.

Easier to read version with percentages:

Note: These are simulated builds. As you can see, the simulator opted for Crit Dmg circlet in every situation but had an ungodly amount of crit rate subs. Pay more attention to the end values to see the typical stat goals.

With high stats:

Optimal Build for Skyward Atlas:

ATK %: 97.7% (+0.0%), Crit: 5.0% (+74.1%), CD: 112.1% (+46.8%), EATK: 10316. Circlet: Crit Dmg

Optimal Build for Lost Prayer:

ATK %: 64.6% (+17.4%), Crit: 38.1% (+50.7%), CD: 112.1% (+70.2%), EATK: 9890. Circlet: Crit Dmg

Optimal Build for Memory of Dust:

ATK %: 114.2% (+0.0%), Crit: 5.0% (+74.1%), CD: 112.1% (+46.8%), EATK: 9795. Circlet: Crit Dmg

Optimal Build for Solar Pearl:

ATK %: 64.6% (+17.4%), Crit: 32.6% (+54.6%), CD: 112.1% (+62.4%), EATK: 8667. Circlet: Crit Dmg

Optimal Build for Eye of Perception:

ATK %: 119.7% (+0.0%), Crit: 5.0% (+74.1%), CD: 112.1% (+46.8%), EATK: 8558. Circlet: Crit Dmg

Optimal Build for Royal Grimoire:

ATK %: 92.2% (+5.8%), Crit: 36.0% (+37.2%), CD: 50.0% (+124.8%), EATK: 8881. Circlet: Crit Rate

Optimal Build for Mappa Mare:

ATK %: 64.6% (+11.6%), Crit: 5.0% (+70.2%), CD: 112.1% (+39.0%), EATK: 7543. Circlet: Crit Dmg

Optimal Build for The Widsith:

ATK %: 64.6% (+17.4%), Crit: 5.0% (+81.9%), CD: 167.2% (+7.8%), EATK: 8664. Circlet: Crit Dmg

Lost Prayer average Elemental DMG over time:

Animation cancel data:

For autoattacks:

30 FPS:

W hold: 154 frames 10 autos (see Animation Cancelling for GIF)

Jump auto: 136 frames 10 autos (see Animation Cancelling for GIF)

Jump double auto: 144 frames 10 autos

Update Log

11/5/20: Started keeping track of updates! Added Blackcliff amulet, and various other 4* weapons. Added a summary for weapon choices.
11/6/20: Added a small infographic for synergy.
11/7/20: Added more information to animation cancelling. Added notes on double auto + jump.
11/12/20: Edited C6 information. Updated artifact recommendation layout and added notes on Noblesse Oblige.
11/13/20: Redid math with an advanced program that simulates all possible substat combinations with each weapon. Added an explanation for why Lost Prayer is mediocre.
11/15/20: Updated jump double auto GIF + added frame data to Animation Cancelling section.
12/2/20: Updated weapon math with level 90 values, and clarified stat building in the artifact section. Also updated some animation cancelling data (again), and added notes on burst damage snapshotting
12/17/20: Updated a note on being able to get all rounds of damage of the burst with C4.
12/30/20: Added Frostbearer and adjusted some wording on artifact notes.
1/4/20: Added Frostbearer to weapon effective attack spreadsheet.
3/3/21: Added preliminary notes on Hu Tao.
3/26/21: Added Wine and Song to weapons list.
4/4/21: Updated some notes on Solar Pearl.
4/21/21: Added some notes on Rosaria. Updated talent descriptions slightly.
6/2/21: Added Dodoco Tales.

Credits

stellar#7066 for reporting that Klee’s burst damage is snapshotted
~The Kleeful Frame CounterTM~#6735 for breaking down and optimizing Klee animation cancelling data

Image	Skill Name	Details (talent level 10 in paren)	Notes
	Normal Attack: Kaboom!	1-Hit DMG: 72.2% (130%)2-Hit DMG: 62.4% (112%)3-Hit DMG: 89.9% (162%)Charged ATK DMG: 157% (283%)	Three-hit combo is very slow. Recommended to animation cancel (see examples).
	Jumpy Dumpty	Bounce DMG (3x): 95% (171%)Mine DMG (8x): 32.8% (59%)Max Total DMG: 547% (985%)Energy: 3.5 Particles if at least one enemy is hit	Throwing a second Jumpy Dumpty when the mines from the first have not expired causes the mines to explode immediately.
	Sparks ‘n’ Splash	DMG (4×5): 42.6% (76.8%)Total DMG: 852% (1536%)	Deals four rounds of damage every 2 seconds, lasting for 10 seconds (5 rounds total). Damage is snapshotted with stats at the start of the cast.
	Pounding Surprise	After dealing damage with Jumpy Dumpty or Normal Attacks, have a 50% chance to gain an Explosive Spark, which makes the next charged attack cost no Stamina and deal 50% increased damage.	The spark lasts for 30 seconds and can persist on swap-out.
	Sparking Burst	When a Charged Attack critically strikes, all party members gain 2 Elemental Energy.	Regardless of how many mobs you hit, the energy is only gained once.

Frostbearer (ATK %)	Hitting an opponent with a normal or charged attack has a 60% (100%) chance to create an icicle that deals 80% (140%) damage, increased to 200% (360%) if they are affected by Cryo.	Essentially a worse version of Eye of Perception, but still a better F2P option than Mappa Mare – but that’s not saying much.
Mappa Mare	Grants one stack (max: 2) of an 8% (16%) Elemental DMG buff when triggering an Elemental Reaction.	The F2P option! It’s pretty strong at higher refinements – even more so than other 4* options at R1 – assuming you can always maintain two stacks of the buff. But, that also assumes you’ll ever get any prototype book drops from weeklies.
Blackcliff Amulet	After defeating an enemy, ATK is increased by 12% (24%) for 30s. Max 3 stacks; each stack duration is independent of others.	The passive can be strong in some encounters, and useless in others. It would make gameplay awkward to switch into Klee to gain/maintain stacks from kills too, so in practice this weapon may be difficult to use to its full potential.
Wine and Song (ER)	Hitting an opponent with a Normal Attack decreases the Stamina consumption of Sprint by 14% (22%) for 5s. Using Sprint increases ATK by 20% (40%) for 5s.	Klee does not Sprint to cancel animations, and can use a lot of stamina for Charged Attacks. There are much better options for 4* catalysts.
Sacrificial Fragments	Has a 40% (80%) chance to end skill cooldown after damaging an enemy with an Elemental Skill. Cooldown: 30s (16s) Only gain one charge of E when it procs	This weapon can be suitable for support Klee, but is not recommended for general purpose DPS as Jumpy Dumpty isn’t a huge portion of your total damage.
Favonius Codex	CRIT hits have a 60% (100%) chance to generate Elemental Particles that restore 6 energy for the character. Cooldown: 12s (6s)	You really don’t need extra energy recharge, in both mainstat and a passive, on Klee. Avoid this!

Image	Name	Details	Notes
	Crimson Witch of Flames	(2) Increases Pyro DMG by 15%(4) Increases Overload and Burning DMG by 40%, and Vaporize and Melt by 15%. Using an Elemental Skill grants an extra 7.5% Pyro damage, max 3 stacks (10s).	The reaction damage increase is roughly equivalent to 80 Elemental Mastery, and is additive with Elemental Mastery. Because Klee’s Elemental Skill cooldown is so long, she can only get up to two stacks of the Pyro buff from the 4-piece.
	Gladiator’s Finale	(2) ATK +18%(4) If the wielder is using a Sword, Claymore, or Polearm, increase Normal Attack damage by 35%	A good chunk of attack with no strings attached for the 2-set part. What’s not to love?
	Wanderer’s Troupe	(2) Elemental Mastery +80(4) If the wielder is using a Bow or Catalyst, increase Charged Attack damage by 35%	Charged Attacks make up a good portion of Klee’s DPS, but not enough to make this set worth it (remember that the 35% charged attack damage is additive with Pyro Damage bonus).
	Lavawalker	(2) Increases Pyro RES by 40%(4) Increases DMG to enemies affected by Pyro by 35%	In practice, a lot of mobs with natural elements will instantly react to Pyro (e.g. hitting an Ice Slime will instantly trigger melt and it will never actually have Pyro on it), so you won’t be able to get the damage boost in a lot of cases, so this set is not recommended for general scenarios.
	Blood-soaked	(2) Increases Critical Rate by 12%(4) When health is below 70%, increase Critical Rate by an additional 24%	A decent set for the 2-piece effect, primarily for early-mid game. There is currently no 5* Blood-soaked artifacts available in-game, so you’d be missing out on potential stats running this set in the long run.