Xiao (your residential, depressed, sad boi of Genshin)
Element: Anemo
Weapon: Polearm
Pros:
| Low E CD | Incredible damage multipliers | Easy to play |
| Strong self buffs | CRIT DMG as hidden stat | Easy to gear |
| Great AoE | Highly mobile | Good C1 and C6 |
Cons:
| Long Q CD | Susceptible to damage/squishy | Practically no ER |
| Q ends when swapped out | Reliant on team for shields | E doesn’t provide i-frames and can get interrupted |
| Q bleeds you when used |
PSA #1: Xiao’s only real issue is just his energy. Sustain and squishiness can be covered via heal slot, and his lack of elemental coverage can be delegated to his team. Other than that, gameplay is purely heal -> buff -> swap to Xiao and nuke. Highly recommended to be proactive with the flex slot as explained below
Who to take (alternatives explained below!):
- Fills Anemo slot, allowing for Anemo resonance giving more E CD
- Sucrose’s E is a great battery for Xiao + her Q is good for AoE grouping CC
- Can run TTDS over EM muling as Swirl damage scaling is garbage, so the 48% ATK buff is much more preferred
- CAN BE REPLACED WITH VENTI OR ANEMO MC AS THE GOAL IS TO JUST RUN DUO ANEMO (but AoE also helps!)
- Fischl’s E is a great passive damage addon + decent energy every now and then
- Greatly fits Xiao’s hogging playstyle, as you only need to drop E and swap out (with using Q to refresh Oz occasionally)
- Can also serve as a great sub DPS if necessary (but not essential)
- THIS IS THE FLEX SLOT — PUT WHOEVER YOU NEED FOR ELEMENTAL MATCHUPS, BUFFS/SHIELDS, OR DAMAGE ETC…
- #1 healer in the game with a large AoE + huge heal per tick + ATK buff (heal alone makes him essential to counter Xiao’s Q bleed)
- Pyro is extremely helpful dealing with Cryo
- E is spammable for guaranteeing Q uptime nearly 99% of the time
- CAN BE REPLACED WITH QIQI/DIONA OR JEAN IF YOU WANT ANEMO BURST DPS + HEALER
PSA #2: To further elaborate on the flex slot – be smart about who you take. Elemental shields are Xiao’s only real weakness in combat, so alternate based on what enemy you’re facing. Fischl is an all around solid spot for boosting DPS, but a shielder could also be essential as well
Great flex slot alternatives:
- Zhongli – Strong shield to help prevent any interruption, damage, and make Xiao’s Q less annoying to deal with
- Venti – BE WARNED XIAO’S Q CANNOT HIT ENEMIES IN VENTI’S Q. Use Venti for CC chaining and creating space/downtime to heal Xiao or help group for better AoE
- Qiqi – Decent off-field healing with her passive/Q + can be great for occasional superconduct as Xiao does weave in normal/charged attacks when off Q
- Diona – Second strongest shield in the game, has a good heal, and can help generate decent bit of energy. Can be a solid pick if need more sustain
- Xingqiu – Great for dealing with Pyro shields + great DPS boost with Xingqiu’s Q when Xiao’s Q is on CD
- Jean – Great sub/burst DPS option and heal alternative if don’t have Bennett. Can also give Anemo resonance
- Honorable mentions – Running duo Anemo + duo Geo is actually fairly strong as you get the DMG buff + a strong shield from Geo users. Zhongli + Ning has been my favorite pair by running both as burst DPS, but be aware this leads to extreme struggle with Abyss Mages
PLEASE FEEL FREE TO ASK QUESTIONS BELOW! I’ll try my best to respond as I know some players may not have ANY of the characters mentioned.
Hope this helped. Bye.
How to build strong healing Bennett, champ?
I use Xiao team as my second team, and sure i love it!
I run with Sucrose (second anemo), Bennett (healing and buff god) and Beidou (off dps, occasional shield, plus her Q is real good in combo with Xiao’s Q; she’s flexi slot btw)
Now i pulled out both Kazua and Jean (different banner). I was thinking swapping out Sucrose for Kazua but seems a waste of a really good char. Or i could swap Jean in lieu of Bennett and put Xinyan for shield+phys buff?
Kazuha really shines in an EM comp, and if Xiao’s your main DPS then you would be better off running Kazuha on another team as a sub DPS!
im running xiao, jean, qiqi and fischl right now, should i switch qiqi to bennett? qiqi helps a lot with the life drain but I’m not sure whether bennett’s atk buff is worth it. also jean is mostly a battery for now, i don’t really use her. i could put qiqi as a dps/subdps on my other team
So in OVERALL healing output, Bennett will be top class. His heal per tick is unmatched and his burst is extremely easy to charge back up. The ATK buff is huge — it really depends on what weapon you have for him, but overall even something like a 400 ATK bonus is huge in calculation.
If you find yourself struggling (especially with the new Abyss), and don’t really find Qiqi resonating with your comp, I highly recommend swapping her out for Bennett!
TL;DR – replace Qiqi with Bennett
hey so im using xiao/sucrose/rosaria/diona is it good? i dont have any 5* and bennt/fischl i have yanfei, xinyan and xiangling only as a pyro and i have beidou for electro 🙁
Yeah it’s good! Later on if you do ever get Bennett, try running Xiangling + Bennett instead of Rosaria + Diona for the ATK boost as well!
How well does Jean really synergize compared to Bennett? It sounds like Bennett would be stronger, but Jean brings other benefits. Any advice?
I would say Bennett still provides more raw damage + an element to swirl of off. Jean is great for the Anemo resonance, but Xiao’s damage is exponentially better when he can consistently trigger swirl procs!
Could I run Kazuha instead of Sucrose i don’t have jean lol and i use Sucrose in an other team and was running abis so i was wondering could i run Kazuha or is it better to run Anemo mc for abis
edit: i also have sayu if i could run her. Cureently i run Xiao Sucrose Zongli and Bennet/QIQI which ever one i’m feeling for bennet or QIQI i always mess up the rotation
You could run Kazuha instead, but you’d lose on a huge ATK boost if you’re running TTDS. However, Kazuha does have lower CD’s and can provide a small buff himself. It’s really preference, but if you’re used to Sucrose (or have her at C2+), then Sucrose might be the better option!