The main attraction for the “gacha” fans is the varied array of colorful playable characters one can obtain over the course of the game. One of the more popular of these is Xiangling, the pyro element specialist from Liyue. Here’s the most in-depth guide in acquiring and playing Xiangling!
Getting Xiangling
Xiangling description per the Genshin Impact official site Before going into Xiangling’s builds, you need to acquire her first. The good news is that although Xiangling is not one of the four starting characters, she is one of the characters with a free acquisition option. Although you can acquire her through gacha pulls, you can also get her through adventuring and a little bit of patience. First, you need to reach an Adventurer Rank of 20. That is the bare minimum needed to unlock the Spiral Abyss location and adventure paths. This should not take too long, as Genshin Impact has multiple ways of building Adventurer ranks through exploration, chest opening, and varied side quests in the course of the gameplay. Once you reach Adventurer Rank 20, Spiral Abyss will be accessible through Musk Reef. To reach Musk Reef, you have to travel to Cape Oath which is in the Monstadt region just at the south easternmost tip of the area. A portal at Cape Oath will take you to the entrance of Spiral Abyss.
Spiral Abyss Challenges
A grand corridor which leads to an unknown spiral constructed by a great empire that has long gone. What treasures await deep in the palace, and what monsters lurk in the shadow… Surrounded by mysteries, the inverse tower is now known as- the Spiral Abyss. The next stage is progressing through the Spiral Abyss floors. This part is a bit difficult if you’re using characters lower than level 50. The Spiral Abyss has 12 floors, each with 3 challenges to get through, although you only need to get past 9 of the floors in order to acquire Xiangling. Finishing the nine challenges is also complicated by the fact that you are limited to the four characters chosen at the start of the Spiral Abyss. Oh, and you will not have any food and healing items to use either. Other limitations are being unable to change any artifacts and weapons, or even level up and ascend characters. On the upside (or downside, depending on how you look at it), there are leyline disorders at the Spiral Abyss. These leyline disorders generate buffs and debuffs that may affect your characters and the enemies on each floor. But when you do get through the 3rd floor and Chamber 3, you get Xiangling as a reward. Pro Tip: You might want to get prepared for scaling the Spiral Abyss. There is a fairly varied array of enemy types in this area. Churls and slimes of different elements populate the place. Having the right artifacts and weapons to handle them beforehand will certainly make things easier. It goes without saying, but you should use your best characters to get through the challenges comfortably. And with the limitation of not being able to use food and healing items, you’d better have some way of compensating for the challenges.
Playing Xiangling
Disclaimer first: Xiangling is NOT one of the most powerful characters in the game. However, Genshin Impact’s character selection strength is having great options for customizing. With the right artifacts and equips, you can minimize the weaknesses and make the characters’ strong points even better. What Xiangling brings to the table is better than average DPS and Support abilities. While there are better DPS and Support characters in Genshin Impact, there are very few that do both as well as Xiangling does. In fact, she’s good enough to be the main DPS or main Support in your team. As she is a Pyro element character, she can fit in many team compositions and deal with potential threats in the game. Furthermore, Xiangling is a polearm specialist. Polearms have the fastest attacks while also having a fairly long front reach. Given this, you can focus on either building Xiangling as a Pyro DPS specialist or as a middle of the road Pyro Support. Xiangling can excel in both roles quite well.
Xiangling Attack and Abilities Sets
Active
Dough Fu (Normal/Charged Attack) Basic Attack – Xiangling attacks with her polearm up to 5 times in a row. Charged Attack – This is a lunge attack. Costs a little bit of Stamina, but does damages multiple enemies in the path. Guoba Attack (Elemental Combat Talent) Xiangling summons Guoba the Panda. Guoba then breathes fire at enemies. This is an AoE Pyro attack. Guoba will perform this 2 seconds after being summoned and again after 1.5 seconds (up to 4 times). Each time Guoba breathes fire and hits at least one enemy, it will generate 1 elemental particle. Pyronado (Elemental Burst Combat Talent) Displaying her mastery over both fire and polearms, Xiangling sends a Pyronado whirling around her. As the name implies, this is an AoE attack, dealing Pyro damage to enemies that cross its path. Pyronado will move with Xiangling during the duration of the skill.
Passive
Crossfire (Passive Talent 1) – This increases Guoba the panda’s fire breath range by 20%. Beware, It’s Super-Hot! (Passive Talent 2) – After Guoba finishes attacking, a chili pepper is generated where the panda disappears. A character that picks up the chili pepper gets a 10% buff to ATK for 10 seconds. Chef de Cuisine (Passive Talent 3) – If Xiangling is used to cook an ATK-boosting dish with a perfect result, there is a 12% chance to generate double the product.
Xiangling Constellations
Constellations for any character in Genshin Impact are extremely difficult to get, but they have powerful bonuses so they are worth getting:
Crispy Outside, Tender Inside (Level 1) - Enemies that are hit by Guoba’s attacks have their Pyro RES reduced by 15% for the next 6s. Oil Meets Fire (Level 2) - The last attack in Normal Attack sequence applies the Implode status onto the enemy for 2s. An explosion will occur once this duration ends, dealing 75% of Xiangling’s ATK as AoE Pyro DMG. Deepfry (Level 3) - Increases the level of Pyronado by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. Slowbake (Level 4) - Pyronado’s duration is increased by 40%. Guoba Mad (Level 5) - Increases the level of Guoba Attack by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. Condensed Pyronado (Level 6) - For the duration of Pyronado, all party members receive a 15% Ascension Information
Xiangling Ascensions
Ascension increases the max level of each character. Accomplishing each ascension for Xiangling requires the following materials:
1st (Level 20) – 1 Agnidus Agate Sliver, 3 Jueyun Chilis, 3 Slime Condensate plus 20,000 Mora 2nd (Level 40) – 3 Agnidus Agate Fragments, 2 Everflame Seeds, 10 Jueyun Chilis, 15 Slime Condensate plus 40,000 Mora 3rd (Level 50) – 6 Agnidus Agate Fragments, 4 Everflame Seeds, 20 Jueyun Chilis, 12 Slime Secretions plus 60,000 Mora 4th (Level 60) – 3 Agnidus Agate Chunks, 8 Everflame Seeds, 30 Jueyun Chilis, 18 Slime Secretions plus 80,000 Mora 5th (Level 70) – 6 Agnidus Agate Chunks, 12 Everflame Seeds, 45 Jueyun Chilis, 12 Slime Concentrate plus 100,000 Mora 6th (Level 80) – 6 Agnidus Agate Gemstones, 20 Everflame Seeds, 60 Jueyun Chilis, 24 Slime Concentrate plus 120,000 Mora
Xiangling Builds
With her strong Pyro AoE attacks and abilities to boost ATK and Pyro DMG, Xiangling can be built either as your primary or secondary DPS, or as a semi-DPS/Pyro DMG booster on your team.
Xiangling Pyro DPS
Artifacts Gladiator’s Finale - ATK +18%; if the wielder of this artifact set uses a Sword, Claymore or Polearm increases their Normal Attack DMG by 35%. Martial Artist - Increases Normal Attack and Charged Attack DMG by 15%; after using Elemental skill, increase Normal Attack and Charged attack DMG by 25% for 8s. Berserker - Crit Rate +12%; when HP is below 70%, Crit Rate increases by additional 24% Weapons Halberd - Normal Attacks deal an additional 160% to 320% DMG. Can only occur once every 10s. Crescent Pike - After picking up an elemental Orb/ Particle, normal and charged attacks deal an additional 20% ATK as DMG for 5s. Primordial Jade Winged Spear - On hit, increases ATK by 3.2% for 6s. Max 7 stacks. This effect can only occur once every 0.3s. While in possession of the maximum possible stacks, DMG dealt is increased by 12%.
Playing Xiangling as the team’s DPS main or secondary, your equipment should focus on boosting standard damage and amplifying the Pyro elemental DMG. Gladiator’s Finale and Martial Artist as Artifacts are ideal for this build. For weapons, the Primordial Jade Winged Spear or even the lowly Tier Three Halberd work well with Xiangling as a DPS.
Xiangling Pyro Support
Artifacts Noblesse Oblige - Elemental Burst DMG 20%; using an Elemental Burst increases all party member ATK by 20% for 12s. This effect cannot stack. Crimson Witch of Flames - Pyro DMG Bonus +15%; increases Overloaded and Burning DMG by 40%. Increases Vaporize and Melt DMG by 15%; using an elemental skill increases 2 piece set effects by 50% for 10s. Max 3 stacks. Weapons Blackcliff Pole - After defeating an enemy, ATK is increased by 12% for 30s. This effect has a maximum of 3 stacks, and the duration of each stack is independent of the others. Dragon’s Bane - Increases DMG against enemies affected by Hydro or Pyro by 20% to 36%. Skyward Spine - Increases CRIT Rate by 8% and increases Normal ATK SPD by 12%. Additionally, Normal and Charged Attacks hits on enemies have a 50% chance to trigger a vacuum blade that deals 40% of ATK as DMG in small AoE. This effect can occur no more than once every 2s. Kunwu’s Iris Rift - Increases Normal Attack SPD by 10 to 18%. Increases DMG against enemies affected by any element by 24 to 48%.
If you choose the Pyro Support build for Xiangling, you are swapping out straight damage dealing for boosting both her and her team’s Pyro elemental DMG. Noblesse Oblige is the best choice for this purpose. For her weapon, the Dragon’s Bane and Skyward Spine are preferred, as both these weapons benefit from the elemental debuffs when applied. Because Xiangling’s Pyro elemental effects (like Guoba Attack) remain for the duration even if she is swapped out, artifacts and weapons that take advantage of these would be the best choices.
Teaming with Xiangling
As noted, Xiangling is fine as a DPS or as DPS/Support. While she can be a great option as your primary DPS, there are better character choices from the Genshin Impact roster. Diluc is probably the best choice as your DPS to go with Xiangling. Both use Pyro and Xiangling’s AoE coupled with Diluc’s Burst damage gives you massive potential damage scope. Barbara is probably the best overall healer in the game, but her Hydro element gives great synergy if Xiangling is equipped with a Crimson Witch of Flames or a Dragon’s Bane. Finally, Venti is always a great choice, rounding out any team build nicely, thanks to crowd control effects.
Xiangling Final Thoughts
Xiangling is one of the best team players in Genshin Impact. Although she does not break the top-tier for damage dealing or buffing elemental effects, she can fit in most any team build carries her weight. Even with sub-optimal artifacts and weapons, Xiangling delivers on the goods! And as one of the best free to acquire characters, you can bet Xiangling will find a room in many Genshin Impact players’ groupings!
