Durin

Durin

5★PyroSwordOff-field Damage

TL;DR

Durin's Burst sends out a Pyro dragon that follows your active character around for 20 seconds. The Skill picks which of two dragons you get: Skill twice for the wide one with a resistance drop, Skill then one attack for the narrow one that boosts his own Vaporize and Melt. Either way it's four presses and then you swap off.

Rotation

  1. Skill (E) once. He loads up and his next press goes one of two ways.
  2. Skill (E) again for the light state, or one Normal Attack for the dark state. Whichever you press puts him in that state for 30 seconds.
  3. Burst (Q). Three Pyro hits go out and the dragon appears.
  4. Swap off. The dragon trails whoever you swapped to for the next 20 seconds.

Abilities

Skill (E) The first press loads him up, on a 12 second cooldown. The second press is a Pyro hit around him that unloads him into the light state for 30 seconds.
Normal Attacks Ordinary sword swings, apart from one case. While he's loaded up, a single attack becomes three Pyro hits in front of him and unloads him into the dark state for 30 seconds instead.
Burst (Q) 70 Energy, 18 second cooldown. Three Pyro hits, then a dragon for 20 seconds that follows your active character and attacks on a timer. The light state gets you the one that hits everything nearby. The dark state gets you the one that picks a single target. No state at all gets you the light one.

The one mechanic to understand

The button you unload him with picks the dragon.

Unload him with the Skill and you're in the light state, which gets you the wide dragon and a passive that drops an enemy's Pyro resistance by 20% for 6 seconds whenever your team sets off a Pyro reaction on it. Unload him with a Normal Attack and you're in the dark state instead, which gets you the single target dragon and 40% more Vaporize and Melt damage on Durin's own hits. Nothing else changes: same Energy cost, same duration, same four presses. Entering either state during a fight also hands him some Energy back, which is most of how he pays for the next Burst.

What actually matters

  • Do the Skill every rotation. The state outlasts the Burst cooldown, but the Skill is what pays for the Burst.
  • Attack. The dragon's hits scale off Durin's Attack, so that is where his levels and substats go.
  • Energy Recharge. You brought him for the Burst. It costs 70. Roughly 130% if he's your only Pyro, less with another Pyro on the team.

Gear

Weapon Attack and Crit, with enough Energy Recharge that the Burst comes back. Amenoma Kageuchi is craftable in Inazuma and hands some of the Energy back on its own.
Artifacts 4-piece Noblesse Oblige. He casts the Burst every rotation and the 20% party Attack lands on whoever the dragon is following. Take 4-piece Crimson Witch of Flames instead if your team's damage comes from reactions rather than from Attack.
Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
ATK / ER Pyro DMG Crit Crit / ATK

Energy Recharge sands while the Burst isn't coming back every time.

Works well with

DendroHydroElectro

The light state's resistance drop needs a Pyro reaction to fire, so a Dendro or Electro teammate gives it something to work with. The dark state only cares that Durin's own hits are Vaporizing or Melting.

Don't bother

  • Keeping him on the field. The dragon does its work while he's somewhere else.
  • The dark state, unless your team actually Vaporizes or Melts. Without one of those the 40% does nothing and you gave up the resistance drop for it.
  • Crit on him past a circlet. His own hits are a rounding error next to 20 seconds of dragon.

Want the full deep dive? Read Durin on KeqingMains.

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