Heizou

Heizou

4★AnemoCatalystMain Damage

TL;DR

Heizou punches things and every swirl he sets off banks a stack on his Skill, up to four. At four, the next one is a much bigger hit over a wider area. So he wants an element already on the enemies, then it's attack, attack, hold the Skill. A cheap Burst goes on top whenever it's up.

Rotation

  1. Have a teammate leave Hydro, Pyro, Cryo or Electro on the enemies first.
  2. Normal Attack. Each swirl you cause banks a stack, four at most.
  3. Hold Skill (E) on four stacks. The strike is bigger and the area is wider.
  4. Burst (Q) whenever you have it. 40 Energy comes back fast.

Abilities

Normal Attacks Five Anemo punches. Swirling with them is how he banks stacks, so this is where the fight starts rather than filler.
Skill (E) 10 second cooldown. Tap for a quick Anemo strike. Hold to charge, which banks stacks as it charges, then release for a harder version. Every stack it spends makes the hit bigger.
His stacks Four is the cap and they sit around for 60 seconds. Reaching four upgrades the next strike again on top of the stack damage, widening the area it covers.
Burst (Q) 40 Energy, back in 12 seconds. A kick that pulls enemies together for area Anemo damage. Anything caught with Hydro, Pyro, Cryo or Electro on it gets tagged and explodes again a moment later in that element, up to four enemies.

The one mechanic to understand

Swirls buy stacks. Stacks buy the big hit.

He gains a stack every time he causes a swirl while on the field, which means his damage depends on somebody having put an element on the enemy before he arrives. Against a bare enemy he punches for Anemo damage and banks nothing. The stacks last a full minute and survive him swapping out, so there is no rush to spend them. The fourth one is the one that matters: it turns the next strike into the wide version. Holding the Skill also banks stacks while it charges, which is the fallback when nothing is swirling.

What actually matters

The two or three real decisions. Everything else is noise.

  • An element on the enemies before he swings. No element, no swirl, no stacks.
  • Crit, especially at C6. Each stack adds 4% Crit Rate to the strike it's spent on there, on top of the damage.
  • His Elemental Mastery passive is for everyone else. Landing the Skill gives the rest of the party 80 Elemental Mastery for 10 seconds and gives him none, so build him for his own damage rather than for that.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Crit and Attack. The Widsith is a standard banner 4-star with Crit DMG. One of the three buffs it rolls on switch-in is a big Attack boost.
Artifacts 4-piece Viridescent Venerer. Anemo damage, stronger swirls, then 40% off the swirled element's resistance for the whole team.
Main stats Attack sands, Anemo damage goblet, Crit circlet.

Works well with

HydroPyroElectro

Any of the four he can swirl. Whichever one is on the enemy is the element his Burst detonates as well.

Don't bother

  • His Charged Attack. The sweeping kick costs stamina and does less than another punch.
  • Elemental Mastery builds. The Mastery he hands out is a flat number off the talent.
  • Tapping the Skill on four stacks. You spend the good one for the quick animation.
  • Rushing to spend stacks. They last 60 seconds and follow him off the field.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Heizou on KeqingMains.