Kaeya

Kaeya

4★CryoSwordOff-field Damage

TL;DR

Kaeya's Burst leaves three icicles spinning around whoever is on the field and they keep hitting things with Cryo for about 8 seconds after he's gone. His Skill is a cheap Cryo blast on a 6 second cooldown that hands out energy particles. So: Skill, Burst, swap out, let somebody else do the killing while his ice keeps landing.

Rotation

  1. Press Skill (E) for the Cryo blast and the particles.
  2. Press Burst (Q) to spawn the icicles.
  3. Swap to your damage dealer. The icicles follow them, not Kaeya.
  4. Come back for another Skill (E) when it's up, roughly every 6 seconds if you have the time.

Abilities

Skill (E) A cone of ice in front of him. About a 6 second cooldown, which is short enough to press twice in a rotation. It also heals him a little on every hit, so he tends to look after himself.
Burst (Q) Three icicles orbit the active character for about 8 seconds, hitting whatever they pass through. Costs 60 Energy, 15 second cooldown. This is the part that works while he's off the field.

What actually matters

  • The icicles go where your carry goes. They latch onto whoever is on the field, so you get Cryo on the enemy without Kaeya standing there. Burst, then swap off.
  • Freezing enemies gives him extra particles. One of his passives makes enemies his Skill freezes drop up to two extra energy particles. Bring a Hydro character so his Skill freezes things. Your Cryo carry then stops running out of Energy.
  • Energy Recharge, enough to burst every rotation. 60 Energy is not much and his Skill is generous, so somewhere around 130% is usually fine. He isn't the character to pour Energy Recharge into.

Gear

Weapon Energy Recharge with some Attack behind it. Favonius Sword, since its passive throws out more particles and particles are half of what he's for.
Artifacts 4-piece Noblesse Oblige. His Burst is the thing he's on the field to press and it hands the party 20% Attack every time.
Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
ER Cryo DMG Crit Rate Crit / ATK

If you're only using him for the Cryo and the particles, the circlet barely matters.

Works well with

HydroPyro

Hydro on the team freezes things, which is where his particle passive pays off. Pyro melts instead, which trades the crowd control for bigger numbers.

Don't bother

  • Playing him on the field. His Normal Attacks do very little. Standing there costs your real carry time.
  • Waiting on his Burst cooldown. It's 15 seconds and his Skill is 6, so press the Skill again rather than standing around.
  • Counting on the icicles to hit a small or moving target. They orbit, so they miss plenty. Cryo lands often enough anyway.

Want the full deep dive? Read Kaeya on KeqingMains.

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