Kaveh

Kaveh

4★DendroClaymoreMain Damage

TL;DR

Kaveh belongs in a team with a Hydro character, because his job is turning wet enemies into a floor covered in Dendro cores and then setting all of them off. His Burst turns his claymore Dendro for 12 seconds and makes every core the party creates hit harder. Stack Elemental Mastery, swing, press the Skill to pop everything.

Rotation

  1. Let your Hydro character soak the enemies first.
  2. Burst (Q). Any cores already lying around pop at once and his claymore turns Dendro for 12 seconds.
  3. Normal Attack. Every swing on a wet enemy leaves another core on the ground.
  4. Skill (E) on its 6 second cooldown to set the whole lot off early.
  5. Swap off when the 12 seconds end.

Abilities

Skill (E) 6 second cooldown. A scan that deals Dendro damage around him and makes every Dendro core inside it burst immediately, instead of waiting for its own timer.
Burst (Q) 80 Energy, back in 20 seconds. Pops the cores in range, then for 12 seconds his normal, charged and plunging attacks turn Dendro with a wider reach. Every core anyone in the party makes deals extra damage. It ends if he leaves the field.
Normal Attacks A four hit claymore string. Ordinary on their own, but during the Burst each one on a soaked enemy is another core.

The one mechanic to understand

The cores hurt him, which is how he heals.

Dendro cores go off near whoever set them off, damaging your own character when they do. Most bloom teams treat that as the cost of doing business. Kaveh gets healed by it instead: every core that hits him gives back health worth three times his Elemental Mastery, which on a proper build is a large heal several times a second. So the messy version of a bloom team is the one he wants. You don't need a healer alongside him.

What actually matters

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

  • Elemental Mastery in every slot. Core damage is calculated from it alone. So is his healing. There isn't a second stat competing.
  • Crit does almost nothing. The cores can't crit, so Crit only touches his own sword hits, which are the small half of his damage.
  • Energy Recharge for an 80 cost Burst. Around 150% gets it back each rotation with a second Dendro character sharing the load, well over 200% if he's carrying the team's Dendro alone. Without the Burst he's a claymore with no element on it.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Elemental Mastery. Forest Regalia is craftable in Sumeru, carries Elemental Mastery and hands more of it to the party whenever he triggers a reaction.
Artifacts 4-piece Flower of Paradise Lost. It boosts Bloom damage directly and then boosts it again each time he sets a core off, which is his entire rotation.
Main stats Elemental Mastery in all three slots. A Dendro damage goblet only helps his own swings, which is not where the damage is.

Works well with

HydroDendro

Hydro is not optional. No water on the enemy means no cores. No cores means no Kaveh. A second Dendro character keeps the aura up while he's off the field.

Don't bother

  • Crit stats. Reaction damage ignores them.
  • A healer for him. The cores feed him more than one would.
  • Playing him outside the Burst. His claymore isn't Dendro until you press it.
  • Charged Attacks. They drain stamina for the same cores a normal swing makes.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Kaveh on KeqingMains.