Prune

Prune

4★AnemoCatalystSupport

TL;DR

Prune whacks a bell with a hammer. If that swirls an element off the enemy, her Skill turns into a hammer kick of that element for the next six seconds, and landing the kick is what buffs your team. Her Burst leaves the bell trailing your damage dealer, swirling things while they work. Somebody else has to put an element on the enemy first, or she does nothing at all.

Rotation

  1. Let a Pyro, Hydro, Electro or Cryo teammate put their element on the enemy first.
  2. Skill (E) to swirl it.
  3. Skill (E) again for the hammer kick. This is the press that buffs the team.
  4. Burst (Q), then swap to your damage dealer straight away.

Abilities

Skill (E) Anemo damage. If it swirls something, for the next six seconds this button becomes a hammer kick that deals the swirled element instead. About a 15 second cooldown.
Burst (Q) Costs 70 Energy. The bell follows whoever is on the field for about 12 seconds, hitting nearby enemies with Anemo on a timer. When one of those hits swirls, an extra hammer drops on them.

The one mechanic to understand

The buff rides on the hammer kick.

Landing the converted hammer gives everyone nearby a damage bonus for five seconds. The size of it is whatever Prune's attack is above 2,000, and it caps out at roughly 50% extra damage once she's at 4,000. Under 2,000 attack she gives literally nothing. The plain Anemo version of the Skill doesn't count, so the order is fixed: element on the enemy, swirl it, then kick. Five seconds is not long, so get off the field.

What actually matters

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

  • Attack, and a lot of it. The first 2,000 buys you nothing and the buff keeps growing to 4,000. This is one of the few supports where flat attack on the weapon is genuinely worth chasing.
  • Energy Recharge, or a second Anemo character. A 70 Energy Burst on a 4-star who makes very few particles is rough. On her own she wants somewhere past 240% Energy Recharge, which is miserable. Put another Anemo character in the team and it drops to something like 200%.
  • Swap off fast. The buff is five seconds and the clock starts on the kick, not on the Burst.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Energy Recharge first, attack second. Favonius Codex handles the energy and hands particles to the rest of the team as well. Swap to Flowing Purity, which is craftable, if her Burst is already coming back on time.
Artifacts 4-piece Viridescent Venerer. She swirls on purpose every rotation, and the set strips resistance off the enemy for whoever is doing the damage. Give it to someone else if another Anemo character in the team is swirling more often.
Main stats Energy Recharge sands, attack goblet, attack circlet. No crit, no Elemental Mastery, none of her own damage matters.

Works well with

PyroHydroElectroCryo

One of those four has to be on the enemy before she presses anything. Which one is up to you, she swirls them all the same.

Don't bother

  • Her talent levels, mostly. The team buff doesn't scale with them at all, so her character level does more for you than the books do.
  • Pressing the Skill when the enemy is clean. You get a small Anemo hit, no conversion and no buff.
  • Crit stats. She isn't dealing the damage, she's inflating someone else's.
  • Chasing her constellations for the damage. C1 and C6 both help the energy problem, which is the only problem she has.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Prune on KeqingMains.