Sara

Sara

4★ElectroBowSupport

TL;DR

Sara buffs Attack by dropping a feather on the ground and having somebody else stand on it. Skill, fire one fully charged aimed shot at the enemies, swap in your carry to collect the bonus, Burst when you have the Energy. The bonus reads off her base Attack, so her weapon and her level matter more than her artifacts.

Rotation

  1. Skill (E). She hops backwards and gains the feather state for 18 seconds.
  2. Fire a fully charged aimed shot at the enemies. The charge is much faster in this state. A feather lands where the arrow does.
  3. Swap to your damage dealer and fight on top of the feather. It goes off shortly after and hands them the Attack bonus for 6 seconds.
  4. Burst (Q) when you have the Energy. It hands out the same bonus over a much wider area.

Abilities

Skill (E) 10 second cooldown. She retreats and gains a state lasting 18 seconds. The next fully charged aimed shot spends it, leaving a feather where the arrow lands. Aimed shots charge 60% faster while the state is up.
The feather Goes off a moment after it lands for Electro damage, giving the active character standing in its area an Attack bonus for 6 seconds. The bonus is a flat number read off Sara's base Attack.
Burst (Q) 80 Energy, back in 20 seconds. A big Electro strike followed by four smaller ones, all of them handing out the same Attack bonus over their area.

The one mechanic to understand

The feather has to land where the fighting is.

Nothing about the buff comes from Sara standing next to you. She leaves a feather at the spot her arrow hit and the character who is on the field when it detonates picks up the bonus, provided they are inside its area. Miss the enemies and you have buffed a patch of grass. The bonuses do not stack either, so a second feather refreshes the 6 seconds rather than adding to it. Because the number comes off her base Attack, a high base Attack bow raises the buff directly and Attack percentage on her artifacts does not.

What actually matters

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

  • Base Attack, not Attack percentage. Her weapon and her character level set the size of the buff. Attack rolls on her artifacts only feed her own damage.
  • Energy Recharge, twice over. 80 Energy on her Burst. Her passive also hands the whole party Energy back based on how much Recharge she has. Around 180% is comfortable.
  • The window is 6 seconds. Fire the shot and swap in, since the buff starts the moment the feather goes off whether anyone is standing there or not.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Energy Recharge. A high base Attack does double duty here because the buff reads off it. Favonius Warbow carries the Recharge and drops particles on a crit.
Artifacts 4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate. Energy Recharge on the two-piece, which pays for the Burst and for the Energy her passive shares out.
Main stats Energy Recharge sands, Electro damage goblet, Crit circlet. That last pair is only for her own Burst damage.

Works well with

ElectroDendro

Electro, since at C6 the Crit DMG bonus she adds only applies to Electro damage. Dendro if your carry is the one setting off Aggravate.

Don't bother

  • Attack percentage on her artifacts, if you brought her for the buff.
  • Untargeted aimed shots. The whole point is landing the feather among the enemies.
  • Her Normal Attacks.
  • Stacking feathers. A second one refreshes the timer, it does not double the bonus.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Sara on KeqingMains.