Sayu

Sayu

4★AnemoClaymoreHealer

TL;DR

Sayu's Burst is the heal. It restores the party off her Attack and leaves a little wooden helper behind that heals or attacks depending on how the team is doing. Rolling through enemies with an element on them swirls it. Every Swirl tops the party up a little more. Hold Skill, roll through the group, Burst, swap.

Rotation

  1. Have a teammate leave Hydro, Pyro, Cryo or Electro on the enemies first.
  2. Hold Skill (E) and roll through them. Every Swirl tops the team up.
  3. Press the Skill again to stop rolling and finish with the kick.
  4. Burst (Q) for the big heal and the helper, then swap off. The helper stays for 12 seconds.

Abilities

Skill (E) Tap to roll a short distance and finish with an Anemo kick. Hold to keep rolling for up to 10 seconds, steering as you go, then press again to end it early with a stronger kick. The longer she rolls the longer the cooldown afterwards, from 6 seconds up to 11. A held roll picks up whichever of the four elements she touches and adds damage of that type.
Burst (Q) 80 Energy, back in 20 seconds. Anemo damage, a heal for the party off her Attack, then a helper that stands there for 12 seconds. It attacks while everyone is above 70% health and switches to healing the worst-off character below that.
Her Swirl healing A passive, not a button. Swirling while she's on the field heals every character for a small flat amount plus a bit more per point of her Elemental Mastery, at most once every 2 seconds.

The one mechanic to understand

Two heals. The Burst is the big one.

The Burst heals on cast off her Attack, then the helper heals whoever drops under 70% health for the next 12 seconds. Levelling the Burst talent is what makes both of those bigger. The Swirl passive is the top-up: a small heal every 2 seconds while she rolls through enemies that already have an element on them, growing with her Elemental Mastery. Even with a pile of Elemental Mastery it stays well behind a levelled Burst, so it covers the gaps between Bursts rather than replacing them.

What actually matters

  • Level the Burst talent. Both of its heals grow with it and nothing else on her moves them as much.
  • Attack heals, Elemental Mastery hits. Her Burst heals off Attack and her Swirls hit for more with Elemental Mastery. A healer takes Attack first.
  • An element on the enemies. No element, no Swirl, no top-up and no resistance cut from her artifact set.
  • Energy Recharge for an 80 Energy Burst. Around 200% if she's your only Anemo character, which is why her sands carries it.

Gear

Weapon Energy Recharge, then Attack. Katsuragikiri Nagamasa is craftable, has the Energy Recharge and feeds her a little more after the Skill hits.
Artifacts 4-piece Viridescent Venerer. Stronger Swirls and 40% off the swirled element's resistance for the team, which is the set built for what she spends the fight doing.
Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
ER / ATK ATK / EM Healing Bonus ER / ATK

Elemental Mastery pieces are fine if you want her Swirls to hit harder. It is Attack that heals.

Works well with

PyroHydroElectro

Any of the four she can swirl. She wants one of them left on the enemies before she starts rolling, so an off-field applicator suits her better than a carry who applies while on the field.

Don't bother

  • Rolling for the full 10 seconds. Longer roll, longer cooldown, with your carry waiting.
  • Crit stats. Nothing she does for the team crits.
  • Stacking Elemental Mastery for the healing. The Swirl top-up never catches a levelled Burst.
  • Her Normal Attack strings. The claymore is scenery.

Want the full deep dive? Read Sayu on KeqingMains.

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