Skirk

Skirk

5★CryoSwordMain Damage

TL;DR

Skirk stands at the front and swings a sword. Her Skill puts her into a special state where her attacks hit like a truck, and that state runs on a timer. Cryo rifts float around while she fights, and a charged attack near them tops the timer back up. Give her a team of Cryo and Hydro characters, let them go first, then let her off the leash.

Rotation

  1. Supports first. Hydro and Cryo teammates use their skills and bursts on the enemies.
  2. Swap to Skirk and tap Skill (E).
  3. Burst (Q), then normal attack.
  4. Any time rifts are floating nearby, charged attack once, then back to normal attacking.
  5. When the state drops, swap out and let the supports set up again.

Abilities

Normal attacks Ordinary swings until she's in her special state, at which point they get much bigger. Nearly all her damage comes from here.
Skill (E) Tap to enter her special state for about 12 seconds. Holding it is a fast skating dash that crosses water, which is for exploring, not fighting.
Burst (Q) Inside her state it's free and makes the attacks after it hit harder, so that's when you use it. Outside the state it's one big hit that eats the gauge you wanted for the state.
Her gauge She has a gauge instead of an Energy bar. Her skill fills it, rifts refill it, her state drains it.

The one mechanic to understand

The floating rifts.

Your Cryo and Hydro teammates freezing things spawns small rifts near Skirk, and they look like cracks in the air. A charged attack pulls in up to three of them at once with no aiming needed, and each one buys her a few more seconds in her state. So: attack, hoover up rifts when you see them, keep attacking. Miss the rifts and her state ends early, which is the only thing that really goes wrong with her.

Three dark blue rifts hovering above the ground next to Skirk
This is what you're looking for. Three of them at once, so one charged attack takes the lot.

What actually matters

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

  • Her team has to be Cryo and Hydro. Unusual, and not optional. Those elements are what spawn the rifts, and she gets a damage boost for each Hydro or Cryo teammate. A melt team looks tempting and quietly switches her mechanic off.
  • She has no Energy. So Energy Recharge does nothing for her, which makes her the one damage dealer you don't have to build around it.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Crit Rate or Crit DMG, then the highest base attack you can get. If none of your swords have crit on them, Blackcliff Longsword turns up in Paimon's shop for starglitter.
Artifacts 4-piece Finale of the Deep Galleries. It wants a wearer with no Energy, which for her is permanently true.
Main stats Attack sands, Cryo damage goblet, Crit circlet. No Energy Recharge, no Elemental Mastery.

Works well with

HydroCryoElectro

Hydro and Cryo do the real work. Electro is fine as a fourth if you're short on bodies.

Don't bother

  • Watching the gauge tick down. If the state ends early you missed rifts, that's the whole diagnosis.
  • Dash cancel combos. Normal attacks plus rifts gets you most of the damage for none of the effort.
  • Charged attacking when there are no rifts about. It's just a slow swing.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Skirk on KeqingMains.