Traveler (Pyro)

Traveler (Pyro)

5★PyroSwordOff-field Damage

TL;DR

Tap the Skill and a ring of fire attaches itself to whoever is on the field, dabbing Pyro onto nearby enemies every few seconds. Burst to keep their meter topped up, then swap away and let the reactions happen. It follows your active character around instead of sitting where you left it, which makes them a much less fussy off-field Pyro than most.

Rotation

  1. Tap Skill (E). The ring latches onto whoever is currently on the field.
  2. Burst (Q) straight after, which pours their meter back up.
  3. Swap to your damage dealer. The ring goes with them and keeps applying Pyro.
  4. Come back in about 18 seconds when the Skill is off cooldown.

Abilities

Skill (E) About an 18 second cooldown. Tap it and you get a ring that trails your active character and hits nearby enemies with Pyro on a timer. Hold it for a different ring, which instead fires back every time your active character deals damage, at most once every 3 seconds, off the Traveler's attack stat. Only one ring at a time, and it dies when the meter does.
Burst (Q) Costs 70 Energy, back in about 18 seconds. A lump of Pyro damage in front of you, and then it refills their meter over the next 4 seconds.
Their nightsoul meter The Skill fills it and it drains on its own. The ring only exists while there is meter left, and the state is capped at about 12 seconds no matter how much you pour in.

The one mechanic to understand

Tap or hold changes what the ring is for.

Tap gives you the version that fires on its own schedule. It does not care what your active character is doing, it covers a decent area and it puts Pyro on things roughly every three seconds, which is exactly what a reaction team wants from an off-field Pyro. That is the default and it is what most teams should use. Hold gives you a ring that only fires when your active character lands damage, and its hits scale off the Traveler's own attack stat. That version is a damage option for an account that has actually built them, and it goes quiet whenever your damage dealer is between attacks. If you are not sure, tap.

What actually matters

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

  • The ring is not up all the time. Twelve seconds of meter against an 18 second cooldown leaves a gap in every rotation. The Burst is what closes most of it, so cast it, and cast it right after the Skill rather than saving it.
  • Energy Recharge. A 70-cost Burst that you want every single rotation, on a character who spends most of the fight on the bench. Get the stat high enough that it is never the thing you are waiting on.
  • The artifact set is a team buff. 4-piece Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City hands the party a large elemental damage bonus when the Traveler sets off a Pyro reaction, and the ring is setting them off from the bench while they are still in their fire state, which is the bigger half of the set.

Gear

A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.

Weapon Exaiphanes Blade. Free out of the Snezhnaya Archon Quest, levelled and refined at that region's Statues of the Seven for nothing, and the best sword on every Traveler form. Its passive keeps ticking while they are on the bench, which is where they spend most of the rotation. Favonius Sword until you have it, for the extra particles.
Artifacts 4-piece Scroll of the Hero of Cinder City. 4-piece Noblesse Oblige instead if a teammate is already wearing the Scroll set, since two of them do not stack.
Main stats Energy Recharge sands, Pyro damage goblet, crit circlet. Swap the sands for attack once the Burst is comfortably on time, and make the circlet Crit Rate specifically if you ended up on Favonius Sword.

Works well with

ElectroHydroDendro

Their passive gives Energy back whenever the active character sets off a Pyro reaction inside the ring, so a team that reacts constantly is also a team that keeps their Burst on time. Natlan teammates feed them a little Energy too.

Don't bother

  • Normal attacks, unless you have their sixth constellation, which turns the whole string Pyro and is a different character.
  • Recasting the Skill early to top the meter up. It resets to the same 42 points either way and you have thrown away the cooldown.
  • Elemental Mastery. They are applying the element, not triggering the reaction, so the mastery that matters belongs to whoever is on the field.
  • Wishing for constellations. Pyro Traveler's come out of reputation with the Natlan tribes.

Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Traveler (Pyro) on KeqingMains.