Varesa
ElectroCatalystMain DamageTL;DR
Varesa does her damage by falling on things. The loop is Skill to dash in, one tap of normal attack that comes out as a free launcher, then slam back down, and you run it a couple of times to fill her meter and light up her fiery state. Once she is in that state every landing offers a cheap version of her Burst that skips the cooldown and tops the state back up, and that is the button you want. She stays on the field the whole time.
Rotation
- Press Skill (E) to dash at whatever you are hitting.
- Tap normal attack once. It becomes a free charged attack that throws her into the air. Tap again while airborne to plunge.
- Do both of those again. That second landing fills her meter and drops her into her state.
- Press Burst (Q) as she lands. It comes out as the cheap version, which ignores the cooldown and refills the state.
- Back to step 1. Every plunge from here offers the cheap Burst again.
Abilities
| Skill (E) | Tap to rush forward and hit things on the way. For the next 5 seconds your next normal attack comes out as a free charged attack instead, and she is hard to knock around. Two charges, 9 second cooldown. Holding it puts her in a fast travel mode, which is for the overworld and not for fights. |
|---|---|
| Charged attack | A shoulder charge that bounces her into the air, which is how she gets height to plunge from. Normally 50 stamina a go, but the one after the skill is free. |
| Plunging attack | The damage. Hits everything on the way down and again where she lands. Outside her state each landing fills a quarter of her meter, so two skill and plunge cycles get her into the state on their own. |
| Burst (Q) | Two versions off the same button. The full one is 70 Energy on an 18 second cooldown and just puts her in the state. The one you press is the cheap version: it appears for a moment after a plunge in her state, costs 30 Energy, ignores the cooldown and fills her meter back up. |
| Her state | Up to 15 seconds, and the cheap burst keeps extending it. Normals, charged attacks and plunges all hit harder and the skill gets an extra charge. |
The one mechanic to understand
The skill loads the plunge, and the plunge pays for the next burst.
A plunge on its own is not worth much. Using the skill loads a bonus onto her next ground impact, roughly 50% of her attack normally and about 180% while she is in her state, and that bonus is spent the instant one impact connects. So the skill is not a damage button you press when it happens to be up, it is the thing you press before every single plunge, which is why she has two charges of it. Those landings also fill her meter, and a full meter is what puts her in her state, so the plunges pay for the state rather than the other way round. Spending the full 70 Energy Burst to get in there is the common mistake: two cycles do it for free, and the Energy is worth more as cheap bursts later. The order to keep straight is plunge, then burst, then skill, because using the skill closes the cheap burst window.
What actually matters
The two or three real decisions. Everything else is noise.
- Skill before every plunge. The bonus it loads is most of what a plunge is worth, and one landing uses it all up.
- Energy Recharge, quite a lot of it. She runs on those cheap bursts and wants two of them per rotation. Around 130% gets you there with a second Electro character feeding her particles, closer to 200% if she is the only Electro on the team.
- Natlan teammates buff her. When one of them finishes their nightsoul state it sets off a nightsoul burst, and each one gives Varesa about 35% attack for 12 seconds. Two can be up at once.
Gear
A build that works. KeqingMains lists every other option.
| Weapon | Crit first, then attack. The Widsith off the standard banner is the easy one to have. Favonius Codex instead if her Energy is the thing holding the rotation together, since it makes particles every time she crits. |
|---|---|
| Artifacts | 4-piece Long Night's Oath, which is the plunging attack set and she is a plunging attack character. 4-piece Obsidian Codex does a similar job if that is what your Natlan farming has already handed you. |
| Main stats | Attack sands, Electro goblet, Crit circlet. Elemental Mastery is dead weight unless you are pairing her with Dendro. |
Works well with
Electro
Dendro
PyroA second Electro is mostly about her Energy bill, and it roughly halves how much Energy Recharge she has to carry herself. Dendro turns her hits into aggravate, Pyro overloads them. Whatever the element, a Natlan teammate also feeds her attack buff.
Don't bother
- Standing there swinging. One tap after the skill is a launcher, and everything past that is time she is not in the air.
- Paying stamina for charged attacks. At 50 a go you are empty in seconds, and the free one off the skill is the one you want.
- Holding the skill in a fight. That is the overworld sprint.
- Sitting on the cheap burst. It is only there for a moment after a landing, and it is gone the second you press the skill again.
Want the full theorycrafting version? Read Varesa on KeqingMains.