Xingqiu

4★

HydroSwordOff-field Damage

TL;DR

Xingqiu's Burst makes swords fall out of the sky every time your on-field character Normal Attacks. His Skill wraps the team in floating blades that eat some of the damage coming at you. Press Skill and Burst, then swap to whoever you actually want to play. He keeps working from the bench.

Rotation

Skill (E) for the blades.
Burst (Q) straight after.
Swap to your damage dealer and Normal Attack.
Come back and do it again in about 20 seconds.

Abilities

Skill (E)	Two quick Hydro hits and three blades start orbiting whoever is on the field. They cut incoming damage, stop you getting staggered and heal a little when they pop. Long cooldown, about 21 seconds.
Burst (Q)	For the next 15 seconds, your on-field character's Normal Attacks call down extra swords. This is nearly all of his damage.

The one mechanic to understand

The swords only fall if someone is Normal Attacking.

His Burst does nothing on its own. It's tied to the on-field character's Normal Attacks, so if the person you swapped to is standing around casting abilities or holding a Charged Attack, no swords. Characters who spam Normal Attacks get everything out of him. Characters who mostly press buttons and swap off get about half.

What actually matters

Energy Recharge and a lot of it. His Burst costs 80. Around 200% is the honest number if he's your only Hydro, less if you've got a second Hydro or a Favonius weapon in the team feeding him particles.
He is a damage dealer, not a support. Build him for damage: Hydro damage goblet, Crit circlet. The blades and the healing come free from his Skill, they don't want stats.
He mostly hits one target. The swords chase the enemy your carry is on, so he does far more against a single boss than against a room full of slimes.

Gear

Weapon	Energy Recharge first, Crit second. Amenoma Kageuchi is craftable, has Attack on it and stores a charge each time he uses his Skill, then pays them out as Energy after his Burst, which is exactly what he's short of.
Artifacts	4-piece Emblem of Severed Fate. It gives Energy Recharge and then turns that Energy Recharge into Burst damage. Both halves are exactly what he wants.

Sands	Goblet	Circlet	Substats
ER / ATK	Hydro DMG	Crit DMG	Crit / ATK

Swap the sands to Attack once he can cast his Burst every rotation without waiting.

Works well with

He is the standard Hydro half of a Pyro team and the standard water supply for Dendro reactions. Pretty much anything that wants Hydro on the enemy wants him.

Don't bother

Playing him on the field. His own attacks are weak and he isn't built for it.
Healing stats. The blades heal a trickle off his Max HP and that is not a thing you build for.
Counting the blades. They're a comfort bonus, not something you manage.
Bringing him for a carry who never Normal Attacks. Look at what your damage dealer actually presses first.

Want the full deep dive? Read Xingqiu on KeqingMains.

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