Raiden Shogun is one of the strongest and most flexible characters currently in Genshin Impact. She’s the powerful electro archon presiding over Inazuma and, unlike the rest of the archons in Genshin Impact, rules with a militaristic approach. With a potential rerun coming in the near future, you’ll be wanting to figure out precisely what builds excel on her and how you can curate an artifact set specifically for her. And let me tell you, maximizing her potential is among the greatest things you can do for your account.
But beyond that, what exactly makes her so incredible?
Let’s talk about it.
Raiden’s Strengths
- She provides a plethora of particles, which makes obtaining bursts easier for the rest of your team. This is known as a “battery unit.”
- The Raiden Shogun is a flexible unit. Her presence alone can elevate teams (a nice little bonus attributed to her E/elemental skill, Transcendence: Baleful Omen). You can build her as the hypercarry of your team, or you can dip into her supportive capabilities. She’s also a powerful sub-dps, if that’s what you need from her.
- Her elemental skill is useful for reactions, and now that dendro is in the game, Raiden’s power in the meta has only risen. She’s proving to have aged like a fine wine; the raw versatility of her character is nigh unmatched.
- Raiden Shogun works well with every element. Given electro’s power, it’s no surprise she can be slotted into practically anything: hydro, pyro, dendro, cryo. You name it, her element excels alongside. Except maybe geo, but–well, geo has seen better days…
- Her damage potential is insane because of her Ascension 4 talent, Enlightened One, in which she gains energy restoration and electro damage per 1% above 100% of energy recharge.
- Her rotations are fast and relatively easy. This means she can work within all manner of comps, and in some instances she can act as the DPS herself.
- You’ll never need another electro character (unless you want one). Seriously. For every account, Raiden Shogun provides a different answer. That’s how good she is.
- She’s a monster in the Abyss. Yeah, yeah, the abyss isn’t everything, I know–but if you’re new and hunting that 3 star Floor 12, you might want to look into pulling on her banner if what you need is an electro character. And with Fontaine, plenty of the enemies are hydro. Believe me, she’ll help your account until the day Genshin’s servers close.
Okay, now that we’ve gotten her pros out of the way, let’s take a gander at some cons she might have, or reasons why you might not want to pull for her.
Raiden’s Weaknesses
- She’s not a “must have,” and, indeed, there are viable answers to the problems Raiden fixes that can be found elsewhere. There are countless 4 stars that function just as well as her. Fischl herself, especially at c6, is an incredibly strong choice if you’re still thinking about whether or not you want Raiden. All-in-all, she’s a good battery, but she might not strengthen every team whereas another option might suit it better.
- There are DPS Units far superior to her. This isn’t to say her damage is bad. Rather, what it means is she can be difficult to buff and her numbers won’t quite reach the status of other hyper-carries in the game.
- Her burst restricts synergy. Yes, you heard me right; Raiden’s burst inhibits her ability to synergize with buffers and units that would make tremendous use of her capabilities as a battery.
- Building her is a pain. She’s more complicated than most characters in Genshin, as she wants so many different stats. Finding the right balance is difficult.
Okay, so we’ve gotten the pros and cons out of the way. Raiden Shogun is a powerful, fun to play unit–but she might not be the right pick for your account, and that’s okay! If you’ve decided you’re interested in getting her and now you want to know what artifacts to put on her, what weapons she works well with, and what comps she flourishes within–don’t worry. You’ve come to the right place. Once you get the right build she’s going to be a complete and utter powerhouse the likes of which you’ll never have to worry about replacing.
Let’s go ahead and look at her strongest builds
1. Raiden International: Emblem of Severed Fate
Emblem of Severed Fate (pictured above) is, without a doubt, Raiden Shogun’s best in slot artifact set. It’s incredibly powerful and allows players to drive home some seriously incredible damage. If you’re looking for an artifact set, this should be your first answer–provided you’re far enough into the game, of course.
Why Emblem of Severed Fate?
- 4 Piece Emblem of Severed Fate is the most obvious answer to any Raiden Shogun build. It gives you everything she wants: Energy Recharge and Burst DMG.
- ESF (Emblem of Severed Fate) is the pinnacle of artifacts for this character, allowing players to attain upwards of 200% Energy Recharge.
- The domain might be hard, but it’s worthwhile; you get Shimenawa’s Reminiscence as well, which can be useful for characters like Ayato or Scaramouche.
- You need 300% energy recharge to make full use of the 4 piece passive, but (and this is going to sound crazy) it is attainable if you spend enough time grinding and are lucky. Even if you cannot reach it, you can still sit around 200% and be perfectly fine.
- The flat energy recharge coupled with the burst damage increase synergizes beautifully with Raiden’s kit, smoothing over the process of attaining stats for this undeniably powerful character.
Artifact Stats:
Goblet: Electro Damage or ATK% main stat.
Flower: Flat HP main stat.
Feather: Flat Attack main stat.
Sands: ER% or ATK% main stat.
Circlet: Crit Rate or Damage main stat.
For substats, crit rate and crit damage are the highest priority, followed by (in order of importance), atk%, energy recharge, and flat atk.
Weapons:
- Five Star: Engulfing Lightning is Raiden’s Best in Slot. For its main stat, Engulfing provides energy recharge, going up to a maximum of 55%. Attack increases by 28% of energy recharge upon breaching 100%, capping at an 80% increase to attack. After using burst, you gain 30% energy recharge for 12 seconds, meaning if you manage to get her to 270% ER with the weapon’s main stat bonus, you’ll get bumped up to that legendary 300% status.
- Four Star: The Catch is the king of all free-to-play polearms for Raiden Shogun. It increases energy recharge with its main stat. With its skill, it increases burst damage by a lovely 16% (which can be increased, as you can get free refinements for the polearm). Just get ready to fish for a long, long time. Join people’s co-op worlds and ask if you can fish. Trust me, you’ll need it to expedite the process or else you’ll go insane.
Raiden’s Talent Priority:
- 1. Burst: Secret Art: Musou Shinsetus. Gathering truths unnumbered and wishes uncounted, the Raiden Shogun unleashes the Musou no Hitotachi and deals AoE Electro DMG, using Musou Isshin in combat for a certain duration afterward. The DMG dealt by Musou no Hitotachi and Musou Isshin's attacks will be increased based on the number of Chakra Desiderata's Resolve stacks consumed when this skill is used.
- 2. Elemental Skill: Transcendence: Baleful Omen. The Raiden Shogun unveils a shard of her Euthymia, dealing Electro DMG to nearby opponents, and granting nearby party members the Eye of Stormy Judgment.
- 3. Normal Attack: Origin. Performs up to 5 consecutive spear strikes.
Best Team for this Build:
International Team: Raiden, Xiangling, Xingqiu, Bennet.
This is one of Raiden’s strongest teams, and puts her in the position of damage-dealer. However, keep in mind that Xiangling wants the Catch, so if you don’t have Engulfing Lightning for Raiden you might find it slightly difficult to equip two polearm units. The international team is so powerful because it’s so relatively easy to acquire and provides so much in return.
2. Aggravate: Gilded Dreams
4 Piece Gilded Dreams (pictured above) is a set you can put on Raiden Shogun whenever you’re running her in a reaction-based team comp. If you have her in a team with varying elements, she’ll benefit from the elemental mastery provided by having those distinct elements. If you do slot her with an artifact set like this, try to keep her in a hyperbloom team comp, something like: Raiden, anemo, dendro, hydro.
Why Gilded Dreams?
- This artifact set excels in reactionary comps, which Raiden Shogun is oftentimes placed in.
- Dendro artifacts are some of the best in the game currently. This is because dendro, as a whole, is one of the strongest elements in the game.
- Elemental Mastery works pretty well on Raiden in dendro comps, as she’s often the one triggering reactions. It’s not really worth maximizing on her, however, but still a useful stat to have a little more of.
- The domain is easy enough to grind; while grinding it, you’ll also get Deepwood Memories–another stellar artifact set to place on dendro units.
- The artifacts will always have a place on another unit; ever since its release, dendro has only gotten stronger and stronger with every new character release. There has yet to be an exception to this rule.
Artifact Stats:
Goblet: Electro Damage or ATK% main stat.
Flower: Flat HP main stat.
Feather: Flat Attack main stat.
Sands: ER% or ATK% main stat.
Circlet: Crit Rate or Damage main stat.
For substats, crit rate and crit damage are the highest priority, followed by (in order of importance), atk%, energy recharge, and flat atk.
Weapons:
- Five Star: Staff of Homa. Staff of Homa increases crit damage as its main stat. If you’re like me and too lazy to get the Catch, you’ll want to slot this (or Wavebreaker’s Fin) on your Raiden. Homa’s crit damage goes up to 66%. For its skill, it increases HP by a flat 20% and gives an atk bonus based on 0.8% of the wielder’s maximum HP. When below half health, the attack bonus is increased by an additional 1% of max HP.
- Four Star: Wavebreaker’s Fin. Wavebreaker’s Fin, while perhaps not the most free to play friendly, is relatively easily attainable from the weapon banner. It increases attack by a % base for its main stat. The skill effect increases your burst damage based on the maximum energy capacity of the entire team. So, if you’re using her with this weapon, try to run her alongside units that are particle hungry and need batteries. The bonus of elemental damage can increase by a monstrous 40% like this.
Raiden’s Talent Priority:
- 1. Burst: Secret Art: Musou Shinsetus. Gathering truths unnumbered and wishes uncounted, the Raiden Shogun unleashes the Musou no Hitotachi and deals AoE Electro DMG, using Musou Isshin in combat for a certain duration afterward. The DMG dealt by Musou no Hitotachi and Musou Isshin's attacks will be increased based on the number of Chakra Desiderata's Resolve stacks consumed when this skill is used.
- 2. Elemental Skill: Transcendence: Baleful Omen. The Raiden Shogun unveils a shard of her Euthymia, dealing Electro DMG to nearby opponents, and granting nearby party members the Eye of Stormy Judgment.
- 3. Normal Attack: Origin. Performs up to 5 consecutive spear strikes.
Best Team for this Build:
Aggravate: Raiden, Kujou Sara, Yae Miko, Dendro Traveler.
This team is amazing–if you can get it. The electro resonance bonus provides tremendous aid here. If you haven’t gotten Yae Miko but have a Fischl or Kuki, these can be options, too. Just try to keep Sara in the party, as she synergizes very well with Raiden, especially at higher constellations. Optionally, you can slot a better dendro unit like Nahida, if you have her.
3. Hyperbloom: Flower of Paradise Lost
4 Piece Flower of Paradise Lost is another set you can run on Raiden Shogun. It’s both helpful and beneficial to get that increase to reaction damage, but it should be noted that if you’re running this artifact set on her, you absolutely must be running a dendro comp. The previous set, Gilded Dreams, is also most optimal alongside the hyper-reactivity of dendro, but its effects and bonuses can be applied outside dendro comps if you really want. Flower of Paradise Lost, however, requires that you’re triggering dendro reactions.
Why Flower of Paradise Lost?
- Flower is a little more restrictive than the other sets, but if you’re running Raiden and Dendro, it enables powerful reactions.
- If you have Scaramouche, grinding this set is doubly effective; you’re able to get his artifact set from the same domain. However, if you don’t have him, it’s still worthwhile, as this set is a strong option for many characters.
- Again, following suit with Gilded Dreams, Flower of Paradise Lost won’t ever quite lose effectiveness. There may be another set that comes along and is better at your specific objective, but it’s something to grind regardless because the reaction damage is increased so greatly.
- It’s easy to stack with Raiden, especially once she ults. This means your dendro-related reactions will constantly be empowered.
- While not as good as Emblem, it’s arguably as good as Gilded Dreams–if not a little better. Raiden’s already a powerful unit, so being able to offer her more dmg% increases is exactly what she wants and needs.
Artifact Stats:
Goblet: Electro Damage or ATK% main stat.
Flower: Flat HP main stat.
Feather: Flat Attack main stat.
Sands: ER% or ATK% main stat.
Circlet: Crit Rate or Damage main stat.
For substats, crit rate and crit damage are the highest priority, followed by (in order of importance), atk%, energy recharge, and flat atk.Weapons:
- Five Star: Primordial Jade Winged-Spear is a strong option if you happen to have one laying around. It offers crit rate, increasing atk for every enemy you hit by 3.2%. This bonus has 7 stacks and can only refresh every 0.3 seconds. While not her best option, it still offers some nice crit rate and high base stats, being a 5 star.
- Four Star: Favonius Lance is a 4 star polearm that, again, can be acquired from the gacha rather than crafted. However, its main stat is energy recharge (which Raiden has great want for). It can be great for when you want more burst uptime on a team (crits have a 60% chance to create particles with the favonious lance), but it should be noted the catch is both free and stronger.
Raiden’s Talent Priority:
- 1. Burst: Secret Art: Musou Shinsetus. Gathering truths unnumbered and wishes uncounted, the Raiden Shogun unleashes the Musou no Hitotachi and deals AoE Electro DMG, using Musou Isshin in combat for a certain duration afterward. The DMG Dealt by Musou no HItotachi and Musou isshin’s attacks will be increased based on the number of Chakra Desiderata’s Resolve stacks consumed when this skill is used.
- 2. Elemental Skill: Transcendence: Baleful Omen. The Raiden Shogun unveils a shard of her Euthymia, dealing Electro DMG to nearby opponents, and granting nearby party members the Eye of Stormy Judgment.
- 3. Normal Attack: Origin. Performs up to 5 consecutive spear strikes.
Best Team for this Build
Hyperbloom: Raiden, Yelan, Nahida, Kazuha.
This team is monstrous. If you don’t have all the members (and believe me, you’d have an easier time getting all the pieces of Exodia) you can exchange Yelan for Xingqiu (if you have him) or any other hydro-applicator. Nahida can be replaced with dendro traveler if you have them C6, and Kazuha can be replaced with Sucrose. I wouldn’t recommend Venti for this team as his burst makes it difficult to hit enemies (which means Raiden’s DPS might struggle).
Now that you know how to build Raiden and create some powerful teams, go out and have plenty of fun. Hopefully you get all the artifacts you want and your wishing sessions are bountiful.
