Xiao is arguably one of the characters in Genshin Impact that looks cool and deals heavy damage at the same time. Xiao is an Adeptus (Illuminated Beast/Immortal) and is called the Vigilant Yaksha. With his banner’s rumored date of rerun just a few months away, this may be the guide that you are looking for if you want to pull for him.
To make our listless redundant and for it to have a greater scope, let us determine first what artifact we should be using on Xiao. Two artifact-set combinations work great on Xiao; the 4-set Shimenawa’s Reminiscence (we’ll call this “SR” for now since it has a long name), and the combination of 2-piece Gladiator’s Finale and 2-piece Viridescent Venerer (we’ll call these ”Glad” and “Viri” because artifact names in Genshin Impact are generally long).
The 2-piece Glad and Viri is generally good for Xiao since it boosts his attack and Anemo damage bonus, while the 4-pc SR bonus is good for Xiao since it boosts his plunging attacks — which is his main source of damage, but you need to meet the energy requirement and to proc this bonus, you need his elemental skill.
I use him with 2-piece Glad, 2-piece Viri, and an Anemo damage bonus goblet since this is what I (and most of the Xiao mains I’ve consulted) think is the most optimal build for him. With the artifacts out of the way, we shall now look at what weapon we should use for him. The list is based on my own opinion, experience, and a little bit of research from the internet.
5. Prototype Grudge
Xiao beats enemies using the Prototype Starglitter
The weapon that took the Number Five spot on this list is the Prototype Grudge. A free-to-play weapon obtainable through crafting, it truly is a “budget” weapon for Xiao. This weapon is great for players who had just started the game and don’t want to spend real money yet or are saving their Primogems for upcoming units or weapons.
What Prototype Grudge excels in:
- Gives Xiao Energy Recharge which results in higher uptime.
- Boosts normal and charged attacks based on stack count.
- Free-to-play, craftable.
This weapon gives Xiao 510 base attack and 45.9% Energy Recharge which is good for Xiao since his Elemental Burst costs 70 energy. Its passive is also good for Xiao if his Elemental Burst isn’t up yet since it gives an 8% to 16% normal and charged attack boost with one stack and 16% to 32% at 2 stacks. The boost is based on the refinement rank of the weapon and can be triggered by using an Elemental Skill.
This passive syncs with Lemniscatic Wind Cycling (Xiao’s Elemental Skill) because it has 2 stacks even at constellation zero (C0). This weapon may also be a great partner if you want to use the Shimenawa’s Reminiscence set, which also has a passive that can be triggered by using an elemental skill and meeting the energy requirement. If you have Xiao and don’t have a weapon for him yet but happen to have a polearm billet lying around in your inventory, you might want to try this weapon out!
Build Details:
- The weapon’s sub-stat gives you Energy Recharge which means you won’t have an easy time farming, but you’ll have an easier experience in combat since your Elemental Burst will charge quicker.
- For artifacts you’d want to use a Sands with Attack Percentage main-stat, a Goblet with Anemo Damage Bonus main-stat, and a Circlet with Crit-damage main-stat since Xiao’s ascension stat bonus gives you crit-rate.
- It’s a good idea to use pieces with crit-stats and aim for at least 1:2 crit ratio. Having 1:3 crit-ratio with 50% crit-rate will make Xiao a great DPS.
- When using this weapon, you’d probably want to have the two stacks from the passive to maximize damage output.
4. Deathmatch
Xiao faces off enemy bosses using Deathmatch
Our Number Four spot goes to the Deathmatch. This weapon can be obtained by purchasing the battle pass and reaching level 30 on it. This is a great option if you are saving for one of Xiao’s best weapons, or maybe you weren’t able to get it, or you just want an easily obtained weapon that gives a critical rate chance so that you can build Xiao easily.
What Deathmatch excels in:
- Gives a high Critical Chance which makes it easier to farm and build artifacts.
- Has an amazing passive which is based on how many opponents are nearby.
- Affordable and non-gacha, available on the Battle Pass.
Among the battle pass weapons, Deathmatch gives the highest crit rate which is 36.8% at level 90. With that in mind along with Xiao’s ascension stat passive, which is also crit rate and gives him 24.2% at phase 6, you’d have a total of 61% crit rate which means you can now focus on Attack and Crit Damage stats when you are farming for your artifacts. Now, you might ask “Why should we focus on attack stat?”. That’s because Deathmatch’s high crit rate sub stat comes at a price. Despite it having the greatest crit rate, it also has the lowest base attack among the battle pass weapons which only sits at 454 Attack.
Deathmatch also has an awesome passive that gives an attack boost based on the number of enemies nearby. It gives 16% attack when you have two or more enemies around and 24% attack when you’re facing only one enemy. At refinement rank 5, this passive gives 32% and 48% attack stats respectively. As previously said, you can unlock this weapon by reaching level 30 on the paid battle pass, be it the Gnostic Hymn or the Gnostic Chorus. So, if you are willing to spend $10 to $20 on this game, this weapon may be the best for you.
Build Details:
- As mentioned before, when Xiao is at phase 6 of his ascension and when this weapon is at level 90, you’d have 61% crit-rate, which means you should go for crit-damage main-stat Circlet.
- The usual Sands with Attack Percentage main-stat, a Goblet with Anemo Damage Bonus main-stat will be the most effective artifact pieces with this weapon.
- When using this weapon, it’s easier to achieve 1:3 crit-ratio so you should look for pieces that have crit-damage sub-stats, having as many attack stats as possible is great as well.
3. Blackcliff Pole
Xiao defeats enemies using the Blackcliff Pole
The Third spot of our list goes to a free-to-play weapon that can be purchased using the Masterless Starglitter – an in-game currency obtained by getting weapons or character constellations (duplicates) from the gacha system. If you often do wishes and happen to save 24 Masterless Starglitters, trying out this weapon might benefit you a lot.
What Blackcliff Pole excels in:
- Easy to build because of high critical damage sub-stat.
- Great against mobs because of the passive.
- Free-to-play, purchasable through Paimon’s Shop.
The Blackcliff Pole (and other Blackcliff weapons) is one of the best free-to-play options available in the game. It shows up in the Paimon’s Shop every other month, exchanging places with the Royal Weapons (which we will not talk about here, but maybe in another article) and costs 24 Masterless Starglitters. The great thing about this weapon is that it gives 55.1% crit damage at level 90 which is pretty huge and will also mean that you will have an easier experience at farming Xiao’s artifacts.
Blackcliff Pole’s passive is one of the most debated topics in the Genshin Impact community. It boosts your attack based on how many enemies you’ve killed, and it stacks up to three times. Each stack gives you a 12% attack at refinement rank 1 and 24% attack at refinement rank 5 you’ll have a 36% to 72% bonus attack assuming that you’ve killed three enemies. Note that these stacks have different durations, and the earliest stack will refresh once you’ve killed a new enemy.
The bad thing about this passive, as people say, is that it requires you to kill three enemies to reach its full potential, it is useful for mobs but against higher abyss floor enemies, it tends to be useless, especially on floor 12. There are usually fewer enemies at floor 12, and their HP pools are huge, which means it is almost impossible to proc the passive.
If you only use Xiao on floors with a greater number of enemies and/or you just like using a weapon with great crit stats, Blackcliff may be good for you. Otherwise, you might want to try the other weapons on this list.
Build Details:
- As opposed to Deathmatch, this weapon gives crit-damage sub-stat, which means you should go for crit-rate main-stat Circlet for damage consistency.
- The usual Sands with Attack Percentage main-stat, a Goblet with Anemo Damage Bonus main-stat will be the most effective artifact pieces with this weapon.
- When using this weapon and a crit-rate Circlet, it will be easy to achieve 1:3 crit-ratio so you should look for pieces that have crit sub-stats, having as many attack stats as possible is great as well.
2. Vortex Vanquisher/Skyward Spine
We are now on our top 2 best weapons/builds for Xiao and as you might’ve noticed, there are 2 weapons for each spot. The main reason is to give free-to-play players, low spenders, and people who do not get the weapon they get to have more options. Thus, we will call spots 1 and 2 of our list the “lucky section”.
We’ll start our “Lucky Section” with the weapon that didn’t get a rerun when Zhongli had one, the Vortex Vanquisher.
Xiao vanquishes the Azhdaha with Vortext Vanquisher
What Vortex Vanquisher excels in:
- Has a high attack percentage sub-stat.
- Attack percentage increases on hit.
- The attack is boosted further when Xiao is shielded.
This weapon increases Shield Strength by 20% and can boost attack by 4% for every hit and stacks up to 5 times. So, at refinement rank 1, you’d get up to 20% attack bonus and at refinement rank 5, you may have up to 40% damage bonus. The bonus attack doubles up when you are protected by a shield, so this weapon is great for Xiao if you are using a shield character, examples are Zhongli, Diona, or Noelle.
If you are using Vortex Vanquisher on Xiao, you might want to attack several times first before doing your full combo or activating your Elemental Burst since the passive stacks up every 0.3 seconds. Since it is a 5-star weapon, it naturally has great main and sub stats which are 608 attack stats and a 49.6% attack percentage. I’ve seen people using Energy Recharge sands when using this weapon on Xiao since his Elemental Burst is somehow expensive.
Build Details:
- This weapon and its passive will give Xiao a lot of attack stats, which means you should focus on crit-stats when farming for artifacts.
- For artifact main-stats, go with Sands with Attack Percentage, a Goblet with Anemo Damage Bonus, and a Circlet with Crit-rate or Crit-damage will be the most effective artifact pieces with this weapon.
- For the Circlet, it will be easier for you to use one with a main-stat of Crit-damage since Xiao’s ascension stat bonus gives you crit-rate. Farm for at least 50% crit-rate for damage consistency and have at least 1:3 crit-ratio to maximize damage output.
- To further boost Xiao’s damage, have a shield generator in your party, Zhongli, Diona, and Noelle will fit perfectly in this role.
Next on our “Lucky Section” is a weapon that I’ve personally used on Xiao for a long time, and it can be obtained through the Standard Banner – the Skyward Spine. Another great Energy Recharge weapon with a huge base attack. If you are one of the players who have this weapon, you may want to give it a try on Xiao.
Xiao uses the Skyward Spine to defeat enemies
What Skyward Spine excels in:
- Boosts attack speed and creates small vacuum blades.
- Gives Energy Recharge which is useful for Elemental Burst uptime.
- Obtainable through the standard banner.
Skyward Spine gives a 608 base attack and 36.8% Energy Recharge at level 90. The sub stat is a little lower than that of the aforementioned Prototype Starglitter since Skyward Spine has a lot more base attack. This weapon also gives Xiao an 8% additional crit rate which is essential for him, an additional 12% attack speed, and has a chance to produce vacuum blades that deal 40% extra damage. If you get lucky and get up to 5 copies of Skyward Spine and chose to refine it, you will have an additional 16% crit rate, and the vacuum blades’ damage is boosted to 100% of the attack.
As someone who used this weapon on Xiao for a long time, I wasn’t able to notice the attack speed bonus that it gives, but the obvious boost I got was the Energy Recharge. Meaning, I get to use his Elemental Boost a lot more often.
Sure, these weapons on spot Number Two deal less damage than those weapons on Number One, but these weapons deal a lot more than the weapons mentioned earlier.
Build Details:
- This weapon gives Xiao a huge base-attack and energy recharge, which means you will have higher uptime on Xiao’s elemental burts.
- When farming for artifacts, choose pieces with main-stats as follows, go with Sands with Attack Percentage, a Goblet with Anemo Damage Bonus, and a Circlet with Crit-rate or Crit-damage will be the most effective artifact pieces with this weapon.
- For the Circlet, it will be easier for you to use one with a main-stat of Crit-damage since Xiao’s ascension stat bonus gives you crit-rate. Farm for at least 50% crit-rate for damage consistency and have at least 1:3 crit-ratio to maximize damage output.
1. Staff of Homa/Primordial Jade Winged-Spear
The weapons that took our Number One spot are considered as Xiao’s best in slot weapons. Both were available during patch 1.3 and if you are one of the players who were lucky enough to get your hands on one of these, you’d want to use it on Xiao. We’re talking about the Staff of Homa, and the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear.
We’ll discuss the Staff of Homa first, as well as other possible characters that may use it. If you have Hu Tao, you’d want to use this weapon on her since this is her best-in-slot. Zhongli is also one of the characters that will benefit a lot from this weapon since his shield now scales off his health, Staff of Homa giving additional health makes this weapon one of Zhongli’s best-in-slot as well. But this list isn’t about them, it’s about Xiao.
Xiao makes the Primo Geovishap disappear in mere seconds using the Staff of Homa
What Staff of Homa excels in:
- Gives additional health.
- Boosts attack based on health.
- Boosts attach further at low health.
- Has high critical damage sub stat, resulting in easier farming and building of artifacts.
The Staff of Homa is a 5-star weapon, which means it naturally has a high base attack which comes at 608, and that comes with 66.2% crit damage sub stat at level 90. This crit damage sub stat is higher than what a maxed crit damage artifact circlet has (which gives you 62.2%). The additional 20% health at refinement rank 1 or 40% health at refinement rank 5 is helpful for Xiao since his Elemental Burst drains his HP.
This weapon also gives an additional attack based 0.8% to 1.6% of Xiao’s maximum health, refinement rank 1 and rank 5 respectively. At low health, this boost is further boosted by an additional 1% at refinement rank 1, and 1.8% at refinement rank 5 if your health is lower than 50%. To maximize this bonus, you may want to use a shield user like Zhongli, Diona, or Noelle, if you are below 50% healthy and want to avoid extra damage coming from the enemies.
The main reason for using this on Xiao is its great crit damage sub stat, which as previously mentioned gives you higher crit damage than what a crit damage circlet can give you. With that in mind, it would be easier to build Xiao’s artifacts, or if you grind enough and you get extremely lucky, you may be able to have a great crit rate to crit damage ratio.
Build Details:
- This weapon gives crit-damage sub-stat, which means you should go for crit-rate main-stat Circlet for damage consistency.
- The usual Sands with Attack Percentage main-stat, a Goblet with Anemo Damage Bonus main-stat will be the most effective artifact pieces with this weapon.
- When using this weapon and a crit-rate Circlet, it will be easy to achieve 1:3 crit-ratio so you should look for pieces that have crit sub-stats, having as many attack stats as possible is great as well.
- It’s a great idea to have a shield generator in your party when using this weapon in order to activate the passive that gives you more attack when below 50% while avoiding additional damage.
If you’re one of the players who want to achieve an in-game “cosplay”, this weapon suits Xiao’s aesthetics. This weapon also gives the highest base attack among all other polearms in this list, and the weapon’s sub stat syncs well with his ascension passive stat which is crit rate. We’re talking about Xiao’s absolute best in slot weapon, the Primordial Jade Winged-Spear (we’ll call this one the “Jade Spear” since we hate long names).
Xiao obliterates enemy bosses with his Primordial Jade Winged-Spear
What Primordial Jade Winged-Spear excels in:
- Increases attack on-hit and have a high stack count.
- Gives critical chance and a high base attack.
- Boosts damage output, aside from the stackable passive.
- It Matches Xiao’s appearance and lore.
As mentioned earlier, the Jade Spear has the highest base attack among all the polearms in this list, coming in at 674 attack stats and having a 22.1% crit rate as its sub stat, this weapon makes artifact farming somehow easy. I said “somehow” because the sub stat and Xiao’s 24.1% crit rate ascension passive stat does not guarantee a consistent critical chance. But not to worry, this problem can be fixed by having at least one artifact piece with good crit-rate stats.
The passive gives Xiao 3.2% attack per stack at refinement rank 1, and 6% attack per stack at refinement rank 5, stacks last for 6 seconds. This stacks up to 7 times, meaning you can get 22.4% to 42% attack at max stacks. At max stacks, the character equipped with this weapon will also deal 12% to 24% more damage, based on refinement rank.
If the numbers above cannot convince you into using this weapon, maybe telling you that this is his canon weapon will do so. The Jade Spear is what Xiao uses on his story quest, on the trailer, and even on some cutscenes. This weapon is also available on the standard banner, so if you’re lucky enough to obtain it, you’ll be doing yourself a huge favor by using it on Xiao.
Build Details:
- This weapon gives crit-rate sub-stat, which means you should go for crit-damage main-stat Circlet for damage consistency.
- The usual Sands with Attack Percentage main-stat, a Goblet with Anemo Damage Bonus main-stat will be the most effective artifact pieces with this weapon.
- When using this weapon and a crit-damage Circlet, it will be easy to achieve 1:3 crit-ratio so you should look for pieces that have crit sub-stats, having as many attack stats as possible is great as well.
- To maximize damage output when in combat, after using party members’ skills to boost Xiao’s attack (like Bennett’s Elemental Burst), do a full normal attack combo to generate the stacks of the weapon then use both stacks of his Elemental Skill before using Xiao’s Elemental Burst for better energy management.
