Sethos Guide and Best Builds for Genshin Impact
Sethos is a 4-star Electro Bow character in Genshin Impact who acts as a Main DPS. Our Sethos guide and build will focus on Sethos's best weapons, best artifacts, skills, constellations and Sethos's best teams.
Sethos Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths
2 different gameplay styles either focusing on Charged Attacking or his Elemental Burst.
- Great Main DPS for Aggravate and Hyperbloom team comps as a result of his multi-target damage.
Weaknesses
Energy can be an even more important resource on Sethos to manage compared to most characters due to Charged Attacks consuming it.
- Unable to move while Charging so shielding is incredibly important.
Sethos Build Guide, Best Artifacts, Weapons and Talent Priority
Sethos is built as an on-field DPS, dealing powerful Electro DMG through Normal and Charged Attacks.
| BiS Weapon | Hunter's Path |
| Alternative Weapons |
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| Best Artifacts |
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| Main Stats |
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| Substat Priority |
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| Talent Priority |
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While Sethos can be built with a range of weapon options with a lot of strong 5-stars being available. In most situations, just use Slingshot. It is better than any other weapon aside from Hunter's Path assuming you meet the range requirements. Other weapons are viable as build options but not worth pulling just for Sethos given he can use a 3-Star weapon so effectively.
Build Sethos with Wanderer's Troupe due to increasing both Elemental Mastery which he scales on and also due to increasing his Charged Attack DMG. Desert Pavilion Chronicle can be his best artifact set however if you plan to focus more on his Elemental Burst instead of Charged Attacks.
With regards to stat priorities, Elemental Mastery and CRIT are both almost equally as important to build on Sethos. He also needs to be built with enough energy recharge as Sethos consumes energy while attacking.
Sethos Energy Recharge Requirements
Sethos's Energy Recharge requirements depend on if you plan to play him as a Normal Attack DPS or Charged Attack DPS. Additionally, the amount of ER you need to build depends on how many Electro characters are in the team, Sethos is rarely viable to play as the sole Electro character in a team as a result of this.
| Normal Attack DPS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Skills Per Rotation | 2 Electro (+ Battery) | 2 Electro |
| 1 Skill | 100% | 130 - 155% |
| 2 Skils | 100% | 110-125% |
| Charged Attack DPS | ||
| Skills Per Rotation | 2 Electro (+ Battery) | 2 Electro |
| 1 Skill | 140 - 155% | 200 - 260% |
| 2 Skils | 100 - 115% | 160 - 180% |
You can lower Sethos's ER requirements by around 50 - 60% at C6 and by around 15% for any characters in the party using a Favonius Weapon.
Combos and How to Play Sethos
Sethos has 2 main gameplay styles:
- Charged Attack spamming
- Normal Attack spamming from his Elemental Burst
Charged Attack spamming is gameplay similar to Ganyu and Tighnari where you utilise his level 2 Charged Attack to deal powerful damage. This charged time is reduced due to Black Kite's Enigma which consumes energy as a cost making it near-instant. This is important because Sethos can not move around while charging.
To manage this, Sethos needs to regularly use Ancient Rite: The Thundering Sands which only has an 8 second cooldown and grants 12 energy + 2 particles.
The other gameplay style is using his Secret Rite: Twilight Shadowpiercer which converts all Normal Attacks into Electro allowing you a gameplay style more similar to Yoimiya.
Because each gameplay style consumes Energy, you can not really use both at the same time.
Sethos Team Compositions
Sethos's best teams are very focused on Dendro related reactions such as Quicken, Aggravate and Hyperbloom. Quicken teams perform best overall however.
Quicken Sethos
| Main DPS | Sub DPS | Sub DPS | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sethos | Nahida | Fischl | Zhongli |
| Sethos | Sucrose | Fischl | Kirara |
In quicken teams, Sethos can be played either with Normal Attacks or Charged Attack playstyles. Fischl is your best Electro character to use because of her damage, elemental application and also energy generation. Shielding is also very important to Sethos to prevent him being knocked around during Charged Attacks.
Hyperbloom Sethos
| Main DPS | Sub DPS | Sub DPS | Support |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sethos | Nahida | Xingqiu |
Hyperbloom would be played more on a Normal Attack focused playstyle to trigger Xingqiu's rain swords often as well as regularly apply Electro but these Normal Attacks can also trigger any nearby Dendro Cores to facilitate the Hyperbloom reaction.
Sethos's Ascensions, Talents and Constellations
Sethos's Ascension Passives and Materials
| Unlock | Ascension Passive | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| With Character | Thoth's Revelation | Displays the location of nearby resources unique to Sumeru on the mini-map. |
| 1st Ascension | Black Kite's Enigma | When Aiming, the charging time is decreased by 0.285s based on each point of Sethos's current Elemental Energy. Charging time can be reduced to a minimum of 0.3s through this method and a maximum of 20 Energy can be tallied. If a Shadowpiercing Shot is fired, consume the tallied amount of Elemental Energy; if it is a Charge Level 1 shot, then consume 50% of the tallied amount of Elemental Energy. |
| 4th Ascension | The Sand King's Boon | Sethos gains the "Scorching Sandshade" effect, increasing the DMG dealt by Shadowpiercing Shot by 700% of Sethos's Elemental Mastery. The Scorching Sandshade effect will be cancelled when any of the following conditions are met:
When a Shadowpiercing Shot affected by Scorching Sandshade first hits an opponent, Sethos will regain Scorching Sandshade after 15s. |
Sethos requires a range of materials to ascend to the 6th ascension. Starting from the second ascension he gains Elemental Mastery as he levels, giving a total of 96 Bonus Elemental Mastery at the final ascension. The total cost to upgrade all ascensions is:
| Source | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Mora | 420,000 Mora |
| Boss Material | 46x Cloudseam Scale |
| Ascension Material | |
| Local Specialty | 168x Trishiraite |
| Enhancement Material |
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Sethos's Talents
Listed below is each talent alongside the talents explanation of how they work.
| Type | Talent Name | Skill Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Normal | Normal Attack: Royal Reed Archery |
Normal Attack Performs up to 3 consecutive shots with a bow. Charged Attack Performs a more precise Aimed Shot with increased DMG. While aiming, the power of Electro will accumulate on the arrowhead before the arrow is fired. Has different effects based on how long the energy has been charged:
Plunging Attack Fires off a shower of arrows in mid-air before falling and striking the ground, dealing AoE DMG upon impact. |
| Elemental Skill | Ancient Rite: The Thundering Sands | Gathers the might of thunder, dealing AoE Electro DMG and quickly retreating. If this attack triggers Electro-Charged, Superconduct, Overloaded, Quicken, Aggravate, Hyperbloom, or Electro Swirl reactions, Sethos recovers a certain amount of Elemental Energy. |
| Elemental Burst | Secret Rite: Twilight Shadowpiercer | Perform a secret rite, entering the "Twilight Meditation" state, during which Sethos's Normal Attacks will be converted into enemy-piercing Dusk Bolts: Deal Electro DMG to opponents in its path, with DMG increased based on Sethos's Elemental Mastery. DMG dealt by Dusk Bolts is considered Charged Attack DMG. This effect will be cancelled when Sethos leaves the field. |
To upgrade Sethos's talents, it costs:
| Source | One Talent to Lv10 | 10/10/10 |
|---|---|---|
| Mora | 1,625,500 Mora | 4,876,500 Mora |
| Special Material | 1x Crown of Insight | 3x Crown of Insight |
| Boss Material | 6x Daka's Bell | 18x Daka's Bell |
| Domain Material |
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| Enhancement Material |
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Sethos's Constellations
Sethos's best Constellations are Papyrus Scripture of Silent Secrets (C2) and Pylon of the Sojourning Sun Temple (C6) which are both significant damage increases to his overall kit.
| # | Name | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| C1 | Sealed Shrine's Spiritsong | The CRIT Rate of Shadowpiercing Shot is increased by 15%. |
| C2 | Papyrus Scripture of Silent Secrets |
When any of the following conditions are met, Sethos gains a 15% Electro DMG Bonus for 10s that may stack twice, with each stack duration counted independently:
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| C3 | Ode to the Moonrise Sage |
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| C4 | Beneficent Plumage | When Shadowpiercing Shot or Dusk Bolt strike 2 or more opponents, all nearby party members gain 80 Elemental Mastery for 10s. |
| C5 | Record of the Desolate God's Burning Sands |
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| C6 | Pylon of the Sojourning Sun Temple |
After Shadowpiercing Shot strikes an opponent, the Elemental Energy consumed by the Passive Talent "Black Kite's Enigma" will be returned. This effect can be triggered up to once every 15s. You must first unlock the Passive Talent "Black Kite's Enigma." |
Changelog
- 12 Feb. 2025: Reviewed for 5.4.
- 05 Feb. 2025: Updated for 5.3.
- 05 Jun. 2024: Updated for release.
- 17 May 2024: Beta changes added now that there is more than just text adjustments.
- 30 Apr. 2024: Tentative Information Added.
Shikhu (Discord - Shikhu) is an avid Genshin Impact player who has been exploring Teyvat since the game has launched. He has experienced all the game has to offer from building his favorite characters, exploring the world to clearing Spiral Abyss each rotation. His favorite character being his C6 Furina.