Xinyan Guide and Best Builds for Genshin Impact

Strengths

• Able to provide shielding while being a DPS.
• C2 guarantees the ability to CRIT on their Elemental Burst while also making easy shields.

Weaknesses

• Split scaling forcing you to choose building her with either ATK or DEF.
• Weaker shields than most other Characters.
• High Energy Recharge requirements in many situations.
• Elemental Skill requires you to be fighting 2-3 enemies to fully create her shield.

Xinyan's main build is as a DPS, focusing on ATK stats with the added benefit of being able to create small shields to nullify damage while on-field.

Xinyan primarily wants weapons which boost her ATK, with Redhorn Stonethresher being her best option and weapons such as Verdict and Serpent Spine being great alternative weapons.

Her best artifact set as a Physical DPS is the 2 piece effects of Bloodstained Chivalry and Pale Flame which both boost Physical DMG by 25%. 4 Piece Pale Flame is also essentially as powerful but requires you to effectively manage the artifacts stats. With regards to stat prioroties, CRIT DMG tends to be a little more important than CRIT Rate because of Xinyan's second Constellation Impromptu Opening which provides a guaranteed CRIT for the Physical DMG of her Elemental Burst.

Xinyan can also be built as a supportive character instead of an offensive character, instead focusing on building up DEF % to increase her shield strength.

Xinyan is much easier to build as a Shield support with her BiS weapon being Sacrificial Greatsword so that she can maintain 100% uptime on the Shield generated by her Elemental Skill. This therefore helps support her best artifact set Tenacity of the Millelith which requires the Level 3 shield to attack regularly and ensure that Tenacity of the Millelith is always providing both the ATK gain for the party and the Shield Strength for Xinyan.

Xinyan's Shield scales off of DEF, which is your best stat outside of ensuring you reach your Energy Recharge requirements.

Listed below are some recommendations for Xinyan's Energy Recharge requirements. The majority of the time she is paired with Bennett and therefore follows the "Double Pyro" row.

Xinyan tends to have different requirements if she is on-field or played as a support. As a support she should ideally be using Sacrificial Greatsword meaning she can use her Elemental Skill twice in a rotation, this gives her more Energy even if she is off-field more.

Xinyan's Elemental Skill Sweeping Fervor deals Pyro DMG to nearby opponents and hits different levels depending on the amount of opponents hit:

As shown in the table, at Ascension 1 with the passive "The Show Goes On, Even Without An Audience...", the required number of enemies is decreased. At level 3: Rave, the shield will also occasioanlly deal Pyro DMG in an AoE around Xinyan.

Xinyan's Elemental Burst is very unique in the fact it deals both Physical DMG and also Pyro DMG. This does however come with the downside of scaling off of different things.

As a Claymore character, Xinyan has higher Plunging Attack scaling than most of the characters in the game. This makes her a good candidate for Plunging teams with Xianyun. Alongside great DMG buffs from Furina and Bennett as well as Elemental Infusion from C6 Bennett she can deal powerful Plunge Attacks.

This team focuses on her Physical build, allowing her to deal damage through the Superconduct reaction using Cryo and Electro characters. Fischl and Raiden Shogun are the ideal Electro characters for this providing great off-field Electro DMG and also lowering Energy Requirements. Rosaria is the best option for off-field Cryo application as well as Physical RES Shred at C6. Kaeya is an alternate option if you do not have Rosaria or she is being used in another team.

These are a few examples of teams in which Xinyan can be a more supportive unit for. Lyney greatly benefits from having exclusively Pyro characters in his team while the increased interruption RES can help with Charged Attacks. With Hu Tao on the other hand Xinyan provides Pyro as well as defensive support instead of Healing as Hu Tao deals increased DMG below 50% HP.