Artifacts are perhaps the most crucial part of character building in Genshin Impact because they add an array of important statistics to help amplify characters’ unique skillsets. The five-star Anemo Polearm character Xiao might be one of the characters that require powerful artifacts the most due to his complex health-draining mechanics and reliance on good statistics for survival.
Xiao hails from Liyue and is an adeptus, which means that he is a member of the powerful adepti that watch over Liyue to protect the region from evil. He is also the singular surviving member of the Yakshas, otherwise known as the illuminated beasts, and is a mysteriously powerful being because of this.
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While the Anemo adeptus isn’t quite on the level of the almighty Archons like the five-star Electro Polearm character Raiden Shogun, the five-star Anemo Bow character Venti, the five-star Dendro Catalyst character Nahida, and the five-star Geo Polearm character Zhongli, the adepti are certainly situated fairly high in terms of power in Genshin. With such a legendary and impressive backstory, it’s not too surprising that Xiao is a powerful damage dealer capable of making any Genshin team stronger.
Xiao boasts a powerful and dynamic Anemo skillset that even grants him a perpetual up-and-down plunging ability that is unlike any other skill that other playable Genshin characters possess. While his skillset is certainly impressive, it does come with the massive drawback of continuously draining his health which makes the usage of powerful artifacts essential to negate this.
What are the best artifacts for Xiao in Genshin Impact?
Overall, players will want to seek artifacts that increase Xiao’s efficiency as a primary damage dealer. This means prioritizing statistics like critical rate, attack, critical damage, and Anemo damage bonus.
Depending on what weapon Xiao is equipped with, players may want to focus on whichever statistics their polearm is lacking to ensure that the Anemo character has a well-rounded build that bolsters all aspects of his damage-dealing skillset. If Xiao has a weapon with solid critical rate but no critical damage, it would be a great idea to seek artifacts that will help increase his critical damage while if his weapon is lacking in attack statistics players would then want to seek out attack statistics to raise this area.
While health points should never be the priority when selecting artifacts since damage statistics are much more important, with Xiao, health points should certainly be on players’ minds due to his health-draining abilities. However, what will truly be a necessity for keeping Xiao alive is ensuring that he has the best teammates possible joining him in battle.
Most Genshin characters have a wide variety of artifact sets that will work well with their skillset. Other Genshin characters are less versatile and require specific assets to ensure that they shine in battle.
Xiao is a character of the second type and only has five different artifact sets that players will want to consider utilizing for him. While the Anemo character only has a few artifacts to choose from, more sets may arrive in the future as two of his five possible sets are fairly new additions to the vast world of Teyvat. Players can also equip Xiao with unique combinations that mix and match two-piece versions of the five artifact sets.
Vermillion Hereafter
The Vermillion Hereafter artifact set is one of Genshin’s newer artifact sets, but is one of the best possible options for Xiao. Equipping the two-piece set grants a simple but effective attack increase of 18 percent.
The four-piece Vermillion Hereafter artifact set grants the Nascent Light effect after an elemental burst has been utilized. Nascent Light increases attack by eight percent for 16 seconds.
When the health points of the character that the four-piece set is equipped to decrease, Nascent Light will then increase attack by another 10 percent. This increase can be activated once every 0.8 seconds and can stack up to four times.
Nascent Light will last until the aforementioned time durations or until the equipping character leaves the battlefield. If the character that has this set equipped utilizes another elemental burst while the first Nascent Light is still active then it will immediately end and be replaced by a new one.
Vermillion Hereafter can be attained from The Lost Valley Domain in The Chasm, Liyue.
Desert Pavilion Chronicle
This is yet another fairly new artifact set to the world of Teyvat, but is also a strong option for Xiao. The two-piece Desert Pavilion Chronicle set grants an Anemo damage bonus of 15 percent.
The four-piece set increases normal attack speed by 10 percent and normal, charged, and plunging attack damage by 40 percent for five seconds after a charged attack has successfully hit an enemy. This can be a powerful buff but should only be utilized on Xiao when players find themselves frequently utilizing his charged attack. Otherwise, players should just stick to the two-piece version of this set alongside a different artifact set.
The Desert Pavilion Chronicle set can be obtained from the City of Gold Domain located in Great Red Sand, Sumeru.
Viridescent Venerer
The Viridescent Venerer artifact set is built specifically for Anemo characters. The two-piece set works the same as the Desert Pavilion Chronicle artifact set and also grants an Anemo damage bonus of 15 percent.
The full four-piece Viridescent Venerer artifact set increases the damage dealt by the Swirl elemental reaction by 60 percent. It also decreases the enemy’s elemental resistance to whichever element was mixed with Anemo to create Swirl by 40 percent for 10 seconds.
Players can obtain this Anemo-centric set by completing the Valley of Remembrance Domain located between Dragonspine and Dawn Winery in Mondstadt.
Gladiator’s Finale
This artifact set is a staple among Genshin players primarily due to it being powerful, versatile, and easily obtainable from vanquishing bosses. The two-piece Gladiator’s Finale artifact set increases attack by 18 percent.
The four-piece set increases normal attack damage by 35 percent when the character that it is equipped to utilizes a polearm, sword, or claymore. Equipping the full four-piece set on Xiao is not really with it since most of his damage should be coming from his elemental abilities but the two-piece set is a great option to pair with another artifact set.
Players can obtain the Gladiator’s Finale artifacts by vanquishing weekly bosses, defeating normal bosses, or receiving the Domain Reliquary: Tier II reward from completing a Spiral Abyss chamber. Other artifacts can also be converted into the Gladiator’s Finale set at any crafting station.
Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
The two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence set grants an 18 percent attack increase which is perfect for increasing Xiao’s damage output. When the equipping character has 15 or more energy and casts an elemental skill, the four-piece set consumes 15 energy to then increase normal, charged, and plunging attack damage by 50 percent for 10 seconds. This effect cannot stack and may not be triggered again while it is already active.
Generally, the full four-piece set is not the most effective option for Xiao unless players really want to focus on building his normal, charged, and plunging attacks. The two-piece version of this set is a great choice for Xiao since it can easily be paired with other sets to grant an effective attack increase.
Shimenawa’s Reminiscence can be obtained from the Momiji-Dyed Court Domain at Yashiori Island, Inazuma.
Full four-piece sets can grant some powerful buffs and effects, but choosing to mix and match between artifact sets is another powerful way to build characters. For Xiao, there are quite a few solid options that blend two different artifact sets together. Players looking to equip two different two-piece artifact sets can try these combinations:
- Two-piece Desert Pavilion Chronicle and two-piece Vermillion Hereafter
- Two-piece Viridescent Venerer and two-piece Desert Pavilion Chronicle
- Two-piece Gladiator’s Finale and two-piece Viridescent Venerer
- Two-piece Gladiator’s Finale and two-piece Desert Pavilion Chronicle
- Two-piece Gladiator’s Finale and two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence
- Two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and two-piece Viridescent Venerer
- Two-piece Shimenawa’s Reminiscence and two-piece Desert Pavilion Chronicle
The five-star Anemo character will be receiving yet another featured banner rerun from Jan. 18 until about Feb. 8. Xiao’s “Invitation to Mundane Life” will feature himself, the four-star Dendro Polearm character Yaoyao, and two other four-star characters all of which will have an increased drop rate.
The antisocial adeptus will be receiving his banner rerun alongside the debut banner of the first-ever five-star Dendro Sword character Alhaitham. Wising on five-star assets is a very costly task which means that players will need to carefully consider the two characters to determine which one they should pull for.
Xiao is a character that miHoYo seems to rerun very frequently. His banner reruns seem to occur so often that it has become a commonly known joke among the Genshin community. Thus, Xiao might be one of the easier exclusive five-star characters that players can obtain and they can generally expect to see him again sometime soon even if his banner has only just come to an end.
