How to best cook your foes

A Xiangling Guide, by MightyThor#1082

 Why play Xiangling?
Xiangling is a character with pretty high damage percentages on her abilities, which are also
AoE, and don't require her staying on the field, making her a good off-field dps. Being Pyro,
(and currently the best Pyro applicator) allows her to be enabled by Hydro characters, like
Xingqiu or Childe, and allows her to enable cryo sub dps, such as Ganyu and Rosaria. She
can also reduce Pyro resistance and increase your teams' Pyro damage, making her a good
support for Pyro main dps. Piling this versatility with her availability without requiring wishes,
and noticing her ability to perform as a main dps even with crafted weapons, makes her an
excellent choice for players at all investment levels.

Pros:

● Good damage floor if you can maintain, very high damage ceiling;
● Good against single targets, excellent against multiple targets;
● Pyro element, giving her access to some of the best reactions;
● Can fulfill many different roles;
● Works in a multitude of team strategies;
● Doesn’t need C6 to perform;
● Can use a free to play weapon, Crescent Pike, to great efficacy as a main carry;
● Is free to obtain.

Cons:

● Has a high energy cost burst;

● Produces low amounts of energy;
● Gouba is unreliable;
● Requires investment to perform in certain teams;
● Doesn’t have good crafted weapons for her support build.
 Talents and constellations

Dough-Fu
Normal Attack - Performs up to 5 consecutive spear strikes.
Charged Attack - Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to lunge forward, dealing damage
to enemies along the way.
Plunging Attack - Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging enemies along
the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.

These are Xiangling’s basic attacks. The most important thing to note about them is that the
3rd and 4th attacks on her auto-attack strings are multi-hits (3rd attack has 2 hits and 4th
attack has 4 hits). Seeing Crescent Pike triggers on each hit, this, paired with her high attack
speed, allows Xiangling to be a great Crescent Pike carry.

Guoba Attack
Elemental Skill
Summons Guoba the Panda. Guoba continuously breathes fire, dealing AoE Pyro DMG.
CD - 12s

Xiangling's elemental skill is the most frustrating part of her kit. Despite being strong, and
getting buffed by her ascension talents and constellations, it's challenging to make sure Gouba
hits the targets the correct enemy if a multiple target situation, and seeing it's hard to move it,
if the enemies move away, Gouba can end up being wasted. When it does hit it provides good
damage, as well as a Pyro energy for each breath that hits an enemy. Gouba breathes fire up
to 4 times, so you can get up to 4 Pyro particles with it.
As the only source of pyro energy from Xiangling herself, and with good damage and utility,
you should practice around position Gouba to allow it to hit at least 3 of his 4 breaths.

Pyronado
Elemental Burst
Displaying her mastery over both fire and polearms, Xiangling sends a Pyronado whirling
around her.
The Pyronado will move with your character for so long as the ability persists, dealing Pyro
DMG to all enemies in its path.
Duration - 10s
CD - 20s
Energy Cost - 80

In contrast to her elemental skill, Xiangling's burst ability is what makes her so favored
amongst most of her users. Pyronado provides a steady stream of good AoE Pyro damage
around the active character. This can be used to maintain a Pyro Aura on your enemies,
allowing your other character to consistently proc reactions, or, if you can maintain a Hydro
Aura on your enemies, Pyronado's damage can be vaporized, further increasing Xiangling's
damage output.

Xiangling Passive Talents

Crossfire
Unlocked at Ascension 1
Increases the flame range of Guoba by 20%.

This talent makes Xiangling's elemental skill a bit easier to use, but still much less consistent
than would be desired.

Beware, It's Super Hot!

Unlocked at Ascension 4
When Guoba Attack's effect ends, Guoba leaves a chili pepper on the spot where it
disappeared. Picking up a chili pepper increases ATK by 10% for 10s.

The chili pepper is a nice damage buff, but only works for the character who picks it up. It
should be picked up either by your main dps, or by a character who snapshots on one of their
abilities, to make the most use of the damage increase.

Chef de Cuisine
Unlocked Automatically
When Xiangling cooks an ATK-boosting dish perfectly, she has a 12% chance to receive
double the product.

Foods are good for ease of play while leveling up or for faster grinding later in the game but
aren't required at any point in the game.

Xiangling Constellations

Crispy Outside, Tender Inside

Constellation Lv. 1
Enemies hit by Guoba's attacks have their Pyro RES reduced by 15% for 6s.
A very good constellation for Xiangling, and one of the reasons you want Gouba to hit at least
one of his breaths. It gives a significant damage boost to Xiangling, and allows her to support
a Pyro main dps.

Oil Meets Fire

Constellation Lv. 2
The last attack in a Normal Attack sequence applies the Implode status onto the enemy for
2s. An explosion will occur once this duration ends, dealing 75% of Xiangling's ATK as AoE
Pyro DMG.
This constellation is only used for main dps Xiangling. It gives her a fine damage increase on
her auto attack chain, but doesn't significantly change her playstyle or power level compared
to other main dps.

Deepfry
Constellation Lv. 3
Increases the Level of Pyronado by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Straight damage increase to her hardest skill ability. Very good constellation.

Slowbake
Constellation Lv. 4
Pyronado's duration is increased by 40%.
This is Xiangling's best constellation. Not only is it a straight increase to Xiangling's damage,
but allows her to function as a Pyro Aura for 4 extra seconds for teams that want her as such.

Guoba Mad
Constellation Lv. 5
Increase the Level of Guoba Attack by 3.
Maximum upgrade level is 15.
Straight damage increase to Gouba. As Gouba is an unreliable source of damage, this is not
one of Xiangling's most useful constellations.

Condensed Pyronado
Constellation Lv. 6
For the duration of Pyronado, all party members receive a 15% Pyro DMG Bonus.
Xiangling's C6 isn't as strong as many other characters' constellation 6. As Pyronado
snapshots your stats, the Pyro damage bonus from her C6 doesn't apply to Pyronado itself.
This can be used to buff Gouba's damage if it's deployed after you activate Pyronado, or used
to buff a Pyro main dps' damage.
 Weapons and Artifacts
Xiangling's build differs when she's used as an on-field character (main dps) or as an off-field
character.

Disclaimer - The following is based on our current knowledge of Xiangling. As more math is
more and more information is released, the conclusions might change.

On-Field Dps

As an on-field main dps, she'll want to maximize her normal attack damage.
Her best weapons for this role are Staff of Homa, Primordial Jade Winged-Spear, Vortex
Vanquisher and Crescent Pike.
For the first 3 weapons, her best attack sequence is 1NCJ (Normal Attack - Charged Attack -
Jump Cancel), while for Crescent Pike you should 5ND (5 Normal Attacks - Dash Cancel).
As far as artifact sets go, the best combinations are 4 Pale Flame or 2 Pale Flame and 2
Bloodstained Chivalry if you're using one of the 5 star weapons, or 4 Pale Flame or 4
Gladiator's Finale if you're using Crescent Pike , respectively. Despite these being her best
sets, artifact substats matter a lot, and you might get more damage using other set
combinations with better substats. For your specific case, use an optimizer to check what's
the highest dps artifact combination you can use on Xiangling.
Regarding artifact stats, aim for Att%/Physical Dmg%/Crit rate or Crit damage on
Sands/Goblet/Circlet, respectively, and prioritize Crit rate and Crit Damage on substats,
followed by Att%, ER, and flat Att.
 On-Field Dps TLDR
Recommended Artifacts

Best in Slot:

Best alternative:

Recommended Weapons

Best in Slot:

Best alternatives:

4 Star alternative:
 Off-field Dps / Support
As an off-field character, Xiangling usually requires 200+ Energy Recharge (ER) to be able to
use her burst every 20 seconds, which is where most of her damage and consistent Pyro
application will come from. As such, weapons with ER substat and Sands with ER mainstat
are usually very welcome for her.
Her best weapons for this role are Skyward Spine and Favounious Lance, followed by the
other 5 star options.
In terms of artifact sets, you should go for either 4 Crimson Witch if you're vaporizing or melting
Xiangling's damage, or 2 Crimson Witch pieces and 2 Noblesse Oblige pieces if you're not.
Again, despite these being her best sets, artifact substats matter a lot, and you might get more
damage using other set combinations with better substats. For your specific case, use an
optimizer to check what's the highest dps artifact combination you can use on Xiangling.
As for the artifacts, you should use ER/Pyro Dmg%/ Crit Rate or Crit Damage on the
Sands/Goblet/Circlet, respectively. For substats you should aim for, ER should be prioritized
until you can use your Pyronado off-cooldown, which usually requires 200+ ER as mentioned
previously, but could be tuned down for specific team compositions, and, after that, go for Crit
rate and Crit Damage on substats, followed by Att%, EM if you're vaporizing or melting
Xiangling's damage, and flat Att.

For high investment teams or low energy requirement teams (such as teams that can clear
content within the timeframe of 1 Xiangling burst): The higher your investment and
performance, the less ER you’ll need on Xiangling. This is due to getting more particles from
damaging or killing enemies, and due to ending fights in less time, needing less burst casts to
finish the fight. As such, for such players, it’s recommended to swap the weapon to one of the
following, in order of damage output: Staff of Homa, Vortex Vanquisher (if shielded), Primordial
Jade Winged-Spear, Vortex Vanquisher (not shielded), Dragon’s Bane (if the opponent has a
Pyro Aura), Lithic Spear (if at 3 Liyue characters in party), Deathmatch, Lithic Spear (with 2 or
less Liyue characters in party), Dragon’s Bane (no Pyro Aura).
If you still have more ER than you need, you can also swap the main-stat ER% sands to a
main-stat Att% Sands.
 Off-field Dps / Support TLDR
Recommended Artifacts

If Vaporizing or Melting Xiangling’s damage:

If not Vaporizing or Melting Xiangling’s damage:

Best ER weapon:

Best alternative:

Best weapon if high-investment or low energy required:

Best alternatives:
 Team Compositions
Main dps Xiangling
Physical Xiangling

These teams use Xiangling as the auto-attacker. Usually Xiangling uses a crescent pike,
although 5 star weapons are good options as well. They are frequently used by new players,
as Xiangling can be obtained for free, and Crescent Pike can be crafted. Usually these
compositions fall out of favor late game, because they don't maximize Xiangling's ability
damage, which hampers these teams total damage output.

Xiangling Fischl Cryo support Flex

Cryo supports: Rosaria / Kayea / Diona
Flex options: Bennett / Xingqiu / Zhongli / Xinyan / Beidou

Xiangling Zhongli and/or Xinyan Flex

Physical resistance shredder: Zhongli / Xinyan
Flex: Bennett / Xingqiu / Fischl / Beidou (if you run Fischl as the other flex)
 Xiangling-enabling teams
Vaporize Teams

These teams focus on increasing Xiangling's off-field damage, usually through vaporize
reactions. For this, a hydro enabler is required.
Tartaglia is an on-field hydro enabler. He spends the most time on the field out of his teams,
and his normal attacks during his E apply hydro, which Xiangling uses to vaporize.
Xingqiu is an off-field hydro enabler. He can maintain an hydro-aura, even when another
character is normal-attacking. In this case, the character who should be taking field time and
normal-attacking the most is either him, so his burst gets the damage buff from Bennett’s Q,
or Xiangling, if she’s significantly more invested than him.
Mona and Barbara can fill the same role as Tartaglia, albeit bringing less damage and more
utility to the team.
In these teams, Xiangling needs high investment, as she is the main damage dealer of the
teams.

Tartaglia Xiangling Bennett Flex

Flex: Sucrose / Venti / Anemo MC/ Albedo / Zhongli / Fischl

Xingqiu Xiangling Bennett Flex

Flex: Sucrose / Venti / Anemo MC/ Albedo / Zhongli / Fischl
Bennett E spam team

This is a playstyle variation of the Xingqiu Xiangling Bennett vaporize team. In this case,
Bennett is used as the on-field character to abuse his low E cooldown, generating as much
Pyro energy as possible to reduce Xiangling's energy requirement, allowing her to run more
offensive-focused weapons and artifacts. Xingqiu still allows Xiangling to Vaporize her
damage.

Bennett Xiangling Xingqiu Flex

Flex: Sucrose / Venti / Anemo MC / Mona / Albedo / Zhongli / Fischl

For these teams, depending on how well you funnel Bennett's E energy into Xiangling and on
enemies’ damage and death particles, you might be able to use her burst off-cooldown with
barely any energy recharge. Still, it's recommended to run between 130 and 150 ER. This
playstyle allows you to swap your ER weapon for one which provides more damage.
 Xiangling-enabled teams
Melt teams

These teams use Xiangling as a Pyro-Aura applicator, letting other characters take advantage
of it by activating their own reactions. Usually these teams are based on melt, as that's the
most consistent damage-increasing reaction you can perform with a Pyro-Aura.

Ganyu Xiangling Bennett Flex

Flex: Venti / Anemo MC / Sucrose

Xiangling Rosaria Kayea Bennett

 Xiangling Support teams
Pure Pyro teams

These teams use Xiangling's utility, namely from her constellations, to increase the damage
of a Pyro main dps. One of the main advantages of this build is that running a Pyro main dps
means you'll generate more Pyro energy, which in turn helps relieve Xiangling energy
requirements.

Diluc / Hu Tao / Klee Xiangling Bennett Flex

Flex: Zhongli / Albedo / Venti / Anemo MC / Sucrose / Jean / Xingqiu / Mona / Fischl
 Other teams
Teams in this category could likely fit in another category, but have a specific niche that makes
them differ from the rest of the teams in those categories.

Pyro main dps Xiangling

This team works similarly to physical Xiangling teams, but in this case Xiangling has Pyro-
infused normal attacks through Bennett's constellation 6. Because of this, you'll want to invest
Pyro damage, boosting both her normal attack and her Pyro attacks simultaneously.

Xiangling C6 Bennett Xingqiu Flex

Flex: Sucrose / Anemo MC / Fischl / Beidou (if you run Fischl as the other flex)

For these teams you should swap your artifact set for 4 Crimson Witch and swap your Goblet
to Pyro Dmg% main Stat.

Country Teams

This team is a highly synergistic team, where Bennett lets Chongyun triple reverse-melt his
burst, Chongyun lets Xiangling melt some of her hits, Xiangling provides most of the damage
and lets Xingqiu vaporize some of his hits, and Xingqiu overrides Xiangling's Pyro application
and provides an hydro aura to Vaporize the rest of Xiangling's hits, while letting cryo become
the aura again for Xiangling's Melts. All this, with the added utility of Chongyun, Xingqiu's
sustain, Bennett's healing and attack increase, and some freeze uptime to make fights less
demanding.

Xiangling Bennett Xingqiu Chongyun

Even if you use some normal or charged attacks with Xiangling in this comp, you should use
her support build, as most of her damage will come from Pyronado.
 Afterthoughts
There are many ways to play Xiangling, with new compositions being tested, new characters
and weapons being released, and new tasty enemies to try out.
As such, there will always be room for improvement for this guide, and I’ll try to keep it as up-
to-date and as correct as possible, so we all can use this amazing character to the best of our
abilities.
If you want a place to discus Xiangling further, please join the Xiangling Mains Discord server,
or feel free to ask me any questions or send any suggestion @MightyThor#1082.

Special thanks to Miliana#9407 for helping with the math, and to everyone on Xiangling Mains
Discord server for their support and encouragement to finish this guide.

Next on the menu:

Calculate the damage difference between different artifact sets and weapon combinations.

“To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art.”