Xiao, the ever-suffering Vigilant Yaksha has arrived, bringing with him 3 4-stars - Diona, Beidou and Xinyan. His banner will be here for 14 days, shorter than the usual 21 days, from 3 - 17 February.
Xiao is an Anemo Polearm DPS unit, using his Burst to buff his damage, convert his attacks to Anemo, and jump to great heights, plunging down on his enemies with impunity.
Xiao's normal attack chain is heavier hitting but slower than other Polearm units we've gotten so far, while his charge attack is not a pierce, but an uppercut that is able to lift smaller units off the ground. This coupled with his main damage source being Anemo means that the staple Crescent Pike may not be as useful to him as other faster hitting characters such as Xiangling and Zhongli.
Xiao's Elemental Skill, Lemniscatic Wind Cycling, comes with two charges at Constellation 0, moving him rapidly through enemies much like the usual polearm charge attacks. Each charge has a 10s CD.
Note that using his Skill during Burst will not generate energy orbs.
Xiao's Burst, Bane of All Evil, converts his damage to Anemo while greatly increasing his Normal/ Charged/ Plunge Attacks' AoE and DMG. It also allows Xiao to jump higher and gain access to his Plunge Attack. All this comes at a cost though: Xiao's HP will decrease at a percentage of his current HP during his Burst.
His Burst costs 70 Energy, and has a duration of 15s and CD of 18s.
Xiao's Ascension 1 Talent increases the DMG dealt during his Burst even further, ensuring that no monster remains alive when he is done.
Xiao's Ascension 4 Talent increases the DMG dealt by his Elemental Skill, and the effects of this is more pronounced if Xiao has Constellations 1 and 6, which increase the usage uptime of his Skill.
Xiao's utility Talent decreases climbing Stamina consumption, which may be quite useful for exploration purposes.
Xiao's Constellation 6 is similar to Childe's Constellation 6, allowing him to deal significantly higher DPS if it is unlocked.
Xiao's Constellation 1 gives him an extra charge of Elemental Skill, which synergises with his Ascension 4 Talent, allowing him to gain the maximum benefit.
Xiao's Constellation 2 provides him with much needed Energy Recharge, as his skill does not generate orbs during his Burst.
Constellations 3 and 5 are your everyday generic Skill and Burst level increases.
Constellation 4 seems to be the weakest constellation, giving him 100% DEF Bonus when he is at low HP.
While DEF is good to have, its doesn't serve Xiao's role as a Primary DPS well.
Constellation 6 is Xiao's powerhouse constellation, allowing him to deal out insane amounts of damage through the ability to spam his Elemental Skill.
Timed well, you can then save three charges of your Skill till after the Burst finishes, allowing Xiao to generate some orbs for himself.
Thoughts on Xiao
Xiao is, for lack of a better term, a 5-star version of Razor. He is selfish (swapping off him wastes his burst), and does not generate orbs for the team during his DPS phase. However, these drawbacks, added with the HP loss mechanism, necessitates a super high solo DPS (give and take).
Therefore, people who have high ping (can't swap well), or don't like playing swap teams, can consider pulling him. As of now, it is undecided whether Xiao's solo DPS output can hold up against team DPS outputs with elemental reactions and such.
We will discuss Xiao's weapons and artifact sets in another post.
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