Beidou
Tales from the Sea: The Ultimate Beidou Guide | ZΛNTO#4984
This guide was written by ZΛNTO#4984 of Beidou Mains! You can find the full document here.
Preface
Original art by flowersblood
Ahoy! Welcome aboard to the official Beidou guide brought to you by ZΛNTO#4984 of Beidou Mains! Feel free to ask me on Discord about anything related to the guide or Beidou.
This guide will cover everything you need to know about Genshin’s one and only pirate queen, from basic mechanics to builds to team comps, and everything in between! And let’s be real, she desperately needed a comprehensive guide because there is just so much misinformation being spread about her. But it’s not like I can really blame anyone, since even the ingame descriptions don’t explain her well at all. Nonetheless, the ultimate purpose of this guide is to do our Beidou justice, because she deserves it.
Before we go further into the guide, I would just like to express my thanks.
Thanks to Kimmu#0007 and (＾・ω・＾✿）#7777 (Sage), my fellow co-admins over at BeidouMains. They’ve both done most of the actual server-work while I’ve been busy writing this guide. BeidouMains would be a desolate place without you guys.
Thanks to all the dedicated pirates over at Beidou Mains, you’ve all made the server a great place to be.
To all the contributors of visual aid for this guide, and to all my fellow theorycrafters and guide writers over at Keqing Mains and across the Genshin community, thanks for all that you do.
Why should you play Beidou?
Beidou is sorely underrated in the community, so let’s change that.
Pros:
Absolutely insane AoE damage output, rivalled only by Ganyu
Unique playstyle with her counter and the damage to match
Versatile with the roles she can fulfill and teams she can fit into
Great survivability, both for herself and whoever has her Stormbreaker
Typically very good in Spiral Abyss for passing DPS checks
Mastering her counter gives a sense of pride and accomplishment
Actually makes use of Electro Resonance
Needs only C2 to reach 90% of her potential
Relatively lenient in builds
Synergizes very well with other Sub DPSes
She just does a lot of damage
Cons:
Full Counter efficacy is one part player skill, another part monster AI
Damage output drops in single target situations
Needs high investment
F2P weapon selection can be limited without Battle Pass or Starglitter
Electro reactions aren’t great
Needs you to specifically build a team around her energy cost
Original image by artmancer21
Chapter 1: Character Breakdown
“Before you step foot on The Alcor, you need to answer one question. When the sea is full of perils — why is it that you still wish to come aboard my ship?”
Beidou is a character that is not explained very well in game. She is deceptively complex, and her effectiveness cannot be fully understood until you explore some of the “hidden” mechanics regarding her skills.
To summarize Beidou briefly, she is a hard hitting, AoE-centric character that wants to make reactive plays with her Tidecaller, then shred through crowds with her Stormbreaker.
There are a plethora of myths surrounding Beidou being spread across the Genshin Community, simply due to a misunderstanding of her kit.
I’m just going to go ahead and list out a few:
“Her counter is the best part of Beidou’s kit.”
This perspective is 100% true in terms of enjoyment. However, when it comes to dealing damage, it pales in comparison to her Burst.
This idea also comes along with the notion that because enemy AI is bad, Beidou is bad. Beidou does not always need her counter to function, but it is still frustrating nonetheless.
“Beidou is just a worse Fischl/Xingqiu.”
This is 100% false and any well-read Fischl or Xingqiu user will also confirm this. The 3 all play different roles in a team and all have the edge over each other in certain areas.
Fischl’s damage is 90% single target. She cannot deal with more than 1 enemy at a time. Beidou excels at AoE damage, but she struggles versus single targets.
Xingqiu’s forte is his reactive potential as Hydro is a very valuable element. He trades some of his own damage for this, and generally has the lower damage output of the 3 but boosts his Carry’s damage through strong reactions in return.
1.1 Talents
Oceanborne
Normal Combo
Normal Attack: Perform up to 5 successive strikes. Charged Attack: Drains Stamina over time to perform continuous slashes. At the end of the sequence, perform a more powerful slash. Plunging Attack: Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
Overview
Beidou’s normal combo is the most unique out of all the claymore users, as she performs a 5 hit combo rather than 4 hits. Despite having slightly less damage per swing, her total damage output is still decently competitive with the others.
However, the main drawback of Beidou’s normals is their usability; the first two hits and last hit all hit vertically, and her attack speed during some parts of her combo are extremely slow. As such, her combo leaves much to be desired as a DPS tool when compared to dedicated normal-reliant characters like Razor, Keqing, or even Diluc.
Her charged attack uses the multi-hit forward swing variation, and is generally pretty decent at the cost of stamina. Note that you cannot Tidecaller during a charged attack.
Lightning Storm
Beidou can utilize her A4 talent to increase her attack speed and damage of her normals and charged attacks. The damage boost while A4 is active is very noticeable (30% DPS boost with A4), so it should be your goal to maintain uptime on A4 if you wish to normal with Beidou.
Cancels and Tech
As with any character, you can utilize certain movement options like walking, dashing, or jumping to “cancel” parts of Beidou’s animations to speed things up. Generally speaking, the best moves to cancel would be after her 2nd hit to perform a “1-2 Loop” and avoid the sluggish 3rd hit. You can also cancel after the 4th hit to avoid the equally sluggish 5th hit. Granted, the extra time you save by cancelling does not lead to a significant damage increase, but the option is there.
The 1-2 Loop specifically has its uses as the fastest way to apply Beidou’s C4 damage through normals, aside from her charged attack.
Please refer to this video by lostguru#5024 for visualization and breakdowns of her normal combo and cancels.
Damage Values
Values shown below take into account the hitstop/hitlag when connecting with an enemy.
Credits again to lostguru.
Values are at Talent 6.
No Attack Speed Increases | DMG%/second |
5 hit (no cancel) | 129%/second |
1-2 loop (run cancel) | 126%/second |
4 hit (run cancel) | 134%/second |
Lightning Storm active | DMG%/second |
5 hit (no cancel) | 167%/second |
1-2 loop (run cancel) | 163%/second |
4 hit (run cancel) | 173%/second |
Double tap a direction to cancel the 2nd hit’s lag.
Tidecaller
Elemental Skill
Press: Accumulating the power of lightning, Beidou swings her blade forward fiercely, dealing Electro DMG.
Hold: Lifts her weapon up as a shield. Max DMG absorbed scales off Beidou's Max HP.
Attacks using the energy stored within the greatsword upon release or once this ability's duration expires, dealing Electro DMG. DMG dealt scales with the number of times beidou is attacked in the skill's duration. The greatest DMG Bonus will be attained once this effect is triggered twice.
The shield possesses the following properties:
Has 250% Electro DMG Absorption Efficiency.
Applies the Electro element to Beidou upon activation.
“Back at ya!”
Overview
Beidou’s counter is the flashiest part of her kit and is usually what draws players to her in the first place. Her counter takes the spot as the second hardest hitting Elemental Skill, losing by a bit to Lisa, but offers great survivability in exchange.
Mastery of her counter should be your first priority, as timing it right not only increases your damage output but also your energy generation.
Scaling
During the counter, Beidou gets a shield equal to a hefty chunk of her HP. The HP scaling on the shield only influences the shield strength and nothing more. It is a common misconception that the amount of damage absorbed increases the damage of the counter, but counter damage scales with the number of times hit, not damage taken. Taking 1 damage twice will yield a stronger counter than taking 10000 damage once.
The damage of the counter scales like any other damage instance, however the multiplier has 3 separate levels. By just tapping the skill, it will deal the base damage (170% at Talent 6). If you hold the skill and get hit once, it will deal the base damage plus the damage bonus % (total of 170% + 224%). If you get hit a second time or “perfect” counter, then it adds the bonus damage a second time (total of 170% + 224% + 224%).
In summary (talent level 6):
Base: 170% Half: 394% Full: 618%
Perfect Countering
Beidou’s A2 talent (Retribution) allows her to gain the damage of a Full counter as long as she is attacked within a certain time frame from the start of the counter, regardless of how many times she is hit.
The timing is 17-18 frames from the button press, about 1/3rd of a second. If you factor in the 2 frames of starting time, then it is about a 20 frame window for a perfect counter. This may seem daunting but is only slightly harder to pull off than dashing through an attack, a skill that everyone should try to get good at anyways.
Tech
Tidecaller is pretty straightforward once you learn its scaling. One mechanic you should be aware of is that you do not need to hold the skill button when trying to perform a perfect counter. As long as you tap within 20 frames of the move hitting then it will come out as perfect.
Interactions
While under the effects of her counter shield, damage blocked is still considered as “taking damage” for the sake of Beidou’s talents and constellations. However, for weapons like Serpent Spine, it is not considered as “taking damage” unless the shield breaks from the attack and directly hits Beidou.
Attributes
Attribute | Details |
Particle Generation (Base) | 2 |
Particle Generation (Half+) | 4 |
Gauge Value | 1U |
Perfect Counter Frames | 20~ |
Stormbreaker
Elemental Burst Recalling her slaying of the great beast Haishan, Beidou calls upon that monstrous strength and the lightning to create a Thunderbeast's Targe around herself, dealing Electro DMG to nearby opponents.
Thunderbeast's Targe:
When Normal and Charged Attacks hit, they create a lightning discharge that can jump between opponents, dealing Electro DMG.
Increases the character's resistance to interruption, and decreases DMG taken.
Triggers a maximum of 1 lightning discharge per second.
“To ashes!”
Overview
Probably the most misunderstood skills in the entire game, due in no small part to the vague wording by the game itself. However, this is an absolutely broken skill that keeps you hooked on Beidou after being pulled in by her counter.
Stormbreaker helps solidify her position as the de facto AoE queen of Sub Carries, and single handedly carries her into the Main Carry position.
Lightning Discharges
The game says that her discharges can “jump between enemies,” but it doesn’t say how many times. **
At C0: 2 jumps, 3 including the first target At C2: 4 jumps, 5 including the first target
It’s a matter of semantics if you want to include the first target as a “jump,” but the main point you need to take away is that she deals damage 3 times with 1 discharge, 5 at C2. In order for the jumps to occur, there needs to be at least 2 enemies, meaning her damage output spikes sharply in AoE scenarios, similar to Tartaglia. These jumps can also chain back to the previous target, meaning her discharges will always deal full damage as long as there are at least 2 enemies.
Internal Cooldown
The ICD of her lightning discharges is said to be 1 second ingame, and this is mostly true. The timer of the ICD starts from the first hit of the lightning, making it possible to chain back to back discharges once you factor in the bounces. However, due to Beidou’s slow normals, she herself cannot proc a discharge per second normally.
On average, Beidou can look for about 9 to 10 procs in a single use of Stormbreaker. When paired with fast attackers like Keqing, it is possible to go beyond that. Because Stormbreaker discharges cannot be buffered and trigger on-hit, it is noticeably more difficult to get 100% of the procs in comparison to Xingqiu’s Raincutter.
When it comes down to ICD for reactions, it follows the trend of other skills where it seems to be around 1 second between each Electro application per enemy. In other words, the tick rate of the discharge damage is faster than the tick rate of any reactions it procs. This means it is much better to gear Beidou towards increasing her raw damage instead of reaction damage.
Damage Output
To illustrate just how strong Stormbreaker is when factoring in bounces, refer to the table below at various breakpoints.
2 targets | Total Damage (Talent Levels 6 to 13) |
C0 single discharge | 402% - 612%/second |
C2 single discharge | 670% - 1020%/second |
C0 12 discharges | 4824% - 7344% |
C2 12 discharges | 8040% - 12,240% |
C0 10 discharges | 4020% - 6120% |
C2 10 discharges | 6700% - 10,200% |
Energy Cost
Such a strong burst is balanced by one glaring weakness: energy cost. Beidou has a hard time funding her own burst even with good ER values and full counters. Additionally, enemy AI does not always permit you to perfectly counter as much as you would like. As such, the main way to remedy her 80 cost is through the use of battery units.
Thankfully, by being Electro, Beidou can utilize one of the best Sub DPSes and batteries in the game: Fischl. As long as Beidou still has some amount of ER (140%+), Oz’s energy generation more or less patches the holes in Beidou’s energy generation. On top of Oz, Electro Resonance grants a welcome amount of extra energy. You are not limited to Fischl however, as Razor and Keqing also provide good enough generation to fuel Beidou, albeit at different ER requirements.
However, running double Electro is not always feasible, so it is still important to be mindful of Beidou’s energy issues.
Interactions
Stormbreaker is snapshotted, meaning her stats are “locked” at the start of the skill until the end. Any changes in stats, positive or negative, will not change the current damage of her Stormbreaker.
Interestingly, certain effects that read “if the enemy is affected by x” bypass this snapshot. This means that the Thundersoother artifact set still works with her burst, as well as the Rainslasher passive, and so on.
Attributes
Recommended ER values are underestimated to account for kill/damage orbs as well as energy provided by other party members aside from the main battery. It also assumes that Beidou can switch enough to collect a good amount of the particles, and at least her counter particles.
Gauge / ER | Details |
Initial Cast Gauge Value | 4U |
Discharge Gauge Value | 1U |
Lightning Discharge Bounce Range | 3 abyss tiles |
ER recommended (Beidou only) | 250%, 3 full counters |
ER recommended (Fischl Battery + reso) | 140%, 1 full counter + 1 tap |
ER recommended (Keqing Battery + reso) | 170%, 1 full counter + 1 tap |
ER recommended (C2 Keqing Battery + reso) | 140%, 1 full counter + 1 tap |
ER recommended (Razor Battery + reso) | 140%, 1 full counter + 1 tap |
ER recommended (Fischl “feature” + reso) | 100%, 1 full counter + 1 tap |
The Fischl “Feature,” AKA Energy Problem Solver 3000
Fischl normally is already a beast of a battery, generating upwards of 30 particles per minute just from Oz alone. However, there is a way to pump these numbers to the extreme, without even needing to do anything particularly special. Whenever Oz triggers an AoE reaction, any enemy hit by that reaction also generates a particle for whatever reason, skyrocketing the energy generated at just 2 targets.
Overload and Superconduct are the two reactions that have this property, meaning you need to slot in a Pyro or Cryo character with good enough elemental application to outpace Oz’s electro application. Of note, we can use Xiangling, Klee, Kaeya, or Ganyu. Venti also works if you can swirl the respective element.
1.2 Constellations
Beidou’s constellations are all great and each plays a unique role in developing her various playstyles. The following breakdown assumes you know the basic descriptions of each constellation:
Strong and transferable shield that should have good uptime as long as you have Burst uptime. Currently the only Electro shield in the game, and also lasts 15 seconds. Does not do much to improve her overall damage, but allows for comfier gameplay. It also helps enable certain playstyles that revolve around shields, such as 4Bolide carries, Geo Resonance, and Geo Weapons. Decent constellation that gives Beidou more flexibility but does not hone in on her strengths.
Beidou’s bread and butter constellation, easily her strongest constellation and one of the strongest in the entire game. Additional bounces boosts her AoE damage capabilities to even higher levels, increasing her Burst damage values by 66% multiplicative damage. Since 2 targets is all it takes for her Burst to get off all its bounces, it can now hit the initial target 3 times and a second target 2 times per second. Amazing constellation that should be your bare minimum goal.
Main DPS overall damage increase: 51% Sub DPS overall damage increase: 57%
Talent Level increase for Tidecaller. Overall great to have like any other talent increase, but is generally less valuable than boosting her Stormbreaker.
Main DPS overall damage increase: 1.5% Sub DPS overall damage increase: 1.3%
Pretty solid on its own but it is only applicable to Main DPS Beidou. The extra damage is great since it scales off of Electro Damage, giving her some extra punch to her normals. It also applies to her charged attacks, despite the description not saying so. Taking shield damage also procs C4. The biggest draw about C4 is not necessarily its damage however, and more so the interactions it enables. It allows for Beidou to more consistently proc Fischl’s A4 if you have another consistent elemental aura such as Xinqiu. It also makes the 4 piece Thundering Fury passive more appealing in turn.
Main DPS overall damage increase: 2.1%
Talent Level increase for Stormbreaker. Amazing to have due to it boosting Beidou’s already insane scaling on her burst. If you decide to go past C2, this should be your next goal.
Main DPS overall damage increase: 15% Sub DPS overall damage increase: 17%
Beidou’s capstone constellation, which is great but a bit underwhelming (worse version of Xingqiu’s C2). Nonetheless, AoE Electro RES shred is still quite good since it potentially frees up a slot for a 4VV user, and gets great value when you run multiple Electro characters (which you should).
Variable damage increases based on enemy resistance, at least 14% vs 10% enemies with 10% RES.
Original art by flowersblood
Chapter 2: Playstyles
“If you can change something, change it. If you can't, don't waste time thinking about it. That's how I go about things. But, really if you get stuck, come find me. I'll help you deal with it.”
Beidou is a very versatile character, capable of fulfilling multiple roles. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly which role she is designed to play, due to how her constellations and talents support both Main Carry and Sub Carry playstyles.
Most characters can be divided into Main Carry/DPS, Sub Carry/DPS, or Supports. And Beidou is no exception. I am going to assume most of you know the basic classifications of each role, but for those that don’t, here's a quick rundown:
Main Carry:
A character that takes up the majority of your field time. These characters typically have desirable normals or long combos in tandem with their skills and bursts, and typically high damage output to match. Some can be selfish, where they want to hog all your resources, or others can be used as a platform to enable their supports/sub carries.
Sub Carry:
A character that does not want field time, or does not benefit greatly from taking the field. These characters usually have very strong skills that persist when swapped to another character, or have moments of burst damage when they briefly switch in. Sub carries tend to have amazing damage output on par with most main carries, but others can be used for their reactive potential instead.
Support:
A character that does not contribute much damage themselves, but directly buffs their party or debuffs the enemy. This is a very broad role, with many different ways to contribute, including but not limited to: RES shreds, ATK boosts, healing, and shields. Like a sub carry, they do not need much field time but their offscreen presence is just as important and valued.
2.1 Main Carry Beidou
I am going to address this playstyle of Beidou first because I need to make something very clear:
Physical Damage Beidou is sub-optimal. If you truly think this is her best playstyle, you are misinformed. Additionally, if you are under the notion that she is bad as a unit because she cannot compare to Razor in terms of Physical Damage output, you are severely misinformed.
That being said, Physical isn’t trash, and it’s perfectly fine for clearing any of the game’s content if you try hard enough and get good enough artifacts. There is no problem as long as you have fun. Nonetheless Physical Damage Beidou is still suboptimal, if you care about that. Just know that Beidou as a character cannot be evaluated by her Physical Damage capabilities alone, as that is the absolute minimum of her potential.
From an optimization perspective, Physical is strictly worse than Electro because there is functionally no gameplay difference (in terms of how you play her) but there IS a noticeable damage difference. You still need to play as if you are Electro to get value out of Beidou; you NEED to Tidecaller to proc Lightning Storm and you SHOULD Stormbreaker because why not? Even artifact optimization has identical opportunity cost; they both want Gladiator pieces but one also wants Bloodstained and the other Thundering/Noblesse. You are playing the same character the same way, just doing less damage in doing so considering most content is multi-target. Beidou’s build options are not like Keqing’s, whose Electro versus Physical options are more competitive with each other.
**But I digress. There is no problem with playing Physical, as long as you know what it entails**. I encourage you to play the game however you want as long as you do not take your experience as fact and spread misinformation about optimizing Beidou.
Rant end.
Physical Carry
Overall Effectiveness: 6/10
Pros:
Higher single target damage than Electro, due to her normal combo MV/s being larger than her single bounce Stormbreaker MV/s
Less reliant on Stormbreaker, meaning less need for a battery
Is already Electro, making Superconduct easier to proc
Great survivability
Cons
Gimped AoE damage, due to Beidou’s abysmal width on her normals
Without investment into Electro DMG%, her Stormbreaker discharges will tickle
Needs reliance on her Tidecaller to maintain her Lightning Storm attack speed, but her counters are once again weaker without Electro DMG%
Very inflexible, you are forced to stay on field with Beidou to get value from her
Passing on Stormbreaker in a Physical build is very low value
Makes very little use of any of her constellations
Countered by high Phys Res enemies
Damage Output Breakdown
Base Normal MV/s | 167% with Lightning Storm |
Stormbreaker, 10 procs over 15 seconds, single target MV/s | 89% (134% * 10)/15 |
Tidecaller, 1 Full Counter and 1 tap over 15 seconds MV/s | 53% (618% + 170%)/15 |
Total Unadjusted Single Target MV/s | 309% (167% + 89% + 53%) |
C0 Total Unadjusted Multi Target MV/s | 487% (167% + (89% * 3) + 53%) |
C2 Total Unadjusted Multi Target MV/s | 665% (167% + (89% * 5) + 53%) |
Total Adjusted Single Target MV/s | 406% ((167% * 1.583) + 89% + 53%) |
C0 Total Adjusted Multi Target MV/s | 584% ((167% * 1.583) + (89% * 3) + 53%) |
C2 Total Adjusted Multi Target MV/s | 762% ((167% * 1.583) + (89% * 5) + 53%) |
Assumptions:
Beidou has Lightning Storm active 100% of the time.
Her normals and Tidecaller only hit 1 enemy, for practicality. As I’ve discussed earlier, her normals have bad range.
There is at least 1 extra target within bounce range in multi target situations, meaning maximum Stormbreaker damage.
Physical Goblet is used for the adjusted MV/s, as this is the largest opportunity cost choice when building characters.
Talent Level 6
This damage breakdown is used to illustrate that her damage is still good as a Physical Carry. But again, we can go even higher from here. As we can see in a Physical build when adjusted for a Physical goblet, her Electro damage output is still 2.87 times higher than her Physical damage.
Constellation Power Spikes
C2 for overall damage.
C3 for overall damage.
C5 for overall damage.
Talent Priority
Stormbreaker = Normals > Tidecaller
Electro Carry
Overall Effectiveness: 8/10
Pros:
Benefits greatly from all of her constellations
Capitalizes on her AoE damage potential with Stormbreaker
Still relatively easy to execute and forgiving
Great survivability
Trivializes most abyss stages
Aside from Fischl, has very flexible team compositions
Very versatile in artifact selection
Still has the option to switch to supports and normal with them to maintain value with Stormbreaker
Cons:
Wants priority of Fischl over other characters
Weaker single target damage
Reliant on Stormbreaker uptime
Countered by Electro slimes and Electro Cicin mages
Damage Output Breakdown
Base Normal MV/s | 167% with Lightning Storm |
Stormbreaker, 10 procs over 15 seconds, single target MV/s | 89% (134% * 10)/15 |
Tidecaller, 1 Full Counter and 1 tap over 15 seconds MV/s | 53% (618% + 170%)/15 |
Total Unadjusted Single Target MV/s | 309% (167% + 89% + 53%) |
C0 Total Unadjusted Multi Target MV/s | 487% (167% + (89% * 3) + 53%) |
C2 Total Unadjusted Multi Target MV/s | 665% (167% + (89% * 5) + 53%) |
Total Adjusted Single Target MV/s | 375% (167% + (89% + 53%) * 1.466) |
C0 Total Adjusted Multi Target MV/s | 636% (167% + ((89% * 3) + 53%) * 1.466) |
C2 Total Adjusted Multi Target MV/s | 897% (167% + ((89% * 5) + 53%) * 1.466) |
Assumptions:
Lightning Storm is active 100% of the time.
Her normals and Tidecaller only hit 1 enemy, for practicality. As I’ve discussed earlier, her normals have bad range.
There is at least 1 extra target within bounce range in multi target situations, meaning maximum Stormbreaker damage.
Electro Goblet is used for the adjusted MV/s, as this is the largest opportunity cost choice when building characters.
Talent Level 6
Electro has lower single target damage, but higher AoE damage. These calculations also only cover up to C2, so the talent level increases at C3 and C5 that would benefit Electro builds even more are not taken into account. The same goes for the additional Electro damage at C4, and the Electro RES shred at C6.
Considering that the majority of endgame content is multi-target, Electro builds are more efficient and will have better longevity.
Constellation Power Spikes
C2 for overall damage.
C4 for reactions and additional damage.
C5 for overall damage.
C6 for RES shred.
Talent Priority
Stormbreaker > Tidecaller > Normals
2.2 Sub Carry Beidou
This playstyle involves Beidou being off the field and contributing damage from behind the scenes. As a Sub DPS, Beidou still deals a majority of her damage through her Stormbreaker, essentially adding more DPS to her Main Carry.
Overall, Sub Carry Beidou is the most “efficient” use of her, as it substitutes her subpar normals with a Main Carry that would have good ones instead.
There is only 1 form of playing her as a Sub Carry, which is going full Electro damage.
Original art by Bitter Nai-GA38
Electro Sub Carry
Overall Effectiveness: 9/10
Pros:
Greatly benefits from most of her constellations
Does not need screen time
Capitalizes on her AoE damage potential with Stormbreaker
Trivializes most Abyss stages
Very versatile in artifact selection
Sub Carry is an inherently more flexible role
Can get away with lower investment
Enables Main Carries to play comfier and more aggressively
Cons:
Countered by Electro stages
Requires much more Energy Recharge to maintain Stormbreaker uptime
Switching in to counter has a slightly different timing
Much more complicated substat optimization
Team building can get tricky
Damage Output Breakdown
Stormbreaker, 12 procs over 15 seconds, single target MV/s | 107% (134% * 12)/15 |
Tidecaller, 1 Full Counter and 1 tap over 15 seconds MV/s | 53% (618% + 170%)/15 |
Total Unadjusted Single Target MV/s | 160% (107% + 53%) |
C0 Total Unadjusted Multi Target MV/s | 375% (134 * 3 * 12)/15 + 53% |
C2 Total Unadjusted Multi Target MV/s | 588% (134 * 5 * 12)/15 + 53% |
Total Adjusted Single Target MV/s | 234% (160% * 1.466) |
C0 Total Adjusted Multi Target MV/s | 548% (375% * 1.466) |
C2 Total Adjusted Multi Target MV/s | 863% (588% * 1.466) |
Assumptions:
The character that is proccing Stormbreaker attacks faster and more consistently, resulting in 12 procs.
Tidecaller only hits 1 enemy.
Electro Goblet is used for the adjusted MV/s.
Talent 6.
As you can see, by giving Stormbreaker to another ally, her total Electro damage output is nearly the same as her Main Carry output, especially noticeable at C2. Her normals ultimately contribute to only a fraction of her total damage, which is why Sub Carry is the most “efficient” playstyle. It should also be noted that this output is additional DPS to what your Main Carry is also doing by themselves.
Constellation Powerspikes
C2 for overall damage.
C3 for swap counter damage.
C5 for overall damage.
C6 for RES shred.
Talent Priority
Stormbreaker > Tidecaller >>>> Normals
Original Art by AAAAlter
Chapter 3: Gearing
“You want to know of my legendary tales? Hahaha, that's just my men exaggerating, adding in their own little details. Although, if you were to ask me if I'm afraid of what monsters lurk in the deep, I'd tell you I have no fear of them.”
Oh boy, gearing. This is one HUGE can of worms that I am about to open. Gearing is very complex, and your weapon choice is going to influence your artifact choice, as well as the substats to focus on.
I am going to format this section by weapon, as it is the most important choice. Within each weapon’s section, I will cover the optimal artifact sets for Main and Sub DPS, as well as the optimal stat spread for them. Optimal = maximum possible overall damage output in 15 seconds.
Any conclusions are made from calculations done in my Beidou Weapon Database. Raw numbers to back up rankings can be found here.
Database for Main Carry. Database for Sub Carry.
Index of all Claymores by Honey.
There will be references to “optimal substat distribution.” By this I mean the amount of rolls into each particular stat that you should be looking for. For all weapons, “optimal” is considered to be 15/25 useful substat upgrades, or 3 good upgrades per piece. I am not going to cover absolute theoretical ceilings, as that is unobtainable for 99.99% of the playerbase. 15 good upgrades is already hard but possible, and is the general stopping point for artifact grinding.
Also, Rainslasher is bad. Don’t use it. Just gonna get that out of the way.
Wolf's Gravestone
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Thundering Fury (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Thundering Fury (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 1st
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Wolf’s Gravestone is strong enough to be a consistent 1st place for Main Carry. It has a ridiculous amount of ATK% that pads its damage output tremendously. On top of that, it has a party wide buff on its passive to further bolster team damage. Overall, Wolf’s is the low-effort, high-payout claymore that Beidou can absolutely take advantage of.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 1st
Main Stats: CR/ER/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
For Sub Carry, WGS’ insane ATK% stat is extremely helpful as it allows Beidou to spec into an ER timepiece and solve most of her energy issues while still maintaining a 2k attack stat. Always use WGS if you have it, as it has the easiest time optimizing substats whereas other weapons need to be very picky.
The Unforged
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Thundering Fury (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Thundering Fury (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 2nd
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
The Unforged is generally considered to be a WGS-lite due to their extremely similar stats spreads. However, the Unforged has the caveat that it needs to attack to get the ATK% that WGS has by default. When shielding and at maximum stacks however, the Unforged actually pulls ahead of WGS in terms of personal damage. One thing to keep in mind however is that Beidou’s C1 shield does not grant Beidou the Unforged shield ATK% during her Burst. You will need to shield Beidou before she enters Burst for maximum effect.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 3rd
Main Stats: CR/ER/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Similar situation to WGS; comfy building and access to ER without much sacrifice. However, the issue with the Unforged as a Sub Carry is that Beidou generally does not have the opportunity to stack up. She does not gain stacks off-field, which means we would need to stay on field normal attacking until max stacks, which is generally a DPS loss. Overall, it’s a bit cumbersome to use but even with max stacks, it loses to Skyward Pride in damage.
Serpent Spine
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 3rd
Main Stats: CD/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 12:3:0
Serpent Spine is phenomenal for a 4 star weapon, easily the best one to ever exist. It is incredibly high-value and was practically made for Beidou to abuse. The stack mechanic synergizes very well with Beidou as she has an abundance of shields to ignore stack loss. Coupled with a Crit rate substat and a DMG% passive, Serpent Spine is absolutely stacked if you can keep it stacked (heh).
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 4th
Main Stats: CD/ER%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 7:1:7
Unfortunately, Serpent does lose some efficacy in the Sub Carry role and we get our first glimpse of the awkward substat optimization. ATK% is a stat that is sorely lacking for Sub Carries that need to run ER, and Serpent cannot fully utilize its passive without attack as a foundation. Builds need to split Crit and ATK% subs evenly along with 2Gladiator to compensate for the lack of attack.
Lithic Blade
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Thundering Fury (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 4th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 5:10:0
Lithic Blade’s release in 1.3 means Beidou finally gets a good gacha 4 star. It has a unique passive that would require you to make a Liyue team to get its full effect. Thankfully, Beidou is already Liyue and Xingqiu is, too. However, due to Beidou’s reliance on Fischl, it is difficult to slot in 4 Liyue. As such, when compared to Serpent Spine, it ultimately loses out by a small amount. Another thing to note about Lithic is that the optimal substat spread changes based on refine and Liyue members, which means this weapon is especially nightmarish to optimize.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 5th
Main Stats: CR/ER/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 5:10:0
When evaluated for Sub Carry, its ATK% substat is a godsend and actually pushes it above Serpent by a small amount. However, the same limitations to team building and its finicky optimization means I rank it lower than Serpent, but its ceiling is much higher than Serpent’s. Refer to the Database spreadsheets and Make a Copy to see how it stacks up at various refines and Liyue members, as this weapon does require a lot of number crunching. It is well worth it, though.
Skyward Pride
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 5th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Great base attack and a great passive, held back on Main Carry only by its ER substat. ER is generally not needed when Beidou is on-field, as she can get full value from Fischl’s particles. Still, the ER lets you be more flexible in teambuilding which is always great. Its blade passive is quite good, although it scales off of Physical damage. It does give Beidou some much needed reach on her normals, and the ability to cleave multiple mobs with the blades is valuable. Overall great, but doesn’t have as much upfront damage as the others.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 2nd
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Skyward Pride absolutely shines for Sub Carry despite not using the vacuum blades at all. The power now lies in its ER substat, allowing you to comfortably run an ATK% timepiece instead. This boosts the damage tremendously while still maintaining good ER values.
Blackcliff Slasher
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 6th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 11:4:0
Beidou’s official wish art weapon, and it’s actually quite strong. The Crit damage substat is one of a kind coupled with an interesting passive. However, the passive is what holds Blackcliff Slasher back most of the time. In all relevant endgame content that we have seen, mostly Spiral Abyss, it has been very hard to stack this weapon on the harder stages. Fatui stages, Mitachurls, and now Geovishaps and Ruin Guard/Graders, all give Blackcliff Slasher very little opportunity to get stacks. As such, it certainly has potential, but ultimately Mihoyo has the fate of this weapon in their palm.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 7th
Main Stats: CR/ER/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 8:2:5
The same limitations apply here as well, however there are even more caveats. The user needs to be on the field to receive a stack, meaning you would need to deliberately switch Beidou in for her to get kill credit, even if it is inopportune. Overall, I would suggest against buying this weapon with Starglitter if you only intend on using her as a Sub DPS, as the synergy is lacking and the potential is gimped by game design.
Prototype Archaic
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 7th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Archaic is as mediocre as it gets. This is usually what people use as their entry-level claymore, and for good reason. It has a decent statspread of 44 base attack and ATK% sub. The passive on the other hand leaves a lot to be desired but it still acts as free damage occasionally. Good placeholder weapon and probably one of the best prototype weapons in general, but I would not suggest refining it. Having multiple copies of Archaic is generally better because it is so universally decent on everyone, and the refines ultimately amount to a less than 1 percent overall damage increase anyways.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 7th
Main Stats: CR/ER/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 5:8:2
Archaic finds itself back in 7th place, and there’s really not much else to say. Do keep in mind the slight change in substats to accommodate for an ER timepiece. Other than that, remember to switch in and Normal attack whenever the passive is up.
Royal Greatsword
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 8th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Royal is essentially just an Archaic without the passive. Royal’s crit stacking passive sounds enticing at first, but is more or less a trap once you get any semblance of good gear. Instead, we just opt to build crit like usual, ignoring the passive altogether. At most, we can expect a 1-3% effective crit rate boost which is pretty miniscule. There are some implications with the passive and snapshotted abilities like Stormbreaker, but until more vigorous testing is done, this weapon remains a waste of starglitter.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 8th
Main Stats: CR/ER/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 5:8:2
Same notes as Main Carry. Use Archaic instead.
Rainslasher
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Main Carry Overall Ranking: 9th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Oh boy, Rainslasher; the weapon everyone likes to recommend for Beidou while also being one of the worst weapons for her. The weapon certainly sounds like it would be very good for her. A huge damage increase versus enemies affected with Hydro and Electro? Those are the perfect elements for an Electrocharged comp! I will admit, it is a good passive. But oh dear lord, the Elemental Mastery substat single handedly kills any hope of this weapon being viable. EM is the single worst damage stat for Electro characters, as Electro reactions are notoriously weak and scale very poorly compared to Crit and Attack. But it gets even worse for Beidou due to the way ICD’s for reactions work: Stormbreaker cannot apply the Electro aura more than once per second on a single enemy. This means that a 5 tick lightning discharge versus 2 targets only procs 2 reactions. Reaction damage will always be outscaled by raw damage for most Electro characters. EM is essentially not a substat at all.
Sub Carry Overall Ranking: 12th
Main Stats: CR/ER/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 3:7:5
Rainslasher is even worse as Sub Carry, due to the lack of ATK% and its mediocre base attack of 42. The EM substat certainly isn’t doing any favors at all. The only situation where Rainslasher is remotely decent is in extremely high mob density situations where the number of reactions would equal the number of discharge hits, so 5 enemies. Even that is usually not enough, so you would also need to be running a hyper budget Beidou build for Rainslasher to be “valuable,” but Beidou is a high investment damage dealing character anyways.
Whiteblind
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 10th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
I don’t think I need to go into much detail regarding why Whiteblind is not great.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 11th
Main Stats: CR/ER/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Even worse when you take into account that you need to be on the field to gain stacks.
Sacrificial Greatsword
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 13th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Double counter is a fun gimmick and the ER helps, but Sacrificial ultimately falls behind in the Main Carry role.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 5th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
However, Sacrificial is really good for Sub DPS. The high base attack and ability to run ATK% timepiece makes it better than the rest of the 4 star weapons aside from Serpent and Lithic. Xingqiu runs Sacrificial Sword for obvious reasons, and Beidou can almost emulate that level of efficiency if you are given the opportunity to double full counter.
Favonius Greatsword
Playstyle | Artifact Set |
Physical Main Carry | Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) or Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) |
Electro Main Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Electro Sub Carry | Gladiator's Triumph (2) + Noblesse Oblige (2) |
Overall Main Carry Ranking: 14th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Favonius is the single worst weapon when it comes to Main Carry. It literally just deals the least amount of damage possible; 41 base attack and nothing to boost its damage through subs or passives. Energy is the last of Main Carry Beidou’s concerns, so Favonius is extremely redundant.
Overall Sub Carry Ranking: 10th
Main Stats: CR/ATK%/Electro% CR:CD:ATK% substat distribution: 6:9:0
Favonius is still not great in Sub Carry and when using an ATK% timepiece. It just doesn’t have any good offensive stats and even for Energy purposes, Favonius goes way too hard into it. Beidou’s primary role is a damage dealer, and with Favonius you’ll have high uptime but have zero damage in return. It is simply better to fix energy issues elsewhere, especially when Fischl is such an efficient character that fixes Beidou’s issues and deals lots of damage as well.
The "Other" Weapons
The Bell and Snow-tombed are bottom of the barrel and I do not think I need to go much into detail about them. Beidou is probably the only character that can feasibly use the Bell, yet it is still terrible. Snow-tombed is also incredibly horrible on her, as the Physical damage substat might even be worse than Elemental Mastery.
Touching on Artifacts
I’ve mentioned numerous times that Beidou has versatile artifact choices. This is mostly applicable to her Electro playstyles, in which almost every set has its use.
Artifact Sets | Notes |
Thundering Fury (2) / Noblesse Oblige (2) / Gladiator's Triumph (2) | These 3 sets all serve the purpose of “always on” generic damage increases. They are the most consistent, and the value of each one is generally equal. In practice, any combination of these 3 sets will yield good results, and it all comes down to which has better substats. Mathematically, the majority of weapons will want to run Noblesse (2) + Gladiator (2) when Beidou is C2, and Thundering (2)+ Gladiator (2) when below C2. The cases where 2Thundering + 2Noblesse is best are with ATK% stacking weapons, or when your substats are skewed towards ATK%. It is also much easier to grind out a good set for as opposed to Gladiator. |
Thundersoother (4) | This set is only particularly useful in an Electrocharged focused team. It does have a higher damage ceiling compared to the generalist sets by 2-5%, but does suffer due to reliance on uptime. If you really want to minmax, are willing to take the team comp limitations, and learn your rotations perfectly, it can be worth it. |
Thundering Fury (4) | The focus of this set is not on the reaction damage portion, but the cooldown reduction. As such, this is a Main Carry only set since the CDR does not work off-field. You will need to make a VERY specific team for this set to work; one that would enable Beidou to get as many reactions as possible while still maintaining overall DPS. The actual mileage of this set is extremely hard to quantify. Getting counters down to a 4 second cooldown sounds cool, but very few enemies actually attack you fast enough to make use of it. Simply shaving off 3 seconds of a tapped counter does not yield much value. There is something to be said about the increased energy gains, but Main Carry Beidou typically has her energy situation figured out. Another thing to note is that the potential of this set is heavily gated behind C4. Video by BakaSky. |
Noblesse Oblige (4) | Nearly identical to Noblesse (2)+ Gladiator (2) for Beidou if just used for her Burst. However, one thing to note is that Beidou is not a great user of the set due to her long cooldown. Noblesse (4) users typically have 40 to 60 cost bursts. That being said, it is certainly an option if your team does not already have a Noblesse (4) user. |
Physical Optimization
The problem with artifacts for Physical builds is that, because it is suboptimal, literally any artifact pertaining to Physical damage/Normal damage increases is just worse than Electro damage sets. So when we “optimize” Physical for most damage, it ends up not being Physical at all. At most, a Hybrid build is significantly better than full Physical but still worse than Electro, in which you would opt for an ATK% goblet and build Bloodstained Chivalry (2) + Thundering Fury (2) / Noblesse Oblige (2).
Original art by prawnm33
Chapter 4: Team Building
“I chose you as my crewmate, as my comrade on the sea. It gives me great pride to be able to say that.”
Beidou is already ridiculously strong on her own, but what’s a Pirate Queen without her faithful crewmates? Team Building is crucial for bringing out the maximum potential of all your characters, but is also the trickiest part of Genshin optimization. While it is certainly possible to just brute force your way through Abyss with stacked C6 5 stars, the majority of players will need to think carefully about their team choices and which characters to invest in.
Beidou already has some great team compositions already discovered and playtested, but I think it is equally important to highlight exactly which units she synergizes with, and what qualities she looks for. Understanding synergy is the first step in creating your own teams.
Core Elements of a Team Composition
Primary Elemental Reaction
Most teams tend to focus on a singular elemental reaction, and choose their units based on how well they can enable that reaction. Choosing multiple reactions is generally not recommended due to how elemental auras clash with each other, making it a mess to micromanage in practice.
Example: Vape Diluc, Melt Ganyu, Electrocharged Keqing, etc.
Rotation Style
Team can be categorized into two styles that dictate how you will be rotating through your units. Unit selection matters heavily based on style.
Sustained: One dedicated Main Carry that takes up the majority of screentime. Supports and Sub Carries rotate sparingly to reapply buffs.
Quickswap: No dedicated “Main Carry” or a less selfish one, and each Sub Carry or Support switches between themselves frequently to rotate low cooldown abilities. **
4.1 General Synergies
Solves Beidou’s energy problems
Electro Resonance
Fischl covers single target damage, Beidou covers AoE
Fast attacks to proc Stormbreaker if need be
Overall very efficient unit for any team
Very synergistic Bursts that form a non-intrusive reaction
His energy gen with Sac Sword is good even with element penalty
Stackable damage reduction with their Bursts
Is from Liyue
No matter the team, Fischl and Xingqiu can always be slotted with Beidou for almost no adverse effects. There are certain niche comps that do not benefit from Xingqiu, but those are few and far in between.
Generally, any fast attacker is great for proccing her Stormbreaker, so characters like Keqing, Tartaglia, Polearm users, or Catalyst users can all be candidates.
Any Anemo character is great for the 4Viridescent RES shred.
Characters with Attack Speed increases, like Chongyun and C2 Jean, can greatly improve the Normal Attacking experience for Main Carry Beidou.
4.2 Main Carry Team Templates
Holy Trinity Tazer Electro
Slot 1: Beidou [Main] Slot 2: Fischl [Sub] Slot 3: Xingqiu [Sub] Slot 4: Flex
Video: Very rudimentary demonstration by itsjaeYOU#2868
Literally just slapping the 3 best Sub DPSes into one team. Beidou is the “main carry” as she has the highest damage ceiling, but you can basically normal with whoever you want. The last slot can be virtually anything, as the damage reduction stacking from Beidou + Xingqiu obsoletes the need for a healer.
Superconduct Physical
Slot 1: Beidou [Main] Slot 2: Fischl [Sub] Slot 3: Diona/Kaeya/Ganyu [Sub] Slot 4: Flex
Video: 12-3-2 Abyss, 3 star clear by Shanksta#3638
Simple comp that uses Superconduct as the main reaction to boost her Normals. Although SC is a weak reaction, it is primarily used for the RES shred and the output of Beidou + Fischl is enough to cover for it. The flex slot can be filled with Bennett or Zhongli, for a further boost in damage.
4Thundering Counter Spam
Slot 1: Beidou [Main] Slot 2: Fischl [Sub] Slot 3: Xingqiu/Chongyun/C6 Bennett [Sub] Slot 4: Flex
Video: 4TF breakdown by BakaSky
This comp can very much work with just the Holy Trinity Tazer comp, but there are a few added options in slot 3. Generally speaking, any of the 3 work with Bennett being the least advisable outside of abyss due to Overload, but Xingqiu is often used in other teams so Chongyun is a solid choice. It is highly recommended to have C4 Beidou before attempting this for the sake of consistency.
4.3 Sub Carry Team Templates
Fireworks Childe
Slot 1: Childe [Main] Slot 2: Beidou [Sub] Slot 3: Fischl/Flex [Sub] Slot 4: Flex
Video: 1.2 Abyss 12-3-1, 3 star clear by Kikouma#1098
Video shown does not have Fischl, but the general idea is the same. By pairing Childe and Beidou together, two characters that already excel in AoE situation, the damage potential is immense. Do note that Childe does have considerable downtime in between his Form switches, so it would be wise to choose teammates that can fill in the gaps. Any video that recommends Rainslasher for her in this team is wrong.
Keqing Trinity Tazer
Slot 1: Keqing [Main] Slot 2: Beidou [Sub] Slot 3: Xingqiu [Sub] Slot 4: Flex
Video: Soon
Replaces Fischl for Keqing to act as a dedicated Carry, and Keqing is one of the best units to hold Stormbreaker. However, Keqing generates substantially less energy than Fischl does, so a team like this would need to have a C2 Keqing or invest more heavily into ER for Beidou. It is still an option to run Fischl in slot 4 due to there being no need for a healer, but it would be preferred to have an Anemo or Zhongli for RES shreds.
Klee Overload Warfare
Slot 1: Klee [Main] Slot 2: Beidou [Sub] Slot 3: Xingqiu [Sub] Slot 4: Flex
Video: Soon
This is inherently an Abyss-centric team, as Overload is not an issue with the abundance of knockback resistant enemies. We combine Beidou + Xingqiu to form Electrocharged, which allows both the Hydro and Electro aura to persist. Klee can then proc Overload and Vaporize in a single attack, leading to great AoE damage. Note that this team is not great for fueling Beidou, but it is possible to still maintain uptime with 160% ER.
Catalyst Trinity Tazer
Slot 1: Sucrose/Mona/Barbara [Main] Slot 2: Beidou [Sub] Slot 3: Fischl [Sub] Slot 4: Xingqiu/Flex if Mona or Barb [Sub]
Video: 1.2 Abyss 12-3-2, 3 star clear, very low investment by Jinjinx
Despite Sucrose and Mona being the “Main Carries,” they require little to no investment at all. They simply act as an efficient way of proccing Beidou and Xingqiu Bursts, as well as Fischl’s A4. Overall effective in the current Abysses that don’t force any particular element, allowing it to be brute forced through the power of zap.
Ningguang Shock Rock
Slot 1: Ningguang [Main] Slot 2: Beidou [Sub] Slot 3: Fischl [Sub] Slot 4: Flex
Video: 1.2 Abyss 12-1-1 demonstration by HiScore
Ningguang has very good synergy with Beidou and Fischl for a number of reason: Her attacks all apply Geo and due to how Crystallize works, she will always be the trigger of the reaction. Hence, she has great uptime with Fischl’s A4. Ning’s normals also has frame data that makes it good for proccing Stormbreaker, and she can do it ranged. This comp has no damaging reactions however, so it is advised to stack into all 3 characters as much as possible.
RAZOR SUPERCONDUCT
Slot 1: Razor [Main] Slot 2: Beidou [Sub] Slot 3: Diona/Kaeya/Ganyu [Sub] Slot 4: Flex
Video:
Razor is quite a good battery for Beidou, however this comp prefers Fischl over Beidou because of Razor’s own energy issues. He cannot generate particles during his Burst, meaning he is reliant on Fischl’s offscreen energy gen to help him sustain uptime. Beidou needs to switch in to generate, which is heavily discouraged as Razor loses his Burst on switch. Overall, it CAN work if the 4th slot was Fischl, in which case you either run no healer or Diona.
4.4 Quickswap Team Templates
Turbo Beidou
Slot 1: Beidou Slot 2: Fischl Slot 3: Xiangling Slot 4: Bennett/Flex
Video: 12-3-1 Abyss, 25 seconds clear by me
Now this is peak Beidou. By using the “Fischl Feature,” we can “turbo” charge our Beidou with insane amounts of energy not normally possible, allowing us to go absolutely zero ER while still Bursting off cooldown. This way, we can focus entirely on offensive stats to reach maximum DPS potential for zero tradeoff. Aside from Fischl, Xiangling is pretty much core here, as her Pyro application actually outpaces Oz, and Benny helps battery while also providing an insane ATK boost. Swapping is pretty frequent, but it doesn’t really matter who normals because the majority of the damage comes from Beidou and Xiangling’s Bursts. Not to mention that every single unit here is a 4 star and incredibly efficient on their own.
4.5 Overall Recommendations
These comps are the easiest to execute, build, and play very intuitively.
Turbo is possibly the best Abyss team, provided that there are no required elements for shields and the enemies do not get knocked back. It is extremely comfy in terms of building, as ER is not needed aside from some on Xiangling. There is a small learning curve with mastering the switch-counter, but the timing is easy to pick up on.
Any variation of Tazer, whether Main or Sub is very easy to execute. It also invests in units that are universally good in most teams, so you either already have the units built or they’ll be built for the future. There are some gear requirements, mainly Sacrificial Sword on Xingqiu and all 3 need to have moderately good artifacts. But, they all scale incredibly well so it’s worth it. Fireworks Childe is technically a Tazer team, but he would need added investment as well as a backup plan for his downtime.
Afterword
“After all this training, I feel like I'm finally at my best. Thank you... But please, I'd still like for you to keep me on my toes.”
… And that’s it! After 50 pages I think I’ve finally addressed everything I needed to talk about. Hopefully this has been enough to teach you about Beidou, and maybe convince you to build and use this ridiculously broken unit.
If you still want more, me and the Beidou Mains Discord server are happy to answer your questions. You can even find me in Keqing Mains if you need to ask any questions. My DM’s are always open so feel free to directly ask me questions as well. I hope to see many new Beidou mains in the future!
As for the future of this guide, I’ll be keeping it updated for new weapons, artifacts, or discoveries whenever they appear. The Team Templates will be updated with new videos when I can find/get to them. For now though, I think this is as comprehensive as it gets.
Anyways, that’s it from me. - ZΛNTO#4984
My other guides: Keqing Weapon Guide
Network Resources: Keqing Mains Website **[Beidou Theorycrafting Library*](https://library.keqingmains.com/characters/electro/beidou)\***
Discord Links: BeidouMains **[KeqingMains**](http://discord.gg/keqing)
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