Xiao is a melee character in Genshin Impact that uses Polearm and Anemo elemental abilities to deal damage to his enemies. When Xiao is in the party, the active character consumes less Stamina while climbing.
Learn more about Xiao’s stats, talents, pros and cons, progression materials, and our rating of this character on this page.
| BASIC INFO AND RANKING | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Tier Ranking S-Tier DPS |
Rarity 5 Stars |
| Element Anemo |
Weapon Polearm |
| Pros |
|---|
| – Anemo main DPS. – Extreme mobility. – Terrifying damage with plunge attacks. |
| Cons |
| – Can’t boost with Petra and Venerer artifacts. – Very selfish playstyle. |
Table of Contents
Xiao Stats
Xiao gains an increase on his crit rate percentage base stats for every ascension upgrade.
| level | hp | atk | def | crit rate % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 3422 | 94 | 215 | 5% |
| 40 | 5724 | 157 | 359 | 9.8% |
| 50 | 7391 | 203 | 464 | 14.6% |
| 60 | 8866 | 243 | 556 | 14.6% |
| 70 | 10348 | 284 | 649 | 19.4% |
| 80 | 11840 | 325 | 743 | 24.2% |
| 90 | 12736 | 349 | 799 | 24.2% |
Xiao Skills
There are a few things that set Xiao apart from everyone else in the game and his mobility is the first thing that comes to mind. His movement skills allow him to dart around the battlefield and when he activates his elemental burst, his abilities are enhanced even further.
Perform up to 6 consecutive spear strikes.
Charge Attack
Consumes a certain amount of Stamina to perform an upward thrust.
Plunge Attack
Plunges from mid-air to strike the ground from below, damaging opponents along the path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact. Xiao does not take DMG from performing Plunging Attacks.
His normal attack string is a fancy-looking set of attacks and the full combo is done with 6 button presses and results in 8 hits. His most damaging combo without considering his other abilities will be 2 normal attacks followed by a charge attack. His charged attack can easily handle groups of enemies since the swings cover a significant area around him. In fact, if he has a shield on him, he can pretty much spam his charged attack without any interruption and the damage multiplier on it is actually very strong.
You can get even more damage by canceling the charge attack into a dash although that will require a lot of stamina. But with the proper team to feed him energy, you will almost never use his normal attacks besides finishing a final enemy after his burst is over.
Use Xiao’s elemental skill to lunge forward dealing Anemo damage to enemies in his path. You can easily use it for traversal and closing gaps between your jumps. But once you have some enemies around then there is no aiming involved and the dash he performs will choose one of the targets and automatically go through it and anyone else who gets in his way.
His 2nd passive talent provides additional damage for your next dash attack as long as you can do it within 7 seconds after getting the buff. Because you can stack it up to 3 times and if you can do this correctly, one of your elemental skill dashes will deal 45% increased damage.
Just keep in mind since he has two charges for his elemental skill so using one after another will give the 2nd dash with 15% damage but the timer will run out on the 3rd dash and you will reset the stack. It is best to wait at least 3 seconds before using up the 2nd charge in order to maintain the damage buff. Of course, optimal play aside, zipping twice in a row is a fantastic feeling and one that’s hard to shake off especially with the amount of damage you can quickly produce without counting on the passive itself.
Yaksha’s Mask:
- Greatly increases Xiao’s jumping ability.
- Increases his attack AoE and attack DMG.
- Converts attack DMG into Anemo DMG, which cannot be overridden by any other elemental infusion.
When it comes to his elemental burst, you can jump higher, attacks are wider and the damage itself gets infused with Anemo element. Obviously, the most fun way to take advantage of this would be his plunge attacks. Although even without fully relying on them, the damage output just from normal attacks on a single target is significant enough. But when you’re up against a group of enemies then there’s nothing better than to plunge those pests away.
It’s also interesting that his damage increases every few seconds while under the effect of his burst and it reaches a climax on the very last seconds of his demon form where he attains up to 25% extra DMG bonus. So keep this in mind if you ever get the idea to switch him out before the burst is over.
On the flip side, he also keeps losing health but thankfully it scales with the current HP he has so there is no flat damage and during most of the gameplay it never felt like something that you need to worry about.
| Passive Talents |
|---|
| Conqueror of Evil: Tamer of Demons While under the effects of Bane of All Evil, all DMG dealt by Xiao increases by 5%. DMG increases by a further 5% for every 3s the ability persists. The maximum DMG Bonus is 25%. |
| Dissolution Eon: Heaven Fall Using Lemniscatic Wind Cycling increases the DMG of subsequent uses of Lemniscatic Wind Cycling by 15%. This effect lasts for 7s, and has a maximum of 3 stacks. Gaining a new stack refreshes the effect’s duration. |
| Land’s Overseer Decreases climbing Stamina consumption for your own party members by 20%. Not stackable with Passive Talents that provide the exact same effects. |
So in essence, Xiao’s design is all about mobility and using it to dominate groups of enemies. His attacks are fast, hard-hitting, his stylish delivery of damage feels very rewarding, and few key mechanics like cycling your dashes to maintain the active damage buff and staying through the whole duration of his burst are the small things to keep in mind before every single monster perishes in his way.
Xiao Talent Materials
These are all the required materials to max out Xiao’s talents. The Prosperity books are available every Monday, Thursday, and Sunday in Taishan Mansion located near Jueyun Karst.
Xiao Ascension Materials
These are the total materials needed to reach the max Ascension level for Xiao. They can be acquired from Primo Geovishaps, Slimes, and Qingxin from the heights of stone forests in Liyeu.
Xiao Constellations
New constellation’s passive abilities can be unlocked for Xiao each time you obtain a character’s specific item called Stella Fortuna and these upgrades can permanently enhance her in various ways.
| Effects |
|---|
| Dissolution Eon: Destroyer of Worlds Increases Lemniscatic Wind Cycling’s charges by 1. |
| Annihilation Eon: Blossom of Kaleidos When in party but not on the field, Xiao’s Energy Recharge is increased by 25%. |
| Conqueror of Evil: Wrath Deity Increases the Level of Lemniscatic Wind Cycling by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| Transcension: Extinction of Suffering When Xiao’s HP falls below 50%, he gains a 100% DEF Bonus. |
| Evolution Eon: Origin of Ignorance Increases the Level of Bane of All Evil by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15. |
| Conqueror of Evil: Guardian Yaksha While under the effects of Bane of All Evil, hitting at least 2 opponents with Xiao’s Plunging Attack will immediately grant him 1 charge of Lemniscatic Wind Cycling and for the next 1s, he may use Lemniscatic Wind Cycling while ignoring its CD. |
