The Cloud Retain, otherwise known as Xianyun, has finally been added to Genshin Impact and she was instantly dubbed as “THE Mom” of the game. Not only that, but she has a fun kit that enables some really interesting teams and characters like Diluc to finally shine again. She is also incredibly easy to build, making her a good addition to players who are F2P only as you don’t really need her Signature Weapon to shine, even though it does make her a lot better – so if you missed her banner and her weapon, you might want to get her through buying genshin impact accounts! Now, onto the guide!
Xianyun First Appearance
Xianyun, or rather the Cloud Retainer, has appeared a long time ago in various story quests – but only as the Crane Adeptus before we finally had a glimpse at her human appearance through the Story Teaser: Echoes of the Heart – where we might have also gotten an early look at the Streetward Rambler, or Madame Ping if they end up adding her to the game.
Xianyun’s Kit
Xianyun, as seen from her Character Demo, is all about plunging attacks and enabling ‘ordinary’ characters to use them through her Elemental Burst – Stars Gather At Dusk while also being an extraordinary healer at that.
Xianyun Elemental Skill – White Clouds At Dawn
This Elemental Skill is one of the most useful traversal and exploration skills added to Genshin Impact. She can jump really high with it if you tap it really quickly in succession, but she can also cover a lot of horizontal distance with it if you separate the skill taps and press them as she lands.
Depending on how many times you press the Skill button, she will leap 1, 2, or 3 times – and once you press the attack button she will land and deal damage based on the amount of times you jumped.
In most combat situations, it is wise to only use the Skill as an Energy Generator without wasting time on the whole 3 jumps.
Xianyun’s Elemental Burst – Stars Gather At Dusk
Now this is where the fun begins. Xianyun summons her “Starwicker” mechanism which will follow the active character and heal them, while also enabling them to jump high for plunge attacks that deal additional anemo damage. This can be used to make 8 Plunging Attacks, no matter the duration.
The healing and additional anemo damage scales with Xianyun’s ATK, and once you unlock her second Passive Talent, a shockwave dealing 200% of Xianyun’s ATK will be released with each Plunging attack made while buffed by the Starwicker.
This makes her an incredible addition and a must-have for Xiao teams, along with Faruzan, enabling Xiao to jump to new heights of power.
However, she is also the perfect fit for a few other teams, such as a plunging Wriothesley, Diluc, or Gaming.
Xianyun’s Best Weapons and Artifact Sets
As with all 5 star units, Xianyuns best weapon will be her Signature Weapon – Crane’s Echoing Call, however – if you don’t have it you could also use the Favonius Codex if you don’t meet her ER requirements, or the Skyward Atlas since the Atlas gives a lot of ATK%.
Her best Artifact Set will be the Viridescent Venerer if you don’t have it on a different character – and if you do, she will make good use of the Noblesse Oblige set.
The stat priority for Artifacts should be – ER%, ATK%, Base ATK. She doesn’t need Crit Rate or Crit DMG, which makes farming artifacts for her relatively easy.
Conclusion
Xianyun is a great addition to the game, enabling faster exploration than ever before, while also allowing for some fun experimentation with teams based on Plunging attacks. She is a great healer as well, and Xiao has become meta again thanks to her. If you don’t have her, you can always trade now on websites like U7BUY to get an account with Xianyun on it!
