Artifacts and What to Build: An In-Depth Guide

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Glossary

Term Definition
2p Two pieces of an artifact set e.g. 2p Gladiator's Finale
4p Four pieces of an artifact set e.g. 4p Blizzard Strayer
BiS Best in Slot i.e. the best option
CR CRIT Rate
CD CRIT DMG
CRIT CRIT Rate or CRIT DMG
EM Elemental Mastery
ER% Energy Recharge%
HB Healing Bonus%
Alternate-scaling Characters Characters who scale off a stat other than the traditional ATK, such as HP/DEF, or convert another stat into ATK enough for it to scale better than ATK for their damage
ADC ATK% Sands, DMG Bonus% Goblet, CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG% Circlet
EDC Elemental Mastery Sands, DMG Bonus% Goblet, CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG% Circlet
Transformative Reaction Elemental Reactions that deal a separate instance of damage that scales exclusively off EM, character level and Enemy RES and are unaffected by CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK, Enemy DEF and other stats e.g. Swirl, Overload, Bloom, Hyperbloom, Burgeon
RES Shred Decreasing enemy Resistance to damage
Buff An increase in stats/damage
Offensive Used to refer to damage-based stats (CRIT Rate, CRIT DMG, ATK or whatever the character scales off for DMG)

Do not grind artifacts before AR45.

  • The RNG nature of artifacts means they can take months to farm even at AR45 when 5★ artifacts are guaranteed.
  • That Resin is better invested into World and Weekly Bosses, Weapon Ascension Materials, and Talent Books, which you'll have to do anyway as they provide noteworthy damage increases.
  • The artifacts you use now will be replaced quickly at AR45.

The Basics

There are five artifact slots: the Flower, Feather, Sands, Goblet, and Circlet. The Flower's main stat is always flat HP, and the Feather's main stat is always flat ATK. Because these main stats are fixed and you don't have to worry about getting the right one, it is easier to get good substats on the Flower and as such, there are higher standards.

Main Stat Notation

The most common, and generally agreed upon, notation for artifact main stats is Sands/Goblet/Circlet as this is the order they appear in on the Character Artifact Menu.
For example, someone might say that Ayaka's build is ATK/Cryo/CRIT DMG, and this would refer to an ATK% Sands, a Cryo DMG Bonus% Goblet, and a CRIT DMG% Circlet. The Flower and Feather are usually not mentioned as they have fixed main stats, so it would be redundant to note these.

There are 2p and 4p set bonuses, which grant effects for equipping two pieces, and four pieces of, an artifact set respectively. Because you have five artifact slots, one of your pieces can be off-set, also known as an offpiece. Usually it'll be the Goblet as on-set Elemental DMG Bonus% Goblets are rare, but other pieces being the offpiece is possible and may even be optimal.

Main Stats > Substats > Set Bonuses

Don't force set bonuses at the cost of correct main stats and vastly superior substats.

4p Viridescent Venerer is one of the rare few set onuses powerful enough to justify using regardless of the stats, as it is an effective 27.78% damage increase to the Swirled Element. Using 4p Noblesse Oblige on some supports is also worth it due to their low personal damage and stat requirements. 4p Blizzard Strayer is very much worth using on Freeze characters unless your non-Blizzard pieces somehow have more than 40% CRIT Rate's worth of stats on it.

Stats & Scaling

% > Flat Stats

For example, ATK% is much more valuable than flat ATK as it multiplies Base ATK, resulting in more total ATK. Flat ATK does not increase Base ATK, it is simply that number added to total ATK making the increase it offers comparatively much smaller.

Not all characters scale off ATK. Alternate-scaling characters will prefer the stat they scale off to ATK% (unless if the scaling is worse than ATK, such as Ayato).

For example, Albedo and Yelan scale off DEF/HP respectively, while Hu Tao, Itto and Noelle convert HP/DEF to ATK.

How do I know what a character scales off?

Check their Talents menu.

For characters like Albedo and Yelan, the Attribute Scaling for their primary source of damage (e.g. Skill for Albedo, Burst for Yelan) will be notated as Transient Blossom DMG (% DEF) or Exquisite Throw DMG (% Max HP).

For characters like Hu Tao, Itto, and Noelle, they will have a Talent that converts an alternate stat (HP/DEF) to ATK. This is notated as ATK Increase (% Max HP) or ATK Bonus (% DEF), and the Talent Description will say something along the lines of "Increases Hu Tao's ATK based on her Max HP", "increases his ATK based on his DEF", or "Increased ATK that scales based on her DEF".

If no stat is noted in the Attribute Scaling, then by default the character scales off ATK.

Energy Recharge%

ER% or Energy Recharge% requirements refer to the prerequisite or baseline amount of Energy Recharge% for a character to be able to Burst when needed. The Energy Recharge% a character needs is dependent on several factors:

  • How often they need to Burst (Burst cooldown, rotation, usefulness of Burst)
  • This is not always every rotation
    • For some characters, such as Hu Tao and Yoimiya, it's better to Burst every other rotation (or even every 3-4 with Shimenawa). Building the ER% needed to Burst every rotation cuts too much into offensive stats and you end up losing damage.
  • Not every character needs their Burst (but most want to use it).
  • For some characters, most notably Zhongli, casting Burst is a DPS Loss.
  • Burst cost (40-90)
    • This information can be viewed in the Burst Talent Menu. Lower Burst costs require less Energy, and have shorter cooldowns.
  • Energy generation
    • Some characters generate more Particles than others, and more often. This can be observed in-game or read here.
  • Weapons, Constellations, Talents, Passives
    • Favonius and Sacrificial weapons will generate more Energy, lowering ER% requirements. Some weapons and Constellations restore flat Energy, such as Amenoma Kageuchi or Rosaria's C4. Raiden generates Energy for the team, while Venti refunds a fixed amount.
  • Team composition
    • Batteries and having multiple of the same Element will lower ER% requirements.
  • Field-time & Rotation
    • Characters get more Energy on-field.
    • Quickswap teams where characters can be freely swapped in to collect Particles will tend to have lower ER% requirements than Hypercarry teams or teams where one character hogs the majority of field-time. For example, Xiangling's ER% requirements in a Reverse Melt Quickswap team with Rosaria are much lower than in a Reverse Melt team with Ganyu.

Meeting ER% requirements is of utmost importance, and you should prioritise Energy Recharge% until they are met. You can check ER% requirements through the Energy Recharge Calculator, or KeqingMains' infographics and guides.

Thus, if a character's Energy Recharge% requirements are around, or higher than 151.8% (base ER% + Level 20 ER% Sands), and they cannot get it from substats, they would run an Energy Recharge% Sands.

Why You Shouldn't Stack Energy Recharge%...

If you stack Energy Recharge% beyond what is needed on characters who can deal respectable personal damage then it will be a DPS loss, as, even with weapons, sets and passives that appear to incentivise building for ER% (like Raiden's passive and 4p Emblem), a roll of CRIT% or ATK% is more valuable than a roll of ER% once Energy Recharge% requirements have been met.

Crit

1:2 Ratio

Most characters who can and want to CRIT will follow a 1:2 CRIT Rate:CRIT DMG ratio.

CRIT Rate CRIT DMG
60 120
65 130
70 140
and so on...

However, Yanfei's ideal CRIT Ratio more closely resembles that of 3:5 due to her Ascension 4. Deviating from the 1:2 ratio is not as big a DPS loss as one might think—this doesn't mean go ham with your 50:200 ratios, because 75:150 has the same CRIT Value while being more optimal. But:

going from a 1:2 ratio to a 1:1.5 ratio is generally only a DPS loss of about 2.1%.

—KeqingMains, "Rosaria and the Golden Ratio"
So for a character like Rosaria who shares her CRIT Rate, it is worth looking into if her teammates can benefit from it.

Character Builds

There is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to artifacts. Optimal artifacts depend on a number of factors:

  • Character role
  • Character scaling
  • Team composition
  • External buffs
  • Weapon
  • Constellation
  • Substats

However, there are overarching trends that can be observed when looking at characters' artifact builds.

For example, most traditional damage dealers will follow the ADC main stat format.

What is ADC?

ADC refers to an ATK% Sands, a Elemental/Physical DMG Bonus% Goblet, and a CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG% Circlet. Similarly, EDC would be the same thing but with an EM Sands.

General patterns regarding desired main stats and substats can largely be categorised as follows:

DPS

Character who deals substantial amounts of damage that can crit. Can be played either on-field or off-field.

Examples: Ayaka, Klee, Beidou, Raiden, Itto, Albedo, Freeze Ganyu, Xingqiu, Yelan, Ayato, Eula, Noelle, Fischl in non-Aggravate teams, Ningguang

The build information here will refer to characters who crit and do not deal most of their damage from Reactions—for information on that, go to the Reaction DPS section.

Artifact Stats

Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
[Stat they scale off for DMG], usually ATK% Elemental/Physical DMG Bonus% CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG Energy Recharge% until requirement (if applicable) > CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG > [Stat they scale off]

Energy Recharge% and When to Use an ER% Sands

The first priority for any character is to meet Energy Recharge% requirements. Some characters, such as Keqing, don't need any Energy Recharge% at all, so they can skip this part.

Sometimes a character's ER% requirements are already met through their weapon or artifact substats, or substantially lowered through the use of a battery, in which case an ER% Sands is unnecessary.

An example of this is Xingqiu using a Sacrificial Sword, which provides a whopping 61.3% Energy Recharge% at Level 90 while letting him double cast his Skill for Particles. At this point Xingqiu is usually able to get the rest of his required ER% from substats, making an ER% Sands entirely overkill and a DPS loss.

However, if you still don't have enough Energy Recharge%, then you can use an Energy Recharge% Sands. This is only recommended if ER% requirements are upwards of 150%, as an ER% Sands main stat provides 51.8% on top of the base 100% every character has, for a total of 151.8%.

An ER% Sands would not be recommended, for example, for Beidou with Fischl on the team, as the excess ER% cuts into potential offensive stats—in this case, the ATK% gained from using an ATK% main stat instead and getting the required ER% from substats.

When Can You Use an ATK% Goblet?

Elemental DMG Bonus% Goblets are almost always better than ATK% Goblets.

However, ATK% Goblets are viable on characters that have a high amount of DMG Bonuses% from various sources—such as Xiao and Raiden. ATK% Goblets, however, become substantially worse with ATK buffs, such as 4p Vermillion hereafter and Bennett.

In a similar vein, a HP% goblet can be used on Yelan if she lacks HP, and/or these conditions of high DMG% from external sources (e.g. Kazuha A4, Raiden Elemental Skill, high refine Mouun's Moon) are met. Use the Optimizer.

When Can You NOT Use a CRIT Circlet?

You almost always want to be using a CRIT% Circlet on damage dealers who can crit. It's very hard to justify using anything else.

That being said, there are some niche scenarios where ATK% Circlets are viable—and even optimal. One example, Mistsplitter Ayaka gets a lot of CRIT DMG from her Ascension Stat and weapon's substat. Moreover, Ayaka has more than enough CRIT Rate% from Cryo Resonance + 4p Blizzard Strayer. Such conditions, combined with high CRIT DMG% substats, can make an ATK% Circlet ideal.

If Albedo is using R5 Harbinger of Dawn, which provides a ton of CRIT value, DEF% Circlet may be optimal. As his Elemental Skill scales purely off DEF, DEF has relatively higher value for Albedo compared to Noelle or Itto who convert their DEF to ATK. However, if Albedo is using Cinnabar Spindle which provides a whopping 69.0% DEF as well as adding flat damage to his base Skill damage in a manner similar to Shenhe/Yun Jin, thereby increasing the value of CRIT relative to DEF —he will certainly want to be using CRIT.

For Yelan, the difference between a HP% and CRIT% Circlet largely comes down to substats. In cases like these, it's best to defer to the Optimizer.

A 1:2 CRIT Rate:CRIT DMG ratio is almost always optimal.

This includes consistent sources of CRIT Rate like "The Catch"'s passive for Burst-focused characters (an optimal CRIT ratio for those characters might look like 58:140 or 68:160), Cryo Resonance against enemies that are constantly affected by Cryo (inconsistent in Superconduct teams, non-existent in Reverse Melt teams) and 4p Blizzard Strayer, which provides a whopping 40% CRIT Rate against enemies that are Frozen.

Be careful not to overcap on CRIT Rate with Freeze characters like Ayaka or Ganyu. Rosaria's buff can also be counted if the character snapshots or does the majority of their damage in the time Rosaria's Burst is active (inconsistent for Eula). Thus, an optimal ratio for Ayaka might look like 35:200 as 35+15+40+10=100—at which point you can really stack CRIT DMG e.g. 35:240+. Of course at high saturations of CRIT, ATK% becomes more valuable.

Reaction DPS

Character who deals substantial amounts of damage that can crit, most of it being from Elemental Reactions. Can be played either on-field or off-field.

Examples: Reverse Vaporize Xiangling, Reverse Melt Rosaria, Diluc, Hu Tao, Melt Ganyu, Vaporize Yoimiya, Vaporize Yanfei

This section covers characters whose Reaction DMG can crit. For information regarding characters who deal most of their damage via Transformative Reactions such as Swirl or Overload, which cannot crit, go to the Transformative Damage Dealer section.

Artifact Stats

Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
Elemental Mastery or [Stat they scale off for DMG], usually ATK% Elemental DMG Bonus% CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG Energy Recharge% until requirement (if applicable) > 100 EM > CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG > 250–300 EM > [Stat they scale off] > Further EM

EM thresholds are approximations and highly generalised. For more accurate recommendations regarding your characters and artifacts, you should refer to the Optimizer or specific character guides.

Once again, meeting Energy Recharge% requirements is the first priority.

If a character has high ER% requirements and is unable to meet them through their weapon/substats, consider using an ER% Sands. The primary example of this is Xiangling, who tends to opt for ER% Sands in the absence of an ER% weapon like "The Catch". For characters with lower or no ER% requirements—which most of the examples listed do—this will not be necessary. You lose out too much not running an ATK% or EM Sands.

ATK% or EM Sands?

For characters that lack external EM buffs in their teams, such as Melt Ganyu, Vaporize Yoimiya and Reverse Melt Rosaria, EM Sands is generally better than ATK% Sands.

This is because getting decent amounts of Elemental Mastery (300+ for characters who can react ~90% of their damage) is very valuable, more so than ATK (or whatever stat they may scale off) until higher EM thresholds.

However, this may change with external EM buffs (4p Instructor, C2 Kazuha), if you have a good amount of EM from substats, and if there is a great disparity in substat quality between the EM% and ATK% Sands i.e. your ATK% Sands has fantastic substats, your EM Sands not so much.

For a character like Rosaria who can react practically all her damage due to her lack of ICD, their optimised build may very well have 300–400 EM in the absence of EM buffers. Use the Optimizer.

For characters with a lot of Elemental Mastery from other sources such as weapon, from external buffs or from substats, then ATK or the stat they scale off may be more optimal.

For example, even without an EM weapon, Hu Tao's EM can go as high as 400–500 from buffs in highly invested VV teams—at which point the diminishing returns for EM is steep, and would make HP% the optimal Sands main stat.

For more ambiguous cases, you should use the Optimizer.

As usual, these characters want a 1:2 ratio. However, due to Yanfei's 4th Ascension Passive, her ideal CRIT Ratio is closer to 3:5.

Transformative Damage Dealer

Character whose primary source of damage is from Transformative Reactions, which cannot crit and scale purely off EM and character level. Can be played either on-field or off-field.

Examples: Sucrose, Kazuha, Sunfire Jean, Overload Yanfei

What are Transformative Reactions?

Transformative Reactions are a separate instance of damage that occur when a Reaction is triggered. Transformative Reaction damage is based off Elemental Mastery and character level—it cannot crit and is unaffected by ATK, DMG Bonuses% and other stats. Transformative Reactions ignore Enemy DEF, but are affected by RES Shred.

Transformative Reactions include Swirl, Overload, Bloom, Hyperbloom, Burgeon, Electro-Charged, Superconduct, and Shatter.

Artifact Stats

Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
Elemental Mastery or Energy Recharge% (if needed) Elemental Mastery Elemental Mastery Energy Recharge% until requirement (if applicable) > Elemental Mastery

Transformative Reactions (e.g. Swirl, Overload) cannot crit nor do they benefit from ATK, DMG Bonus% or any stats other than Elemental Mastery and character level. They ignore DEF, but can still benefit from RES Shred. This limits optimal builds to consisting almost entirely of Elemental Mastery.

For characters who want to use their Elemental Burst, like Sunfire Jean and Kazuha, they prioritise building Energy Recharge% until requirements are met. Then they can go all in on Elemental Mastery.

If using Favonius weapons, then they will want a decent amount of CRIT Rate% from substats to be able to trigger the passive reliably. This is less than you might think with multi-hit abilities and/or in AoE, like Kazuha's Elemental Skill and following Plunging Attack with multiple enemies.

Otherwise, CRIT% is completely unnecessary and even straightup detrimental in Overload Yanfei's case, as the Pyro application from her Ascension 4 passive when she gets a Crit hit can overwhelm and interfere with Overloads.

"Hybrid"

There are characters who deal damage through Transformative Reactions but also have high Talent scalings enhanced by external ATK buffs, while not offering any EM-based buffs of their own. Characters like Venti and Heizou can thus go for EM builds, ADC builds or a combination of main stats such as EM/DMG/CRIT or EM/DMG/EM that may be optimal depending on the conditions and presence of external buffs. In these cases, it's best to use the Optimizer and set a Custom Multi-Target Config that accounts for both Anemo DMG and Swirls.

Another example, Thundering Fury Bennett uses EM/Pyro/EM as he both Overloads and Vaporizes his Skill.

Support

Character whose primary purpose is providing utility/buffs/survivability to the team and whose personal damage is low, or less relevant than their support capabilities. Generally their field-time is low.

Examples: Bennett, Sara, Gorou, Shenhe, Mona, Yun Jin, Amber

Artifact Stats

Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
Energy Recharge% (if needed)/[Stat used to support] [Stat used to support]/[Highest ER% substat] [Stat used to support]/CRIT Rate% (if using Favonius weapon)/[Highest ER% substat] Energy Recharge% until requirement > CRIT Rate% (if using Favonius weapon) > [Stat used to support]

Many characters' buffing abilities are tied to their kit, weapon or artifact set, and entirely unaffected by artifact Stats. Thus, it can be said that the only stat that matters for their supportive utility is the Energy Recharge% needed to Burst every rotation.

Stacking Energy Recharge%

If their personal damage is low while their Energy needs are high, then you can simply stack Energy Recharge% for a low-investment but effective build, and this is in fact the recommended course of action for Amber, Freeze Support Mona and Gorou. "Stacking Energy Recharge%" simply entails using a 5★ Energy Recharge% Sands, and artifacts with the highest Energy Recharge% substat available irrespective of artifact main stats.

Characters that provide batterying utility via Favonius weapons, however, do want decent CRIT Rate% so you might use a CRIT Rate% Circlet, especially on a character like Gorou, who doesn't need stats other than sufficient Energy Recharge%, and often uses 4★ artifacts, whose lower base stats and scarcity make it difficult to get adequate CRIT Rate% (as well as Energy Recharge%) purely from substats.

Some characters provide buffs based on their stats including those from artifacts.

For example, Shenhe and Yun Jin provide buffs based off their ATK and DEF respectively. Build the required ER% first then look to stack those stats, as well as sufficient CRIT Rate% to proc Favonius.

If artifact stats don't affect their buff and their personal damage is respectable, then you can opt for ER/DMG/CRIT which is what Sara and invested Bennetts use. Of course, your DPS should still have priority on your best DMG Goblets and CRIT Circlets. Prioritise Energy Recharge% in substats until you can comfortably burst every rotation, then offensive stats such as CRIT Rate/CRIT DMG and ATK% are a nice bonus.

Shielder

Character that can provide a shield to prevent the active character from taking damage.

Examples: Zhongli, Diona, Thoma

Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
[Stat shield scales off], usually HP [Stat shield scales off], usually HP [Stat shield scales off], usually HP/CRIT Rate% (if using Favonius weapon) Energy Recharge% until requirement (if applicable) > CRIT Rate% (if using Favonius weapon) > [Stat shield scales off], usually HP

As always, Energy Recharge% is prioritised for characters who want to use their Elemental Burst, which Thoma needs for his shield in the first place and Diona uses for heals, which further improve survivability, as well as to potentially proc 4p Noblesse Oblige.

Once Energy Recharge% requirements have been met, stack the stat their shields scale off (in this case, HP%).

Zhongli's Elemental Burst is a DPS loss especially as a Shield Support, so we ignore it and instead focus on stacking HP% (the stat his shield scales off) and CRIT Rate% (if he's using Favonius Lance). Zhongli wants more CRIT Rate% than most Favonius holders, since the only ability he uses is his Elemental Skill and ideally the initial cast would proc Favonius so he can occupy as little fieldtime as possible.

If using Favonius weapons, characters will want a decent amount of CRIT Rate% to trigger the passive more consistently, allowing them to generate clear Energy Particles to lessen the team's Energy needs. Try to avoid a CRIT Rate% hat on Diona/Thoma as it compromises their Shield HP significantly and Thoma in particular already may struggle with balancing ER%, HP and CRIT Rate% with his high Energy needs, especially pre-C4. Zhongli's shield, however, is so strong that it's fine to use on him.

Healer

Character that can restore HP to other characters on the team.

Examples: Kokomi, Barbara, Qiqi

Sands Goblet Circlet Substats
Energy Recharge% (if needed)/[Stat healing scales off] [Stat healing scales off] Healing Bonus% > [Stat healing scales off] Energy Recharge% until requirement (if applicable) > [Stat healing scales off]

You can check what stat a character's healing scales off in their Talent Attributes. In terms of heals alone, Healing Bonus% will scale better than the stat a healer scales off. Thus, Healing Bonus% will be preferred to HP% for Kokomi and Barbara, and to ATK% for Qiqi.

Otherwise, try to avoid using Healing Bonus% on characters who benefit more from other stats, or can deal respectable damage on their own while healing more than enough without it—such as Jean who already heals the team to max health or close with an ADC build.

Of course, there will be exceptions to the overarching trends and general patterns regarding character artifact builds observed in this guide. You should always seek more specific information regarding particular characters—there are and will be exceptions to the rule, and things like substat priority are more nuanced and can vary from character to character. Things like team composition and role will also change desired main stats/substats.


written by bei#9877

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Pub: 16 Feb 2022 10:51 UTC
Edit: 15 Oct 2022 23:38 UTC
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