The best Genshin Impact Beidou build

Want to learn how to create the best build for Beidou in Genshin Impact? Beidou is an Electro Claymore wielder who's been a part of Genshin Impact since the game launched in September 2020. She's a fairly common pull from the gacha, so if you're engaging with that aspect of the game at all, chances are good that you'll end up with Beidou in your party sooner rather than later.

Beidou is a sailor (note that while she looks like a pirate she's never technically confirmed to be one, though the implication is certainly there), and is captain of The Crux, a fleet based out of the nation of Liyue. Her solid base stats make her a good candidate for either the main or supporting DPS roles in your party; she's marginally stronger as a sub DPS, but we'll cover both possibilities in this guide. Below, we've put together our suggestions for the best possible build for Beidou.

How to build Beidou as a DPS in Genshin Impact

Best weapon: Wolf's Gravestone (main DPS) / Skyward Pride (sub DPS)

Alternative: Serpent Spine

Beidou's official artwork depicts her equipped with the Blackcliff Slasher, so it's perhaps somewhat surprising that this isn't really even a contender for her best weapon. While it looks cool, the Blackcliff Slasher conveys its best benefits when your attacks are speedy — but since Claymores are perhaps the slowest weapons in the game, working with it is a high-risk, low-reward strategy unless you happen to be very skilled at using them.

If it's your intention to put Beidou front-and-centre as your party's main damage dealer, you should focus your weapon choice on increasing damage outputs from her normal attacks. The Wolf's Gravestone is the premier weapon choice in this case, with its base attack increase of 20% and its ability to boost the whole party's attacks by 40% for a short time after Beidou lands a hit on an enemy with below 30% health. A powerful but compromising back-up choice is the Serpent Spine, which grants Beidou an extra 6-10% damage for every 4 seconds she's on the field (up to a maximum of 5 stacks, equal to 50% when the weapon is fully upgraded) — but with the devil's bargain that she also takes an additional 3% maximum damage in the same duration.

On the other hand, if you want Beidou in more of a supporting offensive role, it's better to get hold of a Claymore that deals both normal and elemental damage. With that in mind, the Skyward Pride is the top pick: it increases all damage by a base 8%; and normal, charged, or Elemental Burst attacks always trigger an elemental follow-up attack that deals 80% damage to opponents in its path.

Best artifacts: Thundering Fury / Gladiator's Finale mix

Alternative: Noblesse Oblige / Retracting Bolide mix

Beidou benefits from a mix-and-match approach to Artifacts: there are so many sets that can be used to usefully amplify her abilities, that keeping them in balance rather than going all-in on one tends to be the best approach. Choose two pieces from the Thundering Fury set to give her Electro attacks an extra 15%, and combine with two pieces from the Gladiator's Finale set for an extra 18% attack damage.

You can replace Thundering Fury with Noblesse Oblige for a 20% increase to Beidou's Elemental Burst damage, but this should be your secondary choice, since it's her Elemental Skill you want to focus on more for this build. If you have the Serpent Spine claymore equipped and need a little extra protection, consider switching out the Gladiator's Finale pieces for two from the Retracting Bolide set instead, which increases Beidou's shield by 35%.

Whichever combination you opt for, focus on the following stats and substats to make the most of this Beidou build:

• Circlet of Logos: ATK
• Sands of Eon: HP
• Goblet of Eonothem: Electro DMG Bonus
• Substats: CRITs, ATK, or HP

Talent priority: Tidecaller (Elemental Skill)

Beidou's best Talent is indisputable, because it's completely unique within Genshin Impact: her Tidecaller Elemental Skill is the only way to parry and return damage in the entire game. It's a powerful move, and we can't recommend enough that you take the opportunity to use it.

Here's a full list of Beidou's Talents and their uses:

• Normal Attack: Oceanborne
• Normal Attack - Perform up to 5 successive strikes.
• Charged Attack - Drains Beidou's Stamina over time to allow her to perform continuous slashes. At end of the sequence, she performs a more powerful slash.
• Plunging Attack - Beidou plunges from mid-air to strike the ground, damaging opponents along her path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
• Elemental Skill: Tidecaller - Press to swing Beidou's blade forward fiercely while dealing Electro DMG. Hold to lift her weapon up as a shield that absorbs 250% Electro DMG and applies the Electro Element to Beidou upon activation (max DMG absorbed scales based on Beidou's max HP). Finally, Beidou attacks using the energy stored within her Claymore upon release or once the ability's duration expires, dealing Electro DMG. DMG dealt scales with the number of times Beidou is attacked in the skill's duration, with the greatest damage bonus once the effect is triggered twice.
• Elemental Burst: Stormbreaker - Beidou surrounds herself with a field of monstrous strength and lightning. When Normal and Charged Attacks hit, they create a once-per-second lightning discharge that can jump between opponents, dealing Electro DMG to all nearby. Also increases Beidou's resistance to interruption, and decreases her DMG taken.
• 1st Ascension Passive: Retribution - Parrying with Tidecaller at the precise moment when Beidou is hit grants the maximum DMG Bonus.
• 4th Ascension Passive: Lightning Storm - When Tidecaller deals its maximum DMG Bonus, DMG dealt by Normal and Charged Attacks is increased by 15%, attack speed of Normal and Charged Attacks is increased by 15%, and delay before Charged Attacks is greatly reduced. These effects have a 10 second duration.
• Utility Passive: Conqueror of Tides - Decreases swimming stamina consumption of your characters in the party by 20%. (Not stackable with other passive talents providing the same effect.)

Party composition

• DPS: Beidou
• Sub DPS: Xingqiu
• Support/DPS: Fischl
• Healer: Diona

5* alternative: Zhongli as shield, replacing Fischl as joint-DPS

Beidou is an unusual Genshin Impact character in several respects; in terms of party composition, she works so extremely well on an all 4-star team that pairing her up with a 5-star character can honestly feel a little like a downgrade overall. However, Beidou's defences are her weakness, so pairing her up with a solid 5-star shield support like Zhongli can be a good idea, even if it requires you to sacrifice some of her powerful resonance potential with Fischl.

Beidou, Fischl, and Xingqiu are a bit of a dream team when it comes to this party's DPS roles, and pairing Beidou up with either or both of them works wonders. Fischl will provide continuous Electro Energy for Beidou; and pairing them together triggers all of the passive advantages of the High Voltage resonance, including reduced vulnerability to Hydro damage and the guaranteed generation of Electro particles from every Electro reaction (except Swirl). Xingqiu, meanwhile, can use his Hydro powers to trigger the powerful Electro-Charged reaction on enemies, and his Elemental Burst in conjunction with Beidou's and/or Fischl's can potentially trigger this effect perpetually.

Finally, while Diona might not be Genshin Impact's most powerful healer overall, she's actually a better choice than many of the more OP candidates for this party. Her Cryo reactions with both Electro and Hydro increase damage and restrict enemy movement, respectively; and if the party has no 5-star shield specialist, Diona's shields in combination with her healing powers are nothing to be sniffed at.

How to level up Beidou in Genshin Impact

Ascension Materials

To fully ascend Beidou you will need the following materials:

The best way to gather Beidou's ascension materials is, appropriately enough, to effectively role-play as Beidou. Scavenge in caves around her native Liyue for a steady supply of Noctilucous Jades, and take on Treasure Hoarder enemies to claim their various insignias.

Talents

To fully level up one of Beidou's talents, you'll need the following materials:

To triple crown Beidou's talents, you’ll need to collect all of these materials three times over. You'll be able to pick up Gold books at the Taishan Mansion domain on Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays. As ever, Insignias come from defeating Treasure Hoarder enemies, while Dvalin's Sighs are awarded for successfully completing the Stormterror Challenge at Lvl 70+. Finally, Crowns of Insight are earned through limited-time events or by making offerings to the Frostbearing Tree and the Sacred Sakura.

Constellations

Most of Beidou's Constellations convey bonuses on her Stormbreaker skill, which — while not quite as impressive as Tidecaller — is nevertheless a very good Talent to wish to build up, especially if you're focusing on her as a secondary and/or Electro DPS dealer.

Below is a full list of Beidou's Constellations:

• Sea Beast's Scourge (Lvl 1): Stormbreaker creates a shield that absorbs up to 16% of Beidou's Max HP for 15s, and absorbs Electro DMG 250% more effectively.
• Upon the Turbulent Sea, the Thunder Arises (Lvl 2): Stormbreaker's arc lightning can jump to 2 additional targets.
• Summoner of Storm (Lvl 3): Increases the Level of Tidecaller by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• Stunning Revenge (Lvl 4): Within 10 seconds of taking damage, Beidou's Normal Attacks gain 20% additional Electro DMG.
• Crimson Tidewalker (Lvl 5): Increases the Level of Stormbreaker by 3. Maximum upgrade level is 15.
• Bane of Evil (Lvl 6): During the duration of Stormbreaker, the Electro Resistance of surrounding opponents is decreased by 15%.

How to get Beidou in Genshin Impact

You have the chance to pull Beidou from the gacha any time you Wish on the Wanderlust Invocation banner (standard wish). She's also available on the Beginners' Wish banner, which is available to new players until 20 Wishes have been made using their profile.

Beidou is also included in the wish pool of all Character Event Wishes and Weapon Event Wishes, and is sometimes given a boosted drop rate on the banners of 5-star characters — we'll be sure to let you know the next time she's featured!

During the Thunder Sojourn (2.0) event, Beidou could be obtained for free by exchanging 1,000 Thunder Pellets and 1,000 Thunder Crystals at the Oceanlord's Oath. However, at the time of writing, this event shop has now closed — though it's worth noting that characters who are made free-to-play once in Genshin Impact often recur as free characters later on.

That's everything you need to know to make the best build for Beidou, one of Genshin Impact's most unique heroes! Once you have Beidou, you'll very likely want to bring her into your party, perhaps replacing starter recruit Lisa as your main Electro character — check out our best Genshin Impact Lisa build guide to see if this suits your strategy. Alternatively, if you're looking for a more comprehensive run-down of Beidou's comparative benefits as a party member, take a look at our Genshin Impact character tier list.