The best Genshin Impact Raiden Shogun (Baal) build

Want to learn how to create the best build for the Raiden Shogun, a.k.a. Baal, in Genshin Impact? Raiden Shogun is the title given to the vessel of the Electro Archon of Inazuma in Genshin Impact. Until the Cataclysm that deity was Baal, and although Beelzebul has since taken over, you'll still hear the Raiden Shogun referred to as Baal pretty much interchangeably. Confused? The important thing to understand is that the Raiden Shogun is a powerful 5-star, limited-time character; and if you're fortunate enough to get her in your party, you're going to want to know which builds work best for her. Read on below for our suggestions for the Raiden Shogun's best weapons, artifacts, and more.

How to build Raiden Shogun as DPS/sub DPS in Genshin Impact

With the power of the Electro Archon coursing through her veins, it's no surprise that Raiden Shogun is an accomplished damage-dealer. Opinions vary as to whether she's best equipped to handle a DPS or sub DPS role: a slight majority seem to favour sub DPS, but I find her more than strong enough to head up a party. In the end, it really comes down to who you choose to pair her with: she's suitable for either position, but she's not quite the strongest character going, so she might be better off taking a secondary role if you have a real heavy-hitter on your team.

Best weapon: Engulfing Lightning

Alternative: The Catch

The Raiden Shogun wields a polearm, and though very few corporeal weapons are going to be as impressive as the literal power of an Electro god coursing through your veins, it makes sense to kit her out with something good. The Raiden Shogun's sheer force means that she's a good choice of DPS character for your party, and though her elemental powers are obviously where it's at, there's no sense skimping when it comes to her melee weapon for normal attacks.

The Engulfing Lightning polearm was released alongside the playable Raiden Shogun in the V2.1 update, and if it doesn't literally have her name carved on the handle it might as well. As the name suggests, this weapon incorporates the user's elemental powers into its attacks. The Raiden Shogun's Attack is increased by 28% of her Energy Recharge over the base 100%, up to a maximum bonus of 80% (and these figures refer to the weapon at its most basic upgrade level). Furthermore, after using Elemental Burst with the Engulfing Lightning equipped, the Raiden Shogun gains 30% Energy Recharge for 12 seconds.

However, kitting out a 5-star character with a 5-star weapon is often easier said than done, especially if you're building said character as a sub DPS. So for a 4-star alternative, consider The Catch. Its effects increase Elemental Burst Damage by 16% and Elemental Burst Crit Rate by 6%, allowing Raiden Shogun to make the most of her melee and elemental attacks when she has it equipped.

Best artifacts: Emblem of Severed Fate

Alternative: 2 pieces each from Noblesse Oblige and Thundering Fury

The Raiden Shogun's Artifact set should be focussed around boosts to her Elemental Burst attacks. Fortunately, thanks to her innate power, there are a number of options available that will do this very well, and you can choose to mix-and-match or go all-in on one set as best suits you.

The Emblem of Severed Fate is perhaps the strongest choice, granting +20% to Energy Recharge with two pieces equipped and, with four pieces, increasing Elemental Burst Damage by 25% of Energy Recharge (for up to 75% bonus damage). However, there's also a lot to be said for the trusty Noblesse Oblige set, which with just two pieces equipped will grant the Raiden Shogun an enviable 20% bonus to her Elemental Burst damage. Consider combining this with two pieces from the Thundering Fury set for a further 15% boost to Electro DMG; or you could just as well equip four pieces from either set for some more bonuses to Elemental Burst and Elemental Reactions either way.

To support a DPS or sub DPS build for Raiden Shogun, aim for the following stats and sub-stats on her artifacts:

• Circlet of Logos: CRITs
• Sands of Eon: Energy Recharge
• Goblet of Eonothem: Electro DMG Bonus
• Substats: ATK and CRITs

Talent priority: Secret Art - Musou Shinsetsu (Elemental Burst)

Secondary: Transcendence: Baleful Omen (Elemental Skill)

By far the Raiden Shogun's strongest talent, and the one you should prioritise her build around, is her Elemental Burst Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu. Thanks to her being imbued with the powers of a deity, unleashing this Talent improves not only her own performance in battle but that of the rest of her party members as well.

Here's a full list of the Raiden Shogun's Talents:

• Normal Attack: Origin
• Normal Attack - Performs up to 5 consecutive spear strikes.
• Charged Attack - Consumes a certain amount of the Raiden Shogun's Stamina to perform an upward slash.
• Plunging Attack - The Raiden Shogun lunges from mid-air to strike the ground below, damaging opponents along her path and dealing AoE DMG upon impact.
• Elemental Skill - Transcendence: Baleful Omen - The Raiden Shogun unveils a shard of her Euthymia, dealing Electro DMG to nearby opponents, and granting nearby party members the Eye of Stormy Judgment. When characters with this buff attack and deal DMG to opponents, the Eye will unleash a coordinated attack, dealing AoE Electro DMG at the opponent's position. Characters who gain the Eye of Stormy Judgment will have their Elemental Burst DMG increased based on the Energy Cost of the Elemental Burst during the Eye's duration. The Eye can initiate one coordinated attack every 0.9 seconds per party; coordinated attacks generated by characters not controlled by you deal 20% of the normal DMG.
• Elemental Burst - Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu - The Raiden Shogun unleashes the Musou no Hitotachi and deals AoE Electro DMG, using Musou Isshin in combat for a certain duration afterward. The DMG dealt by Musou no Hitotachi and Musou Isshin's attacks will be increased based on the number of Chakra Desiderata's Resolve stacks consumed when this skill is used.
• Musou Isshin: While in this state, the Raiden Shogun will wield her tachi in battle, while her Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks will be infused with Electro DMG, which cannot be overridden. When such attacks hit opponents, she will regenerate Energy for all nearby party members. Energy can be restored this way once every second, and this effect can be triggered 5 times throughout this skill's duration. While in this state, the Raiden Shogun's resistance to interruption is increased, and she is immune to Electro-Charged reaction DMG. While Musou Isshin is active, the Raiden Shogun's Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attack DMG will be considered Elemental Burst DMG. The effects of Musou Isshin will be cleared when the Raiden Shogun leaves the field.
• Chakra Desiderata: When nearby party members (excluding the Raiden Shogun herself) use their Elemental Bursts, the Raiden Shogun will build up Resolve stacks based on the Energy Cost of these Elemental Bursts. The maximum number of Resolve stacks is 60. The Resolve gained by Chakra Desiderata will be cleared 300 seconds after the Raiden Shogun leaves the field.
• 1st Ascension Passive: Wishes Unnumbered - When nearby party members gain Elemental Orbs or Particles, Chakra Desiderata gains 2 Resolve stacks. This effect can occur once every 3 seconds.
• 4th Ascension Passive: Enlightened One - Each 1% above 100% Energy Recharge that the Raiden Shogun possesses grants her 0.6% greater Energy restoration from Musou Isshin and a 0.4% Electro DMG Bonus.
• Utility Passive: All-Preserver - Mora expended when ascending Swords and Polearms is decreased by 50%.

Party composition

• DPS: Raiden Shogun
• Support: Sucrose
• Support/Healer: Barbara
• Shield/Healer: Diona

5-star alternative: Eula as DPS, bumping the Shogun down to Sub DPS and replacing Diona

When building a team around Raiden Shogun, it's best to begin by selecting characters who can create a useful resonance with her Electro elemental powers. Having a Hydro and a Cryo teammate for her nets you on-demand access to Electro-Charged and Superconduct, repsectively, both of which are solid damage-dealers. On a 4-star team I'd recommend Barbara and Diona, who have the added bonus of being useful in support roles (healing and shields/healing, respectively). However, if you have a 5-star Cryo DPS character like Eula, it's worth re-shuffling the team around them: replace the 4-star Cryo character (Diona's shields are useful but ultimately retaining Barbara as healer will keep the team well-defended enough) and bump Raiden Shogun down to sub DPS.

Round out the team with a 4-star Anemo support character. I like to use Sucrose for this purpose, but if you don't have her then the Anemo Traveler will work as well. The Anemo support character can be helpful for grouping enemies, and their Swirl resonance will work with any of the other character's elemental attacks to spread elemental damage across a wider area.

How to level up Raiden Shogun in Genshin Impact

Ascension Materials

To fully ascend the Raiden Shogun you will need the following materials:

As with many characters at her level of exclusivity, the Raiden Shogun's ascension materials can be quite rare finds. Amakumo Fruits are exclusively found on Seirai Island in Inazuma; Storm Beads are only dropped by Thunder Manifestations at Lvl 30+; and the various handguards she requires can be picked up from defeated Nobushi and Kairagi enemies, especially those at high levels.

Talents

To fully level up one of Raiden Shogun's talents, you'll need:

The materials given level up one of Raiden Shogun's talents only — if you want to crown multiple of her talents, you need to collect all this multiple times. Handguards are dropped by Nobushi and Kairagi enemies you encounter throughout the Shogun's native Inazuma. You can pick up the books required for her talents at the Violet Court domain (Wednesday/Saturday/Sunday only), while Molten Moments are exclusively picked up as rewards from completing the Signora Challenge at Level 70+. Finally, Crowns of Insight come from limited-time events or by making offerings to the Frostbearing Tree and the Sacred Sakura.

Constellations

The Raiden Shogun's Constellations feed perfectly into a build focussed on her as an Electro DPS main with Elemental Burst as a priority. Unfortunately, as a 5-star character, it can be incredibly costly to work through all of her Constellations, not to mention time-consuming thanks to her event exclusivity. Fortunately, they are somewhat less essential if you're building her as a sub-DPS.

Below is a full list of the Raiden Shogun's Constellations and what they do:

• Ominous Inscription (Lvl 1): Chakra Desiderata will gather Resolve even faster. When Electro characters use their Elemental Bursts, the Resolve gained is increased by 80%. When characters of other Elemental Types use their Elemental Bursts, the Resolve gained is increased by 20%.
• Steelbreaker (Lvl 2): Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu's Musou no Hitotachi and Musou Isshin attacks will ignore 60% of opponents' Defense.
• Shinkage Bygones (Lvl 3): Increases the level of Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu by 3. (Maximum upgrade level is 15.)
• Pledge of Propriety (Lvl 4): When the Musou Isshin state applied by Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu expires, all nearby party members (excluding the Raiden Shogun) gain 30% bonus Attack for 10 seconds.
• Shogun's Descent (Lvl 5): Increases the level of Transcendence: Baleful Omen by 3. (Maximum upgrade level is 15.)
• Wishbearer (Lvl 6): While in the Musou Isshin state applied by Secret Art: Musou Shinsetsu, the Raiden Shogun's Normal, Charged, and Plunging Attacks will decrease all nearby party members' (but not her own) Elemental Burst Cooldown by 1 second when they hit opponents. This effect can trigger once every 1 second, and can trigger a total of 5 times during the state's duration.

How to get Raiden Shogun in Genshin Impact

Raiden Shogun is only available as an event-exclusive character on re-runs of her banner Reign of Serenity. Notably, Raiden Shogun received her first re-run just six months after her debut, a wait which was on the shorter side. Whether this means she'll be a regular recurrence or is due a long gap while some other event characters get their turn remains to be seen; but unfortunately, for the time being she's once again unavailable to add to your roster.

That's everything you need to know about putting together a powerfully strong build for the Raiden Shogun, Genshin Impact's latest playable Archon. To see where she fits in to Genshin Impact's full character line-up, have a look at our Genshin Impact character tier list. And now that Genshin Impact's playable character roster has exceeded 40 heroes, you might be wondering how you can possibly manage to collect them all. Luckily, help is at hand in the form of our guide on how to get more characters in Genshin Impact.