KEY POINTS

  • Heizou excels as a damage dealer in quickswap teams
  • He works best with items that increase his offensive abilities
  • Heizou synergizes well with units that have strong off-field effects

Heizou is the first male “Genshin Impact” character to be armed with a catalyst instead of traditional weaponry. However, he remains a close-combat fighter who uses martial arts to dispatch foes.

This new 5-Star Anemo unit lends his skillset well to any team that’s looking for someone to set up Swirl and other elemental reactions. Heizou’s high damage potential and decent utility do not make him too different from Kazuha, but he does provide an alternate playstyle while opening up other possible team combos.

Heizou’s Playstyle

Shikanoin Heizou works best in quick swap teams where he can capitalize on off-field effects by using his abilities. His main skill, Heartstopper Strike, gains increased damage the longer it is charged up. A fully-charged and upgraded Heartstopper will deal about 480% more damage when released.

His ultimate ability, Windmuster Kick, deals damage in an area while pulling enemies into an Anemo vacuum. When hitting targets afflicted by other elemental auras, this skill deals more damage via Windmuster Iris, which causes secondary explosions.

Heizou uses Anemo and martial arts to fight back against enemies - Genshin Impact
Heizou uses Anemo and martial arts to fight back against enemies - Genshin Impact HoYoverse

Heizou’s Weapons and Artifacts

As a damage-oriented character, Heizou benefits greatly from ATK, CRIT and Elemental Mastery. The Widsith is a great weapon for him since all of its passives can affect his damage output, although Solar Pearl, Skyward Atlas, and Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds are all great weapons to consider for players who have them.

As for artifacts, his best option is a four-piece Viridiscent Venerer set since it increases Anemo DMG while shredding the Elemental RES of any targets hit by Swirl reactions caused by the wearer.

Ideally, pieces should have ATK, ATK% and Elemental Mastery to maximize elemental damage. Crit stats aren’t as valuable since Swirl does not crit, but they can still increase his total damage output.

Team Comps and Synergies

Off-field characters synergize best with Heizou, especially when it’s his turn on the battlefield. Consider bringing the following units in a Heizou-centric team comp:

  • Beidou
  • Xingqiu
  • Raiden Shogun
  • Yae Miko
  • Shinobu
  • Xiangling
  • Thoma

Having a healer or shielder like Kokomi or Zhongli is great for survivability, especially during those late-stage Abyss runs where enemies are typically more dangerous.

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