Varesa’s finally here alongside Genshin Impact’s Version 5.5 update. Here’s how you build her.
Varesa is the newest 5-star playable character to join Genshin Impact’s character roster with the Version 5.5 update. As an Electro catalyst user, Varesa specialises in high impact plunging attacks that’s sure to decimate any enemy on the battlefield.
Varesa’s kit explained
Similar to how Xiao utilises plunging attacks in his burst, Varesa is a plunging attack Electro DPS, with the added bonus of enhancing her own damage through her Nightsoul state. Varesa has high multipliers in her plunge attacks, making her a reliable damage dealer while also not limiting her into relying on external support. However, Varesa’s playstyle needs a bit of mastery to properly do, as she needs specific attack combinations in order to use her enhanced plunging attack.
Varesa’s enhanced plunging attack can occur through her Normal Attack, Skill, and Burst. When triggered through her NA, called By the Horns, Varesa will enter the Nightsoul state, dealing Nightsoul-aligned area-of-effect Electro damage upon impact. If Varesa lands in a combat state or hits an enemy, she will gain 25 Nightsoul points and enter the Fiery Passion state upon reaching maximum Nightsoul points through this method.
The Fiery Passion state will grant Varesa a number of buffs to her Normal, Charged, and Plunging attacks:
- NA: launches up to three fierce strikes, dealing greater Electro DMG
- CA: Consumes a certain amount of stamina to slam into opponents, dealing greater amounts of Nightsoul-aligned Electro DMG, while using the momentum to leap into the air.
- PA: consumes all Nightsoul points and slams down on the ground from mid-air, dealing DMG to opponents and dealing greater amounts of Nightsoul-aligned AoE Electro DMG upon hitting the ground.
So the combination you need to go for to get Varesa’s max damage capability in her attack chain is NA -> CA -> PA. This attack combo also works with her Elemental Skill, Riding the Night-Rainbow.
Through her skill, Varesa will be able to rush forward a certain distance and deal Nightsoul-aligned Electro DMG to opponents in her path. After which, Varesa will gain 20 Nightsoul points and the Follow-Up Strike effect, which grants her the following:
- Increased interruption resistance
- Charged ATK that does not consume stamina when pressing NA.
Varesa’s skill has two states depending on whether the skill button is tapped or held, those being:
- Tap: quickly rush a certain distance forward
- Hold: Varesa enters the Nightsoul’s Blessing state and switches to Sudden Onrush mode.
Sudden Onrush mode will allow Varesa to receive a variety of buffs as it continuously consumes Nightsoul points, those being:
- Movement Speed and interruption resistance increased
- Ability to use terrain to execute flying leaps
- Consume additional Nightsoul points to traverse atop water or liquid Phlogiston
- Immunity to DMG from liquid Phlogiston
Varesa’s Nightsoul’s Blessing has two charges when in the Fiery Passion state through her NA, where she will obtain an additional Tap charge to her Elemental Skill, while also increasing its DMG. Additional effects to her Fiery Passion state are:
- When not in the Fiery Passion State, Varesa will be able to use her PA to gain Nightsoul points. She will enter Fiery Passion once she gains the max amount of Nightsoul points through this method, or when she uses her Elemental Burst
- While in the Fiery Passion state, Varesa’s NA, Elemental Skill, and Elemental Burst will gain unique buffs, as well as use a special Elemental Burst shortly after using a PA.
- The Fiery Passion state will last up to 15 seconds and will end once her Nightsoul points are expended or she leaves combat for a period of time.
Varesa’s Elemental burst, Guardian Vent!, on the other hand, will allow Varesa to leap into the air to unleash a powerful flying kick, letting her deal Nightsoul-aligned AoE Electro DMG to opponents within her vicinity. After which, Varesa will regain the maximum amount of Nightsoul points and enter the Fiery Passion state. Through this, her Nightsoul-aligned AoE Electro DMG will be greatly increased.
Varesa will also briefly activate Apex Drive after using a PA while in this state, which will be able to do the following:
- Increase Varesa’s interruption to resistance
- Ignore Elemental Burst cooldown and consume less energy to use her special Elemental Burst: Guardian Vent: Volcano Kablam, which will allow her to use an especially powerful PA called the Thunderous Tornado Eruption, that deals Nightsoul-aligned AoE Electro DMG upon landing.
Varesa will exit this state after dealing the Thunderous Tornado Eruption or after using her Elemental Skill.
When it comes to leveling up her talents, it’s best to level all three equally since her kit wholly relies on her Normals, Skill, and Burst.
Varesa’s best build and teams
Since Varesa is a DPS, she obviously relies on her CRIT ratios to net massive DMG numbers. As such, her gear needs to have as much Crit Rate and Crit DMG as possible, with the option of also increasing her Elemental Mastery in teams that will rely on elemental reactions, Energy Recharge to keep her burst at an uptime, and ATK% to greatly increase her ATK multipliers.
Best weapons
Obviously, Varesa will work the best with her 5-star catalyst, Vivid Notions, as it is made for her kit. However, if you’re not looking into spending your Primogems on the weapon banner, you have a number of alternatives to look into, those being:
- Lost Prayer to the Sacred Winds
- Tulaytullah’s Remembrance
- Cashflow Supervision
- Kagura’s Verity
- Skyward Atlas
- The Widsith
- Flowing Purity
Best Artifacts
Varesa will work best with the new Plunge DMG focused artifact set Long Night’s Oath, but there are alternative Artifact sets and combinations you can look into while farming like crazy for the perfect Long Night’s Oath set, those being:
- Obsidian Codex
- A combination of Long Night’s Oath and Thundering Fury
Since you’re wanting to stack as much CRIT as possible, here are the main stats you should gun for:
- Sands: ATK%
- Goblet: Electro DMG Bonus
- Circlet: CRIT Rate/DMG
Substats to look out for are: CRIT DMG/Rate, ATK%, Elemental Mastery, and Energy Recharge.
Best teammates
Varesa will work best in a Hypercarry team, an Aggravate team, and even an Overload team, with teammates that focus on supporting her damage capability to the max. Here are compositions you can try out:
- Hypercarry: Furina, Xianyun, Iansan
In this team composition, Varesa is fully supported by Furina through her burst, which increases Varesa’s DMG, and by Iansan. Xianyun will provide buffs to Varesa’s Plunging Attack DMG while also acting as the healer of the team.
- Aggravate: Nahida, Baizhu, Iansan
In this team composition, Nahida and Baizhu will provide support through Dendro application, with Nahida buffing Varesa and Baizhu giving healing and shielding. Iansan will provide increases to her general DMG.
- Overload: Chevreuse, Bennett, Xiangling
More of a Free-to-Play team, Chevreuse can provide buffs to the Overload reaction, while Bennett can increase Varesa’s ATK while also providing some healing through his burst. Xiangling’s Pyronado will trigger the Overload reaction as Varesa attacks.