In order to get one of the most powerful characters in Genshin Impact, you need luck and also money. In total, ten fighters of the SS+ tier want your bucks, but who are these guys, actually? And which builds prove most effective with them?
It won’t get any better than this: The rarest characters in Genshin Impact have a five star rating, yet they aren’t always the strongest of them all. No, the truly tough fighters are primarily recognized by their tier rating, with SS+ being the highest.
Anyway, be it five stars or SS+, it always takes a certain amount of luck to get your hands on such a character. If you want to own all 10 fighters of the SS+ tier, you should be good friends with your bank.
However, since it is possible to decorate your party with at least a few of those luxury characters, we’ll now take a look at the entire SS+ roster. Also, we will tell you how to make the best use of them.
Genshin Impact: All SS+ characters & the best builds
Character: Kamisato Ayaka
Role: Main DPS
Weapon: Sword
Element: Cryo
Stars: 5
Tier: SS+
Background: A member of the Kamisato clan and younger sister of Kamisato Ayato, Ayaka has most in common with the common folk. In Inazuma, she is considered the epitome of perfection and has moreover earned the title of “Shirasagi Himegimi”, predominantly due to her grace and beauty. Because of her closeness to the people, Ayaka is held in higher esteem than her brother Kamisato Ayato, who is responsible for both internal and external affairs of the clan.
Best build: The best weapon recommended for Ayaka is the sword Mistsplitter Reforged (5 stars). It deals critical elemental damage of 8 to 56 percent, depending on the stack level. However, the sword Amenoma Kageuchi (4 stars) also performs well with its attack bonus.
Artifacts: Ayaka feels most comfortable with the Blizzard Strayer artifact. The cryo-damage bonus here is 15 percent, critical hits cause an additional 20 percent damage. Yet another 20 percent is added if the enemy is frozen at the time of the hit. The Emblem of Severed Fate artifact can also be used to deal up to 75% bonus damage.
Character: Bennett
Role: Utility
Weapon: Sword
Element: Pyro
Stars: 4
Tier: SS+
Background: Bennett grew up as an orphan in Moon City after being found and taken in by an older adventurer. Bennett founded “Benny’s Adventure Team” of which he is the only member. This is not, however, because Bennett would be an unsympathetic contemporary, His fellow adventurers rather left the team because he’s down on his luck.
Best build: If you hand Bennett the Skyward Blade sword, you do it to improve his burst skill and his movement and attack speed by 10 percent each. Charged attacks pay off with a damage bonus of between 20 and 40 percent, and critical damage increases by up to 8 percent. Alternatively, Bennett can use The Alley Flash sword (4 stars) to increase his damage between 12 and 24 percent.
Artifacts: Bennett likes the Noblesse Oblige artifact because it increases his elemental burst by 20 percent. This artifact also boosts the combat damage of his teammates by 20 percent.
Character: Hu Tao
Role: Main DPS
Weapon: Polearm
Element: Pyro
Stars: 5
Tier: SS+
Background: According to Hu Tao’s eccentricities and silliness you wouldn’t believe she’s working as the 77th director of the “Wangsheng” funeral home. Even more so, she has a poetic streak. She is known for holding funeral ceremonies in a particularly solemn and dignified manner. Well, she does take her job as a funeral director extremely seriously.
Best build: Hu Tao rocks all battle staffs (polearms), and the Staff of Homa (5 stars) is the best choice for her. It boosts her Health by 20 to 40 percent and increases the damage dealt by 0.8 to 1.6 percent. On top of that, it adds another 0.2 percent when their HP drops below 50 percent. If there are at least two enemies nearby, the 4-star weapon “Deathmatch” is worthwhile. It increases Hu Tao’s attack power by 16 to 32 percent as well as her defense power by the same values. If there is only one enemy nearby, its damage increases by 24 to 48 percent.
Artifacts: Crimson Witch of Flames is Hu Tao’s artifact of choice. With a pyro damage bonus of 15 percent and a burn damage of an additional 40 percent, enemies experience a bit of a fiery hell. Shimenawa’s Reminiscence gives her an optional 18 percent attack bonus, which even increases to 50 percent for ten seconds if an elemental skill is used.
Character: Kaedehara Kazuha
Role: Utility
Weapon: Sword
Element: Pyro
Stars: 5
Tier: SS+
Background: Kazuha is the name of a wandering samurai who belonged to the Kaedehara clan back in the day. He feels close to nature and therefore can read sounds from it. His personality can be described as reclined. But in truth, Kazuha has experienced a lot of bad things.
Best build: In Kazuha’s hands, the Freedom-Sworn sword (5 stars) does very well. He gets an attack bonus of between 10 and 20 percent from it per se. The elemental reaction Millennial Movement: Song of Resistance gives an additional damage bonuses between 16 and 32 (attack damage) and 20 and 40 percent (attack strength). With the Iron Sting sword on the 4-star side, Kazuha manages an additional 6 to 12 percent total damage.
Artifacts: Viridescent Venerer increases anemo damage by 15 percent and vortex damage by a whopping 60 percent. At the same time, the elemental resistance of enemies drops by 40 percent for ten seconds.
Character: Sangonomiya Kokomi
Role: Utility
Weapon: Catalyst
Element: Hydro
Stars: 5
Tier: SS+
Background: Kokomi is a divine priestess and descendant of the Sangonomiya clan. On Watatsumi Island, she takes care of its affairs, which is a great responsibility. Her “good heart” hopes to give all islanders the happiness they’re longing for.
Best build: It’s recommended to equip Kokomi with the Everlasting Moonglow, especially since she gets a healing bonus of between 10 and 20 percent from it. In addition, it increases her attack damage by 1 to 3 percent. Also, Kokomi restores 0.6 percent energy during an elemental burst with regular attacks. Thrilling Tales of Dragon Slayers, on the other hand, increases the attack of a freshly swapped character by 24 to 48 percent for ten seconds.
Artifacts: To get a 20 percent HP bonus for Kokomi, reach for Tenacity of the Millelith. Another benefit is that during successful elemental skills, the defense as well as the attack of all nearby party members increases by 30 and 20 percent, respectively. Ocean-Hued Clam gives an additional 15 percent healing bonus.
Character: Raiden Shotgun
Role: Main DPS
Weapon: Polearm
Element: Electro
Stars: 5
Tier: SS+
Background: The lady with sonorous name Raiden Shogun is composed of two beings that share the same body. The first being Ei, is the reigning Electro-Archon of Inazuma; the second is called Shogun, a puppet created by Ei, who certainly acts as the ruler of Inazuma and also serves as a vessel for Raiden.
Best Build: The Engulfing Lightning weapon (5 stars) increases Raiden’s attack power by a decent 28 to 52 percent energy boost. The maximum bonus is even 120 percent. After an elemental burst, it recharges between 30 and 50 percent energy for 12 seconds. The Catch staff (4 stars) is a good choice for increasing elemental burst by 16 to 32 percent, while the critical rate increases by 6 to 12 percent.
Artifacts: Emblem of Severed Fate increases energy recharge by 20 percent. This increases elemental burst damage by 25 percent to a maximum of 75 percent energy recharge.
Character: Xiangling
Role: Sub DPS
Weapon: Polearm
Element: Pyro
Stars: 4
Tier: SS+
Background: If you are familiar with Wanmin restaurant, then it’s time to get to know its chef as well: Xiangling. She runs it in assistance of her father, chef Mao. She is known for creating quite unique dishes. This is because she fully indulges in her passion for trying out different recipes and especially exotic ingredients.
Best build: For Raiden, the The Catch staff (4 stars) may be second choice, however for Xiangling, it is the first. You can find the upgrades given by this weapon in Raiden’s description. With the Staff of Homa (5 stars) Xiangling’s HP are increased between 20 and 40 percent; for more info see Hu Tao.
Artifacts: See Raiden.
Character: Xingqiu
Role: Sub DPS
Weapon: Sword
Element: Hydro
Stars: 4
Tier: SS+
Background: Xingqiu is the second son of the guild leader of the Feiyun Trade Guild, and also a self-proclaimed trainee of the arts of the Guhua clan. Ideally, Xingqiu would like to be a “knight in shining armor”. Just like the ones from those fairy tales he loves to read. Anyway, that doesn’t mean Xingqiu would always behave in a chivalrous manner. In fact, he gets up to all sorts of mischief.
Best build: When hitting an opponent via elemental skill, Sacrificial Sword (4 stars) grants a 40% to 80% chance of ending the weapon’s cooldown immediately. This effect is only available every 14 to 30 seconds. Favonius Sword does something similar, however with focus on the critical rate (60 to 100 percent).
Artifacts: Emblem of Severed Fate (see Raiden). Optional: Noblesse Obligue (see Bennett).
Character: Yelan
Role: Sub DPS
Weapon: Bow
Element: Hydro
Stars: 5
Tier: SS+
Background: According to the mysterious Yelan she works for the Ministry of Civil Affairs. However, she appears as a “non-person” on their list. She may be an intelligence agent, though, and as such, she uses the Yanshang Teahouse as camouflage.
Best build: Using the bow Elegy for the End (5 stars) increases Yelan’s element mastery by 60 to 120. Furthermore, the elemental skill Millennial Movement: Farewell Song increases element mastery by 100 to 200 as well as her attack strength by 20 to 40 percent. With the Favonius Warbow you increase the chance of an Elemental Orb by 60 to 100 percent.
Artifacts: Emblem of Severed Fate (see Raiden). Optional: Noblesse Obligue (see Bennett).
Charakter: Zhongli
Role: Utility
Weapon: Polearm
Element: Geo
Stars: 5
Tier: SS+
Background: We already have a mortician among the SS+ characters, and now with Zhongli comes an advisor of a funeral home (Wangsheng). Later, he turns out to be the current vessel for Geo-Archon Morax, who wants to experience the world from a mortal’s perspective.
Best build: Staff of Homa (see Hu Tao). Optional: Black Tassel. It’s a staff of only 3 stars but it increases the damage dealt against slimes by 40 to 80 percent.
Artifacts: Tenacity of the Millelith increases Zhongli’s HP by 20 percent. At the same time, the attack of nearby colleagues increases by 20%, while their defense goes up by 30%. However, the effect will only lasts for 3 seconds after hitting an opponent with an elemental skill. Optional: Noblesse Obligue (see Bennett).
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