She’s especially good in AOE (especially against 2 opponents) but worse in single-target. Because of this, she can lose value if you already have an AOE-oriented DPS. Additionally, Beidou does heavily rely on her Constellation 2. It’s a massive damage buff that significantly contributes to her prowess as a DPS. Because of this, it’s recommended to wait until you get her C2 before heavily investing in her. Still, Beidou has been a top DPS candidate for every Spiral Abyss phase – so she’s relatively future-proof and safer to build. And in addition to her damage, she’s also quite easy to build. This is because she can make use of multiple weapons and artifact set options. Note: This is based on meta only. If you like Beidou regardless of her power level, don’t let this stop you from using her.
Pros & Cons
Beidou Strengths
Beidou deals a significant amount of raw damage. This is mainly what makes her a really strong DPS. She’s even comparable with the strongest 5-star DPS units in-game. Most of this is thanks to her C2. It basically lets her deal 5 multiple instances of damage to a target per Electro discharge. Considering that Beidou can proc up to 12 discharges per burst… that’s a lot of damage. Up to 60 total hits to be exact. Beidou has a lot of innate defensive options in her kit – thus increasing her survivability. This includes shielding, resistance to interruption, and damage reduction.
Her skill creates a shield during its duration (both hold and press). It lets Beidou take hits to buff her skill while not taking damage. Her burst gives increased resistance to interruption and damage reduction to the on-field unit. So it also increases the survivability of her teammates. Her C1 creates a shield after casting her burst. Although weaker than dedicated shielders, it’s still appreciated – especially in teams with no healers.
Beidou can make use of multiple artifact sets, and they generally perform close to each other. Because of this, she’s relatively easier to build. You don’t need to intensely farm one or multiple artifact domains for her artifact. Instead, it’s likely that you already have artifacts that work well on her. Three of her best artifact set builds include:
4pc. Emblem of Severed Fate 2pc. Thundering Fury & 2pc. Noblesse Oblige / ATK (Gladiator/Shimenawa/Vermillion/Echoes) 2pc. ATK & 2pc. Noblesse Oblige / ATK
Beidou Weaknesses
Beidou has an expensive 80-energy cost burst that needs proper energy management and a battery. Since she deals most of her damage through her burst, it’s very important to use it every rotation. Proper energy management and the use of batteries make this possible. Energy management mainly includes building enough Energy Recharge and casting her skill off cooldown to generate energy particles. Having an Electro battery – most notably Fischl – is also very important. Fischl is an amazing Beidou teammate. She effectively generates a lot of energy for Beidou’s burst while dealing good personal damage herself. 150% Energy Recharge is a safe amount to go for when she’s paired with Fischl. C2 is a significant damage buff that unlocks most of Beidou’s potential. And it’s also what makes her a really good unit. Without C2, Beidou still deals good damage – but it’s noticeably worse than with C2. Because of this, C2 is the minimum amount of constellations you should have. Beidou is amazing in AOE, but she’s very unfavorable against single-target. A significant portion of her burst damage comes from the discharge bounces between opponents. Each bounce deals an extra hit. But these bounces can only occur when there are two or more opponents – so it doesn’t work in single-target. Without those extra hits, Beidou loses a lot of damage.
Are Beidou’s Constellations Good?
Beidou has great constellations, and they’re generally worth getting. The most significant one is her C2. If you plan on playing Beidou, it’s highly recommended for you to get this constellation. The difference between C0 and C2 is massive – it basically increases more than 50% of her overall DPS. Anything past C3 is also a good damage gain, but C2 is definitely your priority! Additionally, here’s a closer look at all of her constellations.
C1: Sea Beast’s Scourge
When casting Beidou’s burst, she creates a shield that absorbs up to 16% of her max HP for 15s. This is a good quality-of-life (QoL) constellation. This shield can also be shared with teammates, so it effectively increases the on-field unit’s survivability. Since Beidou doesn’t build HP, it’s not a very strong shield – but it’s still very nice to have, especially in healer-less teams.
C2: Upon the Turbulent Sea, the Thunder Arises
Her burst’s arc lightning can jump to 2 additional targets. The extra jumps between opponents can basically hit 5 times every time her burst releases its Electro discharges. In comparison, C0 only hits 3 times per discharge. This is a massive damage buff, and it’s Beidou’s best constellation. If you’re planning to use Beidou, it’s highly encouraged for you to get C2.
C3: Summoner of Storm
Increases her elemental skill talent level by 3. This increases her skill multipliers, which is a nice damage gain. It’s not massive but definitely appreciated.
C4: Stunning Revenge
Upon being attacked, Beidou’s normal attacks will deal an additional instance of 20% Electro damage for 10s. It can situationally be a damage gain – but it’s generally useless. Beidou spends most of her time off-field and not performing normal attacks, so she’ll very rarely trigger this effect.
C5: Crimson Tidewalker
Increases her elemental burst talent level by 3. Beidou’s burst is her main source of damage, so this is a really nice damage gain. C5 is also her next best constellation after C2.
C6: Bane of Evil
During Beidou’s burst, the Electro resistance off surrounding enemies is decreased by 15%. It’s a great constellation that buffs both Beidou and her Electro teammates. As a Constellation 6, it’s a bit lackluster compared to her C2 and C5 but definitely still nice.
Luxurious Sea Lord vs. Prototype Archaic for Beidou
Luxurious Sea Lord (or fish claymore) is sizably better than Prototype Archaic on Beidou. This is because Beidou just benefits a lot more from the fish claymore’s passive. She deals most of her damage through her burst, and Sea Lord buffs exactly that. In comparison, Prototype Archaic’s passive will rarely be procced. Beidou simply spends most of her time off-field and doesn’t perform normal attacks – so she can’t trigger its extra attack. Still, Prototype Archaic is a viable weapon option.
