His traditional Physical DPS build is viable at best. It’s definitely not meta, and he’ll likely struggle in harder content like Spiral Abyss floor 12-3. However, his Overburgeon build has a powerful team – aka his best one by far. If you’re set on playing Razor, his Overburgeon team is actually a strong and potentially fun team to play. It’s simply always better to use his Overburgeon playstyle instead of his Physical DPS one. Still, this is based on meta only. So if you like Razor regardless of his power level, don’t let this stop you from playing him however you like.
Pros & Cons
Razor’s two playstyles are wildly different, so their pros and cons also differ. Here’s a more detailed look at each one.
Physical DPS Razor
This team uses Razor as the on-field DPS that deals Physical damage. It’s also his traditional build, aka the playstyle that’s heavily suggested by his kit. Most of his damage comes from his normal attacks – his skill and burst are just quality-of-life upgrades. So his damage is very accessible, and you don’t have to deal with energy problems (but charging and using his burst is still recommended). This makes him a great unit for casual or early-game players. However, he still has optimizing potential for more invested players. Learning animation canceling and attack combos lets you further increase his damage – but they’re never needed. Physical Razor has a wide variety of artifact and weapon options. Some of his best artifact sets include Pale Flame, Gladiator’s Finale, and Bloodstained Chivalry. You can also mix and match these artifacts, and they’ll still perform well. Similarly, he has plenty of weapon options – some of which are very free-to-play friendly. The most notable 4-star ones are Serpent Spine, Prototype Archaic, Blackcliff Slasher, and Snow-Tombed Starsilver. All of these are great options. Razor’s normal attacks only cover a small AOE, so he’s unfavorable against multiple opponents. Grouping with Anemo units can help, but these units don’t buff Physical damage aka Razor. So it’s generally a waste of team slots. His need for long continuous field time also doesn’t let you regroup opponents together in between rotations. Plus his normal attacks will still likely push light opponents away and apart from each other – thus ungrouping them. A Physical Razor team is definitely not meta – it’s only viable at best. This is simply because it deals relatively underwhelming damage. There are plenty of other stronger teams available in-game, so there’s no meta reason to use this team. Instead, a Physical build Razor is really just for players especially fond of the unit, not his strength.
Overburgeon Razor
This is Razor’s less conventional but definitely strong team. Its basic team comp is composed of Razor, Bennett, Xingqiu, and Dendro Traveler. This team mainly deals damage by chaining plenty of Overload and Burgeon reactions (hence the name Overburgeon) – and, occasionally, other elemental reactions too. In contrast to his Physical build, this playstyle is very powerful against AOE content. This is thanks to the AOE potential of its elemental reactions, most notably Overload and Burgeon. Plus it’s also strong against single-target, just slightly weaker. Overburgeon Razor only needs to build Elemental Mastery (EM) and enough Energy Recharge. These stats are significantly easier to get than min-maxing stats like CRIT Rate and CRIT Damage. Just give him EM-EM-EM mainstats and Favonius Greatsword – you’re set! Plus Overload and Burgeon scale entirely from EM and character level, so there’s no need to level Razor’s talents. This makes him overall easier and cheaper to build than typical DPS units. Overload knocks back lighter opponents. Since Overburgeon Razor heavily relies on this reaction, he’s not really favorable against light opponents – especially against multiple of them. You might push opponents outside of Bennett’s burst, and staying inside that circle is a core part of Overburgeon Razor. The team basically doesn’t work outside of Bennett’s burst. However, it can be viable with proper positioning – namely by attacking opponents into a wall to prevent them from leaving the burst. Overburgeon Razor makes use of three highly contested units – Bennett, Xingqiu, and Dendro Traveler. This three are basically very strong units that work well in a lot of teams. So it can be difficult to draft Overburgeon Razor if your other Abyss team is already using them. Additionally, it can be better to just draft other conventional teams that use these units. For instance, using Dendro Traveler in a Sucrose-Beidou-Fischl team is an overall better and more versatile option than Overburgeon Razor.
Are Razor’s Constellations Good?
Razor has decent constellations, but none of them are worth actively pulling for. Instead, it’s best to just naturally get his constellations from playing the game or pulling in any of the gacha banners. But if you’re still planning to pull for cons, C4 is a great place to stop. It’s basically his best constellation and largest damage gain for overall team DPS. His other constellations are just very small damage boosts.
C1: Wolf’s Instinct
Picking up an elemental orb or particle increases Razor’s damage by 10% for 8s. This is a nice constellation to have thanks to its small damage gain. Plus its effect is very easy to maintain, so the damage gain is basically guaranteed.
C2: Suppression
Increases his CRIT Rate by 10% against opponents with less than 30% HP. It’s always recommended his usual 1:2 CRIT ratio regardless of this effect. It’s best to just treat it as a small, conditional bonus.
C3: Soul Companion
Increases his elemental burst talent level by 3. This buffs Razor’s burst multipliers. However, most of his damage comes from his normal attacks, so it’s only a tiny damage gain.
C4: Bite
Upon casting Razor’s skill, opponents hit have their DEF decreased by 15% for 7s. This is his best constellation by far. It’s an unconditional damage gain for Razor and his teammates – just make sure to cast his skill off cooldown for more uptime.
C5: Sharpened Claws
Increases his elemental skill talent level by 3. This is very similar to his C3 – it’s just a small damage gain.
C6: Lupus Fulguris
Razor’s sword charges up every 10s. This causes his next normal attack to release lightning that deals 100% of his ATK as Electro damage. When he’s outside of his burst, a lightning strike on an opponent grants Razor an Electro Sigil for his skill. This constellation is a damage gain, but it’s very underwhelming for a C6. It’s basically Razor’s worst constellation.
