Electro has long been one of the most powerful elements in Genshin Impact, growing even more so with the introduction of Dendro in the Sumeru region. But even if you aren’t going for a Hyperbloom team, knowing the best Electro characters available in the game, and what tier they sit on, will inform how you build almost any composition that needs a bit of electric charge.
Top Electro Characters in Genshin Impact, Ranked
There are 12 Electro characters to play in Genshin Impact, but for my money, only seven are really worth talking about. Lisa enjoyers, I’m sorry. And if you’re newer to Genshin, Lisa is an effective Electro applier, but the earlier you can get your hands on any of the characters presented here, the better off you’ll be.
1. Raiden Shogun: S+ Tier
- Role: Main DPS or Sub-DPS for Hyperbloom
- Weapon: Polearm
The Electro Archon Raiden Shogun should be, lore-wise, the most powerful Electro user in all of Genshin‘s world. And she is, both in-story and in gameplay. Moreover, she can do double duty as both your team’s main DPS in something like a Raiden International comp (Raiden, Xingqiu, Xiangling, and Bennet) or as a sub-DPS and Electro battery for a myriad of Hyperbloom teams. You need to build her differently for either use, but she excels in both roles.
Better still, she’s very straightforward to build, no matter what she’s doing. As a main damage dealer, you can fit her with a standard set of DPS Artifacts from the Emblem of Severed Fate set, with Crit Damage/Rate, Energy Recharge, Attack%, and so on. As a sub-DPS, swapping to a set like Flowers of Paradise Lost or Gilded Dreams and focusing on Elemental Mastery will do wonders for her Hyperbloom damage.
2. Kuki Shinobu: S+ Tier
- Role: Support and Sub-DPS
- Weapon: Sword
There are a few instances of 4-star characters that act like lower-rarity versions of a 5-star character, and while Kuki isn’t Little Raiden, she is arguably just as useful, depending on your team composition. As a healer and battery-type Support, Kuki Shinobu can not only keep your team alive, but she’s absolutely fantastic as a driver for Hyperbloom, Electro-Charged, or Overload teams. The only real consideration is the not-insignificant health cost her Skill takes to use, but keep that one vulnerability in mind, and there are not many teams she can’t improve.
Kuki is also, like Raiden, fairly easy to build and is an effective member of your party, even at C0. Equip her with Elemental Mastery and Healing artifacts, like Flower of Paradise Lost or Tenacity of the Milileth, and she can heal and power your elemental reactions with aplomb. You can also give her the Iron Sting, craftable for an easily accessible weapon.
3. Yae Miko: S-Tier
- Role: Sub-DPS
- Weapon: Catalyst
Never count Yae Miko out as a powerful Electro sub-DPS and reaction battery. Both her Skill and Burst are fantastic for setting up any Electro reaction, from classic Electro-Charged to boss-melting Hyperbloom and everything in between. Like Raiden and Kuki, Miko fits into most teams that build into Electro reactions, but she’s closer to Raiden as a sub-DPS than she is to Kuki, as she has no healing ability to speak of. Miko’s burst damage potential is something to behold if built well.
Speaking of building Yae Miko, because she’s a more traditional damage unit, you can build her similar to her master and friend Raiden Shogun. Fit her with Energy Recharge, Crit Damage/Rate %, and Electro Damage % on the Emblem of Severed Fate or Thundering Fury, and she’s pretty set. If you don’t want to gamble for Yae Miko’s Signature Weapon and Kagura’s Verity, both The Widsith and Sacrificial Fragments are fine replacements.
4. Fischl: S-Tier
- Role: Sub-DPS
- Weapon: Bow
Though she’s one of the first Electro characters to come to Genshin Impact, Fischl remains one of the best Sub-DPS options in her element. Her kit revolves around summoning her familiar Oz and moving him around the battlefield, applying Electro as he goes. Both her Skill and Burst accomplish this task admirably. Fischl isn’t quite as powerful as Yae Miko as far as burst damage is concerned, but she’s just as strong (if not a bit stronger) in consistent Electro application.
Building Fischl is, like most Sub-DPS characters, fairly straightforward. The Golden Troupe Artifact set from Fontaine is probably her best overall pick, though Thundering Furty isn’t terrible either. For a weapon, Stringless is by far your best free-to-play option, and while it’s much more available than any of the 5-star choices like Skyward Harp, I’ve only managed to get one of them so far.
5. Keqing: A-Tier
- Role: Main DPS
- Weapon: Sword
Keqing is, despite some notable powercreep in the years since her release, still a perfectly viable Electro Main DPS. Her attack cooldowns are quick, deadly, and really fun to use. Her damage might not be on the same level as Raiden or Miko; losing your 50/50 to Keqing is nothing to be too sad about. The fact her attacks are ready so quickly and can chain together so easily makes using her very straightforward to play, and she follows the same basic rules for building as other DPS units in Genshin.
Short of running my broken record, Keqing is a DPS. Build her as described above, capiche? Her weapon selection is a bit on the thinner side, with her best option, Mistsplitter Reforged, being Raiden Shogun’s signature and thus locked behind the limited weapon banner. You can use the Harbinger of Dawn 3-star sword, so long as you have a competent healer to keep Keqing’s HP above 90%.
6. Cyno: A-Tier
- Role: Main DPS
- Weapon: Polearm
Cyno is incredibly powerful if you play and build him correctly, but like Keqing, he’s very reliant on the rest of his team to maximize his output. His gameplay is also very straightforward, with few buffs that don’t affect his raw damage output. He is a main DPS first to last, with relatively few bells and whistles. That doesn’t make him bad — far from it. If you max out his ELemental Mastery, Attack%, and Crit Rate/Damage%, he can tear through scores of enemies without much trouble, and his ability cooldowns are quick enough that he can get back in the fight at the end of a support rotation.
Cyno’s main trouble, outside of his singleminded gameplay style, is his weapon selection. Most of his best options are 5 stars locked behind the limited weapon banners, though you can use the White Tassle in a pinch. You don’t need to invest in his Constellations to make him work, however, but the collection of the Scarabs you need to Ascend him is a pain I don’t wish on people I mildly dislike.
7. Beidou: B-Tier
- Role: Sub-DPS
- Weapon: Claymore
I admit that I love having Beidou on my team. She was a staple of the comp I used to finish Genshin‘s Archon Quests and start the endgame, and her Skill counter and Burst got me out of almost too many tight spots to name. And don’t take my putting her in B-Tier as my saying she’s bad: she’s not. Built well as either an Electro battery or standard Sub-DPS, she can work wonders at keeping your team alive and dealing damage at the same time.
The biggest issue Beidou faces, in a meta sense, anyway, is that all her best weapons are either locked behind the paid Battle Pass or event wishes or are 5-star for other characters. Ideally, the weapon you use improves her Attack % or damage in some way or buffs the whole team. You’re liable to get all her Constellations over time, either from pulls on the standard banner or when she’s a featured character on an event banner. No matter how you max her out, I can guarantee she’ll put in work on your teams.
With that, you have my tier list of the best Electro characters in Genshin Impact. The remaining options are either not worth using (Electro Traveler, Razor, and Dori), or were just low enough on the totem pole to fall of the list (Lisa and Sara).
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